dawho5

I am learning so much about Hot Topic and related stores around the country from this thread. PWO even teaches me about pop culture!

I'm going to pose a question. Did these two have a BAD stipulation match ever? Because even the sprinty ones (like this one) are still well worth your time and brutal as Hell. It actually kind of works in this match's favor that it isn't as long, because they really make sure the barbed wire is put to good use. Loved the finish and how it played off of the barbed wire.

El Profe is a manager right? So in PR, your managers (Chicky Starr, el Profe) are some of the more gifted heels in terms of mannerisms and how well they both stooge and work a face in peril. They both just get it. It's hard not to smile watching them go from full on can't get anything over on the babyface mode to antagonizing the poor bastard on the apron and using the ref as a third team member. I loved Profe dragging the ref to where if Perez had finished his move, the ref would have taken the shot instead of Profe. Perez is pretty awesome as a house afire here.

Chicky Starr gets removed from ringside (much to his and Ayala's dismay) at the behest of Invader 1. The little boxing part of the match was fun and I liked how they revisited it when Chicky came back out. The post-match with Invader 1 outsmarting both Chicky and Ayala only for Ron Starr to come out of the back and blast him into the ringpost was really, really good. Ayala was slow to take for me too. I can imagine him against another big man might not be as entertaining. He needs a guy to bring the energy to the match for it to be good. Ayala is definitely more of a deliberate wrestler and he really should be, given how much bigger he is than the other PR natives. It can be hard to appreciate that when you're used to seeing the frenetic brawls that most matches turn into.

Liger/Fuchi under catch rules would be amazing. I'm pretty sure anyone watching would be drooling for Liger to be able to hit Fuchi in under 5 minutes, but you're gonna have to wait until next match for that. The two final matches are both intriguing in their own way.

Yeah, Barb/Bossman would have been one Hell of a feud. I like Luger vs. Sawyer as an undercard match. Sawyer has enough credibility to make Luger look really good beating him.

The pantomiming in the ring post-match by both the babyfaces and heels was great. Fun southern tag for sure and my favorite bit was Ron Starr's little dance when he realizes he's about to hit Chicky Starr upon entering the ring and he does a quick turnaround to the apron. For a guy who is so good at doing the gritty, hard-nosed brawling, Ron can stooge with the best of em.

I'm not sure infinity stars is enough. But it will have to do. I mean, the shine, the heat, absolutely perfect. Nobody is missing a beat. Ron Starr's selling of low blows is phenomenal. Invader 2's punches are ridiculous good. Chicky Starr can't be in enough during the shine. Let's just let all 4 of em be in there? Pretty please. Invader 1 getting his ass kicked while his mask is on sideways is such a great little detail, and the crowd goes fucking bonkers when he rips it off. Ron Starr nails Invader 1 with a chair outside and all of his chairshots after are clearly pulled way more. I can't possibly describe to you the nature of Invader 1's blood loss post-match. It is...well, it depends on how you feel about blood. If you love when a match gets bloody, go watch this on youtube right now. I am all about wrestlers bleeding all over the place and I was wondering aloud (again) why they hadn't gotten Invader 1 medical attention. If you don't like blood, stay far away. The Starrs are killing everything that moves in the ring and thankfully leaving 1 alone. Invader 1 finally gets help and things get more gory. Trust me when I say you better like blood if you watch him get picked up and walked back. Invader 2 gets stretchered out and I officially love everyone involved in this match. It was my reason for going back to watching PR and it was actually better watching it the second time around. Edit: Pre-match is pretty amazing too. The Starrs complaining the Invaders have a third guy there only to menace Colon when he's alone outside the ring. Then back off when the Invaders come back down. Such a great cowardly heel thing to do.

I liked this match a LOT. Good brawling after a surprisingly great dropkick from Perez. Perez's punch/clothesline to the back of Muta's head off the ropes looked nasty from that camera angle. They both bust out some really good offense for nearfalls, but that Perez powerslam was incredible. I liked Perez taking advantage of early moves to go for the pin too. In a one fall hair vs. hair you should be looking for the win early and often.

I had one big quibble with this. The ref could not possibly keep all 3 babyfaces at bay, so Robert kept having to actually run himself into the guy during the distraction parts of the FIP. Doesn't work well in a 4 on 4. Hot finish though with Ricky Morton getting to come running into the ring after a hot tag, something you don't see every day.

I respect the attempt, even if I'm not a fan of the "meta booking" aspect of it. If the late 90s proved anything it's that competition breeds new ideas, good and bad. Vince could use some competition at some point, seems to bring out the best in him.

Muta was fine here, but it seemed like Invader was carrying most of the match to me. Muta didn't bring a lot that was really going to stand out from the rest of Invader's opponents, which is why I think this comes up short despite being good.

I loved how the crowd was reacting to the RnRs even in Puerto Rico. That's just awesome.

Dutch's comeback with the whip was all kinds of fun. Chicky Starr outside the ring egging Abby on after the DQ was almost as great as Abby continuing to choke Dutch out. It's crazy how much wrestlers can consistently get out of matches this short in Puerto Rico.

Dory actually did a nice bump later on in the match that reminded me of shit Terry did. Good start with a highly disappointing finish.

Imagine that. A match based around Invader's selling and blood loss is really good. Muta feels the need to top Invader's blade job, which also works in the match's favor.

Skinner is an interesting choice for Keirns. I'm waiting to figure out if I like it or not.

Ref bump did look pretty gnarly. One thing to add. The fans we see post-match had these little metal batons to hit the railing with and make noise. If I'm a heel and I know this, fuck going anywhere near the railing.

Medico was great here, Ayala seems like a guy who is over enough that he can get away with being fairly bland on offense. Especially as a heel. I will say his Arn Anderson elbow to the back of the head to counter a backdrop was pretty good though. Those Medico punch flurries are all kinds of insanely awesome and HOW has somebody not ripped that off? The crowd was nuclear for this, anytime Medico makes a comeback it is such a huge deal. The other takeaway I have from this match is that Chicky Starr has an awesome purple sport coat and he doesn't want to sully it by becoming physically involved. And who would?

That bump by Kroffat was THE highlight of this. Good whipping and general brawling, choking, etc. going on with the straps. Six minutes of big dudes beating each other up works for me.

So what we are saying is that daddy issues can cause the next generation to go through daddy issues? Shocking.

I'll echo the thoughts on Muta. The guy just has a completely different way of doing just about everything and it works. I also liked the comparison of junior heavyweight body types. Muta is average height and skinny but built. Invader 3 is only a junior heavyweight due to being short. If he was 2 or 3 inches taller he'd be heavyweight for sure. Agile as Hell for what he looks like though.

Too cluttered, like late stage Rumbles. Except with weapons. Different, but not that much better.

Jaggers is great here as the stooging/stalling heel early on then turns into a complete badass when it's time for the heat. Santana delivers when he has to, but Jaggers really makes this with the way he handles working from underneath and on top. Second straight match Jaggers has hung Santana.

TNT using superkicks while Funk was hung up in the ropes was pretty great. The scaffold climbing after the match by Terry was fun, as was TNT's dogged pursuit and kicking him off of the other side.