Phil Schneider

Man am I steamed Sano only worked three matches for PWFG as he is fucking gold again. This goes to a draw which keeps it a little below the sublime Sano v. Shamrock match on the second show, but it was incredible. The counters in this were faster then in the Shamrock match, but it was paced similar. Suzuki was the one brining the pro wrestling here, as he breaks out a nasty piledriver and even tries a dropkick. The dropkick spot was great as he threw it and Sano steps away contemptuously, Suzuki lands bounces up and hit a brutal jumping spin kick into Sano's grill. Suzuki was great here, as he is awesome as a fired up babyface, there is a point where is trying to get a cross armbreaker and he is just chopping at Sano's arm and kicking him in the head in a frenzy to try to get Sano to break his grip. There is a great spot where Sano has on a choke, and Suzuki is slapping his own face to keep himself awake. I loved the draw finish too, as both guys have kneebars on each other and are just twisting the ankles in desperation to try to get the submission before the bell. I clearly need to get more UWFI Sano, as he is truly brilliant in all of his PWFG matches, and I want more shootstyle Sano.

This is worked technico v. technico and is a pretty sweet version of that classic lucha formula. We get a first fall of indvidual matchups, all of them were solid, with the highlight being the Super Porky v. Popitekus battle of the Rhino's. They smash into each other and it looks like a compact car crash. 1991 may have been the point where Porky's fatness intersected with his agility perfectly, and you could tell he was inspired to match up with fellow elephantine highflyer Popitekus The second fall mixes up the match ups and ends with one of the greatest dive trains in wrestling history, Super Astro leads it off with his crazy somersault senton, then we get topes from El Brazo, Dandy, and Brazo De Oro, each one knocking the receiver into the seats, then Popitekus unloads a tope which looked like Superman threw a couch at a group of robbers. Then to finish it off, Porky hits a plancha which felt like Superman added the refrigerator. The third fall was fun although anything would have a hard time following up that train. Porky's silla to win the match was a sight to see though, can you imagine the smell?

Damn was this a blast. This was worked as a mat brawl, both guys were exchanging really nasty shots mostly on the mat. Short punches to the temple by Wilkins, almost JYDish seated headbutts by Fujiwara, Wilkins kind of leaping from a lying position into a knee on Fujiwara's throat. Fujiwara was almost working heel here, as he slaps on a kneebar and lays out in a supine lounging position with his head resting on his elbow, he almost looks like he is stifling a yawn. Wilkins is great, he has nice deadlift suplexes and takes Fujiwara's signature boston crab reversal as a dangerous neck bump. Is their any other shoot Wilkins out there? Did he work Kingdom or something?

I was pretty much in shock during this match, I couldn't believe what I was watching. I have never particularly cared for a thing Ken Shamrock has ever done, so I expected nothing out of this match, and it turned out to be as good as anything on the 80's Other Japan set. So much to love about this match, as they pretty much went back and forth from spectacular mat exchanges into awesome slugfest strike exchanges, great takedowns, into more spectacular mat exchanges.__The pacing of this was great, I especially loved how they paced their mat highspots. One guy would get in position and struggle a bit, and their would be a lull, and then super fast move into a choke or a kneebar. The crowd would pop huge for all of the mat spots, and it was the pacing of them which would really do it. Then after the mat near falls they would stand and just lay into each other with big shots, Shamrock's strikes looked way better here then in the previous match, and Sano was drilling him too. This was before Sano went to UWFI so I would guess this was his first shootstyle match ever, and he was a master of it. This was Sano's match, and while Shamrock was game, you could tell Sano was leading him. I also loved how Sano mixed in pro moves, as I actually bought an STF as a shoot submission, and a DDT as a shoot throw. I have never heard anyone even mention this match before and it is a total hidden classic.

Steve Regal v. Terry Rudge CWA 10/7/88 Total hidden gem, sort of a dream match you didn't know you dreamt about. Rudge is a gritty British veteran very much in the vein of Finlay, Taylor and Regal. I imagine he could have been an awesome 3rd Blue Blood. Opening part of the match is Rudge working a nasty headlock which Regal works his way out and puts on a top wrist lock. That doesn't sound that exciting, but these are a pair of guys who know how to put on a headlock and wrist lock. Rudge gets more and more brutal laying in a beating worthy of Regal himself, he absolutely root canals Regal with some uppercuts, along with short headbutts and thumbs to the eyes. There was this amazing moment where Rudge puts on a hammerlock and with Regal's arm trapped, Rudge unloads on his rib cage. Regal fires back too, although he was more of an overwhelmed babyface showing grit and fire. It is a role I haven't seen much of and one he is great at. A hell of a match and something pretty awesome to show up in my youtube feed.

Masaji Aoyagi/Terry Funk/Great Kabuki v. Leatherface/Metalface/Freddie Kruger IWA 1998-GREAT Cool discovery, this is a HH from IWA and the kind of fun wild brawl you would expect from this group of guys. Not sure who was playing Leatheface but he was the highlight of the Monster team, pinballing around the ring for the babyface team including making Kabuki look like a killer, and taking big bumps into chairs. Aoyagi is a bit of a minor player in the match, but he definitely brings the violence whenever he tags in. Of course Terry Funk was great, it pretty much goes without saying, and if you can't enjoy Terry Funk recklessly throwing chairs at movie monsters, you should probably get a different hobby.

Rey should just move to Mexico and work Maestro matches with Negro Navarro and Solar, he could work another 30 years

Cena match

I need too see the 1990s stuff, but I will go with his Sabu match

Throw a third vote for the 8/30/95 Kansai match. And go with Necro Butcher. I will say his Super Dragon match from PWG

Hashimoto v. Fujiwara

What did he say?

Pretty sure he was in wcw briefly. Pretty sure he had a nitro match with juvi

Yeah Brian Christopher is a great wrestler. Hell he was awesome the couple of times he showed up in 2012

Too bad that would have been a fun 80's set match

Is this from the 80's or 90s?

Abdullah The Butcher v. Carlos Colon - 1991 Man this was fucking awesome, reminded me of a Moondogs brawl, except Abby is even crazier looking then a moondog. Also love the atmosphere of Puerto Rican stadium shows, they are like Roman Coliseums.

Awesome long title match. Never watched much Invader but he had some fun legwork and other offense. Embry is really great here too, eating Invaders stuff really well, selling great. A little one sided as Invader takes 80% but Embry is great as a guy being steamrolled. He hits this awesome little sneak pliedriver to take over, and does one of the nastiest missed headbutts I have ever seen. Finish is really great too. Slam dunk Nomination

I am down if I am not doing wedding shit (which I am always doing)

He can dunk a basketball

Henry has to be one of the top 4 or 5 pure athletes to ever compete in pro-wrestling.

Was this on RAW ? I don't have recollection of Goldust feuding with Lawler at any point. What was the context of this ? Was that a KOTR qualifying match or something ? I think it was a KOTR qualifier. Match is here. Well worth watching http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6crw2_go...t?search_algo=2

Jerry Lawler v. Goldust WWF 5/26/97-EPIC We start with Lawler spitting hot fire in a backstage promo. He calls Goldust a flaming fag, Marlena the biggest Goldigger in GA and says they should have named their daughter Target because everyone in Atlanta took a shot. Goldust jumps him at the bell and they go toe to to at a breakneck pace. The rights and lefts are as good as you would hope a Dustin v. Lawler punch exchange would be. The show was in Evansville IN, so Lawler get a huge crowd reaction even as a heel, including a Lawler chant as he was choking Dustin. Lawler gets bumped to the floor and bitch slapped by Marlena but he steals a quick pin with his feet on the ropes. Post match was great too, with them brawling to the stage and Lawler taking a huge rolling bump all the way down the ramp. Total bell to bell brawl in which every moment was great. Really makes me want to seek out more Goldust matches here, as this was brawling at the level of his best stuff with Buck and Funk. Jerry Lawler/Chris Michaels v. Bull Pain/Todd Morton XCW-Midwest 8/9/08-EPIC This is a match I had big expectations going into, and it totally exceeded them. Morton and Pain are a tremendous tag team, they take huge bumps, really violent offense, great at cutting off the ring, pretty much everything you want from a Southern Heel tag team. Morton really looks like one of the top 10 wrestlers in the world, his stuff is so crisp and athletic for a guy who has to be in his mid 40s, and his bumping is crazy. Usually in a tag match like this your big indy legend will hang around the ring apron and come in for a spot or two at the end, Lawler however worked about 70% of the match, bumping around the heels early, taking a big beating (including a ring post bump which is as good as the best post bumps on the Memphis set) and delivering the big comeback. Michaels looked good in his spots, but this was a Lawler showcase and it was awesome. Finish totally ruled with your big revenge spot by the crutch wearing Tony Falk son at ringside, and a Lawler Fireball. Hit up XCW Myspace and pick this up. Jerry Lawler v. Tommy Dreamer NEW 1/15/11-EPIC This is a steel cage match billed as the final battle between Lawler and Dreamer (apparently a gimmick Lawler does a lot). Lawler starts out by giving a great promo, talking about how people always ask him if he really hates the people he wrestles. He says that most of them are just like the folks you all work with, some you like, some you don't, but he has only really despised a couple of people. One is Terry Funk, one is Michael Cole and the final guy is Tommy Dreamer. Just an awesome way to put over this match, really got me excited to see what these guys were going to do to each other. They do one of those cool Lawler deliberate starts with both guys landing a single big punch early, testing the mettle of their opponent. We get some Dreamer ECW style crowd brawling, which Lawler does fine with, before we get back into the cage for the big end run. Both guys miss second rope moves onto chairs, both guys take big nut shots. Dreamer hits a piledriver, with Lawler putting his foot on the rope. Lawler attaches Dreamer to the cage with a bolt tie and laces him with a kendo stick. Just a lot of great brawling. We get a classic ending with Dreamer about to blast Lawler with a chair, before Lawler goes back in the day and lights his ass up. Jerry Lawler/Brian Christopher v. Bill Dundee/Jamie Dundee 3/2/11-EPIC Man alive was this great. The best of your 2011 Lawler indy run. Everyone looked great, especially Jamie Dundee who was completely off the charts here. His offense looked great, he was taking big in ring bumps and he is still awesome at being a skeezy dirtbag. There is a point where Bill is working with Christopher and Jamie is on the outside doing jumping jacks and deep knee bends, I wanted to leap through my computer and punch him in the face. Lawler looked great too, he didn't take the bumps he has been taking in other matches, as most of the heat was on Christopher, but his offense was Jerry Lawler offense. Nothing I enjoy more then watching Bill Dundee and Jerry Lawler slug it out, they do kind of a quick exchange of punches early, then have another awesome exchange later in the match, where each guy was dropping the other with bigger shots. Christopher was fine as the face in peril, and I really enjoyed the goofball finish ending in a Dutch Mantel run in to count the pin. Lawler did have to hold Jamie down for a long time, Dutch can't run as fast as he used to. If you are on this blog, reading this review, you will enjoy this match. Jerry Lawler v. Terry Funk NEW 10/1/11-EPIC Man I should have made it to Poughkeepsie. No reason a match between two 60 year old men should have been this crazy, but man alive it was. We start with Terry getting on the microphone to pray for all the wrestlers who have passed, I have seen Funk do this spot a bunch of times and I just giggle every time he smacks his opponent with the mike. After cracking the King he chucks Lawler to the floor with Jerry just taking a nutty bump, he also gets posted and smashed into the guard rail and a table. This is less then a week after Lawler got smashed through an ungimmicked table by Henry and also 62 years after his birth and he is just dying. Funk takes some goofy bumps too, including a bunch of chair shots. Both guys unload their epic punches, Funk wanders around with a chair on his head, screams about his eye and rips the pants off Ref Hansen. No strap drop, no piledrivers, but a wild out of control spectacle of a brawl, and you couldn't ask for much more. Jerry Lawler/Brian Christopher v. Precious/Derrick King WFW 6/2/12-EPIC Derrick King travels the south ruling it at professional wrestling. He is a master at the old school Memphis style wrestling match, and here he is working opposite Brian Christopher and the GOAT Jerry Lawler and it is awesome. Precious is a black guy working a purple wigged exotico gimmick, and is a fun stooge with pretty good punches. Christopher looked good too, although the money stuff was obviously Lawler v. King. They square off early with King taking a Rock level crazy bump on a stunner. They have a longer section in the end which feels like a classic Lawler v. Dundee style matchup. DK is throwing hands and Lawler gets fired up right back. Finish is pretty great with Precious smashing Christopher with a not in 2012 chair shot. A contender for MMOTY, Memphis MOTY. ER: I think this is a legit contender for MOTY, not just Memphis MOTY. This may be the best Brian Christopher match ever (this or the '93 Jarrett match), the Lawler/King segments are somehow even better in practice than you would assume they'd be on paper. One of their jab exchanges was one of the greatest punch exchanges I have ever seen. Every person in the match has a battle to see who can take a better looking backdrop. Precious wrestles exactly how Vicki Lawrence wrestled in the Mama's Family wrestling episode, but with better punches. This match is just awesome, amazing stuff

10. Jerry Lawler vs. Randy Savage (Loser Leaves Town) 6/3/85 Lawler and Savage had a great rivalry over the years, but this is clearly the pinnacle of their feud. This was the second run of the Lawler v. Savage feud, Savage came in as an invader from ICW, turned face and then turned heel again and this was the final battle, with the Loser Leaving Town. The match starts with a classic Memphis slow burn. Lawler starts by pot shotting Macho, with Savage getting more and more frustrated, even breaking out the peekaboo Boxing stance. Savage starts prowling around the ring like a leopard, jumping out to jaw at the fans, throwing chairs into the ring, overturn ring stantions. At his best Savage may have been the greatest short fuse wrestler ever. You really got the sense he might snap and start beating fans or pistol whipping Bill Dundee with his own gun. We unfortunately get a clip and the story of the match kicks in, with Savage bumping Lawler off of ring apron face first into the thick wooden Memphis table. Lawler is one of the great bumpers in wrestling history, and this was a great bump. He opens a cut over his eye and Savage launches a vicious attack on the wound. Biting it, slamming Lawler into the post, unloading with shot after shot. Then you have a truly classic wrestling finish. The referee stops the bout due to the seriousness of the cut over Lawler's eye, with Lance Russell talking about how Lawler might lose the eye. The King crawls over to the house microphone to get the Mid South Coliseum to beg the ref to restart it. By the time Tom Renesto orders the match restarted the crowd is apoplectic. We then get arguable the greatest strap drop Lawler has ever done, as he just rapid fire assaults Savage with punches, two fistdrops and a piledriver for the win. It really felt like the absolute last burst of energy he had, if he didn't beat him with that flurry, he was done. I normally don't like quick finishes after restarts, but it really worked for me here. The fact that this just barely made the top 10 is a real statement to the quality of Memphis wrestling in the 1980's. What a match. Jerry Lawler/Bill Dundee v. Original Midnight Express AWA 10/30/87-EPIC PAS: This is for the AWA tag belts and is a match which on paper looks really awesome, but especially in the 80’s on paper matches were often pretty disappointing. This however was even better then it looked on paper. Lawler and Dundee are a great tag team, we all know what great individual wrestlers they are, and how well they match up against each other, but they also have great face tag team shtick. Their opening babyface in control section was just full of great stuff. I especially loved the variations on the partner blocks the Irish whip into the corner, also this was a punch marks dream match with both Lawler and Dundee breaking out tons of different combos. I especially loved the running left hook by Dundee. OMX were a lot fun in this too, especially Randy Rose who looked Eaton great in this, he takes a huge high backdrop, and has a bunch of fun offense. Slim Paul E. with his sport coat with rolled up sleeves throws in the phone and the OMX win the belts. I liked this more then any of the Rose/Somers v. Midnight Rockers matches and this was fucking with the high end Rock and Rolls v. Midnights matches. TKG: Man this was fun. A lot of faces do stuff effectively, heels try same spots only to have the backfire. If you’ve seen the Memphis doc on youtube, you may remember the Hector Guerrero vs. Lawler spot where Hector puts Lawler across top rope and then kicks at him…Lawler tries same spot and Hector gets out of way. Lawler does same spot with Rose but with Lawler working face this time out. Lawler is caught with knee in corner and ends up face in peril eating a punch with a big bump to floor and then taking body slam on the floor running powerslam from Rose, etc. Dundee is all over the place as guy on apron…running after Heyman on the floor. Holding back heel from making tag while waiting for Lawler’s attempt to make hot tag etc. But really this match is about the early face in control section with the two faces just laying in punches and clotheslines..with Randy Rose just running head first into the fists and lariats. Dundee does a top rope knee drop with refs back turned. I don’t know what the top rope rule was at the time but ref turns around and really can’t figure out what’s going on as Lawler and Dundee switch off going for two counts on Rose before ref can figure out who is the legal man. I don’t know if it was a stunt granny but there is also a nun in the front row who punches at the air with every face punch and gets absolutely irate at all the heel cheating. I have no idea why I haven’t heard this match pimped before. Jerry Lawler v. Eric Embry USWA 9/8/89-EPIC This is pretty much your quintessential heel Jerry Lawler match, everything that makes him great is on display here. He is invading Texas against their hometown hero Eric Embry and he won't be satisfied until every person in the crowd wants him dead. He gets on the microphone early and tells the crowd if they get too loud he will win because of excessive noise, which is just a perfect way to get the crowd to scream at him. All the early exchanges were great, especially Embry's enzigiri, Lawler is just such a smirking douchebag holding Embry's leg and he just gets obliterated by the kick. Lawler grabs a towel from ringside, and is excellent at choking Embry with the towel behind the refs back. Embry is great at wheezing and coughing and Percy is spectacular with his exasperated fury at Lawler. The dropped strap comeback by Embry is awesome and the closest you will get to heel Lawler wrestling face Lawler. I also love Embry pulling out the foreign object, I love when guys turn face but still keep their bag of tricks to pull out if they have to. Finish was executed a little poorly, but Lawler is great as cheating bastard who never gets his comeuppance.

5. Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (No DQ) 3/22/82 I just adore this match up. Mantell v. Lawler is maybe the grittiest most violent feud of the entire decade. Everything they did felt like a bloody boxing match in a seedy Tijiuana arena. The early part of the match has Lawler on the attack quick. Lance Russell drops the classic "Lawler is normally a slow starter" talking point. I am not sure I have ever actually seen Lawler start slow, but when Lance says it, it really makes a fast start seem special. He is just tagging Dutch with jabs and right hands. The match turns with the single greatest transition I have ever seen. Lawler throws a chair at Mantell, and Dutch wings it back at him catching Lawler hard in the ankles and knees. I am not sure if it was a planned spot, but it was perfect. Dutch goes after Lawler like a Badger smelling a Pine tree. Vicious stomps, punches, ringpost smashes, chairshots and other assorted brutality. Just laid in an epic beating, including a normally illegal in TN piledriver. We get an all time great Lawler comeback where he just lights into Dutch. A wild near fall run, and a shocking finish with Dutch pinning the King clean as a sheet with a sunset flip. I may even like Dutch v. Lawler better then Dundee v. Lawler, there is less fanciness, but both guys are so good at toe to toe epic brawling. I probably have used Lawler v. Mantell as a shorthand for great brawling in a dozen reviews and it is great to rewatch the original. Jerry Lawler/Randy Savage v. King Kong Bundy/Ric Rude CWA 9/17/84-EPIC Total batshit brawl, without a second of downtime. This had that classic Memphis brawl feel with people just recklessly chucking chairs and tables willy nilly. Those Mid South Coliseum thick wood tables look like the really hurt when you get caught upside the head with them. I also loved the spot where Bundy is standing on the over turned table with Lawler being smushed underneath like a PBJ sandwich at the bottom of a book bag. Savage was a total whirlwind in this match, wandering around like a lunatic, constantly flinging himself off the top rope onto folks on the floor. No one was catching any of these dives, Savage was coming down and either move or get smashed. Finish of this match was overbooked in a good way. Lawler spikes rude with a piledriver and Bundy splashes the ref to break the count. We get a second ref running down, but as he is counting Bundy down, they do the back suplex double pin finish with the first ref. Not sure it needed that finish, although it fit with the chaos of the match. Great example of the barely controlled riot which Memphis did so well.