Lex Luger vs The Blackmailer (WCW Clash of the Champions 5)

Solid early Lex match. He's a few years away from being as confident and polished as he would later be, but here, in his lime green trunks, he's every bit the charismatic young babyface that you'd want to push. His opponent here is Jack Victory, in generic tights, mask and totally unthreatening name, here just to give Lex a win on a big show. Lex's early control isn't especially exciting. It's headlocky, very headlocky, to the point that even Jim Ross highlights how much he's working the headlock. But crucially, he intersperses moments of excitement to pop the crowd. Big running shoulderblocks, or popping straight back up when Blackmailer counters a headlock with a back suplex. Lex let's Blackmailer take over by taking an insane over-the-top bump on a missed charge, and he's a good seller, working up from underneath when Blackmailer works his own headlocks. Loved Lex using a sunset flip as a counter, and he worked his comeback nicely. He didn't just start no-selling Blackmailer's punches, it was almost like "Oh, that punch didn't really hurt. Nor did that one! Hey, I think I might be ok here", building up his resistance in a way that popped the crowd. He finished with a superplex, because he had a big match with Barry Windham coming up, and though it wasn't Windham standard, it was still a decent effort. 

THIS IS NOT A COMEBACK, BUT...

World Class Championship Wrestling 22/01/1983

Kevin von Erich vs King Kong Bundy

This is for Kevin’s North American title. Kevin is all fight, in the face of Bundy early doors, to the extent that he actually gets Bundy over on a side headlock. Even more unlikely, they work some mat reversals, including Bundy countering to a headscissors. Didn’t expect that. Lovely spot where Bundy won’t let Kevin back into the ring, so Kevin does laps of the ring, using his speed to sneak an opening. Von Erich get the claw, but Bundy is in the ropes. Bundy moves the referee in the way as Kevin comes off the top, taking him out, and throws von Erich over the top rope, but it seems that the ref spots it, as he pulls Kevin out of the way of an avalanche attempt to declare him the winner. Really neat match.

Brian Adias vs Terry Gordy

Adias is accompanied by Kerry von Erich, so Gordy has his focus on Kerry most of the match. It affects his concentration, as Adias breaks a headlock to get an overhead wristlock instead. Sadly, a lot of this match is Gordy holding a headlock, which isn’t very interesting. Michael Hayes comes out to lure Kerry away, and the distraction lets Gordy hit a piledriver to win.

King Kong Bundy vs The Samoan

Pretty pedestrian squash for Bundy. He just wears the Samoan down methodically, though his big kneedrop to the back looks great. An avalanche is followed by a backbreaker and a splash for the win.

ECW Hardcore TV #40 18/01/1994

Tommy Dreamer & Badd Company vs The Tasmaniac, Kevin Sullivan & Johnny Hotbody

Pretty decent six-man, albeit with an ending that makes everyone look like an idiot. Thought this match had a really good Paul Diamond performance, he looks terrific and has some real dynamism to his moves. His running leg lariat in the corner was really nice in the opening minutes, and I liked the touches like fighting desperately to escape when Hotbody had him pinned in the opposing corner. The heels work him over nicely, good tag continuity. Tanaka gets the hot tag, but his flurry of offence is short lived, as he gets stopped in his tracks by Taz. Hotbody nails him with a sloppy superplex, and from this point on Tanaka is basically just beaten down. The heel team even take it in turns to pick him up on two counts, and Sullivan just repeatedly rams his head into the mat. However, Sullivan and Taz both roll to the floor and basically have a fit outside the ring. Hotbody goes for the tag, finds no-one there and gets rolled up by Tanaka for three. So the heels look dumb for throwing the win away, Tanaka looks bad for basically being dead for the final few minutes of the match, just a baffling ending.

911 vs Chad Austin

Austin wants a match, so Heyman gives him 911. Chokeslam, pin. There’s going to be a lot of these coming up, I guess?

Terry Funk vs Shane Douglas

I have to accept I was pretty naïve with this match. The show is a “special” 90 minute long episode, and the match starts half an hour into the show, yet at no point did alarm bells ring. I just assumed we’d get some more matches after this obvious main event. It’s only when we were 10-15 minutes into the match, and all we’d seen is Funk work a headlock (admittedly in an amusing manner) and Douglas apply various holds to Funk’s left arm (in a less interesting fashion) that I realised this thing was going long. And it felt loooooooong. Douglas especially doesn’t have enough stuff to fill this time effectively, and Joey Styles’s commentary highlighting that “Douglas is saving energy, just sitting back and working the arm” didn’t make the abundance of arm work interesting. I’m a guy who loves guys working a hold, but that’s different from lying down and holding the arm for a few minutes, then trying another hold. We also get two different crowd brawling spots, with the second one towards the end especially feeling like filler. Funk does a fun job of selling here, even seemingly blading the arm during the first crowd brawl. As a left-hander, he keeps trying to use his injured limb, the selljob of which keeps giving Douglas openings. However, we also get Funk crawling out of the ring after two piledrivers, Funk briefly working Douglas’s legs for the spinning toehold which he never tries for, a false finish with the ref restarting because Douglas used the ropes for leverage on a pin and then a schmozz of an ending with the Bad Breed and Sherri Martell all involved. By the time we got to the inevitable time limit draw, I just wanted this over.

WWF Raw 3/10/1994

British Bulldog vs Jim Neidhart

This was perfectly ok, while at the same time maybe not being as good as you’d hope for with two family members, one of whom is in his comeback match. Liked the opening battle of the shoulderblocks, with Bulldog winning with a leaping version, and DBS showed nice agility in hitting a standing dropkick out of a test-of-strength. Neidhart goes to “a semblance of a chinlock”, as described by Vince. Bulldog hurts his leg crashing to the floor after Owen Hart pulls down the ropes, which lures out Bret from the back, and Neidhart does a bit of token work on it. Loved Neidhart’s rope-assisted choke, standing on Bulldog’s throat and really working the rope to add emphasis. Neidhart misses a splash and Bulldog hits the delayed suplex, albeit with a minimal delay due to the leg. Owen interferes after Bulldog was going for a sunset flip, and this draws the DQ. Feels like an odd time for Owen to come in, especially after quite a lengthy match.

Doink vs Barry Horowitz

Horowitz looks really good in this match, substantially better than Doink. Doink barely gets enough elevation on a leapfrog and almost loses Horowitz on a backslide, while Barry gets a nice bridging pin and fully commits to a missed corner charge. Doink gets a powerslam and the Whoopie Cushion to win.

Bull Nakano & Luna Vachon vs Alundra Blayze & Heidi Lee Morgan

Odd match this, with Morgan taking 90% of the match, and totally dominating Nakano every time Bull is in. Morgan gets a fun, through-the-legs bridging pin on Vachon, before Luna takes over. However, as soon as Bull gets in, Morgan starts no selling shoulderblocks and getting a victory roll before Luna comes in to take control again. Really odd way to book the monster heel. You can almost hear Vince’s frustration as he complains about Morgan needing to get the champ in there. He also criticises Heidi’s decision to try a missed splash rather than make the tag, before Alundra gets in. Nakano blocks a double suplex and takes both Morgan and Blayze over instead. However, Luna accidentally hits a missile dropkick on her, and Blayze hits the German on Luna to win. Baffling booking of Nakano.

Bob Backlund vs Gary Scott

Fun little squash, with Bob letting Scott look quite competitive on the mat and working a nice sequence with him, before locking in the chicken wing for the win after a missed clothesline. Good way to end the show.

ECW Hardcore TV #38 28/12/1993

The Pitbull vs Chad Austin

Pitbull is a solo Gary Wolfe. Pretty much a mugging for poor Chad Austin, who gets folded in half with a back suplex early. Wolfe is someone I don’t really enjoy, but he looked good in a squash environment, hitting nice fistdrops and planting Austin with a big powerbomb. Austin helps him out by taking a 360 bump on an average looking clothesline. Pitbull gets cocky, constantly picking up Austin on pinfalls, and suddenly Austin gets a terrible looking leg lariat for the shock win. Quite fun stuff.

Rockin’ Rebel vs Don E Allen

Efficient, if not especially interesting, squash here. Rebel jumps Allen at the bell and doesn’t really let up. This is all basic stuff, just slams and punches, albeit well executed. Big piledriver finishes off Allen.

Sabu vs Terry Funk

This is for Sabu’s heavyweight title, and is a bit of a clipped mess. It’s no DQ, so we get some brawling on the outside to start, culminating in Funk slamming Sabu onto a table and then flattening him with a chair. Sabu eats a couple of piledrivers before we clip to suddenly find him in control. Well, that’s a bit jarring. We get a ref bump, Funk gets thrown through a table, and a load of interference from the Bad Breed, Shane Douglas, Sherri Martel and Paul Heyman, finishing with Funk on top for the win. Just a mess to follow thanks to the clipping and assorted chaos.

Pro Wrestling Australia - Release The Quackenbush

With a show title like this, you'd be forgiven for expecting an appearance by Mike Quackenbush, and you get one. Sort of. He's on commentary for the show, which is an odd reason to name the show after him, but they mention he's also been doing some training in the previous week. As a commentator, he's the best possible Mauro Ranallo, calling move names and referencing luchadors, but without the terrible puns, shit pop culture references and irritating yelling. So nothing like Mauro, I guess.

Chris Vice vs Robbie Eagles

Big size difference here, Vice is a big musclebound man, but he shows off some nice rounded edges to his work, hitting a nice leaping rana in the opening moments. He also shows some mat skills, at one point grabbing an Eagles big boot from the corner, whipping him down and tying him up on the mat. Later, as Eagles kicks out of a sitout powerbomb, he immediately grabs a leg, locking in an STF. Nicely, he adjusts as Eagles nears the ropes, switching to Rings of Saturn. His slingshot shoulderblock looked great and a sitout piledriver felt like the end. Eagles spends a lot of the match on the defensive, but gets a few chances to impress. His kicks looks weak in places, but a massive dive into the crowd is nuts, and the match-winning 450 splash is terrific. Good opener.

Juan Direction (Funny Juan, Giant Juan & Romantic Juan) vs The VeloCities (Jude London & Paris De Silva) & Mat Rogers

Juan Direction, as you can probably guess, are a lucha themed boy band, complete with microphone headsets incorporated into their mask design. The opposition has a less united front, as Rogers is a big beast of a man who seems disgusted to be teaming with the smaller, goofier VeloCities. He refuses a tag, leaving London and Paris to work the match, and they do so with some nice double teams. At one point, Romantic Juan misses a big high senton and the VeloCities hit a neat double legdrop. They look fluid until Giant Juan clotheslines De Silva from the apron, and the VeloCities find themselves struggling to get back in, at a permanent 3-on-2 disadvantage. That is, until Rogers tags himself in and just dominates. Nothing fancy, just big shoulderblocks and clotheslines, but they looked pretty beefy. He ends up 1-on-1 with Giant Juan, the largest member of his team, and a big boot and a pumphandle slam gives Rogers’s team the win.

Gavin McGavin vs Mehmet the Turkish Delight vs Luciano vs Jax Jordan vs Dean Valente vs Kai Drake

Getting a match like this with 6 guys you’ve never heard of makes it hard to get a read on these guys. You don’t get enough time to get a feel for what they can do, but the small snippet I got from each guy didn’t make me opposed to seeing more. Turkish Delight especially entertained, a tubby guy in a colourful singlet who the crowd seemed to love. His feud with the serious Gavin McGavin got the most focus in the match, and Delight seemed like a fun character. Some nice spots here – dug McGavin avoiding a Sliding D, adjusting his body to instead get a crucifix for two, Valente had a really nicely executed DVD and I liked the logic of Jordan still jumping for a leapfrog when McGavin pulls Delight from the ring as he runs the ropes, just looked a bit more natural and realistic that he wouldn’t be expecting Mehmet not to keep running at him. In the end, Luciano, who’d probably had the least ring time, got the victory with an inverted brainbuster, and this was fun junk food.

Shazza McKenzie vs Jessica Troy

This is for McKenzie’s PWWA title. Really liked this one, I’d seen bits from both women before that had been fine enough, but this was the kind of match that makes you a believer. Lovely mat work at the beginning, nice logical exchanges with McKenzie being one step ahead. The non-Quack commentator mentioned a shoulder injury McKenzie had suffered, so it’s not a big surprise that this soon becomes the focus of Troy’s offence. She takes over in a neat way, catching a boot on the apron and swinging Shazza face first into her knee, then zones in on the shoulder. Lovely Atlantis Clutch, followed by some high kicks directly to the shoulder. McKenzie sells it well for the most part, despite cartwheeling to safety at one point, as she runs the ropes slightly differently, arm kept close to the torso. McKenzie’s offence also switches to be mainly about the kicks and running knees, trying not to use the arm. Troy gets close to the win with a Fujiwara armbar and a great nearfall from a crucifix, but McKenzie locks in a quarter Nelson chicken wing for the tap. End slightly came from nowhere, but I loved this.

Matty Wahlberg vs Mr Juicy

This was stupid, but the right kind of stupid, daft fun rather than something that makes you embarrassed to like wrestling. It works due to the strength of the characters. Mr Juicy is a chubby guy in a doughnut singlet, who comes to the ring with some beers for a party. Wahlberg, in contrast, is a ripped, tanned jock with an entourage, who insults the amiable Juicy. It’s an easy story to understand and Juicy is a likable guy, so the fact some of this is a bit silly doesn’t matter as I got invested in the character, and primarily in seeing Wahlberg get his. Juicy gets early control with a clothesline, after one of Wahlberg’s has no effect on him, and the entourage of Carter Deams and Harley Wonderland both get involved. I assumed for a DQ, but it turns out they’d ambushed the ref, and left him lying on the floor with his shirt over his head. Juicy fires back, even taking out Wonderland with a keg (and this was quite well done. Juicy didn’t just level a woman with a barrel, he’d twice chosen not to attack her and paid the price, and Wonderland is a trained wrestler, so it didn’t feel uncomfortable). He piles up all three in the corner for a bare-arsed stinkface (and Wahlberg ducked, leaving poor Deams to take the brunt) before a clothesline to the back of the head of Wahlberg gives him the win.

The Four Nations (Adam Hoffman, Jack Bonza & Mick Moretti) vs SMS (SnapChad & Unsocial Jordan) & Big Fudge

This was also fun, it’s a match that is there to ultimately advance a storyline, but it did so effectively. Fudge is a small masked guy, who is tag title partners with Shazza McKenzie. However, Unsocial Jordan is her fiancé, and also in a rival tag team, and he’s not a fan of what he perceives as Fudge using her to gain success. Thus, they’ve got a very uneasy alliance here, which isn’t good as the Four Nations put on a united front. Thought this was good, albeit with some clunky comedy sprinkled in. SnapChad and Jordan both seem better than their gimmicky names would imply, but Fudge seems to be mainly schtick. His big move is an arse punch, that it’s hard for opponents to sell and still look credible. Loved some of the heel double-teaming, especially a sequence of tags, sentons and slingshot sentons on SnapChad that looked great, all three moved so quickly. A three man Poetry in Motion, with Hoffman skipping across two men’s back en route to the corner was neat.Jordan shows his annoyance at Fudge by shoving him out of the way, allowing Jordan to receive the hot tag, but Fudge still blind tags himself in for some comedy. The end sees Fudge join in with SMS’s finisher, but Jordan angrily gets distracted by this, allowing Four Nations to isolate SnapChad and crush him with a towering splash for the victory.

Michael Spencer vs Ricky South

Spencer is a short, angry little man, thus making him the perfect choice to fight South’s effeminate lipstick-wearing grappler. Spencer hits a lot of knee-based offence, so it’s lucky that all his jumping kneestrikes looked killer. However, he misses a knee in the corner, allowing South to take over. Nice delayed suplex, before he finishes Spencer with a head-in-trunks piledriver. A very brief match, but a good one while it lasted.

Jonah Rock vs Caveman Ugg

This is a street fight, and these two don’t hesitate to take it to the floor. These are some big boys, so it’s impressive how quickly they can move. At one point, Rock takes the time to chat shit at Quackenbush at the commentary table, only for Ugg to appear out of nowhere with a cannonball. Bless Mike Quackenbush for justifying Ugg finding a ladder near the ring by saying it was used earlier to put up a banner. The ladder comes into play as Ugg side slams Rock onto it in a big bump. It looked, and sounded brutal. Ugg monkey flipping Rock through a chair looked great, and Rock getting a Death Valley Driver was also nicely done. There’s a slightly goofy no-selling section, but Ugg IS a caveman, so it’s not surprising he’s unable to acknowledge the pain. Rock hits a superplex through a tack-covered table for two, in a great looking highspot, before levelling Ugg with a brick and hitting a brainbuster to win. Really neat main event.

World Class Championship Wrestling 15/01/1983

This is the first episode of World Class after the Freebirds turned heel on Kerry von Erich in his NWA title match against Flair, and in keeping with that, this is a very Freebirds heavily episode

Buddy Roberts vs Brian Adidas

Adidas looks pretty awkward in the early stages, stumbling running the ropes, taking a monkey flip clumsily and hitting a poor pair of dropkicks. Roberts takes over by cheapshotting on a rope break, and levels Adidas with some big shots, including nasty knees and kicks to the head. Buddy continues by working the arm of Adidas, including a nice bit where he keeps trying pinfalls while holding the ropes, moving just in time to avoid getting caught. It’s a familiar spot, but executed really well, as the ref never catches him doing it, but is suspicious of the shaking ropes, until the third time when he catches Roberts in the act. Felt natural, as opposed to “a bit”. Adidas gets two on a terrible sunset flip, and Roberts gets a series of two counts from a swinging neckbreaker and a backbreaker, before the time limit expires. Great stuff from Roberts.

Michael Hayes vs Al Madril

The crowd is absolutely molten for this, popping every time Madril lands a shot. Hayes stalls a lot in the early stages, not giving the fired up Madril a chance to retain control. Hayes rakes Madril’s eyes to take over, and goes to work wearing him down, with chinlocks and kneedrops keeping Al on the mat. Madril gets openings, and is always fired up on his comebacks, but Hayes is really good at stopping him in his tracks. Hayes looks to have it won with a piledriver, but decides instead to keep attacking Madril, drawing out Jose Lothario for the DQ win.

Bill Irwin vs Andre The Giant vs Terry Gordy vs King Kong Bundy vs Kerry von Erich vs Bugsy McGraw

This is a six man battle royal, with pins and submissions, with the winner claiming $5,000. Michael Hayes is accompanying Gordy, and pays dividends early, as von Erich focuses his entire attack on Gordy, going after him from the off. However, a distraction by Hayes lets Gordy shockingly eliminate him early. Andre is always a threat in battle royals, but here his gameplan is very odd – just keep strangling Terry Gordy. He just wont let go of Gordy, even when Bundy jumps on him from the second rope. He breaks the hold for a moment, then goes right back to choking Gordy. McGraw is eliminated by Bundy, leaving Andre 3-1 against the heels. They team up, FINALLY getting Andre off Gordy for a period of time. Gordy and Bundy hold Andre by the arms, to allow Irwin to attack, but Andre soon escapes, eliminating Irwin with an atomic drop. Hayes stops Andre eliminating Gordy, and Andre goes after him…climbing over the top in the process, and eliminating himself. This leaves Bundy vs Gordy, two heels and, after Bundy misses the avalanche, Gordy dropkicks him out.Very strange match, mainly dedicated to Andre choking Gordy, but quite enjoyable.

WWE Main Event 16/09/2014

Dolph Ziggler & R Ziggler vs The Miz & Damien Mizdow

Here, R-Truth is cosplaying as Ziggler to counteract the Miz/Mizdow duo. The face team is pretty unexciting in the early stages, so it’s nice when Mizdow breaks their momentum with a headbutt to Ziggler. Liked Miz ducking a superkick to protect his face, allowing Ziggler to roll him up for two. Ziggler briefly plays face in peril, but makes the tag with no real build up. Miz does a terrible job of selling the Fameasser, but Truth does manage to hit Ziggler’s leaping DDT without the need for to slap Miz’s back, making it much better looking. Truth hits a Lie Detector on Mizdow, but Miz is the legal man, and he hits the Skull Crushing Finale to win.

Brie Bella vs Cameron

Surprisingly decent, albeit not particularly long. Both women seem pretty aggressive to start, felt like they were actually battling over moves. Loved the rolling crab Brie gets as Cameron runs the ropes. Cameron gets a brief control that looks decent, hitting a standing splits legdrop and working over Brie’s back. Bella comes back with a diving clothesline and a facebuster to win. Genuinely decent stuff.

Big E vs Seth Rollins

They get a reasonable amount of time – just over fifteen minutes – but unfortunately they don’t make the most of it. A lot of this match sees Rollins in control, and he really drags it out. His beatdown is methodical and not especially interesting, and he fills more time with two long chinlocks. His standing enzuigiri looks nice, but it’s Big E who really impresses here. Aside from his attempt at press-slamming Rollins from the floor to the ring – where Rollins gets stuck in the ropes, and his eventual landing seems him fall not very far – his stuff looks great. He catches a Rollins crossbody to hit multiple backbreakers, he hits full-bodied corner charges, his overhead belly-to-belly and standing splash are both great looking moves, and his spear to the floor looks mental. In the end, Rollins throws him into the corner twice, and the Curb Stomp gives him the win. 

WCW Thunder 05/02/1998

La Parka vs Hugh Morrus

This starts off with Parka doing some hilarious posturing, sadly getting cut off by Morrus levelling him with a big clothesline. This is mainly Parka bumping around for Morrus, who at least unleashes some decent offence. Morrus decks Parka with a shoulderblock and a big chop, and hits a decent back elbow from the corner. No Laughing Matter gets the win.

Jim Powers vs Goldberg

Hilariously short. Goldberg dominates from the off, working Powers down to the mat with a leglock. Powers hits a knee lift, but gets planted with a spear and the Jackhammer gives Goldberg victory.

Kidman vs Juventud Guerrera

These guys would have better matches later on, but this wasn’t great. A few too many awkward moments with Kidman looking lost. Guerrera looks good though, moving really quickly and with a flying headscissors looking really fluid. Great spot as Juvi ranas Kidman off the apron into Lodi. Running Juvi Driver looks great, before a Lodi distraction allows Kidman to hit a bulldog and the SSP for the win.

Silver King, Villano IV & Villano V vs Super Calo, Chavo Guerrero & Lizmark Jr

Unsurprisingly, this is a fun little sprint. Lots to take in here, they pack a good lot of offence into a short bout. Loved Lizmark blocking a monkey flip, allowing Calo to come in with a big high clothesline. Chavo landing on his feet from a Silver King monkey flip was impressive, he was never a guy I associated with that level of agility. Lizmark hits a big dive to the floor, and Chavo hits a great tornado DDT on Silver King, only for Psychosis to run in behind the refs back and hit a guillotine legdrop to give King the pin.

The Steiner Brothers vs Konnan & Buff Bagwell

The NWO team tries to jump the Steiners pre-match, an advantage that doesn’t last long as both eat belly-to-belly suplexes. The build up to the Steiner split has seen their matches run pretty short, and this is no exception. Lovely moment as Ted DiBiase takes out Vincent outside, but the NWO get involved and Scott Hall pushes Rick off the top onto Scott for the DQ. Appreciate the effort to forward the Steiner split, but this isn’t much of a match.

Raven vs Marty Jannetty

Not as good as their previous match, but still pretty decent. They fight in the aisle, and I loved Jannetty wisely taking Lodi out early with two superkicks. Raven hits a crappy looking elbow from the apron, but a bulldog on the chair looks good. Marty gets a little run off offence, hurling Raven into the ringpost, but a Rocker Dropper gets reversed into the Evenflow in a really great looking spot for three.

Disco Inferno vs Saturn

This gets plenty of time, and improves as it goes along. In the early stages, they don’t seem to be on the same page, a few awkward moments as they both miss opening or try things that don’t seem to work. Saturn hits a few big overhead belly-to-belly suplexes as things start to improve. Disco gets in more offence than you’d expect, even hitting the Chartbuster after Saturn misses a top rope legdrop, only for Kidman to save. Disco lands on top on a back suplex for a really close two count. Sadly, the end goes back to being odd again, as Kidman pushes a groggy Saturn onto a downed Disco. The ref starts to count, but Disco is on his stomach, so the ref realises this isn’t a good idea. A few seconds pass and Saturn locks in the Rings of Saturn for the win.

Louie Spicolli vs Jim Neidhart

Man, the Anvil looks to be in great shape. This goes barely two minutes, as Neidhart batters Spicolli, knocks Scott Hall off the apron and goes for the win before Hall comes in for the DQ. Bit of a waste.

Diamond Dallas Page vs Chris Benoit

This is a US title match, and they give this a real big match feel. They stand off, facing each other from opposite corners, and this runs through the commercials. Sadly, we can see less than 7 minutes remain on the Network’s timer, so this won’t live up to the hype. What we go get is really good, DDP hits a huge tilt-a-whirl slam, Benoit hits some nasty kidney shots to DDP’s taped ribs to set up a back suplex and there’s some real intensity to the punch exchanges. Sadly, the Flock predictably hit the ring, ending the bout in it’s prime. Good stuff for what we get. 

Beyond Wrestling - To Greektown & Beyond

Sonny Kiss vs RJ City

This starts hot, with City sneak attacking before the bell. Kiss is able to come back, moving really nicely around the ring, but gets hit with a slingshot belly-to-back suplex. Fun spot where City slaps Kiss in the face, but takes too long posing afterwards and gets sent into a corner where Kiss repays the favour with a handspring slap. City has a kind of goofy charisma and Kiss is an exotico, so their personalities mesh really well in this match. City tries to steal a win with a ludicrously over-the-top tight pull, which gets caught by the ref, but he does end up picking up the win after rolling through a crossbody, again with a handful of tights. Fun opener.

Anthony Greene vs Brent Banks vs Josh Alexander vs Kobe Durst vs Seleziya Sparx

This was a decent spotfest, feels like everyone brought something to the match. Fun spot with Sparx early doors, as she shows off her leg strength by getting into a handstand and using a headscissors to ram opponents headfirst into her muscular glutes (and a move that Alexander powers out of, via highlighting to the crowd that he’s married). Sparx continues to impress with a big crossbody to the floor and a nice Widow’s Peak on Durst. This didn’t have much substance, but the big moves were fun: nice mid-ring leaping rana by Greene, Alexander avoiding a pump kick and hoisting up Greene for a big slam, Greene grabbing Banks by the feet in the corner and lifting him into a powerslam in one fluid motion, before Durst hits a piledriver on Greene for the win. Fun fast food of a bout.

Jock Samson vs Puf

I hated this. Really overlong, uninteresting comedy match. Samson is a portly guy in jeans and a too short t-shirt, whilst Puf is an obese chap who dances to the ring. They do some basic comedy wrestling which is executed well enough, before we get a dance off. I did appreciate Samson using it as a lure to attack Puf from behind, and him hitting a back elbow into a dab raised a smile. Puf’s offense is unbelievably bad, with his punches looking soft and choreographed. He felt like one of the worst wrestlers I’ve ever seen. Puf only gets 2 on a splash as I beg for this to end. Samson gets a low blow, before some bloke comes out and leads the crowd through a rendition of the Canadian national anthem, distracting Samson enough to allow Puf to roll him up for three. Shite.

Josh Briggs vs Trent Gibson

The only Gibson match I’ve seen before was a three-way tag match from Smash where he’d impressed, so I was looking forward to seeing what he could do in a singles match. Thought this was a really good match, they played up the size difference between Gibson and the larger Briggs really well. Gibson attacks to try and get an early advantage, but he gets caught on a suicide dive and chokeslammed onto the apron. Briggs easily controls as they fight on the floor, but back inside Gibson slips out of a reverse Razor’s Edge and clips the knee to give him an opening. Gibson hits a successful dive to the floor, sending Briggs flying, and I loved him rushing into the ring, imploring the ref to start counting Briggs out. Briggs just about beats it, so Gibson attacks him as he enters, slingshotting him into the ringpost on the floor, and goes for another countout attempt. This again only gets to a 9 count. Gibson rolls the dice for two and tries to hit Briggs with a cricket bat. The ref stops this, but the distraction allows Gibson to hit a low blow for two. I liked Gibson selling his frustration and goes to the top rope in desperation. However, he only meets a big boot and Briggs hits a chokeslam into the backbreaker to win. Really nicely worked, they told the story really well.

Alexia Nicole vs Kris Statlander

Bits of this were really good, but there were also bits of this that weren’t very good. Statlander has been getting a lot of praise recently, but I’ve not quite seen that performance from her yet. Here, I thought she was pretty solid, she did the lions share of the entertaining stuff. I liked her early cartwheels after escaping an armbar, which lured Nicole into missing a kick to give Kris an opening. Nicole misses a double-knees to the corner and I really liked how Statlander focused her offence on the legs, felt like an organic gameplan. She works the leg with a dragon screw and some kicks before locking in a nice bridging leglock and a reverse figure four. Nicole comes back with a really slow victory roll, then does a load of offence totally ignoring all the work done to her legs, running around with no ill effects and even standing up with Statlander  on her shoulders. Just makes the preceding minutes pointless. Nicole hits a terrible looking spear to really compound the horror, before they brawl to the floor for a double count out.

John Atlas & Space Monkey vs MJF & Stokely Hathaway

This was enjoyable stuff, felt like a classic old school tag with a heel manager on one side and a plucky undersized babyface on the other. The heels sneak attack before the match starts, hiding either side of the entrance, and we get a brawl on the floor. Space Monkey is quickly the face in peril, and Stokely hits some good looking offence, with a big kneedrop and a great DDT that Space Monkey sells like death. MJF works over Space Monkey’s tail for no reason other than to be a dick, yanking it to keep Monkey in their corner. We build to the hot tag, and Atlas seems decent enough. Good press slam into a powerslam. I liked him no selling Stokely’s spear and hitting a huge powerbomb. Monkey comes back in, but MJF hits him with a burning hammer. However, Stokely tags himself back in, giving Space Monkey to opportunity to reverse a fireman’s carry into a small package for three.

Channing Decker vs Chris Dickinson vs Kobe Durst

This started well, but turned into a bit of a mess by the end. Decker was Trent Gibson’s partner in the Fraternity, but here he’s working solo with a hardcore gimmick. This start 1 vs 1 with Decker and Gibson, and these parts are really good. Dickinson is really good at working people into his kind of match, whilst also letting them shine. He’s a really fun mat worker, using his size and strength to overwhelm Decker on the mat. Dickinson batters Decker with some strikes, but Decker gets a sudden Finlay roll and moonsault to gain control, and then just hurls himself with reckless abandon through the ropes with a cannonball. Absolutely insane dive. We get a ref bump as Decker sets up a door in the ring corner, and he hits a DVD on Dickinson through it, causing the table to just explode. Great visual. Here’s where things start getting messy. We get a new ref and suddenly Kobe Durst arrives, attacking both and the match becomes a triple threat. All structure goes out of the window and we just get a few big spots. Durst piledrives Decker off the apron through another door on the floor, which in a sensible match would put him out for good. Durst tries to open a step ladder on the floor, but is unable to do so, resulting in an embarrassing scene of officials trying to open the ladder for what feels like ages. Decker is somehow back on his feet, climbing the ladder to the balcony as the rest of the roster appear as if on cue to allow him to moonsault onto the pile and pin Durst on the floor. Dickinson basically became a non-factor by the end, which feel ridiculous. 

World Class Championship Wrestling 27/12/1982

Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & David von Erich vs Mike Sharpe, Ben Sharpe & Tom Steele

David is out here to replace Buddy Roberts, who can’t get to the arena due to inclement weather, and this is for the six man tag belts. Fun stuff to start, Gordy in particular looks like a beast ploughing through the opponents, with a huge powerslam and suplex on Ben Sharpe. Iron Mike does a load of fun stooging about, cowering off, begging Hayes for a handshake then attacking the moment his back is turned. A lot of the match is based on the heel getting heat on Michael Hayes, and Hayes sells his beatdown really well. There’s a lovely bearhug locked in on Hayes by Iron Mike, Sharpe grabs him really low down which means that Hayes is held up really high in the air. Looks really impressive and as Hayes weakens, he flops as dead weight, not a bit of him touching the ground. He escapes, but this is followed by a sleeper by Steele, and Hayes looks to be done. He tags out to Gordy, who almost immediately flies into a ringpost on a corner charge. We get a melee, and in all that David hits a big knee on Mike for the win. Really good stuff.

$10,000 Battle Royal

The rules of this match state that this is a battle royal with pin, submission and over-the-top rules, until we get to the final three entrants, at which point they become eligible to climb a pole and retrieve a check for $10,000 to win. Some fun bits to this match, David von Erich is the first man eliminated, which is a bit of a shocker. Loved four men dog-piling Bundy to try and pin him, Bundy kicking out, but getting dropkicked out by Bugsy McGraw as he celebrates. McGraw’s elimination sees him get whipped to the ropes and basically throw himself out, looked pretty odd. We get down to an unlikely final three of Ken Mantell, Mike Sharpe and Brian Adidas, and they all rush for the pole, frantically scrapping. Sharpe throws Adidas to the floor, eliminating him, but this allows Mantell to climb the pole without hindrance and claim the money. Always enjoy a battle royal, this was fun.

Full Force Wrestling - Live In Kenilworth 25/05/2018

Well here's a curiosity, a wrestling show taking place in my childhood hometown. It's quite surprising - Kenilworth is a small town, a nice place to raise a family, but not the most exciting of places, not exactly a place that struck me as a wrestling hotbed. I wasn't even sure where in Kenilworth a wrestling show could take place (a check showed me it was a social club I didn't know existed), but I couldn't NOT watch this show now, could I?

Hari Singh vs Josh Holly

Fun opener, Singh comes across as a likable babyface (in spite of his early yell of “Shall I break it?” during an armbar) and Holly has this smug dick charisma that makes you want to see him take a kicking. Singh does Bop & Bang, only with a sweeping roundhouse instead of the short jab Tyler Bate uses. Holly takes over with some nasty shots, big club to the back and well-timed kicks to the leg. Really liked his pop-up headbutt. I liked how they worked in Singh’s comeback, as Holly gets into an argument with ringside kids, allowing Singh to catch him off the top with a flapjack. Singh misses a kneedrop and Holly picks up the win with a big senton.

TJ Sky vs Damien Black

Black is doing a slightly low-rent asylum inmate gimmick, coming to the ring in a straitjacket and prison scrubs. Sky is billed as a high-flyer, but he doesn’t do much high flying and his tall frame doesn’t convince me he’d be too good at it. Not to say he doesn’t impress here, he looks really smooth in the ring. I liked his interesting 619 into a splash he hits early on. Black works the match with move commitment to his character, clawing at Sky’s face and biting him. He even bites his way free from a back suplex. Sky’s comeback sees him befuddling Black, slipping through the ropes to evade and disorientate him. There’s an odd bit where Black brings a wrench into the ring for use as a weapon, which the ref stops, but Sky gets the win with Soylent Green Is People. Good stuff.

Danny Jones vs Joseph Miller

Really good stuff here, both guys looked really solid. Miller heels it up nicely in the beginning, stalling on the floor. When they do lock up, both men look comfortable on the mat, battling for holds. I was familiar with Jones having seen him live a few times, but this was my first look at Miller, and he impressed, his elbow drops and back elbows looked to have real impact. There’s nice timing here too, as Miller waits until Jones motions to the crowd to hit him with a sudden clothesline to take control. Love how Jones reverses a suplex, locking a bodyscissors on Miller on the way up and grabbing a keylock, looked really fluid. The end to this was really nicely done, Jones tries a crossarmbreaker on the hurt arm, which Miller first tries stopping by locking his hands together then trying a roll-up. However, Jones keeps hold of the arm and, when he breaks the pin attempt he goes right back into the armbreaker, giving Miller no chance to lock him hands and forcing the tap.

Dominita vs Nightshade

This is a title-on-a-pole match for the vacant women’s title. The pole is really short, which is a bit disappointing, neither woman would actually need to climb to reach the title. Interesting dynamic, as Nightshade is the heel and someone who is normally bigger than her opponents. However, as the name suggests, Dominita is also larger than the average woman and in this case is bigger than Nightshade. They work round this by simply both laying in their stuff, with Nightshade putting enough impact into her senton and running corner forearms that they look like they’d down Dominita. In turn, Dominita hits a big Samoan drop and some big strikes of her own. Nightshade’s downfall is her cockiness, as she keeps giving Dominita comebacks by running her mouth instead of winning the match. Nightshade hits a running butt charge and cannonball in the corner, but Dominita gets up and nails her own versions, keeping Nightshade down enough to win the title. Decent stuff.

Next Wave 5 (Killian Jacobs & Joey Scott) vs Team H8 (Jeckel & Gideon)

Really nicely worked tag match. Next Wave 5 take control early, hitting a stereo 619. Something kinda strange about hearing a wrestler – in this case Jacobs – yelling out “Come on Kenilworth!”. Team H8 take over on Jacobs as Jeckel levels him with a clothesline after Gideon prevents a moonsault. Liked Jeckel’s senton, standing on Jacobs and then dropping his weight down. Scott gets in but soon becomes face-in-peril after Jacobs gets rammed into the ringpost. I liked that Scott actually worked his comebacks in line with the “Next Wave 5” chants from the crowd, even though Jeckel would cut them off. Conditioned the audience to think the chants were working. Jeckel planting Scott with a gutwrench suplex looked great. Gideon keeps choking Scott behind the referee’s back, but it ends up backfiring as Jeckel accidentally crashes into him when Scott evades a charge. However, Scott doesn’t tag out and instead tries to spear Jeckel. He only ends up hitting Jacobs though, and gets planted with a Gideon Package Piledriver and a Jeckel Destroyer for the win.

Eddie Ryan vs Terry Isit

Ryan is defending the Full Force title. Ryan has a good size advantage over Isit, and he controls him on the mat early doors. Isit is cocky, but because of the size difference he’s never able to fully maintain control for long. He works his openings well though, luring Ryan to the floor by slapping him then dropkicking himas he re-enters the ring, or spitting liquid in Ryan’s face to temporarily blind him. When he does have control, he has to make his shots look good and he does seem to fully lay in his stuff. I also liked him choking Ryan on the ropes, sitting on his back and pulling an obnoxious pose. Ryan is still a physical threat though, and comfortably fires back with three huge German suplexes. They exchange some nearfalls, before Isit accidentally his the ref with a dropkick. He low blows Ryan, but misses a weapon shot, and Ryan hits a sitout piledriver. The ref is still down, so he only gets a two count for this. Isit ducks a blow, hits Ryan with his weapon and kicks him in the head for the shock win. Good main event, worked really well.

WWF Maple Leaf Gardens 02/10/1984

Greg Valentine vs SD Jones

This is for Valentine’s IC title, a belt you’d really have to suspend your belief to imagine SD winning. This is pretty slow in places, but I kinda dug it. Valentine adds a bit of flavour to the match, faking off from a Jones attack, getting his boot caught when trying a kick then getting spun into an atomic drop that he sells with a comical sell. He misses an elbow, and Jones wisely starts working over this arm as his focal point. In turn, Valentine focuses his attack on SD’s legs in preparation for the figure four. However, Jones grabs a big old handful of tights to stop him locking the hold in. They fight on the floor, but Valentine gets in first due to Jones being slowed by his hurt leg, and Valentine is able to hit a back suplex for the win.

Nikolai Volkoff vs Rocky Johnson

This was much less interesting. I liked Volkoff repeatedly teasing to the audience behind the refs back that he just might have a foreign object in his tights, drawing decent heat, especially as it never actually plays into the ending of the match. Volkoff’s actual offence is sloppy here though, missing a kneedrop awkwardly and hitting really weak boots to the gut. Johnson is nicely fired up, really liked him peppering Volkoff with a few shots, which Volkoff counters with a wild swing that misses. Nikolai controls a bulk of this match, but Johnson makes a comeback, only for Volkoff to use this momentum against him and drop him throat-first on the ropes for the win.

Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid vs Goldie Rogers & Bobby Bass

The future British Bulldogs aren’t billed as such here. However, this feels like a great showcase for them. They spend the majority of the match outsmarting and outpacing the heels, who stooge about for them wonderfully. The heels even work a fun sequence of spots where the one on the apron won’t tag in for fear of taking some of the Bulldogs’s offence. This must have looked so ahead of it’s time, as the Bulldogs are an offensive dynamo. There’s a slight bit of heel heat as Davey Boy gets worked on the mat, but by the end DBS is able to plant Bass with a tombstone and hoist an onrushing Rogers onto his shoulder, allowing Dynamite to leap onto Rodgers as a launchpad to hit a diving headbutt for the win.

Andre the Giant vs Kamala

I realised as they approached a steel cage on that familiar rampway, that I’ve already reviewed this match for the WWE’s True Giants set. Didn’t like it then, still found it dull here. Andre attacks at the bell to at least start this with some fire, and Kamala at plays the character well by acting like a scared caged animal, but nothing really happens. Andre hits some big chops, but a lot of this is just Kamala trying for the door and Andre grabbing his leg. For nearly twenty minutes. By the time Andre finishes Kamala with a pair of buttsplashes, I was desperate for it to finish. Not a good match.

OZ Academy - Connect To The Future 02/12/2018

Ayame Sasamura vs Maya Yukihi

Clipped match, with Yukihi looking really good. Really liked her rolling through into a headscissors and using an actual whip to hit Sasamura in the corner, which looked nasty. Yukihi halts a comeback by hiding behind the ref and sneakily gets a roll up for two. Yukihi hits a roundhouse kick to the head for three.

Misaki Ohata & Natsumi Maki vs Tsubasa Kuragaki & Yumiko Hotta

Kuragaki and Hotta have a reasonable size advantage, so Ohata and Maki decide to attack at the bell, culminating with Maki hitting a big crossbody to the floor. They try to keep up the speed advantage before a Maki top rope splash on Kuragaki hits feet. Love Hotta showing off a bit of raw power, hoisting the other two to the top rope and locking in a double torture match. Kuragaki picks up the win with a cross-arm powerbomb on Maki. This is again clipped, but seemed good.

Aja Kong vs Sakura Hirota

This is basically all comedy, with Hirota starting off by giving Kong a present of a signed photo. Hirota kisses Kong and for some reason dances with a bin on her head. Kong hits a backfist and gets the three.

Mission K4 (AKINO & Sonoko Kato) & Ryo Mizunami vs Ozaki-Gun (Mayumi Ozaki, Saori Anou & Yumi Ohka)

The first full match on the show, and this is really good. Ozaki-Gun have a male guard at ringside, and he attacks Mizunami before her partners get to the ring. This kicks off a big arena-wide brawl. There’s a lot of momentum swings in the match, with neither side really getting a sustained advantage. Nice spot with AKINO going to the top, getting the ropes shaken by the bodyguard and Anou getting to hit a really nice top rope rana. Anou tries a backslide on Mizunami, rolling over into a cradle, which looked really good. There’s a longish sequence of no-selling between Ohka and Mizunami which is a bit off, but there’s a lot of action crammed into this. Kato looks to have this won with a sort-of musclebuster piledriver, but the bodyguard breaks the count. Obviously there are no disqualifications as not only does the bout continue, but we get some whips involved as weapons. Kato looks to gain an advantage by using Ozaki as a shield from the whips, but all three members of Ozaki-Gun mist their opponents, and Ozaki hits a big kick on Kato for the win.

Beast Friend (Hiroyo Matsumoto & Kaori Yoneyama) vs Borderless (Rina Yamashita & Yoshiko)

This is for the tag titles, held by Yamashita and Yoshiko. Really fun dynamic between Matsumoto and Yoneyama, with Matsumoto seemingly keen to use her partner as a weapon. In the early stages, Yoneyama seems pretty resistant to Matsumoto’s idea of using her as a missile to drop onto their opponents at ringside. Shortly after, she tries a crossbody to the floor and accidently only takes out her partner. This leaves her isolated, and Yamashita and Yoshiko take full advantage. Big double facewash in the corner, then Yoshiko downs her with a big flurry of blows capped off with a massive senton. Loved the spot with Yamashita spinning Yoneyama with a giant swing, with Yoshiko skipping over her, then deciding to hit a big stomp on the third rotation. This especially works because Yoneyama is a very sympathetic character. Eventually she gets a springboard armdrag to take both out and makes the hot tag. Matsumoto runs riot, and I loved her stacking the two opponents in the corner, with Yamashita placed horizontally between the ropes to lock Yoshiko in place. Things break down with all four involved, and Yoshiko takes a looooong run up to hit a senton on both opponents on the floor, with Yamashita holding them in place until the last second. There’s a really neat twist on the tower of doom spot, as Yoneyama is struggling to hit a superplex on Yoshiko until Matsumoto helps by powerbombing her down, bringing Yoshiko with her. Yoneyama returns the favour, powerbombing Matsumoto onto Yamashita, and the match finishes with Matsumoto clotheslining her partner into a Code Red for the titles. Really great stuff.

Hikaru Shida vs Kakeru Sekiguchi

Shida is the champion, and a bit taller than Sekiguchi, and so Sekiguchi is portrayed as the underdog. However, this is done by Shida no-selling most of her offence, shaking off a series of dropkicks and not reacting to her forearms. It’s strange, because Shida isn’t THAT much bigger than Sekiguchi, certainly not big enough to no-sell dropkicks. Shida controls the match, working Sekiguchi on the mat and dominating when both are on their feet. Shida works over the back, hitting a pair of big backbreakers and sinking in a deep Boston Crab. Sekiguchi manages to hit a crossbody and begins to build some momentum. Two missile dropkicks stagger Shida, meaning some running dropkicks are now able to down her. However, a big knee to the face from Shida puts her down for nearly a 10 count. Shida starts taking her lightly, hitting some patronising slaps, only for Sekiguchi to down her with an armbar. She maintains this arm focus, smashing it around the ringpost. I liked Sekiguchi trying for pinfalls and grabbing the arm every time Shida lifting a shoulder to break the fall. Sekiguchi keeps going for pins, but one more big knee to the face takes her last bit of fight away, and a Falcon Arrow gives Shida the win. This was neat, told a fun story and, though the execution was a bit odd, this was largely enjoyable.

WWE Main Event 09/09/2014

Jack Swagger vs Seth Rollins

Liked the opening stages of this, with Swagger overpowering Rollins, sending him from the ring with a shoulderblock and slamming him into the barricades. Rollins takes over, including an odd spot where Swagger was perfectly in place for a curb stomp, but Rollins opted to dropkick him in the face instead. We get a decent spot where Swagger tries breaking a chinlock by twice ramming Rollins backwards into the corner, only for Rollins to side step the third attempt, sending Swagger crashing into the turnbuckle. The Rollins control is pretty uninspiring, but things pick up with Swagger back in control – nice big boot to the face and a huge overhead slam. Liked Swagger countering an enzuigiri by catching it into the Patriot Lock, but Rollins blocks a superplex by hitting a diving knee from the top and hits the curb stomp to win. Pretty impressive Swagger performance, he looked good in there.

Cesaro vs Zack Ryder

Short, but decent match. Ryder hurts his leg early, so Cesaro focuses his early offence on the knee, slamming it into the concrete floor and working a kneebar in the ring. Cesaro misses a corner dropkick and hits the post instead, which not only looks nasty, but also puts him in place for the Broski Boot in the corner. Ryder does a good job balancing selling the leg and trying to hit some big offence, tilting his dive slightly on a pescado so as not to land as heavily on the leg. However, inside he leaps into a Cesaro swing and an inverted cloverleaf causes Ryder to tap. Really good stuff from both guys.

Titus O’Neill vs Adam Rose

This is a waste of time really, and a waste of Titus. Titus looks really good here, nice big boot and a decent dropdown  backbreaker, but then Rose’s bunny comes down, distracts Titus by bouncing on the ropes, beats up Heath Slater and Rose gets the pin by ramming O’Neill into Slater during an O’Connor roll. Only goes two minutes, hard to find Rose and the bunny at all likable.

Los Matadores vs The Ascension

The Ascension are still NXT tag champs here, and it’s odd to hear them talked about as so dominant when they’re barely a factor 5 years later. I like Los Matadores a lot, but this is mainly them selling for the Ascension, and it’s not very exciting. The Ascension cut off the ring on Fernando, and I liked the crossarm clothesline they hit on him, but that’s it. Diego at least looks good on the hot tag (that the crowd barely react to), hitting a clothesline with more meat than anything the Ascension hit, before missing a top rope dive and getting finished off with the Fall of Man. The least exciting Matadores match on 2014 Main Event, and I guess that shows why the Ascension fell by the wayside – if you’re having less interesting matches with a team than Slater Gator are, you probably aren’t deserving of a decent push.

WWE NXT Takeover: Phoenix

The War Raiders vs Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong

Loved the big elaborate Viking introduction for the Raiders. This was a really neat opener, the two teams really worked well opposite each other. The Raiders were allowed to look monstrous, often no-selling the Undisputed Era’s offence, but only when it was suitable to do so. They picked the right moments to sell and look vulnerable, and it really helped the believability of the match. The Era were very smart on offence, distracting the Raiders from the apron to gain control and working lots of quick double teams when they had the advantage. Lots of fun spots in this – Rowe slams Hanson onto the Era from the ring apron, and Hanson later takes another big spill to the floor, this time trying big dive with no-one present which causes him to land with a huge splat. The UE work a nice heat section on Rowe after this, as he’s isolated without his partner, and they continue to keep Hanson at bay with a big Strong dropkick on the floor. When Hanson does get in, he’s insanely fun as a hot tag, a big unit in motion. He finds interesting ways to hurl his mass at his opponents. Hanson survives the High-Low and avoids a second with an unlikely cartwheel. The Raiders hit the Viking Fallout to win. Great stuff.

Matt Riddle vs Kassius Ohno

Thought this was excellent stuff. Ohno has a poor win/loss record at the moment in NXT, but he was made to look like a beast here. His stomp to the face of a downed Riddle was a thing of violent beauty. Ohno gets a few nearfalls early, including a neat back elbow to the face. I also loved him breaking a German suplex attempt by stomping the bare feet of Riddle. Ohno also goes for some full bodied offence, putting his weight into a moonsault and a full-on senton. This weight makes it more impressive when Riddle hits a big delayed German suplex, just holding Ohno in the air before slamming him down. The end is pretty neat too, as Ohno decides he’s in over his head and tries for a fistbump from Riddle. Instead, Riddle is incensed, dumping Ohno on his head with a sleeper suplex, before reigning down a flurry of big shots for the tapout.

Ricochet vs Johnny Gargano

There were bits of this I liked and plenty that I didn’t. It was neat to see Gargano ramping up the aggression here, like slipping out of the corner and sending Ricochet face first into the corner, which kickstarted the match after a rather nothingy start. Ricochet countered some of Gargano’s signature offence in interesting ways, sidestepping the slingshot spear to hit a standing moonsault to the back, and catching Gargano on the slingshot DDT attempt and hurling him to the floor. However, the bad bits were really terrible. Ricochet landing on his feet from a top rope rana and looking back smugly at Gargano was physically impressive, but played up stupidly. Gargano eating a reverse rana on the floor, followed by a 450 splash in the ring should have been the finish, kicking out at two is just ridiculous. At least the end was decisive, with Gargano hitting a suplex on the concrete floor, followed by finally hitting the slingshot DDT for the win. Not really my cup of tea.

Shayna Baszler vs Bianca Belair

This, on the other hand, was very much my cup of tea. Just smartly worked, with everything making sense. It starts with Belair downing Baszler with shoulderblocks, highlighting her power advantage, but Baszler very quickly uses her smarts to take over, yanking Belair into the ring post by her hair. This gives Bianca an injured shoulder, and Baszler is like a shark smelling blood. Some nasty limbwork follows, with Baszler torqueing the arm in interesting ways. Belair’s selling is excellent, wincing after hitting a spear and rolling into a cover on her back so she can hook a leg with the good arm. Loved how Belair used her unique weapon of her hair to launch a comeback, slicing Baszler open with a hair whip. We get a ref bump to give Belair the visual pin after the KOD, and some horsewomen interference which she avoids, before her 450 splash attempt sees her caught in the Kirafuda Clutch. Loved Belair powering to her feet, almost breaking the hold before her body fails her and she passes out. Really good match.

Tommaso Ciampa vs Aleister Black

This is one of those matches that is absolutely fine in a vacuum, but suffers from the fact that no-one really believed that Black would win. This can be overcome with the right layout – the Velveteen Dream match had me on the edge of my seat, convinced Dream would win – but here Black spends a good chunk of the bout on the defensive after Ciampa attacks his knee and it never feels like he’s going to win. The offence on the knee was nicely done by Ciampa, really liked the suplex on the floor that sends Black’s legs into the ring steps. There were just nice little touches like Ciampa hanging Black in a tree of woe from the bad leg before pounding him in the corner. Black sells the leg pretty well too, allowing himself the odd flurry of offence, but finding himself contained by what the leg would let him do. Liked the smarts of Ciampa when he gets hit with Black Mass, tumbling to the floor, but just about rolling over onto his stomach to avoid being pinned. As I said, the work is good, but this feels like a match you have on TV to try and build up the show. No drama. The end sees Black trying another Black Mass, but hurting his knee again, leaving him prime for the Fairytale Ending from Ciampa. Overall, this was good enough.

ECW Hardcore TV #37 21/12/1993

Tommy Dreamer vs Shane Douglas

This is set up by Dreamer calling Douglas out for costing him the tag titles, but by the time we join the match Douglas is already in control following a neckbreaker. This is still a good match though, logically worked and with a neat ending. Dreamer has a taped up torso, and Douglas targets it nicely. He rams Dreamer into the apron back first, hits a nice stomach buster and locks in a bodyscissors on the mat. All targeted on Dreamer’s injury. Dreamer makes a comeback by throwing Douglas to the floor and hits a few big shots to turn the tide – Douglas gets thrown over a table and takes a big chairshot. Dreamer manages to knock the ref down with a slam, leading to a gloriously shitbird bit of cheating from Douglas. He levels Dreamer with a loaded punch, a chain wrapped round his fist, then wraps the chain around the unconscious Dreamer’s fist, before falling to the mat. This leads to the ref coming round and DQing Dreamer, Douglas walking to the back cackling.

Tazmaniac & Kevin Sullivan vs Mike V & Mike Norman

Just a demolition of a squash. V is sent to the floor right away, and Sullivan liquidates Norman’s insides with a big stomp. Sullivan’s running knee with Norman in a tree of woe looks nasty. Norman is just getting ruined in the corner, and V throws in the towel from ringside to save his partner. Rarely seen, but a nice touch.

IWA Mid-South Crowning of a Champion 1997

War Machine #1 vs Tower of Doom

Tower of Doom is a big lad, but he’s managed to dress in a way that makes him look totally unthreatening, with a big baggy black t-shirt and shorts. Everything feels like it’s at 2/3 speed, with strikes being thrown slowly. War Machine barely gets ToD up on a back suplex before hitting the worst side Russian legsweep I’ve ever seen. ToD at least has a nice elbow drop, full weight. ToD gets the win after War Machine helpfully jumps into a sky high powerbomb.

Kip Morris vs Mike Simpleton

Simpleton is a fat guy in a black t-shirt and a generic mask. Morris amusingly has “Winner” and “I’m Winning” emblazoned on his tights. This is utterly shit though. Morris controls with some plodding generic offence, apart from the amusing moment he suplexes Simpleton, who lands on top of him. Simpleton is really bad, he can’t even get thrown from the ring without getting embarrassingly caught up in the ropes. A side slam looks terrible as Simpleton basically slips from Morris’s grasp. In the end, Simpleton misses a corner splash, gets tripped and Morris gets the win. So bad.

War Machine #2 vs Chris Kidd

This was better. Not perfect, as War Machine really struggled to get Kidd over for a suplex, but some of Kidd’s offence looked decent. Nice leaping clothesline, good spinebuster, perfectly decent execution. War Machine BARELY gets Kidd up for a powerbomb that looked really dangerous, but gets distracted by #1 at ringside, and Kidd rolls him up for three.

Mad Man Pondo vs Ox Harley

Hark at young Pondo coming out with long hair and a Superman shirt, looks very different to the man he’d later become. There’s lots of mic work to start this, and the sound quality isn’t great. Pondo kicks us off with some really shitty armdrags. Harley looks better, nice kicks to the face and a decent clothesline. Pondo does some token legwork but eats a DDT on the floor and a Harley moonsault wins it. Nothing much to this.

Ian Rotten vs Tarek the Great

This is a big step up in match quality. They both look super comfortable working the mat, with the strange image of a fat scarred-up hillbilly and a skinny, balding man going through really neat exchanges on a tatty piece of shit mat. They up the tempo, with Rotten hitting a neat Full Nelson suplex and a really nice top rope rana by Tarek. Tarek does a few moves you really wouldn’t expect, a top rope twisting corkscrew and a nice moonsault press both get two. However, he ducks his head and Rotten hits a huge implant DDT for the win. This was really neat.

Bull Pain vs Justin St John

This was also fun, though Pain never really looked like losing. Pain just beats St John down, but St John does look capable, getting a few nice takedowns. Pain hits a DDT that looks great and, after St John hits a shitty leaping elbow into the corner, Pain swiftly puts him away with a neckbreaker and a top rope splash. Short but effective.

Kip Morris vs Tower of Doom

Into the second round now. ToD looks better in this match, hitting a nice running clothesline and a big legdrop. However, he’s got really lazy covers, barely leaning on top of Morris. Morris takes control on the floor, ramming Doom into the ringpost, hitting his head on the floor and nailing a nice short elbow to the head. ToD is soon bleeding, but hits a killer piledriver that really should have been the finish. ToD sells being too exhausted to cover, so at least there was no kickout. Like in the opener, ToD gets the win after his opponent helpfully leaps into a sit out powerbomb.

Ox Harley vs Chris Kidd

Another very short match, Harley mainly hits punches to control, with a chop to the face looking hilariously nasty. Kidd’s offence is pretty generic, but he too throws some nice punches, so this is at least watchable. Kidd hits a powerslam but misses a moonsault, allowing Harley to hit a reverse DDT and hit a moonsault for the win.

Ian Rotten vs Bull Pain

This starts off awesomely, as Pain throws Rotten to the floor and hits an insane suicide dive for the win. He follows this with a pedigree on the concrete, and I’m totally into this already. But then, we get disaster. The ringside camera seemingly stops working, leaving us with just the hard-cam, and at one point a member of production crew stands in front of it for at least a minute. They’re brawling in the crowd, and it’s impossible to see what’s going on. Ian hits a cannonball from the apron which looks great. We miss more floor brawling, before Pain gets him back in and hits a top rope splash for two. Ian hits his DDT, but is unable to cover and eats an RKO for the Pain victory. I really wish we’d been able to see all this, was hard to really enjoy.

Tower of Doom vs Bull Pain vs Ox Harley

Triple threat elimination for the title here. I liked how there was a constantly switching series of allegiances, with one person getting double teamed at all times. There’s a lovely big double chokeslam on ToD early doors, and we get a few nice spots. Really like Pain and ToD teaming to hit a Hart Attack into a sitout powerbomb, which eliminates Harley. It gets a bit dull from that point, felt like just two guys exchanging moves having used up their inspiration in the previous bouts. ToD hits two powerbombs without going for covers, and some Ian Rotten interference allows him to hit a big legdrop on Pain for the win. Really felt like everyone going through the motion.

WWF Monday Night Raw 26/09/1994

Tatanka vs Razor Ramon

This is the first match we’ve seen of Tatanka since his heel turn, and there’s a notable difference in his in-ring style. He’s much more aggressive, and it makes him a more interesting wrestler. He’s exceptionally happy to lay in his stuff here, nailing stiff blows, a nice short clothesline and a nice series of big slams. Nothing fancy, just breaking down Razor with deep blows. Tatanka takes a big bump to the floor when Ramon sidesteps a chop, and I dug Ramon punching Tatanka back down every time he tried to get back on the apron. There’s an overlong abdominal stretch sequence, but this is good fun besides. The end sees a melee on the floor after Ted DiBiase lures Ramon to the floor, with Bam Bam Bigelow and Lex Luger getting involved, and Ramon beats the count for the win. Good stuff.

Kwang vs Rich Myers

Always nice to see squash king Kwang in action. He side steps Myers to start and hits a nice thrust to the throat. Myers gets a nifty high flying head scissors, but that’s his only bit of offence as Kwang casually sidesteps a crossbody attempt, and a lovely leg lariat gives Kwang the win.

1-2-3 Kid vs Kenny David

The match is really just a backdrop for some Bob Backlund shenanigans, giving Randy Savage a dictionary complete with verbose letter. That said, we do get to see a few neat kicks from Kid, with a lovely overhead one in the corner, and some nice running legdrops, followed by a top rope version for three. Plus Vince insulting David’s physical appearance, the perks of being the boss.

Diesel & Shawn Michaels vs Chris Kanyon & Bob Starr

Fun squash, with Kanyon bumping like a boss for the tag champs, Diesel ragdolling him repeatedly into the corner. He at least looks competitive against Shawn for 30 seconds, as Starr gets nothing, eating a delayed suplex and second rope elbow from Shawn and the jack-knife from Diesel. Loved Shawn tagging in after the jack-knife, just for the honour of pinning Starr. After, the new Headshrinkers of Fatu and the fucking BARBARIAN come in and clean house. I remember the new Headshrinkers essentially being lower midcarders, but Barb looked like a beast here.