Superstar Sleeze

This is from a review I did in 2013 The Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees - 2/86 MSG The one thing I never got about the Killer Bees is how they were supposed to be faces with the Masked Confusion gimmick. Anyways, this starts off with the Bees doing some token leg work on Anvil (think Rockers, but not as exciting), which culminates in a figure-4 that Bret breaks up. Jimmy Hart, clearly 20 years ahead of his time, gets mocked for shopping at a Thrift Shop. Bret slips on the second rope while going for a second rope elbow (a rare sighting of this Bret bump). Brunzell is a house with a small stovetop fire, dangerous, but easily quenched by a blind knee in the back (the ultimate Hart Foundation transition spot). Usual Hart Foundation heat segment: bodyslam on concrete, Demolition Decapitation, and the irish whip sling shot move. I remember this being a little too front facelock-y. Brunzell hits his sweeeeeeet dropkick (Bulldog's is still more impactful), but cant capitalize. The Hart Foundation Irish whip sling shot misses this time around. Blair is a house afire: punches, small package, bodyslams and atomic drops (Bret bumps into Anvil). After the Hart Foundation collision, Brunzell hits his dropkick, but alas we hit the time limit draw. I thought this was on par with 9/85 Bulldogs match just a solid match nothing to go out of your way to see. The Hart Foundation/Bulldogs would eventually exceed this match in 1987, but for now it is on par with that. *** 1/2

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair Vs Ricky Morton - World Championship Wrestling 4/12/86 These two have the second best match in the history of pro wrestling in my opinion. I know I have seen this twice before but for some reason I didn’t review. This is an impromptu match and was booked to make Morton a credible challenger to Flair on the House Show loop. I need to watch some Kobashi because I have watched so much more Flair recently and if I had to vote today Flair is the GOAT. What a phenomenal performance from him! He made Morton look like a million bucks. He sold the fast break, full court press babyface shine like a million bucks. He couldn’t get anything going. Morton was firing on all cylinders. Classic Flairtrying all sort of tactics, amateur wrestling, fisticuffs, track meet wrestling, lure in the corner. All thwarted by Morton. Genius. After the Break, I love how Flair makes Morton earn his hope spots. After the reverse crossbody, Flair knows he was close to losing so without missing a beat he evades a punch and smashes him into buckle. The Missile Dropkick was sick by Morton. Flair fights through neck breaker and backslide to feed Morton later genius. Using a backslide to feed a punch. Amazing. Ref gets bumped on the O’Connor Roll. Flair throws Morton over the top which is illegal But Morton smashes Naitch’a into the steel post. Flair Flip. FLAIR HITS A BEAUTIFUL TOP ROPS CROSSBODY ROLL THROUGH! GIBSON DROPKICKS DOUBLE A and counts the pin! Dusty basically explains the booking in the post-match this means Morton can be Champion and it will be Dusty vs Morton for the title. This is a great piece of business. Morton is the perfect fiery plucky underdog always moving forward but as good as he is, Flair turns in such a fantastic performance. This is pro wrestling. Loved it. ****

Roddy Piper vs Bruno Sammartino - WWF Boston 2/8/86 Steel Cage Entertaining Cage match not as good as the Bruno tag team Cage later in the year but this is good craic. Piper hangs up Chicago Bears posters in Steel Cage as the Bears had just demolished the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The shine and the finish were the best parts of this show. Bruno unloads a Can of whoop ass to start. Bloodies Piper on the cage. Makes Piper eat Refrigerator poster and wipes his ass with the McMahon poster. Tears off his shirt and chokes him with it. Bruno had enough with this loser and goes to leave but Piper ball shots him. Piper’s heat segment keeps it from being great. Just not enough oomph. I loved the Bruno punch that Piper bumped backwards into the cage. Lots of tussling at the door. Piper goes to leave but now Bruno gets ballshot love the symmetry. Bruno needs a wooden chair to bash Piper to break free for the win. Great shine and finish make this an easy recommend but wish the middle had se more fire. *** 3/4

Roddy Piper vs Bruno Sammartino - WWF Boston 12/7/85 First review since I became a Dad and im holding her in my arms right now which is amazing. Been a while since I watched 80s wrestling, my major blind spot for me is Piper vs Wonderful and by extension Piper vs Bruno. Short 5 minute brawl to set up a tag match with Wonderful & Orton then a steel cage match. Bruno got a nice shine in. Piper stooged well. Loved Piper using a low blow and getting color to really the match over. Lots of outside the Ring brawling. Looks like Bruno is running away with this one when Ace Cowboy Bob Orton interferes. Bruno staves off both men but the cast does him in. Who will Bruno find to team with against these two dastardly heels? Who? Who? Who? Fine brawl But nothing crazy. It was decent but nothing you have to see.

Randy Savage vs Jushin Thunder Liger - NJPW 7/17/96 Most likely my last review as a childless man unless I review from the hospital. Couldn’t think of a better match to go out on. Two of my top ten favorites in basically a miracle match. Like it still smacks me as bizarre this match even happened. Same night as a pretty damn good Hashimoto vs Flair match. I saw this in the early 2010s I know theres not much meat on the bone but it is Savage vs Liger it is pretty neat. This is pretty much every 90s babyface Savage match he takes a bunch of heat and wins with a couple moves. I thought the set up for the Kappou Kick + Dropkick into Powder + Liger doing his best Hulkster impersonation popped me exactly what I needed to get my mind off that my wife is about to shit out an 8-9lb baby. Liger’s leg work including a knee crusher on the railing and figure - 4 were well done as was Macho Man’s selling. Savage knocks Liger off the top and gets the Double Axehandle but crashes and burns on the Big Elbow. Liger gets a pair of Ligerbombs and a SHOTEI~! Whiffs on the second. Lariat Big Elbow and Thats all she wrote! Theres more to this match than I remember. It is an exhibition but a fun one. If people were rolling out doing this match every week on WWE or AEW I wouldn’t bitch so much. *** 1/4

Great Muta vs Jushin Thunder Liger - NJPW 10/20/96 I am surprised I never reviewed this before as I know I watched it a couple times in the early 2010s. I would argue this probably the most famous 90s New Japan match Stateside. There are plenty better but the two most famous Japanese wrestlers in America was definitely a draw to hype this match. It both worse and better than I remember. I knew not much happened before the big reveal but it was even less than I remembered. I remembered the Big Reveal but it even better than I remembered. Muta vs Tenryu from 9 days prior smoked this it is not even close. Muta vs Shinzaki from April 96 I also thought was better. It is a Great Muta match and they are wonky but this isn’t up there with his best. Lots of pageantry to start befitting a match of this pomp & circumstance. Liger in all white. Muta spews Green Mist. One high spot powder repeat. Muta piledrives Liger through a table which is cool but it didn’t have heat because it felt random. We get typical Muta cord choking, ramp running high spot, no selling a piledriver. Liger brings the match to life by evading the back handspring elbow nailing a Kappou Kick and string some dives together. Muta being Muta goes under the Ring and we get under the Ring cam which popped me. No Gate to Hell down there, weird. Muta gets a witch broom and beats Liger with it. He tears the mask to REVAL LIGER IN MUTA FACEPAINT!!! LIGER MIST~! He gets the classic Muta spike and stabs him with it. He crowns with a chair twice. Piledriver on the concrete. This rules! Kill shot with the Spike but stabs into the table. RED MIST~! SPIKE~! MOONSAULT~! From the Liger FACEPAINT reveal to the end is **** but there’s not enough before that to warrant more than a very good grade. Great Muta matches are a genre unto themselves and this is a cinematic epic but falls short of the best Muta matches in history. *** 1/2

Jushin Thunder Liger vs Great Sasuke - Inoki World Peace Festival 6/1/96 Sasuke beat Liger for the IWGP JR heavyweight championship on 4/29 at the Tokyo Dome but this is non-title because Liger is winning and they didn’t want to do the title change. I am sure there was some kayfabe reason like it is in LA for this exhibition festival but let’s be honest they didn’t want to do a title change and they wanted Liger winning in America. Since the 1994 Super J Cup was so popular in America and Liger/Sasuke was the most popular match of that tournament it makes sense this is the match to bring to America. I liked the 4/29/96 better slightly higher stakes bigger crowd matched intensity more but this is still good. It is just an exhibition though. Opening chaining is done very well. Sasuke grabs a Camel Clutch. Liger shows a variety of attacks on leg, back and arm. We get Liger running through his standard offense after a Sasuke powder. Liger missed a top rope Headbutt but a Sasuke side sault eats knees. We trade some cool dives. Sasuke’s swan dive and karate kick off the Ring post look so cool. I love Liger’s Superman splash to the floor. Eddie was the GOAT at this. Ban Moonsaults to opponents on the outside bring back Superman Splash! So sick! Sasuke tries for his two finishers the Tiger Suplex and Crucifix Powerbomb but Liger stuffs him. Shotei! Ligerbomb win! It never drags it has some fun stuff in it but this is not their 1994 work. It is just pretty good. *** 1/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Jushin Thunder Liger vs Great Sasuke - NJPW 4/29/96 Disagree with the consensus I thought this was very good. Huge Dome match for the Juniors after the reset with Liger winning on 1/4. This was the biggest possible Junior Heavyweight match. I would say Liger, Sasuke and Dragon were the Big Three Natives. We get Liger/Sasuke here, then Sasuke/Dragon for J-Crown Final and again at a major WAR show and then we get the grand finale of Liger vs Dragon at 1/4. Thats strong main event booking. Liger was taking a major chance as neither of the other were New Japan guys so he was basically here’s our title, here’s the J-Crown let’s build to my win on 1/4/97. Gutsy booking. I have a soft spot for Sasuke and even though he egregiously blew off the leg selling I still think this was very good just kept it from being great. The opening was so hot, Liger misses Kappou Kick, Sasuke misses a Spinning Heel Kick. Sasuke Sawndive over the top rope onto Liger was FUCKING SICK! Total Wipeout! I thought Sasuke worked really well on top. I thought he was varying his holds well. Everything was tight and intense. Full court press; suffocating Liger. LIGER DRILLED HIS KNEE WITH A DROPKICK! He kicked through it. It is a shame Sasuke blew off the leg work because Liger was fantastic on top. Great holds love a Figure-4 and some more exotic ones. Great strikes to the leg. The Kneeceusher turned Ballcrusher on the guard rail was sick. Then after all that great work. Here comes the Asai Moonsault and Quebrada. Liger counters with a Fuck You Powerbomb. Kappou Kick. Nice Superman Splash to the floor! Up until this point I thought this match was killer. I thought it petered out as Liger ran through his Finish Run offense but nothing felt climatic. Then Sasuke hit a Frankensteiner and a Crucifix Powerbomb to win. I really enjoyed the first 3/4ths the ending was a bit anticlimatic but also an OH SHIT Sasuke won in the Dome on NJPW soil for the Title against Liger. I mean Thats some Holy Shit booking! Worth watching for such a historical moment. *** 1/2

Shinjiro Ohtani vs Wild Pegasus - NJPW 3/20/96 WCW Cruiserweight Championship The winner is to be crowned inaugural WCW Cruiserweight Champion. I know WCW/NJPW relations were really good at this point but weird the inaugural WCW Cruiserweight Championship match would be held in Japan and weirder that Japanese guy won it and flew to America just drop it to Malenko. Benoit was going back that way anyways lol. Also funny that Benoit would never be considered a Cruiserweight again in his career. I also thought this match and the Malenko matches were phantom title switches. I guess not. The match is fine but nothing spectacular. It wouldn’t look out of place on today’s TV which speaks to the influence of the 90s Juniors on Modern wrestling. Theres still more wrestling in this. Pretty standard perfunctory New Japan mat wrestling for 5 minutes nothing stands out. Ohtani gets the best of Benoit for the most part. Action picks up when Benoit dumps Ohtani over the top rope to the floor with a suplex drawing ooohs and aaaahs. Benoit dive. Some high impact moves. Benoit figure-4s the head. Ohtani escapes works a camel clutch. He telegraphs the dropkick. Benoit puts on brakes. Standard Benoit offense. Ohtani backdrops the charging Benoit over the top to the floor. Springboard Superman! Ohtani has entered the chat! Springboard spinning heel kick! Again Ohtani telegraphs and now we get the Benoit finish run. Rolling Germans! Is this the earliest occurrence? They looked great. Top Rope Superplex. Perfect top rope diving Headbutt. Benoit on fire. I disliked Ohtani getting a Dragon Suplex there. BENOIT MUTHA OF ALL POWERBOMBS! Benoit had such a sick Powerbomb! Benoit goes for a Blonde Bombshell! Ohtani throws him off the Classic Springboard Dropkick! Springboard DDT for the win. After losing to Liger three days prior for IWGP Jr title a big win over Pegasus who I would say was still the top Junior Gaijin and avenged his 1995 BOSJ Finals loss. So a big won! Everything before Ohtani’s springboard Superman was pedestrian but the finish stretch was fun. *** 1/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Great Sasuke vs Black Tiger - NJPW Skydiving J 6/17/96 This blew the Liger matches out of the water! Now this is what I am talking about. Eddie just felt so much confident in this match and looked like a Tiger prowling in the ring against the Indy-riffic Daredevil. Main Event of all Juniors show that drew 13k+ and winner not only wins the IWGP Jr Championship But also a spot in the J-Crown Tournament. Now it makes sense why Black Tiger won the BOSJ 5 days prior. It seems myopic to have him win a major tournament just to legitimize him main eventing one show 5 days later but it was admittedly a huge risk to run an all Juniors show at the Budokan so I don’t blame them and they probably didn’t know he wouldn’t be back that much. Right from jump you get the impression Eddie came to play. He is using his size and weight to thwart Great Sasuke at every turn. Sasuke maybe the Champion but he feels like the underdog. He is very cautious trying to lock up with Eddie. Eddie is feeling himself. He is in total control. Opening matwork ends with a cross arm breaker and Sasuke powders. Eddie hunts him down and smokes him on the outside. Throws him back in and goes Full Anderson on his ass. Sasuke takes a page out the match 6 days prior against Pegasus and just grabs Sleepers to stymie Tiger and sap his energy. Tiger throws him off and then targets the knee with a vicious dropkick. The way Eddie moves in the Ring this match is night and day compared to the Liger match. Watch that drop-down into the leg lariat. He is moving with intensity. I love it. Sasuke gets a desperation suplex over the top rope to the floor and we get our Sasuke dive for the match a sick Karate Kick from the Ring post to the floor. Eddie is still just ripping suplexes and kicking ass. I loved that he used a Belly 2 Belly twice to set up wristlocks. Drills a Brainbuster. Sasuke knocks him off the top. EDDIE CATCHES HIM INTO A POWERBOMB! This is Eddie’s night! Eddie hits a Sitout Crucifix Bomb. He goes for Splash Mountain…NO EDDIE NO…I have seen this before…Hurricanarana 1-2-3! Hahahah I love it! How is this match not a classic. Excellent Eddie offensive performance! He is so confident his offense executed with intensity. He was feeling himself. Good on Sasuke to let Eddie cook. The sleeper, the one Karate Dive and the Rana at the end is all he needed. He sold well throughout. Really enjoyed this match. Eddie wrestled King Size but Sasuke hung around…great character work led to a great story! ****

Jushin Thunder Liger vs Black Tiger - NJPW BOSJ 6/12/96 Another disappointing outing from these two. It is Liger vs Eddie so it is still good but they don’t really give you much to sink your teeth into this BOSJ Final. The Benoit/Eddie semifinal is a much better match. Opening matwork is solid and more interesting than February Title Match. They each dare the other to do a dive. I thought the match was going to pick up with an Eddie dropkick to the knee and a Figure-4 but promptly goes nowhere as Liger surfboards him and works his back. I thought the match was going to pick up where when Eddie Powerbombs and Eddie Splashes Liger Bur we end up in the Bundle of Leg Locks. Liger gets his first high spot with the Kappou Kick in the corner and a Shotei to knock Eddie off his perch. Liger dives to the outside but shitty camerawork we miss it. Liger hits a couple more bombs. Eddie reverses and he does his Superman Dive to the floor but knees up on the splash. He trade a couple fast paced near falls. Liger goes for the kill with the SHOTEI~! And a Ligerbomb! Not a good sign for Liger. Tiger throws Liger off on a Tornado DDT attempt and hits a Brainbuster. These transitions have been weak. Sitout Crucifix Bomb. It feels so heatless. Liger reverses his weight on a Top Rope Brainbuster and knee drops the arm and goes for a Cross Armbreaker this match is so weird. Tiger hits the Top Rope Brainbuster for the win which I was shocked by as Tiger/Eddie doesn’t really ever do anything of importance in Japan and seems like a wasted investment in Eddie But Liger probably did not know that at the time. The match as whole felt disjointed. There was no interesting character work or strategy. No hook. It was some mat based moved then some dives and then some bombs. These two are great so it was technically good Bur had no soul. *** 1/4

Shinjiro Ohtani vs Kazushi Sakaruba - NJPW Skydiving J UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship 1996 was the high water mark of Junior wrestling. The Skydiving J shoe drew 13,500 at the Budokan an impressive number for all-Juniors show. This is the lead up show to the famous J-Crown Tournament which still resonates with modern fans…Ultimo Mone anyone? Every match on this show is a championship match and thus essentially a qualifying match for the J-Crown tournament. This match was for the vacant UWA title winner qualifies for the J-Crown so the stakes are high. Sakuraba is famous for being the Gracie Hunter and probably the most successful puroresu wrestler in MMA history. However it looks like the Gracie Hunting didnt start until 1999 so he is a midcarder. Similar to Fujita, I don’t think either was famous or over before the MMA success. So Ohtani is a heavy favorite. I was thinking of a comp for Ohtani and I think Ken Griffey Jr is the best. Incredible 90s and a disappointing 2000s. But just watching this reminded me that when Ohtani burned he burned as bright as anyone just not for very long. Contender for one the best sub-ten minute matches of all time. The perfect match to watch on a Sunday morning before wifey wakes up. Juniors Shoot-Style is such an underperformed style but it bangs hard. Sakuraba comes out swinging and says “Muthafucka we are doing this my way”. It is uncooperative strikes and vicious submission and throws. He was going through Ohtani. He catches Ohtani with a German early and it rings Ohtani’s bell. He powders and Ohtani sells his bell being rung so well. He knows he is at risk of being eaten alive so he wrestling hard for Arm and leg submissions but he keeps clutching his head. He snaps off a suplex of his own which he thinks can set up for a pro style high spot his springboard dropkick but Sakaruba traps him in a Scorpion Deathlock! Fuck should I wake up my wife and make sweet love to her because these muthafuckas got me horny now! Excellent work. Sakaruba goes full Tasmanian Devil just overwhelms Ohtani with a maelstrom of strikes. Ohtani ROARS ALIVE AND RETALIATES WITH AN UNHOLY BARRAGE CLIMAXING WITH A HEADBUTT! The PERFECT SETUP FOR SPRINGBOARD DROPKICK! BANG~! DRAGON SUPLEX~! Rear Naked Choke! OHTANI-SAN WINS! The Heavens Opened And Snow Fell From the Sky **** 1/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Jushin Thunder Liger vs Black Tiger - NJPW 2/3/96 Me, My Wife and Two of my Friends played “Book It” a pro wrestling board game a couple weeks ago. As I always say wrestling fans make the worst promoters/bookers and I came in dead last. Most of the wrestlers were knock off of real wrestlers they had a wrestler named Justin Tiger Lightning with ridiculously low stats which popped me for some reason. Liger is so beloved like who be such hater to give Liger low stats. Anyways Liger is on his revenge tour as he was out for most 1995 due an ankle injury. He wins the Super J Cup at the end of 1995 and the IWGP Jr Hvywt Title in the Dome from Kanemoto. He is reasserting himself nationally in the division. Black Tiger aka Eddie Guerrero is a good first challenger. This is not a long match about 12-13 minutes. It is good not great. In my opinion, no style had a bigger impact on the American work rate style of the 21st Century than Japanese Juniors. So Japanese Juniors retrospectively can look pretty Indy-Riffic if they aren’t hitting on all cylinders. There’s a lot of that here. The transitions aren’t the smoothest. It is a lot of MOVEZ~! without a lot of rhyme or reason But they aren’t breath taking enough to get the work rate junkies to pimp this match either. The opening chaining feels Indy-riffic rather than a struggle. We do need more Snap Mares in wrestling. They do a take down tumbling sequence. The best part of the match Tiger takes Liger and rams him into the railing. Eddie splash. Then the match peters out. Couple high impact suplexes by Tiger in between some basic holds. Liger Kappou Kicks look cool But he doesn’t take it anywhere. Near fall exchange. Tiger hits his stock spots Brainbuster and Tornado DDT. Frogsplash knees up. They do a Lucha Arm Drag climb the ropes…like what? Liger polishes him off with a Superplex maybe it was supposed to be a Brainbuster. It is Liger and Eddie it is still good but nothing special ***

British Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation – Philly 4/27/85 This review is from 2013 But wanted to capture it here in case it inspires people to watch discuss. The very first Bulldogs/Hart Foundation featured a similar structure to the rest of the Bulldogs/Harts match, but it lacks of a lot of the usual spots (blind knee, Demolition Decapitation, Bret getting tangled in the ropes). It is structure that is not seen very often in WWF. It is a short shine with a double face in peril and I would hypothesize it is the influence of the AWA on Stampede Wrestling. I would also assert this is not a style that suits the offensive dynamos that are the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs excel where they can just kick ass and hit a ton of their crazy spots. When you have someone like a Hammer in there, to hit them in the mouth, you can get a really fun give and take. I really did not care much for 5/85 MSG match between these two and I would say this is a bit better than that, but was just an average match. As I said above, it was a short shine with the stock Bret Hart bump off the hammerlock and the Dynamite enziguiri. I really liked the organic feel of the knee lift collision between Bret and Dynamite that leads to a pretty boring Dynamite Kid heat segment. They do the Bret/Dynamite I can’t hit a backbreaker and Dynamite hits one. I forgot how fucking awesome Davey Boy dropkick is. Neidhart cuts him off from behind with a groin shot. Fuck man and an even more boring heat segment ensues. This is mechanical, cold Bret Hart at his worst as we a lot of shoulder rubs. Dick Graham mentions “SUPLEX CITY!” Davey Boy just stops selling and cuts Bret off on top and hits a monster missile dropkick! Dynamite whips Bret into Neidhart and now the Bret Bump! He is a house afire and we get an ab stretch??? Tombstone Piledriver! That’s better. Now Davey Boy powerslam! Dynamite starts wasting time going into the draw. Awfully cold finish. Better structure than the 5/85 tag, but Bret Hart is just working how you are supposed to rather than with your gut. Bret is a great ring general and brings a lot to the match, but when he was not feeling it then it would just leave you feeling cold. *** 1/4

Riki Choshu vs Masahiro Chono - NJPW G-1 Climax Finals 8/6/96 Riki is a Punk Rocker; Riki is a Punk Rocket; Riki is a Punk Rocker. When All Japan went progressive, Choshu & New Japan keeps it short, sweet and packing a punch. I have seen the famous CHOSHUUUUUU match many years ago which I love. Never really much hype for the Final but it is a great match but it only really works with Choshu the old gunslinger in one last shootout at the OK Corral. This is about as Hollywood Cinematic as wrestling gets and still works. Something magical about the 20th Century. Chono is NOT a favorite of mine. He is serviceable here. He plays the Heel well as he is a Wolf 4 Life here. This is all Choshu’s charisma and a lifetime of work elevating this match and this tournament. Chono bum rushes him to start even attempts to slap on the Scorpion on its maker. Reverse Atomic Drop. CHOSHU HAS BALLS OF STEEL!!! This match is all Testicles and I love it. He drops Chono on his head three times with Saito Suplexes before they take their toll. Choshu starts to clubber. Chono goes low and attacks the injured knee of Choshu. It is all Hollywood after that. Can the old timer be as good as he was once was one more time? STFs, piledrivers and slaps by old rival turned respectful peer Fujinami stoke anticipation of the crowd and me thirty years later to see a THUNDEROUS CHOSHU LARIAT! BANG~! I am popping the crowd is popping, youre popping ready this dont show this to my wife my baby might pop out and I am not ready yet! THUNDER STRIKES AGAIN! AGAIN! SCORPION DEATHLOCK! Old Gunslinger, the Punk Rocker does it again! Fuck yeah! ****