Random partial reviews of shows:
Les Thornton vs Jose Luis Rivera - Boston Garden - August 3, 1986
The most interesting thing about Thornton is his reign as WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion. Technically, Hiro Saito was the Junior Heavyweight Champion at the time. Thorton had just came into the WWE, but he was still the NWA Jr. Heavyweight Champion. So the WWE chose to just refer to him as champion since Saito wasn't working in the company. The funny thing is that the NWA (I believe in Japan) was still referring The Cobra as the Jr. Heavyweight Champion. So in some strange way, Thornton was falsely claiming to be two different title holders despite both titles already being held by someone! Thornton style is greatness though. He has the very European wrestling style of working the mat. The catch is he's a heel so he's always pulling at the tights or hair to gain and keep the advantage. The problem is that this is still 1985, so the WWE fans weren't into such a bump-free match. Pity too because this was pretty nifty for it's time. Thornton wins after rolling through a middle rope cross body and holding on to the tights.
2 1/4 Stars.
The Blue Blazer vs Danny Davis - LA Sports Arena - November 17, 1988
The Blazer has been on WWE TV since September. It's always fun seeing Owen during his original Blue Blazer run. He was such a hidden gem at the time. As usual, Davis sucked in this. All of his offense and defense looked hokey as hell. Owen did his best to try and leave an impression, although it did make him a bit too spotty at times. Still, it's 1988 and Owen's hitting moves that wasn't common at the time. The match clocked in around 11 minutes, but so Davis always stalls a lot, so the actual action was around 6 minutes. Blazer ended up winning following his trademark belly-to-belly suplex and a top rope splash. Owen looked good and Davis sucked, that's all you need to know.
2 Stars.
The Rockers vs Los Conquistadors - LA Sports Arena - November 17, 1988
A rematch from the July '88 LA Sports Arena show. Ironically, that match was also the second match of the night. In some ways, it's a lot like their July match. Conquistadors controlled the majority of the match, but the Rockers eventually made the comeback and won the match. The big difference here was that Marty played the face-in-peril and Los Conquistadors did a lot more double team moves during the heat sequence. Instead of teasing tags, they had Shawn run in and attack both Conquistadors to show how frustrated he was. It's a small change, it's enough to make this match have a different feel and I found Los Conquistadors to be a lot more enjoyable this time around. The only downside of The Rockers finally outsmarting Los Conquistadors by having Marty trip one of them up and have Shawn win with a running crossbody is that the finish came too quickly. There was still a few good minutes left before the match would have began to drag. The body of the match was superior to their July match, but the weak finish makes it pretty even. Still, gotta love the Rockers.
3 Stars.
The Big Boss Man vs The Mountie - MSG - April 22, 1991
The Boss Man controlled the first few minutes with various strikes with Mountie bouncing around. This changes once Boss Man misses a knee in the corner, to which he takes a big bump to the outside. This spot injures Boss Man's knee. Mountie works over the knee for a bit before Boss Man manages to recover long enough to nail The Mountie with a Boss Slam for the victory. After the match, The Mountie gets his heat back by zapping Boss Man with the cattle prod. Honestly, I loved this. It was perfect undercard stuff. They told a story, it had storyline implications and they worked a botch free match. It wasn't "Workrate" stuff, but it's exactly what an undercard feud match needed to be. Really pleased with this.
2 1/4 Stars.
Hulk Hogan (c) vs Sgt. Slaughter w/General Adnan - WWE World Title - MSG - April 22, 1991
This was set-up after Slaughter threw a fireball at Hogan after Wrestlemania 7. Hogan's sporting a bandage on his forehead. Slaughter and Hogan work an old school street fight-type match. Hogan's using chairs to attack Slaughter, meanwhile Slaughter's using weapons himself. General Adnan attacked Hogan on the outside and busted him open. Blood in 1991~! It would be rare if Hogan wasn't bleeding so much against Slaughter. Still, it's unlike the typical WWF main event back then. The ending revolves around a ref bump, Slaughter getting extra heat by nailing the ref with a couple of chair shots, only for Hogan to steal the chair away. The referee wakes up in time to take the chair away and DQ Hogan because the ref thought Hogan was the one who hit him with a chair. It's a wacky ending, but they're in the middle of a blood feud so they had a full on street fight. Strangely, this is probably the best Slaughter match from his 1990-1992 WWE run.
3 Stars.
Mike Quackenbush vs Hallowicked - Block A - Aniversario & His Amazing Friends
While the early going mat wrestling, cutesy over choreographed spots and comedy didn't do much for me, once Quack started working over the left arm of Hallowicked, the match improved a lot. Hallowicked has to be one of the most underrated talents going today. For a guy who wears a mask and can't speak English, he sold the arm to perfection. The best part of the selling is when he'd go for some sort of headlock, but he wouldn't be able to use his left arm. So instead, he'd be forced to only use one arm. This great story gets forgotten as Quack focuses only on typical indy moves devoid of any sort of story. The end comes after a series of near falls with Hallowicked randomly getting the pin during one such pin attempt. The ending was boring, uninspiring and lacked any sort of arm influence. It's a good match to start off the tournament, but it would have been so much better had they just kept the arm story going.
3 1/4 Stars.
Brodie Lee vs Vin Gerard - Block B - Aniversario: The Legendary Super Powers Show
Brodie looks suspiciously like FCW/NXT's Luke Harper. Brodie Lee teases a finger poke of doom to start the match, but when Gerard goes to cover Lee, Brodie slaps Gerard silly. Brodie's really good in this anti-hero "Brody's going to kill you!" type role. The match was fairly short (Just over seven minutes), so it wasn't anything amazing. Brodie just impressed with his agility, overness and big time moves. Gerard kicked out of a big boot/Truck Stop (Sit down Boss Man Slam) to the surprise of everyone. Gerard surprises Brodie with a inside cradle counter to get the fluke victory. Fine for an undercard match.
2 1/4 Stars.
Sara Del Rey vs Icarus - Block A - The Case Of The Bulletproof Waldo
Del Rey murdering Icarus with a series of roundhouse kicks to the chest early on was the highlight of the actual action of the match. However, the real quality of the match was the commentating. The big story of the match was Del Rey, an evil BDK member, was cheered by the crowd. This caused fellow BDK member, Tim Donst, to take several verbal jabs at her on commentary. The longer the match went and the more the fans cheered on Del Rey, the harsher Donst got. This begins Del Rey's babyface turn and defection from the BDK. The other story was the tease of a future Del Rey vs BDK member, Claudio Castagnoli, match in the tournament. The commentating hyped the match a lot with the idea that there could be some big problems when it comes to deciding who will win that. Honestly, it's a great match from a storyline perspective. Personally, I thought the in ring action was decent at best with Del Rey hitting a lot of weak shots and the finish of Del Rey countering a Pedigree into a pin coming off looking really bad. But hey, I
loved the storyline.
2 1/2 Stars.
Hallowicked vs Claudio Castagnoli - Block A - The Case Of The Bulletproof Waldo
After their amazing match at Man Makes Plans, And God Laughs (2009), it was going to be really difficult to exceed my expectation. To be honest, it doesn't even come close to it. Yet, it's a quality match that follows a simple story. Claudio controlled the majority of the match, mostly thanks to cheating. This leaves Hallowicked to fight from under. Most of Hallowicked's offense are roll-ups and other quick pin attempts. Hallowicked even surprises Claudio by dusting off some old moves. It's a hopeless battle as Claudio wins after crotching Hallowicked on the top rope after a knee in the corner attempt. It's a cheap victory that earns Claudio some heat while building Hallowicked up as someone who probably would have won had Claudio not cheated. Like I said, not nearly as good as their previous match (To be fair, that's a CHIKARA MOTYC), but certainly good.
3 1/4 Stars.
Ultramantis Black vs Fire Ant - Block B - The Case Of The Bulletproof Waldo
Just to show the importance of the match and a win, Fire Ant started off the match strong with a fury of big moves. A brainbuster in the first two minutes only results in a near fall for Fire Ant. The match shifts into another gear after UMB whips Fire Ant into a ring post (Which Fire Ant hilariously oversold the bump like crazy). UMB added his own personal touch to make the match feel important by dusting off an old submission move of his own, the Safari Stretch. It's a wacky hold, but it establishes the fact that the Spectoral Envoy have figured out a game plan together. Anyways, there's a lot of finishers and kickouts to further put over how big the match is. Finally, UMB put Fire Ant away with the Praying Mantis Bomb. Solid match, but I would have dug a little more of a story and stiffer looking strikes. Some of the hits barely looked like they connected.
3 1/4 Stars.
The Nasty Boys and The Mountie w/Jimmy Hart vs The Bushwackers and Jim Duggan - Summerslam 1992
Your first bonus match of the night. No real backstory other than The Nasty Boys and The Mountie lost against Jim Duggan in an eight man tag at Wrestlemania 8. Team Brilliance (Faces) humiliates the Hart Family (Heels) with a series of double and triple team moves. The heels take over with Luke as the face-in-peril. Random Bobby Heenan wrestling rule 49F "If you're ugly and stupid you can be worked over as much as your opponent wants." The heels heel it up behind the ref's back. Random Heenan wrestling rule 103P "If you're close enough to make a tag, you do not need to tag." Hot tag to Duggan. Duggan closelines everyone. Battering ram by the Bushwackers to every heel. The referee is distracted by Jimmy Hart. Duggan with the 3 Point Stance on The Mountie. Duggan covers. Sags goes for a top rope elbow drop, but Duggan moves out of the way causing the Mountie to be hit. Duggan throws Sags out and covers The Mountie for the victory.
The early going wackiness was fun, but once Luke had to play the face-in-peril it became a bore. The babyfaces were over enough to get the crowd into the match though. For the amount of "Talent" in the match, it's pretty decent. 2 Stars.
Papa Shango vs Tito Santana - Summerslam 1992
The second bonus match. Papa Shango has received a big push (That went nowhere) after debuting in the company at the start of the year. Santana's currently working the El Matador gimmick. Shango controls the early going with a very methodical pace. Santana quickens the pace when he takes over. A lot of various closelines from Santana. Santana nails the flying forearm, but Shango kicks out. The ever terrifying shoulder breaker by Shango gets him the 3 count.
Just a means to showcase Shango. The match can be broken down into two different parts. Whenever Shango was in charge, it was slow and boring. Santana's offense was fun and fast pace. Basically, the question of, "Is Santana talented enough to make Shango look good" is flipped by Santana proving he can still look good against a weak opponent without Shango looking good. 1 3/4 Stars.
El Matador: New gimmick, still most underrated wrestler of 1992.
Jim's mini-rant
Can we all just agree how terribly misused Tito Santana was at Summerslam? Due to Rick Martel's injury, Tito Santana was forced to miss Summerslam 1988. Yet, Ken "I swear I used to be good before I went to jail" Patera was booked? The following year, Santana was on the losing end of a quality six man tag against Rick Martel and The Rougeau Brothers. The sole purpose of this match was to further push Rick Martel. Instead of choosing to push Santana in 1989, the WWE chose to push Rick Martel. The same guy who all of that pushing never resulted in an obvious IC title reign. In 1990, Santana was forced to put over The Warlord. At the time, it seemed obvious that the Warlord was being primed to be a new opponent for Hulk Hogan and/or The Ultimate Warrior. Yet, despite Santana putting him over, Warlord's push never resulted in anything. In 1991, Santana can't even get on the PPV. How did we get IRS vs Greg Valentine, but Santana was forced to watch the show from home?! Finally, 1992 comes and Santana still isn't good enough to make the PPV. But it's okay, he'll still be used in a bonus match. Santana may have had to do the job, but at least Papa Shango was being built up to be a major heel for the company. Oh wait, just like Rick Martel and The Warlord, the push never went anywhere. Why was Santana forced to put over these lesser talents who didn't mean anything in the long run? Bullshit.
The Legion of Doom w/Paul Ellering vs Money Inc w/Jimmy Hart - Summerslam 1992
LOD is finally getting their hands on Money Inc after Jimmy Hart pulled a fast one and got Money Inc to be a last minute replacement for the Natural Disasters in a title changing house show match back in February. Your basic tag match with LOD getting the best of Ted DiBiase early on. Hawk ends up playing the face-in-peril once IRS is tagged in. Money Inc heels it up by not tagging in behind the ref's back and IRS choking Hawk with a tag rope. The run the spot where Hawk tags in to Animal, but the referee didn't see it. Finally, the hot tag to Animal. LOD looks to have the match won with the Doomsday Device, but IRS breaks it up with a dropkick to Animal. Animal simply hits DiBiase with a power slam (After IRS/DiBiase ran into each other) to pick up the win. Not that it matters as Bobby Heenan makes it clear that Money Inc has a tag title shot coming up.
Fundamentally, this was a textbook tag match. They used every well known tag spot and it built up to a logical conclusion despite the twists and turns. The only problem was that it was dull as can be. The whole purpose of a hot tag is to get produce that big mark out moment of the match. Instead, I was so bored by the match that it didn't mean much to me. I can't understand why they didn't end the match with a Doomsday Device. The ending lacks that impactful final move. Finally, thanks to LOD not teaming again in the WWE until 1997 and Money Inc being slated as the next #1 contenders, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to have LOD go over. 1 1/2 Stars.
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What's worse? Not having Ric Flair wrestle or the WWE teasing us with a Flair interview to remind us?
Elsewhere in the building, Virgil is interviewed by Sean Mooney. Virgil isn't afraid of Nailz though. His motto is do onto others before they get to you. Virgil finishes off the interview by proclaiming that he's "Too legit to quit" hand motions and all. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Fucking MC Hammer. AHAHAHA. You actually get interview time on PPV and you quote a MC Hammer song?!!!1! AHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, nothing screams "Future World Champion" like quoting Mr 'Can't Touch This'. Maybe the WWE could of found Virgil a white partner who could go around saying 'Ice Ice Baby'.
:
Nailz vs Virgil - Summerslam 1992
Nailz debuted a couple of months ago by attacking and injuring his former prison guard, The Big Boss Man. Virgil, being Boss Man's friend (They teamed together in an eight man tag at Wrestlemania 8) is here to avenge Boss Man's attack. Short match with Nailz dominating Virgil. Nailz's entire offense consists of mostly just chokes. Virgil tries for a comeback near the end, but is easily thwarted. Nailz locks in a side chin lock (McMahon believes Nailz is choking Virgil) and the referee stops the match due to Virgil being unconscious. After the match, Nailz attacks Virgil with Boss Man's nightstick.
It's never a good thing when Virgil has to try and carry a match. Nailz was awful. His moveset was great in terms of selecting the right moves for a non-wrestler, but he couldn't even make a choke look convincing. Nailz couldn't bump, choke Virgil believably and it was his mean guy look was laughable. 3/4 Star.
Shawn Michaels vs Rick Martel - Summerslam 1992
This one grew out of both men trying to win Bret Hart's WWE IC Title. During a Martel match with Bret, Michaels came out and attacked Bret, drawing the DQ. Later, Martel came out during a Michaels match and flirted with Shawn's valet, Sherri. With Sherri having eyes for both men, she's added a special stipulation where she doesn't want either guy to be hit in the face. Michaels and Martel has a very indy-like match where both heels try out cheating each other. One man pulls at the hair of the other, the other returns the favor. Any time there's a pin attempt, the heel pulls at the tights. By the end, both guys have slapped each other in the face and they pull back for a punch. Sherri gets on the ring apron and fakes a faint. Both heels try reviving her, but they end up just fighting (Punches to the face~!) with each other. Finally, Ric Martel has enough of his crap from Sherri and pours a bucket of water on her. Both guys have been counted out.
A fun Sports Entertainment match. Looking back, this was way ahead of it's time. The whole "Who can out cheat who" had been done so many times since this match. It's like watching Joey Ryan vs Austin Aries, twenty years earlier. It's light on workrate and the lack of finish hurts the match, but I'll be damned if I don't want to check out some post Summerslam Superstars to see the fall out to this. 2 3/4 Stars.
Eddie Guerrero who?
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I dare you not to tap your foot to this theme.
The Natural Disasters (c) vs The Beverly Brothers - WWE Tag Titles - Summerslam 1992
The Beverly Brothers more or less just backdoor (The Genius was their manager after all) their way into a title match. The Natural Disasters have been tag champions for about a month after beating Money Inc at a house show. Disasters use their weight to demolish The Beverlys early on. A Beverly moves out of the way of a charging Earthquake with Typhoon taking the blow instead. This opens up a chance for the Beverly Brothers to work over Typhoon for the majority of the mid-match. A scroll hit behind the ref's back almost gets a three count, but Quake breaks up the fall. Quake finally gets the hot tag and it's quickly over for the Beverly Brothers. Wayne Bloom eats a Earthquake Splash for the finish.
Despite the Beverly Brothers gimmick making it impossible for Bloom and Mike Enos to get over in the WWE, they were a hell of a team. This match is a good showcase of that. Despite having to work with the weaker of the Disasters (Typhoon) for the majority of the match, they made it work. There was even a point near the end where I could have believed the Beverlys were going to win the match. Thanks to a quality, yet unover heel tag team and the always greatness of Earthquake, this was way better than you'd imagine. 2 1/4 Stars.
Brian Cage-Taylor vs Johnny Yuma - PWG's Curse of Guerrilla Island
The debut of Yuma goes off pretty well. It took some time, but eventually the crowd got really into him. He seems like the offspring of Scott Lost and Colt Cabana. Plenty of creative moves that I don't see from anyone else like Lost, but a little comedy and ton of butt moves like Cabana. A six man team with Goodtime and Cabana could be fun. PWG might as well get as much use out of Cage while they can. The guy continues to impress me and with his look, it's only a matter of time before the WWE or TNA comes calling. Solid opener that had the purpose of establishing the Fighting Taylor Boys.
2 1/2 Stars.
El Generico vs Ricochet - PWG's Curse of Guerrilla Island
This match received
a lot of praise. While it's really good, I feel it gets a little too much praise. Some folks at the PWG board even calls it the PWG MOTY. Seeing Generico play more of the heel role reminds me of Colt Cabana during his feud with Homicide. Generico is good in anything he does, so he pulls off the role well. Ricochet was so over in this though. Assuming he sticks around PWG come the new year, he's going to have a huge year. Great spots and both guys looked really good out there.
3 1/2 Stars.
The Havana Pitbulls (c) vs Special K - ROH World Tag Team Titles - ROH's Midnight Express Reunion
Special K is represented by Izzy and Angel Dust. This is a rematch of sorts from Scramble Cage Melee. However, since the duo of Izzy and Dixie didn't get the job done, Lacey has replaced Dixie with Angel Dust. To explain it further, Lacey was brought into Special K as Izzy's girlfriend. It didn't take Lacey long before she started to take charge and slowly transform into her bitch role that we'd all know well. Due to a losing streak, Dixie, Angel Dust and Becky begin to become more serious. Replacing Dixie was seen as a weird move since Izzy and Dixie are former tag team champions and Lacey replaces Dixie since Izzy can do no wrong in her eyes. Anyways, this is the Pitbulls' 4th title defense. Angel Dust does well in the early going impressing the commentators. Meanwhile, Izzy is said to have blown up after just a couple of minutes. Solid enough character development. While Special K does get in some good offense, it doesn't last long as the Pitbulls continue to regain the advantage mainly due to Romero. The commentators begin the theme of the night "Let's compare every team to the Midnight Express". I will admit that Romero is slightly Stan Lane-ish due to the kicks. Pitbulls get the win after a Death Sentence Knee Drop (I assume it has some fancy name though). Post-match has Lacey and Becky having to be pulled apart.
It's a decent match, but I can't help but feel as if this was a horrible choice for this show. On a night honoring one of the best tag teams of all time, your tag team title match is really just a quick match to showcase a faction having problems? Showcase your damn tag team scene. The Pitbulls did look good and there's some solid storyline advancement for the impeding Special K split. Not meaningful enough to be anything great though. 12 Minutes. 2 1/4 Stars.
Jimmy Rave vs Josh Daniels vs Trent Acid vs BJ Whitmer - ROH's Midnight Express Reunion
Supposedly this was originally supposed to be Rave vs Daniels in a past meets present Embassy. However, since Danny Maff is hurt, Whitmer was thrown into this and Trent Acid was sadly added to complete the match. Whitmer gets in some good moves, but the match is just a time filler. Allison Danger comes out early on in her red prom dress screaming for anyone to take down Whitmer. The commentators gives Daniels the ultimate praise by admitting he hasn't done much since leaving the Embassy. Great way to put over one of your young stars. Trent looks to have the win, but Rave hits a Shinning Wizard followed by the Rave Clash to get the victory. Post-match has Allison Danger begging the Embassy to kill Whitmer. Everyone just laughs and blows her off. Before Whitmer can get his hands on Danger, The Carnage Crew hits the ring and beats down Whitmer. Whitmer's head is shoved in a garbage can and is hit repeatedly with baseball bats. The Crew makes it known that they didn't do this for Danger, but because they feel left out of Foley's praises for Ring of Hardcore.
Like most four corner survival matches, the match was pointless. ROH cutting back on the matches was one of the better things they've done within the last couple of years. However, it does have Rave winning with the Styles Clash to continue the slow burn feud with AJ until he could come back to ROH. Meanwhile, we have another step in the Carnage Crew/Maff & Whitmer feud. Sadly, it seems as if Daniels' potential push is over now. Then there's Trent Acid. He still sucks. 10 Minutes. 2 Stars.
Paul Roma vs Haku - MSG - November 25, 1989
This is Four Horsemen vs Dungeon of Doom years before it happened. Bobby Heenan is not at ringside with Haku. I'm guessing he was probably on the west coast to represent Andre the Giant in California or Rick Rude in Nevada. While we don't get Heenan, we do get Hillbilly Jim commentating with Gorilla Monsoon. So much awesomeness with complete crap. Roma is still a JTTS babyface while Haku is counting the days until he and Andre win the tag titles. Roma is running all over the place, putting in a lot of effort. He tries to ram Haku's head in the turnbuckle a few times, but that doesn't have much effect. Making it look effortlessly, he jumps on the middle rope and steps on the top, without even coming close to losing his balance. As the match progresses, Roma is getting several near falls, playing up to the possible huge upset. Roma misses a stinger splash which leaves him open to a superkick from Haku for the win.
Especially for a squash, this was pretty entertaining. Roma looked as if he was putting in a lot of effort to try and impress WWE officials so he could get some sort of push. Meanwhile, Haku went along with it and was his talented form that I'm more used to. They repeated some of the same spots multiple times, but the fans were always into it. Overall, I can't really complain. Good opening match. 2 1/2 Stars.
The Rockers vs The Hart Foundation - MSG - November 25, 1989
This is now their second match together in one night. I already reviewed this back in late March. Watching it again, I appreciate it even more. You can really tell how they tell a story by not going too hard early on so you could build up enthusiasm for the hot final few minutes. This stuck out at me mostly because of how much I realized the Young Bucks tailored their style after the Rockers. There's a few spots that the Rockers hit that the Bucks modified. Unlike the Bucks, The Rockers are making sure the match isn't a roller coaster in terms of excitement. The main story of the match is how the Harts are feeling a little threatened that they're not having as easy of a time as they thought they would, so they start to revert back to their old heel days. At one point, Marty illegally closelines a Hart behind the ref's back while he wasn't the legal man. It's as if the Rockers were trying to fight fire with fire, but the Harts were just better at it. At this point, I'll say it's the second best WWE match of 1989. Every time I watch this, I love it more.
4 1/4 Stars.
Al Perez vs The Brooklyn Brawler - MSG - November 25, 1989
Perez is a former WCCW and NWA wrestler. I remember him best as one of the wrestlers in the triple cage match at Great American Bash 1988. He also worked against Sting as the Black Scorpion at Clash of the Champions in 1990. This is during his short stint in the WWE where he was a bigger house show star than TV star. Brawler controls most of the match. Brawler is clearly the one calling the shots of the match, How do I know this? You can hear him calling moves several times during the match. Perez gets his ankle stuck in the ropes, so Brawler stomps away at it some. When the referee can't free Perez, Brawler offers to. Brawler frees Perez's leg, but Al falls hard down to the floor. Brawler just points and laughs. HA. Brawler continues to work over the leg some more after Perez gets in the ring. Not much really happens until Perez stops selling the leg and lifts Brawler up for a spinning suplex (His finisher) for the victory.
Not very good. Besides the obvious spot calling, the match wasn't too terribly exciting. Brawler gets some points for trying to create a story with the leg injury, but it's rendered moot when Perez decides to stop selling it. Still, it's not horrible though. 1 1/2 Stars.
Jake Roberts vs Ted DiBiase w/Virgil - MSG - November 25, 1989
These two had been feuding since Wrestlemania 5. After a Virgil vs Roberts match, DiBiase injured Jake's neck with the Million Dollar Dream. DiBiase eliminated Jake from their Survivor Series elimination match. Million Dollar Man and Virgil tries to double team Roberts before the bell, but Jake is too smart for that. The bell starts and they play to Damien's bag some. Some great images of Damien moving around in his bag. DiBiase gains control and really slows down the match working on the neck while taunting Roberts. The fans start chanting for Jake, so DiBiase starts clapping along as well.
: More work on Roberts' neck with Jake selling it really well. DiBiase starts to get cocky and he pays for it with a short arm closeline. Before he's able to hit the DDT, Jake is attacked by Virgil causing the DQ. DiBiase continues to assault Jake after the match, but once he turns his back, Jake fights off Virgil. Roberts attempts to DDT DiBiase, but Ted is able to escape to the back. Roberts pulls Damien out of the bag and lets the snake play on Virgil after he suffers a DDT.
The actual story of the match was good. The problem with the match is that it's so slow moving. It's one thing to have a slow building match, but this wasn't that kind of match. This played a lot more to the crowd, so in that regard, it was a success. However, watching it on TV, it's a disappointment. They'd go on to have a much better match at Wrestlemania 6. 2 1/4 Stars.
John Cena vs JBL - Judgment Day 2008
Oh joy, like these two could ever have a good normal singles match together. I will give the duo some praise, the shoulder work was really good and told a story. It's still as exciting as watching paint dry, but at least there was a story. Looking at the time of the match, I'm really surprised it was only fifteen minutes. It felt more like twenty five minutes at least. Fifteen minutes is still far too long for JBL to wrestle in a normal singles match. Despite this severe boredom at times, the shoulder work was almost good enough to leave me at least satisfied. However, then the finish happened. Almost like they decided to repeat the failure that was their Wrestlemania match, they have JBL pounding on Cena for most of the match, only for Cena to hit a FU out of nowhere and it's over. How underwhelming and it only adds more to the hate that Cena has for being protected so much. Maybe if Cena had a finisher that could been seen as one of those moves that could pin someone despite not doing anything else to them, but it's a freaking fireman's carry into a slam. The ending alone just kills any chance that this match could have been a little fun match.
1 3/4 Stars.
Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat - Royal Rumble 1988
Noticeably absent is Bobby Heenan. I imagine he either doesn't feel as if this is worth his time or he's too busy with Andre tonight. Rude had entered the WWE that previous summer. With his first feud against Paul Orndorff coming to an abrupt end thanks to Orndorff leaving the company, Rude is just killing time before he can enter his next feud against Jake Roberts. Slow start with Steamboat working over the arm for a good portion of the match. I'm distracted by a woman (?) in the front row who brought a megaphone with her tonight so she can be even more obnoxiously annoying. The fact that she also has one of that clapper hats makes her one of my least favorite fans of all time. Rude applies a chinlock/camel clutch where Steamboat looks to have passed out. The ref raises his hand three times and it drops every time. The ref, not sure what to do, raises it again and this time Steamboat remembers to not let it drop. You can just tell Steamboat doesn't care. They work in numerous near falls ala Steamboat/Rude. Steamboat heads to the top rope, but Rude pulls the ref in front of him so Steamboat takes him out. Rude applies his dreaded *cough* break breaker submission. The ref finally stands up and calls for the bell. Rude heads to the back thinking he's won, but the referee awards Steamboat the DQ win thanks to Rude pulling him into danger.
Ugh. I hate that finish. Despite being one of the best wrestlers of all time, there's two periods of time when Steamboat was pretty crummy. Early 1988 and the summer of 1991, both in the WWE. For both times, it seemed as if Steamboat was unhappy and an unhappy Dragon means a Dragon who's unwilling to put in the effort. It's a shame really. This is about on par with what Rude could produce in at the time before reaching his prime, so I doubt Rude was unhappy. The final few minutes before the lame DQ finish did create some excitement. However, Rude/Steamboat 1992, this is not. 2 1/4 Stars.
Tito Santana vs Shawn Michaels w/Sherri - Wrestlemania 8
Shawn's debut at Wrestlemania since turning heel in January. I can't recall if there's any official backstory of the match as it's really just a spotlight for the new Michaels. However, to create my own, Santana was friends with The Rockers. The three even teamed at Summerslam 1989 in a fairly good match. Once Michaels turned on Marty, Santana was not only outraged at this, but had flashbacks of when Rick Martel turned on him. So, Santana is here to fight for all of the Marty's of the world. Not much happens in this though. Both men are heavily using side headlocks. On the plus side, Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon kept it entertaining with their bickering. Things pick up near the end as Santana realizes he's still one of the better workers at the time and speeds the match pace up. A couple flying forearms keeps Michaels under control. The fans are even getting into the match. Santana goes to suplex Michaels back into the ring from the apron. However, Shawn grabs the top rope and falls on top of Santana. Somehow, that's enough to get the pinfall. After the match, Bobby Heenan proclaims Shawn Michaels the star of the 90's. Maybe he wasn't THE star, but Heenan pretty much nailed it.
While the heel turn would end up doing so much for Michaels career, his workrate plummeted in the first couple of years compared to how he performed as a singles wrestler while still in the Rockers. Maybe it's just because Shawn was still trying to figure out what kind of wrestler he wanted to be now that he was heel, but the transistion period was rough. The lack of heel heat in this match is quite surprising. You have one of the best heel managers ever, yet she doesn't even touch Tito. Michaels doesn't even really cheat as well. The finish was the icing on the cake of the "Does Shawn realize he's a heel?" Shawn doesn't cheat and cleanly pins Tito just because he fell on him. The finish wasn't believable and just made Tito look like a jobber. Once Santana started trying to produce something good, the match did improve. As a result, anything good about this match should be credited to Tito. It's a shame Tito's career was just about over. He still had a lot of value in helping future stars like Michaels get over. The goal of making Michaels look good did work at least though. 2 Stars.
Dustin Rhodes vs Paul Diamond - MSG - September 21, 1990
Rhodes is enjoying his early cup of coffee with the WWE before he and daddy leaves for WCW in a few months. Meanwhile, Paul Diamond is killing time until he's given the red mask to become Kato in the Orient Express. Nearly all of Rhodes' offense is an arm drag into an arm bar. Diamond takes over and delivers a few elbows and slows the pace down with a reverse chin lock. Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan trashes Diamond every chance they get. Rhodes comes back before pinning Diamond with an elbow.
A very basic match with Rhodes showing that he's still really green. Most of his offense looked sloppy and there were points where I'm not sure what he was going for, however; he wasn't hopeless. His punches were really good and the guy was a solid seller. If it wasn't for his last name, Rhodes would have made an awesome jobber. A perfectly fine showcase for Rhodes. 2 Stars.
Frankie Kazarian vs Lil' Cholo - Second Round - PWG's Bad Ass Mother 3000
B-Boy can't make the show, so Cholo takes his place. Cholo looks like a smaller B-Boy, so I imagine that's why he was picked. Still, wouldn't it have made more sense to have someone else take B-Boy's spot? In theory, Cholo could win the PWG championship despite not even being in the first round. Someone like Apollo Kahn would have been an acceptable replacement since he wrestled (And won) on the debut show. It doesn't really matter though, Kazarian beats Cholo after a short match. Cholo was hardly good (He botched his first move), but was acceptable enough. It would have been a real disaster had he been in the ring with someone of lesser quality than Kazarian. Kazarian wins with his half nelson choke to move on to the semi-finals.
2 Stars.
Black Bart vs Koko B. Ware - MSG - December 28, 1990
Who doesn't love starting off an event with a JTTS vs a jobber? Black Bart was pretty successful in the territories back in the early to mid 80's. Once he came to the WWE though, he was strictly a jobber. Picture a fatter, cowboy version of Eugene. Typical start with Koko easily in control while working over the arm of Bart. Bart takes over and the match grinds to a near stop with painfully dull restholds. Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes entertains themselves by theorizing what Koko's headband says. Skip forward some and Bart misses a charge in the corner. Koko tries to school boy him, but it's sloppily done. That gets two. The Birdman hits his awesome missile dropkick where he lands on his feet. Koko finishes the cowboy off with a deadly looking Brainbuster.
What's the difference between Black Bart and Boris Zhukov? One at least has SOME star power, despite putting on a poor performance. Sadly, my childhood memories of Koko are ruined by realizing what a terrible worker he was. However, boy did he ever have some awesome moves. Too dull to hold my interest and the lack of star power makes me wonder why I was even bothering to watch this. 1 1/2 Stars.
The Warlord vs Jimmy Snuka - MSG - December 28, 1990
Snuka looks coked out of his mind. With the Warlord ditching his Powers of Pain get-up, now looks like a roid'd up Steve Austin. Snuka gets in a lot of weak looking chops, headbutts and other shots. Warlord locks in the bear hug to kill time. Skipping forward, Warlord chokes Snuka out on the top rope, but fails to stop before the five count. Snuka wins by DQ.
Ugh. While the opening match at least had some nice spots, there wasn't a single redeeming quality about this match. Snuka was easily the worst babyface in the company since his return at Wrestlemania 5. He may be a nice guy and looks like a real monster, but The Warlord was never exciting as a singles worker. Boring match with a shit finish.
Chris Hero vs Willie Mack - First Round - PWG's BOLA 2011
It's 2010 Hero back again to make another local guy look better than he really is. Okay, so Mack has some legit talent, but for whatever reason, we're still getting these matches with him. We saw it with him vs Roderick Strong and against Kevin Steen. As a result, the story is lost on me. Mack is already established, so you don't have that thrill of Mack doing surprisingly well against a top guy. Sadly, I thought Mack looked pretty weak in this. Half the time, I couldn't tell whether he had avoided a strike, was no selling it or just forgot about it. This was all Hero and to Hero's credit, he got something good out of Mack. Perhaps I'm souring on Mack, but I suppose that's part of the problem when you nearly instantly make a huge impact, but you don't have the experience to keep improving. Hero tries to a second cyclone elbow, but Mack merely counters it for a backslide to get the surprise pinfall. Personally, I was expecting Mack to win the whole thing, so the surprise had little effect on me.
3 Stars.
Sgt. Slaughter Demonstrates The Cobra Clutch - JCP's World Wide Wrestling - December 10, 1981
Frankly, I didn't even know Slaughter worked JCP/Mid Atlantic in 1981. I thought he was still in the WWE. Anyways, this was just a short three minute segment. Slaughter, coming off as a babyface, proceeds to educate the fans in how the Cobra Clutch works. He enlists the help of a young wrestler, Tony Anthony (AKA Dirty White Boy, T.L. Hopper and Uncle Cletus), to do that. This was pretty great in kayfabe goodness as it showcases why a hold works and helps get it over. Just to show that Slaughter is really a heel, after Anthony taps out, Slaughter attacks him and slaps the Cobra Clutch back on. A bunch of faces rush in the ring to cause the heel to flee. Fun segment, but I don't understand why they didn't include a Sgt. Slaughter match and just used this as an extra.
Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts - DDT vs Rude Awakening Match - MSG - October 24, 1988
The idea of this stipulation is that you can only win the match after you hit your opponent with your finisher. However, that creates a rather huge plot hole. If that's the only way to win, why not just bring in a chair, bash it over the opponent's head and then hit your move on the unconscious body? Instead, Rude and Roberts worked a normal match where it's indistinguishable from a typical singles match. Within the first ten minutes, a finisher is only attempted once (Jake), but Roberts did that in most matches. At the end, Rude tries to kiss Cheryl Roberts, but the distraction allows Jake to hit his DDT on Rude and pin him. I love Roberts and I love Rude, but these two didn't have any in-ring chemistry. Yet, if you want to watch either guy in 1988, you're practically forced to see them against each other as they wrestled each other practically twice a day, every day. The match wasn't entertaining, but had heat. Meh.
1 3/4 Stars.
Mr. Perfect (c) vs The Texas Tornado - WWE IC Title - Dayton, Ohio - January 13, 1991
I imagine this took place on the day of a TV taping, in between episodes. Frankly, I'm surprised it was never included on a Coliseum Home Video. Anyways, the feud is already over, but both guys are killing time until Perfect has his next feud. Already, Von Erich defeated Perfect for the title at Summerslam, but thanks to Ted DiBiase, Perfect won it back at a taping before the Survivor Series. This match seemed pretty similar to the one they had on Supertape #4. Surprisingly, Von Erich looked pretty good. I suppose it wasn't too difficult when all he did was throw discus punches. Hennig stands out as a total fool. He did my least favorite Perfect spot where he was whipped into the corner and he took a huge bump. Later, he tried removing a turnbuckle pad from behind the ref's back, but he can't untie it. It ends up giving up and just telling Tornado to take a Slaughter bump (Where you leap head first into the top of the ring post instead of the turnbuckle). Like in the Supertape #4 match, this had one of my least favorite finishes of all time. Perfect ended up pulling the ref's into harms way to create a ref bump. Von Erich nails a discus punch to cover Perfect. The ref wakes, counts, but Perfect kicks out. So the ref just goes over and stops the match to award the victory to Tornado by DQ. It ends up being really confusing as the viewer isn't sure why Perfect was DQ'd and it makes the ref look like a moron for counting if Perfect already earned a DQ. Sadly, Von Erich's two year stint with the WWE didn't produce anything memorable.
2 Stars.
