SECRET SANTO 2023~!

[The Natural]

15 minutes ago, brynn9292 said:

This was tough because I really wanted to give you something to sink your teeth into. Last year I did a rewatch of all the 2010 TNA PPVs plus some of the Impact episodes. This match was at the top of my list and probably one of my favorite TNA matches ever. 

https://youtu.be/OAeFp-NSpIs?si=t-IEcD37zR0K9pkn

And the link won't embed but it's the finale of the Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money Best of 5 Series ... in a 2/3 Falls match from the August 9, 2010 episode of TNA Impact.

Good choice!

[Sammo~!]

19 hours ago, Casey said:

@Sammo~!

I like weird, interesting match-ups. Specifically shit from Japan.

 

This isn't Japanese, but it is a madlibs tag match: King Kong Bundy and Rick Rude vs Jerry Lawler and Randy Savage in Memphis hope you enjoy: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEnvZh4h3vU

Edited December 18, 2023 by Sammo~!

[Curt McGirt]

Natural, are you okay with something a little long? I've been saving up matches recently in my bookmarks and found this classic the other day: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7to7v5 It made it all the way to #4 on the '80s New Japan set so it's definitely worth watching.

[Curt McGirt]

5 hours ago, The Natural said:

Anything in particular you after, Curt? Do's and dont's? Cheers.

Sorry, missed this one. Just prefer something I could find on Youtube or Dailymotion, or I could possibly torrent on Soulseek. 

[Zimbra]

Yo Head Cheese, anything you do or don't want to see?

[Curt McGirt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqPGWPPcXVw&ab_channel=BretFMW

Well damn, I found a good video of Hayabusa vs. Onita.

[Zimbra]

On 12/4/2023 at 2:09 PM, brynn9292 said:

@Zimbra Here's one for you ... Jon Moxley fighting Ron Mathis in front of maybe a dozen people from sometime in 2010

 

Hey, I counted 23 people in the room, so don't besmirch the mighty drawing power of HWA.

Moxley is very young and skinny here.  Mathis is schlubby and yells at the crowd a lot.  He also has an even schlubbier manager?  Tag partner?  at ringside.  Mathis is some kind of champion but I can't understand anything the ring announcer says.  Mox has clearly been watching some World of Sport and is trying some things out.  He does a nice headscissors and a cool arm grapevine.   Mathis' offense is mostly kick/punch/taunt the crowd but he's got good presence and bumps well for Moxley's stuff.  Drops a nice elbow, too.  I was talking myself into Mathis being decent until he fucks up a roll-up so badly.  Moxley slaps him in the face a bunch for screwing up.  Mox does a cool double-leg nelson that he transitions into a LeBell lock.  Goofy finish where Mathis goes to hit Mox with the belt right in front of the ref, but Mox counters into a cutter.  But because Mox ended up cuttering Mathis onto the belt that Mathis was holding Mox gets DQd.  Creative, but probably sounded better when they were talking about it in the locker room than in execution.

Overall this was real fun.  Mathis isn't exactly a hidden gem but he's a totally acceptable indie heel and Mox did some really great matwork.  Gets the full Worldwide point.

[HeadCheese]

On 12/18/2023 at 6:46 PM, Zimbra said:

Yo Head Cheese, anything you do or don't want to see?

If you have any matches with wrestlers that are seemingly random pairings (like the Shibata/Great Khali tag) or wacky. I am looking for fun/unique more than all time great. I am okay with anything though (no overly gorey stuff).

Choosing Young Bucks vs. Colony for you

https://youtu.be/2wU2re7yIs4?si=JjCashZcUNVzqd9-

[Zimbra]

2 hours ago, HeadCheese said:

If you have any matches with wrestlers that are seemingly random pairings (like the Shibata/Great Khali tag) or wacky. I am looking for fun/unique more than all time great. I am okay with anything though (no overly gorey stuff).

Choosing Young Bucks vs. Colony for you

https://youtu.be/2wU2re7yIs4?si=JjCashZcUNVzqd9-

I watched just the thing last night: Chavo Sr vs 6'6" judo gold medalist Anton Geesink July 19, 1975.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9h5oa144Os

[The Natural]

On 12/18/2023 at 7:29 PM, Curt McGirt said:

Natural, are you okay with something a little long? I've been saving up matches recently in my bookmarks and found this classic the other day: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7to7v5 It made it all the way to #4 on the '80s New Japan set so it's definitely worth watching.

 

On 12/18/2023 at 11:26 PM, Curt McGirt said:

Sorry, missed this one. Just prefer something I could find on Youtube or Dailymotion, or I could possibly torrent on Soulseek. 

Hi, Curt. I gave Dailymotion and your match a go but my tablet doesn't work on it. Please could I have an alternative on YouTube? Sorry to bother you. I'll get my thinking cap on for a bloody match for you.

[John E. Dynamite]

On 12/11/2023 at 5:32 PM, Sammo~! said:

@John E. Dynamite. 

Here's one for you from last year. Chihiro Hashimoto in a handicap match vs Sayaka Unagi and Yurika Oka in which Hash plays the role of Andre the Giant 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxE7nqdk1L4

Funny little match. It feels like two singles matches being viewed in parallel instead of one entire handicap match. There's almost no double-team offense, no quick tags, no exploitation of the ruleset or (wo)man advantage as a means to win until the very end.

The first sequence with Unagi lasts awhile - for some reason, they go with tentative shoot-style matwork and they keep it realistic. Like one of those old Minoru Suzuki in Pancrase matches where he's toying with somebody to make a show out of it. Like Masakatsu Funaki against some Dutch guy with a bad blonde fade choosing to kneebar him in the ninth minute instead of the third

The Oka half is consistent babyface fire bashing itself against Hashimoto's brick wall and it feels a lot more like a proper pro wrestling match. Lotta screaming on Oka's part. Chippy one-counts. Stikes getting no-sold. The good basic stuff you expect to get when you put on a match like this. There's a slow, scream-heavy, fighting spirit attempt at a crucifix pin from Oka to Hashimoto that felt really effective and fresh, and Oka's stockiness in no way gets in the way of her technique. I'm impressed.

Unagi's energy picks up once she gets to uncork her more traditional offense of facebusters and legdrops, and is given an adequate amount of time to struggle against an enthusiastically applied wrist-clutch abdominal stretch. But even though Hashimoto is selling for and working with Unagi in a way that paints her well ahead of Oka, there's this undercurrent of bullyish disrespect that Unagi doesn't really have the skills or fire to respond to. This is obvious in some of the transitional groundwork but laid starkly bare in the strike exchanges. So when Oka tags in for her final run and throws a series of dropkicks that slowly get sold more and more (from about 5% to 40%), and when she gets a real nearfall off of a body press, it really feels like something is happening. Like progress is being made.

Things break down into the expected two-on-one with mere minutes left to go. Oka gets a steady run of almost-believable rollup nearfalls before getting maimed by a couple of Hashimoto lariats, saved by Unagi when she should have left things well enough alone. So we get one last, badly-needed bit of handicap match madness when Hashimoto takes it home by powerbombing Unagi on top of Oka and pinning them both. Which feels like the kind of finish the match was naturally leading towards.

Nobody looked bad in this one, but clearly this would have been better served as a Hashimoto vs. Oka match, or even a full on tag match with Hashimoto's regular Team 200KG partner Yuu. One of the reasons I say this is because this match didn't (or rather hasn't) led to such singles match, which is a shame. But now that I've seen half of that match, I'll keep my eyes open for it if it ever comes to be.

Edited December 21, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[John E. Dynamite]

On 12/17/2023 at 6:47 PM, AxB said:

So, John E. Dynamite, I understand you like older stuff, and you like Dynamite. So, this from 1976 might be up your alley:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzOhVoPUaW4

Alright, let's get weird. I posted this is in Matches Thread months ago but I was just thinking about it the other day and I've got to properly foist this upon somebody. It's the kind of thing one rarely gets to witness, and certainly a match that helped me understand the artform more.

Arena GDL 3rd Anniversary - Kid's Division Exhibition Match
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ca4JyaHcMo

Quote

There's so much to say about this one. It's exactly what it says on the tin - a dozen or so kids in full gear + masks doing their best to get all their shit in without killing each other. In front of a decent sized crowd. And they do a pretty good job! Look for -

• the really young kid in a clown mask who doesn't own a single piece of gear that doesn't feature a Marvel/DC hero on it
• the lone girl showing up most of the boys and getting the crowd to chant for her
• the child ref who doesn't have a real ref shirt so he just wears the Pugsley Adams getup
• the very long sequence where every child is special and therefore everyone gets to do dives of wildly different quality
• the husky kid who is the only one who can work pure rudo

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[Curt McGirt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAcdJwNf8HY&ab_channel=KingsAARK

Okay Natural, I figured out something also pretty gnarly that I watched recently again for the first time in awhile. I have a feeling you will like the participants. 

EDIT: And I just realized the problem with DM is probably the Ads if you have an Adblocker. It screws with me too but if I right click on the screen and pause the ads on that tab then refresh, I can watch the matches or whatever else I'm trying to. 

Edited December 21, 2023 by Curt McGirt

[Matt D]

On 12/18/2023 at 12:46 PM, brynn9292 said:

This was tough because I really wanted to give you something to sink your teeth into. Last year I did a rewatch of all the 2010 TNA PPVs plus some of the Impact episodes. This match was at the top of my list and probably one of my favorite TNA matches ever. 

https://youtu.be/OAeFp-NSpIs?si=t-IEcD37zR0K9pkn

And the link won't embed but it's the finale of the Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money Best of 5 Series ... in a 2/3 Falls match from the August 9, 2010 episode of TNA Impact.

Consider my teeth sunk, and bear with me here.

We have a lot of people of different ages around here though a lot that are around the same age too. Coming out of the death of WCW right around the turn of my 20s, it's a bit of a "you had to be there" scenario, because while I do think people can understand it intellectually, there was nothing quite like watching the Russo decline in real time, especially after having some hope that him bouncing over would be the thing to turn the tide. The word I'd use (and I know how overdramatic this sounds, how it sounds like a complete lack of perspective, but on a symbolic level it just fits) is heresy. He hated the things we loved about wrestling, thought they were useless and worthless and false, and presented a vision that was so broken and wretched, that it was an assault upon the form. I binged Jeff Jarrett's podcast this year, going as best as possible in a chronological order. I basically stopped after the creation of TNA with just a few other episodes about Dixie or something else I found interesting. He just never seemed to understand the feelings of betrayal and animosity the fanbase had for Russo, that it wasn't just a matter of opinion, but instead a visceral hate for what the guy had done. And probably, even as someone who lived through the early 00s as a wrestling fan, why so many of us never got too deep into TNA. Russo and his mindset was written into the DNA of TNA, right? Early norms became traditions and a house style. The fact that he would be back to build upon it so frequently didn't help, even to the point of parody when they lost the Spike deal because they couldn't give him up, but at some point TNA was just a self-perpetuating parody of wrestling. So that even the great work is awash in the norms. 

That helped explain the Christian vs Rhino match where they won matches to earn extra gimmicks, and it helps explain this scenario, which I swear I couldn't come up with if you paid me. My mind would never put this together. It's a best of five series for the tag titles, following an up and coming win by the MCMG. But instead of escalating to some big gimmick, they run through a Ladder Match, a Cage Match, a hardcore match, and an Ultimate X match before getting to this last one, which is a 2/3 falls match (with the added gimmick due to an RVD tie in of having no rest periods between falls). This is the reverse battle royal of a best of five series. Think about the fans' expectations. They saw a standard match to begin. Then they see all of the big gimmicks and logically, it's deescalating to a more standard, traditionally more grounded match. That's absolutely insane. There's probably a way to make it work on paper though, if you had Beer Money say that they were going to use their size and grind the MCMG's down in this, to ground them, to out wrestle them. There's a narrative there building on the MCMG's having gotten over due to the qualities of the gimmicks as much as anything else and now they'd have to win in a world that they didn't fully make that played to the strengths of their opponents (and Roode at this period did feel a lot like a Triple H Ring General kind of take off even if Storm was a little more transcendent).

But nah, nope, they went the other way with it. They tried to top everything else using the extra real estate time-wise and the ability to get a couple of extra pinfalls in the match. This, my friends, was a 2/3 falls sprint. Beer Money went all in on keeping up with the MCMG, just a lot of constant motion as they based for their stuff and kept moving themselves. Weirdly, almost unexpectedly, it felt like the logical conclusion of the Super Indy style in some ways. There were a few eye rakes and a bit of muscling, but in general, Beer Money were more de facto heels than anything else; MCMG were more over and had the chants, but it's not like Beer Money leaned hard heel and cheated or even bullied them too much. The periods of heat were fleeting and led to quick comebacks and more action. Basically, things never settled down. You'd think, for instance, after the first fall and Beer Money winning, that they'd be able to press the advantage due to the lack of the rest period, but that didn't really happen in a big way. It worked the other way too. After the second fall, MCMG couldn't keep pressing either. So it kept the sprint feel to have no rest periods but it served no major purpose in the narrative. Overall, I think they accomplished what they set out to do, creating an iconic moment (the win) after an exciting, if not entirely memorable tag, one that probably is remembered more for the overall feel than any specific spot or sequence, but what they set out to do was kind of bonkers when you think of it. But that's TNA for you. It's like the six-fingered, three legged AI reproduction of what pro-wrestling might be in some crazy alternate reality.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Matt D

[John E. Dynamite]

On 12/17/2023 at 6:47 PM, AxB said:

So, John E. Dynamite, I understand you like older stuff, and you like Dynamite. So, this from 1976 might be up your alley:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzOhVoPUaW4

This is Dynamite Kid's TV debut - truth be told I'm not a huge DK fan or anything, always been in the camp that the Tiger Mask series was overrated and as much as I appreciate his tag runs in WWF and AJPW I was always popping harder for Matilda. I'll tell you what I do like - I like psychologically unique matches. And World of Sport is very very good at providing those - when the mid-00's Hero/Cabana/Nigel/Claudio/Danielson/Quackenbush contingent were studying at the altar of Johnny Saint, they weren't just ripping off the wristlock counters, they were also building their midcard matches in Midlothian around weird little ideas like the one seen here. This match is almost entirely built around Dynamite Kid's ability to hit a resorte. There's an obvious flaw to this as the resorte isn't an offensive maneuver and DK doesn't really generate a lot of offense off of it. But Alan Dennsion (who I've always enjoyed) and his short, old strongman gimmick is a great foil for it. He sells the frustration of not being able to take the Kid off his feet without getting too heelish or whiny about it, so when he figured out how to wear down DK enough for him to land flat on his back, or when he figures out he can just whip him into the corner, it feels like a cheerable accomplishment. They do a lot of stuff here that works real well despite the face vs. face dynamic, not just the ratcheting frustration but also the strength vs. speed stuff, Dennison correctly choosing which of the Kid's offense not to sell, and the big injury finish where (through no fault of Dennison's) DK throws himself throat-first into the top rope.

This is an effective showcase for a 17 year old Tom Bellington but I'd argue it's a better showcase for the kind of stuff World of Sport TV is uniquely good at. KENT WALTON, first of all, was really on his game at the desk. And you can't help but be jealous of how the crowd is conditioned. They're whip smart when it comes to the technical stuff but they're still along for the ride emotionally. I love how they pop when Dennison reveals the age of his opponent in the post-match promo. Kinda makes you want to see what'll happen the next time this young man is on TV.

Edited December 22, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[Curt McGirt]

What praytell is a resorte?

[John E. Dynamite]

40 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

What praytell is a resorte?

https://youtu.be/TyaAkPfH8Pk?si=u687cvky9dpKo6R_

[The Natural]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:26 PM, Curt McGirt said:

Sorry, missed this one. Just prefer something I could find on Youtube or Dailymotion, or I could possibly torrent on Soulseek. 

 

On 12/21/2023 at 7:22 PM, Curt McGirt said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAcdJwNf8HY&ab_channel=KingsAARK

Okay Natural, I figured out something also pretty gnarly that I watched recently again for the first time in awhile. I have a feeling you will like the participants. 

EDIT: And I just realized the problem with DM is probably the Ads if you have an Adblocker. It screws with me too but if I right click on the screen and pause the ads on that tab then refresh, I can watch the matches or whatever else I'm trying to. 

Thank you for my match, Curt. I haven't seen Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa from Pro Wrestling-NOAH, September 2002 before but heard it's brutal. 

I've come up with two bloody bouts for you, Sabu vs. Abyss, Barbed Wire Massacre from TNA Turning Point 2005:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9mu905oKSOg&t=1272s&pp=2AH4CZACAcoFEnR1cm5pbmcgcG9pbnQgMjAwNQ%3D%3D

02:17.

The second, Cactus Jack vs. Terry Funk with Mick Foley narration:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TFI3gG_POCk&pp=ygUOVGVycnkgZnVuayBlY3c%3D

Edited December 23, 2023 by The Natural

[Curt McGirt]

Cactus/Funk KOTDM

I could write this in my sleep. I've read Foley's section about it multiple times, seen it multiple times ever since they played the original footage on the Raw with Foley/Funk Falls Count Anywhere as the main event. Probably everyone here has. There are a couple things about the match. 

1. Both guys have been utterly destroyed by their prior matches. Jack's arm is all taped up. Funk looks like someone took a weed whacker to his right temple and had an idiot wrap it while his shirt has turned grey with dirt and bloodstains. 

2. The gimmicks are truly nasty. As Foley says, Funk had them add bombs in the middle of the boards which was a bad move. The barbed wire though looks like there are twice the barbs or that it's double-wrapped, it's like a ring of thorns around the posts, and boy these guys take some biblical punishment from it. In truth it might be more horrifying than the C4. 

3. To make ANYTHING out of this setup they have to use real good psychology. Avoidance of both offense and the gimmicks, taking full advantage of control segments, knowing when and how long to sell things so the other guy can either recover or set up something or you have to do the same. You can't just punch-kick and do a couple bumps through this thing and make the crowd accept it. They've already seen their fill of that through the day, it wouldn't work.  To underline that, after the fizzle of the ring explosion, they had to improv on the fly and came up with the most disgusting spot of the match when Cactus falls right into the ring wire off the ladder while wearing the #1 crimson mask of all time, bar none. To do all this, you have to be insanely creative and supernaturally tough. They were both.

[AxB]

On 12/21/2023 at 5:42 PM, John E. Dynamite said:

Alright, let's get weird. I posted this is in Matches Thread months ago but I was just thinking about it the other day and I've got to properly foist this upon somebody. It's the kind of thing one rarely gets to witness, and certainly a match that helped me understand the artform more.

Arena GDL 3rd Anniversary - Kid's Division Exhibition Match
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ca4JyaHcMo

 

There's like 8 kids in the ring. We get ring introductions, but the mic is a bit buzzy, so let's see how we do. Our heels are: Tiger Drama(?), Black Kid, Black Junior, and Robber de Fuego(?). On the face side Payasino Loki, Angel Oscuro. Kid Danzer (Danger?), Reynanda Lukay(?). Almost all of those are probably wrong. Oh good, it's a 4 vs 4 tag match, I was worried it would be an 8-way scramble.  These kids have very expensive looking gear, considering they'll all probably be outgrowing everything they're wearing in a couple of months.

Fuego and Danzer to start. Solid lucha technicals, ending with the resortes of mutual respect. Fuego working the leg, but I'm not expecting long term limb selling in this one. Second pairing is Little Clown Loki vs Black Junior. Loki plays to the crowd, so Junior hits them from behind. Loki protests, so Fuego returns to the ring to fake apologise and flip Loki off. And then we have some corner splashes and cradle exchanges off of a Sunset Flip. Next pairing, Reynanda vs Tiger. If they're the same age, Reynanda definitely hit her growth spurt first. This is the first pairing that really establishes that the face is superior to the heel, the first two were 50/50 but Reynanda basically shows Tiger up. Black Kid vs Angel are our final opening feeling out segment. Angel is FLIPPY~! Black Kid is stooging for the flippiness. We get our first dive tease as kid bails out to the floor having mounted zero meaninful offence, and Danzer and Junior take over. Black Junior entering the ring with a big twisting backflip off the top, because the heels can fly too. They exchange shoulderblocks and clotheslines to a point on stalemate, so Danzer makes with the flying and the flipping, and Junior just can't keep up and has to bail out. Another dive tease! Perhaps this will become a theme. Loki vs Tiger and again, the face outclasses the heel. Reynanda vs Fuego continues the theme of the heels striving to match the faces' athleticism, but the faces being far more effective at turning it into meaningful offence...

So the heels gets sick of being second best, rush to knock the rest of the faces off the apron and start quadruple teaming her. She escapes and Angel gets in, but also gets a 4 on 1 beating, as does Payasino Loki. But eventually the faces are able to even the odds and it breaks down into a brawl, as these things do. And that leads to a DIVE TRAIN! Adult ref holds the ropes open so Black Kid  can safely hit the Tope. Payasino Loki does a Springboard Plancha! He's not that tall, his chin is about level with the top rope, but he still manages it. Fuego tops that by diving to the floor off the top of the ringpost!

They said Una Caida at the start, and so this a lucha match with a different structure to normal... sort of. Whilst they didn't have the Technicos win the first fall from their early dominance, and then the Rudos even it up by brawling and cheating, the momentum did still ebb and flow to the same rhythm, just without any actual decisions going either way. And after the dive train, it ends... quite abruptly. Perhaps everyone got their shit in already, and so nobody had much left to do in terms of building a climactic finish.

The winner is interviewed in the ring after the match, and his voice definitely hasn't broken. He sounds younger than he looks (well, we can't see how young he looks, he's got a mask on, but you know what I mean). Overall, this was a really fun match to watch. A few of these kids might make it big in the future, if their bodies hold up. The video is 28 minutes, but watching it, it feels way shorter than that... perhaps because quite a lot of the match felt like "This is the beginning of the match", and the middle section and closing sections were more truncated.

[Curt McGirt]

Sabu/Abyss Barbed Wire Massacre

Well needless to say this was far lesser than the KOTDM. We've been desensitized since by that and a full decade of ECW, FMW, W*ING, CZW, BJW, XPW, IWA Mid-South... by the time TNA was formed death match wrestling was old hat. However Sabu was still alive and kicking and Abyss was their version of Mick Foley, a Cactus Jack in a Mankind mask but with the height of a Sid or Undertaker, and the wrestling skills of... well, Sid? Who knows, Joseph Parks could be a really great wrestling coach. But probably not. The barbed wire looks cool in the eight-sided ring and gives them a lot of space to work with, which ends up in Sabu running towards the "ropes" and having to turn around a lot. (It also made me think "boy if they had some submission-based mat wrestlers in there they could do some neat stuff".) Pretty much the entire match is him throwing himself into the wire over and over in increasingly nastier ways. Abyss takes a couple bumps and ends up in a barbed wire board sandwich for the pinfall, but he doesn't take half the abuse Sabu is willingly indulging in. I really hope that Jarrett and Dixie gave him a couple months rent or enough to buy a new travel car for this one. One spot to mention is a tope con hiro over the barbed wire into Abyss on the outside where he basically rolls up onto Abyss' head and shoulders and back onto the floor, it looked funny and not very impactful but the crowd dug it. One guy in the crowd got blood on his hands and was all hyped about it. This was what it was, if you want to see barbed wire, it was a massacre for sure. 

[Casey]

I’ll get to @Sammo~!’s pick tonight or tomorrow night, currently dealing with the holidays + my Dad having a seizure every time he coughs really badly.

[onelegbrynn]

I’ve been terribly busy this week and haven’t been able to get to the match Matt gifted me. I’ll try to get to it tomorrow night or Tuesday. Currently at a friends Christmas Eve party and staying overnight. Won’t be back home until tomorrow afternoon.

[Matt D]

I think given the holiday, we're going to wait until Tuesday to draw again if no one has major qualms. That'll make it easier on people giving others picks too, I think. I'm ok going another couple of weeks if people are up for it because of the relatively big pool and how well people have been doing.

[AxB]

I have an idea of what some people will be getting if they're picked with me. No idea for others, but we'll cross that bridge.