Superstar Sleeze

Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude & Steve Austin) vs. Dragon's Sting (Sting & Ricky Steamboat) - Clash of the Champions XVIII The Rick Rude waddle after the two atomic drops was the highlight of the match. He must have really been in a bad way if he could not have extended his career as a tag team stooge for a couple years. Also I liked Steamboat switching it up and putting his nearfall barrage at the beginning against Austin. Austin did a good job selling exasperation. The crowd went nuts for Sting hip swivel and Im a mark for when the babyfaces illegally switch, the heel hem and haw, the ref asks the crowd and they all say NO! Thats good fun! The FIPs were fine for what they were, but not as good as the shine. Sting leaps onto Steamboat and Austin so that Sting and The Dragon pin Austin, which really works Jesse up into a lather. So that when Rude & Austin beat the living hell out of Steamboat he loves this justified revenge. Two Rude Awakenings has the Steamer paralyzed. Rude starts to whip with a belt. Dangerously with his phone and Austin hold off security. This was a great post-match angle to put some heat on the Rude/Steamboat match at SuperBrawl. It was a fun match, but nothing to write home about. ***

KENTAFuji vs New Japan (Jushin Liger & Takehiro Murahama) - GHC Jr Heavyweight Tag Title Final 07/16/03 After their awful performance in the 8-man Burning vs Sterness tag, I was fearing for the worst from KENTAFuji and I expected that these matches would confirm the worst of what their detractors say about their spot-fu, bereft of selling style. However, I love polarizing figures in wrestling because they challenge me to evaluate the match on its merits not on the reputation. You cant let someone else dictate your opinions. You have to go to the primary source to develop your own. I have seen other KENTA and Marufuji matches, but for the purposes of this project, this is only the second match I have reviewed. I thought they belted this one out of the park. I would call this second best junior heavyweight match I have seen so far and the best of the New Japan vs NOAH junior tags. Funny how Murahama is two of top three best junior heavyweight matches and I had never heard of him until this project. Much like when I watched the New Japan/Osaka trios match, as soon as I saw Murahama hook it up with KENTA I wanted that singles match hell sign me up for a KENTA/Minoru Tanaka singles bout. Another feather in Liger's cap proving that he is the greatest Japanese junior heavyweight and globally I would say Rey Mysterio is the only one who is in the same league as him. KENTA/Murahama kick off the bout with some really neat shoot-style standup and KENTA hits a running big boot on Liger on the apron. This ain't going to be no exhibition there is some bad blood here, baby. I love how Liger swatted the gymnast, Marufuji out of the sky early with a palm strike. Marufuji to his credit went toe to toe with Murahama in headbutts showing that he was not all bad aerials and light offense. After the little shoot-style intro, they hit their dives. KENTA comes up a little short on his, but Marufuji does hit a sweet spingboard moonsault onto Liger to the outside. Then there is a weird heel in peril segment where KENTAFuji works over Murahama and Marufuji hits his first shitty move and it just drags. Murahama wakes us up with a sweet flip dive onto KENTA and here comes THE BOOM! Liger destroys KENTA: frogsplash, wicked Ligerbomb, surfboard, camel clutch (complete with Murahama kicks). Murahama transitions to KENTA's legs and applies a figure-4. KENTA does a pretty good garnering sympathy from the crowd as the New Japan invaders are really laying it on. KENTA/Murahama hit mirror strikes on each other, but Murahama tags Liger in and he knocks Fuji off apron with the palm strike and wallops KENTA with one in the corner. KENTA is finally able to tag Marufuji after a tornado DDT onto the top rope and springboard dropkick. It is not much a hot tag as Liger smokes with a palm strike after a short sequence and then catches him off the top with a wicked powerbomb and then the Ligerbomb looks to finish it. Two more brainbusters cant get the job done as KENTA saves. Marufuji hits a superkick and Liger a palm strike to knock each other out. I am loving the KENTA/Murahama interactions as they just rock it again with the kick combos. Murahama is able to get a brainbuster, German suplex and finally a double wristlock, which is treated as a finish. Murahama kicks KENTA's bad arm so he catches that leg and elbows it. Muraham switches to other leg and KENTA catches that and dragon leg screw. Well done! Tag to Fuji and we hit the finish run. Melee ensues. Murahama actually gets a nearfall on Marufuji after a couple kicks to head. KENTA owns Liger with a wicked strike combo. KENTAFuji hot their version of Doomsaday Device with a knee instead of lariat. Liger saves. The finish is a nice Marufuji shooting star press as they become the inaugural GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. This was one helluva a balls to the wall affair. Besides the weird heel in peril segment (like 2-3 minutes of a 26 minute match), these four brought all the action to deliver a great fireworks spectacle. KENTA/Murahama stood out as a great pairing and I hope there is a singles match between the two of them out there. Liger was the MVP of this for me. He proved that not only could he could keep up with the young guns that his offense was truly timeless. Plus Liger dismantling Marufuji should bring a smile to everyone's face. Nothing has changed in terms of me thinking that KENTA is light years ahead of Marufuji. If someone could slow KENTA down a bit and force him to sell he has some great matches in him. KENTA was great in his FIPs, just long-term selling is what I mean. Marufuji was definitely more reigned in here, but his superkick is weak and his offense is too light. He toned down the dumb shit and was working better, but I don't think he is salvageable. In 2003, the juniors are 2 for 2 in terms of big action blockbusters in my book. ****1/4

Low Ki vs AJ Styles - Z1 01/05/03 AJ Styles as the cocky, douchey show-off heel was one of my favorite things about wrestling in the 00s. He is perfectly contrasted against the ultra-serious, no-nonsense Low-Ki in this match. I have seen this match before and thought it was pretty good, but this time around I was actually blown away how well this came off. The spots were well-executed at a pace that kills, but in addition there were actual transitions and it felt like an actual contest with two combatants struggling for victory. The early matwork was really well done and felt super organic. Each wrestler was looking for a hold, but could never really wrangle one. I dug Ki's kick to AJ's head during a Stampede roll-around on the armbar. Everytime, AJ went to bask in his own glory it usually led to a swift kick to his head (second time he jumps over the railing to avoid contact only for Ki to wipe him and a bunch of fans out was friggin awesome). Or AJ liked to do a kip up hurricanrana at the time and I just watched the ROH 2002 match against Ki where he does it out of nowhere and it looked pretty stupid. Here, Ki has been on offense for the majority of the match, but during a criss cross AJ hits a dropkick to a leapfrogging Ki to hit his kip up rana and it looks so much better since Ki is bending over. AJ was not just some Scotty Steiner doing a spot and then popping for himself. When he nailed Ki with one of his semi-finishers (one of them indy-riffic suplexes), he was pissed off that he did not win and started to unload with a bunch of closed fists. He cared about winning in a wrestling match what a novel concept! Of course, his overzealousness costed him as Ki caught him in a powerbomb. Ki showed the crowd that Styles was not the only one who cared about winning as he unleashed some devastating Kawada kicks. There were a lot of great spots in this one, but spot of the match had to be AJ catching Ki off some crazy flip and seamlessly turning it into Style Clash. AJ, brash as ever, signals he has a three only for a kick out and his face says it all. Now if Ki hit the Ki Krusher and won right there. I think I would have an argument to call this an elite match, but AJ kicks out and the finish sequence goes two minutes longer than it should. AJ counters Kawada kicks with a suplex combination that is indy-riffic in his no-selling and its presentation. He does grab his neck (Ki Krusher) and show some hesitancy to go for Super Styles Clash so I will give him that. Ki is able to take advantage of this to hit his Ki Krusher and roll into a wicked looking Dragon Sleeper for win. There are definite issues in terms of long-term selling and the finish sequence going into spot overdrive, but in terms of a fireworks display with struggle and well-done transitions this hard to beat. ****

Taking a break from Japan going back to where I belong Dubbya-See-Dubbya baby! This is Volume 1 of the Dangerous Alliance Chronicles. Starts off with two matches that technically predate the storyline but set the table with Steamboat coming back and winning the tag titles from The Enforcers in a well-known, badass match and Rude taking the US Title from Sting under nefarious circumstances. A great, great way to book two hotting returning stars and set the promotion afire after the GAB '91 debacle. In addition, standout TV match is a singles affair from Eaton and Steamboat that mixes brawling and technique to build to a hot, hot finish. As a big Eaton mark very happy to find such a good Eaton singles performance. Match Listing: WCW World Tag Team Champions The Enforcers (Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko) vs. Dustin Rhodes & Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat - Clash of the Champions XVII ****1/2 WCW US Champion Sting vs "Ravishing" Rick Rude w/Paul E. Dangerously - Clash of the Champions XVII (Not a great match per se, but a great angle) Dustin Rhodes & Bobby Eaton vs Arn Anderson & Steve Austin - WCW Worldwide 11/23/91 (Wonder what happens in this match?) Larry Zbyszko vs Barry Windham - WCW Main Event 11/24/91 (Larryland is the most magical place on Earth. Great heel performance) Bobby Eaton w/Mad USA vs. Ricky Steamboat - WCW Saturday Night 12/14/91 (Chairshots, Barrage of pinning sequences and an awful Madusa suit) ***3/4 WCW TV Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Paul E. Dangerously vs Big Josh WCW Pro 12/21/91 (Poor Matt Bourne) Dangerous Alliance (Bobby Eaton & The Enforcers) vs All Gold Everything (Brian Pillman, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes) - WCW Pro 12/21/91 (First of many fun, solid six-man tags) http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/05/rude-awakening-history-of-dangerous.html

My favorite thing on Twitter right now is how much an Adam Rose mark Missy Hyatt is.

I am a little shocked this did not make the '92 yearbook. Dangerous Alliance (Larry Zbyszko, Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton) vs. Dont Step To Sweetwater (Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Ron Simmons) - Clash of the Champions XVIII Barry Windham is BACK, BABY! He is coming for you Larry Z! Paul E. cuts a promo before the match saying one of the heroes of WCW will be going to the Magnum TA retirement home, but aint nobody gonna deny Barry. I loved the opening with Eaton rattling off a neckbreaker, big right and a superplex and Barry just no selling it. Crowd and I lost out shit for that. Windham hits a superplex of his own and then we get the triple figure-fours. Ron Simmons does the Ricky Morton/Shawn Michaels flip out of the double top wristlock and double shoulderblock, which is impressive given his size. He then catches Eaton mid-air into bearhug. The more I watch early WCW the more I understand the Simmons push. Then Dustin/Eaton tango and Dustin is awesome. He throws out Eaton onto the ramp and just hurls himself over the top rope onto Eaton. The babyfaces were fired up for this and I love it. Windham and Zbyszko the Reckoning! Big Barry chants. Where was the payoff singles match??? Larry Z sidesteps the lariat and Barry crashes and burns and when Barry tags Dustin he does the same thing. Jeez, Dustin you are supposed to learn from your mentor's mistakes not play Monkey See, Monkey Do. Paul E. get his brick cell phone shot in Dustin, which means we get a Dustin FIP. O yes! Arn runs through his offense: spinebuser and wicked DDT, but cant keep the kid down. Eaton now hits his flying elbow, but Dustin's heart dont pump kool-aid. Eaton crotches himself on the middle turnbuckle -> HOT TAG TO BARRY!!! Melee ensues, but this time there ain't no Alabama Jam opportunity. Instead, Windham swats Eaton right out of the air with a right to pick up the win. What a great, high-energy six-man tag, definitely my favorite six-man tag. I am a big Windham fan, glad to see him back and kicking ass. The match was super tight and efficient no dead spots and everything served a purpose. The heat segment even included some cool heel moves, which is a nice treat. This was a perfect first match back for Windham. He wins, but does not exact full revenge from Larry "The Cruncher" Zbyszko setting up the bitchin SuperBrawl tag match. ***3/4

Since Larry Legend is a hot subject might as well tack this one here. I am a little shocked this did not make the '92 yearbook. Dangerous Alliance (Larry Zbyszko, Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton) vs. Dont Step To Sweetwater (Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Ron Simmons) - Clash of the Champions XVIII Barry Windham is BACK, BABY! He is coming for you Larry Z! Paul E. cuts a promo before the match saying one of the heroes of WCW will be going to the Magnum TA retirement home, but aint nobody gonna deny Barry. I loved the opening with Eaton rattling off a neckbreaker, big right and a superplex and Barry just no selling it. Crowd and I lost out shit for that. Windham hits a superplex of his own and then we get the triple figure-fours. Ron Simmons does the Ricky Morton/Shawn Michaels flip out of the double top wristlock and double shoulderblock, which is impressive given his size. He then catches Eaton mid-air into bearhug. The more I watch early WCW the more I understand the Simmons push. Then Dustin/Eaton tango and Dustin is awesome. He throws out Eaton onto the ramp and just hurls himself over the top rope onto Eaton. The babyfaces were fired up for this and I love it. Windham and Zbyszko the Reckoning! Big Barry chants. Where was the payoff singles match??? Larry Z sidesteps the lariat and Barry crashes and burns and when Barry tags Dustin he does the same thing. Jeez, Dustin you are supposed to learn from your mentor's mistakes not play Monkey See, Monkey Do. Paul E. get his brick cell phone shot in Dustin, which means we get a Dustin FIP. O yes! Arn runs through his offense: spinebuser and wicked DDT, but cant keep the kid down. Eaton now hits his flying elbow, but Dustin's heart dont pump kool-aid. Eaton crotches himself on the middle turnbuckle -> HOT TAG TO BARRY!!! Melee ensues, but this time there ain't no Alabama Jam opportunity. Instead, Windham swats Eaton right out of the air with a right to pick up the win. What a great, high-energy six-man tag, definitely my favorite six-man tag. I am a big Windham fan, glad to see him back and kicking ass. The match was super tight and efficient no dead spots and everything served a purpose. The heat segment even included some cool heel moves, which is a nice treat. This was a perfect first match back for Windham. He wins, but does not exact full revenge from Larry "The Cruncher" Zbyszko setting up the bitchin SuperBrawl tag match. ***3/4

Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Bobby Eaton) vs Sting's Squadron (Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Marcus Bagwell) - WCW Pro 01/18/92 Sting is over like rover and the crowd is molten for the Sting/Rude confrontation. Rude is the God King of Stooging and is the total highlight of the shine selling the Steamboat wristlock and atomic drop like only he can. Bagwell is inoffensive in his section. I was not digging Sting clearing the ring seemed lackluster, but the crowd loved it. Eaton and Dangerously hold Rude back on the apron while Sting stands alone and the crowd is losing its shit at the prospective clash. However, it is not to be as Austin/Sting resumes. To my surprise, the story is not the rookie, Bagwell being in over his head, but rather Steamboat takes the heat. Overall, this is much better for my enjoyment, but I don't know if it is logical. The crowd let us know "We Want Sting" while Eaton hits two nice Billy Robinson backbreakers on Steamboat.Rude comes in hits a move and that hip swivels in front of Sting when Sting goes for the swipe he takes a step back and keeps swiveling. Thats dedication to the craft! Steamboat gets the hot tag to Bagwell!?!?!?!? The crowd goes mild to say the least. Melee ensues and Sting/Rude hook it up and the crowd goes nuclear. Bagwell powerslams Austin, but the ref loses control. Everybody all together now, Bobby Eaton flies through the air with the Alabama Jam to take out Bagwell and puts Austin on top for the Dangerous Alliance victory. It is a fun, popcorn type match that showcases where this angle helped the most and that is delivering good to great matches on a weekly basis. However, there has been a lack of progression, but hopefully with a Clash and Superbrawl coming up we will start to see a change in that front. ***1/4

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Ricky Martel blows Ricky Steamboat out of the water in terms of looking like a fineeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee muthafucka. smh. French Tickler >>> Hawaiian Punch.

Arn Anderson w/Paul E. Dangerously vs Dustin Rhodes - WCW Saturday Night 01/04/92 I'll never ever get tired of Beautiful Bobby flying randomly into the screen to drop the leg on an unsuspecting babyface covering an opponent. I have actually seen this match twice before and I loved it. I remember the double bodypart psychology and each men's selling being the hooks of the match. For the life of me, I couldnt remember the finish and then JR says we will show the finish tomorrow I was like "Fuck, the reason I dont remember it is because I never saw it". Then fuckin Eaton flies out of nowhere to nail Dustin with the Alabama Jam. I love pro wrestling. The fundamentals and selling really carry this match into instant classic status. There are really few highspots in the match, but the entirety of the match is absolutely riveting because how each men is struggling to gain the edge on the other, the organic transitions and their selling made every little thing mean so much more. Early on, Dustin seems to be outwrestling Anderson slightly establishing a hammerlock/armbar base, but Anderson never really lets the match get away from him. When Dustin hits a flying lariat (the only early highspot), Anderson rolls out and kills Dustin's momentum. He goes to throw Dustin to the outside, his domain, but Dustin turns the tables on him by scooping his leg and wrapping it around the post. Thus the awesomeness begins. It is not because how well Dustin worked the leg. It is because Arn never stopped struggling. He did not let the moves happen to him. He was still eye-raking, but Dustin was persistence with the back heel trip into the figure-4. "Break his leg" the crowd chants, we need crowds like this now! Everytime Arn is trying to cutoff he continues to sell the knee and how hard it is just to stand. He fights through it and nails a spinebuster, but cant capitalize immediately. He throws him outside to buy himself some time and Paul E. is able to inflict some damage with his brick cell phone. In an arm for a leg moment, Arn rams Dustin shoulder into the post thus begins Dustin's awesome selling of the arm. An Anderson dissecting an arm and a Rhodes selling it for all its worth is pro wrestling. Dustin making one arm comebacks was friggin bitchin. Paul E. gets another cell phone shot and the kid kicks out and a woman nearly throws her baby into the ring throwing a fit. WE NEED CROWDS LIKE THIS! Dustin fights through the pain to let it flip, flop and FLY! JR says TV time is running out. BULLDOG! Paul E on the apron! Cover! All the way from Huntsville, Alabama, Bobby Eaton flies in and nails Dustin with the leg drop. Steamboat is in to rectify the situation with the ref and we go off the air. This is meat and potatoes wrestling but if only all wrestling could be this good. When you sell like this everything is better. Your opponent looks better. The moves mean more. The match means more. Your heat skyrockets. Vulnerability sells. The transitions were all hard-fought and logical. No one every stopped fighting. Dustin and Arn were always struggling. Sometimes, I will see wrestlers content just to let the person on offense do moves to him and sure they will sell, but where's the struggle! Dustin proved to be wise beyond his years. Arn is the master of the fundamentals. Overall a great showcase of why I love pro wrestling. ****

I actually really liked the Ultimate Warrior/Road Warriors vs Demolition matches. I thought SNME match was pretty tight. The Smash & Crush vs LOD match from November I thought was pretty decent. They could have gotten another two years out of Smash & Crush as a decent heel team in my opinion. I guess yeah it was underwhelming if you went in with the expectations "MY FACE IS GOING TO BE MELTED BY THE SHEER BITCHINESS OF DEMOLITION/LOD", but if you went in with none I thought it was a solid feud.

Bobby Eaton w/Mad USA vs. Ricky Steamboat - WCW Saturday Night 12/14/91 Seeing Madusa in her father's suit, makes me want more Missy Hyatt on my screen. O wait, I always want more prime Missy on the screen (I feel like one of the few who does not mind her commentating/interviewing). Enough about Missy because this match totally rules the school. From the outset, Beautiful Bobby establishes himself he is one mean sumbitch. He chokes Steamboat with his own bandanna and is relentless on top of him. This match is a perfect example of how you can mix things up. They brawl into crowd and Eaton hits a chair shot on Steamboat. It is not a hardcore match. It is just a match between two dudes that just don't like each other. WWE seems content in having everything in their nice, neat little boxes and this match showcases how you can blend genres. On the outside, Steamboat is able to send Eaton into the post and here comes a barrage of armdrags and armwork, which affords the Dragon the opportunity to tell the "Witch" at ringside to shut up. After the aforementioned chairshot, Eaton sends The Dragon's shoulder into the ringpost, nice tit for tat. He gets a nearfall on a suplex attempt and busts out a short arm scissors (a favorite of mine). Eaton and Steamboat's selling has really been top notch. In a moment that made me laugh out loud, Eaton goes to hit a move off the top and JR exclaims he is from Huntsville! I guess most natives of Huntsville, AL are landlubbers. Eaton eats feet and Steamboat unloads his onslaught of pinning predicaments. Eaton counters the skin the cat with a belly to back suplex and busts out a Billy Robinson style backbreaker. I like how Steamboat gets his nearfalls on flash pins and Eaton is using suplexes. It makes for good complements. Steamboat catches Eaton in a crucifix pin for the win. Austin crashes the party, but not before Barry Windham cast and all is back to make the save. Great way to build towards Steamboat/Austin next week and a badass match overall. Eaton really showed off his mean streak in this match while still putting over Steamboat's challenge. They really used everything to their advantage. All the outside work was used to set up what was to happen in the ring before they hit the frenetic finish. ***3/4

Dangerous Alliance (Bobby Eaton & The Enforcers) vs All Gold Everything (Brian Pillman, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes) - WCW Pro 12/21/91 The first of many Dangerous Alliance six mans is a solid match, but I did not think it was exceptional. Cool that everyone on the babyface team is a champion, Steamboat & Rhodes lifted the titles from the Enforcers and Pillman is the Champion of the ill-fated Light Heavyweight division. The shine lacked panache felt like the faces were going through the motions. The heels were excellent especially Arn in selling how smart he was for stopping short of the turnbuckles only get rammed into them by Dustin. Things picked up for once Dustin crashed and burned to outside. He is such a great face in peril and the heels were just kicking ass in being assholes and taking it to Dustin. I wished Pillman got more of an opportunity to work with DA, but he was stuck being the cornerstone of the DOA Light Heavyweight Division. Pillman was a good hot tag, but the finish stretch was a little rushed. Pillman has the pin after a cross body, but the ref is distracted by all the surrounding chaos and Eaton hits a perfect Alabama Jam from the heavens to break it up. Arn gets the duke and I just love that finish. More of a harbinger of the great things to come then a great match in its own right. Post-match is the best part as Barry Windham is back to exact revenge from the Dangerous Alliance and cleans house on the three members with his cast.

"Stunning" Steve Austin w/Paul E. Dangerously vs Big Josh - WCW Pro 12/21/91 Poor Matt Bourne getting saddled with Big Josh and Doink The Clown. While Doink was far superior to Big Josh (just terrible), it did have a ceiling. What is remarkable is that he wrestled in two totally different styles. Doink was presented in the ring and by Vince as a technical wrestling wizard whereas Big Josh was an untrained lumberjack brute (because all people from Oregon are lumberjacks, duh). He did a great job given the limitations of each character. The match is pretty standard, but Josh had two nice spots: airplane spin and standing on top of Austin and stepping him, which was pretty cool. Austin looked like a pretty generic heel in this one and just survived using some Paul E distraction and feet on the ropes. Big Josh was also wearing denim floodwaters. Yep, he was going nowhere.

Zbyszko is a great pure heel. He is detestable, loathsome, and obnoxious. We need more like him. He was not afraid to bump and show ass and great at verbal selling. More Larry Legend is needed in this world. Where in the world was he from 1981-1985? Larry Zbyszko vs Barry Windham - WCW Main Event 11/24/91 The wacky WCW TV taping/airing schedule strikes again as this was taped prior to Larry earning the "Cruncher" moniker by crushing Big Barry hand in a car door at Halloween Havoc. We never really did a get a blowoff for that, for shame. Larry is just excellent in this short match. As good as Barry is, Zbyszko could have been in there with anybody and this would have been great. I enjoyed his infamous stalling tactics this go around especially when he went over to the chicks with the "I LOVE BARRY" sign and tears it up. What a saucy boss! Zbyszko does every stalling tactic in the book and once gets trapped, he is not afraid to let the audience know his frustration ad they are loving it. On the flip side, when he gets his opening he is right on Windham on the outside and in the ring. You get the real sense of his desperation to control the bigger and better Windham. Thats what a heel should be hiding behind his bravado but actually wicked insecure in high pressure situations like this. Windham ends up scoring the victory with a flash pin. The Enforcers looks to put the boots to him, but Ron Simmons was in to make the save. Great Larry performance and worth seeing for a classic heel performance.

Dustin Rhodes & Bobby Eaton vs Arn Anderson & Steve Austin - WCW Worldwide 11/23/91 Again WCW impresses by pulling off a match that is the WWF's bread and butter using a match as a backdrop for an angle. Dustin really stood out in this match as really strong performer. Calls of nepotism be damned, he earned his position and this is just further proof. Just little things like coming in hot and chest bumping Arn just reminds the audience "Yeah he fucking hates this dude because he crushed Windham's hand". The beginning of the match he just stays the course and keeps wriggling free from all the cheating/head games tactics and going back to arm, but Eaton wont stay in the ring for more than 10 seconds so it is effectively a handicap match as Tony points out. Bobby had already been unveiled as the second member of the Dangerous Alliance on TV thus Tony focused on Bobby's odd behavior. Dustin did such a fantastic job selling fatigue. He was not hitting things at crisply and that leads to him getting hotshotted. Anderson and Austin are just great old school heels always taking shortcuts before hitting their moves. Bobby is great at distracting the ref and missing tags, Bobby actually does fire off some punches when he is tagged and that can be explained away as AA and Austin are not yet in the Dangerous Alliance. The Enforcer rammed Dustin's arm into the post thus he missed a tag so Beautiful Bobby gets pissed and gives him a shoulderbreaker costing them the match. It was a tight, efficient match that got everyone over in their role and moved Eaton into the burgeoning Dangerous Alliance. Even though I dug it, the crowd was dead, but on paper it does like a lethal lottery style tag match, but does a great job laying the foundation.

This blog looks at the miscellaneous hyped heavyweight matches from 2003-2004 that did not involve Kobashi or happen in New Japan. The result was my first reviews of shoot-style (I have watched UWFi before), which I found hard to rate/breakdown even though I enjoyed both matches. In addition, looked at other two big heavyweight NOAH matches in a really efficient and enjoyable Taue/Nagata match, definitely my favorite Nagata match so far. I did not like the Misawa/Ogawa tag match as much as most, but it was a solidly good match, but I am not seeing why anybody would say that overwrought match constitutes Match of the Decade consideration. The meat of the review focuses on the AJ/Z1 feud which produced a badass, chaotic slobberknocker between Kawada/Ogawa and the Kawada/Hashimoto dream match. Kawada may not have been producing on a night in/night out basis anymore, but he proved he can still go. Also as a bonus I posted my review of the amazingly energetic workout/spiritual guru hypeman that The Knife had open their show in Boston. It was tres bitchin as the French would say. New additions have their star ratings 1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 2. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 03/01/03 3. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 04/25/04 4. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00 5. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 6. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00 7. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Tokyo Dome 07/10/04 8. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshinari Ogawa – Budokan 11/01/03 9. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00 10. IWGP Jr Hvywt Tag Champs Ohtani & Takaiwa vs Kanemoto & Minoru - NJPW 6/25/00 14. Toshiaki Kawada vs Naoya Ogawa - Zero-One 12/14/03 ****1/4 20. Akira Taue vs Yuji Nagata - NOAH 6/6/03 **** 21. Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada vs Shinya Hashimoto - AJPW 02/22/04 **** 30. Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Hiroyuki Ito - U-Style 08/18/04 **** 41. Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka - U-Style 02/04/04 ***3/4 58. GHC Tag Champs Misawa & Ogawa vs Saito & Inoue - NOAH 9/10/04 ***1/4 http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/04/space-tornado-ogawa-vs-dangerous-kawada.html

What a terribly laid out battle royale. Could have been a star making performance for Ambrose trying to outlast the others instead he was an afterthought until the final fiver where the obvious story kicked in. Why waste time on other people's spots when battle royale was constructed to get him over. Alas. Sheamus winning was awesome. I tend to fantasy book in order to help me fall asleep and the idea I have just wanted to happen is Sheamus joining the Authority. I think he would be a perfect fit as the Enforcer of the group. Hopefully this is the first step in making that come to fruition.

These are a couple oldies that I never threw up here because I kept forgetting that chronicle ten matches from Kobashi's most excellent reign. Really there is not much to add as an intro. It is Kobashi's reign. It is fuckin awesome. The only match that took me by surprise was the Ogawa match. It was such a great dynamic. Sleazy dick heel way over his head cheats and claws at Kobashi. Then Kobashi finally EXPLODES~! It is not the best match of the decade, but it is my favorite. Four new additions to the top ten and seven new additions to top twenty. Not a bad title reign at all. 1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 2. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 03/01/03********* 3. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Budokan 04/25/04*********** 4. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00 5. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 6. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00 7. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Tokyo Dome 07/10/04 *************** 8. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshinari Ogawa – Budokan 11/01/03 ********* 9. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00 10. IWGP Jr Hvywt Tag Champs Ohtani & Takaiwa vs Kanemoto & Minoru - NJPW 6/25/00 13. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue - NOAH 09/10/04 16. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Tamon Honda - NOAH 04/13/03 19. GHC Tag Team Champions Sterness (Akiyama & Saito) vs Burning (Kobashi & Honda) - Budokan 6/6/03 21. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yuji Nagata - Budokan 9/12/03 27. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Minoru Suzuki - Budokan 01/08/05 47. Sterness vs. Burning 8-Man Tag - NOAH 08/03 http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-burning-champion-vol-1-kenta.html http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/04/burning-champion-vol-2-kenta-kobashi.html

Wow that St. Louis crowd absolutely sucked. It was like pulling teeth to get a reaction out of the, Daniel Bryan was over, but even his reaction was more tepid than most weeks. I hate to judge anything based on that shit crowd, but RVD the second most over babyface??? Time has really caught up with him as he is just so slow and his spots look even worse in slow-mo. Still he was over enough to get Cesaro booed. Did you hear that for the first time in history, Swagger got a pop!!! It was because he was saving RVD. Holy shit, Swagger got a positive reaction. That RVD/Colter segement was brutally bad. This whole triple threat thing is a clusterfuck, but it is in New York so they will be hot for Cesaro & RVD. I have always loved Barrett in the ring. Outside the catchphrase, I think he is a boring promo, but guess what I don't care because other people love it, which means PUSH CITY BABY! So as glad as he keeps delivering in the ring. What the fuck Cena? You are going to get Bray Wyatt a donkey just so you can put your foot in it. What the fuck was going on with the donkey there was no conclusion to the story. It was like tonight, the writing team threw its hands up in the air and said everyone write your own promo because usually the backstage segments are boring as fuck, but they are at least coherent. I love Cena in the ring and think he has a dynamic character, but he can blow chunks on the mic sometimes. The children in lamb masks was pretty badass. They sure are bringing out all the bells and whistles. Also can someone explain to me the booking of last week. Why the fuck did Cena hit the FU on Bray? This was supposed to be the big "Hey Cena, the crowd really does hate you moment", but instead we get Cena overcoming the odds again. It is not that big of a deal that we was put in on a 3-on-1 handicap match when it is not even that much of a disadvantage. If he got mauled, then he can be like what the fuck dude. Instead, it is just like your boss giving you a little extra work before the weekend. It is like well that kinda sucks, but Ill get it done. Before I forget, Del Rio was fuckin on! My God, why does he not wrestle with the sense of urgency all the time. Great performance by him. He is totally fucked and heatless, but awesome performance. Maybe they can rebrand him. I hate to sound so negative because I think the talent and characters are all there, but the angles just have not caught up to the talent level at all.

Shit, I have been slacking again and updating this. Since I did puroresu last time on here, here's a plug for the second half of the Shield in 2013. Nothing got to the heights of the TLC 2012 debut, but the feud with Goldust/Cody delivered three badass matches, bionic elbows on Ambrose and a superplex to teh floor. I loved the layout of the handicap match. Then at the end of the year, Ambrose and Rollins proved their mettle against the top two babyfaces (Punk and Cena) in singles matches not filled with spots, but smartly worked, fundamentals-based matches. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-shield-part-two.html

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka - U-Style 02/04/04 Tamura piqued my interest in his match with Ito. I always put delving more into Shoot Style off so I thought I take advantage of another Tamura match among the nominated matches. As a shoot-style novice, I do not know if I really could appreciate the beginning of this match. The work was really smooth and they were always moving, but it felt a little too showy like they were putting on an exhibition. I got the sense that Kohsaka was outworking on Tamura on the ground as he was chaining his moves together better and forced the first rope break at around the 10 minute mark with the guillotine choke. As good 'ol JR would say business is about to pick up as they fired off a thrilling a finish sequence. I liked Tamura responding to the first point loss with a stand up barrage to secure a knockdown and loved the knee that caught Tamura in the midsection in the fracas to put Kohsaka up 4-3. They sequence felt really organic. This is where my shoot style naivete maybe rearing its ugly head, but how come Kohsaka did sell Tamura's deep half crab after the hold. He was screaming and selling in the hold and the nothing. I get the "real" sports argument you dont show weakness but just a little limp or favoring of that knee would have added. Also are closed fists allowed because Tamura used them liberally to break up submissions late? With Tamura down 2-1, Kohsaka goes for the home run, rolling heel hook, that Tamura counters into a cross-armbreaker in the center of the ring. I thought there were better submission sequences earlier that could have been used as the finish. I will probably appreciate this more once i watch more RINGS. Still I love great matwork and this was very well-executed. ***3/4

John Cena w/Mark Henry & Big E. vs Seth Rollins w/The Shield - Smackdown! 12/27/13 Sorry Ambrose, but your position as top Shield singles match did not last long as Rollins delivers an even better measured and mature performance. What I love about the Shield is they understand that the crowd pops for moves so they are very limited in the highspots they dish out. Their heat segments are filled with well-worked punches, strikes and trash talk. Especially in this match, all of the highspots are sudden cutoffs of a Cena comeback. Thus Rollins is sucking out the hope out of an audience rather than performing an exhibition for the crowd's amusement thus not popping the crowd and turning himself babyface. Of course, it also helps that Rollins is the bumping machine of the Shield and I am a mark for big bumping heels. So huge ups to Rollins. He seems wise beyond his years. Cena absolutely rocks this match selling like a million bucks and totally making Rollins look like a credible threat. Cena reminded me of a more mobile '87 Hogan. He hits the heat quickly and just sells. I prefer a little more transition area from the shine to the heat, but hey Cena was working his ass off. It does annoy me that they have tried to typecast Rollins as a high-flyer when he is so much more well-rounded. He has some of the best worked punches in the game right now, but Cena ain't far behind. The theme of this match is Rollins jumps out to an early advantage and never really lets the match get away from him. Cena will get a hope spot and Rollins immediately has an answer. I have been digging the Cena extended comeback since I noticed it in the Punk RAW match (it may have been going on longer than that). I thought Rollins was great and letting Cena get a little more and more on each, but always having either a DDT, the headdrop on turnbuckle or a Buff Blockbuster to reestablish command. I cant believe Cena decided to add a new move to his arsenal and he steals Kenta Kobashi's worst move (awful modified Ace Crusher, surprised I have not seen Kojima use it). I thought AA was his agent not Johnny Ace. The reactions from ringside during the finish stretch are awesome. Mark Henry cant believe Cena cant put the kid away. The highspot of the match is the Cena powerbomb where Rollins goes for the Misawa-rana, it looks like they are going to Ganso Bomb and then Cena lifts him up and nails the sitout powerbomb for 2. Mark Henry is in shock and so am I! For as great as the four at ringside have been, this crowd has kinda sucked because this match rocks. Rollins hits an enziguiri (transition hard to explain, but totally bitchin) and a flying knee to the head, but still cant negotiate the fall. Reigns has the awesome expression of concern for his buddy. Cena traps Rollins in the STFU. Langston bulldozes Ambrose, Reigns takes out Langston, Mark Henry chucks big Roman Reigns onto Ambrose. Cena hits the FU from rolling through a cross body and I love that finish. This was a badass match that weaved a great story of how to have a give and take match with really smart transitions. Cena gave the ball to Rollins in this and setup him up for success. Rollins punched it into the endzone with a mature, smart performance. Plus they delivered unique spots like the powerbomb and the enziguiri and the finish was pitch perfect. For my money, second best free TV match of the year. ****1/4

CM Punk vs Dean Ambrose - RAW 12/09/13 I cannot remember the last time I missed a RAW, but I honestly had no recollection of this match. Given how I watch RAW, this is the exact type of match I would totally miss. Pretty much, my brother and I just talk straight through action (hell thats why I don even really notice the commentary other than the odd silence in our own conversation). Usually, we are talking about wrestling, but I am not straining myself to watch a match with a discerning eye. Amid all of the high-energy Daniel Bryan matches, this was an excellent, lo-fi match that hearkened back to simpler times where high spots did not come cheap and men were of course men. Up until recently, I thought all the hype for Ambrose was overblown. Reigns is such a badass, athletic powerhouse and Rollins is a bumping machine that knows how to engage the crowd. Ambrose is just kinda weird, not weird in an interesting way just kinda weird. Some of his recent promos and performances against the Wyatts have begun to change my thinking on him, but I was shocked that he has so far had the best singles match of any of the Shield members in my book with this tremendous performance (as of this writing I have never seen Cena/Rollins, but that is on deck). From the outset, CM Punk looks to take Ambrose's arm home with him (thanks Titans of Wrestling) never wavering and to Ambrose's credit he is always struggling. However each attempt to get it started on offense is met with Punk goign right back to that right shoulder. Ok, so I know that in America they work left, but I have always thought that was bit overblown and could swear I had seen matches were they work right. Does it actually depend more on the opponent's dominant side more than the country you are working in? Punk goes for a reverse cross body, but Ambrose catches him in a gutbuster. Of course, Punk has bruised ribs from a Reigns spear making all the sweeter. I am a mark for transitions and this was such a friggin great transition into the heat segment. The Shield is great at working solid heat segments that wont pop the crowd in their favor. There are no cool moves. It is just trash talk and working that body part. Ambrose hits a series of shoulders into the midsection only to ram his right shoulder (PSYCHOLOGY~!) into the post. We get the first highspot of the match, a diving elbow by Punk onto the floor as we roll into commercial. When we come back, Ambrose is stretching Punk, but Punk is always keeping it moving, struggling, working hope spots. Ambrose for his part never relent from working the ribs. Punk hits a swinging neckbreaker and then because they understand wrestling. Punk still has to win a slugfest before he truly regains control. Punk runs through his usual (knee, short-arm clothesline, elbow) and goes for GTS, but Ambrose punches his ribs repeatedly. This is the point where I thought to myself I need to pay attention to Raw more often because this is fuckin awesome. Ambrose hits a butterfly suplex and floats over. I love the butterfly suplex. Are these two wrestling this match specifically for me? How sweet and I did not even get them anything! Punk gets a series of nearfalls off a top rope cross body and a roundhouse kick. The Seattle crowd knows what's up and chants "This is Awesome!". I am glad someone was paying attention to this match when it was happening because I sure was not. Ambrose pushes off on GTS attempt and big knee to midsection and throws him to floor. This is during time when they were teasing the Shield breakup before they smartened up and realized there is more value in them as a unit. So Ambrose says he can do this himself so Reigns and Rollins walk away. DISSENSION~! They tease each other's finishes before the GTS puts Ambrose away. In addition, Punk has to face all three members of the Shield at the PPV so this also adds a layer to that match because if Punk can divide and conquer maybe he can pull this one out. My one quibble with this match is that finish seems sort of tacked on to the match rather being an organic part of the match. It would have been nice to weave a thread of Shield dissension through the match and then culminate in the finish. However, right up until the finish/angle, I thought this was a bitchin' throwback match. It just oozed great psychology that built and built leading to some really great exchanges. The transitions were great from Ambrose catching Punk in the gutbuster to Punk having to work to get back on offense. There was a real sense of struggle and competition in this match. It proves that highspots are not the end all be all. Two compelling characters working hard and telling a great story is all you need. In the year, that has Punk/Cena on RAW, it would take a Herculean effort to win Free TV MOTY so this falls short, but it is definitely in the running for second place. ****

Antonio Cesaro vs William Regal - NXT 12/25/14 This has to be one of the better Christmas presents anyone has ever given me. To think I did not get anything with Regal and Cesaro in turn! We get the big build to the match with Fink on ring announcing duty and Tensai sounding like my cousins from Dorchester on commentary. There is some announcer who is all in huff because Cesaro kicked his skinny fat ass and Regal is out avenge him. Regal basically gave this match to Cesaro as a platform to showcase himself and what he brings to the table. Don't get me wrong, it was Regal's selling during the leg work and his constant struggling that keeps them from becoming an exhibition and there is plenty Regal brings to the table. However, the match is clearly structured to make Cesaro look like the next big thing and some might say the heir apparent to Regal. The important thing to note is when I say heir apparent to Regal I don't mean carbon copy as Cesaro brings a strongman's aspect to the ring, but rather the gritty and intricate nature of how he grapples. This is demonstrated early on when he suplexes Regal while Regal is on his knees. He is just so impressive. My favorite Regal spot is he knocks Cesaro down in the corner with forearms and then distracts the ref while he mule kicks him as he is down, classic Regal. The ref continues to admonish him and Cesaro takes the advantage to clip the knee. This is where regal kicks into overdrive in order to do his part to make Cesaro. He sells that knee like he may never walk again and Cesaro is just relentless. The struggle over getting the knee brace off so Cesaro can inflict more damage is why I am a pro wrestling fan. It is all about working for every inch. Regal would usually win a battle of European Uppercuts, but it does not look good against the younger Cesaro, who puts him in the Giant Swing. I will say that move will be great when he is a babyface, but I think it is too much of a babyface move for a heel to do. Cesaro looks to polish Regal off with the Neutralizer, but Regal back drops out and in a moment of desperation drops a knee on the bicep. Now it is Cesaro turn to sell like he will never use that arm again. Regal goes after both arms and attempts to submit Cesaro via the Regal Stretch, but Cesaro escapes. Cesaro puts over how debilitated he is as he does a dropkick but with his arms wrapped around himself. Awesome! In a nasty, nasty spot, Cesaro double stomps Regal's head and Regal is just rendered motionless. At this point, the match goes off the rails in my opinion and gets way too cinematic for me. Cesaro all of sudden does not think he has it in him to finish off his "hero" and Regal does the crawl up Cesaro stop ala HBK/Taker WM 26. Cesaro hits a monster Neutralizer. To complete the cinematic experience they shale hands on the ramp. I don't necessarily have a problem with the cinematics of recent Wrestlemania matches (I liked the HBK/Flair finish), why I didn't like this one is because it felt so out of place in this match. Cesaro is a bully and Regal is going to smarten him up through a beatdown. They have a hard-fought, sporting-like contest and I wanted to see sporting-like finish then all of sudden it goes from an gritty 80s feel to the overproduced 21st century feel and it is just too jarring. Then add the handshake of respect how does that add heat to Cesaro. Unless in NXT Cesaro is a babyface, if that is the case then the finish makes more sense and I would have enjoyed the match more. Overall, the first 95% of this match is great and is a master's class in selling, working holds, meaningful spots and taking wrestling from an exhibition to a contest by struggling for everything. Great match for Regal to end his career on! ****1/4