JvK reviews pimped matches from late 90s-10s

[Grimmas]

Don't worry Parv, Tanahashi sucks so I am on board.

[JerryvonKramer]

Jushin Liger vs. The Great Sasuke (4/16/94)

 

I've talked about the real importance of ring generals before, and this is a pretty good example of why they are absolutely vital and why that set of skills shouldn't be under appreciated. Here Liger, seemingly in heel mode, takes a punk to school and gives us his version of Sam Houston vs. Ric Flair. The botch in this match and the masterful way Liger reacts to it also shows you how the ability to work organically and drawing on experience to think on one's feet -- part and parcel of what a ring general is about -- can help to make a match. Some great storytelling in this, and Liger was great. I thought Sasuke was pretty awful, but he was able to work around his obvious limitations and shortcomings to have a very good match.

 

****

 

Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (2/9/97)

 

Still can't see a jacket. Loved the urgency and sense of struggle in the early matwork here. Felt like both guys were working hard to hurt the other one, which is the best type of matwork to my eyes. Liger is amazing at being expressive despite wearing a mask, and somehow he's able to convey aggression through it. Once the strikes and bombs come out in this one, there is no looking back.

 

One slightly jarring thing in this match for me is Ohtani's "idiot white meat babyface" type performance. Just seemed outrageously goofy to me, and weirdly out of place in a Japanese context. That did make Liger slapping the shit out of his face more satisfying but it's a performance that I'd describe as "curious" to say the least. It didn't detract from my enjoyment of this too much because it's a phenomenal match and Liger is at the peak of his powers. But yeah, the thinking he'd got the pin celebration spot and the signalling for the belt, and general mugging on his part felt pretty strange. Which might sound like an odd criticism given the praise I've heaped on Hase lately, but I've never found his character work jarring like that. Anyway, despite that, great match!

 

****3/4

 

Jushin Liger vs. Owen Hart (4/28/91)

 

Owen seemed extremely spotty early in this match, in a 00s Indie way. Just felt like he did too much in general and I'm glad Vince and Pat Patterson helped him to reign in these tendencies in his later work. The egregious "junior-ness" of it all doesn't make me a very happy bunny. It's a bit of a shame to see so much excessive flash and puffery in Owen's work here -- and I do like Owen generally.

 

Liger, though, helps to give this bout some much needed gravitas and structure. And the limb work that follows helps to get the bad taste and superfluity of the opening exchanges out of the mouth. I enjoyed the basic psychology of Owen targeting the arm with a variety of pretty painful looking moves, some Anderson shit. And then Liger replies with some of his own. I think Liger is probably one of my favourite mat workers. Nothing he does is that fancy but it looks effective. Liger in general has a lot of "heft" as a worker, much more than the average junior or Luchadore. You always feel his bodyweight even when he's coming off the top.

 

Even though it is spotty to start, this becomes a pretty good match once it settles down and Owen is a lot better through the middle and end portions, hitting his offense with impact and authority. Liger once again really good here, and pretty strong contender for "worker of the 90s". Good shit overall.

 

***1/2

[ohtani's jacket]

This mugging thing is a new talking point w/ you. Actually, I'm not surprised that Ohtani's schtick would come across as overacting or hamming it up to you. That was Ohtani's thing during his peak juniors years -- getting desperately close to a pinfall and acting like a hyperactive and overly-exaggerated version of Kobashi. Some of us found it endearing in the same way that Fuerza Guerrera, Psicosis or La Parka are. i used to liken it to silent comedy. The example I used was Chaplin, someone else called him Keaton. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but there was a lot of physical comedy in Ohtani's matches. My buddy and I would always laugh at his matches and mark out for his mannerisms while still digging the shit out of them as wrestling bouts. He was a special performer for me at the time and a guy I don't wanna go back and ever revise my feelings on. I did watch some of his clipped 1997-98 stuff a few years back and still found him as fresh as ever, but I don't wanna break any illusions I may have.

 

Totally agree about early 90s, pre-WWF return Owen. He works like that in every place he visits. I think it was either a holdover from his Blazer run or something he was doing to get noticed.

[JerryvonKramer]

AJ Styles vs. Bobby Roode (12/11/11)

 

Reviewed on request from Marty. He's making me watch TNA from 2011 so there better be a good reason. Build package is not very good. Going to try to tune out announcing and crowd and just look at what's happening in ring. Just in passing, some notes on presentational elements: I checked the date on the video again to check this wasn't 2001 rather than 2011, looks so staid and dated. Music is passé. Arena lighting is poor, whole thing looks like an old RAW. It's actually vaguely shocking a product that looks like this drew 11,000 people, which is a crowd 92 WCW would have killed for.

 

Okay, let's put all that stuff out of mind and look at the match. I'm also going to try to put out of mind the fact that there is another iron man match with a man called "Rude" in it, let's put all that to one side.

 

Very little about Roode's heel character work is natural in the early going. Just seems to be thinking too much about what he's doing. Some submission exchanges to start worked around headlock and body scissors, pretty oldschool sequence, 70s staple.

 

Around the six minute mark they start breaking out chop exchanges in the corner. I think it's quite early in the match to be busting out a big strike exchange and it feels entirely unearned here and it dissipates into a back body drop. That whole sequence just fell flat. What was the point of it? No drama in the exchanges, and stakes feel low.

 

AJ takes a tumble to the outside. And he's hurt his leg which Roode targets. They move into some pin attempts and counters. Deep armdrag by Styles. Clothesline gets two. Reverse chinlock. Back to the side headlock. Roode sneaks in a shinbreaker. Styles's leg is hurt. And soon Roode goes 1-0 up.

 

10 mins in. Chop block by Roode. He's stayed on that knee. I've liked the methodical pace with which Roode has gone about dismantling this leg. He's not rushing. Styles is still far from out though and comes back fighting. Roode cuts him off with a knee to the face. Hamstring snap -- straight out of the Dory playbook that one. Styles still fighting. Single leg crab by Roode. I feel like Styles needs to have shown a bit more vulnerability than he has so far. Seems quite sprightly for a man whose leg has been destroyed for fifteen minutes. Gets to the rope, and I have to say I didn't at all buy his pain or struggle there. Just too much zip about him still.

 

Figure four by Roode and I'm hoping this might wear Styles down a bit. He's like bloody Zebedee out of the Magic Roundabout. He taps to the pain. I dunno what it is, maybe it's the specific type of selling here, but there's something about Styles that doesn't seem dead or beaten enough. If a guy is tapping to the figure four I really want to see that pain properly, the agony, the exhaustion. And in this fall, as in the first, it has not come through enough.

 

Roode kicks the leg out again. Still seemingly too much zip about Styles in the way he's selling this leg. Although he is starting to slow down. Styles manages to hit a Rock Bottom type move and then immediately crawls over for the crossface. Sorry guys I'm just not buying this guy has a blown-out knee 18 minutes into this. Roode taps to the crossface. So it's 2-1.

 

The selling of this leg seems to disappear momentarily as he does some arm wringers now. It's almost like the selling is mechanically turned on and off. Roode manages to get back on the leg but Styles breaks him. I don't really get why Styles is even going for kicks when he's got a bad wheel. He goes after Roode's arm but is cut off by an eye rake. Roode clobbers Styles with a clothesline but it's with his injured arm, which Roode sells pretty well. Styles slides over for a cradle out of nowhere to even it up at 2-2.

 

9 mins left. Roode attacks the leg with kicks. Inzaguri from Styles. Spinebuster by Roode. He does a kind of DDT on Styles's foot, which is pretty cool. Roode goes for a catapult but Styles flips back from the turnbuckle, hits a reverse DDT and then does a springboard forward somersault thing off the top for three. 3-2. His leg is still hurt and he did sell it as he was covering. That said, I am still not really getting this idea of bursts of adrenaline leading to superhuman sequences where the leg is forgotten. I'm not keen on the psychology of it, and ALL three of Styles's falls so far have come from that source.

 

6 mins left. Roode manages to get in a cheap pin holding the rope for 3-3 around 5 minute mark. Styles is pissed now and beats on Roode in the face. Nasty looking. Goes for a superplex. Not happening. But Styles now runs to arm drag Roode of the top. And then nurses the bad leg. The stop-start psychology of the leg selling is weird to me.

 

3 mins. Back suplex by Styles. Shoulder and arm of Roode badly damaged now. Styles goes for a suplex but Roode kneecaps him. Goes for a perfectplex but Styles slips under for a cradle. Styles goes for a crucifix, but Roode charges and he lands awkwardly on his leg. That looked nasty. Roode slips outside and Style dives out after him landing on his leg. The psychology of the idiotic hail Mary move is another one I'm not that keen on, all very Shawn Michaels.

 

1 min left. They are still outside. Back in. 15 seconds left, and Roode evades. Chase. And that is so so cheap. All that and a Honky Tonk Man finish? Come on.

 

Did I watch the right match here. This? Is this a rib? Tell me I watched the wrong match.

 

There was a lot I found wanting in this match, but first the good: the basic psychology of the injured leg versus the injured arm / shoulder was solid. They also paced it pretty well apart from that early and poorly-timed chop exchange. I was also impressed with Roode, who was surprisingly good here.

 

However, some issues:

 

- stop-start selling from Styles. Up until about 10 mins left, he's far far too sprightly for a guy whose knee has gone. Maybe it's an expectation thing. I grew up watching Bret, Savage, and Steamboat, real masters of selling a body part, so I guess I expect exhaustion, pain, everything to be a bit of a struggle. Styles in this match seemed to have these bursts where he somehow forgot about the leg to do something explosive, and then he'd go back to selling it. Just something about that whole story wasn't working for me and they went to the same well three times.

- Complete lack of real drama. I guess this is one where the almost church-like atmosphere of TNA can't really be overlooked. Bland announcers and a really quiet (or at least badly micced up) crowd didn't help things. Where was the heat? This really came to the fore in the strike exchanges. Styles's reverse knife edges are fine but they echo out seemingly into emptiness. It would have helped so much if the crowd were really roaring for his comebacks, but their reaction made it seem like just another match for the most part.

- Awful finish. What was that? It seems custom-made to be disappointing but perhaps as a consequence of the fact the guys knew it was coming the match doesn't really build to a hot finish. Our emotional high point is the suicidal dive to the outside, it's not really what one wants from an Iron Man. Didn't sense that desperation of the timer ticking down, which is surely half the psychology of a match like this. It didn't happen.

- About that suicidal dive, just a taste thing I guess, but that entire Jeff Hardy trope of doing stuff despite supposed massive injury isn't great psychology and I've always found it hard to get behind.

 

All in all, I found the match pretty disappointing. If this is an all-time Styles selling performance, I wouldn't at all put him with the Brets or Steamers in that department, I just didn't believe the pain enough especially during the first twenty minutes. I'm afraid I can't recommend this one.

 

***1/2

[Superstar Sleeze]

TOTALLY DISAGREE!!!

 

The selling here was off the charts! He started selling before the chop block. He was selling as early as the drop toehold within one minute of the opening bell. Did you notice how he landed on his back on a kick out from the headscissors to avoid landing on the injured leg! Did you notice how he clamped on a front chancery to avoid Roode decimating the leg early? Did you notice he could not even run properly at all in this match? DO YOU THINK THAT IS HOW AJ STYLES TYPICALLY RUNS??? He ran like that to sell the knee!

 

Once the knee clips happens, he is fighting back because he does not want to die. He is actually selling rather than dying, which makes the comeback credible. None of his three falls came from bursts of energy.

 

Fall #1: Kicks Roode off with good leg causing shoulder injury. That "Rock Bottom type move" was a Single Arm DDT which he landed completely on his back totally avoiding landing on his legs. Then he rolled over in pain to get the crossface.

 

Fall #2: AJ taking advantage of Roode injuring his own arm when he went for an ill-advised clothesline. Hardly, a burst of energy!

 

Fall #3: HE LANDS ON ONE FOOT ON THE TURNBUCKLES AND THEN LANDS ON ONE FOOT TO DO A QUEBRADA ALL IN THE NAME OF SELLING!!! Look at his face when he is about to Springboard 450 that's the look of a man that knows this is going to hurt like Holy Hell, but damnit winning the match means that much more to him.

 

There is NO stop-start selling of the leg. He is literally selling the leg the whole time! Steamboat and Savage sell the leg in very dramatic fashion. This was a very realistic style of selling. Watch his face, watch how he moves in every punch and every chop, there is always a wince and there is always a sense that he has to fight through it.

[JerryvonKramer]

Best continue in the match thread where I left a reply.

[Matt D]

What the hell is a Zeebedee? Is it like this?

 

[JerryvonKramer]

More like this mate:

 

[Superstar Sleeze]

Hey Yo Mr. Matt D, watch the match! We need to know your hot take on this nearly 5 year old match that is causing quite the stir!

[Matt D]

Goddammit. TNA. I'll see what I can do.

[JerryvonKramer]

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kenta Kobashi (2/27/92)

 

This cropped up randomly down the side of my YouTube one day and I don't think I've seen it. Been meaning to give it a look for a while.

 

Jumbo gave Kobashi a hell of a lot here, and it's ridiculous how much Kobashi was over. Awesome German suplex nearfall close to the end.

 

Jumbo is so vicious in this match. Every single move he hits is executed like a finisher. I think he hits maybe six or seven lariats during the course. The backdrop suplex on the finish seemed to snap Kobashi in half. It's a really solid match. Not a classic, but very entertaining.

 

****

[InYourCase]

God this thread is so fascinating - not in a bad way, it's just so...different.

 

Parv, are you going to watch NOAH stuff? Interested in your take on Takayama in that era, and whether or not you'll like Kobashi's GHC run.

[pol]

It is funny that perhaps the biggest Kobashi mark around these parts has barely touched his run as promotional Ace and biggest wrestling star in Japan yet. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts when you do get around to it, Parv.

[JerryvonKramer]

If someone where to make a shortlist of about 20 NOAH matches (doesn't have to be Kobashi), I'd gladly sit down and review em for this thread. Especially if they are stiff as fuck.

[InYourCase]

If someone where to make a shortlist of about 20 NOAH matches (doesn't have to be Kobashi), I'd gladly sit down and review em for this thread. Especially if they are stiff as fuck.

Kobushi vs. Akiyama - 8/6/00

Takayama vs. Kikuchi - 10/7/00

Kobashi vs. Akiyama - 12/23/00

Miasma vs. Takayama: 4/15/01

Liger & Wataru Inoue vs. Kikuchi & Kanemaru: 2/17/02

Takayama vs. Misawa - 9/23/02

Kobashi vs. Misawa - 3/1/03

Kobashi vs. Tamon Honda - 4/13/03

Taue vs. Nagata - 6/6/03

Akiyama vs. Nagata - 7/16/03

Kobashi vs. Ogawa - 11/1/03

Misawa & Ogawa vs. KENTA & Marufuji - 4/25/04

Kobashi vs. Takayama - 4/25/04

Takayama vs. KENTA - 6/27/04

Kobashi vs. Akiyama - 7/10/04

Takayama vs. Sano - 8/1/04

Akiyama & Tenryu vs. Kobashi & Shiozaki - 4/25/05

Kobashi vs. Sasaki - 7/18/05

Tenryu vs. KENTA - 10/8/05

Sasaki & Nakajima vs. Kobashi & Shiozaki - 11/5/05

All are on Ditch's site. That's sort of the golden age of NOAH. There's a whole list of juniors matches that I'd recommend, but Parv especially would hate them.

[Robert S]

After a quick view on Ditch's list here is a list of 23 matches from 00-06 that I would consider the must see stuff (either because it is that good or it was hyped back then) from that period (probably not complete as I did this in 10 minutes and I haven't seen most of this stuff since it happened):

 

Kobashi vs. Akiyama 12/23/00
Liger & Inoue vs. Kikuchi & Kanemaru 2/17/02
Misawa & Kobashi vs. Akiyama & Nagata 2/17/02
Ogawa vs. Takayama 9/7/02
Takayama vs. Misawa 9/23/02
Misawa vs. Kobashi 3/1/03
Kobashi vs. Honda 4/13/03
Taue vs. Nagata 6/6/03
Akiyama & Saito vs. Kobashi & Honda 6/6/03
KENTA & Marufuji vs. Kanemaru & Hashi 9/12/03
Kobashi vs. Ogawa 11/1/03
Misawa & Ogawa vs. KENTA & Marufuji 4/25/04
Kobashi vs. Takayama 4/25/04
Morishima vs. Ikeda 6/1/04
Takayama vs. KENTA 6/27/04
Kobashi vs. Akiyama 7/10/04
Akiyama & Tenryu vs. Kobashi & Shiozaki 4/24/05
Kobashi vs. Sasaki 7/18/05
Misawa vs. Kawada 7/18/05
KENTA vs. SUWA 9/18/05
Sasaki & Nakajima vs. Kobashi & Shiozaki 11/5/05
Taue vs. Marufuji 3/5/06
Misawa vs. Morishima 3/5/06

There were more junior matches that was hyped pretty much but I don't think you are the guy who would enjoy long Marufuji vs. KENTA matches or MaruKENTA tag matches. Furthermore I did not add any six man tags, mostly because I don't remember which were the great ones.

[JerryvonKramer]

Bull Pain vs. Soul Taker (some time in 1999?)

 

This is from a promotion called KAW, and took place in a women's prison in Memphis. It was of curiosity to me cos I grew up watching Prisoner Cell Block H as well as a UK series called Bad Girls. It's a setting that held some interest for me in general.

 

Soul Taker has sort of a Dr. Doom look. Bull Pain comes out to AC / DC. Pretty hilarious stuff as Bull heels it up and riles the women in the crowd. One of them does some huge DX chops at him, ha ha. Bull flips the bird at a whole section of the inmates. The crowd work from him here is really something to see. DDT by Bull out on the floor. Soul Taker has had virtually nothing of this match. Pretty good study in working the heat from Bull Pain.

 

Powerslam by Soul Taker, poorly executed. Bull takes a tumble. These women in the crowd are absolutely hilarious. Bull tries to sit on one of them. Ha ha. Commentator says "that's probably the most contact she's had with a man in a while", my god. Chair shot by Bull. And another. More heeling it up from Bull. DX chops are running wild in the crowd. Bull gets the cover and beats down Soul Taker in what is basically a squash.

 

Highly entertaining stuff, worth a watch.

[goc]

Here is the link to that match if anyone read the review and wanted to see it which should be every single person who read it.

 

I have no problem saying: if you haven't seen the Bull Pain vs. Soultaker TN women's prison match, sort your life out.

[JerryvonKramer]

Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (6/8/00)

 

From NOAH. Akiyama looks cool. Kobashi looks tired as I think he does after about 98 in general. Mat stuff to start. Kobashi with a headlock worked with some vigour. I want to take some time out to say how sexy Akiyama looks in the all white stuff.

 

Kobashi starts busting out the strikes. And things get manly. Running knee from Akiyama, shades of Jumbo. Things go outside. Massive reverse knife edge sends Akiyama over the railings. Powerbomb outside by Kobashi. Nothing exceeds like excess as someone once said.

 

Stalled vertical suplex back in from Koabshi, perfectly executed. Cover gets two. Kobashi works a hold that is ripping across Akiyama's face, nasty as hell. There's no such thing as a resthold when you work as big as that. Complete awesomeness.

 

Chop and a knee lift. Stomp to the gut sends Akiyama over. Abdominal stretch worked as if he's going to rip Akiyama's head off. I never saw IRS do one like that. A fucking full nelson now. A full nelson?! Kobashi is dominating here. Chop sends Akiyama down and back on with the full nelson. If only Bulldog and Warlord could see this they'd know what a great one looks like.

 

Akiyama tries the jumping knee in the turnbuckle but bounces back off Kobashi like Mr. Perfect in a trampoline factory. Kobashi blocked it and came off like Superman. Kobashi goes for a suplex but Akyiama slips back and hits a low low drop kick nailing Koabshi in the shins. Fucking nasty and perfectly executed. That's a phenomenal transition right there. A+ transition.

 

Akiyama goes to work on this leg now. In with the sharpshooter. Crowd is firmly behind Kobashi. He tries to reach the ropes, but Akiyama cuts him off, slips into a crossface type position. Ankle lock sort of move now. Looks like Kobashi has picked up a shiner on his left eye somewhere along the line, it looks closed shut. Maybe it's just his generally puffy eyes, but seems more swollen than normal.

 

Baseball slide on the injured leg by Akiyama. Bearhug, strange move selection there. Allows Kobashi to hit a side suplex and the sleeper. Sleeper suplex! Couple of exciting nearfalls now. Half nelson suplex by Kobashi. Cover gets two. He's still selling the leg, eat your heart out AJ Styles in TNA!

 

German suplex from Akiyama gets two. Some epic struggle now, as Akiyama tries to get to the ropes. Crowd is really into this, as am I. Akiyama blocks a chop, then blocks a lariat, then blocks a suplex attempt before throwing one of his own, and a cover. One of the most exciting nearfalls I've ever seen! Fucking brilliant.

 

Kobashi has injured his lariat arm now too. Akiyama is almost dead from the Herculean effort it took to get that cover. Kobashi fires up again , goes for the lariat, Akiyama blocks again, Northern lights suplex. Ura-Nage. Cover gets two only! Another suplex variation now. Some sort of submission hold. Did he get him? Kobashi submitted? Some random guys hit the ring and try to beat on Akiyama but he sees them off. Who was that? A fan or some fat jobber? Who are all these wimpies?

 

This was an amazing match which had it all. Consistently great work from Kobashi, Akiyama brought great psychology, and structure to proceedings, and they told a fantastic story. I did not see that finish coming at all. No reason to give this anything less than the full five.

 

*****

[JerryvonKramer]

The sheer amount of Angle and Shawn love on the latest Sqaure Circle Gazette radio show has made me want to check out some random Angle and some random Shawn. Might as well use that Network subscription for something. Just doing searches and picking out stuff that looks interesting.

 

Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar (3/13/03)

 

This is from Smackdown. Lesnar jumps Kurt to start. The Stan Hansen jump-start. Early F5 and cover, but no Brock is confused. Something is wrong. Team Angle are down the aisle. What is going on? "Kurt" seems to switch with the real Kurt who is sneaks a pin. Brock beats the crap out of the fake Kurt Angle, who is apparently Eric Angle. Weird booking here. I want to watch a proper match out of these two.

 

Looks like I'm Wrestlemania 19 bound then, I might watch a few matches from this. I can barely remember the card at all. When it happened I was 19, hiding the fact I was a wrestling fan from certain uni friends while secretly reading Scott Keith almost every day, and spending a shitload of my student loan on Coliseium Home Video tapes ... Which we now know would fetch the sum of £26 thirteen years later. FML.

 

Chris Benoit, Chavo Guerrero, and Rhyno vs. Eddie Guerrero and Team Angle (Haas and Benjamin) Benoit and Rhyno vs. Guerreros vs. Team Angle (3/30/03)

 

Seems odd to see Benoit and Eddie buried in this six man triple threat tag match with the titles on the line. Seems to be a stip where the tag titles are on the line too, even though it's three on each side. Both of them look absolutely terrific here. Everything looks crisp, clean and awesome.

 

Structure is weird here, as basically we have Eddie vs. Benoit with support from the other four guys breaking up pins and so on. Makes me wonder why it wasn't just a singles match and a separate tag match.

 

Some of the work was mechanically exceptional here, but this felt super inconsequential, like a Raw or SD main event randomly stuck on a WM card. What a waste of talent. I guess the card was super stacked already.

 

**1/2

 

Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels (3/30/03)

 

This stadium feels so heartless and empty. As Shawn walks out with the confetti canon it feels like he's doing it in a vacuum in inner space. Just a consequence of the acoustics, I'd think, but there's zero noise audible from the crowd. I will also say that very little of Shawn's charisma and character work are natural here. Don't wish to come across as super critical, but there's zero that says to me "the man" in anything he does. Comes across as inorganic, and try hard. Some guys have it, some guys don't. He feels like he doesn't and it doesn't matter how loud the music is or how many fireworks they pop. Jericho's character work during this entrance, with his generally puzzled look, is not only much better, but also more or less sums up what I'm thinking when I see this.

 

As an aside, Lawler is so bland and unnatural on commentary, and JR sounds tapped out to me also. How did anyone think these two were the best commentary team? I'm not sure if I'd take them over Sean Mooney and Lord Al at this point, not even exaggerating. At least those two would make me laugh or say some stupid shit. JR and Lawler have truly sucked during this entrance. Something feels like it's just *not* happening for some reason. Almost like the occasion is so big that it loses atmosphere. Weird. The commentary sounds canned like off a video game.

 

Side headlock takedown into a headscissors by Michaels. Arm drag by Jericho, JR name checks Steamboat. Someone should tell him there's about 300 Luchadores with a better arm drag than that, ain't that right One Man Punch? I'll never let that go y'know. Back to the headlock for Shawn. Into a hammerlock. Hip toss. Single leg takedown by Jericho. Pretty damn scientific opening.

 

Headlock by Shawn still. Shades of Don Muraco. Elbows out by Jericho. Massive slap by Jericho. Michaels dumps Jericho and he lands by the announce table. Baseball slide by Michaels. Flying crossbody by Shawn. Jericho with a heel kick. There's something about Jericho's subtle character work that is really upping the stakes in this match. It feels like it means something *to him* and so therefore the match means more in general. But it's despite the setting and presentation and despite Shawn's generally empty performance thus far.

 

Some big Flair chops by Jericho. Crowd dutifully woos. Goes for the bulldog, Shawn blocks. That bit of action seemed pedestrian and telegraphed. I feel like I sound hyper critical, but I'm not meaning to be: that bit of action was really poorly worked. And it's on Shawn, he telegraphed it too heavily. Could see him positioning himself. Took me out of the moment.

 

Michaels works on the left leg of Jericho. Match has had so little flow so far. Very disjointed-feeling to me. Jericho cuts off the attack on the leg and Michaels hangs over the second rope. Michaels goes to skin the cat but ends up taking Jericho out with a headscissors to the outside followed by a plancha. Sluggish action.

 

Walls of Jericho on the outside now. Just no flow or psychology or fucking anything to this thing so far. Lower back of Michaels injured now. And Jericho charges Michaels into the ring post on that lower back. Okay, that's good. Jericho also remembers his leg injury and shakes it out. Nice touch.

 

Springboard drop kick from the top by Jericho now. Side suplex. Nice attack on the lower back. Vertical suplex. This match has taken off now Jericho is on top and in quite a major way. He's focused this attack on the back. Backbreaker! Jericho's character work is also really very good. He knows how to work a heat sequence, his jawing his effective. Very little of Shawn's selling or bumping during this has stood out in any way, it's made by Jericho's move selection and pacing more than anything, with a sprinkling of character work.

 

Reverse chinlock now but he's got the knee in the back as he does it. Shawn punches his way out, rake of the eyes by Jericho cuts off the hope spot. Whiplash. Michaels starts his comeback. Inverted atomic drop. Backdrop. Moonsault. Roll up. Series of nearfalls here. Really hasn't drawn me into the drama this match, Shawn is sluggish as hell.

 

Northern lights suplex by Jericho. Backslide power up by Michaels. JR's commentary has flat out fucking sucked here, so flat and boring, sorry fans of his, but fuck JR in 2003. Lawler adds nothing. Jericho starts to get frustrated as Michaels kicks out of the lionsault. Walls of Jericho now. Crowd wakes up. Can the showstopper make the ropes?! He can. ZERO drama.

 

Inside cradle gets two for Shawn. Butterfly backbreaker by Jericho, swank move! Cool! Jericho goes to the top, hits an elbow. Jericho starts cranking for sweet chin music. And he hits it! #TerriblemodernWWEtropes. Shawn with a sloppy crossbody from the top. Slugfest. Walls of Jericho by Michaels now? No, it's a catapult. Cover gets two. Jericho back with a shot to the lower back. Good strategy at least. Jericho goes for a super-back-suplex but Michaels reverses. JR: "this could be a turning point in this match up". Seriously this is one of JR's worst ever calls this match. Wake up Jim! Please say a single thing that doesn't sound like a pre-recorded cookie cutter comment.

 

Jericho goes for a superplex, but Michaels reverses and dumps Jericho on his face. Randy Savage elbow from Michaels. And now "adrenaline" makes him forget every single bit of pain or close-to-deathness he had because it's much more important to wind up SWEET CHIN MUSIC. Given he was at death's door literally seconds ago, I'm having a hard time believing this. No real acknowledgement of the lower back here, or of any sense that he's been through a war. But he misses! Walls of Jericho again! Can Mr. Wrestlemania make the ropes? The drama ... Oh once again it is completely non-existent. Fucking dire stuff this.

 

Michaels hits a savate kick out of nowhere. Both men down. Michaels gets an arm over. Two only. I want this match to end now, it lost me a long time ago. Fucking CRAP.

 

Flair flip by Michaels off an Irish whip in the corner. Rolling cradle gets three for Shawn. Left a sour taste in the mouth this.

 

There was the suggestion for a while of a great performance here from Jericho. His character work was very good. His heat sequence on the back was good, and there was some good long-term psychology there. Shawn flat out sucked in this match. Sluggish, woeful positioning. Timing all over the place. No structure or flow to his portions on top. Non-existent character work. And a fucking terrible finishing stretch devoid of any sense of drama or excitement. Really way worse than I thought it would be. All of it is underpinned by an awful call by JR, surely a career low for him. Just so lacking in anything approaching real emotion. Poor for what it was trying to be.

 

***

 

Gonna get a cup of tea to get the taste of that out of the mouth. More Mania 19 to come soon.

[BigBadMick]

That's Benoit and Rhyno v Guerreros v Haas and Benjamin at Wrestlemania

[JerryvonKramer]

That's Benoit and Rhyno v Guerreros v Haas and Benjamin at Wrestlemania

Lol, confused as fuck during that one I was. I think I missed the intro of Guerreros. Why were Team Angle on the outside and just coming in to break up pinfalls? Weird shit. Corrected review with proper info.

[goc]

How do you shit all over a match, say you need to drink a cup of tea to wash the taste of your mouth and yet still give a 3 star rating? I mean if I was the star rating type I think I'd probably give *** to a match that I thought was good but not great instead of something I actively disliked.

[JerryvonKramer]

Because there was enough good stuff in the heat sequence from Jericho, along with his performance in general for that rating.

 

But it's clear they weren't going for that, but for a much more epic 5-star affair. And on that count it failed utterly.

 

I guess stars have some context around them too. I thought Shawn's performance was horrible, as indicated, and that the finishing stretch sucked, but it wasn't utterly without merit. I toyed between 2.5 and 3, since I'd just given the tag 2.5 and it was clearly better than that, I went with 3. Still, as an "epic" match-for-the-ages deal, it sucked. One of the most disappointing matches I've reviewed so far in this thread.

[JerryvonKramer]

Triple H vs. Booker T (3/30/03)

 

Flair accompanies Triple H here. I really hate this venue. I think open air stadiums lose the sound too much and it feels like there is zero heat. Music also up way too loud. Flair is still not that old here, and looks closer to late WCW Ric, which is kinda weird and cool to see again.

 

Elbow and collar tie up and I swear someone lets out a "boring" chant, seems a bit unfair. Flair chops back and forth. Booker gets on top after a while with punches and kicks. But then eats a backdrop followed by a turnbuckle shot to the outside. HHH is consistently called "The Game" here. There's a lot of talk of Booker's background which was the angle going into this. He came from the streets and spent some time inside.

 

HHH works a heat sequence now. Methodical pace. Neck breaker. Cover gets two. Punches to the head. Turnbuckle shot. Booker T comes back. Arn Anderson Spinebuster by HHH cuts him off. Big running elbow by HHH, some impact on that. Chokes by him now. Booker T with chops and a DDT to turn the tide.

 

Chop suey. Spin kick by Booker. Flying forearm. Knee lift. Sleeper out of nowhere by The Game. High knee. "Shades of Harley Race" says JR. Face breaker by HHH. Booker turns it around again. He gets a nice meaty sound out of his chops does Booker, considering those gloves he wears.

 

Cover gets by Booker gets two only. Misses his scissors kick and lands on the top rope. Tumbles outside. Flair does a shinbreaker on the ring steps! Best spot in the match so far!

 

Indian deathlock and a strange one by Triple H, unusual version. He falls back. Dory Funk Jr style. JR is taken aback and keeps going on about how he hasn't seen anyone use this move in years. Nice to hear him actually mark for something, he was more alive going on about that Indian deathlock than he was the for the entirety of Shawn vs Jericho.

 

HHH goes for a pedigree but can't get it. Booker rolls him up for two. Trips with a stomp on the knee. Decent psychology. Awesome sick looking kick by Booker, like the heel went right on the back of HHH's head ... Shades of American History X! Very sick looking spot.

 

Flair gets on the apron. Booker smacks him down. Triple H goes for a superplex, can't get it. Punches him down. Flair on apron again. Somersault from the top on HHH by Booker. That got a "holy shit" chant. But Triple H pulls out a desperation pedigree win.

 

Match lacked flow and seemed rather disjointed. Triple H was working the leg but that stuff seemed just to be filling up time and went nowhere really. Booker T had some cool spots here, but he couldn't really put anything interesting together when he was on top. All seemed a bit stop-start. Highlight was JR marking like a little girl for that Indian deathlock, but otherwise this was nothing of note. Flair's shinbreaker was cool.

 

**1/2

 

Vince McMahon vs. Hulk Hogan (3/30/03)

 

Terrific package for this, mixing in real life, and 20 years of history. Feels special in a way that nothing else on this card has so far. This was a "dream match" available in 2003 and fair play they went for it. The sort of thing WWE can pull off when it wants to.

 

Even through the acoustics and music, I can hear the crowd for Hogan here and this crowd has been generally quiet so far. Maybe they close the roof, I dunno, but they are audibly much much louder here than they were for the other matches. Vince comes out now. Stacked. Psycho eyes.

 

Hogan beats on McMahon to start. Clothesline. Vince tries to cover up. Chokes from Hogan, crowd with a Hogan chant. Stomps from Hogan on Vince. McMahon is able to block the turnbuckle shot. Charges Hogan in the corner. Knee lift by him. Elbows. Choke. Punches. Vince is nasty! Sends Hogan down.

 

Knee drop on the arm, right on the elbow joint. Hogan sells big. Just a quick time out here, Hogan's selling of this arm for Vince is better than any single bit of selling Shawn did in the entirety of that Jericho match. Just flat out better selling. More emotion, more pain, more sympathy. That's Mr. Wrestlemania right there.

 

Vince cranks on this arm. Wraps it around the ring post. And again. Fuck Vince is actually pretty good! Been a while since a watched a match of his. Greco-Roman knuckle lock now, but Hogan wins the test of strength. This crowd has really come alive now. This goes on for some time. Hogan powers up, but Vince cuts him off and dumps him.

 

Smashes him on the barricade. Clubbing blows by Vince. McMahon flexes. Superb heeling. Grabs a chair. Misses. Hogan comes back. Posts Vince. Grabs the chair. Cups the ear. Chairshot. Crowd pops. Vince is busted open now. Blood all over his face.

 

Rights by Hogan. Vince bails. Hogan gets another chair. Right across the spine. Cups the ear, and the crowd is pumped. Goes for another chair shot and Vince ducks, Hogan nails the Spanish announcer! Ha ha. He's got colour! The Spanish announce guy is busted open.

 

Vince gets control of the chair. Smashes Hogan. Goes under the ring for a ladder. Sets it up. Hogan on the announce table. Stomps by Vince. He sets the ladder up between the two announce tables. Smashes Hogan with the announce monitor. Hogan busted open now. Vince goes up the ladder. Cups the ear on top. Ha ha. Massive boo. Leg drop from the ladder on top of the announce table. Vince you crazy bastard!

 

Both men down and bleeding. Back inside and cover from Vince gets two only! And again. Vince looks manic. Goes under the ring and gets a pole. Stalks by the apron like a shark. Hogan with the low blow!

 

Roddy Piper is here! What's this about? Kicks McMahon. Grabs the pipe. "Come on Junior, come on get up!" Great line. And of course Piper nails Hogan and bails. Vince literally slithers over to Hogan and covers. Two only!

 

Vince throws the ref out of the ring for his "compassion" and grabs the pipe. But McMahon is staggered. Another ref runs out, but it seems he's a crooked one. Leg drop by Vince but cover gets two only!

 

Right by Vince and Hogan no sells. He hulks up. Points the finger. Blocks the punch. Beats on the ref. Big boot. Cups the ear. Crowd is absolutely ecstatic. Drops the leg. And again. Cups the ear. Third leg drop. And gets the three.

 

Terrific double juice brawl with some "Wrestlemania moment" nonsense thrown in plus some memorable high spots. The absolute triumph of psychology, character work, crowd control, and sound structure to create a great match. Easily the best thing I've seen on this card so far. Just totally sound wrestling psychology 101 booked to virtual perfection. Post-match Shane walks out and shares some looks with Hogan and then checks on his dad.

 

****

 

This mania was ridiculously long and ridiculously stacked as far as cards go. Another tea break for me. I might as well review the rest of it now.