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tcg91

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Everything posted by tcg91

  1. 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. ****
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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. ***
  5. 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. ****
  6. 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 ****
  7. 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 ***
  8. 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
  9. 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. ****
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. 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. ****
  14. 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. ***
  15. 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. ****
  16. 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
  17. tcg91
    Slightly clipped. Fun fact: Owen's plane was so late that these two only agreed on the finish and nothing else. Owen was like 21 here and put on a clinic, thanks to Jones' support and, apart from a few weird moments (like the referee telling Owen off for flying over the top rope), this on-the-fly match was as good as it could be. Very crisp armwork at the beginning, even though they didn't embrace it consistently as time went by. The finish was out of nowhere. ***1/2
  18. tcg91
    Another good match in their series. It was actually refreshing to see them stepping out of their comfort zone and working a more traditional bout here, with focus on matwork and less blood & guts, ringside brawls etc. This was clearly building to a blowoff, as Colon was struggling due to Hansen hitting him on the leg, getting the Ace to later snap and getting disqualified for his fury. Not their best one, but a nice and needed more 'traditional' chapter. ***1/4
  19. tcg91
    Slightly JIP, but this was a blast and a good way to build all 3 feuds, going into 'Mania III. Not only all the storylines were advanced, but this also involved other pairings and it was fun to see them come true. JYD looked lost, but they got him out of there quickly. Very good babyface performance for Piper, who was outnumbered and still managed to win the match, after a quite refreshing and intense finishing stretch against Savage. ***1/4
  20. tcg91
    This was a great and intense match, generally unknown as the 'Mania one is of course the famous one. Ruthless Savage attack on Steamboat's throat, which Steamboat later on countered in a very creative way. They deserve credit for not overusing tools and still focusing on that body part, but the use of the rail and the post was awesome for how they sold it, including a bloody Savage. They also did the roll ups sequence here and the crowd was all for it, until Savage got a dirty one to win. ****
  21. tcg91
    This felt a little weird at the beginning, as they were locking up and doing cradles in a Texas Death Match, for the first 5 minutes or so... but then holy sh** this turned into an amazing hoss fight, with plenty of blood and all the stuff that one would expect. Great Gordy performance, feeding his opponent's strikes and looking very sharp in his offense. I also liked that they didn't teased too many KOs, until the pretty clever finish arrived. Subpar approach, but this had a killer second part. ***1/2
  22. tcg91
    Choshu was about to return to New Japan, so this was a heated and compelling blowoff, one of the best matches of their series. The focus was rightly on Tenryu's growth, as he came a long way and, after taking the usual punishment in a good heat segment, managed to dish it back and to hit the lariat back on Choshu as revenge. Jumbo here was a great support figure, standing up when needed without outshining his partner, great clean finish with Tenryu beating Yatsu. ****
  23. tcg91
    I am usually not a massive fan of 'UWF type matches', as I don't really digest the pace shift between filler matwork and furious strikes, but this was mostly fairly well done. Koshinaka botched a couple of spots and they had a filler 5+ minutes focus on Koshinaka's arm, but apart from that they built a nice story, consisting on Takada kicking furiously and the champion trying to keep him down. There was some good selling for the most part, especially from Takada as his opponent was getting creative around his armwork and finger stretching, like in the finishing spot. ***1/2
  24. tcg91
    Shockingly, they had another great match in them. This was a slow and progressive climax, that planted a few seeds and then exploded with some very good storytelling. Jumbo bullied Yatsu in retaliation of Choshu doing it with Tenryu, but the seconds actually took the reins and hit back even harder. Meaningful and incisive heat segments, leading to a furious finish. Jumbo finally got a lariat on Choshu, but was too cocky and Choshu destroyed Tenryu with a creative and clean finish. ***3/4
  25. tcg91
    s expected, this was mostly punches and getting heat from the crowd, which was a good thing as Hayes is a great heel and DiBiase performed really well. It got dirty, with the addition of blood, and it seemed like they had everything under control. This was very enjoyable, but the finish was too overbooked due to the too many run ins. Of course, a better finish would have been beneficial, even though the crowd surely went home happy. ***1/4
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