WWF Monday Night Raw 01/08/1994

Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon

This starts off really well, with a really fluid fast paced sequence ending with Michaels cockily walking over Ramon’s back, only to turn round into a Razor right hand. At this point, I was excitedly expecting a hidden Raw gem, but then a few things really go against it. This goes nearly 20 minutes, and it does feel like they’re stretching to fill the time in places. I think the term “rest hold” is sometimes lazily used, but here Michaels holds one on Razor for a minute or so, before Ramon just casually gets up and escapes. No struggle, just Ramon going “Right, time to get out of that”. There’s also weird moments like the undersized heel winning a slugfest, or the undersized heel having to fight out of two bear hugs. There’s some really neat moments too, like a slingshot that sends Michaels hurtling to the floor and taking Diesel out as well. Diesel hits some nicely timed interference, clotheslining Ramon on the floor and being on the other side of the ring before the ref turns around. Michaels gets the win after running Ramon into a big boot from Diesel, and this feels like a missed opportunity.

Bull Nakano vs Alundra Blayze

Non title match, really shows the lack of depth of the 1994 women’s division as Nakano faces Blayze in her first televised WWF match. Indeed, according to Cagematch, the only other female wrestler Nakano faced in her near-two year WWF run was Heidi Lee Morgan, normally tagging with Blayze. Luckily, Blayze and Nakano seem to have chemistry right away. Loved Nakano hurling Blayze by the hair, Alundra taking several rotations before landing. Blayze fires back with a nice roundhouse kick, but a second is ducked and Nakano violently clotheslines her against the ropes. They really throw some big bombs at each other, making the most of their 5 minutes of ring time. Huge Nakano piledriver and a big powerbomb, with Alundra hitting the German suplex for two. Blayze hits a huge crossbody to the floor, looked great, before they both gets counted out whilst fighting outside. Really felt ahead of it’s time, just a compact sprint of a bout.

The Smoking Gunns vs George Anderson & Tom Bennett

Hardly any time is dedicated to this, joined in process then cut up by ads. Pretty much a timekiller to finish the show, though the Gunns match-winning Sidewinder looks great.

WWE Main Event 05/08/2014

Slater Gator vs Goldust & Stardust

Two really fun teams colliding here, making for a match that’s really enjoyable, even if it’s not technically great. I mean, Goldust IS great here, probably the quickest guy in the match and still blessed with a lovely punch. The chemistry with him and Stardust is palpable, and I love the little touches like Stardust aping the drop-down punch of his brother, but hitting a Pele kick instead. The mismatched Slater Gator team would surely have been turned face by the audience if they’d had a longer run, there’s something ultimately endearing about Slater’s earnest love of the team clashing with Titus actively disliking his partner. O’Neill shows nice strength hitting two backbreakers on Stardust and chucking him, and I like Stardust managing to land on his feet the second time it’s attempted. Goldust is great as the hot tag, hitting a beautiful powerslam, but the ref gets distracted by Stardust as Heath tries a sunset flip, and Titus boots Goldust in the head for the upset win.

AJ Lee vs Summer Rae

This is short and ultimately pointless. It starts with AJ hitting two swinging neckbreakers that both have Summer going down so early that it looks like her giving the move. AJ sells her ongoing neck injury, which does see Summer attack the neck nastily, but this lasts less than a minute before AJ reverses a neck crank to the Black Widow for the tap.

Jack Swagger vs Alberto Del Rio

Del Rio is a guy who always works curiously hard on C-show matches, and this is no exception. The show is in Texas, right next to the Mexican border, so Del Rio plays face with Swagger as the All-American heel. Del Rio bumps big for Swagger, taking a big spill to the floor then getting hurled into the barricades. Swagger has taped ribs from his recent matches with Rusev, and he twice misses corner charges to give Del Rio comebacks, with Byron Saxton highlighting that the injured ribs are causing Swagger pain on deep breaths, slowing him down and causing the misses. Del Rio does some nice work on the arm, including a draped armbreaker over the ropes. Both guys do some nice work here, massive slam by Swagger looks deadly and I loved Del Rio’s kicks to the ribs to launch comebacks. There’s a really nice battle over the cross-armbreaker at the end, and Swagger manages to break it into the Patriot Lock really nicely, getting the tap as he drags Del Rio from the ropes. Nice, competitive bout.

CHIKARA - The Cibernetico Cometh

Claudio Castagnoli vs American Gigolo

Big fan of Claudio demanding a chair to use as a step for his ring entrance, despite the chair being the exact same height as the ring. This is fought under European Rules, with a round system. Round 1 is pretty even, with both guys doing some nice chain wrestling on the mat. The round ends with Gigolo going to the next door room to get a drink, only returning when on the brink of being counted out in R2. Felt like a comedy bit that the crowd didn’t bite. This round is a bit more heated, with Claudio doing a fun bit of schtick where he kept punching Gigolo whilst holding a headlock and claiming it was a flat palm until ref Bryce Remsburg catches him in the act. He also attacks Gigolo at the end of R2, then continues his assault as Remsburg tells the ring announcer to issue a public warning. Gigolo takes some fun bumps getting whipped to the corner in R3, before Claudio hits an uppercut to the back of the head to get the KO win. This was better than the first Euro Rules match against Sabian, felt like Claudio had already got a better idea of how to work the gimmick

Lance Steel vs Darkness Crabtree

This is actually a continuation of the match from the previous night, a falls-count-anywhere affair that saw both guys leave the venue and not return. They battle back into the ring, and Steel locks on a Boston Crab for the win in an announced 23hours and 36 minutes.

Ravage vs Niles Young

Two CZW trainees. This is one of those basic, competently worked rookie matches between two guys who obviously train together. Ravage is very annoying though, all “quirky” shrieks and whoops. Ravage hits a nice cradle neckbreaker at one point, but this is pretty by the numbers stuff. Young gets the win following an overly complicated facebuster and a Yakuza kick.

The Wildcards vs BLKOUT

There’s a bit of genial clowning to start, but soon Joker and Kingston are viciously exchanging headbutts in the corner. Loved the takeovers Joker hits on Marciano, grabbing him around the neck and flinging him to the mat. Sabian is soon isolated, eating a nice gutwrench from Marciano. The Wildcards work like a classic heel tag team, cutting off the ring, quick tags and keeping Sabian in the corner. Sadly, there isn’t any build to the hot tag, you feel like one or two hope spots could have made the eventual tag a bit more exciting. BLKOUT clear the ring, and Joker backdrops Sabian to the floor onto the Wildcards. There’s a poor looking roll up by Sabian where he looks to be chaining to a submission before his opponent actually kicks out, but he does eat a huge overhead belly to belly by Kingston to the floor, before Eddie gets an O’Connor Roll on Joker for the win. Overall, good stuff.

Skayde vs Oriental

This was ultimately fine, but just felt like an exhibition throughout. It’s 2/3 falls, but barely goes 10 minutes, and at a lot of points it didn’t feel like two guys trying to pick up a victory, no sense that anything was at stake. Oriental hits a nice rolling senton to the floor at one point, but there was no struggle, holds getting escaped from and reversed with no build. It ends up one fall a piece, before Oriental gets the eventual win with a flipping legdrop and a cradle. All the execution was on point, but this is pretty forgettable stuff.

Jigsaw, Mr Zero, Gran Akuma, Icarus, Jolly Roger, DJ Skittlez, Private Eye & Shane Storm vs Larry Sweeney, Rorschach, Mano Metalico, Share Cropper, Ultramantis Black, Spyrazul, Crossbones & Hallowicked

This is a Cibernetico match, elimination rules with only one guy allowed on the apron at a time, with tags having to be made in a batting order. It’s lucha rules, so tags can be made by one guy leaving the ring and his partner replacing him. There can only be one survivor, so team-mates may have to battle each other at the end to be the winner.

This goes long, 76minutes long to be precise, and it’s remarkable to note that it never drags. On paper, a 76 minute match featuring DJ Skittlez and Private Eye sounds disastrous, but it’s very cleverly worked to keep the pace up and keep things fresh. The first fifteen minutes sees different wrestlers pairing up then tagging out, so even limited guys only need to find two minutes of stuff to do. Then, as Larry Sweeney tags out straight away to avoid Jigsaw, we go through the cycle again, only with wrestlers getting paired up with different opposition. The first time, all the wrestlers are testing the water, basic holds and matwork, so by the second go around, all wrestlers up the tempo a bit, leading to DJ Skittlez looking the best he ever has by just getting in, hitting a few big clotheslines then hitting a big dive to end his ring time. Even so, Private Eye looks a bit clumsy and lumbering, but we also get a fun spot when someone pokes him right in his massive eye to temporarily blind him. This also builds the excitement for the Jigsaw/Sweeney showdown, as once Jigsaw is out, he knows he has to let his whole team cycle through until he has another chance to possibly face Sweeney.

The first elimination doesn’t come until the 44^th minute, when Metalico pauses when Shane Storm holds up his “STOP” sign, and Jolly Roger hits a crossbody to pin him. Other fun eliminations sees Private Eye’s mask turned sideways to stop him seeing, allowing Hallowicked to roll him up, whilst Icarus takes a nasty backpack stunner, also by Hallowicked to be eliminated. The only really prolonged heat section is worked on Storm, giving the rudo team a chance to do a number on him. A lot of ref distractions and multi-man assaults. Loved the Yakuza kick delivered by Crossbones to a kneeling Storm. By the end, we’re down to 3-1, a sneaky brass knuck shot by Sweeney eliminating Akuma to leave Jigsaw all alone against Spyrazul, Rorschach and Sweeney. As Sweeney gloats to the crowd, Spyrazul – who had been late arriving and had taking a few brow-beatings from Sweeney – suddenly downs his partner Rorschach and gestures to Jigsaw to pin him, leaving it 2-1. As Sweeney turns around confused, Spyrazul unmasks to reveal himself as Mike Quackenbush, leaving the match and FINALLY giving us the Jigsaw/Sweeney battle the match had been building to. Really nicely worked angle. Sweeney tries to escape, but gets brought back by Jigsaw who hits a shining wizard to finally win the bout. An unexpected, but resolute, success.

WCW Thunder 15/01/1998

The Steiner Brothers & Ray Traylor vs Black Cat, Ohara & Gedo

Fun little six-man that also continues the Scott Steiner slow burn heel turn. Liked Traylor’s slight variation on his rope-mounted uppercut, this time just popping Black Cat as he nears the ropes. Scott gets a huge pop when he tags in and he basically demolishes the opposition solo, ignoring Rick’s attempts to tag in. Huge suplex to Ohara is followed by a Tiger Bomb and Steiner Screwdriver on Gedo for the three.

The Cat vs Yuji Nagata

Genuinely think if 1998 Ernest Miller came along now, the WWE would push him to the moon. Real fighting credentials and insane charisma? Give him a year at the Performance Centre and he’d be made. The commentary team mention a rumoured WCW karate division that thankfully went nowhere. Short but sweet little match. Miller hits a big superkick at the bell for an early two count, but is soon eating a bunch of nifty suplexes from Nagata. The Cat hits a really nice short lariat and a top rope Feliner to win.

Chris Jericho vs Eddie Guerrero

Interesting, as Jericho is just turning heel so this is a heel vs heel match. Not as long as you’d hope for, but they squeeze some really good stuff into this. Love Jericho throwing Guerrero through the air for a high elevation stungun, as well as Eddie out-heeling Jericho by grabbing the ropes on an abdominal stretch. They maintain a really high pace throughout, Eddie escaping a powerbomb and whipping into a sunset flip with real pace. A sloppy looking Gory Special that drops Jericho on his head is the only down point, before a great ending sees Guerrero try a hurricanrana, only for Jericho to shift weight and hold him down in a Liontamer for the victory. Really good stuff here.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This, however, is even better. They get nearly 10 minutes to fill here, and they go all out and both look tremendous. Guerrera largely controls the match with Rey making well-timed comebacks. Loved Rey’s early flip dive, before he bumps enormously after taking a slingshot to the floor. Juvi follows with his own insane dive. Juvi looks great in control, hitting a nasty looking drop down muscle buster and ramming Rey’s head into the ring apron by swinging him down violently over the ropes from the ring, sending his head upwards through the ring apron. Juvi reverses a diving rana attempt into a powerbomb, but Rey avoids the 450 and hits a quick rana for the win and the cruiserweight title.

Diamond Dallas Page & Lex Luger vs Kevin Nash & Randy Savage

This is a handicap match, as DDP is on crutches and gets taken out by Hulk Hogan before the match even starts. This gives the NWO team control, but dissention between Savage and Nash basically derails them throughout. Luger especially benefits as Savage goes to hit the axe handle from the top on Nash outside, allowing Luger to instead slam Savage to the mat. He runs riot, hitting flying forearms on both Nash and Savage, even getting to put an interfering Hogan in the rack before the numbers game builds up and we get a huge melee to end the show with Sting, the Giant and the whole NWO all involved.

World Class Championship Wrestling 11/12/1982

The Spoiler vs Jose Lothario

Short match, but pretty hard hitting throughout. Neither guy has a problem laying in some tough looking blows, with Lothario in particular hitting some nice body shots. Both guys do a little bit of limb work, with Spoiler working the left arm of Lothario, ramming a hammerlock into the corner. For his part, Lothario stretches out the knee, as well as dropping some big elbows onto it. A double countout for fighting on the apron provides an underwhelming end to a decent bout.

The Great Kabuki, Checkmate & Magic Dragon vs Brian Adidas, Bugsy McGraw & Al Madril

All action six-man tag, worked quickly enough that the flaws of the weaker participants were covered up. The face team control Magic Dragon early on, with Adidas looking particularly good, but he soon becomes face in peril. Loved how vicious Checkmate was on tagging in, with nasty driven knees to the thighs of Adidas, and even stomping on his hands as he rested on the mat. Just not giving him time to get comfortable. Madril essentially cheats by coming in as the heels control Adidas, though the brief melee doesn’t lead to a face comeback. I liked Checkmate holding Adidas by the legs for a pin attempt and, when Adidas lifts a shoulder, Checkmate uses that momentum to turn him over for a deathlock. There’s a nice hot tag to Madril, who looks really fired up, but a flying knee to the face of Adidas by Kabuki is enough for the heel win.

Kevin von Erich vs King Kong Bundy

Bundy looks a lot leaner here than the “walking condominium” he’d be in later years, though he still substantially outweighs von Erich. Kevin looks convincing on offence against the bigger man, mainly due to the convincing aggression he puts behind his blows, and he crashes into a Bundy knee with the same full force to give Bundy the control. Love how high Bundy lifts von Erich in the air to apply a bearhug, looked really good. Kevin is really good at fighting from underneath, always trying to sneak in a punch or two, always fighting, before a Bundy blow puts him down again. The end sees Kevin avoid an avalanche, but the ref gets bumped allowing Bundy to through von Erich over the top without being disqualified, and a suplex gives him the win. Good match.

Mid-South Wrestling 30/01/1982

Dick Murdoch vs Tom Renesto

Fun little squash, with a few nifty little touches by Murdoch. Liked him just grinding his knee in place after hitting a kneedrop to the arm. Murdoch hits a short range punch to the face in a submission hold, hits a flying headscissors and a brainbuster to win.

Wild Samoans vs Frank Monte & Terry Daniels

Blink and you’ll miss it, as the Samoans attack at the bell, sending Monte out of the ring and blitzing Daniels with a Samoan Drop and a top rope headbutt to win

Brian Blair vs Carlos Zapata

Unremarkable squash, though Blair looked decent throughout. Liked him going through a range of pin attempts early to try a quick win. Blair stops a brief Zapata rally with some nice body shots and a back suplex, before going into the abdominal stretch pin to win.

Paul Orndorff & Bob Orton Jr vs Junkyard Dog & Mike George

Really enjoyable sprint of a tag match, no resting from either side. I liked how both teams used quick tags, trying to get out of the ring at the first sign of any danger. Liked little bits like JYD stopping an attacking run with a diving headbutt to a standing Orndorff to get to tag out. Orton hits a great driving kneedrop to the face of George from the top rope, but the end sees Orndorff hold JYD in a full nelson, Orton try a top rope axe handle, only for JYD to lean forward, powering Orndorff into the way of the Orton blow. This leaves Orndorff unable to break the pin as JYD hits the Thump to pick up the win.

Mr Olympia vs Ed Wiskowski

Decent bout for Olympia’s Mississipi heavyweight title. Liked the start with Olympia working a load of headlocks to keep Wiskowski down. Wiskowski works over the kidneys and ribs of Olympia, hitting a set of nice kneedrops to the torso, and locking on an abdominal stretch to maintain the focus. The end sees Olympia whip on a sleeper hold from nowhere to win.

Rick Ferrera vs Bill Ash

This is a “thrown together” main event after an angle before, where Paul Orndorff claims he’s been allowed to officiate a title match between Bob Roop and Ted DiBiase. DiBiase doesn’t fall for this obvious ruse and we end up with a brawl. This replacement match runs barely 2 minutes to the end of the show, and is utterly unremarkable in that time.

Sendai Girls 13/01/2018

Manami vs Mio Momono

This was a good opening match, Manami seems to be a rookie based on her plain looking ring attire, but she looks really decent here. Liked Momono’s early focus on the back, working a body scissors by using leverage to cause more pain, hitting a nice kneedrop to the spine. Manami’s comeback may be a little dropkick heavy, but her series of rollups and backslides are some nicely effective nearfalls. Momono basically bends her in half with a Boston crab, which looks great, and though Momono misses a top rope crossbody, she’s still able to lock in a tight cradle for the win

Alex Lee vs KAORU

I’d seen some of Lee’s Stardom stuff, that I thought was pretty good, but this was poor. It start’s ominously, with KAORU using some bad comedy biting spots and getting one of her ringside attendees to work double team spots with her in front of the ref. Lee makes comebacks with some flimsy looking blows, though she does hit some nice kicks during the bout, only to eat a big boot from KAORU. It’s really poor looking, as Lee basically stops and leans her head into KAORU’s boot. KAORU hits some weapon shots in front of the ref, but then mysteriously gets stopped when she goes to the top. This is seemingly only so her attendee can pass her another weapon behind the ref’s back in another poor comedy spot. A KAORU rana looks really bad. Even the end is poor, as Lee hits a good spell of offence, with a nice top rope stomp and a running knee, only to get rolled up straight away for the KAORU win.

Cassandra Miyagi vs Heidi Katrina

I’ve seen Katrina live a few times in 2016, and wasn’t especially impressed, so I was interested to see if she’d improved. She seems to have, but this still wasn’t a great bout. Miyagi has a goofy gimmick, seems to involve her pulling funny faces and lurching about a lot. Sadly, she also hits a few shitty dropkicks early on, which don’t do anything to endear her to me. This starts slow, but improves a bit as they both start to show a bit more fire. Miyagi wins me back around with some nice punches and a decent tope suicida, whilst Katrina looks really impressive catching Miyagi in motion and hoisting her into a slam. Katrina gets the win following a top rope legdrop.

Ami Sato, DASH Chisako & Meiko Satomura vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Hiroyo Matsumoto & Manami

Sato and the returning Manami are the rookie members of their teams, shown not only by their use in the match, but also in their comparatively plain looking singlets. This was noticeably a level ahead of everything else on the show, with the rookies nicely blended in with their more experienced team mates. Sato works the opening, getting outwrestled on the mat by Hashimoto and Matsumoto, before faring better with her fellow rookie, blitzing Manami with slams and shoulderblocks. Loved Satomura deciding not to hit Manami with a stiff penalty kick, instead belting her with a forearm in the corner. The camera briefly loses the match, focusing on the dark outside for 30 seconds, and we return to a melee, with Chisako hitting a great top rope dive to the floor. There’s some really fun sequences in the ring, loved Satomura hitting a back suplex on Hashimoto, only for her to hold onto a headlock on landing, working Satomura on the ground. Loved Matsumoto picking up Hashimoto into a piggyback in order to hit a huge kneedrop on DASH. Sato gets tagged in, but is barely able to move Matsumoto with a shoulderblock, but gets assistance from Satomura to nail a double team version in a nice sign of the veteran helping her rookie. DASH hits a top rope footstomp on Matsumoto, followed by a Satomura frogsplash, and they leave her for Sato to pin, getting a two. However, this leaves Sato isolated as Matsumoto’s partners recover, and though Sato gets a great nearfall following Hashimoto accidentally hitting her partner with a forearm, Matsumoto is able to hit a backdrop driver to pin Sato. Really great stuff, nicely executed and I dug the storyline of the rookie Sato trying to be elevated, only to fall at the last moment.