WWF Royal Rumble 1988

So, the WWE Network finally hit the UK, and so I decided it would make sense to make my next review something from the huge databases of shows available to me. I then decided that, hey, tonight is Royal Rumble night....why not review the first ever edition? This was broadcast on TV, rather than PPV, and there are a few interminable filler sections like "Dino Bravo lifting weights for 20 minutes" which drag, but this blog is solely about the matches, and thankfully there were a few good ones on offer here.

Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat

I like the way the match starts with Steamboat skinning the cat to avoid getting thrown over the top rope, and instead throws Rude out, acting as a preview for the forthcoming Rumble. They work a test-of-strength spot, and I love Ventura’s commentary, pointing out Rude has the strength advantage, but Steamboat escaped due to his speed and ability. Steamboat controls by working the arm of Rude, which affects Rude’s ability to use it to pose later in the match. Brilliant. Rude isn’t quite the finished package at this point, with a few blows looking a bit milky. Rude manages to slam Steamboat on the floor outside the ring, and inside holds a camel clutch to continue his focus on the back. Slightly blown moment as they do the “three arm drop” spot, only for Steamboat not to keep his arm up on three, needing a fourth raise from the ref. Steamboat gets a few close nearfalls off a succession of roll-ups, but a crossbody is prevented as Rude pulls the ref in front of the flying Steamboat. Rude hitches an over-the-shoulder backbreaker and thinks he’s won as the ref calls for the bell, but it’s actually a DQ win for Steamboat. Decent enough opener.

The Glamour Girls vs the Jumping Bomb Angels

This is 2/3 falls for the WWF Women’s tag titles. Vince helpfully doesn’t know the names of either Bomb Angel until after the first ad break, so refers to them as Red Angel and Pink Angel throughout. The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai and Judy Martin) are bigger and stronger than the Angels, but the Angels are able to control the early going due to their speed advantage, at one point downing both Glamour Girls with stereo figure-fours. They continue to work over Kai, leading to an amusing tug of war spot, as Martin tries to pull her partner back to their corner. Martin is pretty deadly when she does get in the ring, and she throws Yamazaki over her shoulders from a powerbomb position for the first fall.

Second fall sees Kai continuing the domination of Yamazaki, but misses a splash to allow the hot tag to Tateno. Martin tries the same move that won them the first fall, but Tateno is fresher and reverses to a sunset flip for the equalising fall.
The final fall sees the Girls dishing out some pretty nasty looking blows to consolidate their power advantage. Kai hits a pretty swanky looking butterfly suplex, but this gets outdone when Tateno tags herself into the match, as she hits a bridging butterfly suplex on Martin for two. The Bomb Angels are smart, and don’t let Martin get anywhere near a tag, before finishing her off with a stereo missile dropkick for the victory. This was really fun, with some of the Angels offence way ahead of it’s time for this audience. The Glamour Girls looks great here too, really tough in offence and I think their contribution to this match often gets unfairly overlooked.

Royal Rumble

So, here is the first Rumble, albeit one with only 20 men, and for historical purposes, the first two entrants (already in the ring) are Bret Hart as entrant #1 and Tito Santana for entrant #2. A couple more first sees Santana being the first man to be double-teamed as Butch Reed helps the Hitman wear him down, and Reed goes on to be the first man eliminated when Jake Roberts sends him over the top . It’s fun to see how even guys like Sam Houston and Jim Brunzell get big reactions from the crowd as they enter. I love the disgust in Vince’s voice as Danny Davis enters the match. Ventura does his best throughout the match to put over Bret Hart’s endurance, which Vince barely acknowledges. There’s an odd moment as Nikolai Volkoff jumps the gun, running down the ring right on the heels of Don Muraco, and has to be held in place by the referees until another two minutes go by. It soon becomes notable how they’ve stacked the running order for the Rumble – the early entrants are all guys with high stamina, like Bret, Santana, Houston and the Killer Bees. As we continue, the second half sees bigger guys like Volkoff, Dino Bravo, One Man Gang and the Junkyard Dog come in. Bret, in fact, last until the 18^th entrant (the Ultimate Warrior) is walking to the ring. It’s odd to see the Warrior at this stage, where he’s just another guy rather than THE guy. Despite the crowd chanting for the DDT all night long, Roberts gets thrown out without getting to hit it, though Duggan uses the 3 point stance to send Davis out. The final four sees Bravo, Gang, Muraco and Duggan in the ring. The heels gang up on Muraco, with Bravo holding the Rock in place for Gang to clothesline out. This leaves them 2-on-1 on Duggan. They try the same trick (having established it works, possibly the only time in Rumble history that a heel HASN’T hit his partner with that move), but predictably Gang accidently sends Bravo out instead. Gang charges Duggan, who drops down with the top rope to send Gang out and pick up the win. Not as finely polished as future Rumbles, but still pretty fun.

The Islanders vs the Young Stallions

A curious choice of main event. The Stallions and the Islanders were two of the final three teams in the big Survivor Series tag the past November (along with the Killer Bees), so there is some history three. This is 2/3 falls. The Stallions out-wrestle the Islanders early on, and by avoiding a double-cross from a Tama fake handshake, outsmart them too. A weird botched-looking hiptoss by Haku gives the Islanders control on Jim Powers. The heat section on Powers is pretty brief, before Roma tags in. This is pretty much a storm in a teacup, as Haku pulls the top rope down, sending Roma to the floor, injuring his leg for a countout first fall to the Islanders.

The second fall comes after a break and an interview with Andre, as Vince tells us that trainers have been looking at the leg of Roma. Roma has to start the next fall, being the loser of the previous fall, and Tama goes right for the obvious weakspot. Roma is in such trouble, he willingly causes more pain to his leg just so he can get to make the tag to Powers, by lifting his knees on a Haku splash. Powers has a brief offensive flurry, but it can’t last forever and soon the Islanders are in control. The booking is interesting, as they need to promote the Islanders (who are feuding with the British Bulldogs at this point), but clearly was to protect the Survivor Series-winning Stallions too. Hence the leg injury to make the Stallions look plucky and courageous in the face of great odds. Powers gets a few hope spots too, with a nearfall from a small package being close. Powers eventually gets to make the lukewarm tag to Roma after a weird botched dropkick from Haku (that actually kinda connected), but Roma manages only a few blows before Haku sweeps his leg out. A top rope splash onto the leg sets up a single-leg crab on Roma that gives him no choice but to submit. Pretty decent bout.

 

Best of Reslo Vol 2

Yep, a mere four years after posting the first volume of the Best of Reslo, here is the second issue. Never let it be said this blog isn't punctual.

Bull Power vs Otto Wanz
Bull Power is, of course, better known as Vader. This appears to be for the CWA in Austria, and they've even sent the suave Bryn Fon over to present the show from ringside. Power is the defending champion. This seems to be fought under last man standing rules with a rounds system and this, coupled with the large partisan crowd who roar everytime Wanz gets on offence, makes it feel like a Rocky film. This is added to by the fact that we're clearly not too far from Wanz's 1990 retirement, so he looks a bit past his prime here taking on a young, brash beast in Power.

Power quickly decimates Wanz in the corner with the strikes we all know and love him for. Wanz fires back and backs Power into a corner, showing he's not intimidated. Power takes over and has Wanz bleeding on the floor in an armbar as the first round ends. Round two shows Wanz is bigger than Power, but is clearly less mobile and less dynamic. Wanz is not afraid to lay in his blows and his size means it looks pretty painful when he puts his weight behind each blow. The third round kicks off with Power slamming Wanz with relative ease, then going for a sunset flip almost as if to show off. Wanz looks punchdrunk and ends the round crumpled in a heap. The rounds break gives him a chance to catch his breath, however, and he hits Power with a suplex and some full weight blows, then takes Power to the mat, where he's more dominant. Round five sees the momentum switch again, with Power hitting a big top rope clothesline like a freight train. Every time Wanz gets back up, Power knocks him straight back down.

The momentum starts to shift permanently in round 6 as Wanz clotheslines Power over the top rope. This feels like a big moment and Wanz keeps on him, ramming his head into the ringside tables. Back in the ring, Wanz hits his own slam on Power and the round ends with Power looking in danger. Wanz starts round 7 on fire, and Power's second Orig Williams has to call a timeout very early in the round. Power tries to fire back, but his blows are less powerful and less effective than earlier. A missed avalanche outside the ring sends Power into the ring post and the end feels nigh. One last clothesline in the ring keeps Power down once and for all, giving the win and the title to Wanz.

Fit Finlay vs Kid McCoy
This is a cage match, and the environment very much favours Finlay here. McCoy uses some nice tricked-out matwork to escape an armbar, only to find Finlay doesn't care much for that, as Fit just strikes him back down to the mat. Beautiful in it's simplicity. Finlay beats poor McCoy down with intent, ramming the back of his head into the sturdy looking cage and slamming his head in the cage door. McCoy prevents an escape attempt and tries to squeeze Finlay's head in the cage door instead. Fit is soon back in control, and goes to work on wearing down McCoy. Being the more agile, McCoy makes quick, sudden comebacks to catch Finlay off guard. I loved Finlay hurting his hand by punching the cage as McCoy ducked. However, McCoy is soon out on his feet and bleeding as Finlay rams him face-first into the cage over and over again. One final attempt by McCoy to stop a Finlay escape is broken by a headbutt, and Finlay drops to the floor in victory. Fun in a brutal way.

Pat Roach vs Ray Steele
This is fought under a round system, best of three falls. Steele looks good to start, but Roach uses his size advantage to deliver hefty blows. Roach looms over Steele like a giant grizzly bear. They work a nice knucklelock to end the first round, and Roach seems reluctant to let go, with Steele having to kick himself free. In the second fall, Roach controls, whipping Steele between the turnbuckles and hitting a backbreaker for the fall. Roach continues to control with some big bombs in the next round, but Steele ducks one and hits a backslide to even up the falls. Round 4 kicks off with Roach changing tack and working over the arm of Steele, showing some nice fluid matwork for a big man. Steele tries another backslide, but Roach is in the ropes, and a big boot and slam win the fall and the bout for Roach. Fun competitive match.

Skull Murphy vs Pat Roach
Murphy is a total shit here, using all manner of skullduggery to control the early stages. He particularly like grinding his wrist guard into Roach's face. This fires Roach up, hitting a big backbreaker, but every time he gets control, Murphy will gouge his face or go back to the wrist guard to take over. Unfortunately, he goes back to this tactic too many times, with the ref forcing him to take it off and his control sections have only angered Roach rather than hurting him, so he's left with a big angry bear and his main weapon gone. Roach grabs the wrist guard and grinds it into Murphy's face for revenge. A backbreaker is to close to the ropes to get the pin, but Murphy's attempted comeback is thwarted when he misses a slingshot splash. Roach decks him with a big boot and a slam for the victory.

Eddie Gilbert & the Original Midnight Express vs Mighty Thor & the Terminators
JIP from Windy City Wrestling, with the Midnights working over one Terminator in their corner. He does get to power out of a headlock, but keeps running the ropes to hit clotheslines instead of making the hot tag, and gets downed again. Idiot. He reverses a double backbodydrop into a rather swank double sunset flip and makes the hot tag to Thor. A six-man melee breaks out, and Gilbert ends up pinning Thor whilst holding the ropes. Short and pointless.

Cool Cat Jackson vs Richie Brooks
Another cage match on this set. Jackson gets rammed into the cage early, but recovers in time to grab Brooks' leg as he straddles the top of the cage, which has to be painful. There does seem to be a bit of an absence of selling in the match. A big suplex from the top of the cage should put both guys out for a while, but both are soon up on their feet again ready for the next spot. I do like Brooks trying to escape whenever he gets an opening. In a Chris Hero-esque moment, Brooks prevents Jackson escaping the cage by holding a cravate despite falling all the way from the top of the cage to the canvas. Brooks downs Jackson again with a monkey flip, but tries a top of cage splash instead of escaping. His stupidity is rewarded by missing. Both are still back on their feet in seconds, but Jackson hits a slam and a legdrop before anticlimatically exiting the cage door.

Steve Jones vs Mongolian Mauler
Jones, delightfully, is William Regal billed as a Welshman, famously told by Orig Williams not to speak for fear of blowing the gimmick. Mauler is probably not Mongolian either, but he is a terrible ham, overacting to a distracting degree. Jones hitting a running crossbody looks odd coming from him. A lot of this match is Jones bumping and selling for the Mauler's dubious looking offence. The bout ends with both men outside and Mauler belting Jones with chairs for the DQ. Jones' mentor Orig Williams comes down, not so much for the save, but just to break the two up, as Jones is fired up. Fun look at a young Regal here, just wish he had a better opponent.

Moondog Rex vs Steve Wright
Looks like they've paid to ship Bryn to Austria again. Steve Wright is, of course, the father of Alex. The ref here has a whistle that he blows an annoying amount of the time. There's a fun armbar spot to start, which end with Wright ascending the ropes for an armdrag. Rex clearly doesn't care for this cutesy nonsense, and punches him back to the mat. The problem with the match is that there is no real flow, just a few fun moments bolted together. There's a spot where Wright shows impressive strength to lift up Rex from an armbar, another spot where Wright pointlessly ties himself into a ball, but put together it doesn't quite work. The end sees Rex trying to ram Wright's head into a bone, but this fires Wright up who reverses the move, hits a big top rope kneedrop and a top rope sunset flip for the win. Not great.

Orig Williams vs Barret
Orig Williams was the master showman of Welsh wrestling, and his autobiography is a tremendously entertaining read. He doesn't do anything particularly fancy in this match (which is more or less a squash), but the crowd reacts to everything. Loved seeing him bust out a stump-puller before picking up the win with a backbodydrop.

Kamala vs Jerry Lawler
We're joined in progress with Kamala all over Lawler with his basic offence. Lawler kicks out of a splash at 2, and makes a full-on, strap-down, fired-up comeback. I love Kamala selling each Lawler punch like a tree about to fall over in the wind before finally being sent to the mat. Lawler misses the fistdrop, and they wind up outside the ring. Lawler is able to nail Kamala with a chair and gets in to beat the count for the win. Nice ending to keep both looking strong.

Giant Haystacks & Klaus Kauroff vs Boston Blackie & Cool Cat Jackson
Best of three falls rules apply here. The faces work over Kauroff early, rightly picking him as the weak link of the team. However, as soon as Haystacks is in, he casually destroys Jackson, and lets Kauroff pick over the remains. A slam gifts him the first fall. The second fall continues in this manner, until Haystacks makes the mistake of uncovering the turnbuckle pad and gets rammed into it himself. Blackie comes in like a house of fire and, struggling, he's forced to tag in Kauroff. Blackie soon polishes him off with a second rope splash. The third fall sees Blackie remain in control, until Haystacks clotheslines him as he runs the ropes, taking the wind out of his sails. Though he is able to get the hot tag after avoiding a Haystacks corner splash, Jackson is not fully recovered and Haystacks drops an elbow on him to keep him down for a standing ten count and the victory.

Triple X Wrestling Untitled Festive Season Tie-In Event

As I check Facebook and see that Triple X are already announcing matches for their next show, it dawned on me that I probably needed to get my lazy arse round to making sense of the jumble of notes I wrote on their festive show one-and-a-half weeks ago. A show that rather magnificently ended with a roster of wrestlers singing "Do They Know It's Christmas". Tearjerking...

Dave Mercy vs Pollyanna
After a ludicrous introduction, including chasing host Omer Ibrahim round the ring to the Benny Hill theme, we were "treated" to Dave Mercy taking on the debuting Pollyanna, who looked good throughout the match, despite what Mercy put her through. Mercy has really found his calling as the opening match guy for Triple X, with his frankly disturbing antics seemingly perfect for warming up the crowd. He's also really good at finding new lows to plumb in each match. Here, despite being out-wrestled in the early parts of the match, he seemed to be in his element fighting a woman, threatening a "boobplex", before the tables were turned and he got taken over with a "ballplex" for a near count. A punch to Pollyanna's breasts brought her to her knees, low blowing Mercy as she fell, who in turn took out the referee in a fun spot. Pollyanna looked to have the match won with a leglock, but Mercy reached into the well-padded bulge of his groin and pulled out a sock that he attacked her face with to break the hold. Mercy eventally got the victory with a rather horrible-looking teabagging pin.

Santa Paws vs Flash Morgan Webster
Santa Paws was a chap in a panda mask dressed as Santa, who unfortunately got assaulted by a not-booked Morgan Webster. This was a quick little match, won by Webster, to lead onto the next angle...

Wild Boar vs Keiron Young
.....as Webster took the mic and claimed he knew what Triple X were trying to do, turning all his friends against him. He highlighted former friend Mark Andrews, his trainer Mike Bird, then claimed that the reason Wild Boar was back in Triple X was to turn Boar against him. The Boar came to the ring as Webster cut a promo essentially asking Boar to be his friend, a request that was met with a simple "no". The match itself was pretty much a squash, but just because a face turn seems imminent, it didn't mean Boar was letting Young off lightly. I've missed Boar in Triple X, he's not the biggest guy, but everything he does looks violent. Young did get to hit his trifecta of dives to the outside, but ultimately Boar won with the Trapper Keeper. Boar ignored Webster's offer of friendship again afterwards, and face Wild Boar is totally something I can get behind.

Jim Diehard vs Big Grizzly
This was a pretty fun battle of two massive bearded men. Grizzly had tag partner Scott Grimm at ringside, so you knew that he was going to get involved at some point. This started pretty slowly, but got better as the match went along. I alway love Big Grizzly's cannonball in the corner, it always looks like he's just rolling straight through them. Diehard took a bit of a beating from Griz, but was making his comeback when Grimm grabbed his leg to prevent him going to the top rope(!). The Titans of Terror beat down on Diehard, until a returning Benton Destruction made the save and challenged the Titans for the next show. Griz may have responded to the challenge with "Fuck off", but I suspect it will happen and will be terrific.

Chris Brookes vs Tyler Bate
This was an absolute treat. Bate has rightly become one of the shining lights of British wrestling in the past year, but it's worth pointing out how great Brookes has been in that time period too. Both guys have an inate charisma that makes an audience want to react to them, albeit in different ways. After Bate's Sandman-inspired entrance, these two beat on each other with a viciousness that only guys who know each other really well can get away with. There were lots of nasty spots and loud cane shots that belied the fact this feud blew up over Tyler's facial hair. Bate took out Brookes with a huge dive from the top rope over the safety barrier, and then put him in a 40-second airplane spin inside the ring. Tyler got two very close nearfalls with a deadlift German suplex and a big lariat, but got knocked from the top rope when Brookes shoved the ref into the ropes. The match ended with Brookes hanging Bate over the top rope with a thick bunch of electrical cable, really yanking back on it, until Bate passed out and couldn't continue. Next month, they're competing in a deathmatch, and I'm almost scared to see how they'll top this awesome brawl.

Eddie Dennis & the Hunter Brothers vs Mike Bird & the Dunne Brothers
Triple X wisely put a Chase Alexander in-ring promo before this match, to give the crowd (and the choked-out Bate) a chance to catch their breath. This was a total change of pace, a really fast-paced six man tag with the following stipulation: If Dennis' team won, Pete Dunne would lose his #1 contendership for Dennis' Triple X title, but if Dunne's team won, he'd get his title match that night.

Trying to recap all that happened would be a fools errand, but this was a good long match, spiced up with the odd moment of chaos. The Dunnes and Bird had some really smooth teamwork as a trio, and dominated the early stages, but the heel team would find ways to isolate individual members throughout the match. I loved the hanging of the Welsh flag in the corner as a heel tactic. As things broke down, Dennis brought the Triple X title belt in the ring to use as a weapon, but it ended up in the hands of Pete Dunne. Unfortunately, his attempts to level Dennis missed, and instead took out Damian Dunne, leaving him prone for the three count and losing Pete's #1 contendership. The fun thing is how this leaves the Clusterfuck match next month. This isn't the first time some tension has been hinted at between the Dunnes and, whilst winning the Clusterfuck match would give Pete his title shot back, but a win for Damian would really put the cat amongst the pigeons. Can't wait.

WWE NXT Takeover: R Evolution

This feels like a pretty modern review for this blog, to be honest

Kevin Owens vs CJ Parker
I loved Owens looking dominant right from the start, as the people seeing him for the first time need to see why he's been getting so much hype. The big flip dive looked great, certainly better than the shitty spin kick that gives Parker an opening. Owens gets to look great by kicking out of Parker's (nose-breaking) palm strike, and the finishing sequence of a vicious pump-handle neckbreaker and a pop-up powerbomb give Owens a mighty debut win.

Lucha Dragons vs the Vaudevillains
The big problem with the replacement Sin Cara is that, if he felt a bit sluggish compared to the original Cara, he looks positively leaden next to a livewire like Kalisto. Cara did take a nice bump when he was pulled to the floor by Aiden English. I like the Vaudevillains as wrestlers, but they don't really wrestle in the gimmick. In-ring, they don't really feel like old school wrestlers. Compare them to blog-favourite Tyler Bate, who wrestles a similar gimmick but throws in airplane spins and fun power spots to augment his character. This was still fun, and Kalisto is perfect off the hot tag, just non-stop movement. English heroically saving Gotch from a two-man dive was odd, especially as Kalisto pinned Gotch seconds later.

Baron Corbin vs Tye Dillinger
Fun squash, as Dillinger bumped nicely for Corbin. Corbin has a face off with Bull Dempsey post-match. Still got no idea what anyone seem in Bull Dempsey, and the idea that someone decided to release Martin Stone and keep Dempsey seems absolutely insane.

The Ascension vs Hideo Itami & Finn Balor
Balor's entrance felt so bigtime, and you can tell he's not long for NXT. I loved the big flapjack Konnor gave Itami to give the Ascension the advantage, and Itami trying to battle out of the corner from the mat made him look great. Viktor is certainly the less exciting half of the Ascension, and things dragged a bit when he was in control, but the hot tag to Balor heated things up to a fever that didn't subside. Balor hitting an enzuigiri to send Viktor from the top rope to the floor was terrific, and the pop on Itami's GTS tease will only be beaten by the day he actually hits it. Even though Balor and Itami HAD to win, I totally bought into the Fall of Man tease, before the double footstomp wins it for the faces. Really fun match.

Charlotte vs Sasha Banks
Love the fact that Charles Robinson is the referee for this match. I really liked the sense of hatred at the start, with some trash-talking and some nice strikes. Banks hitting some vicious knees to a prone Charlotte in the corner looked great. Bank grounding Charlotte with submissions makes sense due to the size difference between the two, and the strength difference does get played up throughout the match. Charlotte is able to escape a figure-four headscissors by using her strength to hit an electric chair on Banks. Banks nails a nice dive to the floor, but is turned inside out by a huge spear from Charlotte. Just to rub in her genetic superiority, Charlotte lands on her feet on a missed moonsault and instead hits a flipping senton in a terrific spot. The end sees the size and strength factor come to the fore again, as Bank is unable to superplex Charlotte, who instead hits the Natural Selection from the top rope to win.

Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn
All the build-up to this match really feels big time. Neville looks really great in the opening sections, dominating Zayn on the mat by working the arm and looking really crisp throughout. He even seems to be showing off slightly, until getting caught in a Zayn backbreaker sends him outside to regroup. Though small, Neville is a little ball of muscle and his offence has enough snap to it that it enables him to work as heel and Zayn to work from beneath. Zayn's main strength is his heart, so he needs to hang in there before being able to take over on offence. A lovely sequence ends with a Zayn flip dive to the floor, but Neville still feels like he's one step ahead. Every time Zayn gets some momentum, Neville is able to shut him off quickly. Eventually, Zayn starts getting more into the match, but his all-round decency nearly backfires as he checks on the ref following a bump, and gets nailed by a Neville reverse rana for a nearfall. We get another ref bump as the Helluva kick hits the official in the head, and we get a slightly melodramatic morality play as Zayn debates hitting Neville with the title belt. He doesn't, and nearly pays for it again as Neville rolls him up for two, but the Helluva kick in the corner is enough for the three count and the title for Zayn. Really great match up, good logical story-telling, and Neville looked fantastic throughout.

End of 2014 Round-Up Post

So, as is now tradition on the blog, this is a round-up of the best stuff reviewed on the site this year. However, due to some really terrible matches viewed this year, I've added a quick list of the worst matches I've sat through, as well as doing a separate list of the best matches I've seen live this year - previous years have seen live matches mixed with the taped matches, but I felt it better to separate them this year. Enjoy!

The Ten Best Matches Reviewed On The Blog This Year

10. Jeff Jarrett vs Christian Cage vs Sting vs Abyss vs Ron Killings (Jeff Jarrett: King of the Mountain Disks 1 & 2)

The second of TNA’s King of the Mountain match, and they’d improved the formula greatly from the first (not just limited to the fact that they’d got the hook properly connected this time). Better bumps, better story, great match.

9. Chad Malenko vs Jonny Storm (All Star Wrestling 14/03/01)

Proof that sometimes simpler is better. Worked in front of a family-orientated All Star crowd, Malenko and Storm put on a fun little gem.

8. Low Ki vs American Dragon (ECWA Super 8 2001)

Would probably have been higher if not for Ki’s inconsistent selling. Dragon was terrific here, with some lovely little touches and some sublime chaining between moves. Only a few years into his career, and he’s already something special.

7. Alex Shelley & Masato Tanaka vs Sonjay Dutt & Dick Togo (Zero-One 18/03/2005)

Fun stunt-filled TLC match between two interesting looking teams. Love the Togo hot-tag here and the end features a suitably nutty collection of spots.

6. The Backseat Boys vs Nick Mondo and Ric Blade (CZW Cage of Death 2002)

Considering the participants, you wouldn’t expect this the be the more logically worked TLC to the above entry, but there is a solid underlying story between the stunts. Mondo and Blade are risk-takers, but they will hurt themselves to hurt their opponents, whilst the Backseats are a regular team and their teamwork carries them through to a victory.

5. El Hijo Del Santo vs Negro Casas (Best of El Hijo Del Santo Vol 1)

Wonderful hair-vs-mask match, and you can feel the real desire to win from both guys throughout the match. Love the little things, like Santo going for quick roll-ups to secure victory or the way Casas frantically fights against the match-winning Camel Clutch.

4. Jeff Jarrett vs Kurt Angle (Jeff Jarrett: King of the Mountain Disks 3 & 4)

Jeff Jarrett has always been Kurt Angle’s best opponent, smart enough to work matches around Angle’s non-stop style. This was Jarrett’s first match back after the death of his wife and was based around a story of Jarrett trying to survive against the best wrestler in the company. A match with a real feel-good ending.

3. Randy Savage vs Jim Duggan (WWF Mega Matches)

No carry job here, as a motivated-Duggan and the Macho Man put on a little gem. Some lovely selling from Duggan throughout, making both Savage AND Sherri look tough as nails. Some smoke-and-mirrors booking at the end helps keep Duggan look strong and this is a really good match on a really poor tape

2. Necro Butcher vs Toby Klein (Necro Butcher – Choose Death)

Great death match. Butcher takes some nasty looking bumps and both guys trade vicious, hate-filled blows instead of setting up overly-complex spots. The match ending Death Valley Driver onto an open chair is suitably decisive.

1. El Hijo Del Santo vs Espanto Jr (Best of El Hijo Del Santo Vol 1)

Violent, crimson-soaked brawl in another mask-vs-hair match. There is so much I love in this match, from Santo’s long-period of contemplation after losing the initial fall, to Espanto violently ripping at the bloody mask of Santo. Some believable closefalls and some lovely dives make this a deserved end-of-year winner.

 
The Five Worst Matches Reviewed On The Blog
 

5. Marty Jannetty vs Totoru (All Star Wrestling 14/03/01)

Reviewed at the start of the year, if you’d told me this stall-fest filled with abysmal comedy would only just make my worst 5 of the year, I might have cancelled the blog

4. Hell’s Belles vs Benji & the Smoke (WEW Celebrity Ho-Down)

I’d like to be able to pin all the blame for this mess on Benji, who clearly had no business being in a ring, but this squash main event is terrible even when the more competent Smoke is having to zombie-sell for the Belles

3. Veronica Caine vs Lizzy Borden (XPW Freefall)

A Buck Naked match, where the aim was to rip off all your opponents clothes. This was never going to be good, especially with two non-trained wrestlers in there, but adding a screwjob finish that only added to the untrackable heel/face divide on this show made it unbearable.

2. Valerie Elizabeth Wyndham vs Francine (WEW Celebrity Ho-Down)

Another match between two barely-wrestlers. All the moves in this match looks terrible, and bonus shit-points are earned by the presence of the PWO (sigh…the Pussy World Order) in Wyndham’s corner who contribute absolutely nothing to the match.

1. New Jack vs Vic Grimes (XPW Freefall)

There’s a returning theme of non-wrestler’s in this list, but these two were actual pro-wrestlers, with years of experience between them, and they put out this scaffold mess. They wander about, hit some weapon shots then arbitrarily decide to climb the scaffold from which New Jack nearly kills Grimes by hurling him well away from the tables designed to break his fall. Terrible AND incredibly fucking stupid.

 The Five Best Matches Seen Live In 2014

Note: not all of these shows were reviewed this year

5. Kris Travis vs Jack Jester (House of Pain: Evolution 9)

4. The Hunter Brothers vs Mark Andrews & Pete Dunne (Southside Wrestling Menace II Society)

3. The Henchmen vs the Hunter Brothers (Triple X Wrestling Clusterfuck III)
2. Joseph Conners vs Dave Mastiff (House of Pain: Evolution 9)
1. Zack Sabre Jr vs Pete Dunne (Triple X Wrestling Clusterfuck III)
Absolutely sublime match, with every little movement and hold meaning something. Triple X have really pushed Dunne as a lead face this year and, though he didn’t pick up the win here, the quality of the match and the nature of the loss really elevated him in defeat. This was a bit special