The Best of the Barbarian

The Barbarian & Rip Oliver vs Tatsutoshi Gotoh & Sakurada

JIP. Barbarian looks great on offence here. His strikes look effective and he gets real great height on a legdrop. Barb and Oliver look good in control and I did their use of logic: after Barb drops Gotoh over the railings, he works the ribs with some headbutts and a bearhug, and Oliver follows suit. Sakurada gets a backbreaker on Oliver for the sudden win.

The Barbarian vs Sakurada

What I dig with the Barbarian is the suddenness of his moves, the way his diving headbutts see him drop straight down with velocity instead of just falling. He hits Sakurada with a gorgeous powerslam and leaps halfway across the ring to try a diving headbutt from the top. Sakurada really struggles to retain control, as Barb forces the fight to the outside. Sakurada brings a chair in to try and subdue Barbarian, but this gets taken off him and used against him. Oddly, this doesn’t get Barbarian disqualified, but him relentlessly battering Sakurada in a tree-of-woe does.

The Barbarian vs Antonio Inoki

The dominance of Barb in the last two matches means he goes into this Inoki match looking like a monster. Very cat and mouse feel to start, and I love Inoki learning from a Barb slam and reversing a second attempt into a headscissors. Barb is very much in control and predictably dominates a test of strength. The momentum swings in a lovely manner – Barbarian goes for a strike, but Inoki quickly hits a big chop to the face, stunning Barbarian. He looks like my dog did, when she first saw a hissing cat: confused as to what is happening, but not particularly happy that it is. This gives Inoki hope, showing a weakness in Barb, and he peppers more chops in to send Barbarian to the mat. Barb fires back, but Inoki catches the boot and works over the Barbarian’s legs on the mat with a legbar, a deathlock and an STF, switching holds to stop Barb breaking free. Barbarian goes for the top rope headbutt, but misses and Inoki nails the enzuigiri for the win. Really good match.

The Barbarian & Marioman vs Antonio Inoki & George Takano

Odd bout here. Marioman is a fat black guy in a white singlet and generic white mask. He doesn’t seem particularly good, and this match is disappointingly off. For example, when Inoki manages to pull Marioman to his corner during a test of strength spot, Takano goes to the top rope, doesn’t seem sure what he’s going to do and climbs down again, entering through the ropes instead. Barbarian does perform a swank leglock reversal, which isn’t something I expected to see from him, but the rest of the bout is non-descript with everyone going through the motions. Marioman pins Takano following a splash and an elbow drop.

The Barbarian vs Tatsumi Fujinami

Big upgrade in match quality here. They work a quick tempo to start here, with Fujinami frustrating Barb. Barbarian grabs a chair, playing to his strengths, only for Fujinami to grab the chair and waffle him with it. Fujinami wisely goes to the mat, grounding Barbarian with headscissors and headlocks to negate the power advantage. I loved how they showed Barb’s raw aggression working against him, as he hurts his shoulder on a corner charge, then gets rammed into the ringpost shoulder first when he tries taking the fight to the floor. Back inside, Fujinami is able to escape a suplex and nail a German suplex for the win. Fun stuff here.

The Barbarian vs Steve Williams

Very much a change of pace here, with two big lads having a power match. Loved Williams wisely grabbing a chair at the outset to combat Barbarian’s chain. We clip to them brawling on the floor, and Williams belts Barb with a chair so hard that the seating panel flies into the crowd. These two match up really well, with both feeling comfortable to lay in some snug moves. Loved Barb finally getting wise to Williams reverting back to the chair by big booting it into his face. Impressive press slam by Barb gets a big pop, but he misses the diving headbutt. Williams misses a three-point stance, falling to the floor, and Barb wraps his arm with the chain for a DQ-causing clothesline. Stupid ending considering Williams was battering him with a chair throughout the match, but the meat of the bout was fun.

The Barbarian & Black Bart vs Antonio Inoki & Keiji Mutoh

Bart looks positively bumbling in there with Mutoh, who paces around him. Barb is quicker and less clumsy, so he fares better in there. Bart’s offence looks a bit off, like an odd second rope legdrop he hits on Mutoh. Barb using a standing overhead one-armed choke looks far more impressive. Barbarian is definitely positioned as the superior member of the team, so when Bart lets Mutoh tag out, Barb stops Inoki cold with a boot to the head. Even Bart’s selling is worse – after Barbarian saves him following an Inoki enzuigiri and a Mutoh moonsault, he just gets to his feet despite having been hit by two big finishers. Things break down and Barb chokes out both Inoki and Mutoh with his chain for the DQ.

The Barbarian vs Tatsumi Fujinami

Love seeing Barbarian scare the shit out of the crowd on the way to the ring. Barbarian is seemingly allowed to use his chain freely to attack Fujinami at the start. Fujinami is able to get an advantage using his superior speed, but gets planted with a lovely Barbarian spinebuster. Fujinami is still quicker though, and is able to avoid a chairshot and dropkick the chair into Barb’s face. Fujinami then wears down Barbarian with repeated chinlocks, with Barb selling his grogginess in between each chinlock really well. He noticeably slows down by the time he escapes the final chinlock, and levels Fujinami with his chain, causing a DQ.

The Barbarian vs Antonio Inoki

This is more angle than match, but is still a pretty fun bit of business. Barb is even more aggressive to start here, putting Inoki in a tree of woe, and tying him in place with the chain. One of Inoki’s entourage, a big fat guy seems particularly enraged by Barb’s actions. When Inoki escapes, I dug him wearing down Barbarian with kicks to the leg, like chopping down a big redwood. Eventually, the match ends with chaos, as the fat guy gets fed up with Barb’s cheap tactics and interferes to draw the DQ win for Barbarian.

The Barbarian & Tony St Clair vs Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura

Another fun bout, with Barbarian destroying Kimura to start. Inoki fares better against the big man, but his team loses control when Kimura grabs Barbarian by the beard and almost gets his head knocked off with a big strike. Barbarian and St Clair work surprisingly well as a team, and I dug St Clair’s apron work in trying to quiet the crowd down. Barb is played up at the strongest link of the team, and as things break down, it’s St Clair who gets pinned following an enzuigiri

The Barbarian vs Antonio Inoki

These two know each other pretty well by now, so it’s cool to see Barbarian add a few new tweaks to the match. I loved him grabbing Inoki by the bicep out of the ref’s view to prevent a clean corner break and allowing him to attack a prone Inoki. Dug Inoki chopping down the tree again with kicks to the leg, which gave him the leverage to lock in a big armbar. Barbarian does a good job of selling his frustration of being stuck in the armbar, with a nice close escape attempt. Barb does a little bit of bodypart focus himself, hitting a piledriver then a headscissors to work over the neck of Inoki. Barbarian is in control, but his second Buzz Sawyer tries to clotheline Inoki with the chain, but only hits Barbarian. One enzuigiri later, and Inoki wins. Nice bout to end the comp on.

FCF Wrestling Oppression and Aggression 2014

So, I was browsing Youtube for some wrestling to watch, and came across this full show from the promotion Fight Club Finland, which I thought might be an interesting watch. I had no idea what the Finnish wrestling scene was like, despite Mrs NotJayTabb being from Finland, so it was interesting to try something new. The Youtube link is included at the bottom for those who want to watch along

King Kong Karhula vs Johnny McMetal

“Johnny McMetal” sounds like an uninspired background character from a Bill & Ted film. Karhula appears to be your Finnish version of Rhino or Wild Boar. He shows some condescension towards McMetal after a few shows of power, so it was nice to see some real fire from McMetal on his fightback, hitting some decent punches from a mounted positon and a dive from the apron. Karhula takes over after shoving McMetal into a ringpost, and works him over with some basic offence. For a decent sized guy, his offence is a little milky, with a clothesline looking particularly poor. McMetal fires back with a full Nelson slam (barely getting any air on Karhula) and an odd top rope dropkick, where he goes down almost vertically like an arrow. Karhula bumps big for a DDT, before McMetal oddly bumps for a phantom boot to the head. He escapes a Karhula powerbomb and nails a Diamond Cutter for the win. This was kept simple, but it was effective.

Vili & Jake Luupaa vs Murskaaja Mieto & Ricky Vendetta

The Luupaas are faces, a pair of skinny, scrappy punk rock kids. Vili seems a little better, with some better executed offence. Dug his flip senton and cannonball into the corner. They use a few fun double-teams to keep the advantage over their bigger opponents, loved Vili hitting a bulldog across Jake’s knees. The heels cheat to take over, with Jake face-in-peril. The heel team is bulkier, so their offence looks pretty effective on a lightweight opponent. The heat section is pretty short, with Vili a fun hot tag, but he’s soon caught with a big powerbomb by Vendetta. Things break down, and it ends with Vendetta putting Jake in the Rings of Saturn for the win. Vendetta really worked the hold too, looked sufficiently vicious enough to earn the win. Enjoyed this.

Mikko Maestro vs Pyoveli Petrov

Odd one here. This is played off as speed (Maestro) vs strength (Petrov),with the early spots establishing this. The problem is that Petrov doesn’t seem particularly strong. He’s better built than Maestro, who is pretty lean, but I first have my doubts when he awkwardly bundles Maestro from the ring, then has trouble throwing him back in over the top rope. They build up nicely to a Maestro slam spot, as he twice fails to get Petrov up, but it doesn’t feel like Petrov is suitably big to be hard to slam. Like watching Cody Rhodes struggling to slam Wade Barrett. Petrov hits a Bossman Slam, barely getting Maestro off the ground. Maestro weakly escapes a bearhug, finally hits the slam and a legdrop, but the ref is distracted by Petrov’s manager. Maestro avoiding a shot with a foreign object and getting disqualified when he uses it himself right in front of the ref only makes him look like an idiot and makes Petrov look weak. Not good at all.

Heimo Ukonselka & Aurora vs Sly Sebastian & Sara Elektra

Heimo seems to be working a Viking gimmick, but the booking of this match really undercuts his gimmick. It’s booked as an intergender, rather than mixed, tag match, which means the men can wrestle the women. However, it soon becomes clear that they CAN’T actually have then men wrestling the women. Thus, every time Heimo is in the ring with the face-in-peril Elektra, he has to stand there looking tough, threaten to hit her, then get taken out by an Elektra attack to prompt Aurora back into the ring. Makes this big, tough, untamed barbarian look like a fool. That aside, I thought this was pretty fun. The faces worked well on offence, making some quick tags to work an early control, and hitting some fun double teams like Sebastian press-slamming Elektra over the top rope onto the heels. Sebastian also hits a tope that gets totally missed by the camera. Things do break down a bit towards the end where they all seem a bit confused, but Aurora quickly picks up the win with a Kryptonite Krunch on Elektra.

Valentine vs Conny Mejsel

Imagine former Tottenham midfielder Darren Caskey cosplaying as Tommy End, and you’ve essentially got Mejsel. Valentine is the champion, looks like Glacier in lovely pink trunks, and he cuts a pre-match promo, the gist of which seems to be saying his heel manager will be the referee for the match. Mejsel throws some terrible strikes to start and manages to nearly fall over doing a hiptoss, which sets a bad tone. They brawl outside the ring, and it stand out as they’re the only match to do this all show. Smart booking. Loved the ref taking a selfie of himself and Valentine over the downed Mejsel. The problem with having a heel ref is it makes the face look like an idiot if he keeps trying pins, which he does. Valentine looks good throughout here, his offence is crisp (dug the tilt-a-whirl into a crossface) and he does some nice heel stuff like grinding his crotch over a downed Mejsel. Mejsel tries a package piledriver, and Valentine wisely escapes it (no way I’d let a guy who falls over doing a hiptoss give me a package piledriver), though he does hit it later for another ref slow count. Valentine ends up winning after nailing Mejsel with brass knucks, and this ended up pretty decent, almost entirely thanks to Valentine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2R5b8JRhBY

Best of Mitsuharu Misawa Vol 1

Mitsuharu Misawa is one of those blind spots for me, one of those feted guys I can tell is good, but hasn't yet managed to click with me. In a bid to resolve this, I decided to pick up the first volume of IVP Videos' Best of Misawa series, with the idea that seeing where he came from might help make it all click for me. This disc includes some of his Tiger Mask II stuff and some clips of matches against the likes of Curt Hennig and Ted DiBiase. It also includes footage of him taking his mask off in a tag match to shed the Tiger Mask persona. The matches below are the full matches on the disc and honestly, things are starting to come together for me.

Tiger Mask II vs La Fiera

I know this is a Misawa comp, but this bout is all about the greatness of La Fiera. Before the bell, he’s all cocky, promising to rip off Tiger Mask’s mask, but when the bell rings and Mask unleashes a string of kicks, he’s cowering in the ropes. Fiera bumps big for Misawa here, and stooges wonderfully for him on the outside. I love the surprise in his yells as Mask takes him up for a slam. Tiger Mask has some nice fluid offence, but looks a little hesitant in other places, running the ropes quite gingerly. Fiera hits a lovely cross body to the floor to show his offensive chops too, followed by a great frog splash. He soon takes another big bump to the floor though, followed by a huge tope by Mask. Mask hits a springboard crossbody, and I adore the way Fiera is looking away until the last second when the crossbody hits, adds a sense of realism. He tries for a slap, but Tiger Mask ducks and hits the Tiger suplex for a win. Loved this.

Tiger Mask II vs Dynamite Kid

Dynamite is so jacked compared to Misawa here. He just looks like a beast in comparison. It’s hard to shake the notion that Dynamite is just toying with his opponent during the early matwork here, and even when Mask gets a run of offence, it doesn’t feel enough to take DK out. Dynamite had obviously had plenty of experience in fighting the original Tiger Mask, so when Misawa tries a tombstone here, Kid is able to reverse and hit his own quite easily. His power advantage means he’s able to easily plant Tiger with a back suplex from being headlocked. Tiger Mask crashes and burns on a pescado, and it feels like Dynamite could finish this at any time. However, he doesn’t and Misawa is able to hit him with a back suplex on the floor, which causes both to get counted out. This really helped Tiger Mask look tough in just surviving Dynamite here.

Tiger Mask II vs Jumbo Tsuruta

This is for the NWA International Heavyweight title, and Mask is significantly outsized by Jumbo. This necessitates his opening game plan, wearing Jumbo down with a headlock. Jumbo tries shinbreakers and firing Mask into the ropes, but he refuses to let go of the hold. Eventually, Jumbo decides the best way to break it is by folding Tiger Mask up with a big back suplex. A big knee gets 2, and it feels like this burst of offence makes Tiger Mask realise he needs to change tack. A pair of somewhat milky looking kicks send Jumbo to the floor, and Tiger Mask strikes, with two big dives to the outside. A German suplex gets 2 for Tiger Mask, but a frog splash hits only knees. Tiger goes for quick pin attempts, with roll ups and ranas, but gets caught on a second rana and levelled with a stun gun. Jumbo hits a backdrop suplex for two, and another for the win. Really fun cat-and-mouse match, with a really exciting end run once Tiger Mask went for broke.

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jumbo Tsuruta

Curiosuly, this match wasn’t listed as being on this disc, which is odd as it’s the best match on here. Here, Misawa isn’t just trying to survive and get flash pins, he’s hitting shots as big as Jumbo. Here, Tsuruta goes on the offensive early with a big boot and clothesline, but gets sent to the floor, where Misawa follows him with a dropkick from the apron. Jumbo look shaken, and seems to change the pace, as they work holds on the mat, only with Misawa peppering a few slaps in on the breaks. Jumbo goes on the offensive again, but Misawa is able to stay in it, and you get a real sense of him trying to chop down this big tree, hitting missile dropkicks to down the big guy. Misawa gets stun gunned off a crossbody in a nice callback to the previous match, and I love how Jumbo’s size means even a simple kneedrop looks brutal. Jumbo hits a massive top rope leaping knee, but gets sent outside on a forearm strike and Misawa goes for broke, with a huge dive to the floor. Inside a bridging cradle gets a close 2 and the crowd really seem to believe Misawa can win. Has to be said, the crowd are HOT all match. Backdrop suplex attempt by Jumbo sees Misawa push off the top turnbuckle with his feet to land on top. Having endured 2 big lariats earlier, Misawa uses a flipping headbutt from the top to take out Jumbo’s arm, prompting Jumbo to hurl himself at the ropes for a big knee, but miss, and the end feels nigh. Jumbo uses on last effort to land on top on a Misawa backdrop suplex, but Misawa rolls through and cradles for the win. Just a massive war of attrition, felt like a real breakthrough victory for Misawa.

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Terry Gordy

After the sheer emotional rollercoaster of the last match, this feels a bit of a let down in comparison, good as it is. The early stages see Gordy grinding down Misawa on the mat, dropping knees on him. It takes Misawa ages to get started, and even when he busts Gordy open with an enzuigiri, he blows his advantage by trying to Tiger Driver him on the floor, which Gordy escapes. Gordy always seems to have something extra in his locker, like he’s prepared when a move doesn’t work. He tries to powerbomb Misawa on the floor, but when he’s clearly not getting him up, he pushes Misawa away and hits a big clothesline. He does this throughout the match, which allows him to press his advantage. When his Rock-level Sharpshooter gets broken by a rope break, he drags Misawa to the middle of the ring to apply it again. Misawa is worn down, and only being close to the ropes stops him being pinned by a powerbomb. Misawa hits some spinkicks and a sudden Tiger Driver for two, and rolls through a Gordy crossbody for another two, in a callback to his Jumbo victory. Misawa is finally in control and, though a German suplex only gets two, a huge forearm smash in enough to just about keep Gordy down for the win.

WWF Raw 07/02/1994

The Smoking Gunns vs Barry Horowitz & Reno Riggins

Decent little squash to start the night. Riggins and Horowitz are upper-tier jobbers, so they get a little offence to start, hammering Billy in their corner. I loved the Bart Gunn top rope crossbody off the tag which took out both opponents. The Gunns control with a few nice double-teams, nothing mindblowing, but good basic teamwork. They finish with Billy Gunn hitting a top rope elbow on Riggins as Bart held him in an Argentine backbreaker.

Owen Hart vs John Paul

Great work by Owen in this match, his first on Raw since the heel turn. He highlights his new found aggressiveness with some sharp back elbows and uppercuts, which distance him from his old persona. After a lovely backbreaker, he locks in the Sharpshooter for the win.

 

IRS vs Marty Jannetty

Quick tempo to start, as Marty sends IRS from the ring after getting attacked from behind. Jannetty takes a huge bump on the floor after getting sent into the ringpost, but seconds later hits a lazy sunset flip into the ring, with the post bump seemingly having no effect. The Quebeccers come out as we go to break, continuing the Jannetty/Johnny Polo beef, but have been sent to the back by the time we return. IRS makes sure to work in a lengthy abdominal stretch and that spot when he jumps off the top rope onto his opponent’s outstretched foot to make sure I don’t enjoy myself. Marty makes his comeback as a whole load of people come out to the ringside, as Polo is followed by Razor Ramon, who is followed in turn by a returning Quebeccers. This leads to a ref distraction where Polo pushes Marty as he leaps into the ring, and IRS wins. Jannetty and Razor clean house to lead to a tag title match in two weeks time

Thurman “Sparky” Plug vs Duane Gill

Poor old Bob Holly. He’s in an awkward position where he’s kinda portrayed as a high flyer, but he doesn’t do that many high flying moves, so he hits a lot of dropkicks and quick armdrags to show he has speed. I dug the spot where Gill tried to outsmart Plugg by springboarding himself out of the ring, only to meet a punch to the face on the ring apron. Plugg hits a nice powerslam and finishes with a top rope kneedrop (“he calls that the Overhead Cam”, a wretched finisher name)

Crush vs James Thornberg

Surprisingly fun. I loved it early when Thornberg hit two no-sold clotheslines, and Crush grabbed the third and yanked him to the mat for a Fujiwara armbar. Crush’s offence is ok, with a few nice kick combo’s thrown in, and he hits a legdrop for the win.

JCW Slam TV Episode 2

Going through these Juggalo Championshit Wrestling shows (which is a lot of fun, just nice 45 min episodes with some dumb, enjoyable action), I can't help but think they're like a better version of Wrestling Society X. It's got better commentary (with one exception, which I refer to later) and better matches (probably the result of using IWA-MS and PWU mainstays, rather than XPW). This episode is weaker than the first, but was still easy viewing.

Jimmy Jacobs & Josh Abercrombie vs Necro Butcher & Mad Man Pondo

Little bit of negativity first, unconnected to the match itself, and that’s based around the commentary. On the whole, I find the commentary on these shows by the ICP very amusing, but I was disappointed with this match. Considering how often they sing about hating bigotry, there was a lot of talk about how gay the Jacobs/Abercrombie team were, and a load of time talking about sucking dick. It’s a shame because I expect better from the ICP.

The match itself was a glorified squash, but was still fun. Watching Necro blast away at Jacobs in the corner of the ring with chops and nasty punches is always going to be enjoyable, and I liked Pondo bealing Jacobs across the ring by his pierced nipples. Pondo then takes out Jacobs with a top rope senton through the chair Jacobs was sat in. Jacobs & Abercrombie are both clad in partially pink gear and are certainly playing up to the homophobics in the crowd, but more importantly, both are able to showcase their talents in the brief chances they get. Abercrombie blows a springboard move, but is smart enough to follow it up with a huge tope through Butcher & Pondo to divert focus away from the error. I also dug the spot where Abercrombie was about to dive from the top rope onto Pondo, who was laid out on the ramp, but spotted Jacobs was in trouble with Butcher and instead dived onto Necro. Something that makes sense, but you rarely see. It’s not enough to keep the advantage, and Butcher hits a tope rope slam on Jacobs through a table to win. Enjoyable, but better watched on mute.

Trent Acid vs 2 Tuff Tony

Both guys won on the last show, so it stands to reason that this was a pretty close match. Acid sneak attacks Tony pre-bell, but Tony soon gains the advantage and uses a Cactus clothesline to send Acid out. Tony backdrops Acid into the crowd, but Trent is able to use his wits to take over on Tony. He hides under the ring and re-emerges with a chair, which he uses to level Tony. A top rope splash get 2 for Acid. Tony is able to fire back in style, suplexing Trent into an open chair. Acid superkicks a chair into Tony’s face, which doesn’t look great. Tony hits the flipping top rope legdrop to Acid, who is too close to the ropes to pin, and hits a top rope rana, which sends Acid onto what is left of the chair. Tony Driver should be enough to finish, but Tony decides to light his fist for the Meteorite, which prompts Acid to run off for the count-out. An entertaining, if sloppy, spotfest.

WWF Raw 31/01/1994

Dull episode of Raw here. A lot of time is taken up with the Bret Hart/Lex Luger Wrestlemania X cointoss, and not much in the way of in-ring action

Marty Jannetty vs Johnny Polo

Here’s tonight’s big match, and it’s the opener featuring a manager as a competitor. This really isn’t very good, and you suspect Polo has been told not to look too competent, as this is way worse than his Scotty Flamingo stuff. I liked the opening comedy, where Polo tried to attack Jannetty, who was holding a mic, only to end up getting tied up by Marty in the cable. Jannetty is one step ahead, even landing on his feet when thrown to the floor and rushing back to hit a crossbody for two. Polo takes control going into the break, and keeps holding Marty down with chinlocks, as well as hitting a spectacularly blown back bodydrop, where Marty kind of skids over his back. Control transitions back to Marty via my least favourite reversal – the heel tries a double axehandle to lying-down opponent but gets a boot to the face instead – and he finishes with a Rocker Dropper for 3. Polo really was no fun in control, and he controlled too much of it.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Miguel Rosado

Half-hearted squash of the pot-bellied Rosado here, who tries a really shitty dropkick early on. I liked Bam Bam just hurling him across the ring, but this is very by the numbers. A diving headbutt, not even from the top, gives Bigelow the win.

Kwang vs Rich Myers

Myers has offence so weak he makes Dolph Ziggler look like Super Dragon. Kwang actually looked ok here, dug his big over-the-top-rope corner spin kick, and he had a few nice kick combos. Kwang hits a few throat thrusts whilst holding Myers by the hair, stopping him falling down, and a superkick gets three. Perfectly fine

 Earthquake vs Corey Student

Decent squash for the returning Quake. Nice belly-to-belly, big running clothesline and a running corner splash all looked great, before he hit the seated splash for the win. Enjoyed this.

WWF Royal Rumble 1994

Last year, I did a super-topical Royal Rumble post on the day of the event, so decided it'd be an idea to do one again this year. As I'm in the middle of my 1994 Raw project, I thought it'd make sense to do the 1994 Rumble, the first one I watched when my parents got Sky

Tatanka vs Bam Bam Bigelow

This was supposed to be Tatanka vs Ludwig Borga, but Borga was injured. Probably an upgrade to get Bigelow here, with the result being a decent little PPV opener. It kicks off at a high tempo, as Bigelow tries to jump Tatanka before the bell, but Tatanka uses his speed to avoid the attack, and manages to take control. Nice DDT by Tatanka, but he misses a big crossbody. Bigelow hits a corner splash on Tatanka, getting real nice speed on it. Bam Bam slows things down with a bearhug, but it’s a bit embarrassing as he initially tries to hold Tatanka in the air, but has to put him down right away. Bigelow doesn’t even bother working the bearhug, so it’s a dull period of the match. There’s a double crossbody spot where both guys fly into each other at full speed. Bigelow stops Tatanka hulking up with an enzuigiri, which is a nice touch, but he misses a moonsault. Tatanka hits a top rope crossbody for the win.

Bret Hart & Owen Hart vs the Quebecers

I was interested to revisit this match because, as memorable as the match-ending angle is, you don’t really hear much said about the match. On the whole it’s quite fun, though not as memorable as you’d hope from these two teams. I really liked Jacques’ heeling it up after Owen gets the best of him, hugging Pierre and cowering on his knees. Bret going for flash pins early makes sense, given that he and Owen still had the Rumble to come. The Quebecers briefly get control of Bret, and Owen keeps doing more harm than good by trying to get in the ring, as it draws the attention of the ref away from the Quebecers cheating. This is an ongoing theme throughout the match, which builds up Owen’s hot-headedness and desperation to win for the final angle. Loved Owen’s beautiful overhead belly-to-belly on Pierre when he does get in. Then the big match-changing spot occurs, as some Johnny Polo interference causes Bret to crash through the ropes to the floor, injuring his leg. The Quebecers focus on this injury, including a nasty looking leap off the ringsteps to the knee. All the time, an impetuous Owen is trying to get to Bret and distracting the referee. Even as Owen brawls with Pierre, Jacques is hitting Bret in the leg with a foreign object. Pierre goes for the top rope cannonball to the leg, but Bret moves just in time. Bret opts to try the Sharpshooter rather than tag Owen (a stupid move, though you could justify it by pointing out that Bret is the wrong side of Pierre), but can’t hold the move due to his injury. The ref instantly calls off the match (though the Fink is keen to point out “Bret Hart DID NOT submit” on his announcement), and a furious Owen kicks out Bret’s leg. Fun match to start off a great angle.

Razor Ramon vs IRS

Both guys exchange some nice punches early, nicely surprised by IRS. Razor takes a huge bump over the top running the ropes. I was really happy to see someone reverse the “heel leaps off the top rope to hit unknown move, only for the face to get his boot up” trope, as IRS grabs the foot and hits a big elbow to Razor. Unfortunately, this is the highlight of IRS’ offensive run, as the rest is pretty pedestrian. It also includes a really long chinlock. A ref bump sees the end, as Shawn Michaels runs in to level Razor with his phony IC title, and after a loooong time, IRS crawls over to cover Ramon for the win. However, a 2^nd ref comes in to advise what happened and the match gets restarted. Rather unfairly, as IRS is still celebrating his win on the 2^nd rope, and he gets planted with a Razor’s Edge for the victory. An uneventful bout.

The Undertaker vs Yokozuna

Another match that’s more famous for the post-match angle. The match itself is pretty lacklustre, and painfully slow. After the two exchange some chairshots outside the ring, Yoko thinks a clothesline is enough to conquer the Undertaker, so really takes his time putting him in the coffin. It’s not. Taker hits a sloppy chokeslam, that looks more like Yoko slipping on a banana, and a big DDT to roll Yoko into the casket. You can see Taker desperately killing time for the first outside attacker to stop him closing the lid, before Crush turns up, followed by the Great Kabuki, Tenryu, Bigelow, Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, both Headshrinkers and Diesel. We all know what happens next (urn blows green smoke, heels close Taker in the coffin, Taker talks to the audience from the coffin and rises to the ceiling), but the boring match is often forgotten about as a reason to hate this whole deal.

Royal Rumble

Scott Steiner and Samu start off, which is pretty fun as neither is afraid to lay in their blows. Owen is brought back as an early entrant, earning major heat. The heel turn definitely worked. Diesel gets his first vestiges of a big push, as he gets to go on an elimination spree. He clears the ring (with Owen’s elimination getting a big pop, and clears the ring one-by-one of the next entrants…Bob Backlund, Billy Gunn, Virgil (much to the delight of Ted DiBiase on commentary). This conveniently gives enough time for them to cut to the back where Jim Cornette’s hired guns Tenryu and Kabuki are beating up Lex Luger. Back in the ring, Randy Savage comes out and is a big enough star that Diesel doesn’t get to eliminate him. We get glimpses of a potentially great Savage/Jarrett match, which I don’t think ever took place (but I’d love to be wrong), but Jarrett is quickly eliminated. Loved the ferocity of Savage’s attack on an entering Crush, you can really feel the hate between the two. Savage gets eliminated, and we get a Diesel/Crush segment. Doink enters and stands back, laughing at the two heels fighting, until they look over and spot him. They rightly batter him, then present him on a platter for an entering Bam Bam Bigelow. Bammer hurls him over the top to the floor. Loved that.

Shawn Michaels soon enters and, after facing off with his bodyguard Diesel, shakes hand with him. However, Shawn does nothing to stop his friend being eliminated, setting the tone for a year of tension between the two. Both Mabel and Mo from Men On A Mission end up in the ring at the same time, but seem to be idiots as they barely work together. You’d think Mo would be desperate for Mabel to help him. Instead, when all the entrants gang up on Mabel, Mo is left standing idly by like a moron until Shawn attacks him. The way Mo was just gormlessly staring, he needn’t have bothered. Luger comes out to a decent pop and swiftly eliminates the useless mercenary Kabuki. Tenryu is out next and, though he’s also being paid to make sure Luger doesn’t win, he doesn’t actually spend much time fighting Lex, which was surely the point of him entering. A non-entrant is believed by the commentary team to be Bret. Bret does come out a couple of entrants later, earning a massive pop. However, he gets no offence on getting in, as Crush goes right to the leg. I liked the continuity of Marty Jannetty going right after Michaels upon getting in the ring. Reminds me of how Tito and Martel would always square off in the Rumble. Somehow, fucking Mo is still around at the end of the Rumble, and takes a shitty elimination – he gets superkicked while facing away from the ropes, then spins round and dives over the top. So bad. The final four is Bret, Lex, Michaels and Fatu, going down to just Bret and Lex as they simultaneously eliminate the other two. The two exchange blows and both end up going over at the same time to be crowned joint-winners. A memorable end to a decent Rumble match.