What are you watching?

[CaptCabana]

Kimberly does not get near the love she should in the pantheon of Wrestling Hotties.

[kayfabe1984]

Watched Wrestlefest '95 yesterday featuring a plethora of bad matches and one awesome Jerry Lawler performance. My thoughts here:

 

http://epicwrestlingadventure.blogspot.com/2014/09/wwf-wrestlefest-95.html

[BruiserBrody]

Another big week in the Wars as Konnan faces the One Man Gang, Hulk Hogan clashes with Ric Flair, Macho Man attempts to slay the Giant, The Road Warriors against the Faces of Fear, and the Kliq tangle with Camp Cornette. Plus bonus coverage of Eddy Guerrero against Lex Luger and Dean Malenko grappling with the Nature Boy!

 

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/the-monday-night-wars-week-22-january-29th-1996/#.U7ZtELEm-Sp

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/the-monday-night-wars-week-23-february-5th-1996/#.U7nFybEm-Sp

The Kliq battles Camp Cornette, The Kid and Hakushi fly high, and Bret Hart collides with The Undertaker on RAW, Nitro counters with Macho Man colliding with Chris Benoit, A "shoot" between Kevin Sullivan and Brian Pillman and finishes with Sting and Lex Luger trying to out muscle the Road Warriors

[JaymeFuture]

Watched the wonderful 84 Mid-South episode where Magnum and JYD are to do a contract signing for a title match, when Mr. Wrestling II steps in ("I think it stinks"), Magnum says 2 is making an ass of himself and gets bitch-slapped. JYD'd reaction is utterly great ("Jesus Christ...."). Lovely angle.

[goc]

Can't remember how long ago I was watching 84 Mid-South but yea that TA/II feud was really good. I think I ended up getting distracted and moving on to some other wrestling watching around April 84 but I should really get back to it at some point.

[SomethingSavage]

Aside from keeping up with the current product & my favorite indies, I'm still watching a bunch of random stuff whenever I get the chance. As far as agendas go though, I've been deliberately trying to go back and revisit some of the "lesser" Ladder Matches of the past. Maybe they're only "under the radar" in terms of how I recall them, but it's something I've been attempting to give a second glance.

 

Recently?

 

Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit © vs. The Hardys vs. Edge & Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz - TLC 3 for the WWF Tag Team Championship. This comes from an episode of SmackDown in 2001, and I remember it getting lots of love at the time. That's about all I remember though. Very little else springs to mind going into this one. But the same could be said about TLC 4, and it blew me away upon rewatch recently. So we'll see.

 

Right away, I find myself turned away by some of Cole's commentary. I know complaining about Cole is pretty much a broken record at this point, but hearing his contributions on commentary back-to-back with a JR match is staggering. It's such a stark contrast in what the two can do in terms of elevating a match and truly MAKING moments mean something. There are a few big spots in this bout that just scream for more streamlined significance & better calls than what Cole could possibly give them. It's noticeable, and that's the only reason I mention it here. With that out of the way though...

 

The action itself is incredible. There's a neat spot with a drop toe hold into the ladder, which is one of those things you'd THINK would be done to death by now, but it isn't. Jeff takes a Superplex from Bubba Ray, and young Nero nearly gets folded up like a lawn chair when his legs BARELY miss the top rope on the drop. Narrowly avoids what could have been a serious injury there.

 

Jericho is force fed a NASTY chair shot to the skull. Seriously. His head is tucked into his torso like a turtle shell off the impact. Brutal stuff from the get-go.

 

Aside from the crazy violent excitement, some "story" is infused into the match. Benoit misses a swan dive headbutt to the outside and crashes through a table. He's carted out of the match temporarily, only to make his way back later and really sell the rib injury. So naturally, the hunting party converge likes rabid wolves and start to pick the bones of Benoit's rib cage. And the Wolverine puts it over proper. He clenches and grabs his ribs like his insides are being put through a freaking meat grinder. It's fantastic.

 

Edge and Christian pour on the violence, and they eventually bombard Benoit with folding chairs from both sides. That's right. It's a standing Con-Chair-To, with one coming from the left, one coming from the right. Benoit is sandwiched between the steel.

 

True to form, the closing stretch never lets up. They crank up the intensity and urgency with a succession of dangerous stuff. There's a sick monitor shot, another table spot to satisfy the crowd, and a tremendous Twist of Fate that almost HAS TO BE SEEN (and never got enough love in the video package department, I'd say). Plus there's Edge's go-to move of the Ladder Match, the Super Spear. It's all wrapped up nicely in the end, with Jericho and Benoit overcoming the odds and remaining champs to keep the program with Austin alive and well for the meantime.

 

As far as fast-paced, frantic action-packed matches go? This one sure was a truckload of fun. Definitely glad I decided to give it another look after all these years. If you get the hankering for this specific match type, then TLC 3 delivers the goods well enough.

[SomethingSavage]

Some more of the same usual randomness...

 

Edge © vs. Kane vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio - Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Championship.

 

My exploration of the "less remembered" Ladder Matches of yesterday brought me to December 2010, where I settled on seeing what this one had to offer. It's another case of me not having any real vivid memories of the match, although I recall the dreadful Edge/Kane feud at the time. 'Berto and Rey were locked into a program together, so we get a mash-up of both feuds to produce this bad boy. There's a variety of styles among them, so altogether it's actually a neat crop of guys thrown together here. Truth be told, none of them are peaking or in their prime at this particular point in time, but I was curious to see how creative they'd get with the stipulation.

 

Right away, I'll just randomly note that Rey's mask is pretty cool here. Not sure I've ever seen him in this hood on any other occasion. Rey is quite honestly the star of the match, as he shows just how clever he can be in these cluttered environments. He picks his spots well and chooses the most outstanding moments to shine. Early on, he sprints for the belt and QUICKLY moves up the ladder. It's a minor detail, but it matters. It's aggravating to see guys act like they're worn and weathered a mere 2 minutes into these things, but it happens A LOT - to the point where seeing a guy actually move up the ladder with speed and vigor is alarmingly unusual.

 

But yeah. Rey shows he wants the gold. On the outside, we get a glimpse (just a glimpse!) of Edge and Kane blasting each other with simultaneous boots. Nothing extraordinary, but it's a neat spot that isn't overdone. Rey remains the center of attention for the most part though, busting out a Seated Senton with the assistance of the ladder and later eating a Wheelbarrow Suplex onto the ladder at the hellish hands of Kane.

 

Edge dishes out a pretty awesome plunge through a table (and Kane) on the outside. Then the Rated R Soopah Starrr takes a nasty spill when he straddles the ropes. Seriously. Guy looks like he could've been split in half right through the uprights. Not a nice landing by ANY stretch of the imagination.

 

I never understood it when a guy would try a dropkick on the outside. Here, 'Berto outdoes the stupidity of THAT and performs a step-up Enzigurie to Kane. And he pays for it, smacking his hip against the steel of the stage. Dumb.

 

But it DOES play into a nifty section of the match, wherein everyone works together to gang up & effectively CHOP DOWN the Big Red Monster. Rey (again) seizes the most from the moment by leaping off a piece of the stage structure and CANNONBALLING onto Kane's chest.

 

Once things get going back in the ring, Rey dials up or whatever, but his 619 is countered with a chair. Pretty sure there's a strong chance we've seen that before and since, but it's still cool to see it stuck in here.

 

We reach the finishing stretch, and Rey has come full circle. He started off the match with high-energy, swiftly scaling the ladder. By the end, he's selling damage done to the arm and using every muscle fiber to DRAG himself up the ladder. Mysterio eventually runs into the roadblock that is DA DEMON, but the underdog tries one last gasp with his Lionsault. Kane catches him in mid-move and BURIES the luchadore six feet deep with a Tombstone Piledriver. Good stuff in the go-home portion, building to a not-so-hot conclusion of Edge retaining and sort of keeping the issue alive with Kane.

 

This one's far from the best effort as far as Ladder Matches go, for sure. But it's still a decently fun encounter as a scatter-shot of multi-man action. I figured they'd go for more "multi-man" spots, like the Tower of Doom, etc. But what we got was okay. Nothing from the match necessarily stands out enough to really stick with you, which I suppose is why I had no recollection of it. But I'm glad I gave it another look anyhow, if only for how damn good Rey still was - even with all the injuries racking up and at this late stage of his game.

[khawk20]

I've been watching some Central States discs I got in from April of 1984. Central States gets a bad rap a lot, but this era was actually pretty good and had some pretty fun stuff, including a Butch Reed/Wahoo McDaniel tag team, a young bearded Tommy Rogers, The Grapplers, One Man Gang, and plenty more.

 

Much more fun than I expected.

[SomethingSavage]

Just ducking in and out of eras where I wasn't watching as much wrestling or as often as usual. Some of the stuff I've seen. Some I haven't. But I'm really enjoying giving second chances to some of this stuff.

 

The Big Show © vs. Ric Flair for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

 

Lots of fun. I remembered really enjoying it at the time it happened, but there was a lot of people that soured INSTANTLY on Show's involvement with the ECW brand as champion. Looking back on it, I think it holds up as a tremendously worthwhile train-wreck.

There's bloodshed & brutality. There's Big Show behaving like a big mean bastard. There's Flair eating an ENORMOUS amount of nasty violence at the meaty paws of the champ. Just lots of neat stuff crammed into this one.

I guess it's technically a "championship challenge", with the story being that the Nature Boy seeks out Show and vies to attain the one "World" belt in the company that he hadn't yet captured at the time. But, even so, it quickly breaks down into an all-out brawl. Flair fights for his life and resorts to desperate measures, strictly to survive. And Show brings the heat, like a territorial carnivore that's out to keep anything & everything all to himself.

There are plenty of fun spots sprinkled throughout. Almost right away, Show bludgeons Flair with a barrage of headbutts that cracks the Nature Boy's noggin WIDE OPEN. Taz notes that Show's walking around with a massive friggin' "HEAD LIKE'UH POLICE HORSE", so yeah. Fitting description.

Naitch goes straight into peril mode. There's a nice visual of Show towering over Flair, who's kneeling and just absorbing the punishment that's being poured down onto him. But then (!) Ric goes into his toolbox of tried & true maneuvers - it's a low blow! Vicious uppercut DIRECTLY to the uprights! And it's followed up with a second. Then a third! Christ. Crotch shots & nut crackers. The crowd comes alive for that, as Dirty Trick Ric kicks things into a higher gear.

And Ric Flair goes EXTREME, reaching for the barbed wire bat and introducing various weaponry into the match. It doesn't take long, and Show is soon wearing his own crimson mask. And, if the image of Ric Flair wielding a barbed wire baseball bat and a trash can wasn't enough, then we get Slick Ric busting out... THUMBTACKS.

Show takes a bump into the tacks, but he pops right up. Show rises from the tiny bed of nails like this big, badass fire-breathing dragon - ready to plunder, pillage, and rape. Yup. He's ANGRY, folks. And the mood QUICKLY changes, as Show goes OVERKILL with his onslaught. Clothesline. Chokeslam. And then the Cobra Clutch Back Breaker - which is a finishing sequence that I'd LOVE to see him bring back sometime. It's absolute devastation. Show just manhandles Flair into position, hastily humbles him, drives him down across the knee, and then takes him to the mat for Nap Time.

We get ANOTHER neat visual of an exhausted and broken Flair, just lying there on his side, caught in the big, bad bear-trap that is Show's Cobra Clutch. Flair's chest is heaving up and down, gasping for breath, with a pond of drying & caking blood smeared all down his torso. It's fantastic.

Show isn't satisfied, so he proves his point further by lifting Flair (still in the Cobra Clutch) and just FLINGING him across the ring like a piece of trash. Ric is flung FACE-FIRST and lands in the scattered thumbtacks. So yeah. The Nature Boy goes above & beyond the call of duty in helping Show to look like a newly awakened MONSTER here. The commentary is strong and dialed directly into the story. It all just comes together really well in the end.

Post-match, there's an awesome closeup that actually shows a thumbtack still STUCK in the skull - just hanging there like dandruff in the back of Flair's bleached blonde 'do. And this came before Flair was routinely doing the American Onita shtick in every major match he'd work for WWE. Just a drastically insane change from the older, slower version of standard Flair we were getting for much of his run prior to this stuff.

The whole deal doesn't drag on too long either. And the treatment & attention given to Flair is something that SHOULD have carried over a lot more. Heck, this whole booking phase of Show as ECW Champ is extremely underrated altogether.

[clintthecrippler]

watched Starrcade 84 and Starrcade 85.

 

Holy shit, that first hour of Starrcade 84 was total jobber mania. Denny Brown vs Mike Davis, Brian Adias vs Massai Ito, and Mike Graham vs Jesse Barr do not make for a promising start for what is supposed to be the "Grandaddy of Them All." And man, Dusty Rhodes looks like shit here. He literally looks like he has not slept in 36 hours, and that backstage promo where he is resting on a chair with his jacket draped over his chest makes him look like an obese grandma. If not for Tully and Steamboat bringing a good match and the spectacle of Jimmy Valiant and Paul Jones in the tuxedo match (for those coming into this cold, the homeless man in the tuxedo shirt stripping a man of his clothes and trying to choke him to death with a tie is the FACE), this would have been a completely worthless show.

 

Luckily, Starrcade 85 stepped it up quite a bit. Holy hell there was tons of blood on this one. I know it was '80s NWA, but it kind of became numbing after a while. When you have Manny bleeding profusely 30 seconds into his match and Superstar Graham blading after an arm-wrestling match, it's a bit much. But quite a few of the matches are pretty awesome. The Midnight Express showing up for a street fight dressed in tuxedos is pretty swank, perhaps maybe only topped by that time Ernie Ladd showed up for a street fight dressed in a polo shirt, slacks, and loafers. Magnum-Tully still holds up, and listening to them violently screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" into the microphone...well, if you watched it with your eyes closed, it sounded like the goriest most visceral '70s horror flick ever.

 

And Dusty and Flair had a MUCH better match at 85. Dusty's selling here was amazing, I loved him just frantically scrambling outside the ring and over the guardrail when the leg assault started. And on top of that, a new contender for favorite wrestling fan ever, with the guy that spent the entire match shouting "Woooooooooooooooooooo! Woooooooooooooo! DUSTY RHODES! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" only pausing for a few seconds here and there.

 

I bet that guy shot his TV the next week when it was announced that Dusty's victory was overturned.

[SomethingSavage]

More random stuff, piled on top of other random stuff...

 

Shawn Michaels vs. Edge in a Street Fight from RAW '05.

 

This is in the beginning stages of Edge's heel run, in which he's still fine tuning the character that would later become known as the Rated R Soooopahstar. Honestly, the match starts off a little slow. But it quickly kicks into another gear and goes from being flat to FAN-freaking-TASTIC rather fast.

 

The early brawling is your standard stuff. We get a throwback to the full-on Attitude Era days when they take the action through the crowd for a couple of minutes. The whole atmosphere changes once Edge dishes out the Impaler DDT onto a seated steel chair in the center of the ring though. The spot itself looks weak and screwy, but Shawn's noggin is nicked open and... well, the floodgate opens.

 

The Heartbreak Kid bleeds and is eventually left wearing what's pretty much a PAINTED ON, caked up crimson mask for the duration of the entire match after that. It's a stunningly cool visual, really. Shawn goes for a dive through the ropes at one point, but he falls short - and man, JR is quick on the draw at commentary. The BBQ man cleverly covers, referencing the severe blood-loss and putting Shawn's weakened, drained state to blame. Niiiice.

 

They bust out the ladder for some of the typical spots, but my favorite is the most unorthodox of the bunch - when Shawn just HURLS the ladder at Edge, who's posted up on the top turnbuckle. No lull in the action or fancy setup required.

 

Edge retaliates and later scores with a Superfly Splash off the ladder... but man, it's ugly. Honestly, it looks like it'd do more damage to Edge's knees than any part of Shawn's body there.

 

But the finishing stretch is AWESOME. They go gritty and dirty, which I just love. Edge hits the most BLATANT low blow, directly in the front of the referee. He gathers his plunder for the one-man Con-Chair-To spot... but Shawn reaches up and literally cuts him off WITH A PUNCH TO THE DICK.

 

It's a cock-fight to the death, folks. And Shawn has the upper hand in this moment. Final moments has Edge rushing at Shawn for the Spear or something, but Shawn explodes with a superkick outta nowhere. Edge EATS the boot like a champ and even gives us a tremendous Cro Cop drop on the sell. Puts it over like a HYOOOJ knockout blow. Loved it.

 

The Briscoes vs. Matt Hardy & Mike Bennett from this year's Best In The World.

 

Just had to give this one yet another watch recently. And man, it's one heck of a fun brawl.

Starts off slow with the standard tag, but once Nigel steps in and deems it No DQ? All bets are off. Dem boys pull off a whole collage of cool spots. High on impact and heavy on energy throughout the rest of the fight. It's a beat-em-up, smash-mouth, fast-paced approach - and it all clicks.

We see a Froggie 'Bow through a table, a Doomsday Device on the floor, some typical ladder work, Matt getting slammed through a makeshift bench built out of chairs, a Superplex off the ladder down through a table, a fire extinguisher spot, involvement from Maria, and even Nick Searcy getting thrashed around like a frog in a blender. It's great stuff. And sure. It sort of benefits from the idea that it just kind of sprang up out of nowhere. But I don't care. I dug it.

The Shield vs. Los Matadores & Sin Cara from Main Event this past February.

This was the go-home episode before Elimination Chamber, where the Shield would wage war with the Wyatts. I remember this getting a bit of praise at the time it went down, but I missed it. This came right around the time they started to polish up & pimp the Main Event show pretty hard again - for the Network launch - but I just never took the time to dig back and watch this one.

I'm glad I finally took a moment to scope it out though. It's purely a fun match, from start to finish. It's a prime example of how to work a group of rising stars against a group of low-carders, without the fall guys coming across as TOTAL jobbers or bush league. The luchadores NEVER appear completely outclassed here. While naturally, they absorb a ton of offense and pretty much hit all their flashy pins & aerial attack sequences from defensive positions, they're never really made to look like fodder. It's a fine balance, but they found it for this one.

The match is mostly a case of everyone getting their shit in, but my god... It's good stuff. The action is fast-paced and fluid. The Shield work like a swarm of hornets, simply engulfing whatever masked man happens to be in front of them at that particular point in time. It's all fast tags and quick, dynamic bursts. It works very well in creating a match that is just incredibly fun to watch.

The finishing stretch is the real highlight. There's a bunch of dives. There's Torito involvement. There's Roman Reigns SLICING through two men with one sensational Spear. There's a cool variation of the old Hart Attack with Reigns using the Superman Punch instead. And there's the crowd-pleasing, cavity-crunching Curb Stomp for good measure. Just an awesome, energetic sequence to wrap this one up with a bow on top. Definitely gonna add this one to my re-watch list now.

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/the-great-american-bash-1990-the-new-revolution/#.U7_W5bEm-So

Sting is ordained the face of WCW as he conquers Ric Flair, El Gigante makes his ring debut in tag action against the Horsemen, The Steiners try and clip the Freebirds wings, DOOM defends their gold against the Rock and Roll Express, Lex Luger sends Mean Mark Callous to his grave, the debut of VADER, the last PPV match for Harley Race, an incredible battle between the Wild Eyed Southern Boys and the Midnight Express, plus Doug Furnas, Brian Pillman and the Iron Sheik in action!!

[SomethingSavage]

Oh. Ya know. Randomly watching matches, as usual. Most recently?

 

Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff from Survivor Series 2003.

 

With it getting some talk in certain circles recently, I wanted to go back and give it another watch. I've been really high on it for a long time, but yeah. This match still holds up STRONG. The story is nearly flawless. Austin and Bischoff as coaches to their teams on the outside is a great touch that adds to the atmosphere in a big way, too.

 

Each and every one of the players are allowed to make an impact of sorts. Everyone brought their working boots for this bout. And, to their credit, everybody plays their part perfectly. Steiner is the bullying braggart. Booker is a bundle of sporadic energy. Christian is squirmy and devious. Orton is as arrogant as ever. And Shawn is ALL heart in this performance. Simply put, the pieces of this puzzle fit together masterfully in the end.

 

I'm a sucker for powerhouse, feat of strength spots. So when we get things like Mark Henry reversing a dual Irish Whip and casually just SLINGING the two Dudley Boys into each other? I eat that stuff up. Then there's the elimination for Big Mark. It's handled extremely well, with it taking a one-two punch combination of finishers AND a pile-up pin to put him down for the count. Nice method to keep Henry looking impressive in defeat.

 

The booking is clever enough to give each individual the opportunity to... well, get all their shit in before they're carted off. I dig that, especially since nothing feels unnecessarily rushed or crammed in too soon. It's a fine balance, but they find it well enough here.

 

Shawn steals the show and really shines here. Say what you will about the guy on occasion, but Shawn's sensational in this role on this night. He dials up the sympathy selling, and that aspect alone is enough to draw me in. Combine that with the commentary though, and I'm looking at a match that has every right to be called a classic.

 

Seriously, JR and Lawler have rarely been any better together than they are here. I sincerely mean that. Jerry isn't harping. Ross is as engaged as ever. King has a great moment where he comes around to thinking that maybe - just maybe - Shawn has a real shot at winning against the odds of a 3-on-1 handicap. So Jerry, in all the usual zeal and exuberance you'd expect from King, cries out a passionate, "I BEEEELIEVE! I believe!" It's something that is appreciated so much more in the moment, but it really adds to the viewing experience in my eyes (and ears).

 

But yeah. The chemistry between JR and King here is right on target, and everything is aimed towards making this one something special. There's a sense of emotion and drama packed into the finishing sequence that we rarely see anymore, and it's truly a shame that this match isn't held in higher regards when we look back on it. It certainly deserves to be. I think this match just suffers a lot from the fact that it took place during such a shitty time of the company's history, as well as the way the fallout was so badly handled and poorly mismanaged from a continuity standpoint.

 

The comeback section from Shawn is fantastic. The closing stretch is great. It's just a phenomenal, fun, overbooked mess. But it's awesome in being every bit of just that. Bischoff interferes. Austin responds accordingly, violently hurling Sleazy E to the outside like a Hefty bag of wet garbage. Stone Cold then dishes out a Stunner, which Randy Orton feasts on like a FREAKING CHAMP. The sell job is an incredible image of Orton doing the Rocky back-flip and landing with his lower half just draped across the ropes. It's tremendous.

 

The chaos is furthered by a Batista cameo, allowing Orton to take the win. Once the heels bail, there's a nice tease of tension before the big touching moment of Austin acknowledging Shawn's hard work. Shawn says he's sorry, in something that'd become a bit of a regular gig for him over the next several years. It's still one of those "movie scene" moments, where it can work VERY effectively in wrestling if done correctly. I think that applies here, as it didn't feel too corny or overly cheesy to me. Maybe that's more of a testament to Austin's involvement, but I don't know. Everything that preceded it just made you FEEL bad for Shawn coming up short right at the finish line like that.

 

Austin gets his farewell Beer Bash with the fans and all that, but yeah. I can't help but feel like this match SHOULD be such a memorable one that people immediately recall, but it's not. It's viewed more as a lost gem are often-forgotten classic, if anything. And that's a real shame. So much more could have come from this though. It could have given a lot more fuel to the fire of Orton's "Legend Killer" shtick. It could have opened the door for them to actually do something fresh and creative with Austin, instead of the Sheriff on the ATV thing. Shawn's guilt could have been a much bigger story line component moving forward - although we DID get a lot of that much later with the Flair retirement.

 

Enough complaining about the aftermath though. Everything that occurred exclusively from bell to bell & between the ropes? Excellent stuff. Highly recommend anyone out there to re-watch it if bored or just curious, especially for fans of team elimination matches.

[Mad Dog]

I've always struggled with WWF TV in the pre--Raw era. It just never clicks with me for a lot of reason. The slow pace of the matches, the promos are too cartoony to me and I don't like the cut in promos during matches. But I feel like I need to get over this and really dig into the tv from the 80s more. So I'm starting with Superstars and Wrestling Challenge from the start and seeing where I get with it.

[Karl]

Superstars and Challenge were rarely 'great'; TV but what they tended to do quite well was get a point across really well and in the minimal amount of time. Something WWE could take a look at these days.

[Mad Dog]

That does strike me. All of these really legendary and great segments were a handful of minutes. Piper's Pit was like 3-5 minutes at most. They didn't need 20 minute talkfests to make a single match for the main event.

[Karl]

Brevity does seem to be lost these days.

[Mad Dog]

Some thoughts from my early viewings:

 

It's disturbing and sad to see how much Adrian Adonis has blown up since when I was watching 1985.

 

Paul Orndorff coming out to Hogan's music is such a great troll.

 

I have this reaction every time I see him but god is Moondog Spot is a great worker. He's always my favorite part of old house shows and tv shows.

 

One of my favorite parts of old tv is getting specific town feeds and seeing the bumper promos for that area.

[SomethingSavage]

For a fresh change of pace, I got to squeeze in some late night lucha & puro viewing before the end of the week. Hey. Granted. It ain't exactly skydiving with strippers. But it's free, enjoyable entertainment nonetheless. Among this week's re-watch list?

 

LA Park vs. El Mesias vs. Canek - Rey de Reyes 2013 Finals.

 

I liked this one a little less on re-watch, but I think that's simply due to the nature of the crazy cool bumping towards the end. The whole finishing stretch is this series of NASTY looking spills & falls, which come across as HIGHLY exciting upon first glance. But when you're watching it again & again, you fully expect 'em. You know they're coming. And so the anticipation is there, but the enjoyment is naturally dialed down a bit.

 

Ahh well. It's still fun as hell as a match. Starts off pretty slow, aside from LA Park hitting his awesome Snap Powerslam. Man oh man, I tell ya... that Snap Powerslam of LA Park is slicker than owl shit and cooler than penguin piss. To this day, I still pop for the suddenness of the way he DRILLS a guy into the canvas and INSTANTLY winds up with the arms seized and trapped for the pin. It's just a case of a guy mastering ONE specific piece of offense and really making it his own.

 

Things pick up though after Canek's elimination. Not a whole lot to say leading up to that point. I always enjoy the story behind a guy sacrificing a loss for the sake of preserving his identity & the way it puts over the mask. But yeah. Just poor execution with the way it came about on THIS particular occasion.

 

From there, LA Park and Mesias rev it up into another gear. They SLAM into each other off a dual Flying Cross Body Block spot. There's a MANIACAL dive to the outside from Mesias, slightly mirroring Taker's dive onto Shawn from Mania a few years back - in which Mesias nearly lands DIRECTLY on his bean. Christ.

Much as I love the guy, Park sort of botches a Back Stabber attempt on Mesias, but it's ALMOST more effective with the ugly landing. Just seems like an authentic ambush in this capacity, and Mesias' neck is cranked a little more on the whiplash. Park makes up for it in short order though - busting out a bad ass Spinning Wheel Kick from the top rope.

Once things reach that go-home stretch, we hit overdrive with some crazy cool stuff crammed in for good measure. Mesias doles out a Lung Blower from the top, but Park is pulled STRAIGHT DOWN to the point where it's more like a Piledriver bump. Guy goes vertical like an exclamation point.

 

Later, Mesias tries for something else off the top, Park does the usual routine of sticking his feet straight up to counter, and Mesias goes above & beyond the call of duty by CHOMPING DOWN on the leather. I'm telling you. Both of Park's boots end up BURIED in Mesias' ugly kisser on that one.

 

It's deja vu, as they're back up top AGAIN eventually... and Mesias yanks Park down for a Flat Liner. Park goes for the oversell and flips into it, much like the Flux Capacitor thing Kazarian used in TNA. In the end, it makes for a sensational crash landing & gives Park reason to sell his knee and leg, of all things.

So yeah. Park cringes and clenches like he's got a blown knee. The best part is - WHILE he's selling and sloooowly crawling from the center of the ring in agony, Mesias heads up top and comes CRASHING down with a Superfly Splash. And that's all she wrote, folks. Just a tremendous train-wreck towards the end, with big bombs giving way to bigger bombs, until we reach the grand finale. It's hardly the best Park OR Mesias from recent years, but it's a lot of fun anyhow.

 

Kota Ibushi vs. Low-Ki from King of Pro Wrestling 2012.

 

It's for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, and it's a damn good one. There's a sick kick exchange to open things up, but that barely scratches the surface of the whippin' these two put on each other. Piston-like palm strikes. Vicious uppercuts. And yeah. A whirlwind of kicks that leave both guys laced with whelps and broken blood vessels.

Insanity ensues when Ibushi sprints across the entire ring and busts out this INCREDIBLE twisting dive, literally leaping and launching himself over the corner ring post. It's a visual that never gets old to me, no matter how many times I see it done. Kota's got springs in his feet, which he further displays with stuff like the Standing Shooting Star Press straight off the mat.

 

For all the criticism and controversy, Ki is goes total FedEx in the ring. Dude DELIVERS. I still lose my shit when he can create new ways to just spontaneously mash his opponents with a Mushroom Stomp. Good stuff, for sure.

 

Ibushi gets caught up in the corner, but he tries to stay in the fight with some snug, rapid-fire jackrabbit kicks. Ki corners his prey anyhow and sets up for the finish. Unfortunately, slippery ropes means the top rope spot is botched a good three or four times. Takes WAY longer than it should to get into position, and so the momentum is kind of SWEPT right out from under 'em. The action itself was still intense as hell preceding it, and the actual Cradle Buster finisher from the top is tremendous. Just took far too long to arrive there with the screwy finish. Doesn't cripple the overall match by any means though.

 

Shinsuke Nakamura © vs. Hirooki Goto from the same show.

 

I remember REALLY digging this match, so yeah. I went ahead and scoped it out while I was looking back at the Ibushi bout. And wow. It still holds up just fine by me. These two guys bring it with a heightened sense of urgency, enthusiasm, and energy in all their actions. Every ounce of effort seems to pack a little extra aggression in it.

The match itself is just a story of both guys basically trying their damn best to SAW EACH OTHER APART with knees, rib breakers, back breakers, lariats, and stomach crushers. But ya don't need much more than that. It's physical. It's fluid. And it's a nonstop, back-and-forth, beat-em-up battle to the finish.

 

Nakamura is as captivating and engaging as ever, but I specifically love his selling in this one. He lets his limbs go limp and just lets himself get thrown around like a friggin' ragdoll at times. It's reckless bumping without crossing the line into sloppy or careless bumping. Just tremendous.

[kayfabe1984]

I wrote up a much more detailed look than I had planned for a local event I attended over July 4th weekend:

 

http://epicwrestlingadventure.blogspot.com/2014/09/hwa-cyberclash-70-7514.html

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/superbrawl-6/#.U8UeS7Em-So

Hulk Hogan attempts to topple the Giant in a Steel cage DEATH match, Macho Man defends the World title against the Nature Boy, Luger and Sting brawl with the Road Warriors, Johnny B Badd settles the score with DDP, Brian Pillman finally goes off the deep end, The Nasty Boyz and Public Enemy turn the arena into a war zone and Konnan has a dreadful encounter with the One Man Gang!

[Steenalized]

I put "Terry Funk" into the search function on the WWE network, clicked on the first match, and got Terry Funk vs. Jimmy Snuka in a cage for the ECW TV title. The lack of context probably hurt, but the commentary kept calling this "Funk's last stand." Snuka looks jacked, Funk looks ancient, but he is a Funk. Snuka beats the crap out of on Funk early. Funk's game and keeps trying to box. I love when he does that. He'll lock up if Snuka gets close, but otherwise he keeps the rear hand on his chin and pops the jab. Snuka lowblows Funk but the pain didn't last too long, nor did the effects of a piledriver about 3-4 minutes in. So far it's a real asswhooping. Funk gains super strength when he starts to bleed; now he has the power to throw Snuka around. Funk piledrives Snuka and makes no attempt to win. Instead, he pulls Snuka up and headbutts him a dozen times. Looks pretty bad, largely because Snuka never moves. Must be a hard islander head. The rest of the match is some basic brawling and scraping against the cage. Funk wins by climbing over top and punching Snuka away until he can drop to the floor. I did not know ECW used escape the cage rules, at least at the time. Not a bad use for 10 minutes but not worth looking for.

[BigBadMick]

Brevity does seem to be lost these days.

3 hour Raws will do that. Even if you knew how to make a point swiftly and succinctly, it's counter-productive to do so.

 

It annoys me too.

[Mad Dog]

It's just so snappy. They get to the point, make it memorable and it's over before you ever think to get bored. Even Hogan's stuff is pretty short. These shows are just bam bam bam done. No wasted air time and no wasted content. It's not like now where it feels like they're just using filler for half the episodes.