Chess Knight

I have honestly always really, really not liked KENTA, but I'm interested to see what he'll do in a WWE setting. Could help all of the stuff I don't like about him go away and focus on what I actually do like about him .

Richards/Elgin. IIRC the only one of Meltzer's five star matches I thought was legitimately bad as opposed to 'OK' or 'not that good'. I remember thinking it wasn't terrible until Richards no-sold a turnbuckle powerbomb and sprinted toward Elgin to do some ridiculous Davey nonsense (or just a kick, w/e). Went to shit from there.

Oh God this is mine. I write about quite a bit of wrestling sometimes and the amount of times I either have to actually describe the move or just say '_____-thingy' is embarrassing. I've made the same 'I'm good with move names' joke while writing IDK how many times now. I couldn't even come up with words to describe the headlock where you're using your figure-four-crossed legs.

I think Punk is better at getting over a story or feud or 'theme' of a match (AKA being the underdog or selfish dick or man who wants the torch) than he is on selling or offense or almost anything else 'mechanic' (for lack of a better term). He's absolutely a great feud wrestler. I think at his best he's really great, at his worst he kind of blows, and on average he's good/very good. I'm not a massive fan and I honestly wouldn't bother even jotting him down if I were making a list of guys I might possibly see as a top 100, but if I watch a random CM Punk match I usually don't wind up disappointed.

Re-watched Benoit/Angle at the Rumble few months back: Honestly this was the first watch of the match where I noticed they fell into 'not selling fuck all' to that degree. I can't call this 'garbage', but at the same time the second half kills the idea of me calling it 'good'.

I'm a massive Backlund apologist (I think of that group only Regal, Austin and Jumbo stick out 'I would take him over Bob without much consideration'.....Austin is actually kinda borderline with some deeper thought) but I can't imagine even the people who find Backlund really overrated would rank him below Helmsley, Angle or Scott Hall.

Got re-upped by the guy on YT who for a couple of months I thought uploaded nothing but Tajiri. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i95WsMehcfQ

You gave Mascarita Sagrada v. Espectrito five stars, no?

I've been thinking about doing this for aaaaaages but could never bring myself to (God knows why, I tackle so many other stupid goals). Glad someone is getting it together.

Henry v. Rey (SD 4/29/11) Henry v. Sheamus (SD 8/26/11) I'd say at least watch those. The Rey match is I think the first match Henry had after the heel turn and it was all gold following that. There are tons of Henry/Orton matches on TV that I cant really separate them. I think SmackDown 5/20, 7/1 or 10/14 might be the best one. Again, memory's failing me. It's hard what to say's very good when I'm such a bias Henry prick. Well, those two there are at least as good as some of the Henry matches you have already. The 9/23/11 Christian match, HIAC with Orton, 10/21/11 Morrison sub-squash and 12/5/11 Zack Ryder sub-squash on Raw are good picks, but, again, IDK how 'very good' they'd be to someone else. There are a few Henry house show matches, too. Multiple v. the Big Show (at least one full and really good one. Actually fuck it, I'd say watch that too - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moMBcmhziIo), one v. Bryan, a Christian/Henry v. Orton/Sheamus, etc. May 2nd - Some house show stuff SLL listed - John Cena vs. C.M. Punk (WWE, 2/23/11) -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgJ4UShQwHA John Cena vs. C.M. Punk (WWE, 3/13/11) - C.M. Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio (WWE, 9/3/11) - (part one the match hasn't started yet, I don't think) (match should start here) March 5th - I can't find a third fall but it may have only had two falls, I don't really remember. I kind of want to suggest the Cena/Del Rio match from Vengeance, too. It was right after Henry and Show had collapsed the ring, so they just decide to have the last man standing WWE title match with the ring all broken down there. I wasn't *terribly* high on the match, but it's a damn cool spectacle to watch them work around that.

CM Punk v. Dolph Ziggler Raw in November (someone might know the date, I want to say 11/21) -I've never been a Ziggler guy at all and Punk's post-SummerSlam 2011 feel flat for me (the 8/22 Cena match is excellent though), but this was heated and fun and awesome. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler v. Evan Bourne/Kofi Kingston, Survivor Series -probably my favourite WWE tag match of the past 3-4 years. I would say, depending on how 'complete' you want this to be, you should add the first Henry/Bryan from 11/4, and Henry/Sheamus from SummerSlam + the rematch later that week (or the next week IDR). There are like 25 Henry matches I could realistically go batting for here, but I'm not sure how deep into the 'not excellent but good or very good' you want to get into, or if you want a general look on 2011, sub-yearbook style. There are Drew McIntyre matches all over the place, the Cena/Miz after ExRules which was fun as hell and should have been how the Mania match went down, Cena/Punk galore on house shows, Punk/Del Rio house show, etc. tbph I guess really nothing in this post is any kind of MOTYC, but it's worth noting if you eventually want to get around to it. For non-WWE I'd say Blue Panther/Negro Navarro v. Solar/el Satanico is a definite. I'll link to some of this stuff later, if only the lucha tag.

I love Austin's call with Ross and Heyman in the Angle/Benoit cage from 2001. I hate the match too, so the commentary's actually a reason to watch it for me. "I hate 'im, the little snaggle-tooth baystard'.

I remember when Brodus Clay first became the Funkasaurus (and I had only read about it), and I was annoyed because I wanted another PHAT monster heel that I thought I was getting. Then I actually watched the debut of the Funkasaurus and it blew my friggin mind out of my head.

I really want to see RVD sell the Cesaro uppercut.

I re-watched Taker/Lesnar recently and I still enjoy it a lot, but yeah I think a match like Lesnar/Cena kind of blows it out of the water. I doubt I prefer it to the best of Mark Henry in recent years, either. Taker's persistence to use the broken hand to punch was irksome. I watched Taker/Angle from 2003 SmackDown after it and thought that was better, as well (I was shocked at how much I still liked it). I still think the HIAC's really good, but not really remarkable.

DG isn't something I really bothered getting into, so having a list of 'best stuff' like that is cool for me to use sometime. Thanks for that. I did really, really like the SUWA/Dragon Kid hair/mask match when I saw it last year. Gonna watch it again in the next few months.

http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2013-06-17/da...stage-26124420/ WWE posted this on Bryan.

Ryback hasn't won a PPV match since he squashed Reks and Hawkins at MITB last year. I think most would question why he got the title shot(s) with Cena in the first place.

Yeah, people are going mad for Danielson and I can't blame them, but I'm all about Cesaro. He's been filling my 'Mark Henry is the best thing I'm watching' void since February. He's the only guy right now I actively seek out, instead of just making a mental note and planning to watch later, and I get amped to watch his stuff unlike anybody else. C'EST UN MIRACLE, C'EST VRAI, C'EST UN MIRACLE.

Those 'Headcase' ones for Mankind are horrifying. Also I thought practically every Doink looked rubbish. Glad they wound up using the one we know now.

Mark Henry v. Matt Hardy (Innsbruck, Austria 9/26/08) No DQ. I had no choice but to have unnatural expectations for his and YES it totally met them. Hardy starts by playing off of the reception he’s getting, raising and lowering his arms to dictate the level of noise the crowd make, etc. Henry covers his ears and kicks the ropes all Eddie Guerrero style, and then later mocks Hardy, raising and lowering his arms (right before stepping on Hardy’s cheek). There was an awesome near fall where Henry kicks out by throwing Hardy off of him, and the ref had to run out of the ring to not be squished by a flying Hardy. Henry taking it to the outside and using the guardrail (plus hitting his remarkably great clubs) was really cool and Hardy is naturally willing to bump nicely for him. The ref nearly gets hit again, when Henry throws the steps into the ring and he has to back up all ‘hey, HEY, look out, HEY!’ I loved how Henry didn’t leave his feet unless Hardy used his own momentum against him – slipping from the ring post shot, and dodging the ‘I’mma sit my PHATASS on your face’. Hardy tries to capitalise on the ring post spot with a trash can, but winds up getting levelled. After ‘I’mma sit my PHATASS on your face’, Atlas gives Henry a chair which leads to an awesome spot where Hardy dodges, and Henry sends the chair into the ropes and back into his own face. Henry going down after a single ladder shot may have bee a little anti-climatic, but I didn’t totally expect him to kick out of the ladder elbow, so that kind of made up for it. Atlas comes in to help, which sets up Henry getting a completely credible near fall off of nothing more than a fist to the face. Beautiful. Finish run was really well done. Not sure this is as good as their best match together, but ‘not sure’ is he key word. This is still one of the better WWE matches I’ve seen from 2008. Other than Finlay, was there anybody in the WWE better than these two that year?

Glad you liked it. I've been on a Henry kick ever since I watched it. Mark Henry v. Sheamus (Maia Revenge Tour, Bologna) Henry hasn't totally the felt same since the Chamber PPV, but he's still going to trash talk and eat moves as good as anyone in the company. The early strength stuff was cool and even if I didn't like Henry trying to leave, this was a pretty fun match overall. I'm not too high on nerve-hold Henry, though. Reminds of his bearhug days in 2007. Hearing the Italian crowd chant 'Sexual Chocolate' and 'Sheamus' (they pronounced it Shee-mooss) was really something else. Mark Henry v. Zack Ryder (Turkey, might be 2/23/13) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiPLyJAPizk Ryder got a surprising amount of shit in here. He even hit his leg-drop finisher thingy (which Henry sold masterfully), and may have actually got most of the match. I was perfectly fine with that, because (A) Henry selling is awesome and ( Zack getting so much offense in and not being able to put away really puts Henry’s offense over huge. Henry hit minimal shit in this and came out with a clean victory. Also, Henry isn’t really a terribly stiff worker by any means (he’s probably afraid he’ll actually kill someone), but his stuff always looks really great, and it might look even better when you have Turkish dude wobbling a handheld camera around as your source of footage. Mark Henry v. The Big Show (Birmingham, England - hisotryofwwe.com says 11/7/11) There are kids talking annoyingly, the dude working the camera is too far from the ring and doesn’t do a good job shooting this, but what is seen is really enjoyable. The first few minutes are all about Show out-powering Henry and Henry rolling out to the ring with the stalling count-outs. Mark does an AMAZING sell of a throw off of a collar/elbow tie up; just flings his enormous body and flies into the bottom of the ropes. Henry fakes ‘trying to leave’ so Show will go after him, so he sends Show into the steps/post and now Show is the on being counted out. Henry in control is good for what we see, but the lights kind of make it look like a giant shiny blob in the ring and I’m counting on the irritating kids telling me what’s going on. Henry and Show have a pretty great kneeling punch/palm war, though, and Show’s flash spear and later flash chokeslam were really cool. Man I hope there was a clearer shot of this. I know there’s at least one other Show/Henry handheld, might be the same one from a different angle. Mark Henry v. The Big Show (Gdansk, Poland – historyofwwe says 11/11/11) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCzbd-9wfSU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c-2sP79bF0 Pretty sure this isn’t the one I had in mind. Part 1’s end and part 2’s beginning don’t match, so this isn’t full. The beginning has Henry stalling so he can stretch and warm up with the ropes, and when he’s ready Show mocks him by going ‘wait’, and doing jumping jacks. We skip to part two where Henry uses a chop-block-spear thing to take out Show’s leg and start dropping elbows on it. They have their usual double clothesline spot and then have another kneeling punch war. Finish run with both guys kicking out of each others’ finishers was good. This has the same chair DQ finish that the England match had….and like the England match I wish there was another taped version of it. Show was holding his ribs from what I saw and I WANT TO KNOW WHY. Somebody scour the Earth and find all of the matches these two had in 2011. In full. Mark Henry/Randy Orton/Ric Flair v. Goldberg/Shawn Michaels (Raw, late 2003) Michaels randomly going after Henry who was on the apron was bizarre. I’m positive they weren’t in a feud or anything, so why did he ignore Orton to take stabs at Henry? Michaels eventually plays FIP and the three heels do a good job of working over him before Goldberg gets his hot tag. Man, I never mention this, but I kinda love Ric Flair’s punches. The video quality wasn’t good so that could help make them look stiffer, but I just love Ric Flair’s punches. Goldberg’s hot tag and mauling session was fun, and remember when I said nobody really ate Goldberg’s spear the way I wanted it to be eaten? Well….meet Mark Henry. Goldberg also gives him the jackhammer. Mark Henry v. Booker T (Raw 11/17/03) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVanE1-YZyo Well I thought this was awesome. Booker starts by chopping the sweat off of Henry’s chest and trying to get an early advantage. That obviously leads to Henry cutting him off a few times before Booker tries the sleeper. Great sleeper segment where Henry winds up on is knees but does this primal yell to get back up with Booker still on his back. Henry gets to work on top for a bit with neck holds and bodyslams and Irish whips which Book bumps big for. They hit a hot finish run with Henry kicking out of the scissor kick and then being flabbergasted when Booker kicks out of his WSS. There’s a great roll up from the turnbuckle and a dropkick by Book in there, too. Mark flies back on that dropkick HARD and his head hits the mat. Maaaaan this was a blast. Mark Henry v. Shawn Michaels (Raw, 2003) This was fucking awesome, too, and probably one of my favourite Michaels matches of the 2000s. I thought Shawn himself ranged from pretty good to pretty crap in this. On one hand he’d bump big for Henry and make his stuff look pretty great. Flinging himself, shooting toward the ground on the clubs, leaningback big time on the punches, all good shit. On the other hand his offense was kind of rubbish so when Henry returned the favour and bumped big (ish) for him, it didn’t feel legit at all. There was one boot from Michaels where Henry springs backward and looked a little ridiculous. Shawn’s ‘get out of the bearhug’ moment was also pretty lame. Henry did an awesome pin where he leaned over during the bearhug so Michaels’ shoulders touched the ground. There was another awesome spot where Michaels goes for a tornado DDT and Henry swings around and chucks him back onto the top of the rope. Michaels kicking Henry’s leg and Henry wanting to create space just by swinging his massive fucking arm anywhere was terrific. Also, he sold the superkick like a fucking champion. Another awesome Henry performance. Yeah…….I’m positive of it now. Fuck ‘maybe’, fuck ‘possibly’, fuck ‘he might be’, and fuck all of it. Mark Henry was the best wrestler on the Raw brand in 2003.

Mark Henry v. Tajiri, SmackDown 9/5/02 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW5cVCMXbX4 Tajiri striking Henry and then sprinting toward the ropes is what wrestling is all about. Then he gets wiped out and has the motherfucking greatest sooky 'fuck this shiiiiiiit' face of all time, and he starts practically crying. Then he actually gets Henry down and starts crawling on his knees for some time to breathe. I lost my fucking mind when he was trying to get the tarantula on but Henry's leg was too big so Tajiri starts pulling at it with both arms and bobbing his head up and down. I haven't laughed that much at a wrestling spot in a long time, maybe since HHH/Steiner. Holy fucking toad shit, that match was utterly remarkable.