Superstar Sleeze

Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs Kensuke Sasaki & Mitsuhiro Kitamiya - Diamond Ring 2/11/12 Perhaps the ultimate veteran/young lion vs two grumpy dicks tag match, which is among my favorite genres of pro wrestling matches. The only thing that drags it down just a bit is that Kobashi is just not a very good jerk in this match. He is just too much of a good guy. He never transitioned into that Tenryu role. On top of not being that grumpy, he clearly quite debilitated by the years of injuries and illness. Kobashi is among my favorite wrestlers so it is always nice to watch him wrestle especially in a match I have never seen before. Good thing, Akiyama wrestles for two and gives one of the most inspired grump old timer performances of all time. Kitamiya who I have never heard of meets him in one of the best fiery young lion performances of all time as he dies for our pleasure. Sasaki is a solid hot tag veteran presence for Kitamiya, but the story of the match is the Akiyama vs Kitamiya. Akiyama SCHOOLS Kitamiya early on. Blocking every takedown attempt with ease and transitioning into any hold he wants. It is total command and a beautiful wrestling lesson. Playful slaps from Akiyama have me smiling. Kitamiya gets more and more frustrated as he is being humiliated in the middle of the ring. He gets a bloody nose and is charging Akiyama with all he has got for a double leg takedown and Akiyama stands there like a stonewall. Kitamiya gives up on wrestling and fires off some elbows. Akiyama is like "Oh no, you didn't, bitch." and just blasts him. He throws Kitamiya's carcass to Sasaki. One of the all time great opening segments to a wrestling match ever. Kobashi/Sasaki have their obligatory chopfest. Sasaki forces Kobashi into his corner and Kitamiya tags himself in. Sasaki looks confused, but shrugs and says go ahead, young buck. Kitamiya unloads on Kobashi with big elbows and Kobashi just throws one high chop to the throat to stymie him, which is a Tenryu dick thing to do I will admit. Tags in Akiyama. Oh boy! He throws Kitamiya to the outside. Kitamiya runs back in and dropkicks Akiyama off the apron. Hey, maybe he can do some damage! We get some Sasaki & Akiyama and Sasaki actually hits a delayed vertical, but Kitamiya wants in and Sasaki reluctantly lets him tag in. Kitamiya reigns down the elbows and Akiyama just slaps the taste out of his mouth. He drops knees into the young lion's face watching him writhe in pain. Kobashi comes in and chop and facelock. Kobashi throws him to the outside and Akiyama just no sells everything and then overhand slaps him in the bloody nose!!! I LOVE PRO WRESTLING! He throws him into the barricade. Kitamiya tries firing up, but Akiyama just slaps him down. You gotta give the kid credit; he doesn't give up. Kobashi chop and now ab stretch. Akiyama gets a deep Boston Crab. Sasaki is really fun on the apron. KItamiya gets a running forearm to tag out to Sasaki. Sasaki is an awesome house of fire!!! Tons of energy, chops, lariats and a big powerslam to that dick Akiyama. You really want to see Akiyama's ass handed to him and Sasaki does that. It is just like pick on someone your own size and then Sasaki comes in and brutalizes the bully. Great wrestling psychology. You can feel the urgency too. If he does not win now, then he knows there is no shot. Sasaki gets his famous armbar, but Kobashi comes in chops him hard. Akiyama is able to recover to hit a knee from the middle rope, which enough to tag out to Kobashi. Kobashi gets caught in lariat sandwich, but kicks out. Kitamiya wants in and Sasaki is spent. He makes the difficult decision to tag out. Kobashi side steps Kitamiya's dropkick. Sasaki bulldozes Kobashi and Akiyama comes flying in with a high knee. SPEAR TO AKIYAMA! KITAMIYA'S REVENGE!!! HE DUMPS KOBASHI ON HIS BACK! THE KID GOES WILD! He gets cocky and tries a BURNING LARIAT~! Kobashi no sells! Awesome! Spinning back chop and Akiyama comes in to hit a sliding knee to get two. KOBASHI BURNING LARIAT~! Finishes him off. Awesome performances by Akiyama and Kitamiya. Opening segment is incredible. Akiyama is such a douche in this. Kitamiya gives the ultimate "I think I can, I think I can..." performance. I love Kitamiya's explosion at the end only succumb to Kobashi's Burning Lariat! Second best match of Japan in 2012 and a stone cold classic. ****1/2

Raw could be 6 hours long and there would still be no excuse for stuff like that awful New Day segment or really ANY of the "comedy" stuff that The Club has been doing since the split. I agree, but I don't think Raw has exclusivity of awful segments. The women's segment that started Smackdown last night was bad and didn't reflect well on anyone. I thought Alexa and Becky were great. Nattie is the worst actress they ever had. So artificially hammy. Fandango made his comedy segment work. I'm finally coming around on him. I wanna feel the fire in the belly!

LOVED THE BOOKING OF USOS/AA! PERFECT! Really hot angle!

TL,DR: Ole/Ellering was fucking awesome and on par with Last Battle of Atlanta proper. Rich/Sawyer was a excellent bloody war of attrition. Great middle/ending! Thought it was missing a real beginning. Almost like they JIP'd to the heat segment. Would have liked some more energy or just a spark. Nitpicking there, bloody, great selling and love the Mad Dog cross body to cage and leads to finish! Definite top 100 US match of 80s! Tommy "Wildfire" Rich vs "Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer - Last Battle of Atlanta "It's gotta be. It's going to be." - "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer waxing philosophic in the face of The Last Battle. Wildfire vs Mad Dog. Precious Paul above it all. A Flood Of Blood To End It All. In a match so concerned about finality, the beginning is neglected. It felt like we joined the match in progress in my opinion. They just jumped right into the heat segment and everyone selling a war of attrition. It was an incredible heat segment and one helluva finish, but it was missing that spark. I think it was because they cut out a red hot babyface shine or even if was just a red hot slugfest to start it out. I liked the cautious beginning with each man afraid of punching the cage or going into the cage. Instead of it breaking loose, Rich's arm gets smashed into the cage and Buzz goes to work. I like to tuck my complaints in the back end of a review, but because my sole complaint was about the beginning I thought I stick it there. What follows is incredible, violent, bloody war of attrition. Mad Dog was nominally in control of the majority of the match attacking the arm at first, but then switching to smashing Rich's head into the cage followed by biting and working the cut. Rich was great with the desperate hope spots like going for the balls and then just all out slugging Sawyer. I loved the one where he just grabbed Sawyer and piledrove him. At every turn Buzz because he established a lead early on that he was able to cutoff Rich in some fashion with an eye poke, going to the arm or the cut. Rich eventually busts Sawyer wide open on a cage shot. These just are totally bleeding buckets. The rules were a bit unclear at first. There is no ref in the ring. Over the PA, an official is counting at first I thought it was Last Man Standing, but pinfalls were permissible. There was an all-time great slugfest from their knees. The ultimate Oh Shit Highspot was Buzz hurling his own body into the cage as Wildfired ducked out of the way. Rich repeatedly slammed Sawyer's head into the cage. I liked how Rich collapsed and the official was counting both men down and then Rich kinda just flopped his body on Buzz Sawyer for the win. Impressive heat segment and finish. Absolute war of attrition with great selling, lots of struggle (loved Rich's desperate hope spots and Buzz's dickish cutoffs) and a very final finish. Still felt like it lacked energy. Absolutely great match and worth the 33 year wait. ****1/2 Ole Anderson vs Paul Ellering - Last Battle of Atlanta In a bonus match that is almost as great as the Last Battle of Atlanta, Ole and Precious Paul tear the house down! Love how Ellering cupped the back of Buzz's head when he got into the cage. Crimson Mask is an understatement here. You can barely make out Mad Dog's face. Ole comes in street clothes and just hands Ellering's ass to him. He even tears his jeans hardway!!! Incredible babyface shine this is what the above match needed. Just so much energy with Ellering playing pinball and Ole killing him at every turn. So that when Ellering finally manages an inverted atomic drop crowd, the crowd is molten for Ole. Ellering works a great heat segment on Ole busting him open and choking him. Ole's comeback is so awesome. He is such a great Walking Tall babayface. He just keeps moving forward with some great body punches and then firing them off into the face. I loved the headbutt finish completely with Ole walking through it and covering. Jake The Snake and Ellering whip Ole like a dog to set up the next show. Awesome bloodbath match with more energy, but didn't have the same hatred as the previous. Still a total classic in my opinion. ****1/2

Tommy "Wildfire" Rich vs "Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer - Last Battle of Atlanta "It's gotta be. It's going to be." - "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer waxing philosophic in the face of The Last Battle. Wildfire vs Mad Dog. Precious Paul above it all. A Flood Of Blood To End It All. In a match so concerned about finality, the beginning is neglected. It felt like we joined the match in progress in my opinion. They just jumped right into the heat segment and everyone selling a war of attrition. It was an incredible heat segment and one helluva finish, but it was missing that spark. I think it was because they cut out a red hot babyface shine or even if was just a red hot slugfest to start it out. I liked the cautious beginning with each man afraid of punching the cage or going into the cage. Instead of it breaking loose, Rich's arm gets smashed into the cage and Buzz goes to work. I like to tuck my complaints in the back end of a review, but because my sole complaint was about the beginning I thought I stick it there. What follows is incredible, violent, bloody war of attrition. Mad Dog was nominally in control of the majority of the match attacking the arm at first, but then switching to smashing Rich's head into the cage followed by biting and working the cut. Rich was great with the desperate hope spots like going for the balls and then just all out slugging Sawyer. I loved the one where he just grabbed Sawyer and piledrove him. At every turn Buzz because he established a lead early on that he was able to cutoff Rich in some fashion with an eye poke, going to the arm or the cut. Rich eventually busts Sawyer wide open on a cage shot. These just are totally bleeding buckets. The rules were a bit unclear at first. There is no ref in the ring. Over the PA, an official is counting at first I thought it was Last Man Standing, but pinfalls were permissible. There was an all-time great slugfest from their knees. The ultimate Oh Shit Highspot was Buzz hurling his own body into the cage as Wildfired ducked out of the way. Rich repeatedly slammed Sawyer's head into the cage. I liked how Rich collapsed and the official was counting both men down and then Rich kinda just flopped his body on Buzz Sawyer for the win. Impressive heat segment and finish. Absolute war of attrition with great selling, lots of struggle (loved Rich's desperate hope spots and Buzz's dickish cutoffs) and a very final finish. Still felt like it lacked energy. Absolutely great match and worth the 33 year wait. ****1/2 Ole Anderson vs Paul Ellering - Last Battle of Atlanta In a bonus match that is almost as great as the Last Battle of Atlanta, Ole and Precious Paul tear the house down! Love how Ellering cupped the back of Buzz's head when he got into the cage. Crimson Mask is an understatement here. You can barely make out Mad Dog's face. Ole comes in street clothes and just hands Ellering's ass to him. He even tears his jeans hardway!!! Incredible babyface shine this is what the above match needed. Just so much energy with Ellering playing pinball and Ole killing him at every turn. So that when Ellering finally manages an inverted atomic drop crowd, the crowd is molten for Ole. Ellering works a great heat segment on Ole busting him open and choking him. Ole's comeback is so awesome. He is such a great Walking Tall babayface. He just keeps moving forward with some great body punches and then firing them off into the face. I loved the headbutt finish completely with Ole walking through it and covering. Jake The Snake and Ellering whip Ole like a dog to set up the next show. Awesome bloodbath match with more energy, but didn't have the same hatred as the previous. Still a total classic in my opinion. ****1/2

Dick Togo vs Antonio Honda - DDT 1/30/11 I don't know who Antonio Honda is, but he was a fucking star in this. He was like best possible Japanese combination of Arn Anderson/Jerry Lawler in this. Hyper focused arm work and then amazing Lawler style comeback complete with one of the best damn punch-based comebacks I have ever seen (like right up there with Lawler in the Bock match). Dick Togo sold his ass off here just like in the match with Sato, but the work from Honda matched his and this is was a stellar match. Honda gains the upper hand by tangling him into a deathlock. The selling by Togo is incredible especially verbal and Honda rolls expertly and quickly so that he can settle into a hammerlock. This becomes the crux of the beginning of the match with Honda working these hammerlock into great old school pinning combinations. Really feels like the best possible Arn Anderson match being match with it being paired by the superb selling. A good example about how Togo has been affected is when he goes for his backslide/Pedigree spot that he cant do it due to his bad arm. Togo is able to hit a desperation kneelift and then a senton. He is targeting the midsection, but does not seem to be making in-roads. I really liked Honda grabbing a double wristlock to break a bodyscissors with Togo releasing the hold immediately and really selling it. Honda goes for the kill with a cross armbreaker, but Togo rolls on his belly, but still a painful armbar. Togo makes the ropes, his only saving grace. Togo ends up on the outside and Honda wants to finish Togo off and hits a big suicide dive, BUT HE HURTS HIMSELF!!! I love it! Really puts over the SUICIDE in Suicide Dive. He is busted open and Togo actually gets control due to Honda overextending himself. Very cool. Togo rakes the forehead by boot and is working the cut with punches. Beautiful. Honda's selling here is all time great and he is matching Togo and maybe he is exceeding Togo. Then HONDA JUST EXPLODES!!! JERRY LAWLER-ESQUE PUNCH COMEBACK! Just absolutely fires you up!!! Dragon Suplex! Never seen The King or Double A do that, but he is Japanese. Perfect Arn Anderson-style DDT. But misses the Jerry Lawler middle rope fist drop. Togo gets desperation crossface because Honda is wrestling like a man possessed, but he loses strength in his arm!!! Tries Pedigree, but cant hood arm settles for Diamond Cutter. Was Togo gimmick that he loved the Attitude Era??? He hits Pedigree, but then crashes & burns on Senton. Enforcer DDT and HITS THE FIST DROP! Kick out. He is toast. But he goes down swinging with one of the all time best punch exchanges. It is like two Jerry Lawlers punching each other. Some of the best simultaneous punches ever. Togo gets the better of the exchange and wins with Pedigree/Senton. Simple, elegant and just so damn Southern, but in Japan. Selling was superb. Honda wrestled the match of his life against Togo first attacking the arm then having to make a comeback from his own move in spectacular fashion! I loved the build to end with each man hitting their set up move then missing the finish. Only to go back to that well and when Togo finally wins it; it is through the punch exchange to earn him his finish sequence. Really incredible matches. One of those matches you can watch completely in a vacuum (hell I have seen like 5 Togo matches and never seen a Honda match) and just be totally blown away by it. A Southern Classic in 2011 Japan is just awesome. ****3/4

This review makes me sad.

Dick Togo vs Hikaru Sato - DDT 11/28/10 Dick Togo's selling was other worldly in this match. Togo's selling was so good that it actually kind of hurt the match because when he would blow it off it was much more noticeable than if he was to have sold a little less. I can see why this match was really praised because there were a lot of amazing individual moments of Togo selling awesomeness, but as a match I thought this was very good but nothing truly remarkable. It was Togo controlling early but his opponent saw an opening for a flash submission and applied a Triangle. This rendered Togo weak enough for Sato to hit a kneecrusher on apron. Thought the leg work was decent but the selling far outstripped the work. The transitions were a real weak spot. Togo just started to hit clotheslines and then hit a DDT on the floor. This was his opening to start working the neck, which he did with a chinlock. This is a personal hang up, but I am just so over the chinlock and then three elbows to the gut sequence. We get a spinwheel kick by Sato but he makes the bad move to slap Togo, which fires him up that was a better transition. Some really great jelly leg selling from Togo. Punch by Sato levels Togo! Awesome, awesome deadweight selling by Togo, he looks knocked the fuck out. Togo bucks him off to the floor. The suplex struggle was really lame and went nowhere and just ended up with them giving up. Sato grapevines leg in ropes and then goes back to suplex, but Togo gets Hangmans DDT, that should have been the finis. Now Sato has a single leg crab. Transitions blow in this. Togo's backslide into a Pedigree and then a Sato German level the playing field. Pretty straightforward so far Wrestler A control->Wrestler B control -> Two finishers to level playing field and reset. Only decent transition was triangle choke. Togo's selling was great. After this is a pretty routine finish run: strike exchange, submission exchange (Sato cross armbreaker -> Togo Crossface). Togo wants his Pedigree, but Sato goes with a dropkick to knee, that's good. Togo clotheslines and Pedigree, but Senton eats knees. Here comes Sato's finish run anklelock which gets pulled into a backdrop driver, pretty legit cool spot. German kickout and back to anklelock. You know what this does remind me a lot of a Kurt Angle match where it is a lot of spots but zero transitions. Togo big boot and back drop over top. Awesome flip splash to the floor and he hits Pedigree on floor. I thought your knee was hurt. Senton wins. So many times Togo's knee all of sudden didn't hurt. Love the knee selling but if you are going to go big then you got to commit. He lacked commitment. Sato was fine. Like I said a Kurt Angle match where individual spots were good, it did not feel cohesive. I think the knee work was supposed to be the constant thread, but Sato's work on knee was average and Togo sold too big at times that hurt when he needed knee. All the pieces for a great match, but they just did not put them together. ***3/4

Sheamus vs Cesaro - RAW 8/29/16 Tenacious start. These two are always hard hitting feels like something you would see from the Carolinas in the 80s or All Japan in 80s/90s. There was something about the beginning of this match just upped the intensity. You really felt like this match mattered to both of them unlike so many matches that come off like exhibitions. Sheamus' arm selling was golden. I thought he was doing the heel feigning the injury spot, but then Cesaro went to town on it and it was awesome. Coming back from the break, I thought the offense just built so well. These are the two of the three best offensive wrestlers on the roster (AJ being number three) and you could see how each one of their cool highspots was earned not given. Then that BUMP! Wow! Inventive. Painful. Looked like a match ender. It was treated like a match ender. It was sold like a match ender. Hats off to Cesaro for selling that so big. In so many matches now you would see something like that and then it becomes watered down by three more kickouts and fighting spirit. What I loved was this badass bump led directly to the logical finish (Cloverleaf, which Sheamus had attempted earlier) and it was a quick tapout. Perfect finish! Cesaro got a bad break. Sheamus pounced and won. Loved it! Sold so well. Hard hitting slugfest, but what puts this over the top is the incredible selling by both men, the intensity and energy and inventive finish that was sold like death. RAW match of the year by a country mile and one of the best WWE matches of the year. ****1/2

Sheamus vs Cesaro - RAW 8/29/16 Incredible selling (Sheamus' arm and then Cesaro's tailbone), high level of tenacity throughout, and great build that led to a super inventive badass bump that led directly to the finish not three more nearfalls. Awesome old school, heavy hitting match. ****1/2

Double post my bad.

The bump immediately led to a logical finish that's awesome. Why are we complaining when it happened in the series or if it a heatless feud??? Their job is go out and make the best of the situation. Yes, Sheamus is completely without heat and Cesaro has cooled down, but putting on a kickass match with a really cool finish is a good way to build to that. I love Sheamus/Cesaro and could watch them wrestle for days, but the previous RAW matches were a bit same-y. This felt really heated. I loved Sheamus' selling of the arm. I loved the tenacity of the work. The spots were logical, cool and built on each other. Then they came up with a very inventive bump and did NOT do three more false finishes, but was properly sold as a big ass bump that leads to a finish. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

How does the WWA title have A* prestige??? Has anyone ever watched WWA matches? Are Great Wojo vs green Scotty Steiner good?

We are all missing the point! DAT CESARO VS SHEAMUS MATCH!!! BEST FREE TV MATCH OF YEAR! HOT DAMN!

Greg Valentine vs Ronnie Garvin - WWF MSG 9/30/89 If you love the sound of flesh on flesh then this match is for you! It helps a lot that Tony is here to call the action with the Southern drawl of Hillbilly Jim to add to this Mid-Atlantic fight feel. Absolute war of attrition. We all know that these two are going to hit each other hard and I mean double hard. The selling was off the charts great here too. I loved Valentine TIMMMBBBBAAAAAHHHH bump only when he tried to get up he flopped back down to the ground. I loved Garvin bouncing off the ropes trying to keep himself off as the Hammer rocked him with heavy chops. Just really awesome stand up exchanges. Tony nailed it felt like you were watching a boxing match. Valentine using shortcuts to keep Garvin at bay was great subtle heel psychology as Garvin just kept moving forward. I thought Valentine's chinlock/sleeper dragged a bit. I don't like Garvin using the sleeper because he is short, BUT it is a logical setup for the Garvin stomp so I get that. Loved the poke of the eyes when Garvin went for the Sharpshooter. Valentine hits some fucking massive chops late in the match. Then that kneecrusher followed by the insanely awesome selling by Garvin was so much fun. They tease heel running into the manager on the apron finish. Garvin sells the leg the whole way down the stretch, takes this great bump to the floor, cant get a piledriver. Valentine takes the press slam off the top. Lots of sunset flips here with Valentine dropping down on a Garvin attempt and falling forward to pick up the cheap win. Garvin wails on him after the match and ties him up in the ropes and wants to put the figure-4 on him using the Hartbreaker, but Jimmy Hart frees his man. I love a heavy hitting, humdinger of a slugfest. Dragged a bit in the middle, but the finish stretch was a barnburner. I think calling this a Top Ten WWF 80s match is selling the WWF short, more than how great this match is, but this is a fantastic mid-card match. ****1/4

I agree with this post wholeheartedly. Sheamus as a New Japan main eventers would be bitchin

The infinitely better finish was just put the belt on HHH. Just go all the way. Do the Hollywood 97 gimmick show up here and there. Tell everyone to worship the ground you walk on. Playing kingmaker just feels so cheap.

Worst finish since the Fingerpoke of Doom. Nothing means anything anymore except the Pedigree. Just put the fucking belt on him. If that was HHH as a face then fuck this company. I'm going to let it play out. Everything is salvageable if this was a heel move but yes that is the worst finish since the Fingerpoke in my opinion.

Even if I overrated the Angels/Girls match, it definitely blows everything from WWF 1988 out of the water. I watched 12 matches this weekend and have done reviews in the past on about 15 more. Here would be my Top 5. 1. Angels vs Girls - Boston 3/5/88 2. Demolition vs Rockers - MSG 10/88 3. Survivor Series Ten Team Tag 4. Randy Savage vs Ted DiBiase - Cage Match MSG 6/88 5. Greg Valentine vs Tito Santana - MSG 11/88

Bret Hart vs Bad News Brown - WWF MSG 4/25/88 Did Bret plan his matches out in advance? I read his book a long time ago, but I recall him discussing planning the matches in the back maybe not to the level of Savage, but he is definitely no Flair. I think that's why his matches in the 80s feel so mechanical. Everything is super segmented. When Bad News is on top he is on top. There is only one hope spot! When Bret is on top, he is on top. Bad News is just a tackling dummy. This is my major malfunction with Bret matches in 80s. The excellent execution is there and the layouts are great, but they are so damn soulless. It is just logical point A to Point B to Draw. To me this is the definition of good wrestling. Babyface shine is Bad News blindsides Bret so he overcomes and throws him out Bad News pouts and thinks about leaving. Do that again. Bad News rakes the eyes on a backbreaker and then goes after the throat. Bret does not fight back just absorbs the blows and takes the punishment. Throws in a hope spot and misses the elbow drop so Bad News goes back on offense. Bad News showboats too long so he misses the move off the middle rope. Bret takes over with his usual moves. The finish is a little better as there is some struggle for about a minute at the end and Bret even acts like it is difficult to hoist Bad News into the piledriver. Then ref fucks up the finish as he wont count because it is a time limit draw but the whole point is that it is supposed to be controversial for the fans. So then he count probably cause Bret yelled at him and just makes it worse. Not much heat. Bad News was the ultimate generic heel. Overcelebrating, going for the insincere handshake, feigning the walk out. It came off as forced. Bret understood wrestling and was very good at executing the moves, but he is missing that emotion sometimes. Definition of a good match. ***

Blue Angel (Owen Hart) vs Barry Horowitz - WWF LA 8/13/88 Owen Hart in a Super Calo like mask is the Blue Angel. Owen is already technically more proficient than 95% of the WWF roster at this point and blows Gorilla and Superstar's mind within a minute with his moves. His outfit looks wicked bush league and Blue Blazer was definitely a big upgrade. Owen looked freaking awesome here. Superstar makes a great point saying he is doing cool moves, but is delivering the pain too. I love how he is always maintaining wrist control throughout all his cool, flashy chaining sequences. The shine is a really good one that really showcases Owen. Horowitz' best contribution is that funny pat on the back taunt. He hits a superkick on a criss cross to take over. At first, he is a pretty good heel, getting nasty going for the throat, choking. Then as Superstar and Gorilla speculate runs out of moves and hits the chinlock, which is pretty funny because it is probably true and exactly what I was thinking. Horowitz falls in love with a variety of cradles, which is oddly babyface of him. He goes up top and Owen kips up and saves us from this. Owen chucks him off and takes him to school. Big time missile dropkick, "Suplex City coming up" - Gorilla, backbreaker and then a moonsault do Horowitz in. Definitely sign that man! Owen looked impressive in this. As a match, I think it is fun as a novelty and exhibition of where Owen is at the time and how good he was at this point, but Horowitz just does not have enough on top to make this more than good. ***1/4

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage vs Bad News Brown - WWF MSG 12/30/88 This will probably sound weird to those older than me, but I have never seen a Bad News Brown match. I liked how he carries himself. He just looks like a mean, street-tough man. In the ring, he is fine, nothing awesome, but it is fine. Savage was awesome in this! He was a total Wildman. He came out all cylinders firing swarming Bad News before the bell. I don't know why he is pissed, but I am happy he is. I thought we were going to get this badass street fight, but Bad News hits a clothesline in the ring and things settle down to the normal heat segment. Bad News was fine working on top with clobbering. Savage ends up reversing Bad News into the post and then hitting a high knee in the ring. Savage actually dives over the top rope onto Bad News. Savage is great! Double axehandle to the floor! Misses a double axehandle in the ring, but tosses Bad News off the top. He misses the flying elbow, but gets a small package to win. He is definitely being booked more like Bret than Hogan with these cradle victories rather than decisive leg drop wins. Bad News comes back with a trash barrel, but Savage sends him packing. Fun match, great Savage performance, Bad News is a solid heel challenger. ***1/4

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage vs Andre The Giant - WWF MSG 9/29/88 Smartly laid out match given Andre's limitations. First five minutes was all stalling around Heenan accosting Liz and Savage getting pissed. Pat Patterson sends him to back under threat of suspension and a heavy fine. Savage should have decked that asshole. Andre blasts Savage from behind. Andre was slow, but packed a heavy punch. I thought this was pretty good Andre offense. The hope spot was Andre getting in the caught ropes. I liked when he got free he just started swinging that heavy hand and was knocking the Macho Man back. Savage was hitting double chops to knock Andre down, but missed the flying elbow. They end up on the outside and it is a double countout as Andre grabs Elizabeth's ankle as she tries to escape the chaos in the ring. Savage breaks her free and then carries her to the back. He has his priorities in order. Andre has the belt and is threatening the ref to declare him the new champion instead the ref issues a heavy fine. It was fine for what it is. Nothing to see again.

Randy Savage vs Ted DiBiase - WWF SNME 3/12/88 These two had great chemistry, I think that outside the restrictions of the WWF house style they could have had a classic. That being said this match is a perfect example of the WWF is better at than any promotion in history and that's advancing an angle within confines of a match. DiBiase has not only Virgil, but Andre in his corner. They do a great job highlighting the four major participants in upcoming tournament for the vacant championship and foreshadow the dark possibility of DiBiase and Andre teaming up to ensure the title ends up around one of their waists. Typical beginning to the match with Savage slapping Virgil and DiBiase taking advantage. DiBiase has been great on offense in this series, choking and taunting and everything feels urgent. I love that Savage needs to hit four moves in a row to really gain control climaxing with a nice double axe handle. DiBiase powders to break his momentum. It was a little too easy for DiBiase to take control back and would have liked to seen some more cheating. Macho Man misses a kneedrop. This could be interesting, but alas goes nowhere. Spinning toehold and the Million Dollar Man is kicked over the top. Andre looms over distracting Savage, who gets CLOBBERED by Virgil. Virgil is thrown out. We go to commercial and it is to the chinlock. Savage makes his comeback, big time double axe handle from the top rope to the floor. Ref gets bumped. Liz has run to the back as Andre beats the shit out of Macho Man. DiBiase wins by countout once the ref is revived. If the final ends up with Savage against DiBiase or Andre, the fans now have to worry that through chicanery Savage could really lose. They look to do a number on the Macho Man, but here is the Hulkster with a chair. That's the missing piece that was so crucial. The MegaPowers have each other's back and now it will be even at Mania! Good angle development strong match with a lot of energy and urgency. Loved the finish. Andre looked like a beast. ***1/2

Hulk Hogan vs Harley Race - WWF 3/12/88 Probably most famous for Harley's table bump, which oddly enough is no sold. Hogan is pissed because of being screwed out of title by the Brain and Million Dollar Man. So he takes it out on Race who bumps all over the place for him and Hogan even chokes him with the tape and then chokes Heenan. Jesse is appalled. Harley blindsides Hogan and it is bombs away...head butts, knee drops, belly to belly Suplex and pile driver. It is fun and different in the cartoony simple WWF. He tries for head butt and cracks the table but keeps going and will not be deterred and actually hits the top rope head butt kick out! HULK UP! Quick burst! Heenan takes a great bump on his own leaping over the top rope to the floor. Very entertaining one of Hogan's best in this era. ***1/2