WCW Thunder 29/01/1998

Diamond Dallas Page vs Sick Boy

Really nice match worked within a hierarchy, with both guys blending well. Sick Boy looks pretty good here, nailing a nice springboard dropkick. His belly to belly looks a bit poorer mind. DDP hits a neat tilt-a-whirl slam and Sick Boy bumps big for his own missed kick. DDP hits a flapjack into a Diamond Cutter and that’s enough for the win.

Meng vs Jim Duggan

Fun slugfest, as much as Duggan was past his peak he wasn’t afraid to go to war with someone like Meng here. Lovely moment early as Jimmy Hart tries to distract Duggan from the floor, but Duggan rips his jacket off and hurls it at Meng to allow him to nail some more punches. This is just two big boys going at it, until Hart tries to throw the 2x4 to Meng, which Duggan intercepts. Duggan breaks the 2x4 over Meng’s back, but it’s no-sold and the Tongan Death Grip puts a fighting Duggan down for three.

Raven vs Marty Jannetty

This is fought under Raven’s rules. A glancing dropkick sends Raven to the floor, but Marty takes a big bump when Raven throws him into the ringpost. Marty hits a bulldog, which is slightly disappointing as there’s a chair propped up in the corner, and Tony Schiavone instantly calls that Jannetty is going to send Raven headfirst into the chair, which can only lead to a let-down when it’s just a regular bulldog. Marty takes ages going up top, seemingly telegraphing a missed move, but he hits a fistdrop. That genuinely came as a shock. Jannetty goes to use the chair, but Raven dropkicks it into his face, one of the best examples of this move I’ve seen, and the Evenflow gets the win. Fun stuff.

Goldberg vs Yuji Nagata

Nagata gets a few kicks in and a nice attempt at an armbar, but Goldberg eats him up with a rolling leglock, a swinging neckbreaker, the spear and the jackhammer. Goldberg looked great.

Scott Hall vs Disco Inferno

This comes across as a quick squash from the get-go, as Hall attacks Disco at the bell and nails a chokeslam. Hall goes for the Outsider Edge, which feels like the end, but Disco wriggles out and hits the Chartbuster to a huge pop. Only Dusty Rhodes interference prevents the three count. This is basically the end of Disco’s offensive run, as Hall nails a lovely discus punch, the fallaway slam and the Edge for three.

Booker T vs Saturn

These two always paired up well together, and this was a fun little TV match. Loved Booker missing a high kick, which Saturn grabs into a t-bone suplex. Saturn takes a bump on the floor, getting backdropped into the Flock at ringside. Booker’s second attempt at a high-kick pays off, looking great. The Flock try to interfere, but get run off by Rick Martel. In the fuss, Booker pushes Saturn into Martel and rolls him up for victory.

Chris Jericho & Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko

It probably wont come as a surprise to learn that this is really good. Got to love Guerrero grabbing Malenko by the neck as soon as Malenko gets anywhere near their corner, pulling him in for some cheapshots. All four of these guys have lovely snap to their moves, with a Malenko powerslam as a Jericho German suplex all landing crisply. The end of this is terrific – Malenko hits a superplex on Jericho, leaving both men down in the ring. Benoit goes to hit the diving headbutt on Jericho and hits it. Guerrero goes for the frog splash on Malenko, but he gets his feet up, sending Eddie to the floor whilst Benoit locks in the crossface for the tap from Jericho. Great stuff.

The Steiner Brothers vs Kevin Nash & Konnan

As is fast becoming the case with Thunder mains, this is mainly angle, with Scott not even getting into the ring. After an initial flurry, the NWO team slowly beat away on Rick in an uninteresting manner. Eventually, Buff Bagwell interferes and Nash uses a title belt on Rick for the DQ. Yawn.

CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2005 Night 1

FIST (Icarus & Gran Akuma) vs Team WXW (Mana & John Cabbie)

Nicely worked opener, with FIST portrayed as the more fluid unit, but Mana being the wildcard factor in the match. FIST control Cabbie early with some nice double teams, but suffer when Mana gets tagged in. He’s a big guy, who easily puts both guys on his shoulders for a Samoan drop before blitzing Akuma in the corner with shoulder barges and running knees. Mana even no sells a pair of dropkicks, really getting put over, before Cabbie blind tags back in, and in the melee accidentally superkicks his own partner. Icarus hits a spinning flapjack on Cabbie for the win. Good stuff.

Davey Andrews & Shane Hagadorn vs the Ring Crew Express

For a guy who vanished off the face of the wrestling earth the same year, Andrews seemed pretty decent. He and Hagadorn are representing Ring of Honor as their students, and even heelishly put RoH turnbuckle padding in their corner. There’s bit of this that aren’t very good, not restricted to an early blown victory roll spot. For some reason, we get a game of dodgeball breaking out midway through, which is pointless. The rest of the bout is basic, but solid, tag formula stuff which is hard to mess up. The RoH team heel it up, double-teaming behind the referees back. Andrews hitting a dropkick on Marcos whilst Hagadorn held him in an abdominal stretch looked really good, and an Andrews stomach buster got real height on it. There’s a few slightly blown bits, like Andrews not tagging in before a double team move, making it look a bit awkward as Hagadorn was clearly expecting the tag. Andrews hit a diving to the floor, the kind of move that probably explains why he didn’t wrestle after this year. It gets a bit messy after the hot tag, before Dunn and Marcos get the win with a double team senton.

Crossbones & Mano Metalico vs Knight Eye For The Pirate Guy (Lance Steel & Jolly Roger)

This was nicely worked, you can see guys like Roger and Crossbones improving show by show. Here, Roger is really laying his stuff in, looks like his strikes are actually meant to hurt his opponent. Fun early spot sees Roger breaking a Crossbones Full Nelson by just punching the hands until Crossbones has to let go. Fun jousting spot, with Roger carrying Steel on his shoulders to hit Crossbones in the corner. Metalico plays monster here, and he’s pretty effective at it, reversing a wheelbarrow into an Irish Curse in one great spot. For some reason, Crossbones seems to be working against his partner, holding an opponent in place for a kick, then moving him so Metalico falls over. Very odd. Metalico beheads Steel with a clothesline, but Roger turns a flying headscissors into a small package for the victory

Big Daddy (Shirley Doe & Darkness Crabtree) vs Team Osaka Pro (Ebessan & Billy Ken Kid)

The cleverly named Big Daddy team are rather an unusual pairing, but Doe and Ken Kid pair up really nicely in the ring together. Ebessan and Crabtree, for their part, work a comedy bit based on Crabtree’s usual slo-motion wrestling, but in a nice twist Crabtree then takes his medication and works a fun, swiftly paced sequence with Ken Kid. Unfortunately, the pills are his downfall, as he takes some more and has a heart attack, culminating with Ebessan hitting a Shining Wizard for the win. Short, stupid, but kinda fun. Ken Kid looked really good, bodes well for the later round.

Team You Can Call Me Al (Allison Danger & Alere Little Feather) vs Claudio Castagnoli & Arik Cannon

Smartly worked intergender match, with the women outsmarting the larger men in the early stages. Really neat spot with Claudio elevating Danger high into the air, only for her to land and flip him into a crucifix. Alere becomes face in peril, with Claudio hitting a nice giant swing into a Cannon dropkick. Cannon also hits a really good looking fistdrop. This is a short match though, and it breaks down a bit sloppily towards the end. Danger gets a nearfall on Cannon with an STO, but Claudio saves. A Glimmering Warlock and Ricola Bomb finish Danger.

Rorschach & Ravage vs Jigsaw & Sabian

Jigsaw looks pretty terrific here, working Rorschach on the mat and looking really smooth in doing so. The heel team look pretty good double-teaming Sabian, with a nice Rorschach wheelbarrow into a Ravage running knee, followed by a Rorschach facebuster. They work over Sabian’s arm, with Larry Sweeney on commentary rightfully questioning this tactic, highlighting that Sabian barely uses his arm and that it would make more sense to go after his leg. Really liked Rorschach hitting a cross-armbreaker which he rolls through with into a chancery. This whole match is probably the best Rorschach has looked in CHIKARA so far. Jigsaw is great as the hot tag, full of energy. Sabian and Jigsaw lock in a fun double submission and both heels tap. This was fun.

Team IWA (Din Mak & Mat Bomboy) vs Team IWA-MS (Danny Daniels & Jimmy Jacobs)

The IWA-MS are very much an odd couple, very much opposites in terms of character, but working surprisingly well as a team. Daniels is enjoyably cocky early on, schooling Din Mak on the mat. Bomboy kind of mirrors Daniels, also being pretty cocky, but he’s laying things in a bit stiffer than his partner. Unlike the IWA-MS team, IWA don’t have much in the way of teamwork, with Bomboy breaking a Din Mak cover in order to try and get the glory himself. Daniels steamrolls both thanks to this distraction, until Bomboy tires of Mak, superkicks him, and Jacobs hits a top rope senton for the win.

Team PWG (Super Dragon & B-Boy) vs Glenn Spectre & Mokujin Ken

Spectre and Ken are the mystery opponents after several names get called out and aren’t there (plus the Rachies, who are there, but are in no state to compete). If you haven’t seen Ken, AKA Ken the Box, he’s a wooden tree-man essentially. His size means he’s unable to stand on the apron while Team PWG kick the shit out of Spectre. Spectre is given a brief comeback, hitting an RKO on Super Dragon, but has no-one to tag to with Ken being stuck on the floor. Spectre instead sends the opponents to Ken, taking big bumps as they run into Ken’s wooden fists, but in the ring Spectre gets destroyed again, eating a Shining Wizard, a Kerb Stomp and a double stomp from the top for the loss.

Claudio Castagnoli & Arik Cannon vs Team FIST

The second round matches are all longer than the first round, so they all get a bit more meat to flesh things out. Really fun spot early, as the heels try to avoid stereo pescados from Team Fist, run into each other and then get wiped out by the dives they were trying to avoid. Icarus showcases an ability to hit an armdrag from any angle, much to the annoyance of Cannon. Cannon holding a full Nelson to allow Claudio to nail a brutal looking uppercut was a great spot. Icarus is face-in-peril, and takes a good beating, including a lovely moment where Castagnoli locks in a full Nelson and swings him round, a la the giant swing, getting a good number of rotations. However, Claudio manages to uppercut Icarus so hard that he falls into the corner to tag in Akuma. Akumao gets a Yoshitonic on Claudio for two, but an attempt on Cannon is blocked and Claudio nails him with an uppercut. The Glimmering Warlock/Ricola Bomb combo gets the three.

Ring Crew Express vs Jigsaw & Sabian

Two popular teams here sees this match receiving some duelling chants. Nice even stuff to begin, with Marcos and Sabian working some fun mat exchanges, whilst Dunn and Jigsaw work quicker, rope-running sequences. Sabian and Jigsaw hit dual topes to take control. Lovely spot sees Jigsaw holding Dunn in place in a surfboard to eat a top rope stomp. Jigsaw misses a 450 legdrop, allowing Dunn to tag in Marcos, and we get a melee of action in the ring. The Ring Crew Express hit the assisted senton, but Sabian saves, and the Sliced Bread #2 is reversed into a Jig’N’Tonic in a smooth sequence for three.

Jimmy Jacobs & Danny Daniels vs Knight Eye for the Pirate Guy

Interestingly, Jacobs hints at a heelish nature in this match, acting even more douchey than his partner, a guy who is working heel. It’s the addition of little cocky touches, like shaking off his fist after a great punch. Daniels drills Roger, who becomes face-in-peril, with some lovely looking kneedrops, really driving the knee into him. Both members of the IWA team hit airplane spins on Roger in a fun spot. Steel cleans up after a blind tag, and locks in his “unbreakable” Boston Crab on Jacobs. There’s a slightly clumsy bit, with Steel backdropping Daniels out of the ring as he tries to break it, whilst still holding onto Jacobs, didn’t flow very well. Jacobs gets dragged to the centre of the ring, and has to tap out.

Super Dragon & B-Boy vs Billy Ken Kid & Ebessan

Going into this, I was curious how Ebessan would fit into this, a guy who’s primarily a comedy worker. The answer, it turn out, is by having Dragon and B-Boy bully and batter him, making him the sympathetic face in peril of the match. They establish this early, with Dragon cheapshotting Ebessan on the apron. Both PWG guys are clearly frustrated by Ken Kid, getting outworked and sent to the floor, stalling for time before re-entering, before feasting like piranhas when Ebessan gets in. The beat him down in the corner, B-Boy locks in a nasty bridging Cobra Clutch on the mat, Super Dragon hits a nasty cappo kick in the corner followed by a B-Boy dropkick to the face…basically a big kicking to a likable schlub like Ebessan. Ebessan kicks out of just enough to remain credible, not taking any big killshots, just a lot of sustained offence. He makes the tag after Super Dragon misses a corner charge spectacularly, flying into the post, and Ken Kid is a ball of energy on offence. He hits a lovely cannonball from the second rope to the floor on B-Boy, only to be stopped by an unlikely leaping rana from Super Dragon, who shows great athleticism. Loved the end of this one, BKK ends up alone with B-Boy, and he circles him round by the arms, suddenly switching it into a backslide and he gets the three, thrusting his legs into the air on the final count to add more weight and to avoid Super Dragon’s save. Absolutely great stuff.

NXT Takeover: WarGames II

Kassius Ohno vs Matt Riddle

So, obviously a full match would have been preferable, but they smartly didn’t promote this as a scheduled match, so you can’t be too disappointed by Riddle knocking Ohno out in 6 seconds. Riddle is a can’t miss star, putting him over strong makes complete sense.

Kairi Sane vs Shayna Baszler

This went by too quickly, especially given the 2/3 falls stipulation, but what they cram in is really good. Liked the gameplan by Sane to blitz Shayna from the off, not giving her a second to recover. Loved the sliding clothesline against the ropes, before Baszler’s Four Horsewomen comrades attack Sane, allowing Baszler to lock in the Kirifuda Clutch for the first fall. Loved her trying to lock it on again quickly at the start of the second, and her stomping violently on Kairi’s face looked nasty. Sane trying a series of roll-ups and quick pinfalls as she tries to recover makes nice sense and I really liked the insane looking DDT on the apron – it looked like a real gamechanger, made it realistic that Sane could use that as her opening after the beating she’d taken. The insane elbow makes it one fall apiece. Loved Sane now hitting three consecutive spears, with Baszler selling the combined damage to her ribs. We get some fun hoopla outside the ring with Dakota Kai and Io Shirai evening the odds against the Horsewomen, before Baszler counters the insane elbow by rolling Sane into a crucifix to win. Not their best match, but these two match up so well that it’s still really great.

Johnny Gargano vs Aleister Black

I liked a lot of this, but there was definitely a lot of melodramatic overacting that took away from my enjoyment. Gargano ducking and bobbing to avoid Black’s strikes was really cool, especially as it built up the moment that Gargano ducks and eats a big kick to the face as a big moment. Gargano managing to stay one step ahead of Black was really effective, made him look like a smart performer, especially as a lot of this was built up as Black’s revenge. Loved the Gargano tope to a DDT on the floor. But the bad stuff starts creeping up too. The Riddle match had shown how to build someone up as a great striker, but here the “Striking Man from Amsterdam” (piss off Mauro) hit Gargano with a load of strikes, most of which were getting no sold or were having little effect as they roll from one sequence to another. The bits where both guys try luring the other in to hit big moves by emotively yelling at them was terrible, hurt the pacing of the match and added nothing. Gargano getting a roll up by ducking Black Mass was a nice wrinkle, and I dug Black hitting two consecutive Blass Mass to ensure Gargano wouldn’t kick out, but a little bit too much of this was actively bad.

Tommaso Ciampa vs Velveteen Dream

So during the match, I realised who Dream reminds me off. While I can see the comparisons to Rick Rude or Hulk Hogan (which Dream was happy to play up here), I felt like I was watching an androgynous Sting. Tall, in great shape, terrific athlete who, whilst a little green in places, is having good matches and is able to push through by sheer force of personality. Yeah, just like early Sting, and this played out like a great Sting vs crafty heel bout. Dream puts in a great shift here, bumping big when Ciampa shoves him to the floor on a springboard attempt and hitting a big dive on an evasive Ciampa. For his part, Ciampa is really nasty, smashing Dream in the corner with a running knee using his knee brace that Dream sells as a knockout blow. He does horrible stuff like making Dream drool by locking him in a submission, then rubbing the spit in Velveteen’s face just to be a dick. Dream goes for Ciampa’s knee with a figure four around the post and then in the centre of the ring, and though it doesn’t get the win, it gets paid off after Project Ciampa is hit, but the pain to the knee means Ciampa can’t cover right away and Dream is able to kick out. Some really convincing nearfalls, none more so than when Dream hits a rolling DVD on the floor and immediately rolls Ciampa in for a Purple Rainmaker for two. Genuinely believed that was it. An attempt on the ring apron sees Dream crash and burn to the floor. Ciampa hits the draping DDT on the metal grid separating the two Wargames rings, and that’s enough to put Dream down. I very much enjoyed this, thought this was Dream’s best performance to date.

Pete Dunne, Ricochet & the War Raiders vs The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong)

This match seems to have split opinion online, with maybe two-thirds of comments being against this match for bloat, for bad structure or for not feeling like a real Wargames. For my part, I loved this, and it kept me wide awake at gone 2.30am. Yes, it’s very long, but watching it in real time, I found that I felt it flew by.

I’m going to try and avoid just basic play-by-play here, because they fit so much stuff in here. You can get away with having big bombs not ending the match because there’s lot of guys there to make the save, and you need to hit big moves to put down as many of your opponents as possible in order to leave no-one who can prevent victory. Here, a lot of big stuff was hit, but for the most part it wasn’t kicked out of. Yes, Pete Dunne survived a lengthy chain-and-chair assisted submission, but finding extra reserves in such a big war against your hated enemies feels acceptable. I enjoyed the opening stages of the match, and I think the natural structure of the bout helps keep the match fresh. A new face every few minutes changes the match, with the arrival of members of the face team feeling like a hot tag every time. The tactic of the Undisputed Era to lock Pete Dunne in his cage to allow them to destroy the opposition 4-on-3, then have Dunne at a 4-on-1 disadvantage to dismantle him. The fact that Pete was able to fend them off with weapons, keeping them occupied while his partners recovered, made sense to me and set up the second half of the match well. Yeah, there was a West Side Story-esque bit of nonsense that saw a shaky confined brawl between the two rings, but I was able to enjoy it as a big, dumb spotfest. War Raiders in particular looked great here, maybe the best Hanson has looked in NXT, with his joint powerbomb on Strong/World’s Strongest Slam on O’Reilly being a great power spot. The overly complicated tower of doom spot leading to Ricochet’s double moonsault was a bit hokey, but Pete hitting the Bitter End and Ricochet hitting the 630 on Cole felt like a nice, final, full stop on the bout. I’m an outlier here, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. 

ECW Hardcore TV #36 14/12/1993

Sal Bellomo vs Don E Allen

Thankfully brief Bellomo squash. Even as a heel, he still resorts to cheap tactics, filling the match with chokes and slams. He hits an admittedly decent dropkick before finishing Allen with a splash. I hope Sal is gone soon.

Tommy Dreamer & Shane Douglas vs Kevin Sullivan & the Tazmaniac

Dreamer’s partner Johnny Gunn isn’t here, so Douglas comes in to replace him in this tag title defence. It’s easy to see why Dreamer didn’t endear himself to the ECW faithful in the early days, his suspenders-on-long-tights look making him look like the third, wimpiest American Male. He looks decent here though, hitting a really nice diving clotheslines and nicely stumbling from the corner into a Taz overhead suplex. Dreamer lands on his shoulder on a Sullivan belly-to-back suplex in an awkward landing, as he plays face-in-peril. Douglas hasn’t tagged in at this point, which gets your spider-senses tingling, as the seemingly reformed heel not tagging into the bout feels like a tried and true set up. Indeed, this is the case, as Dreamer makes the hot tag, only for Douglas to level him with a chained fist to allow Sullivan and Tazmaniac to win the titles. Decent enough.

Tony Stetson vs The Sandman

I wonder how far Stetson could have got in wrestling if he didn’t have such a terrible look, as he manages to work a decent bout against a perpetually terrible Sandman. Stetson’s offence always looks good, here sinking in his corner shoulderblocks and hitting a nice running clothesline in the corner. Sandman hits a nice top rope back elbow, and I loved Steton sliding backwards out of the ring, keeping his eye on Sandman and luring him to the floor for a cheapshot. Nice powerbomb only gets a two, before Sandman rolls through a top rope crossbody for the win. 

AWA Team Challenge Series

Lovely to see this appear on the Network's Hidden Gems section, a crudely filmed pilot for the AWA Team Challenge Series, filmed in a studio with no crowd. Guys come to the ring, with a green-screened audience badly inserted either side of them. Crowdshots get added in during the matches, crowds who 100% aren't watching these matches, and this is a fascinating mess.

Tommy Jammer vs Tom Burton

Bless Tom Burton for playing to the crowd here, what a pro. You know this is going to be ridiculous when the non-Greg Gagne commentator demands a replay after a Jammer bodyslam. This match is all armdrags and hiptosses from both before Jammer gets a powerslam and a splash to pick up the quick win.

The Destruction Crew (Wayne Bloom & Mike Enos) vs Ricky Rice & Jerry Lynn

Oh man, the camera work here is awful, zooming in on Bloom’s face while the faces work over Enos. For the monster heel team, the faces get in a lot of early offence on Enos. Lynn already looks decent, including holding onto an armbar even when Enos slams him to the mat, but Rice only seems to throw awful armdrags. Finally, Lynn becomes face-in-peril after eating a knee to the back. Enos slams him to the buckle, hits a shoulderbreaker and a powerslam, before a Doomsday Device finishes off Lynn.

Paul Diamond vs Colonel DeBeers

This is basically a two man battle royal. Liked Diamond hitting a flying bodyscissors and actually maintaining the hold on the mat. Diamond misses a corner splash in a nice manner, taking a big bump. The slo mo does the opposite of it’s intended job, making a decent-looking dropkick appear worse by showing DeBeers basically brushing it aside when it hits him. DeBeers hits a really nice looking top rope headbutt, but though he misses a second, he maintains his assault, albeit not very interestingly with some methodical clubbing. However, like an idiot, he goes for a piledriver next to the ropes and Diamond backdrops him to the floor. This was fine.

Sgt Slaughter vs The Terminator

This is a very slow paced match, with both trying to show their dominance during a run of shoulderblocks. Slaughter hitting a running crossbody was unexpected, but looked good. Both guys play to the crowd, so again kudos for that. Terminator wears down Slaughter with some unexciting clubbing, but Sarge hits a second rope clothesline and the Cobra Clutch gets the victory. Inoffensive stuff, Slaughter at least looked decent.

Womens Wrestling Revolution - WWR Vs The World

Kimber Lee vs Alpha Female

I enjoyed this, albeit not as much as their Mae Young Classic match last year. Alpha Female goes on the attack from the off, and I liked her quickly wearing down Lee for an Anaconda Vice, hitting a flurry of blows to the head to weaken her opponent. Kimber Lee goes back on the attack, with AF oddly seeming to slide to her knees just to eat a bunch of kicks. Alpha hits a big Dominator and a lovely big forearm, but we get an awkward moment with a Gory Bomb reversal, where they just seem to fall over. Loved Lee’s swanton bomb, which looked to land flush, before AF hits a clothesline for two and another Dominator for the win.

Thunder Rosa vs Harlow O’Hara

This almost starts with a goofy dance sequence, but I liked Harlow stopping it straight away with a big shoulderblock. Loved Harlow’s big running knee, and I thought she looked really good in this match. Bad habit of swinging way too high on missed clotheslines, but her locking a butterfly guillotine to Rosa, holding it for a few seconds, then suddenly dropping to the mat looked great. Rosa has a few nice moves, hitting a bunch of nasty chops in the corner, but even then O’Hara gets the better of her by chopping her back in the face. Rosa hits a nice running boot to the face and a top rope stomp for the win, and this was all good.

Davienne vs Skylar vs Oceanea vs Alisha Edwards

Fun four way match, where I thought Davienne and Edwards were the standouts. Davienne is really fun working as monster, making the most of her power and size advantage by bending Oceanea over her knee with a backbreaker. There’s a great spot where she’s got both Skylar and Oceanea on the mat, and does a baseball slide dropkick, pushing them both gut-first into the ringpost. Edwards is worlds apart from her role as face jobber on Impact, here working shit-talking heel, and she’s a load of fun, ostensibly teaming with Davienne, but trying sneaky pins behind her back. Oceanea and Skylar seem fine, but do less to stand out before Skylar hits a poor looking double arm DDT on Oceanea for the win.

Penelope Ford vs Jessica Troy

It’s been two years since I saw a Ford match, and she seemed to have improved vastly in that time. Here, she looked totally confident in the ring, with her execution way up on what it was. Loved her rolling spear into the corner and a really good looking Northern Lights suplex. Troy took the offence nicely, but suffered from having a load of terrible looking strikes, with boots to the head that looked weak and flimsy shots in the corner. In contrast, Ford hit a really nice flurry of shots, a big German suplex into the buckles and a great looking rolling cutter. Troy’s non-strike offence was perfectly fine, but she tried a lot of strikes, before Ford picks up the win with a rolling cradle.

Zoe Lucas vs Karen Q

This was really good, felt like they matched up really well. Loved the matwork at the outset, felt evenly and smoothly worked. There’s a slightly blown flying headscissors early on, but crucially they don’t let it throw them or affect the rest of the bout, as Q hits a big combination of moves in the corner. Lucas has some great flexibility that she uses to her advantage here, getting a nice bridge on a Fisherman’s suplex and getting her leg up really high to hit a spinkick, so that it acts more like a clothesline to the face. She also hits a neat slingshot into a splits on Q for a two count. They also achieve the rare feat of making a simultaneous kick to the head KO spot look good. Lucas hits a great looking standing scorpion kick and a rolling DVD, but Q rolls into a Boston Crab, with Lucas tapping immediately. Loved this.

LuFisto vs Shazza McKenzie

Can’t help but feel that McKenzie came into this with the wrong gameplan, as she decides to brawl on the outside with LuFisto early door. This ends with her taking a powerbomb onto the apron, so you can guess how successful this plan was. LuFisto works her on the mat, tying her legs in a deathlock, whilst also grinding her knee into McKenzie’s spine, before following that with headbutts to the back. McKenzie pretty much has to work from underneath, and ends up using her speed advantage to get some respite, slipping through the ropes to avoid a LuFisto charge and tying her in the ropes to lace into her with kicks. It’s not enough though, as LuFisto hits a backfist and a back suplex for two, before a burning hammer gives her the victory. Maybe a little too one-sided to be great, but this was a lot of fun.

Undeniably Impressive (Tessa Blanchard & Indi Hartwell) vs The Bird & The Bee (Willow Nightingale & Solo Darling)

This kicks off with a really great bit of matwork between Blanchard and Darling, felt really competitive and logical. Loved little touches like Blanchard having to work to get a grip of Darling’s finger to wrench a wristlock, Darling not giving up the digits easily. Nightingale and Hartwell in contrast work faster, running the ropes and countering each other, playing to their own strengths. First time I’d seen Darling and she really impressed, like a little buzzsaw with a neat series of kicks. Tessa kicks Nightingale in the back as she runs the ropes to make her face-in-peril, and her team work a series of running strikes to the back with Willow draped in the ropes. I liked Willow blocking a train of moves in the corner after a couple of blows, makes sense that you wouldn’t just stand there and take a beating, but falls prey to a Tessa codebreaker from the second rope. Darling comes in and also gets worn down, with Blanchard chaining nicely into a butterfly suplex from the mat. Even when Darling comes back, Blanchard impresses, really whipping herself into the mat on bumps. Eventually, order breaks down with all four in the ring, and unfortunately the worst move of the match gets the win, with Nightingale and Darling hitting a contrived double team slam on Hartwell that doesn’t really come off, but this match on the whole was great.

Terra Calaway vs Delmi Exo

Brief stuff with Calaway attacking before the bell, and Exo getting zero offence. Terra picks her off the mat during pinfalls after a big sideslam and a full Nelson slam. Harlow O’Hara comes in for the save, before turning on Exo. Oceanea makes the save, and this was more angle than match. Calaway looked great though.

Jazz vs Jordynne Grace

I enjoyed this a bunch, but it clearly suffered from Grace’s real-life ankle injury that clearly bothered her and likely made the match go short. This started really well, liked how they worked the matwork to start, with each powering out of holds rather than working counters. However, after getting tied in a deathlock by Jazz, Grace’s ankle clearly bothers her, as she goes to the outside to shake it off. Jazz doesn’t go after the injury after that, even when heeling it up later, so it must have been affecting Grace badly. Jazz takes control with some cheap moves after both women have exchanged clubbing blows, working her in the ropes and raking Grace’s eyes. She also hits some nasty crossfaces during a Camel Clutch. Grace gets a very brief comeback, but Jazz escapes a fireman’s carry with an eyerake, and hits a Michinoku Driver for the win. This was still good, but feels like a missed opportunity. Would be up for a rematch.

WWF Raw 12/09/1994

The Undertaker vs Kwang

Kwang has been a real treat to watch on 1994 Raw’s, but he’s not doing much in this match. This is barely competitive, which makes sense given their relative positions on the card, but I kinda wanted to see some more Kwang offense. He gets in a nice kick early on, but is soon methodically beaten down. Taker hits a nice big slam and a vicious looking throat thrust, before Kwang comes back with the green mist. Taker spits green mist of his own into Kwang’s face, which is pretty neat, before hitting a chokeslam for the win.

Jim Neidhart vs Tim McNeany

Neidhart is all over McNeany from the bell, so this is one of the days when he was motivated. His 1994 comeback was hit or miss, but this was a pretty fun squash, aided by McNeany taking a big bump to the floor, landing with a splat. Neidhart wears him down some more and locks in a Camel Clutch to win.

Shawn Michaels & Diesel vs Tony Devito & Paul van Dale

Hey, it’s Carmella’s dad as one half of the jobber team (van Dale), first time I’ve seen him. Shawn is entertaingly dickish early on, luring Devito to the floor, running away and hiding behind Diesel, then using the distraction to get behind Devito and attack him. Van Dale telegraphs a backdrop really early, basically bending over as soon as he sends Michaels into the ropes, so it’s no surprise that it gets reversed. Diesel comes in and basically crushes him, hitting a sideslam, a big boot and the Jack-knife, before Shawn hits a splash from off his shoulders to get the pin. Decent squash.

Adam Bomb vs Duane Gill

I think Bomb gives Gill a bit too much here. The crowd are surprisingly into him, and he’s a far more impressive figure than Gill, but he still gets put into headlocks and beaten in the corner. Bomb should have been killing this guy. Still, he looks great, with nice agility to leapfrog over Gill (though why is Bomb leapfrogging Gill instead of just killing him?) and hitting a nice slingshot clothesline. Atom Smasher gives Bomb the win.

The Bushwhackers vs Barry Hardy & Bert Centeno

The Bushwhackers are much more palatable when facing jobbers, as their antics are designed to make their opponents look like idiots, which could hurt actual credible opposition. Here, it’s quite fun and this is totally played for comedy, probably useful when the audience will be sitting through a marathon of squashes. In that setting, goofy spots like Luke covering both opponents and Butch counting a pin make more sense, and this is harmless fun. Battering ram pins Centeno

WWF Raw 22/08/1994

Only two matches on this episode of Raw, as they build up to SummerSlam that coming Sunday. A lot of Vince and Randy Savage hyping the matches, not much action. One of these matches is surprisingly good though...

Lex Luger vs Crush

If I had to predict how this match was going to start, I probably wouldn’t have gone for “Lex Luger crossbody”, but that’s how Luger takes the early advantage. Crush is a frustrating watch, as he does a load of neat little things amidst a load of slow plodding offence. Liked him holding up Luger’s arm to give him a clear opening to punch him in the ribs, and him blocking a backdrop with a downwards fist to the back of Luger’s head looked good. He also had a logical match structure, working Luger’s back after a backbreaker, punching him in the spine and locking in a Camel Clutch. However, in between this he slowly wanders around the ring, hitting the odd blow, but doing nothing exciting. Frustratingly, Gorilla Monsoon keeps referring to Crush building up toward a “devastating” bearhug, but the moment he locks it in, we got to commercial and Lex had escaped by the time we return. Lex at least has an energetic comeback, nailing some nice clotheslines, a powerslam and a decent DDT. Crush takes control again with a neat tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but gets distracted by the Million Dollar Man at ringside, allowing Luger to hit the bionic forearm to win.

Diesel vs Typhoon

This starts off surprisingly energetically, with both men tussling for position and Typhoon sending Diesel out of the ring with a shoulderblock. Diesel downs Typhoon with his own shoulderblock after a Shawn Michaels distraction, and things do predictably slow down as Diesel locks in a chinlock. Enjoyed Typhoon’s comeback, hitting wild swinging fists at Diesel, missing a legdrop but nailing a corner splash. A second one hits boots, however, and a flying clothesline gives Diesel the win. This was surprisingly good.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1992

Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton & Michael Hayes vs Tom Zenk, Shane Douglas & Johnny Gunn

Neat little six man opener. Being in Philadelphia, the heel team get cheered on their every move whilst the faces are met with a chorus of boos. Unsurprisingly with this line-up, the match flows really well. Some neat pairings here, Douglas meshing really nicely with Eaton, hitting him with a lovely flying headscissors. Both teams use quick tags to start, with the neatest being Arn tagging himself in while Zenk has Eaton in the air for an atomic drop, allowing him to level the Z-Man with a sneaky clothesline. Eaton takes out Douglas’s leg with a big clip, and delightfully Arn is all over it. He locks in a figure four with Hayes helping with leverage from the apron. It all breaks down as the hot tag is made to Gunn, and in the melee he nails a Thesz Press on Hayes to get the win. Fun match.

Ricky Steamboat vs Brian Pillman

Really good match here, which is still short enough to leave you wanting a future rematch. Loved how this opened, Steamboat lights up Pillman with some stiff chops, which Pillman seems happy to replicate. They go into a nice sequence that ends with a skin-the-cat and Steamboat hitting a trademark armdrag. Steamboat plays up his rare power advantage, grabbing Pillman by the throat and holding him in the air. Loved how Pillman locked on his sleeper as the smaller man, just yanking Steamboat by the neck as he runs the ropes, then leaping onto his back to put all his weight onto Steamer. Pillman heels it up nicely, cowering off and luring Steamboat from the ring, which leads to a nice moment as he knees Steamboat in the face entering the ropes. Moments later this happens again, but this time Steamboat avoids the knee and leg sweeps Pillman to the mat. Loved it. We get a series of roll-ups and Steamboat manages to hold Pillman down for the win. This was some lovely stuff.

Vader vs Nikita Koloff

Vader is defending the US title on behalf of Rick Rude, and I liked how Ventura on commentary highlighted this disadvantage to Koloff, preparing for a very different opponent. Vader is all over Koloff, mauling him from the get go, but then poses giving Nikita a chance to come back, hitting a rare crossbody for two. Vader still controls the bulk of this, battering Nikita outside the ring, and hitting a chokeslam inside that sees Koloff land awkwardly. Koloff gets a little shine, hitting a shoulderblock and an impressive slam, but like an idiot he tries the Russian Sickle on the floor with Vader stood against a ringpost. Surprise – he clotheslines the steel and gets thrown back inside to eat a powerbomb for the Vader win.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin & Steve Williams

Austin was subbed in here to replace Terry Gordy, who was fired that same morning for a contract dispute. Yet even with the heel team being thrown together, this was really good stuff. Rhodes and Austin already have really good chemistry from their 1991 feud, and Austin and Williams seem to gel more and more as the match continues. There’s a lot to love here, really dug Dustin breaking a Williams wristlock by leaping over the top to the floor, snapping Williams’s arm over the top rope. This is pretty even stuff until Windham gets wiped out with a flying clothesline from Williams. The heat on Windham is really fun, lots of hefty blows being dished out. Loved Windham blocking a superplex and nailing a big top rope clothesline to tag in Dustin. Rhodes swiftly becomes face-in-peril after Williams clotheslines him behind the refs back. Williams then bends Rhodes in half with a nasty looking Boston Crab. Austin hits a rare powerslam on Dustin that looks great, but then the call of “5 minutes left” comes up and suddenly the pressure is on the heels to win. We get a false finish, as the heels throw Dustin out of the ring after a ref bump and pin Windham, but the original ref reverses the decision and continues the match. The match goes on two minutes and ends as a time limit draw. Really neat stuff, basically putting four 5* punchers in one match, and the result was a fun, hard-hitting half hour that flew by.

Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono

This is for Chono’s NWA title, and it’s a direct contrast to the previous match. Whereas the tag match is 30 mins that flies by, this is 22 minutes that drags to fuck. There are two refs, Harley Race inside the ring (calling it down the middle, surprisingly) and Kensuke Sasaki on the floor. There are bits of good in here – Chono snaps Rude to the mat with a sudden back suplex, Rude hits some nice big blows early on, but there’s a lot of very dull matwork that goes nowhere. There’s no fight over it, just two guys who should do better putting on holds slowly. You can hear the crowd audibly deflate when Chono locks on a sleeper. Nice little bit of psychology with Rude hurting his back after hitting a missile dropkick, before Chono accidentally hits Race with a Yakuza Kick. Rude is thrown outside the ring onto Sasaki, meaning that no-one makes a count when he nails the Rude Awakening inside the ring. Chono locks on the STF and Sasaki recovers to call the sub, but Race reverses the decision to DQ Chono. Doesn’t matter, Rude doesn’t get the belt either way, and a screwy finish is the final nail in the coffin of the crowd giving a shit. Awful stuff.

Ron Simmons vs the Barbarian

I’m a big fan of both guys, but I’d heard this was one of the worst WCW title matches. I’d say that was a bit of hyperbole, to be honest, this isn’t that bad. They work a nice power battle early, exchanging shoulderblocks and clotheslines without a winner. Loved Simmons beating Barbarian down with a series of double sledges, hammering him in the face. Barb takes over after dropping Simmons neckfirst over the rope and clotheslining him against the ringpost. Barb misses the ropewalk elbow and Simmons shows nice energy as he hits a series of clotheslines and shoulderblocks. Barbarian gets two after hitting the top rope headbutt, looked really good as he leapt across the ring, before Simmons gets the win from nowhere with a powerslam. This was perfectly decent power wrestling from two great power wrestlers.

Sting vs Jake “the Snake” Roberts

This is a Coal Miner’s Glove match after the whole “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” debacle. Roberts distracts Sting to start, and tries to climb the pole quickly, but is stopped. Coy opening, with neither seeming too keen to commit, weighing their opponent up. Loved Roberts doing a cocky little pose after Sting misses a dropkick, before hitting a bunch of knees to the spine. They looked great. Roberts hurts his arm on the ringpost, and I loved that Sting zeroes in on it, using it as his focal point. Clumsy spot with Jake supposedly hitting a kneelift, but selling it like he’d missed and both guys remain down. Ventura, bless him, covers for them both by claiming Jake’s momentum went against him. Roberts hits the DDT, but with the bad arm, meaning he can’t capitalise as quickly as he should, giving Sting a feasible way to recover. Sting goes for the glove, Jake goes for his cobra, and Sting hits Jake from behind, causing him to fall face first into the snake, who bites him as Sting gets the cover. Have to admit that’s an innovative ending, even though it looks a bit shit. Not as bad a match as I’d feared, it’s all logical, some nice selling and I kinda enjoyed it.