Superstar Sleeze

AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels - TNA Bound For Glory 2011 I Quit Very strange. Pieces of it were really great and other parts really sucked. They just couldn't decide what they wanted this to be. When the match first started, I thought I found a lost classic. Really heated and intense. Daniels telling AJ to suck his dick only for AJ to tell him to suck it and shoving the mic into his mouth wa awesome. Loved the use of the STO by Daniels as a takedown, loved AJ's tenacity with his punches and then going for submissions constantly from unique spots and really wrenching them in. Then they lost that it settled into as expected AJ face vs Daniels heel match, which can be great. However, we get weird shit like Daniels throwing a wrench at AJ's head but hitting the stairs or stabbing the turnbuckle pad with a screwdriver. Shit like that makes you lose suspension of disbelief. Daniels' segment was fine until he sat on a chair on top of AJ and told he was going to murder him in cold blood. Ugh. AJ's comeback was fucking awesome. AJ would have been an excellent Jerry Lawler opponent. He is like the world's greatest Bill Dundee. AJ as a brawler not talked about enough and he would have fit in Memphis perfectly. Pele into Styles Clash. This finish run would have been perfect for a great AJ vs Daniels standard match. Then AJ is pissed goes for the screwdriver and Daniels pussies out says I Quit without struggle, which hey he is a coward so I get it. Just a weird match. These two have really good chemistry together. This is not a good example of that. AJ was awesome at the beginning and the end. Hard to rate. I do recommend watching it because I think watching more AJ brawling and spreading the word about it is important. ***

AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels - TNA Destination X 2011 Another match of the year contender from AJ Styles in 2011 in a style of match that could not be more of a departure from the violent, bloody war with Bully Ray. This was an excellent, mutual respect face vs face technical classic. What stood out to me the most was hope well they weaved their shared history throughout the match. We have all seen the usual we know each other sequences (both throwing dropkicks at each other, yawn) this felt authentic and on top of that it was consistently played upon throughout the entire match unlike in similar matches where it will eventually be dropped. The beginning chain wrestling and armdrag work was amazing. It felt like a struggle and felt like two guys out there to prove who is the best. I liked them both knowing they were going for dives and avoided. I loved Daniels knowing the typical AJ dropkick sequence. Only for AJ to catch him unawares, but in doing so NOT getting full extension. Daniels forced him to hit the dropkick from an uncomfortable vantage point so in order to hit it AJ had to sacrifice impact. Great storytelling. By the same token, the match finally turns when Daniels hits suicide dive. But this was not an ordinary suicide dive. A typical suicide dive sees the catcher get up and prepare himself to take the dive. Because Daniels knows he needs to catch AJ unawares just leaps out onto him tackling him before he can prepare himself very cool. Then he hits the bigger dive over the top rope for more impact but set himself up first with the smaller surprise dive. I really dug these touches throughout the match. Another great example was AJ knowing Daniels was going for a split-legged moonsault and knocking him off the top rope setting himself up for a quick dive where again Daniels was not in a position to catch him and instead AJ landed nastily on Daniels' neck. The work in between the transitions is solid, but the transitions are really incredible. After AJ's control segment, we see it end because Daniels knows the Springboard Forearm is coming and he knocks him off the top rope and AJ takes a nasty spill. AJ is busting out Fujiwara armbars and Daniels is doing Crossfaces just to keep each other off balance because nobody can hit a signature move! I am digging this story a lot. I really liked AJ intentionally slipping off the top rope on a springboard to put over the danger of the move. There should be more missed and countered moves in wrestling in my opinion that's what I really liked about this. I really liked the symmetry of the finish. AJ put his foot up on the Best Moonsault Ever attempt and this led to the Styles Clash for two. So then he tries the Springboard 450 but eats knees and this sets up the Angel Wings for two. I was not crazy about the set up for Spiral Tap as it was a bit contrived why was Daniels going up top in the first place he does not have a finish in that style and then all of sudden we are battling over Angel Wings only for it to be countered. Spiral Tap is badass though. Great, great story. Both men had to wrestle a completely different match than they are used to because they were completely committed to showing they had the other scouted this led to a lot of interesting counters and offense that felt sudden and urgent. I do feel that during the finish there was a bit of fizzle and did not really build to a big crescendo. It was a missing a spark to really put it over the top. A really cool and interesting match that I think could be template for new style of wrestling that focuses more on missed moves and counters and the opportunities they create rather hitting moves cleanly all the time. ****1/2

AJ Styles vs Bully Ray - TNA Slammiversary 2011 Last Man Standing OH HELL YEAH! Slam dunk match of the year contender for 2011 right up there with Dick Togo vs Antonio Honda. Awesome David vs Goliath, coming of age, violent brawl all wrapped into one badass package. AJ has been such a tremendous heel since 2014 that even a massive AJ mark like myself forgets what an incredible babyface he is. He talks trash to Bully Ray that he is going to end his career. You believe him! Bubba had been calling out his manhood and AJ never backed down. He met him right at his level pissed the fuck off. AJ just opened up a can of whoop ass on Bully Ray. The best punches this side of Memphis baby! AJ even busts out a headbutt. Bully Ray was selling these great especially the headbutt. It was such an fiery, energetic opening to the match. Then we go into AJ bump machine mode. He goes flying off a Bully Ray boot when he went charging into the corner. Then the HIGH back body drop and then the way he bumped to the outside. He was throwing himself into everything hard. Bully Ray is a really great old school, mean heel. Just a total throwback. There is nothing redeemable about him. I loved him trapping AJ under the steps and standing on him. AJ does not get much chance to sell as a heel, but he is so great at sympathetic selling trying to crawl away from the stalking Bully. BIG OVERHEAD CHOP!!! AJ asking for more! ANOTHER BIG OVERHEAD CHOP! You can see the face print! My God, the bruise is already forming! AJ Is begging for him to hit it again. I love this show of pride from AJ. The crowd is chanting "Holy Shit", loving it from the crowd! AJ wants one on the kisser and decks AJ with rock n roll death drop. Incredible babyface performance! This is how you show resilience and pride! Now AJ is throwing some serious haymakers and finally gets Bully off his feet with enziguiri. I love this AJ he looks like man possessed. Everything is so credible. Springboard forearm! Pele when Bully Ray was on top rope, looking superplex, but they duke it out and AJ just starts blasting him with punches and Bubba turns it into a Super Powerbomb! Holy Shit! This is a war! Bully Ray may have bitten off more than he can chew and he realizes that grabbing his chain, but he misses with the whip. AJ wraps it around his hand, SUPERMAN CHAIN PUNCH!!! Epic Bladejob! Springboard 450!!! He gets up at 8 and AJ lifts Bully Ray like he was nothing and throws him right onto the steps on the outside. Holy Shit! Great heavy springboard plancha to outside. Everything is hitting with weight! Nice counter by Bully Ray with flapjack into the apron and we head up the ramp. They tease the powerbomb off the stage which is what started the feud, but instead AJ gets INSANE AIR LEAPING THROUGH THE AIR ONTO BULLY RAY! AJ beats the shit out of Bully Ray to set him up on a table. He climbs up scaffold REALLY FUCKING HIGH AND THEN JUMPS ONTO BULLY RAY! I thought we were going to get the lame both men get counted out, but instead as AJ is about to get up Bully kicks him in the ass and sends him crashing through the stage, great bump. Bully Ray wins! The finish is cheap. AJ earned that victory. We all know it. It pisses us off. I think it works though. AJ was so consumed with rage that it cost him the match. He wanted to destroy Bully Ray so bad he was willing to destroy himself. He could have won the match differently but he wanted to END Bully Ray's career in doing so he did not care what happened to himself. Thus he left himself open to losing the match. Bully Ray is all talk. He just wanted to win by any means and het got what he wanted. SO I think the finish works in a good way that pisses us off to want to see the rematch because we know AJ is the man and that Bully Ray was proven wrong. Instead TNA books AJ into a feud with Daniels, but oh well. This reminds me so much of those blowjob babyface vs the violent monster matches of the 1980s where the pretty boy babyfaces become men by fighting fire with fire. I love these matches. The heels question the face's manhood and AJ is proved that he is more man than Bubba Ray could handle. The overhand chops segment was such a great moment of macho pride and coming of age. Everything AJ did had weight behind it and looked violent. AJ told the story so well through his eyes. He looked angry. You believed every single thing he did. Bully Ray was the perfect foil for AJ as a mean, sadistic bully (I mean he did a great job picking his name). A classic story that was perfectly executed by two men who were perfectly suited to execute this story with great violence. I rationalized the finish above, but I am not in love with it and I think while they executed the classic story perfectly I don't think they expanded or innovated on it. So I am going ****3/4, but very close to the full monty.

AJ Styles vs Tommy Dreamer - TNA Sacrifice 2011 No DQ The point of this match is twofold: 1. It sets up the big AJ vs Bully Ray match for next month 2. It shows AJ can not only survive in the Extreme environment but thrive against one of its icons. AJ is not given enough credit for damn good his punches are. In an aspect of wrestling that has really taken a hit since the 1980s, AJ has some really damn good punches. There is one in the beginning it looks he should have broken Dreamer's nose and he even sells his hand. That selling leads to Dreamer countering him with a boot and he does a rock n roll death drop to sell that. Awesome, awesome. awesome. This one of those wrestler is reluctantly doing the bidding of another wrestler as good 'ol Dreamer is being blackmailed by mean Bully Ray. Not my favorite storyline. Dreamer is pretty selfless and gives AJ the majority of the match, which is for the best. AJ uses a great combination of strikes and flying to carry the day Like him countering the trash can by kicking into Dreamer's face so using the ECW stuff against Dreamer and then using the table effectively too. Pele setup for Styles Clash on table but Bully Ray blasts him with a chain and its piledriver through table for the win. It was good all the great stuff was AJ's singular spots. Otherwise it was a pretty basic ECW NO DQ match. ***

AJ Styles vs "Cold Blooded" Matt Hardy w/Ric Flair - TNA Victory Road 2011 Matt Hardy with Ric Flair man TNA is a weird place where so much has been forgotten. So Flair turned on AJ and is with Hogan. AJ is the babyface here. AJ absolutely rocking with the punches in this match. Some of the best punches of the modern era, he was so on point. Definitely very fired up wish Matt was meeting him with some bumping, stooging or some energy because AJ was bringing that babyface fire! They tease the heat segment a couple different ways with a Flair distraction or Matt pulling him into the apron, but AJ kept coming back. One really cool spot was AJ slid under the guardrail to avoid hitting it and then hit a springboard forearm. Awesome! Loved the actual transition with Matt whipping AJ hard into the turnbuckles in a like half-German Suplex-half just throwing him move. Great heat segment using the hard parts of the ring and Flair to his advantage (nice chops and then grabs AJ's junk). Loved the Butterfly stretch my favorite move to do to my brother to get him to tap out. AJ did not get a real bonafide comeback there were some nice punches exchange but a bit too much of the modified suplexes for me. Liked the Twist of Fate (Hate at this point) teases, AJ eliminates Flair with a Pele outta nowhere that totally caught me off guard that popped me. Hardy got one last shot in with a moonsault. I wonder if Flair looked up saw that and thought to himself (Damnit, another guy who is better than me!). AJ countered the next top rope move with a sweet Pele and then SPIRAL TAP~! FTW~! Some really innovative spots, great use of the Pele to set up spots, really good Matt finish sequence. Thought the run up to the finish sequence could hav ebeen better. Oh yeah liked the punches in this! Very good. ***1/2

These are all 4.5 star matches for me. Reigns vs AJ from Payback is my choice for best match since 2004. I feel very out of touch. I know I have some really great answers for this but I'm tired.

TNA TV Champion AJ Styles vs Doug WIlliams - TNA Final Resolution 2010 Lets celebrate AJ Styles ascension to the top of the pro wrestling industry by going back to the lost years. I watched TNA pretty religiously from 2005-2010 pretty much after AJ 's World Title loss to RVD I stopped following. There seemed to be a weird feud with ECW wrestlers in the fall of 2010 so I am skipping that. This seemed like a fun random midcard match against a guy who I thought was pretty decent. Excellent AJ offensive performance. Normally I don't care about execution, but when you are so freaking good at as AJ it is noticeable and boosts the match. Normally don't like the Quebrada into the Scorpion Deathdrop, but damn did look pretty and impactful here. There was a great quebrada onto Williams while he was hung up in the ropes and TWO fucking phenomenal punches. Got a call a spade here, AJ sucked as a heel here. Story going into the match was Williams turned on AJ's group to go babyface. Did not feel that fire between these two. It was a good clean mutual respect type match, but not what the story dictated so it left me cold. Good beginning chain wrestling each teasing their finish. Showed both men came to win. Thought Williams while good was a very cold worker. Just mechanical. Thought his shine was just routine. AJ's heat transition was just yanking him off the top rope. AJ's heat segment, which he is great at now just felt routine. Knee work was good into the figure-4 (Flair was his mentor at this point), but ultimately goes nowhere. Liked the finish a lot AJ tries to use his high flying to win by diving to outside, but gets caught in Chaos Theory on the outside and once he gets in he is limp and prone and Williams adds insult to injury by using Styles Clash. There is good stuff in here. Just nothing all that remarkable. Good. ***

Goodness no. I think Danielson is leagues better. Really in what way? Like I can see why Bryan may be better but to say there is a gulf seems a bit of an exaggeration to me. In terms of offense, Bryan is more prone to the mat, but AJ can certainly go; AJ's strikes are better in my opinion and he is the better flyer. AJ is a better bumper than AJ. Bryan can be better at the act of selling but also more prone to blowing it off. AJ is the better trash talking heel who works awesome control segments. Daniel Bryan's finish run is electric but often feels show horned into the match. Hands down Bryan is the better character. So his matches implicitly have more emotion but that should not be conflated with him being the better wrestler. As I think AJ is able to get more out of a variety of opponents in a variety of settings. I say it is close but I'm sticking with AJ

Haven't seen enough Indy Danielson. Daniel Bryan was the better character. AJ has crushed him in WWE vs WWE resume. Doesn't blow off selling like Bryan. Doesn't do KENTA million miles per hour tributes as his finish run. AJ is measured and logical. Incredible sense of progression. Unique in-ring narratives. Execution one of the best of all time. A bumping God!

AJ Styles has been my favorite wrestler since 2004. No wrestler has caused me to travel out of state more than AJ to see him live. Hell I went to see Slammiversary in 2013 main evented by fucking Sting vs Bubba Ray Dudley just so I could see AJ Styles. Even though I expected him to win and had been spoiled, I am just incredibly happy that the best wrestler of the past 15 years has not only become critically acclaimed but has risen to the apex of being WWE World Champion. I love pro wrestling! AJ STYLES BEST IN THE FUCKING WORLD!!!

Miz/Zigs was good. Liked Zigs amateur cradles at beginning. Thought Miz's heel work on top was strong and loved him mocking Bryan. Finish run was pretty standard WWE. Better than I expected. Pretty long feeling though...probably due to shallow card. LOL BRAY JOBBED TO KANE!

Smackdown's women's division is so much better than RAW's! Becky Lynch is the best woman on the roster and Nikki is number two. Alexa packs one helluva for a small chick and would say she has better than Sasha recently. Besides Nattie, that is a stacked women's division. Usos heel turn was magnificent. Best turn angle in years! Awesome heel performance against the Hype Brothers (JBL made me laugh when he called them that.)

Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs Kensuke Sasaki & Mitsuhiro Kitamiya - Diamond Ring 2/11/12 Perhaps the ultimate veteran/young lion vs two grumpy dicks tag match, which is among my favorite genres of pro wrestling matches. The only thing that drags it down just a bit is that Kobashi is just not a very good jerk in this match. He is just too much of a good guy. He never transitioned into that Tenryu role. On top of not being that grumpy, he clearly quite debilitated by the years of injuries and illness. Kobashi is among my favorite wrestlers so it is always nice to watch him wrestle especially in a match I have never seen before. Good thing, Akiyama wrestles for two and gives one of the most inspired grump old timer performances of all time. Kitamiya who I have never heard of meets him in one of the best fiery young lion performances of all time as he dies for our pleasure. Sasaki is a solid hot tag veteran presence for Kitamiya, but the story of the match is the Akiyama vs Kitamiya. Akiyama SCHOOLS Kitamiya early on. Blocking every takedown attempt with ease and transitioning into any hold he wants. It is total command and a beautiful wrestling lesson. Playful slaps from Akiyama have me smiling. Kitamiya gets more and more frustrated as he is being humiliated in the middle of the ring. He gets a bloody nose and is charging Akiyama with all he has got for a double leg takedown and Akiyama stands there like a stonewall. Kitamiya gives up on wrestling and fires off some elbows. Akiyama is like "Oh no, you didn't, bitch." and just blasts him. He throws Kitamiya's carcass to Sasaki. One of the all time great opening segments to a wrestling match ever. Kobashi/Sasaki have their obligatory chopfest. Sasaki forces Kobashi into his corner and Kitamiya tags himself in. Sasaki looks confused, but shrugs and says go ahead, young buck. Kitamiya unloads on Kobashi with big elbows and Kobashi just throws one high chop to the throat to stymie him, which is a Tenryu dick thing to do I will admit. Tags in Akiyama. Oh boy! He throws Kitamiya to the outside. Kitamiya runs back in and dropkicks Akiyama off the apron. Hey, maybe he can do some damage! We get some Sasaki & Akiyama and Sasaki actually hits a delayed vertical, but Kitamiya wants in and Sasaki reluctantly lets him tag in. Kitamiya reigns down the elbows and Akiyama just slaps the taste out of his mouth. He drops knees into the young lion's face watching him writhe in pain. Kobashi comes in and chop and facelock. Kobashi throws him to the outside and Akiyama just no sells everything and then overhand slaps him in the bloody nose!!! I LOVE PRO WRESTLING! He throws him into the barricade. Kitamiya tries firing up, but Akiyama just slaps him down. You gotta give the kid credit; he doesn't give up. Kobashi chop and now ab stretch. Akiyama gets a deep Boston Crab. Sasaki is really fun on the apron. KItamiya gets a running forearm to tag out to Sasaki. Sasaki is an awesome house of fire!!! Tons of energy, chops, lariats and a big powerslam to that dick Akiyama. You really want to see Akiyama's ass handed to him and Sasaki does that. It is just like pick on someone your own size and then Sasaki comes in and brutalizes the bully. Great wrestling psychology. You can feel the urgency too. If he does not win now, then he knows there is no shot. Sasaki gets his famous armbar, but Kobashi comes in chops him hard. Akiyama is able to recover to hit a knee from the middle rope, which enough to tag out to Kobashi. Kobashi gets caught in lariat sandwich, but kicks out. Kitamiya wants in and Sasaki is spent. He makes the difficult decision to tag out. Kobashi side steps Kitamiya's dropkick. Sasaki bulldozes Kobashi and Akiyama comes flying in with a high knee. SPEAR TO AKIYAMA! KITAMIYA'S REVENGE!!! HE DUMPS KOBASHI ON HIS BACK! THE KID GOES WILD! He gets cocky and tries a BURNING LARIAT~! Kobashi no sells! Awesome! Spinning back chop and Akiyama comes in to hit a sliding knee to get two. KOBASHI BURNING LARIAT~! Finishes him off. Awesome performances by Akiyama and Kitamiya. Opening segment is incredible. Akiyama is such a douche in this. Kitamiya gives the ultimate "I think I can, I think I can..." performance. I love Kitamiya's explosion at the end only succumb to Kobashi's Burning Lariat! Second best match of Japan in 2012 and a stone cold classic. ****1/2

Raw could be 6 hours long and there would still be no excuse for stuff like that awful New Day segment or really ANY of the "comedy" stuff that The Club has been doing since the split. I agree, but I don't think Raw has exclusivity of awful segments. The women's segment that started Smackdown last night was bad and didn't reflect well on anyone. I thought Alexa and Becky were great. Nattie is the worst actress they ever had. So artificially hammy. Fandango made his comedy segment work. I'm finally coming around on him. I wanna feel the fire in the belly!

LOVED THE BOOKING OF USOS/AA! PERFECT! Really hot angle!

TL,DR: Ole/Ellering was fucking awesome and on par with Last Battle of Atlanta proper. Rich/Sawyer was a excellent bloody war of attrition. Great middle/ending! Thought it was missing a real beginning. Almost like they JIP'd to the heat segment. Would have liked some more energy or just a spark. Nitpicking there, bloody, great selling and love the Mad Dog cross body to cage and leads to finish! Definite top 100 US match of 80s! Tommy "Wildfire" Rich vs "Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer - Last Battle of Atlanta "It's gotta be. It's going to be." - "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer waxing philosophic in the face of The Last Battle. Wildfire vs Mad Dog. Precious Paul above it all. A Flood Of Blood To End It All. In a match so concerned about finality, the beginning is neglected. It felt like we joined the match in progress in my opinion. They just jumped right into the heat segment and everyone selling a war of attrition. It was an incredible heat segment and one helluva finish, but it was missing that spark. I think it was because they cut out a red hot babyface shine or even if was just a red hot slugfest to start it out. I liked the cautious beginning with each man afraid of punching the cage or going into the cage. Instead of it breaking loose, Rich's arm gets smashed into the cage and Buzz goes to work. I like to tuck my complaints in the back end of a review, but because my sole complaint was about the beginning I thought I stick it there. What follows is incredible, violent, bloody war of attrition. Mad Dog was nominally in control of the majority of the match attacking the arm at first, but then switching to smashing Rich's head into the cage followed by biting and working the cut. Rich was great with the desperate hope spots like going for the balls and then just all out slugging Sawyer. I loved the one where he just grabbed Sawyer and piledrove him. At every turn Buzz because he established a lead early on that he was able to cutoff Rich in some fashion with an eye poke, going to the arm or the cut. Rich eventually busts Sawyer wide open on a cage shot. These just are totally bleeding buckets. The rules were a bit unclear at first. There is no ref in the ring. Over the PA, an official is counting at first I thought it was Last Man Standing, but pinfalls were permissible. There was an all-time great slugfest from their knees. The ultimate Oh Shit Highspot was Buzz hurling his own body into the cage as Wildfired ducked out of the way. Rich repeatedly slammed Sawyer's head into the cage. I liked how Rich collapsed and the official was counting both men down and then Rich kinda just flopped his body on Buzz Sawyer for the win. Impressive heat segment and finish. Absolute war of attrition with great selling, lots of struggle (loved Rich's desperate hope spots and Buzz's dickish cutoffs) and a very final finish. Still felt like it lacked energy. Absolutely great match and worth the 33 year wait. ****1/2 Ole Anderson vs Paul Ellering - Last Battle of Atlanta In a bonus match that is almost as great as the Last Battle of Atlanta, Ole and Precious Paul tear the house down! Love how Ellering cupped the back of Buzz's head when he got into the cage. Crimson Mask is an understatement here. You can barely make out Mad Dog's face. Ole comes in street clothes and just hands Ellering's ass to him. He even tears his jeans hardway!!! Incredible babyface shine this is what the above match needed. Just so much energy with Ellering playing pinball and Ole killing him at every turn. So that when Ellering finally manages an inverted atomic drop crowd, the crowd is molten for Ole. Ellering works a great heat segment on Ole busting him open and choking him. Ole's comeback is so awesome. He is such a great Walking Tall babayface. He just keeps moving forward with some great body punches and then firing them off into the face. I loved the headbutt finish completely with Ole walking through it and covering. Jake The Snake and Ellering whip Ole like a dog to set up the next show. Awesome bloodbath match with more energy, but didn't have the same hatred as the previous. Still a total classic in my opinion. ****1/2

Tommy "Wildfire" Rich vs "Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer - Last Battle of Atlanta "It's gotta be. It's going to be." - "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer waxing philosophic in the face of The Last Battle. Wildfire vs Mad Dog. Precious Paul above it all. A Flood Of Blood To End It All. In a match so concerned about finality, the beginning is neglected. It felt like we joined the match in progress in my opinion. They just jumped right into the heat segment and everyone selling a war of attrition. It was an incredible heat segment and one helluva finish, but it was missing that spark. I think it was because they cut out a red hot babyface shine or even if was just a red hot slugfest to start it out. I liked the cautious beginning with each man afraid of punching the cage or going into the cage. Instead of it breaking loose, Rich's arm gets smashed into the cage and Buzz goes to work. I like to tuck my complaints in the back end of a review, but because my sole complaint was about the beginning I thought I stick it there. What follows is incredible, violent, bloody war of attrition. Mad Dog was nominally in control of the majority of the match attacking the arm at first, but then switching to smashing Rich's head into the cage followed by biting and working the cut. Rich was great with the desperate hope spots like going for the balls and then just all out slugging Sawyer. I loved the one where he just grabbed Sawyer and piledrove him. At every turn Buzz because he established a lead early on that he was able to cutoff Rich in some fashion with an eye poke, going to the arm or the cut. Rich eventually busts Sawyer wide open on a cage shot. These just are totally bleeding buckets. The rules were a bit unclear at first. There is no ref in the ring. Over the PA, an official is counting at first I thought it was Last Man Standing, but pinfalls were permissible. There was an all-time great slugfest from their knees. The ultimate Oh Shit Highspot was Buzz hurling his own body into the cage as Wildfired ducked out of the way. Rich repeatedly slammed Sawyer's head into the cage. I liked how Rich collapsed and the official was counting both men down and then Rich kinda just flopped his body on Buzz Sawyer for the win. Impressive heat segment and finish. Absolute war of attrition with great selling, lots of struggle (loved Rich's desperate hope spots and Buzz's dickish cutoffs) and a very final finish. Still felt like it lacked energy. Absolutely great match and worth the 33 year wait. ****1/2 Ole Anderson vs Paul Ellering - Last Battle of Atlanta In a bonus match that is almost as great as the Last Battle of Atlanta, Ole and Precious Paul tear the house down! Love how Ellering cupped the back of Buzz's head when he got into the cage. Crimson Mask is an understatement here. You can barely make out Mad Dog's face. Ole comes in street clothes and just hands Ellering's ass to him. He even tears his jeans hardway!!! Incredible babyface shine this is what the above match needed. Just so much energy with Ellering playing pinball and Ole killing him at every turn. So that when Ellering finally manages an inverted atomic drop crowd, the crowd is molten for Ole. Ellering works a great heat segment on Ole busting him open and choking him. Ole's comeback is so awesome. He is such a great Walking Tall babayface. He just keeps moving forward with some great body punches and then firing them off into the face. I loved the headbutt finish completely with Ole walking through it and covering. Jake The Snake and Ellering whip Ole like a dog to set up the next show. Awesome bloodbath match with more energy, but didn't have the same hatred as the previous. Still a total classic in my opinion. ****1/2

Dick Togo vs Antonio Honda - DDT 1/30/11 I don't know who Antonio Honda is, but he was a fucking star in this. He was like best possible Japanese combination of Arn Anderson/Jerry Lawler in this. Hyper focused arm work and then amazing Lawler style comeback complete with one of the best damn punch-based comebacks I have ever seen (like right up there with Lawler in the Bock match). Dick Togo sold his ass off here just like in the match with Sato, but the work from Honda matched his and this is was a stellar match. Honda gains the upper hand by tangling him into a deathlock. The selling by Togo is incredible especially verbal and Honda rolls expertly and quickly so that he can settle into a hammerlock. This becomes the crux of the beginning of the match with Honda working these hammerlock into great old school pinning combinations. Really feels like the best possible Arn Anderson match being match with it being paired by the superb selling. A good example about how Togo has been affected is when he goes for his backslide/Pedigree spot that he cant do it due to his bad arm. Togo is able to hit a desperation kneelift and then a senton. He is targeting the midsection, but does not seem to be making in-roads. I really liked Honda grabbing a double wristlock to break a bodyscissors with Togo releasing the hold immediately and really selling it. Honda goes for the kill with a cross armbreaker, but Togo rolls on his belly, but still a painful armbar. Togo makes the ropes, his only saving grace. Togo ends up on the outside and Honda wants to finish Togo off and hits a big suicide dive, BUT HE HURTS HIMSELF!!! I love it! Really puts over the SUICIDE in Suicide Dive. He is busted open and Togo actually gets control due to Honda overextending himself. Very cool. Togo rakes the forehead by boot and is working the cut with punches. Beautiful. Honda's selling here is all time great and he is matching Togo and maybe he is exceeding Togo. Then HONDA JUST EXPLODES!!! JERRY LAWLER-ESQUE PUNCH COMEBACK! Just absolutely fires you up!!! Dragon Suplex! Never seen The King or Double A do that, but he is Japanese. Perfect Arn Anderson-style DDT. But misses the Jerry Lawler middle rope fist drop. Togo gets desperation crossface because Honda is wrestling like a man possessed, but he loses strength in his arm!!! Tries Pedigree, but cant hood arm settles for Diamond Cutter. Was Togo gimmick that he loved the Attitude Era??? He hits Pedigree, but then crashes & burns on Senton. Enforcer DDT and HITS THE FIST DROP! Kick out. He is toast. But he goes down swinging with one of the all time best punch exchanges. It is like two Jerry Lawlers punching each other. Some of the best simultaneous punches ever. Togo gets the better of the exchange and wins with Pedigree/Senton. Simple, elegant and just so damn Southern, but in Japan. Selling was superb. Honda wrestled the match of his life against Togo first attacking the arm then having to make a comeback from his own move in spectacular fashion! I loved the build to end with each man hitting their set up move then missing the finish. Only to go back to that well and when Togo finally wins it; it is through the punch exchange to earn him his finish sequence. Really incredible matches. One of those matches you can watch completely in a vacuum (hell I have seen like 5 Togo matches and never seen a Honda match) and just be totally blown away by it. A Southern Classic in 2011 Japan is just awesome. ****3/4

This review makes me sad.

Dick Togo vs Hikaru Sato - DDT 11/28/10 Dick Togo's selling was other worldly in this match. Togo's selling was so good that it actually kind of hurt the match because when he would blow it off it was much more noticeable than if he was to have sold a little less. I can see why this match was really praised because there were a lot of amazing individual moments of Togo selling awesomeness, but as a match I thought this was very good but nothing truly remarkable. It was Togo controlling early but his opponent saw an opening for a flash submission and applied a Triangle. This rendered Togo weak enough for Sato to hit a kneecrusher on apron. Thought the leg work was decent but the selling far outstripped the work. The transitions were a real weak spot. Togo just started to hit clotheslines and then hit a DDT on the floor. This was his opening to start working the neck, which he did with a chinlock. This is a personal hang up, but I am just so over the chinlock and then three elbows to the gut sequence. We get a spinwheel kick by Sato but he makes the bad move to slap Togo, which fires him up that was a better transition. Some really great jelly leg selling from Togo. Punch by Sato levels Togo! Awesome, awesome deadweight selling by Togo, he looks knocked the fuck out. Togo bucks him off to the floor. The suplex struggle was really lame and went nowhere and just ended up with them giving up. Sato grapevines leg in ropes and then goes back to suplex, but Togo gets Hangmans DDT, that should have been the finis. Now Sato has a single leg crab. Transitions blow in this. Togo's backslide into a Pedigree and then a Sato German level the playing field. Pretty straightforward so far Wrestler A control->Wrestler B control -> Two finishers to level playing field and reset. Only decent transition was triangle choke. Togo's selling was great. After this is a pretty routine finish run: strike exchange, submission exchange (Sato cross armbreaker -> Togo Crossface). Togo wants his Pedigree, but Sato goes with a dropkick to knee, that's good. Togo clotheslines and Pedigree, but Senton eats knees. Here comes Sato's finish run anklelock which gets pulled into a backdrop driver, pretty legit cool spot. German kickout and back to anklelock. You know what this does remind me a lot of a Kurt Angle match where it is a lot of spots but zero transitions. Togo big boot and back drop over top. Awesome flip splash to the floor and he hits Pedigree on floor. I thought your knee was hurt. Senton wins. So many times Togo's knee all of sudden didn't hurt. Love the knee selling but if you are going to go big then you got to commit. He lacked commitment. Sato was fine. Like I said a Kurt Angle match where individual spots were good, it did not feel cohesive. I think the knee work was supposed to be the constant thread, but Sato's work on knee was average and Togo sold too big at times that hurt when he needed knee. All the pieces for a great match, but they just did not put them together. ***3/4

Sheamus vs Cesaro - RAW 8/29/16 Tenacious start. These two are always hard hitting feels like something you would see from the Carolinas in the 80s or All Japan in 80s/90s. There was something about the beginning of this match just upped the intensity. You really felt like this match mattered to both of them unlike so many matches that come off like exhibitions. Sheamus' arm selling was golden. I thought he was doing the heel feigning the injury spot, but then Cesaro went to town on it and it was awesome. Coming back from the break, I thought the offense just built so well. These are the two of the three best offensive wrestlers on the roster (AJ being number three) and you could see how each one of their cool highspots was earned not given. Then that BUMP! Wow! Inventive. Painful. Looked like a match ender. It was treated like a match ender. It was sold like a match ender. Hats off to Cesaro for selling that so big. In so many matches now you would see something like that and then it becomes watered down by three more kickouts and fighting spirit. What I loved was this badass bump led directly to the logical finish (Cloverleaf, which Sheamus had attempted earlier) and it was a quick tapout. Perfect finish! Cesaro got a bad break. Sheamus pounced and won. Loved it! Sold so well. Hard hitting slugfest, but what puts this over the top is the incredible selling by both men, the intensity and energy and inventive finish that was sold like death. RAW match of the year by a country mile and one of the best WWE matches of the year. ****1/2

Sheamus vs Cesaro - RAW 8/29/16 Incredible selling (Sheamus' arm and then Cesaro's tailbone), high level of tenacity throughout, and great build that led to a super inventive badass bump that led directly to the finish not three more nearfalls. Awesome old school, heavy hitting match. ****1/2

Double post my bad.

The bump immediately led to a logical finish that's awesome. Why are we complaining when it happened in the series or if it a heatless feud??? Their job is go out and make the best of the situation. Yes, Sheamus is completely without heat and Cesaro has cooled down, but putting on a kickass match with a really cool finish is a good way to build to that. I love Sheamus/Cesaro and could watch them wrestle for days, but the previous RAW matches were a bit same-y. This felt really heated. I loved Sheamus' selling of the arm. I loved the tenacity of the work. The spots were logical, cool and built on each other. Then they came up with a very inventive bump and did NOT do three more false finishes, but was properly sold as a big ass bump that leads to a finish. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

How does the WWA title have A* prestige??? Has anyone ever watched WWA matches? Are Great Wojo vs green Scotty Steiner good?