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tcg91

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Everything posted by tcg91

  1. tcg91
    This was absolutely tremendous, starting from the initial presentation. Everything was simple and made sense, like Flair fighting for minutes to get out of a simple chinlock that Kerry would apply repeatedly. Like every good Flair formula match, the local hero looked great and the booking of the Dusty/Gary finish was genius, because Kerry was robbed despite actually submitting the champion. Once the legwork kicked in, with Flair already 1-0 up, the drama was incredible and the crowd got fully behind Kerry when he looked desperate. The "figure four into clutch" counter was one of my all time favourites and Flair's blood added so much to the finish. Absolute great bloody slugfest in the last fall, the DQ finish is almost a shame, but they both looked exhausted and furious ****1/2
  2. tcg91
    The whole segment was great, especially because an impromptu World Title match was not the norm in 1982, but the match itself was "just" good. Classic Flair formula, but there was no stalling as the 10 minutes time limit forced them to go straight to the point. Lawler looked really good here, with an energic comeback and a classic underdog spirit. The live studio atmosphere made this cool, but the lack of a big crowd and the stipulation limited the greatness of this. Smart non finish that keeps the door open for a rematch, even though they won't have one, which is a shame ***
  3. tcg91
    Definitely the best one of the series, at least so far. They toned this down and decided to sell properly, the crazy spots were still there, but they really meant something this time. Even the usual cliché motions looked way better, Dynamite looked really aggressive and Mask sold the legs well, which affected his following comeback. Apart from a botched armdrag, there was none of the sloppiness they have shown against one another. Mask finally used a dive on Dynamite, which he failed a couple of times, and this was the turning point for him. Really sick and effective finish, clean and decisive for Mask, this time he was the one to use the tombstone on his opponent ***3/4
  4. tcg91
    This match gave me the impression that it was originally clipped and that they only showed the second part on TV, because the beginning was incredibly boring and it didn't accomplish much of anything. Then, the match got bloody and definitely better, especially when they started brawling all over the ring. I couldn't see much chemistry in the limb work and Race definitely looked off and not in great conditions, Jumbo kind of saved this by bumping around and selling the cut later on. Still a clean title change was a pretty rare finish at the time ***
  5. tcg91
    A good match, despite a few issues here and there. The initial matwork was decent, they had a solid approach here and Jumbo was good at coming across as the champion that refused to be an underdog. The tension led to an amazing brawl, that was way better than the beginning of the bout, Jumbo bled like crazy and showed a lot of fire. Mascaras covered the basics well and was quite over too. Now, I have a huge issue with the whole "5 more minutes" stipulation, if then it leads to another draw or non-finish, but it is what it is and the last few minutes were actually very entertaining ***
  6. tcg91
    This was a good match, but something didn't click for me. My problem with the bout was the lack of a constant focus: Fujinami worked on Murdoch's arm, but Murdoch focused both on the leg and the neck of his opponent; a bit too much for a 20 minutes match, they switched gear too often for my liking, even though the action wasn't bad by any means. It went better towards the end, as Murdoch only focused on the leg and Fujinami sold it well. Not enough strikes, which is a shame as they had great exchanges. The non finish was well done, albeit quite predictable with 2024 eyes ***1/2
  7. tcg91
    This was a bit weird, but good after all. Looooooots of stalling in the first fall, they barely touched each other in the first 5 minutes, but at least Stomper got a lot of heat from a very hot crowd, which definitely carried the match from that point onwards. So yes, the beginning was quite slow and even frustrating to watch at times; but, once the brawl was on, this started ruling on so many levels. It's a shame that Slater never got a major chance to be a top babyface in a top territory. Of course, the finish sucked as well. This really didn't need to go 30 minutes, I hope to see a shorter rematch ***
  8. tcg91
    This was nothing but a very beautiful piece of business. It was 15 minutes of these two going toe to toe in the ring, catch style, without nonsense action or moves. Really realistic battle, everything mattered and nothing felt forced. Piper was amazing in his frustrated attempt to keep up with Brisco on the mat and then he gradually started to cheat more and more, still to no avail on most occasions. The struggle in the headlock sequence was incredible and Piper sold his frustration really well. Brisco looked like a lethal robot and never showed any sign of weakness; the bag of coins finish fitted both characters and also gives a nice finish to the story of how desperate Piper was ****
  9. tcg91
    A very good match, but watching Houston footage without Paul Boesch on commentary is proper weird. Very solid start, of course Bock called most of the match and Morton's selling was good, despite not being at the peak he will find during the R&R days. The champion focused on Morton's neck all along, which got him the upper hand initially. Nice fire form Morton in his comeback and the crowd loved it. I am not a fan of any referee interjection, this one went too far as well, but at least they protected Morton and he got to look good because of the unlucky loss ***1/2
  10. tcg91
    I am not a big fan of Scaffold Matches and this was no exception, as they usually end up looking quite clumsy and with some (obviously needed) forced cooperation. The 2/3 falls deal is weird too, you ideally want fans to be pumped about a single big bump from the scaffold, but here they got 3 in 15 minutes and so none of them meant that much. Dundee was impressively agile on the structure at times, but the action was quite dull and slow most of the times. Gordon Solie didn't seem into it either, which is saying something **
  11. tcg91
    This ruled! Hogan was so over and Andre decided to work as a heel here, he did it really effectively and the crowd got heavily involved. Hogan's strength got put over as a big deal, especiallu if compared with Andre's size and power, the Giant also sold quite a lot for him. After Andre finally took over, Hogan showed his desperate side and even went on the top rope (!), trying everything to stop the monster from assaulting him. Hogan's rage led the match to a double bump and double countout, which worked well given the circumstances ***
  12. tcg91
    This was quite refreshing from Joint Promotions, as the rounds can sometimes hurt the flow of the match at times, but there were no interruptions here. As usual, Breaks stole the show with his attitude and armwork, he was a blast while arguing with the crowd and the referee. Lots of snugness from him and good selling from Turpin, even though his action was a bit sloppy at times. I know it's a traditional thing, but I hate JP referees not counting the pinfalls like "normal referees", it takes a lot away from the experience. Good and surprising finish, this was a nice little match ***
  13. tcg91
    A great match and a really outstanding NWA World Title defence formula for Flair. Jumbo was put over in a great way, he completely dominated the champion on the mat and with the strikes, but was maybe too calm and he didn't have the killer instinct to win the match. It took Flair 20 minutes to finally get some heat on the challenger's leg and then Jumbo managed to reverse that as well in only a few minutes, it really looked like a night where nothing could go wrong for him. Great double countout tease, in an era where it was a very common finish; the double pinfall was also a genius move for the way it happened, but execution of the suplex was a bit too clumsy ****1/4
  14. tcg91
    They had a really nice brawl and it worked as a very strong angle, more than a classic match, as it was too short to be a blowoff between the two. Rose was such a good heel that fans were now cheering Borne, despite his anti hero attitude and words. It got blood and Rose's beatdown on Borne was fantastic, in and outside the ring, after everyone making fun of his weight. This was clipped here and there, which was a shame, but it all made sense given where they were going ***1/4
  15. tcg91
    This was unique. Not my cup of tea, but definitely unique and good in its own way. Brody and Stomper just brawled and destroyed each other with chairs for 5 minutes, all around the ring and also in the fans' seating areas. It got bloody and of course the poor referee couldn't do much about it, so half of the rosters comes down to finally set Brody and Stomper apart. Again, I can't call it a great match, but it was cool ***
  16. tcg91
    Really good match and, with a more fitting stadium/crowd, it would have probably been ever better. It felt important, as a title shot to the World Title was on the line here. Kerry came out of this, at least in the eyes of the Texan fans, as a peer compared to Race. He took all of his punishment and still managed to win, albeit in an almost lucky was, but still clean in the middle of the ring. The No DQ stipulation was used to allow extra aggression, fights at ringside and heated sequences, instead of using lots of weapons. Race conducted the match with a good pace, even though I wasn't fan of a couple spots, like the 1 count after a piledriver just in the middle of the match; but the rest was all well done, they both bled as Kerry never gave up and used his fists to avenge Race's punishment ***3/4
  17. tcg91
    Of course, this was not on the level of their 1989 matches, but it was still a good bout. Steamboat showed fire and was actually in the hot seat for a long time, so this was a bit different from a typical Flair touring title defence (despite Ricky not being a territory regular). One of the highlights was listening to a man with a raspy voice cheering for Flair and trying to keep up with all the fangirls chanting Steamboat's name. Flair changes his formula and this should be seen by the ones that accuse him of wrestling the same match every night; he gave Steamboat lots of offence and even the finish protected the challenger ***1/4
  18. tcg91
    This wasn't too good. Lots of unexciting limb work, which is fine I guess, but one would expect a 10/12 minutes Junior Heavyweight match to be a bit more interesting. Mask was a bit sloppy and got a few things wrong, both in execution and while conducting the match, their chemistry wasn't the best. Anyway, they managed to keep this short and simple, with a clean finish to boot **1/2
  19. tcg91
    This was nothing special, to be fair. Yes, lots of interesting details (Bobby Heenan was great at ringside and JYD had a massive pop with his entrance), but the action itself wasn't extremely good. Paul Boesch was really good on commentary, also moaning on some silly fans throwing objects in the ring. Dog was hitting hard, but something didn't click despite Bock's ring presence. The finish was quite of a genius spot, when Heenan counted the pinfall instead of the referee to deceive JYD, I liked it so much that the DQ ending felt perfectly fine **1/2
  20. tcg91
    Considering their styles and limits, this was fought very smartly and was way better than what I imagined. A bit of stalling at the beginning, but Dory handled most of the actions and so it wasn't that bad, despite the lack of exciting action. Brody did very well later on, when they brawled all over the place and it got bloody, this was probably the best singles Brody had in a while. He also bumped a little bit, mind you. Not the strongest finish, but it was a clean title change at least ***
  21. tcg91
    Good stuff, but it was heavily clipped. To me, tag matches in the cage work only without escaping the structure and if the tag rules are respected, these are the main reasons the match delivered. Blackwell is a guy that I never really got much exposed to, but he rules in this environment with his power moves and dominating the champions in the heels' corner. It was smart to let Brunzell sell for most of the match, Gagne was fine in the final comeback and the crowd loved the clean finish too. Can't go higher due to the savage clipping ***
  22. tcg91
    This was a good match, but I really don't love the formula of a very long first fall and then 2 quick ones, unless it's very well done: here it kind of make sense, because Slater suffered so much at the beginning and couldn't last longer, but he won the second fall too easily considering his disadvantage. Lots of goodness in the first section of the match, Bock was on form and his legwork didn't have any flaws. There was some clipping in the middle though, that's a shame. Some of the moves looked a bit sloppy, mainly a piledriver from Bock in the third fall, but I liked the roll up sequence that led to the finish. ***1/4
  23. tcg91
    I don't want to overrate this, but this was fantastic. Andre took his time, killing Khan (no pun intended) slowly and calmly, until Khan finally found an open with great legwork. Andre sold like crazy and it made look Khan impressive like hell, trapping King Kong and desperately trying to keep him down to prevent any reaction. Man, even at the end things were electric, like Andre covering his face to stop Khan's blows, as his bad leg prevented him from moving promptly. Andre was a bit sloppy towards the finish, but he was probably exhausted and it also helped with the beg storytelling. I didn't expect this to be so good ***3/4
  24. tcg91
    This was a very solid bout, it's incredible how much I like all the Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid matches, apart from the ones they have against each other! Wright looked so grizzled, almost undermining Mask's worth on the mat and paying it later when the champion came back. This almost felt like a Joint Promotion match at times, due to the clean breaks and spots segmentation. Not the most exciting or even best technical match out thee, but this has some serious silly details in every hold, like snapping the fingers slowly or pushing an an elbow on a hip. All of the good stuff that makes a fight realistic. It has its ceiling, but I am happy I saw this ***1/2
  25. tcg91
    This was a great match and had great storytelling. Forget about dozens of unrealistic and silly spots, the barbed wire was there to stop them from escaping the ring and finally having a definite finish. Yes, submission holds can belong in a barbed wire match, if that makes sense. Top notch brawling right here and Lawler finally managed to get revenge on Mantel by making him bleed, even though Dutch was really booked as a peer to Lawler, as the finish proves with the exhaustion pinfall. A few minutes are clipped and don't make it to the footage, but there was so much greatness here that it can be ignored ****
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