What are you watching?

[rzombie1988]

I reviewed WWF Superstars of Wrestling 4/28/1990 with pics and gifs here:

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/wwf-superstars-of-wrestling-4281990.html

Overall thoughts: The match weren't bad, but they all were very short. Pez Whatley and Tugboat were the highlights here, with Tug looking like a pretty impressive big man. The promo's were mostly nonsensical though. I can't recommend checking this one out.

Some shots from the show:

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/the-monday-night-wars-week-week-29-march-18th-1996/#.VAh2LRbFMg8

Uncensored and Wrestlemania are on the horizon as we get more Bret bitterness, a dead Diesel, Lex Luger vs. Loch Ness, The Mega Powers vs. Flair and friends AGAIN and a Wrestlecrap finish.

[dawho5]

More Starrcade, 9 matches to go (and I disagree with a few on general principle, but we'll see). Road Warriors vs. Dusty/Sting from 88 was....not in any way great. In fact, Road Warriors as the heels is gonna drive me nuts because the only reason I like the Tully/Arn match was because the Horsemen made the Roadies look incredible. Sting and Dusty really didn't do that, but then again it wasn't their job to do anything of the sort. Sting vs. Vader from 92 was absolutely incredible. Crowd was molten for it, Sting was fired up and everything he threw at Vader looked crisp and hurtful. Briscoes vs. Youngblood/Steamboat 83 was great, loved how both teams were willing to bump big and sell everything the other did like it was big regardless of what it was. The match came off like a war between the up-and-comers and the veteran tag team champs. The double team chain at the end to put it away was nice. Dusty vs. Flair from 85 was the second or third best match on the set so far. I'd only put Sting vs. Vader or Dustin vs. Austin above it. Dusty teasing the leg work into the late figure four was really great stuff. Flair takes a tremendous beating, gets busted open by the steel guard rail, but he's still convincingly right there to take advantage of some Horsemen interference and (maybe) put things away. Finish is really great stuff. Eddie vs. dean from 97 started out incredible. Lots of good punches to set up the grappling, very gritty. Middle of the match turns into technical wrestling back and forth with less sense of struggle, but they turn things around for a really good ending to the match. Not saying the middle was wrestled sloppy or in any way badly, just that it was a departure from the beginning of the match in an unsatisfying way for me. Everything was still crisp and well-done.

 

And there are 4 Road Warriors matches on here. Ugh.

[dawho5]

Next up is Roadies vs. Steiners at Starrcade 1989. Acceptable power/suplex spotfest, the finish is a bit lacking. 3 team ladder match where one guy from one team wins a shot at Chavo from 2000 is at times a fun spotfest with interesting stuff happening. Other parts of it are kind of a train wreck. Sting vs. Flair (main event of the 89 show) was a really fun match with a lot on the line. Flair gives Sting a lot, and I wish Sting had more than a hiptoss as a big power move 3 times. They get the desperation to win across, with Flair's cockiness once he seems to have it in the bag costing him. Well worked mostly and one of the best matches on the set so far. Piper vs. Valentine dog collar match from 1983 was holy shit kinds of awesome. My only gripe is the ref accosting Piper on the apron, which allowed Valentine to get back on top. It's a no-DQ match with plenty of chain shots before then, why is the ref getting involved now? Other than that, you can't ask for much more than Valentine and Piper beating the shit out of each other with a chain or their bare hands. Brutal, violent, awesome stuff.

[dawho5]

From 1986, the Road Warriors face the Midnight Express in a scaffold match. Not a huge fan of scaffold matches, but it's not a bad way to spend 15-20 minutes. Cornette at the end is...ouch. Sting vs. Hogan was alright, Sting should have been beating Hogan across the ring with Hogan hope spots though. The finish was...well, WCW's death was not too far off. Flair vs. Race from 1983 is absolutely amazing. Atmosphere is off the charts. Flair is so over, Race has so much heat just walking into the arena. Match is great, both getting busted open on the cage and beating each other senseless. Referee is trying to enforce the rules on both, so it's not one of those ref screwjobs on the face and it works. Race looks to have things wrapped up when Flair gets a big burst of adrenaline and hits the top rope crossbody for the 3! WOOOO!

[rzombie1988]

I reviewed All Japan Women's ATHENA TV #37 from 8/17/2001 here:
http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/all-japan-womens-athena-tv-37-japan.html

Overall thoughts: The show was good but disappointing, if that makes any sense. All of the matches seemed to follow the formula of - work holds on injured body parts, forget all about it and do pointless brawling, then do the finishing stretch. Hotta and Maekawa(atleast in the first match) put little effort in, while Ito and Momoe really put all they had on the line. The crowd only really got into finishes here which also hurt things. There were a few really good matches, just the same matches would have been even better if the holes in them were filled. I do recommend the show, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see anything but Momoe Nakanishi vs Kumiko Maekawa.

Some shots from the show:

[PhilTLL]

Dr Death vs Cactus Jack, WCW 1/27/90: Jack takes at least five totally crazy bumps and Doc works one of them into a strength spot that's as good as any he's ever done, making this worth a watch. But they have too much time to fill, so the middle is mostly heatless restholds, preventing it from being a very good match.

[dawho5]

Final two matches of the Starrcade set. Number 1 (not my number one, but theirs) is Vader vs. Flair from 1993. This match is controversial for the finish, but I fall on the side of it still being incredible. The reaction any time Flair starts coming back is so FUCKING INSANE! And Flair's determined comeback at the end is easily one of the best Flair performances I have seen. It's unlike anything I've seen from him and I love it for that as much as how great it was.

 

The match that was listed at number two but is a clear number one for me is Magnum vs. Tully from 1985. There are very few matches that define an aspect of pro wrestling that I love that will always keep me watching wrestling. This match is one of them. It is brutal, violent and dark from the moment you even see Magnum for the intros. You know right then that you're watching something transcendent. The HATE on display for 100% of this match is something that just blows away any other match I've ever seen for heated rivalries. I could write about ten pages on this match, so I'll stop now.

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/starrcade-90-collision-course/#.VBDyKxaGf_l

The Steiners battle 7 teams for the honor of being "tag team of the Universe", The Black Scorpion is revealed, DOOM and the Horsemen beat the tar out of each other, Stan Hansen battles Lex Luger and more!

[Sidebottom]

Watching Lou Thesz referee some old school lucha. It's like watching wrestlers try to impress their Dad's!

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/clash-of-the-champions-14-dixie-dynamite/#.VBgsiRaGcg8

 

Scott Steiner gets his first crack at singles super stardom when he battles World Champion Ric Flair, DOOM defends against Lex Luger and Sting, plus Zenk vs. Eaton, Terry Taylor turns to the darkside while clashing with Ricky Morton, Paul Heyman and Missy Hyatt arm wrestle...and quite frankly a bunch of other crap...

[kayfabe1984]

My odyssey that is WCW 2001 continues with the first Nitro of the year:

 

http://epicwrestlingadventure.blogspot.com/2014/09/2001-wcw-odyssey-wcw-monday-nitro-1801.html

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/ wrestling/monday-night-wars-week-30-march-26th-1996/#.VCGnTxaGcg8

A highly entertaining "Go home" show to Wrestlemania sees Bret and Shawn share crass words, and all the other top Mania matches get a final sprinkle of anticipation building zest - Nitro counters with 3 title matches culminating with The Giant vs. Ric Flair!!!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwe/wrestlemania-12/#.VCQpVRaGcg8

Wrestlemania 12!!! Shawn and Bret clash for an hour, The Warrior returns, Piper tries to prove he's still the king of Hollywood, Hosses clash in a 6 man and more!!

[PhilTLL]

Flair/Garvin, Superstars on the Superstation, 2/86:

 

A really brutal, well-worked match, a nice change of pace from the brilliant but more conventional Flair/Windham match at Battle of the Belts 1 a few days earlier. Garvin is such a fun mix of Flair opponent types, equal parts crafty wrestler and pissed-off bruiser, able to get to the hot nearfalls in so many believable ways. I really love his goofy, mullet-enhanced, caveman-like charisma here. His crushing blows and utter gall bring out the full Nasty Flair very quickly--they're literally at each other's throats within 5 minutes, Flair exchanging his usual bravado for pure spite. But the nastier Flair gets, the more it pisses off Garvin. Flair also puts the Flop and Flip at unusual times and limits their spectacle so they don't feel like a chore. The finish is a really indecisive pin that is pretty perfect for free TV and setting up a touring feud. I could see this easily finishing high on the appropriate '80s ballot for me.

 

Cactus Jack vs Paul Drake, WCW 3/24/90:

 

One of the better squashes that I've seen from this early run for Cactus. It helps that Drake is an excellent seller. They work the "asking Sullivan for advice" bit effectively, resulting in Cactus pulling Drake up from pins for several crisp high-impact moves. Combined with the decent if oddly straightforward match vs Eddie Gilbert, it's been a pretty good TBS weekend for young Mick.

[kayfabe1984]

Diving deeper into 2001 WCW

 

http://epicwrestlingadventure.blogspot.com/2014/10/2001-wcw-odyssey-wcw-thunder-11001.html

[dawho5]

I'm a disc and a half through the 3 disc Best of SNME set. savage is by and large the MVP so far, with great matches against Jake and Bret. He gets a lot out of Honky Tonk Man and Andre as well as being a tremendous promo. I will say, both Hogan and Andre are better than I remember them. Hogan is great at working the crowd and getting them into a match even if he's not the most spectacular in-ring worker you'll ever watch. Andre has great facial expressions, knows when to give the other guy offense and is really good at making the face work to put him on his ass. Vince and Jesse on commentary (I'm still in 88, so no Gorilla yet) are phenomenal. They both are firmly in the camp of the face and heel sides respectively, but will give out grudging nods of respect when they are due.

[goc]

I watched a match from November of 1970 between Bob Kelly and The Masked Intern from Gulf Coast Wrestling. What a time warp. I could not tell if Bob Kelly had wrestling trunks that were made to look like jean shorts or if he just had on a pair of super small women's jean shorts. The finishes to the falls were something else, the first fall ended in submission as Bob Kelly made The Intern submit to an armbar with repeated knee drops. Bob Kelly lost the second fall after being hit with a knee lift after running the ropes and The Intern was DQ'd in the 3rd fall for suplexing Kelly back off the apron into the ring.

 

Then we got a promo from Bob Kelly putting over the "City of Meridian" tag team championship tournament and displaying the championship which was not represented by title belts but by starter type jackets that said "City of Meridian Tag Champion" on them.

[Coffey]

My friend John & I have been re-watching WCW. We started with the first Nitro that is on the WWE Network, which was right after World War 3 at the end of 1995. We have watched all of the shows in order, including Nitro, Clash of the Champions & the various Pay-Per-Views. Shame that WCW Saturday Night isn't on there as it feels like sometimes we get holes in the continuity.

 

Tonight we're watching WCW Uncensored 1996. Hogan & Savage in the DOOMSDAY CAGE~! against like 10 people is the main event. HA!

 

I haven't watched RAW in almost two months. I don't miss it at all. It's just not as fun & was to the point where it would make me irrationally angry.

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wcw-superbrawl-91/#.VECEvsmGcg8

 

WCW offers up the biggest mega match possible as 4 superhero babyfaces collide in tag action as Lex Luger and Sting battle the Steiners! Flair combats Tatsumi Fujinami for the WCW World title, Brian Pillman collides with Barry Windham, El Gigante goes toe to toe with Sid Vicious, OZ makes his infamous debut, DOOM clash in a cage with one another and more!!

[PhilTLL]

The Steiner Brothers vs Jerry Bubba Rose & G.Q. Stratus, WCW 4/7/90:

 

An uncommonly satisfying Steiners squash, as they break out a bunch of high end stuff with panache. Most of it is eaten by Rose, who appears to owe them money or something. Rick uses a powerbomb pickup into gut-buckle slam, very neat inverted scoop slam, and the belly to belly superplex to finish, and Scott squeezes in a double underhook powerbomb, release German, and tilt a whirl, plus some solid improvised dick moves to add color.

 

Yeah, a lot of their great matches are overrated bomb fests, but dammit, I'll find it hard not to rank the Steiners if I vote in GTTE.

[pol]

 

Has this been talked about anywhere? Because, at least on first watch, I thought this was pretty great and a strong MOTYC. Some pretty brutal violence and fantastic selling, plus a great crowd. I loved Caifan's exasperated "WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME?" expression while the crowd is going nuts for Karonte who I assume is the rudo. There's a few awkward moments mechanically speaking, the double pin and double count out spots seemed unnecessary and as with most matches that go this long you could argue it should've been shorter, although that said they kept my attention throughout. I loved the finishing stretch with Caifan doing everything he can to avoid the submission, and him building up a head of steam only to faceplant and be forced to submit was such a perfect tragic ending. Dylan needs to see this if he hasn't already.

[BruiserBrody]

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/clash-of-the-champions-15-knocksville-usa/#.VECHTsmGcg9

 

Bobby Eaton takes the measure of Ric Flair in a best of 3 Falls endurance battle, Lex Luger collides with The Great Muta for the number one contender's spot, Sting faces Nikita Koloff, The Steiners battle Hase and Chono, Pillman and El Gigante butt heads with the Horsemen, plus a ridiculous amount of new faces debut!!

[BillThompson]

For a good chunk of it's run time Austin versus Rock from WrestleMania X-7 is a good match, edging towards pretty great. I can't really forgive such an overbooked ending though. It goes on way too long, Austin turning doesn't make much sense (I buy him doing anything to get the title but not him aligning with Vince who has a son-in-law who would also want the title, etc.), and is, for my money, a prime example of how WWF booking really let down their wrestlers for much of 2001-2003. However, the main issue I had was the obvious gig guffaw. You have Hebner visibly struggling with the gig, then dropping the gig, then Rock awkwardly stumbling to the floor, visibly picking up the gig, and then very obviously swiping that hand across his forehead a moment later. I know most people think of this as an all-time great match, or at least I think they do, but I can't say that for a match with such awful overbooking and a sequence as business exposing bad as the Hebner gig one.

[khawk20]

I watched the Zbyszko WWF 1980 timeline on Friday. It was ok, but I found Larry's claims that the McMahons were nearly bankrupt because Backlund wasn't drawing to

be so ludicrous that it tarnished the rest of the show for me.

 

Seriously, if Backlund was that bad for business he would have lost the championship and someone else would have got the call.

[Kronos]

Fire on the Mountain (SMW, Aug 1993)

 

I need to rewatch the end. The undercard matches are forgettable, including a few DQs.

 

Then Smothers v Brian Lee coal miner glove match was quite good. (And that Tammy - be still my heart.) They move fast for big dudes, and the promos and attitudes are strong. Smothers even calls Lee a f@gg0t at one point! In the end, Tammy gets spanked, causing Smothers to get the shit kicked out of him by Lee and a running-in Dirty White Boy.

 

The next match is Wargame...er, Rage in the Cage. I need to rewatch it because I missed the end. But fast pace and lots of blood really sells the intensity.