World of Sport Wrestling #3 11/08/2018

Grado vs Sha Samuels

Interesting how quickly Grado has fallen from the champion to being a comedy character. It’s arguably a role he’s better suited to, but it’s still a stark fall in just two weeks. Here’s he’s wearing a suit to show Stu Bennett that he can be a corporate champion. Samuels controls from the start, hurling Grado into the barricades. Grado finally gets a comeback by reversing a piledriver attempt on the ramp. Grado fires up, taking of his suit, and nailing Sha with the Dusty elbows. Corner splash and a cannonball both look good, and Grado catches Samuels with a diving cutter for the win. Pretty short, and the “corporate Grado” storyline was barely explored, but this was fine.

Martin Kirby vs Joe Hendry

This is a result of Kirby walking out on a tag team tournament match, leaving Hendry to take a beating. Bennett helpfully points out that Hendry should be much angrier, as he comes to the ring singing and smiling. Kirby bumps about early, stooging about by challenging (and losing to) Commonwealth games wrestler Hendry to a mat battle, before taking over with a dropkick. Kirby is lovely to watch in the ring, hitting a nice running backbreaker and a big spinebuster. Kirby misses the crabwalk elbow, and Hendry rolls through a crossbody with a fallaway slam in a really nice sequence. Kirby lands on his feet on a second attempt and nails a nice enzuigiri. Kirby feigns an injury after a Hendry ankle lock and gets the sneaky win with his foot on the ropes. This was good stuff.

BT Gunn & Stevie Boy vs Brad Slayer & CJ Banks

Nice to see the team of Gunn and Stevie wearing matching gear and facepaint to look more like a unit. Slightly odd to see Banks, who’s been firmly aligned with Rampage and Sha Samuels, here teaming with a guy we’ve not seen before. You’d think Banks and Samuels would be the more obvious team. The face team function really well here, lots of quick fluid tags and nice double-teaming. We get a brief heat worked on Stevie Boy, with Slayer looking a little basic on offence. He seems far more comfortable taking moves, as the faces quickly fire back. Gunn and Stevie nail a diving elbow Doomsday Device on Slayer for the win. Mainly a showcase for the faces, who looked terrific.

Gabriel Kidd vs Crater

This is Kidd’s “big opportunity” for winning the ladder match the previous week – 36 stone of Crater. Love Bennett’s big grin as the match is announced. This is one of those stupid angles where we’re supposed to feel outraged that the heel GM has forced a wrestler to face another wrestler, which is basically his job. I mean, Kidd won the ladder match the previous week, he’s not some feckless jobber, he’s already proven himself to be at least a competent wrestler. Alex Shane describing this as “the most disgusting act he’s ever seen from a wrestling executive” just rings hollow. Plus, Kidd does get a little offence – he nails some elbows to start and gets to break free of a Crater bear hug. He’s not getting destroyed, he’s just not as good as Crater. Crater nails an avalanche, a chokeslam and a splash to win.

Rampage vs Justin Sysum

This was pretty good stuff, felt like a big deal. Sysum is a big boy, but he’s also pretty agile, which gives him some openings here. Rampage hits him with some meaty blows, but Sysum backflips out of the corner and nails a nice high backdrop and a side slam. Rampage takes control after CJ Banks pushes Sysum off the top rope, and Rampage plants him with a big uranage. He continues the back offence, with some blows to the small of the back and a spinebuster. Sysum looks good on his comeback, nailing a big overhead suplex, before sending them both to the floor with a clothesline. However, CJ Banks is under the ring and he holds onto Sysum’s leg, causing him to get counted out. You knew that Sysum wouldn’t dethrone the champion so early, so the ending gives the story a reason to continue whilst keeping Sysum strong. Enjoyed this

Mae Young Classic 2018 - Round 2 #1

Toni Storm vs Hiroyo Matsumoto

So this episode kicks off with a cracker of a match. Loved the opening, evenly worked matwork being paid off by Matsumoto heeling it up by booting Storm in the stomach from a handshake. From there, Matsumoto controls Storm, breaking her down with a lovely missile dropkick and focusing on the back. Toni gets a lovely snap German suplex and a corner charge, but after both ladies build up momentum by running the ropes, it’s Matsumoto who takes advantage with a massive clothesline. Hiroyo hits the Vader Bomb kneedrop and shows great strength by muscling Storm up for the Rock Drop, but Toni makes the ropes. Matsumoto hits a pair of vicious clotheslines, but showboats too much, allowing Toni to reverse a third into a bridging cradle for three. Storm ate a lot of punishment here, so it made sense that her win would have to come from a reversal, and Matsumoto’s hubris came back to haunt her.

Rhea Ripley vs Kacy Catanzaro

There were bits of this I really dug, mainly the bits where Ripley’s raw power let her muscle Catanzaro around, but I’m still unconvinced by Kacy’s offence. I liked Rhea having enough awareness not to fully sell a glancing flying headscissors, stumbling but not going over. Kacy getting a small package when Ripley was too nonchalant going for a suplex made sense, looked like she really caught Ripley unaware. Ripley hits a neat low dropkick to Catanzaro’s face as she sits up and a great delayed vertical suplex, walking her around the ring. Rhea whips Catanzaro off the mat, through her legs, to lock in a neat cloverleaf variation. Kacy gets a small run off offence, fun tilt-a-whirl DDT and a nice twisting plancha, but her botching a springboard dropkick and just repeating the spot is a bit iffy. Ripley plants her with a sitout powerbomb for the win.

Taynara Conti vs Lacey Lane

I’m totally becoming a believer in Conti, thought she was excellent here. She’s believably cruel in her actions, loved her getting Lane off the ropes by a pair of nasty kicks to the hands. Lane has some flash, but Conti provided the meat of this match, with a big judo throw and a slam from the corner both looking great. Conti goes for the judo throw sideslam that won her the last match, but Lane reverses to a crucifix bomb for the win. This was brief, but fun.

Meiko Satomura vs Mercedes Martinez

This match had the potential to be excellent, and it massively achieved it and then some. Both women are portrayed pretty evenly, as two veterans and two of the top seeds in the tournament. Satomura sets the bar early, with a nice kick combo polished off with a big legsweep. Martinez slaps Satomura, before laying into her with a series of big strikes and a flurry of elbows to the head. At one point Satomura gets fired up and looks to be mounting a comeback, only for Martinez to crotch her on the top ropes and nail a swinging neckbreaker. Loved how Satomura’s comeback was worked, as she caught Mercedes unaware with an armbar, giving her the opening to then lay into her with some kicks. A pair of nasty looking DDTs followed, but Martinez blocks a Pele kick to nail a Fisherman Buster. This only gets a two count, and Martinez tries to lock in a surfboard. However, Satomura breaks it, and kicks Martinez as she tries to get up. The Scorpion Kick finishes it moments later. Really great hard-hitting stuff, with Satomura being just a little too quick and focused for Martinez.

WWE Mae Young Classic 2018 #4

Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Rachel Evers

Evers was one half of the worst match at last year’s Mae Young Classic, but thankfully this was a much better bout. The opening was fun, establishing this as a meeting of two powerhouses, as they jostle on a tie up and exchange clotheslines that don’t knock the other over. Matsumoto is terrific throughout, slipping quickly through the ropes to hit a necksnap and nailing a big, thudding missile dropkick. Her corner charge and Vader Bomb kneedrop looked absolutely vicious. Evers sold effectively, but some of her offence still looked bad. Her powerbomb had minimal height, an overly complex spinning legdrop from the corner was ill-advised and you only really notice how good Randy Orton makes the RKO look when you see someone else perform the same move badly. Her senton did look great, so that’s a plus. In the end though, Matsumoto powers her up with a deadlift powerbomb, before the Rock Drop gives her the victory. Good hard-hitting stuff.

Jessie Elaban vs Taynara Conti

Elaban’s gimmick seems pretty terrible, the latest wrestler who “just want to have fun”. It’s going to be interesting to see her on the main roster where, like on an episode of EastEnders, they like nothing more than putting happy-go-lucky character through demoralising hardships. Elaban nails Conti with a vicious looking back elbow, and is clearly a solid athlete, but this is very much Conti’s match. Her armwork looked plain nasty, wrenching a wristlock at a nasty angle. Conti scraping the ring rope between Elaban’s fingers looked horrible, just a cruel move to hit. Jessie gets a few low elevation dropkicks to comeback, but Conti hits a judo throw into a sideslam to win.

Isla Dawn vs Nicole Matthews

This was ok, though not without issues. Matthews made the mistake of debuting new gear here, which by her own Twitter admission wasn’t a good idea. She ends up spending a fair bit of time hitching up her trousers, which is distracting. Both hit some nice moves, though the match felt clunkily put together. Dawn hits a nice double stomp, Matthews viciously kicks Dawn as she’s stuck in the ropes and I dug her catching a boot and spinning her opponent into a back elbow. The end sees Matthews hit a big clotheslines to the gut, and a Liontamer gets the tap. Hopefully Matthews will shine more in round two.

Io Shirai vs Xia Brookside

Really well put together match, which let Brookside look good despite losing in less than four minutes. Xia takes the match to Shirai early, but Io lands on her feet on a flying headscissors and catching a Brookside forearm into a crossface. Just smoothly done, makes Xia look spirited but Shirai just that much better. Brookside eats running knees in the corner nicely, before a Shirai moonsault, with Io’s legs crashing into Brookside’s stomach, gets the three. A nice taster of what Shirai has to offer.

WCCW Star Wars 1981

As a sucker for WCCW, and more specifically the von Erichs, this show appearing as a Hidden Gem on the WWE Network was a real treat. 

Mil Mascaras vs Killer Tim Brooks

This kicks off with a bang, Mascaras hitting a flying chop to send Brooks to the floor. They work a nice battle over a test of strength, with Brooks heeling it up, sending Mil to the mat by pulling the mask and working a top wristlock. Brooks has little moments where he acts like a face, shaking hands when both men get back to their feet, but then digging in with cheap shots and little short punches to the head. Mil gets a neat headscissors from a test of strength that looks great. Brooks takes a big bump, flying over the top into the ring post on a corner charge, before Mascaras gets the win with a top rope crossbody. Good stuff

Fritz von Erich vs the Great Kabuki

I’m a sucker for Fritz matches, probably the biggest gap between “shitty human being” and “wrestler I really like watching”. There’s a nice contrast between the two, as they both play it cautiously to start. Kabuki is all weird gestures and oddness, whereas Fritz is just a fighter, plain and simple. Both give the vibe that one good shot will give them control, and that makes their caution more effective. Fritz misses a big punch, and Kabuki takes advantage with kicks and stomps. Kabuki bites Fritz on the mat, but this lets Fritz take his own opening and apply a stomach claw. There’s also a lovely spot where Kabuki applies a nerve claw with both hands under Fritz’s left arm, but this leaves the right hand free to apply a claw with nothing to defend against it. They really make this work with very little offence, with everything feeling important. Gary Hart gets involved from ringside, grabbing von Erich’s leg (and drawing a fan from ringside to attack Hart) and this in turn draws out David von Erich to attack Kabuki. A dropkick and a backdrop, and Fritz gets the win. Fritz needing his son to win the match for him feels a bit off, and Kabuki losing to a backdrop doesn’t help, but this was nicely worked.

Kerry von Erich vs Harley Race

This is for Race’s NWA title, and Race really puts Kerry over here. It’s mentioned that Kerry beat Race in a non-title match with a sleeper, and it makes it a big deal when he reverses an early vertical suplex into a sleeper. Race looks to be out before Race takes advantage of the ref positioning to hit a low blow and break the hold. Race really sells the effects of the move, looking dazed and hitting a diving headbutt in part because it only involves falling. KvE is all fire and energy, and Race is only able to get his control spots due to his savvy. He breaks pinfalls by knowing he’s near the ropes and getting his foot in place, and he avoids Kerry’s elbow drops to give himself more time. However, Kerry is so energised that he’s able to rebound, thwarting Race from being in control too long. We get the two fighting outside, with von Erich locking on the claw. A ref bump gives Kerry a visual pin to keep him looking strong, before they head back outside. Race slams Kerry on a table, but misses a diving headbutt from the apron (a bump that has to suck, but it’s the opposite side to the hard camera, so it’s missed by the TV audience) and we get a double countout, Race grabbing Kerry’s leg to stop him getting back in.

David & Kerry von Erich vs Hercules Ayala & Ali Mustafa

This is for the heels’ NWA tag titles. This was really great, the von Erich boys looked terrific and the heels played their roles excellently. Mustafa in particular is a sneaky dickbag, breaking pinfalls, getting cheapshots and stomping Kevin behind the ref’s back. Kevin is explosive, hitting a sudden slam and a big elbow right from the bell. Nice von Erich double team, with David elevating Kevin into a splash on Ayala. Even as face-in-peril, Kevin is all motion, trying to scurry to his corner and forcing Mustafa to stay on his toes to block the tag. The faces do get a lot of tags in this match, but find it hard to maintain control as the heels keep cutting them off. We get a few melees, with all four men brawling. Nice spot with Mustafa hitting a slingshot into a big Ayala forearm, and it gets paid off with the finish, as he sets up a slingshot on David, who battles and hold him bent in place to allow a top rope sunset flip from Kevin for the victory. Great match, huge post match celebrations make this feel like a big deal.

Battle Royal

Big names here include Bruiser Brody, Jose Lothario, Ayala, Mustafa, Tim Brooks and a bunch of filler. I’m a sucker for a battle royal, but they’re a pain to recap. Mustafa and Ayala don’t spend as much time teaming up as you’d expect them to do. With pinfalls and submissions allowed, we get a few dogpile pinfalls, which is always a neat spot. We get down to Mustafa and Brooks against Brody, which makes the winner pretty obvious. Ali holds Brody in place, but he ducks and Brooks sends both himself and Mustafa to the floor to give Brody the win. Sub ten minute match, pointless but painless.

Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode #3

Kaitlyn vs Kavita Devi

This felt like it veered between really good bits and being very amateur. At times, Devi looked pretty lost, and there were awkward transitions where neither looked like they were sure what to do next. On the positive, Kaitlyn really whipped Devi over with a snapmere, hit a really nice shoulderblock and flew into the corner on a cannonball. It wasn’t a pretty match, but was quite nicely hard-hitting. Kaitlyn won with a spear.

Toni Storm vs Jinny

This was comfortably match of the episode, both ladies worked a nice competitive opening and gave a real air of aggression. Jinny slapping Storm feels like a mistake, as it prompts Storm to fire back, with Jinny taking a big bump from a Storm kick. Jinny comes back with a nasty kick to the spine, and I loved her Japanese armdrag into the corner. She locked in a surfboard that looked absolutely vicious, and it felt like Toni really had to battle to make the ropes. Eventually, she does escape, planting Jinny with a German suplex, charging her in the corner and hitting a Tiger Driver to win. Great stuff here.

Xia Li vs Karen Q

Li really impressed in last years tournament, and she looked like the extras year’s experience had helped continue her progress. The opening exchange, where both girls went for each other with some martial arts, really popped the crowd by being so different. Q slapped Li in the face, and at a monstrous barrage of strikes in the corner. This was briskly paced, with Q hitting a lovely back elbow and an exploder to take over, Li firing back with a nice range of kicks, before Q missed a frog splash, giving Li an opening for a flipping ax kick for three. Only 4 minutes long, but I really enjoyed this.

Mia Yim vs Allysin Kay

Bit of a disappointment here, both ladies have big reputations and are experienced working together, but this felt like they were just throwing things out there with no rhyme or reason. There’s a poor opening scuffle supposed to indicate animosity between the two, but the hatred never feels that real. There’s some nice wrestling, loved Yim’s big kick from the apron and her suicide dive, but then you get the moment like Yim violently chopping the post by accident that never goes anywhere, and you wonder what the point of that was. Kay taking over and choking Yim with her hair was nicely done, and she does nail a lovely discus clothesline, but then there’s a strike exchange that almost feels like a reset. Yim gets the win in the end with a top rope Eat Defeat, but I didn’t love this.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling 30/06/1986

Pedro Morales vs Bob Orton

Solid match, though neither guy feels like they’re really stretching themselves. Orton is on the defence early, with a big goofy sell of a slam and of an atomic drop. A good chunk of this match is built around punches, but luckily both guys have neat looking strikes. Orton sends Morales to the floor with a lovely flurry and slams him onto the concrete. Morales shows some fire when he fires back with a nice range of punches himself. Orton tries to suplex Morales to the floor, but settles for crotching him on the top rope instead, drawing the DQ. Nothing bout, but enjoyable enough.

Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik vs Danny Spivey & Corporal Kirschner

This was a very poor bout. Crucially, Kirschner is really bad here, looking really lost in the opening matwork. Sheik would take him down, then just roll over to try and give the impression that Kirschner had reversed it. They heels work the heat on Corporal with Spivey yet to get in the ring. It’s a brief heat, though they force in a false tag in those few minutes. Spivey gets tagged in, not exactly a house of fire and is soon locked in a really poor abdominal stretch by the Sheik. It’s so bad that both Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Al call him out on how bad it looks. Sheik does hit a cracking gutwrench suplex moments later, so it’s not all bad. Kirschner gets tagged back in, looking barely trained with some awkward bumping, before Sheik “loads the boot” and gets the pin following a kick to the gut (with Kirschner selling it with a front flip bump, fair play for that). Terrible stuff.

Hercules vs George Wells

On the other hand, this goes less than 5 minutes and is really great. Herc keeps it simple, but his punches look crisp and he hits some great driven knee drops. Just nice connection. Herc goes up top, and Wells catches a crossbody and nails a backbreaker. He immediately misses a corner splash and Herc drives a forearm into his face for the win. Good, simple stuff, executed really well, with one super impressive strength spot by Wells midway through.

Bret Hart vs Jim Brunzell

Delightfully, this is really neat too. Bret reverses an early wristlock to a headlock by yanking the hair, then really works the hold, keeping it locked in despite getting whipped to the ropes. Brunzell starts working the arm, yanking it on the mat whilst forcing Bret’s head away with his boot. Bret turns the tide with a lovely knee to the gut, and proceeds to wear Brunzell down by wearing down the torso, nailing headbutts and boots. Lovely spot where Bret ties Brunzell in the ropes and charges, but Brunzell escapes and Bret gets tangled up at extreme speed. Brunzell bites Bret’s nose, returning a move from Bret earlier, and gets a great nearfall off an O’Connor roll. Brunzell gets the win with a sudden backslide. Really good stuff.

King Kong Bundy vs Hillbilly Jim

Very brief match, but nothing much to complain about. Two big lads hitting hard-hitting, yet unrefined bombs. Hillbilly avoids what looks to be an unlikely Bundy dropkick early doors, but meets boots in the corner. They do some shtick where Bundy won’t let Jim back into the ring, before Jim gets the boots up on an avalanche. Jim gets a few moves in, but makes the mistake of trying to whip Bundy into the corner. Of course, he reverses it and nails the Avalanche, then hits a huge splash for the win.

Sivi Afi vs Ron Shaw

This puts an end to the “really good stuff” run, though I kind of liked Shaw here. Big goofy looking guy, but he moved well, looked athletic on a leapfrog and nailed a big jumping knee. His back breaker was pretty soft though. Afi doesn’t do much here, few headbutts and a lot of armbars held from armdrags, before a top rope crossbody gets the win. Meh.

Big John Studd vs Paul Orndorff

Orndorff is wearing a protective cast on his right arm, which features prominently in this match. Studd is sluggish, but Orndorff is fired up and works around the fact you can’t do much with Big John by milking the most from every shot he hits. Studd catches him on a crossbody and roughly slams him in the corner, but then bizarrely goes to the top rope, predictably eating a cast shot to the stomach on his way down. Studd hits a sloppy looking atomic drop and telegraphs Orndorff skinning the cat by clearly talking to him and gingerly throwing him over the top rope. Orndorff hits Studd with a flurry of neat shots and nails him off the top with his cast, but Heenan comes in to break up a bodyslam, earning the DQ win for Orndorff. Great performance by Mr Wonderful.

WWE Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode #2

Deonna Purrazzo vs Priscilla Kelly

This is the best match of the episode, thought it put over Deonna well whilst still letting Kelly stand out. Purrazzo bamboozles Kelly early on, throwing in a few WoS spots to confuse her, before Kelly takes over with a big boot. Really liked Kelly’s Dragon Sleeper, she really worked the hold to make it look like an attempt at a submission. There’s a slightly shaky bump for a phantom hiptoss, but this is good stuff on the whole. Loved the ending, as Purrazzo snaps her down with a quick Side Russian Legsweep and quickly chains to a Fujiwara armbar for the tap.

Zeuxis vs Aerial Monroe

This felt like the two weren’t really on the same page. The opening seems especially awkward, with nothing looking like it was really connecting. I liked Zeuxis really heeling it up by responding to Monroe’s angry “Don’t touch the hair” by almost exclusively doing hair-based offence. Hair throws across the ring, an abdominal stretch where she grabs the hair, just hilariously dickish. She also locks in a Camel Clutch where she just rips at Monroe’s face. A Zeuxis roll up looks really ungraceful before Monroe comes back with a sliding flatliner and some nice strikes in the corner, but Zeuxis hurls her to the top rope on a corner charge and hits a Spanish Fly for the win. Zeuxis’ heeling was the best thing about this match, a lot of sloppy offence.

Reina Gonzalez vs Kacy Catanzaro

Really big size difference here, with Gonzalez being billed as 1 foot and 100lbs bigger. Thought some of Gonzalez’s power offence was really good here, loved her spinning Catanzaro round in a front facelock and she hit a few big slams along the way. Also loved her really flattening Catanzaro with a big elbow. Catanzaro is obviously a tremendous athlete and showed a lot of potential, but she was also very green in places. Her kicks looked a bit milky and her offence looked unconvincing at times. Needed to lay it in a bit more, but the potential is obvious. Great visual with Gonzalez bending Catanzaro over her knee with a backbreaker, made Gonzalez look like a monster. Kacy gets the win after a neat springboard dropkick (going from the apron to the second rope inside the ring in one move) and a victory roll.

Ashley Rayne vs Mercedes Martinez

This was the biggest disappointment to me as I like both women, and thought this had the potential to be a good bout, but it was pretty underwhelming. They work it pretty evenly until Martinez absolutely plants Rayne with a cradle driver in what should absolutely have been the match finish. Rayne is back on offence not long after that, which really undersells the move. Martinez reverses a Rayne tornado DDT to a long delayed vertical suplex, but she tries another straight away and Rayne casually slips out, so I guess it didn’t hurt too much. Rayne’s offence didn’t look particularly convincing at first, but she starts to sink it in more as the match progresses. Martinez’s offence on the other hand looks good throughout, and she just plants Rayne with a spinebuster. We get a few more clunky looking moves and reversals before Martinez finally hits a Fisherman Buster for the win.