Comparative Thoughts; Rick Rude v Brian Pillman

This "comparative" thing was basically an idea I had where I take what I wrote about a match, however long ago, and write something new, kind of comparing what I thought about it previously, and this time. Whether I agree, disagree, missed something, etc.

Rick Rude v Brian Pillman (WCW 15/2/92)

--Out of all the “Rude squashes an inferior wrestler without actually squashing him” matches, this has to be by far the best one. Rude goes for a handshake like in the match with Zenk, but Pillman doesn’t accept, and that don’t fly well with Rude who’s got Pillman’s fuzzy little head in a headlock following that. Pillman’s all about his “Flyin’” quickness and that all that so he’s running around and eventually gets to Rude’s leg. Jim Ross calls it “Pillman confusing Rude”, which in turn confused me because I think if you’re the smaller guy going for a leg is good, but whatever, he’s Jim Ross :P. One thing I’ve mentioned before about these Rude “squash” matches is how Rick makes the guy almost looks like he can win, he leaves way for all of his signature “got this in the bag” moves like Air Pillman and all that, and you get the feeling it could be a short while before they give you a Razor Ramon/123 Kid-lioke upset or something. They DON’T, obviously, but you get the feeling it could happen. 

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Rick Rude v Brian Pillman (Pro 15/2/92)

--{{Out of all the “Rude squashes an inferior wrestler without actually squashing him” matches, this has to be by far the best one.}} That, I don't agree with at all. This is a really good match, but the Dustin Rhodes one Worldwide from May is *a lot* better. Otherwise, I probably liked this more than last watch. Still, I think I can still find 100 matches I want on a list more than it. Reading what I wrote before, it sounds like I didn't dig the leg work as much as I did a few days ago, and I have no idea why. It was awesome. Pillman really grinds into working over the leg and Rude has to have one of the greatest limps in the history of acting. I thought he was actually overselling a little, especially before Pillman went the ring post, but there was a time when I literally thought to myself "what if he's actually been hurt?" For a pro wrestler to make me think that; the guy sold terrifically. I absolutely stand my ground on thinking that Pillman could have pulled out a win, and I bought it more this time after watching a lot of his 1991 and seeing he was more of big deal in WCW than I thought. Th final moments were a really awesome hot-streak period, and post-match had Rude holding the belt in the air in a small heap of exhaustion with this "I earned this, motherfucker" look. To have this great smugness through the open period, then after possibly not even ten minutes have the aura of the victor of a hard-fought battle, really says something about a guy. I said this already; this won't make my list, but I'll be damned if it isn't really fucking good and a clear-cut example of how peak Rick Rude could be as good a wrestler as anyone on the planet. I could get the sense that this gets better with every wtach because it definitely did on watch #2.

'92 WCW. Yep.

The '92 and '93 Yearbooks came in the mail, so I'm going through what, based off of what I've read, could make my top 100 list. Going to re-watch things that I think look too high or low, too (maybe).

Big Van Vader/Mr. Hughes v The Steiner Brothers (Clash of the Champions 21/1/92)
--Fun sub-ten minute bomb-fest. Actually this had less bombs than I was expecting, but a Steiners vs. Fat Boys match without bombs is like....what's the point? I'm not huge fan of Vader being dominated in the openings of matches, but the Steiners are practically all about that. Mr. Hughes reminded me of this giant guy I saw on the Mid-South set...Kareem... Abdul... Mohammed...something. A really big guy who looks like he could beat the shit out of you at any moment, yet gets almost zero offense in any match. In fact all I remember him doing was a hip-lock, and I can't even say it was him that did it. He'd spend most of him getting thrown in suplexes, which all looked awesome, and meant a lot more than the regular Steiner suplexes since these guys are fatasses. I watched this like four days ago, so I'm struggling to picture anything else but Vader's punches and Jim Ross going pretty giddy for a Steinerline, but this was a good match.

Cactus Jack v Van Hammer (Clash of the Champions 21/1/92)

--Mick Foley in a falls-count-anywhere environment usually won't miss, but the ultimate level of suck known as "Heavy Metal" Van Hammer drags this down. This was clearly only interesting when Cactus had control, and even then Van Hammer seemed like a lazy scared little sack when selling a clothesline. Actually, Hammer's physicality was way worse than anything else; he'd actually do a nifty little sequence, like a classic WCW 90s clothesline > powerslam > middle rope jump thing, but those ten seconds won't make a match. Him being really unwilling to take any sort of good bump while Mickles was plastering his own arse into the concrete for the sake of a good bump really annoyed me. The highlight of Hammer's entire offense might have been he first move where he launched some of that...stuff from his stupid looking guitar at Foley. Foley's sweet revenge is awesome in the back, he's laying stuff into Hammer's head and making him feel that shit. I don't remember what exactly he hit him with, but I remember thinking it was a prop used in the Finlay/Regal parking lot brawl. Probably wasn't. Still, that tier #2 in this match only behind Abdullah the Butcher hobbling in and dumping people (including one Missy Hyatt) into what I think was a pig water trough. Good match? Average match? No idea. It's something I'd be fine with wasting eight or so minutes on right now, so, yeah.

Blue Bloods, Bruisers, Giants and Men In Robes

Sting/Lex Luger v Ric Flair/The Giant (Nitro 22/4/96)

--This, in some way, was like the Road Warriors vs. Steiners tag from March, but unlike that, this was interesting, and, for under ten minutes, was pretty damn good. There's ususal sequences that you might expect, like the Ginat dominating, then getting double teamed and chucked out, then Flair getting his, etc. etc, but it's the 80s style stuff that you never get tired of, and no one needed to be lead/carried to anything. Lex is way less sarcastic and tweener-some here, and it looks like they just nuked the idea of him turning heel because he just seemed like regular ol' babyface Luger. Wight was surprisingly good around this time at showing off size differences. There was this one really awesome segment where he had Luger in the chokeslam position, and Sting gets up on the top turnbuckle to so these chop block things, and he sells the both of them differently. Flair's reaction to Wight getting knocked over was one of total disbelief. I still maintain the opinion that Flair in 1996 is a totally awesome character and just an excellent heel. His entrances in particular are too fucking sweet. Then once it boils down to the point where he doesn't think he can win, Woman hands him a cup of coffee and he ends up hurling it in Wight's face, who gets real pissy afterward and wants a Title match. You can tell how green Wight was on the mic post-match. I'm so loving this stuff.

Steven Regal v Fit Finlay (Saturday Night 27/4/96)

--I'd already seen this, but it's one of the most superb pieces of five minute wrestling matches I've ever seen. Finlay was in WCW as some sort of intruder; tracking down Regal because they fought all over Europe and he wants revenge or...something. Either way, he's pissed that he didn't get to completely wipe Lord Steven off at Uncensored and he goes balls-to-the-walls gritty on offense here (to no surprise, obviously), and Regal brings just as much (see the previous sentence in parenthesis). arm shots, crossface grinding, those chest-on-aprons blasts, basically, you name a gritty move, and they likely did it in these five minutes. They get into outside/barricade/chair territory soon enough and Finlay eventually gets disqualified for piledriving Regal on the mat outside. I loved the look on his face, and his whole demeanour; like, "don't give a flying shit what the fans like, don't give a flying shit what referee wants, don't give a flying shit if I get sent to jail." Man oh man I dig this.

Steven Regal v Fit Finlay (Nitro 29/4/96)

--The parking lot brawl which others actually seem to like more than I do. Still dig it, though, and I think the only argument I can have against it is it's lack of length. Starts off real nasty, with Fit basically plating his leg through a car window after Regal hopped his arse out of the way. That may actually be my favourite spot in the match, but after that it does nothing to go downhill. The face-in-concrete chunk spot s one I fund particularly nasty. Fit's selling in general here was pretty nasty; some of the head bumps he took on car hoods looked a lot more like he actually launched his own cranium into it instead of subtly blocking t with a part of his arm(s). There's the shots with the car bumper and that AWESOME seatbelt choke as well. The final piledriver on the top of one of the cars was great, which was even greater because in some way it kind of plays off to the Saturday Night match (which, I'll be 100% honest, I only just noticed writing this). I really love how Eric Bischoff on commentary was almost wanting to not let anyone at home see this because it was so vicious, and I remember watching WCW match from even up to 1999 where they reference this. I'm still note going to put it on my list, but this really is something else.

Ric Flair v The Giant (Nitro 29/4/96)

--Not sure I enjoyed this as much, as the first, maybe because they did some of the same things *too* similarly (like, Flair tries failed shoulder block, chops, forearms- the Giant poses, etc.). here were some new things; I don't remember Wight taking a hefty shoulder bump into the turnbuckle the other match, for example. Even if this was completely different, though, the finish was pretty out-of-nowhere bad. I know the Giant is, well, a giant, but surely they can come up with something better than him sitting up from the figure four and chokeslamming Flair to win the World Title. That's not even a problem to me because of "no-selling" or anything, but it all seemed, out of place, I guess. Not going to say I didn't have fun with this, though; definitely not a bad match.

Ric Flair/Randy Savage v Arn Anderson/Eddie Guerrero (Slamboree 19/5/96)

--"Lethal Lottery", meaning random partner choosing, basically. Not much of a match, but it was a fucking supreme angle. Eddie and Arn come out how they do, and once Flair's theme hits, he doesn't come out and Savage rolls out instead. Arn's jumped him and Flair's in a hurry to get out, while Eddie's trying to get Arn off of him. Macho lays down for a while and Guerrero gets his shine on Flair. There were brilliant spots like Flair tagging Savage in then making a groggy Guerrero tag in Arn, then Arn gets fed up with Eddie's willingness to fight back and gives him the DDT of his life. One thing I have to say, Eddie Guerrero, honestly, just seemed pretty "okay" around this time. He wasn't bad, but he hadn't found "it" yet. Getting the upper hand on Ric Flair Southern-style clearly was not his calling in life. Even when he tapped Arn on the shoulder and poked him in the eye, Tony Schiavone's all, "well how 'bout that?" as if it were something uncommon for him to do anything but wrassle~~ Reading this makes it sound like my opinion of pre-97 Eddie is way lower than it actually is, but there it is. Anyways~~~~~ this as a whole is pretty awesome.

More '96 WCW - Nitro 25/3

Fit Finlay v Randy Savage (Nitro 25/3/96)
--Six or seven minutes, but it's FINLAY and SAVAGE going six or seven minutes. This was the night after Uncensored, where Fit had smashed up Regal's nose with a forearm (I remember it being a fist, though, they're building it as a forearm anyway) and he controls most of the match. When he lays in the forearms it's great, the commentators fly off like "there it is, the forearm that got Regal" or something, and Macho was selling it like a total drunk. Savage's winning comeback almost came out of nowhere since he got almost no offense in, but Finlay was wiggling during the three count instead of laying there dead so it looked more believable that way. Fun match.

Sting/Lex Luger vs. Marcus Bagwell/Scotty Riggs (Nitro 25/3/96)
--Any interest I could have had in this (which was pretty much zero- American fuckin' Males) was squashed when I saw Bagwell in the ring sing along to his team's song (American fuckin' Males). Luger was pretty great in this, though. he comes out and the way he's high-fiving the fans and shoving his arms in the air comes off as really sarcastic, and he seemed to stop doing that sort of fan-pleasing when Sting turned his back. Bagwell was basically Sting's protégé, and when they got in the ring together Sting got the upper hand at every point and Bagwell clapped and gave him dues, and Sting played the role of respectful mentor. Luger was a prick. He pounded the ever-loving shit of Bagwell and Tony Schiavone wondered whether it was to get under Sting's skin, who was confused and disgusted an the apron. Sting/Luger winning was pretty priceless; Lex almost runs off with both tag belts and Sting's in the ring raising the American (fuckin') Males' arms. What else? Oh yeah, Scotty Riggs.... he was.....pretty shitty, actually. American fuckin' Males.

Ric Flair v The Giant (Nitro 25/3/96)
--This was fun, and Ric looked as good a heel as just about ever. The size difference is shown SO well; Flair can chop all he wants, but big Wighty just throws him and does these humungosaurus poses. One pose the ref backs up like three feet because he thinks he's about to be digested or something. The Giant goes to the top rope and misses a cool looking splash. Ric rolled out of the way, but he could have legitimately laid still and Wight would have still missed him by five feet. Wight takes this ridiculous-for-big-man bump over one of the turnbuckles and flops over to the outside as well. Arn comes with a chair after Elizabeth and Woman distract the ref and when he swings it there's Kevin Sullivan there and Arn blames him and he's pointing and laughing like a school child when Sullivan gets done. He gets done as well, obviously. I think this ended in a no contest, but my memory's not pulling for me right now. Looking forward to the match in April regardless.

Some '96 WCW

 Going through all the WCW on the 1996 yearbook for a top-100-matches-of-WCW poll. Enjoy. Or don't. I don't care.

Road Warrior Hawk/Road Warrior Animal v Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner (Nitro 11/3/96)
--I didn't look forward to this, and although it wasn't bad, there was nothing to it. Some matches suck, and some are just uninteresting. I wasn't sure who the faces/heels were supposed to be. Seemed like they were going for face vs. face, then Steiners as heels, then Warriors as heels when they won by whacking one of the Steiners with something. Looked like a thermos to me. I'm sure it wasn't. Either way, nothing of real interest to see here, but the Steiners doing a Doomsday Device (unsuccessfully I think, I remember a rwally bad down period where Animal took too long to get Scotty down) was a nice touch.

Sting/Booker T v Road Warrior Hawk/Road Warrior Animal (Uncensored 24/3/96)
-- "Some matches suck, and some are just uninteresting." Meet the suck. This was joined in progress, and I tend to check the time of the chapter of the DVD when it first starts, and this had 15 minutes left, and I thought "no way it lasts 15 more minutes." It. Fucking. Did. And it was painful. It's a Chicago Street Fight, and it's a lot of bad brawling and more confusing heel/face stuff. Sting's a clear face obviously, but Booker walks out on him at one point and gets together with his brother and some others (fuck if I remember who) in the back and tie up Animal. Then he come back to help Sting, then some more bullshit happens. I checked the length of entire match on Wikipedia, and it apparently ends up at over 29 minutes. To hell with enduring that shit. This was not good. No siree.

Hulk Hogan/Randy Savage v Ric Flair/Arn Anderson/Lex Luger/The Ultimate Solution/Z-Gangsta/Meng/The Barbarian/Kevin Sullivan (Uncensored 24/3/96)
--Ahhh. Tower of Doom. I didn't see this is full either, but I saw less than Warriors/Sting & Book I think so I endured less pain. Either way, I didn't/don't know the rules of this and don't really care; this wasn't good either. There's a gigantic cage with supposed "levels" and Hulk and Savage get the crap beat out of them by a bunch of guys. Z-Gangsta is better known as WWF's "Zeus", and was still the maniac cross eyed yelling sasquatch he was years before. The Ultimate Solution was, well, a fat man. It was great watching Hogan lose a couple of shoulder-pushy-whatevers to him. Luger's seemingly full fledged face turn on Flair was pretty nifty, even if they teased it as an accident. Finish had Hulk and Macho going outside the cage to the ring and Savage turning around and pinning Flair to win. I don't get it either.

1988 MATCH OF THE YEAR????

El Hijo del Santo v Espanto Jr. (Arena Coliseo Monterrey 10/4/88)

--Newly discovered on a Monterrey Classics DVD by Alfredo Esparza (the guy who runs the SlamBamJam video website), and thanks to Tim Cooke over at WrestlingKO I didn't have to pay for the DVD and wait a million years for it to arrive. Megaupload's a wonderful thing, and guess what? SO WAS THIS. I didn't know what to expect going in, I mean their '86 match is full of Espanto looking like one of the top rudos to ever walk the damn Earth, chewing Santo's forehead and spitting out blood and everything a scum-sucking viciously maniacal murderous bastardcase, but I had no idea what he'd do here because these two have a lot of mat work under their belt to go along with that. Turns out I got a little mix of both. It doesn't have the blood or emotion that the mask vs. mask match has, but it rocks every ocean under the SUN just the same. First fall is practically all on the mat, and Santo runs through his usual stuff, but Santo's usual is THE phenomenal stuff and I never get tired of his back-rolling cart-wheeling hammer-locking armbar thing or his criss-cross feet-on-face twisty manoeuvre. Crowd went pretty nuts for that latter thing, I don't remember seeing that as well received as it was here, and he does it again and they give just as loud a reception. There was a pretty large basis that Espanto couldn't get one on Santo no matter how hard he tried. He could pull out anything he's capable off; Santo's always there with an armdrag or something to separate the two so Santo could run through more of his graceful offense. ADORED the teased tension, there's only so much a tecnico and rudo (or, in a lot of cases, a double tecnico or double rudo) can do on the mat before they get into a small shoving contest. I was dying the entire match to see Espanto's snap-mares because in the '86 match they wee the most beautiful fucking thing I've ever seen in my life, and I literally (not really) wanted to pop a champagne bottle when he pulled out a few to get Santo down. Santo sold them great, obviously, and I'd usually think that the seller is the guy making the snap mare look like a million bucks, but I've seen Santo sell other guy's snap mares and it's just not as good as the unadulterated brilliance that is ESPANTO'S SNAP MARES. Yeah, they have to be caps locked they're so good. I loved how Espanto got wiser and wiser to Santo's moves too, like, the third time Santo went for the twisty feet-on-cheek thing he dropped him to the floor. Santo's selling was pretty fucking great as well, he took a gawwwgeous shoulder bump into the turnbuckle where he sprung off of it in a way that made it look as if he was shot out of a cannon. Espanto's selling was even son of a bitching BETTER; I've never seen anyone sell a monkey flip by somersaulting before and that has to be Awesome Espanto Thing 1b (1a being his SNAP MARES). I'm having trouble remembering what happened *exactly* in what fall, but Santo won the first and Espanto won the second. Third fall was THE IMMENSE. Goes somewhere around ten minutes, and they get everything you want in this kind of lucha match. Espanto dives on him like a human torpedo motherfucker after a lot of teases that Santo may get one in, and there's a huge mass of Mexican flesh (I mean the crowd, btw) surrounding them to get the up close and personal view. Santo's exhaustion selling is a real thing of wonder, I don't know too many that can get back in control after a thing like that and still look like he might be the more beaten of the two. He kicks Espanto's legs while Espanto's running, and he's flopping his arms and dangling there like he was as lucky as anyone ever to pull that off. Santo's turn to dive (and even THAT looked as if it would have been a million times different than had he done it earlier- though it's probably becoming a legit fatigue thing by this point) and instead off surrounding the wrestlers, we get children on the apron and in the fuckin' RING. In a WWE event it'd probably be, "idiots, get the fuck outta there," but in the 1980s on a handheld camera in Meh-hee-ko, it's a dawg-gonned thing of beauty. I swear to GOD Espanto was going to get counted out, and I'm not going to lie, that would've been a hell of a disappointing ending. The referee probably held the count a little so it wouldn't be a botched ending, but the drama of him being counted was insane, and he's RUDO. Near-falls after that are pretty spectacular, even if it doesn't last long. But four minutes of spectacular near-falls are four fuckin' minutes of spectacular fuckin' near-falls. There was this one kid in the middle-top of the screen that I swear jumped three feet in the air whenever Espanto kicked out. Espanto goes into submission territory and I was surprised he got the clean win. Well, not exactly clean since he was yanking the ropes a fair bit, but I was surprised to see him win period. I'm not exactly sure this is as good as the '86 mask v mask match, but I'd likely stick that one around my 20 best matches ever, and that's a HARD batch to top. Nevertheless though, this was fucking excellent and it feels as good as any match of 1988. ZILLION STARS.

LAST ONE??

This is is for splitting, I think. That was a pain. But somehow a little fun.

Blue Panther/Negro Navarro v Solar/El Satanico (FMLL 5/3/11)
--Just awesome. Everyone here is well over 45 years old and they still work the mat better than 95% of wrestlers do in their peaks. Only goes two falls because of the demented finishes (which I won't bother touching on), but all up they get almost 30 minutes to work with and I adored every bit of it. There's a whole lot of arguing going on before the bell even starts and we open with Panther vs. Satanico which obv. leads to Navarro vs. Solar. There's only a certian amount of things those two can do after being filmed a billion times but I haven't gotten tired of it and I suspect I never will. There was one really awkwardly painful looking submission from Solar I don't recall ever seeing before though and it looked tremendous. They keep with the "both partners tag out simultaneously" trend through the whole thing, and, for whatever reason, it doesn't bother me a bit. Not here, not in WWE, not in WCW, not anywhere, and it really seems liek the kind of stupid thing that should bother my picky nerves. They swap things over come second fall and we get Solar vs. Panther, which, no joke, was the best part, like better than Navarro vs. Solar. They were moving stupidly fast for 50+ year olds and the counters and everyhing were executed better than any moves you'll see anywhere else. Satanico vs. Navarro was great as well obviously but Solar vs. Panther rocked my world sideways. I hate seeing Panther without his mask but he does some really good facial expressions. Like I said weirdly booked finish but just a great, great match and these four should be worshipped like giant island stone heads.

The Miz v Daniel Bryan (WWE 19/9/10)
--Up until this point only one match can make me say "I muted the commentary", and that was Danielson vs. Liger. Seriously Michael Cole's calling in life is NOT as a wrestling commantator and I have no idea what could make anyone think employing him for over ten years is a good idea. Anyway, very enjoyable match and one that made me see a new side of Mizanin. I thought Bryan was the stand-out guy, and me not thinking Bryan was the stand-out would have been unparalelled, but Mizzy was good here. The match itself was built very nicely, Bryan gets soem offence in before Mizzy goes for his arm, and he did that surprisingly well with the ropes and stuff used as well. His striking offense is pretty bad to me, but he was using a lot of ware-down moves instead fortunately. Bryan's ill-fated comeback was a good because it helped the crowd think he was winning right then and there, but surely enough Mizzy would drop his coconuts o the top rope and clothesline him to the floor, where Bryan could hold the area he was being targeted on in agony. Brayn getting thrown out so Miz's bitch toy could get attacks on Bryan only for Bryan to go back on the attack was great because it was semi-in the middle of his offence period anyway. Great suspense near the end with a small host of "Bryan'a gonna win this" roll-throughs and stuff. Not sure where I'd rank this on WWE match of 2010, I thought Punk/Rey, Punk/Swagger, Michaels/Taker, McIntyre/Christian were better, but this is nothing to complain about. ***3/8 level, I guess.

Yes, Splitting Posts

Yuki Ishikawa v Daisuke Ikeda (Fu-Ten 24/4/05)
--They shake hands out of mutual respect and not five seconds go by before Ikeda’s laid out Ishikawa with a palm (could have been a fist). Gets an eight-count too which was great to start the match with and it really creates a theme of these two trying to outdo each other. These two had been in ring rivals for at least ten years before this and while I haven’t seen a lot of their matches or probably even their best ones, they’ve all been great. This was off the charts. Ishikawa to me is the superior mat worker of the two and Ikeda the better at smacking people around with kicks and different hand shots. Never mind that though, Ikeda can do mat and Ishikawa can do pummelling. This had both doing both, obviously. There was plenty of first-rate grappling here with a lot of stalemate moments where both guys would be waiting for the other to cave in and stay the hell down. By the end of it (fourteen minutes), both guys hair looked like they had been electrocuted and Ishikawa’s lip was split open. I was surprised to see it end in submission, actually.


Shinya Hashimoto v Masato Tanaka (Zero-ONE 2/3/02)
--This is apparently the match that made Z1 officials become so impressed with Tanaka that they hired him full-time. Can't say I blame them, he was great. He has some sort of inter-promotional Championship in his hands or something pre-match and just before the bell rings he drops it to his leg and kicks it towards Hashimoto. Hash is a respectful fella, and fan favourite (and creator of Zero-ONE)  but he'll fuck you up bad. He rampages straight for Tanaka in a blind haze of strikes and kicks that'd make most wrestlers weep. Tanaka's waiting outside for a break and he's almost whinging like a baby while Hashimoto's standing there and looking at him like he dares him to kick that belt at him ever again. Tanaka gets some good offence in and I was surprised by how much I liked him, but Hash is one of my favourites on offence and he's really creative. One spot Tanaka's on the outside laying down and Hashimoto casually jumps from he apron ONTO HIM. Nearly hits his head on the guardrail as a result. He just will not relent with those kicks and chops either, I didn't really think I'd see anyone I could say rivals Vader in the shoot-while-not-wrestling-shoot-style department. Great bloody match and I'm not waiting too long to watch he 11/7/03 one.


Sheamus v John Morrison (WWE 19/12/10)
--I can pretty much revoke what I said about Sheamus not interesting me in any way, because most of what he did here was pretty freakin great. I wouldn't call this a classic, and I'd say it's far from it, but the idea of a "classic" seems to vary from every single person, and I'm not going to knock this much at all because it was really good. Thought Sheamus actually did really display his overpowering big motherfucker gimmick over little jumpy purty-boy Morrison who should have specialised in this sort of thing. Sheamus' work on his leg wasn't just good becuase "hey he's jumpy and this is a ladder match and John can't climb", it was good because he actually DID unique stuff that i thought he was missing. I really can't be bothered trying to remember much of what he did in particular, or trying to come up with names for them, but I got the sense that if somebody like Arn Anderson was in a ladder match he'd do a similar sequence of stuff. First 3/4 of the match was spent with hobbling Morrison trying to stop Sheamus from going up, and Sheamus being pissed and surpirsed at how Morrison can even stand, then plowing through him him with this and that. Morrison sold the leg really,m really well as well, and he sold it even at points where it wasn't even necessary (if it is and stuff. yayrasslinnerds) It was all done really well and Morrison's hope spots didn't seem goofy (like I usu. think they do). Loved the spot where they were both holding ladders on the opposite sides of the ring and ran at each yelling "YOU FUCKERRRRR". Well they didn't yell that, but it wa sin my head and I enjoyed it. Ladder matches are obviously going to have it's fair share of "the hell?" moments, and this wasn't too bad before the *big spot* of faling outside the ring. Honestly that looked pathetic with both guys just jumping. I tried to watch the replay to see if someone did a move or they both fell but I just saw Sheamus jump onto the ladder and Morrison jump after him. I don't think Sheamus should have really got up after that either but it set up Jerry Lawler's line of "what is this guy The Terminator?", so it makes up for it. Very good match.


Yoshiaki Fujiwara v Kengo Kimura (NJPW 7/12/75)
--Been going through the NJPW 80s set again, and skipping through Fujiwara caught my eye like a motherfucker. On a total kick of the guy and I'm gonna skip through the NJPW 80s, Other Japan 80s & PWFG sets and watch anything of him I can. In the meantime I'll search for otehr stuff of his I don't have, like this. Fujiwara's apparantly been in the game about three years here, and his selling is already phenomenal. This is a short match (unlikely- most was probably cut off), but it's a good display of 70s matwork, and I like that style a lot. Kimura's fine and good, busting out your usual stuff and trying to outdo Fujiwara the best he can, but Fujiwara's threw out some great stuff, notably having an armbar on Kimura, throwing him over in a firemen's carrier (while keeping hold of the arm), and dropping down to a leg-armbar. Thing. Like I said his selling is top notch; you don't get to see a lot of selling in his face since the footage is from '75 and a little blurry, but his bumps are spot on and if someone used the stuff Kimura used in a leigt fight I can totallly see someone actually being affected the way Fujiwara was selling. Not a great match at all (for the eight/nine minutes that was shown, it was probably a lot longer), but it's the sort of match I'd be thrilled to see on Raw sometime.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v Kohei Sato (Zero-One 2/3/02)
--I was liking this until this Sato guy decided to blow off all of Fujiwara's signature stuff. They were having really good mat exchanges for nearly ten minutes, and then Fjiwara goes to the Fujiwara armbar, and without two seconds rolling by, Sato rolls through and treats it like it's nothing. That I wasn't ALL THAT fussed about, but it got a lot worse when Fujiwara was trying to headbutt the kid, and he goes and starts yelling like one of those annoying young Japanese wrestlers, displaying his "spirit" or some crap (like KENTA or Akiyama). Fujiwara later does that thing where he twists his legs around and kaes his opponent roll in front of him, and because he's old and shit it takes forever and he's panting like a motherfucker on the floor, so Sato gets back on offence again. Honestly, though, first half (more than half, probably) of the match was really good. Fujiwara was still good mat-wise and Sato could match him well. Felt kind of sorry for them because of the dead crowd, like, if this was RINGS with a hot atmosphere, there would have been people shitting their pants at the quick submissions pulled out of nowhere and stuff. Worth a watch, definitely.

Getting Tired of Writing Titles with "Split" In It

Brian Knobbs/Jerry Saggs v Cactus Jack/Maxx Payne (WCW 17/4/94)
--Ten minute this-is-how-ECW-should-have-been match. Nastys don't even wait for Foley & Payne to get in the ring, they just come at with bloody pool cues. POOL CUES. Maxx Payne was a brute. Using the table from the concession stand (or whatever) and trying to suffocate Knobbs with a t-shirt was a freaky looking moment. Saggs and Foley were beating the crap out of each other while the other two were. They were using a different table to hit each other with, Foley even used it as a partner and suplexed the thing onto Saggs. Eventually here comes Knobbs to the rescue and drills Cactus into the face with a shovel. A SHOVEL. Foley then gets pushed by Saggs and takes one of the most sick bumps I can remember off of the ramp onto the flat concrete, where Saggs decides to hit him in the face with a shovel one more time when he's down (and I mean *hit*, there wasn't any face protection or anything, he hit him in the face with a shovel) to pin him. Ridiculous brawl and I doubt I've even highlighted all of the best parts of it.

Split.Split.Split.

Ric Flair v Hulk Hogan (WCW 17/7/94)
--Wow what a great match. Really, great match. It wasn't anything in terms of "icon vs. icon epic", not that I'm one to be suckered in to that anyway, but everything came out great and then culminated full circle with Hogan winning the belt. Flair had some great ones in 94 (I love vs. Steamboat Spring Stampede), but this wasn't a carry job at all, I thought. Hogan was taking a lot of Flair's moves well and bumping a bit more than he would even a few years before this. He had aorund three tries at Hulking Up before getting it successfully done, like Flair was wise to his power up and stopped him every chance he got. Sherri (Flair's manager) was excellent, she did a top rope dive after she pulled the ref into the barricade and knocked him cold. Tried again later on and missed, and it really felt like something out of 87 WWF. Mr. T takes here away nevertheless in WCW Nitro style fashion but what can you do? Hogan finally getting the Hulk Up done was a no-sell fest obviously but fuck you he's Hulk Hogan.

Chris Jericho v Eddy Guerrero (WCW 14/9/97)
-Always thought this was really great and at worst a top 5 for Jericho's whole career; haven't change my opinion. Jericho can get some crap for his WCW run and rightfully so, he was a bit green and kind "slop" like, but I really thought he brought it well here. Guerrero was obviously better, but Jericho was keeping him down with holds a decent part of the match, making sure all his high-flying stuff couldn't come into play. Eddy would best him on the anyway, but when he'd hit a headlock or twisted armlock or something, Eddy'd have a hard time breaking it out it, if ever breaking out of it. Once Eddy did get on a small high-flying binge it they kept the spotty stuff under control, as well, not that I really expected it to be overdone with Davey Richards stuff, but that's some of the criticism I can see for Jericho around this time. Guerrero is one of the best in the world here though so he was having great stuff all over the place. Back work on Jericho was worth mentioning as well and Jericho sold it. Great, great match.

Eddy Guerrero v Rey Misterio Jr. (WCW 26/10/97)
--"Everything just clicked" in an understatement for how in-sync these two were. Thought this might go down, and it probably did just that leeetle bit, but I still think it's a classic and a match of the year contender in a year with an inordinate amount of high-end stuff. Opening seconds were even awesome with Rey ducking Guerrero's swinging arm after some berrating and going to work on him immediately. Eddy's get-back-in-control move was sweeping Rey's leg when he was on the apron, where Rey DIDN'T decide to land and instead chose to do an insane bump to the outside. Loved Eddy's control segments as well, they didn't last too long, but he got the most out of every move (stole that from Heenan ) and made it look as vicious and damaging as he could. Twirling backbreaker was intense in particular and Rey sold it like he was giving brith. Once Rey got on the offense for a while, the crowd went, kind of, "deadish", where they needed something after a hurricanrana to give them a big pop. So, Eddy got the control back so he could demolish Rey with a powerbomb only for Rey to come back so the crowd would have something to pop for. GENIUS! Finish was as good as a lucha move in the US is going to get.

Ricky Morton/Robert Gibson v Tom Pritchard/Stan Lane (WCW 21/2/93)
--RnR were a older wee-bit sloppier version of themselves in 1984, and I loved it. If this WAS 84 in Mid-South or somewhere, the crowd would've been an all-time hot one, and even though here they were just satisfyingly loud, it didn't matter at all because I still got that mid-80s vibe. For however many minutes they were giving their "routine" (can't exactly call it a "routine" since they mix up spots and don't do the same thing every match), it was all good fun. They would Irish Whip Lane into the turnbuckle a few times until Pritchard tried to jump onto the turnbuckle to block it, then sent Lane into the opposing corner and gave Tom a good ol' kick in the gut. Then Morton would allow himself to be cornered into their side of the ring so he could have punches at both of them, and when Pritchard fired at him, he ducked and Tom hit Lane on the apron. OH THE FUN. Cornette throwing mild tantrums on the outside adds to any match he's managing in so this was real easy to sit through, and he takes a shoulder block you just NEED to see. Cornette's of course the son of a bitch that costs RnR the control of the match, and Morton may be the greatest FIP of all time so it's pretty great little part of the match. He knows when the ref's back is turned the crowd will pop when he hit s a sunset flip that isn't being counted, he knows how to get sympathy from anything that breathes, and he knows Kevin Nash is a worthless piece of shit. Hot tag is something a little different along the way but interesting nonetheless. BOBBY EATON interferes and RnR continue to kick arse and win. It's pretty great that this happened the same night as the great Scorpio/Benoit match and the Sting/Vader strap match which I think is seriously the best US match of 1993. DUBYU-THSEE-DUBYA'S WHEYER DEM BIG BOYS PLEH, DADDEH

I Think We Should Split Up

La Parka/Psicosis/Villano IV v Juventud Guerrera/Hector Garza/Lizmark Jr. (WCW 13/7/97)
--Thought this might be nothing more than a pile of moves (which admittedly I probably wouldn't have had a problem with), but I thought the little sub-stories involved were good. Started with Psicosis trying to get the upperhand on Lizmark but being foiled every time, and that kind of thing only lasted like 90 seconds, but it's kind of thing I can get into for that short time. Garza comes in to get Psicosis and Villano gets in and just cleans everyone and starts punishing Garza. Didn't think that would last long since I expected a whole lotta tecnico domination, and I was right. I could tell they going to win and control most of the match, but if knowing who wins is going to bother me in a match I wouldn't enjoy 75% of the stuff I watch. Just enjoyin' the ride. A fair bit of this felt a little choreographed, but I kind of got the impression if it was a Mexican crowd with Mexican commentary and shitty VQ I wouldn't have criticized it, so I won't. And actaully i thought some of the "you know this is coming" shit was really good. I knew Psicosis was going to miss that bump (love his bumps, btw), I knew Sonny Onno was going to accidentaly hit La Parka, I knew everyone was going to miss the top rope splashes after the second person, but it's all great. Didn't like the spinning top rope-to-the-outside-jump-on-everybody spot though, reminds me of Money in the Bank ladder stuff. Thought the rudos might have actually had a chance at winning after Villano V came out, which was a nice cherry on a tasty lil' sundae. Won't be surprised if this is somewhere from 90-100, and at the same time I won't be at all upset if it fell off completely. honestly when it comes to lucha in WCW I can be a guy who says sarcastically "lucha libre is short matches on Nitro", but this isn't actually at all far off from what AAA would be doing, and about as good an example of lucha libre in the US that I can think of.

Eddy Guerrero v Chris Benoit (WCW 20/10/97)
--I love how Guerrero comes to ring all mopy and curve-mouthed only to be yelling his fucking head off at his opponent when the match goes on. Thought Eddy himself was fantastic here, I mean there's onyl so much you can do in the amount of time they had, but they nailed it and Eddy was the star. It's awesome how he's been eating everything Benoit's got and after actually get into offense he taunts the crowd to make it look like Benoit's recovery was because of wasted time on Guerrero's part instead of Benoit being superman. I really, really doubt Benoit would have put himself off a superman, or anything similar, but in under six minutes to work with there's only so much offense a shitcocky heel shoudl get in whether he's reatining or not. Love how Benoit's chops played a role throughout, like in getting Eddy from the apron to the barricade so he can dive on him. Finish made Guerrero look like a dickhead who could've won without giving Benoit more punishment but he does anyway because he's Cruiserweight Champion and you piece a shit will count his shoulders down. What was the longest match these two had in WCW?

Steve Austin/Brian Pillman v Dos Hombre #1/Dos Hombre #2 (WCW 23/5/93)
--Okay Cage match that I've never really loved. Dos Hombres are apparantly Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas, but one of them is injured or something so they put the both of them in masks so the crowd couldn't tell, or something, I'm not sure. Either way it was stupid and I'm calling them both Hombres. So, basic face > heel formula to begin, Austin was the best guy in the match by far I thought, taking bumps intot he cage and yelling offensive slurs all over the place. Hombre #1 "Steamboat" was all right, and Pillman & Hombre #2 just felt kind of "there". There was a spot where Austin had his leg hooked on the top of the cage and Hombre #1 goes for a crossbody and Austin drops (as if he's supposed to avoid it, and drops too late or something so they both fall on each in a big messy heap. Dumb spot anyway. By the offence on Hombre #1, I knew it wasn't Steamboat and he was the one replaced by some guy with the same eyes as him or whatever. Then Steamboat's replacement climbs to the top of the cage to do a crossbody on both Blondes, takes off his mask, and, it IS Steamboat. Shit. So he hits this gigantic crossbody, the refs counts Austin or Pillman or both down for two, and WCW moron on the outside decides it's three and dings the bell. Blah blah blah Austin gets the pin on the guy who's still masked. *******1/2

Steve Austin v Brian Pillman (WCW 10/11/93)
--this was more like it. Nine minutes of two former partners beating and cheating each other to a piss (well Austin was cheating anyway). Crowd weren;t that great but they created a good reaction when Austin would grab the ropes only for the ref to slightly see it, so the ref tells him off and Austin goes "yeah, yeah I got it" "OKAY", and he's got that Texan I-permanently-have-a-carrot-stuck-in-my-throat voice that made him famous. Obviously he grabs the ropes again. First half of the match was the two guys crushing each others backs and stuff on the outside and Pillman trying to manually remove all of Austin's teeth with his fists, and it was awesome. Finish is one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen.

Chris Benoit v Booker T (WCW 14/6/98)
--Booker had a bothered leg that Benoit ignored the whole umpteen minutes of the match. The announcers chalk it down to a few things, Benoit going for the upper body so Booker would be weak as a whole, or Benoit targeting that to hit the crossface. WEll, I don't think he even did hit the crossface. Pretty confusing that I thought Booker might have been better than Benoit here. Benoit wasn;t terrible or anything and maybe he was told NOT to go for the leg b/c Booker was facing Finlay later on and maybe Fit had to go for it, but it kind of bugged me that he didn't even HINT at touching. I won't say this was a bad match at all though, it was pretty damn good. I liked the sub-match story (if that's what you can call it) of Booker wanting to hit his Missile Dropkick and Benoit preventing it at all costs. Benoit using a Full Nelson Suplex was awesome and they played off their previous match with this one being the 8th of the best of 7 series b/c they were tied. They had some count-out stuff, or something. Won't nominate or vote this, even if Benoit did go for the leg (did I mention he didn't?).

Bret Hart v Chris Benoit (WCW 4/10/99)
--At the moment I think I'll have this in my bottom ten and I'm glad it held up okay, but it felt like a bit of a weirdly structered match. What i'm about to write is going to make it sound like I disliked it, which I definitely didn't, but, well, just read on. First batch of minutes were great, I thought, it was a good "technician vs. technician" portion that didn't have any crap that would've been unfitting in a tribute match. I don't necessarily think Hart in his peak is as close to a "technician" as even Benoit was in 2006, but you got to look a little kayfabe to appreciate some things. After the techy stuff was where the match kind of, well I don't want to say took a turn for the worst, but it's where I was a little confused at how it was built. It was basically a match where they each took turns in offence and I liked what they were doing quite a bit, but the shifts of offence were pretty weoird, like the attacks came out of nothing. I'm not being a guy who's sitting with a pad and paper to ananlyse this either, I just noticed that t was a little off. Hart's first segment was perfect, though, target the back to get ready for the Sharpshooter, brilliant. After that though it;d be like Benoit getting in control, Hart getting in control, Benoit getting in control, with no "body" I guess. Then Hart finally goes to lock the Shooter in and it's reversed into a Crossface, which I thought was a little silly considering Benoti went for the Crossface later and Hart turned it into the Shooter. I really thought it should've been done the other way around, with Benoit being on offence, trying to hit the Crossface, and Hart reversing it to make the back-work come 360. When it's said and done this will probably be in my 97 spot or something.

MORE SPLITTIN'

El Dandy/Dr. Wagner Jr/Silver King/Bestia Salvaje v Super Parka/Antifaz/El Felino/Mr. Niebla (Arena Coliseo Monterrey 23/7/00)
--Kinda odd since I'm sure when it exactly started, or what the rules were, but I'll be damned if it wasn't a fun match with great moments. My favourite might be Parka throwing a referee into a tope to harm Salvaje (IIRC) and then pulling him in the ring and raising him arms. Bit out there, but funny regardless. Other great moment is Parka setting Wagner in the corner and doing a dance with his back turned only for Wagner to be mocking him with his own jingle behind him and greeting him with a knife edge near the neck. El Felino had a great little sequence in there too.

El Dandy/Silver King/Arandu v La Parka/Silver Star/El Hijo del Santo (Arena Coliseo Monterrey 22/8/00)
--Really annoyed this was JIP'ed, because what was there seemed to be good enough to do well on my list.* Some of the chop exchanges with interferences and stuff reminded me of an All Japan tag. They looked to build all of that into a good pinfall frenzy near the end, especially in the third fall. Each guy brought something different too. La Parka was the guy who would dominate the opposing team and dance around, Santito would pull out the moves no one else could do, and El Dandy took a mean kick in the arse from Antifaz post match. Likely sets up their match next month. Not even sure it WAS Antifaz, but I'll throw a dart out a window.

*= Referring to my top 100 matches of the 2000-2009 list, which I gave up after one week. Laughing smiley.

Splitting Again

I'm splitting my posts from being too gigantic so I can fit labels and such in. These ar re-posts, bascially.

Kumiko Maekawa v Momoe Nakanishi (AJW 24/10/01)
--Awesome, but not without it flaws. Nakanishi's long term selling could have been better, and it going an hour wasn't the best idea (dragged a bit with all the finishing stuff), but the good > bad. Maekawa seemed to look at Nakanishi like she was a school girl pushing her weight, and tried to blow her off early, and Nakanishi fighting back really well put surprise on Kumiko's face. She had desperation points where she'd try different ways to end the match, from submissions, to suplexes, to trying to kill her with a range of kicks, to using the barricade, green mist, etc. Nakanishi on the other hand almost looked like she had to try different things to make herself survive, using the tables and barricades herself, going for the right leg, using dives, suplexes outside, yeah. Maekawa used that many kicks that looked to borderline concuss Nakanishi, that it was awesome when Nakanishi pretty much shrugged them off later on to be successful and "arrive" no matter what. Last ten minutes I could have done without and the match would have been better without them, but it didn;t "ruin" it at all.

Bryan Danielson v Takeshi Morishima (ROH 3/11/07)
--After watching weeks of Danielson look like a child on Raw, it's surreal to see him make you think he's a giant in serial killer mode. Match itself was awesome, no beating the bushes, just two guys trying to pretty much destroy each other in 12 minutes. Have no idea what was going on during this feud, but they obviously wanted the other to get hurt. I also have no Morishima experience prior to this, and I thought he was great, he wasn't one of those annoying big men who would try to "wow" the crowd with flashy crap, he would just use his size to make Danielson suffer. Bryan's blade job was a thing of beauty too, looked like tribal facepaint or something. Then he has those elbows, the dive, and trying to tear Morishima's eye out. Finish was fitting and leaves you wanting more (anticipating next match up).

Kenta Kobashi v Minoru Suzuki (NOAH 8/1/05)
--First half or so of this I was into it, second half, not so much. Began with Suzuki taking his sweet ass time going into a greco roman knuckle lock and collar and elbow and all that, being a cocky dick. Kobashi gets fed up and keeps him in a four minute headlock (going to the outside as well) and then barraging chops all over his chest and neck. After that they did kind of a "kick it into high-gear" thing that wasnlt bad but didn't really spark my interest. Some heavy damn suplexes though, Suzuki was dropped right on the TOP of his bloody head.

Naomichi Marufuji/Minoru Suzuki v Makato Hashi/Jun Akiyama (NOAH 18/7/05)
--Wanted this to end after the first two minutes. The fact it went like 26 after that didn't help at all. I can see this being a really loved tag match but something about it had me really really uninterested the whole time. Hashi and Akiyama were good, I though, Hash was fighting to not have his bandaged head be over-hit, but Marufuji continues to annoy the hell out of me. Sells like a poor man's Jeff Hardy and insists on obviously slapping his thighs every leg move he does. He and Suzuki were doing some weird unneccessary crap on the ramp that made me want to turn of my DVD player. At least Suzuki played a decent son of a bitch.

Just Splitting A Post In Two

Owen Hart v The 1-2-3 Kid (WWF 19/6/94)
--Really fun 4 minute sprint but nothing more than that. The opening dropkick looked like it came literallt out of nowhere since the lights were dimed for Waltman's entrance, probably my favourite dropkick. Had some okay stuff after that but half the match seemed like a small bunch of nothing (and half the match was 2 minutes). Owen countering the spinkick into a German was great, though. Finish came pretty much DURING that whole middle part. Wouldn't say this is ***1/2 like I thought it was before, or even close, but it was pretty cool.

Rey Misterio Jr v Jack Swagger (WWE 11/6/10)
--Wow what a great match. I wouldn't with anyone if they called Rey the best seller ever, he can make the most stupid obvious spot look legit and unpredictable. There were few times in this match where that happened, like Swagger *almost* countering Rey's swingy arm drag thing, and not doing it, and the old "make the heel run towards you so you'll pull down the rope for to fall out of the ring" trick. Match started off with Jack trying to cripple Rey in a headlock, which was great, and the 619 being hit early was cool too, it created a "that it? good booking, fuckheads" moment that got killed when Jack got his foot on the rope. Got weary when i saw Jack put Rey on the top rope, I was convinced it was gonna be some dumb spot, but they mad eit awesome. Rey went for headbutts, and Swagger sold it really well, falling on his feet instead of flying to the canvas like an overselling idiot. That set up probably the best top rope german I've ever seen, because, y'know, Swagger actually made it look like he *could* recover from what he got hit by. Best part in the match came after the commercial break, when Swagger had Rey wrppaed around the fucking ring post like a snake. Double 619 spot thingy was pretty nifty. Again, great match, maybe better than Rey/Punk 12/2. One thing that mostly annoys me about current WWE, though, is their fuckign camera amgles. They just HAVE to move the camera up and down whenever someone does a suplex or top rope jump. That's WHACK.

Bret Hart/Jim Neidhart v Shawn Michaels/Marty Jannetty (WWF 25/11/89)
--This really made me want to track down a Neidhart/Michaels match. A small portion of the match was Shawn bumping like a fuck for all of Neidhart's moves and I'd just love to see that for fifteen straight minutes. Loved how this whole match panned out though, there were pretty clear-cut sections of it that went from fast-paced/hot tag/cheating, etc. Favourite part in the match in the match happened near the beginning, where The Rockers were double teaming Bret with crazy tricks & hip locks & arm drags & shit, then Neidhart comes abruptly from the corner of the screen and wipes them both out with a clothesline. Greay visual. He got a good pop for that iirc, but HF eventually turned to the heels of the match (both teams were babyfaces) after they were both using illegal tactics and crowd mocking. They eventually got Michaels grounded in a hot tag too and they were laying it in to him pretty thick. Bret gave him the two most stiff uppercuts I've ever seen him give too, and the third was reversed into a backslide. Time limit running out was (N).

Yeah They Call Him The Natural.....

Vader v Dustin Rhodes (WCW 16/11/94)

--24 hours ago I'd never watched this before; I've now seen it three times. There's only so much two guys can do in twelve minutes, but, off of the top of my head, this might be the best twelve minute match I've ever seen that isn't Volk Han vs. Kiyoshi Tamura. Amazing. Vader's usually cocky, but here he's reached a different level of dicky, slapping Dustin and blowing saliva n his face and yelling his head of at him with Harley Race giving him a maniacal cackle on the outside. Dustin losing his shit, Tony Schiavone loses his shit, I lose my shit. Dustin's a perfect house o' fire, and you see about a million people jump on their feet when he tackles Vader down like a freight train and starts slapping away himself. He goes the Sting route and knocks him over the top rope and takes his mask and runs over Race, and only loses his own control when Big Van gets a breather outside. A Vader control segment is the control segment you WANT, and he's pummelling the crap out of Rhodes in the turnbuckle corner with those ridiculous swings. A Dustin sympathy period is a sympathy period you want, and I'd say his hope spots are as good as about anything I've seen. There's  great amount of stuff he does that would be considered almost nothing had this been the same sized opponent, but Vader's got the 200 lb weight upper hand, so when Rhodes pulls of a successful suplex or a power slam counter to a splash, you have everyone losing their mind. The DDT off of the second rope in particular was the damned greatest. Vader having to use two Vader splashes to get Dustin down was awesome, and Dustin kicked out at both which was a whole new level of him possibly being able to get a win here. Dustin had a sensational 1994, but I'd say he could have come off looking even stronger here than he did anytime else. He obviously got more control and stuff in the Buck series/WarGames, but this is fuckin' VADER, man. Two years prior (almost to the day, actually) you had Dustin scraping every bit of energy he had to even be a contender to win against Van, and here there's a lot of stuff that makes you think, "Dustin's fuckin' WINNING?!?!" Vader has to resort to throwing Dus over the rope when the ref takes his own period of pain because of Dustin overzealousness, and the idea of Vader resorting to being desperate enough to do that is awesome. And those clotheslines, man. He WIIIPPES him. Finish might be unspectacular, but, again, Dustin was made to look really strong. Once Vader's in deep shit Race gets in the ring and Dustin goes to whoop him only for Vader to cream the whole lot of them, then he lays out Rhodes with this face plant thing. This really was excellent, and I can only think how tremendous it would have been had they feuded throughout '95. I honestly cannot fathom a promoter watching this and thinking it wasn't a money feud. The crowd was molten, the match was terrific, and the performances were immense. Dustin looked like a better opponent for Vader than Sting was. Apart from Hart/Hart at WrestleMania and Blue Panther/El Mariachi, this is probably as good a match as I've seen from a non-Japanese promotion in 1994. Again, amazing.

Flair vs. Steamboat Still Rocked In 1994

Ric Flair v Ricky Steamboat (WCW 14/5/94)
--Really like the Spring Stampede match (Spring Stampede is a contender for best PPV ever, btw), but holy son of a mother this was even better. The idea of a wrestler vacating a belt and winning it back without anyone else winning it has always seemed dumb to me, but this truly felt like it was either guy's ballgame. Flair's heel shtick never gets old no matter how many times you've seen it, or no matter how many time you've seen it with the same opponent, and Steamboat is the perfect hope spot/cross-bodying/fiery fan favourite combatant for him. Loved Steamboat turning the screws and going for Flair's leg, and the figure four on him was a great spot. Flair's in "I'm better than Hulk Hogan" mode, but no matter how much he has to prove he's got to go to the ropes to get leverage and shove referees and all that and it's the Ric Flair you want. Bobby Heenan losing his mind whenever they went to a commercial break was the greatest thing ever. Finish is god-awful, and I think it actually hurt the match. After thirty minutes of grappling and outside-suplexes, Flair catches Steamboat with some demented head butt thing while Steamer's going for a leapfrog and pins him clean after waiting a few seconds. Apart from that, though, this was the business.

Ric Flair v Ricky Steamboat (WCW 24/7/94)
--Never really seen these two in a thirteen-minute spring environment, and it's a shame because this was five batches of fun. Flair lost the WCW Title to Hulk a week earlier at Bash at the Beach, and Sherri's by his side here and she's the greatest bitch wrestling's ever had. She gets a ton of cheap shots in with her high heel and bitch-slapping hand and Steamboat's staring her down only for Ric to catch him in the back. The referee interrogates Sherri and she's making the Sign of the Cross and promises she did nothing but stood and watched this fine pro-wrasslin' match. Then there's crowd members yelling and she's calling them fat pigs and saying they'll lose their fake teeth if they don't shut up or something. SHERRI CARRY JOB. Nah seriously this was a blast, with thirteen minutes instead of thirty five they work a lot more like a TV match around this time and have the feeling out being way cut down. Steamboat shines with his usual chop job and everything, and he gets Flair complaining about hair pulls and doing his Flair flops and stuff. Finish has Steamboat with Flair in the figure-four and getting his revenge on Sherri simultaneously. Then we get Steve Austin coming out and all hell is broken. Yeah, pile o' fun was this.

Babyface Arn Anderson?

Arn Anderson v Steven Regal (WCW 9/10/93)

--These two don't match up as well as they should. I really, really like their SuperBrawl IV 30 minute one, but even that, I don't know. "Arn Anderson vs. Steven Regal for 30 minutes" is an on-paper wet dream for me, and it's not *everything* I want, you know? Either way, they've never had a bad match together, either, and this definitely wasn't. Honestly the more I watch the more I think it's because Anderson just should not be a babyface. He works the arm, and it's okay, but it's way, way, way, way more fascinating and believable when he's a heel, because he's got more room for cheating his way out of things and creating openings for transactions, etc. Arn's babyface facial expressions and mannerisms really aren't great either. I thought his stuff during this time not being too great *may* have just been because he was over the hill at this point, but he's still top stuff the next year once he turns on Dustin, so I'm convinced it's this babyface thing. Match goes the fifteen minute time limit, and the final parts are a little disappointing; I really don't like WCW pulling out these draws only for the wrestlers to kill time in the last few minutes and not really get anywhere. It's really the same thing: babyface hits finisher at 8 second mark, pretends he's so out of energy he can't cover, and once he does at the 2 second mark, it's too late. This wasn't bad, but I'd be fine and dandy never watching it again.

Them Philly Crowds, Man

Dustin Rhodes v Barry Windham (WCW 29/12/92)

--If this was on a TV episode with a super cutesy pro-babyface crowd instead of being a handheld in the annoyingly crowd-split Philly, I get the feeling I would have thought it was a really good match. There's these bunch of fans near the person holding the camera in particular backing Windham (the heel) that are especially annoying.  It's a shame because like I said, this had some really, really good stuff. Windham is a sizeable opponent for Rhodes' babyface shtick and even though the two look like giant blobs with white heads on the handheld camera, i could see Dustin rolling in pain at certain points and I was ***dying*** to catch a closer look. Windham was being pretty dicky, taking cheap shots and teasing chair-usage and such, and the hope spots Dustin put in were perfect for the ten minutes they got. There's a ref bump and it would have been really great to see the crowd lose their shit when Dustin hit the Bulldog after that. A lot of the crowd actually barracked for Dustin, but I'm looking a little less forward to the tag with Liger and Steamboat from the same live event for no other fact than the negative reaction. God I really don't like Philly wrestling crowds. Scratch that, I *hate* Philly wrestling crowds.