The C-Show Project

[cactus]

I've not been in the mood to watch lengthy matches and shows as of late and I stumbled across the excellent Monsoon Classic Youtube channel that is chock-full of matches from C-shows from many US promotions. A lot of these matches looked interesting, so I spent an entire morning making my way through them and decided to make this a mini-project.  

Seeing as most of these matches are on the short side and clock in at 3-4 minutes on average, I've decided to ditch the regular star rating system and instead opted for a Segunda Caida-style rating system.

I'll start this off with an era that takes me back to my childhood. I remember watching Metal and Heat more the the big shows as a kid, as they were usually on during that sweet spot of the morning where you had an hour to watch TV before you headed off to school. 

Christian vs Loki (WWF Metal - aired 1/12/2002)
According to the commentators, Christian is the European Champion, but this is a non-title match as Christian doesn't consider Loki a worthy contender. As talented as Loki is, he's not exactly the best choice for an enhancement talent as he seems more focused on getting himself over rather than enhancing Christian. He takes a big bump to the guardrail from the ring apron and busts out all of his usual high spots. We get the Tidal Wave springboard roundhouse kick and the Tidal Crush cartwheel corner kick. We even see him attempt the Phoenix Splash, which has to be the first ever time that move was attempted on a WWF show (they even refer to the move by the name)! Despite my critiques of Loki trying get himself over at the expense of the actual star (in Loki's defence, the crowd do start to cheer for him), this was still an enjoyable little bout. FUN

Crash vs Prince Nana (WWF Metal - aired 1/12/2002)
On top of losing his surname, Crash has also lost super heavyweight gimmick as he is announced at a trim 220lbs as he comes to the ring to face future ROH manager Prince Nana. Coach refers to Nana as Prince Banana because of his yellow gear. Crash feels like a happy-go-lucky World Of Sport wrestler here due to the comedic babyface spots he peppers into this enhancement match. He would psycho out Nana by confusing him with a test of strength before stomping on his feet. Crash also has this amusing bit where he is scared off coming off the top rope. Nana gets in his one nearfall on Crash after hitting him with a flapjack and seaton splash. Crash is eventually able to fight his fear of heights as he lands a cross body from the top rope before sending Nana back to the showers after landing his bulldog finish. Crash had a fun gimmick, but this isn't interesting enough to watch by itself. SKIPPABLE

Sgt. Slaughter & Perry Saturn vs The Dudley Boyz (WWF Heat - aired 1/13/2002)
Sgt. Slaughter makes a rare return to the ring on a C-show. In the wake of 9/11, Americans looked for any old reason to chant USA, so sending Sarge out there was a smart move. Sarge is rather limited in what he can do physically by 2002, but he is over with this crowd, who are happy to just see him. The only bump he takes here is when he suplexes D'von and looks like he almost gives himself a hernia. Post-Moppy Saturn was lost in the shuffle once the Invasion storyline wrapped up, so they sent him out in camo pants to team with Sarge and to take the majority of the punishment. Bubba taunts Sarge by impersonating him, before missing a seaton splash from the middle rope. Sarge is tagged in and cleans house and locks on the Cobra Clutch. This move was still over by 2002, as Sarge sent the crowd into a frenzy once he locks in it. It doesn't get the job done and the match is thrown out once Sarge removes his belt and starts whipping the Dudleyz, and giving Stacy a slap on the ass for good measure. FUN

Boss Man vs Shawn Stasiak (WWF Metal - aired 1/19/2002)
If you thought that WWE shortening their wrestler's names for no reason was a new thing, then look no further than poor Ray Traylor having his well-established (and admittedly kind of dumb) gimmick name shortened to just Boss Man (a very dumb gimmick name). I was disappointed to see this was pre-Planet Stasiak Shawn Stasiak. He's just a not-over babyface with a generic and boring look. You can just tell he was a real-life goofball and he can't do anything well except being a crazed comedy curtain jerker. Both guys do some stuff with a fan in the front row (the commentators talk about him as if he was some sort of known celebrity, but I can't find anything online about him). This was a dull five minutes to sit through. Boss Man added some personality by trash-talking everyone within his sights. He throws a good punch and sells punches well too, by whipping his head back and slobbering all over the place. One Boss Man Slam out of nowhere and this one is mercifully over. SKIPPABLE

The Hurricane vs AJ Styles (WWF Metal - aired 1/26/2002)
I know Styles wasn't keen on signing with the WWF during this time due to family commitments, but I'm surprised that the guys behind the scenes didn't do everything in their power to get him signed to a contract. You can tell that he is a special talent, even at this point. He already has things like bumping, posturing to the crowd and all the athletic stuff down to a tee. The match opens with Styles showing some disrespect to Hurricane after Hurricane offers him a handshake. Styles gets a bit more stuff in than you usual job guy. He lands a brutal brainbuster and is allowed to escape from Hurricane's chokeslam and Eye of the Hurricane move. He's presented as a minor threat to Hurricane, but he knows he is here to shine Hurricane up and not to make himself a star. After Styles misses a shooting star press, Hurricane puts away his virtually unknown (as he is described by Coach on commentary) opponent with the Vertebreaker. FUN

Christian vs Diamond Dallas Page (WWF Heat - aired 1/27/2002)
Christian is the European champion, but it is not on the line here. In a cool spot, DDP goes for the Diamond Cutter early, but Christian is able to hold onto the ropes and DDP sends himself crashing onto his back. The action here is on the basic side, but I was impressed by how smooth DDP's tilt-a-whirl side slam looked. After one of his big moves doesn't get the job done, Christian starts throwing a temper tantrum and ends up costing himself the match after DDP successfully lands a Diamond Cutter. This wasn't bad, just ultimately forgettable. It is nice to see DDP still remain over with the fans in spite of his WWF run being a disaster. SKIPPABLE

The Hurricane vs Lance Storm (WWF Heat - aired 2/3/2002)
Despite their wildly contrasting gimmicks, Hurricane and Storm work a similar style and it seemed like they would work well together. It's a shame that this only goes three minutes. I know the point of this project is to showcase snappy matches that make the most of the time they are given, but this is a pairing that would have worked much better together if they got a few more minutes to tell a story. They trade some fluid sequences and Hurricane squeezes in a big tope to the outside. I dug Hurricane escaping peril by dodging and rolling, as if he was a superhero. Storm catches Hurricane's superkick attempt and lays him out with one of his own to pick up a clean victory.  FUN

Boss Man vs Michael Shane (WWF Metal - aired 2/23/2002)
Boss Man looks a lot bigger than he was during his Attitude Era run, and he takes one bump during this match. Despite him not being in the best shape, he clearly knows what he's doing, as he walks around the place with menace and with a smirk plastered across his face. We some fun Boss Man mannerisms (Boss Mannerisms? I'll see myself out) and I love how he pinned Shane after only put a single finger on his chest. Shane looked good here. He has a decent look and brought some fire during the brief moments where he was able to get some stuff in. This was a serviceable squash match featuring one of my favourite big men and an enhancement talent who had all the tools to go far, but just never really amounted to much. FUN

Rob Van Dam vs Lance Storm (WWF Heat - aired 3/3/2002)
The best thing to ever happened to RVD was to join WWE and have a salty veteran in the back forcing him to stick to TV formats and telling him to structure his matches better. Some of his ECW matches had long-drawn-out stalling and moments where RVD would just throw out big moves with little rhyme or reason, just to pop the smarky fans. Those problems disappeared when he joined WWE and he didn't even have to make alterations to his unique working style. On the subject of ECW, Storm and RVD are no strangers to each other and you can tell that they have great chemistry here. Both men are clearly comfortable with each other as they work stiff, particularly Storm when he cuts off RVD. This was a sprint, but it didn't feel rushed. They made the most of the time they were given and crammed in a lot of stuff. They do a cool sequence where they constantly counter each other's kicks and it is amazing to see how they were able to pull this off without it looking fake or stagey. You probably aren't going to get a star as big as RVD working the C-shows and the crowd goes crazy for him and all of his classic high spots. If you liked their Barely Legal encounter, then definitely give this a watch. VERY GOOD

[Ma Stump Puller]

Dope idea for a project, there's a ton of good matches hidden in seemingly nothing C/D shows, and some wrestlers have some of their most fun showings doing these kind of sprint TV tapings

 

[SAMS]

Will be a lot of fun reading through this. Loved Heat as a kid! Probably because it was the only show I regularly had access to on UK TV at the time. 

[cactus]

Thanks for the kind words!

This match is a gem. Give it a watch. 

Perry Saturn vs Paul London (WWF Metal - aired 3/9/2002)
Clocking in at just over six minutes, they got a lot more time than your usual enhancement match and this is one of the better ones. Saturn looks likes a killer, rocking plain black shorts and a bandana as he comes to the ring. While Saturn might not have been the most charismatic worker to ever lace up a pair of boots, you got the sense that he actually enjoys working stiff and hurting London here. Whether or not that's true, it did wonders to his presentation here and he comes across as a nasty bastard. All of Saturn's offense looked rather unique, all while still feel dangerous and not fancy for fancy's sake. Saturn lets London get in a few believable hope spots, but he makes him work for it first by brutalizing the kid. London sells his punishment wonderfully and that back flip face bump from Saturn's release dragon suplex was one that particularly stuck out in my mind. London gets some of the crowd to rally behind him, but it's not long before his hopes come crashing down when he misses a SSP from the top rope. A devastating DVD later and London is sent back to the indies. VERY GOOD

Diamond Dallas Page vs Lance Storm (WWF Heat - aired 3/10/2002)
Christian, complete with a horrible leather blazer, is in DDP's corner as DDP is trying to coach Christian to control his anger in an underrated undercard storyline. DDP is putting on his European strap against Lance Storm tonight and they gel together well. They open with some slick chain wrestling before Storm is able to start his control segment by guillotining DDP's throat across the top rope. DDP's bumping here was great, as I loved how he bounced into the air when he would take a bomb from Lance. My enjoyment would start to peter out here until to the finish, even though the wrestling was fundamentally sound. Christian starts freaking out when Storm gets his foot on the ropes after a DDP nearfall and DDP tries to calm him down. During this distraction, Storm is able to land a superkick and nearly wins the title. Even though I knew that DDP was heading into Wrestlemania as the champion, that nearfall had me convinced that Storm was winning this as it was set up perfectly. DDP is able to reign it in and score a Diamond Cutter to retain his title. This was an enjoyable match that had its moments, with the entertaining story propping the whole segment up. FUN

Mr Perfect vs Rikishi (WWF Heat - aired 3/10/2002)
The closest Perfect got to having a proper feud during his final WWF run was this business with Rikishi, which rarely ever left the C-shows. You can that Perfect was physically shot by this point. He ends up messing up a scoop slam counter, but he's enough of a pro to make the botch look intentional as he grabs Rikishi's leg as he goes down and turns it into a takedown. He then follows this up with a dubious kick to the 'upper thigh'. Perfect once again flubs a move by nearly getting dropped on his head as he doesn't get enough air on a back body drop. Rikishi uses Earthquake's old finisher to set up for his butt-bump/Stink Face sequence. It made for an awkward transitional move as Perfect had to get up from the mat and move to the corner after getting sat on. Before Rikishi can stick his ass in Perfect's face, Test runs in and lays out Rikishi with a big boot. Perfect shielded the referee away from this and is able sneak away with the pin. SKIPPABLE

Mr Perfect, Test & Lance Storm vs Rikishi, Scotty 2 Hotty & Albert (WWF Heat - 3/17/2002)
Six guys that are lost in the shuffle are sent out there to warm up the crowd on this very special edition of Heat that is airing live just before Wrestlemania begins. I know he didn't need to be a featured match at this point during his career, but seeing the reaction Perfect got during his entrance made me wish he was featured on the main card in some way. We get a brief glance at Scotty's rock-solid fundamentals such as how he strikes and how he sells strikes and it made me wish we got more chances to see him in longer matches during his WWF run. Perfect ends up taking the Stink Face, but he puts his towel up to stop Rikishi's bare ass from touching his face. Perhaps this was Hennig going into business for himself, but it resulted in a funny visual of Perfect's towel getting stuck in Rikishi's ass cheeks, so I couldn't care less. This was a fun sprint that certainly achieved its job of jerking the curtain before a massive Wrestlemania goes live. FUN

Mr Perfect vs Rob Van Dam (WWF Heat - aired 3/24/2002)
Fresh of his Wrestlemania victory, RVD's first title defence is against Mr Perfect. This match looks good on paper, but then you remember that RVD is nowhere near as good in the ring as your childhood would like to believe and Hennig has been past his best days by a decade at this point. RVD gets his signature shoulder thrusts in and forces Perfect to rethink his strategy. Perfect bashes RVD's head into the corner as he kick-starts his dull control segment. There's just not much here that's worth talking about. Perfect attempts to steal this one by pinning RVD with the help of the ropes, but the referee stops his count as soon as he sees Perfect trying to cheat his way to the title. Perfect not winning here got some loud boos from the crowd. Just as Perfect is arguing with the official, RVD lays him out with a kick and goes high to retain his strap in his first TV defence. SKIPPABLE

Scott Hall vs Crash (WWF Heat - aired 4/7/2002)
What a weird pairing during a very weird time for the company. Raven is randomly here as a guest commentator, but doesn't add anything to the presentation. Holly runs rings around Hall in attempt to tire him out, but this spot just exposed how past it Hall was during this dark time in his life. The crowd are just happy to see Hall play all his greatest songs and he delivers them to a satisfactory standard. Hall cuts Crash off with a SOS slam, which he gives the camera a smirk before he throws Crash overhead. We also get the spinning discus punch, back superplex and Hall's horrible chokeslam where he barely gets Holly off the ground. Despite the uniqueness of this pairing, this was ultimately a rather boring squash match. SKIPPABLE

Hugh Morrus vs Lance Storm (WWF Metal - aired 4/20/2002)
One of my finds since doing this project is that Lance Storm is a damn fine pro wrestler. He sure as hell wasn't going to main eventing any pay-per-views, but his fundamentals are sublime and you can't see through his work. Morrus has some cool power spots in his arsenal and had some charismatic sneering facials every time he would brush off Storm's strikes. They get given a fair bit of time and they try to build up some week-to-week storytelling by having this end with a double countout after they fight on the floor for too long, but I can't say I'd ever want to rewatch this or watch the follow-up match, so I can't really recommend it even through both guys put in the effort and the result is a solid yet unspectacular bout. SKIPPABLE

Big Show vs Steven Richards & Justin Credible (WWF Heat - 4/21/2002)
Before Backlash officially kicks off, Big Show is sent out there to squash some fools in a matter of minutes in an attempt to rehabilitate his image after having a rather stop-and-start WWF run so far. He looks very motivated and the crowd are happy to see him. You can tell when Show gives a damn by how well-groomed and in shape he is in. Richards and Credible play the parts of the useless idiots well. We get a lot of the Andre handicap match spots here. The only move that Credible and Richards lands on Show that fazes him is their double superkick. This doesn't end up working well for them as the momentum sends Show into the ropes and he comes right back at them, bulldozing the heels away like a couple of bothersome flies. Show then picks them up and puts them away with the double chokeslam, a move which Jim Ross refers to as 'double penetration'. Ew. This match did it's job well enough, but it's not exactly worth going out of your way to see. SKIPPABLE

Eddie Guerrero vs D'Lo Brown (WWF Heat - aired 4/28/2002)
Guerrero is the new IC champ after beating RVD at the last PPV (a small touch that I'll always love: Howard Finkel announcing a new champion as 'the new' champion during their first entrance since winning the strap). D'Lo Brown makes his return to TV after a year's absence. He's basically Koko B. Ware in 1993 at this point: a popular and established undercard wrestler whose sole purpose is to put over the newer talent. Beating a washed-up popular star from the previous era is much more impressive than beating a no-name local talent after all. Brown and Guerrero click well and bring plenty of work rate to the table. D'Lo pulls out interesting stuff like a swing side slam and a cool spinning wheel kick, but it's his shaky head leg drop is the move that gets the biggest reaction. Guerrero never forgets that it's his job to be booed, and he swaggers around the place while still being able to keep up the pace during this short match. Guerrero cuts D'Lo off with a perfectly executed tornado DDT off the ropes, and slowly takes his time going for the Frog Splash. He takes enough time that makes you think that D'Lo might be able to move, but it's not to be and Guerrero walks away with the victory. FUN

[cactus]

I turned on my PC for the first time in forever and found some reviews for this project that I didn't get around to posting.

 

If it's got Terry Funk, Jerry Lawler, and Dustin Rhodes in it, you know it's going to be good!

Rock 'n' Roll Express vs Legion of Doom (WWF Shotgun - aired 1/24/1998)
This would have been a dream match if it happened a decade prior. What we got instead is a completely forgettable match from the completely disastrous NWA invasion angle. Even having Jim Cornette out there trying his hardest to make this angle stick wasn't going to cut it. Even the commentators bury this by talking about Austin and McMahon's big angle as Morton and Gibson make their entrance. Morton and Gibson can clearly still go in the ring, and I believe that they would be able to get over if they changed up their presentation and not look a decade and a half behind the times. The match is short enough that the LOD doesn't have enough time to stink it up, with the match being thrown out once Barry Windham rushes the ring after Morton takes a Doomsday Device. The sole highlight of this match would have to be how Morton sold that move, in which he flips himself inside out like a ragdoll as he crashes to the mat. SKIPPABLE

Ricky Morton vs Marc Mero (WWF Shotgun - aired 5/2/1998)
Morton is flying solo here and gets the jobber entrance for his final WWF appearance. I wasn't sure what I was expecting here, but I was disappointed by this pairing as it felt like these two just didn't click. Post-knee injury Mero wasn't the most dynamic worker, but he plays well into the character stuff by playing along with the crowd as they heckle him with Sable chants. For a guy with a boxing gimmick, Mero's punches didn't look too good and the best punch landed here was the one Morton gave to kick off his comeback. The action gets into a better groove once Morton makes his comeback. Morton's final WWF match sees him looking at the lights for Mero after Mero catches him with a TKO. SKIPPABLE

Papi Chulo vs Scott Taylor (WWF Shotgun - aired 5/9/1998)
The future Scotty 2 Hotty faces the future Essa Rios. Chulo has ditched his Agulia mask and is now dressed like a pimp. Chulo lands a neat twirling arm drag from the corner to kick this off and the match goes to the break. When they come back, Brian Christopher is on the apron restraining Chulo. The referee doesn't seem to care about this, but it's no big deal as Chulo is able to dodge Taylor's oncoming attack and send Taylor into his partner. Chulo then rolls up Taylor for the win. All in all, we got just over 40 seconds of action here. This was a complete waste of time. SKIPPABLE

Terry Funk, Dustin Runnels, & Bradshaw vs Jerry Lawler & Too Much (WWF Shotgun - aired 6/27/1998)
This is billed as Texas vs Tennessee. This is Jerry Lawler's only match from 1998 and I wished they used him more as he could still be a valuable member of the roster. Dustin has ditched the Goldust gimmick around this time and we get a rare look of Dustin as the ass-kicking babyface that got him noticed when he was a young'un in WCW (that, and being the grandson of a plumber of course!). Watching this Texas crowd go apeshit for Funk once he's tagged in warmed my cold heart. Funk and Lawler were obviously great here, but Bradshaw really shone in this match. He looked like a hulking monster babyface mauling Too Much. This is a super fun match, with a great finish that sees poor Brian Christopher get his head lariat'd off after he gets too confident after ducking under a prior Funk/Rhodes double clothesline. Everyone was great here and they really should have found a way to squeeze this onto the card for the upcoming King of the Ring as this was one of WWF's best matches for 1998. VERY GOOD

Dan Severn vs GI Bro (WWF Shotgun - aired 7/11/1998)
As much as I wanted a legit hardass with a killer look like Dan Severn to succeed in the WWF, watching this quick squash showed why he didn't work out in the company. Severn had just suffered his first pinfall loss in the WWF and the point of this match was to show the audience that the loss has awoken something in Severn and he is no longer calm and collected. The problem is that Severn is horrendous at doing any form of character work and watching him grimace to the camera and shout at the audience looked so hokey. He is facing an unknown indie wrestler who is donning the craptastic gimmick of GI Bro (it's not Booker T if you were wondering). The match we get here is very clunky and one-sided, with Severn smothering Bro all over the place. Severn gets poked in the eyes and this is the only move that Bro is able to land, which is a shame for him as this only served to piss Severn off some more. Severn does throw some nice-looking bombs here and his submission finish looked rather devastating. It was clear that Severn wasn't going to get over by this point. SKIPPABLE

Vader vs Jesus Castillo (WWF Shotgun - 8/22/1998)
There's not much to write about this one. Vader, sporting his lesser-seen black ring gear, squashes a former Boricua member in a few minutes. The crowd still loves Vader despite his disappointing WWF run, which will be all wrapped up in a month's time. Vaders looks to be having fun out there as he takes Jesus out with all his usual big hits. After Vader has Jesus beat with a powerbomb/splash combination, he interrupts the count and drags the lifeless body of Jesus over to the corner. Vader then squashes Jesus with a Vader Bomb to get the easy win. SKIPPABLE

D'Lo Brown vs Scorpio (WWF Shotgun - 9/19/1998)
The wrestling here might be on the cumbersome side, but watching these two heavyweights trade some cruiserweight high spots for four minutes made for an enjoyable enough match. Scorpio hits a hip toss over the top rope to the outside and follows up with an impressive moonsault to the outside. This generates some ECW chants from the crowd. D'Lo's chest protector gimmick was fantastic and it plays into the finish here. Scorpio pulls up the chest protector and lands his moonsault, but D'Lo is able to pull it back up at the last second. D'Lo then follows this up with a Lo-Down to walk away with the victory. FUN

Raikishi Fatu vs Tracy Smothers (WWF Heat - aired 11/21/1999)
It's finding stuff like this is why I decided to do this project. Not only do we get a rare Tracy Smothers appearance as a job guy, but we also get to see an early version of Rikishi where he is being billed as 'Rakishi Fatu' and is treated like a monster heel in a similar vein to Yokozuna. He wears the same gear as he did during his Too Cool days. You can see glimpses of what an exceptional worker Smothers was by how he bumps around for Rikishi. I also loved how he would cock his fist before throwing a punch. He even gets to make a comeback, but Rikishi no-sells it and makes quick work of Smothers by putting him away with the yet-to-be-named Rikishi Driver. One thing I found curious here was that Rikishi uses both the Banzai Drop and Earthquake's old finisher and neither of those devastating moves was the finish! FUN

Mark Henry vs TAKA Michinoku (WWF Heat - aired 12/5/1999)
Henry excels at being a jolly and loveable powerhouse babyface while TAKA excels at being the undersized comedy coward. Henry cuts a fun promo telling TAKA to go home and mocking his (lack of) size. TAKA tries to sneak behind Henry, but it is not long before TAKA is flipped inside out by a Henry flapjack that gets an insane amount of air. TAKA takes a breather and attempts to leave the arena. Henry looks like he is having the time of his life toying with TAKA, but we actually get a shock result here. Just as Henry is about to squish TAKA like a bug with a splash, Funaki hits Henry with his Japanese flag. TAKA follows this up with a roundhouse kick and gets the win. Perhaps it's quite an unbelievable finish, but the crowd seemed legitamely shocked by this. FUN
 

[cactus]

The C-Show Project - The Regal Special

 

 

Lord Steven Regal vs Eddy Guerrero (WCW Main Event - aired 7/7/1996)
This only goes shy of four minutes, so they aren't able to do anything too crazy. We open with some matwork that incorporates both Regal's European style and Eddy's lucha influence. The commentary spent the majority of this match discussing who is going to be the third man at the upcoming Bash At The Beach PPV. Regal fakes an injury and catches Eddy with a roll-up. What happens next is quite confusing. Eddy doesn't quite kick out, but the referee doesn't count to three. Regal celebrates and Eddy returns the favor by rolling up Regal, this time scoring the win. Even with the botchy finish and the lack of time, this was fun for what it was. FUN

Lord Steven Regal vs Fit Finlay (WCW Main Event - aired 12/20/1997)
Regal and Finlay scrap for five minutes and the result is a violent little corker of a match that didn't feel rushed. Finlay tries to bully Regal with some clobbering blows, but Regal shows that he isn't having any of it as he cuts Finlay off with a stiff elbow as Finlay comes off the ropes and follows it up with some uppercuts. Finlay fires back and hits some cowardly yet vicsious kicks when Regal is down. Finlay gets even more nasty as he stamps on Regal's fingers and Regal does a sublime job at selling them by letting everyone in that studio know what has happened to him by using his body language. Regal gets a rare chance to show off his dropkick when he uses it to out-counter Finlay. Every hold here had a struggle to it and the blows to the face that land here will make your own nose ache. If you haven't seen their Uncensored classic yet and you're not sure if you can stomach the wrestling style of Regal and Finlay for nearly half an hour, give this match a watch as a sampler. If you like this match as much as I do, then you will simply adore their Uncensored outing. VERY GOOD

Steven Regal vs Dick Togo (WWF Shotgun - aired 11/28/1998)
I've seen this described as Regal's only good match during his dud of a first run in the WWF and I was looking forward to seeing this. Jim Cornette does everything in his power to get Regal over despite Regal's horrendous character. We get more matwork in these five-minutes than we did in the majority of WWF PPVs in 1998. Regal grinds on Togo's limbs with a purpose and looks like a menace whilst doing so. Regal looks motivated here despite his personal problems that he was going through at this point. He wins using the Regalplex, a move I don't recall him doing all that much despite the name of the move. FUN

Steven Regal vs Adrian Byrd (WCW Saturday Night - aired 7/10/1999)
Regal is escorted to the ring by Dave Taylor and Fit Finlay, who will definitely be getting involved here. Byrd is a short and stocky guy who follows Regal's lead well and has a good amount of natural charisma. This match is all schtick, with Regal bumping around, looking smug, and showing off his disgusted and flabbergasted mannerisms. After getting knocked on his arse by a Byrd shoulder tackle, Regal uses Byrd's own momentum on Byrd's second tackle and sends him outside, where Taylor and Finlay are waiting to take a chunk out of Byrd when the referee isn't looking. Regal is always entertaining when having a halfway competent dance partner and you can guarantee a solid match at the very least. FUN

Steven Regal & Dave Taylor vs Creative Control (WCW Saturday Night - aired 12/4/1999)
For those of you lucky enough not to be aware of them, Creative Control are the Harris Brothers wrestling in suits. They are called Patrick and Gerald, which is a WWF dig with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. It also takes them a good portion of their segment to disrobe. It's like Naito, but shit. These guys are the tag champions too! Like any other Harris boys match, this was garbage with no redeeming qualities. Regal and Taylor are doing the classic homoerotic cowardly tag team spots where they take comfort in each other's arms when things don't go their way, but that schtick only works when you've got a face team to work with. Ron and Don show zero personality here and give the fans no reason to cheer or boo them. An awkward tag belt shot later and this one is mercifully over. SKIPPABLE

Stephen William Regal vs Just Joe (WWF Heat - aired 9/24/2000)
I had no idea that Regal went by Stephen William Regal during his first few first appearances after returning to the WWF in 2000. It's the small nuggets of information like that make this project worth my time. Speaking of not knowing things, I was watching every show I could get my hands on at this time and I have zero recollection of Just Joe. I wasn't missing much as he is the utter shit. He botches an exchange and this match is made enjoyable solely by having Regal work in all his British flavour of takedowns and grappling. Regal cuts a cute, condescending promo before the match asking the audience to not chant boring at him. The commentators rag on Regal for having a boring wrestling style. I am so glad that they dropped this element of his gimmick, as it wasn't going to get him over and it's so incredibly untrue.  FUN

William Regal vs Steve Blackman (WWF Heat - aired 10/29/2000)
Regal cuts a pre-match promo on MTV (the channel that Heat was airing on at the time) and references Limp Bizkit's Nookie. Brilliant. Blackman is the Hardcore champion and Regal has just won the European strap at the last PPV, with Regal's belt only at stake here. We open with some decent mat wrestling with some clunky strikes from Blackman. Blackman seems to forget that this isn't a hardcore match and attempts to use a trash can before the referee intervenes. Regal gets himself intentionally disqualified when he lays out Blackman with his belt. Regal seems pleased with himself and Blackman doesn't get a chance to get any revenge. We got some fun Regal reactions here, but this was forgettable. SKIPPABLE

William Regal vs Rikishi (WWF Heat - aired 2/24/2002)
They only have three minutes to work with here, but Regal is such a pro that he can deliver a fun little title defense that is full of those classic Regal facial expressions that made us fall in love with that handsome rogue in the first place. Regal attempts a sunset flip, but Rikishi stays standing and teases flattening Regal like a pancake by slapping his ass. Regal scurries away and has a great horrified look plastered across his face. Regal has just started to use the brass knuckles around this period and they are creatively incorporated into the finish. After getting humiliated by getting Stink Face'd, Regal rolls out the ring and attempts to use his title belt to wallop Rikishi. The referee intervenes by grabbing the belt and giving it back to the timekeeper, and it's during this moment that Regal has enough time to get the knucks on and KO Rikishi for the victory. FUN

[Robert S]

The only persionality the Harris twins ever showed inside the ring was via their tattoos. At least they had those tattoos not for long until they covered it, but still.