JCW Slam TV Episode 2

Going through these Juggalo Championshit Wrestling shows (which is a lot of fun, just nice 45 min episodes with some dumb, enjoyable action), I can't help but think they're like a better version of Wrestling Society X. It's got better commentary (with one exception, which I refer to later) and better matches (probably the result of using IWA-MS and PWU mainstays, rather than XPW). This episode is weaker than the first, but was still easy viewing.

Jimmy Jacobs & Josh Abercrombie vs Necro Butcher & Mad Man Pondo

Little bit of negativity first, unconnected to the match itself, and that’s based around the commentary. On the whole, I find the commentary on these shows by the ICP very amusing, but I was disappointed with this match. Considering how often they sing about hating bigotry, there was a lot of talk about how gay the Jacobs/Abercrombie team were, and a load of time talking about sucking dick. It’s a shame because I expect better from the ICP.

The match itself was a glorified squash, but was still fun. Watching Necro blast away at Jacobs in the corner of the ring with chops and nasty punches is always going to be enjoyable, and I liked Pondo bealing Jacobs across the ring by his pierced nipples. Pondo then takes out Jacobs with a top rope senton through the chair Jacobs was sat in. Jacobs & Abercrombie are both clad in partially pink gear and are certainly playing up to the homophobics in the crowd, but more importantly, both are able to showcase their talents in the brief chances they get. Abercrombie blows a springboard move, but is smart enough to follow it up with a huge tope through Butcher & Pondo to divert focus away from the error. I also dug the spot where Abercrombie was about to dive from the top rope onto Pondo, who was laid out on the ramp, but spotted Jacobs was in trouble with Butcher and instead dived onto Necro. Something that makes sense, but you rarely see. It’s not enough to keep the advantage, and Butcher hits a tope rope slam on Jacobs through a table to win. Enjoyable, but better watched on mute.

Trent Acid vs 2 Tuff Tony

Both guys won on the last show, so it stands to reason that this was a pretty close match. Acid sneak attacks Tony pre-bell, but Tony soon gains the advantage and uses a Cactus clothesline to send Acid out. Tony backdrops Acid into the crowd, but Trent is able to use his wits to take over on Tony. He hides under the ring and re-emerges with a chair, which he uses to level Tony. A top rope splash get 2 for Acid. Tony is able to fire back in style, suplexing Trent into an open chair. Acid superkicks a chair into Tony’s face, which doesn’t look great. Tony hits the flipping top rope legdrop to Acid, who is too close to the ropes to pin, and hits a top rope rana, which sends Acid onto what is left of the chair. Tony Driver should be enough to finish, but Tony decides to light his fist for the Meteorite, which prompts Acid to run off for the count-out. An entertaining, if sloppy, spotfest.

WWF Raw 31/01/1994

Dull episode of Raw here. A lot of time is taken up with the Bret Hart/Lex Luger Wrestlemania X cointoss, and not much in the way of in-ring action

Marty Jannetty vs Johnny Polo

Here’s tonight’s big match, and it’s the opener featuring a manager as a competitor. This really isn’t very good, and you suspect Polo has been told not to look too competent, as this is way worse than his Scotty Flamingo stuff. I liked the opening comedy, where Polo tried to attack Jannetty, who was holding a mic, only to end up getting tied up by Marty in the cable. Jannetty is one step ahead, even landing on his feet when thrown to the floor and rushing back to hit a crossbody for two. Polo takes control going into the break, and keeps holding Marty down with chinlocks, as well as hitting a spectacularly blown back bodydrop, where Marty kind of skids over his back. Control transitions back to Marty via my least favourite reversal – the heel tries a double axehandle to lying-down opponent but gets a boot to the face instead – and he finishes with a Rocker Dropper for 3. Polo really was no fun in control, and he controlled too much of it.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Miguel Rosado

Half-hearted squash of the pot-bellied Rosado here, who tries a really shitty dropkick early on. I liked Bam Bam just hurling him across the ring, but this is very by the numbers. A diving headbutt, not even from the top, gives Bigelow the win.

Kwang vs Rich Myers

Myers has offence so weak he makes Dolph Ziggler look like Super Dragon. Kwang actually looked ok here, dug his big over-the-top-rope corner spin kick, and he had a few nice kick combos. Kwang hits a few throat thrusts whilst holding Myers by the hair, stopping him falling down, and a superkick gets three. Perfectly fine

 Earthquake vs Corey Student

Decent squash for the returning Quake. Nice belly-to-belly, big running clothesline and a running corner splash all looked great, before he hit the seated splash for the win. Enjoyed this.

WWF Royal Rumble 1994

Last year, I did a super-topical Royal Rumble post on the day of the event, so decided it'd be an idea to do one again this year. As I'm in the middle of my 1994 Raw project, I thought it'd make sense to do the 1994 Rumble, the first one I watched when my parents got Sky

Tatanka vs Bam Bam Bigelow

This was supposed to be Tatanka vs Ludwig Borga, but Borga was injured. Probably an upgrade to get Bigelow here, with the result being a decent little PPV opener. It kicks off at a high tempo, as Bigelow tries to jump Tatanka before the bell, but Tatanka uses his speed to avoid the attack, and manages to take control. Nice DDT by Tatanka, but he misses a big crossbody. Bigelow hits a corner splash on Tatanka, getting real nice speed on it. Bam Bam slows things down with a bearhug, but it’s a bit embarrassing as he initially tries to hold Tatanka in the air, but has to put him down right away. Bigelow doesn’t even bother working the bearhug, so it’s a dull period of the match. There’s a double crossbody spot where both guys fly into each other at full speed. Bigelow stops Tatanka hulking up with an enzuigiri, which is a nice touch, but he misses a moonsault. Tatanka hits a top rope crossbody for the win.

Bret Hart & Owen Hart vs the Quebecers

I was interested to revisit this match because, as memorable as the match-ending angle is, you don’t really hear much said about the match. On the whole it’s quite fun, though not as memorable as you’d hope from these two teams. I really liked Jacques’ heeling it up after Owen gets the best of him, hugging Pierre and cowering on his knees. Bret going for flash pins early makes sense, given that he and Owen still had the Rumble to come. The Quebecers briefly get control of Bret, and Owen keeps doing more harm than good by trying to get in the ring, as it draws the attention of the ref away from the Quebecers cheating. This is an ongoing theme throughout the match, which builds up Owen’s hot-headedness and desperation to win for the final angle. Loved Owen’s beautiful overhead belly-to-belly on Pierre when he does get in. Then the big match-changing spot occurs, as some Johnny Polo interference causes Bret to crash through the ropes to the floor, injuring his leg. The Quebecers focus on this injury, including a nasty looking leap off the ringsteps to the knee. All the time, an impetuous Owen is trying to get to Bret and distracting the referee. Even as Owen brawls with Pierre, Jacques is hitting Bret in the leg with a foreign object. Pierre goes for the top rope cannonball to the leg, but Bret moves just in time. Bret opts to try the Sharpshooter rather than tag Owen (a stupid move, though you could justify it by pointing out that Bret is the wrong side of Pierre), but can’t hold the move due to his injury. The ref instantly calls off the match (though the Fink is keen to point out “Bret Hart DID NOT submit” on his announcement), and a furious Owen kicks out Bret’s leg. Fun match to start off a great angle.

Razor Ramon vs IRS

Both guys exchange some nice punches early, nicely surprised by IRS. Razor takes a huge bump over the top running the ropes. I was really happy to see someone reverse the “heel leaps off the top rope to hit unknown move, only for the face to get his boot up” trope, as IRS grabs the foot and hits a big elbow to Razor. Unfortunately, this is the highlight of IRS’ offensive run, as the rest is pretty pedestrian. It also includes a really long chinlock. A ref bump sees the end, as Shawn Michaels runs in to level Razor with his phony IC title, and after a loooong time, IRS crawls over to cover Ramon for the win. However, a 2^nd ref comes in to advise what happened and the match gets restarted. Rather unfairly, as IRS is still celebrating his win on the 2^nd rope, and he gets planted with a Razor’s Edge for the victory. An uneventful bout.

The Undertaker vs Yokozuna

Another match that’s more famous for the post-match angle. The match itself is pretty lacklustre, and painfully slow. After the two exchange some chairshots outside the ring, Yoko thinks a clothesline is enough to conquer the Undertaker, so really takes his time putting him in the coffin. It’s not. Taker hits a sloppy chokeslam, that looks more like Yoko slipping on a banana, and a big DDT to roll Yoko into the casket. You can see Taker desperately killing time for the first outside attacker to stop him closing the lid, before Crush turns up, followed by the Great Kabuki, Tenryu, Bigelow, Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, both Headshrinkers and Diesel. We all know what happens next (urn blows green smoke, heels close Taker in the coffin, Taker talks to the audience from the coffin and rises to the ceiling), but the boring match is often forgotten about as a reason to hate this whole deal.

Royal Rumble

Scott Steiner and Samu start off, which is pretty fun as neither is afraid to lay in their blows. Owen is brought back as an early entrant, earning major heat. The heel turn definitely worked. Diesel gets his first vestiges of a big push, as he gets to go on an elimination spree. He clears the ring (with Owen’s elimination getting a big pop, and clears the ring one-by-one of the next entrants…Bob Backlund, Billy Gunn, Virgil (much to the delight of Ted DiBiase on commentary). This conveniently gives enough time for them to cut to the back where Jim Cornette’s hired guns Tenryu and Kabuki are beating up Lex Luger. Back in the ring, Randy Savage comes out and is a big enough star that Diesel doesn’t get to eliminate him. We get glimpses of a potentially great Savage/Jarrett match, which I don’t think ever took place (but I’d love to be wrong), but Jarrett is quickly eliminated. Loved the ferocity of Savage’s attack on an entering Crush, you can really feel the hate between the two. Savage gets eliminated, and we get a Diesel/Crush segment. Doink enters and stands back, laughing at the two heels fighting, until they look over and spot him. They rightly batter him, then present him on a platter for an entering Bam Bam Bigelow. Bammer hurls him over the top to the floor. Loved that.

Shawn Michaels soon enters and, after facing off with his bodyguard Diesel, shakes hand with him. However, Shawn does nothing to stop his friend being eliminated, setting the tone for a year of tension between the two. Both Mabel and Mo from Men On A Mission end up in the ring at the same time, but seem to be idiots as they barely work together. You’d think Mo would be desperate for Mabel to help him. Instead, when all the entrants gang up on Mabel, Mo is left standing idly by like a moron until Shawn attacks him. The way Mo was just gormlessly staring, he needn’t have bothered. Luger comes out to a decent pop and swiftly eliminates the useless mercenary Kabuki. Tenryu is out next and, though he’s also being paid to make sure Luger doesn’t win, he doesn’t actually spend much time fighting Lex, which was surely the point of him entering. A non-entrant is believed by the commentary team to be Bret. Bret does come out a couple of entrants later, earning a massive pop. However, he gets no offence on getting in, as Crush goes right to the leg. I liked the continuity of Marty Jannetty going right after Michaels upon getting in the ring. Reminds me of how Tito and Martel would always square off in the Rumble. Somehow, fucking Mo is still around at the end of the Rumble, and takes a shitty elimination – he gets superkicked while facing away from the ropes, then spins round and dives over the top. So bad. The final four is Bret, Lex, Michaels and Fatu, going down to just Bret and Lex as they simultaneously eliminate the other two. The two exchange blows and both end up going over at the same time to be crowned joint-winners. A memorable end to a decent Rumble match.

CHIKARA The Renaissance Dawns 2002

Just before Christmas, I decided to invest in a CHIKARAtopia subscription, which at approx. £5 felt like a good investment. I wasn't sure where to begin with CHIKARA, so I've gone all the way back to the first event. Seems a logical starting point. There's fun retrospective commentary from Mike Quackenbush and Bryce Remsberg to go with the matches.

Mr Zero vs Dragonfly

Mr Zero isn’t wearing the mask he’d become better known for wearing, which Quackenbush explains on commentary: apparently Zero had ordered his mask, but it didn’t arrive in time, forcing him to improvise from a local costume shop. This is the first match for both guys, and it’s pretty decent considering. They work some basic, competent mat stuff to start, before Zero turns it up a bit with a big clothesline in the corner. Zero works in some of his character-based comedy early, reading the business pages with Dragonfly locked in a camel clutch, then taking frequent gulps of coffee. Zero takes a posting on the outside of the ring, and Dragonfly takes control with some beginners-level high flying. I did like him neck-snapping Zero over the top rope from a tornado DDT position, and he hit a nice tilt-a-whirl DDT. Zero comes back with a huge German suplex and a Michinoku Driver variation for the win.

Marshal Law & Lovebug vs Hallowicked & Ichabod Slayne

Law is that oddly American kind of fat where he has no noticeable neck. Law and Bug are the faces, and they dominate early with two successive stereo atomic drops. The heels soon get Lovebug as their face in peril, and work him over well. Lovebug is able to hit a cutter to break this momentum and tag in Law, who introduces himself with a big shoulderbreaker. The comeback is short lived for the faces, as he takes a big flat back bump to the floor from the apron off a neck snap, which looked nasty. The heels wisely focus on his back with a series of kicks. Law is now face in peril, and Hallowicked hits a Burning Hammer on his partner onto Law, which gets a 2. All four guys end up in the ring, and the faces hit a 2^nd rope Hart Attack on Slayne, which Lovebug smoothly transitions into a reverse crab for the tapout win. This was decent enough.

Kid Kruel vs Zane Madrox

Kruel became better known for his spell in WWE developmental as Mike Kruel, and you can see why they might pick him up – he’s in very good shape, yet surprisingly agile for his size. Madrox is an odd looking character, tall but with a vacant look on his face, and Quackenbush says that he just stopped turning up for shows he was booked on. Madrox hits a nice spinebuster and splash early, but does look a bit lost on occasion. Kruel takes control of the match, and works Madrox over nicely by focusing on the shoulder. Madrox is hyped up on commentary as being surprisingly powerful, which he proves with a gutwrench suplex followed by a double powerbomb. Madrox is on a decent run of offence, but stops to eats some crisps outside the ring. He offers some to Kruel, who swiftly locks in a cross-armbreaker for the tap victory. Odd ending to a good match.

Blind Rage vs Ultramantis

This is before Ultramantis added the “Black” to his name. Rage is apparently more experienced, and he takes control with a slick series of moves, which Ultramantis does well to keep up with. Rage hits three quick flip sentons for a 2 count. Loved him casually arguing with the ref to distract from him choking Ultramantis with his shin bone. Rage hits a big backbreaker and holds Ultramantis over his leg, which I always love. Quackenbush highlights how Ultramantis used to use a lot of butterfly moves, to go with his whole “insect” theme, which is quickly proven with a butterfly praying mantis bomb for 2. Rage comes back with a Niagra Driver and a Gory Bomb for the win. Really fun match, Rage in particular looked good.

Mike Quackenbush, Reckless Youth & Don Montoya vs Chris Hero, CM Punk & Colt Cabana

The main event noticeably features 6 guys with more experience than the rest of the card. This was so fast-paced and endlessly entertaining, with all six guys working seamlessly together. We get some initial matwork with Quack pairing off with Hero, Colt with Reckless and Punk with Montoya. I chuckled at Montoya being too heavy for Punk to try and take over with a fireman’s carry, and it’s followed by a spot where Punk uses Montoya as a surfboard, only for the much bigger Montoya to return the favour moments later. Quack takes a huge dive to the floor to signal that things are about to pick up. Punk works well as a sneaky heel, with eye pokes and quick escapes from the ring to evade Montoya, but when he gets caught, Don chops the shit out of him. The heels work a fun heat section on Montoya, who tries making a comeback by pulling Punk’s shorts down and hitting a big DDT. A fun 6-person submission spot follows as things start to break down and get out of control. Colt hits a nasty looking Colt 45 on Youth, but the pin is broken up at 2. Youth responds by hitting a tornado DDT from the apron to the floor, which must have hurt. A big tope by Montoya, which he’d teased earlier, wipes out Hero and Punk. Quack nails a reverse rana on Colt and Reckless finishes it off with a 2K2 Bomb for the win. Super fun spotfest, which the crowd ate up.

JCW Slam TV Episode 1

I'm 33. I've got a reasonable degree from a decent university. I'm pretty intelligent - I read War & Peace from beginning to end, even the boring final chapter about battle techniques. Yet somehow, I'm still partial to the Insane Clown Posse. I wouldn't sport the facepaint or drink terrible cheap pop drinks, but musically I regularly have an ICP album in my car for which I feel no shame. So when I saw a DVD set of Juggalo Championshit Wrestling episodes on Amazon for a reasonable price, I couldn't resist. There's four disks, with 8 episodes of wrestling leading up to the finale, dubbed "Westside Wars", so I'm going to make my way through these episodes in the coming months. There's a fun selection of guys I enjoy on the shows, including Tracy Smothers and the Necro Butcher, plus some goofy ICP commentary, so these should be fun at the very least.

NOSAWA vs “Holy” Trent Acid

Trent is working a sinister preacher gimmick here, complete with a slow walk to the ring that ICP quip they’ve clipped down from 45 minutes to only 17. Acid stalls pre-match and cuts a “cheap heat” (called by ICP) promo on the crowd, but he does take a hilarious bump when hit with a plastic bottle. The match had a 10 minute time limit, which was good as I’ve seen both guys struggle when working longer singles matches, but this ended up being a pretty fun bout. Loved NOSAWA halting his run as Acid tried a leapfrog, instead nailing Trent with a superkick as he lands. Acid heels it up for a baying audience, doing mock karate poses after kicking NOSAWA down and employing a series of chokes when in control. Acid takes a big bump over the ropes to the hard floor, but NOSAWA spends too long playing to the crowd after throwing him back in the ring, allowing Trent to hit a lovely tornado DDT, swinging NOSAWA down with real velocity. Trent tries setting up some chairs in the ring, but ends up getting superplexed through them for a two count. The end sees Acid use the referee as a shield, and knock NOSAWA out with his bible behind his back for the victory.

Zach Gowan vs 2 Tuff Tony

Gowen cut an awesome dickhead promo before this match, and is billed as “The Asshole” Zach Gowen. To back up this nickname, Gowen spends a while pre-match riling up the crowd. Tony reacts to this by pretending Gowen’s fake leg is a penis. Tony beats Gowen up to start, including a great Gowen goofy punchdrunk sell of his blows, but Zach trips him into the middle turnbuckle and starts to work him over. It sounds strange, but Gowen only having one leg makes his offense seem more painful. He uses his leg like a dart, hitting precise dropkicks right to the skull of Tony. Gowen taunts the crowd some more by dancing, then hits a one legged footstomp, which drives all his weight into Tony through his one leg. Tony breaks a nerve hold with some milky looking blows, but makes up for it with a thunderous lariat. A decent flipping legdrop to Gowen only gets a 2. Tony gets knees up as Gowen tries a moonsault, and hits a reverse piledriver, which looks nicely brutal. This should be enough for the pin, but Tony finishes him off with the Meteorite, which is basically a punch, only Tony sets his fist on fire first. Wonderfully goofy, and this was an enjoyable bout.

The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA

This review is basically the matches that come as bonus footage on the WWE's AWA set from about 10 years ago. The match listing looks pretty interesting, but sadly most of the matches are clipped to shit, with only the last three appearing in full. It's pretty disappointing, but the three full matches are all good-great, and there's some fun to be had within the clipped bouts

 

High Flyers vs Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens

This was a fun match, worked at a pretty frantic pace throughout. Loved how vicious the heels were from the opening bell, which sets the theme for the match: Bockwinkel and Stevens would cheat at every opportunity they could.  The High Flyers have to rely on their pace to control things, and there is a lovely sequence where Stevens catches a Gagne dropkick and turns it into a giant swing, only for Gagne to use the momentum to flip Stevens over with his legs. The end sees Gagne lock in a sleeper, only for Bobby Heenan to distract the ref to allow Stevens and Bockwinkel to double-team Gagne. The ref gets so fed up with Heenan that he decks him, and the heels attack the ref and continue to destroy Gagne. It takes the intervention of Larry Hennig to end the onslaught.

Verne Gagne vs Baron von Raschke

This is clipped in places, but remains pretty easy to follow. Gagne was 48 here, but still was quite sprightly and moved quickly throughout. As a Fritz von Erich fan, I dug the tension of Raschke powering up from the mat to lock the Iron Claw on Gagne. I loved Raschke trying to hit Gagne, who ducked and dived to evade the blows and locked in a nice looking armbar. Gagne used his speed again to avoid more blows and lock in a sleeper. The end sees Raschke try a back suplex, only for Gagne to get his feet on the top rope and power backwards, landing on top for the pin. It was a slightly more awkward version of the Hart/Piper ending, but this was still fun.

Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens vs Billy Robinson & Frankie Hill

The story here saw Robinson stepping in as partner to Hill, whose partner hadn’t shown. Stevens and Patterson take control with a sneak attack, but Robinson takes over and slingshots Patterson into Stevens. A big backbreaker on Patterson sees him pick up the first fall.

Something that becomes apparent in the second fall is that Hill is pretty useless. Most of the time he’s in sees him on defence, always sacrificing the advantage. In contrast, Robinson looks terrific throughout here. He does some fun looking arm work, but it always manages to look vicious, like he’s doing real damage to the arm. Things like going for an Irish whip, but holding onto the arm to yank them back into the middle of the ring. He also holds Stevens in a front hammerlock which he then rams into the mat with a rolling armbar. Love it. Stevens and Patterson take some big bumps for him, as he’s always one step ahead of them. Stevens hits a top rope  knee drop to Robinson’s back while he’s got Patterson covered, earning a DQ and giving the match to Hill and Robinson. They brutalise Robinson post match, and I thought this was a lot of fun.

Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon vs Jesse Ventura & Adrian Adonis

This is JIP. I liked Gagne showing a tougher side, going for eye rakes on the heels, but this match is a whole load of nothing, running barely 5 minutes of face offence before it dissolves into a brawl and gets thrown out

Verne Gagne vs Nick Bockwinkel

This was billed as Gagne’s last match, defending the heavyweight title. We’re again JIP with a ref bump. Gagne was looking significantly older than in the Vachon match and, while he was still moving around well, he looks too old to be a credible champion at this point. Bock hits a piledriver for two. Gagne locks in a sleeper, but Bockwinkel reverses it and looks to have the match won. Gagne tries to break free before eventually hitting a desperation back-suplex for the win. 5 mins aired, but it seemed fine.

High Flyer vs Jesse Ventura & Adrian Adonis

We’re heavily in JIP territory now, as this is another 5 min clip job. Ventura really took awkward bumps, too exaggerated for a guy his size. I dug Brunzell in this match, you can sense his hatred for the opposition with the aggression of his attacks. He can’t even resist when Ventura is stuck in the Flyers’ corner, choking him behind the referee’s back. I also liked Adonis when he got in, laying into Gagne with some nice clubbing blows, and hitting a decent looking bulldog. He also takes some nice bumps, flying into the turnbuckles on a failed second bulldog. Everything breaks down and a spike piledriver on Gagne is enough for the win. Would have liked to have seen more. 

Nick Bockwinkel vs Hulk Hogan

Another match clipped to the final five minutes. Again, what we saw was quite fun, and Hogan was ridiculously over. The countalong when he rams Bock into the turnbuckles 10 times is really loud. Hogan hits the big boot and legdrop, but Bobby Heenan hits him with a foreign object over the ref’s head as he goes for the cover. Hogan is cut open, but manages to grab the object when Heenan tries to throw it to Bockwinkel, and nails Bock for the win and title. A caption at the bottom informs that Hogan was stripped of the title a week later for using the foreign object.

Jesse Ventura vs Baron von Raschke

Not that I suspect this match will be much cop, but this feels like a waste of time due to how little of the match is shown. Of the 7 minutes run time, 2 mins is an interview with Ventura, 1.5 mins is the introductions, including Ventura taking off his earrings for 30 seconds, then we clip to a Ventura armbar for a minute. The Baron makes the comeback, claws Ventura to the outside and we get a double-countout. Dreadful.

Hulk Hogan vs Mr Saito

This is billed as a handicap match with Mr Hatori on the DVD, but this is clearly a singles match. We come in to find Hogan in control of Saito, before the interference of David Schultz leads to a ref bump. Hatori throws salt in Hogan’s eyes, and Schultz works him over with Saito for the DQ. Afterwards, Hogan beats both men up. Waste of time.

The Legion of Doom vs The Crusher, Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

Our final JIP bout. The LOD consists of the Road Warriors and Paul Ellering. Larry Hennig makes the hot tag to Curt, but he soon gets worked over by the Warriors. Big back suplex by Hawk and some real strength by Animal to hold Hennig up for three backbreakers. Ellering is tagged in, but is the weak link of the team, as Hawk has to save him on a rollup before Henning is able to tag out. Crusher rolls over Ellering, Hennig throws both Warriors to the floor before hitting a move the camera misses for the win. Looked fun. 

The Midnight Rockers vs Doug Somers & Buddy Rose

This is a cage match, with pinfall and submission rules only. The Rockers totally dominate the heels for the first part of the match, busting both men open early on. I loved how they teamed up to whip Somers into the cage with real velocity. Rose smartly eye-rakes Jannetty as he gestures for a noggin-knocker, but the Rockers are so fired up that Marty is soon back in control. Jannetty starts picking up the heels on pins to inflict more punishment. It gets to the point where Somers is only able to get control on Michaels with a desperation headbutt to the groin, rising up from his knees. Even then Michaels looks fired up, and Rose has to repeatedly ram Michaels into the cage to wear him down. Michaels starts to bleed, so Rose focuses his attention on Shawn’s head with a DDT. Loved Rose and Somers focusing on Michaels’ cut, biting and punching at the head. Somers lifts Shawn from the mat on a pin, but this backfires as Michaels starts to fight him from the mat and is able to make the hot tag. Jannetty ends up fighting with Rose on top of the cage, and wins, sending Rose crashing to the mat. Jannetty follows this with a crossbody from the top onto Somers for the win. Really great match, a proper brutal, bloodsoaked war.

 

Curt Hennig vs Nick Bockwinkel

Man, this is a really great match with a really shaky finish. Bockwinkel is defending the AWA title here. Loved all the matwork at the start. It really felt like both guys were earning the holds they put on, and had some awesome little touches like Bock twice reversing a headlock to a headscissors, but Hennig tucking in his head the third time, leaving Bock stuck in the hold. Hennig misses a corner charge, and hurtles to the outside, hurting his arm. Bockwinkel focuses on this injury, and works the arm beautifully. I like how he constantly changes position when in holds, working the limb and making it harder for Hennig to reverse. He also lays into the injury with some nice meaty blows. Hennig attacks Bock’s knee to escape, and now this gives him a bodypart to focus on. I love how Bockwinkel sells the figure four, first by panicking when he realises Hennig is locking it in, then by biting his fingers to try and divert the pain when it is locked in. Similarly, I loved Hennig trying to grab Bock’s arm to prevent him making the ropes. Everything just feels so logical. Hennig starts to build momentum, getting close falls off a sunset flip, a rollup and a crossbody, but each time Bockwinkel is able to escape. Hennig hits the Axe to the head, but Bockwinkel makes the ropes. A piledriver is followed by a dropkick, but Bockwinkel is able to survive. Both go down, and a ringside Larry Zbyszko slips Hennig a roll of dimes. Really subtly too, before Henning hits Bockwinkel to win the title. Afterwards, however, there’s all manner of controversy as the title gets held up, pending a review of the video. A really unsatisfying ending to a terrific bout.

Jerry Lawler vs Kerry von Erich

This match, however, manages an even worse ending. This is a unification match for Lawler’s AWA and Kerry’s WCCW titles, and you can see throughout the backstage politics interfering in an otherwise fun match. Von Erich manages to cut his arm as he takes off his rope, so Lawler drops it over the top rope right away to at least give a reason for it to be bleeding. The early stages of this bout see Von Erich in control, with Lawler’s comebacks very short lived. Lawler is great at selling the shock of his missed punches, and I loved his smugness as a Von Erich splash is met with knees. It’s this smugness that makes Von Erich overwhelming him more effective, as Lawler realises he’s in big trouble. Von Erich even no sells a piledriver and, after an unaware Lawler has finished parading round, levels the King with a discus punch. When Lawler does get a pin attempt, Von Erich is healthy enough to press Lawler onto the ref. This is followed by Kerry hitting a piledriver with no ref to count, covering Lawler for 10-15 seconds, obviously to save face for Von Erich when he loses. Lawler has to resort to a foreign object in his tights to take control, busting Kerry open. He’s still too confident though, and Von Erich catch him with a claw to the midsection as he goes for the 2^nd rope fistdrop. Kerry moves the claw to the head, as the ref starts checking his bleeding, telegraphing the shitty finish. Kerry is firmly in control, but Lawler uses repeated hidden weapon shots to turn the tide before peppering him with blows, including some lovely showboating. Both go down from double blows, and Von Erich locks on the claw in the middle of the ring. It looks like he’s totally in control, so of course that’s the point where the ref stops the bout for Von Erich’s blood loss. Just the worst “protect the loser” ending that makes both men look bad, and the ref look like a total idiot. Having the “winner” passed out on the mat with the “loser” on his feet pissed off helped nobody. Aside from that, the match was really fun, with Lawler’s smug heel mannerisms really telling the story.

WWF Raw 24/01/1994

Lex Luger vs Austin Steele

Really dull squash, where Luger doesn’t do much to warm up the crowd. For example, why is buffed-up super-face Luger holding a side headlock on the mat on lumpy jobber Steele 2 minutes in? Steele gets in some basic looking offence before Luger finishes with a superplex.

Jeff Jarrett vs John Paul

Jarrett is proving himself to be a great squash worker on these old Raws. Loved his big dropkick here, and a nice heavy clothesline on Paul. Jarrett lets Paul get in a few flash pins throughout, but I love the fact that Jarrett will cheat even when in total control. What a heel. Dug seeing Jarrett bring out a slingshot suplex. The match ends with a fun little sequence of counters, and Jarrett wins with a roll-up and a handful of tights on a jobber squash. Great dickish work by Jarrett

 

Men On A Mission vs the Headshrinkers

This had been advertised prior to the Rumble as the Harts vs the Headshrinkers, so this is a real step down. Mo is really positioned as the weak link of the team, so you can see Vince plotting a Mabel push already. Mo even makes the mistake twice of trying to slam a Headshrinkers head, which doesn’t work. I liked a fun spot where, unbeknownst to Fatu, Mabel had tagged in and Samu refused to accept his tag. Fatu takes control on Mo with a pair of superkicks, so you can see where the Usos get their main offensive move from. A kick to the back makes Mo the face in peril, and the heat section is a little bland. Mo gets a few hope spots including a terrible small package. Mabel finally gets the hot tag, and I like that they paid off the “Headshrinkers no-sell head shots” story by having Mabel do a noggin-knocker with Afa and a Shrinker, with the payoff being that both heads were so strong that both felt pain. Things turn into a bit of a mess towards the end, before the Shrinkers finish Mo with the top rope splash. Not much to recommend here. 

Adam Bomb vs Tommy Angel

Interestingly, both Vince and JR talk up the bland looking Angel as a decent talent pre-match. Curiously, the commentators spend a lot of the match slamming manager Harvey Whippleman, stating that Bomb is wasting time and Harvey should order him to put Angel away. It’s odd, as Bomb is in complete control, bar a little flurry by Angel at the start. A flying clothesline and the Atom Smasher finish it.

Doink vs Joey Stallings

This is an odd state of affairs, as the recently sacked Matt Borne had been playing Doink as a talented mat wrestler and working all kinds of fun holds on guys. However, the replacement Doink (and I’m not sure which one it is here) is not as talented as Borne so, after an admittedly great overhead belly-to-belly, Doink hits some perfunctory armwork to try and maintain character. Problem is, he’s not as fluid or vicious as Borne was. Stallings gets to hit a nice side slam, before Doink folds him up with a side suplex (again, pretty good), and the Whoopee Cushion gets 3. 

Shawn Michaels vs Tyrone Knox

As good as Jeff Jarrett has looked on these old Raws, Michaels is proving to be a dull squash wrestler. He stooges too much for the stocky Knox here, then slowly works him over when he is on offence. This includes a chinlock that goes on for too long. Knox is allowed to no-sell a turnbuckle shot, but a superkick and piledriver win it for Michaels.

End of 2015 Round Up Post

As is now tradition, this is the round-up of the best stuff I reviewed last year. Thankfully, I've not seen enough shit this year to justify the return of the Bottom 5 again this year, so let's hope 2016 wont see me forced to bring it back. Also included is the top 5 matches I've seen live this year. I've pretty much stopped doing live reports, as they aren't as much fun to write and mean I don't just sit back and enjoy live shows, but these were the best 5 matches I saw in person this year. Enjoy!

Top 10 Blog Matches of the Year

 10. Yuko Miyamoto & Shinobu vs Konaka Pale One & DINASTY (666 07/03/2010)

Amidst all the wacky antics and baffling action in the 666 federation came this straight-up tag match that was a fine piece of work. Nice tag psychology, some snug exchanges and a fun ending sequence made this a pleasant surprise

9. Tom Zenk vs Brian Pillman (WCW Wrestlewar 1992)

Narrowly beating out the Pillman/Liger match from Superbrawl. Just felt this had more of a story running through it, the ex-tag partners who know each other well, one a bit stronger, the other a bit quicker. Part of the reason Wrestlewar is such a great PPV

8. 1-2-3 Kid & Marty Jannetty vs the Quebeccers (WWF Raw 10/01/1994)

There’s not been an abundance of gems on 1994 Raws, but this absolutely is one of them. Plays nicely on the expectations of the audience who know there can’t possibly be a title change so close to the Rumble…can there? Add to this some nice heel double teams and two great underdog faces, and the result is a terrific match.

7. Tyler Bate vs Jay Lethal (SWA Summer Blowout 2014)

His US debut in CHIKARA saw American audiences discover something we’ve known over here for a while: Tyler Bate is a bona fide star. Here he takes on a guy in Jay Lethal who I’ve liked over the years, but also disliked in many places, and they put on a great match. Lethal’s RoH TV title is on the line, so the result is never in doubt, but they make you believe it might be, and that’s great wrestling.

6. Rush vs Negro Casas (CMLL 16/08/2014)

Negro Casas really is the evergreen star of lucha. This was a hair-vs-hair, and though the first two falls were great, the final fall is so exciting and both guys really put their all into it.   

5. Jushin Liger vs Robbie Dynamite (All Star Wrestling 03/10/2014)

Dean Allmark’s YouTube account is a real blessing for fans of British wrestling, as he puts up all manner of fun All Star stuff. This came from a full show from last October he uploaded, and was a fine main event match. You’d forgive Liger for holding back a bit in a small Croydon town hall, but he throws back the years here. Dynamite isn’t just along for the ride, and both guys match up perfectly.

4. Bull Power vs Otto Wanz (Best of Reslo Vol 2)

A pre-Vader Leon White taking on another big bear of a man in Wanz, in late 80’s Austria. This was two behemoths going at it, almost felt like a Rocky match with Wanz taking an early pummelling, but slowly chiselling away at Power. Loved this.

3. Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk (3PW Broadcast From Hell)

Even more odd than a 666 match making the list is an entry from my less-than-beloved 3PW. Here, two veteran campaigners put on the best match on a card full of ex-ECW stars and hot indy names by knowing the perfect way to get a reaction. WWE employee Lawler gleefully soaks up the hatred as he drills away at the beloved Funk, trolling the shit out of the audience and loving every minute. A masterclass in crowd work.

2. Mark Andrews vs Zack Sabre Jr (The Best of Mark Andrews: Fly Or Die Trying)

So my favourite UK indy Triple X Wrestling didn’t run any shows this year, but I was still able to relive some fond memories via this match that appeared on a great Andrews best of comp. This was top of my list for 2013, and I actually enjoyed it more the second time around. One of the best underdog faces in the UK vs the all-conquering technical wizard led to a really compelling match.

1. Sting, Nikita Koloff, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Eaton & Arn Anderson (WCW Wrestlewar 1992)

It would have to be something special to keep one of my favourite live matches off the top of the list, but this is truly special. One of my favourite matches of all time, it’s a brutal, blood-soaked war, that manages to incorporate great story-telling, logical action, great spots and even some intricate little details into a fantastic match. The shortest 30 minutes in wrestling.

 Top 5 Live Matches of the Year

5. Mark Haskins vs DJZ (SWE, 27/2)

4. Mark Andrews & Pete Dunne vs Will Ospreay & Chris Sabin (SWE, 27/2)

3. Wild Boar vs Justin Hammer Sysum (Legacy, 6/6)

2. T-Bone vs El Ligero vs Chris Tyler (HOPE, 6/2)

1. Jack Jester vs Ryan Smile vs El Ligero vs Chris Tyler vs Joseph Conners vs LJ Heron (HOPE, 17/7)

HOPE Wrestling put on some of my favourite shows of the year in 2015, and were my favourite UK promotion of the year. This, on their 2^nd year anniversary show, was to crown the first HOPE wrestling champion, and really showed that they were right to wait. The crowd were rabid for this one, and the action was frantic, non-stop fun from start to finish.