DVDVR Texas Set, Disc 3

I'm gonna have to make one Hell of a run at this if I want to get it finished in time for the deadline, but I finished disc 3 earlier so... better late than never, right?


The Fabulous Freebirds v The Von Erichs (8/12/83)
- All of these six man tags are great, but I'll probably rank this pretty "low" since there's a few multi-man tags I prefer. Crowd is HAWT as fuck and David and Kevin take stints as FIP, although I would've liked to see Kevin stay in the role a little longer. Finish is cheapshotting greatness. The Freebirds' entrance is immense, btw. And Kevin's promo is as well: "This isn't a war between Georgia and Texas; this is war between DECENCY and FILTH!"

Terry Gordy & Jimmy Garvin v Kevin & David Von Erich (2/3 falls, 8/15/83)
- I've got this neck and neck with the 7/4 six-man as my working #2. Holy shit does this rule. These guys just HATE each other. Garvin and Kevin just came off a feud over the American Heavyweight title where Garvin cheated to win the belt, and before that Garvin had cheated David out of it as well. Gordy's a Freebird and he obviously hates both Kevin and David. Feeling's mutual of course. Kevin... my GOD Kevin fucking DESPISES everything. Dude is dropping insane kneedrops on Gordy's JAW, walking around and stomping the shit out of him, punching people in the face... HATE, I tell ya. Garvin's great as the chickenshit that's HAD ENOUGH of the Von Erichs' bullshit and he just wants to rip them apart. GORDY of all people is left trying to calm someone else down, so you know that Garvin's crazy out of control because, well, you gotta be to be more out of control than Gordy. Gordy and Garvin are so great at using the Von Erichs' hot headedness against them, drawing whoever is on the apron into the ring so they can double team the guy in the ring. This isn't your typical southern tag, which is a given right off the bat because it's 2/3 falls, but it's an awesome hybrid of a southern tag and a totally out of control FIGHT. If standard southern tag is point A to point B to point C (point A being the babyface shine, point B being the heat segent on the babyface, point C being the post-hot tag run to the finish), then this goes from point A to point B to point C, but stops in at a bunch of dingy diners and highway cafes on the road so they can TEAR IT THE FUCK UP because they're nuts and just want to fight and kill each other and and and... this was truly spectacular.

Jimmy Garvin v Chris Adams (8/26/83)
- This is structured as simply as possible, basically going from point A to point B to point C like I mentioned above, only this time in a singles setting. Nothing audacious in its layout or anything, but that kind of thing totally works for me and I love simple short matches like that. I didn't think this was quite as good as the Roberts/David match from disc 1 in terms of that kind of match, but it's real close. It's for Garvin's belt so there's a ten minute time limit and when he realises Adams has him on the ropes WAY more than he'd like, he continually tries to bail towards the end just to eat up the clock. In the end he winds up surviving, and surviving is all it is because he's SPENT. Adams is over huge and Garvin does an interview where he proclaims that he ain't doing this defending the belt on TV every week shit. Top stuff all around, and the fact this will probably finish somewhere in the middle of a 150 match ballot speaks crazy volumes about the quality of this set.

Terry Gordy v David Von Erich (2/3 falls, 9/5/83)
- I'll probably watch this again before I send in a ballot since it no doubt suffered from being my "ease my way back into the set" match after a 3 month break, and on top of that I wasn't really in much of a mood for wrestling last night when I watched it. That said, I still liked it a fair bit. They start off by beating the piss out of each other once Gordy jumps David while he's taking his jacket off, and the first fall is sort of built around quick-ish momentum shifts with David repeatedly getting tossed onto the announce table that's next to the ring. About 4 times he hurls himself onto it and the commentators have to scatter. He also takes a body slam on the concrete towards the end of the fall because pissed off Gordy is PISSED OFF, SON. Second fall is where Gordy busts out the ORIENTAL SPIKE and tries to kill David with it. I love carny shit like a guy's thumb being put over as a death move. David sells it really well into the third fall and is fighting an uphill battle from there. Things break down towards the end because Gordy hates everybody. Right now this is sitting in my bottom half, so I suspect I'm one of the low voters at this stage.

Kerry Von Erich v Michael Hayes (Country Whipping Match, 9/5/83)
- This happened prior to the previous match on the actual card, so it's technically *this* match where Gordy debuts the spike. He's Hayes' second here and Brody's the second for Kerry. Crowd is ridiculous; just a constantly huge level of heat all the time. Match only goes about 8 minutes, but I thought it was pretty awesome as far as short, intense fights go. I'm probably one of the few, but I didn't think it was any worse (or "less awesome") than the DiBiase/Duggan street fight on the Mid-South set which, IIRC, goes about the same length of time. Both guys really lay in some of the shots with the belt, particularly at the beginning and towards the end. At one point it looked like Hayes got fed up with Kerry being a house o' fire and just whipped him square in the face. Other times they're swinging so recklessly that they wind up getting hit in the face anyway, whether it's intentional or not. Post-match is crazy as shit and Brody bleeds everywhere. Also gotta love how everybody in World Class is "fabulous". The "fabulous Bruiser Brody", the "fabulous Von Erich brothers", the "fabulous Freebirds"; it's like that ring announcer guy only knows one adjective. This wasn't quite fabulous, but it's way up my alley, at least.

Fabulous Freebirds v The Von Erichs (9/5/83)
- Man, that 9/5/83 card was awesome. This was fucking great, and so far the only six man I prefer is the July '83 match that's sitting in my top 3. Gordy is KING sized in this, squashing Kerry with a flip senton, breaking his face with a NARSTY Yakuza kick, and bumping and flying all around the place for the Von Erichs' punches. At one point he hurls himself into the turnbuckle and flies out over the top Sgt. Slaughter style. Kerry and Kevin both take a turn at playing FIP, and both segments are really good, but really, the main selling point here is that it's just totally out of control and violent and these guys HATE each other. Freebirds cheat, Von Erichs storm the ring and our referee needs twelve hands to get things under control. He doesn't have twelve hands and it's NEVER under control. I could talk about a ton of great "little things", like David going to slap the claw on Buddy, realising he's wearing his headgear and that it won't work, and instead slapping it on his stomach, but it would take too long and HATE really aought to sell you on this anyway. TEXAS when I die, motherfucker.

Jimmy Garvin v Chris Adams (9/12/83)
- Second Garvin/Adams match on the set so far. If the first was a starter, this was a great main course, and I definitely prefer these two matches to the two Garvin had with David Von Erich a little earlier on the set. This is the tenth consecutive match in Adams' TV title reign, and if he wins or draws this, he wins five grand. Nifty little switch of roles from their last match where it was Garvin who was the American champion and would retain the belt with a win or a draw (this is a 15 minute time limit whereas that was 10). Much of the first ten minutes is spent on the mat. They don't bust out the kind of stuff Garvin and Kevin were busting out in their 2 matches, but it's all simple, solid stuff. Garvin spends most of it trying to cheat and shortcut his way into an advantage (with Sunshine's help -- Sunshine is the perfect conniving bitch valet, btw), but Adams always has an answer. Again, Adams doesn't have the same bag of tricks that Kevin has, but there's a cool spot where he has Garvin in a sort of Indian Deathlock and then splashes his legs like he's trying to tear both of Garvin's groin muscles. I enjoy Garvin best when he's begging off and getting frustrated fighting from the bottom on defence, so the first ten minutes breezed by for me. Last five minutes are where things really pick up as Garvin goes full throttle trying to score the win. Their last match had Garvin trying to survive Adams' onslaught, this one has Garvin throwing everything at Adams. The real big turning point is when Sunshine sweeps Adams' leg when he's on the top rope, crotching him (looked nasty). GREAT nearfall off of that, and the last couple minutes asks the question of whether Adams' can hold on until the bell. Garvin also has killer knee drops. Post-match is tops, too. Still prefer both matches Garvin had with Kevin, but this should be a lock for my top half.

David Von Erich, Iceman King Parsons & Chris Adams v Michael Hayes, Kamala & The Mongol (10/3/83)
- "KAMALA HAS GONE BONZO!" This was the Kamala show here, and what a show it was. He's really awesome in this as the "fish out of water" savage that doesn't understand the whole tag team dynamic, but who'll still eat you because he's a cannibal with totally bitchin' face paint. The tone is set early when Hayes slaps Kamala on the back to tag him in, but Kamala thinks Hayes is striking him and goes to tear him a new one. Kamala's "handlers" (Skandor Akbar and Friday, who is basically the same guy Vince had as Kim-Chee 10 years later) jump the ring to calm him down and try and explain how it was only a tag and that he and Hayes are buddies and shit. This leads to a bunch of spots where Kamala shakes Hayes' hand and pats him and stuff, effectively tagging him in, but Kamala still hasn't grasped this and winds up doing whatever he pleases anyway. Hayes of course gets more and more frustrated as the match goes on because he's partnered up with a couple of crazies. When Kamala eventually does get in the ring on his own - legally - the babyfaces start dropping like flies. This leads to an awesome moment where David gets in and he and Kamala start throwing bombs in the middle of the ring. Felt like a pretty huge moment and the crowd respond accordingly. Those two squaring off then becomes the central focus, and when David manages to slap on the claw it feels like an even bigger moment. Kamala sells really well, and when he bails to the floor with half of his face paint plastered onto the palm of David's claw hand the place goes nuts. From this point Kamala's much less eager to get into the ring, not quite scared of the claw but certainly weary, so the buck is then passed to Hayes and Mongol, but those two aren't jumping at the opportunity to get in there, either. Finish is sort of clusterfucked, but things have broken down into total chaos by that point anyway, so whatever. Not an amazing match or anything, but it's a bucket load of fun and Kamala's performance is one of my favourites on the set so far.

Harley Race v Iceman King Parsons (10/7/83)
- Man, the two matches Race has had on the set so far is about as much fun as I've ever had watching Harley ever. The Kevin match was fantastic, but I wasn't expecting this to be nearly as good. I'm happy to say that I enjoyed it almost as much. Race works this almost entirely from the bottom. I mean, he pretty much lets Iceman do whatever he wants. Even Flair would've tried to fit more offence in than Race does here. What he *does* fit in on offence might annoy some people, though. The two big instances of him rolling out something from his big book of moves are sort of forgotten a minute later. First is a piledriver that I expected to transition into Race going on offence, but Iceman is back on the offensive right after it. The second is more egregious. A fuckin' brainbuster on concrete really aught to at least lead to a count out nearfall (especially in a match where there's a couple GREAT countout nearfalls that are as good as any I've ever seen), but sure enough Iceman is back up on offence not long after it. That'll piss some people off to no end. But fuck it, Iceman is a shuckin' and jivin' black guy and shuckin' and jivin' black guys in pro-wrestling have rock hard heads and are impervious to headbutts and having their head rammed into inanimate objects and all that shit. And sure enough, every time Race tries to headbutt him or ram his head into an inanimate object, Iceman laughs at his bullshit and shows him how it's really done. Iceman's head is invincible and a piledriver and a brainbuster on concrete is nothing more than a monkey knuckle to that guy. Dusty finish is about as good as the one in the Kevin/Flair match, which is very good. Race hauling off and slapping David in the face because he knew he'd get the reaction he was looking for was fucking awesome. I've got this top ten so far.

Kerry Von Erich & Johnny Mantel v Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts (10/17/83)
- Earlier in the show Kerry had given his brother Mike some jacket as a gift and Michael Hayes took it and tore it to shreds before launching him onto the concrete. Fast forward a little while and Kerry is major pissed off. People will either dig it or...not dig it, I guess. He's everywhere, animated as Hell, constantly trying to stomp a Freebird, and I don't recall one instant where he's actually standing still. It's a ten minute match, and as a result it's totally non-stop. Not non-stop in the same way tonnes of tags on the New Japan set were, where there never seemed to be any kind or structure or rhythm, but non-stop in that everybody is always doing something; usually it's the babyfaces whipping ass and the heels bumping and stooging. I like bumping and stooging. Gordy eats a big right hand and flies over the top rope at one point and it's glorious. Kerry cracks Buddy with a bunch of really potatoety looking punches to the point where I feel sorry for the poor guy. On the flipside, the babyfaces control almost all of this, and I could totally see someone thinking Kerry was too much of a coked up Superman for their liking. How much you like the match will probably depend on how much you're into Kerry's performance. I'll have it somewhere around the middle of the pack by the end. Probably.

Kevin Von Erich v Terry Gordy (10/21/83)
- Loved the first half of this. They work an extended bodyscissors spot that gave me a total Bob backlund vibe in the way they were always doing something with it. There's a particularly cool spot where Gordy breaks loose and runs the ropes to drop an elbow, but Kevin has his feet up ready to kick him away, so Gordy hits another set of ropes, then another, then another, stumbling and struggling to stay on his feet every time before eventually tumbling back into the bodyscissors. Second half is mostly Gordy-a-clubberin'. It's not as fun as the first half, but Gordy completely crushes Kevin with a boot to the face to take control that is just ridiculously nasty. I suspect I liked this more than most, although I wouldn't call it blowaway great or anything.

Jimmy Garvin v Chris Adams (10/24/83)
- My least favourite of the Garvin/Adams matches so far, but I still thought it was solid at worst. Garvin is the one being frustrated again and I really like him in that role. Adams seemed content enough to slap on a chin lock and not really do much of anything with it this time, though. Or maybe he was doing something and I just missed it, because I sort of tuned out for periods. Garvin's kneedrops ruled again. And Adams hits an amazing roundhouse kick to Garvin's temple as he's making his comeback that was definite rewind material. Won't finish terribly high...maybe bottom third.

Jimmy Garvin v Johnny Mantel (10/31/83)
- Ehhhh, wasn't feeling this much at all. Most of it was spent in holds, but they weren't really worked very well. Just sort of pedestrian and static. One thing it did have was a nice finish, and the post-match angle was tops. But this won't go high.

Kerry Von Erich & Chris Adams v Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes (10/31/83)
- Kinda struggled to get into this at points, but when it got good I was really digging it. All four are great at showing contempt for the guy they dislike most, though. Kerry and Hayes just despise each other, and Hayes giving as good as he gets while sprinkling in some amazing stooging has been one of my favourite things on the set. He takes two great Flair-esque flops in this, the first being totally spectacular. Heels take over once Kerry misses on a knee drop and does this awesome sell of it. It's not something I feel like I can do justice to with words, but it's really terrific. Hayes and Garvin go to town on it, naturally. Finishing run is hectic and the post-match is aces. PEPPER SPRAY, BITCH.

Kerry & Kevin Von Erich v Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy (Country Whipping Match, 11/4/83)
- Oh man, these guys just completely lay it the fuck in with those belt shots. I mean they are seriously tearing hide here. Match goes about 9 minutes and is ridiculously stiff and heated. Tonnes of great moments, but my favourite has to be Kerry getting the hot tag and jumping in swinging two leather straps like nun-chucks. Gordy getting fed up with Kevin not selling enough and MAKING him sell was great as well. Kevin must've been lashed in the ear five times with a strap. This was great.

So I Guess We Can Just Call This WCW Month?

Lord Steven Regal v Johnny B. Badd (Main Event, 10/10/93)

This was way niftier than I was expecting. Badd is way more fun controlling things early than I was expecting. Regal acts like Regal, which I was expecting. I dig how he's a dude that is never afraid to rough you up if things aren't going his way, or how he'll drag you into the corner and plaster you with forearms in between batches of grinding things out on the mat. Badd has a bunch of cool counters and escapes for Regal's holds early and has really sweet armdrags, plus he's all "YEAH, BABY! HERE WE GO!" and the crowd are behind him like I like to see. Regal saying "fuck this nonsense" and elbowing him in the gut to take control was great. I'm a big fan of the Regal TV Title formula where he'll take his time and just grind you down. If it goes the distance then he keeps the belt, so at some point in the match the opponent will usually have to really push things or else they come away with nothing, and by extension that means we get to see "put it in the deep freeze" Regal where he'll just try and survive until the time runs out. This one does go to the time limit and Badd's flurry at the end is pretty choice. I was hardly expecting this to be a crappy match, but I was still surprised by how much I dug it.


Lord Steven Regal v Davey Boy Smith (Halloween Havoc, 10/24/93)

First 6 or 7 minutes of this are a blast. Davey had that awesome World of Sport match with Finlay on Goodhelmet's Finlay comp where he was busting out all the tricked out Euro style matwork, so I was psyched at the prospect of more of the same here, because I could count on one hand the number of instances I've enjoyed watching Davey more than the match opposite Finlay. It's not like I hate Davey or anything; just that I reeeealy dug that WoS match. Matwork isn't as great here as it was in the Finlay match, but they have plenty of cool exchanges. Regal seems bewildered at a few points because he's come into this expecting Davey to be a muscled up freak that shouldn't bring too much in the way of out-wrestling the Lord. Problem is, Davey brings plenty. He'll flip out of an armbar, cartwheel out of an arm-wringer, and there's a great spot where Regal keeps trying to snapmare him only for Davey to reverse it into a hammerlock every time, eventually forcing Regal to go to the ropes. That's pretty much the final straw, so Regal goes to his plan B of blasting this Whoopi Goldberg looking motherfucker with European uppercuts and digs to the ribs. Regal basically spends the rest of the match grinding him down and working the ribs, until the last minute or so when Davey gets his second wind. Actually thought Badd was better at showing urgency and selling the previous beatdown better than Davey was, but I thought this had a better "one second too late" finish. I'd say this is the better match overall, though. Aaaand it was good.


Lord Steven Regal v Johnny B. Badd (Clash of the Champions XXV, 11/10/93)

Maybe I've just been selling Mero short for the last ten years, but I thought this was a totally bossy little match. They had a match on Worldwide 4 days earlier (that I would've talked about if I could remember enough about it to actually warrant a "review") that ended with Regal scraping a win by pulling the tights, so this is Badd's chance for some payback after being robbed by this scoundrel. Regal is a stuck up prick that won't even lock up because he doesn't want to be a victim of second hand body oil or something, so instead he slaps him GOOFY in the first five seconds. Badd was all "OH MOTHRFUCKER YOU GON' DIE NOW," but then settles down and starts working a headlock. At this point I was ready to wash my hands on the whole thing. "He just fucking SLAPPED you. HIT HIM. He won't mind. It's fuckin' REGAL there, Johnny. PUNCH HIM IN THE FUCKING FACE." Unfortunately didn't happen (just you fuckin' wait, though), but I was able to regain my composure when they started working in and out of a headlock. Badd was great here, just a ton of fun. Regal was as good as you'd expect once he took over, but I actually preferred the Badd working the headlock. Short finishing stretch here is good as well, and definitely had my favourite "babyface pulling out all the stops as the time limit is winding down" spell of the three matches. Actual finish is awesome as Badd FINALLY SMACKS REGAL RIGHT IN THE FUCKING FACE with a huge haymaker, looks to have KO'd him (I bought it as being legit for a few seconds), but Sir William puts Regal's foot on the ropes before the ref' counts three. Badd is pissed and chews him out, but Regal's playing possum and rolls him up with a chunk of tights for the win. Much better than I expected, and this is after seeing their first match that I thought was good in its own right, so naturally I expected this to follow suit. Although I'm probably overrating it on account of the fact they got me hook, line and sinker with that big revenge punch that they waited the whole match to deliver on. I marked hard for that shit.

Some More 1997 WCW. Fuckin' EDDIE

Eddy Guerrero v Dean Malenko (Inglewood, CA, 6/28/97)

Yeah, these two together are infinitely more enjoyable to me when they drop the whole SPIRIT OF COMPETITION~ deal and one of them acts like a little douchenozzle instead. The Uncensored match had Eddy starting to embrace his inner-scumbag. That was in March and this is June, and by this point he's a fully-fledged slimeball. I love weasly little dickweeds in my pro-wrestling and Eddy is a spectacular weasly little dickweed here. Taunting, begging off, stalling, back-pedalling, cheating; the whole shebang. This being a handheld means that you get to see him really milking stuff like grabbing the ropes for leverage on holds or working the ref' into positions so that he can't see a fly hair pull or choke. I generally don’t like handhelds very much since I seem to have a problem concentrating (the reason for which is still a mystery to me), but they do let you see things that you normally wouldn't on TV, and Eddy playing to the back row is something I can definitely get behind. I'm not a Malenko fan by any stretch of the imagination, but seeing him work as a straight up babyface that's basically eschewing all of the lengthy control segments is making me even less excited about going back to those Malenko/Mysterio matches where he spends an hour doing limb-work that winds up being totally pointless, because I can actually enjoy him as the former. He does work Eddy's leg for a few minutes in this, but before long he's back to being the recipient of weasel boy's dirty tricks. Also like how Eddy decides to work Dean's leg as a receipt of sorts once he gets back in control. Reminded me of the Kerry Von Erich/Michael Hayes match on the Texas set, although this felt more like an "anything you can do I'll go ahead and do better because I'm a dick like that" thing than Kerry doing it because Hayes is the bane of his existence. Unfortunately it's a theme that's dropped after a few minutes, but I'm less annoyed by three or four minutes of leg work from two guys combined going nowhere than eight or nine minutes from one guy going nowhere. Plus Malenko hits this awesome leg whip and busts out a super fast kneebar in this and I was leaning on rewind like a motherfucker. Think I just prefer their Uncensored match, but this is RIGHT there and I'll be damned but I'm actually looking forward to the next Eddy/Malenko match on the set. And it's a fuggin' handheld. What next?


Juventud Guerrera, Lizmark Jr. & Hector Garza v La Parka, Psicosis & Villano IV (Bash at the Beach, 7/13/97)

Ridiculous spotfest. First couple minutes has guys pairing off like a traditional Lucha trios match, but before long they ditch that and just run through a shit ton of highspots. Way too much to mention all of it, but the spot where the technicos do a stereo suicide dive and Mark Curtis just curls up in the corner with his hands on his head is awesome. Psicosis also murderises Juventud with this powerbomb thing off the top rope that is just fucking ludicrous. The dive train towards the end is tres cool and Juventud's spot is... well, words don't do this thing justice. Juvi should challenge Keith Richards to a coke-snorting contest. Can you call something that has no transitions or structure in the slightest a good match? It's totally insane and it's something I'd probably hate if I never knew what to expect to begin with. Some people will probably still hate it. Pretty much the definition of a "popcorn" match. If this was a Kurt Angle, Kurt Angle & Kurt Angle v Davey Richards, Davey Richards & Davey Richards match and they wrestled it the exact same as these 6 guys I'd shit all over it. Good job I have no problem being a hypocrite in this instance.


Eddy Guerrero v Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Nitro, 7/14/97)

Eddy's dropped the singlet here and has 100% completed the transformation to total bare-chested, pornstached scumbaggery that I remember from my childhood. He's also invested in a white bandana that you might not think would make a HUGE difference to one's cretinous aura, but trust me, it SO fucking does. The previous week it seems Eddy had ditched Chavo during a tag match and left him to be the victim of Scott Norton's pro-wrestling snuff film, all in an effort to toughen him up. This doesn't sit well with Chavo, so this week Eddy plans on toughening him up himself. Nice little match, the story being Chavo hanging tough (pun?) and getting more than his expected share of licks in while Uncle Scumbag comes to realise he shouldnt be taking his nephew so lightly. Eddy getting fed up with the pissing about and just shredding Chavo's chest with chops is a sight to see. Not their best match together, but this was short and sweet.

More 1997 WCW - Savage/Page x2 & Guerrero/Malenko

Eddy Guerrero v Dean Malenko (Uncensored, 3/16/97)

I need to watch their Starrcade match again, but this might be my favourite match these two had together. There’s some stuff in it that I wasn’t really fan of, like how they weren’t sure whether they wanted to run with the idea that Eddy’s shoulder might be hurt, and from time to time they’d just kinda bust out some random stuff, but on the whole I thought it was great and there was far more to like than complain about. There’s also a chunk of leg work that doesn’t really pay off, but they move away from it fine and it’s not like it was dropped in a lazy sort of way, so I didn’t mind at all. Coming in these two had kinda been at each other’s throat, so the vibe is much different from any of their ECW matches, which I’m thankful for since I don’t particularly like those “Eddy Guerrero v Dean Malenko: The Spirit of Competition” matches. Eddy slaps on a headlock at the beginning and I’m wondering if I was overestimating how much they’re supposed to be pissed at each other, but then he starts giving him a bunch of awesome little rabbit punches and that leads to both guys stomping mudholes in the other, which is spectacular if for no other reason than Dusty’s “mudhole stomper/mudhole stompee” ramble. And, naturally, I smile. This crowd is not a pro-Guerrero crowd. They’re all for Malenko, and while neither guy wrestles this much like a babyface, the match sort of becomes a story of Eddy getting totally fed up with being made out to be the root of Dean’s problems and descending further into pissed off dickhood as the match progresses. Crowd doesn’t want to cheer him so he won’t go out of his way to be cheered. Crowd have kinda been apathetic towards him ever since he came to WCW so why should he bother trying to be someone they can get behind? Someone’s “devolution” is one of my favourite in-match stories in pro-wrestling, and while this isn’t on the level of Austin’s complete reversion to paranoid sociopath that’s obsessed with the WWF title, it’s still a really fucking good character performance from Guerrero. It’s not a full heel turn, and there are still signs that he hasn’t completely embraced his douchebag side (putting Malenko in a figure-four and briefly grabbing the ropes before letting go because he's not quite a cheating scumbag yet), but the ball is most definitely rolling. More screwy nWo shit at the end, but it’s all leading to Eddy finally snapping at some point, so I can deal. Did Syxx actually do anything other than steal belts in WCW, btw? He just kinda bounces around like a thieving coke head looking for shit to knock.


Randy Savage v Diamond Dallas Page (Street Fight - Spring Stampede, 4/6/97)

Man, Savage is awesome here as an out of control headcase. Before he’s even in the ring he spots some little girl at ringside, turns and faces her and flexes his bicep, then he starts out stalling by jumping out of the ring and heading up the aisle, refusing to let the match start unless it’s on his own terms. From there he basically slips further and further into insanity, and by the end he’s bitch-slapping ring announcers and ready to take a swing at Michael Buffer. First few minutes of the match are okay, but once Savage takes over things pick up big. I remember thinking this was the weakest of the 3 Savage/Page PPV matches that year, and watching it again I’d say that’s still the case, but the middle portion is really good. I liked Page quite a bit in this as well. He’s got some really good hope spots and at one point he takes an amazing clothesline bump that lands him right on his neck. Good finish as well, and the Diamond Cutter is just ridiculously over. Post-match has more Savage insanity as he’s got a hold of Kimberly, and his crazy man eyes when Bischoff restrains him are tremendous. Also, does Kenny Powers wish he was Nick Patrick or what?


Randy Savage v Diamond Dallas Page (Falls Count Anywhere - Great American Bash, 6/15/97)

I might have liked this even more than Benoit/Sullivan from the previous year. Savage is fucking out of his mind again, piledriving referees, threatening to hit Kimberly, beating the shit out of camera men; the whole nine yards. At one point he’s taking the bandages off of Page’s ribs and Mickie Jay tries to restrain him, so Savage spits in his face, piledrives him and rips his shirt open. Mark Curtis then hits the scene and Savage decks him and tosses him like a sack of trash. A little later some guy takes his picture so he smashes his camera and tries to choke him out. Page is over like crazy again. There’s a great moment where Savage is beating on him in the corner (think this is directly after he’s assaulted Mark Curtis) and Page just grabs hold of him, tosses HIM in the corner and lets loose with rights and lefts while the crowd completely lose it. The Diamond Cutter might have been the most over move in the company at the time as well. Just crazy pops for it every time. Start of this is different from the last match – this time Page comes out from the crowd and jumps Savage, and he’s generally much more aggressive during the whole opening period, which is much better here than it was at Spring Stampede. Page also does a good job selling the ribs the whole way through, and they come up with a few cool spots with them as the focus. The parts where they decide to go for a wander and fight in a different part of the arena are really good in this as well. First they head up towards the stands and Page grabs some plunder (“He gettin’ some plunder now.” – Dusty) to beat on Savage with, then later they wind up at the VIP section and Dusty’s all “GIT THE BARBEQUE PIT! BEHIND YA! BEHIIIIND YA!” and sure enough Page gets the barbeque pit and slams him through a picnic table. Finish has your nWo shenanigans, but whatever. Really dug this.

"Dey Be Gettin' Plunder, Toneh!"

Chris Benoit v Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 10/16/95)

I watched so many Eddy/Benoit matches last year that I struggle to differentiate between them all. This is the one that always sticks out, though. It's on Benoit's Hard Knocks DVD, so I think that makes it their only WCW match to get the WWE DVD treatment (and will very likely stay that way), but other than that, it's THAT powerbomb that I'll never forget. I mentioned Meng's MURDEROUS powerbomb on Eddy yesterday, but this one is even more ridiculously nasty. Match goes about 8 minutes and is probably the perfect "Nitro Style" match; they fit plenty of nifty stuff in, both guys get to bust out their spots, etc. There aren't as many momentum shifts here either, so Benoit gets a nice "run" on offence while Eddy sells the arm. Finish pays off the arm work as well, and this is just really good stuff. Gonna go back and watch the rest of their matches at some point, I think.


Chris Benoit v Kevin Sullivan (Falls Count Anywhere - Great American Bash, 6/16/96)

Okay so I don't know the exact story between these two, but I know there was some real-life drama that had something to do with Nancy and, I think, an affair with Chris. Never really bothered to look into it so I'm not gonna bother talking about it here when it all boils down to these two HATING each other, anyway. I mean this is serious hatred. Sullivan is a guy that I've never really payed much attention to as a worker other than that appearance on the Memphis set and, of course, this feud with Benoit. But I watched two matches vs. Benoit last night and I came away thinking "Man, that guy is great at going to the eyes." Eye gouges, eye pokes, eye rakes, it all looks real nasty. It's probably because he's tossed the "working" aspect out the window and he's really trying to gouge Benoit's eye out, but still. At one point there's a close up of him sticking a thumb in his eye and there's nothing half-assed about this. Looks like he's really trying to get it in there and spoon out the eyeball. I'll choose to read this as him going the extra mile to make it look real since they in amongst the crowd and everything. I'd be wrong, but it won't be the first time. There's basically tonnes of instances of Sullivan doing shit - not limited to going for the eyes - that one could choose to read as him being an unprofessional douche. But then again Benoit is banging his wife. Is he? I don't know. Benoit goes along with it all and seems harrowingly willing to take as hideous a beating as Sullivan wants to give him, and from time to time he'll decide to give it right back. It's probably also the definitive "Dusty spazzes out on commentary" show as he is just totally hilarious at several points. Starts out with Benoit clotheslining Sullivan right in the face as Sullivan's making his way towards the ring, and then they just start punching the crap out of each other. Before long (like, a minute) they're in the crowd and heading up the steps. There's no "I'll grab your hair and walk you wherever I want to take you while you do nothing about it" bullshit like you see in Japan all the time these days; they're punching each other in the face and FIGHTING their way up the step. Then they wind up in the bathroom. Benoit really takes a horrendous beating. Sullivan eats a shot off a cubicle door and kinda gets thrown into a wall, but Benoit's taking full throttle shots to the head with a cubicle door, getting launched into walls and repeatedly having his eyes poked and gouged at. Dusty drops this corker: "Taskmaster is in his element, right here in the john, if you will, right here in Baltimore, Maryland." Six stars. Then Sullivan tries to stick Benoit's head in a urinal and we get the classic "HEAD FIRST IN THE COMMODE!" line from Schiavone. Any other time and that's bound to be the line of the night, but a few seconds later Dusty spies some woman and he completely flips. "THERE'TH A LADEH! THERE'TH A LADEH IN THE MEN'TH BATHROOM! RIGHT HERE! THERE ITH A LADEH IN THE MEN'TH JOHN RIGHT HERE IN BALTIMOW. *silence...silence* CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?! SHE DONE STOPPED AWF! SHE GOT TO GET SOME RELIEF HERE, BABEH!" A million trillion stars. Back outside the bathroom they have this incredible fist fight and Sullivan is just railing off and cracking Benoit with total barfight punches right to the eye. There was one flurry that would've made Tenryu hot under the collar. This is also where they start fighting over a garbage can and Dusty's off and running about plunder. "Dey be gettin' plunder, Toneh." We're more than half way through the match at this point and you could start an honest to goodness drinking game for every time Dusty says plunder. Back down the stairs they go and Sullivan just heaves Benoit down the steps. Twice. "Boy you tawk about bad intentions in two guys' eyeballth." First time looks nasty enough, but the second time is borderline ridiculous. I mean Sullivan clearly does not give a shit. Then he goes ahead and stomps flush on Benoit's dick, just because. Dusty - "Well, uh... might'been a little low." They've really beat the piss out of each other by the time they make it back to ringside, but what's great is that they haven't once bothered to attempt a pin. And they're still hucking chairs and crotching the other on the guard rail right up until Benoit brings a table out from under the ring. "We got sut'm comin' out right here. Goin' for plunder. There's no plunder sayfe!" And then Benoit throws his plunder at Sullivan's head. Benoit sets the table up across the top turnbuckle and Dusty's all "He's tryin'a get his plunder right, nah mean?" Finish is basically a superplex from a raised platform, but even that move looks way more nasty than usual. Post-match Benoit continues the beating and Arn Anderson hits the scene. They've been teasing Arn turning on the Horsemen and joining the Dungeon of Doom for a little while and the crowd doesn't know what to make of it when Arn grabs his stable mate and tosses him off of Sullivan. Crowd thinks he's with Sullivan and Hart... then he punts Sullivan in the ribs and the crowd POPS. "This place is gone crazeh! Somebody git mah medicine." Mine too, Dream. Mine too.


Chris Benoit v Kevin Sullivan (Falls Count Anywhere - Nitro, 1/20/97)

Similar to the last match, although I definitely didn't think it was on that level. They go up to the bathroom again and this time the camera man can barely follow it because there's a mob at every entrance or exit. I mean people are just losing it. Nancy follows them this time and she's ready to assault someone with a high heel because even SHE can't get through. Camera man winds up getting stuck in amongst a crowd of rabid fans and it looks like one of those POV scenes from a zombie flick. Great moment in the bathroom where Doug Dillinger (HEAD OF SECURITY) tries to break it up and Benoit just hurls him into a urinal. Finish looks suitably nasty as well. Pretty much a weaker version of the last Falls Count Anywhere match with a different finish, but I don't recall any match in this feud that wasn't at least fun, and this is no different. Needed Dusty on commentary, though.

Big Batch Of WCW

Arn Anderson v Great Muta (Power Hour, 1/12/90)

This is probably my favourite Muta match. It's also one of my favourite Arn matches, and there are a lot of Arn matches that I love a heck of a lot. Arn is the one getting the upper hand in the early stages causing Muta to take a powder after every exchange, so Buzz Sawyer hits the ring to play offensive coordinator and, well, Buzz Sawyer as your maniacal offensive coordinator for the evening is something there needs to be more of. Ross and Cornette on commentary start talking about how he's trying to instill a little Sawyerism into him, and sure enough Muta spin kicks Arn in the sternum really hard and takes over. He busts out a Cattle Mutilation at one point and it really takes me back to when a wrestler would bust out a cooky submission hold that the commentators haven't seen before and they refer to it as "that Oriental submission move" or a "submission move they learned in the Orient". Oriental submission moves were always the most dangerous. Love the swerve at the finish as well, with Arn eating a major cheapshot behind the ref's back, still kicking out ("AW YEAH!" - JR) and even managing to hit the DDT for the win and the TV Title. Definitely one of the best WCW TV matches of the year.


Scott Steiner v Bobby Eaton (Power Hour, 9/21/90)

This is the first match in Scott Steiner's gauntlet challenge. Eaton seems pretty happy to fly around for all of Scott's power stuff here, bumping all over the place and taking a running clothesline while he's sitting on the top rope that could've ended disastrously for the guy had he not managed to hold on. Match goes about 8 minutes and is as solid as you'd expect, but not anything I'd vote for in a top 100.


Scott Steiner v Ric Flair (World Championship Wrestling, 9/22/90)

Match #2 and probably my slight favourite of the three match series. Flair basically gives Steiner everything and it's one of those "Flair going out of his way to make the opponent look deadly" performances that you've seen countless times out of Ric. Flair's offensive flurries are basically limited to a few punches in bunches and a chop here and there, while the rest of his time is spent flying around and getting launched into stuff. Arn's out at ringside to run distractions and cheapshots, and there's a really good nearfall at one point as a result. Then Rick Steiner evens it up, takes Flair's head off with a monster Steinerline and Scotty moves on to match #3 against Double A.


Scott Steiner v Arn Anderson (Main Event, 9/23/90)

Actually this might be my favourite. I'm a big fan of the "Flair Show" where he can do what he's done for years and years and make a ten minute TV match out of it, but this has Arn being Arn and bringing all the shtick an Arn fan like me wants to see. He's too smart for his opponent, he's one step ahead, he's got it all figured out, then he's flat on his ass checking to see if he still has all his teeth. Like the last two matches, Scott controls most of this and gets to toss someone around, but Arn's as willing to make him look as good as Flair and Eaton are, plus I can't think of too any people that I would want to watch go out and make someone look good more than Arn. Actually did Scott ever wrestle Fuerza Guerrera? That would've been spectacular. Finish is pretty weak, but I can deal. All 3 of these gauntlet matches are good; not good enough that I'd expect anyone to vote for them in a top 100, but worth your time for sure.


Sting v Cactus Jack (Submit or Surrender - Power Hour, 11/16/91)

Last time I watched this I thought it was right there with their Beach Blast '92 match (Falls Count Anywhere on the Gulf Coast is a tremendous name for a gimmick match). Not sure I'd think the same once I get around to watching the Beach Blast match again, but this is still a great brawl that probably fits into the "hidden gem" category on account of the fact it never gets talked about. Sting's good in his role, hits his stuff well, and generally puts forth a performance that you can't complain about, but it's Cactus that's the star here. He comes across as a total lunatic at points, squealing like a nutter, laying into Sting with garbage cans and chairs, throwing him into the barricade, etc. The transition into his control segment is one of my favourite ever, as Sting hits the ropes and tries to leapfrog him, so Cactus waits until he's at the height of his jump and just headbutts him right in the nads. Some guy in the crowd even tries to wrestle a folding chair away from him so he can't use it to plaster Sting with, but Cactus winds up with it anyway and obviously wraps it around his dome. Then he shows his appreciation by giving the chair a big kiss. Finish has Foley taking a disgusting flat back bump off the apron that almost completely overshoots the mats and has him landing on the concrete itself, smacking the back of his head off the guardrail while he's at it. There's a lady in the front row that appears to be on the verge of throwing up at this point. Sting follows up with the Scorpion Deathlock, but Foley's out like a light so it's all pretty academic at that point, anyway. This is on youtube and people really aught to give it a look.


Chris Benoit v Brad Armstrong (Clash of the Champions XXII, 1/13/93)

This is a really bossy sub-ten minute match. I'm all about the bossy sub-ten minute matches. Not entirely sure but I think this is Benoit's first singles match where the big boys play. He comes out at the start and nobody really knows who he is and it's all pretty quiet, but by the end people are popping big for his stuff, especially Jesse on commentary. It starts out with a slick sequence that ends with Benoit casually sidestepping a dropkick and looking like a smug douche. Then for the next few minutes Armstrong schools him with a bunch of dropkicks and some nifty arm work. Eventually Benoit just says fuck it and front suplexes him onto the top rope, and then he hits one of the best looking slingshot clotheslines I've ever seen. Jesse is marking hard and I'm hitting rewind like a motherfucker. I had seen this match a while back when I got a hold of it on one of the Schneider Comps, and THAT clothesline was the spot that stuck out to me. It also starts the shift in fan support, and by the time he crushes Brad with a dragon suplex for the finish he's practically been turned babyface. Top stuff.


Eddy Guerrero v Syxx (Ladder Match, Souled Out, 1/25/97)

So I got to this match on Goodhelmet's Eddie set and I seemed to recall reading Eddie's book and him saying that it was basically a train wreck of suck. So I was sort of dreading watching it. Today I decided to man up and just get through it, and whether my expectations were just so low or Eddie was being too hard on it, I'm not sure... but I thought it was actively good. Bischoff's a blithering idiot on commentary from time to time so I wound up muting it about half way through, and the finish is pretty garbage, but considering I generally don't much care for ladder matches anymore, this was really easy to sit through. Syxx winds up getting cracked in the face with the ladder Joey Mercury style at one point and it looked pretty nasty. Obviously not as horrifically face-deforming as the one Matthews ate, but still, nasty is nasty all the same. Syxx also hits a crazy fly kick right to Eddy's head when they're both at the top of the ladder, although that doesn't have anything on the roundhouse kick square to the face right at the beginning. Crowd pop huge for the finish as well (I had un-muted it by this point), which I wasn't expecting considering how apathetic crowds seemed to be towards Eddy as a babyface since showing up in the company.


Eddy Guerrero v Dean Malenko (Nitro, 2/10/97)

Total sprint. Only about 6 minutes long, but I'd still rather watch this than any of their ECW matches. They actually manage to cram a bunch on stuff into that 6 minutes, but it had a real sense of urgency to it and I never felt like I was watching two guys run through a bunch of cool looking spots and sequences just to eat up time. Even the stand-offs didn't strike me as corny. And hey, no indy roll-up section, which might be a first in a Guerrero/Malenko match (although I think they tried it once and flubbed it... that actually makes me like it even more). Syxx hitting the ring and doing whatever that coke head does stopped this short, but what we got was definitely good stuff.


Eddy Guerrero v Chris Jericho (Superbrawl, 2/23/97)

Eh, didn't think much of this at all. I'm a HYUGE fan of their Fall Brawl match later in the year, but this just felt like Eddy told Jericho to run through as much cool shit as he could think of and they'd throw a random stand-off in there just to add to my displeasure. Granted, Jericho's cool shit was indeed cool, but they pretty much eschewed any kind of structure and the crowd was dead as shit and, and... not my thing. Jericho does slap the fucking TASTE out of Eddy's mouth at one point, though. Looked like he went to throw one of his overhand chops and completely missed the target (target being the chest). Maybe someone flashed a camera. Either way Eddy murders him with a powerbomb a short time later and all is right again. Fall Brawl is where it's at, Hell with this noise.


Eddy Guerrero & Chris Jericho v The Faces of Fear (Nitro, 2/24/97)

Aw fuck this was BOSS. I could watch 8 minute tag matches like this all damn year and not get bored. Meng and Barbarian are totally awesome big motherfuckers that will toss you around like you weigh 12 pounds, and Eddy and Jericho are totally awesome small motherfuckers that will happily BE tossed around like they're 12 pounds. Couple amazing spots in this, the best of which probably being Meng's MURDEROUS powerbomb on Eddy. Actually fuck that, it's Barbarian's MURDEROUSER back suplex on Jericho. Someone tell me there's a Faces of Fear comp out there. Please. Eddy and Chris are great as the underdogs having to hit hard and hit fast, double teaming when they can, striking in flurries, but it's their willingness to be welded onto the mat that's particularly special. Malenko's run-in at the finish (they mention something about Eddy accidentally costing him the cruiserweight belt the night before) has me hyped to see the Eddy/Dean Uncensored match again, too. Last time I was hyped about seeing a Guerrero/Malenko match? Fuck if I know. I do know this rocked my socks, though.

Jerry Saggs Eats A MOTHERFUCKIN' Hockey Stick

Nasty Boys v Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan (Falls Count Anywhere Match -Slamboree, 5/22/94)

Well this is just wild. I'm a huge fan of the Spring Stampede match from the previous month where Maxx Payne is Foley's partner in place of Sullivan, and while this one isn't quite as good, it's still totally nuts. The Spring Stampede match is a street fight so there's sort of a mainstream ECW feel to it that I don't recall from any other WCW or WWF match up to that point. This doesn't have the pool cues and the shovels and concession stand that the April match had, but they compensate by punching each other in the face all up and down and under the ramp and in and out and around the ring. There's one awesome table spot and they make the best use of a trash can I think I've ever seen (they use ONE trash can the entire match and by the end it's been flattened so much it's sharp enough to cut open Foley's eye), plus Saggs steals some guy in the crowd's camera and whacks Cactus with it a bunch of times, but for the most part they're using fists and boots and their own body. Actually Saggs get smacked with a hockey stick at the end too. Forgot about that. He also gets potatoed HARD by Philadelphia Flyers' legend David Schultz, who's the special ref' for the night. I mean, Schultz is just laying into him with punches that look ridiculously NOT worked. And that's before he gets blasted with a hockey stick. Crowd goes apeshit for the finish and then post-match Maxx Payne completely obliterates Saggs with a guitar. Then Dave Sullivan hits the scene and breaks a crutch on Knobbs. Wild and crazy and a ton of fun.


Goldberg v Diamond Dallas Page (Halloween Havoc, 10/25/98)

Totally boss match. Goes ten minutes and the crowd are molten the whole way through. Both guys are over huge here, too. I had forgotten how much so in the case of Page, but there's practically no difference between the reactions he's getting and the reactions Goldberg's getting. Starts off with them locking up and Page being tossed into the corner, Page running right back into a lock-up, getting tossed back into the corner, rinse, repeat a couple more times. Crowd pops huge for this because Page isn't backing down even if Goldberg is clearly throwing him around. Goldberg has the obvious strength advantage, but Page is a pitbull and doesn't plan on giving an inch. After he collects himself Page decides he'll try a different route, and this time takes Goldberg over with an armdrag. Crowd pops huge and Goldberg doesn't know what hit him, so Page tells him to bring it and Goldberg just fucking charges him and they both wind up barreling though the ropes. Schiavone's marking out on commentary and so am I because that was the best pissed off lock-up spot ever. At this point it turns into Goldberg being the most unfuckwithable video game boss in history while Page is trying to hit and run at pace while trying not to get close enough to him so that he won't get caught and murdered. Problem with that is Goldberg hardly being a dude you can easily "hit and run," which you see when Page drops down and tries to sweep his legs and Goldberg fucking BACKFLIPS out of the way. Of course Page tries it again and manages to get him down for about a second and a half, but that little sequence completely blew my mind. Next couple minutes has Goldberg in control, and it's all largely comfortable until he charges Page in the corner only for him to move and wind up going shoulder-first into the ring post. That's Page's opening, and I think it's Schiavone who says "The best way to dodge a freight truck is just to step out of the way," which a totally apt and perfect line. Next few minutes has Page working him over and Goldberg's pretty much exceptional as the wounded animal that could still rip your head off at any point. Last couple minutes are perfect. They literally hit 3 moves in total (not 3 moves each; 3 all together) in that space of time, but the best comparison I can give is the Rock/Austin match from Wrestlemania 19 where the pace at which they're moving from spot to spot is dead on and the "laying around" between each has the entire arena on edge. Don't mean to get fruity with the superlatives, but it really felt electric. Page thinking he's a Diamond Cutter away from the World Title only to turn around and have his lungs speared through his rib cage was an amazing moment. After that we finally do get the Diamond Cutter when Goldberg can't lift Page all the way up for the Jackhammer because of the injured shoulder, Page slipping behind him and dropping him with it. Crowd completely LOSE it at that. The whole idea that the Diamond Cutter can come out of nowhere, which has been built up for months at this point, is paid off here (they posed the question earlier of whether or not he could even get in close enough to hit it at all) and it's really just an incredible moment. At this point people are BELIEVING Page is gonna be the first person to actually beat this man. The nearfall is all it should be. Finish is great too, with Page trying to suplex Goldberg, Big Bill having none of that shit and just muscling him up for the Jackhammer. Seriously thought this was excellent and about as close to a WCW version of Warrior/Hogan as possible. By far my favourite match of either guy's career.

3 Midnight Express Matches

Midnight Express v Russian Assassins (Clash of the Champions V, 2/15/89)

Solid enough, but the Russians are pretty content to clubber and bearhug, and it wasn't the best clubbering and bearhugging you're likely to see. Also wanted more switcheroo shtick from them. CHEAT, MOTHERFUCKERS. Lane was also FIP here and, as much as I love Lane, you really want Bobby playing FIP if you're trying to sell shitty offence to the point of not making it look shitty. Or as shitty. Clean finish, at least.


Midnight Express v Brian Pillman & Z-Man (World Championship Wrestling, 8/18/90)

These teams had quite a few matches during 1990 that made TV or PPV. I think I've seen all but one of them over the course of the last couple years, but I'm having a hard time remembering anything specific about any of them other than their 3/10 TV match. And that's because I watched it last month (spoke about it here). I know their Capital Combat match is really good, and I'll probably wind up voting for it, but I'm drawing a blank on *why*. Gonna have to watch it again. Anyways, this was good. Didn't think it was as good as the 3/10 match, and that isn't going on my list, but you seriously can't go wrong with any MX from this year. In fairness, though, this had a clip job in the middle that takes us from the middle of Pillman and Zenk in full control to Pillman being the FIP. Just came out of nowhere and was pretty disappointing. Pillman's always a goof FIP, so that in itself isn't a let down, but I really would've liked to see how they transitioned into it. Run in finish doesn't help my mood any, but if you've seen enough MX from 1990 then you'll know that this is still worth giving up ten minutes for.


Midnight Express v The Steiner Brothers (World Championship Wrestling, 10/13/90)

Best match of the bunch, and one that I might vote for. There's millions of tags that I could end up voting for, though, so take that for what it's worth. Opening period is great with Bobby and Eaton stooging and bumping like kings. Scotty tosses them around like frisbees while Rick stands smiling like a big goof. I love goofy Rick Steiner. There's one spot where Lane is standing half in the ring-half on the apron yelling at fans, so Rick yanks the middle rope up and starts laughing like a big simple lummox because the whiny pretty boy has a sore winky. How is that NOT tha pro-rasslin'? He's also one of the most insane dudes ever when it comes to bumping for clotheslines. Countless times I've seen him spike himself on his own head to make a clothesline look bossy. I've been hard on Rick in the past (he was deplorable in that Steiners/Harts tag), but I love the shit outta goofy, semi-retarded man-child Rick Steiner. Both he and Scott take a short spell playing FIP. Crowd is totally rocking for both segments, especially the hot tag to Rick. Scott's a guy I like well enough as a face in peril, but when he's in there with heel Bobby Eaton you want to see him wrecking shit, and wreck shit he does. Nice finish caps it off and this might actually be my favourite Steiners tag of the year. Need to see all those matches with Doom again. Actually that Nasty Boys tag from Halloween Havoc is awesome...yeah, that one's my favourite. This one's second.

Cactus Jack v Paul Orndorff (WCW Main Event, 1/10/93)

This is a 'come as you are street fight'. Only goes about 10 minutes, if that, but it's stiff and manly and what I am assuming is the start of both Cactus' feuds with Orndorff and Vader, as well as a face turn. Whole match comes about because Harley Race is looking for someone to replace Rick Rude on Vader's team for the Thunderdome cage match at the upcoming Clash of the Champions. He wants to stick two guys in an environment that basically requires reckless violence, and whoever survives is a suitable choice to stomp ass in the cage. And so they stomp ass. About 10 seconds into it Orndorff drills Foley's head into the barricade, then launches him into the steps where Foley takes a ridiculous bump that somehow never broke his leg(s), and from that point on they pretty much beat the shit out of each other. Total Regal/Finlay style brutality where there's no bullshit gimmicked "violence." Fuck your garbage can lids, this is straight up manly as fuck, 'punch me in the face and I'll punch you in the face right back' violence. Race at ringside is right on top of everything, constantly shouting at them to keep fighting, telling them to get up, etc., and Foley eventually loses it when Race goes too far by shoving him back in the ring. He just flies off the ring apron and clotheslines him, and out comes VADER SMASH to wreck shit. Match is essentially over at this point, but the post-match stuff is fucking great. Orndorff piledrives Foley and tries to choke him out with a belt, Vader splashes him a bunch of times, Harley's strutting around berating him, and then when they come back from commercial all three are cutting a promo in the ring. Orndorff's shouting something like a lunatic when Cactus shows up from behind and starts blasting everyone with a giant fuckin' shovel. Jobbers pour out of the locker room to stop him, so Cactus caves their faces in too and then cuts a crazed promo about how they made the mistake of not killing Cactus Jack. Aw shit he's gonna murder a motherfucker. The amount of hellish beatings Foley took that year is ridiculous. Good match, but the angle tacked on is really something else. "Turn the other cheek and I'll break your fuckin' chin" -- The RZA.

Buncha Regal. Bill Dundee Is Also Fucking Your Wife

Okay, so, over at this place, we've started a Greatest WCW match ever poll, and that basically means I'm gonna be talking about a shit ton of WCW over the next year or so. I've already spoken about loads of 1992 stuff as part of the 1992 project, but you can expect ramblings on stuff from anywhere between November '88 when Turner bought out Crockett until March 2001 when Vince swallowed it up. Anybody else wants to take part in this then you know what to do. Anyways...


Steven Regal v Too Cold Scorpio (Main Event, 8/29/93)

Different from what I expected. Scorp is pretty much locked down from the get go here and Regal seems content to keep him on the mat and just grind him down for the duration. Works well enough from a "keep the high flier grounded" standpoint, but going to a time limit draw doesn't do anything for Regal, and that always seems to be his end game. If he was the TV champ already then sure, I buy that, but he's not so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. By the time Scorp finally manages to get something going and come off the top, the time limit expires and that's that. Not bad or anything, and Regal wearing guys out with holds is always gonna be somewhat interesting, but not as good as I was hoping, either.


Steven Regal v Ricky Steamboat (Fall Brawl, 9/19/93)

Hell of a match. Steamboat comes in with taped up ribs thanks to a recent mugging from Regal and Sir William (Bill fuckin' Dundee), and we get a trademark Steamboat sell job. So many great little touches, like stopping between flurries of strikes because even breathing hard seems to hurt. He hits a running cross body at one point and his sell of the damage to his own ribs is just perfection. This is also pissed off Steamboat; he's not interested in wrestling until he's had his fill of whipping someone's ass first. When he eventually does settle into working Regal's arm it's all really nice stuff. When Regal takes over he focuses on the ribs, and that's really nice stuff too. I always love Regal's added touches of nastiness whenever he's working a body part, like cranking back on a camel clutch while digging his knee into the injured ribs. Finish was great, with Dundee blasting Steamboat in the head with an umbrella while he's skinning the cat, Steamboat stumbling backwards into a German suplex that KO's him. Gets plenty of time, and it might be a top 3 match for both guys in 1993.


Steven Regal v Ricky Steamboat (Saturday Night, 9/25/93)

These guys could wrestle every week for a year and it still wouldn't be enough. Steamboat is major pissed off this time, even more so than at Fall Brawl, and attacks Regal before the bell even rings. First 6 or so minutes are ALL Steamboat and he just goes to town on Regal. Jesse on commentary bitches constantly about how Steamboat's broken every rule in the book, and really, this is about as gung ho as I've ever seen Steamboat. Really gives the impression that he only cares about whooping this fool. Regal's great when he takes over, totally laying into Steamboat with some vicious looking forearms right to the nose. Big overhand bad boys from a snarling Englishman. Cool finish that gives Steamboat a bit of payback from the PPV, too. There are 4 matches between these two (that made TV anyway; I'm not including the handheld) on Goodhelmet's Regal set up to this point, and right now I could see myself voting for 3 of them at least. Wouldn't expect this one to go very high, but their Fall Brawl match could.


Steven Regal v Arn Anderson (Saturday Night, 10/9/93)

Not spectacularly great or anything, but definitely something a fan of these two would want to see. Arn controlling by working the arm is about as good a section as Steamboat's in the Fall Brawl match. Then Dundee jabs him in the ribs with the umbrella and Regal takes over, although I didn't think Regal in control here was as good as Regal in control in the last two matches with Steamboat. Dundee's a weasly little shit on the floor as well, always on hand to dish a cheapshot should it be required, and I dig that kinda thing in my pro-wrestling managers. He's especially great at the end when it looks like Arn's gonna get the win. The finish itself is mistimed by a few seconds, but Dundee jumping around like a maniac is enough to negate that minor quibble. Comparing this to the Scorpio match, Regal trying to run out the clock down the stretch makes sense. Arn's picking up a head of steam, so it's best just to put it in the deep freeze. There's way too much stuff from the '89-'94 period that I like as much or more than this to say whether I'll toss a vote its way or not, but if you like these guys at all then check this out. Their Superbrawl match from 2/94 is coming up on one of the later discs, so I'm pretty excited about seeing that in good VQ for the first time in...ever, I think.

1992 WCW - One More Time For Your Motherfuckin' Mind

Lex Luger v Sting (Superbrawl, 2/29/92)

Big time atmosphere here, sort of like the 1992 WCW equivalent of Cena v Helmsley at Wrestlemania 22, although the babyface is actually cheered and the heel booed in this instance. Luger is jacked out of his mind and is about as big as I remember seeing him. I'm usually a sucker for these big spectacles, but I didn't think this was anything one needs to go out of their way to see. I mean, the crowd is pumped and it does have that whole "aura" about it, but it's not like it's Hogan/Rock levels of electric, and besides, Hogan/Rock was a good match regardless of the nutso atmosphere. I kinda liked Luger totally no-selling a Stinger Splash right off the bat and clubbering Sting with a clothesline, but I know some people will hate it, and, well, he doesn't really do much else to redeem himself. Luger has a ton of really good performances that get little to no praise, but this isn't anything a Luger fan is likely to point to as evidence of that. Finish seemed kind of underwhelming as well, but at least with the belt off Luger it actually had a chance to be meaningful again, and I guess that's the most important thing.


Brian Pillman v Brad Armstrong (Saturday Night, 4/4/92)

Nifty enough match, but it felt a little too my turn/your turn for the most part. There's some duelling arm work and both guys bust out a grounded abdominal stretch, which was pretty cool and unexpected, but I never thought it settled into much of a decent rhythm. Finishing run was pretty sweet at least, and Pillman has an ace dropkick. Gotta get a hold of Goodhelmet's Brad Armstrong comp at some point.


Brian Pillman v Z-Man (Wrestlewar, 5/17/92)

This was shockingly good. Well, "shockingly" is probably overstating it since I don't actually think Zenk's level of suck is as high as his level of annoyance to me personally, but I still wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. There's still some goofy crowd-pandering at odd moments and general instances of him being vanilla as all get out, but he's way more niggly and pissed off than usual and things are much better for it. I'm not actually sure what it is these two are bitching about, but they're tag partners that have had a falling out, and they manage to get across a vibe of "two friends that are pissed off at each other" well enough. Pillman controls most of it by working the leg, which I'm thankful for because Pillman on offence is far more interesting than Zenk on offence. Zenk does get a small spell of working Pillman's lower back, but he doesn't seem to know whether he wants to work like a slightly more aggressive babyface that's fed up with his current situation or a full on uber-babyface. One minute he'll punt Pillman in the kidneys, the next he'll throw up his arm and flash his pearly whites so everybody knows he's a nice guy. Pillman's a guy that always worked pretty aggressive, but the moments where he tosses everything aside just so he can tear Zenk up with Hashimoto overhands feel pretty heavy on the "how far will two buddies go to beat on each other?" scale. Last 6 or so minutes are great and have some really choice nearfalls. There's one moment where Zenk keeps crumpling up in a heap as if his leg's completely shot any time Pillman tries to stand him up, so Pillman goes up top to fly, but it turns out Zenk's only playing possum and catches him on the way down with a crazy boot to the chest. Pillman takes a great bump off a Zenk cross body as well, practically landing on his head. Pissed off Zenk is far more tolerable than vanilla Zenk, and I'd be pretty astounded if I came across a better match with him in it.


Dustin Rhodes v Cactus Jack (Main Event, 9/6/92)

Loved this. It barely goes 7 minutes, but there's absolutely no fluff and they hit all the notes they need to in that time. I'll take that over something that goes twice as long but has a bunch of meandering before getting to the point. It's also falls count anywhere, and I'm assuming the rule book's been tossed as well because by the end they're hucking chairs at each other and at one point Foley suplexes a table onto Dustin's head. Right at the start Cactus meets Dustin in the aisle as he's heading to the ring, and shortly afterwards the ball gets rolling on the Mick Foley Batshit Bump Highlight Reel. In the space of 7 minutes he manages to: do that spot where he sunset flips the opponent on the floor by diving off the ring apron and cracks his legs and hip off the concrete; take a vertical suplex on the stage; take a back suplex on the concrete, and hit a running elbow off the apron onto concrete. Dustin's a guy that has a bunch of really great looking bumps in his bag as well, and his missed clothesline into the abyss that sets up the finish looks fucking great here. There's another spot where he tries to bulldog Foley on the floor and winds up getting tossed off shoulder-first into the ring post, and that looked way cool too. Such a bossy little match. Every time I think I've seen all of the best stuff from this year, I run across another little nugget.


WCW 1992 Project

DVDVR Texas Set, Discs 1 & 2

Been slacking on this after getting off to a good start, but with the All Japan list announced I figured I'd try and actually get this set finished and send a ballot in. Managed to finish the last 2 sets in time, so hopefully I can go 3 for 3. Took a break at the start of disc 3, but this is everything from the first two discs (C&P job, of course):


Kevin Von Erich v King Kong Bundy (5/30/82)
- I really dug this. Bundy still has the flowing locks and Kevin wrestles barefoot. It's worked with Bundy being the slower yet stronger guy while Kevin has to use speed and agility to combat it; simple stuff that people will have seen before, but it's done very nicely. Kevin has a great dropkick, btw. Awesome spot where they're in a knucklelock and Kevin escapes with pure SWANKNESS, hits an amazing dropkick, sends Bundy into the corner and charges in at a million miles an hour, only Bundy gets the knees up and Kevin, clearly not giving a shit about his own ribs, barrels into it and surely winds himself to shit. Looked real nasty. Finish is sort of sudden, but for a sub-ten minute match, this was a total blast and a great way to kick off the set.

Ric Flair v Kerry Von Erich (2/3 falls match, 8/115/82)
- Saw this ages ago and really liked it. This time I probably liked it even more. First fall is almost a shorter 1 fall Flair match all to itself and it's awesome. Kerry has some really nice ways to work holds, always making sure to keep them moving and active. There's a couple headscissor spots at the start that rank up there with my favourite early stages mat work in any Flair match ever. Think the fall goes 20 minutes and Kerry controls about 14 of them, and Flair's so good at gradually getting pissed off and niggly. There's a few moments where things sort of break down and Flair gets fed up working sportsman-like and they just start rolling around, and it seems all uncooperative and shit. Loved the spot where Kerry tries to take Flair over with an armdrag and Flair just refuses to go, stands still, shoves Kerry off and then picks him up by the hair and tosses his ass out to the concrete. Moments like Flair losing his cool are great in this actually, culminating in him going insane post-match and jumping over 6 people just so he can bite and tear at the pretty boy some more, like he's gone past the point of begging off stooge and will accept being punched around because he knows he'll get more than a couple licks in of his own. I love pissed off maniac Flair (he's only 33 or something at this point but I can't help but view Flair as a geriatric psycho now, whether it's 2002 or 1982 -- and I adore that). Match goes longer than 30 minutes, so it requires a pretty hefty ramble for me to note down everything I'd like to, but there's way too much great stuff in this. Should do very well on my list. If it doesn't land in my top 20 then this will be right up there with Memphis and Mid-South in terms of repeated love explosions in my pants.

Ric Flair v David Von Erich (10/11/82)
- David's out to hurt a motherfucker here after Flair put a hit on Kerry, and Flair's not giving a shit about being a sport early like was in the first Kerry match. For the most part this is 'by the numbers' Flair, but that's not a complaint at all. David spends a chunk of the first 15 minutes working Flair's arm after Flair barrels into the turnbuckle shoulder-first, and while David isn't as good at keeping holds interesting as Kerry, it's solid stuff and I'm always paying attention. When Flair gets on offence things pick up some more, and eventually Kerry hits the ring with his crutches in hand to give David support, and the final stretch is terrific as a result. So much to love, like David going for a diving knee in the corner and missing, Flair going RIGHT for the figure-four only to have it continually blocked, so instead he turns it into an Indian Deathlock, which I don't remember seeing from him before. Shortly after this David gets split open after a posting and Flair goes geriatric psycho on the cut, dropping knees, punches, ramming his head into the turnbuckle bolt, all that good stuff, and at that point I think "shit, Flair in World Class is fuckin' WORLD CLASS, BABEH!" Crowd is totally nutso for Kerry, and, when Flair decides he's had enough of his cheerleading shit and just starts stomping on the leg that was injured as part of the hit, they go CRAY-ZEE, man. David blasting Flair's leg with his own title belt and busting him open big time with a crutch is a great payback, both for himself and his brother. More Flair pouncing on sumbitches post-match because HE DON'T GIVE A FUCK and the Von Erichs are the bane of his existence and OH FUCK the last five minutes of this are ALLLLL THAT and a bag a chips. 12 stars.

Checkmate & Magic Dragon v Al Madril & Jose Lothario (10/12/82)
- Magic Dragon is stinky and has piffly offence and does a retarded superkick thing that RVD would laugh at, but Checkmate is so fucking weird and great. He moves around like a crab and does this thing from time to time where he'll curl up in a ball like it's a "defensive position"; imagine an armadillo or hedgehog curling up to protect itself. It's cool as shit. He also HURLS himself at people, like a mini-torpedo trying to headbutt your pancreas into the sixth row, and if he misses he continues hurling himself right out the ring. I wish Checkmate was my mate. Madril and Jose are perfectly fine as the babyface tandem, and I was expecting this to be a regular southern tag, but instead they have one big-ish FIP section and then trade shorter heat segments after that as they build to a time limit draw. Won't be a match that finishes high on my ballot, but I dug it and Checkmate is your mother's lover.

Checkmate & Magic Dragon v Al Madril & Bugsy McGraw (10/26/82)
- This is more "fun" than the previous match, although probably not technically "better". Some of the early comedy stuff with Bugsy and Checkmate is realy good. Bugsy's character is that of a "man child", in that he's mentally retarded or some such. Or he has Peter Pan syndrome and doesn't "grow up". I don't know. He actually reminds me of a really bubbly Buzz Sawyer, in that he's nuts, but not nuts in a menacing "I'll fuck your face with this screwdriver" way; nuts in a goofy, happy kinda way. Dragon isn't as stinky in this, and I actively enjoyed some of the stuff he was involved in here. There's a spot near the end where he eats a big overhand chop from Madril, takes a flat back bump and pops right back up with a nip-up, right into another overhand chop. There's also a do-si-do spot between all four that I dug as well. And this match has the clean finish that the last one never. Neither are high ballot placers for me, but a solid southern tag with a big of comedy and shtick thrown in does me fine.

Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & David Von Erich v The Sharpe Brothers & Tom Steele (12/25/82)
- This won't finish remotely high for me at the end, but I'm glad it's on the set for two reasons. The first is that it's an awesome Michael Hayes babyface performance on a set chock full of sleazy Michael Hayes heel performances. He's really great as the FIP in this, never content to let the heels' offence (read: chinlocks, largely) become dull, always fighting and looking for the hot tag. The heels are alright in their role, and Mike Sharpe is an amusing stooge, but Hayes is the one keeping things interesting during the heat segment. The second reason is that it's a great lead-in to the Flair/Kerry cage match, and of course the Freebirds heel turn during it. They're over like crazy as faces here and to see one of the Von Erichs, due to the friendly relationship they have with the Freebirds, step into what would otherwise be Buddy Roberts' slot due to him being unable to be there, then to relinquish his third of the title belt (this is for the World Six Man Titles) out of the goodness of his ol' heart, really sets the stage for the heel turn later and puts it even more over the top as a shocking moment. Could've done with it being an extra just fine, but either way I'm glad it's here.

Ric Flair v Kerry Von Erich (Cage Match, 12/25/82)
- I've seen this a number of times over the years and there hasn't been one time where I've felt like it's really grabbed me. I'm not sure what it is that sort of turns me off, though, and that's frustrating. The fact Hayes is the special referee and he and Manning (the other ref') are almost getting in each others' way at times still takes me out of it from time to time, but I think Hayes is largely very good in his role. He gets "a little too rough for a referee" at times, but you get the sense he's trying to keep this as fair as possible and be as impartial as he can, pulling Kerry away like he'd pull Flair away (sometimes by the hair). Then as the match progresses things start to get away from him and he eventually loses his cool completely, as does Gordy who's the key keeper, and at that point he loses it and stops giving a fuck, walking out on the match as public enemy number one. It's a great angle. The actual match is also great, but something about it bugs me, and like I said, I'm not quite sure what it is. The first 7 or so minutes seem to have an odd sort of layout, and there's some parts here and there that I'm not a fan of, but on the whole there's much more to like than dislike. Once Flair gigs himself (looks like he takes the blade to his head twice in the space of 30 seconds) things pick up big time, and the final minute or two with him pouncing on Kerry like a rabid dog are great. Also love some of his desperation spots, like being on his knees and headbutting Kerry's bad leg just to create some space. Also like the finish, with Kerry refusing to quit and wanting to keep going because the World Title is on the line, only for his body to give out on him after everything he's sustained (NASTY cage door shot from Gordy being one thing). I prefer their 2/3 falls match, and right now this is behind both that and Flair/David, but I still see it finishing failry high at the end.

Terry Gordy v Kevin Von Erich (1/10/83)
- Short, intense little fight, but more of a taster of what this feud will bring than anything that'll finish terribly high. Kevin's really good as a super pissed off dude that's going to bite and claw at this bigger bruiser, and him always going for the Iron Claw because it's the fuckin' CLAW and everybody goes down to the claw at some point was a nice touch. Gordy getting fed up with it and blasting him in the nuts was great, too. Finish is what it is, but there's no way any of these guys are going down clean yet.

Ric Flair v Terry Gordy (2/4/82)
- More great Flair. He's definitely been my favourite guy on the set so far. I imagine the layout here would be exactly the same if Gordy was a full-blown face and Flair was working full-blown heel, and Flair would bring all of his dirty little cheapshots and then he'd go fuck some guy's wife. Gordy's not a full-blown face, though. He's one of the three most hated men in Dallas, and thus Flair is the de facto babyface. He works this totally clean, and the crowd are 100% pro-Flair, chanting "Go, Ric, Go! Go, Ric, Go!", popping for spots like his desperation sleeper hold (which looks fuggin' awesome, the way he just leaps at this big curly motherfucker and tries to choke him out) that would otherwise be a *heel* desperation spot. He and Kerry even give each other a little signal at the start that lets you know they're putting their own rivaly on hold, even if it's for this night only, because the Freebirds are the common enemy right now. So yeah, it's basically worked the same as it would be if the roles were switched, but it still turns out perfectly. It's another reason why I love Flair Formula. Short compared to most Flair title defences, but these shorter matches are just as great in their own right and this was a blast. Every Flair match so far is at the top of my very early ballot. I know for a fact there's tonnes of great stuff to come, but I'll be sad once he goes.

Kerry Von Erich v Michael Hayes (2/7/83)
- I thought this was the least of the Von Erichs/Freebirds singles matches in the heel turn fallout, but there's plenty to like here. The early stages has Hayes constantly breaking up the action by bailing to the floor and frustrating Kerry, more or less refusing to do anything because he has a pretty good idea what'll happen if he does. Also goes the longest of the brothers/'birds singles matches and I thought things got a little... not "dull" exactly, but the middle part of this didn't grab me like the entire Kevin/Gordy match, although that was a short little fight whereas this has some duelling/revenge legwork. Liked the spot where Kerry kicked out if a pin attempt by putting the claw on Hayes' stomach. Things break down post-match and Gordy and Hayes try to piledrive Kerry on the floor, so that brings out Kevin and he wants to kill someone. Won't finish high for me, but not remotely close to being bad.

Kerry, Kevin & David Von Erich v The Freebirds (Lumberjack Match, 2/18/83)
- Aw fuck this was great. I had seen it before and dug it a bunch, and I did the same this time. There's two FIP sections in it, but they manage to capture an aura of a big fight really well and the Freebirds are great at dragging someone into their corner and triple teaming them. Kerry takes a monster bump through the ropes at one point, too. Wish I could remember more about this because there was some really great stuff. Finish has some nice payback, and as a "taste of what's to come" this is a Hell of a taste.

David Von Erich v Buddy Roberts (3/18/83)
- Aw fuck this was great too, best of the three Von Erichs/Freebirds singles matches on the disc. I generally think David's fine and everything, but here I actively really enjoyed him. You can tell Buddy's the one leading this in terms of laying it out, but David plays his part perfectly and definitely seems to be coming into his own at around this time. I imagine he'll only get better from here. First five minutes are all David, controlling by working the arm in neat ways. Then Buddy eventually takes over and just punches and elbows and boots David in the head. He's a great little pissed off menace, really cranking in the headlocks, and David is good at firing back out of them. Clean finish as well, which the other two brothers/birds singles never had. Post-match is the greatest, too. This, the lumberjack match and the Flair/Gordy match are all pretty much interchangeable on my ballot so far, but I thought all three were a blast.

Ric Flair v Kevin Von Erich (4/1/83)
- I was really looking forward to this and it did not disappoint. I sometimes see people talk about how Flair's '89 is the best year any wrestler's ever had and then someone will jump in and pimp his '83 and '85 as being as good if not better, and while I do think Flair in '85 is better than Flair in '89, I had never gotten the impression '83 Flair was close to '89 Flair (well, maybe I did at some point, but after watching Flair's '89 again, no sir). Seeing him work World Class in '83 so far has been awesome, though, not to the extent where I'd start talking up '83 Flair as being better than '89 Flair, but because it's so different. This is a "short" Flair title defence by Flair title defence standards, but between this and the Gordy matches, I'm remembering how great the shorter Flair defences are. This is also one to show the "Flair works the same match over and over again" folks, because this is not the sort of match you'll see Flair work over and over again. I really hope Cal gets a hold of this soon because I honestly can't for the life of me see someone watching the first disc and then this match (and then the rest of the disc) and come away thinking Kevin isn't a fucking great pro-wrestler. Kerry and David being uninteresting or whatever; I don't agree at all, but I suppose I can see where he's coming from because "uninteresting" is a taste thing and fair enough with that. But Kevin rules so hard and this is a great, great match. Psycho post-match Flair all bloodied to shit repeatedly screaming "IT'S MINE! IT'S MINE!" is what makes Flair Flair.

Kerry Von Erich, Chavo Guerrero & Iceman King Parsons v Terry Gordy, Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts (Penalty Box Match, 4/29/83)
- Stip is interesting to say the least, and while I guess you could argue that it wasn't used *that* well, I thought this was tremendously fun and right now the only match I liked more was the 2/3 falls Flair/Kerry match. The 8-man tag I watched last night for the Double A of the Day has an opening babyface control segment that I drooled over endlessly, and most people here know that a southern tag with a high end opening stretch is my kind of thing. Well, this had a terrific opening stretch. This is the first Gordy performance on the disc that I was blown away by. I know there are Gordy performances on this set that are outstanding, but this one I had never seen before and he was just a crazy close-to-3000-lbs bump and stooge freak. It's also the first Hayes performance that's blown me away. The Christmas '82 match had a totally great Hayes babyface performance, but this is scuzzy heel Michael Hayes at his very best. He takes one Flair flop type bump off a Kerry punch that is utterly glorious. Kerry continues to be the shit and how both he and Hayes have reps as shitty workers when there's a trillion Kofi Kingston and John Morrison sigs on the internet is ridiculous to me. The general consensus amongst the people watching this set is that it's a decent-good match and nothing more, but this was absolutely up my alley and, much like the Flair/David match that others are lukewarm to, this pushed all the right buttons. And CHAVO, motherfucker!


Kevin Von Erich, David Von Erich & Iceman King Parsons v Terry Gordy, Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts (5/13/83)
- It's going to be a bitch trying to seperate all these six-man tags at the end, but fuck if they aren't all great. This one has David playing FIP and you can already see how much he's improved since the set started. Some great 'inches away' tag teases here and Gordy continues to bump like a king. There's a great spot where Kevin rams his head off of Iceman's, and Iceman is unphased since he's black and all balck wrestlers obviously have hard heads, but Gordy does the best dizzy stagger sell ever. I'm loving Roberts so far, too, cheapshotting little fuck that he is.

Jimmy Garvin v David Von Erich (5/27/83)
- Solid match, although it seemed more like a nice intro to Garvin that anything that'll finish high on my list at the end. He has some immense knee drops, right to the head and neck. They also manage to capture an aura of hatred pretty well here, and there's a great spot where David has Garvin tied up in the ropes and he's just waffling him with a bunch of right hands. Finish isn't far short of terrible, though. I've got no clue how anything they did would warrant a double DQ, but oh well.

The Von Erichs & Iceman King Parsons v The Freebirds & Jimmy Garvin (Elimination Match, 5/27/83)
- This ruled. I came in expecting a Survivor Series type elimination match, but instead it's just a crazy battle royale where you can be eliminated by pinfall and submission in addition to being tossed over the top. Gordy going so early was disappointing, but it was an awesome pile-up, I gotta say. Soon enough they settle into a long Kerry/Kevin v Hayes/Roberts "match" and it's just a total brawl for the most part. I am also beginning to fucking love Hayes. What a stooge. Kerry's elimination here is awesome, as he tosses Hayes to the floor, but Hayes goes through the ropes as opposed to over them so he's not actually eliminated. Kerry and Kevin whip Roberts off the ropes, but Hayes sneaks round and grabs Roberts' foot just as the Von Erichs are going for a double dropkick, and then Hayes climbs up top and blasts Kerry. Actual finish is also really cool, even if you can see it coming a mile away. Kevin Von Erich can sure as shit skin the cat, btw. This was awesome and so far it's in my top 5. Still enjoyed the penalty box match more, though.

Terry Gordy v Kerry Von Erich (No DQ, 6/10/83)
- Another short little fight, this time with both guys having taped fists and throwing some great punches. I liked this a little more than Gordy/Kevin from January, and while it won't finish particularly, there was still lots to dig about it. Kerry hits an awesome desperation dropkick at one point, almost jumping right from his knees and catching Gordy right in the chin. Gordy continues to sell the Von Erich's fired up comebacks like no one else, taking an awesome bump off of a discus punch where he sort of winds up doing a headstand while his legs are resting on the top rope. Hilariously placed commercial break before the finish (you get to see everything that happens, it's just that they go to the break and when they come back all that's left is literally 5 seconds of action. It's like they decided to take a commercial right before the pinfall for whatever reason). I dug this.

Harley Race v Kevin Von Erich (6/17/83)
- This was seriously awesome and as good as anything I've ever seen Race involved in. He's not someone that generally does much for me at all, but he's willing to bump and stooge around for Kevin here and he goes above and beyond to make him look great. That said, Kevin does enough by himself to look great with one of the best sell jobs I've ever seen. I honestly can't think of anyone off the top of my head that does a better job selling the arm than Kevin does here. Totally amazing. I'm going to do a countdown for this once I've finished it and ramble quite a bit about the top 50, so I'll talk about this in more detail down the line for sure, because no way I can see this dropping very far.

David Von Erich v Jimmy Garvin (6/17/83)
- Well this is probably the most disappointing match to me so far. Their last match seemed like a nice taster of what would come in a rematch, but I came away from this thinking the starter was better than the main course, and not only that but their first match seems like the kind of 10 minute match I'd enjoy even more on a re-watch, while I have no interest in going back to this one. I thought they had some neat ideas, but so much of the body of this felt like it was going nowhere and sort of meandered. Finish is better than their first match, which wouldn't be hard, but still nothing that'll help this in the end for me. I mean, this isn't bad, but shit, when you've got a set this deep with great shit, the stuff that's "only" pretty good will slide down the pack.

The Von Erichs v The Fabulous Freebirds (7/4/83)
- Crowd is totally and outrageously MOLTEN for this. I had seen this on the Gordy set before and I thought it was great then; definitely holds up as being so. It's 2/3 falls and there's a great story of the Von Erichs being insanely hot headed and the Freebirds using that to their advantage. Some great moments where they manipulate things and use it to distract David Manning so they can cheat and all that good stuff. Of course this just pisses the Von Erichs off more and more and it almost costs them more than once. I continue to love Hayes and Gordy. I mean, Gordy was always great, but Hayes has been a big find for me on this considering he's a guy I liked before for his stalling and stooging and generally being a total cock, but he's been awesome on the set up to this point. Roberts is a sneaky little dickhead and sort of the Tully Blanchard of the team. That comparison is mostly limited to the roles they both play, though, because they don't wrestle much like each other for the most part. Not typical southern tag formula either with the start reminding me of a really heated Lucha feud almost. Working number two right now and it seems likely to stay in my top 10. And this disc rules SO fuckin' hard.

Terry Gordy v Chris Adams (7/15/83)
- Won't finish particularly high, but this was solid and a nice set intro to Adams. Match goes about 9 minutes, and it does have a chunk of it spent in a headlock that isn't terribly compelling, but when it's good it's real good. Gordy's sell of the first superkick is sweet as Hell, and the finish is great.

Kevin Von Erich v Jimmy Garvin (7/18/83)
- Loved this. It's 2/3 falls and some of the mat work in the first two falls is fucking terrific by 1983 US standards. Felt almost like I was watching some redneck shoot-style at points. Kevin has an AMAZING bag of tricks, btw. Someone called him the redneck Regal and I find that very apt, not just because he's got tonnes of neat stuff to do on the mat, but because he's always rugged as Hell and stiff, and on top of that he's freakishly agile. Crazy great improv on a top rope sunset flip in the first fall and the finish to the second fall looked NASTY. My working #6 and holy fuck could I watch this again and again.

Kevin Von Erich v Jimmy Garvin (7/25/83)
- One fall contest this time. Not quite as good as their last match, but this is still some quality pro-graps. More redneck shoot-style that blew my mind. Garvin has super nasty looking knee drops. I love him trying to run away at the end, not to the point where he'll get counted out or lose the match and the title, but just so Kevin can't fuck him up anymore. I seem to recall one spot in this that had me reiwnding more than a few times but I'm blanking on what it was specifically. Real good match, though.

Buddy Roberts v Iceman King Parsons (8/8/83)
- Also 2/3 falls. I was really tired when I watched this, so I guess I could watch it again once I've got through everything else, but this was still good even if I was on the verge of falling asleep. Match is sort of built around Roberts' head gear, and Roberts look like a crazy little pit bull on offence at times. He doesn't execute stuff as "cleanly" as some people, but it all looks really painful and vicious. Parsons' answer to Roberts' cheating is great and Hayes takes a nutso bump off the apron at the end when he comes out to protest. Probably a middle of the pack match by the end, but there's plenty to like here even if I would've liked it more had they gone with one guy having more of an extended run of offence at some point.

I Actually Watched Something This Week. For Realz

CM Punk v Undertaker (WWE Smackdown!, 9/10/10)

Thought this was good, albeit a little disappointing. I don't really have much clue what's going on in terms of storylines/feuds in WWE right now, but I was aware of the whole "Undertaker's a turnip" angle and how he'd wrestle his matches around this time like he was more "human" now that he'd just come out of a coma. He's really good in that "weakened demon" (well that's the stupidest shit I've said this week) role, great at showing vulnerability, desperation and apprehension. Thought Punk was very good in his own right, trash talking and going after him like a douchebag shark that smells blood. I especially liked the duelling arm-work, although it sort of seemed like a few minutes' worth of filler since it never went anywhere. Some cool spots where 'Taker would fuck up something that he normally wouldn't because he isn't 100%, like his attempt at Old School where he ends up crotching himself and setting up Punk's run of offence. Awesome nearfall at the end as well - I thought it was over after that chokeslam. Finish keeps the loser strong in defeat. Definitely prefer Punk's Smackdown! match with Rey from February, and there's a bunch of other stuff from guys like Mysterio, McIntyre and Christian that I liked more as well, but you can't really ask for much more in a TV match than this.


Midnight Express v Brian Pillman & Z-Man (WCW World Championship Wrestling, 3/10/90)

If this match made me long for anything, it's the "loaded weapon" is pro-wrestling. Jim Cornette's tennis racket is a fucking awesome loaded weapon. I mean, this arena goes bat shit nuts when he goes to town on Pillman's throat with the racket. One minute it's a regular tennis racket, then you bang it on the ground a couple times and it's a deadly weapon. That's pro-wrestling, motherfucker. The actual match before the attempted murder is good, which shouldn't surprise anybody. Actually, this is pretty much a perfect ten minute TV tag with a terrific post-match angle all rolled into one. Pillman rocks so hard as FIP here, taking a bunch of offence like a king and firing back with well timed hope spots. Dude's always a great FIP, though. Zenk is a shitty partner but he throws a nice enough dropkick and high fives a lot so whatever. Lane and Eaton are more business-like here than I'm used to, so there's hardly any heel stooging, but they're complaining, cheating assholes and that's good enough for me. I also feel compelled to mention it any time someone gets chopped in the face, and Pillman reacts to Stan Lane's shitty karate here by chopping him in the chin. It was a definite highlight.


Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Barry Windham v Sting, Brian Pillman & El Gigante (WCW Power Hour, 4/28/91)

This is pretty much a ten minute squash with the heels getting in practically no offence to speak of whatsoever. Instead we get a ton of stooging and bumping and backpedalling and begging for mercy and so on and so on. Flair gets mauled here, taking 3 of his top rope bumps, 2 gorilla press slams, backdrops out of the corner, etc. He has a wicked chop battle with Pillman as well; Pillman really carves him up with those Hashimoto style overhands. Not much Windham in this at all, but there's one great Arn moment where Flair has a crazy turn and decides he wants a piece of El Gigante, and Arn's trying to talk Sting out of tagging him in, crumbling to his knees on the apron when it falls on deaf ears. "Awwwww fuck, it had to get worse, didn't it?" I knew beforehand that this was only about ten minutes, so when I saw nine minutes had passed I was expecting a cheap heel victory at any second, so you can imagine my surprise when Pillman pins Arn clean as a whistle. Not sure bitching out 3 of your top heels (one of which is the World Champ, another the TV Champ) a few days before a PPV is the smartest thing to do, but what do I know? I definitely dug this for what it was, though.


Steven Regal v Brad Armstrong (WCW Saturday Night, 8/28/93)

A ten minute TV match between these two seemed to me like a can't fail prospect on paper when I realised it was on Will's Regal set, and I wasn't disappointed. This certainly wasn't as gritty as the match Regal had with Windham in April that year, but I did get the same uncooperative vibe from it. I wasn't watching it and thinking they were blatantly sandbagging each other or anything, but there were no silky smooth pre-planned stand offs or shit here; if one guy wanted to take the other guy down to the mat, he had to fucking TAKE him down. I'm sure some people will think it looked sloppy or disjointed at times, but I'm generally a fan of it. Regal throws some nasty looking forearms here. I especially liked how he'd get fed up with the matwork - which he was losing - and just loosening Armstrong's jaw with an elbow. "Fuck this shit; let's FIGHT." There's a match with Scorpio next up on the disc which I'm pretty psyched about.

Eddie, Rude, Dutchman! Short and Sweet

Took a break from Memphis and basically picked out a couple random discs from the trillion that I have sitting around here. I was gonna watch the Bryan Danielson/Tyler Black v American Wolves match from last year that got a ton of praise from some folks since I've been putting it off for ages now, but my disc kept jumping and I had to download it again and now I've lost the motivation I had (it's FIFTY minutes of Tyler Black, man. Takes something to get me geared up for that). So yeah, there was supposed to be more to this, but shit happens, right? Short and Sweet it is.


Eddy Guerrero v Dean Malenko (WCW Nitro, 1/13/97)

Eddy's the US Champion here and is such a big deal that Schiavone and Zbyszko wait about 5 minutes before acknowledging that he and Malenko are actually having a match. Or that they're on the screen or alive or whatever. Hogan and The Giant are scheduled to have a match later in the hour at the WCW executive committee's command or something and it's a historic night in the history of our sport. Match itself is just a little over ten minutes, and as a result they don't try and emulate their ECW matches, which I was thankful for. I don't really like Malenko much at all anymore, and even as a humongous Eddie fan I can't be bothered watching these two match up, but I found this to be okay. There's far less mirror sequences and "learned psychology" spots than in any of the ECW matches -- it's more like a Nitro style match with some of their favourite sequences thrown in. And of course there's a spot where they trade roll-up nearfalls. Wouldn't be Malenko v Guerrero without that thrown in there, would it? Syxx shows up with a ladder at some point and Eddie gets distracted even though Syxx nor the ladder are anywhere near him, and Malenko powerbombs him for the win. That's your US Champ, folks.


Rick Rude v Dutch Mantel (Florida, 1/30/85)

This is only about 5 minutes long, but I'm a big Dutch fan and an even bigger Rude fan, so I was interested in seeing what they would bring, piss break or not. Dutch is wearing red tights and suspenders here, and I'm pretty sure it's the only time I haven't seen him in his usual Memphis singlet. This is all really simple stuff, nothing that anybody needs to go out of their way to see, but it's solid and perfectly acceptable for a short studio match. Does Rude have the best pro-wrestling moustache ever?