Superstar Sleeze

Greatest picture ever! Titans will always be my favorite podcast of all time! To be the honorary fifth/sixth member was the greatest privilege of the wrestling part of my life. Thank you for having me and thank you for the hours of entertainment! Truly spectacular!

Brutha way to get 2016 correct! You can be on my team any day of the week! 😃

Kelly's rampant sex habit kills another podcast dead. ;) Sad!

I am trying not to get too upset because it is just wrestling after all BUT you got to be fucking shitting me! AJ VS SHANE?!?!?! CENA NOT IN A BIG MATCH!?!?!? HE IS LITERALLY BIG MATCH JOHN!!! Every potential rumored card, I see does NOT EVEN HAVE JOHN CENA ON IT!!! this is ridiculous. In terms of buzz, wrestling ability, star power, Cena and AJ are their best bets. Jericho vs Owens that is great midcard comedy, but cmon. Bray vs Orton, you have got to be shitting me! I am holding out hope. Obviously, Cena HAS to be on the card and so does AJ. I just needed to vent. At the end of the day, not my company and really there is so much wrestling that even if they don't do it right I can always go back and watch other things. After Mania, you know Cena and AJ will still kick ass, but still it is kinda shitty.

Chad, you a batshit crazy muthafucka

Yeah Nash didn't come off as a good promo at all in this. You know it is bad Nitro when fucking Sid vs Heavy D Don Harris was the best match. Psychosis/Kaz had an abortion of a match. Norman/3Count was fun. I skipped Vampiro/Kidman ( Torrie in that zebra outfit though WOW) and Mamalukes. Sid was actually great in terms of hot babyface charisma. Not a bad choice for a number one face. I'd kill for Sid right now in wrestling. I think Braun is close but Sid just has crazy charisma. Sid/Nash sucked the big one. From the opening bell, they botched a fucking body slam lol! At least Sid went over! Yay! Sid pulling the Eddie routine of acting like Jarrett hit him with the guitar when he had done to Nash was great! I was marking out! Excited for Sid title reign!

Ok starting watching full Nitros at this point a couple nights ago, I remember liking this period as kid but this was a pretty lame episode. Bobby Heenan was a shell of himself. He kept calling Tank Abbott a handful, Tony no sold it because it wasn't funny but he kept at it . Brutal. I usually enjoy Hall/Nash/Steiner antics but not very funny. In the year 2000 Terry Funk was the number 2 babyface in the second biggest national promotion. Can you believe that? Nash puts a hot out on Funk. Bigelow drads Funk by the neck with a belt pretty brutal and is focused on destroying Funk's shoulder. Good basic psychology with hope spots mixed. Findlay & Knobs are a team and help Funk! God knows why? Funk will have back up on Thunder. Please be Flair!

WCW World Champion Vader vs Ric Flair - WCW Clash of the Champions XXV The forgotten match before the polarizing famous Starrcade 93 match is a great pump up for Starrcade 93. Vader was such a great monster in this. I love his pre-match ranting "No Pain. No Fear. Im da man!". After the commercial, Flair has the figure-4 on Harley allowing Vader to splash Flair. Flair's verbal selling is great and matches so well with Vader' brute strength and bulliying. Press slam, Vaderbomb and just general trash talk. Flair fires off some heavy handed chops and looks to make some in roads but when he tries to build some momentum he eats a Vader body attack. What they do well here is give Flair opening through Vader missing moves on multiple occasions. The best is Vader misses a middle rope elbow and Flair immediately goes for Figure-4 only to have Harley rake the eyes. Show Flair knows how fleeting these moments are and needs to capitalize immediately. Love that superplex spot by Vader on Flair. The ultimate missed move is that Vader misses the top rope moonsault always incredible. Flair covers 1-2-3! MASSIVE POP from a kinda dead crowd, but it is a DQ because the ref had been wiped out by Vader. Not quite as good as I remembered (I remembered more energy), but this was a great narrative and build. Flair had to take the openings given to him and pounce. He did just that. Vader was his usual monster self. I liked how the openings built and built to the missed moonsault. Finally after years and years, going to revisit Starrcade 1993. ***3/4

What's it like Chad knowing you have 119 more months to finish the 2000s but you have already seen the best match of the decade? 😋

I thought Summerslam match was way overrated but this was incredible!!! I think the Money in the Bank match was wicked underrated and best match of the series. A much better version of SSLam match with actual transitions and urgency!

AJ Styles save me!

I have been pretty underwhelmed thus far. I just so tired of That style of plunder brawling. I expected and wanted to see Reigns/Braun for the title. Well at least we are getting the match could be the show stealer at Mania!

70s - WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund vs Greg Valentine - MSG 2/19/79 80s - NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ricky Morton - Great American Bash 1986 Steel Cage 90s - I need to rewatch all the AJPW stuff one more time, but I think it is 6/9/95, 4/15/95 or 1/20/97, for the US I think I would say Bret vs Owen WrestleMania X 00s - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - AJPW 2/27/00 10s - WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns vs AJ Styles - WWE Payback 2016

WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty - WWF RAW 7/19/93 These two definitely know how to whip a match into a fever pitch. Shawn has since added Diesel to his act which paid immediate dividends as he won the IC belt back. Marty turns his back to Shawn to look at Diesel and Shawn attacks. Great way to get over the presence of the big man. Marty impressively lands on his feet on a back drop. Another great shine with Marty looking crisp and Michaels bumping like a madman. Nothing out of this world. Everything is upbeat and well-done. Marty hits a DDT. 1-2-3! Lightning strikes twice! Wait! Michael's foot was on the ropes, Diesel points it out and the match is restarted. I like this use of Diesel. Not can he intimidate and interfere, but he can watch Michaels' back if injustice is to occur. Jannetty continues with the shine suplex and backbreaker. Jannetty should have been a solid mechanic in the midcard and tag scene if not for personal demons. Definite anchor on this match is Michaels' heat segment. Nothing memorable transition and chinlock city otherwise. Michaels would get better on top, never his strong suit, but very weak here. Jannetty crotching him to get out of a front facelock almost makes the front facelock worth it. Again they work a ton of great nearfalls for Jannetty that get awesome heat. Jannetty takes an insane bump flying over the top rope on a missed crossbody down on the floor. Diesel helps him back in 1-2-3! I actually dug the finish a lot. The bump was insane and really puts over the move as high risk. PWI Match of the Year for 1993 and I don't even think it is the best match in WWF in 1993. Fun shine, lame heat segment and red hit finish, a great way to spend 15 minutes of your life, btu nothing that will change your life. ***1/4

WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty - WWF RAW 5/17/93 The May 17, 1993 episode of RAW has to go down as one of the all-time great RAWs between the red-hot Razor Ramon/1-2-3 Kid angle and this angle where Marty Jannetty returns to the WWF in disguise as a civilian and forces the cocky Shawn Michaels into a match. Fast-paced TV sprints. Nothing really extraordinary. Just solid, basic pro wrestling. Jannetty gets some nearfalls early and then gets some fun babyface offense which Shawn bumps great for. Loved the slingshot crossbody to floor. Shawn clearly overwhelmed looks to hightail it out of there, but Mr. Perfect who is feuding with Michaels stops him. Loved the heel heat transition with Shawn dropping Marty throat first on the rope during a headscissors attempts. They would some double hot nearfalls down the stretch like the catapult of Shawn into the post and the top rope reverse cross body. Michaels hits proto-Sweet Chin Music, taunts Perfect who throws his towel at him and Marty cradles him for the victory and upset title change! Wasn't in love with the finish think there was a better way to make everyone come out looking there, but still a HUGE moment with Marty winning the title in a good little TV match with a hot finish stretch. ***

SMW Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs Heavenly Bodies - WWF Survivor Series 1993 My hometown of Boston let the wrestling world down by being absolutely dead for all this kickass tag team action. From the Morton suicide dive to start the match to Del Rey catching the tennis racquet to drive it into the RNRs to win the tag belts, the action in this was fast and furious and never ever let up. In fact my complaint would be that they were wrestling too fast. They knew this would be a cold crowd and they tried to compensate by being extra hot but I think it was to the detriment of the match because it took away from the selling and the awesomeness of the spots. The Bodies are just great successors to the Midnights with the all fun spots at the beginning, the row the boat spot is the one I always think of with this match. When it comes time to get heat they get heat. Pritchard's powerbomb is great and Del rey's Asai Moonsault and body jiggle it awesome. Loved seeing the Trash Compactor. God Bless Southern tag Wrestling. Morton with the Misawa-rana on the second powerbomb attempt was great and double DDT sets up the coldest hot tag ever. I am so sorry everybody for my hometown! I will say the finish stretch was a bit of a mess with the convoluted that would be a DQ in SMW but not here in WWF, who the fuck is legal (Morton was not but was being treated as such) and zero heat for the double dropkick. Superbrawl III was a better match, but this was very good. I don't think there is anything more jarring than Rock N Roll Express wrestling for WWF in Boston. Just so weird. ***1/2

Bret Hart vs Doink The Clown Summerslam 1993 So building off the Lawler's beatdown of The Hitman at King of the Ring 1993 over who the real King of the Ring was they booked Bret Hart versus Jerry Lawler for Summerslam. However, you see The King was in a massive ten car pile up caused by an old blue hair and injured his knee. Heenan says on commentary that even after he pulled his own body from the fiery wreckage he saved a school bus of children! What a hero, The King Jerry Lawler is! However, he has chose a replacement his court jester, the Evil Clown, Doink! I love the Doink gimmick so much. He throws a bucket of confetti on the fans and then a bucket of water on Bruce Hart! HA! Bret tees off on Doink. Bret just murders Doink. Besides 1997, we don't get enough of this pissed off Bret. He is so great here just kicking ass. Loved him crotching Doink on top rope and then letting him fall face first. Of course, Bret is tempted to attack Lawler and this when Doink jumps him from behind. Doink is great here ramming Bret hard into the steps and then working the knee over. I love that the Evil Clown is a technical wizard using the STF and stump puller. Doink eats knees on the Whoopie Cushion! Bret tees off on Doink again and goes for the Sharpshooter and Lawler breaks the crutch over the Hitman's back! It is a miracle! I guess Bret wins this match by DQ . Love it! Bret Hart vs Jerry Lawler - Summerslam 1993 Jerry The King Lawler is helping his buddy, Doink the Clown to the back when Jack Tunney stops him and sends him back to the ring to have the regularly scheduled match. Bret is fighting through officials to try to get to the King. Once Bret gets to him, he just murders The King with rights. This is the best Memphis match to ever take place in WWF. Just a wild, chaotic brawl. Bret bites Lawler in the head. He just throwing the punches with reckless abandon. Bret finds a crutch and breaks it over Lawler's back. The King picks up broken crutch and jabs it into the abdomen of Bret. He jabs it in the throat and chokes him with it. Lawler is great in this. So cheap and desperate, goading Owen and Bruce and just cheating at will against Bret with the crutch and ramming his balls into the post. Bret's trick knee acts up and rams Lawler in the Royal Family Jewels! Bret is great in this when he takes the strap down. There s just a look in his eyes where you actually think he might murder the King. He just conveys so much badass asskicker here. Loved the punches and PILEDRIVER!!! This is not played up enough on commentary. Bret applies the Sharpshooter and Lawler is forced to quit, but Bret wont relinquish the hold. This goes on for a while even his brothers get involved. Once he releases it we find out Jerry Lawler has won the match by disqualification making him the Undisputed King of the WWF. He leaves on a stretcher with one finger in the air. Awesome! One of the all-time best WWF angles ever from the bullshit Lawler story to the great Doink match to great Bret/Lawler brawl to the bullshit finish of Lawler remaining "undisputed" King of the WWF. Lawler was at his Memphis heel best and Bret was in full asskicker moder. Really something to behold. ****1/4 for the whole kit and caboodle.

Pete, I liked you so much until I found out you were a Buckeye fan. I went to the University of Michigan, BABY! GO BLUE! WWF World Tag Team Champions Steiner Brothers vs Heavenly Bodies - WWF Summerslam 1993 "University of Michigan, anybody could graduate from there" - Bobby The Brain Heenan, I know all too well, Brain, all too well. I popped for that line. Summerslam 1993 emanates from the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan so the Steiners are decked out in the Maize & Blue of the University of Michigan. Loved the Lets Go Blue chants for the Steiners on multiple occasions throughout this match. I watched this match about 4-5 years ago and loved it. Loved it just as much this go around. Awesome Southern sprint! This would not feel out of place at all in Crockett or WCW. The Bodies carry the torch for Midnights so well with the fun spots and cool, innovative offense. Bodies jump the Steiners before the bell. They try to isolate Rick by keeping Scott outside the ring, but eventually Scott gets in and opens a can of whoop ass. Suplexes galore, monkey flip and Steinerlines from Rick! Really fun shine see the Steiners do what they do best throw muthafuckas around and hit em hard. Scotty seemed to be pumped to be wrestling in Michigan. LOVED the transition to the heat with Del Rey ducking under Scotty's legs and Dr. Tom comes flyin in with a bulldog. Del Rey was a monster in this heat segment. Somersault off the apron on Scotty and then a beautiful DDT and followed up with his sleazy little dance. HELL YEAH! The Steiners are not the greatest at selling but the Bodies make up for it with great offense and heel tactics. Del Rey gets cute and tries for the DDT again, but Scotty has seen this movie before and chucks him over the shoulder. Then sends Dr. Tom flying with a Tiger Bomb. Rick cleans everyone's clock with Steinerlines. Tons of hot nearfalls here with Rick's bulldog, Pritchard's tennis racquet shot getting over huge. Loved the moonsault by Del Rey (he rocked!) hitting Tom and then Scotty snapping off a Frakensteiner. Awesome, bomb throwing sprint. LOVED THIS! LETS GO BLUE! ****

Bret Hart vs Bam Bam Bigelow - WWF King of the Ring 1993 Never seen this match before, really good extended squash before the upset victory. Bret is coming into this banged up with injured fingers from Razor and knee from Perfect. He has also wrestled for 30 minutes in two minutes compared to Bam Bam's one which went 8 minutes. I liked how this started as a fight as Bret just threw all he had at Bam Bam. First Press slam does not end well for Bam Bam with Bret falling on top. Finally Bigelow chucks Bret out onto the floor in a gnarly bump. Bigelow destroys Bret's back with an array of suplexes and holds (bearhug, Argentine backbreaker). Bret's first hope spot is when he whips Bigelow hard into the railing. He mounts a bit of a comeback before Bigelow catches him off the apron (no wonder Bret kept trying to repeat that spot it worked here just never after) and Bam Bam drove Bret's back hard into the post. Then Luna comes out and hits him with a chair in the back. Bam Bam hits a diving headbutt and 1-2-3! WAIT WHAT THE FUCK! My jaw dropped because I had never seen the match before. Earl Hebner comes out and says the match should continue because Luna's interference that's pretty inconsistent at best and weak at worst. What I liked about this match is that it was so different tan your typical Bret match. It was basically this extended squash with Bam Bam just beating the tar out of the Hitman, but Bret was actually good about hope spots in this match. Like the back suplex and senton. I thought the sleeper set up by a face rake out of the Argentine Backbreaker was perfect. The exact move Bret needed to regain some of his strength and sap the big man of his. I really think that is the perfect use of a sleeper. To follow up Bret just starts using his body as a weapon first with a dropkick to send Bam Bam to the floor and then a pescado! Great comeback! I really liked how Bret set up for the second rope elbow but because Bigelow got up he transitioned to a bulldog. That's a great kayfabe way to show someone thinking on their feet. Bam Bam blocks Sharpshooter and back to bearhug. Bret makes him eat a boot on a charge. He hops up to the top rope and then onto Bam Bam's shoulders to get the victory roll. The fun does not end there, the post-match with Jerry Lawler, which sets up a two year feud was excellent. Lawler rants he is the real king. Bret kind of blows him off by getting the fans to chant "Burger King" only for Lawler to kick the royal shit out of Bret. Including throwing the throne on top of him. Jerry Lawler can rest peacefully though because he still has the honor of having Bam Bam Bigelow's best match. This is the second best Bam Bam match I have ever seen. Thought he looked great as a monster here and Bret was perfect as the underdog babyface. Really different Bret match than normal, check it out! ****

Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect - WWF King of the Ring 1993 "This is a CLASSY match!" - Macho Man Randy Savage Bret is the king of the face vs face match, but here he is not playing the subtle heel. It is his opponent rather that plays de facto heel in this contest. Easily the best Curt Hennig match since his days in AWA as he has the offense here to match his bumping. Loved the gradual progression from the locker room where Mean Gene was stirring the pot through the match in how Hennig became more and more heelish. At the start of the match, he was the one laying heavy blows like the chop or pulling hair and it was Bret doing what he does best picking a base hold (side headlock) and working cradles out of the hold. Each man looking for quick victory to get out of Dodge and face the rested Bam Bam Bigelow in the finals. I liked how Hennig was bumping on the side headlock takeovers, good snap to them. Hennig uses the hair to force Bret into the ropes and delivers a kneelift. His standing dropkick sends Bret to the outside. He holds the ropes open and cements his mid-match heel turn by attacking Bret as he gets into the ring. Perfect looks great here with chops, kneelift, even a missile dropkick! The awesome spot I always remember from this match is Perfect slingshotting Bret from the apron to floor and railing. Nasty. My big problem with this match is that spot does not lead to more heat. Instead, Bret pops up before Perfect can come off the top and hits a superplex. Just felt like a weak transition. Hennig sells the knee so he can take his favorite bump the one where he does backflips. Bret applies the figure-4 and Hennig makes the ropes. He goes to Bret's eyes and then biels him out by the hair, always a nasty spot between these two (shades of Summerslam). Love it! In another callback to Summerslam when Bret whips Perfect into the corner and he slides under and posts himself by the balls. Another crowd-pleaser. Here comes the Five Moves of Doom. Sharpshooter, but in one last act of desperation, Perfect goes for the taped fingers (injured in the Ramon match) and this quashes Bret's attempt. Perfect now goes for Perfectplex, big time struggle and they both go over the top rope in an insane suplex spot crashing to the floor. They milk the count and back in the ring Perfect gets an inside cradle, but Bret reverses and wins the match! I think what really pushes it over the top is Perfect going for the fingers. He starts with hair pulling and then it is attacking him as he is entering the ring. But it is only when he thinks he is in real danger that he goes for the fingers. It was his ace in his back pocket. He only wanted to use if he had too. It is hard to outshine Bret in his matches because his fingerprints are usually all over of the match, but I really thought Perfect gave an excellent performance. My one complaint is I thought the transitions could have been tightened up. Best Mr. Perfect match in WWF, best WWF match of 1993! ****1/4

Bret Hart vs Razor Ramon - WWF King of the Ring 1993 Really fun traditional pro wrestling match. They don't do anything extraordinary but they do the ordinary so right that the match has incredible heat and is a real fun watch. It especially helps this is coming on the heels of the wicked hot 1-2-3 Kid angle with the fans chanting 1-2-3 to taunt Razor. This is Bret by the numbers but there is a reason his formula works. He does a great job keeping the deceptively big & tall Scott Hall off his feet with headlocks and wristlocks. I really like simple stuff like Razor missing the elbow in the shine with Bret getting up and going back to work. I love the eyepoke as the transition to the heat segment with the charge into the post cementing it. I thought Razor was good in his heat segment adding the running powerslam to his fallaway slam. Razor had a really hard time hitting elbow drops in this match. Missing four in a row. Bret executes his Five Moves of Doom excellently, but ends up taking the Bret Bump. The nearfalls down the stretch are wicked hot. Loved Bret shifting his weight on the super back suplex to win the match because that was the finish of every single match I have ever had with my brother because it was the only suplex I could ever do so I would have him shift his weight to win (I am the older brother so I was always the heel). Really fun textbook wrestling match. ***1/2

Bret Hart vs Owen Hart - WrestleMania X Brother versus brother is such a great, natural storyline and this is the best ever execution of this storyline. Owen plays such a great insecure snot riddled with an inferiority complex. Look how he celebrates the break from the collar and elbow tieup or just kipping out of a fresh headscissors. That's premature braggart side. Watch how he takes it when his ego has been bruised how quickly he is jump to the ropes and call for a break or when he feels humiliated for being tossed out by Bret, he comes in and slaps him. Owen is just the consummate insecure brat. On the flip side, Bret is the definition of cool, calm and collected. At the beginning of the match, he makes it a point to safely win the match. Remember wrestling is merely pinning your opponent's shoulders to the mat for three, you don't have actually have to hurt him. So with this in mind, Bret goes for a host of cradles and uses the armbar as a base hold. Barring the arm controls Owen but it does not hurt him. From that base he can work his different varieties of rollups. Even the slap is more of a warning shot, snap out of it shot than trying to hurt his brother. Now this all changes when Owen gets a spinwheel kick. Unlike his big brother, he is not going to take the advantage lightly and he rams Bret's back into the ring post and beging to work with some really stellar offense. Definitely his best Belly to Belly of all time and a beautiful German Suplex. I thought Bret was chippier than usual in this heat segment throwing in hope spots and making Owen cut him off. This is the missing ingredient in most Bret matches to take him to that ***** promised land. The Tombstone Piledriver spot was out of this world. I had forgotten how great that was and the missed top rope diving headbutt was such an excellent transition spot. The Five Moves of Doom are so great because it allows Bret to extend his comeback and create extra segments. Instead of three segmented match, he can have a five one which allows for variety and more of a roller coaster effect. Now that Owen has started attacking Bret with suplexes, it showed him that he needed to elevate to his Five Moves of Doom. He is able to hit his Russian Legsweep, Backbreaker and second rope elbow with such beauty. You really feel he has the match on his side when BANG! Enziguiri of Death! Owen wants the Sharpshooter, but ends up on the floor and Bret slingshots himself over, but hurts his knee on the landing. Now here comes the heat, which plays off great from the Quebecers match and the original heel turn where Owen "kicked the leg out from under the leg". Owen decimates the knee in true Hart fashion. Bret does a great job selling. Bret is a very good subtle seller, he may not play to the cheap seats but he does a great job for those in TV Land. Owen was vicious and you feel him become more and more confident with each leg wrench. Yes, he applies the Figure-4 to the wrong leg, but that's a pretty common mistake. Loved the reversal would have loved to see Bret try for the Sharpshooter from that position as a Sharpshooter is just a standing reverse Figure-4, but we did not get that spot. Like Bret's payback spot with his own enziguiri. Love that symmetry. I also really loved how commentary was playing up how this would affect Bret's title match later that very night. It is one thing to lose a match it is a whole another to sustain an injury and so Lawler's point of just giving up was very valid. Now that Bret's knee has been injured he holds NOTHING back and hits a PILEDRIVER AND A TOPE ROPE SUPERPLEX! See the progression of Bret's offense from cradles & barring the arm to typical pro wrestling moves to DROPPING HIS LITTLE BROTHER ON HIS HEAD! It matches perfectly with Owen's progression. He starts off as a petulant, insecure snot to suplexes and traditional pro wrestling to INJURING HIS OLDER BROTHER! Owen takes it a step further when his trick knee acts up and rams Bret in his ballsack. There is really no turning back now, you are just a douche. Owen goes for Sharpshooter, but isn't as proficient as Bret and Bret breaks it. He applies his own, but Owen gets the ropes. Bret goes for the Victory Roll to try to get out of here, but Owen kneels down on his shoulders and wins the match! I love how the match started as a match to see who was the better wrestler progressed into a match of trying to injure your older brother or drop your little brother on his head, but ultimately finished with a wrestling hold reversal. Just beautiful circular symmetry. Owen is very jealous, insecure brother that there ever was and he plays that role to perfection. Bret is the great mature, calm brother whose hand is forced to battle his little brother for self-preservation for his own title shot. Even Bret's face at the loss is perfect. He is like I cant believe that little fucker pinned me, The knee injury to play off the original heel turn was great. Incredible match. I will have to think about but I think this is the greatest WWF match of the 90s (need to watch Austin/Hart again) and it is right there with the Boot Camp match as greatest WWF match of all time. Bret and Owen made the Hart Family proud! *****

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel vs Bret Hart - WWF Survivor Series 1995 No DQ What is missing from pro wrestling today is enthusiastic grandmas in the front row! I think this most underrated WWF match of all time. I truly think this is incredible and one of the best Bret Hart performances of all time. I say this all the time but he is the king of face vs face matches and this is his best ever. As each wrestler takes turns playing babyface throughout the match in really logical fashion that never undercuts the drama or the characters in the ring. The video package before this is awesome with each man discussing their strategy. I thought Nash was especially excellent saying he was going to use power and size, this is not collegiate wrestling he is going for the early knockout. It really set the table for the actual match where these two just wove in a compelling story over the course of 25 minutes. Each other taking off a turnbuckle pad right at the outset set the tone of the match and established that each man had come for a dirty, nasty fight. Loved Bret going for the leg early and driving Big Daddy Cool into the corner. Nash does a great job hitting heavy, heavy blows to stymie The Hitman. I love how Nash keeps Hart in that corner. He is suffocating him. Hart can find no quarter. Nash stalking Bret as he escapes to the outside is such a great visual especially how Nash always climbs over the top rope. There is such a looming sense of dread with each blow that Hart has to take from the big man. If I had one complaint, it is not the speed as this had a great horror movie like feel to it, but like in most Bret Hart matches there was not much in the way of struggles, he just took his licks. His matches can be too neat sometimes. The transition to Bret Hart on offense is awesome. He holds onto Nash's leg for dear life to avoid being splatter on the canvas via the Jacknife. He eventually makes it to the ropes and then starts biting the arm of Diesel. You know how I know this because Diesel just starts hollering. Great verbal selling by Nash. Hart kicks at the knee and we all know what is coming up next. Just textbook dissection of the knee with excellent execution. Figure-4 always a nice touch. I liked how Diesel going for Jacknife was a transition and we see Bret going for the Sharpshooter leads to Bret being kicked off and his head hits the exposed turnbuckle. Bret, being wary of losing his lead, trips up Diesel and wraps his knee around the post and then in the most famous spot of the match ties him up with the mic cable. Diesel is now helpless. It is funny to see Grandma Hitman fan cheering on Bret even though he is clearly heeling on Diesel now. I love this segment so much. Diesel trying to stand but getting knocked over, but the cord stopping him from falling properly. Diesel knocking the chair out of Bret's hand with his free foot, but only for Bret to step on his hand when he was trying to get the chair. That's some next level heel shit right there. Bret hitting the backbreaker and just mercilessly attacking the knee. Bret goes up top again, but this time Diesel crotches him. A really effective heat segment. Diesel's selling of the leg is top notch. Like really fucking good. Love him gingerly walking over to drop all his weight on Bret's neck. Or the Snake Eyes and how he does it. Bret slams Diesel's face into the exposed steel on the second attempt this allows him to go for the Five Moves of Doom, bulldog off the middle rope was cool. Bret misses the pescado in epic crash and burn fashion. In a bump I absolutely love, Bret gets slingshotted from the apron through table still makes me say holy shit. Here is my big grievance is the possum finish. It is just the bump right before it was so badass. I just feel like the finish undercuts that bump. I did like Bret dropping like a dead fish when Diesel first tried to pick him up. Cradle and the Granmda Bret Hart goes crazy and Diesel famously says "Muthafuckin Shit" and then destroys Bret two of the most badass Jacknife powerbombs ever. Love, love this match. I am genuinely curious why people do not rate this higher. The David vs Goliath beginning with a great transition to the leg work then the awesome tie Diesel's foot to the post segment followed by really friggin awesome Diesel selling during the finish stretch with two huge Bret Hart bumps before the possum finish. Easy Top 10 WWF match of the 90s and really should be discussed more as an interesting case study on how to work face vs face. ****1/2

WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon - WWF Summerslam 1995 Ladder Match Part Deux Probably the greatest WWF match where limb psychology was the main hook of the match. Razor just decimates Shawn's left knee in a way you just never saw in the WWF then what adds to it is the use of the ladder. My favorite spot in this match is where Razor just lets the ladder fall onto the injured knee. It really is a master class in how to work a body part and Shawn is phenomenal at both selling and timing hope spots (like the kicking off into the ladder or over the top rope). In such a heavy, heavy heat segment, hope spots are so critical to avoid dying. I will get on people's case when heat segments go so far that they hurt the credibility of the match because they render a comeback unbelievable. Here I thought they toed the line, but it was Shawn that was keeping it all alive. Before that all happens, there is a nice little match that happens without the ladder. It is face vs face so I loved the symmetry of them both going for their finishes. I liked that it took THREE big moves for Razor to finally bring the ladder in. The Irish Whip bump and the super Fallaway Slam were great spots, but the crown jewel was that suplex to the floor. Damn! Usually people just tease that and even when they do take it is a much safer bump on the feet. Shawn went all out on that. I loved all the callbacks to WM X. Razor smartening up to the baseball slide. Shawn mooning the audience, but this time het tries to keep climbing, but when Razor pushes the ladder, he wrenches his knee. Razor taking Shawn's bump with the Irish whip to the ladder. Shawn doing a super tippy-top of the ladder splash to do WrestleMania X, but eating canvas. Shawn's comeback was perfectly pitched. It was a very gradual progression to finally gaining control. It was not too energetic, but it was also not completely dead either. The reverse crossbody off the ladder was great and the aforementioned missing the big splash was a good level the playing field spot. The finish was my least favorite part even if it was not blown. It just felt so contrived and really drawn out like the cinematic WWE main events of today. So much down time selling, I usually encourage more selling, but this was excessive. The Razor's Edge, only for Michaels to still be able to set up another ladder. The two ladders in general just did not sit well with me. If Sweet Chin Music hit well AND he was able to leap and grab the belts, I would probably forgive everything because that would be badass. The fact he missed it a second time (nice cover with backdrop on Razor's Edge attempt) was pretty funny especially with the classic Shawn hissy fit. Third time is the charm for the Heartbreak Kid. Callbacks and the leg psychology make this an all-time WWF classic for me. Razor never looked better on top and Shawn gave an impressive performance in a very difficult role. The finish is the only thing that holds it back from the tippy top. It feels like such a unique match in the WWF environment with how critical the leg psychology is in this match and they do a great job mixing in big time spots. ****3/4

Razor Ramon vs Shawn Michaels - WWF RAW 8/1/94 Macho Man is on fire referencing that Vince & WWF had just defeated the US DOJ in court. Vince was great with his false modesty, knowing him, he was loving it. For some mysterious reason, Shawn Michaels has not wrestled since WrestleMania X. It is funny that in time period that is so well-researched that Shawn Michaels' four month absence from in-ring is a completely unexplained. This is a very good RAW match that is given plenty of time. Two things stood out to me, how well Shawn Michaels bumped and how quickly they made sure they went to payoff spots. I think they were always quick to give the fans something to pop for. For example, Shawn Michaels trips up Razor and steps him on, but immediately eats a right hand and takes a big bump. I liked Shawn going to each side of the ring only to eat a fist. Shawn gets a nice eyepoke. I thought Shawn was a pretty good heel in this and used Diesel effectively. They did the shine very interesting with Shawn stringing 2-3 moves, but then getting cutoff. Liked Razor catching and then chucking him into fallaway slam. The catapult bump over the top rope onto Diesel was great, as was the press slam off the top and that HIGH back body drop. It was funny watching Scott Hall work a workrate sprint and really not miss a beat. Good general back work on Michaels. They finally go to heat proper with Razor getting thrown over the top (great bump) and then Diesel getting involved. Michaels' Sweet Chin Music still needs some work, he calls for the Piledriver, but backdropped. The finish stretch is very high-end workrate for the time and WWF. Michaels doing a top rope reverse crossbody. Razor punches Diesel and then ducks Shawn with the belt, but in the commotion eats a boot from Diesel. The match was nothing extraordinary, but I thought Shawn's bumping and setting up and delivering on a lot of payoffs was really cool. Definitely a very good early RAW match. ***1/2