November 2006

This was edited to about half of its 27-minute runtime, although the editing was pretty damn good because it felt fairly complete as it was (I'd never have guessed so much was clipped out before seeing the runtime in the post-match graphic). You can't really judge the whole match (or maybe there's a full version somewhere in which case you can if you bloody well want to), but the 14 minutes we got were really good and Yoshida still looked fucking awesome in 2006. It started with some real Battlartsy grappling and Yoshida dropping punches from the mount, waiting for Tamura to cover up before grabbing a nasty key lock. Again, there may have been lots of dodgy no-selling goi…

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WWE Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy vs Carlito - Cyber Sunday 2006 Nothing reminds me of how dreadfully dull the RAW midcard was in the mid-2000s than this match. I remember nothing about Carlito's working style, but this match certainly did not inspire me to learn more. He basically tried to snuggle to death. In addition to a very boring heat segment, the shine was terrible. They were just trading moves with absolutely no rhyme or reason. One would hit a move then the other would hit a move. No transition, no missed moves. It was just strange. Jeff Hardy hits a nasty front suplex. Swanton Bomb eats knees. Carlito hits a bunch of weak springboard moves. Carlito m…

WWE Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy vs Johnny Nitro - RAW 11/6/06 Do you remember Paris Hilton? Do you remember Kevin Federline? Man, mid-00s nostalgia in ten years is going to be so sad. My high school years were a cultural wasteland. Nitro starts with a hammerlock, Hardy does the Bret escape, good start here with Jeff doing the dropkick and then splash. Nitro uses a leverage move to send him into the buckle and then choking into the ropes. Melina hair pull. Some good heel work here. Hardy hits a sling blade. Did Tanahashi do it first or Hardy? Melina trips and the ref calls for a DQ. Eric Bischoff is BACK!??! What the HELL?!?! He makes it a No DQ. I know I …

Matsunaga was "good" at one point in terms of hardcore wrestling standards as W*ING's big draw but he's way, way past it now: he'd not even been working full-time for the last 8 years or so due to his knees blowing out Rey-style (again) being used mostly for novelty matches. Gone are the kicks, gone are the massive overkill matches. This was purely going to be good by his emoting and reputation rather than anything to do with fancy bumps. He gets in and is immediately hit with stiff punches by Mura, forcing him to leave again. He's annoyed enough that he immediately produces bladed weapons, of which Mura scoffs at him for using before beating his ass again lol. He does ge…

WWE Intercontinental Champion Johnny Nitro vs Jeff Hardy - RAW 11/13/06 By 2006 (probably earlier), the WWE booking is doing nobody any favors with this constant booking of this match. These two don't have Flair/Steamboat chemistry nor do they have the ability to build their matches off each other. I think Todd Grisham is on commentary and he is atrocious. I am glad he did not stick around. Johnny Nitro uses the hair to take Jeff Hardy down. You know what it is there is not a whole of fun in these matches. Nitro misses a splash and then Hardy hits a dropkick (new spot). Jeff is spot to use the ten count punches and then that dropkick. Way to go for Swanton early. Jeff…

This starts off with both guys feeling each other out with some technically sound yet rather dry grappling. PAC is the main offender here, he's a far cry from becoming the King Of The Cruiserweights that we all love today. Luckily, he more than makes up for this with his insane athleticism. The match's finishing stretch is very back and forth and a lot of the spots still hold up today as impressive. It's cool to see how a 2006 crowd reacted to a top rope reverse frankensteiner, something that we have become desensitizes to nowadays. A great showcase of what to expect from a PWG match. ★★★★

There was a ton of lead up and hype surrounding this match as Angle had come into TNA just the month before. Joe was undefeated for 18 months. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_madQBbghRk They fought this match like the really wanted to prove something. No run ins, cheapshots, or anything like that- just two athletes trying to establish their dominance. Joe trying to keep Kurt down and Kurt trying to show it didn't matter where he was, he was the best. This was really wrestled well for their first encounter. It gave room for the feud to grow but, certainly paid off the build up. Angle was bleeding throughout and it just added to that competitive intensity. Very e…

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