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.

SWA Summer Blowout 2014

The SWA is the Shropshire Wrestling Alliance, who run shows (unsurprisingly) in the Shropshire area. I saw on Twitter they were having a DVD sale, and picked up this interesting looking show. It turned out to be very good.

 

Damian Dunne vs Mark Andrews

This is for Dunne’s British Lions title. Dunne is working heel here, which he’s really good at, throwing in nice little touches like forcing Andrews to clap hands whilst in a hammerlock. Andrews is the quicker of the two, and when he starts to use his speed, he’s able to take control, which in turn forces Dunne to slow the pace down. So whilst Andrews uses a quick standing moonsault in his offence, Dunne prefers to choke his opponent over the ropes, as well as nailing his ever-sweet kneedrop (honestly, Dunne might have the best kneedrop in BritWres). I enjoyed the story they told here, which was simple yet effective: Andrews always has the advantage when they speed things up, so Dunne will cut off his offensive flurries at any opportunity. Dunne gets a backcracker for two, before Andrews is able to rebound. He hits a top rope rana and a standing shooting star press for two. Dunne gets two when he catches a springboarding Andrews with a spear for two. Looked great. Dunne brings his title belt in, which the referee stops him using. However, this seems to have been Dunne causing a distraction, as he punts Mandrews down below unseen, and rolls him up for the win. Great opener

Sebastian Radclaw vs Marshall X vs Robert Rochester Rose

Interesting mix of characters, with Marshall being a white wannabe gangster, Rose being an aristocratic snob and Radclaw being a unique oddball. Radclaw is accompanied by Skat Monkey, his frankly ugly looking puppet, and Marshall decides he wants the Monkey. Not for any real reason, but to bully the naïve Radclaw. The two heels gang up on Radclaw and wear him down. I loved Marshall X filming the beatdown on his mobile happy-slapping style. Rose is a big lad, but some of his blows looked a bit milky, especially the elbows to Radclaw’s head. The two-on-one beatdown continues with Marshall hitting a nice double-underhook suplex. Eventually, the heels union dissolves when Rose is the first one to try a pinfall on Radclaw, to the chagrin of X. This argument gives Radclaw time to recover, and he springboards in with a nice rolling clothesline. Radclaw hits a nice split legged moonsault on X, and rolls up the charging Rose for the victory. Good fun.

The Vulture Squad vs Pete Dunne & Ryan Smile

The Vulture Squad consist of Chris Brookes and Nixon Newell, so we’ve got an intergender aspect to this match. Pete Dunne is apparently in the process of turning heel, which leads to an explosive start. Dunne cuts a promo essentially saying that if Newall is in the match, she needs to be prepared to be hit like a man…then blindsides her with a stiff forearm. Brookes hurls Dunne into the crowd in response, only to get taken out by a Smile plancha. Quite the start. Things slow down a touch, with the Squad working over Smile, until Dunne cheapshots Newall from the apron. Dunne gets big heat by viciously working over Newall, slamming her knees into the mat. Really nasty looking stuff, and Nixon looks tougher for holding on and making the hot tag to Brookes. Everything breaks down, and Dunne hits a vicious backbreaker and facebuster to Newall for two. I loved Brookes sacrificing himself to absorb a corner charge meant for Nixon, in part because it allowed a fresh Nixon to hit a big tornado DDT and a Shining Wizard for a close two. Makes it a good strategic move by Brookes. Dunne’s nasty side really helps the ending run look great. First, I loved him catching Newall during Poetry In Motion and powerbombing her onto the prone Brookes. Then, after a ref bump, he low blows Brookes and locks a cloverleaf on Newall. Even though she makes the ropes, the ref being down allows him to stomp on her until she releases the ropes and drag her back into the middle for the tapout win. Just brutal heel aggression. Really well worked tag match.

Joey Sanchez vs Marc Morgan

This was set up earlier in the night, with heel manager G John Chase promising a mystery opponent for SWA champion Sanchez. Now, call me cynical, but I’m always suspicious when a promotion is full of guys I’ve heard of, but the champion is a complete unknown. Makes me worry that they’ve booked some good talent in order to promote some no-mark they’ve made champion. So I’m happy to eat my words and say this was a good little match. This was non-title, so it’s always more than likely that the champion loses, but they did a fun job of keeping the result in question. I liked Sanchez’s fire after Morgan did a lot of stalling, going outside to hit him with some stiff shots. Some Chase interference gave Morgan an opening and he worked over Sanchez’s left arm. I dug him using Old School, ending with a leg drop to the arm, felt like a good smug heel move. Morgan tried it again, however, and got caught, leading to Sanchez hitting an enzuigiri to take control. Sanchez’s selling of the arm was really good, firstly only hitting offense like superkicks that didn’t require use of the limb, then not being able to lock in a sharpshooter due to the pain. When he’s able to grit through it and lock in the hold, a distracted ref doesn’t notice Davian Vayne enter to hit him with a low blow, leaving an opening for Morgan to hit Soylet Green for the win. Surpassed my expectations, a pleasant surprise.

Dan Moloney vs Edwards

So, with two unknown guys putting on a good bout, I had high hopes for a match featuring a guy I like in Moloney against another guy I didn’t know in Edwards. This…wasn’t so good. I enjoyed Moloney hiding in the crowd during his entrance to ambush Edwards, but it went a bit downhill following that with some sloppy brawling on the outside. Edwards in particular didn’t look particularly impressive here. Back inside the ring, Edwards hits an admittedly decent uranage and a swanton, but Moloney no-sold right away and hit a monster clothesline for the win.

Tyler Bate vs Jay Lethal

This is for the RoH TV title, so the result is never really in doubt, but this is one heck of a match. I’m no big fan of Jay Lethal, he seems to fill too much space in matches with your-turn-my-turn strike exchanges (which happens three separate times here), but he was a good match for Bate here. I saw Lethal one year previously taking on another 18yr old in Robbie X, and the difference between Lethal’s muscular frame and the less in-shape Robbie made those strike exchanges feel very unbalanced. Bate, however, is in very good shape, stocky and with a big European uppercut that makes him competitive against Lethal. Tyler was ON IT from the bell here, catching an unsuspecting Lethal with a superkick and a dive to show he meant business. Lethal threw in some fun bits, loved his crucifix surfboard on Bate. The commentary team raise a good point about it being easier for Bate to scout Lethal than vice-versa, with Bate proving this by countering the Lethal Cutter into an airplane spin (with an insane number of rotations). Bate also got to hit a few of his great strength spots, reversing a Lethal suplex into a deadlift one of his own, while later hitting a lovely German suplex for two. The end to this was so heated, as Bate hits an insane running backflip out of the ring onto Lethal, throws him in the ring to try a corkscrew moonsault, but misses and is left prone for the winning Lethal Cutter. Fantastic match, the crowd were into it every step of the way and surround the ring, banging the apron in appreciation at the end. Splendid stuff.

WWF Raw 10/01/1994

The Quebecers vs Marty Jannetty & 1-2-3

Really fun match, and actually really well booked. Given that the Quebecers were due to defend the tag belts vs Bret and Owen at the Rumble in two weeks, you’d give Kid and Jannetty no chance. The story here was that the Quebecers were looking past their opponents here, which gives Kid and Marty the opening to dominate the early goings with quick tags and some nice double team offence. Loved Jannetty elevating Kid to allow him to hit a high dropkick. During the break, we see Kid/Jannetty had “won” the match following a Jannetty superkick, only for the Quebecer to have his foot on the ropes and the match continue. This normally is used to protect the team that’s going to lose. The Quebecers are still getting overrun, and it takes Pierre pushing Kid off the top rope to the floor to get an advantage. They decimate Kid with some big double teams, including a lovely clothesline/legsweep combo. Jacques piledrives Kid and Pierre hits a top rope cannonball. This should be the end, but the Quebecers are so confident that they go for a second. This allows Jannetty to come in (cheat?) and drag Kid to his corner for the hot tag. Jannetty runs wild and this lets him and Kid hits a suplex/crossbody to pin Jacques for real and the titles. Massive shock result, and a really cleverly booked match. Loved this. 

Ludvig Borga vs Brad Anderson

Pretty crap squash to be honest. Borga is pretty plodding and the most exciting part is probably Anderson hitting a few clotheslines. Borga wins with a torture rack. 

The Undertaker vs Ray Hudson

The description of this episode on the Network describes Hudson, rather sarcastically, as “ever impressive". Another dull squash, with Taker throwing Hudson to the floor for some blows, then throwing him back in for a low elevation chokeslam. Taker finishes with a leaping tombstone. 

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Bastion Booger

This is a heel vs heel match set up by Booger’s lust for Luna causing them to lose a tag match the previous week. They cut a decent tempo here in a match that gets no reaction. Bigelow takes a big bump over the top on a missed charge, so Luna blows kisses to Booger to distract and allow BBB to recover. He does this with a botched slam, a real slam and the diving headbutt to win. Pretty poor.