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tcg91

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Everything posted by tcg91

  1. tcg91
    This started with a bit of stalling, but it fitted the story because Zbyszko had a knee injury and so he was taking extra precautions, due to Backlund's known mat ability. So, every time Zbyszko got the upper hand on the champion, all it took was for Backlund to focus on his leg and the challenger would quickly lose a bit of momentum. While the action wasn't excellent or super exciting, at least the story was there and it made sense. Zbyszko got a dirty countout win, saving himself from losing after a ref bump, but it was kind of a flat finish as there is no clear reason for Zbyszko to be that happy about winning without getting the title ***
  2. tcg91
    This was a blast, it was actually more "fun" than "good", but still good enough for me. Not only it's refreshing to see the Joint Promotions style on a tag match, but the fans were really hot here, making Southend one of the loudest crowds of the year so far. I didn't like the beginning, as they tried really hard with some weird comedy spots, but then the action got crisp and technically sound. Faulkener was the man of the match, hands down, but the Rockers were a bit goofy at times. Still, something different from the rest and I'm happy I saw this ***1/4
  3. tcg91
    They saved the best (and the inter-promotional clean finish) for the main event, which was the right choice, as this was better than Bakclund vs Hansen. This was hot right from the start, Patera was put over as a credible threat and easily slammed Inoki a bunch of times. To get out of the challenger's lethal bearhugs, Inoki starts kicking his opponent very hard, tired of being bullied and finding a weak spot. The good part was that Inoki was selling all along while he was slowly taking down Patera, finally getting him down for the clean submission once the ropes were too far to be reached again. This was a blast. ***1/2
  4. tcg91
    A WWF Title defence in New Japan against their top heel, you know that this won't have a finish... but it didn't stop them from having a good match. It didn't feel like a showcase, as they presented a natural flow, with a very solid start. The slugfest was just teased, before cooler heads prevailed, and that is a shame because that could have easily been the best part of the match. Things got quite lazy instead and they didn't follow up on the initial matwork. The finishing stretch was good enough to partially redeem this, but the non-finish wasn't even that original. Slightly better than the Backlund vs Dusty match from a few months before ***1/4
  5. tcg91
    I feel like this was a bit of a mismatch and they didn't find enough chemistry along the way, which is a shame because Fujinami was on form and he showed a lot of fire. Was it Starr's fault then? I wouldn't say so either, but he looked a bit clumsy in the heat segment and that's not ideal for a heel. I liked his armwork though, he looked like a threat and Fujinami's selling definitely helped here. The finish was fine as well, even though it was a bit too rushed for me. Seeing Starr tapping to a boston crab, after no legwork at all, was a bit strange, as that was not even a finisher for Fujinami. ***
  6. tcg91
    A really nice match, not the best of the series, but almost up there (only the one in April was better than this). They only got 10 minutes this time and they did their best in that time without getting blown up. We saw some evolution in Hansen, this time he didn't rely too much on the rope breaks and embraced the fight on the mat against Inoki too. On other instances, Inoki's work on Hansen hasn't always been great, so seeing the gaijin taking over was quite refreshing and it made the match more competitive. Inoki got a clean roll up pinfall to win and got a nice pop from the fans, but Hansen's lariat was protected as Inoki dodges it twice ***1/2
  7. tcg91
    Awesome match and a real gem, this should be an inspiration to wrestlers in general, apart from Junior Heavyweights. It was just two dudes with black trunks wrestling for 25 minutes, but that's all you need. Great focus on both competitors struggling to break from a given hold/sequence, the stalemate kept them on the mat for a long time and it never got boring. The only thing I didn't like about this match was that, while the first methodical part was flawless and the finish sequence was very exciting, it was like somebody pressed a button asking them to change gear. I mean, everything here was pretty great, but the transition to the next phase could have been more significant. Fujinami was great going all-out to win the title, even splitting his own forehead open with a crazy dive. The smart double KO finish still pictured him as the better man, but Kimura held his ground and wasn't beaten ****
  8. tcg91
    There was a bit of confusion before the match, when both wrestlers asked Don Owen to book a loser leaves match and, while the announcer clearly said it's for the following week, the crowd chanted "bye bye Rose", like his career was on the line here. Rather than a classic of its own, this is a great angle advancement towards that very career match (that, sadly, wasn't taped), as Rose's newly confidence of fighting with his short hair quickly became rage, because he couldn't beat Piper and he dropped both fall due to his hot head. Portland's crowd, as usual, was great and enhanced the match, which was a perfect way to boost their feud ***
  9. tcg91
    Not the best of their series, but still a good match. Hansen was getting over and, surprisingly, a few fans even cheered for him. They had a hot start, before settling down for a bit. Hansen's manhandling moments were the best part of the match once again, while this time Inoki chose to focus on the legwork, as the strategy of working on the arm never paid off 100% in their previous bouts. They tried a few new things, like a dropkick from Hansen and a brainbuster from Inoki, which were really appreciated by the crowd. An anticlimactic referee miscommunication spoiled the rest of the action, this time Inoki won by countout, getting revenge for losing the title this way ***1/4
  10. tcg91
    I didn't know much about Tony Rocco, but he looked like a solid old school European grappler, so him versus Fujinami seems like a decent pairing. It's hard to criticize their matwork, as it was clean and solid. However, some of the action came across a bit dull and that is probably why this match is not considered an all time classic, as the fans were really quiet until the final sequence. While well executed, the work was bland and they never took the armwork to the next level, so in hindsight it never meant that much. The last few minutes got some heat, thumbs up for the clean finish after the stalemate. **3/4
  11. tcg91
    They worked this quite smartly, keeping it short and sweet because Baba didn't look in great shape. Race went straight to the point in an aggressive way, leaving no space to mat work, which was probably for the best. Baba's comeback was a bit goofy but alright, Race bled to add some drama and needed the ropes' help to save himself a couple of times. The finish was clean but a bit silly to be honest, Race knocked Baba from the top rope and pinned him in an anticlimactic way, even though fans still popped for the title change. Not great, but watchable. **3/4
  12. tcg91
    This was an enjoyable match, plus a good skirmish of the Flair/Valentine and Mosca/Hussein respective feuds. It was quite good to see Flair as a courageous babyface that wanted revenge on Valentine for breaking his nose, but he was the one that ended up bleeding and selling for most part of the bout, which of course ruled. Mosca did his bits quite well and the crowd was into it, especially when he had to respond to multiple cheap shots from Hussein. While this wasn't a match of the year contender or anything like that, it worked perfectly well as a 20 minutes "all star" main event, with good action, heat and a clean finish to boot ***1/4
  13. tcg91
    I wasn't really sure what to expect here, as this looked like a proper mismatch on paper. However, they did alright despite a lot of overbooking and it was pretty much all due to Gino bumping all over the place for Brody, bleeding from his forehead and still trying to get the job done. Brody looked good, even though he didn't sell much and this ended up hurting Gino's chances to win in my eyes. All three falls were consequence of an interference and the Gran Markus' involvement didn't work that well, but it was quite unoffensive and the crowd loved it anyway **1/2
  14. tcg91
    This was a 12/13 minutes TV match and they never skipped a beat. By 1980 standards (and Memphis), it's impressive how crisp and fluent this was. For somebody who watched lots of 45 minutes Impact episodes, this is how X-Division matches were supposed to go when they only had 5 minutes: creating a good pace and a solid story, without doing as many moves as they could in that little time. It was a babyface match and so there were no shortcuts, apart from Rich "casually" hitting Dundee low to get the victory. Apart from advancing the angle quite well, I can't remember a single mistake, if not for Rich not jumping enough on a monkey flip. This didn't set the world on fire, but I am happy I watched it ***1/2
  15. tcg91
    Much like the Sammartino/Zbyszko cage match, this was a really good match but, as it was the blowoff of a great feud (their loser leaves town was never taped), I was expecting a bit more from them as I loved this series. Portland was hot as usual, Rose's control and Martel's flashiness wee still a joy to watch. I liked the idea of using the No DQ stipulation as just to get them to hit each other harder, but a decisive spot would have been nice. Even the "hairy mask" removal was just teased again and it didn't take place, but most of its heat has gone. ***1/4
  16. tcg91
    I had to watch this twice, because the only available version had Michael Cole & Mick Foley on commentary and it was so bad that I decided to revisit this without sound on. It was a good blowoff after all, but definitely not the best match of the series. The blood increased the drama, the crowd was into it (but their support was disturbed by Cole's idiotic comments) and the finish was simple, yet very effective. However, it all looked too simplistic and the match lacked a more suitable structure: after months of really nice storytelling, all they did was simply brawling in the cage for 12/13 minutes and Bruno's victory never seemed in jeopardy. In a nutshell, a good match, but a huge disappointment. ***
  17. tcg91
    Another good World of Sports contest. Rigby reminded me of a very green late 80s Owen Hart, he's got nice flashiness and smoothness on the mat, a bit rusty at times but that is what makes him "real" and all of his action never feels forced. On the other hand, South seemed a lot like a Dick Slater, as he used his size but was also not afraid to get his hands dirty on the mat. However, they were lacking the personality to get this to next level, as the crowd was never 100% into it. It was quite original to start a few rounds with Rigby still selling on the floor, it was an interesting dynamic. It was a good match all along and a clean finish never hurts ***1/4
  18. tcg91
    The titles were vacant and this match felt like a fairly big deal. At times the heels' selling was almost ridiculously exaggerated, but the crowd loved it and so who am I to judge. I don't remember seeing much of Wiskoski's work in my life, but he was a good fit and of course Martel ruled as usual, his back selling carried two thirds of the match and the crowd never got tired of chanting his name out loud. Piper had amazing fire during his hot tag, but unfortunately we got a double count-out and the furious brawl continued. A great angle advancement, but a great match by itself as well. ***3/4
  19. tcg91
    This wasn't bad, but obviously they didn't reach the peak that they hit during their Texas Death Match in May. Having the IC Title on the line kept the act fresh and so did the addition of Gorilla as a referee, but I am not really a big fan of officials getting heavily involved in matches (and you can bet Gorilla did). Nonetheless, the bout was solid and easy to watch, even though they were clearly building to a Gorilla/Patera angle and the pace wasn't that great at times. With both titles being on the line, a non-finish was obvious. Not a bad piece of business, but this was quite skippable. **3/4
  20. tcg91
    The match is slightly clipped, as we only get 15 minutes instead of the total 22. Anyway, this was tons of fun and probably the clipping helped the match and made it more tight. They wrestled a really smart "less is more" bout and sometimes that is all you need. This goes exactly as you would imagine: Gagne is on fire, Bock takes all the bumps and then dominates for most of the match, until Gagne finally makes his comeback. It's good, not great, but the crowd was into it and so everything worked very well. However, Mean Gene is absolutely terrible on commentary and didn't do anything for me, he sounded like he didn't care at all. ***1/2
  21. tcg91
    We got 22 minutes out of 33, so not bad but about a third of the match wasn't broadcasted. This was pretty good, mostly because the challengers cared and they managed to get the fans on their side. The champions didn't impress me that much, they were involved in plenty of stalling at the beginning and the match didn't deliver until later on. Actually, Snuka and Steamboat had a looooong faceoff, that was interesting but also a bit weird, as this is not a decisive match of a long feud. While the match never accomplished greatness, they did 3 different hot tags and they all worked, so kudos to them. The curfew time limit was a flat finish, anyway. ***
  22. tcg91
    Thanks for recommending this! This was great. The match started with very clean and polished sequences of mat wrestling, but the announcer was spot on when he predicted that Rocco would change his behaviour once he got frustrated and cornered, as that is exactly what happened. Rocco got two warnings and kept bending the rules as much as he could, getting Sanders so frustrated that he started striking his opponent with fury and got a warning of his own (but the crowd exploded, which is perfect build and climax). Sanders sold everyting quite well, but took a few risks to stop Rocco's attacks and got hit by a piledriver. Rocco is smart not to cover, instead winning by KO due to the match rules ***1/2
  23. tcg91
    This was technically decent, not a bad match at all, but it was kind of disappointing knowing what these two can do in the ring. Part of the reason is that Jumbo wasn't super over with the American crowd, even though he gradually won them over towards the end of the match, which is good news. Bock was efficient as usual in his heat segment on the challenger, working on Jumbo's arm and then selling his comeback in a very believable way. Bock was definitely better than Tsuruta here, but he was involved in one of the worst referee bumps I have ever seen, so we get a predictable non-finish to boot. ***
  24. tcg91
    This was better than the previous match between the two teams, their chemistry improved and, as usual, the Portland crowd was just so great. The babyfaces' heat segment on Miller's arm was excellent and also a throwback to their previous bout, it's was good that the fans screamed for Martel to break his opponent's arm. Martel was the best man in the match once again, Piper did well in his unusual role of babyface in perils anyway. I am not a fan of cutting promos between a fall and another though, that looks quite silly. The non-finish was not too shocking and it seemed to be leading to a Sheepherders babyface turn, but the match was nice anyway. ***1/2
  25. tcg91
    This took place in one ring only, which was much better as the two rings set up was confusing as hell. The announcers billed this as Mexico vs Japan and it's funny to see the Hispanic babyfaces cheat as much as the evil Asians. The match was alright, but nothing special as nobody was really on form and some action was quite sloppy at times. The good part was that there were no rest periods, just 15 minutes of brawling and double moves, so time went quick anyway. The first fall was quite promising and by far the best ones, but the other too ended up being too quick and were quite forgettable. **3/4
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