WWF Prime Time Wrestling 05/05/1986

The Funk Brothers vs Ivan McDonald & Jeff Gripley

Mildly disappointing squash, with the Funks not looking as impressive as you’d hope. It’s not so much their execution, as I dug Terry’s headbutts whilst holding onto the hair of Gripley, it’s more to do with the layout. The Funks seem to have Gripley done, after a big piledriver by Dory and a neckbreaker by Terry, but then Dory just puts him into an armbar. Feels odd after two moves designed to impact the neck, and it’s not like they’re building to anything with it – just feels like padding to draw out the match time. In the end, Terry works over Gripley’s leg and Dory locks in a Texas Cloverleaf to win

Bobby Heenan vs Sal Bellomo

My old nemesis Bellomo, here a clean shaven face, is put into an odd situation, facing off against Heenan in a rare match that he hasn’t been coerced into. Even more oddly, Heenan gives a clean handshake to start. I enjoyed this more than I expected, as both guys exchange some cheapshots despite the handshake, and both are bumping big. Bellomo takes a backdrop bump bigger than all the ECW one’s I’ve seen so far combined. I also liked Bellomo’s JYD headbutts in the corner from his knees. The end sees Heenan sit down on a sunset flip for the clean win. Man, Bellomo was low on the jobber chain here.

B Brian Blair vs Iron Mike Sharpe

No complaints with this one, really enjoyed it. Sharpe is so fun to watch, allowing Blair to make him look a total goon on a criss-cross and fleeing into the crowd to regroup after a flying headscissors. He’s also got these great looping punches. His backbreaker is sloppy, but Blair seems to be a big bumper to compensate for Sharpe’s lesser offence. Really enjoyed the spot where Sharpe refused to let Blair back into the ring, so Blair crawled underneath to surprise him from the backside. Thought Blair looked really good here, just crisp looking offence, nice punches and it kind of man me want to see more of a guy I’d previously barely registered. The ending was a disappointing double-count out, but this was fun.

Lanny Poffo vs The Gladiator

Gladiator is a pudgy guy in amateur wrestling tights and a faux-Kendo Nagasaki mask. Just a generic 80’s jobber costume. This is worked one the mat for the most part, and is quite nicely competitive there. Loved Poffo trying to escape by rolling out of an armbar, but remaining grounded. The Gladiator tries to change the style by punching Poffo in the corner, but he’s soon slammed and takes a moonsault for the Poffo win. If it ain’t broke, shouldn’t have fixed it…

Donna Christanello vs Linda Gonzalez

Christanello has one of those surnames that I’ve seen countless different spellings off, so apologies if I’m wrong. This is also worked primarily on the mat, but you don’t get the impression either lady is technically proficient, and instead it’s just something to do before being told to end the bout. I at least appreciated Donna pulling the tights of Gonzalez to give her leverage on a leglock. This isn’t very exciting, despite Gonzalez’s impressive bumping off a dropkick, and it’s a relief when Linda picks up the win with a decent bridging O’Connor roll.

Tony Atlas & Tony Garea vs Steve Lombardi & the Menace

The Menace is the least threatening jobber name I think I’ve heard. Lombardi really looks poor here, messing up a knee-to-the-gut sequence with Garea and having to readjust his footing so as not to arrive too early for an Atlas monkey flip. Atlas looks good here though, really nice agility, and his press slam and splash gets the win over the Menace. This was short and a bit pointless.

The Hart Foundation vs Ron Dee & Mario Mancini

The Harts look great here, really nicely executed squash. Bret nails a sharp looking back elbow on Mancini and Neidhart follows up with a big slam. Just competently breaking down the jobbers. Dee only tags in at the end, and is almost immediately met with a killer Hart Attack, as Anvil whips him off the rope and lifts him JUST in time for the Bret clothesline. Perfect timing, made the move look even deadlier.

Ted Arcidi vs Chuck Simpson

Not much to this. Arcidi can’t really do much, and for such a muscly guy, his power spots looked pretty lame. A beal across the ring on Simpson looked more like his opponent stumbling over his feet. Arcidi doesn’t have much offence, beside a nice clothesline, and Simpson doesn’t bump well enough to compensate. An overhead backbreaker gets the submission to not much reaction.

King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd vs Jim Powers & Mike Saxon

On commentary, Vince is very keen to highlight that Saxon isn’t Michael Jackson. Another disappointing squash, sadly, as the big lads are mainly content to whip Saxon into the ropes and let him run into them. I did love how nasty Bundy’s kneedrop looked, just a big weight falling directly onto Saxon’s chest. Studd contributes little, until an assisted avalanche and an elbow gives Bundy the three (or five). Powers was barely involved.

ECW Hardcore TV #19 17/08/1993

Sharp eyes will notice we've skipped two episodes, the reason being that they were recap shows, and I'm not sitting through Glen Osbourne matches for a second time. This episode features two matches from the tag titles tournament, as the Suicide Blondes have been stripped of the belts.

The Koloffs vs The Headhunters

Really violent brawl to start this, spilling outside the ring. This is really short, though we do get enough time to see Vladimir hit a really impressive belly-to-belly on a ‘Hunter. It all breaks down again, ending in a double DQ. The Koloffs progress to the next round via coin toss.

Don Muraco vs the Metal Maniac

Maniac seems to get fed up on listening to Muraco on the mic as he jumps him during an interview. His advantage doesn’t last long, and Muraco actually seems fired up. Maybe it’s the prospect of facing someone in worse shape than him. Muraco hits a big powerslam and a piledriver, before finishing with a tombstone.

The Sandman & Sal Bellomo vs Richard Michaels & Tony Stetson

The face team is really a pairing of the two worst guys in ECW. The producers seem to know this, as we cut away 45 seconds in to see a video about Abdullah The Butcher. When we return, it feels like a heat section is just finishing on the faces. The end sees Sandman hitting a facebuster so bad that it isn’t obvious who is supposed to be hurt. Stetson sneaks in to replace Michaels behind the refs back, but Bellomo does the same to Sandman, and rolls up Stetson for the win. Barely anything to rate, but I’m not complaining.

Stan Hansen vs Jimmy Snuka

Hansen is a welcome addition to the show, and his wild presence seems to blow the cobwebs out from Snuka. Superfly seems more energised than he has in a long time. Another big brawl for the episode, as they exchange punches and weapon shots outside the ring. Hansen hits a DDT and a lariat to seemingly win, but Eddie Gilbert is in for the DQ ending. Still, looking forward to a few more Hansen appearances.

Attack! Pro Wrestling - Teenagers With Attitude

The wonder of the modern age is that a show like this can take place on a Saturday, and I can buy it and watch it online on the Sunday (via the Attack! Vimeo page). I'm really a newcomer to the world of Attack! after attending their joint show with Fight Club Pro earlier this year, but even though I can't really afford to travel across the country to attend their shows, a swift turnaround and very reasonably priced shows like this make it easy to keep up

Dan Moloney vs ECDrew vs Kyle Fletcher vs Love Making Demon

Short sharp shock of an opener, with a fun cast of characters. Love Making Demon is essentially a bemasked pervert, something Fletcher finds out to his cost when he tries a wheelbarrow, only to find the Demon enjoys it a little too much. ECDrew is Drew Parker, currently suffering the after-effects of an injury that has convinced him he’s one of any number of ECW alumni. Today, he’s coming out as Paul Heyman, complete with rabble-rousing speech before the bout. Drew hits a massive dive early, which looks great. Also loved his torture rack into a GTS on the Demon towards the end. This goes less than 10 minutes, but is non-stop for it’s running time, with Moloney booting Fletcher in the face to win.

Elijah Dahl vs Ryan Smile

My only previous exposure to Dahl was in a tag match at AMP in April, so I was looking forward to seeing more of him here. Really physical bout here, with both exchanging big strikes, highlighted by a vicious looking smack-to-the-face/headbutt exchange. Smile hits this awesome looking bullet suicide dive early, which sends him hurtling into Dahl. Smile also hits a huge Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall. Dahl is less flashy, but his offence looks effective, designed to hurt. Smile picks up the win with a frog splash.

Chief Deputy Dunne & the Brothers of Obstruction vs Tyler Bate, Lloyd Katt & Splits McPins

This feels like one of those things that’s going to be difficult to explain to those with no prior knowledge of Attack! The heel side here are Damian Dunne and the Hunter Brothers, members of the Anti-Fun Police. Their mission, as the name suggests, is to stop there being any fun in Attack! Unfortunately, they fail miserably here, as this is supremely fun. Loved Tyler escaping a Jim Hunter wristlock with an over-elaborate series of flips, roll-throughs and kip-ups before just casually freeing himself. McPins, unsurprisingly, has a bowling gimmick, and there’s a great spot where he gets prevented from using a bowling ball as a weapon on Dunne…so Tyler rolls himself into a ball to get “bowled” into Damian in the corner. Aside from being a lot of fun, the actual wrestling is really good too. The heels isolate Tyler and work a series of triple-teams on him to wear him down. Lloyd Katt is also really impressive, moving well for a big lad. He has a nice crossbody, hits a good second-rope moonsault and hits a big dive. The end sees Bate nail Lee Hunter with the Tyler Driver 97 to win.

Post-match, Tyler rolls up Katt from behind, winning Katt’s 24/7 title (essentially a belt with the same rules as the old WWF Hardcore title), leaving with both that belt and the WWE UK title.

Sgt Travis Banks vs Flash Morgan Webster

The underlying story here was that Banks, another member of the Anti-Fun Police, was making his return and was concerned that Dunne may have swung his affection towards another member of the force, the masked Spaniard Los Federales Santos Jr. It certainly didn’t help when Dunne got knocked off the ring apron into the waiting arms of Santos, much to Banks’ dismay. This was a good bout, again mixing some nice looking moves (Webster’s vicious headbutt always looks incredible, partly because he himself sells it so well) with some well-balanced comedy. It’s really impressive how Banks can balanced being so intense and focused in the ring, then instantly hamming it up to pull off the comedy too. His stooging when promising not to headbutt Webster on a high-five, then loudly proclaiming he was going to do so was legitimately amusing. Banks manages to pick up a cheap win, as Webster forces him to tap to the Strangler, only to find the ref distracted. Webster locks the hold on an interfering Dunne, but this leaves him prone to the springboard kick from Banks for the win.

#CCK (Mondai Lykos & Chris Brookes) & Shay Purser vs FSU (Eddie Dennis & Mark Andrews) & Pete Dunne

This was ridiculously fun, one of the most enjoyable matches I’ve watched in a long time. Honestly, I smiled from ear-to-ear throughout almost the whole contest, starting from the moment the normally-grouchy Dunne emerged as a surprise competitor, holding aloft a cake for hated ref Purser. (Brief backstory – the show was the day after Shay’s 18^th birthday, hence the cake, but Purser is a hated figure in Attack!, after turning heel during the feud between Dunne and ring announcer Jim Lee, a feud that ultimately saw Dunne lose a “loser leave Attack!” match). Dunne was absolutely on fire in this match. What worked really well was that he still used all the moves he does as a heel, but here was doing them on the heel team to a big pop. Picking up referee Chris Roberts to use as a weapon on the CCK members, viciously stomping the arm of Lykos on the mat, feigning a move from the ropes only to drop down and bite Lykos’s hand….all eaten up by the crowd. What really helped here was the interplay of the characters and personalities involved. There’s almost something touching about the relationship between Lykos and Brookes, with Lykos plaintively calling for Brookes to help him in moments of danger, but at the same time they’re sticking spit-covered fingers in Mark Andrews’ ear or yelling at the crowd to shut up. I loved how CCK incorporated Purser into some of their signature spots, Brookes throwing him into a senton on a prone Andrews, or Lykos roping him in to help hit a (failed) brainbuster (incidentally, as soon as Lykos went for the brainbuster on Andrews, you just knew it was going to get reversed into the Stundog Millionaire, but watching all the set up just made it that much more enjoyable). By the time Dunne blocked an ill-advised attempt by Shay to low-blow him, and instead hit a pedigree onto the birthday cake, 20 minutes had flown by. Cannot explain enough how much I loved this match.

RoH Invades Japan Vol 1

This is a compilation I bought years ago from IVP Videos, which features a load of matches with Ring of Honor alumni wrestling in Japan. I bought it because it felt like a nice way to ease me into Japanese wrestling, which was a weak point of mine at the time, but I hardly ever watched it. I think it's still for sale on the site, though it's now called USA Invades Japan (even though two matches feature no American wrestlers), and it's well worth a pick-up

Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi

Pretty much a non-stop tag match that opens with typical tag formula, but has all broken down by the end. I liked the way the Aries & Strong team had differing roles, with Strong played up as the muscle and Aries the daredevil. Their teamwork early on is really fluid, all quick tags and double teams as they work over Doi. Aries, in turn, is soon isolated by Doi and Yoshino, with a high-speed corner cannonball from Doi looking brutal. It’s after the hot-tag to Strong that things break down, and the concept of having to tag in-and-out is forgotten. It’s one of those things that you have to accept as a condition of the style (this being a Dragon Gate match), even though on a personal level traditional tag formula is one of my favourite things. As a high-speed spotfest, the rest of the match does deliver and is pretty exciting in the final stages. Some really nice spots here – loved Roddy hitting a Northern Lights suplex that throws Yoshino onto Doi and I loved the way that the corner train run by Yoshino, Doi and their entourage was TOO successful, as Aries collapses to the mat before Doi gets to him, in turn leaving Doi open to Strong and his entourage running in on him. A missile dropkick/powerbomb combo by Aries & Strong seems to fold up Doi, who looks legit hurt – his kick out from the following pinfall looks more like Roddy just getting off him. Aries eats a fireman’s carry slam on the top of his head, before Yoshino accidentally gets a face full of powder from his teammate, and takes a Strong backbreaker and a match winning Aries 450.

Rocky Romero vs Mushiking Terry

There’s a moment 4 minutes into this match where I realise it’s already terrible and isn’t going to get any better. It’s when the two guys start exchanging German suplexes where the person receiving the move is on his feet before the guy giving it, before both go down from a simultaneous head kick. It marks it straight away as one of those matches where moves happen but none of them matter. It’s especially galling when Romero had done some respectable arm-work on Terry – kicking out the arm on a handstand into the ropes, locking on a cross-armbreaker – that is undermined by these suplexes. Romero does keep going back to the armbreaker, but drops it in the second half of the bout and Terry doesn’t sell any of it anyway. There are a few nice moments here, as I liked a tornillo Terry hit, and I enjoyed Romero breaking a suplex attempt with a knee to the head whilst in the air only for Terry to grab the knee on a second reversal to hit a fisherman buster. Ultimately though, this is just moves, culminating with Terry winning with a top rope hiptoss.

Bryan Danielson vs KENTA

Hey, this is much better. Not entirely surprising. Loved Danielson’s performance throughout this, really feels like a match he’s in complete control off. Early on the two exchange strikes, and Danielson counters KENTA’s forearms with these amazing looking European uppercuts. Danielson controls the matwork, really feeling like he’s wearing KENTA down. Especially loved him grinding his knuckles into the kidneys to gain control of the arms for a surfboard. Not to say KENTA is totally a passenger in this, as his comebacks are nicely timed and feel believable. His kicks all connect with a satisfying thud. It’s just that Danielson feels like an elite performer throughout, like he’s the one driving the direction of that contest. Loved Danielson meeting a top rope stomp with a big boot to the face from the mat, one of the few times that counter has ever looked good. The bridge on Danielson’s German suplex is terrific, showing amazing neck strength. The ending portion sees both guys upping the tempo to try and finally put the other away. A huge top rope back suplex from Danielson sees him just…holding…KENTA…in..the..air, before they crash to the mat, and him wearing KENTA down for Cattle Mutilation with elbows to the head looked great. In the end, KENTA is able to fire back with one last kick combo, hit the GTS and barely escape with the win. Great match.

Jushin Liger, Jack Evans, Matt Sydal & BxB Hulk vs Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Kevin Steen & Magnitude Kishiwada

This was a whole bundle of fun, and it’s interesting to pick out little running stories throughout the match. Loved how, amongst a lot of lithe high-fliers, Kishiwada and Steen stand out as two lads happy to hurl their relative bulk onto their prone opponents, with flipping sentons and flipping legdrops landing with satisfying thuds. Also, it’s fun to see Liger getting bigger reactions from a shoulderblock battle with Kishiwada than most of these guys get from some impressive acrobatics. Evans bumps like a trooper in the match, with my favourite moment seeing him go up top to go for a 630, only for Kishiwada to hurl a chair at him from off camera, sending him to the floor. The camera work is terrific, as we only see the chair flying from nowhere sending Evans flying. Some lovely looking moves in the match too, with everything Sydal does looking really crisp. Evans hits a nutty backflip into a stomp in the corner on Doi that looks terrific. The end run is really fun, as Yoshino eats a face full of powder by accident, before Liger brainbusters him and Sydal gets the pin with a shooting star press. Really fun.

Nigel McGuinness & Doug Williams vs Takeshi Rikio & Kishin Kawabata

Bit of a short match here, but it’s fun while it lasts. The Brits get overpowered at first by the larger Rikio and Kawabata, so switch their tactics accordingly. Liked them doing the WoS equivalent of the Garvin Stomp, circling Kawabata’s body and each wrenching a limb for a 4 count, then moving onto the next one. Rikio feels like the big issue they have to contend with in the match, as he’s pretty dominant in there. Love the big cross body he uses to plough through Nigel. However, Kawabata accidentally hits him with a lariat, and the Brits manage to isolate him, Williams nailing Chaos Theory to win. Good, but would have benefited from another 5 minutes.

The Briscoe Brothers vs Kotato Suzuki & Ricky Marvin

In contrast, this could do with being 5 minutes shorter. There’s a lot in this I really liked, with some early sequences looking great. Loved the insane top rope reverse rana that Marvin hits on Jay Briscoe, and Marvin running the length of the ramp to hit a baseball slide dropkick into the ring on Jay, whilst Suzuki holds him in a Camel Clutch, looked terrific. It’s just that the pacing feels off – Suzuki is already taking 2.9 pinfalls 10 minutes into the match, and it’s a bout that goes 26m. This means that the Briscoes go from nearly having the match won to suddenly just working holds on Suzuki, instead of trying to finish him off. More annoyingly, the hot tag to Marvin comes from nowhere, with no build up. At this point, the match really starts losing it’s tag structure, and all four guys are getting hit with big bombs with not much lasting effect. Jay Briscoe takes a tombstone piledriver, and he’s back on the apron taking a tag inside 30 seconds. Later on, he gets hit with a spinning tombstone and they don’t even bother with a pinfall. Meanwhile, the Briscoes run a huge series of big bombs on Suzuki, all for 2.9 counts that he seems to recover from pretty quickly. In the end, Mark Briscoe is isolated and hit with a double-team Widow’s Peak that finally ends this one, and it’s just a shame that by the end I’m just glad it’s over rather than feeling exhilarated from a hot match.

Chris Hero & Doug Williams vs Ippei Ota & Mohammed Yone

Williams and Hero come off as the great tag team we never got. Really felt like they compliment each other here – both look terrific as they work over the more inexperienced Ota, but in different ways. Williams is just solid, nothing flashy, but everything looks like it connects and feels effective. Hero also has offence that looks good, but he’s adding a bit more flash, like a backward roll into a senton or taking Ota over with a flipping cravate. They don’t have it so easy when Yone is in the ring, working him as a peer, but it’s Ota they try and keep in the ring. Ota does get to hit a long airplane spin into a Samoan drop on Hero that gets a nice reaction, but he’s ultimately the weak link in his team. As Williams keeps Yone occupied outside the ring, Hero nails a huge big boot and the Hero’s Welcome to win. Good stuff here.

Takeshi Morishima vs KENTA     

This is a really great ten minute fight. Basically, KENTA goes into this with a gameplan to beat the shit out of Morishima as quickly as possible, knowing that Morishima has the size and power advantage. Morishima gets in a few blows, but KENTA nails 4 or 5 kicks for every one punch. KENTA goes for broke on the outside, hitting a huge springboard double stomp to the outside. Loved Morishima’s guttural yells after that, makes it feel like KENTA has him. GTS only gets two, and a massive Morishima clothesline changes the entire outlook of the match. A backdrop suplex only gets two, but KENTA is down now, and Morishima just mauls him in the corner like an angry bear. KENTA has enough energy to escape pinfalls, but not enough to make a comeback and Morishima keeps hitting backdrop suplexes until KENTA can’t kick out any more. Really great sprint.

WWF Raw 30/05/1994

Crush vs Tatanka

This is the final qualifier for the 94 King of the Ring. It’s interesting that Tatanka, who is a pretty big lad, is dwarfed by Crush and has to work the bout from underneath. Loved some of Crush’s early heeling, especially him holding Tatanka in a headlock, turning his back to the ref and jamming a thumb into Tatanka’s throat. Tatanka is accompanied by Chief Jay Strongbow, but he does more harm than good in his attempts to counteract Mr Fuji. Indeed, it’s due to going outside to protect Strongbow from Fuji that Tatanka is hit by a surprise Crush superkick, giving Crush control. Crush’s control is fine, and I liked the Tatanka comeback, wearing Crush down with chops until he’s felled like a mighty oak. Strongbow and Fuji get into it on the outside, and Crush and Tatanka get drawn out, leading to a double count out. Terrific work Strongbow.

1-2-3 Kid vs George South

Fun squash match, with Kid looking really good. Absolutely loved his quick kick combos, especially the spot where South celebrates ducking a roundhouse, only to turn round to a brisk flurry of kicks. La Majistral cradle gets the win for Kid.

Smoking Gunns vs Austin Steel & Reno Riggins

Really comprehensive squash. Riggins is a fun jobber, stooges about a bit, and he eats a nice neckbreaker from Billy. Steele is more lumpy, like a Poundland knock-off of Buddy Rose, and he takes a bigger beating. Really great top rope bulldog from Billy, nasty kneedrop to the skull from Bart and a nice looking Sidewinder to finish the job.

Jeff Jarrett vs Chris Hamrick

Would loved to have seen this circa 1999-2000. Jarrett is a lot of fun here, preening around and pointing to his head after every move. Just a glorious, arrogant jerk. His offence is on point here, hitting a beautiful dropkick to the face at one point. I’m not normally the kind to notice dropkicks, but this one was terrific. Jarrett’s stun-gun and slingshot suplex both are nice looking moves that I wish he’d kept doing. Hamrick, as you’d expect, takes a nutty bump in the corner, missing a running knee and flying over the top rope. This gives JJ a focus point and he locks on the figure four for the win.

ECW Hardcore TV #16 27/07/1993

This is a REALLY tough episode of ECW to get through, starting with a long press conference with Tod Gordon, and with the majority of the episode dedicated to Eddie Gilbert's increasingly tiresome "King of Philadelphia" schtick, which culminates in a really embarrassing vignette at a wrestling show that seems to be filmed in someone's back garden. It makes ECW look so small-time, and it also means we only get two matches.

Terry Funk vs The Canadian Wolfman

No idea why the Wolfman, of all people, gets to fight Terry Funk this week, when he’s not appeared on the show since week #8. It’s not like he’s a guy who’s going to put on a good match with Funk either, as he’s a slovenly fat guy with awful tattoo’s who bumps awkwardly. He tries to get some control by gouging Terry’s eyes, but is soon put away with 3 slams and a spinning toe hold.

Johnny Hotbody vs The Sandman

Well, this is definitely the best Sandman match so far in ECW, and you can give full credit for that to Hotbody. His movement here is excellent, just adding little touches to ensure that he turns round at just the right time to take a move from the Sandman, and he takes a big bump face-first on the mat, as Sandman pulls him over the top rope from the floor. His diving elbow to the concrete floor earns what feels like a legitimate cry of shock from Paul Heyman on commentary. Sandman ends up victorious, as Hotbody tries a cocky bicep pose pin following a shot from Hunter Q Robbins’s cane, only to get rolled up for the pin. Still, a great performance from Hotbody.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 28/04/1986

Nikolai Volkoff vs Tony Garea

Having unexpectedly enjoyed a Volkoff squash from a 94 Raw recently, I went into this with positive feelings. They were misplaced. My favourite thing Volkoff does here is fully commit himself to missing moves, going full-on into the turnbuckles on a missed splash. His offence doesn’t have the same level of commitment, as his strikes all look really wispy, his shitty spinning kick looking particularly bad. Garea gets some good nearfalls from a backslide and a sunset flip, but ultimately spends too long looking for approval and falls prey to Volkoff hitting a press slam into a backbreaker. This may sound like a good move, but Volkoff so obviously protects him with a flimsy backbreaker that it’s a move he’d be better off not attempting.

Jake Roberts vs Scott McGhee

This was a lot more urgent to start, Jake firing off some lovely punches and a really tough looking gutbuster. We’ll pass over McGhee’s terrible looking gutwrench suplexes to be nice. McGhee misses a kneedrop, and I like that he sells it for the short remaining time of the match, hobbling into the short arm clothesline. Jake hold onto the ropes on an attempted O’Connor roll, and plants McGhee with the DDT as he’s getting up. Post-match, Jake gives McGhee a proper snaking (lets pretend that’s the correct verb), draping Damian on him again and again.

King Tonga vs Paul Christy

Not a fan of Christy here, he’s got the softest strikes and has a really awkward in ring manner. Tonga basically overwhelms him here, with the only offence Christy mustering is a repeated choke in and across the ropes. Doesn’t help him, as the moment Tonga gets back to his feet, he nails two blows to Christy’s throat and hits a top rope headbutt to win.

Rene Goulet vs Lanny Poffo

Call me crazy, but I really enjoyed this. Really dug the matwork to start the match, really nice feeling of one-upmanship between the two. Even the commentary, where Gorilla Monsoon, Lord Alfred and Ernie Ladd debate the pros and cons of Poffo’s backflip taunt, is fun. Goulet is great as a stalling, cowardly heel trying to provoke Poffo into a mistake. His shit eating grin as he hangs off the ringpost outside the ropes is terrific. Poffo takes some big bumps off a missed moonsault and some missed dropkicks, and Goulet’s double-foot stomps looked nasty. In the end, Poffo slams Goulet off the top and hits a flip senton for three.

Professor Toru Tanaka & Mr Fuji vs Lenny Hurst & Jose Gonzalez

This is the classic match, JIP from 1977. It’s 2/3 falls and the first fall is really short. Gonzalez gets beaten down and caught with a big clothesline by Fuji for the first fall. 2^nd fall sees Gonzalez make the tag to Hurst, who’s offensive run is very brief before Tanaka basically beats him through the ropes. A sleeper puts Hurst out for the three count. Really not sure what the point of including this was.

Sivi Afi vs Iron Mike Sharpe

This is sloppy to start, with Afi barely getting over Sharpe on a legdrop and a really poor looking droptoehold. Things do thankfully improve after that, loved Sharpe’s big bump from a dropkick than sent him from the ring, over the railings and into the crowd. There is a contrast between the thuggish power of Sharpe and the overenthusiastic fast-paced offence of Afi. It’s a nice contrast, and this is pretty fast paced, with both guys missing lots of moves which means neither gets prolonged control. They also exchange some big blows in the ring, with an audible smack to their strikes. The end sees both guys fighting outside the ring, with Afi just about skinning the cat in time to win. The ref does seem to take ages to make his count, which Gorilla Monsoon calls him out for on commentary.

Iron Sheik vs Corporal Kirchner

Shiek jumps Kirchner right from the get go, choking him out with his flag. Kirchner at least seems fired up on his comeback, but this makes him prone for mistakes and Sheik takes over with a gutwrench suplex that sees him land on Kirchner’s head. Volkoff assaults Kirchner outside the ring, which ultimately sees Sheik disqualified. This was fine enough, but not exactly a banner main event.

PCW/CZW/WXW/Beyond - World Wrestling Championships - Day 2 Afternoon Show

Second show from the Wrestling World Championships. Bit of a shorter show - I know the PCW day shows are sometimes known as the "hangover" shows after the Friday night drinking, which might explain this, but still a fun selection of matches.

Danny Hope vs Axel Dieter Jr

Shortened match, as Hope seems to legit injure himself early door. Dieter hits an uppercut as soon as the bell rings, but Hope lands awkwardly after taking a cross-chop to the throat, and the match is called off. An ominous start

Jurn Simmons vs T-Bone

Bit of a big lad sprint here, though not in the form of Simmons’ never-ending entrance. By way of contrast, T-Bone bursts to the ring in less than 10 seconds to kick this off.  This doesn’t go long, but see some nice big shots from both guys. Ultimately, this comes down to a battle of the finishers, with both guys using piledriver variations. T-Bone goes for one early, but Simmons reverses and hits his own for the win. Would have been up for a longer version of this.

Bubblegum vs Tracy Williams

This was a good step forward. Williams is terrific on the mat, but Bubblegum matches him early doors, chaining holds with Williams, which soon moves onto the two chaining pinfall attempts. I liked how this built up, with Williams slightly ahead on the mat, so Bubblegum starts to quicken the pace to swing things into his favour. Williams controls Gum with some big suplexes, but misses a corner charge after showing off. There’s a few awkward moments of miscommunication, but they’re soon forgotten with both guys hitting some nice sequences. Williams going from a brainbuster into a crossface looks killer, and I dug the finishing section, Bubblegum hitting a satellite DDT and the 619 to win.

Joey Janela, Dave Crist, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz vs Sha Samuels, Joey Hayes, Lionheart & Martin Kirby

This was just a big goofy match designed to warm up the crowd with comedy spots. Not much of a match to call, but there’s some enjoyable sequences – Xavier goes through a sluggish exchange with Kirby until he downs a can of Red Bull to re-energize himself. Janela works a section against an invisible man, just in case you weren’t sure how seriously to take this. The CZW team hits a nice dive series, and it all breaks down in the ring, before Crist nails Kirby with a diving stunner and Wentz hits a standing moonsault to win. Forgettable but enjoyable.

Da Mack vs AR Fox

This was fine, but I get the impression that Da Mack may not be my kind of wrestler. His dancing kicks still look goofy, and nothing he does convinces me it’s going to help him win a match – all looks a bit wimpy, despite Fox bumping about for him. He keeps going for these uppercut/palm strikes which never come close to connecting. Fox looked good though, loved the height he got on a big dive and his match winning fisherman’s buster was choice. Brief match, but that might well be for the best.

Iestyn Rees vs Keith Lee

Non-title match here, with Rees not defending the PCW title. Two big boys here, though Rees decides to stall a good chunk to kick this off. Lee is a force of nature, so I dug Rees’s use of cheapshots to seize control – nothing fancy, just not breaking cleanly and eye-gouges. Loved the massive slingshot crossbody Lee hits, such agility for a guy his size and it’s an impressive visual. Rees isn’t able to get the Alphalock on Lee and instead gets caught in this insane Samoan drop into a Jackhammer by Lee, which looks killer. This persuades Rees to take the count out loss. Felt like the first half of a good match, but it needed a better finish.

Dave Mastiff vs Chris Dickinson

Another pair of big lads, but they defy convention by having a clean, technical bout to start off. This is something both are surprisingly adept at, with Mastiff hooking out Dickinson’s ankles from the mat and locking in an impressive straight-jacket sleeper. Dickinson tries to cheap shot on a hand shake, which ups the match pace, but this doesn’t give him the control as Mastiff still dominates. Loved the enzuigiri that Dickinson hits, looked really impressive for a big guy and he gets great height on it. Despite his skulduggery, the crowd seem pretty pro-Dickinson, especially when he powers up Mastiff for a huge death valley driver. Ultimately though, Mastiff has the advantage in power and technique, as he rolls through a sunset flip attempt and locks in an unlikely sharpshooter to win. Enjoyed this.