Superstar Sleeze

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader vs Ric Flair - WCW Starrcade 1993 How can you not get emotional watching this? The opening video package is amazing. Vader showing up in the Ribera Jacket saying we are going to have a party and he likes this kinda party was great. Flair being picked up by Okerlund in the limo was cool. "If there is no more Ric Flair, who will go Wooo?" - Fan to Flair in 1993, amazing. The world without Ric Flair is going to be a lot less fun. Vader is such a great brute. I love that double fist pump Ric Flair gives on the entrance way. He loves pro wrestling. Pro wrestling loves him. I'll be honest this is more lopsided than I remember, but it is fine by me because Vader was in a ridiculous groove at the time point in his career. There may be no wrestler at working heat segments ever. That's a big claim, but his brutality is totally engrossing. You cant take your eyes off Vader destroying an opponent. You see tuffs of blond hair burst into the air with each massive blow. Flair taking it to Vader early was the wrong idea. Flair chops and Vader just shoves him. "You aren't man enough" Vader twists him into a Greco-Roman Knucklelock and beats the shit out of him. Flair is the king of verbal selling and the way he hollers in pain is great. Of course, what makes Vader a great heat segment worker is how he feeds for his babyface to get hope spots. Vader misses and eats the railing. The electricity when Flair chops and punches was amazing. Flair has great, great punches. We don't talk about that enough. Harley interrupts this comeback and Flair takes a wicked bump on the floor. Vader DESTROYS Flair. Huge superplex! Punches and forearms. Wicked clotheslines. He busts open Flair real good on a lariat to the mouth. Flair "You son of a bitch!" Flair bleeding from the mouth adds to this grittiness. The fact he is in way over his head against this unstoppable monster. Vader starts to give Flair more opening. A missed splash here and a missed splash there. Vader locks up Flair again and this time Flair goes to the eye. Then Flair just unloads with punches and CHOPS HIM IN THE FACE! Off comes the mask. Vader's face is cut up and red. Hell Yes! Flair goes for the leg. The crowd comes alive. You can hear the excitement in Tony's voice. Wraps the Grizzly Bear's leg around the post and then the chair to the knee. Vader tries to attack. Flair just starts beating the shit out of his face while Vader yells "Hit me! Hit me!" Flair crowns him with a chair. That is the one sequence I always remember. This comeback is positively electric. It is the ultimate fist pump. You want to know you are over? Pick up someone's foot and see a crowd lose their shit. Flair picks up Vader's foot to setup for the figure-4 and the crowd goes wild. Vader still has some fight in him. Missed Vaderbomb! Figure-4! This should have been the finish. I know Vader submitting might have hurt his image but damn it would have been great. Vader gets control again after he makes the ropes. MISSED VADERSAULT! Insane spot. Flair covers. Harley headbutts Vader. Fun spot, but not necessary. The finish sucks as Vader does get back up and then Flair tabletops for the win. Doesn't matter Flair wins and it is one of the loudest pops of all time. Great performances by both wrestlers. Vader comes across as an unbeatable monster. Flair is selling like a champ and really does feel over his head. What I love about Flair's offense it is all chops and punches! He came to fight! This match comes across as a fight and Flair is fighting for his life! Vader is the king of the missed move and does a great job giving Flair openings and selling for Flair's molten hot comebacks. I actually really liked the finish stretch just not the finish. Big fight feel and a big fight that delivered. Long Live The Nature Boy! ****1/2

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader vs Ron Simmons - WCW Main Event 8/2/92 The full length match was shown on the August 2, 1992 edition of WCW Main Event. It is weird to think about it, but Vader was merely a transitional champion in 1992. Bill Watts came in and wanted to go a different direction. He earmarked Ron Simmons as his new Junkyard Dog and wasted little time lifting the belt off Sting and putting it on Ron Simmons. The follow through may have been lacking, but this match was molten hot. The Baltimore crowd was rocking throughout and the roof damn near came off the place for the Simmons victory. I thought the shine was great. Vader is so selfless and Simmons was explosive with those tackles and the spinebuster. Vader was a killer in his heat segment. Absolutely superb. The Splash in the corner was huge. The strikes looked so crisp. Loved the escalation of hope spots from the kick out on the second rope splash to the vertical suplex, the backslide out of a short arm clothesline attempt as nifty to the sunset flip being squashed. You want Simmons to string something together but Vader is a monster. I cant say enough how good Vader looked in this. Then it happens. Simmons catches Vader with a powerslam. 1-2-3! History is made. The black kid jumping up and down in celebration is iconic and says more than any words could. Excellent match and title victory. ****

My parents were pretty excited about Jericho vs Omega. More excited than me honestly. Life is crazy. I saw some reviews here make it out to be a classic. My mom didn't care for it. My Dad liked it the most. He liked the brutality. I thought it was way tooooooooooooooooooo loooooooooooooooong. Brawls shouldn't be that long. A very good match that could been great if they went only 10-15 minutes instead of 35 MINUTES! Yes the best Jericho match since 2009, but anyone who thinks it is his best needs to watch the Michaels 2008 series and Mysterio 2009 series before making those claims.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude & Steve Austin) - Great American Bash '92 I loved this! I am a sucker for a great shine. You know what before that let me say Austin was way better in this than he was in that TV title match with Windham. I was harsh on him there and I want to give him credit where it is due and that he rocked in this match. Admittedly, he ran out of steam towards the end but he killed it for the first 95% of the match. Back to the shine, amazing! Austin is working a break-neck pace trying to overwhelm Barry Windham and instead eats a punch after a couple minutes and goes down in heap. Part of what makes this great is whoever is on the apron also does a great job selling concern. Austin is so good at writhing in pain. Ten months later and I am ready to finish this review. The shine is indeed amazing. Austin is not just bumping for Windham it really is the selling and just putting over the offense. I loved Rude trying to get in on the action and does the Tombstone reversal spot to a big pop. Windham gets a flying lariat on a tag and it really feels like the Texicans are running away with this Madusa agrees and gets on the apron. Rude yanks Windham down by the hair and then hits a missile dropkick by the ref's back. Remember this is Watts' WCW so top rope moves are banned. Nice piledriver by Rude. The heel heat segment gets a little long in the tooth, but includes all the staples you would expect from Southern Tag wrestling. The finish was a barnburner. Dustin rocked it as a hot tag, punches, elbows and a great dropkick to Rude. Weird WCW camera angle aside I liked the finish with Dustin hitting the Flying Lariat as Austin was thinking piledriver. Great classic Southern tag. ****

Wow, I guess I am way off base. I thought this was not very good at all. Brian Pillman looked wicked off. Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff vs Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman - Great American Bash 1992 Liger was the MVP of this match. He was the spark plug. He was the one that really got the match going with offense in the middle and is a good FIP. Something was really off about Pillman. Blowing spots. Looking lost, forgetting to kick out, clamping headlocks late because he doesn't know what to do. In addition to Pillman sucking wind in this match, the face vs face nature of the match worked to the detriment of the match. I have gone on record saying I love face vs face matches because they can be explosive mid-match. There was no explosion. It was pretty pedestrian except when Liger was in there. Either someone needs to turn heel for the match or go for a ton of highspots. Where was the Pillman vs Steamboat fire fight? They did a good job establishing Nikita's power game early and then the Rockers style arm work by Pillman & Liger. I thought Steamboat was ok until Liger just goes crazy. Tombstone, moonsault and Carpentier somersault! Thank you Liger! Whats great is we get a look at Steamboat as a heel quickly where he hits three backbreakers in succession and then an Oklahoma Slam. Ricky Steamboat The Power Wrestler! Liger was a fun FIP. Pillman comes in and hits five dropkicks inside of two minutes. Jeez. Only the missile dropkick looked good. There was a great late Liger/Steamboat sequence late followed by a shitty Steamboat/Pillman sequence. Pillman crossbody roll through finished. My review is negative but I am more just miffed that Pillman didn't deliver because this could have been great if he was on, but instead it is just good. Watch for Steamboat vs Liger. I wish they got a singles match. ***

WCW World TV Champion Barry Windham vs Stunning Steve Austin - WCW Worldwide 6/13/92 Ever wanna watch Barry Windham wrestle himself? Watch this match. It is amazing Austin was getting pushed with his dearth of offense. We were supposed to pop for his back drop out of Windham's piledriver as a key nearfall. Windham tags Austin early with his taped up right hand. Windham settles into working a strong hammerlock and then executing a nice suplex. Windham is silky smooth. Windham drives five punches in his head. Austin clothesline him over the top. Windham feeds him the two biggest moves the missed lariat on the outside and even gives him a press slam off the top. When is the last time a babyface has taken that move? Windham gets put in the bearhug twice and he bites out of it and then a belly to belly suplex. Then there is that lame back drop cover. There is no heat segment. Austin does a fancy little somersault into a shoulderblock into the buckles. LOL! That's his big spot. Windham gives him a big back drop. That's Austin's forte, big bumps and I don't think they played to his strengths. I think Windham wants a lariat but he gets a forearm, nice legdrop by Windham as Austin was getting up. 1-2-3, anti-climatic, foot was on the ropes. Austin gets the TV title belt and blasts him to win the belt. No heat segment and no real strong comeback. Windham looked really great but there is not much herE to get excited about.

Vader vs Dustin Rhodes - WCW Saturday Night 11/21/92 Surprisingly I have never seen this match as I absolutely love their '94 encounter. Vader has just had a 2x4 cracked over his back by Sting. He then starts hollering "NO PAIN! NO PAIN! NO PAIN!" to psyche himself up. I would be intimidated, but Dustin does not back down. Dustin is at least as tall as Vader if not an inch taller. He stares daggers in his eyes. I love the moxie the kid shows early. He never backs down. Takes the fight right to Vader. Bulldog. Lariat over the top. The Kid is feeling it. The winner takes on Sting at Starrcade. Vader comes out of the corner with his Vader Body Attack. It is all Vader. Glorious Vader splashes and Vader punches. He just brutalizes the Kid. There should have been more hope spots, but I loved Vader's offense. Dustin eventually makes his comeback. Big lariat off the second rope. Vader does make Dustin look good bumping big for everything. Dustin knocks Vader on his ass to the outside. Vader swings a wild bear paw on the outside and Dustin goes flying 360 style on the concrete. Fucking bitchin. Vader brings in his wounded prey and then hits a second rope splash to win the match. Excellent Vader is The Man outing with a game underdog babyface. Love these two together. ****

The most hilarious gaffe in podcast history has made this match famous. Barry Windham vs Arn Anderson - WCW Pro 11/2/91 Two former Horsemen collide. Double A & Larry Z crushed Barry Windham's hand at Halloween Havoc, but this is taped before that incident. Windham turned babyface in the double turn with Luger. So that means him and Arn are on opposing sides. This is very reminiscent of the excellent Dustin Rhodes vs Arn Anderson match from Saturday Night 1/4/92, the double limb psychology with a strong commitment to selling from both wrestlers. Heels tend to be big bumpers and don't have to sell as much typically. Arn Anderson put on a selling clinic. Also see how he didn't let Barry sit in holds. He caused movement. He raked the eyes and then hit a kneelfit with his bad leg and goes down in heap. Then he gets another opening and goes up top and gets press slammed. He is creating movement. It builds to the figure-4 as the climax of the segment. Arn is such a consummate heel. Always looking for eyerakes or the ropes for leverage or the tights. He uses the tights to send Barry into the post arm first. Windham does an incredible job selling the arm as Arn tortures it. I love how they use this double psychology not just to sell but they attack each other's damage body part. Windham cranks it up first with a sleeper then with a lariat and powerslam. He cant keep Arn down. Arn gets a sunset flip and holds the ropes to get three. Out comes Simmons to argue the call and Windham gets the win with an O'Connor Roll on the restart. Not in love with the finish, but God the selling in this match is exquisite. Total clinic from two pros. Watch this match. ****

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton - WCW Clash of the Champions XIX I am surprised this does not have a rep. This is glorious Southern-fried tag wrestling. Great shine with Windham catching Arn with a great right and then dropkicking off the top! Loved Eaton feeding Dustin's bionic elbows by bouncing off the ropes. Bobby Eaton was my MVP in this match. Eaton catches Windham with a blind kick to the head when he is running the ropes for the heat segment. That one is a shorty. Dustin comes in house of fire. So many damn good punches in this match. Dustin goes for the DDT but Arn hooks the ropes. Dustin is hurt. Eaton with that Sweet Home Alabama right hand. Dustin crashes and burns on his crossbody spot. Eaton gets two with a Bombs Away kneedrop. Windham comes in to save his young tag partner. Melee ensues. Arn nails a spinebuster off camera because this is WCW. I totally buy this as the finish even though I should know better. I mark out when Dustin kicks out. I mark out harder when Bobby Eaton misses Alabama Jam. RUNNING BULLDOG! 1-2-3! Super satisfying finish. God Bless The South! ****

Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman vs Chris Benoit & Beef Wellington - WCW Clash of the Champion XIX If you look really closely, you can see US 90s workrate being born right before your eyes. Surprisingly, I have never seen this match before. One of the last marquee WCW matches I have never seen. I thought this was a really damn good Stampede-style tag. Aerial highspots sprinkled in with big strikes. Pillman's super back suplex, missile dropkick, crossbody to the floor was awesome. Liger's spinwheel kick and Asai Moonsault also killer. They definitely went balls to the wall, but there was some semblance of struggle and risk as moves were missed. I wish we got more Benoit/Pillman. Well I wish we got more Benoit in general as Wellington was just alright. Definitely the fourth wheel. Benoit did beat the piss outta Liger. It felt like Benoit was taking more than he was giving, but that makes sense as Liger & Pillman were the bigger stars and he was there to put them over really. The finish is pretty fucked up because Wellington sandbags Liger twice and the old shove the heel tag wrestlers into each other looked silly here. Liger's moonsault to win was pretty. Good 90s workrate match. ***1/2

WCW World Tag Team Champions Steiner Brothers vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Takahashi Iizuka - WCW Wrestlewar 1992 The match lives up to its rep as a brutal, violent spectacle, but still don't know if I would go so far to call it unprofessional. Scotty Steiner lets Iizuka shine early and the Steiners are still cooperative late into the match. I really think what it comes down to is that Steiners did some ridiculously dangerous shit in this match rather than being uncooperative or unprofessional. Scotty Steiner nearly piledrives himself on a flip powerslam. Then Big Brother, Rick tries to outdo him by catching Iizuka in the Electric Chair and doing a flip bodyslam from Fujinami's shoulders. That was fucking nuts. I don't think that has ever been attempted since. Rick does ask if Iizuka is ok to the ref in a chinlock after he explodes his face with an elbow. Rick Steiner was brutal with those elbows drops in the match. Some vicious Steinerlines. After Scott nearly breaks his own neck, he tries to decapitate Fujinami. Give Fujinami credit, he gives as good as he gets as starts stiffing the fuck out of the Steiners. Iizuka takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. Like I said throughout the match, the Steiners still take the Japanese offense, they just did three dangerous spots early and after that it was just the Steiners being the Steiners. Scott Steiner was incredible at integrating amateur wrestling into pro wrestling. He just gobbles up Iizuka. There is a great spot late where Steiner does a double over the top armdrag of the Japanese into a Top Rope Steinerline. Stuff like that require cooperation. They may have been hitting hard, but I don't think they ever lost respect for each other. Jesse & I both mark out for the SPIKE PILEDRIVER~! from the Japanese. Fujinami gets the Dragon Sleeper late. The Japanese still got offense down the stretch. It was not a squash match by any stretch. In a fracas, Rick Steiner hits a super Belly to Belly Suplex to win the match. One of the best Steiner spotfests because they just go balls out with 8 million suplexes, hard hitting Steinerlines and they have opponents willing to take a lickin and keep on tickin'. ****1/4

Steiner Brothers vs Vader & Mr. Hughes - Clash of Champions XVIII This is right in my wheelhouse, four big uglies just throwing each other around. You could tell JR was in his element discussing collegiate accolades and power wrestling. I loved this! I thought Rick's overhead belly to belly on Vader was the spot of the match but then Mr. Fucking Hughes takes a back body drop like he is AJ Styles. HE WAS WAY UP THERE! Yeah some of this feels really stilted at times, but god the spots they hit are awesome. The power and strength on display here is amazing. ***1/2

Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu - AJPW 11/30/85 The first match in the classic trilogy between these two teams. We will be doing this stream of consciousness style because I think they will be going long. I have never watched a Yatsu match before. I know Parv has raved about him and I am looking forward to checking him out. We start with the big guns: Jumbo & Choshu. Tentative knucklelock to start. I love a good test of strength to start. Back into the ropes and it is a break. Standard collar elbow tie up. They battle for a top wristlock. I like tests of strength early. Establishes dominance, truggle and creates mini-battles. Choshu gets the first takedown with a fireman's carry and has a reverse top wristlock. Choshu bars the arm and into a front chancery. Jumbo reverses with a double leg and is thinking Boston Crab but Choshu is too strong so Jumbo settles for a Stepover Toehold. Choshu grabs the arm, Jumbo armdrag but Choshu rolls through into the ropes. Jumbo gets a standing double wristlock. Jumbo looks in total control and is looking to muscle Choshu down with an armbar. Jumbo tags out to Tenryu. Pretty pedestrian opening. Just working holds. Good struggle, but not a lot of hate or energy. Lets see what Tenryu does. Tenryu/Choshu already have a better lockup than anything Jumbo/Choshu had. Lots of energy here. Two bulls locked up. Tenryu hits two over head slaps. Choshu starts kicking. Some nice slaps. Yeah business has picked up. Tenryu has wrist control. Bodyslam by Choshu to escape. Tenryu hits a back suplex and gets two. Clamps on a front chancery. Way more energy tag to Jumbo. Choshu has not tagged out yet. Choshu muscles over to tag Yatsu. Yatsu gets a rollup early and then a waistlock. Im interested to see what Yatsu can do. Jumbo waistlock, a couple stand switches. Jumbo gets an armbar takedown. Jumbo goes for the hammerlock/half nelson pinning combination. I have said this in the past I can see why people find Jumbo dry. He can be a very dry wrestler. I happen to like bomb throwing Jumbo and with the right colorful opponent Jumbo can have good mat exchanges. Nice chop exchange. Yatsu bodyslams Jumbo and then snapmare takeover. Tag to Choshu. Choshu figure-4s the head. Interesting that Choshu and Jumbo have been the two wrestlers in the most trouble early. Jumbo fires up. HIGH KNEE! Then he throws Choshu hard into the corner. Here is the Jumbo we know and love! Choshu & Yatsu hit a double suplex and then Yatsu gets an ab stretch on Jumbo. Jumbo walks over to the ropes and then hiptosses Yatsu out. Tenryu whips Yatsu into the railing. I expect a tag soon. Jumbo tags out once he cant get the suplex. Nice whip and back elbow from Tenryu. Tenryu hits chinlock on Yatsu. Much slower pace than most All Japan tags from this period. I was not expecting this. Feels like it has been in first gear. Flashes of heating up but it always grinds back to a halt. Tenryu armbar, Yatsu drags out but Tenryu hangs out. Yatsu nice slaps, but Tenryu wont give up. Yatsu pushes him back into the ropes. Buries the knee a couple times in the ropes and Yatsu takes over. Yatsu is definitely the one of the four keeping shit moving. As soon as I say that Yatsu puts him in a three handled moss-covered Crendulza. Now a crucifix. Tenryu grabs a toehold in the move. I appreciate the struggle. Yatsu tags out to Choshu. Big Irish whip and Kneelift. I love a good kneelift. Big vertical from Choshu and kick out by Tenryu. Choshu is great at making everything feel so big. HOLY SHIT! GREAT Exchange from Tenryu/Choshu. Super heated. They end up on the mat pulling each other's hair. Yatsu/Choshu hit a top rope lariat/back suplex combo and then Yatsu drops the knee. Jumbo saves smartly. Yatsu works a tight headlock. Tenryu needs a tag. Tenryu gets a kneelfit and tags in Jumbo, Jumbo whip and kneelift. Greta job. Im loving all the kneelifts. Jumbo hits another one! He definitely has the best kneelifts. Jumbo with his signature bodyslam. His is the best. It looks like he is trying to bodyslam you through the mat. Yatsu gets the sunset flip for two. Jumbo slows it down with a stepover toehold. I really don't feel like there is an overarching story. Tenryu/Choshu has been heated. Nobody has been in real trouble yet or showed themselves to be really dominant. Jumbo has an inverted Indian Deatlock on Yatsu and they are slapping the shit out of each other. Yatsu grabs the hair and Jumbo STRIKES him down. I can appreciate the work, but there is a lack of progress. I am loving the struggle within holds and having to earn your offense. OH SHIT! Jumbo/Tenryu drill Yatsu at the same time and Tenryu hits a suplex. He is looking for the Texas Cloverleaf, which he turns over. This is the first time there is a real sense of danger. Gutwrench suplex. Yatsu is taking a beating. Jumbo tags in and nice Dory Euro Uppercut. Yatsu overhand chops back. Bulldog by Yatsu. He needs a tag, but Jumbo cutsoff with a double axehandle and then a chinlock. That was good drama. Full on camel clutch from Jumbo. Chosu forcefully kicks Jumbo off of the Camel Clutch. IT IS ON LIKE DONKEY KONG. Jumbo and Choshu start throwing haymakers at each other while Tenryu sneaks in and hits a Backdrop Driver. Yatsu gets an amazing German suplex as a hope spot, but Jumbo saves. Yastu giving a top notch babyface performance, unexpected. Yastu sets Tenryu up for a modified Demolition Decapitation. Choshu finally tags in. Choshu gets in his deep Scorpion Deathlock. I like how he sets it up by staying in the cross and keeping it tight before turning it over. It makes the move seem epic. Choshu sits down on it. Yastu drops the elbow on Tenryu while in the hold as Choshu deathstares Jumbo. He is daring for him to come in. Jumbo enters. Choshu drops the hold. MID-RING LARIAT COLLISON! Jumbo goes down and Choshu goes for Tenryu. Choshu hits a lariat on Choshu as Jumbo just casually walks by back to his corner. What the fuck? Choshu tags in Yatsu. Jumbo is leaving Teryu out to dry. Nice belly to belly by Yatsu for two. Tags in Choshu. SPIKE PILEDRIVER~! MY FAVORITE MOVE EVER! Deep Scorpion Deathlock. Ever since Yatsu hit that German on Tenryu, this match has been gangbusters. Yatsu Bombs Away Kneedrop on Tenryu in the hold. Yatsu gets the Scorpion Deathlock on Tenryu. Cmon Jumbo do something! Choshu back in with the Scoprion Deathlock. Choshu with the trash talk is fucking classic. Yatsu drops the elbow. This is great tag team wrestling. Jumbo needs to help. Tenryu is getting slaughtered. Double suplex by Choshu & Yatsu. MASSIVE Enziguiri by Tenryu and tags to Jumbo. Jumbo is a house of fire, DEATH Lariat by Jumbo. Another one. He is trying to decapitate Yatsu. Backdrop driver. Jumbo is glorious. 1-2-NO! CROWD IS GOING NUTS! Jumbo with a Backlund-like piledriver. Dropkick by Yatsu and he tags in Choshu. Choshu and Jumbo. Fast and furious. Choshu takes Jumbo over with a backdrop driver. You should see Jumbo's face. Crazy! Deep Scorpion by Choshu on Jumbo. Can he turn him over? He did! Jumbo is too strong. Nice Choshu vertical. Jumbo fights off a snapmare. Love it. They work him back in the corner. The bell rings. Probably a draw. Choshu and Tenryu start brawling after the bell. The wrestlers have to separate them. Jumbo beats up Yatsu The first half of the match is pedestrian. It is four strong pro wrestlers having a good pro wrestling match. Once they start beating up Yatsu, it feels like the match is progressing. That Yatsu German on Tenryu (beautiful!) was the turning point. Yatsu/Choshu's heat segment on Tenryu was killer. Then Jumbo's hot tag ruled. Shy of being a great match because the beginning was pretty boring. ***3/4

Thanks for saying this was a 15 minute draw because I honestly was going to say that was the worst finish in history. It looked like they just stopped wrestling. AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs Riki Choshu - AJPW 10/19/85 OUI! OUI! RICKY MARTEL! Comes out to Lets Hear It For The Boy! ***** I can never get enough of Ricky Martel. He wrestles with such an enthusiasm that is just infectious. I loved how Choshu had him in a hammerlock, but he couldn't grab a snapmare so he went for a drop toehold to get out. He also did a great job setting up Choshu's offense by missing big bombs (charge in the corner, reverse crossbody and his slingshot splash). Basically anytime Martel tried to up the tempo he would miss and Choshu would gobble him. Choshu is a great stoic badass with that insane asskicker charisma. He is not good at holds. One of the worst cross armbreakers I have ever seen. Martel saves it when he gets a bodyslam he is still selling the arm. I just don't want to see Choshu working holds. Martel tries to slow it down by grabbing a leg. But when he goes for a reverse crossbody, he crashes and burns. Choshu works some deep Scorpion Deathlock. I love he sets it up and really works to put it on and then turned it over. Feels huge. I didn't like him giving up on it. Martel makes his big comeback with a gutwrench suplex. He starts wrestling Choshu game of power. Martel hits his setup backbreaker, BUT eats knees on the Slingshot Splash. Choshu BLITZES him with a Monster Lariat. Martel rolls out. Choshu smashes his head into the post. He suplexes him back in. Choshu only gets two. I will say Choshu is really over like really over. Choshu goes for the Scoprion Deathlock again. I like this better than the Sharpshooter in terms of how big Choshu makes it feel, but Bret was better at protecting the finish. Martel keeps tapping out which is funny. Choshu just gives up. Martel hits a backdrop driver!!! Then Martel energetically hits a top rope crossbody. Choshu hits a back drop driver for two. Then they just stop wrestling. I was ready to rip them for the worst finish of all time, but someone tells me this was a 15 minute time limit. What World Championship match has a 15 minute time limit? What a ripoff? The beginning was kinda pedestrian. Once Choshu started hitting his big spots, the match picked up. The missed Slingshot Splash/Lariat was a great combo. I thought Martel was too spry in his late match comeback and that selling was blown off. Overall it was a fun match, but weird (Choshu working holds, Martel the power wrestler and a terrible draw finish). ***1/2

Genichiro Tenryu, Mighty Inoue, Takahashi Ishikawa vs Riki Chosu, Animal Hamaguchi, Isawmu Teranishi - AJPW 1/10/85 Fast & Furious! It doesn't matter if it is 1985 or 1995, All Japan six-man tags are wrestled at a clip few can ever keep up with. This is the opening salvo in Choshu's legendary invasion of All Japan that forever changed the course of puroresu history. I have seen some of the follow up Tenryu/Choshu singles and really liked them. I wanted to go back and watch this before I delved any deeper into this legendary rivalry. If you are like me, Inoue is in red, Ishikawa is in purple, Animal is in the singlet and Teranishi is in white. They cut an amazing pace with some many missed moves and attacks. Everybody is trying to win. Of course, the entire match is built around Tenryu/Choshu. I thought there was great symmetry in this match. From the opening trading of Fireman's Carry to how they trade bombs at the end, they presented as equals. Tenryu is one who gets the upperhand early working over Choshu's lariat arm. Choshu hits a backdrop driver on Ishikawa and tags out. Then it is Tenryu who get worked over by Choshu, but Tenry his a side Russian Legsweep to tag out. Tenryu breaks up a Hamaguchi single leg crab. Then Choshu breaks up Ishikawa's Scorpion Deathlock (a nice little FU to Choshu) with a monster lariat. Then Choshu and Tenryu just trade bombs. Tenryu hits a piledriver so Choshu hits a spike piledriver. Choshu gets the Scorpion Deathlock so Tenryu gets the Texas Cloverleaf. There is a great lariat by Choshu towards the end that forces Tenryu to tag out. They end up triple teaming Ishikawa I think and then bowl the ref over to trigger the DQ. There is a small brawl before a standoff between Choshu's Army and the All Japan Natives. A little too fast paced to the detriment of the match because a lot of the match does not stick with you. It made Tenryu vs Choshu feel like the biggest thing in the world and a true Clash of Titans. Mission accomplished. ***3/4

@Dylan, MOTY's (or runner-ups) in 85, 86 and 87 for the promotion (w/Tito vs Dream Team, vs Roberts Boston 8/9/86, vs Savage Toronto or Mania III take your pick). High level feuds throughout his run: Muraco, Jake The Snake, Savage, Honky & Rude, zero downtime booking wise. Very over throughout this period, big pops. Consistently one of the top workers in the company. He brought the sprint-y Mid-Atlantic style to the usually plodding, heavyweight Northern style. Had at least good matches with a variety of people. Ultimately, I think what cracks the Top 20 is the hagiography surrounding WrestleMania III. It influenced countless number of wrestlers and wrestling fans in what "good" wrestling is. It is not just Savage's pre-planning, it is Steamboat's execution and a lot of classic Steamboat spots. It is the break neck pace, it is the selling of Steamboat and the rapid fire nearfalls at the end. It is all a portent of things to come that really was never used in a Northern promotion. We all know of the Backlund classics and Slaughter/Sheik, but for the WWF/E and for most of their fans great wrestling begins with Savage/Steamboat. It was the first match to be canonized. I want to strongly emphasize that it is not just the layout but it is Steamboat's execution. Tito Santana would not have had that same match. Tito Santana was a blood feud worker with lots of punches. This was a match that was unique to Steamboat's strengths. Over the course of three years, Steamboat was a consistent and over presence as a babyface in the upper midcard, strong blood feuds with big angles (Muraco hanging, DDT on the concrete and the larynx crushing), good to great matches with a variety of opponents, brought a totally different style to the WWF and an influence on subsequent generations of wrestlers and wrestling fans that is still felt to this day. His biggest negative is a short tenure and he kinda goes out with a whimper and this is why he finished at #18.

Im a big fan of these two in a squared circle together. Them wrestling at Royal Rumble may be enough to get me to go depending on ticket prices. Excited to watch this match.

WingedEagle, Roman Reigns was #21 and Daniel Bryan was #22.

Eddie & Bryan are 23 & 22 for me. Didn't rank Jake The Snake can't stand him when he is in the ring unless it is with Steamboat.

My friends are playing chess and I'm bored. In celebration of the end, my top twenty in alphabetical order: Andre The Giant Bob Backlund Bret "Hitman" Hart Brock Lesnar Bruno Sammartino Chris Benoit Chris Jericho CM Punk Greg "The Hammer" Valentine Hulk Hogan John Cena Mick Foley Randy "Macho Man" Savage Rey Mysterio Ricky "The Dragon"Steamboat Sgt. Slaughter Shawn Michaels "Stone Cold" Steve Austin Tito Santana The Undertaker Who did I miss? Who should I have not included?

Rey Mysterio vs Finlay - Smackdown 3/24/06 I love these two. Finlay is such a bully and he finally has someone to bully in Rey. Stiff clotheslines, stiff kicks, the way he drove him into the apron all nasty. Things starts off chippy and Finlay just grinds Mysterio down. Mysterio over enough that he doesn't need a shine. In 2006, you know what Rey is about so I like this. Finlay is master of torturing his opponent. I really liked Rey first comeback sequence. Good strikes, nice split-legged moonsault (I usually hate that move). I liked when Finlay got out of the way of the 619, Rey hit a nice baseball slide. Finlay catches Rey in the apron skirt and kicks the hell out of him. Nice use of that Finlay spot. Finlay beats the tar out of Rey in the second heat segment. Awesome, awesome. Rey makes a comeback with a wicked kick to the head. It kinda falls apart here a little bit. Rey's comeback is not that hot. Then once he does hit 619, Orton hits an RKO when Rey is sprinboarding, Ref was busy with Finlay. Fun to see Finlay kick some ass and Rey sell his ass off. Worthwhile TV match. ***1/2

Got mine in last night. The more I think about it the more I would have suggested to split it in half. 1963-2001 and then 2002-Present. It just so happens that the name change happens in 2002. But the fact WWE becomes a monopoly in 2001 and then becomes more of a bureaucratic corporation all line up with that. The biggest issue I have is people like Owen Hart who really only have 4 strong years vs The Miz who has been here there a decade. The only people who develop really long tenure tend to debut after 2002. There are exceptions like Bret, Shawn and Hogan. But the WWE is such a different beast after 2002 once the monopoly is fully realized. Not only that it would have made everything much more a manageable. I had the opposite problem that everyone else has. After 60, I was like ummmmmmmmmm who should I include. I needed warm bodies. I feel like whenever I do these I lists that I hate wrestling because I don't have problems leaving people off my list it is justifying them getting on. It is like this dude has a wicked glaring flaw and I just cant overlook it. Positive: I watched a lot of good wrestling and found out weird stuff like that John Morrison was really damn good in 2009. I had no fucking clue. Dude hits hard and works hard.

Shawn Michaels vs Batista - One Night Stand 2008 Stretcher Match Batista went on record before Judgment Day that if Shawn was indeed faking a knee injury that he would hurt Shawn Michaels. Once Shawn revealed that he was indeed feigning a knee injury, it was only a matter of time before the Animal delivered on his promise. Thus this match was made and Batista true to his word annihilated Shawn Michaels. I actually did enjoyed the cinematographic ending with Jericho coming out to rally Shawn and then Shawn hitting a weak Superkick to Batista's stomach before Batista says "I don't love you. I am not sorry." I know a lot of people hate that stuff because it is campy. I always liked it and it is a good play off of the Michaels/Flair match so kudos. Jericho tries to rally Michaels again, but Batistia drives Michaels hard into the steel steps and Batista puts him out of his misery. I like how Batista delivered on his promise of hurting Shawn Michaels. Babyfaces should deliver on promises. I think a match with Jericho against Batista would have been a smart play at this point before Jericho turns full heel. A rare missed opportunity in this feud. Really liked this match. Again we have Michaels establishing Batista's power game. Wildly flaying into Batista's arms and then Batista just throwing him off. Batista just kicks ass and bulldozes Michaels. Michaels gains a reprieve by sending him into the steps and then bashing the back of his head into the post. That's nasty. Michaels even busts out the Owen enziguiri on Batista. He drives the stretcher into Batista. Batista goes for the Batistabomb but HBK applies a guillotine choke and Batista goes limp. Michaels gets Batista on the stretcher probably his best opportunity of the match, but Batista recovers. Michaels takes an insane bump off the post before Batista drives him into hard objects back first. Batista destroys Michaels with a clothesline. Batista charges into the post. This gives Michaels the chance to at least hit an elbow drop, but he is caught going for Sweet Chin Music. Batista goes for the Batistabomb to the outside onto the stretcher, Michaels wriggles free and BANG! Batista falls right on the stretcher. Batista recovers. They play seesaw and Batista whacks Michaels right the chin with the stretcher. The end is nigh. Spear...Batistabomb and the finish is recapped above. No downtime. All action. Michaels has done an amazing job as wrestling as a heel in these two matches with Batista. Even though he is a lot smaller, he has been creative and effective in creating offense for himself. Batista was on fire offensively here just absolute monster. I don't understand the Jericho stuff well because my memory is fogging hoping some video packages will refresh my memory down the line. Honestly, given how Shawn has wrestled as a heel against Batista and the upcoming matches with Jericho, 2008 might be the best year of Shawn's career since 1986. Think about that! WOW! Watch this match. ****1/4

Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho - Judgment Day 2008 Tremendous match again. The storyline played out a little different than I remembered and I loved it. So Chris Jericho calls bullshit on the knee injury that Shawn Michaels "sustained" in his match against Batista. Shawn Michaels keeps up the charade long enough to actually convince Jericho that Michaels is "truly injured". Jericho is willing to call this match off on the RAW before this PPV out of respect for Michaels. Michaels tells Jericho he was right all long and he feigned the knee injury to win the match against Batista. Jericho is incredulous. He refuses to believe Michaels. Michaels hits him with Sweet Chin Music and then acrobatically leaves the ring to prove his knee is fine. Brilliant! Credibility and trust mean so much in this world. Jericho is totally befuddled now in what to believe. When you mess with a man's ability to discern the difference between reality and illusion you truly destroy his sense of trust and understanding of the world. This was the perfect impetus for Jericho completely reinventing himself as a man who is obsessed with honesty because he truly no longer knows what to believe. Brilliant! Nominally this is face vs face remember because Jericho has not officially turned heel yet. Jericho is also Intercontinental Champion, which I totally forgot about, but the title is not on the line. I love the beginning because it starts with Jericho targets the leg like he still cant believe that Michaels is NOT injured. I love this. It also gives a chance to Michaels to prove he is totally fine. They do some great face vs face workrate wrestling at the beginning. When Jericho goes for the leg again, Michaels slaps the taste out of his mouth. Draws a little blood too. Michaels has a great shit-eating grin on. Now it is on! Jericho hits a hard back elbow to escape a waistlock as a receipt. Michaels targets the left arm using that same hanging armbar over the ropes that I loved. Michaels does a great job beating the shit out of the arm. I love Jericho fighting back at the same time. Struggle! Michaels goes for the top elbow early, but Jericho gets the knees up and Michaels injures his ribs. I have complained in the past about Jericho's issue with control segments. No such complaints here. He was vicious and laser focused on the ribs. Ab stretch (beating on the ribs with punches too in the hold), punts to the ribs and a great gutbuster. Jericho is vicious and angry. Love this. Jericho is throwing Shawn around. Shawn shoves Jericho off on the bulldog sending him hard into the buckles. Flying burrito...kip up...rib selling...Walls of Jericho! Perfect targeting for the ribs. Great selling from Michaels. Great spot...Jericho goes for his springboard dropkick but Michaels moves, Jericho lands on apron...BANG! Sweet Chin Music. One of the best hope spots ever. Exactly what Michaels needed to get himself back in this match. Michaels has been great at setting up these momentum changes. Michaels only gets two because it takes too much to get him back in. Michaels does a top rope elbow, his ribs be damned, and he sells it great. Michaels tunes up the band, but Jericho keeps falling down repeatedly much to the frustration of Michaels. Finally he gets up, CODEBREAKER! If that was the finish, I would rate this through the moon. That would have been a great mirror finish to the Shawn vs Batista match. I marked out so hard for that spot. Michaels gets the Crossface, which does not really fit in the match. Jericho hits these fucking awesome kneelifts and then hangs Shawn out to dry on the ropes. Awesome, awesome. Lionsault, Shawn gets his knees up, Jericho STOPS SHORT! Walls of Jericho, Michaels wriggles into the cover, 1-2-3! I think they wanted Michaels to win to further the Chris Jericho snapping and then heel turn. But goddamn that Codebreaker with the mirror symmetry would have been glorious. Jericho looked awesome here. The best he has ever looked on offense in my opinion. Shawn selling the ribs was great. Another spectacular match. ****1/4

Shawn Michaels vs Batista - Backlash 2008 SGR: Chris Jericho I want someone to watch this match and then look me in the eye and tell me that Shawn Michaels is not a GOAT contender. Goddamn he was fucking awesome in this match. Maybe I am mistaken, but I have never heard anyone talk up this match. I figure it gets overlooked for the phenomenal series between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho that this very feud spawns. Before, I get into the match, I want to point out how great of a job they did here with the storytelling. I am an avid fan of soap operas and I think this one of the few times in the last 15 years that WWE really nailed soap opera storytelling. The Ric Flair retirement is a big deal and is going to affect wrestlers in different ways. It was great to spin a feud off of that event. You have Batista who is pissed, almost in mourning, that his mentor is no longer around and it is all Shawn's fault. Shawn says it would have been a disservice to the Nature Boy to let him win. He won the match fair and square and it was time for Nature Boy to ride off into the sunset. Then you have Chris Jericho with his career renaissance as a shit-stirrer, claiming that Shawn is a gloryhound and revels in the fact that he is the man who retired The Greatest of All Time. Then Jericho goes one step further to claim that Batista isn't grieving Ric Flair's retirement, he is angry that he did not get the honor to do it himself. This is great shit! It continued to be amazing throughout the rest of the year. Kudos to all those involved! There are many facets that make this a great match but I think the one that is the most essential is the grittiness and the amount of struggle in this match. Struggle is something that WWE has lacked throughout its history. WWE matches tend to be every neat. I am in control and then you are in control. Wrestlers don't force their opponents to earn their offense more often than not. I have learned to love other aspects of WWE, but at the end of the day this will be why All Japan or JCP/WCW will always rank ahead of the WWF/E overall. I thought this match had that sense of struggle. That real burning desire to best your opponent in an athletic contest. On top of that, this is nominally face vs face, which I always think is a very unique and implicitly interesting matchup. It can go in so many directions. You don't know who is going to play the heel in the match and how it will evolve. In addition, I think Shawn Michaels does incredible job playing to Batista's strengths. You mix this all together you arrive at what is match of the year contender for WWE in 2008. Shawn does a great job early on establishing the power game of Batista. He is trying to attack Batista head on and makes no headway. Batista is shaking him off and just charging. Shawn chop blocks and then switches gear immediately to attack the left arm of Batista. A lot of reviewers would make a point to let you know Shawn and Batista fucked up the initial attempt at the short arm scissors. People make mistakes. We are human. It is how you react to the mistakes that matter. Shawn drives his knee repeatedly into the tricep of Batista. He forces his will on Batista to apply that short arm scissors. In fact it is better that it happened this way because he had to EARN the short arm scissors. If you have ever watched a Shawn Michaels match against Davey Boy Smith, you know why he uses this spot. This spot ultimately to establish the power game of his opponent. Interesting wrinkle here, Batista deadlifts Shawn, but they tumble over the top rope and there is even more wrenching action on the arm. As Batista is selling really well, Shawn shoves him bad arm into the post. After that, it is Dick Murdoch-like clinic on torturing a man's arm. It is tenacious and gritty. Batista is trying to use his power game to regain control, but due to a bad wing, he cant capitalize and Shawn with pitbull determination continues to attack the arm. I loved his hanging armbar over the ropes. This what I am talking about with struggle. Batista is fighting back, but Shawn is fighting through it all. Batista finally string together some power moves like the Samoan Drop and the Oklahoma Slam, but when he lifts up Shawn for the BatistaBomb, his arm fails him and Shawn comes down with the Crippler Crossface. Excellent! I marked out. It was right there when I realized I was watching a classic unfold. Batista makes the ropes and Jericho forcefully yanks Shawn off of Batista. Staredown. They do a great job making Shawn earn his comeback sequence (even though it is not a comeback in this case). Kip-up-SPEAR! Great spot. Shawn knocks Batista off the top and hits the Elbow Drop. Tune up the band and SPINEBUSTER! Loving these hope spots for Batista. One arm Ultimate Warrior rope shake and One Arm thumbs down. Batista is totally committed to selling the arm. Batistabomb, Shawn wriggles free, but twists his knee or perhaps he loses his smile momentarily. Jericho backs Batista off. Michaels gets up and BANG! Sweet Chin Music. Great finish that plays into Jericho's new honest man character that would unveil in the coming weeks. Batista's power game vs Shawn's attack on the arm was a glorious story. Batista sold so well and Shawn was very selfless in establishing Batista's power game that everything melded perfectly. The home stretch was awesome with the big Batista moves stopping Shawn short. Shawn realized even with all his strategizing that Batista's power was too much so he had to dig deep in his bag of tricks and pull out a shady move to get the win. Highly recommended to watch. ****1/2