1997 WON WMOTY: SuperBrawl VII - WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hogan (c) (w/ Ted DiBiase & Vincent) vs Roddy Piper
So apparently Piper spent a week in Alcatraz to prepare for this match, so they’re going all out with this Piper is insane stuff The bell sounds and Hogan instantly steps out I guess Piper is fat since he’s wrestling with a shirt on. Piper goes after him and just starts brawling, hitting him in the eyes, low blows, biting, choking, etc. with the ref not doing shit Piper hits Hogan with a chair even though there has been no indication that this is no DQ shit why doesn’t the whole nWo just come interfere then. Michael Wallstreet tries to interfere and the announcers say if any nWo members get in the ring it’s a DQ oh so low blows and chair shots aren’t though :hm: Piper no sels everything I guess because Alcatraz made him hard or something, his dirty brawling is already getting pretty old, but Sting and Randy Savage make their way out now for some reason, but Sting decides to stay at the top of the ramp as the crowd chants for him hoping for a decision on whether him or Savage are with WCW or the nWo. Sting decides to just leave as Savage stays, but Hogan is in control now doing the same dirty brawling Piper was doing, but Piper is at least selling a little now. The ref warns Hogan about a low blow lol but Piper no-sells it anyway and locks in a Sleeper and they do the arm falling three times spot and it looks like Piper won, they rung the bell and everything, but meanwhile Savage gives Hogan brass knuckles and Hogan hits Piper and the ref counts the three count the announcers have no idea what’s going on, they try to explain the false finish, but obviously something fucked up, so they say Hogan was under the ropes even though I feel like he wasn’t Savage officially joins the nWo after, spray painting Piper, and celebrating with Hogan. The beatdown on Piper afterwards was easily better than anything that happened in the entire match, there was only one pin attempt during the whole thing lmao

PWI & WON MOTY: WrestleMania 13 - Submission Match (w/ Guest Referee: Ken Shamrock): Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
Vince McMahon talking shit about Bret on commentary We also got King and JR so FUCK YEAH. So in case you guys have never seen this in which case stop reading and go watch it, it’s a No DQ Submission match so basically an “I Quit” match, just without the name. So this just rules from start to finish, might be my favorite ‘Mania match ever tbh. They end up in the crowd like two minutes into the match, and Austin takes a fans drink and throws it on Hart Jerry Lawler on commentary yells at them to hit a fan wearing an nWo shirt We’re back to the ringside area with more fantastic brawling. In the ring finally, Hart starts working over Austin’s knee, but Austin is able to counter and hit an early Stunner, but Austin can’t win by pin Austin selling this knee is so fucking amazingly and Hart is able to lock in the ring-post Figure-4 Hart gets the ring bell and a chair into the ring, and puts it around Austin’s ankle, but Austin is able to get up and hits him in the fucking back so hard with the chair Austin kicks Hart right in the dick and they show a close up of Hart’s daughter hiding her face Austin goes for some basic submissions since he isn’t a submission guy, but Hart is able to fight out of them, so Austin tries the Sharpshooter, but Hart rakes his eyes bc he’s a dirty wrestler Back outside the ring, Austin is now bleeding really heavily. Hart continues working over Austin’s knee with the chair back in the ring. Austin desperately kicks Hart in the dick, and his face is pretty covered in blood at this point. Austin’s bloody brawling is so fucking great right here Austin starts choking Hart with some cords, but Hart nails him with the ring bell to avoid being hanged over the ropes. This lets Hart lock in the Sharpshooter in the center of the ring and we get the iconic moment of Austin, covered in blood, trying to fight out, but he ends up passing out due to the pain which gives Hart the win I FUCKING LOVE THIS MATCH I used to have this on a VHS with some other pre-98 Austin matches and it was by far the only match worth watching really, so I’d just fast forward and watch it a million times, and this still holds up just like it always has. After the match, Hart tries to attack Austin some more, but Shamrock takes him down solidifying the double turn Austin then stuns a ref that tried to help him and walks out on his own power to a standing ovation

WON FOTY: UFC 14 - UFC Heavyweight Championship: Mark Coleman (c) vs Maurice Smith
Smith says in the pre-fight interview that Coleman punches like a girl Young Bruce Buffer looking fly af. Smith is a kickboxer and Coleman is a wrestler, so two interesting dynamics for this one. Oh SHIT Big John McCarthy the referee Coleman takes Smith down early and stays on top for like 5 minutes, but fights really well from his back to keep it interesting. Coleman can’t get a choke, but he ends up in full mount because of it. Lol that headbutts aren’t illegal yet. Smith finally gets up and we’re both standing again at 9 minutes in. Coleman missed a takedown and Smith kicks him in the face, which is one of the few illegal things since Coleman was on all fours at the time, but it’s just a warning. Coleman looks tired af, but he still is able to get another takedown before Smith can utilize his kickboxing. Coleman still can’t do much on the ground though, Smith honestly looks better as he’s actively striking from his back. Smith lands a few nice shots in the last 30 seconds or so of the 15-minute time limit as they were back on their feet, but nothing huge. Coleman is tired af as the first 3-minute overtime period starts, so Smith works him over with strikes, hitting a couple solid combos. The second and last 3-minute OT starts now and it’s similar to the first, Coleman has to put his hands on his knees at times to catch his breath, but Smith can’t capitalize on much besides some leg kicks. some of the lights go out, but Big John says “LETS GO!” so they keep fighting with Smith just embarrassing Coleman on their feet until the time ends. That was pretty fun, definitely seen much better fights though. The refs give it to Smith unanimously which I agree with even though he spent most of regulation on his back, he was just more active during it, and then he destroyed Coleman towards the end on their feet since Coleman was tired af from not being able to do anything on the ground. This was a pretty big upset at the time too, probably a reason why it got FOTY as well.

Yeah they mentioned before the match that his longest fight was like 11 minutes so I just knew he was gonna be gassed af lmao

Yeah Smith got hit with a couple headbutts, but then he kept his hand in the way the rest of the time so Coleman had zero offense

Having it take up a third of the broadcast saved us from god knows whatever fuckery of undercard matches so we should be grateful

Yeah I've heard it called a 3 star match for the first 45 minutes but a 5 star match for the last 15 and meh I'd say it picked up around 30 minutes in, and it's not like there was a noticeable "oh shit end game fast pace" segment, it built up well. It's underrated by some, overrated by most, but overall a real good match that I probably won't rewatch again though.

1998 WON FOTY: UFC 16: Battle in the Bayou - Light Heavyweight Bout: Jerry Bohlander vs Kevin Jackson
They call this a Middleweight Superfight, but they're what is currently light heavyweights. This ring girl has the fattest ass holy shit why did they only show her for a half second Big John McCarthy reffing this one too. Jackson catches Bohlander with some strikes and ends up on top of his guard, but Bohlander goes for a few submissions from his back and is able to work his way out really nicely. They don’t really do a whole lot when they get back on their feet until Jackson catches him in the sprawl again and FUCK I forgot knees to the head when you’re down are still legal. Jackson hits some solid ground and pound shots, but Bohlander is still actively going for submissions, so Jackson can’t go for too much. Big John stands them up just for Jackson to take Bohlander down again two seconds later Jackson is dominating Bohlander on top while wrestling, but I feel like he doesn’t know a single submission to try and finish him, so Bohlander is able to catch him with a sick rolling armbar, and McCarthy called it bc Jackson’s arm was about to break. The finish was fun, and lol if it would have went to decision Jackson would have won, but since he couldn’t finish Bohlander just waited and won.

PWI MOTY: King of the Ring - Hell in a Cell Match: Mankind vs The Undertaker
Time to watch a few years being taken off of a man’s life FUCK YES. Mankind comes out with a chair and says fuck the ring, throws the chair up, and then climbs on top. Mankind meets Undertaker as he climbs up, so we’re starting this one on top. They brawl for a bit, and part of the cell caves in as they walk over it wrestler safety is maximum priority. And then about two minutes in AS GOD AS MY WITNESS HE IS BROKEN IN HALF! Yeah, I’ve seen this a lot and it’s still pretty surreal, hearing the entire crowd scream at once and then the announcer reactions as well Everyone comes out to help Mankind, including Terry Funk, Sgt. Slaughter, and Vince McMahon, and they help him to the back and some fan screams “Hey finish the match” but the match seems to be over. The crowd starts chanting for Undertaker, so Foley must have heard that and say aw hell no and climbs back to the top They both meet on top again only for Undertaker to chokeslam him THROUGH THE FUCKING TOP JR’s commentary is really the best ever here, don’t let anyone tell you it’s overrated even a little. Oh also Mankind hit his head on a chair when he landed so that’s probably concussion number 3 of the match. In the ring, Undertaker takes out Funk to give Mankind some time to regain consciousness, and believe it or not these two fuckers go on to work an honest to god decent Hell in a Cell match for 10-15 more minutes. Foley bloody smiling at the camera Undertaker goes for a suicide dive, but goes head first into the cell, and ends up busted open. Mankind I guess keeps working over the head with a piledriver on a chair for a two count, and then a leg drop onto the chair that was on ‘Taker’s face Mankind then gets some fuckin’ thumbtacks from under the ring bc that’s just what this match was missing, fuckin’ bloodthirsty crowd is popping so loud now. Mankind locks on the Mandible Claw, but Undertaker is able to slam him back onto the tacks, and then Chokeslams him onto them again Mankind gets back up to his feet, and Undertaker hits a Tombstone to win. Yeah this shit is still insane, after the match Mankind turns down the stretcher and gets helped out on his own feet as the crowd gives him a standing ovation.

WON WMOTY: Halloween Havoc - Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior
They replay Hogan turning on his own nephew Horace Hogan last week on Nitro, gave that poor guy 11 stitches apparently. Hogan has become a really good heel at this point, but that’s really the only positive out of this. Warrior’s selling is hilariously bad, and they work the test of strength spot like in the first match, but with none of the things that made that great. They repeat the criss-cross rope running spot, and that was actually pretty decent and got some good crowd reactions. Hogan accidentally takes out referee Nick Patrick, but then decides to drop a knee to make sure he stays down longer The Giant makes his way out, but accidentally takes out Hogan with a boot, then Warrior takes care of him, Stevie Ray, and Vincent before trying to cover Hogan despite looking at the ref knocked out first. The ref gets up in time to count two for Hogan on Warrior, so Hogan takes his belt off and starts whipping and choking Warrior with it as Patrick threatens to DQ him, but the announcer says he’s letting the match continue since Hogan wants the DQ. Warrior rolling to dodge elbow drops was hilarious Hogan put his belt back on so for Warrior to use it he has to take it off of him lmao never take another man’s belt off for any reason if you don’t swing that way. Hogan tries his fireball spot, but fucks it up and burns himself Hogan is bleeding now I guess from either the fire or Warrior’s week diving axe handles. Horace Hogan makes his way out slowly with a chair as Warrior starts making is comeback, but Eric Bischoff comes out and just grabs the ref so he can’t see anything as Horace hits Warrior bc I guess he forgives his uncle for the concussion Hogan wins after a chair shot to the back and I guess made up for dropping the title to Warrior at ‘Mania all those years ago. Hogan gets Horace to put lighter fluid on Warrior, but security won’t let Hogan set him on fire This was hilarious.

WON MOTY: Giant Series 1998 - Day 18 - Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship: Kenta Kobashi (c) vs Mitsuharu Misawa
This is just amazing, no other way to describe it. The back and forth at the beginning is phenomenal and features everything from stiff strikes, creative counters, technical work, and speed. Kobashi has control for the first part with some really nice offense, utilizing his power before Misawa makes a nice comeback, complete with a dive outside the ring. Misawa hits a senton onto a standing Kobashi for a two at one point, that was so smooth Misawa has some nice offense too, slow paced but really working over Kobashi well. These Misawa elbows though Kobashi is able to make a comeback after brawling outside the ring, hits Misawa with a few sick back suplexes, and the crowd is super hot for this one now. Kobashi just chops the fuck out of Misawa’s face while he was sitting on the mat It’d be entertaining listening to an American crowd try to keep up with how many woo’s they need to do to keep up with these chops These counter exchange sequences are something else Misawa lands a Rolling Elbow, but can’t capitalize on it so both guys are down with the crowd super hot about 25 minutes in. Misawa ends up landing a nice elbow suicida outside the ring, and generally has control for a bit, but Kobashi keeps fighting back until MISAWA CATCHES HIM WITH A SICK ELBOW AS KOBASHI WENT FOR A SHOULDER BLOCK FOLLOWED BY A TIGER DRIVER FOR A SUPER CLOSE NEAR FALL The crowd definitely thought it was over there. Kobashi counters a monkey flip after a bit and then hits a dragon suplex right on Misawa’s head, so now he goes for the finish with some bigger moves, c’mon bro you gotta bust out the Hammer. Kobashi gets a couple more near falls, and holy shit this is so great We get a couple Burning Hammer teases that the crowd loves before Kobashi just hits a huge Lariat instead for a two count. Kobashi hits a nice leg drop bulldog off the top rope, and at this point the crowd is so hot and popping for every single pin attempt, whether it could end the match or not Kobashi goes for a second buckle bomb after he hit one earlier, but this time Misawa reverses into a Hurricanrana that sends Kobashi into the buckle that spot was fucking perfect They end up on the apron and Kobashi attempts murder with a half nelson suplex off, but Misawa counters, hits a couple elbows and HITS A FUCKING TIGER DRIVER OFF THE APRON ONTO THE FLOOR Back in the ring, they exchange some elbows and chops, Misawa hits another Tiger Driver, but pins way too slow so it was an obvious two. Misawa runs at Kobashi and gets caught a brutal fucking burning lariat, for a similar two count. Kobashi keeps trying to trade strikes with Misawa, but Misawa keeps winning those with his elbows, even getting a really close two count after one. Misawa keeps it up some a couple more really close pinfalls, pinning after a Tiger Suplex and running elbow before finally putting him away with this SICK fucking 1-2 elbow combination. Holy shit what a match I was so excited to rewatch their series, and so far the first one holds up and then some