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tcg91

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Everything posted by tcg91

  1. tcg91
    Another very good match between these two, but a bit disappointing in terms of blowoff, as this could have been so much more, despite the good quality. Gordon Solie was tremendous on commentary, hyping Lawler's comeback while reminding the viewers that he never defeated Bock. Bock dictated most of the pace and just pummelled his opponent, using the no DQ stipulation to be more aggressive than he would usually be. Awesome beatdown. Lawler was usually good in his selling and his punches in the final minutes, after being dominated for like 90% of the match. However, Bock never looked like he was winning and even Lawler's finishing stretch was somewhat a letdown, despite the crowd being very hot ***3/4
  2. tcg91
    This was a total blast. Great drama, hot crowd, good heel shenanigans etc. The heels were great at selling the two super heroes' hits, but also brilliant when ganging up promptly to get the needed heat in the central part of the match. Hogan was a very good seller in his prime, doing a positive job with his arm, and Andre was also good when he got the hot tag. Totally satisfying when finally Heenan got his share of the pain, after many loud insults and cheap shots. This lost a bit of charm towards the end due to a couple of clumsy spots, but even the finish was well done. I really don't want to overrate this, but it couldn't do any wrong ***1/2
  3. tcg91
    I hate "attitude era handicap matches", but this was quite different. Not a bad one, but essentially it was 20+ minutes of Inoki putting holds on the IWE guys and them trying to cheat despite the 3v1 advantage, so it was kind of a burial in a way. Slow pace, which was a good thing as Inoki dosed his stamina and the opponents created enough heat with their hit and run strategy. He actually looked quite tired towards the end, but maybe it was just him selling the leg in an efficient way. The eliminations were fine, but the IWE guys ended up looking bad, despite picking up the win by countout. ***
  4. tcg91
    Good match, of course they would do much better together, but that will come down the road. What I always liked about their interactions was how Fujinami was better on the mat, but indulged in beating Choshu; while Choshu, a better striker, would attempt to outwrestle Fujinami. Choshu was getting more familiar on the mat, still not mastering the craft perfectly, but his legwork was quite good and Fujinami sold it quite well. The crowd was vivid, enjoying the hot start, at one point I thought I was watching this at a 2.0x speed. Silly finish, but it's the 80s and we have rematches on the way ***
  5. tcg91
    This was great and better than all the more hyped Mask vs Kid I have seen so far. Yes, this was flashy as a juniors match needs to be, but also crispy and with tons of heat. Even Mask seems more comfortable here, kicking hard and indulging in some good armwork, this looked more like a UWF match than a New Japan match at times. I was also a fan of the non-finish, with the mask ripping, but I felt it was a bit abrupt and it could have landed after a longer climax. Still, very nice piece of business ***1/2
  6. tcg91
    Fun match, the crowd was really into it. I have seen Dog perform in arenas where he was even more over than this, like Houston for one, but here he looked ripped and ready to kill. Good little 10/12 minutes deal, DiBiase and Borne called the match really well and got heat on the champions. Olympia was fine, I haven't seen much of him, but his selling here was decent. The finish was well booked and it enhanced the story around JYD's comeback, but Duggan's run in was goofy as well ***
  7. tcg91
    Good title match, but the referee made it frustrating at times, he was always in the way (I mean, if it's a crook referee angle it's fine, but it was not the case). A bit of stalling at the beginning, Bock led the action quite well and it all felt really quick, despite a few rocky minutes here and there: this was good and went 25 minutes, but it could have been a tremendous 17/18 minutes match instead. Outstanding Lawler punches, as usual. Nice little detail with the piledriver, as it was legal but Bock protected the move by rolling out of the ring after being hit with it. The dirty finish helped the case too, as it likely builds for a rematch down the road ***1/2
  8. tcg91
    Man, this was so good. It felt like a big deal, with a proper presentation and a red hot crowd. Kudos to them for going 30+ minutes and making (almost) every sequence count. Colon's armwork during the first 10 minutes was remarkable; Flair sold it really well and, contrarily to the David match from a few days before, only stopped remembering about it a lot of minutes after it started. The Flair legwork and use of the figure four ruled, Colon had all the fans behind him when he reversed the hold. His desperation in the slugfest had a great pop, leading to a great and clean finish. This was a few details (and some selling) away from being an absolute classic ***3/4
  9. tcg91
    Good match, a few notches below Flair vs Kerry, but it's quite predictable as this is pretty much an angle that helps building Kerry's rematch later that year. David was fine (despite looking a bit "heavy" in his movements), he worked on Flair's arm in a solid way, but Ric kind of forgot about it until the final minutes. It was much better when Flair was on charge and focused on David's leg, but in general the matwork went a bit too long and we never really had the feeling that David could pull an upset. The non-finish was predictable but well built ***1/2
  10. tcg91
    Nice little 12/13 minutes match, as Slater had to work another match that night and they didn't go all out here. Still, it was a decent one and young Gordy had tons of offense, it's incredible to think that he was only 21 here. Slater was such an underrated babyface, he put over a simple headlock very effectively and the Houston fans were behind his comeback, which was flashier than expected (including a headscissor?!). The punches were really fun too, but the finish was absolutely flat and anticlimatic, Gordy did so well and then a simple elbow took him down ***
  11. tcg91
    Absolute great crowd, this is Santo's retirement match after all and the atmosphere is quite appealing. The match itself, however, wasn't that great and it's one of those Rock/Hogan deals where the circumstances made the match better, despite the action not being the greatest. There was some goodness here and there, mostly because Aguayo stole the show, taking Solitario's mask off and bleeding all over the place on the tecnico's comeback. But the rest of it was quite chaotic, too much going on at the same time, and a bit of a let down. It would have been nice to see more stuff from Santo and see the rudos bump for him, but we never got down to only two men in the ring ***
  12. tcg91
    A great spectacle and a furious brawl, even though I feel like they could have done even better together. The slugfest was simply top notch, so so many great punches and even the slightest detailed mattered, like their face expressions, body language, holding the ropes etc. Hansen's control segment on Funk was also good, but already a few notches down, despite the crowd's positive response. Funk's selling was on point, as usual, but Hansen could have done more here and never took this to the next level. Also, I didn't care for the finish, not much because of the count-out itself, but it was quite confusing and the referee bump looked a bit clumsy. They'll do much better in 1983, but this was a precious stepping stone ***1/2
  13. tcg91
    This was fun and a good little match, but it didn't blew my mind. I get protecting the babyfaces, but abusing the over the top rope rule as a DQ in the first minute of the match is quite poor in terms of spectacle. The rest of the match was pretty damn good, despite being shorter than usual. Lucas is one of those guys I haven't seen enough of, but he was solid and Morton looked great in his energic comebacks. Gino's hit and run tactics were also great and led to the piledriver finish ***
  14. tcg91
    The first 5 minutes of the match were clipped, so we got 15 minutes instead of 20. This was a good bout, but a bit frustrating at times because it could have been so much more. Gagne clearly held the match down and it's a shame, because the challengers were on form and ready to go, especially when paired against Brunzell. Very nice selling from Martel, but his initial rest hold sequence with Gagne wasn't the best, for one. Clever finish and, yes, Gagne redeemed himself with a great dropkick for a cool spot ***1/4
  15. 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
  16. 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 ***
  17. 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
  18. 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 ***
  19. 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 ***
  20. 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
  21. 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 ***
  22. 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 ****
  23. 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
  24. 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 **
  25. 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 ***
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