What are you watching?

[Johnny Sorrow]

John Tatum's descent into madness is one of the most eerie things I have ever seen in wrestling. He's wrestling Bubba Fangman on an episode of Championship Sports and is extremely depressed over the loss of Tessa. He's seeking hugs from the referee and his opponents. When fans heckle him, he just grabs them and hugs them and won't let go, which is pretty funny. Anyway, those same hecklers are persistent and he snaps and actually throws Fangman into the front row! He immediately breaks down in tears. A female fan chastises him, telling him he could have hurt someone! He says, "I know! I'm so sorry" and is hysterical. He finally runs out of the building in shame.

That sounds amazing.

 

I just watched Sabu vs. The One Man Gang from 1/23/99 off of the ECW set. Holy Moley, is that great. I had forgotten that OMG was even in ECW towards the end there. This was off the charts awesome, as it's OMG totally going toe to toe with Sabu and dominating at times, even though a 19th century Lion Tamer was helping him. Was that Skull Von Krush? I LOVED that this wasn't some, "bring in a guy past his prime and have Sabu kill him" squash. This was the mother fuckin' One Man Gang and he's one bad ass, tough mofo who don't take no shit offa no one. And Sabu looked great without any so called "sloppiness".

I always liked Sabu's "sloppy" dives and stuff. It made him look like a for real crazyman. Anyway, everyone needs to see this, it's god damned great.

[Loss]

John Tatum's descent into madness is one of the most eerie things I have ever seen in wrestling. He's wrestling Bubba Fangman on an episode of Championship Sports and is extremely depressed over the loss of Tessa. He's seeking hugs from the referee and his opponents. When fans heckle him, he just grabs them and hugs them and won't let go, which is pretty funny. Anyway, those same hecklers are persistent and he snaps and actually throws Fangman into the front row! He immediately breaks down in tears. A female fan chastises him, telling him he could have hurt someone! He says, "I know! I'm so sorry" and is hysterical. He finally runs out of the building in shame.

That sounds amazing.

 

All this while trying to convince Tessa she made a mistake in leaving him for Dundee. He starts sending her gifts and in every promo, he makes sure to mention that he has been reading self-help books and is a CHANGED MAN. Unfortunately, Tatum ended up in prison before the end of the year when he violated his parole by using drugs. His real history with Eddie Gilbert and his drug problems made this a little uncomfortable at times, because he's playing an unfiltered psychopath -- spontaneous fits of tears in squash matches which result in him apologizing to his opponent and the announcer and referee, being overcome with guilt when he's outwrestled some curtain jerker and suggesting that maybe he shouldn't take the win because it's selfish -- but it's still really compelling.

[Johnny Sorrow]

spontaneous fits of tears in squash matches which result in him apologizing to his opponent and the announcer and referee, being overcome with guilt when he's outwrestled some curtain jerker and suggesting that maybe he shouldn't take the win because it's selfish

Again, that sounds fucking amazing, and I demand someone makes a USWA set with all this in it and charge me for it. Chop chop.

[Victator]

Oh man Tazz was pretty awesome there. Love the cowboy hat. Wish I had appreciated it more then. At the time I was still mad over the fact he was not eleventy time WWF Champion or something.

 

That feels like the first time since early 93, the WWF let the real Jerry Lawler shine thru.

[Dylan Waco]

The first two weeks of the Snowman feud are available on youtube and really great stuff. The rest of this stuff Loss and Will have uncovered really needs to see the full light of day ASAP. I can't wait for it.

 

Also I'm glad you liked Sabu v. Gang Johnny. I love the way Gang bumped for Sabu, and Sabu's crazy dive to the floor looks fucking insane in that match

[KB8]

Yeah, this USWA stuff sounds incredible. Stoked for the '90 yearbook.

[EricR]

Throw me as well into the pile of "I will paypal Will immediately if he releases all this USWA stuff". You text me, I will send money within 5 minutes.

[Frankensteiner]

I'm starting to think Tamura/Yamamoto is the best shoot-style matchup ever. Their '98 and '99 matches are epic, but the '96 one is really good too. I feel like the matches are also some of most accessible for shoot-style.

[Coffey]

I'm getting ready to sit down & watch NJPW: The New Beginning (2/12/12) right now & I'm pretty damn excited, I won't lie.

 

Lately, I have felt the "itch" so to speak, & I think the reason is because WWE has been so bad lately, that I feel like I have a professional wrestling void that I need to fill. So I have been seeking out other stuff again lately. Not just different promotions but different eras as well. I have a couple of buddies going along for the ride too, so that makes it a lot more fun. Watching wrestling on my computer is boring & kind of pathetic, really. But I don't feel so bad if I burn a show onto a DVD then have some friends come over & we all watch it together.

 

Of course, we'll probably still order the Elimination Chamber and Wrestlemania from WWE because we're fucking marks.

[Ricky Jackson]

Watching wrestling on my computer is boring & kind of pathetic, really

Fuck no, YouTube is a gift from Wrestling Heaven.

 

And there is nothing pathetic about doing something you enjoy. Solo or otherwise.

[El-P]

And there is nothing pathetic about doing something you enjoy. Solo or otherwise.

I'm not touching that.

 

That being said, yeah, sometime I feel the same way, I'm like "What the hell, I'm watching 12 years old ECW TV". Then I stumble onto Chris Candido vs Simon Diamond and I think "Aww fuck it, this is great.".

[Ricky Jackson]

I was referring to watching wrestling by yourself. I'm not sure what you're thinking about.

[Tim Evans]

Watching some more Evansville USWA and I had no idea that Lawler feuded with Mike Awesome in 1990. Seeing Dave Brown mark out for Awesome's Awesome bomb was great. At the same time, Lawler was feuding with Chris Champion after almost "killing" him.

 

I've also been watching Schneider Comp 19. The James Mason match was the highlight of the comp. His wrestling is just so slick. The 1 hour Chris Hero vs CM Punk match? Not so much. So many dangerous and stupid moves.

[Loss]

Hey Tim, thoughts on Chris Champion's hair?

[Tim Evans]

In a promotion with a lot of mullets, it was pretty great. I still can't believe WCW (and later USWA) tried to push him as a oriental superstar.

[FLIK]

In a promotion with a lot of mullets, it was pretty great. I still can't believe WCW (and later USWA) tried to push him as a oriental superstar.

Heh, maybe I was just a dumb kid but they totally fooled me with the Yoshi Kwan gimmick.

[NintendoLogic]

Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker

Hell in a Cell, No Mercy 2002

 

I've heard a lot of people whose opinions I wouldn't dismiss out of hand praise this match to the heavens and call it a MOTDC. I would like to know why. The story of the match is centered around Lesnar going after Taker's broken hand, but Taker completely undermines it with his inconsistent (to put it charitably) selling. It starts out well enough. Taker clubs Lesnar with his cast, busting him open in the process, but he doubles over in pain after every blow. This does a nice job of getting over a "this is going to hurt you more than it hurts me" vibe. So Lesnar goes after the hand, destroying it with some chairshots and ripping off the cast. Once the cast comes off, though, Taker's hand apparently magically heals, as he does punches and chokeslams with no trouble at all. It's bad enough that the announcers have to play the "he's running on pure adrenaline" card to cover for it.

[Tim Evans]

I'm up to May 1990 in my Evansville USWA watching. It pretty much is the Ronnie Gossett show with special guests The Southern Rockers and Jeff Jarrett. I enjoyed the Billy Joe Travis babyface turn although it was quite random. The Southern Rockers dropping the tag titles to Sweet Daddy Falcone and Brickhouse Brown was interesting just for how much the Memphis tv crowd hated the Rockers. I don't remember a time where a Memphis crowd hated a babyface team like that? I also didn't know that Dirty White boy went through 3 tag team partners in 90? The way Tony treated Dirty White Girl after she kissed Steve Doll makes the Cena thing from Raw with Eve look like a little dispute.

 

And Loss, the first match between Dundee and John Tatum has to go on the set somehow. I loved when after every move, Tatum would go and kiss Tessa. The guy was such a creep and awesome.

[Victator]

Watching some more Evansville USWA and I had no idea that Lawler feuded with Mike Awesome in 1990. Seeing Dave Brown mark out for Awesome's Awesome bomb was great. At the same time, Lawler was feuding with Chris Champion after almost "killing" him.

If this does not end up on the Youtube, I hate you.

[Timbo Slice]

When Dylan was talking about Tazz and Lawler at SS 2000, I watched the match and then looked at the related links, which took me to Foley/Edge vs. Funk/Dreamer at One Night Stand 2006. One of the great ECW brawls of all time, maybe not so much in execution so much for the insanity. Foley doesn't do much in the match outside of letting Funk absolutely PASTE him with punches, slaps and a gnarly headbutt. Funk definitely stood out the most, especially with his Barely Legal callback (although the bump he ended up taking off the ladder was probably worse than a moonsault) and every single barbed wire spot made me cringe. The biggest and best was Funk channeling the Empty Arena Match with Lawler with a bloody face screaming "MY EYE! MY EYE! DAMN IT, MICK!" before being brought to the back. Of course, since it's Terry Funk being carried out mid-match, we all know what happens later on. All four guys knew their roles and played them to perfection, and as far as an environment goes, that might be one of the best matches in its setting I can remember. The Hammerstein was like a Hardcore Korauken Hall that night, letting ECW play to their violent, misogynistic ways for one more night.

[ADL]

Randomly watched Hogan's WWF title win against Iron Sheik yesterday I don' think I have ever seen it which is odd because I'm a huge fan of Hogan did not think much it really but the historical value of seeing the match made it worth watching.

[FLIK]

Fuck, the Finlay shoot was so...I don't want to say crappy but disapointing for sure. Not because of Fit but because RF was at his worst with the 8 million "what are your thoughts on _ " questions deal with no follow up or insight and on atleast 4 or 5 ocasions Fit ask him for clarification or more details on a question and RF just responds with "uhhh...I dunno, that's just what it says on my sheet".

 

The worst example being when he ask Finlay about HHH having a bad rep among internet fans, Finlay wants to know what exactly the fans are saying about HHH and all RF can respond is "oh, I guess just some ppl don't like him for whatever reason". WTF?

 

Also hated how in a 2 hour shoot they rushed through the first 20 or so years of his career in about 30 mins. Not even 1 mention of Princess Paula

 

Random interesting note from the interview is Finlay mention's he was preparing to send his 18 yr old son to get trained in the NJPW dojo soon and that his younger son would also probably get into the business too in a few years.

[Tim Evans]

Watching FCW tonight and they seem to be heading towards a Random Blonde/Rob Naylor and William Regal vs Dean Ambrose/Maxine/Norman Smiley feud. At least that's what I hope happens. Seeing Naylor hide behind the blonde after touching Ambrose was great.

[Kronos]

Bob Backlund vs Ken Patera (Texas Death Match) 5/19/1980

 

Backlund has the crowd behind him, which is interesting because by this point he’d been champ for almost 2 years IIRC. Patera’s kind of a dick, and he makes the Grand Wizard undress him. Then the Wizard whispers several things into Ken’s ear, and Vince on commentary makes a joke about whether it’s an embrace or not. I like Backlund getting fed up with their stalling. Patera’s strikes and kicks look too soft. There’s a sense that Backlund is putting himself into the position for a lot of these spots. I don’t mean that he’s setting himself up for the spot. I mean things like throwing himself onto the top rope. Don’t know if that’s Ken or Bob’s fault, but it takes me out of the match when it happens.

 

Patera dominates in the early minutes, and he looks a little better as they settle down into some grappling. Bob does a great job of selling the bearhug. As Bob begins to get into control, he does a beautiful atomic drop that bounces Patera almost all the way over the ropes. And then he throws one of the most realistic-looking piledrivers I have ever seen. Seriously, I don’t know how Patera wasn’t injured. Bob’s offense is so much better-looking.

 

It takes them almost 15 minutes to do anything underhanded, which is bizarre for a NO DQ match. I feel like this match is lacking in the hate and intensity that should accompany a Tx Death Match. The crowd is loving it, though, and their excitement builds through a few nearfalls and an extended spot where Backlund lays on a stretch. (Patera’s escape from the stretch is pretty great, too, and it represents a turning point to where they start selling exhaustion and beatdown.) The second half really picks up the intensity. Backlund is bleeding pretty good. Patera’s punches whiff by a mile, though– and not intentionally.

 

I really can’t stress enough how much Bob’s better than Patera in this match, even if he’s a bit cartoony at points. I got to where I was excited every time Backlund goes on offense. I won’t say Patera was terrible, but I do feel like he got carried. The after match was about as exciting as anything that happened in the bout itself. I wish they’d had that kind of intensity the whole time.

[Tim Evans]

I forgot to mention Lawler/Snowman! Jerry Lawler works redneck UWFI style! I am NOT joking. I floated one of the Lawler/Snowman matches to a few people who can vouch for me on that, that I am not crazy in saying that. The takedowns and strikes are pretty outstanding. Tim, one of their matches is on the Evansville set and I'd really be interested in hearing your thoughts on it when you get to it. Four others aired in Memphis only that are worked similarly. Also, Lawler vs Leon Spinks!

I just watched the match you are talking about and holy shit was it great. Jerry Lawler was like a mix between Fujiwara and current day Casas/Panther. Snowman was pretty awful in the ring but when he gave a stiff punch right to Lawler's ribs, I marked out a little bit. The whole lead up to the match where Snowman gets into a verbal fight with Eddie Marlin and brings out Norvell Austin's brother and some scary guy who just stares down Dave Brown was great. The guy didn't even know who Jerry Lawler was. Was Snowman actually a babyface earlier in the feud? Does any footage of the Leon Spinks ref match exist?