JKWebb

I would love to experience Memphis back in the day. I think being part of that crowd would be a blast. 1. Lalwer/Dundee 6/6/83 2. Fabs/Moondogs 5/2/83 I would have to hit up some NWA/WCW - catch some Flair in his prime, one of the most violent matches ever, and an all-time fun classic. 3. Flair Funk 7/23/89 4. Magnum/Tully 11/28/85 5. Sting/Vader 12/28/92 Then I would head to Japan. 6. Misawa vs. Kobashi 1/20/97 I have to see Bock. I love Hennig too, so I'll go with the same. 7. Bock/Hennig 11/21/86 The most recent match I'd check out, is one of the most fun nights I've had watching wrestling with friends... I'd take us all to the arena for: 8. Cena/Punk MITB 2011 I want a good ol' Mania moment in there. I also want to see Piper, so adding: 9. Piper/Hart Mania 8 (watching the Portland set now, would love to have been apart of Piper's live reactions there) I only have one left based on the ten idea. I'll then give my time machine to the Shockmaster so he can go back and time and save his career. Gotta go for the moment - Savage/Warrior Mania 7. Now that I think about it, I might have to remove Fabs/Moondogs for Royal Rumble 1992... that would be too much fun. For some reason I really want to see the Stan Hansen/Sting matches that didn't make tape. I have it in my head they are wild brawls like the Vader/Sting feud, and that I would love them... who knows...

Marufuji's striking made the match for me. Towards the second half his kick combinations looked great, and I thought Okada was selling them really well. I loved the piledriver onto the side of the apron. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I actually thought Marufuji had a chance of winning. But, Marufuji still did a great job looking like a believable competitor for the champion. I think a "chop duel" makes the most sense at the beginning of a match. It's like a scene from Roadhouse that I'm about to make up. Terry Funk takes a shot and looks over at pretty boy Swayze, and he dares him to take his best shot. Swayze punches him, but says.. ."your turn." Funk wipes the blood from the corner of his mouth, and smacks him back. They then trade a few blows before a huge brawl breaks out... They won't stop to trade open blows after that... Or, I wouldn't guess so anyway...Funk might - he's crazy, and in this fictional scene... drunk.

This could be my desert island trilogy...

I pretty much agree with Steven on this one. I enjoyed "The Final Deletion," but I too was underwhelmed by "The Great War." I don't really think I could rate either of the matches, just because they are so different than a typical wrestling match. But, I thought TFD was pretty funny and entertaining. I didn't really feel the same way about TGW. I laughed when Hardy was smashing pumpkins, and I enjoyed the piano entrance. But, other than that I guess it's just not my thing. I do not plan on watching either one of them for a second time. But, it's one of those things I'd throw on hanging out with some friends if they wanted to watch it for a laugh.

I've been watching a lot of Portland lately, and unfortunately I haven't seen anything out there with Piper vs. Hennig. However, please let me know if you find it!

1. Savage - Unique - Charisma - Promos/wrestling/and look - popularity and ability to get over with anyone watching (including people that don't follow wrestling closely) 2. Flair - Best all Around 3. Funk - The Journeyman - excelled at top levels everywhere 4. since it's my Rushmore, I'll put who I want - Nick Bockwinkel - Maybe the smartest wrestler I've ever seen, and best all around worker ever in the ring - he could do anything - plus he was a good with promos and had great charisma as well I do think it would Arn Anderson would look really cool etched in stone with those big glasses on.

Clash will always be an all-time favorite match for me, and I think it may be the best match I've ever seen. I enjoy it that much anyway. I went Chi-Town second, and it's close. Went WW third - but, of course they are all three amazing.

This was a really good brawl, and possibly my favorite of the Borne/Rose matches thus far. The match ends too violent for TV, so a lights out match will follow with lumberjacks ... this is to contain the violence and keep them out of the crowd. Whoa, how things have changed! Borne's blood splatters onto some elderly folks that are very well dressed for this environment. You can see them wiping their mouths and trying to get blood out of their suits and off their dresses... crazy. Loved it!

I really enjoyed Elgin's selling of the left leg. I liked that he was going back to it, even when he was on offense, after big moves like the running lariat into the corner. Naito was on point picking that leg apart. Elgin's offense looked super stiff, which I always enjoy. I loved Naito smacking Elgin around on the back of the head until it pissed him off and he fired back at him. The reversing of the Naito's swinging DDT into a powerful falcon arrow was awesome. The interference lost me a little bit, but I was quickly sucked back in during Elgin's comeback with some killer looking lariats. ****1/4

I've been enjoying the MOTWC, so I hope it continues to grow. I've been meaning to check this match out, so I'm glad it was chosen. -Naito vs. Big Mike: 09/25/2016 -I really enjoyed Elgin's selling of the left leg. I liked that he was going back to it, even when he was on offense, after big moves or the running lariat into the corner. Naito was on point picking it apart. Elgin's offense looked super stiff, which I always enjoy. I loved Naito smacking Elgin around on the back of the head until it pissed him off and Elgin fired back at him. The reversing of Naito's swinging DDT into the powerful looking falcon arrow was awesome. I kind of got lost a little bit during the interference, but I was quickly sucked back in during Elgin's comeback with some killer looking lariats. ****1/4 I went ***3/4 on Riddle/TJP and ***3/4 on Dragon Lee/Mascara.

That does look good - Did you guys ever come out with the third Piper Podcast (@RJ)? I might have missed it... definitely want to check it out if you did. The Portland footage I've been watching has been awesome.

I haven't watched this since it happened, but I do remember it vividly. I might come back and comment more once I've had time to view it again. The reason it stands out to me, is probably because this was likely the moment that I gave up on WCW. I continued to watch it after this, but I believe this is when I stopped saying it was my favorite promotion at the time. They had already messed up the Starrcade/Sting moment that fans had waited a year for. I don't think I'm the only person that may have seen this as the last straw. I was in high-school at the time, and I (like many others) was REALLY into Sting. I remember being on the edge of my seat as this match built, and I started to actually believe Sting could really pull this out. Somehow, I had placed the thought of a Hogan run-in out of mind. When sting locked in the deathlock, I was so pumped... then... another run-in... this had become so formula and so stale - Sort of like the openings of Monday Night Raw in the current product. I like the idea that Marty posted. Goldberg as a heel? This could have been great timing to have Sting pull off an upset. The crowd would have loved it, and it could have built some fire back under Sting. He was the most over guy in the company in 1997, and they screwed it up. This would have lit a fire under him, and Goldberg could have turned heel afterwards and run rampant on the company. Not a bad idea! Goldberg could later get his rematch once Sting regained the title, and then Goldberg spears his way through the Stinger Splash as mentioned above? I also think it is an interesting thought that Pete had... Was this the last great Sting moment??? I think his last great match would come in 1999 (also on Nitro) for the World Heavyweight Title against DDP. So, I'm going to say that was great. But, it sort of happened unexpectedly. There was no real build or follow-up that I recall (I could be wrong). I don't remember anything coming out of that... so, was this the last great Sting moment? If you don't count that amazing DDP match... then probably....

This is a great Roddy Piper performance. If you're a Piper fan, and you haven't seen this match, I really think it's worth seeking out. He's such an awesome fiery babyface, throwing his wild punches, selling, charisma, he shows it all here. Tons of fun. I don't mean to take anything from Wiskowski either, he's really good in this too. I watched this a few days ago, so I might come back for a more detailed review of it when I watch it again and/or have more time.

"Talk about it here."

Yeah this was great! Not much to add, but what an awesome brawl through the countout to after the post-match interviews! Loved Piper shouting for "Owen! Oooowen!!Get out here!" Really a great build for the next big match.

By this point, the Sheepherders have the belts. Buddy Rose is told to leave ringside, and things pick up with a call back to the 05/03/80 match as Piper and Martel work over the left arm of Williams. Things quickly change as Roddy Piper's right knee becomes the focus. Piper does a great job throughout all three falls of this match selling the knee. To me, this is one of those segment vs. match type moments. Kind of like Flair/Dibiase and Lawler/Flair, this is just a great 40 minutes or so of television. This is a much longer match than those other two, but I just mean I feel like the entire segment is what makes it so classic. Butch and Luke take the first fall, and Buddy Rose takes the microphone and talks about how he brought them here (Portland) and is basically responsible for their success. Piper has to start the second fall because he lost the first fall, so he limps out to the ring. There is great suspense built here as Piper tries to desperately find a way to tag in Martel. Martel is fantastic after the tag, and you see the excitement level of the crowd. They eventually have Williams tap due to the damage of his left arm. The next interview is in the back with Piper and he discusses an upcoming title shot he has with Martel, but it's all respect, pure babyface. The third fall, Rose tries to attack with a stick of some kind (watched it last night, so I can't remember exactly what type of weapon/stick he has here), and he nails Williams on the head. This busts Williams open and allows for Piper and Martel to get the pinfall. There is some great back and forth between Rose and Butch here, as Butch turns to the crowd to see if Rose did it on purpose, and Rose decides to throw in some more licks on Williams when Butch isn't looking. He finally gets busted, which leads to Butch probably cutting the best promo of his career on Buddy Rose. He wants revenge and the match is set for the following Saturday. This was a really good match, and very heated and awesome moment all around. Great stuff here.

Bumping this - Added thoughts on November, and now finishing up w/ December 1990. December was a really fun month to finish out 1990. I thought the Casas/Liger match, was short but sweet. It was super fun. The Warrior/Phil Collins video is hilarious and good ending for the year. Memphis was full of great promos. Perfect vs. Piper was fantastic. I really enjoyed Bockwinkel and Masa Saito. It was just a fun month all around. To top it off, my match of the month, and my match of the year also took place in December. MOTM/MOTY - El Dandy vs. El Satanico - 12/14/1990 - This match was brutal and creative. I posted more thoughts in the match thread, but it was a really emotional match. The head-butt exchange in the corner stands out. They looked like they had given everything they could give. Currently, this is in the top three best lucha matches I've ever seen. I don't want to make a list of the "best matches" of the year, instead I just wanted to say the following are my top 5 favorite matches from 1990: 1. Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger - WresteWar 1990 - ****3/4 2. El Dandy vs. El Satanico - 12/14/1990 - ***** 3. Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta - 09/01/1990 - ***** 4. Liger vs. Sano - 01/31/1990 - ***** 5. Mr. Perfect vs. Roddy Piper - 12/28/1990 - ****1/2 Honorable Mentions: Macho Man vs. Tenryu - 04/10/1990 - **** and Midnight Express vs. The Southern Boys - GAB 1990 - ****1/2 My favorite promos of the year are Jerry Lawler and Eddie Gilbert. The Lawler/Snowman and Jarrett/Gilbert and Lawler/Gilbert moments are in a league of their own. I think my biggest takeaway from my deep dive into 1990 is how much of a fan I became of lucha, and I started digging deeper because of it.

Rick Martel knows how to sell a back breaker, and he loses the first fall to just that. A call back to the Harley Race vs Martel match for the NWA title a few months prior, Martel knocks Rose out with the sleeper in the second fall and is forced by the ref to wake him up. A fun segment. The third fall ends with some interference as Martel is about to take the win with the sleeper. I don't think it'd be possible for Rose and Martel to have a bad match. Really enjoyed this one!

This was a ton of fun. Piper and Martel take the edge early working over the left arm of Williams. Piper and Martel are great as a team, just two guys that really know how to fire up the crowd. The Match goes three falls ending in controversy as each team has one member pinning another member of the other team at the same time. The ref isn't sure who the legal man is, so we're told the belts (Martel/Piper were defending champs) will be held until the following Saturday when a real winner can be determined. Portland is really on fire during this time from what I've seen of 1980, and this did not dissapoint. This is a nice building to a feud I look forward to seeing more of. Really good stuff here. I enjoyed some of the little things Piper did, like knocking Martel's feet off the ropes when the ref wasn't looking (saving him from a top rope maneuver from Butch or Luke). He shows off his skills as the cheating babyface the crowd can rally behind.

*PNW* Roddy Piper & Rick Martel vs. Luke Williams & Butch Miller (2/3 Falls) - 05/03/1980 - Tag Team Championship Match "Talk about it here."