Superstar Sleeze

TNA World Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns vs Generation Me - No Surrender 2010 I quite liked this. It was actually pretty damn good traditional tag before breaking down into a spotfest. The Young Bucks went by Max & Jeremy Buck of Generation Me, but I am going to call them Matt & Nick Jackson because I have no clue which one is Max and which one is Jeremy. At the time, the Young Bucks were still babyfaces. The opening shine was great. Shelley was on fire with the chain wrestling busting out the Rocking Horse was quite the treat. I thought Sabin & Matt had a good babyface stalemate. Loved the old school armwork at the beginning by the Young Bucks only it was more violent than the 80s because they were coming off those ropes hard. I really liked how the Machine Guns used to double teams to re-establish control, but then how Nick Jackson used Sabin against Shelley. Sabin was going to be a springboard for Shelley, but Nick jumped off Sabin first hit the crossbody and tagged in his brother. Nice touches like that made me a fan of this match. Good heel heat segment on Alex Shelley's neck with a ton of pin attempts and great selling by Shelley and good focus by the brothers. Sabin was a good house of fire, lots of pep in his step. Shelley has a great suicide dive. My favorite spot of the match was Shelly driving a Buck who had him in a front facelock into the other Buck that was covering Sabin. That's a great use of that spot that I don't have ever seen before! SUPERKICK PARTY! The Bucks come out on the losing end and Machine Guns hit their finish to win. Post-match the Bucks turn heel and DDT Shelley on the floor on his injured neck. I thought it was a well-executed old school tag team match that was updated for 2010. Some really nice spots that had a good twist and good finish run. Interesting to see what happens with the Bucks as full-on heels. ****

TNA World Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns vs Beer Money - TNA Impact 8/12/10 Two Out of Three Falls What ever happened to Alex Shelley? I actually liked him in Paparazzi Productions with Big Sexy. Chris Sabin looks like everybody I went to college with (I went to the University of Michigan Go Blue! Sabin is especially Michigan-looking). Man I have not watched James Storm in forever, I always had a soft spot for him. I wonder if you yell "Beer" at Bobby Roode to this day if his reflex is to just yell back "Money!" First Fall: This is super fun! I liked the stalemate between Storm/Sabin early. They were in the midst of a Best of Five Series and this was the rubber match so I liked that. I liked Storm and Roode cheating early. I liked the Guns the controlling with double teams. I liked Roode tripping Sabin from the outside and the nasty head kick by Storm. I liked Shelley's hot tag and the way he fought through Beer Money and had to earn his offense. I liked the big dives to the outside by the Guns. I liked the finish with Beer Money overwhelming with three big moves to win the fall and go up 1-0. In short, I liked this fall! Second Fall: I did not like that there was no rest period. I did not like that Beer Money did not go for more covers. I did not like that they played with their food. I did not like that they chose to celebrate "Beer!" "Money!" and Shelley tagged out. I did not like the neckbreaker finish that the Motor City Machine Guns this fall to tie it up. In short, I did not like this fall! Third Fall: I liked that Beer Money was already outside the ring before the bell rang again. I liked Roode tripping Sabin on the apron to level the playing field immediately. I liked Roode getting in over the dive train because that is unexpected. I mean imagine HHH doing a dive to the outside. I liked the spotfest finish run. Roode's sell of Sabin's DDT was terrific. I liked the nonstop layout and that Machine Guns were for the most part the ones doing the offense. I liked Storm superkicking Roode. I do not like the Machine Guns' finish, but whatever it is 2010 there will be some wacky moves. It is a fun spotfest. Every card should have these. I smiled a lot during it. ***3/4

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam vs AJ Styles - Sacrifice 2010 AJ defended in March against Abyss at Destination X and in April against D'Angelo Dinero (Elijah Burke) at Lockdown. If I remember correctly Hogan/Bischoff were babyfaces and aligned with Abyss against the heel Fortune Faction of AJ Styles & Ric Flair. Dinero was actually pretty pushed pretty heavily in the first third of the year. He main evented the February PPV beating Mr. Anderson to earn his title shot at Lockdown. I didn't skip those matches on purpose. I just couldn't find them. I loved AJ vs Abyss in 2005 and would have loved to seen what they could have done with each other five years later and with the face/heel roles reversed. So now to this match, RVD debuted as a Hogan crony based on their ties to Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. He won title on Impact after Lockdown and I actually like that move. A title change on TV to a hot debuting star can really spark the TV and a promotion. This is AJ's rematch. I didn't have high expectations for this because at the end of the day RVD is not that good. He is good in individual spots. As always no one sells a DDT better than RVD and I thought his sell of AJ's dropkick was absolutely perfect. However, there are so many times where selling to RVD just means to stand and not move. It reminded me of 1998 Crow Sting. There was no register. It was not that he was no selling. No selling is a type of selling. This was not that. He just was not selling. This match also was worked with heavy heat on RVD so large chunks revolved around RVD's shitty selling. Interestingly, the thing that I usually find annoying about RVD, ridiculously contrived spots, was kept to a minimum! The only spot that looked stupid was AJ being crotched on the ropes and then RVD doing a thrust kick. That only looked bad because RVD hesitated a lot and made AJ look silly waiting there. Some AJ spots I enjoyed: AJ checking his dental work after a stiff thrust kick, AJ's going into orbit on a monkey flip, AJ's Pele looked great. There was a great RVD leg scissors takedown into a rollup that I marked out for. Again, with AJ and this bear mentioning is how he builds his finish runs. It is not finishers-> kickouts. It is can the person hit a finisher and then win. We see RVD miss the Five Star Frogsplash in the middle of the match. We see AJ get countered on Styles Clash and miss the Springboard 450. The drama is not in the kickout, but if the move can be hit. Way more interesting! After the missed Springboard 450, Flair comes down the aisleway. Jay Lethal attacks and traps him in the Figure-4. I LOVE the Lethal/Flair promo segment so I will forgive this. RVD hits the Five Star Frogsplash sending AJ back into the midcard. Nothing bad, but nothing super awesome. Basic story of Face shine->Heel heat->Finish. RVD had plenty of hope spots to keep it interesting and AJ rules at offense. I probably wont remember this in a couple months, but this gets points for a smart finish build that I outlined two paragraphs ago. ***1/2

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hVU0MW-IGrM The GOAT Impersonation segment in wrestling history. Lethal's Flair is amazing. The Four Horsemen took a dump in the ring is an all time great line. Flair's reactions are priceless. The end with Lethal talking about being a Sixty Minute Man & it being a whole lot easier to jump on than jump off coupled with Flair's reactions makes this not only one of the best promo segments in TNA history (probably the best) but one of the best all time.

TNA World Champion AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe - Against All Odds 2010 These two are such a joy to watch together. Unfortunately there were 5 minutes from the middle missing in the version I was watching but they were well on their way to get a great match. -AJ is so versatile. Here he is rocking it as a chickenshit heel. It gives this great matchup a fresh new dynamic. Pin balling off of Joe on shoulder tackles. -Joe usually plays the subtle heel, stoic badass. Here he is playing to the crowd getting them rocking with punches and kicks that look great. -AJ gets the dragon leg whip and begins working the leg. Joe kicks him out on a Figure-4 -Joe overcomes the pain. FLYING JOE! Wipes out AJ! -Joe still favoring the leg. AJ pokes him in the eye. AJ is such a good striker. He is good at beating the shit out of his opponent. He is smaller than Joe but he hits him so hard. At one point Joe chops him so hard that AJ falls on his ass. God, I love these two. -AJ falls off the top and that's where the cut is. -We rejoin during Joe's comeback solid lariats. Big kicks. AJ starts mixing in his big spots like Springboard Elbow and Quebrada into Inverted DDT. Joe hits a Sleeper Suplex when AJ won't go down to the Kokina Clutch. Love it. -Joe hits Musclebuster. Flair pulls Bischoff out. Oh yeah Bischoff is a babyface and the ref to prevent Flair's interference. He decks Flair now that's weird Face/Heel dynamic. -Bischoff misses the cover. Pele->Styles Clash->Wicked Slow Three makes Joe look like a chump. Great match! New interesting dynamic and hard hitting execution. It was exciting watching Joe roar back against AJ. Finish stretch was the usual hot meld of these two. Could have done without the Bischoff BS. Missing 5 minutes ~****

This is the age old singer-songwriter vs singer debate that has raged forever in music. Singer only: I think it takes nothing away from Elvis that he never wrote a song in his entire life. Elvis, in my opinion and in others, is still considered the greatest male singer of all time. He still had to execute the vision of the songwriters. Everyone knows what Elvis sounds like. Songwriter: But songwriters should get a shoutout too. I am a huge fan of Max Martin. He had 9 straight years with a number one single from 2008-2016, with last year being the first year without a number one. If you pay attention, you can pick out a Max Martin song because of the big chorus, the driving rhythm guitar and power drums that drive the dance aesthetic. Having worked with Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, & Taylor Swift, you can hear how he transformed these larger than life personalities with his writing style, but also adapted his paradigm to their personality. I think his greatest achievement was working with the thinner voice of Taylor Swift and still managing to create catchy pop music without forcing her into his style of big choruses. Singer-Songwriter: I have massive respect for those people that can write music and sing it, but lets face the Beatles caused a lot of people that shouldn't be writing songs to write songs. I think there is an unfair emphasis that you have to both write and execute in order to be considered great. I am afraid that in this new era of wrestling where the Singer-Songwriters are disappearing and we will have Singers that execute a Songwriters' vision that the new Singers will be unfairly penalized. Elvis is still the GOAT. The wrestlers of today can still be great. I love a good layout and a good narrative but it still needs to be executed with energy, urgency and feel. I got into debates with Matt D over Demolition. Demolition matches have great layouts! It is undeniable. The matches however bore me to death. A great layout or a great Songwriter does not necessarily beget great wrestling. It is a combination of layout and work that begets great wrestling. Thus the workers still have to work.

Um Dave is congratulating them...thinks they could have run a bigger building...Dave also pointed out that 50 tickets are on StubHub as opposed to the 2000 for Mania the day after. This doesn't seem to be a Scalpers problem.

TNA World Champion AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle - Genesis 2010 Historically Kurt Angle is AJ Styles' worst opponent because it ends up being a Angle video game instead of a wrestling bout. Context this is right when Hogan, Bischoff & Flair came in for the reboot. Right before this TNA was on one of their hot streaks with AJ, Daniels & Joe tearing down the house. AJ & Angle are both faces. -Loved the opening chain wrestling. It was tight & intense. AJ came to play. Good covers. -I bring it up a lot but people don't talk enough about how damn good AJ's strikes are. Best striker of the 21st Century. Those bone-crushing elbows are Misawa-like. -AJ had such a great intense demeanor. His execution is par excellence. Backbreaker looked so crisp. -A good transition! In an Angle match, what! AJ looks to follow to the outside but Angle moves and slams him into the apron. -Angle did a great job with his Suplex-hold-Suplex heat segment. Catching his breathe while leaning on AJ to set up his next Suplex. AJ sold those suplexes but was fighting out of the holds. Creating energy. I like the double cross body as a leveling the playing field spot. -This is a face vs face match that feels very Japanese. It is just two pros looking to win the match. No subtle heeling but here comes The Nature Boy. -AJ hits a swan dive to the floor and it is very claustrophobic out there with the railing right up against ringside. AJ hits the springboard firearm. He is rolling. -I thought what this finish run did really well is build around the Styles Clash. AJ has always been very good about making his finish the centerpiece of the match. You will see him attempt it three times. After the springboard forearm, Pele Kick, from the top rope. Each time Angle has a different counter. The tension becomes can Styles hit the Styles Clash rather than Will Angle kick out. That is much more productive tension. -The symmetry was great as always in an AJ match. AJ belly flopped on a springboard 450 (Angle moved way too soon). AJ had counters for the Angle Slam like Angle had for Styles Clash. They each stole the others finish for nearfalls, which while great symmetry I didn't like the spots. -This is TNA so the actual finish sucked. AJ was going for his home run: Spiral Tap. Angle races up ropes & hits Angle Slam. 1-2-NO! Good nearfall. Angle ankle lock with grapevine! Flair pulls out the ref. AJ taps. Angle is pissed. Flair throws in the belt and AJ whacks him and wins. What the fuck was that finish? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense if AJ hit the Styles Clash which he was trying to hit all match and have Angle kick out. Now he has impetus to cheat. He threw out his best shot and now needs to do something underhanded to win the match. So he asks Flair for help. This way the whole time was face vs face and this feels so forced and tacked. AJ lost fair & square. Why the hell did Flair wait for the finish? I hate that convenient timing! Instead Flair tries to help earlier but AJ hits or tells him no but once the Styles Clash doesn't work he changes his mind. Cmon this is not that hard!!! Finish left a real bad taste in my mouth but everything before that was great work and the most enjoyable AJ vs Angle match I've seen. ***1/2

AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels Final Resolution 2012 -This is being billed as the last AJ vs Daniels match and might actually be. Super underrated feud. These two has insane chemistry. -It will be interesting to see where they go from the violent, hate-filled brawl they did about six months ago -Daniels does a great Owen Hart celebrating every shoulder tackle -Daniels closing the gap so Style can't pop off his early match drop kick is great. -Styles countering the hip toss and then nailing his dropkick is even better. Styles may be the greatest babyface ever at control segments which is incredibly hard. -Love the symmetry of their matches with each taking an apron bump. -AJ sells the hell out of his back. Daniels Suplex slams him on steel steps. Good Daniels heat segment on the back. -AJ starts firing off great strikes. Cross body and they whack heads. AJ instantly cut above the eye. Nasty! -AJ keeps on going. Springboard elbow but the cut is bothering him. Loses control to Daniels who hits some of his bigger highspots. AJ gets the Pele. That headshot is the prelude to the Styles Clash -After some rigamarole STYLES CLASH! 1-2-NO! -Top rope Styles Clash, nasty rana spikes AJ on his head. Daniels hits a Styles Clash for a cold three count. They did a classic face vs heel match. I think they did a great job not as great as their other classics but both are excellent in their roles. I know AJ wins all their matches so it was weird to see Daniels go over especially in the last match ever. The finish was anticlimactic no one reacted because I don't think anyone expected that as the finish. Still thought everything built well the accidental blood was sick and raised the stakes. Seek out their other matches but this is a solid caper. ****

AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels - Destination X 2012 Last Man Standing Another match forgotten in the treasure trove of TNA wrestling. TNA is/was a shitty promotion, but you cant have all that pure talent on their roster and not being putting out hidden gems even if the booking is dog shit. I think that's why TNA is the promotion with the most to offer in the way of hidden gems because there is always they matches forgotten and overlooked because of how toxic the promotion is. An incredible, old school, hate filled brawl to the finish. There were no carwreck spots, no big budget action movie stunts. Just two men that hated each other and wanted to punch each other in the face. If you are like me and just want to watch two bloody men tee off on each other then this is your match. If Daniels could have just wrestled AJ his entire career he would be an all-time great. These two just light each other from jump. I have talked about AJ's punches before and how good they look and on top of that the sound they make. Just a great sound. Daniels was no slouch himself. The punch he catches AJ with to open his heat segment. Was incredible. He popped him good. What a sell by AJ! Selling a single punch like that is just so meaningful. Kudos to put men for putting over the violence. Because as good as the punching was the selling of the punching was what was making this. Another good thing about this match is they did not go for a lot of "nearfalls" meaning not a lot of false ten counts. The urnage on the chair was vicious and warranted the count, but other than that it was just heavy blows. Notice all the shots are to the head. Love the double juice. I like using the stage as the final grounds. It is a place that everyone in the arena can see so you keep crowd attention and heat up. The Kaz interference felt cheap at the time, but it was a good "nearfall" for Daniels. The actual finish was a great climax. AJ shoves Daniels into Kaz knocking him off the ramp. AJ is selling so great with his jelly legs. Hits a Styles Clash from the ramp through a table on the floor! Great Holy Shit spot to end it. I still think their best match is Final Resolution 2009, but these two are gold together. They very rarely have a bad match. More often than not their matches are Match of the Year Contenders. This is a rivalry that should be lauded more. What a throwback to the brawls of yesteryear when it was about punching, selling and blood. ****1/2

TNA World Tag Team Champions Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs AJ Styles & Kurt Angle - TNA Slammiversary 2012 Less said about the buildup the better. It involves Daniels & Kaz lording over AJ's head that they have proof that AJ & Dixie are sleeping together. Dixie's shoot husband throws a punch at AJ. I don't know what the fuck this all was. I don't know how this becomes the Claire Lynch storyline. I have no idea why Angle is AJ's partner because they wrestled each other the previous month. Good news that the silly angle does not impact the match at all. Pretty stellar tag team match. I think what they match does most effectively is put face heat on the babyfaces! Imagine that! The cool highspots are designed for the babyfaces and it is the babyfaces that are popping the crowd. Now the crowd chants "TNA!" and "This is awesome!", but hey baby steps. AJ looked well Phenomenal in this. Great babyface shine. I liked how Kaz made him earn his opening dropkicking by dropping into an Oklahoma Roll on the drop down, but AJ connects with two dropkicks. Great spot by AJ sliding under the guardrail and hitting a springboard elbow. AJ was great in the FIP wrenching his leg in the top rope, selling well and Daniels/Kaz did a great job with double teams reminiscent of the Midnights. Once Angle gets tagged in this is a super hot spotfest. I have no problem with a spotfest. If you are going to do it, commit. That's what these guys did. Kaz is the best ever at taking German Suplexes. Wow! That Double German on Daniels & Kaz was great as was the double Inverted DDT/DDT by AJ. Two big spots that popped the crowd for the babyfaces. The heels had their cutoffs but they never hit their big moves because they are heels and heels are NOT as good as babyfaces. The Holy Shit Spot of the match that you need to stop what you are doing and watch this match is AJ Styles' Springboard Shooting Star Press to a standing Daniels outside the ring. Absolutely perfect impact! Angle taps Kaz in the Anglelock immediately after for the feel-good win. Excellently laid out spotfest that made the babyfaces look like a million bucks and climaxed at maximum heat! ****

Bingo!

I don't know who is obviously better out of these two. I think Rollins could be an all time great babyface but he has these annoying spots. I think Miz could be an all time great heel if he just cut the shit with trying to actually wrestle and just stick to cheating and cheap shots. So what does this say about me? 😋

WWE Champion AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura -Backlash 2018 Well I see why no thread was created for this. I distinctly remember the WrestleKingdom being great, but this series has been totally heatless. This has been the worst AJ series of his WWE run. This was better than the Mania because at the least last 5 minutes was interesting. AJ worked a grinding style over Nakamura then Nak did the same thing not the best way to open up a grudge match. The chair throw then ricochet into AJ's face was nasty and definitely the most memorable thing about this match. Calf-killer into Triangle Choke was good and reminded me of the good old NJPW days. The ballshot psychology was great and when AJ did it got them a huge pop, but the double ballshot double KO finish was pretty disappointing just like this whole series.

Alexa is being a disingenuous heel who is slandering Nia and trying to paint herself as a victim after she was clearly outted for using Nia and thinking little of her. Instead of accepting personal responsibility, she is claiming to be a victim. When people do this in real life or in the media, people usually get pretty pissed at them. I feel that made Alexa a strong heel that you really wanted to see her get her shit kicked in. It would have been better if she was there in person, but I don't think this suffered from ambiguous face/heel dynamics.

RAW Women's Champion Nia Jax vs Alexa Bliss - Backlash 2018 Nia Jax took some wicked bumps. They found some creative and really compelling ways for Alexa Bliss to get heat on the much bigger Nia. Loved Alexa going for chokes and the knees. Nia was great at steamrolling early. But her anger was her downfall as Alexa catches her with a kick to the head. The head shot was a great way for Alexa to get on offense. Nia had great power hope spots. There was a really weird miscommunication in the corner revolving around a Samoan Drop. Nia Jax took an insane tumble from the top rope to the floor! They did a great job milking this! Jax took another bump off the middle rope! Catching Twisted Bliss into Samoan Drop was good finish. I preferred the asskicking from Mania but this was solid. ***

I just wrote on Twitter this was the best NJPW main event of the year. Everything after the Knee connecting with the post was glorious. Big time, dramatic finish run with heat. Beginning of matches matter to me and everything before the knee to the post was pretty pedestrian but hot damn that finish run! ****

NWA United States Tag Team Champions Midnight Express vs Southern Boys - Great American Bash 1990 A match I watched a bunch 5-10 years ago but I have not watched since. It has always been widely regarded but I always thought it was a overrated and I would watch it trying to figure out what I was missing. I think it was a lack of my full understanding of pro wrestling by enriching it I appreciate this match so much more. This was a great babyface shine especially on the part of Bobby Eaton. There are a couple times where he should have tagged out that he didn't because pride got the best of him. He couldn't believe these two young upstarts were showing him up. You could see the frustration on his face and that he knew he should be doing better but every time he tried his tried & true tricks he was bested. Eventually he admits defeat and tags in Sweet Stan Lane. Then there is the iconic Lane/Smothers karate showdown. Lane doesn't last nearly as long as Eaton throwing his hands up and tagging Eaton. My favorite spot of the match is Armstrong's splash of both Midnights and the pig pile covers. That was fun! I think that's what this match lacked for me is fun besides that spot. The MX were fun with Cornette really selling anxiety and that the Southern Boys were clearly running away with this but Southern Boys just didn't feel fun. I was not pumping my fist in celebration instead I was enjoying the MX: Eaton's subtle selling and Cornette's O Shit the kids got us on the ropes. The MX heat segment rules!!! After a bunch of underhanded tactics they go with a full proof one throw Smothers into the steel railing. Then it is just MX Offense Goodness. Eaton is so amazing. I'm so glued to watching him. There were some good hope spots but the actual hot tag was a little too easy. The finish run was an excellent set of nearfalls. Missile Dropkick/Hart Attack Move! The Rocket Launcher! Smothers Inside Cradle! Lane connects with a blind kick to the back of the Head! Eaton cradles 1-2-3 and the Midnights retain! This is a great exhibition of Southern Tag formula with an emphasis on the babyface shine. I really thought this was carried by the Midnights. The Southern Boys feel kinda generic and my nit picks from above don't stop this from being a classic but I can't rank this among the absolute greatest matches I have ever seen. ****1/2

Ranger Ross vs Ron Simmons - WCW 6/3/89 So last week wrestling fans, Simmons & Ross were competing in a tournament for the vacant World Tag Team Championship against Samoan Swat Team. At the end of the match, Teddy Long came a hollerin and Simmons was interested in what along had to say. Ross fends off the Samoans but there is no one to tag as Simmons blows him off. Ross ultimately succumbs to the Samoans. Now Ross is out for revenge. Best Ranger Ross match ever! He is nuthin but fire in this. Fists of fury. Opting to pummel Simmons instead of covering. throwing him into hard objects. Simmons gets an eye rake but shoulder tackles into the ring post. Ross beats him some more but ref holds him up. Long gives Simmons a foreign object and he pops him for the win. Fun match out of nowhere. ***

Terry Funk vs Eddie Guerrero - WCW 5/20/89 This match totally lives up to the hype. One of the best superstar vs JTTS matches and shows Eddie definitely had the skills to pay the bills. Funk gave so much to Eddie. Eddie evades early and shows off his high flying with a back flip. Then Funk catches his drop kick and turns it into a GIANT SWING! Wow! Funk had some awesome chops in this. Funk hoists him up and lawn darts Eddie over the top. Crazy bump! Funk into post. Eddie does his crazy splash from top rope to the floor! Eddie misses the plancha. Funk hits a baseball slide and then Piledriver to the floor ala what he did to Flair. Throws him back in for the 3. Awesome squash hard to call it a squash when Eddie got so much abs looked so good. Funk was on fire here. ***1/2

I watched this twice once with a friend and once with my brother. I enjoyed this as a bombfest. Efficient lean match. Good progression. I liked the finish a lot as is. Better than envisioned finish with Brock actually landing with his feet first because there is more controversy and Roman has more protection, but still I don't understand the booking of Roman at all. Very good match better than Mania 34 not as good as Mania 31. ***1/2

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Sting - Saturday Night I totally agree with myself that this is not babyface Ruc Flair with all that vim & vigor ready to go to WAR! He is paying deference to the Stinger & playing de facto heel. I thought the first 15 minutes were really solid besides the botch of the first press slam: Sting's back work set up by the Press Slam was smart and interesting. I like Flair coming out of the powder after Boston Crab by crowding Sting in the corner and hitting those chops. Misses a knee drop and Sting switches to the leg which I'm cool with. Back to the Press Slam which would be the touchstone of this match. Flair collapses after the Irish Whip causing Sting to miss the Stinger Splash. Would have loved to have Flair hit a piledriver on the floor to set up his heat segment but Sting back drops out. Around this point it transforms into traditional Sting vs Flair, which is a bummer because they could have worked something interesting. Sting no sells chops and Flair begging off. Sting clotheslines himself on top rope. Flair's heated segment is uncharacteristically boring going for a lot of covers only the vertical Suplex is a highspots. Sting makes his come back with pin falls, Flair Flip and Press Slam from top. Flair cools his jets with an eyepoke then knee crusher then figure-4. Sting powers out. Very basic Sting vs Flair nothing to Wow me. Sid Vicious makes his presence felt on commentary at this point. They kick into gear in the last ten minutes. Lots of high spots lots of Sting vs Flair spots. Sting no sells chops, press slams galore, no sells a vertical Suplex with a pop up and putting the Figure-4 on Flair, Flair does the double leg Rollie in the corner with feet on the ropes all the classics. Sting gets a superplex as his big spot. They tumble over the top rope off a cross body. Sid yanks off the apron and throws him into railing and Sting gets counted out. Flair morphs into face Flair and jaws with Sid and then fends off Harlem Heat. Good lead in to Wargames 93 heating up Sting vs Sid. I remember a ton of press slams from the match and yep they were there. Good Flair vs Sting match but could have been more unique & interesting. ***

Unified World Tag Team Champions Miracle Violence Connection vs Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes - WCW Saturday Night 10/03/92 I remember seeing this before and digging it. Shine: is all Windham & Rhodes. What keeps this for going full heel in peril is Gordy & Williams do a great job making both Rhodes & Windham earn their armdrags and armbars. Gordy kept slugging it out with Dustin only for Dustin to tenaciously rip out another armdrag. Doc would try amateur wrestling takedowns or maneuver Windham or Rhodes into their corner to no avail. I liked how Gordy and Doc missed all their highspots in the early going while Dustin & Windham escalated theirs. Dustin gets the crossbody for two. Double dropkick for two. BW gets a gutwrench for two. It is all pro wrestling 101 but it is refreshing when the offense is being executed well, paced well and the opponents are making them earn it. Right before the second commercial break, BW takes a tumble from the top rope to the floor when he was going for a superplex. Doc suckerpunches him on the floor. Methinks that the face in peril is about to start. Double FIP; is all Miracle Violence Connection. Again I think the pacing and escalation is what makes this match. It is a Double FIP, but they don't blow their big spots on the first FIP which is Windham. Doc gets a shoulder tackle & powerslam. Gordy gets an STF. The rest is the struggle to keep Windham from making the tag. There is a lot of drama in that inherently you don't need nearfalls on top of that. Windham tags Dr. Death really good with a right, but Doc goes to the eyes to prevent the tag. Eventually Windham explodes out of the corner with a lariat. Dustin is a great house of fire! Lariats and dropkicks. He gets hotshotted by Doc. Gordy comes in and finally hits a piledriver on his third try. I love that Gordy had to work for that piledriver. Dustin kicks out. Now Arn is promoting how devastating Gordy's lariat is and Gordy nails it! 1-2-NO! They are ramping up the spots! Dustin hits a back suplex and the playing field has been leveled. Finish Stretch: Windham comes in and is just nailing everything that moves with rights. Doc & Gordy try to double team but he fends of both of them. He will not be denied. Gordy goes up top, but Windham meets him up top and SUPERPLEX! Ref out of position! 1-2-NO! BULLDOG BY DUSTIN ON GORDY! WINDHAM COVERS! 1-2-3! Awesome, clean finish! Pacing, pacing, pacing. Excellent pacing throughout. They were very economical with highspots, but when they landed they meant something. They told a story using positioning and energy/intensity. It all came together in a short, raucous finish. Excellent pro wrestling. ****1/4

Rick Rude vs Barry Windham - WCW Saturday Night 11/7/92 One of those matches that you didn't know you really wanted to exist until you find out it exists. I saw this on paper and I was like I had to see this. This is the first round of King of Cable which would ultimately lead to that badass Sting vs Vader match at Starrcade 1992. The tenacity early on between these two was great. Rude was definitely calling this match as it is filled with Rude tropes. I really liked the first major highspot being Windham throwing Rude up in the air to have land on his ass. Then we get the atomic drop. Lots of work on the lower back and we get some covers from BW. Jake The Snake does a great job on commentary calling the action. He does a great job describing the psychology and how Rude's waist is the smallest part of him; it might look great, but it does not have much protection. High end stuff from Jake The Snake. After failing to get the cover, Windham grabs a bearhug and Rude goes for the eyes. Rude gets some shots in from the top rope. Typically great Rude heat segment with BW peppering in some hope spots. Rude goes to the top one too many times and Windham clubs him. Windham blocks the Rude Awakening by hanging onto the ropes. They tumble over the top and Windham hits a big lariat on the floor. Suplexes him back in 1-2-NO! Time to go home...Rude rolls him up near the ropes and grabs the ropes for the win. Good body of the match super anticlimactic finish. Nice to see what might have been, but this is NOT RUDE VS WINDHAM~! just Rude vs Windham in a routine match. ***

Rick Rude is at the height of his powers here. He sells so well for Mikita at the beginning. He really does reeling & stumbling. Great on offense too piledriver and his mannerisms. Rude looks like one of the best ever in this one.