Dylan Waco

The Sheik would be a controversial pick but he gets mentioned a lot in these sort of discussions. Bobo Brazil was even worse than Rufus from what I've seen

Texas Hangmen v. Carlos Colon/TNT - 1990 This is insanely frustrating, because no finish is shown and what is there is awesome. The first ten minutes is some of the best "faces steamrolling" heels stuff I've seen in wrestling. If you can't mark out for Colon smashing one of the Hangmen's face into home plate there is something wrong with you. The faces completely destroy the Hangmen for ten straight minutes, with the Hangmen getting nothing in and it completely works, mainly because the crowd is so amped to see TNT as a face. This is PR and Colon, but TNT is getting monster pops for every single offensive move he does from headbutts, to kicks, to shots with illegally smuggled weapons. Meanwhile the Hangmen are cussing out people in the front row and just trying to survive. They eventually take over with a nut shot on Carlos and bust him open hardway with some sick punches in the corner. The heat section is really starting to get going and BAM. That's it. No second half on youtube. I had a long fucking day and only time to watch one match tonight and this pisses me off far more than it should

Invader 3 v. Manny Fernandez - 1988 This is your all time wrestling urban myth, as for years the "story" sold on this match via youtube was that it was Manny's revenge on Invader for murdering Brody. Of course this occurred months before Brody was killed and of course it was a different Invader, but this myth persisted for years. People believe what they want to believe, but it doesn't hurt that the blood spewing in this is completely disgusting even by the standards of Puerto Rico. I assume the pig blood in a condom story is true which makes this even more vile. In any case the match leading up to that was pretty "eh" but that's not why you watch this. Invader 3 v. Manny Fernandez - 1989 This would be a pretty good match on it's own, but if you watch it after the aforementioned angle it's much better than it would be in isolation. I'm assuming this is Invader 3's comeback from the bloodletting and he runs in with an axehandle and beats the shit out of Manny with it. Eventually Chicky Starr just snatches it out of his hands and Manny ends up taking over with a really reckless hot shot. It comes across as an act of complete desperation and really works. From there this match is all about Manny attacking the throat area of Invader 3, which plays off the big angle from a few months before. Lots of nasty knee drops, a really stiff lariat and a couple of head scissors variations. The crowd stays hot for this and Chicky is really great as a second on the outside. Manny eventually goes for the big knee off the top, but Invader catches him and slams him. Invader throws some great shots, but gets caught again. Chicky tries to intervene but ends up decking Manny in the throat. Manny actually kicks out, but you still think Invader has him, so it's a big surprise when Manny hits the Flying Burrito for the finish. The hope spots were well worked and I really liked the story of this, including the ending which is the sort of "sometimes evil prevails" finish that wrestling promotions are usually terrified to run. Carlos Colon v. The Iron Sheik - 1/6/88 This is really weird. Colon and Sheik get into it before they can even take off their gear and you think this is going to be really heated, wild stuff. Colon stays on top of him and Sheik keeps fleeing to the floor where he is blatantly messing with a foreign object he is setting up for the heat section. He eventually gets a shot off with it and hits a nice suplex and a few other spots, but then Colon takes right back over. Colon does hit a really cool looking running powerslam, but it's just odd to see Colon eat up so much of this with Sheik as a bloody mess. Chicky Starr runs in for the DQ and the post match here is way better than the match itself with Colon getting busted open and locked in the Camel Clutch. He eventually escapes and does this crazy vault over the top to the floor where he beats the shit out of the fleeing Sheik with the Universal Title. This was worth watching, but it's not the match you expect.

Kurt Angle is close

I didn't agree with Rob's views on guys like that at all when he was around.

KENTA? Marafuji? Nakajima? Ibishi? All got significant hype as juniors. Unless you were referring to NJPW only. Please not the sentence that included the reference to "my circle," a circle that generally doesn't care for those guys.

I've seen them.

I would note that Bam Bam had a very good match with Sandman in WCW, so he does have that.

Maybe the biggest over all waste in the history of wrestling. The guy had an excellent look, was obviously a great athlete and had tons of hype behind him originally and he never reached half of his potential. If anything I think his ECW stuff is overrated. Yes his best matches from there were really good and still hold up. But he was the single most disappointing guy coming out of the fancams. Anyone who complains about Bret halfassing it on house shows, needs to go back and watch those handhelds like I did - Bam Bam is the all time "ain't gonna do shit" guy on house shows. For a guy with the rep of being a "great" big man he is short on the matches or even moments.

Get that party started

What was the bad angle?

some good, some bad but garbage?

SF and LaBell are not the same thing. Shire ran SF, LaBell ran LA. Distinct territories that used a lot of the same talents, but had totally different angles and feuds. There is SOME LA out there, perhaps more than is in circulation based on some things that popped up on youtube about a year ago. But I think most of that is 80's, with maybe a hair coming from the lates 70's. With SF there is very, very, very little. All I've ever seen is the stuff on Will's Buddy comp which is absolute deaths door SF. My understanding is that there is a little bit more from that rough period but that's all. The short answer as to why? The tapes costs a shit ton of money back then and people would just tape over them over and over. Plus no one saw any money in saving them. There was no video market even on the horizon at that point, let alone a DVD market. Promoters promoted for house shows

Anarchy gets pretty big play with some people I'm friends with, but I'm pretty skeptical about it. ACH always seems to get over huge though and he was really over there. I am really eager to see the match with Scorp, but not looking forward to sitting through such a long show to get there.

I will. I would say ahead of time though that Saito v. Hogan is exactly the sort of match that will benefit dramatically from being watched party line style with dudes cutting jokes left and right. It's a fun match.

I still haven't listened to this yet, but to me Saito v. Hogan is like the Kanemura v. Smothers of the ECW Set - I'm glad it's on there, it was novel and I liked what they did. But it wasn't a great match. Offhand I would guess it's the worst Saito match on the set and it's not the best Hogan singles match. I still haven't submitted a ballot, but it's it will definitely be in my bottom half and possibly my bottom third, which isn't a knock on the match, so much as it is that there is a lot of other stuff I really liked. I liked it better than Bock v. Rheingans, but thought The Sheiks v. Bravo/Steve O match was better.

Texas Hangmen v. Giant Warrior/Miguel Perez Jr. - 1990 This is JIP and basically just your normal tv tag match, though I've got to say the Hangmen do carry themselves in such a way that they come across as major ass kickers in everything they do. Perez looks kind of silly in this and Giant Warrior working as a sympathy babyface is absurd on the surface of it, but the Hangmen have just a violent aura to them that the match is more entertaining to watch than it should be. Hot studio crowd helps as well and the post-match chaos with the hanging, Colon save was good tv. Texas Hangmen v. Miguel Perez Jr/Huracan Castillo Jr. - 1990 This is from a stadium show, but was worked pretty similarly to the aforementioned match. I'm not saying these teams couldn't work a really good straight tag match, but this wasn't it. You just need more time to really get things going in that regard and this might have been five minutes bell-to-bell, with some clipped out. Post-match stuff was similar to the first match too. Texas Hangmen v. Carlos Colon/Invader 1 - 10/90 This is less a great match than a great angle, following a good match, but it was still a hell of a lot of fun to watch. The match was actually JIP and fairly straight forward with the Hangmen doubling up on Colon, who sold, made the hot tag and then Invader scored a flash pin. Solid, but nothing outstanding. But the post-match angle was out of this world. Basically The Hangmen destroy Invader 1, while the entire heel locker room empties and surrounds the ring to keep any babyfaces from successfully breaking through. Eric Embry is there looking super sleazy. At one point a woman wrestler hits the ring and gets floored and Embry gets a hold of her and is manhandling her. At this point TNT comes out and turns face, by clobbering Embry and getting into the ring to break up the Hangmen's attack on Invader 1. TNT casually walks off while the rest of the faces try to attend to Invader 1 who eventually gets stretchered off. Really awesome stuff.

National Pro Wrestling Day Afternoon Card Steve Corino/Jimmy Jacobs v. The Briscoes I pretty much hate modern ROH, but these are four of the guys on the roster who I regularly enjoy. More to the point these are four guys who have been pretty good in your workrate/sprint tag matches over the last several months. You don't really think of 40-something Corino as a guy who would work well in that setting or add a lot to it, but in some respects it's a really good use of him. Probably not as good a use of him as PWX having him work a random series of legends/semi-retired guys, but pretty close. Here he gets to strut, surprise people with his athleticism, grind his forearms into peoples faces and serve as a sort of "standard" that makes everyone else's spots look more spectacular than they might otherwise look. I know this if Phil's line, but Mark Briscoe really is your modern day Roughhouse Fargo at this point and it really is a good fit for him. I also get the distinct vibe that his gimmick is a not so subtle shot at Low Ki, which is funny since you could easily argue Briscoe is more convincing than Low Ki at this point. This had some nice punches, a good babyface shine, a short but solid heat section, cleanly executed big spots, and a finish that was really well set up, when it could have easily come across as horribly contrived. They did all of this in about seven minutes and the match was better for it. Saturyne v. Juan Francisco de Coronado Coronado appears to be working a modified version of the Alberto Del Rio gimmick, including a "manservant" named Herbert. Herbert dresses like Kerwin White, while Coronado wrestles in a bow tie and comes to the ring in a cape. Subtext seems to be some sort of mildly less offensive than normal "OMG GAYZ!" gimmick. On the other hand Coronado is awful twink like in appearance and it's a possible this is actually an inverted gimmick where Coronado is quasi-rent boy of wealthy, golf obsessed, closet case Herbert. Herbert tells his wife and kids he is going off on the weekends to the country club, when in fact he gets his boy all oiled up and has him roll around with similarly clad men for his enjoyment. Or I could be reading too much into this. In any case last time I saw Saturyne the announcers were explaining to me that Ophidian was slapping her in the tits because she asked for it. Then she got choked out. In between this she executed some offense really poorly. It was not the best moment for the champions of barrier breaking, intergender wrestling. So all things considered I was pleasantly surprised by this match. Saturyne looked much better than she did at KoT, which is not really saying much. But the real star here was Coronado as he based really well for Saturyne's hyperactive offense, a lot of which really did not look all that sharp. Coronado had no problem spiking himself on a bulldog and working himself into position for spots that easily could have been a disaster. Saturyne's unprovoked dive on Herbert (hate crime?) looked pretty poor, but aside from that her offense came across pretty as sloppy, but impactful, largely due to Coronado. The guy can eat and a kick and threw some pretty good kicks too. I would have liked to see a more fierce heel control segment and it seemed to me that they were going out of their way to make Saturyne look vastly more skilled than Coronado. But the match we got was better than I would have guessed. Tommy Dreamer/Hale Collins v. Vik Dalisush/Ben Ortiz Dreamer brought in a lot of randoms on his first House of Hardcore show, so I got myself really excited by the idea of Ricky Ortiz/Tommy Dreamer matches built around the rally towel. I was seriously disappointed when I saw that I had read in "Ricky" instead of "Ben." A dream for another day perhaps. Apparently this is Ben's first match and Dreamer felt the need to put him over as a judo guy pre-match...okay. He ended up being a big hoss that almost killed Dreamer with a delayed brainbuster and a hit a decent suplex on Collins later. This match was over with the live crowd and alternated between bowling shoe ugly and perfectly fine. I liked Vic's big bump that set up the finish. Short enough to be inoffensive, but definitely something you would skip if you were cherry picking. Ethan Page v. Josh Alexander Alexander is a Toronto guy that my comrade Dave Musgrave is high on and I've enjoyed what I've been able to find on youtube. This was really a showcase match for him as an offensive dynamo and to that end it was basically a success. I'm not sure it was a very good match and I thought Page looked really lost at times. But Alexander's big forearms looked great, his dive onto the back was an example of an innovative move that actually looked neat and his big power offense spots were all impressive. Kind of odd that the people criticizing the Resistance Pro match from the night show, had nothing to say about the man on woman violence in the finish here, but more on that later. Arik Royal/Chiva Kid v. Ric Converse/Trevor Lee This is the match that was getting all of the hype so I was interested to see it. I have thought about taking the trip up to see CWF Mid-Atlantic live before so this was sort of a test to see if it is worth my time. Watching this the impression I got is that one of their shows would be a ton of fun live, but it didn't make me want to go out and watch a ton of stuff from the promotion on youtube, other than Chiva Kid. Really this match was all about Chiva Kid. I thought Converse was solid as the old vet and Lee took a really great face plant bump and hit a couple of cool cutoff spots. Royal comes across as a poor man's Willie Mack, but I didn't think he looked bad. Still the match was pimped as a star making performance from Kid and that's basically what it was. The funny thing is Kid really didn't get that much in, but what he did was so dynamic that it was bound to steal the show. Really sharp at getting over for these snap rana variations, explosive dives and of course the big double rotation moonsault finish. I think Lee deserves a lot of credit for the way he based for some of this, but Kid does have charisma and it comes through in the ring. Not sure that look is conducive to being a huge player, but this was the first time since Amazing Red popped on the scene where the hype of a flyer came close to matching the reality. Having said that as a match I didn't think it was particularly great, there was one extremely cooperative, "let's take turns" sequence and it needed more time to really develop. So yeah Chiva Kid should get more bookings, but I'm not buying this as a great match or even close to it. The Latino Dragon v. Rory Mondo v. Matt Tremont I like Tremont a lot as a death match guy. He just looks the part, sort of inheriting the mantle from Nick Gage, of scummy, dollar store employee, who enjoys stabbing people to take out his frustrations on the world. Don't know a ton about the other two, but for a three way spotfest of it's kind I thought this mostly delivered. There was some sloppiness, but it was the sort of sloppiness that seemed to fit a CZW match, with personalities this different. Tremont's run of face washes, the dives from the other two and Tremont's huge bump off the apron on the suplex all looked really good. I also thought the finish, with Tremont hitting the big frog splash on both guys before the spinning powerbomb was totally believable. I wouldn't go out of my way to watch this or anything, but I have a more positive view of Tremont after it than I did going in. Colt Cabana v. Mike Quackenbush When this match was about working counters it was pretty decent. The problem is that this is stuff being sold as novel which we have all seen before many times. You can get around that if it is bridged with interesting transitions to different things, but this match was basically schtick/comedy and played out novelty. I didn't think it was bad and I actually liked the finish, which was something that was shit on by a lot of people. But both of these guys could do better than this even with the time restraints. Sugar Dunkerton/Aaron Epic v. Eric Corvis/Chris Dickinson I don't really give a shit about any of these guys and Beyond is usually a promotion with your nutty spotfest that deliver for what they are. So I was pretty surprised to see this as a fairly well structured tag match, that incorporated the big spots in an extremely logical fashion....or at least the first part of this was like that. Epic allows himself to get rag dolled and fucked up by a variety of strikes and power spots from the heels. Dunkerton gets fucking crushed by a suplex on the floor that sees his leg smash the guardrail and they play Epic in isolation for a while. Epic gets the tag and I figured they were going to go to a second FIP like this was an 85 AWA tag match. But instead they go into a strike exchange that Dunkerton wins. And then this sort of devolves into your "all four guys in the ring doing big offensive spots" garbage and then it just sort of ends in a way that was out of the blue. Well, I tried to like this. Oliver Grimsly v. Jojo Bravo v. Shane Hollister v. Too Cold Scorpio As a match this was an odd combination of stuff. I get that the goal was to showcase a lot of different guys, but not sure titty twisters and random valet interference were needed to achieve that goal. I was mainly interested in this to see Scorp and I think he was clearly the best guy in the match. Unfortunately the worst guy in the match was probably Grimsly and he's the one that made it to the end against Scorp. Scorp sold well for most of this and all of his offense continues to look really sharp for a guy any age, let alone his age (and size). Hollister was working a superkick gimmick and Bravo seemed to be a guy that could be really fun in a more athletic Colin Delaney way. This was okay, but I'm not a huge fan of "throw shit at the wall" style matches and this definitely qualifies. Dr. Cube/Sekmet v. American Beetle/Neo Teppen I can't even explain this. This was like GWAR v. teenage Chuck E. Cheese employees in their costumes, with all parties on mescaline and Mr. Bungle playing in the background. For some reason a cinderblock was involved and Gavin Loudspeaker was commenting on things over the PA system. I don't even know that you could call this comedy wrestling. It's something entirely different. Drew Gulak v. Francis O'Rourke There were things about this I did not like, namely some stuff toward the middle of the match that felt really "your turn, my turn"ish. And Gulak surviving that top rope suplex is fucking ridiculous. But I did think they worked some fun call back spots, I liked the opening mat stuff more than most of the opening work in any of the other matches and I thought they at least included elements of struggle even on the spots that were obviously less than organic. I wasn't in love with this match, and I'm not sure it was in the right slot on the card (really what could follow Kaiju?), but for matches of this style it was watchable. Surfer Mitch v. ACH v. Lukas Sharp v. Bolt Brady Sharp was there and Bolt Brady looked fucking terrible in this. For a guy with knee based offense it helps if it looks like it connects. Surfer Mitch was more hit or miss. Some of his stuff looked really impressive, some not so much. The star was ACH. Not only is the guy incredible charismatic, but he really is a guy that knows how to integrate his big spots into a match in a meaningful way. He started off the crazy dive sequence early and his selling of Mitch's offense before the big finish, really put over his flash comeback as something extremely significant. The match itself had more internal logic than the other four-way, but it also had sloppier work. Overall the show was okay but even watching it now while doing other things it felt really long. The original plan was to watch both shows back to back but there is no way in hell I'm doing that even though I want to see ACH v. Scorp. There were several individuals that looked good on the show, but I'm not sure there were even four matches on the show I would call good, and I'm a guy who often gets accused of using that term liberally.

I was 90% sure Bull Pain was one of them. Where else did Moran work?

I'm sure google could answer this, but who were the Texas Hangmen in PR?

Valentine/Tito feud SMOKES Jake/Steamboat

Terry Funk v. Carlos Colon - 9/21/86 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TodbDQ85q4Q I've seen this many times and still really enjoy it. I don't know if we get the best of Colon here, but I think that's largely because this was Terry doing his PR thing and that doesn't necessarily play to Colon's strengths. Lots of stumbling Funk, Funk throwing chairs, Funk falling over chairs, Funk taking comedic bumps, Funk punching, et. I really love the spot with Funk alternating between a hair pull assisted sleeper and a blatant choke, which he switches up depending on the positioning of the ref. The camera work on the piledrivers and nut shot was pretty poor, which is too bad. Funk selling the leg on the suplex is cool and I like how Dory's run-in was a way of setting up parity for the headbutt-a-thon that led to the finish. This is not a great match, but Funk in PR is an act I find really entertaining. Carlos Colon v. Abdullah The Butcher - 9/20/86 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9uMNSK1e1Y This isn't the 91 match but few things are. On the other hand this was what you expect from Colon and Abby - guys getting stabbed and bleeding. This wasn't a match filled with little touches. It was Colon selling an ass beating and then delivering on one. Abby seemed to really have his working shoes on here as his selling of the big shots was great, he did a great see-saw spot in the ropes teasing a bump to the floor and took a monkey flip and a suplex. I also really liked the camera catching Gary Hart pass the foreign object to Abby for his last gasp. Colon ends up winning by stabbing, which is the only way a match between these two should end. This didn't have floor brawling, but it got better as it went along and had me really hooked by the end. Carlos Colon v. Abdullah The Butcher - ? I think this is from 1988 but I'm not positive. This is much crazier than the previous match I watched as Colon tries to ambush Abby on the floor and gets attacked with a 2X4. Colon is a bloody mess seconds in and Abby keeps it up, beating him with a camera of all things. Colon fights back with a huge metal trash can. In the ring Colon starts to make his comeback and Abby cuts him off with the really brutal looking shot from the fork. Lots of sick shots, some rapid fire, some scrapes across the head, some with the object tearing at Colon's mouth. Carlos is able to fight back, biting and stiffing Abby with punches, but when he brings Chicky Starr into the ring, Abby throws powder in his eyes and the match gets tossed out. Good shit while it lasted. Carlos Colon v. Abdullah The Butcher - 9/21/85 This will be my last Colon v. Abby match of the night, but it's got the best opening one could ever hope for as Abby is managed by red tux JJ Dillon and Colon comes out to "We Are The World." This is not as wild as the second match and was worked opposite of the first match with Colon on offense first and Abby following from behind. This did include some pretty good bumps from Abby and Colon really brought out a lot of offense for a match that was basically a bloodbath. JJ ended up getting busted open and then Abby and Carlos brawled off camera into a crazed crowd. I liked this, but which we could have gotten a closer look at the ending brawl.

This is an aside but the last time I remember a junior having a real buzz surround him was with Minoru Tanaka. Obviously I'm talking about within "my circle" when I say that, but that's still a long time. And I really can't think of anyone I'm forgetting.

Ask Scott Hudson who his favorite Worldwide undercarders were.

Dusty Rhodes v. Ric Flair - ? This was about the perfect length for these two, included all the staples and was a very good match. I'm not sure any sort of real review is necessary because people know what these guys are going to do. Still this had some nice touches like Flair picking up a thrown item to use as a weapon to gain an advantage and Dusty missing an early elbow attempt to Flair's leg which played into the armwork Flair had been doing. Dusty's jabs looked really outstanding in this and the big comeback and nut shot from Dusty got over huge with the crowd. You knew this was going to some sort of bullshit finish, but it was a hell of a lot of fun in getting to that point and this made me want to go back and watch more Dusty/Flair matches. The Sheepherders v. The Invaders - 7/86 Outstanding tag match, largely because it build logically and organically. It started with the general babyface control spots from the Invaders, working the arm. All standard, but well executed, with the Herders selling everything well. They take over with the old knee to the back off of the criss cross and they controlled the match with punches and cheating. Really liked some of the fist drops and there was one really strong cut off spot. Off the hot tag it looks like things might change up, but instead we get a really compelling final portion of the match as one of the Invader's gets bumped to the floor and another gets isolated. This "go it alone" theme sort of dominates from that point forward with each guy trying to save the other and failing. There is another great cut off on a double crotch spot from the Herders and all of the stuff with the foreign object and flagpole DQ finish was really well pieced together. Post-match flagpole shot to the arm looked absolutely brutal to. I like matches that escalate from one stage to the next, so this was a home run. Bruiser Brody v. Dory Funk Jr. - 2/88 This is my gift to John Williams. Thank you John for providing me with the back story and history of AJPW half a life time ago when I was a kid looking to discover new things (that sounds mildly perverse). Now let me return the favor by viewing this classic encounter between your two all time favorites. You know what? These two should have only been allowed to wrestle each other, because they had that miracle on the AJPW Set and this was actually an entertaining brawl. Brody even sells a fair amount in this and the bit with Brody destroying the wooden chair and Dory using piece of it to go all Sheik on Brody was pretty clever. I'm not really sure how well Brody getting stabbed in stomach in PR match in 1988 ages, but this was solid stuff really. Both guys took some big bumps by their standards and I even sort of liked the finish. Completely painless and actually pretty good all things considered. Huracan Castillo Jr./Ricky Santana vs. El Exotico/Dan Kroffat - 3/89 I am not sure if Castillo and Santana are your PR equivalent of blowjob babyface team, but Exotico/Kroffat are Memphis as fuck in this. Tons of misdirection, mistimed, accidentally hitting each other, bitching at each other, stooging spots and they all work really well. Exotico looks and acts like a Latin Billy Joe Travis which is a major plus. The faces take a big bulk of this, but it's done smartly so that it doesn't come across like they are eating the match alive. I really liked a lot of the offense in this as well. Castillo hit some cool suplex variations and a tope, Kroffat does his flashy stuff, Exotico brings a nice splash and Santana throws some sweet chops and cuts off a slow motion Kroffat spinkick with a really nice shinbuster. That one in particular was done seamlessly and looked great. Kroffat also took some really sweet bumps in this, getting height on a face plant and running right through a bit lariat. Finishing spot with the dropkdown/splash combo was perfectly executed. This was kind of like your RnR's v. Nasty Boys match from the AWA Set. The Batten Twins v. Miguel Perez Jr./Huracan Castillo Jr. - 7/89 Sub-ten minute match, but they cram in a bunch of stuff to make it exciting and interesting. The Batten's take a bunch of wild bumps in the early going, crashing into the boards with great velocity. When they take over it is really basic stuff, but well structured and watching mulletted rednecks dance taunting jigs is always a plus. I didn't know the back story here with the seconds and don't understand why they were allowed to run into the ring wildly near the finish, but I guess in PR violence is the only rule that really matters. This was sufficiently violent and the finish worked okay for what they were shooting for. I really liked the first 2/3rds of this. Final third was okay, but didn't blow me away. The Invaders v. Ron/Chicky Starr - 1986 (?) Really strange finish as they go to a time limit draw out of nowhere. Up until that point this is a good match as the Invaders dominate early, Chicky takes some big bumps and I love the foreign object stuff. The heels end up going for a Hart Attack clothesline down the stretch that is flubbed in such a way that it actually looks far more brutal then normal. Then Ron hits this really stiff jumping DDT and the match is over. Very WWFish with the faces being saved by the bell. Odd. The Invaders v. Ron/Chicky Starr - 5/25/88 This is a studio match so that's kind of neat. Ron Starr is a couple of years older here and looks like, fat old man Jacques Rougeau. The opening goes about like you think with the Starr's bumping around and getting there ass kicked. Then they take over by twisting and yanking at the mask of Invader 1. They aren't trying to unmask him, but instead are trying to blind him so that they can get in their licks against a defenseless man. Eventually he has enough and rips his own mask off and the fight is back on. The faces bust open the heels and have them reeling, when Ron pulls down the rope on Invader 1 and fucking destroys him with a chair. He's laying in a thick pile of blood on the floor and then the Starr's hop in the ring and beat the piss out of Invader 3 with a chair. The match gets tossed out and Colon comes out for the save and they beat his ass with the chair too. The match itself was solid, but the angle really got this over as a big moment and it was cool to see the heels lay all the big stars to waste. Invader 1 v. Ron Starr - 9/86 Ron Starr's look here is classic. Kind of like Van Hammer dressing up as a GI Joe character. I also loved how he kept posturing early like he was a tough motherfucker, and then backing off in fear every time Invader closed space or bumped him around. Starr also worked really tight with his forearms and early there were a couple of really cool exchanges, including a flash arm whip/escape thingie from Invader and Starr doing this great leaping stomp to the head of Invader on a drop down rope running exchange. I know that sounds really simple, but it was done in such a way where it looked like he was going to go with the flow, then caught himself and just dropped the bomb instead. Invader ends up on the floor and this woman dressed to the nines, with Glamour Shots hair runs from the back, decks Invader with a wooden chair and busts him open. Invader is really awesome here stumbling around with this concussed look in his eye, dripping blood and collapsing into a pile of chairs. Invader struggles back into the ring, leaving behind a massive mess of chairs that was the front row and this turns into a great slugfest. Invader is chucking out huge forearms and Starr fights back with jabs right to the cut. Then Invader throws this wild lariat, followed shortly after by a double lariat that knocked both guys out. This led to a lengthy parity exchange with both guys barely evading big blows from the other. Invader ends up going for a big crossbody counter, but Starr gets out of the way and crushes him with a big jumping DDT for the decisive finish. This was pretty awesome. Ron Starr v. Invader 1 - Street Fight 1986 Wild, all over the ball park brawl. They go way up into the stands and fight among the people for several minutes. Starr ends up sprinting away from him and they go to a wild exchange with both guys brawling on the a dugout and Starr whipping Invader with a weight belt. Then they brawl on the camera stand which leads to a hilarious scramble as the camera guy tries to figure out how the fuck to get a shot. Both guys bleed and look exhausted, but Starr keeps at it with the belt. When Invader gets the upperhand again he tries to climb up the netting behind the backstop which I thought was hysterical. Back in the ring Starr takes control and hits a nice butterfly suplex and a senton, but takes a nut shot on a second senton attempt. Then we get a shit finish with both guys failing to make a ten count. Really fun stuff over all. Super Black Ninja v. Invader 1 - Street Fight 1988 What a nutty brawl this was. Invader 1 is wearing the mask here and blades early on and Muta targets the fuck out of it throughout. Seriously Invader's mask is just coated with blood for almost the entirety of the match. For his trouble Muta eats a huge chair shot early and takes some wild bumps where he flings himself into people and objects on the floor with abandon. They choke each other and beat each other with one of Muta's shoes. There is this great spot where Invader is hoping to make a big comeback and Muta does this sliding kick to his nuts with his shoe less foot. Cool spot with Muta choking him out with a mic chord and hitting a sweet looking moonsault for a near fall. Crazy spot with both guys flying over the top, then Invader starts beating Muta with a belt. Invader makes a run and then they go into a great segment where each guy chops the other down and they do strike exchanges from their knees covered in blood. Muta's second tries to give him the upper hand, but Invader hits Muta with a suitcase and pins him. Post-match Bobby Jaggers shows up and picks the bones of the injured Invader. Really exciting brawl, that was given enough time to tell a story too.