soup23

Curious as to what your top three were?

Like most messages from Parv, it was sudden when he sent it over that he recorded a show with James that was being uploaded right then and there. I was in the hospital with my wife when she learned she was going to have to get her gallbladder removed. She was hysterical and I was freaking out at her freaking out. Parv and Crazy James soothed my soul that night. Two days later, I get another frantic message from Parv stating that Ricky Jackson, Shoe and Johnny Sorrow had messaged him wanting to come on. I never thought that motley crew would last. Thanks gents for proving me wrong.

Nuts that Rogers vs. O'Connor didn't close the show.

So I may be the only one in the world but I prefer this to the Rumble match. I really liked how they used the weapons around the ring and the cage and still had a lot of intensity matched around that. HHH really focuses in on the steps and that leads to a nice moment where Cactus tries to get revenge by throwing the steps but he ends up gaining much more than that as it opens up a hole in the cage. HHH’s punches were better here than I can remember looking. I get the sentiment that the crowd kept waiting for the big bump in how this match was prepared but I thought that was built up well and I’m never going to complain about a stunt bump looking overly safe. HHH running when he sees the barbed wire board was a great heel stooge spot. With no where to escape, HHH has no choice but to start climbing. Foley ends up taking a good sized bump from near the top of the cage which was as bad as the one HBK took in the first HIAC. I did think this gave HHH some good heat too as the asshole chants reign down. With no 2X4 switcheroo this time, it was impressive with how HHH took the shot right to the face. HHH staggering and almost falling through the cage gives a good sense of scope as we reach the climatic peak of the match. A suplex and a double arm DDT are good moves on top of the cage from Cactus. The burning 2X4 is a good way to amp up the stakes and I do think it deserved a bigger pop than it got from the Hartford faithful. The big bump from the wide angle makes it look dangerous and a big fall. Foley chants rain down on HHH now as he goes into the ring. I liked HHH kicking away and then Cactus moving making him look supernatural. A couple of more stiff punches and a Pedigree and that is it. Even the cover worked for me because besides some early covers in the early going, HHH never went for another one. He went for three in a row and showed extreme frustration knowing it was going to take something sadistic to put Cactus away. ****1/2

Show still complaining and showing footage. The match itself was pretty generic. Not awful but not very good either and had some eye rolling and overblown 2000 tropes like the crowd brawling and what not. Rock looks like he has things in control when Shane McMahon returns and whacks him with a chair giving Big Show the win. I am sure that was a big upset at the time but it does feel like a moment where WWF overly complicated things to get the desired result of having the McMahon in every corner gimmick at WrestleMania. **1/2

A Deport Eddy sign. Topical. Eddy is injured but he remained relevant by mixing it up in there and taking a pipe shot to his injured elbow and bumping from Rikishi. Fun action here all around. I was especially impressed by Malenko being extra sneaky getting in cheap shots and taking shortcuts. Saturn also hasn’t looked out of his element compared to the others. Rikishi is doing the stink face now which is unfortunate because that is a move I despise. Finish was fine with Rikishi getting the win because besides Benoit he is the biggest star. Still, you can already see some rumblings about the Radicalz being buried. Rikishi sells his leg and teases not being able to dance but he musters up enough strength to do it in the end. ***

The crowd didn’t really care for this but I enjoyed it even though it was sloppy in spots. King is embarrassing yelling Puppies at Terri coming out. The stiffness was there including a nice chop exchange between Matt and Christian. A couple of moves were botched or a little off but some ended up looking more dangerous like the Edge powerbomb. Both teams also took turns doing some heelish things although E&C more than the Hardys. Finish comes when Terri turns on the Hardys and Christian hits the Unprettier for the win. They seem confused as to why Terri did that as well. The Hardys grab Terri by the hair but she had the forethought to hire the APA for protection so they beat up the Hardys including a brutal powerbomb on Jeff. ***1/4

So here lies the end of NAO essentially. They get one more babyface spiel in though. I was surprised Jr said he didn’t like the Dudley’s chances halfway through this match. NAO has to be a face by default here and do an ok job but this was all about the Dudleys push as they steamroll this established team fairly easily with an assist from a pipe that gets Billy out of the way and makes Bully look like a psycho. **

Never thought I needed to hear a podcast with 40 minutes on Trish vs. Mickie but here we are and it was great. I remember watching that French Catch match about a year ago and having the same reactions as you two described. Swell show.

I know he seemed to have some serious neck or back injuries IIRC

A really fun match that looks like the wave of the future. You can really tell that Jericho isn't enthusiastic about having Chyna with him as she is essentially a nonfactor. The match was worked in a high octane pace and really maximized the time allotted. Finish is clever too while presenting Kurt as legit while still taking a short cut to escape with the belt. The celebration that was added on throughout the night was awesome comedy bits. ***1/4

This was kind of the match that was fine and nothing offensive but certainly nothing lasting. That is kind of the life of JWP back then and today. I want to see Azumi in a long form singles match. **

Kobashi just saw his boy win the big match against Misawa and now he is fired up to take on Vader. Kobashi shows a lot of restraint in this match which is weird and I can see Loss’s critique that with Vader, Kobashi is the one guy you want to see go balls to the wall with him. Kobashi has a target on his ribs and Vader does a good job mangling them. I thought Kobashi sold the damage well and worked his offense around that. This led to the finale where the nearfall on the moonsault was well deserved and had me biting. Even his final lariat felt like a triumphant moment. Huge night for Burning. ****

Loss is ribbing us making me watch more Tiger Steele after the AAA match. Spanky does miracle work here really showing the size disadvantage and playing off of that by using his speed. Tiger looks better here in a garbage style brawl but not great by any means. Spanky tries to hit a spinning DDT on Tiger and he doesn’t oblige with the bump. Big schmozz at the finish with Dragon and Tiger’s lackies coming out. Spanky ends up getting the upset and busted open hardway as a result. *3/4

Oh XPW. Even the announcer is trying to sound hardcore. A garbage brawl with garbage production and garbage announcing. I guess we have to see some of this stuff for completion sake but yikes this made AAA look great in comparison. Tammy looks sad as hell here as the wheels were really falling off the plane. The lights go out as Candido celebrates his win and come back on with Shane Douglas arriving. Shane says Fuck You WCW and Kevin Sullivan. I guess this was the result of going with the young guys and them leaving you behind to go to WWF. If you ever want to see a promo where someone burns a bridge pretty much for the rest of their career, this is the one to show. *1/4

This was a batshit crazy deathmatch that was full of action and some insane spots. The blowjob lighttube was pretty hilarious. I think the reason this match resonates with me so much is that Kanemura is aware of how much of a scuzzy dude he is. He embraces that and that really works for the work overall. This is one I see me having a good bit higher than Loss but the suplex into the table looked insanely dangerous and I liked that the weapons for the most part were just the tables and chairs around ringside and they integrated them right in. ****

Getting old sucks. I have never been the ace of something with as much prestige as a pro wrestling company (no sarcasm here) but even in our superficial world of watching and talking wrestling, I look around at guys like QT and Case and realize I am not the young put anymore. This match showed that to the ultimate ace in Misawa and really proved that yeah he had lost battles to his peers in Kobashi, Taue, and Kawada but he had never really been beaten by someone that was clearly his junior. To add to that, here is Akiyama the guy he basically traded Kobashi away in order to team with him and bring him up. Now how does Akiyama repay him, by getting a few words of encouragement from Kobashi before heading to the ring. Everything in this match builds to a beautiful climax that really feels like the direct end of the greatest period of pro wrestling I have ever witnessed. Beyond that META storyline, the work in the match is excellent. Akiyama seizes the opportunity for going after the neck and never lets up. I love him upping the ante on the outside after the drop toe hold and culminating from the piledriver to the apron Exploder. Back in the ring, the transition from young up and comer to main eventer takes place. Akiyama isn’t desperate or acting anxious that he has this pillar so vulnerable, he knows this is his moment and he expected that. He reacts with more stoicism in this match than Misawa. Just compare how Akiyama applied holds on Misawa for submission compared to Mitsuharu. Misawa is clinching and clinging to the hope that this will be enough and Jun is calm and collected knowing he has hurt the un-hurtable. In some ways, I can see this being compared to something like Jumbo vs. Misawa from 90 but that shift in the attitudes of the junior member makes a big difference in my mind. Misawa placement in 90 really felt like a guy breaking out and becoming someone. Akiyama KNOWS he is someone for a while now and this match was confirmation for everyone else to wake up and pay attention. The clutch tombstone may be my favorite moment of offense as it is such a non All Japan 90’s big move. Akiyama shows the first bit of emotion calling out before the Exploder but it only gets two. Does he freak out? No, he applies another nasty submission with the point of emphasis on the neck. Misawa has an escape in him with the enzuiguri and starts running through his signature offense. Frog Splash. 2. German with Misawa selling the neck. 2. Running forearm right to the bridge of the nose. Big time elbow flurry. Tiger Driver. 2. Jun is bloodied and while he didn’t underestimate Misawa, this is a mythical creature we are talking about so he is in a fight now. Another release German and Tiger Driver get some more two counts and Jun is looking for space. The double Exploder sequence could be seen as some no selling but fuck if it wasn’t a powerful visual. You keep expecting Misawa to get up and get up and this time he fell on his ass. Akiyama screams to the heavens, gives a running knee and one more Exploder for a close as shit nearfall. Jun realizes he has beaten the barrage of offense and now is HIS time. Brainbuster for another close nearfall. Wrist Clutch Exploder right on Misawa’s head gets the huge win in 24 minutes. I don’t know where this ranks in the All Japan pantheon for me but it is up there for sure and one of the greatest wrestling matches I have ever seen. *****

I like that Jason Lee’s first cousin is Derrick King. Guess the blonde hair of both should have given away their relation. Rico hits a really nice looking somersault legdrop from 2 Colds move set. I think I like this type of OVW action better than the tip top main event stuff. We still get a ref bump which seems to happen in every single match and Conway counts the pinfall which makes me roll my eyes. Still, up until the finish this was worked in a Memphis tv style and Cornette wasn’t completely overselling everything. **1/4

This is a very workman’s type match. Scoot has some solid work on the leg and Daniels sells it well. It is kind of worked a bit weirdly in the fact that Daniels is clearly the heel in the first round but here is the sympathetic face. I really enjoyed Daniels selling the leg after the triple jump moonsault. Daniels is able to hit the rolling DDT and win which is deserved because he presented himself as a star for the stuff we saw. He shakes Scoot’s hand afterwards and celebrates with his trophy. ***1/4

Daniels cuts a promo pre match and shows how he has a lot of poise at this point. The match is pretty basic but effective and a good effort for the first round of a tournament. Daniels controls most of the match and Vic is a good bumper. Vic will end up being one of the lost names of the 2000’s as he got a good push in IWA-MS in a couple of years. Vic hits a good powerbomb. I also thought Vic did a good job avoiding the Angels Wings. Daniels ends up winning with his rolling DDT that’s name is escaping me at the moment. ***

PG-13 going for the tag straps here. This gets a good amount of time and has the neat dynamic of PG-13 being the faces. JC gets worked over and while the Mamalukes aren’t exceptional, I do think they provide enough heel offense to be effective. Match escalates when Wolfie gets the hot tag. Jc grabs a hub cap and nails Johnny the Bull for a real close nearfall with Disco saving things. Tope from JC and they are going for it. Disco knocks Wolfie off the top rope and the Mamalukes are able to retain after Vito hits his swinging DDT. Really good tv match for the 7 minutes it got. ***

Torrie Wilson has a video camera? I missed that gimmick change. I think this was my favorite of the C show matches so far. A ton of energy and highspots. Elix looks really good and keeps his balance forever on his springboard dive to the outside waiting for Kidman to get into position. Elix is also good at the cutoffs like the front face DDT. I like Hudson saying Torrie can’t afford that lifestyle on the loser share of the purse. Elix has a ton of unique offense and puts it together in a believable fashion. The best part of this is that Elix didn’t try to powerbomb Kidman. Good match. ***

Jaime Howard? So begins one of the feuds that will really get a lot of play in the dying days of WCW. This was a fun start with good energy and action throughout. Both Yang and Noble are put over as upstarts and show good speed and power and I continue to appreciate how 3 Count can work together with misdirection to win the match. The Shane Helms frog splash looks good to finish things off. Excited to see this whole series play out. **1/2

I enjoyed this way too much. You had King and Ali both looking really good as a team and doing tandem moves and slingshot planchas to the outside. You are also able to get the comedy aspects of the match with Valiant and Baxter going after each other. Finish is nice with King pinning Baxter before Mo from Men on a Mission and someone else I don’t recognize beat up King. A big brawl results as Dave and Corey sign us off. **3/4

Smothers attacks Gibson zebra Zubaz and all. Wolfie D runs out and him and Tracy have a great fight into the back of the TV studio. A good brawl results once the match starts proper. Tracy really is someone to watch in this setting. The finish was scary with the table set up way too far and Tracy getting suplexed through it weirdly feet and leg first and at a different angle. **1/4