Review the Last Wrestling Match You Watched

[Horrorfan_1986]

Ricky Steamboat (c) vs Ric Flair - NWA World Title - Wrestle War 1989
The difference in quality for the judges between this and Flair/Sting is downright amazing. First half of the match was all Steamboat working over the arm/shoulder of Flair. This played into their Clash match with Steamboat's chickenwing. For Steamboat, his biggest enemy in the match was the top rope or rather, going over the top rope to the floor. The first time he did it, Flair finally got to be on offense for a good amount of time. When Steamboat made a comeback, he fell over the top rope again after he inadvertently stun guns himself. Once again, Flair took advantage of it while Steamboat had to slowly make the comeback. Once again, Steamboat climbed to the top rope, but Flair collapses into the ropes, causing Steamboat to lose his balance and fall to the floor. Steamboat ends up with an injured knee. One last time, Flair goes after the knee, but Steamboat makes the comeback. In a nod to Steamboat/Savage at WM 3, Steamboat's injured knee buckles under him during a body slam. Flair uses that as a chance to roll through and get the victory and his sixth NWA Title with a small package. Great overall storytelling by Steamboat. Here's a match where Flair didn't even need to put in much effort to have a great match. Flair was fine though as he cheated whenever he could, but his biggest strength came in being an opportunist and taking advantage of every Steamboat fall to the outside. I think the Clash match is slightly better since it did help set-up the story of the first half of this match, but this match had a post-match event that virtually makes the match a six star match. You can't go wrong with Steamboat/Flair. 5 Stars.

After the match, Flair is interviewed by Jim Ross. Terry Funk, one of the three judges, enters the ring to kiss Flair's ass. Funk claimed had the match went sixty minutes, Funk would have voted for Flair due to Flair being the best in the world. It's total BS though since Funk's first vote went to Steamboat. Funk keeps interrupting the promo before finally suggesting that he becomes Flair's first challenger. Flair dismisses Funk since they have a top 10 and Funk has spent the last five years in Hollywood (I believe this is a subtle shot at the WWE too). Funk's feelings are hurt as he questions if Flair believes he's not a challenger. Funk had a change of heart and claims he was just joking about the title shot. Then Funk attacks Flair and beats the shit out of Flair. It all ends with Funk hitting a piledriver on a table to set-up Flair's injured neck angle. Probably my favorite post-match angle ever. This was the ultimate feud transition angle.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Hell in a Cell 2012

Alberto Del Rio vs Randy Orton
Del Rio looked damn good out there. I loved all of the arm/shoulder work on Orton to help with the eventual armbreaker. Orton was fine at selling the arm, but make no mistake about it, this was Del Rio's match to shine. Yeah, there was that really awkward moment when Del Rio just jumped from the top rope, but it's fairly minor. The ending with Del Rio going for his enzuigiri, but Orton ducking and nailing the RKO while Del Rio was in midair was pretty sweet. Far better than I imagined it'd be. 3 1/4 Stars.

Team Hell No vs Rhodes Scholars - WWE Tag Titles
Granted, I've only seen two Kane matches since Wrestlemania, but the dude looks so much more motivated than in past year's. Good selling of the knee early in the match by Kane. Loved the dynamic of Team Hell No, even if the comedy keeps Daniel from putting on MOTYC matches. The story of the match with both teams trying to isolate the legal man will forever help all tag matches. While the ending does hurt the match some, it doesn't kill it for me. At this point, Bryan is incapable of having a bad match, Kane's far more entertaining to me than he's been in years and Rhodes and Sandow are serviceable. Good match despite the non-finish. 2 3/4 Stars.

The Miz vs Kofi Kingston - WWE IC Title
I'll give it up to Kingston, he worked hard out there in order to come across more intense. Loved how ruthless Miz was with removing Kingston's boot and focusing on trying to destroy Kingston's most valued ligament. Maybe it's because I thought this would be watchable at best, but I was really impressed with it. Miz had some aggression, Kofi showed he was capable of more than just spots and they had a good story built around Kingston's leg. Quality stuff. 3 Stars.

Antonio Cesaro vs Justin Gabriel - WWE US Title
I believe this is my first time seeing Cesaro. The fans couldn't have cared less about the match. There were chants of "We Want Ryder...Woo Woo Woo". Personally, I'd rather see Cesaro vs Gabriel than Ryder, but that's just me. Simple match with Cesaro overpowering Gabriel, but Gabriel used his high flying spots to tease the upset. The insane European Uppercut spot on the outside was greatness. At this point, it's just a matter of convincing the WWE fans in believing that these two matter. If the WWE can do that, I can see great matches between the pair in the future. This was merely "Just fine". 2 Stars.

Primetime Players vs Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara
I LOVE Mysterio and Sin Cara's new masks. Sadly, this was a nothing match with the crowd being dead for the majority of the match. The only time they seemed to care was when Mysterio was in the ring. Considering Sin Cara played the face-in-peril for the majority of the match, that meant little crowd noise. I kinda find myself digging Titus O'Neill. His manhandling of Sin Cara was fun and I loved his racist "Why don't you speak English?!" taunts in the corner. Sin Cara was his usual sucky self. Not surprisingly, he botches a move to nearly break his neck. I swear, one of these days he's going to Hayabusia himself. Finish felt a bit sudden, but it doesn't matter. Total time killer match. 2 1/4 Stars.

Sheamus vs The Big Show - World Heavyweight Title
Despite hearing the praise, I had a difficult time believing it was as good as people let on. As it turns out, it was pretty great and is almost certainly The Big Show's best singles match ever. Instead of working as a giant, Show worked as Vader. That meant there was this awesome Vader/Sting like story of the wrestler that normally kicks ass (Sting/Sheamus) now being able to get in very little offense as their powerful opponent slowly knocks the air out of them. The pace was a little slow and the crowd didn't care too much until Sheamus' comeback, but I didn't mind either one. I went from being entertained to being completely engrossed with the story after Sheamus kicked out of the WMD. They followed it up with Show kicking out of the Brogue Kick. See what happens when you make finishers mean something? When you do finally have someone kick out, it it's huge. Finish was fantastic with Sheamus looking like a million dollars in his fight against a monster, but one lucky punch at the right moment allowed Show to win. If only this Big Show could have been around the WWE the last fifteen years. 3 3/4 Stars.

Eve vs Layla vs Kaitlyn - WWE Divas Title
I don't know why I bothered to watch this. It's not like it was going to be good or anything. All three girls suck. At best, they all have spots they've worked on to impress the crowd. Yet, they can't even do them properly. Layla's impressive roll-up ends up being fucked up in that she can't keep the opponent's shoulders down. Two of them opted to put on the single worst Malenko/Guerrero multiple pin attempts spot. The ending was botched with Eve hitting a pretty looking senton on Kaitlyn, but Eve ended up barely even grazing Kaitlyn. Eve wins and this sucked. 3/4 Star.

CM Punk vs Ryback - WWE World Title - Hell in a Cell Match
My biggest issue with the match isn't the ending or whether it was good or bad (It was decent). Instead, it's the fact that the violence and most memorable spots occurred only after the match. The actual match was completely forgettable and the ending felt like the set-up match for a HIAC. If I'm watching a HIAC match, it better be an amazing match (Taker/Hunter) or at least be a fucking brutal match (Taker/Mankind). Just having a normal match inside of a HIAC where you barely used the cell is so fucking lame. The actual match was fine. I suppose I enjoyed it more than I disliked it. It's just so fucking uneventful and that makes it a huge disappointment when you look back at 2012. Two hell in a cell matches, one was a fucking classic, the other you wouldn't be able to remember the following week had it not been for the BS finish. Fine for a Raw match, a fucking pathetic excuse for a PPV main event. Show/Sheamus should have main evented. 2 1/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

The Nasty Boys (c) vs Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne - WCW Tag Titles - Superbrawl IV
Man, Cactus really brought out the best in the Nasties. The opening minutes was devoted to making Payne look like a total bad ass by humiliating the Nasty Boys with a variety of suplexes. Imagine a pale and rocker gimmick version of Taz. The real quality begins once Cactus comes in and takes a brutal bump from the ring apron to the exposed cement floor. The Nasty Boys then just double teamed him (Mostly illegally) for the rest of the match. Their main weapon of cheating was to have one Nasty Boy lock in a Boston Crab and the other push his boot against his partner's shoulder. When Cactus finally got the hot tag to Payne, there's a large group of fans that jump in celebration. Payne then kills the Nasty Boys with more suplexes. There's one overhead belly-to-belly on Knobbs that is just so fucking sick. Knobbs basically landed on his face with his body still slipping forward as if his boots were going to hit the back of his head. Supposedly that legitimately dislocated Knobbs' shoulder. Personally, I think Knobbs is lucky that's all that happened. As Payne locks in his arm bar submission hold (Paynepills?), Sags grabs a guitar (I assume Payne's that they had stolen?) and knocks Payne out to draw the DQ. Cactus was the star of the match. The crowd loved him and the entire story was built around Cactus' big bump and how he was loving all of the pain. It's a regular match, but they added just a touch of the ECW style brawling that would still to come in their feud. Rather good tag match. 3 1/2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

The Nasty Boys vs Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne - Chicago Street Fight - Spring Stampede 1994
The only reason to dislike this match is that the powers that be believed the Nasty Boys were the reason why this was so good. So over the course of the next two years, they kept shoving them in similar matches (Normally against Harlem Heat) and adding more time. The result of those matches were typically pretty damn dreadful. Is there is a flaw in the match, it's that it doesn't feel too revolutionary when you watch it out of context. It's your average ECW tag or WWE Attitude Era brawl. Yet, this was April 1994, so those things weren't really happening at the time. At it's core, it's basically your average Cactus Jack street fight (vs Sting at Beach Blast or Vader at Halloween Havoc), but in tag team form. The fun comes from how wreckless all four guys are and the nonstop garbage wrestling. Of course, it's Cactus Jack stealing the show, performing yet another big bump by falling off of the walkway down to the exposed cement. I know Cactus is landing flat on his back, but fuck it looks so painful. Sags gave Cactus a special bonus of a well placed shovel hit against Cactus' face. That's enough for the pinfall. I get the feeling the botched table spot (Sags and Cactus on a table, but the table broke and they fell through the hole), caused the Nasty Boys and Cactus to call the ending on the fly. So the ending is a bit anti-climatic, but it's not enough to kill the match. Another great match between the two teams that was revolutionary for it's day, even if it's hard to convince your mind that this is all new stuff. 4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

The Nasty Boys (c) vs Kevin Sullivan and Cactus Jack - WCW Tag Titles - Broad Street Bully Match - Slamboree 1994
Even though it's not as well known as the Spring Stampede match (I partially blame the fact that this match still isn't on DVD), I found this to be even better. I believe the build-up to the match was Kevin and Dave Sullivan feuding with the Nasty Boys. The Nasty Boys broke Dave's leg, so Kevin needed to find a new partner. Yeah, I think Cactus is an upgrade from a Blue bunny rabbit loving Evad. Part of the appeal is that this show took place in Philly. With the ECW movement just beginning, it's the perfect environment for Cactus Jack to win his first major title. The crowd is loud, vocal and they know their role to celebrate big when the babyface team won. The match is even more crazy than the previous one as well. There's a wider variety of weapons and memorable spots. Even though Cactus is still the star of the match, Sullivan did a fine job at inflicting some pain as well. Everything built up to Sags and Cactus battling in the ring. Sags nailed a top rope elbow, but chose to stop the cover by shoving guest referee (Retired Philly NHL player, Dave Schultz). Sags goes to grab Schultz's hockey stick, but Schultz gets in a fight with Sags. It's pretty awesome stuff with Schultz laying in a hockey style fight complete with pulling Sags' shirt over his head. That allows Cactus to nail Sags with Schultz's hockey stick to get the pin. After the match, Sags continued the beat down on Cactus only for Maxx Payne to come out and nail him with a guitar. Knobbs goes running from Sullivan, Schultz, Cactus and Payne, but Dave Sullivan comes out on crutches and hits Knobbs with one of the crutches. The oddball collection of babyfaces celebrate the huge win. Of course, with this being WCW, Cactus was gone soon after this. Morons. A damn great hidden gem that desperately needs to be put on DVD. Best Nasty Boys match by far. 4 1/2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan (c) vs The Nasty Boys - WCW Tag Titles - Clash of the Champions 27
Dave Sullivan (Still using a crutch) comes out with Cactus and Kevin. Dave has already started his moronic dyslexic Hogan fan gimmick. Seriously, who came up with that fucking idea? Anyways, this was similar to the Cactus/Nasties match at Superbrawl. Without the weapons, it's less of a hardcore match and more of a brawl in the ring. Sullivan and Cactus worked really well together as this fast pace, crazy and hard hitting tag team. Pity they didn't team for longer. They play into the previous matches with the babyfaces working over the shoulder of Brian Knobbs that was injured by Maxx Payne at Superbrawl IV and Sags tried to recreate the spot where he killed Cactus by shoving him off of the apron and landing on the floor. Cactus was wise enough to avoid it though. As always, Cactus had at least one big bump, this time, he jumped backwards off of the bottom rope with the idea of hitting a double elbow to the Nasty Boys, who were standing on the floor (I seem to remember Carlito had a similar spot in the ring). The Nasties moved out of the way and Cactus landed hard against the steel railing. Seeing as Cactus bothered to sell his shoulder, I imagine he was legitimately hurt by it. The ending is a bit chaotic with the legal men (Knobbs and Sullivan) battling on the floor with Dave Sullivan getting in on the action. The illegal man battle in the ring with Cactus hitting his double arm DDT to pin Sags. Sure, they fucked things up with who were the legal men, but it's still a fun match. Good little free showcase of the better things they were doing on PPV. Sadly, this would be their final match together. From here on, the WCW tag division was damn near unwatchable for the next five years. RIP WCW Tag Division. 3 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

The Nasty Boys vs Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne - Clash of the Champions 26
A non-title match that started the entire feud. I believe Clash 26 was held in mid January, so it's a month before their Superbrawl IV bout. Cactus and Maxx ran through the crowd so they could sneak attack the heels. The early going of just brawling with all four men was quite fun. However, once they got things under control, the match became dull. I blame it on Maxx Payne being the face-in-peril. Basically, you took the MVP of the feud and you had him involved the least out of everyone in this match. Finally, it builds to the finish after Cactus got the hot tag. And like 90% of all Nasty Boys matches, you have the Nasty Boys finish where their opponents have the win, but the ref is distracted, allowing the other Nasty Boy to drop an elbow on Cactus (In the WWF, it was using Jimmy Hart's helmet) and reverse the cover. However, they opted to run a second Nasty Boys finish with Maxx Payne coming in and doing the same thing. Cactus gets the win and the Nasty Boys can't believe it. After the match, Cactus and Maxx took turns kissing Missy Hyatt, the Nasty Boy's valet. This had to be one of the last appearances of Missy in WCW. Anyways, not nearly as good as their other matches, but it served it's purpose of setting up the title match. As it turned out, WCW realized what worked (The brawling and chaos) and what didn't (Long periods without Cactus) to make the rematches all the more entertaining. 2 1/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

War Games - Fall Brawl 1994
It's Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes and the newly babyface turn Nasty Boys vs Arn Anderson, Terry Funk, Bunkhouse Buck and Col. Robert Parker. I think this match shows how easy it is to have a good match if you just work the War Games formula. Action wise, the highlight was the first couple minutes of the match where Dustin and Arn are just tearing it up. I especially loved Dustin trapping Anderson's head between the two rings and just twisting him around. Awesome visuals. It's after the first five minutes that the quality drops off and all you're left with is some wacky and fun antics by the heels. Terry Funk was just made for War Games and he's his usual weird ass and drunk-like self. Col. Robert Parker steals the show with all of his facial expressions of fear. I can't say I'm a fan of the ending where Dusty is the one to force Parker to give up. The entire feud was built around Parker vs Dustin, with Dustin getting fucked over at every turn. Shouldn't he have been the one to get the win for his team to end the long running feud? I can't say it's a bad match since the War Games formula makes it difficult to not be an extremely fun match, but it lacks a lot of the extra goodies that the previous War Games matches provided. It's just that so many of the guys failed to leave an impression (Add in Anderson and Dustin after the first sequence). On the plus side, it's yet another good Nasty Boys match from 1994. Considering I contemplate suicide whenever I normally watch a Nasty Boys match, it's unthinkable they had so many good matches in one year. Easily their best and only worthwhile year. Check out War Games if you're a big fan of the gimmick or the Rhodes/Parker match, otherwise, just stick with the classics. 3 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

War Games - Great American Bash 1989
The babyfaces are The Road Warriors, Dr. Death and the Midnight Express. The heels are the Fabulous Freebirds (Hayes, Garvin and Gordy) and the Wild Samoans. Man, this is such a weird War Games. If you want to count the Four Horsemen and The Dangerous Alliance as the same deal, it's the only War Games without them in the first six years of the match. The Midnight Express and Jim Cornette are faces. Dr. Death, a guy I associate with the Varsity Club around this time, is a babyface as well. The rare Freebirds trio of Hayes, Gordy and Garvin are teaming. The Miracle Violence Connection are in the match, but on opposite teams. And it's the only War Games that isn't the main event of the show it's on. Totally bizarre. Getting past the weirdness, it's a pretty killer match. Most of the guys in the match did something to stand out and remain in my head once the match was over. Bobby Eaton was the one who utilized the cage the most. Jimmy Garvin was in there from the start and was the one who gave up. The Wild Samoans had the best team work. Michael Hayes came in and DDT'd everyone. The Road Warriors each did a great spot where they did a running shoulder block over both sets of ropes. I suppose Dr. Death was just memorable because he had on Hulk Hogan's gear color (Complete with red knee pads). The only ones who didn't stand out were Stan Lane and Terry Gordy. Lane isn't a big deal since he was the second to last to come into the ring for his team. Is there a more forgettable entrance than that one? That only leaves Gordy, but it's difficult to make everyone stand out. Anyways, the crowd was super into the match and popped big for the Road Warriors. I especially loved the fact that Hawk, the freshest man, chose to target Garvin, the heel that was in there the longest, to get the submission. It makes total sense and adds logic to figuring out who should come in at what number. While it is somewhat of a forgettable War Games due to all of the weirdness, I'd go as far to say it's the match of the night at a killer PPV that is Great American Bash '89. 4 1/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

WWE Money in the Bank 2012

World Heavyweight Title MITB Match
It's a modern ladder match which means it was overly choreographed, featured too clean and polish attempted spots and lacked anything too interesting. As expected, Sin Cara was a badly botching machine. Both Tensai and Tyson Kidd had some botches as well. Tensai throwing Ziggler over the commentator's table is probably going to be the bump of the year even if Ziggler is a fucking moron for doing it. Tyson Kidd was the star of the match while Sin Cara was the worst. Meanwhile, most everyone else minus Ziggler was entirely forgettable. I really miss the six man MITB's. Random spotfest, but there were a few good moments. 3 Stars.

Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio - World Heavyweight Title
While this was a little dull, I thought Del Rio did a hell of a job at structuring the match around the work on Sheamus' arm to set-up his cross armbreaker. The problem with the match was that it wasn't as good as the other Sheamus singles title matches I've seen this year and it all just adds up to being a really good, but meaningless title match on PPV. Maybe it's because I know I have two more Sheamus/Del Rio PPV matches to go, but this didn't leave much of an impression. Del Rio has some great qualities and Sheamus knew how to put on an entertaining finishing stretch. 3 Stars.

Primetime Players vs The Colons
My god, AW's gimmick is annoying. Maybe AW's talking isn't much different from Jimmy Hart's act, but I could concentrate on a Hart's client match. AW's talking was just distracting. It didn't help matters that the crowd was dead. The only time the crowd made any sort of noise was when Rosa Mendes did a little dance. AW's talking wasn't over and sadly both tag teams weren't either. It's quite the shame too because on paper, they're doing most things right with the Primetime Players. They both have plenty of personality and natural charisma. They had a little feud with Primo/Epico. They're on every PPV. And most recently, they even got to work with a very over Mysterio. Yet, the crowds on these PPV's I've seen don't give two flying fucks. Meanwhile, Primo is a damn good wrestler. The highlights of the match was whenever he was on offense. With a lackluster crowd, a finish out of nowhere and a match without much of a story, this was just total time filler. Colons win, but somehow Primetime Players remain the #1 contenders. Huh? 2 Stars.

CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan - No DQ - WWE World Title
Ugh...AJ. I really don't care for AJ. She was injected into a program that didn't need her, I'm not one of those guys that became enamored by her for unknown reason that baffles me and I find she just flat out sucks. When she wasn't the guest referee or the focus wasn't on her, the action was great. The crowd was really into the action and the WWE finally found someone in Daniel Bryan, who can get people not to cheer on Bryan. Really enjoyed the crowd chanting "No" whenever Bryan did his "Yes" shtick. Now, whenever AJ interfered late in the match, it was sorta like having mini commercials. The action just stopped and you had to watch something you didn't give two flying fucks about before the show came back. Even though the finish involved going through a table, I didn't expect it to be the finish at all. A belly-to-back superplex through a table? Meh, not what I'd expect from a no DQ match. Basically, Bryan and Punk are awesome, AJ sucks and the finish was underwhelming. Good, but not nearly as great as their MOTYC at Over the Limit. 3 1/2 Stars.

Ryback vs Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks
The crowd had two different reactions to this match. When Ryback was on offense, they were chanting "Goldberg". When Hawkins and Reks was in control, the crowd was dead quiet. I've yet to see a Ryback PPV match that the crowd's overwelming reaction wasn't just to chant Goldberg. Honestly, that's not a good sign. To me, that just shows that Ryback isn't truly over, even if the WWE is doing a lot of things right with him. Anyways, match was fairly dull due to Reks and Hawkins being on offense for far too long. Why in god's name is Ryback selling for these two losers? Line of the night: Booker T "A loss against Ryback would send Reks and Hawkins back to the beginning!" Yeah, they're such superstars in '12. : Ryback wins, the fans chant Goldberg and I still don't "Get" Ryback's gimmick. Same as every other Ryback match. SQUASH.

Layla, Kaitlyn and Tamina vs Beth Phoenix, Natalya and Eve
It was short, fairly low on botches and enough tags to prevent anyone from sucking too much. Layla is a horrible top face of the division. The only two highlights of the match was Kaitlyn slapping each of the heels and Layla pinning Natalya with the neckbreaker. The division and Layla may suck, but damn if the WWE isn't making the neckbreaker look credible. 1 1/2 Stars.

WWE World Title MITB Match
Was Rey Mysterio injured for this show? I was expecting him to be in this. Having five guys in this greatly benefited the match. The participants were forced to tell more stories instead of just having a spotfest. That's where the Big Show came into play. Loved the spot where he's FU'd through a table and everyone teams up to throw ladders on top of him, burying him under a mound of steel. Then it was "Money in the Bank Part 2: The Revenge of the Big Show" where Show killed everyone and threw ladders on them. Due to all this, Show was the easy MVP of the match. Coming up second in the "Who left the biggest impression" was Chris Jericho. He was the guy who utilized the ladders the best way. He figured out how to set-up spots for a purpose, rather than the Hardy Boyz logic of setting up spots for the sake of spots. Then there's Cena. He's a weird case where he wasn't the focus of any memorable spots, but he was involved in most of them. For example, Big Show being buried alive by ladders was the Big Show's moment, but it was all started by Cena. Same goes for Jericho's great sleeper on top of a ladder (On Cena) and the ending where Show gets his head bashed in until the briefcase's handle breaks to end the match (With Cena winning). I'd say only Kane and Miz failed to leave much of an impression. For Kane, it's not a big deal since there was two giants in the match, so one is naturally going to be more memorable than the other. It wasn't amazing or anything (Both MITB's last year were better), but I really enjoyed the simplicity of this MITB. Slightly edges out Punk/Bryan as the MOTN. 3 1/2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

The Holy Demon Army vs Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi - AJPW Tag Titles - December 3, 1993
Seriously, just how awesome of a tag name did Kawada and Taue have? I'm sure most enjoyed this more than I did. I can't say I didn't like it or anything, but I didn't think it was nearly the 5 star match that some make it out to be. For me, what held it back a bit was the first ten or so minutes that I found to be a little dull. Things picked up once the stories came into play. Kobashi played the face-in-peril for a bit, but it got to the point where he badly needed a tag or his team was done for. Since Kobashi couldn't get away from Kawada, he does a move out of desperation. In one of the simplest things you can do, Kobashi held on Kawada's leg and just punched the fuck out of Kawada's already injured knee. Overly simple? You betcha. Completely successful? Indeed. The focus on the knee allowed Kawada to show what a great seller he could be. Highlight was a bridging German Suplex where the pin attempt is broken when Kawada's bad knee forces him to collapse his bridge. I always get a kick out of Taue and here's another example as to why. He looks like a pretty big geek. Yet, he's the geekiest looking monster ever. His job in the match is simple - destroy, maim and kill. The finish does end the match on a really high note. With Kobashi and Kawada in the ring, Taue once again comes in to break-up a pin attempt by Kobashi and has the gull to hit Misawa on the apron. Misawa's grandpa like demeanor changes and he goes off on the heels. Both Kawada and Taue end up receiving a roaring elbow. Kawada also receives a Tiger Suplex. Just like a pissed off dad, Misawa wakes up Kobashi to finish the job as Misawa suicide dives on Taue. Basically, it's the wrestling equivalent of Misawa telling Kobashi "Get your shit together, we're going home!" Just like that, the match is over with Kobashi pinning Kawada after a backdrop driver. The heels lost because they did one thing too many to get under Misawa's skin. Don't make Misawa angry. You won't like him when he's angry...Really good match, but I disagree with the MOTYC talk from some. 3 3/4 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Vader (c) vs Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW Triple Crown - May 2, 1999
Perhaps it's an example of just how great Misawa was or how effective Vader's moveset, but a past his prime Vader had a great match with Misawa. Most of the match and story is built around Vader beating the fuck out of Misawa. With the exception of Misawa countering a series of punches in the corner with his own forearm shots, Misawa was on defense for the entire first 12 or so minutes of the match. Poor Misawa even sustained a power bomb to the outside that was followed up with a splash from the apron. All Misawa can really do is take the abuse and hope Vader will tire himself out enough for Misawa to take advantage of it. It's late in the match when that finally happens. Yet, Misawa can't figure out a way to pin the big man. It really looks like the story was going to be how try as he might, Misawa just couldn't beat the monster. Instead, something snapped inside of Misawa and he goes off on Vader. From then on, all it takes is a charge of a running elbow and Vader, the great monster, is defeated, giving Misawa another Triple Crown title win. The final few minutes was pretty damn epic with the crowd going crazy and Misawa losing his composure. It just goes to show that Vader still had something to offer pro wrestling, even if McMahon didn't see it. 4 Stars.

 

[Postman Dave]

Ugh...AJ. I really don't care for AJ. She was injected into a program that didn't need her, I'm not one of those guys that became enamored by her for unknown reason that baffles me and I find she just flat out sucks.

She's cute, but not hot. People became enamored due to the combination of loads of airtime & the "Trish Stratus Rule" (diva turns heel/crazy, instantly becomes hotter. See Trish, Mickie for examples).

Personally I'm in the same boat as you.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Is she even really cute? No ass, small tits and looks like a 14 year old. Give me Eve any day of the week over AJ.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Tiger Mask II vs Kenta Kobashi - AJPW - March 6, 1990
Misawa under a mask? Kobashi wearing red trunks? What is this universe?! First singles match between two of the guys that would lead All Japan throughout the 90's. Sadly, it's not nearly as good as you'd expect. Kobashi's early leg work on Tiger Misawa doesn't go anywhere other than allow Tiger Misawa to sell a bit early on. There's a really bad botch where Tiger Misawa meant to hit a neckbreaker, but Kobashi fell down too quickly. Misawa was left to just fall back on Kobashi. The crowd is fairly dead for the majority of the match. It's only when the pace quickens late that they seem to come alive. To be honest, it's the same reaction I had. The ending revolves around Kobashi throwing everything at Tiger Misawa, but he can't get the three. A wacky slam variation gets a 2. Kobashi's moonsault gets a 2. Pillman's wacky pin on Liger at Superbrawl II only gets Kobashi a 2 count. All it takes for Tiger Misawa is his patented Tiger Driver and it's over. Well, they showed some good chemistry near the end and it's a kick seeing these two guys so early in their careers, but it's kind of hard to be too excited about this because of their 5 star future. 2 1/2 Stars.