soup23

I didn't think Rude leopard outfit could be topped until he revealed the Arsenio tights. I really love segments like this with wrestling in pop culture but not being openly mocked or hokey.

That is true that they went through the ringer on the face team name. Ok promo by Ole.

Yeah, I have harked on the lack of wrestling action being able to not have me connect with the Atlas stuff as much as others but this was glorious. Dawna cant stop cracking up and the line about the facepaint was clever and fitting.

Good to see these promos back as Atlas continuously calls out wrestlers he is facing.

I think Hennan inserting jabs added a whole lot and Warrior stayed more on point than usual. I especially liked Hennan yelling that he was running away at the end.

that drawing looked awful and if that was a real artist in the ring I would not want any part of that shit. No wonder its only 10 bucks for the poster.

Tatum is the man and his analogy was perfect.

Great hate from this and Iceman saying he was going to show Brown what being black was all about made me gasp. Jarrett is showing a lot of fire and came lunging in to attack Iceman.

Is Mr. Perfect going to show us these pictures on the jumbo tron at Wrestlemania 8? Jeannie gave a good promo here but Austin kept talking over her which was kind of annoying. Austin also stumbled in his promo more than he has lately. I thought Percy looked real swarmy when they gave him the photos.

Good promo by Flair deflecting the loss like a heel should do but the viewer should be able to know that he is reeling.

Sting gives an exciting interview but he really feels directionless and while him saying he hasn't changed is fine, it didn't exactly portray him as the ace of the company.

Splinters hand actually looked pretty good. It is amazing that this is on the same show as the other great angles.

I always mark for fireballs and love the way this whole scene developed. The political commercial was great and I am so glad it was included.

MSC tag looks convoluted. Action in the studio was very good and continued the feud.

JD 06 is a really good dark horse pick. Desiny 2005 is a show I wouldn't argue as one of the best ever but absolutely would argue was better than the Tokyo Dome show. While no match on the Destiny show was as good as Nakamura/sakuraba probably, I liked the Kobashi vs. Sasaki match last time I saw it and the tag title match and main event was miles better than anything else on the 1/4/13 show in my eyes.

I was really prepared to like that match a lot because it seemed that most people were less high with it because a. Okada lost and b. they didn't do as much stuff as they have previously. Instead the match really dragged and the story and strategy utilized by both throughout the match seemed really ill advised. I also hate the rainmaker merry go round reversal sequences we see. It just completely takes me out of the match and looks like both wrestlers are doing an interpretative dance together. I liked their match from February 2012 a good deal in that Tanahashi sold more than usual and Okada looked like a rising upstart seizing his opportunity. The following two matches between them haven't broke any new interesting ground.

Summerslam 98 is a show I really want to rewatch. I don't think anything on it will be blowaway great on a rewatch but I also don't foresee anything being outright bad besides the Oddities match.

I will start with 4 NWA/WCW shows: 1. Clash 1 - Two matches aren't very good but comprise of 10 minutes of match time and further extended storylines in each. I will even give the opener credit for implementing an interesting stipulation for the 1 count wins the match using the amateur wrestling rules. I think the Fantastics/MX is the perfect junior tag match mixing in vicious brawling with an even faster pace than what you were seeing around this time. The tag title match is one of the most classic southern tag matches I have ever seen and the pop for the change is fantastic. I personally love Flair/Sting but can see how your mileage can vary on the match and show overall based on this match. I thought it was a great star making performance by Sting and Flair worked amazingly hard to make Sting look good while still getting in a lot of offense on his own. 2. GAB 1989 - I think this show is really neat to compare to the Tokyo Dome show because this show like the Dome show is touted as having a superb second half. I really love the second half of this show but I don't think a lot of the first half is terrible and almost everything is at least logical. Sting vs. Muta was a match that held up pretty well last time I watched and comparable to the 3 way from 1/4/13. Luger vs. Steamboat is an absolutely great match. Even though wargames is "by the numbers" I still think it is good, and to top it off you have one of the best matches of all time in Flair vs. Funk which is a different type of brawl and match from the Wargames but completely awesome. 3. Spring Stampede 1994 - Another show that lives and dies probably based on what you think of the main event and even a lot of peoples opinion align with mine and that I respect don't like Flair vs. Steamboat all that much. I think it is great and really feels like a classic NWA main event on top of a brawl heavy card. Below the main event though you get three totally unique but great brawls. Cactus/Payne vs. Nasties is a choatic, Tupelo Concession stand match that goes everywhere. Buck vs. Dustin is a great old school street fight with stiff shots galore and using the bunkhouse elements to wail on each other. Vader vs. the Boss is a big man slugfest with neither person backing down. There is also two more matches on this show I would say are good (Sting vs. Rude and Regal vs. Pillman) and only Muto vs. Austin was bad. 4. Slamboree 1994 - WCW followed up one of the best PPV's with a show that might be better. Again there is a variety of styles presented here and each one is done very well. I said in the Rich vs. Race GAB comments how much I like legend showcase matches and Funk vs. Blanchard while including some slop showed that both guys could go and was a lot of fun. Zbysko vs. Regal kicked off their fabulous feud in wonderful fashion and played the veteran vs. cocky upstart motif very well. I really liked the bullrope match and thought it used the stipulation really well and in many unique ways. The main event tag match took the Spring Stampede template and tightened it up for one of the best tag matches in company history and one of the best garbage style tag matches I have ever seen. Sting vs. Vader isnt on par with their other matches being only merely good instead of mindblowing like a lot of their matches but again comparing to the 1/4/13 show I would have no problem calling that match better than Nagata vs. Suzuki. That only leads Badd vs. Austin which is a good opener and Windham vs. Flair that while disappointing is certainly decent. I really don't want to sound like a contrarian with the Tokyo Dome show and came in optimistic but maybe it is just a style that I can't get behind because immediately following watching that show, I watched the first two matches from Starrcade 1988 for the podcast tomorrow and liked those two probably better than anything on the Dome show minus Sakuraba/Nagata. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Thanks shoe for clarification that Braves did bump wrestling from its usual time slot. That makes more sense of why the ratings were compared. I know tv viewing habits were different in the 80's and obviously there was a lot less to choose from but looking back, I am just amazed anyone would watch those putrid Braves teams. The 1988 Braves team lost over 100 games and the Giants only finished 4 games over .500 so it was not like that game would be an important game especially in September.

Wataru Inoue & Captain New Japan & Tama Tonga vs. Jado & Yoshi-Hashi & Tomohiro Ishii- Nothing match. I know Ishii has some fans but he showed me nothing here. Tonga does a decent Snuka impression but his finisher is a really weird guillotine into ddt move that looked real herky jerky. Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Kushida & Bushi - Perfectly acceptable 6 man tag. Every looked at least pretty good and hit everything cleanly. The match didn't try to do to much and featured some simple strucuture and a few saves. It also ended on the first spectacular move which was a 450 by Bushi. I thought Liger looked really crisp and quicker than the last few times I have seen him. I always find it amusing how they essentially have a seven man announce booth for these shows. Manabu Nakanishi & MVP & Strongman & Akebono vs. Bob Sapp & Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi: This was crap and a waste of time. Only thing that got a big reaction was Nak racking Sapp. Really heatless brawling filled out this match. Masato Tanaka vs. Shelton Benjamin: This match was a pile of shit. Shelton was determined to get all his shit in and before the five minute time call we had already seen a german suplex, big dive to the outside, his spin kick, and a blockbuster off the top rope. He also had effectively cut off the heat segment of work to his back. We then get some ridiculous interference leading to the Tanaka win. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Karl Anderson & Hirooki Goto: Perplexing match. I really liked opening 5-6 minutes of Davey and Archer working over first Goto and then Anderson. Archer's chokeslam looked especially nasty as Anderson bounced like ball off the mat. I must commend Goto for his selling of the damage as this was certainly not the case of him getting worked on for a few minutes, tagging out, then either tagging back in or jumping up and down on the apron within 1-2 minutes. He really milked the damage and this was my favorite aspect of the match. Anderson makes the tag back to him in a adequate amount of time and the match goes off the rails with near falls galore, the spot where everyone hits a big move, and Archer/Davey hitting the same move THREE times to gain the victory. Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki : Good match between two grizzled veterans. The interference after the opening took me out for a while, but the ending sequence was really good showing a lot of struggle and psychology with Nagata going back to the arm and Suzuki locking in his choke hold. I liked how Nagata won after a big struggle on a impact move. By far the best match so far. Prince Devitt vs. Low Ki vs. Kota Ibushi: I would never call this a MOTYC but I do think it is a great iteration of the spotfest style match and a very good match in its own right. I was actually surprised at how much restraint they showed in this match as the early goings feature really good spots but there was also some building to the finish and everyone wasn't kicking out of everything from the get go. I have no idea why Low Ki was wearing a suit but I was surprised at how fluid he was with it on. Everything was hit cleanly in this match and Ibushi in particular is amazingly athletic. The only spot of the whole match that I would consider completely stupid was Low Ki's double stomp immediately after taking a german suplex. Keiji Muto & Shinjiro Otani vs. Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan: Not a bad legend style tag match at all. Everyone was working hard and hit their signature spots. I enjoyed this a lot more than I would have imagined. Togi Makabe vs. Katsuyori Shibata: I didn't dig this much at all. Didn't see much hate conveyed. You had dueling backdrop suplexes. I thought the key spot with Shibata hitting his head on the post was kind of clever but I didn't really like the table spot and then Shibata hulks up and kicks out at one on the first nearfall after the spot. Shibata losing also is suspect. Most disappointing match for me so far. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba: Great fucking match. I loved all the ebbs and flows and how the tentative start built to a breakdown of both guys and they went all out until the finish. I also really liked how you could use things in wrestling like rope breaks to neutralize some of the MMA submissions. The knees were brutal. Only thing I wasn't total sold on was how quickly Nakamura escaped the cross armbreaker when Sakuraba hooked it but otherwise this was a really fantastic match that would have been in my top 10 for 2012. Tanahashi vs. Okada: I thought this was merely ok and the worst match between these two. I didn't like their June 2012 match either. I liked how cerebral Okada was at the beginning and he busted out some unique pretzel type submissions which I thought was cool because that way when Tanahashi hulks up he is not blowing off any sustained body part work. The work on Okada's leg was not very good and it is a personal preference I know but Tanahashi really annoys me. Ending was usual New Japan overblown stuff of intricate reversals and stuff that looks like it has been practiced 10 times. I also thought OKada was a dumb ass to continually do stuff that further hurts his knee. I wouldn't have even been mad if he had blown off selling it down the stretch since it was around 15 minutes after Tanahashi was working on it but they kept going back to it with the cloverleaf and other stuff. I can understand maybe the rationale of him sacrificing his knee on the frog splash to save losing the match but there was no reason for him to keep performing dropkicks like he was and then sell the knee. If the rainmaker was not going to be used, I don't know why we didnt get some extended arm work to show Tanahashi's game plan of making sure if Okada won it was not going to be with that hold and in the end the match could have went the same way and shown the rainmaker as an equalizer. Crowd pleasing main event for sure and if you enjoy this style, it was pleasing but it didn't do a whole lot for me. Good show overall - absolutely. Great show - eh .... ok I guess. One of the best shows of all time - no fucking way.

Cage stip seems desperate. So conditioned to PPV on Sunday that it seems weird when they talk about Summerslam on a Monday night now. Hogan/Quake is really the main event of this card. I liked Hogan's promo and can see why they went to the metaphor given the name of his opponent. Warriors paint and promo are equally ridiculous.

Surprised to see these start up so early. I do think this was a kind of interesting character and want to see how it is portrayed over 1990 and 1991. Volkolff is his first target.

Nice catch on no mention of Warrior even though this felt like first big hype job for Summerslam. Also weird how much they pushed the cornermen in the Hogan/Quake match.

Holy fuck that lariat bump. I don't know how anyone could kick of that shit. I really liked this match and thought it was a great title opportunity for Toyota at this stage in her career and showed her as pretty resourceful in the amount of strategy she put in into trying to take down the monster bull. Didn't see this as a squash more as a way to show explicitly that it will take another physical force like Aja to compete with Bull. Complete shame this is really it between these two and singles matches.

A great match that really benefited by having the girls interact more but still leaving you wanting more at the end. Ending sequence was also a chaotic scene with most USWA TX individuals getting involved.