Dylan Waco

Carlos Colon v. Ric Flair - 10/82 I am at a point in my life where watching long Ric Flair title matches is not something I find terribly appealing. Having said that every time I watch a long Ric Flair title match I come away from it thinking it was a good match. This was a good match, maybe even great. In some ways it was a "Flair" match as you had the staples you expect from him, but I thought the big Flair spots where inserted in really sensible and logical ways. Honestly my biggest complaint with this is that the armwork early on was really good for the most part and went nowhere. Seriously Colon was punching the arm, Flair was selling it, they were working holds pretty well and then...nothing. It happens I guess, but it seemed like a missed opportunity, especially since Colon was going over clean anyway. Having said that I loved Flair firing back at Colon with a variety of suplexes and an ab stretch. Flair's punches looked outstanding and his sick elbows targeting Colon's cut were really great. Carlos for his part was selling everything well and I liked a lot of the visual spots. Both guys figure-four spots looked really good and the timing of Colon's big comeback was perfect. Kind of funny to see Flair lose another match to a local favorite with a back slide, was that his go too in that situation? Anyway, if someone is in the mood to watch a long Flair title match, where he's the challenger, but still kinda works as the champion this is a pretty damn good one. Bruiser Brody v. Invader 1 - 1986 This is what you hope a Brody match is - two guys running around and hitting each other at a quick pace for a brief amount of time. There is nothing out of this world here, but this has the right atmosphere and that matters. Brody does throw a nice big boot and a leg drop and Invader throws some stiff shots and whips Body with an electrical chord. There is even a body slam on the floor, though it didn't look all that great. Match gets thrown out and the post-match brawl is kind of silly, but this is the sort of match that would lead you to believe Brody was at least a decent worker. And hey, it's with the guy that brutally killed him. There is that. Randy Savage v. Hercules Ayala - 3/2/85 Macho's pre-match promo is great. Especially the weird sex line. Savage comes to the ring and is getting pelted by shit so he chases after ringside fans waiving his title belt over his head like a weapon and they scatter. Great shit. This was worked kind of like Candido v. Great Khali, with Savage as Candido and Ayala as Khali. Just all bumps, stooging, stalling, crazy mannerisms, et as he works around the obvious limitations of Ayala. I especially loved the way he airballed up against the ropes and on the big elbow. He takes over briefly with hide the chain spots, but the conclusion of this sees Ayala rip the chain from the Macho's nuts and pin him after a big shot. Maybe that's what the sex comment was about? Post-match little kids swarm the ring and this is the sort of match that makes you love Savage and PR wrestling all that much more. Abdullah The Butcher v. Carlos Colon - 1991 This was totally awesome and maybe the best Abby "match" I've ever seen. Abby comes out and waits for Colon to come out from the dugout and Colon blindsides him from behind and immediately starts stabbing the shit out of him. The camera work is really great as this is some of the most deliberate looking stabbing I've ever seen. They brawl all over the place and Abby is surprisingly taking some bumps. Colon picks up a fucking cinderblock and smashes him with it multiple times. Carlos is gnawing on his head and his mouth is right in the fucking blood. Completely disgusting and great. Abby ends up stabbing back in pure desperation and takes over for a bit, busting Carlos open and stabbing him in the balls and chest. Carlos fights back and kicks Abby in the balls a few times, then walks off and gets this giant fucking table. It's almost not even a table, more like a huge desk that for some reason is on the infield of a baseball stadium during a wrestling show. He picks it up, gets a running start and bolts full speed, decking the shit out of Abby with it. Abby tries to block a few more shots from it but it's futile and some of these shots look really sick. Then one of Abby's seconds comes over and leaps on Colon, so Colon flings him off and tears his pants off leaving the guy scurrying away. Abby is trying to buy time for himself, but Colon picks up a giant rod. I have no clue what the hell the rod was but Carlos gets a running start, swinging it around his head and almost kills Abby with it, but he gets his hands up just in time. Abby gets slammed into a truck a few times instead and survives one or two less brutal looking shots by getting his hands up. Now other Abby minions are running around and Colon is decking him. There are PR paramilitary looking police running around the infield trying to secure things, while other guys saunter around with baseball bats and Carlos tries to lock on a figure-four on the ground in vein. This is as good a "match" of it's sort as I've ever seen. TNT v. King Kong - 4/20/91 I have no clue why I felt compelled to watch this but I did. This was pretty fun stuff and makes me want to seek out more from both guys. I have no recollection of the Colossal Kongs being any good, but King Kong is a big bumping, butterball in this. I did not love the bearhug/nervehold stuff, but it wasn't terrible and at least made sense. TNT hit some nice kicks and took a really cool blackout bump. Highlights were probably the Kong sitdown splash and the two huge Kong splashes off the top for the finish. Not really worth killing yourself to see, but better than I would have guessed. TNT v. Buddy Landell - 9/17/88 TNT/Savio Vega has to be one of most underrated guys of the last thirty years. He's not necessarily an all time great, but he's a guy that was good in a lot of settings against a lot of people and almost never gets talked about. This was a really good showcase match for both him and Budro. Early on it's lots of chop/punch/kick exchanges which TNT decisively wins. When Buddy takes over he goes to the leg attack right away and mixes it up with some more stiff shots. Figure-four spot is well built to and looks good and TNT still sells the leg somewhat on his comeback. I loved the spot with Buddy positioning himself perfectly to escape the Cobra Clutch and inflict damage on TNT. This wasn't a great match, but it was a good one, where both guys got time to shine. The Patriot/Invader 1/Carlos Colon v. Dick Murdoch/Dick Slater/Fidel Sierra - 1992 This is the smallest crowd and venue I've seen out of Puerto Rico so far and the randomness of these teams gives this the feel of some strange thrown together 1997 WCW Worldwide match. Hell it even features The Patriot and Fidel Sierra on opposing teams. And much like many of those matches, this was a total blast. Yeah you could criticize the choice of Invader 1 as FIP, what with him being a murderer and all, but the heels are so good you don't really give a shit. There is nothing fancy about there attack as you've just got three guys who can clubber, punch, elbow and stomp the shit out of dudes. Everything they do in this match looks brutal. They also work some good cut off the ring spots and one really nice hope spot. Colon ends up coming in and gets his ass beat some and then the match got thrown out as all parties brawled to the floor. Still Sierra gave us a Wiskowski style face plant bump, Murdoch spit on ringside fans and did one of the better struggle spots on a backslide you'll ever see, and Dick Slater's elbow drop is aces. If I could watch matches like this all day I would.

Lol. Ok....

Tyson being used to promote Bruno was unintentionally hilarious

I actually knew that, but almost always say whipped, oddly enough because I think I've been conditioned to use that term in wrestling context because of Austin

He built up a lot of bad will with me when he decided to work a Three Stooges match with Finlay. He also underperformed v. Dave Taylor

You shouldn't use the word "gajin"....."dumbass hick fans" from Georgia. Just sayin

Check the thread in The Microscope dude. Straight up marking out, with your niece screaming at me for being a jerk the whole time

All around I think the answer is yes if we are looking at the last two years or so. I'm not sure anyone is a better promo. No one is a better character. There are one or two guys you argue are better in the ring, but I'm not sure I'd buy it.

Show has been outstanding, but I don't think his peak stuff has hit Henry's. Show has been more of the "anything you throw at this guy he will do well" type of performer.

I love Rey and enjoyed the match tonight, but he's not better than Henry if we are looking at the last two years. I also prefer Henry to Bryan, though I wouldn't argue it intensely. Sheamus and Cesaro are both guys who can have good matches with anyone, but neither has a character nearly as good as Henry

I try to go back and comment some on the 80's threads, should probably do the same with the yearbooks

I realize this will be an insane statement to some people but "Somebody's gonna get their ass whipped" is the equivalent of glass breaking to me.

Ivan has never been asked.

Totally agree. I really wish they would put Ivan in this year too though that is wishful thinking.

I JUST MARKED THE FUCK OUT

You responded to my comment about Santino being in the WWE and Cabana being an indie superstar. I think it's overwhelmingly obvious that is what I was responding to.

I don't think there is any question that merit is not the only metric that gets someone signed to the WWE. But Santino was a guy who was supposedly a headache in developmental. He's a guy who debuted with a shooter gimmick. He's a guy who was given an initially hot gimmick, but one that was not intended to last as anything meaningful. He's a guy with distractingly absurd tattoos. He's a guy with a completely disposable gimmick by WWE standards. He's a guy who was not close friends with any guys of note on the roster when he started. And yet here he is, several years into a run that has seen him work all over the mid-card, hold the tag titles, have amusing interactions with Austin and The Rock, nearly "win" the Royal Rumble, et. He can job a thousand times and it never seems to hurt him. He stays over. Cabana is a relatively big guy, working comedic schtick spots and "look at me I collect tapes" WoS spots. He is a guy who corrects Robert Gibson in developmental. He is a guy who publicly says that he just wanted to get his Honky Tonk Man gimmick in the WWE, so he could coast on it for years. Guy who tells the trainers he knows more than them because he's watched more tapes, guy who's look does not really match his working style or WWE fetish, guy who aspires to be comedic mid-carder....There is a big difference between a headache who is willing to do anything and a headache who is willing to do what he wants. I just watched Santino look really good as the guy getting a little, but taking a lot more, getting his asskicked by Jack Swagger on Raw. Swagger is a guy they are trying to rebuild after tons of poor management. Meanwhile Cabana couldn't have a good squash match with Umaga a guy who was highly credible and made for the squash match.

Not sure there is a great deal of comparison here, though it's possible. Gordy is someone I would need to rewatch in a large amount to fairly compare. But comparing him on the Texas Set to Blackwell on the AWA Set I don't think it's a favorable comp for Gordy.

You know I hate to say this, but I agree with Will. As a Chattanooga born guy I have always had a special place in my heart for Gordy, but he's someone who has not jumped out of the pack to me in any rewatching over the last seven or eight years. Maybe if I ever get around to watching 90's AJPW. In any case I think Hayes was the best worker on the Texas Set. I could see arguments for others, but Devon nailed it in saying that he was the master of the sprint brawls and that is really Texas at it's best. Hayes babyface work also really surprised me from that period. I'll grant that the guy moves around somewhat awkwardly, but he's not David Von Erich in there, and if anything I think it sort of adds to his act. In some respects I think he's very comparable to Piper as a guy who's rep is "good talker, mediocre worker," when in fact he was pretty great at both.

I think there is a reason Santino is on the WWE roster and remains one of the most over guys in the company at live events, while Cabana is a guy that is a beloved indie dude, who works an "aw shucks" nice guy gimmick.

Dude, you have a Flair avatar. Of course it comes across a tad bit more petty calling anyone stupid for having a low opinion of Flair. You are also one of the BIGGEST Flair fanboys around, especially in this sort of community. Whatever you say carries just a bit more weight as a personal bias than what goodhelmet may say about Kane. Just the way it goes on the internet. For a while, on TSM, I would get derided for defending University of Southern California in their football threads, despite being reasonable about it, simply because I had the USC jersey as my avatar. It just goes with the territory. No need to get overly touchy about it Does this make you a fan of horny officials?

Say what as if it's fact?

I could do that and usually would in greater detail than anyone on this board as you well know. But it's Cabana. The guy has a good podcast. I think he would be entertaining as a pitchman and/or less talented Don West on commentary. And yes I realize some of his comedic bits pre-date Santino. But Santino is a guy that does his same general stuff better. I'm not sure how much detail I can really go into with this.

Cena v. Taker is the biggest match they haven't run at Mania. It is a very protected match in the modern context having not been run that much period considering how long both guys have been in the same promotion as each other. To leave that match on the table seems really odd to me. Not saying they have to run it, but if you are going to bring in Taker for another year, Cena is the only opponent I can imagine putting against Taker where the outcome is in any sort of doubt. I also think Cena should win by cheating and use that vehicle to turn heel, but that's another story