Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

cactus

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1511

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by cactus

  1. cactus
    Man, Ken Shamrock looks absolutely intense walking down the aisle. Guy looked a million dollars. They brawl from the get-go as Shamrock runs to the ring. The pace eventually slows down. Shamrock works away on Mr Ass's ankle. They do a hokey-callback spot to Raw two weeks ago when Shamrock drives Gunn's head into the announce table from the apron, however this time Gunn counters and sends Shamrock skull-first onto the table. Val Venis interferes on Gunn's behalf once the ref gets knocked down and plants Shamrock with a great looking DDT. This isn't enough to end the match and Shamrock gets the win via ankle lock after taking down Gunn with a surprise drop toehold. The submission is made to look like a major threat. Apparently, Billy Gunn was meant to win this, but this was changed on the day as management weren't too keen on Gunn's attitude. Good match when you consider what you would be usually getting work rate-wise during this time period. ★★¾
  2. cactus
    It's insane to think how over Road Dogg was at this time, given his talent. The crowd eat up all his catchphrases. They start with a lot of stalling and the crowd don't seem to mind. I've watched the past few episodes of Raw and this is worked at a much slower pace than anything you would see on the TV show. Say what you want about Russo's booking, but shorter TV matches and longer PPV matches is a winning combination. There's nothing too fancy here, big punches shift the momentum as apposed to a flashy slam or suplex. Road Dogg hits all his signature spots to the crowd's approval, only to fall victim to a Bossman Slam out of nowhere to end this one. Solid enough house show-esque match to kick things off. ★★
  3. cactus
    This was better than it had any right to be. The stooges are great in their roles and actually some of my favorite minor characters in the Attitude Era. Comedy ensues when Gerry tries to mat-wrestle Chyna only to be tied up by her. More stooge antics ensue until Chyna takes a tumble to the outside. Sable comes out and has one of the most pointless run-ins ever. Before she's even off the ramp, she gets blinded-sided by Luna and that's the last we see of both of them during this match. The Stooges start groping Chyna in a spot that's not even the most offensive moment on this show, let alone the entire Attitude Era. The Stooges use classic wrestling tropes such as the airplane spin and throwing powder in Chyna's eyes to try and secure the win, it's a nice touch. Anyway, Chyna eventually gets the win after Patterson tries to Low Blow her and forgets what she's packing. Chyna beats them both down for the win after a couple of DDTs. Man, the thought of someone like Bruno Sammartino or Lou Thesz channel-surfing and coming across a Brisco brother sexually assaulting Chyna is too much to bear. It's no wonder wrestling purists hated this period of American wrestling.
  4. cactus
    We all know this one. I would say this has aged badly, but it's not like this was anything other than awful and highly offensive when it aired. Chyna shows footage of Mark Henry making out with Sammy and Mark eventually finds out that Sammy is trans and utters the infamous line of 'SWEET JESUS, YOU GOT A PENIS!'. Props to Mark Henry for actually going through with this stuff and his timing and delivery is the single saving grace of this crap.
  5. cactus
    Lovely stuff. We see Vince dishing out Vinnie Mac Stunners to no-namers whilst Shane eggs him on. Even though I know the Rumble match is awful, these vignettes do a good job of building to the match.
  6. cactus
    Shane Mcmahon is a guest commentator and he's pretty good at being the obnoxious, spoiled douchebag, probably because I imagine he is in real life, but I digress. This gets good once Vince Mcmahon comes out as an surprise entry. He looks ripped and smugly makes his way down to the ring, thinking he is the final entry, only for Chyna to come out to a big pop. Stone Cold comes out to a pop that eclipses Chyna's reaction and fucks over the boss once again. What I love about some of these matches and angles from this time period is how over all the big guys are. The crowd is eating out of the hands of the Mcmahons, Rock, Austin and DX and it creates a great atmosphere and it is a joy to watch for the most part.
  7. cactus
    I'm guessing the original music has been overdubbed on the Network version. Vince trains with Shane in some Rocky-esque vignettes. Funny stuff.
  8. cactus
    Awful, just awful. If someone came in when I was watching this, I would have a hard time explaining what I'm watching and I'll be embarrassed to call myself a wrestling fan. I was enjoying this episode up until this point even with the complete lack of workrate and commonplace sexism and homophobia you can expect to see in an Attitude Era WWF show.
  9. cactus
    I just finished watching that. It was rather enjoyable, wished they talked more about the Benoit stuff though. Swoggle thinking the murder-suicide is an inside job is both ridiculous and saddening. Most be hard to accept that your co-worker/friend was a murdering scumbag.
  10. cactus
    This has a big match feel and atmosphere. I don't think I've seen Cena looking as intense as he did when he was setting AJ up for those lariats. Cena is approaching Kurt Angle levels of exposing and spamming his finish. Even the top rope AA he hits didn't feel like like a match ender, there was no build-up for it. Another Cena trope I don't like is him pulling out a new move every big match, less equals more and all that, but man, I love that variant of Canadian Destroyer that he started using as a result of this trope coming around. Highly entertaining match, mainly as I went in spoiler-free and I cared about who would win, but I doubt this will hold up on repeated viewings. Even when watching live, the submission trade-off segment never felt like the match was in jeopardy. It's two of the best in the world having a showcase match in front of a hot crowd on a big show. Enjoy it for what it is and not the MOTYC you'd be expecting from these two. ★★★½
  11. cactus
    Easy. I don't think I'll see a better match than the 6/9/95 tag.
  12. cactus
    Everything that Santo does looks incredibly smooth and slick. The plancha, cross body and belly to belly spots in particular all looked awesome. He makes wrestling looks like violent ballet and I mean that as a compliment. Felino gets the first fall with an interesting looking leg submission. This ends up frustrating Santo who starts heeling it up, much to the fan's disapproval. Felino nearly manages to put away Santo many times, but is ultimately saved by the rope breaks. There are quite a few rope breaks here, although they add to the drama and excitement to the match as apposed to being a weak way for the match to carry on without relying on too many straight kickouts. The non-finish hurts this, but there's certainly worse ways to spend 15 minutes. ★★★
  13. cactus
    Some utterly great moments here, but I felt the opening 15-20 minutes were too sluggish and slow for this to be the epic it was hoping to be. Well worth your time, just keep in mind it's a very slow burner. I don't want to spoil any of the great parts of this match, but Gibson's Texas Cloverleaf counter was thing of beauty. ★★★½
  14. cactus
    I'm struggling to think of a better Spanky match than this. He held his own and was sublime in the role of a plucky underdog who manages to scrap together a few hope spots. Danielson is in the control for the majority and looks like a total mechanic. He'd add on little touches that made things we seen time and time again more legit and it's more proof than Danielson is one of the all-time greats. I have no qualms with all Kendrick's signature moves being used as false finishes as Danielson wasn't worn down as much as Kendrick. I have more of an issue with Danielson going for a top rope move after delivering an airplane spin. Just seems like an illogical transition. I don't see a match being one-sided as a negative, but if you prefer all your wrestling to be more back and forth, then this match might bother you. I couldn't see anyone hating this, mind you. ★★★★¼
  15. cactus
    I'll just get my YES/NO votes out the way. I will do write-ups on all future matches that I'd like to nominate/vote for. YES to: WWE main roster Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose (WWE Royal Rumble, 1/24) Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns vs Dean Ambrose (WWE Fastlane, 2/21) Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio (2/3 Falls, Fastlane 2/21/2016) Triple H vs Dean Ambrose (WWE Roadblock, 3/12) Sasha Banks vs Charlotte vs Becky Lynch (WWE WrestleMania, 4/3) Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens (WWE Payback, 5/1) Roman Reigns vs AJ Styles (WWE Payback, 5/1) WWE NXT Shinsuke Nakamura vs Sami Zayn (NXT Take Over: Dallas, 4/1) Samoa Joe vs Finn Balor (NXT Take Over: Dallas, 4/1) American Alpha vs. The Revival (NXT Takeover Dallas 4/1/2016) PWG Drew Gulak vs Timothy Thatcher (PWG Lemmy 1/2/2016) CMLL Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitachi (CMLL 3/4/2016) New Japan Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 1/4/2016) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 1/4/2016) Dragon Lee vs Kamaitachi (NJPW, 1/24) Will Ospreay vs. Kushida (NJPW Invasion Attack 4/10/2016) UK Indies Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll (RPW High Stakes 1/16/2016) AJ Styles vs Zack Sabre Jr. (RPW High Stakes, 1/26) NO to: WWE main roster Charlotte vs. Natalya (Roadblock 3/12/2016) Cesaro vs. AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho (Raw 4/4/2016) WWE NXT Bayley vs Asuka (NXT Take Over: Dallas, 4/1) Evolve Chris Hero & Tommy End vs Zack Sabre Jr. & Sami Callihan (EVOLVE 53, 1/22) CMLL Maximo vs Kamaitachi (CMLL, 1/1) New Japan Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 1/4/2016) Kushida vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 1/4/2016) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW New Beginning 2/14/2016)
  16. cactus
    Was that Uprising 2013 maybe? Nah, it was When Thunder Strikes.
  17. cactus
    Nowhere near as good as I remember it, but still has some great moments and both guys have the crowd eating out of their hands. They manage to create some real drama from the failed suicide dive spots and when 'Taker swats away a Michaels' moonsault, although that could just be because both men looked like they were actually hurt rather than working the crowd. Or they might of worked me all along, who knows? Yeah, the finisher reversals and kick-outs do hurt the match a good deal, but the finishing stretch and the fatigued strike exchange helps this match feel like an epic; albeit a flawed one. ★★★¾
  18. cactus
    Even though I've seen this many times before, I sometimes think that I'm only rating this highly because I should do, so I decided to give this another watch last night. It's still incredible. Savage works a great segment over Steamboat's throat. The crowd are right behind Steamboat, even the ones that were cheering Macho when he made his entrance. These guys work at such a fast pace, even the referee looks worn out. This really is a masterclass in pro-wrestling and it's one of the most highly influential matches of all time and I can't see it ever aging. ★★★★★
  19. cactus
    Gutted by this. Kris was a great talent taken from us way too soon. I only saw him wrestle once and that was at a RevPro show a few years back. He teamed with Kirby to face Will Osprey and Paul Robinson. It was an absolute blinder of a tag match and gave me faith in the British scene. RIP.
  20. cactus
    4FW have a streaming site now. There's only 3 full shows and a selection of matches, but it's only $7.50 a month, so you can't complain. https://4fwondemand.pivotshare.com/
  21. cactus
    Tragic. Wasn't the biggest fan of his ring work, but this is still a total shock. What makes it more heart-breaking is that he's only recently started to properly recover from his accident. RIP.
  22. cactus
    Adding: Kamaitachi vs Dragon Lee (CMLL, 3/4/2016) This felt more at home compared to the NJPW match from earlier this year, if that makes sense. They rush through the first two falls and go full-throttle into the deciding fall. These guys work so well of each other and they sold the fatigue of all the damage they take during the course if the match well. They reach a brilliant final stand-off that wraps things up nicely. The second rope Canadian Destroyer is a rare example of that move actually looking particularly legit and not a move that it's clear as day that the person taking is obviously helping out. ★★★★¼
  23. cactus
    1) WWE Always watch the PPVs without fail. I try to keep up to date with what is happening on RAW via the clips on WWE's YouTube channel. I rarely watch a full Raw unless something big has happened before. The last Raws I watched are last week's Raw, the Daniel Bryan retirement show and the last one I saw before that was when Rollins got injured. 2) NXT I watch every Takeover without fail. I'd like to say I watch every weekly show, but I always end up missing a few, but I tend to get back into things after seeing a Takeover. 3) NJPW I watch the big shows. I try to watch the G1 Climax and the New Japan Cup but always end up burning myself up. A show every day for 5-8 days is just too much to dit through. 4) Misc. I try to keep update to date with any MOTYC that might be to my taste and I will occasional watch a random indy or puro show if the card tickles my fancy.
  24. cactus
    Nowhere near the quality of their best matches, but a fun watch regardless. They managed to get a good match out of the hindering stipulation and some of the casket spots are actually pretty cool. I particularly love the Tombstone into the casket. The interference was fine, but Shawn Michaels being an afterthought was not. ★★★¼
  25. cactus
    I'm not a fan of Rumble matches being built around one guy, but this was pretty decent considering. A lot of storylines are pushed because of this match and The Rock is clearly being groomed for a run at the top. Seeing Funk and Foley start this match with dueling chairshots was cool. Ahmed's run in this match was just sad. He was slow and it's clear his heart wasn't in it, which is tragic when you consider he was hot shit just a mere year and half before this. This loses a few points because of how predictable it is and the lack of star power. There's been worse Rumbles, but there's been better too.
×
×
  • Create New...