Superstar Sleeze

Owen Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid - WWF King of the Ring 1994 One of my all-time favorite matches, just an incredible sprint. You see Double J hits three piledrivers on the Kid after their match. Shows the difference between 1981 Georgia (Gordy three piledrivers on DiBiase) and now Kid is out here. Owen WIPES THE KID OUT WITH BASEBALL SLIDE! Best Baseball Slide Ever! Owen's suicide dive through middle rope is outta control. They set the tone early on that they were going to kick ass. Kid gets some hope spots like reverse cross body and nice spinwheel kick. The execution is so good here. Kid's big hope spot is Northern Lights Suplex and the ref counts three, but Owen's foot hooked the rope. Awesome spot! Kid somersaults over the top rope to the floor. Great! Kid looks to pull off the upset, but Owen catches him with a Deadlift German! Sweet! Nice Belly to Belly, Kid tries to use his speed, but Owen catches him with the MUTHA OF ALL POWERBOMBS! Sharpshooter ad it is academic. Incredible sprint. Owen and Kid looked awesome here! Just nonstop action! ****

WWF World Champion Bret Hart vs Diesel -WWF King of the Ring 1994 Trying to clean up some blind spots in the WWF. All Bret/Diesel matches have the same core backbone but they get better with more fleshing out and Diesel getting better. This seems like the more natural dynamic with Diesel as heel but Bret is so good at face vs face matches that this match is the least of the three. The hook of the match was who would be in Brets corner to counteract Shawn Michaels. HBK is such a great douche in prematch promo. I love how Bret has to create openings to get his shine going with Diesel missing big boots and a knee in the corner. His shine is more heel in peril working the leg but it is over and the figure-4 is highlight. The posting gets a pop but Shawn decks him with a surprisingly hard clothesline. The Shawn/Anvil chase is a real highlight very entertaining. I like that it takes quite a bit for Diesel to earn his heat segment. Elongated transitions are the best. The missed pescado and he crashed and burn puts Diesel in drivers seat. Diesel's heat segment goes too long in my opinion. Bret does his best to throw himself into his bumps. Shawn tries to help by removing the turnbuckle pad but he who sets up the spot takes it trumps him. Bret sends him into exposed steel and FIVE MOVES OF DOOM~! Bret clobbers Shawn on apron and Shawn takes a great bump. Bret eats a huge big boot, great spot and wrinkle. Diesel is slow to capitalize and Bret trips him up into a unique Sharpshooter but Nash is too close to the ropes. At some point, I forget when, Diesel does a great job stumbling around for Bret punches. Finish is HBK clobbers Bret with title but ref is distracted. Diesel hits the Jackknife. Anvil interferes to trigger DQ. Finish was weak. The explanation I assume is that Anvil wants the title on Bret for Owen. Just a very good match nothing extraordinary. ***1/2

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel vs Bret Hart - WWF Royal Rumble 1995 All hail Bret Hart, king of the babyface vs babyface match. Bret would have been an excellent understated travelling NWA World Champion. Bret is the challenger so he is ultra-aggressive but he runs into the Mack Truck that is Diesel. I really enjoy Big Sexy as a character and a shoot interview, but in the ring he underwhelms 95% of the time due to his inability to bump, stiffness (in like an awkward not flexible way), his lack of aggression. Nash is a pretty big dude, but more often than not he does not feel big. Bret made him feel big. Bret prompts a shoving war by taking him into the ropes. Then loses a battle of fists. He goes for a crossbody and gets caught thrown to the mat. Nash feels like a force. From the outset, Bret has the subtle heel touches not to heel Diesel. The first really overt one is picking the leg and dragging him to the post and wrapping it around the steel. Really solid leg work and loved the figure-4 repeatedly. It just makes sense. Nash's selling leaves a lot to be desired. LOVED Bret's dive through the ropes tackling Diesel. Awesome spot that added some spontaneity to the match. Diesel reverses a whip into the steps. Nash runs his usual corner offense, sidewalk slam. Teases jackknife and goes with Argentine Backbreaker nice hope spot from Bret, but eats Big Boot. Bret catches Diesel charging, but I love this little touch that Bret needs to go to the middle rope to get a clothesline to knock Diesel off his feet because earlier in the match the clothesline was ineffective. Here is the wrist tape spot, which would be done better at Survivor Series with the cord. This sets up the Five Moves of Doom section of the match. Love that Bret goes for another dive to the outside, but gets caught and rammed hard into the post. Bret was really good at setting up repeat spots in this match. Diesel hits the jackknife. Then I remember I have seen this match before because all of sudden it occurred to me Shawn Michaels was going to interfere, but they were not going to call DQ. Weird. Michaels attacks the bad wheel of Diesel, Bret reapplies the figure-4 and Bret goes back to work even slamming a chair over it. Still no DQ? Alright this ref is being consistent. Bret finally goes for the Sharpshooter, but now Owen interferes. Ref is adamant that there must be a winner. Owen exposes the turnbuckle pad and rams Bret into it. I watched this match last night and am doing this all on memory. At some point, in Bret's third heat segment (second on the leg), he takes a really unique Bret Bump where he charges in and Diesel moves slightly and Bret hits the pads hard and really sells well. So the exposed turnbuckle shot to the chest by Owen is an escalation based on that. Now the match turns into a knock down drag out affair with fists flying. I thought Diesel's selling was a lot better here really milking it before he finally left his feet. We get the Bret playing possum spot getting inside cradle. The O'Connor Roll takes out ref and here comes the heel locker room, HBK, Double J, Backlund and Owen to finally draw a the No Contest. It is a real testament to Bret's vision on laying out a match that I was able to wake up this morning and write this review with no notes. But when you tell a coherent story that goes from A->B-> C. It is not that hard to remember! I really want to highlight that this was very well done in regards to momentum shifts. Bret establishes he cant win a battles of fistcuffs and power with Diesel. He must take him off his feet. He has a challenger's mentality so he is very aggressive with the pescado. But on the outside he loses the advantage. He then takes to the air to get him off his feet, but he needs to use a trick to really cement his advantage. That ultra-aggressive mentality almost costs him the match when Diesel catches him rams him into the post and then hits the Powerbomb. Michaels saves re-setting up the leg work. Bret takes that really cool Bret Bump, but is able to recover to try to apply Sharpshooter and now Owen comes in. They have a heat finish, a fun Bret possum spot and schmozz. It highlights Bret Hart as a master of Realpolitik and Diesel as a force. I think Nash just adds almost zero to this match like this is a really obvious carry job. The Survivor Series match is way better, but I think this should be commended for Bret's ability to string a bunch of memorable spots along in a really logical fashion. This may sound weird, but I think I found the match I would show non-wrestling fans because the story is clear and there is no misstep to the narrative and the spots are memorable, but also not super great so they wont get false expectations and/or not a appreciate a master piece. Great entry level wrestling match and I guess when you are working with Nash that's what happens. ****

My friend just got back into wrestling in the past couple years. Asked about some all-time great WWF/WWE matches. So I put together a list of all matches ever promoted by a McMahon that I have given 4.5+ too. And Big Dave, we know only one thing is worthy of ****** and that is Maryse because Maryse is so hot. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2017/01/best-wwf-wwe-matches-of-all-time.html

The problem is eventually some nearfalls are false finishes and they go one or two too far and the heat is in the false finish not the finish.

UNNECESSARY ROCK INTERFERENCE!!!! He was fucking handcuffed. Gimme a break!

Tajiri vs Steve Corino - ECW Hardcore Heaven 2000 Cyrus may be the worst character ever. So friggin annoying. Apparently, I saved the best for last. This friggin' ruled. Corino, Victory & Cyrus turned on Tajiri. Big mistake. Corino goes a racist tirade and Tajiri kicks his fucking head off. The kicks and chops were awesome. Great intensity from Tajiri. Corino is such a great cowardly heel. Great set up for Tarantula. Victory well-used to give Corino a heel hope spot. BRAINBUSTER ON THE RAMP! Corino does a five alarm blade job. Bleach hair soaked in blood. Corino has some dark, gross blood. Tajiri dropkicks a table into Corino's face. Tajiri is awesome! Corino backdrops Tajiri into a table. OH MY GOD! A GREAT TRANSITION! Corino is awesome at this old school gimmick with all the suplex variations that never get done in ECW. Hell he busted out a powerslam. I am trying to think if I have ever even seen a powerslam in ECW. Corino gets all caught up with the table. Should have stuck to the old school Finish sequence is awesome. Tajiri gets the Octopus here comes Jack Victory. GREEN MIST~! Tajiri unloads on Corino. I mean just rapid fire kicks and punches. He never lets up and the crowd just builds to a huge pop. Tajiri final kick to the face is just brutal. DOUBLE STOMP THROUGH THE TABLE!!!! Awesome match and a feel good ending! Got to be a top 5 ECW match of all time! ****1/4

This match and HHH/Cactus from Rumble are on the same level??? Transition were 8 million times better in HHH/Cactus. Tajiri vs Super Crazy - ECW Hardcore TV 1/21/00 Mexican Death Match Joey Styles and Joel Gertner do not get enough discussion about being the worst announce team ever. Brutal! JIP as Tajiri dropkicks Crazy in the head. Joey tries to make some BS that because this is a Mexican Death match the violence will be escalated, but whats stopping them from doing that in a straight ECW match. Tajiri stacks up the chairs and dropkicks them in Crazy's face. He juices. The following segment is by far the best part of the match as Tajiri is just so damn good here. First he is skipping chairs off the table trying to decapitate Crazy but they go sailing into the crowd. It is legitimately dangerous but does create an aura of sadism and insanity for Tajiri. The double stomps through the table was awesome. Love that move to begin with never seen it done through table. Tajiri mocking Super Crazy's selling is without a doubt the highlight of the match, Tajiri Is God. Biggest problem with the match has been my problem in general with Tajiri matches in ECW, transitions, transitions, transitions. Crazy just jumps on offense and hits a top rope quebrada and before we know it they have arena brawling and moonsault from bleachers through a table. We get it you're good at moonsaults. Back in the ring, he busts Tajiri open with punches! Now that's more like it. It starts to get a little my turn, your turn. Tajiri shows he can match highspots with Crazy with Asai moonsault into the crowd. Super Crazy's missile dropkick may be the best missile dropkick I have ever seen. We got some tables. Tajiri's kicks are just incredible in this match. The finish is Tajiri mists Super Crazy in the powerbomb position, but Crazy finishes the move through a table to get the win. I thought this was a great spotfest with the blood, Tajiri's insane charisma taking their usual very good match and making this feel special and great, Still without better transitions it feels too spotty to say it is in the upper echelon of great brawls or great death matches. Tajiri Rules All! ****

Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck vs FBI (Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke) - ECW Hardcore TV 9/2/00 Tajiri & Whipwreck are insanely over! The Hammerstein Ballroom is molten for this! The match is quick short, but is so damn fun. Incredible babyface shine that has the crowd absolutely rocking. Those kicks by Tajiri goddamn! Mamaluke was awesome bumping and stooging. Mamaluke & Guido took the awesome offense of the Unholy Alliance and made it even better with their selling and bumping. Guido & Mamaluke work a short heat segment. When Mikey hits the Whippersnapper (Stunner) you would think Steve Austin just fucking hit the Stunner the crowd EXPLODED!!! Tajiri just killed it on the hot tag. Super Whippersnapper into a dropkick flush in the face wins it for Tajiri and Whipwreck. If you watch just this match, you would never know ECW was a dying promotion that would close four months later. My only complaint, too short, this was super fun. ***3/4

I did not notice any weird edits, off hand. Interesting. There was one obvious blown spot with Psicosis coming off the top and just sort of falling backwards. He did not really do anything. I think Tajiri was supposed to catch him and powerbomb him. Definitely a miscommunication.

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Psicosis - ECW Hardcore TV 8/26/00 Psicosis was one of my childhood favorites because his badass mask and his insane bumping. So I always love hearing about a pimped Psicosis match and this one did not fail to deliver. Incredible opening stretch. Just beautiful chain wrestling and excellent lucha libre tumbling passes. The ECW crowd was red hot for this. They loved every second. Chanting E-C-DUB and Psicosis got a lucha libre chant. It was a bit too pretty and they did the standoff a lot, but hey this was actually cool submissions and armdrags so I was marking out at home sixteen years later. Great transition with some really intricate nearfalls leading to Tajiri getting a modified backslide and then headbutting Psicosis in the nuts and kicking his head off. Tajiri was awesome in this. The kicks were out of this world and just so charismatic. Psicosis takes his patented nutty turnbuckle bump out of the ring, totally out of control and nearly wipes out the chick. This is definitely a big highspotfest as the transitions are lacking, but the highspots are great as Psicosis takes control and does that insane over the top rope into the crowd dive! HOLY SHIT! Gets me everytime! Psicosis takes his ass first bump into the top turnbuckle, but this time he ends up in the Tree of Woe to set up that dropkick to head. Tajiri comes back with some kicks, but cant get the brainbuster and Psicosis goes for some cradles. Psicosis he hits his big nearfall which is his awesome guillotine legdrop. Love the transition to the finish. Psicosis goes for a flying bodyscissors probably third attempt...Tajiri kicks him in the balls. Then just MURDERS him with kicks to the fucking face. Like Holy Shit Kicks! ECW crowd is marking out huge for these kicks. Incredible high energy spotfest, Psicosis looked in prime form with his bumping and Tajiri is an offensive machine. ***3/4

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Jerry Lynn - ECW 10/30/99 Wait! Tajiri wrestled other people in ECW besides Crazy & Guido??!?! Tajiri injured Lynn's ribs prior to this match. Great intensity from both men something that Lynn is usually sorely lacking. Lynn did a good job selling his ribs early even on things like doing his own back suplex. This really gave Tajiri a target to work on. Tajiri came to play with his chops and kicks. Dropkick to the head, which is a staple. The chair shot to the head busted Lynn open. What really put this over the top for me was Tajiri driving a wrench into the open wound and then choking Lynn with his sash. Lynn choking in turn and then the sight of him bloodied but coming back with chairshots and German suplex was great. Loved using the chair to block the Green mist. Got a little my your turn down the stretch. Loved the backbreaker out of the tombstone by Tajiri. Really liked Tajiri's performance, but could have stayed more focused on the ribs. Lynn gets cradle piledriver, which calls in Corino and the Living Legend Jack Victory that did get me to chuckle. In all the hullabaloo, Tajiri recovers RED MIST TO THE FACE and kicks his head off, BRAINBUSTAHHHHHH for the win. Best Tajiri match thus far and probably the best Lynn singles match I have ever seen. Blood and intensity carry this match. ****

Tajiri vs Little Guido - ECW 8/7/99 Some big changes since Hardcore Heaven 99. Tajiri has adopted his popular look with longer hair, beard and long pants. He is a heel now with Steve Corino. Corino looked young and skinny. Very reminiscent of Stevie Richards. Taz/Tajiri is the big feud right now. Taz choked Tajiri out with barbed wire. Fucking sick, tons of blood, real nasty shit. Tajiri's face is all taped up. Little Guido says he made Tajiri tap so he should be the number one contender. I did not know Paul E. was promoting Midget Championship Wrestling. Guido attacks Tajiri's injured jaw and is very aggressive to start. Good combination of mat work and open handed slaps. Guido goes for Tajiri's dropkick to the head in the tree of woe, but Tajiri moves, Guido posts himself and Tajiri flips him off and kicks him in the head. The big problem with this match is Guido gets back on offense too easily. After some more Guido offense, Corino yanks him out, throws a beer in his face, chucks him back in Tajiri hits a roundhouse kick, but Guido is back up hitting a Russian Legsweep. These are solid transitions to heel heat but we are getting nothing. Guido blows out his knee on a legdrop and Tajiri pounces. This section saves the match. Guido's selling is awesome and Tajiri is sadistic and remorseless. They work some really good spots around this, Guido bumps big on dropkick to leg, then collapsing on Irish whips, all the great kicks and finally succumbing to the Texas Cloverleaf. Awesome finish sequence that put Tajiri over as a killer. I really like Tajiri, Guido and Crazy, but still have not knocked my socks off. ***1/4 After the match, some Italian jabroni turns on Sal E and then Corino, Jack Victory who looks like a giant compared to all these midgets and Tajiri jump the FBI. Corino cuts an anti-hardcore promo and then calls Tommy Dreamer a mark. Dreamer has some sort of injury. He attacks. Puts Jack Victory in a figure-4 and then Francine, she was a toothpick, puts Corino in a figure-4. Tajiri spews the green mist in Francine's face!!! Awesome. They beatdown Dreamer. HERE COMES TAZ!!! HUGE POP! Corino & Co leave the Italian jobber to die. Taz throws him down through a table. Taz is ready to kill Tajiri and Corino. Taz spouting off his catchphrase with the entire crowd in unison was badass. Great post-match angle

Tajiri vs Little Guido - ECW Hardcore Heaven 1999 Cyrus says on commentary "Thank God I am a part of the creative team now." Wrestling in 1999 sucked. Well this didn't! Little Guido is a bumping machine! Great on the shine early with rolling toeholds and the kicks. Guido was selling and bumping for those perfectly. Thought they could have used the Guido armbar takedown and especially that missile dropkick to the arm for a transition, more on that in a bit. Liked Tajiri sidestepping Guido on slingshot and diving out on Guido and Sal E. The shitty commentary makes a big deal that comedy FBI is dead and this is Guido the legit shooter. Whatever, eye roll. Tajiri launches Guido belly first onto ramp. HOLY SHIT! Best bump of the match! Crazy highspot. This followed up with a drop toehold by Guido and then a legdrop from the top rope to ramp. Just no transition, you take this badass bump and now you are in charge. Would have liked to seen that dropkick to arm as transition as Guido went back to arm with the armbar, double wristlock and a modified arm-triangle. Liked Sal' big bodyslam mid-match. Good short heat segment. Tajiri fucking ruled in his comeback. HUGE Props to Guido in selling those kicks. He took awesome kicks and made them more awesome with his selling. Loved the "oh shit" on taking the whirly bird. He looked terrified taking the dropkick to the head in the tree of woe and his collapse was great. Brainbuster picks up win for Tajiri. Really liked this pairing from a offense-selling relationship, more traditional structure and just an awesome finish run. ***1/2

Tajiri vs Super Crazy - ECW Hardcore TV 2/27/99 Definitely upgrade from Guilty As Charged, but same basic idea of a showcase match. Here they know each better so everything is a lot smoother. I thought the highspots were more breath-taking and there more sense of momentum. Liked Crazy getting this party started with a dropkick right at the opening bell. Just a really good junior-style bomb throwing sprint. Lots of good head kicks from Tajiri. I thought Super Crazy looked fantastic in this. That twisting reverse springboard Asai Moonsault into the crowd was awesome! It was worked a little fast. I think Crazy was more blowing off selling than Tajiri lots of repeat spots but I thought they were done in a better order. The finishing sequence was awesome with three springboard dropkicks then springboard frogsplash to give Super Crazy a victory in the rivalry. Very breezy entertaining match. ***1/4

I was watching this episode to watch a Tajiri and Super Crazy match. The show opened with Sid massacring One Man Gang, a dude in Zubaz and Big Vito. Sid was insanely over! I love me some Sid. He was so charismatic in this segment. HE THREW VITO DOWN ON THAT MUTHAFUCKIN POWERBOMB!!! Sid should have been ECW World Champion 4 life, brutha.

Tajiri vs Super Crazy - ECW Guilty As Charged 1999 If ECW was still open, I think these two would still be wrestling each other. I think this is the first meeting of these two in a rivalry that would last until the very last shows of ECW two years later in January of 2001. Tajiri looks so weird with the short hair and short trunks. You can tell from the word go, he has charisma in spades and is so fluid in the ring. I thought Super Crazy more than held his own. I would liken this to something like a Psicosis/Rey or a Dean/Eddie match where it is clear they are showcasing their talents at the expense of a story. I think in a debut or near-debut that's fine to really establish your identity. We see Tajiri targeting the legs, using submissions like a legbar, flying with his Asai Moonsaults and even a couple nice kicks to head. We see how well-rounded offensively Tajiri is. I thought some of his timing on his bumps was a bit off. Super Crazy just did not have that presence to me, but he did have some nice chops, cool Asai moonsault off railing, loved the rolling Surfboard. Could have done more to get crowd into it. Here we see Crazy not only has the high flying, but has some chops to add some violence to his aerial attack. The finish was DDT-heavy but it is the late 90s. I am a big powerbomb fan lots of those too. The rolling cradle was awesome by Tajiri totally marked out for that. I liked the unique spinning backbreaker where Tajiri used his own back as the fulcrum with Crazy's side parallel to the ground. Dragon suplex wins. Tajiri does get a pretty sizeable push in 99 and I think it was definitely the right move to put him over. Good solid showcase. Definitely made me want to see more Tajiri. ***

Parv GOTNW just found a great Shibata that is also Fujitsu classic I've been looking for. Fujita vs Shibata for IWGP Championship July 2004. Some crazy stiff shots and a great champion vs young lion story

Everyone in New Japan is. GOTNW nailed it. Not unlike AJPW booking just without overarching story for most part

I've been doing that for two years now. I'm never going to finish which is great

I marked out for Parvs review of Shibata/Ishii

Parv (& others who liked Goto/Shibata) check out Goto vs Shibata from 6/22/13. A total man's man match!

The foreword here regards how disturbances lead to disorder and disorder leads to desperation. It is about the desperate struggle of Kawada to survive the shoot style bully Naoya Ogawa. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2017/01/space-tornado-11-toshiaki-kawada-vs.html?m=1

Excellent find, brutha! This would have definitely made the back half of my top 50 for Ditch's Best of Japan in the 2000s project IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuyuki Fujita vs Katsuyori Shibata - NJPW 7/19/2004 Don't make Fujita angry. You wont like Fujita when he is angry. The story of this match is Shibata tries to beat Fujita at his own game by kicking him really hard. I am really fucking hard. There was one kick to the eye at the beginning, which was holy shit. I mean like I don't think I have seen someone kick someone so hard in the eye. Fujita "sells" this tremendously. Does it really count as selling if you eye is actually swelling? He comes back in and just tries to choke Shibata out. I thought the whole guard passing thing was too MMA-y and did not really do much until Fujita lands this wicked knee to the back of Shibata's head. Fujita grabs an arm triangle after the Shibata powder. Shibata does an excellent heel trip, which basically makes the move an oo-soto-gari. Well done. Shibata kicks the shit out of Fujita. Tries to slow him down with a sleeper which Fujita sells as a choke. Very cool. This sets up the PENALTY KICK~! Damn that had some zing. Just like the kick to the eye, FUJITA IS RIPSHIT! The following merciless beatdown is insane. There is one overhand fist to the back that just cracks. The kneeslifts to the chest, to the prone Shibata, to the head and THOSE FUCKING KICKS TO THE HEAD!!! WOW! Just total annihilation. The search for the great Fujita match is over. Folks, here it is in all its ultraviolent, brutal glory. Shibata was a game opponent, but just did not have enough to take down the MMA badass. Great champion vs young lion dynamic, no shame in a loss here by Shibata, who looks like a badass in the beating he took. Fujita looks like a world beater, but problem is doesn't have much in the way of competition. ****1/2

The foreword for this blog piece is on commitment and how essential it is in victory and in life. The match in question is #12 in the countdown featuring KENTA vs Bryan Danielson from Pro Wrestling NOAH on December 2, 2006. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2017/01/kenta-speeds-at-night-12-kenta-vs-bryan.html