Last Wrestling Match Watched 2.0

[Geese]

Abdullah the Butcher vs. Al Perez. They brawl outside in a baseball field. When they get in the ring, Abdullah takes a fork out of his tights and stabs Perez's forehead repeatedly. Once the bell rings, Abdullah throws powder into Perez's eyes. The ref disqualifies Abdullah. Not much of a match.

 

[Geese]

Kairi vs. Mayu Iwatani for the inaugural IWGP Women's title. NJPW Crossover. Mayu puts on a side headlock on Kairi. Kairi attempts a standing reverse elbow but Mayu ducks and takes her down with an armdrag. Mayu dropkicks her, forcing Kairi to get out of the ring. Mayu executes a missile dropkick, then a low dropkick on Kairi's shoulder. Mayu puts a hammerlock on Kairi.

In out of the ring action, Iwatani snapmare's Kairi on the entrance ramp. She carelessly rushes forward, though, and Kairi stops her with a drop toehold, face first, onto the ramp. Initially, I thought it was a No DQ, No count-out match because they were fighting it out on the ramp for several minutes, but the referee began to make the count. They get back in the ring.

Mayu executes a Hurricanrana on Kairi from the top turnbuckle, and follows it up with a frog splash. Kairi does an exploder suplex on Mayu. Mayu tombstones Kairi but she took too long posturing to the audience before she drove Kairi to the mat. Kairi executes an elbow drop off the second turnbuckle on Mayu's lower back. Mayu clamps on a Full Nelson on Kairi and converts it into a German suplex pin but Kairi gets her foot on the ropes. Kairi puts her away with a Savage-esque elbow off the top to become the first Women's Champion.

 

[Geese]

Carlos Colon vs Hercules Ayala for Colon's Universal title. Texas Death Match. They brawl in the open field. Ayala slams Colon's head against a workbench. He elbows Colon right at the top of his forehead. He slams a workbench onto Colon's throat.

They get in the ring. It's a battle of the figure-four leglocks, as Ayala pounds away on Colon's legs to soften him up. He puts Colon in a figure-four but Colon refuses to give up. Colon tries to clamp on a figure-four but Ayala uses his strength to try to thwart it. Colon clamps it on. Ayala shoulders are down. Ref counts to three. Colon has won the first fall.

Colon wears down Ayala with kicks to his legs. While Ayala is out of the ring, an angry Colon pushes the ref down. Ayala punches Colon with brass knuckles, which was handed to him by Chicky Starr. After the brass knuckle attack, it's all Ayala. Colon offers no offense. Ayala Irish whips Colon to the ropes and nails him with a Hennig Axe. Ayala punches Colon repeatedly. Colon is a bloody mess and can't defend himself. The ringside doctor advises the ref to stop the match, which he obliges. Ayala is the new champ.

 

[Crash]

 

[Geese]

Victor Jovica vs. Abdullah the Butcher in a chain match. It took place in Trinidad. Jovica wraps the chain around his knuckles and pounds away on Abdullah repeatedly. Victor pounds away on his flabby flash with body blows.

He whips Abdullah repeatedly with the chain and proceeds to wrap it around his neck. Abdullah stop Victor's offense with a karate thrust to his throat. Abdullah touches three turnbuckles and comes very close to the fourth, but Victor pulls the chain out from between his legs. Abdullah has fallen. Victor touches all four corners of the ring and is declared the winner.

Hugo Savinovich gave away who was going to win with his commentary throughout: "It would be an upset if Victor won!" "Victor isn't ranked in the top ten so if he won it would be a huge upset."

 

[Geese]

Manny Fernandez vs. Invader 3. Invader hiptosses and dropkicks Manny. He tightens up a side headlock on Manny. Manny misses a flying headbutt--badly. He puts Manny in yet another side headlock. The smaller Invader is using back-to-basic moves to take the bigger man down. Manny lifts him up for an atomic drop, but Invader clamps on a side headlock and converts it to a takedown. Manny with a flying kneedrop on Invader's chest. Invader is spitting out blood. The ref stops the match but Manny kneedrops Invader again.

 

[Geese]

Brian Pillman vs. Brad Armstrong. Clash of Champions XXI. Pillman is in crutches, is contrite, and tells Brad to slap him in the face. Just when Brad is about to take a swing, Brian takes out his crutches and batters Armstrong's legs. Brad botched it because he blocked a few of those crutch shots. Since the match hadn't begun yet, Pillman wasn't DQ'ed. When the bell rang Pillman gets the better of a quick brawl and pins Brad for the win. But Brad botched the pin, too, as when the ref was counting he was kicking up his legs. Pillman had to hook his legs to stop him from kicking out.

It was a notable opener for Clash, as it was notable for the number of times Brad botched a brief match.

 

[Geese]

Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton w/Michael Hayes vs. Erik Watts & Kensuki Sasaki. Clash of Champions XXI. Eaton tries an Abdominal Stretch but Watts does an unusual move: he slithers out of the hold and armdrags Beautiful Bobby. Eaton throws him over-the-top rope but Watt lands on both feet. Watt tries a sunset flip from the second turnbuckle but his left foot slipped and he misses it badly.

Sazaki puts Eaton in a wristlock and a side headlock. Eaton monkey flips Sazaki but Sazaki immediately lands on his feet and dropkicks him. Watts monkey-flips Eaton and, in another unusual move, holds onto him and reigns MMA-style blows on Eaton. Watts wristlocks Eaton and picks him up for a Fireman's Carry. Watts forces Eaton to tap out to the STF.

As Jim Ross commented, Anderson injured his knee so he didn't see much action. Watts showed some unusual moves. When Eaton attempted a high-risk move, Watts countered with a right cross to his throat. And Eaton was a consummate pro, doing a good job at selling Watts' moves.

 

[Geese]

Sting vs. Rick Rude. King of Cable semi-finals with a 20-minute time limit. Three judges will score the match if the time limit expires.

Rude uses crude tactics such as raking Sting's eyes and forearm shots to the back of his neck. Sting Irish whips Rude and lifts him up for a gut-buster. Sting with a front facelock into a front suplex on Rude. Sting abdominal stretches Rude but his left foot wasn't firmly planted on the mat.

Rude puts him in a camel clutch. He takes his time and elbow drops Sting right to his lower back. Rude bear hugs Sting's lower back, squeezing the life out of him. He's using wear down holds to bide his time. With two minutes remaining, Sting gets a second wind and picks a rushing Rude up with an inverted Atomic drop and, then, an Atomic drop. Sting with a loose bulldog. After a Stinger Splash, Sting puts him in the Scorpion deathlock with three seconds remaining. But it isn't enough time to get Rude to submit. Sting should've gone for the pin after his Splash.

It goes to the judges. Hiro Matsuda has it for Sting. Larry Zbyszko sees Rude as the winner. Ole Anderson is the tie-breaking vote. He scores it for Sting.

 

[Geese]

Rick Steamboat & Shane Douglas vs. (c) Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes for the unified tag team titles. Clash of Champions XXI. Douglas tries a hiptoss, but Dustin counters with a backslide. Douglas puts him in a hammerlock. Dustin gets to the rope.

Steamboat Atomic drops Windham and puts him in an armdrag. Steamboat then puts him in an armbar. Steamboat is getting the better of the two. Steamboat & Douglas double bodydrops Windham. Rhodes cinches on a hammerlock on Douglas. Rhodes and Windham are making quick tags and beating down on a wearied Douglas. Rhodes snapmares Douglas and puts him in a reverse chinlock. Windham Irish whips Douglas and nails him with a lariat but only gets a two-count.

Rhodes with a poorly done inside cradle on Steamboat. Steamboat tries a leap frog but Rhodes inadvertently punches him in the crotch. Steamboat is screaming in pain. Windham tells Rhodes to take advantage of a fallen Steamboat but Rhodes refuses. He wants to win it cleanly. As they argue, the partners start fighting with each other. Douglas takes advantage of the disunity between Windham and Rhodes. He belly-to-belly suplexes Windham to become new tag team champs.

Windham turns heel after the loss. He beats up Rhodes and attacks Steamboat and Douglas in the locker room.

 

[Marty McFourth]

With January coming up, I'm getting in to the Rumble mood. Thought I'd start off with this banger earlier and it always holds up. Every guy plays their part fantastic and came out looking good, it is booked to perfection. For sure one of my all-time favourite Triple Threat matches.

 

[Geese]

Rick Steiner & Bill Kazmaier vs. The Enforcers (Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko) Clash of Champions XVI. Tournament finals for the vacant tag team titles. Earlier in the show, Kazmaier showed off his feat of strength and Anderson and Zbyszko snuck up behind him and slammed free weights into his ribs. The storyline here is Kazmaier refused medical treatment and wanted to wrestle.

The Enforcers entrance is memorable, with Storm Troopers marching down the entrance ramp and Anderson & Zbyszko walking behind them. Rick carried the load, lighting up both Anderson and Zbyszko in an effort to try to win the titles by himself. When Kazmaier tags, he picks Zbyszko up for a Gorilla Press slam. Anderson double axe-handles Kazmaier directly to his injured ribs, causing him to fall. Zbyszko falls on top of him for the pin.

The match stunk. It was only a few minutes long. The injured ribs storyline was an obvious attempt to mask Kazmaier's deficiencies as a wrestler.

 

[Marty McFourth]

KO and Cena had fantastic ring chemistry together. That pop-up powerbomb at the end was a beauty, such a huge win at the time.

Visual of the NXT Champion pinning a guy like Cena clean as a whistle was incredible.

 

[Geese]

Rufus Jones & Jimmy Valiant vs. The Wild Samoans. This was the opening match at A Hot Night at Bayamon. Valian and Rufus outfight The Samoans in the opening minutes. Valiant and Rufus double team Afa. Rufus is dancing and strutting. Afa clamps a side headlock on Rufus to try to slow down the pace. Valiant tags in, and a melee ensues between the two teams. Afa throws Valiant over the top rope, resulting in a DQ.

 

[Marty McFourth]

Getting warmed up for Wrestle Kingdom. It's honestly nuts watching this, and seeing the growth from then and now. Especially Ospreay, who's look has transformed a ton since they met.