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Tim Cooke

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I am post #1000! Yes! B)

 

Anyway thanks to JvK, I got a chance to watch the Choshu/Yatsu vs. Tsuruta/Tenryu match from January of 1986. What a great match with one of the more awesome Japanese crowds that I have seen outside of the Kobashi/Kikuchi vs. Kroffat/Furnas. And to think, that Choshu match happened right as I was turning a year old. It shows that good matches age well or don't age at all.

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Eps. 78 of Prime Time Wrestling has Heenan ask Monsoon "Was JYD wearing a turtle neck or was that his bottom lip?" Within seconds we then go to a "Rebel" Dick Slater match where the stars and bars earn Slater boos in Boston even as the babyface.

Later on Mr. Fuji and Little Tokyo do Asian stereotype comedy and midget mocking. Classy all around.

Slick does a promo on the Flower shop and Piper shows up and tells Slick he has "lips like a bicycle pedal"

The show also has a 30 min Santana/Orton match and Heenan tripping on stage, leaving Monsoon to remark "He almost took a bump!"

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WCW throws together the biggest tag team war they possibly could as the MegaPowers team up to battle Ric Flair and Vader! Sting and Big Bubba settle things once and for all in a "Lights Out" match, Road Warrior Hawk brawls with THE MONSTER MENG, Alex Wright grapples with Arn Anderson, Great Muta tries to fly against Paul Orndorff, Dick Murdoch breaks out the Ben Gay for a match with Wahoo McDaniel, Kevin Sullivan has a terrible battle with THE MAN WITH NO FACE, Harlem Heat collide with the Nasty Boys and we start with tons of notes from behind the scenes of WCW for the spring of 95!!!

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Randy Savage and Ric Flair explode over personal issues in a heated main event, Sting attempts to conquer the MONSTAH MENG, The Nasty Boys engage in uncivil war with the Blue Bloods, Arn Anderson attempts to make the Renegade look good, Harlem Heat brawl with the Studd Stable, Hacksaw grapples with Craig Pittman, DDP arm wrestles with Dave Sullivan, and Alex Wright flies with Brian Pillman!

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I'm currently working through the Horsemen set and '97 Nitros on the Network.

 

Some questions regarding the Horsemen set. There are quite a few matches with Japanese commentary and graphics. Some of them seem to be from house shows while others look like they were on Worldwide. What's the story on that? Are these from some sort of Classics show, or did JCP/NWA have some sort of deal with All Japan to show some of their matches on TV during the 80s? Just curious, and regardless, it's pretty damn cool. I had no idea these would be on the set.

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I'm currently working through the Horsemen set and '97 Nitros on the Network.

 

Some questions regarding the Horsemen set. There are quite a few matches with Japanese commentary and graphics. Some of them seem to be from house shows while others look like they were on Worldwide. What's the story on that? Are these from some sort of Classics show, or did JCP/NWA have some sort of deal with All Japan to show some of their matches on TV during the 80s? Just curious, and regardless, it's pretty damn cool. I had no idea these would be on the set.

They had a show in Japan called World Pro Wrestling. Think of it as a Japanese version of Pro Wrestling This Week.

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I'm currently working through the Horsemen set and '97 Nitros on the Network.

 

Some questions regarding the Horsemen set. There are quite a few matches with Japanese commentary and graphics. Some of them seem to be from house shows while others look like they were on Worldwide. What's the story on that? Are these from some sort of Classics show, or did JCP/NWA have some sort of deal with All Japan to show some of their matches on TV during the 80s? Just curious, and regardless, it's pretty damn cool. I had no idea these would be on the set.

They had a show in Japan called World Pro Wrestling. Think of it as a Japanese version of Pro Wrestling This Week.

 

And, oh man, if you haven't checked it out, World Pro Wrestling is AWESOME. It's main event-level matches from a bunch of different promotions - JCP, UWF, WWF, AWA, Central States, World Class, and more - all thrown into one show. And there's a TON of stuff from that show that was never shown anywhere else. Flair & Morton in a cage, 25 years before the WWF released that Horsemen set? Yep, that's here. The Midnight Rockers in a match from the night Hansen forfeited the AWA title? Yep, that's here. And tons more.

 

TRACK THIS SHOWN DOWN.

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So, what has Tabe been watching?

 

I watched a couple episodes of All Japan G+ Classics - #81 and #83, to be exact. These two shows have the Flair/Martel title unification and tag match from 10/21 & 10/22/85. There's also a 1-hr Tsuruta/Choshu draw, Flair vs Tsuruta, Martel vs Choshu, and...a couple of Art Crews matches?!?! Anyway, the stuff with Flair & Martel is all great. The tag match is disappointing in that it's too short (17 minutes) and the finish is lame. Should have been 30+ minutes. It's good, just too short, and with too obvious an outcome. The title unification is fantastic. The 1-hr draw is meh - it's obvious that they're going long and there's never any hint of the match going to a finish. Flair vs Tsuruta and Martel vs Choshu are both pretty good but they are short (15-min time limits) and don't have finishes.

 

I've been watching Monday NItro from its inception thanks to the Network. It's been a rough experience. I'm about four episodes in and the growing pains are very, very obvious. The commentary, as expected, is beyond awful. Bischoff, Mongo & Bobby just YELL CONSTANTLY. They ignore the matches constantly and everything is just really choppy so each guy can get his insults or talking points in. And stuff that doesn't make sense will sometimes get highlighted and then followed up with "Who cares! We're Nitro!" There's some good stuff here - Flair is still very sharp, there's a definite "what's gonna happen next?!?!?" vibe, and the show was truly groundbreaking. But...yeah. Overall it's a very up-and-down viewing experience.

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They had a show in Japan called World Pro Wrestling. Think of it as a Japanese version of Pro Wrestling This Week.

 

And, oh man, if you haven't checked it out, World Pro Wrestling is AWESOME. It's main event-level matches from a bunch of different promotions - JCP, UWF, WWF, AWA, Central States, World Class, and more - all thrown into one show. And there's a TON of stuff from that show that was never shown anywhere else. Flair & Morton in a cage, 25 years before the WWF released that Horsemen set? Yep, that's here. The Midnight Rockers in a match from the night Hansen forfeited the AWA title? Yep, that's here. And tons more.

 

TRACK THIS SHOWN DOWN.

 

 

Well, goddamn. Thanks!

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Another brutal WCW PPV sees Hogan and Vader settle their feud in a steel cage match, Macho Man tries to get even with the Nature Boy, The Nasty Boys - Harlem Heat and Blue Bloods collide, Dave Sullivan stinks things out with DDP, Hacksaw Jim Duggan faces Kamala in a catch as catch can classic, Renegade stumbles through a match with Mr. Wonderful and Sting collides with Meng.

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Been going through Jumbo Tsuruta's AWA Title reign in 1984 this weekend...

 

Jumbo © vs. Nick Bockwinkel - 2/26/84 - Japan - Rematch from Jumbo's win a few days earlier with Terry Funk as ref again. Not nearly as good as the title switch that I really like.

 

Jumbo © vs. Blackjack Lanza - 3/4/84 - Chicago - Jumbo's US tour as AWA Champ begins. Not as bad a match as I was expecting and the Chicago crowd is HOT for this one..strange portion when Blackjack has his atomic noogie on Jumbo, Jumbo's arm drops three times when the ref checks it, but nothing is said or done and things just go on...thought it was an interesting spot.

 

Jumbo © vs. Billy Robinson - 3/11/84 - Green Bay - This was REALLY good as Robinson brings the technical skills and the fire as the match goes on and gives Jumbo a hell of a match

 

Jumbo © vs Jim Brunzell - 3/15/84 - St Lake City - This was an average AWA wrestling match to me, nothing special as Jumbo's reign continues. Brunzell's dropkick as always is a thing of beauty

 

Next up, Jumbo goes back to Japan to face Bockwinkel again, then Greg Gagne, and a rematch with Jim Brunzell...

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The Brunzell match finished like 20 spots higher than the Robinson match on the AWA set, so others agreed with you.

 

I thought that Robinson brought a lot more fire to his match than Brunzell did, and Robinson also gave you the impression on several occasions that he was going to win the title. Robinson's technical skills really shown through as well and his European uppercuts looked amazing. I loved how the back injury he got early in the match when he fell over the top rope continued to be an issue the rest of the match and wasnt forgotten about as well.

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I had the same opinion of those two Jumbo/Bockwinkel matches. I hated Terry Funk in the second match. For as much as he stayed out of the way in the title win match he was all over that second match and really drug it down with his nonsense.

 

On that 1984 AJPW note. I just watched Jumbo/Tenryu vs. Super Destroyers and enjoyed the match quite a bit. Fun little tag.

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Yeah, it wasnt only Funk being more involved and taking away from it, the match never really got going or had a pace to it. It was very jumpy and didnt have any flow to it whatsoever and I hated the ending as it made Jumbo look weak holding on to Bock so he couldnt get back in the ring, saving the DCO only days after he beat Bock for the title.

 

Looking forward to their March 84 match to see if it was better

 

As for Robinson or Brunzell, I think watching them back to back really shows how much better the Robinson match was.

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Hulk Hogan enters the Dungeon of Doom for some quality Wrestlecrap, Vader battles Arn Anderson and Ric Flair in a handi-cap match, Mixed tag action with Col Parker and the Studd Stable facing off with Sister Sherri and Harlem Heat, The Renegade tries not to embarrass himself against Mr. Wonderful, DDP tries to down Alex Wright and Hawk and Sting have a stinker against Meng and Kurasawa. Plus a hilarious Macho Man segment that may be the high light of the whole show.

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I just watched the hour or so of SHINE 30: started really rough, got somewhat better as it went along. It feels petty to rag on them, given that many of these women are 21 year old novices seemingly being trained by Big Vito, but wow. Everything about it - cameras, audio, stage, ring, gear, characters, insanely bad announcing, everyone's name and gimmick reeking of Cinemax - feels super low-rent. I like WWN and wish them well, and thought there was some positives: Ivelisse carries herself well, the Thunderkitty gimmick is somewhat amusing. Plus a Naylor cameo! It's hard, though: whether it's the creep fan base or the actual presentation, there's something about women on the indies that feels like it has to be tremendous stuff to not make me kind of squeamish.

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I'm watching everything from Brock Lesnar' first WWE run, 02-04. Everything I haven't seen mixed with the stuff that made him my favorite wrestler of all time in just a few months time. And to me, when he became WWE Ace @ Summerslam 02, he is the #1, best wrestler in the world untill the day he left in my eyes, and that 2 year period has a damn fine top 10 but I'll go crazy trying to list that. Just want to look at a few random bouts:

 

- Brock Lesnar v. Randy Orton - Smackdown 09.02.2002

Brock is Undisputed Champion here, taking the "Torch" from Rock, who had it passed to him by Hogan at Mania for some reason. Except at Summerslam Rock didn't pass it, Brock tore off his arm and carried around the arm holding said "Torch". Lesnar left in 2004 with his torch, and presumably Bischoff presented Triple H with a meaningless torch. Trips passed this phony one onto Batista in 2005, untill quickly taking it back and giving it to John Cena in 2006. uh.

 

Seriously one of the best Orton matches I've ever seen, and finest sub 5 minute matches too. It made me actually want to see a match between them now(in retrospect Mania 29 would have been a good place with Brock tapping him w/ the Kimura instead of the Triple H job).

Orton comes in with more fire than I've ever seen him, hitting some stiff elbows/forearms and a bunch of leg kicks(!) like he's Bryan or something. You can see the competition between this rookie class of 2002. Brock gets mad a catches him with an Overhead Suplex and then just throws Randall over the top rope, he lands on the ring post and then falls onto the floor in a nice bump. Back in, Brock blocks a clothesline with both of his forearms and hits a wicked STO. Awesome. Brock charges into the corner, Orton gets a boot up, but fuck that m, Lesnar catches it, throws it down and hits a mean Lariat in the corner. Lesnar does this over the shoulder gutbuster which is different. Orton does his shitty over the hip back breaker that he still does, goes up and hits a crossbody, Brock rolls through, deadlifts him up and flips him onto his shoulders(the first time I had ever seen this, long before Cena ever did it) and hits the F5 for the win.

 

Damn it's crazy how Lesnar just main evented the #2 PPV, won the Title and immediately fits right in as the Best in the World.

 

- Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena - Smackdown 09.19.2002

Same month, still building towards Undertaker @ Unforgiven in LA(my last live show. Wow so many Summerslams and Mania 21 missed. And HIAC would have been cool to see the true end of this feud where it began m. Oh well.)

Those short pink and blue tights look SO wrong on Cena! But seriously screw the jean shorts, I prefer the black shorts/ black Reeboks(?) circa 06 or the camouflage shorts circa 07(dates me, that was so in style in high school kid 2000's!). This match is about showing how well rounded Brock is, where as in the Orton match he was showing off his power and move set, here he's showing off his ground game against a stronger opponent as he would need both against The Deadman. I love Brock schooling Cena on the mat, best part is when he hooks in a full Nelson and scrapes his face all over the mat. I remember people comparing Cena to Sting at the time, maybe Bladerunner Sting cuz he's green as shit here. Cena goes for a crucifix of all things, which Brock turns into an F5. Man, even on TV squashes Brock has a unique counter to set up his finishing maneuver, he rules.

 

More early ones soon

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Been going through Jumbo Tsuruta's AWA Title reign in 1984 this weekend...

 

Jumbo © vs. Nick Bockwinkel - 2/26/84 - Japan - Rematch from Jumbo's win a few days earlier with Terry Funk as ref again. Not nearly as good as the title switch that I really like.

 

Jumbo © vs. Blackjack Lanza - 3/4/84 - Chicago - Jumbo's US tour as AWA Champ begins. Not as bad a match as I was expecting and the Chicago crowd is HOT for this one..strange portion when Blackjack has his atomic noogie on Jumbo, Jumbo's arm drops three times when the ref checks it, but nothing is said or done and things just go on...thought it was an interesting spot.

 

Jumbo © vs. Billy Robinson - 3/11/84 - Green Bay - This was REALLY good as Robinson brings the technical skills and the fire as the match goes on and gives Jumbo a hell of a match

 

Jumbo © vs Jim Brunzell - 3/15/84 - St Lake City - This was an average AWA wrestling match to me, nothing special as Jumbo's reign continues. Brunzell's dropkick as always is a thing of beauty

 

Next up, Jumbo goes back to Japan to face Bockwinkel again, then Greg Gagne, and a rematch with Jim Brunzell...

 

I'm right behind you on these. Watching his title win match with Bockwinkel right now and it looks like he has about a title defense a week on TV for awhile.

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Tonight I finished Jumbo's run as champ, as we head back to Japan for his last defenses

 

Jumbo © vs. Nick Bockwinkel - 3-24-84 - Japan - Nick gets another shot at the belt he lost a month earlier and then was in the DCO with Jumbo in the immediate rematch. Of their three AWA title matches in Feb / Mar 84 in Japan, this is the best outside the finish, but the finish works here as we go from a technical mat match to an all out fight at the end that sees Bock hit Jumbo with the AWA title and Jumbo goes nuts minutes later doing the same to Nick and anyone else around until the fight is on....

 

Jumbo © vs Greg Gagne - 4-19-84 - Japan - This match again shows how good Greg was in a technical, wrestling match. I really enjoyed this and shows that Greg could go in the ring and not just in tags. Better than most of his AWA singles matches I have seen and WAY better than anything in his mid-85 - 89 run...Didnt make the AWA DVDVR Set, so I guess others didnt like it as much, but I thought it was better than the US Brunzell match, but I can see it not being everyone's cup of tea due to so much mat work and long holds.

 

Jumbo © vs Jim Brunzell - 4-26-84 - Japan - Enjoyed this one much better than their US match as once they got going, it was decent. I still dont like the match-up of these two...THis one however ended once it started to get good.

 

Jumbo's next defense on tape I know of is Martel's title win, which I've watched a few times so am skipping this time...

 

 

For all of Jumbo's defenses, I'd say my top 2 were Jumbo vs. Billy Robinson and Jumbo vs. Bock III (3/84)

 

 

Off to Puerto Rico next for some blood and guts....

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