[1998-05-16-PCW] 2 Cold Scorpio vs Sexton Hardcastle

[Laz]

This match was given to me by SPS for the review trade.

 

It's always interesting to see the early work of what one may call a legend. Despite the general opinion here being not particularly high, I've always been an Edge fan (he being the former Sexton Hardcastle). Though the term may arguably be applied quite liberally, Edge was one of THE top guys of his era and has an impressive resumé as both a tag and singles talent in WWE. To me, he's the Brendan Fraser of pro wrestling: a generically charming talent with enough charisma and ability to carry himself even if he's not a true superstar lead. Vanilla, but not offensively bland.

 

This match, fine as it may be, suffers from a few elements. One being that it happened during a low point in Scorpio's career, where he saw the writing on the wall and phoned it in more often than not. Another being that most mid/late 90s indie work I've seen follows the WWF 1995 midcard formula (arm wringer, clothesline, chinlock, go home), which has to be the most intensely boring type of match I've seen. Finally, Hardcastle's selling is always momentary, a trait that the future WWE HOFer would never really shake.

 

None of this is to say that the match is awful, though. Hardcastle has always had an appeal to him on sight alone, carrying himself with a very real star presence, and his ridiculous white boy dancing to mock Scorpio only gets better throughout the match. There's also a gorgeous Electric Chair Drop that Scorpio sells like death, only recovering because Hardcastle takes so long dancing. The finishing stretch is fun, too, as Scorpio's moonsault is interrupted by Flash Flanagan (a stable member of Hardcastle), and then the rest of Revolution X tries to interfere (including Reckless Youth and Christian Cage), but they're run off by Brian Lee and a few other faces allowing Scorpio to finish Hardcastle off.

 

As an aside, Brian Lee reminds me of the trailer trash character Michael McDonald would play on MadTV. He looks like he'd kill you in a heartbeat, he talks like he wants to, but then he throws little sissy punches and the gag is revealed.

 

Overall, a nice lower card match, and quite a palate cleanser after Tanaka/Murahama.

 

5/10, **1/2