Superstar Sleeze

Jushin Liger & El Samurai vs Ultimo Dragon & Masao Orihara - WAR 4/2/93 In the midst of the NJPW vs WAR feud dominated by Tenryu vs Hashimoto in Co. there was the junior analog to the feud with Jushin Liger facing off against Ultimo Dragon. Their big singles match happened at the 1/4 Dome show but was marred by a dead crowd and botches. Here the crowd was electric everytime these two men squared off the ring. Often, Liger is so head and shoulders more over than his opponents it was nice for him to be in there against an equal. Liger was on fire in this match. He just brought an insane energy to this match. He had so much pep in his step. He was kinda dick the whole time because he was the invader on WAR's turf, but people were eating up his hip swiveling, arm swirling taunting. When Liger & Dragon both went for the cup the ear taunts I marked out. Liger's kept up this energy throughout the match. The match did vacillate between chippy and meandering though. I thought Samurai had some good moves like a couple piledrivers, some awesome dives and a reverse suplex that gave Liger a hot tag, but he was not bringing the passion. It was just going through the motions. Orihara was your good little dick underling that's such a great Japanese trope. Dragon was way better against Liger than Sammy. He kinda slummed it with Samurai, which is weird because they apparently had a classic in WAR a couple weeks before this. Dragon was definitely up for wrestling Liger. The double team moves were great. I LOVED the dive train! The finish stretch was great with Liger nailing a Ligerbomb but Dragon making the save. Diving headbutt save and when Sammy finally takes out Dragon, Liger eats feet on diving headbutt so this creates some drama, but Liger wins with Frankensteiner. Take home message is this is where Liger vs Dragon the singles match should have taken place! Hot crowd and both men were on. Liger was oozing charisma. He was kicking ass. He showed enough vulnerability to make it interesting but you knew he was taking home the win. I thought as a tag match just too uneven. Samurai had some good offense, but lacking the fire. Dragon was carrying himself like a star, but oddly enough was not supplying the cool moves. This could really could have a heat segment or something to build drama. I wish this was better just because Liger looked awesome here. ***1/4

Jushin Liger & El Samurai vs Wild Pegasus & Dean Malenko - NJPW 3/9/93 This is clearly from NJPW, but it is presented by WSW with Craig DeGeorge & Sir Oliver Humeprdink on commentary and they are not that bad! They actually call the action pretty well. It seems like WSW just repackaged NJPW matches with English commentary for American consumption. Pretty ordinary matches from these four. I thought Liger/Benoit parts were clearly the best. Liger outsmarting Benoit with speed and then doing the Hogan ear cup and then Rude hip swivel was the definitely the only reason to go out of your way to watch. Sammy seemed to coast and Malenko besides busting out one great submission didn't add much. Benoit was a machine on offense in control of Sammy. Liger gets tag and so does Malenko. I figure Malenko is easy pickins' but Benoit saves on LigerBomb. They actually tease Benoit pinning Liger twice with German and Diving Headbutt but Sammy saves both times. Even Malenko gets some love with a nearfall from a Northern Lights. Sammy/Benoit brawl. Liger hits Frankensteiner out of nowhere. Perfectly good match. Fun antics from Liger and good intensity from Benoit. Exciting finish stretch. That seems like a real Liger hallmark is good wrestling then throw out 4-5 big spots at the end to send crowd home happy ***

Super Delphin vs Sato - M-Pro 12/10/93 Mask vs Mask Match Beautiful wrestling from Delphin & Sato here. Sato is just so fluid in the ring. The chain wrestling is really wonderful to watch in this. After the sort of mini-Delphin control with the single leg crab, Sato's armdrag is just wonderful and graceful. His mid-match high impact moves are breath-taking, DDT, backdrop driver and powerbomb. The first 2/3rds of this match really suffers from lack of structure and struggle. It feels very much an exhibition. Just two guys doing moves, very pretty moves. Delphin no sold a cross armbreaker, which is a big no-no in my book. The last 1/3rd of this is very dramatic and awesome. Once Delphin hits the dive to the outside, they both turn this on. I loved Delphin having to block Sato's punches and punch him to hit a DDT. Then Sato starts snapping off hope moves from Delphin's offense. Struggle, earning it! This is what I am talking about. Sato hits this amazing, sublime dive. Just watch it. I cant describe the beauty of this dive. The tension is off the charts with Sasuke holding back Delphin's manager as Sato's rattles off a bunch of awesome bombs down the stretch. His powerslam is awesome! Loved the senton. The missed senton was a great nearfall for Delphin! Delphin hitting a German Suplex into a back bridge rollup was impressive win! Sato is revealed to be DICK TOGO!!! Loved the finishing stretch of this, really turned up the drama and both guys felt like they wanted it. Definitely lacking hate and where was Delphin's heelishness could have been helpful in this match. An exhibition leads way to a hot, dramatic home stretch. ***1/2

UWA World Welterweight Champion Super Delfin vs Great Sasuke - M-Pro 7/24/93 Super Delfin won the title from a luchador, Celestial in Japan and for the rest of mid-90s the title would swap between Japan and Mexico. I have not watched much M-Pro, but am excited to get into it. I think Junior wrestling in 90s had the most prominent influence on today's in-ring style focusing on moves and less on transitions and storytelling. So I would like to see if that's true and how this evolves. Apparently, this is outdoors as there are fireworks before the match. Sasuke is wicked over throughout the entire match. That's definitely still one big difference compared to today is that the fans are still more invested in the wrestler rather than the moves. Delphin does get a chant going for himself, but as he is soaking in the adulation Sasuke dropkicks him and hits a massive dive. I loved this. Thought it was a great way to work in a highspot and make Delphin pay for his hubris. The match was basically a classic Japanese blowout. Where one guy controls so much of the match, you can just feel like he is going to lose. Super Delphin is the choke artist du jour. Delphin is a pretty good heel in this going after the mask and choking on the ropes. The enziguiri was a nice transition. My major malfunction was that Great Sasuke just kinda played ragdoll for him. He was not making him earn the moves. It was just too nice & neat. On top of that, there was not much in the way of hope spots. I thought the selling was good. Sasuke did a nice job selling more and more down the stretch as the moves got bigger and bigger. This cooperative wrestling and lack of struggle feels really remission of today's wrestling. I thought Delphin did a great job escalating his offense. Late in the match when Sasuke did start the hope spots they were great. The handspring back elbow was an excellently timed cutoff. The Asai Moonsault was a great hope spot that wiped out Delphin, but caused so much damage to Sasuke he couldn't follow it up. I thought Delphin's response to go even bigger with his moves: really high impact suplexes and finally going for top rope splashes was great. They did a nice job teasing the countout off a big dive by Delphin with Sasuke getting in at 19. The fact that Sasuke rollthrough on a crossbody was a transition was just weird. Like all of sudden he has energy to hit a dropkick was kinda lame. SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP~! I feel like the name is cooler than the move even the move is pretty bonkers. Quebradas and springbaord hurricanarana wins the day for the hero of M-Pro. The offense in this was pretty spectacular. Sasuke's highspots were all awesome and that's pretty much all he did. His selling was good, but there not enough struggle and hope spots. Delphin escalated his offense well and was a decent heel. Visually impressive but lacking that extra oomph. ***1/4

Nice job Brad!

You can! On the award-winning New Japan World for 999 Yen! But seriously not a Nak fan but I loved that match! I should rewatch it.

I thought the finish was really good. Am I alone in these matches leaving me feeling cold & empty? It is fun mindless entertainment but nothing matters. It feels disposable. Just for consumption in the moment. No staying power. Like I will not remember a single thing from this tomorrow. I'm not against these matches. I think they are fun and have their place. Just don't see them as all-timers

HOLY SHIT!!! Just watched this! MATCH OF THE FUCKING YEAR SO FAR!!! I put up with moonsault after moonsault on a standing opponent and 90% of the time it looks like shit! THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME! One of those matches where you don't realize you are watching a classic until 3/4s in and they are taking you on that ride. I loved the beginning with Charlotte trying to psyche out BAyley but taking a wicked slap. The transition to the heat segment was fantastic seen it before but that was well executed. The stiffness in this match was insane! Charlotte was laying her SHIT in. Her chops usually look awkward here they were BRUTAL!!! The neck work was great. That kick on the outside and DAT MOONSAULT!!!! The collision on the cross body WOW! Both these girls FUCKING WANT IT! Up until this point, BAyley kinda felt along for the ride. When it counted the most, she turned it the Fuck on during her comeback. Most times she looks like she is going through the motions...here you saw the drive in those legs, just that extra bit of urgency that makes you believe this is the most important thing in the world right now. On that comeback no "THIS IS AWESOME", the crowd cared about the outcome & wrestlers! Because the match was built around consequence and momentum shifts! The best use of run-ins in forever! Total nuclear heat! The figure-4s down the stretch were great. I loved how the Sasha taking out Dana and then jabbing Charlotte hard led right to BAyley 2 Belly! The nearfalls BUILT and had heat! Moves had real consequence. There were sustained periods of momentum where people had to earn their way on top. That finish run was electric. AWESOME MATCH!!! ****3/4

THIS SOUNDS AWESOME!!! Two of my all-time favorites Ogawa and Sasaki! I know I have only watched like 3 Ogawa matches in my life, but I have never seen a bad Ogawa match. I need to see this.

I will try to check this out soon. I loved their 2002 match so, so much! Didn't know they had rematches.

Benoit's chinlock worn down Guerrero enough that he had a hard time stringing moves together. Anytime, Benoit was in danger he would just wrap him up in chinlock. I loved it. Is it really that clever? To me clever is winking at the audience. This is actually effective pro wrestling strategy that is not used enough. Black Tiger vs Wild Pegasus - NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 6/11/96 Once upon a time, I had this match as the best match either man has had. At this point, I would say it is in the Top 5 for each man. Such an interesting piece of pro wrestling storytelling. There is nothing I enjoy more than breaking down kayfabe strategies. I thought this match was exemplary in showcasing contrasting styles. On the mat the tough and gritty Benoit can gain the advantage, but there are times when he loses it like Tiger's nifty trip at one point or the headscissors takeover. The real straw that breaks the camel's back is Eddie's back splashes over the top rope. Benoit takes exception to those and starts applying the chinlock. This is what this match is famous for. Black Tiger would escape the chinlock snap off one explosive move and Pegasus would promptly smother him with a chinlock. By the fourth or fifth time, the crowd was pissed and chanting for Tiger. It was really the perfect use of the chinlock to wrap up Black Tiger prevent him from hitting his high flying offense, but also set up his own moves. Notice Benoit would hit a chop and then go for something and Black Tiger would counter so back to the chinlock until that would not happen. Benoit hits a MASSIVE POWERBOMB! HE THREW HIM DOWN! But he misses the diving headbutt! Tiger gets whipped into the guardrail and Pegasus comes flying out with a dive taking Guerrero over the top rope. He goes for the powerbomb again, but Tiger reverses into Brainbuster, weak transition. Black Tiger is a little foggy before he hits Frogsplash for two. Guerrero goes for the brainbuster, but Benoit drops down into sleeper! Excellent! I liked Benoit catching Eddie with the Dragon Suplex right after the break. Great struggle over the tombstone piledriver feels like the most important thing in the world. Benoit wins and sets him up top. Super Back Suplex! Great selling as always from Benoit on moves like that. He is one of the best as putting over the punishment his own body takes from his violent offense. SPLASH MOUNTAIN! Nice tease of Tombstone from top before Eddie reverses into Top Rope Frakensteiner and then SUPER BRAINBUSTER WINS THE MATCH! I would say the biggest complaint I have with this match is they don't do a great job establishing why Pegasus needs to use the chinlock. A really hot shin would have made this a five star match. Because it would have added a lot of excitement and established the narrative for the rest of the match. The use of the chinlock was perfect as a means of getting Eddie over as explosive and Benoit needing to sap his energy. The weakest part of the match was Black Tiger hitting a brainbuster out of nowhere when he had been taking offense. I even thought Splash Mountain was set up better because Benoit was selling the after effects of landing on his head by his own move. I will admit that transitions to Eddie's offense could have been better. I thought it was nice three move finish Splash Mountain->Top Rope Frankensteiner->Super Brainbuster for the win. ****1/2

Black Tiger vs Shinjiro Ohtani - NJPW Best of Super Juniors 6/5/96 This is right before Ohtani's big break as Kanemoto gets injured and has vacated the UWA Light Heavyweight Championship. That was the championship he challenged El Samurai in January. Ohtani defeats Sakuraba (before he becomes SAKURABA THE GRACIE HUNTER) for that championship and that's what qualifies him for the J-Crown where he goes onto have that breakout performance against Ultimo Dragon. I guess you could say he did win the inaugural WCW World Crusierweight Championship over Benoit and I would imagine if Kanemoto was healthy that could have switched one of the other titles onto Ohtani instead. Just a neat point that I don't know how much people discuss. Great match! Whats funny is I did not know this was the round robin portion so I assumed Eddie went over to set up the match with Benoit and lo and behold Ohtani wins. Whats funny was during the final five minutes, I was like this is really setting up for an Ohtani victory because it is classic puro for the guy who is pouring on the offense to lose. That is what happens! Thought Eddie was on fire in this match working the leg. I loved he saw that opening with Ohtani's leg dangling off the apron and just came crashing down on it with all his weight. That's who to effectively parlay opening matwork into a heat segment. Just absolutely great job by Eddie always going back to the leg, loved him using a chair on the leg to ratchet up the heat, great, liberal use of the figure-4! Of course, there is a downside to working the leg in the juniors match and that is it will be blown off. Love Ohtani and I thought that passion was there from him. Way too many uses of bridging pins on that bad leg, dude! I loved them setting up Eddy's bombs by Ohtani missing his springboard moves. Eddy really poured on the offense late and it looked great. I loved how he used the leg psychology to set up bombs and when Ohtani was making a comeback he always could fall back on the leg. Really great wrestling. Ohtani does manage to hit the springboard dropkick and Tiger Suplex with the bridge, for shame, for the win. Besides the victory over Benoit, this was definitely his biggest win to date as Eddy seemed to be getting pushed pretty hard by NJPW before WCW seemed to stop sending Eddie & Benoit over. I thought Eddie gave a great workmanslike performance. Ohtani had the passion, wish he was more creative with his offense to compensate for leg psychology. ***1/2

Ultimo Dragon vs Shinjiro Ohtani - J-Crown Semifinals Shinjiro Ohtani's individual masterpiece as he drags a classic out of the man bereft of psychology, Ultimo Dragon. Ultimo Dragon is one of my all-time favorite offensive wrestlers, but the reason why so many of his matches are stuck at the sub-**** mark is due to his insistence to get his shit in at the expense of logic, escalation and the narrative. Ohtani made Dragon earn every single inch of this match, which is made this a classic. So few challenge Dragon, even the great Jushin Thunder Liger allows Dragon to hit all his spots at the expense of psychology. From the outset, Ohtani is wrestling a full court press strategy. He is just suffocating Dragon with headlocks, chinlocks and always shortening the distance between him and Dragon. Dragon needs room to generate offense so this is an excellent strategy. You see Dragon forced to create takedowns. Twice he goes for La Magistral Cradle and both times he is thwarted by Ohtani. The second time, Ohtani even gives him the Dikembe Mutombo finger wag. Dragon is able to takedown Ohtani but he is having trouble holding Ohtani. Ohtani just seems to want it more. Dragon steps through on a hold and just stands on Ohtani's face. He is going to fight dirty too. I thought his leg work here complete with his hip swivel showed he was not going to be shown up by this punk. Ohtani gets an excellent knee lift when they stand up sends Dragon reeling. Ohtani is just so intense and explosive with his moves. Great dropkick and bodyslam. Basic, but in the hands of Ohtani powerful and impactful. You see Dragon is not even given a chance to think. Ohtani clamps on a chinlock and the transition into some really nasty armbreakers. Dragon's verbal selling is top notch. The way he is flailing in the hold really adds to the drama. Dragon is no slouch on the mat is able to counter into his own armbreaker. From there, Ohtani tries to avoid an attack in the corner but Dragon springboards off middle rope and nails him with dropkick. I am still not happy Dragon insists on doing his intricate outside the ring sequence which requires skinning the cat with his bad arm, but Ohtani does swat him away when he goes for the splash. Ohtani looks confident. Springboard spinhweel kick gets two. His father looks on and gives the signal for one more. Ohtani goes for his Dragon Suplex, but Dragon breaks out and hits a tight Tiger Suplex for two. Ohtani cant believe. Ruh roh! Is it happening again! Ohtani MISSES the springboard dropkick! This is opening Dragon needed. Give him an inch and he will take the mile. LA MAGISTRAL CRADLE...1...2...NO! Great way to build to that cradle as a nearfall as a play off the earlier work. Dragon does not rest on his laurels. TOMBSTONE...SNAP MOONSAULT GETS TWO! Ohtani is hanging on by a thread. Dragon goes for a hurricanarana, but powerbomb. Ohtani, who is wrestling the match of his life, is AMPED to hit his springboard dropkick. NAILS IT! Hooks the Full Nelson...DRAGON SUPLEX...BRIDGE! 1...2...NO!!! Ohtnai flops over on his stomach in disbelief! You had a good run, kid. Dragon wins the top rope battle with a Super Front Suplex, which looks better in your head than in practice. RUNNING LIGER BOMB!!! Ultimo Dragon vanquishes the upstart. Great Ace vs Upstart dynamic. The gulf between Dragon and Ohtani is not large at all, but this would have been the biggest win of Ohtani's career here. He wrestles like this is the biggest match of his life. He is just all over Dragon at the beginning and the way he shuts down La Magistral not once, but twice is great. The matwork was great. I loved how Dragon tried to turn into a flying contest and got bit. Nice run up by Ohtani and missing the Springboard dropkick was such a great "Oh shit not again" spot plus a great opening for Dragon and I loved that he pounced with LA MAGISTRAL! Dragon pouring it on in tight fashion only for Ohtani to have one last run, get his deadly combo and still come up short was fantastic, what a great reaction! I love that they are jockeying for position on the top rope and whoever wins this battle will win the match and Dragon is able to hit the front suplex enabling him to win with the Running Liger Bomb. I want to reward this match for being so damn tight and economical, but building such great drama and Ohtani giving one of the all-time character performances while Dragon provided his legendary status, big time offense and willingness to struggle to win. ****3/4

Ultimo Dragon vs Great Sasuke - J-Crown Tournament Finals I cant believe it has been five years since I have seen this. The two biggest non-New Japan Juniors take on one another for the biggest prize in junior heavyweight wrestling history. Unfortunately the match just does not live up to expectations. Of course, the biggest issue is that Sasuke basically powerbombs himself onto the concrete when he slips off the top turnbuckle and cracks his skull open. True to form, he no sells, hits a bodyslam and then misses a moonsault. See how can we expect people to sell worked moves when someone wont even sell their head being cracked open. So the finish is pretty abrupt, but before the finish it just felt like a big spotfest. It is Dragon and Sasuke without anyone to reign them in. I actually prefer their 2007 M-Pro match greatly to this because Sasuke wrestled his heart out in that one. In this one, there were so many resets with the Irish Whip and just felt very cooperative. There was some fun stuff with the dueling quebradas and then dueling Asai Moonsaults. Dragon's dive was great. Dragon's offense did look awesome. I know there were trying to go all out, but some semblance of struggle would have been nice. It is entertaining, but just does not have the gravitas a moment like this should. Of course, it sucks Sasuke seriously injured himself. I cant hate it too much because I like Ultimo Dragon's offense a lot. ***1/4

Jushin Thunder Liger vs Dick Togo - NJPW 6/17/96 Doesn't get said enough but Jushin Liger's theme is a GOAT contender! It is pretty amazing I have seen both of these guys wrestle live! Liger not only does his Hulk Hogan impression, but he busts out his best Ric Flair too! WOOOOOOOOOO!!! Awesome offensive display from both competitors here. Togo is able to keep Liger off balance with armdrags and Liger bails to the floor. DICK TORPEDO~! Insane suicide dive! One of the best of all time. Dick Togo works over Liger's midsection like a muthafucka. That double stomp was just nasty. We of course get a running senton. The transition was pretty weak as Liger just sort of goes on offense by sending Dick flying with a monkey flip and then a nice Kappo Kick. Liger's offense in this match was insane. I thought it was a very Ultimo Dragon performance from him where he cared more about offense than anything else which gave the match the feel of an exhibition. Dick Togo was just at his mercy and was not really put up much of a fight. Liger's German and Powerbomb were insane!!! Then he works over the injured arm of Togo and really nice stuff there. Liger hits a massive SHOTEI~! when Dick was on the top rope. Togo is able to knock him off the apron and hits this insane swandive onto the prone Liger when he tries to follow up with the a senton off apron, HE IS POWERBOMBED TO HELL!!! WOW! Liger POWERBOMBS his ass again and then does the Flair strut. Dick Togo uses a back heel kick to the balls to finally stymie the merciless onslaught of Liger. I liked that as a transition a lot. Dick Togo hits not one, but TWO Sentons from the top rope, but cant get the job done. They tease the Otani/Sammy finish with Liger dropkicking the bad arm of Togo and immediately applying the cross-armbreaker, but Togo makes the ropes. Love the sequence. Togo gets a nearfall with La Magistral, but this is Liger's match and he drops Dick Togo on his head a bunch before putting him away with the SHOTEI~! Liger is the Boss, man. He just tears through his offense on Dick Togo. Lots of eye-popping spots here from Liger. Dick Togo more than matched him. Missing struggle and transitions to really crack the upper echeleon, but from a fireworks display hard to beat this. ****

Independent World Junior Heavyweight Champion Taka Michinoku vs Super Delphin - NJPW 6/17/96 HOLY SHIT! The spot where Taka springboards, holds jumps to the a different side of the ring's top rope to hit a splash because Delphin moves was INSANE!!!! Delphin should have taken that like a man. Nice little juniors exhibition. Delphin looks like a mosquito. I have seen like one maybe two of his matches. Fun fact he won the CMLL World Welterweight Championship going into this but it was not sanctioned by the home office in Mexico. Early story is that Taka is cocky prick and is totally outshining Delphin. Nice dive by Taka to start. Good matwork based around knee. Really just taking Delphin to school. Even holds the ropes open for him. Thought the transition to Delphin on offense was weak. He basically just starts attacking and now it works. I agree it was time for him to go on offense, but needed better transition than just my turn! Taka goes back to the knee and works well with legbar and then figure-4. He then hits the Holy Shit spot! You need watch this match just for that. Taka misses another springboard move and gets sent flying off the ropes much better transition. Taka takes Delphin's dive like a man. Delphin starts dropping Taka on his head. This is picking up now. Delphin signals for some sort of finish, but Taka rolls him up. They botch a spot. Taka hits the Michinoku Driver for two! Then there is some weird move where you don't know who took the brunt of it. I hate those spots. Fucking awesome finish with a nasty German then roll through into a Tiger Suplex. Fun match. One must see spot in Taka's mid-match dive and the finish German->rollthrough->Tiger is pretty insane. Felt like an exhibition of what they could do rather than a contest. ***1/4

Way better than Honky!!! Packs quite the punch. She is fierce and nasty. Honky did not have the mean streak of ALEXA.

Ummmmmm American Alpha won via rollup on USOS and then USOS beat the shit out of them. Hardly running through the USOS. There is definitely lots of heat in American Alpha vs USOS!!! Excited for the one on one feud!

Becky Lynch vs Mickie James - WWE Elimination Chamber 2017 Mickie/Becky ruled! Great tie up to start. Nice shine with Becky coming off apron but as she gets back into the ring Mickie strikes with a nasty single arm DDT. Heat segment ruled! Mickie's cut offs with those nasty kicks was great. Becky's selling awesome! Great hope spots! Loved extended comeback from Becky and smart transitions. Great selling and fire from Becky. Loved finish Mick Kick was a great nearfall then goes for DDT but Becky counters she knows it is now or never so she goes for Disarmor, but ends up in a rollup battle. LOVED THE DRIVE IN THOSE LEGS BY BECKY ON ROLL UP! Awesome opener. Becky is the best woman on the roster and Mickie just crushed it and proved herself. Booking was so good top face goes over but it is not super definitive. So Mickie still has heat. Fantastic Match, character work and match. ****

Mickie/Becky ruled! Great tie up to start. Nice shine with Becky coming off apron but as she gets back into the ring Mickie strikes with a nasty single arm DDT. Heat segment ruled! Mickie's cut offs with those nasty kicks was great. Becky's selling awesome! Great hope spots! Loved extended comeback from Becky and smart transitions. Great selling and fire from Becky. Loved finish Mick Kick was a great nearfall then goes for DDT but Becky counters she knows it is now or never so she goes for Disarmor, but ends up in a rollup battle. LOVED THE DRIVE IN THOSE LEGS BY BECKY ON ROLL UP! Awesome opener. Becky is the best woman on the roster and Mickie just crushed it and proved herself. ****1/4

I do not venture to these parts of the forums too often, but I do watch Smackdown weekly and really enjoy the breezy the show they produce. I am quite shocked to find people are not enjoying the Smackdown's women division. I have found it to be much more enjoyable than Charlotte/Sasha show on RAW. Charlotte/Sasha do have the better matches, but Becky/Alexa have had the better promos and angles week-to-week. I thought their matches have been great. Alexa really packs punch for such a tiny chick. I think she is fierce and nasty. She knows how to get great real heat. The Mickie James addition was a great way to PROGRESS the story and add a logical wrinkle. So many typical WWE stories are shoot the angle, three weeks of NO PROGRESSION and then heres the match. The Becky/Alexa feud actually featured week-to-week progression. Instead of Becky winning endless non-title rematches but no title matches, they came up with an old school way to distract Becky, keep Alexa as a champion to draw out the big Becky/Alexa match and honestly I think they can draw it out to Summerslam. This is great old school booking. I am legitimately shocked at any Becky hate when I think she is the best pure babyface they have on the roster. Great shines, awesome seller and definitely brings the STRAIGHT FIYAH on the comeback. I know I am a traditionalist. So maybe the fact that these women are executing a traditional babyface/heel storyline and matches is why it is a turnoff for some, but I think currently it is the best one vs one feud in WWE. It has been one of the best feuds of the year. I think Smackdown has been the best week-to-week booking in WWE since 2001. AJ/Ambrose/Ellsworth was tremendous episodic TV with PROGRESSION week-to-week. Again really surprised to hear anything negative about the Smackdown's womens division, which I think has been on fire and is the more complete and interesting division compared to RAW though I freely admit Charlotte/Sasha has had more high-end, big matches.

And beginning his best match ever was with Lawler in what had to be his first year in 86. He got better and better at imposing his size later on. Great look. Had a really great match with RVD of all people. Where he finally wrestled as violent as he looked.

Jushin Thunder Liger & Black Tiger vs Shinjiro Ohtani & Koji Kanemoto - NJPW 2/15/96 Ohtani & Kanemoto are a great pairing. Ohtani brings the histrionics and character of a bratty upstart. Kanemoto is your strait-laced badass. Liger is such a charismatic character. I liked all the mirror spots between Liger and Kanemoto. Kanemoto ties Liger up and tags out to Ohtani and they beat up Liger for the first five minutes. They work over his leg, but they are just laying into him and just being general dicks to him. Ohtani is such an ass. I think this is the one instance when you can skip the shine. When the babyface is so established and the heels are the clear underdogs, by skipping the shine you lend the heels more credibility. The shine is twofold it is entertaining to watch your favorite kick ass but it also makes you invest in the hero. Nobody likes a loser. People love underdogs, but not losers. Shine makes you believe the underdog has a chance. Liger is not an underdog so he doesn't necessarily need a shine. Liger holds ropes on a dropkick and tags out to Eddy. The match loses its way for a bit until they target Kanemoto's knee. Liger was doing a great job directing traffic in there. The juniors definitely see selling as optional. Before you know it everyone is just flying around. In fairness, it was a hot finish stretch. I loved the stereo powerbombs by the good guys. I really liked Kanemoto eating a German only for Ohtani to nail Liger in the back with a springboard dropkick. Kanemoto splashes Black Tiger, but hurts himself. DRAGON SUPLEX! Black Tiger bulldozes Ohtani! Great save! Really dramatic. Double team powerbomb on Ohtani and with Kanemoto injured on the outside things look bleak for the upstart rebels of the junior division. Top rope Frankensteriner into a Frogsplash. BRAINBUSTER~! Black Tiger picks up the duke over Ohtani. Kanemoto makes late save and eats brainbuster from Liger. I thought this was strange booking. I feel like you would want to build up Ohtani as a challenger to Liger, but maybe they thought they had something with Eddy long term. I thought the beginning was the best part. I don't they really had another very effective segment after that. The finish run was hot, but did not have the foundation to really reach the heights of a great match. ***1/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Koji Kanemoto vs Jushin Thunder Liger - NJPW 1/4/96 One of those interesting dynamics where the champion is coming in as the underdog with something to prove. I think what makes this match interesting is that Kanemoto does not wrestle that way. He wrestles like he is already Liger's equal. Look at the difference a year makes. Here he backs Liger to the ropes and gives a clean break. In '97, he does not miss a beat in chopping Liger. In '97, he is wrestling like he has something to prove. It is because he was not on Liger's level and Liger proved that here. Kanemoto was the Junior ace for 1995 and the champion for the majority of the year only broken up by a short reign by Sabu of all people. I think they made a conscious effort to skip the matwork and have Kanemoto throw bombs in order to get the notoriously difficult Dome crowd to react. I think there one misfire was not giving Liger the shine instead of Kanemoto. I think the crowd would have gotten behind Liger more readily. Once they realize that no one is resurrecting this dead as doornail crowd they return to their basics. They take it back to the mat and Kanemoto focuses on the knee. Liger's verbal selling is great here. The bright side of a dead crowd is we can hear Liger's screaming. Liger is single-handedly taking this routine match and making it great. Liger needs a Shotei and a Kappo Kick to turn the tide. Then it just becomes a Liger offensive display. HE'S BAAAAAACCCKKKKKK! He drops Kanemoto on his head like it is a Misawa/Kawada match. Gnarly stuff. I thought the long-term selling down the stretch could have been better. Kanemoto mounts a comeback fresh as a daisy even though he was dropped on his head a bunch. I did like the transitions like Kanemoto holding onto the ropes for second Top Rope Frankensteiner and holding up his feet for diving headbutt by Liger. Kanemoto gets his usual finish run with Tiger Suplex and moonsault which actually gets a pretty good reaction from the crowd. Liger SWATS Kanemoto out of the sky with a Shotei, didn't look great but Liger sold his hand. Three Ligerbombs and some sort of crazy corkscrew moonsault (the camera crew totally missed it, like WCW's levels of whiffing) win him the match and the King has returned to his Throne. It is two great offensive wrestlers running through their offense. Kanemoto looks strong in the beginning but is not wrestling with urgency and this bites him once Liger makes his comeback. It just felt very routine, but when you are as good as these two it is still enjoyable. ***

UWA Junior Light Heavyweight Champion El Samurai vs Shinjiro Ohtani - NJPW 1/21/96 Nasty little fucking match. There's a segment where Sammy is clawing at Ohtani's bloody nose to avoid a legbar and then minutes later Ohtani is biting Sammy's leg to avoid a cross-armbreaker. Nasty little fucking match. Mr. Ohtani is straight cash money in this. He would be the biggest meme in the wrestling world if he existed today. This disapproving look he gives when his son squanders his advantage and his arm dangling off the apron is so amazing. At the end of the match, just looks away at yet another loss for Shinjiro when he really had the match at multiple points. The hook of the match is the incredible dueling limb psychology and the fierceness of the grappling. The matwork in this is so intense and so detailed. Samurai crossfacing Ohtani to try to release a toehold, but when Ohtani starts to grind his elbow into the knee Sammy actually grabs his arm and tries to apply a cobra clutch to stop it. It really was magnificent. Ohtani was using his joints to create lots of pain in the ankle and knee of Samurai. When Samurai tries to counter, Ohtani gets really revved up. You can feel how bad he wants this. Samurai gets some hope spots here and there, but this Ohtani's match to lose. Samurai tries to go after the arm, but Ohtani is able to return back to leg. However, in the process of trying to submit Samurai is able to gain wrist control and yank Ohtani down hard into a double wristlock (kimura). He tries to convert this into a cross armbreaker, Ohtani flays so hard onto his stomach he gives himself a bloody nose. Nasty little fucking match. Samurai is relentless on the arm while it is dangling on the apron. Cue the first image of Mr. Ohtani shaking his head, "What are we going to do with you, Shinjiro". Samurai creates some opportunities for himself to fly. I agree that the number one complaint of this match that the selling while on offense does lead something to be desired. Ohtani is able to avoid Samurai and hit a dropkick to outside. Samurai thinks he avoids the slingshot, but Ohtani hits a great dropkick from the apron that sends Samurai swinging on the steel gate. Nasty little fucking match. Ohtani uses more typical pro wrestling attack on the knee (seat drop, driving knee into the mat). He applies a kneebar. Loved the struggle over Samurai hitting a piledriver and then immediately going for the cross armbreaker. He has a game plan and everything is working towards that goal. The struggle over every hold makes this match the classic that it is. I love rolling double wristlock takedowns and Samurai has a beauty in this one. Ohtani's comeback begins by grabbing Samurai's head and hitting repeated heabutts! Nasty little fucking match. There are some issues I have with transitions mostly from Samurai like hitting the powerbomb out of nowhere. I did love again the diving headbutt right into the cross armbreaker. Everything is about the coross armbreaker so I loved it. I have watched this match before like five years ago and loved it. I remember the dueling limb psychology, but there was only spot that really stuck with me. Ohtani's German and Samurai's immediate counter from the bridge into a double wristlock in one fluid match. MARK OUT CITY! The tension on the that submission was unreal. I loved Ohtani's big succession of three springboard dropkicks to the knee. Before AJ Styles, there was Shinjiro Ohtani. Ohtani goes for legbar, but it is back to the ropes. Ohtani cant believer, he is selling his arm a little. He is trying to fire himself up. Tries to hoist him up in Dragon Suplex, but when Sammy reverses he rolls through into a legbar. Nice! I love the facewashes on the apron. Nasty little fucking match. Now it is Samurai with the nasty headbutts. He totally WIPES OHTANI OUT with a springboard dropkick to the back. Ohtani's father disapproves greatly. The camera misses how Ohtani takes out Samurai's knee. Springboard dropkick to the back of the head! He doesn't cover! Is this a mistake? DRAGON SUPLEX! 1-2-NO!!!! OHTANI IS INCREDULOUS! Total exasperation. He lifts Samurai up on the top rope. Never give your opponent the high ground! Headbutts and a tornado DDT follow. Big mistake! Sammy finally gets that armbreaker and then as Ohtani is reaching for the arm to picks himself up Sammy comes crashing down on the arm with a kneedrop!!! MARK OUT CITY!!! CROSS ARMBREAKER TAP OUT! Ohtani's Dad, "Whose child is that?" Perhaps the greatest finish of all time! I loved that! From a layout, commitment to strategy, escalation, offensive psychology, and struggle perspectives, the match is absolutely perfect. I just cant give it the full monty too many selling issues on offense and the transitions should have been tighter. The struggle was just off the charts. Everything was contested and earned. Samurai's commitment to applying double wristlocks and cross armbreakers out of any situation was great. Ohtani's urgency down the stretch was awesome, you cant help but get invested in who is going to win. Both were great mixing in their bombs with their submission attempts. The finish stretch with Ohtani's combo of Sprinboard dropkick/dragon suplex failing. Only to have Ohtani reach out for the ropes for salvation to have Samurai crash down with all his weight on the exposed bad arm and in a flash Ohtani is tapping out to a cross armbreaker. Nasty little fucking match. ****3/4