Superstar Sleeze

Mitsuharu Misawa & Akira Taue vs Burning (Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama) - NOAH Debut Show 8/5/00 2 Out Of 3 Falls Pyrotecnics, a ramp and a post-match angle immediately NOAH signals that it is going to be different than All Japan. The booking builds on Akiyama's big victory over Misawa and pushes him as the center piece of the new promotion. From August through December, NOAH relied on the Akiyama/Kobashi feud to carry the shows. What a way to kick off this money feud then with Akiyama taking out Misawa and Taue in two straight and then laying out Kobashi after the match. Thats how you make a new star! Within 2 minutes, Akiyama chokes Misawa out and had young boys tending to him. I will say that Kobashi did hit a half-nelson suplex right before, but I don't think it lessens the impact of Akiyama winning the first fall in such decisive fashion. Misawa made a career out of takin a lickin and kept on tickin. It is elbows for everyone and Taue slaps the shit out of Akiyama. After a exchange Misawa/Kobashi, the Akiyama show begins again with Akiyama getting whipped by Taue. Taue hits his Nodowa on the ramp (excellent first use of the ramp) and Akiyama is just a heap. Taue heaves him back into ring. Misawa and Taue get nearfalls on Akiyama. Akiyama rolls through a Nodowa. Kobashi with a spinning back chop, but Taue gets a knee lift to tag Misawa before things get too out of hand. Misawa hits a missile dropkick to swing it back in their favor. Misawa blocks the half nelson suplex, but Akiyama blinds tags himself in. Young hotshot just looking for action or is he looking to prove himself as the new ace? Taue and Akiyama tease the apron Nodowa, but Kobashi breaks it up (buzzkill). Taue hits a nodowa in the ring and a Dynamic Bomb, but Kobashi saves again. Kobashi powerbombs Misawa into the corner, which always looks sick. Kobashi hits the Burning Lariat on Taue, but walks into Emerald Flowsion. Akiyama hits the Exploder twice on Misawa and a knee and an exploder on Taue. After the match, the real fireworks begin when Akiyama hits a back drop driver on his long-time partner, Kenta Kobashi. Thus setting up the main event for the next night. The match is really a vehicle to propel Akiyama to the top as I stated he wins two straight falls over two of three of his biggest possible opponents and then dropped the other on his head after the match. I think there was subtle ways to make Akiyama the heel besides the fact he was the one who turned Kobashi. He choked out Misawa, which is a pretty violent way to beat someone. Also, he was getting saved a lot by Kobashi. He did ultimately win and he did not look weak, but maybe the story is that he is biting off more than he can chew. Only way to find out is watch the next night's main event. ***1/2

SUWA vs Dragon Kid - Toryumon 08/24/00 Hair Vs Mask This was different thats for sure. It was like someone took ECW/Lucha/Japanese Juniors put in a blender and out came this oddly fun match. There was a lot leaving me scratching my head. Was it 2 out of 3 Falls or did Ultimo Dragon just restart the match? Maybe if I spoke Japanese that confusion could have been avoided but that was 2000 WCW at its worst there. Still maybe it is because I grew up in the late 90s, but there is something about gratuitous interference that does not bother me as much as other wrestling fans. It is entertaining its own way. Actually most of my problem with this match was with Dragon Kid. His offense was so Indy-riffic and pointless. I thought Kojima was bad with Ace Crusher variations, Dragon Kid was killing me with all these setup spots for his stunners. Then add that he will get his ass kicked and just pop up. You are the tiniest dude on the roster you can butter your bread selling. Like for instance SUWA makes a big deal that he is going to elbow Dragon Kid in the balls and he does. Immediately Dragon Kid avoids his next move and does a somersault off the top rope onto the floor. It was a ball shot, dude. Given the two other reviews I read for this match I agree that SUWA was very good and could have been something more if he ended up in a different promotion. Though my disagreement with the previous reviewers is I liked the first/fake fall (?) more. Dragon Kid leaping out onto SUWA during his entrance. Then SUWA as his only defense chucked a chair at Dragon Kid when he tried coming off the apron. I loved SUWA throwing him into the chair and punching young boys. Even though he is bigger than Dragon Kid he still rakes the eyes as a cut off and then goes and rips the mask. At that point, I was just thinking this maybe a fun lucha brawl. I was not buying Dragon Kid's hope spots at all. I was glad SUWA pinned him with a powerbomb, but I think Ultimo Dragon restarted the match because his feet were on the ropes. Dragon Kid tries the only strategy he seems to know and that is bullrushing, but SUWA just uses his momentum against him. I actually dug the dropkick spot where SUWA dropkicked him and Dragon Kid went halfway across the ring. It is worth checking out. Kid hits a rana off a splash mountain attempt. Ref bump. Melee ensues with what seems like the entire roster in the ring. I was digging the chaotic feel of this. I thought the ending was the weakest part, but others seemed to like it. Dragon Kid should stick with hurricanranas because he hits those a lot more wickedly than those awful Stunner variations in his comeback. They hit this convoluted powerbomb that looked like it should be an gymnastics routine where basically does a 360 front flip. I will say the Dragonrana was pretty fuckin bitchin'. Evil Dragon Kid beats up Dragon Kid, but Dragon kid still has the wherewithal to shave SUWA's head. SUWA extends the hand in respect. The audience applauds and then SUWA kicks a field goal right through the uprights. He fuckin destroys a chair around this young boy's head. SUWA is pretty awesome. I didn't hate this. I actually found it a breezy, entertaining 25 minutes. I would not want all wrestling like this but SUWA gave a pretty good heel performance and Dragon Kid was not too cumbersome a piece of luggage. ***1/4

Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs Stan Hansen & Taiyo Kea - Budokan 7/23/00 This is the first main event at the Budokan in post-split All Japan and it is bitchin' as all hell. It is clearly not a sustainable given 3/4 of the participants' age (it is also 3/4 of the participants from that amazing 1988 Real World Tag League match) and the fact Kea never really made a mark otherwise. However, as a one-off this was really spectacular. Up front, I had never seen a Kea match, but have heard of him and of course I have the other three all in my top 20 greatest of all time. Honestly, at first given how Kea moved, his posture and moves he struck me as a bigger version of Low-Ki. At first, there was something insincere about him. It felt like he was going through the motions whereas Hansen who could barely move just felt like a crazed bear that wanted murder his old rival Tenryu and Tenryu was just as incensed having seen Hansen for the first time since about 1990. Their sections together just seemed so much grittier than Kea's kick exchange with Kawada. Tenryu gets the tag and first thing he does make a beeline for Hansen, who is not even legal. Later on in the match, on the outside, Hansen is beating the pissed out of Tenryu up against the post and Hanse whacks his hand on the post. Not to be deterred, he keeps throwing hands and hits his hand again on the post and sells better than anyone else in the match. Stan Hansen is just so good. As good as Hansen was, he was so limited it was hard for him to make an impression. Tenryu on the other hand just came off as so explosive in all his exchanges with everyone. That is not usually a word I used to describe Tenryu. It looks like Kawada and Tenryu are going to make short work of the injured Hansen, but Hansen is able to knee Kawada in the head. Kea hits a DDT and boots Kawada over the railing. It is time for Kawada and Kea to shine. Kawada played a great face in peril especially since it seemed like he was about to be showed up by Tenryu. Kawada works hard in this segment to make Hansen/Kea team earn it. When he gets into a slugfest with Hansen, he does his great sell of an elbow where he kinda staggers back and looks like he is about to fall on his ass. That is Kawada I know and love. Kea and Kawada have a great mat exchange over a cross armbreaker. It was really gritty and I dug Kea's slaps. Kea really proved himself to me in that sequence. For this match, he was on their level. Kea gets a TKO stunner (the Hawaii Five-O?) for 2, but Kawada hits his spinning heel kick to tag in Tenryu. Tenryu punches Kea, enziguiri and a wicked lariat follow. O Hell Yeah! It starts to break down and Kea hits a monster German on Tenryu who was trying to hold onto the ropes to save himself. Kawada saves Tenryu from that Hawaii Five-O thingy. Melee ensues. Hansen lariats Tenryu -> Kawada jumping kick to Hansen. Kawada goes back to apron just break up Kea's pin, which was a little awkward. Kawada hits a wicked back drop driver to no pop for 2. Tenryu heads off Hansen and they brawl to outisde. Kawada goes for a running corner powerbomb, but then just decides to plant him right there. It was nasty. I dug this match a lot. The fact that Tenryu had not been in All Japan since 1990 his interactions with Hansen really added to the beginning. Then Kawada/Kea kicked some ass in the middle. The finish was chaotic and entertaining. They used the headdrops to set up or be the finish of the match. I don't if there is any other Kea worth watching, but on this night he hung with best of them. ****

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Champions Shinjiro Ohtani & Tatsuhito Takiwa vs. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka - New Japan Summer Struggle 6/25/00 The next time a hot chick asks me in a club the two guys I would least want to wrestle I have my answer "Shinjiro Ohtanu and Tatsuhito Takaiwa". Holy shit were their strikes gnarly. That is how you fuckin heel yourself with stiff offense. I was feeling bad for Kanemoto & Minoru just because these ornery hombres were trying to fuckin kill them. I very rarely root for wrestlers in puroresu, but I was pulling for Kanemoto & Minoru big time. Early on the game plan for Ohtani and Takaiwa was trap their opponent in a corner and just slap, claw and punch the shit out of them. It was a violent mugging in those corner.s When Ohtani first came in and he just started punching Kanemoto in the head, it just set the tone: Kanemoto and Minoru were going to have survive. Minoru & Kanemoto has faces these bad muthafuckas before they knew they had to use movement and submissions. When they got a chance, Kanemoto yanked their noses, but they just incited them further Takaiwa yanked on his. Takaiwa gives the biggest slap I have ever seen to Kanemoto. It has to be seen. Ohtani says you thought that was a slap and slaps him even harder. Kanemoto somehow fires up and hits a true axe kick on Ohtani to tag in Minoru. Minoru goes for his bread and butter: the cross armbreaker, but Ohtani makes the ropes. I love the part where Kanemoto has a slight advantage and tells Minoru to get his ass in because it shows how much in survival mode they are. Usually, tag rules are loose enough that people make saves at will, but rarely does a team double team when on offense just really puts over the story of this match. Minoru goes for a cross armbreaker again, but Takaiwa is NOT HUMAN and powerbombs him onto the ropes. It really felt like a scene out of a slasher flick. They can't keep these psychopaths down. Ohtani dropkicks Minoru in the head twice while hanging in the tree of woe and makes sure to taunt Kanemoto each time. Minoru & Kanemoto return the favor on Ohtani only they dropkick him in the balls while in the tree of woe. I friggin love this match. The finish stretch is one of the hottest I have ever seen. Ohtani regains controls with a wicked eyerake and then low and high facewashes in the corner on Kanemoto. Kanemoto no-sells hits his weird flippy move and goes for his moonsault, but no one home. Takaiwa hits a lariat and Ohtani with a springboard dropkick on Minoru. However, it is overhead belly to bellys for everyone courtesy of Kanemoto. Kanemoto goes for a top rope frankensteiner and Ohtani holds on and he takes a nasty spill. They tease the Doomsday Device, but Minoru breaks up with dropkick. Takaiwa hits his death valley driver, but Kanemoto hits a dragon leg screw and Ohtani saves his partner. Minoru is a little quicker than the older Ohtani and applies a heel hook. Kanemoto and Takaiwa eye each other while Ohtani is squirming for the ropes. After all the punishment Ohtani has dished out to see him doing his temper tantrum selling makes you want to see Minoru kick his bratty ass even more. Ohtani is on jelly legs, but hits his Dragon Suplex for two. Ohtani blocks Minoru's superkick and hits two massive powerbombs one of each of his opponents. He threw them down! Ohtani hits a massive palm strike and goes for it again, but Kanemoto pushed Minoru out of the way and hits an overhead belly to belly on Ohtani. Minoru hits a springboard dropkick to back of Ohtani's head then follows up with the Dragon suplex and the cross armbreaker for the immediate submission. This match is for stiffness marks everywhere. The beginning of the match is almost uncomfortable to watch with how badly they are kicking the shit out of each other. Then not to be outdone the last 5 minutes or so is absolutely crazy action with bodies flying everywhere. Ohtani & Takaiwa are trying to get the Doomsday Device going and stiffing the shit out of their opponents. Kanemoto and Minoru are trying to survive with movement and flash submissions. Best juniors match of 2000-2002 ****1/4

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - 05/26/00 All Hail Yoshihiro Takayama! Black hair Takayama is just as much of bad ass muthafucka as bleach blond Takayama in heeling it up. It is such a great change of pace from the typical King's Road style to have a native play a heel so convincingly. I have not re-watched the '04 Kobashi/Takayama (which is a favorite going into the poll), but I really dug this match a whole lot and would put it up there with Mutoh/Tenryu and Misawa/Akiyama as the best match so far. During the pre-match rules and bullshit, Takayama just kicks Kobashi in the head with a big boot and pounces. What a prick. That's the story of this match Kobashi has to overcome the fact that he has an opponent that is not above taking shortcuts and has his partner, Omori outside ready to assist. Kobashi fires up and lights up Takayama. If Kobashi ever worked America for a sustained time in the 90s, he would have been excellent at babyface shines. As he was great at beating Takayama from pillar to post outside the ring. Kobashi looks to finish it early or at least take a commanding lead with a back body drop driver. Takayama knows that could spell the end and dead weights him. He gets a double leg takedown and just will not let go of that cross-armbreaker. Takayama will constantly use arm attack cutoffs for the rest of the match now that he was able to debilitate a body part of Kobashi. Takayama does not relent in being a heel he uses the railing, he steps on his throat and does a cocky cover. Takayama just plain gets it. At some point, Kobashi's eye has swollen shut and I have neglected to mention how friggin' hard they are hitting each other. Kobashi fires up again and gets a flurry of chops in the corner, but Omori gets up on the apron and Kobashi hits him with a spinning back hand chop to teach him a lesson. However that distraction is enough time for Takayama to kick the arm. Takayama follows up with great arm work, but Kobashi chops out of the armbreaker and actually powders to put over how much damage was done to the arm. Now, Kobashi starts to string together a combination with suplexes and DDTs, but cant put Takayama away yet. Takayama is always cutting him off at the arm it is an incredibly focused performance. Kobashi is just in his element fighting from underneath. Kobashi hits a monster Fuck You Burning Lariat, but with the bad arm. Takayama gets his Everest German only for 2. Takayama frustrated begins to hit Kobashi with closed fists so Kobashi rallies with closed fists of his own, but with his bad arm just dangling at his side. It is an awesome visual. Takayama out of nowhere hits a German for two. This time Kobashi revved up hits Burning Lariat with the bad arm and wins! Kobashi battling through the pain to finally hit his Lariat bad arm and all is just the perfect finish to an incredible match. I loved the pacing of the match with Kobashi early on pissed off at Takayama's blindside followed by Takayama grabbing a hold of an appendage and ripping it to shreds. Everything followed from that hook. Takayama was the consummate heel and Kobashi consummate babyface. Just when you think Kobashi is making his comback, Omori distracts him. Just when you think he will do it again, Takayama kicks him in the arm. Just when you think Takayama will win with his German Suplex, Kobashi fires up with fists of fury bad arm just dangling. For him to actually win with the bad arm Lariat was perfect because he did not no-sell it. He battled through pain. Takayama would never be able to inflict the amount of pain to break Kobashi's fighting spirit. I LOVED THIS MATCH! *****

Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - 2000 Champions Carnival Final I understand why this match has a big rep as you get well-executed leg work from Omori and then a gangbusters finish stretch from Kobashi with Kobashi finally winning the Champions Carnival, but I did feel everything connected and that this was a true classic match. I liked where they went with Omori hitting basement dropkick on the knee as a last ditch effort to avoid the match becoming a rout. He gave a great performance in destroying the leg, but rather than the constant callbacks and battling through the pain in the Takayama match we get the Kobashi fireworks show at the end. Dont get me wrong, I dig some high end offense, but it felt arbitrary and capricious. It was like Kobashi said ok no more leg work time to give the folks the grand finale. Judging by the reaction of the two good-looking ladies in the front row thats what they wanted. It just killed the drama of the match. The hook went from being Kobashi overcoming a knee injury to Kobashi's badass offense. Omori starts off with the weakest slap in history when he backed Kobashi into the ropes. I just shake my head. Kobashi overwhelms Omori with chops and kicks his ass on the outside. Omori takes a pretty wicked Bret-style bump into the railing. For all my criticism, Omori left it all in the ring for this match. I liked Kobashi's short knee lifts into an ab stretch thats really sound psychology and I like that he uses that as a routine spot. Omori tries a fishhook to get out and I loved that. There is an epic suplex struggle (common All Japan spot at this point, this one was the best so far) and Omori bails on it to hit a dropkick to knee. Immediately, the entire complexion of the match changes from Kobashi's domination to Omori consolidating an advantage. On the outside he basically throws Kobashi onto the announce table in a sweet spot. Omori does a great job working over the knee with an assortment of submissions (half-crab, figure-4, and Scorp Deathlock). Kobashi just chops him in the head to build his comeback. Omori cuts him off and hits a missile dropkick for 2. Kobashi misses a spinning back hand chop and Omori hits rolling dragon suplexes for 2. It is about here when I know we are just going for a bomb throwing finish. Kobashi starts throwing suplexes, but Omori actually cuts off the moonsault attempt by attacking the knee. He hits a monster knee drop. If you are an offense mark, you will love this shit. After Omori only get a 2 after a lariat, Kobashi just takes this muthafucker to the woodshed. At first Omori struggles, but Kobashi hits a sleeper suplex. Omori is struggling as Kobashi goes for a powerbomb, so Kobashi smites him with a Burning Lariat. Kobashi hoists Omori up and you can tell he is going for the turnbuckle powerbomb but misses. So he powerbombs him again onto the turnbuckle, but Omori's legs were under the rope. Omori's eyes tell the story: the lights are on, but no one is home. Kobashi hits a half-nelson suplex, crowd erupts for the Burning Lariat and then Kobashi hits THE MOTHER OF ALL BURNING LARIATS to win! Look, I don't think it is a transcendent match because of disjointed it is and that it felt like an exhibition of Kobashi's Godly Offense rather than a real struggle. However, as far as fireworks spectacles go this pretty fuckin awesome. Omori is totally game and plays his part well. Omori hit a monster top rope knee drop and did some great leg work. Kobashi is an offense god and if you love offense this is your match. ****

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Champions Carnival 4/11/00 The point of interest in this bout is how Misawa works on top for most of the match. For a wrestler with as much offense as Misawa, you would expect him to work on top more often, but I have seen mostly work from underneath. Though I have found the wrestler who works underneath in Japan most likely wins thus since he won a lot it may have necessitated him working underneath. Reinforcing that conjecture is of course, Kobashi did win over arch-nemesis, Misawa in this bout. I thought Misawa was going through the motions in this match, which let's be honest is better than 95% wrestlers ever, but at the same time a pity. He has so much offense that the match is never boring, but he just is not wrestling with a panache. It is harder to discern with stoic Misawa if he is trying, but I feel like he was just there. He opened the match with a great array of aerial attacks that found their mark on Kobashi. In a HOLY SHIT~! transition spot, Kobashi hotshots Misawa off the apron onto the railing. He just lays in a beating on the outside to Misawa. Kobashi was definitely the more fired up of the two for this match, but that makes sense as he is younger and still hungry. Misawa starts coming back with a flying head scissors to counter the Kobashi powerbomb. It was nice to see struggle over a suplex on the apron as some of the match felt like they would use a facelock reset to move onto the next spot. Kobashi's selling and histrionics are the highlight in this match as he begin to take Misawa's best offense. Misawa may be peaking too soon and could the Emerald of All Japan be peaking too early in this match? I like the sequence of Kobashi hitting the 3/4 nelson suplex to level the playing field as he does not just pop up and do it, but rather earns it. I am a total mark for powerbombs onto the top turnbuckle and Misawa takes a wicked one. Misawa counters the Burning Hammer and begins to use his elbows to set up his finish stretch. Kobashi blocks Emerald Flowsion and only the ropes can hold him up. Kobashi hits a sleeper suplex for two and immediately follows up with an Axe Bomber and a Burning Lariat to get the duke. It is 2000 All Japan. You get a ton of high-end offense with a couple head drops with some Kobashi Fighting Spirit. It is good, but there is really nothing here to separate it from the pack. Misawa seemed uninspired even though it was refreshing to see him work on top. The only spot that really stood out to me was the Hotshot onto the Railing, which needs to be cribbed. It should have been a late transition spot for more impact in the match. This is a match that blends into All Japan portfolio, but still an entertaining watch. ***1/2

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival '00 What struck me the most about this match was how they were still able to manage to add something to their matches even though they had been wrestling big time singles matches since 1992. This encounter would be their final encounter in All Japan and I believe their last singles match until they drew 52,000 to the Dome under the NOAH banner in 2005. This match felt a lot like Flair/Steamboat Spring Stampede '94 in that the wrestling is still great, but it just does not grab you as much as it did when it was fresh. Both matches feature enough new stuff and just plain fundamentally awesome wrestling that neither can be written off, but they pale in comparison to their past glory. Misawa and Kawada depart from their classic long build matches (even previous Carnival matches went 30 minuet Broadway) to deliver their version of a tight sprint. There is a sense of urgency that is not as present in their previous encounters to finish this match early. It stems from the fact that after wrestling each other for over a decade that they knew each other's moves so they only way to beat one another is to hit the move before the opponent knew what hit them. Kawada won the early slugfest with a back drop driver and from there on out just kept kicking Misawa in the face anytime he tried to string together a combination of offense. Misawa is able to finally get on offense because he quickly hits a Tiger Driver. I can't remember the last time Misawa quickly hit a Tiger Driver there is usually a lot of struggle before he can hit one. Same goes for his follow-up German it was explosive. Misawa crashed and burned on the frogsplash attempt. Kawada capitalizes with a quick powerbomb, but when he tries again, he can't. It is the element of surprise that is all they have. So once Misawa has time to prepare for the powerbomb he can block it or Kawada can evade the frogsplash. Misawa's roaring elbow after the stretch plum and Kawada's consequent sell are why this match-up is one of the greatest in history. Kawada regains the advantage when he catches Misawa with a kick as he is coming down. He just unloads with everything in his strike arsenal and cant get the pin with a brainbuster. The teased the Ganso Bomb, but Misawa headscissors out, but Kawada eventually hits the powerbomb and still can't pin Misawa. Misawa's back elbow has Kawada like Oh My God. The Tiger Driver only gets two. It devolves into an elbow versus boot match and Misawa wins that with a nice elbow combination. Misawa finally hits Emerald Flowsion on Kawada to win their last contest in All Japan. The urgency of this encounter makes an interesting addition to their canon. ****

Jun Akiyama vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 2/27/00 After this match, Akiyama was paid, laid and made. This was not a passing of a torch. Akiyama was out to seize that torch on that night and Misawa was going to fight every single step of the way to keep it. The proof is in the pudding: watch Akiyama's head snap back on one of Misawa's transition elbows in the corner or the knee drop Misawa drops on Akiyama's nose that draws blood. When I saw that knee, I was like "Holy fuck, I think he just broke his nose" and when Akiyama came up then was blood. Akiyama gave as he good as he got. As soon as, he was given a weakness (Akiyama drove Misawa to the mat on an attempted reverse cross body and Misawa came up holding his neck) and he went after Misawa's neck (yes given the circumstances now that can be uncomfortable) with a tenacity rarely seen. I am a drop toehold mark. In this match, I think I saw the greatest drop toehold of all time, when Akiyama applied a drop toehold onto Misawa into the railing. Thus match developed into one of the all-time classic Misawa matches with Misawa working underneath while Akiyama strung together one of the greatest offensive runs of all time. The whole time because of the credibility of Misawa's comeback and Misawa's elbow going all the way back to 1990 you never once think he is outta of it until he is shockingly out of it. They are a bit tentative to start and they actually dive out of the way each of the other's moves before Misawa hits a dropkick sending him out of the ring. Akiyama, knowing Misawa too well, moves out of the way so Misawa stops himself on the apron and hits his diving elbow onto Akiyama. Misawa hits some absolutely wicked elbows on Akiyama in the corner to establish him dominance as THE ACE. However, Akiyama side-stepped a Misawa reverse cross body and drove him to the mat. Misawa comes up holding his neck and the complexion of the match totally changes. Akiyama hits a jumping knee to send Misawa out to the ring. Misawa whips Akiyama into the railing, but Akiyama side-steps him and hits the most wicked drop toehold into railing. He drops Misawa onto the railing throat first and while he is hanging there he hits him with a knee from the apron. Then he hits a knee while Misawa is hanging on the apron, then a piledriver onto the floor and then a friggin' wrist-clutch exploder on the apron. This was a holy shit string of moves all focused on the neck. Akiyama wrangled him into a cool neck submission with grapevining his legs in such a way to apply pressure on Misawa's neck. Misawa backs him into the corner and hits an absolute monster back elbow and then a springboard dropkick to face. This is a wake up call to Akiyama that there is a reason Misawa is known as one of the most resilient wrestler ever. Misawa hits his front facelock the announcer sells it like it is 1992, but it is 2000 and the crowd does not really buy it. I will say it still looks tenacious as all hell. The crowd just was not buying it as a possible finish. Akiyama dropkicks Misawa off the top rope, hits a running knee off the apron, knee to the back into railing, tombstone piledriver in the ring and finishes this run off with a huge diving elbow to Misawa's neck while he is in the ring and an Exploder. He still can only get a 2. Misawa gets out of a neck submission to hit his spinkick and drop a nasty knee to Akiyama's nose that draws blood. Misawa's frogsplash gets 2. Misawa runs of his impressive offense: two Germans and a Tiger Driver. Misawa hits a roaring elbow, but just phases Akiyama who hits two Exploders. On the second exploder, Misawa fumbles around before falling looking oddly like arch-rival, Toshiaki Kawada. Could the Kid actually pull it off? Akiyama hits a running knee to Misawa's face and then an exploder for 2. He hits a brainbuster for two. Finally hits the mother of all wrist-clutch exploders dropping Misawa on his head to win at that point the biggest of match of his career in grandiose fashion. This match reminds me so much of The Dark Knight in how it is perfect confluence of the superficial with meaning. What makes the Dark Knight so great is there is enough fireworks and eye candy to appeal to our audiovisual senses, but all rooted in a beautifully woven story. It appeals to pretty much facet of humanity, much like this match. You have the story of the young upstart looking to dethrone warrior-king by attacking his neck ruthlessly and violently. The old warrior-king has plenty of fight left in him, but eventually he overcome by the surmounting pain and the indefatigable resolve of the young upstart. On top of that, this is one of best offensive spectacles to ever be produced. Akiyama does a tremendous job of never letting up just zeroing in when Misawa is coming back he does not stop coming forward. Misawa is one of the ultimate underneath workers in this match he gives Akiyama even more offense than he would usual, which shows how much he trusted him at this point. After that second Exploder, when Misawa tried to get up and just fell back down you flashed back to all the times it had happened to Kawada and it was Misawa standing tall. The grand finale was a vicious head-drop wrist clutch exploder. Akiyama respected Misawa enough to know that he had to have no remorse if he wanted to take his place in the run. *****

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Vader vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 02/24/00 I would hazard a guess that this Vader's last great match and it actually surprised me how good it was. It had been six years since I seen it last and had no recollection of it, but this was really well-executed. This is puroresu version of a most excellent Black Sabbath dirge, slow and heavy as fuck. Kobashi's ribs are taped up and Vader eats him alive. The match focuses on the two things Vader has left his offense and selling. At the beginning during Kobashi's shine, I was worried this match would go the way of the Kawada match with Vader trying to bump for Kobashi and just not having the agility anymore. I know that Vader helps everyone when he gets suplexed, but it looks even more obvious in these matches. Kobashi starts to chop as he would Akiyama or Kawada, but instead of the usual macho pissing contest, Vader just creams him with a clothesline. Lets Go Vader. From there, Vader zeroes in on the ribs dropping all his weight on them and just doing everything he can to injure them further: hanging Kobashi out to dry on the railing or ripping off the tape. Kobashi would get a hope spot like a flying shoulderblock and Vader would just immediately fall with all his weight on Kobashi's ribs to stymie him. The crowd finally gets into after three Vaderbombs, which starts up the ""Ko-Bash-I" chants. Where was the Vader whistle and customary trash talk? Vader hit a huge short arm clothesline, but here comes Kobashi with the spin kick. Dont you just love when all of sudden the Japanese commentator will just scream "FLYING BODY ATTACK~!"? Kobashi hits a powerbomb off the top rope and a German suplex, but you can't hold Vader down yet. Vader starts swinging those bear paws and just throws Kobashi all over the place with three German suplexes. Double clothesline and Vader is still first to his feet and hits a monster chokeslam and then another. The straps are down and all that gut is hanging out. It must have been an 18+ only show at Budokan that night. It is all for naught as Kobashi hits a Burning Lariat for two and then a moonsault for two. In a finish I absolutely loved, Kobashi bounces off the Vader body attack, rebounds and takes Vader's head off with a BURNING LARIAT~! to win the championships to a huge pop. Given Vader's limitations at the time, they have the best match possible with Kobashi taking a shit ton of punishment from the Mastodon. I loved all the moments where Kobashi would hit a move and Vader just kept on coming back. It felt so different from the usual All Japan fare at the time where you had a really established underdog in Kobashi because of the size disadvantage working hard underneath. This is Vader in his fucking element too. Give him a popular babyface that can sell and has great fire and he can't have a bad match. It doesn't matter that he put on a ton of weight and can't move, David vs Goliath is Vader's game and no one does it better. I heard one critique of this match was that Kobashi did not get enough offense and it was just an extended squash (on puroresu.tv). I am going to be a dick about this comment and say this guy needs to watch more American wrestling because two momentum shifts in a match is a perfect number to have an all-time classic. This match actually had four because Kobashi had a false comeback. The story of the match was Kobashi outlasting the monster you have to take Vader to proverbial twelveth round that's Sting learned at Starrcade '92. By letting Vader punch himself out, Kobashi had effectively already weakened Vader. In addition, his ribs were fucked so he was looking to hit a big bomb and get the fuck out of there. That's why he went for a cover after each big bomb because he was trying to shorten the match once his ribs were attacked. Plus, the fact Vader basically kicked Kobashi's ass demonstrates how much of a warrior Kobashi is for surviving that onslaught. In reality, that is the central question in most Vader matches, "Can the opponent survive the onslaught?" It was a excellent execution of that story. ***3/4

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Vader vs Toshiaki Kawada - All Japan 2/17/00 Man, six years ago, I thought this match was the shit. Now, it felt like it was being wrestled in slow motion and surprisingly light. Kawada's strike looked so chumpy especially whenever he tried to imitate the Vader punches. Vader's offense and selling are still top notch, but his movement thus his bumping has gone to shit. It is too bad that this match did not happen in 1993/4 as this could have been an all-time classic. Kawada evades Vader early on, which frustrates Vader, who tries to corner him, but ends up taking several boots to the face and being suplexed. A Vader eye poke transitions the match into the favor of the Mastodon. I love when a bully resorts to such cheating. Vader hits his body attack and a headbutt on the floor. Much like Kobashi's moonsault, Kawada does his best to avoid Vader's Vaderbomb, but eventually he has to take it, but kicks out. Kawada mounts a comeback with kicks and Vader sells the stretch plum better than anyone has since 1992 with his great verbal selling. The Vader body attack restores his advantage and he pours on his offense with a powerbomb and back drop driver. Kawada blocks the chokeslam. Vader swings a wild bear paw that finds his mark that finally puts Kawada on jelly legs and Vader murders him with a clothesline to successfully defend his titles. It is a perfectly fine match but there is not anything really that special about it. Kawada is trying to fight from underneath against the Mastodon, but Vader proves to be too much to handle. Will Kobashi be able to wrest the titles for from The Man They Call Vader? ***

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Kensuke Sasaki - 01/04/00 Kensuke Sasaki has a nice slab of symphonic metal as his entrance theme and a bitchin' mullet. Tenryu looks extra lumpy at this point. This match reminds me of how the simplicity of New Japan can be just as beautiful as All Japan's complexity. This match is structured to make Sasaki to look like the conquering hero against the gritty veteran proving himself at every turn as surpassing Tenryu. The match proves that anything Tenryu can do; Sasaki can do better. It really makes Sasaki look like an ace of a promotion. They do not waste time going into the chopfest. This match reminds me of Valentine/Garvin at first as it seems like they are just stiffing each other for the hell of it. However, this match transcends inane strikes by developing into a well-woven story with a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is a battle of two bulls seeing who can inflict more damage on the other. Tenryu is the first to throw a closed fist in the corner. Sasaki says "Two can play at that game" and levels Tenryu with a wicked closed fist. Even though this match utilizes the closed fist more than any other puro match I have seen; the closed fist still seems really special as they sell it as a big deal. The way Tenryu transitions into his heat segment on Sasaki is be means of the closed fist. Before we get to there, I just wanted to mention that after Tenryu fells Sasaki with a huge chop that Sasaki actually wins a struggle for a vertical suplex. These are the little battles that Sasaki wins before ultimately winning the whole match. The second act is Tenryu's heat segment, which is concise and is focused on making Sasaki look vulnerable, but resilient. His chops to the throat area look vicious. Sasaki gets a hope spot in sumo slap battle, but Tenryu wins that with his enziguri. He does a super German suplex and follows up with his falling elbow drop from the top rope for 2. He does a powerbomb only gets two. Then he hits Sasaki's Northern Lights Bomb but he cant hold Sasaki down. He goes for the kill by a top rope Frankensteiner, but instead Sasaki powerbombs him in a pretty impressive spot. Then Sasaki shows him how it is done by doing his own top rope Frankensteiner. I fuckin' loved that exchange. Sasaki is looking for the kill, but Tenryu still has some fire left in the belly and they exchange strikes. Tenryu hits his enziguri again, but this time Sasaki hits his Northern Lights Bomb. Then goes for the second one to polish off Tenryu to win his second IWGP Championship and prove he is King of the Hill. This match never overstays its welcome clocking in just under 15 minutes and in this "less is more" attitude pervading the internet I feel like this one could do well. They sets this up as a Clash of Titans that Sasaki is looking to prove himself against the Elder Statesman. He wins small battles and displays Fighting Spirit in the face of the deluge of Tenryu's offense. The finish was definitive that Sasaki was the better wrestler in that match and he felt like that night as the Ace of New Japan. There are some issues with no-selling on Sasaki's part and I think they could have done so much interesting stuff with the holds. Those are just some nitpicky stuff. This is a great first match to start off the project. ****

Loss is da man! Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka vs Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murkami - Tokyo Dome 01/04/00 The Dome sure was rocking for this one, baby! From Inoki's entrance through post-match pull apart, this may have the most extended heat ever from a Dome crowd I have seen. The crowd still loves them some Inoki, who came out and said some stuff in Japanese and then broke a big stick in half so he created two wicked sharp stakes. Inoki: Vampire Slayer, Book It, Sci Fi! Everybody is wearing MMA gloves and Hashimoto/Ogawa just has that big match feel that belongs in front of a Dome. It is no wonder Hash thought he could run pretty much an entire promotion with him on top and Ogawa as his number two given the sustained heat. The match delivered a wild, chaotic classic where you had no idea what the heel was going to happen next and any shot could be a KO or a submission. The crowd was really vibing off this chaos and was popping for pretty much every spot. There was pretty much no downtime in the match. Murkami bullrushed Iizuka with lefts and kicks at the outset to establish the feel of the match. He full mounts Iizuka, but he gets to the ref so Murkami shoves the ref off. As he breaks, he kicks Iizuka's head off so Hashimoto comes into check on IIzuka and Murkami grabs the mic to lay some badmouth as one would expect. This is fuckin crazy. Hash fucks up Murkami triggering the big Hashimoto/Ogawa confrontation and the Dome is just losing it. NJPW wrestler pour into the ring and here comes Inoki with his giant fuckin Stake to reestablish order and Iizuka is ok so LETS GET IT ON! Team Ogawa is in love with O Soto Gari/STO and that is their constant go to move to takedown the other team. Once on the mat they trade cross-armbreaker, triangles and a leg bar. There is a real sense of struggle in every movement and the Dome heat is just unreal. Murkami full mounts Iizuka and was so focused on kicking his ass that he did not see Hashimoto got tagged in, who promptly lights him up with kicks. Hashimoto tells Ogawa not to sing it, but just bring it. Dome is molten. Hashimoto ends their stand up exchange with a wicked headbutt against the ropes and starts beating the piss out of Ogawa and the gloves come off. Ogawa goes to his STO bread and butter, but Hash just throws him back. Ogawa gets on his bike and tries to turn this into a track meet. Hashimoto gets trapped in his guard and survives a triangle choke. Everyone gets hit with STOs as Ogawa begins to turn the tide. Iizuka dropkicks Ogawa to the floor off of Hashimoto. Hashimoto is on Ogawa on the floor and attempts to break his arm with a keylock. Iizuka grabs a rear naked choke on Murkami for the win. Ogawa is a sore sport and throws Iizuka and the NJPW wrestlers pull apart before anything else can happen. The entertainment from this is derived from the chaos and hatred between the two teams. The Dome is just so into match that makes everything electric. The finish was a little too abrupt and I wanted to see more Hashimoto and Ogawa. Still this was a super fun match that just flew right by. ****1/4

Independent Junior Heavyweight Champion Naoki Sano vs Minoru Tanaka Battlarts 01/30/2000 Almost ten years to the day of this match, Naoki Sano put on his most heralded performance against Jushin Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight match. On this night, Sano looked like he was moving in slow-motion and just plain old. Minoru Tanaka did the best he possibly could, selling all of Sano's holds like he was in agonizing torture, but he could not carry this match far past average. I read another review of this from Puroresu.TV promoting this as a slow matwork masterpiece. I want to clarify it is not the pace of the match that bothered me it was the fact that Sano would take down or transition in and out of holds like a snail. There was no struggle. It was just a slow-motion exhibition of catch wrestling on the mat. Then you add the first time Sano goes for the leg lace he just kind of holds MInoru foot and he just starts screaming in pain. It would be great selling if he did not look like a total tool because of Sano was applying literally zero torque or pressure. When Sano lazily applies a rear naked choke, Minoru sells like he is about to pass out and just makes it to the ropes. Everytime, Sano would even touch Minoru's leg or foot, he would immediately scramble for the ropes and scream. There was a clear inequality in effort levels throughout the match. Eventually, they drop the shoot-style stuff and just go full bore into pro wrestling, Sano tombstones Minoru and missile dropkick, but gets kicked in gut on a plancha attempt that did not look too good. Minoru hits his own missile dropkick and applies the cross-armbreaker, but Sano makes the ropes. Minoru grabs the heel hook, but Sano touches Minoru's foot, which sends flying out of the ring. Minoru is sure as hell selling that leg. Sano follows him out with a suicide dive in his best spot. They tease the countout finish with Minoru making it in at 19, which I thought was the best part of the match. Sano hits a Tiger Suplex, but Minoru is too close to the ropes. Minoru goes for his bread and butter again, but Sano makes the ropes. They trade nice head kicks before Minoru lands a Dragon Suplex for 2, but the immediate cross-armbreaker gets a submission and the Independent Junior Heavyweight Championship. I had high hopes for this shoot-style affiar, but Sano just did not show up. I thought Minoru did the best he could given what was dealt to him. Very disappointing match **3/4

Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi - AJPW 01/17/00 Kawada's big return match falls flat even though he goes onto have 5 ****+ matches in his last truly great year of his career. This felt like their routine good match. They are laying in all their shots and everything looks good, but there is no sense of electricity. They are just going through the motions. Most wrestlers wish that their matches looked like this when they were going through the motions, but still can't be but a little disappointed by what I believe is the last ever Kawada/Kobashi singles match. Kawada levels Kobashi as soon as the bell rings with a big boot to say I'm back, bitch. Kawada plays king of the mountain at the beginning using his feet to keep the fiery Kobashi at bay. In a popular All Japan transition spot, Kobashi wins a suplex battle and takes over with short running knee lifts. Kawada answers in kind with one of his favorite transition spots, the sudden spinning heel kick. Kawada is focusing on the face of Kobashi with all these running big boots. I liked their apron sequence the best where Kawada hits a true axe kick, but Kobashi does the All Japan no-sell and clobbers him with a BURNING LARIAT! At this point, we get that classic Kawada selling that just makes his match as Kobashi begins to unload his offense. Kobashi really wants to hit his moonsault and Kawada really does not want to be hit by it. So Kobashi slaps on a sleeper to drain Kawada's energy, which is pretty effective psychology. Kobashi hits his powerbomb, but cant manage the half-nelson suplex, which Kawada hits an enziguiri out of. Kawada gets his own powerbomb, but when he goes to the well again Kobashi-rana counters albeit very botched. I am surprised Kobashi would do a Misawa spot and not only that fuck it up. Kawada adds a wrinkle with an armbar takedown -> cross armbreaker, which Kobashi sold well while in the hold, but does not have much significance. Kobashi All Japan no sells a back drop driver and wins a double lariat battle. He throws Kawada with a Tiger suplex and the jacknife powerbomb only gets two. Kobashi goes to hit his lariat, but Kawada can't even stand up on his own so Kobashi stands him up just to knock him down with BURNING LARIAT! I feel like the finish is like a metaphor for the like the system, man, you know. It is the best hits of Kawada/Kobashi, but it did not feel like any spots until the very quick finish had any sort of consequence. It was just a fun exhibition of moves. Stuff like the Kobashi sleeper or the Kawada cross-armbreaker really could have added interesting new dynamics to their match. As it stood, it is just par for the course. ***1/2

What actually maybe interesting given jdw's point is plotting PPV (N-1) star rating against they buyrate of PPV (N) (This allows the timeframes to line up). Does good work necessitate people to buy the next PPV? Obviously, the big problem is that we just have Meltzer's ratings so it is not a wide data set, but it could be cool.

Amen, Matt. Like for instance, I just did what I consider a very good write-up on the Austin/Steamboat BATB '94 match where I respond to people's claim of the match being disjointed by finding a constant thread (Austin's desperation tactics and out & out cheating) that connects the match from beginning to end and how the match runs through him. Now due to the nature of the beast, I did not expect anyone to respond and I am not disappointed (though I did get in a cheap plug for it). I know that eventually someone will watch that match, go to the thread and see my dissenting opinion and respond in turn. However, I think there is value in having us all watch a match at the same time because it will promote more instantaneous discussion. The reason, I have not participated is because selfishly I am wrapped up too much in my own projects. Since I do think this is a worthwhile venture, I would like to get this restarted. HHH/Austin No Way Out '01 is a great high-profile match and works perfectly with me as I am watching HHH '99-'01 and don't mind skipping around. So I'll second that nomination.

Before I launch into Kobashi's extraordinary GHC title reign (4 matches in and it was been bitchin), I wanted to wrap up with some final thoughts on the 2000-2002 Japan landscape. 1. 2000 was a return to form for Japan and actually their best year since 1997 and was a really enjoyable year to watch. 2. The structure was unsustainable. All Japan has Tenryu, Kawada, Mutoh; NOAH had Misawa, Kobashi and Akiyama and New Japan had Nagata and a bunch of MMA fighters. There were too many over the hill guys that could bust out a one-off performance but nothing to build company around. The people coming up (Kojima, Akiyama, Nagata) had no credible opponents. What made the Three Musketeers and Four Corners work is they had each other to elevate themselves. 3. The resulting huge dropoff quality. 2001 was still a pretty good year, but holy shit 2002 sucked resulting in the two highest rated matches of the year coming in at ****. 4. In this past year, by my count WWE (including NXT) had about 7-8 ****1/2 or greater matches. From 2000-2002 from the three different companies, Japan only produced 5. In some ways, we are just spoiled now, but it is also clear that Japan in 2001 & 2002 was in a stark decline. Here are the awards for the end of my look at 2000-2002 Japan: 1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 2. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00 3. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 4. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00 5. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00 6. IWGP Jr Hvywt Tag Champs Ohtani & Takaiwa vs Kanemoto & Minoru - NJPW 6/25/00 7. IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokyo Dome Non-Title 8. Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01 9. IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Takehiro Murahama - NJPW 4/20/01 10. Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka vs Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murkami - Tokyo Dome 01/04/00 11. Genichiro Tenryu & Masa Fuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Nobutaka Araya - AJPW 6/30/01 12. Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - Champions Carnival Final '00 13. GHC Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 07/27/01 14. New Japan (Liger & Minoru ) vs. NOAH (Kikuchi & Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02 15. GHC Tag Champions Akiyama & Saito vs Kobashi & Shiga - NOAH 10/19/02 Match of the Year, 2000: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 Match of the Year, 2001: All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 Match of the Year, 2002: New Japan (Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka) vs. NOAH (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02 Finished #14 overall Match of the Year (2000-2002), New Japan Pro Wrestling: Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00 Match of the Year (2000), Pre-Split All Japan Pro Wrestling: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 Match of the Year (2000-2002), Post-Split All Japan Pro Wrestling: All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 Match of the Year (2000-2002), Pro Wrestling NOAH: Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00 Match of the Year (2000-2002), Junior Heavyweight Division: IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Champs Shinjiro Ohtani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka - NJPW 6/25/00 http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/03/best-of-japan-2000-2002.html

"Wildcat" Wendell Cooley is my new favorite wrestler ever.

I try to stay up to date on what the other smark opinions are by checking out some other boards. I am pretty tolerant so I don't really mind their usually whacked out views. My God, did I get hot under the collar when some said that Warrior was better than Lex Luger. It is just infuriating. You type this big long post breaking things down and giving match recommendations. All you get is TL;DR, Warrior is better because he had facepaint and was BATSHIT INSANE~! Ugh.

I was the outlier on the Bash match and I will be the outlier here. WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin vs Ricky Steamboat - WCW Clash of the Champions XXVIII I thought this was the most disappointing match of their series in '94. Since in actuality I had never seen the Bash match before I was basing my opinion of this program totally on this one match. While I have found that I have changed my opinions on a lot of things throughout the years, I still found this match tepid at best and totally heatless until the last couple minutes or so. One thing that was not their fault was this was WCW's camerawork at its most atrocious long shots of Heenan, the Blacktop Bully and a random shot of the stage at one point. The Bash match had a more woven story with Austin cheating at every single corner and eventually finding a trick that worked (feet on the ropes). Consequently, if he gets DQ'd this time around he will lost the title. However, they don't really play up the stip outside of a couple of almost throws over the top rope. Even without working the stip, there was not much in the way of action or story. If you have both that's great, but this match really didn't have either. I thought the first match was jammed with action and wrestled with great energy and the second match they blew themselves up, but saved themselves with a great story. This time around I thought they made a conscious effort to slow themselves down, but nothing really happened. They never really built up heat one way or the another until the end. It was a pretty boring shine sequence with Austin just doing a good chickenshit heel routine (he pulled my hair, bitching out, eye poke). They just chop each other and trade nearfalls a lot. It was a workrate match without spots. The crowd finally gets into it when the Dragon crotches Austin and taunts him. Of course, Austin hits a super gourdbuster only for Steamboat to catch with a chop off the top and then Steamboat crashes and burns on a splash. Somebody build momentum! Austin's slaps were pretty lame. He needed to go to Jericho school of the slap-taunt because he was just flailing his arms at Steamer. He looked like me when I was 7 against my dad. Steamboat no sells and rattles off a series of nearfalls before catching Austin with an inside cradle. I will say Austin trying to run away from the nearfall barrage only to be Electric Chair Dropped was the best spot in the match. Still, the match was just there and really did not do anything for me. It is not a bad match per se, just one where not a whole lot happens. ***

WCW US Champion Ricky Steamboat vs. Jean-Paul Levesque - WCW Saturday Night 9/3/94 I do believe this is Steamboat's last televised appearance until his mini-comeback run and I think is actually Levesque's (Triple H) first major TV match. Given the video quality and his hair-do, Levesque looks like a skinny version of Lex Luger. You can really tell how tall he was in this match. Steamboat did a great job carrying him through the match and he sold his arm really well for the green as grass Levesque. I felt that Levesque gained a lot of confidence as the match progressed. He started off very tentative in his actions you could just tell he was not yet comfortable. Steamboat was working basic stuff and once they got into the arm work (Steamboat charged and should rammed into post) I thought Levesque did a great job working the arm in a convincing fashion lots of different holds and moves. You could tell he knew what he was doing, but he was not totally there in terms of interacting with the crowd and doing with confidence. He was still thinking about it instead of feeling it. Steamboat was making him look great with his arm selling and the finish really put Levesque over as he was in command, but Steamboat grabbed inside cradle out of a bodyslam. Levesque even got a post-match beatdown on Steamboat's arm. WCW, as usual, was in a time of transition and outside of a Starrcade match against Wright, I don't he got much out of his WCW run. Still, a very good performance given how new he was to the big time. Between his size and work, I would definitely picked him up and developed him as a talent. It is fitting in Steamboat last TV appearance he is left selling the arm as that's where his bread was buttered selling and making everyone look great.

Sting & Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair & Steve Austin (WCW Saturday Night 07/30/94) This on paper dream match was a clusterfuck in execution. That is a little bit of hyperbole. Flair seemed interested in just shining up the babyfaces and Austin is the only one trying to have a heat segment, but he seems blown up again from running around with the babyfaces that he forced to sit in holds. Sting goes into Flair match mode where he is Superman in the ring and Steamboat seemed like the best wrestler in this one with fiery chops and selling for the heels. This confluence lends itself to a really good shine segment with Flair flopping around. I really liked Sting stopping his ten punch count in the corner to punch Austin and Austin stooges. Flair hides behind Sherri on the outside. Savage says et tu Brute? The announcers remind us that Sting missed the biggest WCW event in history because of a scratched cornea from Sherri. So Flair pokes him in the eye. He is able to tag the Dragon. Austin immediately tosses him out and plays a spirited king of the mountain. The Dragon will not be denied. That is the difference between Sting and Steamboat. Steamboat fights through the barrage and Sting no-sells. Both can be effective Sting just did it way too much ala Sting eats knees from Austin and no-sells Flair's delayed vertical. Now I think Flair called that spot so I don't think you can blame Sting for that one. In fact, I think Flair and Austin were not on the same page at all. Austin seems interested in having a straight Southern tag match and this really was rampant non-psychology from Flair (hey everybody has an off night). Sting absolutely whiffs on a cross body that should have sent both tumbling over the top, but no sold that and went after Flair immediately. Again, that is Sting sticking to the called spot rather reacting to what is going on around him. Hard to say if he is at fault. Austin burns through a series of falls with Sting and honestly think this may have blown him up. I liked Sting's press slam of Austin and he sells when Austin catches him low with a knee. Flair dumps him out to Sherri, who gets hers licks in. Again, heat segment cut short by Sting tag and Steamer chops everything in sight and a gnarly Flair Flip. They do their bridging/backslide spot. Yep, Flair was just trying to get all his shit in. Sherri and Austin finally start gaining some momentum for the heels. Keep Flair out! Actually, Flair does throw some nice punches and chops. There are plenty of good chops. The Center Stage crowd is raucous for the match that is really all over the place testament to how Sting and Steamboat are. Sting gets the tag while the ref was not looking, but of course he does not fucking care. He is The Man Called Sting! Of course, he press slams Flair. He is The Man Called Sting! Of course, he chucks Sherri to the outside and Flair is not there to catch her and takes the most hellacious bump of the match. He is The Man Called Sting! In the background, Austin pins Steamboat with a roll up. Just like his trunks said Just Win Baby! There is enough action and spots that it is entertaining enough. It is all over the place. Best way to describe it is an energetic clusterfuck. ***

Where is that Matt D analysis? WCW US Heavyweight Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin vs Ricky Steamboat - WCW Bash At The Beach '94 Watched this on the WWE Network. While the quality was stellar, things were a bit touch and go throughout. They have not gotten it yet. However, Network problems be damned all the way from July 1994, "Dragon Slayer" Steve Austin and Ricky Steamboat still manage to kick ass . If they were somehow able to keep up the pace they cutting at the beginning, they could have had a match for the ages, but they went for too much too soon. They blew each up after the hot criss cross sequence that ended with a Steamboat sleeper and this resulted in an extended lull in the match. I loved how Austin immediately went for the knee and the Dragon knew he needed to fight fire with fire before he was fucked all the while selling the knee. Not every shot to the knee will immediately cripple you. Austin was bumping huge for Steamboat and somehow as his strategy blew up in his face he went to the trick knee. I really think Austin wrestled a really good internally consistent match. He went from jumping Steamboat from behind to the trick knee to the low blow to karate mockery to trying to throw him over the top rope to get DQd to pulling the ref in his way to putting his feet on the rope. I think I missed an eye poke in there. The whole match just reeked of scatter-brained heel desperation from Austin It was a truly incredible heel performance. It was like his motto was "If I cheat I can, If I cheat I can" The fact they blew themselves fucked up the rhythm so I can understand that issue with the match, but I think Austin's performance is the thread that ties everything together. These Steamboat matches are the first time I am really seeing a match being run through Austin and he really is exuding IT now. Steamboat gave his typically great selling performance, but I thought some of his stuff was a little off. I don't think the Pillman bump to the railing was well-placed as he immediately took over after it and I think he should have taken it to Austin more to justify Austin's chicanery. It was a tremendous finishing sequence and I can't decide if I like the barrage of nearfalls from March or Austin trying to get himself intentionally disqualified more. This one had a tombstone reversal sequence (even Linda Hogan popped for that!) and a well-built finish (Austin wins with his feet on the ropes). If I cheat I can, If I cheat I can and he did! ****

An Era is not something a company can just declare to be over. I think it is more organic that. Well given how this WWE operate maybe they can have a more top-down approach to things. Regardless, the WWE can have a vision, but I think most of the Era are developed in combination bottom up and top down. That's why it is blurry when and where the Attitude Era ended and begun. It is no different than trying to understand different periods in heavy metal. Even though we are not in the Attitude Era, there are still plenty of holdovers from the Attitude Era: the scratch logo (which needs to go), the 20 minute promo to open up the show, wrestlers with full names and no real color. I liked the chaos and edginess of the Attitude Era, but it took away from some of the outrageous and ridiculousness that wrestling used to have. I feel like we still have not regained all the color we had back in the old days. That said this could just be the fact I am totally enamored with the 80s and no one really wants to have "color" back. Point is I don't understand why the Attitude Era being a term bugs you. Any era can be debated to death on when it started and ended and what is its scope. An Era is defined by the content and half the fun is the debate over the end and the beginning. I am at work and this post seems scatter-brained to me. So I apologize in advance.