Exposer

I find it incredibly impressive when wrestlers in their 50's are able to adapt to their limitations and work at a high level. It absolutely should benefit them in these types of discussions.

I'm pretty thrilled for the Rumble. My fantasy booking mind wishes for Ziggler to eliminate Cena in the Rumble, Taker to return at 30 and win, and Cena to cost Rock the title to close the show.

Here's a review of mine from one of the Flair matches: Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham – World Wide Wrestling 1987 (January maybe???) I don’t know enough about the background of this match but my impression and knowledge tell me that this was an angle based off the young Barry trying to compete with the experienced Flair. They have several matches from 1986-1987 but this is the first one I’ve seen of them. It goes 45 minutes on free television and really delivers big time. This is really a tremendous match with a tremendous pace to go along with it. Barry’s fast paced baby face offense is really good and the crowd is molten for it. The mat work here is well done even if it’s mostly basic. Flair takes a great bump to the floor off his turnbuckle bump and that might be my highlight of the match. The string of near falls as Barry tries to win the championship is really excellent as he throws everything he can at Flair. The pacing is proven great here when the finish doesn’t seemed rushed at all and they work in a flow instead of a panicked state within the time limit. Barry can’t quite get the win as time expires but he proves himself as a legitimate championship competitor. Overall, with the crowd, pacing, mat work, excellent near falls, selling, and Flair’s bumping I’ve got to brand this as a really great matc. This is certainly a must see for hardcore fans and the only complaint I have is that the 45 minutes were broken up by commercial interruptions. If that wasn’t the case this could have been even better. Here's the match that precedes the one above in a later review: Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham – Jim Crockett Promotions 1/13/87 This was joined in progress but I think I saw a most of the match and the best parts at least. This was the prelude to the match the following week on World Wide Wrestling. The Horsemen are in Flair’s corner in this match but the Rock N Roll Express and Dusty Rhodes come out to even the odds and that’s where the tape starts here. Barry gets in a lot of offense on Flair and the crowd is fucking molten. Anytime one of the two hit the floor there’s confrontations between both sides watching at ringside. This is a very fun and exciting match with a fast paced build. Flair gets in his usual tactics on Windham including two low blows and a rake to the eyes from I think JJ Dillon. Windham gets a several near falls down the stretch and the crowd is off the hinges throughout this. Once Barry executes the lariat and goes for the pin the Horsemen intervene and cause the DQ. The Rock N Roll Express and Dusty Rhodes come in and clean house with Barry and the show closes with an intense crowd and a great promo by Barry. This was a lot of fun and did a magnificent job setting up for the title match the following week. I struggle to give call this a really great match because the whole match wasn’t in full. I still thought it was a great way to set up the following title match.

From pure talent alone, Barry Windham is one of the most talented wrestlers I've ever seen. He's basically good at everything. He was a great heel, a great face, great at selling, great at bumping, great at timing, great at structuring a match, great brawler, great charisma, could be really good on the mat, could work any pace, and is arguably one of the greatest tag wrestlers who ever lived. Starting as far back as 81 and through 93 Barry was absolutely tremendous a lot of the time. Once he went off to the WWF to do silly gimmicks and went out of shape he lost some of his awesomeness but I do enjoy some of his 99 WCW work. So, is he regarded by people here to be one of the most talented workers ever? Feel free to review some matches as well.

Martel, Adonis, Hennig, and Borne are my personal favorites. Any multi-man tag with Buddy Rose in it is going to be awesome. I've said before that Buddy is the greatest multi-man tag wrestler in the US ever. I'm not sure I can say all time because I haven't seen enough Lucha to compare just yet.

So I found an old list of Regal match reviews and I really played him up. It seems I enjoyed a good bit of his matches more than I realized but then again I didn't remember all of them. There's several in there that I said were excellent, great, or really good. There was only one that I really went nuts over and that's the Larry Z SN match. I'll post these reviews here. Steven Regal/2 Cold Scorpio/Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Scotty Flamingo/Shanghai Pierce/Tex Slazenger – WCWSN 2/20/93 This was a fun little match. Regal wasn’t involved very much at all as he was billed as a novice in the American wrestling style. The opening minutes are decent with pretty basic chain wrestling. Flamingo is rarely in the match so he doesn’t hurt it. The middle of the match was a bit forgettable due to Canterbury being awful. His movements and timing was pretty pathetic. The worst example was his second fuck up of a Scorpio dropkick where he clings to the ropes and pauses, then falls to the mat and rolls to the floor to set up a beautiful dive from Scorpio. Bagwell takes a wild bump to the floor to start a short FIP segment that was solid for what it was. Scorpio gets the hot tag and the match gets pretty fun here. All six guys jump in and brawl all over the ring. Regal is leveling Knight with some incredible looking left hands which Knight sells beautifully. Scorpio gets the win with the Scorpio Slash on Flamingo. This was a fun little opener to get pumped up for intense Regal viewing. Steven Regal vs. The Barbarian – WCW Main Event 3/7/93 I didn’t find this to be very good at all. I liked the fact that the match was built around Regal having to outsmart Barbarian with wrestling but it wasn’t executed very well. All the moves were done fairly crisply and I generally like Barbarian’s offense. None of that really looked bad. I just didn’t like the flow of the match at all and it the organization seemed off. The finish was executed better than anything with Regal outsmarting Barbarian with a roll up to advance in the TV Championship tournament. I get why this was on the set though, because it gives the viewer a small glimpse of Regal’s early work in WCW and as an important part in his career pertaining to the TV title tourney. Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd – WCW Main Event 3/21/93 I thought this was pretty good. I enjoyed the ground based wrestling Regal used in this and the arm work at the beginning. The neat counters and roll ups were pretty cool too. There seemed to be some miscommunication a couple of times throughout which hurt it. I didn’t mind the finish being a counter flash pin as the match was one based on counters and mat work. Steven Regal vs. Barry Windham – WCW World Wide 4/17/93 This was very good. The opening mat work was excellent I thought even if it reached boredom at points. The middle portion of this was weak although there was some good including a few nice comeback spots from Regal. Barry’s offense is really good here too and he uses a variety of moves to try to take Regal down such as the vertical suplex, gut wrench suplex, etc. As they were transitioning to the finish I think they got lost in how to do it and it seemed very basic with just strikes. I love strike but I felt they didn’t know how to transition in this very well. The finishing sequence was terrific with Regal getting near falls on roll ups and cradles. I like the cross body that took both guys over the ropes and Regal getting caught in them. Barry gave Regal the leaping DDT for the win. I thought this could have been much better if done more properly structurally. I enjoyed the finish and thought this was Regal’s best performance so far. Steven Regal vs. Chris Benoit – WCW Handheld 5/8/93 This was an excellent 8:30 minute match. It starts off with some great mat work and reversals. Benoit takes a lunatic bump to the floor after Regal catches his feet and throws him. In a funny spot, Benoit misses a top rope sunset flip and just crashes to the mat. It really starts to get hot when Benoit is on offense as he throws in a nasty short arm clothesline and locks in the sharpshooter before Regal barely reaches the ropes. After Benoit misses the flying head butt Regal gets in some offense and a near fall with a double under hook suplex. The finish is great as Benoit counters a roll up and pushes Regal head first into the second turnbuckle and capitalizes with a tiger suplex for the win. This is an awesome hidden gem and is only hurt by the fact that baby killer is in it. It is really worthwhile if you can stomach this for obvious reasons. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Marcus Bagwell – WCW Clash of the Champions 23 6/16/93 This is the first match with Regal as heel here and he’s already coming out looking much better. This is a very good sprint and Bagwell was quite the good baby face during this time. Like any Regal match it starts with chain wrestling and exchanges with Regal taking some massive bumps in between including a big hip toss. Regal targets Bagwell’s leg and snapmares him into the ropes to damage the leg some more. That was innovative as hell. There’s a really great hope spot here where Bagwell enziguri’s Regal only to get his leg targeted again by Regal. Bagwell recovers and has a nice comeback. They go into the roll up near fall exchanges and the finish is botched on a Regal surfboard for the win. This was a lot of fun and is only hurt by the botched finish. Regal is a million times better as a heel. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat – WCW Main Event No DQ 8/8/93 I watched this with complete bewilderment. Why the hell would you schedule a No DQ match if the wrestlers don’t even bother brawling or do something that would normally constitute a disqualification? Don’t get me wrong. This was very good for what they gave us, but why couldn’t it just have been a standard wrestling match? The holds, mat work, exchanges, and nifty reversals were awesome. The back work by Regal was good but why do that if it’s a NO DQ match? Everything turned totally ass backwards when Orndorff showed up and attacked Steamboat. Randy Anderson called the match immediately to a no contest. What the fuck? The booking here was just awful and made no sense whatsoever. I can’t even call it that good because of the ridiculousness I just witnessed. “Lord” Steven Regal/Paul Orndorff/Maxx Payne vs. Ricky Steamboat/Marcus Bagwell/2 Cold Scorpio – WCWSN 8/14/93 This was a very good and exciting fun little six man tag. I enjoyed Steamboat just going to blows with Orndorff and Regal to start the match. Regal was a hell of bumper in his youth and his signature bump is a giant hip toss that he always takes beautifully as he does here. The look on his face is classic as he is getting mocked by Bagwell on the apron. Scorpio comes in and cleans house with some awesome offense then plays FIP for a bit. He does a pretty good job at it and gets the hot tag to Steamboat who goes nuts. Everybody gets involved and as Regal is fighting with Bagwell in the ring Steamboat catches him with a cross body for the pin. This was pretty good stuff and a really good example of a riled up six man in early 90s WCW. “Lord” Steven Regal/Steve Austin vs. Arn Anderson/Paul Roma WCW Clash of the Champions 8/18/93 This was okay. Paul Roma as FIP is just not very appealing at all. There were some nice cut off spots in the match and the crowd was hot for it but it’s fucking Paul Roma. I did like Regal’s somersault and his bumping. The finish was whatever as well and I could care less about the storyline. If fucking Roma wasn’t in it and somebody else got the chance to be in this it could have been a little bit better. It was fine for what it was though. Steven Regal vs. Brad Armstrong WCWSN 8/28/93 You can’t have a comp of a wrestler who spent significant time in WCW without a Brad Armstrong match. I’ll always believe that. This particular Brad Armstrong match was pretty good. It was mostly chain and scientific wrestling but I’m perfectly fine with that. It’s just awesome watching Regal work the mat and holds and come up with nifty counters, reversals, and such. Armstrong is pretty good himself for a scientific mat based worker. The match is built well and the closing sequence is fine too. I’m just happy I got to see a Regal-Brad Armstrong match. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat WCW Fall Brawl 9/19/93 This match could have been really great if only a few things were fixed. The crowd was unquestionably dormant throughout this match and it seemed like they weren’t interested in Regal at all. That surprised me considering Steamboat is such a huge baby face. Steamboat showed some nice fire in the beginning with some fighting offense. I loved him selling his ribs throughout the match. It was really a great performance from Steamboat. His arm work on Regal in the early going was awesome too and I love when he played possum to go back to it. Regal doing the fucking somersault in his control segment on Steamboat’s ribs ruled. I thought the other factor in the match that hurt was the poorly executed tombstone by Steamboat. I don’t think that it looked convincing at all. The finishing run was quite good and could have been much better if the crowd were invested in it. Regal’s german into a pin combo looked great for the win. This was very, very good and could have been called excellent if a few factors had come out a little differently. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat WCWSN 9/25/93 I like the opening minutes with Steamboat’s sneak attack and rage. The transition into Regal’s control segment was cool too with Steamboat getting caught and slammed face first into the mat. Regal has such unique control segments and knows so many different ways to target a body part. In this match it was Steamboat’s face and Regal throws some nasty forearms to it. He grinds his foot into Steamboat’s face for a while too, which I liked. The finish was respectable as it was a way for Steamboat to get back at Regal for the umbrella attack and losing the TV title. I liked this for a revenge TV match. Not as good as Fall Brawl, but still entertaining and solid work from both guys. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Arn Anderson WCWSN 10/9/93 This was a decent 15 minutes time limit draw on WCW TV. Well, probably good rather than decent. I like Sir William using the umbrella on Arn’s ribs throughout the match to jumpstart Regals’s offense and control segment. The beginning was cool with Arn out wrestling Regal for a few minutes and Regal being disgusted with the situation. The finishing stretch was fine but I wish Arn would have covered Regal a hair earlier to make the draw a little more dramatic. I feel like these two can have a better match and we’ll see if that’s the case when they have a match or two more later on. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd WCW Main Event 10/10/93 This was good. I never understood the extreme criticisms against Mero. I know he can sometimes go through spots very carelessly and sloppily. On the surface that sounds bad but it’s nowhere near as egregious as some people think. In this match besides a very minor mistake on a backdrop he was perfectly fine. He played a very good FIP under Regal’s control segment. Speaking of Regal control segments, they fucking rule! I loved Regal’s neck vice he used throughout the match and Zbyszko was a big help on commentary really pimping the hold. Badd’s hope spots were pretty well put together my favorite being his attempt at a comeback getting shut down by a nasty Regal elbow. This was a 10 minute draw and it seems they are touting Regal as a there wrestling guy, which is awesome. The finishing stretch is pretty good here with Badd getting near falls and finally getting the tilt-a-whirrel hurancanrana but it’s too late as time ran out. The post-match is a beat down by Regal and Sir William so I’m assuming this is a precursor to their feud coming up. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Davey Boy Smith WCW Halloween Havoc 10/24/93 Here’s another very good match from Regal in 1993. The start is hilarious with Regal being disgusted with Davey Boy’s oil following a collar and elbow tie up. Davey Boy showcases his athleticism with a few nip ups and Regal’s reaction is hysterical. Regal does a cartwheel and mocks the crowd then turns around into a shot from Davy Boy. The next couple of minutes are what hurt the match as Davey Boy is on offense and can’t seem to grasp what he wants to do next. Regal botches a monkey flip but I’m not so sure that was his entire fault. Once Regal targets the ribs and gets into his control segment, the match improves. Regal’s various holds and shots to Davey Boy’s ribs are masterful and it’s just fucking awesome watching this guy on offense. Regal does a very good job of reacting and timing on hope spots against his opponents. My favorite was Davey Boy had him up on his shoulders and Regal landed on the entrance ramp over the apron and nailed Davey Boy in the ribs. Really creative hope stops are what Regal has mastered lately. Davey Boy comes by with a power slam for a near fall then pile drives Regal but the time ran out. It was a 15 minute time limit draw and I love the story of Regal’s matches where his opponents have to escape his scientific wrestling and muster up enough energy to try to win a match in one minute. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd WCW Clash of the Champions 25 11/10/93 Regal and Badd work very well together and these series of matches I think have been overlooked. They’re nothing to really praise as some phenomenal series but these matches are a nice mesh of styles. Badd gets some near falls in the opening seconds and really starts off aggressive, which I liked. He makes a mistake being over aggressive and takes a great bump off a missed cross body into the ropes. Regal’s control segment is great at usual and he gets in his butterfly suplex, which I was happy about. The finish is actually pretty good with Badd knocking Regal out with a left. The ref starts the count but Sir William gets involved and stops it so Badd goes for the cover. Sir William puts Regal’s foot on the rope before the last second and Regal sneaks a win with a roll up and a hand full of tights. This was a nice little sprint and another impressive showing between these two in there series. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat WCW Starrcade 12/27/93 I like this match a good bit. Steamboat’s aggressiveness was cool here as he tried to get an early win. Regal’s control segment was great as usual with some pretty cool looking holds and mat work. Steamboat got back on offense about two thirds in and started to slow the pace of the match down. He did some neat arm work but realized he only had a few minutes left to win. Sir William got involved and Steamboat chased him around the ring only to take an awesome bump from a Regal dropkick on the floor. They fought in and out of the ring for a minute or so and Sir William got involved again only to get pushed into the guard rail. Steamboat missed a cross body but got a german pin combo but time ran out. It was another very good 15 minute draw for the TV by Regal here. I’m really enjoying the stories of these matches as the baby face has to focus on the time constraints and try to out wrestle Regal at the same time. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Terry Taylor WCWSN 1/1/94 This was a hell of a match and an awesome gem that was found by whoever discovered it and put it up. The first several minutes of the match focused on Taylor applying a body scissors and occasionally trying to get a pin. Regal found himself in this position win he went for a pin attempt but got caught in the scissors instead. Regal escapes the scissors for a moment and tries to get after Taylor but he can’t avoid Taylor’s trap for another body scissors. That was a fun spot. Regal eventually escapes for good and does some spectacular arm work and holds to wear down Taylor. Taylor reverses some stuff into his own arm work and holds. The finishing stretch is really good with some near falls from both guys. Regal steals the win from Taylor with a hand full of tights in about thirteen minutes. This was well worth it and seems to be a definite precursor to a ridiculously awesome 1994 for Regal. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd WCW World Wide 1/8/94 Badd was excellent in this match selling the arm. Regal was great as usual doing phenomenal arm work to incapacitate Badd and try to prevent his knockout punch. Badd comes back with a nice flurry of offense including his hurancanrana. Regal stops the comeback briefly by attacking the arm again. Badd gets Regal over for a sunset flip but Sir William punches Badd in the face and knocks him down. The Refs calls the match a DQ and Regal and Sir William beat down Badd some more to end the show. This is just another example of how these two work really well together and probably the best performance from Badd so far in these matches. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Dustin Rhodes WCW Clash of the Champions 1/27/94 I actually thought this was a little disappointing but I think I was expecting too much out of it. It was pretty good but Dustin and Regal had absurd years in 1994 so this was a disappointment in regards to their resume. Dustin had some nice flurries of offense like he usually does and Regal grounded him for most of the match with holds and mat work. The story of this match was unique in that Regal kept going to the floor to kill time to keep his championship. This was different to what he had been doing, which was ground his opponents till time expired. Dustin was getting frustrated and continued to have to chase Regal and get something going to try and win. The match went to a draw as Dustin just executed his running bulldog. It could have been much better but I’m content with it and I thought the story was a more unique and heel version of Regal running away with the TV title after a time limit draw. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Sting WCWSN 2/5/94 I thought this was average for the first half of the match. It really kicked in when Regal did a snap mare straight into a nice vice. That looked fucking awesome. Regal keeping Sting on the mat was really cool and it came across as a legitimate challenge to Sting. Once Sting got his comeback, shit really got good for a minute or so. Regal avoided a move from Sting but turned around and Sting snap mares him out of the corner into a dropkick. That was an awesome sequence. They do a double dropkick then Sting wins with a backslide very quickly in a rushed finish due to time constraints. This had some cool moments and it was interesting to see Regal and Sting work together so well. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. The Patriot WCWSN 2/12/94 The finishing run in this match was excellent. The fans were already behind Wilkes before the match started. There were heavy “USA!” chants throughout the match. Wilkes is underrated and I’ve always thought he has been ever since I discovered some of his work. Regal’s control segment equaled great as always but things got very interesting when Wilkes made his comeback. He attempted the win on almost every roll up and cradle in the book. The crowd was going fucking berzerk here for the near falls and Regal was great acting disoriented and such. The finish was a bit awkward as Wilkes gives Regal a back suplex too early and has to wait a few seconds before the pin attempt. Overall this was pretty good with an excellent closing stretch run. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Brian Armstrong WCW Main Event 2/13/94 For a five minute sprint this wasn’t bad. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a Brian Armstrong match until now. Anyways, the match starts off with the typical European style mat wrestling with Regal taking control for the most part. Armstrong gets in a few holds of his own before Regal grounds him again. The regular Regal TV match down stretch happens with Armstrong getting some near falls on roll ups and cradles. Regal catches Armstrong on a mistake and gives him a butterfly suplex. He cradles him for the win afterwards. The post-match interview with Larry Z was entertaining and pretty funny as well. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Arn Anderson Superbrawl IV 2/20/94 What a great match. Regal and Arn work brilliantly together in this. The chain wrestling is just fantastic to watch. Regal’s stalling in the opening minutes were a nice touch as it comes across that Regal knows Anderson is no slouch and can beat him at any second. Arn focuses on the arm for a large of portion of the match and Regal does a great job of selling it and seeming exhausted as he has yet to defend his title in a match with a time limit of thirty minutes. Regal’s various attempts to take out Arn are great as he does some nasty forearms and European uppercuts as well as just meshing Arn’s face during pin covers and holds. Sir William gets involved some here by attacking Arn with the umbrella and the crowd gets pretty pissed for it. The final ten minutes are excellent as Arn finally targets Regal’s bandaged leg. The figure four teaser is awesome as the crowd pops big for it. Regal tries to fight back and ground Arn but he can’t do it and Arn starts to get some near falls. Arn nails the spinebuster with thirty seconds left but doesn’t cover because of fatigue. He then goes for a sunset flip but Sir William helps Regal stay up and Regal lands on Arn for the win with about seven seconds left. This was a brilliantly booked match and a very impressive performance from Regal. Arn was great working the body parts and the crowd was really into it in the last five minutes or so. I would say this is the best match I’ve seen so far of Regal since his debut in 1993. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. The Patriot WCWSN 2/26/94 This match really stood out to me as a tremendous Regal performance. I love that the match starts much differently than any Regal match prior to this one. He attacks The Patriot from the opening bell and fucking whacks and beats on him with some nasty European uppercuts and forearms. Wilkes immediately targets the leg when he gets his first chance and Regal sells the leg the entire match. Regal trying to get positioning to ground Wilkes but can’t be cause of the relentless attack on his leg is tremendous. Regal is pissed off in this match and it is fucking awesome. He just meshes his forearm in Wilkes face and head. The finish is very good too with Regal going for a sunset flip pin only for Wilkes to roll through it and grab a hold of his hurt leg for a pinning cradle and win. This was an awesome match and extremely unique to the previous stuff I’ve been watching. Regal’s performance was superb especially his selling. “Lord” Steven Regal/Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat/Arn Anderson WCWSN 3/5/94 This was an excellent TV match. Steamboat was tremendously great as FIP here and Regal and Austin’s offense along with Sir William’s cunning exploits fit nicely here. Austin gives Steamboat a nasty Alabama slam during one cut off spot that made Schiavone and Heenan go crazy. Steamboats attempts to fight out of the corner but only to get overwhelmed were cool. I love how Arn just got fed up and came in and cleaned house. The finish was great too as Steamboat gets the win on Austin with a cross body. It was even better that the storyline was that there was an argument between Austin and Steamboat as to who should face Flair at Spring Stampede. This whole match was great even the opening exchanges with Regal and Austin bumping wildly to Steamboat and Arn’s offense. I’m happy I got to see this gem since it was just uploaded on YouTube yesterday. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Scott Armstrong WCW Main Event 3/6/94 For a five six minute sprint this was a hell of a match. Scott’s arm work on Regal was good and Regal bumped well to his offense. I loved the unique escape from the arm lock by Regal in an ankle pick. His use of the knee to drive into Scott’s face was awesome. Scott gets a nice flurry of offense and Regal sells and bumps to all of them magnificently. The finish is a little suspect to me as it looked like Scott just fell on the missed monkey flip and Regal calmly covered him. Overall, this was a fun sprint and from the three Armstrong matches so far this might be the best one. The post-match interview was great as well with Regal fucking with Larry Z and shitting on the U.S. and its education and debt problems. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. The Patriot WCW Main Event 3/20/94 This match would have been better if it wasn’t for the annoying commentary from Bischoff and Ventura that actually hurt the match. They bet lunch on who ever threw the first closed fist punch so that became the whole story of the match because of those fucks. Anyways, Regal’s arm work was excellent here and his use of the ropes as an advantage to work on Wilkes arm was pretty cool. I loved him forearming Wilkes arm as it was tied into the ropes. The finishing run was good as Regal bumped well. Wilkes got on the Boston Crab but Sir William came in and whacked Wilkes with the umbrella. Pretty good stuff damaged by the annoying ass commentary. “Lord” Steven Regal/Steve Austing/Mongolian Mauler vs. Sting/Dustin Rhodes/Brian Pillman WCW Main Event 4/17/94 The atmosphere in this was really awkward. The crowd was molten but it felt like for other reasons or maybe the audio was just enhanced or something. As the far as the match is concerned it was a bit awkward too. The opening minutes were bizarre with stalling that makes since in theory but didn’t come across well at all on tape. Once Dustin got in the match improved by leaps and bounds. He took his insane clothesline bump and it might have been the best one he’s ever taken aside from the Vader match at COTC. The whole FIP segment with him was done very well and Austin was good maneuvering for the various cut off spots. The hot tag didn’t feel as great because of the weird ass crowd or audio. The final run was whatever with Pillman getting Sting body pressed onto the Mauler for the win. I wish the crowd, audio, and commentary had been better for this. It could have possibly made this match a bit better. This was decent overall with a great FIP segment from Dustin, everything else just occurred. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Brian Pillman WCW Spring Stampede 4/17/94 This was an excellent match. I’m guessing from what I’ve seen this is Pillman’s best match of 1994. His selling was superb in this and a big part of this match. The first few minutes are great with Pillman getting some offense in but the tide turns when Regal gives Pillman a modified northern lights suplex. The rest of the match consist of Regal applying various holds such as crossfaces, modified versions of the crossbow, and the Regal stretch to wear down Pillman’s back and kill time. Every now and then Pillman would get a burst of energy and maybe get a nearfall or a big move in only to be knocked down again by Regal. The finish was great too with both guys going over the top rope to the floor and with fifteen seconds left. Pillman tried to get Regal back in for the pin off a suplex into the ring but to no avail. This was excellent with a lot of cool cut off spots and offense from Regal and great selling from Pillman. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Ric Flair Marquis of Queensbury Cup 4/30/94 – 5/28/94 I’m going to write my analysis on this by rounds. It was five rounds in a European style wrestling match. This was pretty great as it really gave Regal a chance to throw in some of his crazy ass European escapes and holds. The first round was pretty good with both guys feeling each other out with mat work and reversals. Regal got in some high impact offense towards the end of the five minutes with some uppercuts and a suplex. Regal won round one in a split decision when two out of three judges voted him the winner. Round two was a little bit better, this time with Flair targeting Regal’s leg throughout the match. Regal did various escapes to avoid Flair’s onslaught. Regal managed to get some take downs in here and the round was declared a draw. The third round almost revolved around solely on Flair attacking the hamstring of Regal. The round ended with Regal in the figure four for about thirty seconds. Flair was giving the win from the judges. Round four was very good and had some back and forth stuff. It ended in a draw and so a fifth round was announced. The fifth round was awesome with both guys really lighting it up now and fighting. They were throwing forearms and chops all over the place at one point. Flair took the awesome turnbuckle bump to the floor. Sir William hit him with the umbrella and that cost Regal the round. It ended up a draw and sudden death overtime was announced. Flair went nuts here and threw Regal around and put on several holds to Regal’s hurt hamstring. Flair even hit a move from the top rope and the crowd loved it. Regal got the upper hand again and Sir William kept getting involved using the umbrella. Flair mounted a comeback but Sir William tripped him by the ropes. Regal went back on offense but Flair caught him with a backslide for the win. This whole series/match was great altogether. The fourth and fifth rounds were excellent and really made this series. I thought this was a cool concept to put these guys in. Regal continues to have an awesome 1994. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Larry Zbyszko WCW Slamboree 5/22/94 I loved this. Regal deliberately stalls for the first three minutes and gets shit from the Philly crowd. Larry Z is great here toying with Regal and one upping him every time they get in a brief exchange. At one point Zybyszko gets Regal good and yells, “You aren’t good enough!” and gives him the screw you sign. Regal is livid and fucking unloads on Larry Z in the corner with some nasty ass forearms and European uppercuts. Regal is now in firm control for the most part and really gives Larry a good beating. Zbyszko tries are backslide after blocking an uppercut but Regal prevents it. Sir William gets involved and nails Larry with the umbrella and Regal attempts a butterfly suplex. Zbyszko reverses it and flips over into a pin for the win. This was an awesome match with some really great exchanges. The Philly crowd popped big for Larry Z’s win and Regal was great as the pompous champ. Larry Z was great as the prick old man too. I can’t wait to see the title match from now. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Larry Zbyszko WCWSN 5/28/94 This fucking RULED. I watched this three years ago for the WCW SC poll and loved it. Today, I watched it and it still fucking kicks ass. The first few minutes are really fucking great. Zbyszko outwrestles Regal and they fucking break out crazy ass European style holds and escapes in a wildly fast pace. Larry Z gets a near fall and Regal is frustrated. Seen enough, Regal gets in his offense and now shit gets serious. Regal had missed the Regal roll and his leg nailed Larry in the back of the head. It was a minor botch that helped the match a good bit. Next thing you know, Zbyszko goes tumbling to the floor from a vicious European uppercut. Regal UNLOADS on Larry Z with vile and violent European uppercuts and forearms. He adds in some aggressive looking modified crossfaces and crossbows to go along with everything else. Every cover he goes for is even nastier as he grinds his forearm into Larry’s face. Sir William slaps the shit out of Larry and he gets a sleeper hold for it. Regal continues his onslaught then Larry Z gets a few near falls off some pin reversals. Zbyszko gets back on offense for a few minutes and fucking pulls out some nutty ass shit. The two holds he applies are a standing reverse surfboard and a standing reverse figure four! What the fuck!? The finishing stretch is tremendous with both guys just throwing everything out there with headbutts, slaps, fists, chokes, forearms, knees, and whatever else. Regal gets in a sleeper hold and Sir William jumps on the apron. Larry kicks Sir William off and uses his momentum to fall back on Regal for the pin and the win. The crowd was fucking bat shit the whole match and went crazy at the finish. What a fucking match! This is easily Regal’s best match of his career so far. It ended up being a total balls to the walls fight full of European holds and brawling. Regal is fucking storming through 1994. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Larry Zbyszko WCW Clash of the Champions 27 6/23/94 This was the third of three great matches in a really great series that has been way overlooked. When the bell rings there’s no down time as Regal goes straight for Larry Z’s head. These two throw haymakers, fists, forearms, and uppercuts. Zbyszko gets the advantage and throws Regal to the ramp. He gets a near fall on a vertical suplex and piledriver. The crowd was nuts by this point. Things slow down for a minute and both guys get in an entertaining standoff as Regal challenges Larry Z to a fight. Zbyszko goads him into the corner but Regal gains the advantage and locks in a chin lock along with some nasty forearm shots. Regal gets caught in a leg vice for a few minutes until the closing stretch. The finish is Regal reversing a Zbyszko pin attempt into his own while holding on the ropes to get the win and the TV title back. This was a great third match and very different from the first two. This is an incredible series and needs to be seen by everyone. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd WCW Bash at the Beach 7/17/94 One of the things I noticed when watching this match was how well Regal takes Badd’s offense. It really becomes an important part of each of their matches. This was very, very good. Badd “outperforms” Regal for most of the match with some impressive wrestling and crowd pleasing arm work. Most of Regal’s offense is they typical nastiness and onslaught of strikes including forearms and brutal looking European uppercuts. The finishing run is phenomenal with Badd throwing out all his best offense and Regal bumping and selling masterfully for him. The spot of the match is Regal taking a breather from getting hit with the knockout punch only for Badd to give him and Sir William a cross body on the floor. The finish was set up well but executed poorly. Regal reverses a sunset flip into a cradle that took way too long. This was a very good show opener and another plus in a great year for Regal. “Lord” Steven Regal/Steve Austin vs. Johnny B. Badd/Ricky Steamboat WCW Main Event 8/14/94 This was a well-structured tag match that had the appropriate FIP segment and a finish with a twist. Badd played FIP for a solid few minutes and took a nice bump off an Austin back elbow. There was a very good cut off spot where Badd tried to muster up some offense but Austin caught him with a back body drop. After watching a ton of WCW tags from this period, Austin is excellent as the heel working cut off spots. His timing and ring positioning is terrific. Steamboat got the hot tag and cleaned house with his usual high impact, crowd loving offense. In the finish Regal is the legal man but is tripped by Badd and Steamboat pins Austin off a rollup even though Austin isn’t the legal man. Like I said before, this was a solid mid-90s WCW tag match with a fair number of good spots in it. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Antonio Inoki WCW Clash of the Champions 28 8/28/94 This was a novelty and not much else. It was interesting to watch Regal wrestling more of a shoot style kind of match. Not to mention he’s wrestling such a well-known like Inoki. Most of this match consisted of Regal laying in on Inoki with aggressive shoot style holds and adding in the occasional strike. Inoki kept on going for the sleeper throughout the match and I feel they teased that up pretty well. What hurt this the most was the annoying ass backstage footage of Hogan limping into the building and Bockwinkel walking down to the ring to join the commentary booth and discuss the matter. What a horrible way to respect Inoki and Regal during an importantly advertised bout. This was simply just a novelty because the match itself wasn’t much and the secondary shit just made it worse. “Lord” Steven Regal vs. Johnny B. Badd WCW Fall Brawl 1994 9/18/94 This was a legitimately great match. Badd was ridiculously over at this point and it definitely shows in this. This starts out as the usual Badd-Regal encounter with Badd getting the better of the champion with wrestling holds. Regal rolls to the floor to take his usual breather and Badd dives on him and Sir William. Once they get back in the ring Badd goes for a cross body but misses and takes a lunatic bump against the ropes. Regal takes advantage and works on Badd really well here with holds and stiff strikes. Badd occasionally will try a comeback but instead meets a knee or an elbow or a forearm. He gets several near falls on quick pin attempts but to no avail. Badd goes for a sunset flip but Sir William assists Regal and Regal falls on Badd but the ref kicks Sir William off. Sir William tries to help Regal again by holding Badd on the ropes but gets hit by Regal instead. Badd gets a tremendous near fall off a small package. Regal starts to get the upperhand again but gets caught in a back slide and a three count for the Badd title win. This was a brilliantly worked match by both guys and an exceptional gem that was found. This completes a superb year from Regal in 1994.

To get in this conversation, in the last month I've watched nearly every single Rey match from 2002 WWE and from Jan to Aug 2003. He's had probably a dozen great matches, several very good matches, and nothing has been short of decent. More importantly, 2002-2003 Rey doesn't come close to as good as 2005-2006 or 2009-2011 Rey. Plus, there's stuff from 04, 07 and 08 I need to see for the first time or re-explore. So yeah, I think Rey is a pretty good candidate for greatest television worker of all time and might have the highest volume of stuff within a given peak.

I think Flair yelling at fans in the third row is micro and good micro. Flair is definitely good at micro. His just doesn't stand out quite as much because his macro is so great.

I love the SN match between Regal and Larry. That might be a match I would consider on that level. It is easily my favorite Regal match ever. Their other matches are very good to great but not incredibly great. I like the Arn match and think it gets an unfair label but I wouldn't call it off the charts. That Regal-Finlay feud was something I actually didn't like as much as others on first watch. I thought they were good and maybe very good but not great. I like Regal a lot mind you and he's someone who'd definitely finish high on a top 100 list when I do one again. Plus, if I ever get an income maybe I'll purchase your Regal comp and possibly find gems that constitute what I call a really great and tremendous match. He has too many good/very good/ and a fair number of great matches. With the exception of the Larry SN match which is something I would consider, I don't think he has anything really great or tremendous.

Interesting read over the last page. I like the micro in matches. I do often look for it. However, it's really hard for me to say a match is really awesome based off the micro. In fact, what usually makes a match great for me is always having at least one big spot remembered in a match. On the Funks vs. Abby/Shiek matches I always remember Shiek attempting murder by carving Terry up with a spike. When I think of Sarge vs. Iron Shiek I always recall that final boot swing to the face of Sheik. In Wargames 94, Terry Funk getting gonzo bombed between two rings is always there. From Eddie/J.B.L at JD Eddie's bloody mask he wears on his face is going to be there forever. Hell, I love Regal rubbing his forearm in the face of his opponents during pin covers but it's hard for me to think of very many out of this world great Regal matches. There's plenty of good ones and the general great match but there hasn't been one that's totally knocked me off my feet yet. I guess what I'm saying is a lot of times micro is only little points of the match but they don't define the overall picture. All of those spots I mentioned define those matches in one way or another through the whole picture.

I've had some discussions about Holly before with my brother and we sort of agreed that he came in at a bad time. I don't think he gets enough praise because I believe he did have some really good stuff especially from his WWE run in 04-06. He's a great tag wrestler and obviously a fun brawler. I thought he was always good working underneath and for the hot tags in tag matches. He had good to great matches with tag partners such as Billy Gunn and Charlie Haas which is saying something. Overall, he's a pretty solid worker and has had flashes of being very good to great. I find him to be somewhat under appreciated. Let the Bob Holly talk commence.

Was there powder and a fan involved? Not that I'm aware of. Although, speaking of fans Buddy did interact frequently with "Grandma" in the front row during his heyday. She even once attempted assault.

I got that as a late Christmas present. I'm glad I picked Buddy's comp because man did he blow me away. I don't care how much I say this but he is the greatest find in the internet age. It's not even close.

In no particular order: Funk Flair Lawler Eddie Rey Buddy Savage Barry Bock Hansen

I hate that match. When I watched it for the Smarkschoice WCW poll a few years back I was flabbergasted at the praise it received.

I'm with you pretty much all the way here.

I always thought the finish to this match was absolutely frightening but helped to make it so great.

Loss, reading your match rankings it seems like El Dandy had another off the charts year. Out of curiosity, where would you rank him overall for the year? It would seem he might have been a top three or top five for you in 90?

I just want to point out that I will review some matches of his with the other "SD six" guys but those were the four matches that I really wanted to pimp before going back into stuff a lot of people have likely seen.

Per Dylan's request I will now list and talk about some of the Rey matches I watched over the Holidays: Rey Mysterio vs. A-Train (SD! 1/28/03) - This was a revenge match for Rey after A-Train put him out for a month in late 02. The opening to this is tremendous with Rey attempting a 619 to A-Train as A-Train was about to get in the ring. The crowd gets really hot for this as Rey keeps attempting high spots and a relentless aerial assault to take out A-Train. A-Train just counters everything with violent power moves that send Rey crashing. Rey gets a couple of exciting hope spots after getting worked over and eventually sets A-Train up for the 619 but he runs right into an absolutely brutal brogue kick to the face that looked to have decapitated him. A-Train hits that sick backbreaker finisher he used back in the day and gets the win. This was a really excellent underdog vs. big bad bully match and a really awesome early WWE Rey find. Rey Mysterio vs. Tajiri (SD! 7/30/02) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q9Anp4w_iE It's possible Dylan already reviewed this in the Tajiri thread. This is Rey's second match in WWE. The start of this match rules too with Rey hitting a springboard moonsault on Tajiri. These two just bring out the high spots but also do a good job of selling in between as well. The finish is great here too with Rey winning with a top rope west coast pop. Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle (SD! 1/21/03) - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x68lm0_re...=2#.UP47PSfLSSp I liked this a good bit and thought it was arguably as good as their Summerslam match. Rey is a good match for Angle and it shows here. What stood out most for me in this was the unique finish which saw Rey attempt a West Coast Pop only to get smashed into the turnbuckle and get hit with an electric chair pinning combo for the Angle win. That was a great finish and really cool way to stop a Rey comeback. Rey Mysterio vs. Jamie Noble ( Velocity 4/27/04) - This was holy shit level great and one of the five or ten best matches in the company from 04 that I can recall. There is some really awesome mat exchanges and counters here. Noble works on Rey's arm throughout the match and Rey sells it terrifically. You'd think Rey's arm isn't the best limb to be targeting considering his style of offense but it comes off very believable and Noble does end up catching Rey off the ropes with a fujiwara armbar further legitimizing the story of the match. Also, each big spot is built up with major importance and the near falls are set up and separated very well. Rey wins this by dropping the dime after the 619 but man this fucking blew me away. I think these are good matches that show how well Rey could work with various people in different types of matches and succeed in all of them. Plus, I don't know how many of these matches are remembered. It just goes to show someone how good Rey was week in and week out on television and further proves his status as "The Greatest Television Worker of All Time."

I agree with that definitely. Nothing is better than seeing Brian Knobs head get spiked to the mat off a Frankensteiner. Of course, I don't think Knobs was necessarily unwilling.

I've watched a shit ton of early WWE Rey recently and boy does he blow away the other "SD six" guys. Eddie is arguably just as good but the others aren't even close.

I've listened to most of the show and have really enjoyed it. These podcasts rule. To answer Dave's question: I have never been a fan of the King's Court all that much to be honest. Lawler is funny and all but after watching the 94 yearbook I got sick of the segment. That'd be last. I've only seen a few Flair For The Gold's but I enjoyed them. I'm ashamed to say I've never seen Funk's segment. For a Hales, that's unacceptable.

The Bulldogs were best when they first came on the scene in 85/86 for sure. I think they were best at having "powerman" squash matches with random jobbers. That's not the best compliment I can give but I definitely enjoy that type of shit.

For my money Buddy Rose is the single greatest "find" in the internet age by a longshot. He's definitely in my top ten. As for Bock, my lazy ass still needs to finish the AWA set. Plus, college can really fuck up your wrestling intake.