Superstar Sleeze

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kazushi Sakuraba - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom VII Pro wrestlers in shoot style can work. Shoot style workers in pro wrestling definitely work. But you have to decide what style you want to do. I don't think these two every really decided. The match came off clunky and disjointed. It sounds harsh, but this is a great match. On paper, Nakamura is the best pro wrestler for this match with legitimate MMA credentials and his gimmick is that he is essentially the best wrestler in terms of striking & submission talent on the roster. He is finally facing someone who is his superior in submission grappling, but he still holds an advantage in length & striking. It is interesting because watching the Tanahashi matches the key to Nakamura's strategy is counterwrestling. Here, he is getting out-counterwrestled throughout the match. He goes for his knee in the corner and Sakuraba moves and grabs a rear naked choke. He goes for a takedown and eats a knee. He gets caught in a Kimura. The way he combts this is using his length to get out of holds and then bombarding Sakuraba with a big knee to the head. This narrative is a great story. The problem lies in between this is awkward, tentative faux-MMA. The beginning like 4 minutes is as awkward as you will see on a big stage. Until, Nakamura slapped Sakuraba it was pretty boring. Even later on, why is Nakamura reversing in such a way that Sakuraba can get a full mount and transition easily into a side mount? The finish is Nakamura is too long to be kept in a cross armbreaker (he pops up a little too easily) and knees Sakuraba in the head. He hits the Boma-Ye to take this one home even though in true shoot-stylist fashion kicks out right after three! Too much awkwardness to rate this too, too high. But the story was interesting enough for me to consider this as a great match. Definitely unique and I can see why it is polarizing. ****

Katsuyori Shibata vs Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW G1 Climax 2013 Shibata Rules All! Ishii hit some MONSTAH LARIATS in this! I was popping out of my seat for these lariats! I marked out for Shibata's full on dropkick to Ishii in the corner. I loved Shibata catching the kick and the smoking Ishii with his own lariats. THOSE HEADBUTTS WERE DISGUSTING! Loved the symmetry in this! Each man trying to show he can outdo the other with a similar move. Really liked Shibata's submissions versus Ishii's throws. What hurt this match was the reliance on fighting spirit spots. I love combination elbows and love people beating the piss out of each other, but the whole stand there while you hit me does nothing for me. They took it to the extreme in this match with each going to a knee to let the other hit them. Enough complaining the finish stretch after the nasty headbutts was NUCLEAR! I thought Shibata had this in the bag with his sleeper (ishii spitting up) to set up the Penalty Kick, but Ishii would not be denied. After all the MONSTAH LARIATS early, Ishii digs two deep and DESTROYS Shibata with Mother of All Lariats twice and hits the Brainbuster for the HUGE upset and HUGE POP! Liked the Goto match better because of less Fighting Spirit spots, but this one has the better finish I will admit. ****1/4

Katsuyori Shibata vs Hirooki Goto - NJPW Dominion 2013 Big, dumb, hyper-masculine, testosterone-addled fun! So often spotfests seem so dainty and like a gymnastic exhibition. THIS IS A MAN'S SPOTFEST! They beat the living shit out of each other. I love Shibata. Hell, Goto was awesome in this too. Goto set the tone right out of the gate with a monster lariat as they charged each other. I loved the way Shibata stepped through that roundhouse kick. That was the most intense figure-4 ever when Goto slapped the shit out of Shibata and Shibata yelled at him. I don't care they dropped each on their head three times and each time popped up to deliver another head drop because THEY ARE MEN! That Shibata headbutt was ferocious. They rifled each other with kicks, slaps and forearms. The finish was actually really well-built. Goto basically slammed Shibata face first down on the mat, which was his big nearfall. Shibata used a desperation sleeper to get himself back in it and then with kicks and a couple Death Valley Drivers was able to use the Sleeper effectively enough to set up the Penalty Kick! Stiffness marks rejoice and revel in this manliness! Awesome! ****1/2

King of DDT Openweight Champion Kota Ibushi vs Kenny Omega - DDT 15th Anniversary 8/18/12 I know of DDT for ladders winning titles, people wrestling invisible humans and one of my all-time favorite wrestling gimmicks the demonic, zombie President Ramu, a nine year old girl in Satantic paint with a fascination of Iron Maiden and chokeslamming the hell out of the roster. However, I have always heard murmurs that DDT actually produced quality wrestling, but never pursued it. I knew Ibushi and Omega are stalwarts. I am glad both have gotten chances in NJPW and now Ibushi in WWE. I have seen Omega live in ROH in Detroit against one of my favorites Katsuhiko Nakajima. I cant believe Omega has not been picked up by WWE, good looking, six feet, good body, athletic and lots of charisma. I would describe this match as All Japan meets a spotfest. There was a ton of selling and milking of spots, but it was still a total spotfest in the back half. The front half was actually really fucking good. I have read some people say this is the greatest match of all time and that El Generico called it the best match he had ever seen live. I kinda scoffed. Then watching the front half, I was like these people may not be crazy. Omega was so great working the arm. He really tortured Ibushi's arm and had a ton of variety. Ibushi was great at selling. They were also weaving this really nice story that whenever could create enough space to create movement he could create a hope spot, but then Omega would quash them by whacking the arm. There were little issues here and there that I did not like. Omega switched arms for a little bit and then went back. My bigger issue was to stop the Triple Jump Moonsault he hit a nasty Half Nelson Suplex on the apron. It was wicked great spot, but they had 30 more minutes to go! Way too early! He went back to arm and worked it so I forgave it. I like Ibushi a lot because he can sell and his spots are breath-taking like the springboard half twist onto Omega on the floor to take control. It was around the second half nelson suplex on the ramp this time by Ibushi I thought this match lots its way. With about twenty minutes left, there was really nothing they could but end the match right then to save it from feeling bloated. It became so bloated. They were selling, but the selling means nothing when they can still hit on their spots and has no consequence on how will do the next move and when the pinfall will happen. The standing full twist layout by Ibushi great, but then Omega running at KENTA speeds does an exchange that without having seen a Kenny Omega match since 2009 that one time I will bet everything is a stock Omega sequence, but feels so shoehorned into here. Then there is the really big spot where Ibushi does a balcony moonsault onto Omega. It was not as cool as the Shane O Mac jump and Omega looked like an idiot waiting to catch him. The much cooler spot was the springboard hurricanarana while Omega was on the top rope to the floor. I lost my shit for that one! There are a lot of cool spots and it is one of the best spotfests I have ever seen, but there is no analysis necessary. They laid their shit in, they sold, but there is no analysis because it is totally mindless. So watch it, it is super fun, but I am not going to list a bunch of moves. I will say another bonkers high spot was Ibushi looks like he is going to powerbomb Omega off the top, but he is facing the crowd and he throws him backwards. Holy shit! What a bump and what strength! Phoenix Splash wins it! It is bloated and over the top. There are way too many spots, but it is 2012 this is what fans & wrestlers associate with drama and big main event wrestling. If you are into the style and I can actually see the logic that this is the greatest pro wrestling match of all time because it may be the greatest match I have seen in this style. It started off as something that could have been wicked special, but devolved into one of the best spotfests you will ever see. There is no shame in that. ****1/4

Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Kenou vs Fujita Jr Hayato - Michinoku Pro 6/3/12 Time to give my boy Fujita Jr Hayato some love. I am not sure there is a better babyface that combines sympathetic selling and asskicking offense as well as Hayato. Hayato is so over with the M-Pro crowd. He has this total Stone Cold fuck the world vibe, just a total badass. Let he sells like he is Ricky Fucking Morton and then delivers an asskicking as if he is Shinya Hashimoto. He is God's gift to wrestling. I like Kenou as an opponent for him definitely someone who stays on task and can trade stiff kicks with him. In fact, I thought the sections with Kenou on top were the best because Hayato's classic midsection selling was great, but Kenou's offense was meeting him right there. The transition to this heat segment was a great swift punt to Hayato's balls. Kenou threw him into the chairs a classic M-Pro spot and then the double stomp to the abdomen. We were off to the races. I thought what Kenou did so well is felt like he was always trying to win the match. He was clearly setting himself up for big stuff and always escalating. Gutbuster into Camel Clucth was great. When Hayato first started to mount a comeback and he finally kicked through Kenou you see Kenou comeback with a stiff shot right to the midsection. He loved those nasty forearms to the midsection that left Hayato doubled over in pain. The match definitely relied a lot on stiffness. These two beat the shit out of each other. Hayato was finally able to comeback by kicking out Kenou's leg and then hitting a monster dropkick. He nearly kicked Kenou's shoulder off with an apron kick and even sold his own foot. Back in the ring they just start slapping the shit out of each other. I mean WOW! That's the way it should be done. Kenou hits a roundhouse kick to the midsection to regain control. He really has purpose to everything he does nailing a wicked dropkick to the head and when Hayato kicks out he is ready with a vicious anklelock and when Hayato makes the ropes it is a double stomp to the back. Kenou on offense and Hayato selling has been magic. It is back to midsection with nasty forearms and he goes for the double stomp misses. Hayato goes all KENTA for a second and runs a million miles per hour with a knee to Kenou, but back to the kick exchange that Hayato wins that is much better than the KENTA bullshit that I thought was going to creep into the match. Roundhouse kick to the head followed by an uppercut knee and that's only two! The match is starting to feel bloated and excessive now. Now Kenou wins a kick exchange and finally hits the double stomp from the top rope. This has to be it. 1-2-NO! Nice deadlift German I love Hayato's kickout, totally out of it, but shakes his head like it is going to take a lot more. Kenou goes for the Dragon Suplex to finish, but Hayato turns it into the Guillotine Choke. Hayato kicks Kenou's head off and it is the deadweight sell and kick out. We have officially reached diminishing returns on these kicks outs. Dragon Suplex by KenOu was a great nearfall, but should have been five minutes earlier. Hayato hits two monster kicks to the head, which of course is not the ending finally the uppercut knee wins the match for Hayato. I thought the first half-2/3s was incredible especially Kenou's work on Hayato's midsection and Hayato's selling. That was some ***** shit. Both men were wrestling out of this world. What hurts is that even though Hayato was laying everything and shit looked crisp as fuck, it felt aimless and meandering. This felt bloated and stagnant at times. How many times can you go back to a kick exchange we need to move forward. The finish stretch was very NOAH and went on and on. Still the best Japanese match of 2012 that I have seen so far, but I believe Tanahashi/Suzuki, which I saw three years ago will be better once I get to it. ****1/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori - AJPW 2/3/12 I will give the Korakuen credit it is still rocking after all these years! Akiyama is probably the best offensive wrestler in the world this decade with the exception of maybe AJ Styles. There is no one I rather see on offense or in a bomb throwing war than Akiyama this decade. The best use of Omori is to have do as little as possible in my opinion. I feel like the first twenty minutes used him perfectly. He threw himself hard into his bumps especially the that dive from the apron into the railing. That was wicked! Akiyama just killed it working the arm. Some of the nastiest armbars ever, throwing the arm into hard steel objects and kneeing the shit out of it. Omori's offense is pretty bad. He outright whiffed on a couple punches and his kneedrop was not dangerous. He laid in his chops. Akiyama was torturing his arm like he was Dicky Murdoch, but Omori was committed to hitting his lariat which bothered me. Akiyama had an incredible burst of offense at one point: superplex, jumping knee into corner, exploder and then a knee to the face. Omori was getting stuff in, but it was not comparable to Akiyama. Omori did hit the Lariat, I would have been pissed if that was the finish. Akiyama hit a MONSTER Jumping Knee to the face to squelch this comeback. Jumbo would have been proud of that knee. Akiyama himself was pretty proud. The follow up knee to the face should have been the finish, but this NOAH/AJPW style there will be excessive knees to the face. Omori is bleeding from the nose. Akiyama hits a suplex I have never seen that is the finish. The ref botches the count and pulls up on three, but the wrestlers wanted that to be the finish then the bell rings which makes me think it was a draw and Korakuen is confused. The graphic says Akiyama won clean. I don't usually get on botches, but that one really kills the finish. Akiyama on offense was prime stuff. Some of the best arm work ever. Seriously really friggin awesome. Omori sold pretty well for the most part, spotty here and there. The unfortunate thing is they just do the usual AJPW/NOAH finish stretch when it could have been something special. Omori was exposed and it was overkill. Great match, not a classic. ***3/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Jun Akiyama vs Masakatsu Funaki - AJPW 8/26/12 This is the famous sub 5 minute sprint from these two. Loved it! Very ballsy! Akiyama gets a knee to the head early and he pounces. He wants to exploit this advantage and win this match in short fashion. Funaki has some counterwrestling tricks like an armbar and legbar, but Akiyama is coming full steam ahead with the knees to the head. Nice struggle on Exploder. Coming out of the legbar, Funaki rifles the leg with a kick and then knocks Akiyama out cold with a head kick. Hits a shoulderbreaker to win the match. Great sprint! Akiyama saw an opening and tried to accelerate, but when that happens you leave yourself open for a quick counterattack and that's what happened here. ****

I know the no selling spot you speak of and I think it was really poorly executed Sling Blade from that position. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada - Wrestle Kingdom VII The rubber match and sort of the bow on the first chapter of their series. It seems the diehards of this feud consider the first matches to be inferior to the second three matches so there is hope. I think the June match was better and this was on the level of the February. The spots are for the most part just rearranged, but it does feel very same-y up until this point. That's why I will write the same positives and the same negatives. New Japan is the best at constructing match layouts and building to a finish in an efficient with little overkill. That's been NJPW's heavyweight modus operandi since the 90s (I cant say the 80s because I have not watched a lot of NJPW from the 80s yet). The key difference is the lack of a Hashimoto with that big time ass kicker charisma. It does feel very WWE. It really feels like the Japanese version of Cena vs Orton. The matches are great, but leave you wanting more. Perfunctory NJPW mat wrestling to start. Tanahashi blocks the dropkick when he is on the top rope, but Okada dropkicks the ropes to nutshot him and then hits an Hangman's DDT. Vintage Orton! Between that, the beautiful dropkick, the personality of a potted plant and the ability to cure insomnia are these two actually the same person??? Has anyone ever seen Orton & Okada in the same place at the same time? Okada is working the neck, never seen that before. Tanahashi dropkicks Okada's knee as he is charging. That's a bit different way to start the leg work. They are setting up the same control segments in different ways. Notice how the challenger gets the first control segment. High Fly Flow to the floor as is the norm when Tanahashi begins his leg work. The dragon leg screw in the ropes is almost blocked, but Tanahashi dropkicks the knee and then does it. Again, I think they should go from Tanahashi leg work to his finish, but instead Okada gets a DDT and it is back to the neck. The key to his first win was a Tombstone on the floor and that's what he wants now. Tanahashi understanding this avoids it all cost and hits Sling Blade. High Fly Flow eats knees. Okada runs through some stuff, but when it comes time for the Rainmaker it is time for Tanahashi to run through his finish run suplexes. High Fly Flow and kick out! That's fine because they built two matches previously where one finish was enough so I think this is fine escalation. Cloverleaf by Tanahashi makes sense here with the leg work. Okada nails a tombstone. It was in the ring, but still he who hits the Tombstone seems to win these matches. Rainmaker into Sling Blade. Okada goes back to the Tombstone to set up the Rainmaker again. Great struggle over the second Tombstone with Okada reigning down the elbows to the injured neck only for Tanahashi to dropkick the injured leg. Tanahashi nails the Tombstone. HUGE! High Fly Flow to a standing jelly-legged Okada and second High Fly Flow for the victory! Again, there is really smart stuff in here. Okada never hits the Rainmaker so that's completely protected. Okada gets to kick out of a High Fly Flow. The Tombstone has been a huge part of this rivalry. The Tombstone on the floor basically won Okada the title. The struggle over the Tombstone in June and here basically determined the winner. The last 2-3 minutes was excellent. The beginning just felt same-y and kinda pedestrian. Again, they did not over stay their welcome at all. Everything was efficient. Just missing that emotion. Great again, but not a classic. **** How I rank the first chapter: 1. Dominion ****1/4 2. New Beginning **** 3. Wrestle Kingdom VII **** Flair/Steamboat this is not.

IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW Dominion 2012 I will say about these matches they are definitely tight and efficient. The layouts are great and that is to be expected with Tanahashi in the ring, just really strong sense of escalation. I think one thing that really benefits this match over the previous one is that this focused on Tanahashi overcoming Okada. As Tanahashi is the babyface this is a more natural and pleasing story to tell. Tanahashi takes it to Okada early tripping him up and wrapping his leg around the post. He did not come to play. Nice kneecrusher and chop block. Really strong leg work. They play off the last match with Okada looking like he pushed off Tanahashi for the senton, but Tanahashi skins the cat. The real transition is Okada uses Tanahashi's momentum to sit him up top and dropkick him. It was so seamless that I liked it. Okada works the neck again. Nice dropkick cut off and running kick to the head, but this is all Tanahashi's selling. Okada is pretty uninspiring on top. Thankfully, Tanahashi goes after the knee and then hits High Fly Flow to the outside. This time it feels warranted. Tanahashi is the challenger he needs to bring it and the neck work was longer this time. I actually thought they transitioned too quickly back to Okada, I felt like we could have gone right into Tanahashi first finish run attempt. Okada gets the big elbow, but when he goes for the Rainmaker he eats a Sling Blade. Tanahashi excited turns his back and POW! Dropkick! Great spot! Tanahashi actually takes control with a couple dragon leg screws and Texas Cloverleaf. So now we get the Tanahashi finish run, but he eats knees on High Fly Flow. Up until this point, I thought this was just as good as the last match, maybe liking a hair better because it was Tanahashi coming from underneath. I thought the next part really added drama. I loved Okada rocking Tanahashi with the European Uppercuts and Tanahashi just collapsing. Some really good selling that really took the match up Okada went for his Tombstone and there is a great struggle over the tombstone. You really feel like whoever hits this tombstone is going to win the match. It was a really cool, dramatic spot. Tanahashi eventually is the one who nails it! In a perfect world, Tanahashi would have hit the High Fly Flow and won the match. But they go for one more round of Do-See-Do with a Sling Blade and then High Fly Flow. It is 30 seconds of fat and Okada actually sold really, really well so I am not going to kill them for it. Tanahashi's selling and emotion really carried this one. I thought the last 2-3 minutes was excellent. Everything before was the usual solid as a rock stuff. Another great one, but really waiting to have my socks knocked off. ****1/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada - NJPW New Beginning 2012 So lets see if this is all it is cracked up to be. I actually watched this match back in 2012. The year 2012 is when I experienced my pro wrestling renaissance. I had fallen out of the Japanese scene in 2009 and had heard about this. I actually even wrote a blog article about this match, but I have not gone back and read it. I remember being surprised much like everyone else that a relative unknown in Okada dethroned Tanahashi in his first major match. From a story standpoint, this is very Jumbo/Misawa. Established ace vs young upstart. The young upstart has gone through a transformation. Misawa taking off the mask and Okada donning the Rainmaker gear. Both very surprising upsets. The follow up story similar to Jumbo/Misawa is that Okada is not the Ace overnight this is just an opening salvo and an announcement that he is here, but it will be a long road before he becomes the Ace. As for the match itself, this is no Misawa/Jumbo. What it is is a very solid Tanahashi formula match. I am one of the most ardent Tanahashi advocates and it mostly comes from my love for his formula. On the other hand, I often find Okada to be dreadfully dull. He is the Japanese Randy Orton in my opinion. Technically fine, but a vacuum of emotion. I thought he was a little better at channeling his aloofness into cockiness here, but still did not think this was a standout performance by him at all. It very much relied on the Tanahashi formula and the novelty of The Rainmaker. The drawback of the formula is they have missed out on telling a more interesting match of Okada needing to prove himself to Tanahashi rather than just being another Tanahashi opponent. The beginning of the match Tanahashi controls with solid headlocks establishing himself as the Ace. Okada transitions using what else, but his patented get out of jail free card, the dropkick. However, it is not just one dropkick, but two. One normal and the other being a dropkick to a seated Tanahashi on the top rope to cement his control. This was well set up as Tanahashi was going for his middle rope senton so it did not feel shoehorned. Okada was aggressive on the outside attacking Tanahashi's neck. I felt once they got back in the ring he lost some of that ferocity. He was content to be in the match. Maybe it was supposed to be cockiness, but I felt in the first match he needed to make a statement and really go for a big bomb. Like earlier, he went for the Tombstone, but instead now he was just content to cut Tanahashi off at each pass with an elbow to the neck. To Tanahashi's credit, he sold the neck well and threw some nice overhand chops, but his detractors would never let you believe. The transition here was the Dragon Leg Screw, a Tanahashi staple. The spot of the match was the High Fly Flow to the floor. Great spot, awkward timing, I don't feel like Tanahashi was in that much danger that he needed to bust that out yet. Tanahashi applied a Texas Cloverleaf and somewhere along the line had his tooth knocked out. Oh yeah, Tanahashi is not tough! Give me a break! The injured Okada knee has been established. Okada hits a tombstone just as it seemed Tanahashi may run away with the match, which targets the hurt neck of Tanahashi, but hurts Okada's injured knee. Nice! Tanahashi uses a dropkick to the knee to buy himself some time. Here, Tanahashi's pays for his over-urgency. You could claim hot hand fallacy here. He hit the High Fly Flow to the floor earlier and now cocky went for a somersault off the apron and that may have been what cost him in the match. Okada nails Tombstone on the cement and sells his knee. Tanahashi is just deadweight as Okada drags him back in the ring. His big top rope elbow sets up the Rainmaker, but Tanahashi gets out and hits Sling Blade. Now we see him run through his finish stretch climaxing with a missed second High Fly Flow that eats knees. Okada sells the knee as is customary by Tanahashi opponents. I love the symmetry here. Tanahashi avoids Okada's finish and goes on a run. Now Okada avoids Tanahashi's finish and goes on a run. One Rainmaker finisher (it was a helluva Rainmaker) unseats Tanahashi. Clocking in around 20 minutes this is a great, tight little match. It does not have the emotion I would like, but the world was solid and layout as usual is awesome. All the transitions made sense and were timed perfectly. No segment felt too long. The selling was consistent pretty much throughout. It built from limb psychology (neck and knee) to big moves Tombstones->Tanahashi finish run-> Okada finish with great escalation. It was just missing that emotion factor for me. Great, but not a classic. ****

Barry Windham vs Arn Anderson - JCP 1/1187 No lost classic here, just a solid as a rock midcard 10 minute match. What is most impressive is how Windham threw himself into these bumps. He so fluidly fell out of the ring, hit the floor and seamlessly transported himself into the railing. Then the force he threw himself into that hotshot was sweet. The usual AA spots like Spinebuster and that bridge and then balls into the knees. Windham wins by small package.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Nikita Koloff - Cinncy Handheld 1/4/87 I think the most impressive thing about this is that this is just a random house show, but you wouldn't know it from Flair's performance. He gives these people 30 minutes of pure entertainment and treats it like it is Starrcade. Hell this is a better match than the Starrcade 86 match. Very similar babyface shine, I liked Nikita teasing the Russian Sickle more often. The difference was better transitions and that Flair was ferocious in this. After the Russian Sickle hit the post. Flair was great on the arm until Nikita starting getting hope spots by hitting Nodowas and then throwing Flair arm first into the turnbuckle. In the crowd a fan says he cant hear Flair wheres your big mouth now. Flair hits a massive ballshot and then reverse atomic drop love it. Now it is figure-4 time. There is a great Nikita no sell after that. Then it is just the fun Flair finish routine with all the spots you know and love. Great false finish after the Russian Sickle, but Flair had his feet on the ropes. Flair throws Nikita over the top on a Russian Sickle attempt. Still a lot of Flair routine and bit cartoony but the better Flair heat segments helped a lot. ***3/4

NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard vs Tim Horner - NWA WCW 1/3/87 Damn good TV match. Blanchard and JJ have gotten cocky. They have extended the time limit to 25 minutes and are putting $10k on the line! Blanchard is definitely one who likes to get his ass kicked. Not much in terms of stooging or bumping BUT I thought Horner was actually pretty damn technically sound and compelling working the arm. He had plenty of different holds and was going for pinning combinations out of them and had cool ways to apply them like a flying hammerlock. Tully uses the tights to get him out, but Horner gets a sunset flip. Barry Windham is on commentary and actually pretty good getting everything over. Tony had been bugging Flair when he would put his title on the line on TV and Barry thinks that's a good idea. Love the slow burn. Tully clips the leg and applies a figure-4, but is in the ropes and gets a kneecrusher. Tully seems like he is in control now, but Horner snaps and starts firing off punches. Some nice nearfalls for Horner like a dropkick and O'Connor Roll. They timed the finish perfectly. Blanchard couldn't get Horner up for the slingshot suplex due to some leg work and Horner hit a suplex for a nearfall. Horner went up top for a corssbody roll through grab the tights and Tully retains. BW is pissed. Horsemen jump Windham. Perfect TV studio booking. Make Horner look good as he was a cut above a jabroni. Blanchard looks desperate gets his win in cheap fashion. Gives Windham reason to interfere and Horsemen beat him down for heat. Solid TV title studio bout. ***1/4

I am going to edit in analysis later for both World Class & Mid-South later. Here is the best of Mid-South, 53 matches were watched. If AWA was my favorite, Mid-South has been with a whopping 31 matches at ****1/4+, which is almost a 60% batting average. 1. Ted DiBiase vs Hacksaw Duggan (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town, Coal Miner's Glove on a Poll, Steel Cage Tuxedo Match) 2. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Taylor - Superdome 6/1/85 3. Hacksaw Duggan vs Buzz Sawyer - 11/11/85 4. Mid-South North American Champion Dick Murdoch vs Butch Reed - 10/14/85 5. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich - Tulsa 4/28/85 6. Mid-South North American Champion Dick Murdoch vs Butch Reed - 9/22/85 7. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Taylor - Houston 5/3/85 8. NWA Western States Heritage Champion Barry Windham vs Dick Murdoch - 7/11/87 9. Mid-South North American Champion Magnum TA vs Ted DiBiase - Tulsa 5/27/84 No DQ 10. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase - 11/6/85

Ric Flair & Andersons vs Dusty Rhodes & Rock N Roll Express - JCP 12/9/86 Just a really fun, chaotic cage match felt like a precursor to Wargames with plenty of blood and mayhem. Ole bumps around for Morton then Arn for Dusty in some really fun spots. Dusty has a huge cast on his arm. Then Flair gets beat up by everyone. It is fun for everyone. Flair is able to isolate Gibson and bully him. Gibson and Flair do an amateur riding sequence and just when Flair thinks he wrangles him Gibson rolls away to Morton. I love Flair getting right up in Morton's face before he has even crossed the ropes and Morton kicking Flair away. The Andersons had done a number on Morton at Starrcade '86 and they said in numerous promos in December of 86 they are the reason Ragin n Ravishin were able to win the titles. Morton starts selling and the crowd really comes alive. Morton DDT and leaps to the outstretched hand of American Dream, Of course, it is Dusty who gets the Super Duper hot tag. Dusty gets a sweet belly to belly on Arn and it is super duper chaos. FInish is kinda lame, Dusty cradles Arn to win off camera. Very good match, but nothing too spectacular, just good down home fun. ***1/2

PRO WRESTLING >>> MMA! PRO WRESTLING FOREVER!!!

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Nikita Koloff - NWA Starrcade 1986 Before match there is this weird music video of Magnum TA running to the beach to what appears to be his mother, but there is this horrible post-grunge song with the chorus of "her life is like a box that is always empty". I just couldn't believe that a song that sound like it was from the mid-90s would be used in the original segment. I knew I had seen this before. I took to google found my post from here. (Hey remember Comments That Warrant A Thread!). I am still apparently the only one who cares about this. Zellner informed me that Wind Beneath My Wings was originally the music set to the video, which makes way more sense for a son running to his mother on the beach. Which begs the question who the fuck thought it was a good idea to dub over that with this trash. Not only does the song suck but has absolutely zero to do with the video. Anybody who listens to Tag Teams Back Again (Whoomp There's The Cheap Plug) knows I am just stalling because I don't want to talk about the match. It is not a bad match so much as it is a sad match. Up until this point Ric Flair made his opponent earn their shine and earn their keep in a match. We finally see Flair's bad tendencies and instincts rear their ugly head that would plague him more and more in the future. Flair pretty much just wrestled himself in this match. Nikita just happened to be standing there. I wonder if it is just because Flair really felt like he could only trust himself at this point and he just did not have the patience to teach his opponents. Usually Flair would be a perpetual ball of motion constantly trying to attack his opponent and his opponent would overcome the onslaught. Here Flair acted like Nikita's ragdoll. He bumped around for him and then would beg off or go running to the hills. It is entertaining, but it is in a cheap and superficial way. I was surprised at how much offense Flair did get. This was not a squash by any means and given that Nikita was not going over I expected him to wreck Flair en route to the cheap finish. Koloff missed the Russian Sickle went tumbling outside. Flair worked the leg pretty well and then when Koloff starts to power up. Flair transitions to a different heat segment with him busting Koloff open on the outside. I think the one thing Koloff did add was that he is very good at no selling. No selling is an art. It can be very effective for a pop. He is quite good at it and he gets you excited to watch Flair get his ass kicked. Koloff makes his comeback, the ref gets bumped. Russian Sickle! No ref, brawling and the ref gets tossed around by both and it is a Double DQ. Predictable given its the World & US Champ. What's annoying is that they have this kickass brawl for like 5 minutes. Flair is not scared of Nikita at all. He is constantly jumping on him and there is a ton of heat. The post-match brawl is the match they should have had. This felt very WWF and cartoony. Big power man throws around sneaky coward. Coward gets his cheapshots in and then powerman makes comeback. The difference between this and WWF is that Flair is a better bumper, verbal seller and works a better heat segment than most WWF heels. However, this did not have that NWA feel of a true athletic exhibition with lots of struggle and urgency. You see Flair slip and slip more and more to this. Still entertaining, but at the same time kinda sad. ***

NWA World TV Champion Dusty Rhodes vs Tully Blanchard - NWA Starrcade 1986 First Blood Dusty playing Red Light, Green Light with Tully using bionic elbow will always be one of my favorite spots in wrestling history. To me it epitomizes the fun that pro wrestling can be. I always have the biggest smile on my face watching this match. It is a total master class in psychology, an anti-workrate classic and a testament to the intoxicating, infectious charisma of the American Dream and the brilliant cowardice of Tully Blanchard. The beginning with Dillon trying to put headgear on Tully and the Vaseline is so much fun. Dillon tries to give Dusty a piece of his mind and Dusty gives him the bionic elbow, which busts him open. All these pre-match shenanigans establish Tully as a coward and the Bionic Elbow as a death knell. The way they struggle over punches and sell the tension of being punched just one time is amazing. The Red Light, Green Light is amazing. Tully went for a fist drop and then saw the big hand of Dusty to meet him and his selling was great. The headbutt by Dusty was great because you didn't know who may be busted open. The way they sold the anticipation of the Bionic Elbow was so dramatic. It hit him on the top of the head and just didn't bust him open. The finish is classic Dusty with the ref bump where Dusty is able to bust him open. In a move of ultimate heel chicanery, JJ covers up Tully with Vaseline hands him a roll of coins and busts Dusty open. The referee comes to to see Dusty bleeding calls for the bell. In entertainment value this is *****. It is fun and dramatic at the same time. You want that little coward Tully to get his face caved in by the Bionic Elbow of the American Dream, but at the same time you are amused by Dusty's cocky swagger and Tully & JJ's shenanigans. Call me crazy, ****1/2

Ronnie Garvin vs Big Bubba Rogers - NWA Starrcade 1986 Louisville Streetfight Simple, but elegant. Only in pro wrestling can you describe a man being busted open with a roll of nickels as simple, but elegant. The only convoluted section was when Garvin brought out some rope. It was clear that Ronnie Garvin had spent time in the navy as he had no idea how to hogtie Bubba. Before and after the match was exactly what it should have been. Garvin using his speed to hit and run early tagging Bubba with some big shots. Bubba was such a good bumper. He takes a great big spill on the floor off a Garvin punch. Bubba throws Garvin out but he keeps landing on his feet. Bubba uses his mass to back Garvin in the corner and that when he clobbers him with the roll of nickels by Cornette. He was so cheap, he did not use quarters. C'mon where is good commentary when you need it. The rope bullshit happens at this point. We go back to the good stuff with Bubba going for a bearhug, but Garvin dazes him with headbutts and another series of punches sends him careening to the outside. Bubba fires up, but Garvin press slams him off the top. For a greenhorn, Bubba is making Garvin look like a million bucks. Garvin has trouble getting Bubba up for the piledriver and rips off his belt in the process. The ref has been bumped and Corny hits him with the loaded racket. He spared no expense on that. Tommy Young counts both men out, but in a Louisville Street Fight there must be a winner! It is first man to his feet. They should adopt this in Last Man Standing matches it is quite dramatic. Garvin gets up first, but Young is distracted and Corny whacks Garvin in the back of the leg with the racket. Perfect! Bubba wins! Very fun match. Bubba was perfect a mountain of man that could bump. He straddled the line of imposing and vulnerable was perfect. Garvin is so great at intensity. Corny was great at all the cheating. Just one of those great 80s midcard matches. They don't make them like they used to. ***3/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Midnight Express vs Rock N Roll Express - JCP Philly 8/16/86 2 Out of 3 Falls I could watch these two teams forever. The Midnight Express try as they might just cant get one over on the RNRs. They try quick tags and end up running into each other. They try hair pulling and Condrey ends up taking three atomic drops. They try double teaming in their own corner and Gibson fights his way out. I am missing some other examples, but my point is RNRs have to earn their shine. MX is the tag team version of Flair. They are always trying something, but the babyfaces are just better. Until that one moment and BAM! In this case, Morton sets his head low and Eaton pounces with an elbow. Nice heat segment on Morton lots of action. Divorce Court sets up some arm work. Eaton throws Morton hard into the turnbuckles like harder than Morton was expecting because he does not really have time to protect himself and he eats it hard. Morton comes outta the corner with a back elbow and Gibson grabs a quick small package to go up 1-0. Smart wrestling by Gibson, they were severe trouble and he quickly scores a point and swings all the momentum in their favor. RNRs 1-0. If was not going to be a sweep, you knew this one would be quick. Gibson crashes and burns on a reverse crossbody, but goes for the small package. I like that move in desperate times. He runs the ropes, but holds the top rope down. Two big time backbreakers by Condrey evens the score. I wont hold it against them, but I was really hoping for the Rocket Launcher or something cool to get them the fall. Tied 1-1. MX rips off the bandages on Gibson's back. Didn't even notice that before! Makes the backbreakers make way more sense. MX goes to town on his back. The best parts are the Rocket Launcher and Elbow drop to the back! WOW! Gibson knee lift, goes to the wrong corner, but finds Morton. Morton gets the hot tag and hits a MISSILE DROPKICK! Eaton comes off the top on him. Gibson stops the ref because Eaton is not legal. Condrey hits a monster high knee to Morton that sends him flying out of the ring. Condrey tries to bring him in with a bodyslam, but Morton rolls through. Incredible match! Offense was spectacular, great heat on Gibson and the finish run was one of the most exciting you will ever find. Definitely should be considered one of the best matches in JCP history. ****1/2

NWA World Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs Midnight Express - Superstars on the Superstation 2/2/86 Wicked fun! I am a total mark for a big, fun shine and this is just chicken soup for my soul. I loved that MX jumped them and threw them out. You really thought you were going to be robbed of a shine sequence only to have Morton use the ropes to throw them over the top. Then they had a ton of fun spots against the MX running them into each other in a bunch of ways. Once things settle down, the fun does not end. Eaton throws a wicked right and Gibson immediately responds with a punch of his own (Eaton is selling quickly) and a headscissors. Eaton throws Morton out and again you think the heels may take over and Eaton ends up taking a back body drop over the top. I am liking all the heel hope spots. The leg work on Condrey was so much fun. The RNRs were doubling up and Crockett yells "Teamwork, yes!". Currently, my company is all about teamwork. I really want to isolate that soundbite and play it at work. There is a great moment where Condrey finally gets offense, but it is a kneelift! Great selling by him off this. Again it is little spots like this that keep things interesting. RNRs were so energetic in this loved it. They lose control of Condrey and crawls over to tag Eaton. Eaton RIFLES Morton in the corner! WOW! Eaton eats a suplex and the MX just cant get anything going. Eaton traps Gibson going for the dropkick and catapults him into Condrey. Eaton & Condrey immediately pounce on Gibson. It gets a little chinlocky, but there is enough hope spots that keep it interesting. My favorite one is Gibson tries to sunset flip both and Morton comes in and dropkicks one out so Gibson can get the other over. Very cool. I love when the other tag partner gets involved. Eaton crashes and burns on the Rocket Launcher. Hot tag to Morton! Morton tees off on everyone. Morton crossbody! Double dropkicks (DOUBLE DROPKICK per David Crockett) for everyone, but that bumps the ref. The RNRs want to beat the shit outta Corny and David Crockett approves Whip him like a dog!, but Condrey wallops Morton. Corny pulls Eaton on top for the win! Awesome Southern Tag match! I loved this! So energetic, great selling from both teams. RNRs overcoming the MX at every turn early to only get caught in the catapult. The only thing that keeps it down was that it was a little chinlocky. Loved the finish super hot stuff from the RNRs before heel cheating to win. I think the key to the RNRs is you gotta keep them between 15-25 minutes. Those long matches just were not for me. This is so much breezier. Below Wrestlewar '90, but second best MX/RNRs match I have seen. ****1/2

UWF Western States Heritage Champion Barry Windham vs Dick Murdoch - UWF 7/11/87 (Aired on UWF TV 8/1/87) Crockett has already purchased the UWF at this point and this was during brief run where they tried to keep it as a separate entity sending over Windham to anchor the babyface side. I think they missed a big opportunity of having Windham in the Garvin slot. I love the Flair/Garvin series especially 87 and am a Garvin fan, but they could have really built to the future with a Windham victory there. I have seen this match a bunch of times and loved it. I saved it for last because I thought it had a legitimate shot as the best Mid-South match. To my surprise, I don't even have this in my top 5. There has been that much great shit in Mid-South. That's not indictment on this match, which is still fantastic just goes to show you how stacked Mid-South was. If you like punching, this match is for you. I think that's strength of this match and why it finished so high in the original poll. Flair matches can be polarizing. A good punch is a great unifier of all wrestling fans. These two are the best punchers in the business and so this match had that in spades. The first fifteen minutes are characterized by dueling arm work. Murdoch is the God King of arm work even moreso than the Andersons. He just tortures his opponent and he has so many holds at his disposal. On the flip side, he is so good at selling arm work with his face and his body. My complaint is that it was a little too easy for them to get in and out of arm holds here. I liked how Murdoch set up his arm holds with elbows to the face and yanking the arm against the apron and other nasty ways. Whereas Windham used speed and movement to set up his like a dropkick or a crossbody. The match picks up half way through when Murdoch backs him into the corner and pops him one. Watch Windham sell this. Perfect. Just simple perfection. Really gets this over as a big turning point in the match. Windham hits a spinning neckbreaker to even the playing field. Murdoch sells this a bit over the top, but I love over the top. I really enjoyed it and you all need to watch it. Windham has such a beautiful punch and he is looking to get his receipt. Murdoch ends up on the outside and Windham hits the atomic drop that sends him into the post. Murdoch rakes the eyes, but on the suplex back into the ring Windham falls on top. I love from his knees Murdoch pops Windhams in the face with a punch. Great shit! The slugfests that ensue should be legendary. They are just going blow for blow with incredible selling on each punch. They are holding each other up and punching each other. Murdoch's missed windmill punches is the classic spot I always remember (that and Terry Taylor dubbing himself Vero's Hero on commentary) with Windham cleaning his clock after that bit of fun . Murdoch tries to get up on the top rope, but he looks like a beached whale, lol. Windham press slams him off and figure-4 time. You can say Flair forced him to do that spot now! The finish stretch is Hot Stuff (Murdoch's manager) distracting the ref and Murdoch busting Windham open with the mic whilst in the figure-4. Murdoch tries to put Windham away, but Windham keeps attacking the leg all the while the time limit is about to expire. Belt shot by Murdoch! Kneecrusher by Windham! Spinning Toehold and Figure-4! He makes it to the ropes. BRAINBUSTAH~! But Gilbert has the ref distracted as the time limit expires. Well that is just poor managing right there. The middle portion of this is simply awesome. Great punches and selling. Exactly what you want from these two. Thought the beginning (too easy to get in and out of arm holds) and finish (shoehorning the leg stuff and manager stuff. It felt like a detour from something that was awesome to something I have seen before) just weren't there with the rest of the match. I wish we had every Dick Murdoch match ever. He is fucking incredible. ****1/2

Mid-South North American Champion Dick Murdoch vs Mid-South TV Champion Butch Reed - Mid-South 10/14/85 I watched this way back when with the September match, but never got around to writing a review for this. I remember liking this as much as the September match and I liked that a whole lot. First 15 minutes: Reed's TV title is only on the line for the first 15 minutes. I don't know why Watts insisted or who insisted Reed work holds. He is not as good as everyone else at it. He would be great as a power wrestler. They trade side headlocks early with good struggle. A battle over a top wristlock leads to Reed grabbing an armbar. This would be the hold du jour. Reed's arm work is good, but not great like Murdoch's in the previous encounter. I did like this way better than the headlock Flair match. Murdoch's facial expressions and struggle make this a lot better. He is looking for the ropes and really sells the pain once it is released. He is trying to combat Reed with big elbows to the top of the head. Everytime they lock up, Reed punches the bad arm and Capn Redneck is getting pissed! 5 minute time call and Murdoch avoids the punch and grabs a small package. I love that spot. Reed grabs the arm and this all makes sense. Reed is trying to wait out the 15 minute time period while setting himself up to win the North American Title later. Really smart strategy. Murdoch finally makes in roads with elbows to the top of the head, but Reed sits out of the front facelock to grab a hammerlock. Murdoch backs Reed into the corner and reigns down heavy blows while selling the bad arm. Reed is discombobulated. Atomic drop. Only one minute remains! Murdoch cant get the pin, big punch in the side headlock. He is whacking Reed in the back of the head. Feigns brainbuster for another small package. They standoff and Murdoch resigns himself to not winning the TV Title. If the match ended here as a draw, I would say this was easily great. Reed dominated with arm work, Murdoch sold and fought back and they worked to a strong finish. The match does not end here. Murdoch has a bad wing and it is not just his title on the line. Last 15 Minutes: Holy Shit! This was what I am talking about! World-Class Selling throughout. For limb psychology marks like myself, it does not get better than Murdoch working the leg in response to Reed working the arm. It is an absolute war of attrition. Before the dueling limb psychology there is a really fun tit for tat piece of psychology I got to point out. Murdoch had been really clobbering Reed and up until that point Reed had restrained himself. On a criss cross, Reed popped him one good. Murdoch's selling is I don't know I don't have words to describe it. Perfect. That what it is. It is perfect. Watch this match for that one moment. Mrudoch gets his receipt on the next criss cross and Reed sells great like a babyface should. Murdoch uses the bottom rope to stomp Reed before finally zeroing in on his target, Reed's leg to take away his power. Reed is incredible selling this. He is trying to fight back in the corner, but he looks helpless. Love this. Murdoch grabs a toehold and Reed starts to kick at the bad arm. Oh Fuck Yes! Reed starts yanking at the bad arm and Murdoch collapses in pain. Reed collapses with a knee on Murdoch's bad arm and then sells his own knee. Another time, he kneelifts Murdoch and Murdoch sells his face so well while Reed has to sell his knee. This is why I love pro wrestling! Reed attacking the arm and Murdoch is attacking the leg each trying their best to gain the advantage. Murdoch applies the figure-4 and I actually feel like this could be the finish because of the selling! Reed breaks it with raw power and uses the ropes to hold himself up to kick Murdoch away. Murdoch hits a knecrusher for two. Reed hoists him up for a powerslam, but bumps the ref. Murdoch gets an O'Connor Roll, but no ref, now Reed gets his own and wins the CHAMPIONSHIP! The crowd goes insane for this!!! Murdoch shows his respect for the new champ. The last 15 minutes were wrestled at a ***** level. I thought finish was just slightly weak and the first 15 minutes while they set up last 15 minutes well just weren't there. Easy top 5 Mid-South match and Top 50 US Match of the 80s. A definite must watch. Every aspiring wrestler NEEDS to watch the last 15 minutes of this. ****3/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Mike Graham - Championship Wrestling from Florida 2/20/82 Ric Flair looks like a giant compared to Mike Graham. This open up a great opportunity for Flair to bully his opponent. It is glorious. Wicked fun! Something different. Flair and Graham have some really good slugfests early and Flair takes a big bump off a Graham right. He comes back in and just picks up the little man and drops him throat first. You don't see Flair manhandle someone, but he manhandled Graham here. He misses an elbow drop giving Graham an opportunity to grab a sleeper. Flair gets his foot on the ropes so Graham slams down on it. Graham works the leg until Flair kicks him in the face. They slug it out again. Flair goes crashing over the top rope. He gets back in and they go blow for blow and the video ends! WTF! Great Japanese video quality. Really good. Someone hook me up with the full version. This has the potential of being ****+.

My least favorite 80s Flair is definitely still Starrcade 83. That match almost soured me on the 1980s completely! Good thing like John Cena, I never give up.