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KB8

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  1. KB8
    This is honest to god one of my favourite segments ever. I first saw it on Will’s Terry Funk comp (think it’s still the only thing I’d seen from Shotgun prior to the yearbook) and couldn’t believe they let Funk go wild like that. The fact they didn’t and Funk did it anyway isn’t surprising, and if anything makes it even more awesome. Funk calling McMahon a yankee bastard, Pettingill’s mother a whore, Ross an Okie asshole, going off on the cowards from the Dubya See Dubya, all of it ruled. Austin came across perfect as well. He was calm and composed through Funk’s tirade, but he had that underlying badass aura down and managed to get a few great lines in himself. JR: “he’s an icon!” Vince: “he is indeed.” Austin: “he’s a jackass.” I’d be surprised if this isn’t the highlight of the Shotgun experiment.
  2. KB8
    This was exceptional, maybe the second or third best Battlarts tag of the year. It went 17 minutes, the first half almost entirely matwork, and all four were out there doing some truly high end Battlarts matwork. Every match-up we saw worked, though they saved Ikeda/Ishikawa for the back half. A couple times they threw each other a look that said they'll cross that bridge in due course, and at one point they wound up in the ring together only for Ishikawa to quickly duck out, almost as a middle finger even though we all knew it wouldn't be long before they got to the slaughtering. Ikeda/Usuda made for a fine stand-in and their brief exchange was great. The grappling was fierce and I loved Ikeda trying to force Usuda into various positions by punching him in the ribs, neck and stomach. He'd have the mount, rain down strikes, eventually Usuda would have to give up his back, and as was his wont Ikeda would crack him in the back of the head a few times before trying to grab the choke. Then about halfway in Ikeda lands the first blow on Ishikawa -- an illegal one where Ishikawa ends up a little too close to the wrong corner and Ikeda comes in swinging. From there everyone ramps up the violence and we get the high end Battlarts murder strikes to go with the grappling. Ikeda spin kicking guys in the lungs, Ishikawa jacking his jaw with a little extra venom than even that match-up is used to, Greco and Usuda reeling out crazy quick combos. Towards the end Ishikawa and Usuda have a dual submission on Greco and you're thinking it's only a matter of time before Ikeda comes in and drills someone and then obviously he runs over and absolutely crushes Usuda's head with a kneedrop. I mean this thing was just hideous. I think my favourite spot of the match was when Ishikawa had almost secured the mount on Greco, but the he took a second to look up at Ikeda, maybe to make sure his old enemy had kept himself to the apron, maybe to let him know that he definitely still hated his guts. Maybe he became a prisoner of his own disgust then because he let himself linger a bit too long and Greco nuked him with an up kick that put him on his back. It probably could've done with an extra few minutes to really elevate it into the upper tier, but even still it feels like one of the better matches of an incredibly stacked year. And that finish was a fucking finish.
  3. KB8
    I loved a whole bunch of this. Suzuki was rocking the purple again so you already know he was top drawer, but I could count on one finger the amount of times I've enjoyed Sekimoto this much and that was when he wrestled Suzuki the last time. Their previous match was the thirty minute draw from earlier in the month and this had a lot of the same qualities. This was a tighter affair at only nineteen minutes, but it was fully-formed and they built on some of that groundwork laid before. The sense of struggle they managed to convey was really impressive and the early hold-trading was great. Suzuki is always adding cool and nasty little touches to his matwork, like digging his knee into Sekimoto's ankle joint or bending a wrist at horrible angles. It all felt very MUGAish. Sekimoto was really vocal with his selling as well so you bought all that joint manipulation hurting like a bastard. He also reversed a top wristlock into this rough key lock of sorts that looked like it could've snapped Suzuki's forearm. After that opening spell they moved into a short burst of strikes, and I shit you not the first forearm Suzuki threw was a Battlarts Hall of Fame level brain-scrambler. Maybe Sekimoto's taken so many crowbars to the skull at this point that his reactions to this stuff are genuine, but I thought he sold a bunch of Suzuki's strikes throughout the match amazingly. There was almost no goofy hulk up fighting spirit and when he got clocked with a true screamer he went with his best dead-eyed "oh Christ where even am I?" Kawada stare. Plus he'll always leather you back so we got some monstrous clubbering in return. After a cool spot where Suzuki catches Sekimoto mid-tope with a forearm (which Sekimoto sells by laying half dead on the apron) they go back to this awesome MUGA/BJW hybrid right through to the finish. Like in the last match it was Suzuki who had the edge in grappling, but Sekimoto is a brick shithouse with enough freakish strength to make up for it. Suzuki was dogged going for the octopus stretch, twisting Sekimoto's fingers for leverage and crawling all over him at one point, but Sekimoto could either muscle him up into a torture rack or drag himself to the ropes. By the end of the last match you got the sense that if one of them could've hit their finisher it would've been over. This had the same struggle over those finishers, the same sense that it would only take one. There was this great bit where Sekimoto was straining so hard to hit the deadlift German that I expected his gum shield to fly out and kill a person sitting front row. Really good match.
  4. KB8
    Shorter, tighter, better match than last week. They definitely looked like they were on the same page this time, whereas the previous week things got a little choppy and awkward at points. For five minutes on the B/C show you can't really ask for much more.
  5. KB8
    Great Lawler interview, even hinting at the shift in landscape of pro-wrestling, where anti-establishment rules and people are starting to get behind the guys fighting the system. A cool bit of foreshadowing there, although I doubt he knew just how right he'd prove to be about that over the next few years. Memphis feels like a relic at this point, but it's a charming one and a cool contrast to the Big Two + ECW.
  6. KB8
    I got my segments mixed up and wrote about this in the other thread, but basically JC's short promo ruled. Feels like the Dundees were feuding one week then on the same side the next for half of 1996, so I'm glad they're continuing the tradition in '97.
  7. KB8
    That flip senton to Flanagan looked absolutely nuts. Only in Memphis would a fold out chair be used as a makeshift stretcher. JC's promo's short but packs quite the punch. Pretty much any promo Jamie Dundee cuts about his mama rules, tbh.
  8. KB8
    I absolutely lost it when they namedropped Kareem Olajuwon. This was a lot of fun and PG-13 looked pretty great doing their thing. I was expecting some sort of fuck finish about two minutes in, but they kept things rolling and then teased about four various Memphis staple finishes at the end. My first thought when I saw the old lady with the walking stick was that it was Moolah playing a blind woman. Then I figured it was Jamie Dundee's mama. Both were wrong but the latter was at least close.
  9. KB8
    I actually thought this was a really fun five minutes when it was Rich/Morton v the Gangstas. Obviously it's not the perfect use of Ricky Morton, obviously you'd rather him work a proper FIP segment, but fuck it, he's Ricky Morton and there aren't many guys who'll sell getting a crutch broken over their back better than him. Rich looks pretty rough here and the short impromptu match with him and Morton was maybe a little sad (the crowd didn't seem terribly interested in the two old dudes in 80s ring gear bleeding and punching each other around), but Tommy's run in ECW does end up having some scuzzy awesomeness. He looks very fish out of water here, though. 80s blowjob babyface (if you could even call him that at this point) isn't really something that was likely to fly in 1997 ECW.
  10. KB8
    Most of this stuff is new to me so I was surprised to see how over the bWo/Stevie turn was with the crowd. The "who was he aiming for???" shtick felt a bit hokey, probably because Styles always comes across as corny to me on commentary, but folks in the live audience sure ate it up. I probably wouldn't go looking for this in its entirety, but it's obviously a hot angle. Also liked Sandman looking at the shirt like "what the fuck am I supposed to do with this?" before choking Raven with it. About as good a use as any, I guess.
  11. KB8
    Yeah, this looked alright, but I don't fancy seeking out the full 26 minutes. What we got was mostly Taue v Ace and I dug Taue's exhaustion selling.
  12. KB8
    Count me in with the crowd who flipped for Sid of all fucking people quoting Nietzsche. This feud is kind of all over the place as the big angle from last week seems to have been forgotten bar some paid lip service. At least Sid incorporates it into his promo - which I thought was really fun overall - so that's something. Shawn of course makes a subtle comment about having a big dick, and tells us more than once how he'll kick Sid's teeth down his throat. I thought his promo was actually alright, if mostly pretty garden variety, but his best stuff on interviews this year definitely comes when he's heel.
  13. KB8
    As a match this wasn't much and it's sort of hard to imagine Rock being the absolute megastar he'd become. But then that's the fun thing with the yearbooks, I guess (you know, getting to see it unfold). I wasn't sure why Bret was hobbling here but Sleeze's post clears that up. They may have lucked into the Hart Foundation/Austin stuff, but at least they had the sense to run all the way with it when the opportunity presented itself.
  14. KB8
    Hall and Nash absolutely feel like the coolest cats associated with the nWo. Hogan is hateable to absurd degrees, Bischoff as much if not even more so, the scrubs like Vincent and Bagwell are more goofy than anything, but the Outsiders feel like the reason fans show up to the arena in nWo colours. Everything about this was cool and the part about how Scott having all them muscles won't do anything for his rickety bones was great.
  15. KB8
    WCW continue their roll and this was a total blast. Hogan is on another level as a character right now, having Bagwell hold the belt while he poses, all of the B-level nWo guys worshiping at the alter of Hollywood. He's hammy as fuck in this once the match itself starts, wide-eyed and slack-jawed in disbelief as he low blows Giant to no effect. That back row could've been twelve miles away and it would've been fine because Hulk was playing to aaaall the way back there. Naturally we get the nWo run in and Syxx takes the bump of the match as he gets launched clean across the ring (as was his wont, tbf). I also had never heard that ratings grab story and man that's some amazing carny horse shit.
  16. KB8
    I had no memory of this. Awesome angle. The comparison with Austin is an interesting one because this got over huge and afterwards Page felt like a legit star that could oppose the nWo. Meanwhile on the other show Austin attacking whoever he wants every week never felt nearly as hot. Of course, WWF never felt nearly as hot as WCW. Shout out to Nash's table bump as well. I thought some kid front row was for getting his teeth removed.
  17. KB8
    Well I guess every day really is a school day because I had no clue Yagi was due for retirement here. I don't think I've actually seen her in a singles match before, but I know about the Yoshida match a couple years later and I'm really looking forward to that. But I figured this was one of her earliest matches. Also had the impression it might've been one of Kuzumi's and I'd never have made the Azumi Hyuga connection if not for this thread. Basically I didn't know shit about shit. Either way this totally worked for me. It's not an ideal one to one comparison, but it felt a little like early ARSION so that probably helped. It usually takes me a little while to get back into the rhythm and transitions in joshi if I haven't watched any in a while. ARSION tends to be an exception and if nothing else Yagi bringing the funky grappling and throws gave it that sort of aesthetic. I think because I was blind to the background of both women and saw this as a sort of young lions bout I was biting on a bunch of those nearfalls and thought it could end at any moment. Yagi looked really good here and straight away I'd like to see more of that ARSION run now. Enjoyed this a bunch.
  18. KB8
    WAR v New Japan delivering the goods again, is it? Never would've guessed. It wasn't that this had no business being awesome, it's that you look at those names and wonder why the fuck every single person in the building was going mental. This was absurd heat for guys so far down the pecking order. You could tell Orihara was feeding off it big time, though. He's pretty underrated anyway because he communicates hatred well and will get the shit kicked clean out of him on the regular, but I thought he was absolutely great in this. All Saito's really good for at this point in his career is crowbarring folk, but it was enough for Orihara to work with. And man did Saito crowbar him. He was trying to murder Orihara with kicks; huge punts to the chest, sloppy roundhouses, even a few punches to the ear just to spice it up some. Orihara trying to catch these shots and go for kneebars or chokes ruled, especially when he wasn't quick enough off the mark and wound up getting clobbered. A couple of his delayed crumples were awesome bits of selling and at least once I bought him going down with a collapsed lung. On a few other occasions he maybe popped up a little quick, but the crowd clearly lit a fire under him and you couldn't have asked for him to be any more aggressive. I about lost it when he just leapt on Saito and tried to punch his skull open. The way he sold those last couple knockout blows was incredible as well and I was totally behind him pulling off the upset.
  19. KB8
    Well, I guess this is the end of Sister Angelica and Mother Smucker. I knew there was a reason I had no recollection of them. Imagine being in that store and seeing a male nun arrested in right front of you.
  20. KB8
    McMahon dropping the line about Sunny's home sex tape like it wasn't even a thing had me like "wait, what?" Sunny was absolutely outrageous around this time and I'm in full agreement with everyone else on how she should've been doing more. She was the bomb. This was also ridiculous as fuck and almost certainly one of the best things to come out of the Shotgun Saturday Night experiment.
  21. KB8
    A lot of this stuff is sort of surreal. I think I vaguely remember this from years back, probably in an old DVDVR thread about WWF daftness rather than from watching it/hearing about it at the time. But hey, if nothing else I'm intrigued as to where this nonsense goes next week!
  22. KB8
    This is a really fun pairing and they had an awesome match on Nitro the previous December. There were some awkward moments this time out and it led to a few stop-starts, but it was pretty fun nonetheless. Maybe Lesnar watched this before the Rumble match with Balor because Regal took that Psicosis dive right across his neck. Dusty was a hoot on commentary as well and Regal's short promo afterwards was great. "I might just retire this bloody belt." I believe him, too.
  23. KB8
    Desperado playing over a Terry Funk video is something I'll never not enjoy so naturally I liked this. I'll also never not get geeked for a final Funk rodeo (and he's had about two dozen of them so I say that with confidence).
  24. KB8
    Yeah, this got a bit long in the tooth, but I grew into it more than I figured considering how little I give a shit about Raven. Sandman was sure leaning into a few of those wall shots and at one point I thought for sure he was taking a head dive down a set of stairs (or a bigger head dive, I guess). Soup's Parks and Rec observation about the building is a tremendous shout, btw.
  25. KB8
    Still tremendous. I think watching it for the first time a decade ago, the freshness of it and the fact more people hadn't cottoned on to its greatness probably played a part in how thoroughly I was blown away by it. I guess lucha is still the most niche of niche in terms of what internet wrestling fans are talking about, but by 2019 we've had the 90s yearbooks and the DVDVR lucha set and the footage explosion of those godly youtubers putting up shit we never knew existed. Even if there's far less lucha-driven discussion online than New Japan or NXT or maybe even modern joshi, there's certainly more of a spotlight on it now than there was fifteen years ago. In 2009 I think I'd only ever seen this brought up by OJ on his blog. Nobody had comp'd it and Virus was still a couple years away from making everyone want to go back and watch everything he ever did. Watching it then was notable for me not just because it was an awesome wrestling match, but because it shaped a lot of what I would come to look for in lucha title matches afterwards. I still find myself judging matches against it to this day, and by now I'm pretty well settled on what my own idea of great wrestling is. Some of the matwork is still absolutely world class. Fluid, scrappy, graceful, a little of everything. It's one thing pulling out a bunch of gorgeous reversals but it's the struggle and fight over holds that really push it over the top. There are a few times were they'll do something I've never seen before - like Damiancito reversing a wishbone into a camel clutch - and then they'll punctuate the ground exchanges with bursts of rope running and armdrags or springboards. It felt like all through the match they were establishing Cicloncito as the superior flier and that it would be his route to victory. The best example of that came at the end of the primera when he hit a spectacular springboard rana where he leapt backwards over Damiancito's head. They kept that theme running into the segunda and there was one extended sequence that had about seven awesome moments strung together. Plus the finish to the fall was one of those preposterous submissions that reminds you you're watching a fucking lucha title match. If we're holding this to the same standard as the true all-time classics - and I am - then I guess the two big dives in the tercera never carried quite as much weight as they should've, maybe because they moved past them a bit quickly, but the dives themselves were humongous and Ramirez really lived up to the name with that bullet tope. I never expected to come out of this again thinking it's the best match ever, and that's the case, but it absolutely held up like I hoped it would and I'd still easily call it a MOTD-level bout. It's only fair given the post-match celebration.
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