Superstar Sleeze

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Nikita Koloff - JCP GAB 7/6/85 Ahhhhh it is refreshing to see Flair work a match as a babyface. Even though Flsir was a heel everywhere else in the country including on TBS, the Magnum angle was only a few weeks before this, he is a babyface in the Carolina’s. David Crockett is the red but that doesn’t factor in a whole lot. I believe Flair Helicopter entrance makes its debut here. A packed open air Charlotte stadium gives this a big fight feel. Unfortunately this is not a good match and the worst of the Flair/Nikita matches I have seen. I enjoyed Flair doing the Riverboat Strut and punctuating it with clenched fists after he got some early offense on Nikita but outside of that it went from being a bore fest to a cluster fuck. Nikita worked the match like a 70s WWWF main event lots of bear hugs and back breakers which I don’t mind I like plenty of 70s Bruno matches but it is not Flair’s forte. Flair was trying to respect Nikita’s size but he needed to push the tempo and turn it into a brawl. When Flair did take over on offense it was a bit too easy. Nikita just rag dolled for him. I think Nikita going to the front chancery after Flair worked through his main offense rolling knee, back Suplex, Figure-4 was a mistake. Nikita needed to throw some bombs. Big pop for the Flair sleeper. Flair Flip and a post shot we get our blade job. While the opening was boring they could have salvaged it with a hot finish. The finish was bizarre. Koloff hit the Russian Sickle to zero heat. There was no fanfare or build up. Flair just kicked out. Then the camera totally misses Uncle Ivan tripping Flair. A fan bum rushes the Ring. Uncle Ivan does some weird spot with Nikita and Crockett. Flair goes for top rope crossbody which Nikita was supposed to be table topped by Uncle Ivan but that got blown they lose control of each other so Flair has to re-pin Nikita. Then Nikita who has been portrayed as this superhuman musculehead all of sudden Cant pick up Flair falls back with Flair and Flair pins him. Everything after the blade job was so bizarre. It felt like low rent Indy wrestling. I couldn’t believe my eyes because Flair is usually so on point. One thing you can say is this was NOT the Flair Formula. It was also pretty bad. A contender for the worst Flair of the 80s Id say. Whats funny is I think they have a very good match at the Omni a month later. Something was off.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Gordy WCCW 1/11/85 I am surprised this not more well-liked as Terry Gordy is a bit of a darling and this is a fun romp. Being a TV match, youre not going to get a long slow burn Championship match but rather they keep it easy breezy and fun. I enjoyed the Flair/Sunshine angle at the outset. Billy Jack Haynes wants winner but Flair blows him off and says theres only one thing that eluded him all his time in Texas and Thats Sunshine. He plants one on her and she slaps him. Great stuff. Flair is fired up coming off the angle so Gordy uses it against him. Back body drop. Press slam. Sleeper. We are off to the races. Flair eye rake, love the arm pit punches. Gordy fires up but misses the Oriental Spike. We get some great Flair short knee and Headbutt to the stomach. Gordy back drops out of the piledriver. Flair is able to use shoulder tackles in the ropes and a big elbow to get the piledriver. Good slam bang action. Misses the Knee we all know Whats next Gordy Figure-4. Gordy pours it on including getting the Oriental Spike but it is not enough. We have a double pin situation But Flair uses the ropes to kick out and Gordy is counted down. They try to pass it off like Gordy won but Gordy should have known that his shoulders were down. Lame finish wise I thought this was a ton of fun. It was not the deepest wrestling but everything was tight and snug. Good stuff. *** 3/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Butch Reed - Mid-South 6/24/85 Butch Reed is one of my least favorite Flair opponents. I’d chuck it up to him being ill-suited for championship style wrestling but we had two of the best championship style wrestling matches against Dicky Murdoch later in the year. Just guess these two didnt have much chemistry. This is their first match and they use this to set up the 50 minute borefest at the Superdome. They have a good TV match/angle in November. This is better than Superdome match but worse than Houston and TV match. Was a bit worried at the start as we get a lot of headlocks, Arm bars and headlocks but things pick up around the 10 minute mark. We only get one Press Slam to start. Flair is able to use the ref as a screen for the short knee to the abdomen. Solid heat segment from Flair. Good intensity. A little king of the mountain. Flair Misses the knee we all know Whats next the Reed Figure-4. Flair makes Reed earn his comeback he throws a bunch at him but Reed keeps fighting through it. I like how Flair keeps being bailed out by the ropes of the backslide and the sleeper. Flair is able to get a Back Suplex and work the leg. Real good job here for the Figure-4. Flair press slammed off the top. Flair takes it outside. The ref gets bumped trying to get back in. Reed gets the visual pin. He throws Flair over the top rope. The ref clocks it. Reed vertical suplex for the win But it is a Dusty Finish as Reed had thrown Flair over the top rope. I hate a Dusty Finish. These two just don’t have much in the way of chemistry. I have seen all four of their matches together now and I don’t think I ever need to see them again. *** 1/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Harley Race - PWUSA 2/24/85 I have never dug deep into these PWUSA cards before a neat concept to counteract Vince & WWF expansion but was never going to work because they couldn’t agree. Not a huge Harley guy definitely up there as one of my least favorite Flair opponents. This is still a very good match but nothing like a typical Flsir match. This is a very Race-driven match. My theory is because Race was the veteran elder statesman Flair deferred to Race on the spot calling. This led to Flair being more of a rag doll than a sporting champion. There was less of Flair trying to figure out his opponent and trying different strategies and being thwarted and more just being slam banged around. Flair still threw a couple chops and knees to keep Race honest and make him earn it but the match was completely run through Race and his penchant for working a lot of high spots. I love that opening high spot was a press slam by old man Race and then his trademark Headbutt. Race throws the most cartoony old man Popeye punches. If it was Da Crusher doing it I’d find it endearing but here Race just looks old. Flair goes out of his way to bump and feed for Old Man Harley to make him look like a million bucks. It is a Race match so lots of bombs and suplexes. Flair get a back suplex and throws Flair out which seems like a transition to heat. Flair back drops Race on the outside. Enjoyed the brawling on the floor. Flair doesn’t get much inside. Race Headbutts. We get a piledriver and it’s Bombs Away again. Missed top rope Headbutt leads to Kneecrusher- >Figure-4. Love a missed move leading to a big momentum shift. Race reverses the pressure. Flair tries to get Harley up But his knee buckles nice. Race press slams Flair off the top. Brawl on the outside. They do the old Harley Race crossbody off the top But Flsir rolls through for the pin and win. Better than Starrcade 1983 But not as good the August 1983 match. This was entertaining and breezy But like most Harley matches lacked soul. Flair made it fun as best he could. *** 1/2

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Wahoo McDaniel - Houston 7/12/85 After much deliberation this is the on where Flair wears green and the rematch he wears red. Wahoo is one of my favorite Flair opponents because like Garvin he brings out the rugged brawling side of Flair. The fire fights between these are glorious. The best one is right as Flair was losing control of the heat segment. They are trading leather, Flair tackles him Wahoo fired back, FLAIR GRABS WAHOO BY THE THROAT AND WAHOO ROARS BACK! Primal visceral love it. I love Wahoo punctuates this with a ball shot. Perfect fight fire with fire. Wahoo opening salvo chop and the way Flair sells it…pain, fear and anger all rolled into one is why he is the GOAT. Flair tries bowing up to Wahoo. Nope. Powder to break the rhythm. Nope. Corner crowding. Nope. Rope running. Wahoo even has an answer for that with a drop toe hold. This is why I love Flair. He is constantly trying to figure out his opponent and problem solve But he gets thwarts all along the way. My favorite he is finally cheats with an eye rake and then throws him to the outside. Only for Wahoo to pop back in. Flair sells of oh fuck was great. Finally a back elbow gets him the advantage but not for long. Then comes the Epic sequence I mentioned above. Wahoo goes on the Warpath quite literally doing the Indian Wardance and just chopping the shit out of Flair. Just some amazing flesh on flesh asskicking exchanges. Wahoo sleeper. Ref bump. Flsir throws him over the top rope and cracks his skull against post but Wahoo keeps coming. Wahoo pours it on in the corner and dumps the ref over the top. One final chop but the red calls for the DQ to set up the badass rematch that I like even more but this is a worthy first match in the series. Love these two together. *** 3/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Magnum TA - Houston 6/28/85 Magnum is not really my guy. I have nothing against him. He is solid and dependable but he doesn’t grab me by the balls or leap off the page, I have seen others do the Everyman blue collar guy better. This is his big run as he gets to go tour with Flair with multiple title defenses outside the Carolina’s. I have seen the AWA match thought this was below, We are JIP minutes in. Magnum is working a headlock. Flair uses Magnum’s momentum to throw him to the outside. Magnum sells it like death so heat segment here we come. Would have liked more out of the transition. Flair hits a pair of rolling knee drops and works the arm. Two things I miss that Flair stopped doing in the 90s were the Short Knee and Punch to the Armpit. Flair misses a rolling knee. Mags gets the Figure 4 as is customary in a Flair match. I like how it begins to unravel for Flair after this. He gets increasingly desperate as Mags thwarts him at every turn finally succumbing to cheating using Short Knee low and an eye rake to get out of a sleeper. Then begins Can Mags actually pull this off with a series of near falls. Magnum throws a great punch but outside of that they just work standard Flair spots. I liked the finish a lot. Ref gets wiped. Flair throws him over the top rope, crotches him on the top rope and then swipes the foot off the rope during the count for three. About as broomsticky as it gets. Magnum did not really add any wrinkle to this match. Theres no point where I was like Thats the spot Magnum is contributing or that’s what Magnum brings to the table others dont. Even green as grass Luger brought an interesting power dynamic at BOTB III. I think Magnum was made blood feuds and bloody brawls not Championship wrestling. Flair was on cruise control match was still very good but the AWA one is the one to watch. *** 1/2

Greg Valentine vs Davey Boy Smith - 10/20/86 MSG I was pretty pumped when I found out this match exists, but it never reaches unheralded classic status I hoped it would. If Davey Boy bothered selling, maybe things could have been different, but as the match is it is just a plain 'ol good match between two very good wrestlers. What sets Valentine apart from the rest of WWF at this point is just how stiff he lays in his shots. It really gives his matches a special feel. They trade bearhugs, which is actually a unique way for Davey Boy to show off his power. Valentine really starts to lay into Davey Boy with forearms and then his shoulderbreaker. I am not against the shoulderbreaker, I think it is a move that should be utilized more frequently, but I don't really get why "Master of the Figure 4" Greg Valentine would be using it. Valentine begins working on the leg, but that ends up being no sold as Davey Boy slaps on the Sharpshooter of all things. Had Bret even debuted the Sharpshooter at this point? So much for that leg work as Davey Boy does a delayed vertical suplex and his powerslam. Valentine does his cat and mouse game trick. Does anyone really believe Valentine could outrun Davey Boy? Davey Boy was struggling to go slow enough to not overtake Valentine, maybe if he sold the leg it wouldn't look so phony. Valentine with some stomps and here comes the figure-4, but Davey Boy gets to the ropes. Davey Boy immediately hits a dropkick. What is selling? Weird finish as Valentine pretty much out of nowhere double legs Davey Boy and hold onto the ropes to pick up the victory. This match suffered from the 80s WWF hyper-compression issues. Did any WWF match from '84-86 ever go over 25 minutes? The finish didn't make sense because the Bulldogs were about to be programmed with the Harts and the Dream Team shunted down the card. Plus it felt like they just cut the match off prematurely. There is good stuff here and there is no reason to believe that these two could not have delivered an all-time classic, but I just dont think Hulkamania era WWF was the right setting for these two to deliver that. *** 1/4

WWF World Tag Team Champions British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - MSG 5/19/86 The Dream Team is coming off losing their tag team titles to British Bulldogs at Wrestlemania II and this is the MSG rematch. From the prematch it seems that perhaps the reason for Beefcake’s lack of participation in the Wrestlemania II match was supposed to foreshadow a babyface turn, but they did not pull the trigger until next year. The new Dream Team strategy seems to be get Beefcake involved more and cheat all the same. The Bulldogs focus on arm work and overwhelming the Dream Team with quickness and crispness. The Bulldogs just are not good at drawning the imaginary diagonal line as they are susceptible to be tied up the wrong corner and the Hammer crashing down. It does not last long as Dynamite rocks and rolls and sends Valentine down hard on TIMBAH! The Hammer responds with a rabbit punch to Dynamite on a suplex attempt and the Dream Team double team Dynamite liberally. The Dream Team are excellent at suffocating their opponent in the corner. Beefcake hits his one good move a match a big backbreaker. But he should have stopped while he was ahead when he hurts himself on a suplex. What a loser! Davey Boy gets a short burst of a hot tag that is punctuated with a running powerslam, but Valentine is there to break it up. Valentine misses his elbows and now here comes Dynamite and he has Valentine reeling. Shoves him down and now a standing headbutt for only two. Valentine is on the ropes, but using the trunks he sends Dynamite into Beefcake’s boot. Valentine takes advantage with the figure-4, but Davey Boy saves. Valentine follows up with an elbow to the escaping Dynamite and Johnny V hooks the leg. 1-2-3! NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS! WAIT! The ref saw it and waives it off and Dynamite rolls Valentine up to win. ***1/2

Ric Flair & Andersons vs Ron Garvin, Terry Taylor & Pez Whatley - World Championship Wrestling 11/16/85 I could watch Flair and Garvin light each other up everyday all day. The Horsemen had attacked Dusty and injured him so I think they are a thing. Not sure if Arn has cut the promo naming them yet. Typical Crockett match they work a hundred miles per hour but they make it work because everything is intense and snug. Whatley is in the match to take the pin but he gets a nice shine getting the Andersons off balance. Flair and Garvin fire fight ends in a back drop God I love them together. Their second fire fight ends with a Garvin Headbutt. Electric. Flair trips Garvin. Great rapid fire heat segment from the Horsemen. Taylor gets a nice hot tag. I love the Taylor/Flair series from earlier in the year in Mid-South but here Taylor feels like a midcard. Clear they are grooming Garvin for a run for the title. Flair Misses the knee Taylor Figure-4 fun spot. Whatley im so you know the end is near. Weak finish Flair trips Whatley and holds his leg down for the win. I love cheating but it was just anti-climatic. Fun TV 6-Man proof You can work fast but still work snug and intense. *** 1/2

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Lex Luger - CWF Battle of the Belts III 9/1/86 This fucking rules! I haven’t seen a classic Flair Championship Mach in so long. This was chicken soup for my soul. First Fall: Luger is jacked but not as jacked and shredded as he will get. Flair calls a helluva match here. Reminds me a lot of Clash I. Classic Flair changing tactics and getting thwarted. He gets thwarted on each lockup to show how powerful Luger is. Then we get the chops in the corner. No sold to show how strong Luger is. Send Luger into motion here’s a hiptoss and a pair of Press Slams. Not the best looking Press Slams. Flair trips him on a drop down catches him right in the breadbasket. Love when Flair turns it on in a heat segment. Luger throws better punches than in the mid -90s. Luger misses a charge rams his knee into buckles. Flair smells blood in the water. Awesome work on the knee, Figure-4 with rope assist gives Flair the first fall. Holy shit that fucking ruled. Flair pitched a perfect game. Second Fall: As is customary in These matches the second fall is short & sweet. Flair presses the advantage chops and knee work. Misses sit down splash on knee Thats Luger’s opening. Great corner work by both I love gritty it was. I love Flair’s Short Knee he throws it at the most chaotic times. Feels like a real fire fight. Powerslam by Luger takes it in a flash pin. Loving this match. Third Fall: Classic frenetic Flair finish stretch that rocks. I guess each fall had a 20 minute time limit and this goes to a draw which is a good finish. Flair leaps into Luger’s arms for a bear hug. Luger punches are a lot better but his clothesline sucks. Flair misses on the knee drop. We get a really good sleeper trade. I have seen Flair go through the motion on this sequence this looked tight and increased the heat. Lots of classic Flair, Flair Flop, Blade job on the post shot, the Press Sslam off the top. Flair comes back by attacking the leg. What puts the finish over the top is the double call back…Flair gets the Figure-4 the finish to Fall 1 and Luger gets the powerslam the finish to Fall 2 for the near falls. The match ends in a Luger Bearhug as Flair is saved by the bell. I only ever say this with Flair this match probably would have been better if it was longer like Clash 1, but Flair pitched a shout out. Excellent spot calling and the so well worked. The GOAT doing GOAT things **** 1/4

Fantastics vs Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard - NWA Crockett Cup 4/19/86 Helluva tournament for Fantastics as they had this match and the Fabulous Ones which were very good and the Sheepherders match which is a classic. Love the Fantastics. Bobby Fulton is criminally underrated. Great punch, great seller and a world class booty shaker. One thing thats interesting about 80s tag matches is the climax is a the hot tag. The finish is the resolution. All the heat is not in the pin But the tag. Which makes for interesting structure I wish we went back to that. Tommy Roger’s starts this one and immediately trades leather with Tully and that doesn’t go well for Tully. Pretty fun shine. Tommy brings in Tully the hard way. Tommy gets the best of Arn with a dropkick. Clears the Ring for a Fargo Strut punctuated by a booty shake. The transition to heat isn’t out and out cheating But I liked how simple and effective it was. Short knee by Tully which was a staple for him and Flair at the time. I love the Short Knee it needs to make a comeback. He throws Fulton into Arn’s knee. Really strong heat segment. I love Fulton throwing punches, always fighting and struggling to get to the corner. Horsemen throw Fulton to the outside a bunch, great spine buster by Arn, I love the drop toe hold by Arn to prevent the tag and the Tully making Bobby show some ass to prevent tag. Great Stuff. Arn jam’s his knee on a kick. Tommy hot tag! House a fire but gets put out by a Gourdbuster. Fulton dropkicks Roger’s on top of Arn for the win. Reallu fun 80s tag match. *** 1/2

Fantastics vs Fabulous Ones - NWA Crockett Cup 1986 First Round This is a HOLY SHIT first round match of a loaded tournament. I love the Fantastics and am a huge Fabs mark. I was Stan Lane’s number one fan ten years ago and hope to be Bobby Fulton’s this year. Lane sets early on a monkey flip so Fulton stomps his face and celebrates just like a good red-blooded American should with some booty shaking! I counted not one not two but THREE Booty Shakes out of Fulton. I have been clamoring for more Booty Shaking in pro wrestling for over ten years is no one reading these reviews Fabs are playing the heels and they are good in both roles underrated heels. Fantastics have a fun babyface shine good fast break offense. We get some of Sweet Stan’s famous Karate that sends Fulton over the top rope. Solid heat segment on Fulton. Steve Keirn is a mean bastard. Love a double stomp. Nominal work on the leg. Double noggin knocker. Hot tag to Roger’s. Nothing special. O’Connor roll takes it home for the Fantastics. Honestly a lot more fun than my review lets up. Just really entertaining 80s tag wrestling. *** 1/4

This is from a review I did in 2013 The Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees - 2/86 MSG The one thing I never got about the Killer Bees is how they were supposed to be faces with the Masked Confusion gimmick. Anyways, this starts off with the Bees doing some token leg work on Anvil (think Rockers, but not as exciting), which culminates in a figure-4 that Bret breaks up. Jimmy Hart, clearly 20 years ahead of his time, gets mocked for shopping at a Thrift Shop. Bret slips on the second rope while going for a second rope elbow (a rare sighting of this Bret bump). Brunzell is a house with a small stovetop fire, dangerous, but easily quenched by a blind knee in the back (the ultimate Hart Foundation transition spot). Usual Hart Foundation heat segment: bodyslam on concrete, Demolition Decapitation, and the irish whip sling shot move. I remember this being a little too front facelock-y. Brunzell hits his sweeeeeeet dropkick (Bulldog's is still more impactful), but cant capitalize. The Hart Foundation Irish whip sling shot misses this time around. Blair is a house afire: punches, small package, bodyslams and atomic drops (Bret bumps into Anvil). After the Hart Foundation collision, Brunzell hits his dropkick, but alas we hit the time limit draw. I thought this was on par with 9/85 Bulldogs match just a solid match nothing to go out of your way to see. The Hart Foundation/Bulldogs would eventually exceed this match in 1987, but for now it is on par with that. *** 1/2

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair Vs Ricky Morton - World Championship Wrestling 4/12/86 These two have the second best match in the history of pro wrestling in my opinion. I know I have seen this twice before but for some reason I didn’t review. This is an impromptu match and was booked to make Morton a credible challenger to Flair on the House Show loop. I need to watch some Kobashi because I have watched so much more Flair recently and if I had to vote today Flair is the GOAT. What a phenomenal performance from him! He made Morton look like a million bucks. He sold the fast break, full court press babyface shine like a million bucks. He couldn’t get anything going. Morton was firing on all cylinders. Classic Flairtrying all sort of tactics, amateur wrestling, fisticuffs, track meet wrestling, lure in the corner. All thwarted by Morton. Genius. After the Break, I love how Flair makes Morton earn his hope spots. After the reverse crossbody, Flair knows he was close to losing so without missing a beat he evades a punch and smashes him into buckle. The Missile Dropkick was sick by Morton. Flair fights through neck breaker and backslide to feed Morton later genius. Using a backslide to feed a punch. Amazing. Ref gets bumped on the O’Connor Roll. Flair throws Morton over the top which is illegal But Morton smashes Naitch’a into the steel post. Flair Flip. FLAIR HITS A BEAUTIFUL TOP ROPS CROSSBODY ROLL THROUGH! GIBSON DROPKICKS DOUBLE A and counts the pin! Dusty basically explains the booking in the post-match this means Morton can be Champion and it will be Dusty vs Morton for the title. This is a great piece of business. Morton is the perfect fiery plucky underdog always moving forward but as good as he is, Flair turns in such a fantastic performance. This is pro wrestling. Loved it. ****

Roddy Piper vs Bruno Sammartino - WWF Boston 2/8/86 Steel Cage Entertaining Cage match not as good as the Bruno tag team Cage later in the year but this is good craic. Piper hangs up Chicago Bears posters in Steel Cage as the Bears had just demolished the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The shine and the finish were the best parts of this show. Bruno unloads a Can of whoop ass to start. Bloodies Piper on the cage. Makes Piper eat Refrigerator poster and wipes his ass with the McMahon poster. Tears off his shirt and chokes him with it. Bruno had enough with this loser and goes to leave but Piper ball shots him. Piper’s heat segment keeps it from being great. Just not enough oomph. I loved the Bruno punch that Piper bumped backwards into the cage. Lots of tussling at the door. Piper goes to leave but now Bruno gets ballshot love the symmetry. Bruno needs a wooden chair to bash Piper to break free for the win. Great shine and finish make this an easy recommend but wish the middle had se more fire. *** 1/2

Roddy Piper vs Bruno Sammartino - WWF Boston 12/7/85 First review since I became a Dad and im holding her in my arms right now which is amazing. Been a while since I watched 80s wrestling, my major blind spot for me is Piper vs Wonderful and by extension Piper vs Bruno. Short 5 minute brawl to set up a tag match with Wonderful & Orton then a steel cage match. Bruno got a nice shine in. Piper stooged well. Loved Piper using a low blow and getting color to really the match over. Lots of outside the Ring brawling. Looks like Bruno is running away with this one when Ace Cowboy Bob Orton interferes. Bruno staves off both men but the cast does him in. Who will Bruno find to team with against these two dastardly heels? Who? Who? Who? Fine brawl But nothing crazy. It was decent but nothing you have to see.

Randy Savage vs Jushin Thunder Liger - NJPW 7/17/96 Most likely my last review as a childless man unless I review from the hospital. Couldn’t think of a better match to go out on. Two of my top ten favorites in basically a miracle match. Like it still smacks me as bizarre this match even happened. Same night as a pretty damn good Hashimoto vs Flair match. I saw this in the early 2010s I know theres not much meat on the bone but it is Savage vs Liger it is pretty neat. This is pretty much every 90s babyface Savage match he takes a bunch of heat and wins with a couple moves. I thought the set up for the Kappou Kick + Dropkick into Powder + Liger doing his best Hulkster impersonation popped me exactly what I needed to get my mind off that my wife is about to shit out an 8-9lb baby. Liger’s leg work including a knee crusher on the railing and figure - 4 were well done as was Macho Man’s selling. Savage knocks Liger off the top and gets the Double Axehandle but crashes and burns on the Big Elbow. Liger gets a pair of Ligerbombs and a SHOTEI~! Whiffs on the second. Lariat Big Elbow and Thats all she wrote! Theres more to this match than I remember. It is an exhibition but a fun one. If people were rolling out doing this match every week on WWE or AEW I wouldn’t bitch so much. *** 1/4

Great Muta vs Jushin Thunder Liger - NJPW 10/20/96 I am surprised I never reviewed this before as I know I watched it a couple times in the early 2010s. I would argue this probably the most famous 90s New Japan match Stateside. There are plenty better but the two most famous Japanese wrestlers in America was definitely a draw to hype this match. It both worse and better than I remember. I knew not much happened before the big reveal but it was even less than I remembered. I remembered the Big Reveal but it even better than I remembered. Muta vs Tenryu from 9 days prior smoked this it is not even close. Muta vs Shinzaki from April 96 I also thought was better. It is a Great Muta match and they are wonky but this isn’t up there with his best. Lots of pageantry to start befitting a match of this pomp & circumstance. Liger in all white. Muta spews Green Mist. One high spot powder repeat. Muta piledrives Liger through a table which is cool but it didn’t have heat because it felt random. We get typical Muta cord choking, ramp running high spot, no selling a piledriver. Liger brings the match to life by evading the back handspring elbow nailing a Kappou Kick and string some dives together. Muta being Muta goes under the Ring and we get under the Ring cam which popped me. No Gate to Hell down there, weird. Muta gets a witch broom and beats Liger with it. He tears the mask to REVAL LIGER IN MUTA FACEPAINT!!! LIGER MIST~! He gets the classic Muta spike and stabs him with it. He crowns with a chair twice. Piledriver on the concrete. This rules! Kill shot with the Spike but stabs into the table. RED MIST~! SPIKE~! MOONSAULT~! From the Liger FACEPAINT reveal to the end is **** but there’s not enough before that to warrant more than a very good grade. Great Muta matches are a genre unto themselves and this is a cinematic epic but falls short of the best Muta matches in history. *** 1/2

Jushin Thunder Liger vs Great Sasuke - Inoki World Peace Festival 6/1/96 Sasuke beat Liger for the IWGP JR heavyweight championship on 4/29 at the Tokyo Dome but this is non-title because Liger is winning and they didn’t want to do the title change. I am sure there was some kayfabe reason like it is in LA for this exhibition festival but let’s be honest they didn’t want to do a title change and they wanted Liger winning in America. Since the 1994 Super J Cup was so popular in America and Liger/Sasuke was the most popular match of that tournament it makes sense this is the match to bring to America. I liked the 4/29/96 better slightly higher stakes bigger crowd matched intensity more but this is still good. It is just an exhibition though. Opening chaining is done very well. Sasuke grabs a Camel Clutch. Liger shows a variety of attacks on leg, back and arm. We get Liger running through his standard offense after a Sasuke powder. Liger missed a top rope Headbutt but a Sasuke side sault eats knees. We trade some cool dives. Sasuke’s swan dive and karate kick off the Ring post look so cool. I love Liger’s Superman splash to the floor. Eddie was the GOAT at this. Ban Moonsaults to opponents on the outside bring back Superman Splash! So sick! Sasuke tries for his two finishers the Tiger Suplex and Crucifix Powerbomb but Liger stuffs him. Shotei! Ligerbomb win! It never drags it has some fun stuff in it but this is not their 1994 work. It is just pretty good. *** 1/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Jushin Thunder Liger vs Great Sasuke - NJPW 4/29/96 Disagree with the consensus I thought this was very good. Huge Dome match for the Juniors after the reset with Liger winning on 1/4. This was the biggest possible Junior Heavyweight match. I would say Liger, Sasuke and Dragon were the Big Three Natives. We get Liger/Sasuke here, then Sasuke/Dragon for J-Crown Final and again at a major WAR show and then we get the grand finale of Liger vs Dragon at 1/4. Thats strong main event booking. Liger was taking a major chance as neither of the other were New Japan guys so he was basically here’s our title, here’s the J-Crown let’s build to my win on 1/4/97. Gutsy booking. I have a soft spot for Sasuke and even though he egregiously blew off the leg selling I still think this was very good just kept it from being great. The opening was so hot, Liger misses Kappou Kick, Sasuke misses a Spinning Heel Kick. Sasuke Sawndive over the top rope onto Liger was FUCKING SICK! Total Wipeout! I thought Sasuke worked really well on top. I thought he was varying his holds well. Everything was tight and intense. Full court press; suffocating Liger. LIGER DRILLED HIS KNEE WITH A DROPKICK! He kicked through it. It is a shame Sasuke blew off the leg work because Liger was fantastic on top. Great holds love a Figure-4 and some more exotic ones. Great strikes to the leg. The Kneeceusher turned Ballcrusher on the guard rail was sick. Then after all that great work. Here comes the Asai Moonsault and Quebrada. Liger counters with a Fuck You Powerbomb. Kappou Kick. Nice Superman Splash to the floor! Up until this point I thought this match was killer. I thought it petered out as Liger ran through his Finish Run offense but nothing felt climatic. Then Sasuke hit a Frankensteiner and a Crucifix Powerbomb to win. I really enjoyed the first 3/4ths the ending was a bit anticlimatic but also an OH SHIT Sasuke won in the Dome on NJPW soil for the Title against Liger. I mean Thats some Holy Shit booking! Worth watching for such a historical moment. *** 1/2

Shinjiro Ohtani vs Wild Pegasus - NJPW 3/20/96 WCW Cruiserweight Championship The winner is to be crowned inaugural WCW Cruiserweight Champion. I know WCW/NJPW relations were really good at this point but weird the inaugural WCW Cruiserweight Championship match would be held in Japan and weirder that Japanese guy won it and flew to America just drop it to Malenko. Benoit was going back that way anyways lol. Also funny that Benoit would never be considered a Cruiserweight again in his career. I also thought this match and the Malenko matches were phantom title switches. I guess not. The match is fine but nothing spectacular. It wouldn’t look out of place on today’s TV which speaks to the influence of the 90s Juniors on Modern wrestling. Theres still more wrestling in this. Pretty standard perfunctory New Japan mat wrestling for 5 minutes nothing stands out. Ohtani gets the best of Benoit for the most part. Action picks up when Benoit dumps Ohtani over the top rope to the floor with a suplex drawing ooohs and aaaahs. Benoit dive. Some high impact moves. Benoit figure-4s the head. Ohtani escapes works a camel clutch. He telegraphs the dropkick. Benoit puts on brakes. Standard Benoit offense. Ohtani backdrops the charging Benoit over the top to the floor. Springboard Superman! Ohtani has entered the chat! Springboard spinning heel kick! Again Ohtani telegraphs and now we get the Benoit finish run. Rolling Germans! Is this the earliest occurrence? They looked great. Top Rope Superplex. Perfect top rope diving Headbutt. Benoit on fire. I disliked Ohtani getting a Dragon Suplex there. BENOIT MUTHA OF ALL POWERBOMBS! Benoit had such a sick Powerbomb! Benoit goes for a Blonde Bombshell! Ohtani throws him off the Classic Springboard Dropkick! Springboard DDT for the win. After losing to Liger three days prior for IWGP Jr title a big win over Pegasus who I would say was still the top Junior Gaijin and avenged his 1995 BOSJ Finals loss. So a big won! Everything before Ohtani’s springboard Superman was pedestrian but the finish stretch was fun. *** 1/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Great Sasuke vs Black Tiger - NJPW Skydiving J 6/17/96 This blew the Liger matches out of the water! Now this is what I am talking about. Eddie just felt so much confident in this match and looked like a Tiger prowling in the ring against the Indy-riffic Daredevil. Main Event of all Juniors show that drew 13k+ and winner not only wins the IWGP Jr Championship But also a spot in the J-Crown Tournament. Now it makes sense why Black Tiger won the BOSJ 5 days prior. It seems myopic to have him win a major tournament just to legitimize him main eventing one show 5 days later but it was admittedly a huge risk to run an all Juniors show at the Budokan so I don’t blame them and they probably didn’t know he wouldn’t be back that much. Right from jump you get the impression Eddie came to play. He is using his size and weight to thwart Great Sasuke at every turn. Sasuke maybe the Champion but he feels like the underdog. He is very cautious trying to lock up with Eddie. Eddie is feeling himself. He is in total control. Opening matwork ends with a cross arm breaker and Sasuke powders. Eddie hunts him down and smokes him on the outside. Throws him back in and goes Full Anderson on his ass. Sasuke takes a page out the match 6 days prior against Pegasus and just grabs Sleepers to stymie Tiger and sap his energy. Tiger throws him off and then targets the knee with a vicious dropkick. The way Eddie moves in the Ring this match is night and day compared to the Liger match. Watch that drop-down into the leg lariat. He is moving with intensity. I love it. Sasuke gets a desperation suplex over the top rope to the floor and we get our Sasuke dive for the match a sick Karate Kick from the Ring post to the floor. Eddie is still just ripping suplexes and kicking ass. I loved that he used a Belly 2 Belly twice to set up wristlocks. Drills a Brainbuster. Sasuke knocks him off the top. EDDIE CATCHES HIM INTO A POWERBOMB! This is Eddie’s night! Eddie hits a Sitout Crucifix Bomb. He goes for Splash Mountain…NO EDDIE NO…I have seen this before…Hurricanarana 1-2-3! Hahahah I love it! How is this match not a classic. Excellent Eddie offensive performance! He is so confident his offense executed with intensity. He was feeling himself. Good on Sasuke to let Eddie cook. The sleeper, the one Karate Dive and the Rana at the end is all he needed. He sold well throughout. Really enjoyed this match. Eddie wrestled King Size but Sasuke hung around…great character work led to a great story! ****

Jushin Thunder Liger vs Black Tiger - NJPW BOSJ 6/12/96 Another disappointing outing from these two. It is Liger vs Eddie so it is still good but they don’t really give you much to sink your teeth into this BOSJ Final. The Benoit/Eddie semifinal is a much better match. Opening matwork is solid and more interesting than February Title Match. They each dare the other to do a dive. I thought the match was going to pick up with an Eddie dropkick to the knee and a Figure-4 but promptly goes nowhere as Liger surfboards him and works his back. I thought the match was going to pick up where when Eddie Powerbombs and Eddie Splashes Liger Bur we end up in the Bundle of Leg Locks. Liger gets his first high spot with the Kappou Kick in the corner and a Shotei to knock Eddie off his perch. Liger dives to the outside but shitty camerawork we miss it. Liger hits a couple more bombs. Eddie reverses and he does his Superman Dive to the floor but knees up on the splash. He trade a couple fast paced near falls. Liger goes for the kill with the SHOTEI~! And a Ligerbomb! Not a good sign for Liger. Tiger throws Liger off on a Tornado DDT attempt and hits a Brainbuster. These transitions have been weak. Sitout Crucifix Bomb. It feels so heatless. Liger reverses his weight on a Top Rope Brainbuster and knee drops the arm and goes for a Cross Armbreaker this match is so weird. Tiger hits the Top Rope Brainbuster for the win which I was shocked by as Tiger/Eddie doesn’t really ever do anything of importance in Japan and seems like a wasted investment in Eddie But Liger probably did not know that at the time. The match as whole felt disjointed. There was no interesting character work or strategy. No hook. It was some mat based moved then some dives and then some bombs. These two are great so it was technically good Bur had no soul. *** 1/4

Shinjiro Ohtani vs Kazushi Sakaruba - NJPW Skydiving J UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship 1996 was the high water mark of Junior wrestling. The Skydiving J shoe drew 13,500 at the Budokan an impressive number for all-Juniors show. This is the lead up show to the famous J-Crown Tournament which still resonates with modern fans…Ultimo Mone anyone? Every match on this show is a championship match and thus essentially a qualifying match for the J-Crown tournament. This match was for the vacant UWA title winner qualifies for the J-Crown so the stakes are high. Sakuraba is famous for being the Gracie Hunter and probably the most successful puroresu wrestler in MMA history. However it looks like the Gracie Hunting didnt start until 1999 so he is a midcarder. Similar to Fujita, I don’t think either was famous or over before the MMA success. So Ohtani is a heavy favorite. I was thinking of a comp for Ohtani and I think Ken Griffey Jr is the best. Incredible 90s and a disappointing 2000s. But just watching this reminded me that when Ohtani burned he burned as bright as anyone just not for very long. Contender for one the best sub-ten minute matches of all time. The perfect match to watch on a Sunday morning before wifey wakes up. Juniors Shoot-Style is such an underperformed style but it bangs hard. Sakuraba comes out swinging and says “Muthafucka we are doing this my way”. It is uncooperative strikes and vicious submission and throws. He was going through Ohtani. He catches Ohtani with a German early and it rings Ohtani’s bell. He powders and Ohtani sells his bell being rung so well. He knows he is at risk of being eaten alive so he wrestling hard for Arm and leg submissions but he keeps clutching his head. He snaps off a suplex of his own which he thinks can set up for a pro style high spot his springboard dropkick but Sakaruba traps him in a Scorpion Deathlock! Fuck should I wake up my wife and make sweet love to her because these muthafuckas got me horny now! Excellent work. Sakaruba goes full Tasmanian Devil just overwhelms Ohtani with a maelstrom of strikes. Ohtani ROARS ALIVE AND RETALIATES WITH AN UNHOLY BARRAGE CLIMAXING WITH A HEADBUTT! The PERFECT SETUP FOR SPRINGBOARD DROPKICK! BANG~! DRAGON SUPLEX~! Rear Naked Choke! OHTANI-SAN WINS! The Heavens Opened And Snow Fell From the Sky **** 1/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Jushin Thunder Liger vs Black Tiger - NJPW 2/3/96 Me, My Wife and Two of my Friends played “Book It” a pro wrestling board game a couple weeks ago. As I always say wrestling fans make the worst promoters/bookers and I came in dead last. Most of the wrestlers were knock off of real wrestlers they had a wrestler named Justin Tiger Lightning with ridiculously low stats which popped me for some reason. Liger is so beloved like who be such hater to give Liger low stats. Anyways Liger is on his revenge tour as he was out for most 1995 due an ankle injury. He wins the Super J Cup at the end of 1995 and the IWGP Jr Hvywt Title in the Dome from Kanemoto. He is reasserting himself nationally in the division. Black Tiger aka Eddie Guerrero is a good first challenger. This is not a long match about 12-13 minutes. It is good not great. In my opinion, no style had a bigger impact on the American work rate style of the 21st Century than Japanese Juniors. So Japanese Juniors retrospectively can look pretty Indy-Riffic if they aren’t hitting on all cylinders. There’s a lot of that here. The transitions aren’t the smoothest. It is a lot of MOVEZ~! without a lot of rhyme or reason But they aren’t breath taking enough to get the work rate junkies to pimp this match either. The opening chaining feels Indy-riffic rather than a struggle. We do need more Snap Mares in wrestling. They do a take down tumbling sequence. The best part of the match Tiger takes Liger and rams him into the railing. Eddie splash. Then the match peters out. Couple high impact suplexes by Tiger in between some basic holds. Liger Kappou Kicks look cool But he doesn’t take it anywhere. Near fall exchange. Tiger hits his stock spots Brainbuster and Tornado DDT. Frogsplash knees up. They do a Lucha Arm Drag climb the ropes…like what? Liger polishes him off with a Superplex maybe it was supposed to be a Brainbuster. It is Liger and Eddie it is still good but nothing special ***