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SECRET SUMMER SANTO 2024~!

Matt D
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The Natural

The Natural

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19 hours ago, AxB said:

The match is introduced by Matt Cardona for some reason. We've got Randy Savage, Bobby Heenan and Jim Ross on commentary. Neither guy takes any time to do any kind of elaborate entrance, it feels like they were itching o get in the ring and wrestle... which does make sense for a one night tournament, save your energy. They keep it tight and technical early, although Perfect almost does a Spinaroonie bumping off an armdrag. Perfect with a big chop in the corner, and they do a duelling Bodyslam-upkick sequence (only the upkicks are double foot dropkick type of dealies because MMA didn't really exist in 1993; A fact borne out mere seconds later when Perfect sells a side headlock takeover by tapping the mat with his hand). Headlock pushed off into the ropes, rebound into a Crucifix for two, and right back to the headlock. Crossbody for two, Bret is tossed out of the ring on the kickout but is back in in seconds via a slingshot Sunset Flip for another two, and back to the headlock. They're telling a story early on that Bret has a technical edge over Hennig. He's winning every exchange and getting all of the control time.

And so Perfect goes to the strikes, big knee to the belly, stomp to the belly, kick to the ribs, and a Dropkick to send Bret out to the floor. And this time, he's staying down, struggling to catch his breath. And then holding the ropes open to let Bret in, all sportsmanlike. Except he kicks him in the chest on the way in. Perfect laying in strikes on Bret, and a big kneelift gets him a two count. Bret bailing out to the floor, and this time Perfect follows him out to do more damage. This is giving a clear sense of escalation. Bret trying to climb back in, but Perfect bumps him out to the floor in a Foley-esque plunge to the concrete (well, Foley would have gone spine first, whereas Bret goes sideways into the apron and sort of lands shins down in a cooler of pepsis... this being 93, there was no table there to break (his fall)). Matt Cardona is adding 'humour' to the commentary from the future here for some reason.

This ring is mic'ed in a way that makes every bump and referee count sound like a gunshot. Missile Dropkick gets two, foot on the ropes, Hennig hooks that leg to re-cover and Bret kicks out. The crowd are going mental as Bret cuts PErfect off on the top rope and he drops guiche first onto the turnbuckle post. Superplex from Bret gets two. Kicks to the legs, and Perfect is clinging onto the ropes and taking half a backflip on every one of them... and Bret gets the Figure Four Leglock. I always thought of this as... we know now that Bret never rated Ric Flair as a wrestler, so the fact that as soon as Flair was out of the WWF, Bret started using the Figure Four as a mid match weardown hold was his way of burying Ric. Perfect fights his way back to offence with an opportunistic ground kick while Bret is working an inside toehold. Bret is selling exhaustion rather than damage here, and Perfect capitalises with a Sleeper. Cardona pops up in a videobox and says some words about it being cold or something, because WWE can never let a match stand on it's own merits. Bret escapes the Sleeper by doing a turnbuckle ram, but rather than do the "Piggyback and fall backwards into the buckles to crush them", he does the "Piggyback and collapse forwards into the buckles to smash their face" instead. Nobody seems to really do that except Bret, but then doing turnbuckle spots differently to everyone else is a Bret trademark, isn't it? 

HUGE European Uppercut by Bret! Beel throw by the hair and Perfect slides groin first into the ringpost, which Bret immediately follows up with a Reverse Atomic Drop, which reminds me that we never did get a Bret Hart vs Rick Rude match (outside of the Handsome Gentleman tournament on here ha ha). Side Russian Legsweep (which is NOT a fucking Neckbreaker Gorilla Monsoon), and Bret is going move to move here without attempting covers and racking up two counts; This is kind of an indication of a stylistic evolution that took place after this match did. Like the 2024 epic match handbook says that in your late match build to the finish, you cover a lot and rack up those close counts, back and forth. But here Bret is hitting his moves of doom all in a row to rack up damage. He does cover off of the middle rope elbow, for two, but his attempted Sharpshooter is blocked when Perfect goes after the fingers. 

Perfect tries to set up the Perfectplex, but Bret has it blocked and they work their way over to the ropes and hit the spot that Davey Richards loved more than he understood (the Vertical Suplex taking both guys over the top to the floor).

They don't dawdle on the outside, don't milk the countout for a last second skin of the teeth slide in. Again, not using the 2024 epic match handbook. But Perfect is selling the knee as he gets in first, Bret doing his wide open mouthed "I'm blown up, me" sell (even though he's not blown up). Small package by Perfect for two, reversed by Bret for THREE! Sudden pinfall out of somewhere! Perfect rolls out of the ring protesting that the pin was bogus. Then rolls back in to confront Bret, jawing in his face... and then offering him a handshake. That's a nice tough. He sells it like he's upset at the loss, and at himself for losing, but still respects his opponent. And then bloody Zack Ryder shows up to let us know that he's wearing Bret's KotR robe and crown, the bloody gloryhunting twat. You aren't worthy of them.

So this match was really good. Two great wrestlers, right at their peaks of... as their athleticism declines with age, their experience and knowledge increases. They're both right on that cusp here, they can still move like young men, but they have that veteran genius mind. They know not only what to do, but when and why to do it. Great match. Here's hoping it's not the best match I watch this weekend though. Well, here's hoping it's not even in the top five.

Thank you for your review. I liked how we've got two technical wrestlers but one winning all the exchanges in Bret Hart which leads to Me Perfect tapping the mat in frustration in the headlock. Back then it was verbal submissions but now it's a tap out and has been for many years.

You're right to praise the way the ring is mic'd up. That stood out to me. Makes a difference that. Chuckled at the Handsome Gentlemen reference. I miss that tournament you did here alongside the Smashing Crumpet. I liked how Mr. Perfect played loose with the rules, kicking the middle rope when Bret Hart re-entered the ring and going for the fingers Bret injured in the quarter-final vs. Razor Ramon. Bret was lucky he didn't blow his leg out landing on that crate.

Bret Hart was the master of the flash pin/pinning combination. Usually small packages, crucifix, inside cradle, victory roll etc don't end matches but Bret's do and mostly worked in his favour. 

Glad you liked it and enjoy AEW All In 2024. Please give an additional chant for my man Bryan Danielson for me, thank you.

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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

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HarryArchieGus, I'll watch your pick sometime this week, I finally managed to pull it up in Microsoft Edge (yuck) because the algorithm on Youtube has cursed me again with not allowing me to watch it with Adblocker (and won't even let me turn it off to watch, either). 30 minutes is a bit long but I really like both guys. 

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Matt D

Matt D

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@Curt McGirt Not sure if you're following along with our PR stuff, but the one two punch of Leo Burke boxing matches leading up to and including Aniversario 90.

The warm up match with Super Medico:

The actual one vs Invader

 

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The Natural

The Natural

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23 hours ago, Matt D said:

Sorry guys, got ALL IN'd. Think we do one more week unless everyone's feeling great at the end of next week.

Matt D
@Curt McGirt
-----
@The Natural
@HarryArchieGus
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@SirSmUgly
@RazorbladeKiss87
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@AxB
@moribund

Curt, old friend, I'll get you something soon. I know you're still playing catch up.

HarryArchieGus: Anything you want/don't watch? Any sites you use/refuse? Always wanting to gift something good in return for doing the same for me. I hate disappointing people. Cheers!

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RazorbladeKiss87

RazorbladeKiss87

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On 8/1/2024 at 10:10 AM, SirSmUgly said:

Yeahhhhhhhhh, why not?

I can't tag so I'll quote you. I know you already had a deathmatch but this is a much different style of deathmatch than that. It's a pairing that I absolutely love.

Necro Butcher vs Toby Klein from the year before the match I picked for AxB

https://youtu.be/QUvMoJwYh7w?si=u0Tf1vt8wfbaX5Uc

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SirSmUgly

SirSmUgly

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14 hours ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

I can't tag so I'll quote you. I know you already had a deathmatch but this is a much different style of deathmatch than that. It's a pairing that I absolutely love.

Necro Butcher vs Toby Klein from the year before the match I picked for AxB

https://youtu.be/QUvMoJwYh7w?si=u0Tf1vt8wfbaX5Uc

I owe you something, but I've been immersed in WCW lately, so I'll have to be uncreative and go to the ol' master list I've been making of Nitro Era stuff that I liked (and also didn't like, but I wouldn't do that last one to you). 

I thought this Four Corners Match between Rey, Psicosis, Juvi, and Blitzkrieg was great fun and listed it as one of my top matches from the Nitro Era. I hope that you enjoy it as well. 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8ccwy9

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Matt D

Matt D

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On 8/27/2024 at 11:53 AM, Curt McGirt said:

The PR stuff is just way too much for me to read, frankly, but its breadth is extremely admirable. This is gonna be cool. You know I love PR! 

Get me something too.

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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

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Posted (edited)

SHANE TAYLOR VS. BRYAN KEITH - WINNER TAKE ALL MATCH

This is for a bunch of gold. Shane is carrying four belts! Oofta. Keith also has two belts, so that's I believe Ultimo Dragon level gold, or at least close to it, for the winner. I've been of the opinion that Keith is kinda small (not Johnathan Gresham small or anything, just a bit short) but he looks tall enough next to the enormous Shane Taylor. He also has his pants hiked up to Misawa height, haha. He wields a plastic chair at first after taking offense to something Shane says and starts with UFC-style head and body blows until Taylor just smokes him with one of his patented "too stiff for school" elbow strikes. The problem with having this shot so close-up is that Shane is exposed a bit because he uses a LOT of thigh slaps to emphasize his strikes, pretty every time. It's unnecessary because they already look vicious. What's crazy about Keith's chops is that they sound twice, initial impact and basically smacking Shane in the jaw. But he doesn't slap the leg, so it hurts Shane's look when he's off time and the strike actually makes a sound, then you hear the leg slap. I mention all this because the whole match is them striking each other with chops and elbows and forearms, besides some big finisher-level moves. They cut a pretty good pace (slow) and everything looks pretty withering (even though man, a headbutt doesn't need a thigh slap), until they hit... a time-limit draw?! Well now, that was unexpected. And in comes Sam Stackhouse who is this ENORMOUS blubbery man that looks like a Giant Haystacks type only with Abdullah boobies. He beats on Bryan a bit but Shane elbows him the fuck out of the ring real hard. Shane says he'd like to do another five but (hey this is different!) they don't do it and Shane says he'll let Bryan enjoy his people in his place, they seem to bury the hatchet... until Taylor tells a heckling woman that if she was a better judge of male character, the two children she has with her would be from the same father (!!!!!!!!!!). Bryan responds by saying he takes back any nice things he said and to get the fuck out of Houston. 

Well, that was a way to end it. I guess you could say it was deflating but it keeps their feud alive and no belts have to change hands, so both guys stay strong. It also works to further a Stackhouse feud, so honestly it works on all levels even if you want a clean finish for a match like this. Smart work. I just wish there was less thigh slapping. I feel like Ohtani in that anecdote from Japan that Steve Corino told where he went off on somebody in the locker room for it. If you hit that hard, just let it sound like it. 

(Now let me gripe a minute. Youtube has been 86ing me any time I try and watch something except for the occasional break-through because of my Adblocker. I turn it off even and they still won't let me watch shit. You know why I use it? Because I had to watch this through Microsoft Edge instead [yuck] and they made me watch/listen to a 5 minute video of some asshole talking about how protein affects your body then asking me to take a quiz. It sounded like the voiceover guy for How Things Are Made or whatever that show is. There is a reason we don't want to put up with your bullshit, Youtube. Cut it out.)

Edited by Curt McGirt
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Matt D

Matt D

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On 8/28/2024 at 11:34 PM, Curt McGirt said:

Okay Matt! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV9XONUzjCs

My dumb ass went a'scrollin and realized that I have a whole pile of unwatched matches that I've put in my bookmarks. This is one that seems really ripe for reviewing, and I think you shall be pleased, to say the least. 

This was quite the thing that no one talks about. It's got maybe one review on cagematch and I saw OJ on PWO said "Good match where we see what it would look like if Blue Panther was a junior" or something like that. They go HARD. It's worked clean and friendly for the most part, but they go hard. If you talk about a match where everything is "well worked" this is the match I think of. They crashed hard into every hold early on. Nothing flowy or floaty. Everything was brisk and stark, even they were doing something a little more tricked out. They escalated to rope running, went back down into holds and then came unleashed and then never really looked back. Very back and forth. Right before the finish, Panther gets a minute straight of offense, but otherwise no one can chain together more than 2-3 moves. Usually they'll hit something and then go up or go fancy for their next thing and get caught. If they weren't going so hard, I would have minded it more but I also would have wanted to see a match where they went just as hard but with deeper and more meaningful momentum shifts. There's a crazy pair of dives in the middle where Hamada does sort of a twisting Asai body block deal and then Panther dropkicks him in the kidneys on the apron and follows up with a running (on the apron) flip senton. Pretty wild. Panther has some good suplexes too. He almost wins it down the stretch but Hamada contorts himself out of another move and hits a German for the win. People should probably see this one. 

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AxB

AxB

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On 8/29/2024 at 6:52 PM, moribund said:

Here's something I'm going to guess you've seen, but I have always liked this late era, unexpected glory from William Regal...

 

Dean Ambrose vs Willian Regal, from 2011.

It's very strange seeing him using the Dean Ambrose name when looking totally like CZW era Jon Moxley, and not very much like the guy from The Shield. And the way he's carrying himself, his facial expressions and posture, they're very much young Mox, nothing like the grizzled buy he's been since arriving in AEW 5 years ago (because let's just collectively forget all about his post-Shield run in WWE, one missed opportunity after another).

They don't lock up right away, Ambrose is sliming his way around the ring acting like a sleazy little guy, and Regal responds be offering a handshake, which Mox refuses, but it seems to have thrown him off his game somewhat. Knucklelocks to start, but they break away rather than doing your actual test of strength. Collar and elbows and pushing into the corner, Moxley breaks his clean, Regal does not - turning and talking to the ref whilst stomping backwards into Moxley's midsection. Regal dominating with size and striking early on, and him opening with babyface shine is a rarely seen thing in his American career. Ambrose takes over by getting a sneaky reversal into a snapping armwringer, and goes after the left arm. Regal escapes to the floor, Ambrose goes to the apron to follow up but gets his leg swept and takes a nasty back bump on the ring apron... and these aren't the huge aprons AEW's ring has, with the super long turnbuckle posts. This apron is only like 6 inches wide, there's no room to flatback bump on it. And we go to break.

We return with Regal working over Ambrose's left arm, and his little finger. Regal using the Hammerock to secure Ambrose on the mat and leave him open for some elbow GnPing, that's nice. Regal traps Ambrose in the corner, and threads his arm through the turnbuckle pad, once again immobilising him and rendering him a vulnerable target. Eye rake from Mox to take back over, but he's wrestling one armed now.

He's doing his best to brawl and maul Regal one handed, but he can't keep control for too long without Regal springing a sudden reversal on him. Or can he? The smaller, younger man seems to have a little more gas in the tank as he returns to the offense. They're clearly telling a Youth vs Experience story here, but with Regal knowing lots of dirty tricks as well as technical reversals, and he's doing a far better job of breaking his opponent down (whilst Ambrose' control segments amount more to simply beating him up, but failing to do actual debilitating damage). And then, once Ambrose is debilitated, Regal capitalises on it

This felt like it ended a little bit too quickly. Like they could have had a few further exchanges and built to a more climactic finish. Like it felt like a 20 minute match with a truncated final section, rather than a 15-17 minute match that peaked for the climax. But I guess Regal really didn't have too much more left in the tank at the point, and it's a TV match produced by WWE, of course it wasn't going 20+.

It was great while it lasted. First rule of entertainment, always leave them wanting more.

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