Superstar Sleeze

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs David Von Erich - World Class Championship Wrestling 10/11/82 World Class was really obsessed with Star Wars, who knew Fritz was such a huge nerd! Flair and David both enter to instrumentals from the Star Wars movie. After Kerry came within just one controversial referee call from winning the world championship, Flair did what any champion in the early 80s would do he put out a bounty on Kerry. Gary Hart Presents The Great Kabuki did the dirty deed, but not dirt cheap by breaking Kerry's leg. An incensed David is out for revenge for BountyGate 1982. David might not be built like his brother, but he is one big boy. This is the first David singles match I have ever watched and was intrigued to see how he would do. He has struck me as the least entertaining of three main Von Erich brothers in the six mans I have watched. I love Kerry as the golden boy power wrestler with great selling and Kevin Von Erich as the crazy, violent dynamo. Of course, i keep an open mind at all times and you can ask for better circumstances to look better than Flair in 1982. Flair is the master tactician. He knows David is hot about what happened to his brother. So he forces David to cool down with stalling tactics to force the match into a more championship style encounter. In a short brawl, anything can happen and as the champion he can't afford that especially with a big angry Texan out for blood for his brother. He wants to dictate the pace and be in control. David points to his leg and then lets Flair know he is going to snap his. Flair is not phased strutting, pec-bouncing and letting David cool off. David know what is at stake here. If he goes overboard, he will get disqualified and not win the championship. Is the ultimate revenge the championship or breaking Flair's leg? Early on the answer to that question is the championship. That being said, who says they have to be mutually exclusive. When Flair tries a whip out of the corner, it is he who is whipped and shoulder first. Flair sells this jammed shoulder like he has been shot. David just pounces and never lets go. David tortures the arm of Flair, he is focused, but you know he is enjoying it. The strategy for Flair is to create separation, movement and chaos. He needs to get out of this predicament by any means. At first he tries rifling out of it with chops, but David tenaciously holds onto the wristlock and pulls him down into a hammerlock. Then Flair tries pulling the tights into him to get that nasty short knee (somebody needs to crib that). Flair tries to create some movement but gets caught in a drop toehold and it is back to the hammerlock. David is not charismatic, but he is wrestling a smart match. He is not getting flustered by Flair's constant cheat and his singular focus is the left arm of Flair. Flair finally scores that bit of a chaos he needed. He does a seemingly innocuous dropdown on a rope running sequence, but pops up quicker than expected and chases David down to throw him out the ring. Wow! That is a genius spot. It is worth pointing out Flair never cowered in this early portion of the match. He took an unlucky bump and paid the price. David worked a smart strategy and Flair was cheating and selling, but never cowering. Once Flair is on top, he is sadistic. He hits these nasty little hammer elbows on David's face and then gnarly punches to David's face. David really shows his first glimmer of something extraordinary. His selling of the face is just spot on and some of the best work I have ever seen. The way he is covering up and reacting to Flair's punches is so great. Flair's punches taking their toll allow Flair to facelock David and regain his energy. This is the slowest part of the match and where it loses a bit of steam. There is some fun stuff like Flair telling the ref to watch the hair only to pull David back down by the tights, but overall it is dull though smart work. David throws his game plan out and just starts throwing live rounds. Flair does not want to get into a slugfest with David. but he obliges and is left cowering. David throws Flair into the Flair Flip. Flair looks to stop the bleeding with a suplex, but he is reversed. Flair grabs a desperation sleeper, but David dives and Flair takes a header into the turnbuckle. David goes for his jumping knee which scored him a point early, but this time he hits the top turnbuckle. Ruh roh! An injured knee in a Flair match, Flair goes right for the figure-4, but David pushes him off twice. Flair says fuck it and sit back into a toehold then converting into a deathlock. I LOVED THAT SEQUENCE! Kerry on crutches shows up, guess it is endgame. David rolls to the outside and Kerry coached him up. At first, I am confused if this was any later this would clearly be telegraphing a Kerry heel turn, but since it is 1982, I believe he is earnest. I can't figure out what Kerry is saying. Go for a side headlock?!?!?! David rolls back in and Flair goes for the figure-4 and it is an inside cradle!!! That's what Kerry told him to do! He was playing possum! HOLY SHIT! That was so cool! Flair throws him to the outside and rams him into the post repeatedly. David is wearing a crimson mask. I really bit on the countout finish. Flair starts jawing with Kerry and then he decks him. He stomps on the injured knee! OH THE HUMANITY! David grabs the world title and smashes Flair knee with it. Sick! Flair's head into the crutch and it is a five alarm blade job that must have been one helluva splinter. David is now wrapping Flair's leg around the post. It is a knee for a knee if he can't have the championship he is going to break his leg. Of course, the ref threw this whole fracas out, but wow that was one helluva angle. I loved how you morph from a great championship match to a hot and I mean double hot angle to set up the HUGE Kerry Von Erich Cage match for Christmas. Great booking! This was an excellent match that accomplished so much in a quick 30 minutes. David looks like a viable challenger. He kept his cool and wrestled a strong match early. Not very charismatic, but Flair is so good at keeping things moving that it was still very exciting and dramatic. His selling of Flair's punches to the face was his standout moment. The finish run was awesome with David rearing back and going for broke, but hitting the top turnbuckle with his knee. He did everything he could to keep the figure-4 off him and then some great coaching from Kerry almost got it for him. Flair was just the man in this match. Seriously, why do people need drugs when you have Ric Flair. I get a personal high watching his matches. I feel like I can take on the world after watching him kick ass in that ring. The angle was pitch perfect to get you pumped for the rematch and give the Von Erichs a taste of revenge to whet your appetite. On to Christmas at the Reunion Arena in the CAGE! ****1/2

Sleeze goes back to the greatest decade this world has ever experienced, the 1980s, BABY! We start in style with the big profile championship match as Ric Flair defends against his strongest challenger of the first half of the decade, Kerry Von Erich. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich August 15, 1982 Wrestling Star Wars Dallas, TX 2 Out Of Three Falls The below review is from my third viewing of one of my favorite matches of all times. It focuses mainly on the layout and Flair's performance and I agree with everything I wrote. However, on this viewing, I intentionally focused on the Modern Day Warrior. The common knock on men like Von Erich and Luger is that they are broomsticks that are plugged into the Flair formula and out pops a classic. It can't be further from the truth. I can understand you can be distracted by the glistening He-Man physique and that horseface, but if you watch as intently as Kerry laid one on that young girl at ringside then you will see Kerry was a phenomenal seller. Early on, Flair does his usual bridge escape out of a headscissors and watch Kerry's face, he flinches in pain. Or when he has a headscissors on Flair, he conveys the internal struggle not to ball up his fist and punch Flair to the audience. During the match, Flair is always struggling looking for an opening with short knees or chops and Kerry is great selling the immediate pain. He gives Flair these brief openings, but always fires back up. In the second fall, Kerry is just excelling at writhing in pain from Flair's leg work and really expressing how close he is to giving up. Now, Flair is no slouch as he is tremendous in his verbal selling especially when Kerry reverses the pressure. This entire match is a master class in selling by both men. Each man really is thinking shoot while they are working. They respond to each other and moments in the match in a real sporting manner. Each time, I discover new spots and elements that make it a better match. Such as during the abdominal stretch, Von Erich makes a point to exaggerate his gesture that he is looking to put on the Claw, which really whips the crowd into a frenzy. The crowd was nuclear for Kerry from the get-go and totally rabid at the prospect of him dethroning Ric Flair especially after defeating previous Champion Harley Race in a de facto No. 1 Contender’s match just months previous to this. Flair, as usual, is a cardio freak, but my favorite moment is how he slowly ramps up his heelishness. At first testing his strength and clearly being bested, he resorts to hair pulling to win an over the top wristlock. Another thing, I love is that when Kerry has Flair in a head scissors in the beginning, they do not just lie on the mat. Flair is very broadly attempting to escape the hold, but cant. This does two things, it puts over Kerry’s strength and most importantly, keeps the audience engaged. Flair does a lot of things really well, but he is exceptional at keeping the audience engaged even during perfunctory matwork. The beginning is all about putting over Kerry’s strength. This is accomplished by holding multiple head-scissors, winning over the top wristlocks and a visually impressive arm wrench that Flair bumps wells, which the crowd pops loudly for. Flair gets some offense in the corner, which is Flair’s domain. Besides Vader, I do not think there is a wrestler that is better in the corner than Flair. Flair takes over with a knee-lift and begins taking shortcuts like the aforementioned hair pull. Off a missed elbow, they do a well-executed tussle for the ab stretch I brought up earlier. I love how they made each other work for it with Kerry ultimately winning. An eye-rake (Flair shortcuts) breaks it up, but Kerry hits two pretty impressive dropkicks. Flair’s next shortcut is to hold the rope down as Kerry crashes to the floor, which leads to Flair’s big flurry of offensive: dropping Kerry across the top rope, knee drop and piledriver. Kerry catches Flair with back body drop, but Flair blocks the corner. Flair pushes the ref, but as Kerry winds up for the discus punch he catches the ref in the head. Kerry puts on the sleeper, BUT THERE IS NO REF, here he comes and now the bell is ringing. KERRY WINS THE FIRST FALL!!! Right!?!?! Right!?!?!? The original referee disqualifies Kerry for the punch much to the dismay of the crowd and to relief of a visually exhausted and desperate Flair. I liked the finish to the first fall even if it was a clusterfuck because Kerry was clearly put over as more dominant than Flair. Flair’s escape with a DQ finish in the first fall allows for Kerry to once again be perceived as the underdog as he has the unenviable task to win two straight falls against The Man. Another great element is that all of Flair’s control segments were initiated by shortcuts thus always making Kerry look better in comparison. The second fall rules all and by itself would probably be one of my favorite matches of all time. Flair is still coughing from the sleeper hold and begs off immediately. Kerry and the crowd smell blood. Kerry slaps on the sleeper, but Flair makes use of the Bret leverage move to send Kerry crashing to the floor. Flair capitalizes this by wrenching Kerry’s leg across the apron. NOW WE GO TO SCHOOL!!! Flair is absolutely crazed during this control segment as he clearly a desperate champ doing anything to take down the physically superior Kerry Von Erich. Flair hits the shinbreaker to a physically diminished Von Erich side-headlock. After Flair works over the leg, it is time for the Figure-4 Leglock whipping the crowd into frenzy. Just minutes ago, they thought their hero had the first fall in the bag and now it looks he is about to lose two straight falls. WAIT!!! Kerry had reversed the pressure and now Flair scrambles for the ropes. Flair tries to go back to the knee, but Keryr blocks with the vaunted Von Erich Claw. Flair blades like a champ off the claw and eventually is pinned. Flair’s control segment was fuckin awesome and Kerry sold his knee like champ. Then when it came to the hit finish everyone erupted when the claw was slapped on just when it seemed like Flair had this one in the bag. Flair is drenched in sweat and blood and looking for a fight with the universal sign of “Put up your dukes”. A spirited two-minute intense brawl breaks out and the ref loses control of the match. At first, I was disappointed by the finish, but in retrospect it is a really good to put over the intense nature of the match and it would ultimately setup the Huge Christmas Day 1982 Cage match. The basic idea of the Flair formula was executed, which is to make your opponent look like a million bucks and keep the audience engaged. However, Flair was not always a chickenshit heel as he vacillated among begging off, desperation and crazed. There was an urgency to each fall. Kerry felt like he NEEDED to win the first one and came out hot, but was robbed. Kerry NEEDED to win the second one or he lost, but by the same token Flair felt he NEEDED to win based off Kerry’s stellar performance in the first fall. Kerry played his part well and definitely added more than just his Texas star power. He sold well and worked hard to keep up with Flair and sell the importance of the match. I LOVE this match because there is never a dull moment and the match builds perfectly on itself until the wild brawl at the end. Just a little too much bullshit in the first and last fall to go all the way, but damn this is going to be a hard match to beat in World Class. ****3/4

Bret Hart vs Chris Benoit - WCW Nitro 10/04/99 Owen Hart Tribute Match I don't want to take anything a way from the true intention of this match, which was to honor Owen Hart, but in a lot of ways this was WCW saying goodbye to classic pro wrestling. In a couple weeks, Russo would take the helm and nothing on WCW TV ever really resembled wrestling again. Here just a scant few weeks before, WCW put on the most classic wrestling match seen in America probably since Hart/Austin at Survivor Series '96 (I might be omitting something obvious). There was a great build in this match with great counter moves swinging the match in Bret's favor for longer and longer periods of time, before Benoit big one last gasp match. The match really had the feeling on Benoit trying to prove himself to Bret. Bret would hold back and pick his spots to strike. If we ever got a Bret vs Owen match with the dynamics reversed (Bret as the heel, Owen as the face), I think it would have been similarly laid out to this. I loved the different tests of strength early and how they chained around them. Benoit asserts himself, Bret sees an opening and accelerates with the Russian Legsweep. I liked Bret using the Russian Legsweep as go to counterhold as later in the match after Benoit misses an elbow, he hits again overcoming Benoit's struggle. I thought Bret worked the match a little too heelish with the punches to the head, boot choke and working his general heel heat segment. It is not a strike against him more of a weird setting for this type of work. Benoit was great at timing his hope spots and at first they are more frequent and he gets more. You see the nasty spike tombstone. My favorite seqeunce of the match is Bret takes his classic bump into the ropes and sells it by going to the floor and Benoit follows with a wicked dive. But as the mistakes and Bret's offense accrue they become roll-ups and are fewer and farther between. They do so much of the little shit right in this match. Bret wants a superplex, but you should never give your opponent the high ground and initially he pays for it. However, since he is the fresher of the two, Benoit takes too long to capitalize so Bret cuts him off and then gets the superplex. Taking the extra minute to properly set up the superplex enhances the viewing experience greatly. The Hitman thinks he has Benoit primed for the Sharpshooter, but we get a really sweet counter into the Crossface. Benoit is feeling it and rattles off three snap suplexes and signals for the diving headbutt to big boos. It hits, but kick out. The fans right on cue start a Lets Go Bret chant that is really good work by the wrestlers. You knew they wanted to transition to the Bret finish run and the crowd was totally in sync with them. Benoit hesitates because he does not what shot to hit next so Bret capitalizes with a wicked back elbow and then a piledriver, but he is too close to the ropes. Benoit fights back with the chops and looks for the Rolling Germans. Benoit wants to bring him down into the Crossface, but Bret is able to wrangle Benoit's legs into Sharpshooter. Watching the Kansas City slowly realize that Bret is applying the Sharpshooter is a cool sight. People slowly are rising to their feet inquisitive, there is a rising noise and then when he turns him over a great pop. There were points of this that were a little dry or mechanical, but overall they put together a strong meat and potatoes match with Benoit peppering in some great hope spots and Bret timing his hope spots immaculately. The finish run built to a perfect climax. Really strong stuff and one last great match for Bret Hart. ****1/2

This is fucking awesome! Huge ups to you as I really need to relive 00s. How did you cull this list together? Personal preference? A general consensus from other boards?

More WCW cruiserweight goodness: This blog looks at the short-lived 1998 resurgence in the cruiserweight division with fresh faces of Juvy Juice and Billy Kidman. Juvytud is one of the best offensive wrestlers of the late 90s and it is a shame he did not get a push the size of Rey Rey. Kidman was actually a really smart counter-wrestler and was much better than I remembered. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-juice-runs-nitro-juventud-guerrera.html The following blog looks at the tres bitchin Rey vs Malenko 1996 series that featured two WCW MOTYCs and also the badass Mysterio/Psychosis, which I thought was their best match outside of Mexico. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-mysterious-king-rey-misterio-jr-dean.html

Akiyama did win in July to win the title from Misawa so I don't think that was horrible. What I don't understand is why if they were going to use Takayama in gaijin heel transitional role why have the Ogawa reign. Yes, Rat Boy is awesome but I think the reign did more harm than good.

See, Charles, I disagree with you because I feel like the presentation was to make Benoit a star. Tony and Bobby were talking him up. He got two visual falls on Sting before Luger came in and ragtagged him with that bat. Benoit felt like a pretty big deal in this match to me. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs Chris Benoit - WCW Nitro 9/20/99 Sting doing a kneelift cutoff was more surreal than seeing Sting in a WWE ring. After years upon years of Sting getting cutoff by heels, it was just so strange for him to finally do the kneelift. Then I was just as discombobulated when Sting's kneelift was reversed into a cradle, it was just so wrong. Overall, I loved this match, it felt super dramatic and Sting just has a huge presence in this match. The weird part of this match was that Sting worked the early portion as a babyface. He would hit these big spots and Benoit would have to bail on the outside to catch his breath. They were working this like a Clash of the Titans match for a Mania or a Dome it was really neat. Sting looked great in this match everything had purpose and an energy to it. The crowd reaction was definitely mixed for the Woos. It almost feels like they are doing an interesting evolution of the Sting character. Yes he did something rotten at Fall Brawl, but that is not going to change who he is in the ring, but it changes the crowd response. That would be some high-end booking if that was the plan. Benoit picks an ankle starts to go to work on the legs of the Stinger. Benoit gets in a nice bridging Deathlock, but he goes for the dropkick on the Tree of Woe one too many times and Stiing posts Benoit. AT this point, Sting does his mid-match turn and starts breaking down Benoit with really well-timed elbows and chinlocks. Benoit is just great at the chippy, upper midcarder with thee short bursts of energy, but Sting always has a cutoff. Sting hits a huge front suplex. They are building great drama on every nearfall. I am really blown away how food this is right now. The commentary is really putting over Benoit. Sting goes for out of control top rope splash and eats knees. Sting tries to recover quickly, but ends up eating turnbuckle on the Stinger Splash. Benoit signals for the heatbutt and he hits it! WOAH! 1-2-NO! Double hot sequence right there! Benoit pours it on with rolling snap suplexes and now the Crossface, but too close to the ropes. Sting is disoriented and desperate shoves Benoit into the ref. Benoit looks powerbomb, but goes piledriver WOW! Count to 1000, but there is no ref and the crowd is counting along for Benoit. Benoit now with rolling Germans and again gets the visual fall, but Luge comes comes in and cracks a bat across his exposed abdominals. Benoit sells this like a champ and Sting retains. Here comes Flair who looks great throwing punches in the corner. DDP here to help heels as Hogan clears the ring. Tony hypes Hogan/Hart/Flair vs Sting/Luger/DDP. You know, as a WCW mark, I would have loved to see where this was going without Russo's interference. It may not be the most inspired or unique booking, but definitely piqued my interest. I really liked this match and thought both Sting and Benoit looked king-size in this. Sting looked great as King of the Hill, which he has shown flashes of in his career, but this is unique as he is a heel in this match and he plays the finish so well. This was the perfect match for Benoit to be having at this point of his career taking a heel champion to the limit and within a year finally climbing that mountain if this was a normal company. Really strong TV match. ****

Definitely check out the Morishima/Sasaki title switch. It is Morishima's best match of the 00s in my estimation. It is probably Sasaki best individual performance of his career. He makes Morishima look huge in ways that no one else had. Which brings me to my next point, we can talk booking all we want, but at the end of the day he has to deliver in the ring. Morishima was an uneven performer especially at projecting size. Sometimes you think KENTA or Marufuji were the same size from a match layout. He would also go through the motions for large portions of the match. What I mean is he knew during this part of the match he should Suplex the shit out of someone, but it was translating emotionally. Finally the long NOAH epic match style did him no favors. Working at a brisk 10-15 minutes would have shaken up the stale NOAH style and played to Morishima's strength of quick bursts of energy. All above statements should be qualified with fact I have never seen his ROH work.

I have gotten two comments in the history of Riding Space Mountain and the most recent one was because I never spelt "crusierweight" correctly in my life and never really noticed. So thanks Alexei Beuadet for pointing that out to me. I kept telling myself I was going to write proper intros for these, but that ain't happening with my schedule. The first looks at the cruiserweight scene in 1997, obviously the first match that jumps to mind is Eddie vs Rey Title vs Mask, which is indeed the best WCW match of the late 90s. Jericho had his matches in this time period against a familiar opponent in Dragon and against Guerrero, who was on a hot streak. I looked at the overrated Malenko vs Dragon match and also a fun Rey vs Syxx TV bout. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-most-violent-poem-eddy-guerrero-rey.html The second also looks at 1997, but this time it is from the standpoint on the heavyweights. The strongest match and the greatest match in NWO history is Slamboree 1997 Ric Flair return match in Charlotte where he is joined by his best friend, Piper and by Panthers linebacker, Kevin Greene to take on the Wolfpac of Nash, Hall and Syxx who were the ultimate heels in this match. One of the best feel-good, pure babyface vs heel matches of all time. There is a ton of fun Nitro shit ranging from Guerrero/Jericho doing their best Rockers impression to DDP and Hollywood Hogan just absolutely ripping it up. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/04/1997-wcw.html

Steven Regal vs Fit Finlay - WCW Nitro 4/29/96 Parking Lot Brawl Really cool, unique set up with these two bitter rivals surrounded by park cars. Finlay wastes no time putting his foot through a window. Finlay uses a tire and a bumper to fuck up Regal. I loved the build to the climax with all the teases of doing moves from the top of the car. You know we all wanted to see it. They delivered in spades and I will let the viewer see it for themselves because it is quite the exclamation point on a great undercard feud. Bischoff was trying to get this match over by calling for wide angles and saying this is too violent, but it just came off as more annoying. I wish we had Tony calling this match. That being Bischoff or whoever in WCW came up with this match was really smart. This is cutting edge shit that takes ECW puts a new twist on it and is applied to a feud that fit it well. It comes off as super fresh and really makes WCW seem must see. Great and entertaining match, but does not touch the sheer awesomeness of the Uncensored match. ***1/2

Steven Regal vs Fit Finlay - WCW Saturday Night 4/13/96 Coming out of the violent Uncensored match where Regal's nose was demolished, Regal felt like the more sympathetic character and I feel like they played that up with him being more of a babyface here. He takes the match to Finlay early and it looks like he may trying to go for a nose for a nose with those nasty palm strikes. Finlay actually begs off before he gets a vicious elbow to the nose and he looks to keep grounded. He misses an elbow and Regal pounces with a double wristlock. It does not last long as Finlay gets a nasty thumb to eye and a wicked headbutt. Finlay looks to take Regal's arm off and beat him with it. The Blue Bloods come out to bail out Regal. I did not like the finish. Regal is a much better face than Finlay, but Finlay was over. I liked Regal as the fired up babyface and the finish just felt totally out of place. It even seemed the way Regal reacted that they may be teasing a face turn. Good set up for more matches. ***

Lord Steven Regal vs Fit Finlay - WCW Uncensored 1996 If you are real quiet and pay attention real close, you can actually hear Regal's nose explode at the end of the match. This was Ishikawa/Ikeda levels of brutality and uncomfortability. They were just beating the absolutely fucking shit out of each other. This would not look out of place at all on BattlArts card. This is why I loved WCW in 1996, it really felt like an all-star promotion with the best of every style on the card. Finlay set the tone early by whipping Regal with his jacket and just attacking him with vicious forearms, knees and headbutts. They were just fighting through each other's offense, which is one of my favorite style of matches. To me it is not my turn, your turn because you fucking earned your turn in this war. Whether it was stiff Finlay knee to the head to break out of an armbar or Regal nearly taking Finlay's head off with a dropkick. The only defense in this match was more offense and fight fire with fire. Unlike Ishikawa/Ikeda, they had a hard time keeping the heat up throughout the match and in the holds. They worked the palm strikes and knees in the holds well, but the holds in the match while gnarly did not have the drama of a BatBat match. I loved that the chairs were attached together preventing Finlay from using the chairs at Uncensored. I always mark out when someone suplexes someone from the ring to the floor, which seems so dangerous. Dusty is hilarious totally missing Brain's point that they wrestled each other thinking he was thinking England and Ireland were the same thing, "Ireland is five miles from London. I don't think so." Apparently, this match was supposed to go 30 minutes and I think thankfully it did not. It was running out of steam and this was the perfect ending for the match. One guy hits another guy so hard that his nose is shattered and he is just a bloody mess. It was really the only proper way to end such a nasty fight. As much as I love sheer brutality, I do like a bit more of a strategy and/or narrative to my matches. It really is another form of a spotfest, but better than what is commonly thought of as a spotfest. Because they are fighting through each other's offense, it never feels like an exhibition. Because they are hitting each other so hard, it always feels like they are trying to win. It does not have the same pitfalls as a standard spotfest, but it does lack hook from a character/angle perspective to make it truly excellent. Still, I think this is an undervalued match. It is well-known, but the usual rating seems a bit low to me. It does not reach the greatness of some of the BatBat/FUTEN stuff I saw in the past year, this is not far off. ****1/4

Thanks Parv for the shoutout, brutha. I will definitely have to check out Martel/Garea especially against the Moondogs.

Diamond Dallas Page vs Renegade - Fall Brawl 1995 Not a great match, but a great heel performance. It feels like Psicosis rudo performance, it is that good. vs. Hollywood Hogan - Nitro 10/28/97 Holy shit, what a selling performance and very scrappy. vs. Chris Benoit - SuperBrawl VIII I think this is super underrated. Great struggle. vs Goldberg - Halloween Havoc 1998 Huge Clash of Titans feel vs Sting - Nitro 4/26/98 Excellent Layout to work the crowd to a fever pitch

Eddie Guerrero vs Shinjiro Ohtani - WCW Starrcade 1995 This did not hold up to memory of watching this just a couple years ago. Eddie pre-charisma infusion is tough to watch in WCW. You just know there is all this irresistible energy inside him, but yet comes across as so bland at this point. Ohtani is just overflowing with heel charisma in this match. Tajiri and Ohtani would have been a ridiculously awesome tag team in early 2000s WWF. Ohtani comes off as a major star from both his character work and his spots. He starts off hair pulling, eye gouging and clawing at the face. We do get a slight hint of Eddie having a personality when he rubs the boot in his face like he would when he is a rudo. It is just kinda on the mat until Eddie folds Ohtani up with a massive powerbomb. I love 1995! Eddie can be so much more than a spot monkey but at this point he is just going for high impact to wake up the crowd now with a brainbuster. Ohtani retaliates with some awesome springboard moves. Someone said AJ Styles was the best springboard wrestler and while he is great, junior Ohtani gives him a run of his money. Ohtani flaunts and taunts to boos and then claws the face. At this point, Brain gets tired of being picked up and actually tries to add insight to the match so he asks what Dusty would be thinking if he was Eddie and without missing a beat, Dusty responds with "I be thinking I lost a lot of weight!" Gets me everytime! Ohtani hits a wicked German and a applies a heel hook. There really is no long term selling in this as they are just popping up and hitting spots at will. Eddie hits a crazy springboard cross body from the top rope to the floor and looks to be ready to win. Then Ohtani just hits a wicked springboard dropkick to the back of his head. They are just hitting shit willy-nilly. Ohtani ends up on top for a rollup sequence to send NJPW up 3-2. Great Ohtani heel performance and showcase, but not enough selling or psychology to make it meaningful as a contest. ***

Chris Benoit vs Eddy Guerrero - WCW Saturday Night 11/18/95 Good, but not great match from these two. They given more time and they do with the slow start trading hammerlocks and top wristlock takedowns. They get it rolling with some quick pinning combinations. Benoit looks for the kill with the powerbomb, but Eddie knows this song and dance and counters with an arm drag. Eddie gets the big move over the top rope, but this time he keeps his emotions in check and does not wrap his arm around the post. Benoit is so great at selling the armdrag. He is able to control the match with a camel clutch and Gory Special. Unlike the Nitro match, Eddie gets to take top portion of the match. So that is nice tit for tat. Benoit is able to get a couple quick lariats to stop the bleeding. I like the play off from Nitro, but there has been some awkward exchanges and it does not have the same sense of urgency. Benoit misses the diving headbutt and Eddie looks to capitalize with La Magistral Cradle. We go back to the series of nearfalls. Guerrero gets a crucifix powerbomb, God Bless 1995! Eddie hits a brainbuster and he gets two. Eddie goes for the frogsplash, but Benoit meets him and hits a super back suplex that knocks both men out. I really liked the finish, but it just like a generic technically good match. I feel like anybody from this era could have this match. I liked the play off the Nitro match, but besides the finish nothing too memorable. ***

Ahem...Sting vs DDP...ahem. Still I agree with myself that this is in the top handful. Chris Benoit vs Eddy Guerrero - WCW Nitro 10/16/95 One of my favorite matches of all time, before youtube all I had was a handful of DVDs from WWE and one was the Benoit DVD. I watched the shit out of it and there was nothing I liked better for those moments when I had only 10 minutes than this fantastic sprint. I was totally awestruck how explosive these two were from both a speed and power standpoint. You see spotfests all the time, but it is a lost art to see them done with such acceleration and intensity. The spots are incredible, but the selling is equally as amazing for how believable it was, but still fit in the context of 10 minute showcase sprint. Early on, they show off their speed and play tit for tat. Their headscissors are amazing. Guerrero scores big with the splash from the top to the outside, but wraps his arm around the ringpost. Eddie sells the arm like a champion the rest of the way, but Benoit should get credit too. Benoit is the best non-Mexican at selling the discombobulation that results from an armdrag. The armdrag keeps him off balance and it is what affords Eddie the chance to hit a Tornado DDT. Benoit sells his head, hits a wicked clothesline and still needs to shake the cobwebs loose. That how you demonstrate to people you are fighting through pain. Benoit works an incredible Anderson-style heat segment and taking it to the next level with an Northern Lights Hammerlock Slam, Jesus! Again, Eddie can use that headscissors to discombobulate Benoit long enough to show he can give as good he gets with the back drop driver and brainbuster. Almost every spot is a direct consequence of what happened previously and then leads into the next one, it is mind blowing how well this laid out while still having giant spots. Benoit gets knees up only to hit the MUTHA OF ALL POWERBOMBS! Eddie kicks out, but when he uses his bad arm to punch Benoit takes advantage with a Dragon Suplex. Tremendous match! It is incredible how they were able to basically pack in all their unique characteristics in one ten minute debut match. Huge offense. Check. Psychology. Check. Selling. Check. Logical Layout. Check. Impressing in a Debut. Check. One of my favorite sprints of all time! ****

I enjoyed this match, but yeah it was no more than good. Speaking of the layout, DDP was the king of the nearfall in the late 90s and he definitely used that to create drama more frequently than other American wrestlers. Badd was just coming off the Pillman/Badd, which was wicked Japanese and I would imagine that he liked the idea of building of his offense from the Pillman match. I love 1995 for all the powerbombs. Everybody and their mother is powerbombing in WCW and it was awesome. Yeah it probably killed the move, but hey, I liked it. As for execution, DDP is da man! Two huge bumps, selling the storyline with Kimberly (hot damn, love dat hair, I was born in the wrong decade), trash talking, cheating & taunting, fun schtick at the beginning and being all business by the finish. He was not at his levels of 1997-1999 where he could not be stopped and would not be topped.

It was for Portland TV only. Flair must have worked face for Portland to face Buddy. Now they are reigniting Rose vs Piper. It was a really neat find and some cool synergy between the various players and territories.

Buddy Rose had a series of matches with Backlund in '82 where Wizard was his manager. It looks like it was shot in the Northeast. Makes Portland look more big time by having Portland's main guy associated with a WWF manager and WWF announcer. Vince & Co. were just doing a favor for Buddy, I would imagine.

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan vs Diamond Dallas Page - WCW Nitro 10/28/97 We have a winner, folks! The best Hollywood Hogan match of all time and of course who is it against, but my man, DDP! As awesome as DDP was in this match and he was pretty fucking awesome, Hogan absolutely crushed it! He showed a roller coaster of emotions as he was responding to how the match was progressing. Early on, he was cocky Hogan out to prove that the loss to Piper was a fluke. He busted out some great arm work and was trash talking DDP. DDP turned the arm work around on Hogan with short arm blocks, but Hogan escapes the Diamond Cutter. He retreats to the outside and tips over the stairs in a fit of frustration.There is a great spot where DDP gets Hogan down and he dives after him as Hogan rolls out to the floor. I love shit like that. Hogan is not going to fuck around anymore and he blasts DDP in the head with a punch. Hogan is busting out shit like a huge high knee that would make Jumbo Tsuruta proud. Getting away from Hogan let's talk about DDP for a hot minute. DDP's work in this is fantastic. He is selling the ribs running the ropes, on bodyslams, on just about everything and it is awesome. Then couple that with DDP's usual chippy, never say die full court press you have an all-time great performance. DDP takes a nasty tumble from the ring into railing. Hogan hits two huge chops! Hogan is now trash talking DDP and flexing. DDP is able to get an elbow drop and his selling afterwards is some the best you will ever see period. DDP wants that revenge from Hogan's bat shot to the ribs the previous night at Havoc that cost him the match to his archrival, Randy Savage. That sequence where DDP sells the ribs from being shot into the ropes only to eat a huge clothesline from Hogan is spectacular. DDP tries to fight back, but Hogan is pouring it on with the follow-up clothesline in the corner and a vertical suplex. DDP wont stay down and Hogan is now getting frustrated. DDP fight back from his knees, here he comes, he is overwhelming Hogan. Hogan tries to retreat, but DDP won't let him rest. HOGAN BIG BOOT OUT OF NOWHERE! Holy shit! He goes for the Legdrop he misses. DDP is calling for the Diamond Cutter and the crowd is on their feet. Unfortunately, they go the bullshit finish route with Fake Sting and DDP at least gets to hit the Cutter on him before Hogan whips him with his belt and the NWO hits the ring. Sting clears the ring. The fact that they went with this finish does show that WCW believed in DDP enough at this point to protect him. Still does hurt the match without the satisfying finish, but holy shit you will be hard-pressed to find a better gutsy babyface performance than the one here from DDP. Perfect combination of selling and fighting through the pain with a great sense of urgency was showcased here by DDP. Hogan was on fire, super motivated, busting out that sweet high knee, really energetic, and great heeling. Definitely one of the best Nitro matches of all time and another feather in the cap of DDP, who was just feeling it at this time and it seems impossible for him to have a bad match. ****

Scott Steiner vs Goldberg - WCW Fall Brawl 2000 I couldn't believe the angle they ran before this where it was implied Goldberg put Midajah (Steiner's favorite freak) through a table and then I guess he smashed Steiner's face in with a lead pipe. Why the hell is the babyface attacking defenseless women? Fuck Russo! Steiner then puts Goldberg's girlfriend in the Steiner Recliner, but since that's shown on TV that means exposes it as a weak ass chinlock, Awful Russoian, misogynistic booking aside, I am pretty pumped for this match and so is the Buffalo crowd. The Bills football team hates Steiner and is super pro-Goldberg. Steiner is wearing a face mask and Goldberg has his arm taped up, which is good continuity, but neither one really plays into the match so it is a wash. Steiner stiffs the fuck out of Goldberg and Goldberg know no other way to wrestle so this comes off a gargantuan match. I loved Steiner taking right to Goldberg with some wicked shots only for Goldberg to come out of the corner with a huge Press and then catch and slam. It was amazing watching these two behemoth throw each other around. Steiner puts up the best resistance he possibly can, but his standard power game is not getting it down when Goldberg can outmuscle him. This is exemplified when Steiner hoists him into the Tombstone, but Goldberg reverses into a Oklahoma Slam. However, the one time the pre-existing injuries play into the match is when Goldberg's arm starts to bother him (nice Goddamnit on one of the strikes) and then he misses the spear. Steiner is able to take advantage on the outside and bust him over as his favorite freak, Midajah strolls out with a lead pipe. Steiner throws Goldberg around and hits a couple push-ups. Go Blue! Little shit like Goldberg nasty back elbows to Steiner and Steiner rethinking his suplex to a Belly to Belly was what was making this match great. Midajah hands Steiner the pipe, but SPEAR! Goldberg goes for the Jackhammer and the match goes to Hell because here comes Satan himself. Russo hits Goldberg with an obviously gimmicked bat. They were having a great match why the fuck do we need Russo and fake as fuck weapons. If they presented the fake bat as a real bat and had Goldberg lose right there, I would have no problem it was the bullshit with Goldberg being able to continue. Goldberg powering out of the Steiner Recliner was fucking awesome as he literally threw Steiner half way cross the ring from his shoulders. Midajah and Russo play pinata with Goldberg on the top rope, fuck, they are killing this match. Goldberg looks like he is finally going to kill Russo so Steiner smokes him the pipe and puts in the Recliner. The fake weapons and Russo bullshit really ruined what was otherwise a really good match. I am a sucker for two big men throwing each other around. There were great highspots and plenty of struggle. Goldberg's spear and the Goldberg's powering out of the Recliner were awesome spots. They did not need the overbooking, alas that is the story of Russo booking. Still the best match of the Russo regime and can't think of anything that would come close. ****

Nikki Bella's ass

Vader & Arn Anderson vs Stars & Stripes - WCW Saturday Night 4/15/95 The Patriot sure as hell had one interesting career: Kenta Kobashi's gaijin tag partner, WCW midcarder, more All Japan with Bobby Fulton's brother as his partner and then brief stint as WWF main eventer and I am sure I am missing some other stuff. I actually thought he looked pretty damn good here and was able to rile the crowd up pretty easily. I would have actually liked to see him a get a stronger push in WCW or All Japan to see what he really could have done. This is a really strong TV tag team match that makes me long for more Vader & AA tag matches because damn did they gel perfectly here. Both really have a similar methodology when it comes to wrestling, they are going to get theres, but they do their utmost to shine up the babyface no matter where the babyface is on the card. Arn makes Stars & Stripes look like a million bucks early and even Patriot gets a lick on Vader. Before they hit heel in peril, Arn directs traffic to set up for a catapult into a Chokeslam. Shit! That was awesome. Vader takes it to Bagwell in the corner with the typical Vader blows, but Bagwell is able evade Vader long enough to tag in Patriot. Patriot looked awesome here for a minute stretch of offense. He was teeing off on Vader and hits a massive flying forearm and the crowd is jacked! Vader is always giving in matches and perfect way to make Patriot look like a star. Arn stops the bleeding by goading Patriot to the outside ducking and VADER BODY ATTACK! Here is the reinstated Nature Boy to add his two cents to the match. The heat segment proper on Patriot is awesome! At one point, Anderson uses a drop toehold to keep Patriot down and Vader squashes with a sick elbow. Vaderbomb only gets two, which shocks the timekeeper who rang the bell expecting it to be the finish. Got to smarten up the timekeeper, WCW! People complain about Hogan killing the finish! LOL! Vader is just in his element here destroying the Patriot, but letting him sneak in little shots. Anderson does the head collide on rope running sequence, but not a very convincing one. Bagwell is in and there is something in the water because he looks great coming off the hot tag and tagging Arn getting a powerslam for two. Double dropkick to Vader! Bagwell hits a Fisherman Suplex on Anderson, but Vader hits a diving headbutt and Anderson rolls through for the win. Great TV match that was energetic throughout, they gave some love to Patriot and Bagwell, btu Vader was just a monster in this and really looked like one of the best wrestlers in the world! ***1/2

WOW! That's a ballsy statement. I disagree with you because I think Malenko worked one of the all-time great heat segments, Mysterio killed it in his debut and it melded into a great championship match. This was a match that was far less ambitious, Sting was in a holding pattern until the NWO and this was a way to give the rub to Regal while putting Sting over. I don't want to use the word "exhibition" because it did feel like a struggle, but this was clearly a showcase for Regal. I actually really liked your analysis of finish and did not think of it that way. Definitely some cool insight. Regal vs Mysterio in WCW with time (I think they had a match on Nitro in 1997 during Mysterio/Iaukea feud) would have been so bitchin! Sting vs Lord Steven Regal - WCW Great American Bash 1996 One of those mildly hyped WCW matches that I have never had a chance to see, until now. I am a pretty big Regal fan because he reminds me of someone like a Valentine or a Vader that will force an opponent out of their comfort zone, but still adapt to the opponent. It is a rare talent and one not too often discussed. A little background on why Regal was getting a crack at the top when he was usually relegated to great mid-card actin. This is the PPV before Bash at the Beach and thus the entire company is in a holding pattern until the New World Order is formed. Sting needed a win and a match with Regal could serve to enhance Regal's star power. After the NWO, there did not seem to be plans for Regal and of course Regal was also battling personal demons. The set up was pretty simple as Regal showed Sting the back of his hand and Sting took offense. Tony mentions during the course of this bout that Sting's dark hair look is recent. I always prefered bleach blond and spiky, but it was a good way to freshen up Sting. Sting actually showed some really good fire early, which has always been my problem with him. Yes, he has a ton of energy to spare, but rarely is it channeled into violence. Regal is able to come back with some technical wristlocks to subdue Sting, but Sting's energy and strength allow him to power out. Regal resets the match asking for a handshake and his facial expressions during this is priceless. Sting thrusts his Little Stinger in Lord Steven's direction. Tony calls that an Elvis move. Dusty says that is not an Elvis move that was a pelvis move! Too funny. We hit the test of strength and Sting maybe stronger, but Regal knows those little tricks that allow him to apply a cobra clutch. From there, it is all Regal and that is goal of this match to showcase Regal as a credible opponent for WCW's main eventers through his holds, vicious strikes and his cocky attitude. His little strut, which was supposed to mock Sting just struck me as a weird than as annoying or entertaining, a rare bit of character acting that Regal misfired on. Regal takes a good 80-90% of this match and wrestles a solid heat segment with vicious palm strikes to the head and interesting arm holds, but I think overall Malenko smoked him on this night. Sting's hope spots were well-timed and Regal had nice underhanded counters like an eyepoke for them. I actually kinda liked Sting powering up while in a knucklelock and Regal's selling was spot on. Sting hits his sugar high and explodes with clotheslines, but that is just a hope spot and we get a sweet butterfly suplex. The part of the match is that pisses me off more than anything else happens right here. Regal applies his Regal Stretch and then just gives it up. I can't stand when wrestlers just give up on submissions and YOUR BEST SUBMISSION that is ridiculous. The setup for the finish is great that Regal is mauling Sting in the corner and Sting won't go down so he shows him the back of the hand just like at the start of this angle and Sting wakes the fuck up for that. Sting hits some really great monster punches. Sting eats knees on the Stinger Splash, but quickly applies the Scorpion Deathlock to get out of Baltimore with the victory. Regal looked great in this match just by being able to hang with Sting. Sting had some real flashes of violence and intensity as opposed to his more FUN energy. I thought that was a very good match, but I don't they ever really flirted with great. Regal gets to show his stuff, Sting kicks a bit of ass, but needs the flash submission to defeat Regal and build momentum towards the clash with the Outsiders. Very good match to build Regal up, but sadly nothing ever came from it. ***1/2