Superstar Sleeze

I actually thought they did a decent job laying out the story on paper, but it came off very forced with Foley resorting to his intense, end of days style promo without much provocation. But this match didn't do anyone any favors. I meant the actual storyline. A one on one match is not unfair and is not punishment. If Zayn was to be a world champion, he would have to defend against Braun. I get that Zayn is standing up to Foley but I hate these stories. If Zayn can't beat Braun, he doesn't deserve championship matches. This is a storyline for a rookie not an established star that beat Owens in a blowoff. The layout was basic. Zayn's shine was weak not much fire or urgency. Flat artificial. Braun was fucking awesome! Love him! Foley nonsense was horrible. Finish sucked.

The Sami Zayn/Braun Strowman is one of the worst stories in a long time.

New Day has gotten really good at bomb throwing sprints. Really liked their match against the Bullet Club at Oct RAW PPV and thought this one with Sheamus/Cesaro was very fun. Very happy Sheamus and Cesaro won.

WWE Champion Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar - Smackdown 9/18/03 Ironman Have not seen this since original airing. Long match split into parts First 15 minutes: Brock's masterful in the opening. Such a great wrestler. Violent when he needs to be and a coward when it is right. The two times he takes advantage is by jumping Angle once right at the bell and using the ref. On top, he works like a beast. When it comes time to bump, he takes the big bumps and then scurries to the outside. Then he throws his temper tantrums on the outside. I wish Angle was better at selling these moments. He can be a little bland in the ring. The transitions are bit weak. Brock is in there selling his injured knee, acting like a total jackass stalling and Angle is just there for me. Angle finally gives chase on outside. Thought it was weak just Lesnar driving him into the apron. Would have liked something more dastardly. Lesnar pastes him with a chair to draw a DQ. Angle 1-0. Taz & Cole cant figure out why Brock would do that. Stupid idiots. Lesnar is really cocky now. F-5! Ties it up. Lesnar adds insult to injury making Angle tap to his own anklelock. Lesnar 2-1. Back from commercial looks like Angle gets a head of steam, but Lesnar gets a knee lift. During break, Angle kicked out of Angle Slam. Very 2003 match with finisher steals. Second 15 minutes: This match is pretty boring. Just capricious transitions. Angle just throws random suplexes. No struggle. Just "surprise". No buildup. Lesnar usually counters with a kneelift or kick to gut. Nothing stimulating. In terms of falls, Lesnar hits a F-5 on the floor for a countout. Brock 3-1. Good fall. Angle hits an Angle Slam out of nowhere to make it Brock 3-2. Angle gets the Anglelock, but Brock reverses and then decks the ref. Brock hits a lowblow and then pastes Angle with the championship belt. Brock 4-2 with the match half over. Third 15 minutes: Liked this a little better. Started with a lame transition of just Angle yanking Brock out by his foot. Then it got fun with Angle busting out some unique stuff like a double axehandle from the top to the floor. A missile dropkick, Brock took a great bump and then Angle missing a massive moonsault. Angle had one of the best moonsaults. Good height. Angle takes a tumble on the Anglelock. Liked Angle hitting baseball slide while Lesnar had steps and Lesnar and the steps go flying. Good urgency by Angle to get cover. We go to break and come back with Brock up 5-2 after a top rope superplex. Only 15 minutes remain! Final 15 minutes: Really liked the transition of Angle hitting the F-5 on Lesnar's leg to the post. Gives Brock a taste of his own medicine, sets up interesting work and is a badass spot. Angle gets a half crab and then Anglelock. Still not tap out. Weird. Lesnar gets an F-5. Takes his time going to top rope and Angle pops up and hits his run up top rope overhead belly to belly for a fall. Fuck that. Lesnar 5-4. Lesnar plays keep away from Angle. Hits a low blow with thirty seconds to go before Angle ends up putting him in Angle anyways and time runs out. Why hit the low blow? The original Suplex City match. I love Brock in this era, but this match sucks. Avoid. I realize besides some Anglelocks there were no holds in this match. It is just suplex after suplex. Just transitions out of nowhere. Brock is bumping great and facial reactions are awesome, but this match is not compelling at all. Eventually Angle gets the Anglelock they repeat the great spot from Summerlsam with Lesnar getting to each side of the ring ropes but Angle yanking him away before Lesnar taps. Lesnar 5-4.

I admit I also marked out for Yohe on PWO. Excellent first post. Learned a lot. Hope for a lot more.

So how long before WWE launches/buys a Japanese promotion? The All Japan tape library from the 70s-Mid to late 80s would be a great get for them.

Amen, brutha!

BINGO! Mystery is what is missing among other things. And storylines that actually develop instead of just a hot angle and then three months of no progress and three PPV matches that are carbon copies of each other.

Shawn Michaels vs Chris Masters - WWE Unforgiven 2005 For some reason, Shawn was motivated to give a tremendous performance and Masters was awesome as a power heel. I have heard the wild stories of Chris Masters the awesome C-show babyface, but here he proves his mettle working on top with power. In retrospect, the Masterlock challenge is something I would like even though as a teenager I thought it was lame. Michaels failed in breaking the Full Nelson twice on RAW. To my recollection, this was Masters only serious brush with a top level talent as he was shunted down the card in short order and never really re-pushed. Masters is only six years older than me. Weird. Loved Masters jumping HBK before the bell and applying the Masterlock, but he had to let go because the bell had not rung yet! Awesome! Hot start but logical reason for Masters to release hold. Of course, Masters goes right back to the hold, but HBk wriggles free. So then HBK fires up and really lets Masters have it. I thought Michaels did a great job being a fiery babyface and giving Master no quarter. Michaels went for a chair and the ref took it away allowing Masters to drive Michael's head into the barricade. The big turning point was two smashes back first into the ringpost in the powerbomb position. The subsequent back work was so tight by Masters everything was focused on the back and Michaels was selling the hell out of everything. I thought both were working together in perfect synchronicity during the heat segment. I love stuff that while Masters has him in a backbreaker, Michaels is punching his nose to break the hold. Then great cutoff with Masters turning a Crucifix into a Masterlock attempt and then into a good flip back bump into corner. TORTURE RACK~! MARK OUT CITY~! Great stuff. Masters calls for Masterlock, but Michaels desperately clutches the ref and low bridges Masters with the trick knee. Great veteran guile from Shawn there. Classic Shawn comeback, but Superkick turns into the Masterlock. Great desperation from Shawn to fight it and eventually makes it over the ropes. Masters goes for it again and BANG! Sweet Chin Music! If you asked me how I expected this match to go exactly as expected and exactly how I call it. I thought the beginning was a nice touch did not expect that to be honest. Got things hot. Thought Shawn's shine was great. Thought heat segment was even better, perfect harmony between those two. The low bridge was a good transition made the Masterlock look awesome. Shawn comeback with Sweet Chin Music reversed into Masterlock, great struggle there. The finish I would call the Masterlock attempt into a Superkick outta nowhere. Even if it is predictable, they did a great job in execution with strong transitions and I thought Masters looked great in defeat. Awesome veteran vs rookie match in the midcard. ****

WWE Intercontinental Champion Ric Flair vs Triple H - WWE Taboo Tuesday 2005 Steel Cage Match I have fond memories of this feud as it was well-built with lots of hatred and blood. Like many feuds in this era, I never saw the PPV match. I thought this was tremendous. Unless the Michaels match is a lot better than I remember, this is hands down the best Flair match of the 2000s. Buckets of blood and hate. I thought Flair was his old energetic self. Even the usually milquetoast Triple H feels like a violent bully in this. Liked the beginning with Flair taking it right to Triple H with his big hammock right chops and punches. He was pissed from the beatings from HHH and he wanted to kick some ass. I love HHH's use of the high knee as a cutoff. You see HHH gradually beat Flair down with the spinebuster and then busting him open on the steel. Now Flair is in a bad way. Flair is already a bloody pulp and HHH is ready to leave over the cage. Flair meets him on top rope with big chops. Nice headbutts from HHH. HHH gets a chain, but eats a boot. Flair gets kneecrusher, but HHH punches him with chain to avoid the figure-4. So HHH to add insult to injury applies figure-4 on Flair. Love Flair hollering and then flipping HHH off. Flair is so fucking awesome. Flair kicks HHH off on second attempt into the cage bloodying him. Flair is awesome here. He lunges at HHH, chopping and punching. Raking the forehead across the cage. Flair delayed vertical. Flair is feeling it right now. Chop block on the knee. Great knee work leading to the Figure-4, baby!!! Flair flips off HHH again, love it! HHH is selling in the figure-4 really well. HHH breaks the hold by throwing ref into Flair. Flair hits a massive low blow and heads for the door. HHH stops him, but Flair brings in a chair. This could be bad for Flair. Testicular Claw by Flair, oh Lord with all that roid usage surprised there is much to grab. Flair tees off with the chair and wins the match, but looks like a battered man. Slow grinding war with tons of blood and violence. Flair brought that characteristic energy and charm that was missing from most of his 2000s matches, but here he mustered it up. Loved the blood and the steel cage felt really Crockett. I know that's what they were going for. HHH was methodical, but in a way that was not boring. He built to breaking Flair down then got caught when he wanted to try to humiliate Flair by winning Figure-4 and that pride cost him in the match. Once he went into the cage, he never recovered. Flair did a great job on offense! Energy, hard-hitting, logical. Thought the finish was very definitive. Great throwback, violent cage match. ****

WWE Champion John Cena vs Edge - WWE Unforgiven TLC Match You know a match is damn good when ten years later you are pumping your fist at the finish. John Cena Rocks! Cena was awesome in this match. Definitely a harbinger of his bitchin 2007 campaign. I was at Summerslam live in 2006 was pretty disappointed by the main event and partly because at the time I was not a Cena fan (shaking my head, 17 year old me had so much to learn) and it was not a very good match. I watched this after the fact on DVD comp and I loved it. It has been a good 6-7 years since I have seen it and thought this was excellent. The best match of John Cena's career up until this point (yes, I think this is better than JBL I Quit match, which is number two). The story of the match is John Cena's heart vs Edge's experience in this match. You see throughout the match Cena become more and more comfortable with the environment. He starts off with what he knows running Edge over with shoulder tackles. Edge responds with what he knows: weapons. Edge is a pretty ineffective wrestler without gimmicks. The match at the beginning is really good thanks to Cena's selling. He makes these sometimes contrived spots look painful and important by selling. The table bump he powders because he wants to create space. This allows for Edge's best spot of the match which is him running up a ladder and diving to the floor on Cena. This match is really good at transitions and bringing the energy up in each segment. Edge is driving towards the Conchairto but Cena trips him up and drives his head into a chair. Now we see Cena adapt to the environment. STFU using a ladder, the most painful looking STFU in history! Edge taps. Great symbolic spot. Then the FU of the ladder onto Edge and then Fist drop from the top of a ladder. Great use of the gimmicks! The match is not perfect there are some contrived moments like why is Cena going for a table he should be looking to win. It is to set up a later spot which is not my favorite, but it is a minor complaint. Again, Edge's transition is to crack a chair across Cena's skull. Edge takes way too long to set up a double table. Cena sends him flying. Then as Cena is climbing Edge hits the lamest spear in history, but Goddamnit Cena sells it like he has cracked ribs and internal bleeding. God Bless John Cena! I thought the finish run was incredible and very dramatic. Lita comes out and tips the ladder over as Cena is climbing sending him hard through a table on the floor. Tangent: Lita got one of the best boob jobs in history. If I did not know what she looked like before, I would be convinced those were natural. ***** to the Cosmetic surgeon and Lita in this period was a definitely a young Sleeze favorite. On a more serious note, I feel like Lita adds a lot to these matches. She is just a much better performer than Edge. Really liked the spot where Lita cracked Cena in the back with a chair and that caused Cena to collapse into the ladder sending Edge through the tables on the floor. Cena FUs "the Evil Bitch" (JR's words not mine). Im not for man on woman violence typically but Lita feels like a wrestler and it felt like a great fist pumping moment. The FU off the ladder through two tables on Edge was awesome!!!! I was marking out big time for the Cena win in Toronto. It felt like a great SUCK IT moment to all those smart marks. Awesome car crash match that really built on itself and told a really great story. Cena was awesome throughout the match making each spot meaningful and adapting to the environment. I thought Lita added a lot to the match down the stretch in her interference, exhorting Edge and taking the FU bump. Thought all three table spots were awesome and well-done. It felt like a big time, Rah Rah John Cena victory. Loved it! ****1/2

WWE Tag Champs London & Kendrick vs Hardyz vs MNM vs Regal & Taylor - WWE Armageddon 2006 Ladder Match Fun fact: This was supposed to be London & Kendrick vs Regal & Taylor, but Teddy changed it right before the match. I hazard to guess a straight tag would be much better than this cluster fuck. This got plenty of hype at the time and then faded into obscurity, which makes sense. It was a car wreck, but does not age well. Besides Mercury's face exploding, there is no real super Holy Shit spot. The energy level was not there. Regal & Taylor were the only ones attempting to add a story element with their being afraid of heights so they try incapacitate their opponents using a ground game to give them ample time to climb the ladders. MNM was just there, nothing noteworthy. London & Kendrick were great at eating offense and taking bumps onto ladders. I like their double stomp on Matt on the ladder. London & Kendrick could have been so much more. They felt like the Rock & Rolls meet the Hardyz. Two outstanding bumpers and sellers that can do the high-flying stuff and are wicked good looking. However, this is the match where pretty boys need to show their mettle. Like the Rockers in those bloodbaths against Rose&Somers, London & Kendrick needed to do more asskicking. The Hardyz were the best at offense. They were the blueprint for London & Kendrick. I felt like they overshadowed London & Kendrick because they were getting the offense that London& Kendrick should be getting. Plus Matt's right hand is sick. Finish was pretty lame. Sliced Bread No. 2 did not come off well and Kendrick looked like he almost died. Then there was no grand finale. It was just London and Matt fighting on ladder with Matt losing. Meh. Which I feel bad about because there was a lot of pain felt here and Mercury's face became raw hamburger meat, but this did not do much for me.

WWE Women's Champion Trish Stratus vs Mickie James - WrestleMania XXII I had a massive crush on Mickie when she first started in late 2005 into 2006. Loved this storyline with the obsession leading to Mickie snapping and some really good brawls between the two. It felt like the first real blood feud in the women's division and the only real blood feud going on at the time between any two wrestlers. I had never seen this match, but always wanted to. Mickie was awesome in this match. I have not seen a Trish match since she retired. She is exactly as I remember her sometime who tries really hard. I think it was great she spent most of the match selling because she was A+ at selling the leg. Her offense is ok, but Mickie made it looked like great at the beginning. Trish wanted to start off red hot pissed by the hell Mickie had put her through. Mickie was bumping, screaming and selling her ass off for Trish. Trish went for the Chick Kick on the outside and met steel. The leg work by Mickie was outstanding as was Trish's selling. Hope spots and cutoffs were great. Like Ligerbomb counter to Mickie's usual rana outta the corner or Mickie turning a rana attempt into a sick snapping of the leg over the ring rope. Mickie's demeanor and crazed facial expressions were so spot on. So now we can get to what the match is famous for. Mickie grabs Trish by the pussy. Stunning Trish. Trish LEVELS Mickie, but kinda oddly eats a knee and then its the Mick Kick for the win. It felt flat. I think Mickie pussy grab followed by a swift kick to the head was the way to go. They wanted Trish to get some revenge for the pussy grab, but then did not have transition to get back to Mickie winning that caused the actual finish to be flat. The pussy grab ->Trish decks her was super hot, but the switch back to Mickie was too abrupt. Still this has to be the best women's match between what 1996-2013 in WWE history. Is there anything close? Great heat segment. Awesome, awesome performance by Mickie character work, selling, bumping and offense. Trish was great at selling. Finish makes this fall short of being great, but definitely recommend this. ***3/4

Mick Foley vs Edge - WrestleMania XXII Hardcore Match This is a quintessential Mick Foley match where his pain is supposed to be our pleasure. It is the greatest hits of his career, the knees into the steel steps, slamming the back of his head on a metal surface. His offense was tight. He escalated the match well. Edge added nothing to this. In fact he actively detracted at times with his abysmal selling. I have no idea what the hell he was doing at the finish. He looked like he was suffering from hypothermia. I thought Lita was awesome in this. In fact, I thought the Lita/Foley interactions were the most compelling. Anytime, Foley looked like he was really going to decimate Edge, Lit was there with the save like the barbed wire baseball bat (taking that sick Cactus clothesline) or the barbed wire Mr. Socko (her lips were all ripped up). Foley's right hand when Edge was pouring Lighter fluid on him was great and Lawler marking out for the piledriver was fun. Thumbtacks are thumbtacks when there is no drama. In fact, with all the over the top violence, there was very little drama. It was just move from spot to spot. Escalation was there, but the fear and stakes were not. After all the punishment Lita took, she finally got here revenge hitting Foley in the balls with a barbed wire baseball bat and then setting the table on fire before Edge speared Foley from the apron through the flaming table. They should have milked the spot more. But hey they should milked more of the spots. Lita was awesome in this. Good Foley nostalgia. Edge sucked but that's to be expected. Tight, did not over stay its welcomed. Felt rushed though. ***1/4

WWE US Champion Chris Benoit vs Finlay - WWE Smackdown 11/24/06 As expected another tremendous match from these two. Not as good as their WWE MOTY from this year, but another great TV bout. Loved Finlay's selling of Benoit's chops. The way he backpedaled and his facial expressions while Benoit just kept coming. Perfect use of eyepoke to stymie Benoit. Finlay just suffocated Benoit which is exactly what you need to do to the Rabid Wolverine. The German suplex, dive outside the ring were a pair of good hope spots to send us into the break. I thought the transition to real heat was great. Benoit gives chase and Finlay shoves Benoit into the steps drawing blood from kidney. Very desperate, very real. Finlay targets the leg and tortures it. Really good half crab. Liked Benoit's hope spot of Sharpshooter attempt but Finlay picks the leg and drags it out to the post for more punishment. My quibble is Benoit's use of six suplexes in his comeback when all that great leg work had happened. Chavo & Vickie distract allowing the Little Bastard (when Hornswoggle was cool) to give Finlay the shillelagh who whacks Benoit and hits Celtic Cross for win. Strong hard hitting match wished Benoit was a bit more creative on finish stretch and the finish was good did not really inspire me one way or another. ***3/4

World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio vs Randy Orton - Smackdown 4/7/06 These two have crazy awesome chemistry with one another. This is the first Smackdown after Mania XXII where Mysterio won the championship over Angle & Orton. I think Orton & Mysterio could have main evented on their own. I thought this was in the same ballpark as their great No Way Out match but with the feel good finish here putting this one slightly ahead. They really establish Orton's size advantage early on. Orton was so good execution at this point in his career. You can see why a Bret Hart would look on him so favorably. Should tackle bowls over Mysterio. Love Orton dropping to a knee to hit a massive European Uppercut it really magnified size difference, Great throwdown on a wheelbarrow Bulldog attempt. First Rey hope spot is a Rana, Orton powders on 619, but eats a seated senton on the floor. In the ring, Orton gets a hold of Rey Rey and hits that backbreaker he did early in his career. Great use and application of the chinlock. Best spots of the match were Orton's pinpoint accuracy of his anti-air dropkicks to Mysterio when Rey Rey tried to fly (once springboard and once off the top). Rey really dove into them and Orton was perfect in execution. My one complaint was it did get a bit extended squash-y. Rey could have used a shine early or more hope spots that worked. It felt like too many cutoffs and too much Orton offense without Orton really progressing. Minor quibble. Finishing stretch was good with Rey Rey making his comeback throwing some nice strikes. Wish he sold the eyepoke better, but really the comeback is supposed to be hot so Orton probably should have used it early. Liked Orton's mistake (charging into the post) to set up the 619 and then Orton having the presence of mind to feed for another 619 when Rey was ready to finish. That second 619 got a big pop. Some veteran instincts from Orton there! Drop a dime and the win. Really awesome, babyface/heel TV match that no one talk about. Big, clean win for Mysterio. Orton was great in his offense and beatdown. Orton could have been a bit more scummy and Mysterio could have gotten a bit more shine. Just some minor stuff. These two had great chemistry and their matches are not talked about enough. ****

ECW Champion Big Show vs Ric Flair - WWECW 7/11/06 I watched this live in 2006 and have fond memories of this bloody brawl. I remember when ECW first started they definitely tried loading up the main events and this was the best of that early bunch. Within a month or two, I stopped watching the show became a total afterthought. I liked the repackaging of Big Show as the Extreme, violent Giant I don't remember what the end game was but I feel like it was a good idea that could have been better executed. Garbage match Flair was pretty fun around this time. I went to Summerslam in 2006 in Boston and Flair/Foley was fun live but something I will revisit. I thought this was a good solid match which utilized the strengths of both men effectively. Big Show used his size and strength to control the early portion. Loved Big Show's chops in response to Flair. Headbutts bust Flair open early. Plenty of slams and suplexes on Flair. Flair great at selling defiance and bumping. Flair just tried to keep chopping and chopping. Finally when things looked really bleak he just whacked Big Show in the balls four times very blatantly. The Flair brought in the barbed wire baseball bat and thumb tacks and chair. It was just fun garbage stuff but it was well set up because Flair at least tried to go toe to toe with The Giant, but he was clearly overwhelmed and bloody so this his last resort. He knocks Big Show flat on his back into tacks and this pisses off the Giant. Who steamrolls Flair! I loved Show's finish at the time which the Cobra Clutch backbreaker and then Cobra Clutch to win. He then ragdolls Flair into the thumbtacks for good measure. They did a really great job working around Flair's limitations and thought Big Show looked like a sadistic monster and Flair's comeback was plausible and entertaining because it relied on ballshots and weapons. The finish was great, simple and effective. Very fun garbage TV brawl. ***

It is hard for me to be objective about AJ because he has been my favorite wrestler since 2003. I am just so happy with his success this year. The Payback match was the best match that I think has happened anywhere in the world since Kobashi/Takayama in 2004. That Payback match caused me to buy secondary market tickets to Extreme Rules in Jersey and make the drive from Boston, which is the best match I've ever seen live. Winning WWE Championship was huge for me personally and was a really bright moment for me. 2016 has not been a great year for me personally but AJ Styles has been a huge bright spot for me. To me he is the HOTTEST star in the WWE besides maybe Charlotte. Everything he does is must-see and his PPV matches have big fight feels. I think he is the only male star that can make a big fight feel that wrestled a regular schedule. I disagree that a Brock vs AJ match outcome would be a definite Brock win. The rumored Taker vs AJ match at Rumble (which I'll probably attend if confirmed) does not seem like a slam dunk victory for Taker at all. To me, AJ is without a doubt the number one male star in WWE. To say he is not a gigantic star like a Cena is silly because AJ is a heel and he does not have a transcendental charisma BUT to me he has overachieved my expectations and is the new one male star in the company!

Are you kidding me??? This is the first storyline in ages with actual week-to-week build and escalation. This is NOT Owens turns on Zayn then nothing happens but matches. This well thought out story with three unique characters that progresses week to week. Great story rather than just one great angle!

Great point!

Chris Benoit vs Finlay - WWE Judgement Day 2006 Chris Benoit is wicked over despite his push being down for two years now. The same thing was true in WCW where he was not pushed very often. I think Benoit has to be the most over person ever in relation to how little talking charisma he had. He has a lot of body language charisma. He has the silent, violent asskicker vibe that definitely resonates. Of course, that's what makes him so difficult to watch is how violent he can be in the ring and it turned out he was even more violent in real life. Intense and gritty. That's going to shock absolutely nobody. I think the deeper story here is Finlay is reacting to Benoit. Benoit is a great babyface because he is like the Russians at Stalingrad. He is always moving forward. He is going to fight through everything. On about a handful of occasions, we see Finlay completely overwhelmed by the fury of the Rabid Wolverine. I thought Finlay's reaction each time was perfect. He was always trying to break Benoit's momentum first by using the ref, then it was an eye poke, and then finally it was going outside trying to use foreign objects twice. Sometimes, he was successful, like that eye poke really gave him his first control segment. Other times, Benoit would blast through these distractions. I really liked that sense of tension they built. I thought it was very lo-fi not a lot of highspots and when they happened they counted. Transitions mattered. Everything was laid in. Benoit looked ferocious in this match. Finlay had jumped Benoit by using a distraction and got a little cocky so he started to disrespect Benoit with some slaps to the face. BENOIT ROARED BACK WITH THE SLAP TO END ALL SLAPS! Like you need to see this slap. He SMACKED Finlay. Watching Finlay backpedal and Benoit just race after him and still chop him was so awesome. Finlay eyepoke gives us the first Finlay heat segment, which I thought was excellent all centered around the head and neck while maintaining wrist control. The Benoit hope spots were great. He gets the Rolling Germans, the first one is nasty like a deadlift and misses Diving Headbutt, both men are kinda out. Benoit goes for Sharpshooter, Finlay kicks out and heads to floor. Finlay is spooked at this point. He averted disaster twice. Now he wants chair so Benoit baseball slides chair into him. Benoit knows how critical the Diving Headbutt is so he goes back and hits it. He does not cover just once, but twice. Benoit makes the Diving Headbutt such an important spot. He does not just leave it. He goes back, gets it and when it does not get him the win, he tries another cover. Now Benoit is a little lost in kayfabe and needs to regroup and look for Crossface, but Finlay reverses into a Bret Bump in the corner and smashes him in the back of the head. Second Finlay heat segment not as good as first. There were some wicked short arm clotheslines! It kinda meandered. It was intense. It felt like Finlay was torturing Benoit but it was NOT progressing. This is my criticism. Finlay was not escalating towards a win, he kinda stalled out. Benoit's selling was so good in all of this. Benoit gets an enziguiri and again Finlay freaks out and heads to outside and goes for Shillelagh, but Benoit gets a German on outside and does the Three Amigos inside as a tribute to Eddie. I also thought this was weird as Finlay bumps him off apron and actually starts to work over the arm. All of sudden Benoit gets an armbar takedown, great struggle over Crossface and Finlay taps. Angle take note, the struggle should be to put on the hold not in the hold!!!! Great character work by both men. Benoit was a machine in this looked awesome. Finlay was great as the sort of mirror heel Benoit and made good choices reacting to Benoit. Benoit's great understanding of psychology and selling was on display. Thought Finlay needed to escalate in his second heat segment and go for the win, thought build to finish was strange. The finish itself was great and how you ought to do a submission finish. Excellent intense encounter with strong storytelling and psychology from both men. I still think Akiyama/Taue is match of the year. ****1/2

Another match of the year contender for AJ! 450 splash was insane! Loved Ellsworth heel turn in all its 1999 swerve glory because we have not had one in a long time. Awesome

Awesome match! Bummed by Becky's loss but Alexa is an awesome heel and she will be a great champ. Thought the selling was great and table teases were well-done. Hyped for AJ!!!! And I guess for Ambrose

Loved the leg work by Miz and ballshot finish. Great match!Awesome Miz post match promo So hyped for Becky/Alexa!

I know I made a topic for this somewhere, probably put in the wrong year. Awesome 1980s bombfest, had it at 4.5, red hot. Rick Martel is fucking awesome. One of the greatest wrestlers ever. Tremendous babyface in every sense of the word. Definitely check out Strike Force too especially the Islanders matches as covered on Tag Teams Back Again! Nevermind! I have not seen their All Japan match! I was referring to the September 1985 AWA match that was awesome. Will have to check this out.