Review the Last Wrestling Match You Watched

[Horrorfan_1986]

Royal Rumble Match - Royal Rumble 1998
In perhaps the most obvious winner in Royal Rumble history, Steve Austin becomes the third man to win the Rumble for the second straight year. In fact, when trying to think of the next most likely winner, it's a tough one to determine. Since Shawn Michaels was the WWE World Champion, Owen Hart probably had a good chance, but by now he had already moved on to Triple H. Mick Foley is in the great position where it's extremely unlikely that he'll ever win a Rumble, but he's high enough up the card that he's a favorite. Then there's the Rock, but he's still so early in his heel run that it's just not going to happen. However, he's at a point where you can tell he's going to have a huge WWE career, so at least during the course of the match, you can believe he's one of the favorites. Still, Foley, Rock and Hart are nowhere close to being the favorite as Austin.

Instead of star power, the Rumble relies on exactly what made the Attitude Era successful - fun and characters. Unlike with the 1997 Rumble where everyone was a blur, the '98 Rumble featured even the smallest of lowcarders having some sort of memorable moment or role. Mick Foley has his three different entrances as Cactus Jack, Mankind and Dude Love. Terry Funk has his fighting with Cactus Jack. 8 Ball (Of all people) stood out to me because he lasted such a long time (30 min) despite despite Jim Ross not even acknowledging it, Marc Mero was hamming it up for the camera, the Nation of Domination (All five) took pleasure in attacking each other, Savio Vega brought the Los Boricuas out with him, Kurrgan was a monster, Ken Shamrock had a huge reaction and destroyed Kurrgan, Owen Hart had angles with Triple H (Wasn't in the Rumble) and Jeff Jarrett, Faarooq was screwed over by The Rock to further their angle and Bradshaw hated everyone. This is how a Rumble should be done. If you don't have the star power to make it unpredictable, make everyone matter.

Once it got down to the final ten, the eliminations went by a little too quick for my liking. It always feels weird to me how we can go several minutes without an elimination, but then later we're seeing it left and right. One the plus side, once we got down to the final four, they took time to pause for a bit so the heels (Faarooq and The Rock) and the faces (Austin and Foley) to team up. Once Foley was eliminated, they took a few moments to tell a little story of the Rock letting Faarooq do all of the work, only to turn on Faarooq. Finally, once Faarooq was eliminated, Rock and Austin battled for a bit before Austin won. It has to be the best final four in the last few years. Overall, I have to say 1998 has a pretty underrated Royal Rumble. It's loads of fun even if it's predictable. 3 1/2 Stars.

Royal Rumble Match - Royal Rumble 1999
Once again wanting to do something a little different, this Rumble was booked entirely around the Mr. McMahon/Steve Austin feud. Austin was forced to wrestle the Undertaker at the last PPV to qualify for the Rumble. Meanwhile, McMahon rigged the number draw so that Austin would pick #1. Commissioner, Shawn Michaels, decided to even the odds a bit by making Mr. McMahon the #2 entrant. As a result, Mr. McMahon placed a $100,000 (From Shane McMahon's trust fund, ha) bounty on Austin's elimination. Before the match even began, it was very clear that this was what mattered. As a result, the Rumble is sorta just background noise. Even when McMahon and Austin left, they continued to make it clear that the Rumble match didn't matter with the camera cutting back to what was going on with McMahon/Austin and never letting the action in the ring create a long story. In fact, not counting Austin or McMahon, the longest man to be in the Rumble was The Boss Man with 18 minutes. Even the 1988 Rumble with twenty guys had three guys that lasted a longer amount of time than Boss Man. Even near the end when we finally got to see the ring filled up, there wasn't a story being told - just random fighting.

The sad part is that there's some good potential stories. Billy Gunn injured his ankle during a match with Ken Shamrock, so we get Shamrock vs Gunn part 2 in the Rumble, but it goes on for such a short amount of time that Gunn doesn't do much selling. Mabel forces his way into the Rumble and dominates, but he's out before two minutes are up. That would be the beginning of his transformation into Viscera though. Kane absolutely dominated by eliminating everyone, but he eliminates himself before a full minute has passed. Hell, even the big moment of seeing Chyna, the first woman in a Rumble, lasts a mere 30 seconds. Despite the bounty on Austin's head, we rarely ever see anyone go after him. Austin's involvement in 1998 was so much better with everyone stopping what they were doing when Austin's music played because they wanted to kick his ass due to Austin's attacks on everyone leading up to the Rumble. This Rumble is MEANINGLESS.

While McMahon managed to screw Austin out of a title shot on this night, Austin would win the title shot at the very next PPV. The purpose of this PPV? Hell if I know. As much of a draw as Austin was, I think the Rumble would have been better had Austin been World Champion going into the Royal Rumble. I'm not sure how much of a compliment this is, but I was rarely bored by the match. It's a very watchable match, but knowing you're watching an one hour long filler match, it's really difficult to care too much. Looking back, there were two good things to come from this match. First, the PPV theme music ended up being McMahon's theme music and we had the awesome vignettes of Shane McMahon getting Vince ready for the match. Kinda sad how the best two things about the match didn't actually involve anything from the match, eh? 2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

WWE No Way Out of Texas
February 15, 1998

The PPV begins with some shocking news from Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. Shawn Michaels is injured and is unable to compete in the big eight man tag in the main event. Who will replace him?!

Marc Mero and TAFKA Goldust w/Luna and Sable vs The Headbangers
Before the match began, Mero ordered Sable to return to the locker room. To my utter shock, this was rather enjoyable. This is particular surprising since I can't remember one enjoyable match from the Headbangers and it's not as if Mero was knocking them out of the park every week. A big part of what made this work was the crowd. They were loud and vocal in their hatred of Marc Mero. It's not only just Sable chants directed at Mero, but also some regular "Mero Sucks" chants. Meanwhile, Thrasher played the face-in-peril for the majority of the match. Thanks to some Goldust punches, Thrasher ends up busted open the hard way. This all built up to a hot tag to Mosh. The ending is built around the Luna/Sable feud with Luna interfering to prevent a Stage Dive, which brings Sable out. While Mero and Goldust have to hold their ladies back, the Headbangers switches places so Thrasher (The illegal man) can surprise Mero with a small package for the win. The ending may have been a bit distracting, would have made more sense to have Mero/Goldust win prior to Sable coming out and Thrasher being the one to surprise Mero wasn't the best of ideas since he was beat up for the majority of the match, but this was still way better than I expected. Good old fashion heel heat made this work. 3 Stars.

Taka Michinoku (c) vs Pantera - WWE Light Heavyweight Title
One of my favorite hidden gems of 1998. It's a match you shouldn't even remember five minutes after it ends and especially not feel as if it's some great diamond in the rough. Yet, you have this really fun spotfest that randomly turns into this great story with Pantera working over Taka's back. Pantera hits all of these big spots and dusts off crazy holds, all of which targeting Taka's back. After it begins with Pantera diving through the ropes (From the apron) into a suicide dive, thus causing Taka to be sent backwards hard into the steel railing, everything, I mean everything, Pantera does is on Taka's back. For Taka, he can only make short little comebacks before he's cut off again. Yet, everything Taka does is directed towards Pantera's head to make him woozy and to help set-up the Michinoku Driver. By the end, Taka manages to hit enough moves to Pantera's head to be given a chance to attempt the Michinoku Driver for a second time for the victory. If only Taka's Light Heavyweight Title reign could have been filled with matches like this. Only real downside to the match is that Brian Christopher was a guest commentator. 3 3/4 Stars.

The Godwinns vs The Quebecers
Looking back, The Quebecers really should have been called La Quebecers. This was such a weird feud. Both teams were heels, but both were so far down the ladder that you don't have the slightest reason to care. Yet, the Quebecers were a solid team and the Godwinns (In particular Phineas) looked motivated. It blew my mind seeing Phineas hit a roundhouse kick and followed up with a Fujiwara armbar. Did Phineas suddenly forget he's not supposed to be good? The match does last a little too long for how unover both teams are, but it's still better than you'd imagine. The Godwinns pick up the win after CPO attempts a roll-up on Phineas, but Phineas ducks, allowing Henry to nail CPO with a closeline. Phineas covered for the 3 count. If there's one reason to check out the match, it's hearing Jerry Lawler wish Lee Harvey Oswald could come back to pay President Clinton a visit. WOW. 2 1/4 Stars.

After the match, The Godwinns hit the Quebecers with the slop buckets for no other reason than to bury them. So you left the WWE for WCW? McMahon never forgets.

Jeff Jarrett (c) w/Jim Cornette vs Bradshaw - NWA North American Title
Before the match, the referee ordered Team NWA to return to the back. If there was one redeeming aspect of the NWA angle, it's the push of Bradshaw. Since the whole thing began, the WWE had been very careful in how they book Bradshaw so he comes off like a bad ass, but also so he doesn't look foolish. This booking continues on the PPV. The early few minutes were really exciting with Bradshaw just dominating Jarrett. It's only with Jim Cornette's constant interference that Jarrett manages to keep in the match. Jarrett's time on offense meant the match was less enjoyable, but it still wasn't as bad as I imagined it'd be. After Cornette is sent into the ring by Bradshaw, Jarrett uses Cornette's tennis racket on Bradshaw in front of the ref to draw the DQ. Finish sucked, buy at least Bradshaw didn't have to do the J-O-B. 2 1/2 Stars.

After the match, Bradshaw uses the tennis racket to get a little revenge on Jim Cornette. The Rock 'n' Roll Express' attempt at saving their manager only results in the tag champions being easily dominated by Bradshaw as well. It's only when Barry Windham runs out to pull at Bradshaw's leg during a Closeline From Hell attempt that Team NWA finally manages to do a 5-on-1 beat down. The Legion of Doom makes the save to run the heels off. Looking back, it looked like Barry Windham and The Rock 'n' Roll Express vs Bradshaw and The Legion of Doom was teased as a Wrestlemania 14 match.

The Nation of Domination vs Ken Shamrock, Ahmed Johnson and The DOA
Thanks to a series of hot tags and an even hotter crowd, the first half of this match was rather fun. To my utter astonishment, the biggest reaction for an one-on-one showdown was for Ahmed Johnson and Mark Henry. This crowd is amazing tonight. Despite the great crowd, once Kama gets in the ring for a sequence against 8-Ball and later Skull (Setting up a long Skull face-in-peril), the crowd goes silent. It's pretty impressive to be so uninteresting that you could kill this crowd tonight. Things do heat back up once the most untalented ones leave. The ending revolves around Faarooq and The Rock attempting to Irish Whip Shamrock and Chainz into each other. Chainz managed to reverse and sent Rock right into a belly-to-belly suplex by Shamrock. One Ankle Lock later and Shamrock made the IC Champion tap out. Not bad, but the extra time compared to their Raw matches kept this from being as enjoyable as all of the wild matches leading up to this PPV. 2 Stars.

After the match, The Rock gets in Faarooq's face, blaming him for the win. This causes the Nation members to hold both guys back. Faarooq punches D-Lo, thus making D-Lo having to be held back from brawling with Faarooq. Eventually, Faarooq gets his Nation under control and they do their Nation salute. Looking back, the Rock/Faarooq program is far more interesting than I originally remember. It's more than just Rock not knowing his role. The Rock was basically manipulating Faarooq into having problems with every member of the Nation. It makes it that much easier for the Rock to turn the Nation against Faarooq.

Kane w/Paul Bearer vs Vader
While I dug all of Vader's stiff punches and Kane's showcase of agility, this lasted too long and managed to be a bit of a bore. At this stage with Kane's limitations, he's best in short little run ins. Here though, he had to work a 10+ minute match where he couldn't even sell. Meanwhile, Vader's always been best at being the unstoppable monster, so seeing Vader somewhat sell wasn't overly entertaining either. The match simply accomplished it's purpose of putting Kane over as this unreal force who no sells all of Vader's top moves. Kane wins with the Tombstone. After the match, he smashes Vader's face with a giant wrench just as an extra "Next time don't fight back...bitch". 1 3/4 Stars.

Steve Austin, Owen Hart and Hardcore Legends vs Triple H, New Age Outlaws and Savio Vega w/Chyna
Thanks to the parties involved, the WWE made this a non-sanctioned match. Savio Vega ends up being the mystery fourth member on DX's team. Today, it may seem like a disappointment, but it made the most sense since Los Boricuas were the hired goons of DX and both Owen Hart and Steve Austin had had altercations with Savio in the past few weeks. The first half of the match was a total ECW style brawl. Everyone was fighting in and out of the ring with plenty of weapons. Midway in the match and the referee regains control to turn it into a traditional tag match. This causes the biggest logic flaw of the match. If the match is no disqualification, than how can the referee keep the babyfaces from entering the ring? Better yet, why are they listening to the ref when Chainsaw Charlie or Cactus Jack were being beat up so savagely? With the hardcore style just being implemented by the WWE, it seemed clear that they were still trying to figure out how to properly showcase hardcore matches. The first half of the match was extremely fun and while the second half can't compare, the eventual hot tag to Austin by a barbed wire wrapped Cactus brings on the biggest pop of the night. Austin ends up scoring the win after giving the Stunner to Road Dogg. More than anything, the match felt like something you'd see in the main event of a house show. That's not a bad thing either. 3 Stars.

After the match, Austin is confronted by Chyna. Chyna tries to goat Austin into a fight, but after two shoves, Austin isn't falling for it. As Austin goes to leave, Chyna gives him a pair of middle fingers. That finally does the trick as Austin re-enters the ring and hits Chyna with the Stunner. And thus, for the first time ever (But not the last, both in and and out of the ring), Austin laid his hands on a woman. The pop for the Stunner is yet another huge one for Stone Cold.

Overall
No Way Out of Texas was a PPV that didn't really serve any purpose. For the most part, everything you saw tonight were things you were already seeing on PPV. As far as angle advancement, the only ones we saw was the conclusion of the Vader/Kane and Godwinns/The Quebecers feuds. The former was a short little feud to keep Kane busy while Taker remained in hiding. The latter was a thrown together feud that didn't serve any purpose other than keep both teams busy for a couple of weeks. In some ways, the PPV feels like an extended edition of Raw, but with a higher emphasis on matches rather than matches. All that being said, the PPV ended up being far more entertaining than I originally expected. Thanks in part to a rocking crowd, none of the matches were overly bad. The worse match (Kane/Vader), had it's moments. Meanwhile, there were a couple of matches (Especially the opening tag) that was so much better than it had any right to be. As I said, the Taka/Pantera match is my favorite hidden gem match of 1998. Considering most 1998 PPV's had some really terrible matches, No Way Out of Texas may be one of the best '98 PPV's to watch to enjoy a little nostalgic fun.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

John Cena vs Kane - Royal Rumble 2012
The build-up to this match was so fucking stupid. Yet, the majority of the match was pretty decent. The story just revolved around Kane dominating with Cena trying to get in little flurries of offense whenever he gets the chance. Easily, the best aspect of the match is the FU storyline. The first time Cena attempts it, Kane's too heavy and Cena collapses. The second time, Kane counters it. The problem begins with the double count-out finish. It happens far too soon and comes off as so underwhelming. Maybe the match wasn't the most exciting bout in history, but it still felt like it had another five minutes and a finishing stretch to go. Things go from bad to worse when they fight to the back where Kane knocks Cena out. Poor wheelchair bound Zack Ryder has his private viewing room invaded by Kane. Kane puts Ryder to sleep with TEH GLOVE~! and casually wheels him to the ring. The most hilarious thing about this is that NO ONE even tried stopping Kane. You literallly had a guy crippled in a wheelchair, yet no one helps? : The fans care so much about the angle that they cheer when Kane hits the Tombstone on Ryder. With Kane setting his sights on a crying Eve (Apparently, she went to the Lita school of acting), Cena finally makes the save. Once again, the fans care so much that they just chant "Cena Sucks" when the paramedics finally arrive to check on Ryder after Kane leaves. What was a decent enough little match ends up being a match and a segment that makes me embarrassed to be a wrestling fan. 1 1/2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Boston Garden
April 22, 1989

Tony Schiavone and Lord Alfred Hayes opens the show with a rundown of some of the matches you can expect tonight. We'll see the first Rick Rude vs Ultimate Warrior match since Wrestlemania! *Looks up 1989 results and sees that it wasn't actually their first match since Mania* You lying bastards! :jim:

Greg Valentine w/Jimmy Hart vs The Blue Blazer
You have the experienced veteran heel against the inexperienced rookie babyface with tons of potential. Their roles were showcased with how they worked on the others body parts. The Blue Blazer worked over Valentine's left arm in a fair way. On the other hand, once Valentine is finally able to go to work on Blazer's knee to set-up the Figure Four, he does so by cheating by twisting the leg around the middle rope. Hayes actually makes a great call to further highlight Blazer's rookie character. While the arm work is good, Blazer is working over the arm Valentine doesn't use for all of his chops and blows. Furthermore, every time Blazer goes for a cover, he doesn't hook the leg. So even though Blazer dominated the majority of the match, he's making these little rookie mistakes. With the heartbreaker shin guard in place, Valentine tried to lock on the Figure Four, but Blazer managed to counter or avoid it three separate times. From there, Blazer goes to the air for a series of high spots with quick covers. It's a top rope crossbody that Valentine catches him and slams Blazer to the mat. With a fistful of tights, Valentine scored the win. Yet again, Blazer's inexperienced caused him to make the mistake of relying on high spots too often and it ended up costing him the win. For Valentine, the Figure Four was already not working for him, so his veteran experience to know when to catch Blazer was the sole reason why he lucked into the win. Great little story and probably the best Blazer match I've seen in the WWE. 3 1/4 Stars.

The Barbarian w/Mr. Fuji vs Jim Neidhart
A power vs power match. The only catch is that for once in his career, Neidhart isn't the most powerful wrestler in a match. This resulted in a series of spots where Neidhart would try to bounce off of the ropes, but Barbarian would easily foil Neidhart's plans. They kept repeating this until finally Neidhart managed to knock Barbarian down by closelining him over the top rope to the floor. This earned Neidhart a pretty big reaction. From there, the match goes into the finishing stretch with Neidhart being successful in his power moves. With the ref looking the other way, Mr. Fuji tripped Neidhart up when Neidhart was bouncing off of the ropes. While Neidhart grabs Fuji, Barbarian ran up behind him and...kicked him in the ass. That somehow allowed Barbarian to steal the victory. God bless Alfred Hayes as he tries to claim it was a knee to the lower back, but with the replay, it's clear that Barbarian's boot nailed Neidhart squarely in the ass. : Such a wacky finish. Good story even if it wasn't the most exciting match. 2 Stars.

In the back, Tony Schiavone interviews Tito Santana. Santana denies Rick Martel's claim that Martel carried him all of these years. In their match tonight, everyone will find out who carried who. I love you, Tito, but you were a horrific talker. Anything past "Arriba!" is giving Tito too much to say.

Rick Martel vs Tito Santana
During Tito's entrance, Martel ran out from the back to sneak attack Santana. The assault continues with Martel targeting the knee and using a steel chair to further the damage. Due to Santana being unable to perform, the referee has postponed the match until later in the night. Good angle when you normally don't see this sort of thing from house shows.

Demolition (c) vs The Twin Towers - WWE Tag Titles
A feud based entirely around who has the better theme music. Not really, but it should have been. The story was all about domination. Up until this point, Demolition had easily dominated every other team in the WWE. The Twin Towers are different. They're bigger and stronger. The question of the match is then "Can Demolition dominate the Twin Towers?" They actually did just that in the early going by focusing all of their attacks on the arms of both Akeem and Boss Man. Finally, Twin Towers took over when Akeem took a cheap shot on Ax. Ax played the face-in-peril for awhile, which was just fine since Twin Towers cheated (Using tag rope to choke Ax) and used plenty of double team moves. Finally, Smash got the hot tag to go into the finish. Thanks to a ref bump, Demolition wasn't able to get the win after a double Hot Shot on Akeem. Boss Man nailed Smash with the nightstick, but the referee saw it to call for the DQ finish. The feud must continue~! A fairly underrated feud that just worked thanks to The Twin Towers having the one thing the Powers of Pain didn't quite have - the believability of beating Demolition. These two teams knew how to have simple matches with fine stories while building up to the hot finish that left room for a rematch. Better than you'd expect. 3 Stars.

The Genius vs Jim Powers
This is actually the in ring debut of the Genius gimmick for Lanny Poffo. Ugh. Jim Powers. The Twin Towers was a case where the WWE found a way to use Akeem where he wouldn't look like his normal terrible self. For some unknown reason, the WWE broke up the Young Stallions so that Powers and Paul Roma could be singles JTTS. It's not to say the Young Stallions were a good team, they weren't, but they were bearable. Jim Powers on his own is an entirely different story. On the plus side, since Powers isn't working against an equally poor heel (Dino Bravo or Boris Zhukov), the Genius is able to add some value to this match. The Genius added some comedy to the match in spots where Powers would outsmart the Genius. From there, Genius went on the defense, employing a series of headstands to counter holds. The biggest appeal of this new gimmick for Poffo was his finisher. Picking up the win, The Genius won with a beautiful looking Swanton Bomb he called the Honor Roll. First time using it and it's already the best looking finisher in the WWE at this point. Love the Genius, but Powers did his best to drag the match down a little. 1 1/2 Stars.

The debut of the Honor Roll.​

Bad News Brown vs Brutus Beefcake
Since Brown is bald, the backstory of sorts is that Brutus wants to cut Brown's beard. Most of the story of the match is built around Brown jumping Brutus before the match and keeping control. It's not exactly riveting action. Towards the end, Brutus attempts the Sleeper, but Brown crushes him in the corner. Once again, Alfred Hayes proves to be on his game by pointing out how smart Brown was to realize he needed to do something quick to counter the Sleeper. Ending revolves around Brown retrieving Beefcake's scissors so he can cut Brutus' hair. The ref tries to stop brown and during the argument, Brutus sneaks behind Brown and rolls him up for the surprise pinfall. Brown then chased the ref out of the ringside for his trouble. Even though like all other Bad New Brown matches, the match wasn't good, it was actually a good start to a potential feud. I don't believe it translated to a TV feud though. 1 3/4 Stars.

Tito Santana vs Rick Martel
More of an extended angle than a traditional match. Once again, Martel didn't even wait for the bell before he tripped Santana up and slammed Tito's wrapped up knee against the ring post a few times. Martel continued the assult in the ring while the commentators called for the referee to stop the match. Finally, Tito made a short comeback. While in the corner, Santana wouldn't stop attacking Martel. The referee kept getting between the two to push Santana back, but Tito would always shove the referee away. During the last exchange of this spot, Martel used this distraction to get an apparent headbutt to Tito's midsection (Possible low blow) to then cover Santana. Martel stole the victory with his feet on the ropes. Great performance by Tito with his selling and the fire near the end. Loved the angle and it only made me want to see a rematch where Tito would get a fair shot against Martel. 2 1/4 Stars.

Honky Tonk Man cuts a promo on Hillbilly Jim. It seems as if Hillbilly Jim has been saying some negative things about Honky on WWE TV. Honky's upset, not because of the comments, but because Hillbilly Jim didn't also mention that Honky shake, rattle and rolls. Gah, you suck so much, Honky.

The Honky Tonk Man w/Jimmy Hart vs Hillbilly Jim
Okay seriously, is this some cruel joke on me? Hillbilly Jim does some wackiness. Honky cheats thanks to Jimmy Hart's interference. Kill time for a little over five minutes. Hart distracts Hillbilly Jim again long enough for Honky to roll him up for the surprise victory to steal the win. This is now fourth time someone has stolen the win. Twice the exact same finish with the manager providing a distraction for the roll-up victory. It's not like I expected this to be good, but it could have at least had an original finish. At least this was short. In fact, not counting the angle based match with Strike Force, this was the shortest match of the night. 1 1/2 Stars.

Before the main event, I wanted to see what the A crew was doing on this night. In Philly, you had the Brainbusters vs Bushwackers, Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect, Jake Roberts vs Ted DiBiase and Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage. Biggest downside is that you also had Boris Zhukov vs Paul Roma that just screams death to me. Meanwhile, a C crew was in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as well on this night. As expected, the star power is a lot lower (Tom Magee vs Tim Horner~!), but it also had The Rockers vs Rougeau Brothers, Ron Garvin vs Haku and Andre the Giant vs Big John Studd. Overall, I'd say this B crew had the best looking show.

Rick Rude (c) w/Bobby Heenan vs The Ultimate Warrior - IC Title
These Warrior/Rude house show matches are a guilty pleasure of mine. They always have a rocking crowd, showcases Rude's amazing overselling skills (A positive unlike Mr. Perfect's terrible overselling) and an attempt at making Rude look like he belonged out there with Warrior. The early going had Warrior mauling Rude, mostly working over Rude's back. Rude may be my favorite heel seller ever. He had a knack for finding the right amount of over-the-topness, without making it unbelievable. Rude made a short comeback to work over Warrior's back. Head into the home stretch and Warrior recovers and all of the backwork on Rude comes into effect when Warrior tries to score the win and the title with a series of power slams. Each time, Rude kicks out, making him look far better than most of Warrior's opponents. Knowing he can lose his title at any time, Rude takes the easy way out and escapes to the back. Warrior begins to follow him, but with Bobby Heenan coming into the ring, Warrior returns to try and get a little revenge for Heenan costing him the IC Title. This allows Warrior to make it back to the ring before the 10 count. Warrior wins by count-out. The feud must continue~! You had a little story, a loud crowd, great selling, both guys looking good and a promise that the feud would continue? What else could you want in a match? 3 Stars.

♫I want Sexual...Healing♫​

Overall
For some little house show, this felt like a pretty big show. While it wasn't the very first Rude/Warrior match since Wrestlemania, it is their first North American match since Wrestlemania as they previously wrestled in Italy earlier in the match. So that's pretty meaningful. While the Genius may have only been a lowcarder/manager, it is the debut of this memorable gimmick for Lanny Poffo. In addition, it's the first Demolition vs Twin Towers match. So you get to see Demolition's transition from feuding with Mr. Fuji and the Powers of Pain to going against the Twin Towers at house shows (While oddly feuding with The Brainbusters on TV). Not only was the Santana/Martel match TV like angle, it was also their very first match fighting after Rick Martel turned on Santana at Wrestlemania. The rest of the card may not have any real importance, but you do have Owen Hart's best match as the Blue Blazer. All in all, you have several good matches and so much more importance than you'd have on an average house show. If the WWE had brand PPV's at this point in time, this was big enough to be a Smackdown PPV. I'm pleasantly pleased.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

In February 2004, Nakamura, having just ended his rookie year six months earlier, was forced to give up the IWGP Title due to various injuries. On February 15, an eight man tournament was held to crown the new champion.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Yuji Nagata - Semi Finals - Fighting Spirit 2004
A few things of note. Tenzan was the man who Nakamura defeated for the IWGP Title just in December '03, so he hadn't even had a rematch yet. In the first round, Tenzan was badly busted open by Kensuke Sasaki. So with just a little bandage protecting the large cut, it means you're going to see a lot of blood here. Yet, Nagata doesn't have such an obvious advantage because after his win over Tadao Yasuda, the MMA faction, Makai Club, ganged up on Nagata to leave him hurt. The first few minutes was rather dull in this with just grappling, but once Tenzan demands that Nagata shows him what he's got, things improve tremendously. Tenzan's blood ends up helping the story a lot. It's truly a sight to see when Tenzan tells Nagata to headbutt him again. From there, Tenzan returns the favor with more headbutts than I can count. It's not even just headbutts to Nagata's head, but all over Nagata's body. With each headbutt, Tenzan loses more blood and Nagata gets little Tenzan face shape blood stains all over. For a guy who hasn't been blown away by Tenzan, he came off like a total fucking bad ass. For Nagata, he managed to deliver plenty of stiff kicks, but this was all about Tenzan. Take away Tenzan's massive amount of blood and I don't know how effective this match would have been. Tenzan ends up winning after a moonsault that apparently legitimately knocked Nagata out. A lot better than their tournament semi-finals on the 01/04/01 show. 3 3/4 Stars.

According to the all knowing Ditch, Nagata was supposed to win that match. Due to the moonsault though, Nagata was actually knocked out, thus Tenzan just went over.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Genichiro Tenryu - Semi Finals - Fighting Spirit 2004
Tanahashi defeated Yoshihiro Takayama while Tenryu defeated Masahiro Chono in the first round. Young Tanahashi made the grave mistake of jumping Tenryu before the bell. Tenryu rewarded him with a brainbuster that seemed to legitimately knock Tanahashi out for a few moments. As Tanahashi is just starting to come around, Tenryu kicks him in the head. : Tenryu really plays the grumpy old man to perfection. A large portion of the match was just Tenryu slowly beating on Tanahashi's head. Tanahashi's comeback near the end told a fun story of whether he could pull off the monster upset. In the end, Tenryu apparently silenced the comeback with a match finishing brainbuster. The only catch is Tanahashi kicked out. The normally calm and reserved Tenryu blows up in a brief burst of anger. A second brainbuster gives Tenryu the win. I really dug seeing Tanahashi in a very different role from what you see these days. It's almost like watching a different wrestler. Good veteran vs young wrestler match. 3 1/4 Stars.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Genichiro Tenryu - Finals - IWGP Title - Fighting Spirit 2004
So NJPW had roughly an hour to decide a new winner for the tournament. Just a reminder, Tenzan has already worked two grueling matches while bleeding buckets. It is of utmost importance that he tries not to bleed anymore if he wants any chance of winning back the IWGP Title. In other words, protect the forehead! The bell rings and Tenryu surprises Tenzan with a running sorta two legged version of the koppo kick right on Tenzan's forehead. Right away, Tenzan's already bleeding. : Tenryu was very methodical in this. After the surprise kick, he went on to further open the cut with knees, boots and even biting the bloody forehead of Tenzan. From there, Tenryu allowed Tenzan's blood loss to weaken him over time while Tenryu sat back and occasionally hit a big move. Yet, Tenzan, being the baddest motherfucker on the planet, made his comeback by throwing headbutts into Tenryu's midsection. In fact, with Tenryu's tendacy to no sell most moves, the only moves that were having any sort of affect were headbutts and dropping Tenryu on his Afro sporting head. Thanks to Tenzan playing the underdog and fighting from underneath, it was so damn easy to get into the story and get behind Tenzan somehow pulling off the upset. Finally, a bloody Tenzan nailed Tenryu with the TTD and followed it up with a top rope headbutt (of course : ) to pick up the win and regain his IWGP Title. Some great storytelling here. 3 1/2 Stars.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Royal Rumble
January 24, 1993

The Steiner Brothers vs The Beverly Brothers
The very first brothers vs "Brothers" WWE PPV tag match. The Steiners had just recently debuted with the WWE and this is their first non-squash match. Right away, it becomes clear that this isn't the Steiners from WCW. What made Steiners matches in the early 90's so entertaining was that it was fast pace, non stop action. Here, the Steiners are sluggish and taking their time before the Beverly Brothers works over Scott for a face-in-peril sequence. It's not all that exciting and does little to add credibility to the Steiners when they have such a tough time against the Beverly Brothers. The action does pick up after Rick gets the hot tag though. You'll able to see a little example of classic Steiner Brothers' kicking ass and dropping bitches on their heads spots. Steiners end up picking up the win after Scott counters a Doomsday Device with a victory roll to pin Beau...Blake? Idk...whichever Beverly Brother Mike Enos was. :jim: After all of these years, I still can't remember which Beverly is which! : Fine for a few head dropping spots, but a poor showcase for what the Steiners could really do. 2 1/4 Stars.

A video package is shown highlighting the past of The Rockers. You know the story. After a couple months of problems, Michaels broke the team up by smashing Marty face first into the Barbershop window. Marty would return at the end of 1992 to attack Michaels. During the melee, Marty attempted to smash Michaels in the face with his mirror, but Michaels pulled valet, Sherri Martel, in the way.

Shawn Michaels (c) vs Marty Jannetty - WWE IC Title
Sherri is at ringside, but the big mystery of the match is whether she's in Shawn or Marty's corner. The last time I watched this, I absolutely hated it. This time around, I've softened a bit. There are some severe weaknesses to the match though. The big heat sequence begins with Shawn ramming Marty right shoulder first into the ring post. Marty sells his left shoulder. : From that point on, Shawn worked exclusively on the left shoulder, so it makes up for it a bit. Once Marty made his comeback, he stopped selling the shoulder entirely. The one time he even grabbed his shoulder, he grabbed the right one. : Seriously, is it that hard to work over and sell a body part? Sherri finally shows what side she's on by comforting Shawn, only to then slap him. There's a lot of fun nearfalls at the end, but then you get the typical ref bump. That allows Marty to hold Shawn while Sherri attempts to hit Shawn with her high heel. Shawn ducks and Marty gets hit. Shawn spent a couple of dull minutes yelling at Sherri before finally telling Marty to get up twice (Besides being incapable of selling, I guess Marty is hard of hearing too) to be put away for good with the super kick. So basically, Shawn overcame a two-on-one battle and he never hit the woman. How is he a heel? : Better than I remember, but all of these Michaels/Marty matches were so overrated. 2 1/2 Stars.

In the back, Sherri is going apeshit. Mean Gene has the line of the night with "Sherri! Sherri! Damn it, settle down! You are hysterical!" Michaels eventually makes his way back as well and yells at Sherri some more. Eventually, Marty runs in to attack Michaels again. So Marty is also a sore loser. What a babyface! Thanks to Marty's "Personal demons", we wouldn't see him again until May.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs The Big Boss Man
Bigelow had just returned to WWE TV last November while Boss Man would tape his final TV match a few days later. As a result, the result isn't a surprise at all. Bigelow's early offense was fun with Bam Bam just pummeling Boss Man. It's stretching the match out with Bigelow killing time with a bear hug that drags the match down. Boss Man's offense consists of 90% punches and 10% trademark moves. It's actually a hell of a drinking game. Take a shot every time Boss Man throws a punch. Despite the match only being ten minutes with Boss Man on defense for the vast majority, I guarantee you'll get drunk off of your ass. Anyways, Bigelow throws a boot when Boss Man comes running into the corner. Bigelow follows that up with a closeline and a top rope headbutt to win the match. Would have been more entertaining and effective for Bigelow to have a shorter squash-type match instead of dragging it out. Eh, better than most of Bigelow's WWE PPV matches and a huge improvement on Boss Man's last WWE PPV match (Vs Nailz at Survivor Series '92). 2 1/4 Stars.

Recap of a recent interview on All America where Owen Hart is jumped by Razor Ramon. This was to provide some sort of heat for the Bret Hart/Razor Ramon title match.

We're shown a taped interview by Razor Ramon. The build-up to the title match is so devoid of heat that all Razor can really say is that he wants to add the WWE World Title to his gold collection.

Bret Hart (c) vs Razor Ramon - WWE World Title
So what do you do when you're a champion without main event credibility and you're facing a guy that no one believes has a chance to win the strap? If you're Bret, you simply try to steal the show with an underrated gem that has to be Razor's best match from his debut last summer until Wrestlemania 10. The early going featured Bret working over Razor's left knee, that was quickly put to the side so Razor could work over Bret's midsection. Sounds good to me as Bret can be a hell of a seller and Razor had plenty of different ideas to inflict punishment. Bret made the match feel far more important that it really was with his aggressive dive to the outside. Whether it's the slingshot dive or the suicide dive (He did the latter), it's a move Bret only does when the match has that extra aggression. I thought Bret's selling of his ribs after making the comeback was good. There wasn't a whole lot of selling, but that's because he wasn't as reliant on his ribs as he'd be if his leg was hurt. Yet, when Bret does his side Russian leg sweep, Bret falls back and instantly grabs his ribs in pain. The ending is a thing of beauty. In the middle of a test of strength, Bret busts out a very European (Thank-you, Claudio) counter by tucking Razor's head in for a nearfall. With Razor feeling as if he was out of danger out of the kick out, Bret wraps his legs up, while both are on their back, and turns over into the Sharpshooter. Unlike the Perfect/Bret Summerslam match, Razor did the right thing and waited a few moments before giving up. Bret somehow turned a match that no one cared about and transformed it into a bout where Bret was fighting for his life. Why isn't this on DVD? 3 3/4 Stars.

Up next is Bobby Heenan finally unveiling his Narcissist - Lex Luger. It's a very homoerotic segment where Heenan is practically drooling as he's describing Luger's amazing body part. The funny thing is that Luger wasn't as big as Hulk Hogan or Ultimate Warrior in their primes. Likewise, he didn't have the definition that Rick Rude had. Thanks to Luger's motorcycle accident and the steroid controversy around this time, Luger barely looks better than the average WWE superstar. Anyways, Heenan and Luger claim the Narcissist is even better than perfect. This would kick start the Lex Luger/Mr. Perfect program that would lead to their Wrestlemania 9 match and would (In kayfabe) cost Luger the WWE World Title at Wrestlemania 10.

To my disgust, the WWE didn't film any short little promos from a bunch of the Royal Rumble participants like they did in past years. It's a Rumble that actually has a huge prize, let's see some damn promos!

30 Man Royal Rumble Match
The first Rumble match where the winner would go on to Wrestlemania to challenge for the WWE World Title. Undoubtedly, the single most important element of any Rumble match for it to be a success is the star power. Is it any surprise that 1992 gets praise so much? There was a ton of stars in that. This Rumble had a handful of stars - Yokozuna, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, Mr. Perfect, Ric Flair and to a lesser extent Earthquake. Everyone else was fucking cannon fodder. The sad part is you don't even have many A list cannon fodder. No one believed Shawn Michaels or the British Bulldog would win the '92 Rumble, but they were big enough stars where them being in the match wasn't a negative. You had just Tatanka in that role. It's so underwhelming watching a Rumble where you see guys like Skinner, Terry Taylor and Max Moon coming in one after another. The big stars in other territories - Jerry Lawler, Tenyru and Carlos Colon, aren't stars in the WWE, so they're pointless additions. There's some fun moments in the match. The Tenryu/Flair chopfest was a thing of beauty even the only person marking out was a guy watching it on video twenty years later. We also saw the old rivalries of Virgil/Ted DiBiase and Rick Martel/Tito Santana renewed. The debut of Giant González is both amazingly effective and a classic example of Wrestlecrap. González kicked the Undertaker's ass, that was really memorable, but he's a giant dude wearing fur and a spray paint suit. So in some way, you're killing the effectiveness by the goofiness of the gimmick. In one night, the WWE made a star in Bob Backlund with his record setting iron man performance. Yet, the WWE wouldn't do a single thing with him for the next year and a half. Why was he protected so much? With so few stars in the match, they should have had Flair and Mr. Perfect last a lot longer. Sadly, even the mostly quality final four with Savage and Yokozuna is marred by Savage botching the finish by trying to pin Yokozuna. While the match was an essential chapter in making Yokozuna a main eventer, so much of the match was total filler. 2 Stars.

Overall
I look at this show in 2013 and I have to wonder why the WWE thought fans would pay money to see this show. Very little of real importance even happens on the show. Okay, so fine, you get the first Marty/Shawn match. Then again, Marty would get himself fired so the feud was restarted in May, so that's a wash. You have the Steiners PPV debut, but they were already kicking ass on the weekly shows, so that's not very important either. In the end, the only two important things that happened on the show was the debut of Giant González and Yokozuna becoming the #1 contender. Yet, the González debut could have happened during any Undertaker match. Then, look at Bret Hart's match. Is it really a surprise to learn that his first title reign did poor business? He was a midcarder who won the World Title in a non-televised match and then proceeded to defend the title against Papa Shango, Shawn Michaels and Virgil. Here he's battling yet another midcarder with very little backstory. Royal Rumble '93 is now a PPV that is at the top of my "Rebook past PPV's" list. Personally, I find that the below card adds far more importance to the show and can still help out the star power in the Rumble:

Spoiler

Shawn Michaels (c) vs Marty Jannetty - WWE IC Title
(Kept as is)

Money Inc (c) vs The Nasty Boys - WWE Tag Titles
(They were actually feuding at the time, so showcase the feud on PPV with Money Inc winning it)

Randy Savage vs Razor Ramon
(Culminate the feud that had been building since September when Razor cost Savage the WWE Title)

Bret Hart (c) vs Ric Flair - WWE World Title
(If Flair's leaving soon, have him put over Bret in a big match so people can actually see that Bret matters)

Rumble match
(You bring back everyone that was on the undercard including Ric Flair. Bigelow can still be put over strong by eliminating several guys. Steiners can still be put over by having one eliminate Bigelow and the other eliminate both members of Money Inc. Then you can finish it off with Yoko, Perfect, Savage and Flair in the final four)

The funny thing is despite all of this hatred for the show, it's not really a terrible show. The worst match only received 2 stars. I'm willing to bet you can't find that on any WWE PPV from 1992. Still, there's four PPV's per year, you shouldn't have to see a show that has so little importance. Find a way to watch Razor/Bret (It's a lot better than their King of the Ring match), but you can skip the rest.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Cyberslam
April 3, 1999

Jerry Lynn vs Yoshihiro Tajiri
Tajiri is still beardless and wearing blue/white trunks. Meanwhile, Jerry Lynn is the new "It" guy in ECW. We're just two weeks removed from his major match against RVD at Living Dangerously. He's super over in the match and you can tell that he's going to be a big player for the company. As you can probably guess, Lynn and Tajiri work a competitive back-and-forth match with plenty of spots. The selling isn't always perfect, but it's fast pace and the crowd is loving it. Even though Jerry Lynn is made to seem like the star of the match, I found that Tajiri left the greater impression. The guy was just busting out moves and had a style you didn't see in ECW. Tajiri would hit such big moves as an Asai Moonsault over the guardrail, a tree of woe dropkick and of course locking in the Tarantula. It's all for naught though as Lynn abruptly puts Tajiri away with a Cradle Piledriver. Based on how Joey Styles reacted to the move, it would seem as if this was the debut of Lynn's finisher. Fun opener, as expected. 3 Stars.

Lance Storm (In a WCW Monday Jericho t-shirt) and Dawn Marie came out to the ring. Storm cuts a promo on Tommy Dreamer, dismissing claims that he's on steroids. Dawn Marie pulls out a cup of Storm's pee so that Storm can prove his innocence by getting the pee tested. Storm challenges Dreamer to take a drug test as well. This brings out Dreamer, but as he's entering the ring, Storm attacks him. Dreamer quickly recovers and knocks Storm out with the DDT. Dreamer steals Storm's cup of pee from Dawn Marie and pours it over Storm's own face. The feud must continue~! The best part is that today was Lance Storm's 30th birthday. What a way to celebrate.

Nova vs Rod Price
Rod Price was an old timer that had a similar look to bald Nikita Koloff. He isn't very good and the crowd doesn't seem to be too interested in the match. There's even one guy chanting "Boring" after a couple of minutes. The future Simon Dean had some amazing speed back then though. That was the only aspect of the match that kept focused. Midway in the match, Price's new partner, Skull Von Krush (Big Vito), came out to attack Nova. This brought out Nova's partner, Chris Chetti, for an impromptu Texas Tornado tag match. Joey Styles made quick mention of Skull Von Krush's New Movement. I believe that was supposed to be some sort of Nazi angle, but it didn't really go anywhere. Nova picked up the win when he and Chetti hit their tag finisher (Both on the same top rope with Nova hitting a splash and Chetti a leg drop) on Price. Nova covers and wins. I don't know why they didn't just make this a tag match. Pretty poor stuff. 1 3/4 Stars.

After the match, Skull Von Krush berates Price for losing. Both guys pull down their straps and look to get into a fight. Skull finally turns around to leave, but Price jumps him. After a brief fight, Skull lays Price out with a spinning DDT. With that, their short lived tag team (2 matches, both losing to Nova/Chetti) is finished.

Super Crazy vs El Mosco
El Mosco is an AAA wrestler who worked a few WWE matches in 1997. Mosco was brought into ECW roughly the same time as Tajiri and Super Crazy. For whatever reason, he didn't stick around long enough to garner any real ECW name value. To say these two worked a spotfest would be like saying Vince Russo has some wacky booking ideas. There were a million different dives, spots and moonsaults. Super Crazy's selling was pretty funky. Like clockwork, Crazy would remain on the mat for a couple of seconds after taking a move and then sit-up like nothing happened. Yet, there's a certain appeal of just seeing two guys go balls to the wall without any regard for their safety. With this being Mosco's TV debut and Crazy only being around for a few months, they left an impression. The fans loved it, so that's the most important thing. Crazy ended up winning after a variation on the Frog Splash. It's worth mentioning that Crazy looked visibly upset after the match. 2 1/2 Stars.

Taka Michinoku vs Papi Chulo
Your Wrestlemania 14 rematch. Both guys are technically WWE workers, but since the WWE wasn't using them much, they were allowed to work some ECW. This would be Taka's first ECW match since Barely Legal 1997 and the former Aguila's debut. This was pretty similar to Crazy/Mosco, only Taka sold better than crazy and Chulo could connect better with his moves than Mosco. Yet, it doesn't leave as much of an impression as it's fairly short (Just over six minutes) and it's mostly just a platform to re-debut Taka. Taka showed off a new, slightly arrogant attitude by playing to the crowd and loudly announcing what he was going to do next. Taka's attitude almost costs him the match as he opts not to attempt the Michinoku Driver in favor of a moonsault that Chulo avoided by rolling out of the way. Still, Taka wins with an inverted suplex (Think Goldust's Curtain Call) into the Michinoku Driver. Good simple match. 2 3/4 Stars.

Rob Van Dam (c) w/Fonzie vs 2 Cold Scorpio - ECW TV Title
A re-match from Living Dangerously 1998. Now, RVD is the ECW TV Champion and Scorpio's no longer in the WWE. In addition to being the TV Champion, RVD is also a co-holder of the ECW Tag Team Titles with Sabu. As it just so happens, Scorpio held both titles at the same time back in late 1995. The story of the match was built around RVD's arrogant heel attitude. Early on RVD, was playing to the crowd and not taken Scorpio (Who looked to drop a lot of weight from his WWE days) too serious. This caused Scorpio to be far more physical than I remember him being. While methodical and slow, Scorpio just beat the shit out of Van Dam. This included a super kick that seemed to legitimately connect with RVD's chin and begin to swell RVD's face up. As the match goes on, it seems clear that RVD's title reign is in serious trouble. Yet, it's also a chance for Team Fonzie to earn some heel heat when Sabu ran out to attack his old rival, Scorpio. The attack would include an Air Sabu through a table. The funniest part of the attack is that Sabu is doing this was a legit fractured jaw! Despite all of the offense by Sabu, Scorpio still kicked out of a pin attempt by RVD. So RVD and Fonzie has to keep cheating. RVD used a low blow and Fonzie to crotch Scorpio on the rope rope. That would allow RVD to hit the Van Daminator/5 Star Frog Splash to retain the title. At ten minutes shorter than their Living Dangerously match, this was a hell of a lot easier to watch. 3 1/4 Stars.

Taz (c) vs Chris Candido w/Tammy Sytch - ECW World Title - FTW Rules
FTW rules is just falls count anywhere. There would be a grand total of zero pin attempts outside of the ring though. This would be Candido's first match since mid January. They didn't outright say why he was gone, but I suspect it had something to do with Candido's battles with his personal demons. Speaking of which, despite only being gone from the WWE for a year, Tammy Sytch looks awful. Thanks to the FTW rules, they did a lot of brawling in the crowd early on. Thanks to the Attitude Era being in full swing, it doesn't have that fresh feeling it did when ECW first started doing it in the mid 90's. Yet, it's a Candido match, so it's pretty fun. Candido tries to cheat by using a chair to knock out Taz, but Taz simply kicks out. The finish is kicked off with Candido setting up a table in the corner. Taz manages to counter an Irish Whip and locks in the Tazmission. A Tazmission suplex through the table ends the match when Candido claims to injured his neck. The referee stops the match as a medical crew takes care of Candido. I'm not sure if this was a legit injury or not. I'd lean towards the latter as Candido would wrestle Taz at the next PPV. Just as fun as their Hardcore Heaven '97 match. 3 Stars.

After the match, the fans boo Taz for injuring Candido. While Candido is being carried away on a gurney, Taz attacks him and throws him back in the ring. Tazmission! This causes the fans to cheer Taz again. So basically, hurting Candido = bad, but attacking a hurt Candido = good. God bless the ECW fans. :

Shane Douglas w/Francine vs Justin Credible w/Jason and Jazz
A feud based entirely around Douglas trying to mold Credible into ECW's new #1 heel. Basically, Douglas was ready to announce his retirement and declare a new Francise of ECW. Justin Credible and Lance Storm thought one of them was the right choice. Instead, Douglas choose Tommy Dreamer. Thus, a war was created. On paper, this does not look good at all. In fact, I'd rather watch a Dean Douglas vs Aldo Montoya Action Zone match from 1995 instead (Not that the match happened, but they did wrestle each other at a house show in 1995). When it comes to re-watching old Shane Douglas matches from ECW, I find them to be painfully dull. It's not as if Credible's much better. Yet, the match is actually amazingly entertaining. For the first time in years, Douglas is going up against a bigger cheating heel. Credible uses every trick up his sleeve including low blows, interference from Jason and Jazz (Who hadn't added the muscle yet) and ramming Douglas face first into one of the steel support beams. The last move ends up busting Douglas open. What surprises me the most though was Credible's chops. I'm not joking when I say they were some of the best chops I've ever seen. Every single one (And there had to be 20+) were loud. As the match went on, you added weapons to spice up the match (This created a fun Singapore Cane shot exchange) and a short catfight between Jazz and Francine. A broken neck Jason even gets involved only to bet speared by Francine and further hurt with a Full Nelson by Douglas. By the end, Douglas cleanly wins with the Pittsburgh Plunge (Fisherman Buster). HOW WAS THIS SO ENTERTAINING?! 3 1/2 Stars.

After the match, Lance Storm ran out to attack Shane Douglas. This brought out Tommy Dreamer to make the save. Instead, Credible and Storm manage to beat up Dreamer and Douglas, laying them both out with garbage can and Singapore cane shots. Credible may have lost, but he and Storm looked dominant. I'm not sure if they're officially the Impact Players yet, but they're already making their mark as the true successors to the Triple Threat.

Before the next match, Bubba Ray Dudley announces that New Jack was seen leaving the building earlier in the show.

The Dudley Boyz and Mr. Mustafa vs New Jack, Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney - Ultimate Jeopardy Cage Match
Ultimate Jeopardy is just ECW's version of a War Games match. The differences is that there's only six men involved and there's weapons in the cage. New Jack and Mustafa were once a tag team called the Gangstas. Mustafa ended up disappearing from ECW back in August 1997. He finally returned to ECW in January '99 only to turn on New Jack. Mustafa was revealed to have an alliance with the Dudley Boyz (Paid the Dudley Boyz to rid ECW of Public Enemy). So, a War Games match is one of the easiest matches to book. You always give the heels the extra man advantage and the faces are always in control when the sides are even. Everything builds up until the faces win. Here, ECW shows that they haven't the faintest idea how you book a War Games match. You have faces already getting their asses kicked when it's two-on-two, the announcer forgets to do a countdown one time, and the faces LOSE after Balls even throws a fireball in Mustafa's face! Who booked this shit? The match was pretty boring and the only sequence I enjoyed was the absolute beat down of Rotten and Balls before New Jack made his surprise return to the building. Everyone ended up bleeding and The Dudleyz would pin Balls after a 3D. Maybe it's not as bad as the Nitro War Games, but I imagine every other WCW War Games being better than this. Pure garbage wrestling. 1 3/4 Stars.

After the match, the faces are sore losers as they lock the Dudley Boyz out of the cage and throw a blind Mustafa on a table. New Jack dives off of the top of the cage onto Mustafa. Mustafa would end up leaving ECW for good a few weeks later.

Overall
If there's one main criticism I have of ECW, it's that they're not very future watch friendly. When you watch random matches (Such as the WWE released ECW DVD's), you don't get the complete picture of what the company was like. Maybe you don't understand the feuds, so the matches just come off as pretty underwhelming. It's that feeling that helps me enjoy Cyberslam '99. With so many guys debuting or returning, it was light on storylines. For the most part, the only real story of the night was The Impact Players vs Dreamer/Douglas. Thanks to the earlier pee segment with Storm and Dreamer, the post-match events of Douglas/Credible makes sense. The structure of the show was also pretty solid. The first half was loaded with storyless matches with the international talent. The second half features the angle matches. For the vast majority of the show, the matches were good, but nothing worth going out of your way to see. Basically, they're the perfect matches to sit back and watch to enjoy a full show. The best match was also the most surprising. I still don't know how I found Credible/Douglas to be so entertaining. Truthfully, the show should have ended after the Impact Players beat down. Personally, I advise to just stop watching the show after that. The main event is the worst match of the show and it doesn't have any wacky value of seeing early Simon Dean and Big Vito. Out of the eight matches, the WWE has only released one of the matches on DVD. Naturally, they chose the horrible Ultimate Jeopardy match. Overall though, for a show I mostly just shoved in my VCR as a way to waste some time, I had plenty of fun. In a lot of ways, Cyberslam '99 is better than your average ECW PPV.

 

[Hoss]

I've definitely seen this review before...

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Hardcore Heaven
May 14, 2000

Before the first match, Cyrus berates Joel Gertner before Cyrus sics W*ING Kanemura on Gertner. Kanemura chokes out Gertner and Cyrus takes Gertner's place as the color commentator on the show.

Masato Tanaka vs Balls Mahoney
Former partners collide~! Tanaka and Balls were ECW Tag Team Champions for a cup of tea back in 1998. With Mike Awesome now in WCW, Balls takes Awesome's spot as the perfect opponent for Masato. Just like in the Awesome/Tanaka match, it's a total spotfest with a ton of chair shots, finishers and kick outs. Thanks to Tanaka's character of being so damn resilient, I never really have a problem with Tanaka noselling moves. On the other hand, I would have preferred Balls sell a little more. It got to the point where Tanaka hit every single big move, but Balls easily kicked out. Joey Styles did a good job to hype the Roaring Elbow as the last move Tanaka can hit, but Balls kicked out of it too. As a result, Tanaka had to jump off of the top rope and nail Balls in the head. Balls still no sold it, but finally takes the tumble after a second Roaring Elbow. Tanaka scores the pinfall. The fans absolutely loved the match and even with my disinterest in seeing Balls play a poor man's Mike Awesome, so did I. As long as you don't mind some no selling, I dare you to admit that you didn't love every minute of this. 3 1/2 Stars.

During his entrance, Simon Diamond cuts a short promo about proving to the fans that he's not just some comedy act.

Little Guido w/Big Sal vs Mikey Whipwreck w/Sinister Minister vs Simon Diamond w/Simon's Circus
A little backstory. Guido and Whipwreck have just started a feud after Whipwreck and Minister threw a fireball into the left eye of Sal E. As you can probably guess, the first fall is nonstop action with plenty of spots and interference from the wrestler's buddies. The highlight of that being Sal E. killing every member of Simon Diamond's faction of misfits. The trio doesn't even let the lights going out stop them. Downside to this fall is the fact that there were a lot of cover break-ups. It's a three way dance, why are you breaking up falls? To my surprise, Diamond is the first one eliminated after Whipwreck pins him with the Whippersnapper. So much for proving himself tonight. Whipwreck then does the move of the match with an Angel Wings variation (Lifts Guido all the way up onto his shoulders before bringing him down) for a two count. The finish occurs after Sal E receives yet another fireball in his face by Whipwreck. This distraction allows Guido to pin Whipwreck with an Unprettier (Calls it The Maritato). Perfectly good match for the undercard. Guido and Whipwreck rule. 2 1/2 Stars.

The Dangerous Alliance came out for a promo. It's overly long and dull though. Lou E. Dangerously is a poor Paul Heyman and I just found myself waiting for this to end. Dangerously claimed that Elektra was better than any other woman in ECW. That would bring out Jazz. Initially, Jazz beats up Dangerously, CW Anderson and Bill Wiles, but the numbers overwhelms her. CW Anderson lays her out. This brings out Kid Kash to make the save, leading to...

Kid Kash vs CW Anderson w/The Dangerous Alliance
If you didn't get to see Kash in ECW, you sorta missed out on something great. Kash was one of ECW's last great creations. With his human highlight reel type gimmick, Kash was hitting one amazing dive and spot after another. CW eventually takes over, but it only lasts for a couple of minutes. A Dangerous Alliance interferes goes awry when Dangerously lays Wiles out with his giant cell phone. Kash wins after a top rope hurricanrana. Once again, it's good for an undercard match, but the new Dangerous Alliance was death for CW Anderson. The guy had a lot of potential, but it took ECW too long to realize that they should be booking him as a serious force. Things would get better for CW in a few months though. 2 1/4 Stars.

Chris Chetti and Nova vs Da Baldies vs Danny Doring and Roadkill
With the tag team titles being vacant for the first time since Eastern Championship Wrestling went extreme, this was sort of a bragging rights match. Like every other match thus far on the card, it's nonstop action with plenty of spots in the first fall. Not that I mind because I doubt a traditional tag match with these three would have fared nearly as well. With Doring and Roadkill looking to nearly have Da Baldies beat, the newest member of Da Baldies, Grimes, ran out and laid Doring out with a guitar shot. While that easily allowed Doring to be eliminated, it also created the incredible moment where Roadkill seeks revenge on Grimes. This comes when Roadkill lays the 400 pound Grimes on a table while Roadkill jumps from the top rope (Not the corner, but the middle of the ropes) and splashes Grimes through the table. That's a fucking 300+ pound guy hitting that insane spot! With that, the match continues with Nova entertaining me with a Stunner after being in a Tree of Woe position. Nova and Chetti pins Angel after the Tidal Wave (Dual top rope splash/leg drop). A seriously fun spotfest that showed the TLC guys of the WWE weren't the only ones capable of entertaining crowds in 2000. Since Paul E. dragged his feet crowning a new pair of tag team champions (Titles vacated in April, new champions not even crowned until September), I'm not even sure if Chetti/Nova were still teaming then. 3 Stars.

After the match, Da Baldies attacked Nova and Chetti. This brought out New Jack to continue his feud with Da Baldies. Poor DeVito ends up paying for all of Angel's actions against New Jack. In total, DeVito was busted open with a stapler to the head, had a forked jammed in his forehead and later would have New Jack diving from the balcony through a table. Back in the ring, New Jack smashed a guitar over Angel's head and pinned him to reclaim his title of the king of the street. Love or hate New Jack, the dives are a sight to behold.

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Steve Corino w/Jack Victory
Former friends collide~! For the life of me, I can't remember when Tajiri dumped Corino and turned face. Since the split, Tajiri held a staggering 24 hour reign as ECW TV Champion before dropping it to current champion, Rhino. What you have here is a perfect example of how to book a match where both guys get over. For the majority of the match, Tajiri kills Corino. On the entrance ramp, Tajiri busted Corino open with a brainbuster. The blood plays a big role in the match as it shows how brutal Tajiri can be (Love the image of Tajiri smearing Corino's blood on his chest) and how surprisingly resilient Corino can be too. Corino's resilience goes a long way in setting Corino up for his major push for the second half of the year. Here he is, a bloody mess, with Joey Styles questioning whether the referee should stop the match, but he keeps fighting. Throw in some fun spots with Tajiri punishing Corino and spraying the green mist in Jack Victory's face and you have yourself yet another really fun match. Unlike the other matches, this felt significant in being the end to a feud, one that betters both men. Tajiri picked up the win after hitting a double stomp from the top rope, on Corino through a table. 2000 in ECW was really the year of Steve Corino. 3 3/4 Stars.

​

After the match, Victory jumps Tajiri. Tajiri's able to withstand the onslaught until Kanemura makes another appearance to join in on the attack. The three-on-one attack continues until Dusty Rhodes walks out to help Tajiri. This brings out Rhino for a big melee. Finally, The Sandman's music begins and everyone except Rhino leaves the ring.

Rhino (c) vs The Sandman - ECW TV Title
I'm just going to jump to the big event near the end. The Sandman's wife, Lori Fullington, flat out saved this match. Up until her appearance, this was nothing more than a dull hardcore match. Although to be fair, that can describe 90% of the Sandman's matches. Yet, with Lori coming out to try and prevent Jack Victory from interfering, you have two of the awesome and memorable images from 2000 (Not just ECW). The first sees Rhino hitting a piledriver on Lori from the apron onto a table. Then, when the Sandman shows far more heart and compassion than we're used to seeing, he holds his injured wife in his arms only to be Gore'd through a table. That last spot allowed Rhino to score the pinfall. Really, nothing else in the match is even worth talking about or seeing. Yet, those two spots are the bee's knees (Do the kids still say that?) and worth going out of your way to see. Mike Awesome may have only been gone for a month, but Rhino has really stepped up to be the new dominant monster of ECW. 2 1/4 Stars.

Rob Van Dam w/Fonzie and Scotty Anton vs Jerry Lynn
This would be RVD's return match after vacating the TV title due breaking his ankle. It seems as if the backstory revolves around Jerry Lynn's new attitude (Lynn had only returned to ECW a month prior after being out with an injury) and Cyrus in his ear while trying to con Lynn into joining the Network. Anton is better known as WCW's Scotty Riggs, the best friend of RVD. So throughout the match, Lynn gets to showcase his new aggressive attitude while Cyrus continues to compliment Lynn. Meanwhile, tying in to Lynn's personal issues with RVD is Fonzie. In every one of their previous matches, Fonzie tended to be that little extra something to help RVD beat Lynn. Here, Fonzie once again plays a role in getting in Lynn's way, including a spot when Lynn was on the top rope. The overbook, clusterfuck ending begins with the Network (Cyrus, Corino and Victory), interfering. To Cyrus' surprise, Lynn refuses help and helps RVD battle the heels. This brought out Rhino to lay Lynn out with a Gore and RVD a power bomb. The wackiness continues with everyone leaving and RVD heading up to the top rope. That's when Anton turns heel and shoves his buddy off of the top rope. This allows Lynn to hit one Cradle Piledriver (RVD kicked out) and a second botched on a chair (RVD's head didn't come close to landing on a chair) to finally score the win over Rob Van Dam. Joey Styles questions if Lynn knew that Scotty Anton had interfered. However, would it make much of a difference if he had? It's not like RVD wasn't cheating with Fonzie. While they repeated a lot of their 1999 spots, it wasn't as good. I did dig the over-the-top finish with all of the interference. If nothing else, it allowed for the match to feel different from all of their other ones. Not great, but there's still plenty to enjoy. 3 1/4 Stars.

ECW World Champion, Justin Credible, and Francine came out next for the main event. Before the other introductions, Credible threatens to vacate the title if the match isn't changed from a three-way dance (With Tommy Dreamer and Lance Storm) to just an one-on-one match against Storm. Dreamer attempted to run out to attack Credible, but Paul Heyman stopped him. "He's got us by the ball!" For some stupid reason, Heyman is willing to go along with Credible's request. To prove that he's a real putz, Tommy Dreamer willingly wishes Lance Storm luck as Tommy returns to the back. This angle is beyond ridiculous. Why would Heyman care so much about the ECW Title being vacant? Granted, it had never been vacant in the history of ECW, but who cares? Their tag titles are already vacant and their TV title was vacated a month and a half ago! :

Justin Credible (c) w/Francine vs Lance Storm w/Dawn Marie - ECW World Title
Former partners collide~! (again) Back at Cyberslam 2000, Credible threw down the ECW Tag Titles in order to goad Dreamer into defending the ECW World Title. So naturally, Storm isn't too happy. Despite their familiarity with each other, there's zero chemistry here. Several spots are mistimed and neither guy looks his best. It's especially disappointing for Storm as he's putting in effort, but Credible isn't where he's supposed to be. Worse yet, it's a PPV main event with the new face of ECW. Yet, the crowd doesn't care much. After the women get in their expected cat fight, Dawn Marie is laid out with Credible's That's Incredible. From that moment on, the crowd doesn't make a single peep for the rest of the match. It's a real downer and the finish of a second That's Incredible comes off as pretty abrupt, even though it's Credible's finisher. After a PPV of one fun match after another, the show concludes with a dud. 1 3/4 Stars.

The fans wake up when Tommy Dreamer runs out to lay Credible out with a Singapore Cane shot. Francine tries to beg forgiveness, but Dreamer gives her a Spicolli Driver for all of her betrayals. PPV ends with Joey Styles questioning if we'll see Tommy Dreamer finally get a title shot against Justin Credible at Heatwave, on July 16th.

Overall
It's clear that ECW was starting to slip into panic mode. In the last couple of years, they had lost Shane Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow, Taz and The Dudley Boyz. Just since the start of the year, they've lost Sabu, Mike Awesome and they would lose Lance Storm after tonight. This has positive and negative effects. Personally, I really dig ECW in 2000. This was a year where they were pushing so many new stars. On this show alone, we got to see the push of Steve Corino, Justin Credible, Rhino, Tajiri and Kid Kash. However, there's little denying that the star power was hurting. It's the lack of star power on this show that makes removing Tommy Dreamer from the main event all the more confusing. I suppose it was a way to add heat to Justin Credible, but the reasoning was beyond illogical and you basically just fucked over those fans that paid money to see a three way dance in the main event. In addition, where was Raven?! Here you have the single biggest star in your company and you don't even book him on the PPV? Raven had just worked an ECW show the previous week. So I don't think he was hurt or anything. Another negative for ECW in 2000 was Justin Credible. He was always fine as a midcard heel, but he failed hard as the top guy in the company. First major title defense and he worked the worst match of the night. It's going to be a rough summer for ECW. On the plus side, the rest of the show was just flat out fun. I know I've used that word a lot in this review, but it's true. You start off with a killer opening match, put on a few solid spotfests and you reach the peak with the match of the night with Corino vs Tajiri. More than anything, Hardcore Heaven 2000 proves that even though ECW was hurting at this point, they could still put on a quality card, one that fucking blows away an average 2000 WCW PPV, might I add. If you check out the PPV, just stop after RVD vs Lynn though.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

NJPW Destruction '10 PPV (Oct 11, 2010)​

Manabu Nakanishi vs Tama Tonga
Tonga had only been in NJPW for five months and is still really new into the business. So, what's fun is all of Tonga's chops to Nakanishi and Nakanishi not selling a damn thing. After multiple Tonga chops, Nakanishi delivers one of his own and Tonga sells it like a bomb went off. What's bad is that the match wasn't three minutes long, so Nakanishi had to attempt to wrestle. Nakanishi is slow, not very exciting and I don't last very long before I become bored. Yet, all of the chop sequences were beyond fun. Nakanishi picked up the win after a Torture Rack. **

Bad Intentions and Tiger Mask vs Takashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi and Tomohiro Ishii
Bad Intentions are the current IWGP Tag Team Champions. Grudge match with Bad Intentions being members of CHAOS just a few months ago. The biggest appeal of the match was seeing a pissed off Tiger Mask. Since I began watching NJPW on a fairly regular basis, Tiger Mask has just been a guy that is there to fill up a spot. So it was really refreshing seeing Tiger Mask lose his cool when CHAOS kept choking him and trying to remove his mask. There's a brief moment where Tiger Mask even does some choking himself. As little as I dig Karl Anderson - main eventer, I really dig Bad Intentions. Anderson and Bernard worked well together. Fun match, despite a finish that saw CHAOS being DQ'd because Ishii succeeded in pulling off the mask of Tiger Mask. The big appeal of the finish is that I actually want to see Tiger Mask vs Ishii. Goal accomplished. ** 3/4

Masato Tanaka and The Complete Players vs Jushin Thunder Liger, Wataru Inoue and Tomoaki Honma
This is Liger's return match after being in CMLL for the last several months. The start of the match showcased an awesome exchange of forearms between Honma and Tanaka. It went on forever and it was the best moment of the match. It also showcases the problem of the match. It felt like just a match to highlight the issues between Honma and Tanaka and the other four guys were just there to fill up time. So you began the match with Tanaka/Honma, the majority of the match is just filler with the other four guys (Although Liger's fun) and the ending brings Honma and Tanaka back into the match so Tanaka can pin Honma with the Sliding D. I suppose it's a good preview for Dontaku 2013 though. ** 1/4

TAJIRI vs Toru Yano
A feud based entirely around the mist with each match playing off of the previous one. This would be the rubber match after the two splitter the first two PPV matches. Even though I had a certain amount of excitement for this due to seeing TAJIRI again, it ended up being better than I expected. TAJIRI impressed me with his back selling. He's a big seller that comes close to being comical, without crossing the line. There's a decent amount of comedy as well. The ending once again plays on the mist and their two previous matches as Yano attempts to shield himself from TAJIRI's mist with an umbrella and spray TAJIRI in the face with red mist (Finish of last match), but TAJIRI expects this and waits until after Yano sprays his mist to spray Yano in the face with green mist. Really fun stuff and it's a treat seeing TAJIRI again. ***

Apollo 55 (c) vs Golden Lovers - IWGP Junior Tag Titles
From what I can gather from the pre-match video package, Kota Ibushi joined NJPW (Other than just a couple of spot shows) in early June. Since then, he and Kenny Omega (Also coming in) have been having a friendly feud with Apollo 55 centered around who's the best junior heavyweights. Both Apollo 55's Junior Tag Titles and Devitt's Junior Heavyweight Title was the center of the feud. I believe this is their first ever tag meeting. And really, this is exactly what the junior tag division should be. You have two excellent teams busting out some crazy shit, there's non-stop action, you buy into all of the false finishes and you don't know who's going to win. As dorky as it is, some of the spots even caused me to throw my hands onto my head, shocked and excited at what I just saw. In other words, it's fucking awesome fun and you're watching something that can become a legit draw for fans. After a series of amazing spots, Ibushi managed to pin Devitt following a Phoenix Splash (Still mark out with that move). Such a killer spotfest that makes you forget about your cynical smart mark views. **** 1/4

During intermission, New Japan reveals the teams for the G1 Tag tournament. The two teams that stands out to me the most are High Flying-Buzzsaw, Tanahashi and TAJIRI (Awesome), and Strong Style Exchange, Nakamura and Daniel Puder (WTF? : )

Yuji Nagata and Koji Kanemoto vs Go Shiozaki and Atsushi Aoki
It's NJPW vs NOAH. I've seen a grand total of one Aoki match, but it was fucking awesome (W/KENTA vs Strong/Edwards from six days later). I haven't seen much Go though. The biggest positive of the match is that there's a ton of heat between both wrestlers. Although Go and Nagata hate each other, it's nothing compared to GHC Junior Tag Champion Koji and Aoki. Right from the bell, they're going at it and I'm loving every minute. Despite the zero issues between Koji and Go, Kanemoto took exception to Go allowing him to tag in Nagata, so there was some heat there too. Unfortunately, as the match progressed, it couldn't hold up to the excellent start. Kanemoto didn't do anything for me, his face wash kicks were flat out terrible. Meanwhile, the NOAH team had plenty of poor tag work together. Nagata pinned Go with a bridging Backdrop Driver. It's really a rare match that you're better off just watching the first half or clips of the match. I suppose it did make me want to see Kanemoto/Aoki and Go/Nagata in singles matches though. *** 1/4

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Hirooki Goto - #1 Contender's Match
I wish the pre-match video packages had English subtitles. From what I gather from this very talk video package, these two have known each other since they were teens. While they've both been successful in NJPW, Nakamura has tasted IWGP gold while Goto just kicks ass in tournaments. Now it's a matter of both guys wanting another title shot, so it's a # 1 contender's match. Despite a slow start, this ended up being a hell of a match near the end. The highlight being Goto blocking a punch with the top of his head! That's badass. During one sequence, Goto nearly surprises Nak with a roll-up, so Nakamura loses his cool and kills Goto with a series of knees. It's when Nakamura thinks he has the match in control with a front facelock that Goto surprises him by picking him up and slamming him with Shouten. Not great, but really good (Much like their 2012 matches). For some odd reason, Goto would never receive his title shot and Nakamura would receive it instead. Weird. *** 1/2

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tetsuya Naito
Once again, I wish the video packages had English subtitles. Seems like 2010 was a breakout year for Naito as a singles wrestler. He managed to score tournament wins over Tanahashi (New Japan Cup) and IWGP Champion, Togi Makabe (G1 Climax). The success has caused him to get a little cocky, so Tanahashi wants to knock him down a few pegs. This is a match for all of those Tanahashi haters that believe his leg work doesn't have any purpose. Not only does it have a purpose in this match, but after a High Fly Flow to Naito's leg, Tanahashi scored the submission victory with a Texas Cloverleaf. The best part is that the leg work only came into play as Tanahashi realized he was doomed if he didn't level the playing field immediately. After the intial start to the match with Naito being a cocky motherfucker (Stalling by going in and out of the ring, forcing Tanahashi to chase him), the story begins with Naito wrapping Tanahashi's leg in the steel railing and hitting it with a running dropkick. Tanahashi sold his knee like a champ, although in a different manner. Instead of always grabbing at it, Tanahashi spent the rest of the match walking with a limp and his speed is drastically cut down. Once he goes after Naito's knee, it doesn't always work out well for Tanahashi. See, even though they both have hurt knees, Naito is in far better condition since all he's had done to him is some low dropkicks and Dragon Screw Leg Whips. So naturally, he's able to walk around easier than the steel railing hurt Tanahashi. The fact that Tanahashi's leg work rarely plays a direct role into the finish of an average Tanahashi match only made me love this more. This is all about the story of the match and despite losing, Naito came off looking like a star in the making. He even receives a mini-Benoit reaction after the match. Hell of a semi-main event. **** 1/4

Togi Makabe (c) vs Satoshi Kojima - IWGP Title
Kojima earned this title shot by defeating Tanahashi to win the G1 Climax. I'm not sure if there's any other sort of backstory other than Kojima still being considered an outsider due to being away from New Japan for the last eight years. I suppose the big appeal here is that the match was treated different from other matches. While it didn't breakdown into a full on hardcore match, weapons were involved. The weapons do play a part in the story though. Early on in the match, Kojima slammed Makabe's head against a table and then used a chair on the champion. Once Togi finally made his comeback, one of the first things he did was do the same thing to Kojima. I have to hand it to the fans though, they were really into the match near the end. There were several nearfalls before Kojima finally shocks everyone and pins Makabe after a brutal Lariat to win the IWGP Title. Obviously, with the talent involved (Kojima being up there in age and Makabe being just good), it couldn't have been as good as Tanahashi's match. Yet, it's better than expected (Thanks partially due to the crowd) and Kojima winning the belt adds a lot of importance to the match. *** 1/2

 

[FalconPunch]

Bill Goldberg vs Kevin Nash.

In 1998, two of the biggest stars going at it, and the end of Goildberg's streak. interesting, discussed time period and match was a thriller.