The What Are You Watching Thread

[Lazlo Woodbine]

From a Swiss film archive. Video is from 1968, skip to about 9:20 for a wrestling demonstration with (I believe) Vassilios Mantopolous and Robert Camus. Then the big man himself ducks through the door.

http://www.rts.ch/archives/tv/information/carrefour/3458055-carrefour-10-10-68.html

[Curt McGirt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNBrCpn6z4E

 

Didn't think this was random enough for the Misc. thread so it goes here. WAR vs. NJPW. So good you will need a smoke afterwards. Poor, poor ballsy little Iizuka...

 

EDIT: And poor poor Yamazaki's kidneys

[Cobra Commander]

it's 2014, Dump Matsumoto is working (well, mostly caning everybody). The Referee has awesome hair. Somehow one is able to get disqualified in a match in Japan.

 

[supremebve]

So, because somebody decided to ruin my social life by posting the Dave Meltzer list, I decided I had to immediately start watching these matches.  I figured I'll start from the beginning and write any thoughts I have from time to time.

 

4/21/83 - Dynamite vs. Tiger Mask (NJPW) *****

This was a super fun match that would have been considered great in the Jr. Heavyweight heyday of the mid '90s.  The fact that it happened in 1983 is amazing.  You hear about people being before their time, but these guys were doing stuff in this match that didn't really become widespread until 10 years after.   This wouldn't look out of place if it happened today...other than Dynamite's afro.  The ***** rating was well deserved.

 

12/5/84 - Takada vs. Yamazaki (UWF) *****

This match is on Youtube, but it is clipped to shit and is a worked shoot.  I didn't know there was a such thing as a worked shoot in 1984, so I guess that is something, but I've never been a fan of this style.  For what I watched I can't say it is worth the *****, but I'm also the exact wrong person to ask to rate something like this.

 

12/8/84 - Brody/Hansen vs. Funks (AJPW) *****

This is my first exposure to Brody, and it is safe to say that I'm not overly impressed.  He is clearly the worst guy in the match, but then again so would almost everyone else.  Brody is one of the worst bumpers I've ever seen, he just plain sucks at it.  He does come off as wild and crazy though.  Dory is pretty good here, but this is the Terry Funk and Stan Hansen show.  So Stan Hansen throws an insane running dropkick early in this match that would have looked great if he was 75 lbs. lighter, but I honestly was shocked when I saw him do it.  He did it as casually as I tie my shoes.  Terry takes a back body drop over the top rope to the floor harder than some guys take them in the ring.  This eventually just breaks down into a brawl and Terry gets a chain and chases Brody and Hansen off.  This was great, the Funks look like they are a total combined age of 756, but they are total pros(The fact that those two have wrestled fairly recently is absurd).  Hansen is masterful, and Brody is just crazy enough to not drag this down.  The ***** is so worth it, the only problem is there isn't a real finish. 

 

12/8/84 - Tiger Mask II vs. Pirata (AJPW) ****1/2

I don't think I've ever seen Misawa as Tiger Mask, but I have to say he is a pretty fun Jr. Heavyweight.   I've never seen Pirata Morgan, so I decided to google him…and apparently that eyepatch is not a gimmick.  I really wish I didn't read what happened to his eye and I'll be forever thankful that I haven't seen it.  My god that has to be the most horrific injury of all time.  Oh, the match…Misawa wins with a tiger suplex.  This was pretty short, but fun.  I wouldn't give it **** 1/2, but that is only because it wasn't long enough to really build into anything.  There is nothing wrong with it, but then again 30 years ago this had to be fucking revolutionary. (After watching a couple more matches I think I underrated this.  Flair vs. Windham from 86 came two years after this, and despite being great it seems like it happened 10 years before.  Based on the time period, I don't know how Meltzer didn't give this the full *****, it is just so far ahead of everything going on at the time.)

 

3/9/85 - Kobayashi vs. Tiger Mask II (AJPW) *****

Quick question before the match starts…When did the Freebirds start with their entrance music?  I've always heard that they were the first, but these guys had entrance music in '85 all the way in Japan.  Did it catch on immediately?

OK, so this is the first time I've even heard of Kobayashi as far as I remember, and only my second Tiger Mask II match.  This starts out pretty fast, and Kobayashi clearly hates Misawa's guts.  Tiger Mask II hits what has to be the strangest looking piledriver I've ever seen, he jumps and instead of keeping his head between his thighs his head lands down by his feet.   There is a pretty nifty rope running spot that ends with the two guys trading spin kicks.  They do a little bit of everything in this match, they trade holds, fly, hit some suplexes, and wrestle in a style that is more reminiscent of 1995 than 1985.  The only problem is that it ends in a count out.  I'm sure if I was watching this feud from week to week I'd appreciate it more, but watching a 30 year old match that doesn't really have an ending takes a little away for me.  With that said, based on what was going on at the time ***** doesn't seem off at all.   

 

2/14/86 - Flair vs. Windham (NWA) *****

This is Flair vs. Windham in 1986 if this was less than ****1/2 I'd be disappointed.  The thing that I notice immediately is the style of this match compared to the two previous matches I watched.  This is basically the best example of 1986 American heavyweight wrestling.  There aren't going to be any planchas, topes or tiger suplexes, but then again I don't remember seeing stuff like that until the early to mid '90s(Those Misawa matches above were insane for the time period).   This is the most dated match I've watched so far, but it is also the best match I've watched so far.  They fight over every single hold, bleed all over the place, and both guys fight like hell to overcome their opponent.  The part that really sets this match apart though is the pace.  They work at a pace where there is constant action, but they give everything a second or two to breathe.  This also ends in a double countout, but it worked because they were fighting so hard to make it back in.  They should make everyone at the performance center memorize this match and tell them to go home and pray that they can one day be this good.  This is excellent.

 

11/27/86 - Andersons vs. RNR Express - Cage (NWA) ****1/4

Arn Anderson should teach a masters course in goofy stanky legged selling called, "Course Study on How to be a Bad Ass While Looking Like Your Drunken Uncle).   This starts off with the Rock n Rolls beating the shit out of Arn and Ole.  Arn staggers around like a drunken pirate and makes the RNR's offense look credible.  Then The Andersons take over and put the beatdown on both guys and instead of us thinking Arn is a dope we think he is the baddest motherfucker on the planet.  Ricky Morton is at his Ricky Mortonest in this match too, taking a beating and bleeding like the proverbial stuck pig.  This is probably the worst match I've watched on this list so far, but it's still pretty good.  ****1/4 sounds about right for 1986. 

 

11/27/86 - Flair vs. Koloff (NWA) ****

Flair is out first, which I hate.  Then there is a long ass video of Magmum T.A.'s chest hair, a seagull, and the back of some old woman's head.  Magnum's running shorts make me extremely uncomfortable, not only are they tiny, they have about a 3" slit on each side so we can see even more of this dudes thighs.  The 80s had no self awareness.  Nikita's entrance looks really cool, and the fans love this big goofy, non-Russian.  Say what you want about Nikita, but that dude looks like a wrestler, the huge shoulders , the bald head, and the look on his face make him look like a dude who could rip your arms of and beat you to death with them.  Flair is pretty much masterful here, and Nikita holds up his end by just beating the shit out of him for the first half of the match.  Nikita makes one mistake and Flair is on his leg like a great white shark.  I have to say the ref bumps in the 80s were way more realistic than they are now.  Tommy Young took a pretty good shot here, and the ref took a hard shot in the Flair Windham match as well.  As I type this Nikita hits the replacement ref with a Russian Sickle and I'm surprised his head is still attached.  He absolutely killed him with that clothesline.  This match ends with a DQ, because the match turns into a brawl and they decide to kick the shit out of the referees for trying to break it up.  This was damn good.  **** may be a little low for this one.

 

I think the biggest thing that I've noticed about these matches is that these guys bring the emotion.  These matches are essentially 30 years old and as wrestling gained MOVEZ, it has lost a lot of the emotion that makes these matches great.  I think the last match I remember that had even a fraction of the hatred in those two Flair matches had are the HHH vs. Cactus Jack matches from 2000.  I think the biggest thing that is missing from today's wrestling is that the wrestlers don't seem to care, therefore the audience doesn't care. 

 

The next biggest thing I noticed is that not having a definitive finish is not necessarily the end of the world. Very few of these matches actually ended with a legit finish and as I was watching I cared less and less.  The Japanese matches lost a little bit, because I didn't know the stories, and couldn't understand the commentary, but the U.S. matches didn't lose a thing.  The thing is all of them ended everyone seemingly giving 100% effort.  These countouts happened because they were so focused on beating their opponent they lost track of the count.  You know what? it rubbed off, their focus on winning made me lose track of the count too.  I wanted them to keep beating on each other, I wanted to see who was the better man, and since I didn't get a definitive end to the match I wanted to see them wrestle again.  I think the use of the non finish is a lost art that could be brought back with smart booking, and good work, but it has been years since I've seen it done this effectively. 

[Lazlo Woodbine]

More Michel Allary, this time against Johnny Stein(a beardless Kurt Von Stroheim, kind of looks like a juiced up Pete Postlethwaite) probably 1960 again. You only get the first fall but it's about 25 minutes so it's fine. First half is all strugglling with holds, they're fairly evenly matched but Allary is the skilled babyface winning out so the dastardly German is forced into cheating and it picks up pace from there. There's nothing overly flashy, just two heavyweights working a solid match. Allary is good but Stein is masterful. He has absolutely no choice but to cheat, it's almost earnest at first but soon enough he's clubbing at Allary, pulling his hair, saluting the crowd, not missing any chance to lay in a cheap shot. Brilliant.

 

EDIT: The rest of the match was posted.

[rzombie1988]

I reviewed WCW Monday Nitro 9/4/2000 Wargames 2000 here with pics and gifs:

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/wcw-monday-nitro-942000-wargames-2000.html

 

Overall thoughts: Not a good show as it was built around Kevin Nash and Russo leading to a SWERVE~! Goldberg was the highlight of this show and of course had to be made to look like a fool atleast twice.

 

Some shots from the show:

[supremebve]

12/16/88 - Tenryu/Kawada vs. Hansen/Gordy (AJPW) *****

 

Young Kawada wearing the half leopard print pants is a little disconcerting, I was fine living in a world where Kawada was the baddest mother fucker alive.  Gordy and Hansen are just big rough tough gaijin here, they have at least a 50 pound weight advantage on both guys and I'm probably low balling that.  With that said, Kawada and Tenryu wouldn't give a fuck if it was a 500 pound difference because they're going to chop and kick the shit out of them any way.  I was under the mistaken notion that Tenryu became grumpy as he became an old man, but he was that crazy brand of I'll slap the shit out of you grumpy here in 1988.  This match is basically two big ass Americans came to destroy the Japanese heroes, but the Japanese heroes aren't going to go out without a fight.  Hansen and Gordy take out Kawada's knee and leave him laying on the floor as they beat the living hell out of Tenryu.  Every once in a while Tenryu will make a comeback only to have the Americans double team him to cut him off.  After they put a sufficient ass whooping on Tenryu, Kawada will recover enough to make a save or distract one of the Americans.  Either way Kawada's knee injury puts the Japanese team at a huge disadvantage.  Tenryu makes one last comeback hitting an enziguri, a diving elbow, and a powerbomb on Hansen, but Gordy comes in and powerbombs Tenryu which sets him up for a Hansen lariat for the win.  This was a damn good match that made Hansen and Gordy look unstoppable, but leaving the fans with enough hope that if their heroes can come back healthy maybe they can get the win.  This is really good, but I don't know if it deserves the full *****.  It is a good match with a hot crowd that keeps everything interesting, but it lacked that little bit of extra that separates a great match from an all-time classic. 

 

3/27/88 - Midnight Express vs. Fantastics (NWA) ****1/4

 

This is from Clash of the Champions I and I think this project is about to get easier/harder because most of the American matches going forward are going to be on the Network.  I should have thought about how many damn matches I'm going to have to watch…maybe I'll just write about matches I've either ever seen or want to revisit.  That will narrow it down to about 5641984651891965108 matches.  The Network really needs to add markers to a lot of these old NWA/WCW shows so I can skip right to the matches I want.  This match is all types of fun and well worth the ****1/4, but I'm not going to talk about that, I'm going to talk about the biggest flaw in the southern tag team formula.  The entire southern tag team formula relies 100% on the face team being either stupid or terrible at being a tag team.  I've never watched the face team win one of these matches and thought that they were the best team.  The heels know how to cut the ring off, how to distract the ref in order to use double team moves, and how to separate a wrestler from his partner in order to punish him for the win.  All the face team knows how to do is be overly emotional and get their ass kicked.  So from now on I think as a people we should rise up and root for the heels.  Oh one thing to note about this match, they do a couple of spots on a table that is laying on the concrete floor, and they pan to the audience and people look like they fear for the Fantastic's lives...the table didn't even break.  It is just a wooden table laying on a concrete floor.  The table is a much better alternative than the floor right?  Why are these people acting like poor Tommy Rodgers is dead?

 

3/27/88 - Flair vs. Sting (NWA) ****3/4

 

This is the match from the first Clash of the Champions, and from an era where Ric Flair could have wrestled a **** match with Hornswaggle or Kelly Kelly.  Sting is the young lion getting his first shot at the gold and the crowd is all the way behind him.  They have judges for this bout including such luminaries as the Pentouse Pet of the year, Eddie Haskell, and Jason Hervey…why are any of these people qualified to judge a professional sporting event?  Flair is at his absolute peak here and Sting has the perfect combination of athleticism and strength that allows Flair to use his complete arsenal of heel tricks.  He can bump around like a freak, beg off like a coward, and cheat like the scoundrel we all know he is.  Sting spends the first 20 or so minutes of this match looking unbeatable, and the crowd is absolutely certain that they are going to see their hero crowned champion.  Flair takes over destroys Sting's leg and locks on a figure four, Sting reverses the pressure and Flair goes into desperation mode.  He gets some offense in and decides it is time to go to the top rope, and believe it or not, it is a huge mistake.  Sting takes over and now we are in the home stretch, and Sting is doing everything he can to finish the champion off.  Flair takes another pretty bad ass kicking until Sting misses a Stinger splash and Flair locks in a sleeper.  The time keeper announces 2 minutes remain and Flair is begging off and trying to make this a race against the clock.  Flair chops Sting, and Sting no sells and Flair is getting desperate.  Sting hits the Stinger Splash and locks in the Scorpion Death Lock with 30 seconds to go.  Flair refuses to give up and the 45 minute TV time limit expires, and the match goes to the judges.  2 for Flair, 2 for Sting, and one for a draw.  This would have got the full ***** from me, it is basically everything you'd want from a match with an established champion and an upstart babyface.  Sting now looks like a future champion and Flair got his heat back by not giving up when locked in the Scorpion Death Lock. 

 

12/26/88 - Flair vs. Luger (NWA) ****1/2

 

I have a feeling I'm going to be watching a shitload of Flair, and I have to say it's probably going to be pretty fun.  Luger is apparently down to 262 from 275, because of his diet.  He looks like he's on a juice diet.  Flair is the man, and Luger gets thrown under the bus a lot, but Luger was fucking good in 1988 and I won't hear anything different.  He was limited no doubt, but he was limited to looking like a monster who could beat the shit out of god himself.  Flair is at his best working against guys that have the physical advantage.  His entire character is that of the smarter, craftier, willing to do whatever it takes wrestler.  He isn't going to lose to any average guy, he's too smart for that.  It's going to take someone who is truly special, someone who can overcome all of his tricks and overcome his tactics with brute force.  Flair uses his smarts and technical prowess to take control, but eventually, Luger's power allows him to take over.  These guys have such a great chemistry because their roles are so perfectly defined.  They are essentially evenly matched, and it's going to come down to who can take advantage when the other makes a mistake.  Flair destroys Luger's knee and goes after his leg like a rabid dog.  Luger fights back and eventually puts Flair in the torture rack, but his knee is so hurt he collapses and Flair uses the ropes to get the win.  Once again Flair puts on a classic and gets a win that makes his opponent look better in a loss than they would have in a win.  I honestly think some of these Flair matches get downgraded because there are so many great ones.  Let's just say if you give 1988 Flair at least 20 minutes with a competent wrestler you'll get at least ****.

 

7/10/88 - Midnight Express vs. Fantastics (NWA) ****

 

This is a rematch from the first Clash of the Champions and that was really good, so I'm fairly confident that this will be great as well.  Cornette is suspended from the rafters in a cage wearing a straight jacket.  Stan Lane's goofy "Karate" is hilarious to me.  He kicks Bobby Fulton, strikes a "martial arts" pose, kicks him again, does another "martial arts" pose, kicks him again and you guessed it strikes another "martial arts" pose and generally looks like the old ass guy in the kid's after school tae kwon do class.  The Midnight Express is a well oiled machine,  they control Rogers with some pretty cool double teams and heel tactics and cut off the ring beautifully.  Bobby Eaton has a fairly modern moveset, he hits a tilt a whirl, a sky high back breaker, and an absolutely gorgeous Alabama Jam that look more late 90s than late 80s.  Rogers makes the tag to Fulton and is a house of fire until in a really cool spot Bobby Eaton knees him in the back and Stan Lane powerslams him on the concrete as he falls between the ropes.  Eaton hits Rogers with the world's wimpiest chain wrapped around his fist and they get the tainted win.  The Midnight Express was about as good of a tag team that has ever existed and this is an example of their greatness.  **** is about right for this match.  They have another match on the list from 1988, but it's not on the network, but I'm sure it's great.

 

12/7/88 - Midnight Express vs. Flair/Windham (NWA) ****

 

So in 1988 all but one match that Dave Meltzer ranked at **** or better featured Ric Flair or the Midnight Express, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say those guys were really good.  After the introductions Jim Ross states that this is a match between the 2 best singles wrestlers and the best tag team in the world, and in 1988 that may very well be true.  All of these dudes are at their peak and this has the potential to be spectacular.  Flair and Windham are the heels here and the match starts off with the Midnights kicking some ass.  Flair and Windham hold the two most prestigious titles in the company and they're getting the shit kicked out of them by a tag team, I can't imagine this happening in modern wrestling.  They show a really good Paul E. promo during this match hyping the Starrcade match between his Original Midnight Express and Cornette's New Midnight Express.  He was a damn good promo 25 years ago, and he's only gotten better.  Flair and Windham take over and Windham puts the beatdown on Beautiful Bobby.  Hot tag to Sweet Stan, and he's the proverbial house afire with the world's most ridiculous karate kicks.  Stan Lane has special educated feet.  The match breaks down and the Midnight Express are kicking the shit out of Flair and Windham.  J.J. Dillon takes off his shoe to throw to Windham, but Cornette hits him with the racket.  Eaton hits Windham with the Alabama Jam, but Flair grabs the shoe and hit's Bobby in the head for the tainted win.  This was good, but it seemed more like an exhibition to set up Starrcade than a serious match with any real stakes.  **** is about as good of a rating you can give this match, but these guys were capable of much more.

 

5/7/89 - Flair vs. Steamboat (NWA) *****

2/20/89 - Flair vs. Steamboat (NWA) *****

4/2/89 - Flair vs. Steamboat (NWA) *****

3/18/89 - Flair vs. Steamboat (NWA) *****

 

I've watched all of these matches fairly recently, so I'm not going to rewatch them again for this particular project.  With that said, I'd recommend anyone who is even kind of a wrestling fan to watch these matches, they are absolutely worth their ***** ratings.  Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat are two of the best wrestlers of all time, and they may have the best in match chemistry ever.  They basically wrestle hour long matches that are worked like full speed sprints and somehow they never get tired.  These matches are amazing and available on either the network or YouTube. 

[cwoy2j]

That Flair/Windham vs. Midnights match is one of my favorites to go back and rewatch b/c of the reason you named; you'd NEVER see something like that nowadays. The top 2 guys getting their asses handed to them in a tag-match b/c they're in there with the best tag-team in the world and out of their element. Since the secondary titles mean next to nothing now, that'd be like if Brock and Orton or Cena and Reigns were in a tag-match vs. The Usos or The Dust Brothers and fought from underneath.

[supremebve]

That Flair/Windham vs. Midnights match is one of my favorites to go back and rewatch b/c of the reason you named; you'd NEVER see something like that nowadays. The top 2 guys getting their asses handed to them in a tag-match b/c they're in there with the best tag-team in the world and out of their element. Since the secondary titles mean next to nothing now, that'd be like if Brock and Orton or Cena and Reigns were in a tag-match vs. The Usos or The Dust Brothers and fought from underneath.

I think the thing that gave Flair his longevity is that everyone looked better after wrestling him win or lose.  Sting's career was essentially made after taking Flair to the limit.  Flair made him look like a million bucks for 45 minutes and despite showing tons of ass he kept his credibility.  Ric Flair took an ass whooping in basically every match he ever wrestled, but we all remember him as a great champion.  The reason why we remember him that way is because he made everyone look like a credible challenger and we think that he overcame a murderer's row of contenders.  The reason we don't think the same way about HHH is because he made everyone look like they weren't worthy.  Flair put everyone over and he rose with the tide, HHH put no one over and complained that no one stepped up to take a main event spot.  The entire point of wrestling is to put your opponent over, everyone should come out of a feud looking better than when they went in.  Somewhere along the way it seems like they forgot that.

[MORELOCK]

The reason we don't think the same way about HHH is because he made everyone look like they weren't worthy. Flair put everyone over and he rose with the tide, HHH put no one over and complained that no one stepped up to take a main event spot. The entire point of wrestling is to put your opponent over, everyone should come out of a feud looking better than when they went in. Somewhere along the way it seems like they forgot that.

Did I travel back in time ten years? Is it really necessary to list the various people HHH put over huge and is still putting over huge?

[supremebve]

 

The reason we don't think the same way about HHH is because he made everyone look like they weren't worthy. Flair put everyone over and he rose with the tide, HHH put no one over and complained that no one stepped up to take a main event spot. The entire point of wrestling is to put your opponent over, everyone should come out of a feud looking better than when they went in. Somewhere along the way it seems like they forgot that.

Did I travel back in time ten years? Is it really necessary to list the various people HHH put over huge and is still putting over huge?

 

HHH is just an example of a guy who was booked to not show much weakness, but yes he has put guys over.  My point has less to do with HHH and more with how modern champions are booked.  Flair was absolutely the man, but spent his entire run making everyone else look good, while being the man now seems to be about making the man look good.  The biggest issue the WWE is having right now is that the fans are tired of the guys at the top of the card.  Daniel Bryan being injured is a huge part of that, but a much bigger problem is that Cena and Orton has basically made everyone look like chumps over the last 10 years.  The Nexus could have been bigger, but they got treated like chumps.  Ryback had his legs cut off as a monster because he was booked into a championship match against a scrawny champion before he was ready for a championship run.  The Wyatt's look like chumps because Cena can beat up all three of them at the same time.  The issue isn't really HHH specific, I think his run was the catalyst of the booking strategy where the champion can't show any weakness.  It isn't that they don't put guys over as much as they don't put everyone over.  I'm not saying that they should lose to everyone, but they should make everyone look like they are worthy challengers. 

[TerjeRUN]

Watching the Legends of Wrestling round table discussions on the Network. They should start making these again. Excellent content which is cheap to produce. 

[Casey]

I thought I read somewhere that new ones with Mean Gene hosting (bleh, much prefer JR) were going to be released soon.

[rzombie1988]

I reviewed NWA Worldwide Wrestling 6/22/1985 here:

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/nwa-world-wide-wrestling-6221985-review.html

 

Overall thoughts: Not a bad show. The squashes were squashes but I did like the tag match. I really did like the Paul Jones promo and the JJ Dillion/Bass/Buddy segment as well. So I guess I would give this a moderate thumbs up as a whole. Bart Sawyer's promo needs to be seen to be believed because it is absolutely horrible and hilarious.

 

Some shots from the show:

[cwoy2j]

I need to find that thread about what modern wrestling needs. It needs more fireballs.

[rzombie1988]

I need to find that thread about what modern wrestling needs. It needs more fireballs.

Agreed man. I miss me some fireballs. Fireballs are something you can only get in wrestling.

[rzombie1988]

I reviewed Mid-South 12/8/1983 here with pics and gifs:

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/mid-south-wrestling-1281983-review.html

 

Overall thoughts: Really good show here. This show had angles and some really good video packages that helped me get into the wrestlers. There was some decent in-ring action as well with Lanny Poffo looking like a technical master.

 

Some shots from the show:

[bobholly138]

Since he just announced he has signed with WWE I have been watching lots of Bu Ku Dao matches.

 

[supremebve]

1/28/86 - Tenryu/Tsuruta vs. Choshu/Yatsu (AJPW) *****

 

So I couldn't find this on its own, but I found it on Toukon Retsuden - 6-23-2000 Jumbo Tsuruta Memorial Show on YouTube along with a couple other matches.  The guys overdub the match with their own commentary that adds background, but kind of drowns out the crowd noise.  This is my first exposure to Tsuruta, Choshu, and Yatsu, so I appreciate the extra information about the competitors, but these guys are clearly not professional broadcasters so I'll have to take the good with the bad.  Tenryu and Tsuruta are the AJPW veterans, and Choshu and Yatsu are invaders from the land of NJPW.  Tenryu and Tsuruta don't like these jerks thinking they can come in and take their spot so they decide they are going to give them a well deserved ass kicking.  Choshu and Yatsu give no fucks about their feelings and take over early.  Our commentators give some good background on Japanese wrestling where they rank the most important figures in Japanese wrestling.  They rank Rikodozan, Giant Baba, and Antonio Inoki as the most important Japanese wrestlers ever.  They then rank Tsuruta because of his AWA championship run, Tenryu for being the only guy who has a pinfall on both Baba and Inoki, and then Choshu and/or Fujinami.  This was a pretty good match with everyone putting in really good work, but it ends in a time limit draw.  Choshu and Yatsu had most of the offense, which I'm sure was to build up heat for the blow off, but that was 30 years ago, and I don't have access to the rematch so I can't justify this getting ***** despite the fact that it is really good. 

 

So since I started doing this with little or no thought on how I was actually going to analyze these matches they'll probably be different every single time.  Some of these matches, such as the one above, I'm going to have very little background on and because of that I'll probably judge them differently than some of the American matches I remember from my childhood.  The above match was a really good wrestling match that I didn't have any emotional connection with because of how little I knew about the workers in the match.  If I'm going to call something *****, at some point I'm going to have to be pulling for someone to win, or lose, or feel some sort of investment.  It doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong with the match, the workers, or anything else. 

 

6/5/89 - Tsuruta vs. Tenryu (AJPW) *****

 

This is on the same Toukon Retsuden episode as the above match.  This starts off fast with Tsuruta going for the flying knee and Tenryu dodging and hitting a bridging German suplex.  These guys seem not to like each other very much, and Tenryu looks like a fully formed grump.  Jumbo is in control early working a cobra clutch and wearing Tenryu down.  OK, so in a move that surprised the living shit out of me, Tenryu knocks Tsuruta out of the ring, cartwheels over the turnbuckle, runs down the apron and hits a plancha on Jumbo.  I've seen a decent amount of Tenryu and I expect chops, punches, diving elbows, and brainbusters.  I do NOT expect crazy planchas.  Tenryu decides he's going to just kick the shit out of Jumbo with mounted forearms.  He probably should have stuck with that strategy because as soon as they got back on their feet Jumbo hits a counter belly-to-belly.  Jumbo's strategy is based on grounding Tenryu with wrestling holds, and Tenryu's strategy is based on big strikes.  Tenryu's strategy proves ineffective because the bigger Jumbo decides he's not having any of Tenryu's shit and hits him with a nasty flying knee in the corner.  Jumbo is killing Tenryu, but Jumbo keeps covering him too close to the ropes.  Jumbo hits three knee drops from the second rope and Tenryu still gets a foot on the ropes.  Jumbo hits a Theisz press for 2.999999 and Jumbo hits him with a knee drop to the back of Tenryu's head.  Jumbo hits a backdrop and still can't hold down Tenryu.  Jumbo goes for another Theisz press, but Tenryu catches him and hits him with a hot shot.  Jumbo hits a dropkick and goes to the top rope and hits a kneedrop to a standing Tenryu.  Jumbo charges with a high knee but misses, and Tenryu hits a lariat.  Jumbo has pulled out all the stops, but can't put Tenryu out.  Tenryu misses a diving elbow and Jumbo still can't get the pin.  Tenryu hits an enziguri and two powerbombs, and gets the pinfall.  This is great.  This is kind of the opposite of the first match as far as emotion goes.  I really got into this one, Tenryu took a hell of a beating, but kept fighting to stay in the match.  Jumbo hit him with everything he had, but kept making mistakes like pinning him too close to the ropes and going to the well once too often with those high knees.  Eventually Jumbo made one mistake too many and Tenryu was able to recover enough to get the win in a hard fought, great match. This was ***** in my mind, and right up there with the Flair/Steamboat matches.  1989 was a great year for wrestling.

 

11/15/89 - Flair vs. Funk (NWA) *****

 

I'm a huge fan of hip-hop, MMA, and pro wrestling, and all three things can be pretty alienating.  People either love these things or tend to be extremely closed minded about them.  They just assume that all hip-hop is violent and misogynistic, all MMA are violent blood baths being fought by bar room brawlers, and wrestling is nothing but muscled up rednecks fake fighting.   Every now and then someone will show interest in one of them and I have to try to find an accessible, yet good example of one of these things to prove that when done right all of these things are great.  This match is on the list.  Everyone, no matter who they are or where they are from will be entertained by this match.  It is a simple story of two guys fighting for the respect of the other and they are going to fight tooth and nail until they get it.  Funk is at his middle-aged and crazy best here throwing that beautiful left hand straight to Flair's forehead and generally behaving like the world's drunkest uncle.  Flair is at his babyface best here, selling every Funk left like a knockout blow, and showing great fire with has absolutely brutal looking(in a good way) chops.  These guys beat the living shit out of each other, they lay in every strike, and bump like madmen to get the other guy over.  These are two of the best who ever did it, doing it as good as they've ever done it. *****is absolutely warranted. 

 

7/23/89 - Flair vs. Funk (NWA) ****1/2

 

I'm just going to copy and paste this from my review of Great American Bash '89 I did in the Network version of this thread for the next couple matches.

Terry Funk is as good at acting like the craziest son of a bitch alive as anyone in the history of wrestling.  Ric Flair was unable to have a bad match in 1989, he could have wrestled a bucket of water to something great at this point.  Ric Flair comes out with four women and before the bell can ring Flair goes after Funk and this is going to be a fight.  Funk was already calling himself middle-aged and crazy in 1989, and they are stiffing the shit out of each other from the start.  Flair is working over Funk's neck, doing a couple of neck cranks followed by a couple of jumping knees and a couple of piledrivers.  Funk is doing his writhing around like he is having a seizure selling, and eventually falls out of the ring.  Flair is just taking it to Funk at this point, hitting him him with slaps, punches, and a jumping elbow before locking in the figure four.  Gary Hart distracts the referee and Funk hits Flair in the face with a branding iron, and Flair is busted wide open.  Funk hits a piledriver on Flair's injured neck, that could have been the end but Flair gets his foot under the rope.  Funk is exposing the concrete floor, and choking Flair with his wrist tape.  Funk goes for a piledriver on the concrete, but Flair counters with a back body drop.  Flair is really selling the neck, and is losing a lot of blood.  Funk with a series of neckbreakers, and Funk is in the driver's seat.  Funk is telling Flair to just say he quits, which is setting up something…oh just one of the best matches of all-time.  Flair gets the branding iron and now Terry Funk is wearing a crimson mask, and Flair is done wrestling and he is just throwing lefts and rights.  Flair charges in the corner and misses a jumping knee and Funk hooks in a spinning toe hold.  Flair counters and tries to hook in a figure four, but Funk counters into a small package.  Flair counters and gets the 1,2,3.  Out comes Muta who spits the green mist in Flair's eyes and they lay a beatdown on Flair.  Out comes Sting and there is a huge brawl that ends with Sting and Flair standing tall in the ring.  Terry Funk is just wandering around the crowd like a crazy person and throws a chair at Flair.  The brawl is back on and Sting and Flair chase Funk and Muta back down the aisle.  This was awesome, and oh shit, they are brawling again after Jim Ross was trying to wrap the show up.  Ross' voice is just about gone and Sting is choking Muta with a velvet rope.  This is how you sell a blood feud, these guys just want to fight.  Flair with Ross for an interview, and he isn't subdued this time.  Flair tells Terry Funk that they are just getting started, and he has barely broken a sweat, and before they are done, Flair is going to wear his Texas ass out.  This was outstanding, I need to find that I quit match, and a cigarette, that was insane. 

 

****1/4 seems about right, but this was fucking insanely fun to watch.

 

7/23/89 - Luger vs. Steamboat (NWA) ****1/4

Ricky is being carried out to the ring carrying a Komodo Dragon in a motorcycle jacket.  I don't understand why he agreed to be carried out to the ring while standing on a 2x6 and carrying a wild animal, but he did it and somehow didn't get mauled or fall off, which is pretty impressive.  1989 was probably the best year for both of these guys, and I expect this to be good.  Lex takes exception to this being a no DQ match for some reason, but it seems like a no DQ would be in his advantage.  Steamboat's chops are about as stiff as they come here, he is just lighting Lex's chest on fire.  Lex takes over and hits three big clotheslines, causing Ricky to blindly swing punches in the air just to try to defend himself.  Luger flexes and heels it up before Steamboat lays in some more really hard chops.  Lex cuts him off with a big right hand as the ref tries to stop Steamboat from pounding Lex in the corner.  This is a really good old school big guy little guy match, except that the big guy is quicker than most and the little guy is stronger than most.  Steamboat makes a comeback and charges Lex who is reeling on the ropes.  Luger back body drops him from one ring to another, before going to ringside to get a chair.  Steamboat counters with a slingshot into the turnbuckle.  Steamboat takes the chair and beats Lex all the way down the aisle and backstage and Lex gets the DQ win.  This was awesome, both guys were at their best, and they worked their asses off here. 

 

****1/4 is about the right rating for this match.  I can't help but think that this could have been better, but I have the Steamboat/Flair series fresh on my mind.  Once again, don't believe the Luger was never good hype.

 

7/23/89 - Road Warriors/Midnight Express/Williams vs. Freebirds/Samoan Swat Team - War Games (NWA) ****

 

The Road Warriors come out on motorcycles to IRONMAN, how they didn't overdub that with something inferior I don't know.  I know this is probably going to get my wrestling fan card taken away, but I have never seen a War Games mtach.  Bobby Eaton and Jimmy Garvin start, and they seem to be fighting for the right to have the world's worst haircut.  Terry Gordy in next, and the battle for the worst hair continues.  Dr. Death in next and him and Gordy square off.  Dr. Death's military presses Gordy eight times into the roof of the cage in an absurd feat of strength.  Samu in next, followed by Animal who comes in and cleans house on the heels.  Animal hits a tope over the top rope of one ring into the second ring which was really impressive for a guy his size.  Fatu in next, and he is about 200 lbs. lighter here than he was when he became Rikishi.  Dr. Death and Terry Gordy seem to be having a singles match in one of the rings, while the rest of the guys brawl in the other.  Stan Lane in next and he is a house of fire.  Paul E. and Michael Hayes are outside strategizing, which concludes with Michael Hayes saying, "So I have to go in? Damn."  Michale Hayes gets in and DDTs every single one of the faces before going into the other ring and strutting around like an idiot.  He is one of the most ridiculous people in the history of the world, what would he do if he wasn't a wrestler?  I honestly don't think Dr. Death and Terry Gordy realize they are allowed to hit other people.  Hawk in and immediately hits a diving double clothesline before running from ring to ring kicking ass and taking names.  Hawk then hits his own tope from one ring to the other and everyone is now in the double cage.  The Road Warriors go for a Doomsday Device on Terry Gordy, but Garvin breaks it up, which gets him killed with a top rope lariat.  Hawk then hits him with a series of neckbreakers before putting him in a hangman for the submission.  This was just a wild brawl that was hard to recap here, but was fucking awesome. 

 

**** is right on the money here, just watch the last half of the '89 Bash.

[supremebve]

1/28/89 - Tenryu/Kawada/Fuyuki vs. Tsuruta/Fuchi/Yatsu (AJPW) *****

 

This was joined in progress and the crowd is already hot.  I think I've seen everyone here at least once except Fuyuki, who is dressed just like Kawada, but has an afro.  I don't know what these guys are fighting over, but apparently they are pissed about it.  This is clearly about Tenryu and Jumbo, and their brief portion of this match is the best.  It is obvious they know everything about each other as they run through a pretty complex sequence where they see the other's signature spots coming and  try to counter them into their own signature spot.  This is pretty great with the Kawada and Fuyuki being all energetic, Yatsu being a big mauler, Fuchi being the creepy old guy, and Tenryu and Tsuruta being the all-star bad ass dudes they are.  This was clipped down to about 11 minutes so I can't say whether it deserves it's ***** rating, but what was here was really fucking good. 

 

2/23/87 - Savage/Adonis/Race vs. Steamboat/Piper/JYD (WWF) ****

 

This is elimination rules, and Gorilla and Slick are the commentators.  This is a match made to set up three of the matches from Wrestlemania III and the heels are stooging it up for the faces.  Adrian Adonis and the Junk Yard Dog were counted out for the first eliminations.  Roddy Piper hit Adonis with a chair and as Slick brings up should have got him disqualified.  Of course Gorilla doesn't agree despite it being 100% true.  Slick was pretty good on commentary, and probably should have been used more in that role.  Steamboat gets eliminated next after Savage comes in and reverses his small package so Race is on top.  Race out next as Piper moves and Savage accidently hits Race with the top rope axe handle.  Piper and Savage are the last two competitors and despite being the face all of Piper's offense is blatant cheating.  Slick points this out to Gorilla, but he once again ignores him.  Piper wins after moving out of the way of the elbow drop and getting a small package.  This is OK, but this isn't a **** match.  It is fun, especially with the Dr. of Style's commentary, but there isn't much of a match here. 

 

12/13/89 - Flair vs. Sting (NWA) ****1/4

 

This is from the Ironman Tournament from Starrcade '89 so it's a 15 minute time limit.  There are currently people in another thread who are saying they never liked Ric Flair so I'm going to try to wipe the tears from my eyes and power through this.  I've been watching wrestling as long as I remember, and as far as I've seen no one was as consistently great as Ric Flair.  He did everything, he could talk, he could wrestle, he could work face, he could work heel, and he never seemed to half ass anything.  I honestly thought that he was undeniable.  Now I don't know what to think any more, this is probably worse than when I found out there was no Santa Clause.  This is 15 minutes of Sting vs. Flair in 1989 so it was damn good, but a 15 minute time limit took away from what it could be.

 

6/14/89 - Steamboat vs. Funk (NWA) ****1/4

 

This was so fucking fun.  I don't know what was going on in 1989 between Flair, Funk, and Steamboat, but they were unbelievable.  This is basically 20 minutes or so of Funk and Steamboat chopping the shit out of each other and trying to out crazy each other with their bumps to the floor.  For the record, Funk's over the top bumps are crazier, but Steamboat taking a running piledriver (that's right a running piledriver)on the floor was the craziest.  This was mostly a match to set up the Great American Bash, but they didn't make it seem like they were just working an angle like the six man tag above.  ****1/4 is the most you could give this, but I also think it's the most you could ask for.  The post-match angle with Luger is also pretty good.

 

9/12/89 - Luger vs. Rich (NWA) ****

 

Tommy Rich is built like a guy who fixes cars in his front yard while smoking a cigarette with an impossibly long ash.  I've seen some Tommy Rich, but it consists of 100% old, out of shape, WCW Tommy Rich.  This is the very best I've ever seen him, and despite being built like a guy who lifts weights one beer at a time he has good babyface fire.  As I typed that last sentence he tried to pick up Luger for a body slam but couldn't keep him up and damn near dropped Luger on his head.  Luger was the worker here though, he hit the ropes like he was running a 40-yard-dash, and even goes for a tope rope splash.  He bumps for all of Rich's offense and basically made this match work.  If all you know about Luger is what you read about him on the internet, this match would make you think you were watching someone else.  When I saw this match on the list I was ready to call Meltzer crazy, but this was deserving of its **** rating.

 

9/12/89 - Flair/Sting vs. Muta/Slater (NWA) ****1/4

 

Terry Funk was supposed to be in this match, but he suffered an injury at the Great American Bash and Dirty Dick Slater is approximately 5/16 Terry Funk so he was added as a replacement.  The Great Muta was the coolest wrestler in the world to me as a kid.  I was 8 years old the first time I seen him and I was probably an adult the next time I seen him, but I think I created him in every wrestling game that had allowed it in between.  So I think it's safe to say he made an impression.  I have to say, Dick Slater is much more fun than I remember.  He sells like the bastard son of Terry Funk and Greg Valentine, and seemed like he was determined to not be the weak link in this match.  Honestly Slater does most of the heavy lifting here.  Muta does all his signature spots, Sting shows good fire, and Flair is in control for most of his portions of the match.  The ref gets knocked out at some point and then shit gets real as Terry Funk runs in and puts a plastic bag over Flair's head.  Flair is bleeding inside the bag so not only is he suffocating, you can see the bag is stained with blood.  It is a really cool visual, and it being a TBS show they go to a commercial before he gets out.  They come back and tell us that Flair needed to have mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and they go off the air with Flair laid out and bleeding on the ringside floor.  This was great especially the closing angle with the plastic bag.  ****1/4 is about right for a good match, but an all-time angle.

 

10/28/89 - Flair/Sting vs. Funk/Muta - Cage (NWA) ****

 

This is the last 1989 match(There is a Rockers vs. Brainbusters match I couldn't find) and based on all of the above matches and angles I think it's fitting to end with this.  The Great Muta and Terry Funk come out separately to their respective bad ass theme music, seriously two of the best themes for their respective characters of all time.  Bruno Sammartino is the special referee for this Thunderdome Cage match.  The cage is surrounds the ring like the Hell in the Cell except the top is slanted in and is "electrified" and the only way to win is if one of the designated terminators (Gary Hart for the heels, Ole Anderson for the faces) to throw in the towel to protect their friends.  I'm sure the cage was not electrified, because that would be stupid, but they have fireworks shooting off the top to make it seem real.  The fireworks start a small fire on some of the Halloween decorations and Muta puts it out with green mist.  This match is…strange.  The whole point of the match is that the cage is electrified so the wrestlers can't escape, but the heels constantly climb the cage which ruins the entire concept.  Terry Funk and Sting spend about five minutes fighting at the top of the cage where they should supposedly be electrocuted.  This is the first match that makes me think Dave Meltzer is on crack.  1989 was a great year for all of these guys, but this was just ridiculous.  The crazy thing about it is I like the concept of a match in an electrified fence that can only end by submission or knockout, but if the wrestlers constantly climb the so called electric fence it doesn't make any sense at all. 

 

That last match wasn't anywhere close to ****, but there are two different Pillman vs. Luger matches that I'd rank at least **** (Great American Bash and Halloween Havoc) that you should probably seek out.  Pillman and Luger have great chemistry and they work at a breakneck pace that makes their matches really fun. 

 

1989 NWA(WCW) was probably the best single year main event run in wrestling history.  Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, and Terry Funk with the occasional assist from Lex Luger and Sting were at the absolute top of their games.  Flair, despite what you'll hear around here, was the best wrestler on earth and he went out to prove it every single night.  This was the easiest year to watch so far since most of it was on either the WWE Network or YouTube, hopefully this continues, but if not I might need to get creative.

[cwoy2j]

How crazy is it that Funk was considered a crazy old man in 198frickin9!

[rzombie1988]

I reviewed WCCW Disk 40(basically a mix of stuff including matches from WCCW Legends and USWA Texas) in two parts here:
http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/wccw-disk-40-review-part-1.html
http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/wccw-disk-40-review-part-2.html

Overall thoughts: The first part was pretty decent with a fabulous Brickhouse Brown vs Iceman King Parsons match. The finish sucked but the match was near perfect minus that. We also had an okay Midnight Express squash, The Great Muta and some good heeling from Gino Hernandez. Part two wasn't as good, minus a good Kerry Von Erich vs Taras Bulba match. It had an awful Kelly Kiniski vs Scott Casey match and not much else aside from Gino being a good heel.

Some shots from the show:

[Dre013]

I reviewed WCCW Disk 40(basically a mix of stuff including matches from WCCW Legends and USWA Texas) in two parts here:

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/wccw-disk-40-review-part-1.html

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/wccw-disk-40-review-part-2.html

Overall thoughts: The first part was pretty decent with a fabulous Brickhouse Brown vs Iceman King Parsons match. The finish sucked but the match was near perfect minus that. We also had an okay Midnight Express squash, The Great Muta and some good heeling from Gino Hernandez. Part two wasn't as good, minus a good Kerry Von Erich vs Taras Bulba match. It had an awful Kelly Kiniski vs Scott Casey match and not much else aside from Gino being a good heel.

Some shots from the show:

For future reference, that's the Great Kabuki, not Muta. Easy mistake, green mist spewer.

[rzombie1988]

 

I reviewed WCCW Disk 40(basically a mix of stuff including matches from WCCW Legends and USWA Texas) in two parts here:

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/wccw-disk-40-review-part-1.html

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2014/09/wccw-disk-40-review-part-2.html

Overall thoughts: The first part was pretty decent with a fabulous Brickhouse Brown vs Iceman King Parsons match. The finish sucked but the match was near perfect minus that. We also had an okay Midnight Express squash, The Great Muta and some good heeling from Gino Hernandez. Part two wasn't as good, minus a good Kerry Von Erich vs Taras Bulba match. It had an awful Kelly Kiniski vs Scott Casey match and not much else aside from Gino being a good heel.

Some shots from the show:

For future reference, that's the Great Kabuki, not Muta. Easy mistake, green mist spewer.

 

Someone didn't read the review

[supremebve]

That last match wasn't anywhere close to ****, but there are two different Pillman vs. Luger matches that I'd rank at least **** (Great American Bash and Halloween Havoc) that you should probably seek out.  Pillman and Luger have great chemistry and they work at a breakneck pace that makes their matches really fun. 

I don't know if anyone is reading these posts, but in case you are looking for these Pillman vs. Luger matches, there isn't one at Great American Bash, the match I was thinking of was at Clash of the Champions IX.