cactus

Yeah, Joey Styles has been the worst part of this project so far. I can tolerate some of the horrible crowds, but Styles is insufferable. I could have sworn he wasn't this irritating when he was doing commentary when he got to WWE. Rey Misterio Jr. vs Psicosis (2/3 Falls) (ECW Hardcore TV - 10/17/1995) This is more of the same as their Gangsta's Paradise match, but the fans know what they are in for this time, and these two start bringing the heat to each other as their rivalry gets more intense. Misterio wastes zero time getting this started and we get two dives over the barricade before a minute has even elapsed. Misterio gets Psicosis back into the ring and quickly wins the first fall after a spike hurricanrana. Misterio continues to get his shine in on the second fall, before Psicosis' bully side starts to come out again. One thing that makes this series of matches better than the Malenko/Guererro series is that there's actual escalation here. Psicosis is pissed off that Misterio is looking to beat him again, so he resorts to using weapons and even Misterio shows his frustration by kicking Psicosis when he's down after Psicosis begins to play dirty. Psicosis countering a springboard moonsault into a jumping tombstone was an insane spot and it evens the score. Psicosis brings a chair into the ring during the final fall and picks up the winning by landing a twisting seaton from the top onto Misterio, who's lying underneath the chair. The high spots were even more impressive than their last match. It's also crazy how much they managed to cram into 14 minutes over 3 falls without it ever feeling rushed. ★★★★½ The Sandman vs Mikey Whipwreck (Ladder) (ECW Hardcore TV - 10/28/1995) This isn't a traditional ladder match as you can only win by pinfall or submission here. Before the match starts, Steve Austin comes down to the ring and cuts a brilliant promo dressing down both men and challenging the winner. Because of Sandman being a limited worker and Whipwreck still being extremely green, don't go into this expect a ladder classic that could rival Razor/HBK. I enjoyed this even if the finish came out of nowhere. Despite his sloppiness, Sandman put in a decent effort here. He wasn't afraid to get hit hard with the ladder and I wasn't expecting him to use that see-saw move with the ladder that the Hardy Boys would use years later. This match was enhanced by the fans desperately rooting for a Whipwreck win and they came alive when Whipwreck hit the splash for the victory. I do wish they built up to it better as there were no nearfalls building up to the finish and this was a missed opportunity to create some compelling drama. Even with all my gripes, it was refreshing to see a ladder match that wasn't a picture-perfect display of high spots and I enjoyed that this was actually rough around the edges. ★★¾ Rey Misterio Jr. vs Psicosis (Mexican Death Match) (ECW November To Remember - 11/18/1995) Misterio once again opens strong and scores a quick pin after a hurricanrana. Psicosis is able to quickly beat the 10 count and they start fighting on the floor. Misterio slips as he attempts to hit a move from the guardrail, but I thought they cover for it well, with Misterio acting as if he pulled something. I found myself questioning if Misterio's slip on the guardrail was intentional or not as it served perfectly as a transition spot for Psicosis to begin his control segment and pick up some pinfalls on Misterio, who beats the 10 count every time. The match finishes up with some decent crowd brawling, which leads them up to the production area. Misterio's hurricanrana from the top of the production area was a clip that I remember being shared around a lot during the early days of file-sharing. The pace is certainly slower than their other two ECW matches together as they let things breathe to put over their hatred towards each other. This is certainly the weakest match of their trilogy, but it's still a great match and I appreciate how every match felt different. ★★★¾ Cactus Jack & Raven vs Tommy Dreamer & Terry Funk (ECW November To Remember - 11/18/1995) Funk brings a bin full of plunder into the ring and we see humourous spots like Dreamer teeing off on Raven's balls with a golf club and Raven taking a VCR to the head. The comedy is short-lived as this match takes a violent turn once Raven and Cactus take over. All four men bleed and Cactus starts stabbing at Funk's arm and head with a weapon. Dreamer makes a short-lived comeback after diving onto a chain that Raven and Cactus were holding and the heels do the old noggin knocker spot. Cactus is wearing a gloriously 90's Dungeon Of Doom shirt and it gets right under Joey Styles' skin. He eventually removes it and reveals a shirt with Eric Bischoff's face on it. Tommy Dreamer pulls the shirt over Cactus's face and starts wailing on Bischoff. Fantastic stuff. The match starts to lose steam during the final few minutes and I wasn't keen on the interference with Taz and Alfonso acting as crooked referees. Funk and Dreamer eventually fight back against all the heels and are able to score the win once the original referee comes back into the match. With road signs, shopping trolleys, and all sorts being used as weapons, this was a fun and messy brawl that felt like a precursor to WWF's Hardcore division. ★★★¼ Sabu vs Stevie Richards (ECW House Party - 1/5/1996) The match starts out with Stevie being frightened of Sabu. Stevie throws a chair into the ring but immediately regrets it once Sabu grabs it and uses it to launch himself from the ring to the outside onto Richards and Meanie. Richards is great at being a chickenshit lackey and he's not afraid to make himself look like a fool. We get all of Sabu's big spots here and he pulls them all off without them botching. This match goes fairly long and Sabu isn't that interesting when Sabu isn't doing high spots or brawling. The Blue Meanie keeps getting involved, but Paul E. comes down and stops this from happening again. Stevie takes a huge beating in an attempt to show the fans that he's tougher than he looks. I didn't quite buy into this, as no one was rooting for a Richards victory even if he did take a lot of punishment. That's such a babyface role and Stevie is too good at being an irritating little shit for it to work. I did love Richards cutting off Sabu with a massive superkick though. It's not enough to keep Sabu down, and Sabu wins shortly after. I enjoy this match overall, even if I didn't feel invested in the story they were trying to tell. ★★★

I think you've both hit the nail on the head on why the Malenko/Guerrero series didn't do much for me. Seeing as two matches from the show made the DVDVR ECW list, I thought I'd give Gangsta's Paradise a look seeing as it's under two hours long. I wish I hadn't as there's not much here outside of the Misterio/Psicosis and Dog Collar match. Broad Street Bully vs Bull Pain (ECW Gangsta's Paradise - 9/16/1995) Bull Pain looks like a shorter version of Vader if he was addicted to crack, and Broad Street Bully has a hockey gimmick, complete with a hockey stick. It's not long until Bully uses it on Bull and this turns into a mediocre hardcore match. I know ECW was always seen as the punk promotion that went against the grain of traditional wrestling norms, but having two underneath guys go out there and fight on the floor and use gimmicks damage the flow of the whole show as it doesn't feel special when over talent do the same thing as the fans had already seen these two nobodies do it. Joey Styles' attempts to put ECW over by saying they have more table bumps than WCW has screwjob finishes was cringeworthy. Both of those things are fine in moderation, Joey. This wasn't very good. Bull Pain gets gassed up quite early into this. His rope-hung gourdbuster finisher was cool, at least. ★ Dances With Dudley & Dudley Dudley vs Chad Austin & Don E. Allen (ECW Gangsta's Paradise - 9/16/1995) It's weird seeing the Dudley clan without either Bubba or D'von. This is an extended squash where Austin and Allen get no offense in before Dudley Dudley wins with a top rope splash in just under five minutes. Dances heckle the crowd and get a good response from them. Big Dick Dudley is at ringside on crutches, but that doesn't stop him from getting involved. This was what it was. It didn't stink the place out or anything, but there's literally no reason to see this. ★¼ JT Smith vs Hack Myers (ECW Gangsta's Paradise - 9/16/1995) This match goes about 10 minutes, but it's heavily edited on the VHS release of this show. The match didn't look terrible from what we got to see. JT Smith is doing a comedy gimmick where he always botches. He looks natural doing it and the half-wits in the crowd buy his first botch as a legitimate and give him the reaction he is after. His clumsiness ends up costing him the match when he slips off the top rope and falls through the ringside table. He gets counted out and argues with the ring announcer. I don't think I would have wanted to see these two go 10 minutes, but Smith's comedy added some variety to the card. Taz, Scott Steiner & Rick Steiner vs Jason Knight & The Eliminators (ECW Gangsta's Paradise - 9/16/1995) It's a shame that this is clipped to hell as this looked to be quite decent from the highlights we got. 2 Cold Scorpio comes down to the ring and attacks Taz as the match starts, but it's not long before he recovers. This match might be one-sided, but seeing the Steiners dominate their opponents is always going to be entertaining. The crowd loves the Steiners and pop huge for their Steinerlines. Poor Jason gets wedgied as Scott suplexes him. Taz soon loses control and pounds on Jason until he starts bleeding. He shoves the ref down during his rage and Scorpio comes back and lays Taz out with the superkick and gives the victory to Jason's team. What was that about screwjob finishes, Joey? Raven & Stevie Richards vs The Pitbulls (2/3 Falls Double Dog Collar) (ECW Gangsta's Paradise - 9/16/1995) Beulah claims that Richards has an injury and begs to make this a 2 out of 3 falls match. I don't sure how that works in Raven's favor, mind you. Pitbull #2 chokes Raven out with his own dog collar while Pitbull #1 rushes to the back and looks for Richards. #1 finds Richards, who is forced back to the ring. Richards is busted wide open and stooges all over the place for the Pitbulls. The first two falls are over in quick succession, with both of them ending with gnarly table bumps. The third fall is where things get really wild, with multiple people interfering. The Dudleys are the first to get involved and they work over both #1 and #2. Despite being limited in-ring, the Pitbulls looked like the biggest badasses on the planet powering up after being hit with stereo superbombs. There's a good example of no-selling enhancing a match. We get a catfight with Beulah and Francine, Tommy Dreamer run-in and so much other stuff. It would make more sense to just watch the match than have me describe everything that happens during the nutty go-home stretch. This was massively overbooked, but not overbooked to the point where things just become silly. This match masterfully took multiple storylines and tied them into this match and it never becomes too hard to follow. Not to sound like a walking cliche, but this captured the spirit of ECW and it shows you why ECW was so loved in one neat little package. It has soap opera storytelling, sex, an invested audience, and a glorious serving of violence. Raven had a massive hand in laying it all out and the result is a match that is one of ECW's best. ★★★★½ Rey Misterio Jr. vs Psicosis (ECW Gangsta's Paradise - 9/16/1995) Both men are making their ECW debuts and they made sure to leave an impression on the fans in the ECW arena on this night. With the exception of some of the snarky comments, even Joey Styles did a good job on commentary introducing the fans at home to these two. This was a phenomenal showcase, but it never felt like a total spotfest as Psicosis uses his added size to bully Misterio around and give the fans a reason to root for the smaller man. Psicosis also spends a lot of time trash-talking the crowd. Misterio and Psicosis showcase their lucha style for virgin eyes and they certainly won over the notoriously tough ECW crowd. The movement here is lightning quick and the high spots still hold up as impressive over 25 years later. My personal favorite one would have to be Misterio doing a no-hands monkey flip on the apron, with Misterio's fake-out 619 to dive sequence being a close second. Young Misterio was something else, man. ★★★★ Mikey Whipwreck & Public Enemy vs New Jack, The Sandman & 2 Cold Scorpio (Steel Cage) (ECW Gangsta's Paradise - 9/16/1995) This was a chaotic mess. Sandman botches on his first move when he slips on his arse after jumping from the turnbuckle. I did enjoy seeing him decide to have a smoke as chaos breaks out around him. He ends up getting smashed face-first into the cage while still having the cigarette in his mouth. Grunge and New Jack fight into the crowd and get color. Both men end up taking big dives, but they don't get much reaction from the crowd as most fans were still looking at all the action that was taking place in the cage. The faces beat down the heels with all kinds of gimmicks and set up three tables on top of each other. Scorpio and Rocco crash through the three tables from the top of the cage. It's a scary bump to take, but it's so obviously cooperative that it robs this big spot of its drama. Whipwreck is once again able to score a pin on the ECW champion. This was a mildly entertaining garbage brawl, even if it was hard to follow and pales in comparison to the excellently chaotic Double Dog Collar match from the same show. ★★¼

Man, the Malenko/Guerrero series has been a massive disappointment to me. I've wanted to see them since I heard how about ground-breaking they were on the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD. I guess there's a reason why people don't talk about much anymore. Eddy Guerrero vs Dean Malenko (ECW Enter The Sandman - 5/13/1995) After being burnt out by their indulgent last outing, I almost jumped for joy when I saw that this match's chapter on the WWE Network was only a little over 15 minutes, but my joy is short-lived when I discover that this is a heavily edited 30-minute draw. The match is edited in a way where we see all the high spots, but none of all that important stuff leading us up to said spots. We get just under half the match here. The crowd seems a lot more responsive to the match than they were during their Hostile City Showdown match, although they could have just cut out any of the moments where the assholes in the crowd are heckling them. Guerrero gets color after spiking himself on his head after he lands a sweet hurricanrana and they are able to milk some drama out of that injury. Malenko actually shows some personality as he works on Eddy's cut and Eddy shows some fire in his comeback. For whatever reason, no one makes any time limit announcements and the match suddenly ends when a figure four is locked on. The crowd look annoyed at this result. This looks to be a better match than last time, but it's hard to say because of the frustrating editing. Dean Malenko & 2 Cold Scorpio vs The Tazmaniac & Eddy Guerrero (ECW Heatwave - 7/15/1995) We have to put up with more clipping here, as we are missing over half the match here. Excluding the messy finish and crappy post-match angle, what we got here looked good. Although Guerrero and Malenko's interactions might lack in flavor and personality, they make up for how smooth they look when they wrestle each other and there's not a botch or miscommunication in sight when they go at it. It's like their bodies are completely in sync with each other. One thing I like about Taz is how it looks completely believable when he overpowers a much bigger opponent, as he does here when he knocks Scorpio on his ass after a shoulder block. Malenko hits a low dropkick on Taz and works over his leg, who sells it well initially. Taz eventually decides to stop selling his leg when puts Scorpio upon his shoulders. The clipping gets more aggressive during this point and it rushes through the go-home stretch just showing the big bombs. We get some cool double-team moves, before 911's music is played as a distraction and Taz pins Scorpio after Paul E. hits him with his cellphone. The match is restarted because of ...reasons after Bill Alfonso comes down and Malenko and Scorpio quickly win the match. 911 and Rob Feinstein comes after the match for a rotten angle and I stopped paying attention because fuck Rob Feinstein. Eddy Guerrero, Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner vs Cactus Jack, Dean Malenko & 2 Cold Scorpio (ECW Wrestlepalooza - 8/5/1995) This had a very Japanese feel, with everybody getting a chance to show off their skills and hit big bombs and not worry about silly things like faces and heels. This changes about halfway into the match when they start building up to a hot tag. I enjoyed Malenko and Guerrero's interactions more here than I did during their singles matches together. Guerrero is worked over as the face in peril and Malenko using his mat wrestling to keep him away from his tag partners looked scrappy and added a lot of urgency to the match. Cactus was brilliant whenever he got a chance to brawl with Rick or Eddy. Scott Steiner is making a rare ECW appearance and delivers a phoned-in performance. Thankfully a phoned-in from Scott Steiner still means him stiffly clotheslining and suplexing fools on their heads and the crowd eats up every second that he's in the ring. Rick Steiner showed a lot more fire than his brother and he looked fantastic cleaning house when Guerrero is finally able to hit a hot tag. After taking a trifecta of picture-perfect triple-team moves, Malenko is able to steal a win with a flash roll-up. This was a cracking end to an excellent match. Malenko showed the world that he can pin the TV champion and it made me care to see another Malenko/Guerrero match, even if the series has underwhelmed me so far. The responsive crowd and the variety of styles made this match an absolute blast to watch. ★★★★¼ Mikey Whipwreck vs The Sandman (Singapore Cane) (ECW Wrestlepalooza - 8/5/1995) Sandman is the ECW champion, but the belt is not on the line. The stipulation of this match is that the loser must take ten shots of the cane. Whipwreck wrestles like an indyriffic Ricky Morton and he's endeared himself to the rabid ECW fans. He hits a flurry of big moves before Sandman cuts him off. This is yet another match that has been clipped down and the match is cut down from just under six minutes to two minutes. Sandman is obviously a sloppy worker, but I find this early heel version of his scumbag slob character very compelling. Woman being in his corner adds a lot to his presentation. Whipwreck wins after nailing Sandman with multiple unprotected chair shots and finishing him off with a top rope crossbody. Sandman is hesitant to take his caning, but the referee says he will strip him of his title if he doesn't comply. He takes some shots before he decides to attack Whipwreck with the cane after Woman snatches the cane from Whipwreck. This was more of an angle than a match. The characters are over with the fans and it made me want to see Whipwreck want to get a shot at Sandman's title, so this did its job. I could have done without Whipwreck forcing himself on Woman during the post-match angle though. Sheesh. Eddy Guerrero vs Dean Malenko (ECW Hardcore TV - 8/1/1995) This is taking place in Malenko's hometown of Tampa and this is his last shot at Guerrero's TV title. The opening minutes are quite dull and quite a few fans are turned off by this, but Eddy starts to win them over by countering a monkey flip by landing on his feet. As much I find the fans who pelted this match with boring chants insufferable, Guerrero and Malenko didn't give them any reason to care about the match. This match is full of sequences that would make great GIFs that would get plenty of views on Twitter, but there's not much in the way of story-telling or anything to get emotionally invested into. It's so incredibly dry, that they were lucky that their execution was perfect otherwise I would have hated this. It is frustrating that they had plenty of room to add some story elements or a clear face/heel dynamic, but they instead just do a match that feels like a showcase of their in-ring talents. It's a technical spotfest in that sense. The only bit of story-telling we get during this match is that Malenko is able to roll Eddy up for the victory and Guerrero lays Malenko out with a cheap shot as he goes for a handshake, signifying that this feud isn't over yet. ★★★ Eddy Guerrero vs Dean Malenko (2/3 Falls) (ECW Hardcore TV - 8/26/1995) WCW had signed both wrestlers and Joey Styles announces this to the crowd and declares that this match will be their farewell match. The fans are more respectful this time, with any hecklers being shut down by the majority of the crowd. This is more of the same from these two, but the falls help break the action apart and stop it from feeling as dull as their other outings. Malenko botches a sunset flip but saves himself by improvising on the fly. Even when these guys botch, they can pull something out of the hat and turn it into a happy accident. Guerrero scores the first fall six minutes into the match after countering into a roll-up. Guerrero has faced Malenko so many times that he's able to see Malenko's low dropkick coming and blocks it in a rare bit of ongoing storytelling from these two. Malenko evens the score minutes into the second fall by locking in the cloverleaf and Eddy spends the rest period walking around the ring in an effort to get some feeling back in his legs. This match ends up as a draw as they do a double-pin finish. After the match, we see them both cut emotional promos about what ECW meant to them. There's not much in the way of escalation during their entire rivalry. Guerrero attacked Malenko after their last match, but they come into this as if nothing happened. There's no hatred to be found here. The only escalation we get here is Eddy getting more and more frustrated when he can't put Malenko away. ★★★

The Night The Line Was Crossed didn't exactly start this project with a bang, but there's some good stuff to be found here. Sabu vs Cactus Jack (ECW Hostile City Showdown - 6/24/1994) Don't expect a lot of intricate wrestling psychology here! Sabu being brought to the ring in chains and being restrained by 911 added a lot to his presentation. No one in the US wrestled like Sabu during this era, so I understand why he got over so much. We get a lot of fighting on the outside with plenty of table bumps. Sabu wiping out a seated Cactus with a suicide dive was an awesome spot. Sabu didn't botch much here. There isn't a face/heel dynamic or any meaningful selling to be found here. Paul E. Dangerously ends up costing Cactus the match when he wacks him on the head with his bulky cellphone when Sabu and Cactus are fighting in the corner. All the post-match stuff with Sabu and Cactus continue to fight after the bell put them over as massive headcases. The Paul E. and Cactus Jack promos after the match are well worth sticking around for. I can see how this would have been considered cutting edge in 1994, but there's not a whole worth seeing when viewing this 25+ years later. It was short enough to not be offensive and some of the table spots were cool. ★★ Chris Benoit vs Al Snow (ECW Double Tables - 2/4/1995) There's not much of a story going into this, and they instead warm the audience up by wowing them with some impressive technical exchanges. Everything Benoit did here looked incredibly stiff and he always has an aura of intensity about him. Every suplex he hit was performed perfectly and the chops he hits here are some of the loudest I have heard in a while. Al isn't the most explosive babyface and his superkick looks like shit. For someone who is mostly known by wrestling fans as a big character worker during the Attitude Era, Show didn't show much in the way of charisma. You know things are rough when Benoit is the most charismatic worker of a match. Snow shows that he can hang on Benoit's level and that's all that's needed for this match to work. He takes a beating by keeps on kicking out. This might be a bit dry for some, but Benoit carried this and did a good job of getting Al Snow over with the ECW faithful. This is well worth a watch if you can still stomach watching Benoit matches and if you can put up with Joey Styles' insufferable commentary. ★★★½ Sabu & The Tazmaniac vs Public Enemy (Double Tables) (ECW Double Tables - 2/4/1995) The stipulation means that you have to put both members of each team through tables to win the match. Taz looked completely believable throwing around Rocco like he was a bag of flour while Grunge and Sabu brawl on the outside. Sabu hits some cracking dives and we see Grunge go to town on Sabu with a frying pan. After some entertaining mud show brawling, this match is brought completely down by the awful finish. Both Taz and Grunge go through a table at the same time, which creates confusion as Taz was meant to put Grunge through the table. Rocco had already been put through a table, so this should be a victory for Sabu & Taz. They try and cover up for this fuck-up by announcing that Taz put Grunge through said table even though he clearly didn't. It gets worse as they do a horrible distraction finish where a conscious referee somehow doesn't see or hear Sabu crashing Rocco through a table because his back is turned. Grunge chokes out Paul E. Dangerously, and while this is going on Sabu puts Rocco through the table and wins the match despite their original setback. We get some post-match brawling which sees Benoit coming out and hitting an insane Superbomb on Sabu onto a table that had Rocco lying on it. This was a mess, but it was a complete spectacle and I enjoyed it for what is minus the booking of the finish. ★★★ Chirs Benoit & Dean Malenko vs The Tazmaniac & Sabu (ECW Return of the Funker - 2/25/1995) Before the match begins, Public Enemy cut a promo about Rocco Rock's injury, who is in a wheelchair. Benoit and Malenko come out and eventually start beating Public Enemy down. Malenko pushes Rocco (who is still in his wheelchair) into a stiff Benoit clothesline and then Benoit hits Grunge with a chair. Taz and Sabu have seen enough and they rush to the ring to jumpstart this match. Expect plenty of nasty suplexes from Malenko, Benoit, and Taz and reckless dives from Sabu here! This was a work-rate heavy sprint that was a total blast to watch. The German that Taz gave to Benoit would make even the AJPW lads cringe. Just as Taz has Benoit beat, Malenko chop blocks him and goes to town on his leg. Taz gets removed from the match, so it's up for Sabu to fend for himself. I was worried that Sabu's style would clash with Benoit's and Malenko's, but Sabu looked great at taking punishment and making his comebacks. There are no tags here, even if this was never announced as a Texas Tornado match. This felt chaotic, but never hard to follow. ★★★¾ 2 Cold Scorpio vs Eddy Guerrero (ECW Three Way Dance - 4/8/1995) Eddie is making his ECW debut and Scorpio is coming into this with an injured shoulder. Despite this being positioned as a work-rate match (complete with inpatient assholes in the crowd who chant boring at the first sign of a hold), they don't rush things and let things breathe as they trade holds during the opening minutes. Eddie eventually starts to heel things up to take control and we see glimpses of the future Lie, Cheat, Steal Eddie as the crowd can't help but cheer for Eddie as he's the outmatched underdog. The execution here was flawless, even if they did start to lose me during the finishing stretch as it started to feel like they were just trading big moves and they didn't touch on Scorpio's taped-up arm. Scorpio decides to get cocky and lifts Eddie off the mat after hitting him with a picture-perfect Tumbleweed. This ends up costing him as Eddie is able to score a fantastic flash roll-up to win the match. This should have been better given the talents involved, but this was a great way to debut Eddie to fans who might not be familiar with him at this point. ★★★¼ Eddy Guerrero vs Dean Malenko (ECW Hostile City Showdown - 4/15/1995) This highly influential match opens with some incredible technical exchanges. I can see how this match influenced the future of indy wrestling already as that opening segment would feel right at home during an early ROH show! A few minutes into this, the fans get distracted by an altercation in the crowd and you can tell that Malenko and Guerrero start to wonder why they are losing the crowd. Malenko cuts off Eddy by hitting some unique strikes to his leg to keep him grounded. Malenko's control segment is focused and technically sound, but it doesn't do a good job of building up heat and I found myself bored during this lengthy part of the match. Eddy's comeback isn't much better, as instead of finding a lucky opening to kickstart his comeback, the match suddenly just becomes more back and forth when Guerrero lands a powerbomb for a nearfall. The final few minutes feature some impressive sequences before the time limit just suddenly expires. There are no announcements made during the finishing stretch so they aren't able to build up any drama with Malenko desperately trying to win the title before the time expires. There's a lot of stuff I liked about this, but this was a long 30 minutes. They could have achieved what they did here in 15 or 20 minutes and not completely burned me out. ★★★ Cactus Jack vs Terry Funk (ECW Hostile City Showdown - 4/15/1995) Cactus grabs a mic before this starts and bullies Terry into not fighting in the ring. Terry agrees and they brawl all throughout the ECW arena. They fight up into the production area, where Cactus misses a big elbow drop and ends up crashing through a table. We see more brawling around the ringside area, with them using whatever weapons the fans give them on each other. Funk ends up with a toilet seat around his head at one point! Cactus takes a nasty bump to the unprotected concrete after Funk press slams him from the ring apron. Things heat up even more so when a full trashcan and a beer bottle enter the mix. The trash is thrown all over the ring and Cactus gets cut up when Funk breaks the beer bottle. Funk slaps Cactus around and talks trash at him. Mikey Whipwreck and Hack Myers run to Cactus' aide, but Funk is able to dispose of them quickly. In a confusing moment, Sandman rushes the ring and the bell rings. Everyone tries to ignore this as Sandman attempts to attack Cactus with his cane. Sandman misses and Cactus scores an anti-climatic victory over Funk after a DDT. We get an insane post-match brawl that involves a flaming branding iron. If this was a garbage brawl between two nobodies then this wouldn't work as well as it did. Funk and Foley have buckets of charisma to work with and they can both throw a nice punch. The finish was way too messy, but the post-match stuff more than made up for it. ★★★½

I thought it would be fun to see how well ECW holds up after coming across DVDVR's Best of the 90's list. I'll watch every ECW match that was voted on for that list (50 matches in total), plus any match that has a good rating on Cagematch. I'll cover a handful of important shows here too (Barely Legal '97, Heatwave '98, Guilty As Charged '01, etc.). I know that the general consensus is that ECW hasn't aged well, but I thought this would be a fun project to find out for myself. I have a nostalgic soft spot for some of the shows that I used to own on VHS, plus I haven't seen many of their most celebrated matches. Let's start this by looking at The Night The Line Was Crossed. Sal Bellomo vs Mr. Hughes (ECW The Night The Line Was Crossed - 2/5/1994) The VHS of this show opens with a message from Todd Gordan putting over ECW as a violent and extreme promotion. Seconds later, we go to the ring and there's a pudgy guy dressed as a Roman gladiator entering the arena giving out toys to the mostly adult crowd. What a strange contrast! Was Sal Bellomo's persona meant to be a satire on WWF/WCW's many kid-friendly gimmicks or is it just a shit gimmick? Mr. Hughes isn't much better and he doesn't even take a single bump in this. After a few minutes of some woeful basic brawling, Mr. Hughes's manager distracts Sal long enough for Hughes to hit a Bossman Slam and win this dire opening contest. There's zero workrate to be found here and Hughes was wrestling this as if he was in slow-motion. DUD The Sandman & Tommy Cairo vs The Pitbull & Rockin' Rebel (Double Dog Collar) (ECW The Night The Line Was Crossed - 2/5/1994) Sandman is still hanging on to his terrible surfer gimmick and he's not yet become the beer-drinking redneck even if he gets to show off his hardcore side here. This match is quite hard to follow as they fight all over the place and this is only being filmed by the hard cam. Rebel and Sandman brawl into the crowd and Sandman ends up eating two table bumps. Sandman quickly powers up despite being pile-driven through a table seconds earlier. The ever-irritating Joey Styles amuses himself by doing a bad Gordan Solie impression after Cairo gets busted open. This was a meandering brawl for the most part, but the fans seemed to eat this up and I liked the match's chaotic energy. I did like the finish to this though, with Cairo being able to score the win after Sandman hogties Pitbull's legs with his own dog collar. They carry on fighting after the bell until Sandman fights Pitbull and Rebel off. ★★ Bruise Brothers vs Public Enemy (ECW The Night The Line Was Crossed - 2/5/1994) This looks like a fucking dire pairing on paper, so they try and work with everyone's limitations by padding this out with a lot of crowd-brawling. The Bruise Brothers' SS tattoos are on full show here and they look to be wearing some sort of White Power t-shirt. Rocco sold strikes in such a goofy manner by flailing his arms back. Even with all the fighting in the bleachers, blood, and gimmicks desperately trying to work together to make something decent out of these four, you can still see through everything. This was another match that was hard to follow because of the one-camera set-up. There isn't much to say about this one. ★ Tommy Dreamer vs Jimmy Snuka (ECW The Night The Line Was Crossed - 2/5/1994) I don't think I've ever seen a wrestler not give a shit as much as Snuka was on this night. He moves around like he's underwater and brings the match to a screeching halt after some fans heckle him. He looks shoot pissed off at the group of fans and refuses to carry on with the match. Maybe they shouted something about him murdering his girlfriend? This went 10 minutes but felt like it went 20 due to all the stalling and slow movement. Dreamer kicking out of the Superfly Splash was genuinely shocking and Snuka at least has the decency to sell his disbelief. He ends up hitting two more and winning the match. Dreamer starts bleeding out of the mouth and Snuka carries on his attack until Todd Gordon comes down and unsuccessfully tries to stop Snuka. Dreamer is still wearing that ghastly dick dancer outfit and he's yet to win over the tough ECW fans yet, but the beating he took certainly helped the fans buy him more as a never-say-die babyface, even if the match stunk to high heavens. ½★ Kevin Sullivan & The Tazmaniac vs The Original Sheik & Pat Tanaka (ECW The Night The Line Was Crossed - 2/5/1994) Seeing The Sheik in ECW initially intrigued me, but my intrigue is soon turned to disgust when very overweight a 67-year old Sheik came waddling out to the ring. He ends up knocking down the set and he spends the whole of the match fighting through the crowd. There is way too much crowd-brawling on this show, with this being the third match to feature it. Pat Tanaka is wearing street clothes for some reason and stays in the ring fighting Taz. Both Sheik and Sullivan end up getting color and this misery ends when Sheik 'throws' a fireball at Taz from outside the ring. The fireball didn't really go anywhere near Taz as it burns up quickly before it even goes near the ring. This was really rough. DUD Mike Awesome vs JT Smith (ECW The Night The Line Was Crossed - 2/5/1994) If you've ever seen that iconic clip of Mike Awesome face planting the ring after the top rope snaps as he's about to jump off it, this is from this match. Smith tries to jump Awesome at the start, but Awesome cuts him off by turning him inside out with some nasty clotheslines. Awesome throws Smith outside and hits a jaw-dropping no hands plancha that bends Smith's back over the guard rail in a sickening manner. Smith looks to be finished, but he's able to roll Awesome up for the win just as he's about to hit the Awesome Bomb. Awesome freaks out and starts laying out the referee with two Awesome Bombs, before he unsuccessfully attempts his famous dive from the top rope. Truth be told, I've never been that impressed by Mike Awesome, but this match sold me on him as a highlight reel spectacle wrestler. Don't expect sound wrestling psychology from him, but he's deceivingly agile and will bust out some insane shit. Most wrestlers would be damaged goods after botching as spectacularly as he does here, but Awesome fucking up just made him feel more unpredictable. I might be overrating this seeing as it only went two minutes, but I loved every second of this. ★★★½ Terry Funk vs Sabu vs Shane Douglas (ECW The Night The Line Was Crossed - 2/5/1994) Shane and Sabu start this out as a singles match, with the winner going on to face Funk for the title. If no winner is decided after 15 minutes, then Funk will join this match and it will become a three-way. This has quite a promising start, with Paul E. Dangerously jumping Sherri Martel and kicking off this as a big brawl. Sabu can actually throw a good punch! Things simmer down and we get Sabu doing some arm-work on Douglas. I was surprised to see Sabu working a body part, but I suspect this was just here to soak up the time in this 60-minute draw as it doesn't actually go anywhere. Sabu wipes himself out on a dive to the outside as 15 minutes expires and Terry Funk enters the match. What follows is 45 minutes of aimless brawling, embarrassing botching, and horrendous overbooking. This match was called in-ring and you can tell as it was a complete mess with no cohesive structure. We see a lot of fighting throughout the ECW Arena. Sabu is out for a while, and he sells his leg well enough when he finally returns. Ian and Axl Rotten eventually get involved and everybody gets laid out. The fans seem rather quiet throughout all of this and reward this match with half-hearted golf claps once this is announced as a 60-minute draw. Although the decent bits of brawling and the innovative three-man submission spots stop this from being a complete dud, there's not enough here to make this worth watching. The post-match interviews are great though. I don't think I've disliked a Terry Funk match more than this one. This is by far the worst 60-minute broadway I have ever seen. ½★

Great thread, will have to check out some of these matches! I have a soft spot from those Legend The Pro Wrestling cards and shows of that ilk as you never know who will show up. I remember the 1/8/12 show had a super fun Mitsuya Nagai & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Yuki Ishikawa main event.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm a bit burnt out on Brock matches at the moment, but when it comes time to update this thread once Lesnar has had a few more matches, I'll try and watch all of these.

Shane and Sabu start this out as a singles match, with the winner going on to face Funk for the title. If no winner is decided after 15 minutes, then Funk will join this match and it will become a three-way. This has quite a promising start, with Paul E. Dangerously jumping Sherri Martel and kicking off this as a big brawl. Sabu can actually throw a good punch! Things simmer down and we get Sabu doing some arm-work on Douglas. I was surprised to see Sabu working a body part, but I suspect this was just here to soak up the time in this 60-minute draw as it doesn't actually go anywhere. Sabu wipes himself out on a dive to the outside as 15 minutes expires and Terry Funk enters the match. What follows is 45 minutes of aimless brawling, embarrassing botching, and horrendous overbooking. This match was called in-ring and you can tell as it was a complete mess with no cohesive structure. We see a lot of fighting throughout the ECW Arena. Sabu is out for a while, and he sells his leg well enough when he finally returns. Ian and Axl Rotten eventually get involved and everybody gets laid out. The fans seem rather quiet throughout all of this and reward this match with half-hearted golf claps once this is announced as a 60-minute draw. Although the decent bits of brawling and the innovative three-man submission spots stop this from being a complete dud, there's not enough here to make this worth watching. I don't think I've disliked a Terry Funk match more than this one. By far the worst 60-minute broadway I have ever seen. ½★

This highly influential match opens with some incredible technical exchanges. I can see how this match influenced the future of indy wrestling already as that opening segment would feel right at home during an early ROH show! A few minutes into this, the fans get distracted by an altercation in the crowd and you can tell that Malenko and Guerrero start to wonder why they are losing the crowd. Malenko cuts off Eddy by hitting some unique strikes to his leg to keep him grounded. Malenko's control segment is focused and technically sound, but it doesn't do a good job of building up heat and I found myself bored during this lengthy part of the match. Eddy's comeback isn't much better, as instead of finding a lucky opening to kickstart his comeback, the match suddenly just becomes more back and forth when Guerrero lands a powerbomb for a nearfall. The final few minutes feature some impressive sequences before the time limit just suddenly expires. There are no announcements made during the finishing stretch so they aren't able to build up any drama with Malenko desperately trying to win the title before the time expires. There's a lot of stuff I liked about this, but this was a long 30 minutes. They could have achieved what they did here in 15 or 20 minutes and not completely burned me out. ★★★

Thanks for the love, guys! My main takeaway is that Brock was at his peak during 2012-2015. The guy always brought his A-game and was obviously much more seasoned than he was during his initial WWE run. Suplex City becoming a thing gave Brock an excuse to be lazy. The Saudi shows also stopped him from giving a shit too, as he didn't need to worry about putting in an effort and making new stars as the Saudis are going to keep paying him regardless. This has been fun. I'll try and do another project at some point. I've found a list of the best ECW matches and I've started working my way through them. I could see that being a project if I don't end up getting burnt out on their product. A Shield or Ronda Rousey deep dive is something I've thought about too.

I've now watched the missing NJPW matches and updated that post. That's this project finally completed for now! Here are my top 10 Brock matches! Top 10 Brock Lesnar Matches: Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns (WWE Wrestlemania - 3/29/2015) Brock Lesnar vs CM Punk (No Disqualification) (WWE Summerslam - 8/18/2013) Brock Lesnar vs John Cena (Extreme Rules) (WWE Extreme Rules - 4/29/2012) Brock Lesnar vs John Cena vs Seth Rollins (WWE Royal Rumble - 1/25/2015) Brock Lesnar vs Daniel Bryan (WWE Survivor Series - 11/18/2018) Brock Lesnar vs Chris Benoit (WWE Smackdown - 12/2/2003) Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker (WWE Summerslam - 8/23/2015) Brock Lesnar vs Rey Mysterio (WWE Smackdown - 12/9/2003) Brock Lesnar vs AJ Styles (WWE Survivor Series - 11/19/2017) Brock Lesnar vs The Undertaker (Hell in a Cell) (WWE No Mercy - 10/20/2002)

Glad I'm not the only one who sorta liked Lesnar/Velasquez! Royal Rumble Match (WWE Royal Rumble 2020 - 1/26/2020) Despite being WWE champion, Brock decides to enter the Royal Rumble as the first entrant and rack up 13 eliminations before being eliminated by Drew Mcintyre. Lesnar looks like he's having the time of his life tossing out guys one by one and they kept it interesting by bringing in a variety of different wrestlers. We get a brief reunion with Shelton Benjamin before Lesnar turns on him and eliminates him. Keith Lee gets an incredible rub by being able to stand toe-to-toe with Lesnar before he's thrown out. MVP gets a massive return pop. Mcintyre landing a Claymore on Lesnar and sending him over the top rope got a massive cheer from the crowd and it's by far the most memorable Rumble elimination in years. Lesnar's run made this one of the most unique Rumbles ever. After Lesnar is removed from the match, it starts to feel like your standard Rumble with the exception of Edge's highly emotional return. Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet (WWE Super Showdown - 2/27/2020) Lesnar throws Ricochet around for a bit until it's time for Brock to go home with the F5 in bang-on 90 seconds. Ricochet gets nothing in here. It's been nearly two years since this match happened and Ricochet still hasn't recovered from it. If they wanted to give Brock a Saudi payday and a quick decisive win, then I don't see why they couldn't feed an over-the-hill guy to him instead of having him destroy a fresh face who was just starting to get over. Were Sheamus, Kane, and Big Show all too busy to take a quick loss and collect a hefty payday? This gets half a star for Ricochet's selling of Brock's Germans. I imagine these guys could have had a great match if they had more time and Brock was feeling selfless. ½★ Brock Lesnar vs Drew Mcintyre (WWE Wrestlemania Night 2 - 3/20/2020) This had a similar feel to Brock's match with Goldberg at Wrestlemania 33 in that it was a total bombfest that didn't even scratch the five-minute mark. Lesnar's post-return matches are total spectacle affairs, so having no fans in the building could have easily killed this match, but I thought that they did well with the hand that they were dealt. Drew is very emotive and makes the most of the empty arena setting by shouting trash talk at Lesnar at every chance he can get. Brock, who is going away after this match, lets Drew kick out of a multiple F5s and it's nowhere near as offensive as it was during Lesnar's 2018 Wrestlemania match with Reigns. It's a shame about the lack of crowd, as I could have easily seen myself give this a higher rating if they had done this exact match in front of a hot crowd. I still feel awful that Drew missed out on the opportunity to close out Wrestlemania in front of a packed stadium, this did its job of making Mcintyre look like a main event star. ★★★ Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns (WWE Crown Jewel - 10/21/2021) I'm starting to think that Reigns and Lesnar got lucky when they struck gold and put on one of the best matches in company history at Wrestlemania 31. Paul Heyman being in Reigns' corner should have given this pairing a fresh dynamic to work with. The screwy finish with the tug of war with the belt and the Usos interference didn't do much for me and Lesnar shouldn't be losing his first match back. This was worked more like a traditional match instead of signature move spamfest like their trilogy of matches were back in 2018. There are things I liked about this though. Lesnar had a lot of crazy facials and I love seeing him hit a picture-perfect leapfrog as a counter to a spear. This was decent overall, but I expected better than decent when watching a big-money match between two of WWE's best workers of the past decade. ★★¾ Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins vs Big E vs Kevin Owens vs Bobby Lashley (WWE Day 1 - 1/1/2022) Reigns ends up getting covid on the day that he's meant to have a rematch with Brock, so WWE decides to throw Brock into the WWE title match and make it a five-way. Say what you will about the booking of Big E's title reign, but this was a high-energy heavyweight sprint that was all killer and no filler. The done to death barricade spot rearing its ugly head wasn't enough for me to hate on this. Rollins and Owens work together to take out the two biggest threats in the match in Lesnar and Lashley. Lesnar quickly rising from the dead and laying out guys with F5s left and right looked badass. Seeing both Big E and Lashley interact with Lesnar made me realize how we need to see Lesnar face both of them in singles matches down the line. Having this only go 8 and a half minutes was a genius move as they were able to keep this feeling chaotic with its lightning-quick action. ★★★★¼ Brock Lesnar vs Bobby Lashley (WWE Royal Rumble - 1/29/2022) I like how this started out, with both Lesnar and Lashley getting into intense lock-ups before turning this into a German suplex contest. Lesnar hits one first, only for Lashley to land one that sees Lesnar getting thrown onto his head. Lesnar is all smiles throughout this, with him even giving Lashley props for being able to handle him with ease on that first suplex. This felt like a fresh take on Lesnar's tired Suplex City schtick. Lesnar control segment eventually starts to bore me after he uses nothing but suplexes. I know that Lashley eating shit and crashing through the barricade was a direct callback to their match at Day 1, it's just something I'm just sick of seeing as it feels like someone goes through the barricade every PPV. The referee gets knocked down and Roman Reigns comes down and screws Lesnar out of his title. Lashley's big title victory is quickly overshadowed by Reigns and Lesnar. This started strong before the quality of the match takes a turn and we are left with a finish that made Lashley look like a complete afterthought. ★★★ Royal Rumble Match (WWE Royal Rumble - 1/29/2022) After nearly 50 minutes of a dire Rumble that mainly consists of midcarders who didn't stand a chance of winning, an actual star arrives as the last entrant in the form of a pissed-off Brock Lesnar. Lesnar wastes no time eliminating Randy Orton. Brock then F5s Bad Bunny and removes him from the match. Riddle and Shane McMahon are next to go. In a nice callback to the 2020 Rumble, Lesnar and Drew Mcintyre face off yet again. It's sad to see how colder Mcintyre is received by the fans just two years after he worked them into a frenzy when he first won the Rumble. Brock predictably wins after F5ing Drew to the outside. I have no issue with Brock winning this, it's just a shame how replaceable the majority of the roster felt during this match. Well, that's me up to date! There are still a few things I wanted to cover before I wrap up with this project. Once I'm done with that, I'll add my closing thoughts and I'll try and update this yearly with any new Lesnar matches that take place.

This was the only WCW event that I owned on VHS as a kid and I first watched this show not too long after WCW folded. After already being annoyed with WCW after that horrible invasion storyline killed my interest in WWF, this show further gave me a negative bias against WCW that I wouldn't shake until years later. The VHS we had was missing the first three matches (seeing Mick Foley, Undertaker Bam Bam Bigelow, and the Road Warriors might have made young cactus enjoy this show a little bit more) and I remember enjoying the cage match until that horrible DQ finish killed my enjoyment.

Thanks for the interest, but I really started to regret this project when I got up to the Wrestlemanias from the 2010s. Those shows drag, man. I can't see myself returning to this anytime soon. Maybe one day...

I remember the episodes based around a single TNA PPV being fun. The six-episode Creating TNA run did start to burn me out on the podcast for a short while. They get really granular about the backstage stuff and it's something I can only recommend if you are a die-hard TAN fan.

I've been listening every week and it's Conrad's best podcast. Jeff seems knowledgeable, likable and Conrad ball-busting Jeff actually comes across as humorous banter between two friends instead of feeling like a forced bit. Unlike Bischoff and Pritchard, Jarrett doesn't go off on bitter rants about Meltzer if Conrad reads something from the Observer that Jeff doesn't agree with. I remember that SuperClash 3 episode being quite informative.

Tell me I'm not mental for liking that Lesnar/Velasquez Saudi blood money spectacle please. Brock Lesnar vs Finn Balor (WWE Royal Rumble - 1/27/2019) This is your standard Lesnar vs smaller guy fare. Balor doesn't quite have the talents of a Daniel Bryan or AJ Styles, but all his stuff looks great and he brought a lot of fire. This was by far the most I've felt emotionally invested in a Balor match. After Balor gets an early advantage, Brock cuts him off after catching him and suplexing him and continues to dominate him with overhead belly-to-belly throws. Balor sends Lesnar into the corner of the announce table stomach first and this limits Lesnar from being able to suplex Balor. Lesnar sells his ribs by grimacing and staggering all over the place, and Balor manages to eventually pick up steam and is able to hit his finish. Lesnar powering out of the pin and getting a Kimura locked in deep was a great finish. Balor had no chance, but these guys made me believe for one second that he might actually pin Lesnar clean as a whistle. ★★★★¼ Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins (WWE Wrestlemania - 4/7/2019) After being pissed at not being in the main event slot, Heyman rushes down to the ring and demands that his client's match goes on first. Lesnar attacks Rollins before the match even starts. He hits an F5 on the outside and launches Rollins over the announce desks. Lesnar continues to work over Rollins when he throws him into the ring as the match starts, but a low blow behind the referee's back and three stomps is enough for Rollins to pick up the win in a little over two and a half minutes of actual bell time. Rollins having to resort to using a low blow to win is a small touch that gives them enough of a reason to do a rematch at some point down the line. Lesnar's performance here was formulaic, with him only hitting a few suplexes, an F5, and not much more else. Rollins looked great as a babyface, something that would quickly disappear quickly into his reign. This was a smart way to kick off Wrestlemania with a bang and wake the crowd up. The fans would be burned out when the actual main event started over four hours later, so these guys definitely got the better deal. ★★★ Brock Lesnar vs Ali vs Andrade vs Baron Corbin vs Drew McIntyre vs Finn Balor vs Randy Orton vs Ricochet (Money In The Bank Ladder) (WWE Money In The Bank - 5/19/2019) I won't cover this match in full as Lesnar is in this for literally a minute. After over 15 minutes of action, Lesnar enters the match as the surprise eighth entrant just as Ali is about to get the briefcase. He rushes to the ring and knocks Ali from the ladder and grabs the briefcase. I love that he takes a few seconds to taunt the fans before he takes the briefcase. Ali looked like an idiot here as he just stood at the top of the ladder as Lesnar's music hits and waits for him to come into the ring. I didn't mind Lesnar winning as it came across as a huge shock, even if the MITB concept was beyond played out by this point. Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins (WWE Extreme Rules - 7/14/2019) Paul Heyman said that Lesnar would be cashing in his MITB tonight, but no one can tell if he's bluffing or not. After Rollins wins his match, Lesnar rushes to the ring. He lands a couple of German suplexes on Rollins before he cashes in his briefcase. An F5 and 16 seconds later, we have a new Universal champion. As far as MITB cash-ins go, this was unremarkable. This was a lazy way to set up for a Rollins/Lesnar rematch. Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins (WWE Summerslam - 8/11/2019) Rollins is coming into this with taped-up ribs and that's what Lesnar focuses his attack on. Lesnar picking up Rollins by the tape on his ribs and spinning him around like a toy made for a scary visual. Rollins countering out of Lesnar's German suplex by backflipping was not only impressive physically, but it added a layer to the story as Rollins showed everyone that he can block Lesnar from doing one of his most dangerous moves. Rollins' inconsistent selling really hurt this. His idea of selling his hurt ribs is just to do all the stuff he'd usually do, but occasionally grab his belly and groan. That's not what selling should be. It's a common issue I have with Rollins. I did enjoy some of the finisher counter exchanges during the finishing stretch though and that dive through the announce table by Rollins was quite the sight. The Toronto crowd ate this up, but this didn't do too much for me. ★★★ Brock Lesnar vs Kofi Kingston (WWE Smackdown - 10/4/2019) Lesnar's first TV match in 15 years is done and dusted in seven seconds. Kofi leaps at Lesnar, Lesnar counters with an F5 and Lesnar is now WWE champion again. After the bell, Rey Mysterio's music hits and he comes down to the ring with a debuting Cain Velasquez with him. Lesnar sold his shock well, as Velasquez starts wailing on Brock. I still feel bad for Kofi. After winning the WWE title at Wrestlemania and holding it for over six months, he drops it to Lesnar and immediately felt like an afterthought once everything with Velasquez went down. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez (WWE Crown Jewel - 10/31/2019) I've seen this match described as 'fake MMA' and I think that is selling this short. This was WWE heavyweight shoot-style. After 90 seconds of grappling and clinching, Cain lands an explosive strike combo on Lesnar. Now grounded, Lesnar is able to lock on kimura for the flash victory. The fans reacted to the finish as if they were watching a sudden victory in a big-time boxing match. Lesnar refuses to break the hold, so Mysterio unsuccessfully tries to fight Brock off with a steel chair. Call me crazy, but I liked this. I love the presentation and how everything looked legitimate. I wish this went longer, but it did its job of building up to a Lesnar/Mysterio match. There's not another WWE match that feels like this one. I don't think anyone was expecting Velasquez to be beaten so easily. I remember people thinking we would be getting a Lesnar/Velasquez rematch at the next year's Wrestlemania, but that never ends up happening and Cain is quietly let go from WWE in April 2020. ★★¾ Brock Lesnar vs Rey Mysterio (No Holds Barred No Disqualification) (WWE Survivor Series - 11/24/2019) Mysterio looks like a right dork fighting for his son's honor as he cosplays as The Joker. Mysterio immediately goes to grab a steel pipe and that pipe plays a big part in this match. This match is Lesnar doing his usual shtick when fighting a much smaller opponent. Dominate, let his opponent get some fantastic hope spots, before putting them away. I have no complaints against this formula as it clearly works wonders and a loss to Brock does more for your momentum than a win against most other wrestlers on the roster. Lesnar is brilliant here during his control segment. He postures around, trash-talks Rey, and even takes time to tie up his boot, the dick. Mysterio's plan to use a steel pipe would end up backfiring as Lesnar German suplexes him onto the pipe in a disgusting spot. Dominick tries to throw the towel to stop the beating of his father, but Lesnar intervenes and this leads to one of the most convincing hope spots of the year. Looking at this and his matches with AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, and even that Goldberg squash, Brock Lesnar is Mr. Survivor Series at this point. ★★★★¼

Brock's 2018 was by far his weakest year yet. We've got Saudi bloody money shows, a horribly booked feud with Roman Reigns, and a lot of lazy performances from Brock. Brock Lesnar vs Kane vs Braun Strowman (WWE Royal Rumble - 1/28/2018) This felt as if they were trying to recapture the anarchic magic of the Summerslam four-way from the year previous that Brock and Strowman were both apart and failing at it. Lesnar is being lazy, Kane is way past his prime, and Strowman is just too green to try and keep this one feeling chaotic, so instead, they hid behind the weapon spots to try and give this one some life. Strowman takes the most half-hearted table bump that I've ever seen when Kane slips out of a powerslam and lightly shoves Braun into a corner that's set up vertically. Strowman does show glimpses of what made him popular in the first place by hitting a running dropkick and punching a chair out of Lesnar's hands. The highlight of this has to be Lesnar getting legitimately pissed and pototaoing Strowman after Strownman lands a stiff knee right into Lesnar's face. There wasn't a chance in hell that either Kane or Strowman were walking away with the title. It's fine for what it is. ★★¾ Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns (WWE Wrestlemania - 4/8/2018) WWE booked themselves into a corner here. The fans are so sick of Reigns being pushed as a face that a Reigns victory would mean that they would end Wrestlemania on a sour note, but Reigns can't really lose here after all the work that they had put into him. What we got was a match that starts out promisingly enough, with Reigns and Lesnar putting on a firey brawl that sees Reigns get thrown all about the place. After Lesnar kicks out of two spears, he counters a third spear by landing a stiff as fuck leaping knee. This is where the match takes a drastic turn for the worst. Lesnar hits F5 after F5 and Reigns kicks out of every one of them. This was ridiculous and it killed the crowd. The excessive F5s didn't make Roman look like a star and made everyone who lost to a single one in the past 12 months look weak as Colin Delany. They could achieve what they wanted to do without overexposing both guys' finish and not burn out the crowd either. Now frustrated, Brock takes off his gloves and starts pounding away at Roman, and gives him one of the nastiest gashes I've seen in a long time. It was so brutal that I questioned where it was legit blood as there was no way WWE would allow their ace to piss out blood like that. Reigns gets in one hope spot before Lesnar catches Reigns in a final F5. There are things that I liked about this, such as the opening brawling segment, the blood, and Brock's shocked facials after Roman kicks out of the F5, but I'd be lying to say that this wasn't a booking disaster where both guys looked ruined by the time the show went off the air. ★★½ Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns (Steel Cage) (WWE Greatest Royal Rumble - 4/27/2018) While this certainly wasn't as much as a booking trainwreck as their Wrestlemania encounter, this felt very paint by numbers. They waste no time throwing bombs and both men hit their finishers early. They don't overexpose their finishers like they did during their last match, but it's hard to treat those moves as a threat when they used them so badly last time. Brock bumps well and I like that the cage actually came into play. I'm not a guy who believes that someone having more moves in their arsenal means that they are a better worker, but I wished we got more move variety as the only things these two did were German suplexes, Superman punches, F5s, and Spears. The spear through the cage was a neat spot, but it made for a copout finish and I pretty sure Roman's feet hit the floor first. ★★½ Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns (WWE Summerslam - 8/19/2018) Just before the bell rings, Braun Strowman comes down and cuts a promo saying that he will cash in his MITB briefcase on whoever wins the match. Strowman decides to stick around and watch this one up close. The match starts and we go straight into signature move spamming. It's not as offensive as it was during Brock/Roman's last two matches as it felt energic and they don't bury each other's finishers again. Reigns hit a flurry of Superman punches on Lesnar, who sells them well by stumbling all over the place. Lesnar is able to counter a spear into a guillotine choke and they milk a lot of drama with Reigns possibly passing out before he fights out of the hold. Lesnar dodges another spear by sending Reigns to the outside, colliding with Strowman. Lesnar takes out Strowman out by hitting an F5 on the outside, as well as nailing him with a number of chair shots for good measure. I have an issue with this part as the referee seems to refuse to count Lesnar during his assault on Strowman. Reigns recovers during Lesnar's beatdown on Strowman and hits another spear to win the match. Reigns might be damaged after years of bad booking, but he finally gets his win over Lesnar and the fans aren't completely hating on the result. ★★★ Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman (WWE Crown Jewel - 11/2/2018) With the Universal Championship now vacant after Reigns' leukemia returns, this match is set up for the vacant title. Baron Corbin is seemingly here to present the title to the victor, but he attacks Strowman with the belt. Lesnar hits multiple F5s, with Strowman kicking out every time. Lesnar F5 Strowman to the floor and attempts to win the vacant title by countout instead. Strowman makes it back in the ring and hits a big boot, the only move he hits during this dreadful bout, before falling victim to a final F5. The fans in the stadium came alive when Strowman looked to be making a comeback, why did they finish him off so quickly? You would think that WWE would have learned after their Wrestlemania 34 debacle that having a wrestler kick out of multiple F5s doesn't mean that they are going to become a star. Strowman's title run is yet again delayed, and the fans are really starting to tire of Lesnar by this point. This damaged everyone involved. DUD Brock Lesnar vs Daniel Bryan (WWE Survivor Series - 11/18/2018) This was a rare heel vs heel pairing that actually worked. This is as dominant as Lesnar had looked since he squashed Cena at Summerslam 2014. Bryan teasing Lesnar was brilliant and Brock had me creasing when he planted Bryan right on his neck after the first German. Lesnar mocks the Suplex City stuff by making sarcastic comments at the crowd as he takes his time with Bryan. This isn't Brock being lazy, this is Brock adding fuel to the fire of Bryan's eventual comeback. There's a section of impatient fans who start making boring chants at the match, but the majority of the audience watches this in stunned silence. Seeing Bryan finally get his comeback after knocking the referee down and kicking Lesnar in the balls made for a cool moment that touched on how Bryan won the title just days prior. This is a rare match that made me feel like a kid, with every interaction feeling like it could result in the match ending. Lesnar's selling of the leg was sublime, him crumbling to the ground after attempting an F5 was a nice bit of wrestling psychology. This was something special. Even with no build, this blew everything on this show out of the water. ★★★★¾

Royal Rumble Match (WWE Royal Rumble - 1/27/2017) Lesnar's involvement in the 2017 Rumble match only lasts for a brisk 5 minutes, but it served its purpose of building up anticipation for a Lesnar/Goldberg rematch. Lesnar is the 26th entrant into the match and clears house, eliminating Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose in quick fashion. He lays out everyone around in and stands dominant in the middle of the ring as he awaits the next entrant. I've always loved that repeated spot that they do in the Rumble where a severely undersized entrant comes out at the worst possible time. The next entrant turns out to be Enzo Amore. He fires himself up before getting turned inside out by a lariat and eliminated from the match. Goldberg comes out next and in a repeat of Survivor Series, hits Lesnar with a spear within seconds. Lesnar is then clotheslined out of the ring and Lesnar is humiliated once again by Goldberg. I remember this Rumble not being very good, but Brock's involvement was great stuff that perfectly sets the stage for one of that year's Wrestlemania's biggest matches. Brock Lesnar vs Big Show (WWE Live - 2/4/2017) Big Show doesn't seem to want to take any unnecessary bumps here, so Lesnar instead bumps around for Show. This stopped Lesnar from relying on his standard house show formula. Lesnar tries to charge at Show, but this ends up with Lesnar falling on his arse. Big Show gets a surprising amount of offense on Lesnar, clobbering him with body blows, a scoop slam, and his big overhand chop in the corner. Lesnar is unsuccessful at knocking Show off his feet after he lands a number of clotheslines. Just as Show is about to land a chokeslam, Lesnar counters the move into a quick F5 to score the win. Despite not feeling formulaic like the other Lesnar house show matches, this was still unremarkable. ★★¼ Brock Lesnar vs Kevin Owens (WWE Live - 3/12/2017) This pairing is one of the few WWE matches that I would consider a dream match. I have no doubt that a motivated Lesnar facing Owens in a PPV match would create magic. Until that happens, we will have to settle for a two minutes house show squash match where Lesnar wasn't exactly giving to Owens and it felt like Lesnar wanted to get out of MSG and head straight home. Owens is fired up and jumps Lesnar as he is mid-way through removing his shirt. He lands a cannonball in the corner before nailing a Swanton bomb. Owens' downfall is when he attempts to go up top for a second time. Lesnar cuts off Owens by suplexing him from the second rope. We get a couple more suplexes before Brock lands an F5 to win. Even if this was a nothing house show match, I still found this disappointing. ★½ Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg (WWE Wrestlemania - 4/2/2017) Being just shy of 5 minutes, this is pro wrestling comfort food that I can come back to time and time again. After Goldberg beats Kevin Owens in seconds, the fans have turned on Goldberg and are rooting for a Lesnar win. Despite opening strong with a trio of suplexes, Lesnar ends up eating a spear early and gets hit with bombs until he counters a spear with a LEAPFROG that sends Goldberg violently headfirst into the corner. Every single move is a signature move and the crowd loves every second. Even the overdone barricade spot isn't enough to sour me on this. Who would have thought Lesnar would work so well as a babyface? When Brock is stuck in Suplex City mode, being in a bomb-throwing sprint like this is the best environment for him. ★★★★¼ Brock Lesnar vs Samoa Joe (WWE Great Balls Of Fire - 7/9/2017) Joe jumps Lesnar during the introductions and puts him through the announce table with a uranage. The crowd is hot for the pre-match table bump, and you get the feeling you are about to witness something special. The initial grappling feels like a struggle, with both guys trying to get some knees in during the exchanges. Lesnar does a good job getting over the danger of Joe's finish, with his terrified facials. Lesnar slithering under Joe to avoid the submission was an unexpectedly cool moment. It's not long until Lesnar manages to get an F5 in and the match comes to a sudden end. What we got was decent, but I felt like this ended just as they were getting started. I remember when I first watched this and how I was extremely disappointed that they had a match that was done and dusted with one F5 in a little over six minutes. I also never believed for one second that Joe was going to tap out Lesnar. This should have been much better given the talent and it's a victim to its own hype, but it's still a stiff hoss fight that's well worth a watch. ★★★¼ Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman vs Samoa Joe vs Roman Reigns (WWE Summerslam - 8/20/2017) The first half of this is an all-out spectacle that sees things like Lesnar going through two tables and Braun lobbing office chairs at people's heads. After Braun powerslam Brock through the two announce tables and flips the only standing table onto Brock, Lesnar is removed from the match as Heyman looks like he's about to have a stroke. It's a shame that this loses a lot of steam once Lesnar does the stretcher job as it would have been one of the best multi-man matches of all time if they could have kept that intensity going. The match just becomes your standard WWE multi-man match after halfway point, although I did enjoy Reigns and Strowman's sequences together as it reminded me of the great chemistry they had with each other around this time. Strowman was booked to be unstoppable here. He was the only man that Brock couldn't German suplex and no one kicks out of his powerslam finisher. This was a great main event that did its job of wetting the audience's appetite for a Strowman/Lesnar singles match. ★★★★ Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman (WWE No Mercy - 9/24/2017) I liked the opening to this, in which Braun flexes his power by blocking a Lesnar double leg. Lesnar manages to score one German suplex and looks really proud of himself, only for Braun to pop right up and hit a chokeslam and a powerslam for an early nearfall. Lesnar makes himself look vulnerable for Braun, but there's never a point that I thought that Braun would win this. Lesnar's back buckling when he attempts an early F5 was a nice bit of selling. Despite Brock showing glimpses of greatness early on, he eventually switches to Lazy Brock Mode and just starts suplexing Braun like he's a nobody before the match ends with one F5. The fans aren't buying Braun as a credible threat and it made for a match with a dead atmosphere. Just like Lesnar's match with Samoa Joe, I remember this being a match that looked awesome and paper and underwhelmed me when I watched it. Unlike the Joe match, there's not even much to like here before it reaches its premature conclusion. ★★ Brock Lesnar vs Sheamus (WWE Live - 9/30/2017) Brock starts this match suplex happy and he doesn't change things up at all. 90% of the moves Brock hits here are a variation of a suplex. Sheamus mounts a comeback after Brock misses a shoulder charge and Cesaro interferes by guillotining Brock's throat over the ropes when the referee is distracted. We get a lot of repeated spots from the Sheamus/Lesnar house show match from 2016. Just like in their 2016 bout, Lesnar scouts out a Sheamus aerial attack by countering with a nice overhead belly-to-belly. Sheamus also uses multiple Brogue kicks in a failed effort to keep Brock from getting up. We get the same finish as their last match too, with Lesnar countering Sheamus' fourth Brogue Kick for the victory. This wasn't as good as their last match, as they didn't get enough time and Brock didn't want to bring anything interesting to the table. ★★½ Brock Lesnar vs AJ Styles (WWE Survivor Series - 11/19/2017) It was around this time that the general consensus was that Brock works best when he's facing smaller guys and this match added a lot of fuel to that argument. I don't think that's true per se (Brock's matches with Cena and Reigns are some of his best), but I can see why that narrative came around during this time. Truth be told, I think this is great because Lesnar looks like he finally gives a shit again and AJ Styles is one of the greatest babyface wrestlers of all time. Instead of relying on his tired Suplex City schtick, Brock takes time to trash-talk the fans and the suplexes he does hit are enhanced by Styles' insane bumping. Styles gets pulled around by his hair and is thrown around the ring like a sack of shit. My only minor nitpick is that there is a lack of pacing around the middle section of the match. They look a bit lost after the botched Tornado DDT spot. All of Styles' comebacks felt organic and I actually thought he was going to make Brock tap when he had the Calf Crusher locked in. That F5 to Calf Crusher transition was glorious, only to be topped moments later when Brock countered out of the move by bouncing Styles' head off the mat as if it was a basketball! ★★★★½

Man, Brock's 2016 wasn't that great. Brock Lesnar vs Rusev (WWE Live - 2/6/2016) This is another match that would have gone down a treat if they gave them time. The fans get pretty hyped up about Heyman's introduction. Rusev is able to stun Lesnar with kicks and locks on the Accolade. Lesnar slips out the back and suplexes Rusev before putting him away with the F5 in a little over two minutes. Lesnar counting along with fans as he hits his German suplexes was an unexpected babyface move from him. There's not much to write about here. ★★ Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns vs Dean Ambrose (WWE Fastlane - 2/21/2016) The winner of this will go on to face Triple H for the title at Wrestlemania and the crowd is clearly rooting for an Ambrose win here. Ambrose might have weak-looking strikes, but Lesnar doesn't sell them as death blows, so it didn't look too hokey. We get some nutty three-man spots such as Reigns spearing Lesnar as he had Ambrose for the F5 and Lesnar German suplexing Reigns at the same time as Reigns had Ambrose up in a fireman's carry. Brock was booked to be unstoppable here, with Reigns and Ambrose having to work together and put him through two announces tables to neutralize him. Reigns and Ambrose work some flashy sequences until Brock is able to return to the match. Brock has Roman in the Kimura, but Ambrose pummels him with the chair until he's out of the match for good. Roman spears Ambrose just as he's finished with Brock and wins the match. This was a moreish three-way match that went just the right time and had plenty of big spots and momentum shifts to keep you interested. ★★★★ Brock Lesnar vs Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper (WWE Roadblock - 3/12/2016) Although this is a handicap match, Bray is suffering from a real injury and never gets involved. This match is here to build up to a Bray/Brock Wrestlemania match that never ends up happening, which is probably a good thing as I can't imagine those two clicking. I've started to sour on Lesnar around this point as you can tell he's getting lazy and coasts on by on his Suplex City gimmick. He's in full house show mode here and doesn't bring anything worth mentioning to the table. One thing he did here that impress me was deadlift Harper from a grounded position to German suplex him. Harper hits a glorious suicide dive onto Lesnar when Wyatt distracts Lesnar. Harper lands his discus clothesline finish for a nearfall, which no one in the building was biting on. A second discus clothesline attempt is unsuccessful and Lesnar hits a few more suplexes and an F5 to decisively pin Harper. ★★ Brock Lesnar vs Dean Ambrose (No Holds Barred Street Fight) (WWE Wrestlemania - 4/3/2016) This is the infamous match where Brock didn't want to play ball and shot most of Ambrose's ideas down when they were planning out the match. Lesnar looks like he's having the time of his life throwing Ambrose around like he's made of feathers, even if Brock wasn't putting in much effort here. This was a one-sided beating where Ambrose took 13 suplexes, but Ambrose kept it entertaining by being charismatic as hell as Lesnar beats forty shades of shit out of him. Lesnar using Kurt Angle's old jump-up belly-to-belly superplex to cut off Ambrose was the coolest thing he did in this match. Ambrose's hope spots felt scrappy, but I wasn't thrilled by those laughable fake chair shots. I thought Ambrose attempting to use a chainsaw was way too gimmicky. What was he planning to do if he managed to get the thing working? Would we see the first dismembering in Wrestlemania history? Although it does put a bummer on things know that these guys could put on something so much better than what we got here, the end result was still an entertaining weapons match, even if the result never felt in question. ★★★¼ Brock Lesnar vs Randy Orton (WWE Summerslam - 8/21/2016) To get around from WWE's no-blading policy, Brock and Randy decide to get color by having BROCK CAVE OPEN RANDY'S SKULL WITH SHOOT ELBOWS. Wrestling is batshit crazy, isn't it? As memorable of a visual Orton's head gushing out blood like a tap is, the actual match is a pretty vanilla affair with Brock yet again phoning it in. Not a whole lot happens in the first half, with the exception of Orton taking a few announce table bumps. If you need convincing that the RKO is one of the most over moves in wrestling history, watch how quickly the fans came unglued when Orton is able to sneak in a flash RKO just as Brock is about to put him through the second announce table. Orton mounts a comeback, but Lesnar intercepts a punt kick attempt with an F5. Orton kicks out and this pisses Lesnar off. Lesnar removes his gloves and starts raining down strikes onto Orton. After Orton gets cut open, the ringside crew look after him for quite some time and eventually call the match off after Brock keeps beating on a downed Orton. This annoyed the fans and the finish came off as a wet fart. ★★½ Brock Lesnar vs Randy Orton (No Disqualification) (WWE Live - 9/24/2016) You would think after Lesnar TKO'd Orton with stiff elbows that we would get a big PPV return match, but this is WWE and we will have to settle for a rematch that happened on a random Chicago house show. Orton starts this by coming through the crowd and blindsiding Lesnar with a chair. Lesnar goes for an F5, but Orton counters for an early RKO. We some lackluster brawling around the ringside area before they return back to the ring for the finish. I love Lesnar suckering Orton in by cowering away from him when Orton he had the chair, only for Brock to jump up and land a quick German on Randy. The live crowd seemed to lap this up, but this was largely uninteresting to me. At least we got a decisive finish this time. ★★½ Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg (WWE Survivor Series - 11/20/2016) After their dud at Wrestlemania XX, many fans had their reservations about this being any better, given that over 12 years have passed since then. No one wants to see Lesnar and Goldberg stink up the place with another 15-minute snoozefest. They keep it brief and everything is booked around Goldberg's limited skill set and use his monster charisma and intensity to create a memorable main event squash. After Lesnar double leg tackles Goldberg into a corner, Goldberg shoves Lesnar, two spears, Jackhammer, home time. Lesnar sells the shock with his great facials and Heyman freaks out. I love how Lesnar put over how winded he was after taking the two spears. It almost feels like sacrilege rating something so brief so highly (this goes a grand total of 86 seconds!), but there's zero wasted movements, and the crowd lap up every second. You know you've done a good job when you deliver a marquee match this short and the crowd just doesn't seem to mind. ★★★½

I don't think that would have helped Roman. The fans were still going to hate on him regardless. Thanks for helping me find the Nagata/Nakanishi matches! I will post my thoughts on them as soon as I get a chance to watch them. Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker (WWE Summerslam - 8/23/2015) This felt as if Undertaker was embarrassed by the shambolic Wrestlemania match and decided to put in a career performance in the rematch. He's all killer, no filler here. This was a total bombfest, which played to Lesnar's strengths. The trash talk here was top-notch and shows that WWE can actually use dialogue within their matches without it coming off like a school play. That dueling sit-up spot was incredible. Brock has Undertaker in the Kimura and the bell randomly rings without Undertaker tapping out, causing mass confusion and outrage. The referee argues with the timekeeper as Undertaker hits a low blow and locks on the Hell's Gate. The image of Brock giving Undertaker the bird before finally passing out made for a hell of a final visual. The shady finish wasn't brilliant, but I can forgive them seeing as they were desperate to protect Brock's aura. This was a dramatic hoss fight and one of the few times where Undertaker actually comes off as cool as he thinks he is. If you would have told me a week ago that I'd prefer this match over their legendary 2002 Hell In A Cell, I'd call you crazy, but here we are. ★★★★½ Brock Lesnar vs Big Show (WWE Live From MSG: Lesnar Vs. Big Show - 10/3/2015) After a few seconds of both men shoulder barging each other, Show thwarts a double leg takedown from Lesnar. Show dead-lifts Lesnar and throws him to the outside. That's one way to open a match! Lesnar tries to keep his cool by laughing off this embarrassing moment. Show ends up giving Lesnar three chokeslams, but Lesnar kicks out. After ducking Show's KO punch, he lands a trifecta of German suplexes. We then see Lesnar attempt to F5 Show, but Show is way too big and Lesnar just ends up dropping him. A second attempt proves to be more successful. These two can always put together a fun match, even if it only goes a handful of minutes and this match was no exception. It's not essential viewing, but it was a fun little hoss fight. Seeing Lesnar throw Show around is never not going to be entertaining. ★★★¼ Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker (Hell in a Cell) (WWE Hell In A Cell - 10/25/2015) This might be Undertaker's last great performance. Lesnar doesn't do anything too impressive here and this match is mostly made by Undertaker being motivated and relatively healthy considering his age. After brawling around the cell, Lesnar gets color by getting rammed into the ring post. This would have made for a cool spot, but they botched it as Lesnar clearing had his hand up and stopped himself just before he made contact with the post. Regardless of that botch, Lesnar bleeds a lot and a doctor comes in to try and clean up Lesnar's wound. The fans were not happy with this and it hurt the flow of the match. Lesnar gets the biggest pop of the match by shoving the doctor to the mat once he tries to intervene a second time. I wish they used the cell as a weapon more, but they keep this one feeling violent by having plenty of steel chair and steel steps shots. Frustrated with Undertaker kicking out of two F5s, Lesnar decides to rip apart the ring canvas and expose the hard wooden boards of the ring. Lesnar ends up eating a Tombstone onto the exposed ring, but Lesnar is able to kick out. Watching Undertaker take an F5 onto the wooden boards made me feel for his hip. There's no way that didn't hurt like a bitch! This might be one of the best HIAC matches since they made the match a yearly tradition, as this actually felt chaotic. ★★★★¼ Brock Lesnar vs Alberto Del Rio (WWE Live - 12/19/2015) This is the only time these two ever fought and the only time that Brock challenged for the US title. Seeing as this is a house show, Brock plays this one safe. The match kept short and Lesnar sticks to his Suplex City schtick. After Brock does his trademark failed shoulder into the ring post transitional spot, Del Rio softens up Brock's arm with a number of strikes. Del Rio hits his Armbar finisher, but Brock powers out, which is something that got a loud gasp from the crowd. After a few more suplexes from Lesnar, he decides to go to end this one via F5, but he is interrupted by an interfering Rusev. Brock wins the match, but not the title as this is ruled a DQ. Rusev eats an F5 for his troubles. This was fine for what it was, and I'm sure Brock being added to this card helped shift a few tickets. ★★½ Brock Lesnar vs Sheamus (WWE Live - 1/8/2016) This is a pairing that I wish got a proper PPV match with Lesnar being motivated. After watching this match and the Del Rio match, you can tell Brock has a formula worked out for these live events. Lesnar dominates, he misses a tackle and eats the ring post, his opponent gets some offense in and maybe one nearfall, before Lesnar powers up and puts them away after some German suplexes and an F5. I'm not chastising Lesnar for playing it safe, it's just something I've noticed. Thankfully Sheamus is wonderful in this and his smash-mouth style meshes well with Lesnar's. Both guys had great body language and facial reactions, with Lesnar giving Sheamus a fierce look when he catches Sheamus' leg as he attempts a fourth Brogue Kick. Brock is quite giving with Sheamus and lets him get a lot of stuff in. Sheamus having to hit his signature spots multiple times before Lesnar goes down was a nice touch as it puts over that Lesnar just isn't built like the other wrestlers on the roster. These guys have great chemistry and if you are okay with watching a handheld recording, this is worth checking out. ★★★½ Royal Rumble Match (WWE Royal Rumble - 1/30/2016) I won't cover the whole match as Lesnar is only in this for just under 10 minutes. This was the Rumble that was for Roman Reigns' WWE title and Lesnar is the 23rd entrant into the match. He immediately attacks the members of the Wyatt family. Jack Swagger is out next and is eliminated in 15 seconds by Brock. The Miz comes out next and heads straight to the commentary desk and cuts an amusing promo. Lesnar eventually eliminates all of the Wyatt Family, but Bray is out next. Wyatt forces his family to team up and gets rid of Lesnar. Lesnar's run here was fun stuff and it set up his feud with Wyatt nicely.

Yeah, he goes from a promising rookie to a workhorse who can hold his own in a matter of weeks. Brock Lesnar vs John Cena (WWE Summerslam - 8/17/2014) After taking the loss during their last bout, Lesnar has been on a tear and gets his win back in dominating fashion. Lesnar's performance was fantastic, mocking the Undertaker's sit-up and his staggering selling being my favorite moments. The match starts off with Cena and Lesnar getting in a scuffle before Lesnar lands an F5 30 seconds in! Lesnar dominates Cena with German suplexes, which look a lot more devastating now than they did when a dazed Undertaker was getting thrown around during Brock's last match. Cena gets in two massive hope spots. The first one sees him escaping out of a suplex attempt by clobbering Lesnar with strikes and following it up with an AA for a cogent nearfall. He also is able to lock in a tight STF out of nowhere, but Brock powers out and it's all over for Cena. Each of these hope spots infuriates Lesnar, who is now so full of rage that he's turned red! I don't have an issue with this being extremely one-sided, as it's a complete rehabilitation for Lesnar after losing to Cena during his first match back with the company. This is one of the most devastating squash matches of all time and I loved every minute of it. ★★★★½ Brock Lesnar vs John Cena (WWE Night Of Champions - 9/21/2014) Cena thinks he has Lesnar scouted out after he got mauled by him at Summerslam. Cena blocks a German suplex attempt by holding onto the ropes and follows it up with a flash AA, but it has little effect on Lesnar and it only gets a 1 count. I'd usually have an issue with someone kicking out of someone's finish at 1, but I can give Lesnar a pass as he booked to be so incredibly dominant. Lesnar mixes up his offense and we see some float-over snap and belly-to-belly suplexes. Lesnar is hellbent on tapping out Cena, so we also see a Kimura, with Cena selling the pain convincingly. Cena isn't afraid to potato Lesnar during his comebacks, and he busts up Lesnar's nose. Lesnar taking off his gloves is a neat visual, letting everyone know that he's not fucking around now. The submission exchanges looked organic, and Cena using an AA to weaken Lesnar for the STF made sense, as he is sure as hell wasn't scoring a pinfall of that move. After hitting yet another AA, Seth Rollins comes down to break up the pin and causes this one to be thrown out. During the post-match, we get a fun tease of Rollins cashing in his MITB briefcase, with Cena pulling Rollins from the ring before he has the chance to start the match. The interference finish soured me a tad, but it's not enough to undo the work that Cena and Lesnar had laid out. This was excellent, and I feel not enough people talk about this, perhaps due to the lame finish. It's not quite on the level of their Extreme Rules match, but not many matches are. ★★★★½ Brock Lesnar vs John Cena vs Seth Rollins (WWE Royal Rumble - 1/25/2015) This has a crazy pace that rarely slows down which makes this an absolute treat to watch. Everyone brought something unique to the table. Cena is the powerhouse babyface, Rollins is the sneaky high flyer who will try and steal a victory and Lesnar is the video game end boss. Lesnar and Cena are great as always, but I thought this was a breakout performance for Rollins. He uses his insane athleticism in ways that left my jaw firmly on the ground. He successfully pulls off that counter to the AA that made CM Punk fall on his arse on MITB 2011 and I think he hits the first-ever phoenix splash in a WWE ring. Rollins is a guy that I've soured on over the years as he seems more focused on hitting the coolest high spot than focusing on psychology and things on that ilk, but watching him here reminded me why I was previously such a big fan of his and how he thrived in environments like this. Things like J& J Security getting involved and Lesnar having to be neutralized if Rollins and Cena want to stand a chance are light storytelling elements that stopped this from being a complete spotfest. This might just be the best triple threat match in history. ★★★★¾ Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns (WWE Wrestlemania - 3/29/2015) Reigns is one of the few guys who looks like a total boss TAKING a beating. He smirks at Lesnar while getting the shit suplexed out of him. I know that WWE doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to booking a babyface, but I don't know how the fans didn't love Reigns after this match. Lesnar gets an F5 early but is in no rush to pin as he wants to hurt Roman. Reigns kicks out of a second F5 and Brock sees this as a sign of disrespect and starts removing his gloves to let everyone know that he's not fucking around now. He slaps the piss out of Reign's mouth. Brock eats a ring post and bleeds like a pig. He sells his injury well, staggering around the place with a glazed facial expression. Reigns gets in a hope spot to end all hope spot. He hits a barrage of Superman punches before Lesnar catches him in an F5. Seth Rollins' music hits and he cashes in his MITB briefcase and turns this into a 3 way. I knew Rollins was going to get involved somehow, but I didn't expect him to do it while the match was still going on. The ending made Lesnar look strong while losing the belt and opens the door to a future Lesnar vs Reigns match. ★★★★★ Brock Lesnar vs Kofi Kingston (WWE Live From Tokyo: The Beast From The East - 7/4/2015) Brock makes his return to Japan after 8 years away and is fed poor Kofi Kingston in an attempt to revitalize him after his loss at Wrestlemania. Kofi tries to take a page out of Rey Mysterio's book by running around the ring in an effort to tire Brock out. He lays some strikes in, but they have no effect on Brock and he just brushes them off. Brock captures Kofi after a Kofi high-spot doesn't pay off and suplexes him on his head. Kofi takes Brock's suplexes well, especially the one he counters out of by doing a pitch-perfect backflip before being quickly beaten by the F5. Kofi showed a lot of heart and sold his fear of Brock well. Lesnar looked downright scary here. If squash matches aren't your thing, then skip on this one, but this might be one of my favorite squashes ever. ★★★½ Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins (WWE Battleground - 7/19/2015) The opening minutes have a lot of struggle, with Rollins trying his hardest to avoid being suplexed. Suplex City is officially a thing now, with the crowd counting every single German thrown. I thought Lesnar leans into it a bit too much, which is a small criticism I have of him once Suplex City became a thing. There are minutes here where it's nothing but German suplexes and that becomes tiresome quickly. Rollins tries to escape through the crowd, but Lesnar catches up to him by jumping and clearing the barricade with total ease. I always love those moments where Brock shows that he has scary athleticism, onto of being a total powerhouse. Like the Kofi match, Rollins used the momentum of Lesnar's suplex to land on his feet. Unlike the Kofi match, Rollins' strikes actually seem to damage Lesnar, with Lesnar dropping to his knee after Rollins lays some stiff shots into his leg. Just as Lesnar has Rollins beat, the lights go out and Undertaker's gong hits. The lights come back on and Lesnar is put down by Undertaker. Rollins and the referee seemed to disappear during this and the match is forgotten about. What a way to bury your new champion! This was a fun match, with a really dumb ending. ★★★

Interesting project! The only Tiger Mask match from this era that I've seen is the tag where teamed with Inoki to fight Fujiwara and Liger. I watched it when I first got into puro. Looking like a dream match on paper, I went into it expecting to see magic and what I got was incredibly disappointing! Inoki was ancient by 1997 and Liger and Sayama just didn't seem to click.

Brock Lesnar vs John Cena (Extreme Rules) (WWE Extreme Rules - 4/29/2012) As good as I remembered it. Lesnar feels like a video game boss that feels nigh on impossible to beat. After cutting open Cena with shoot nasty elbows, Lesnar controls 90% of the match. I don't even mind the ref stoppages as they give us time to reflect on how brutal Brock's offense is as they replay the elbow multiple times, all while Lesnar is pacing around like a caged animal. Lesnar looked like he was having the time of his life torturing the golden boy of the company. He doesn't rush anything and gives everything time to breathe. Cena sells his injuries well and all of his hope spots feel organic and he even makes a usually anti-Cena crowd root for him. Did the wrong guy go over? Probably, but I don't think that the booking decision of Cena going over is as bad as everyone makes it out to be. This was a violent, nutty spectacle between two of the best ever. ★★★★★ Brock Lesnar vs Triple H (No Disqualification) (WWE Summerslam - 8/19/2012) Lesnar had previously broken Triple H's arm leading up to this, so we get plenty of arm work in this as Lesnar tries to soften HHH up for the Kimura. Lesnar hooks HHH's arm behind his back as he tosses him all over the place. We get some cool displays of Brock's freakish athleticism as he jumps up onto the announce table with ease, as well as jumping up and wrapping his legs around HHH's body as he goes for the Kimura. HHH shows a lot of fire when he brawls with Lesnar, but he gets gassed out quite quickly and that leads to parts of this match being quite dull as HHH isn't that interesting of a seller. Speaking of selling, Lesnar's selling of his mid-section after getting rammed into the corner of the announce table was sublime. It touches on Brock's known stomach issues and he sold it by struggling to breathe and spitting everywhere. I could have done without the finisher trading and teasing during the final minutes, but I didn't mind Lesnar brushing the Pedigree off to lock on the Kimura and score an impressive victory. ★★★¼ Brock Lesnar vs Triple H (Triple H's Career On The Line No Holds Barred) (WWE Wrestlemania - 4/7/2013) Triple H is so lifeless during the opening brawling segments and the crowd is sitting on their hands. Even an announce table bump followed up with a meme-worthy Brock grunt couldn't breathe life into this. Brock tries to wake up the crowd by posturing and taunting as he works over his opponent, but the burnt-out crowd isn't biting. Triple H tries to get revenge on Lesnar by beating him with a Kimura, and they were able to milk a bit of drama out of the hold before Brock escapes. Heyman was incredibly animated at ringside and he ate that Sweet Chin Music like a pro after he tries to get involved. Trip's career is predictably saved by a shot from his trusty sledgehammer, followed up with a Pedigree on the stairs after a painful 24 minutes. This was dull as dishwater and overly long - like most of Triple H's matches during the 2010s. ★½ Brock Lesnar vs Triple H (Cage) (WWE Extreme Rules - 5/19/2013) Triple H jumpstarts this by attacking Lesnar as he makes his entrance and he dominates until Lesnar is able to throw him into the cage. They use the cage a lot here as Lesnar continues to throw HHH into it. HHH is able to dodge a high knee and sends Lesnar crashing into the cage knee-first. After that, the match is all about Brock's damaged knee. HHH has a great transition spot, where he gets out of a Kimura in the corner by dropping a knee onto Lesnar's leg that is draped over the ropes. Lesnar never forgets to sell it, even when he hits the F5 on HHH. He tries the move a second time, but his knee buckles. It's stuff like that is why Brock is one of the best sellers ever. I love how Heyman would loudly give advice to Lesnar as the match goes on. Parts of this certainly dragged, partly due to HHH not being that exciting as a babyface, but also due to a lot of downtime during the closing minutes. Brock puts in one of his best selling performances ever here, even if the match itself can drag here and there. This was a lot better than their Wrestlemania match, but I'm just glad this feud is wrapped up as these two didn't really ever click as opponents. ★★★ Brock Lesnar vs CM Punk (No Disqualification) (WWE Summerslam - 8/18/2013) Lesnar feels so god-damn unbeatable here, but the fans believe in Punk and he puts in a hell of an underdog performance here. We get a lot of great trash talk, including Lesnar referring to Punk as 'babygirl', which is a word that I never want to hear out of Lesnar's mouth! Lesnar's counter to Punk's GTS catches me off-guard every single time I watch this and it made Lesnar look incredibly scary. Punk is super scrappy here, cutting Lesnar down with a barrage of quick strikes and he gets the crowd to invest in all his hope spots. The beating he takes here is brutal, with him sustaining a nasty cut on his back after Lesnar effortlessly tosses him around the ringside area like a sack of shit. Heyman added a lot to the match, even if his break-up of Punk's pin looked like it wouldn't hurt a fly! Punk saving himself from an F5 by holding onto Heyman's tie was a creative spot, and it was only enhanced by Heyman's pathetic blubbering. This is a top 5 match for Lesnar, for sure! ★★★★★ Brock Lesnar vs Big Show (WWE Royal Rumble - 1/26/2014) This technically only goes two minutes, but Lesnar pummels Show with a chair before the match starts. Lesnar doesn't hold back on the chair shots and absolutely wallops Show with the chair! Lesnar does a sublime job of getting over the fact that he's scared of Show. Show hits his finish as soon the bell rings and this gets a huge pop, although he's too hurt to capitalize. The highlight of this is Lesnar's selling of Show's body shots. Lesnar's fantastic when he has to show signs of vulnerability. Show goes for a second KO punch, but Brock ducks and is able to flawlessly scoop Show up for a massive F5 to wrap this up. This was fun for what it was. ★★¾ Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker (WWE Wrestlemania - 4/6/2014) This is the first time during this project that I've had to use the 2x speed option on my video as parts of this match were putting me to sleep. Undertaker gets concussed early, so it's up to Lesnar to drag and carry a dazed and confused 49-year old through a 25-minute main event match. Even forgetting about the concussion, the match layout is a mess and some of the Undertaker big match spots are starting to feel stale and cliché now. Lesnar works over Undertaker's leg after brutally thrusting his ankle into a ring post, but it's quickly forgotten about. There's zero heat once they get to the finisher trading segment as it felt as if they were going through motions. Lesnar kicking out of the Tombstone might have been shocking if everyone hadn't already done it during the last five Wrestlemanias. The corner punches to the Last Ride spot is beyond old too, as the crowd reacts as soon as Lesnar climbs the ropes. Undertaker botches the Last Ride as he isn't able to lift Lesnar up. Lesnar shocks the world by ending the streak after 3 F5s, sending the fans into a hushed silence. Although Lesnar ending the streak is the most shocking match result in company history, the match itself is slow, sluggish and an absolute chore to sit through. I've seen this three times before and I seem to dislike it more every time. ★

This started strong but ended up it actively boring me to the point that I would just wish it would end. The brawling is decent and Jericho is great at being a smarmy prick. On top of the usual kendo stick and chair shots that you can expect to find in any WWE street fight during the past decade or so, they also got creative by using the cover of the announce table as a weapon. Jericho getting smacked in the face by Punk's sister was a nice little pay-off to all the trash talk that Jericho had been speaking about Punk's family in the lead-up to this match. After Jericho drenches Punk with the beer, the match starts to lose me. The match slows to a snail's crawl and not even a surprise Codebreaker is enough to wake the crowd up. I was beyond bored by the time that Punk hits his big dive through the announce table. There's a reason all the best brawls throughout wrestling history rarely ever go past the twenty-minute mark. You just can't keep the heat building for that long and this match is a shining example of that. ★★½