Mike Enos

[Chess Knight]

So I watched the Enos v. Jericho 96 match and the Enos v. Benoit Souled Out match early last year and thought both were really damn good. Enos then became a guy I eventually wanted to search more of (putting a wrestlers name in youtube/dailymotion and watching whatever pops up is my favourite thing to do ever), and, well, I eventually did. I'm doing a 'project' with some guys so IDK when I'll watch more Enos but I'll try to make time for it. I have Enos stuff lined up to eventually get around to, soI'll be coming in here every now and then (whenever that is) to talk about some Enos matches. Hopefully other folk will, too, because MIKE ENOS!

 

 

Mike Enos v. Mike Tolbert (WorldWide June 1998, I think)

This was slow and weird. Tolbert had some nice shots, but otherwise looked kind of clueless. Dead-eye stare selling, lifting himself up on Enos's bearhug really awkwardly, making comebacks at stupid times, etc. Enos always has really good looking offense and pieces matches together the way I like them, but Tolbert stunk most of this up and Enos couldn't totally carry him. I will not be looking up a bunch of Mike Tolbert any time soon.

 

Mike Enos v. Bill Goldberg (Thunder 4/22/98)

I was ready for a complete squash but Enos starts by firing at Goldberg to get the upperhand. Goldy "Hulks" that shit and does this really swift and smooth looking leg-grapevine takedown thing. Dude is more and more surprisingly spry every time I see him. Goldberg no-sells another powerslam which is a little annoying but ultimately not the worst thing ever. One spear and jackhammer later and yeah, we're done. Fun match. I am definitely looking up a bunch of Goldberg sometime soon. Might actually find an entertaining Mike Tolbert match in there somewhere.

 

Mike Enos v. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Nitro 8/26/96)

Didn't know Chavo was a good shine wrestler. Basically a Mexican poor man's Ricky Morton, but who don't love a Mexican poor man's Ricky Morton? Well, most people, apparently. Well fuck you, I like Mexican poor man's Ricky Morton and he, in fact, throws a really nice drop kick. SO THERE! This was mostly about Enos pulling off decently big moves and Chavo not staying down. Enos gets all frustrated like 'COME ON' 'THAT'S IT!' [ooh baby], and there's a really unique transition spot here. I don't really know how to describe it or whether it was even planned. Enos goes for a powerbomb and Chavo seemed to kick Enos in the head on the way up. Then Enos 'bombs' Chavo on his own leg, crippling himself. Again, who knows if that was planned or not, but if not it was a pretty genius improv by Mike Enos. Chavo has the figure-four and Enos 'accidentally' thumbs the ref in the eye. Blind ref doesn't catch that Enos has swapped with his partner Dick Slater, who Chavo pins in a second anyway. Neat match.

 

Mike Enos v. Chris Benoit (WCWSN Night Before Fall Brawl 1999)

These two have a great PPV match so I was looking forward to this 3 minutes. This was a US Title match and sweet paddle pop on a fucking stick it was a hell of a sprint. I said Enos always has good offense (somewhere.....didn't I?) and he and Benoit rough the crap out of each other in the collar-elbow tie-up. Enos throws blows like a madman to shockingly enormous boos. It was probably canned. Benoit fires back and Enos sells the chops really fucking awesomely ('awesomely'?, how is that not underlined?); he falls down HARD on the big ones and doesn't make the selling of it seem silly. It's a big burly dude flying downward and BOINGING when someone simply throws their hand into his chest. That, by all means, should look ridiculous, but it doesn't because Mike Fucking Enos. Enos tries to create space but Benoit's too busy throwing Enos into things to give shit about his needs. So yeah, what were the DQ rules in WCW around this time? Enos uses the US belt a few times on the outside, throws it into the ring and the ref does nothing. What have I been missing? Whatever, this was pretty sweet.

 

Mike Enos v. Chris Benoit (Nitro 7/14/97)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enos v. Benoit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am removed from another one of their matches and this one didn't disappoint either. Benoit didn't get much offense in here but man he looked to be working a lot stiffer in 97 than in 99. His chops looked like they'd rip a nipple off. Enos gets to control most of this and I've said whatever about his offense looking good and hard, yet I never mention(ed) how he often has something neat in his arsenal that he doesn't bring up a ton. I've never seen the piledriver he used here. It was a reverse tombstone where he jumped and it looked badass and violent. Maybe it's because he had Benoit up in a 'regular' piledriver position and I wasn't expecting this weird reverse-tombstone, but it took me aback and it seemed like the kind of move that could injure really easily. Benoit's quick-as-hell crossface win comebacks are oddly satisfying and I love this Benoit/Enos match-up right now.

 

Mike Enos v. Lex Luger (Nitro the Night After World War 3 some year who cares MIKE ENOS!)

So Luger has an unfair rep. Yes, there were times where he wasn't terribly good. SO WHAT? Ric Flair and Barry Windham at one point or another have not been terribly good yet it doesn't diminish how good they were at their peak. Luger was really fucking good in his peak and has a nice catalogue of good/great matches. I mean yeah, this isn't his peak, but it was 1998/1999 and he still didn't suck. He didn't do anything particularly stand out, but was, say, HHH in 2009 really better than Luger was here? Was Ric Flair in 2003 really better than Luger was here? Was Chris Jericho in 2010 really better than Luger was here? Those are three guys that get all-time great talk in one circle or another and the same people who'll say they are all-time greats are the same people that will bag Luger. I sure as hell don't think Lex Luger in an all-timer, but he is so much better than some who are called all-timers and I don't remember a time in Luger's career where he was awful like people claim he was. Luger rant aside- this was still mostly Mike Enos. Enos doesn't have the backlash so there was no reason to rant about him, but, yeah, it's 1998 or 1999 or whatever and late 90s Mike Enos was pretty obviously going to outwork late 90s Luger. I said Luger didn't do anything truly stand-out and I meant it (thought he found some weirdly cool looking ways to fall down), but 'not stand-out' isn't 'bad', and 'not stand-out' can be covered by Mike Enos selling in neat bumping ways. I really like Enos' bumps on clothesline and shit. You know those bumps dudes take where they fall and kind of jerk up STRAIGHT after falling down? Almost like a nip up but completely failed and they tilt to their side or something? Yeah, Enos takes those bumps. He does a cool piledriver here that isn't the badass one he unleashed on Benoit, but looked painful and Luger touched the top of his head after it (which, for whatever reason, not many wrestlers seem to do after a piledriver and IDK why). Cool finish run as Enos gets to kick out a big move or two.

 

Mike Enos v. Mr. Wallstreet (Nitro, 12/96 I guess)

I found this when first watching the bunch o' Mike Enos and was going to watch it. I then remembered Mr. Wallstreet was Mike Rotunda and turned off the video. Well I didn't miss anything. DiBiase comes out and Enos wonders whether Ted's interested in signing him for the nWo, and then Wallstreet picks up the win while he's distracted. We get what LOOKED like a great leg drop by Mike Enos, but the camera barely gets to show it.

 

Mike Enos v. Evan Karagias (Nitro)

Man Karagias throws the laziest shittiest corner punches of all time. It looked like white Kofi Kingston. This could have been better; Enos wastes too much time yelling at the crowd and just looking around (though his yells of 'ENOS' responding the crowd saying 'we want Sid' were pretty super). Basically a squash that had an awesome start of Evan going to Enos' leg and then doing an over-the-top-rope crossbody where Enos still sells the leg afterward. I wish this had more Karagias offense like that (and not his shitty ass corner punches) because they could have made for great cut-off comeback thingys. ICP and Vampiro interfere in this and then...whatever. I hate all three of them.

 

Mike Enos v. Dallas Page (Nitro the Night After Slim Jim's Halloween Havoc 199X)

DDP! I was deciding what to watch on Google videos page and then saw DDP and I was like 'OH! OH!' DDP hits a HARD slap to Enos and Enos kind of goes for a collar/elbow tie or something fiercely and then slaps him back (and it makes, like, no noise whatsoever). I was kind of disappointed by Enos playing babyface because this has the layout of an Enos heel match. He gets to work over DDP and it's enjoyable despite him being distracted by the random Outsiders appearance in the crowd. I was totally right about his leg-drop being great, btw. His guard-rail bumping is as fun to watch as his clothesline bumping also, and his bumps actually kind of work as a face. He's a heel offense guy, though. The match ends with a really spot of DDP hooking the turnbuckle with his boots while in a powerslam and then using the diamond cutter.

 

Mike Enos v. Scotty Riggs (1997 or something)

Fun couple of minutes. I've never thought Riggs was anything more than poo but he certainly looked like more than poo in this. I thought he was going to fuck up an Irish whip, but as it turns out he was just swinging Enos around to gain more momentum. Enos goes flying over the top rope, almost like that signature over-top-rope-Irish-whip bump that HHH takes. Enos takes a back-body drop bump outside and half of his body lands on concrete. Owey. Riggs wins with a VERY abrupt forearm. It was basically his comeback and he just kind of.......wins. It'd be like Rey Mysterio winning the run-ropes crossbody right before the 619.

[Superstar Sleeze]

This thread is the embodiment of why I love PWO! Where else would you get a poster to write so much and so enthusiastically about Mike Friggin Enos. I am starting to tire of 80s WWF Tag matches. Maybe random midcard WCW wrestlers will be my new thing.