Mando

Re: fun under the radar Austin stuff Steve Austin vs. "The Stalker" Barry Windham - WWF Superstars 12/15/96

I tried to write about the 9/4/08 episode of iMPACT randomly last night/this morning. Man wrestling is weird.

I cry during films but rarely if ever during wrestling. But Nakamura's entrance at NXT Brooklyn II with the live violin caught me unexpectedly in an emotional way.

Dirty Heels (Austin Aries and Bobby Roode) vs. The Young Bucks - House of Hardcore VIII This was the evening’s main event following a bloody Tommy Dreamer and Eric Young brawl. On a sidetone I really dig HoH. It has came closest to capturing the ECW zeitgeist and milieu. Dirty Heels’ t-shirts look like they were designed using Mario Paint. Aries was always known his unbelievable speed and snap but as he’s aged he’s needed to rely more on craftiness. Both teams trade some perfunctory arm work to start. Not sure why you’d target the Bucks’ arms when their offense is mostly Superkicks and springboards. You could call the Heels by the names Moe and Curly cause they’re Stooging. Has anyone ever definitively answered who’s the best Jackson: Matt, Nick, or Malachi? I’ve sometimes wondered is Roode a really measured worker or a habitually lazy one? Aries leans into some Matt forearms before going for a double-leg to stop the flurry like he’s trying to secure a spot in the TUF house so he can share a bunk with Julian Lane. “Let me bang bro!” Aries’ wobbly selling is camp. I get Dreamer booking this on top wanting to tip his hat to the current era but this has felt like a fairly safe touring match that’s awfully self-contained. The Dreamer/Young deal with two mystery run-ins and blood felt way more appropriate as a finale (especially with Rey Mysterio shocking the crowd). Ref apparently letting this become a Tornado Tag as all four guys go at it in the ring. You’ve seen all of the Bucks’ Superkick tricks but I’ve got to point one out here as Matt nailed Aries who was flying in mid-air attempting an accelerated corner dropkick. Meltzer Driver ends Aries. This was uniform and fairly pedestrian stuff. Post-match all four guys jerking each other off mid-ring felt especially deprecatory (like “yeah we’re four buddies that just but on a laissez-faire show for you”) then they started fanboy-ing out as Sandman’s music hit and the show faded to black.

I really enjoyed the show. Started it late last night and finished it today before work. On paper Beth Phoenix was the only inductee I wasn't thrilled about but she won me over (and nice to hear a Simon Dean name drop). Angle was hilarious. The "Sexy Kurt" song had me legit cracking up especially when he brought up Marty Jannetty and they cut to Michaels' reaction cutting up. I just saw Ricky Morton work a match in an old Ponderosa Steakhouse in near freezing temperatures a couple years ago -- it's amazing he's still at it. I actually liked Steamboat's stuff on Rude, it was less mythologizing and more from a worker's perspective, which felt rare and neat, the cage match story was gold. Didn't have much excitement leading up to this year's HoF and wasn't super eager to start a four-hour program but I really had a good time overall.

Just wanted to say thanks for the show! Last few years it's always this run up to WrestleMania where I get a bit burnt out as a fan but this show has lifted my spirits and been a real treat so far. Never forget "Blood Runs Cold".

Chris Jericho vs. Paul London - WWE Raw #790 7/14/08 Slotted in a relatively dead spot in a really odd episode of Raw (which saw new champ CM Punk buried not once but twice, and Cryme Tyme main event) this match was fuel for the ongoing "Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels and Jericho program that was really heating up. I was in the audience in Indianapolis a month later when Jericho "accidentally" punched Michaels' wife Rebecca in the face. London was a trainee of Michaels' and idolized him making him a perfect target for antagonism and anger from Jericho. What made this stand out was a rare look at Jericho as aggressor. It was almost as if he was stepping into the role of one of his career best opponents Chris Benoit. He marches London back into the corner to start and just start attacking amid the referee's pleas to separate. And Jericho was getting legit heat. At one point outside the ring you could actually see some drunken stepfathers swiping at him from across the barrier! Not to speak ill of the dead but Jericho was seconded by his stooge Lance Cade who was useless at ringside playing the muscle but felt as out of place as Uwe Boll at the Oscar's. After punishing Paul a bit Jericho made him tap like he was Harold "Stumpy" Cromer. Post-match HBK came out on the ramp and looking old and as leathery as the jerky he surely makes from all the elk and deer he murders in the name of sport. Delicious postscript to this is a month later at a house show Paul London broke Cade's nose as a receipt for getting busted open by a botched move. All's fair in love and WarGames.

Catching up on the show this morning (drove north to Columbus for a concert last night) and just wanted to chime in with love for Neville vs. Gallagher. Awesome stuff! Probably my WWE match of the year thus far. Well-paced, unpredictable, and absolutely physical. I jumped off the couch a couple times.

Congrats on a hell of a run.

I thought the show was moderately good. I’d say thumbs in the middle for me. Which generally wouldn’t be notable but slightly more disappointing with them leveraging it on-air as the second biggest show of the year. In the Rumble I was pulling for surprises entrances for Kurt Angle (which would have been a big pop, especially if they’d held off on his HoF announcement), Shinsuke Nakamura (made nil by injury angle the night prior), and a few more 205 Live guys, wasn’t holding out hope for a HoHo Lun or anything, but guys with recognizable entrances and personalities like Kendrick or Perkins, that wouldn’t have felt out of place. Kevin Owens as champ is thudingly dull to me. I love the Orton/Cena series of high-profile matches but doesn’t seem like the direction they’ll go for WrestleMania — I suspect Elimination Chamber will shake things up considerably.

Nope. Alicia Fox was treading that way quietly for a few weeks before entering her current role as Noam Darr's unhinged valet.

Anderson and Gallows finally getting the tag straps was pretty good. Crowd woke up late around the time of the ref bump off the Brogue Kick and the Sharpshooter near-finish. Still feels weird having “major” title changes on pre-shows but this was uniformly strong.

Awesome!

One last thought on the first episode: not sure how easily it is to find, but if you could get your hands on the TV from HWA out of Cincinnati especially in 2001 I think it'd be a great addition. Your discussion of Steve Bradley made me think about it. I'd forgotten how good he was (and it is a shame he never got called up properly). HWA was my neighborhood indie and when WCW folded HWA was a WWE developmental territory. They sent a lot of the guys they weren't bringing to TV there, sent people that were rehabbing or getting back into ring shape, etc. Some of the guys that were featured I saw weekly and were on the TV: Mysterio, Guerrero, Batista, Charlie Haas, Umaga, Kaz Hayashi, Dave Taylor, Johnny the Bull, Mike Sanders, Shannon Moore, Elix Skipper, Val Venis, Lance Cade, Nigel McGuinness, Mark Jindrak, EZ Money, Lash LeRoux, etc. A real quick Internet search shows it is available at least in some capacity.

Wow. I was at Souled Out 2000 in Cincinnati. Surprised to hear the love for Sid vs. Benoit. Not because I disagree but due to my memory of it beingy foggy and haven't heard it ever discussed with any zeal. I'll definitely need to revisit it. My memories of being there live are mostly of my friends and I laughing at the poor undercard like the "Catch-as-Catch Can" match, Oklahoma vs. Medusa for the Crusierweight title, etc. I randomly put on the first SmackDown of 2000 the other day on the Network. I haven't gotten to the Rikishi vs. Triple H match you guys discussed, but one thing I did notice was how good Jericho looked. I wonder how he'll fare over the years during your project. I feel like he's regarded most strongly for his WCW and to a lesser degree present day character work -- but in-ring in a throwaway tag with the Holly's I was impressed by his speed, physicality, and athleticism.

Love, love, love the idea for the show and am enjoying the first episode thus far. After the mighty GWE ended I've been in a bit of a lull in regards to wrestling podcasts (save for currently working through the Lapsed Fan's Starrcade series and some of the PWO/PTBN stuff) but this is a ton of fun. Thanks for the dedication and time and energy. I look forward to more!

I really, really dug Neville vs. Swann from 205 Live (12/27). Incredibly physical and hard-hitting stuff. Match had a good rhythm and momentum switches and some biting near-falls. Good stuff and certainly worth a look by Network subscribers. One of my favorite finishes of the year (and loved the crowd reaction shots upon impact).

The Tempura Boyz (Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu) vs. War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson) - ROH Road to Final Battle 10/21/16 Little house show action from the War Memorial Auditorium in sunny Fort Lauderdale. Tempura gets the party started with some big dives out to the floor. Shortly after Sho and Yohei get thrown like darts directly into each other. That’s a bar game worth workshopping. Sho is the beefier of the two which certainly doesn’t hurt when going toe-to-toe with War Machine. Komatsu could be the next Milano Collection A.T. I didn’t know Rowe was a member of CM Punk’s S.E.S. but the three X’s on the back of his trunks tells another tale. Hanson does a series of about a dozen charging clotheslines in the corners to a big crowd pop and I liked Tanaka’s whipping of his hair for a more visually arresting sell. When Syxx did a Bronco Buster it was noxious not painful-looking but when Hanson jumps dong-first at an opponent it’s a scary scenario. I’ve seen about ten Tempura Boyz matches so far inc. TV and VOD fare and a sampling of their Mexico run but this is the best match of theirs I’ve came across so far and a lot of that is due to War Machine (both for their boss offense but also for letting the Boyz dish out some their own).

Just watched the first-ever episode of ECW TV from '93 on WWE Network. Wrote some notes on it here. The first couple years of ECW are mostly a blindspot for me so looking forward to filling some of those gaps in my wrestling education.

Yes. The prevailing opinion is being on both Monday and Tuesday nights will give them more exposure. Something that occurred to me last night while watching the PPV: Raw can sometimes seem like an uphill battle at 3 hours but now Tuesday nights WWE will be producing 3.5 hours of live television with SmackDown! Live, 205 Live, and Talking Smack. Add on Main Event and NXT on Wednesday and that's almost 9 hours of weekly wrestling content over 3 days each week.

Giving some love to Eddie Guerrero vs. Hector Guerrero available on the WWE Network (Nitro 7/22/97). Under 5 min. but full of just great stuff, very physical, Eddie riling up the crowd, Hector’s incredibly loud vocal selling (especially when Eddie bites his relative .. twice!), and just felt like a fight in the way that say the modern WWE product just doesn’t rarely capture. Loved this.

Right now on the Fight Network channel in their "Preview" section there's roughly 30 or more of the TNA One Night Only pay-per-views absolutely free.

https://www.facebook.com/PWSpotlight/videos/1167484096623416/ Thoughts? Where'd you like to see him end up? Work against? etc.

Sal Bellomo, J.T. Smith, & The Sandman vs. Terry Funk & Bad Breed (Ian & Axl Rotten) - ECW Hardcore TV 12/21/93 Look at the names above. Closely. This was your main event just days before Christmas night 1993. Thoughts of glazed ham, stockings, blinking lights, and opening up your new WWF LJN figures raced through your head. Bellomo’s gladiatorial attire a nice contrast to Axl’s torn heavy metal shirt. The lights are flickering on and off in the arena. This transpired throughout the show and I assumed it was legitimate initially due to the bingo hall not being a state of the art production facility. But now it’s pure gimmickry. Weird spotlights adorn the men in the throes of grappling in a mostly pitch black arena as if Commissioner Gordon gave up the Bat-Signal in lieu of a halogen. All kinds of guys appear at ringside to enter the fray and its bedlam as chairs and tables are getting tossed like cornhole bags at a family picnic. Terry Funk is running the ropes in a mostly empty ring as if stuck on a loop. Rockin’ Rebel is in the ring in stonewashed jeans with a BFG-sized mullet and discount rack Reeboks. Maybe Spielberg will get him a job on his next flick. The show ended in total pandemonium like the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine.

Hey! Here's a list of the TV marathoning/ranking projects my buddies and I did. The Nitro #200 project is on there in 5 chunks. Each chunk of the list has a corresponding YouTube video attached where myself and the 3 other guys on the committee discuss the matches.