Kronos

Someone on DVDVR mentioned not "getting" Taue. I was watching some All Japan last night and thinking about that comment. With Kawada or Kobashi, you get what you expect - asskickers who enjoy inflicting pain on opponents. With Taue, you get this enormous Baby Huey looking dork. He's the biggest of the four, but you can't take him seriously as a threat. Moreover, he always seems like he doesn't want to be there. Not in a Takayama "get off my lawn" way - he just comes across like he doesn't want to be bothered. Okay, expectations set. Something will happen, such as Kawada getting in trouble. Taue will be all, "Dammit, I have to go save my partner. And I'm not even supposed to be here today!" He Baby Hueys his way across the ring -- and proceeds to chokeslam Kobashi straight to hell. Then he'll shrug his shoulders and lope on back to his corner. One of my favorite Taue spots is when he takes Akiyama up like he's gonna throw an atomic drop. Then he decides "fuck it" and instead tosses Akiyama across the ring. I appreciate those who don't care for his schtick. But I love it to bits.

I've just been hit with a big project at work, and I better step aside from the game for now. Matt D, I think you have an extra person? They can take my spot. Rah and I have not exchanged matches yet.

She's such a natural heel. She's bigger than almost all of them. She needs to be a bully. I recently watched her match with Bayley on RAW Feb 2017, and it was terrific. She used her size and power to really beat the crap out of Bayley (who to her own credit took and kept fighting back). What, she's gonna be intimidated by tiny-but-awesome heels like Sasha or Bliss (or even Asuka)? It just feels wrong, and I hate it because I like her very much.

Sez you. I like Hansen crushing puny humans.

Sez you. I like Hansen crushing puny humans.

I don't watch them in order. I just pick a title that interests me, and then I let it play in the background while I work or fritter around the house.

Yeah. I think distancing themselves from him was a good idea.

Who is Mel Phillips, and what is the story there?

The shittiest the PPV, the best the watch along, usually. Like it's been said, Havoc 95 has awesome stuff. Starrcade 97 was quite good too. It's true. Even Conrad and Tony will say things like, "I don't have a lot to say about match X - it was really good." It's more fun when they talk about the wrestlecrap. I thought Hog Wild 1996 was interesting, especially about Heenan being drunk and the generally terrible idea that the venue was.

Oh, yeah, I have heard the Souled Out 1998 podcast. That stuff about Steiner and the t-shirts and diner and such went onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn and onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

If the 1998 Souled Out ppv is anything like the 1997 one, I wouldn't blame them for being bored out of their minds and talking about other crap the whole time.

Matt D gave me: Midnight Rockers vs Buddy Rose & Doug Sommers (AWA All Star Wrestling 8/30/86) Fantastic stuff. I have said before that I really enjoy the Midnight Rockers against an experienced heel team who can keep them in check and control the pacing when needed. We have that here. Sometimes the kids overdo things a bit - witness Marty's turn at being a flailing punchdrunk, which is just this side of "silly". But the whole thing comes together beautifully. Full comments at: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31666-awa-world-tag-team-champions-buddy-rose-doug-somers-vs-midnight-rockers-awa-tv-83086/?p=5831891

Secret Santo Submission The only thing I recall seeing from this famous matchup is the cage match, which happens a few months later I think - maybe I saw it on the Legacy of the AWA set that I had about 10 years ago. Shawn and Marty are 20 and 22? Wow. I am always happy to see Sherri - in this case, managing Rose/Summers, who get a lot of boos from the crowd. Terrific energy from this Showboat crowd before the match begins. Buddy plays it to the hilt, acting like the crowd are really pissing him off. Early on, Shawn throws a superkick out of nowhere. It's pretty great. Sommers slams Shawn's face into the ring post, knocking him to the floor and drawing the first blood of the match. This is getting vicious. Shawn's FIP segment goes on for quite awhile - I like the way he stumbles and flails about. His crawling across the ring to try and reach Marty is great, and the crowd is fired up. Marty's hot tag, when it finally comes after nearly 10 minutes, is true House of Fire stuff; the crowd are eating it up. Everyone is bleeding! In the end, Rose/Sommers get DQ'd and have to be chased from the ring by a locker room run-in. Greg Gagne gives a post-match interview about how he's never seen anything this like this in all his years in the business. Aside from a few small rolls early on, there's none of the WWF Rockers' famous MOOVEZ. This is just old fashioned Heels vs Faces carnage. I think Michaels may be throwing the best-looking punches of his career right here. Fantastic stuff. I have said before that I really enjoy the Midnight Rockers against an experienced heel team who can keep them in check and control the pacing when needed. We have that here. Sometimes the kids overdo things a bit - witness Marty's turn at being a flailing punchdrunk, which is just this side of "silly". But the whole thing comes together beautifully.

Dawho5 is all Abdullah all the time in this game.

Some random comments I made while watching BLOOPERS, BLEEPS, AND BODYSLAMS throughout the week. I am kind of surprised that they left in the Blassie "love advice" segment. Blassie talks about how women need to be hit and kicked around sometimes. And also, Freddie and Vince have a hard time not cracking up as Blassie reaches for ever more double entendre. TNT is like watching another universe. Iron Sheik has trouble staying in character a few times in the camel segment. I know we generally prefer full matches. But the truth is, with some notable exceptions, a lot of 70s and 80s WWWF/WWF works just fine as clips. (though I would hope they continue uploading "Old School" shows from time to time) As I got further into the video, I experienced the Samoan food segment - super racist. And the Hogan protein shake bit is a bit of a 'roids injoke, surely. This stuff is wrestlecrap of the highest order. Not gonna lie - it's frequently cringe-tastic. But I kind of love it. In the Sal Ballomo cooking segment on BLOOPERS, BLEEPS, AND BODYSLAMS -- where they're dusting the table with flour to make pizza dough -- Vince comments that Hayes has some white powder on his nose. "I'm pretty sure it's not the first time."

The early 80's territory stuff I have ever traded for or downloaded over the years is almost always borderline unwatchable. I much prefer the Network versions of that stuff, when it exists. And for the other stuff, including Memphis and Continental, I am just glad it exists. I didn't watch ECW back in the day, so I am not tied to the music the way you guys are. But the set of VHS rips I have of the ECW PPVs is fairly watchable - and the preshows are worthy additions. And the presence of things like Sandman or Welcome to the Jungle is always welcome.

I managed to watch this match without being spoiled as to Ciclope's identity, and I am thrilled about it. (Which wouldn't have happened if I had read this thread title first!) Jericho's introductions of the participants bordered on cruel burial, but some of it was funny. ("Silver King! If he wins 12 more matches, he'll be upgraded to Gold King!") The match was what it was, though I thought the guys took some unnecessarily risky bumps to the floor. The crowd goes mega-wild when Ciclope is unveiled, and they stay hot for the solid follow-up match with Jericho. Good times.

That sounds great, and I look forward to watching it. Incidentally, what won number one in the vote? I'm going to guess something from Bock and Hennig.

Matt D -- here's yours for the week: Stan Hansen & Dan Kroffat vs. Rock N Roll Express (All Japan 10/26/1988) https://youtu.be/qc3ie7truJA (I was going to give you Styles vs Nash from Victory Road 2009 - luckily for you, I rewatched it first and discovered it wasn't as good as I remembered.)

In Tim's absence, dawho5 was kind of enough to trade matches with me. I rec'd WWC: Carlos Colón vs. Abdullah The Butcher - Vengeance Match (1986), reviewed here. Unfortunately, I liked it less than the other reviewers. But as the first WWC, first Colon, and one of the few Abdullah matches I have seen, it was a worthy experience.

Apparently, the story is that recently Abby tried to blind Carlos, and this is the revenge match. It's the first WWC, first Colon, and one of the few Abdullah matches I have seen. They start off simply, with some lockups and trading blows. Colon keeps trying to fight dirty, though -- going for the eye, fishhooking the nostril, etc. I am not supercrazy about Abby's way of leaning into his opponent, head-first. Just under 10 min in, Abby has been carved open and even bleeds on the camera lense. Now every time we see a view from that apron cameraman, we see the blood drops. That's unexpectedly graphic. Nearly half way through, the match is just kind of slow and dull. The crowd aren't into it, either, which probably hurts my enthusiasm. The second half of the match continues to have Abby more and more beaten, doing very little about it. Colon does throw a pretty awesome monkey flip - awesome because of Abby's size, of course. The crowd pops a little for that. Abby later waves off a doctor, stumbles to his feet, and throws a few counterstrikes. But then he's back to getting his ass kicked in slow motion. Eventually, it ends with Abby rolling out of the ring after a zillion kicks to the head. Colon hits him a few times with a chair and then chases the stumbling Abdullah through the crowd. What a weird match. At just under 25 min, it's probably 10 minutes too long. Maybe if I saw this as a blowoff of a big feud, it would mean more. But I don't care for Colon here, and Abby shows little of the personality I have seen in the my few other matches from him. Fascinating, but in a slogging trainwreck kind of way.

Anyone heard from Tim Cooke?

Yeah, I did. Guess they got a Royal Rumble match before the women, even though it wasn't at the Royal Rumble. Oh, dear. Best youtube comment: "what if the great khali had an impersonater that was an average height person?"

You guys that watched the clipped version -- starting with the sharpshooter -- who thought this match was dull? That doesn't happen until nearly 12 min into the match. You should try the handheld version. On second thought, run away screaming. They should put this match into the dictionary next to "rest hold". I don't know what was going on - maybe one or both weren't feeling well. I kept thinking about a 70's match I watched recently with Jumbo and the Funker. They also worked long headlock and armlock spots. But never once did it seem like rest holds. They managed to create all kinds of drama. MVC? Not so much.