Dylan Waco

The Sheepherders v. Carlos Colon/Invader 1 - Ambulance Match 8/86 This is just totally crazy. I've seen a shitload of matches from all styles of promotions from all corners of the earth. Not sure I've ever seen anything like this. It was almost as if they took some of the more ridiculous elements of WWE Attitude Era, mixed them with Memphis and then held the match in a giant stadium in front of 80's era Texas fans. Historically I have been indifferent to the Herders, but this is there sort of match as this is just a burst of energy and blood and guys getting hit with foreign objects that look really dangerous and silly at the same time and yet I have no clue what the fuck they are. One of them looked like a bar of soap. Another looked like a solid roll of duct tape and that's what busted Invader open. Well that are the post shot he took which looked amazing. Colon decides to hit a picture perfect dropkick of all things in the middle of this and later smashes the head of one of the Herders on a table. About a half dozen fans reach over and slap at the heel, almost like they are doing a localized version of the wave, with the end game to tsunami crush the head of a Kiwi. Of course they are nearly beaten by one of the PR's resident shock troops. Somehow the lesson to be learned here was that they needed to brawl into the crowd, which is about one wrong move away from turning into a massive stampede/multiple deaths. Meanwhile during all of this Miguel Perez Jr (I think) keeps running into the ring with a glove and throwing kidney shots at Luke Williams. I have no clue what the glove is supposed to represent as it doesn't look particularly dangerous, but does look like something a trash collecting beekeeper would wear. Apparently it is made of steel because Luke Williams is near dead and a doctor gets called in to check on him as the faces continue to kick the shit out of him for several more minutes. They finally drag him out on a stretcher, through a crowd that is totally out of control and looks to be attempting to tip the stretcher at some points. The ambulance is pulled up in the in field and the faces look like they are still trying to get into it for more shots, when it pulls away while fans climb/ride it. Anyhow, this was completely awesome.

The Cage Match had great psychology and an awesome finish.

The Funk Brothers/Ron Starr v. The Invaders/Mil Mascaras - 12/86 This is a completely absurd match that somehow works. The babyfaces take about 80% of this. The opening arm work on Dory Funk is actually pretty good and Dory takes some nice bumps but he has the shittiest facials I've ever seen in wrestling. He looks absolutely bored by everything that is going on. Still you've got Terry complaining from the apron as the faces work heel tactics. Then Terry comes in and demands a boxing match. He alternates between stalling, positioning the ref in the corner and dancing around in his boxing stance, then gets punched a few times and takes this twisted delayed bump to the mat. He is in 100 percent cartoon mode and I love it. The heel team consists of two former NWA World Champs and the first guy to get any offense is former Richard Simmons look-a-like, now "Rambo" devotee Ron Starr. Unbelievable. Then Dory actually sets up Terry's offensive contribution, which consists entirely of choking with his wrist tape. The faces make their big comeback after maybe two minutes of heel offense and chase the heels around, including Funk getting strangled with his own tape as the match gets thrown out. I have no clue how this worked but it did. The Invaders v. The Sheepherders - Barbed Wire Match 8 or 9/85? The Invaders get this insanely grandiose entrance and it's like the crowd is almost annoyed by it. I have never seen a PR crowd more lukewarm to their heroes than this. I guess it could be the mic'ing, but it actually hurts the match some as it's a pretty insane - but messy - brawl that needed a bit more pop to be a truly great match. Having said that, after a somewhat iffy start, I really liked this. I really like the way the PR barbed wire matches are set up as it allows for simple, but brutal looking spots like the faces getting caught between the ring ropes and the outer layer of wire, but also allows for the heels to stooge/sell the gimmick by bumping into the ropes and giving these big expressive responses to everything. There are some really nice little touches in this including a sick camera shot of an Invader mask/head being barbed to death, an Invader getting tied into the tree of woe, with one leg tucked under the wire as a means of isolation and a cool moment where Butch Miller is about to eat a fall and Luke Williams who is on his knees getting his ass kicked also just reaches over and decks Invader in the face to break up the fall. Plenty of blood, violence, trash getting thrown in the ring and a decent pop when the Invaders win. Ricky Santana v. Bobby Jaggers - Bull Rope Match 10/8/88 Apparently Ricky Santana almost bleeds to death in every match. You would not know that from watching Cuban Connection v. Nasty Boys matches, but there you go. This was actually a really fun little Bull Rope Match. Nothing super spectacular, but both guys bleed, there is some skin carving with the bell, some belt shots and some choking. Santana making his big comeback via nutshot is as Puerto Rico as it gets. I really liked Santana's desperation resistance spots when Jaggers was going for the corner touches early on. I also thought it was fucking hysterical that Jaggers won via nut shot and then kicked the shit out of the ref so he could hang Santana post-match. Maybe a little on the short side, but thoroughly entertaining. Ricky Santana v. Bobby Jaggers - Texas Death Match 1988 For a ten minute Texas Death match, that was relatively timid in terms of violence, and had a weird finish, I liked this an awful lot. It's really the inverse of the bullrope match as Santana shocks Jaggers seconds in, winning a punch exchange and then scoring a quick fall with a sunset flip of all things. This is silly in theory, but it was cool as it set the ton of the match and Santana taking a fall wearing that Balki style jacket was awesome. Then he takes another fall with a big piledriver. Jaggers fights up and he bloodies Bobby badly and takes another fall. You start to see that Jaggers is on the ropes and he makes a big comeback with some great punches. This is basic stuff, but very well executed and Jaggers has a variety of nasty shots he delivers. He eventually takes a fall on Santana. Santana fight his way back up and Jaggers goes for the killshot off the ropes, but gets caught with a punch and a neckbreaker for a quick fall. Both guys fight back up and then it's double lariat time. This is sort of the opposite of the awful finish to La Fiera/Estrada, in that they milk the double knockdown and Ricky slowly makes his way up, holding onto the ref for balance to win. Really good match. Rock N Roll Express v. The Kansas Jayhawks Pretty good, but fairly short, Southern tag. Kroffat with blonde hair is hard to get used to, but I thought he added a lot to this as "flashy heel, who gets outclassed by flashier babyfaces" is one of my favorite things in wrestling when done well. Really both heels were really good playing the fool for the face shine and Morton in peril is almost never less than solid. This lacked the super high tension you want out of a truly great tag match, but there were several good spots and it was well structured. On the other hand the finish pretty much sucked. The Road Warriors v. The Funk Brothers - 9/30/87 This was a tremendous spectacle. The Funks come out to a ludicrously overdubbed "Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" and Terry is completely out of his mind. He's running up in the crowd trying to fight fans, egging them on as they throw shit, heaving chairs into the ring, et. Roadies come out to Iron Man and the fight is on. It's actually surprising how giving Hawk was as he actually worked in peril for a while, took a couple of big bumps and even pulled out a Ricky Morton style hope spot on the floor. Terry ended up ripping the string out of his tights to choke Hawk, who reversed it to turn the tide. Animal came in and hit his big athletic spots, then old ass Dory took a modified Devastation Device, but Terry crushed them with a chairshot to break it up and get the match tossed out. Post-match we got an awesome dueling wood chairs spot with Hawk and Terry. This isn't a great match, or even close to it, but it's the sort of match that I could watch a hundred times and never get sick of. Ricky Santana v. Eric Embry - 1989 This was respectable but disappointing. Both guys were better workers at this point in their careers than this match lets on, though to be fair Embry looked really good. Santana was more or less going through the motions I thought. Embry's offensive run, with the brawling on the floor and the diving clothesline was probably the best of the match, though there was nothing bad. Perfectly fine match, that could have been better. Super Black Ninja v. Invader 1 - Cage Match 1988 This is brief, but very effective over all. Super Black Ninja is Muta and you pretty much get the Muta you expect from this era, sans a moonsault. Invader gets bumped big into the cage early and works virtually the entire match on the defensive, with his mask ripped awkwardly and a bloody head peaking out. There is one really awesome hope spot early where he fights all the way back and delivers one huge chop, but has absolutely nothing left to follow up with. Ninja keeps trying to escape to win and Invader makes these desperate saves clutching at his feet. Invader finally makes his comeback and bumps Ninja big time into the cage busting him open. Ninja even ends up crotching himself on the top rope. Ninja is able to counter with a dropkick, but it drives Invader out of the ring door and he wins the match and the title. Not long enough to be great, but this was both novel and good.

I can't find Henry v. Goldberg anywhere online and it's pissing me off. I really wanted to watch it last night.

Would love for you to get back in the groove of things watching the WWF stuff John. That thread is great reading and a very good resource tool. I'm not nearly as detailed here, but hopefully this can serve a similar purpose.

I'll bite that bullet sooner or later

TNT v. Terry Funk -1988 I enjoyed this, and it was a fun match, but I'm not sure it was really any good. This is all about the PR version of Funk which is over the top bumping and chickenshit chaos. He takes about three or four totally absurd bumps in this, spends the whole match running around and then it gets tossed out right at the five minute mark. Funk selling by dry humping the ground was highly amusing and kind of worked - Terry really obviously telegraphing another bump? Not so much. The Kansas Jayhawks v. Huracan Castillo Jr./Miguel Perez Jr. - Double Dog Collar Match 10/88 Man this was really short and in some ways disappointing. In my head I had built this up as a wild, crazy, out of control brawl. Instead it was a five minute match that took a couple of minutes to get started. On the other hand when this did get started it was exactly what you want - four guys punching each other, bleeding and looking utterly helpless when on the defensive. I also thought the finish with the chain being used to assist a cradle was clever in the good way and the look on the Jayhawks face post-match was pretty great. Super Medico v. The White Knight - 9/19/86 This is a match between two guys in long white trunks and completely white masks with totally different gimmicks. Kind of a strange match in that there wasn't a lot that was done and a few restholds that lasted for while, but the atmosphere remained electric throughout and the hope spots and cut offs were a lot of fun (and simple). The highlight of the match might have actually been the opening punch exchange which sounds like light praise, but it was pretty awesome. There were a couple of cool rope running spots and I actually thought this was one of the better executed multiple ref bump sequences I've ever seen. In many ways this is very subdued match, but I really enjoyed it.

I need to go back and watch the 2008 and 2006 runs before I would feel comfortable making a list. 2011 the Bryan Cage Match, the Orton Cell match, the title win over Orton, the barricade match with Sheamus, and the Show broken ring match all stand out off the top of my head. Last year he had the awesome tv match with Punk. But my memory is lots of good tv stuff from 06 and 08 too. I watched a street fight he had from 03 with Booker T this morning. It's really short, but Henry is pretty awesome in the match working strongman prop destruction spots and putting over Booker's offense before beating him decisively.

Lots of black and whites throughout and some really good color shots as well.

That's what I thought. I would guess Raymond Rougeau should get in the discussion somewhere. Ray was really good in Montreal, to the point where if he worked like that everywhere and we had more footage we'd be talking about him as an equal of Martel.

Chicky Starr v. Invader 3 - Axhandle On A Pole 1988 This was nowhere near as good as their scaffold match, but I wouldn't hesitate to call it good. In some ways this reminded me a lot of an Assassin v. Curt Hennig Coal Miner's Glove match from Portland which is built all around pole climbing spots. On one level I can see some finding that tedious, but on another it makes sense and as is always the case with PR it gets over the gimmick. Really loved the spot with Invader trying to use Chicky as a jungle gym apparatus to get a shot at the stick. I thought the spot with Chicky getting the stick and then having it wrestled away from him was well done. Finish wasn't satisfying but based on what I'd seen others say about it I was expecting a lot worse.

Not really. HHH has a very active role, but Vince is still at tv every week and runs most aspects of the show by all accounts

3/13/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel Hulk Hogan & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Bobby Heenan & Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke Brad Rheingans beat John Tolos Curt Hennig beat Jacques Goulet Steve Regal drew Buck Zumhofe Based on that match listing the order is correct. Also based on the listing that is the epitome of a three match show

There are three top ten contenders in that batch. I am tempted to call out of work and call in

I know that Martel/Buddy match shoe is talking about and it is outstanding and possibly Buddy's best singles match. But the 8/2/80 Rose/Wiskowski v. Martel/Piper match might be even better and is one of the best tag matches I've ever seen

Excluding 90's matches, Portland (because it will be on a set very soon) and WWF stuff in general.... There is a solid Hansen sprint from AWA, a good match v. Larry Z from Winnipeg, a solid match v. Jimmy Garvin, a good tag match with Hennig v. The Freebirds, another good Zhukov match and a good match v. Billy Robinson from Winnipeg. From Montreal there are some things that might eventually make an 80's set including with Bravo v. The Roadies, another Garvin match, w/Bravo v. Sheik Ali/Jimmy Garvin, v. Sheik Ali. Possibly some other stuff I haven't gotten too.

Colon was pretty great through at least 92 from what I can tell. I had always heard he was a pretty crappy and/or boring wrestler. I've watched some Colon matches before but not much until recently. It's pretty crazy how good he is. I'm trying not to overrate him because he's "new" to me, but the guy really has blown me away. Also would love for someone to chime in on the Onita comp.

Carlos Colon v. Jason The Terrible - Barbed Wire Match 1989 There is no date listed other than 89 which may or may not be right. I have enjoyed Jason in the Stampede I've watched, but he annoys me early in this with some really weak looking strikes. Thankfully this picks up because Colon is Colon and he will bleed and sell his ass off to get a gimmick match over. He takes some headbutts from the mask, barbs in the head and there is a great camera shot of the barbs pressing into his back. Still I was fairly lukewarm on this until the big Colon comeback. He just unloads on Jason with these really stiff looking forearms, then rips his mask off and crushes him with masked headbutts until he busts him open. To Jason's credit he takes a lot of bumps into the barbed ropes, including a cool spot with Colon dropkicking him into the wire. Colon also threw a dropkick with the mask on which was fucking hysterical to me for some reason. Jason has another flurry, including a nice diving knee, but this is all about Colon fired up as hell, the crowd going batshit and Chicky Starr being chased to the back. There was also a super clever spot out of the figure-four with Jason reversing a really cinching in so Colon reaches up and pushes off of the ref to rock him back into position. Jason's face looks like the cover of a Fangoria magazine by the time this is over and despite starting slow this delivered.

Martel is a rare case of a guy who's WWF tag work I really want to explore. I have liked the Strike Force I have watched in the last calendar year and the Martel/Garea. Seems like guy who probably has a lot more good performances than we know

Ricky Santana v. Mr. Pogo - 9/10/88 It's really weird to see Pogo without his sickle, in a match without sharp objects or blading. This was basic, but in good way. Solid, well executed match. Pogo isn't super mobile here, but he comes across as a guy who could deliver big shots when he needed to and his offense is more varied than I remembered. Santana is a good babyface, with the right look and style for the era. Highlights were Pogo and Santana splatting on splash attempts, and Pogo's attempted senton where he landed nut first on Ricky's knees. Sunset flip finish is so 80's. Wrestling needs more matches like this. Rock N Roll Express v. Ninja Express Ninja Express is Pogo and Nagasaki. Technically there was nothing wrong with this, and individually everyone looked fine, but this was as heatless and boring an RnR's match as I've ever seen. I think the highlight was watching Ricky Morton use the a karate stance-backfist several times, presumably because he was wrestling Asians. Hot tag was weak and the finish was trash too. One of the worst things I've watched so far.

Musgrave is always that funny, sadly I am always that much of a loudmouth

Man I really want to hear this now. Adonis v. Hogan is sort of the anti-Blackwell v. Hansen in that I liked it a lot more on first watch than when I rewatched the completed set (I also watched it REALLY early in the nominations process). It won't be last on my ballot, but it will probably be bottom ten

It's what I've been discussing from the jump

Publicly aspiring to be a comedy mid-cad act is not going to win you points with Vince and the gang. Whether or not that is right or wrong is irrelevant to him getting back into the big leagues and lasting there. On Santino he's perfectly serviceable in his role and there was a period last year where he was putting on enjoyable performances as the underdog survivor. I wouldn't tout him as some sort of incredible worker, but I don't think he's even close to awful. More importantly every non-wrestling fan I know that has caught his act has loved it, to the point where I have non-wrestling fan friends who will go out of their way to watch bits of his on youtube if my wife talks them up as she occasionally does. And Cabana's routine is easily as "bad" as Santino's at this point.

Watching more and more, at this point it feels safe to call Colon great, one of the most unappreciated in ring talents of all time, and an absolute top tier brawler of all time. Not sure I've ever seen a better babyface at working gimmick matches either. Comparing him to Michaels/Edge really doesn't do him justice. In many ways he's more comparable to Cena and dare I say it Lawler (it's WAY too premature to put him at Lawler's level, but I think he's closer to Lawler than Michaels). Really its a shame Puerto Rico wrestling isn't talked about more as it was a vibrant territory and I've watched a ton of good matches over the last week or two, with several easily falling into "great" category. If I were doing a top hundred again Colon would easily make my ballot at this point and would probably do very well on it.