Brian Pillman v Tom Zenk (WrestleWar 17/5/92)
--Liked this a lot, especially for a former partner match where neither guy is full-fledged heel. Zenk seemed to be the guy that was going heel; by the time Pillman had the majority of the match he'd go to the lnegths of faking injury. Pillman had the leg worked and Zenk would fall in a pile when he tried an Irish whip, so Pillman goes airbourne to finish him off. Zenk was milking it and he comes off as a bit of a dick. Which was great since babyface Zenk isn;t my (or anyone else's, from what I gather) cup of tea. Nothing to shove on a ballot for me, but another gem in the belt of WCW's '92 year.
The Steiner Brothers v Tatsumi Fujinami/Takayuki Iizuka (WrestleWar 17/5/92)
--This was better than Pillman/Zenk, if even basically a glorified spotfest. I thought there were enough nifty transitions and ground-and-pound for this to sidle away ever-so-slightly from the territory of a "spotfest", but what you remember about this one is the spots. And there were some really good spots. I particularly liked the one where Fujinami & Iizuka were attempting some sort of doomsday device with Rick on top, only for Rick to counter it with a suplex. It was a little sloppy, which is unsurprising given the move actually pulled off, but it made for a hell of a visual regardless. Iizuka's nose exploded somewhere in there, and i thoguht that added to whatever role he was playing...which I saw as "underdog". Sort of. Won't put this on the list either, but it goes in that '92 WCW belt.
Sting v Cactus Jack (Beach Blast 20/6/92)
--Watched this again because I thought it's drop a few places, and while it did, it's still awesome. I think I've seen this like 6 times now since first watching it 2008, and pretty much every time it holds up way better than I thought it would. Cactus takes more concrete bumps than I had remembered, the vertical suplex within the crowd barriers and the backdrop suplex where his head connects with the legs of the railing look nastier with each viewing. That sunset flip from the apron to the floor does as well. Totally makes him look like the looney shit-smahser that will do anything to inflict pain. him rubbing the chair after swinging it was bone-chillingly great as well, and I think he even apologized to it. Sting was pretty great in this, as well. I loved when Cactus had a leg-scissors around his waist and he was fighting off the crossfaces and giving a really good Herculean comeback. By the end of it it really felt like he had endured a flat out fight to the end. Shit's still awesome.
Wednesday 5 October 2011
Tuesday 4 October 2011
Bit o' Clash XIX
Brian Pillman/Jushin Liger v Chris Benoit/Beef Wellington (Clash of the Champions 16/6/92)
--I've seen this overrated to hell but otherwise it's good. Benoit is pretty great even at a stage this early in his career. Not "Pretty great" in the sense where he's the best wrestler having the best matches, but I don't remember seeing a guy play a young lion while also looking like a guy who others would shit their pants to get in the ring with because he's going to grind at your face with his knuckles. Wellington seemed fine, he looked like the resthold guy for this which was cool in a match built mainly around the sensationalism of Pillman and Liger's flying spots (hope it doesn't sound like I'm knocking that). The dives were cool and if I have the right match I remember a pretty nasty outside bump by Benoti or Wellington. The announcers really don't shut up about there not being any mat covering on the concrete floor either, and Jesse Ventura lost his mind for Liger's Asai Moonsault. This wasn't a great match, but I wouldn't have a problem watching it right now; it was good.
Steve Williams/Terry Gordy v The Steiner Brothers (Clash of the Champions 16/6/92)
--When watching the Beach Blast main event with the same match-up, I honestly thought it was this one until Jim Ross said "We hope you're enjoying Beach Blast," so it blew my mind to think they could have a better match out there (from opinions I'd heard, anyway). I pretty much thought there was no way I'd prefer this one to that one in the end. Note to self: BULLLLLLSHIT. This was excellent, and basically the Beach Blast with a lot of the fat of the mat restholds and stuff trimmed off with a better crowd. I think it went a max. of 15 minutes, and without that downtime you have Doc and Gordy basically dropping control segments with restholds in favour of control segments with bullldozing killing. This still had the Williams/Rick mat work, and what was done of that was really good, but it's basically a more focused version of bombfest that gets me loving this. Actually the Gordy/Scott stuff may have been better. They worked this bridging segment, and by the looks of it Gordy could legitimately not lift himeslf up and collapsed each time. That might be called a "botch", but watching what was Scott (kayfabe) not being able to get a guy in a bridge was amazing. The suplexes her threw around were obviosuly great as well. Williams blowing of all of the mat work in favour of a slap to the face was beautiful and really got this going to the eleventh number. MVC did NOT relent on that leg either and the finish with the chopblock was sweet. This is my highest 2-on-2 tag right now and unless my re-watches of MX/Southern Boys and MX/RnR hit my sweet spot like this did, it's staying there.
--I've seen this overrated to hell but otherwise it's good. Benoit is pretty great even at a stage this early in his career. Not "Pretty great" in the sense where he's the best wrestler having the best matches, but I don't remember seeing a guy play a young lion while also looking like a guy who others would shit their pants to get in the ring with because he's going to grind at your face with his knuckles. Wellington seemed fine, he looked like the resthold guy for this which was cool in a match built mainly around the sensationalism of Pillman and Liger's flying spots (hope it doesn't sound like I'm knocking that). The dives were cool and if I have the right match I remember a pretty nasty outside bump by Benoti or Wellington. The announcers really don't shut up about there not being any mat covering on the concrete floor either, and Jesse Ventura lost his mind for Liger's Asai Moonsault. This wasn't a great match, but I wouldn't have a problem watching it right now; it was good.
Steve Williams/Terry Gordy v The Steiner Brothers (Clash of the Champions 16/6/92)
--When watching the Beach Blast main event with the same match-up, I honestly thought it was this one until Jim Ross said "We hope you're enjoying Beach Blast," so it blew my mind to think they could have a better match out there (from opinions I'd heard, anyway). I pretty much thought there was no way I'd prefer this one to that one in the end. Note to self: BULLLLLLSHIT. This was excellent, and basically the Beach Blast with a lot of the fat of the mat restholds and stuff trimmed off with a better crowd. I think it went a max. of 15 minutes, and without that downtime you have Doc and Gordy basically dropping control segments with restholds in favour of control segments with bullldozing killing. This still had the Williams/Rick mat work, and what was done of that was really good, but it's basically a more focused version of bombfest that gets me loving this. Actually the Gordy/Scott stuff may have been better. They worked this bridging segment, and by the looks of it Gordy could legitimately not lift himeslf up and collapsed each time. That might be called a "botch", but watching what was Scott (kayfabe) not being able to get a guy in a bridge was amazing. The suplexes her threw around were obviosuly great as well. Williams blowing of all of the mat work in favour of a slap to the face was beautiful and really got this going to the eleventh number. MVC did NOT relent on that leg either and the finish with the chopblock was sweet. This is my highest 2-on-2 tag right now and unless my re-watches of MX/Southern Boys and MX/RnR hit my sweet spot like this did, it's staying there.
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