1990 CMLL Project

I recently picked up all the CMLL TV from 1990 that I could get a hold of. I've been watching it and writing about it (as the six people who read this stupid blog will have guessed). And I've been saying for ages that I want to do a 1990 CMLL project so here we go. I'll do it differently than the 1992 WCW and 1994 WWF (remember that?) things from years back; rather than rank every match from 1 to whatever I'll just do it in tiers, tier 1 being the superclassics, tier 5 being the muck. I've seen a bunch of this stuff before and I'm looking forward to re-watching things like Dandy/Azteca, Dandy/Satanico and Pirata Morgan/El Faraon, but I haven't really explored much of the midcard that year and there's bound to be some good stuff.


Tier 1

Fuerza Guerrera v Pantera II (CMLL, 5/4/90)

Tier 2
El Dandy, Mogur & Popitekus v MS-1, Pierroth Jr. & Ulises (CMLL, 1/5/90)
Pierroth Jr. v Mogur (CMLL, 1/12/90)

Emilio Charles Jr, Herodes & Espectro Jr v Ringo Mendoza, Kung Fu & Popitekus (CMLL, 2/4/90)

El Dandy, El Texano & Chavo Guerrero v Angel Azteca, Javier Cruz & Americo Rocca (CMLL, 3/9/90)

Sangre Chicana, Fabuloso Blondy & Satanico v Perro Aguayo, Lizmark & Ringo Mendoza (CMLL, 6/8/90)

Tier 3
Aguila Solitaria, Pantera II & Ciclon Ramirez v El Supremo, El Hijo del Gladiator & Herodes (CMLL, 1/5/90)
Angel Azteca v Emilio Charles Jr. (CMLL, 1/12/90)
Mascarita Sagrada, La Aranita & Aguilita Solitaria v Espectrito, Pequeno Goliath & Piratita Morgan (CMLL, 1/12/90)
Canelo Casas, Comando Ruso & Pánico v Ráfaga Azul, Remo Banda & Rokambole (CMLL, 1/19/90)
Angel Azteca, Super Astro & Mascara Sagrada v MS-1, Herodes & Tierra, Viento y Fuego (CMLL, 1/19/90)

Comando Ruso, Fuerza Guerrera & El Hijo del Gladiator v Remo Banda, Chamaco Valaguez & Mogur (CMLL, 2/4/90)

El Dandy, El Texano & Angel Azteca v Jerry Estrada, Fuerza Guerrera & Pierroth Jr. (CMLL, 3/2/90)

Pirata Morgan, Jerry Estrada & Emilio Charles Jr. v El Satanico, Super Astro & Solomon Grundy (CMLL, 3/9/90)

Jerry Estrada, Pirata Morgan & Emilio Charles Jr. v Satanico, Atlantis & Villano III (CMLL, 3/16/90)

Tier 4
Angel Azteca, Super Astro & Kung Fu v Emilio Charles Jr., Jaque Mate & Espectro Jr. (CMLL, 1/5/90)
La Diabólica & Martha Villalobos v Pantera Sureña & Zuleyma (CMLL, 1/19/90)
Pierroth Jr., Ulises & Super Halcon v Javier Llanes, Huracan Ramirez & Americo Rocca (CMLL, 1/19/90)

Fuerza Guerrera, Canelo Casas & Jaque Mate v Ciclon Ramirez, Rafaga Azul & Octagon (CMLL, 1/26/90)

Remo Banda v Comando Ruso (Hair v Hair) (CMLL, 2/16/90)

El Dandy, El Faraon & Satanico v Herodes, Jaque Mate & Pirata Morgan (CMLL, 2/25/90)

Sangre Chicana, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Lizmark v Cien Caras, Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000 (CMLL, 10/5/90)

Tier 5
Remo Banda & Super Gallo v El Panico & Simbolo (CMLL, 1/26/90)

Pirata Morgan, Hombre Bala & El Verdugo v Angel Azteca, Cesar Dantes & Apolo Dantes (CMLL, 1/26/90)

Los Brazos v Pierroth Jr., Gran Markus Jr. & Ulises (CMLL, 2/4/90)

Cachorro Mendoza v Scorpio (Hair v Hair) (CMLL, 8/10/90)

1990 CMLL Midcard Madness

La Diabólica & Martha Villalobos v Pantera Sureña & Zuleyma (CMLL, 1/19/90)

This was alright. Most of Mexican women's wrestling is a total blind spot for me so I'm pretty sure I'd never seen any of these four previously. It started out with a nice exchange between Diabolica and Zuleyma where they were really whipping each other around the ring by the arm. Villalobos looks a bit like Mr. Pogo or maybe a sister of the Headhunters. She was a lot of fun as a big bully who was really a shitbag at heart. Lots of cheapshots before hightailing it, full of hubris while not actually wanting any part of the fight. The rudos turned it into a brawl pretty sharpish and it never settled back into a fair contest after that. They were always looking for shortcuts somewhere and I think Diabolica pleaded for the tecnicos to be DQd at one point because I guess Zuleyma dropkicked her in the tiddies. Second caida had the rudos run through the full playbook of miscommunication spots as the tecnicos had them on toast. Villalobos also took a bunch of amusing timber style bumps and accidentally squashed her partner many times.


Canelo Casas, Comando Ruso & Pánico v Ráfaga Azul, Remo Banda & Rokambole (CMLL, 1/19/90)

Perfectly fine midcard trios. I'm not familiar with a few of these guys so I was interested in seeing what your Rokamboles and Remo Bandas of the world were bringing to the table. Baby Heavy Metal was pretty fun in this as he went out of his way to act like a prick and took a couple quality bumps. The rudo unit in general were all good, actually. Casas' hair is exceptional and man is that a talented family with A+ genetics. I've only seen Panico a few times but he's usually an entertaining stooge and he was again here. Ruso was only really interested in engaging when the situation suited him and of course it riled the tecnicos up from start to finish. He had a few cool exchanges with Banda, the latter taking some picture perfect back body drops, really high angle with the rotation coming right at the last second. I bet peak Ruso and Panico would be a blast.


1990 CMLL Project

Azteca v Emilio and Pierroth v Mogur: Title Match Friday!

Angel Azteca v Emilio Charles Jr. (CMLL, 1/12/90)

Sort of by the numbers for a title match, but then it's these two in 1990 so by the numbers is still very watchable. I thought Emilio was really fun here as he slowly lost his grip on proceedings. He didn't dominate the first caida as such, but he won it decisively in the end and you could tell he smelled blood by the way he celebrated. Then he let Azteca back into the game in the segunda - or Azteca fought his way back into it - and by the tercera he was beginning to unravel. In the primera he was willing to take a step back and regroup, where losing an exchange wasn't so critical and a mistake unlikely to be the difference between winning and losing. In the tercera, with the match on a knife edge, you could see him getting desperate. For a rudo like Emilio that meant pleading with the ref', adamant that Azteca had fouled him while everyone else in the arena saw it for what it was. A rudo starting out clean and confident before slipping into his true nature over the course of a match is a play we've seen a million times, but it's a timeless sort of theater and Emilio does it as well as anyone. More than a wonderful pro-wrestler, that man was a thespian. For Azteca, most of what he was doing early in the year kind of feels like a warm-up for the Dandy feud. It's not like he's treading water, but if you've seen the Dandy stuff then it's hard not to compare everything else to it. And not a ton compares (of course I'm hyped to check out the June match again for the first time in a decade).

Pierroth Jr. v Mogur (CMLL, 1/12/90)

This struck me as more of a fully-formed title match, though I'm not really sure how to quantify that. I guess it felt like everything carried more weight, like the impact of what they were doing was greater. Or something or other. It took me a minute to get into the primera but once I did I wasn't looking back. I've never thought of Pierroth as a mat worker. It's not that I'd have called him a bad one, it's just not the first thing that comes to mind if you bring up Pierroth. He was impressive in this, though. The mat work wasn't especially slick and it certainly wasn't tricked out, but it was rough and every time someone grabbed an arm it looked super tight. Mogur's arm wringers were brutal and Pierroth took a handful of bumps straight onto his shoulder. It was a fall that had plenty of time to build and they used that time wisely. The tercera followed suit and they upped the drama appropriately, with Mogur's dive looking sloppy and desperate and an awesome fight over a tapatia. I also loved Pierroth's low blow in the segunda. A good shot to the balls will go a long way with me and this was subtle enough that you probably missed it in real time, but on replay it was clear as day. I've always loved Pierroth and this was a side of him we didn't get to see too often. The title match, I mean. The low blow was nothing new.


1990 CMLL Project

Eddie/Santo v Casas/Panther (that just showed up on YouTube out of nowhere because it's Mexico and fuck it why not?)

El Hijo del Santo & Eddie Guerrero v Negro Casas & Blue Panther (Gimnasio Josue Neri Santos, 1987)

What a phenomenal discovery. It's sort of staggering that this was just lying around on a film reel or VHS or whatever and then randomly showed up on YouTube. Like, who even has all this stuff? How did they come to be in possession of it? How did nobody else seem to know it ever happened? I'll geek for just about any new Eddie Guerrero footage regardless, but this was a truly exceptional wrestling match. It was basically twenty five minutes of grappling where everyone got to pair up and really stretch out. I know Los Gringos Locos gave Eddie the launchpad to the US and eventual stardom, but after watching this I selfishly wish he'd gone to CMLL for a few years instead. He was 20 years old here, had been wrestling for a year tops, and legitimately hung every step of the way with three of the ten best luchadors ever. I had no clue he could work the mat like this so early in his career and we certainly never saw anything like it in the AAA run. Being in with Casas and Panther wouldn't have hurt and I've no doubt they were feeding him here and there, but there was a lot of this that you couldn't fake. He was adding so many cool little touches to his holds and his takedowns were super slick. My favourite part of the match was an extended spell between him and Casas that was as rugged as anything you'll see in lucha. The struggle over Eddie's belly-to-belly suplex ruled, but then they went and topped it with the fight over a butterfly suplex, Casas' shoulders being bent at disgusting angles as he tries to fight out of the underhooks, Eddie refusing to let go and eventually just muscling him over. I think I'm about ready to settle on Casas being the GOAT. He was unbelievable in this. Everything was fought for, whether it was that exchange with Eddie or his refusal to let Santo hook in anything without scratching and clawing for it first. If Santo wanted that tapatia Casas was going to make the process of applying it a miserable one. Of course all those Casas/Santo exchanges were wonderful and it peaked at the end of the first caida with Santo springboarding off his back into a rana. Santo might be the most graceful wrestler ever and all of his armdrag variations looked absolutely gorgeous. It sucked that the cameraman missed his corner tope, but there's something ridiculously cool about him torpedoing through the ropes too quickly for anybody to react in time to capture it. An awesome match and an awesome find. A big batch of young phenom Eddie Guerrero working Juarez is now probably my ultimate wrestling nerd holy grail.

1990 CMLL...Minis!

Mascarita Sagrada, La Aranita & Aguilita Solitaria v Espectrito, Pequeno Goliath & Piratita Morgan (CMLL, 1/12/90)

Even the minis got to rule it in 1990. CMLL truly was top banana that year. And this had a bit of everything; neat matwork, fun brawling, quick exchanges, some comedy, and it got plenty of time to boot. Espectrito really feels like one of the most underrated wrestlers ever. He's an incredible rudo base and the pairing with Mascarita Sagrada is an all-time great minis match-up. They had a ton of awesome stuff together here, like Sagrada using Espectrito's back as a launchpad into a tricked out armdrag, about six hundred other armdrag variations, Espectrito military pressing Sagrada and chucking him onto the top turnbuckle, cool rope running sequences where they incorporated one or both of the other rudos, just a highlight reel of awesome moments (even with a couple minor hiccups). They didn't work exclusively with each other either so we got Sagrada turning Piratita Morgan inside out and Espectrito bullying some guy in a Spider-Man getup. La Aranita is the Spider-Man in question and I'm wondering if CMLL didn't cop some shit for that because it's pretty much a carbon copy of the costume. I don't think I've actually seen him before but he was pretty slick and matched up nicely with all three rudos. Pequeno Goliath was responsible for most of the comedy, lots of stooging and miscommunication stuff, bits where he can't move quick enough to keep up with the faster tecnicos, a few comedy bumps and temper tantrums. Of all six he's the one who you probably could've slotted into a WWF minis match most easily (not that I imagine the other five would've found it difficult). Really fun match.


1990 CMLL Project

Maybe I should start that 1990 CMLL Project...

El Dandy, Mogur & Popitekus v MS-1, Pierroth Jr. & Ulises (CMLL, 1/5/90)

Well this was pretty awesome. I thought it started to lose a wee bit of steam after the lengthy first caida, but it was a great fall and it's not like anything after it was bad. Dandy/MS-1 had a wonderful exchange here and it's another one of those occasions in lucha where you hope for a long lost apuestas match where they're biting chunks out each other's forehead. This was way more mat-based (a title match certainly wouldn't suck), but MS-1 never could help himself even in a gentleman's contest so you knew there was potential for it to spill over. It eventually did, though it was Pierroth who really instigated it when he started punting Mogur in the spine. MS-1 dickishly standing on Popitekus as Ulises covered him at the end of the fall is one of those awesome little moments that separates the good wrestlers from the great ones. Popitekus is a fun fatboy luchador because he could squash just about anybody he lands on, but he's also a lovable big fella and has the haircut his granny gave him so when the rudos put the boots to him it's like a gang of bullies beating up a fat kid. Then when he fights back you know someone's lungs are getting crushed, so really it's the best of both worlds. I thought the tecnico comeback maybe came a bit too easy, although Mogur responding with his own kidney-punting and mask-ripping was a fitting enough way to swing the tide. His selling in the tercera as he stumbled around bleeding was a nice touch as well. Dandy hitting a bunch of cool spin kicks isn't something I remembered him doing in 1990. It's been a while since I've watched most of his run that year but I'll be shocked if I don't still think he was the best wrestler in the world. Even if it was a relatively short peak, that '89-'92 stretch was pretty remarkable.


1990 CMLL Project

Couple 1990 CMLL Trios

Aguila Solitaria, Pantera II & Ciclon Ramirez v El Supremo, El Hijo del Gladiator & Herodes (CMLL, 1/5/90)

Man, Herodes was the best. Best stooge, best bruiser, best everything. He was past his physical peak by 1990 even though he'd only been wrestling about twenty years, which by lucha standards is no more than the blink of an eye. He'd gained weight and wasn't terribly mobile, but what he'd lost in athleticism he'd gained in pure scuzz. The mask he wore pre-match was a Lidl brand Demolition hood, he was almost entirely bald on the top but still thick on the sides and retained the terrible rat tail, his dodgy Motorhead beard making him look like Brazo de Plata if Brazo de Plata inhaled Triple H. He started this on the apron, more goofy than menacing as he joked around a bit with some folk in the crowd. He was like the daft uncle at Christmas dinner who'd tell the kids that pulling on his ponytail would make him bite their fingers off. It was largely a stooge performance overall, giving up the ghost a couple times and taking a powder mid-exchange, but he got to bowl a few guys over and there was one gorgeous little sequence with Ciclon Ramirez that belied his impending decrepitude (not that it stopped him wrestling another ten years anyway). The first caida was about as basic as you'll get, but it got time to develop and was ultimately satisfying. I'm not familiar at all with Aguila Solitaria and I know I haven't seen much El Supremo. They were fine though, and their exchange to start the match was decent enough. The rudos chasing themselves in circles trying to catch Pantera wasn't quite Fuerza and Panther chasing Rey Jr., but it was a fun little segment that at least had you buying their reasons for snapping. You don't humiliate a man like Herodes and if Supremo and Gladiator are teaming with him you don't humiliate them either. A man's game charges a man's prices. They should've known better. 

Angel Azteca, Super Astro & Kung Fu v Emilio Charles Jr., Jaque Mate & Espectro Jr. (CMLL, 1/5/90) 

Emilio Charles Jr. is also the very best. I don't know if he and Angel Azteca had beef coming in but Emilio winning an exchange fair and square leading to Azteca having a vendetta against him for the rest of the match makes me think Emilio may have pissed him off in the recent past. It was sort of an overblown response from a tecnico, but then this is Emilio and I'm sure he did something to deserve it. There was a great moment where Azteca, mid-exchange with Espectro, turned to the rudo corner and smashed Emilio with a forearm. Anybody else and you'd have said it was uncalled for. Emilio of course got his revenge during the inevitable rudo beatdown and I feel like you could easily slot him into that Arn Anderson category of guys who seamlessly go from stooge to killer in seconds. Super Astro was really fun with all of his bamboozling footwork and his springboards always look gorgeous. The big dive of the match was a tope to a prone Jaque Mate and he landed with all of his stockiness across Mate's upper body. He also had a cool opening exchange with Espectro where Espectro ribbed him for being tiny so Astro stomped on his bare boot. It's always a little surprising that Azteca never wound up being a superstar. He had pretty much everything you'd want in a masked tecnico and yet I don't remember him doing anything of note after the Dandy feud.


1990 CMLL Project

More Hair, More Masks...but no Blood!

Ultimo Guerrero v Mr. Aguila (Mask v Mask) (CMLL, 9/11/98)

Man, I'd forgotten how cool Aguila's mask was. He basically fell off my radar entirely years ago and I haven't seen him in forever. Didn't even know this was out there or that he'd lost the mask. But really, it's a cracker of a mask. This wasn't your granddaddy's apuestas but I thought it was an enjoyable version of one built mostly around dives rather than piss and blood and guts. All of Aguila's dives looked great, especially the corkscrew Asai moonsault, though I guess you'd have liked for Ultimo to take a lunatic bump into the seats and leave someone wearing their own dinner. The way he used UG's kickout to set up a submission was a really cool finish to the primera as well. Ultimo was a fun bruiser when he was on top, especially in the opening few minutes, then after that he was mostly about the bumping. There was one great moment towards the end where he finally managed to pull the plug on one of Aguila's dives and Aguila took a nutso hotshot bump across the top rope. Third caida had some decent drama, and even if it was mostly my turn-your turn they never dragged it out to eternity by lying around selling everything for six minutes at a time. Perfectly fun mask match and I'd like to check out some of the build up.


Negro Casas v Blue Panther (Hair v Hair) (CMLL, 3/2/12)

This also wasn't your granddaddy's apuestas. All four of the hair/mask matches I've watched over the last couple days have been approached in different ways. 2012 CMLL is not 1986 CMLL so this was never going to be Fiera/Babe Face. You were never going to get buckets of blood and guys biting chunks out each other's forehead. It didn't go the Ultimo/Aguila route either and we thank the old gods and the new because, you know, that was fun and all but you want a little more from two of the all-time GOATS. We sure got that and this was everything that was promised. I remember watching the lead-in trios and lightning match at the time and kind of being in awe at how much they were kicking the living shit out of each other. You don't typically associate lucha with stiffness and potato shots, but these two were working stiff as a bastard and being as vicious as possible. The first caida of this was basically the best possible five minute WAR midcard match and it was incredible. Casas headbutts Panther in the cheek three seconds in and it was one of the meanest headbutts I've ever seen. He was throwing kicks to the chest and stomps to the head like Kitahara working over a trainee. Then Panther nailed him with a Tenryu right hand and grabbed a flash Fujiwara armbar that the man himself would've been proud of. It was a wonderful little stretch of violence and suddenly you don't miss the disgusting bloodletting so much after all. Second fall was short as well, but you had Panther working over the shoulder and it was as gritty as you'd want. Casas reversing the surfboard into a stretch muffler is an absurdly great counter in isolation, but what made it even better is that it led to Panther selling the leg, which in turn gave Casas the set up for tying the match (a dropkick to the knee followed by the magistral). In between the segunda and tercera Casas continued to go after the leg and did it in super nasty fashion, like bending it at a hideous angle over a barricade and smashing it into the ramp. Casas' mocking of Panther to start the fall was unbelievable. They're both the same age, but Panther with his balding pate and slightly sagging physique actually looks like a man in his fifties, and that was before he was hobbling around on one leg (this was some phenomenal hobbling, btw). On the other hand, Casas practically looks the same as he did twenty years earlier. Maybe a little more grey on the sides, but to look at him you wouldn't have thought him a man of 52 years. He had two good legs and Panther only had one, so who gives a shit about humility? Then it went on and Casas seemed to come to the realisation that Panther may look like an old man but he sure doesn't fight like one. The tercera really was sensational. If you can't have a gorefest then something like this will do in a pinch because the violence never dropped, there was never a point where it didn't look like a struggle, and the attention to detail was astonishing. Hardly anybody works in and out of holds like this anymore. I'd need to watch it twice just to pick up on all of the amazing little micro details, but they were myriad and even if you're not into lucha I can't imagine you not getting something out of this. I think my favourite part was when Panther was on the apron and Casas grabbed a choke, and Panther lying on the floor afterwards staring at the ceiling was quite the visual. Panther then dragged Casas off the apron into a brutal armbar and followed up with a bullet tope that about put him head-first through the barricade. I guess my one complaint is that the limb damage they established in the first couple falls was dropped a bit suddenly. Panther's selling to start the tercera was tremendous, then not long after that it didn't seem to matter. There wasn't really a bridge between the leg being useless and it no longer being an issue. It doesn't bother me too much because it didn't need to be a bigger part of their story than it was, but you know I'd criticise a Tanahashi or Okada for the same thing. I'd rather a more decisive finish as well, but they sure nailed the one they did go with. As far as bloodless wagers matches go this might be the best there's ever been.

Blood, Hair and Masks (as we return to the 80s Lucha)

La Fiera v Babe Face (Hair v Hair) (EMLL, 8/15/86)

I was quite shocked at how little this was doing for me early on considering how good the lead-ins had been. It's not that it was bad because it certainly wasn't, but for whatever reason it wasn't totally clicking. Babe Face is a little bruiser and has a face you wouldn't tire of smacking, and it was pretty clear Fiera wasn't about to tire of it any time soon either. Fiera's spin kicks were landing on point and there was one to the back of the head that looked brutal. A guy like Babe Face though, he'll find a way back into the fight one way or another. I think when he started gaining a foothold was when I found myself really getting into this. I'm not sure if Fiera had a bad shoulder coming in or he hurt it during the match, but Babe goes after it and from there it starts to get pretty great. Fiera is a man who will take a ludicrous bump for our pleasure and he landed face-first on several of them here. The first one was a result of Babe just picking him up wheelbarrow style and throwing him through the ropes, then he almost crashed and burned on a tope, and maybe the nastiest of all was when he ate nothing but mat on a top rope splash. You'd think torpedoing the floor would probably be worse, but then you've never seen La Fiera headbutt a canvas from turnbuckle height. I loved the finish as well. Babe Face knew exactly what he was doing with that headbutt and if he thinks anybody's buying that it was a gut shot he's a fool. Question Fiera's morality if you like, but put a man's hair on the block and a shot to the balls will tip even the best of us over the edge.


El Hijo del Santo v Espanto Jr. (Mask v Mask) (Plaza de Toros Monumental, 8/31/86)

How about this for a stone cold classic? It started out a little differently from your other big mask matches of the era. You wouldn't exactly call it title match build because they weren't doing matwork as such, but other than a brief flurry of Santo offence Espanto utterly dominated this for almost two straight falls and he largely did it through wrestling. He was a man on a mission in that first caida especially, throwing Santo around the ring with some of the most violent snapmares there have ever been. Santo was so overwhelmed that he tried on several occasions to take a powder. Twice he managed it and I loved how Espanto came right out after him to throw him back in. There was no bullshit about it, he wasn't messing around taking any chances on the floor, his family's mask was on the line and he would best Santo in the ring. The other times Santo tried to leave he never even made it past the ropes, dogged as Espanto was. Santo kneeling on the floor after the primera as kids in their replica masks come to lend encouragement is a beautiful little moment and something that pretty well encapsulates lucha libre. Not that those kids made any immediate difference. Espanto couldn't care less and picked up right where he left off. Santo being the master of the comeback had the people on strings, and when he finally started connecting with those kneelifts the roof came off. His tope was obviously a corker, but Espanto's Fuerza bump could've been disastrous the way he landed on his knees with his ankles all twisted. It was an insane bump. By the midpoint of the tercera both guys are staggering around bloody, masks torn, running on fumes. Santo dragging Espanto across the ring by the eye sockets of his shredded mask is one of the best visuals I've seen in ages and he truly looked like a man who was at the end of his tether. The tape clearly didn't survive in somebody's garage all those years without any damage because we get a cut or two towards the end - including one where we miss a huge Santo dive, which really is the worst time for a tape jump - but you soon make peace when Santo about folds Espanto in half with the meanest camel clutch you ever did see. This really feels like one of the twenty best matches in wrestling history.

Battlarts and Indie Sleaze!

Yuki Ishikawa v Carl Greco (Battlarts, 4/13/96)

I wonder where this match-up ranks in the pantheon of prominent Battlarts match-ups. Ishikawa/Ikeda is probably always going to be #1, but when was these two lacing into each other never not a treat? This had Greco at his squirmy best, just all over Ishikawa, constantly moving and transitioning. He controlled most of this when it was on the ground and Ishikawa was largely on the defensive. The problem for Greco was that Ishikawa never seemed to be in TOO much trouble. On the other hand, even if Ishikawa wasn't controlling the fight he was the one responsible for the most dangerous moments. There would be spells where he'd need to bide his time, but then he'd catch an opening and Greco would need to scramble for the ropes. I don't think Ishikawa needed to force a single rope break in the first two thirds while Greco needed several. Greco opting to drill Ishikawa in the face instead was quite the awesome wrinkle. He caught him with one upkick that dropped Ishikawa for an eight or nine and then you had the dynamic where maybe Greco didn't need to be winning the ground exchanges in order to win the fight. Finish is insane as he unloads with three kicks to the jaw that put Ishikawa out cold, then just to be sure he applies a brutal choke as Ishikawa's tongue turns purple. Either Ishikawa's bell got run legit or it was some of the best selling I've ever seen. Hell, it's Battlarts, maybe it was both.


Masashi Aoyagi & Gokuaku Umibozu v Shinichi Shino & Rikio Ito (WDF, 7/16/97)

This was exactly the kind of grimy, borderline-unprofessional scrap you expect out of Aoyagi and a few obscure indie scrubs in face paint. I'd never seen Ito or Shino before. I guess Ito is doing some third rate Power Warrior knock off while Shino has that voluminous Marty Jannetty mullet and dresses like Onita. Couldn't tell you if either of them are actually any good but Ito looks barely trained and watching him recklessly throw the other two around with powerbombs was sort of terrifying. They jump the karatekas at the start and within eleven seconds Aoyagi is cut open and leaving blood smears down the ring post. Umibozu plays a solid FIP so Aoyagi assumes the role of Tenryu in a karategi entering sporadically to kick guys in the spleen. Umibozu punches Shino in the privates a couple times and Aoyagi comes in off the hot tag crowbarring, then it all turns a bit sour as Umibozu whips out a pair of scissors or something and tries to stab Shino in the head. Naturally the match gets thrown out when Aoyagi hangs Ito to the ring post and kicks the shit out of him. Our referee gets repeatedly thrown around like an empty tracksuit for her troubles and I applaud her trying to maintain order for as long as she did. Of course this ruled, how the fuck couldn't it?


Tarzan Goto & Ryo Miyake v Masayoshi Motegi & Shinichi Nakano (WDF, 7/16/97)

This was even seedier, even nastier, even better. I mean think about that statement. The last match had someone getting attacked with scissors and lynched to a ring post. This didn't have anything quite as brazen, but it was far more primitive. All things considered you can work being stabbed in the head with a sharp object or being strangled pretty safely. It's smoke and mirrors. It's harder to work being drilled in the forehead or orbital bone with the edge of a chair and make it look good without hurting like a bastard. This had lots of edge-of-the-chair hits to the forehead and orbital bone that looked like they hurt like a bastard. It started out with an indie parity stand-off between Goto and Nakano and it might've been the best indie parity stand-off ever just because it's fucking Tarzan Goto doing indie parity stand-offs. Then the hellish beatdown started. They didn't go straight to the chairshots, Goto and Miyake wrestled mostly clean initially, but it was potatoey clean and Motegi was the recipient. He fired back and hit a couple dives to the floor, but he never should've let it go out there because you put Tarzan Goto anywhere near a chair he's hitting you with it. He hit Motegi with several, often with the edge of it, often dead in the forehead, sometimes in the throat. One shot took the padded seat off at the hinges so Goto just smashed him over the spine with the frame. This genuinely had some of the best working the cut stuff I've ever seen. Motegi bleeds a ton and Goto is covered in blood up to the elbow as he throws disgusting little rabbit punches to the cut, bites the forehead, etc. Miyake's decision to wear white pants on the night pays dividends as he drops knees across the forehead leaving blood stains on the material. Nakano comes in off the hot tag, but he has a bandage over his eye so before long Goto and Miyake are punching him in the eyebrow and jabbing him in the face with chair legs. At one point it looked like they were winding up for a double clothesline on Motegi but then they just double punched him in the forehead. If I had one complaint it'd be that there wasn't really much of a babyface comeback, but the match was clipped by a few minutes so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. What a night of indie sleaze perfection. Imagine this was the kind of thing Meltzer went gaga over? We'd have six hundred Tarzan Goto ripoffs running around with rabies rather than six hundred Tetsuya Naitos.

The wonderful world of Japanese indies

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v Ishinriki (SWS, 12/12/91)

This was from a co-produced WWF/SWS event and it might be the most non-WWF match to ever take place on a card that WWF had anything to do with. It was more PWFG than even SWS and the Dome setting made for a cool atmosphere. What a fun, niggly little fight. I really have no clue how good Ishinriki is. He's an ex-sumo guy but way smaller than your other ex-sumo guys who turned to pro wrestling and to my knowledge I've never seen him in anything else. I'd need to see more to get a proper handle on him because this could've been a Fujiwara broomstick show for all I know. I mean, Fujiwara was spectacular. He was at his derisory best here, ruffling Ishinriki's hair on a corner break, giving him a mocking "well done, champ" pat as he would catch strikes, waiting until Ishinriki went to the top rope before walking away with a smirk on his face, just fucking with the guy as the crowd ate it up completely. Then Ishinriki would turn up the nastiness and you could see it getting to Fujiwara. The first headbutt he threw was an absolute peach and I don't think Ishinriki expected it, but it was Ishinriki who started it with a slap. You don't usually see Fujiwara throw kick combos and often when he does they're sort of condescending, but he about took Ishinriki's jaw off with a head kick and it was one of the all-time great Fujiwara spots. Ishinriki getting frustrated and throwing crowbar uppercuts, head stomps and liver kicks ruled. It annoyed Fujiwara in kind and as the match went on that attitude of his had a growing menace to it. I don't even know how he managed to apply that armbar the way he did but you can add it to the highlight reel of Fujiwara flash finishes. These guys had another match this year which is...well that's pretty random, right?


Yuki Ishikawa & Tamaoki Honma v Katsumi Usuda & Minoru Fujita (Battlarts, 3/5/98)

I had no idea Honma ever worked Battlarts. I wasn't sure how he'd fit coming from a deathmatch fed and all, but he took to the style pretty well and we knew already that he wasn't shy about hitting and being hit really fucking hard. Ishikawa was absolutely world class here, which shouldn't really be surprising but it's been a minute since I've watched him. His exchanges with Usuda were stellar and there was one moment where he countered a headbutt by punching Usuda dead in the nose. Everything he did on the mat looked great as well, just airtight and ferocious. Fujita is still a touch raw but I thought he was a really good underdog, everything was frantic and his scrambling and striking was rapid fast. Other than the goofy fighting spirit part midway through he was more or less on top form, and even the fighting spirit part was more delayed selling than outright no-selling, so lesser of two evils and whatnot.


Candy Okutsu v Mikiko Futagami (ARSION, 4/17/98)

Really neat sprint, not too big on the extended selling but super scrappy and you had something cool happening literally every thirty seconds. Initially I figured they were going for a full on bombfest, but they pretty quickly developed a story of Futagami trying to take Candy's arm home with her. She was reversing all sorts of shit with all sorts of shit and constantly found ways to grab that arm, whether it be in kimuras, armbars, key locks, anything that was there to be grabbed she grabbed. Not all of it was completely smooth, but for the most part that scrappiness prevented it from coming off as an exhibition. Candy is always really fun and everything she did was at hyper speed, the parts where she'd sprint up turnbuckles, reel off several German suplexes in a row, everything with a real sense of desperation to it. In maybe the coolest spot of the match she bolted up to the top rope and hit a cross body to the outside, but as she landed Futagami somehow managed to transition straight into a cross armbreaker. Futagami's striking added another layer as well and she really came off like a pitbull. Some of those palm strikes were Liger-esque. I had to double check to see if there wasn't a clip job in here somewhere because no way did this feel like thirteen minutes. I guess if that's not the sign of a good sprint I don't know what is.


Candy Okutsu v Yumi Fukawa (ARSION, 5/5/98)

Pretty awesome little lucharesu/shoot style hybrid. For about fourteen of these seventeen minutes this kind of felt like an amalgamation of M-Pro and Battlarts. That's a fairly absurd amount of praise coming from someone who loves both of those promotions to death, but that was the vibe I was getting so fair fucks to them for pulling it off. They started out with a burst of rope-running and a fake out dive, then settled into a more mat-based contest with the lucha aspect in the background. Fukawa is a pocket rocket of a wrestler and I always dig her working the mat, but the eye-opener here was Candy. This might be the best I've seen her look working holds and that even includes her bouts with Yoshida. I don't know how Fukawa didn't end up paralyzed during this because she landed square on the top of her head off a whiffed Lionsault...and then she tried to just re-do the spot straight after and landed square on the top of her head AGAIN. It's hard to knock her and I thought Candy did okay covering for it, but it did take a wee bit of steam out of the last few minutes. Still, the fact she was even able to finish the match was impressive in itself and a few dodgy transitions towards the end wasn't the worst thing in the world. I liked this a ton.

WWE TLC Cherry-Pickin'

Two months on the spin I've watched a WWE PPV. Well, I say "watched" but I only fully paid attention to three matches, while the rest was on as either background noise or skipped entirely. I should probably watch Rey/Orton because from what I caught it did seem real fun. Meanwhile you could not pay me enough to sit through a Rollins/Ambrose match at this point in life.


Ronda Rousey v Nia Jax 

Well Rousey continues to be absolute money and this was totally great, maybe not quite at the level of their first match but pretty damn close. This already feels like a great pairing, they just mesh super well together. I liked the beginning with Rousey popping and moving, getting about as cocky as we've seen in her short career so far. Then Nia inevitably catches her and starts the clubbering. There were a few amazing spots in this, the best ones coming from Ronda climbing all over Nia like some ridiculous CrossFit Games event. The front choke into the suplex was a really impressive bit of strength from Nia to begin with, but holy shit was that transition into the rear naked choke spectacular. That truly looked like Nia just tried to dump Rousey behind her and somehow Ronda managed to contort herself into whatever the fuck position was required to navigate the obstacle that was Nia's frame. At another point Ronda hit a great looking step up knee that was practically a Shining Wizard to a standing opponent, then as Nia was staggered Ronda used Nia's thigh to propel herself into what was almost a delayed superman punch. Also loved Ronda taking to the top turnbuckle. She went up there against Charlotte and kind of sold it like it might be a terrible idea, and when she did it here it was like she was talking herself into it as she climbed. She never climbed no turnbuckles in an Octagon. And her big cross body to the floor looked killer. Nia gets a lot of shit from a lot of people. I really haven't paid much attention to her the entire time she's been on TV, but she was the perfect foil for Ronda in both of their matches. The sit-out powerbomb to counter the armbar initially was cool, and maybe I'm just projecting but it felt like she sold the ever-present threat of it all the way through, like she knew from experience that Ronda could grab it from anywhere so it was important not to overextend. Finish was badass on a hundred levels. Rousey's shit talking is top tier anyway, but kissing Nia's fist before leaning into the armbwas was incredible. On top of that I love how she manoeuvered Nia's body after the takedown, not only to keep her away from the ropes but to make sure she could look Tamina in the eyes while she did it. That girl stuck her nose in once already and she'll think twice before doing it again. I guess if I had one complain it'd be that I wanted them to make more of the arm after the ring post spot, but part of that is because Rousey has become such a ridiculously fun saleswoman that you almost expect it now. That's pretty wild for someone who's been doing pro wrestling for all of nine months.


Daniel Bryan v AJ Styles 

Man, this might be my favourite Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan iteration of his entire career. He's basically doing the CM Punk straightedge stuff, except rather than condescend to people who drink Jameson or partake in the green he's going at folk who eat meat and don't recycle their empty Marmite jars. He's also working surly as a bastard again and the notion that this is more mid-2000s ROH than late-2010s WWE feels pretty accurate. Knowing his attention to detail I wouldn't be surprised if he starts subtly doing the "I have til five!" bit like he did in this and then after a few months he's doing it full 2006 ROH style. All of his work around AJ's ribs looked great, just really snug and painful looking, like the knees before the bow and arrow, the kicks, the body shots. Then  he'd throw in a bunch of other nasty looking shit like yanking on AJ's nose and the awesome knees in the cravate, followed by the equally awesome cravate suplex. The way it sort of morphed into a match that was built around dueling body part work felt organic and remained a theme all the way through. We even got a plausible nearfall off a half crab which hasn't been a thing for like fifteen years. I totally bought Bryan tapping in the calf crusher as well. What was most impressive to me is that they managed to build this drama without ever resorting to your modern WWE main event fare. They didn't trade a bunch of finishers, they never went overboard with the 2.999 counts, the things they did leading to the finishing run weren't forgotten about as if a switch was flipped and it was time to go home. The match ending on a small package leaves plenty on the table if they want to return to this as well (and I'm guessing they'll want to return to it). I liked this less than Bryan/Lesnar and Rousey/Charlotte from Survivor Series, but it was pretty excellent and I'm all in on Bryan having a lengthy run with the belt.


Becky Lynch v Charlotte Flair v Asuka (TLC Match)

And this was pretty shit hot as well. I have no idea where it falls in a list of your best TLC matches, but if there's one thing this has over a shit load of the others it's that I truly bought the violence the wrestlers were trying to sell me. It had plunder and they took their time setting up some elaborate spots, but in amongst it all they never let you forget that ultimately these three women did not care a lick for one another. When was the last time anybody made a dumb kendo stick look like a proper weapon? Because these three have been smashing folk to bits with kendo sticks lately and this had some of the most brutal whippings yet. I really didn't watch much of Charlotte during her babyface run this year, though I know people seemed to be mostly cold on it. If that heel turn at Survivor Series promised a return to form then she's absolutely lived up to it because she was outstanding in this. Stuff like that "every man bows down to a QUEEN" bit would ordinarily feel super corny, but for whatever reason it totally worked in this, maybe because as soon as she said it she just slapped Becky clean across the face really hard. Her big somersault through the table looked great as well. It wasn't graceful, especially not compared to her moonsault that she always gets perfect rotation on, it looked more heavy, like she wanted to land with as much mass and inflict as much damage as possible. It also made for a great payback spot because that Becky legdrop off the ladder was fucking lunacy and about collapsed Charlotte's lungs. Her verbal sell of it ruled but then I'm not sure how much of that was selling. Then we got the spear through the barricade, which is a tired spot in WWE at this point, but this one looked as good as any Roman Reigns car wreck. She took off like a track athlete and absolutely crushed Asuka. They also went above and beyond during the parts where they were feebly reaching for the belt. Those moments always come off pretty hokey because, like, just climb another rung and reach up there, you know? But all three of them were desperate in throwing shots at the top of the ladder, sometimes just slapping each other about the shoulder or ear, knocking their arms out the way when someone tried to grab the belt. The finish works for me as well because Rousey's been saying for weeks that she has receipts, and considering how nearly every other babyface in the company consistently looks like a doofus it's cool to see one actually get something done for a change. It sets up plenty of options for where they could go next and they now have four women on the roster who are red hot with a ton of momentum at the right time.

NWA Classics 24/7 #22

Ted DiBiase v Hacksaw Duggan (Loser Leaves Town Cage Match) (Houston Wrestling, 8/26/83)

This was probably never going to be messing with the '85 stips match, but it's these two in a cage so obviously it was twelve minutes of badass. There was almost a running gag as folk were watching the original Mid-South set about the ring ropes in Houston constantly falling to bits. It happened in a bunch of matches. Maybe it was deliberate, like it was Boesch's way of throwing a curve ball and seeing how they'd persevere. Build character through adversity and whatnot. I don't recall it ever actively derailing a match and I imagine this would've been good had the ropes stayed in place, but somehow the turnbuckle flying apart seemed to make it even better. It happens only a couple minutes in, and as soon as it does Duggan just picks it up and tries to strangle DiBiase with this stray ring rope. Ted has already decided he's had enough of this and tries to roll away, but of course he only gets so far before the cage stops him. His "oh shit what have I done?" reaction as Duggan stands over him with a turnbuckle bolt is incredible. The rope and bolt then become a permanent fixture for the rest of the match. DiBiase uses it to cut Duggan open first and there's an amazing bit where he practically stabs him clean in the face with it. Duggan's comeback is total Hacksaw which means it's all-time level great. Seriously, who has a better walking tall babyface comeback than Duggan? The foot-stomping, the punches, the wild mane, it never fails. The big payback shots with the bolt obviously ruled, too. Ted loading the glove and punching Duggan in the gut was an awesome spot just for Duggan selling it like he'd been shot, but then they started running the two remaining ring ropes and it ended up with Duggan holding the equalizer. This is one of the best match-ups in US wrestling history, right?

NWA Classics 24/7 #21

Remember NWA Classics 24/7, later renamed NWA On Demand, later gone up in smoke and sold to whoever when WWE came calling? I remember. That particular streaming service is no longer with us, but if you know where to look (that super secret streaming site with all the videos on it that nobody's ever heard of) most of it still seems to be floating around. So it's back to Houston we go!


Ric Flair v Wahoo McDaniel (Houston Wrestling, 7/12/85)

This was the date on the match that made the DVDVR Mid-South set, but apparently that one was actually from 7/26 and the one from On Demand is the proper 7/12 match. So if you were ever wondering, there you go. I'm on as close to a Flair kick right now as I've been in about a decade and that Horsemen footage put me in the mood to rewatch some of what he was doing outside Crockett. This was pretty great when they were lacing into each other. The arena isn't mic'd up too well so you don't always get to hear the thwack on strikes, but some of these Wahoo chops are audible regardless. Flair has great chops, he always has, but he can't swing that knife edge like Wahoo and he's never had anything close to the overhand, so for once he's basically outmatched. And that was kind of the story. Flair will try and go toe to toe, but not only does it never end well for him, it never even approaches level footing. He'll throw one chop, maybe two at a push, and Wahoo will shred him. Flair simply can't hang. So I guess he decides he'll use the ropes at every opportunity and just cheat his way to victory. Maybe it was deliberate on the wrestlers' part, maybe it was a story they were actively telling, maybe I'm just projecting, but Flair's best friend in this match was the ring rope and if not for that he'd have been fucked. He wasn't only using it to cheat either. There were a few points where Wahoo dropped him with a chop or a tomahawk and Flair only escaped by draping a foot over the rope. Late on he tried to take it to the floor, but that backfired as well and it was him who wound up with a bloody forehead. Still, the ropes weren't going anywhere and they were always there to bail him out. Flair winning via dodgy pinfall with his feet on the ropes wasn't exactly a rarity, but I don't remember it ever being built to quite like that. Maybe that "build" was coincidental. It probably was, honestly. Either way it worked and overall this was good stuff.

More Horsemen

Arn Anderson v Sam Houston (World Wide Wrestling, 9/7/85)

Really fun six minutes and a great Arn showcase. I said a couple days ago that in '85 he never had the good-looking offence yet, and that he wasn't using the great stomps yet, though he had a lot of his shtick down already. Well this was basically an extended squash and all of his offence looked killer so maybe I'll just shut the fuck up. Arn, Ole and Tully broke Houston's arm on TV a few weeks before this (awesome angle, btw) so everything Arn does is focused on the arm. He puts some real torque on the armbars, stomps the arm and shoulder joint with stomps that already look better than they did a month ago, wraps the arm around the ropes, hits a couple hammerlock slams which of course is one of the best armwork spots there is, it was all good stuff. Houston doesn't get much, but what he does get elicits molten reactions and holy shit these World Wide shows have heat for days. Just crazy, rabid heat, which is a cool contrast to the more subdued nature of the World Championship Wrestling tapings. Folk are absolutely losing their mind for Houston hitting a monkey flip at the beginning, then boo in disgust when Arn reverses the second attempt into an inverted atomic drop. The pop for Houston rolling him up at the end is just insane and '85 Crockett has to be one of the most well-booked runs of TV there's ever been.


Arn & Ole Anderson v Buzz Sawyer & Terry Taylor (World Championship Wrestling, 9/7/85)

This got about fifteen minutes and was really good. Taylor and Sawyer's early controlling was Tag Wresting 101, taking Arn and Ole down with armdrags, working the arm, quick tags. Ole continues to be great and I definitely should've paid more attention to him over the years. He was shouting instructions from the apron in this, and even if it was basic stuff about sticking a foot on the ropes to break a hold it's not as if very many wrestlers tend to do that. It's especially noticeable in the WCW studio as well given the atmosphere. Sawyer was great in this. He was one of my last cuts from my PWO GWE ballot a couple years back, but every time I watch him he impresses big time and I think a revised list would have him somewhere in the 80-100 range. My favourite Sawyer quality might be his dedication to character. He howls and barks when applying holds (the MAD DOG and all), routinely bites people as desperation spots, and his bursts of offence always look violent. He hit a running headbutt to the shoulder joint in this and it looked awesome. A quality pro-wrestler. Schmozz finish is surprising to nobody, but the post-match angle means you can probably add Terry Taylor to the list of folks maimed by the Andersons.

The Horsemen

I've bought lots wrestling footage over the years. Like, a stupidly fucking needless amount considering I'll never manage to watch it all. The multi-disc comp game sadly seems to be dying (still hoping against hope for someone to make a 70 disc Tenryu set), but now and then I'll fling money at someone for bootleg wrestling DVDs and they'll end up sitting in a drawer somewhere because I have no room for them and I'll forget I even have them. I obviously did that with goodhelmet's 4 Horsemen comp because I found that in an unopened parcel a couple weeks back. How long it had been there I can't say. I honestly had no memory of even purchasing it, so it was a pretty awesome surprise to run across it. I've been slowly going through it (which started me on this recent Crockett kick) rather than doing the stupid amount of work I should be doing instead, so I'll probably write about some things for a while.


Arn & Ole Anderson v Dusty Rhodes & Magnum TA (JCP, 7/21/85)

This is from a big Omni show with Flair/Nikita on top and is the best match I've watched so far. It got plenty of time and was really good. One thing this footage lets you do is track the progress of Arn, who'd only been wrestling a couple years by the start of the set (March '85). He was a super fun stooge machine already and had amusing shtick even if he wasn't nearly as good at integrating it yet, but his offence was pretty basic for the most part. When I did those Double A of the Days years ago I must've mentioned his awesome stomps a hundred times. His stomps in 1985 were nothing like those and looked real flimsy, but you can tell where he picked up the ones he'd use eventually because man does Ole have great stomps. Maybe I've way undersold Ole through the years. He's been a great promo so far and always did look the part as a surly bastard, but I don't know if I've seen that translate in the ring better than it did here. The heat segment was on Magnum and Ole was hammerlocking the arm then stomping on the elbow and shoulder joint, really leaning into the hammerlock by pushing his legs way up for leverage, doing the hammerlock body slam which is one of the great arm work spots. He brought lots of neat little touches as well, like making sure to stand in front of Magnum so he couldn't tag as Arn cut him off. And he stooged and bumped well for all of the early shine, even if he wasn't quite as loud with it as Arn. The early babyface control period was decent enough, though it maybe went on a bit long. Magnum and Dusty work the leg of both Andersons and it was plenty energetic, but it wasn't until the heel workover that I thought it really picked up. Finish itself was kind of rubbish, but the set up was cool. Dusty obviously comes in hot and he throws Ole into the turnbuckle, but Magnum is still lying there in the corner so he gets knocked to the floor. Ole follows him out and posts him, while in the ring Dusty goes back to Arn's leg as a set up for the figure-four (the leg work mostly gets forgotten about after the shine segment, but I liked the callback either way). Ole comes off the top to break it up, match gets thrown out and the Andersons start a mugging on Dusty. Really good stuff.


Ric Flair v Nikita Koloff (JCP, 7/21/85)

I had no real recollection of this feud at all. I'd probably read about it because I've spent the last fifteen years dicking about on wrestling message boards talking about Flair to the point where I can no longer be bothered to, but I don't know if I've ever actually seen anything from it. Have I seen *a* Flair v Nikita match? Probably. But this feud from the middle of 1985 is almost squirreled away in a lesser-discussed corner of Ric Flair's career. Nobody seems to bring it up and yet it's totally awesome. The angle that kicked it off rules, with Nikita giving David Crockett the Russian Sickle on TV after Crockett besmirched Mother Russia or whatever. Flair and Crockett might have different ideologies but they survived a fucking plane crash together so there's a bond there. Flair is still sort of feuding with Magnum TA around this point so he doesn't necessarily do a full turn (as an aside, Crockett's overall booking in '85 is so great), but when it comes to the Russians he's in full babyface mode. Some of his shouty promos on TV where he's tearing off shirt jackets and ties are wild and awesome. I also watched their Great American Bash match in clip form and it looked really fun, so I was pretty hyped for this. I don't usually get hyped for Flair footage anymore, but babyface Flair is about as close to an untapped well as you'll get with him at this stage and everything leading up to it had been great. And I thought this match was shit hot. It started out with Nikita chucking Flair across the ring off of tie-ups, and maybe I'm full of shit but it felt like Flair reacted to this a little differently than he would if it was babyface Luger or Reed or Road Warrior Hawk in there with him. Babyface Flair doesn't tend to work a great deal differently from heel Flair. It's not a knock and he changes it up enough that you notice (probably), but now and then he'll slip into habit and beg off or grab the tights before remembering he's not supposed to be that guy tonight. This time he never sold it like humiliation, it was more determination. He was resolute and he already knew Nikita had him beat for strength anyway. When they tie up a third time Nikita tries to launch him again, but this time Flair quickly steps out the way and Nikita's momentum lands him on his face. Flair strutting and preening and wooing was pretty damn wonderful and right then and there he had me exactly where he wanted me. Match wasn't that long, probably only around twenty minutes, and Flair spent most of it on the back foot. His bursts of offence were full of fire, though. The chops landed like they always land and there was a real sense of the underdog about them. Nikita working the bearhug wasn't the most compelling and Flair fighting to get out of it wasn't Ronda Rousey level, but it gave us a couple moments where the back prevented him from doing something even if you'd have liked it to matter a little more in the macro sense. Flair of course bled and I loved Nikita biting the cut and spitting the blood Pirata Morgan style (because I will never not love that in a million years). I think they tried to pay that off later with a revenge posting and Nikita blade job, except the blood never really got flowing so Flair started throwing nasty little rabbit punches to precipitate things. We also got some Flair stock spots with a babyface twist, and it's cool seeing him go upside down in the corner, run along to the adjacent turnbuckle and actually hit a move off the top, rather than use it as a set up for getting thrown off just because it's something he likes to do. The finish probably wasn't surprising to anyone, but the way Schiavone was talking on commentary I'm guessing they're building to a cage match down the line. If that's the case I'm definitely in, because this was fun as fuck and right now it's probably the most I've enjoyed Flair in about eight years. And who says buying bootleg wrestling DVDs is a waste of time?

Midnights v Rock n Rolls (on the Superstation!)

Midnight Express v Rock n Roll Express (JCP Superstars on the Superstation, 2/7/86)

I had never heard of this show before. Didn't know it was a thing. Was it Crockett's pre-Clash answer to Saturday Night's Main Event? Was it a one time deal? Did they have several Superstars on the Superstations? The card actually looks really good, with this, Flair/Garvin for the belt, Dusty v Tully and a Road Warriors v Russians match that probably would've been a cool spectacle if nothing else. But even if everything else sucked, this match might've been worth the price of admission. The Midnights get the jump early, and you know the RnRs will go on a run but it's how they manage to get to it that's always fun. For as often as these teams have matched up, the thing that's always super impressive is how inventive they are. We have footage of them wrestling each other on consecutive nights in different arenas in different states, with no TV cameras rolling, having every opportunity to basically wrestle the same match and still send the folks home happy. And yet I don't think I've ever seen them do it. They always have something new every time out. Here the MX slingshot Gibson from the apron into the ring while he's kitted out in his pre-match gear. They try the same with Morton, but Morton flips it and slingshots both Eaton and Condrey out to the floor, which sets up the babyface shine. They end up working over Condrey's knee for a bit and it was really good stuff, lots of quick tags, elbows across the knee from varying heights, a double wishbone here and spinning toe hold there. Cool bit where Condrey hits a big knee to Morton's gut, but just as you think he might be able to scoot over and make the tag he collapses in a heap clutching the leg. It's sort of trite to make note of Robert Gibson not being the face in peril Ricky Morton is, but he's more than competent and the MX can take someone even half that good to a strong heat segment. So obviously the heat segment was good. Condrey's kneedrops are so badass, right into the throat or sternum or clavicle. Eaton also threw an absolute corker of a left hand and so there we have two of my favorite things. I don't have a clue where this sits in the pantheon of Express v Express matches, but it's probably up towards the top somewhere. So yeah, it was pretty great.

MX v Fantastics (Clash I)

Midnight Express v The Fantastics (NWA Clash of the Champions, 3/27/88)

This match-up never fails to deliver. I don't even know how many MX/Fans matches I've seen by now, but from Texas to Oklahoma to North Carolina it's pretty much always money. If this isn't their best match together there's a decent chance it's their wildest. That first little stretch of chaos is so good, tables and chairs and tennis rackets all over the place, like some kind of alternate universe ECW that ran out of a flea market in Greensboro. Cornette was a sensational little irritant, swinging that racket and running for his life, at one point flinging a chair at Bobby Fulton's face, only for Fulton to catch it and send Cornette bolting so fast you expected his jacket to fly off. The heat segment on Rogers might be the best MX beatdown of them all and boy does that cover some major ground. The transition comes when Lane makes the blind tag and they catch him with an awesome chop block/leaping clothesline Total Elimination style, then from there they just run through all sorts of killer offence. Lane's karate was landing with a little extra mustard, Eaton was hitting body slams and a bulldog across a table on the floor, they rolled out the drop toe hold/running elbow double team, Cornette got involved again by holding up that table as a target for Tommy's head, it all ruled. You know you're onto something special when Eaton's blowing out his arse after running through his bag of tricks and Lane keeps tagging him back in anyway. The Dusty Finish had probably been run into the ground as a concept by this point, but Fulton was going apeshit on the apron the entire time Rogers was being mugged so you can certainly buy that missed hot tag being his tipping point. Extra points for the post-match whipping and this whole thing was the bomb. One of the best US tag matches ever.

Piper v Valentine (another ear for another ear)

Roddy Piper v Greg Valentine (Dog Collar Match) (Starrcade, 11/24/83) - EPIC

Well holy smokes. I've always had this as maybe the best version of a match where participants are tied together with a rope/chain/strap/whatever. That's some pretty esteemed company when you consider things like Hansen/Colon, Estrada/Fiera, Reed/Sawyer, etc. And yet I think I sold it short because this time it felt like the best gimmick match there's ever been. What a grizzly masterpiece. The opening stretch is just about the perfect use of a prop. The stare down while they kind of jostle for position using their neck. The slow approach as the chain loses its tautness. Piper just grabbing a length of it and whipping Valentine on the elbow. Everything early felt like the sort of stuff you'd see in an actual fight where there happened to be a chain on hand. None of this was elaborate or set up. For his first offensive move of the match Valentine makes the mistake of clubbing Piper in that ear. It's a mistake for two reasons; the first because it just pisses Piper off, the second because he did it with his bare fist when there was a chain to be wrapped around it right there. So Piper stretches out a length of chain and just digs Valentine in the face with it. It was all a bit experimental, like they were seeing what sort of misery they could inflict upon each other with this chain that had been thrown into their little horror show. Piper wraps the chain around his fist and starts throwing jabs. Valentine stumbles away and the chain ends up between his legs, so Piper gives it a yank. Valentine wraps it around Piper's eyes and saws it back and forth. Piper wraps it around Valentine's mouth and nose and punches chain into face. Greg stumbles into the corner so Piper uses the chain as a winch around the post and tries to strangle him, then he bites a hole in his forehead because I mean why wouldn't you at that point? They tease the ear injury through all this, but it's mostly Piper on top with Greg trying to catch up. Then Valentine rams a bit of that chain into the ear and he's right back on level footing. Piper was unbelievable in that July match but he was fucking outrageous in this. Like, this was genuine all-timer level. His blown equilibrium sell job with blood just gushing out his ear was truly remarkable. Valentine is whipping him in the ear with this chain, peppering the ear with chain-wrapped fists, ramming him ear-first into the ring post and Piper can't stand up straight. At one point he kind of picked up a chair and flung it clean into Valentine's face, but it just as easily could've taken a fan's teeth out or sailed harmlessly across the floor. It didn't look like he meant it, he just happened to be staggering that way with limbs a-flailing and there was a chair there and it got flipped into someone's face. I liked Piper using the chain to hook Valentine's legs for the finish, but the ending did feel a wee bit flat, which is really my one and only criticism. Other than that it was a transcendent bit of wrestling and maybe the best brawl in US history.


Complete & Accurate Hot Rod

Steamboat/Youngblood v Briscos (aka wtf happened at Starrcade?)

Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood v Jack & Gerry Brisco (Mid-Atlantic, 7/9/83)

If you thought their Starrcade match was disappointing, this is the one you want to see. If you thought the Starrcade match was good then this is also the one you want to see. Either way it's an awesome gift from the Network and a match you want to see. Steamboat was out of this world in it. Nine times out of ten I want to be watching Steamboat in peril, on the back foot, firing back with hope spots, selling a beatdown, EMOTING, playing allllll the way to the back row. That is his game and he's one of the very best ever at it. He was never on the back foot once here, never selling a beatdown, never in any peril. It was Walking Tall Steamboat and I don't remember seeing him work so dominant before, but holy shit was he downright incredible. Straight away he hits a huge atomic drop on Jack and takes it to the floor, cleaning house and lording over his kingdom. His hokey karate never looked better, measured and crisp as it was. But then he got a little overzealous and wanted more than the ref' was willing to let fly, so of course the Briscos took advantage and blindsided Jay. I can't tell you the last time I watched a Steamboat/Youngblood tag, but I'd be shocked if there were many better heat segments on Jay found among them. This was one of those segments where the heels were throwing out all sorts of awesome shit and the babyface was bumping and selling his tail off for all of it. I've never seen Gerry look better. Both of them were vicious, but Gerry took the cake by hitting this fucking ludicrous suplex across the top rope that about folded Jay from heel to earlobe. They spent their time working the back and there was another point where Jay was hanging out the ring as Jack worked Steamboat into a frenzy, so Gerry ran around, picked up Jay and hit a body slam across the apron. It was all kidneys and I bet Jay wasn't pissing right for a week. When Steamboat comes in off the hot tag they don't run straight to the finish, and instead we get a short segment where he and Jay work over Gerry's leg. This little stretch had some of the best stuff in the match, including Jay's Indian Deathlock, Steamboat wrapping the leg around the ring posts, and his awesome falling karate thrusts (think DiBiase fist drops but with karate) to the knee, which I've never once seen before but everyone should be doing. The second heat segment on Jay probably isn't even long enough to be called a heat segment, but it didn't feel implausible considering he'd been the recipient of a much heftier beatdown only a few minutes earlier. And of course Steamboat making the tag was red hot, because how could it not be. How in the hell did that Starrcade match end up being so flat?

Piper v Valentine (an ear for an ear)

Roddy Piper v Greg Valentine (Mid-Atlantic, 7/9/83) - EPIC

What a dirty, violent belter of a pro-wrestling match. I don't know if it was better than the dog collar match but it somehow might've been nastier, and bear in mind we're talking about a match where someone is whipped in the ear repeatedly with a rusty chain. Piper was unbelievable in this. It might be his very best performance. Both guys' strikes were amazing, but Piper was as vicious as anybody I've ever seen, throwing amazing body shots, jab combos, clawing at Valentine's face, his all-time great eye poke, headbutts, all of it. Valentine wasn't exactly straight-laced, because this was a fight and you don't throw clubs to the chest like that in a gentleman's contest, but once or twice he did show his wrestling chops. He wasn't downright feral at least, which I suppose was one thing he had over Piper, and at one point he hit one of the best gut busters I've ever seen. He's rougher than a stuntman's knee and tough as stewed skunk, but Piper is a wild street brawler on methamphetamines and that'll put a fear in even the hardiest of men. Valentine taking over by going to the ear ruled and obviously ear workover was amazing. There was an awesome bit where Greg throws him ear-first into the ring post and then starts mashing the ear up against the steel. Lots of great little teased comebacks as Piper staggers around trying to fire back with flurries of punches and bites and eye gouges. He's near dead on his feet in the corner and Greg is blasting away on him, but then Piper starts ducking and moving and all at once he's in the groove again, Greg missing five, six, seven swings in a row as Piper is evading everything, the crowd going full on apeshit when he hits back. We get the revenge posting and Valentine blade job and naturally Piper bites the cut, but then he took it a step further and tried to Tyson his ear off. There are parts where they're rolling about on the mat sticking fingers in eyes and ripping hair and trying to throttle each other, just pure, visceral hatred. And then there's the finish which was basically attempted murder. Piper trying to saw Valentine's fucking head off with a rope was crazy enough, but the image of Greg frothing at the mouth as Piper hangs him over the top rope was borderline disturbing. Folk are trying to tear Piper away and Roddy will not have it. He's going to kill this man if it's the last thing he does. Holy shit this was something else.


Complete & Accurate Hot Rod

Tenryu Don't Want no Preacher Man to Come Around, He Don't Need Him to Lay His Burden Down

Genichiro Tenryu, Koki Kitahara & Masao Orihara v Shiro Koshinaka, Kengo Kimura & Masaji Aoyagi (WAR, 10/21/92) - GREAT

So this is where it all began? I've said the WAR/New Japan feud is the best in-ring feud in wrestling history probably two dozen times on this stupid blog, but I'd never seen the match that kicked it all off. There were some teething problems in the first half, but by the end it was fairly rocking and gave us what we all wanted. WAR show or not, this was New Japan country and that crowd was a thousand percent behind their boys, even getting red hot for Aoyagi while booing Tenryu. Not that the WAR guys being booed on their own shows was a rarity. Kitahara was jeered mercilessly everywhere he went and I guess guys like Fuyuki had the All Japan connections, but Tenryu was mostly bulletproof unless he was especially obstinate (which was often, tbf). Team WAR were awesome in this, though. Orihara might've been my MVP. He was itching to fight straight away and Tenryu had to grab him by the bowl cut that his ma gave him just to settle him down. You knew there was going to be a point where the New Japan guys took turns beating on him, and that section was great, but my favourite part was when he recovered. The tag was there to be made and that was the first thing on his mind, but at the last second he decided to go back and slap Kimura about the face a few times before taking his leave. And by the end his underdog performance had basically flipped the crowd, the people cheering for him to do the unthinkable when a few minutes earlier they'd been all over him just for the logo on his jacket. I thought Aoyagi was clearly the best guy on the New Japan end. He was winging his crowbar kicks and headbutts but it was his willingness to actually give ground that put him above the other two. Kimura and Koshinaka weren't exactly sandbagging, but Koshinaka in particular wasn't really up for playing ball with anyone other than Tenryu. That sometimes added to the grittiness of it all, especially with Orihara who was determined to get his licks in either way. But they both kind of treated Kitahara like a scrub and that sucks because Koki is awesome. Tenryu was fired up from the outset and ready to go at anything. On some of the smaller shows he could be content to hang back a bit and let his lower-ranked teammates shine, but this was the launchpad and he was out to get this thing over. He even got himself a little colour on top of all the throat-chopping and such. There was one awesome moment where he charged Koshinaka in the corner and Kosh jumped out the way, but Tenryu took it in his stride and turned around to lariat him across the neck. The choppy first half probably stops this from getting the full EPIC point, but it was sign of things to come and gave them something to build on. And man did they ever.


Genichiro Tenryu v Yoshinari Ogawa (NOAH, 7/18/05) - FUN

Well hey, I had no idea Tenryu was on the card that night Kobashi and Sasaki chopped each other stupid for an hour there. It's hard to fault Ogawa for trying to shithouse his way through this. It's in his nature regardless, but you couldn't see him surviving the old man trying to wrestle straight up. As soon as he asked for that handshake we all knew what was coming. Tenryu probably did as well but he played along anyway. Ogawa's horse shit was pretty fun, especially in how it escalated. He snuck in a cheapshot after the handshake and took Tenryu down with a top wrist lock, but Tenryu just punched him in the ear from his back (awesome spot). Ogawa went after the leg for a bit and even rolled out a sort of ringpost figure-four. Tenryu still punched him in the ear but at least Ogawa was making some progress. Then he tried to get too cute with the WAR Special and that was about all the old man could stomach. The final lariat was pretty tame considering it came after two corkers beforehand and a disgusting brainbuster, but if nothing else you bought Ogawa being out.


Complete & Accurate Tenryu

Survivor Series Cherry-Pickin'

I enjoyed the show overall, though watching it in smaller chunks at a time probably helped. These PPVs are loooong man. That double shot to finish reminded me of those big inter-promotional Wrestlemania Dream Matches they'd run in the mid-00s.


Ronda Rousey v Charlotte Flair 

So Rousey's 2018 is the best rookie year in wrestling history, right? It's sort of absurd how good she is considering this is, what, her eleventh match? That's Han/Tamura crazy. And she was awesome pretty much straight out the gate. I still like the Wrestlemania tag a bit more, but this was really great too and her best singles match so far. I love how scrappy and intense she is and those early tie-ups looked real gritty. When Charlotte shoved her you and I and everybody else knew it was on. I don't want this to be a creepy joshified love letter to Ronda because Charlotte was great here as well, but I loved basically every single thing Rousey did. Her selling and bumping is always so good and her grasp of the little things that really puts something over the top is outrageous. Everything she does feels like a fight, how she'll wildly fling herself into armbars or shit talk before a flurry of body shots. She works holds as well as anybody in wrestling because there's never any down time. There's no sitting there idle, she's never resting on her laurels and it more or less forces her opponent to follow suit. And Charlotte totally brought the violence on her end. It might be my favourite performance of hers and I bought her needing to step up big time, not just because she's in there with a badass, but because she's sort of being taken for granted in the wake of Becky's rise. She was the ace and now she's only on the marquee because the new ace threw her a bone. I don't know if the elbow to the mouth was intentional (it made for some visual either way), but in general she matched Ronda and plausibly hung with her every step of the way. They had so many cool moments, like the amazing transition where Ronda fucking headered the bottom buckle, the punch v chop battle that left Ronda's chest all purple, the GREAT nearfall off the spear, the fight over the Boston Crab, just lots of neat stuff. And while I fully expected a fuck finish, I didn't expect it to be an awesome one. That was an absolutely killer beatdown and Rousey took an almighty shit kicking, welts for days, cuts everywhere, bruised, bloodied, probably splintered to hell -- the sort of thing you can imagine the old-timers watching and saying truly solidified her as one of the family or some carny horse shit. What's the deal with that crowd, though? Have they been getting cold on Ronda recently or is this fallout from them wanting Becky and when they don't get her they'll shit over the next person down (kind of like they did with Bryan, I guess)? I'd probably rather Ronda/Becky for Wrestlemania, but the fact they've managed to create a scenario now where there are three women who feel like proper main event potential stars is cool. Rousey staring folk out post-match unamused was great, btw. She's gonna be unfuckingbelievable if they handle the eventual heel turn properly.


Brock Lesnar v Daniel Bryan 

This felt like one of the true dream matches left in wrestling. Like, how long had people been clamouring for a Lesnar v Bryan match? A few years ago it looked like a real possibility...then Bryan retired and a bunch of folk got sick of Lesnar and I guess we all just assumed the moment had passed and it'd be thrown in the same pile as Bryan/Eddie or Kobashi/Hashimoto or whatever. They've so far whiffed on Bryan's return so it was never going to be as huge as it would've been had they run it during the peak of his popularity (can you imagine how stupid ridiculous the heat for that would've been?), but even still, even heel v heel, it was Lesnar v Bryan. And for the most part I thought it delivered all ends up. I know people generally don't care for Lesnar's suplex city bit at this point, but as someone who watches about 5% of what WWE pump out on a yearly basis it's hard for me to get too burned out on stuff like that. I mean I don't have any interest in watching this year's Wrestlemania main event again, but I think there's a way to fit it into something compelling. And maybe it's Bryan's very real history of concussions giving it a sort of morbidity that I couldn't look away from, but that stretch where Lesnar was flinging him all over the place sure felt compelling. Didn't hurt that Bryan selling the whole thing was amazing (and that initial lariat looked ugly as fuck). I actually wish they gave us a bit more of Bryan horseshittin' it up early and maybe even built on it a bit, because I can only imagine how interesting Bryan would've made that, but what we got was fun. Some of those Lesnar suplexes were unreal and I loved him shit talking through it. I think at one point he called someone in the crowd a "fucking moron" and another fan front row was yelling for him to just pin Bryan already. And for a spot I'll hate ninety nine times out of a hundred, Brock pulling Bryan up at 2 after the first F5 was great. Everything after the ref' bump was what took this up a level, though. If Bryan is going to be the dude who just punts folk in the dick then I'm all on board because that was the perfect transition. When Lesnar can be arsed he's still amazing as well. Some of his selling in the back half was tremendous, like his initial shock at the ball shot, but it was his leg buckling leading into the Yes Lock that was the moment of the match. Bryan was about as violent here as he's been in his entire WWE run. The stomps to the head that legit left the imprint of his sole on Lesnar's face, those brutal crossface swipes as Lesnar was turning the colour of an undercooked chicken, the kicks to the body and legs as Lesnar was curled up on the mat, just awesome stuff. He came out of this putting up a fight and not kicking out of a single F5 but ultimately looked better than Reigns ever did despite kicking out of, like, three hunner. Heel Bryan should rule. This match did rule.

NXT Takeover: WarGames II (11/17/18)

I actually watched both Takeover and Survivor Series in full over the span of a few days. I enjoyed Takeover a bunch overall even if Gargano/Black wasn't really my thing and WarGames went on forever and didn't feature anybody I actually, like, care about. It did have an absolute corker in Ciampa/Dream, though. Survivor Series I thought was really enjoyable and outside of Rollins/Nakamura (which lasted an hour and a half prolly) and the tag match where the wee fella pissed himself I had at least a little fun with everything. I thought that stretch from the cruiserweight match through to the end was really strong, including even your lame battle for brand supremacy which I figured would drag on forever. And that one-two punch to close the show was just dynamite. I guess I'll write about both of those tomorrow.


Shayna Baszler v Kairi Sane

I knew going in that this didn't go long. Maybe if I'd been expecting it to I'd have been disappointed - as most generally seemed to have been - but I thought what we got was a hoot. I didn't even know until a week ago that these two switched the title back and forth over the summer, but I've seen a couple of their matches before that and thought they were decent. This had a sort of greatest hits vibe to it, probably because of the length, but I like a greatest hits version of a match-up when it's done well and I thought this was done well. Sane still feels a bit vanilla even though she's clearly over and charismatic, but I liked her fighting uphill against Baszler and her girls. Dakota Kai booting Jessamyn Duke clean in the teeth was wild and Shirai's moonsault, while kind of dumb when you think about how long it takes to set up when she could just punch someone in the face there, looked killer. I actually liked the finish as well. You could see Baszler shifting her weight as she was readying to catch Sane coming down off the elbow, so it never felt like she just shrugged off the move and instantly rolled her into a cradle. I guess this leads to some six-man tags with Kai getting THE absolute shit bullied out of her so I guess that could be nifty.


Johnny Gargano v Aleister Black

I also did not know Johnny Gargano had turned heel. He didn't really wrestle this much differently to how he wrestles babyface, but there were enough moments sprinkled throughout that it didn't come off like a total exhibition. Just...mostly one. I like Black well enough and Gargano's had a couple matches this year that I've enjoyed a bunch, but this was kind of hokey. The WWE-style melodrama didn't bother me, it was that the match was mostly about striking. Missed strikes, counter-strikes, strikes being reversed into moves, elaborate strike sequences. That poses a couple problems, the first being that I don't think either guy is a particularly great striker. Black will hit a few now and then that look good and those two Black Mass at the end were suuuper crisp (first one especially), but he's not really the guy I want to see in a match largely built around that facet of pro-wrestling. I mean, it’s unfair to compare him to a Shibata or Suzuki let alone a fucking Ishikawa or Ikeda, because at the end of the day this is not Battlarts and it is in fact very much a monkey show, but still, that knee strike was cool and everything but Takeshi Ono will uppercut your nose through the ceiling and when you’ve seen that it’s sort of hard not to have the bar set somewhere around there permanently. The second problem is that it just came off way too choreographed. NXT are usually really good at walking that modern juniors epic line without crossing all the way over into something I can't be bothered with, but this had too much of what I'm not into. I did like the early parts with Gargano coming off super cocky, like he had Black's number for everything, but before long all those reversals lost their charm and it crossed over into Stomp the Yard territory.


Tomasso Ciampa v Velveteen Dream

Full disclosure: there was pretty much no way I wasn't going to like this at least on some level. Dream is my favourite wrestler in the world right now; one of those guys that I get truly excited about watching no matter what, and there haven't been many of those over the last ten years. I didn't know the result going in, either. And then he came out in the fly Hollywood Hogan get up and I pretty much knew then and there that I was going to love this. I thought it built great. It was probably helped as well by coming right after Gargano/Black, just because it provided such a stark contrast between what I don't like and what I do. There was nothing fancy about the first half of this, nothing especially elaborate. Dream is always a hoot when he's fucking with opponents and Ciampa was like a FIFA player ready to launch his control pad off the wall. The Hogan cosplay is hokey, but it was carny as fuck with all the "YOU" and finger-pointing hokiness that I can get on board with. Plus I loved how he teased the big boot into legdrop in the first half then eventually paid it off down the stretch. Ciampa has also gotten really good now. A couple years ago I couldn't really have cared less about him as a singles guy, but I like his psycho paranoid hermit shtick and he'll dial the heeling up to eleven now and then. I loved those airtight chin locks where he was wiping drool over Dream's face (Dream doing the choked out Fujiwara drooling sell job ruled as well), patting himself on the back when he did something especially nasty, hobbling around with one boot on, flinging Mauro's notepad at him when I guess Mauro dropped one too many goofy Gang Starr references. But really, everything from the ring post figure 4 - one of the all-time great spots in general - had me on strings. I figured Ciampa's subtle tap out was going to be their take on a phantom pinfall and there was no way he was losing after that, but they drew me all the way in with the concrete DVD-into-Purple Rainmaker and I was about losing my mind for the nearfall. Maybe there were one too many big kickouts, maybe Ciampa was up a bit too quickly after the DVD/PR, maybe whatever. I was as into the finishing run of this as I've been for anything in at least a decade, and to me that counts for a whole lot. Maybe my favourite match of the year.


Undisputed Era v War Raiders, Ricochet & Pete Dunne (WarGames)

This was not a brief endeavor and I guess it had some good stuff, but it’s rare that I can be arsed sitting watching a 45 minute match at this point. Especially when I don’t particularly care about anybody in it. I don’t even know who the two fatties were. Had never seen them before. Cole is fine and I still end up liking him more than I expect I will considering I’ve never cared for him otherwise. Kyle is actually growing on me as well because he has a super dislikable wee arsewipe of a face and I suppose that’s a pretty decent quality to have if you’re going to be a heel. He also clearly has a hankering for the stooging and you can never have enough folk who want to be wee stooge bastards. Ricochet is fine for a match like this because he’ll jump off and on and around shit with aplomb. Dunne doing that Marty Scurll finger breaking horse shit is unfortunate as the legit finger-bending looks exponentially more painful and also I think Marty Scurll is pig flu and I’d rather not be reminded of him. But THEN AGAIN I was on the cans for Velveteen Dream throwing out Hollywood Legdrops left and right so who am I to rail against the carny bullshit aspect of the pro-wrestling? Who indeed, brothers and sisters.

RINGS Mega Battle Tournament 1992: Finals (1/23/93)

Mitsuya Nagai v Masayuki Naruse 

Hey, this was a really nice, spirited little contest. The stand-up was sharp and clean and I dug Naruse playing underdog. He sold getting knocked around pretty well and I loved how he used the ref' to drag himself back to his feet after the penultimate knockdown. Nagai hurled a few mean leg kicks but still wasn't the full crowbar Nagai that I'm used to, as it was crowbar Nagai that was my first introduction to Nagai way back whenever. They sure telegraphed Naruse catching that high kick, but to their credit they threw a curve ball and switched up the finish nicely. Not spectacular by any means, but definitely fun and a super breezy nine minutes.


Sotir Gotchev v Todor Todorov 

Kind of a poor man's Eastern European grapplefest, but a fun one and with another few fights under his belt Todorov could be really good (I'm sure I've seen later Todorov fights, but I don't remember anything about them). Gotchev had a bunch of nice throws again, almost setting them up via bearhug before heaving Todorov over and practically onto his head. At one point he hoisted him up, walked around the ring and hit a body slam. I'm not sure what Todorov's discipline is, but he had a killer harai goshi and once or twice he almost tied Gotchev up in suitably RINGS fashion. Finish was really cool too. There's something about a shoot style STF that's just aesthetically pleasing.


Yoshihisa Yamamoto v Yoshinori Nishi

This was about twelve minutes but it seemed longer than that, and not in a good way. Again it felt like more of an early look at what Yamamoto would become, though maybe that's just me projecting because he's a favourite of mine and what he becomes is fucking awesome. Either way he got a wee bit chippy once or twice and flung an elbow that Nishi didn't appreciate. Nishi still isn't very good on the ground, but I guess he has a somewhat passable takedown defence and so Yamamoto wasn't taking him down at will. But a lot of this went by without much happening.


Volk Han v Andrei Ruminezei

I'm pretty sure this is my first time seeing Ruminezei. He's sort of unassuming and looks a bit like John Carroll Lynch with the perfectly balding pate and such. And he was pretty dang fun! His striking is really tentative and once or twice he looks a wee bit lost to the point where Han is trying to guide him, but he has fun takedowns and brings something to the ground exchanges. Han is worth watching against absolutely anybody already, just a little over a year into his career, and this time he was getting tricky with the strikes. He was throwing ax kicks and quick hands and of course his favourite spinning back fist. It came after Ruminezei caught him with a knee to the gut for a knockdown, going straight to the back fist and following it up with an amazing wrist throw into an armbar. This was longer than the previous bout but it sort of flew by in comparison.


Akira Maeda v Herman Renting

To suggest Herman Renting is hit or miss would probably be generous. He's about eight parts miss to two parts hit. If he's not in the mood then it's usually hard to care about what he's doing. And this wasn't a barn burner or anything, but he was at least pressing the issue a little and I guess it was a watchable enough bout. Maeda obviously has the aura, but I'm wondering if his knee wasn't still giving him legit problems around this point because he hasn't really been up for doing much in the last couple shows. The fact it's heavily taped up means there's always a bit of drama, though. Renting took a few swings at it and the crowd reacted like it was a big deal, so maybe we're not giving Maeda enough credit for his minimalist booking (or maybe I'm full of total horse shit). Skippable fight in all, but on the Renting curve it was better than his average.


Dick Vrij v Chris Dolman 

This was never going to be a victim of expectations. I like Vrij a lot and everything, but Dolman is getting on in years and he was never great to begin with and Vrij isn't the sort of guy who drags mediocre to really good. But hey, they upped their game like you and I and anyone with a shred of honour would for the Mega Battle Tournament Grand Final and it wound up being a pretty fun scrap. Vrij is usually much bigger than his opponents, or at least has a reach advantage, and while Dolman can't match up to him in the striking he's not giving up anything in height and could probably use his extra weight to contain him. It means Vrij wants to be aggressive and finish it on the feet while Dolman would rather grind it out on the mat. Dolman isn't expressive at all and sometimes comes off a touch sandbaggy, but if nothing else it made Vrij's first big knockdown feel well-earned and special (and Vrij's reaction to it did as well). I don't know how much Dolman has left in his legs so I guess this was a nice last hurrah.


Complete & Accurate RINGS