Exposer

Come on Matt. You're a Bockwinkel fan. Have you forgotten that already? I know we're specifically talking about chops here but if I'm not mistaken you're talking about stiffness as a whole here in this comment. I think it's blatantly obvious Bock wasn't just a worker who "made sense" and performed maneuvers and strikes "nicely." He was stiff as hell a lot of the time. Watch the Hennig feud or the Hansen match. He's kicking ass. Watch his tag matches with Saito. He's kicking ass and it's pretty stiff by most standards of what being "stiff" would be. I think maybe you didn't explain yourself enough here in this comment because I know you usually harp on the "violence for the sake of violence" thing and you've said a few times that if the violence or stiffness "makes sense" within the match that it's acceptable. Am I wrong in this? I just want to make sure you're not contradicting yourself here.

I remember that Chavo match because I saw this particular show at Hooters. I don't remember much about it other than the fact that I thought it was shockingly good. Hell, I'll watch it later today and throw my review of it in here just for you Matt. EDIT: If I could find the match in whole I would watch it. As of right now, I've yet to find a full version.

Miz/Morrison vs. Jimmy Wang Yang/Shannon Moore (15 Minutes of Fame 1/8/08) I re-watched this today to see if it still held up. It's a really good TV match but there are some things that I didn't think were all that great. I forgot that Miz used to wear a fedora. Him strutting around with a title while wearing it reminds me of a kid I always see at local Indy shows here in Chatt. Maybe I'll ask him next time I'm at a show if he's a Miz fan. I love the Jimmy Wang Yang cowboy gimmick. It makes me think of the minorities at my high school in North Georgia who used to follow the status quo by wearing dirty jeans, dip tobacco, and drive over-sized Fords with a song similar to Wang's theme blasting. Good times. The early frantic pace they went with was something I liked. The execution wasn't always there, mainly because I thought Morrison was pretty pedestrian in the early exchanges. I liked his running knee to Moore. His full rotation bump on the monkey flip from Yang was passable even though it's a bit business exposing. It went along with the chaotic early pacing. The early saves in this were really well done I thought. Especially, Shannon's save of Yang from a cheap fall by knocking Morrison's hand off the ropes and breaking the pin. This was followed up by Miz distracting the ref which gave the faces a visual three but the distraction prevented it. This leads to Yang getting rolled up by Morrison for the first fall after he knocked Miz off the apron. So, the pacing of the first section of the match leading up to the first fall was really smart. It really put a lot of focus on the fact that there were only 15 minutes as opposed to say 60 to get things done. The next little bit is consumed almost entirely by commercial interruption which is pretty aggravating. It's hard to really measure the match in it's complete form when 4 minutes of a 15 minute match are missing. At least they showed a near fall from the faces that happened during the break. Yang is in peril after the interruption but it's brief. He ends up hitting his moonsault press on Morrison who was out of place and ended up falling instead of catching Yang resulting in a marginally awkward landing. That got it tied up though. I wish the move had looked better and maybe it would have from a different camera angle but it looked like Morrison was out of place there. Anyways, Miz came across as the best guy in this match in my view which is admittedly a strange thing to say. His aggression really meshed well with the pacing of the match. I loved him immediately just undercutting Yang's leg to take away from his high flying offense that was the central problem his team was having early on. Miz and Morrison then work on Yang's leg and it's really aggressive, tight, and strong limb work. They slow the match down and drain the clock. That's smart psychology as they are simultaneously taking away Yang's strengths and killing the clock. Unfortunately, the crowd isn't as into this as one would want them to be but they're fine enough. I think a hotter crowd would have really pushed the heat section over the edge. Part of that may be Miz and Morrison's inability to connect with the crowd as heels but their work was good here nonetheless. Meanwhile, they continue the work on Yang's leg who doesn't seem to be selling the damage as much as he should. I liked him crawling for the tag which indicates his leg isn't of great use but once he's on his feet his sprinting some and doing high spots. That's not particularly great limb selling. Moore gets the hot tag soon enough and we get a really hot stretch run. Moore hits a great running tope con hilo to the floor that's followed up by Yang finally selling his leg a little bit then diving to the floor. Moore gets a great near fall off of a twisting corkscrew from the top rope on Miz. The wild pacing is back and Yang comes back in. He gets a couple of good near falls on Miz as time starts to really run out. He then hits the moonsault press and actually only gets Miz with his leg leading him to selling it. That may have been unintentional because Yang seemed to have possibly actually hurt his leg a little but he sold it and that's what ended up costing his team the match. He wasn't able to make the cover in time for the three. Therefore, the finish was really good but it may have been unintentional. Still, I liked it. Overall, this had it's flaws like the questionable selling from Yang, Morrison making a few mistakes, and the commercial interruption cutting it in half but I thought it had really good pacing, strong work in the heat section, good structure, and a really good finishing run and finish. Yeah, I still like this a good bit even if I did find some obvious flaws in it.

It would be great if all the comments in this thread were relevant. I guess they're not.

Yeah, he's still around. Hilariously, he sent out a tweet on Raw about Kofi beating Cesaro for the IC title I think. He's been injured for a good while. I think he may be scheduled to return soon.

Oh man, I'm going to love this thread. Keep it up Eric. WWECW was the greatest thing on television when I was in high school. I should have thrown out some recommendations in the old thread but here are a few: Big Show vs. Flair (7/11/06) - This was an Extreme Rules match and has Flair taking a tac bump post-match and bleeding everywhere. The visual of him covered in blood and tacs with fans chanting his name and ECW is surreal. I've always loved Dylan referring to Flair as the American Onita during this time period and this is the perfect example of that. John Morrison/Miz vs. Jimmy Wang Yang/Shannon Moore (12/11/07, 12/18/07, & 1/8/08) - This was a really great TV tag series and mini-feud. The last match is a 15-minute Ironman match which might be the best. Morrison and Miz were a shockingly good team at the time and had some good matches with other teams but this was my favorite of their stuff. Yang and Moore ruled as the underdog babyface tag team. CM Punk vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (3/4/08) - This is a really great match and marks the end of another great TV WWECW feud. They have a couple other matches in the few months prior to this that are pretty good too if I remember correctly. Matt Hardy vs. Mark Henry & Finlay vs. Mike Knox (Summer of 08) - These two series were fucking awesome and there is one out of this world great Hardy-Henry match from I think August. The Finlay-Knox feud just rules. They have this wild brawl to open the show at one point but I don't think it's a match. They do have good matches though. Anything with Christian, Bourne, and Regal rules in 09. The Sheamus-Goldust series is fucking AWESOME and is possibly my favorite WWECW feud ever besides maybe Christian-Regal. These matches are around summer of 09. That's all I got off the top of my head but yeah I'm stoked for this thread.

I like Jeff Hardy.......a good portion of the time. Sure, he has obvious glaring flaws that can easily take away from a match. I also think he was one of the biggest stars in wrestling at one time and has had some excellent feuds over the years with guys like Punk, Umaga, MVP, and I even enjoyed his stuff with HHH. He's a lunatic bumper which sometimes can become a little over the top but it's fine more often than not. I actually think he can be a pretty compelling babyface too and was definitely that in his last run with WWE. So, here we have it. A collection of random Jeff Hardy match reviews that I will come back to from time to time hopefully after this initial splurge. Jeff Hardy vs. Prince Albert (WWF Heat 1/16/00) – I really wanted to find a random match to start this project. I chose wisely. This is about as random as one can get considering the show, opponent, and timeframe. It’s amazing that at 35 Jeff can still do insane, over the top bumps as was proven in his Full Metal Mayhem match on Impact with Bully Ray recently. I say that because he’s doing the same shit in this match. He does a ludicrous swan dive to the floor on Albert and takes a sick bump from a giant power bomb late in the match. As far as what this match served us it was an enjoyable Heat match. We got Jeff doing crazy shit and Albert busting out cool power moves. I can deal with that as a start. Overall, this was a fun match with some wild spots. Something I expect to see often throughout this process. Hardy’s vs. Tajiri & Spike Dudley – (WWF Raw 12/3/01) I was hoping for a wild spot fest but what I got instead was mid-match bickering from the Hardy’s and tit shots of Lita and Torrie. I did enjoy the early mat exchanges between Jeff and Spike because it’s Jeff and Spike doing mat exchanges which was amusing. To be fair, Jeff does hit a nice Swanton Bomb for the win. For extra fun we got humorous backstage quarreling between the Hardy’s with Matt demanding Lita be biased and deciding she’d be Special Guest Referee in the match between he and Jeff at Vengeance. That was unintentional comedy gold there. Jeff Hardy vs. Batista vs. Elijah Burke – (WWE Raw 6/11/07) I was incredibly amused and really quite overjoyed when I discovered this match on YouTube. I mean it’s fucking these three guys in a triple threat match together. That is random as fuck and I love it. To make me even happier, this was fun sprint and I was kind of glad I watched it. I noticed Jeff and Dave had good chemistry together and I’m surprised they never did a big program with one another because I think that would have gone over really well with Jeff’s stardom and all. Burke was fun too in this and brought a lot of viciousness with him which I liked. I really liked Jeff getting a visual pin on Dave and it really shows his rise in popularity at the time when he was getting opportunities like that. I wouldn’t say this is more than a really fine sprint match but I was impressed in the end and left with wanting to see more Jeff-Batista. Jeff Hardy vs. William Regal – (WWE Raw 7/8/02) This was pretty sloppy. I was hoping for a really nasty Regal match with vicious strikes and ass beatings but I didn’t quite get that. There was a clear lack of chemistry I thought between the two and it showed through the bumps and miscalculations of spots. I did think Jeff’s Swanton Bomb looked particularly brutal at the finish here and laughed when I thought about how much Jeff misses on the Whisper in the Wind which he “hit” early in the match. All in all, this was a disappointing one and I hope these two found the time to make at least one good match together. Jeff Hardy vs. Abyss – (Full Metal Mayhem, TNA Against All Odds 2/13/05) This match was funny as fuck but not in a good way. It was an absolutely terrible match. It’s also a comical disaster. The stipulation of the match is that there are two envelopes above the ring, one being empty and the other being a number one contender contract. So I guess this is TNA’s version of “Deal or No Deal.” Don West would be a great host and much better than Howie Mandell. Jeff takes these ludicrous bumps that are totally unnecessary and it’s just ridiculous to watch. He fucking does this wild leap onto Abyss on the floor early and he nearly hits the guardrail. Later, He fucking leaps onto a ladder to cause a seesaw effect to take out Abyss. Right after that, he has Abyss tied in the ropes and gets flung full speed from a back suplex through a table and on the floor. He only hits the table with his legs so his back just crashes to the floor. Literally following this exchange, they battle up the ramp and Jeff ends up hitting a Swanton from the top of the entrance stage on Abyss through a table where it looks like he may have broken his tailbone. The finish is incredibly funny with Abyss tossing Jeff to the floor but instead Jeff launches himself and tries to go through four tables set up on top of each other on the outside but misses pretty much resulting in him pitching a hilarious fit post-match and leaping onto each table individually to break them in frustration. Also, Don West was tremendous in this match overreacting to everything and losing his shit by the end. His reaction when Jeff opens the empty envelope is why I miss the guy on commentary. Anyhow, this was an absolutely atrocious match and has no redeeming value other than Jeff attempting suicide a few times and pitching a very humorous fit post-match.

Hallucinogens?

I love how every year, Mania is the go home show for the Raw AFTER Mania.

Yes, especially the tremendous believable applying of the kimura lock nearly tapping out a UFC champion.

Cena vs. Rock The spot calling in this was incredible. I swear I saw every major spot called in this and more. The callback spots were really good in this and there were a few great near falls but the finish felt pretty anti-climactic. The post-match was whatever.

Funkadactyls tag main event?

HHH vs. Lesnar Man, this was uninteresting as all get out till the last few minutes. I did love Brock busting Shawn's face up. I would have been incredibly pissed if HHH had won with the kimura lock. Anyways, this bored me to tears and the finish was utterly ridiculous and stupid. The crowd only cared a little bit too which was hilarious.

Yeah, I mean he sold for all of Punk's stuff. I do get why he sold more in the "Legends" matches too.

Not quite, I don't think. He did sell but not as much as he did for his buddies.

Punk vs. Taker Great match with an outstanding performance from Punk. Of course, none of those near falls were believable. This match was as good as it could'v been as far as match quality goes which is a good thing I guess. Punk needs to go far, far away though and vanish for months.

ADR vs. Jack Swagger (WHC) I didn't care for this too much. It was fine. The submission countering was a little too cutesy for my liking. The final cross arm breaker looked okay though. Plus, no Dolph equals a little bit more disappointment.

The best thing about this Diddy concert is him coming out to Shaun Tempers theme. I was fully expecting an ad for "Temptation For Men." Also, no one will get this but Dylan and I but I don't give a shit because it's funny as fuck.

Fandango vs. Jericho Very good match. Jericho looked good again tonight and I liked him beating Fandango's ass for a few minutes and Fandango finding opportunities to take control. The kick-out from the leg drop was great. The finish was fine too. Good stuff.

Team Hell No vs. Team Ziggler Why the fuck was this not the opener? The crowd was really, really into this. It was worked like an opener and everything. Anyways, this was a lot of fun and I loved the callback at the start. Big E. looked okay too.

Ryback vs. Mark Henry I loved Mark in this. The opening moments ruled with Mark taking Ryback down off the ropes. I questioned the bear hug stuff and I was right because the crowd got bored. However, the finishing sequence ruled with the meat hook, shell shock attempt, then collapse for the Henry win. The post-match was fine I guess. I'm just happy Mark got a big Mania win.

Miz vs. Barrett (IC Title) Decent match. I thought the finish was pretty cool. Shield vs. Baby Faces Really good match that I wish had better crowd heat. I hope the crowd gets better tonight. Sheamus was a great asskicker. Show's FIP was really good and he was bumping machine. Ambrose was a great pitbull as usual. Show's spear ruled and Rollins dive was lunacy. The finish was good too. Strong way to start but the crowd needs to pick it up a bit.

Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle - Royal Rumble 2003 The night the German suplex died.

Your #4 ranking is entirely because of the last 7 minutes? No, that's not what I meant at all. To be more clear, I thought the last 7 minutes showed that they built really well to the finish. For me, putting together the first 53 minutes (the build), and the last 7 (the finish) told a great narrative and made an excellent match. It's just that the first 9/10 of the match didn't blow me away by any standards other than "this is a really good match with a strong build." It definitely stands out on its own but I never felt I was watching a classic throughout that time. It's not a knock on the work at all either because the work there was really good. I just never got totally invested into the match or felt like I was seeing something I hadn't ever seen before. To throw a few more jabs, I thought there were some middling moments in those 53 minutes that felt like "time filling." This mainly being the ref bump which I really disliked actually. I've heard the arguments for it happening to tease a screwjob but I don't buy it and I felt it pretty much served as a way to fill time. There wasn't a lot of it but it stood out to me. I think if they did this match in 45, I might be calling it number 1. They could have definitely put on a match as good or better in fifteen less minutes.

I guess cool mat and limb work isn't the be all end all to me. There literally wasn't any point during the first 53 minutes where I felt like I was watching a classic. Not one inkling of a second. Sure, I got the narrative. Bock slowly changing his game because Hennig was such a formidable challenger. The last 7 minutes were great and finished the story off excellently. Ending up making the match really awesome. Still, I thought Rose/Somers vs. Rockers was a much better match that had equally as good execution and narrative. I think the criticisms of that finish are pretty weak to be honest and think it made the match better because the Rockers were able to withstand the beating and kick ass themselves. After that match, Rose/Somers knew they had two tough dudes to deal with now.