Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

Secret Santo - Winter 2022/3!


Matt D

Recommended Posts

39 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Dean, I bet you haven't been following along with the Panama stuff, so here's LA Park vs Super Parka... in 1988. In a title match. With both guys having just lost their masks recently.

 

Edited by Matt D
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Smelly, this is not a random hilarious 6-man WAR tag match like you asked for.This is the other kind of groovy WAR match, which is two erstwhile sumo wrestlers just LAYING IT IN on each other. Big Meaty Men Slapping (and kicking, and shoulder-blocking, and forearm-smashing, and suplexing, and CLOTHESLINING) Meat. I LOVE this match but I can imagine people who would not love it at all. It is not the fastest-paced match you will see this week, I'd imagine. There is little that is graceful. There is much that is NASTY. The ending is kinda weird. Still, I think there is a chance you might just love it, too:  

@SirSmellingtonofCascadia

 

Edited by Gordlow
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/24/2022 at 9:36 AM, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

As I am not knowledgeable about good lucha or joshi, I'll just put in front of you stuff that I recently watched for the first time in a long time and liked. 

Jeff Jarrett and DDP had many matches in WCW, but their first one on TV was probably the best one, so here ya go!

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2c7eaj

A bit late on 2 reviews due to the holidays but let's go! 

You have no idea how glad I was when I clicked this link and saw that this was DDP/Jarrett from 1996 and not DDP/Jarrett from 2000. Y2K Nut Slapping Jeff Jarrett is probably my least favorite version of any wrestler, ever. But the man has had way more hits than misses in his career and I generally enjoy this era of Jarrett.

DDP is mid transition from bingo millionaire to #2 babyface and it's a weird snapshot of the pupal stage. He's still wearing his sleazy badguy tights but he's got all the mannerisms of 1998 DDP. The fans are starting to get behind him but he still hasn't really done anything valiant to warrant that from them. Bobby Hennan is talking about his lost fortune and Tony Schiavone is talking about what a sleazeball he is. And to be fair to Tony, the dude looks like a maximum sleaze right now.  Jeff Jarrett is another kind of maximum sleaze. Him coming out to terrible 90's midi country fiddles and giving a big "AAAWWWW YESSIR!" right as his loud-ass screaming pyro hit was some quality pro wrestling and got a laugh from me. 

Some highlights for me: Jeff Jarrett beating on DDP in the ropes and the ref counting and Jeff gives him a "I've got til FIVE!" and from now until the day I die I will maintain that Bryan Danielson stole that from Double J, no matter how true it actually is. DDP's punches are really good and the crowd is so ready to get completely behind him. Somehow in a 10 minute TV match Double J finds the time to do the Fargo Strut three times and also point to his temple to indicate how smart he is four times.

DDP comes back with his good punches and that sidewalk slam but he gets sent outside and then the Outsiders run out. Nash distracts the ref while Hall hits Jarrett with the Razor's Edge. DDP sneaks in for the win. I was definitely watching WCW at the time, and while I don't remember watching this match specifically I remember the angle vividly. Eventually DDP turns the NWO down, they attack, the feud with Macho Man and we're off to the races. This was a really fun pitstop along the way and everyone played their roles perfectly.

Thanks for this Smelly. It was a nice trip down memory lane and a fun low stakes TV match. Jeff Jarrett is pretty good at this pro wrestling thing and DDP is the man.

 

On 12/31/2022 at 3:43 PM, Matt D said:

Sammo~!

I've got you this week. Here's a match between Negro Casas and Mocho Cota that showed up in the last year or two. It's in the midst of their feud. It's a great look at both of them being all time characters, pretty heated, and actually better than their hair match that followed:

 

 

 

Fuck yes.
Right out the gate we come in from commercial. Negro Casas isn't even in the ring yet and Mocho Cota is attacking him. They spill outside and Cota is stomping Casas while the ring announcer is still making introductions and Jock Jams is playing over the loudspeaker. This rules. They brawl outside for a bit. Eventually it gets back in the ring and Cota tries to cheat with a foot on the rope but he's caught. Doesn't matter though. A big slam and 1-2-3. Mocha Cota takes the first fall in the first 2 minutes. 

The 2nd fall picks right up with Cota choking Casas in the ropes. Eventually Casas regains control with a kick to the dick when the ref wasn't looking. I loved this. The ref turns to the crowd  with a big pantomime and asks "Hey, why does it seem as if Mocho Cota's penis is suddenly in incredible pain?" and Negro Casas is trying to say Cota hit him and the crowd is shouting that they didn't see shit. Negro Casas is a jerk, but he's our jerk. Got it. Awesome. Negro Casas is so smooth on offence. His strikes have a lot of anticipation and then he just explodes in motion. It's so great. They brawl in and out of the ring a few times this fall. Mocho Cota takes the most hilarious DDT I've ever seen. Casas hits him with it and Cota takes it then he tries to jump up but he can't quite do it because that DDT knocked him silly, so he stumble-runs about 6 feet towards the crowd, and then faceplants. 10/10. No notes. At some point while they're brawling outside Cota starts bleeding. Casas makes it into the ring and Cota follows him eventually. Immediately Casas jumps on him with a dropkick. Eventually it becomes clear to Casas that he has this fall in the bag so he starts showboating. This guy is being a total prick and playing with his food but the people love him for it. He's doing a little rope-a-dope dance around Mocho Cota while hitting some chops and knees and then La Magistral. 1-2-3 and the ref goes to raise Casas arm but he won't let that filthy ref touch him. Tremendous.

The third fall has a completely different emotional tone to it. Cota took a beating in the 2nd fall and is bleeding and trying to regain his composure. He's taking his time stumbling around outside the ring and also letting all the people in the front row see his bloody face. Amazing. He comes to his senses and comes back in the ring for the third fall and starts eating shots from Negro Casas. They start to go back and forth a bit, Mocho Cota is starting to come back, seemingly powered by spite, and drops Negro Casas with a HARD shot to the face. They spill outside and Mocho Cota drives Casas head into the bleachers and now everyone is bleeding. They cut to Casas standing up, blood running down his face, checking to see if it's real. He's got a total never-say-die look on his face. And then at this point it just becomes a fight. Cota is chasing down Casas hammering down blows when he can, Casas is trying to get away, taking opportunistic shots when he can but it's more important to find better ground to fight on. The fight goes in and out of the ring, and in each transition one man finds the most violent way to inflict damage on the other. They get in the ring, Casas kicks the ropes into Cota's knee, potentially injuring it. They spill to the apron, Cota starts bashing Casas head against it. There's a really nasty baseball slide to the back of Casas' head. Everything feels sloppy. Violent. Just get your hands on whatever is closest to you and try your hardest to use it to do the most damage to your foe. There's a fun sequence where a completely spent Negro Casas keeps weakly putting his hand on the ropes to break up a pin. These two men are fighting for their lives at this point. Mocho Cota is trying to break Negro Casas's leg against the ring apron. He's biting Casas forehead. Eventually Casas ends up getting crotched on the ropes and pinned. But Mocho Cota is holding the ropes and the ref didn't see! His plan from the first fall finally worked! 

This was so good, thanks for sharing Matt. I'm definitely going to track down the hair match that follows this.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/7/2023 at 7:37 AM, Gordlow said:

Smelly, this is not a random hilarious 6-man WAR tag match like you asked for.This is the other kind of groovy WAR match, which is two erstwhile sumo wrestlers just LAYING IT IN on each other. Big Meaty Men Slapping (and kicking, and shoulder-blocking, and forearm-smashing, and suplexing, and CLOTHESLINING) Meat. I LOVE this match but I can imagine people who would not love it at all. It is not the fastest-paced match you will see this week, I'd imagine. There is little that is graceful. There is much that is NASTY. The ending is kinda weird. Still, I think there is a chance you might just love it, too:  

@SirSmellingtonofCascadia

 

This should fit your broad wishes, Gordi. I watched the full thing after seeing clips on weekly Mid-South, and I thought it was fun as hell:

Nick Bockwinkel vs. JYD

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to back-to-back post (maybe?), but I wanted to review the two matches I got from John E. Dynamite and Gordi before moving on to watching Nitro. 

Masahito Kakihara vs. Tatsuo Nakano

Well, I didn't have "match starts with a bloody palm-strike-fest" on my bingo card. Jesus. I'm caught between "pro wrestling is a work, it's not supposed to deliberately hurt" and "Kakihara fucked that dude up and got a gusher going, awesome" here. I mean, what I like about shoot-style is that it's not an actual shoot. A large part of that is because you can work drama into the fights in a way that you can't in a shoot MMA competition (and you can work pro wrestling moves in, too, and have it flow nicely). The other part, though, is that dudes aren't actually trying to kill each other in there. The palm strikes were an amazing visual; they did a fine job of immediately establishing stakes, too. Nakano needs to get Kakihara on the mat and lay on him rather than standing with him. In fact, the ending is great because Nakano ducks a kick and locks on a half-Boston Crab, in true pro wrestling style. This was violent, logical, and visually impressive, and I quite enjoyed it, but also I have to take points off because they deliberately busted a guy open to get some heat on things.

Ashura Hara vs. Takashi Ishikawa

My wife, who is not a sports fan, enjoys the Grand Sumo that is shown on the NHK app in the U.S. I enjoy it, too; I don't think I understood the beauty of sumo until we started watching, especially stuff like the balance and hand control necessary to be good at sumo. It probably helps that I can enjoy good offensive line play in American football, which sumo reminds me of in a lot of ways. 

And while I know that striking/shivers are part of the game in sumo, what I really like about big guys locking up is their balance, how they hold and shift their weight, stuff like that. So when I read that these were two sumo guys, I got excited. Then I read "laying it in" and got less excited. But what I actually got was tubby dudes working a series of high spots around some holds/submission attempts. There was some striking, to be sure, but what struck me the most (hahaha) is how much laying around there was, and while I like grappling, I would have liked the sumo guys to work like sumo guys, shifting for position, really playing up the battle to keep balance, stuff like that. 

Maybe I just read too much into the "sumo" thing. That's probably what it is. 

As it is, this is a match of spots - tope to the floor, piledriver on concrete, etc. - worked around dudes laying around, mostly. It feels modern in that the big spots don't really seem to do a lot of damage, and it's off to the next spot. Those guys were up from the concrete piledriver very quickly. I appreciate the match, definitely, but I think it combines a lot of the things that I don't like about modern wrestling into one match - big spots that don't feel like they have any meaning, moving on to the next spot so the crowd can pop, and laying around in holds and not struggling when a rest is needed.

I think I'm going to watch some sumo this week, though, I'll tell you that much. 

These were both interesting matches to watch; thanks to both of you! I'm probably going to check out the rest of that UWFi card that the first match was on this week. I keep meaning to just deep dive right in, and of course, I never quite get there because of all the other stuff I'm diving into. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

LT Falk vs Acid Jazz- 2005- Nashville, TN:  LT Falk is the son of AWA magnificent mid-card wrestler, (Cow) Boy Tony, Tony Falk.  He's 34 now and started wrestling at age 14, so he is 16ish here.  He is already a way better athlete than his father- as one can imagine, Barry Windham was a way better athlete than Blackjack Mulligan, Dustin Rhodes was a better athlete than Dusty Rhodes, Eddie Gilbert was a better athlete than Tommy Gilbert, Ted DiBiase was probably a better athlete than Iron Mike DiBiase, Kerry Von Erich was a better athlete than Fritz Von Erich, (I've only seen one Warren Bockwinkle match but) Nick Bockwinkle was probably a better athlete than Warren Bockwinkle.  The only sons that were less athletic than their fathers were Greg Gagne and maybe Greg Valentine.  And maybe the Rock.  Kerry Morton is about the same as his father Ricky.  Anyway, LT is all about being the fired up babyface, outmatching the more athletic Acid Jazz, so Acid Jazz (who isn't on Cagematch.net) does what you do in a studio in Tennessee, he CHEATS!  He is a fun heel, getting the little children to hate him.  They fuck up a bunch of roll-ups, but Falk reverses a pretty high-end finisher by a dude who may not have had another match before or after this.  LT Falk must have had a day job driving a forklift in Nashville because of the 346 matches listed in cagematch.net, 300ish were in Nashville.  So he never reached the pinnacle of his father (playing a gay cowboy on ESPN) but he looked good at age 16 in 2005.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

This should fit your broad wishes, Gordi. I watched the full thing after seeing clips on weekly Mid-South, and I thought it was fun as hell:

Nick Bockwinkel vs. JYD

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

Jeff Jarrett in AEW has had me thinking a lot about the value of horseshit in professional wrestling. (My basic take: I like it a lot in general, but I genuinely dislike horseshit finishes in AEW). This match has one of the greatest creative horseshit finishes I have ever seen. There is a fascinating mental exercise being played out here. JYD is SO POPULAR with the crowd in the Sam Houston Colosseum. They LOVE him! Even if you were unaware of the story of The Junkyard Dog, you can see this is true by watching his entrance, with fans crowded right up against the ring, jumping up and down in time to Another One Bites the Dust and screaming at the top of their lungs. It's amazing. JYD was, like maybe Hogan and Goldberg and Billy Graham and The Road Warriors and Rikidozan, one of those rarest of gems in pro wrestling history: A guy who got COMPLETELY over as a superhero through a magical combination of a great look and/or image and booking and almost 100% pure horseshit in the ring. Well-suited to quick, dominating wins that send the crowd home delerious with happiness (or maybe lots of stooging to enrage the crowd if you're Superstar Billy Graham). So the mental exercise is this: You are Nick Bockwinkle, touring World Heavyweight Champion. How do you work an entertaining longer title match, keep the belt, and escape with your life? The crowd is BOISTEROUS. The announcer has to constantly remind them not to throw things. It is not at all difficult to imagine them rioting if JYD gets cheated  out of a win. It would be hard to come up with a better solution to that dilemma than what we get here. Dog wins the first fall perfectly clean, and quickly, with his Big Thump Powerslam. Bockwinkle sells like crazy and works the whole second fall from underneath but squeaks out a pinfall when JYD misses a falling headbutt and Bock quickly capitalizes with a piledriver. In the meantime, you have firmly established that the ref, Nick Kozak, is a fair and reliable authority figure who won't allow Bock to cheat or Heenan to interfere. In the final fall, the ref gets accidentally knocked down while Bock is being slammed again. While the ref is recovering and Bock is being pinned, Hennan leans into the ring and slaps the mat twice. Kozak recovers and starts his count... but, the dog has heard the mat being slapped three times! He lets Bockwinkle up! Kozak explains that he only made a one-count. JYD figures out he's been cheated, hauls The Weasel into the ring and decks him. The bad guys beat a hasty retreat. Kozak DQs Bock because he saw Heenan in the ring. JYD wins! Presumably the moment that Bock and Brain are safely out of the reach of the crowd, they announce that the title can't change hands on a disqualification. Brilliant. Perfect horseshit. And, at that point in history, necessary horseshit. Other notes: Physically, JYD looks GREAT here. A bodybuilder physique. There is a great bit of in-ring storytelling where after an extended bear-hug Bock is unable to hit a move on JYD because his back gives out. There is a perfect echo of that sublime spot in the WAR match I gave Smelly! (Frankly, my dude, I am surprised you didn't mention that. It was beautiful). Both matches, in my opinion, get creative with the rest holds. In this match it's Bock operatically thrashing around while JYD catches his breath. In the WAR match I'd argue that there are zero moments where Hara and Iahikawa are "laying around in holds" but instead they are always struggling (though not as theatrically as Bock does) and often building to something, as when Hara tries whipping Ishikawa into a headlock for a third time, but gets backdrop suplexed as punishment for going to that well too often. I totally agree with you, Smelly, that Sumo has a lot in common with O-line play. I also wish ex sumo wrestlers would use more sumo-specific stuff in the pro wrestling ring. I loved Ishikawa's shoulder block out of the sumo stance that knocked Hara flying out of the ring. Surprised that didn't pop you. I have been to live sumo in Fukoaka and in Osaka with my wife, and I hope that you and Lady Smellington get to enjoy that experience some day. The cheap seats are just fine. It's way better live than on TV.

Edited by Gordlow
  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sting vs Cactus Jack - Submit or Surrender Match-Power Hour 11/23/1991:  If I remember correctly, both of these guys had their best matches both against Vader.  Maybe Sting had a better match against Flair and Cactus had a better match against Terry Funk, but probably not.  Vader was the pinnacle for both these guys.  Cactus Jack was the proto Darby Allin and the Vader vs Cactus match was like Darby Allin versus Samoa Joe- just a relentless ass beating. Whereas the title change the other day was more like Ric Flair versus Vader- a relentless assbeating with an unlikely win by the guy who took an unrelenting assbeating, as Samoa Joe is pretty Vader-like in this current run.  Wardlow was a lot like Sting in his matches against Vader against Joe, except he matched up a little more with Joe than Sting did with Vader.  This here match was more like Darby Allin's first defense Friday against Mike Bennett, Cactus and Darby both get in big wads of offense while making Bennett and Sting look like total murderers as they then resort to their psycho bumpfreak selves.  Darby bump against the ringpost in the Samoa Joe match is as fucking CRAZY as Cactus's bump to the floor off the apron to set up the Scorpion Deathlock.  Sting is the Best Possible Mike Bennett because he supplies GREAT offense for Cactus to bump all over the ring for.  Sting leans into Cactus's offense and especially his punches because Sting ruled.  Fuck, now I want to go watch Vader versus Cactus and then Vader versus Sting in a strap match.  This was such a fucking great period of wrestling.

 

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, DEAN said:

Sting vs Cactus Jack - Submit or Surrender Match-Power Hour 11/23/1991:  If I remember correctly, both of these guys had their best matches both against Vader.  Maybe Sting had a better match against Flair and Cactus had a better match against Terry Funk, but probably not.  Vader was the pinnacle for both these guys.  Cactus Jack was the proto Darby Allin and the Vader vs Cactus match was like Darby Allin versus Samoa Joe- just a relentless ass beating. Whereas the title change the other day was more like Ric Flair versus Vader- a relentless assbeating with an unlikely win by the guy who took an unrelenting assbeating, as Samoa Joe is pretty Vader-like in this current run.  Wardlow was a lot like Sting in his matches against Vader against Joe, except he matched up a little more with Joe than Sting did with Vader.  This here match was more like Darby Allin's first defense Friday against Mike Bennett, Cactus and Darby both get in big wads of offense while making Bennett and Sting look like total murderers as they then resort to their psycho bumpfreak selves.  Darby bump against the ringpost in the Samoa Joe match is as fucking CRAZY as Cactus's bump to the floor off the apron to set up the Scorpion Deathlock.  Sting is the Best Possible Mike Bennett because he supplies GREAT offense for Cactus to bump all over the ring for.  Sting leans into Cactus's offense and especially his punches because Sting ruled.  Fuck, now I want to go watch Vader versus Cactus and then Vader versus Sting in a strap match.  This was such a fucking great period of wrestling.

 

Glad you liked it, @DEAN. Tried picking something you may not have seen which was difficult as you've watched a lot. Cheers, Paul.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Matt D This match is fucking INSANE.  It's the fucking DREAM tagteam of Sherri Martel and Judy Martin aligning with total lunatic Devil Masami at ringside trying to murder the hell out of Mimi Hagewara and Yukari Omori in 1982.  GREATEST MATCH OF THE 80s!

 

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/7/2023 at 9:33 AM, Matt D said:

@DEAN
Matt D
----
@Execproducer
@John E. Dynamite
----
@SirSmellingtonofCascadia
@Gordlow
----
@The Natural
@porksweats
----
@Curt McGirt
@thee Reverend Axl Future
----
@Sammo~!
@Super Ape

Week 5. I think we've got new pairings here. Dean, I'll have something for you soon.

Hey I've got you Natural! I've seen in this secret santo you've gotten Bock and Joshi so far, but you also requested some non AEW/WWE Brodie Lee, and I've been on a AprEW streak, so let's get you something to see for the first time.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dREciYFIlw

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, porksweats said:

Hey I've got you Natural! I've seen in this secret santo you've gotten Bock and Joshi so far, but you also requested some non AEW/WWE Brodie Lee, and I've been on a AprEW streak, so let's get you something to see for the first time.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dREciYFIlw

Cheers, @porksweats. I'll get you a match ASAP!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/5/2023 at 4:24 PM, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

You mentioned not seeing enough Syxx-era WCW, so here's a match that I saw with fresh eyes a couple months ago and LOVED. Maybe you won't feel as strongly as I did about it, but I don't think I've given it to anyone else, and I dug it so much that what the heck, here you go:

Lex Luger vs. The Giant

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7ujxw8

I could have sworn I wrote this up and replied already, but there's nothing here... alright then, I'll go again.

I was a Nitro kid living in Central Time so I didn't always make it to the third hour of Nitro. I was much more enamored by the cruisers and the midcard and the international talent (this may be the origin point for a generation of smarks). The majority of the main events were NWO-involved fuck finishes with big, plodding, wrong-side-of-the-steroid-hill 40 year olds and I remember thinking how "fake" it all looked. But there were always exceptions, and I don't think I've ever made sense of it. Because every once in awhile, an overbooked WCW-vs-NWO thing with dudes being paid too much guaranteed money would just click, like were drawing match quality out of a hat and found the one slip of paper that said "good". Nothing's ever that random, so if I had to guess the secret formula involves how good the crowd is, if the old timers weren't bored or intoxicated, and most importantly, what the flow of the booking had been at that point of the show. 

Starrcade 1996 is a neat card on paper and in practice. 5 of the first 6 matches involved Ultimo Dragon, Akira Hokuto, Jushin Lyger, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, so the internet fans and workrate buffs aren't just sated, they're stuffed. Before DDP/Guerrero the only dirty finish is Hokuto over Madusa. Jarrett/Benoit doesn't go over the top with the No DQ stip up until the finish. The Outsiders vs. Faces of Fear match is a good hoss fight with a clean finish, pretty straightforward for a 1997 NWO tag reffed by Nic Patrick except the counts being believably slow - this is a good omen because there's probably a million scenarios where that match coulda sucked but everybody put their working boots on and the crowd was with it. Then DDP vs. Guerrero happens and it's pretty good but the crowd is starting to feel burned out from all these good matches, damnit. There hasn't been a piss break yet. So two good guys with good chemistry have a good match but it doesn't feel special but DON'T WORRY CAUSE THERE'S AN NWO RUN-IN. I don't know if the Razor's Edge is a great run-in move but I'm to believe the ref and Eddie don't see it and the crowd is simultaneously happy to boo, and a little wary that we've reached "the NWO part of the night" and all the heels are gonna start winning on some bullshit.

None of that matters when Luger and The Giant hit the ring, because then all the fans in brand new NWO shirts that just wanted to see the guys they've heard of suddenly rise to their feet and get rowdy. No NWO bullshit on the undercard, and segueing the NWO-based finish from the previous match into this one is clearly the right wave to ride, and the guy who really rides it is Wight. It's crazy how good he was from day one, he'll never get enough credit. Especially since so much of the things he was figuring out were completely unique to him - there was never a giant that mobile before him, he was the first guy at his size to work the way he did and I don't know who he was consulting with early in his career, because nobody would have known how to do it first-hand. What he really excels at, here and always, is knowing how to sell against muscley babyfaces. Selling his ass off without bumping, making great faces, screaming and letting his hair whip around without having to fall down yet. Luger here is as good as the booking, which is to say great? He's clearly super over as an ex-heel turned face simply by not being cool with the NWO... I'd love to figure out who's heat got killed the most by joining the NWO when they didn't need too. Anyways, Luger not being able to slam The Giant but spending a lot of the match trying to get him up for the Torture Rack gives Luger a good objective to play to while also channeling the specters of Yokozuna and Hogan/Andre.

The reason I know I've seen this match before is there's a sequence where they're doing the Punch the Giant and He Almost Falls Down A Bunch spot, Luger does a neckbreaker which obviously takes Giant off his feet for a big pop, and then they do the best Launch the Guy Pinning You and He Lands on the Ref spot I have ever seen. Patrick goes prone and still in such a way that the crowd takes a second to realize it's out and Lex is so big that it's as believable as any ref bump you'll see. And then it's just schmozz city - Luger gets the slam and the Rack with no ref around, Nic Patrick kicks Luger's leg out, Waltman runs out *again*, and all of this is playing second fiddle because a bat-wielding Sting is making his way to the ring, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. So it makes sense that the NWO don't send anybody else down to assist. And man, I really wish I liked the finish more, because it's The Giant selling a baseball bat shot to the leg like he's knocked out. It's stupid as shit and took me out of the moment. It didn't bother the crowd one bit, and this is something I found out between my original lost write-up and this one; this is the first time the NWO ever lost a match by something other than DQ. This is the first time WCW ever got one over on them. So maybe the reason this match worked so much better than a match where >50% of the offense is Lex Luger punches is because the crowd knew it was coming. And because the way they got there advanced the Sting storyline, had an air of intrigue (what did Sting whisper in their ears?), and happened at the right point on the card. A year later WCW would begin to completely forget that PEOPLE LIKE WATCHING GOOD GUYS WIN but here the formula works like it's supposed to, whether it be from hard work, good booking or dumb luck.

Edited by John E. Dynamite
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's definitely a better match if you're also watching the weekly shows, but I thought the Giant's control segment was great, especially that he was overly-cocky three times and got caught on the third time for what ended up leading into his demise. 

I think your larger point is excellent w/r/t WCW's failures in overbooking matches. I just watched a very good overbooked WWF Championship match between Corporate Rock and X-Pac in which The Rock retained the gold, but it was the DX music playing at the end. WWF was always better at booking these types of things, partly because the good guys won way more often, but also partly because even when they didn't, they often were the ones standing tall at the end of the match. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/8/2023 at 2:50 PM, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

These were both interesting matches to watch; thanks to both of you! I'm probably going to check out the rest of that UWFi card that the first match was on this week. I keep meaning to just deep dive right in, and of course, I never quite get there because of all the other stuff I'm diving into. 

The almost-complete 70+ playlist of UWFi Bushido, pretty much every big show between '91-94 with decent production and English commentary: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiXm_xmMHQ5BhoDzlbt0AEXD4rtA75wjq

Like any of us need another rabbit hole to go down. I might pull one of my next matches from the craziest hole I found on archive.org

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/5/2022 at 7:37 AM, Super Ape said:

I’m game.

MY TERMS:

Gotta be free on YouTube or similar as I currently have no streaming subscriptions, nor do I have any plans to get one.

No WWE or any of its subsidiaries, acquisitions or “partners,” as I am a petulant child and will not let go of an almost-sixteen-year grudge.

Beyond that? Anything goes.

A bunch of 80s AJW got uploaded to Youtube in 2022 and I've been slowly working my way through the TV, and so for you I'm gifting something I watched pretty recently. Noriyo Tateno vs Itsuki Yamazaki from 1985. The Jumping Bomb Angels Explode! Match doesn't start until about 4 minutes in, but if you're interested in seeing the Crush Gals do a musical number that's in there for you at the start. I'm a big fan of the "Tag Team has a tournament match against one another" trope in pro wrestling. This match starts off sporting and aggressive and devolves into more of a heated brawl from there, as it should be.

  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Sammo~! said:

A bunch of 80s AJW got uploaded to Youtube in 2022

There's like 150 videos that were uploaded that I need to watch.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/9/2023 at 5:55 AM, porksweats said:

Hey I've got you Natural! I've seen in this secret santo you've gotten Bock and Joshi so far, but you also requested some non AEW/WWE Brodie Lee, and I've been on a AprEW streak, so let's get you something to see for the first time.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dREciYFIlw

Jon Moxley vs. Brodie Lee. CZW From Small Beginnings Come Great Things. 7th January 2011. Note the the correct day, month, year format, you Americans!

Good brawling round the ringside area. Liked how Mox got on the apron for Lee to clothesline him onto a table, felt organic with the follow up hip toss on the remainder. Brodie has great strikes, one slap uppercut drops Mox unlike the two clotheslines which Lee takes without going down. Lee has one of the best big boots ever. Never knew Lee took a bump through a glass panel and a thumbtack table bump which gives Mox the win. Thanks for helping me cross another of my to do list, @porksweats. Am I right remembering you're a fellow Brit or am I wrong?

On 1/9/2023 at 6:00 AM, The Natural said:

Cheers, @porksweats. I'll get you a match ASAP!

 

On 1/9/2023 at 6:13 AM, porksweats said:

Just avoid anything in the Gargano/Ciampa & adjacent mindset.

I went back and forth between three matches from 2005. I've gone with...

Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kenta Kobashi/Go Shiosaki. Pro-Wrestling NOAH, 5th November 2005. 2005 was a great year in Pro-Wrestling NOAH, ROH and TNA. This was my 2005 MOTY as veteran vs. veteran and veteran vs. rookie go at it. A ***** match. The best match in NOAH's history and there's only one tag team match I rate more, Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi in AJPW, 9th June 1995. *****. Hope you like my pick!

Edited by The Natural
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

On 1/9/2023 at 1:41 PM, Execproducer said:

@John E. Dynamite

Héctor Garza, La Máscara, Hijo del Fantasma vs. Terrible, Texano Jr., Heavy Metal, 2009/01/09

@Execproducer
WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship - Eddie Fatu & Matty Samu (Jamal & Rosey) (c) vs. Hideki Hosaka & Yoshinori Sasaki - FMW 11th Anniversary: Backdraft 5/5/00 
https://youtu.be/gOGbWKQYoEc?t=2680

All my recs have been bloody brawls (+1 silly brawl) and I already opened with an Anoa'i cousin so I might as well stick to themes. I've had this one in my back pocket for awhile, I'm no expert on Fuyuki-as-booker Sports Entertainment FMW but every time I dig I find something fun. This one is really involved for a walk-and-bleed, tons of chairs and tables and proper ECWish highspots involving the arena. Big blood, gigantic men flying through tables, hot crowd. Hosaka and Sasaki are the pure underdog faces they should have always been (I think I've seen them work heel shortly after this, which is baffling). If I'm fantasy booking a world where Jamal and Rosey are still with us, then they both go back to Japan and rule there forever, Jamal in particular always clicked with Japanese audiences and I still love his AJPW stuff.

Edited by John E. Dynamite
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...