Southside Wrestling Menace II Society III

So this weekend, I took in two wrestling shows, both featuring Sabu on his UK tour. The first one, in Nottingham, was on the Friday, and featured the following action...

El Ligero vs Pete Dunne vs MK McKinnan
If you want to know the definition of loneliness, then I felt it here: being the one person in the venue who wanted Pete Dunne to win this match. The other two guys are far better known in the area, so Dunne met with silence with a sprinkle of boos, despite this being three faces in action. Aside from the opening minutes, they avoided the usual pitfalls of the triple threat match, that being taking it in turns to have one guy on the outside selling whilst the other two fight. Here, all three guys were involved in the action, either through double teams or one guy taking out both of his opponents at once. This got a great reaction from the crowd, with even Dunne (because he's awesome) winning the crowd round with a double crab on both guys. Ligero hitting a top rope stomp with both guys in a tree of woe was also pretty swank. With Dunne being hardly known and Ligero embroiled in a feud with Martin Kirby, MK was the obvious choice to win and he did with a shining wizard to Pete. Good opener.

RJ Singh & the Hunter Brothers vs Martin Kirby & the Predators
There is some long standing dissention betwen Singh and the Hunters, so they were a far less smooth unit than the heel team, who delighted in singling out first Singh, then one of the Hunters. The brothers Hunter showed no interest in tagging in Singh, focusing their early quick tags between each other, leaving Singh frustrated on the apron. This allowed the Hunters to show a more heelish side, which I think is their strength. Paul Malen was fantastic in this match, like a rabid cheerleader on the apron every time his partners were in control. Eventually, Singh did get tagged in on the hot tag, and looked to have the match won with a Swanton bomb, but he took exception to a Hunter trying to make the pinfall and broke it up, allowing the heels to regroup and the Predators hit the Trophy Kill on Singh for the win.

Mark Haskins vs Darrell Allen
This match will be forever known to those in the crowd as the "hotdog" match. Basically, as Haskins came to the ring, slapping hands with the ringside fans, he knocked a hotdog from the hands of what appeared to be a handicapped fan at ringside, whose mother went ballistic at Haskins. Despite Haskins leaving the ring to talk to the fan, this didn't appease the mother, who took the son from the venue. Haskins looked ever-so guilty, and the fans didn't help him, woth chants of "sausage slapper" and "Hotdog Haskins" ringing out throughout the match.

AS for the match itself, it was solid, with Haskins working over the left arm of Allen for the bulk of the match. Though the match started off evenly, once Haskins had started to work over the arm, it gave him an easy way back into the match whenever Allen tried making his comebacks: just hit him in the arm. Haskins is one of the more pushed guys in the promotion, so it made sense that he dominated most of the match, with Allen's selling of the arm putting over the lingering damage. The armwork also played into the finish, with Haskins holding onto the arm during a missed Allen kick, and hitting a pumphandle driver for the win.

Stixx vs Super Crazy
The match started off with Stixx claiming he was a big fan of Crazy, and would be wrestling a fair fight throughout; this of course lasted until the first move of the match, where he hit a sneaky low kick. Crazy was massively over here, and you could tell he was delighted by the reception he received. These two guys combined well here, with Stixx bringing his power game and Crazy making his comebacks using some high risk maneuvers. I loved him cracking out a plancha over the referee, who was looking at Stixx on the outside, especially as he could have gotten away with doing far less in front of this partisan crowd. Stixx picked up the win in a good match by hanging onto the ropes after sitting down on a sunset flip.

Robbie X vs Jay Lethal
Robbie here was challenging for the Speed King title which he lost at the show of that name in May. I've been impressed every time I've seen Robbie previously, but this felt like a real career match for him. Lethal looked considerably bigger than Robbie, which meant that every blow he landed looked like it broke him in half. There was a strike exchange in the middle, which is something I've never been a fan of, but here it felt warranted, like Robbie was trying to show Lethal that he could keep up with him. Lethal even gave Robbie a number of nearfalls, to the extent that you felt like Robbie was going to regain his title, but Lethal finished him off with the Lethal Combination followed by a top rope elbow for the three. This got a standing ovation from the crowd, which it deserved.

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tommy End
This was my pick for match of the night. What I loved here was how the strikes were used. Whilst both guys exchanged strikes during the match, you felt like they were actively trying to break each other down with their blows, and it was a battle of whose body could hold up the longest. I like the way that they couldn't even afford to rest for a moment, shown by ZSJ pausing to catch breath after landing another blow on End, only to be quickly grabbed for a belly-to-back suplex. Sabre had a plan of attack, which involved going for an armbar on End at every opportunity. However, this led to his downfall, as his final attempt saw End counter it into a choke, which he held onto until the referee stopped the match. I loved this, it felt like a real battle and both guys came out of it looking kingsized.

Sabu vs Jimmy Havoc
This match got pretty hard to see at times, primarily when they fought on the outside and pretty much the whole crowd flocked around them. This was a total crowd pleaser of a match, as Sabu knew exactly what the crowd wanted to see from him, and they got it. This didn't bode so well for Havoc, who took a shedload of offence. Havoc got thrown through chairs, took chairs to the head, was on the receiving end of a chair-assisted springboard dive to the floor and finally took an Arabian facebuster through a table for the Sabu win. There wasn't much Havoc offence, unless he got in a load I couldn't see on the floor, but that isn't what the fans were there to see, and Havoc got a standing ovation afterwards for the abuse he'd gone through. Fine main event

The Best of Deathmatch Wrestling - Mexican Hardcore

This is another treat from Lovefilm, a DVD I added to my list with no idea of wrestlers or matchlisting. A cursory glance at the menu when it arrived showed quite a few wrestlers I really dig, like Psychosis, LuFisto and Super Crazy, so I was looking forward to this. The initial presentation led me to have some doubts though, as all the matches seem to have a metal backing track for no reason. Worse, the commentary is done by the XPW team of the vaguely-amusing Larry Riviera and the frequently-inane Kriss Kloss....

Princessa Sugey vs LuFisto
The ropes are covered with barbed wire on two sides, which is a running thing throughout the DVD. Sugey gets the early advantage, hanging LuFisto in a tree of woe, then dropkicking a metal tray into her face. A lightbulb shot to the head is essentially no-sold by LuFisto, who fires back with a Michinoku Driver onto some bulbs. Disappointingly, there is no build-up to the first barbed wire spot, instead Sugey just dumps LuFisto into it, which gets less reaction than it should. Sugey hits a Michinoku Driver of her own onto lightbulbs for two. They start to brawl in the crowd with an odd lack of gusto, with only a LuFisto suplex onto the floor looking good. It's all pretty unimpressive, as they just go from weapon spot to weapon spot with no build up. Sugey sets up a few lighttubes to bridge two chairs, but gets caught up top and superplexed through for two. LuFisto finally hits Emerald Frosion onto yet more tubes for the win. Pretty forgettable.

Xtreme Tiger vs Crazy Boy
Frustratingly, this match has been really awkwardly clipped, taking out seconds of resting to skip to the action. This gives an odd sensation that no-one is selling, even though they may be. The result is, this feels like a total spotfest. Xtreme Tiger bumps around early for Crazy Boy, progressing to getting put into a dustbin and dropkicked several times. Tiger comes back, sending Boy outside the ring and hitting an insane moonsault to the floor. Crazy Boy then sets up Tiger under some lightbulbs, then moonsaults through them, probably hurting himself as much as Tiger. Tiger comes back by hitting a rana through a table from the top rope. Not content to let Tiger hit all the cool offence, Crazy Boy lands a one-man Spanish Fly through a table from the top. Crazy produces a star made of lightbulbs from somewhere, but his attempt to moonsault it onto Tiger misses, hitting only mat and shattering the bulbs. Some unnamed wrestlers come out to interfere and give Tiger the DQ win. After a bit of all round brawling, Crazy Boy gets put on a table at ringside, and Tiger gives him a 450 splash. Bit of a mess to be honest.

Joe Lider & Crazy Boy vs Psychosis & Xtreme Tiger vs Damien 666 & Halloween
666 and Halloween are dressed in jeans and t-shirts, so at least they're dressed for the occasion. Crazy Boy hits a swank Asai to the outside on 666 early doors, which sets the tone for the parade of spots to come. The phrase "shades of Steve Rizzono" is used for the second match in a row on this DVD, which is absurd. We do get a lovely Psychosis/Halloween in-ring segment, which is the nicest display of wrestling we see in the match. It ends with Halloween running into a chair headfirst. Predictably, it all breaks down with all 6 in ring. I like the way that it starts off with guys trying to take control individually, before the team aspect comes into it with a series of slick double teams. 666 and Halloween introduce the weapons into the match, and they really go on a tear. Lider hits a terrible looking Van Daminator on Halloween, as it dawns on me that I've not seen a pinfall attempt yet. After what feels like forever, Lider and Crazy Boy hit a Spanish Fly on Tiger through some lightbulbs to win. Just a bunch of spots that felt like it would never end.

Dralion vs Nightmare
This is billed as a table match, but the ref counts a pinfall attempt 30 seconds in, so I guess it's just another hardcore match but they've brought some tables out too. Insane suicide dive by Dralion 30 seconds in endears him to me greatly. The DVD clips to Dralion hitting a Phoenix Splash through Nightmare on a ringside table. In the ring, Dralion hits a Sky Twister Press right onto Nightmare, who has got nothing in so far. Dralion bizarrely appears to hurl himself out of ring for no reason. This gives Nightmare a chance to dominate, so maybe he just felt sorry for him. Nightmare sets up table, and gestures that the match is about to be over...then hits a Tiger suplex for a two count. Really odd. Nightmare hits a moonsault through the table, but this only gets a two, so either way it's not over. I wish it was though, even if some of Dralion's spots have been impressive. This is just sloppy brawling with some spots awkwardly bolted on. Dralion hits a dragon suplex, but for some reason the ref doesn't bother counting. I assume he's as bored of this match as I am and has drifted off. In a ludicrous blown spot, Dralion dives out of ring to hit a 450 splash through a table, but hilariously totally misses as the table is too far away. Nightmare hits springboard legdrop through the table (which he moves closer to the ring), but is unable to continue due to being too injured. So the match just ends suddenly. A total whack of shit.

Crazy Boy & Joe Lider vs Super Crazy & Xtreme Tiger
Really hoping Super Crazy can improve our match quality here. Crazy and Tiger attack from behind and already this is a bit more heated than we've been getting previously. Crazy hits a tarantula over the barbed wire ropes on Lider, which has to hurt him as much as Lider. Then again, he is the insane luchador. As per the previous matches, there is no tagging as it seems to be contested under tornado rules. Crazy seems to vanish from the match, so Crazy Boy and Lider dominate Tiger. Nice Van Daminator by Lider onto Tiger, wisely setting up the spot for the midpoint of the ring to avoid the possibility of missing the move. Lider and Boy attack Tiger's knee, which seems like good strategy, but they don't focus on this again. Emerald Frosion on Tiger gets two. Suddenly, some flaming lightbulbs are in the ring from nowhere, and CB and Tiger whack each other with them. You'd think this would be quite important, but it's just another spot. Lider hits the worst legdrop I've ever seen from the top of a ladder, and somehow his Canadian Destroyer is even worse. Eventually, Tiger hits a 450 to the floor onto Crazy Boy, whilst Super Crazy rolls the dice on Lider to win. This was alright when Super Crazy was involved, but it was still just another mess of a spotfest.

Damien 666 & Halloween vs Supreme & Angel
Oh fuck right fucking off! The last thing this DVD needed was more XPW influence. There are lightbulbs set up on the ropes for this match. Mexico's Most Wanted dominate the early parts, which is good as it saves us from the XPW team's offence, but soon Supreme takes over as he powerbombs one MMW member onto the other. Angel outrages the fans with some "gay comedy", rubbing his crotch and arse into his opponents faces. We get some basic crowd brawling, but to be honest this is better than a lot of the previous matches. There is the bare minimum of random, no-sold insane spots and the brawling actually builds to the weapon shots. They could do with teasing some of the spots more - the pile of thumbtacks spot should have been built up better - but this is generally ok. Supreme staples money to Damian's head, which is always my least favourite hardcore spot, but again the crowd reacts to it. Angel gets splashed through a table, but because they've minimised the nonsense, it actually gets a reaction as being a big deal. Supreme tries to chance his hand with MMW's valet, but gets lowblowed and suplexed through a pile of lights and table bits for the 3 count. Honestly, best match so far.

LuFisto vs Joe Lider
This is helpfully billed as man vs woman match, in case it wasn't obvious from LuFisto's lady face and lady body. LuFisto dominates early, but Lider comes back, using his superior size to overpower her. The tough balance to get right in intergender matches is keeping the match credible, especially since male wrestlers are much bigger than female wrestlers. Here, the use of weapons helps with the credibility, as anyone getting blasted with a chair by LuFisto is going to be in trouble. We get an obvious clip as Lider's singlet suddenly has the straps down. Lider hits a Michinoku Driver onto barbed wire. We get a pretty nice LuFisto top rope rana onto barbed wire, where Lider lands directly onto it. LuFisto then hits a cannonball through bulbs. Lider comes back, but LuFisto German suplexes him through more bulbs. Have to give Lider credit here, he's letting LuFisto kick the shit out of him. Psycho Driver by Lider, only gets a 2, which I don't mind too much as Lider hasn't really given LuFisto much offence so far. Lider takes an insane bump, missing a twisting senton onto arena floor. Lider recovers to block some attempted LuFisto offence, and plants her with Spanish Fly from apron through bulbs. Insane bump. That gets the 3 count. Another decent match, and the best Lider showing on the DVD. He went all out to make LuFisto look good, and the result was pretty fine.

Damian 666 & Dragon Shyru vs Crazy Boy & Joe Lider
This seems to be set up as Mexico's Most Wanted vs Crazy and Lider, but Halloween is unexplainedly taken away pre-match. Crazy Boy asnd Lider dominate both Shyru and Damian early doors, but advantage swings as Damian takes Lider outside and hurls him through a large wooden board. I feel like I've sat through this match 3 or 4 times on this DVD. Just a collection of spots with very little build. Here, the spots are actually quite smoothly executed with the bare minimum of botches, but it's hard to care about the weapon shots when they essentially mean nothing. The reason the XPW guys match was the best on the DVD is because they actually built up to huge spots. Here, Lider DVD's Shyru through a table to the floor from the top rope, and he's soon back in the match as if it was nothing. A bunch of stuff happens, but it's all meaningless. The match ends when Nightmare interferes, allowing Crazy Boy to pin Damian. Terrible stuff.

Triple X Wrestling: The Only Way Is SQ

Before making their debut at the Coventry Club M next month, Triple X had a show at the SQ Club last Sunday, which promised contract signings, scrambles, no holds barred matches and many more. Here's how it went...

The show started with a contract signing for the next show, where Devilman will face Majik for the Triple X title. However, Majik seemed more concerned with getting jovial MC and former wrestler Omer Ibrahim to say he respected him. Omer, however, wouldn’t back down, telling Majik he didn’t respect him, and getting in the champions face. After both Devilman and Majik signed the contract, Devilman rammed Majik’s head into the table and things looked like breaking down before the familiar ring music of Teddy Long hit over the speakers. Out came Professor Lex, who announced the four men in the ring (Devilman, Omer, Majik and his manager Gabriel Grey) would meet in the main event in a Holla Holla Tag Match. A fun start to the show. 

The Dunne Brothers vs The Hunter Brothers

This is the 3^rd show in a row for Triple X to feature some Dunne/Hunter interaction, but luckily it’s a pairing that never fails to entertain. It’s odd, the first time I saw the Hunters was as faces and, as good as they were in ring, they seemed a little bland personality wise. However, as heels they really seem to excel and they’re plenty of fun here heeling it up against the Dunnes. As the younger Dunne, it was Damo who got focused on for the heat section, which featured some quick tags and nice double teams by the Hunters. To be honest, so much happened in this match that I’m struggling to recall everything that happened, but the end was a fun series of saves and reversals which ended with Dunnes reigning triumphant. Really good opener. 

Scott Grimm vs Dave Mastiff

This is a no-holds-barred rematch from last months show. This provides a nice change of pace from the opener, as both are massive guys. They run through a long series of stalemate shoulderbarge attempts, before Grimm takes control. This wasn’t a huge war like I was expecting, but instead featured Grimm trying to wear Mastiff down with repeated blows. Mastiff’s comeback was great, as his offence always looks good. He got a real high leap on a rolling firemans carry, and he got great air on a senton as well, which only got two. Things heat up at the two fight outside and over the merch table, before Grimm steals a win back inside with a low blow. Started slowly, but this was a decent big man match. 

Mark Andrews vs Tyler Bate vs Ho Ho Lun vs Chris Brookes

Again, this was a change of pace from the previous match, advertised in advance as a “Get Your Shit In” match. It lived up to the billing as all four guys got a shitload of action into the match, with all four managing to look good here. Lun is on tour from Zero-One HK, and was bursting with physical charisma, and the fans took to him instantly. One spot, which saw him sit Bate on a chair, repeatedly asking the audience if he should take a longer run up to kick him in the face got a great response. Brooke and Bate had impressed at the last show as the SlapDash Tagteam, but they sadly had broken up here, with Brooke cheapshotting Bate after a handshake. Bate has crazy strength, here catching Andrews in mid air and planting him with a German suplex, which looked awesome. Andrews is a super-crisp high flier, and everything he did looked slick here, with a massive Asai moonsault providing the perfect punctuation to a great dive sequence by all four men. Finally, after a ton of action, Andrews pinned Brooke with a sunset-flip bomb. This was loads of fun. 

The Henchmen vs Local Jobbers

The local jobbers, who entered to “Why Can’t We Be Friends?”, are fast becoming cult favourites in Triple X, though not as much as the Henchmen, whose arrival prompts a chant of “So Fucking Hench”. This was billed as a forgone conclusion, and there was no surprise here, as the Henchmen destroyed the jobbers. At one point though, local jobber #2 gets in some offence, working over the leg of Jim Diehard...a flurry which comes to an end with a huge Diehard lariat. The Henchmen hit the Five Moves of Doom (World’s Strongest Slam, forearm, clothesline to the back of the head, gutwrench powerbomb, senton) on #2, before #1 makes the save. However, he also gets hit with the Five Moves and the jobbers get put out of their misery.  

Eddie Dennis vs Wild Boar

Dennis is also getting a good following, with yells of “Wales!” coming in support. However, it was pointed out that Boar is also Welsh, so we got chants of “Good Wales!” and “Bad Wales!” depending on who was on offence. Dennis mocked the diminutive Boar to start, and we got a nice chain wrestling sequence, which was something we’d not really seen from Dennis before. When Boar got on offence, he lived up to his name, attacking with a real feral ferocity. There was a really nice looking spot where Boar hung Dennis upside down in a tree of woe to savage him then, as Dennis tried to free himself, Boar leapt across the ring with a vicious looking diving headbutt. Dennis fired back, and nailed Boar with a powerbomb, but it only got two, before Boar finished him off with a double underhook piledriver in a good match. 

Devilman & Omer Ibrahim vs Majik & Big Grizzly

Before the match, Majik got on the mic and announced that, due to Grey being taken ill, he’d been forced to replace him with new Damned Nation member Big Grizzly, an enormous man who towered over everyone in the ring. This may not have been the slickest match of the night, but it probably featured the best story-telling and got some of the best reactions of the night. Majik is terrific at getting negative reactions from the crowd, and the segments with him and Omer got some of the best responses of the night. Omer is really popular with the crowd, so he was the sympathetic choice to play face in peril, and when he landed his first blow on Majik, it got as big a reaction as any highspot in the night. They nailed the story of the match brilliantly, and I loved little bits like Majik staring directly at Devilman on a pin attempt on Omer. A battle over a backslide between Omer and Majik got another great reaction, which proved they were doing everything right. Grizzly didn’t get to show much, but he had a great presence and every blow he landed on Omer looked like it killed him. Finally Devilman got the hot tag and cleaned house, but a pinfall attempt wasn’t spotted by the ref due to Omer and Grizzly fighting outside the ring. This allowed Wild Boar to sneak in and nail a double underhook piledriver on Devilman, but it only got two. As things broke down, Omer nailed a spear on Grizzly and Devilman finished the big guy off with a Swanton. Really satisfying main event, with everything making sense, even down to Boar’s interference leading to Omer announcing postmatch he’d face Sabu at the next show to stop him ruining the main event.

Royal Rumble 1990

The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers vs the Bushwhackers
Jesse Ventura on commentary highlights the difference between the two teams, the brawlers vs the wrestlers. The Rougeaus have a naturality in the ring which makes most things they do look excellent, including bumping for the Whackers generic offence. They get on offence using heel chicanery, then retain the advantage with even more smarts, using distractions and double-teams on Luke. Loved Raymond's cockiness in ring, with some nice little mannerisms to rile up the crowd. Jacques has grown a beard and looks a bit pudgy here, but knocks out a quick kip-up to also annoy the fans. The meat of this match is the Rougeau's in control, which is good as the Whackers pretty much suck on attack. I thought Raymond was great here, loved him jamming an elbow into Luke's head as he tried to break a Camel Clutch. The Whackers make the hot tag and shortly thereafter win with the Battering Ram. But fuck it, the Rougeaus ruled.

The Genius vs Brutus Beefcake
The Genius also rules. He goes through a whole range of slightly fey mannerisms to rile up the crowd and is just perfectly into his character. His mincing sell of an atomic drop is just terrific. Like with the opener, it's the antics of the heel that keeps the match interesting, as Beefcake offers nothing of interest here. When he has the Genius doubled over in the set-up position for a piledriver or a powerbomb, he does the least interesting thing he could and just jumps to apparently jar the Genius' neck. The Genius manages to escape the sleeper before the ref gets bumped. Beefcake puts the Genius down with another sleeper, so starts to cut the Genius' hair to the chagrin of Ventura. Thankfully Mr Perfect comes in to stop this unjust haircut, and jams a chair into Beefcake's ribs. In an interview later on, Perfect says he's fed up of Beefcake taking advantage of people, which is really fair enough. The ref disqualifies both men, so Brutus doesn't even get a DQ win.

Ronnie Garvin vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine
This is a submission match, though each guy tries to pin their opponent in vain at multiple opportunities. Hammer has the Hart Breaker legguard on his shin, so Garvin has also put a guard on his shin to counteract this. Both guys like to lay it in snugly, so they're pretty happy to exchange blows in the early stages. It's pretty fucking great to watch. Valentine downs Garvin and locks on a figure four, but Garvin's shinguard prevents it hurting, as Garvin laughs and pulls faces at the Hammer. Valentine thus has to change tactics, so goes for an Argentine Backbreaker instead. They go back to exchanging blows, and you can hear every single one. Garvin goes for an Indian Deathlock, but the Hammer doesn't submit. Garvin gets knocked down near the ropes, so Jimmy Hart takes the shinguard off Garvin's leg. This time the figure four works. Garvin escapes, but can barely stand on his bad leg. Ventura does a great job of putting over the figure four, stating Garvin should submit or Valentine may end his career. Valentine goes up top to an unfamiliar top rope berth, and it backfires as Garvin hobbles over to throw him from the top. Garvin then removes the Hart Breaker from Valentine's leg. Both try to swing for the other with a shinguard, but only Garvin connects, before sinking in a Sharpshooter for the submission win. Fantastic match.

The Big Boss Man vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan
This starts off with a big brawl to start, with Bossman taking some nifty bumps out of the ring and into the ring steps. The Bossman impresses the Hell out of Ventura and Tony Schiavone with an enzuigiri on Duggan. The brawling here isn't as stiff as the previous match, but they keep up a decent pace and it remains entertaining throughout. Plus, I've always had a soft spot for the big telegraphed punches of Hacksaw. I like Duggan trying to break the bearhug of the Bossman by punching himself free, only for Bossman to keep the hold on and wear Hacksaw down. The story they're working here is that Duggan keeps getting up no matter how many times Bossman hits him, and this leads to the ending as Bossman gets so fed up, he nails Duggan with the nightstick for the DQ.

The Royal Rumble
This is a pretty great Rumble, with so many fun little stories and interesting moments. I also love the fact that you see guys fighting each other regardless of the face/heel divide. The storytelling starts early as Ted DiBiase draws number 1, which is nice continuation from him being number 30 last year. He pounces on Koko B Ware as soon as he gets in the ring to eliminate him, and does the same to Marty Jannetty to try and get an early advantage. Sadly for him, Jake Roberts is out next and provides slightly stiffer competition. I find with these early Rumbles you end up with match-ups in the ring that lend themselves to matches I'd really like to see. For example, early on we get DiBiase and Randy Savage squaring off with Roberts and Roddy Piper, which is a tag match I'd love to see. PIper teaming up with Bret Hart to double-clothesline the Warlord is a cool little moment too, knowing their real-life friendship which was never really mentioned on TV.

DiBiase gets the endurance push this year, with Jesse highlighting how well he was doing as early as 8 men in. Dusty Rhodes eliminates Savage within moments of entering, which plays off a Brother Love segment earlier on the night where Dusty came to the defence of Sapphire as Sherri abused her, and where Savage attacked Rhodes. Andre comes to the ring and eliminates the Warlord, leading to an altercation on the outside between Bobby Heenan and Mr Fuji. Awesome. Piper eliminates Bad News Brown, leading to an angry Brown pulling Piper out, kickstarting their feud. They brawl to the back as a young Shane McMahon tries to regain order. Another one of those cool pairings occurs as Dusty and Ax team up to clobber Andre, Demos style. Haku enters, which allows him to pair with Andre to beat down Ax, but Smash is the next entry, which evens the odds and provides a mini Tornado Tag in the middle of the Rumble. The Demos manage to eliminate Andre, sending him over the top with double running forearms.

Akeem pairs off with Jimmy Snuka, but makes the hilarious mistake of stopping to dance, leading to his elimination in short order. The Demos pair off against Haku and Snuka, yet another tag match I'd love to see. The Canadian Earthquake comes in and is instantly a favourite, eliminating Dusty (massively telegraphed by the Dream) and Ax. Haku pulls a great "oh shit" face at that. All the guys in the ring (bar his partner Bravo) team up to lift Quake out of the ring, which allows him to be eliminated, but also be seen as a real threat. Just great booking in this Rumble. The Warrior comes in to a huge pop. The Model comes in and goes right after Smash, which makes sense when you remember the Demos caused him to be out injured for the best part of a year. Smash winds up on the apron, and Haku kicks him in the face to eliminate him. Tito enters and, yep, goes right after Martel, as I believe he did every year. A Warrior clothesline sees DiBiase finally eliminated to a monster pop.

Hogan enters to the biggest pop of the match, and he eliminates Snuka and Haku in short order. Shawn Michaels hilariously last 20 seconds and Martel soon follows to give us the Hogan/Warrior showdown for the first time. Things pretty much end up in a stalemate, with both men down after a double clothesline, giving an entering Barbarian some pretty easy pickings. Rick Rude enters early to get some of this action. Warrior saves Hogan from elimination, but when Hogan tries to return the favour, he manages to knock Warrior from the ring. For some reason, Warrior sees this as a sign to re-enter the ring and beat up the heels. Man, that worked out pretty brilliantly for Hogan. We end up with a final three of Hogan, Rude and Mr Perfect. A heel double team backfires, leading to Rude being eliminated. Hogan Hulks up after a Perfectplex and quickly hurls Perfect out to win. Really fun Rumble.

TNA Slammiversary 2013

Kenny King vs Chris Sabin vs Suicide

This is an Ultimate X match for King’s X Division title. This is essentially a spotfest to warm up the crowd, but it’s a pretty good one. A couple of spots look a bit too contrived and require a bit too much co-operation, but everything was crisply executed. I liked a few of the details in the match too, such as how early on Suicide sent both opponents to the floor as if to set up for a dive, but instead ran for the corner to try and climb the structure. Similarly, I enjoyed Sabin realising both men were down, thinking about going for the belt, then suplexing Suicide onto King to make sure both men were incapacitated. This was the first time I’d seen TJ Perkins as Suicide, and he was great, with his series of feints and fakes before hitting a top rope dropkick to the floor being exceptionally good. No-one manages to make it to the cables in the first 5 minutes of the match, which allowed the tension of the match to build up. This had a rather abrupt ending, with King going for Suicide’s mask to stop him getting the title, before Sabin appeared from nowhere to down him and grab the title himself, but this was a fine opener,

Magnus, Samoa Joe & Jeff Hardy vs Mr Anderson, Garrett Bischoff & Wes Brisco

With all due respect, there isn’t a great array of talent on the heel side here, so it’s impressive that this is a perfectly decent 6-man tag. For example, there is no greater mismatch in this bout than Joe against Bischoff, but that segment was plenty of fun, due to both Joe’s onslaught and Bischoff’s surprisingly good selling. Magnus and Joe show their chemistry with some double-teaming on Anderson, but Magnus soon becomes face-in-peril after Anderson yanks his arm over the top rope. The heels wisely stick to an easy formula by using quick tags and focusing on the injured arm of Magnus, so this is all fun. The hot tag to Hardy comes a bit prematurely, but we at least get a hot finishing sequence, as Joe chokes out Anderson on the ramp, a distraction that leads to Brisco low-blowing Magnus and rolling him up, only for Hardy to strike with a Swanton during the pinfall. This gets three for the faces. Of note: Jeff Hardy looks surprisingly good with a beard.

 
Jay Bradley vs Sam Shaw

This really didn’t belong on PPV and did neither guy any favours as the crowd was dead for them, though they did rally a bit behind Shaw at the end. Shaw seemed to work like a poor man’s RVD, with some generic flippy offence, but I did quite like Bradley, whose offence at least looked like it hurt, as he slowed down proceedings with some measured blows. The Boom Stick lariat won the match for Bradley.

Devon vs Abyss

This was supposed to be Devon vs Joseph Park, but Devon and Knux destroyed him in the back, leading to Abyss coming out in his stead. Oddly, the majority of the match is spent with Devon dominating Abyss, until he misses a diving headbutt. Abyss wins with a chokeslam and a Black Hole Slam, but this feels like it should have been a 30 second squash. Having Abyss selling almost all match takes away any monster aura he may have.

Bad Influence vs Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez vs Bobby Roode  & Austin Aries vs James Storm & Gunner

I’ve long felt that Gunner is underrated (check the No Surrender 2011 review if you need proof), so I’m glad to see him getting a bit of a push at last. There was some nice continuity early on, with Roode wanting no piece of Storm and goading him about his choice of partner, yelling “He’s no Bobby Roode”, but cowering away when Gunner gets in. This broke down quickly, with team taking it in turn to clear the ring of each other. I did love Guerrero and Hernandez sprinting down the ramp to nail Bad Influence with flying shoulderblocks. Curiously, the only wrestler to really play face-in-peril is Hernandez, the largest guy in the match, as Roode, Aries, Kazarian and Daniels take over on him. Bad Influence are the first team eliminated, as Roode turns the ref round so he catches Daniels hitting Chavo with a belt for the DQ. Brilliantly, Aries swiftly pins Chavo seconds afterwards. This leaves Aries/Roode vs Storm/Gunner. The Storm/Roode segments are as good as you’d expect. Gunner gets isolated by the heels, who blitz him with a corner dropkick, spinebuster and 450 in quick succession, but he kicks out. This is played up huge, rather than just a finisher no-sell, which makes Gunner look great. Storm superkicks Aries into the Gun Rack, and Austin taps to give Storm & Gunner the titles. Decent little match, I suspect there’s a great match between the final two teams in the coming months.

Taryn Terrell vs Gail Kim

During the opening minutes of this match, where Terrell was throwing some terrible looking forearms, I feared for the worst. Well, that soon went out of the window as these two just went Hell for leather. It started with Terrell hitting a crossbody from the top onto Gail, who was holding a steel chair. It continued when Kim went hurtling across the ring into a chair propped up in the corner, sending her flying from the ring. Terrell added to the insane bumps with a missed dive sending her onto the entrance ramp. Finally, they decided to share the honours for brazen madness by both leaping from the ramp to oblivion (as it looked from the camera angle) as Taryn hit an Ace Crusher on Kim for the win. Just an absolute spectacle, and both wrestler deserve a load of credit for what they were willing to do. For Terrell to enter the match to a minimal reaction and to leave to “This is awesome” chants shows they were doing something right.

AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle

I’d not seen much of the “new” AJ before this match, and I was quite impressed. He seemed to be laying in his blows a lot more stiffly than before, and his kicks in particular looked good. I also liked the initial story work, with AJ targeting the injured leg of Angle, with his springboard dropkick to the leg looking great. At first, Angle sells the leg well, taking his time getting up again after levelling Styles with a clothesline. Soon, however, Kurt stops selling the leg all together, and just goes through a usual Angle match, which I’d have quite enjoyed if they’d just gone for that instead of focussing AJ working the leg early on. By the time Kurt nails AJ with 3 German suplexes, you’d forget he even had a leg injury. Even more bizarrely, they kill off AJ’s new Calf Killer submission by having Angle escape it, despite his “injured leg”. The end comes when AJ misses a springboard 450 and Angle downs him with a double-leg for the pin. The action was fine, but the decision to work an opening around a body part then totally ignoring it seems ridiculous.

Bully Ray vs Sting

Before the match, Bully threatened to hit Sting with a piledriver, which they hyped up as the deadliest move in wrestling. I loved Sting taking the fight to Bully right off, nailing the Stinger Splash at the bell. I also loved Sting whipping Bully with the title belt, which looked nasty. Tazz does a great job of putting over the danger of the piledriver, talking about how it affected his own career. Sting is busy wasting Ray with a chair, when an odd Brooke Hogan appearance distracted him and gave Bully the advantage. Bully hits the piledriver as threatened, which gets 2. A powerbomb through a table also gets 2. Bully then removes the canvas to leave only bare boards in the ring for a second piledriver, but Sting just kicks out. Bully is great at selling the shock here, and this really showed Sting’s desire to win. Sting suddenly hits the Scorpion Death Drop on the boards, but Aces & 8’s attack to stop him winning. Sting tries to fight them off (with Garrett Bischoff taking a huge bump to the entrance ramp), but Bully nails him in the head with a hammer as he dives from the top rope to win. Really fun match, even with the ending, as it really highlighted how dangerous Aces & 8’s are as a faction. I would have had an issue with no TNA wrestlers coming to help, but they seem to be making that part of an angle, so at least they acknowledge how odd it seems. Pretty darn fine PPV on the whole.