JerryvonKramer

Let's analyse this briefly: New Japan tour Boston Feb 11th - Iron Sheik Philly Feb 18th - Masked Superstar MSG Feb 20th - Paul Orndorff Pittsburgh Feb 24th - Iron Sheik LA Feb 25th - Masked Superstar St. Louis March 2nd - Big John Studd Baltimore March 3rd - Paul Orndorff Landover March 4th - Iron Sheik Salisbury March 5th - David Schultz Altoon March 8th - David Schultz Sacramento March 9th - Big John Studd LA March 10th - Iron Sheik East Rutherford March 11th - David Schultz Boston March 17th - David Schultz St. Louis March 23rd - Big John Studd LA March 24th - David Schultz MSG March 25th - no match Philly March 31st - no match Utica April 1st - Afa Buffalo April 2nd - Sika St. Louis April 6th - Big John Studd Altoon April 7th - Paul Orndorff Johnstown April 8th - David Scultz Detroit April 13th - David Scultz Boston April 14th - no match Dayton April 15th - Paul Orndorff Cincinnati April 16th - Greg Valentine MSG April 23rd - no match Pittsburgh April 27th - no match Baltimore April 28th - Greg Valentine Oakland April 30th - Tiger Chung Lee Shots with no dates: Binghamton (Afa), Iron Sheik (Erie), Niagra Falls (Paul Orndorff), Troy (David Schultz). Westchester County May 2nd - David Schultz Utica May 3rd - David Schultz Philly May 5th - Iron Sheik Hazleton May 6th - Paul Orndorff Then it's a New Japan tour. So in this period of three months or so: Iron Shiek - 6 matches. But notably, these are all big venues: Boston Gardens, Spectrum, LA, Cap Centre and a monster gate in Pittsburgh. Basically a return bout for the title in all the major markets. In March he transitions to Slaughter feud. Masked Superstar - 2 matches. My impression is that these bouts were a hold over and Hogan was simply plugging in for Backlund. Paul Orndorff - 6 matches. He has Hogan's only MSG match in this period, debuted the month before. Worked the previous month in Baltimore vs. Backlund. He's basically a midcard heel at this time, being managed by Piper and tagging with him or else having IC shots vs. Tito. He's a placeholder opponent on smaller shows. Big John Studd - 4 matches. For whatever reason Studd worked all three Kiel shows in St. Louis. Your old-fashioned three-match program in a big venue. The other date is a completely random incursion into Sacramento, for a small show, the first time WWF ever ran there. David Schultz - 10 matches. Clearly Hogan's "go to" opponent in this period and the most major program aside from Iron Shiek. Seems like Orndorff might have got injured and Schultz subbed which might have inflated the number a bit. Greg Valentine, Afa - 2 matches. Placeholder opponents. Along the lines of Bobby Duncum vs. Backlund. Sika, Tiger Chung Lee - 1 match. Ditto.

Really great post Jay. And I enjoyed the reasoning for Bret. Reading it though, I found myself thinking that you might say a lot of the same things about Misawa and I noticed he's not there while Kawada is. Any reason for that? The point about referencing past matches is something that is definitely there for him. As well as logical selling, etc. I do like your efforts to keep your list "honest" too, something I've also been striving towards. As I've watched more and more wrestling for GWE, I think I've developed a much more attuned feel for what I look for in guys. I knew instantly that Hase is someone that appealed to me. I also knew instantly that Hashimoto is going to be someone I'll struggle with more and who won't trouble my top 10. And we've all read and heard each other's stuff enough now where I reckon you could kinda predict the guys who will be higher on Hash and lower on, say, Kobashi. It's fun. Looking at my own Bret rating, I think I've been a bit stingy on peak. He was likely a top 30 worker earlier than 91.

Like I said Brain, different strokes. I love that Techwood studio and that whole show. The squash matches are generally a lot longer and more compelling than on other shows, especially WWF which would have very very short matches. JCP will give you jobbers who got in offense. More Rocky King and Mike Jackson types. I love "the world" of JCP in the 80s. I mean I love "the world" of WWF too, from literally 75 to 93. I love the worlds of Mid-South and to a slightly lesser extent Memphis and Houston too. I think it's kinda unique that you'd dislike the Crockett TV, not many hardcore fans in that boat. I basically loathe the babyface Hogan era WCW, if we ever get there in WTBBP, you'll probably hear a rant from me every show.

I had a line about Flair vs. South in my post originally but then took it out and made a bet with myself that whoever posted next would mention it. Sometimes it's the small things in life.

Some guys are 90s guys, some guys are 80s guys. Different strokes etc. I'd almost always take 86 Crockett TV over 95 WCW TV. Harley hasn't used a fisherman suplex in any of his matches pre-WWF that I've seen which is everything on tape upto 1983.

This is a bit random but I happened to see a Rock n Rolls match against the jobber duo of Thunderfoot and Jim Jeffers earlier. I thought it was faintly ridiculous to see the NWA World Tagteam champions giving a lengthy FIP segment to such lowly opposition. We praise Morton a lot for playing Ricky Morton but is it a legitimate knock against him that he sometimes played that role regardless of the context? I mean what is the point in making Jim Jeffers look good? Doesn't stuff like this make Morton a bit one dimensional?

I watched the Mid South from 82, the first Prime Time of 87, and the first NWA World Championship Wrestling show of 86. NWA was by far the best show, and by a long shot (so loaded with promo talent). Then MSW (was the one with Gorilla angle, great DiBiase promo as the "proto-Million Dollar Man" rat-pack leader). Then Prime Time (Heenan had a headache, random MSG matches including a decent Islanders vs Dream Team one and Tito vs. Jake), then the Nitro. I thought Eric Bishcoff was awful on Nitro and the whole thing was too much hard sell, inauthentic, fake seeming and generally second-rate try-hard stuff as a product. Hated the presentation. Only highlight was Hogan in that random restaurant shilling "Pastamania". Luger showdown with Hogan was very awkward. Edit: interestingly, Harley Race had squash matches on both the NWA and WWF shows. He busted out a fisherman suplex on the WWF squash which surprised me a bit. Don't recall him using it. The NWA squash was longer and he used several big bombs on the chubby jobber, Tony Zane. Made me wonder what he was doing in JCP in Jan of 86.

Just watched Nitro 1, really poor show. Next up, the Mid-South episode from 1982 on the network.

I'd like to know of the criteria that gets you Bret as #1. And what 2-20 looks like on a list like that.

Looks like I'm going to be the high vote on legendary NWA champion Harley Race.

I still maintain Kawada 93 match is the best one.

Yeah I had to get Best of WWF from a seller on eBay and they were something like 20th generation tape to tape copies. Same with SNME, I mentioned this in that thread recently. It's because the "boom" was slightly later here as I've mentioned in the past. However THIS tape was everywhere: I fully support Kelly developing that new show idea.

You know it's funny, the fact he was one of the knights and his 92 WCW run flashed through my mind as I was writing that, but the overall point was the same: the backbone of the roster had really changed.

Watching Hase in that match against Muta and he knocked me out and made me think "there's no way this guy isn't one of the best of all time". Let's call it "the Jim Breaks effect". It is rare, but it's enough to make me explore. Hiroshi Hase vs. Shinya Hashimoto (8/3/93) Opening matwork seems pretty ho-hum to me, with Hash controlling. Match really picks up when Hase gets in an awesome chop block on Hash's shin. Love the way he just lies on the mat looking up as Hash falls down like a tree. Cool moment. Hase then goes to work laser-like on the leg. He seems to have proper Arn Anderson psychology and applies it consistently. Wears Hash down with a series of leglocks and figure fours, until Hash comes back with some heavy kicks and seems to have him dominated, but Hase gets in a flash pin after a suplex. Really excellently layed out match, very smartly worked. Probably could cut the first five minutes or so of matwork, but after that it's great. Very promising start for my Hase run. **** Hiroshi Hase vs. Shinya Hashimoto (12/13/94) I can see this early matwork business is going to be a running theme. It was alright, it didn't bore me and seemed like it had purpose and struggle. I do wonder if having that opening tens mins on the mat feels a bit token: has done in these two matches. I did enjoy Hash using his fist to bash in Hase's knee though at around the 15 minute mark and then Hase went into an Indian deathlock sequence that was quite compelling. Still twenty minutes of matwork is pretty mat heavy. There is a clear logic to it: Hase wants to keep Hash grounded so he can't utilise his kicking strength. And, to that end, the second ten minutes were more engaging than the first ten minutes. Things start to get fun when they transition to the strikes. Some manly chops and I love Hash's face as he registers each of these slaps. He gets the better of it and levels Hase with a backbreaker. Bodyslam. Double stomp from the top rope right onto Hase's torso. Great selling from Hase. Hash dominates next few minutes. Hase comes back with a rock bottom and several huge chops. And a DDT from the top rope. And a swank suplex which I don't know the name of. Rear naked choke in the manner of Royce Gracie now. German suplex! Two only. Another cool suplex bridged back into a pin. Two only! DDT onto the back of the head by Hash cuts off this flurry. Spin kick. Release fisherman suplex! And that's three. Very hot finishing stretch to this one. I think I preferred the 93 match overall. Just a bit too long on the matwork even though it got better over twenty minutes. Hase was still great here throughout, Hash I felt didn't seem to wake up until they started busting out the strikes. As if Hase was literally slapping him awake. Very good, but not great. ***3/4 Hiroshi Hase vs. Jun Akiyama (1/5/98) Hase's tache is looking particularly awesome here. Interesting to see a NJ guy jump across to AJ at this time. This gets stiff early, which can only be a good thing. I really love Hase's character work. He's a real show man. I love it when he does something and looks pleased with himself. He is great at playing to the crowd. He has a little twinkle in his eye. Pretty rare quality in a Japanese worker. There are a lot of face slaps in this match and a real sense that they are testing each other's metal. Crowd is super duper into it. The suplex exchange at around the 17-minute mark is amazing and lifted by that crowd reaction. Lengthy mat section now but some cool moments especially when Hase appears to be doing press ups in a leglock! He's also constantly shouting and jawing at Akiyama and this is absolutely my idea of "compelling" work on the mat. I don't really give a shit about intricacies, what I really care about is the the will to win from both guys; and here it's very strong. Giant swing from Hase was awesome. Several cool suplex variations from Hase now including a full Nelson suplex bridged into a pin. All of them two counts. Very exciting. Crowd is red red hot on Akiyama's comeback and Hase really feels like a significant foe that he's overcome. A vanquished force. Awesome match, awesome wrestler. Akiyama didn't look bad either, but in this humble reviewer's view, this was the Hase show. ****1/2 Hiroshi Hase vs. Kenta Kobahsi (8/26/97) I'm taking it as a given that the first ten minutes of any and every Hase match is going to be worked on the mat, even if that's against Kobashi. But that's cool with me because his psychology is almost always on point, and every single one of these matches so far as built logically from matwork up through strikes to throws and a hot finish. To me, that's perfect match structure, it works as well as shine-heat-comeback-finish. I really enjoy the ferocity and force with which Hase hits his opponent in the face as he's applying a hold. Like Flair's chops it's a form of psyche out, a mental as well as a physical test. Kobashi, of course, is more than happy to meet him strike for strike and chops as hard as the best of them. The stiffness levels are off the charts here. Both guys can dish it out. Hase does the sort of submission work that a philistine like me can understand -- it's Arn Anderson-style limb focus done with a sense of intensity. I dig that type of work. It's also pretty cool to see him going into an environment like All Japan in 1997 and stubbornly working his own style. The strike exchanges in this match are as good as any I can recall seeing: up there with Garvin vs. Flair or Wahoo vs. Flair. Just so much ... EPICNESS in every chop. Kobashi tried a giant swing but can't really do it. Hase does one of his cool suplexes and then gives the crowd that knowing nod. Here's the giant swing. "That's how you do it!" Great moment now as Hase hits his flying body scissors into a leglock and he pulls on the same leg he's been focusing on all match: the left one. I can't think of a guy this side of Nick Bockwinkel who is so consistently logical in everything he does. Even the low dropkick escape Hase hits shortly after this, nailed the left thigh. Scorpion deathlock now, and Kobashi is pretty great selling this. Comes back with a figure four which Hase reverses. Don't know why but that seems like a really American spot. Action goes outside. Kobashi goes for a powerbomb, but Hase forces himself forward almost in a Thesz Press position. Pretty cool counter. Missile dropkick two feet first from Hase now and back to the figure four. He's been targeting that left leg for over twenty minutes at this point. And consistently goes back to it. Kobashi reverses that now. Rope break. Back to the strikes now. Shot gun by Kobashi, Bulldog by Hase. Tiger suplex by Hase. Gets a two. Chickenwing suplex (???!) by Kobashi now. Barely gets over for the cover and two. Hase goes back to attacking the left leg. Rock bottom. Two. DDT by Kobashi. Hase with a leg drop. Belly to back from the second rope. Another cool suplex into a bridge. Two! Goes to the top. Kobashi catches him for a Samoan drop from the top. Powerbomb. A second one. Two only! Very surprised Hase kicked out of that. Several chops to the back of his head now by Kobashi. Lariat-ooo! Yes, that'll do it. Honestly, what more could you really want out of this match? Great psychology, great build and changing up through the gears, awesome strike exchanges, cool matwork, tremendous throws, super hot finish and a pumped crowd. Great match! I can think of worse ways of spending 35 minutes. From this sampling so far, it seems like Hase can do it all. ****1/2 Hiroshi Hase vs. Toshiaki Kawada (5/2/99) Man, they both look so grizzled and battled hardened at the start of this. Neither of them have any front teeth! It's like they've both been through a world war or two. Kawada looks particularly knackered here. Pretty fun watching Hase run through the AJ greats. We hit the mat early as per usual, Hase works Kawada's right arm some and bends the fingers back, a little Jim-Breaks-like. Switches focus of the left leg. Scorpion deathlock. I've noticed he doesn't use it like a finisher but more like an attritional hold a a la Choshu. Kawada comes back with a series of kicks and hits a powerbomb. Two only. Two more drop kicks sends Hase down again. There's something not quite happening about this match. Kawada just doesn't seem interested AT ALL and this is the only Hase match I've watched in this sitting where the crowd seem a little tuned out too. Weird. Hase goes back to that right arm and drops down on the wrist in a very cool spot. He wakes up the crowd with his big swing now. Well, in fairness, if Kawada is going to sleepwalk his way through this match, why not pull out a "go to" spot the crowd always pops for? Ric Flair would approve I'm sure. German suplex by Hase gets two. He almost decapitates Kawada now with another suplex, possibly a slight botch? Cover gets ... Only one. Kawada is dazed though and goes over into the corner. What the hell is up with him this match? Kick in the face by Hase. Northern lights suplex gets two. Kawada with kicks now. Powerbomb. Holy shit, brainbuster and he dropped it right on the head. Yip, that'll do it for three. Sick finish! Well, this was disappointing. Kawada really dogged it here, like he didn't care about this match at all. Hase was trying to bring it, he focused on the right arm, he innovated some cool offense around that, he hit his signature spots, he was trying to do all he could to bring something out of Kawada, but Dangerous K was half asleep. I'm actually wondering if he was recovering from a hang over or if he didn't get a good night's sleep or something because he looks rough as hell at the start of this match and just isn't at the race. Still, Hase vs. a half-asleep Kawada is still a pretty good match, but this might have been a classic in other circumstances. *** Hiroshi Hase vs. Genichiro Tenryu (9/23/93) Tenryu still in his Revolution gear. 9/23/93 was my 11th birthday by the way. We get an early giant swing here. Tenryu looks a bit chubbier than usual here for some reason. Still a surly bastard though, obviously. Seems a lot older in 93 than he did in 92. This has been a departure from the other matches, feels like they are working Tenryu's match rather than Hase's. And Tenryu has dominated a lot of the offense with Hase bumping around for him. Seems a lot more like a control sequence, with less back and forth. Now we settle into the leglock, face slapping, scorpion. I've just noticed Hase still has all his teeth in 1993. Hase gets Tenryu in the corner and gives him a lot of chops. I love the way he constantly jaws and taunts and goads his opponent. The mental test as well as the physical test. Tenryu eventually snaps and turns it around to dish out some Wahoo chops of his own. Some suplex and throw exchanges now. And, oh, Hase ... Submitted? To that?! What was it even? Double Chickenwing on the floor? Weird and abrupt finish. I thought this was a little disappointing but can't put my finger on why. These two didn't quite click. I thought Tenryu's poor execution was glaring at times in this match, there's one point where he does a sunset flip counter that is so bad that Hase actively has to move himself back into position for it. Very awkward. Tenryu tends to be forgiven that sort of thing, but there were moments (like that one) where it almost felt like he was being carried. Hase did a lot of the heavy lifting here. This was better than the Kawada match, but I thought the structure was a bit strange. They deviated from the standard Hase template: Tenryu dominated early, and then they sort of went into the "early matwork" about 8 minutes in after Tenryu had kicked Hase's ass all around the ring. And then as the match really seems to get going, it ends. Good, but might have been better considering who was involved. ***1/2 92 Muta match for posterity: ---- My impression of Hase so far is that he's like an ultimate Chris Jericho. That is, never quite the top guy, but could slot in against a top main eventer whenever the occasion asked for it and would deliver a good or even great match. I think he has literally everything: great psychology, great on the mat, great strikes, great suplexes, great character work, and really really sound and logical match structure. There is absolutely nothing not to like about Hase. Looking forward to more soon. But it is 5:30am and I've been summoned to bed three times already ...

1991 is Vince and Pat Patterson at their most innovative, daring and "dark" testing the waters with several pretty risqué and groundbreaking angles and feuds including the Slaughter heel turn, Virgil's face turn (watch those skits where DiBiase has Virgil doing humiliating tasks again, dark as fuck). Jake Roberts's stuff with Damian biting Savage and the intense promos going into This Tuesday in Texas, birth of the Undertaker, fucking RIC FLAIR turning up and cutting awesome promos on Hogan, Savage retirement angle, Shawn Michaels turning heel on Marty Jannetty (okay this happened Jan 92, but I'd count it) -- all in all in terms of "creative" it is a super duper underrated year for WWF. This direction was brought to an abrupt end by the steroid deal and 1992 is marred by ramped up levels of cartooniness creeping into the product more and more, as Vince stops taking risks and starts to play it safe more. Still we get a lot of fun stuff, great Rumble, Flair vs. Savage, the little talked about but really fun Rick Martel vs. Shawn Michaels feud, debut of Razor Ramon, Yokozuna killing people with his butt, while it didn't have the big emotional hits of 91, 92 still had some decent stuff going on. And then there was also Nailz. Then 1993 is a real transition year for WWF. A lot of the 80s mainstays -- Hogan, DiBiase, Tito, Valentine, Heenan, Okerlund ... Mooney -- are done by the end of it, with Savage to follow not long after. The Luger experiment failed, Bob Backlund turned up looking like he'd just stepped out of 1983 ... And then there was also Ludwig Borga. But it wasn't all bad. Raw debuted and brought with it some good TV. A promising youngster called 123 Kid upset Razor Ramon. The Steiner Brothers came to the WWF. And IRS and Ted DiBiase made a young JvK cheer with glee as they smashed in Brutus Beefcake's face with a steel briefcase. Doink the evil clown terrorised kids and tormented Pineapple Crush. And Jerry Lawler took real exception to Bret Hart winning the King of the Ring. It might not have been as great as 91 or even 92, and clearly things were sliding, but there was still things to hang your hat on in 93. Still reasons to watch. 1994 feels like a different world in a lot of ways. The big name stars of the 80s who were filling out cards for years were now replaced with guys like Bart Gunn and Pierre the Quebecer. Doink, previously a cool bad guy was now an irritating babyface with a legion of clown midgets and doubles. King Kong Bundy made a comeback. Fucking Nikolai Volkoff made a comeback. The gimmicks got more and more horrendous: Adam Bomb, Men on a Mission, Sparky Plugg, a fake Undertaker, fucking Kwang, Duke the Dumpster. As a youngster this was when my interest in wrestling was rapidly being drained. And to cap it all off, Ted DiBiase's jackets were now cheap and nasty looking, a far cry from the awesomeness of his swank white number from 1993. The only positives to draw from 1994 come in the form of Bret Hart being such a great wrestler, and his brother Owen emerging as a major player. From a business standpoint, I think you can see Vince going "back to basics" with Bret as champ in 94. Retreat to the core WWF markets. More MSG and Philly shows. He booked Bret a bit like his dad booked Backlund and they returned to many of the same core loops at that time. From that point of view 94 is "interesting". By 1995, the product is at an all time low. Even the promise of a great match from Bret Hart at the top of the card is diminished by the fact that Diesel was the champion. The gimmicks get even worse ... Isaac Yankem, Mantaur ... This is the worst the WWF would ever be. Barry Horowitz had a singles push. Dory Funk Jr was a surprise entrant at the Royal Rumble at the age of 54. Mabel won the King of the Ring. A terrible year, during which my fandom was probably at its lowest ever point. It was virtually impossible to care about what was going on.

This is interesting to me, because very often it feels like the end of one to me. This likely isn't the thread to explore it in.

Different strokes I guess.

Same.

One thing I will say is that Dylan and to an extent ded are right that the non-match stuff totally affects how we view guys. I'd be interested to know if the guys who are huge on Lawler would be as huge on him if the matches were exactly the same except 1) Lawler didn't talk and 2) Memphis TV was more like AWA TV where there was about one angle a year. How much can you separate the Memphis love from a love of the tv? I think that's a valid question. Edit: Will, for example, was never a fan of the late 80s / early 90s WWF TV, which I remain very fond of as my "first love". He thought it was cartoony and silly. He loves Memphis TV, on the other hand. I'm sure you'll see aspects of that preference for one TV show over the other in his list.

I do see where people are coming from with the objections. When I've defended Dibiase's WWF run before I've done it on grounds of him being involved in a lot of memorable stuff, even if he didn't have that many good matches after Savage. I've argued that wrestling is about a lot more than just the matches, and that in the "grammar" of pro wrestling, feuds, angles, skits, and promos are as important as the match. And if we were running a poll that factored in the total package, a guy like Ted would rocket up my list because of the sheer amount of awesome angles he was a part of (piledriven by Freebirds, JYD feud, Mr R feud, Duggan feud, Flair / Mudoch angle, Evil twin refs, basketball skit, having the million dollar belt made, Jake feud, Virgil feud, etc. etc.). If you factor it all in, there's a huge amount of awesome non-match material there and for me that would curb stomp many "work only" types, which includes most non-US guys. But the criteria was very clear from the start that this wouldn't be a list along those lines. And as Matt D says, it's too late to change the parameters now.

Surprised to see that people aren't higher on this: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31793-jvk-reviews-pimped-matches-from-late-90s-10s/?p=5716741 Phenomenal match. Look past the blood.

The Great Muta vs. Hiroshi Hase (12/14/92) I put the call out on Twitter for all time juice jobs after watching that last one and this was the one that people came back with in less than two minutes. Very fast paced to start. Gutbuster by Hase. Throws Muta on the top rope so he lands on his stomach. Switches focus to the arm. Muta comes back with flash. Exceptional action. Muta takes over with an Indian deathlock which he falls back on. Shades of Dory Jr. Bridges back into an STF of sorts. But loses position to Hases who applies a sort of chinlock. Stomps on the face by Hase look nasty. Swivel on nose. Rick Rude neckbreaker. Hase lays down posing in the ring as Muta regroups. I think I'm falling in love with Hase as I watch this match, he's simply been awesome so far. Cool suplex by him now. Muta comes back with chops. Action goes outside. Back in. Chop from the top by Muta. Back outside. Bulldog onto the exposed concrete by Muta. Ouch. Snapmare. Elbow drop, Muta does such a cool elbow drop. Drops Hase hamstrings first onto the top rope. And again onto the railings. Loving Muta's aggression here. It's like "this is payback bitch". Back in and Hase comes back with a superplex. German gets a two. He's still selling the leg. Rakes Muta's face across the ropes. And again. Absolutely loving Hase's heeling during his match. Misses a dropkick. Muta throws a chair into the ring. Backbreaker, gets caught going for a moonsault. Muta throws another chair into the ring and then grabs the wrench for tightening the turnbuckle. Hase manages to get it though. Muta is cut. And his blood is pouring out of his face. Hase bites the cut and then actually spits some of the blood out. Absolutely gross, and amazing heel work from him yet again. Piledriver right onto the cut by Hase and you can see the blood pouring from the top of the head. Guillotine by Hase. Sleeper. His psychology has been absolutely perfect during this match. Muta is covered in blood. Hase has Muta's blood all over his arm. Stomp in the face. Scorpion deathlock. Muta is wearing one of the most complete Crimson masks here. Hase such a prick taunting him. Stiff slaps. Belly to back suplex lands with a splat of blood. And another one. Roar from Muta pops the crowd. Another suplex. And another one. And another one. Suplex city bitch. Goes for the moonsault. Misses! Christ this blood is ridiculous. Powerbomb by Hase gets two only. Muta is close to passing out through blood loss. Hase is STILL selling that leg from the hamstring spots earlier. Back suplex by Muta gets two. He's losing his shit now. Tiger suplex gets two only! Holy shit, I popped. Backbreaker. Moonsault! Yes! Absolutely fucking phenomenal. Stone cold classic and one of the best matches I've ever seen. Even beyond the blood, the work is just so on point. Psychology, execution, selling, character work, crowd control, this match has everything. I bet people only talk about the blood. Even if there was no blood this would have been five star for me. *****

AAA When World's Collide (11/6/94) Checking this out after hearing them talk about it on BTS #16. Mike Tenay and Crispy Cruise are our commentators. Mascarita Sagrada and Octagoncito vs. Espectrito and Jerrito Estrada Was tempted to skip this just to wind Grimmas up. 5ft is too tall to be a mini in my view. Not a lot to talk about here. ** Fuerza Guerrera, Madonna's Boyfriend, and Psicosis vs. Rey Mysterio, Jr., Heavy Metal, and Latin Lover Madonna's boyfriend is such a ridiculous gimmick. Also had to laugh when Cruise claimed that this was the most anticipated event in Mexico since the 1986 World Cup. Ha ha. Just a lot of spots and, even with English language commentary, I can't get into stuff like this. Madonna's boyfriend was appropriately goofy. Rey dazzled and it was his show. Very abrupt finish. **1/2 The Pegasus Kid, 2 Cold Scorpio, and Tito Santana vs. Jerry Estrada, La Parka, and Blue Panther I love the route 1 thinking that must have gone into Tito being booked for this show, but from the point of view of the average American fan sitting at home it makes perfect sense from a kayfabe perspective. This felt more of a showcase type match all about the various different pairings. I think perhaps Cruise and Tenay went on about Tito being a potential weak link a bit too much on commentary. I can imagine American fans at the time being excited at some of the Benoit and 2 Cold sequences here. Entertaining, but very disjointed and less than the sum of its parts. *** Octagón and El Hijo del Santo vs. La Pareja del Terror (Art Barr and Eddie Guerrero) To win each fall, they need to pin both partners. So every fall is like a mini-survivor series. I was watching this from a WWE 24/7 upload which kept fast forwarding the action, so I went to find the full thing. So I watched short version 1.5 times and full one once before this review. There was around eight minutes missing from WWE version. Heels take the first fall in short order after a Frankensteiner from the top rope off the shoulders on Santo by Eddie and a frog splash on Octagon by Love Machine. Art Barr and Guerrero are very effective heels jawing at the crowd and so on. I've always loved some of Eddie's standard spots, like the crawling on knees into the eye poke. Second fall also short as babyfaces bounce back after a double dive swings the momentum. But then Santo is eliminated after a straight Frankensteiner by Eddie. Weird, Santo has been made to look super weak in this match so far. Eliminated first switch and now Octagon has had to save his bacon to make it 1-1. Santo goes over and embraces him for the save. I'd have liked the sense of jeopardy to be teased and dwelt on a little bit more. This has been one of my little issues with Lucha stuff seems to happy too quickly and abruptly to digest. And I've watched these first two falls THREE times now. They could afford to linger a little more on the drama. They don't need the John Cena-like pregnant pauses and internal monologues, just slow down a little bit so we can feel the poignancy and sense of danger. It all happens too quickly. Anyway, now moving into the footage fast forwarded by WWE. Barr puts Octagon away with an illegal tombstone piledriver while the ref's back is turned. So it is Santo, two vs. one going into this final fall. Nice contemptuous slap by Barr to show Octagon is out cold. He's stretchered out. Superplex on Santo. Frog splash. Kick out. Santo dive to the outside onto Guerrero. Piledriver by Blue Panther -- who is there as a second for the faces -- on Love Machine. Crowd erupts. It's going to be Eddie vs. Santo one vs. one. Belly to belly from the top by Eddie. Cover gets two. Frankensteiner from the top by Eddie. Cover gets two. Full Nelson suplex by Eddie. Cover gets two. He tried it again but Samto slips into a sunset flip for three to win the match. The storytelling here was layered and compelling. And both of the babyfaces got to be the hero, Octagon in the second fall and Santo in the third. Heels were fantastic on offense, and being general douchebags. This is a very good match, but for my tastes, it all feels a bit rushed. I really would have liked this to go another 10-15 mins to flesh out those first two falls. It all seems a bit truncated for the drama involved. It might seem like a strange gripe, but it's one that stops this being ranked among the all-time classics to me. ****1/2 Perro Aguayo vs. Konnan I honestly thought this was as good as it possibly could have been. Aguayo's juice job here is something, and he is great as a grizzled veteran who is never going to say die here. At least as good as Jose Lothario was in Houston in 1979. They used the cage well. Sufficiently brutal. And worked logically. Double boot stomp from Aguayo was cool. Everything involving him had heft to it. And "lack of heft" is one of my typical Lucha bug bears. Eddie and Madonna's boyfriend run out. Eddie throws Coke in Perro's face, throws Konan a pair of brass knucks. The old man is out. Powerbomb! Oh my god this blood. This is up there for juice jobs. The LA fans are getting restless. Aguayo is absolutely covered in blood. Streaming down his face. Jesus Christ! Kicks by Konan. This goes on for some time. Music hits and Cien Caras and his crew run out to deal with Eddie's shenanigans. Samoan drop by Aguayo. Double boot from the top. He escapes the cage to win. Crowd goes absolutely apeshit and this felt huge. Honestly, even taking in the run ins and all the rest of it, I thought this was awesome. Gets a star for the blood levels alone and the feel good moment of he win. I bet back in the day Meltzer and the smart community rated both the six mans over this. If they did, I disagree. ****

Harley Race vs. Gino Hernandez (12/12/80) Really interesting match this because it is a rare chance to see Race go up against a local heel (as opposed to babyface), and it's fascinating to see how they work this. And what is amazing about this match is that they really play with crowd dynamics: first fall, and they are on Race's side because simply put, they hate Gino more and accordingly Race works underneath and Gino takes the fall after actually hitting the piledriver on the floor that never hits -- I've seen literally dozens of Race matches and that piledriver never hits! So he takes it after playing dirty. But then in the second fall, Race steps things up and hits a suplex outside which has Gino juicing. Crowd sympathy changes them because now it is the grizzled get beating up a bloodied young kid who might have a shot of winning the world title. And the crowd really get behind Gino in the third fall and all of a sudden he's a fired up underdog babyface with blood on his face and the crowd cheering him on to win. Honestly, one of the better Race title defenses on tape. Mastery over the crowd, interesting psychology and Paul Boesch is really on form on commentary and helps make the match too. **** Nick Bockwinkel vs. Chavo Guerrero (2/25/83) A really enjoyable match this. Solid on the mat, good action. Chavo works more technically than I've seen him in the past, and his sustained work on Bock's arm is really sound. His forearms looked great too. This was Bock putting someone over huge and making them look like a million bucks. Very fun to see. Chavo was a very good babyface. Post match promo from Bock is so awesome, one of the ultimate heel champs. ***1/2 Gino Hernandez vs. Jose Lothario (1/19/79) This is a very small cage, so short. Gino looks very young, but still has the air of a smug little prick. I'm quite intrigued by the Texas Death match as a concept. In some ways, it could be seen to make the guys look weak because they drop so many pinfalls. But in another, it is a brutal endurance test, which came across during this match. I think I'd have liked more blood, but Gino was very good at making the old man look like a credible threat while ensuring he got his own stuff in. Text book on how psychology can overcome limitations and still produce a great match. Highly recommended. **** Terry Gordy vs. Steve Williams (2/6/87) No commentary for this one, which actually makes it a really cool experience to watch. I've never been the highest on either of these two, but ... Holy hot fuck this match is awesome. Talk about a hoss fight. The reason I've never been that high on Gordy and Williams is because the Miracle Violence Connection were always talked up as these awesome beasts and then you watch their stuff and they are sitting in chinlocks. Not so here. They beat the living the crap out of each other while mixing in all manner of high spots. Williams even does as Windham style float-over suplex at one point. Both men juice. This is basically worth the price of NWA classics alone, it is phenomenal and easily the best singles Dr Death match on US soil that I've seen. You need to see this one. ****1/2 Butch Reed vs. Mr. Wrestling 2 (9/9/83) This is a smartly worked match built around the idea of Wrestling 2's million dollar kneelift being a game changer. Reed targets and neutralises the leg to maintain advantage. Very sound psychology in general, and Reed looked great here. Worth checking out. ***3/4

Why me? I didn't even say anything!