elliott

Yay! Eric Embry is back! FINALLY! Stalling to start before Embry ends up going over the top rope after airballing a punch. Oh eric Embry. He’s back in the ring band takes over landing some punches and slamming Santana into the turnbuckles. Embry’s a lot bigger in 1989 than he was when he first came to PR, but he still looks really good bumping around for Santana and getting up and down for all of his roll ups stuff. Embry is also such a great heel with fans throwing drinks at him the second he’s within throwing distance. And Embry is so fucking smart using the fan throwing shit into the ring against them by demanding the ref kick some garbage out of the ring and as soon as he does Embry lowblows Santans causing the crowd to throw more shit. Embry’s offense is a great blend of despicable heel shit like that or raking the eyes mixed with really hard hitting stuff like lariats or posting Santana. Embry hits a beautiful 2nd rope lariat. When it comes time for Santana’s comeback, Embry is terrific stumbling around with a dazed look in his eye and begging off after kickouts. Santana is just going to destroy his knees on that top rope splash attempt one of these days. Quick finish. This was yet another short but fun TV match. Embry was amazing. I politely request an Eric Embry set.

Jason jumps Colon as he gets in the ring and takes over trying to push Carlos back into the wire. Carlos is able to avoid it at first but Jason is able to overpower him and force him back into it. Jason gets an extended beatdown on Colon. Punches, great headbutts with the Jason mask and forcisng Colon into the wire. Finally Colon manages to slow Jason down briefly whipping him into the wire. But Jason is able to come right back and continues with another extended beatdown of Carlos forcing him back into the wire over and over. Carlos finally is able to make a comeback with his great punches and a kick to the balls before pushing Jason into the wire over and over to the delight of the crowd. Carlos manages to get his mask off in the middle of the beatdown and gives Jason headbutts with the mask. Awesome. Jason is COVERED in blood now. Holy fuck. This is awesome. Carlos continues the beatdown even hitting some dropkicks. Jason is great stumbling around with Carlos just blasting away. God this is some gruesome shit. Jason manages to cut off Colon with a terrible knee lift when Colon puts his head down too early on a backdrop attempt. Jason hits a knee drop off the 2nd rope but misses the 2nd leading to vintage Colon legwork leading to the figure 4. Typical enormous pop for the finish. This was pretty flat for me at first and then picked up in a big way. Another shockingly good Colon match.

Really fun opening stretch with the heels constantly bickering with each other as the babyfaces show them up left and right. Huracan Castillo Jr & Dan Kroffat are awesome against each other. They have some truly dynamic interactions in this. Kroffat is starting to reach his peak as a worker and you can really see it in this match. Castillo keeps up with him every step of the way which is impressive. Exotico is a ton of fun. Bringing some great comedy to the proceedings which works well with all the stiff workratey stuff Kroffat does. Finish is spectacular. There are a ton of these short TV tags all over the set but they are all a lot of fun.

Sasaki! Weird! Obviously Japanese guys worked PR. We’ve seen a number of them. But Sasaki is a weird one for some reason. Fun basic opening portion with Santana controlling with rope running armdraggy stuff. Thhey work it up and down and its good stuff if again super basic stuff. Back from commercial with Sasaki in charge. Sasaki slows down Santana with a nerve hold and sleeper. Well, don’t worry Sasaki fans. Its February 1989 but he hits maybe the hardest chops I’ve ever seen in my life. They are ridiculous. Santana’s comeback is more fun basic offense. Salt in the eyes gets Sasaki DQd. This was fun. Interesting look at Sasaki at this time period.

Great slugfest to start. This is yet another enormous and incredibly hot crowd. Colon gets the advantage of the early slugfest and there’s an awesome look of concern on Ayala’s face. Ayala gets the advantage and throws some great knee lifts before putting Carlos down with a great looking clothesline. I’m enjoying this match but its bitter sweet. I don’t want either guy to lose and I require more matches! Colon is really good putting over Ayala’s big knees and power offense. This spills to the outside early of course and Carlos gets busted open. Ayala just kills him with a beer can or something before posting him. Crowd reaction for Colon posting Ayala is CRAZY and Ayala gets posted open. Colon posts Ayala a few times and hits him with the ring bell. Back in the ring and Carlos is COVERED in blood but he is right in the middle of an insane punching fest and can’t be denied until Ayala goes to the eyes. Ayala goes for a 2nd rope knee drop but misses it giving Carlos the opening. These two are just going toe to toe. Carlos hits a great back suplex for a terrific near fall. The crowd is just going nuts for this. Great extended bear hug segment really made by Colon’s bloody facial expressions. Carlos goes to the top rope and misses a leg drop leading to Ayala going after the leg to set up his figure 4. I love how when Carlos fights back with punches or chops, Ayala just goes right back to the leg. Ayala finally locks in the figure 4 and Colon is great selling it. Again he is just covered in blood. The pop when he turns is over is beautiful with little kids jumping up and down. Great finish. Great match. Great feud. This was awesome. These matches have been the pleasant surprise of the set even more than Abby vs Colon which I kinda expected to like anyway. But THESE matches fucking rock.

They are very tentative to start locking up and pushing each other into corners over and over. TNT actually slaps Abby once on a break which is crazy. Great spot where Abby goes for a fork right as TNT unloads on him causing Abby to lose the fork. TNT gets it and attacks him as the crowd goes nuts. But Abby’s able to cut him off with some super stiff shots and both men are bleeding early. TNT is covered in blood right away. Damn. Lots of cool karate chop related stuff in this. TNT manages to cut Abby down with multiple low blows. He’s got some awesome kicks he uses to just wear Abby down finally managing to knock him down. This is just a back and forth slugfest and its pretty fucking awesome. Abby lets TNT kick out of his elbow drop and monkey flip him. TNT hits 4 straight legdrops before locking in the cobra clutch but Abby is too close to the ropes. 4 straight superkicks can’t put Abby down. They end up outside the ring brawling around for the countout. This was yet another really good Abby match. TNT looked awesome.

This starts what looks slightly JIP with Ron attacking Chicky on the outside punching and posting him over and over and Chicky is opened up. Chicky begs off but Ron is merciless slamming his head into the mat and chopping him so hard Chicky bumps out of the ring. Is there any doubt this is going to be great? Should we just stop and talk about how great it is that Ron Starr is getting a babyface run all of the sudden. Chicky is such a slimeball they managed to make Ron Starr a fucking babyface. Its awesome too because Ron is just beating the shit out of Chicky. Kicks, punches, forearms, awesome Regal/Finlay/Garvin type shit where he’s stomping on shinbones and dropping knees on things, raking Chicky’s eyes along the ropes. Ron is just perfect in this. Kicking Chicky in the ribs, throwing Chicky down by the hair, choking Chicky etc etc. Chicky’s selling of everything is great, he hits some big bumps and he has some of the best facial expressions in all of wrestling. Chicky is really fun on offense too. He’s not going to WOW you with crazy highspots but everything he does is really solid. And he is so great as an arrogant prick strutting around. Ron’s selling is really good in this too once CHicky takes over, both the immediate sell of a move and the escalating damage. I love that when Chicky bails out to run away the ring fills up with kids. Ron is just destroying Chicky at the end of this and finally chicky hits the worlds biggest punch to the balls and runs away as fast as he can. I loved all of this. Ron Starr was such a great wrestler. Wow.

This is a title match with anthems being played before the match and everything. We come back from commercial to the match in progress with these two exchanging holds. Crowd is noticeably reserved compared to the wild brawls but also clearly into everything reacting when they should. This is a really cool match because you don’t get this sort of slow intense exchanging of holds out of Colon. He’s not Jack Brisco, but he obviously knows what he’s doing after not having worked a match like this in god knows how long. Shit that rolling keylock thing he does is an awesome spot. Garvin looks excellent which isn’t exactly a revelation, even for Garvin in this time period. But it has to be said. When this comes back from commercial Garvin is starting to get a little frustrated. He’s kinda begging off asking for a breather and then after Colon gets the advantage again on the mat, Garvin gives him a shove after they get back up and Colon gives him a bigger shove to a big pop from the crowd. Garvin goes all Kawada on a single leg crab. Crowd goes crazy when Garvin locks Colon in a sleerphold. They are just desperate cheering him on. Colon manages to fight out and starts working towards the leg to set up the figure 4. Garvin is awesome selling the leg. Finish is excellent. Awesome match. This was so fucking cool

Tentative start but TNT unloads once e gets an opening. Weird to see Jason beg off momentarily when TNT no sells a head slam into the turnbuckle. This spills outside and TNT hits some great chops and the PR jumping headbutt. Huge pop for TNT’s suplex of Jason on the floor. Back in the ring and TNT keeps attacking the monster managing to chop him over the top back to the floor before hitting a huge dive off the top rope and probably killing his knees. Jason takes control and does monstery things like punches, stomps and a chinlock before hitting a beautiful german suplex. He misses a diving headbutt to a huge pop leading to TNT’s big firey comeback. I like that TNT keeps going for roll ups and flash pins to try and catch Jason off guard. Smart stuff. Chicky gets involved leading to Jason picking up the win. This was short and sweet. Fun stuff.

Interesting wrinkle during the babyface shine segment. Batten Twin A would put Kroffat or Jaggers in a hold near the heel corner and the heel would come in and get put into a different hold. It wasn’t REALLY played up for comedy and looks more like the Batten Twin having shitty ring positioning. Its interesting since the Battens are the faces. Great spot with Kroffat trying to break up a Batten pinfall on Jaggers and repeatedly hitting Jaggers in increasingly escalating spots before he finally nails Jaggers with a 2nd rope splash on Jaggers. Great stuff. Kroffat & Jaggers run a few more heels running into each other spots that are really fun before finally isolating a Batten. Kroffat & Jgggers were a really awesome team that I probably would have rated in the Tag Team GWE had I seen all of this shit. Fun stuff.

Awesome slugfest to start with Starr having the early advantage. Great spot where Starr headbutts Colon but sells that he hurt his head. Starr continues to control with punches, forearms and knees but mixes in some great shit like a boot rake and stomping on Carlos’ hands and fishhooking his mouth and going after his eyes. Ron Starr is a despicable human being. Ron Starr is actually a really solid offensive wrestler. Everything he does looks really good. The Carlos hope spots are always great because they’re just Carlos slugging away. We cut to commercial and come back with Starr smashing Colon with a chair. Carlos is bleeding now cuz why the fuck not? Starr ends up picking up a table and dropping it on Carlos’ head. Back in the ring and Starr goes after Carlos’ eyes. And hits some great forearms works this awesome two punches to the gut slap to the face combo. TERRIFIC looking kneelift. Fuck yeah. Ron Starr’s awesome on offense. Carlos is great selling everything. He isn’t Invader or Terry Funk or Sangre Chicana stumbling around. It is much more understated but pretty much always on point until its time for the comeback. The comeback in this is fantastic leading to the ref bump. Ron ends up arguing with Chicky and getting counted out setting up their match later in the set. This was a terrific showcase for Ron Starr offensive machine before his face turn. Crowd is hot as fuck for the post match Starr break up with Carlos egging everything on. This was on its way to being a great match before going to the finish. Loved it though.

This is short but kinda has to be. The chains are all connected so this match is wrestled basically on top of each other. This is all punches, stomps, wrapping the chain around foreheads to make more blood. The finish is super clever. Disappointing because of what it looks like on paper. Rip Rogers is the worst.

I want all wrestling to take place in baseball stadiums now. This is lots of fun early on with Invader having the early advantage and Chicky bumping around and begging off. All of the climbing spots are great with Invader jumping over Chicky a few times. They trade lowblows of course. The selling is terrific. I love the spot with Chicky trying to climb the turnbuckles while Invader is laying on the ground hanging on to Chicky’s foot for dear life. Lots of dramatic climbing spots. Usually Invader will pull Chicky’s trunks down a bit when he pulls him down to the delight of the crowd. Chicky manages to get the axehandle first but of course Invader is able to get it from him and he blasts Chicky once. Chicky gets busted open but manages to avoid Invader’s 2nd swing and hit an inverted atomic drop for the win. This was very good. A little disappointing given the participants but I think that may be Rip Rogers distracting me on commentary. Rogers might be my least favorite commentator of all time.

Opening is tremendous with the babyfaces taking turns beating the crap out of Chicky and he’s just bumping all over the place. He manages to make a desperation tag to Ayala but Colon comes in to cut him off so the heels bail out to the floor and we see Chicky’s head is already busted open. The schtick is just great from the heels with Ayala refusing to lock up with Carlos and bailing out again getting the crowd furious. He comes back to fight Invader III but when III tags out to Carlos, Ayala sprints away as fast as he can before coming back in when Colon tags back out to Invader III. This continues on and it’s all a ton of fun. I’m becoming more impressed by Ayala with each match to the point where I actively look forward to his matches. Crowd goes insane when Colon finally gets his hands on Ayala. Its so great because Invader keeps throwing Ayala back in to Colon, Colon will get in a few shots and then Ayala will run away again only for Invader to throw him back in. Finally Ayala tags out and Chicky gets his butt kicked for a bit before finally getting in a lowblow. But its one of those fake PR transitions as Invader III is able to fight back before finally getting to the corner and tagging out to Ayala who comes in and puts Invader down. This started with like 12 minutes of tremendous face shine/heel schtick. Ayala is able to cut off Carlos by using the same strategy he used all match: Running away from Carlos but he managed to catch Carlos coming back in the ring. Colon comes back really quickly if you ask me and Ayala bails back out to consult with Chicky. Chicky comes in and gets his ass kicked so more by both faces. But Colon tags out to Invader and Starr is able to cut him off before tagging back out to Ayala. Ayala is really good hitting big power spots and posing for the crowd. Invader gets tossed out of the ring and Chicky takes the opportunity to post him busting him open. Invader’s mask is soon covered in blood. We come back from commercial and Invader’s body is covered in blood and heels are working him the fuck over. We get the big hot tag to Carlos and he blasts away at both heels. All 4 men in the ring with Colon working Ayala’s leg as Invader & Chicky brawl in the corner. Crowd goes nuts as Colon locks in the figure 4. Ayala tries to run away so Colon follows him out and works on Ayala’s leg on the floor. Chicky runs to get a chair to save Ayala but Invader gets it and chases the heels off. This was a fantastic match. 22 minutes of fun. Colon wasn’t particularly great in this at times but the other 3 looked awesome, particularly Invader III. Fuck Ayala too. Yeah this was a blast.

I'm trying to come up with a good match comparison for what we're going to see tonight. I thought about Foley vs HHH from the Rumble with HHHillary looking like a best in the world candidate simply by existing near someone jumping face first into tacks for our sick pleasure. But I don't like the idea of comparing Foley to Trump and comparing HHH to Hillary kinda freaks me out because there's some similarities. I also considered Shane vs Taker for the same reasons and because the debate has the potential (certainty) to be laugh out loud hysterical. Foley vs HHH wasn't funny. But maybe that's just me hoping the debate has the comedy of Taker/Shane and not the brutality of Foley/HHH. WWE should really just show the debate.

Super tempted to pick up Johnny Ace and have Tamura shoot on him but I dont have a spot for him running mostly split crews.

Crowd is real hot for this with Santana having the early momentum. Nice rope running spot leading to a great clothesline by Santana leading to Jaggers having to bail out and try and slow things down when he gets back in going for a test of strength. But Santana is able kick and dropkick his way out annoying Jaggers. Both guys are looking good early on. Crowd is really into everything and they take full advantage of it. Awesome spot with Jaggers out of the ring walking away talking trash with fans and as soon as he turns around Santana blasts him with a clothesline. This has been really fun. Lots of schtick. There are these awesome flurries of offense leading to Santana hitting an increasingly impressive spot leading to Jaggers bailing out and complaining. Finally Jaggers has had enough and goes into his tights and hits Santana with something. Jaggers is firmly in control going after Santana’s eye and nailing him with awesome punches. Jaggers works a chinlock as it goes to commercial. Santana is working his way out of it when we come back but Santana misses a cross body block and ends spilling outside the ring. Great clotheslines by Jaggers out on the floor leads to Jaggers doing some more crowd antagonizing. Jaggers is phenomenal in this match. All the schtick and comedy bullshit is a lot of fun but all of his selling looks great and when he finally takes over his offense looks really good and brutal. Santana gets split open in all of this. Santana manages to duck out of the way when Jaggers sets him up outside against the ring post and goes for a clothesline. This gives Santana the opening he needs. Awesome comeback for Santana before Jaggers gets in a lowblow and has had enough. He goes for his bull whip and hangs Santana from the ring ropes. This was shockingly great. Terrific match. Add Bobby Jaggers to the list of guys I need to watch more.

This is Terry Funk turned up to 11. All of the crazy stumbling around. He’s running away trying to climb scaffolding, under the ring, into the stands, bumping through the ropes or getting caught in the ropes whenever possible. You either love this side of Terry Funk or you hate it. I love it so I thought this was a lot of fun for the 6 minutes it lasted.

Jaggers has the early advantage destroying Santana. I’m a little distracted by the pro Bobby Jaggers propaganda commentary. “He’s one of the greatest fishermen of all time” made me laugh out loud. Jaggers is just blasting away on Santana with punches and finally gets the cowbell and starts killing Santana with it. Santana is covered in blood early. Jaggers continues focusing on Santana’s now bloody forehead setting the cowbell up on the turnbuckle and slamming Santana’s face into it, biting the forehead and even wrapping the bullrope around Santana’s forehead. The commentary is hilarious. Santana makes his comeback after a lowblow and pays back Jaggers by slamming him with the cowbell over and over and setting it up on the turnbuckle and slamming Jaggers’ head into it. Jaggers by now is covered in blood. Jaggers cuts Santana off with a lowbow with the rope but Santana has balls of steel and is able to fight back and is choking Santana before you know it. Typical bull rope match finish. This was a lot of fun.

TNT controls early with chops and stomps and he hits the worlds biggest hip toss. TNT charges into a knee to vie Landell a little bit of an opening but its really just to set up more TNT dominance. AWESOME sell of a sidekick to the head by Landell. Landell sells it like he’s knocked out and slumps down in the corner. Great looking moment. TNT throws terrific chops. Landell is so great selling the beatdown. Landell’s manages to get momentum and he goes after TNT’s leg with stomps and a grapevine in between chopping and punching him. Landell cuts off a TNT comeback with more stomps to the leg eventually setting up a figure 4. TNT’s selling isn’t very compelling until Landell finally gets him in the figure 4. And then he blows it off once out of the hold and goes right to a kicky jumping around comeback before locking in the cobra clutch. Finish sucked. This had some good moments and some bad moments. I wanted to like it more than I did.

This is one of the most amazing spectacles ever. The visuals from the fire make this an unbelievable scene. I will always prefer fire to barbed wire just because the fire looks so cool. Carlos Colon is a completely insane person just reaching out and sticking his hand in the fire multiple times. The match itself is really good too I think. Just a straight up brawl with them punching each other in the face and trying to set each other on fire. I LOVE that at some point Ayala abandons this strategy and starts going after Carlos’ leg nonstop so he can get the figure 4. So Carlos is like “YOU WANNA SEE A FIGURE 4?” That’s right, dueling leg work in a fire match but it fucking fits. This was way better than I even expected and I expected to like this. I could see this making my top 25. Loved it.

Castillo & Perez attack Jaggers & Kroffat at the bell and they immediately all spill out and are brawling around foul territory. This is anything goes and it is wild at the start. They eventually settle back down and get in the ring but they continue the babyfae shine segment with Castillo & Perez controlling with quick tags, hip tosses & dropkicks mixed in with hard punches. Heels finally take over and Kroffat shows off some really impressive athleticism, slams and a brutal powerbomb. Bobby Jaggers is a lot of fun doing despicable heel stuff and immediately begging off while Kroffat does the bulk of the workratey stuff. Hot tag is great with Castillo getting your attention just planting Kroffat with a lariat. Jayhawks hit a better Hart Attack than Bret Hart ever participated in for a great nearfall. We’re in total desperation mode with teammates running in to save every nearfall. Finish was real good. This was awesome. Great match. I feel like they had 5-8 more minutes in them.

What a bizarre matchup. I’m excited. This is just a back and forth slugfest really. Sheik jumps Ronnie at the bell and controls with punches, stomps, chokes etc. Garvin is able to fire back with hard chops punches, etc before getting cut off with a clothesline. Sheik continues to dominate with more punches, stomps etc. Garvin manages to make a PR testicle based comeback though. From there this is back and forth eventually spilling outside with Garvin picking up the win by countout. This was fine. I want to watch these two wrestle 5 years before this.

The angle they show before the match is awesome. I’m pretty sure I saw brain. This match was Invader III attempting to get revenge for the infamous Manny Fernandez Vodka & Pig Vomit match because Chicky was Manny’s manager. I am in love with this match. I can’t even review it. Infinity stars. Chicky Starr is better than sunshine and dandelions. I wish this could have lasted forever.

Great to see the Herders back saluting refusing to start the match before they can salute the New Zealand flag. I like that they always wait for the bell to ring before going into the saluting routine. Crowd is super hot for this. I think the Herders look really good early on stooging around for the Battens. They walk a really fine line of being comedic and threatening. I gotta say I like the Herders in these more traditional southern style tag matches than their early crazy brawls. They’re really solid. This has brawling and shit. Luke Williams hits a Batten with a championship belt behind the ref’s back. But its set up by misdirection spots, getting the ref turned around etc. This is your classic southern tag style match. Hot babyface open, long face in peril segment, and finally a hot tag leading to the finish. The Batten’s probably needed to get more shit in before the finish because the Herders controlled so much of the match. But I really enjoyed this overall.