Superstar Sleeze

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Josh Barnett - U-Style 11/23/05 Man this is the best I have ever seen Barnett look in a pro wrestling ring. Tamura looked like it was 1995, shredded and a million bucks. This match is definitely a match that rewards the viewer for going on the entire journey with them. The opening matwork was solid. They played into Barnett having the size advantage and because he is technically well rounded posed a real threat to Tamura. The selling on the wrist lock and then how Tamura fought like hell to maintain the clasp on the cross arm breaker attempt was awesome. Tamura burns a rope break there. It looks like Tamura is outgunned but in a standing scrum while Barnett was looking for a takedown…Tamura knees him in the head and the whole complexion of the match changes. All of sudden this accelerates into a classic territory. Barnetts response to suplex shit out of him was great. The second throw which was a German needs to be seen to be believed. Great selling and struggling from Tamura. This half of the match is all about Barnett either throwing Tamura and stuffing him with sick double leg takedowns. Tamura did a great job finding ways to grab a double wrist lock coming out of waist locks. Barnett was not just about throws too, he was using the takedowns to set up holds like toeholds and chokes. There were some great round kick battles as well. Barnett dumps Tamura on his head with Human Capture Suplex. It looks like Barnett’s size and technique would win but Tamura’s guile and quickness comes back and he gets the flash cross arm breaker for win. Terrific match! Instant classic! It was style that was almost dead at this point but this was killer. Really loved everything after the Tamura knee to the head! I love shoot-style **** 1/2

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada vs Kensuke Sasaki - AJPW 1/16/05 The last title defense for Kawada before he dropped it to Kojima. Sasaki has gone freelance which would make him a bigger star. The Kobashi Dome match later this year would cement his status. As a fan of these two and this style in general, this is a really fun match. The 2000 match is the classic but this is a nice of change of pace you can just rock to. I enjoyed the opening wrestling it was tight and they seemed they were really grappling for position. Sasaki seemingly suckers Kawada into a knuckle lock but Kawada comes out the better with his patented spin heel kick. Kawada is in control until they go outside when Sasaki bucks him off on a powerbomb attempt. Sasaki hits a crossbody from the top to the floor which always looks sick because he is such a truck. The Northern Lights Bomb on the exposed concrete took the match from very good to great. Not only was the spot was great, but we finally had our hook. Sasaki was working the neck hard and Kawada sold it like a million bucks. Kawada kept trying to elbow his way out of trouble and Sasaki would just chop the neck and make him crumple. The Sasaki piledriver was sick. Once Kawada moved away from the elbows to kicks to the head he started to make in-roads I really enjoyed how Kawada had to EARN that Dangerous Backdrop Driver and once he hit it…it really felt like a turning point. I enjoyed the finishing stretch as big dumb meat head wrestling. I think the thing that separates this from modern day wrestling is these two establish from the outset they want to stand & bang and hit hard. They don’t do the stand I let you hit me and you let me hit you bullshit. They are swinging for the fences and really trying to win. I thought Sasaki was the better worker down the stretch. Some of Kawada’s transitions were weak like the Brainbuster out of nowhere. While Sasaki was setting up his moves either Big Lariats and countering Kawada with those Mack Truck Lariats. Sasaki looks like he has the match won with a Tejana Bomb or his Northern Lights Bomb but Kawada powders. Kawada crushes Sasaki with some Dangerous Backdrop Driver Drop Drivers and a head kick. Either Sasaki or the ref blows the fall as Sasaki does not kick out and ref pulls up. Kawada smokes him with a head kick to win. It is big dumb and fun. It is a mid tempo rocker that everyone can vibe to. ****

Sting vs Dean Malenko - WCW Nitro 11/13/95 Strange match-up on paper. This exists as a backdrop to the bombshell announcement the Hulkster has challenged the Stinger to a match on Nitro the next week. This is the biggest match on Nitro since the Hogan vs Luger match. It is pretty crazy they would be putting this on Nitro with only a week of hype, but it feels hot. Hogan has been suspicious of Sting for weeks and apparently Luger being able to talk some sense into Sting last week was the straw that broke the camel back. I just wish Phantom of the Opera Hulk Hogan could have explained this better during his bizarre promo. The size difference is pretty obvious but Malenko goes full pitbull. He tries a waistlock, a shouldertackle, but gains a measure of success targeting the leg with dropkick. Sting for his part sells really well for Malenko and really lets him shine. We see during the break that Sting almost gets the Scorpion Deathlock on Malenko, but Malenko wriggles to the ropes. The big Malenko spot is a German suplex with a bridge. Sting avoids a dropkick. I expect this to be over soon. However, Sting MISSES a Stinger Splash! Missile dropkick. Malenko goes for the Cloverleaf, but Sting counters with a cradle for the win! WOW! Sting even sells the knee post-match. That is some serious protection for Malenko. They clearly liked Benoit, Malenko and Eddie a lot as each one gets a match tonight and has been featured for about a month. The fact Sting didnt demolish Malenko at the end with a barrage of his signature spots is pretty shocking. Enjoyed this short match. *** Sting says he doesnt know where Hogan is coming from. However he takes exception to Hogan calling him a little dog. So if we need to settle in the ring so be it. Looks like the Stinger is going to show his true colors next week. Not the most impactful Nitro but Hogan/Sting announcement is a bombshell and Eddie/Badd was a good enough match to anchor the show.

WCW World TV Champion Johnny B. Badd vs Eddie Guerrero - WCW Nitro 11/13/95 There was a Benoit vs Sasaki match that was short. Weird dynamic Benoit started hot, but then Sasaki stuffed him. Benoit hit the German Suplexes and Dragon Suplex for the win. Weird because Sasaki was about to win the US Title from Sting as a part of the Heenan/NJPW storyline. I guess this gives a reason for Benoit vs Sasaki to exist on the WWIII PPV. Really enjoyed this match and easy match of the night. An under the radar match on Nitro. This starts off babyface vs babyface. Very technical. Badd was hitting more highspots like the slingshot legdrop and the somersault plancha. Eddie is using a lot of hurricanaranas and leverage takedowns to counter Badd. I really liked the headscissors takedown to counter a second tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. They worked a lot of various pinning combinations. Badd is tired of this technical shit and finally lets his hands fly. He connects with a right instead of left. Eddie is pissed off that Badd would ruin the sporting nature of the nature and take a cheapshot. So Eddie fired up takes Badd down and starts letting the fists fly. I LOVE WHEN TEMPERS FLARE IN A BABYFACE VS BABYFACE MATCH! They settle back down a bit but the high spots are now all high impact. They do the classic WCW Tombstone Reversal that always gets a pop. Badd 1-2-NO! Eddie Tornado DDT! 1-2-NO! They collide on a crossbody block. It is a draw! This is a classic draw they do kind of telegraph with how they are wrestling in the beginning, but the tempers flaring really paid off all the technical work at the beginning and the home stretch had two good nearfalls. I dont think they ever really follow up on this, but this was a fun match. Makes you wonder what would have happened if Badd just stayed in WCW. *** 1/4

Randy Savage vs Meng - WCW Nitro 11/13/95 Oh The Hulkster! Nitro begins with him in the "Dungeon of Doom" in a black Phantom of the Opera mask and hood/cape. It is pretty incredible in less than a year he would be Hollywood Hogan and totally revitalized. As much as I have a soft spot for the Dungeon of Doom shit like this pre-tape is why everyone thinks this storyline is the shits. Macho Man is supposed to being finding out who is "friend or foe" but does a terrible job as we already knew Meng, Sullivan, Shark and Luger were foe. However, Hulkster did ask that Meng will be the first to fall so at least Macho Man finished one task on his to do list. Decent Babyface Savage match. At least Savage got a little bit of a babyface shine and showed some energy at the start. I liked the high knee to the back to the start. He kicks some Meng ass, but a Sullivan distraction goes a long way as Meng catches Savage coming off the top. Meng is a wrestler I want to like, but I find him very dry. This did nothing to change my mind. Pretty tepid heat segment. Classic Savage formula as Meng missed the diving headbutt and the Big Elbow wins the match. Shark and Sullivan "break" Savage's arm and Luger follows up with more arm attack to set up the angle for World War III. Luger looked fucking killer. There was a Dungeon of Doom (Giant, Sullivan, Hart) promo later pretty standard stuff about killing Hulkamania and Giant being a shoe-in to win the Battle Royale and the World Title in process. Sullivan is pretty funny acting like the Hulkster have a seizure but cupping his ear. Average match nothing to see here.

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair - WCW Clash of the Champions August 1994 I watched this about 2-3 years ago and loved it. But I didnt have time to review after I watched it. I watched it back today and boy oh boy did I love it. I actually think this is a Top 10-20 Hulk Hogan match of all time and does not get nearly enough love. The Tonya Harding angle gets a lot of shit, but I think it was brilliant on two levels. The most obvious was giving Flair the knee to work on and Hogan to sell. This was the hook of the match when would Flair get to the knee. It was looming the entire match. The less obvious but more important it was the reason for Hogan's rage. Hogan just beat Flair at the Bash at the Beach. What reason did he have to do anything different than Bash? Flair trying not just to take his title away but his career away with a nefarious, dastardly attack that will piss him off. Way too much is made of Hogan not selling enough to begin with. That's hogwash. Hogan was full of piss & vinegar because he was enraged. He saw red, brutha. This is was the appropriate reaction to such an attack. This is a perfect "How" match. It is a very simple layout, but it is all about Hogan's charisma and Flair's charisma that take this simple layout makes it so engrossing and thrilling. The simple layout is the babyface shine of Hogan exacting his revenge on Flair and just kicking all sorts of ass. Flair eventually gets a hold of the knee and then we get the finish. Each of these three segments come off pitch perfect. Hogan's babyface shine is one of the all-time great babyface shines. He really lets it fly. He is pissed off and aint afraid to show it. He is throwing everything at Flair. Punches, pulling the robe over his head, stuffing his bandana in his mouth, kicking his ass on the outside. It is just a thrilling beating. Flair is a master of selling this for Hogan and making him look like a million bucks. This is one of the most enraged Hogan performances youll see and the way he does it is so entertaining. I love the two Flair hope spots: eyerake that leads to the Press Slam and then delayed vertical suplex into the Hogan no-sell was such a fist-pumping, chest-pounding highspot. Man when it came time for Flair to get his heat, he absolutely ripped into the knee. He worked it like a champ. Every stomp, crashing down with all his weight. It looked awesome. Just as Flair sold his ass off for Hogan, Hogan returned in kind for Flair. I loved the struggle over the first figure-4, but it was just a matter of time. The Hulk-Up out of the first Figure-4 is just money. This is Kobashi fighting Takayama with one arm in the year 2000 levels of awesomeness. The Hobbling Hulk-Up is one of the most badass Hulk-Ups of all time. He is fighting through the pain and just barely gets the leg up for the Big Boot as it buckles on him after impact. The Leg Drop is nuclear! It felt like he overcame all the pain in the world to jump as high as he ever did, crushed Flair, but is totally spent. Then Flair puts the Figure-4 back on! HIGH DRAMA! God Almighty this is so fucking awesome! I get the finish you cant really put the belt back on Flair and Hogan winning doesnt make sense. I like a countout more than DQ so Hogan getting attacked by Sherri and crumpling to the floor for the ten count was a serviceable finish. The Mystery Man who is clearly Arn Anderson, but it seems like they might be trying to sell it as Curt Hennig, comes out to help Flair beatdown Hulkster, but because Savage is not in the territory yet, we get the Stinger making the save. I dont like Beefcake but this was a perfect angle to retrocon him in as the mystery assailant. This match felt like a Hogan Street Fight match on order of his other classic brawls with Kamala, Harley Race and Sgt. Slaughter. First I am a sucker for a street fight, but especially like when a "normal" match breaks down into a brawl and the ref just lets it all fly. This felt hot and like Hogan was out for blood. Hogan selling the knee through the comeback was a chef's kiss. Flair is the GOAT and just knocked it out the park. LOVE This Match! **** 1/4

Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs The Alliance to End Hulkamania (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Kevin Sullivan, Lex Luger, Meng, Barbarian, Ze Gangsta & Final Solution) - WCW Uncensored 1996 Scott Keith always had a funny line that The Alliance to End Hulkamania was Heat spelled backwards. This is one match that lives up to the hype. One of the worst matches of all time. I’ll review the match and then get into the booking. The first part is the Megapowers against the Horsemen in upper level of the cage but the floor is chain-lines so they can’t fucking move. It is just awkward clubbering while they move around gingerly. Horsemen do double Figure-4s but the Megapowers reverse them and throw powder into their faces. Onto the Dungeon of Doom chamber which Luger, Sullivan, Meng and Barbarian. Meng & Barbarian have the easiest pay day of their lives as they do barely anything and Hogan locks them in their own compartment and unlike the Horsemen they don’t comeback in the end. Thankfully someone has the bright idea to get out of this godforsaken cage where no one can see shit whether it is the audience or those at home and the wrestlers Cant move. Hogan/Savage vs Sullivan/Luger is a decent brawl and they get good heat because Tupelo can see the action and it is spirited. Unfortunately Ultimate Solution & Ze Gangsta show up and drag the MegaPowers back the cage but thankfully the bottom level has a ring. With a name like Jeep Swenson I was hoping he would look cooler but Ultimate Solution is pretty lame. I have never seen the Zeus matches but he also sucks. Standard bad clubbering. Horsemen join in and the beat down is on. The Booty Man fka The Zodiac, Hogan’s mole, hands the Megapowers incredibly cheap frying pans to beat back TEAH but Luger comes in. He slugs Flair with a loaded glove. It looked pretty intentional. Classic pre-NWO Bischoff/Sullivan booking. Hogan wants Savage to hightail it but he goes back and pins Flair to win. Megapowers skaddle. From action, match quality this is one of the worst matches of all time. It is brutally boring. The only redeemable part is the Hogan/Savage vs Sullivan/Luger outside the cage. From a booking perspective this match is overly criticized. Hogan/Savage didnt run Though all 8 men. It was not a squash match. Meng & Barbarian dont really count. Who cares about Zeus and Swenson. They needed frying pans and Luger clobbering Flair to win. If you want to see Hogan absolutely bury people then watch the post-match to the SuperBrawl VI match where he runs through the entire Dungeon with a steel chair. Now that’s a bury job brutha. Where I do take umbrage is this match seems to be set up as the blowoff to Hogan vs Dungeon feud. Since Hogan has debuted in WCW he has had three arch rivals: Flair, Sullivan and Vader. Vader is not here. So this is the Unholy Alliance of Horsemen and the Dungeon. Instead of Hogan triumphantly pinning Sullivan, they opt for Savage pinning Flair after Luger’s punch. Savage vs Flair doesn’t happen again until June and Luger vs Flair doesn’t go anywhere. So why didnt Hogan just win the blowoff. Honestly I would have done Hogan & Savage vs Giant/Luger/Sullivan in a handicap street fight and put this baby to bed. Then you can do Flair vs Sting for the World Title as the co-main event. The lighting and the inability to move well in the Cage kills the first half. Then the ending sucked with Swenson & Zeus sucking and the flimsy frying pans. One of the worst matches of all time.

Hulk Hogan vs The Giant - WCW SuperBrawl VI Steel Cage I enjoyed their Halloween Havoc match and I remember watching this one before. I was disappointed in this one after Havoc. The Havoc match was marred by the Yet-TAY and the Monster Truck Battle. I like the idea of Jimmy Hart turn, but even that was overly convoluted because he had to hit the ref first for the DQ clause storyline to work. So while I did the Halloween Havoc match was good. This match dragged and really did not get me excited. There is a loud Hogan sucks chant to start, but once that dies down, the crowd eventually turns into a pro-Hogan crowd by the end of the match. Hogan has a bad eye, which I think it due a spike heel, which was a common injury in the first half of 1996. Hogan launches a full-court press at the beginning of the match. It was very Hogan with the eye rakes, choking the Giant with the throat and throwing heel offense back at the heel and throwing the Big Man into the steel cage. Hogan goes for the Bear Hug, but hurts his back. Giant throws one of those swinging Double Axe Handles that stood out to me at Halloween Havoc, but he doesnt stick with that. Besides a couple flurries of Hogan offense, this heat segment drags in a way that Havoc match does not. The Knucklelock and the Bearhug can be effective spots in a match like but they just feel heatless in this context. It takes a while for Giant to start to work the eye much to the chagrin of The Brain who was championing their strategy, but that does add a little something to match and choking Hogan with the shirt...the more heel work the better. The one good hope spot is the Giant crashing and burning on an elbow drop. You feel like the bodyslam is coming, BUT nothing doing. Giant shifts his weight and Hogan collapses. Giant continues the heat segment but it missing that Oomph. Chokeslam. Classic Hogan No-Sell going into Hulk-Up. I figure this would piss off a lot of smart fans, BUT Giant does No-Sell, NOT One, Not Two, BUT THREE LEG DROPS! The Three Leg Drops did pop me! The finale sees Hogan throw Giant off top rope for the win. Honestly I thought the Three Leg Drops was enough. The match was mediocre, but was even worse than the match was the post-match. Sullivan whacks Hogan with a steel chair, nothing doing. Hogan grabs the chair and he beats not just Sullivan and Giant, but the whole Dungeon (Meng, Barbarian, Hugh Morrus, Zodiac, Shark and One Man Gang). I am all for babyfaces looking strong, but that was a little much even for me. Just like the NWO would become, the Dungeon had become really bloated as well. Seeing Hogan destroy the whole faction in the steel cage just really hurt the Dungeon. I assume this is to set up the Uncensored match that I have never seen, but I am planning to watch next week. At the very end, it looked like they were building towards Hogan vs Loch Ness who while heavy had nowhere near the size or presence of the Giant. I am really glad that never materialized and the Hogan went the way of the NWO.

Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs Ric Flair & The Giant - WCW Clash of the Champions 1/23/96 First Hulkster match since he passed away yesterday. Marquee main event as this is 4/6ths of the Nitro 6. Megapowers teaming is always a big deal as well Horsemen & Dungeon aligning. Flair & Savage had been raging since May 95, their GAB 95 match is a stone cold classic and they had very good matches in Dec 95. Savage just won the title back the previous night on Nitro. Hogan & Giant had a fun match at Havoc marred by Jimmy Hart turn, liked the turn just iffy on execution. Hogan and Flair always have pretty good chemistry. Megapowers have Kevin Greene who was playing in Super Bowl the next week, Woman (which was weird) and a returning Miss Elizabeth! Surprisingly based on the four wrestlers, this is pretty pedestrian and heat-less. Flair & Savage start. They really just go through the motions and do their basic stuff. There is some jaw jacking between Flair and Greene but nothing to write home about. Flair tags in Giant so here’s come Hogan. They do a hyper compressed version of the Havoc match against that doesn’t feel heated. Giant establishes his size and strength but misses an elbow which allows Hogan to slam Giant. In the Havoc match, they build to that match so much more effectively. Giant tags out. Hogan is selling the back after such a heavy slam. Thankfully a Ric Flair delayed vertical suplex puts his back in alignment as he pops up and starts throwing bombs. Very disjointed match. Savage who still has elbow banadaged really doesn’t do much. Hogan/Flair do their usual deal. Savage hits a couple punches. Things break down between Hogan and Giant. Jimmy Hart distracts but Flair uses a pair of knuckledusters to blow Savage away for the win to put some heat on Superbrawl. Hogan & Greene send Pillman and Zodiac packing. A surprisingly tepid, mediocre bout which three of the most charismatic wrestlers ever. It was too disjointed and too compressed to get going.

Surprised I didnt watch a full review of this back in the day. I know I did a big Nitro rewatch in college of all the 95 Nitros stitching together a bunch of these via a youtube playlist. I think this 2015 post came from a Nitro rewatch that went from the beginning to WWIII (I remember thats where I stopped last time). I havent decided if I am going to stop this watch at the end of 1995 or at Uncensored WCW United States Champion Sting vs Ric Flair - WCW Nitro 11/6/95 I thought this was even better than their match from the first Nitro. Surprisingly, Flair works really strong in this match. Flair tends to work small against Sting and 90s Flair is more oriented to cheating and bumping. Even though this is from 1995 and against Sting, Flair works really strong. Flair has definitely been the in-ring MVP of these Nitros. He always comes in and lights it up. Ton of energy, outworking the whole roster and just bringing the fun. Coming out of Halloween Havoc, not surprisingly, Sting came out hot manhandling Flair beating him from pillar to the post. As you can expect in this match there were Press Slams early and often throughout the match. I really liked the transition from this fast-break start from Sting with Flair not only getting suplex on the floor but consolidating that advantage by moving out of the way Sting who crashes and burns on the railing on a Stinger Splash. Awesome transition! Really enjoyed the Flair heat segment. Although we missed a low blow during the ad break, which is a bummer. Flair is just hammering Sting and working the knee. Figure-4 was a good mid-match climax. Sting reverses and Mongo has never seen that before. The Sting no-sell after the Figure-4 was INCREDIBLE! I love a well-timed No-Sell. It was incredible. The classic stare as Flair was throwing heavy hands and having no effect. Inject that shit into my veins, brutha. Guess what! A press slam! Flair eye poke which gets back on top, which I liked as a transition. They do some 80s spots with Flair's foot on the ropes, the bridge into a backslide. Flair is feeling it tonight! Press slam off the top. Sting is walloping Flair in the corner, but the ref is forced to break the action. Flair clocks Sting with knuckledusters. 1-2-NO! I bit on that. I figure he wins here by nefarious means to set up the WWIII match. ANOTHER STING HULK-UP! Love it! Final Press slam! Scorpion Deathlock! He doesnt let go. It takes Luger whispering something in Sting's ear to let it go. Great shades of grey booking here as Sting & Luger walk out. It plays on Sting & Luger's real-life friendship but Luger is DOD 4 Life. Is he friend or foe? Looks like Macho Man needs to find out. I love all this shades of grey booking in the Nitro 6 main event scene. Great, high energy match. Really enjoyed this. *** 3/4

Yes I think the better comp is Hogan/Andre than Hogan/Taker. Here is my review of the finish of Halloween Havoc: GIANT CHOKESLAM~! HELL YEAH! 1-2-NO! HULK-UP~! DROPS THE LEG! JIMMY HART NAILS THE REF WITH THE BIG GOLD BELT! Hogan does not see that it is Jimmy Hart who does it. So Jimmy Hart is able to nail him too! Here comes Randy Savage and Lex Luger, but whose side is he on? Luger attacks Savage. Here is the YEH-TAY~! YEH-TAY humps Hogan in the ass and then Savage. Luger RACKS them both. Michael Buffer says twice the title cant change hands on a DQ. Giant is declared the winner by DQ. I assume it is because Jimmy Hart was aligned with Hogan and when he hit the ref that counted as being in favor for Hogan, but that is dumb. It turns out the Nov 6th Nitro that Jimmy Hart put a clause in the contract that Giant could win the title on DQ. I dont mind the shady contract fine print. I think thats good heel shit, but I think declaring Giant winner by DQ is a stretch. I think it would have been better if Jimmy Hart clearly hit Giant with the title and then it is revealed on Nitro the next night or the 6th of November that it was a double cross. It is strange they waited a whole week for the big Jimmy Hart reveal. During The Giant’s squash of Cobra (Morse code as entrance theme was bizarre who green lit that. Chokeslam 1-2-3), Bischoff kept saying he is not the real champion and he stole it. But why not beat us over the heads with the DQ finish. Which would only amp up the juice when Jimmy Hart reveals he put the “title can change hands on a DQ” clause in the contract. Furthermore I see the reason why they has Jimmy Hart hit the ref and call it a DQ victory for Giant it was because lawyer could strip The Giant due to “dubious nature” of DQ. Again why not come out and say it, we believe Jimmy Hart intentionally hit the ref to screw Hogan out of the title and ensure his new charge would be champion. It is also this weird implied shit. Just say it. Jimmy Hart is great here and it is his last run on top before being condemned to First Family WCW Thunder purgatory. He was awesome. Dont feel like making a match review but I really thought the Taskmaster’s squash of Renegade was really effective. Renegade came out hor and then Sullivan took over on the floor thanks to Jimmy’s distraction. Good clubbing blows. The Tree of Woe and Double Stomp finishes it. What I really loved was all the character work. Jimmy taunting Renegade you could have been the next Hulk Hogan. Renegade was Hogan’s big surprised at Uncensored just 8 months prior with Jimmy Hart guiding him to WCW TV Title victory. Now Jimmy is taunting him. The cherry on top is after Sullivan beats the shit out of him he wipes off the makeup and Jimmy taunts him saying “You’re just Rick now. You’re just Rick” that should be remembered as an all time angle. But they just move along so fast. I wish they actually started the promo gloating about how they humiliated the Renegade. That should have been a bigger deal. It is not always about execution it is also about promotion. Excellent execution but promotional follow through was not there for the Renegade angle.

Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit - WCW Nitro 11/6/95 Interesting that they just trotted this back out there two weeks later without much fanfare. They didnt bring up the first match or the tag match from a couple weeks ago (remember when Wright tripped Malenko). Bizarre. I agree with the consensus that the October match is the classic, but this is still very good. I know there's a Saturday Night match from around this time that is also really good. The reason this is not as good they dont have the same touchstone of Eddie's arm injury to keep going back to and connecting segment to segment. Benoit came out firing. All high intensity, high impact moves that looked excellent per usual, suplexes, clotheslines, spinebuster, Liontamer. It was a little too move list-y. Eddie started armdragging his way out of trouble which I liked as a transition but he could so much impact to the head would have liked a little more selling. I LOVE Eddie's Superman Puffed Out Splash to the floor he does. Someone should crib that Just by puffing your chest out it makes the move look a million times cooler. Eddie hits a brainbuster. Benoit just blows off all selling and hits a superplex. See what I mean. It is well-executed match, but is missing that connective tissue and that psychology that takes it to the next level. THIS EXCEEDED THE POWERBOMB FROM 10/16 HOLY FUCKING SHIT! HE THREW HIM DOWN! DAMN! Again the German Suplex and Northern Light Suplex from Benoit looked great, but still too move list-y. They go with the Marty Sleeze finish. Whenever I would wrestle my brother who is 7 years younger than me when we were kids, the most often used finish is I would attempt a belly to back suplex, but my brother would shift his weight and land on top for the three. In the few times, I won it was usually due to tap out from the Butterfly Lock (imagine hooking someone for a Butterfly Suplex, but instead as a submission hold). Anyways, Eddie shifts his weight on a Benoit suplex and wins even though Benoit's feet are under the ropes. Eddie stole a win against Pittman last week and here wins another with technique. They clearly like both Benoit and Eddie. They protected Benoit and Eddie is winning matches. The series is tied 1-1, and the tiebreaker is on Saturday Night, I believe which is a great match. ***1/2

Watched this again and I vaguely remembered Hogan & Savage in all black and cutting a promo on the beach, but I dont forgot about the psychedelic guitarist and the wicked bizarre homeless guy. So bizarre. How did Bischoff & Sullivan green light this to be shown on Nitro. Savage looked cool as fuck. Look shaving the Fu-Manchu is a big a deal, but we are at about a month since it happened. He could grow it back, it is conscious choice at this point to stay shaven. It would be cool to make it a point that it would stay shaven until he got his revenge and rid the world of the Dungeon, but classic Hogan that never comes up. I do love the whole Nitro 6 Friend or Foe booking. Savage is going to find out if Sting can be trusted.

Lex Luger & Meng vs American Males - WCW Nitro 10/30/95 Doesn’t feel like a main event but they wanted to do the Halloween Havoc footage and the Dungeon promo to close the show. The juxtaposition of Luger teaming with Sting last week in the main event against Harlem Heat is cool with his teaming against Dungeon 4 Life buddy Meng against American Males. Meng had a grueling contest with Luger the previous night and seemed kind of pissed when Sullivan didnt let him get the win over Luger especially after Meng got the upset over Luger about a month ago on Luger after Giant choke slammed him before the match. I wish they played up some friction here with Luger and Meng. Honestly I wish this was Luger and Giant but that would have been too squashy for a main event. Pretty typical condensed TV time tag match. American Males work like an 80s blowjob babyface tag attacking the Package’s arm with frequent tags. The Dungeon uses a Hart Attack to take control. Meng steam rolls Riggs. Bagwell is a house afire. He looks Ring compared to Luger here. When they were doing Buff vs Luger I feel like they were the same size. Meng gets a cheap shot and Luger racks him up. They show the entirety of Halloween Havoc ending from Jimmy Hart and Lex Luger turn to Yet-TAY humping Hogan. Only the core four of the Dungeon is out to talk Giant, Luger, Sullivan and Jimmy Hart. Meng got sent to the back and no Yeti. If it was just these four and I’d even take Meng I would say this is a kickass heel stable. Jimmy Hart with a nice nod to history that he was Sullivan’s only manager. Sullivan is so good at this Satanist, Hulkamania hating camp. Giant is green but he gets his point across. They don’t mention the whole Jimmy Hart snuck in a clause where if Giant wins by DQ he wins the title. It is weird. Why wouldn’t Bischoff be decrying Giant as a fake champion because he won the match by DQ? Giant said he was going to keep but that implies someone would try to take it away because of the DQ but no one was saying that. A weird beat to miss, After 6 weeks, WCW’s rogue gallery is rejuvenated with Dungeon at their apex and Horsemen reunited. Also no Hogan, Savage or Sting on the show. A very dark pall has been cast on the Land Where The Big Boys Play.

Eddie Guerrero vs Sgt. Craig Pittman - WCW Nitro 10/30/95 Im really becoming a Pittman guy. He seems like one of those guys they forgotten to smarten up before he went out to the Ring. I love guys like that. He also kind of reminds me of Tom Howard. If you’re going to do a military gimmick this is the way to do it. Unfortunately I am reviewing this 48 hours after the fact because work got in the way bur I remember this heading uniting good territory before it got cut short with a lame ending. Pittman was tossing Eddie around to start. Imposing his will and manhandling Eddie. Eddie throws Pittman which gets a reaction out of Pittman that leads to a speed versus arm fight. Pittman attacks the arm and Eddie uses a leg lariat and a high springboard reverse crossbody. There’s an AWESOME gut wrench powerbomb from Pittman. Then all of a sudden Eddie just rolls up Pittman with the midsection version of a victory roll, Whats that called. I enjoyed their rough dynamic. Pittman is uncooperative and it gave it a competitive feel. *** It was a strange Nitro coming off a pretty hot Halloween Havoc (three major heel turns) but they had this match then a random Shark vs Norton match (not a huge Tenta guy and always wanted to like Norton but it was decent 2 minute hoss fight that ends in a DCO. Shark threw around Norton a bit before Norton made his comeback, bodyslam of Tenta got a pop. ) before we finally get to Flair. Then Sabu/Disco (this would have gotten huge heat in Philadelphia and especially in ECW. Imagine Disco in the FBI oh my God. Disco is the Nitro clown and he has been used great. Sabu hauling off with those punches were great. They let Disco get a little offense but this is all Sabu in another 2-ish minute match. The slingshot somersault leg drop is sick. Sabu wants to put Disco through a table but ends up denting table in a sickening this. An enjoyable couple minutes) before we finally get to Luger. But when we do get to Luger it is a tag match with Meng against American Males. Which is kinda lame main event. Odd Nitro Layout.

Out of context, this is a great promo. All three shine with vim and vigor. Brian Pillman definitely have watched his fair share of Double A promos, but he comes in with a ton of piss & vinegar. Mocking Sting as he is trying to tag Flair was really good. Anderson and Flair were on fire. With context, it is a little frustrating, whats the timeline here? When did Flair, AA and Pillman agree to reform? Was Sting always the mark? Or did Flair earn the respect of the Horsemen two weeks prior on 10/16 and then they concocted the plot? In classic pro wrestling, they wanted Flair heel and they wanted a big angle and they didnt give a shit how they got there. In any other medium, the producer or director would nix it, but in pro wrestling it is anything goes whether or not it makes sense. It is sad that pro wrestling doesnt get held to a higher standard.

Sting & Lex Luger vs Harlem Heat - WCW Nitro 10/23/95 Sting has grown out a beard and is wearing red & yellow just like Hogan said! Maybe Hogan was right. They were definitely trying to push the narrative that anyone can turn heel. Big spot for Harlem Heat who have not yet regained their titles. Some heelish behavior from Sting like an arm drag on Booker T over top rope to the floor which the ref rules accidental but Also an eye take later to save Luger on the heat segment. Luger takes a boring heat segment. Booker had some solid spots but nothing too exciting. He missed Harlem Hangover. Sting has a great house afire the best part of the match. Stinger Splashes for everyone. Scorpion Deathlock broken up. Stevie Ray is preoccupied with Luger and Sting hits flying clothesline on Booker T to win. Dungeon of Doom hits the Ring they try to push the Sting heel narrative but he eats the Chokeslam along with Luger. Savage is out. Hogan sans Fu-Manchu and neck brace but still rocking the Dark Side gear goes toe to toe with The Giant. I thought this one of the weaker Nitros especially since I thought the Oct 2nd and 16th were the two best. This was a really good ending going into Halloween Havoc

Eddie Guerrero & Mr. JL vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko - WCW Nitro 10/23/95 Apparently Alex Wright was supposed to be Eddie’s tag partner. Eddie/Benoit coming off their classic banger but this is nothing special. They get plenty of time about ten minutes but it is pretty pedestrian. Benoit/Malenko play nominal heels. They do heel miscommunication on the floor. Benoit dives on Malenko and then Eddie Alley-Oops JL on the heels. Malenko hits JL on the ropes to set up heat segment. It was a fine heat segment. Benoit and Malenko hit their usual high impact offense. The JL transition to hot tag was weak just a back elbow after a lot of good high impact moves. Eddie had a good an Arm Drag Headscissors takedown, then in a bizarre moment Alex Wright trips Malenko so JL got the Victory Roll. Weird finish takes this down a notch. Heatless and pedestrian. Pillman DDT Eddie on the ramp. Unprovoked attacks are the lamest way to set up new feuds. I assume this is the start of Loose Canon but still lame.

Randy Savage vs Kurasawa - WCW Nitro 10/23/95 No Savage last week. Savage has an injured arm which becomes a point of contention between Hogan/Bischoff and Meltzer later on. This gives the commentary an excuse to discuss the Savage/Luger feud. Kurasawa is put over as a dangerous martial arts expert that broke Hawk’s arm. We saw Hawk two weeks take on Bossman in a short match that looked like it was going to lead to a Hawk/Disco feud which actually might have been fun. Bossman looked good in that match with his right hands but with WCW going small in the midcard and the main event scene full there was no room for Bossman. Pretty standard babyface Macho Man match. He takes a ton of offense early. Kurasawa had some good kicks but eventually ran out of things to do. Kurasawa kicked the Ring post. Savage drove him throat first into the rope and Big Elbow. Nothing to see here.

Hogan sounds like Donald Trump in this promo. Paranoid, aggrieved, bitching & moaning, trying to act rough but is a total chump. I love Bischoff Matrix Booking where the Nitro Six (Hogan, Savage, Sting, Luger, Flair and Giant) are all at each others throats but this came off unprovoked which is the problem. It felt really random. Dark Side Hogan just sounds like whiny, insecure Hogan not a Bad Man.

Ok so I defended the Dungeon of Doom last week, but yeah this is pretty horrible. If they just kept it to Sullivan, Giant, Jimmy Hart and Luger it would have been a strong heel stable, but this shit is ridiculous. I forgot other people besides Tony Schiavone call him the YET-TAY, which is why I still call those Yeti cups Yet-TAYs and get weird looks from my wife. The Rare White Bengal Tiger always cracks me up. I was today years old when I realized that Rare White Bengal Tiger is Hulk Hogan. Sullivan is very good at this type of camp. Giant is fine besides the Laugh at the end.

Wait why is the cage match bad? I loved the hell out of it. Ric Flair & Sting vs Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman - WCW Nitro 10/16/95 This is literally an inverse of the famous Halloween Havoc match that happens two weeks later. Instead of Sting going it alone for most of the match, Flair had to go it alone most of the match to prove to the Stinger that this was on the up and up. Just like I loved the Havoc match I loved this! Too much was made of in 90s that heels had to look tough and be the equals of babyfaces. Most heels should never be equal of babyfaces. Most heels should be worse than their babyface opponents and it is that insecurity that drives them to heelish behavior such as cheating and excessive violence. The idea of a heel being a babyface’s equal for the most part is an inherently flawed idea. In this match, heels are bumping and stooging, Ric Flair is KING-SIzed! My God this was 80s Crockett in 1995! WOOOOOO! 80s Crockett the babyfaces take so much and we see that here. I fucking love babyface Flair and him just unloading on the heels here at every turn was great. Even when you think the heels had him, he kept the party going all night long. He trapped Double A in Figure-4. Then you figure Pillman would splash. Nuh Uh. Pillman misses and Flair puts him in the Figure-4. This is the fist-pumping shit missing in most wrestling today. You were cheering each and every punch and chop. You wanted your team to run up the score. You weren’t worried about Arn is looking weak or man they need to get Pillman over. You were excited because fucking Flair was cooking, damn torpedos, fire away brutha. I am not a huge sports fan and always prefer games to be close but I love all Boston sports fans that relish blow outs. I might not enjoy the game but I enjoy on their behalf seeing how happy that makes them. Flair’s babyface shine rules. Flair gets kicked in the back of the head by Pillman. They work a much shorter heat segment here as Sting comes out. Then when Sting gets the hot tag. He blows the roof off the place working one of the best Hot Tags ever. He is working King-Sized. It feels like 80s Crockett. He is slinging bodies and dropping Stinger Splashes from the sky. The only thing keeping this from Havoc level is they opt for the count out victory for the babyfaces. Sting in 1995 being the most insider wrestler always worried about swerved and shooting straight is funny. That high five was so fucking 90s and I am here for it. Tremendous piece of business. *** 3/4

Ill cover The Giant and Kevin Sullivan promo first. Everyone gets on the Dungeon of Doom who being campy and hokey but I love it. I have this shit 9 million times more believable and entertaining than Wyatt Family or anything of that ilk. I really enjoyed Sullivan's promo. There was a method to the madness. He declares victory because The Hulkster has gone to the Dark Side and this will destroy Hulkamania and Giant will end it physically. Short, sweet, menacing, logical. Hogan on the other hand was fucking all over the place. The Evil within Hulk Hogan is real, trying to reinvent himself into a Mafia Boss handling the Family Business, then shouting out Hulkster cliches about protecting training, prayers and vitamins. I think what he was trying to get at was he needed to embrace the Dark Side and become a little Evil to defeat Evil, but came out all fucked up.

Rewatched this came away enjoying this as much as I remember. It had even more psychology and logical progression than I remembered. But it was "slower" than I remember. I think what has happened is I have changed not this match. So much wrestling in the past ten years feels like it is done in "fast forward" or with "motion smoothing on" that this feels slow in comparison but in a good way. They were letting things breathe. The highspots still pop off huge like Eddie's dive to the floor and that MUTHA OF ALL POWERBOMBS! Great match!

AJPW World Tag Team Champions Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Danny Kroffat & Doug Furnas - AJPW 7/20/95 It is very interesting watching the Four Corners in unheralded matches against midcarders. This is a title defense that was clearly taped for TV or VHS release. So they have a reason to put in effort but at the same time this is not the Budokan, it is NOT Misawa/Kobashi, it is NOT Hansen or Doc. I was very intrigued to see how this match played out. JDW would often use the term "fall out of bed" match and this is what like it felt to me. Kawada and Taue did their normal high spots. They like Kroffat & Furnas do their shit, but they werent exactly selling or trying to make them look good. It felt tepid and just going through the motions. The other style I would liken this to is early 2000s Ring of Honor. There is a lot of short segments and a lot of action, but short on story. Early 2000s ROH is wrestled with such competitive ferocity, it is of higher quality than this. Which is just a ton of action but ton in a tepid style with not much sense of progression. All this sounds harsh. I still thought it was a good match, but for a team that literally just had the best match ever, I expected a bit more. I acknowledge that holding any wrestler to a 4 star+ standard every bout is ridiculous but it is very interesting to watch the All Japan boys in this context because it makes you realize they are human too. I guess a quick word on Kroffat (aka Phil LaFon) and Furnas I have seen some of their matches, I really need to review that Kobashi/Kikuchi match. Overall they are a fun little workrate team. They are short on charisma but long on athleticism. I have neutral feelings towards them. They clearly took the match very seriously, it was a big spot for them, but I think like many in the 90s and beyond they focused too much on the "what" (highspots, action, MOVEZ~!) and not enough on the "how" (how can do I this in a way that I stand out and people remember me). Kroffat/Furnas overwhelm Kawada/Taue early at the bell. They hit some kicks and high flying moves that force the Champions to powder. It is unclear babyface/heel dynamics. Kawada/Taue are native heels, but if they are wrestling a gaijin team do they become babyfaces? This didnt really feel like a babyface shine but it is because Kawada/Taue didnt really sell it as such I would say. Kroffat hit an early Tiger Driver. After the fast break, Kroffat grabs a hold and Kawada hits his spin kick basically shrugs it off. Kawada/Taue basically dont really sell the fast break after that and just act like the match has started. The basic story for this middle section is Kroffat or Furnas try to work a hold but Kawada or Taue use a high impact move to get out of it and get a tag. The match has a sense of progress once Kroffat starts to make in-roads on Kawada and Taue feels some desperation about this. Also interesting is that Kawada has a Triple Crown match at the Budokan in 4 days against Misawa. However, it is Taue that looks like he is batting clean-up. Kawada would get in trouble and Taue would be the momentum-changer. 1995 Taue is a whole different beast. Anyways, Kroffat misses a senton due to a Taue distraction. Taue proceeds to Randy Orton Kroffat on the outside with two wicked back suplexes on the announce table. I love that spot whether it is Taue or Orton doing it. Now we get a sense of control here with Kawada/Taue working over Kroffat, but even that doesnt last long. When Furnas does come in, they work his leg again a sense of control but again it doesnt last long. Again it comes out of desperation as Furnas was a house of fire (dropsault and Frankensteiner( and was trying to German Suplex Taue. Taue flailed out of it and then immediately went for the kneecrusher. I like those type of reactions. That keeps match decidely on the good side. I just wish the transitions to Kroffat and Furnas tagging out were more emphatic. Kawada saves Taue from a Tiger Driver with nice head kick. Kawada applies the Stretch Plum and Taue goes to the single leg crab for double submission. Taue goes for the Super Nodowa and Furnas saves. Furnas & Kroffat are hitting a lot of stuff but it has no pizzazz. Loved Kawada powerbombing Furnas on his second Frankensteiner attempt. Should have been the finish. Furnas ugly Misawa-rana out of the second Kawada Powerbomb. Taue saves Kawada from Tiger Driver to boos. Kroffat superkicks him and hits it anyways in a very 21st Century exchange. Kawada kicks out. Taue clobbers him. It is a very busy match. Taue comes in officially kicks some ass powerbombs him. We tease the Move of 1995...Nodowa off the Apron which always gets me going. Furnas saves Kroffat. Nodowa on Furnas and Dangerous Back Drop Driver on Kroffat! Kick out! Super Nodowa gets the win for Taue! For Taue fans, this is a great watch, he looks like a monster and the MVP of his team. I could see Kroffat & Furnas getting over with the internet crowd today and leading to a lot of lamentations why they dont get a bigger push. It was a big stage for them and just felt like they didnt have the charisma for the stage. A very busy match, but still good. *** 1/2