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.

These Are All WWE Matches. Insert Crappy Title.

Bob Backlund v Hussein Arab (WWF 4/6/79)
--This is really damn good, and not even one of the better Backlund matches there is. I'm not even saying that as a gimmicky poster or anything, either. He's one of the best ever at mixing mat wrestling with pure fun, and Sheik's no slouch at it too. Match goes thirty minutes and I loved it all, even the pre-match stuff with Lou Albano when McMahon threw what looked like coffee straight in this damn face. The match itself had a bit of a mix of everything, I've always loved how Backlund can make the most simple common move look so deadly and entertaining. He has the best Full Nelson reversal ever. Sheik's actually growing on me more and more not just as a fun pleasure to watch, but a legitimately GREAT match worker. Him countering a rope jump with a (spiked) boot to the face was a highlight. Match was mostly mat stuff, though, but then they get tired of it and batter each other with chairs (not sure what the rules were back, no one was DQ'ed), and the crowd was sucking it up like hell. No way Sheiky could have resisted BOB'S ATOMIC DROP, and he got his dues. GO BACKLUND.

The Undertaker v The Big Show (WWE 23/2/03)
--Nothing of a must-see, but as far as WWE style slugests go this is a pleasant watch. Very rough-housian with heavy punches, forearms, BS' backwork, headbutts. Not really ultra-stiff but satisfying enough to make you believe that shit really hurt. Taker even bladed. A-Train interference was a bit of a pain but it set up a cool UT dive on him & PAUL E. DANGEROUSLY. Definitely don't regret watching, need to check CS08 real soon.

Owen Hart v Davey Boy Smith (WWF 3/3/97)
--If you asked me last year I would've said this was a top twenty matches I've ever watched or something. Now? About top 250, but I still really liked it. Started off with some bizarre twisty rolly thingys that I can only explain as being each guy trying to say "I'm a better mat worker than you are, partner". They were cool on the eye and stuff but I don;t love them like I used you. I find it really funny that a while ago I used to worship the armbar-rolly thingys, and now my favourite part was by far when they were hinting that they might cheat each other out of the match. Totally different things. Also loved how Davey would do some athletic taunt and Owen would duplicate it to get in his head. Both guys were pulling tights, putting feet on ropes, etc. and I though it was all great. I've heard some were bothered or whatever that all that tension didn't explode into a fist outburst or something but I though it didn;t warrant it anyway since they were tag Champions together. Not surprised this wasn;t the mind-blowing "scientific technical clinic" or whatever I used to think this was, but I'd be ltying if I said I didn;t really like it. Like, I wouldn't be against watching this again tomorrow, for example.

HHH v Edge v Chris Benoit (WWE 29/11/04)
--the result of this was bloody stupid given HHH was the Champion and lost the title only to win it back at NYR, but the match itself is a blast, glad it was recommended to me. This is the type of 3-way match I mean when i said "good spotfests", no dull moments and everything was really fun, like an attitude era match or something. Opened up with Unter taking it easy while Benoit and Edge beat each other up, he was jokingly clapping and giving those little "ow" facial expressions and it was awesome. It's a given all WWE three-ways will have two guys in the ring while one's on the outside, and a lot of the times it'll be done in a stupid way like getting throwed over the top rope and landing on their feet and "collapsing" or something. This was done greatly though, there was only like one that wasn't that convincing, but it was coincidentally my favourite one, because Benoit got Edge and Suplex'ed him on Helmsley fucking HEAD. Batista and Flair coming out made for another good "take-ou-on-guy" moment when they bashed Benoit, too, and Orton's (acting GM) involvement added a little bit to the match cos of his HHH feud. Not sure if they even had any matches after this in 04, but... yeh. Benoit used the sharpshooter a couple of times, likely in reference to Backlash 04, and i thought that was really cool. Again, they should've learned from Taker/Angle 02 that this type of finish doesn't go down too well, but Vince loves those "who won?" moments. Still doesn;t explain HHH bringing in a chair after the referee got knocked down in a no DQ match, though. Anyway, great match.

Whole lotta WCW

Lex Luger v Ricky Steamboat (NWA 23/7/89)
--Luger around this time is generally good to great, but here he was ....well, not that *bad*, just, kind of sloppy I guess. A little. Steamboat around this time is pretty much no short of Flair around this time so this had to be good either way, and it was. Always love when Steamboat starts off a match on fire, with high dropkicks, atomic drops, chops, the whole deal, maybe getting everyone thinking that the match might end early. Love it an equal amount when he gets cut off in his tracks by something like a Lex Luger knee to the face. The segment where Luger's control is where he gets a little sloppy but it isn't a Raja Lion deal or anything. Steamboat has those "I'm coming back" moments where he slips a chop in after Luger hits something, again, maybe getting the crowd to believe he's coming back, then Luger stops him. Lexy himself was a pretty great complimentary dominate-your-ass heel to Steamboat's fight-for-what's-right babyface, and Steamboat's drunken-punching here was nothing short of Arn Anderson or Terry Funk level drunken punching. Steamboat's comeback was how you'd expect. CHOP FROM THE TOP. Luger refused to stick the belt up if the match was no DQ so the rules were swapped around to a regular match and that was a bit of a head-scratcher since he decided to try to make it a no DQ by brining the chair in and stuff. Steamboat getting disqualified for using the chair justifies that, I guess.

Arn Anderson/Larry Zbyszko v Dustin Rhodes/Ricky Steamboat (WCW 19/11/91)
--Steamboat's return from WWF and it's a huge favourite of mine. Anderson's yells of "NOT Rick Stemaboat..." are one of my favourite pre-match things ever, and him telling Zbyszko Stemaboat's "just a man" is one of my favourite in-match word..things.....ever..you get it. Babyfaces dominating early is classic NWA/WCW style tag formula, and unlike other certain babyface dominant crap, I adore it. I can watch a couple of WWE face guys in 2010 dominate a couple of WWE heel guys nowadays, and well, I don't "feel" it. But fuck that crap anyway, this is WCW in early 90s. Zbyszko and Anderson are one hell of a tag team, and I think their bag of tricks is about as good as anyones. Zbyszko getting into a tussle with Steamboat only to slap him in the face is like trying to rip off Jushin Liger's mask...you don't do it, man. Steamboat chases him on the outside and Zbyszko tags in Arn without Steamboat seeing it. Arn attacks when he slips back in to reveal it was all plan. The Enforcers' Steamboat beat-down section is as good as a heel-control segment gets. Them assisting each otherwith the abdominal stretches and boston crabs were awesome. I don't know how you think of pushing your partner's head back while they have a crab on but they did. One other great part was when Steamboat hit Arn with an atmoic drop, so you think he's getting the control back, until they collide heads after Arn bounces off the ropes and it make Steamboat's attack negated. Hot tag with Rhodes explodes everywhere eventually. Dustin being the guy to get the hot tag was a little "eh?" considering it was Steamboat's return, but Dustin's just SO good at being a face you just don't care. JR mentions he's 21 and I found that ridiculous, I can't think of too many 21 year olds I've seen in wrestling that were this good. In fact bar Rey Mysterio I can't think of any. Pop for the finishing Crossbody and stuff was insane.

Chris Benoit v 2 Cold Scropio (WCW 21/2/93)
--Thought this might not hold but I love the fact I was very wrong. Scorpio's a guy who's appreciated well for being a high-flying flippy guy but underappreciated for being an actual good worker. This is probably his best match, and the best Benoit match in the US for years. Liked the nice blend of mat stuff, hard hits and appropriate spots, great match. Fuck WCW for saying it went to 19:59 when it didn't even go 18:30 though.

Chris Benoit v Eddy Guerrero (WCW 16/10/95)
--Awesome for eight or something minutes, but I won't say it's a four star match or anything. Not complaining at all though, pre-ten minute matches almost don't get better. They fit the arm work with Eddy in there shockingly well with only five or something minutes remaining and Eddy sold it perfectly while they still managed to keep up the hurricanranas and dives they were doing before.

Chris Benoit v Kevin Sullivan (WCW 16/6/96)
--"Good", but I didn't think it was better than that. Sullivan was being a dick when pretty much refusing to sell borderline all of Benoit's offence while Benoit was doing bumps like the stair-throw and taking shit like toilet doors to the head. Suplex off of the table was a great finishing spot. Favourite part of the match might have been Dusty Rhodes' commentary

THERE'S A LAYDEH--THERE'S A LAYDEH IN THE MEYEN'S BAT'ROOM. WE GOTTA A WOMAN IN THE MEYEN'S JOHN HERE IN BALTIMORE.

Hulk Hogan v The Giant (WCW 10/8/96)
--Good enough, I guess. About as good as heel Hulk Hogan at 600 years old and Paul Wight in the first year of his career would get. Pretty slow, but I didn't want it any other way, they actually tried to outpower each other almost the whole thing (when Hogan wasn't doing some of the best stalling ever). There wasn't of this Hogan superman stuff either, he had to yank the gigiantic hair from the gigantic head of The Giant to even be in contention to win the Greco-Roman tie-ups. I loved when he pointed the refereee toward his head to show Wight was pulling his hair (when he wasn't), so the ref couldn't see HE was pulling Wight's hair. Nash and Hall's interference was done better than most mid-late 90s WCW run-ins as well. The Giant hulking up was something else.