ECW Hardcore TV #32 16/11/1993

Jim Neidhart vs The Sandman
I'm quickly learning that reviewing episodes of Hardcore TV in the weeks around a big show is largely a fool's errand. I've skipped episode #31 because it's literally all recap, and this episode consists of one original match from the November To Remember show. Don't be fooled into thinking they've given us a highlight of the show, either.

So this goes about 5 minutes, and there's really very little to it. Very early on, Neidhart goes down with an injury, and straight away Joey Styles is yelling "He's faking it, I think Jim Neidhart is playing possum", totally taking away any impact when Neidhart gets up and attacks Sandman. I did like Neidhart doing two star jumps (and no more) to show his leg is fine. Barely any time later, Sandman makes his comeback, they hit a double clothesline and we get a double pin. Fucking terrible.

WCW Thunder 08/01/1998

Randy Savage vs Chris Adams

Savage is aggressive from the off, blind-siding Adams, and choking him with his bandana. Savage is all over Adams, stomping and picking him up on pins. Adams gets some respite on the outside by Irish whipping Savage into the ring post, and Lex Luger comes to the ring and levels Savage with a chairshot, rolling him back into the ring for the Adams victory.

Rick Martel vs Louie Spicolli

This is the second match into Martel’s 1998 renaissance. Spicolli starts the match by holding onto the ropes on an Irish whip, turns to the crowd to point at his head to show off his intelligence, then turns around into a clothesline, so this is already a five star match. Spicolli tries to punch his way back into it, but Martel is fired up and hits a nice spinebuster into a Quebec crab for the win.

Tenzan vs Ohara

Pretty straightforward bout. Both guys go heavy with the chops, but Ohara hits a powerbomb before Tenzan hits a tombstone and a diving headbutt to win. Very brief stuff.

Chris Jericho vs Ric Flair

Five minutes long, but they make the most of it. Nicely worked opening sequence, with Jericho smoothly reversing a hiptoss into a monkey flip. Flair cheats a few times in this match in endearing ways – first by faking an ankle injury only to poke Jericho in the eye, followed by convincing Charles Robinson to check the turnbuckle pads then hitting a low blow. Loved the spot where Flair took his usual flip over the turnbuckle, only to be met on the apron by a Jericho springboard dropkick. Jericho misses a missile dropkick and Flair swiftly locks in the figure four to win. Good stuff

The Giant vs Meng

This was only a few minutes, but was very effective. Loved the Giant hitting a huge powerslam on Meng. Meng is able to chop and kick away at the Giant, wearing him down to the mat, but this advantage is temporary. Giant gets back up, grabs a chokeslam (with Meng frantically trying to reach him for a Tongan Death Grip) and gets the win.

Goldberg vs Steve McMichael

Another effective short match. Fun little big boys scrap, with McMichael hitting Goldberg with a shoulderblock from the apron before the match even starts. Goldberg looks like a beast, muscling about a huge guy like Mongo with a press-slam into a powerslam. McMichael tries for Goldberg’s legs with a series of chop blocks, but Goldberg blitzes him with a spear and the jackhammer. Played to both guys strengths.

The Steiner Brothers vs Konnan & Buff Bagwell

Never felt like the Steiners were in jeopardy here. The NWO team get a bit of control, including a Bagwell neckbreaker that Rick botches by dropping down too early, but it doesn’t last long before the Steiners both hit huge overhead belly-to-belly suplexes. Scott finishes Konnan with a top rope Frankensteiner, much to Rick’s chagrin as he’d climbed ready to hit the top rope bulldog. This was fine.

Scott Hall vs Ray Traylor

Hall shows Traylor no respect in this one, feigning fear and slapping the back of Traylor’s head, so it’s fun to see Traylor lay into Hall with some nifty punches. The ref gets bumped, allowing Hall to hit a belt shot for two. Nice second rope bulldog also gets two, before Larry Zbyszko comes out, distracting Hall, who turns into a Bossman Slam for the win.

Juventud Guerrera vs Ultimo Dragon

This was a fine little sprint, but what I really liked is how logically and organically the spots flowed. For example, in one 30 second period, Dragon misses a handspring elbow in the corner, allowing Juvi to put him on top for a hurricanrana. However, Ultimo fights him off, sending him to the floor and hitting a (barely hit) top rope moonsault. Nothing felt contrived, everything felt in keeping with their moveset. Ultimo hit a nice kick combo and a German suplex for two, but Juvi reverses a powerbomb attempt to a big DDT. One Juvi Driver and a 450 splash later, and Juvi is the new Cruiserweight champion. Dug all this.

Lex Luger vs Scott Norton

Too short to be worth anything, but it was all action for the two minutes it lasted. Norton jumps Luger at the start, including basically deadlifting Lex up for a backbreaker when it seems to be going wrong. Luger survives the shoulderbreaker, and nails the Bionic Forearm and the torture rack for the win.

Diamond Dallas Page vs Kevin Nash

Longest match of the night at nearly seven minutes. Less pleasingly, most of those minutes are Nash’s plodding offence of clubbing blows and wandering around. It’s a shame, as this started well, DDP using his smarts to take the big man down after a blocked hiptoss, instead hitting a knee to the gut and a swinging neckbreaker. Page is good at fighting from beneath, but he’s given little to work with. Snake Eyes gets two for Nash, before DDP tries the Diamond Cutter, luring in Hulk Hogan for the DQ win. Very skippable.

WWF Monday Night Raw 25/07/1994

Tatanka vs Nikolai Volkoff

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

The Headshrinkers vs Barry Hardy & Joey Stallings

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

Jim Neidhart vs Jim Powers

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

Adam Bomb vs Yokozuna

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

Duke Droese vs Duane Gill

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

NYWC Draw The Line 2017

Blake Morris vs Tracy Williams

Strangely, this is probably my favourite match I’ve seen from either guy, even though I’ve seen them both working better opposition. Nice snug matwork to start, with a really competitive battle over a wristlock which shows a side to Morris that I hadn’t previously seen. Williams manages to get control, at first only in part but gradually maintaining control longer and longer. Morris gets a brief bit of respite by yanking Williams’ arm over the top rope, but makes the mistake of going for a sleeper on the mat. This is Williams’ domain and he’s soon able to take control again. Williams offence looks the best I’ve seen it, loved his back suplex and this is the first time I’ve bought him taking someone down with a clothesline due to the force he used. Morris has real great arsehole charisma, he’s really good at being unlikable and he has a sensible gameplan of using the ringside area to his advantage, throwing Williams into things. Morris gets the win after surviving a brainbuster and hitting a tombstone. Really enjoyed this.

The Punk Relics (Jaden Valo & Ugo) vs The Rep (Nate Carter & Dave McCall)

Really quick match, but it’s all action. Punk Relics started hot, until they got caught in the corners and hit with a Super Collider. The Rep look good bullying Ugo about, and Valo gets to come in again with a burst of quick offence before Ugo gets pinned with a two man flapjack. Goes only four minutes, but it’s a fun four minutes.

Bull James vs King Mega

Man, they’ve really not given Bull the best opponents to work in his title run – 55yr old Scott Norton, shitty comedy mode Joey Ryan and now the weakest worker on the NYWC roster. James manages to fend off being blindsided by Blake Morris, and Mega does the worst “charge and almost hit my partner in the corner by accident” spot, as James had already moved before Mega starts his ambling run. His punches are noticeably bad and James spends most of the match selling after Morris continues to interfere. James breaking a chokeslam with a headbutt was cool and James drags the match up to having a semi hot ending as they exchange and counter moves before Bull hits a pedigree to win.

The Big O vs Johnny Radke

Interesting stuff here, as Big O basically squashes the shit out of Radke hitting a massive clothesline and a big powerslam before a ref bump sees 6 men in black hoodies (I spotted the Punk Relics among them) come in and beat the crap out of Big O. Radke hits a superkick and get the win to pick up the Fusion title. Curious angle, feels like some commentary would have enhanced it, but I’m interested to see where it goes.

Bam Sullivan & Jeff Cannonball vs Stockade & G-Raver

Really loved this match. Some real big boys in here, with Stockade and Cannonball being legit super heavyweights (and the other two aren’t exactly cruiserweights). Cannonball uses his size to control early, until he gets sent outside by an unlikely flying armdrag by G-Raver, then hit by an even more unlikely suicide dive by Stockade. G-Raver hits a huge dive to the floor from the top and the faces do some nice double-teaming until Bam is able to send Stockade into G-Raver to take control. Enjoyed the heat on G-Raver, big boot into the face by Sullivan looked great. G-Raver doesn’t wrestle like you’d expect, doing a fair bit of high-flying despite looking like a generic death match worker, and he hits a nice Asai moonsault to Cannonball to break the control. Stockade is awesome as a hot tag, really like how he uses his size to his advantage, throwing his weight around to make everything have more impact. We get a melee, and G-Raver hits a good looking Swanton on Bam, only for Mouse to interfere with a barbed wire covered surfboard to give Sullivan the win. This was really great stuff, all four guys looked terrific.

Willow Nightingale vs Terra Calaway

Interesting to see Willow working from below here, as she’s the smaller wrestler for the first time. Calaway is obviously more used to her role in the match, as she’s in control early with a big legdrop and a nice sideslam early. She follows this with a big corner splash and the cannonball, and all her offence looks great. Nightingale has to hit and run for a change, getting in kicks to the head and a missile dropkick. Willow hits a sloppy looking backcracker and a nice second rope moonsault to win. Surprisingly brief, as Calaway seemed to yield pretty easily, but this was fun.

Benson Brothers vs Anthony LaCerra & Mike Verna

Interesting team of LaCerra and Verna, but they work well together, and the opening stages of this are nicely worked. Pretty even until Verna takes Brad Benson around the ring with his ever-impressive slingshot suplexes. This is a really great Verna performance, moving really quickly and all his control looks good. LaCerra hits a massive flip dive, just avoiding the barricades in a crazy spot. Talon interferes distracting Verna who gets rolled up for the win.

Benson Brothers vs Beer Belly Bandits (JT Kasin & Bo Pritchard)

This seems to come about with the Bandits challenging the Benson’s to an immediate match, and then jumping them with a battering ram on CJ when they accept (Kasin is wearing a metal helmet to add more oomph to the move). This doesn’t seem to be a heel turn, as the BBB even admit to being bandits just before the jump, seems like Guerrero-style cheekiness rather than heelish assault. This is very short, with Brad Benson being controlled before CJ recovers and hits a huge swinging side effect. Brad escapes a Magic Killer and rolls up JT to win. Too short to mean anything, but it gave the Bensons two wins on the bounce. The Bensons are becoming a really fun team to watch.

Aidan Baal vs Matt Tremont

This is a 10,000 thumbtack match. So great to see Tremont back in NYWC, he’s one of my favourite indy guys to watch. He’s just got this aura where he manages to enhance brawls with his presence. He’s got some of the best punches on the indies, even doing that bit where he checks his hand isn’t broken after the punch. Tremont lets Baal back into the match by spending too long getting the dustbin full of tacks and, whilst Tremont is able to duck a shot with a tack covered bat, Baal is able to block a sunset flip with a mean shot to the head. Tremont takes the first big bump into the tacks, getting dumped off the second turnbuckle as he tries climbing the ropes. Tremont hits a Samoan drop into the tacks, which sees him take as much of the puncturing as Baal. The ending nicely helps build the feud between the Extricated (Sullivan, Cannonball, Baal et al) and the Awakening (Stockade, G-Raver, Tremont) as both parties comes out and brawl on the outside. In the melee, Devon Moore comes out, cutters Baal and Tremont hits a DVD onto the tacks to win. The Awakening had lost a lot of matches in the build to this, so they needed the win, and Tremont was really kingsized in this. This really builds up the Psycho Circus match, can’t wait for that to get online.

WWE Main Event 29/07/2014

Rybaxel vs the Usos

Starting to feel like Rybaxel are one of those great lost teams, really been enjoying their Main Event run. Good match here, really enjoyed the opening with Jimmy laying into Ryback with meaty chops. Meaty enough that you buy them doing damage to a man the size of Ryback. The heat gets worked on Jey, with Rybaxel simultaneously dropping these jackhammer-like kneedrops. Liked Ryback stopping a comeback by just grabbing Jey and hitting a huge spinebuster. Jimmy gets the hot tag after Ryback misses a top rope elbow, landing HARD. Jimmy runs riot, surviving a perfectplex to hit a huge dive on Ryback, and Jey hits Axel with a splash for three.

Slater Gator vs Zack Ryder & Tyson Kidd

Slater bumps like a madman in the early going of this one, going up high on a flapjack, taking a big spill to the floor then eating a Kidd cannonball from the apron. There’s brief heat worked on Ryder, before Kidd is tagged back in with some nice fire. Kidd hits a nice kick combo on Slater, then heads up top. However, Titus hurls Ryder into the ringside barricade and this allows Slater time to hit a top rope powerslam on Kidd for the win. Short, but fun little bout.

Dean Ambrose vs Alberto Del Rio

How good did Dean Ambrose used to be? He’s so fired up here, actually showing some aggression. He’s almost like a one man swarm, moving quickly and never giving Del Rio a chance to rest. He misses a corner charge, however, and Del Rio hits a leaping enzuigiri from the floor to send Dean’s head into the ringpost. Really nice spot. Ambrose is almost feral here, blocking a top rope back suplex by clawing at Del Rio’s face, and trying to block holds by scrabbling at his hands. Love the sequence where Del Rio ends up taking the Fuerza bump and Ambrose quickly follows with a suicide dive. Del Rio evades the rebound lariat and hits a fast German suplex in another nice spot. Lame ending sees Rollins come out for the DQ, but this was a surprisingly hot match. Really good stuff.

World Class Championship Wrestling 04/12/1982

The Spoiler vs Roberto Renesto

Curious beast this, as it’s essentially a squash, but one that manages to outstay it’s welcome. The Spoiler seems to be working an “iron midsection” gimmick based on the commentary and his no-sell of any offence to his stomach. Spoiler has a nice leaping necksnap over the top rope and I liked his clubbing blows to the head with Renesto leant against the turnbuckles, but then Spoiler keeps picking him up on pinfalls. This would be fine if it didn’t lead to Renesto making a pointless comeback. Renesto misses a top rope knee and Spoiler hits a top rope elbow to the head to win. Ended up being needlessly overlong.

Hillbilly Pete vs Little Cocoa

Midget match, and not a particularly interesting one. They play this for laughs, including Cocoa kicking the ref in the backside and playing dead to get Hillbilly in trouble. Cocoa wins with a 2^nd rope crossbody to end the pain.

Al Madril vs The Great Kabuki

Nice visual to start, as Kabuki mists his fists to kick off the bout. I like the little touches to make a man in not especially good condition look like a killer. Madril looks good early, peppering Kabuki with punches and even grabbing him by the face to nail a big shot. Kabuki holds a nerve hold for a long time, but hits a nice enzuigiri after Madril catches his foot. Madril hits a crossbody to the floor, looked great because he just chucked himself at Kabuki. Back in, Madril misses a kneedrop and Kabuki pounces to hit the legbreaker. Madril rolls out and can’t recover in time to prevent Kabuki getting the countout win. This was decent stuff.

Kerry von Erich & Brian Adidas vs Checkmate & Magic Dragon

Fun tag bout to main event the show. Liked the opening matwork between Kerry and Checkmate, nicely worked stuff. Adidas becomes the face-in-peril, and I enjoyed the heels working him over, including a nice thrust kick in the corner by Magic Dragon. Checkmate is really good throughout, his movement is excellent. Kerry looks good as the hot tag, though an attempt to slingshot Dragon into Adidas doesn’t look great. Checkmate hits some nice knees to the chest and face before it all breaks down into a melee. Adidas gets two from a powerslam, but a double suplex and a Checkmate kneedrop on Adidas gets the win. Good tag match.

WWF Philadelphia Spectrum 19/02/1983

Jose Estrada vs Curt Hennig

Pretty decent opener. Hennig is really early into his career here, and is obviously lacking some of the polish he’ll have in in just a few years time. A lot of the early stages of this match are based around front facelocks, with Hennig grounding Estrada for a long time with one, and later Estrada holding one of his own. Outside of the front facelocks, both guys looks pretty fired up. Loved the short knee to the head hit after Estrada placed Hennig on the top rope and Estrada catching Henning with a big shot on a leapfrog. The end sees Estrada roll through a top rope crossbody to win.

Mac Rivera vs Johnny Rodz

Rivera jumps Rodz to start here, and even cheapshots him over the refs shoulder, but Rodz controls the majority of the bout. Really liked Rodz on offence here, thought his execution was excellent. Lovely diving fist from the second rope and I loved him causally stepping over a dropdown in order to attack. A stomp to the throat from the second rope looked nasty. They maybe throw in a few too many headlocks, seems to be peppered in between every 2-3 moves, but the meat of this was good. Rodz wins after side stepping a backdrop and hitting a back elbow for three.

Tony Garea vs Charlie Fulton

Like the Hennig match, Garea is more than happy to hold onto a headlock for a while. It takes Fulton cheapshotting on a break to take over. Nothing Fulton does is fancy, but it provides a welcome change of pace and his focus on Garea’s back is nicely done with Irish whips to the corner and a bearhug. Garea takes a big bump over the top to the floor and there’s a mix up on commentary as they think Garea has won it with a sunset flip. He hasn’t, but an O’Connor Roll gets the win moments later.

Swede Hanson vs SD Jones

Bit uncomfortable to watch in places, as you watch a tubby looking redneck, who’d come to the ring with the Confederate flag, slapping about SD. There’s some neat strikes by both, some nice kneedrops and Jones hits a nice diving headbutt as he gets up. The end sees Jones going for an airplane spin, but Hanson holds the ropes and falls on top for the victory.

Baron Mikel Scicluna vs Eddie Gilbert

Interestingly, Gorilla Monsoon says on commentary that the Baron has the flu, giving him a bit of an out for the upcoming result. Slightly clunky match, early on Baron gets caught up in the ropes Andre The Giant style, and Gilbert doesn’t really do anything, which kinda deflates the crowd. Scicluna controls with some weak blows, but Gilbert is at least fired up on his comeback. He misses a crossbody, but gets a sunset flip to win.

Bob Backlund vs Big John Studd

Not a great match, but a fun Backlund performance. He works an enjoyable cat and mouse sequence with Studd early on, ending with a leg lock on the big man. Studd doesn’t offer much offensively, aside from a nice elbow, but Backlund works the crowd nicely, getting them fired up for a near slam. He also really works a hammerlock, torqueing the arm. Studd controls a good chunk of the match, not particularly memorably, but Backlund fires back, locking on the crossface chickenwing from the apron, and climbing back into the ring just a second too late and getting counted out. Match result keeps both men strong and builds to a rematch, but it felt like it dragged when Studd was in control

The Wild Samoans vs the Strongbow Brothers

This is 2/3 falls and a bit of a mess. It really feels like the Samoans should just be able to wipe the floor with the unimpressive Strongbows, but instead they get controlled by the Strongbows ineffectively working an arm on Afa. The Samoans eventually work heat on Jules Strongbow, choking him out with wrist tape, hidden from the ref. Eventually Jay Strongbow has enough, and chokes both Samoans with their sarongs, getting disqualified for the first fall. The second fall sees the brawl continue and Jay getting choked on the outside. The Samoans crotch Jules on the top rope for the win in two straight falls. Not much to enjoy here.

Andre the Giant, Jimmy Snuka, Rocky Johnson, Pedro Morales & Sal Bellomo vs Buddy Rose, Mr Fuji, Ray Stevens, Billy Graham & Don Muraco

This, on the other hand, is a total crowd pleaser of a main event. It’s 3/5 falls, which allows for a lot of possibilities and fun nearfalls. The tone is set as Rose and Stevens pinball all around the ring for Johnson’s armdrags. The crowd is hot for everything, and everyone involved seems to be motivated, which is great. Muraco takes a big dive over the top from an Andre boot, only to be awkwardly shoved back in by his partners. Lots of goofy selling, Graham takes a tree fall bump from an Andre chop, whilst Muraco makes himself really dizzy hitting an airplane spin on Bellomo. A belly to belly on the hapless Bellomo by Fuji gives the heels a one fall lead and a bit of heat is worked on Sal after that. The falls are equalised when Fuji tries to slam Bellomo, but Snuka dropkicks Sal on top for three. The end comes quickly as everything breaks down. Snuka hits a sunset flip on Rose to make it 2-1, before Andre rampages everyone, hitting Rose with a big boot and buttdrop for the victory. Immensely enjoyable.