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(Also Not March Madness): SECRET SANTO March 2020


Matt D

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On 3/29/2020 at 11:03 AM, gordi said:

@NikoBaltimore: More kaiju-style matches, you say? I hear you. I hear you.

 

Boy am I late but without going into details (work, busy weekends, procrastination, etc.) I still have a review no matter how much it may pale in comparison to others typed up on here.

So this was a fun one to see.  I never saw Killer Khan before but from the bits I heard it seemed like he was mainly a heel.  This time around he's technically the face which is good considering he's the obvious underdog despite not appearing to be that small.  Speaking of appearances I love Andre's hair and the beard is something on him I haven't seen as much of.  And I think that's Arnold Skaaland with him so not sure if he's representing WWF in this or what's going on.  Some other neat things to see are New Japan's crowd in '82 losing their damn minds for practically everything and they even had streamers.  The match had a big-match feel and it showed with how into it they were were.

As for the match itself it was very much an Andre-style match with smaller guy trying to take him down.  And when does right it does have that neat Kaiju vibe to it even if it's not always two behemoths clubbering each other.  It's nice seeing a more mobile Andre and he made a pretty darn good heel.  He did his Andre-style offense with a couple moves I haven't seen him done before.  Then there's Khan who has this intensity that made his moves mean that much more.  Loved the leg work he did throughout it all and just when it seemed like he had him Andre murder-death-killed him with a final squash for the win.  Add a hot crowd to this and it was pretty exciting to watch.

And that's the kind of the style of wrestling that I tend to miss anymore.  Nowadays I'm more used to lots of moves and epic match styles.  But this match is a nice reminder that less is more as long as it matters.  Not to say they did nothing but it would be nice if wrestling found its way back into doing less and making things mean more.

As for reviewing something I haven't watched I kind of learned last week that with watching so much current wrestling when it comes to the older stuff I may need to just sit back and watch that more.  So I particularly have my eye on the clubbering thread and will take things from there.  But as for reviews aside from this I'm sitting this one out.  I'll join in for a Wrestlecrap-themed week but aside from that I think I'll just leave all this to you fine folks.

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@NikoBaltimore Just to be clear, the like is for your review and not for you choosing to sit out of this project for a while. That was a good review, worth the wait. 

You might enjoy watching the Ken Patera vs Bob Backlund Texas Death Match that I recommended to The Man Known as Dan last week. That's some old school style epic clubbering!

If I can find time in the next couple of days I am thinking of posting a short list of classic brawls in that clubbering thread (maybe with links to videos). 

I enjoy current NJPW and AEW quite a lot but I very much agree with your statement that "...less is more as long as it matters" and  "...it would be nice if wrestling found its way back into doing less and making things mean more." I think, for example, that the recent Edge vs Orton and Gargano vs Chiampa matches could have been much better if they had both done (a lot) less but made it mean more.

Edited by gordi
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9 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Andre/Khan made it all the way to #9 on the NJPW '80s set rankings. So, if you haven't seen that, you might wanna check it out.

Dumb question but was that the one I just saw or is it from a different show. Because I liked what I saw quite a bit so if there's one better I'm up for it. 

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Nope, that's the one! If there is another Andre/Khan I sure as hell want to see it but it would have been on the set and is not. 

There are so many great little things about that match. Andre's selling, the beer bash that Dusty and the rest of the Americans have with Andre after the match, the "wounded animal" psychology at play, but my favorite is probably Khan complaining about the headlock and Andre yelling "IT'S NOT A CHOKE" then demonstrating it on Peter Takahashi. Even if Peter is one of those refs who is one of the few and far between that looks like he could handle himself in the ring, that's Andre choking the poor guy haha. Then he proceeds to completely, blatantly choke Khan in the corner with both hands. Fantastic. 

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Yeah, there were many things I forgot to mention as I actually saw this Tuesday but despite some notes didn't review until today. I thought it was interesting seeing Dusty with him and I did very much love Andre going "It's not a choke!" His shit talking was on point.

Fuck, I did forget to mention Andre's selling. Yeah, man, that was some damn good shit (pal!) 

Edited by NikoBaltimore
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@AxBasked me to review the Bhangra Knights against Sugar Dunkerton and Darius Lockhart. I’ve never seen 3 of these guys work, and the one I have is another old CHIKARA connection with is Sugar, who is pretty damn good. Always entertaining in spots like this.

 

For the last match I reviewed I opened with the stuff I liked, then went to my complaints. I’m going to do that in reverse this time, though I only have one big complaint. 

-I thought Darrell Allen looked sharp early but the more the match went on, the worse he looked. I thought his apron work as RJ got beat to shit was pretty awful, and some of his strikes late looked weak. Also, some of his control spots looked almost... passive? Like early he reminded me of a young Rocky Romero who would arrogantly use his technical wrestling to control his opponent bordering on dismissively, but it was to get over his heel persona so when someone gains control he looks like an ass. That wasn’t what I got from Allen here. 

 

But that was my only real complaint, because this was good! Fun chain wrestling early between Sugar and Darrell, and I do kinda like how it feels intentional that Sugar is outclassed in the Encounter. Sugar’s stuff looks good on the mat, in a way that kinda gets over that it’s  not his biggest strong suit, and he’s not quite at Allen’s level, but he’s competitive. I think that’s a really interesting strength for a worker that not many have, being able to get across “good but not great” at something, and it work. Sugar always seemed like a guy who can turn his “weaknesses” as strengths in matches. The opening segment goes 5 minutes one on one, and it was a really good time for me, before the tags to Lockhart and RJ, Which is also solid, with Lockhart in particular impressing. Worth noting this has all been most work and technical wrestling based for almost 10 minutes which I appreciate. 

 

Eventually we get to our first big moment of tension when Sugar seemingly accidentally hits a sharp elbow on RJ, and this leads to the match completely breaking down Lockhart makes a really nice hot tag, and he was a clear highlight in this. Sugar and Darius hit a god damned tag team Styles Clash, which was super cool. This is during the pretty weak apron work from Allen, just kinda standing there and reaching on Pinfall attempts. This leads to a hot tag again to Allen which was worse then the previous one. Eventually the Nights hit a wheelbarrow knee strike for a pin.

 

Overall, I enjoyed this a good deal. I need to watch more current Sugar and some Lockhart. Enjoyed this.

 

...And now to find the correct disk for the Hennig vs. Bockwinkel 60 minute draw.

Edited by The Man Known as Dan
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This week I watched Canadian Stampede. I had seen most of it back when the WWE Network was first launched and never went back to see the main event, Hart Foundation vs Steve Austin/Ken Shamrock/Goldust/LOD.

Was this match the origins of Canada being BizarroLand? The Hart Foundation get massive hometown/ home country cheers as expected. Lots of good story telling here. I also watched part of the Brian Pillman documentary after this as I've only seen him as Flyin' Brian. Bret and Austin is the crux of this match. It's a shame the supposed plan of heel Bret vs face Austin at Wrestlemania 14 didn't happen.

Austin getting beverages thrown at him by the crowd is great. Loved the ending where Austin's out of control hatred costs him the match. This is by far one of the, if not the best ten man tag I've ever seen. The show overall was really good, though I felt Vader-Undertaker fairly unintriguing sadly. Vader seems wasted in WWE, he doesn't strike me as ever fitting Vince's mold of a dominant big man. Glad I finally watched this.

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7 hours ago, Matt D said:

I'll try to make sense of people who are on/off for tomorrow.

@NikoBaltimore's taking a break this week?

@Bigbosseli wants on?

Anyone else want to drop out or jump on? (if you're already in, I'm assuming you're still in)

Yeah, man. I love it and all but may need a break for next week. I'm very much in for Wrestlrcrap week if that happens though. 

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Still in.

So, here's my self-pick for the week. It's on the other (non-IWTV) US Indie promotions streaming service, the Rockstar Pro Network (also features Fest Wrestling, Bar Wrestling and two different PCWs). Rockstar Pro Wrestling November Coming Fire 2015, from Dayton Ohio. Rent the single event for $5 USD, or subscribe for a month for... $5 USD. Seems fair.

So it's a 3 hour show, but we're just watching the main event, so we skip to the end of the first hour. The pick is Dave Crist vs David Starr in a 60 minute Iron Man match. At this point Dave Crist was 33 years old, a 12 year pro, and was part of the Ohio is 4 Killers faction (although Jake Crist wasn't yet. He was in the Baddest Killers Alive tag team). Meanwhile David Starr was 24 years old  and only had a couple of nicknames. He was already The Product, and he had claimed Davey Wrestling after beating Johnny Gargano at Americanrana '15. But a lot of the other names, he didn't have yet.

Before the match we get talking head interviews with other parts of the Rockstar Pro roster, discussing what it means to go an hour, and then a pretty good training montage as well. Cut to the ring, and Dave Crist (with a bushy beard and a pompadour hairstyle is sitting on the bottom rope looking at the mat, whilst Starr holds centre ring glaring at his opponent. The referee is a short African American woman with glasses. The bell rings, and Starr retreats to his corner, so we begin with a long range staredown. They circle, they stare, Crist leaves the ring to taunt a fan from the ramp. But 3 minutes in they're locked up, with Starr forcing Crist back to the corner and breaking cleanly. Armdrags and go behinds, and Starr gets some riding time. Headlock takeover by Crist, and he hangs on. Starr to his feet and hitting a Belly to Back suplex, but Crist maintains the headlock. Reversal through an armbar into a wristlock, Crist rolls through and hits a dropkick that knocks Starr backwards, but he seems unimpressed. Leg dive from Starr and he grapevines the leg, but when he tries to shift into a headlock Crist wrongfoots him and grabs a front head plum. Starr escapes with a Dropkick, backing Crist into the ropes and causing him to check his jaw. Starr working on the arm with a folding wristlock, Hammerlock and vertical armbar, Crist looking to escape and apply headlock, chinlock type holds, but the younger man seems to have the technical edge early. I had thought that Starr's folding wristlock and finger bending was something he picked up in Europe fairly recently, but here he is doing that stuff in 2015 before his WXW (European) debut. Starr with an Armbar applied on the mat, but Crist fights to the vertical, bounces Starr off the ropes and knocks him down with a dropkick, then hits a standing Moonsault for a one count. A little over ten minutes in, we have our first big move.

Crist goes after the left arm and does some damage, but Starr soon regains control and returns the favour. A few more hold exchanges, then they go into a shoulderblock exchange, both men able to knock the other back but neither being dropped to the mat. First Crist and then Starr go into a dropdown and leapfrog sequence that culminates in Crist flying over the top rope and Starr attempting a Tope, only to be foiled by Crist returns to the ring as Starr tumbles out. Repeat sequence with both guys in opposite roles, and again but as Starr tries to set the dive up Crist tries to kick him in the head, Starr managing to put the breaks on but it's a definite warning shot. Fifteen minutes in, still 0-0. Starr working a Wakigatame-style wristlock, but Crist able to stretch his leg or a rope break, and he leaves the ring to buy some recovery time. But as he gets on the apron Starr springs off the middle rope to Clothesline him down to the arena floor, earning a near count-out for his troubles. Crist returns to the ring, but the string on his wristband has come untied and is hanging loose. Starr takes advantage of the opportunity to pull it extra tight and tie it for what you would have to consider a hand sleeper. Crist seems to be breathing deeply already, not a good sign. Back to the vertical armbar, but Crist grabs the ear to escape. Attempted kick by Crist, but Starr catches, throws the leg down and nails a kneelift to the head for a two count, Crist getting a foot on the ropes in lieu of a kickout. Crist rolls out to the apron, Starr stepping through the ropes to join him there. Crist rolls back in under the bottom rope, so Starr slingshots over the top with an attempted Splash, which Crist is able to avoid. Crist covers and gets two.

Starr regains control with a battering ram headbutt, a big forearm and a punch which drops Crist, then announces that it's time for some high flying action. So he hits both ropes to set up the Look At It (which is a groin thrust to the face; He rarely uses this move any more). Crsit gets all pissed off and storms to his feet and they go into a Clubbering section. Punches from Crist! Forearms from Starr! Leaping Enzuigiri by Crist! Charging forearms into the corner by Starr. Pumpkicks by Crist, knocking Starr down in the corner and letting him hit three straight running facewashes. Clothesline ducked, and Starr comes off the middle turnbuckle with a twisting Crossbody for 2. Crist rolls out of the ring, so Starr races into the ropes and hits the Tope Suicida. Chants of One More Time, so he returns to the ring and hits another one. He goes to throw Crist back in, but the Ohioan spins on the apron to hit a 619-type of kick, then races into the far ropes to hit Moon in Rick Moranis (?) which is like a Sasuke Special without the handspring/ cartwheel things before the backflip over the top. Both men laid out on the arena floor, getting to their feet as the count hits five and going to town on one another with exchanges of forearms, punches and headbutts. Nine count and both men roll in together. 

Starr throws a massive Lariat, but Crist ducks and flies, tilt-a-whirling into a Cross Armbreaker. Starr attempts to fight out of it, which only allows Crist to unleash a barrage of kicks to the head. Starr finds enough of an opening to go into a Schoolboy roll-up for two, but Crist's kickout puts Starr back in the Armlock, and he stretches a foot to the bottom rope to secure the break. Starr selling heavy damage to the right arm with both men down, but he sits up to spit at Crist's manager JT Davidson. Crist kicks Starr in the back of the head, then gets to his feet to blow a couple of snot rockets down at the Philadelphian. Crist attempts to pull Starr to his feet, but Starr grabs a Crippler Crossface out of it, cranking on the head and neck. Crist reverses to a cradle, but as Starr breaks his grip Crist is able to reapply the Cross Armbreaker! Starr is able to secure the rope break, but both men seem to be feeling the pace already. Crist gets to his feet on the apron, and as Starr approaches Crist leaps to hit a Ganmengiri, then steps through the ropes for a bottom rope springboard Codebreaker. Crist drags Starr to the corner and ascends the turbuckles, flying off with a Cannonball Swanton that misses! Starr covers and gets two. Starr goes for a figure four leglock, but Crist reverses into a funky small package for two, then re-secures the Cross Armbreaker again. Starr is able to reposition and bend his elbow, putting Crist into a schoolboy roll but releasing to backwards roll him to his feet and hit a Superkick! Two count. 

30 minutes into the match, and Dave Crist has once again rolled out to the ring apron. Starr steps through the ropes and backs up, looking to charge in and hit something, but we'll never know what as Crist blocks it by... biting him in the dick. OK. DDT on the apron by Crist, and both men fall to the floor. Crist hooks up a vertical suplex and drops Starr belly down on the guard rail, then ascends to the apron and does a Corkscrew legdrop to the back, like he's RVD or something. Long pause with the referee checking both competitors, before she returns to the ring and starts counting them out. Crist with a Samoan Drop style pickup on the floor, and he shrugs Starr off his shoulders into a belly down landing, then follows up with a standing Moonsault on the floor! Crist back in and the ref counting, Starr up and grabbing the bottom rope at 7 but he collapses at 8, then does the Cena last second dive in and beats the count barely. And then there's this awesomely smooth reversal sequence: Crist hits a rolling Solebutt kick to the belly, grabs a single hand finger interlace and rushes to the corner to ascend the ropes and jump to the apron. Starr blocks the Casket Cutter (whatever that is; good name though) and races along the ropes to go for the middle-spring apeon Clothesline, which Crist ducks and he grabs a waistlock to swing himself in from the apron. O'Connor roll by Crist gets two, Starr rolls back to break the cover, Crist throws a 12-6 elbow to the back of the head which misses as Starr rolls clear and Starr hits a Superkick for two. All of that happened in about ten seconds.

Dave Crist seems to be exhausted already, sitting on the mat and looking drained. Starr looks to have more gas left in the tank, but he is selling damage to the arm and stomach as he walks around the ring. Starr shushes the crowd as he circles behind Crist and blasts a big kick between the shoulderblades. One more time say the fans, and he is happy to oblige... but this angers Crist, who leaps to his feet with a surge of energy and snapmares Starr to a seated position, blasting two equally hard kicks to the back and following up with a kneedrop to the shoulder. Starr also rages upright, dropping Crist with a forearm smash and kneedropping onto his upper back. Starr once again spits at JT Davidson, which leaves enough of an opening for Crist to blast him with a big haymaker punch. But Crist seems to tired to capitalise, as Starr is the first to regain his footing, and he goes back on the attack with some big right hands to Crist. Starr sets up a Vertical Suplex, Crist trying to fight out with punches to the stomach, but powerless to prevent himself being hoisted in the air and dropped neck-first across the knee with that Neckbreaker Brainbuster thing all the cool kids do now. That gets two. Crist rolls out to the apron, so Starr foot-rolls him off the the floor to see if he can get a count out. Crist eventually gets back on the apron, so Starr hooks a facelock and drags him in between the ropes, hitting a draping swinging neckbreaker. Delayed cover eventually gets two, Crist grabbing the ropes to stop the count.

The pace has drastically slowed here, as Starr takes a long time to step by step set up some sort of a Superplex. Crist is barely hanging on as Starr eventually joins him on the top turnbuckle, but as soon as Starr tries to hook him Crist bites him on the ear. Avalanche Cutter by Crist! That gets two, with quite an explosive kickout from Starr. Crist trying to get to his feet but slumping over the ropes as the fans chant This Is Awesome. Crist with the burst of energy as he hooks a wristlock and races up the turbuckles to hit the Casket Cutter (as it turns out, it's a Cutter that you hit off of a wristlock after running up the turnbuckles). That gets two, and Crist can't believe it.

Both men seeming exhausted, but Crist keeps control, hooking a grounded armbar and blasting 12-6 elbows into the side of Starr's jaw, then hooking both arms and flipping into the Cattle Mutilation! Beautiful high bridge by Crist, right on his toes. Starr is trapped and seems to be fading, but he's able to blindly probe a foot out and find the bottom rope, Crist collapsing from the hold without even having the energy to hold for most of the five count. Both men are prone on the mat as the 45 minutes elapsed announcement happens.

Crist hooking a ground abdominal stretch type position and using it to blast downward elbows into the side of Starr's jaw. Starr responding with some overhead kneestrikes to the head, answered by more elbows, then Starr shifts his weight to put Crist's shoulders on the mat for a two count. Crist now with almost a crucifix style hold, but Starr holds on him there and rolls to get his feet down, showing incredible strength in getting to his feet whilst carrying the bigger man's full weight. Starr rushes and crushes Crist back-first into the corner not once but twice before letting go. Starr back to his feet but Crist apparently unable to join him, so Starr moves to his opponent's back and hooks a nerve hold on the trapezius muscle. From there, they go into a double knucklelock situation, Starr trying to force the hands down, which after some struggles he is able to do, for a two count. Crist rolls the shoulder on both sides before doing a half Monkey Flip to spring to his feet and leap onto the middle rope into a swinging double wrist armdrag thing. Still working the double knuckle lock, until Starr breaks out of it and nails a Rolling Elbow. He drags Crist to the middle of the ring and covers, getting a two. Crist with a Superkick out of nowhere, a spinkick to the head and a bridged German Suplex for two. Ten minutes remain. Still 0-0.

Dave Crist hits a Michinoku Driver, but does not cover. Instead he climbs to the top rope and flies off with a Frog Splash, but Starr gets the knees up. Inside cradle by Starr gets two. Crist rolling to the apron again, Starr to his feet in the ring and hooking up a vertical suplex. Blocked on both sides, so Starr pulls out and blasts a Forearm smash, then hits the far ropes and charges to dropkick Crist, who flies backwards off the apron and into the railing. Crist returns to the ring at the count of nine, but Starr isn't watching as he is shouting at JTD. Eventually he returns his attention to his opponent, and eats a corkscrew spinkick for his trouble. Crist covers and gets two.

Forearm smashes are exchanged. Lots and lots of them. Five minutes remain is announced, but the forearm battle continues. Big rolling elbow from Starr staggers Crist, but when he races to the ropes Crist is able to catch him on the rebound in a Sister Abigail position and he hits a big DDT. He covers and gets a count of ONE! Starr fires up, blasting Crist with a Rolling Elbow, a second Rolling Elbow to the back of the head, and the Product Recall (Straightjacket German Suplex) with a bridge for a count of ONE! 

Angry face off in the ring turns into a slap exchange, turns into a forearm exchange, turns into Starr nailing two straight Rolling Elbows. He waves goodbye to Crist before launching the third rolling elbow, but Crist is able to catch it, hit a Wakigatame takedown and turn it into the Cattle Mutilation! Starr teases tapping, but then escape by rolling through himself. Crist hangs on and gets to his feet, looking like he's going for a Tiger Suplex, but instead he hits a Road to Valhalla, following up with a leaping elbowdrop to the back of the head. No cover, too tired. Crist pulling himself upright in the corner as Starr closes in, but Crist with a mule kick to the belly and a springboard Somersault Leg Lariat! Crist climbing the ropes, sixty seconds left, big double foot stomp off the top! Deep double leg hook, two count. Crist with the Cattle Mutilation one more time, 30 seconds left, Starr frantically running his feet around the mat to find an escape route. He manages to scoot backwards and get a foot on the bottom rope as the final ten seconds are counted down, and that's it. Time limit draw, 0-0.

The crowd immediately begin chanting One More Hour. The authority figure guy (presumably that's who he is, anyway) comes out and proposes Five More Minutes. Then he thinks about it a bit and says no, screw that, No Time Limit. And we have Sudden Death overtime.

Starr rushes Crist into the corner, but accidentally traps the referee behind of him. Starr backs up and charges with a running forearm into the corner but Crist ducks and the referee is taken out. Crist tackles Starr through the ropes and out to the floor, but is too tired to follow up so Starr gives him a Belly to Back Suplex onto the hardest part of the ring. Crist comes back trying for the Coffin Cutter on the floor, but Starr blocks it and sets up a German Suplex. Crist scratches and claws at the apron to prevent that, and is eventually able to break free of the waistlock and get clear. Starr is leaning against the guard rail as Crist runs in, but Starr ducks and back body drops Crist over the rail... sort of. Crist was posting up on the rail and his arm gives way, so he sort of headbutts the railing on the way over. Security rushes to hop the railing as Starr drags the railing closer to the ring, then slides in and runs to hit a Tope Suicida into the crowd, sending Crist flying rows back. Crist is slumped in a chair, so Starr grabs a chair of his own, sitting down facing his opponent and daring him to punch him. Yes, 65 minutes into the match and they're doing the Necro Butcher Bar Fight spot. Crist's strikes actually seem to be the stiffer, but Starr still wins the exchange, and he throws Crist into the railing in front of the commentary position. Starr sets up six chairs in a seat-to-seat formation and attempts to Irish Whip Crist into them, but he puts on the brakes and stops. Starr charges him, but Crist is able to hit a Back Body Drop and it's Starr who crashes through the chairs and into the concrete beneath.

 Starr is prone on the floor for a long time, whilst Crist picks up a chair and hands it to a fan(?). Starr gets to his feet and the fan, on Crist's orders, tosses him the chair. Van Daminator by Dave Crist, Starr collapses facedown onto a nearby chair that is set up, and Crist leaps to kerbstomp Starr's face into the steel. Crist goes for the cover (on the outside, with no ref) and the fans count. Starr kicks out on two anyway. Duelling chants of King of Dayton/ King of Taunts. Crist pulls Starr to his feet on the bare concrete, and Starr goes Kick Wham DDT! Both men down and hurt, but Starr is first to his feet, and he piles chair after chair on top of his opponent. Then puts on one more that overbalances the pile so they all slide off and he has to start again. With a slightly more conservative chair pile built, he jumps up and over to hit a leaping senton on the chairs, mashing Dave Crist into the concrete floor.

After a long pause, Crist is able to get to his feet. Starr seemed to be setting up another chair spot, but Crist walks away into the crowd. Starr rams his face into a nearby table, and Crist zombie walks out of the front door and into the car park. Starr gives chase, and runs Crist face-first into a garage door. Twice. Crists reverses the third attempt and Starr crashes back-first into the door. Crist takes a second to flip off the Van from Channel 7 (he likes Channel 2 better) before leaning Starr against the garage door and blasting a hard kick into his chest. And then a second. But the third sees Starr dodge, and Crist kick the door with a big bassy clang. There's a bit of badly lit moments where you can't actually tell what is happening at all, but once you can, Starr is setting Crist up for either a Piledriver or a Powerbomb in the car park Crist blocks the lift and tries a back body drop instead, which Starr blocks. They fight over the position some more before Crist pulls away and blasts a leg kick, which sends Starr limping away. More leg kicks follow, with Starr first struggling to remain upright, and then unable to. But when Crist sets up for a running kick, Starr is able to blast a boot into his midsection. We are seventy five minutes in.

The side door to the building was partially opened at some point in there, and it's a vertical slider. I mention this because it's now opened up about four and a half to five feet high. The perfect height for Starr to throw Crist face-first into. Which he does, and more than once. Crist collapses and rolls into the building under the door, with Starr following. Starr obtains a rubbish bin from the crowd and throws Crist head down into it, stomps him in it, then upends the rubbish all over his opponent. Luckily for Crist, it appears that this bin was mostly full of soft waste like banana skins. He is able to regain control and rams Starr into the other rubbish bin, then pours the contents on him. It's mostly metal cans and glass bottles. Crist hits Starr with a water jug, then takes a swig and spits it in his face. Both guys looking pretty out on their feet right now. J T Davidson decides now is the time to attack Starr, but gets back body dropped on the bare concrete, so clearly it wasn't the right time. Running pumpkick by Crist knocks Starr down, but he seems to have hurt his groin throwing it. Crist gets into a verbal altercation with a fan, so Starr grabs a chair and hits him in the back while he isn't looking. 

Crist is thrown back over the railing and the action returns to the ringside area, after nearly twenty minutes outside of it. The referee is still down, which kind of implies she needed serious medical attention, and makes me wonder if there were any other referees working this show, and what happened to them. Maybe I should have watched the first hour after all. Now we're back under decent lighting, David Starr seems to have much better defined abs than he did when this match started. They exchange weary chops at ringside. Starr tries to throw Crist back into the ring, and Crist attempts the 619-type thing he used earlier in the match, but he can't generate much momentum so it hits with little impact. Starr superkicks him, before staggering away. Starr borrows a water bottle from a fan and drinks it, which gives Crist enough of an opening to knock him down at ringside. Big kick from Crist to a prone Starr. Back upright, big swing and a miss from Crist, and Starr hits a German Suplex from the floor onto the apron.

Back in the ring, and Starr is calling for a new ref. Which leads to nothing. Crist has rolled back into the ring, but is not moving. Starr to the top rope and hitting a Savage elbow drop. He sells the arm afterwards, and that is the damaged right arm from an hour ago. Although it's had an hour to get better so maybe it's OK now. Starr revives referee Anitra (sp?) who was unconscious for 25 minutes but just needed someone to tell her to wake up that whole time apparently. Small package out of nowhere by Crist gets two. Superkick by Starr gets two. Much jawjacking with the fans from Starr. Furious flurry of mounted punches from Starr, and then he covers and gets two. Crist to his feet and hitting a big Superkick, following up with a Standing Moonsault (he looked so tired he even couldn't stand seconds earlier). That gets two. We are 88 minutes in.

 Scoop and a Slam by Crist, and he climbs the ropes and goes for a Shooting Star Press. Starr rolls out of the way but Crist lands on his feet, almost collapses, but does hit a running kick. He attempts to follow with a knee, but Starr punches him in the face and he collapses. Starr unable to follow up as he is selling his hand from the punch. Both men back upright, Starr going for the rolling elbow, Crist counters into the Cattle Mutilation, Starr is trapped in the hold for a few seconds but is able to flip over again, Crist goes for the Road to Valhalla again but Starr counters into a Victory Roll for a count of two.

Crist swings a lariat, but Starr ducks and takes him down into the Crossface again. Crist guts out the submission and rolls it over into a cradle for two. Starr swings a lariat, but Crist ducks and hooks a Backslide for two. Small package, two count for Starr, reversed, two count for Crist. 91 minutes have gone by. They get to thier feet and exchange forearm smashes. Crist winning the exchange with a barrage, but when he hits the ropes for a running forearm, Starr ducks, and nails a Rolling Elbow to the back of the head on the rebound. Crist rolls out of the ring, and the commentators are now putting over that this match has gone longer than the CM Punk vs Chris Hero 93 minute match from IWA Mid South, and is therefore the longest recorded Pro-Wrestling match in history. Crist returns to the ring and hits a TKO, and gets a two count. Much exhaustion from both guys. Starr with the Straightjacket German Suplex and a bridge, for two. Barrage of forearms by Starr, and he hits the ropes to nail a big Lariat (which he isn't calling the Han Stansen yet). Crist is pushed chest-first into the ropes and takes a Rolling Elbow to the back of the head. Straightjacket German bridged for two. Crist rolls to the apron and pulls himself upright by the turnbuckles. Starr closes in and throws elbows, then starts climbing the turnbckles as if to set up a Superplex. Jumping kick to the head by Crist, and Starr is almost collapsed over the ropes. Pumpkick to the head by Crist. Crist climbs the turnbuckles and appear to be trying to Superplex Starr to the floor(!). They battle over the Superplex with neither man able to hit it, before Starr ducks and Back body drops Crist off the turnbuckles. Crist holds on and lands on his feet, apparently going for a Sunset Flip bomb, but Starr nails punches to the head from the corner mount, followed by a headbutt. Crist replies with a headbutt of his own, to the balls!

Starr is sitting on the top rope and collapses into a Tree of Woe, but is able to nail his opponent with back elbows and sit up out of it. He turns to sit facing the ring as Crist climbs the ropes one more time. Strikes are exchanged, with Starr getting the better of it until Crist grabs a wedgie and climbs to the top while Starr is still saying Ow my balls. Crist is trying to set up a Superplex, but Starr blocks and counters with a Fireman's Carry, jumping off the top with a big Stomach Breaker. Cover gets two. We are One Hundred minutes in.

Wearily, they exchange elbows. Crists races into the ropes looking for a pumpkick, but Starr schoolboys to counter. That gets two. Starr drags Crist near the corner and signals to the crowd he's going to Moonsault. As he ascends the turnbuckles Crist gets up and shoves his feet out from under him, dropping him eventually into the Tree of Woe. Pull up kick to the back by Crist, who then climbs the turnbuckles and hits the double stomp to the gut. Starr falls out of the corner, and Crist nails a rolling solebutt to the stomach and the Casket Cutter, for Three! Match time One Hour Forty-Four minutes.

And that's how David Starr became the 104 minute man. Even though he lost.

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I was going to review that Mocho Cota match @Matt D posted here, but then the NWA YouTube Channel put up an episode of Paul Boesch's NWA Houston, and I wanted to review a match from that instead because it looked so appealing and because I genuinely hadn't had a chance to see as much of the Houston stuff as had come out a few years back before Corgan bought the company. 

I'm not going to do a review of the whole show, but I love all of it. The ads before the matches and interviews, "The Eyes of Texas" video to hype the promotion and Boesch, all of it is that '70s-'80s local studio wrestling flavor that I absolutely enjoy. The first fifteen minutes of the episode are this, but I genuinely don't care. There's a dude trying to hawk wood-grain stereos and TVs who I wouldn't trust to sell me a burrito out of a taco truck. Everyone had perms and aviators in the '70s and early '80s, and it made them look a hundred times more sleazy than maybe humans have looked in the history of the world. 

Sicodelico vs. Gino Hernandez (NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship Match, 2 out of 3 falls)

Though I've seen some World Class, Gino Hernandez died when I was three and basically has remained a blind spot for me my whole life. As I've heard him talked up like a future NWA champ, a can't-miss-star, I'm looking forward to this. Sicodelico is another blind spot; I know as comes over commentary that he's connected to Dos Caras and Mil Mascaras. 

Sicodelico gets a few shoulderblocks on Gino, who has to regroup. Post regroup, Sicodelico works hard to keep Gino twisted up and uses his leverage and guile to keep Gino from breaking the hold. Youthful power and speed vs. veteran wiliness seems to be the early story here, though Sicodelico has the agility to keep Gino off guard. Gary MOTHERFUCKING Hart is seconding Gino and offers some advice to a frustrated Gino. Still, Sicodelico is out here tying Gino into knots and Gino has to bail again. 

Gino finally gets a heel control section, works the shoulder, and taunts the crowd, after which Sicodelico botches maybe? Or is selling the abuse by falling off the top rope while Gino's across the wrong? It's weird. However, Sicodelico basically shrugs off the pain and ends up scoring the first fall on a springboard splash. 

After a dude tries to sell me a stylish mobile home, we come back to the second fall. Gino jumps all over Sicodelico, then struts around like an asshole. Sicodelico, who sucks, like seriously, if this match is representative of his work, this dude is terrible, wanders around a bit and then gets in the ring and fires up out of nowhere, after like a minute of wandering around staring at Gino and not really selling that much or anything. Gino escapes a Boston Crab, bails, and comes back in and takes control again. Then he does a nerve hold that thankfully doesn't last that long and blows are traded before Gino jumps back on his opponent and dominates him en route to a pinfall off of a second-rope back elbowdrop. 

Now I'm getting another Mr. Norman's vinyl siding ad. I checked for that company, and I guess they came back at one point, but their Twitter feed hasn't updated since 2016. Now I'm watching another commercial and my God, the patterns on these sofas. The '70s had no fucking swag when it came to furniture. Eddie's Mobile Homes are back again, trying to convince me to ditch high apartment rental prices for a mobile home. I live in Seattle in 2020, so I'm listening, tbh. Then, we get an Aamco commercial, but it's too slick and not as good as the local business commercials. 

Back for the third and final fall, and Sicodelico is selling the beating from the second fall, holding his shoulder. Gino jumps the bell by a split second to jump Sicodelico. Nice subtle heeling. He goes after Sicodelico's mask because he's a heel. Sicodelico rolls out, marches around, then gets back in the ring unfettered and Hulks up because what the fuck, man, why? He does some terrible hip checks and a super-long airplane spin that Geno eye rakes out of before stumbling around comically. Sicodelico whiffs on a cross body block and Gino beats him down and snatches him up on two-counts twice, being totally cocky, before the bell rings to signal a draw. Then Mark Lewin shows up and attacks Gino immediately after the bell before Gary Hart clunks Lewin with his shoe. Then Lewin calls Gino a PUSSYCAT as Gino backs away.

So this was terrible mostly because Sicodelico SUUUUUUUUUUCKS, man. These '70s-era luchadors do nothing for me. To be fair, Sicodelico could be really good and I just may not understand how to process what I'm seeing or whether or not he's properly working within his role as it was defined in this era. IMO, though, based on this match, there is a lot of shit that I would rather subject myself to watching when it comes to wrestling than another Sicodelico match. 

I do want to see more Gino because he seems like he's developing his character work nicely and he has the look. I need to watch more World Class in general, tbh. 

 

Edited by Smelly McUgly
Minor editing mistakes
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8 hours ago, Matt D said:

I couldn't 104% tell you if he liked it or not either.

I liked it, but it was exhausting to watch. It was strange how even though Starr was by far the less experienced guy in the match, he does seem more of the well-rounded vet. Like, he sells damage well after it was done. Crist forgot all about attacking the right arm after the thirtieth minute (and about selling his own left arm damage as well) whereas Starr would still act like his arm was hurt from it an hour later.

It was kind of hurt by the fact that Starr hadn't yet had his Chris Hero phase of wanting to have three dozen signature spots, so the big moves they were going to late in the match were the same ones they were doing halfway through. And Dave Crist, I've been watching him on Impact for years now but I couldn't tell you what his signature spots in Impact were. Jake Crist does kicks and Cutters, and Dave is also in some matches as well. In terms of super-long David Starr matches, the ones he had in the past year (the second Devlin match from OTT and the Hardcore Ironman with Janela from Beyond Americanrana '19) were both way better. And significantly shorter.

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Week 6. 

We've got kids and Easter baskets here so I'm not massaging this much. Some of you are falling into pretty heavy match debt, but you're good for it. The most important thing is getting a match for your partner anyway.

OctopusCinema
The Man Known as Dan

Super Ape
Six String Orchestra

Gordi
Smelly McUgly

Goodear
Curt McGirt

Bigbosseli
Ace

supremebve
Matt D

Tim Evans
AxB

@Bigbosseli, @Tim Evans let people know what your blind spots are and what you have access to.

@supremebve Let me give this some thought and get back to you.

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