Chess Knight

I watched the two Steiner/Trip matches recently to see if they hold...down... as the bottom-of-the-barrell crap I remember them being. Thoughts I posted: Rumble- So I actually watched H/Steiner, and I'm really, really glad I did. First parts were boring as shit, but once they....um, 'picked it up' (which isn't the right term since it was slow and plodding), it just got legitimately funny. I'm literally telling the honest-to-God 100% truth when I say I laughed at some of the moments in this match. First time was the tombstone reversal which ended in this fucked up stunner/neckbreaker/diamond cutter move which Steiner sold by pretty much falling backwards. Trip nearly fell on top of him and I nearly fell off of my bed in laughter. Just when I'm about to get over that Steiner pretty much trips over while giving Trip the worst butterfly powerbomb thingy of all time. Match was a total mess; I thought they might go a good route when Ric brings Trip to leave the match, but then Steiner comes after them and Ric distracts the ref for Trip to hit Steiner with the belt. Except he didn't and Steiner hits him instead. They should have LET Trip hit Steiner and they should have done it in the first few minutes of a 12 minute match (it went like 20...). Steiner's selling was almost non-existant when Flair got cheapshots in. He was wrestling like a morbidly obese man that belongs on one of those motorised scooters. The both of them looked like shitty trainee wrestlers trying to emulate what they were seeing on TV, and it was just an awful match. But it was fucking hilarious. ****3/4. I'm watching the No Way Out re-match tomorrow. No Way Out- Not as stupidly awesome as the historically shitty Rumble match, but pretty terrible/fantastic in it's own right. Trip has a bandaged leg going in and Steiner wastes little time going for it. Which was stupid. When he fired the first shot HHH backed away and looked like 'oh shit I better watch out,' only for Scotty for pound it for the next two minutes. They could have played a good theme, but I guess Steiner didn't want to waste time and become the wheezing huffing sack he was in the first match. The punches in this....oh Lord the punches. I'm not a guy who really thinks punches can make or break a match (they'd have to be amazing or miss by two feet), but they can certainly add or subtract. And these were the most light and feathery punches you'll ever see. When Trip first goes for the Pedigree Steiner gets out of it and throws the absolute worst one you'll see in some time. I thought it was actually kind if funny. Not as funny as the awkward-as-all-hell top rope....suplex...angle slam...thing. It wasn't even that, Steiner gets Trip in the wrong direction at first then just puts him on his shoulders and tilts backwards. Reminded me of Wile E. Coyote falling on a cliff really slowly while riding a rocket. They actually sort of play off the Rumble match; I didn't mention this when talking about that one, but Trip threw Hebner out of the ring and Hebner refused to DQ him. I can only imagine what people watching it live would have thought. "NOOO!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE.......PLEASE END THIS EARL" They sort of do the same thing here, but the crowd actually boo Hebner, mostly because they're Montrealions (Montrealites.....Montrealicians, Montrealasians, IDK) and are full of hate about the screwjob. Which is ironic since Trip played a bigger part in it than Earl did. Flair calls for Orton and Batista, and no joke, their selling is the best part of either Steiner/HHH match. Orton looked great for those 23 seconds. I thought it was nice that Steiner kicked out when HHH hit him with the belt following that, but there is literally nothing between that and the Pedigree that scores him the win. I don't understand who'd book that or why they did, but sweet ice cream on a cone it can get funny. Just terrible wrestling. Don't expect to find these matches funny like I did.

I liked the one where they said "When Raw debuted, Kim Kardashian was 12 years old, Miley Cyrus was 2 months old, Justin Bieber wasn't even born yet!" I didn't think they could get worse Did You Knows than the 'we got more facebook likes than NFL, Oprah and Pepsi" ones but I think I'm proved wrong.

When I watch wrestling, I sometimes see spots that make me think "If I were a wrestler, I'd probably use that." Kawada pulling out of a headlock and swinging a kick at Kobashi's leg is one of those spots.

I like Kakihara, but watching 30 minutes of him and a guy who was boring me to tears isn't how I want to spend my time. I wanted to like this, but couldn't.

Konnan hasn't been good in anything I've seen him in, but I thought his role was basically perfect here. Cien Caras was awesome, yeah. The constant pull-up pins were such a dickhead move and he looks like the most trailer-park wanker. I want to show this to people who haven't liked lucha. I can't imagine a wrestling fan watching this and not liking it.

Kind of infuriating to see a guy who's pretty much been outed as an compulsive liar beng cheered for these allegations. Graham really was the worst, and the crowd members who know nothing about wrestling were pretty annoying. "It's so.....tacky and sleazy." Well, yeah. I agree with that one.

I'm not going to lie, I don't think I've ever been less invested in a Fujiwara match. The pro-US crowd were really hot for Vale, and it looked like Fujiwara wanted to give him something when Fujiwara would back off, but Vale would just grab him and they'd wind up on the mat. Didn't seem like anything was going on on the mat, either. Just holding each other. Fujiwara being the sort of-foreign heel is something that should have happened a lot more, though.

I cannot explain how spectacular I thought this was. I will track down everything the Viper ever did.

This is the kind of thing you show someone who wants to get into Fujiwara. He really tells the story of the match with his facial expressions and stuff before the match even really gets going. Fuke looked like such the underdog and Fujiwara seemingly got more and more surprised that he wasn't cleaning Fuke's clock as the time went on. Recurring theme with the kicks was perfect and I love that one of them ended the match. Fuke looked disappointed in himself when they were done, and I'm really disappointed there doesn't seem to be a re-match anywhere. Great match.

Wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did. Armstrong was great selling the leg, and Norton's headlock looked really over. I think Muto was yelling while trapped in it at first and I thought that was a really great way to get a headlock over from a guy with massive arms that I don't remember seeing before.

I thought this was an oddly fun angle thingy, and thiis + Horowitz kind of makes me want to seek out full Global shows. That big dude looked kind of shitty, though.

Pretty sure I've never seen heel Horowitz and I was really impressed. All the trash talking and cheating you'd want. If he was in his peak today McMahon would probably want to make him a star.

Sid's promos are coming off way more coherent than I remember them being. I liked this, and the Sid/Hogan thing is built really well, but having Hogan/Flair actually PEGGED as the WWF Title match for Mania then swapping it doesn't leave the greatest taste in my mouth.

I watched this two years ago and actually didn't think it was as good as the match I saw from them in 91. For me to think that same way now I'd pretty much have to think that one is a classic, because I just loved this. Yeah, Liger was excellent with the rib selling and he just went the extra mile every time he'd try to pull off a move. Loved loved loved the surfboard prevention, and every one of Liger's highspots came off as a spring of hope to get control of the match. Just awesome wrestling.

I was really, really into this. I really do like the "sportiness" of puro, but when you have two gaijins act liked dicks to get the crowd riled up and firmly behind the Asians, it adds a lot. I was smiling like a kindergarten teacher at this one woman in the crowd who was shaking her fists and clapping with joy whenever Kikuchi or Kawada would get some momentum. Kroffat looked like the best wrestler in the world.

I assumed he meant the first HIAC. Dunno why, maybe the '(bad) blood' part. EDIT- Shawn and Trip had a god-awful Boot Camp match at Tribute to the Troops in 2005. Might be the worst match they had together which is sort of saying something.

Glacier/Ernest Miller v Mortis/Wrath from Bash at the Beach 97. I don't think I will ever see the stars align for a match with four more random dudes in it than this. SUPERKICK ON A CHAIR INTO A HEAD NEXT TO THE STEEL POST. Seriously an awesome sprint and it needs to be on the '97 yearbook.

To someone who thinks Dustin wasn't anywhere near Michaels' level (and that's seen the Dustin I really love), I can only say different strokes. I'm not even sure I'd take Dustin over Michaels, but to say "you hurt your case" when bringing Dustin's name up or mentioning how well he was received at the time is pretty silly. Keiji Mutoh got really high rankings in the 1992 Most Outstanding awards IIRC, and I think for the most part the guy is a boring lump and someone like Larry Zbyszko absolutely demolishes him so much that it isn't funny, to the point where it actually becomes funny again.

This might be a "who gives a shit" sort of thing, but what's the deal with Super Delfin's name? Reading the katakana I think it reads as "Spell Delfin." 0:26 Delfin's name in blue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1n7Mg55VUs "スペル デルフィン" "スペル" = su-pe-ru - "spell" Super Tiger @ 1:37: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE_nRlOm7vU "スーパー タイガー" "スーパー" = suu-paa - "super"

I watched all Dustin/Rudes I could find from 93 earlier this month and thought they were all just pretty good. Kind of fell under the category of matches in 1993 WCW I thought could have been a lot better (Steamboat/Regal, Arn/Regal, Flair/Rude, Dustin/Windham, Austin/Dustin, Austin/Pillman...)

Agree with this for sure. I think it was done better with Michaels/Taker than some other examples I can think of, but anything that has the sort of mentality of having a great match instead of trying to win can be bothersome. I was watching 2002 ROH recently and I wanted to kick the shit out of the dude commentating whenever he said "match of the year candidate" or "legendary series of matches."

His match with Bossman in December 93 on Saturday Night was a great performance from Rude. Maybe the best I have ever seen from him. I've heard really good things about that from others, of course I thought it was 1992. Think I'll watch that tonight. Which one did you think was great? --- Another guy that springs to mind for this, and I'll totally admit I might be missing something, but I've never seen anything from Ohtani outside of 1996 I thought was really great. The top 5 Ohtani matches I've seen are all from 96. I didn't really like the Liger match from 97 a year and a half ago, but I won't use present tense to say "I don't like it" because I probably really was missing something then. And you know what? I'll say '96 Akiyama as well.

I've always seen Rick Rude's 1992 to be so incredibly ahead of anything else he did that it's kind of surprising. Maybe I'm missing something (or multiple somethings), but other than the Warrior carry I don't remember any Rude match outside of '92 being one of his better matches or performances. Also, call me crazy, but I really don't think Cena ever came remotely close to his 2007. I can be persuaded to think otherwise if someone shows me the right stuff; I'll admit I'm pretty ignorant on his 2009.

Where do people stand on Michaels v Inoki?

Right now, I think yeah, he'd make my top 100. No clue where. There's way too many guys I've watched too little of that I would say COULD look better than Michaels if I watched a lot of their career. Wahoo and Martel come to mind. Almost every Joshi woman ever applies to that too, except I've seen enough Aja Kong to know I'd put her above Shawn pretty easily. There's guys who I've seen more than enough of but still wouldnt be able to get a definite 'yes' from. Like right now I don't know where I'd stand on Michaels v Pillman or Dustin Rhodes. On 96- I thought he was the best US guy that year, but he wouldn't make my overall top 10. I thought Regal was probably the #2 US wrestler. Anybody here that thinks Shawn's 94 (or some other year) is better than his 96?