WWE Extreme Rules 2015

Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper

This was a pretty fun deal, and I liked Ambrose’s high-energy assault to start. The kendo shots on Harper sounded really nasty, but not as nasty as the suplex onto an open chair that Harper hits. Harper lawn darting Ambrose into a chair in the corner was pretty great. I really like that Ambrose has these quick flurries of energy when on the offensive, and the quick offensive burst that ended with his diving elbow drop was fun. There was a lovely spot on the outside where Harper tried to throw Dean into the ring, only for Ambrose to pivot his body on the apron and burst out with a clothesline. Really fun spot. They brawl to the back and, as Harper tries to escape in a waiting car, Ambrose dives into through the passenger window and off they drive…

Sheamus vs Dolph Ziggler

The first few minutes of Ziggler offence were pretty meh, including Ziggler hitting a horrible “carry me round” tornado DDT to the floor. As soon as Sheamus goes on offence though, things quickly improve, as Sheamus hits a lovely knee to the temple of Ziggler. Even a Sheamus chinlock looks great with how he cranks at Ziggler’s neck whilst holding it. Ziggler gets the odd hope spot, but this match is all about great Sheamus offence. I loved him catching a superkick, hurling Ziggler down and just flipping him into the Cloverleaf. Ziggler gets the win with a fluke roll up, but it’s Sheamus who comes out of this looking great.

The New Day vs Cesaro & Tyson Kidd

Xavier Woods was incredibly annoying as a face, so he’s perfectly suited to the role of heel cheerleader here. I actually saw a version of this match at a houseshow in Nottingham, so I wasn’t surprised that this was pretty great. Loved Kidd and Cesaro stomping their opponents to the beat of “New….Day Sucks”. Kidd hits a beautiful dive through the ropes, taking him straight through Kingston. This is actually the most I’ve enjoyed Kofi Kingston, as this heel role has given him a bit more of an edge. Now, he’s using his speed for quick cut-offs, which look more effective than they did as actual match-winning offence. Cesaro whipping his opponent from corner to corner, peppered with uppercuts, is a really neat face spot, whilst Big E spearing through the ropes to send Kidd flying to the floor is an ever-impressive bump. Kingston gets the win with a handful of tights on a roll-up, and I want to see this match every month.

Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper

….and we return to these two guys as they drive back into the arena. Ambrose hits a great elbow from the top of the car onto Harper and a celebrating New Day, before the match returns to the ring. There’s a great visual as both guys throw chairs into the ring, and suddenly make eye-contact from opposite sides. The match ends with Harper trying an ill-fated top rope move, instead getting hurled from the top onto the chairs, and Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds for the win. Fun deal.

Rusev vs John Cena

Given the PG nature of WWE programming, this was never going to live up to my ideal of a brutal chain match, but I did hope for something a bit better than this. This was fought under touch-the-four-corners rules, with lights to indicate the scores on each turnbuckle. The problem with this stipulation is that it makes the match pretty repetitive and dull, with lots of drama-free tug of war spots. I did enjoy Cena yanking Rusev into the ring post when they were brawling outside, mainly because Rusev took an insane bump into the steel. However, the match was typified by Rusev, a man not known for his high risk moves, climbing to the top rope solely so that Cena could pull him off using the chain. The match is pretty much a spectacle of watching two talented guys slowly walk between turnbuckles that they’d normally zip between, just to try and create some drama. The end sees both guys somehow tied on three posts each, both needing the same final turnbuckle to win. Rusev goes for it, is pulled back and nailed with the AA for the Cena victory.

Nikki Bella vs Naomi

This heel turn has worked wonders for Naomi. Showing her more aggressive side has slowed her down, eliminating some of the athletic, but sloppy, moves she used to do. Also, her statuesque form makes it convincing for her to boss other women in the ring. I thought her hitting a running bulldog through the rope to send Nikki face first into the second turnbuckle was great. She also hit a slick full Nelson bomb into a pin, which looked good. Nikki’s offence looked a bit weaker than usual here, with a springboard kick looking pretty milky, and we didn’t get to see her awesome forearm smash. Nikki gets the win with the Rack Attack after Brie Bella kicks Naomi behind the referee’s back. This was pretty good.

Roman Reigns vs the Big Show

From the get-go, you could tell this was going to be good, as both guys were clearly not afraid of laying in some punches. I loved Big Show refusing to use weapons, confident enough that his size made him enough of a weapon in his own right. It also allows Reigns to get some big pops whenever he brings out the plunder. Of course, when Big Show only gets an 8 count following the KO punch, he suddenly decides to start using the weapons after all. I like how smart Big Show is in breaking the count by rolling out of the ring, as it gets him back to his feet with the least amount of effort. There is a negative part where Big Show uncharacteristically goes to the top rope, which is clearly only so Reigns can throw him off. Show chokeslams Reigns over the top rope to the floor through two tables in a massive bump. Looked great. Big Show sets up more stuff over by the announce table, giving Reigns time to recover, and even when Show returns to the ring, Reigns can only take control by avoiding a Show offensive move, rather than via his own attack. Show rolls out to his feet again, so Reigns knows he has to down the Big Show outside of the ring. A huge spear through the Spanish announce table looks to have done this, but Show is able to get up at 8. This leaves Reigns little choice but to bury Show underneath the main announce table, which finally gets him the 20 count. Really great match, logically laid out and with some massive bumps by both men. With Reigns now having the match-of-the-night for three PPV’s in a row, can we now just accept he’s actually really great? 

Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton

This is a world title match in a steel cage with the RKO banned. The problem this match has is that no-one believes they’ll take the title off Rollins already, and no-one believe the steel cage will keep anyone out of the match. In fact, most of the match is a background to the drama between Kane, the external gatekeeper, and Rollins. I mean, I love Kane’s new “frustrated middle manager” gimmick, but it shouldn’t be overshadowing your brand new world champion’s first defence. That said, a lot of the action was good here. I dug Rollins, like a chickenshit, fleeing to try and escape at every opportunity, especially from an Orton slingshot. There was another moment where Rollins avoided Orton’s snap powerslam and tried to quickly escape while Orton was regaining his bearings. It also built up the later spot where Orton caught Rollins as he springboarded into the ring with a huge snap powerslam. Orton hit a lovely looking superplex, and I loved him doing the pose for the RKO, but hitting a pedigree instead, as a “fuck you” to the Authority. Ultimately though, it built up to a shitty end, as Kane gets in, J&J Security get in, Kane flip-flops between who he’s going to help and finally Rollins nails Orton with an RKO before escaping. It’s a shame that a decent match ends with the commentators arguing semantics over whether or not Rollins was allowed to use the move.

NEW Autumn Ambush

NEW stands for North East Wrestling, and this is a random US indy DVD I picked up earlier in the year. It's the epitome of blandly ok.

Kurt Adonis vs Jeff Starr

Adonis looks like a knock-off Chris Chetti, if you can imagine such a thing. They work the crowd to start with, establishing Starr as the face. I dug Starr hitting an early pescado that looked decent. Adonis takes over with a weak looking superkick, but I liked his interactions with the crowd whilst working a chinlock (and he actually WORKED the chinlock, rather than just sitting in it. Fair play). Adonis takes too long climbing the ropes and gets superplexed off. Starr hits a better superkick and an out-of-control looking swanton for the win. Brief match, nothing offensive.

Terrible Todd Stone vs Short Sleeve Sampson

The DVD box bills this as “Midget Madness”. Great. Sampson looks remarkably like a midget Martin Stone. He also raps. Stone attacks from behind to start, but Sampson soon gains control. He springboards off the ropes nicely, then hits a sweet looking suicide dive, so I’m already happy with Short Sleeve. Stone isn’t quite so enjoyable on offence, not moving quite so fluidly as Sampson. Stone gets an RKO but fails a second attempt, and Sampson hits a Worm for the win. This was ok

Chris Sabin vs Damian Adams

Sabin’s arrival earns a “TNA” chant, which really makes the show feel old. Sabin looks really good early on, hitting a nice springboard dropkick and a pescado to the floor. Adams impresses early with a big bump, hurling himself over the top rope to the floor. Sabin works the crowd by chopping Adams outside the ring on all four sides. Adams hits a nice overhead belly-to-belly to take over, but his spell in control is pretty bland, working a chinlock and a weakly applied abdominal stretch to little reaction. Shame, as he looks able to keep up with Sabin during the closing run before falling to the Cradle Shock for the Sabin victory.

Al Snow vs Chris Candido

Candido isn’t accompanied by Tammy Sytch here, but another wrestler called Thunderbolt (think a terrifying lovechild of Droz and BJ Whitmer). Luckily, they’ve got quite good chemistry and Thunderbolt happily stooges for Candido. This is basically a competitive comedy match, and it’s fun, if a bit overlong. We kick off with basic comedy spots like Snow riding Candido like a pony, and Thunderbolt missing interference spots and nailing Candido instead. Candido gets a brief run of offence after Thunderbolt nails Snow with a spear (earning himself an ejection), but Snow regains control after pulling Candido’s trunks down on a sunset flip. Candido, like a pro, wrestles with his trunks below his arse for a few minutes. We suddenly hit a run of finisher spamming, with Snow getting two counts from Sweet Chin Music, a pedigree and the People’s Elbow. Candido also gets two after hulking up and hitting a big boot/legdrop. Candido hits an appalling stunner before the ref bumps, and Tammy Sytch runs in dressed like a ref. Snow manages to beat her fast counts, and Candido accidentally nails her with a foreign object. Snow nails him with Head and the recovering ref counts three. Decent enough.

Jerry Lawler vs Slyk Wagner Brown

Brown is accompanied by a fat lad in a t-shirt called Big Daddy. Mick Foley is the guest ref for this bout, and he’s bloody awful at it. This match is pretty poor, and that’s in no way the fault of Lawler, who tries his best to make it watchable. Lawler hits some beautiful looking fistdrops and a really nice high dropkick. Brown is pretty bland, and is really shown up by Lawler. 90% of Lawler’s offence is punches, which all look great and are interspersed perfectly. Brown’s offence is 90% punches and kicks, and at no point do you think they’ll put Lawler away. Big Daddy gets ejected after getting caught interfering after hitting numerous cheapshots behind Foley’s back. This leads to the finish, where Lawler nails two piledrivers but only gets two, albeit with a VERY slow Foley count. Big Daddy comes back, nails Lawler from behind and hides under a table, only for Foley to stop counting on two and instead leave the ring and hunt down Big Daddy (who he doesn’t know for sure is out there). This melee ends with Lawler rolling up Brown for the win. A bit of a clusterfuck.

666 7/3/2010

Considering that the last time I reviewed a 666 show, the tag title tournament was won by the ring announcer in a ladder match, it probably comes as no surprise to learn that this show has an equally odd ending, this time with the night's earlier participants competing in a sumo tournament. Obviously, I wont bother to review that, suffice to say it ended with Yuko Miyamoto beating the ring announcer (him again!) to pick up the title. The rest of the show was an interesting mix of matches too...

Shinobu vs K666

K666 attacks at the bell, but is soon overpowered, and Shinobu really dominates the opening portions of this match. Even when K666 tries for a token enzuigiri, Shinobu ducks it and locks in an STF. K666 does look a bit better than on the last 666 show I reviewed, with a flip dive to the outside looking decent and a standing corkscrew moonsault is pretty impressive. He locks Shinobu into a crossface variation and I liked the way that later, following a pin attempt by his opponent, he locks it in again whilst Shinobu is plotting his next move. The end sees Shinobu get two from a lariat, so he hits a brainbuster and another lariat for the win. Perfectly acceptable.

Makoto vs Riho

So, when this match started, I noticed Riho looked really young, as in “I’m not even sure this girl is a teenager yet” young. A bit of Googling revealed that she’d have been 13 when this match took place. That probably explains why this match comes across as more of a exhibition than as an athletic contest, which is probably for the best. Makoto seems to work pretty light with her, until a cartwheel into a kneedrop which looks nasty. Makoto locks in a half crab, but Riho makes the ropes and then locks up Makoto in a half crab. She also makes the ropes. Riho misses a top rope stomp and gets rolled up for the win. I’ll admit I wasn’t a fan of this match, Riho looked competent, but it’s hard to shake the fact that she’s still a child and I don’t like feeling uneasy when watching wrestling.

Tochiki vs The 101

The language barrier means I’m not able to accurately work out what was going on at the start of this match. Suffice to say, hijinks abounded. Tochiki has a load of hardcore plunder with him, so he quickly sends 101 outside and hits a Sabu-esque chair-assisted dive. The 101 keeps clowning around in a pretty irritating manner, so Tochiki locks him in a camel clutch, and hits a pretty good Samoan drop. It’s probably his best move, because a lot of his stuff looks like he’s moving at 2/3 speed. 101 still has that impressive corkscrew moonsault from the outside, but he misses a twisting splash and appears to land awkwardly on a chair. More difficult comedy as the 101 pulls out a sword and duels with Tochiki, wielding a large bundle of hay. Somehow, the ref gets slashed by the sword and both guys bow down to apologise. Tochiki quickly levels the 101 with a metal tray for the victory. Might have been better paced without the awkward comedy. 

Yuko Miyamoto & Shinobu vs Konaka Pale One & DINASTY

This is easily the best match on the two 666 shows I’ve watched so far, in that it’s a really fun tag match. There’s a fun test-of-strength to start between Miyamoto and Pale One, with KPO showing great flexibility to wrestle mainly from his knees, with his legs crossed over underneath him. His flexibility is very much his gimmick, as a lot of his offence involves him contorting his legs in such a way. Miyamoto and Shinobu work decent heat sections on both DINASTY and KPO. I loved Miyamoto taunting KPO by badly trying to cross his own legs in the ring. Shinobu and Miyamoto both seem to be working pretty snugly, which is nice especially in comparison to DINASTY, who moves well but has offence that doesn’t appear to be very painful (AKA a case of the Zigglers). I love Miyamoto locking a Boston crab on KPO, and Shinobu working the edges of the ring to ensure DINASTY can’t make the save. DINASTY flies really nicely, nailing a beautiful Fosbury Flop to the floor, and hitting a lovely corkscrew splash in the ring for a two count. KPO hits a cross-legged senton for two. The ending run is really fun, with DINASTY resorting to a series of quick roll-ups to try and steal the win. However, Miyamoto levels him with a clothesline, plants him with a German suplex and finally nails a perfect moonsault for the win. Really good match.

The Best of Mark Andrews: Fly Or Die Trying

So, this little gem I picked up last year from Mark Andrews' Big Cartel page, a collection of 5 of his best matches against 5 different opponents. I've always liked Andrews since the first time I saw him live (as mentioned later) and it's no surprise he's gone on to win British Bootcamp II- he combines really crisp, fluid high-flying with an innate charisma and likability, and this collection is a really fun watch.

Mark Andrews vs Pete Dunne

The first bout on the disc is from AIW in the US, where the crowd don’t know either guy. Thus, the match is almost like a sampler of what both guys can do. This means it also works well as an opening match on this comp, giving a flavour of what to expect from the following matches. Pete heels it up, giving the crowd the finger early on, and as the bigger guy he bullies Andrews a bit, hitting some nice suplexes and grounding Andrews by working over the arm. I liked the way he did some nasty joint manipulation, showcasing his nastier side. Andrews pops the crowd with a lovely standing 630 senton. Dunne hits his pumphandle DDT for two, before Andrews busts out a lovely flip dive and a springboard rana for two. A reverse rana is followed by a shooting star press for the win. The crowd is totally won over by the end, giving both guys a standing ovation. Really fun match.

Mark Andrews vs Zack Sabre Jr

From Triple X Wrestling. Regular readers (ha!) might remember this was top of the leaderboard in my "Top 10 Matches of 2013" list. However, there is always a disconnect of watching a match in person and watching it on DVD, so I was curious to see how it would hold up. In all honesty, I actually like it more on second viewing. At the time, I’d never seen Andrews wrestle before, but now, having seen him plenty of times, I can really appreciate the little things that he changed up specifically for this match. It starts with Sabre Jr totally schooling Andrews on the mat, viciously working over the arm and even hanging onto the arm from an Andrews armdrag to retain control. Zack throws in some nasty little touches, such as grinding his elbow into Andrews’ eye during a chinlock. Andrews is a great underdog and, after Sabre kicks his legs out during a brief offensive flurry, he realises he has to react as quickly as possible to any opening. Thus when he gets Zack outside the ring, he immediately follows with a big flip dive.  Normally, Andrews plays to the crowd before hitting a standing moonsault, but here he just doesn’t have the time, so hits it straight away and follows it with a swift double stomp. Sabre viciously kicks out Andrews legs on a springboard attempt and hits a vicious kick to the chest. Andrews tries a few kicks of his own, but this just seems to rile Sabre, who decks him with some nasty slaps to the face. 2 Dragon suplexes only get a two count on Andrews. Andrews downs Sabre and tries to put him away quickly with a 450, but Sabre is able to move and ties up both of Andrews’ arm to get the tapout victory. Absolutely love this match. Sabre, as the former champ and longtime ace of the promotion, dominated, but Andrews made the most of his openings and looked tough as nails in surviving the onslaught.

Mark Andrews vs Will Ospreay

This is a first round match from the Progress Natural Progression Series. Both guys are really crisp high-flyers, and pretty evenly match. I dug the initial matwork, before they start to speed things up. Ospreay hits a great dive, sliding under the ropes to barrel Andrews into the crowd. He hits a standing shooting star, before going back to the mat, trying to wear Andrews down. I loved the insane backflip into a tornado DDT by Andrews, really looked like a move that would catch the opponent totally by surprise. Both of them hits nice sequences of moves which flow nicely together, meaning they hit a few big moves in succession for more realistic pinfalls. Ospreay gets a really close fall off a top rope reverse rana, but, even though he lands on his feet on a missed 450, he gets caught by a beautiful springboard rana for the win.  

Mark Andrews vs Jonathan Gresham

Another Triple X bout. I’ve never seen Gresham before, so I was looking forward to this. Though shorter than Andrews, he’s stockier and here plays subtle heel. This lets Andrews work as underdog, which is where he really excels. Gresham takes an early powder from the ring after an Andrews onslaught, and has a noticeably more vicious streak when he comes back in. He whips Andrews into the turnbuckles with real velocity, hits a nasty elbow to Andrews’ face and really snaps him to the mat with a back suplex. Andrews buys himself a little time with a Bubba Bomb, and hits a really cool looking forward roll enzuigiri. They exchange pinfalls, which Gresham ends with a “Fuck you” and a big kick to the head. Andrews fires back with a tornado DDT, which he hits from a totally different angle to the Ospreay match, which gives it a real “from out of nowhere” vibe. Andrews nails the 450 splash, but is too hurt to cover straight away, only getting a two. Gresham plants Andrews with two German suplexes, then hits a deadlift straightjacket version for the pin. Really nicely worked  match, really enjoyed Gresham’s vicious streak.

Mark Andrews vs Paul Robinson

This is the final of the Progress Natural Progression Series. I really liked the fun matwork at the start, as they rolls through a series of armbar reversals. Robinson hit a great spinning headscissors with two full rotations. The commentary mentions Robinson has a kickboxing background to go with his highflying, and he’s got some really nice looking kicks. Robinson shows a more vicious side, clawing at Andrews’ face and hitting an elbow to the spine immediately as Andrews forces a submission break by grabbing the ropes. Nice dive to the outside by Andrews. I really love the fact Andrews has a few moves he hits standing variations of, as it creates a sense of mystery as he builds up to it- in earlier matches we’ve seen a 630 senton, but here he hits a great corkscrew moonsault from the same position. Robinson misses a top rope legdrop, which he gets insane elevation on, but he hits a great twisting top rope rana and spinning kick to the kidneys. Robinson misses a shooting star press, and Andrews hits this awesome top rope moonsault belly-to-belly suplex for the win.

HUSTLE 07/03/04

Kaz Hayashi & Spanky vs Low Ki & Homicide

This is a fun deal, though sadly clipped, which means that it doesn’t get the chance to reach it’s full potential. There was a fun mat exchange between Low Ki and Hayashi, before we clip to Spanky as face-in-peril. This was a good idea, Ki and Homicide looked good as two stiff surly dudes beating up the pretty-boy face. Even when Spanky tags Hayashi in, he’s not safe, as during a melee he gets caught on a flip dive by both guys and powerbombed onto the apron. Hayashi takes both opponents out right after with a dive. Hayashi then gets a nearfall by no-selling the Ki Krusher and hitting Emerald Frosion for 2. Ki has been a bit of a dick in this match, and it ultimately costs his team. Homicide has Spanky in the STF, and Ki stands on the apron to kick at Spanky’s hands as he reaches for the ropes. This lures in Kaz, who takes out Ki then hits an enzuigiri from the apron on Homicide. This not only leaves Homicide prone for a frogsplash, but also means Ki is in no position to make the save, resulting in victory for Kaz and Spanky. Good opener 

Steve Corino vs CW Anderson

This was pretty goofy in places, but was still enjoyable. We get some brawling to start, followed by a comedy bit as Corino tries, and fails, to set up a chair on the ring apron to send Anderson into. Anderson decides to focus on the arm of Corino, ramming it into the ringpost then whacking it with the chair. We clip, and when we return, Corino is still selling the arm. Good lad. Anderson hits him with a lovely looking punch, which the ref reacts to with a standing ten count for Corino. He gets up on 9. Anderson yells for an STO, which ends up being hit on him by Corino. Corino then warms up the band for Sweet Chin Music, which Anderson then amusingly hits on him. Anderson gets a really close two count by reversing a lariat to a spinebuster on a chair, but Corino picks up the win with a suplex. Pretty good fun, Corino in particular was really good at playing up to the crowd, which helped create a fun atmosphere. 

Shinjiro Otani & Satoshi Kojima vs Dusty Rhodes & Dustin Rhodes

As Dusty isn’t exactly in his prime here, Dustin works the majority of this match, which is never a bad thing. He spends a lot of the early stages here getting beaten down, as Kojima and Otani lock him into a double Boston crab. I did enjoy Dustin outsmarting Kojima on a strike exchange, letting Kojima rear up for a blow, then droptoeholding him into the ropes. Dustin slingshots Kojima into a Bionic Elbow, before the Rhodes’ lock in stereo figure-fours. Neither Dustin nor Dusty seem that over here, which kinda hurts some spots as Dusty has to really work to get a reaction. Dustin nails a bulldog on Kojima for two, but gets hit with a Koji Cutter which allows the tag to Otani. Otani gets the bootscrapes on Dustin, but gets hit with the Curtain Call for two. Kojima and Dusty brawl outside, and Kojima is able to recover quickest to get back in and level Dustin in the back of the head with a lariat. Otani rolls him up for the win.  

Riki Choshu & Tomohiro Ishii vs Zebra Man & Naohiro Hoshikawa

On the first Hustle show, Zebra Man got a bit of a decent push, beating Ikuto Hidaka in a pretty swift fashion, so it’s surprising that this is a bit of a squash. Not in his favour. Choshu lariats Hoshikawa right at the start, who never really recovers. Ishii hits a big back suplex and Choshu locks in the sharpshooter. Zebra Man is tagged in to a sizable pop, but his offence is pretty milky. Not an accusation you could level at Ishii, who decks him with a lariat and a brain buster. Shrugging off some more questionable offence, Ishii hits another brainbuster and Choshu hits the lariat on Zebra Man for an easy three. 

Sabu, Justin Credible & Mike Awesome vs Kintaro Kanemura, Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda

You’d be hard pressed to call this a good match, but it’s pretty fun while it lasts. Awesome looks great early doors throwing big old Kanemura about. There is no tag format in place at the start of the match, with pairings of guys taking it in turn to compete in the ring, whilst the others brawl outside the ring. An Awesome Bomb from the ring apron through a table puts Kanemura out for a while, whilst Sabu puts Tanaka through a table with a big legdrop. This leaves Kuroda alone, and they suddenly go into a proper tag format, purely to build some heat on Kuroda. Awesome breaks a chair over Kuroda’s head. Of course, as soon as Kuroda makes the hot tag to Tanaka, all structure vanishes again and we got back to some big spots. The end sees Credible and Tanaka battle over a tombstone, before Kanemura hits Justin with a kendo stick and Tanaka nails the roaring elbow for the win. Goofy structure aside, this was enjoyable nonsense.

The Predator vs Dan Bobish

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Predator, and he looks in good shape here. Bobish is a big guy, like former WCW jobber Al Greene inflated with helium. Not a particularly good wrestler though, and this match is pretty dull. Bobish chokes Predator on the ropes, then plays up to the crowd, so I’ve no idea if he’s supposed to be face or heel. I did like the big delayed back suplex Predator hit on Bobish, and he gets good height on a leg drop, but there is too much sluggish brawling on display here. Predator gets the win with a top rope kneedrop. 

Mark Coleman & Kevin Randleman vs Shinya Hashimoto & Toshiaki Kawada

Two MMA fighters vs two of the elite guys in Japan. I really want to like Randleman, who has great movement and energy, but a little too much of his offence feels flat, and his opening section with Hashimoto is a little awkward. Coleman doesn’t even have the energy going for him, though his section with Kawada is a little less laboured. Hashimoto has his shoulder heavily taped, and Randleman starts to focus on it, hitting some nasty headbutts to the taped area. Kawada doesn’t have an obviously weak area, so he’s able to look more dominant in the ring, and his Yakuza kick in the corner on Coleman looks great. The match never feels like it’s building to anything though, and the end comes as Randleman hits repeated knees to Hashimoto’s shoulder, forcing the ref to call it off. Not Hashimoto or Kawada’s best day. 

Naoya Ogawa vs Matt Ghaffari, Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Dustin Rhodes, Giant Silva & Dan Bobish

This is a handicap match, and there is a crooked ref to further stack the decks against Ogawa. He fares well at first, hitting STO’s on everyone. Bobish is able to put up a little more resisitance before falling to an STO. The heel ref gets “distracted” by events outside the ring, so everyone bar Ghaffari comes in and clobbers away on Ogawa. Silva hits a chokeslam and Ghaffari finally steps in to hit a big splash for the win. Not the best main event I’ve ever seen.

WCW Clash of the Champions XVIII

Way back when I started this blog, it was designed to re-ignite my love of the pro-wrestling, to rediscover why I love it and to start watching new stuff. On this level, it's been a success. Though not updated very often, I've been watching and discovering more wrestling than ever. I've started going to live shows, I'm finally getting into things like lucha and puroresu that I'd only dabbled in before and I'm more open-minded about the world of wrestling than I was before.

Of course, the release of the WWE Network in the UK has given me access to a whole history of shows, and this gave me the idea to embark upon a little project. I'm going to rewatch the era of pro-wrestling that started my obsession with the sport, 1992 WCW. Saturday afternoons were spent, without fail, in front of the TV watching Worldwide on ITV, and I thought it would help continue my wrestling/writing journey to watch it again. I'll still be reviewing other stuff as well, but expect a lot of Dangerous Alliance-era WCW over the coming months...

Vader & Mr Hughes vs the Steiner Brothers

This was a whole heap of fun, and following a token bit of Scott Steiner using his mat skills to down Mr Hughes, a big man power-move spot fest. Scotty hits a huge overhead belly-to-belly on Hughes to get the ball rolling, and from that point on its just big hitting move after big hitting move. Rick hitting his own overhead belly-to-belly on Vader was great, as was Vader catching Rick on a dive from the ring and ramming him into the ring post. We don’t really get a face-in-peril section, as Rick soon hits a belly-to-belly on Vader off the top rope. There is a little bit of heat on Scotty until Hughes misses an avalanche and gets planted with a big backdrop. A melee ensues, with Vader accidently clotheslining his partner and Rick hitting the top rope bulldog on Hughes for the win.

Brian Pillman & Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Tracy Smothers & the Taylor Made Man

Another tag sprint here, albeit with less emphasis on power moves. This is pretty fast paced to start, until Taylor hits a backbreaker on Pillman to stop him in his tracks. All four end up in the ring, with Pillman and Bagwell dropkicking the heels out and nailing them with pescados. Bagwell is still talked up as a rookie, and runs into a Smothers superkick following distraction from Taylor. The heat on Bagwell is brief, and in fact Pillman spends more time in peril, getting double teamed as Bagwell’s inexperience distracts the referee. Pillman takes some big bumps, getting suplex straight out of the ring and getting rammed off the apron into the railings. A hot tag to Bagwell follows almost straight away though, and the end is pretty cool. Bagwell hits a sunset flip on Smothers, but Taylor grabs his partner to stop him going over. Pillman dropkicks Taylor, which sends Smothers over for the three. Fun match. 

Richard Morton vs Johnny B Badd

The announcers play up Badd’s size advantage, so I appreciated Morton using a slightly vicious edge to take control, throwing Badd from the ring and ramming him into the ringpost. Badd is occasionally able to come back by overpowering Morton, so Morton makes his comebacks by cutting Badd off with quick blows to the midsection. The end comes rather abruptly, Badd rolling through a crossbody to win.

Diamond Dallas Page vs PN News

Very quick match. We start with DDP trying (and failing) to slam News, which seems like a terrible plan. News uses his weight well here, hitting two barrel rolls onto Page. A missed elbow gives DDP an opening, but he’s not learnt from his earlier mistake, trying another slam. This times, he gets News up, but collapses under the weight, and News wins with a belly-to-belly and a top rope splash.

Cactus Jack vs Van Hammer

This was really fun, and I’m impressed at how good the much-maligned Hammer looked. In many ways, a match like this played to his strengths, as he only needed to hit a few good looking moves, and the rest of the gaps were filled in my Cactus. Hammer was pretty agile, getting good height on a legdrop and leaping over the top rope from the ramp to hit a clothesline. They tumble outside, and Jack establishes the gimmick early with a quick pinfall attempt. Cactus hits a sunset flip to the floor, typically taking almost all the impact himself. He also lands with a horrible sounding thud when Hammer hiptosses him off the ramp. They brawl to the back and the cameras find them outside near a bullpen, which they end up fighting in. A rather large cowboy is revealed to be Abdullah The Butcher, but his attempt to hit Jack with a shovel fails and he nails Hammer instead, giving Cactus the win. Really fun, energised brawl, probably the best Hammer ever looked.
 

Michael PS Hayes & Jimmy Garvin vs Brad Armstrong & Big Josh

This was pretty brief, but man it felt like the Freebirds had their working boots on here. This set off at a fair pace, and even an awkward looking Garvin crossbody felt it like kinda fit. Josh and Armstrong were a decent combo of power and speed, and I’d have liked to have seen more of them as a team without Josh’s lumberjack gimmick. That said, I thought the log roll he did on both Freebirds was a fun spot. Garvin stops Armstrong hitting a suplex and the Birds hit a double DDT behind the refs back for the victory.

Vinnie Vegas vs Thomas Rich

Squash match. Vegas cheapshots Rich to start and hits the snake eyes for the win.

Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko & Bobby Eaton vs Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Ron Simmons

Zbyszko broke Windham’s hand back in November, and Windham is out for revenge. He’s so fired up that he no-sells an Eaton superplex before the faces lock in stereo figure fours. Simmons and Dustin are both equally as fired up, with Simmons looking great clearing the ring and Rhodes hitting a flying clothesline over the top rope to the ramp. Rhodes soon ends up as face-in-peril (albeit briefly), and a referee distraction allows Paul E Dangerously to hit him with his phone. Arn gets two after hitting Dustin with the spinebuster, and again following a nice DDT. The heat on Dustin is pretty brief, and Arn only hits boot trying an ax handle from the top. A melee ensues, during which Windham catches Eaton coming off the top rope with a big punch from his cast-clad hand, and gets the win for the face team. Fun, but felt a bit too rushed. You could easily add another ten minutes to this and have a classic.

Sting & Ricky Steamboat vs Steve Austin & Rick Rude

The decision to have a lot of the upper-card revolve around the Dangerous Alliance really helped with the match quality in this time period for WCW. I love Steamboat trying a few quick roll-ups early on to look for the quick victory. Rude wants a piece of Sting, so slaps him to lure him into the ring. Sting has a gameplan here to work over Rude’s back, and him and Steamboat trade Camel Clutches on Rude, taking a page from the Alliance playbook by pretending to tag behind the referee’s back. Commentator Jesse Ventura is livid at this. The Alliance briefly take over on Sting after a low blow by Rude, but he swiftly makes the tag to Steamboat, who is in like a house on fire. Things break down as Rude nails Steamboat whilst he pins Austin following a victory roll, but the faces are able to pick up the win, Sting nailing a crossbody from the top as Austin holds Steamboat, with both men controversially covering the future Stone Cold for the three. Another match that was too short, but was fun.

WWE Survivor Series 2014

I recently wrote another review of this show, which was a little more accessible to non-fans, for www.strangethingsarehappening.com, which you may want to check out if you feel like reading TWO reviews of this show. This is the more nerdy version.

Fandango vs Justin Gabriel
As a Johnny Curtis fan, I really like the aggressive edge to the "new and improved" Fandango. His back suplex onto the apron looked suitably nasty. Gabriel got really impressive height on a springboard moonsault, just a shame only his hands made any connection with Fandango. This was brief, but pretty great from Curtis, nailing Gabriel with a big clothesline, the falcon arrow and the Last Dance to pick up the win.

The Usos vs The Miz & Damien Mizdow vs Los Matadores vs Goldust & Stardust
Mizdow is easily the most over person in this match. I enjoyed Los Matadores in the opening, all quick tags and goofy fun matwork. I love the fact that heels in the match soon realised thet can get great heat by not tagging in Mizdow, even his own partner. I loved Mizdow finally getting in, and Goldust blind tagging him right away. I liked the logic of the Dust brothers, as defending champs, working the heat section just between themselves, not risking getting blind tagged by opponents. Fun series of tombstone reversals between Stardust and a matador leads to a swank looking tornado DDT by the matador. The Usos get in and offer a lot of superkicks, but not much else. There was a really great dive series, featuring both Usos, Stardust, El Torito and finally the Matadores before Mizdow brilliantly blind tagged himself in to get the winning pinfall on Goldust. Hot opener.

Paige, Cameron, Summer Rae & Layla vs Natalya, Naomi, Emma & Alicia Fox
Despite being a heel, Paige gets the second biggest chant from the crowd. The biggest chant goes to Mizdow, who is way more entertaining than this awful match. Naomi sets the tone early with a shitty crossbody, before Cameron obviously sympathises with her former Funkadactyl colleague by hitting a super-bad bulldog on Natalya. Cameron is soon pinned with a roll-up by Naomi, yet somehow removing the worst wrestler from the match doesn't improve it's quality. Normally, the announcers ignoring a match would really annoy me, but here listening to Michael Cole reminise about the Mean Street Posse is preferable to watching the match. Fox pins Layla following a backbreaker. This just goes on for ages and goes nowhere. The only fun part is watching Paige despairing about her awful team-mates, openly calling Summer an idiot. Summer taps to the Emmalock and we get a briefly watchable "Paige vs the world" section, before Naomi pins her. The crowd goes mild. It's unbelievable that they looked at this face team of utter no-marks and decided to have all four of them survive. To be honest, the sooner they release all the non-Paige participants in this bout and promote the NXT girls, the better. Most of this was WEW bad.

Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt
This was a big leap forward in match quality. Really enjoyed the brawling in this one, felt like two guys who really wanted to hurt each other. Ambrose's diving forearm from the apron looked great. Wyatt stamping on Ambrose's hand, a body part he ended up not working on, just made him look really sadistic. Wyatt's big senton was fantastic, he gets great height on it, and I loved Wyatt emphasising his bulk for once by standing like a brick wall in the face of an attempted Ambrose crossbody. I liked the fact Wyatt was able to reverse the rebound lariat after watching Ambrose go through the set-up for it, but later turned his back when throwing Dean through the ropes, and thus got hit by THAT attempt instead. Ambrose hitting a diving elbow when his opponent was still standing really works for his character. The DQ ending was a bit of a copout, but I really liked that Wyatt passed Dean the chair to use on him, and rather than putting the chair aside, Ambrose waffled him with it, then battered him with tables, ladders and a heap of chairs.

Slater Gator vs Adam Rose & the Bunny
Brief fluff that continued the Rose/Bunny split that was never really resolved. Slater Gator don't normally spend too long on offense, so it was fun to see some nice power moves by Titus on Rose before the hot tag to the bunny, who pinned Slater after a second rope dropkick.

AJ Lee vs Nikki Bella
Eh, nothing to this. Brie kisses AJ, Nikki hits the Rack Attack and wins. Still, better than the other divas match.

Seth Rollins, Rusev, Luke Harper, Mark Henry & Kane vs John Cena, the Big Show, Erick Rowan, Ryback & Dolph Ziggler
So, the start of this is pretty fun, I did chuckle at Triple H psyching up Mark Henry, only for him to run straight into a knockout blow from Big Show for the first elimination. I'd rsther have seen Kane go first, but hey ho. Ryback looks really good running wild on everyone, especially nailing a spinebuster on Rusev, which makes his early elimination also seem odd. Harper and Rusev destroying Ziggler is pretty great, loved the big spinning slam from Harper. There's a fun dives spot involving Rollins and Ziggler, before Rusev is eliminated after hurling himself through the Spanish announce table. It was a predictable way to eliminate him, but the execution was terrific. The Rowan/Harper stand off gets a big reaction from the crowd, before Harper eliminates his former team-mate with a huge clothesline. I like the fact that the Big Show turn actually makes sense here - he looks at his two team-mates, sees Cena down and Ziggler barely conscious and makes the best decision he can to keep his job. This of course sees him knock Cena out for the pin and then get himself counted out. This leaves Ziggler against three men, and really is where the match loses any remaining credibility. I can just about buy Ziggler getting one last run of momentum and pinning Kane with the Zig Zag. I struggle to accept him kicking out of a monstrous looking Liger bomb and then being able to roll-up Harper for the elimination. However, one thing that gets totally overlooked in all the hoopla of Sting coming out is the fact that Ziggler hitting Rollins with the least threatening finishing move in the whole WWE somehow knocks Rollins out for nearly seven minutes. I've seen referees recover from real finishers quicker than the "future of the WWE" recovered from being lightly pulled to the mat. Aside from that quibble, it's a fun main event match.