Mando Posted December 27, 2012 Report Share Posted December 27, 2012 @Yo-Yo As Ed H. and Jason B. said in their terrific conversation about Wong "minor War-kai" i.e. My Blueberry Nights. @ Flik I understand it's without context. It's actually part of a larger co-review of that show with a friend to kick off our blog's 9th year in operation posting Jan. 1st. We use a ten-point scale to rate matches but I didn't include my score here. There's a 1000 people that review wrestling online but I've never enjoyed the play-by-play style -- I've always been more interested in what people thought about what they saw (i.e. Loss' write-ups which brought me here years ago; glad I'm a member now!). After writing about wrestling (which we can all admit isn't always the most complex art) for so long (we've got probably 5000+ reviews on our blog and never done PBP) I've grappled with new approaches to writing about it and my style is a bit "different". I was a Film Studies minor in college with an interest in theory, Alternative Traditions in Cinema (Stan Brakhage, etc.), Italian Cinema, etc. and read tons of film criticism and essays on downtime at work and my sense of humor leans toward obscure references (like Family Guy on PCP) so I channel that into how I look/write about wrestling. It might not be the most coherent style to each reader but at least it's not the same PBP style regurgitated by 411, Scott Keith, and most of the other online reviewers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Solomon Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 Watching Mid South November 1984 right now which is just after the Butch Reed turn. This is after the failed attempts at pushing Brickhouse Brown and Master G. I enjoy Hacksaw Duggan even tho I think his offense is sloppy. He is entertaining as hell as the fans love him. After watching most of the 1984 season by now I gotta go with the Condrey-Eaton version of the Midnight Express over the Lane-eaton version. I also far away like the RnR's over the Fantastics and Fabulous Ones. It seemed like the Fantastics worked more like big men than a smaller wrestlers style that the RnR's worked. I have always thought the Fabs woulda been better as heels than faces. I just don't see them getting the sympathy that a team like the RnR's got. Magnum noticeably improved during this time. I think his punches and forearm smashes looked weak during this time but his belly to belly finish was good even tho it wasn't impressive as it would come to be later in JCP. He seemd like he had the raw skills but really didn't put it all togther until he got to Crockett. He really developed his charachter here and it's a shame that Watts lost him to Crockett. JYD was awful in 84, got really out of shape and his offense looked glacial at best. He was never a very good in ring worker but at least he had the look prior to late 83. I think it was his first stint away from Mid South after the Gorilla suit angle that JYD came back noticeably heavier. Even his loss was a dent in Mid South I don't how long fans were going to put up with him in the top spot when he was so out of shape and getting blown up early in matches. Duggan seems to be getting a head of JYD in the popularity department upon his return from Florida. Steve Wiliams really imporves in the ring but his Mic work leaves a lot to be desired. But I really think he beocmes a solid hand during 1984. Believable offense, great football tackles and his OKie Stampede is awesome. I enjoy Terry Taylor's work, real smooth and crisp. Aw shucks guy on the mic but he could get sympathy in the ring and had the prototypical young white meat babyface look going on. Hercules Hernandez arrives under the mask but then unveils to reaveal himself. I like this Hercules much better than the WWF version, love his finisher which they call the Shina No Maki or something like that. He is a little stiff in his punches and clothes lines but he is a solid power guy that works perfectly in the henchman role. The Guerreros just arrived so can't wait to see them as heels going against the RnR's. Nikolai Volkoff is a channel changer for me, besides the brute strengh type moves he offers nothing for my tastes. Slow methodical is fine but there seems to be no energy in anything other than his staright power moves. His reactions to getting hit are too goofy for a big man like that. His interveiws are awful as well and you can't understand crap he says with his unintelligible yelling. Ivan Koloff is easily the best Russsian interveiw. I really like the brief team of Jim Neidhart and Butch Reed, Jim's offense was sudden and explosive and I've always liked Butch's power moves even tho his brawling leaves something to be desired as his punches seem soft and he has this long wind up that bother me. I really like Krusher Kruschev here, much better version of Volkoff. Had the brute strength to display but also seemed like he had more snap to his moves and had better energy in his matches. Adrian Street is fun to watch if nothing else. Guys I coulda done without are Ernie Ladd, Sonny King, Master G and Brickhouse Brown. I love Buddy Landel's work here, very smooth and good ring physcology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted December 28, 2012 Report Share Posted December 28, 2012 After writing about wrestling (which we can all admit isn't always the most complex art) for so long (we've got probably 5000+ reviews on our blog and never done PBP) I've grappled with new approaches to writing about it and my style is a bit "different". I was a Film Studies minor in college with an interest in theory, Alternative Traditions in Cinema (Stan Brakhage, etc.), Italian Cinema, etc. and read tons of film criticism and essays on downtime at work and my sense of humor leans toward obscure references (like Family Guy on PCP) so I channel that into how I look/write about wrestling. It might not be the most coherent style to each reader but at least it's not the same PBP style regurgitated by 411, Scott Keith, and most of the other online reviewers.... You just described the inside of my brain. Did anyone order a Jingus clone? Stan Brahkhage wrote the textbook for my most recent film class. Now I'm trying to think up some thesis to link the legendary 4-way elimination match in ECW where Douglas won the TV belt and how it could be compared to Reazione a catena. That's not even a joke, you could get some interesting (if very windy) symbolic points made with such a comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted December 29, 2012 Report Share Posted December 29, 2012 I'm re-watching and finalizing an AWA 1984 Year in Review set. Been working on this forever...should finally have it done in a week or so. In between I've been watching some old WWF house shows for shits and giggles. A Tiger Chung Lee vs. Pedro Morales match from IIRC early 1985 in Philly stands out at the moment, mostly for the surprising amount of offense Chung Lee got in on Pedro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueminister Posted December 29, 2012 Report Share Posted December 29, 2012 Just started a few random shows including ROH Testing the Limit. Just finished Heatwave 2000 too: The Sandman vs. Rhino - ECW Heatwave 2000 I liken the rabid ECW fan base trying to convince the rest of us Rhino was the messiah as pure agitprop garbage. He's still doing the same thing 13 years later on the independent circuit and it still packs as much depth and dimension as a street corner busker's four-minute set break to eat falafel. Sandman is such an odd bird it's as if he's a roughly sketched Lena Dunham character. The drunken Sous-Chef that emerges from the basement pantry with a lit cigarette and worn paperback copy of Lowry's The Giver. There's a thread of longing running through this match that'd call to mind the films of Wong Kar-wai were it not for the ineffectual acting of Terry Gerin. He's like the high school talent show approximation of pro wrestler complete with monosyllabic speech pattern ("Gore!") so an unintentional satirization. The Spike Dudley segment at first seemed tacked on but strangely somehow necessary in a Grindhouse-like marrying of violent spectacle. The match-ending jumping piledriver on twisted metal guardrail seemed like a piece of neo-conceptual Blažej Baláž performance art. There was something perversely appealing about this like throwing caution to the wind one night and slumming it with your girlfriends downtown at a seedy boner factory with cheap drinks and a Filipino bartender working toward a Bachelor of Music in Theory upstate named "Condition Seth". I was a film studies major (lol) and I want to kick your writing in the teeth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mando Posted December 29, 2012 Report Share Posted December 29, 2012 I was a film studies major (lol) and I want to kick your writing in the teeth. Good thing I'm not writing for you then, but that's fine, nobody can (nor should try to) make everyone happy. If you've written anything online I'd be interested in seeing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mando Posted January 8, 2013 Report Share Posted January 8, 2013 I just finished watching last month's CZW Cage of Death 14. My full write-up (with some astonishing images) is here. Overall I really enjoyed it, it's the sort of head-scratching, hardcore mayhem that almost has to be seen to be believed. I've always said some documentarian should do a film on regional hardcore wrestlers because the amount of sacrifice and crazy stunts some of these guys do is insane and it'd be interesting to get a look into the mindset of someone who does it for I imagine not a great deal of money. Philosophizing out of the way, the show itself is loaded, some stellar high flying (Rich Swann, A.R. Fox, etc.), lots of nutty garbage bumps (Sami Callihan, Drake Younger, MASADA, etc.), a riot, a really great opener, use of feces that'll make you forget Cena's goofball skit on the year-end Raw, and the Cage of Death itself which was a bloody spectacle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted January 8, 2013 Report Share Posted January 8, 2013 I was disappointed by Cole v. Callihan. It was a solid enough match, but it would have been better without all the bullshit (literally and figuratively). They had a better match earlier in the year that was fucked up by an idiotic DJ Hyde run in. Really soured me on watching the rest of the show, but I may give it a shot now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mando Posted January 8, 2013 Report Share Posted January 8, 2013 I was disappointed by Cole v. Callihan. It was a solid enough match, but it would have been better without all the bullshit (literally and figuratively). They had a better match earlier in the year that was fucked up by an idiotic DJ Hyde run in. Really soured me on watching the rest of the show, but I may give it a shot now As was I, I always enjoy a nice bump, but there wasn't enough in-between spots to round it out to make a good, complete match. I enjoyed the absurdity of the Walmart bag of feces. Only in CZW I guess. But for their arguably biggest show of the year I wanted more from Sami. Hell, I saw him earlier last year in the opener at an HWA show and he took a sick apron bump for Gerome Phillips for 25 people. I've got a lot of '07-'09 CZW that I have never watched that I'm excited to one day get around to inc. Necro's run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomk Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 I thought that Finlay faking an eye injury and begging off at the knees like a chickenshit Memphis heel didn't really fit the tone of the match as a whole. The Finlay fakes an injury is a Finlay spot. My understanding is that at least in Uk he's credited with either inventing or popularizing the heel fakes an injury to trick face. When he first showed up as road agent in WWF, if you saw it in match it pretty much signaled that he had laid the match out...but he's so respected (and it works so easily) that pretty much everyone in WWE uses it now and its become a real predictable WWE standard spot. That said it's not a Memphis spot here, it is a Finlay signature spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mando Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 Watching a really, really great WWF house show from the Maple Leaf Gardens in '89. I wrote up a small piece in praise of a wonderful match/angle between Hillbilly Jim and Honky Tonk Man sandwiched between a battle of dualities in Hart vs. Perfect, a potboiler turned avant-garde provocateur in Hogan vs. Savage, and a risque and elliptical thriller between DiBiase and Jake Roberts. Read it here. Never had WWE 24/7 but a friend gave me a few bags full of discs he'd got off of their programming and all of these house shows are a gold mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted January 23, 2013 Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 Just finished watching El Hijo Del Santo/Octagon/Rey Mysterio Jr. v. Blue Panther/Fuerza Guerrera/Psicosis AAA 3/16/95 and El Hijo Del Santo/Negro Casas/Mistico v. Atlantis/Black Warrior/Ultimo Guerrerro CMLL 8/4/06 from this topic: http://board.deathvalleydriver.com/topic/6...acket-4-v-13/ on DVDVR. I have watched no more than 15 lucha matches in my life, but I want to get into it so I plan on trying to keep up with this whole project. That said, I really enjoyed both matches and recommend you guys watch them and vote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Schneider Posted January 23, 2013 Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 You should watch the first two matches too http://board.deathvalleydriver.com/topic/6...bracket-7-v-10/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 Been watching a lot of Alabama wrestling from 82-87ish. Some thoughts: Babyface Adrian Street in Alabama is a total mindfuck. He and Miss Linda were feuding with Rip Rogers and Miss Brenda. Somehow, Adrian won Brenda in a valet match so he had both Linda and Brenda. Tom Prichard turns heel on him with help from Brenda. I think I like Adrian as a babyface though. Bullet Bob Armstrong was all over the place. Feuding with Mr. Olympia, El Fuego(the flame), and Midnight Express. I love the Bullet/Fuego streetfight from tv. That's gotta make the territories 80's set. Fuego throws a chair at Bullet and Bullet catches it. So then, Fuego throws A TABLE at Bullet. Bullet also faced Ric Flair for the title on TV. That was a fun match till Fuego gets involved. I also really enjoyed the Mr. Olympia vs Dirty White Boy come as you are streetfight. Hell Wendall Cooley vs Jerry Stubbs was good too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 Been watching a lot of Alabama wrestling from 82-87ish. Some thoughts: Babyface Adrian Street in Alabama is a total mindfuck. He and Miss Linda were feuding with Rip Rogers and Miss Brenda. Somehow, Adrian won Brenda in a valet match so he had both Linda and Brenda. Tom Prichard turns heel on him with help from Brenda. I think I like Adrian as a babyface though. Bullet Bob Armstrong was all over the place. Feuding with Mr. Olympia, El Fuego(the flame), and Midnight Express. I love the Bullet/Fuego streetfight from tv. That's gotta make the territories 80's set. Fuego throws a chair at Bullet and Bullet catches it. So then, Fuego throws A TABLE at Bullet. Bullet also faced Ric Flair for the title on TV. That was a fun match till Fuego gets involved. I also really enjoyed the Mr. Olympia vs Dirty White Boy come as you are streetfight. Hell Wendall Cooley vs Jerry Stubbs was good too. I've seen some Alabama from after they converted to Continental and it was all really fun. I wish there was more footage, or more complete footage because the stuff I've found is all really scatter shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted March 27, 2013 Report Share Posted March 27, 2013 I just started watching 1984 Mid-South TV yesterday and I've already watched the first 6 weeks. I've watched a couple different full episodes of TV from various different territories but I have to say Mid-South has had the best TV I've seen. Some of the Dundee booking makes it feel like Memphis with a bigger crowd, better production values and better talent away from the main event. By that I mean, there's a lot of wild post match brawls and guys being jumped before or after their match. I wish I had some 1983 Mid-South TV to try and gauge how different the TV became once Dundee came in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 I've been watching the short lived Southern Championship Wrestling promotion from Georgia. I think the time frame is July 1988. They got Mr. Wrestling II as the lead babyface vs Col. Buck Robley as the main heel as the main feud. Wrestling II was washed up by the time but Robley has some fun brawls with him. It also features a weird 6 man with Tommy Rich, Brusier Brody and Eddie Gilbert vs Dick Slater, Robley and Abdullah The Butcher. This must have been one of Brody's last US matches. Ragner Ross is in as a rookie and does some awful interviews with Wrestling II. The lead announcers are Rick Stewart and Rubarb Jones who is just awful. When does Rich start to get managed by Mr. Donnie? That's who I want to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 Ragner Ross is in as a rookie and does some awful interviews with Wrestling II. Ragnar Ross with Ranger Ross doing a viking gimmick would have been the best thing ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted March 30, 2013 Report Share Posted March 30, 2013 I love watching the short lived late 80s, early 90s indies just to see who was where and what kind of role they ended up in. Like in 5 Star Wrestling, after JYD ends up back in WCW they have Bob Orton get turned on by Akbar and Bob Orton becomes essentially their number one face. He seemed even less into being a babyface than Randy does now. Watching him cut a promo about how kids need to train hard but study just that much harder is something else. And if you thought II looked old and washed up in 88 he definitely didn't look better in the match I saw him in from 1990. To be fair, he was 56 in 1990 and had been wrestling since 1956. And he could still do that trademark Wrestling II dance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Watched Capitol Combat 90 early this afternoon for the first time as a whole. Only problem is the commentary is about a minute behind the action though it says something about how generic JR and BC were on this show that I barely noticed most of the time. Gordon Solie selling Robocop has to be a rib doesn't it? Overall a good show though a bit of a filler. Putting the entire promotion main event scene on pause while Sting healed for half a year.....I'm not sure. Watching Wrestling Gold volume 2 right now. Probably my overall favorite commercial DVD wrestling release ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahoos Leg Posted May 24, 2013 Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 Got my hands on a mostly complete set of OVW TV from 2002, so been watching that. Cena as Prototype. Batista as Leviathan. Shitty local guys like Trailer Park Trash. And Shelton Benjamin proving that he REALLY needs a mouthpiece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravJ1979 Posted May 27, 2013 Report Share Posted May 27, 2013 Someone uploaded the first dozen or so TWA Total Impact TV shows onto YouTube so I've been watching those and really enjoying them. Interesting seeing Spanky and Dragon as teenagers. Their match from the 1/1/00 show is very good considering they both have been wrestling less than three months by that point. Fun watching Dragon's first Japan tour for FMW as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smack2k Posted July 20, 2013 Report Share Posted July 20, 2013 Watched Capitol Combat 90 early this afternoon for the first time as a whole. Only problem is the commentary is about a minute behind the action though it says something about how generic JR and BC were on this show that I barely noticed most of the time. Gordon Solie selling Robocop has to be a rib doesn't it? Overall a good show though a bit of a filler. Putting the entire promotion main event scene on pause while Sting healed for half a year.....I'm not sure. Watching Wrestling Gold volume 2 right now. Probably my overall favorite commercial DVD wrestling release ever. Watching the 4 FUCKIN HORSEMEN badasses for life, run away from Robocop was a HORRID IDEA...I cant believe the guys went for it...I'd have been like "Fuck that...we are killers...we aint runnin from a movie character....fuck him, kill Sting!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted August 15, 2013 Report Share Posted August 15, 2013 Someone uploaded an entire New Jack City show from 97, so I watched Reckless Youth v. Ace Darling, American Kickboxer v. Blaze and this Bull Pain v. Ian Rotten barbed wire baseball bat match which was an awesome bloodbath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 This show was basically in the town I went to college in, how did I not go to this show? EDIT: Not only did this take place in the same town I went to college, but it actually happened on campus. I know it wasn't school season, but still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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