Review the Last Wrestling Match You Watched

[Horrorfan_1986]

Kazuchika Okada vs Rush - G1 Climax 2012 Day 3
First time seeing Rush. He certainly makes a quick impression. The dude comes out to the ring to "I Know You Want Me" by Pitbull. It's both incredibly cheesy and somehow awesome. For the life of me, I can't tell if he's a babyface or a heel. Based on his ring style, he seems like a face, however; he's aggressive enough to be considered a heel. The one thing that did stand out was that he felt like a star. There's a lot of wrestlers who just feel like normal guys. Rush acted like he was a major player in the world of wrestling. Even without knowing a damn thing about him, I bought into it. For it's purpose, it's a rather enjoyable match. The match doesn't even go ten minutes and ends with Okada hitting the Rainmaker without Rush countering any prior attempts of it. I dug the idea that if you're not a top guy, you're not going to counter the Rainmaker. So I guess it makes countering it a bigger deal when you see Okada facing names like Tanahashi. I wouldn't mind seeing Rush against some of New Japan's Junior Heavyweights. 3 Stars.

Kazuchika Okada vs Hirooki Goto - G1 Climax 2012 Day 7
The last three months had been rough for both guys. Their previous match was champion vs champion. Since then, Goto lost the IC Title to Nakamura and Okada lost the IWGP Title to Tanahashi. I feel like giving both guys a hug. I guess losing the IC title meant less money for Goto as his bad ass long pants have been cut in half and he's just wearing the shorts version of his get-up. Not as good as their PPV match, but why should it? Besides having the prettiest elbow drop in wreslting, Okada's dropkick is picture perfect. Eat your heart out, AJ Styles. They keep with the story in these Okada singles matches where it's all about the Rainmaker. If you can counter it, you can keep in the match. Regardless of how many times you counter it, Okada will keep attempting it. If you get hit with it, it's over. Instead, Goto does what he wanted to do in the Dontaku match and he not only manages to repeatedly avoid the Rainmaker, but he finishes Okada off with the Shouten (Verticle suplex into a Side Effect). Thanks to not knowing the result before hand, I'm rather shocked by the result. The result sets up a future Goto/Okada III, which in theory could be just what Goto needs to earn another IWGP Title match. Not overly exciting, but hard hitting, Okada running through his usual spots and a finish I didn't expect makes for a perfectly fine match. 3 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask vs Taichi and TAKA - IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Titles - Dominion 2012
Previously on NJPW: During a six man tag on the final night of BOSJ, Taichi humiliated Jushin Liger, ripping his mask off in pieces and left him laying. Also, due to various issues, Davey Richards and Rocky Romero were stripped of their Jr Tag Titles after Richards can't make a NJPW show. To kill two birds with one stone, Jushin Liger gets a shot at revenge and the tag titles will be crowned to the winner of this grudge match. Taichi is such an awesome heel. During his entrance, he was wearing a couple of Liger's horns that he had ripped off earlier in the month. The first chance he got, he tried to do the same to Liger. Liger, wearing the awesome all silver look, has his mask ripped up once again. The immature Taichi even jerks off one of Liger's horns. The action continues until there's a ref bump and poor Liger is being beat up by both Taichi and TAKA (Just like at BOSJ). Instead of being the victim again, Liger rips his mask open wider to expose a painted face. He spits red mist into the eyes of Taichi and TAKA. Liger ups the intensity by pulling out a table, throwing Taichi against it and even trying to stab Taichi with a giant knife! Taichi gets power bombed by Liger through a table to leave TAKA to be pinned by Tiger Mask following a Tiger Suplex to become the NEW IWGP Jr Heaviyweight Tag Team Champions. After the match, Tiger Mask eventually gets Liger to accept his traditional red Liger mask. The scene ends with Liger having tamed his facepaint persona, wearing his old mask and celebrating with his new title. Awesome ending to a program that made old man Liger entertaining. Liger being psychotic made for a fun match and helped exceed my expectations. Wrestling needs more knife wielding Liger. Everyone did a great job at playing their role. 3 3/4 Stars.

Liger: Still finding ways to entertain after all of these years.​

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Prince Devitt, BUSHI and KUSHIDA vs Golden Lovers and Daisuke Sasaki - NJPW's Dominion 2012
So much awesomeness in one match. This is your standard spotfest to open up a show, only made so much more entertaining due to the workers involved. Surprisingly, I found Sasaki to be the star of the match in his role as the ultimate opportunist. He's always there breaking up pin attempts by Team New Japan, hitting Team NJ on the apron and hitting one hell of a sick looking chop block to Devitt when he looked to be preparing for a big move. Despite so many multiple spots at one time, the six managed to always go back to who were the legal men in the match. In the end, Ibushi pins BUSHI with a great looking sit down Last Ride. Team DDT winning was a surprise, but it does set Ibushi up to challenge for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. Honestly, this blew the two six man tags from the final night of BOSJ out of the water. 3 1/2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Philly Spectrum
July 18, 1987

Brady Boone vs Al Horowitz
For some reason, Barry Horowitz is identified as "Al". This show occurred on a Saturday night. Horowitz had only debuted for the WWE midway during the week. Brady Boone was brand new too, having only debuted two weeks earlier. Neither guy had even appeared on television up to this point. As a result, there's a small group of fans chanting "Boring" from the start of the match. As always, Boone is impressive with his creative moves including an awesome looking leg take down. Lord Alfred Hayes predicts that Horowitz will have a great career in the WWE. Ha. Horowitz controls the match while heeling it up. It's all fine undercard stuff. Boone picks up the win in the heatless match with a roll-up and a nifty looking bridging cover. It looked like Boone had won over a few fans with his impressive moveset. Good performances by both guys, even if neither guy had a reason to be over. 2 1/4 Stars.

Rick Rude vs Scott Casey
Keeping up with the theme of the show, Rick Rude was still very new into his WWE career. Rude had only debuted a month and a half earlier, but had yet to debut on TV. Meanwhile, the "Veteran" of the show thus far, Scott Casey had been in the WWE since early June and had a couple of TV matches under his belt. Casey works over Rude's arm for a little bit early on before Rude takes over. Rude heels it up by breaking up his own covers. It's a similar story as the first match, only it lacks anything as interesting as Boone's moveset. Rude picks up the win after a slingshot suplex. Sadly, the Rude Awakening wouldn't be debuted for another six months. 1 3/4 Stars.

Koko B. Ware vs Nikolai Volkoff
While Koko is practically a long time veteran compared to the other men on the show thus far, he's only been in the WWE since the previous August. So he hasn't even finished his rookie year. Sign of the night: "Free The Sheik" Ha. Man, you can tell this match took place in Philly. Of course, this was shortly after The Iron Sheik was busted with cocaine in his car. Anyways, this was a dull match without any real story. In other words, it's practically every Koko match ever. The highlight was Volkoff doing a very random cartwheel. Koko wins after surprising Volkoff with a missile dropkick (AKA, the one thing Koko does well). Bah. This sucked. 3/4 Star.

What the fuck? :​

The One Man Gang w/Slick vs Outback Jack
Outback had been in the WWE since the previous November. Meanwhile, Gang is another really fresh face, having only debuted on television in mid May, two months ago. This was a virtual squash with Slick not even having to interfere or distract Outback to allow Gang to remain in control. In fact, Outback's only time on offense was during the start of the match. After a comeback-less ending, Outback is pinned following OMG's Master Blaster (A shitty looking front suplex). The only nice thing I can say about this is that it wasn't boring. Gang's 747 Splash was such a better finisher than the Master Blaster. Good dominant win by Gang, who was preparing for a short Hogan feud. 1 3/4 Stars.

Rick Martel vs Tama w/Haku
Martel's partner, Tom Zenk, had left the WWE a week before. In fact, they hadn't even announced it on television yet. So now Martel is in the awkward position of being a tag team wrestler, in the middle of a tag team program, but without a partner. In a pre-match interview, Martel more or less calls Zenk a pussy for leaving the WWE and teases the idea of possibly having found a new partner. Keeping with the "New" theme, the Islanders have only been heels for a month and a half after turning on the Can-Am Express. As always, a solid match between Martel and an Islander. Martel had an extra fire in him in the early going. Tama controlled a large portion of the middle before Martel made his comeback. Tama got a little overconfident as he went for a top rope cross body, but Martel rolled through and got the surprise pinfall. After the match, Haku and Tama double teamed Martel until extra refs came out. Not only did you have a quality match, but they put over the story of Martel needing someone to watch his back. Highly productive little match. 3 Stars.

George Steele vs Danny Davis
Danny Davis had only been wrestling under his real name since March after being suspended as a referee for life by Jack Tunney. A lot of stalling early on with Davis not wanting to lock up with Steele. Davis finally gets and remains in the ring after he pulls out a pair of brass knuckles. Hitting Steele with it a couple of times only knocks Steele down for moments. Finally, Davis tries again, but Steele grabs the brass knuckles and knocks Davis out in front of the ref. Steele gets DQ'd. After the match, Steele entertains the fans by eating a couple of turnbuckle pads, hugging a poster of Miss Elizabeth, bringing a couple of kids into the ring and then offering the kids some of the stuffing from the turnbuckle pads. It's your typical post-Savage feud Steele. Basically, it's more of a segment than a match. I imagine the segment is so much more entertaining in person than having to watch it on TV twenty-five years later. I'm not going to rate it since it'd be unfair due to how entertained the fans were and that it wasn't meant to be a workrate match. George Steele was so vastly entertaining though. I'm rather bummed that I never got to see him in person during his babyface prime. Not Rated.

Killer Khan vs Lanny Poffo
Killer Khan had just returned to the WWE a couple of months before. You may better know Lanny Poffo as the Genius. If you're a newer fan, it's the guy and gimmick that Damien Sandow has completely ripped off. This was a lot of fun. Unlike a lot of other monsters, Khan increases the entertainment value in his matches by being so bizarre. Half the time he's hitting you, he's doing a Mankind-like squeal. Having been dominated by this unorthodox man for the entire match, Poffo mixes it up by increasing his intensity by biting at the forehead, choking and punching Khan. All of that has little effect on Khan as Khan picks up the win after a middle rope knee drop. An entertaining squash to put Khan over as they prepare to run a Khan/Hulk Hogan house show program. 2 1/2 Stars.

The announcer announces the date for the next Philly Spectrum show of August 15th. Thus far, the following matches have been announced:

Kamala vs Koko B. Ware
Greg Valentine vs Brutus Beefcake
Haku vs Rick Martel
Hercules vs Ken Patera - Whipping Match​

Yeah, good luck selling that show out with those announced matches. : I have to admit, Martel vs Haku sounds great though. Looking at the results of the show, the unannounced matches aren't appealing in the slightest. What a lame duck of a show. >_>

The Honky Tonk Man (c) vs Bruno Sammartino - WWE IC Title
Honky had been IC champion for only a month. Sammartino made getting an entertaining match out of HTM look easy. The first half was all Bruno working over the arm of Honky. Most of the offense was Bruno cranking back the arm of Honky in a hammerlock. Each time Bruno cranked the arm, the crowd counted. Once Honky took over, he worked over the back of Sammartino. In a fun spot, the fans would try counting the punches of Honky. Whenever Honky would hear the fans chanting along, he'd stop and yell at them. Each time this happened, the fans would count along louder and louder. Eventually, Bruno came back and the two battled on the floor with Bruno getting back in the ring before the ten count. Sammartino wins by count-out, but Honky retains the belt. It's only after Bruno leaves that Honky gets on the mic and calls Bruno a coward for leaving. Sometimes, pro wrestling is just easy. A way over Bruno and a quality heel like Honky made for one of the few entertaining Honky Tonk Man matches. 2 3/4 Stars.

Overall
Thanks to running three separate tours, it kept a lot of quality off of the show. In case you're wondering, The Hart Foundation vs Jim Brunzell and JYD (Filling in for the injured Brian Blair) and Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage headlined the other two touring groups. What does make this event interesting was all of the fresh faces. Between guys debuting, returning, just turning heel and just becoming champions, this feels like a completely different WWF show than you'd catch at the start of the year. Not surprisingly, Rick Martel and Islander Tama had the match of the night. Other highlights included Bruno Sammartino working his final match at the Philly Spectrum and the WWE's early monster pushes of The One Man Gang and Killer Khan. Both men would play a pivotal role in Hulk Hogan's remaining 1987. There may have not been a whole lot of quality ring work, but it's a fun little two hour B-show featuring a very different looking WWF.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

LA Sports Arena
July 15, 1988

The Big Boss Man vs Scott Casey
Boss Man had debuted on television about a month earlier. Slick is nowhere to be found, so I'm guessing he's managing One Man Gang somewhere else in America. The one thing that really struck me about this match was how much smaller Casey is compared to Boss Man. I know Boss Man was at his biggest at this point, but I always thought of Casey as a fairly big man himself. Yet, he's a few inches shorter than Boss Man. Casey impresses me a little by skinning the cat early on in the match. Just looking at Casey, you wouldn't expect him to be able to do that. Boss Man controlled the majority of the match with a bear hug. Not a lot of action, but they managed to keep it from being boring. Boss Man won with a Boss Man Slam out of nowhere. A nice extended squash to keep Boss Man looking good as he waits until his feud against Hogan to begin. After the match, Boss Man handcuffs Casey to the ropes and hits him a couple of times with the nightstick to get that gimmick over. 2 Stars.

Speaking of Slick, checking the 1988 results, I'm guessing he's managing One Man Gang as he wrestles Koko B Ware in an extremely poor looking C show. How poor is it? The biggest match is Hercules vs Ken Patera. The A show looks to be the event from Houston, Texas where all three champions (Savage, Honky and Demolition) were defending their titles (Against DiBiase, Brutus and Powers of Pain). Damn, it's pretty rare to have a show with all three champions.

The Rockers vs Los Conquistadors
The Rockers have only been around on TV for a month. The early going with the Rockers in charge was great. It was fast pace, full of high flying spots and the crowd was into everything. The Rockers really came off as a breath of fresh air as this new breed of babyface tag team. It's once Los Conquistadors takes over, that the action drags on a bit and I'm bored. It's not even that Los Conquistadors are doing anything wrong either. They were double teaming a lot, switching places without tagging, distracting the referee when Marty would get the hot tag and everything else that a heel team should do. However, they just weren't entertaining and the crowd's lack of reaction during that period seems to agree with my opinion. Everything after Marty's hot tag until Shawn hits a top rope fist drop to allow Marty to pick up the win is once again entertaining though. Probably the most interesting thing about the match was how much the commentators were teasing a Demolition/Rockers match. It's pretty odd since the two teams never really feuded in 1988. Anyways, good showing from the Rockers even if they against one of the weaker tag teams in the WWE. 3 Stars.

Andre The Giant vs Jim Duggan
These two have been feuding since Wrestlemania when Andre cost Duggan a tournament match against Ted DiBiase. It had to be right around this time period that they had a surprisingly great lumberjack match at MSG. Due to Andre's health, he works a very smart match where he didn't have to do a whole lot. Most of the match is built around Andre choking Duggan for 4 seconds, letting go and choking him again. We got to see the standard hands around the neck choke, the side headlock choke and the singlet strap choke. Just for extra measure, Andre even bit Duggan on the neck and his fingers. A lot of selling by Duggan before he makes his comeback by biting the nose of Andre. There's a huge pop for when Duggan finally knocked down Duggan. After hitting one 3 point stance closeline, Duggan attempts a second, but Andre got a giant boot up and Duggan ran into it. Andre covered and won with his feet on the middle ropes. Let me repeat, Andre the Giant, a 500 pound giant, got a dirty pin with his FEET ON THE ROPES! It's an amazing sight and makes me love Andre even more. This was surprisingly solid despite the few moves used. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. An Andre who could barely move was still an amazing worker. 2 Stars.

The Ultimate Warrior vs Bobby Heenan
After his debut in October and killing time by facing the well known jobbers of the time, Warrior quickly started a feud with The Heenan Family at the start of the year. This was highlighted with a power vs power feud against Hercules that was showcased at Wrestlemania 4. This was your standard Heenan match. Warrior dominated the majority of it until Heenan pulled out a foreign object. While the object helped at first, eventually Warrior grabbed the object away from Heenan and that led to the finish of Warrior winning by putting Heenan asleep in a sleeper hold. After the match, Warrior put an unconscious Heenan into a weasel costume, complete with claws, to humiliate Heenan. Heenan sells the humiliation great. The post-match was great, but it took too long to get there. There was a ton of stalling and I don't feel as if they needed to have a 10+ minute segment for something so simple. Anyways, this was just a test run for their weasel suit match at Wrestlefest '88. 1 1/2 Stars.

Jim Neidhart vs Bad News Brown
An extension of the Bad News/Bret Hart feud that began at Wrestlemania 4. After a couple of awkward months where Bret was working as a babyface and Neidhart was still a heel, Neidhart finally sided with Bret Hart in firing Jimmy Hart. Thus, Neidhart's now a babyface for the first time in his WWE career. This match was designed to make Bad News look good. Neidhart sneaked attacked Brown to start the match, but Brown simply made his own quick comeback to dominate the match. Brown showed how much smarter he was than Neidhart by sideswiping a running shoulder block to send Neidhart to the outside. When Neidhart tried ramming Brown's head into the top turnbuckle, Bad News just no sold it and even rammed his head into the turnbuckle a few extra times for fun. Finally, the end is built around both guys trying to get back into the ring before the ten count. Neidhart thought he had it won, but Brown sneaked behind him and hit his Ghetto Blaster for the win. Even though I'm not a fan of Bad News Brown, I loved the booking. Brown actually came across as a guy who mattered and was so far out of Neidhart's league. For a guy you brought in exclusively to work with Savage and Hogan, that's the way to go. Better than you'd expect. 2 1/4 Stars.

Jake Roberts vs Rick Rude
After their draw at Wrestlemania 4, things heated up between Rude and Roberts when Rude tried to put the moves on Cheryl Roberts, Jake's wife. Despite having a great match, these two never had a good match together. I think part of the problem is that Rude is so much better on defense. At the time, Rude may have been the best seller in the WWE. Instead, these two worked a dull match with Rude on offense for the majority of the match. At least three times in the match, Rude locked in a reverse chin lock and sat on it for far too long. While commentator, Superstar Billy Graham, tried to claim that the hush from the crowd was out of disbelief, it's really because of the boredom. The action did pick up near the end with Jake's great comeback, I particularly liked Jake taking a couple punches from Rude and asking for more, but we get the fuck finish of Rude sliding into the ring before a 10 count to win by count-out. Easily, the best part of the match is the post-match event where Jake put Damien on Rude and Rude sold like crazy. If only the rest of the match was that entertaining. Just as poor as their Wrestlemania 4 match. 1 1/2 Stars.

Rude vs Damien - far more entertaining than Rude vs Roberts.​

Overall
Just a fun little night of WWF action. Take away the interviews during intermission and this show was barely an hour and a half long. Seeing as it was such a sort show and it lacked any champions, you can't complain too much. The Rockers debut at the LA Sports Arena showcases the style they'll be known for any already being known for producing the MOTN. Even guys like Jim Duggan and Bad News Brown entertained me more than they normally did. With the best match only being 3 stars and the other matches hovering around 2 stars, it's not really worth going out of your way and catching. It was, however; a productive show. Out of the six matches, four highlighted a particular feud going on. A couple of matches showcased a guy, who the WWE was building up to be the next short term top heel. Even the one match that wasn't built around a feud or building up a top heel (Tag match) had some purpose of establishing the Rockers as a solid midcard tag team. Overall, it's a very 1988 WWE show.

 

[Kross Rhodes]

I think we should call this "Jim Reviews the Good Stuff".

:

Why DDP? I can understand Ric Flair since people naturally include his awesome decade in JCP with the history of WCW, but DDP? The dude was a nobody manager/lowcarder for most of his run. It wasn't until 1997 that he was even relevant. Behind Flair (And much further behind Sting) would probably be a guy like Lex Luger. When the sale happened to Turner in late 1988, the company was built around Flexy Lexy. The very first WCW PPV was Lex Luger trying to win the World Title from Ric Flair. After that, he had his amazing 1989 where he fought of all challengers to remain US Champion for practically all of 1989 and 1990. Despite it being more infamous than greatness, Luger winning the World Title at GAB 1991 was pretty big. After that, he's the most memorable aspect of the debut episode of Nitro with Luger returning. When the nWo was gearing up, Luger became the #1 WCW fighter thanks to so many guys joining the nWo, Ric Flair being fired and Sting being emo in the rafters. In a little remembered angle, he and Buff Bagwell beat Goldberg to kick him out of WCW. While Luger wasn't on the final episode of Nitro (Most likely because of McMahon's feelings on him), he was still a major player in the company.

In the world of wrestling, perhaps no one exemplified being a gray character more than Lex Luger for WCW.

I think his name is mostly dropped because of how he started out as a manager and slowly worked his way into the main event. By 2000 he was one of WCW's bigger marquee players. But I do agree with you if anyone could make a second claim after Sting it would Luger.

Nitro would not have been same without the debut show having Luger come out unannounced.

IIRC Luger was also the first person to pin Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Championship.

Oh and part of me thinks they weren't on the "Night of Champions" Nitro because of their embarrassing squash to O'Haire & Jindrak! :

Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask vs Taichi and TAKA - IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Titles - Dominion 2012
Previously on NJPW: During a six man tag on the final night of BOSJ, Taichi humiliated Jushin Liger, ripping his mask off in pieces and left him laying. Also, due to various issues, Davey Richards and Rocky Romero were stripped of their Jr Tag Titles after Richards can't make a NJPW show. To kill two birds with one stone, Jushin Liger gets a shot at revenge and the tag titles will be crowned to the winner of this grudge match. Taichi is such an awesome heel. During his entrance, he was wearing a couple of Liger's horns that he had ripped off earlier in the month. The first chance he got, he tried to do the same to Liger. Liger, wearing the awesome all silver look, has his mask ripped up once again. The immature Taichi even jerks off one of Liger's horns. The action continues until there's a ref bump and poor Liger is being beat up by both Taichi and TAKA (Just like at BOSJ). Instead of being the victim again, Liger rips his mask open wider to expose a painted face. He spits red mist into the eyes of Taichi and TAKA. Liger ups the intensity by pulling out a table, throwing Taichi against it and even trying to stab Taichi with a giant knife! Taichi gets power bombed by Liger through a table to leave TAKA to be pinned by Tiger Mask following a Tiger Suplex to become the NEW IWGP Jr Heaviyweight Tag Team Champions. After the match, Tiger Mask eventually gets Liger to accept his traditional red Liger mask. The scene ends with Liger having tamed his facepaint persona, wearing his old mask and celebrating with his new title. Awesome ending to a program that made old man Liger entertaining. Liger being psychotic made for a fun match and helped exceed my expectations. Wrestling needs more knife wielding Liger. Everyone did a great job at playing their role. 3 3/4 Stars.

Liger: Still finding ways to entertain after all of these years.​

Like a legit knife? Wrestling does need more knife wielding Liger!

The story sounds like it really keeps you in the seat of your pants. The finish is perfect with the table spot and Liger putting his old mask on.

I might have to catch that somewhere.

LA Sports Arena
July 15, 1988

The Big Boss Man vs Scott Casey
Boss Man had debuted on television about a month earlier. Slick is nowhere to be found, so I'm guessing he's managing One Man Gang somewhere else in America. The one thing that really struck me about this match was how much smaller Casey is compared to Boss Man. I know Boss Man was at his biggest at this point, but I always thought of Casey as a fairly big man himself. Yet, he's a few inches shorter than Boss Man. Casey impresses me a little by skinning the cat early on in the match. Just looking at Casey, you wouldn't expect him to be able to do that. Boss Man controlled the majority of the match with a bear hug. Not a lot of action, but they managed to keep it from being boring. Boss Man won with a Boss Man Slam out of nowhere. A nice extended squash to keep Boss Man looking good as he waits until his feud against Hogan to begin. After the match, Boss Man handcuffs Casey to the ropes and hits him a couple of times with the nightstick to get that gimmick over. 2 Stars.

Speaking of Slick, checking the 1988 results, I'm guessing he's managing One Man Gang as he wrestles Koko B Ware in an extremely poor looking C show. How poor is it? The biggest match is Hercules vs Ken Patera. The A show looks to be the event from Houston, Texas where all three champions (Savage, Honky and Demolition) were defending their titles (Against DiBiase, Brutus and Powers of Pain). Damn, it's pretty rare to have a show with all three champions.

The Rockers vs Los Conquistadors
The Rockers have only been around on TV for a month. The early going with the Rockers in charge was great. It was fast pace, full of high flying spots and the crowd was into everything. The Rockers really came off as a breath of fresh air as this new breed of babyface tag team. It's once Los Conquistadors takes over, that the action drags on a bit and I'm bored. It's not even that Los Conquistadors are doing anything wrong either. They were double teaming a lot, switching places without tagging, distracting the referee when Marty would get the hot tag and everything else that a heel team should do. However, they just weren't entertaining and the crowd's lack of reaction during that period seems to agree with my opinion. Everything after Marty's hot tag until Shawn hits a top rope fist drop to allow Marty to pick up the win is once again entertaining though. Probably the most interesting thing about the match was how much the commentators were teasing a Demolition/Rockers match. It's pretty odd since the two teams never really feuded in 1988. Anyways, good showing from the Rockers even if they against one of the weaker tag teams in the WWE. 3 Stars.

Andre The Giant vs Jim Duggan
These two have been feuding since Wrestlemania when Andre cost Duggan a tournament match against Ted DiBiase. It had to be right around this time period that they had a surprisingly great lumberjack match at MSG. Due to Andre's health, he works a very smart match where he didn't have to do a whole lot. Most of the match is built around Andre choking Duggan for 4 seconds, letting go and choking him again. We got to see the standard hands around the neck choke, the side headlock choke and the singlet strap choke. Just for extra measure, Andre even bit Duggan on the neck and his fingers. A lot of selling by Duggan before he makes his comeback by biting the nose of Andre. There's a huge pop for when Duggan finally knocked down Duggan. After hitting one 3 point stance closeline, Duggan attempts a second, but Andre got a giant boot up and Duggan ran into it. Andre covered and won with his feet on the middle ropes. Let me repeat, Andre the Giant, a 500 pound giant, got a dirty pin with his FEET ON THE ROPES! It's an amazing sight and makes me love Andre even more. This was surprisingly solid despite the few moves used. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. An Andre who could barely move was still an amazing worker. 2 Stars.

The Ultimate Warrior vs Bobby Heenan
After his debut in October and killing time by facing the well known jobbers of the time, Warrior quickly started a feud with The Heenan Family at the start of the year. This was highlighted with a power vs power feud against Hercules that was showcased at Wrestlemania 4. This was your standard Heenan match. Warrior dominated the majority of it until Heenan pulled out a foreign object. While the object helped at first, eventually Warrior grabbed the object away from Heenan and that led to the finish of Warrior winning by putting Heenan asleep in a sleeper hold. After the match, Warrior put an unconscious Heenan into a weasel costume, complete with claws, to humiliate Heenan. Heenan sells the humiliation great. The post-match was great, but it took too long to get there. There was a ton of stalling and I don't feel as if they needed to have a 10+ minute segment for something so simple. Anyways, this was just a test run for their weasel suit match at Wrestlefest '88. 1 1/2 Stars.

Jim Neidhart vs Bad News Brown
An extension of the Bad News/Bret Hart feud that began at Wrestlemania 4. After a couple of awkward months where Bret was working as a babyface and Neidhart was still a heel, Neidhart finally sided with Bret Hart in firing Jimmy Hart. Thus, Neidhart's now a babyface for the first time in his WWE career. This match was designed to make Bad News look good. Neidhart sneaked attacked Brown to start the match, but Brown simply made his own quick comeback to dominate the match. Brown showed how much smarter he was than Neidhart by sideswiping a running shoulder block to send Neidhart to the outside. When Neidhart tried ramming Brown's head into the top turnbuckle, Bad News just no sold it and even rammed his head into the turnbuckle a few extra times for fun. Finally, the end is built around both guys trying to get back into the ring before the ten count. Neidhart thought he had it won, but Brown sneaked behind him and hit his Ghetto Blaster for the win. Even though I'm not a fan of Bad News Brown, I loved the booking. Brown actually came across as a guy who mattered and was so far out of Neidhart's league. For a guy you brought in exclusively to work with Savage and Hogan, that's the way to go. Better than you'd expect. 2 1/4 Stars.

Jake Roberts vs Rick Rude
After their draw at Wrestlemania 4, things heated up between Rude and Roberts when Rude tried to put the moves on Cheryl Roberts, Jake's wife. Despite having a great match, these two never had a good match together. I think part of the problem is that Rude is so much better on defense. At the time, Rude may have been the best seller in the WWE. Instead, these two worked a dull match with Rude on offense for the majority of the match. At least three times in the match, Rude locked in a reverse chin lock and sat on it for far too long. While commentator, Superstar Billy Graham, tried to claim that the hush from the crowd was out of disbelief, it's really because of the boredom. The action did pick up near the end with Jake's great comeback, I particularly liked Jake taking a couple punches from Rude and asking for more, but we get the fuck finish of Rude sliding into the ring before a 10 count to win by count-out. Easily, the best part of the match is the post-match event where Jake put Damien on Rude and Rude sold like crazy. If only the rest of the match was that entertaining. Just as poor as their Wrestlemania 4 match. 1 1/2 Stars.

Rude vs Damien - far more entertaining than Rude vs Roberts.​

Overall
Just a fun little night of WWF action. Take away the interviews during intermission and this show was barely an hour and a half long. Seeing as it was such a sort show and it lacked any champions, you can't complain too much. The Rockers debut at the LA Sports Arena showcases the style they'll be known for any already being known for producing the MOTN. Even guys like Jim Duggan and Bad News Brown entertained me more than they normally did. With the best match only being 3 stars and the other matches hovering around 2 stars, it's not really worth going out of your way and catching. It was, however; a productive show. Out of the six matches, four highlighted a particular feud going on. A couple of matches showcased a guy, who the WWE was building up to be the next short term top heel. Even the one match that wasn't built around a feud or building up a top heel (Tag match) had some purpose of establishing the Rockers as a solid midcard tag team. Overall, it's a very 1988 WWE show.

When you say it's very 1988, is that a good thing or a bad thing? :

I might catch that show just for Rude wrestling Damien...

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

I think we should call this "Jim Reviews the Good Stuff".

:

Who's Jim and why are you naming a thread after him?

IIRC Luger was also the first person to pin Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Championship.

Submitted, but yeah. WCW was nice enough to give the belt back to Hogan six days later though.

Like a legit knife? Wrestling does need more knife wielding Liger!

Idk if it was a legit knife. I've seen some call it a spike. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to be stabbed in a wooden table and remain in there after Liger let go of the knife/spike. So I'm guessing it may leave a mark had Liger hit Taichi with it.

When you say it's very 1988, is that a good thing or a bad thing? :

I'm not a fan of WWF 1988. I've once said it's the worst yet in WWE history. You went from an amazing year of 1987 and you followed it up with my favorite year ever of 1989. The booking was terrible in 1988. You had the amazing worker of Bret Hart, spend most of his year working with Bad News Brown, Dino Bravo and the Honky Tonk Man. Jumping Bomb Angels left. The midcard scene was dominated with the terrible Don Muraco, Dino Bravo and Ken Patera. As much as I dug the feud, Jake Roberts and Rick Rude had one terrible match after another. Despite having an amazing match at SNME before Wrestlemania 4, Savage and DiBiase showed zero chemistry during their title matches. The Honky Tonk Man spent most of the year as the IC Champion. Ricky Steamboat left. Tito Santana spent a good portion of the year in an awkward limbo thanks to Rick Martel's injury. For the first time in three years, we didn't see a single Steamboat/Savage match. Roddy Piper and Adrian Adonis weren't there for the first time since '84.

By the end of the year, things are picking up though. The Rockers and Brainbusters are both in town. Demolition are faces. Warrior's the IC Champion. Savage is teasing a heel turn. Bret's finishing up his program with Dino Bravo so his schedule is clear to work with Mr. Perfect a lot in 1989.

1988 is just a black hole of death for the WWE outside of a few high points. The most frustrating thing is that they had all of the tools to make a good year though.

 

[Kross Rhodes]

Who's Jim and why are you naming a thread after him?

Jim Varney. Who wouldn't want to name a thread after Ernest P. Worrell?

Submitted, but yeah. WCW was nice enough to give the belt back to Hogan six days later though.

Can't keep a good Hogan down, can ya?

Idk if it was a legit knife. I've seen some call it a spike. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to be stabbed in a wooden table and remain in there after Liger let go of the knife/spike. So I'm guessing it may leave a mark had Liger hit Taichi with it.

Sounds like Taichi would've had a very bad day had it! :

I'm not a fan of WWF 1988. I've once said it's the worst yet in WWE history. You went from an amazing year of 1987 and you followed it up with my favorite year ever of 1989. The booking was terrible in 1988. You had the amazing worker of Bret Hart, spend most of his year working with Bad News Brown, Dino Bravo and the Honky Tonk Man. Jumping Bomb Angels left. The midcard scene was dominated with the terrible Don Muraco, Dino Bravo and Ken Patera. As much as I dug the feud, Jake Roberts and Rick Rude had one terrible match after another. Despite having an amazing match at SNME before Wrestlemania 4, Savage and DiBiase showed zero chemistry during their title matches. The Honky Tonk Man spent most of the year as the IC Champion. Ricky Steamboat left. Tito Santana spent a good portion of the year in an awkward limbo thanks to Rick Martel's injury. For the first time in three years, we didn't see a single Steamboat/Savage match. Roddy Piper and Adrian Adonis weren't there for the first time since '84.

By the end of the year, things are picking up though. The Rockers and Brainbusters are both in town. Demolition are faces. Warrior's the IC Champion. Savage is teasing a heel turn. Bret's finishing up his program with Dino Bravo so his schedule is clear to work with Mr. Perfect a lot in 1989.

1988 is just a black hole of death for the WWE outside of a few high points. The most frustrating thing is that they had all of the tools to make a good year though.

I can't refute your reasoning. 1988 was a pretty terrible year for WWE.

Makes you wonder why they can't get their shit together between two damn fine years?

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

I can't refute your reasoning. 1988 was a pretty terrible year for WWE.

Makes you wonder why they can't get their shit together between two damn fine years?

Eh, it wasn't so much that they couldn't get their shit together. The WWE was trying out some new ideas, but it ended up not being too wise of choices. As stupid as it was booking Bret against those zero talent losers, it was very different from the heel tag team worker that Hart was in 1987. When was the last time modern WWE took so many risks in changing up their product and wrestlers that much? I can forgive the WWE for a weak 1988 since they were taking chances and based on the success of 1989, they figured out what worked and what didn't. Ironically, 1990 was weaker than 1989 and 1991. : '92 broke the cycle with two straight years of having improvements. But then 1993 fucked that up, but that's a rant for another day.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

LA Sports Arena
January 29, 1989

Sam Houston vs Barry Horowitz
It's the battle of the lowcarders~! Surprisingly, Horowitz would go on to become the bigger WWE star. This was a surprisingly long match (Nearly twenty minutes) with a lot of arm work. Houston hit a lot of arm drags and locked in a lot of arm bars. When Horowitz got a chance to go on offense for the first time, he went after the arm. Horowitz was an amazing heel. He's always patting himself on the back, trying to get the unfair advantage by holding ropes and even faking injuries to regain the advantage. The match does suffer from some poor timed spots and Houston botching a couple of moves, but it's still a highly entertaining match from two guys you normally shouldn't care about. The ending is pretty perfect with Horowitz locking in a Boston Crab (He had been working over the back for most of the heat sequence). After so many deceitful tactics from Horowitz, Houston pulls a fast one by reaching up and patting Horowitz on the back. Horowitz thought it was the ref letting him know that Houston gave up. Horowitz let go of the hold and by time he realizes what really happened, he's surprised with a bulldog, Houston's finisher, to end with Houston picking up the victory. Houston was a little sloppy, but Horowitz was on his game tonight. WAY better than you'd think. 3 1/4 Stars.

Rick Rude vs Brutus Beefcake
Balls. That's what this match was all about. Most of Rude's offense was built around hitting Brutus rather low. Were they low blows or were they above the waist? We never find out, but Rude sure did focus on that area. When it was time for Brutus to make his comeback, he does so with a reverse atomic drop, where Rude sells it as if it was a low blow. The ending comes out of nowhere when Brutus attempted a sunset flip, but Rude countered it into a pin attempt, complete with the hands on the ropes. Normally I wouldn't say this, but they could have stretched this Brutus match out even longer. They had a fun little match where Rude's time on offense was entertaining and didn't rely on rest holds. I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't see some sort of count-out though. A lot of the Brutus/Rude matches around this time ended by count-out or DQ. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. 2 1/2 Stars.

The Ultimate Warrior (c) vs King Haku - WWE IC Title
On paper, this looks like an easy squash win for Warrior. Instead, the match is built around making Haku look good. Every single time Warrior had something going, Haku would cut him off. By the end, it became a joke of seeing how long Warrior could be on offense before Haku would fairly regain control. This wasn't a Haku, who needed to cheat or have Bobby Heenan distract Warrior, this was a Haku who won exchange after exchange. Even when the end comes and Warrior is setting up his finishing stretch, Haku briefly stops it. Eventually, King Haku's run of good luck against the much bigger star ran out and Warrior pinned him to successfully defend the IC Title following a big splash. The best part of booking Haku as the star of the match is that Warrior won cleanly. So, you're only making Warrior look even better by besting the quality opponent. Everyone wins! I thought Haku could get something fun out of Warrior, but this was far better than I could have expected. Haku was so fucking underrated. A rare quality match from Warrior's first IC Title reign. 3 Stars.

Andre the Giant vs Jake Roberts
The main event of the show. These two have been battling since Andre began helping out Rick Rude in his feud with Roberts. Unfortunately for Andre, Roberts found out that the Giant was afraid of snakes. Andre's fear of snakes plays into the story of the match due to Andre forcing the referee to order Jake to put Damien under the ring. This led to Jake trying to get a head start on Andre by tying him up into the ropes and then choking him. Andre freed one of his arms and that was enough to give him the control of the match. Poor Jake spent most of the match being choked out whether by Andre's hands or laying under the bottom rope and having Andre step on the bottom rope so it chokes Jake out. Dealing with such a monster like Andre made Jake actually go to the middle rope where he jumped off onto Andre. Knowing that he can't beat Andre on his own, Jake pulled out Damien and ran Andre off for the ten count. Jake wins by count-out. After the match, Jake tries attacking Andre with Damien, but a part of Damien wraps around Andre's wrist. So in the chaos of trying to sell Jake trying to attack Andre, he was also trying to free Andre. Due to all that commotion, Jake ends up being bit by Damien. By time the camera leaves, Jake's wound is bleeding pretty well. This was fun though. Everything was built around Damien or Jake's inability of being a match for Andre unless he has the snake. For what it counts, this was a good deal better than their upcoming Wrestlemania 5 bout. 2 Stars.

"And that snake looked that man right in the eye and said, ‘You stupid old man. I'm a snake.'"​

Demolition (c) vs The Powers of Pain w/Mr. Fuji - WWE Tag Titles
A rematch from the Dec '88 LA Sports Arena show where it ended in a double DQ. These two teams have been feuding since last fall. At the Survivor Series, everything changed with Mr. Fuji turning on Demolition to join up with Powers of Pain. That made the Demolition turn face and Powers of Pain become heels. The match had three stages. The first was Demolition in easy control. The second stage is ushered in with Mr. Fuji nailing Ax with his cane. Ax played the face-in-peril until The Warlord ran into an elbow by Ax. That led into the final stage where Demolition looked to have the win in hand, but Mr. Fuji came in with his cane. Before he could hit Smash, Ax grabbed the cane from him and nailed The Warlord with it. That caused a double DQ finish. It's a rather fun match for only being six minutes long, but I have to wonder the purpose of it. It seems like the same exact match as they had the previous match. Without any sort of gimmick added to the bout and having the same finish, why bother running the same match two months in a row? Pretty baffling. 2 Stars.

The Red Rooster vs Danny Davis
Bobby Heenan paid off Danny Davis to hurt The Red Rooster. Let me sum up this match - reverse chin lock. Just keep rereading those three words until you're sick of them and you'll have a good idea of what I had to go through. For 15+ minutes, I had to endure the agony of watching Danny Davis act as if he's some technical wizard in his refusal to do anything other than a reverse chin lock. There were two crowd reactions during the match. Dead silence and loud boos. Even the commentators was making not-so-subtle references to how bad this was. After the match (Rooster won with his Chickenwing submission), Terry Taylor shrugged as if he didn't know what the fuck he and Davis just did. I knew this was going to suck, but I figured the WWE would at least make it nice and short like all of Rooster's other matches leading up to Wrestlemania 5. Instead, Danny Davis found a way for me to hate a Red Rooster match more than I already have. Fuck, Danny Davis sucks. 1/2 Star.

Jake Roberts comes out and challenges Andre the Giant to a fight. Andre comes out, but only agrees to a fight if the money is right. It's all just one big distraction to allow Rick Rude to sneak attack Roberts. Andre and Rude does a number on Jake before some WWE officials come out to break up the two-on-one attack.

Greg Valentine vs Jim Neidhart
The Hart Foundation have been battling all of Jimmy Hart's clients since they dumped him last year. The story of the match was built around Valentine's shin guard, the heartbreaker. Valentine only fully takes over when he gets a good kick to the side of Neidhart's face with the heartbreaker. Despite the commentators not saying anything, there looked to be at least one other shot by Valentine with his shin guard. Then the focus shifted to Valentine working over Neidhart's leg to weaken him for the Figure Four. Neidhart's hardly as good of a seller as Bret Hart, but Neidhart tried his best. Finally, Neidhart had enough of Valentine's crap and removed the heartbreaker. With the heartbreaker in his hands, Neidhart is held back by the referee, allowing Valentine to roll Neidhart up for the surprise (And distracted) pinfall. I feel like I've seen that finish before with Valentine. The match was fine, but like all Neidhart singles matches, it's not worth checking out. More than anything, it just made me wish we could have seen Valentine vs Hart instead. 2 1/4 Stars.

The Rockers vs The Brainbusters
Find me a single bad Rockers vs Brainbuster match and I'll shoot you in the face because you're a liar, my friend! Yet another great match between the two. The first half was dedicated to the shine and featured some comedy. While Arn Anderson was denied a tag in because the referee didn't see it, the Rockers kept switching places behind the refs back. Thanks to how honest the Rockers are and the fans backing them up, the referee always believed they were telling the truth when they claimed they did, infact; tag. The other portion of the comedy comes from The Brainbusters' inability at regaining the advantage with a two-on-one advantage. You either had Marty take care of both guys on his own or Shawn Michaels would come in and prevent any attacks. All great comedy. Everything changes with the Brainbusters becoming a little more crafty in their strategy. That allowed The Brainbusters to work Shawn over with Michaels becoming the face-in-peril. Once again, highly enjoyable. With Marty getting the tag, that brought on the finish of the match with the Brainbuster proving they still had a few tricks up their sleeve with Arn clipping Marty's knee while Jannetty was trying to suplex Tully. With Tully covering Marty, Anderson held Jannetty's legs down to allow for the dirty win. It's been a bit since I've seen their other matches, but this one seemed a bit different in style from their other great matches from around this time period. Perhaps it's just because of the lack of Bobby Heenan. The only real negative of the match was that the referee (Some chump I've never seen before) had to be shoved a few time to remember his spot (IE. Stopping Anderson from entering the ring after the ref didn't see the tag). But really, who gives a shit? Rockers and Brainbuster delivery the greatness yet again. Take your pick between this and the March Boston Garden match for your best Brainbusters/Rockers match. 4 Stars.

And that's why they're called the Brainbusters.​

Overall
What a difference a year makes. There's a reason why 1989 is my favorite year for pro wrestling. Despite the WWE not being as good as WCW, they still had a killer year thanks to good booking. Here you have another great match between The Rockers and The Brainbusters, a possible WWE MOTYC might I add. The IC title match was way better than I could have ever expected. The opening match between two lowcarders that no one cared about was out of this world good. Most of the rest of the card is pretty damn solid. The only real blemish on the show was The Red Rooster vs Danny Davis. That may now be my least favorite WWE match of 1989. And trust me, that's saying something with all of the Boris Zhukov matches I've seen. Still, for a random house show where I'm content with only seeing one 3 star match at best, this exceeded my expectations. If you don't factor in storyline implications, this show was even better than the '89 Royal Rumble that took place a couple of weeks before. A house show beating out a PPV? I'm happy.

 

[Castiel]

The Damien attacking Jake stuff was hilarious. Good use of the Punk promo too!

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Adam Cole vs Kyle O'Reilly - Hybrid Rules Match - Best in the World 2012
I decided to watch this match solely because of the praise and the MOTYC talk it's received. Upon watching it, I'm not sure why it's receiving so much talk. Actually, I do. Adam Cole's bleeding mouth is what garnered the talk. It made for an awesome visual and felt like a huge moment for Cole's career (Even more so than beating Davey Richards in their iPPV tag match). Yet, the match wasn't great or anything. It is, however; a smartly booked solid match with both guys targeting a body part and the end is built around both guys trying to get a submission over the body part. I got a kick out the crowd shitting on the match one minute and then immediately after Cole begins to bleed, there's an "This is awesome" chant. WTF? : I suppose I'm just disappointed due to all of the hype. Take away the blood and it'd just be a good match that people would forget about. Cole was the star of the match and smartly knew to take advantage of the situation. O'Reilly was just fine, but he did manage not to annoy me at all. Really good match (Thanks to the bump up due to the blood), but don't buy into the MOTYC talk. 3 1/2 Stars.

 

[Postman Dave]

I think the hype came from the match being a lot better than people were expecting. I haven't seen it myself, but I know I cringed when I heard the "hybrid rules" gimmick.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

I have no idea what Hybrid Rules even means. Kevin Kelly dumbed it down by stating all of the ways you can win (Basically everything except pin). However, midway in the match, they started talking about fouls. So I guess you can't throw your opponent out of the ring, but you also can't go after an opponent out of the ring.

I went on ROH's site and I found the official rules:

Hybrid Fighting Rules

Decisions
- Knockout
* Occurs when one competitor falls to the canvas and is unable to rise to his feet within 10 seconds.

- Submission
* Occurs when one competitor taps out or vocally gives up.

- TKO (Technical Knockout)
* Occurs when the referee rules it impossible for a competitor to continue the match.

- Draw
* Occurs when the 15 minute time limit expires

- Disqualification by Fouls
* A loss due to a critical foul or when a participant accumulates 3 total fouls (see below for details)

Fouls
Critical Foul – Cause for immediate disqualification

* Deliberate eye-gouging, groin attacks, biting, and pulling the opponent's hair.
* Use of foreign object
* Outside interference
* Physical abuse to official

Foul – When a competitor accumulates 3 of these fouls he will be disqualified.

* Deliberately going out of the ring or throwing an opponent out of the ring.
* Deliberately holding and utilizing the ring ropes during the match for an advantage.
* Accidental eye-gouging and groin attacks.
* Holding or pulling the opponent's outfit.

ROH - keeping wrestling as uncomplicated as possible since 2002. :

 

[Postman Dave]

Maybe they should just stick to Pure Rules next time :