Review the Last Wrestling Match You Watched

[Horrorfan_1986]

The Hollywood Blondes vs Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Erik Watts - Superbrawl III
Austin and Pillman had been teaming up on a full time basis since the start of the year after Barry Windham recommended Austin to Pillman. The Blondes are the #1 contender's to the tag titles, but for whatever reason, champions, Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas, aren't on the card. This would be the tail end of the initial monster push of the terrible Erik Watts. The first half is reserved exclusively for Watts to be on offense. It's mostly horrible with Watts somehow messing up arm drags (Letting go of the arm too early). Hilariously, every time Watts is tagged in, the crowd boos. After the third time of this happening, Jesse Ventura asks why they're booing. In one of his funniest lines ever, Tony Schiavone utters a line similar to "You sure that's boo or is that...wooo?" : Ah, Tony sucks so much. Finally, the story of the match changes with Watts playing the face in peril with the heels working over his back. Watts isn't a great seller, but I'm actually able to get into the story. It builds into the hot tag to Bagwell. Bagwell has the match won with a Fisherman Buster on Pillman, but Austin sneaks in and gives him an elbow from the middle rope. That allows Pillman to score the win. Despite Watts trying his best to make this suck, The Blondes and to a lesser extent, Bagwelll, wouldn't let that happen. With a time length of over sixteen minutes, the match would have greatly benefited from a few minutes being shaved off and having more time devoted to face-in-peril sequence. Having such a long babyface shine wasn't necessary. Fine opener though. 2 3/4 Stars.


Oh and Erik Watts sucks.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

♪One of these things is not like the others
One of these things just doesn't belong
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?♪​

Sting and Dr. Death vs Jushin Liger and Erik Watts - Lethal Lottery - Starrcade 1992
Ah, Lethal Lottery, the one time a year where you can have the wackiest of tag team matches. A ten minute match where Liger carried the workload for the team. For the most part, the match just revolves around Liger selling for Sting and Death. The manhandling by Death makes me wish he and Liger had had some singles matches in Japan. There's one great spot where Liger tries to get all fancy and Steve Williams rewards him with a fucking stiff lariat. First move by Erik Watts is a terrible looking arm drag to Dr. Death. Later, Watts hits a dropkick that even the worst WWE Divas would be embarrassed by. After Death gets to the ropes to break-up the STF (WCW was hyping the hell out of how dangerous Watts' STF was), he surprises Watts with a hot shot to get the surprise pinfall. The match was fine, but it was far too one sided for my liking. You have this great talent in Liger, but all you do is have him sell? On the plus side, Watts was only in for about a minute. 2 1/2 Stars.

Erik Watts: Best Dropkick in the Business.​

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Paul Roma and Erik Watts vs Johnny B. Badd and Brian Knobbs - Lethal Lottery - Battlebowl 1993
Knobbs is the only heel in this. There's a little backstory here with The Four Horsemen (Roma and Arn Anderson) losing the WCW Tag Titles to The Nasty Boys at Fall Brawl. This was your trademark Lethal Lottery match with one team made up a face and a heel (Knobbs and Badd) that just can't get along. Knobbs is always barking orders at Badd. Badd refuses to cheat every time Knobbs of his manager, Missy Hyatt, tells him to. Whenever Knobbs cheats, Badd argues with his tag partner. A good portion of the match involves Paul Roma in the ring. Speaking of which, Tony Schiavone reminds viewers what happened on the last episode of WCW Saturday Night. There's dissension in the Four Horsemen since Paul Roma took too long to make the save for Anderson after Steve Austin and Paul Orndorff assaulted him two-on-one. I bring this up because the matches that matter (Arn Anderson vs Paul Orndorff, Orndorff/Steve Austin vs Anderson/Paul Roma and the heel turn for Roma in Roma/Erik Watts vs Orndorff/Steven Regal) all happen on free TV, while you had to pay to get this meaningless match. Anyways, Watts ends up losing the match for his team after he attempts a cross body, but Knobbs rolls through and holds the tights during a pin. Johnny B. Badd isn't happy that his team won by cheating, but he still advances to the Battlebowl Finals. Despite the lack of talent in this, I sorta enjoyed myself thanks to the back and forth wrestling, the story of Badd/Knobbs and Watts managing to not botch every other move. It could have benefited from losing a few minutes though. 2 1/4 Stars.

 

[Gentleman Jake]

Wow u are watching some classic Eric Watts huh? Eww

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Wow u are watching some classic Eric Watts huh? Eww

Eh, it has something to do with Ask Jim. Speaking of which...

Lord Steven Regal vs Erik Watts - Beach Blast 1993
Regal is just chilling out and showcasing his character after debuting in late January. His character is someone who hypes himself as a great and honorable technical wrestler, who would never have to lower himself and cheat. Of course, he practically cheats in every match to win. Regal also has a manager in Sir William, who Regal doesn't treat too well. This is a completely different Erik Watts match. With Watts knowing that Regal is going to try and out chain wrestle him, Watts attempts to beat Regal at his own game by using holds (~!) and slowly working over the arm of Regal. Watts may not win any awards for his technical wrestling skills, but he's good enough that he doesn't embarrass himself. I imagine working with Regal also helps greatly as well. Part of the story of the match is this green rookie, Watts, is surprisingly everyone by dominating the far better technical wrestler. I'd compare it to MVP vs Chris Benoit at Wrestlemania 23. The ending begins with Regal pulling down a knee pad and attempting a knee drop. Watts manages to avoid it and Regal sells it like he may have injured his knee. Watts quickly attacks the knee and works on it for a few moments. This sets up his feared STF (They had previously played up how painful it is to the knee). Sir William interferes by slapping Watts. This only angers Watts into releasing the hold and yelling at Sir William from the middle rope. As expected, Regal uses this moment to hit Watts from behind, roll him up and get the pinfall with a handful of tights. It's an overly simple match and the ending does come a bit too quick, but why fight something if it works? Watts sucks as a regular moves wrestler. Telling this sort of simple story, even if the crowd wasn't into it, helped hide his weaknesses and made me finally enjoy a Watts match. Admittedly, I'm a huge old school Lord Steven Regal fan, so I'm a bit bias. If nothing else, Watts looked good for dominating the better worker and Regal continues to put over his character and his BS claims of being a non-cheater. 3 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Paul Orndorff vs Erik Watts - Tournament Finals - WCW TV Title - WCW Worldwide - April 3, 1993
The WCW TV Title was declared vacant when champion, Scott Steiner, left the company in November '92. Why it took nearly six months to crown a new champion, I'll never know. The sixteen man tournament had some quality wrestlers as 2 Cold Scorpio, Chris Benoit, Steven Regal and Cactus Jack. How in the fuck did Watts make it to the finals when there were so many better choices?! A fairly boring match with both men trying to work other the other's arm. In the Regal match, it made sense since Watts was trying to show up the technical wrestler, Regal. Here, the arm work doesn't have any meaning. It's not like Orndorff is an expert mat wrestler or anything. Likewise, Watts' STF doesn't impact the arm. All of this fucking work is pointless. Watts somehow badly botches a simple roll-up. Orndorff works over Watts' head for a bit before putting him away with his Piledriver. Orndorff is your NEW WCW TV Champion. Orndorff would hold on to the belt for 169 days, with only two future reigns surpassing it for the rest of the title's history. Anyways, Watts sucks, Orndorff was fine, and the match was watchable at best. 2 Stars.

Erik Watts - The TRUE Mr. Wrestling​

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton vs Kensuke Sasaki and Erik Watts - Clash of the Champions 21
Paul E. Dangerously has put a bounty out on the head of Watts. It's pretty impressive to already anger someone so much that they put a bounty out on you when you've only been wrestling on TV for a month. Anyways, Watts starts off in the ring and looks horrible. The guy can barely avoid tripping over his own feet. Things improve with Sasaki in the ring, even then, I'm not blown away by anything. The Dangerous Alliance cheats a bit, but this is the Erik Watts showcase match. Watts gets the win after punching Eaton after Beautiful Bobby jumped from the top rope and then Watts submitted him with the debut of the STF. It's worth noting that Watts couldn't even remember which leg to start the STF with. Watts first grabbed Eaton's left, but let go of it to grab the right. It's only then Watts remembers he needs to do it to the left, so he drops the right and picks up the left again. : Short match without any real reason to see it. Sadly, I think Anderson was nursing an injury (That would eventually have the kayfabe explanation of Watts injuring him), so he couldn't even do much. 1 3/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Vader (c) vs Davey Boy Smith - WCW World Title - Slamboree 1993
Since arriving in WCW, Vader has killed everyone with his immense power. Unlike everyone else, Smith is actually just as powerful as Vader. This allows for the early story of Vader trying to manhandle Smith, but Smith shrugs everything off and simply shakes his head "No". Awesome mind games tactic. While Smith can withstand Vader shoving him around, he can't handle Vader using his weight and crushing him with a Samoan Drop. In addition, Vader's powerful and never ending punches does a number on Smith. With that, the greatest hope that WCW had in someone finally coping and ending Vader's reign of pain is crushed worse than Bulldog's bloody nose. Commentators, Jesse Ventura and Tony Schiavone, speculate on whether the referee should stop the match to keep Bulldog from sustaining and permanent injuries. This sets up the ending where Smith shocks everyone and catches Vader in mid air when Vader attempted a splash in the corner. Smith hits his trademark running power slam. Before he can get the win, Harley Race pulls him by the hair to the outside. Taking this as a opportunity to end the match, Vader knocks Davey Boy out with a chair attack to draw the DQ. After the match, Vader destroys Davey Boy some more and easily manhandles 2 Cold Scoprio and Marcus Bagwell, who tries to make the safe. Finally, Sting runs out to make the real safe to set-up the main event of the Beach Blast 1993 PPV. While this wasn't anywhere near as good as the Vader/Sting matches, it's a rather fun power vs power match. Ending sucks, but they at least left room for an eventual rematch. Vader in 1993 rules. 3 1/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Sting and Davey Boy Smith vs Sid and Vader - Beach Blast 1993
This had the infamous mini-movie where Bulldog is feared to be killed during. Anyways, the story of the match is that the Masters of the Power Bomb, Sid and Vader, don't want to win. They just want to punish the Super Powers, Bulldog and Sting, for now agreeing to bow out of the match. And punish did they ever. Every time a babyface is tagged in, he gets in a few offensive moves before the sheer power of a heel takes over again. It's a pretty simple story, but it's fun. The action with Vader in the ring is a hell of a lot more entertaining than when Sid is in charge. Then again, Vader's punches are better than anything Sid has every done. I do find the match starts to drag a bit. Meanwhile, the conclusion of the match occurs too quickly after all four men begins to fight in the ring. Likewise, Bulldog winning with a simple crucifix pin was unexpected and fall flat. Couldn't he have just beat Vader with the Running Power Slam? If nothing else, you continue the question of, "Can Vader kick out of the running power slam?" since Race had to break it up during their first singles match. Despite the flaws, it's a fun tag match to keep the two big singles feuds (Bulldog vs Vader and Vader vs Sting) going until their next one-on-one battles. Vader in 1993 still rules. 3 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Kazuchika Okada - IWGP Title - NJPW's New Beginnings 2012
"First I take your tooth, then I take your title!" Even though the match takes awhile to get going, once Tanahashi begins the leg work on Okada, it's all awesomeness from then on. Okada looked great especially in his selling of the knee. It's an obvious thing to do, but I always appreciate a wrestler selling an injury for the rest of the match. There were times when Okada would hit a move and the first thing he does is grab his knee in pain. On the flip side, there's Tanahashi. The big moment in the second half of the match is Okada Tombstoning Tanahashi on the concrete. It's a huge spot and one that can set-up a major injury angle. Instead, after a few minutes, Tanahashi is back flying around, acting as if he's perfectly fine. In the little I've seen of Tanahashi (Probably only five matches), I've really dug the guy, however; this is the first strike against him. The other big unplanned spot would be Tanahashi losing one of his two front teeth. I think it happened during one of his dragon screw leg whips (Moves he used to hurt Okada's knee). The missing tooth made for a nice image and inadvertently made Okada look like a bigger beast. The finishing move is perfect with Okada trying and failing to hit his Rainmaker (Wacky wrist clutch, spinning lariat) for the surprise pinfall to become the NEW IWGP Champion. In one night, Okada becomes a major deal in New Japan. The match felt like a big deal, showcased some great Okada selling and the coming of a new force in Japan. Endure the first ten minutes and the poor Tombstone selling and the match is a hell of a fun match. 4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito - IWGP Title - NJPW's 40th Anniversary Show 2012
Okada continues to really impress me. Once again, he sells the knee like a champ. With Scott Lost being retired, Okada's top rope elbow drop has to be the prettiest in wrestling today. In addition, Okada showed an early viciousness that I haven't seen before. Kicking the steel railing with Naito's head trapped inside was pretty sick looking. Another huge positive is Okada's tap out tease. It's a simple thing, but he knows how to tease it so much that everyone is buying into a submission before he stops himself. In all honesty, Okada's money. The fact that TNA only thought to put a black Zorro mask on Okada is just one of the millions of reasons why Russo-TNA was fucking stupid. For Naito, he puts on a strong performance too. Besides having some flashy moves (Gotta love the running forward senton), Naito's a hell of a babyface. Maybe part of what makes me like him is his Tito Santana-like Flying Forearm that Naito does to perfection. The final five or so minutes is the most drama and suspense I've seen in a wrestling match this year. Even though I know Naito isn't winning, I'm buying into every near fall and submission as if it could be the end. Once again, Okada's Rainmaker is played up big with Okada trying over and over to hit it, but Naito counters it every time. Finally, a great sequence concludes with Naito going for a second Tito Santana-Flying Forearm, only for Okada to counter it right into the Rainmaker for the victory. As much as I enjoyed some aspects of Tanahashi/Okada, this blew that away. I can't wait to see their G1 Climax Day 2 match. Oh...Okada rules. 4 3/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Hirooki Goto - IWGP Title - NJPW's Dontaku 2012
Maybe it's because he was presented in a very different manner during the BOSJ shows, but I expected far more from Goto. It seemed to me that Goto was a bad ass monster type wrestler. So when he flat out got his ass kicked by Okada for the first 3/4 of the match, it made it difficult to get into the story. It's only when the final act comes that things pick up and I'm finally into the match. All of the near falls and back and forth action was highly enjoyable and they somehow made me believe Goto may have a shot at winning. As always, Okada's opponent is able to counter the Rainmaker a few times early on, but once he's hit with it, the opponent is easily pinned. It took a lot of effort, but Okada, Goto and the going apeshit commentator dragged this match into the good category. Not nearly as good as Okada's first title defense, but it's certainly not a title defense to be ashamed of. 3 1/2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Togi Makabe - IWGP Title - NJPW/AJPW/NOAH's We Are Pro Wrestling Love 2012
Tanahashi's first title defense after regaining the belt from Okada. Sadly, it's also the least interesting title match of the year. Unlike Okada/Goto or even Tanahashi/Okada, it was interesting from the start due to the crowd surprisingly turning on Tanahashi due to their love of the middle finger loving Makabe. However, the match suffers from never building up that excitement. It's like driving a car at 20 MPH. You'll get where you need to be and and you're glad to have not be going slower, but you want to be driving faster. Tanahashi worked over Makabe's knee for the main story of the match. Togi was fine at selling it, but it's a far cry from Okada's selling. I do love Tanahashi's Dragon Screw Leg Whip where the opponent is always laying on his back though. "Heel" Tanahashi is also far more entertaining than normal ultra babyface Tan too. Tanahashi is just able to showcase a lot more personality when he's trying to get boos. Anyways, they try building up to the exciting ending with plenty of nearfalls, but I'm not buying it as some exciting final act. I never believe Makabe has a shot at winning and that hurts the overall enjoyment of the match. Tanahashi wins after his Frog Splash. Good match, but it doesn't seem like the sort of quality you'd expect from some multi-company super show. Basically, I'd compare it to a Raw World Title match. 3 1/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Minoru Suzuki - IWGP Title - NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom VI
Now this was a welcome surprise. Unlike the other IWGP Title matches this year, this didn't built up to an exciting final few minutes where there's ton of near falls. Instead, it plays to the character of Suzuki. Basically, he's a sick freak similar to heel Mankind/Cactus Jack. Tanahashi's goal isn't to just retain the title, but rather survive this fight. After all, how do you combat a guy who openly laughs when you give him forearms, bites the ring ropes and won't stop sticking out his tongue? Suzuki isn't a normal wrestler who just wants to be champion. He wants to slaughter you. It's because of all this that the match reminds me of Shawn Michaels vs Mankind at Mind Games. In order for Tanahashi to retain the title, he had to survive Suzuki. There were points in the match (Suzuki's sleeper) where it looked like Tanahashi was dead to the world. The ending is pretty great too with Suzuki putting on his best impression of an Universal's monster by stretching his arm out like a monster that refuses to die, as Tanahashi climbs to the top rope to hit his Frog Splash. Tanahashi may have won, but fuck did Suzuki entertain the hell out of me. 4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Bad Intentions (c) vs Ten-Koji - IWGP Tag Titles - Wrestle Kingdom VI
First Bad Intentions match. I imagine they only had a few more after this. I really dug some of Bad Intentions team work. Their quick action "Let's hit the same move one after another over and over again" spot is pretty awesome in it's simplicity. Why don't more teams do things like this? They build up to a spot where Giant Bernard had help in delivering a monster sit down power bomb. Tenzan manged to kick out with Bernard looking absolutely shocked. Obviously, I'm not aware of what Bernard/Bad Intention's top moves are, but it was easy enough to understand that that was a big moment. While I don't mind Kojima, Tenzan just doesn't entertain me in the slightest. I'm not going to knock the guy too much though. The dude has been wrestling for over twenty years, it's probably safe to say that he's no longer in the prime of his career. Anyways, Bernard worked pretty well in a NJPW ring. He can play a monster, but he also sells without it hurting his monster persona. Kojima kills Bernard with a lariat and Tenzan pins Bernard following a moonsault to win the IWGP Tag Titles. Kudos for making the title switch feel like a big deal following the match. I'd say the match falls in the "Just good" pile. With Wrestle Kingdom being NJPW's Wrestlemania, I suppose it's an accomplishment that this match was better than any WWE tag title two-on-two match in the last 21 years of Wrestlemania. Not boring, but not terribly exciting. 3 Stars.