Superstar Sleeze

IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama - NJPW Tokyo Dome 5/2/03 One of those watched this in the morning before the girlfriend woke up, but only getting to the review 12 hours later so sorry in advance if shit is out of order. Nagata successfully defended his IWGP title last year to the day against Takayama at the last May 2nd Tokyo Dome. Here's how things have changed since then. Nagata is still champ and successfully defended against numerous challengers most recently Yasuda. Takayama won the resurrected NWF title at the 1/4/03 Tokyo Dome show (the show Nagata defended against Barnett). After he Nagata/Barnett match, Takayama/Nagata had a staredown. After Nagata defeated Yasuda in a bloody war, Takayama came in and suplexed the defeated Yasuda only to be drilled with a Saito Suplex leading to a pull-apart. Pretty good build here. Pretty standard New Japan start with the feeling out grappling. Takayama rocks Nagata with a head kick early, but doesnt lead to much. The big opening early was a Takayama knee lift to the head. The knee lift is always a Takayama bread & butter and it is important in this match. Takayama pummels Nagata and goes for King of Mountain. He knocks Nagata off the apron twice, but Takayama goes for a Sheamus-style Ten Beats of the Balrog, Nagata snaps the arm over his shoulder and then over the top rope. I love that spot so much. There's so much drama to it and the guy usually taking it really sells the shit out of it. This leads to the big limb psychology of the match as Nagata really goes after the arm with kicks and submissions. It is something he goes back to quite a bit. Takayama sells it down the stretch during the strike exchanges. Takayama's big comeback spot is a huge knee lift into the breadbasket. Nagata's two best chances at winning are Super Exploder (not much heat, I dont think Nagata was going to lose and figured it would take more) and a round kick that damn near takes Takayama's head off late. Takayama's selling of the arm down the home stretch is so good. Takayama weathers some Kawada-style enziguiris and STEAMROLLS Nagata with a Kneelift. A barrage of kneelifts later and an Everest German and we have a new IWGP Champion! My recollection is the 2002 match is better, but this is still pretty good. Good, stiff strikes. It is lacking some sort of hook or cool aspect to take it to the next level. It is a good meat & potatoes match. ***1/2

IWGP Champion Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 10/9/04 One of the most bizarre world title changed in history. Look I get it, Fujita is a legit successful MMA fighter so getting him to drop the title will always be challenging. Until GOTNW brought it up, I never thought that was Fujita throwing the match early at 2:30 to avoid a more decisive loss because that could make sense. Fujita comes out gets a Head-Arm Triangle which he switches to a standing choke, Sasaki falls back and he is forces to the relinquish the hooks to kick out. In This short time, they manage to do a strike exchange, Sasaki steams rolls him with a lariat. Northern Lights Bomb, I knew it’d be short so I thought that was the finish but Fujita kicks out. Ok. Weird. They re-do Head-Arm Triangle spot with Sasaki falling back and this time winning with the pin. I get the logic here a long match with a decisive finish is worse loss for Fujita than slipping on banana peel but at the very least just job clean to the flash bomb. The 1-2 punch of Sasaki lariat and Northern Lights Bomb is a good compromise. Instead he kicks out of Sasaki’s finish and Sasaki wins like a chump. Either bad booking or a shitty double cross.

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 10/8/01 Fujita is the current IWGP Champion defeating Norton for the title and with wins over Nagata and Don Frye. Some reason this match is not a title match. Sasaki was the heir apparent with Hashimoto leaving to form Zero-One and Mutoh joining AJPW and Chono being banged up. However the rise of MMA and Inokiism brought an end to that. That being said Sasaki was still the top traditional pro wrestler so I think they did want to protect him. I expected Fujita to bulldoze Sasaki and force him to fight underneath but Sasaki controlled 75% of this which is typical Japanese style. I am a big Sasaki fan and he held his own. Big meaty clotheslines, great armbars and leg work. Fujita caught him with a spine buster on a charge and did his standard ground & pound knees. Sasaki got out of the head & arm triangle. Sasaki looked to be in dominant position targeting the leg with kicks and drop kick. He had Fujita in that inverted Figure-4 Liger likes but Fujita just beat the shit out of him from his back with punches. PRIDE-style punches to the back of the head end it with red tackling Fujita. Sasaki looked great on offense and got a chance to hold his own, but this is Fujita’s world we are just living in it. ***

IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs Tadao Yasuda - NJPW 4/23/03 I had no clue what to expect out of this match because I have never seen a Yasuda match in my life. Besides seeing his name crop up on the list of IWGP Champions, I have never heard much about him, but I knew he was an ex-Sumo, shooter. I feel like if Nagata was the #3-#4 guy in New Japan with two all-timers in at the Ace and #2 positions he would be highly regarded. He just doesnt have the charisma to be the Ace, but he is a really solid wrestler and I have grown to like him more and more. Do not let the pedestrian start this match has a raging crescendo! There is a lot of hype for the upcoming Dome match between the NWF Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Nagata in a couple days. Yasuda is backed by his MMA cronies including the wild Kazunari Murakami who Nagata had the best match of his career with in December 2002. The opening pummeling and grappling solid, nothing memorable. There was some chippiness at the start with Yasuda being kind of an MMA prick. It picks up a little when Yasuda tags Nagata when the ref orders a break. Nagata targets Yasuda's leg with kicks and then works over the leg. Murakami distracts Nagata and this leads Yasuda take advantage with a head arm triangle (somewhere in there are sumo slaps, a butterfly suplex, but my memory is failing me on the order). Nagata switches from the leg to the arm and intends to break off Yasuda's arm and take it home with him. Yasuda's selling is really good. and I love the Japanese spot of snapping the arm over the shoulder. It is such a dramatic spot. Quick tangent in these matches I am often interested to see how is portrayed as the better wrestler. Is Yasuda due to his shoot credentials and Nagata's relative nascent Ace status considered the better wrestler and Nagata needs to overcome him by being valiant and a great wrestler? Or is Nagata the champion, full Ace and Yasuda has to be a dick to have a chance. It turns out it is the latter, but it took a while to get there. It is clear that Murakami's interference was necessary to make Yasuda a threat as seen by the next spot. The climax of the arm work is a cross-armbreaker where Nagata will not break (there's be a couple instances of Yasuda not yielding clean breaks) and Murakami throws a water bottle at Nagata! HELL YEAH! It is on. Nagata dives into the fray, but he is not just fighting Murakami, he is fighting the whole crew and ends up getting mugged. Nagata comes up a bloody mess and is thrown into Yasuda. This is when the match goes from good to great! Yasuda works the cut with some nasty jabs. DRAGON LEG SCREW! HELL YEAH! Yasuda grabs a kicks and PUNCHES HIM IN THE OPEN WOUND! Yasuda goes back to his tried and true choke. NAGATA CROSSES HIS ANKLES WEARING A CRIMSON MASK! VOLK HAN SHIT! FUCK YEAH! YASUDA COMES BACK WITH A BALL SHOT! Shoot-style with ballshots is Marty Sleeze wrestling!!! Nagata survives. It is a bomb fest now! Tiger Drivers from Yasuda and Exploders from Nagata. It was a charge by Yasuda that led to an overhead throw by Nagata. Then Tenryu/Kawada-style enziguiris led to a barrage of Exploders for the win! Terrific ending. Nagata has way more bloody matches than I thought. Takayama demolishes Yasuda and Nagata drills Takayama with a Back Drop Driver. Melee ensues. Everything feels red-hot going into the Dome. This is Inoki at its finest! Blood, Shoot-Style and a Brawl at the end. Awesome stuff. Cant go much higher than **** due to the beginning, but killer ending.

IWGP Champion Brock Lesnar vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW Tokyo Dome 1/4/06 Wow Brock does it again! He only had four title matches in New Japan, but half of them been killer! This match was the opposite of the Akebono match which really shows Brock's range as a pro wrestler. The Akebono match was all about wrestling small, vulnerable and underneath. Here he wrestles so big and powerful. He is Mount Everest and a Grizzly Bear wrapped in one. Then only in the finish stretch he shows his vulnerability enough to make you believe Nakamura has a chance. In fairness to Nakamura, he wrestled really well here. I slagged him a lot in the Tenzan match for pedestrian selling and not scrapping enough underneath. This match he was just hurling his body at Brock for 9 minutes hoping to Dear God something would stick. Nakamura came out hot with strikes. The way Brock would just shove him around was so powerful. He is a force of nature. He would catch kicks and just STEAMROLL him with a clothesline or with a wicked capture suplex. Nakamura would just keep coming. Brock was cruising. They spill to the floor. The way Brock just bulled him into the apron was so powerful. Nakamura gets the high ground first and that's so important. He gets his first major head-rocking kick to Brock. Brock registers it, but he does not oversell it. If he did that would undercut Nakamura's offense and the credibility of the match. Instead he starts registering these Nakamura's strikes. You can see he is slowing down absorbing these blows but he is still overpowering Nakamura. Nakamura's big finish run was when got a hanging armbar/triangle over the ropes. Boom here comes that grizzly bear selling that makes Brock, Hansen and Vader so special. Forces of nature that at the right, SELECTIVE moments show vulnerability. Nakamura missile dropkick! Nakamura German! Cross-armbreaker! Triangle! BROCK POWERBOMB! HE THROWS HIM DOWN! BROCK STEAMROLL CLOTHESLINE! F-5 WIN! All bow down to the greatness that is Brock Lesnar and an awesome underneath performance from Nakamura. ****1/4

IWGP Champion Brock Lesnar vs Akebono - NJPW 3/19/03 It is matches like this that make me proud to be a Brock Lesnar fan! I always assumed Brock Lesnar phoned in his IWGP Title Reign and just collected a paycheck, but no sirree Bob, Brock was committed to this match. The dude clutched his back just as he was running the ropes and stopped dead in his tracks. It was phenomenal. Whoever coached Brock on selling should coach everyone. Not because of how well Brock sells, but because how much he believes in selling. He wrestled this entire match underneath. He wrestled so vulnerable and really like Akebono bully him. That takes great self-confidence. He did not do what was best for him; he did what was best for the match. When you live in service to the match, the match pays you back double! Brock tries to overpower Akebono early like he would most, but there's nothing doing. His shoulderblocks have no effect. He cannot Irish Whip the massive Akebono. Akebono is able to Irish Whip. He puts Brock down on the shouldertackle battle. He picks Brocks up and slams him. He is manhandling Brock in a way that probably only Big Show has ever done. So Brock completely changes strategy and he wrestles small. He works a heavy diet of chop blocks and sleepers. He gets impatient and deviates from this strategy and tries to go for the F-5 but his back gives out. Great attempt here as he just collapses and Akebono takes quite the bump. Akebono starts pouring on the fat guy offense. Butt splashes in the corner, big splashes and elbow. He splashes in the corner, but Brock pulls the ref there. They give Akebono the visual pin; Brock gets the a belt shot for what I expected to be the lame finish, but Akebono kicked out. This is when Brock does the great sell of the back when he tries to run the ropes to get more momentum. Terrific. Akebono gets one more throw as Brock tries come off the ropes and Akebono gets his last nearfall. Brock punches the breadbasket great selling from Brock. DDT and Brock wins it! This match was way better than it has right to be and it is all thanks to Brock! Excellent underneath performance! ***1/2

U-30 Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazunari Murakami - NJPW Steel Cage Death Match 3/28/04 So there's so much unpack this. For first off, this is Empty Arena. There's no referee really. It is a steel cage match that I would say the finish is in style of Alley Fight. It is one of those Inokiist absurdities that can only exist and work in his universe. The U-30 (Under 30) Championship was a title invented for Tanahashi for him to be pushed as the main Young Lion, the only other champion would be Nakamura who won the IWGP title in late 2003 and was always Tanahashi's biggest rival for Ace. Murakami is a amazing cocky, violent, mean shooter with Tasmanian Devil Tornado energy. He is terrific. He has this wild eyed look in his eye that makes you believe at any point he could snap and go into business for himself. Unfortunately, I watched this in the morning and didnt get a chance to write the review until 12 hours later. This match is terrific. I got on Twitter immediately sounded the sirens for a Hidden Gem alert. After watching this match, I felt like IMMMMMM BAAAAACCKKKKKK! I never want to leave. I think for Tanahashi haters (I am one of the biggest Tanahashi fans in the world) they would still like this match because Tanahashi brings the violence and stiffness early. I was surprised he overwhelmed Murakami early and throw a German. Murakami took the advantage on the outside using the steel cage. Murakami jaws with an old timer who ends up playing the role of ref later on in the match. Tanahashi takes control and when someone enters the ring he kicks them off. Murakami takes back over and commits legalized bloody murder in the ring. Let me repeat that for those in the back...MURAKAMI COMMITS LEGALIZED BLOODY MURDER IN THE RING! HE PUMMELS TANAHASHI INTO A BLOODY PULP! It is fucking sick. I just watched it back and actually it was Murakami's headbutts that made him bleed hardway and SQUIRT BLOOD ALL OVER TANAHASHI! WOW! Seconds come in and Tanahashi's beats up Murakami's second. Tanahashi makes a comeback with Germans and Dragon Suplex. Murakami BITES Tanahashi in a last ditch attempt! There is blood everywhere! I dont whose it whose. Tanahashi ends up standing up on Murakami's neck with all this body weight CRUSHING Murakami's head into the Cage and that's the finish! A match unlike any others I have seen, the close comparison is probably the Alley Fight between Patterson & Sarge. So unique! ****1/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 12/9/03 I don’t think the Shooters were necessarily the issue during the “Inokiist Era” (c. 2001-2006), I think more of it has to do with Tenzan, Kojima (though he had a lengthy AJPW) and to a lesser extent Nagata. Nagata is better than those two but he needs to wrestle someone better than him for him to be good. You can get good things out of Tenzan and Kojima against Tenryu but for the most part they are lifelong midcard acts that were forced to become main event acts because of the lack of star power. Tenzan to me is the most possible Nasty Boy. He looks and wrestles like a goon. He is the perfect enforcer, heavy, bruiser for the main boss. His most successful was just try for Chono in the 90s. He just does not scream final boss or champion. I think there were issues bringing shooters in but I think larger part was this generation was weak. On to the match, Tenzan does a lot of Tenzan things that means he be a clubberin’! I don’t mind clubberin’, kick/punch, grind, stomp but this was not done in a captivating way. I am not a Nakamura guy and he gets better in 2009 but 2003 Nakamura was adding next to nothing working underneath. His selling was bland and hope spots mostly nonexistent except for two notable exceptions. Basically it was an extended squash but then it dawned on me…this is going too long, Japan using who dishes it out the most, takes the pin, doesn’t Nakamura wrestle Takayama in the main event of 2004 Dome show. FLYING TRIANGLE! HANGING CROSS ARMBREAKER! The young Lion wins out of nowhere lol. Let’s break down the narrative now. Until the finish, Nakamura only got two hope spots: a flash ankle lock and a flash Triangle. This is one thing Nakamura excels in Japan but lost in America is that he is a terrific defensive wrestler. He exploits openings and turns them into offense with submissions really well. So they foreshadowed the finish really well as it was a Flying Triangle that won it. It was like Nakamura’s version of a puncher’s chance, he could hit the submissions anywhere anytime for the win. Love the story but a great layout does not mean a great match. Tenzan and Nakamura needed to be better in between the major plot points to really engage me as a viewer. I’ll give them *** because I really liked the story but can’t got much higher than that.

GHC Champion Jun Akiyama vs Yuji Nagata - NJPW Tokyo Dome 1/4/02 Fujita was stripped of the IWGP Title on this night according to an above post that he injured himself. I have not had a chance to research the background to this but my recollection was this was always the plan because wasn’t Akiyama shown in the crowd during Nagata matches in the run-up to this. This is not an Inokiist match obviously very much a tame AJPW/NOAH match but it happened in the Inokiist Era so I gave it watch during lunch break. They start with the standard All Japan rope break will he or won’t he spot. Nagata rifles Akiyama with kicks. They go to the strike exchange never a fan. All Japan Exploder trade Akiyama Shining Wizard. The transitions are pretty weak throughout the match. Nagata gets a guillotine than a couple piledrivers. I was like well they have to transition back to Akiyama since Nagata climaxed. Nagata misses a spin wheel kick. Akiyama pops up DDT on ramp, Tombstone on outside and piledriver inside. Very symmetrical match. Since Akiyama climaxed Nagata gets a suplex. So it is endgame which means trading Crossfaces and slaps. Nagata gets his big hurrah at the end with the head kick. Akiyama hits Emerald Flowsion and some Exploders to win. My turn/your turn bare bones All Japan match here. It was just going through the motions. I’ll be generous ***

IWGP Champion Kazuyuki Fujita vs Don Frye - NJPW 7/20/01 Sapporo Dome As much shit as the Inokiist Era gets, it did pretty massive business until it ran itself into the ground. Undercard looks kinda interesting Nagata vs Coleman, I’d say Mutoh vs Chono does not intrigue me but it is 2001 Mutoh so it could be cool. This match here underwhelmed. Both dudes look cool as fuck and I want them to be great pro wrestlers but they really aren’t. Besides that awesome Fujita vs SHIBATA match he just doesn’t have that killer charisma you want. I think the biggest difference between Inokiist NJPW and 90s Shoot-Style is NJPW is too influenced by MMA and it leads to a generally uninteresting style of ground & pound and mounts and guards. It can be entertaining and great but it has not been. The front half of this was boring takedowns. Business picked up when Fujita did his one calling card: the ground & pound knees to head which leads to the Frye powder. Frye came back firing with punches which leads to a Fujita powder. They brawl on the outside, solid but not the best shoot style brawl I’ve seen. Fujita finished him with a Guillotine Choke. I hope some other matches delivered on this show as this did not.

IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs Bas Rutten - NJPW 7/20/02 I have heard for Bas Rutten since I was in high school, my chemistry/physics teacher was a big fan. Never seen a shoot or worked match with him in it. It is a sub-10 minute match so perfect for my walk. Not as fun as some of the other Inokiist matches actually pretty boring until the finish. Lots of half-hearted takedowns and bundle of leglocks. In my opinion, these matches are the best one of two ways: 1. Clearly defined style differences such as striker vs a grappler 2. Overmatched pro wrestler has to figure out how to beat the cocky invading shooter This match presented both as equals so it just felt like there was no interesting a narrative. Rutten catches him with a Palm Strike that Nagata sells like a KO and Nagata gets choke. Nothing is sticking until the finish. Rutten rocks Nagata with a Shining Wizard and this causes Nagata to powder and take an 18 count. Upon getting in, Rutten kicks his head off. Rutten gets caught celebrating a premature KO so Nagata drops him on his head with a wicked Wrist-Clutch Exploder. Then catches a kick, ankle lock morphs into a cross face for the win. The finish stretch is enough to give this a thumbs up but not a must see. ***

IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs Josh Barnett - NJPW Tokyo Dome 1/4/03 Barnett is definitely more of a natural than Bob Sapp. If he dedicated his time to pro wrestling I think he would’ve been great. He has the mechanics down pat, he just needed to get the soft skills down like interacting with the crowd and showing his emotions. Due to that and Nagata being a rather dry performer it makes for a good but not great match. A trope in puroresu is he who takes most of the lickin’ ends up in winning’. Barnett takes most of the early match with the usual MMA style work think double wristlocks, cross-arm breakers, chokes and leglocks. He busts out a cool body scissors takedown into a cool cloverleaf. He does something else cool that I can’t remember because it’s been a couple hours. He rocks Nagata with a flying knee that doubles as a tackle. Nagata avoids the second and step up knee rocks Barnett. This is Nagata first major in-road. He was peppering Barnett with kicks but this is the first time he got the advantage. He throws Barnett around. Barnett does get a last gasp. A guillotine choke I believe but a rainbow spin wheel kick ends Barnett’s day. Finish was a bit anti-climatic out of nowhere but I do like Inokiism commitment to head-rocking strikes being turning points. The newly crowned NWF Champion Takayama strolls down for a stare down with Nagata. To quote David Coverdale…Oooooooooooo DRAMA! ***1/2

Yoshihiro Takayama vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka - NJPW Tokyo Dome 1/4/03 Vacant NWF Title Kohsaka in New Japan?!? LFG! I would’nt have expected him to get such a high profile match as the finalist to resurrect the NWF title. Takayama was a shoe-in to win this match but Kohsaka didn’t make it easy. Kohsaka got about 75% of the match and was an absolute Tasmanian Devil out there. Everything was a cloud of dust, legs and arms. You keep expecting Takayama to catch him with a big bomb and murderize him but it never happens to the absolute end. Kohsaka worked all the usual bag of tricks leglocks, armbars, and chokes. I liked Takayama modulating his selling. Getting more desperate and more worn down as the match progressed. On every stand-up, Takayama always got a strike flurry of kicks and knees. This led to Kohsaka getting progressively more rocked. There’s a point where Takayama tries the Everest German too early but he needs more kicks and knees to execute it. I thought it was over after the Everest but Kohsaka gets a Hail Mary Triangle I think they wanted a powerbomb to seal it but they lose control and Takayama hits an ugly sliding knee to finish off a run, scrappy contest. ***1/2

Bob Sapp vs Manabu Nakanishi -NJPW Tokyo Dome 10/14/02 Bob Sapp has the look! I remember really wanting him to wrestle stateside but this match really exposes his limitations. He moves really stiff and does not seem to have the best instincts. I have seen maybe 5 Nakanishi matches, I think all I remember is he is the guy who does a torture rack. LO & Behold we get dueling Torture Racks. Sapp is a big boy to get up there. I think they chose Nakanishi because of his size to have a battle of the bulls. Opening bombs, Sapp a powerbomb, Nakanishi a slam. Then usual shoulder tackles to establish Sapp as a beast. Dueling Torture Racks I’m a mark for the Rack. Bizarre ending as both try to tune up the band only for Sapp to hit a drop kick to win the match by Countout. With dedication and training, Sapp coulda been somebody but he was no natural.

IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kazuyuki Fujita - NJPW Tokyo Dome 10/14/02 First Review of 2023! LFG! I think the morning time slot is my best bet as my girlfriend is not much of a morning person (I’m not either for record she’s just less of one lol). Different than their 2001 match. This is way more pro wrestling oriented. The throws are coming a lot easier, there’s more high spots and it has a pro wrestling pace. Fujita feels like less of a Mountain to climb or force of nature, he is more of a bully heel. Two reasons for that. One is he goes over for throws a lot easier in the beginning. Nagata was very aggressive to start throwing Fujita’s characteristic ground and pound knees back at him and using throws to set up submission attempts. Second reason Fujita was more of a bully heel was most of his offense came in neutral zones such as the ropes, corner or outside. He would trap Nagata in these areas where he should break and smother him with ground & pound. His lone highspot was to set up the heat which was a Frankensteiner so he could pummel him on the floor. Fujita then went for some submissions for a short heat. The finish stretch I thought was excellent good blend of Inoki and Baba. Nagata started using head rocking kicks to stun Fujita to set up his victory. First it was a cross armbreaker but Fujita defended that and bullied him into the corner. Nagata lowered the knee pad and rocked Fujita with an exposed to knee to face. Another head kick plus three back drop drivers sealed the deal for Nagata. Less unique than the 2001 match but still a satisfying Dome main event. Fujita is very dry and Nagata is better but still on the dry side leaving this at ***1/4

I finally get a chance to sit down and watch and review a match and I have already seen it. Facepalm. On second watch Id up my grade to ***1/4. I still didn’t think this was the best faux MMA, Shoot Style, Inokiiist match but it was entertaining. I really enjoy the lack of rope running and running in general. My favorite spot was early on…Fujita holding onto the rope for dear life to avoid an Irish Whip only for Nagata to kick him in the head to set up the Back Drop Driver. Head rocking kick is a great set up to a throw. The kick was so well set up by a logical block by Fujita. That’s was one of the best logical and organic sequences I have seen in quite some time. I was watching the Cody/Austin interview on Peacock. Cody was talking about how it bugs him when people just wave things off oh it’s pro wrestling who cares how we get from Point A to Point B. He said if you really think usually there’s a creative and logical way to get from Point A to Point B. I wish more people nowadays treated every transition like how Nagata and Fujita came up with a clever, organic way to get to that Back Drop Driver.

Greg Valentine vs Don Muraco - WWF MLG 7/24/88 Pete aka @shoe asked me to watch this to make sure he was not crazy and @Matt D has also given this a glowing review. I agree with my two good friends this match is better than expected. One of my talking points has been Valentine could still go in 1988-89 but was stuck with Beefcake, Muraco and Steele. I wrote two Valentine vs Muraco for my blog. I liked the Primetime Wrestling match as a pleasant surprise. I didnt seem to care from MSG in July but that may have been due to Superstar Graham's inane prattling that it was Muraco's lifelong dream to rid the world of the Hammer. This match was definitely very good and was better than MSG match up based on my write up. Muraco jumpstarted the match. I enjoyed Hammer resetting trying to regain control only to be thwarted by Muraco who goes after the arm. Valentine works three great vintage TIMBBBBAAAHHHH bumps into the match, one right at the start. One of the reasons why this match is so good is because Muraco is so energetic in his arm work. He is slamming Valentine's arm into every inanimate object he can find. Valentine's selling is so good. I really liked the climax of the Shoulderbreaker at the end of the shine. Valentine takes control on a blind charge into the corner. Valentine is his usual excellent self clubbering away. One thing that surprises me about this match is I would have figured the only way this match would be good would be Valentine going on offense early and offense. It is proof that there is more than one way to skin a cat as Muraco worked on top for most of the match. Valentine works the leg like a champ. I would be remiss not to mention, the Hartbreaker shinguard that adds extra pressure to the Figure-4. Gorilla does a great job bitching about it and emphasizing it. Muraco gets a punch into the bread basket and nice TIMMMBBBAAAAAHHHH. Nice piledriver by Muraco! Muraco really brought it on offense. Valentine goes back to the Figure-4 but kicked off. Muraco I think hits a clothesline for the third TIIIMMMMMBAAAHHHH bump. Muraco hits a wicked Tombstone but Hammer's foot clocks the ref. He is out. Hammer whacks him with the Hartbreaker to win! Awesome finish. A match that definitely exceeds expectations. ***1/2

WWE Champion Triple H vs John Cena - WWE Night of Champions 2008 The NOAH-ification of WWE is strong in this match and that of course brings both pros and cons to this most hit but sometimes miss of a Clash of the Titans-style main event. It is nominally babyface vs babyface but with Cena's propensity to work underneath and HHH's history as a heel they fall into their natural roles quite easily in this match. The hook of the match is that if Cena loses, both world championships will be on Smackdown. I thought this was a very Greatest Hits style match where each opponent blends their stock highspots with the other opponent. Lots of good symmetry, which is key to a babyface vs babyface match. There's enough wrinkles to keep this interesting. Pretty standard Clash of Titans opening with shouldertackles. HHH knocks Cena down twice and hiptoss, Suck It. The last part is prickly enough that Cena gets mad and snaps into it. He knocks HHH down and hiptosses him and Salutes his ass. Ok, so maybe not the most emphatic way to tell him to suck it, but it is Cena so it works. Cena tackles HHH and the brawl is on. Fisherman suplex. Cena goes for the shouldertackle early but HHH evades and Cena goes flying. We know Cena as the lovechild of Lawler and Misawa loves a short shine and an extended comeback. This sets up nicely for him. HHH focuses on the back. Backbreaker. Pretty standard stuff. I am glad he picked a body part even if I knew it was not going to lead to anything because it gave his offense focus. Cena does not die and is throwing big hammocks and seems to be making in-roads. HHH eats a boot on a fist drop attempt. This unlocks the ability for Cena to hit the shouldertackles and Protobomb, but he has not done enough yet for the Five Knuckle Shuffle and as HHH Kangaroo Kicks him off (thank you Russ Davis). HHH gets his standard High Knee and Facecrusher. Now HHH is unlocking his highspots because he is reacting Cena's going into finish mode. HHH goes for the Pedigree but thats too early and Cena hits the Throwback and the Leg Drop from the Top. This leads to Cena attempting STFU but HHH wriggling free. Both men have attempted their finish. Great symmetry and it builds that Greatest Hits/Clash of Titans. Cena goes for the Five Knuckle Shuffle again but he really impregnates that Five Knuckle Shuffle and HHH cuts off with the High Knee. Spinebuster! Again he goes to the Pedigree but Cena hurls him off and HHH takes the Harley Race bump over the top rope and sells an injured knee. This is the coolest part of the match by far. We almost never get to see Cena work on top and here he does. It is chop blocks, knee crusher to the stairs, wrap around the post. The best of the match is how hard HHH struggles to not be in the STFU. This was a violent struggle. It really speaks to something I feel passionately about and that is the drama should in applying the hold NOT in seeing whether or not someone will escape or tap. Cena switches to an FU but HHH flashes into a Pedigree, but that means he lands on the INJURED KNEE! 1-2-NO! Honestly if Cena slapped on the STFU right then and there, I'd go about ****1/2 on this bad boy. The time from HHH's bump over the top rope to the Pedigree on the injured knee was a five star stretch. Alas the match continued and while not horrible, it was excessive and overwrought. Lots of "epic" selling (read: lying around) and finisher trading. Still more hit than miss, just not as efficient as it could have been. My least favorite part of the match is HHH. Pedigree is the level the playing field spot, both down to 8 and Cena gets up and hits the FU. In a match where so much was earned, that felt like nothing. It was just another way to add symmetry right after Pedigree. I thought the punch exchange was much better than the typical New Japan strike exchange I thought they really threw bombs and Cena sold wicked well. Wild swing by HHH -> Protobomb -> Five Knuckle Shuffle they paid off the highspot! Hell Yeah! FU/Pedigree tussle leads to a real slick STFU transition by Cena. HHH looks done but as Cena has to reset to yank him away from the ropes HHH is counters into a Crossface. Cena hulks up into the FU but HHH counters into the Pedigree for the win! As a match that was built around the finishes I thought the match was worked really well. It had everything you wanted from an epic Clash of the Titans match, babyfce va babyface, symmetry, big bombs and good pacing. Most of the highspots were earned. I didnt think the finish stretch quite hit the same fever pitch as that Pedigree on the injured knee, but it was solid. ****

World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs Batista - WWE Night of Champions 2008 The wrinkle here is that HHH, the WWE Champion, has been drafted to Smackdown so both champions are slated to be on Smackdown. Batista has been drafted to RAW. Can The Animal bring one of the titles back to RAW? Let's see... I admittedly had very low expectations for this match (I watched both of the prior Edge/Taker matches which were terrible), but I thought this was very good even with a pretty bad finish. They established the power game for Batista early with Edge surprisingly bumping and feeding well. Edge tried to turn it into a track meet but Batista fought through the baseball slide and slammed him into the steps. Batista shine entered heel in peril territory as Edge became a ragdoll. Jackhammer was a great climax. Wisely, they transitioned to heat shortly thereafter. I thought the transition to heat was the best part of the match. Edge is clotheslined out; Batista has to throw him back in but this gives Edge the high ground. Edge punts Batista as he is getting through the ropes and slams him into the post. Edge baseball slides and Batista ROCKETS back over the announce table in the second best bump of the match. JR does an excellent job pointing out Edge's use of inanimate objects and environment to take control. We see a splash to Batista's back when on the middle rope and a drop toehold to turnbuckle. There was another great drop toehold to stop a Batista flurry. Batista to his credit as a babyface was always moving forward and kept attacking. At the second chinlock, it was clear Edge had run out of ideas. The hope spots got closer and closer together. It was a banal clothesline that levelled the playing field. Batista rattled off a bunch of signature spots the shoulders in the corner, sidewalk slam, Spear (good one!) and was thinking BatistaBomb when Edge used Impaler DDT. I thought Edge did a good job trying to stop these offensive moves and having Batista fight through and earn the spots. Batista punts on the Edge spear. In the second worst transition of the match, Batista leaps off the top rope for no reason so Edge can dropkick him. This levels the playing field again for the Edgeheads and Vickie to come out. Batista nice leapfrog on spear, Spinebuster but Vickie yanks the ref. Edge decks the ref in the worst transition of the match. Here comes Chavo as ref. Batista military pressing Vickie and throwing her on La Familia wins bump of the match as I had no clue that happened and it was insane. Edge clocks Batista with title to retain. The ending was pretty bad, but the Vickie bump kinda saves it. I did like Batista having meaningful momentum down the stretch and not playing my turn, your turn. I liked the shine and transition to heat a lot and most of the heat was good. It was north of good, but south of great. I am feeling generous. ***1/2

Mickie James vs Katie Lea Burchill - WWE Night of Champions 2008 They should have cast Katie Lea as Blackie Lawless' sister, the resemblance is uncanny. Obscure heavy metal references aside, I remember the Burchills but I couldnt have told what year they were a thing. I dont think Katie Lea last long because I remember her in TNA shortly after this. I always liked Paul Burchill for some reason but I couldnt tell you why, must have been the cut of his jib. I had a massive crush on Mickie as a teenager and is a kickass wrestler. Best match of the night so far, plenty of workrate combined with struggle and psychology. Katie Lea gets three flash pin attempts which seems weird for a heel admittedly but a newcomer I think it shows she is a threat and Mickie cant underestimate because she is here to win. I loved the struggle on the waistlock really set the tone this would be scrappy and heated. As Stone Cold always said you can predict a lot about match based on that initial lockup felt the same way here on this waistlock. Loved Mickie's shine uptempo and fun, especially the monkey flip. You knew Paul would get involved and on the powder, Mickie gets too close to the apron and Katie Lea picks her spot to trip up Mickie. There is something involving the top rope that should have led to the heat segment with Mickie's arm but looked like it missed but they sold it anyways. Kattie Lea worked the arm as Mickie sold it like a million bucks. Unlike the Matt/Chavo match, I thought Katie Lea was a much better aggressor and I thought Mickie verbally sold the arm work so well and I am a sucker for verbal selling. Great hammerlock suplex from Katie Lea and a Divorce Court. During all of this Mickie is firing up with great one arm comebacks and constantly showing life, never dying. The Fujiwara Armbar Takedown and submission hold was great, they could have used something more clever for an escape but I appricated the efficiency to go right to the finish with the Mickie DDT. Enjoyed this a lot Mickie is a sparkplug of a babyface great shine, sold well and she never died and was always coming forward. Katie Lea for someone I dont remember anything about worked really strong on top on the arm. Very good match. ***1/2

WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho vs Kofi Kingston - WWE Night of Champions 2008 Chris Jericho has officially turned heel smashing Shawn Michaels' face into the Jeritron 5000 and injuring his eye which would be the crux of the feud going forward. He is still in long tights, but the nature of his pre-match promo is a harbinger of his style to come. He is defending his title against a surprise opponent, Kofi Kingston, who is still from Jamaica at this point. It has been a while since I have some pre-AEW Jericho, but my feeling was this Jericho was a lot different than first run Jericho but I should watch some first run Jericho back this up. He felt more physical and more like a bully. He was really aggressive, hitting hard with confidence and really looking like an asshole. Jericho established he was an mountain early. Kofi did the headbutt the top rope spot to lead some dazzling with leapfrogs, a baseball slide and top rope splash that looked like a little dangerous. Kofi mounted Jericho for the ten count punches on the corner only for Jericho to chuck him off. Great transition to heat. Jericho picked up where he left off with tough, grinding bully heel tactics. I really liked that standing on Kofi's throat while on the middle rope. It looked particularly vicious. It was also a good cutoff of a hope spot. I thought he did a great job on the backbreaker stretch and working the abdominal stretch especially selling Kofi reversing it. He fed for the Kofi hope spots well and Kofi got a lot of while meat babyface flash pin attempts and his Boom Drop. Jericho cuts off with a clothesline, Lionsault and the Walls of Jericho looks like all she wrote when an injured Shawn Michaels springs out of the crowd. Lance Cade was the one flaw of this otherwise perfect feud as he gets owned by Shawn. Jericho shoulderblocks Shawn off the apron. Kofi uses the distraction to hit Trouble In Paradise! I like that it was not a distraction rollup but a distraction finish but thats classic Jericho. Jericho punches Shawn in his injured eye to put more heat on this feud. This was a pretty standard match. Kofi was working babyface 101. Jericho was a great stocky bully heel. Jericho looked like a ring general timing the hope spots well so that Kofi never died and he always looked like he had hope. The match spurred on the burgeoning Michaels/Jericho feud and the IC Title didnt need to be on Jericho but Kofi did immediately feel like a mid-card after thought compared to Jericho/Michaels. ***1/4

WWE US Champion Matt Hardy vs Chavo Guerrero - WWE Night of Champions 2008 I was not watching Smackdown at this time, but I did watch RAW so vague notions of the La Familia faction. The idea here was Chavo was awarded this title match due to nepotism. Bam Neely is his muscle and gets involved in the match a grand total of one time at the beginning. It was a solid limb psychology match. Chavo was pretty useless. He is not a good kicker. He should have switched to stomping. Pretty brief Hardy shine with no high spots, Chavito chopblocked the leg. Came down on against the apron, that was pretty cool. Wrapped it around the corner. Standard stuff. What kept this match in the solidly ok was Matt was really committed to selling and did his high spots in such a way that it looked like he was not using his legs. He would just use the natural force of his weight falling on the Bulldog and Side Effect to drive Chavo to the match. Typically great Matt Hardy punches. I liked Chavito yanking him off the middle rope on the second attempt and applying the half crab. I love a good half crab and there was half crab roll through. Matt Hardy hit the Twist of Fate out of nowhere to win. I liked this finish. Nothing I will remember in a week, but it was inoffensive. **1/2

WWE Tag Team Champions Miz & Morrison vs Finlay & Hornswoggle - WWE Night of Champions 2008 It is unclear to me if Miz & Morrison are on Smackdown, ECW or both. I watched their match with Kane & Punk at Judgment Day two months and was unimpressive with their performance. They seemed more interested in getting in the right place for their spots than having fun and being loose. The presence of Hornswoggle helped loosen them up here. There is just so much fun a midget can bring inherently. It was a pretty fun match. I always enjoy watching Finlay wrestle. He did a great job whuppin up on Morrison. He did the apron capture spot but Miz threatened Swoggle. That was a good use of Swoggle to set up a fake transition to heat. The Finlays got the double butt splash in a cute spot. The transition to heat was Miz distracting Finlay on the apron and Morrison hitting him right in the mush with nasty kick. Very shot heat segment to the Swoggle hot tag. Rana, Rey Rey Bulldog but the crown jewel was the Stunner, popped me. The heat on Swoggle was very fun. My favorite spot was when he got free but was in the wrng corner and he scampered across only to be nailed by a double clothesline. They worked in some good hope spots. He slides through the legs and Finlay goes off. Loved the dropkick, Finlay Roll, Celtic Cross. Finlay tags in Swoggle for the Tadpole splash, but Morrison throws him off the top for the win. It was a fun opener. Miz & Morrison got show off more of their personality bumping & feeding for Swoggle. I think they could have been rougher on Swoggle or more douchier if they wanted to take it to the next level. It was fine. **1/2

Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs Ric Flair & Vader - WCW Slamboree 1995 One of those matches where I thought it was solid, but was still disappointed. All guys are in my top 50 of all time and three are in my Top 25 so they are all capable of having that big Summer Action Blockbuster main event, but instead it is just good. The other reason I am disappointed is I really wanted more out of Randy Savage and Vader as a pairing. This is their only match ever and I think if they were given the opportunity back in the day they could have had an all-timer. Yes Savage takes the Vadersault like a man, but it just wasnt a good scrap. Man how much better is Flair/Vader/AA as a heel unit than fucking Beefcake/Earthquake/Sullivan. Talk about a massive upgrade. Need to mention the Renegade is out with Hogan & Savage to counterbalance the Enforcer. He is not as involved as in Uncensored and you can feel him being shunted down the card. They do give him a chance with the TV title beating AA, but you can tell he is not hitting. The Giant, unnamed, makes his debut looming in he aisleway. Enough extracurriculars, so onto the match Vader takes the first part of the shine which is so bizarre when the bump & feed master is on the apron. Hogan thumbs in the eye early. I am not one to bitch about Hogan cheating but even I have to call that out as too soon. Vader takes a bump to the outside. Vader loves to bump. It just makes more sense with Flair right there. Vader steamrolling the Megapowers with a double clothesline was very much needed to get his heat back. Flair and Savage have insane chemistry and I could watch those two wrestle forever. Flair does a great job shining the babyfaces up and this makes more sense. You can save Vader as the heater now that Flair is going to get in over his head. Flair Flip into the Hogan Big Boot on the apron will never get old. We get the press slam and Hogan slips on the Figure-4 Dusty Rhodes style which is honestly the safer and more efficient way to do it. They do the old Horsemen spot of Hogan rolling up AA while still applying the Figure-4. This is a spot I love. It feels ham-fisted since AA is not in the match. This enough of a distraction for Flair to chop block the leg to start Heat Segment #1. Vader works the leg. This is fine. I thought the stretch where Hogan did the customary no-sell of the suplex only to get RUN THE FUCK over by Vader was great. Vaderbomb connects! He does a top rope Vaderbomb (I thought he was going Vadersault) this misses and Hogan tags out. That stretch was probably the best of the match. Savage is a house afire, but you can just feel this is going to be Double FIP. He goes hit the Top Rope Elbow on Flair, but Double A pulls him out. So again they use Double A as a distraction to set up the heat segment which is smart. It is the not the most efficient sneak attack and in part that is due to it being poorly shot in the sense that was actually too well-shot since Vader was in the frame. The Vadersault was a great nearfall with Hogan making the save to protect it. Hot tag to Hogan! I liked Arn being used again to interrupt the hot tag by tripping him after the big boot to impede the Legdrop. Vader splash allows for a proper Hulk Up though not his best. Arn eats a punch and Hogan drops the leg on Flair for the win. After the match is the famous angle where Flair beats up Randy Savage's Dad who was being inducted into Hall of Fame this leads to the awesome, Top 100 match of all time match between Flair and Savage at Great American Bash 1995. Personally, I would have put the heels over here as well as at Uncensored. Recapping it the match actually sounds really good. All the beats are there. Good climaxes and transitions for each segment when written down on paper. It is now what you do, but how you do it. From a layout perspective, this is a strong match, but nobody seemed to have pep in their step to take it to that next level. ***1/4

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Vader - WCW Uncensored 1995 "Strap" Match I am pleasantly surprised that some people liked this. It had its moments but it was more bad than good on the whole so I cant recommend it. Their SuperBrawl match is a classic, but this far less so. First thing's first, Flair in drag is absolutely glorious. He should have dressed as glam rocker the rest of the year. I have been watching a lot of his 1996 promo work post-Hogan turn. It approaches good, but it is too filled with non-sequiturs and scatter-brained to be good. Here he looks an absolute madman and he lays out the method to his madness. The professional jealousy and insecurity that ate him alive in the 80s only to be faced with the stark reality that it was all true that he is not as good as Hogan and worse yet not only is he not as good, Hogan stole the thing he loved most in the world his ability to wrestle! This is really powerful heel motivation. Some of the best character work ever and the make-up really enhances it all. I loved that promo! I think this rejuvenated the Flair/Hogan feud enough that could have went back to that well, but Flair/Savage was such a good feud that produced some amazing matches especially the Great American Bash 95 match that I am happy they didnt, but they could have. It is interesting they have already started bringing up Hogan going to the Dark Side. Hogan and WCW knew he needed an edge, but they didnt know how to get him there. The Renegade was ridiculous. Flair sold it like a million bucks. Fuck for one night only through the miraculous powers of Flair, it did work. Jimmy Hart coming out in tatters was fucking stupid. Why did that pip-squeak need a triumphant entrance? What was he going to do? All he did was distract for a mid-match turn the tide that was just one of many. The body of the match was very uneven. First off it was way too fucking long. It was 18 minutes. There was good stuff here like Vader taking the ringpsot shots, and feed for the nut shot. There was the VaderBomb and the Chokeslam. The Vadebomb happened what 5 minutes into the match. They sold too hard too fast. All the beginning spotlight was on Flair/Renegade. It fucked up their flow. It was a rather heatless match outside of the highspots. It was not well-paced. Now, if they gave this a proper finish, I think I would have gone in the ***-***1/2 even with Hogan mostly ignoring the stipulation and removing the strap. Hogan dragging Flair around to win is a bridge too far for me. I am pretty sure this was non-title. I think this was a perfect time for Vader to win, but what do I know. They have Arn Anderson come out and explode Wooden chairs against Renegade and Hogan. Flair gets in on the act. I wonder if Wooden chairs are the answer. They might hurt less than metal and they have the cool visual of exploding. If I was a a promoter or booker, I'd look into them. Vader has the match won only for Flair to ask him to try to splash Hogan. Vader misses the most ginger somersault. He looked like a four year old doing a somersault for the first time. Flair does something maybe a wooden chair shot but Hulk Up time. We cant have Vader jobbing again so it is time for Flair to get dragged around. I did like the ending with the Masked Man racing out. I was like he was moving way too fast and he is not stocky enough to be Double A. Then Arn comes out gagged and bound. That popped me. It is the Macho Man! Who decks the heels! O before this Hogan double clotheslines the heels, which is such a sickening Hogan ending. Ugh. There was some good stuff and some atrocious stuff. It is sub-three stars for me. I am glad I watched it. WCW 1995 before Nitro becomes a thing is really fascinating.