Matt D

I think that Lawler was really good in the first half of the match too in planting that seed of suspicion in the fans' heads that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't legit. Things like continuing to distract the ref for a second after the sunset flip or being just a little too hot at the wrong time. Cheating face lawler with a chain on either hand is pretty amazing if you ask me though. I like the idea of Falcone (I always thought he'd have been good if he came along in 98 for ECW as a Johnny Swinger partner), but his elbow plop was the worst thing ever.

Rick Steiner vs Ludvig Borga 1/17/94 - MSG The things you watch when you're watching everything. This has to be the best Borga match I've ever seen and boy is that not saying much. Stooging to begin with Rick chasing him around the ring. Crowd seems super hot for this but it could be the fancam. The basic story is that Borga would cheat and just clobber Steiner with some pretty good looking offense (mainly clotheslines). Rick would hit a big move but Borga would cheat and get back on top. Eventually, Rick gets fed up with this and slaps on an armbar which is a weird thing to do mid match but it sort of makes sense. Borga keeps getting up quickly though and after a ducked clothesline escalates things with a huge flying one. It eventually heads out to the floor where Rick hits him with a chair and we get a double count out. I don't give star ratings but this would be over a ** 1/2, I think, which is pretty damn impressive for a Borga match.

Slaughter/Blackwell vs Road Warriors I've never seen this before. Adnan is with Ellering on the outside. First portion of the match is fun. Blackwell fighting out of the Roadies corner, Warriors taking over after Blackwell misses a knee drop. Hawk works the chinlocks decently but the camera angle doesn't let us see Blackwell's facial expressions. Crowd goes nuts when he fights out though. Blackwell hits a HUGE back suplex but positions Hawk right into his corner. Animal does a huge slam on him followed by a splash. Then Hawk tries the same but Blackwell gets the knee up. Well done stuff. Then he gets the well timed hot tag as Hawk goes to the top rope. Big Sarge gut buster that the crowd goes nuts for. We get an extended Test of Strength spot between Sarge and animal and the crowd is into it but it drags. Trongard is pretty terrible here. Sarge does a good job finally fighting out but Hawk makes a blind tag. Hawk pummels Sarge in the corner but he fights back for a hopespot only to eat his signature bump in the corner. Southern tag tactics as Hawk and Animal taunt Blackwell to get him to come in. Bit of mangling in the ropes before Hawk suplexes him in big. Sarge punches back as animal tags in but he gets a bit too much to make it a really dramatic hot tag. Blackwell in. Huge punch. Huge splash. Huge power slam. Avalanche. Killer Slaughter clothesline. Then the clutch. It looks like the faces are going to win it as Blackwell cuts off Hawk and nails Paul but the ref is distracted by all this and Adnan slips in and gets Sarge with the cast. Blackwell almost gets his hands on him but Hawk breaks it up and that's our DQ. I'm guessing this set up Supercage. Could have used a better hot tag at the end but this was definitely better than at least one of the Road Warriors matches on the 80s set.

Might not be able to listen to this for a while but I had that Bundy tag at #144. 9/20/84 Bock vs Martel is my working #4. Jumbo vs Martel 5/13 is my working #14 Rick vs Brad is my #43

I guess I was most interested if there really was a chance Hennig vs Hogan was going to be a PPV match at some point. And if so, when? They put Genius over at the January SNME and did the belt breaking angle, so maybe it was meant to go as far as Mania at some point.

This is bugging me way too much. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2007/06/21/4280344.html Reno Riggins interview. He says this Looking at Graham's site, there is WWF @ Louisville, KY - Louisville Gardens - September 20, 1989 Wrestling Challenge taping: Prime Time Wrestling - 10/23/89: Mr. Perfect (w/ the Genius) pinned Reno Riggins at 2:37 with the Perfect Plex or WWF @ Indianapolis, IN - Market Square Arena - October 29, 1990 WWF Superstars: 11/24/90: Mr. Perfect defeated Reno Riggins and WWF @ Biloxi, MS - Coast Coliseum - March 12, 1991 (around 9,000) Wrestling Challenge: 3/31/91: WWF IC Champion Mr. Perfect (w/ Bobby Heenan) pinned Reno Riggins with the Perfect Plex at 2:30; after the bout, Gene Okerlund interviewed Heenan on the interview platform until Andre the Giant appeared and crushed Heenan's hand as he was shaking it, eventually bringing Heenan down to his knees before standing on his hand And none of these really make sense.

Do it for our sake.

That's the best you're getting. Sorry. It's almost all Jones/Valentine and Murdoch/Raschke with a tiny bit of interaction between Valentine and Murdoch.

Ok. According to a WON from 91 Heyman got suspended for leaking information to Eddie Gilbert about the Lawler vs Luger Unification match, which soured Jerry Jarrett on the idea since too many people then knew about it. Is there any truth to any part of that sentence?

There looks to be a decent amount of Mulligan stuff on youtube from Indianapolis, maybe from the 70s. I might watch some if only because almost all of it involves Heenan so there's some value.

RVD was definitely not a guy who would let something as jejune as selling get in the way of getting his shit in.

If he was, Will wants to know about it!

Honestly, I think they could probably market Swagger vs Del Rio at this point higher than either Orton or Henry. It has the sort of exploitative story that'll get coverage while the other matches wouldn't.

All Gorilla really got was free rein to shit on all the wrestlers he wanted.

WWF/AJPW - Jumbo/Haku vs Perfect/Martel - 4/13/90 I have my doubts. If this was a super fun match I probably would have heard about it already, but let's go. Well, if you ever wanted to hear Mel Phillips announce Jumbo, there you go. Martel + Hennig is such a cool team, even the WWF heel versions. Haku is weirdly short. Martel and Hennig clear house with a double dropkick and a double clothesline before Hennig starts on Jumbo. Jumbo hits a boot out of the corner and Hennig does seventeen rotations on the sell of the big knee. It's nice to see Perfect bump for Haku too, big kicks and chops and the best shoulder breaker you will EVER see. Then a hugely high dropkick that gets another rotation sell. Double clothesline takes his head off, and he propels himself up so high for Jumbo's slam. Martel interferes to break up a stretch and Hennig takes over with strikes as the fans boo. Double team punches and kicks int he corner. Then the snapmare/head whip which impresses the announcers. Clumsy punch block and a big slam to allow the tag to Haku who hits a huge kick. His stuff just looks awesome here. He misses the running sommersault senton and we get the drag to the corner and tag to Martel. Couple of slams and a bunch of quick elbows, but the difference in complexity between the offense Martel used in the last match and this one are nuts. He does hit a rana into a pin. Hennig does a bunch of punch/kicks as Haku tries to fight back but a boot rake ends that. Then we get the assisted slingshot suplex by hennig for two. Martel tries for another rana and eats the top turnbuckle hard. Hennig breaks up the hot tag attempt though and this is a pretty good heat segment. Nice dropkick by Hennig but it's amazing how much both guys dumbed down their act. Double slam which leads to a well fought Boston Crab. Jumbo breaks it up and then does his hand raise thing. Hennig comes in and does a stretch of his own on Haku. Jumbo distracts the ref and Haku punches out but Martel jumps in and takes over. He hits a suplex and knee drop for at two count. Martel and Hennig are working really well as a unit. They do another hope spot where Haku fights back out of clubbers with a nasty blow but Martel rakes the eyes from the corner and then comes in as the ref is distracted. Haku gets his legs up on a second rope splash and they rush for the corners. Jumbo clears house with a back body drop whip and slams on Martel and then Hennig. Then it breaks down with all four guys in. The heels get tossed into each other then eat a bit Haku kick and flying knee. Jumbo hits the Saito Suplex and gets the win. Pretty good (And surprising) southern tag. Haku played a really good FIP and Hennig bumped well for everyone.

Flair/Martel vs Jumbo/Tenryu A war between Jumbo and Martel over armwork to begin. Martel is really good at working from the bottom and trying to fight out. We get the same with Flair which doesn't look quite as good but is still fun. It culminates with chops in the corner by Jumbo and a tag to Tenryu. This gives us a chopfest with Tenryu getting the best of it and Flair retreating to the corner. Flair hit a shin breaker out of a headlock and Martel starts doing his great varied offense on the leg. Within a span of a minute hes doing leg yanks, stomps, elbows, kicks, a knee, and whatever else. But Tenryu counters only to get countered back and out into a ... Inverted deathlock? Is that what you call that, then a modified STF. It's amazing how much stuff Martel can just throw out like it's the smoothest thing in the world. Tenryu sneaks out again and makes the tag. Jumbo beats the crap out of Martel til he hits a flash spinning crossbody off the second rope and tags flair in. Americans dominate for a bit but Jumbo comes back with strikes and out chops Flair again, hits a back body drop and Flair begs off. Tenzin in, chopping away, but Flair counters with a kick on another back body drop attempt. Martel hits a cool punch as Flair tosses Tenry into the corner and then tags in, clubbering on the back. Martel does some good and varied back offense. Flair hits a back suplex and forgets about the back to put the figure four on. Boo. Flair reaches for martel, gets the tag and he puts on a quick figure four. Tenryu lifts the leg up and forces a pin attempt which is neat sort of battle. Martel gets the tag, but flair eats a sloppy small package on a figure four attempt and we get a hot tag to Jumbo. Big clearing house clothesline. Fight for a pile driver but Flair gets to the rope and they go back and forth for a sec til Tenryu hooks the sleeper. Flair REACHES for the tag in the sleeper andit's pretty great. Martel finally gets it and pummels Jumbo in the corner. Jumbo reverses a whip and Martel gets backdropped. Another HUGE clothesline. tag to Tenryu. Big double suplex. Another back suplex. Big back brain kick. A tag and a huge double strike off the rope.This sets up Jumbo hitting the pile drive but just for a two. Neckbreaker for another two. Tag in to Tenryu but Martel comes off the rope and nails a lightning forearm, then takes him from pillar to post and finally into Flair's knee on the outside. Flair in. Big suplex. Martel in for the knee drop. And the story is really clear here. Tenryu is the weak link and Flair/Martel take over whenever he's in. If there's a secondary story it's that Flair plays dirtier than Martel and he finally gives in and they get on the same page. Flair assists the the Martel slingshot splash but just for a two. Martel hits a rib breaker and then sells the leg (awesome insertion) for a second as he hops to the ropes before hitting the huge Flying Body Press. Jumbo breaks up the pin and it breaks down. He hits his big knee on Flair who came in to leaving Martel and Tenryu in the ring. Tenryu gets the better of it with another back brain kick. Martel ends up outside and posted, then leaped upon and there is brawling outside. Tenryu gets in at the last second and that's the match. Decent story. Fun work. Neat to see Flair and Martel team. It's not a super match but I'm glad I saw it.

There doesn't seem to be a bunch online.

I remember liking the stuff with Cactus when I saw it a couple of years ago. But you've seen it much more recently than I. Which of the two had the run in memphis vs Lawler? Canterbury?

Did you dislike the mini feud with Cactus Jack and the the Lethal Lottery match when they were put up against each other (which surprised the hell out of me)? I thought that stuff aged pretty well and they have one or two good matches with Scorpio/Bagwell. I haven't seen any of their WWF stuff in forever though.

I think Papa Shango was pretty over until Bret beat him on TV. The live crowds were full of kids scared shitless.

I want to know the answer to this. Surely someone's seen stuff.

I'll definitely rewatch the Lawler tag. I didn't love the Lawler/Dundee tag from later in the set, but I tend to love Lawler. Lawler vs Kerry is in my top 20. I just think his best AWA-related matches might have occurred in Memphis.

I will second the notion that Payne is one of the most frustrating things in 1993 as well.

Who was a bigger WWF star? Duggan or Beefcake. To me, Beefcake being in the WWE HOF is a no brainer. He was a long time tag team champ, one of the top babyfaces in 87-90 and was super over. Sure, he was terrible in the ring but that doesn't matter. I'm not sure which of the two had the bigger feuds, Duggan had Sheik and Volkoff, Andre, Bravo, Haku, Savage, Earthquake, Slaughter, Nasty Boys, and Yoko, basically. Beefcake had Valentine, Honky, Bass, Rude, Savage, Dibiase, Martel, Perfect.

I'm not even sure I noticed the crowd in that match. I did in the Hogan + High Flyers six man, so it's not like I never do, but a crowd might only work as a positive to me and not a negative. Neither here nor there, but when JvK hits the hour long Bock vs Hennig match, I want him to break it down with all of his academic trope tools. I'd want to read that.