Superstar Sleeze

Keiji Mutoh Vs Kazuo Yamazaki - NJPW 8/2/96 G-1 Climax WWF 96 PPVs done for now it is onto something different. 96 was not an explosive year for our old pal Mutoh losing the title to Takada on 1/4 and ceding the title of Ace & Defender back to Hashimoto after holding it for most of 95. Mutoh’s two big matches were dream matches against Hakushi and Liger and the gnarly street fight against Tenryu which is a Top 100 match of all time in my opinion. So an interesting year for Mutoh. He goes up against UWFi #2 and now NJPW stalwart in G-1 Climax. I don’t know if I am in a good mood as work winds down and anticipation for my first child grows but I loved this match. The opening wrestling was so good. Great chaining lots of struggle. Mutoh wins out with the a Short Arm Scissors then works the leg. Yamazaki starts throwing kicks with reckless abandon. Some great shots. Mutoh goes for a single leg takedown but Yamazaki nails him in the head great Stuff. Mutoh says Fuck It and stomps the injured hand of Yamazaki. Yamazaki comes back with arm bar and cross arm breaker attempts. I love how Low-Fi this is. It is not about getting in all your high spots but taking what the match gives you. We get shades of 2001 Mutoh with Dragon Leg Screw and loved the Moonsault into the Figure-4. I thought he had it but we get a Yamazaki Flying Cross-Armbreaker for the win. Genius match with dueling psychologies and each man staying true to their strategy and characters. ****

Undertaker vs Mankind - WWF RAW 12/9/96 No Holds Barred Man I really enjoyed this match. I watched this maybe 6 years ago didnt seem to leave an impression But I liked this a lot. This was around the time period where they were putting hard hitting NO DQ matches on RAW all the time to compete against Nitro theres a killer Mankind versus Austin also from around this time. I really liked the hot start from Taker. Old School, Chokeslam and then looking for Tombstone. We are still building to Executioner match so we get some distraction from him. Then after that it is just killer hand vs leg psychology. So we saw the great hand psychology from Taker and again more of the same here. But this time we get some nice leg work from Mankind to counter it. Because it is no holds barred they are able to use all the fun stuff outside the Ring to attack the hand or leg depending who is on offense. Mankind shined In this match there were the usuals like Nestea Plunge and the Cactus Clothesline but the Cactus Elbow on the bad leg and the drop toehold to get out of a Chokeslam really popped me. We get the Mandible Claw as a counter to the Tombstone which was killer. Then Tombstone when Taker rallies to win. The Executioner attacks which is lame but man this was a great match. The best match was definitely the Buried Alive match which should have been the last match but these two matches after have been great. ****

Undertaker vs Mankind - WWF Survivor Series 1996 I always forget theirs a 4th match in this series and by the looks of it theres a 5th one on RAW. Of course epilogue April 97 Revenge of the Taker as well. I thought as a stand alone match it was great and second best of the series but it felt too normal after the Boiler Room Brawl and Buried Alive. This should have been the second match. The hand psychology was perfect to ward off the Mandible Claw and if this was fitted between KOTR and the Boiler Room Brawl it would have been perfect. But as the PPV series ended I can see why this is forgettable even if I loved it. Undertaker comes out with a new look looking like Gene Simmons with the top knot and Bat Wings as he descends from the Rafters. Lord of Darkness meets Leather Daddy. I am biased because I started watching in 1997 but this is his best look in my opinion. Taker uses a drop toe hold to the astonishment of Vince & JR but those in the know know he was using this on RAW back in 93-94. He also uses a Fireman’s Carry and I think he was going for a Short Arm Scissors before settling into a Cross Armbreaker. I appreciated the Deadman doing a little wrestling. I really liked he used these take downs and holds with a singular focus to attack and debilitate the Mandible Claw hand of Mankind. This is the constant thread of the match. Even when he loses control of the match when he gets back into control, he is biting the Claw Hand, he is slamming the Claw Hand into the steel steps. It is all about attacking the Claw Hand because they have invested so much into the Mandible Claw. He even loses control of the match initially because he is so focused on slamming the hand into post that Mankind ball shots him and somersaults onto him. I liked Mankind a lot here he was playing the role of 70s heel well a violent lunatic who is borderline animalistic so he had the fight or flight drive. I liked that he chose flight a couple times. I liked the cheating to take control the aforementioned ball shot and later Shiek object. He also used the Piledriver and the Mandible Claw effectively. The Nestea Plunge was well-timed mismatch to get match to even. I really liked the Chokeslam versus Mandible Claw struggle. That’s right up my alley. Mini-battles within the larger match. Love that. Love the Chokeslam. The Claw was put over strong the whole match. I liked the Tombstone coming out of the Foreign Object attacks but it felt a bit anti-climatic. I wish there was a way to hit Tombstone out of the Claw. Overall a great match with strong psychology. The Executioner saves Paul Bearer from getting his comeuppance because we gotta build to the next Taker PPV match which will be against The Executioner but since the Executioner doesn’t pan out it feels lame. Thats the end of my road with Taker 96 PPV matches as well a strong test for him. ****

lol I watched this match again! Shinya Hashimoto vs Kazuo Yamazaki - NJPW 1/4/96 Inoki vs Vader and Mutoh vs Takada take center stage but Hashimoto has to fight someone. Their 98 match is the classic but this is very good. Kickboxing to start. Yamasaki is the first to get in a head rocket and targets the arm. Lots of great struggle over arm wringers and armbar takedowns. Hashimoto is not giving an inch. He sells really well for Yamazaki. He powders. He uses the point of fingers to throat thrust which is illegal which puts over the desperation. Yamazaki stays on the Arm. Then moves to sleeper/choke to set up the cross Arm Breaker But nothing doing. Yamazaki head rocking kick but that just WAKES UP HASHIMOTO THE DESTROYER! RIGHT HAND OF HASHIMOTO! BIG KICK! BRAINBUSTER! Great badass Dome match! *** 1/2

The Undertaker vs Mankind - WWF Buried Alive THE UNDERTAKER IS ALIVE! HE WILL NOT REST IN PEACE! Great Vince call there. It is crazy to me that has been like 15 years since I watched this match as it was a staple of my teen years with the Taker DVD set from the mid-00s. I think this is my new pick for the best non-Shawn, non-Bret WWF Match from 93-97 but Cactus/HHH from RAW is close. This was a great high spot match disguised as a brawl which reminded me of the 2011 Taker/HHH Mania match. The high spots really hit and stick with you. From the first Nestea Plunge to the Chokeslam to the grave every big move hit and felt good. Usually I get on Foley’s case for not having enough offense but this played to this match’s strength. After the Bearer turn you just wanted to see Deadman Walking Tall and Foley bumping from pillar to post for him and that’s what you got. Foley worked this like a 70s heel. All the offensive breaks were through cheating and nefarious means. Bearer shaking the ropes on Old School, Bearer giving him the Sheik tool, Bearer distracting with the weak Urn shot only for Foley to dent a chair with Taker’s cranium. Through all this Undertaker Just Kept COMING! Like the Creature from the Black Lagoon he would just keep rising. It was perfect babyface wrestling. He threw everything back at Mankind the Sheik pen, the chair and it was glorious. It was DeadMan Walking Tall. Piledrivers looked great. Loved Taker’s finish sequence coming off driven backdrop into the steps and climaxing with the Tombstone. The Mandible Claw as the one last gasp at the Grave sit was great. The Chokeslam into Grave what a punctuation mark. I actually forgot Undertaker is the winner because the post-match angle is so iconic so I thought Mankind won. Terry Gordy as the Executioner attacks Taker with a shovel. The midcard heel brigade buried Undertaker alive only for Taker’s hand to shoot from the Grave in a great WWF Masterpiece Theatre moment. Awesome match holds up better than I remembered. I think I would have liked it more of it was a bit more uptempo and fiery but honestly it was awesome. They played to their characters well and the match really crescendoed to a great climax. **** 1/4

I was watching Sovereignty last week with my wife man when did Dennis Quaid and Vince McMahon become twins? I kept thinking I was watching Vince. It was uncanny and eerie.

The Undertaker vs Mankind - Summerslam 1996 Boiler Room Brawl Finally warm enough to do a review yesterday but the match/angle was so long didnt get a chance to do it. So now doing it on a cold day. Little lower on this than most. With post-2020 eyes, it is interesting because this match and Hollywood Backlot Brawl which Vince directly compares this match to, are spiritual ancestors to cinematic matches. I think that this is the true legacy of the match. Competition fuels innovation so kudos for WWF trying outside the box ideas. There is a lot of freedom In Pro wrestling but one restriction is needing to do stuff in front of live audience. I think this match would have been better served on TV than PPV. There was no TitanTron they literally had some big screen TVs on the apron for front row people but that was it. It was a swing but it was not sustainable. This also felt like an angle not a match. It was all to Serve the big heel turn and it was great. As match it didnt do much for me. It was a decent brawl but this was not Duggan vs Sawyer Battle of New Orleans. The pipe ballshot on Taker was good. The Two Cactus Elbows both the one that hit and missed was cool. I liked the brawl in the hallwaY. It wouldn’t be 1996 without hot coffee. I really liked action In front of the audience. Cactus Piledriver on Concrete looked great and was a good “near fall”. The way you win is retrieving the Urn from Paul Bearer which I liked as a stipulation. The Nestea Plunge was sick and perfect “near fall “ for Taker. Bearer doesn’t give him the Urn. Im waiting for him to crack him with it. But we get the Mandible Claw which puts the move over as a killer. Bearer slaps which is great work. As the beat down is complete we get the Urn headshot to cement the angle. I gotta admit how they did it was way more effective than a simple Urn shot. Really got Mankind and the Mandible Claw over as the monster and his weapon. Paul Bearer is the bitch heel for turning on Taker. Loved the angle but it could have been half as long and just as effective. ***

AJPW World Tag Team Champions Stan Hansen & Gary Albright vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue - AJPW 2/20/96 Been awhile since I did one of these Middle of the night Cant sleep reviews. All Japan 1996 is mostly known for the epic three-way tag team rivalry of Misawa/Akiyama, Kawada/Taue and Doc/Ace but before that we got a rivalry between the Holy Demon Army against the Texan Cowboy Stan Hansen & Nebraska Cornhusker Gary Albright. Hansen/Albright won the tag titles from the Holy Demon Army in January in a match I couldn’t find. This is the rematch and the title switch back. Wish the Hansen/Albright team got more play later on in the year. I enjoyed this match a lot we get 17:30 of a 21 minutes match and the clip is towards the beginning. I love how un-flashy this is theres isn’t a lot of high spots or MOVEZ But there is a lot of grit and struggle. You don’t get to see the Holy Demon Army play babyface very often But they do here. One of my favorite psychological angles in wrestling is when the heels wrestle to contain and the babyfaces wrestle to explode. We see that early on from Albright and Hansen how they work to contain Taue with headlocks and front chancery. Kawada comes in with piss & vinegar and rolls on the mat with Albright. Everything is close contact body on body. Hansen and Kawada is a war. Hansen trying to contain but Kawada getting wrist control and yanking Hansen to Taue to tag out. I love that struggle. Hansen taking back over with the bodyslam and Cowboy Kick. The clip is around here which if there was going to be a clip was a good time because they set the tone and we still get to see the most important part of the match but I would love to see this in full. Albright has Taue in a chinkock and a body scissors when we come back. Kawada breaks it up. Kawada explodes into SPINNING HEEL KICK! You finally feel like Kawada is finally going to rip the lid off. BUT Albright HURLS Kawada with German suplex which leads to one of the best heat segments I have seen in quite some time. Hansen and Albright work this heat segment as a full court press just suffocating Kawada. Kawada is able to sell in the holds and in the little gasps. I know this is sacrilegious but I prefer this to the really long stretches a Morton or a Steamboat would use to sell. There’s a time and a place for Morton-style Southern selling But I think it can be overdone. This is understated and to me more impactful. The heat segment starts as a consolidation. Hansen coming in and just going bone one bone…knees and elbows, Cowboy Kicks. Albright is the one who starts working holds that lead to progression. Albright is taking what Kawada gives him he sort of finds his way to STF. Then on his next tag follows up with the heel hook. I love how Hansen tags in and makes sure handoff of Kawada’s ankle is smooth like a baton pass in a relay race But he does not have the technical skills of Albright so his leg work is ugly and leaves him open to head kicks from Kawada but he comes back with a Single Leg Crab. All while this going on, Kawada selling pitch perfectly how much pain and agony he is in. Albright RIPS a great Belly to Belly. I loved how he went for a suplex pinning combo there keeps Kawada and the viewer off their feet. He hits a desperation enziguiri on Albright I believe. HOT TAG! Taue comes in with a Big Boot. Just when you think you’re going to get Taue House a Fire but Albright rips a suplex and goes for the cross arm breaker. Kawada can barely walk but crashes down on Albright with all his weight to break it up, Hansen and Albright start double teaming trucking Kawada. Hansen DDT and Powerbomb on Taue. It looks like it will be an easy win for the Americans. Hansen is loading up for the Lariat. Big Boot by Taue! Miss by Hansen! Kawada Kick to Albright! Hansen pinballs for Taue and Kawada…NODOWA~! FUCK YEAH! 1-2-3! HELL YEAH! Kawada & Taue as the babyfaces who are in a hole against Hansen and Albright finding a way to win even though they were overwhelmed excellent story. Hansen and Albright really complement each other well… the rough & tumble Cowboy and the Collegiate Wrestler. After Hansen and Albright guzzled them, just love short & sweet Hansen Pinball into the NODOWA~! Mid-90s All Japan still surprises and titillates after all these years. ****

Does this exist in full? I can’t seem to find it.

I can’t believe Hawk and Animal were not nominated in 2016 and that no one considered to throw them a vote. I wouldn’t vote for either but they are big names. Hawk always got the bigger singles opportunities than Animal. There’s a couple Flair vs Hawk singles matches but I can’t think of any Animal. Hawk got a title shot against Mutoh and has the run with Sasaki. I agree that Animal was the better in the Ring and had a good powerslam but Hawk had more presence and charisma.

Thanks so much for keeping me in the loop. How do I submit a ballot? Discord aint my thing so I appreciate you keeping me updated.

Vader vs Sid - WWF Buried Alive Maybe the shortest match line to write is Vader vs Sid. With the December PPV called It’s Time the smart money is on Vader. I love both these big mugs Vader is a Top 25 wrestler in my opinion but going with Sid was the right call he had way more heat and Survivor Series match is definitely better than the Summerslam match. Masters of Powerbomb explode and I love that video package is all about who the True Master of Powerbomb is! Starrcade 1993 main event final comes to us about three years later and the match and build feels very WCW. Sid playing the role of high flying plucky underdog is fun to watch. The match had a rep if exceeding expectations and this is definitely a Top Ten Sid match which is a feather in Vader’s cap. Sid doing and outside in Sunset Flip only for Vader to do the big butt splash and Sid coming off the top rope to get caught and slammed were two stand out moments. This also featured some of the best Sid striking as the early shine clothesline mowed down the Mastodon and he threw a couple great punches. I liked that early body slam attempt led to the heat segment with a racquet shot. I liked they paid that off later. It wasnt your classic Vader performance either where he just mauls his opponent very WWF in how it was paced which was a boon for Sid and a bust for Vader in the long run. The finish bummed me out. Vader splashes Sid a bunch but knees up on the Vaderbomb. Great! Sid teases the Powerbomb but first needs to crotch Cornette which is fun. Ok now Powerbomb the big Muthafucka. Then they do Vader can’t get Sid up for the Powerbomb. Ok nice touch. Now Powerbomb Vader. He chokeslams him for the win. It is still cool but the crowd was frothing at the mouth for the Powerbomb so it took some wind out the sail. Fun 8 minute super heavyweight clash definitely one of the best Sid matches I have ever seen and I love me some Sid! *** 1/2

Undertaker vs Mankind - WWF King of the Ring 1996 With Goldust feud put to bed it is time to start the iconic Mankind feud. This is actually a five match series if you include the RAW match I often forget about the Survivor Series match. Mankind is probably the first star Taker made. I thought this was a step up from the Goldust feud but still in the very good camp. I like Taker enjoy his offense and his selling and I have watched a lot of this month but something keeps all his matches stuck on second gear. The beginning felt a little off to me. They were working a uptempo shine but Mankind isn’t a bump & run cowering heel like Goldust so it wasn’t as effective. I thought the transition to heat was lame. Like all of sudden Mankind took over but didn’t really earn his commanding position and Taker was overselling given Mankind’s offense. Lots of Cactus based offense like the Cactus elbow and the Discus lariat on the foot catch. It is a crutch but the chair work definitely woke me up. The Big Boot to the chair and the chair to back added some heat. Again a Swinging neck breaker as transition back to heat just doesn’t do it for me nor does a long nerve hold. Back on the outside, Cactus Elbow on to the Chair and Taker waffling him with an unprotected chair shot was sick. Taker comeback But then there was a lot of fucking around with the Urn. The whole match was predicated on how the Mandible Claw put down the Undertaker three times including the previous month in the Goldust casket match. We finally get it on and in the tussle Bearer strikes Undertaker “inadvertently” with the Urn and the Mandible Claw puts him down for a HUGE win for Mankind. All the years of Taker vanquishing the heel monster of the season really made this win by Mankind feel huge like Mankind was someone who was here to stay in the main event scene. To me this was basically the same level as Taker/Goldust except the Chair stuff and the Bearer finish notch it up. Did Bearer hit Taker by accident we will have to tune into Summerslam to find out? *** 1/2

Undertaker vs Goldust - WWF Mind Games Pretty cold in Boston and hand already freezing so this will be quick. First Taker PPV Match since the Paul Bearer turn at Summerslam. This is a tie off a loose end from this side quest which Taker failed to beat Goldust in last two matches and to build to Buried Alive next month. Very similar to Beware of Dog casket match but this is a Final Curtain match…pin fall no DQ. Upbeat shine Deadman Walking Tall running through all of Goldust cut offs. Goldust glitter bombs Taker better heat segment focused on the eyes. Standard Taker comeback: punches in the corner big clothesline oooo the one wrinkle is SUPER NODOWA~! Tombstone. These are good matches but given who is in them they are disappointing. That’s a wrap on the trilogy and really Goldust as a main event heel. *** 1/4

So when is the deadline for voting? And how does one vote?