Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

tcg91

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    818

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by tcg91

  1. tcg91
    No idea why the WWF billed a standard No DQ match from MSG a 'Texas Death Match', but oh well. This was entertaining anyway, it only lasted 10 minutes or so and Race bumped well for Hogan, despite being far from his prime. Hogan was really good at going over with simple stuff and a 'less is more' philosophy, but I can't say this felt like a MSG title match. Decent finishing stretch, without any major drama. ***
  2. tcg91
    A really fun match. Murdoch forced Williams to have an arm in a cast, so of course he worked over that body part and relentlessly tried to get back to that every time he was afraid of Doc's comeback. JR kept selling this as a career ending injury, creating a lot of drama around Williams' conditions and his one-arm executions. This had quite a few cut due to TV commercials, but was clearly a very good match anyway, with an organic finish that the crowd loved. ***1/4
  3. tcg91
    While Choshu's departure sucked, All Japan capitalized on it by breaking the Jumbo/Tenryu team and having Tenryu challenge for the Ace role. They teased their fight for a bit, of course, which wasn't half bad as that way Misawa got consistent ringtime and he didn't phone it in, showing lots of aggression against Hara especially. Tenryu and Jumbo touched and it was very good, but this predictably developed into a DQ finish, which made sense despite the silly finish. ***
  4. tcg91
    Choshu returned to New Japan with a banger. The heat here was amazing, this was hot from the start and they had an excellent brawl, that ended up with both of them bleeding. Nasty stuff between two rivals and most of it was absolutely off the chart, but they had a few submission fillers that went absolutely nowhere and that put me off big time. The finish was once again very exciting and impactful, from Fujiwara's hara-kiri headbutt to Choshu's lariats. A great beginning and a great finish, but a laaazy central part for a 10/12 minutes match. ****
  5. tcg91
    A fun B-show performance, as the crowd was hyped every time Tenryu and Wajima were in the ring, looking at each other and beating each other. Wajima couldn't do much, but the seconds and the tag structure limited his involvement quite a lot, so this was 12/13 minutes of solid action, despite not being unmissable stuff. This didn't feel lazy at all and Tenryu managed to make this interesting, instead of a lazy spot show performance. ***
  6. tcg91
    Really cool attempt by the UWF guys, as they had a hybrid match in New Japan, while usually the norm was NJPW vs UWF in the invasion angle. This had some good strikes, but a very solid mat foundation and just a few clumsy selling executions, which were quite frequent in UWF. Yamazaki took a bit beating and Fujiwara violently stepped him for the help, but he fell prey of the fresher champions. Then the champions actually looked vulnerable when Fujiwara bloodied Maeda, so the finish was quite uncertain until the end. ****
  7. tcg91
    I think this was a bit inconsistent at times, but most of the action was good and they gained energy from a very vocal crowd. The first caida was easily the best one and quite solid on the mat, while the rest felt a bit flat, despite them trying to build an epic with blood and guts. At least they sold their exhaustion really well, but the finish felt too random for a match with such big stakes. ***
  8. tcg91
    Very good match. About a third of the bout was cut due to TV commercials, but we still got 20 minutes of crisp action and the usual Southern tag formula. Garvin was a better babyface in perils than I thought, also thanks to Lane being more mobile than Dennis Condrey and this being 'prettier looking' from the old MNX stuff from Mid-South. We didn't see much of Windham, apart from the energetic hot tag sequence. The finish was a bit convoluted, but still well done and quite realistic to be fair. ***1/2
  9. tcg91
    Easily Jarrett's biggest opportunity at that point of his career, the match was okay. Jarrett wasn't ready yet, but Bock conducted this well with his usual composure and prolonged headlocks. Good piece of storytelling when Jarrett locked in a lucky arm lock and wouldn't let go desperately, like it was his only hope to get a victory. Jarrett's punches weren't as good as Lawler's, but they generated decent pops. The finish made sense, as Bock capitalized on the challengers' inexperience and unnecessary risk from climbing the top rope. **3/4
  10. tcg91
    This was a great angle and a very good bout and it is a shame that UWF had no buzz at the time, because this could have been a huge deal. Adams outwrestled Taylor with all kind of holds, especially a long wrist lock, and Taylor gradually turned heel during the match with his expressions, asking for timeouts, hiting a sucker punch and then the finishing spot to reveal his new persona. The finish kind of gave this a ceiling in terms of all time greatness, but it was great stuff and JR was excellent on commentary. ****
  11. tcg91
    This reminded me of Benoit/Malenko from Sturgis in 1996, a very competent match in front of unappreciative fans. Not only some of them chanted 'boring' to this, but the angle wasn't hot anymore and even the finish was quite a mess, contributing to AWA's ultimate demise. It was still remarkable how they managed to have a good match despite all of the above, with Hennig's usual impeccable selling and Bock refusing to hotshot the action once it was clear that part of the crowd was not with them. ***1/2
  12. tcg91
    This was for Yamada's Heavy-Middleweight Title. Such a fun match between young Liger and Rocco. Fans loved Yamada and Rocco got a lot of heat despite still being a spectacular worker, this felt like a New Japan junior match from the 90s and not a British bout from the 80s. Very fun control segment with decent selling, my only problem with this match was all 3 finishes to resulting from moves that didn't look too impactful. Third one was kind of anti-climatic as well (which is admittedly not taking much from the match itself, but made you want to see more). ***3/4
  13. tcg91
    This basically was Taker vs HHH from 'Mania 28: two capable workers, past their primes, who tried to do something epic but ended up exaggerating, instead of 'just' having a good match. I can see why some people love this match and why some people hate it; I just think it's pretty good (decent matwork, good crowd, the Saito bloody selling), but it has some outstanding flaws (long rest holds, the finish, the rope removal stuff) that need to be mentioned too. ***
  14. tcg91
    Really good and universally underrated title match. The heat was incredible and, once they dropped the usual stalling at the beginning of the bout, this became a really nice sight. Probably one of the best use of the 'HIAC cage ringside' I have ever seen, with high quality brawling and effective selling from both guys. It was still a bit slow and methodical for my personal taste, but this was a good piece of business with a very shocking finish. ****
  15. tcg91
    This wasn't as great as their 1986 Florida match or the 45 minutes draw from January, but it was still a damn good one. Tight matwork, good Flair bumping and Windham shining moments, he looked fantastic here for the way he endured the Naitch's attempts to submit him. Some very effective nearfalls, that worked well as Flair was famous with winning or losing with any move, if it fit the narrative. If I have to find a flaw in this, Windham took too many elaborate chances, even when it looked like he had the upper hand ****
  16. tcg91
    This was clipped for about 20/25% of it. The newcomer Luger was still very green, but the Rock & Rolls and Blanchard could go and they did most of the stuff here, so this was quite enjoyable regardless. Luger kind of dragged it down when he was in charge, but his control segment was decent after all. The time limit draw became almost obvious at one point, even though the R&R still bumped around very generously ***
  17. tcg91
    This got criticised excessively and, for the most part, unfairly: it was not a horrible match, it made sense and it turned out to be a great spectacle. Of course, it was not a great bout or anything, but they told a simple story and the crowd loved it. Andre could barely move, but he did work on Hogan's back consistently and the champion fought from underneath. Very famous finish to boot, this was a more clumsy version of Rock/Hogan from 'Mania 18. **1/2
  18. tcg91
    This was a great match, of course. It is one of those that doesn't fully hold up today, but it is not fair to look at it with 2025 eyes. It surely was not the most exciting chapter of the feud, apart from the famous finishing stretch, but it was an excellent spectacle in terms of series finale, crowd management and history making (despite the spots with George Steele looking very unnecessary). Some of their previous bouts from house shows were more aggressive and had more quality storytelling, they played on the throat injury here but just briefly. This felt more like a first time ever challenge, rather than a blowoff of a bloody feud. ****
  19. tcg91
    These four had a rematch, which turned out to be a lesser version of the original bout, despite still being very good. They got some decent pieces of psychology, like the challengers now being more aggressive and Muto fighting with more confidence. The heat segment was on Koshinaka this time and it was pretty good, but the UWF guys didn't make this tight enough, something was missing. Solid and unexpected finish. ***1/2
  20. tcg91
    Fun brawl. Texas Death Matches can be quite boring at times, but having 4 men in the ring helped them keeping a decent pace for the whole thing. It was a chaotic bout and Bigelow looked very menacing here, apart from botching a headbutt in a comical way. Crowd pleaser, the heels got some heat before the usual comeback, didn't overstay its welcome and this was an entertaining way to spend 10 minutes. ***1/4
  21. tcg91
    Before they were famous! They were clearly a bit green here and quite generic in sense of personality, but this was fun to watch in retrospect, as it was the first big bout of two future legends. Decent pace and rhythm, but this is easily skippable in a way as nothing major happened. Hashimoto had some fun kicking routine, while Chono did better when working on the opponent's arm. Balanced and flashy finish, they got 15 minutes and didn't do too bad. **3/4
  22. tcg91
    Good ring psychology here, as young boy Muto was clearly the weakest link and the heels isolated him for a very good control segment, favouring his leg. Koshinaka had to work twice as hard, as he could stand toe to toe with Takada, but even he couldn't outkick Maeda, which got him in big trouble later in the bout. Exciting finishing run and a very effective flashy victory for the babyface team, like the ultimate underdogs would do. ****
  23. tcg91
    This started as Lawler vs Idol and Bigelow vs Rich, happening at the same time in 2 different rings, with the winners than having to face up to be the ultimate winner. Predictably, this was ignored very soon and a tornado brawl between all fours took place, who then proceeded to switch pairings. There was some decent action, but a silly development to the stipulation. Good babyface fire, until the non-finish. ***
  24. tcg91
    I felt like the Bullrope Match was the highlight of the feud, but the first two thirds of this were great nonetheless. Insane crowd and the bloodbath made this so epic, highlighting a great brawl. The legwork by Colon was a bit of a filler, actually weird to place this out a context at that point of the match, but the finish was an all time low. Colon won, which is what mattered to the crowd, but they ended this match so stupidly despite the roaring crowd. ****
  25. tcg91
    This was a cool attraction, but a very basic match as the Warriors were not put out of their comfort zone. Their control segment on Tenryu was fine, it had a few restholds but both champions were bumping well for the ganjins and made them look like a big deal. The titles changed change by countout which was quite weak, even though the final piledriver spot did look impactful. **3/4
×
×
  • Create New...