Kevin Ridge

Loved Goto taking off Tenryu’s boot to use as a weapon on him. They must have been watching some old time hockey of Mike Milbury going into the stands and beating a fan with his own shoe. All the other referees could learn a thing or two from this referee. He gets bloodied up and returns to referee the match with his head all wrapped up! But’s he is dealing with blood loss and you see him selling being dizzy after each pin count he attempts.

The first fall tope Santo was maybe a hint we weren’t going to three falls. I do like Santo struggling after getting powerbombed to kick out but just being able to get his shoulders up. He could have laid there like a lump but taking the move of a counter and showing some life made more sense. Santo’s snapmare off the top rope might be my second favorite move behind the ringpost figure four. Sneaky Casas ends up throwing in Santo's towel to earn Felino the victory.

Well, I've hit the half way point of the year. For the first time on the yearbooks, I feel we have both WWF and WCW as the top of the promotions. WWF has been so captivating with Bret Hart turning heel, the rise of Stone Cold over the course of each week and to a lesser degree Shawn being such a asshole as he slowly turns heel. WCW still has the NWO going strong and the focus has been mostly on Hogan, Savage and the Wolfpac so don't really notice those other guys who inflated the group. They are showing great patience with Sting versus Hogan and Sting is crazy over with the crowd without saying a word. Lawler in ECW is the most interesting thing they got going. Jerry is such a pro working dual promotions as a face in USWA and a heel elsewhere. WrestlePalooza segment was fantastic. We have had a few American indies show up which I will assume will be bigger going forth with loss of SMW and soon USWA. They haven't delivered for me yet though. Promotions in Japan and Mexico aren't as strong as previous. Mexico has had some fun six mans with Santo/Casas but we have yet to get the great matches like Dandy/Satanico. New Japan has provided some good Jr. Heavyweight matches but Ogawa's arrival is a big turn off for me. All Japan seems only be about Misawa/Kobashi/Kawada and the booking of their matches can be perplexing. We haven't seen much of anything from their undercard. Joshi for me has been Kudo as everything else has been forgettable. FMW maybe one of the more entertaining groups right now though their matches aren't the prettiest. Tamura in Rings is a guy to watch. I just have a certain dredge about this format of pro wrestling and the effect of MMA on Puro. Plus, I miss Fujiwara head butting guys. Thing I probably noticed the most of this yearbook is how "top heavy" promotions are as far as being featured. This is been a great WWF year but that's really down to Hart Foundation/Austin/Michaels. We aren't seeing great little matches from anyone else. WCW is still mostly about the NWO outside a few cruiserweight/TV title matches on set. All Japan has no undercard. I can't remember any NJPW heavyweight matches not involving Hash. This could be down to 1997 being a loaded year and what is chosen but it feels like the undercard guys start to got unnoticed more with the primary focus on the main eventers.

String! Where's Wallace? That kind of sucks for us North Americans. UK fans also get bonus Raw/Smackdown footage on PPV releases too. Though they do have to wait longer for them.

And Ross had to sit next to Lawler all those years who was always yelling "Puppies".

Giant does another KO spot. Nash used little energy earlier on against Mysterio so can wrestle again in this match. NWO beat down before Sting arrives. We also get Hennig walking towards the ring and Raven jumping the guardrail. Raven doing that didn't fit his character.

That was a complete squash. Nash needed just an atomic drop to set up the Jacknife. I wouldn’t expect Rey to beat Nash but you would like it to be more competitive for a few minutes. Konnan trying to compete with PJ Walker comes out and puts a leg lock on Rey. Raven in the crowd! Tenay tries to interview him. Raven doesn’t want to talk about his dad today.

I hope you keep this up Loss.

Nothing to add to that other than how funny it was that female fan jumping the barrier and doing a double leg take down on Paul Bearer as he was going to ring for interview. Give her a wrestling contract.

They continue to make Undertaker more and more human.

Sunny with Pillman? Don’t remember that one. The first picture of Sunny was very nice.

Saturday Nitro? And what’s up with the video though? Not the standard camera work. But this was unexpected.

I remember that Candido versus Christopher match on Raw. Pritchard on way to ECW to face Candido. The Bodydonnas explode!

I think he looks more ridiculous than Aldo Montoya.

I get a kick out of PG-13 wearing ECW shirts in Memphis studio.

Lawler lets a big name out of the bag for the surprise person at upcoming ECW Arena show.

Sting tries to intimidate Savage by pointing the bat at him 20 rows up in the crowd. Savage actually has to think about it before dropping the elbow. Sting goes down the ring which cause Hall and Savage to back off.

A style that’s going to be tough to fit in pro wrestling.

My warped memory had Vader being a fill in for Ahmed Johnson for upcoming PPV. But yes, why would you have Taker do the Tombstone to Vader now? Bearer isn’t finished with Undertaker. Paul will have a big announcement next week and tell Undertaker’s secret.

Bret runs down Hart Foundation’s opponents at Stampede. He reminds everyone that him and Neidhart are the greatest tag team in history of WWF. Hitman doesn’t like anyone using his nickname and challenges Hearns who is sitting ringside. Completely felt like WWF trying to counter Rodman in WCW and trying to get some mainstream attention. Neidhart takes a big bump for Hearns punch. More than some of the other bumping I’ve seen from him on this yearbook.

Johnson claims race as the reason he joined NOD. Not enough to explain why he would align with Faarooq after their previous issues. Johnson wants a shot for the title against Undertaker. D’Lo gets some speaking time. Crush brings out his own gang on bikes. Yep, this feud wasn’t good. A brawl ensues and Ahmed legit hurts his knee.

And Funk is only 6 years older than him. Maybe that is a lot in wrestling years but Funk isn’t 20 or 30 years older than Lawler. Jerry says all Paul wants is a job in the WWF. Well, he will get yours in 2001 for a brief time.

God bless Jerry Lawler! Dreamer does a brief promo as he gets stitches to a wound on his head.

Lawler was great in this interview as he believes there should privacy and he doesn’t need to explain everything about himself. He doesn't like the loss of kayfabe in wrestling. Jerry is sore about Albert Belle going to the White Sox. Hey, that contract ended up being terrible for them. Lawler more serious that last week about these claims about Brian and goes out of his way to shut up Christopher from answering the question.