End of 2015 Round Up Post

As is now tradition, this is the round-up of the best stuff I reviewed last year. Thankfully, I've not seen enough shit this year to justify the return of the Bottom 5 again this year, so let's hope 2016 wont see me forced to bring it back. Also included is the top 5 matches I've seen live this year. I've pretty much stopped doing live reports, as they aren't as much fun to write and mean I don't just sit back and enjoy live shows, but these were the best 5 matches I saw in person this year. Enjoy!

Top 10 Blog Matches of the Year

 10. Yuko Miyamoto & Shinobu vs Konaka Pale One & DINASTY (666 07/03/2010)

Amidst all the wacky antics and baffling action in the 666 federation came this straight-up tag match that was a fine piece of work. Nice tag psychology, some snug exchanges and a fun ending sequence made this a pleasant surprise

9. Tom Zenk vs Brian Pillman (WCW Wrestlewar 1992)

Narrowly beating out the Pillman/Liger match from Superbrawl. Just felt this had more of a story running through it, the ex-tag partners who know each other well, one a bit stronger, the other a bit quicker. Part of the reason Wrestlewar is such a great PPV

8. 1-2-3 Kid & Marty Jannetty vs the Quebeccers (WWF Raw 10/01/1994)

There’s not been an abundance of gems on 1994 Raws, but this absolutely is one of them. Plays nicely on the expectations of the audience who know there can’t possibly be a title change so close to the Rumble…can there? Add to this some nice heel double teams and two great underdog faces, and the result is a terrific match.

7. Tyler Bate vs Jay Lethal (SWA Summer Blowout 2014)

His US debut in CHIKARA saw American audiences discover something we’ve known over here for a while: Tyler Bate is a bona fide star. Here he takes on a guy in Jay Lethal who I’ve liked over the years, but also disliked in many places, and they put on a great match. Lethal’s RoH TV title is on the line, so the result is never in doubt, but they make you believe it might be, and that’s great wrestling.

6. Rush vs Negro Casas (CMLL 16/08/2014)

Negro Casas really is the evergreen star of lucha. This was a hair-vs-hair, and though the first two falls were great, the final fall is so exciting and both guys really put their all into it.   

5. Jushin Liger vs Robbie Dynamite (All Star Wrestling 03/10/2014)

Dean Allmark’s YouTube account is a real blessing for fans of British wrestling, as he puts up all manner of fun All Star stuff. This came from a full show from last October he uploaded, and was a fine main event match. You’d forgive Liger for holding back a bit in a small Croydon town hall, but he throws back the years here. Dynamite isn’t just along for the ride, and both guys match up perfectly.

4. Bull Power vs Otto Wanz (Best of Reslo Vol 2)

A pre-Vader Leon White taking on another big bear of a man in Wanz, in late 80’s Austria. This was two behemoths going at it, almost felt like a Rocky match with Wanz taking an early pummelling, but slowly chiselling away at Power. Loved this.

3. Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk (3PW Broadcast From Hell)

Even more odd than a 666 match making the list is an entry from my less-than-beloved 3PW. Here, two veteran campaigners put on the best match on a card full of ex-ECW stars and hot indy names by knowing the perfect way to get a reaction. WWE employee Lawler gleefully soaks up the hatred as he drills away at the beloved Funk, trolling the shit out of the audience and loving every minute. A masterclass in crowd work.

2. Mark Andrews vs Zack Sabre Jr (The Best of Mark Andrews: Fly Or Die Trying)

So my favourite UK indy Triple X Wrestling didn’t run any shows this year, but I was still able to relive some fond memories via this match that appeared on a great Andrews best of comp. This was top of my list for 2013, and I actually enjoyed it more the second time around. One of the best underdog faces in the UK vs the all-conquering technical wizard led to a really compelling match.

1. Sting, Nikita Koloff, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Eaton & Arn Anderson (WCW Wrestlewar 1992)

It would have to be something special to keep one of my favourite live matches off the top of the list, but this is truly special. One of my favourite matches of all time, it’s a brutal, blood-soaked war, that manages to incorporate great story-telling, logical action, great spots and even some intricate little details into a fantastic match. The shortest 30 minutes in wrestling.

 Top 5 Live Matches of the Year

5. Mark Haskins vs DJZ (SWE, 27/2)

4. Mark Andrews & Pete Dunne vs Will Ospreay & Chris Sabin (SWE, 27/2)

3. Wild Boar vs Justin Hammer Sysum (Legacy, 6/6)

2. T-Bone vs El Ligero vs Chris Tyler (HOPE, 6/2)

1. Jack Jester vs Ryan Smile vs El Ligero vs Chris Tyler vs Joseph Conners vs LJ Heron (HOPE, 17/7)

HOPE Wrestling put on some of my favourite shows of the year in 2015, and were my favourite UK promotion of the year. This, on their 2^nd year anniversary show, was to crown the first HOPE wrestling champion, and really showed that they were right to wait. The crowd were rabid for this one, and the action was frantic, non-stop fun from start to finish.

WCW Wrestlewar 1992

The Fabulous Freebirds vs Taylor Made Man & Greg Valentine

This is a fun opener for the US tag titles that feels primarily designed to warm up the crowd. A good bulk of this match sees the Freebirds strutting and making the heel champions look like idiots. They even do some comic cheating, swapping over an armbar without tagging to the delight of the crowd. The heels aren’t able to get control until Taylor throws Garvin through the ropes for Valentine to work over on the floor. Even this is only temporary as Garvin soon reverses a suplex and gets knees up on a splash, before a clash of heads lets him make the hot tag. It breaks down and Hayes tries for the DDT, but Taylor hits him with the Fivearm for a two. The heels work heat on Hayes for a while, this time lasting a bit longer. Valentine locks in the figure four, which lasts less than 10 seconds before Garvin runs in to break it. Hot tag leads to Garvin running over both heels, and despite Valentine’s best attempts to stop it, Garvin hits the DDT on Taylor for the win.

Tracy Smothers vs Johnny B Badd
Smothers is still billed as “Young Pistol” Tracy at this point. Really fun undercard match, aided by just how into the character Badd is. Badd is still a bit green at this point, but his commitment to the role carries him through, whilst Smothers is able to carry him in ring. Smothers gets great height on a single-leg drop kick, which looks great. Smothers heels it up nicely, using the ropes to his advantage and striking Badd in the throat, before scoring with a lovely diving elbow. I also love how Smothers showboats after a leapfrog, just for a second, which results in him taking a knee to the face. Smothers misses a few wild swings (stooging nicely) and Badd nails the Kiss That Don’t Miss for the win. Enjoyed this a lot

Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Scotty Flamingo

I appreciate the effort here of two guys trying to add some intensity to the match, as an even lock up soon leads to an exchange of slaps and punches. Bagwell looks a bit out of sorts during the match, not getting up easily for some back suplexes and looking a bit hesitant in places. This may be why Flamingo grounds him with a chinlock relatively early in the match. Bagwell hits a fisherman suplex too close to the ropes, which allows Flamingo to grab the ropes, and Scotty is able to reverse a Bagwell roll up to one of his own, with a handful of tights sealing the win.

Ron Simmons vs Mr Hughes

This is initially supposed to be a tag bout with Simmons teaming with Junkyard Dog and Hughes teaming with Cactus Jack. Instead, Jack assaults JYD from behind, and we end up with Simmons taking on Hughes in a singles bout. Watching a match like this, you can understand why Bill Watts wanted to make Simmons world champion. Simmons looks so good on offence, he’s powerful but with an explosiveness and quickness of movement that makes him exciting to watch. Hughes is another guy with good movement, but his offence never looks quite right, like it’s a little too hesitant. He wins brownie points here, though, for keeping his sunglasses on whilst wrestling. Simmons hits an impressive spinbuster and a knee chop for the victory.

Super Invader vs Todd Champion

Invader is Hercules with a pair of red tights over his head. He looks ridiculous and this squash match is very dull. I quite like Herc, but he hits a milky clothesline off the bat and the tone is set. Unconvincing karate strikes, chinlocks and chokes are the order of the day, and Champion is given very little in the way of hope spots. The crowd is utterly dead throughout. Even the transition to Champion’s comeback sucks, as Invader leaps off the top rope solely for the purpose of Champion getting his foot up. Thankfully, Champion only gets to his two piss-weak spinning elbows before Invader finishes him with a powerbomb. Dreadful.

Richard Morton vs Big Josh

This is a pretty fun deal, worked at a brisk pace by two guys who know their way around the ring. Josh’s offence looked really good here, absolutely loved his running forearm into the corner. I thought Morton trying to work the arm of Josh was a good, logical game plan, and he worked over it in interesting ways, not just resting in one hold. This really felt like two guys who knew they didn’t have much time, and were working an undercard bout, and just decided to have a good match. Loved Josh’s overhead belly-to-belly suplex, before the seated splash gave him the win.

Tom Zenk vs Brian Pillman

This is for Pillman’s lightheavyweight belt, and is face vs face. I liked how even the opening matwork was, establishing that the former partners knew each other well. It also subtly established that Pillman is slightly better on the mat and that Zenk is stronger. This strength allows him to force Pillman down with backslides and small cradles for flash pin attempts. Pillman starts working over Zenk’s leg, but misses a flip senton, hurting his previously injured back. This gives both guys a focus point for their comebacks. I loved the figure four sequence, which not only continued the work on Zenk’s leg, but also allowed both guys to show some aggression by slapping each other in the face. Zenk’s power advantage allows him to reverse the hold before catching a Pillman springboard into a powerslam. Zenk ploughs through Pillman with a top rope crossbody for two. Zenk plays possum by feigning being unable to stand, then lays out Pillman with a big boot as he comes off the top rope, only for Pillman to grab the rope on a pin attempt. Zenk misses a top rope dropkick and Pillman swiftly gets a jackknife cover for the win. Really great match

The Steiner Brothers vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Takayuki Iizuka

This match is a lot of fun, just four guys throwing it all out there. Scott sets the tone early by hitting both opponents with standing moonsault powerslams in the first few minutes, which is nuts. Iizuka is given a bit of a spotlight to shine and looks really good against Scott. Loved his flipping cannonball from the top right onto Steiner. There’s no real heat section in the match, so the momentum switches between both teams fairly regularly, but it doesn’t feel like straight up no-selling, more guys taking advantage of opportunities. Rick Steiner shows scary strength in catching Iizuka in midair, whilst sat on Fujinami’s shoulders for a Doomday Device. Fujinami has a smart gameplan and tries working over Rick’s leg, including a lovely leg stretch by diving from the second rope. The end of all this carnage comes with Rick hitting an insane overhead belly-to-belly on Iizuka from the top rope.

Sting, Nikita Koloff, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Eaton & Arn Anderson

AKA Sting’s Squadron vs the Dangerous Alliance in a WarGames match. I love Paul E Dangerously action having some written plans on the outside, actually makes him look like a tactical manager. This is such a perfectly laid out match. The opening section with Windham and Austin is great, really establishing the hatred. Windham even knaws away at the forehead of Austin after cutting him open. The heels win the coin-toss, so the entry of Rick Rude leads to a big beatdown on Windham. As well as putting more heat on the heels, it means that the arrival of the next face gets a huge pop and allows them to run riot on the heels. It’s like a hot tag every few minutes. In contrast, each new heel feels like a “reducer” (to quote Ron Atkinson), coming in to cut dead the face momentum. For example, when Anderson comes in, he plants Windham with a DDT and lays out Steamboat with a spinebuster and the heels are right back in there. He doesn’t enter with an energised flurry like Rhodes or (especially) Steamboat, just goes in and does his business. It’s this contrast that cools things down ready for the next face to heat things up again, which is great. The only time this doesn’t happen is when Zbyszko comes in, and Rhodes is all over him the moment he gets in the cage, which works with the “Zbyszko is the Alliance weak link” storyline they were running. Madusa has to sneak Paul E’s cell phone into the ring to allow the Alliance to takeover ready for the next face. Just great storytelling.

Nikita Koloff’s entry allows for some more great storytelling, as there was a slight question about whether or not Sting could trust him and they eyeballed each other when Koloff got in. Koloff pushing Sting out of the way to sacrifice himself to an Alliance attack, then the two faces hugging when they’d gotten the advantage back gets a huge pop, and is such a well-written moment. This quickly leads to the end, which continues the Zbyszko storyline. The Alliance had undone one of the steel hooks holding the turnbuckles in place, and Zbyszko swung it, intending to hit Sting, who was being restrained by Eaton. Instead, Sting moved, causing the hook to crash into Eaton and allowing Sting to lock in an armbar to make Eaton give up. Just a spectacular mix of violence, story-telling, logical layout and action, it’s one of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen.

Rey Mysterio Jr: Before They Were Stars

Going into this DVD, I had pretty high expectations. Rey Jr is someone I've always been a big fan of, someone I'd rank amongst the 5 best wrestlers of all time. Thus a compilation of Rey's Mexico work sounded pretty appealing. I'm no expert on Lucha, but there's plenty I do like, so I thought this might be pretty fun. One thing I wasn't expecting was the terrible quality of the footage. It's mainly handheld footage, which I don't have an issue with on the whole, but it's pretty grainy in places and the camera has a habit of jumping all over the place. Worse, the sound is all overdubbed, so there's a constant disconnected cheering sound, with no noise for any bumps or moves. There's also terrible commentary from Manny Peoples and ex-XPW doofus Kriss Kloss, which is inane and often unbearable. But are the matches any good....?

Rey Mysterio Jr & El Torrero vs Jerry Estrada & Negro Azteca

We’re joined early in progress, with the rudos working over Rey in the ring. The ref is pretty lenient, it has to be said, as there is a liberal use of weaponry in the ring as they work over Rey’s leg with a chair. Rey sells the heck out of it too, limping and not even being able to run across the ring. We clip to Rey still getting worked over, with Torrero being useless as a partner. He doesn’t get involved, and when he does, he generally gets beaten up. The rudos lock in stereo submissions for what is clearly the first fall (both technicos are clearly gesturing to give up, the holds both get released suddenly and the rudos casually walk around the ring rather than keep attacking their opponents), but Kloss and Peoples don’t seem to notice this. Indeed, when Torrero hits a shitty rana on Estrada for the three count minutes later, both sell it as being the first fall in the match. We get MORE leg work on Mysterio, who shouldn’t even be able to walk at this stage, before he’s casually allowed to tag out to Torrero. Being useless, he gets worked over some more and thrown into the crowd, allowing the heels to keep working over Rey with weapons, until eventually the ref decides to disqualify the rudos. Seems pretty odd, given that they’d been doing the same thing all match, but I was just glad this was over.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This promises to be a lot better. We get some basic matwork and roll up attempts in the early going, with Rey being just slightly ahead on points. Mysterio hits a lovely springboard into a headscissors, but makes the mistake of only trying for more high-flying moves and gets caught as Juvi reverses a rana into a powerbomb for the first fall. Rey doesn’t seem discouraged though, as he goes back to his slight speed advanatage early in the second fall, sending Juvi outside and hitting a huge flip dive. Rey leaps from the top rope to hit a Dragonrana for the equalising fall. Guerrera seems a little more focused now, as he nails Rey with a nasty looking brainbuster for a two count. We clip, sadly, and when we return Rey is back in control, nailing an Asai moonsault to the floor. Juvi misses a top rope splash, but is able to retain control. However, he makes the same mistake Rey did earlier, by trying the same move too often. Here, Juvi hits two tilt-a-whirl backbreakers, only for Mysterio to reverse the third into a pin for the winning fall. Pretty spotty stuff, but I liked the logic of the match-winning fall.

Rey Mysterio Jr & Octagon vs KGB & Pentagon

A little bit of internet research tells me that KGB is Tom Howard playing Russian. He’s much bigger than anyone else in the bout, and fair bosses the opening stages of the match. The rudos have another Russian wrestler outside the ring, and it’s fair to say he’s not shy about getting involved, possibly because he knows the ref will do nothing about it. KGB basically hurls Rey Jr about like a ragdoll, leaving Octagon and Pentagon in the ring. Pentagon seems to be trying to unmask Octagon, and this is seemingly enough to get Octagon to concede the first fall. Even Kloss and Peoples seem baffled. Second fall sees more of KGB’s impressive strength, as he continues to dominate Rey, and he survives aerial attacks from both technicos by catching them in midair. His strength doesn’t extend to his own teammate though, as some miscommunication sees Pentagon barrel him over, and Rey hits a quebrada on Pentagon for the fall. Has to be said that there are lots of outside the ring goings on, as a lady at ringside tries to help the technicos by stalking the rudo entourage with a chair, though she never actually uses it. The final fall sees a rather tepid sequence between Octagon and Pentagon, with one of the entourage just running into the ring in full sight of the ref to break up pinfalls. We clip to what look like the best parts of the match, as Rey and KGB work a really fluid looking big man/little man section, before Pentagon abruptly rolls up Octagon for the win.

Rey Mysterio Jr, Super Calo & Leon Negro vs Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis & Halloween

This match was a whole heap of fun, pretty much non-stop action. We get a fun opening sequence which ends with Rey hitting a big flip-dive on Juvi. Calo looks really good throughout here, looking really fluid on attack and never missing a beat before fighting the next person to enter the ring. The rudos take over as Psychosis hits a missile dropkick to the back of Rey’s neck. Loved a 450 legdrop Guerrera hits. The technicos take out Halloween and Juvi, leaving Negro alone with Psychosis, and Psy quickly finishes him off with a corkscrew moonsault.

Rey Mystero Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This one seems to have a bit more hate behind it, as both guys spit at each other at the start. This kicks into a high gear pretty quickly as Rey sends Juvi to the floor with a huge bump, and follows him out with a springboard plancha. Juvi gets sent outside again, taking the Fuerza bump to the floor, and Rey again follows him with an Asai moonsault. Juvi is able to springboard in with a sloppy looking leg lariat and nails a Dragon suplex for the first fall. Juvi misses a corner charge to give Rey control of the second fall and Rey ranas Juvi out of the ring onto an accompanying Halloween. Rey hits a top rope rana and a gutwrench powerbomb to even the sides. Rey is in the ascendancy to start the third fall, but misses a corner charge of his own. Juvi misses a legdrop and we head outside the ring where Rey levels him with a chairshot. This is the opening for all chaos to reign. Halloween tries to hold Rey in place for a plancha, but unsurprisingly Rey moves to allow Juvi to barrel through his friend. This seems to be the cue for a whole plethora of run ins. The mass group of technicos hit dives to take out the rudos, but the rudos recover quicker and pile on Rey in the ring. Konnan comes out with a bat to take out the rudos and Rey levels Juvi with the bat and a superfluous quebrada for the win. Pretty good fun, even if the run in’s were over the top.

Rey Mysterio Jr, Super Calo & Leon Negro vs Los Hombres De Ex

Yep, that’s a team of X-Men themed wrestlers. This is face vs face, so this all seems a bit too much of an exhibition. Lots of co-operative looking sequences (though the Gambit/Calo bit looked pretty sloppy, all of which was on Gambit). There’s a bit where everyone goes in the ring and misses sentons before a huge dive series on the outside, which was pretty fun. This leaves both Gambit and Calo in the ring and both men get their shoulders counted down as Calo leans right back with a Mexican surfboard. While the two referees argue over who the winner is, a load of rudos including KGB come to the ring and beat everybody up. I didn’t love this, and it’s a pretty poor way to end the DVD.

WWF Survivor Series 1998

So, with the upcoming Survivor Series featuring the finals of a tournament to crown a new WWE Champion, I thought it'd be timely to review the 1998 instalment which worked along the same concept. It's a curious case of the show as a whole being better than the matches that it consists of. Individually, they're pretty average bouts, but the overall story told in that one night makes the show quite fun.

 

Mankind vs Duane Gill

Pretty infamous match. Bit harsh of Mankind to jump Gill before he even gets in the ring, as if the result wouldn’t be obvious anyway. Quick double-arm DDT gets the win.

Jeff Jarrett vs Al Snow

Dug Al Snow’s flip off the ring stairs onto Jarrett right at the start. From there, we have a quick three-minute match, with Jarrett looking great. Lovely crisp looking punches, and Jarrett’s performance makes up for the fact that Snow looks a bit off, maybe a step or so behind. Snow wins with a Head shot.

Big Boss Man vs Steve Austin

Another quick match, this one being more angle than match. Austin is on fire early, laying into Boss Man, before a low blow turns the tide. It also slows the match right down, with Boss Man’s offence making a three-minute match drag. Austin makes a comeback only for Boss Man to assault him with his nightstick for the DQ.

Steve Regal vs X-Pac

The beloved “Real Man’s Man” era of Regal. The quicker X-Pac dominates, until he misses a corner charge, and Regal grounds him to take over. Love the nasty kneedrop to the head, and Regal catapaulting X-Pac halfway across the ring. Aside from that, a lot of this is just killing time until the end – it’s logical, but not particularly exciting. They fight outside, and both guys get counted out. Odd that the longest match so far gets a fuck finish, though we’ve not had a clean win yet.

Ken Shamrock vs Goldust

This starts off really well. Clearly, neither guy is afraid to lay in the shots here, with Goldust especially laying in some lovely punches when making his comeback. Another abrupt ending, sadly, as the ref prevents Goldust hitting Shattered Dreams, allowing Shamrock to hit a sloppy rana, the belly-to-belly and the ankle lock for the win. You can tell there’s a better match just dying to get out.

The Rock vs Big Boss Man

Makes Gill/Mankind look like an epic. Roll up, 1-2-3

Undertaker vs Kane

Pretty half-arsed effort by both guys. Some basic plodding brawling outside the ring kicks things off. I did appreciate the idea of Taker working over Kane’s leg early on, even trying a figure four, but they soon brushed over this idea and continued to brawl. I liked Kane blocking a Taker chokeslam and hitting one of his own before the inevitable dumb ending. Paul Bearer distracts Kane from the apron, and he walks into a tombstone for the Taker win. Bland.

Mankind vs Al Snow

Head has Mr Socko tied around it, with backstage footage revealing it was Vince who put it there. Just like the last match, we kick off with some outside brawling, as Snow hits chairshots that don’t get him DQd. Foley flapjacks him onto a chair in a fun spot.  Back inside, Vince’s plan is revealed, as the sight of Sock on Head drives Foley berserk, though Snow is still able to hit a powerbomb for two. Foley SPIKES Snow with a double-arm DDT and puts on the Socko claw to win.

The Rock vs Ken Shamrock

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Shamrock has had the two best matches of the night so far, his intensity seemingly wont let him half-arse a match. They go at it with real urgency from the start, with no resthold in sight – until the Big Boss Man comes out again, with his presence almost urging Shamrock to lock on a chinlock. Shamrock atones for the shitty rana from earlier by catching Rock midring with a beauty. I loved the Rock taking advantage of Boss Man distracting the ref by giving a lowblow to the heel Shamrock. Rock Bottom attempt is reversed to a belly-to-belly, and Boss Man tries to throw Shamrock his nightstick. Of course, the Rock intercepts it and waffles Shamrock with it. Really fun match, highlight of the show so far. At the time, it never occurred to me that Shamrock was in the ascension at the point Boss Man threw the nightstick….

Sable vs Jacqueline

There’s a great bit of Lawler commentary at the start, where he refers to Sable getting jumped from behind on Heat earlier, calling her an idiot, only for her to get jumped from behind here. Lawler loves it. Really basic match, with Marc Mero and Jacqueline bumping around to put Sable over. Sable Bomb is enough to win the women’s title

Mankind vs Steve Austin

Obviously this isn’t given enough time to reach the levels of some of their greater matches, but this is still pretty fun. Loved Austin disrobing Foley during the match, including taking his shoes off to use as a weapon. They predictably brawl outside the ring, before going inside for a long Foley chinlock. This is ended by Foley hitting a double arm DDT on a chair for two. We head into overbooking central, but it’s actually all pretty entertaining. Austin hits the stunner, but Vince pulls out the ref and decks him. A second stunner sees Shane McMahon come out (during the storyline where Vince had demoted him to referee), only to flip Austin the finger and not count. A Gerry Brisco chairshot gives Mankind the win. Despite the long chinlock in the middle, this was still fun and the run-ins were done to perfection. Arguably Russo’s finest hour

The Rock vs The Undertaker

By now the “wrestlers are outside brawling within the first two minutes” trope is getting overplayed. It’s like the company had run out of ways for matches to start. Taker takes a big bump to the floor, so he’s putting in a bit more effort than with the Kane match. They brawl in the crowd, as X-Pac and Regal are probably sat backstage complaining that they were counted out in their match. Boss Man comes out yet again, and again the Rock uses his appearance to hit his opponent in the bollocks. Kane comes out and chokeslams Rock to screw Taker over, putting Rock in the final via DQ. This was passable.

The New Age Outlaws vs the Headbangers vs D-Lo Brown & Mark Henry

This was an almighty mess, and likely only made the card to provide some breathing time for the Rock before the final. There was no real structure on display here, and a continued lack of logic, with guys trying to make pins, despite having another opponent stood right next to them ready to break it up. The referee also made some horrifically business-exposing counts on pinfalls, seemingly refusing to count until he was sure someone was in place to break it up. There were some good moments though: I dug Mosh’s springboard crossbody to the outside, and I enjoyed the double-teaming by the Headbangers. Also worth noting that Mark Henry was already pretty decent by this point, selling his leg pretty well and looking like a brick wall. Billy Gunn picks up the win eventually with a piledriver on Mosh.

The Rock vs Mankind

You could really tell both guys were beginning to run on empty, both physically and mentally. I did appreciate the cautious start, with both guys slowing the pace and not rushing into anything. However, they didn’t really seem sure how to fill the time here, with the early parts split between dull brawling outside the ring and Mankind chinlocks inside the ring. Luckily, Foley takes a few choice bumps to increase the excitement of the match in the second half. He lets the Rock hit the stairs into him, ending up trapped beneath them on the floor. He hits a nice elbow from the apron to the floor and, most impressively, goes crashing through the Spanish announce table with a missed elbow spot. The tempo increases inside the ring with a few nearfalls, before the finish of Rock locking in a Sharpshooter, and Vince calling for the bell in the first (and best) Montreal screwjob reference. Started poorly, but got somewhat decent by the end.

3PW Broadcast From Hell

Historically, I've not enjoyed the 3PW shows I've reviewed over the past few years, but when Lovefilm sent another one through my door, I felt it would be unfair not to give it a go. The result? This is easily the best 3PW show I've seen yet. Not amazing, but pretty solid on the whole

Josh Daniels vs Damian Adams

The commentary team hype up the friendship between the two at the start of the match, and they have a nice even little sequence at the start, where Daniels has a slight advantage. Adams responds by slapping Daniels across the face to give a nice little heel/face divide. Adams hits a lovely Alabama Slam out of the corner, getting real snap on it. Daniels is able to fire back with a great German suplex that dumps Adams on his head. I was also pretty impressed with the commentary team, covering for an Adams superkick that only reaches the chest by pointing out how that would drive the air from your lungs. Adams crotches Daniels on the top rope, but a top rope rana is reversed to a huge powerbomb to give Daniels the win. Fun bout.

Da Hit Squad vs Roadkill & the Blue Meanie

Kinda hoping the three decent guys in this match are able to carry the Meanie. It’s really hard to buy the wimpy punches of the Meanie doing any damage to Monsta Mack and Dan Maff. There’s a fun face-off between Roadkill and Mack that culminates in a nice Mack powerslam. I dug Hit Squad using fun fat guy offence, hurling themselves into Roadkill from many angles. It does feel like Da Hit Squad are slowing down a lot of their offence to allow their opponents to keep up. Maff takes a horrible bump for a Roadkill TKO, landing on his feet and leaping about a foot in the air. Roadkill goes to the top like an idiot, despite Maff being right new to him, so he gets taken out, allowing Da Hit Squad to hit a figure-four/frog splash combo for the win. Had decent spells, but too many poor bits.

Homicide vs Xavier

Basic mat stuff to start until Homicide suddenly goes into overdrive, nailing a massive tope, the cutter, a Yakuza kick and a big Northern Lights suplex within a few minutes. He’s in total control, until he hurts his back, and Xavier wisely zeroes in on it. Love the spear to the back by Xavier, which looks great. He follows this up with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. There’s an awkward reversals series stemming from a sunset flip, but this is generally pretty solid. Loved Xavier bending Homicide almost in half with a Mexican surfboard. Homicide goes for the Cop Killer, but his back is too hurt to lift him, and Xavier hits a backstabber and a Camel Clutch to retain control. I loved the way that Homicide regains control as they head to the outside, as he’s portrayed as being in his element in a streetfighting environment. He hurls Xavier into the railings and nails him with chairshots. We do head into moves overkill at the end of the match, as they really bust out far too much, with powerbombs and 450 splashes before Homicide is finally able to hit the Cop Killer for the win. Enjoyed this more than I expected, was impressed with some logical storytelling and great selling by Homicide.

Balls Mahoney vs NOSAWA

Feels odd to say, but I dug some of Mahoney’s early matwork, especially hitting some vicious crossfaces when he’s got NOSAWA in an STF. We don’t get enough of this, sadly, as they fight outside, using a pizza cutter on each other’s foreheads to prompt profuse bleeding. This bit is also extremely uninteresting. NOSAWA does hit a lovely kick to the face, but a Shining Wizard is blocked with a lowblow. The Nutcracker Suite only gets two for Balls, but he gets to hit a second version off the apron through a table to win. Really, they wasted a great opening to have a pretty dull hardcore match, which reached it’s nadir with the pizza cutter segment.

Gary Wolfe vs Joey Matthews

3PW seemed dedicated with making Gary Wolfe into a star, and it never seemed to work. Probably something to do with him being terrible. Here, he’s defending the title against Matthews, who is accompanied by Matt Striker and Rob Eckos, the future Robbie E. Matthews does a lot of stalling to start, and Wolfe hits him with a chair a lot, even stealing Raven’s drop toehold spot. Wolfe doesn’t give Matthews much, putting him through a table with an elbow drop from the apron. Matthew isn’t able to get any form of control until Striker provides a distraction, and even this control is temporary as Matthews accidentally puts Striker through a table and eats a DVD for the Wolfe win. Pretty terrible.

AJ Styles vs Kid Kash

While some of the prior matches have been better than expected, it’s when you see how good someone like AJ is that you know why he’s still a big star 12 years later. He looks so crisp here, hitting a lovely superkick over the safety rail, and there’s a great looking rana-Styles Clash attempt-rana sequence near the start. Everything Styles does looks crisp, and it has to be pointed out that Kash does his best to match him throughout. Styles hits a nasty looking brainbuster, and I appreciate him really locking in his pinfall attempts. Kash only gets two from the Money Maker, and his attempt to put AJ away with a top rope rana sees Styles reverse to a super Styles Clash for the win. Really enjoyed this.

Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk

With this taking place in Philly, WWE employee Lawler is very much the heel against ECW alumnus Funk. Lawler looks in better shape than Funk, leaner and steadier on his feet, so he’s able to get heat on Funk by beating him down with a series of crisp punches, each one breaking Funk down a little more until he’s bleeding on the mat. Funk sells them beautifully too, invoking sympathy with his slightly-dazed selling as Lawler taunts and jabs away at him. Lawler hits the second rope fistdrop on a convulsing Funk, who instantly stops moving like cattle shot with a bolt gun. Beautiful. Funk makes a comeback with a crowd-popping low blow, then legdrops King through a table. Lawler is still too strong, however, and regains control to hit a piledriver for two. We do get a bit of overkill here, as another piledriver also gets two, before Lawler hits a third outside on the concrete. Lawler does some great trolling by introducing “a move a friend from the WWE taught me”, before hitting a poor stunner for two. The portrayal of Funk as superhuman does start getting a bit ridiculous, especially as a FOURTH piledriver through a table only gets two, but Lawler does such a good job of riling up the crowd that you don’t notice. Funk gets the win with a roll-up, ending a terrific match.

Ron Killings vs Kid Kash

This is a bonus match on the DVD which is taken from another show, and like the last 3PW show I reviewed, Killings is a lot of fun as a showboating heel. Love him hitting a big slam and doing a muscle pose. His overconfidence doesn’t pay off and he crotches himself on the top rope after a failed axe kick. Kash hits a great flip dive, but things swiftly go down the pan as they take a contrived “walk-while-we-hit-each-other-occasionally” stroll to the balcony. Killings hits a big powerbomb off the balcony through some tables, and they then decide to brawl back to the ring. That segment really ruined the flow of the match, and it doesn’t really recover, despite Killings flashy personality riling up the crowd. Kash makes a few nice comebacks, but Killings hits a gourdbuster for the win. Bit of a missed opportunity.

WWF Raw 17/01/1994

Owen Hart vs Terry Austin

Decent little Owen showcase here. In many respects, this is quite the feather in Owen’s cap as he manages to look good in victory, whilst still having to compete against a guy who isn’t able to properly bump for a monkey flip. Owen hits a lovely crisp knee drop early, whilst an enzuigiri nearly beheads Austin. Missile dropkick and the Sharpshooter given Owen the win.  

Tatanka vs George South

You can tell South is veteran enhancement talent, as he knows how to make a guy like Tatanka look good. South stooges about for Tatanka, taking nice bumps and gurning to get reactions from the crowd. Tatanka is still pretty green here, but he’s got good energy and hits a series of chops, with the final top rope tomahawk chop getting him the victory.

Diesel vs Scott Powers

The pudgy Powers gets the briefest run of offence, hitting a dropkick on Diesel, before getting beaten down the rest of the match. I liked Diesel’s backbreaker here, dropping Powers suddenly onto his knee. The rest was pretty by the numbers, as Diesel hits the big boot and an elbow drop to win.

Randy Savage vs IRS

Crush is on commentary, and given his lack of love for Savage, you can predict that he might get involved here. They brawl pretty much as soon as Savage is in the ring, and cut a surprisingly high tempo for an IRS match. Huge bump by Savage, as he gets hurled over the top rope to the floor. Savage’s comeback is cut off by the break, and we return to IRS still in control and still showing actual aggression. Savage continues to bump big, hurling himself chest first into the turnbuckles then, when he stupidly decides to confront Crush on the floor, IRS flings him into a ring post. At this point, IRS does slow things down a bit too much, with three chinlocks and an abdominal stretch killing too much time. IRS is pretty good at cutting off Savage’s comebacks, but one last comeback sees Savage going to the top rope for the elbow, before the predicted Crush interference causes him to pick up the DQ win instead. A big melee with Lex Luger, Yokozuna, Bret Hart and more sees us to the end of the show.

Inspire Pro Wrestling - The Quick & The Dead (13/10/2013)

So, when browsing free wrestling shows on YouTube, I came across this full 3 hour show from US indy Inspire Pro, a company I know very little about. Indeed, with the exception of knowing that the chap from the Uproxx.com wrestling section is their ring announcer (with a good wrestling voice to boot), I was going into this blind. The result was a pretty fun show....full video linked at the end

The Pump Patrol vs Reign or Shine

The Pump Patrol consist of AJ Summers and Jared Wayne, doing a sort of Bodydonnas gimmick. The opposition consist of Moonshine Mantell and Alex Reigns, two big hossy looking guys. Cute comedy bit to start as Wayne wants to arm-wrestle Reigns, using Summers as a table, but cheapshots him instead. Summers seems really fun, short and goofy like a pumped up Crash Holly. Reigns is less impressive and soon proves himself to be the worst guy in the match with a couple of clumsy looking roll ups. Pump Patrol spend much of this match selling and stooging as the face team pretty much eat them up. Mantell shows some nice agility for a big man, really nice looking springboard senton. Pump Patrol finally get control after Mantell misses a corner splash, and I dig their back-to-back monkey flips that ends with them flipping Mantell onto his partner. Everything breaks down and Reigns hits a shitty full Nelson into a GTS on Wayne, followed by a big frog splash by Mantell for the win. Would have liked to have seen Pump Patrol get more offence in, but this was a decent squash and a good showcase for Mantell.

Scotty Santiago vs Carson

This next segment is slightly confusing. Reign or Shine were very much the face team in the previous match, but seem to be aligned here with Carson, who’s pre-match promo portrays him as an arrogant heel. Carson is a big lad, and the smaller Santiago spends the match getting beaten down with a few hope spots thrown in for good measure. Santiago tries a few flash pins, but keeps getting cut off by Carson, including a brutal looking superkick to the throat. Even when Santiago catches him with a boot as he dives from the top rope (hate that spot!), he still shakes it off and hits a big pump kick. However, his overconfidence costs him, as Santiago gets a 3 count off a flash backslide for the win. Effective enough.

Cherry Ramons vs Alexander Rudolph

Ramons looks like the love child of Chris Hero and Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw, and does some unusual jiggling at the bell. Rudolph is billed as the American Viking, and is a tall, rangy guy with long hair and beard. I dug some of Rudolph’s early offence, hitting a big German suplex to start and an impressive chokebomb. Some lad comes to the ring with a mic to run distraction, and talks for the rest of the match. Problem is, nothing he says is particularly clever or interesting, so he’s just irritating white noise. The distraction lets Ramons attack with some milky looking blows. Rudolph keeps making comebacks from Ramons’ offence, probably because it wouldn’t hurt a fly. Rudolph uses the corner turnbuckle to hit an interesting pescado. Inside the ring, he hits a chokeslam, but suddenly decides to confront the lad with the mic, allowing himself to get rolled up like an idiot for the Ramons win.

The Great Depression vs “Cowboy” James Claxton

This is the second time in the show I’ve been confused by the face/heel positioning of someone from the previous match. The Great Depression is a big chap in a sack-like mask, whose ring music is a Golddiggers of 1933-esque musical piece. He’s standing at table selling books at ringside, not heading to the ring for his match, so Rudolph attacks him and throws him into the ring. Claxton keeps assaulting Depression, but his blows are ignored as Depression stares at Rudolph at ringside. After a few minutes of this, Depression leaves the ring to attack Rudolph, and the match is thrown out. All three guys start to fight each other, and I’ve no idea who is face anymore, and who is heel. An utter mess.

Legion (Gregory James, Morbidus & Blasphemer) vs Danny Chance, Erick Shadows & Downfall

Legion are rocking your basic freaky goth gimmick, with James seemingly the leader of the group. This is a pretty fast-moving trios match, which is pretty fun in spite of the fact a few guys here seem pretty green or sloppy. Of the guys who looked good, I thought Morbidus stood out as having nice execution on his moves. He hits a lovely looking crossbody over the ropes and I thought the flapjack to Morbidus’ knees that James hits on Downfall was really nasty looking. I thought the idea to have the match start with the faces hitting dives was a smart way to get the crowd fired up and they worked a decent formula match with first Chance, then Shadows working face-in-peril. Not everything worked: James looked pretty milky with all his offence, and Downfall hit a shockingly bad Eat Defeat, but things moved quickly enough for these to be overlooked. The end saw things breakdown, with a few nearfalls, and the faces all went to the top rope, only to be hit with three stereo mists for the heel win.

The Dagger Brothers vs Sammy Guervera & Barret Brown

Guervera and Brown don’t seem to be friends, so it’s odd that they’ve elected to be partners here. The Daggers hit a few nice double-teams early doors on Guervera, and the initial story seems to be that he’s always in trouble in the ring, whilst Brown is able to hold his own. Guervera cheapshots a Dagger from the outside, to the chagrin of his partner, but they still work him over for a bit to lead to the hot tag and a lovely German suplex from the fresh Dagger. Guervera abandons Brown, leaving him prone to a combination spinebuster/neckbreaker for the Daggers win. More angle than match, but it served the purpose of getting Guervera some heat.

JT Lamotta vs Andy Dalton

This is a streetfight. Dalton works the mic, and tries to get out of the match, which leads to Lamotta simply hitting him with the mic. They brawl in the crowd, and I dug Lamotta playing possum, only to hit Dalton with a camera. Really dug Dalton here, he bumped big and had some meaty looking offence. Dalton pulls out a fork which somehow ends up rammed into his gentleman sausage. A few things don’t quite work: there’s a really awful, fake-looking slingshot that sends Lamotta from the ring to the floor through a table, and I don’t get Lamotta hitting reverse rana’s in what is supposed to be a streetfight. Still, there’s some nice violent touches in the latter parts of the match: Dalton hitting a brainbuster on an open chair looks sickening, especially as the chair warps. Lamotta seems to have it won with three back suplexes, another reverse rana and a cradle DDT, but Jordan Jensen runs interference, suffocating Lamotta with a plastic bag and allowing Dalton to hit two piledrivers for the win.

Ray Rowe vs Mike Dell

First time I’ve seen Rowe, but he’s a name I’ve heard of, and I thought he looked really impressive here. He hits a few nice suplexes on Dell here, including a swank overhead belly-to-belly and an even more impressive Northern lights, where he blocks a tornado DDT and just holds Dell in the air before hitting it. Dell’s look and moveset screams “1998 WCW Saturday Night”, like he’d team up with Bobby Blaze to put over Disorderly Conduct in a decent bout. He gets the odd period of offence here, but mainly sells and puts over Rowe’s offence. Dell gets to hit his top rope elbow (cringingly called the Dellbow), but can’t capitalize, instead getting sent into the corner and nailed with Death Rowe for the win. Fun extended squash.

Robert Evans vs JoJo Bravo

I really was expecting to dislike this match before it started. Between Evans’ CHIKARA background and Bravo being a short guy seemingly working a delusional sumo gimmick, I was worried that this would be a dreadful comedy match. Instead, it ended up being the match of the night and both guys contributed heavily towards that. The early stages are worked face-vs-face, with Bravo using his superior speed to confuddle Evans, who uses his leverage advantage to try to ground him with holds. There’s a neat spot where Bravo has Evans in the corner, and quickly springboards in-and-out so Evans wont know where the eventual dropkick is coming from. They battle on the top rope, from where Evans hits an Irish Curse backbreaker, which seems to injure his knee. Refs pour into the ring to check out his knee, and the bout appears to be over. Bravo holds the ropes open for him, only for Evans to kick them into Bravo’s crotch, revealing there to be nothing wrong with his knee. This gives the match an actual heel-vs-face dynamic, even if some fans still cheer for Evans. Evans goes for a countout win, hoping the lowblow and repeated blows to the head will be enough to keep Bravo out. With Bravo back in, Evans hits repeated backbreakers with his “bad” knee, just to hammer home what a dick he’s been. Bravo keeps trying to fire back, and is eventually successful, hitting a 619 and a cross-legged driver for the win. Really pleasant surprise.

Scot Summers vs Jordan Jensen vs Ricky Starks

The winner of this match will be entered into the match to crown the first Inspire Pro champion at a future show. I liked the dynamic of the two faces, Summers and Starks, trying to get Jensen out of the ring early, with Summers nailing a German at the bell, and Starks slamming Jensen on the floor. To be honest, I really wasn’t impressed with Jensen or Starks here. Starks had this horrific comedy elbow spot with a hanky, which caused his opponents to lie motionless for ages before hitting it. Starks and Jensen both have feeble looking blows, which really contrasts with the nice looking strikes dished out by Summers. A big, bald, bearded lad, he was really impressive here, with nice kicks and a lovely spear where he just rolled through his opponent. There’s also a fun, if utterly contrived, 3-way superplex/top rope German spot that was fun. Despite being the best guy in the match, Summers is the first one out, eliminated after being distracted and hit with a Starks famousser. Summers gets furious and starts hitting the ringpost with chairs, which in turn distracts Starks for nearly two minutes. Jensen manages to take advantage of this, pulling down Starks’ trunks and hitting an awful RKO to win.