GSR

if you read my HOF topic i say some are there for historical reasons alone among not being other HOF's what do you mean very scant footage such as whom what person who is not just in my hof for historical reasons ie anyone who debuts after 1970 is there very little footage of? He's referring to your 'Top workers' list where there are plenty of wrestler of whom there is little, if any footage of, and where you flat out admit some of your 'top workers' are there purely for historical reasons!

I was really surprised to see Benoit hit and apron DDT on Regal in their match at the Pillman Memorial back in May of this year.

I imagine she's a long way from TV, but Kacy Catanzaro debuted on an NXT house show last night.

I remember seeing the Haas brothers earlier in the year for Jersey All Pro and being how surprised at how big they were, yet here they’re dwarfed by the Dupps (who’ve also changed their ring gear since we last saw them back in May). Russ with a satellite headscissors on Jack followed by a pair of arm drags. Tag to his brother and the Haas’ whip him into the turnbuckles. Charlie then gets down on all fours, Russ runs, handsprings off his back (think someone doing the vault in gymnastics) and splashes Jack in the corner. Side headlock by Charlie, Jack shoots him off, drop down and Bo is about to clobber Charlie from the apron but he blocks the shot and decks him with one of his own. He’s forgotten about Jack though, who nails him with a double axe handle sending him tumbling through the ropes to the outside. Jack then distracts the official allowing his partner to get in some blows on the floor behind his back. Cool looking belly to back suplex by Jack. Double shoulder charge, Bo drops the elbow but it only gets him a one count. The Dupps are working those double team moves, this time a chokeslam, as they look to soften up Charlie. Combination powerslam/big splash yet they still can’t put him away. Charlie ducks Jack’s swinging right hand and catches him with a release German suplex. Both men make the tag and Russ takes it to the Dupps, including a textbook huracanrana on Bo. Jack catches the leg, but in something that wouldn’t look out of place in a video game, Russ with a backflip kicking Jack in the face at the same time with his free leg. Slingshot shoulderblock and Charlie then clotheslines Jack over the top rope to the outside. The Haas’ with a Tajiri handspring moonsault/twisting leg drop combo, but Jack is back up on the apron and preventing the referee from making the count. Charlie slugs him, however after Bo ducks the double clothesline he pulls him to the floor and rams his head into the barricade. Big boot to Russ, double ‘Alabama slam’ and it’s a victory for the Dupps. On the back of this match the Haas brothers look much better prospects than the Dupps, even though it’s the latter who are already under contract. I’m not sure the change of ring wear does the Dupps any favours either, as at least in that other dark match against York & Matthews they had a gimmick of some sort, here they’re just a pair of big dudes in vests. I thought Bo looked bad, and while Jack is the superior of the two, not sure where he would fit in as a single. The Haas’ worked hard and tried some unique stuff, even if there were a few miscommunication spots at times. EDIT: As I missed this earlier It's actually Otto Schwanz and Mike Howell aka Mike Maverick. Cham Pain was Marty Garner.

Joey Abs comes out to the Mean Street Posse’s entrance music, although no V-neck sweater for him! Side headlock by Evans, he shouts “Jersey rules!” however it garners zero response from the crowd. Abs with the escape and he grabs a headlock of his own. Evans shoots him off but Abs gets the better of the shoulder tackle before clotheslining ‘Brutal’ Bob over the top rope and to the outside. He returns to the ring, ducks the lariat and drills Joey to the mat with some sort of DDT variation. Back elbow followed by a double bicep pose as Evans is trying his best to get the fans to care about what they’re watching. Abs reverses the Irish whip and catches his opponent with a clothesline. Nice vertical suplex for a two. He goes for the splash in the corner but Evans gets his knees up. A brief and subdued “Bob, Bob, Bob” chant after he again shouts something at the crowd. Evans misses the moonsault and Abs with a scoop powerslam for a near fall. The action continues until ‘the Absolution’ brings a rare victory to the Mean Street Posse. Evans tried his best to get the fans into this, but bar the few who started to chant for him in an almost ironic way, the majority couldn’t care less. Despite his nickname, ‘Brutal’ Bob has got no look, isn’t much of a worker and there’s absolutely nothing brutal about him! No surprise that this didn’t lead to anything and with Abs it looked like a case of in, out, job done and no hanging around.

Ki breaks the full nelson, taking Mayhem down in the process and transitioning to the armbar, forcing him to stretch for the ropes. He lands on his feet after a top rope backflip and dropkicks Mayhem in the knee who then takes to the floor. There’s no-one home on the pescado as Mayhem ducks back inside. Suicide dive, but Ki with a jumping kick to the head as he’s flying through the ropes. Power drive elbow off the top, however when Mayhem kicks out of the pin he quickly slaps on a leg lock. He can’t get to the ropes for the break here so resorts to biting Ki on the ankle. Mayhem looks to turn the tide, but Ki rolls through to escape from the Fujiwara armbar. Now he’s at it with the cross armbar, although he doesn’t have the same fluidity or crispness as his opponent when it comes to applying these submissions. Ki with the neck bridge, he then flips over before locking on a ‘Texas cloverleaf’. When he realises Mayhem isn’t going to submit, he turns it into a unique pinfall, keeping his legs tied up at the same time. Rolling koppo kick sends Mayhem to the outside. He fakes him out on the tope and then hits that gorgeous sky high springboard Asai moonsault to the floor. Diving headbutt for two. Mayhem blocks the top rope rana and nails him with a spinning heel kick from the middle. Attempted ‘Kryptonite Krunch’ that Ki counters into a sunset flip. He backdrops Mayhem over the top rope but he (just about) lands on the apron and levels Ki with a springboard missile dropkick. The ‘Kryptonite Krunch’ is again countered, this time by a straight armbar with Ki still on the back of an upright Mayhem. He continues to persevere with his finisher, but now hasn’t got the strength to lift Ki up due to that previous armbar. Mayhem gets Ki on his shoulders in an electric chair position, however from there Ki rains down blows on the top of his head. ‘Mafia kick’ and a great counter into a small package for a near fall off the ‘Ki Krusher ‘99’. Both clearly want to finish this match with their trademark moves as Mayhem again counters the Ki Krusher, this time with a DDT. He finally hits the ‘Kryptonite Krunch’ but doesn’t go for the pin, preferring to play to the crowd instead. When he does, he picks Ki up at the count of two in order to inflict more damage upon him. Mayhem signals that he’s going hit the move off the top, but Ki repeatedly kicks him in the head to escape after he’s got him up there. Top rope ‘Ki Krusher ‘99’ and that’s it. I liked this, but am probably a notch below the majority. Some of the counters and reversals were fantastic, although I’ll maintain that Mayhem isn’t as crisp as Ki and there are definitely some holes while he’s applying stuff. My big issue was the over reliance on going for the ‘Kryptonite Krunch’ and ‘Ki Krusher’, which at times felt like it was an excuse just to demonstrate various counters. A real cool touch though was how on the one occasion Ki’s straight armbar played into Mayhem’s subsequent attempt, with him not having the strength in his arm to pick Ki up. Ki’s springboard Asai moonsault was glorious and that top rope ‘Ki Krusher’ is a brutal finisher.

Angle is in the dressing room with Kaientai and informs them that he’s no longer Kurt Angle, and would like for them to call him ‘King’ Kurt (“it’s your version of an emperor or warlord or head ninja”) ‘Hardcore’ Holly wanders in and wonders what the hell he’s talking about, telling him that they’re Japanese not stupid! Kurt’s in full on comedic role here, questioning what Holly is doing here as he didn’t summon him! He decides not to stick around, but in leaving kicks Angle’s crown setting up a match between them for later in the show. ‘King Kurt’ says how he doesn’t choose to make fun of Hardcore Holly because he dyes his hair, or what’s left of it. He doesn’t make fun of him because he couldn’t afford to go to the orthodontist when he was a kid and now has those protruding teeth, yet he chooses to mock him by kicking his royal crown and costing him thousands of dollars in damages! To him, he is no different than everyone here tonight; jealous, foul smelling peasants! Big pop for Holly tonight. ‘Hardcore’ opens aggressive, avoiding the Angle clothesline and going to town with a series of punches and an elbow smash. He then ties Kurt up in the ropes and peppers him with more shots before he falls through them and to the arena floor. There’s no let up as Holly continues his attack on the outside until Kurt is able to reverse the whip to the ring post, sending ‘Hardcore’ crashing into it. Overhead belly to belly for a two count. It looks like one of Holly’s shots connected as Angle is bleeding from the mouth. ‘Hardcore’ fights his way out of the rear chinlock and gets a two of his own after a running crossbody. A quick fire knee to the gut stop him in his tracks and Angle is back in control. Not for long though as he’s too slow when climbing the turnbuckles and Holly slams him to the mat. Belly to back suplex. The picture perfect Holly dropkick which Michael Cole calls “the most devastating dropkick in the business”! He gets a near fall off a ‘Jackhammer’ and Jerry Lawler makes reference to Cole using that name for the move, almost like he shouldn’t because it automatically reminds people of a certain wrestler in the opposition company. Angle counters the huracanrana with a powerbomb and lands the moonsault. This is the spot that breaks Holly’s forearm and you can see him wincing and grabbing at the arm the moment Kurt’s shins hit it. Dude’s tough as nails though; he kicks out of the pin and is continuing the match even though he’s clearly favouring that arm. He battles on, but eventually succumbs to the ‘Olympic slam’ after a low blow. Still not that blow away great Holly match, but another really strong outing from him and again proving that he can hang at this level when given the chance, something that really shouldn’t even be questioned now after the past couple of months. The reaction from the crowd also seems to indicate that they now see him at this upper mid-card level, it’s just unfortunate that the injury came when it did, derailing all this momentum he had. He deserves tons of credit for continuing the match though after Angle broke his arm on the moonsault when he could easily have just stayed down on the pin.

Christian says how they could come out here and make tasteless jokes about John Rocker, but they’re not going to do that because this is the home of the Atlanta Braves, winners of countless pennants and quite possibly the best team of the past ten years. Despite all that, the Braves are known for one thing above all else (at which point Edge removes his jacket to reveal a New York Yankees sweater), being the New York Yankees personal bitches! Their pose this week is therefore their rendition of the past few World Series’ around these parts, one they call the ‘Bitchlanta Braves’. Christian then puts on an Atlanta Braves shirt and lies at the feet of Edge who gives a big thumbs up to the camera! Jeff reverses the waistlock, Christian runs to the ropes, drops down and Jeff’s momentum sends him flying through them to the outside. Christian baseball slides out after him but Jeff is already up and back in the ring. Pescado to the floor. Leg drop off the middle by Matt on Edge for a two count. After signalling for the ‘Twist of Fate’, Christian tries to save his partner with a clothesline. Although Matt sees it coming, he’s distracted enough that Edge is able to clobber him with a right hand. Double flapjack just as Jim Ross makes mention of Gordon Solie who recently passed away, describing him as the best wrestling announcer he ever heard. Accidental clash of heads and Matt takes a spill through the ropes to the outside. While the official checks on Edge, Christian looks to get in a cheap shot, however Matt reverses the Irish whip sending him crashing into the apron before DDT’ing him on the arena floor. Russian leg sweep to Edge and Matt makes the tag to his brother. ‘Poetry in Motion’ and Christian is there to break up the pin. Matt tosses him to the outside where Lita catches him with a huracanrana off the apron to the floor. ‘Twist of Fate’, ‘Swanton bomb’ when, at the count of two, Christian pulls referee Jack Doan from the ring and decks him for the title saving disqualification. Post-match Jeff is on the receiving end of a ‘conchairto’. After a commercial break we see a groggy Jeff being tended to by the EMT’s. Matt then jumps E&C as they’re being interviewed backstage until a bunch of officials separate them.

This is a title match for Low Ki’s IWO Jr Heavyweight championship. Great collar and elbow tie up; this looks like a real battle with both men trying to gain an early advantage. As Homicide looks to escape an armbar, Ki trips him up and then throws some palm strikes forcing Cide to take to the outside for a breather. Test of strength and Homicide with a drop toe hold before retaliating with some cross faces. Ki gets the better of a shoulder tackle and a side headlock takedown where you can really see him cinching it in. A trio of kicks to the head followed by a single leg dropkick off the top for two. Homicide avoids the handspring elbow, whips Ki to the opposite corner and levels him with a running forearm smash. Dragon sleeper by Ki and Homicide frees himself after some knees to the forehead. ‘Brain buster’ for another two count. Ki returns to boxing Homicide’s ears with those kicks, however he goes to the well once too often as Cide catches the leg and tears at his knee with a dragon screw. STF, but Ki is able to inch his way over to the ropes for the break. He continues to target that leg, draping it over the ropes and then raining blows on it. Ki with an elbow to the side of the head, though Homicide blocks the attempted tornado DDT and a dragon screw off the middle. He peppers him with jabs and a splash from the second turnbuckle for a near fall. Rear chinlock which he quickly gives up on in order to land a few more cross faces across the chops. Double axe handle, but Ki nails him with a perfectly timed koppo kick. Diving headbutt misses its target and both men are down. After Homicide fails when trying to shatter Ki’s ankle between a chair and the ring post, the two go at it on the outside and Ki reverses a Cide whip, sending him crashing into that same post. Huge plancha off the top turnbuckle to the floor. Frog splash by Ki, but he hurts his ribs on landing and the slight delay in making the cover gives Cide the extra few seconds he needs to recover and he’s able to kick out of the eventual pin. Homicide ducks under a big boot and then plants Ki with a chokeslam. Another STF, but just like last time Ki is able to scramble to the ropes. Homicide picks him up for a powerbomb, however releases Ki backwards overhead, sending him flying head first into the turnbuckles. ‘Cop Killa’, but that takes as much out of Homicide as it does Low Ki. Desperation chops to the neck from Ki, ‘Ki Krusher’ and both men are down again, exhausted by this fight they’re in. Ki makes the cover and Cide just about rolls a shoulder. Super stiff lariats to the front and back by Homicide, with the last one folding Ki up like an accordion. He tosses him through the ropes and the two are brawling at ringside. They fail to beat the count but the action continues anyway. Ki launches Homicide into the chairs and a powerdrive elbow off the stage onto the wooden floor. Cide with a suplex onto an unbreakable table, before giving Ki a dose of his own medicine and whipping him into the chairs. He tries to suplex him through another table, but with the same result. Homicide had had enough and heads backstage, and after getting to his feet, Low Ki heads off after him. Is it a coincidence that they have open with such a great collar & elbow tie up only a couple of days after the Pillman Memorial show where Regal and Benoit did the same (admittedly not at the level here), or was someone at the show and they decided to incorporate that into their match? Just like that match this felt like a fight; high intensity levels, stiff strikes, they were cranking on the submissions and both ended up showing the signs of exhaustion. It wasn’t as tight as the aforementioned and I wasn’t enamoured with the finish which puts it below that for the month. Still one absolutely worth checking out and yet another great outing for Ki in 2000.

Collar & Elbow tie up and this isn’t your bog standard lock up, there’s an extra grittiness to this, it feels real. Benoit backs Regal into the corner where there’s no immediate break as both men are pawing at the other’s face. Regal tries to arm drag his way out of a wristlock but ‘the Crippler’ holds on and then turns it into a hammerlock. Even with his face down to the mat and Regal cinching in the hold, he’s still throwing palm strikes to the side of Benoit’s head to try and disrupt his equilibrium. Regal gets back to his feet, escapes the hammerlock and transitions to a wristlock of his own. Single arm throw for a one count, however not the most conventional of pins as their fingers are interlaced. Regal goes for another, this time driving his knee into Benoit’s jaw, although the result is the same. ‘The Crippler’ with a nip up and they’re in the ‘test of strength’ position. They work some spots around that before three shoot headbutts by Benoit bust Regal open hard way. Enziguiri followed by a dropkick that sends Regal under the bottom rope and to the outside. DDT on the apron by Benoit! The action returns to the ring and a belly to back suplex from ‘the Crippler’ gets him a two count. Regal with a leg trip and as he clamps on a crossface, for the first time in the match the ropes are used to force the break. I thought we were getting the Steve Grey surfboard, but Regal grapevines the legs and pulls Benoit back, without lifting him off the mat, stretching ‘the Crippler’ out. Dragon sleeper from the same position which Benoit escapes from with a back elbow to the top of the head. German suplex. Benoit lights Regal up with some chops and his response is another shoot headbutt and four stiff kicks to the mid-section. Regal blocks the third rolling German, looks for a double underhook, but Benoit drops to his knees to prevent it. He lands another German and signals for the diving headbutt, however is too slow climbing the turnbuckles and is met up there by Regal. Top rope butterfly suplex! Accidental clash of heads (no putting their hands up like others do on this spot) and both go down. ‘The Crippler’ reverses the tombstone piledriver only to miss the diving headbutt as Regal rolls out the way. The two jockey for position, release Dragon suplex, ‘Crippler crossface’ and Regal taps out. I thought this was fantastic. I’ve watched so many matches in this project when they go unnecessarily long for no reason and here was me not wanting this to stop and wishing they would go another twenty minutes or so. Snug, stiff, everything laid in, everything calculated, no wasted motion and every little thing they do meaning something. Tom Prichard was tremendous on commentary and no wonder he uses this bout to show his students on the nuances of psychology and how to build a match. Just watching these two you see so many little things, things which they don’t need to do, but in doing so it adds an additional layer to what you’re watching and adds to the vibe that this is a sporting contest. Great match.

I’m assuming then that it must’ve been Matlock & Willis who jumped these two teams at the end of last week’s match then? Where do I even begin with this cluster of epic proportions? Fortunately I have no idea who is Eric Matlock and who is Devin Willis (to go along with still being unable to tell Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero apart) which is probably saving me a thousand words at least with how I write these things up! They work this three way with three men in the ring at once, however because these guys are so inexperienced you’re left with one man literally standing there and doing nothing on several occasions. The inexperience shows in the amount of blown spots that we get in the opening stretch; Warrior botches an around the world Lucha arm drag slipping off his man, you’ll see the worst ever attempt at the Tajiri handspring elbow, one of the Gringos and Warrior mess up an Irish whip and even a simple double hip toss spot is too much for these to crisply execute at this point! In between this you have a never ending cycle of pinfalls being broken up which, considering this is elimination rules, makes little sense and is a personal pet peeve of mine. At one point Willis (I think) is stood on the top turnbuckle for twenty seconds seemingly waiting for Warrior to get into position, he doesn’t, so just jumps anyway and leg drops the mat! Guys are just coming and going as they please now, not even bothering to tag their partner at times. Despite this there are some good morsels hidden away in there. The Gringos have a cool double Japanese arm drag, and the one of them hits the same lightning fast Northern Lights suplex as he did last week. They also have a double team top rope dropkick (that really should be their finisher) where Tornado is sat on the shoulders of one of the Gringos and the other levels him with a missile dropkick. While I found the sheer number of blown spots and botches funny, there is one scary moment where Tornado’s top rope rana is supposed to be countered with a powerbomb, but one of the Gringos loses him and takes an awful looking bump that could easily have broken his neck. The crowd are clearly losing patience, for after Willis blows yet another move (a springboard after draping Tornado over the top rope) the fans start laughing at him. Twenty minutes in and the wrestlers are notably gassed. Thankfully we get our first elimination courtesy of a double team side slam/guillotine leg drop by the Gringos on Eric Matlock. The action becomes more palatable and far less chaotic now that it’s a regulation tag match, however my interest has long since waned. Sun Warrior picks up the win for his team after a victory roll in a bout that goes over half an hour. There is some post-match angle where it looks like the Gringos split up (one of them wants to get out of there while the other is more interested in putting a post-match beating on the opposition) but the footage ends before it fully plays out. Not recommended in the slightest and only saved from bottom spot in my list due to the number of Indy stinkers that we’ve already had this month!

We get the ring introductions for both teams and then the action jump cuts to a later portion of the match with Large already down and on the mat. Side headlock that Large is able to power out of with a Blue Thunder Driver, however he’s unable to make the tag to Bergstrom as Tyler grabs his ankle and pulls him back to his own corner. Roselli drops an elbow and then goes over to taunt Bergstrom on the apron. It’s a plan to get him into the ring so he can get in some illegal offense behind the referee’s back, something that C.W. falls for hook, line and sinker. Front headlock by Roselli and Large slowly starts to drive him backwards getting ever closer to Bergstrom. That brings in Tyler, although it’s just to distract the official who, while dealing with him, misses the tag to C.W. Tyler gets caught when climbing the turnbuckles and Large slams him to the mat, but then fails to connect on the lariat and runs into a superkick. Same front facelock, distraction, ref misses the tag spot as earlier. Large ducks a double clothesline, lands a double dropkick and makes the hot tag, one that the official finally sees! C.W. cleans house with a pair of bodyslams and a high knee on Roselli, before snatching Tyler and planting him with a chokeslam. Just as it looks like we might have a title change, at the count of two Roselli is back in the ring and cracks Bergstrom over the back and the head with a chair for the belt saving DQ. This was fine for what it was and kind of fits in with the way things are in Portland. Nothing world beating in the way of action, but heels looking to get heat on the faces and cheating in order to do so. After the couple of IWC SoCal matches I’d just watched, this traditional way of doing things made a very welcome change!

Pre-Havana Pitbulls, as Reyes and Romero are going by the ‘Los Gringos’ name, however because there is only one distant hard cam filming this I can’t differentiate between who is who. It would’ve been the same for their opposition if it wasn’t for the fact you could hear the crowd shouting for them when they were in the ring. Although this was a tag match it didn’t follow any traditional formula and almost felt like a bunch of singles matches (the fact that the face team only made four tags all match in a longish bout added to that). ‘Los Gringos’ already look like a decent unit, compact, strong fundamentals and with their double team moves down pat. Sun Warrior and Red Tornado are both new to me; the former being a Lucha stylist and someone who looks to have plenty of potential (he blows one headscissors badly, but that’s it), while Tornado is greener than his partner and the weakest of the four. The action is better when Warrior is in with the ‘Gringos’ and it’s very reminiscent of the ROH style from a few years down the line. Warrior and Tornado have a cool looking springboard ‘Hart Attack’, though it’s only used as a transitional move that they don’t even attempt a pin off. In fact it would be a better finisher than the one they used to pick up the pin (which was a Warrior moonsault bodyblock followed by a Tornado swanton). Both teams are jumped by another duo post-match which sets up a three way for next week.

Just because a wrestler only got x% of votes by their peers for a Hall of Fame doesn't mean they're not respected by them. There is a huge difference between thinking that someone has done/achieved enough in their wrestling career to be 'Hall of Fame worthy' and respecting them. As an example some folk flat out refuse to vote for wrestlers while they are currently active (hence the reasons that Eddy and Bryan's percentage's sky rocketed after their death and retirement). While I don't know, I would hazard a guess that Daniel Bryan is greatly respected by his peers. Really? Have you got any evidence to back this up? I imagine Dave considered Benoit a better worker than Eddy (whether we agree or not) based on the hundreds of matches he watched of theirs all the way through their careers, certainly not on the percentage of votes the they got from their peers for his HOF!

No, Dave only gave it 4 1/4.

El Hijo del Santo is introduced first and there is a bit of uncertainty over who will face him, with the FWA officials hoping that Mike Quackenbush will call off his retirement. Santo is followed by Don Montoya, although he’s not dressed for wrestling. Apparently he was scheduled to have the match, but due to injury he’s unable to wrestle. As Montoya is explaining the situation to the fans he’s interrupted by the president of the FWA, Daniel G. Moreland, doing the lowest of low rent Vince McMahon rip offs, complete with “No Chance In Hell” walk out music. This guy is the pits! He calls Mike Quackenbush a “quitter”, stripping him of the FWA title, and a “coward” because he’s not here to face Santo tonight. Montoya has got a surprise for him though. He says how he called up Reckless Youth down in Memphis, they’ve been on the phone to ‘Lightning’ Mike Quackenbush, and “to hit Mike’s music!” Quack sprints to the ring, drops Moreland with a jumping DDT and he’s carried out of there to the back. This is billed as a ‘Lucha style’ match and they start things off just by trading arm drags. Santo with a gorgeous bow & arrow submission hold. He then busts out another hold that I’ve never seen before (although it looks painful!), which the commentators describe as an almost combination Texas cloverleaf/Walls of Jericho. EHDS escapes the side headlock and they battle over the top wristlock, highlighted by a lovely Santo bridge. Headscissors take down, although again done differently than usual, with Santo crossing his feet around Quack’s head, doing a head stand himself, spinning and thus taking Quack down to the mat. Chinese torture rack submissions as these new holds keep coming. Satellite headscissors by Santo, but it looks like Quack loses his footing and botches basing him. He immediately takes to the floor where EHDS levels him with a trademark tope. Some crappy chops by Quack and they struggle on a simple roll up spot, something that again appears to have been his fault. As Quack looks to be a bit more aggressive, he connects with a somersault senton after a snap mare. Santo avoids the springboard twisting senton off the middle and Quack then starts waving his finger at him, even though he missed on his move. Absolutely no idea! He grapevines the legs in an Indian deathlock, Santo feeds him his arms, but Quack doesn’t grab them so he has to pull them back in, which looks worse than if he’d just left them out there. Top rope rana for a two count, followed by a springboard splash for another near fall. At this point the commentator makes mention that should Quack get a pin on Santo it will be comparable to Billy Kidman pinning Hulk Hogan on Nitro. Diving headbutt off the top is missed and Santo with a surfboard that he transitions into a pin attempt of his own. Boston crab as Santo starts to work on his opponent’s back. Super smooth huracanrana for a two count. EHDS goes for it again but this time Quack counters with a spinning powerbomb. A dropkick sends Santo to the outside, however Quack comes up badly short on his tope, crashing with a thud to the concrete floor. Santo helps him back into the ring and then backs off giving him a bit of time to recover from that spill. Suplex, Santo with the lateral press, but at the count of two the bell rings to signify the fifteen minute time limit has expired and the match is a draw. EHDS straps the FWA title around Quack’s waist (so much for him being stripped of the belt) and challenges him to a rematch with no time limit. That’s accepted (no idea if it ever took place) and Quack says that his vacation is over and he’s here to stay. Some retirement that was! The pre-match stuff was atrocious and they should’ve just scrapped all the nonsense with the Vinnie Mac rip off and just had Quack say something like wrestling Santo was too good an opportunity to pass on so he’s back. I’m not a Lucha guy so was unsure how I would find this. The opening portion felt very much like an exhibition with Santo demonstrating an array of various different holds, it was nothing like a contest at all. It did develop, slightly, although I couldn’t get that exhibition feeling out of my head. I don’t know if he was nervous because he was in there with a hero of his, but this maybe the worst I’ve ever seen from Quack; he messed up the headscissors, there was that roll up, his strikes looked weak, he left Santo hanging on the Indian deathlock and to cap it all off, crashing and burning on the tope. In a way, not one he’d want to watch again. I agree with the comments that the fifteen minutes flew by, but there is some ego involved if Quack wasn’t prepared to put Santo over. Despite my feelings about this looking like an exhibition, I enjoyed watching Santo do his stuff running through his elaborate holds and submissions, just a shame he was in there with someone who had such an off night.

A rather sombre looking Triple H is on his way to the ring carrying a bunch of red roses. He says that everyone knows he is a man who makes very few mistakes, and on the odd occasion he has made one, his pride has always prevented him from admitting them. Today he is out here in front of the world to admit he made a very big mistake. Although what Stephanie walked in on last week looked bad, he insists that it was completely innocent and there has never been anything between himself and Trish Stratus. He would like Stephanie to come out here and join him so that he can apologise, and tell her how much he loves her. It doesn’t take long before she makes an appearance, although she’s got a face like thunder on her. Steph tells Hunter that he has no idea how much he has hurt her, and how would he feel if she was bent over in front of some guy, say like Kurt Angle? While she can’t get that image out of her head, his obsession with Chris Jericho hasn’t helped either. She goes on to say that Triple H has all but ignored her these past few weeks, hasn’t paid her any attention, but has paid Trish Stratus attention. Hunter again insists that there is nothing between him and Trish, and while he was a little obsessed with Chris Jericho, he was doing that in her defence due to all the names that Y2J had been calling her. Maybe it took all his attention but he did it for her. Smooth talking Triple H charms his way back into her affections and the reconciliation is sealed with a kiss. As the two embrace in the ring they’re interrupted by the arrival of Commissioner Foley who’s got water streaming down his face to symbolize tears. He can’t stop crying because what he just witnessed was the biggest load of horse crap ever! Mick’s got his wooden spoon with him and gets the guys in the back to replay the video of Hunter and Trish “oh my goodness, caught with his hand in the cookie jar!” He says that their personal life is their business, but business is his business and when Triple H lets his marital spat get in the way of business, then it becomes his business. On Thursday night ‘the Game’ walked out on a match that was already set up between himself & Trish Stratus against Chris Jericho & Lita, thereby depriving the entire world the chance of seeing Y2J kick his ass. Foley then fines him $5,000 for doing so. While he knows that’s nothing to him, what it is is a warning and should he ever walk out on a match he sets up again, he’s out of the WWF. The Commissioner is feeling in a generous mood so he’s going to give him a chance to redeem himself in the first ever husband and wife tag team match. He knows Stephanie will be up for it, because after all she is the WWF Women’s champion, and their opponents are going to be The Rock & Lita. Triple H is promising to look after Stephanie and not let anything happen to her when there is a knock at the door. It’s Trish Stratus again, here to set the record straight. Steph tells her that there is no need to, Hunter and her spoke, it was just a misunderstanding and everything is okay. The moment she’s gone though Steph’s demeanour changes and can’t believe how brazen Trish was. She believes Trish was looking at HHH with certain intentions and Steph didn’t like the way that he was looking at her either. Things are not looking good again in the McMahon-Helmsley camp. Steph is not too keen on wrestling, but on the chance she ends up in the ring, thinks it would be advisable for Triple H to show her a few moves in preparation. He starts off by saying how Lita likes the double leg take down, and explains that the best defence is a front facelock to choke her out. She’s got that move sorted and now wants to learn the move that he was showing Trish Stratus. Hunter doesn’t really want to, but Steph thinks that if he was showing it her then it has to be a good move. He reluctantly agrees, but as he’s demonstrating the hammerlock escape accidentally calls her “Trish”. That’s the last straw and Steph grabs her bags and storms out of there. HHH is trailing after Steph as she makes her way to a waiting limo, although wants no part of him saying “to hell with the match, to hell with Mick Foley and to hell with you!” ‘The Game’ goes to see Commissioner Foley and Mick seems almost apologetic about what happened claiming that wasn’t his intention. Even though he’s “all about business”, Triple H thinks that without Stephanie the match should probably be postponed. When Foley says that isn’t an option due to the large crowd they’ve got in attendance, he offers to face them both on his own. Commissioner Mick turns into compassionate Mick, as with Hunter’s injured elbow and with him in “a fragile and emotional state”, he’s not prepared to send him out there all alone. He’s going to give him a partner for the match, Trish Stratus. Triple H and Trish are already arguing before they’ve made it to the ring so Hunter ends up sending her on ahead of him. He’s really not happy about having to team with her and continues to mouth off to the point he’s not paying attention when the bells rings. Spinning neckbreaker by the Rock and after a couple of right hands HHH takes to the floor. That brings in Trish who thinks she’s going to be going “one on one with the great one” but he stops her in her tracks and tags Lita. A slow spear take down before repeatedly bouncing Trish’s head off the canvas. Snap suplex, but as she hits the ropes ‘the Game’ grabs her by the hair leading to the Rock rushing over and slugging him. As the ref tries to get Rock out of there, HHH levels Lita with a clothesline while his back is turned. Bulldog by Trish and she tags Triple H who’s got an almighty smirk on his face. He goes for the pedigree, but the Rock is in again saving his partner. After the briefest of action from the women the men get back to it. Rock with a DDT for a near fall. HHH ducks the clothesline and catches Rock with a neckbreaker. High knee, the facebuster but ‘the Game’ then runs straight into a spinebuster. Rock’s about to drop ‘the People’s elbow’ when Trish rakes his eyes and slaps him across the face. He counters the attempted pedigree and catapults HHH into Trish who was in the corner. A big right sends Hunter over the top rope to the floor, spinebuster on Trish and Lita with the moonsault for the win. Triple H is stood over the prone Trish berating her after the match when Rock clocks him in the back and he falls on top of her in a 69 position as the commentators hope that Stephanie isn’t watching this!

Yeah, if you're willing to go down the route of traders you should have no trouble finding any OVW TV from about 1999-2009 (not to mention some of the big Louisville Gardens shows and Six Flags events). I'm long out the game, but that was all fairly easily accessible to source back in the day.

We’ve only had one lock up and after he comes up on the wrong end of it, Vinny is already complaining about a pull of the hair. Shoulder tackle by Mantell and now the he’s moaning about a yank of the shorts. Not sure how that is even possible, but the ref asks the fans who’re rather vociferous in their response that no such thing happened. Gino, Vinny’s partner in the Bombers and who’s accompanying him at ringside, thinks that it’s a conspiracy against them! Mantell with a big uppercut before returning to a side headlock. High hip toss and Vinny takes to the floor for a breather and to get some words of advice from his partner. Another lock up that Johnny gets the better of, however this time the Bomber with a right hand on the break as he starts to fire back. Piledriver, instead of going for the pin though he’d rather play to the crowd. Vinny with a knee across the throat of his downed opponent while the official is struggling to keep things in order here. He admonishes the Bomber, but all that does is allow Gino to get in some shots on Mantell behind their backs. Johnny ducks the clothesline and some odd looking take down come throw sees both men out on the mat. Big reaction by the fans to that though. Vinny misses an elbow off the middle turnbuckle so tosses Mantell to the outside where Gino can work over him some more. These fans are brilliant with their reactions! Back inside and the Bombers aren’t even trying to hide Gino’s involvement now as he chokes Mantell over the ropes. Vinny takes a running leap at them, but Johnny moves and he crotches himself across the middle. The action continues and Mantell manages to block the hip toss and counter it into with backslide for the win. Post-match the Bombers claim they were “robbed” with Gino adamant that he did nothing when he was questioned by the commentators and was just out there supporting his partner. This was wrestling at its simplest; a clear face/heel divide with very basic action that the fans lapped up. To be fair they were probably the highlight of the match for me with their reactions, very reminiscent of those WWC fans in the Carly/Gonzalez match from earlier in the month. While I enjoyed Gino’s work on the outside I didn’t think much of Vinny and kind of think that a tag match involving them would actually be pretty similar to this in any case. Night and day from what is happening in CZW, APW and pretty much everywhere else but Puerto Rico.

The first November ‘Dream Match’ where it will be no time limit, no disqualification and anyone who interferes in the match will be banned from OVW for life. Aggressive opening by the ‘Iron Man’ who hurls Dinsmore over the top tope to establish that there is no DQ in operation here. Conway whips ‘Mr Wrestling’ into the turnbuckles, but he comes charging back at him with a lariat. He follows his opponent’s actions of earlier, unloading with a flurry of punches and kicks in the corner. Not sure why the ref is counting and trying to get Dinsmore to stop seeing as he can’t disqualify him anyway? ‘Mr Wrestling’ returns the favour by throwing the ‘Iron Man’ over the top to the outside and then levels him with a flying shoulder tackle off the bottom rope to the floor. Dinsmore repeatedly slams Conway’s head into one of the metal folding chairs before rolling him back in the ring, Stunner, he makes the lateral press but Conway is too close to the ropes. The ‘Iron Man’ backs off after a hard knife edge chop, although that’s not stopping Dinsmore. He whips Conway into the corner, however he avoids the charge and ‘Mr Wrestling’ goes flying shoulder first into the ring post. The champ then proceeds to deck referee Robert Briscoe as Cornette thinks he’s trying to get a DQ to save his title. Considering that he threw Dinsmore over the top rope earlier in the match to explain that there was no DQ here, that doesn’t really make much sense. Belly to belly suplex by ‘Mr Wrestling’ and Kenny Bolin has come to get a closer view of the action. Dinsmore hits the Lionsault while Corny is yelling about how if Bolin interferes he’ll be banned for life. He might not have interfered, but he distracted the official enough just by being out there that he bought his man a few vital seconds of time. Conway grabs the chair which he’d earlier bought into the ring and cracks it over Dinsmore’s head. Never one for the understatement, Cornette screams that he’s just given him brain damage! That doesn’t put Dinsmore away though as he gets a shoulder up at the very last moment. We return from a commercial break just as Conway gets another near fall following a powerslam. Spinning neckbreaker, but a lackadaisical cover sees Dinsmore kick out. He immediately goes for it again, this time hooking the leg, although the outcome is the same. The ‘Iron Man’ once more takes advantage of the match stipulations by piledriving ‘Mr Wrestling’, but whatever he tries is still not enough to get the win. He sets a chair up in the middle of the ring and slams Dinsmore’s head into it. Conway climbs to the top turnbuckle and Corny thinks that he’s going to chop ‘Mr Wrestling’s’ head off! No decapitation here thankfully as Dinsmore moves and the ‘Iron Man’ punches the chair instead. Dinsmore has got a second wind and one by one members of Bolin Services join the ‘Star Maker’ at ringside. They (Mr Black, Mark Henry and The Collector) all want to get involved and help Conway out, but Bolin is keeping them back knowing that should they do that they’ll be gone from OVW. Conway loads the glove, but Dinsmore block the punch with a chair. Van Daminator, missile dropkick and ‘Mr Wrestling’ regains the OVW Heavyweight title after a German suplex. I’ll forewarn you that this is probably Cornette at his worst, and considering what we’ve heard already from him this year that’ll give you some idea what to expect here! He was screaming and shouting so much that by the end of the match he was losing his voice. I’ve also started to notice his ridiculous exaggerations too (brain damage, chop his head off etc) which are actually quite laughable in hindsight. Despite Corny though, I enjoyed this. The ‘no DQ’ added some additional spice to proceedings and both showed aggression that I can’t remember having seen from them before. I also liked how Kenny Bolin was a torn man, wanting to keep the title in his camp, but at the same time reluctant to risk having one of his men exiled from OVW. Although not mentioned above, the finish saw Conway bump into Mr Black (who was on the apron) before Dinsmore landed the German suplex which can only cause further friction between them.

I watched the main matches yes i never tried to derail anything i just state my view on what i see and how i see things. People say i troll becuase of my odd views when i do not troll and i tend not to give out high ratings with ease like alot of people Apologies for the derailment, but couldn't let the last statement pass. You claim "not give out high ratings with ease like a lot of people", yet have 79 matches at 5* in this thread http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/41197-my-match-list/ Then in this thread about 1996 you claim to have over 200 matches rated at 4* plus for 1996 alone http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/39780-1996-moty/ If you're going to make claims like what I've bolded, it's probably not best to make posts that flat out contradict what you claim! I'm not bothered what your response is because you've already derailed this thread enough and now I'm at it!