Superstar Sleeze

WWF Jr Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami vs NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Steve Keirn - NJPW 2/1/80 Time to see if Fujinami is all he is cracked up to be. This is a double title match as the announcer points out a dozen times. Florida & WWF guys work NJPW so we get to see full head of hair Keirn. I remember loving Keirn vs Saito in Georgia. I thought Keirn was the worker I was more drawn to in this. The opening matwork was fine. There were a couple nice counters I liked Fujinami figure-4'ing the leg of Keirn while he in a toe hold to reverse into his own toehold for instance. Overall, it was not like the best matwork either. I really liked Keirn's reaction to Fujinami getting a one count by powdering and resetting the match. Keirn is tired of being in a Fujinami headlock and backs him in a corner and lays in some stiff shots. Keirn as a vicious prick heel was great. He worked over the midsection with huge kneelifts and a great double stomp. He threw Fujinami into the seats and into the post. He was DQ'd for excessive blows to the head on the apron after he opened up Fujinami. Fujinami got in some nice hope spots and showed some fire, but this was Keirn all the way in the first fall. Fujinami 1-0. Keirn was on fire in this fall. Fujinami may have won the first fall, but Keirn is in command. He clubs away at Fujinami and throws him around at will. Piledriver! Lackadaisical covers by Keirn. He is throwing bombs. Goes for bulldog but slammed into corner. Gets into a firefight with Fujinami who is coming back. Fujinami nails a German Suplex to win the second fall and BOTH titles! Loved Keirn as a heel in this and thought Fujinami was a good babyface. Great once Keirn went full heel. ****

The fact Luger finished behind Okada is everything that is wrong about this world. I did my part and voted for Takada. The only reason I did not vote him higher is because I have only seen a limited sampling of his 90s stuff, but I really enjoy him.

LETS GO BLUE!

Correction: Jimmy Redman's Sheamus Rant is the best thing to come out of all these podcasts. WOW! I thought I loved Sheamus! That's devotion. I want to go back and watch every 2012 Sheamus match now.

After hours and hours of listening to these podcasts, my favorite line so far is "I got a lot of time for Hogan". I love that! Hogan is the best!

Just watched the Great Antonio match. Was he drunk. I was laughing pretty hard when Inoki goes for a shoulder tackle and just goes flying off the fat guy. It is self-serious Inoki so it is pretty funny. Then Great Antonio starts hitting him pretty hard in the back of the neck and I was like this is not going to end well for him. Inoki beats the living shit out of his face for like a minute and he is a bloody pulp. Inoki was a bad muthafucka.

NWF Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs Antonio Inoki - NJPW 4/30/80 Huge improvement over their first match! It was not worked at a Hansen pace, but he was allowed to be more of himself by kicking more ass and taking more of the match. He was clubbing Inoki very hard in the arm on each tie up and then just start blasting him in the back of the head, neck and back. Inoki was trying to go for the Lariat arm, but the barrage from Hansen proved too much and he had to roll out of the ring twice. Not often, we see Inoki fight from underneath. Hansen goes for the Lariat, but misses. Inoki hits an Enziguiri which feels like a huge game changer as Hansen has to powder. Hansen is wounded and Inoki is fired up. Inoki goes to the mat, but Hansen just starts drilling with elbows and knees to the head. Hansen regains control. Inoki does get a cross armbreaker on the Lariat arm, which may have saved him as soon after...Hansen clobbers him with a Lariat, but Inoki falls on the apron and Hansen is in pain. He suplexes Inoki on the apron! Impressive spot! I thought Inoki was going to lose by countout, but instead Hansen goes flying out the ropes when Inoki dodges him. Inoki hits a FLYING KNEE FROM THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR ON HANSEN!!! Wow! I totally would have bought into a countout finish and been just fine. Inoki pins him in the ring and ref starts the count early and counts fast. He knows where his bread is buttered. Much better with Inoki working underneath and Hansen looking huge here. Hansen was kicking so much ass and Inoki really felt he was facing a grave challenge. The Lariat miss was great and the Enziguiri felt huge. The finish stretch was awesome. Cross armbreaker setting up that Hansen could not get all of his Lariat. Setting up the countout finish tease only to have Inoki hit a top rope flying knee to the floor. Really cool stuff. ****1/4

NWF Heavyweight Champion Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen - 2/8/80 Stan Hansen wrestles very un-Stan Hansen-like in this match. He is a more traditional hell, bumping and selling to shine up the babyface early. Could be him going up against the promoter or maybe how he worked in 1980? Basically Hansen is a very good heel in this match, but if he wrestled like this he would be a wrestler fondly remembered like 40-60 in the GWE poll. It is Bull in the China Shop that is special and that's not what we get. Inoki is fine. He definitely has a connection to the crowd, but he does have any moves early that really pop the crowd. He bests Hansen early on the mat. He even slaps him, but Hansen tags him back. Overall, Inoki outwrestles Hansen early and uses a lot of holds. Hansen starts clobbering, which gets him an advantage. Inoki begins his comeback with a dropkick and then Hansen hits his lariat out of nowhere. Inoki KICKS OUT! I bit on that. Then they go out on the floor and I totally bit on the double countout finish. Inoki brings him back in and nails a back drop driver, bit on that finish. Hansen decks him on the apron with a lariat to win the match via countout and apparently the championship. The finish run got this to be a pretty entertaining match. It was a strong over babyface versus rugged heel that is willing to sell. So it was very good and the finish run which had be biting three times on false finishes was pretty exciting and the real finish was badass. Totally makes up for Inoki kicking out of the Lariat. ***

I have a lot to say about this podcast, which I really enjoyed and I am still going through top twenty. But God, I have had Charles in Charge stuck in my head for three days and people at work hate me now.

All is right with the world, Matt D is the high vote on Bill Eadie.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Nobuhiko Takada - UWF 10/22/84 Takada came out to So Happy Together and Fujiwara Ride of Valkyries. God Bless Japan! Why the fuck did I wait so long to get into Fujiwara! He is the best at coming up with completely plausible way to hit pro wrestling moves in a match. His backbreaker was tight. I really like these two together. Takada has so much to prove against Fujiwara, who is as confident as he was against Super Tiger. I loved the early grappling. It was quick without lacking the grit and struggle. Takada had some nice early gymnastics and Fujiwara/Takada did their bridge/snapmare sequence. It was grappling with highspots. The ultimate highspot was Fujiwara's escape from the Boston Crab that needs to be seen to be believed! At about the ten minute mark, Takada gets fed up starts throwing strikes at Fujiwara this seems like a bad idea at first because Fujiwara gets him in a corner and belts him. However, Takada actually wins the stand up and moves into a chinlock. Takada does not wrestle his control from a position of strength. His control feels tenuous at best and he wants to end it quickly because he knows he could lose any second. Fujiwara does come roaring back with some vicious strikes. He tries for the Crossface Chickenwing, but settle for a wicked piledriver. There is a cut due to bad video and next thing you know Takada is coming flying off the top and crashing and burning. My one complaint down the stretch is that sometimes Takada would pop up and start to go back on offense with kicks. It just seemed too sudden even for this pro-shoot-style mix. Fujiwara is killing Takada with butterfly suplexes and huge headbutts and then it is just here comes Takada. I think there could have been a better transition for Takada to have one last gasp. I LOVE the finish with Takada going for the crossface chickenwing only for them to snapmare each other over with Fujiwara coming out with the Crossface Chickenwing and the win. Highly entertaining shoot-style match. Loved the story of Takada as the underdog trying to match Fujiwara. Fujiwara is fucking awesome. Silent badass demeanor. Strong as all get out, great on the mat, cool highspots, great logical set ups, crazy awesome strikes. Excellent match! ****1/4

Super Tiger vs Akira Maeda - UWF 9/11/84 Just finished watching the match, I cant think of one thing Maeda did stand out to me. He is 0 for 2 thus far. Well, I guess he is taller than Super Tiger. Super Tiger, kayfabe-wise, has the worst strategy. The money is in his kicks and pro-style offense. He consistently gets owned on the mat. Yet, he still goes for takedowns and then ends up in an double wristlock or a cross armbreaker. Maeda was so bland. There was no struggle. He would take Super Tiger down, but with no sense of urgency. Like Fujiwara would take him down at will with power. Maeda just kinda would let it happen. All the pops from the crowd and from my couch were for Super Tiger. He should just stand up and kick because he is great at that. Tries to press his first advantage with a top rope kneedrop, but misses. He does nail a sweet Tombstone/Moonsault combo. That should have been the finish. Double wristlock goes nowhere for him. Maeda wakes up and starts kicking and throws a wicked belly to belly (ok, I remembered one thing). Tiger recovers and belts him with kicks before polishing him off with Crossface Chickenwing! So happy, Super Tiger won. Things did not look good for him at the beginning and Maeda was so dull I was actively rooting for Super Tiger. I did enjoy the ref refusing to count a Maeda bridge because he couldn't get Tiger's shoulders flat to the mat and Maeda was like fuck it I will just go for my eighth cross armbreaker attempt. I think when people complain about boring shoot-style it is matches like this. Hard to call it shoot-style when there is a tombstone/moonsault combo, thought. Super Tiger is a really fun worker in this and Maeda is dull, but hey I like grappling and I thought the finish run was pretty hot. ***1/2

I would never imagine that I would be the high vote on Stan Lane lol. I don't even have any particular affinity for him. Just weird. I do enjoy that I have been the high vote for late 2000s Michinoku Pro worker and 1980s Southern tag specialist.

August 5, 2000 at Differ Ariake is the debut show and features Misawa & Taue vs Kobashi & Akiyama in 2 out of 3 falls match. Angle after match to set up the next night so be sure to check it out. August 6, 2000 at Differ Ariake is the second show and features Akiyama vs Kobashi in the main event and Misawa & Ogawa vs Ikeda & Shiga, Taue & Izumida vs No Fear in the co-main events. Very cool we were at the same show! I met Adam Cole & Jimmy Jacobs after the show. They were cool. Great minds think alike! Thanks Eegah! We will try. My life was kinda clusterfuck and still, but good news, I fucking love wrestling again. Was burnt out for a couple months so that should help overcome my clusterfuck life right now.

Really great reviews. I will echo a lot of these sentiments. Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara - UWF 9/7/84 Fujiwara is such a gritty badass and I love that you can hear him snarling throughout this match. Coming off the tag match, I fully expected Super Tiger to control the majority of the match. He seemed to have no problem gaining an advantage and the match felt like a star making vehicle for him. Instead, he was totally gobbled up by the stronger, bigger Fujiwara. Fujiwara threw Super Tiger around at will and was countering him on the mat like it was nothing. At first, I could not make sense of Super Tiger's strategy from a kayfabe standpoint. Fujiwara was murdering him on the mat with wristlocks, triangle chokes and cross armbreakers. Tiger was playing right into it. He needed to use his karate kicks to establish some sort of game, but trying to fight Fujiwara on the mat was silly. He gets a big slap, but again plays into Fujiwara's head. Then he gets a WICKED kick to the head. Fujiwara sells it perfectly. Shocked, rattled and falls to one knee. Again, Tiger tries for a double wristlock, but once Fujiwara regains his wits he easily counters to a position of strength. Somewhere in here, Fujiwara counters a Triangle with a fucking piledriver. Mark Out City! Third time is a charm as Tiger strings a combination of kicks then a Tombstone Piledriver. One of the best Tombstones ever! He goes for a top rope kneedrop, but misses. Fujiwara pissed about the Tombstone nails his own piledriver. It has now morphed into a standard New Japan, which I am totally fine with. Tiger makes for a great underdog and Fujiwara is an excellent no-nonsense shooter. Pele by Tiger and misses the moonsault. Fujiwara does not fuck around and goes after the knee viciously with single leg crabs and figure-4s. I love how everything he does has struggle to it. The struggle over the German was excellent. Super Tiger fighting with everything he had to avoid was great. Fujiwara looks to finish him off and Super Tiger hits a roundhouse kick to the face. Nasty. Then knocks his head off before applying a Crossface Chickenwing for the Upset, come from behind victory. Loved the grappling early that really exploited the styles difference and weight difference. I think the pro-style finish run complemented it perfectly. Super Tiger could have sold the moments better. Selling the fact that he was overwhelmed, then he on top being pumped and then knee selling could have been better. He just kinda did he standard, nothing is wrong floating on his feet routine. He felt very hollow. Fujiwara was excellent. Classic match. ****3/4

Super Tiger & Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara - UWF 7/23/84 It is hard to call anything that features a tombstone piledriver, diving top rope headbutt and somersault from a guy wearing Tiger Mask shoot-style, but we all gotta start somewhere. Really enjoyable match! All these guys are from New Japan so not so shockingly this feels like a New Japan match. All Japan was always the bomb-heavy more American pro style promotion. Much like the New Japan I have seen this is focused on grappling with the highspots being more along the lines of flashy karate or amateur throws. I can already tell that Fujiwara was a huge omission to my list. His headbutts were fucking nasty. I loved his general dickishness. He was the first to throw a strike, an open hand slap to Super Tiger. I loved his bridge/snapmare sequence with Takada. He was great on the mat and really kicked some Takada ass. The story of the match was that Super Tiger would build up an advantage through his karate kicks and high spots. Then he would tag out to Takada. Takada was totally game and he really tried his best, but he would be overwhelmed by his more experienced opponents. As much as Fujiwara kicked ass in this match and as much as Super Tiger wowed with this highspots, I thought Takada was the MVP of this match. He was a perfect, wet behind the ears white meat babyface. He was just a notch below Fujiwara and Maeda in kayfabe, but he never shied away from the moment. He was going to try his hardest. I loved the finish stretch because after all that grueling action it looked like all of Takada's hard work was going to pay off and he was score a massive upset over Fujiwara. Missile dropkick! Belly to Belly! Fujiwara is able to wrangle him into a German suplex bridge (not really a throw, more of a pinning combination, wonder if the Tanahashi haters will bash him for that) to put Takada down. So close, but yet so far away. Just a quick word on Maeda, did not show me much. He just seemed there. Inoffensive. Really entertaining match. Thought three of the four really contributed different elements and it told a great story. ****1/4

Amen, brutha

Yes, I am pretty confident this actually happened on 1/1/84 and was mislabeled on the set. The 82 series for the Southern title, this was for the AWA World Championship.

I'M SO EXCITED! I JUST CANT HIDE IT!

Terry Funk vs Sabu - ACW 11/6/93 I apparently watched this match on May 11, 2013. Welp, I had no fucking recollection of this match. I loved it all over again! Sabu is so great. He separates himself from other stuntmen wrestlers with one of the best working punches, great selling, and actual psychology around his high risk moves. They are HIGH risk, they should NOT land all the time. You really get the feel that Terry did not know what to make of Sabu and all his leg dives at first. Sabu blasts him with a punch. I love how Sabu's highspots feel like a full court press. Nowhere is safe from Sabu because at any moment he could dive on top of you. I have to agree with myself from three years ago that Sabu's piledriver is bitchin as is Terry Funk's selling of it. The transition is Sabu missing a moonsault (very well-executed). Now Funk is firing away with stiff shots, I love it. Funk not to be outdone (in 1981 he dove from the top rope onto Snuka on the floor) hurls his body at Sabu from the middle rope to the floor. He clears out a bunch of chairs. I love the use of chairs throughout the match. Sabu's transition back on offense could have been better, but hey those punches are fucking sweet so I shouldn't complain. The finish is great. Sabu moonsaults onto a table so Funk immediately grabs the Spinning Toehold. Inside cradle and reversed Terry Funk wins. Excellent Indy brawl. Super fun. ****

SUNSET FLIP POWERBOMB FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR!!! WOW! That should have been the finish. Liked the Tanaka legsweep, early. Nice TV match. Kid looked good.

NWA International Champion Brusier Brody vs Terry Funk -AJPW 12/7/82 Can I change my Harley vote to Brusier Brody? I kid, I kid. Don't be afraid of this match, Embrace The Brody! I think if people stop thinking of him as a Wildman, but rather as Frankenstein then he would be more appreciated. He has just been misunderstood. On serious note, his point blank refusal to bump for Terry at the end of the match really hurt this match. I get being stingy with your bumps, but you need to bump at some point! Terry sold his fucking ass off in this match. No one sells the trepidation of having to fight a monster better than Terry Funk. He went in trying to land blows and Brusier just hit the bodyslam and massive leg drop to take control. Terry started to grab his ear so Brody smashed with a chair and then the post. Terry fucking blades it and then holds it for the rest of the match. This is a master class in selling. Brody hits a MONSTER piledriver for two. Funk starts swinging while holding his ear. His entire comeback is great. He slams Brody on hard objects, busts him open and throws a fucking table at him. Funk is ripping it up. If Brody would just fucking bump! Funk realizes he wont so he scoops the leg for the Spinning Toehold. Here comes Hansen! They brawl some more before Dory comes out and all Hell Breaks Loose. Terry is throwing chairs in the ring that Hansen & Brody are using to brutalize his brother. Jumbo grabs a chair and sends them packing. The brawl continues, great angle to set up the tag match for the Real World Tag League! Better finish and if Brody would fucking bump, this would be an all-timer, as is it is super fun, great Terry Funk performance. ****

Terry & Dory Funk vs Brusier Brody & Jimmy Snuka - AJPW 12/13/81 Loved this match the first time I saw it and love it even more now. Total stone cold classic. Stan Hansen showing up in All Japan was just massive on par with the NWO invasion. The announcer loses his shit and Baba (I think it is Baba) is all like what the fuck. Well I don't speak Japanese, but that was his tone suggested to me. The crowd is BATSHIT! The match follows is crazy awesome. Easily the best thing, I have ever seen Brody and Snuka apart of. They are just the perfect monster heels to go up against the lovable Funk brothers. Snuka looks fucking stacked here. Wow! Terry tries to antagonize Snuka. He runs him over and Snuka just brushes it off with a kip up. He is like an athletic Creature from the Black Lagoon. The Funk have to double up on Snuka, who takes a Flair Flop. Someone has been working Mid-Atlantic. Love the three tries before Junior gets him over on the butterfly suplex. Kick out at one because he is a coked-out monster! HUSS! HUSS! Here comes Brody! Big dropkick by Brody and Junior kicks out at one. Two can play at that game says, Dory. Terry has the dropkick scouted now and hooks on to the ropes. Love that spot! Terry bumps huge for Brody making him look like a mountain. Great one arm slam by Brody! Terry gets the tag and Dory is rocking it, but Brody refuses to bump. This is the opposite of a Harley Race match. Great sequence as Snuka looks to leapfrog, but Junior catches him mid-air and turns into a Spinning Toehold. That's their equalizer against these monsters. Brody chops the hell out of Dory and Terry is pissed. Nice headlock work by the heels. Terry clubs Brody in the back of the head when he walks too close to their side of town. Brody distracted and Dory unloads with Euro Uppercuts, awesome psychology. Terry creating the distraction for his older brother. Double suplex on Brody, everything has to be doubled up on the heels. Brody sends him for the ride and Terry takes the Flair Flip and is selling his ass off for Brody. Funk throws Snuka out of the ring in desperation. Like the Creature of the Black Lagoon, he rises again to hit a springboard splash in 1981!!! HOLY SHIT! Dory has enough and throws Snuka out. So Terry not to be outdone hurls his body from the top rope to the floor on SNUKA!!! HOLY SHIT!!! Talk about upping the ante and fighting fire with fire. Brody does some arena brawling with Terry that just adds to the chaos. Dory looks to have Snuka beat multiple times, but Brody saves or Snuka is too close to the ropes. Terry gets in and he wants Brody. Off come the pads! It is on like Donkey Kong! They throw haymakers at each other and when Terry gets trapped in their corner he ballshots Snuka. Awesome! Awesome! The Funks work over the leg in spectacular fashion to set up a Double Spinning Toe Hold spot!!!! Brody and Terry end up outside. You knew it was going to happen and then it does. Brody feeds him to the Lion. LARIAOOOOOTOOOOOO!!!! Terry is fucking dead. Dory looks to have Snuka beat and then realizes his brother might have just been decapitated. He checks to see he is still alive and then does the manliest thing ever and goes it alone with the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Frankenstein. Dory is ripshit and blasts his way through Snuka. Tag to Brody and Dory attacks him as he is coming through the ropes. THIS IS WAR! Dory has Brody's mane and is just teeing off on him! Finally the numbers game catches up to him. Snuka hits a diving headbutt. 1-2-NO! HUGE POP! Brody suplex and Dory presses him off!!! He is HULKING UP! That would be hilarious if Dory started to do the Hulk Up routine. Snuka splash eats knees! Dory kneecrusher on Snuka's bad leg. DO YOU BELIVE IN MIRACLES???? SPINNING TOEHOLD! TAP! TAP! TAP! Brody clubbing blow to the head and a King Kong Kneedrop puts Dory out of his misery. Alas. Hansen celebrates with the Axis of Evil. Dory keeps fighting so Hansen beats the shit out of him. JUMBO TSURUTA AND GIANT FUCKING BABA SAVE!!!! HOLY SHIT! CROWD IS SO LOUD! HANSEN VS BABA...MONEY!!! Awesome, awesome, awesome match and angle!!! Snuka and Brody are like old school movie monsters. The Funks are great selling and doubling up their offense. Loved Terry flying off the top rope not to be outdone by Snuka. Then when they finally look like they have the monsters down each with a Spinning Toehold, the new big badass rips off Terry's head and Dory has to go it alone. One of the all-time best tag matches, yes, I am going all the way for this one. *****

NWA United National Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs Harley Race - AJPW 8/1/82 It is like Harley thought to himself what if an entire match was a finish run. Then you realize when there is no build there is no heat. As this is one of the quietest crowds until the actual finish run. This is a bump & run match through and through. Within the two minutes, there are nine bumps! NINE! Harely seems to think a babyface shine is I will take 2 bumps for every one bump my opponent has to take. My biggest problem was the lack of urgency on Harley's part. The bumps and the moves were great! There was just no urgency or effort to set them up. I am giving Jumbo serious credit for keeping this together. He was the one stopping this from becoming a spot fest. He set up all his moves with hard strikes and showed firey emotion. He did not just hit a suplex or a high knee. He would beat the shit out of Harley and then earn it. Harley would just sort of shake it off, hit a strike and then his highspot. Once he busted open Jumbo (this came after a Jumbo high knee with no big transition, it just happened), this match did pick up and was thanks to Jumbo. Jumbo sold his ass off and looked like a man possessed when he was making his comeback. Listen to that dead crowd come alive as Jumbo rejuvenated them. This is a Jumbo you rarely get to see and he looked awesome as a bleeding, pissed off brawler. I will give Harley some credit he did work the cut. Jumbo busts Harley open, but he cant even bleed as much as Jumbo. Jumbo totally outworking Harley. In the middle of his comeback, Harley just throws out a random backbreaker. What the fuck, Harley?!??!!? Watch the match, there is no setup. It is just Im going to hit a backbreaker now. A modern wrestler would be crucified for that. Jumbo hits a great lariat! They play off the Flair 82 finish with a German both men's shoulders down, but that's not the finish. Harley wins the match with a back suplex, yep that sums up this whole match. I am kinda embarrassed I voted for Harley in the Greatest Wrestler Ever poll and forgot to vote for Baba. My criticism of Jumbo is that he does seem to follow rather than lead in the early 80s and let his opponent dictate the match. He should have done more to reign in Harley's tendencies. Watch the match for Jumbo's selling and comeback. So disappointing he lost. Still an above average match thanks to Jumbo and I will say there was plenty of drama down the stretch. ***

Valentine like a Tenryu draws you in with his stone face. It is the silent badass charm. That being said Valentine did his fair share of stooging (TIMMMMMMBAAAAAHHHH) and just being a mean asshole. DiBiase is just there at times. Timothy with a higher ranking for Backlund than me! Dude is a keeper! Plus we had Vader at the same point. Minor correction: Vader did not say he was a fat piece of shit after his match with Shawn. The story is that Shawn would not lay down for Vader. He did not make Vader say he was a fat piece of shit. As an HBK apologist, felt the need to say that. Did Shawn Michaels not make either one of your lists? I was listening to this in the car and Pete you had another money rant in you like the one for Rey and cant remember who it was for. Damn, youre good in these. Still got the top ten left.