dawho5

Chicky assuming Invader fell is the only thing working against this. If you can show me a better, more intense and legitimately scarier scaffold match than this I would be surprised. Chicky bumping after that dropkick so close to the edge of the scaffold had me jumping out of my seat. That suplex was probably one of the stupidest (but holy shit amazing and craziest) things I have ever seen. That scaffold did not look like it was built well enough to take something like that. The struggle over the slam near the edge was another moment I was doubting the sanity of both. Chicky's fall was pretty damn scary too. I'd say the blade job Chicky did is pretty nuts for being 20+ feet in the air too. What if blood loss fucks with your balance at the wrong time? And yeah, Invader 3 in the mask. There are so many reasons they should have never done this and it would just not be allowed today. But those are the same reasons that make it great. The brawling was pretty good too with Chicky getting more and more aggressive as the match went on to stave off Invader 3. It's just those aren't the moments you are going to take away from this match. I respect both of these insanely talented wrestlers for doing this, but I also think they should have been forced to take a psychiatric evaluation afterwards. It truly is a wonder neither or both were not seriously injured or killed.

Opening was great with the highlight being Invader 1 punting Chicky in the balls because, well he's Invader 1. I really liked the shine because both Ron and Chicky are so great at stooging and the guys they are in with have good enough offense to make me believe it. Ron is such a damn beast when he's on offense. I am always impressed by how he can bust out really impactful offense in different ways, sometimes right after a ridiculously good few minutes spent stooging for the babyfaces. Abby grabbing Invader 3's mask during the heat is so awesome. Abby seems really motivated in this match overall really. Finish is all kinds of brawly fun, but a little fast for my tastes. Colon's clothesline comes after what offense on Abby exactly? I know from conversations with Boricua that at one point in 86 Abby blinds Colon. I heard the announcers mention ammonia and I wonder if this might be the blinding.

I was more excited about the UWF vs. Mexico match myself.

My understanding is that it was more about the expectations people had for the results. It's not a criticism I have about it, but I did see several comments about the 1980s being really heavily represented in the top 100. The "too mainstream" was more me kind of summarizing the lack of lucha guys in the top 100, Ric Flair being the #1 guy, etc. There were expectations going in that we were going to avoid those, for the lack of better terminology, cliche elements of the final list. Honestly when I would go into a project like that the only list that I am really worried about is my own. I don't care if nobody else ranks my top 10. Those were mine. Obviously I have interest in other people's ballots, some more than others, but it won't make me think any worse of the project as a whole or my own view on wrestling.

I thought that crossbody by Lane early was really good. The Express definitely know how to use their weight to good effect in squashing Lane. RnR RPMs are good as standard babyfaces in these kind of matches, but not anything above that. They definitely got a pop for that win though.

Davis didn't show a ton of fire on the hot tag but that dropkick was really good. This was one of the matches that sold me on Jaggers on commentary, before he just got to be too much. I'd agree this would not look out of place on WCW TV for the next 5 years.

World Wrestling Council Owner: Victor Quinonez Play-by-Play: Rickin Sanchez Color: Hugo Savinovich Interviewer: Hector Moyano Ring Announcer: Eliud Gonzalez Referees: Tomas Marin, Ricky Vargas, Victor Quinonez Roster: 1. Abdullah Tamba 2. Al Madril 3. Angel Acevedo/Mercenario 1 4. Angelo Rivera/El Profe 5. Bam Bam Bigelow 6. Bart Batten 7. Brad Batten 8. Barrabas 9. Bobby Jaggers 10. Butch Miller 11. Carlos Colon 12. Chicky Starr 13. Don Kent/Super Medico 3 14. Dutch Mantell 15. Eliud Gonzalez (ring announcer) 16. Gama Singh 17. Hector Moyano (announcer/interviewer) 18. Hercules Ayala 19. Hugo Savinovich (announcer) 20. Huracan Castillo Jr. 21. Huracan Castillo Sr. 22. Invader 1 23. Invader 2 24. Invader 3 25. Jerry Morrow/Mercenario 2 26. Jonathan Boyd 27. Juan Rivera/Savio Vega/TNT - 5th degree black belt, cobra dinamita 28. Luke Williams 29. Miguel Perez Jr. 30. Miguel Perez Sr. 31. Mike Davis 32. Rickin Sanchez (announcer) 33. Ricky Santana 34. Ricky Vargas 35. Rip Morgan/the Crusher 36. Ron Starr 37. Steve Strong 38. Super Medico 1 39. Tomas Marin 40. Tommy Lane 41. Victor Jovica 42. Victor Quinonez 43. Victor the Bodyguard

WWC adds: Tomas Marín Ricky Vargas Victor Quiñonez All are referees.

I would guess the expectations of some going in were for a less...mainstream I guess is the word...set of results.

I like Luger vs. Reed a lot. Would be fun matches and a young Lex would end up learning a lot. Midnights vs. JYD/Wahoo will be all kinds of fun heeling. The Armstrongs should pretty much always be in blood feuds.

Regal is a great choice. He brings some things to that division that it sorely needs to spice it up. I like Nish also, he can help keep things from constantly having to go forward and show the value in looking back in time to find new ways of doing things.

To me it's more that projects like this seem like "scheduled" watching. Where I have to watch all of this stuff in a certain amount of time. Once you start that it's very easy to get into a mode where you kill your own enjoyment of the matches because you feel like you have to watch them. I very much prefer to watch what I feel like watching right now and not feel like there is a ticking clock on watching this group of matches. I have found that it helps my enjoyment of wrestling a lot.

I like the mixing of teams, but I do take issue with the pairing of Kobashi and Hansen. Only because Kobashi was Hansen's best opponent, lol. The junior division is a nice addition, I think that one thing you could do is shore up the heavyweight division with some big names like Vader that were not there until 1998 and would have been a breath of fresh air right around 1995-ish. Maybe bring in somebody like Masato Tanaka or a different guy on that level for Akiyama to feud with that wasn't way up there out of his league.

Chaos after that main event! Benoit vs. Douglas would have been a fun match at this time. Not the workrate we wold have gotten 8 years later, but definitely worth a watch.

One thing I truly love about PR is that when they have a stip, they god damn well are gonna use it. Most barbed wire matches make nods to the barbed wired, but in PR it is front and center. The wrestlers are using it early and often, and usually in ways you don't see anywhere else. So while this was not going to blow you away with technique or highspots, it delivers on the promise of two guys trying to maim each other with barbed wire so they can get a win. Which is what a barbed wire match should be. For me it is one of the examples I would hold up as a reason that I love Puerto Rico as a territory.

Invader 1 is really great in this. He might be one of the top bleeders in pro wrestling history after watching the set through multiple times. And he's really good at selling and building sympathy, even while mounting comebacks. Kamala keeps up a pretty good pace here. The blood licking was a nice touch too. For what this match was it was absolutely perfect.

I thought this was a really strong tag. Colon working the apron and the hot tag was great stuff. The end was again decadent for the babyfaces and they have no intention of quitting even when the bell sounds. Boricua mentioned to me that the Sheepherders went crazy in PR through most of 1985, so all of this stuff makes a bit more sense now. If these two had spent the last 9 months (or more) or more running amok, the crowd would be happy to see this kind of excess from the babyfaces.

I liked this a lot. Really good brawl with easily the wildest scene I've ever witnessed following the match. The fans attacking Butch while he was on the table was pretty nuts. Colon and Invader go way, way, way, way, way...I think you get the idea...too far in attacking Luke on his way out. How they actually got the ambulance out of there without hurting anyone I don't know.

Colon's entrance was incredible. Colon biting Abby's ear is something you just don't see every day. Abby standing on Colon was pretty sick looking. I did like the one facial expression Abby gave after Colon headbutted him early on. They did almost enough to keep ti interesting, but fell a bit short in spots. Still, not the worst Abby match you'll see by a long shot.

I think that the biggest positive of this is the interaction and the exposure to something different. It's a positive thing for the board as a whole.

I think that whatever GWE did to the board, good or bad, it did introduce a whole lot of people to PWO that had not even heard of it before. However you view the fallout of GWE, that particular aspect has to be a positive. And I suspect that those involved in the negative aspects will come around eventually. Perception can be a very powerful thing and I think that is what is driving a lot of those negative aspects. Once things are looked at in a different light they can be moved past. As far as the concerns of Loss, we all make mistakes. They get magnified when we happen to be in charge of something a little bigger is all. The worst thing you can do is let it make you afraid of doing it again. I'm thinking about this, but I have to say that doing the top 100 matches out of Japan in the 2000s was a slog. The top 100 ever seems like a very big challenge I may or may not be up for.

I like the mix of shootstyle and pro style a lot. Funaki going over Tamura was a shock to me.

The pre-match stalling by the Sheepherders is really good. I liked the chaos in the match but agree that it could have had more flow. This definitely falls into the "fun" category more than they really good side of things, but I'll watch it again.

I also thought the pacing was great. If they had worked it too fast it would have made no sense for Ayala to be dominating the match against the much quicker Savage. Ayala is certainly limited in what he does, but it seems like he plays a solid base for Savage's shenanigans to play off of. If he tries for more what does it add? This match is about Randy Savage the heel and it's pretty damn good because of that. There was one instance where they had some miscommunication, but it didn't stick out like a sore thumb.

One thing I am trying to do with the less experienced guys is not give them real complex stuff to do. Like for Bam Bam it is mostly "don't bump and only sell when they paste you" and the set pieces he has with Abby here. For Owen I just had him doing it 99% straight with the one sort of cheat spot. Just easier to imagine a young guy being able to pull that stuff off for me. Instead of having Owen try to pull off subtle heeling all match, which would just not be something that worked. And as a visual aid for that last Chickys Sports Shop, if you look it up on youtube you will see the visual I was going for. Just don't do it close to when you eat or intend to because it's pretty gross looking...