Exposer

I should join just to shit on The Roadies because I think they suck.

The Shield looked great again tonight. This is all enjoyable.

It MAY have fallen out against Benoit at Summerslam 02. I have no reason why I debated that.

Punk vs. Rock Way better than Rumble. It had some really good stuff in it. I liked the count out spot and Punk kicking out of Rock's big moves and essentially having him beat but this doesn't really matter because it was fucked up in the first place. The closing stretch was just ludicrous altogether.

Apparently, everyone of any size can do the spear or Vader bomb in this company.

Kaitlyn vs. Tamina Decent little Diva's match. Nothing too interesting though.

Dolph vs. Kofi (lol) This was fine for a your turn my turn big bumps fun spotfest.

Shield vs. Happy, Smiley, Muscley Guys Can't comment on this. Spent the whole match bitching about Mark Henry with Dylan and not paying attention. Complained about Rollins flying in the air awkwardly, and Cena's slightly weird suplex and then mentioned the great camera angle when Reigns speared Sheamus through the barricade. Noticed the finish and had Dylan telling me I was watching a different match when I started rambling in fear that "super Cena" was coming. I thought he'd rise from the beating and win easily. Boy was I wrong. Now I HAVE to go back and watch that tomorrow. I fucked up. Goddammit Mark Henry.

SD EC Mark Henry was outstanding. Fuck everything when he got eliminated. Swagger isn't over yet. Shitty stuff but better than Orton and Jericho.

Cesaro vs. Miz This was fucking great and better than the opener. Miz sells his arm the whole match and does some real creative roll up variations with his good arm. Cesaro does some incredible power spots and makes a mistake hurting his leg. Miz's leg work is really good and this match was starting to turn the corner into holy shit level great when we get a B.S fucking low blow finish. BOO

ADR vs. Big Show Great match with great separation of the near falls. That bucket shit was terrible but I can't totally blame Del Rio because that is a stupid spot to do in the first place. Show tapping out was a first.

Rhodes Scholars vs. Big Fat Tattooed Silly Guys This was a solid tag match. They worked stiff especially Sandow. I like Brodus's big avalanche, then the double avalanche, double headbutt, and double big splash to the finish. Fun stuff.

Here's my review of the match when I watched it two weeks ago: Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - Bullrope Match 2/87 Wow. Just wow. What an unbelievable match. That's one of the greatest matches I've ever seen. It's very important to watch these matches in order. It makes this one that much better. These two make it essential that they destroy one another before even trying to go for the corners. It makes sense two ways but with the second being more important. The first reason is that the objective of the match is to of course incapacitate one's opponent so that they may touch all four corners. The second and most crucial reason is that these two have been beating the living shit out of each other for the past few months and hate each others guts so they won't miss out on the opportunity of once again violently mauling one another. So, in the beginning fuck winning the match right now. This is a chance to totally end someone I hate with an undying passion. Therefore, Hansen and Colon bloody one another with the cowbell on the rope and have this really great opening moments of just trying to almost kill one another. There is this great spot when Hansen's in control as he's trying to nail Colon in the head with the cowbell but Colon just Hulk's up and uses all of his might to counter. It's a really tremendous spot. Colon soon gets a good hold on things and starts wailing away some more on a bloodied Hansen. In another out of this world spot, he lassos Hansen's neck and chokes him ruthlessly. Hansen's selling is so realistic that it looks eerily similar to a graphic crime scene. Colon then starts the journey for reaching each corner. He gets the first few but doesn't have the strength to pull a larger man like Hansen. Hansen's desperate struggles as he uses all of his weight to prevent Colon from reaching each corner is phenomenal attention to detail. Hansen is able to stop Colon and beats him senselessly so that he can try to win. This part is important as Hansen is able to pull Colon whereas Colon wasn't able to pull him. Again, fantastic specifics that matter in these sorts of settings. Hansen is unable to succeed and at some point in the match there is this really great sequence on the floor where Colon whips Hansen around with all of his force and strength into the ring post and elsewhere at ringside. Specifically, there is a really awesome spot where Hansen hangs onto the refs leg and Colon just grabs Hansen by the hair and smashes him head first into the refs foot. I've never seen anything like that before. Back in the ring, both continue to gain the upper hand and yet can't seem to muster up all the strength to get to the final corner. Then, in one of the greatest spots I've ever seen Hansen easily gets the first three corners and is getting right up to the last one. Then Colon finds himself at the corner across the ring, wraps his legs around the ring post and pulls with everything he's got. Hansen fights for his life and reaches with one last heave but gets pulled back on his ass. Finally, the camera pans to Hansen's bloody face and I swear to God it's one of the greatest reactions to failure I've ever seen in a wrestling match. Hansen just sits there with his face covered in blood and screams out loud in angst, swearing like no other. It's almost like he's in tears. What does he have to do to beat this motherfucker? What a moment. Colon gets in a few really great close calls and Hansen ends up back on the offensive. Hansen gets down Colon for what it seems to be the end but Colon gets back in it only to get viciously clocked with the cowbell in a great spot. Hansen is doing everything he can to reach that final corner after knocking down Colon but still can't get it. He realizes he's going to have to brutalize him more and takes a fatal charge that sends him flying over Colon in a back body drop leaving the final corner wide open for a tremendous swan dive to end it all. Colon hits the corner and the match ends. The post-match brawl was a blast too but I can't stress how great of a match this is. Everyone needs to watch this. Do your best to watch these matches in a row because everything fits perfectly in the story being told. It's an absolute classic and one of the greatest matches ever. Watch it.

I actually think it's hard to say. The Cage Match is the last match but the ending indicates Colon possibly moving to another feud. One could say that's the blow-off but the Bullrope match feels more like a blow-off match.

I was talking about it with my Dad today and he actually made an interesting prediction saying that somehow Rock and Punk would both be counted out and Punk would win the title. That seems like some goofy ass shit WWE would do.

I do think the Bock-Martel matches are awesome and both better than Martel-Rheingans. But Will and Johnny's irrational hate for that match is amusing. If someone wants to bitch about a match. Watch that totally stupid Blackwell/Bundy vs. Roadies match. God, the Roadies suck.

I had Martel-Rheingans third on that disc. The clipping in that match isn't any worse than the Blackwell/Adnan vs. High Flyers Cage in my opinion. I thought the finishing run was really excellent and the early mat work was really unique. I had it comfortably better than Bock-Hennig which I was in way disappointed by. Jumbo-Martel is a great match but I think the finish might be worse only because of the execution. I recall shitty mistimed spots. At least Rheingans takes a good bump in the finish of his match.

I haven't seen every Scott Hall match in WCW ever but when I took part in the Smarkschoice poll a few years ago I don't think three Scott Hall matches made my list. This might not be fair to Hall because the poll consisted of the 100 best matches in company history from late 88 to closing in 01. However, I did see a fair number of Hall and nothing jumped out at me as even decent. Some things were fine. Most of the matches with Hall that I liked were multi-mans like Slamboree 97 and War Games 96. I don't recall a singles match from that period that got me thinking "Hall's a good worker."

A year or so. Spring of 88 to middle of 89. Maybe longer. He wrestled tons of openers on MSG, Boston, and Spectrum cards and such.

Owen was tremendous on as the Blue Blazer in '88 WWF too. He has several really good matches with a variety guys like Valentine, Horowitz, and totally carries Terry Taylor in one match.

I can't recall liking anything Payne did other than the Spring Stampede match.

Dylan said pretty much the exact same thing. I mean if the crowd's great it doesn't always mean a match is great to me. I enjoyed Hogan-Saito. The crowd was great but I have that pretty low. I guess what makes a totally awesome, tremendous match for me is if the work AND the crowd is great. I can still think highly of a match with great, great work (Starrcage, which is ironically my active #3 but I'm only a third way through the set) and a great crowd with very good work becomes a great match for me. I literally watch every match determining a part of it's stance on whether or not the crowd is actually getting ME more enthralled into the match. Every single match I ever watch is like that. I guess I'm the crowd guy then.

I saw Starrcage last night (I see you mention is as your #3 in your next post). I love everything about it except the crowd. I underestimated the crowd on first watch and argued with Dylan about it. They were slightly better on second watch. There was a little "U.S.A" chant going for Sarge during his FIP segment, they seemed to enjoy Eadie's stooging, and popped massively for the finish. Everything else was incredibly subpar from the crowd. I hate that something like that becomes an issue for me because it does. I never got excited enough when watching the match. There was no energy and it kind of pissed me off. When Blackwell tried to start another "U.S.A." chant there was no response. I still love the match but goddammit I'm such a fucking a crowd mark that I can't stop thinking about this shit. It's just wrestling dammit. I think two things could have contributed to the lack of crowd reaction: 1). The match may have had too much structure for a live crowd - Now this is something I don't want to believe because I thought the structure here was completely necessary and warranted. Maybe they were expecting something similar to the Blackwell cage match from 84? Guys just getting tossed around. Violence for the sake of violence as you say. But I do see an argument for that. I think it's very possible the crowd didn't quite get what they wanted until the very end when Blackwell nailed the big splash on Adnan which finally got a big pop for the match. 2). The second theory I have and is one that I might be more inclined to believe is the fact that Verne Gagne was piledriven on concrete minutes before and kayfabe seriously injured. Could that have possibly killed the crowd? Big angles or big matches have before and have hurt other matches because of it. I mean could there have been some uncomfortable fans who were all sad and shit and didn't care quite as much about Blackwell getting back at Adnan? I don't know but there's a strong possibility. I have no idea why I posted this other than to write my thoughts about that crowd and that match where more people would read it instead of at DVDVR where I'm just sort of talking to myself. I seriously do get bugged badly by lackluster crowds. It's such a big deal in my wrestling viewing. I hate even bringing it up about this match because it was so great. I just want to know WHY that crowd wasn't reacting to that match.

Got a 4th show later this week (Friday again?)? I have shit to do tomorrow night.

That tag is awesome and has an out of this world FIP segment. Brunzell certainly has been a find. I've become a big fan of his offense off the hot tag but he's real sharp in peril too. His singles work is pretty damn good as well. I've enjoyed all three of his singles bouts so far with Bock, Adonis, and Jumbo.