Some Mania 19 notes. 

Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin- Every match has problems coming in as well as strengths.  This match is a strong contrast in the two.  The main problem is Steve Austin cant take hardly any bumps.  In the match he only takes 5 I believe.  This severally limits what Rock can do in the match.  The other problem is Rock seemed to be struggling to figure out how to effectively work heel.

The strengths of it are also impressive.  These two are both hugely over, guaranteeing a hot crowd, and they have  a near iconic status in wrestling.  Plus they have a good deal of history with each other to build off of. 

They do as good a job in this match as could be expected given the basic limitation of their style and the problems faced with them.  The first segment of the match works mainly because Austin knows how to bring an asskicking, and the fans love watching him bring one.  They get extra points for a pretty smart transition to Rocks offense.  Basically Austin gets carried away, the ref says something, Austin turns to mouth to him, and Rock clips his knee.  It allows Rock to take control without Austin taking a bump.  Rock then can work over Austins knee to get his heat again without Austin having to take any bumps. Thats smart work folks. 

Rocks heat segment ends when he stalls to much allowing Austin to recooperate enough to throw punches and then a clothesline.  At this point they go into the finishing sequence.  Where all Austins bumps are put. They basically first kick out of their own finishers and then kick out of their opponents finisher till the end.  A nice moment of Rock showing how much he has improved his the peoples elbow segment.  They basically go for the Mania 15 finish: Rock misses Austin hits stunner, but this time Rock blocks stunner and hits a spinebuster for the elbow.  Its a nice moment.  I could have used better transitions during the end segment but I think the segment basically works because of their personalities.  This is two of the biggest stars ever throwing down with bombs to see who is the better man.  If Austin had been able to take more bumps they could have made the finish a lot better, but it was what it was.  About **.75 for a smart match that was severally limited by one guy being a cripple. 

Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle-  Despite the hype before hand this match has no excuses.  Kurt did EVERYTHING and more then he normally does.  The problems with this match were purely mental.  Coming in the match had some natural things to play off of.  First off they both have a amateur background and second off Brock has bad ribs.  Of course neither is played effectively.  Par for the Angle course.

The start of the match is your basic waste of time.  They establish absolutely nothing.  To give them credit at Summerslam early they establish Brocks power and Angles quickness.  They go into Kurt kind of controlling but its not very effective because Kurt controls like a face by putting Brock back into the same holds etc.  Then Brock takes control with a powerslam and hits some big moves.  Kurt transitions to the heel beat down is to go outside and stomp Brock when he comes back in (very ineffective).  Kurt then does a very boring heel beat down where he works Brocks back.  Cole and Tazz try to sell it like he is working the ribs but it doesnt work.  Had Kurt busted out a gutbuster, a knee to the ribs, an abdominal stretch etc this segment would have worked better.  Kurt also bores the fans by holding on to a weak looking STF, which turns into a week sleeper then to a weak camel clutch.  It all looks bad, and he holds onto all of it too long.

Brock gets up and drives Kurt into the turn buckle twice but Kurt cuts him off with an overhead belly to belly to keep control.  Brock goes out, Kurt follows, rolls Brock in, and then Kurt eats a spinebuster.  They do a double KO which gets no heat.  Brock takes control for a bit with a foream,  a shoulder tackle, two overhead belly to belly suplexes until Angle cuts him off by hitting some rolling Germans.  Kurt at this point shows no ill effects from the series of big moves from Brock.  At this point the match desolves into a I hit a big move you hit a big move thing without the heat or excuses of Rock vs Austin.  Nor do these two have the charisma and personality to make it work.  Plus they go way to far with it.  You get an Angle Slam reversed into a F-5 reversed into an anklelock etc.  Things like Brock being right by the ropes on an anklelock but just not reaching out show how unsmart these two are.  To Brocks credit he tries to sell the ribs, but Kurt gives him so very little to work with it just cant be bought by the fans.  Then they botch the finish.  Not a horrible match, but one with no thought at all in it.  Plus it was totally boring and unfocused in the early part and middle before they started doing the my turn your turn stuff for the finish.  **.25.

Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho-  This match suffered from Shawns rust.  I know Shawn didnt have ring rust, but I do think he had technical rust.  If you think back the last technical PPV match Shawn worked was KOTR 1997 against Austin.  In that match Shawn basically blew it off because he was pissed Austin was more over.  So you have to go all the way back probably to KOTR 1996 against Davey for a PPV technical match that Shawn wanted to be good.  Now before that though this was a standard Shawn match.  Somewhere in 1996 Shawn started to either go garbage or work big guys for the most part. 

It starts out well with them exchanging some holds with Shawn frustrating Jericho.  A nice sequence after them trading holds has Jericho punch Shawn, Shawn hit Jericho with a bigger one knocking him down, then Jericho charges and gets tossed outside letting his emotions get to him, Shawn fakes him out on a planch and instead hits a baseball slide.  It establishes the basic psychology of the match of Shawn as the face and Jericho as the heel who is almost to focused on showing up Shawn. 

Jericho transitions back to offense by rolling through a flying cross body then beats up Shawn for a bit with basic stuff before feeding Shawn a pretty transition by letting him throw him into the post on a bulldog.  Then we get a problem as Shawn slaps on the figure four for no reason.  Its the kind of build error that shows Shawns slow build rust.  He then tries to work over the leg, but it should be work the leg then hit the figure four. The transition is another figure four which Jericho kicks Shawn into the turnbuckle from. 

They go outside which leads to Jericho just putting the walls on Shawn with no resistance.  It works a little better because of Shawns known back problems, but again I prefer to build to things.  Jericho then works over Shawns back with some nice stuff. 

This focuses the match again.  Shawn had broken the flow with the mistimed figure four and Jericho going for the Walls out of nowhere maintained the problems. Jericho dicking over Shawns back allows it to regain its direction for a bit and Jericho to heel it up. They tease a Shawn offensive run with a pretty back drop attempt countered into a DDT.  This leads to a double KO.  They do a cute sequence after where Shawn whips Jericho and Jericho hits the flying forearm just like HBK and then nips up just like HBK.  HBK then nips up.  Then he does his flying forearm nip up and magically his back is healed.  Shawn goes through some offense, but again I feel its mistimed.  Jericho needed to build his control up to a bit more of a climax before Shawn made his big comeback.  And of course with the central storyline being Shawns back being injured his no selling of the back is really annoying. 

It all leads to a nice roll up exchange sequence.  Jericho comes out of it going for the walls but Shawn flips him over (why he couldnt have done that earlier is strange).  Shawn gets caught with a Northern Lights Suplex which should hurt his back BUT he back bridges out of the pin into a backslide.  My lord what a crappy sell that was.

They then move into the long finishing sequence.  By this time Shawn seems to have gotten his wits about him and plays this part very well.   They play the near falls extremely well, fill in the stuff between them, and it comes off very dramatic.  An especially nice touch is Jericho countering a rana into the Walls. A pretty and logical transition like this really heats up a match.  Of course if Jericho had failed to get the Walls on earlier this would have gotten an even bigger response. Shawn reaches the ropes fast.  Another nice transition is after Jericho gets some nice near falls Shawn counters an irish whip by quickly springing to the top for a flying cross body and revenging Jericho hitting sweet chin music on him by putting Jericho into the Walls. 

They also do a good job leading into the elbow drop by first having Shawn counter a super backdrop suplex into a cross body.  When he goes to the top Jericho crotches him.  Jericho tries for a superplex but Shawn hits the inverted suplex and then the flying elbow.  Its a really pretty sequence that leads right into the finisher exchange at the end.  

Basically what we have is a match that did a nice job establishing the roles of each man early.  Then got side tracked with some poor build and poor selling.   Then got back on track with a really nicely build finishing segment.  The ending is enough to make this the best WWE match of the year so far, but the problems with the middle are more then enough to keep it from being a classic.  I wish Shawn had sold the back better instead of Shawning up in the middle.  I also wish they had built better early.  If they had this might have been almost a great match.  Instead its ***.25.   Nothing to be ashamed of considering how long it had been since Shawn tried this. 

Steve Austin vs The Undertaker Summerslam 1998

Summerslam 1998 is really a fascinating card but I dont feel like doing a full review.  Ill just make a couple of quick points before getting into the meat of this article.  Val vs D-lo was the kind of fun sprint with a simple storyline that the undercard needs and is often missing.  Everything an opener should be until the end. The ladder match wasnt good.  It was a below average wrestler (Rock) and an average wrestler (HHH) having an average match. Whats amazing is despite the fact this match doesnt do anything that cool (though does do some neat things) and has tons of silliness the crowd reacts to it like it is a great match.  In that way its clear why the ladder match became such a staple in the WWF after this match (it wasnt before).  Latter the Hardy Boyz turned it into a gore fest that would kill its ablity to be even this. 

Austin says before the match hell cheap shot anyway he has to, to retain the title. The fun of this match is how they build to and justify him taking that cheap shot while at the same time showing how worthy a champion he is. 

Many face vs face matches  spend the early portion of the match showing how equal the combatants are.  This match never does that.  They put them next to each other and let you see the differences.  Austin is intense rabid giving all hes got as soon as he gets the opportunity. Taker is more methodical but also dominate.  In the early portion every sequence ends with Taker getting the edge. Early back and forths lead to Taker being ahead.  Austin goes for the Lou Thesz but its countered in a big way for Taker.  Such as when Austin grabs an Armbar Taker reverses it with ease.  They trade a bit more before Austin outsmarts him with a drop toe hold to allow him to go back to the arm.  Taker later goes back to the armbar for the ropewalk but Austin arm drags him off (showing he has that move scouted).  Even with this big move he cant hold onto control for very long at all.  .  A pivotal early move is after a sequence of Taker control Austin tries to take control with a kick and a suplex but the suplex is reversed with remarkable ease. 

This leads to another thing these men do well.  They use the old style go from one thing to the next.  The match starts with both going for the left arm.  From there Taker is able to move to the upper back where he stays the rest of the match.  Austins transition after the beating he takes from the vertical suplex is to attack Takers leg.  People should take note of how they use this.  Austin knows the leg will not play into the finish so he doesnt beat on it endlessly.  He does enough damage to play a factor but not so much that Taker cant believably come out of it (and its Taker at this time so he has the pain tolerance in his psychology in a way.) 

Even after Austin takes control with the leg attack his momentum is this time not overwhelmed by Taker at first by Taker hitting a big flying clothesline then the next time Kane interrupting .  Kanes interruption (Taker sends him off then gives Austin a free bee in good faith) is just enough to cause Austin to walk into a huge chokeslam over the ropes.  The leg work pays off here and its still early as it takes Taker way to long to capitalize and Austin is able to take the moment to go out to brawl.  The brawl in the crowd segment though is again punctuated by Taker being just to strong as he backdrops out of a piledriver.  Back in Austin tries for a stunner in desperation but Taker escapes and when Austin tries to follow he is driven into the ring post.

Undertaker dominates on the outside leading to him legdropping Austin through the SAT from the top rope.  Its an excellent spot and they play it well.  Taker roles Austin in and gets a nice near fall. Austins selling is superb during the next 90 seconds as he sells being destroyed by the move while trying to do all kinds of desperation moves to get himself back in a match that is clearly slipping away.  First he steps away from a Taker corner splash, but Taker keeps coming,  then he boots Taker on a blind change but Taker keeps coming, then finally he gets the better of a double clothesline (and  it looks like he did) to be able to get to his feet at the same time as Taker (though he still sells being in deep trouble.)  This is not Shawn Michaels coming back right after the table powerbomb against Nash this is taking 3 desperation moves  over a good time to finally get yourself back in the match. 

Austin finally is able to gain the upperhand with punches, shoulder thrust, thesz press, elbow drops, and almost hits the stunner but Taker blocks it so he cant get enough of it to get even a good nearfall.  But after this last burst he is again overwhelmed leading to a chokeslam,  the fans can see it slipping away as can Austin.  Taker fails at a tombstone and Austin tries for another Stunner but Taker again is to much and Austin has to eat ropes with his balls and then Taker hits a Russian leg sweep. 

At this point the arena can sense it there will be a title change tonight.  Taker is just to much.  He is the better man this day.  Taker goes for the ropewalk, the one move in his arsenal before the tombstone that he hasnt hit yet which will lead to the end and here is what we know. 

1. Austin is losing.
2. Taker seems to have the answers for the Stunner.
3. Austin has been nutted once by Taker dropping him on the ropes.
4.  Austin has the ropewalk scouted.
5. Austin said hed take any cheapshot necessary to win the match. 

So finally at this point when Taker is about to hit him with the punch off the ropes Austin pounds him with a hard low blow making Taker defenseless for the stunner for the victory.  It makes sense from the promo, it seems necessary, and it seems justified because of Austins earlier words and Takers previous actions.  A very smart finish for a very smart match. 

Now for the problems.  1.  This is in the Russo era.  Lots of new fans were there so the crowd isnt very smart.  They are totally clueless to what they are watching and only really respond to the 2 big signature moves from each man and the gimmick spots as fans often did during the Russo era.  A hot crowd like we probably would have seen in 2000 would have given this type of match an electricity it needed.  2.  Austin moveset is a bit weak in this match.  They work around it pretty well with punches, elbow drops, clotheslines, and counters, but still you feel he needs more moves to fill the time.  3. Taker is a bit over methodical throughout so the match drags slightly and it has a crowd brawl which always drags.

Still I think the overall work is very strong.  Austins selling is spot on and Taker brings a very nice moveset.  Plus they really told a strong story so Ill go ***1/2 for this very underrated match.

Chiyako Nagashima vs Manami Toyota

Some matches are so bad and so offensive they you figure that anyone who watches them would see all deluge of flaws in front of them and rip them apart.  This match is one of them.  Yet I have seen nothing but positive remarks about this match some calling it the womans match of the year.  I cant help but wonder if they watched the same match as me.  Do womens matches just get a free pass or is just GAEA matches?  The same  thing is true of shoot style in many ways as say Tamura vs Khosaka has gotten analysis to the extent it seems that its great, wonderful, best match ever without real analysis looking at it in detail.  I did and I found several key flaws that dont not make it a **** match for sure but do keep it from being a *****.   So even though this is a job Id rather leave to better reviewers Ill rant on this match. 

The match starts off pretty hot with some nice moves executed by both (the main strength of the match.)  One of the main weaknesses of the match is shown early as everytime someone goes on offense they are totally healed in fact they are fine as soon as they start the transition.  This is a flaw I expect in an overrated indy spotfest but not from a praised match of the year candidate.  The first blatant no sell comes from Chiyako when right after a near fall when Manami goes to the top she grunts springs up and Hurricanranas Manami off.  This one is the most forgivable of the match simply because it is so early. 

Pretty close after that they introduce another flaw of the match which is sloppiness.  Manami acts like shes going to go for the legs to focus the match a bit but when Chiyakos leg comes out on what Eddie calls the lasso from el paso (sorry not sure on the technical name). She then goes to an inverted stf (neck) then she goes for a bow and arrow but cant get it at first then puts on a strange looking variation and Chiyako comes out of it selling her back.  Awful mat sequence really. 

When Chiyako goes back on offense she uses weak ass knee lifts and after a quick reverse sequence which looks good she grabs a leghold that looks nice.  Of course Manami (who by the way just to be totally vicious is starting to move more and more in the direction of Kyoko appearance wise) cant be bothered to sell it.  Manami gets in her first blatent no sell on a German ( I mean total no sell popping up and flexing.)  Chiyako does another German this time Manami sells it.  When Chiyako follows with a missile drop kick Manami takes a pretty bump rolls through pops up and flexes for her second blatantly no sell.  Manami then does a german and guess what Chiyako pops up and flexes for her second blatant no sell.  I wanted to throw my remote at the tv at this point but I resisted andit got worse.

After some hot moves by Manami Chiyako does her third blatant no sell when again Manami goes up to the top and gets Germaned off.  Manami though sells this one which is nice.  But she then immediately kill my good will by no selling on the transition.  After a bit more Chiyako no sells on transition  and does some very very ugly roll ups.  Manami hits yet another German suplex and they sure are killing that move tonight.

As of the 15 minute mark the fans still arent buying the nearfalls despite the big moves they are getting hit with.  Another bit of Chiyako sloppiness gets introduced into the match when she clearly misses a double footstomp.  Manami (this is a uniquely awful match) first makes clear we know she felt something (or she sells some impact) but then she pops up for her third blatent no sell of the match.  You cant act like something hit you then no sell it and it be okay. 

Finally the crowd gets into it when Manami hits a superbomb.  Revealing another flaw and myth of the match.  The match is not dramatic.  The crowd knows that Manami is going to win.  This is never in doubt to them, they never buy that Chiyako can beat her.  They also arent into this whole Manami as the heel thing.  They are there for Manami and to see Manami win and at this point its quite clear.  

Manami gets big reaction for her ocean cyclone suplex and for the that low hook tiger suplex type move she does (man I need to get a movelist for Manami).  But guess what right after it when she goes up to the top Chiyako does her fourth blatant no sell and this time spider Germans her off.  Im almost hoping  Manami no sells it just to stick with what seems to be the only psychology in the match. 

Manami doesnt blatantly no sell a nice half nelson suplex but gets up first and her transition is a queen bee bomb which is no sold by Chiyako.  She does another  and Chiyako does the Kobashi second backdrop driver sell (possibly her best sell of the match;).)  Manami goes for another but Chiyako counters with another sloppy roll that cant even get a 1 count its so bad and then Manami hits a third for the win. 

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Curt Hennig 12-4-85

I decided instead of doing the standard career retrospective or whatever on Hennig Id look at this match where a young Hennig wrestled the best wrestler in the world.  It feels like sometime when wrestlers die young their workrate  improves and the feeling I have about why is the same.  It feels like your entering café de la Metzler where your waiter meets you and asks What will you be having today?

What is the special?

Curt Hennig, 44, great wrestler who could have been so much more.

hmmm Ill have that.

What would you like on that Sir. 

The usual.

Steroids, pain killers, and alcohol Would you like cocaine with that? 

EHHH no but Ill take extra pain killers.

Coming up would you like to enter the pool to predict the next special?

Yeah can I have Superstar Billy Graham?

Excellent choice Sir. 

So anyway Im not quite sure what stage Hennig was at this time in his career.  It feels like a first tour kind of thing from the end.  It also feels like he and Jumbo were kind of feeling each other out so Im guessing if they had wrestled each other before it hadnt been often.

 I also believe this would have been right before Hennigs first big push from Verne.  Im hazy on exactly when Jumbo went total heel.  He clearly is when he injures Choshu in January but Im not sure about December.  In this match he doesnt wrestle heel just as the man building for a Hennig comeback. 

Ill try to go paragraph of PBP followed by paragraph of analysis so you can skim the pbp like I often do ;).

We start off with a collar and elbow immediately passed by Jumbo followed quickly by a go behind for Hennig.  Jumbo flips Curt off (kind of an arm drag type maneuver but without holding the arm).  When he tries to capitalize Curt puts on a headscissors, which is immediately broken by Jumbo and we get a stand and look. 

That all happened in the first 20 seconds of the match.  Things look pretty smooth at this point with the pause working as to get over the standoff the first 20 seconds of matwork was.  We also get a quick introduction into the story of Jumbos superiority with how easily he passes the Collar and elbow and then throws Hennig off. 

Another collar and elbow and Jumbo immediately takes it into a top wristlock. Curt counters into a hammerlock but Jumbo is able to counter that back into the top wristlock.  Hennig arm drags Jumbo off and we have another standoff.

 Jumbo passes the collar and elbow at the beginning so fast and gracefully I had to rewind to see what happened. Jumbo is clearly put over as the stronger one with how easily he passes Hennigs collar and elbow the first few times they do it.  Hennig though is doing reasonably well through his agility despite possibly being physically overmatched.

Tsuruta takes an armbar out of the next collar and elbow.  He jabs his elbow a few times into Hennigs arm and then does an arm wringer. Hennig is able to counter this with a drop toe hold which allows him to take a  toe hold with Jumbo on his belly.  Jumbo  grabs his head and pulls him forward until Hennig has to release the toe hold and gets put into a headlock.  Jumbo stands up.  This allows Hennig to throw Jumbo off into the ropes then he eats a shoulder block with standard Hennig over selling and we get another stand off.

Again we get the pattern of Jumbo taking the hold them working threw the hold into a quick move to go to another stand off.  I liked Jumbos counter to the toehold quite a bit and it helped really show his physical dominance of Hennig.

Immediately after Hennig stands up they do another Collar and Elbow that Jumbo passes and does a headlock take over two minutes and 40 seconds in. Jumbo holding the headlock stands up again Hennig throws him off and again he eats the shoulder block.  This time Jumbo quickly attempts to capitalize by running for Hennig when he stands up.  Hennig is ready now and hits a drop toe hold and again grabs his toe hold.  Hennig doesnt hold it long instead he slams the knee into the canvas then does the flip to jerk the knee move.  Jumbo stands and they circle.

I liked how Hennig showed a little learning this time when Jumbo went back to the well to soon on the shoulder block. 

Collar and Elbow and this time Jumbo immediately kicks and follows with a European Uppercut. Hennig sells it big bouncing off the ropes and coming back with a forearm.  They trade chops and Jumbo grabs the headlock again then twirls around to try for the double underhook suplex but Hennig is able to back off to the ropes. 

The kick off the tie up felt like Jumbo was maybe a bit pissed over getting caught by the drop toe hold again.  Jumbo is maybe sick of the kid catching him with that move and not making the head way he wants on the mat so he  starts increasing his offensive intensity with strikes and going for one of his signature moves.

Collar and Elbow this time Hennig holds on tight and forces Jumbo into the corner.  When Jumbo breaks Hennig hits him with 3 shoulder tackles.  Irish whip is reversed and when Hennig bounces out of the corner he runs right into a back body drop.

I wonder if they were intentionally doing a collar and elbow storyline.  Having failed to ever get a hold out of it this time Hennig just holds on and uses the ropes to get an advantage. Yet he is overmatched and even getting an advantage from the tie up doesnt hold up for him.

Another Collar and Elbow and Jumbo immediately goes back to the Headlock.  He releases to deliver elbows to the back of the neck.  They trade strikes a couple of times (Jumbos looking significantly better) but Curt fights hard and after 4 slaps hits a drop kick.  He grabs a front headlock but Jumbo pulls the arm off easily and kicks to the gut.  Jumbo throws Hennig off the ropes and hits a jumping knee butt followed by throwing Hennigs head into the turnbuckle and then hits the double underhook suplex for the first 2 count of the match at 6:20. 

The first major series of offense goes as it should to Jumbo. Its interesting to watch native Jumbo underdog gaijen Hennig.  The crowd is mostly dead because they know Hennig is doing the job but its fun to watch for me. 

Jumbo grabs a front headlock of his own.  Hennig backs him into the corner and hits 3 shoulder blocks again and a slap.  This time the Irish whip isnt blocked and Hennig is able to follow up with an elbow and a jumping footstomp out of the piledriver position (not sure of the name of that move.)  He throws a series of strikes and then winds up for a big knee to Jumbos chest for a 2 count. 

Pretty good comeback for Curt.  Jumbo was really good selling for this segment not overselling like some people (like the person hes wrestling) would but showing that hes a bit rattled. 

Hennig grabs the front headlock but Jumbo is again just too strong and this time counters into a vertical suplex with ease. Jumbo slaps and kicks then whips Hennig and grabs an abdominal stretch  which Hennig counters into an abdominal stretch of his own.   Jumbo simple walks carrying Hennig with him to the ropes.

I always loved that sort of stuff from Jumbo.  Such as picking Funk up on his shoulders out of a hold and placing him on the top rope.  It always made him seem so strong and confident and given the story of this match it again is a nice touch. Jumbo could have hip tossed out of it but I like his solution a bit better in the context of the match.  It also allows Hennig to keep control of the match a bit easier.  Hennig also being young makes a mistake in this segment by not trying to capitalize harder on his advantage instead grabbing the front headlock a move Jumbo had already shown he was to strong for Hennig to have success with.  This time instead of simply ripping Hennigs arm off he suplexes him for more damage. 

However Hennig keeps on the slight advantage with punches and then Whip into a powerslam.  As if he knows its not enough he immediately climbs to the second rope for a nice second rope drop kick for 2.  He whips Jumbo again and goes for a drop kick but Jumbo grabs the ropes and immediately goes after Hennig.  Whipping him off the ropes for a big lariat followed by a Jumbo backdrop suplex for the 3 count.  9:20 Probably ***.

Nice little finish with Jumbo not killing Hennig dead and given Hennig a nice little segment of offense before capitalizing on a slight mistake and going immediately for the kill. 

After the match Jumbo shakes Curts hand and then raises his hand as if to say see fans this guy is pretty good which really makes me think of this match as kind of a try out for Curt. 

This is far from a great match.  Curt never has Jumbo in any real trouble.  Early its established Jumbo is superior and its followed threw the whole match inevitably leading to the backdrop suplex.  Yet it is also an example of Jumbos wonderful ability to construct a wonderful little match with a game opponent. 

They dont seem very familiar so you have lots of stops in the action early but instead of really letting that become a problem Jumbo seems to tell a little story with the tie ups and build each one a bit further.  Nothing to ornate is done in the match they just stay with a simple over matched young gun story which they effectively build to the finish. Hennigs huge bumping works well in this match (much like Slaters or Funks did against Jumbo) because Jumbo gave them all big offense to bump around.  Jumbo gives Hennig some nice runs to show off his offense and puts it over before taking advantage of slight mistakes and really making him pay for it (just like an ace should do.)  This is the kind of match Jumbo was born to do. 

It seems the problem with Jumbos 80s work is too often he was stuck in matches with people who were booked as his equals (such as Bockwinkle and Brody) but were not actually his equal.  So Jumbo had to try to figure out how to make them look like equals when his moveset was so huge and his opponents was so small.  Instead of coming up with a Formula he usually would give his opponents large segments of the match (especially early) to dominate before pulling out part of his moveset. Usually the opponent segment was boring and you wanted Jumbo to slap them around and start kicking ass. 

The best matches are matches where Jumbo was in with someone who was his equal in actuality or when he wasnt worried about it such as against Von Erich, or Flair in 1982.  He would sell great for his opponents during their runs to keep them as threats but would also not hold back any of his stuff.  This match is kind of like that with a very willing opponent with some nice stuff and only going nine minutes.  Kind of a lesser version of the Hamiguichi match or the match against Tiger Mask.  Its a shame Hennig didnt do another match with Jumbo around 1987 with the fans knowing him better.  I think that could have been something really special.  This one though is fun as its a consistently built satisfying 9-minute match.  

Antonio Rocca vs Hans Schmidt 2/3 falls.   Joe Louis is your referee.  I think if you look back through all the articles on purotapes you can find a review of this match Ive done before.  That was a really brief review and I want to go in a little bit more depth.  I dont like to make big claims about how good such and such match from this era was because I dont believe Ive viewed it all.  Ive seen a lot of matches held in reasonably high regard.  For instance the Buddy Rodgers vs Pat Oconner match is held in very high esteem.   So I would say that would be a nice one to compare this one two and in many ways this one is better. 

Schmidt seems to have been one of the best brawlers of the time period.  He has all the tools to be a great brawler really.  He knows how to keep the action coming, hes got a decent technical background to fall back on when he needs to (and he knows how to brawl through a hold), his strikes look credible, he bumps nicely and sells big, and he knows how to work a story.  In this match he keep several stories going throughout.  The first was that Joe Louis wasnt going to take much bullshit from Schmidt.  Schmidt constantly test Louis and screams at him etc and its very important for the finish of the match. The second is he breaks down Roccas back very viciously.  

Hans does a good job fitting all of Roccas spots in and taking them effectively.  Taking the big bumps to sell for him and also selling his silly offense just enough to not be no selling it but not be overselling it.  For instance the end of the first fall is Rocca hitting about 6 drop kicks right after another with Schmidt feeding him quickly and then putting him in the Argentine backbreaker. In the second fall they do a nice job teasing this again with this time Schmidt having the knowledge to avoid the backbreaker. 

The main crux of the second fall is Hans destruction of Roccas back.  He mainly does this with clubbing blows and knees.  He does a favorite heel spot of mine where he grabs his opponent by the throat and tosses him hard into the turnbuckles.  It is just a nice heel bully move.  It sets up for three big backbreakers to win the fall. Very entertaining stuff and at this point the match looks like its going to be maybe the best 2/3 fall singles match from the era (its up there anyway).  But the third fall ends in just 20 seconds or so.  Hans goes back to the back slamming picking Rocca up as if hes going to slam him and then running him into the turnbuckles (another move hed doe several times in the second fall.  But the second time he does it Joe is in the corner and he pushes Hans over so with Rocca on top of him for the 12.3.   The finish surprised me especially since neither man had used their whole arsenal.  Of course that also keeps Schmidt looking smaller since its a total fluke at that point.  Anyway this seems to be one of the better singles matches of the era.  I wish I had a better copy of it honestly. 

Sandor Szabo/Wilbur Snider vs Carl Davis/Mr. Moto- 2/3 falls Hollywood 1954.  I have a special affection for this match because I feel like I discovered it.  As of yet no one gives a shit about my opinion so no one else has discovered this gem that I know of from me but if someday people talk about this match as a shining example of good 50s wrestling I can take credit for it regardless of the reason. 

The first thing that stands out about this match is the announcing.  The announcers one of whom is the promoter, Jules Strongbow do an absolutely excellent job explaining the story of the match.  Here is what I know before the bell rings.  Szabo is a legend, former NWA champion, and still a top wrestler.  He is teaching young Wilbur Snider the ropes.  Snider is a top young talent with great potential (they tell me he will be high on the list to challenge for the world title next time Lou comes to California.  They are a relatively new tag team that hasnt truly proved their worth but all signs are they will be a top team.  How good they are will truly be tested because Davis and Moto are top heels and truly worthy opposition capable of taking anybody to the limit and willing to do anything to win.  Some of that you may gleen from the match but the way everyone establishes why this match is important is amazing to watch.  It is booking at its most simple and beautiful. 

The first fall does a wonderful job setting up for the rest of the match.  Davis and Moto cheat extremely effective.  Szabo plays the vetern and Snider is the eager youngster making occasional mistakes.  The finish sees Mr. Moto putting Szabo away with his sleeper hold  which is important for later.  In the second fall the work is a bit more feverish.  Moto and Davis keep the pressure applied hotly and keep the champs in deep trouble.  Of course the champs come back but the trouble they get in builds anticipation.  Szabo gets revenge on Moto by putting him out with a couple of suplexes. 

The third fall is possibly the hottest fall Ive seen from the 50s.  Moto goes desperately for the sleeper sending the crowd into a panic.  Szabo though is smart and adjust his head and Moto keeps slipping into a choke forcing a break.  Szabo barely survives and we get some wild for the time back and forth stuff.  The finish comes abruptly  as Szabo shows his veteran wiles tagging out just at the right time to allow Snider to hit Davis with a couple of big tackles for the win. 

Reviews form the early to mid 1960s

Freddie Blassie vs Rikidozan  62 Los Angles 2/3 falls for the WWA Championship-  Hopefully someday soon one of their matches from Japan will be released on one of these Rikidozan shows.  This match to my knowledge didnt cause anybody to have a heart attack.   It suprising that they start out as fast as they do as they exchange a few holds before Riki gets a sort of vertical suplex for 2 which Blassie turns over for 1 before Riki kicks him in the face.  Kawada really reminds me of Riki sometimes doing that kick and coming out in some of the robes he does.  The central story established immediately is that Riki is a good sportsman and hence wont attack Blassie when he is in the corner or not standing.  Blassie uses this repeatedly to stop Rikis momentum.  Rikis sportsmanship is immediately contrasted with Blassie who cheats at every opportunity pulling hair and holding the tights for leverage.  Rikis overhand chops are his top weapon and Blassie puts them over huge questioning their legality to the ref.  Riki occasionally gets frustrated with Blassies stalling tactics and chops him even when hes down but always quickly backs off.  Blassies knowledge of fouls is truly amazing.  He chokes, gives kind of low blows, punches with a closed fist, and kicks Riki in the kidney.  Where as Rikis best weapon is his chop, Blassies best is biting.  Riki wins the first fall by  Blassie running out of the ring, Referees decision after Blassie takes some nice bumps on the apron and then on the outside off of Riki chops.  Blassie uses one of my favorite holds to start the second fall the hold on to the headlock by pulling their hair.  He actually doesnt bite till this point showing that he only bites when he feels it necessary I guess.  Riki does a pretty weak blade job and Blassie bites some more.  Riki finally gets really pissed and chops him down for 2 and then picks him up and whips him into a chop for another 2 (hey if this were Ric Flair itd get at least 3 1 /4 stars from some people.)   Blassie gets his first near fall about 20 minutes into the match with 3 consecutive knee drops.  2 minutes later after some more cheating by Blassie, Riki gets another near fall off a body slam.  They fight on the ground a bit before a chop to the neck and the chest get Riki another near fall.  Blassie cheats more and Riki really sells the fatigue of being choked and bitten before rallying with more chops and a hip toss!  He cant capitalize because Blassie wont get up and Riki is a sportsman.  Blassie cheap shots him before getting up to regain the advantage. Blassie gets two off a pinning/biting combination.  Blassie has clearly adjusted to try to stay on Riki because if he stays close Riki wont have room to unload with chops.  Riki bicycles around repeatedly trying to get room enough to hit him with some chops.  He finally does just murdering Blassie with chops and the crowd is in a frenzy.  Blassie finally blocks and chops back but he cant win a fair fight with Riki.  Again when Blassie goes down Riki wont capitilize (the announcer repeatedly explains that in Japanese rules your supposed to let the man get back up kind of like UWF I guess) and so again Blassie cheap shots him. Blassie again gets 2 with a bite/pin.  Riki gets some more chops including a whip chop but Blassie is in the ropes so Riki cant get the pin.  Blassie trades punches to chops mixing in a choke here and there till the curfew rings at about 30 minutes.  Riki is awarded the title but Blassie claims that there must be 2 hours for a title change to count.  This probably sounds excruciatingly boring to read but I always find this match strangely entertaining.  It has some very nice psychology, for its time it has a whole lot of near falls, and for its time its a wild and stiff match.  Kind of an early brawl if you will. I think its a fun little match between two legends. And hey Rikis moveset is at least equal to Flairs.  Consider this a very primitive brawl.

Rikidozan vs The Destroyer 2/3 falls-  I watched the Blassie match to contrast it to The Destroyer match I just picked up.  I dont believe the Destroyer match is as well booked as was the Blassie match and that really hurts it.   They go through 3 falls in about 15 minutes and its just feels so fast.  Actually this match is as fast paced as Ive seen from the period.  Destroyers move set is stunning for the time.  In a few minutes he bust out an eyepoke, a snap mare, then a couple of drop kicks, , some gorgeous knee drops, goes for but misses a top rope knee drop, then hits a couple of body slams and uses the ropes to gain leverage for the three count.  In the second fall Destroyer and Riki start a cool figure-4 story where before Destroyer can put on the figure-4 Riki rolls over but then the Destroyer forces him back into it but by that time Riki is close to the ropes.  Its actually pretty cool.  Destroyer hooks an abdominal stretch but again Riki is to close to the ropes and then as they are breaking up Riki cheap shots Destroyer with a chop to the face to knock him out for the 3 count.   Destroyer unloads with some nice forearms to the chest beating him down and then dropping the knee again.  Destroyer goes for and misses the ass drop on the knee allowing Riki to kick him a few times and unload some chops.  After recuperating outside Destroyer and Riki again play the figure-4 game this time after the roll and Destroyer forcing him back around Riki holds the leg down to keep him from adding pressure.  When the Destroyer finally gets it Riki is in the ropes.  Again they do the figure-four sequence and again the Destroyer cant get it hooked in so he drops a knee to the back of Rikis knee. Destroyer goes for it again but this time Riki kicks him off and over the top rope to the floor.  They fight on the floor Destroyer grabs a headlock a couple of times and rams Rikis head into the apron he goes to the well once to often and Riki backdrop suplexes him to get the count out win.   The match is to short  and they dont have enough build to the falls really especially the second one.  All the falls are cheap or flukish.  So booking just wasnt there this night for Beyer to get a classic out of Riki.  Yet he did show at least to me that he may well have had the best moveset of the time period.  In the match he attempts are lands a body slam, a snap mare, a hand stand knee drop, a top rope knee drop, a body slam, a drop kick, a ass drop on the knee, an abdominal stretch, and a figure four. Compare that to what Riki hit and Blassie do.  Hell compare it to what Lou Thesz does in 60 minutes against Dozan in 57.  Thats really impressive for the time period and for a 15-minute match.  It was also had some cool sequences and story telling but they didnt have the booking around them to the story Blassie did.  The Destroyers work is more impressive but I probably perfer the Blassie match.

The Destroyer vs Toyonobori 2/3 falls-  Toyonobori is a cool name I must say.  Anyway this is basically the Destroyer show for 60 minutes.  When Toyonobori has a hold the Destroyer works the hold, when the Destroyer has a hold he also works it.  When their between Destroyer bounces around like mad to keep it entertaining.  In fact at one point in the match I realized I hadnt thought about what Toyonobori was doing for 15 minutes.  It was like he wasnt even there.  The Destroyer taunts, he cajoles, he cheats, he works, and you just find yourself paying attention to every movement he does to the point where he made his opponent almost disappear.  The match wasnt great but it was hypnotic and strangely not boring considering for instance the first 18 minutes Toyonobori basically sits on his ass holding the Destroyers arm while he figures out every possible way to work an arm puller.  However a flaw in the Destoyers work is he never sells that arm despite that time.  He sells the back very well later though after submitting to the Boston Crab so maybe the arm puller wasnt supposed to be able to injure people.  Like I say far from a flawless Beyer performance but strangely enjoyable none the less Im looking forward to seeing what he does with Giant Baba when I get to that tape. 

The Rikidozan special I got the last two matches off of also has the Blassie match in very clipped form which I think really hurts the match which I think is a lot of fun.  It also has a clipped Lou Thesz match.  I ought to sit down and watch the famous 60 minute draw (I think I have 52 minutes of it) between Thesz and Rikidozan and write something on it, being that it is the most watched wrestling match ever.  But I dont know Ive watched it 3 times and its not one of those matches you feel like watching over and over again.  I just sat through Funk and Brisco for a second time and it was EHHH again.  I wonder how the Destroyers match will hold up.

We got two Kojima matches against carryable  opponents and lots of chances to see how All Japan is rebuilding.  These two shows are from All Japans very successful champions carnival tour.   

Mike Rotundo/ Nobukazu Hirai vs Kendo Kashin/Sigeo Okurmura-  To little is shown to really access the match.  Kendo looks much better now that he is actually wrestling and playing heel as opposed to being the super shooter.  Okurmura looks very solid as well as he usually has lately. 

Taiyo Kea/George Hines/Kaz Hayashi vs Toshiaki Kawada/Hideki Hosaka/Tamoaki Honma-   Honma has a new look.  Its not bad and makes him look less generic then he used to so maybe it will help.  He as he usually has fails to impress very much though here except selling and bumping well.  The stars phone in evidently not thinking much of the importance of the match.  Kaz works the hardest looking very solid in every way and being in the most.  I think Honma needs a over move or something to stick out right now as he just seems to disappear whenever hes in an All Japan ring.  I still think hes a very solid signing though and I hope they figure out what it takes to get him over and make him stick out.  Kaz is an excellent pick up adding more depth to the roster and another guy who can work a solid match is always nice.  This looked about ** solid but Kawada was bored so that hurt it. 

Barton vs Anjoh-  Anjoh doesnt do a lot and Barton is sloppy on at least one move.  Barton does do some very cool offense but his sloppiness always keeps me from really praising how cool his offense can be when he actually hits it.  Pretty boring match*. 

Mitsuya Nagai vs Satoshi Kojima-  Nagai never impresses me but Id say this slightly edges Kawadas match for the best of his career.  Kojima is just super over.  The fans chant for him and cheer everything he does.  Im going to say it again Kojima should get the triple crown soon the fans will accept him.  Nagais strikes actually look competent here until the end when he is selling the leg so takes a bit off of them to get that over.  They both really sell awesome espiecally Kojima selling the arm.  For instance when he blocks moves with his arm he sells the arm and Nagai even gets in the act selling his legs that just ran into Kojimas arm.  Good resistance as they look like they are fighting.  It gets a really good since of drama going towards the end with some really neat nearfalls.  Biggest flaw is Nagai never gets a really convincing near fall and only gets a semi good near submission.  Still an excellent match for both of these two.  *** 1/ 4 

Keiji Mutoh vs Steve Williams-  Does lightening strike twice?  In this case no.  Several things distinguish this match from last years sleeper.  First off the crowd heat isnt there.  Second off we get a boring introductory laying on the mat session which goes nowhere and did nothing that either didnt happen in the first match or was clipped.  Next it just doesnt pull you in as much.  The finishing sequence isnt nearly as long or dramatic as the last one.  It just seems disjointed really with stuff happening but it not being very good.  Williams is the better of the two continuing to not suck and bringing a nice set of credible offense.  Mutoh is very lethargic and again his offense just isnt very good. This match didnt suck but it was a bit below average so * 3/ 4

So the 3-24-02 show was slightly disappointing. It had a good match for Kojima and one mediocre match and another slightly below average match.  Wasnt awful and probably was better then your average All Japan show from last year but still not good and Im pretty sure New Japans 3/24/02 show is going to blow it away. 

3-29-02

Jimmy Yang vs Hi69-  Hi69 is from the Kojo as I remember.  He misses a spot.  Yank connects on all of his which is a great sign after his WCW stint.  To clipped to say much other then that.   

Kaz Hayashi vs Kazushi Miyamoto-  This was fun.  Miyamoto truly looks worlds better every time I see him which is such a good sign for his future.  Here he bust out a pretty competent moveset, has good strikes and moves fluidly.  Kaz is also again impressive making Miyamoto look like a legitamate threat to win the match.  They have some good near falls and a nice flow.  Kazs hurricanerana for some reason is really cool to me.   Anyway it was clipped so it could have been better or worse but it looked around ** 1/ 2 and a great sign for the development of Miyamoto and/or Kazs carrying ability.   

Masanobu Fuchi/Mitsuya Nagai vs Mike Barton/Cedman-  One thing you have to give Nagai is he works hard on these tour shows.  Unfortunately hear the nice kicks he showed against Kojima were back to the love pats he normally does.  To clipped to rate but looked weak.   

Taiyo Kea vs Nobutaka Araya-  Keas facial expressions always strike me as goofy.  He experiments with different things to connect with the crowd.  I dont know if he finds anything but its nice to see him at smaller shows trying things to see what may work.   This is a good solid match.  It doesnt really take off at the beginning but then doesnt suck either.  Araya probably needs a second finisher as in this match when he hit the moonsault Kea hadnt went threw most of his offense so you knew he was kicking out but you the fact that he did kind of made it feel inevitable that Kea was winning.  But really it was inevitable that Kea was winning this is All Japan.  Once Kea reassumes offense they do a nice job giving Araya some offense as they march threw and even having him counter out of the Hawaiian Smasher.  Kea throws out a really nice array of offense to finish off Araya who does a good job selling it and putting over that fighting spirit stuff.  Araya looked solid as always Kea looked good as usual so it was probably a low ** 3/ 4 match.   

Satoshi Kojima vs Jim Steele-  Another above average match.  Kojima does a good job getting over the power of Steele and then establishing himself as the smarter and quicker of the two.  He doesnt take this as far as he maybe should but at least he does install some basic psychology.  The main problem is Steele is a bit to methodical working through his moveset early in the match.  So that time drags and goes nowhere.  Kojima protects Steeles finisher and actually gives him some nice near falls.  The action gets really hot at the end but Kojima not playing through on the psychology he was using earlier hurts this match.  Pretty solid but could have been better.  I think Kojima could get a ***+ match out of Steele if it were at the Budokan.   This is ** 1/ 2. 

Tenyru/Anjoh/Arashi vs Mutoh/Hines/Honma-  Tenyru starts it off really hot and it looks like it could turn into a really fun match.  Then Arashi and Anjoh take turns very slowly beating up Honma and the match breaks down.  You know Honma could be the next Kikuichi as crazy as we all know he is but these two just dont have the offense for Honma to bump around.  Honma doesnt get hardly anything in except a few running elbows and a lariet.  It may be hes a Dean Malenko type whose offense evaporates against guys over a certain weight.  Or it may be that the WAR guys thought they were above selling for him.  Either way it may be time to send Tamoaki down or in this case up to the Juniors division.  I think hed contribute much more against Kaz, Miyamoto, and Kashin then he is against guys who wont sell for him.  Mutoh is fine here as hes quite adapt at hiding in six men.  The match is best when Tenyru is in but thats not nearly often enough.  ** 1/ 4

Anyway overall this is a pretty decent TV block. Nothing spectacular but reasonably solid and entertaining.  Of course the next GAORA block looks like shit so I can't call it a good sign. 

Best of Ric Flair Vol 1 

If your expecting the typical anything with Flair is a 4 star match bs this isnt your review.  However; I am a Flair fan and have been looking forward to going through some matches from his prime.  I particularly was looking for his matches with Barry Windham.  So I picked the Best of Ric Flair Vol 1 and 2 from http://www.wrestleholicsvideos.com .   

Ric Flair vs Harley Race for NWA title in a steel cage with Gene Kininski as referee-  I have seen this match before and I remember it being okay so itll be interesting to see how that opinion changes.   May I just start by saying Gordon Solie is awesome.  He lays out the story of the match so simply and so easily.  Anyway Race is the bad guy and Flair is the good guy and the title of the event is a Flair for the gold and its in North Carolina so guess the result. Anyway the match starts slow Harley gives Flair an elbow on a break, Gene gets mad, then Flair gives Race an elbow on a break and Gene gets mad.  A theme throughout as this match is not clean and Gene is a very active part of it.  Flair controls with a headlock before Race gets out and gives him a vertical suplex.  Race then controls very methodically working slowly through his vast moveset.  The peak is a piledriver which he doesnt capitilize on as Gordon points out but follows with an elbow drop instead for 2.    No one is buying though that Flair is going down yet.  Race starts to get a bit annoyed maybe and tosses Flair into the cage a few time drawing the obligatory blade job.  Gene gets involved when Race start punching Flair allowing Flair to seize control but Gene does the same to Flair showing he is fair.  Finally Flair is able to take control on his own by reversing an IW and sending Race hard into the corner where Race Blades.  Nice pop as the tension had built well for Flairs first comeback.  Flair throws race into the cage and gets some near falls.  As you would expect the fans are hot for Flair.  Flair follows a piledriver and immediately goes for the cover as the announcers point out the difference between he and Race earlier.  Kininski AGAIN comes into play interfering allowing Race to get an easy transition.  The match starts to get really good as it just has progressively degenerated more and more into a brawl and now seems to be close to getting out of hand.  When Flair chops race down for a 2 the crowd is just really buzzing.  Flair hits a backdrop suplex and goes into the figure four.  Race turns it over and then rolls to the ropes pretty quickly.  To my modern eye it seemed awful fast but the move may have been more deadly back then.  Race goes for a vertical suplex but cant get Flair up because his knees are bothering him and Flair falls on top of him for 2. Race is back in control and his offense peaks with a diving head butt off the second rope  for 2.  Pace just really slows down after quickening early as again its Race methodically controlling.  Kininski repeatedly gets involved.  Race controls till Flair reverses another vertical suplex attempt into one of his one for 2.  They brawl for a bit till Gene gets bumped.   Then a bit more brawling till Flair wins with a flying cross body off the top.  

Anyway the match was okay.  A bit slow paced and I found Kininski to be an unneeded distraction from what these two were doing.  They did a much better match next year in All Japan probably a 4 star match in fact.  Having seen that match recently I had my hopes up for this one but it just wasnt as good.  Everything was to methodical.  At one point it looked like it was going to really break down and get hot but they lost focus and it slowed back down.  Not a bad match but not the great one these two were capable of *** 1/ 4

Dusty Rhodes vs Ric Flair for the NWA World Title and 1 million dollars with smocking Joe Frazier as Ref-  The announcers tell us Dusty has put on some extra weight for strength.  Dusty just kept getting stronger then after this point because here he isnt morbidly obese. The crowd is hot tonight and its actually a pretty fun and fast paced match.  Key point is when Dusty puts the figure four on Flair getting him in some trouble and injuring his knee.  It doesnt last long though as they brawl back and forth but pretty well.  Nothing high concept here but the fans are eating it up. Dusty throws Flair out but when he goes to follow Ric tosses him into the grade rail and Dusty blade over his eye.  Joe checks him but Flair and Dusty keep going at each other with Flair targeting the eye specifically.  Joe eventually has enough and stops the match due to the cut. Dusty gets mad  and charges Joe but is held back. 

The cut wasnt that ugly looking.  Dusty needed a more manly blade job to put over the stoppage.  The match was actually pretty fun but got cut off before they started the build to the finish by the stoppage.  I guess Dusty didnt feel like giving Ric the threee count or submission.  **. 

Ric Flair vs Ted Dibiase for the NWA Heavyweight Championship- YES YES YES YES YES!!!! This is more like it.  The greatest NWA champion ever vs the man who in my opinion is the greatest man to never win a world title.  Anyway before the match Captain Redneck Dick Murdock comes out and asks Ted to step aside because he doesnt deserve this shot.  Dibase refuses and they brawl throwing some AWESOME punches.  If anyone in the WWE threw punches this good Id say give them the World title now!   Murdock post Dibiase and he does a manly blade job while Flair declares he wont have to defend the title tonight.  Later on Bill Watts declares that Dibiase has a pressure bandage and he is demanding a shot and that he agrees that when you have a world title shot you take it regardless.  So the match is on again!   Dibiase was evidently a heel but no longer as the fans are rabid in support of him.  This is a short match but lord does it rule.  Its like a great Smackdown main events with great booking on top.  Whats so cool about this is that everything is a struggle.  These two make even the most simple exchanges tense and dramatic.   Both strikes look great  and their work and selling are so fluid.  Dibiase is particular impresses with his selling of being woozy because of  blood loss.  The bandages quickly come loose and the blood starts coming (though not as bad as before.)   Flair gets a hot near fall on a backdrop suplex simply because Ted is selling his fatigue so well.  Literally no stop in the action.   Ted gets a pretty powerslam but is just to woozy to capitalize.  Then he puts on a figure-four but Flair is in the ropes.  He beels him back out and goes to put it on again but Flair kicks him in the face and he goes outside knocked out for a count out win for Flair. 

Anyway this ruled.  Cheap ending meant to totally protect Dibiase.  Flair was just the traveling champion so they wanted to make their boy look like he should have been world champion since the real worlds champion was never around.  The shortness and finish keep it from being a 4 star match.  But like I say this is about as good a Smackdown mainevent as is out there and educational to watch how these two make everything dramatic.  *** 1/ 4 

Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes for the NWA Heavyweight Championship of the World-  This is from Starrcade 85 and has probably more heat then Rock and Hogan did.  Its not as good a match though.  Flaws just all through it.  Dusty looks to be even stronger for this match then the last one.  Early on Dusty control and the crowd is eating it up with a spoon though not a whole hell of a lot is happening.  Dusty sells the foot at one point which evidently was injured earlier by Flair/Ole/Arn.  Dusty goes for revenge by going after Flairs leg with lots of elbow drops.  He goes for the figure-four but Flair kicks him off and Dusty again sells the leg (he hadnt anytime between these two points.)  Flair goes for the figure-four but Dusty blocks twice.  Dusty stops selling again and springs up to the top and falls off on top of Flair (I cant call it more then a fall) but the ref is distracted so the collasal force of all of Dustys strength falling on Flair only yields 2.  Flair blade off some elbows I believe these guys are very good at hiding the blade although I havent looked I really have yet to see the razor pop up even though I can usually pinpoint where they actually are doing it from posture.  Dusty misses a kick and hits the turnbuckle again injuring his leg for at least 10 seconds.  Flair puts the figure four on the wrong leg as he often did.  Dusty sells it anyway and turns it over.   Dusty stops selling the leg and a little bit later the Ref gets bumped twice in a row.  Arn runs in and eats an Elbow but Ole comes in and gets Rhodes with a knee.  Flair gets a two count from another ref but when he pulls Dusty up he falls pray to a inside cradle (I refuse to  call anything Dusty does small)  or the 3 count.  Wrestlers come out and try to hoist Dusty on their shoulders but fail!  

The crowd heat was just amazing.  Everything Dusty did got popped huge and Flair got great heel heat.  The match sucked though.  Dustys selling was pretty bad and basically all it was was chops and elbows with some leg work.  After you get past the heat you have a pretty weak match.  Not a whole lot good here only * 1/ 4.   If this is the match Dave Metzler watched and realized how much worse 80s wrestling was then today no wonder he reacted like that because this is vastly worse then anything else Ive seen from Flair of the era.

Ric Flair vs Barry Windham for the NWA Heavyweight Championship-  Bill Alfonso is your ref and he calls it right down the middle.  As always the crowd is jacked to see the heavyweight champion of the world defend his title.  Flair comes out to Easy Lover for some unknown reason.  Hot start with Windham dominating before Flair takes a breather.  They do some pretty smooth matwork before Barry starts targeting the left arm of Flair but it goes no where.  Flair plays a bit of possum after taking the ropes hard but after suckering Barry in just pisses him off and Berry takes charge back.   Windham workes over the back of Flair with a Boston crab and a vertical suplex amongst others.   Flair finally gets control it seems by raising a knee as Windham charges but in this match there are seeming transition periods where one wrestler has to get kind of a 2/3 moves to take charge instead of just one being enough.  Its kind of cool.  Flair throws Windham outside and into the steel andWindham Blades!!!!!  You starting to see why some people critize Flairs matches as repititive.  Flair drops a knee but misses the second and Barry immediately takes advantage of Flairs weakness with a figure four (oh my god the opponent uses a figure four on Flair whatever will our hero do!!!)  Flair makes the rope but Windham continues to work the knee.  Windham finally misses a dropkick  (see these guys know more transitions then punches)  but again Flair cant immediately take charge as Windham blocks a vertical suplex into an inside cradle but Flair is determined so stays on him after he kicks out.  Barry grabs a headlock but Flair backs him in the corner for some chops and then piledrives Barry for a hot near fall.  They do a super cool counter of a snapmare into a backslide for a pin attempt by Windham.  Flair goes for another piledriver but Windham back drops out and the crowd is noticably heated.  Windham gets a mild near fall with a lariet.  Then beats him from pillar to post and around the outside.  Ric hits an atomic drop but Windham punches him and they are both down.  Flair gets up first (again fighting for transitions)  Flair tosses him out and once he gets back in gets some nice heat on a sleeper.  Its sold that he is attacking the oxygen supply of Windham throughout with his chops and chest attacks. Windham tosses him though to get free but Flair is rabid and works over the leg for a bit.  Then he applies the figure four again on the wrong leg.   Ric builds heat by holding onto the ropes but Barry rolls over to force the break.  Flair goes up top but gets caught as he has everytime but once on this tape but Windham stupidly goes for a kneedrop which misses and now sells both knees.  Ric Flair stays on the oxygen supply its a nice thread throughout the match.  The ref gets bumped and that nasty Flair tosses him over the top rope  but Windham recovers as Flair is distracted and hits a top rope drop kick.  The ref is slow to get up so Windham only gets 1.  Barry grabs a sleeper and gets a near fall out of that but Flair isnt ready to give.  Flair knocks him down and again goes for figure four but Windham grabs him for an inside cradle but Flair is in the ropes.  Windham hits a GORGOUS vertical suplex with a float over for 2.  Irish whip and Flair hits a cross body block as they both go over the top  and struggle leading to the double count out of ring at 41.35. 

Anyway this is a must see for a Flair fan.   They really do a great job keeping it intense for the whole match.  The matwork is very sweet when they are down there.   The psychology is also sound except for your standard Flair brainfarts and Windhams early blade never coming into play.  Flair stays on the chest and neck to wear Windham down and also works the legs to set up for the figure four.  Windham works over the back and the legs.   Both are sold very well.  Everything is intense and the crowd eats it up throughout.  The finish is a big let down and hurts the drama of the match which needed a nice finish to cap everything.  Flair really needed a feared finisher.  Almost nobody important would ever tap to the figure four and it would have been nice if he had a move he could have pinned people with.  Anyway super fun match that gets ****.  

So as for the tape its definitely one to get if you havent seen the matches.   The Dibiase match is an excellent example of a well executed face turn.  The Windham match is one of the better Flair matches Ive seen needing only a finish.  The match with Race is disappointing considering how awesome their match next year was.  The matches with Dusty had great heat at least.  

Old School Wrestling from Hardin Kentucky Live Report

For some reason today as I walked around campus and saw the Old School Wrestling poster the desire came to go and watch.  Maybe it was wanting to see an I Quit match or a 30 minute ironman match that propelled me to spend the money that could have bought me a tape from Alferdo.   Maybe it was just that occasionally I feel the need to see wrestling live wither it is good or bad.  So I drove 12 miles down the road to a little run down gym.  I saw lots of cars around so I figured this must be the place.  I paid my seven dollars to enter (I could have gotten a student discount but I didnt see they were offered till later!)  Took a seat in the second row and took in the ambiance as you might say.  I probably stood out like a sore thumb their looking around at everything with a pen and a notebook.  The ring as best I could tell was about 10 feet by 10 feet give or take a foot Id say.  They had a cheap looking entrance way painted to look like a stone wall with OSW on it.  They played some music very loudly before the show started and during every intermission.  My best guess is that there were 60-70 people in attendence.  So were talking a $400-$600 dollar gate.  17 people worked the show, four of them in a managerial capacity so you can do the math on about how much everyone was getting.  Many kids were their which is always fun.  Of course you had the idiotic 12-14 year olds who think they are cool.  They discussed Shawn Michaels being back not seeming to know that he isnt going to wrestle.  I didnt tell them. 

Anyway or ring announcer came out to start the show he seemed to thing he was cool.  Ring announcers cant be cool and usually refs cant be cool either although Kyohei Wada is.  Anyway he begs for applause and gets it.  He goes through the birthdays and then announces some successful charity work and then to the National Anthem.  All well and good and a pretty classy way to open a show.  Fits with the down home and wholesome image an old school promotion would want to project.  The Ref comes out wearing the zebra outfit and a zebra hat?  He looks very Redneckish as does most of the crowd but I get along with Rednecks so I dont care.  

Anyway out comes JR Shocker with the OSW champion Superstar Devon Day.  They ham it up with the crowd to get over the point they are heel (heels always enter first in this promotion.)  Shocker has a decent cruiserweight physique.  His opponent is Trey Tackett.  The crowd literally cracks up at the sight of him as he is a skinny WHITE boy whose ribs are showing.  Bad Boy Philips cuts a decent babyface promo on why hes letting this kid with more heart then brains wrestle. Anyway Shocker squashes him including hitting a pretty neat looking Jackhammer while Devon plays the crowd having a debate with me over wither Trey has a chance ( I say he does) and low and behold Trey wins with a flash roll up .  I wont give star ratings because you can just assume nothing here is much above one star (maybe the main might have reached one star but thats it).  Anyway crowd laughed and enjoyed JRs highspots so the match served its purpose. 

The next match pits Nasty Neel (our heel) with his manager Big Daddy vs the Kryptonite Kidd for the number one contender spot for the cruiserweight title. They do some fast paced stuff with some of that pointless RVD matwork you know I hate.  Its a spotfest but you know instead of doing all kinds of suicidal spots they dont hit anything more high concept then a piledriver.  Anyway Nasty Neel lives up to his name by using a chain to win the match.  He hides the chain well as the ref cant find it.  Really did not like this match much at all.  Im used to pointless indy spotfest with shooting star presses and head drops.  This is better in that no one going to get hurt but not as mind numbingly entertaining.

We go to the tag title match between the Ky Playaz (K-Lo and Hitman Frankie D who would be our heels and have two managers: the ever present Big Daddy and Miss Rhonda ) vs the Bad Boys  (Bad Boy Philips and Jack Diamond with the Midnight Angel+).  Diamond is actually quite big and the Bad Boys seem to have a biker gimmick or something and are quite popular.  Anyway the crowd enjoys chanting Gay-lo at K-lo who plays it up by screaming in lue of selling.  Its quite a girly scream at that.   The first time K-lo gets in he says he wants Philips.  Philips really plays up what he might mean by wanting him since they dont call him Gay-lo for nothing.  This is the stiffest match on the card.  Philips is the owner I believe and he stiffs the hell out of his kids.  The execution is pretty good but the match is laid out wrong.  They act like they are going to go Southern with Diamond playing the face in peril but that doesnt last long and Philips makes a very anticlimactic tag in.  The finish is a ref bump then the heels spend a minute double teaming Philips.  Totally doesnt work because Diamond just sits their on the corner waiting to be knocked off looking stupid letting his partner be double teamed while the ref is down.  This takes to long and ends with a top rope elbow drop by Frankie D.   After the match Diamond chokeslams Miss Rhonda for no reason that I can see as she just stood their and never interjected herself into the match. 

Next up is the I quit match between Citzen Cane and Dixie.  Okay keep track of this.  Dixie is a Hispanic guy with ugly tights from New Mexico with the ever present Big Daddy as his manager.  Citzen Cane comes out to Sweet Home Alabama with torn jeans and waving a Confederate Flag with a Southern Pride shirt and a manager (Downtown Frankie Brown) dress up like Colonel Sanders with Rebel flags all over his clothing.  Yep I would have expected Dixie to be the Southern pride one as well maybe that is what they are feuding over.  Anyway in this match your manager has to throw in the town.  Cane worries that his manager might care about him and throw in the towel (how sweet).  He says just like the South never quit hell never quit.  And being a history buff I resist the overwhelming urge to ask him what he defines unconditional  surrender as.   Anyway he wants someone who doesnt like him to be his second so they wont throw in the towel and gets Brandon Walker who I would guess has recently turned face after a feud with Cane.  Kind of pointless though as the match is a squash for Cane.  Dixie never gets him in any trouble and his best offensive weapon is a low blow.  Cane eventually gets a ladder and uses it the rest of the match  (I mean it must be five minutes between Dixies last offense and the finish.)  The ladder use is pretty lame except for the Jeff Hardy springboard over it into a legdrop spot.  Cane works over the leg but never goes anywhere with it and the finish comes when he drives a screwdriver into Dixies head causing the manager to throw in the towel.  I dont see what the purpose of the I quit stipulation was or the pre match stuff since Cane never was in trouble.   Cane was very over so I think if someone cut a truth filled promo on the South they could get quite a bit of heel heat. 

Next is the heavyweight title match.  Devon Day is back and is our champion but the scheduled challenger isnt there.  Hitman Frankie D comes out to take the shot which leaves us with essentially a heel vs heel matchup.  Devon plays the face though which doesnt make sense because you would think being the champion that he would be the top heel.  Frankie squashes the champ with lots of cheating again bad booking as shouldnt a fresh champion be able to do better against a guy who had already wrestled?  The finish is a heel miscommunication into a flash roll up.  Horrible booking.  The fans did take to Devon though and when they booed him seemed to just be playing along so a face turn might not be a bad idea.  If not the booking is even worse as it made him look weak and hurt his heel heat.  

Anyway our main event is the 30 minute Ironman match between Brandon Walker and our heel John Caesar.    Both have good physiques although not much natural size.  Anyway the wrestle a scientific match with lots of waist locks and holds.  It doesnt go anywhere but thats to be expected.  Anyway the falls go as such: First fall to Caesar on a Count out at about 11:00.  Caesar quickly takes the next fall with a swandive headbutt off the top rope (hell go for it twice more but never hit it again) to go up 2-0 at 12:00. Walker comes back at 20:00 with a la magistral cradle after Caesar misses a kneedrop off the top rope.  The fourth fall ends at 22:00 when Walker reverses Caesars tombstone attempt into one of his own to even the match at 2-2.  Finish is an anticlimactic German suplex by Walker at 29:00.  I didnt get a good sense of urgency which is so important at the end.  Still it was the best match of the show and not boring at all which is pretty impressive in and of itself.  Not good but not awful.

Thats kind of the way to sum up the show not good but not awful.  I enjoyed myself.  The guys worked really hard in all the matches to try to put on a good show.  Honestly, a good booker could have improved every match.  Its obvious that nobody in the promotion understood how to lay out a match or how to maximize the stipulations which is to be expected with wrestlers of limited experience.  Its the bookers job to do that for them until they can and in this show the booker failed them.  Every match could have been greatly improved just by adding a little structure and logic for the guys.  Still I had fun and if you live near Hardin Kentucky and are feeling like seeing some kids working hard to put on a good show (even if they cant quite pull it off)  and you feel like watching it with some nice people you wont feel like you wasted your seven dollars.