SUMMER SECRET SANTO 2023~!

[SirSmUgly]

23 hours ago, Zimbra said:

I'm an SWS kick right now so here's Tenryu & Kabuki vs Bob Orton Jr and J-E-DOUBLE-F J-A-DOUBLE-R-E-DOUBLE-T from 1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd7zLxn9L-A

Tenryu and Great Kabuki vs. Bob Orton Jr. and Jeff Jarrett – Super World of Sports, October 1990

While I have always thought that Tenryu and Orton are fun (and am typically bored by, but not particularly turned off by Kabuki’s work), the person that I’m most interested to see is Jeff Jarrett. Other than some of the fiery babyface stuff he did in Memphis, I’ve always found Jarrett underwhelming, bordering on kinda shitty until I watched his first WCW stint during my Nitro rewatch. He was so good in the ring that year, having good matches with Giant, Benoit, Malenko, Page, and even Mongo. He worked fun TV matches and fun PPV matches; he had excellent singles matches and excellent tag matches. That re-watch gave me a new perspective on Jarrett and his potential.

Tenryu is well into his “grumpy dude” phase, I see. I enjoy two big dudes opening a match with a shoulder block battle. Jarrett’s in for the first time and works an arm lock on Kabuki, then hits a beal and a couple of headscissors for a two count. People are fired up for Tenryu tagging in and killing Jarrett for specific reasons, I guess. I just want to see Tenryu try to cave in Jarrett’s chest because it seems like it’d be a cool thing to watch even if it’s devoid of any context.

Jarrett gets knocked around by both his opponents to the crowd’s delight and finally tags to Orton.  Orton does a workmanlike beatdown of Kabuki, and Jarrett gets back in the ring and has an okay sequence with him next. Kabuki basically works as FIP, with Orton running interference to prevent a hot tag before tagging back in himself. The control segment is fine, but we’re all ready for the hot tag, which Tenryu gets. He goes to work on Orton and then hits a pretty sweet leaping back elbow from the top for two. Jarrett gets in and in the best spot of the match so far, he and Tenryu have a strikefest that feels pretty heated. Tenryu wins a shoulderblock, but Orton tags him from the apron and Jarrett hits a dropkick.

Tenryu and Orton trade moves outside the ring while, inside the ring, Tenryu stuffs a headscissors attempt with a rib breaker and then lands a powerbomb into a pinning position for three.

This match wasn’t particularly good or bad; it was the equivalent of a throwaway TV match that’s perfectly cromulent and that you probably wouldn’t remember the day after you watched it. I did enjoy watching Jarrett, though; my read here is that he's unsure of himself as a heel, but he is successfully testing out some of the stuff he’d do as a showboating, preening heel in 1997 WCW. The flashy headscissors attempts, which he spams too often as a way of showing off his athleticism, end up catching him out in the end. This was an interesting look at Jarrett in an earlier heel form. By 1997, he perfected that form and had what I think is his best year by far and which actually should be talked about as one of the great calendar years for an American wrestler in the ‘90s. Then Russo came along and Jarrett’s heeling in the ring pretty much trended downward after what was a meritorious high point in ‘97.

[Casey]

Through DMs with @porksweats, we’ve come to an agreement on the following: a good women’s match, and something obscure (no promises it’s good, though!) No pressure to review both either, obviously. Just more options are never a bad thing.

 

First up, we’ve got a match that’s so obscure it’s not even on Cagematch that I can find: Tracy Smothers VS Ron Killings VS Doug Gilbert. This is from 2005, in a little podunk indie here in Tennessee that I’ve never even heard of.  Probably in front of like, what, 50 people? I don’t know. Maybe it’s fun, maybe it’s bad, I don’t know, but I love this YouTube channel because it’s got SAW and I remember watching that indie on local TV channels late at night. And stuff like NWA Wildside. Anyway!
 

I warned you in the DMs that the women’s match is like 40+ minutes, and joshi, but nevertheless… it’s Utami Hayashishita VS Syuri. I’m not a huge Stardom fan, or even modern joshi really, but this match introduced me to Utami and I was instantly hooked. I don’t know what it is, or even why, but I’ll go out of my way to watch her matches. She hits fucking hard, but Syuri hits even harder. I love love love this match. I remember watching it sometime in 2021 while I was at work, and just being completely engrossed in the match.

Two matches from wildly different ends of the pro wrestling spectrum. Enjoy! I’ll get your match reviewed sometime this week, I’m currently at work right now. I know we talked about you giving me an alternative match as well, but don’t feel pressured if you don’t have time or anything!

Edited August 13, 2023 by Casey

[Octopus]

9 hours ago, The Natural said:

How's the noggin, mate?

Luckily, no headache. I didn’t drink as much as I was thinking I would. Ended up boogieing down pretty hard so I’m super beat up! Lol

Lil Octopus was sleeping over with his Uncle and cousins. So when we picked him up he was excited so we did a lot of wrestling moves and goofing around. Once he napped I decided to start the cage match, but I was so tired I had to fall asleep. Got what seemed like a good chunk in but was actually only a little bit of time. In that time I saw scissors and nunchucks. This match is going to rule! Just a little bit ago, I finished it.

Bull Nakano vs Aja Kong - gifted by @Casey

Hot fuck this ruled! Maybe in my top ten/ 25!!!! Before the match in the promo they need to be held apart. Then coming out Aja jumps Bull with scissors. I’m so excited because I’ve seen scissors clips and now I feel this will be the match. Always wanted to check this out.

there is something real and legitimate to these two that I love. I call it struggle and Casey when referencing CM Punk called it feeling real. I just love seeing them stumbling before falling after stiff strikes. Perfectly imperfect landings. Aja slipping downward and folding between the ropes and the cage. Bull Nakano exhaustedly reacting to being brutalized by a sea of spinning backfists. I don’t know the full story outside of random YouTube videos but I can tell they hate each other at this time. 

I love when the scissors are used to equalize the arm of Aja. Just disgusting and I love it. It a survival and taking advantage when you can brawl and nbrutal back and forth but such a focus on the arm at various points is genius.

I love the team aspect. I was wondering what was going on at first but it quickly became apparent that it was faction members desperately trying to help and failing to claw their way in when their leader was being cut the fuck up. The best use of this element of a cage match I’ve ever seen. Just adds to the wildness of the action. Chains, metal cubes, scissors, kendo stick things, etc all being strategically thrown in. Then the gang warfare rages on the outside, but never really taking away from the action. Adding to it when appropriate.

Bull Nakano and Aja Kong pass my great worker test of do my eyes follow them at all times. Just so I can catch the little things they do. Every action mixed with their presence. I do the same with like Bockwinkel and Funk. Just special and I appreciate their aura. 

Good stuff! Ouch on the leg drop off the top. My tentacles hurt from dancing so that made me wince.

Thanks, Casey!!!

[Casey]

On 8/12/2023 at 11:29 AM, porksweats said:

Hey Casey, going through your posts I saw you're a big fan of Billie Starkz so here's a match AEW itself hasn't run but can totally run back!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gp36nvWRlE&pp=ygUQYmlsbGllIHN0YXJreiB2cw%3D%3D

Wrestling Revolver beat them to the punch and had Billie take on Ruby Soho! This is a blind drop so here's hoping it's good. If it isn't, I can come up with a backup.

I like Ruby Soho. I like Wrestling Revolver (superior version of GCW, no annoying announcers either). I love Billie Starkz. This is perfect. Let's fuckin' gooooo.

BULLY STARKZ IN THE BUILDING. She's good on the mic too, what can't this girl do? Jesus. Billie taunts her, calling her a "big TV star" and just laying the sarcasm in really thick. She wants Heidi Lovelace, not fuckin' Ruby Soho - oh shiiiiit. Fun fact, I was going to give you a Heidi Lovelace match that happened at that SAW promotion I mentioned. I admire Billie's willingness to always take dangerous bumps, or at least make them look dangerous. She kicked out of the No Future, she's gotta be one of the few to do so. I know Billie blocked it with her hands, but somehow still made it look like she took a full knee to the face and look gnarly as fuck. A really beautiful german from Billie. I think my only problem with Billie at this point in her career, and the rebound enzuguri is a good example, is that sometimes it looks like she's in... slow motion? I don't know how to explain it. But then she does a sequence of a top rope foot stomp on Ruby's "injured" arm, two or three hook kicks, and then a bridged dragon suplex and it all looks so fluid and crisp. Dangerous spot I mentioned earlier - some kind of modified F5 like move from Ruby to Billie on the ring apron, where she hits face first. Oh my god, beautiful counter of the No Future - she grabs the leg as Ruby is hitting the mat, and stomps on Ruby's injured arm. A top rope No Future?!?! I've never seen that. She intercepts Billie on the top, grabs her arm, and pulls her down into the No Future kick. That's cool as hell. If she hasn't busted that out in AEW yet, she needs to. AND SHE KICKS OUT. Ruby full on soccer kicks her in the face, and she grabs the ropes to break the count. I forget what Ruby calls her Sister Abigail type move, and I think the announcers do to, but she hits that and wins. Kind of shit finish considering everything they were busting out, especially that top rope No Future, but whatever.

Way, way better than Ruby vs Allie Katch at GCW's Hammerstein Ballroom show. The "build-up" for that match was worlds better than this (obviously), but in-ring this might as well have been a Misawa match compared to what she did with Allie Katch. Even though Ruby won, this match was 100% about Billie, with her kicking out of Ruby's finisher (twice, and reversed it once) and getting in a good bit of offense too. This wouldn't look out of place in AEW if it was to ever happen, but it works better on the indies (for now) where Billie has that built in good will with the fans. She's the heel here, since Ruby is kayfabe injured and Billie goads her into doing the match anyway. Bully Starkz is an actual thing on some indie shows she does, too.

Yeah, this was great. Just a little 10 minute sprint that was fun and had some gnarly looking moves. Probably not a bad introduction for anyone who hasn't seen a Billie Starkz match, honestly.

[Matt D]

Ok, tagging is working right now, so I'll toss a reminder to people who I couldn't tag on Sunday and haven't posted a match this week yet (Unless I missed something, which is possible!):

@John E. Dynamite, @Curt McGirt, @Chaos

Mainly I'm just flexing my ability to tag.

[Curt McGirt]

I found two Japanese tags, but they're both 30 minutes or so if you're down John (tagging still not working grrrrrr). One is joshi one is AJPW handheld. Yeah, I know, but that's all I could come up with this weekend. Lemme know if you have some particular interests and I can do better.

[Chaos]

6 hours ago, Matt D said:

Ok, tagging is working right now, so I'll toss a reminder to people who I couldn't tag on Sunday and haven't posted a match this week yet (Unless I missed something, which is possible!):

@John E. Dynamite, @Curt McGirt, @Chaos

Mainly I'm just flexing my ability to tag.

I've been tied up the last couple of days. I'll do my write up for last week and find something to pick either tonight or tomorrow.

[John E. Dynamite]

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu 10/25/91

I always liked Yatsu. He was one of the first off-the-beaten older guys I made a habit of always clicking on. I'm pretty sure I watched this one 15 years ago or something? Maybe offa Ditch's old site? Maybe somewhere more nefarious? I definitely had a torrent of SWS stuff at some point. And before I talk about any of the action I gotta mention Yatsu's CASIO-delic hip-hop entrance music. It is confounding. Like sometimes the Gunns will come out for an AEW match and I'll become aware of just how inexplicable their accompanying theme is, but Yatsu handily has them beat.

It's easy to diagnose this match's major hurdle right off the bat. There's no heat. No cheers at the bell. Yatsu is not winning, not in a million years, and everyone in attendance is aware of it. Thankfully one of the best things you can do in front of a quiet crowd is go THUD and this is a match between two burlap sacks filled with root vegetables playing bumper cars. Oh yeah, and the sack full of yams is a former top-division sumo wrestler and the sack full of radishes is an Olympic amateur wrestler. If you don't know, both of these guys' legit athletic careers ended on some bullshit - Tenryu quit sumo at 26 after spending half (!) of his life in the pro ranks, while Yatsu didn't go to the 80's Olympics in Moscow due to the boycott AND got banned from the '88 Olympics based on being considered a professional athlete. And it's important to remember how much of both men's careers were built around that professional and athletic angst. This matters a good deal here.

The match begins when Yatsu slaps the shit out of Tenryu's ear and then spends the majority of the opening working a grueling series of headlocks. But when he goes back to the slap, I notice they aren't just slaps. Those are full blown Harite - sumo-style and nasty. Yatsu's bringing Tenryu back to being thirteen years old and slapped around in the heya, and then shutting him down with his amateur prowess and head control. Tenryu fights backs with chops, powerbombs, and enzuigiris (Yatsu throws some of the latter as well) and it PAINTS A PICTURE, MAN. Tenryu wants to be a pro-wrestler! Yatsu wants to drag him back into the misery of his youth! It's upper-body grappling and head strikes and then wouldn't you know it, Yatsu hits a big knockdown after muscling Tenry into the corner and hitting him with a tsuppari blast of open-hand thrusts. He powders during the count, drags Tenryu out of the ring and goes right back to the headlock and bulldog on the floor + a rad flying THUD attack off the apron.

I wanted Tenryu to dig down deep and be forced to turn this into a pro wrestling match, where the top draw shakes off the beatdown and triumphs because that's how it's supposed to work. And that does happen, but it happens very abruptly and without much circumstance or action for the crowd to get behind. Yatsu's control just ends. The second half of the match is very you-hit-me I-hit-you without a lot of connective tissue, even if the meat's alright. Good suplexes in particular. But I love the finish when Tenryu can't get Yatsu up for the powerbomb so he blasts him with some nasty harite of his own, saying very clearly "bitch I know how to do this sumo shit at a maegashira level AND I'm the better pro-wrestler". As if there was ever any doubt.

So this was a good match made better because the first time I watched it I didn't know shit about sumo, which is so important in understanding how a lot of puroresu psychology works, particularly with round-robin tournaments and ex-rikishi offense. Makes me wish I didn't get SO MUCH of 80's and 90's Japan out of the way before I knew about all that stuff, but it makes Tenryu and Taue rewatches more compelling. Even if this is much more of a Yoshiaki Yatsu match than anything else.

Edited August 15, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[John E. Dynamite]

7 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I found two Japanese tags, but they're both 30 minutes or so if you're down John (tagging still not working grrrrrr). One is joshi one is AJPW handheld. Yeah, I know, but that's all I could come up with this weekend. Lemme know if you have some particular interests and I can do better.

I almost wanted to start with a "no Japan" rule buuut I should watch more AJPW handheld. Unless the Joshi is between... let's say 1999 and 2010?

[Curt McGirt]

Here's the two of them, I'll letcha pick

Holy shit, embedding is working! For probably only this post! 

This is the one Matt just dug up. I've yet to watch either but they're both supposed to be A+ quality. 

EDIT: And of course, you want sumpin else just give me a direction and I gotcha

Edited August 14, 2023 by Curt McGirt

[Chaos]

I'll have a few posts along with some better definitions of what I can watch tomorrow and the next day. However, the first of two matches that @SirSmUgly allowed me to dust off my wrestling writing chops. I don't expect that I'll consistently write to this level about every match, but I did for this and probably over did it. I'll write about his other suggestion and @Matt D's picks later this week.

 

I find watching this era of WCW today fascinating because it was peak childhood enjoyment for me. I was the cliché kid during the Monday Night Wars due to watching the early part of Nitro, watching all of RAW and flipping back over during commercial breaks. I also would tape RAW and Nitro every week on the VCR due to the Nitro replay starting after RAW ended, and then I would look forward to ending my school day with the overused VHS that consistently captured 5 hours of Monday night water cooler discussion. With that said, I’ve forgotten so much of the not big moments of these shows, and my WCW viewership fell to nothing after the infamous 1/4/99 finger poke.

With that said, WCW had bit players that I really enjoyed watching before I had a critical eye for pro wrestling. (In some ways you can argue, I’ve always had a critical eye for pro wrestling in the first match I would have proclaimed as my favorite 2.5 years prior would have been Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam 1991.)  Some of those carried over even into their early WWF/E runs (Perry Saturn and Chris Kanyon both come into mind). I’ve always wondered how those perceptions would change with my own ways of watching wrestling having evolved, so I found this random five minute Saturn vs Disco Inferno that I haven’t thought about in 27 years to be a present surprise, especially with my last major context for Glenn Gilberti (Disco) being his main event adjacent run in TNA around ~2003.

By WCW’s commentary standards of always talking about the nWo and the war to save WCW, the story here was well established for the uninitiated. Disco suffers from repeated embarrassment of defeat after losing to Jacqueline in October, and he has disavowed himself of any gimmicky flash associated with his gimmick. An attribute that was less acknowledged to this match was that Saturn had Raven’s Flock in his corner, but he was without Raven. Saturn in many instances had acted as Raven’s heavy or Raven’s final test before staring down at the head of the flock. I feel like the lack of Raven should have been more significant to this match and its result in the moment.

The bell rings, and you can sense Disco’s eagerness to push the pace on this match. He suffers by eating a scoop slam from Saturn who then taunts him by pointing outside of the ring. An early strike exchange benefits Saturn, who is trying to show “you think you want to work at this level, but your heart isn’t quite in it yet.” Disco finally gets the upper hand by repeatedly attacking the neck and throat before sending Saturn into the corner. The relentless attitude remains the prevalent theme of this battle, and it stepping outside intensifies this notion. Back inside, Saturn is able to regain control and remind Disco that losing focus for a second has consequences. Those include a throat across the top rope and a release pump handle suplex before Saturn’s own ambitions get ahead of him with a missed top rope drop. The brawl goes back outside, and Saturn tries to get his fellow flock members involved before dumping Saturn into them and then giving Lodi a chartbuster across the ring barricade for good measure.

Disco attempts to continue the punishment by repeated strikes in the corner before mishandling an irish whip suplex. Saturn capitalizes with the intent of finishing things. A couple of suplex attempts fall into a countered powerbomb that allows Disco to hit the chartbuster, steal the victory, and race outside of the ring with an unexpected victory. This was a little forced/sloppy in spots, but it told a nice, condensed story for a five minute sprint, and it highlights the true power of Nitro at its peak, which was the unexpected fun encounters.

 

EDIT: Finally got tags working. 

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by Chaos
tags

[SirSmUgly]

That match is even better in context. Saturn annihilated Disco for the TV title weeks before and generally beat him down when they crossed paths, plus Disco was smarting from losing to Miss Jackie on PPV. The through line is that the whole locker room thought he was a clown, and he badly needed a big win to prove them wrong.

 

I have said in that Nitro thread that Disco has arguably the best character development of anyone in the company. He grew from an unfocused joke who cared more about keeping his hair in place and dancing than about winning a match to a scrappy, never-say-die babyface who loses his share, but is always liable to overcome his opposition with sheer heart.

That match is in many ways the culmination of this off-and-on journey of a couple years for this character. I do not exaggerate when I suggest that it is the best long-term thing Eric Bischoff ever booked.

[Curt McGirt]

"The best thing Bischoff ever booked was the Disco Inferno character arc" has to be one of the funniest things ever written about him.

[SirSmUgly]

36 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

"The best thing Bischoff ever booked was the Disco Inferno character arc" has to be one of the funniest things ever written about him.

I laughed, but note I said "long-term!"

• The Sting/Luger/Giant/Hogan/Savage "shifting alliances angle lasted ten months and ended abruptly when the nWo crashed the party.
• The nWo angle overall lasted forever and never had the heels get vanquished.
• Within that, this Savage/Hogan Wolfpac/Hollywood split is pretty bad! It's poorly paced and Nash's motivations are poorly introduced.
• The Crow Sting arc was spoiled by not only the Starrcade ending, but the ending of the Nitro the night after and the ending of SuperBrawl.
• Savage/Flair was very good, but I don't think it was consistent about the plausible through-line of Flair becoming an example of "He Who Fights Monsters" and losing control of the Horsemen because he was so driven to madness by provoking Savage's madness. 
• Jarrett/Mongo ended on a wet fart because Jarrett jumped at the end of '97. 

Maybe the Jericho/Malenko feud will be the correct answer once I get done with it (and we'll see how long it takes to play out), but the Disco character arc is consistently laid out and booked and is - I can't believe it - a triumph of booking, especially when you book a guy as a loser now to book him as a threat later. 

Short-term, Bisch did a lot of awesome stuff. Long-term, I think he liked the ideas of slow burns for character development and angle development, but he had a hard time bringing those things to a satisfying culmination. 

[John E. Dynamite]

On 8/14/2023 at 6:34 PM, Curt McGirt said:

*poor man's tag*

I was trying to see if there was any good Ronnie Garvin in Puerto Rico (eeeeehhh...) and came across the Garvins vs. Rougeaus feud from the Summer of '85 in Montreal. Surprisingly little has been written about it on this board and it's phenomenal stuff. To hear Ronnie tell it in interviews, he was only supposed to be up that way to see his family on vacation and wound up being part of one of the hottest feuds the territory had ever seen. The Garvins aerosol attacked the Rogeaus and stretchered Jacques Sr. some months earlier, and the feud would quickly culminate in a real good Loser Leaves Town match. That one's a bit cleaner and obviously more decisive, but their match from July has the HEAT and the BLOOD that you NEED.

Ronnie Garvin & Jimmy Garvin (w/ Precious) vs. Jacques Rougeau Jr. & Raymond Rougeau (w/ Jacques Rougeau Sr.) - International Wrestling 7/15/1985

Version with better VQ + French commentary: https://youtu.be/iDpEGKjbi50
Version with slightly warped VHS quality, English commentary, and pre-match Ronnie Garvin promo: https://youtu.be/7ZJrUbTSKNo

And just cause why not??? - Feud-Starting Match/Angle (LQ English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb69OTXsJoE French https://youtu.be/S0yPLNFwjcU) Loser Leaves Town (LQ English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWL5IxKAPyA French https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36dorZrypes&t=40s)

if you've been-there-done-that on these I also came up with a ton of fun Chicky Starr matches

Edited August 15, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[Curt McGirt]

Cool! I'm always good with foreign languages so it'll probably be the first one but I'll check the Ronnie promo too for sure, and the rest of em. 

One thing I have to ask is how did Jimmy Jam's Southern ass end up "related" to Ron Garvin? 

[Curt McGirt]

Oooo! Oooo! Oooo! If it's Chicky and it isn't already on the PR set I'll watch it. Everybody needs more Chicky Starr in their lives. 

[John E. Dynamite]

22 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Oooo! Oooo! Oooo! If it's Chicky and it isn't already on the PR set I'll watch it. Everybody needs more Chicky Starr in their lives. 

Looks like all the good Chicky wound up on that set. He didn't get off the island much. But I can't speak for his post-1997 comeback stuff.

[The Natural]

On 8/12/2023 at 4:50 PM, Octopus said:

That cracked me up! 
For you I got maybe (up for internal debate, maybe I’ll make a post on this) the best match I’ve seen live. 
Mike Quackenbush vs Claudio Castagnoli 

 

I go back and do some digging to see if I can find myself and I finally did!

Second pic I sent my friends I went with at the time. 19 year old David, pre-Octopus. Forum name on other forums was “Sledge.” at the time. Quackenbush was one of my favorites and I loved CHIKARA. Good nostalgia for me.

Hi, David.

Just finished watching your pick today.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mike Quakenbush. F1rst Wrestling Sweet Sixteen Tournament - Night 2.

Claudio applies a neck vice early on, nice seeing a submission attempt at the start. The clothesline cutoff as Quakenbush got some offence in. I liked how Mike stopped the attempted Irish Whip by dropping to his ass putting his boots on Claudio's shin. That's a spot somebody should us. Claudio like me has had enough of Mike's armdrags and stomps on the arm. Claudio's good at working a body part, always has. With Claudio controlling most of the match, dread came upon me that it meant he was doing the job but that didn't happen. Castagnoli finishes Quakenbush with his patented Springboard Uppercut, Springboard Big Boot which I've never seen him do till now and the Riccola Bomb for the win. Good seeing some Claudio Castagnoli from 2009, 2007-2009 is a blindspot of mine. 

Thank you for this, for sharing your past and YouTube too.

Paul xxx.

Edited August 16, 2023 by The Natural

[Curt McGirt]

Ronnie Garvin et Jimmy Garvin (avec Precious) contre Jacques Rougeau Jr. et Raymond Rougeau (avec Jacques Rougeau Sr.) - Lutte internationale 15/07/1985

Cool, first time ever hearing wrestling announced in French! There's a first for everything. Les Garvins have brought along the beautiful Precious (Queen of all '80s valets, until Woman and that bad mutha Sherri Martel took up the mantle), who always looked like the kinda gal that would smoke some homegrown herb and drink Jack straight outta the bottle with you sitting on the trunk of an old Chrysler at a bonfire, until slapping the shit out of you for getting too fresh. Garvins don't even let the Rougeaus get in the ring all the way before jumping them, in fact Jimmy doesn't even get his dumb sparkly purple jacket and gloves off. Hilariously he is thrown into one of the Rougeaus and the opposing sides do a weird Lucha-style four-way leglock with Ron hurting his own partner! We get a mean piledriver not long after that looks to shorten Ronnie a few inches; it's neat because you can see the whole process with the slow descent and Ron's head visibly hitting the mat under either Raymond or Jacques' legs (I have no idea which is which so they are A Rougeau!, Vince style, from now on). They and Ronnie have really good punches and the Garvins have really broad selling. Ronnie hits a blade job that mixes nicely with his blonde hair and white tights and they actually try and blank it out with a block of black 'X's covering his face. Wonderfully low-tech. A Rougeau hits a real cool dropkick with one leg hitting either Garvin. Jimmy uses a rope to choke but eventually gets his nuts crushed against the post. Somehow this just breaks down and the bell rings and Rougeaus win? There's no pinfall or anything. I think the crowd was just getting too rowdy, as there was a problem in the Rougeaus' entrance despite the security, apparently someone takes a couple swings after the bell, and they were throwing trash in the ring the whole time. Damn drunken Quebecois. They even surround the ring to cheer the Rougeaus after like it was an FMW main and Hayabusa won! Bizarre, but fun match that reeks of the Eighties. As I keep saying I need more Ronnie Garvin.

EDIT: It's actually Sunshine. I thought they had it wrong, and I was correct. Precious was of course Jimmy's actual wife who he brought along to replace her in World Class, leading to some great Sunshine promos and catfights. 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Curt McGirt

[Chaos]

On 8/12/2023 at 11:01 AM, Matt D said:

@Chaos I'm not sure where to go with you since you said you've been casual. So I give you choices. Please feel obliged to only pick one. You said you had peacock so one is the

 

Since tagging is being annoying for me right now, I quoted this:
 

My casual comment was more just due to the fact that I used to watch way more (in my early years on this board) than I do now. Over the last decade or so, my viewing has ebbed and flowed based on me catching the bug to watch stuff. Today, I mostly watch PLE's, AEW PPVs, a smattering of either brand on TV. I usually renew for NJPW World twice a year (around WrestleKingdom and around G1) to watch way less than I intend when I renew. I also will revisit stuff or check out stuff  that's posted here or through my own whimsical searching throughout the year. I'm pretty much an open book on what I will watch outside of just gruesome death match stuff. There's a lot of current stuff I've missed in the independent/TNA world. (My peak of indie watching was 03-06 when I watched a fair amount of ROH/IWA MS/Some CHIKARA). I'm fine with revisiting stuff or catching on blind spots (I've seen virtually no Joshi, and outside of 80s Flair and some of what I've watched the 80s WWF DVDVR set over a decade ago, the 80s. I also have only really seen 90s AJPW and a couple of the 90s junior NJPW stuff. For example, I know Hashimoto is a blind spot for me, and I know this board has a reverence for him).  I will watch anything from eras I've seen and loved or haven't at this point because there is so much that I've forgotten from just everything else I'm doing and spending less time debating things or from the podcast I did with friends a decade ago.

 

Matt, I apologize for the delay in finding a pick for you.  Between schedules and knowing all that you've seen, I've kind of struggled with figuring out a choice for you. I'm going to give you a variety of options that will allow you to choose your own adventure and hope none of them are too boring or obvious choices. 

 

First two options are matches I'm not sure I've seen previously, but I might try to remedy both in the coming days.

 

The first option is James Gibson vs Matt Sydal from IWA MS. Gibson's independent run in 2005 was pretty incredible amongst all of the independents where he appeared and might be something I revisit. Meanwhile, Sydal hit my radar the year prior mostly due to that first IWA MS match against AJ Styles with a nasty lariat finish I still somewhat remember today (bummer that match isn't online).

 

https://youtu.be/1rxbgHCPoYQ

 

The second option is Generico vs Claudio from 2007 ROH, which I don't recall seeing because I had fallen out of watching ROH outside of sporadic stuff by 2006, and I think it'd be fun to watch this one with the knowledge of the WWE series they would go on to have 6-7 years later.

 

 

The next three options are things that I've seen, and I recall enjoying at the time with only one of them being something I praised rapturously when I saw it back then.

 

The third option (Mutoh vs Nagata's 01 G1 Final) I picked because for some reason it popped into my head, and I remember it to be one of the first puro video files that I opened around 2003-2004. I remember enjoying it a lot at the time. I'm not sure how it ages or how it ages as a G2 final.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7f9yz2

 

2005 stuck out a lot to me as I was going through stuff. I'm not sure why because I don't know I'd consider it an all time great year in wrestling; however, there are a lot of gems in it (for example, I recall adoring the Rey/Eddie 30 minute match that was on a random Smackdown in June of that year.) Anyways, a match I remember enjoying for both the antics, which stood out for this period of NOAH, and the match itself was SUWA vs. KENTA. In 2005. I remember this board and others raving about it at the time as well. It's another one I'm interested in reassessing for myself through a present day lense. 

 

https://youtu.be/5wHjdH-7fSs

 

For the final option, I'm by and large not a huge Jeff Hardy fan; however, there are certain brief runs that stand out for him as a singles star. This time frame in late 07 to early 08 stands out to me, and it culminates with this cage match on RAW against Umaga who had a unique ability to bring the best out of the most unexpected people. (I believe the date is 1/7/08).

 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hdgj

 

Anyways, I'll attempt to catch up on what I owe over the weekend.

[porksweats]

On 8/13/2023 at 7:31 PM, Casey said:

Through DMs with @porksweats, we’ve come to an agreement on the following: a good women’s match, and something obscure (no promises it’s good, though!) No pressure to review both either, obviously. Just more options are never a bad thing.

 

First up, we’ve got a match that’s so obscure it’s not even on Cagematch that I can find: Tracy Smothers VS Ron Killings VS Doug Gilbert. This is from 2005, in a little podunk indie here in Tennessee that I’ve never even heard of.  Probably in front of like, what, 50 people? I don’t know. Maybe it’s fun, maybe it’s bad, I don’t know, but I love this YouTube channel because it’s got SAW and I remember watching that indie on local TV channels late at night. And stuff like NWA Wildside. Anyway!
 

I warned you in the DMs that the women’s match is like 40+ minutes, and joshi, but nevertheless… it’s Utami Hayashishita VS Syuri. I’m not a huge Stardom fan, or even modern joshi really, but this match introduced me to Utami and I was instantly hooked. I don’t know what it is, or even why, but I’ll go out of my way to watch her matches. She hits fucking hard, but Syuri hits even harder. I love love love this match. I remember watching it sometime in 2021 while I was at work, and just being completely engrossed in the match.

Two matches from wildly different ends of the pro wrestling spectrum. Enjoy! I’ll get your match reviewed sometime this week, I’m currently at work right now. I know we talked about you giving me an alternative match as well, but don’t feel pressured if you don’t have time or anything!

Alright time to dive in with a WALL-O-TEXT~! and some Porksweats Lore!

 

Incredibly excited for this first match because I've been loving everything that's come from Bryan Turner's channel and to watch some obscurity. Can't beat some Tracy Smothers and Ron Killings, to be honest haven't watched much Doug Gilbert. I actually got a chance to meet Tracy Smothers at the dual BLP Turbo Graps/GCW Nick Gage Invitation 4 show (picture to prove!)

  

Onto the match, Killings comes out first with a really rad TNA basketball jersey, wish I could have one of my own. Tracy's introduction saying he's got more titles than you count on one hand? Sick. Last but not least, we've got Shane McMahon's music playing with "GM Rob" introducing the mystery 3rd man Doug Gilbert! Not gonna lie, it'd have been sick if it was Shane as the third man. Love that dude. But Gilbert's got a Ribera jacket and looks ready to rumble wielding a baseball bat. That's going to come in play for sure. Match starts off with Smothers saying he's the one to worry about and Truth/Gilbert immediate team up to get Smothers out with a double clothesline over the top. Truth and Gilbert go at it, Smothers is back in and "Pearl Harbors" per commentary Gilbert from behind. Let's see how antiquated this commentary is going to be. Tracy and Truth go at it, Tracy's dancing. Truth's crisp. Smothers takes a Russian Legsweep like a DDT and Truth goes for the cover but no dice because Gilbert's back in and breaks it up with the bell ringer's bell! How topically considering the Leatherface match on Dynamite. Doug's just hammering away at both Smothers and Killings (ignore the obvious pun). Oh god, Doug's trying to gouge the eye of Truth with the handle of the hammer, thank god Smothers comes in and breaks it up with a chain before any damage is done. Doug and Tracy go to the outside, Doug's got the chain now! It's a small chain but it's still a chain. Truth flies over the top leaving a mess of bodies in front of the 50 some odd fans. Some more brawling back in the ring and we get the second cover of the match from Doug to Tracy (announcing says its first but the first was when the hammer came into play), Tracy kicks out and now Doug's unwrapping the wrist tape. We're playing all the hits here. Tracy breaks the choke with a low blow but Truth's back on his feet and nails a hook kick. Doug's a goddamn weasel and tries to steal the pin here. Last second kick out, some more back and forth from Doug and Tracy before Truth's whipping Tracy to the corner and hitting his sick backflip, throwing Tracy off balance with his drop down split, to bounce back up and kick Tracy's face straight off. Another Gilbert steal attempt! Another escape! Truth's just doing the work here hitting a scissor kick on Tracy, don't know why he isn't trying to get rid of Doug before going back for Tracy but it ends unfortunately there with Doug getting the 3 count on Smothers. There's a post match promo with Truth calling out Doug for stealing his win, Tracy gets the jump on them after and lays them out with the hammer and the title belt. It leads to GM Rob setting up a tag match where Tracy can pick his partner against R Truth and a partner. Smothers says its going to be Terry Funk! GM Rob said that's no surprise. He reveals Truth's partner.... PSYCHO SID VICIOUS. I'll be damned, I'd go to that follow up show even if this match ended poorly. There's no cagematch listing for that follow up match from May the 14th but man I hope it happened. Overall, I enjoyed the match for what it was, a small time Nashville Tennessee Fairgrounds show with wrestlers who are good at their jobs. The wrestling match equivalent of a nice ice cold can of RC Cola from the gas station.

 

The second match will be reviewed later on!

[Matt D]

@Chaos I didn't want to do all five because I think there's actually more of an element of selection and care for me to pick from what you gave me. I went with the Gibson match because I really don't have a great sense of his indy work and Mutoh/Nagata because I'm maybe a few weeks away from jumping into 87 NJPW and this is something I won't get to in any meaningful way for a long long time but Mutoh I'll have in 87 plenty so it's nice to see the future sometimes.

Gibson vs Sydal: Sydal was a few years in at this point. Gibson was ROH champ but this was non-title. You can definitely see elements of Gibson being a ring general in this one. Sydal could work a hybrid style but Gibson was pretty clearly leading both in Sydal looking good early on the mat and then later as he constantly put pressure on him. That was the underlying story. Constant, constant pressure. Sydal may string together two or three moves or advantages in an exchange, but Gibson was unrelenting and he would catch him eventually. They never went too high on the high spots. I'm not sure if that was because there were other matches on the card that would lean more into that or just because Gibson was grounding things and Sydal had something to prove along those lines. There were a couple of moments where there was just an extra pause in the midst of the move, one being Sydal's rotation DDT and the other being the tiger driver at the end and they were both spectacular for that extra moment of time standing still. The other underlying story was how Sydal kept going for the Here It Is Driver (Which I assume is kind of a Made in Japan type move) and when he finally got it, either due to the (mainly dropped) midsection work by Gibson or just because of Gibson's savvy, he couldn't fully get it and had to turn it into a power bomb instead. That blown chance was what opened the door for the finish. Good match overall. Sydal was game but this was the Gibson show.

Nagata vs Mutoh: I actually dug this. I wasn't too sure what to expect coming in but they went straight to the mat for the first ten minutes. And it wasn't like watching UWF or anything but it was competitive and in some ways better for being rough around the edges. I'm sick of seeing opening exchanges that are too slick so the grit helped. Mutoh already had knee problems by this point, right? As the match went on, Nagata got that one hold that seemed to work out right and damaged Mutoh's arm. Mutoh finally got in a leg shot (unable to get the dragon screw but able to hit the low dropkick) and then they started to play chess between the dueling limbwork and basically trying to get whatever they could (a reverse figure four for Nagata or a cross armbreaker for Mutoh). Mutoh had a way of pulling out rabbits from a magic hat with a frankensteiner or the powerdrive elbow. It worked until it didn't and he missed a jumping kick in the corner. They really didn't hit any bombs until the finishing stretch. There was a bit where they traded spinning wheel kicks that was kind of silly given what had happened so far but it opened the door for Mutoh's desperation shining wizard. Nagata's dodge at the end which let him advantage for the win was kind of endemic of the match. It was grueling and primarily based on selling (sometimes suspect or dropped but never to the point I didn't buy it in the moment) and holds and opportunities and escapes.

Good choices all around as they pushed me out of my comfort zone. Thanks.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Matt D

[Matt D]

Ok guys, week 3. Tagging's not working again, so it goes.

SirSmUgly
The Natural

Curt McGirt
Octopus

porksweats
Matt D

Zimbra
Casey

Chaos
John E. Dynamite

I'll get Brazo de Plata de Sweats something letter today.

[Curt McGirt]

Octopussy! What you in the mood for, bud?