ECW Hardcore TV #26 05/10/1993

The Public Enemy vs Silver Jet & Gino Caruso

JIP match, and we’re definitely in proper ECW territory now. The arena is better lit now, with the crowd in the dark and the ring illuminated. Looks a lot better than the crappy “ECW” banner from the first few episodes. This is a largely sluggish beatdown by the Enemy, bar a few nice little spots. Silver Jet looks terrible in his camo trousers and black t-shirt. He’d be the most bush-league looking guy in a 2003 CZW student battle royal. Rock hits a nice quebrada, Grunge hits a reverse DDT and Rock finishes the Jet with a Swanton, admittedly getting good distance on it.

Sabu vs Tazmaniac

I am sure this was revolutionary in 1993, and the fans eat it up, but viewed through 2017 eyes…this is shit. There’s very little structure, just a bunch of spots which are hit with varying levels of success. I did think Taz showed some smarts when, after the table Sabu placed him on falls apart, Taz just gets up and suplexes Sabu through the remains. I was less impressed when Sabu elbowed him in the face and Tazmaniac sold it by climbing to the second rope to eat a top rope Frankensteiner. Taz hits a huge suplex that almost drops Sabu on his head. The transitions here are woeful, momentum just switching arbitrarily. Sabu picks up the win with a sloppy moonsault. Really disliked this.

The Sandman vs The Metal Maniac

This wasn’t any better. Sandman hits a nice high waistlock takedown early, and that’s probably the best part of the match. Maniac barely gets Sandman off the ground with an unbelievably shit side suplex. Sandman hits a top rope clothesline to win. Awful.

Terry Funk vs Jimmy Snuka

This is a cage match for the TV title, billed as “Funk’s Last Stand”. There’s bits of this that are good, and bits that are very poor. Funk sells like a champion early, as Snuka whips him into the corners, making a simple move looks vicious. He’s also the first to eat a faceful of cage. For two veterans, they both manage to make piledrivers look utterly ineffectual. Funk sells one by getting up 10 seconds later to prevent Snuka escaping a cage, and Styles helpfully points out that Funk is hitting headbutts just moments after taking a piledriver. Funk soon hits his own ineffectual piledriver. They base a lot of this match around headbutts, which isn’t particularly interesting, though Snuka is at least sensible enough to base a lot of his offence around trying to hurt Funk’s neck. The end feels pretty anticlimactic, as Funk just gets to the top of the cage, manages to knock down Snuka then hangs from the top of the cage before dropping to the floor to win. Even with the advanced age of Snuka, you’d expect better from these two. My opening claim of “Some of this is very good” doesn’t seem accurate now.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 19/05/1986

This episode features matches from Toroto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, with a cool ramp to the ring adding a bit to the matches.

Adrian Adonis vs Danny Spivey

The early parts of this are all about Adonis’ selling. Even at this stage of his career, he takes a 360 spin from a Spivey shoulderblock and then comically stumbles from the ring. Spivey really brings the early parts down with a loooong headlock sequence. Hart and Spivey conspire to blow a trip spot. I like that neither guy is afraid to bump on the hard entrance ramp, but there seem to be a few communication issues – Spivey’s running bearhug didn’t look like a move he was going for. The end sees Spivey slam Adonis from the top rope, but Adonis rolls through into a cradle for the win.

Tiger Chung Lee vs Don Kolov

Bizarrely, I’ve only heard of Kolov for the first time today thanks to the Santino Marella “Where are they now?” WWE video, where he has the “Don Kolov Arena” as part of his training academy. This does nothing to further his legacy, as this is a jobber vs jobber match with neither guy doing anything to suggest they deserved a better spot on the card. Both guys get booed due to their foreign-sounding names, though Kolov is supposed to be the face. This is really slow, though Kolov shows a little fire on his comeback. Chung Lee gets the win with the move of the match, a nice jumping tombstone.

Bret Hart vs Jim Brunzell

This is the first of two “Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees” matches on this card. Being in Canada, Bret gets a minor pop and Brunzell actually comes off as a bit heelish as he smacks Bret’s leg into the ringpost. Bret takes over after breaking a figure four attempt with an eye poke, before working over Brunzell with a headlock spot. Unlike Spivey, Hart can actually make this spot interesting, allowing Brunzell to come close to breaking it, before a hair pull sends him back down again. Brunzell fires back with a shitty weak clothesline before pummelling Bret with some close punches to the face. Bret fires back and crotches him on the top rope….for a DQ? Terrible ending to a fun match.

Jim Neidhart vs B Brian Blair

This is worked as strength vs speed, with Blair frustrating Neidhart with his movement. Like the Bret match, Neidhart decides to work a long chinlock section, though not as cleverly. Also like the Bret match, a Killer Bee works a bit heelish and actually gets booed as he grinds Neidhart’s eyes over the top rope. Neidhart goes for a shoulder charge and Blair evades it with a sunset flip for the win. This was fine.

There’s a “classic” midget match shown, but it’s clipped and it’s shit, so we’ll skip past it.

Scott McGee vs Johnny K-9

This starts poorly with McGee working the arm in an uniteresting way, but it soon picks up with good effort from both guys. This is a nice contrast from Chung Lee/Kolov, as two lower card guys try and win over the crowd with their work. Liked K-9’s diving headbutt and I dug the strange chokeslam/STO type move McGee hits. McGee throws a string of nice uppercuts and hits a German suplex to win. This was short, but I liked both guys more coming out of it than going in.

Hoss & Jimmy Jack Funk vs George Wells & Lanny Poffo

My happiness at seeing a Funks match promised is instantly dissipated by the presence of Jimmy Jack instead of Terry. The faces frustrate the Funk team early, until Jimmy Jack knees Wells in the back during a criss-cross. Nice teaming by the Funks – even when Wells breaks a sleeper with a jawbreaker on Jimmy Jack, he’s still able to reach for the tag with his arm hooked around Wells’ neck. Poffo gets the hot tag and shows some nice energy, but he’s soon face in peril. Dory makes the most of the entrance ramp, suplexing Poffo outside from the apron, dropping him on the ramp in a form of brainbuster. Wells gets the hot tag, and shows nice strength, catching a Jimmy Jack crossbody into a backbreaker. However, he misses a corner splash, flying headfirst into the turnbuckle, and Jimmy Jack hits a powerslam for the win. Pretty decent stuff, though it’d still have been preferable to see Terry instead of the fake Funk. 

CHIKARA '77 (2004)

Darkness Crabtree vs Jolly Roger

Barely 4 minutes long, but still suffers from the usual problems that Crabtree matches always do: that being that the face has to look like an idiot whilst the deliberately slow Crabtree wanders through moves. Roger at least looks smooth in the opening segments and he does get the win with Walk The Plank, but this is skippable.

Crossbones vs Sabian

This is a pretty straightforward match, nothing special, but fine. Sabian has some nice stiffness to his offence, laying in some chops  and kicking Crossbones in the leg when he’s distracted heckling the crowd. Crossbones is a little clumsier, reversing a rana into a slightly awkward STF. Sabian is in control in the closing moments, but Mano Metallico (who is accompanying Crossbones to ringside) punches Sabian over the referees shoulder and Crossbones hits a brutal looking reverse piledriver to win.

Ultramantis Black vs DJ Skittlez

For two guys I’ve not been massively impressed with in the early days of CHIKARA, this was perfectly fine. Ultramantis adds a lot to the match, remaining just the right side of being irritating whilst shrieking and yelling throughout. He sells Skittlez’s chops hilariously. Liked Ultramantis setting up a hanging neck submission with a Rude Awakening. Skittlez still has awkward looking offence, barely reaching Black with a top rope clothesline. A short match ends with Skittlez sitting down on a sunset flip to win. Black’s improvement was starting to show here.

The Wildcards vs Mr Zero & Shane Storm

This is for the IWA: MS tag titles, that the Wildcards don’t seem to have with them despite being the champions. Zero looks in really good shape here, looking tough rather than just portly. Storm is the weak link of the match, attacking the Wildcards almost exclusively with armdrag variations, and he works the majority of the match (albeit as face-in-peril). The Wildcards are amusingly loud here, and I liked them taking control with a blind tag, Kingston kicking Storm in the face as he ducks a Marciano leapfrog. Kingston choking Storm with a towel as he runs the ropes looks nicely violent, almost like he was trying to pull his head off. Zero gets the hot tag, him and Storm nailing a sloppy looking double team cutter, before we get a melee of all four men in the ring. In all this, Storm gets popped with a loaded fist and rolled up with a handful of tights for the win.

Din Mak vs Matt Bomboy

These are two local guys and, whilst they’ve obviously worked together a few times, this was an enjoyable little match. Bomboy is confusing, he seems to be working a faux-MMA gimmick but decides to pop off a springboard armdrag as one of his first moves. Mak is a masked guy, and he’s got a few nice bits. Liked his stiff kick that blasts Bomboy and he hits a big apron legdrop from the top rope. Bomboy also has some stiff offence, but Mak’s comeback is frustrating as it just comes from nowhere. He’s getting beaten up, then decides he wants to go back on offence. Bomboy hits a final cut and pulls the ropes to get the win.

Gran Akuma vs Sharecropper

Sharecropper is pretty decent for a green guy, and he keeps up with Akuma pretty well here. He lays his stuff in nicely, doesn’t look lost at any point and has a nice reversal of a wheelbarrow into a face plant. He also adds nice little touches, like using his hand to cover the mouth of the masked Akuma during a pin attempt. Sharecropper is a tall guy, so it looks even more impressive when Akuma gets him up for a sitout powerbomb. An Akuma spinebuster looks a bit sloppy, before he gets a win with a decent top rope legdrop. This was solid.

Larry Sweeney, Hallowicked & Claudio Castagnoli vs Mike Quackenbush, Icarus & Jigaw

Fun, if inessential, main event. Enjoyed the early feeling out processes, as all six guys do some nice matwork and bits of one-upmanship. Things quicken a bit as the technico team go through a series of quick tags, working over the heel team with some fun double-and-triple teams. The heels bump and stooge about nicely (Sweeney sells an inverted atomic drop by demanding a timeout as Quackenbush has injured “my weenie”), with Hallowicked taking 2-3 nutty bumps in the space of a minute. The heels then isolate first Icarus and then Jigsaw, with a goofy triple team crossface on Icarus standing out. There’s a nice triple dive by the faces, though Hallowicked is horrifically out of place resulting in him awkwardly having to wander into place. Icarus doesn’t fare well on a split legged moonsault, first slipping on the ropes, then hitting it poorly, crashing mainly his legs into his opponent. The end is pretty nice and gives Jigsaw his revenge for the final of the Young Lions cup – Quack and Icarus lock abdominal stretches on Claudio and Hallowicked, allowing Jigsaw to nail the Jig’N’Tonic on Sweeney for the three. Nothing you’ll remember in a week, but an enjoyable way to pass time.

WWE Mae Young Classic: Road to the Final & the Final

Santana Garrett, Sarah Logan & Marti Belle vs Kay Lee Ray, Jazzy Gabert & Tessa Blanchard

Just a fun trios match, albeit one with the face/heel dynamic skewed. KLR and Blanchard are both heeling it up here, but Gabert is insanely over, with the crowd popping every time she gets in the ring. Belle gets the chance to atone for her wretched first round match and, though she hits a shitty flying headscissors on KLR, she generally looks better here than the Evers bout. She’s face-in-peril, so mainly has to sell, and she seems to be fine at that. Gabert is dangerous as soon as she enters the ring, plastering Belle with two backfists and a torture rack. Garrett finds herself in an odd position as the hot tag, hitting nice looking babyface offence whilst the audience only want Gabert to tear her apart. Really liked her forward rolling into a Last Chancery on Gabert. However, she gets caught on a crossbody on Gabert, before Jazzy muscles her into position and hits a dominator to win. Fun stuff, with everyone getting to look decent.

Kairi Sane vs Shayna Baszler

Both women do a great job of getting their characters across early, which is important in front of a large audience who may not know who you are. Baszler puts in a great performance here, both on offence and selling. Loved her early big boot to the head that sends Sane to the floor then perfectly  timing a second boot from the apron. She also works over the elbow of Sane in an attempt to prevent the big elbow drop. The big change in the match comes when Sane hits a big pounce, injuring the ribs of Baszler. Baszler sells this injury perfectly, and Sane uses this as a focal point for her attack. Unfortunately, this is the same time that Sane seemingly stops selling her arm injury. It’s most evident when she locks a body scissors on Shayna, using her bad arm to support her body weight to add more leverage. Liked Baszler countering the top rope diving forearm into the rear naked choke, which is successfully broken by Sane driving her elbows into Baszler’s ribs. Sane giving up on the arm selling is disappointing, but the finishing run is still fun. Loved Sane’s running elbow into the corner – Baszler instinctively covers her face, but Sane goes right into the injured ribs. The big elbow gets the three count for Sane. A good end to a really fun tournament.

Mid-South Wrestling 25/12/1981

Mike George & Carlos Zapata vs Rick Ferrera & Jerry Novak

George is only tagging with Zapata due to an injury to the JYD, and this is basically a handicap match. Like Novak trying a cheapshot by kneeing George as he runs the ropes, even if he’s a touch late. The heels tie George up in the ropes and beat on him, whilst his useless partner does nothing. Zapata does comes in and immediately gets sent to the floor, so George ends up whipping the two heels together and pinning Ferrera with a dropkick, with his partner hilariously passed out on the floor.

Paul Orndorff vs Brian Blair

These two guys have been the highlight of my Mid-South watching so far, so I was looking forward to this. Really enjoyed the opening matwork, which isn’t something I associate with Orndorff. They actually work a fun sequence based around Blair holding Orndorff in a headscissors.  Blair keeps up with Orndorff, until an O’Connor Roll sees Orndorff duck through the ropes and Blair eats the top rope right across his throat. Looked nasty. Blair is kept strong throughout – he blocks a figure four, then counters a suplex with one of his own. He locks in a figure four but Orndorff reverses it. Blair can’t make the ropes but won’t quit, so the ref calls it to give Orndorff the win. Really good match.

Ted DiBiase vs Mike Boyer

This wasn’t very good, pretty scrappy from the start. A powerslam on Boyer looks terrible before DiBiase wins with the figure four. Exceptionally skippable.

Bob Roop & Bob Orton Jr vs Mike Bond & Frank Monte

I anticipated this being a straight squash, but Bond and Monte are made to look pretty good. It takes Roop antagonizing Bond to distract the ref and allow a double-team on Monte. Even this doesn’t last long, as the faces get to control again before the heels take over in a lovely sequence: Bond and Orton work a criss-cross spot, and Roop gets a blind tag. Bond performs an O’Connor Roll on Orton, but Roop hits a knee drop to the back of his head during the pin, and Orton gets the win with a piledriver. Fun match, the heels lost nothing by keeping it competitive, winning due to their smarts.

Ed Wiskowski vs Tom Renesto Jr

Pretty solid squash, with Wiskowski just beating down Renesto piece by piece. Really loved him hitting a squash across Renesto’s shoulders as he was sat down. Backbreaker completes the easy win.

The Iron Sheik vs Don Serrano

Sheik jumps Serrano before the bell, but this lasts barely 30 seconds before Paul Ellering leaps in to beat up Sheik for an earlier sneak attack. Ellering hammers Sheik to end the show.

WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 8 (Semi Finals)

Mercedes Martinez vs Shayna Baszler

They play up the teacher/student relationship between Martinez and Baszler, and in keeping with that Baszler shakes hands with her opponent for the first time in the tournament. Tentative start, with both hesitant to commit, but it’s Martinez who draws first blood, reigning down chops, forearms and even throwing some feints on Baszler. She also misdirects Shayna before locking in a chinlock. When Baszler gets an opening, she hits a nasty looking strikes combo, throwing shots to different parts of the body (crucially including the knee) that Martinez can’t block. Loved Baszler’s rolling gutwrenches, showing off a bit of strength. They exchange strikes in the middle of the ring before Martinez is able to hit the Fisherman Buster. However, her knee has been broke down by the assault by Baszler and she can’t get over to cover in time. Martinez is able to hit a series of suplexes, but Baszler reverses another Fisherman Buster attempt into the choke to win.

Kairi Sane vs Toni Storm

Calling bullshit on the commentary claims that these two have never faced each other before, primarily because I saw them on opposing tag teams in London last year. Nice chain wrestling sequence to start, with Storm getting in one sharp blow to the right arm of Sane. Sane does these really fun sells of Storm’s uppercuts, as if she’s desperately trying not to show weakness by falling. Sane hits a big crossbody to the floor in an impressive moment. Storm avoids the Sliding D by getting feet up, again causing pain to the arm. Loved Sane countering the hip attack with a massive spear. First attempt at the big elbow is stopped by Storm getting a bridging muscle buster for two. More damage is done to the arm as Storm blocks the spinning backfist and pulls her down into a bridging armbar, which looks nasty. What I like is how the elbow injury is played. Sane knows her arm is injured, but also knows her elbow drop is her killshot, so she takes the risk to hit the top rope elbow and, when she does, it gets the win. Really good match.

WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 7 (Quarter Finals)

Abbey Laith vs Mercedes Martinez

As they lock up, it suddenly dawns on me that earlier this year I wrote up a match they had for AAW, which I really enjoyed. This wasn’t quite so go, mainly because it didn’t get as much time to develop, but it was still good. Probably the best Martinez has looked in the tournament, with little touches like her using Laith’s momentum to roll through an armbar into a pinning cradle. Loved her aggression early on, throwing some big shots in the corner. Laith is a likable face working from underneath, though her strikes seem less impactful than those of Martinez. Mercedes pretty much telegraphs a failed suplex from outside by having her arm under the top rope as she goes for it. Laith unsurprisingly reverses this into a nice German for 2. The end seems to come from nowhere and isn’t really built to, as Martinez rolls through the Alligator Clutch and hits a fisherman buster to win.

Candice LeRae vs Shayna Baszler

I came into the tournament unconvinced by LeRae, and she’s not really done anything to change that view. That said, this is her best showing in the tournament. Her suicide dive into a DDT on the outside looked great. Between that and the Yim dive in the second round, Baszler has ended up being a surprisingly good base for high flyers. LeRae goes for the Gargano Escape, but when she tries to roll through to keep Shayna from the ropes, the more experienced submission wrestler is able to escape easily. Candice goes for the 2^nd rope neckbreaker, but Baszler reverses into the choke for the win. Nice little sprint, again puts over the danger Baszler poses, being able to lock in her finisher from anywhere.

Piper Niven vs Toni Storm

Another match I’ve seen before, this time in a leisure centre in Mansfield. Kinda neat to see it taking place in a WWE ring. This is a really great match, possibly the match of the tournament thus far, despite the commentary not really telling the story of the match. The story, which both ladies show by their actions and expressions, is that they’re clearly close friends – Piper laughs off Storm stealing her “gentle punch to the chin” taunt and they work a fun knucklelock sequence ending with them shaking hands whilst bridging on their necks. This is vital for the next stage, where Storm is bridging again, having escaped another move, and Niven just thinks “Fuck it” and hits a big surprise splash for two. At this point, the tone changes and Niven blitzes Toni in an attempt to win. She nails two crossbodies and a senton, all getting two, before Toni is able to fight her way back into the match, avoiding a cannonball and hitting a hip attack in the corner. The Michinoku Driver gets 2 for Niven, and we see her frustration kicking in. She goes for a Vader Bomb, but Storm gets up and hits a second rope German suplex (also paying off her failed attempts to hit a German earlier in the match). A top rope legdrop gives her the win. Really great stuff.

Kairi Sane vs Dakota Kai

Another good match, with both ladies being similar in size and style. This is the first time Kai hasn’t been the smallest competitor in the match, so it was nice to see her in a role other than underdog. Loved Sane hitting a pounce from nowhere to catch Kai unawares. Kai’s curling running kick into the corner looks great every time. I enjoyed Sane avoiding the corner stomp by virtue of the tactic of “not holding herself up into position” before following it with a neat diving elbow strike from the top. Kai misses a second corner kick, and the Alabama Slam is followed by Sane’s top rope elbow to win.