G. Badger

Sorry for the delay folks! It's been a busy week. Let's get to the wrestling! TAGS Harlem Heat vs. Brad and Brian Armstrong (Road Dogg) (08/06 WCW Saturday Night) - Two pairs of brothers square off! This was a blast. Both teams got a bunch of offense in and then a helluva finish to cap things off. Pretty Wonderful vs. Stars And Stripes (08 13 94 WCW Saturday Night) - OK face/heel match but was too long for how it ended. I like the corny U-S-A gimmick especially since everything the last 30 years has been too cool for school. I like a lil bit of cheesy gimmicks now and then. Jim Duggan and Stars & Stripes vs Lord Steven Regal & Pretty Wonderful (WCW Pro Aug 20th, 1994) - Man, they were really laying the jingoism on thick with this face team...and I refreshed my memory...nothing was really going on in '94 to warrant it. It's weird but then again it's super hero comic book type stuff so I guess they figured it's better than nothing especially when people clearly love chanting U-S-A for any fucking reason (edit: I guess it didn't take me too long to sour on the Stars & Stripes shtick 😋). But this was a fun match. The shit heel team did a great job keeping this interesting and keeping you wanting to see that big tag. Arn Anderson, Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck vs. 3 Armstrong Brothers (08 20 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - I think this was filmed at the same time as the above two man tag match. Those two chicks were in the front cheering for the baby faces are still there too. It's a fun yet meandering match that really serves to add fuel to the Dustin & Dusty vs Stud Stable feud. The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) vs. Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma) (Clash Of The Champions XXVIII (28) 08/24) - Fun match to kick off the show. There's not necessarily anything memorable other than Barry Darsow in the crowd as just another fan (even though they keep doing close ups). But I guess this was the start of an angle as The Blacktop Bully. Anyhow, fun match... ---- Dustin Rhodes & Dusty Rhodes vs. The Stud Stable (Bunkhouse Buck & Terry Funk) (w/Col. Robert Parker & Meng) (Clash Of The Champions XXVIII (28) 08/24) - An absolute blast where it's about the whole package rather than the match alone. It's chaotic goodness 🙂 ---- The tag division is lacking the punch it had earlier in the year. Stars & Stripes are generic compared to Bagwell & Scorpio and the Nasty Boys are fun but aren't much without Cactus & Kevin and the violent brawls. Bad Attitude is still quality, Harlem Heat appears to be in a holding position at this time of '94. Pretty Wonderful do their jobs as heel champs but aren't awesome. Looking forward, the Fantastics come in at the end of the year so perhaps things kick up a notch then. STEAMBOAT Sting & Ricky Steamboat vs Bad Attitude (Main Event Aug 7th, 1994) - An absolute blast of a bout! It's nowhere as developed as the matches with Arn. Bad Attitude seems to be advanced enhancement talent (unfortunately) so this is just a really offensive display for Ricky and Sting...but Keirn & Eaton make them look great. Ricky Steamboat & Johnny B Badd vs Steve Austin & Lord Steven Regal Main Event Aug 14th, 1994 - Quick match but a lot of fun. Regal isn't really at play much of this. It's more about Austin vs Steamboat. Mero was supposed to look like Little Richard, right? Ricky Steamboat vs Arn Anderson (Main Event Aug 21st, 1994) - Oh yeah! This is the match you want. Excellent action, simple but full of impact. I especially liked how they chained things together. There's shenanigans with Col. Parker & Meng (looking like Victor Quinones with those sunglasses) but that's all expected. This was compact but told a story and had good action. It's a very good match. Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat (Clash of Champions XXVIII (28) (08/24)) - Well, the era of picture in picture shots of Hulk Hogan backstage while an actual fucking wrestling match is happening has begun. Here we see Hulk getting loaded into an ambulance while Steamboat faces Austin... a year long feud. Anyhow...Holy cow, this is awesome! They are chaining so much together and it really does feel like the culmination of their skirmishes on TV. Austin is such a dick throughout by slapping and taunting Ricky. Steamboat doesn't take this lightly and goes after his foe. Stunning Steve is no pushover though. Quick, technical and heated from beginning to end. I thought this was a classic. HIGH RECOMMENDATION ---- REGAL TV Title Lord Steven Regal vs Brian Pillman Pro Aug 13th, 1994 - Good match but I've seen this same finish 2 times already (in different matches) this year...and honestly it didn't look great then and it doesn't here either. I get the impression they didn't know what to either buy at this time. Regal had Inoki coming up but that was more Bischoff/Inoki than what the booker man wanted to do. I think it was Flair at the time? Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) vs. Antonio Inoki - Clash of Champions XXVIII (28) (08/24) - Picture in picture of Bulk Bogan while Regal and Inoki battle. Showing Heenan, Bockwinkel & Tony jaw jacking about Mulk Mogan. What a crock of crap! Anyway, this was an intense Inoki Strong Style match. This looks like a real fight compared to the other stuff on the show. It's puro in a WCW ring on TBS. I thought it was great! If you're A fan of both guys then you should check it out. Is it a full dream match fulfilled? No but it is way better than you would expect and is a legit great, hard hitting match. It's an absolute travesty that Steven Regal did not win Best Technical Wrestler in the WON for 1994. ---- I'm going to keep on truckin' with WCW 1994. It might wrap up in one or two posts. It's been a fun ride so far. Thanks for reading folks & stay safe!

RVD is posting a treasure trove of Sabu matches. I definitely want to go through them. He posted the Sabu vs Bam Bam Bigelow title match so I'm going to share it here:

WCW really came through with this post. Definitely on my must see list with Midnights vs Rock 'n' Rolls & Flair vs Luger. God awful thumbnail though 😄

Hi Folks! It's June and it's the midway point the year. So, it's time for the Best Matches Watched thus far for 2025. I'm only including things that I've covered in the blog. I have been watching Mid-South Wrestling but haven't talked about any of that yet. That will be my 80's project for the year. HM stands for Honorable Mention and are matches that absolutely worth checking out along with the classics. I mention them because, you might watch them and be like, "No dude... that was badass. That is a classic too." And you know those ones that are on the fence for me too. I have to give them a nod here along with the classics. Also I tend to think of things in terms of promotional/regional style. You might love a TNA tag match but hate a GAEA tag. Or dig New Japan Juniors but not like death matches at all. You know your preferences best so, keep that in mind! If you need more info then, go and read my comments in the corresponding original post 😋 I have sorted things by promotion and by year below: BJW Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Jun Kasai (Land Mine Board Russian Roulette Death Match) (BJW 03/03/02) HM MEN's Teioh vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW 03/30/03) Kintaro Kanemura vs. Ryuji Ito (Cage Death Match)(BJW 08/24/03) GAEA Chigusa Nagayo & Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima (GAEA 02/08/02) HM Meiko Satomura vs. Chikayo Nagashima (GAEA 04/14/02) HM Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada vs LCO (GAEA 07/14/02) HM Manami Toyota & Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada (GAEA 08/30/02) Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU vs. Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada (GAEA 10/20/02) NJPW Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie (NOAH 04/07/02) Putting this with NJ since it's an inter promotional match Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kazuyuki Fujita (NJPW 08/29/02) HM Kenta Kobashi vs. Masahiro Chono (NJPW 05/02/03) Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (NJPW 05/02/03) HM Tiger Mask vs. Takehiro Murahama (NJPW 06/13/03) HM Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (NJPW 06/13/03) ROH Jerry Lynn vs Nigel McGuinness (ROH Southern Hostility 2008) HM *Bryan Danielson vs Davey Richards (Final Countdown: Boston 09/25/09)* KENTA & El Generico vs Nigel McGuinness & Davey Richards (Steel City Clash 2009) Davey Richards vs KENTA (Supercard of Honor IV 2009) KENTA & Tyler Black vs Austin Aries & Katsuhiko Nakajima (Take No Prisoners 2009) American Wolves vs KENTA & Roderick Strong (Violent Tendencies 2009) KENTA vs Tyler Black (End of an Age 06/27) American Wolves & Chris Hero vs Steenerico & KENTA (ROH on HDnet ep #17 aired 07/18/09) Austin Aries vs Davey Richards (Aries vs Richards 11/13/09) TNA Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles (TNA PPV #20 11/06/02) HM Triple X (Elix Skipper & Christopher Daniels) vs Jerry Lynn & Amazing Red (TNA 09/04/03) Team Canada (Bobby Roode & Eric Young) (w/Scott D'Amore) vs. America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm) (TNA Final Resolution 2005) Sabu & Raven vs Jeff Jarrett & Rhino (Sacrifice 2005) HM Sabu vs Rhino vs Abyss vs Jeff Hardy - Monster's Ball (Bound for Glory 2005) HM Sabu vs vs Abyss - No Ropes Barb Wire match (Turning Point 2005) WCW Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair (WCW Spring Stampede '94) The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) vs. Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan - Slamboree 05/22/94) HM Larry Zbyszko vs. Lord Steven Regal (05/28/94 WCW Saturday Night) HM Larry Zbyszko vs. Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) - Clash of Champions XXVII (27) (06/23/94) HM Feud of the year so far is Larry Zbyszko vs Lord Steven Regal. I may have underrated those matches. I loved them. American Wolves vs Steenerico is probably second feud. Meiko Satomura & Ayako Hamada are the tag team of the year at this point. Although there's not as many matches of theirs, they feel most like a top tier tag team... they were putting on classic, big time matches. They feel like they belong in that mid to late 90's AJW level. Bryan Danielson is a perennial Best Match Watched contender and it's no different this year. And honestly, I don't know if I am a big fan of his anymore. I think I'm over-familiar. But that should be evidence for the quality of the nominated bouts. I'm not swayed by favoritism or nostalgia there. Those matches are that good. And the front runner is Bryan Danielson vs Davey Richards (Final Countdown: Boston 09/25/09). My wrestler of the year isn't listed above but comes from my Mid South viewing and that's Ted DiBiase. That's a teaser for those posts, I guess 🙂 Regal in '94, Davey in '09 & Satomura in 2002 would be runners up at the moment. If you're bored with wrestling lately then, give these matches a shot. I'm sure you'll find something you like. Thanks for reading!

Saw this one today and looks interesting. There's a good mix of people, Shawn, Bret, Goldust, Double J and even one from the dark days of WCW, Yung Dragons vs 3 Count at the New Blood Rising ppv. Remember that one? Me neither. If you're craving ladder matches, this looks like your fix.

Keep that 1994 WCW train chugging along baby! TAGS Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan (w/ Dave Sullivan) vs. Nasty Boys (07 02 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - Fun short match but also shenanigans that loops Pretty Wonderful into things for Bash at the Beach. Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan vs. Bad Attitude (07 16 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - Bad Attitude is Bobby Eaton & Steve Keirn if you're just joining us. So much bleached blonde hair - Keirn, Eaton, Dave & Kevin Sullivan...all in terrible mullets 😵 And I'm not a hockey hair hater. Anyhow, a very good brawling match...bits of wrestling maneuvers sprinkled in between punches and kicks. What's good is that there was action all over & felt organic. Plus Bad Attitude let Jack do a couple of his spots and that really elevated the match. I don't think Pretty Wonderful let Jack do shit at Bash at the Beach. Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan vs. Pretty Wonderful (Bash at the Beach 07/17): This was OK...It just didn't need to be this long for the cheap and unbelievable finish that they did. How didn't the ref see that?It's like he counted 1-2-3 because he wanted to wrap the match up too. I watched the Match vs Bad Attitude afterwards and OK this finish plays off that but two things - that was a better but similar match & the finish was better executed there. This was right before Flair vs Hogan on the show so the fans were mildly into this too which didn't help. Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan vs. Pretty Wonderful (07 23 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - The return match from the PPV. Fun promo from Jack & the Sullivan Bros. before the bout. This is a better version of the PPV match. The crowd was into it and the finish was better. It's longer than it needs to be still but it's WAY more enjoyable and doesn't drag. It's actually fun to watch. Cactus Jack is restrained again as I feel neither Pauls want to take his big spots. I think their 06/11 bout might be their best but this was still worthwhile. It's the last Sullivan & Jack team match that I have. The Paul Orndorff YouTube page has this up. It's dated 07/02 but it's the correct match: STEAMBOAT Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair Main Event July 24th, 1994 - This is only 15 min and more my speed right now. And it is fucking great! Awesome baby face performance from Steamboat! Awesome heel performance from Flair - chicken shit heel stuff had me laughing! Sherri Martel was great as well - so many cheap shots and crazy bumps. This was top notch stuff between these two. No it's not a human chess match but was an electric wrestling match with great work by everyone involved. And beautifully sets up the next batch of matches. Ric & Sherri ----- Ricky Steamboat vs Steve Austin (Worldwide July 30th)- Tony S. talks about how Steamboat has never been a heel his whole career. What's neat is that he doesn't use the terms baby face/face or heel (shit heel) and doesn't even say good guy or bad guy. Ventura makes some cracks at Greg Gagne after the match Anyway, this is good stuff but really is set up and continuation of their feud. They have a match at Bash at the Beach but given the reviews in '94 yearbook, I skipped it. Ric Flair and Steve Austin (w/ Sherri) vs. Sting and Ricky Steamboat (07/30 WCW Saturday Night) Long main event but dammit, they went for it here! I would say it's a great match especially with the finish in mind. There were parts of the middle that sagged. I think it's because they needed to fill time. It's weird actually... there was good action but it didn't seem to escalate. It reminds me of someone on a treadmill. But it was still good during these portions... but not really moving the match forward. They eventually did and again the finishing portion was excellent and it reminded me that we have 5 of the best workers of all time here...and this is a TV match! Awesome post match interview/promo too. Ric using Sherri as a human shield from Sting ----- REGAL Lord Steven Regal vs Larry Zbyszko (WCW Pro June 25th) - I wanted to save this one since I had a load of quality Regal work in the previous post. I thought I'd draw it out a little bit more And oh man this is all brawling and it is great!!! They are just beating each other for 8 minutes straight. Sir William of Dundee is fantastic here too. Unlike their Clash 27 match, this does feel like an out of control fight. They are unglued! Another fantastic match in their feud and by the looks of it, it's their final meeting. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ----- Lord Steven Regal vs. Mark Starr (07 30 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - Fun match where Starr got some good hope spots in. Actually there's some good stuff like his reverse of the butterfly suplex, a tornado DDT and a slingshot clothesline. Nice promo afterwards building to Regal vs Inoki. I want to include some less known versus the stars & this was a good sample. 1994 continues to a great year for WCW if you cherry pick like me. As you can tell, I'm avoiding Hogan like the plague. I can't avoid the references to Hogan by the announcers during the matches but I think I'm going to back to watching with the sound off. Sorry no Vader this post but he'll be back. Thanks for reading folks! 🙂

WCW YouTube just posted the full Slamboree show. Watch Regal vs Larry Z! Here it is:

The vault coming through with some quality material. Would have preferred more WCW footage or even stuff in AWA like his match vs Hansen but still a nice post.

We're back with more of WCW 1994! It's a heck of a year so far and really is an end of an era since Hogan eventually comes in and wrecks the shop. But don't worry, I'm not going to be looking at a single match of his. Instead I'm going to focus on the tag division, Ricky Steamboat, Steven Regal and the man they call Vader. Same as before TAGS The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) vs. Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan - Slamboree 05/22/94 - There's a few Slamboree '94 matches that I'm reviewing and it's definitely in PPV that the WCW YouTube page should post. As myself and others have discussed, it has many future WWF/E legends like Austin & Foley who they still will promote along with Flair & Terry Funk but it may lack that Hogan appeal...maybe it needs more Goldberg? hahaha...anyhow...I typically don't like the Nasty Boys but I want to pay Sullivan & Jack some attention with this project so, here we go! But first, Tony Schiavone already sounds like he doesn't give a shit. I don't listen to commentary much but I wanted to for this PPV and Schiavone sounds like he's fucking checked out from his old days...the spark, the passion sounds gone and he's got 6+ years in WCW. He's like a husband who still goes to his kid's play and over to the in-laws for Xmas but he's off in the corner staring out the window. He knows he should get a divorce but is sticking it out because he made a vow before God and family and he's not going to go back on his word. His wife knows the fire's gone...she can feel it when they kiss, when they make love...who is she kidding it's just sex anymore. So, yeah that's Tony Schiavone on commentary. This is an awesome brawl where they legitimately are trying to beat each other up...they are working but this is like the UWFi of brawling. No one's really swinging chairs & trash cans safely, there's little to no setup time on highspots. Perfect that this is in Philly. This is a near classic to me...if everyone was bleeding then I think that would have increased the sense of chaos and violence. ECW, Cactus Jack/Mick Foley fans want to see this. Definitely looking forward to more Jack & Sullivan matches if they're like this! Recommended! EDIT: Oh shoot, the WCW YouTube page is putting good stuff up again. I guess they have to put something up instead of Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash, Hogan & Goldberg once in awhile. Here it is for you below! Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan vs Harlem Heat (WCW Pro May 28th, 1994) - joined in progress on TV...and they are trying to kill each other! It's a good match but I think it lacked variety. However they did a great job keeping that intensity up and that's what kept me watching. Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan vs. Pretty Wonderful (06/11 WCW Saturday Night) - Very good tag team match. Jack & Sullivan brought the intensity & brawling. Roma & Orndorff obliged and Roma even was jumping off the turnbuckle quite a bit. This was spirited stuff. Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan (w/Dave Sullivan) vs. The Nasty Boys - Clash of the Champions XXVII (27) - (06/23) - Oh yeah, they deliver again! This is just a straight match but they keep the intensity going and are laying in their shots. And just when you think you've got a grip on the match, Cactus Jack does what he does best. Seriously, if anyone else took that bump, you'd be seriously worried... don't get me wrong that shit hurt Mick too. Anyhow, great match and opener for the Clash of the Champions. STEAMBOAT I don't have any singles matches to review for Ricky Steamboat for this time although it's highly recommended that you check out the Steamboat vs Flair match from 05/14 Saturday Night. It's gotten a fair bit of pimping and I'm not going to use my time to do so here. It's a long match for TV standards and it's gonna bog me down, I'm afraid. I mean it's Flair vs Steamboat - if you're interested then you've got to see this one, right? I'm just not that interested in a long match between these two that's gotten plenty of good reviews already. I'm more interested in stuff like: Ricky Steamboat & Arn Anderson vs Bad Attitude (Main Event May 1st, 1994) - Really fun match with Keirn & Eaton being the Fabulous Ones but evil...it's a weird paring considering I'm sure Stan Lane was available... maybe Beautiful Bobby corrupted Stan originally and now he's moved on to tainting the heart of Steve Keirn. Anyhow, 4 of the greats in the ring for an 8 minute TV match. It's so organic and well paced...they are just out there putting on a show. Ricky Steamboat & Arn Anderson vs Bad Attitude (Main Event May 8th, 1994) - A rematch and an expansion on the previous match. I thought this one was really good. It felt like the intensity was ramped up and these teams definitely should've done more together. I'm going to stop myself from calling this a "great" match but damn I really dug it! REGAL Steven Regal (w/Sir William) (c) vs. Dustin Rhodes - Clash of Champions XXVI (26) (01/27) - I checked one of my alternate online sources and found the PPVs for 1994. There's some good stuff on there like this match. I'm going to put it here even though it took place January '94. Anyhow, this is a very good match where you can truly appreciate Regal as a complete worker. He's got his stretches & joint locks, his strikes but also his underhanded tactics, his chicken shitting & smarmy character work. He and Dustin work great pitting the working class man vs the posh lord. These two really gelled and since they are about the same build seem like natural adversaries. This was left off the 1994 Yearbook for some reason but, I suggest that you check it out! OK now we're back to Spring 1994. I had never heard of the Marquis of Queensbury series of matches that Regal & Flair had in 1994. It seems to be an attempt at European or at least British rounds based wrestling. What that means is a series of 5 minute matches where a score is given at the end if a pin or submission is not scored. Each round is a different week but from the looks of it, the first four round may have been on one day's worth of TV taping. The final round is unique (I mention why below). You can sorta consider this one match but it really feels like a series of 4 quick paced matches capped off with a full length match. It's a little clunky to explain but I actually like it. This little program takes place on WCW Worldwide. Steven Regal vs Ric Flair - Round 1 (04/30) Hyper technical wrestling for five minutes. This was fantastic stuff. Round 2 (05/07) - Another five minutes of purist match action. Judging from the ring gear, these were taped on the same day. Round 3 (05/14) - They both have haircuts but I'm feeling these were taped later in the day. Anyhow, this was another one predominantly on the mat. Round 4 (05/21) - This was actually more of their feet with Regal throwing his European upper cuts and Flair throwing his chops. Round 5 (05/28) - OK this one, the odd one out has Flair finally in different ring gear & Regal no longer has his thigh taped. This was a great match and a great conclusion to this series of bouts. They wrestled at a quick pace looking to get a win before the 5 minutes were up. When more time was given to determine a true winner, things really kicked up a notch. Bam! (Emeril joke anyone?)... Anyhow these two are fantastic here - technical & hard hitting. This Marquis of Queensbury series was a good way of pairing Flair and Regal up for TV and it delivered on what I had hoped for. It's over 5 different shows and from a fan perspective, it seemed easy to miss...let's be honest, these WCW Worldswide shows were hard to miss unless you were a devotee. And now you still have to track them down online match by match. Hope I have helped because, you definitely want to see these. Recommended! Larry Zbyszko vs. Lord Steven Regal (05/22/94 WCW Slamboree) - Hahaha I love that ECW fans are here in Philly! Hell yeah! What's great from the start is Regal is jaw-jacking with the fans like a shit talking heel...just like Larry Z used to do! So many of his AWA on ESPN matches started like this and really helped me appreciate that aspect of pro wrestling. This really started cooking once Larry shouted "You aren't good enough!" to Regal. His lordship began laying in the European uppercuts and elbows and Zbyszko returned the favor. Very good match and they definitely have in store for us. I'm a fan of both guys, so I'm looking forward to more. Larry Zbyszko vs. Lord Steven Regal (05/28 WCW Saturday Night) - What a great fucking match! The intensity & the pacing was out of sight! You don't need angles when the story is being told in the ring. It's two guys trying to prove who's better. And Steve & Larry had a master class in that type of wrestling. And this was shown the same day as the Marquis of Queensbury final...holy cow... Regal was peak technical wrestler for 1994 putting on two absolutely fantastic matches in the day (on TV at least). Note that you want to make sure you see the full match as the match doesn't end when the TV time does..so they show the conclusion the next week. Someone online has the regular version missing the end & another person has the match footage & ending & post match spliced into one video online. By the way, WCW Saturday Night "won" the honor of Worst TV Show of 1994 according to WON fans...OK sure...What the actual fuck folks? Larry Zbyszko vs. Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) - Clash of Champions XXVII (27) (06/23) - Haha, Regal's got a powdered wig on! Yes! Anyhow, this is not your technical duel. These two are heated and they are beating each other up most of the match. But it's not that out of control way like Nasty Boys vs Jack & Sullivan... it's more like you'd see in NJPW or AJPW. It feels like competition instead of just a brawl for the sake of brawling. I really appreciate that nuance here. But don't get me wrong this was intense. Another great match.. I might say it was a near classic or more. These just keep ramping things up VADER Sting vs Vader (Slamboree 05/22/94) - This was OK...it had its moments but didn't really deliver on what I know they can do together. Now they said the match was supposed to be Rude vs Vader...maybe that's true. This felt barebones in terms of complexity and I never felt Sting did enough to warrant the turns in moment. I do think this was an excellent performance from Vader though. He looked like a monster when on offense but vulnerable when on defense plus he put his body on the line with some of the bumps he took. And Sting really did great too but I know they have better stuff. Looking ahead, they have a TV match on WCW Saturday Night in October '94. Vader vs. The Guardian Angel (Big Boss Man) - Bash at the Beach (07/17) - They show Hank Aaron & Antonio Inoki sitting next to each other, ha! That's awesome! Hank seems to be enjoying the show. This was a fun match with the two big dudes going at it. Harley takes some big bumps here too. This finish is an 80's finish but without the post match goodness. It's all good though. Fun one off match for me. Posting this here to make up for the mediocre Sting match. I'm not going to kid you, Regal is having a helluva 1994. I'm having a blast with the Cactus & Kevin Sullivan team as well as Arn & Ricky (I don't think it lasts...hint-hint). More Bad Attitude too...I hope! Thanks for reading!

WCW YouTube put up up the full show

I'm having a hard time thinking about how to introduce this post. It's really hard to put into words what Sabu means to me as a wrestling fan...as an ECW fan, as a Sabu fan. I think I've told the story elsewhere but Terry Funk vs Sabu's barb wire match is the match that hooked me into watching ECW. It's a seminal moment for me as a wrestling fan. It made me a fan of both men instantly. Sabu is foundational for my interest in wrestling as a young adult and a middle aged turd now. I admired his high risk moves, his improvisation & creativity and his toughness. My admiration wavered as got to be snobby shit in my 20's, I came to understand his style again and on a deeper level as I got older. His best matches show an intensity and drive to win by any means necessary... many times using his own body as a weapon. Much like Manami Toyota, Sabu would ride the razor's edge between success and failure... between making a move or crashing and burning. That razor's edge is where the thrill came from...would he make it or not? Would that gambit pay off? Sometimes he (with Toyota) would be on the brink of disaster and would be able to pull it back and deliver his devastating attack... sometimes something more dangerous than he originally planned for. Writing this, I think of some of the lyrics to Motörhead's 'Ace of Spades.' He had an aura of danger but also mystery. The entrance music, not speaking, appearing out of the darkness. And the pointing to the sky! Many people have posted online sending condolences and tributes to Sabu. I was pleased to see that TNA wrestling had posted a "Best Of" Sabu compilation. Even though I didn't watch much new wrestling in the early 2000's I remained a Sabu fan...watching my old tapes, getting stuff off eBay and playing WCW vs the World where Sabu is a playable character. So when I started to get back into contemporary wrestling, it was Sabu that drew me into TNA with his matches on their Bloodiest Matches DVD. I never did get to see his matches... until now. I've got the video below and if you're interested, my reviews follow. vs Malice (TNA PPV #5) - This was a great highspots match with a virtual unknown (to me at least). This was a ladder match and by gawd they used the ladder along with tables and chairs. Sabu really made this match by putting his body on the line to get over how dangerous Malice was. Make sure you watch til the end for the post match mayhem! w/ Raven vs Jeff Jarrett & Rhino (Sacrifice 2005) - Hahaha! That was fucking chaotic in the best way with the shenanigans. A great hardcore rules tag match from these four guys. Double J really comes through in these matches as he's always down to bleed and Sabu and Rhino can still go. Raven had me a little worried but he came to work and this was just a blast. Golden era TNA had tags like this down pat and this was no exception. vs Abyss (Unbreakable 2005) - Really good hardcore spot wrestling. Abyss was an excellent base for Sabu. As a result, they were able to do some really impressive moves off of Sabu's triple jump. Sick finish too!! I dug their dynamic as Sabu really made it seem like he had to use body as a weapon to defeat the giant Abyss. vs Rhino vs Abyss vs Jeff Hardy - Monster's Ball (Bound for Glory 2005) - And that's fuckin' insane! Wow, what a well paced highspot spectacle. Two big guys paired with two high flyers was a smart idea. The slams looked fantastic, the suicidal dives looked warranted... yeah this was great. I can't say it was clever (other than one spot) but it was a thrill. An absolute fireworks show that I recommend checking out! vs Abyss (Genesis 2005) - This was a simpler version of their Unbreakable match. No that's not exactly right. It just didn't seem as cohesive as that match. This seemed a little simpler in terms of spots - athletic and hardcore oriented. Still, this was a lot of fun. Sabu is definitely what makes this enjoyable. I'm not taking anything away from Abyss but Sabu puts himself in harms way for our enjoyment. Having watched BJW from this time period, this match would absolutely fit right in - chairs, tables, barb wire & thumb tacks. It's not in excess like you might see in a BJW main event but it definitely has an excellent blend of brawling, moves and garbage spots that it's worth your time. vs Abyss - No Ropes Barb Wire match (Turning Point 2005) - Speaking of death matches, here we go! This was great! A spectacle to see six sides of barb wire and they did not disappoint. Great spots with the wire and the wire covered chair and boards. Both guys got as good as they gave. I really dug when Sabu pulled the spike out and carved up Abyss' arm just like his uncle, The Sheik. Fantastic! By the way, Abyss' 2005 was really great - his program with Sabu & his ROH/Embassy work...I think that's worth noting. vs Samoa Joe (Lockdown 2006) - Good match and a really good pace but it's over too soon for my liking. I feel like Sabu could have pushed Joe further but seeing as I didn't know these two had this match, I am happy that I saw it These two gelled really well. They absolutely could have done more work together. There's a couple more matches included on the video but that's where I'm going to stop my review. I'm so glad to see these matches and I think was a fitting tribute to Sabu. There was no one like him in the ring. If you're a Sabu fan but haven't seen anything recently check these matches out. If you've wanted to see a Sabu match but never had, check something out. Everyone else will have more poignant things to say. People that knew him will have stories and insights on the man Terry Brunk. I'm just a 20+ year fan of his work and all I can do is tell you to watch some Sabu. Thank you Sabu!!!

Thanks for looking at some of the data! I looked at some of it too just now. Kidman vs Hogan already has 46k views so I must be in the minority of who's watching this page...or who they're looking to target. It appears stuff with Hogan, Scott Steiner, Goldberg, Kevin Nash is what's drawing people... Which feels like its casual wrestling fans on a nostalgia trip...young or old. Quality matches, hard to find shows or classic matches seems to be like a 3rd string priority. Regarding the lack of Benoit shows, I hear ya! Maybe there's some correlation... They're just skipping over a big chunk of quality WCW TV & PPVs since he might have a match, promo or appearance. So they're tip-toeing around 1995-1999.

Generally speaking, the WCW YouTube page has been putting up a load of '99-00 era junk lately. Oh they will put a mid 90's match or a TV episode from the NWA 80's but given the have a wealth of footage, they're posting turds anymore. The latest looks like Hogan vs Kidman from Slamboree 2000...who's clamoring to see this match?

WWE vault YouTube posted this today. Adding it for posterity 🙂

I've been watching 1994 WCW and it's really surprised me with how good the weekly shows are - Saturday Night & Worldwide especially. I tuned wrestling out in the early 90's beyond video games and the occasional WWF weekend recap show. I'm really sorry that I missed this back growing up because it was more serious and wrestling oriented as opposed to the corny/for kiddies characters of WWF at this time.

I think this project was prompted by the WCW YouTube page started recently by WWE. They came out the gate with some great stuff and have been trickling out Hogan era schlock lately. Anyhow, 1994 seemed like a really interesting year in terms of their roster and matchups. As usual, I'm going to cherry pick certain wrestlers and matches. I want to focus on Steven Regal, Ricky Steamboat, Vader & tags that look interesting. I know I'm missing some stuff. I was going to do a comprehensive 1994 but that was too large of a project. I'm mainly using the TV shows but will include WCW YouTube stuff where applicable for PPVs and any official wrestler YouTube videos. TAGS 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell Paul Roma and Paul Orndorff vs Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio (01/15 WCW Saturday Night) - This was OK and not very long...for as big a mouth as Roma has had, he didn't work very well here. I think that he missed a spot or took too long and didn't seem to know what the finish was on a rolling clutch type thing...and after the match, they were to do a top rope splash on Scorpio and it looks like a legit knee drop on Scorp's abdomen because Roma didn't want to commit to the splash Harlem Heat vs Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio (02/19 WCW Saturday Night) Oh man! This was a heck of a match. We don't get a clean finish but damn it still ended spectacularly! Obviously, Booker was best with Bagwell & Scorpio but I definitely appreciated Stevie Ray's hard hitting style in this match. Very good stuff! 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell vs Harlem Heat Worldwide March 26th, 1994 - Another high energy tag match with Scorpio & Bagwell being a team that I wish I knew sooner. Unfortunately we don't get a clean finish but looking forward, it sets up a couple more matches. (looks like Bagwell & Scorpio have some good tags in '93). Marcus Bagwell vs Booker T (04/02/94) - Super fun match! Plenty of quality in ring action and a nice finish involving Ron Simmons - keep the feud alive Ice Train, 2 Cold Scorpio, & Marcus Bagwell vs Harlem Heat & Ron Simmons Worldwide April 9th, 1994 - I think that the unifying factor of the Buff & Scorpio team is that they dance. Not in a stupid way (I guess) but yeah...hahaha! Booker does his break dance and even Ron Simmons is shaking his hips. There's a lot of boogie in this match Ice Train is here for moral support as he's never tagged in. So, we get excellent in ring action with Scorp & Buff wrestling their butts off vs Harlem Heat & Simmons. This is very good stuff...simple but exciting wrestling. This just puts a smile on my face. 2 Cold Scorpio, Bagwell, & Ice Train vs. Harlem Heat & Ron Simmons (04 16 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - Holy cow, they gave this some time on Saturday Night. This feud didn't make it to PPV so I think they gave them this to end it. And damn they wrestled this like it was - hot opening, face in peril with Bagwell and a hot tag to finish. I thought this was a great TV match for sure. Sadly it's the end of the Scorpio & Bagwell team by the looks of it... or at from I've found. They had more stuff in '93 so perhaps that's worth a look. ----- STEAMBOAT Ricky Steamboat & Arn Anderson vs. Steve Austin & Lord Steven Regal (03 05 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - Holy cow! That was a great TV tag match! Steamboat in peril was fantastic and Austin & Regal as a team is as top notch as you'd like. Arn laying the smack down was great too. Great pacing and timing...just super easy to enjoy this. “Stunning” Steve Austin vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (03 12 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - This was a great match from beginning to end - technical but with some fisticuffs, shenanigans but nothing that spoiled the match, full of action but no mindless spots. Yeah, this definitely Recommended wrestling. And a good finish that leads to bigger things Paul Roma vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (03 19 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - Very nice keep-it-simple work-a-limb wrestling. Roma just looks like a smarmy heel so this just works in the most basic way. Fun stuff...There's an old RF shoot where Roma talks shit on Ricky...like the only person ever to have bad things to say about Steamboat... classy dude. Spring Stampede '94 April 17th 1994 PPV Steamboat vs Flair - Set aside some time, be in the mood/mind set and watch these two masters go at it one more time. I thought this was a classic. Definitely suggest you read some of the takes from the 1994 Match Discussion Archives/PWO Yearbook. There's spoilers there. As far as my opinion, I have no real flaws in mind but I would say that you're going to be watching something in line with their '89 matches...which are more technically oriented than brawling or full of the fanciest moves of 1994. Headlock work, backslides...there's chops, dropkicks, moves off the top but they're not the bulk of the match. So bear that in mind Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat & Arn Anderson vs. Pat Tanaka & Haito (04 23 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - Tons of fun! Face/heel, Steamboat in peril...Tanaka was making things look great.. nothing complicated but this is the stuff that made Saturday Night a excellent weekly show. ---- REGAL Sting vs Steven Regal (02/05) WCW Saturday Night - Oh hohoho this was really good stuff. The thing that I like about Sting is that he always goes along with opponents and will work their match. He's keeping up with Regal (who is great making the Stinger look like a technician) and this gets better & better as it goes. Arn Anderson vs Steven Regal (Super Brawl IV 02/20) - A long match for WCW standards. However, these are two guys I could watch all day. Your mileage is going to vary based on the pacing (the go almost 30 minutes). Very good stuff...I saw this was given ****1/4 by Loss on the '94 Yearbook... I can't find any argument against that. WCW Pro 3/26/94 Steven Regal vs Brad Armstrong - PWO denizens will appreciate this match. Regal is grinding and stretching Brad's arm all match. Armstrong is barely able to find openings to fight back and it seems his only chance is to gets a pin fall from a quick reversal. This was a very good story match and really drew me in. Spring Stampede '94 April 17th 1994 PPV Regal vs Brian Pillman - Oh yeah, they gave them time to work and it was very good wrestling. Good rope stuff, Regal stretching, Pillman was fiery...I liked this quite a bit. A good mix of everything here. Definitely a match for wrestling fans, I feel. See the Spring Stampede '94 link above. ---- VADER Big Van Vader vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat February 26, 1994 edition of WCW Saturday Night - Yeah we miss the beginning but Steamboat goes hardcore on Vader by blasting him with chair shots. This is fair since Vader really is a beast. We get a really fun match and Harley Race is a fun manager. Obviously this is a fraction of what they could do but Steamboat gets in a lot of high impact offense and its a blast to watch! WCW World Wide Wrestling 4/30/94 Cactus Jack vs Vader - Oh man! They went at each other like wild animals. This was a heck of a match for World Wide...chair shots, splashes off the middle, somersault senton off the apron, Harley Race was even bumping. This definitely could have gone another 5 minutes. Fantastic ! Maxx Payne vs. Big Van Vader (04 30 1994 WCW Saturday Night) - I thought there might be a little more to the match since Maxx was Cactus Jack's partner but, it's essentially a jobber match. Fun big man wrestling nonetheless. ----- This has been a fun project so far as it's got a lot of variety and quality. My apologies for the way I've organized this as I tend to go strictly chronologically but it's been easier for me to group them by wrestler. Also apologies for the inconsistency with the dating and name formats. Again it was just easier to have them this way (usually copy/pasted from the source videos). You should be able to find these online a little easier at least 🙂 The next WCW '94 post should pick up a couple things I intentionally left off in April '94 and then get to May and the Summer months of 1994. I hope you enjoy watching these matches in the meantime! Thanks for reading!

Okay, this 2004 post came a lot sooner than I thought since there wasn't a lot to 2004 or what I could find online. Only two shows and only one that's worth a full look at. I started out with 09/25/04. This is an outdoor show...and wow! That is an amazing building across the way. But honestly, I can't truly recommend anything on this show. Kintaro Kanemura & Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Katsumasa Inoue & Shadow WX was exactly the type of straight tag match you know they can wrestle. Fast simple stuff, good stuff. Renews my opinion on Shadow WX and Yamakawa. Delirious vs. Chris Hero was fun indy-riffic wrestling! That's cool that Samurai TV aired just about all of this. This under card is very enjoyable. So if you see these matches you'll be pleased but I wouldn't go out of your way to watch them. The main event of BADBOY Hido vs. Ryuji Ito felt really phoned in for a death match. Maybe these outdoor shows are C-level shows because that's what this felt like given the let down of the main event. 12/18/04 After the previous show's poor main event, I decided to watch this one backwards. Main Event first to the curtain jerker last. I've organized my review that way also. BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title 10 Items Death Match Ryuji Ito vs. BADBOY Hido - Holy cow, the ring looks like the game Mouse Trap...with glass. There's all kinds of apparatuses involving glass light tubes & barb wire. But this is a bad match. Even if you like death matches... it's bad. There's no selling, no psychology to the point where they are just leading each other to the next spot area. It's like Double Dare with blood. And unfortunately the finish spot doesn't make sense... the chairs laid a top the prone wrestler act as armor from the barb wire and nails that you're supposed to be driving into them. That's some part of psychology in wrestling - "Does what I'm doing make sense in the context of this match and the reality constructed by the promotion?" Anyone can tell you that sandwiching a guy between chairs is to crush him. Putting glass, barb wire, nails etc on top or underneath is to cut him. Putting chairs in between is going to crush still but not cut. I'm wasting brain power on this. This is pretty stupid unfortunately... Ito needs someone who can put a match together like W*ing Kanemura...Hido can't put together a straight match so this is just bleh. Go watch Ito vs Kanemura from the 08/24/03 show instead. Hardcore Match Shadow WX vs. Daisuke Sekimoto - Very good! This was best when they were doing wrestling moves. The chair shots were very disposable but I dug the table spot. So overall no big complaints with the Hardcore aspects but the wrestling was where this was at. Sekimoto's Choshu style matches WX's when he's in work mode...thankfully we got that. Lots of beefy lariats, brainbusters & German suplexes. I can't say there was a story here and the action wasn't so electric that a story was irrelevant. A little story in the ring would have improved this but, I dug it nonetheless! Tornado Bunkhouse Death Match Kintaro Kanemura vs. Jaki Numazawa - This was very good... maybe even a great death match. It got really interesting as it went on as they added surprises into the match. That's where this greatly exceeded the Hido vs Ito match. This had far less contraptions but it had better wrestling maneuvers, surprises, bits of comedy and it felt like they wanted to win. Street Fight 2 Tuff Tony, Madman Pondo & Necro Butcher vs. Abdullah Kobayashi, Daikokubo Benkei & Gosaku - The beginning was shown in highlights/digest form and then maybe the 2nd half was shown in full. This worked as this was fun! Good moves, crazy spots but enough guys in the ring that no one's weaknesses were exposed. MEN's Teioh & The Winger vs. Junji Tanaka & Yuki Ishikawa - Highlights... Ishikawa may have legit busted Teioh open. Wish there was more... Tanny Mouse, Yoshiko Tamura & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Haruka Matsuo, Misae Genki & Yuka Nakamura - Highlights again but this was fun stuff. Nice to see joshi and makes me start thinking about GAEA again. GENTARO & Takashi Sasaki vs. Hiroyuki Kondo & Katsumasa Inoue - Great action packed junior style tag match! So glad that I watched this show in MY order. This was the best match of the card. Very exciting stuff from all four dudes! This was a pretty good show with a crappy main event in Hido vs Ito. You totally could skip that and have a fun time with these matches instead: WX vs Sekimoto, Kanemura vs Numazawa, and GENTARO & Sasaki vs Kondo & Inoue. I think it's worth finding this show online and watching those bouts. I wish I was able to find a little more for 2004 but, I've got to move on to my other projects. But I will be doing an in depth look at BJW 2006 which is based on a 4 disc compilation from Highspots from a few years back. Keep an eye out for that...I'm still working on getting through my DVD back catalog! Thanks for reading!🙂

I'm moving forward to 2003 in my very cursory look at turn of the century era BJW. These cards are looking pretty cool. Let's take a look! 03/30/03 Darkness Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match BADBOY Hido & Madman Pondo vs. Gosaku & Ryuji Yamakawa - Oh ho, that was good! About 10 minutes of really fun stuff, nice old school foreign object forehead carving, a few sick spots..this was an easy watch for most anyone. WEW Hardcore Tag Team Title Ryuji Ito & Daisaku Shimoda Trial Series Match #4 Abdullah Kobayashi & Daikokubo Benkei vs. Daisaku Shimoda & Ryuji Ito - Yeah!!! This ended up being a ton of fun!! The baby faces made their comeback right as I was losing interest and the rest of the match was exciting. Ito & Shimoda were going off on offense. This maybe the best Benkei match as a result. BJW Heavyweight Title Match MEN's Teioh vs. Daisuke Sekimoto - Oh shoot, this was absolutely awesome! Like Tanaka, Gannosuke & Hayabusa working AJPW style in the late 90's, Teioh & Sekimoto do the same. They prove here (and I'm sure before) that they are not just death match wrestlers. They put on an classic match in that pure puroresu style. The early portion reminded me of Flair vs Steamboat. And the later portion was an homage to Misawa, Kawada & Kobashi without being parody or tribute. If you're into the older indies, then you ought to see this. Teioh, who was overshadowed by other members of KDX, and a young Sekimoto really put on a show and really encouraged me to keep exploring this period of BJW. Highly recommended match, FMW/BJW/Michinoku Pro fans...it's a Must See. It's early still but this is Best Match Watched contender for the Indies. BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title Light Tubes & Glass Death Match Shadow WX vs. Kintaro Kanemura - A very fun way to spend 13 minutes. This style or era of death match is much like a TLC match...there's a good amount of time spent setting up furniture. And then WHAM! big spot. So you're going along for the ride and waiting for the those big moments. It certainly couldn't have followed up the Sekimoto vs Teioh match but it felt more like a post credit bonus scene. 13 minutes of high spots and spectacle to cap off an excellent BJW show. I'd definitely recommend this show/TV episode...BJW is moving in the right direction! 08/24/03 Hyoma & Junji Tanaka vs. Hiroyuki Kondo & Katsumasa Inoue - Jip -This was just as good a junior tag match as you'd probably see on a NJPW undercard at the time. It's simpler but well paced and executed. I dug it. Shinjuku Shark vs. Bancho Matsuzaki - clips... Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Yuichi Taniguchi vs. Mike Samples & Mr. Big Japan (Ryuji Yamakawa) - Fun match...kind of stupid but that's why it was fun I do wish they book Kuroda in something a bit more prominent than these under card tags though. Free Weapon Street Fight 2 Tuff Tony & Madman Pondo vs. Mr. Pogo & Shadow WX - Now this is the fun type of match you'd watch BJW for - half of a hardware store is used, guys are bleeding, some cool spots...no rhyme or reason but violence for violence sake. BADBOY Hido & Gosaku vs. Abdullah Kobayashi & Daikokubo Benkei - OK match that had it moments. Gosaku took a sick bump and may have hurt his head and maybe ended the match a bit sooner than planned. *Tag Team Match TAKA Michinoku & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & MEN's Teioh - Yeah this was really good stuff. I gotta say Sekimoto vs Ishikawa was my favorite pairing. Lots of great action and tag moves. This went longer with 2/3rds being shown. The talent of all workers shone through and made this very good wrestling to watch. My only real complaint is the camera work seemed to be all over the place.. like it was too zoomed in at times and was catching the lights too often. It made things feel disjointed at times. That's to say, it was hard to follow all of the action. Oh and I thought the figure four on the floor killed the early energy/momentum and they had to work their way out of that hole. Had they not done that, I think this would be a great match...still totally worth your time! *BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title Cage Death Match Kintaro Kanemura vs. Ryuji Ito - Aw hell yes! This is what I wanted. Kanemura works so much better with Ito than Shadow WX. Ito can still move, wants to do pro wrestling and while Kanemura is broken down some, he's willing to meet the young guy in the middle. As a result we get a great, dare I say classic Cage Death Match. While it isn't in the upper echelon of cage matches, this is right below as it conveys the intensity, they use the cage as a weapon, they use their other weapons but at almost 15 minutes, this never overstayed it's welcome. They do a little bit of everything and it hits just in the right way. I think one of the near falls should have ended it but, nothing afterwards feels superfluous. They made it work and went back to "wrestling" at the end. And that's a good sign for BJW to come. If you're a hard-core/garbage wrestling fan, I Highly Recommend this one. 12/24/03 Tag Team Match Chocoball Mukai & GENTARO vs. Gosaku & Shadow WX - Fun tag match. They super bomb GENTARO on his fucking head. He's the best worker of the match. Hardcore Street Fight Death Match BADBOY Hido vs. Jaki Numazawa - Good garbage wrestling... lots of spots with the ladder and barb wire bat. BJW Heavyweight Title Match MEN's Teioh (c) vs. Ricky Fuji - This is a fun match with a bit of comedy so it's not the full extent of what they're capable of. Still it's a treat to see Ricky Fuji vs Terry Boy face off Tag Team Match Daisuke Sekimoto & Manabu Hara vs. Daikokubo Benkei & Yuki Ishikawa - This was OK. I'd rather see Sekimoto vs Ishikawa. I don't think there's anything worthwhile here unless you're watching the full show. BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title Ring Of Death Fluorescent Light Tubes Barbed Wire Board & Glass Board Death Match Ryuji Ito (c) vs. Abdullah Kobayashi - For Xmas, Kobayashi brings out a barb wire wrapped cactus with a star on top...like a death match Xmas tree. This was more spot crazy than working a match with the props. This is no less cohesive than many ladder matches you'll see. Nonetheless, this was pretty sick...there was a ton of glass. Abdullah's back is red with blood and Ito may have actually hurt himself. You can tell with this match and the cage match that BJW has a great future with this style. Thanks for reading! The next few posts should be more U.S. oriented as I've been watching Mid South Wrestling and WCW. If you're enjoying the Big Japan stuff, I'll probably do a post on 2004 stuff in couple weeks.

This is the second post in the series and I've skipped 2000 & 2001. That's because the company is gummed up with CZW...like the dregs of Zandig era CZW. I'm not interested. There's a couple CZW names still here but these guys actually have some talent, skill or something. Let's take a look! BJW Harder Than Hardcore Series 2002 03/03/02 Match Trent Acid vs. The Winger - Eh, I'm glad I half watched this and a Bob Newhart Show episode. They go outside and do pile driver on the sidewalk. Then they do a balcony dive spot and then eh...at 17 minutes.. this was probably 10 minutes too long. Nate Hatred vs Shunme Matsuzaki - Not interested at first...But I gave it a chance and it was as a good straight forward indie puro match. There was good action and a bit of drama to make it an easy watch. Shadow WX vs. Abdullah Kobayashi (Barbed Wire Board & Strap Death Match) - Good match and it was really fun once Shadow WX got the strap off his wrist. Then they started using the barb wire boards. It's an under card death match and I think it's enjoyable but left me wanting more. BADBOY Hido vs. Kintaro Kanemura (Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match) - Very good death match. They use the tubes from the beginning and while they're not young men anymore, they do some good spots. I thought the one where Jun Kasai was waiting in the balcony was particularly clever. There's a little bit clipped out but the official match time is around 14 mins so it doesn't overstay it's welcome. If you're not wanting to watch a light tube match, this is one you will want to skip. It's not as dangerous & insane as I've seen but, they still take a few big bumps into the glass & Hido is shirtless. If you're a little curious then, I think this is a good one to check out...especially if you like Kanemura & Hido from FMW. They're tough but not youngsters looking to prove anything by how gruesome they can be. So, we get a good spot match augmented by the props. Daikokubo Benkei (c) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto - Unfortunately this wasn't included on this video/Samurai TV episode. Knowing them, it's probably on the next episode... ah well but Benkei isn't especially spry so perhaps this is no great loss? They could have cut the Acid vs Winger match for this though...or perhaps it really stunk? Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Jun Kasai (Land Mine Board Russian Roulette Death Match) - Great death match! What makes this so good is that the actually do a regular match and incorporate the exploding boards and a few light tubes rather than base the whole match around a couple crazy spots. I thought they also did a excellent job putting over the damage. I think this actually would be a good one if you've never seen anything with the tubes in case your squeamish. The finish is what pushes this up to a "great" match. Recommended Homicide vs. The Winger (08/14/02): Good match, Homicide takes a giant plunge and yet the match continues? Haha it's all good...it should have been the finish but they do a few more minutes...but those are fun. Homicide definitely knows how to put on an entertaining singles match. Honestly, if they didn't do the big dive then, just with the barb wire boards and the moves, this would have been better BJW Harder Than Hardcore II (big show) 08/18/02 Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Bancho Matsuzaki - We get about half of this but it's really fun stuff. Happy to see Kuroda. This is simple but enjoyable wrestling. Nice finishing segment with near falls done right! Bancho is Shunme Matsuzaki but he's got a shaved head. Singles Match MEN's Teioh vs. ODD (Dudley Dudley) - Vaguely remember Dudley Dudley from ECW tapes I had...don't actually remember him wrestling though. I skipped through this one... BJ Death Match Rumble Match Shadow WX vs. Homicide vs. Madman Pondo vs. The Winger vs. Abugold Bayashi (Abdullah Kobayashi painted gold) - This was a lot of fun. Some dangerous spots, some comedy, and this was an enjoyable plunder garbage match. A total waste of Homicide but I don't think anyone knew that at the time...not even Homicide. Daikokubo Benkei vs. Daisuke Sekimoto - OK match only for Daisuke Sekimoto fans...Benkei is good in tag matches as he's a massive dude and can do King Kong Bundy type moves. But in singles, he's just so boring and lacks any enthusiasm. Sekimoto singlehandedly makes this interesting and stiffs Benkei just to get him to sell perhaps. World Extreme Cup 2002 Final Glass Death Match Seiji Yamakawa vs. Kintaro Kanemura - Light tubes on the ropes and panes of glass leaned up in the corners. Panes of glass are way sketchier than the light tubes.. The tubes break uniformly into little chunks...panes of glass are irregular and the pieces are much larger. We'll see how this goes...hell I watched the Headhunters glass match and Tarzan Goto carve a chunk into some guys arm (actually may have Yamakawa)...but I'm still tentative. Whew! OK that's some strong ass glass and its looking to break like windshield glass. Man in the old days that shit would spider web and there'd be all kinds of nasty looking shards. Anyhow this was pretty good. I really wish the spots were more logically organized. A couple Kanemura did near the beginning would have been much more meaningful if they were built up to. And that's the flaw...I didn't feel like this told a story. It's just spots for spots sake. To be fair though, if I got a tape of this match in 2002, I would have been psyched...there's some great 'holy shit!' moments. Still, it's entertaining and fun if you're interested in this kind of thing. Daisuke Sekimoto, MEN's Teioh & Ryuji Ito vs. Da Hit Squad (Mafia & Monsta Mack) & Homicide (10/14/02) - Very good match! Lots going on with Da Hit Squad doing big guy power moves, Homicide doing some craziness. Ito is skinny as heck still but has tons of fight, Sekimoto is definitely a star on the rise and Teioh is charismatic as heck. I had a lot of fun with this match. Looks like Monsta Mack himself has this posted so, I'll share it here: 2002 was good but inconsistent...at least from what I saw Nevertheless there was always something worth my time - either a bit of fun or a legitimate very good/great match. Definitely recommend the Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Jun Kasai match. Thanks for reading! Hang in there folks!

I'm watching Mid South stuff and I absolutely second the Reed vs Neidhart matches. I've found three matches online and these are great bloody fights. Each is somewhere around 10-15 minutes.

I think I was motivated to watch this era of Big Japan because I've been playing Fire Pro Returns again. And I've been enjoying this era of GAEA & NJPW. I really like the energy in turn of the century puro & joshi. Production sensibilities were changing, outfit and general aesthetics were changing and the changing of the talent guard was just beginning. It's all really appealing because I think a lot from this time is worthwhile. I have been pleasantly surprised with AJPW, NOAH, joshi, and various indies during the 99-04 time period. I do think a portion of that is due to my lower expectations. Conversely, I think people undervalued somethings by using the amazing 90's as a baseline. I know that I used to. So, I feel that I am seeing much of this period with fresh eyes and an open mind. Let's take a peek at BJW 1999! 04/29/99 Shadow WX & Tomoaki Honma vs. Abdullah Jr. Kobayashi & Benkei Daikokubo - Very good, pretty straightforward tag match. Sure there's chair shots and a ladder but ignore those! This was solid wrestling with Honma being the face in peril. 08/10/99 Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Shadow WX (No Rope barbed wire Fire Death Match) - Damn Yamakawa makes an entrance! This show is outside due to the fire stipulation so a souped up red Mercedes comes charging in and drops Yamakawa off...And he's wearing a leather Starter jacket with his white pants and bleached blonde hair... that was cool! Yeah this was fun stuff...they used light tubes also. And they really went into the flaming barbwire! That sounds worse than it was (I think) as the knew just the right way to hit it and move past it to the outside. Still it was really dangerous! I like that in 1999 light tubes were put over so strongly. That's a gripe I have about later light tube matches. Anyhow, this is only about 12 minutes and ends without going too long. So I had fun 11/08/99 Tomoaki Honma & Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Shadow WX & The Winger (Fluorescent light bulb & Barbed Wire Board Death Match) - Whoa! This was a great death match! Excellent pro wrestling to start. Then Shadow WX gets violent and starts really employing the weapons and danger. Winger is crazy! I particularly liked the one spot where it look liked Shadow used fire to motivate Winger to do his big dive. All in all this was jammed pack with great action. Honma & Yamakawa were great baby faces and garnered sympathy from me. That's hard to do in a death match sometimes. Plus we get blood on the camera lens! Recommended! 12/04/99 Kamikaze & Shunme Matsuzaki vs. MEN'S Teio & Jun Kasai - Clipped as the full time was 24 minutes. I'm not sure how enjoyable this would be at that run time but this was a lot of fun clipped Great Sasuke vs. Minoru Fujita - Pretty seamless editing here as only a third was shown but it appeared to be only slightly edited. The wrestling was quick and energetic. Fujita was especially exciting. Again, I can't give a strong rating but this may be the only version you or I are going to see so I recommend it. Shadow WX vs. Ryuji Yamakawa (4 Corner Fluorescent light bulb Board Death Match) - This is in full as the early parts of the TV episode focuses on Shadow WX.Oh yeah! It's a lights off match and the lights are plugged in and lit up! I always thought that was a nice touch the old light matches had. Anyhow this was pretty good stuff! They do some really crazy spots and there's a pretty good come back. In all honesty, this could have been laid out a little bit better. The whole first part when they go in the crowd seems pretty meaningless and just "something they do." Then they get into the spots and it gets going. But really a 17 minute match could have been shaved down to 14 by just staying around the ring and that would have kept the intensity going. So if you watch this one, fast forward the part where they are in the crowd. You'll like this a lot more! Thanks for reading!

WWE's WCW YouTube page just posted this:

From 08/29/02 Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kazuyuki Fujita- Great under 10 minute match! Inoki Strong Style match were they have a little bit of match action, striking, more shoot style. This is one I'm surprised I haven't heard of but it precisely what you expect from these too. Fujita punches Takayama and he's bleeding profusely from his ear...ruptured cauliflower ear is my guess. That's a good indicator of what this match is about. Great no nonsense, stiff stuff.

I'm continuing to take a peek at early 2000's New Japan. Early on we're going to look at some NJ vs NOAH that I didn't cover back in my NOAH 2002 posts from last year (I think). Some might be in a NOAH ring but I'm counting them. But overall this is just a mix of matches from 2002 New Japan that I thought looked interesting and were online Yuji Nagata vs Jun Akiyama (01/04) - Oh, that was a great bout! No way you would guess this is their first time working together and at the Dome no less. I honestly don't get the criticism of the middle of the match being slow. They are using different neck locks to wear away at each other and in fact both guess use signature holds (Nagata Lock & King Crab). I think since I watch wrestling with the volume low or off that I wasn't effected by the Dome crowd lack of enthusiasm. That's typical Tokyo Dome and why it's my least favorite venue. There's criticism that this is wrestling by numbers, too your turn-my turn etc. I didn't feel that way anymore than most other 2000s big star match puro. I think it's a way to express parity if anything. I thought this was a battle between two big stars of the new decade on the biggest level. Again, they hadn't worked together (maybe there's a tag? I get mixed up) enough to have this clean and coherent of a match. This wasn't a feud blow off...it's an exhibition match about pride/superiority so the chippy shit Akiyama does to Misawa/Kobashi isn't going to be there. The mind games were there with the now tired trope of "move theft." This still works for me because I think I avoided that trend along with a lot of contemporary wrestling. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie (04/07) - There's a lot of good matches on this NOAH show. I vaguely remember this but didn't watch it last year or whenever I watched 2002 NOAH. I'm watching odds and ends now clearly Still, two teams off mooses locking antlers should be fun. And that's what this was... two pairs of bull mooses fighting over territory. This is your inter-promotional/bad blood match. An archetype match for Strong BJW...Tenryu influenced? Classic stuff...best Yoshie match? He seemed at his peak here in 2002. Matches like this became over played in the mid & late 2010's but, if you haven't seen those in awhile, you're going to really appreciate this. Yuji Nagata vs Bas Rutten (07/20) - This was very good stuff! Bas knows how to work by mixing his natural charisma with his athleticism. This reminded me of very good UWF/i work..maybe a little bit of RINGS at least early on. The fact that they worked quick like a real fight helped this tremendously. (08/29) Masayuki Naruse vs. Takehiro Murahama - This looks like a very interesting matchup. I just couldn't get into the the rhythm of this. If you're intrigued by this pairing, I want to let you know that it's out there...you may really dig it. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kazuyuki Fujita- Great under 10 minute match! Inoki Strong Style match were the have a little bit of match action, striking, more shoot suplexes..I'm digging it during this project plus the matches are concise and competitive. This is one I'm surprised I haven't heard of but it precisely what you expect from these too. Fujita punches Takayama and he's bleeding profusely from his ear...ruptured cauliflower ear is my guess. That's a good indicator of what this match is about. Great no nonsense, stiff stuff. Kentaro Shiga vs Osamu Nishimura - This one is in NOAH whereas the other two are in NJPW. In an alternate universe, this would be the meeting between NOAH and NJPW's respective aces. This is wrestled like it was and it was also 1980. I am not complaining I love 2002 Shiga and this match is no exception. I'm just recently getting a chance to see more Nishimura with these early 2000's NJ projects. It's a longer match than many of these "around 10 minute" matches of this era but it's totally worth your time. (10/14) Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs Tadao Yasuda - It's not very long but absolutely worth the couple minutes to watch TK wrestling rings around Yasuda. Bas Rutten vs. Osamu Nishimura - Really cool novelty match! I think it's best when they're trading holds on the mat. Like most strikers, Bas isn't quite sure how to throw some working strikes. Others he's fantastic and they look vicious. If he kept wrestling, I think his move set could be pared down or he would have dialed something in. Ok that's an aside. He & Nishimura have a very good and sometimes great European style match. This was up my alley as its UWFi like. Kazunari Murakami vs Masayuki Naruse - Under 5 minutes but it's a lot of fun for brawling shoot style stuff. Kaz Fujita vs Yuji Nagata - I prefer this match to the June 2001 bout. Maybe it's got a bit more pro wrestling drama or moves but, this actually was pretty good stuff. Nagata really had his work cut out for him. Fujita is one dimensional but he playss no neck badass very well. This seemed to have more of a fire or spark to the action than the first match. Although this period of NJPW gets a bad rap, there's plenty of very good wrestling here. I am definitely going to keep popping in with assorted reviews from this era. Watch the big-boy tag match from 04/07 & Takayama vs Fujita, you'll be glad that you did! Thanks for reading!

This was like a delicious meal but you gotta be patient. Once it gets done and out the oven, it's worth the wait. Here things really pick up once Makabe, Takayama and Kobashi are on the apron/ring ramp. Honda Dead End German suplexes the blonde giant back into the ring and Kobashi eats chair shots to the back for breakfast. Let ultra stiff chopping begin. Honda is an acquired taste that I've never fully gotten used to but here I liked him. He uses his wide variety of sleeper and neck holds to great effect (which masks his physical limitations). Makabe was great all the way back in 2003. And Kobashi vs Takayama you already know about. Great match...Recommended.