SUMMER SECRET SANTO 2023~!

[Curt McGirt]

3 hours ago, porksweats said:

Curt I gave you this one right after it started and you liked the post! I just wasn't able to tag. I've got what you sent me on queue for when I get home from work today to watch.

Jesus I am stupid. I must've completely spaced that part. Okay, TO THE WRESTLING!

[The Natural]

On 8/9/2023 at 3:14 PM, Zimbra said:

You did good, bro.  Looking forward to diving into that.

And for my future matches here's what I posted before:

A random selection of Stuff I Like: Battlarts, Tenryu punching people in the jaw, Michinoku Pro, cool matwork, surly fat guys, high-end flippy shit, Tamon Honda, early-2000s indy nonsense, Tajiri, Daniel Bryan, Big Boss Man, really prickish guys who do bootscrapes, John Tenta, and Volk Han.

My only real request would be no deathmatch stuff, or at least no ghoul shit (I liked Honma vs Yamakawa, I don't like gusset plates).  I haven't watched new stuff regularly in about 15 years so anything new will be a surprise to me.

My big blind spot is lucha so any of that is good.

I already know your two matches if we're drawn together.

Edited August 10, 2023 by The Natural

[Curt McGirt]

Briscoes vs. Aussie Open (House of Glory)

Yeah boy, this was right up my alley. The great, half-late Briscoes in one of what had to be one of their final matches before the crash in January... I tried not to think about it until just now and that was probably for the best. This looks like it was filmed on or around Dia de los Muertos because there's fake skeletons and Mexican skulls everywhere in the venue. Another reference that came to mind was the UK HC/crust legends Doom because of the HOG logo and the missing teeth and dreads of the Briscoes, haha...

Spoiler

Match is an extremely stiff brawl intersperced with great double-team work from both sides. The acoustics in the venue make every chop sound like a whip crack -- well, okay, the stiffness of the chops are what make 'em sound like that, the acoustics just help. Pace is pretty much nonstop, there are no holds, just four guys whopping the shit out of each other. Aussie Open hit two powerslam smooshes of the Briscoes on the outside with them being ran around the ring on their shoulders into each other, Jay hits a sick Jay Driller that looks to smash one of the dudes' left temple into the mat (I'm still trying to remember their names so bear with me), Mark busts out the redneck Kung-Fu and I laughed and laughed. Really high end stuff here. Jay, we'll never forget ya bud. 

[porksweats]

On 8/5/2023 at 10:16 AM, Curt McGirt said:

We really need a separate thread where everyone has a list of their wants, likes, and dislikes. I took a glance at the Winter Santo thread but only like two of us listed any in that one and one of them was me, and I don't wanna go digging through the rest of them. 

Anyway! Since I see porksweats got Regal to start last time and was fine with it, he gets him again since some unfollowed Facebook account popped up in my feed pimping this the other day. I can't even watch it because I can't find out how to turn off my Ad Blocker and my usual method of pasting the address here so it lets me watch it on the inserted screen isn't working, so this is a blind drop for me. If you have the same problem or are worried about Russians or something there's a 10 minute version from Saturday Night that's on Youtube. 

Sting vs Steven Regal, WCW Great American Bash 1996 - video Dailymotion

EDIT: HA! I figured out how to turn off the Ad Blocker and it was the easiest fucking thing in the world. God I am computer illiterate sometimes. 

Alright! Time for a Secret Santo Wall-O-Text~! (RIP Dean)

 

So let me get my bearings straight here, this is just before the genesis and creation of the NWO, which aka is before my time watching as a first time fan. I didn't begin watching wrestling on a whole until around Winter 97/Summer 98? I was a WCW fan but that came from playing the Playstation Nitro and Thunder games, and every now and again catching a Nitro or Thunder but mostly the Saturday/Sunday Morning syndicateds. Now that the history lesson is out of the way I'm going to knock out both of these and give a quick run through. First, the Saturday Night match which was taped first on the 15th, but didnt air until the 25th after the GAB.

 

 

Coming down to the ring first is Steven Regal (when did he switch to William? He definitely was Steven when he had the Real Man's Man, but I can't remember if he was still Steven when he came back for that very weird and brief 99 WCW run), with Jeeves in tow! Sting's out next and that man is no surfer, he's got a full head of brown hair. He looks tired, but he's still the man they call Sting. Test of strength to start, and Sting stomps the fingers. Regal's a world class seller and with his fingers curled up he looks like an old timey villain stalking the damsel, thinking about tying her to some railroad tracks. He turns around and gets psyched out by a Sting WOO. Sting almost steals a victory flipping Regal off the ropes, but Regal's sly and gets out of it. A quick eyepoke and Regal's got control. It's short though and Sting's back on top, not all that much is going on here then Regal tries to roll Sting up during the Scorpion Deathlock but Sting keeps cool and rolls himself on top and that's it. Well, that's just a taste of things to come. Here's hoping that GAB match is a bit meatier, not that there was anything wrong with this but it was not even five minutes bell to bell.

Onto the main course! Regal and Jeeves come down first again, Sting follows but he definitely seems more on the ball here. Tony's hyping him up as a man who can overcome all odds and you know what? I'm sold. I'm digging his purple surfer facepaint here, it's slick with his tights. Match starts with Regal getting irish whipped into the corner and going over the top and down to the floor in a pretty rough landing. Backdrop from Sting to Regal on the outside before Regal rolls back in the ring and begs off Sting when he joins him back in. Clearly that's just a ploy because Regal hits the eye poke and follows with some european uppercuts where Dusty and Tony argue about it. Regal stalls for time, jabbers with a fan, stalls for more time. Test of strength leads to Regal locking in a cobra clutch briefly before rocking Sting with an elbow. Sunset flip flips fortunes and Regal's boxing the air trying to fight falling down. No pinfall, Regal's up before Sting and hits a dropkick that Regal's leading foot catches Sting right in the ear, youch that's got to hurt. Some more headlocks, heel control yadda yadda but Regal's got some great facial expressions that help a generally boring section go by fast. Regal's just breaking Sting down, bending the fingers, locking the head, rubbing his face on the mat. Sting looks like he's going to get control after a dropkick and goes up top but Regal's right on his tail and tosses him off. Sting's back irish whipped into another corner and Regal wails away but Sting's had enough and the adrenaline is kicking in! Knocks Regal down and boom Scorpion Deathlock and its over baby.

My thoughts? I hate to say I'm underwhelmed but I'm underwhelmed by this! But I'm happy I watched it. It's good to know two of my favorites faced off even if it didn't set the world on fire. I wonder how they fared in their 95 showing or 94. Also wonder if footage exists of the NJPW show where Arn teamed with Regal against Sting and Lex.

[Curt McGirt]

I kinda felt the same after finally figuring out the Ad Blocker problem and getting to watch it. The thing is, Regal takes 99.9% of the match. Sting gets nada until he Stings-Up at the end and just subs Regal immediately. It is kinda nice that String (I'm keeping that one) gave him so much but they needed SOME kind of back-and-forth instead of just a match-long heat segment with Regal slipping on a banana peel without really slipping on a banana peel. BUT! You got Regal being Regal in all his vintage glory and that just rules. 

And Dusty calls Jeeves "Jives" (Bobby: "Chives?") again so there's that.

[SirSmUgly]

Was it the second return to WWE for Regal when Vince decided that there was already a famous Steve and they needed to change his name? I believe this is the same era in which Shane Helms became Gregory Helms. 

Regarding this match, I get Sting's idea here. This was a placeholder feud for him while he was also involved in the main event intrigue and later the nWo stuff, and he gave Regal a ton to try and help him out throughout this feud. It didn't always come off very well, though. 

I will note that the WCW babyfaces often wrestled TV matches in which they'd get almost no offense in except for their finish or maybe a couple of moves leading into the finish. Sting did this sometimes, but Savage and Luger are particularly guilty of this - if you find it a wrestling sin, that is. Sometimes, I find it nice that Savage is trying to give a new guy to the company a chance by taking all their best stuff, but other times, it feels lazy and like Savage or Luger is just out there getting through another TV match so they can get to the promo that they actually care about. 

[Casey]

On 8/5/2023 at 8:56 PM, Octopus said:

Giving you a choice between Chris Hero and Raven as opponents (the Hero one is an hour, so Raven is the shorter option). Both classic matches, I can find something else if you’ve seen these already.

I’m choosing Raven/Punk, as it’s a classic, it’s Punk and Raven, I’m drunk, and I don’t want to watch a Demolition tag match featuring Andre and Haku Hosses ain’t my thing. I might watch it while I’m bored at work this weekend though, if I do I’ll include it as a bonus review. I love Hero, and Punk obviously, but I have to really be in the mood for an hour long match and tonight ain’t it. I’ve seen it before, years and years ago. I actually prefer it to anything Punk/Joe, something about Hero just gels a lot better with someone like mid-2000s CM Punk. Man, it’s a shame that Punk was off to WWE (developmental) by the time the Kings of Wrestling formed. He was around for a few months, but as far as I can tell they never crossed paths with Punk or any partner. Like two ships passing in the night…

Anyway, let’s watch Raven versus Punk in a dog collar match! Funny, this was one of the matches I was highly touting a month or two ago on Reddit when someone was saying that Punk never had any really good matches. I call bullshit, sir! Punk is always at his best when it’s a heated feud that he can sink his teeth into, and Raven is the perfect guy for that. 

To know what ROH became later, it’s kind of weird to have these crowds chanting for alcohol and do ECW chants and “CM Pussy”. I don’t know if it’s Raven, or the fact that ECW has only been dead for maybe 2 years at this point, but this match wouldn’t have felt out of place on an ECW show. Blood - with a weird blade job by Punk that almost looks fake somehow - and brawling into the crowd and around ringside. Tables, chairs. This shit is right up my alley. And I love it! Still fucking crazy to me that DANNY DORING of all people gets ringtime (and his appearance starts an ECW chant lol) in this fuckin’ thing, and sends Colt Cabana on his way after he interfered. And speaking of Cabana, his DDT on Raven is what gets Punk the 3 count. Hey, if this place doesn’t serve alcohol, how was he able to drink in the crowd earlier?! Hey, now he’s a pop that actually deserves it - Tommy Dreamer! And Punk takes a nasty chair shot, too. Yikes. I forgot that, also on this card, was Jeff Hardy, fresh from being fired from WWE for failing a drug test. If memory serves, he was not welcomed with open arms by the ROH fans. Funny that, years later, Hardy would be in a feud with Punk with callbacks to this feud. And years from then, the Jericho feud would have callbacks too. And then MJF… love that so much.

I think what I love about Punk is that he just makes everything feel…. well, real. His promos (later on especially) just feel like a dude talking not cutting a promo on someone. Yeah, he does MOVEZ~! sometimes, but matches like this he’s just out there fighting. I don’t think it’s controversial to say this feud is what put him on the (indies) map in a big way.

It’s still weird to me, though, that they have a steel cage match a few events later… and then the blowoff is also in a steel cage. I know one was a Clockwork Orange House of Fun, but still. It’s a cage match, guys. But, speaking of the first cage match, that’s probably my favorite match of theirs. 

I’m drunk, sorry for the long post. Long live CM Punk! Four stars for this match alone, five when you include all of the buildup like the infamous Monsters promo.

[Curt McGirt]

Hey now! Clockwork Orange House of Fun matches were... well, fun. Raven/Sandman in particular. 

[Matt D]

Week 2 incoming (but with no tagging working unfortunately; try to tag your partner when you pick for them).

John E. Dynamite
Curt McGirt
---
SirSmUgly
Zimbra
---
porksweats
Casey
---
Chaos
Matt D
---
The Natural
Octopus

Chaos, I'll get a sense of your posts/likes later on today and try to get you something.

[The Natural]

Tagging isn't working for me either, Matt.

David/Octopus: I'll think on the two for you, mate.

Edited August 12, 2023 by The Natural

[Curt McGirt]

How come we still haven't got either tagging or going to the next page in threads without opening a new tab (except on random occasions) fixed yet? Or getting windows for Youtube and Dailymotion links? Also, why can't we change the background colors anymore? (Please don't kill me, Rippa)

I'll getcha soon Johnny

EDIT: Aaaaaaand I scrolled down and figured out the skins. I are smart (it changed back to default on me for some reason awhile ago, and I couldn't find the way to switch)

Edited August 12, 2023 by Curt McGirt

[SirSmUgly]

On 7/31/2023 at 11:54 AM, Zimbra said:

Yeah, I'm in.  I swear to god I'll make it through the whole month this time.

So here's a match that I didn't remember, but that I enjoyed quite a lot from the final Clash: Alex Wright vs. Ultimo Dragon.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/12z12t9/ultimo_dragon_vs_alex_wright_for_the_tv_title/

[Octopus]

Beautifully said, @Casey! The legitimate feeling a struggle and an actual fight is generally what I love about wrestling. Punk fights that mold. 
I’m going to a wedding today, open bar so I’m looking to also have drinks in me when I write up yours. 

@The Natural, I’ll hit you up with a match tonight or tomorrow 

[The Natural]

Hi, David.

Knowing how big a Bryan Danielson fan you are means he's one of my two match picks for you. I considered a few of many and went with Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima from ROH Manhattan Mayhem II. The 2007 Match of the Year and in my top ten Bryan Danielson bouts ever. Gave it the full five:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dHy6swAxsYA&pp=ygUWZGFuaWVsc29uIHZzIG1vcmlzaGltYQ%3D%3D

The second is Sting vs. Big Van Vader from WCW Starrcade 1992 having read you missed out on WCW. I remembered years ago I took part in the Best WCW Matches Project. Sting/Big Van Vader had a famous trilogy: The Great American Bash 1992, Starrcade 1992 and SuperBrawl III. I rate the Starrcade match as the best of the three and probably Sting's best singles match ever:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jZiiujklOw4&pp=ygUOU3RpbmcgdnMgdmFkZXI%3D

Paul xxx.

[The Natural]

Check that timing out, Octopus.

[Octopus]

13 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Check that timing out, Octopus.

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.

[The Natural]

2 minutes ago, 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.

Thank you for sharing your past like this while showing us men can multitask, doing this and drinking at an open bar too!

[Octopus]

1 minute ago, The Natural said:

Thank you for sharing your past like this while showing us men can multitask, doing this and drinking at an open bar too!

Lol, the drinking is later. I’m on the couch while wife is getting ready

[The Natural]

1 minute ago, Octopus said:

Lol, the drinking is later. I’m on the couch while wife is getting ready

Love to y'all, mate xxx.

[The Natural]

Have you seen Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima from ROH Manhattan Mayhem II before? I hoped to pick a Danielson match you've never seen or one for a long time.

[Matt D]

@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

Imperium vs Brawling Brutes from Extreme Rules 2022.

A second choice is this house show match between Adam Page and Big Bill from last year.

Spoiler

 

And a third is another house show, this time between Finlay/Mr. Kennedy/King Booker vs. Batista/Bobby Lashley/Undertaker from 06 in the Philippines where Batista was a local hero.

Spoiler

 

Your choice.

[porksweats]

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.

[Zimbra]

On 8/8/2023 at 7:00 PM, John E. Dynamite said:

I have been suffering through "those" board issues and wasn't initially able to skim through your post history for hints. All I got was page one of your most recent posts, and all I was able to glean was "alright he's on a Daddy Magic kick"

but THEN i had this crazy IDEA where I googled "dvdvr Zimbra" and found a link to the 14th page of your post history! (pretty sure these can be navigated by changing numbers in the url bar, btw)! And on Page 14 you were also talking about how you were on a Daddy Magic kick.

Shane Matthews (Matt Menard) vs. Jagged (Angelo Parker) - IWS Un F'n Sanctioned 2007 (3/24/07)
https://youtu.be/7I6rI1OWoL8?t=123

2.0 Ex-point-Plodes! So this is 2 or 3 years after IWS broke out amongst US indieheads after SexXxy Eddie's Tournament of Death blood fountain + those Steen & Generico kids got big in Philly, and 2.0 were already a more-or-less established CHIKARA act.. This is THE BIG SHOW of the year for IWS and this card is a good example of an emergent indie company trying to putting their best foot forward despite losing their top draws as full-timers (SteenErico is nowhere to be found) - they drew 1000 fans and booked Christian Cage for the co-main event and the vibe is a solid one. 2.0 getting the opening match slot is clearly a vote of confidence from the company, and they wrestle a pretty straightforward example of a hot, gimmick-free WCW or ECW-style opener. You really feel that they're auditioning the idea that they understand the fundamentals and are gunning for proper, televised careers, on a night that guarantees a bunch of indie indulgence and deathmatch insanity, 15 years before millions of people knew their names and they had a five-star match to place on their mantle. Here they are being entirely themselves, and maybe trying to convince Christian that they're worth telling somebody about.

OK, lets watch 2.0 EXPLODE!!  I’m watching this with the sound mostly down so I don’t have to listen to indie commentary, which means I have no idea why the ring announcer is dressed like a pimp, which is fine.  Even with the sound down the crowd is hot.  Menard has an awful chinstrap beard.  Parker has some real N64 No Mercy gear on.  Like I know those exact tights are in the game.  Gonna make his CAW later.  Menard is disrespectful early while Parker is hesitant to hit his partner, sticking to headlocks and takedowns.  When Menard knocks him down with a clothesline he really sells the mental hurt.  It breaks down into shoves and slaps and we really get going.  Parker has a nice right and a sliding knee to send Menard out and they brawl on the floor for a while. Menard still had pretty good punches back then.  Parker gets thrown into a wooden bannister which, had to suck.  They get back in the ring and Parker hits a backdrop driver kinda out of nowhere.  Menard does a hot shot that Parker sells like he’s actually been shot.  We get a little tour of Menard dropping Parker’s neck across various things to set up a sleeper hold that Parker keeps countering.  Which leads to a Parker rollup sequence.  They work both sequences really loosey goosey and it doesn’t look great.  Parker does a nice Samoan drop and running STO.  Double clothesline and while they’re down some guy in a suit comes out and yells at the ref a bit.  The ref sends him away without anything really happening. Menard does a side effect and goes up top, but Parker runs up the buckles and hits an avalanche angle slam.  Suit guy pulls the ref out of the ring to stop the count and the distraction lets Menard hit a foule and a piledriver on a chair for the win.  Parker lays there and twitches while Menard and suit guy celebrate, which is the best selling anyone’s done all match.

 

This was fun!  My big knock is that it wasn’t really worked like a partner v partner match outside of the very beginning and very end.  You can absolutely see the seeds of both guy’s characters here.  Menard especially, although he hadn’t fully committed the way he has now. 

[Zimbra]

5 hours ago, SirSmUgly said:

So here's a match that I didn't remember, but that I enjoyed quite a lot from the final Clash: Alex Wright vs. Ultimo Dragon.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/12z12t9/ultimo_dragon_vs_alex_wright_for_the_tv_title/

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

[The Natural]

On 8/12/2023 at 4:56 PM, Octopus said:

Lol, the drinking is later. I’m on the couch while wife is getting ready

How's the noggin, mate?