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. 

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 16/06/1986

Bret Hart vs Sivi Afi

Better than the match they had a few episodes earlier, there was nothing blown here and Afi looked to keep up with Bret better here. Fun opening section with Bret holding onto a headlock on Irish whips by grabbing Afi’s hair. Afi hits a nice crossbody, but Bret takes over by brilliantly catching a leapfrog into an atomic drop. Enjoyed Bret sending  Afi to the floor, not letting him in by booting him off the apron only for it to be paid off by Afi coming back in with a sunset flip for two. Didn’t like Afi’s “flying headbutt” he hit on a standing Bret, before he hits a top rope corssbody, but Bret is clearly waiting and rolls through to get the win. Good stuff.

Jim Neidhart vs Lanny Poffo

Poffo starts off with a really terrible poem, so bad he deserved to get jumped at the start by the Anvil. Hilarious spot where Poffo skins the cat, and turns around right into an Anvil forearm that instantly decks him. Neidhart’s offence looks good here, with Poffo seemingly happy to make everything he does look killer. Even an Irish whip into the corner looks bone rattling. Poffo makes a nice little comeback with a killer dropkick, and I liked him dropping to the mat, dragging Neidhart down by the beard. Moonsault gets him two, but Poffo spends too long going for a senton which misses and Neidhart hits a 2^nd rope forearm for the win.

Tony Garea vs Iron Mike Sharpe

Since I’ve started watching Prime Time, Tony Garea has been a constant disappointment in the ring. In contrast, Mike Sharpe has been a constant source of stooging joy. This match is pretty par for the course for both men. Sharpe is great from the start, acting befuddled by an armdrag, missing a dropkick and getting slingshot into the corner. Garea isn’t very interesting on offence, so Sharpe’s performance is needed to keep this on track. Garea goes for a good few pinfalls, but also does things like lock on a long abdominal stretch to kill the momentum of the bout. In contrast, Sharpe’s clubbing blows look good and it’s a nice surprise when he ducks a corner charge, sending Garea into the turnbuckles and leaving him prone for a roll up from Sharpe for the rare victory.

Hercules vs Scott McGhee

On the subject of people who’ve been surprisingly good, Hercules really impressed me in the tag match on the previous episode, and he looked good here too. Far better movement than I remembered him having, working a satisfying quick sequence with McGhee and bumping big for dropkicks. He also hits a nasty looking stun gun on McGhee, basically just hurling him head first at the ropes. McGhee also looks good, really liked his belly to belly and his top rope kneedrop. Genuinely enjoyed this bout, Herc even looked good on the ending as he catches McGhee, hits a back breaker and smoothly rolls into the pin. Pleasant surprise.

Big John Studd vs Jim Powers & Rick Hunter

Basic squash used as the backdrop to a Studd/King Tonga angle. Both guys try to slam Studd early, with the $10,000 slam challenge being offered pre-match by Bobby Heenan. Neither succeed, and Hunter gets pinned after a Studd slam. Post match, Tonga comes in, having been rebuffed pre-match by Heenan, and successfully slams Studd to a huge pop.

Johnny Valiant, Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake vs Davey Boy Smith, Pedro Morales & Danny Spivey

Real mixed cast on that face team. Really enjoyable six-man tag, it’s really a formula that’s very hard to mess up. Valentine, being by far and away the best worker on his team, works a good percentage of the match, and has to eat offence from all three faces early doors. Valiant in particular is mainly used as a tool for distraction. Davey Boy ends up the face in peril, with the idea being that the Dream Team want to weaken him for a future tag title rematch. The heel control is basic, but fun, with distractions, chokes and double teams being really well worked to keep Davey Boy in their corner. Loved how it backfired in the end, as Morales gets fed up with all the cheating, stomps on Valentine as he locks on a figure four, and gets Smith to the face corner for the tag. In the ensuing chaos, Pedro hits a backbreaker on Valiant and Davey Boy gets the win. Good, crowd pleasing match.

WWF Monday Night Raw 25/07/1994

Tatanka vs Nikolai Volkoff

This is a $10,000 Challenge match, with Ted DiBiase putting up a prize if Tatanka can beat Volkoff. Jim Ross perfectly describes Volkoff, claiming “He’s not a smooth wrestler, but a powerful one”, as Volkoff slowly beats Tatanka down. His clubbing blows look good, but in contrast his kicks look absurdly weak. Tatanka comes back with a nice clothesline, looks more like he just runs up and whacks Volkoff hard in the side of the head. Tatanka gets the win by rolling up Volkoff on an attempted slam, but man this doesn’t exactly build him up for a match with Luger at Summerslam. Taking a beating from 47yr old Nikolai for most of the match isn’t exactly designed to make him look strong.

The Headshrinkers vs Barry Hardy & Joey Stallings

Stupidly, we go to commercial just as the Shrinkers reach the ring. We return to the Shrinkers just destroying Stallings. Nice DDT from the corner by Samu, before they just beat Stallings down in their corner. Double team Stroke is followed by a top rope Fatu splash for the win. Hardy never gets in.

Jim Neidhart vs Jim Powers

Powers gets sent to the floor at the start with this insanely high elevation. After that, it’s a pretty generic squash, all choking and clubbing by the Anvil. The end sees him lock in a sort of Dragon sleeper Camel Clutch, though he barely has Powers’ head under his control.

Adam Bomb vs Yokozuna

Curiously worked, feels like they want to keep Bomb strong, but aside from an opening shoulderblock that sends Yoko to the floor, he gets nothing for the majority of the bout. It’s all Yoko, until Bomb avoids a corner charge. Liked Yoko ducking a clothesline, only for Bomb to hit him with a DDT instead. The match looks to be hotting up, until Kwang trips Bomb from the floor, drawing him out and resulting in a count out. Not much to this.

Duke Droese vs Duane Gill

Fun squash, with the Dumpster just overpowering Gill all match. Big press slam, nice bearhug and a good slam are followed by the Trash Compacter for the win. This was good enough.

WWF Raw 20/06/1994

Diesel vs Mark Thomas

Thomas is quite a well built jobber, so he’s a good choice to make Diesel look like a beast. Diesel shows a nice little bit of aggression here, hitting a big knee right from the lock up. Thomas decides to bump snake eyes right on top of his head before the Jack-knife finishes. Decent enough.

1-2-3 Kid vs Nikolai Volkoff

Bizarrely, the winner of this match gets a title match against Bret Hart. So, I guess Volkoff’s squash win over a pre-fame Matt Hardy was sufficient to put him in the title frame right away. Kid does a lot here to make Volkoff look good, running with gusto into shoulderblocks and making him look like a brick wall. Volkoff does a few nice bits, good looking butterfly suplex and a pair of press slams into a back breaker, but makes the mistake of picking kid up on 2 counts. Really don’t think you can afford to risk a title match at this stage of your career, Nikolai. Kid seems to jar his knee in the corner, but it turns out he’s faking it to roll up Volkoff for the win. So the title match goes to the man who has to fake an injury to sneak a win over ancient Nikolai Volkoff.

Yokozuna vs Nick Barberi

Love the early contrast as Barberi throws a handful of ineffectual punches before getting felled by one blow from Yoko. Yoko shows some nice aggression, clawing at Barberi’s face whilst choking him, before hitting a belly-to-belly and a legdrop to win.

Typhoon vs the Black Phantom

Pretty basic squash, but I really dug Typhoon’s suplexes. He doesn’t bother hooking an arm, he just puts his opponent in a front facelock and hoists him over with raw power. Looks great. A corner splash and a normal splash get the win.

Heavenly Bodies vs Jim Powers & Russ Greenberg

Oddly, the early stages of this match mark out Powers as more than a handful for both Bodies. Both Del Ray and Pritchard bump around for his generic offence, and even a double team ends with Powers booting one of them in the face and getting a small package on the other. All this whilst Jim Cornette on commentary hypes them as tag title contenders. Very odd. Greenberg is less effective, , eating a superkick right away. Nice Bodies double teams follow – a great elevated DDT, a leaping sideslam and Pritchard holding Greenberg in place for a Del Ray moonsault press. Fun stuff after the odd Powers run.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 05/05/1986

The Funk Brothers vs Ivan McDonald & Jeff Gripley

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

Bobby Heenan vs Sal Bellomo

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

B Brian Blair vs Iron Mike Sharpe

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

Lanny Poffo vs The Gladiator

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

Donna Christanello vs Linda Gonzalez

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

Tony Atlas & Tony Garea vs Steve Lombardi & the Menace

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

The Hart Foundation vs Ron Dee & Mario Mancini

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

Ted Arcidi vs Chuck Simpson

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

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

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

WWF Royal Rumble 1988

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

Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat

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

The Glamour Girls vs the Jumping Bomb Angels

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

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

Royal Rumble

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

The Islanders vs the Young Stallions

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

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