WWE Network Conversation

[Curt McGirt]

Hoooooooo boy... Jake Roberts in ECW. If New Jack ended up legit arrested he was probably lucky that Jake bought all his coke off him beforehand. 

[Cobra Commander]

Terry Funk and Jake Roberts being on the same show made me check this and there’s no Terry Funk/Jake Roberts singles or tag matches on CageMatch. Much like Terry Funk and Randy Savage, probably two guys who didn’t spend much time in the same place while in different locker rooms

Plenty of Jake Roberts with Dory Funk Jr though

[Gorman]

2 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

Terry Funk and Jake Roberts being on the same show made me check this and there’s no Terry Funk/Jake Roberts singles or tag matches on CageMatch. Much like Terry Funk and Randy Savage, probably two guys who didn’t spend much time in the same place while in different locker rooms

Yet on the next PPV, Funk cuts a promo on Dreamer and mentions how much he hates Jake the Snake.

[Technico Support]

On 8/20/2023 at 8:44 PM, SirSmUgly said:

As the only person on this board, or maybe on Earth itself, who loves the Doc/Gordy vs. Steiners series, I hope that you join me as the second person to love that feud. I don't expect it, but I hold out hope. 

Yes sir, right there with you!  Legit the only reason I watched Beach Blast was because I Googled “Williams & Gordy vs Steiners.”  
 

[odessasteps]

You can believe that young Jake was sent to work in Amarillo in the mid 70s. And that those results would likely not be on cagematch or wrestlingdata. 

[Cobra Commander]

4 hours ago, odessasteps said:

You can believe that young Jake was sent to work in Amarillo in the mid 70s. And that those results would likely not be on cagematch or wrestlingdata. 

although Amarillo has a lot of results known because of their newspaper coverage

[Technico Support]

Lots of yellow journalism in Amarillo

[odessasteps]

And a decade later in Wichita Falls.

[Technico Support]

Doc & Gordy vs The O'Days, Clash of the Champions 19: This is the continuation of the NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament.  I seriously need to look into the reasoning behind re-launching this NWA title on WCW TV.  Did Watts feel the NWA name was more relevant?  Was it a favor to somebody?  Someone please fill me in and save me from having to look this up. 

Doc calls the Steiners "queers" in his promo and Bischoff is panicked.

Are the O'Days worked father and son or shoot father and son?

Fuck I hate the "trunks and boots, no knee pads" look.

Who bet the under on the amount of time before Jesse makes a Crocodile Dundee joke?

I feel like the O'Jays could have fared better, here. 

Ross loves Doc like a fat kid loves cake.  Hearing him lovingly describe his footbaw career at BAH GAWD OKLAHOMA BOOMER SOONER BOOM BOOM makes me feel dirty.

Young O'Day takes a brutal Homicide Backdrop from Doc.  Dad tags in, and parents here can relate.  You never want to see your kid suffer.  You'd take a bullet for your kid.  Or a disgusting backdrop driver from Bam Bam, which is what happens to Old O'Day and HOLY FUCK it is nasty as Gordy one ups Doc in every way.  Old O'Day takes it on his head, neck, and shoulder and, against his veteran status, tries to cushion the fall by reaching back with his hand and damn near breaks his wrist.  It's god damn brutal and I rewind it three times, purely for scientific purposes.

Doc and Gordy do a running double shoulderblock to Old O'Day who tries to counter it with a double clothesline, which they don't sell at all because that was not the plan.  Gordy, evidently pissed at this, seemingly shoot kicks the old guy.

Doc ends it with an Oklahoma Stampede.  This match was short, dumb fun.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Technico Support

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

2 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Doc & Gordy vs The O'Days, Clash of the Champions 19: This is the continuation of the NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament.  I seriously need to look into the reasoning behind re-launching this NWA title on WCW TV.  Did Watts feel the NWA name was more relevant?  Was it a favor to somebody?  Someone please fill me in and save me from having to look this up. 

I believe this was a Kip Frye move because he's the one who makes the announcement that WCW was hosting the tournament (with a fun little Easter egg of there being a WWF mic flag amongst all the various microphones during the press conference, likely a leftover kept from Tony Schiavone's tenure there). He's also the one who started negotiations with Doc and Gordy. My guess is that it was part of WCW trying to get along with New Japan because New Japan got the NWA World title and crowned the 1992 G1 Climax winner as Champion so the NWA titles would be the bridge titles between the two promotions. Again, just a guess.

Then Kip Frye quits and is replaced by Bill Watts. Once Watts gets control, he immediately merges the NWA tag titles with the WCW tag titles and renders the whole thing moot, and I get the feeling he would've done the same with the NWA World title had New Japan not gotten initial control of that.

[Curt McGirt]

Frye quit? I always thought he was tossed, likely because he was a good payout guy. 

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

22 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Frye quit? I always thought he was tossed, likely because he was a good payout guy. 

I thought he quit but could be wrong. That whole era was weird in terms of who was running the ship. (Not helped when you have people like Cornette blaming him for the Beach Blast movie that didn't debut until a year after Frye left).

[Cobra Commander]

watching World Championship Wrestling (8/20/1988), some notes

It's a crowded booth with Tony, Jim Ross, and David Crockett all next to each other. There's apparently a strange alliance between Kevin Sullivan and Gary Hart despite the fact that i'm pretty sure those two constantly work together on-screen.

The Allycopter actually looked more impressive when Sid did it. Jim Ross namedrops the Sheik to pitch a Cobo card in response to Al Perez doing a chinlock that is called a camel clutch. Al Perez wins a match in 1988 with the Spinning Toe Hold. Apparently Al Perez, a man who is only exciting because he has long hair and stubble, is feuding with Dusty.

Okay, I guess Al Perez is also exciting because Gary Hart gets to do promos for him. The NWA in 1988 had some great "managers on the verge of being arrested" types. Gary Hart for racketeering, JJ Dillon for financial crimes, and you don't wanna know why Jim Cornette can't get into Canada.

Kim Wood gets a shoutout during the Fantastics match. Jim Ross doing work telling people that the non-MX/Horsemen tag matches aren't total wastes of time. Tommy Rogers making fun of the masked guy after an airplane spin/samoan drop

Lex Luger has amazing hair at this time. Great Farrah hair.

Russian Assassin has music. He's facing the least known of the Allman Brothers, Robbie Allman. Russian Assassin keeps forearming this guy in the back before he wins with the Russian Cobra Clutch. Paul Jones talks postmatch. I think Paul Jones' crime involves trying to steal Blackjack Mulligan's look.

Ricky Morton apparently has an alliance with Nikita Koloff, which feels like it didn't go anywhere. Ricky has a mean streak right now. Dave Spearman is certainly something when it comes to jobber selling. Mean Ricky Morton really is a mood. Ricky Morton cuts a promo on Ric Flair postmatch because this is JCP and everybody cuts promos on the big dogs. Ricky Morton really had an amazing case of little man's syndrome at time time.

Kendall WIndham and Italian Stallion in a tag match. Kendall must be around 6'5" and 130 pounds at this time. Holy fuck he is as skinny as advertised.

The Road Warriors with the Spam Slam of the Week. How much Spam could you fit in a pair of Zubaz.

Mike Rotunda is really smart because he went to Syracuse. Also Kevin Sullivan is mad at the people who don't wanna hear a Mike Rotundo promo.

Jim Ross is amazed that the Florida Heavyweight Title is being defended. I'm amazed that the Florida Heavyweight Title still exists in the summer of 1988, hasn't the Florida territory been dead for 9 months? Somehow this Rick Steiner/Tony Suber match goes through a commercial break. Rick Steiner wins with a nice belly to belly.

The Four Horsemen join David Crockett. Tully's glasses style sticks out compared to Flair and Arn. Meaning that it looks like Tully is wearing his actual glasses instead of shades. Barry Windham is not wearing glasses. Ric does all the talking. If I had to guess, Tully was more hungover this week than Arn. Ric Flair don't get hungover.

Brad Armstrong wins a squash. That Russian Legsweep rules so hard.

The Sheepherders join David Crockett. Well, they were on something back then.

I already saw this Midnight Express squash a few days ago through Twitter. Bobby Eaton doing some amazing work with suckering Bear Collie with a handshake and twisting the Black Shadow's mask. There are so many black dudes as jobbers this week (Black Shadow, Jerry Price, Tony Suber, Dave Spearman). JJ Dillon/Four Horsemen vs Jim Cornette was not a fair verbal war in 1988. It's akin to getting yourself into a diss war with prime Eminem. The Horsemen apparently lobbed a bunch of the meatiest fastballs possible into Cornette's strike zone and he is just smashing them over and over. And they're the de facto babyfaces here next to the Horsemen.

Cornette gets to talk even more with David Crockett. I saw that on Twitter too. Stan Lane breaks during one of the lines. Jim Cornette vs JJ Dillon in a war of words is just a slaughter and that's not because JJ's bad but Cornette's a machine gun of insults at this time.

Mike Rotunda has had the TV title for 8 months by this time. Wow, must be lots of amazing matches.

Nikita Koloff with hair is like the time that Hawk stopped shaving his hair for a period of time in 1998. Nikita wins with the Sickle as Jim Ross ponders what would happen if Nikita's right arm was injured. Thanks Jim. Nikita's postmatch promo is barely coherent.

Rip Morgan looks so drunk with the Sheepherders. The Bushwhackers were a real pinnacle of "work smarter, not harder". What if the Bushwhackers were actually more deranged than the Sheepherders and we just didn't notice it. "I can't imagine anybody cheering for Luke and Butch" just you wait Jim Ross.

JJ Dillon, Arn, and Tully join Jim Ross. JJ is just so outmanned in a war of words with Jim Cornette. Weird to see Tully in glasses that aren't intended to hide that they're taping this at 10am and he's hungover. Peacock tried to fastforward me to next week's show during this promo. We still got 6 minutes left, Peacock. JJ and Tully have some real "we're not mad, please don't say we're mad" energy. Arn is equipped for the task of working the mic in this feud even if he's wearing the glasses of a suspect on America's Most Wanted. Basically the main point from Arn/Tully/JJ is that the MX is making jokes and the Horsemen aren't making jokes. It's basically Chris Jericho shouting "you think this is a comedy bus" during the Dairy Queen video.

Barry Windham wrestles a jobber who has a pad or bandage on his bicep. Or maybe he's in mourning and he's wearing an armband, Barry wins quick. JJ and Barry Windham get interview time to close the show.

So that was a fun edition of World Championship Wrestling.

[odessasteps]

Best part of this is Beth having to untie Edges boots because he doesn’t know you can’t just pull double knotted shoe laces. 

[Gorman]

Thoughts on Guilty As Charged 99

Axl & Balls came out and demanded another match, invading the Doring-Roadkill vs. FBI match. This time, Axl & Balls won.

Sid made a surprising debut, but he showed that he was a perfect fit in ECW. He chokeslammed Kronus over the top rope through a table, beat him with a chair, and won with a powerbomb. Sid has been extreme from day one!

Paul Heyman said Masato Tanaka and Jerry Lynn could not wrestle due to injury. Fortunately, the Dudleys were not scheduled, and they beat New Jack & Spike decisively in a street fight. Buh-Buh then challenged The Public Enemy to determine the top team in ECW history.

Taz won the ECW title with a win over Shane Douglas. Sabu interrupted (with lights out AND fireworks!) to put both men through tables before Taz recovered to win the match. For making his own World championship and then eventually beating the real champion, Taz is the MVP.

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

On 8/18/2023 at 3:24 PM, Cobra Commander said:

WWF Monday Night Raw (7/24/1995)

Last night, Shawn Michaels won the Intercontinental Title

Shawn Michaels vs Jimmy Del Ray: We got Cornette and Prichard in the corner of Jimmy Del Ray. Always nice to see a matchup where 90s Shawn Michaels is the less creepy of the competitors. Jimmy Del Ray bumps around for a few minutes, takes control, misses a splash, and HBK takes over, superkicks Prichard off the apron and superkicks Del Ray to win. The Louisville Gardens looks likely smaller than I was expecting. Postmatch HBK teases getting his ass out. Our hero!

There's a really good Shawn vs Tom match on Superstars before this match happening. Definitely recommend.

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

On 8/21/2023 at 6:00 AM, SirSmUgly said:

I think Guerrilla Monsoon is the one who noted this, but maaaaan did Vince just do an abrupt switch on all the stuff he'd been building for SummerSlam. I mean "abrupt" as in "in mid-July."

It's looking like we're getting:

• Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Intercontinental Championship match)
• The Natural Disasters vs. Money Inc. (Tag Championship match)
• The Beverly Brothers vs. The Road Warriors
• Nasty Boys vs. High Energy
• Rick Martel vs. Tatanka
• British Bulldog vs. Repo Man
• The Mountie vs. Sgt. Slaughter
• The Undertaker vs. The Berzerker
• Ultimate Warrior vs. Papa Shango
• Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair (WWF World Championship match)

Once we hit mid-July, Vince does a quick tag title switch, but then also flip-flops the feud partners rather than running a Disasters/Money Inc. rematch. Shawn Michaels involves himself in a Bret/Martel match to switch HBK into a short-term feud with Martel and to free up Bulldog for Bret. 

We end up getting:

• The Natural Disasters vs. The Beverly Brothers (Tag Championship match)
• Money Inc. vs. The Road Warriors
• Rick Martel vs. Shawn Michaels
• Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog
• Crush vs. Repo Man
• The Undertaker vs. Kamala
• Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior (WWF World Championship match)
• Nailz vs. Virgil

Watching those '92 Superstars shows, the switch-up is so abrupt, it's crazy. Obviously, running Bret/Bulldog was the right call, and Bret/Bulldog + Disasters/Beverlys were both very good, but the TV feels utterly disjointed in the run-up to the show because it drops months of build in a hot second. 

This card also doesn't have Flair wrestling on it; it's an odd bit of trivia (to me) that Flair didn't wrestle a SummerSlam match until 2002 (against Chris Jericho). You can see the utter dearth of upper card babyfaces in this company. Was Hogan shooting a movie or something? The obvious move is to give him a bunch of money to finally have that singles match with Ric Flair at this show. 

Even though running Bret/Bulldog necessitates changes to Martel/Tatanka, Repo/Bulldog, and  Bret/HBK. I'm not sure why it was also necessary to switch Berzerker out for Kamala against the Undertaker or to suddenly flip-flop the tag teams in the Beverlys/Road Warriors/Disasters/Money Inc. feuds. You could just run a rematch for the tag titles and blow off this dumb "sissy" shit between the Road Warriors and the Beverlys. The matches that we got ended up being aesthetically superior, I'll say that. 

If the idea was that the Beverlys were going to lose to the Road Warriors and would be insufficient dance partners for the Disasters as their next title feud, just having lost a feud to the Road Warriors, the Nasty Boys can slot into that role as title challengers until October, when Money Inc. gets the gold back...which is what they did anyway, IIRC. Anyway, I have no clue why they blew up the tag match pairings except that Vince wanted matches that were as good as possible. Which, hey, I like that too, but book in that direction in the first place, maybe. 

Anyway, I would have run this card:

• Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog (Intercontinental Championship match)
• The Natural Disasters vs. Money Inc. (Tag Championship match)
• The Beverly Brothers vs. The Road Warriors
• Rick Martel vs. Shawn Michaels
• Tatanka vs. The Mountie
• The Undertaker vs. The Berzerker
• Ultimate Warrior vs. Papa Shango [ed. note: This would have stunk, but a) it was set up for months, and b) maybe with enough stupid gaga, it's a fun sort of stink]
• Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair (WWF World Championship match)

I'm sure there's something that I don't know about the booking of this thing that someone will tell me necessitated the weird card changes, though. 

On another note, it's too bad we didn't get the Steiners and Quebecers into the company quickly enough to run those teams vs. the Natural Disasters. We only got Beverly Brothers/Steiners. 

 

My guess was how unreliable LOD had become that necessitated taking the belts off them. 

I agree with your tag title match (and essentially doing the Headshrinker debut and title switch that happened on TV anyway).

Two face vs face matches at the top of the card was overkill. Savage vs Warrior was only going to work if Savage was getting his win back, and you intended Savage to be getting a long run with the title. 

Again, they could have run the Flair title switch here with the assist from Razor (or Perfect).

Was listening to STWW the other day re this timeframe and apparently they were desperately trying to resurrect the ratings of Prime Time and Superstars by running all these random title switches and big moments, before giving up and instead trying to get Raw greenlit instead.

 

[SirSmUgly]

33 minutes ago, GuerrillaMonsoon said:

My guess was how unreliable LOD had become that necessitated taking the belts off them. 

I agree with your tag title match (and essentially doing the Headshrinker debut and title switch that happened on TV anyway).

Two face vs face matches at the top of the card was overkill. Savage vs Warrior was only going to work if Savage was getting his win back, and you intended Savage to be getting a long run with the title. 

Again, they could have run the Flair title switch here with the assist from Razor (or Perfect).

Was listening to STWW the other day re this timeframe and apparently they were desperately trying to resurrect the ratings of Prime Time and Superstars by running all these random title switches and big moments, before giving up and instead trying to get Raw greenlit instead.

 

LOD didn't have the belts and hadn't since February of '92. Money Inc. had them, but lost them to the Disasters at a house show in July rather than having the title switch at SummerSlam. I do recall Hawk being jettisoned soon after the PPV, though. Man, the Steiners can't get on TV soon enough.

I'm excited for Razor's debut, but he's still on pre-debut promo duty. 

[(BP)]

They supposedly fired Hawk because he showed up to Summerslam out of his mind on drugs, but first they let him drive a motorcycle to the ring, work a 15 minute match, and go over. 

[Cobra Commander]

Let's go back in time again

World Championship Wrestling (6/3/89)

JR and Michael Hayes are your hosts. A&W gets a plus. Michael Hayes is wearing a vest with his chest exposed.

The video quality for this episode looks a little spotty. Is that why they just gave up on uploading WCW episodes instead of unleashing 1990/1991 on us.

Ron Simmons vs Ranger Ross opens up. Ranger Ross is a house of fire. Just imagine if Watts could have stayed in business for long enough to make Ranger Ross the next JYD. Ranger Ross is apparently very aggressive tonight. Ross really wants to go to the bank after this one. Ron Simmons pins Ranger Ross after a totally legal right hand to the head that totally wasn't assisted by Teddy Long at all.

Guts and Glory! June 14th!

Joe Cruz vs Ricky Santana. Magnificent mullet on Ricky Santana. Joe Cruz looks a bit like a Dr. D David Schultz relative. Is the Gutwrench Suplex the rare move that you can counter by doing the move that the other guy was trying to do to you? Nice finishing sequence of Joe Cruz missing elbows to the head before Ricky Santana hits the Fivearm on Cruz for the win.

Lets take a special look at Flyin Brian jumping off the top rope and flying a helicopter and doing stuff. Hey NXT, I have an idea for vignettes for your new guy.

George South vs Dick Murdoch. Nice mullet on George South. The rare time that Murdoch looked like less of a redneck than his opponent? Gary Hart and Bob Orton end up on commentary. Nice elevated armbar from Murdoch as he's working like an Anderson for some reason. Dick Murdoch wins with the brainbuster.

We hear from Theodore R. Long who doesn't want to be booed. He presents a video of Norman the Lunatic. I think that Norman the Lunatic's origin story is eerily close to the song "Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies only without the pepsi because this is coke country bro. The Norman the Lunatic gimmick ages better than the gimmick they gave Eugene. For what it's worth.

The NWA Top 10. Dick Murdoch. Kevin Sullivan, Dan Spivey. Eddie Gilbert. Great Muta. Butch Reed. Lex Luger. Sting. Michael Hayes. Ricky Steamboat.

Ricky Steamboat takes on Trent Knight. Knight looks like he uses photos of Magnum TA as a reference when he goes to get his hair done. Ricky Steamboat wins with the Double Chickenwing, which is a move that somebody should consider using again.

Lemme take the opportunity to check into how the Atlanta Braves were doing around this time. The Braves lost a day game 4-0 to the San Francisco Giants on June 3rd. Atlee Hammaker improved his record to 5-3 as Zane Smith dropped to 1-8. Zane Smith did go 8 innings and 114 pitches on his way to a loss. The Braves are 22-31 and in last place in the NL West.

Here's a video of the Samoan Swat Team fighting the Road Warriors. The Road Warriors are angry and they have words as Paul Ellering holds a mic as if that makes any difference.

Trent Knight, who we just saw lose to Ricky Steamboat is back in action against Scott Steiner. Scott is accompanied by Rick Steiner and Missy Hyatt. Rick Steiner has a superfan. Feels like if you're gonna use a Ricky Steamboat match from a different taping, you should try to not air two Trent Knight matches in a row. Or pretend that Trent Knight has an identical twin brother. Scott Steiner's Steinerline was pretty gnarly looking as you'd expect. Scott Steiner wins with a Belly to Belly. 

Deke Rivers and Joe Cazana are here to job to the Samoan Swat Team. Deke Rivers' look is compared to a post-death Elvis Presley. Samu had a unique looking DDT off the second rope (Cazana is on his feet, Samu is on the second rope and falls to the canvas taking down Cazana). Fatu wins with the top rope splash. Samu hits Rivers with a pineapple as the pin is completed.

Terry Funk has promised to bring Ric Flair out tonight. You know where this is leading if you're familiar with this time in WCW history. Love how Rick Flare delivers his lines like a kid who doesn't want to be there. Anybody good enough at lip reading to know what Terry says that got muted out after the closet line? I'm sure it was something regrettably offensive. Sting is outraged at these shenanigans. Center Stage is excited to see Sting fighting Terry Funk. Lots of random dudes come in to breakup the fight before this show gets too exciting.

Rose and Steiner vs the SST on the Main Event, this Sunday. So we don't necessarily have both Steiners exclusively teaming with each other or Randy Rose is calling in a favor on his way out.

Tom Pittner vs Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan menaces a fan with a sign that totally wasn't planted. The fan is distraught and keeps getting on TV. Subtle as a jackhammer. Kevin Sullivan does his trademark jobber beatdown and the fan is still menaced postmatch. They really dressed that fan down, didn't they.

Scott Hall is looking at a gator!

Steve Casey vs the Great Muta. Muta in 1989, Hakushi to a lesser extent in 1995, if you got a gimmick and do cool moves, fans will eventually want to cheer you even if people think the non-smart fans don't want to cheer dudes from Japan. Speaking of the opposite of cool moves, a long shoulder claw by Muta. Casey misses a flying crotch attack. Muta hits a backbreaker and botches the moonsault for the win. Muta's foot landed on the guy in the first example of the Flying Stomp looking deadly. 

Hacksaw Butch Reed and Bob Orton. Some awkward camera work as this team of Kansas City wrestlers comes out. Before they can team up, Dick Murdoch emerges to brawl with Bob Orton and they go off into the night. 

So they just find a dude with a mask called The Raider (Jack Victory?) to replace Bob Orton. So they just put a former (preseason) Kansas City Chief like Butch Reed in with a guy called the Raider. This team of Butch Reed and The Raider is taking on the returning Midnight Express as the boys are back from their vacation. This is your TV main event, for the record. The Express win and the Raider eats the fall after a double flapjack. They'll advance to face the SST in the Tag Team tournament.

Just because The Raider teamed with Jack Victory doesn't mean that Jack Victory never worked as The Raider. (CageMatch says it was Randy Barber)

And since we have 4 minutes left, here's another match. The Dynamic Dudes take on Cougar Jay and Bob Emery. I guess it's more authentic if the wrestling show occasionally has perplexing time management. I think this was a standby match if we're using Mid-South terminology here. Johnny Ace with an Ace Crusher, like that move will stick around. Dudes win after a double-team back-slingshot suplex. And that's all for this episode.

Let's play two!

World Championship Wrestling (6/10/1989)

Should I be drinking A&W root beer while watching this?

JR and Michael Hayes are here with a 90 minute program. Michael Hayes is in a snazzy jacket, chest exposed. Reminds me of the 15 minute long video of Michael Hayes doing local promos while shirtless. The Dynamic Dudes take on The New Zealand Militia.

Jim Bryant vs Ranger Ross. Jim Bryant looks like a good ol boy with a one shoulder singlet. Teddy Long is lurking around ringside as apparently he's around every time a black wrestler is in the ring (hey, considering this company's history, that might be their actual approach). Jim Bryant has some 1970s Jerry Lawler hair while beating a fat boy. Ross wins with the Combat Kick.

So why is this episode 90 minutes? The Atlanta Braves are playing a game in 90 minutes. John Smoltz starts for the 24-35 Braves vs Jim Clancy and the 35-25 Houston Astros. Spoiler alert: The Braves lose and get shutout. The only run of the game scores on a Bill Doran double that scores Billy Hatcher.

Let's go back to Missy Hyatt confronting Gary Hart, Kevin Sullivan, and the Great Muta. Muta mists Missy Hyatt.

Ray Lloyd vs The Great Muta. If only Ray Lloyd could get a dynamic martial arts gimmick like Muta. Gotta admit that Ray Lloyd changed his look in 7 years. Muta hits the handspring elbow this week and beats Lloyd with a German Suplex.

The NWA Top 10: Terry Funk. Dr Death. Terry Gordy. Dan Spivey. Michael Hayes. Eddie Gilbert. Great Muta. Sting. Lex Luger. Ricky Steamboat. They just aired Lex Luger beating Michael PS Hayes for the US title this weekend.

Fred Avery vs Dick Murdoch. Fred Avery is another fat boy jobber. Love that Dick Murdoch and Fit Finlay both do elbows to the throat of guys under the ropes. Unless i'm forgetting that Finlay did some other move in that spot. Dick Murdoch wins with the elbowdrop as Fred Avery is too fat to hit a Brainbuster on. Big show is coming up this week, can't use your primary finishers tonight.

Jim Ross asks Dick Murdoch what Terry Funk's problem is. West Texans are goofy because of the 50mph wind 365 days a year. Terry Funk worked Dick Murdoch twice this year, on house shows that occurred in Corpus Christi and Albuquerque in the days before this episode of television.

Lee Scott and Keith Steinborn vs The Midnight Express. "The only guys who get more action in Atlanta than Rob Lowe, the Midnight Express" (look up which city Rob Lowe was in during his big scandal/crime in 1988). Nice assisted enziguri by the Express. Express wins Veg-o-matic to Steinborn.

Here are some words with Paul E. Dangerously and his splendid mullet. Paul E promises to not do evil things during the upcoming Express/SST match.

Earlier this week, Jim Ross interviews Terry Funk. Many years ago Terry Funk's dad died in his arms and he went to his fathers gravesite to swear to make the name synonymous with wrestling. Eventually Ricky Steamboat gets so mad that he can't stand it any more. Meanwhile Lex Luger shows up to interrupt the airing of that interview and he's mad too (foreshadowing). You see, he thinks he should be the #1 contender. Lex is reminding us about what was happening last Summer. Lex Luger will be at the Clash on Wednesday (oh will he)

Meanwhile, let's go back to a prerecorded Ricky Steamboat interview.

Kevin Sullivan gets to do a promo for a July 8th Boston Garden show on national TV. 4800 people attended that show in a building where 15000 was a sellout.

Dewayne Bruce and Mark Smith vs Kevin Sullivan and Mike Rotunda: An abbreviated version of the Sullivan squash match. The Steiners come out to fight because of the Clash on Wednesday.

Michael Hayes is outraged that the Steiners came out to fight Sullivan/Rotunda. Feeling a real UWF vibe with Hayes and Ross.

Mike Justice vs Wild Bill Irwin: Wild Bill has a match with Sting at the Clash so he gets a promo. Irwin with a good head of hair. Jim Ross mentions there'll be a Silverdome show tomorrow (it drew "about 900" people). Irwin stumbles over on a leapfrog. Irwin wins with a Big Boot. Irwin looks like a Stable Diffusion AI generated Terry Gordy.

The New Zealand Militia vs The Dynamic Dudes: The Dudes have frisbees for the freeloaders at Center Stage. This is our TV main event. The Dudes win after a few minutes to advance in the tournament. The Militia attacks Shane Douglas with boomerrangs as we go to a break.

The SST vs Randy Rose and Buck Seigler: This is our standby match? Fatu pins Seigler with the splash.

Here's some Jim Cornette with some words for Paul E and the SST. The Ayatollah died in-between tne last 2 episodes of this show. James E been reading some newspapers recently.

Teddy Long with some words. Norman didn't do it.

The Raider and Snake Brown vs The Steiner Brothers: The Raider is from parts unknown. Snake Brown is from Out of Town. Rick Steiner's superfan is here and her sign has been taped back together as there is a serious lack of paper in her household since the mill closed.  Rick gives her a jacket. How nice. Snake Brown eats belly to belly suplexes from both Steiners and then the Varsity Club runs in and they fight to end this episode

So it's quality televised wrestling and there's a certain amount of transition going on in the background of this promotion as the top of the card is getting really good.

[Gorman]

Thoughts on Living Dangerously 99

Steve Corino showed up with a clear forehead and dressed like the 1-2-3 Kid. He issued an open challenge, which was answered (of course) by Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney. Corino trolled the crowd by sitting in a chair rather than using it as a weapon. Balls immediately showed Corino how things are done in ECW and won the match. 

Jerry Lynn is the MVP for his performance against RVD in a TV title match. After the 20-minute time limit expired, referee John Finnegan wanted to declare Lynn the winner and new champion. Lynn declined and asked for five more minutes, and he lost.

Wait … can the referee do that? Yes! In the old WWWF, the referee sometimes declared a winner after the time limit had expired. Usually, the babyface got the nod.

New Jack used the balcony dive as a finisher to beat his former Gangstas partner, Mr. Mustafa. How did that work? The dive took everything out of both wrestlers, so security dragged both of them to the ring and New Jack just covered Mustafa for the pin.

Months after declaring himself in the prime of his career, Shane Douglas decided he was ready to retire. Douglas wanted to pass the “Franchise” moniker on to Tommy Dreamer, but Justin Credible and Lance Storm wanted it instead. This led to a tag team match, with the babyfaces winning.

Taz beat Sabu again after targeting the jawbone that Taz had broken a few weeks earlier. Taz won his FTW title back, unifying it with the real ECW belt. Despite his dominance of their feud, Taz showed Sabu respect after the match.

[Curt McGirt]

And now I'm gonna ask again how that balcony dive went about: was there a table, did he land feet-first, how high was the balcony, etc.

[Cobra Commander]

I wasn't actually watching much pandemic-era wrestling as it happened. But in the process of thinking of something to watch. I thought "what about something related to Gunther" since he won the Raw main event tonight. I considered NXT UK Takeover Cardiff (Walter vs Bate) but that's 3 hours and I wanna get into bed a little earlier than that. So I might watch that later. I thought "what about wXw stuff" which requires looking at the top rated Walter matches on Cagematch to make heads or tails and then you end up with stuff that isn't on the network or stuff with alleged sex pests (David Starr), and yeah, maybe not that right now. I did watch wXw once on the Peacock, I think it was the Toronto show.

So I decided to go into the world of 2020 Wrestling for the #1 Walter/Gunther match according to the nerds of Cagematch.

NXT UK (10/29/2020)

Tonight, Walter takes on Ilja Dragunov in a big match.

Let's start off with Aoife Valkyrie vs Dani Luna: thanks for the graphic, I would not have guessed Aoife based off that pronunciation. Oh yeah, they're doing zoom screens at the tron to make this look less normal. I'm working under the premise that Luna is good and Valkyrie is evil here because this is a UK promotion and Valkyrie is Irish. A bit of a back and forth that is done well enough. Nice missed enzuigiri into a German Suplex by Luna. Valkyrie flips out of a German Suplex and hits a heel kick. Valkyrie wins with a jumping ax kick off the top to the back of the head. A postmatch handshake which insures that the code of honor is adhered to.

Ilja and Walter are working out to prepare for their match.

We have the Heritage Cup Tournament going on too. That will be decided... next week?

Undertaker 30 commercial.

Got some Progress and ICW Fight Club footage showing us some Rampage Brown. Boy is that ring tiny. Rampage Brown is incoming.

Got a flash back to "earlier this year".. and then to "3 weeks ago"

Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews are in the ring. Hey, they both got attacked in that footage. Always good to have something to bond over. Eddie interrupts them. Eddie is pretty sure that the attack happened to keep their team together. Eddie is backed up by two guys with long hair. Webster and Andrews are backed up by two guys, who immediately turn heel on them. That's what happens when you don't properly vet your backup. Cool double team move to finish up the beatdown. Gotta love the shock of announcers with British accents reacting to this.

(I Googled and found out that "The Hunt" were the ones who attacked Andrews/Webster, while Eddie is named Eddie Dennis and he's backed up by Pretty Deadly)

Jordan Devlin returns to action, tonight!

Pretty Deadly is asked for comments by a very British looking backstage interviewer. Then a dude with a front mohawk shows up and he seems displeased with things. Then the NXT UK Tag Team champs show up to talk. Once again, i'm kinda flying blind on most of these guys.

Next up... Jordan Devlin vs Levi Muir: Jordan Devlin is the Irish Ace and the NXT Cruiserweight Champion. I can believe one of the champions in a promotion was absent for a time in 2020. Devlin is apparently angry and probably evil. You can tell this show is autonomous in relation to the rest of the WWE because they use the phrase "Irish Wrestling" in relation to Devlin. Nice standing moonsault. Nice counter to a rollup. Nice crucifix counter to a press slam. Devlin wins with a Texas Cloverleaf looking move. Devlin has a few comments post match.

Next week, Gallus vs Sam Gradwell, Lewis Howley and Sam Stoker in a six man tag.

Next week, Noam Dar vs A Kid

Walter just towers over Dragunov in the prematch hype piece.

It's time for the main event: Dragunov vs WALTER: Dragunov is more visibly angry than Walter during the intros as you can tell from him trying to ambush Walter and taking some shots. Walter counters Dragunov's finish with a sleeper and a suplex. Time for them to just beat the shit out of each other for awhile. That throw into the ropes looked nasty. Walter would make so much money if he could time travel and beat the fuck out of Wahoo McDaniel and Antonio Inoki. This match is being worked like two dudes beating each other viciously over a personal dispute. Even the test of strength is intense between these two. Ultimately I don't think the name change really mattered much in regards to Walter (but sometimes we like to focus on things like that). Walter is built more like a bear than Gunther but doing nutrition hasn't really watered Gunther down and if it means he can work shirtless in Vinceland, it's all working out well. Hey, there's a counter to the "slap you on the chest while you're on the ring apron" move. Can you imagine how absurdly violent a Gunther strap match would be (please don't tell me if said match exists). More assbeating and suplexes. Gotta love the dedication of both guys to backhand their opponent directly in the jaw. The Sleeper has been sort of as dead move in this country for decades but i'm sure Walter could make it terrifying again if they tried. Walter just slaps Dragunov out of the air to counter a move. This is likely better without fans chanting or being cute while witnessing an assbeating. You don't need dorks who paid to get on the hard cam distracting you from two guys fighting like someone owes money to the local Mafia. Lariat and a Powerbomb but Dragunov kicks out. Just slapping a dude right in the neck is something. Got more sleeper action going into the ropes. The neck chops are done like he's trying to sever some important artery by chopping it. Walter/Gunther would be a pretty amazing Big Van Vader if that was the sort of thing that a major promotion wanted from their top heel (yes I know about one of Walter's previous ring names). This is done in a way where it's almost an accomplishment for Dragunov to hit a move on Walter or to not die in the process of being mauled. Sleeper suplex on the floor looks pretty hard too. Walter working outside the ring like a pure killer. Like you're almost safer in the ring than giving this giant Austrian asskicker things to throw you off of. Walter with a splash that looks pretty effective despite a lack of hangtime because bears don't jump high. I wonder if Walter could do a moonsault like Bigelow, Vader, and the Giant. Walter retains by putting Dragunov in the rear sleeper and making him bleed from the mouth as the ref decides to not let Dragunov die in an empty studio. Dragunov looking a bit rough after that's all said and done but at least he doesn't have Walter's handprint stamped all over his back so it could be worse. Walter works like a guy who would have been blamed for kids killing each other with wrestling moves in 1998. Like he went to a military academy that focused on training assbeaters. Walter is the contract killer who insists that he can murder people without using weapons. (Edit: and in the interest of equal time, i'll say that Dragunov works like someone who thinks he can fight much larger men despite all good logic, which is a good trait to have working against WALTER. Dragunov has the fire of a guy who might have been stabbed by a bottle in the process of fighting in an alley)

The best part is that it's my understanding that these crazy European fuckers have a few other matches in the same realm. So those matches are probably pretty fun too. Congrats to all the NXT UK people who made it through 2020-21 staying so under the radar that the WWE didn't fire them and they got to go to Florida to keep working for the company.

I don't do match ratings. I don't paid to do that. Walter vs Dragunov lived up to the acclaim I had read about it.

No disrespect to the Honky Tonk Man, but I think Gunther hits people harder in one night than Honky ever did in his entire career. They both figured out their best ways to make money. The life of beating ass isn't for everybody and if you can make it without slapping dudes in the neck, that's cool too.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Cobra Commander

[Eivion]

Definitely check out WALTER/Bate when you get the chance. And definitely make sure its when you have time as its probably a third of that show's time including entrances and post match stuff. 

[Cobra Commander]

and to change things up a little from Europeans beating the hell out of each other in the BT Sports studios

The WWE Cruiserweight Classic, Week 1

We get a video package to explain a little bit about why this is going on, narrated by former WCW Cruiserweight Triple H

Our commentators are Daniel Bryan (whatever happened to him) and Mauro Ranallo. It's possible Vince has never seen any of these episodes so this is like a radio station owned by a soulless corporation with enough of a staff to do uncorporate things on Sunday evenings.

Corey Graves is also here to explain the concept of what's gonna go on. Gotta love the graphics packages utilized here.

We get some comments from Gran Metalik and Alejandro Saez.

Gran Metalik vs Alejandro Saez: Saez has the ring style of "striking", like this is early UFC and there's a few random dudes who showed up to compete. Not sure if anybody will show up representing "Pit Fighting". Saez is also the larger of the two. Nice counter to the flip by Saez. Charles Robinson is refereeing this match. Saez has a tic of looking around at nothing in particular like he thinks the NWO is about to run in and ruin the match or he's a cat. Metalik with a nice dive. Nice shooting star press off the apron by Saez. Metalik spikes Saez with a fireman's carry into a Michinoku driver for the win.

Some words from Ariya Daivari and Hoho Lun.

Hoho Lun vs Ariya Daivari: The font used here doesn't really do the 5'7" guys any favors with how the 7s look like 1s. They use the actual Iranian flag (there are reasons why Iranian-Americans don't use that flag). Is the WWE Network or Peacock allowed in Iran anyways? Daivari is noticeably larger and he has a nice running kneelift. You can tell that this exists in it's own universe since Mauro is namedropping Japanese wrestlers. Nice kicks from both guys. Rolling Elbow by Daivari leads to a missed Frog Splash. Hoho Lun wins with a German Suplex

July 19th! The Draft! Smackdown moves to Tuesday Nights! (in case you need a context clue for when this happened. We're in 2016)

Got some words from Clement Petiot and Cedric Alexander

Clement Petiot vs Cedric Alexander: As you might be able to figure out from the name, Clement Petiot is a French fellow. Cedric Alexander's entrance gets some of the fans off of their feet. Some nice wrestling early. I liked the gutwrench suplex and the the shoulderblock into the corner by Petiot. Nice springboard forearm/clothesline by Alexander. Nice flip from Alexander taking a clothesline. Alexander wins with a gnarly back suplex into a backbreaker.

A few words from Kota Ibushi (hey i've heard of that guy) and Sean Maluta

Kota Ibushi vs Sean Maluta: Ibushi with a kick to the ass to start this off. Nice missile dropkick from Ibushi. The Exploder looks good. Ibushi selling that knee to the face off the ropes by flipping onto his head. Interesting dive by Maluta. Good neckbreaker by Maluta as it's his time to show some stuff. But it's Ibushi time to show some kicks and a standing moonsault. Pretty cool nearfall to tease Maluta winning. Maluta does some kicks but that just opens the door to Ibushi to finish off the match which he does with a powerbomb. It's been 7 years and Maluta hasn't worked in Japan, clearly because Japan's scared of him (or the stars just haven't aligned with Maluta working mostly in Pennsylvania and Florida these days)

And that's week 1. How about..

The WWE Cruiserweight Classic, Week 2

People on Twitter noticed week 1 back in 2016 and some of them got their Tweets on the air.

Tajiri vs Damien Slater: Nice counter off the ropes by Slater. Nice corkscrew dive by Slater. Slater gets most of the offense because Tajiri doesn't need to get a bunch of moves in order to Play The Hits (like the Tarantula). Tajiri makes his comeback, hits the elbow, and wins with the Buzzsaw.

Tajiri gets to face Gran Metalik in the second round.

A few words from TJ Perkins and Da Mack

TJ Perkins vs Da Mack: Da Mack would have a few dollars doing a Michael Jackson act with his trainer Dick Beyer in the mid-1980s. Imagine all the shitty moonwalk attempts people could try in an attempt to taunt Da Mack. And then TJ Perkins does a dab on a pin attempt. Those slow-mo twirling chops from Da Mack were a choice. This match is a fun one. Perkins wins with the Kneebar. CageMatch doesn't have any Da Mack matches since 2020 and this was his only US match according to CageMatch. It's been 7 years, bring Da Mack back (hopefully there's no Googleable reasons why Da Mack went away in 2020)

Battleground! This Sunday! Remember Dean Ambrose?

Some words from Mustafa Ali and Lince Dorado

Mustafa Ali vs Lince Dorado: I think these two are pretty familiar off of their last 7 years of work. Ali more than Dorado. Cool springboard reverse rana by Dorado which pops Daniel Bryan. Flipping Rock Bottom off the top by Ali also pops Bryan. Ali misses a big splash and Dorado hits him with the Shooting Star Press for the win. This match did a good job at getting a lot of action into a few minutes.

Words from Akira Tozawa and Kenneth Johnson

Akira Tozawa vs Kenneth Johnson: This tournament doesn't necessarily have good guys and bad guys but i'm treating Kenneth Johnson as the good guy for his backstory knowing he's probably losing this one. Lots of twists. Kenneth Johnson is built like a 5'11" Karl Malone. Tozawa countering chops by just punching Johnson in the face is brilliant in simplicity. Really neat back and forth here. Tozawa responds to Johnson's German Suplex by spiking him with a German and beating him with a bridging German Suplex. (On checking CageMatch, there's basically no Kenneth Johnson matches after this match, which is unfortunate)

Okay... let's stick with this..

The WWE Cruiserweight Classic, Week 3

Zack Sabre Jr and Tyson Dux talk about themselves

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tyson Dux: This really is the "get some footage of awesome non-WWE dudes on the network" tournament, isn't it? Sabre is juusuut a clean looking upstanding young man back in 2016. Daniel Bryan is so happy to be doing commentary for this match. Sabre doing lots of neat looking arm work. Sabre making sure to facially sell the Fisherman's Buster on camera. ZSJ lools like Mike D from the Beastie Boys at times. Sabre differs a little from the other people in this tournament in that he's a really good wrestler and you also wanna punch him in the face.

Let's hear from Drew Gulak and Harv Sihra

Summerslam! August 21st!

Drew Gulak vs Harv Sihra: Sihra has appeared in music videos AND movies. Nice springboard moonsault dive by Sihra. Maybe a little more styles clashy than some of the tournament matches. Sihra falls backwards into a Dragon Sleeper and Gulak wins with that move. Guessing Gulak vs ZSJ will be a little better.

Tony Nese and Anthony Bennett get some time to talk. 

Anthony Bennett vs Tony Nese: Anthony Bennett's hair is memorable. You could imagine all the ideas in the heads of racist old white promoters for head-based offense with that hair. Both of these competitors represent the United States, so the crowd will have to pick sides here. Bennett should be the de facto good guy because of the hair. This tournament is neat for the fact that it's working against the 'type' where people think that cruiserweight means flying spot fests. There's a lot of "dudes who spent time watching Dean Malenko" in this tournament field. Also doesn't hurt to have one of the more influential people in the WWE sphere be Regal. Some nice jumping forearm energy from Bennett. A slight pause after a Nese powerslam and this being wrestling, he tells the ref that he's fine and Nese hits him with the 450 Splash for the victory.

The Wait is Over! They're selling merch for NXT guuys now

Let's hear from Raul Mendoza and Brian Kendrick. Nothing from Brian about the Lizard People but my TV volume isn't all the way up

Raul Mendoza vs Brian Kendrick: Brian Kendrick's hair was immaculate. Around the summer of 2016, he looked like a grunge rocker who almost had a top 40 hit in 1993. There is a little bit of a "hey remember the 2000s" energy with Kendrick and Tajiri getting to work this tournament. Mendoza with a nice cloverleaf swing. Kendrick just looks scuzzier and scuzzier as he grows up. Nice corkscrew plancha by Mendoza. Awesome coast to coast kick by Mendoza to a prone Kendrick (in a tree of woe). Near fall on neat backbreaker variant. Kendrick makes a comeback by knocking Mendoza's throat off the rope and beating him with a choke/crossface.

That's 3 down, what about...

The WWE Cruiserweight Classic, Week 4

Let's knock out the entire first round in one go-around

Some comments from Rich Swann and Jason Lee

Jason Lee vs Rich Swann: Jason Lee has nunchuks, just in case he has to defend himself against any ninjas. Lee had a few good strikes. Rich Swann had a pretty good "now i'm mad" comeback face. Bryan is impressed by Lee's speed. That standing 450 splash was awesome.

Gurv Sihra and Noam Dar have something to say

Noam Dar vs Gurv Sihra: Ring announcer says Dar is representing "Scotland via Israel". WWE Network, now available in India! This had a little sloppiness in regards to spots. Perhaps after seeing a bunch of these matches, the people who aren't on the same level as the best competitors really stick out. Sihra rolls film and misses an elbow. Dar does a Fisherman's Buster and then goes into a kneebar for the finish

How about a word or two from Fabian Archer and Jack Gallagher?

Dean Ambrose is on the Stone Cold Podcast this Monday. Remember when Austin's podcast was really hot?

Jack Gallagher vs Fabian Aichner: Aichner is a German representing Italy. The font used for names makes it look like his name is Richner. In retrospect, maybe we should have suspected something about Gallagher. But he kinda looked like Conan O'Brien and that was enough. Lots of British wrestling spots for this one since Aichner was trained by Steve Wright. Aichner kinda fucked up a springboard move but did his best to cover it up. Aichner with a neat double jump springboard moonsault. If you looked at these two, you'd think Aichner was more of the WWE's type than Gallagher (after looking at CageMatch... and as it turns out). Nice powerbomb too. Gallagher wins with the running kick into the corner. There's a certain amount of Retrospect being used here with Gallagher but that's a total "irony-based" thing, wasn't it? At least Velveteen isn't in this tournament.

Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa talk for a bit

Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa: Well, they did a pretty good job at figuring out which match to put 16th in a stretch of 16 tournament matches. Guessing the NCAA basketball tournament committee set these brackets. There's a pretty deep history with these two on shows that I wasn't watching but they're much more familar with each other than some of the other pairings. So if they're playing the hits, they're playing some pretty good hits. You know it's rough when Daniel Bryan is concerned about how much head trauma they're taking. This is basically the late-2010s NXT Main Event style where they're hitting each other with bombs and kicking out over and over and then one of them wins with a Crucifix. In this case Johnny Gargano wins to advance. Johnny offers a handshake postmatch and Tommaso walks off for a moment and returns to embrace Johnny.

Whatever happened to the 32 Cruiserweight Classic competitors?

Spoiler

Gran Metalik: Working Ring Of Honor
Alejandro Saez: Hasn't had a CageMatch recorded match since 2021 but how much Chilean Lucha is really on CageMatch anyways?
Hoho Lun: Working in Japan
Ariya Daivari: Last spotted in AEW a few months ago
Clement Petiot: Currently Tristan Archer in wXw
Cedric Alexander: Still in the WWE
Kota Ibushi: Kind of a big deal
Sean Maluta: Working on the East Coast
Tajiri: Working matches in Community Centers all over Japan at age 52
Damien Slater: Working in Australia
TJ Perkins: Take your pick: New Japan, CMLL, Impact
Da Mack: Hasn't wrestled since 2020
Mustafa Ali: Still in the WWE despite a brief roadbump or two
Lince Dorado: Bouncing around indies and MLW and the such post-WWE
Akira Tozawa: WWE Main Event mainstay
Kenneth Johnson: Hasn't worked a match recorded on CageMatch since 2020
Zack Sabre Jr: A big deal in New Japan. Also making AEW appearances
Tyson Dux: Last spotted in Canada, hasn't worked much post-Covid
Drew Gulak: currently NXT Veteran Presence
Harv Sihra: Working indies with his brother Gurv
Anthony Bennett: Working in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
Tony Nese: AEW guy spending his time on Ring Of Honor
Raul Mendoza: In the WWE as Cruz Del Toro
Brian Kendrick: Making Indy Dates
Jason Lee: Working in Japan
Rich Swann: Working in CZW and Impact
Noam Dar: Still around NXT
Gurv Sihra: Working indies with his brother Harv
Fabian Aichner: Now Giovanni Vinci in Imperium
Jack Gallagher: Mysteriously disappeared from Wrestling 3 years ago
Johnny Gargano: Through the ups and downs, still around
Tommaso Ciampa: Through the ups and downs, still around

Okay, that'll be enough for now. I can handle the other 6 episodes later.

For the record: Week 5 is Tajiri vs Gran Metalik and Cedric Alexander vs Kota Ibushi