Ted DiBiase v Brad Armstrong (2/10/85)
This was more of the "super solid wrestling" that their studio match from the month before was, but this time they're in the arena and they get 5 or 6 more minutes to work with (like me, you might have forgotten I wrote about that studio match on this very blog. It's been a while. But I checked what I said about it and, sure enough, "super solid wrestling"). The "super solid wrestling" part probably undersells it a bit, actually. I thought it hit the level above that and reached "pretty damn good," but my favourite part of this was DiBiase's verbal outbursts. It's why I dig the shit out of the arena footage on this set -- you can clearly hear dudes trash talking and jawing with fans and all that good stuff. Towards the end of this Armstrong almost catches Ted with a sneaky pin attempt from out of nowhere, and DiBiase gets up and shouts "You son of a bitch!" Then he jumps off the middle rope and elbows him in the skull. And that is pretty much the story of this match. Armstrong is young and white meat and...well, he's pretty bland. But he will armdrag the shit out of you and just won't go away. DiBiase probably thought this would be over in jig time, but the longer it goes the more it sets in that it won't, and that pisses him off. Armstrong doesn't have a loaded glove, though...
Rock 'n' Roll Express v Chavo & Hector Guerrero (2/13/85)
When I first watched this back in, like, the '08, it jumped right onto my theoretical favourite matches ever list. I thought it was one of the best sub-ten minute matches ever. My thoughts on it have since become a bit less rosy, but it's still a blast of a studio tag. Chavo Guerrero is the motherfucking greatest. He catches Ricky Morton in mid-air, holds him there for a second, then plants him dead with a fucking gorgeous overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Hector is more or less Eddie, although Eddie was able to grow a sleazier moustache. Other than that you can't tell the difference. The thing I remembered most about this was the finish, and that's still as cool as it always was, but I forgot about the spot beforehand with Chavo breaking up a pin by dropping an elbow on the ref' rather than Morton. He flew halfway across the ring to do it too, so you could buy it as being accidental...although if you know Chavo, you know better. Joel Watts is a fucking rotten commentator, btw. Fuck'm.
Mid-South Project
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Friday, 22 June 2012
Shinya Hashimoto v Steven Regal (New Japan, 4/16/95)
Hell of a fight. Everything felt like a struggle here; nothing was given up, it had to be fought for. Regal's an especially nasty bastard in this. About 2 minutes in he ends up busting Hash's nose open (not sure what did it), so the bits where he's clubbing him right in the nose with overhands or forearms look especially harrowing. He'll also grind his elbow and wrist across Hashimoto's face, and there's a few close-ups of him really digging the bone of his wrist right into the nose. Awesome moment where he has Hash in a neck crank and he steps on his hand so he can't reach up to pry open the grip, then while Hash's neck is twisted at a weird angle he starts cracking him in the nose some more with the palm of his free hand. When Hashimoto makes his comeback he fucking nukes Regal with this quick enziguri to the back of the head. Looked like it could decapitate a horse. Last ten minutes are all about Regal grinding him down and going back to the bloody nose while Hash does what he does and tries to kick Regal into oblivion. There's a great struggle over Regal's butterfly suplex and Hashimoto's DDT, so when Hash finally manages to spike him after three attempts it comes across as a serious game changer. It's been a minute since I watched any Regal in Japan, but this makes me want to go back and watch the Benoit match from the same year, because he really looks at home as the surliest Englishman Japan has ever seen.
Monday, 21 May 2012
Akiyama & Shibata HATE Each Other! Kobashi Punches a Fucker in the Face!
Kenta Kobashi v Akitoshi Saito (NOAH, 10/24/04)
Maybe it was the fairly low expectations (long-ish match when I wasn't really in the mood for it + a match that I've never really heard talked up despite happening during a title run that's constantly talked up) I had going in, but man, I thought this was REALLY fucking good. The strike exchanges at the start are good and Kobashi goes out of his way to make it look like Saito can absolutely hang in that department. They do a headbutt exchange that ends with Kobashi crumpled in the corner, and then Saito ploughs into him with a running knee to the head. First big transition comes when Kobashi takes it to the floor, hitting a plancha and two DDTs on the ramp. He works on top for the next five or so minutes, but the match hits another gear once Saito takes over with an apron brainbuster. Youtube that shit or something. Seriously, Kobashi takes maybe the most ridiculous bump in wrestling history and I have no idea how he's still walking after it. How did that not cripple him? I don't know how much of it was selling and how much of it was down to him being legit fucked up (suspect it's way more of the latter), but he never looks quite right for the remainder of the match after it -- his movement always seems laboured. On top of that he takes a few more crazy bumps, including a backdrop right on the top his head like a total fucking psycho. Still, my favourite part of this might be the punches. Saito throws a bunch of them throughout the match, and a few times they stop Kobashi's momentum dead in its tracks. Kobashi finally manages to mount his big run of offence after weathering the storm, and he clearly has Saito on the ropes. Saito throws a big right square to the jaw, and that's about all Kobashi can take of that shit, hauling off and punching him twice dead in the face. His look of sheer contempt after it was fucking amazing, then he caps it off with a nasty brainbuster. Hell of a fucking finish. The armwork in the middle probably brings this down a bit since it doesn't really go anywhere (although it's decent enough filler), but the last ten minutes are really great, and Kobashi was pretty awesome in this as a whole.
Jun Akiyama v Katsuyori Shibata (Wrestle-One, 8/4/05)
This was a blast. Shibata charges Akiyama at the bell, then he punts him in the head and fucking BLASTS him in the face with a kick while Akiyama is sitting upright. God that was insane. Jun had his hand over his nose when Shibata threw it, but it didn't stop it from opening him up. I'm not sure Akiyama was expecting it either, because he goes total fucking caveman on Shibata after it, smashing him with chairs and kneeing him clean in the face. Really, this is all about the hatred. They HATE each other. I wish Shibata stuck around in pro-wrestling, because he's such a violent motherfucker and everything he's in is super heated. Plus he kicks like he's trying to burst every vital organ in your body. There's one kick to Akiyama's chest that looked sternum-shattering. Akiyama's kneelift while Shibata is draped over the ropes must've hurt like a total bastard as well. The sound of THAT shit. They sort of quieten it down at a few points when they work submissions and the heat peters off slightly (although it gets molten again real quick when they come back up and start teeing off on each other), and there's a suplex no-sell sequence that sucked a dick, but for the most part this was an uncooperative potato-fest. An awesome uncooperative potato-fest.
Maybe it was the fairly low expectations (long-ish match when I wasn't really in the mood for it + a match that I've never really heard talked up despite happening during a title run that's constantly talked up) I had going in, but man, I thought this was REALLY fucking good. The strike exchanges at the start are good and Kobashi goes out of his way to make it look like Saito can absolutely hang in that department. They do a headbutt exchange that ends with Kobashi crumpled in the corner, and then Saito ploughs into him with a running knee to the head. First big transition comes when Kobashi takes it to the floor, hitting a plancha and two DDTs on the ramp. He works on top for the next five or so minutes, but the match hits another gear once Saito takes over with an apron brainbuster. Youtube that shit or something. Seriously, Kobashi takes maybe the most ridiculous bump in wrestling history and I have no idea how he's still walking after it. How did that not cripple him? I don't know how much of it was selling and how much of it was down to him being legit fucked up (suspect it's way more of the latter), but he never looks quite right for the remainder of the match after it -- his movement always seems laboured. On top of that he takes a few more crazy bumps, including a backdrop right on the top his head like a total fucking psycho. Still, my favourite part of this might be the punches. Saito throws a bunch of them throughout the match, and a few times they stop Kobashi's momentum dead in its tracks. Kobashi finally manages to mount his big run of offence after weathering the storm, and he clearly has Saito on the ropes. Saito throws a big right square to the jaw, and that's about all Kobashi can take of that shit, hauling off and punching him twice dead in the face. His look of sheer contempt after it was fucking amazing, then he caps it off with a nasty brainbuster. Hell of a fucking finish. The armwork in the middle probably brings this down a bit since it doesn't really go anywhere (although it's decent enough filler), but the last ten minutes are really great, and Kobashi was pretty awesome in this as a whole.
Jun Akiyama v Katsuyori Shibata (Wrestle-One, 8/4/05)
This was a blast. Shibata charges Akiyama at the bell, then he punts him in the head and fucking BLASTS him in the face with a kick while Akiyama is sitting upright. God that was insane. Jun had his hand over his nose when Shibata threw it, but it didn't stop it from opening him up. I'm not sure Akiyama was expecting it either, because he goes total fucking caveman on Shibata after it, smashing him with chairs and kneeing him clean in the face. Really, this is all about the hatred. They HATE each other. I wish Shibata stuck around in pro-wrestling, because he's such a violent motherfucker and everything he's in is super heated. Plus he kicks like he's trying to burst every vital organ in your body. There's one kick to Akiyama's chest that looked sternum-shattering. Akiyama's kneelift while Shibata is draped over the ropes must've hurt like a total bastard as well. The sound of THAT shit. They sort of quieten it down at a few points when they work submissions and the heat peters off slightly (although it gets molten again real quick when they come back up and start teeing off on each other), and there's a suplex no-sell sequence that sucked a dick, but for the most part this was an uncooperative potato-fest. An awesome uncooperative potato-fest.
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Raw Rey'll Give it to Ya, With no Trivia. Raw Like Cocaine Straight From Bolivia
Rey Mysterio v Jamie Noble (Velocity, 5/1/04)
Probably the best match Gibson had in his WWE run, and I get the sense it'd be right up there with most of his ROH run as well (haven't seen most of that in about 6 years, though). The early exchanges on the mat look real slick and tight -- the roll-throughs and counters aren't necessarily something straight out of RINGS, but it's nifty stuff. Eventually Noble takes over with something out of a William Regal playbook and goes after the arm, and I dig how he comes off as a rugged little asshole all the way through this. He stretches Rey with some nasty looking shit and really HURLS him arm-first into turnbuckles; there's one bit where it looked like Rey's shoulder got torn right out the socket. Final stretch run is awesome, with a few spots I honestly don't remember seeing in any other WWE match in history. The cross armbreaker counter to a springboard was great (Noble constantly going back to the arm was a cool touch in general), but Noble hitting a northern lights suplex as Rey tries to do an apron sunset flip might've been even better. Also feel like I need to bring up Rey just losing it and trying to cave Noble's chest in with kicks while his bum arm dangles by his waist. Because yeah, that fucking ruled. Hell of a match. Velocity's a show I never really followed at the time, but there's been a bunch of super fun shit that's come out of it. Might have to start a Velocity project. In ten years.
Rey Project
Probably the best match Gibson had in his WWE run, and I get the sense it'd be right up there with most of his ROH run as well (haven't seen most of that in about 6 years, though). The early exchanges on the mat look real slick and tight -- the roll-throughs and counters aren't necessarily something straight out of RINGS, but it's nifty stuff. Eventually Noble takes over with something out of a William Regal playbook and goes after the arm, and I dig how he comes off as a rugged little asshole all the way through this. He stretches Rey with some nasty looking shit and really HURLS him arm-first into turnbuckles; there's one bit where it looked like Rey's shoulder got torn right out the socket. Final stretch run is awesome, with a few spots I honestly don't remember seeing in any other WWE match in history. The cross armbreaker counter to a springboard was great (Noble constantly going back to the arm was a cool touch in general), but Noble hitting a northern lights suplex as Rey tries to do an apron sunset flip might've been even better. Also feel like I need to bring up Rey just losing it and trying to cave Noble's chest in with kicks while his bum arm dangles by his waist. Because yeah, that fucking ruled. Hell of a match. Velocity's a show I never really followed at the time, but there's been a bunch of super fun shit that's come out of it. Might have to start a Velocity project. In ten years.
Rey Project
Saturday, 28 April 2012
El Dandy v Negro Casas (CMLL, 7/3/92)
Pretty much a master-class. Two of the absolute elite tier level guys in wrestling history wrestling maybe my favourite kind of pro-wrestling match (lucha title match)...I've seen it about 6 times over the last few years, and I always find something else to love about it every time. The first caida is about as good a fall as you'll ever see in lucha. It goes about 15 minutes, and roughly 12 are entirely filled with matwork. There's a moment where they both roll out to the floor and trade a couple slaps, but they quickly roll back in and take it right back down to the mat -- this is about who's the better wrestler, first and foremost. I don't even think they hit the ropes once in the first 10 minutes. The wishbone spot is the kind of thing people who don't really like or struggle to 'get into' lucha will maybe be turned off by, but other than that I don't think anybody could watch this and think the matwork is "cooperative" or that the holds are came by too easily (which is the criticism of lucha matwork one tends to read the most). Things like Casas reversing a Fujiwara armbar by turning it into a seated abdominal stretch look pretty spectacular to begin with, but it's the struggle that puts it all over the top. Dandy tries to hook Casas in a tapatia, but Casas is having none of it and won't give up his arms. Dandy tries to take another route and go for a camel clutch, but again Casas gives him nothing. When Dandy eventually hooks it in proper, it feels like a victory all of its own. They're having to fight for everything, and Casas is especially great at making it seem that way. Dandy doesn't put a foot wrong, but Casas looks like the best wrestler in the entire world here. He comes out in the second fall and goes straight for the jugular. My favourite moment of the match might be the low blow he sneaks in when the ref' isn't looking. The entire match is more or less wrestled clean, but Casas is who he is...it's in his nature. The fact it came out of nowhere after he'd been behaving himself up to that point made it seem even more like a dick move. And the slow-mo replay...that shit was NASTY. When Dandy makes his comeback and drops Casas with that extra bit of force, it really feels like a big "Alright, fuck THIS shit" moment. Third caida really brings it home like you'd want. If you want to nitpick there's a couple transitions that might be a bit dodgy, but other than that it's right on the money. Dandy coming out the gate the same way Casas did in the second fall (right down the to the running dropkick) was a great payback spot of sorts, but Casas' sell of the fatigue was out of this world. There's points where it looks like he'd rather lay down and die than keep fighting, but his pride wouldn't let him. The way he struggles to get out of the majistral...that motherfucker is a fighter right 'til the end. Just an incredible match. If I tried to come up with an all-time top ten, this would probably be there.
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Tweakers, Kings and LUMPIES!
More stuff from the latest Schneider Comp.
Jerry Lawler v Tommy Rich (Georgia, 10/2/88)
So this is the match where Rich comes out to the ring with his new manager/second called Mr. Donnie. There was a thread on PWO a while back about the scummiest looking wrestlers in pro-wrestling history. Mr. Donnie wins. Just the seediest, scummiest looking bastard I think I've ever seen in wrestling. He genuinely looks like a biker crack dealer that's zonked on his own product. He basically sits at ringside and does nothing until the last minute of the match, but his presence is enough to make you worry about Lawler's safety. The guy must weight 90 pounds soaking wet, and he doesn't really look threatening in the Haku/Mark Henry pro-wrestling sense, but there's no question he'd jump you and bite your nose off. Actual match is pretty damn great. They work a slow burner early with both guys sneaking in punches when they can. Lawler throws a few absolute corkers during the first few exchanges, including one that looked like it broke Tommy's jaw. Tommy eventually takes over and works the hidden object/choking shtick, and this was some cool hidden object/choking shtick. Great spot where Rich hits one big bulldog and then tries for another, but the second time Lawler throws him off and Rich goes flying into the cameraman standing in the corner. Completely wipes him out and almost destroys the camera. Lawler's comeback is one of the best "drop the strap" spots I think I've ever seen. Tommy tries to punch him on the floor, but Lawler ducks it and Tommy cracks the ring post. He walks away clutching his hand, so Lawler drops the strap and runs all the way around the ring to spin him around and fucking paste him with an AWESOME right hand. Lawler rolls out a big string of offence down the stretch, but Rich is always too close to the ropes and keeps managing to escape. Lawler goes to put him away with the diving fist drop, but Tommy moves and pulls a chain (or something...his back was to the camera so it was hard to tell) out of his trunks. He pops him with it and makes the cover, and as Lawler puts his foot on the bottom rope Mr. Donnie jumps up and pushes it off. So Tommy Rich just won the world title thanks to his meth dealer...and it almost starts a riot. Seriously, the crowd surround the ring and cops are trying to push them back while the promoter gets in there and Rich just starts swinging punches at everyone. It was like a lucha crowd after a title or apuestas match, except they're not throwing money in the ring; instead, they're ready to tear the place up if this shit doesn't get sorted. This ruled. Rich feels like a guy that deserves a career retrospective done on him yesterday.
Takashi Ishikawa v Ashura Hara (WAR, 7/14/92)
This was from the WAR debut show, and it's as surly and lumpy as you'd expect. I wrote about their '93 match on here a while back -- that match was fucking great, and this feels like it's right at the same level. So many meaty hits and parts where two tubby ex-sumo guys thump the shit out of each other. They sort of blow a spot where it looks like Ishikawa is supposed to duck a lariat and dump Hara out the ring, but Ishikawa recovers by just fucking MOWING Hara down with his own lariat and knocking him out to the floor the hard way. Hara practically lands on his head. It was the WAR way. Final few minutes are so great. Ishikawa is stomping and punting Hara in the spine and kidneys, and Hara is having trouble even standing up. He hits a suplex and it takes more out of himself than Ishikawa. Ishikawa gets up first and kicks field goals. Eventually the ref' throws it out, but Ishikawa deals more damage post-match and takes a swing at whoever tries to stop him. I love WAR. There was one goofy bit where Ishikawa no-sold a superplex, but other than that this was exactly what I wanted out of an Ishikawa/Hara match. The wrestle and the romance, motherfucker.
Jerry Lawler v Tommy Rich (Georgia, 10/2/88)
So this is the match where Rich comes out to the ring with his new manager/second called Mr. Donnie. There was a thread on PWO a while back about the scummiest looking wrestlers in pro-wrestling history. Mr. Donnie wins. Just the seediest, scummiest looking bastard I think I've ever seen in wrestling. He genuinely looks like a biker crack dealer that's zonked on his own product. He basically sits at ringside and does nothing until the last minute of the match, but his presence is enough to make you worry about Lawler's safety. The guy must weight 90 pounds soaking wet, and he doesn't really look threatening in the Haku/Mark Henry pro-wrestling sense, but there's no question he'd jump you and bite your nose off. Actual match is pretty damn great. They work a slow burner early with both guys sneaking in punches when they can. Lawler throws a few absolute corkers during the first few exchanges, including one that looked like it broke Tommy's jaw. Tommy eventually takes over and works the hidden object/choking shtick, and this was some cool hidden object/choking shtick. Great spot where Rich hits one big bulldog and then tries for another, but the second time Lawler throws him off and Rich goes flying into the cameraman standing in the corner. Completely wipes him out and almost destroys the camera. Lawler's comeback is one of the best "drop the strap" spots I think I've ever seen. Tommy tries to punch him on the floor, but Lawler ducks it and Tommy cracks the ring post. He walks away clutching his hand, so Lawler drops the strap and runs all the way around the ring to spin him around and fucking paste him with an AWESOME right hand. Lawler rolls out a big string of offence down the stretch, but Rich is always too close to the ropes and keeps managing to escape. Lawler goes to put him away with the diving fist drop, but Tommy moves and pulls a chain (or something...his back was to the camera so it was hard to tell) out of his trunks. He pops him with it and makes the cover, and as Lawler puts his foot on the bottom rope Mr. Donnie jumps up and pushes it off. So Tommy Rich just won the world title thanks to his meth dealer...and it almost starts a riot. Seriously, the crowd surround the ring and cops are trying to push them back while the promoter gets in there and Rich just starts swinging punches at everyone. It was like a lucha crowd after a title or apuestas match, except they're not throwing money in the ring; instead, they're ready to tear the place up if this shit doesn't get sorted. This ruled. Rich feels like a guy that deserves a career retrospective done on him yesterday.
Takashi Ishikawa v Ashura Hara (WAR, 7/14/92)
This was from the WAR debut show, and it's as surly and lumpy as you'd expect. I wrote about their '93 match on here a while back -- that match was fucking great, and this feels like it's right at the same level. So many meaty hits and parts where two tubby ex-sumo guys thump the shit out of each other. They sort of blow a spot where it looks like Ishikawa is supposed to duck a lariat and dump Hara out the ring, but Ishikawa recovers by just fucking MOWING Hara down with his own lariat and knocking him out to the floor the hard way. Hara practically lands on his head. It was the WAR way. Final few minutes are so great. Ishikawa is stomping and punting Hara in the spine and kidneys, and Hara is having trouble even standing up. He hits a suplex and it takes more out of himself than Ishikawa. Ishikawa gets up first and kicks field goals. Eventually the ref' throws it out, but Ishikawa deals more damage post-match and takes a swing at whoever tries to stop him. I love WAR. There was one goofy bit where Ishikawa no-sold a superplex, but other than that this was exactly what I wanted out of an Ishikawa/Hara match. The wrestle and the romance, motherfucker.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Bullets 'n' Straps 'n' Shit (Stuff from Schneider Comp #26)
Tommy Rich v The Bullet (Georgia, 9/88)
Rich is in 100% stooge mode here, begging off, stalling, flying around the place for everything. The ref' checks him at the start and finds a chain hidden in his trunks, and that leads to a cool bit later on where he gets knocked to the outside and finds tape or wire or something beside the ring. He doesn't have a chain anymore, but he's found a new toy to play with. Ref' is kind of crummy and doesn't really do anything about it whenever Tommy uses it, so it doesn't get the sort of heat it should, but it was a cool touch either way. Rich also takes a fucking NASTY posting, straight into it with no hands up for protection. Naturally he hits a gusher and bleeds all over the shop. Bullet is fine and everything here - he holds up his end and plays off Tommy well enough - but I thought this was mostly a Tommy Rich show. It's a tragedy there's no video footage of that cage match with Sawyer (which is something I tend to think after every Tommy Rich match I watch).
Steve Austin v William Regal (Strap Match) (WWF Smackdown!, 11/29/01)
Totally badass violent sprint. Austin was the best wrestler in the world in 2001, and when this - a match I couldn't remember ever seeing or hearing about before - started being pimped I got super excited. Match goes about ten minutes, and they leather each other up and down the whole time. So it's basically just what I was hoping for. There's one crazy table bump (Austin takes a backdrop on the announce table and almost lands on one of the monitors, which probably would've punctured his kidney), but other than that they don't mess around with any fancy shit. It's all about the whipping and face punching. There's one bit where they're both returning to the ring area after knocking lumps out each other in the crowd, and as Austin is stepping over the barricade Regal punches him right in the neck. It was pretty a low key moment in amongst all the other craziness, but it was a little bit of trademark Regal brutality that you come to expect in a Regal match. Have these two had any other matches together? This was like something you'd find on the Texas set along with all of those short Von Erichs/Freebirds ass-stompings, and if they did anything else in the same mold then I owe it to myself to check it out.
Rich is in 100% stooge mode here, begging off, stalling, flying around the place for everything. The ref' checks him at the start and finds a chain hidden in his trunks, and that leads to a cool bit later on where he gets knocked to the outside and finds tape or wire or something beside the ring. He doesn't have a chain anymore, but he's found a new toy to play with. Ref' is kind of crummy and doesn't really do anything about it whenever Tommy uses it, so it doesn't get the sort of heat it should, but it was a cool touch either way. Rich also takes a fucking NASTY posting, straight into it with no hands up for protection. Naturally he hits a gusher and bleeds all over the shop. Bullet is fine and everything here - he holds up his end and plays off Tommy well enough - but I thought this was mostly a Tommy Rich show. It's a tragedy there's no video footage of that cage match with Sawyer (which is something I tend to think after every Tommy Rich match I watch).
Steve Austin v William Regal (Strap Match) (WWF Smackdown!, 11/29/01)
Totally badass violent sprint. Austin was the best wrestler in the world in 2001, and when this - a match I couldn't remember ever seeing or hearing about before - started being pimped I got super excited. Match goes about ten minutes, and they leather each other up and down the whole time. So it's basically just what I was hoping for. There's one crazy table bump (Austin takes a backdrop on the announce table and almost lands on one of the monitors, which probably would've punctured his kidney), but other than that they don't mess around with any fancy shit. It's all about the whipping and face punching. There's one bit where they're both returning to the ring area after knocking lumps out each other in the crowd, and as Austin is stepping over the barricade Regal punches him right in the neck. It was pretty a low key moment in amongst all the other craziness, but it was a little bit of trademark Regal brutality that you come to expect in a Regal match. Have these two had any other matches together? This was like something you'd find on the Texas set along with all of those short Von Erichs/Freebirds ass-stompings, and if they did anything else in the same mold then I owe it to myself to check it out.
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Still Watchin' Tajiri
Tajiri v Psicosis (ECW TV, 8/19/00)
Well this was fucking awesome. I'm a guy that can't stomach indy stand-off "we're equal"/parity spots, but the stand-offs at the start of this actively ruled. They work some bossy lucha sequences early, and there's a bit where Tajiri counters a wheelbarrow German suplex with an armdrag, which would've been a pretty hard spot to pull off clean, but it looked absolutely perfect. Then they sort of tease a roll up exchange, which is another spot I'm well and truly fed up with, but Tajiri puts a twist on it by just dropping down and headbutting Psicosis right in the dick. Watching this Tajiri stuff lately, I'm getting the sense he's a guy that has a TON of shit he can roll out to keep otherwise rubbish stock spots interesting. I'm convinced he's also one of the best "low blow" guys in history, because I've watched a good deal of Tajiri footage over the last few weeks and he has a million different ways to hit someone in the balls. There's the headbutt out of the pinning combo, he ties Psicosis up in a tree of woe and stomps him in the nads, and he counters a flying bodyscissors by front kicking him right in the plums, which looked like it had to totally SUCK. Second half of the match kind of teetered into my turn/your turn territory at points, but Psicosis almost kills himself with a motherfucking insane tope, Tajiri throws amazing kicks, and there's generally enough good shit to keep things rolling nicely. Tajiri's kick flurry at the end looked outrageous. The spinning back kick...God that shit was nasty. Great match.
Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck v Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke (ECW, 8/25/00)
Pretty much all I could want in a sub-10 minute tag. This was so much fun. Hammerstein crowd is MOLTEN and love Tajiri long time. Early exchanges between Tajiri and Guido rock as usual, and Tajiri continues to make stand-off spots not annoying. I don't know, maybe it's just because I'm a mark for the guy, but I hate indy stand-offs and whenever Tajiri does them they don't seem to bother me at all. Maybe it's because they don't feel forced or like they're being rolled out just for the pop...whatever, I'm not complaining about not being annoyed by stuff that usually annoys me. Mamaluke bumps around wildly and will fearlessly get kicked RIGHT in the fucking face. Seriously, there's one spinning back kick from Tajiri that I must've replayed at least 20 times. Looked ridiculous. Mamaluke takes that and then does a sort of Ted DiBiase bump where he flips over on his neck really fast, and yeah, you can kind of see why doing that shit for 10 years landed DiBiase with a wasted neck. Tajiri and Mikey also give him a double dropkick that must've hurt like a total motherfucker. I'm surprised his brains didn't squirt out his nose. Still, Tony gets his payback later when he breaks up the Tarantula by punting Tajiri in the head so hard it looked like it broke his skull. Mikey playing FIP for a spell adds the southern-ness, and I'm a happy camper. Tajiri really looks like one of the absolute best wrestlers in the world at this point.
Well this was fucking awesome. I'm a guy that can't stomach indy stand-off "we're equal"/parity spots, but the stand-offs at the start of this actively ruled. They work some bossy lucha sequences early, and there's a bit where Tajiri counters a wheelbarrow German suplex with an armdrag, which would've been a pretty hard spot to pull off clean, but it looked absolutely perfect. Then they sort of tease a roll up exchange, which is another spot I'm well and truly fed up with, but Tajiri puts a twist on it by just dropping down and headbutting Psicosis right in the dick. Watching this Tajiri stuff lately, I'm getting the sense he's a guy that has a TON of shit he can roll out to keep otherwise rubbish stock spots interesting. I'm convinced he's also one of the best "low blow" guys in history, because I've watched a good deal of Tajiri footage over the last few weeks and he has a million different ways to hit someone in the balls. There's the headbutt out of the pinning combo, he ties Psicosis up in a tree of woe and stomps him in the nads, and he counters a flying bodyscissors by front kicking him right in the plums, which looked like it had to totally SUCK. Second half of the match kind of teetered into my turn/your turn territory at points, but Psicosis almost kills himself with a motherfucking insane tope, Tajiri throws amazing kicks, and there's generally enough good shit to keep things rolling nicely. Tajiri's kick flurry at the end looked outrageous. The spinning back kick...God that shit was nasty. Great match.
Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck v Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke (ECW, 8/25/00)
Pretty much all I could want in a sub-10 minute tag. This was so much fun. Hammerstein crowd is MOLTEN and love Tajiri long time. Early exchanges between Tajiri and Guido rock as usual, and Tajiri continues to make stand-off spots not annoying. I don't know, maybe it's just because I'm a mark for the guy, but I hate indy stand-offs and whenever Tajiri does them they don't seem to bother me at all. Maybe it's because they don't feel forced or like they're being rolled out just for the pop...whatever, I'm not complaining about not being annoyed by stuff that usually annoys me. Mamaluke bumps around wildly and will fearlessly get kicked RIGHT in the fucking face. Seriously, there's one spinning back kick from Tajiri that I must've replayed at least 20 times. Looked ridiculous. Mamaluke takes that and then does a sort of Ted DiBiase bump where he flips over on his neck really fast, and yeah, you can kind of see why doing that shit for 10 years landed DiBiase with a wasted neck. Tajiri and Mikey also give him a double dropkick that must've hurt like a total motherfucker. I'm surprised his brains didn't squirt out his nose. Still, Tony gets his payback later when he breaks up the Tarantula by punting Tajiri in the head so hard it looked like it broke his skull. Mikey playing FIP for a spell adds the southern-ness, and I'm a happy camper. Tajiri really looks like one of the absolute best wrestlers in the world at this point.
Friday, 20 April 2012
The Best Time Yet, Still 7.0. Rey's Swift Flow Made the Cameramen's Clothes Blow
Rey Mysterio v Tajiri (Smackdown!, 9/4/03)
I have no idea how, but these guys do an indy stand-off spot in the first minute of this and it never annoyed me one bit. Didn't look or feel cheesy at all. I'm stumped. That alone makes this worthwhile, but everything else ruled it as well, which is a pretty fucking great kind of bonus. Really, this was a super nifty sub-10 minute TV match. Rey hits an absolute corker of a plancha that looked totally Santo-esque. Story of the match seems to be "Rey flies around like a bumble bee and is borderline ungroundable. Tajiri rifles him with kicks and tries to ground him, anyway." It's a cool story -- Rey is a great bumble bee and Tajiri is great at rifling kicks. Great transition spot where Rey goes for a springboard and Tajiri just breaks his chin with a kick. Wasn't like that spot where Shelton Benjamin springboards all the way across the ring and Shawn Michaels hits the superkick. Tajiri was standing pretty close to Rey and wings the kick upwards just as Rey leaps onto the ropes. He basically did the splits standing up so he could connect. It ruled. Tajiri works the arm for most of this and it always remains a theme. Rey isn't in-your-face about it with the selling, but he'll grab it from time to time and never drops it completely (he sells it after the plancha, for example). Tajiri's kicks are pretty much all directed at the arm and shoulder, he busts out this cool rolling armbar thing down the stretch, and they tease doing something big off the top towards the end when Tajiri grabs Rey's arm and Rey has to fight him off. Cool finish and post-match turn as well. And did I mention they work an indy stand-off spot that WASN'T shitty? Because yeah, they did that.
Rey Mysterio v Tajiri (Smackdown!, 9/25/03)
This probably doesn't have as much "cool shit" as the first match, but it's structured better and the clear heel/face dynamic helps it. First match was super nifty; this is super...super. Feels like a more complete match, I guess. The early exchanges all look nice and slick. These guys are speedy, and their sequences reflect that. Then Tajiri takes over by catching Rey coming off the top by drilling him in the ribs with a kick, and the body of the match is made up of Tajiri working the midsection. There's a great bodyscissors spot in the middle where Tajiri looks like he's trying to squeeze the life out of Rey and keeps trying to force his shoulders to the mat, then they start chopping and slapping each other really hard while the hold is still applied. So Tajiri is great at working a bodyscissors and Mysterio is great at being IN a bodyscissors -- that's yet another thing these guys do well. Pretty trite to say Tajiri has great kicks, since I've already said it in every match of his I've talked about, but still, Tajiri has great kicks. Punts Rey right in the liver at one point and it sounded like a shotgun blast (Rey sells it like one, too). Finish is GREAT. Early in the match there's a bit where Tajiri is gearing up to spit the green mist, but Rey spots it and kicks him in the face so hard that it knocks the mist out of his mouth before he can spit it. Tajiri's game plan goes down the shitter. What can he do without the GREEN MIST? Down the stretch Tajiri winds up KOing the ref' with an accidental kick, so the new ref' comes in and tries to juggle calling the match and checking on the first ref' to see if he's still alive and shit. For the finish, Rey finally manages to hit the springboard hurricanrana (which won him the first match), but the current ref' is distracted by ref' number one, so Tajiri spits RED mist up at Rey to break the pin. Rey's blinded so Tajiri kills him dead with the Buzzsaw Kick. Tajiri countering the counter to the green mist by spitting a different colour of mist is really awesome for no reason at all. This match is really awesome for plenty of reasons (mist included).
Rey Project
I have no idea how, but these guys do an indy stand-off spot in the first minute of this and it never annoyed me one bit. Didn't look or feel cheesy at all. I'm stumped. That alone makes this worthwhile, but everything else ruled it as well, which is a pretty fucking great kind of bonus. Really, this was a super nifty sub-10 minute TV match. Rey hits an absolute corker of a plancha that looked totally Santo-esque. Story of the match seems to be "Rey flies around like a bumble bee and is borderline ungroundable. Tajiri rifles him with kicks and tries to ground him, anyway." It's a cool story -- Rey is a great bumble bee and Tajiri is great at rifling kicks. Great transition spot where Rey goes for a springboard and Tajiri just breaks his chin with a kick. Wasn't like that spot where Shelton Benjamin springboards all the way across the ring and Shawn Michaels hits the superkick. Tajiri was standing pretty close to Rey and wings the kick upwards just as Rey leaps onto the ropes. He basically did the splits standing up so he could connect. It ruled. Tajiri works the arm for most of this and it always remains a theme. Rey isn't in-your-face about it with the selling, but he'll grab it from time to time and never drops it completely (he sells it after the plancha, for example). Tajiri's kicks are pretty much all directed at the arm and shoulder, he busts out this cool rolling armbar thing down the stretch, and they tease doing something big off the top towards the end when Tajiri grabs Rey's arm and Rey has to fight him off. Cool finish and post-match turn as well. And did I mention they work an indy stand-off spot that WASN'T shitty? Because yeah, they did that.
Rey Mysterio v Tajiri (Smackdown!, 9/25/03)
This probably doesn't have as much "cool shit" as the first match, but it's structured better and the clear heel/face dynamic helps it. First match was super nifty; this is super...super. Feels like a more complete match, I guess. The early exchanges all look nice and slick. These guys are speedy, and their sequences reflect that. Then Tajiri takes over by catching Rey coming off the top by drilling him in the ribs with a kick, and the body of the match is made up of Tajiri working the midsection. There's a great bodyscissors spot in the middle where Tajiri looks like he's trying to squeeze the life out of Rey and keeps trying to force his shoulders to the mat, then they start chopping and slapping each other really hard while the hold is still applied. So Tajiri is great at working a bodyscissors and Mysterio is great at being IN a bodyscissors -- that's yet another thing these guys do well. Pretty trite to say Tajiri has great kicks, since I've already said it in every match of his I've talked about, but still, Tajiri has great kicks. Punts Rey right in the liver at one point and it sounded like a shotgun blast (Rey sells it like one, too). Finish is GREAT. Early in the match there's a bit where Tajiri is gearing up to spit the green mist, but Rey spots it and kicks him in the face so hard that it knocks the mist out of his mouth before he can spit it. Tajiri's game plan goes down the shitter. What can he do without the GREEN MIST? Down the stretch Tajiri winds up KOing the ref' with an accidental kick, so the new ref' comes in and tries to juggle calling the match and checking on the first ref' to see if he's still alive and shit. For the finish, Rey finally manages to hit the springboard hurricanrana (which won him the first match), but the current ref' is distracted by ref' number one, so Tajiri spits RED mist up at Rey to break the pin. Rey's blinded so Tajiri kills him dead with the Buzzsaw Kick. Tajiri countering the counter to the green mist by spitting a different colour of mist is really awesome for no reason at all. This match is really awesome for plenty of reasons (mist included).
Rey Project
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Tajiri Puts the 'Tajiri' in 'Hardcore'
Tajiri v Steve Corino (ECW Hardcore Heaven, 5/14/00)
I didn't think this was on the level of the Tajiri/Crazy Mexican Death Match or the Tajiri/Crazy/Guido triple threat that I talked about at the weekend, but it was still pretty fucking choice. Corino cuts a promo before the match telling Tajiri he'll forgive him (Tajiri's turned babyface on Corino and The Network) if he clears the rocks out of his Jap brain. Calls him a slant-eyed bastard. Tajiri grins and interrupts him by roundhouse kicking him in the ear. Both guys were great in this. Tajiri might be a babyface now, but he's still a psychopath. Only now, instead of brutalising babyfaces, he brutalises shitheads. He does the spot where he kicks the edge of a table into his opponent's face again, and Corino already being split open huge made it seem even nuttier. Oh and the brainbuster on the ramp that led to the blade job in the first place looked fucking NASTY. Corino bleeds a whole lot. His blonde hair is blood-red by the end and he leaves puddles of blood everywhere. At one point he's in a tree of woe position for about 30 seconds, and when he moves away there's a giant blood stain where his head was. Final couple minutes were awesome. Tajiri has Corino in an octopus stretch in the middle of the ring, so Jack Victory comes in and we're ready for the shenanigans to REALLY start, but as Victory hits the ropes and goes to break up the octopus, Tajiri mists him out of nowhere. I wasn't expecting it at all and it looked great. Then Tajiri just goes apeshit and fucking mauls Corino with a flurry of kicks and punches. MAULS him. Corino's head winds up resting on the table, so Tajiri blasts him with one final kick, lays him across the table and crushes his lungs with a top rope double stomp through it (the table breaks into a hundred pieces and it looked AWESOME). Any less cunty a heel and you could see such a vicious Tajiri ass stomping almost making you feel sorry for them. Luckily, Corino's a pretty great grade A cunt. So you think, "Yeah, that douchebag totally deserved that."
I didn't think this was on the level of the Tajiri/Crazy Mexican Death Match or the Tajiri/Crazy/Guido triple threat that I talked about at the weekend, but it was still pretty fucking choice. Corino cuts a promo before the match telling Tajiri he'll forgive him (Tajiri's turned babyface on Corino and The Network) if he clears the rocks out of his Jap brain. Calls him a slant-eyed bastard. Tajiri grins and interrupts him by roundhouse kicking him in the ear. Both guys were great in this. Tajiri might be a babyface now, but he's still a psychopath. Only now, instead of brutalising babyfaces, he brutalises shitheads. He does the spot where he kicks the edge of a table into his opponent's face again, and Corino already being split open huge made it seem even nuttier. Oh and the brainbuster on the ramp that led to the blade job in the first place looked fucking NASTY. Corino bleeds a whole lot. His blonde hair is blood-red by the end and he leaves puddles of blood everywhere. At one point he's in a tree of woe position for about 30 seconds, and when he moves away there's a giant blood stain where his head was. Final couple minutes were awesome. Tajiri has Corino in an octopus stretch in the middle of the ring, so Jack Victory comes in and we're ready for the shenanigans to REALLY start, but as Victory hits the ropes and goes to break up the octopus, Tajiri mists him out of nowhere. I wasn't expecting it at all and it looked great. Then Tajiri just goes apeshit and fucking mauls Corino with a flurry of kicks and punches. MAULS him. Corino's head winds up resting on the table, so Tajiri blasts him with one final kick, lays him across the table and crushes his lungs with a top rope double stomp through it (the table breaks into a hundred pieces and it looked AWESOME). Any less cunty a heel and you could see such a vicious Tajiri ass stomping almost making you feel sorry for them. Luckily, Corino's a pretty great grade A cunt. So you think, "Yeah, that douchebag totally deserved that."
Sunday, 15 April 2012
So April is TAJIRI Month!
Tajiri v Super Crazy (Mexican Death Match) (ECW on TNN 1/15/00)
Yeah, this was bad ass. Tajiri is on a totally different level here. Fucking ruled it. Spits on people, mocks Crazy in genuinely funny ways, throws amazing looking kicks, the whole nine. Total psycho. He does this thing where he tries to slide a chair across a table and belt Crazy in the mouth with it. Think skimming a stone across a river. Well, Crazy ducks and the chair flies into the crowd and almost decapitates some poor motherfucker. Crazy probably comes back from the early beating a bit too easily -- he seems more "fresh" than he really should. Still, that's the only thing I'd point to as a "complaint," because everything else he did was nutty and hit pretty much perfectly. Moonsault off the bleachers through the table was an awesome spot. Tarantula spot was also fucking awesome. I honestly didn't see it coming despite the fact you can usually tell when it's on its way. I mean, I don't even mind the fact it's generally a contrived spot, but it's way cool when it pops up in a totally surprising fashion with a nifty set up like this. Favourite spot of the match might've been Tajiri grabbing a pair of pliers and sticking them in Crazy's mouth like he's trying to yank his teeth out. That was fucking AWESOME. Don't remember anybody ever doing that before. It's a great twist on the "stab opponent in the forehead with foreign object" bit. Final sequence with the mist and powerbomb through the table looked great and super-impactful. They set up tables, so you know there's some table spot coming, but they managed to pull if off in a way that still came off as a quick thinking reversal of sorts. You know SOMETHING is coming, just not when, then when it does you're not left thinking you saw it a mile off. Ridiculously enjoyable match, and maybe my US MOTY.
Tajiri v Little Guido (ECW on TNN, 3/24/00)
Well fuck my face. For a six/seven minute TV match, this was fantastic. I've watched this three times in the last two days and I honestly couldn't ask for anything more. Some awesome spots in this. Tajiri is just out of this world great again and wings brutal looking kicks. He dropkicks Guido in the stones to counter a leapfrog in the first 20 seconds and YOU are instantly hooked. He props Guido in the corner in a tree of woe position and sits a chair in front of his face, and I expected him to do the baseball slide dropkick spot, but instead he just stomps the chair straight in his face. It looked nasty as all fuck. Hell, Tajiri MISSING chair shots even looks nuts. He doesn't swing the chair, he just recklessly launches the thing across the ring and you can buy it taking Guido's head off had it connected. Loved the table spot here, too. Sal interferes and Tajiri winds up on the table. Guido gets up on Sal's shoulders, but Tajiri pops up, stands on the table and mists Sal in the face, and as Guido falls off his shoulders Tajiri hits a face buster on the edge of the table. Then he gives him a suplex/brainbuster across it and it the table doesn't break. Guido landed like it dislocated every disc in his spine. Pretty sure I need to watch every single thing Tajiri ever did in ECW.
Tajiri v Super Crazy v Little Guido (ECW on TNN, 4/8/00)
Man, this ruled as well (and it happened on my birthday!). I don't want to take anything away from Crazy and Guido, because those guys killed it here, but this feels like a Tajiri show. And you want every second of it. He's a complete maniac in this, hurling insane kicks, killing dudes with all sorts of nasty shit, stabbing folks with a crowbar, etc...generally coming across as an unfuckwithable little psychopath. Brutal spot where he sets Guido up on the apron and dropkicks the edge of a table right into his face. He stands tall in the middle of the ring with all this carnage around him - that he's caused - and the crowd just totally lose it for him. Great fucking moment. I don't really like triple threats since it usually requires one guy to sit at the side for a while doing nothing, but Sal's interference in this helped offset that. Plus he's involved in one of the best spots of the match. He stands on the apron holding a chair so Guido can whip him into it, but as Tajiri hits the ropes he does the handspring elbow, dropkicking the chair into Sal's face on the handspring part, and Sal takes a big fatty bump through the table on the floor. Hell of a finish as well. Really, this was great. Wouldn't put it on the level of the Tajiri/Crazy Mexican Death Match, but I don't think it's terribly far behind it.
Tajiri. I love that crazy little motherfucker.
Yeah, this was bad ass. Tajiri is on a totally different level here. Fucking ruled it. Spits on people, mocks Crazy in genuinely funny ways, throws amazing looking kicks, the whole nine. Total psycho. He does this thing where he tries to slide a chair across a table and belt Crazy in the mouth with it. Think skimming a stone across a river. Well, Crazy ducks and the chair flies into the crowd and almost decapitates some poor motherfucker. Crazy probably comes back from the early beating a bit too easily -- he seems more "fresh" than he really should. Still, that's the only thing I'd point to as a "complaint," because everything else he did was nutty and hit pretty much perfectly. Moonsault off the bleachers through the table was an awesome spot. Tarantula spot was also fucking awesome. I honestly didn't see it coming despite the fact you can usually tell when it's on its way. I mean, I don't even mind the fact it's generally a contrived spot, but it's way cool when it pops up in a totally surprising fashion with a nifty set up like this. Favourite spot of the match might've been Tajiri grabbing a pair of pliers and sticking them in Crazy's mouth like he's trying to yank his teeth out. That was fucking AWESOME. Don't remember anybody ever doing that before. It's a great twist on the "stab opponent in the forehead with foreign object" bit. Final sequence with the mist and powerbomb through the table looked great and super-impactful. They set up tables, so you know there's some table spot coming, but they managed to pull if off in a way that still came off as a quick thinking reversal of sorts. You know SOMETHING is coming, just not when, then when it does you're not left thinking you saw it a mile off. Ridiculously enjoyable match, and maybe my US MOTY.
Tajiri v Little Guido (ECW on TNN, 3/24/00)
Well fuck my face. For a six/seven minute TV match, this was fantastic. I've watched this three times in the last two days and I honestly couldn't ask for anything more. Some awesome spots in this. Tajiri is just out of this world great again and wings brutal looking kicks. He dropkicks Guido in the stones to counter a leapfrog in the first 20 seconds and YOU are instantly hooked. He props Guido in the corner in a tree of woe position and sits a chair in front of his face, and I expected him to do the baseball slide dropkick spot, but instead he just stomps the chair straight in his face. It looked nasty as all fuck. Hell, Tajiri MISSING chair shots even looks nuts. He doesn't swing the chair, he just recklessly launches the thing across the ring and you can buy it taking Guido's head off had it connected. Loved the table spot here, too. Sal interferes and Tajiri winds up on the table. Guido gets up on Sal's shoulders, but Tajiri pops up, stands on the table and mists Sal in the face, and as Guido falls off his shoulders Tajiri hits a face buster on the edge of the table. Then he gives him a suplex/brainbuster across it and it the table doesn't break. Guido landed like it dislocated every disc in his spine. Pretty sure I need to watch every single thing Tajiri ever did in ECW.
Tajiri v Super Crazy v Little Guido (ECW on TNN, 4/8/00)
Man, this ruled as well (and it happened on my birthday!). I don't want to take anything away from Crazy and Guido, because those guys killed it here, but this feels like a Tajiri show. And you want every second of it. He's a complete maniac in this, hurling insane kicks, killing dudes with all sorts of nasty shit, stabbing folks with a crowbar, etc...generally coming across as an unfuckwithable little psychopath. Brutal spot where he sets Guido up on the apron and dropkicks the edge of a table right into his face. He stands tall in the middle of the ring with all this carnage around him - that he's caused - and the crowd just totally lose it for him. Great fucking moment. I don't really like triple threats since it usually requires one guy to sit at the side for a while doing nothing, but Sal's interference in this helped offset that. Plus he's involved in one of the best spots of the match. He stands on the apron holding a chair so Guido can whip him into it, but as Tajiri hits the ropes he does the handspring elbow, dropkicking the chair into Sal's face on the handspring part, and Sal takes a big fatty bump through the table on the floor. Hell of a finish as well. Really, this was great. Wouldn't put it on the level of the Tajiri/Crazy Mexican Death Match, but I don't think it's terribly far behind it.
Tajiri. I love that crazy little motherfucker.
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Stuff from Schneider Comp #26
So I picked up the latest Schneider Comp along with the ECW and SMW sets last week. They reached my doorstep the other day, much to my merriment. No idea when I'll dive into the SMW and ECW sets, but the new Schneider Comp looks like it might be the best yet. I'm gonna try and talk about all of it. I'll probably fail or it'll take me seven years, but I'll at least TRY, and that's what's important.
Team Beyond v Aeroform (Beyond Wrestling, 11/5/10)
Pretty much a perfect popcorn match. I'd never seen any of these guys before. Never even heard of Beyond Wrestling. Basically, I had no idea what to expect out of this. For 18 minutes I wound up sitting with a giant smile on my face watching 4 guys run through a fucking truckload of crazy spots and bumps. Some of the shit they were doing was more goofy in a stupid way than in a cool way, but even the stupid stuff was new to me so it at least worked on a "well THAT was different" level. The lucha armdrag sequence at the start between Flip Kendrick and Chase Burnett was really nifty, and Kendrick is a guy that seems freakishly agile. He does a moonsault where he starts off sitting on the mat that looked cool as Hell. Wasn't really a "sitting moonsault," because he didn't exactly moonsault from his ass, but he started there at least. If there's one thing you take away from this it's that Chase Burnett is a fucking bump machine lunatic. He eats a knee RIGHT to the cheekbone from Louis Lyndon, and later on he takes a psychotic flat back flip bump off the apron to the concrete. Zane Silver has a bunch of forearm and backhand slap variations. Some of them look kind of whiffed and crummy, but I'm tickled he'd try them in the first place. Really, considering the sheer amount of stuff - and the difficulty of some of it - they were pulling out of their asses here, it's remarkable they managed to pull off pretty much every spot cleanly. This was a total blast.
LA Park v El Mesias (Mask v Hair) (AAA, 6/18/11)
Well fuck the world, this was absolutely incredible. I'll probably watch it again soon, but on first watch it really felt like the best match of the decade so far. Hell, I'd even put it up there with any of the MOTDC stuff from the last decade as well. Park looked like the best wrestler on earth here, taking insane bumps, bleeding like this was a fucking apuestas match, hurling sick chair shots, brawling like crazy, etc. He starts jawing with some lady in the front row, and they play off that even into the post-match. When she threw a cup in his face it looked like he would've murdered her if Mesias wasn't there to save her. The thing that really impressed me about this (other than the crazy bumps and blood and such) was the way they paced it. Within the first five minutes Mesias has taken two table bumps - one of which looked completely fucking nuts, btw - and by the time they hit the ten minute mark you're wondering what else they can do without it coming off as them just "doin' stuff." Match goes about 30 minutes total, and not once did it seem like they were running out of ideas or just moving from spot to spot. I mean, this was more about them doing crazy shit to each other (not in a spotfesty way) than straight lucha brawling (punch, kick, forehead biting, posting, etc.), but they totally made it work, and at the risk of getting carried away with hyperbole, it honestly felt like one of the most smartly paced matches I've ever seen. Never thought any of the table stuff felt out of place, either. I don't usually like it when guys bring tables and ladders and whatever else into blowoff matches, because a lot of the time it comes across as them just wanting to do cool looking shit. It feels pretty out of place in a hate feud. I watched a bunch of Jimmy Jacobs brawls from that early 2007 ROH run last week. The Cabana match from Chicago and the Whitmer brawls were all crazy, but I started to lose interest once they brought out the tables and ladders. I'd much rather they just kept stabbing each other in the head with rail-road spikes. The reason the falls count anywhere match from Liverpool was my favourite of all those crazy brawls is because they stuck to just beating the ever loving dogshit out of each other (and Whitmer blades his forehead about 15 times) and never bothered with the props. This has several nutso table bumps, but all of them felt like a case of one guy trying to kill the other. The fact they looked totally badass was just a bonus for the people watching this massacre. Park setting up a table in the middle of the ring only to be speared through it was kind of contrived, sure, but he gets up on the table and starts dancing like a shithead. In amongst all this carnage, he still takes the time to do his dance. It might've been contrived, but it was the best set up to a contrived table bump you'll see. Oh and the actual spot looked motherfucking spectacular. And Hell, I even liked the bullshit finish. Just a phenomenal match; maybe the best in the history of the company.
Team Beyond v Aeroform (Beyond Wrestling, 11/5/10)
Pretty much a perfect popcorn match. I'd never seen any of these guys before. Never even heard of Beyond Wrestling. Basically, I had no idea what to expect out of this. For 18 minutes I wound up sitting with a giant smile on my face watching 4 guys run through a fucking truckload of crazy spots and bumps. Some of the shit they were doing was more goofy in a stupid way than in a cool way, but even the stupid stuff was new to me so it at least worked on a "well THAT was different" level. The lucha armdrag sequence at the start between Flip Kendrick and Chase Burnett was really nifty, and Kendrick is a guy that seems freakishly agile. He does a moonsault where he starts off sitting on the mat that looked cool as Hell. Wasn't really a "sitting moonsault," because he didn't exactly moonsault from his ass, but he started there at least. If there's one thing you take away from this it's that Chase Burnett is a fucking bump machine lunatic. He eats a knee RIGHT to the cheekbone from Louis Lyndon, and later on he takes a psychotic flat back flip bump off the apron to the concrete. Zane Silver has a bunch of forearm and backhand slap variations. Some of them look kind of whiffed and crummy, but I'm tickled he'd try them in the first place. Really, considering the sheer amount of stuff - and the difficulty of some of it - they were pulling out of their asses here, it's remarkable they managed to pull off pretty much every spot cleanly. This was a total blast.
LA Park v El Mesias (Mask v Hair) (AAA, 6/18/11)
Well fuck the world, this was absolutely incredible. I'll probably watch it again soon, but on first watch it really felt like the best match of the decade so far. Hell, I'd even put it up there with any of the MOTDC stuff from the last decade as well. Park looked like the best wrestler on earth here, taking insane bumps, bleeding like this was a fucking apuestas match, hurling sick chair shots, brawling like crazy, etc. He starts jawing with some lady in the front row, and they play off that even into the post-match. When she threw a cup in his face it looked like he would've murdered her if Mesias wasn't there to save her. The thing that really impressed me about this (other than the crazy bumps and blood and such) was the way they paced it. Within the first five minutes Mesias has taken two table bumps - one of which looked completely fucking nuts, btw - and by the time they hit the ten minute mark you're wondering what else they can do without it coming off as them just "doin' stuff." Match goes about 30 minutes total, and not once did it seem like they were running out of ideas or just moving from spot to spot. I mean, this was more about them doing crazy shit to each other (not in a spotfesty way) than straight lucha brawling (punch, kick, forehead biting, posting, etc.), but they totally made it work, and at the risk of getting carried away with hyperbole, it honestly felt like one of the most smartly paced matches I've ever seen. Never thought any of the table stuff felt out of place, either. I don't usually like it when guys bring tables and ladders and whatever else into blowoff matches, because a lot of the time it comes across as them just wanting to do cool looking shit. It feels pretty out of place in a hate feud. I watched a bunch of Jimmy Jacobs brawls from that early 2007 ROH run last week. The Cabana match from Chicago and the Whitmer brawls were all crazy, but I started to lose interest once they brought out the tables and ladders. I'd much rather they just kept stabbing each other in the head with rail-road spikes. The reason the falls count anywhere match from Liverpool was my favourite of all those crazy brawls is because they stuck to just beating the ever loving dogshit out of each other (and Whitmer blades his forehead about 15 times) and never bothered with the props. This has several nutso table bumps, but all of them felt like a case of one guy trying to kill the other. The fact they looked totally badass was just a bonus for the people watching this massacre. Park setting up a table in the middle of the ring only to be speared through it was kind of contrived, sure, but he gets up on the table and starts dancing like a shithead. In amongst all this carnage, he still takes the time to do his dance. It might've been contrived, but it was the best set up to a contrived table bump you'll see. Oh and the actual spot looked motherfucking spectacular. And Hell, I even liked the bullshit finish. Just a phenomenal match; maybe the best in the history of the company.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Bernard v Nagata + Ohtani INVADING!
Giant Bernard v Yuji Nagata (New Japan, 4/30/06)
Man, this was outstanding; totally blew me away. I've liked a lot of the Giant Bernard stuff from Japan that I've seen, but this might be his career performance, and I never really thought he had a match this great in him. It starts out with Nagata trying to hit and move as Bernard swings for the fences. He goes in for the arm, but that leaves him too close and Bernard just mows him down. Bernard's pretty great working on top for the next 6 or 7 minutes, almost like a more mobile Mark Henry at points. A couple times Nagata starts firing back and Bernard cuts him off by uppercutting him right in the throat. When Nagata starts to make his comeback he really lays in the kicks and tosses Bernard with some big suplexes, and that's his opening to go back to the arm. Really dramatic moment when Nagata finally manages to lock in the armbar. Sometimes it can feel like guys are sitting in the hold for too long and it eventually reaches a point where, if they haven't tapped out already, they're not going to. Wasn't the case here, as you could buy the match being over even though it was only about 10 minutes in. He manages to make the ropes and force the break, but his sell job for the rest of the match was great. He tries to hit the powerbomb about 7 times, and it's not until right at the end that he's able to actually get Nagata up for it. Every other time he just about manages it, but the arm gives out and he has to drop him. When he finally hits it he doesn't even get all of it, which I thought was cool. Stretch run is awesome without crossing into overkill territory, plus you've got Nagata trying to go back to the arm in amongst the bomb throwing. Honestly, I thought this was about on par with Nagata's match with Takayama from '02 as far as "Yuji Nagata in Uphill Struggle" matches go. Bernard's on his way back to WWE soon as well. I was excited at the prospect of him matching up with a bunch of guys in the company already, but this has me REALLY stoked. I'm not sure who the WWE equiv of Nagata would be. Punk? Babyface Danielson? No way they should be turning Danielson face again any time soon, but Bernard/Punk could be fucking great.
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki v Shinjiro Ohtani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (NOAH, 3/5/05)
This was the Shinjiro Ohtani show. I mean, everybody was good in it, but Ohtani is such a first class dickhead from word one that he took something that would otherwise be really good and propelled it to greatness. Even when he's standing in the ring before team NOAH have come out he's grabbing the ref' by the scruff of the neck and shoving him around. When he and Misawa get in together they have this awesome little exchange of douchebaggery. Ohtani backs Misawa into the ropes, and as he breaks he shoves Misawa in the chest while shouting "BREAK." When Misawa backs Ohtani into the opposite ropes, he fakes to throw an elbow, then just pats him on the head before breaking clean. Ohtani HATES it and spittle flies from his mouth. The heat section on Kotaro was really good here. Kotaro is a pretty bland junior that I don't really have much desire to watch, but this might be the best he's ever looked. He really leans in to getting elbowed in the face (although it's not like Takaiwa needs an invitation to put his weight behind throwing elbows) and plays a fine spunky underdog. Of course, a lot of that is probably down to Ohtani. He mocks him, beats on him in nasty ways (at one point he sits in a camel clutch position, fish hooks both cheeks and starts yanking back) and cuts him off by kicking him right in the dick. Old man Misawa was pretty awesome as well. Throws elbows like he's Misawa, and the early flurry that rocks Ohtani looked super nasty (Ohtani's awesome sell of it didn't hurt, though). Takaiwa probably popped up a bit too quickly after the last big Kotaro nearfall, and the double powerbomb into death valley driver spot is a combo I hate because it's so glaringly cooperative, but those are minor quibbles. I really wish Ohtani got to stretch out like this way more over the course of the last decade. A guy that's such a natural asshole should be allowed to act like one.
Man, this was outstanding; totally blew me away. I've liked a lot of the Giant Bernard stuff from Japan that I've seen, but this might be his career performance, and I never really thought he had a match this great in him. It starts out with Nagata trying to hit and move as Bernard swings for the fences. He goes in for the arm, but that leaves him too close and Bernard just mows him down. Bernard's pretty great working on top for the next 6 or 7 minutes, almost like a more mobile Mark Henry at points. A couple times Nagata starts firing back and Bernard cuts him off by uppercutting him right in the throat. When Nagata starts to make his comeback he really lays in the kicks and tosses Bernard with some big suplexes, and that's his opening to go back to the arm. Really dramatic moment when Nagata finally manages to lock in the armbar. Sometimes it can feel like guys are sitting in the hold for too long and it eventually reaches a point where, if they haven't tapped out already, they're not going to. Wasn't the case here, as you could buy the match being over even though it was only about 10 minutes in. He manages to make the ropes and force the break, but his sell job for the rest of the match was great. He tries to hit the powerbomb about 7 times, and it's not until right at the end that he's able to actually get Nagata up for it. Every other time he just about manages it, but the arm gives out and he has to drop him. When he finally hits it he doesn't even get all of it, which I thought was cool. Stretch run is awesome without crossing into overkill territory, plus you've got Nagata trying to go back to the arm in amongst the bomb throwing. Honestly, I thought this was about on par with Nagata's match with Takayama from '02 as far as "Yuji Nagata in Uphill Struggle" matches go. Bernard's on his way back to WWE soon as well. I was excited at the prospect of him matching up with a bunch of guys in the company already, but this has me REALLY stoked. I'm not sure who the WWE equiv of Nagata would be. Punk? Babyface Danielson? No way they should be turning Danielson face again any time soon, but Bernard/Punk could be fucking great.
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki v Shinjiro Ohtani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (NOAH, 3/5/05)
This was the Shinjiro Ohtani show. I mean, everybody was good in it, but Ohtani is such a first class dickhead from word one that he took something that would otherwise be really good and propelled it to greatness. Even when he's standing in the ring before team NOAH have come out he's grabbing the ref' by the scruff of the neck and shoving him around. When he and Misawa get in together they have this awesome little exchange of douchebaggery. Ohtani backs Misawa into the ropes, and as he breaks he shoves Misawa in the chest while shouting "BREAK." When Misawa backs Ohtani into the opposite ropes, he fakes to throw an elbow, then just pats him on the head before breaking clean. Ohtani HATES it and spittle flies from his mouth. The heat section on Kotaro was really good here. Kotaro is a pretty bland junior that I don't really have much desire to watch, but this might be the best he's ever looked. He really leans in to getting elbowed in the face (although it's not like Takaiwa needs an invitation to put his weight behind throwing elbows) and plays a fine spunky underdog. Of course, a lot of that is probably down to Ohtani. He mocks him, beats on him in nasty ways (at one point he sits in a camel clutch position, fish hooks both cheeks and starts yanking back) and cuts him off by kicking him right in the dick. Old man Misawa was pretty awesome as well. Throws elbows like he's Misawa, and the early flurry that rocks Ohtani looked super nasty (Ohtani's awesome sell of it didn't hurt, though). Takaiwa probably popped up a bit too quickly after the last big Kotaro nearfall, and the double powerbomb into death valley driver spot is a combo I hate because it's so glaringly cooperative, but those are minor quibbles. I really wish Ohtani got to stretch out like this way more over the course of the last decade. A guy that's such a natural asshole should be allowed to act like one.
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Rey Flows Like the Blood on a Murder Scene, Like a Syringe on Some Wild Out Shit, to Insert a Fiend
Rey Mysterio v Brock Lesnar (Smackdown!, 12/11/03)
Well this was pretty terrific. These two work the 'big v little' dynamic together about as well as any pair in history. Lesnar just manhandles Rey early on, throwing him across the ring when they tie up, mocking him because he's tiny, and at one point he picks Rey clean up off the ground by his ankle and chucks him across the ring. If you gave someone a real life Super Soldier Serum, you'd get another Brock Lesnar. They do a great Tom and Jerry bit where Lesnar chases Rey in and around the ring for about 30 seconds, and when Lesnar stops to catch his breath the crowd start up a massive "you tapped out" chant (he tapped to the Crossface in a match with Benoit the week before). Couple super nifty spots on the floor as well. First Rey goes for a seated senton off the apron, but Brock catches him and hoists him up for a powerbomb, so Rey rolls through and sort of sunset flips Lesnar back-first into the gueardrail. Then he does another seated senton and hurricanranas him into the ring post. Brock's also a guy that's about as fast and agile as he is freakishly strong, so when he runs at Rey and Rey dropkicks him in the knee to send him flying face-first into the middle turbuckle, you can buy him having built up enough momentum for something like that to actually happen. You don't get that same sense with a lot of the big guys Rey works with (shit, you don't get it with a lot of big guys in general). Eventually Lesnar manages to pluck Rey out the air and takes over by just kicking him in the balls. Everything Brock does looks as nasty and vicious as you'd think. He always had awesome looking offence, but Rey completely hurls himself around for all of it like most guys can't and it makes it stand out even more. Thought the 619 set up was pretty great here as well. First Rey sneaks in a revenge low blow by kicking the middle rope into Lesnar's groin, then he dropkicks him and Lesnar kind of trips and falls across the middle rope (still selling his nads). Rey is still on the apron, so he just runs along it and swings around the ring post to hit it. The string of nearfalls after that gets a TON of heat, then Lesnar catches him again and fucking PLANTS him with a sick powerbomb. The Brock Lock/stretch muffler at the end looked hideous. I mean, fuck, talk about breaking someone in half.
Rey Project
Well this was pretty terrific. These two work the 'big v little' dynamic together about as well as any pair in history. Lesnar just manhandles Rey early on, throwing him across the ring when they tie up, mocking him because he's tiny, and at one point he picks Rey clean up off the ground by his ankle and chucks him across the ring. If you gave someone a real life Super Soldier Serum, you'd get another Brock Lesnar. They do a great Tom and Jerry bit where Lesnar chases Rey in and around the ring for about 30 seconds, and when Lesnar stops to catch his breath the crowd start up a massive "you tapped out" chant (he tapped to the Crossface in a match with Benoit the week before). Couple super nifty spots on the floor as well. First Rey goes for a seated senton off the apron, but Brock catches him and hoists him up for a powerbomb, so Rey rolls through and sort of sunset flips Lesnar back-first into the gueardrail. Then he does another seated senton and hurricanranas him into the ring post. Brock's also a guy that's about as fast and agile as he is freakishly strong, so when he runs at Rey and Rey dropkicks him in the knee to send him flying face-first into the middle turbuckle, you can buy him having built up enough momentum for something like that to actually happen. You don't get that same sense with a lot of the big guys Rey works with (shit, you don't get it with a lot of big guys in general). Eventually Lesnar manages to pluck Rey out the air and takes over by just kicking him in the balls. Everything Brock does looks as nasty and vicious as you'd think. He always had awesome looking offence, but Rey completely hurls himself around for all of it like most guys can't and it makes it stand out even more. Thought the 619 set up was pretty great here as well. First Rey sneaks in a revenge low blow by kicking the middle rope into Lesnar's groin, then he dropkicks him and Lesnar kind of trips and falls across the middle rope (still selling his nads). Rey is still on the apron, so he just runs along it and swings around the ring post to hit it. The string of nearfalls after that gets a TON of heat, then Lesnar catches him again and fucking PLANTS him with a sick powerbomb. The Brock Lock/stretch muffler at the end looked hideous. I mean, fuck, talk about breaking someone in half.
Rey Project
Thursday, 15 March 2012
We Said No Holds Barred, but We Didn't Expect This!
Shawn Michaels v Diesel (WWF In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies, 4/28/96)
Man, I fucking love this match. Shawn Michaels launching Marty Jannetty through a window while a dude with hedge clippers and horrendous pants stood in awe was what made me a wrestling fan for life. I wouldn't say I'm a massive Michaels fan anymore (though tag worker Michaels is still awesome), but he was my favourite wrestler for a good while growing up, and no matter how many Butch Reeds or Fuerza Guerreras or Volk Hans bump and stooge and tricked-out-matwork their way into my heart, I'll probably always have a soft spot for him. So I will probably always fucking love this match.
He gets bumped and ragdolled around like crazy here. It's interesting to see how Michaels worked with Nash in comparison to how Bret worked with him. Bret seemed to try and get him to work into Bret's 'Bret Hart v Big Man' formula -- he tried to "work with" him as opposed to "work around" him. When Nash was game I thought that turned out pretty great, and he'd do things working opposite Bret that he never would working opposite anyone else (and I don't think Nash was utter dogshit or anything, anyway...although he could stink it up with the worst of them when he wanted to). To say Michaels is going out here and just working around Diesel isn't really fair, since Nash's character is a big reason why this is so good, but Michaels is definitely in full on pinball mode.
Nash is a pretty wonderful scumbag in this, by far the best "character performance" of his career (that I've seen, at least. If there's one better that I've missed I'd be stunned, though). He throws his leather jacket at Vince before the match, trash talks all the way through it, and above all else beats the shit out of Michaels. When he rips Mad Dog Vachon's prosthetic leg off so he can use it as a weapon, even Lawler on commentary can't advocate that shit. "Oh my God...Oh my" (then he goes back to cheering him on 30 seconds later). Offensively he busts out a gigantic sidewalk slam, cracks Shawn right in the spine with a chair, chokes him with Hebnar's belt and hangs him over the top rope (Michaels really HANGS there, and when he's getting choked he doesn't bother using his fingers for any sort of separation. He looked like Justin Roberts that time Daniel Bryan choked him with his own tie on RAW and got fired for it), and in one of my favourite spots of the match he takes the tape off his wrist and just starts choking the ref' (so he can steal his belt).
Michaels' performance is pretty great as well. He ditches the dancing and male stripper routine at the start and actually looks like he's ready for a fight. He even steals one of the announcer's boots and waffles Nash in the head with it. His whole run of offence at the start seemed really fired up, then he takes his upside down bump in the corner, and as Nash clubs him off the apron he goes flying into the railing with an insane Brian Pillman throat bump. The powerbomb through the table spot is probably what this is most remembered for, and it really is a spectacular looking table spot. They don't start clearing the table of monitors and headsets before it, so you don't know it's coming until Nash lifts him up and turns towards it. When Shawn goes through it one of the monitors almost bounces up and hits Vince right in the face. Michaels lies there covered in debris and it looks like a car wreck while Diesel struts around the ring with the WWF title (he even asks Hebnar to put it on him).
The nip up spot is definitely problematic. Vince shouting "JUST LET IT BE OVER!" as Shawn tries to crawl out from under the rubble and drag himself back into the ring is a cool moment, but after everything up to that point...man, if you've just been hurled through a table, whipped and hanged with a belt, taken a ludicrous bump into a guardrail, blasted with a chair, etc., you probably shouldn't be nipping up and bouncing around quite so easily. I've never thought it killed the match or anything, and the nip up spot doesn't bother me a great deal in general, but this was one of the more egregious ones he's ever done.
Still, they don't head to the finish after the big comeback, and Nash blocking the first SCM attempt and mowing him down with a clothesline is one of the best spots of the match, so you take the good with the bad. A little later we also get a great payback spot with Michaels hitting Diesel low as he's about to drill him with Vachon's leg (Diesel hit a low blow earlier on as Michaels was about to smack him with a chair, which was actually a really great cut off spot that I never mentioned).
Every time I watch this I go in thinking I'll like it a little less than before. Then it ends and I wind up liking it a little MORE than before. By far my favourite Nash match ever. Probably one of my top 5 favourite Michaels matches ever. If Shawn had thrown up after he realised he was holding a dude's leg it would've been top 1.
Man, I fucking love this match. Shawn Michaels launching Marty Jannetty through a window while a dude with hedge clippers and horrendous pants stood in awe was what made me a wrestling fan for life. I wouldn't say I'm a massive Michaels fan anymore (though tag worker Michaels is still awesome), but he was my favourite wrestler for a good while growing up, and no matter how many Butch Reeds or Fuerza Guerreras or Volk Hans bump and stooge and tricked-out-matwork their way into my heart, I'll probably always have a soft spot for him. So I will probably always fucking love this match.
He gets bumped and ragdolled around like crazy here. It's interesting to see how Michaels worked with Nash in comparison to how Bret worked with him. Bret seemed to try and get him to work into Bret's 'Bret Hart v Big Man' formula -- he tried to "work with" him as opposed to "work around" him. When Nash was game I thought that turned out pretty great, and he'd do things working opposite Bret that he never would working opposite anyone else (and I don't think Nash was utter dogshit or anything, anyway...although he could stink it up with the worst of them when he wanted to). To say Michaels is going out here and just working around Diesel isn't really fair, since Nash's character is a big reason why this is so good, but Michaels is definitely in full on pinball mode.
Nash is a pretty wonderful scumbag in this, by far the best "character performance" of his career (that I've seen, at least. If there's one better that I've missed I'd be stunned, though). He throws his leather jacket at Vince before the match, trash talks all the way through it, and above all else beats the shit out of Michaels. When he rips Mad Dog Vachon's prosthetic leg off so he can use it as a weapon, even Lawler on commentary can't advocate that shit. "Oh my God...Oh my" (then he goes back to cheering him on 30 seconds later). Offensively he busts out a gigantic sidewalk slam, cracks Shawn right in the spine with a chair, chokes him with Hebnar's belt and hangs him over the top rope (Michaels really HANGS there, and when he's getting choked he doesn't bother using his fingers for any sort of separation. He looked like Justin Roberts that time Daniel Bryan choked him with his own tie on RAW and got fired for it), and in one of my favourite spots of the match he takes the tape off his wrist and just starts choking the ref' (so he can steal his belt).
Michaels' performance is pretty great as well. He ditches the dancing and male stripper routine at the start and actually looks like he's ready for a fight. He even steals one of the announcer's boots and waffles Nash in the head with it. His whole run of offence at the start seemed really fired up, then he takes his upside down bump in the corner, and as Nash clubs him off the apron he goes flying into the railing with an insane Brian Pillman throat bump. The powerbomb through the table spot is probably what this is most remembered for, and it really is a spectacular looking table spot. They don't start clearing the table of monitors and headsets before it, so you don't know it's coming until Nash lifts him up and turns towards it. When Shawn goes through it one of the monitors almost bounces up and hits Vince right in the face. Michaels lies there covered in debris and it looks like a car wreck while Diesel struts around the ring with the WWF title (he even asks Hebnar to put it on him).
The nip up spot is definitely problematic. Vince shouting "JUST LET IT BE OVER!" as Shawn tries to crawl out from under the rubble and drag himself back into the ring is a cool moment, but after everything up to that point...man, if you've just been hurled through a table, whipped and hanged with a belt, taken a ludicrous bump into a guardrail, blasted with a chair, etc., you probably shouldn't be nipping up and bouncing around quite so easily. I've never thought it killed the match or anything, and the nip up spot doesn't bother me a great deal in general, but this was one of the more egregious ones he's ever done.
Still, they don't head to the finish after the big comeback, and Nash blocking the first SCM attempt and mowing him down with a clothesline is one of the best spots of the match, so you take the good with the bad. A little later we also get a great payback spot with Michaels hitting Diesel low as he's about to drill him with Vachon's leg (Diesel hit a low blow earlier on as Michaels was about to smack him with a chair, which was actually a really great cut off spot that I never mentioned).
Every time I watch this I go in thinking I'll like it a little less than before. Then it ends and I wind up liking it a little MORE than before. By far my favourite Nash match ever. Probably one of my top 5 favourite Michaels matches ever. If Shawn had thrown up after he realised he was holding a dude's leg it would've been top 1.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Rey Got News for You All, Let Him Show You how to Ball. See the Legendary Fall? He Ain't Heard of That
Rey Mysterio v Luke Gallows (Smackdown!, 3/5/10)
This feels like quite the Luke Gallows showcase. I didn't see a ton of Gallows in his SES role, but he was pretty fucking rad here and Rey made his already-good offence look totally killer. There's a super cool spot where he shoves Rey into the ropes and hits a monster clothesline from him knees, which sort of reminded me of the awesome spot in the Rey/Henry match I talked about a few days ago. He spends a chunk of time working over Rey's back in pretty nasty looking ways here. He initially takes over by grabbing Rey, running him along the apron and throwing him spine-first into the post. When he's in control he hits a fallaway slam, squeezes him with a bearhug and throws some great looking headbutts right to the spine and kidneys. He also throws some killer punches -- Rey jumps off the top at one point and Gallows catches him with an AWESOME uppercut. Thought the set up to the 619 was really cool here as well. First Rey hooks in a guillotine choke, and when Gallows gets to the ropes he still sells grogginess. While he's shaking the cobwebs Rey chop blocks him and Gallows falls into position for the 619. I don't remember seeing it set up like that before, but it was one of the more organic set ups for it I've seen. Serena jumps in the way as Rey is about to hit it, and when Punk sneaks in the back door it looks like we're heading for a screwy finish. Instead, Gallows tries to powerbomb Rey, but Rey manages to shift his weight and score a flash pin. A friend of mine has been at me to watch this for about two years now, and it was as nifty as I'd hoped. Everything pre-commercial is good, but it really hits another gear after that sweet apron/post spot.
Rey Project
This feels like quite the Luke Gallows showcase. I didn't see a ton of Gallows in his SES role, but he was pretty fucking rad here and Rey made his already-good offence look totally killer. There's a super cool spot where he shoves Rey into the ropes and hits a monster clothesline from him knees, which sort of reminded me of the awesome spot in the Rey/Henry match I talked about a few days ago. He spends a chunk of time working over Rey's back in pretty nasty looking ways here. He initially takes over by grabbing Rey, running him along the apron and throwing him spine-first into the post. When he's in control he hits a fallaway slam, squeezes him with a bearhug and throws some great looking headbutts right to the spine and kidneys. He also throws some killer punches -- Rey jumps off the top at one point and Gallows catches him with an AWESOME uppercut. Thought the set up to the 619 was really cool here as well. First Rey hooks in a guillotine choke, and when Gallows gets to the ropes he still sells grogginess. While he's shaking the cobwebs Rey chop blocks him and Gallows falls into position for the 619. I don't remember seeing it set up like that before, but it was one of the more organic set ups for it I've seen. Serena jumps in the way as Rey is about to hit it, and when Punk sneaks in the back door it looks like we're heading for a screwy finish. Instead, Gallows tries to powerbomb Rey, but Rey manages to shift his weight and score a flash pin. A friend of mine has been at me to watch this for about two years now, and it was as nifty as I'd hoped. Everything pre-commercial is good, but it really hits another gear after that sweet apron/post spot.
Rey Project
Monday, 12 March 2012
They Form a Huddle, Whisper Like They Want Trouble, Rey Melts the Ice Grills Into Rainwater Puddles
Rey Mysterio & Edge v Brock Lesnar & Tajiri (Smackdown!, 10/10/02)
I had no idea this ever happened. I mean, I went back and watched a shit load of the Smackdown! stuff from this period a couple years ago, but I never came across this. It goes about ten minutes, has a really hot crowd, and Brock Lesnar fucking kills dudes. I had forgotten just how much of an athletic freak that guy was. He and Rey always used to have great interactions any time they wound up in the ring together (their TV match from '03 was awesome), and Brock just absolutely manhandles him at a couple points here. Rey tries to scurry away from him by crawling under his legs, but Brock grabs him, hurls him in the air with his ankles and slams him right down on his shoulder. Then in the post-match, from the floor, he tosses Rey over his head back into the ring, and Rey almost clears the top rope. Just inhuman strength. He and Tajiri make a super fun team. Tajiri chills on the apron until Lesnar mows down Rey and Edge, then he tags in and tells Brock he'll handle it from here...if that's okay with him. He throws a couple jaw-shattering kicks and there's a tarantula spot that looked pretty organic. When he fucks up by accidentally blasting Lesnar with a kick, he makes this AMAZING "oh fuck what have I done?" face while biting his fingers. Post-match Lesnar kills him for it, naturally. Edge was fine here, too. He takes a monster overhead belly to belly on the floor (from guess who) and Tajiri at least makes his spear look decent enough, so I can deal. Did Brock and Tajiri ever have a singles match together? That had to have been good, surely? Also feel like I owe it to myself to watch everything Rey and Lesnar ever did together.
Rey Project
I had no idea this ever happened. I mean, I went back and watched a shit load of the Smackdown! stuff from this period a couple years ago, but I never came across this. It goes about ten minutes, has a really hot crowd, and Brock Lesnar fucking kills dudes. I had forgotten just how much of an athletic freak that guy was. He and Rey always used to have great interactions any time they wound up in the ring together (their TV match from '03 was awesome), and Brock just absolutely manhandles him at a couple points here. Rey tries to scurry away from him by crawling under his legs, but Brock grabs him, hurls him in the air with his ankles and slams him right down on his shoulder. Then in the post-match, from the floor, he tosses Rey over his head back into the ring, and Rey almost clears the top rope. Just inhuman strength. He and Tajiri make a super fun team. Tajiri chills on the apron until Lesnar mows down Rey and Edge, then he tags in and tells Brock he'll handle it from here...if that's okay with him. He throws a couple jaw-shattering kicks and there's a tarantula spot that looked pretty organic. When he fucks up by accidentally blasting Lesnar with a kick, he makes this AMAZING "oh fuck what have I done?" face while biting his fingers. Post-match Lesnar kills him for it, naturally. Edge was fine here, too. He takes a monster overhead belly to belly on the floor (from guess who) and Tajiri at least makes his spear look decent enough, so I can deal. Did Brock and Tajiri ever have a singles match together? That had to have been good, surely? Also feel like I owe it to myself to watch everything Rey and Lesnar ever did together.
Rey Project
Friday, 9 March 2012
Rey Terrorises the Jam Like Troops in Pakistan, Swingin' Through Ya Town Like Ya Neighbourhood Spiiiiiidaman
Rey Mysterio v Drew McIntyre (Smackdown!, 3/11/11)
This only goes about 8 minutes, and with the commercial break we miss a few of those minutes, but shit, this was a really great little match. Drew looked awesome here and I really wish they'd actually DO something with him (apparently they are now...maybe? I don't really know). He wastes Rey with a boot to the head right at the start (and laughs about it), hits an awesome tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, bends Rey with a bow and arrow, talks a bunch of trash, and fucking KILLS him with a backbreaker on the apron. He's a guy that has a TON of cool and interesting ways to hurt you (the Christian matches from a couple years ago are good examples). He also sets himself up for the 619 here in a way that doesn't look nearly as contrived as set ups for that move usually do. Rey does what he does and is as great a whipping boy as always - takes a Hell of a bump off a missed springboard where he jumps about 90 feet in the air and plummets face first to the mat - and I'd love it for these two to get 20 minutes, because I can't imagine that not ruling.
Rey Project
This only goes about 8 minutes, and with the commercial break we miss a few of those minutes, but shit, this was a really great little match. Drew looked awesome here and I really wish they'd actually DO something with him (apparently they are now...maybe? I don't really know). He wastes Rey with a boot to the head right at the start (and laughs about it), hits an awesome tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, bends Rey with a bow and arrow, talks a bunch of trash, and fucking KILLS him with a backbreaker on the apron. He's a guy that has a TON of cool and interesting ways to hurt you (the Christian matches from a couple years ago are good examples). He also sets himself up for the 619 here in a way that doesn't look nearly as contrived as set ups for that move usually do. Rey does what he does and is as great a whipping boy as always - takes a Hell of a bump off a missed springboard where he jumps about 90 feet in the air and plummets face first to the mat - and I'd love it for these two to get 20 minutes, because I can't imagine that not ruling.
Rey Project
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
In the Glow of the Moon, Over the Melancholy Metro Rey's Poetry is Set Like a U.F.O.
20 Man Battle Royal (Smackdown!, 1/13/06)
Super fun TV battle royal. Rey and Mark Henry are really your stars here. First ten minutes have a bunch going on, but Rey's near-eliminations and running around like a mouse while Henry plays monster truck in amongst stock cars are the two main themes. Angle comes in as the mystery entrant (this is for the World Heavyweight Title that Batista vacated earlier in the night) and throws people around, but eventually Henry gets fed up with that and puts him through a table. Henry is a total beast in this. He does a shoulder tackle spot with Lashley where Lashley REALLY runs at him and still ends up getting bounced across the ring. There was nothing showy about it -- he really charged full speed at Henry, Henry just stood his ground, and Lashley almost got knocked clean off his feet. Henry picks him up like he's nothing, dumps him onto the apron and punts him right in the chest. He totally ragdolls everybody else (tossed out Brian Kendrick like he was a six year old). After everybody else is gone it briefly comes down to Henry and Rey, and we get a great taste of what a singles match would be like before Rey flies around once too often and gets hurled over the top. Finally ends up being Henry v Angle (Angle spent half the match on top of a broken announce table), and Angle is a total pitbull going back to the headscissors. Still, you watch this and get the sense a Rey/Henry match would be really great...
Rey Mysterio v Mark Henry (Smackdown!, 1/20/06)
And sure enough, it was really great. Just an awesome huge guy v tiny guy match; at times it's like a rabbit trying to pick a fight with a bear. Rey tries to get Henry to chase him around early and burn him out, winging kicks at his tree trunk legs to chop him down some. There's a spot where Henry catches Rey by the ankle as he's sliding into the ring and, with one hand, just yanks him back out with so much force Rey goes flying into the barricade. Henry takes over completely when Rey runs towards him, and Henry stops him cold in his tracks Vader style. People should stop running at that guy. It's bad enough standing in front of him, I have no idea why you'd actively want to close the gap. If a bus is driving towards you, don't run INTO the fucking windshield. Henry looks like the most unfuckwithable brick wall on earth here. He gives Rey a slingshot suplex where he hangs him over the top rope and cracks his sternum with a kick (Rey's bump to the floor is great as well). Awesome spot where Rey starts building some momentum and Henry mows him down with a huge leaping clothesline. He was kind of on his knees when he jumped into it, so it looked totally out of nowhere and amazing. Really liked the teeter-totter set up to the 619 here as well. Henry catches Rey's attempted springboard like he did in the battle royal, but this time Rey manages to hotshot Henry on the top rope as he's being thrown out. Then Rey hits three 619s; one to the kidneys, one to the stomach, and finally one to the face. Finish is great. Rey hits the frog splash from about three quarters of the way across the ring, but as he pins him Henry just sits up, rolls backwards onto his feet while still holding onto Rey, and crushes him dead with the World's Strongest Slam. Rey sort of whiffs on the frog splash because he's too far away, but it actually kinda adds to the finish. You've got one shot against this guy, you either make it count or you're toast.
Rey Project
Super fun TV battle royal. Rey and Mark Henry are really your stars here. First ten minutes have a bunch going on, but Rey's near-eliminations and running around like a mouse while Henry plays monster truck in amongst stock cars are the two main themes. Angle comes in as the mystery entrant (this is for the World Heavyweight Title that Batista vacated earlier in the night) and throws people around, but eventually Henry gets fed up with that and puts him through a table. Henry is a total beast in this. He does a shoulder tackle spot with Lashley where Lashley REALLY runs at him and still ends up getting bounced across the ring. There was nothing showy about it -- he really charged full speed at Henry, Henry just stood his ground, and Lashley almost got knocked clean off his feet. Henry picks him up like he's nothing, dumps him onto the apron and punts him right in the chest. He totally ragdolls everybody else (tossed out Brian Kendrick like he was a six year old). After everybody else is gone it briefly comes down to Henry and Rey, and we get a great taste of what a singles match would be like before Rey flies around once too often and gets hurled over the top. Finally ends up being Henry v Angle (Angle spent half the match on top of a broken announce table), and Angle is a total pitbull going back to the headscissors. Still, you watch this and get the sense a Rey/Henry match would be really great...
Rey Mysterio v Mark Henry (Smackdown!, 1/20/06)
And sure enough, it was really great. Just an awesome huge guy v tiny guy match; at times it's like a rabbit trying to pick a fight with a bear. Rey tries to get Henry to chase him around early and burn him out, winging kicks at his tree trunk legs to chop him down some. There's a spot where Henry catches Rey by the ankle as he's sliding into the ring and, with one hand, just yanks him back out with so much force Rey goes flying into the barricade. Henry takes over completely when Rey runs towards him, and Henry stops him cold in his tracks Vader style. People should stop running at that guy. It's bad enough standing in front of him, I have no idea why you'd actively want to close the gap. If a bus is driving towards you, don't run INTO the fucking windshield. Henry looks like the most unfuckwithable brick wall on earth here. He gives Rey a slingshot suplex where he hangs him over the top rope and cracks his sternum with a kick (Rey's bump to the floor is great as well). Awesome spot where Rey starts building some momentum and Henry mows him down with a huge leaping clothesline. He was kind of on his knees when he jumped into it, so it looked totally out of nowhere and amazing. Really liked the teeter-totter set up to the 619 here as well. Henry catches Rey's attempted springboard like he did in the battle royal, but this time Rey manages to hotshot Henry on the top rope as he's being thrown out. Then Rey hits three 619s; one to the kidneys, one to the stomach, and finally one to the face. Finish is great. Rey hits the frog splash from about three quarters of the way across the ring, but as he pins him Henry just sits up, rolls backwards onto his feet while still holding onto Rey, and crushes him dead with the World's Strongest Slam. Rey sort of whiffs on the frog splash because he's too far away, but it actually kinda adds to the finish. You've got one shot against this guy, you either make it count or you're toast.
Rey Project
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Rey Rose Early Mornin', Spread His Wings Yawnin', Vague Memory of Last Night, Now it's All Dawnin'
Rey Mysterio v Kurt Angle (Smackdown!, 3/31/06)
So this is about 6 months before WWE released Angle, and hindsight being a beautiful thing and everything, you can kind off see why Vince half expected him to die in the ring at some point. His arms look a bit Paul Orndorffy and you see him squeezing some feeling into his fingers after a few flat back bumps. I have no idea how he still has full use of his limbs 6 years later. I'd have bet money he'd be at least a hemiplegic by now. Match starts out with Angle taking Rey down and grounding him, and if there's one thing I'll say about Angle it's that he projects an aura of a guy that'll tear your arms off on the mat (looking like an ACTUAL psychopath helps). Rey catches him off guard with a springboard armdrag here and there. First Angle smiles in acknowledgement, then he gets annoyed and just launches Rey into the barricade. He spends the rest of the match working over Rey's midsection with a tight looking bodyscissors, some takedowns with real snap, and adds a bunch of nasty touches like grinding his forearm across Rey's eyes while he squeezes his ribs with his legs. Felt pretty Finlayesque, which you know I'll get behind. I was setting myself up to be disappointed when it looked like they were going with an Anglefied finishing run, but lo and behold there were only two counters out of finishers before Angle plucks Rey out the air and grapevines the leg for the tap out. This was pretty fucking good. I don't really have any interest in watching Angle at this stage, but Rey's a good match-up for him. Might actually be his most consistently good opponent. I'd still take the best Angle/Austin match over the best Angle/Rey match, but I'd rather watch the third or fourth best match Angle and Rey had together than the third or fourth best Angle and Austin had.
Rey Project
So this is about 6 months before WWE released Angle, and hindsight being a beautiful thing and everything, you can kind off see why Vince half expected him to die in the ring at some point. His arms look a bit Paul Orndorffy and you see him squeezing some feeling into his fingers after a few flat back bumps. I have no idea how he still has full use of his limbs 6 years later. I'd have bet money he'd be at least a hemiplegic by now. Match starts out with Angle taking Rey down and grounding him, and if there's one thing I'll say about Angle it's that he projects an aura of a guy that'll tear your arms off on the mat (looking like an ACTUAL psychopath helps). Rey catches him off guard with a springboard armdrag here and there. First Angle smiles in acknowledgement, then he gets annoyed and just launches Rey into the barricade. He spends the rest of the match working over Rey's midsection with a tight looking bodyscissors, some takedowns with real snap, and adds a bunch of nasty touches like grinding his forearm across Rey's eyes while he squeezes his ribs with his legs. Felt pretty Finlayesque, which you know I'll get behind. I was setting myself up to be disappointed when it looked like they were going with an Anglefied finishing run, but lo and behold there were only two counters out of finishers before Angle plucks Rey out the air and grapevines the leg for the tap out. This was pretty fucking good. I don't really have any interest in watching Angle at this stage, but Rey's a good match-up for him. Might actually be his most consistently good opponent. I'd still take the best Angle/Austin match over the best Angle/Rey match, but I'd rather watch the third or fourth best match Angle and Rey had together than the third or fourth best Angle and Austin had.
Rey Project
Monday, 5 March 2012
The Motherfucking Rey Mysterio Project!
So I was watching some random Smackdown! matches from 2006 last night, and I got to thinking about whether there have been any guys in the world that have been as consistently good over the last 10 years as Rey Mysterio. Couldn't think of anybody in WWE. Only other guy from America that is fucking with him is probably Danielson. Wrestling in Japan has steadily gotten worse and worse to the point where there's barely a handful of guys I'm interested in watching at this point. There's probably a few guys from Mexico, but I didn't watch a good deal of lucha from '00-'08, so that's a blind spot.
Point is, Rey has been fucking awesome since he came to WWE in 2002 (not that he was shitty before that) and one of the most "sure thing" guys in the world from that point on (when he's not having knee surgery or tearing all of his muscles, anyway).
I've seen most of his WWE run already, but there ALWAYS seems to be WWE Mysterio stuff popping up that winds up being at least interesting that I'd never even heard of before. Plus I want an excuse to re-watch all of the stuff I already know I like. So here we go again.
Same deal as the Finlay project in that I'm only going to focus on his WWE run. I'll break it all down the same as that as well, with the best stuff being in the top tier and the "worst" stuff being in the fourth/bottom tier. I've already talked about a bunch of Rey matches here already (watched a few for the Finlay project), so I'll just link to those over time. The goal is to have everything watched and listed before I'm dead (so I give it about 10 years).
Rey Mysterio v Brock Lesnar (Smackdown!, 12/11/03)
Rey Mysterio v Eddie Guerrero (Smackdown!, 3/18/04)
Rey Mysterio v Jamie Noble (Velocity, 5/1/04)
Rey Mysterio v Chavo Guerrero (Great American Bash, 6/27/04)
Rey Mysterio v Jamie Noble (Velocity, 5/1/04)
Rey Mysterio v Chavo Guerrero (Great American Bash, 6/27/04)
Rey Mysterio v Eddie Guerrero (Judgment Day, 5/22/05)
Rey Mysterio v Eddie Guerrero (Smackdown!, 6/23/05)
Rey Mysterio v Eddie Guerrero (Great American Bash, 7/24/05)
Rey Mysterio & Batista v MNM (Smackdown!, 12/30/05)
Rey Mysterio v Mark Henry (Smackdown!, 1/20/06)
Rey Mysterio v Eddie Guerrero (Smackdown!, 6/23/05)
Rey Mysterio v Eddie Guerrero (Great American Bash, 7/24/05)
Rey Mysterio & Batista v MNM (Smackdown!, 12/30/05)
Rey Mysterio v Mark Henry (Smackdown!, 1/20/06)
Rey Mysterio v CM Punk (Rey Joins S.E.S v Punk's Hair) (Over the Limit, 5/23/10)
Rey Mysterio v John Cena (RAW, 7/26/11)
Rey Mysterio v Tajiri (Smackdown!, 9/4/03)
Rey Mysterio v Tajiri (Smackdown!, 9/25/03)
20 Man Battle Royal (Smackdown!, 1/13/06)
Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit & Bobby Lashley v Finlay, JBL & Randy Orton (Smackdown!, 2/24/06)
Rey Mysterio v Kurt Angle (Smackdown!, 3/31/06)
Rey Mysterio v Finlay (Smackdown!, 9/8/06)
Rey Mysterio v The Undertaker (Royal Rumble, 1/31/10)
Rey Mysterio v Cody Rhodes (Falls Count Anywhere) (Extreme Rules, 5/1/11)
Rey Mysterio, Edge & John Cena v Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle (Smackdown!, 8/8/02)
Rey Mysterio & Edge v Brock Lesnar & Tajiri (Smackdown!, 10/10/02)
Rey Mysterio v Luke Gallows (Smackdown!, 3/5/10)
Rey Mysterio v Drew McIntyre (Smackdown!, 3/11/11)
Rey Mysterio v Cody Rhodes (Wrestlemania XXVII, 4/3/11)
Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston & John Morrison v The Miz, Alberto Del Rio & R-Truth (Summerslam, 8/14/11)
Rey Mysterio & Eddie Guerrero v MNM (Smackdown!, 7/7/05)
Rey Mysterio v John Cena (RAW, 7/26/11)
Rey Mysterio v Tajiri (Smackdown!, 9/4/03)
Rey Mysterio v Tajiri (Smackdown!, 9/25/03)
20 Man Battle Royal (Smackdown!, 1/13/06)
Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit & Bobby Lashley v Finlay, JBL & Randy Orton (Smackdown!, 2/24/06)
Rey Mysterio v Kurt Angle (Smackdown!, 3/31/06)
Rey Mysterio v Finlay (Smackdown!, 9/8/06)
Rey Mysterio v The Undertaker (Royal Rumble, 1/31/10)
Rey Mysterio v Cody Rhodes (Falls Count Anywhere) (Extreme Rules, 5/1/11)
Rey Mysterio, Edge & John Cena v Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle (Smackdown!, 8/8/02)
Rey Mysterio & Edge v Brock Lesnar & Tajiri (Smackdown!, 10/10/02)
Rey Mysterio v Luke Gallows (Smackdown!, 3/5/10)
Rey Mysterio v Drew McIntyre (Smackdown!, 3/11/11)
Rey Mysterio v Cody Rhodes (Wrestlemania XXVII, 4/3/11)
Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston & John Morrison v The Miz, Alberto Del Rio & R-Truth (Summerslam, 8/14/11)
Rey Mysterio & Eddie Guerrero v MNM (Smackdown!, 7/7/05)
Friday, 2 March 2012
In Comes Romeo, He's Moaning 'You Belong to Me I Believe,' and Finlay Says 'You're in the Wrong Place, my Friend, You Better Leave'
Finlay v Bobby Lashley (Smackdown!, 5/12/06)
Is Finlay Lashley's best ever opponent? I remember that Cena match from the Great American Bash 2007 being a really good WWE Style Main Event, but I've seen a bunch of Finlay/Lashley matches now and they all felt really rugged. You get the sense the Bash match with Cena had a Pat Patterson laying things out beforehand and Cena doing the rest. The Finlay matches feel more like uncooperative fights. This is probably the best of those matches, and while Lashley hangs around and looks pretty good hitting his stuff and being roided out of his eyeballs, it's more or less a Finlay show. He controls most of this by doing a bunch of super nasty looking shit. Even when he's working a headlock Finlay looks like he's trying to hurt you. When he grabs hold of it he makes sure to really clamp his arms tight around your head and jerk your neck. He works a Fujiwara armbar and digs the point of his elbow into Lashley's shoulder joint. Then he just hauls off and punts him right in the spine (sounded like a gun blast). Lashley's a guy that never really seemed all that imposing despite the fact he was made up entirely of human growth hormone and built like Conan (that's Conan the Barbarian, Conan with a 'C'; not Konan with a 'K', shittiest wrestler in the history of the universe...although he was jacked to high Hell as well). Maybe it's because he sounded like a 12 year old and had the charisma of a tree stump. It's not like he was Mark Henry-level imposing here, but he hits real hard (pretty much a pre-requisite against Finlay) and busts out a great looking gutbuster from a gorilla press. And his spear looked as good as I've ever seen it, too. Basically he was a decent compliment to the best wrestler in the world at the time, and that is about all I can ask for.
Finlay Project
Is Finlay Lashley's best ever opponent? I remember that Cena match from the Great American Bash 2007 being a really good WWE Style Main Event, but I've seen a bunch of Finlay/Lashley matches now and they all felt really rugged. You get the sense the Bash match with Cena had a Pat Patterson laying things out beforehand and Cena doing the rest. The Finlay matches feel more like uncooperative fights. This is probably the best of those matches, and while Lashley hangs around and looks pretty good hitting his stuff and being roided out of his eyeballs, it's more or less a Finlay show. He controls most of this by doing a bunch of super nasty looking shit. Even when he's working a headlock Finlay looks like he's trying to hurt you. When he grabs hold of it he makes sure to really clamp his arms tight around your head and jerk your neck. He works a Fujiwara armbar and digs the point of his elbow into Lashley's shoulder joint. Then he just hauls off and punts him right in the spine (sounded like a gun blast). Lashley's a guy that never really seemed all that imposing despite the fact he was made up entirely of human growth hormone and built like Conan (that's Conan the Barbarian, Conan with a 'C'; not Konan with a 'K', shittiest wrestler in the history of the universe...although he was jacked to high Hell as well). Maybe it's because he sounded like a 12 year old and had the charisma of a tree stump. It's not like he was Mark Henry-level imposing here, but he hits real hard (pretty much a pre-requisite against Finlay) and busts out a great looking gutbuster from a gorilla press. And his spear looked as good as I've ever seen it, too. Basically he was a decent compliment to the best wrestler in the world at the time, and that is about all I can ask for.
Finlay Project
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Roughneck, Fit Finlay's on the Set, The Rebel, I Make More Noise Than Heavy Metal
Finlay v Rey Mysterio (Smackdown!, 3/24/06)
Finlay/Rey is a really awesome match-up, and this might be their best match together. WWE Rey Mysterio is obviously less about doing crazy shit and innovating this or that or the other than WCW Rey Mysterio was. WWE Rey Mysterio is all about selling from the bottom and making comebacks. He's a guy you can stick in there with practically anybody WWE's had on their roster for as long as he's been there and it'd result in something at least watchable. Ideally you (or at least I) want him in there with someone that can lay down a good beating...and who lays down a better beating than Fit Finlay? Match goes about 15 minutes and Finlay just beats the holy fuck out of Rey for almost all of it, while Rey does what he does and throws in his hope spots and comebacks. When these guys wrestle it feels less like Rey is being "worked over" -- he's being straight up BULLIED. Finlay just launches him spine-first into the barricade and starts working over his neck and back a bit. It's the kind of thing aspiring pro-wrestlers watch and think "nah, on second thought I'll just take that job at McDonald's. I'd rather flip burgers and spit on chicken nuggets than have Fit Finlay stretch me until my chin touches my nipples." He throws a forearm uppercut right to Rey's neck at one point and it looked just motherfucking ungodly. Rey also seemed to ramp up the stiffness on his end any time he'd work with Finlay, and he really lays in a few shots here. Finlay tries to roll him up with a sunset flip, but Rey rolls all the way through and completely blasts his ear off with a roundhouse kick. The 619 isn't something that looks good in a "holy shit I buy THAT knocking someone out" kind of way very often, but Finlay takes it like a fucking man; two shins square in the nose. Finish is screwy, but for a screwy finish that would be pretty hard to nail perfectly, this was nailed pretty much perfectly.
Finlay Project
Finlay/Rey is a really awesome match-up, and this might be their best match together. WWE Rey Mysterio is obviously less about doing crazy shit and innovating this or that or the other than WCW Rey Mysterio was. WWE Rey Mysterio is all about selling from the bottom and making comebacks. He's a guy you can stick in there with practically anybody WWE's had on their roster for as long as he's been there and it'd result in something at least watchable. Ideally you (or at least I) want him in there with someone that can lay down a good beating...and who lays down a better beating than Fit Finlay? Match goes about 15 minutes and Finlay just beats the holy fuck out of Rey for almost all of it, while Rey does what he does and throws in his hope spots and comebacks. When these guys wrestle it feels less like Rey is being "worked over" -- he's being straight up BULLIED. Finlay just launches him spine-first into the barricade and starts working over his neck and back a bit. It's the kind of thing aspiring pro-wrestlers watch and think "nah, on second thought I'll just take that job at McDonald's. I'd rather flip burgers and spit on chicken nuggets than have Fit Finlay stretch me until my chin touches my nipples." He throws a forearm uppercut right to Rey's neck at one point and it looked just motherfucking ungodly. Rey also seemed to ramp up the stiffness on his end any time he'd work with Finlay, and he really lays in a few shots here. Finlay tries to roll him up with a sunset flip, but Rey rolls all the way through and completely blasts his ear off with a roundhouse kick. The 619 isn't something that looks good in a "holy shit I buy THAT knocking someone out" kind of way very often, but Finlay takes it like a fucking man; two shins square in the nose. Finish is screwy, but for a screwy finish that would be pretty hard to nail perfectly, this was nailed pretty much perfectly.
Finlay Project
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
RAW Stuff From '94! No Catchy Title!
The Quebecers v Razor Ramon & 123 Kid (RAW, 2/21/94)
My fears were confirmed: Jannetty went and got fired before he and Razor could wrestle the Quebecers. But then the 123 Kid takes his place and that's about as good a replacement as we could've gotten. On the one hand Kid isn't as good a tag wrestler as Jannetty. On the other hand he was REALLY good in '94. Either way, this turned out to be as good as I was hoping. Razor has a pretty uninspired FIP spell, and going through all of this stuff he hasn't really looked, like...good. Hasn't been terrible, but I'm not sure 1994 Razor Ramon would make the top 25 WWE wrestlers of 2012. Still, he and Kid have some neat double-teams, like Razor fallaway slamming Kid onto Pierre, and he only gets worked over for a few minutes before they head into a longer heat segment on Kid. Kid is miles better as a FIP than Razor. He just bumps and sells his ass off for everything. He's still nursing the leg injury that kept him out of the Rumble and is visibly limping, so the Quebecers zero right in on it -- Jacques slams Pierre straight on his knee at one point, they repeatedly stomp on it, etc. Finish is screwy and they almost mistime it, so you've got Michaels running through the crowd and hopping the rail at a million miles an hour just to get in the ring and break up the pin. Really, this was a Hell of a match. I was psyched about it when it was announced, then my excitement died a little when Jannetty got canned, but then Kid stood in for him and I was psyched again...and it totally lived up to my expectations.
Bret Hart v Tom Prichard (RAW, 2/21/94)
This was okay. All really basic, but it got plenty of time and built well. Bret controls early by always going back to the arm. He slips out of a headlock and hammerlocks Tom's arm; he armdrags him down and bars it; he applies a top wristlock and takes him down to keep him grounded, etc. It's the kind of stuff you've seen in a thousand Bret matches, but it keeps things moving along nicely and they don't waste a ton of time sitting idly in holds. Eventually Prichard takes over, and there's a nasty looking spot where Cornetee winds up the tennis racket to take a pop at Bret, but Savage jumps up form the announce desk and rips it out of his hand, and Cornette stumbles back and falls into the steps, smacking the back of head on the way down. Bret ends up on the floor, so Owen comes down and tosses him back in the ring. Then as he's walking back up the aisle Bret scores the win, and Owen makes a bunch of pissed off faces. He thought he was throwing him back in so Prichard could finish him off...then THAT happens? Wasn't the plan. They tease a scrap there and then, but the refs keep them apart. Their match for 'Mania has been built up pretty well. They built to the Owen turn well, then the turn came off great, and Bret has been good as a guy that doesn't want to fight his little brother, but has resigned himself to the fact that it has to happen. Owen continually acting like a little shit is only making it easier to accept.
Randy Savage v Yokozuna (RAW, 2/28/94)
This started the show and it was GREAT. Savage is super fired up and you can just tell he's psyched to be wrestling on TV again. Vince seemed to have been trying to phase him out for about a year and a half at this point, but he still looks like one of the best wrestlers in the company. They should've put him in a programme with Bigelow and had them beat the shit out of each other for a million years. Yoko bumps and flings himself around like an absolute trooper here, taking a huge faceplant airball bump off a missed splash, hurling himself out to the floor, etc. Savage has to stick and move and flies around like a bearded pinball. Crowd is crazy hot for all of it as well. We get shenanigans at the finish with a salt bucket shot and run-ins, but Savage is amazing in the post-match trying to get at Crush, taking wild swings and spitting on him. There aren't many guys that sell "I want to tear your head from your shoulders" quite like Savage, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the Wrestlemania match. I fucking love Savage, Yoko was boss, and this was really good.
1994 WWF Project
My fears were confirmed: Jannetty went and got fired before he and Razor could wrestle the Quebecers. But then the 123 Kid takes his place and that's about as good a replacement as we could've gotten. On the one hand Kid isn't as good a tag wrestler as Jannetty. On the other hand he was REALLY good in '94. Either way, this turned out to be as good as I was hoping. Razor has a pretty uninspired FIP spell, and going through all of this stuff he hasn't really looked, like...good. Hasn't been terrible, but I'm not sure 1994 Razor Ramon would make the top 25 WWE wrestlers of 2012. Still, he and Kid have some neat double-teams, like Razor fallaway slamming Kid onto Pierre, and he only gets worked over for a few minutes before they head into a longer heat segment on Kid. Kid is miles better as a FIP than Razor. He just bumps and sells his ass off for everything. He's still nursing the leg injury that kept him out of the Rumble and is visibly limping, so the Quebecers zero right in on it -- Jacques slams Pierre straight on his knee at one point, they repeatedly stomp on it, etc. Finish is screwy and they almost mistime it, so you've got Michaels running through the crowd and hopping the rail at a million miles an hour just to get in the ring and break up the pin. Really, this was a Hell of a match. I was psyched about it when it was announced, then my excitement died a little when Jannetty got canned, but then Kid stood in for him and I was psyched again...and it totally lived up to my expectations.
Bret Hart v Tom Prichard (RAW, 2/21/94)
This was okay. All really basic, but it got plenty of time and built well. Bret controls early by always going back to the arm. He slips out of a headlock and hammerlocks Tom's arm; he armdrags him down and bars it; he applies a top wristlock and takes him down to keep him grounded, etc. It's the kind of stuff you've seen in a thousand Bret matches, but it keeps things moving along nicely and they don't waste a ton of time sitting idly in holds. Eventually Prichard takes over, and there's a nasty looking spot where Cornetee winds up the tennis racket to take a pop at Bret, but Savage jumps up form the announce desk and rips it out of his hand, and Cornette stumbles back and falls into the steps, smacking the back of head on the way down. Bret ends up on the floor, so Owen comes down and tosses him back in the ring. Then as he's walking back up the aisle Bret scores the win, and Owen makes a bunch of pissed off faces. He thought he was throwing him back in so Prichard could finish him off...then THAT happens? Wasn't the plan. They tease a scrap there and then, but the refs keep them apart. Their match for 'Mania has been built up pretty well. They built to the Owen turn well, then the turn came off great, and Bret has been good as a guy that doesn't want to fight his little brother, but has resigned himself to the fact that it has to happen. Owen continually acting like a little shit is only making it easier to accept.
Randy Savage v Yokozuna (RAW, 2/28/94)
This started the show and it was GREAT. Savage is super fired up and you can just tell he's psyched to be wrestling on TV again. Vince seemed to have been trying to phase him out for about a year and a half at this point, but he still looks like one of the best wrestlers in the company. They should've put him in a programme with Bigelow and had them beat the shit out of each other for a million years. Yoko bumps and flings himself around like an absolute trooper here, taking a huge faceplant airball bump off a missed splash, hurling himself out to the floor, etc. Savage has to stick and move and flies around like a bearded pinball. Crowd is crazy hot for all of it as well. We get shenanigans at the finish with a salt bucket shot and run-ins, but Savage is amazing in the post-match trying to get at Crush, taking wild swings and spitting on him. There aren't many guys that sell "I want to tear your head from your shoulders" quite like Savage, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the Wrestlemania match. I fucking love Savage, Yoko was boss, and this was really good.
1994 WWF Project
Monday, 27 February 2012
1992 WCW -- That Well is STILL Not Dry
Brian Pillman v Jushin Liger (Superbrawl, 2/29/92)
I'd kind of been putting off re-watching this for a while. Last time I watched it I thought it was good, but I just had very little desire to sit and actually watch it again. It came off this time about as well as I thought the last time, but I'll probably go another 10 years before feeling the need to watch it again. They work even at the start and it's decent enough, then Liger takes over and starts working Pillman's leg. They do a nice struggle over the surfboard and Liger putting on the figure-four gets everybody wooing (although no "we want Flair" chant, unfortunately), and it's all solid stuff and does a fine job killing time...but then Pillman does...something, and it basically serves as the transition into the extended finishing run, and the five minutes of leg work ends up meaning jack shit. Pillman literally does not sell the leg for one second and renders the entire period before that meaningless. Finishing stretch is good and everything, but it's two great athletes doing whatever great athletes do, and I don't really, like, CARE, you know? The vampire in me would prefer it if they hated each other and headbutted each other until they were both bleeding buckets. But they respect each other and Pillman does a nice roll-up. Sure, this is good and all, but punch him in the FACE or something.
Brian Pillman v Shane Douglas (Saturday Night, 10/17/92)
THIS was more like it. This has no nice guy Pillman bullshit -- he is a smarmy little prick and acts like a smarmy little prick. They do some nice duelling armwork in the first half that's punctuated by Pillman acting like a smarmy little prick. Douglas is pretty vanilla, but I'm digging everything he's busting out when going after the arm. He does this hammerlock-into-headstand thing that looked way cool and nasty at the same time. Eventually Pillman takes over by tossing Shane out to the floor and giving him a baseball slide that broke his chin. Then he laughs because he is SMARMY and a prick. You know, as a guy that always used to think babyface Pillman was way better than heel Pillman, I'd probably rather watch heel Pillman at this stage. He's probably a better worker as a babyface, but I'd rather see him act like a shithead than respectable nice guy with high cheekbones. He still has the high cheekbones as a heel, but he's a PRICK about it so it's better. The psycho look he gets on his face as he's about to ram Douglas' head into the ring post was really the pro-wrestling perfection. Shane Douglas seems like a guy in quite the need of a reappraisal. Maybe.
WCW 1992 Project
I'd kind of been putting off re-watching this for a while. Last time I watched it I thought it was good, but I just had very little desire to sit and actually watch it again. It came off this time about as well as I thought the last time, but I'll probably go another 10 years before feeling the need to watch it again. They work even at the start and it's decent enough, then Liger takes over and starts working Pillman's leg. They do a nice struggle over the surfboard and Liger putting on the figure-four gets everybody wooing (although no "we want Flair" chant, unfortunately), and it's all solid stuff and does a fine job killing time...but then Pillman does...something, and it basically serves as the transition into the extended finishing run, and the five minutes of leg work ends up meaning jack shit. Pillman literally does not sell the leg for one second and renders the entire period before that meaningless. Finishing stretch is good and everything, but it's two great athletes doing whatever great athletes do, and I don't really, like, CARE, you know? The vampire in me would prefer it if they hated each other and headbutted each other until they were both bleeding buckets. But they respect each other and Pillman does a nice roll-up. Sure, this is good and all, but punch him in the FACE or something.
Brian Pillman v Shane Douglas (Saturday Night, 10/17/92)
THIS was more like it. This has no nice guy Pillman bullshit -- he is a smarmy little prick and acts like a smarmy little prick. They do some nice duelling armwork in the first half that's punctuated by Pillman acting like a smarmy little prick. Douglas is pretty vanilla, but I'm digging everything he's busting out when going after the arm. He does this hammerlock-into-headstand thing that looked way cool and nasty at the same time. Eventually Pillman takes over by tossing Shane out to the floor and giving him a baseball slide that broke his chin. Then he laughs because he is SMARMY and a prick. You know, as a guy that always used to think babyface Pillman was way better than heel Pillman, I'd probably rather watch heel Pillman at this stage. He's probably a better worker as a babyface, but I'd rather see him act like a shithead than respectable nice guy with high cheekbones. He still has the high cheekbones as a heel, but he's a PRICK about it so it's better. The psycho look he gets on his face as he's about to ram Douglas' head into the ring post was really the pro-wrestling perfection. Shane Douglas seems like a guy in quite the need of a reappraisal. Maybe.
WCW 1992 Project
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