Secret Santo Holiday Season 2021

[DJ Hero Morganti]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E98WgiMKauk

 

Ok its not embedding

Edited December 6, 2021 by Morganti
Proper Embedding

[Curt McGirt]

Tiger Jeet Singh? In ring? Really?

[Zimbra]

On 12/4/2021 at 3:40 PM, Matt D said:

I shall dive into that.

Here's Takada vs Caswell Martin which we uncovered earlier in the year. It's very watchable and was a find.

 

OK, let's do this.  I'm not familiar with Martin at all but google tells me his nickname was "Cast Iron" Caswell Martin which is cool as hell.  Pretty sure this is the earliest Takada match I've seen by a year or so.  Martin is the aggressor early until Takada throws a real brickbat of a kick at his leg, which gives him pause and draws an appreciative "oooohhhh" from some guy in the crowd.  Martin's wrestling is as British as beans on toast, working a top wristlock and a cravate.  He doesn't seem to know quite what to do with Takada's shootier stuff, but Takada seems happy to come to him and do some more pro-style stuff, including a fairly neat cartwheel out off a wristlock into an ankle pick.  Takada throws some more nice kicks to the leg and arm before they go back to some more knucklelocks.  Not a lot of flow here.  Caswell is pretty cut by the standards of mid-80s British wrestlers so we get a lot of him bridging out of submissions, plus a really nice bridge out of a backslide where he posts his feet off of Takada's ass.  He has a really nice gutbuster and gutwrench suplex in here, too.  We get a headscissors and grounded abdominal stretch kinda deal from Martin, and Takada goes back to teeing off with kicks.  Martin gets a butterfly suplex at some point in here and Takada works a kimura somewhat halfheartedly.  Finish stretch comes when Takada does kind of a slam from a tombstone position, a uranage, and then a boston crab that gets Martin to tap.

Not a lot of flow or selling, and definitely not the Euro vs Shoot style battle that one might have hoped for, but as Matt said it's eminently watchable.

[(BP)]

On 12/5/2021 at 12:08 PM, Web Conn said:

@(BP)i present to you Monty Brown vs Jeff Jarrett.

 

I wasn’t watching TNA weekly at this time, but I was aware of Planet Jarrett, and I’d seen enough Monty Brown to tell that they needed to strap a rocket to him. 

I like all of the security and refs in the ring separating them. It gives it the big fight feel. The NWA title is gorgeous and will always give a match some equity with me. 

They’re working a 50/50 style at the beginning when Jarrett should be stooging and bouncing off of Brown. I feel like Brown’s shine should’ve gone on longer before it broke down on the outside. I’m not a huge fan of extended crowd brawling, which I know is a staple of TNA and Jarrett’s Memphis style. 

Jarrett uses a chair and the booth mentions that the title can change hands on a disqualification. It’s TNA, what’re you gonna do? 

Jarrett slamming the rolling desk chair on Brown’s back is one of the most brutal moments in the entire match. JJ has been trying to murder Monty with foreign objects for several minutes, but Rudy Charles decides a belt shot is a bridge too far and takes it away.            
 

I like the way Jarrett got both shoulders up when Brown had him in the stacked up power bomb pin. We get the tried and true Jarrett ref bump/guitar shot spot teased as the finish. I loved the electric chair counter with the steel chair and how Monty sold it, and how even then Jarrett still needed more strikes to knock him down. 

Jarrett follows up with a third attempt at sealing the deal with a foreign object, this time with the belt. Brown powering out and pushing Jarrett off was a good visual. Rudy rolled with it when chairs were introduced, took a bump, got distracted disposing of a chair for Jarrett, and finally eats a sick accidental Pounce from Brown. A new referee runs in to count a 2 3/4 pin on Jarrett.

We get a series of spots around a second guitar, and eventually Jarrett uses it to get the advantage. Three Strokes later and Jarrett retains. One thing I’ll say about guitar shots is that they’re gimmicked to be fairly safe and painless but they can still make a satisfying crunch and look cool visually. It’s just that there was a period where it felt like you couldn’t escape them in wrestling.

I couldn’t remember if Brown won here, so the match seemed to be telling the story of him overcoming all of Jarrett’s typical cheating tactics to win the title. But that wasn’t the story, and if you have to do this much work to protect a wrestler then maybe just put the belt on them. 

Booking stuff aside, both guys work their asses off. I prefer matches where it’s competitive wrestling with maybe one egregious cheating tactic (or No DQ matches) to them having to do this much work to include weapons. It’s frustrating because Jarrett is a fundamentally good wrestler, but once he got Russofied his matches were mostly built around gimmicks and interference spots. 

Brown was one of a series of TNA wrestlers that got a stutter stepped push and didn’t recover. I honestly thought he won the belt from Jarrett at some point, but I looked it up and he never even held the title. 

We had several chair shots, two guitar shots, a title belt shot, and multiple ref bumps. It’s a lot. The WCW main event style of the late 90s really cast a shadow over the following decade. That said, I like both guys and looking at this stuff in the rear view I can just enjoy it for what it is instead of being annoyed with TNA. I just hope Rudy’s envelope was a bit thicker at the pay window for that Pounce bump.

[Matt D]

21 hours ago, Morganti said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E98WgiMKauk

 

Ok its not embedding

So this was Sapp vs HG from HUSTLE in 05. This is one time where it would have been nice if the subtitles were working so I could use the youtube translation function but realistically, that doesn't work as well for Japanese as it does for French (which in itself isn't great or anything), so I came in blind. This was a pretty elemental battle between an absolute monster and wildly over trickster figure, so it wasn't exactly rocket science but it would have been nice to know what Tenryu had been talking about in the skits pre-match. Razor Ramon is a guy who notoriously cut the Goldust feud short since he didn't want to work with him given the gimmick so I'm wonder what he thought about the HG stuff. At the time, I figured I'd enjoy HUSTLE but there was so much I didn't know about Japanese wrestling that I figured I'd be lost and steered clear. It still seems like one of those things that someone should subtitle and release since it'd get wide ironic viewing.

The specifics were obviously absurd and x-rated here, but the general sense of the match was monster vs trickster. HG used speed early, got caught, tried to strike out, got tossed around, found a crack in the armor using his very specific gimmick (or I suppose "Tool" in this case would be accurate), and used it to keep Sapp on his toes and hold an advantage for a bit, including as a big counter for the power bomb. Despite some exacting precision on things like the dropkick to the back of the head, Sapp was never in danger of anything but embarrassment, but embarrassment meant something to a guy as big and powerful and monstrous. You wait for everything to turn, for the shoe to drop, because you know it will. It doesn't with the dive as Sapp can't catch him and hold him, but it does shortly thereafter. I don't love the nomenclature of a "Shotgun Dropkick" that Excalibur uses here but that is 100% what Sapp's dropkick here should be called. Both guys work to their gimmicks and the match here, with HG opportunistic but also bumping and selling all over the place for Sapp and Sapp shrugging off most shots but selling for the ones that should work. For Sapp's dropkick, HG throws himself into the ropes as hard as possible after the impact. I would have liked something else at the finish. That one power bomb didn't seem like enough for what Sapp had gone through. Three power bombs would have been better. So I'd call this structurally sound and appropriately worked, even if there was nothing appropriate about it. .

[Zimbra]

On 12/6/2021 at 11:20 AM, Curt McGirt said:

When you get Wrestling Writer's Block, the random matches thread comes in handy. @Zimbra:

It's interpromotional warfare with some of the best heels ever, of course it's great.

Hell yeah, Team No Respect.  Every Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy CAW I made had the TNR dance for a taunt.  Just three of the scummiest looking dudes in Japan and also Kuroda.  Fuyuki is FIRED UP! Tenryu looks MILDLY INTERESTED.  Kanemaru gets beat on in the ring for a bit while everyone else brawls outside.  Tenryu does not appear interested in selling for any of the FMW guys yet.  Kitahara gets trapped in the wrong corner and gets beat on for a while.  I haven't seen enough of him to tell if he's not very good or sandbagging the FMW team.  Gannosuke especially seems to take pleasure in laying into him so maybe the latter?  Tenryu gets tagged in just to eat a bunch of lariats and a senton.  Gannosuke scorpion deathlock gets broken up by Kitahara hitting him right in the temple as hard as he can, a nice spot that the camera almost misses.  Fuyuki gets tagged in but everyone's brawling outside.  Kanemura gets slammed from the top rope through one of those little Japanese tables outside, which had to suck.  Gannosuke makes the classic blunder of hitting Tenryu when he's on the apron and gets his windpipe crushed.  Then Tenryu just stands there while lays on his belly holding his throat until he looks up so he can kick him in the face.  It was incredibly dickish, even by Tenryu standards.  Tenryu is just abusing him so Gannosuke punts him in the beans, which is very effective. He still gets beat on by Fuyuki for a bit until making a hot tag to Kuroda, who has lariats for everyone. Fuyuki dumps him with a nasty German that he just kinda no-sells.  Gannosuke gets beat on for a while, including a second-rope powerbomb, before reversing a Fuyuki lariat to a Gannosuke Clutch for the pin.

Fun match, incredibly hot crowd, but the wrestling itself didn't quite match their energy.

[Web Conn]

On 12/5/2021 at 8:16 PM, (BP) said:

Here’s Emi vs Kay Lee Ray from EVE.

 

I have not watched any NXT UK nor have i watched much British wrestling from the last decade so this is my first look at Kay Lee Ray. I've seen Emi Sakura in AEW, I have not seen any of her Joshi work. I'm a fan of Emi's from what I've seen. I've also never heard of this promotion, Pro Wrestling Eve before so there's some firsts in this match for me. I enjoy that. I'll get it out of the way I liked the match. They had a wrestling match, they worked holds, they chopped the shit out of each other, they even fit in a few comedy spots one including Emi do-si-doing with the ref leading to a double clothesline to Ray much to the refs bewilderment . There wasn't much flashy about this match, the first move from the top rope was a superplex 9 minutes in. The venue and a say this enduringly looked like a dingy basement bar. Had a punk rock feel to it, the ring announcer was a lady with a pink mohawk for crying out loud. The match fit the aesthetic, it was no frills beat up however is front of you. There was grappling as well, Emi hit a Falcon Arrow that she immediately switched into an arm bar also later on Ray went for a Senton off the tope only for Emi to roll out of the way and sink in an arm bar. I dug those to spots. I like what I saw from Ray in this, I don't know if I'm gonna watch NXT UK on a weekly basis or anything but I'd watch another Kay Lee Ray match thats for certain. And Emi won with a Senton Bomb of her own.    

[AxB]

Kay Lee Ray is in big NXT now. She left NXT UK.

[Web Conn]

@(BP)You mentioned liking the NWA World Title so here’s another NWA World Title Match

 

[Matt D]

Got family in but I will re-roll later today. 

[DJ Hero Morganti]

I'll get my reviews in after i get home Tuesday.  Tomorrow i got a 10k in Hawaii

[Matt D]

Ok, week 2. This time without me messing up the draw.

Curt McGirt
Zimbra

Matt D
BP

Web Conn
Moganti

BP, I'll get you something in the next day.

[Matt D]

Also, no one's allowed to give anyone else the Hook match this week, even if you're tempted. We all saw it.

Ok @(BP), I remember you saying that you were watching Otto Wanz matches lately. We saw a South African match with Danie Voges vs Matt Borne recently, which is a great Borne performance but it's also interesting in that Voges reminded me a lot of Wanz, not in body type but in some other local folk hero aspects.

 

[(BP)]

@Matt D

I don’t think this one needs much further explanation than who’s involved, but it’s structured a lot like the trios matches now on Dark and Elevation. I also rolled the dice that it was obscure enough that you hadn’t already seen it.

 

[DJ Hero Morganti]

@Web Conn

Here is something I found by searching for Hawaii wrestling

 

https://youtu.be/uwBqUgj5qcg

 

[Web Conn]

@Morgantihere’s Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle in Japan

 

[Curt McGirt]

Hey, I managed to think of something ahead of time! This is topical too since you had Ruby hold back King when he was about to snap on Punk a couple weeks ago. @Zimbraonce more:

 

[Zimbra]

Nice, I'll try to check that out tonight after we put up Christmas decorations.

Here's Dangerous K and Only Somewhat Less Dangerous K going at it:

 

[Curt McGirt]

Dangerous K vs. Only Somewhat Less Dangerous K

I was expecting this to be Kitahara because I always mix them up due to the names, and forgot all about this young buff asskicker with the sleazebag goatee, expecting a frumpy guy with a mullet and karate pants. But hey, they both kick the shit out of dudes so it's excusable, at least in my eyes. Kakihara comes out with Gary Albright and I immediately thought of Kawada vs. Albright which I haven't seen in forever and need to watch next. He then proceeds to try and Kawada Kawada who isn't having it. Basically this is a competitive squash, competitive in that you know Kawada is gonna sell for even someone he's squashing, and does the best delayed sell of all time even during one -- but he's still gonna beat the shit out of you. You can see the young man raise his ire bit by bit with the crowd amping up after Kaki gets some cheap shots in after a rope break. Bad idea. After some serious kicking by both guys it boils down to plain old open-hand slaps (cue Dr. D). Besides that though there is a kick that clearly doesn't follow through all the way from Kaki's noggin and a back suplex that has a brutal, final thud to it. Then Kawada just slaps him to the pinfall. Must be like when Jericho in his bio said he won a match with a punch one time in WAR. Kakihara acts concussed on his way out and that might not be acting. 

After looking it up Kakihara had a team with Mitsuya Nagai and man that had to be even better than him, Albright, and Takayama. Maybe if they added in Takuma Sano it would have been the ultimate trios team of crusty UWF crowbar kickers. 

[Matt D]

On 12/11/2021 at 5:03 PM, (BP) said:

@Matt D

I don’t think this one needs much further explanation than who’s involved, but it’s structured a lot like the trios matches now on Dark and Elevation. I also rolled the dice that it was obscure enough that you hadn’t already seen it.

 

This is a match I was aware of but never wrote up. I haven't seen it in a few years certainly and when I did see it, it was a casual thing. They bill it as Texas vs Tennessee which is accurate by way of Maine for Scott Taylor. The structure has Dustin and Bradshaw running over Too Much (with Dustin slick and full of finesse and Bradshaw stiff and unrelenting) until it was time to have Lawler and Funk face off against one another. I haven't given Christopher and Taylor a lot of thought lately. I'd be curious how they were working when they were tag champs later on as faces and Too Cool and up agaisnt guys like the Dudleys and APA. Here they bumped around but also tried to assert themselves in weird ways: Christopher reversed a whip on Bradshaw which didn't feel believable physics-wise though you could just say that Bradshaw was fine with it and wanted the extra separation so he could forearm Christopher's face off. He hit two big boots in this one and they were both soul-crushing. He'd also have his eye-raked by Christopher while trying to hit a belly to back off the top on Taylor and still decided to hi the move. Funk vs Lawler was fun. Lawler hit a pile driver immediately on a fresh Funk as a transition and then later Funk hit one as a comeback move, and I'd say all of that worked in the context of the match even though you don't necessarily want the move used that way generally. There was a little wrinkle to set up the finish where Christopher ducked a double clothesline by Dustin and Funk, tapped his head, and turned around into the Clothesline From Hell, but other than that, this was worked fairly straightforward. When things were breaking down at the end and Bradshaw caught one of Too Much off the top to hit a fall away slam, everyone made sure to get out of the way. If this was on AEW Dark, Preston Vance or Wardlow or whoever would have fall away slammed Taylor onto Christopher or what not. There would have been a lot more of those syncopated moments. It's almost jarring not to see them, but this was good and while it was jarring not to have them, obviously the match didn't need them, which makes one thing that very few matches actually do. They were hyping Too Much vs Al Snow/Head from KOTR 98 on commentary which is a moment in time if there ever was one. Bradshaw was 293 on the DVDVR 500 a year and a half later, which is the earliest we have (Terry Funk was 291, Christopher 155, Taylor 169, Dustin 462, and Lawler doesn't show up for another year on it but when he does he's in the 480s. Bradshaw, here, definitely looks like a top 150 killer, but it was different times and different metrics.

Edited December 13, 2021 by Matt D

[(BP)]

On 12/11/2021 at 3:06 PM, Matt D said:

Ok @(BP), I remember you saying that you were watching Otto Wanz matches lately. We saw a South African match with Danie Voges vs Matt Borne recently, which is a great Borne performance but it's also interesting in that Voges reminded me a lot of Wanz, not in body type but in some other local folk hero aspects.

 

My interest in Otto Wanz was primarily based on my curiosity about cultural differences in presentation and what draws in other parts of the world, so this is right up my alley.

Voges is unsettling to look at in closeup. His face seems to be permanently set between vague emptiness and a scowl. Borne is an absolutely magnetic presence. Intense and totally in control of the ring. I like that he uses trash talk as a way to lead the match. He’s steering the ship without having to be in Voges’s ear. 

I’ve never had an affinity for rounds system wrestling, but I’ve turned around on it recently. I’ve got a folder of a few hundred matches to watch, but at some point I’ll dig into World of Sport footage. Austria certainly has better music between rounds than South Africa. 

It’s 2/3 falls, and the third fall ends in favor of Borne after a ref stoppage, I think. It got a little hard to follow without understanding the announcer. 

It’s hard to tell what to make of Voges. Sometimes there appears to be selective editing around him when he’s on offense or like when he’s required to sell in the crab (maybe it’s shoddy television production.) I don’t necessarily see his appeal, but there are definitely folks in the crowd living for this dude.

Voges gets fired up after getting color and his strikes look good and get stiffer as the match goes on, but it feels like Borne is trying to build to shining him up and bumping around for him and Voges doesn’t get there. 

Regardless, this is the Borne Show. He brings an aggressive, volatile energy to the match that gives everything a sense of urgency. He’s exactly the kind of credible heel who can feed a comeback that you’d want to bring in to shine up your ace. 

I liked this a lot because of Borne, but Voges might grown in my estimation from seeing more footage. It looks like South Africa was perhaps a decade behind Western wrestling culture; I see some matches from the 90s on YouTube where he’s going by the nickname Hulk, wearing yellow tights, and working against guys in capes and facepaint. 

 

 

 

 

[Zimbra]

On 12/11/2021 at 10:53 PM, Curt McGirt said:

Hey, I managed to think of something ahead of time! This is topical too since you had Ruby hold back King when he was about to snap on Punk a couple weeks ago. @Zimbraonce more:

 

Alright, I haven't seen much Chikara so let's go.  First off, they appear to have the ring set up in a livestock showing ring with straw all over the floor, which rules and is pro wrestling as hell.  This is a real inversion of their AEW roles with Kingston as the dominant sneering heel and Heidi working the whole match from below.  Kingston is doing crowd work throughout the match with the couple dozen fans.  I haven't seen too much of his indie stuff but he seems like a really great "small house" kind of wrestler so I'm even more impressed he's been able to transition that to TV.  Anyway, the match.  Most of this is an extended squash.  Heidi is bumping really well and she sells like someone getting their ass beat by a much larger person.  She does a couple of overly-dramatic sells, some of which work (swinging at the air after getting her eyes raked) and some of which don't (her wobbly kneed "dukes up" after meeting the 10 count).  Kingston isn't laying his stuff in as stiff as he possibly can, but he's still pretty damn stiff.  He's being such a disrespectful prick in this, just tossing her around with suplexes and cutting off her hope spots.  The kidney shots while she was in the ropes were a particularly mean choice.  Heidi's kicks to the knee to finally transition to offense looked good, better than almost all of her strikes in AEW.  Got some nice air on a Meteora, and countered a powerbomb to a DDT for two but gets murdered by a lariat and Kingston makes the ref give the aforementioned 10 count.  But he takes time to shit talk before finishing her off and Heidi gets in a kick to the knee and a kneeling rana for the upset win.

Fun little match, mostly due to Kingston's relentless heeling.  Heidi was good working from beneath and taking a beating, which makes me look forward to Ruby/Nyla and maybe Ruby/Jade.  

[Curt McGirt]

I'm not a fan of intergender stuff in concept much, but that match was really good. Kingston is such a criminally good shit-talker that seeing him get his just desserts is wonderful. That's one that both of them can be proud of and I'm sure still are. 

[DJ Hero Morganti]

Kingston is one of the best bully heels in the business and can still manage to be an amazing vulnerable babyface when he needs to be.

[DJ Hero Morganti]

Nick Bockwinkle vs Rick Martel

First and foremost, Bock is the dude.  I am only familiar with Rick as the Model so this should be fun
Bobby Heenan is here, and he is forced into a cage.

I lvoe that gimmic.  Heel managers should get locked up more often as a mid fued stup.

Bock tosses Martel to the floor to kick things off.
The commentator is doing a very droll job explaining the rules while Bock has an arm hold

Rick tries to fire up and gets taken back down.  Bock's flowing locks are great as he shakes his head disagreeing with the ref

There is a random crowd shot of what could be the Rock's grandmother but could also just be a stunt granny

Bock is so smooth at being a cheating heel, using the hair to maintain control as they work that arm.

Apparently the Hawaiian ring is massave.  24x24!

Bobby is in the cage on the outside and giving advice.

Rule of three comes into play as Bock regains control with the hair for a second time, and argues with the ref.  The commentator talks about how hes gonna ref a match as a filler line

Commercial break and we return with Rick Martel in control of the leg!

Bock is sellin his ass off, in a way that would indicate a submission in modern wrasslin, but here just looks like hes writhing in pain.

Bock escapes with a kick off, Martel cartwheels then regains control and kicks and elbows the legs!

Rick got the girls in the crowd goin hard!

Bock rolls outside to get some advice, but Martel slams his face into the cage while Bobby looks on in horror!

Gene Kinisky gets a shout out as Rick continues to control the leg, Bock goes to the hair and the eyes to get out of the hold.

Lou Thez gets a shout too! Bock brains Martel with the turnbuckles, then chokes him on the ropes. Basic heel offence that is just mean.
Headlock with a closed fist then a should block that takes lots out of both men and Martel fires up!
Airplane Spin!  more matches need air plane spins

Martel follows Bock to the floor and tosses him back into the ring, and the Abdominal Strech!
More matches need Abdominal stretches too.

Martel shoots Bock to the ropes but he nails the ref.

BIGGGG body slam gets a visual pin on Bock but the ref is ded.
Martel tries to get the ref up but he super ded.

and in another great rule of three, the third time Martel goes for the body slam he gets rolled up!

Bock steals one in the islands.

This is a great example of putting over your face in defeat.

Bock remains champ, without the help of Heenan. After the match they beat up the man who lets Heenan out!  Heel heat brother!

Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesner in Japan.

I have seen this match.  It is for IGF.  Inoki's ill fated promotion.
Kurt has the TNA title, Brock has the IWGP title (v3 i think)

Both of these dudes have generic as fuck rock entrance music.
Brock is in full post WWE pre MMA mode, so still in traditional trunks.

Kurt is in the singlet.

Angle comes out hot and hits a German to open the match, which if you have only seen Suplex City brock is jarring.

Brock is selling but takes control with some knee lifts.  Angle is luger levels of loud with his oofas.

Brock hits a throw, then chokes Angle in the ropes with hsi boot.
Shoulder blocks in the corner, and Angle is down, but he fires back with some punches before Brock goes for the F5 early.

Angle resists but gets dumped to the floor for his troubles.

The Ring is double elevated which had to suck.  Brock hits another big throw.

Angle gets a few shots before being cut off again, and we have established that Brock is in control.

Front Facelock for a slight rest and then an impressive display of power out of Angle as he lifts and tosses Brock to break it up.

Brock in red is an interesting color.  Brock goes for a power bomb and Angle counters into the Ankle Lock!

Brock powers out! Angle hits two shoulder blocks and then goes for the rolling germans but only gets 2 of them.

They counter each others finishers in intersting fashion and Angle gets a 2 count then pulls down the straps and locks that ankle!
Brock counters again and hits a HUGE release german suplex.

Angle nails the olympic slam for a 2 count, then locks on the Ankle lock again. Brock nails a sweet pin counter before hitting the F5 for 2!

Brock with the disrepectful ankle lock to Angle! Angle reverses and grapevines the leg for the tap!

Angle wins the IWGP title in an IGF ring because NJPW didn't want to pay Brock.  This wasn't the best Brock/Angle match but it was pretty fun.

pre MMA era Brock was struggling to break out of his WWF mentality and Angle was in full on GOGOGOGOGO sell as little as possible to get damage across but hit the next spot mode and it works really well with Brock.

Both of these matches show some interesting contrast in style but also how the artform has evolved.

I can't wait for what I get next!