Superstar Sleeze

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page vs Sting - WCW Nitro 4/26/99 GOOD GOD! I know this match had a rep as one of the last classics in the history of WCW, but this hangs right up there with pretty much the entirety of the 90s as a great title match. It is easily the best WCW World Championship since Hogan arrived in WCW in 1994. I have been raving about DDP for a while now so I am not surprised at all that he had this in him. He just rules at these Clash of the Titans matches. I will say what is special about this is how it demonstrates how good a heel DDP was. It is easy to overlook this when he was one of the best babyfaces on the roster that in a month he was totally over as a heel and still capable of rocking it in the ring. Sting on the other hand I thought sucked out loud in 1998, but here Sting looked The Franchise again. He pretty much reverted back to the Sting we know and love with all the pep of a kid hopped up on sugar and I mean that in this the nicest way possible. Everything in this match just felt huge and it was laid out perfectly to get that Fargo, ND to pop huge. It was a great feedback loop. The wrestlers presented situations that would pop the crowd and the wrestles fed off this energy meaning bigger pops and so on so forth until that absolutely INCREDIBLE EXPLOSION at the end of this match. We start off early with a long and strong babyface shine. DDP is constantly making Sting look great by taking bump, selling his punches and powdering. You really get the sense that DDP is overwhelmed by Sting. DDP is still getting offense in here and there, but he simply can't get anything going, which only makes Sting look stronger with these mini-combeacks. To Sting's credit, he is interacting with the crowd and he is creating movement and energy to send those good vibes out to the Fargo crowd. I love a good finish tease early. It shows both men are looking to win the match and that is at the forefront of both men's mind. Sting's attempt at the Scorpion Deathlock gets a massive pop and DDP sells it perfectly by urgently crawling for the ropes. DDP's Diamond Cutter attempt is met with anxiety from the crowd and a quick push off. I like DDP looking to walk out because he is frustrated and is nervous. It is good heel work. I hate the late 90s arena brawl, but this was fine for what it was and it did not last long. Now, we get into the heat segment, which was just as strong as the shine sequence. Sting looks for the ten punches in the corner, but as he turns to the admonishing ref, DDP nails a low blow. DDP was vicious using point of the elbow liberally to punish Sting's body and his foot to choke Sting. It never got tiresome because Sting was peppering in good hope spots (the webble wobble headbutt to the groin is always over in my house.) to break it up. DDP looks to use the post to work on Sting's legs, but when Sting still have enough strength to kick him into the railing. He understandable freaks out and realizes he needs to end this sooner rather than later. He looks to hit the Diamond Cutter, but Sting hooks the ropes so DDP goes down by himself. Sting hits a top rope Stinger Splash, 1-2-NO! But you can tell he is feeling it! Between this and the SuperBrawl VIII match, DDP was on the cutting edge of workrate with a ton of hot nearfalls. Unlike, in today's product, the nearfalls actually build to crescendo rather than going 2-3 nearfalls too many. I really loved the struggle late in this match. These guys were pulling out all the stops to win this match and you really felt how much each wrestler wanted to win the match whether it was from quick cradles to big bombs like Powerbombs and Piledrivers. Funny enough, I think Sting picked DDP up the for the wrong kind of piledriver, realized it, hit a modified GANSO BOMB~! and then did it again so they could do the awesome WCW tombstone reversal spot. The finishing spot was awesome with Sting holding on with all his might to avoid the Diamond Cutter to only comes out of the corner and hit a Scorpion Deathdrop and THE ROOF BLOWS OFF THE PLACE! I loved this match so much just a great Clash of the Titans feel with a huge finish stretch. Both men played their roles to perfection and the crowd responded in turn. I noticed a couple awkward moments from Sting and the arena brawling drag this down from being a perfect match, but definitely right there with Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio for best WCW match of the last half of the decade. ****1/2

WCW Crusierweight Champion Billy Kidman vs Rey Mysterio - Nitro 3/15/99 Billy Kidman, intelligent counterwrestler, strikes again! Hell, I loved how committed he was to the Shooting Star Press. Any chance, he got he was climbing those ropes to hit it. Who cares that I missed before. If the bell has not rung, I am trying again. I liked that strategy a lot. It is what brought you to the dance, don't deviate. This is a ball out affair with them flying around hitting each other, but it always feels like they are going for a win. Kidman has some well-timed dropkicks to keep Rey at bay and hit a plancha or a spinebuster when the time is right. It is did get a little move trade-y in the middle. Rey has some impressive highspots, but unlike Juventud he goes have the big bomb offense to really excel in this type of match in my opinion. Juvy has the chops, brainbusters and Juvy Driver that really feel like damage is done. Rey has a breath-taking array of hurricanaranas that are best suited from when he is coming from behind and looking to create space. Basically, Rey is at his best when he can sell and his matches breathe. It is a very fun and entertaining match, but falls short of the Juvy November 98 match in my opinion. Kidman is not great, but he is definitely better than I remembered. ***1/2

Ric Flair vs Goldberg - Nitro 3/8/98 Classic Ric Flair match that is timeless, but with the interesting wrinkle that Goldberg maybe the ultimate babyface monster. The heat for this match is nuclear with the crowd completely behind Goldberg especially once Flair heels himself. We get all the great Flair trademarks of bouncing off Goldberg and taking the gorilla press slam. Flair goes all in on the cheating with three low blows to keep Goldberg at bay. Flair still has his nasty chops and great punch to vary things. Hell, he busted out a sweet suplex. Goldberg was an awesome presence in this match. I loved his quick reverse of the Figure-4 and how he really rared back on it. Hell, Goldberg even sold the leg pretty well. We get the press slam off the top rope. Goldberg misses on the spear, but it is just delaying the inevitable: SPEAR! NWO B-Team runs in and then Nash and Hogan. Nash had one funny line for every four and Hogan was useless. Poor Tony! A really enjoyable Flair match that was made unique by Goldberg's aura and his explosiveness. Would have loved a full-fledged 15 minute PPV main event between these two. ***

Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs Raven & Perry Saturn - Spring Stampede 1999 Raven as a babyface is just weird, but the crowd was totally behind Saturn & Raven cheering them throughout and letting the Horsemen know they suck on multiple occasions. My favorite part of the match was its unique structure. They tease a finish stretch in the middle of the match. I really can't recall the last time I have seen that. It is actually a really neat idea. Instead of an endless barrage of nearfalls, you have a hot sequence, but then one wrestler/team slows the pace back down to reset. It is definitely an interesting idea. I loved the continuity of both teams. Raven and Saturn were all about the double teams early to establish themselves as a real team. Saturn whipped Benoit into Malenko on the outside. It was a short babyface shine, but it was fun. I loved the transition with Malenko and AA beating down Raven. Raven was definitely the better choice for FIP than Saturn as we see later. I liked the Horsemen heeling it up using the ref as a great prop to get heat and just some wicked strikes on Raven. Saturn's hot tag is cutoff by a Malenko right. Again, we get some nice double teams like Saturn crossbody on Malenko on Raven's shoulders and Malenko's dropkick into a Benoit German Suplex. Malenko applies his Cloverleaf, but Saturn makes the ropes and AA is besides himself. Saturn hits the Death Valley Driver, but Benoit uses his diving headbutt to break it up. Now we move back into a FIP segment on Saturn, who is total shit at selling and hope spots. Even this lame FIP segment can't kill this crowd as they keep clapping for Saturn. Raven gets the hot tag and he moves pretty well and hits some nice strikes. The drop toehold into the chair takes out Benoit, but Saturn crashes and burns through a table. We are down to Raven and Malenko. Evenflow DDT! AA and Lil Naitch (right at the start of that angle) have a conference and The Enforcer leaves a chair on Raven's head and Benoit hits an unprotected diving headbutt. FUCK! Stuff like that really leaves you shaking your head and Benoit busts himself over. The Horsemen pick up the win after hot sequence. Replace Saturn with someone who was actually worth a shit and this maybe have been an all-time classic. Tony was marking out about the return of tag team wrestling and I can't blame him there is too much great stuff not to enjoy this match. The Horsemen Trio (Anderson was awesome in his role and should have had an extended run as a manager) were great heels and Raven/Saturn had some good double teams. The two hot sequences and interesting match layout is enough to recommend everyone watch this to see how they feel about the layout. ***3/4

THANK YOU! I have already gone on record with how much I love this match. ****1/4 is right about where I have it and I like it as the WWE match of the year thus far.

WCW United States Champion Diamond Dallas Page vs Chris Benoit - SuperBrawl VIII Why is this not considered one of the best WCW matches of all time? I was impressed by the work and fight of both men in this tremendous hard-fought contest. Every little move from a standard Irish Whip to the final Diamond Cutter felt like an incredible struggle to execute. Each man was coming at the other like they were at the Battle of Stalingrad and there was no retreat. They were cutting each other with nasty strikes and knee lifts. It truly felt like both men were incredibly invested in winning this championship and they were going fight and claw for the victory on this night. All in all, they still kept this very much a babyface vs. babyface match. You had the rough and tumble blue collar street fighter against the polished, gnarly Canadian fighting machine. I liked DDP trying to impose his size and rough house tactics early only for Benoit to hang him out to dry and then try for the Crossface early. Page smartly bails and gets back in, he knows he is in for a fight against Benoit is just throwing crazy strikes to keep him at bay and now he looks for the Diamond Cutter and Benoit powders. I love the mirror spots. DDP IS JAAAAACCCCKKKEDD! They brawl back in the ring. Fuck, I love this. Benoit dropkicks the knee and looks to sap Page's energy by leaning on him with a Cobra Clutch-like hold. I like this use of the move. We know DDP is a ball of crazy energy that is his offensive strategy he is impulsive if you sap that then he should be easy pickings. I loved little shit like Benoit eating jawbreaker, but then coming right at Page with chops and kicks. Babyfaces always move forward. DDP pulling himself up by the ropes and throwing Benoit into the corner is one of my favorite spots of DDP matches. Benoit fights like hell on an Irish Whip attempt and snaps off a suplex. This is pro wrestling. Benoit is all about the sleeper and Page dumps him over the top rope and Benoit is still coming! Page crotches him and superplex to finally level the playing field. They work really awesome, well-built nearfall sequence that was rare at this time and would be over huge now. Benoit shoving DDP off of the Diamond Cutter attempt and Dallas immediately climbing the top rope and flying three quarters of the way across the ring to wipe out Benoit like an out of control torpedo epitomizes how wild this match was. It is just dripping with urgency. Benoit gets a Crossface, but DDP is too close to the ropes and his rolling Germans serve as his super hot nearfall. DDP signals for the Diamond Cutter, Benoit looks for the Backslide and BANG! What a damn fight! Neither man gave an inch and they went toe to toe for the entire bout. They sustained heated fight for a good 15 minutes and it just never let up. The finish sequence was damn near perfect (ok ok there was a shitty DDT in there somewhere). I love matches where everything is contested, both wrestlers are invested in the outcome of the match and every action is urgent and consequential. This match had it in spades. As much as I love DDP/Goldberg, this is my WCW match of the year. ****1/2

I wholeheartedly agree with Charles that this has a similar layout to Dragon/Mysterio from WWIII '96 as that was the first thing popped in my mind during watching this. WCW Crusierweight Champion Juventud Guerrera vs Rey Mysterio Jr - WCW Thunder 1/15/98 Juventud Guerrera, had just beaten Ultimo Dragon for the title, who had just beaten Eddie Guerrero for the title. It was hard to have a long reign with the Crusierweight Championship. Rewatching these crusierweight matches, I forgot how awesome Juventud was. I was always a big fan of Psychosis, La Parka, and Rey Mysterio, but my memories of Juventud were that he was good, but just not one of my favorites. He was been a total offensive dynamo. Rey Mysterio has great offense, but his bread and butter is his selling, just like Psychosis' is his bumping. Juventud may have the best offense from an asskicking perspective. Once he got control with a crazy catapult over the top rope (incredible Rey bump on a legitimately hurt knee), it did not look he was ever going to let up with chops, brainbuster, springboard legdrop and an incredible top rope suicide dive. Even when Rey gets a desperation monkey flip to send him into the post. He jumps keeps coming like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I love that lucha spot where you get kicked in the back of the leg as your running and you run ass first into the top rope. I loved the heat strike exchange between the two. Damn, I forgot how hard the luchadores hit. Rey makes his comeback, which is sort-lived from a Juvy powerbomb. Juvy looks to polish him off with 450 Splash, but Rey moves and nabs the title on a hurricanrana. This match was perfect for what it needed to be. Rey was alreadye established as a star and in order to make Juventud still look a big shot, Juventud gets to kick ass for the majority of the match. Rey is able to sell and make Juvy look great. Then when it comes time to get the booking right for Jericho Rey makes a quick comeback to win. You get the Rey/Jericho match you want for Souled Out and Juventud still looks strong for a future title defense. ***1/2

WCW Crusierweight Champion Billy Kidman vs Juventud Guerrera - WCW Nitro 11/16/98 Billy Kidman, intelligent counterwrestler, was not the style I was expecting, but it definitely well-received by me. Almost at every turn, Kidman had an answer for Juvy's high-octane and aggressive offense. His ability to transition defense into offense was a really neat stylistic touch. Early on, he was able to take Juvy's movement transfer into a spinebuster then later dropkicking him off the apron leading to him hitting a plancha. What made this match even more special was Juvy really taking the time to sell all of Kidman's big moves and his own. You really got a sense of how high-risk these moves were when Juvy was selling his ass after a hard springboard legdrop. That was the story of the match, Juvy was dictating the pace of the match, but he was going to live and die by his moves. If he landed them, he was in the driver's seat, but Kidman's patience and counterwrestling ability like the facebuster out of the powerbomb or wheelbarrow suplex to avoid the bulldog was stymieing Juvy Juice. Before I get to the finish, I really liked Juvy playing to the crowd with the chops and the ten count punches in the corner. It really feels like Juvy has matured as an American wrestler. Juventud finally nails his big move the Juvy Driver, BUT he pulls back to hard on the cover and Kidman slips out. Again, Juventud's overzealousness costs him. He looks frustrated but tries to follow up with a top rope Frankensteiner. Kidman hits a low blow (WOW was not expecting that) and hit a slam off the top. 1-2-NO! Woah! I totally bit on that false finish. Kidman looks to seal the deal with a Shooting Star Press, but Juvy blocks and hits the 450 for the win. I really liked the story of Kidman's counterwrestling versus Juventud's high-risk offense. Kidman stooping to a low blow was a cool touch. I wish that Juvy did not just pop out to knock Kidman off his perch, but that's a small quibble. ****

Rey Misterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera vs La Parka & Psicosis - Nitro 12/15/97 Gotta love Larry Z marking the fuck out for the 450 Splash, which is a personal favorite move of mine. These guys went balls to the wall for this match and never let up. They win the crowd and the announcers over. Psicosis and La Parka were such great heels. it is a shame they never got pushed as a tag team. La Parka telling a fan to suck it was awesome. La Parka and Psicosis went off early with Psicosis hitting a nasty Guillotine Legdrop and La Parka with a wicked powerbomb. Rare misfire in a great match was when Juvy was shot into his own corner during the FIP. Once Rey gets in, they go all out to impress everyone. The stereo somersault planchas were awesome. I love when La Parka and Psicosis are shown up like when they kick La Parka leg out causing him to dropkick Psicosis. Juvy throws Rey into a hurricarna onto La Parka. WOW! Psicosis pulls Rey out. La Parka with a wicked chop, but Rey pays them back by tripping up La Parka. Juvy counters a top rope slam in mid-air and Tony loses his fucking mind. La Parka gets caught dancing one too many times and damn Rey's huricanrana game was off the charts as he nails him with a springboard hurricanrana to the floor on La Parka. 450 SPLASH! WOW! If only all spotfests were this good! ***3/4

Chris Benoit vs Fit Finlay - WCW Nitro 10/27/97 HOLY SHIT! DEM CHOPS! I love Tony describing Benoit as seemingly having a personal grudge with every single opponent. Benoit just blasts his way through Finlay early. Not even an eye poke is going to stop the Rabid Wolverine. Finaly BLASTS Benoit with a forearm on the outside. Holy fucking shit! Finlay drops him throat first across the railing. Benoit does not know how to quit starts throwing chops so Finlay responds with a double leg scissor takedown. Fierce! Finlay steps on Benoit's midsection to get to the top rope for the Vaderbomb and Benoit gets his foot on the ropes. They take it to the outside and Finaly WHACKS his hand hard against the post. FUCK! I was shaking my own hand in pain. Finlay is just going full steam ahead, but eats turnbuckle on the shoulder tackle. Benoit pounces with a German Suplex/Diving Headbutt for the win. The Eddie match had the better crowd (not by much, Benoit was over) and the better character work, but this match actually had selling and Benoit coming from underneath. I am taking the Eddie match for Eddie being in such a great heel groove, but it is damn close. ***1/2

WCW Crusierweight Champion Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit - WCW Nitro 10/20/97 Awesome sprint! The crowd hated Eddie so much and Benoit is the asskicker a crowd wants to get behind to serve Eddie his just desserts. I love Eddie avoiding the chop early. He goes flying up in the air a couple times but Goddamnit I am not taking that chop. When he does, what a great sell job with him digging his nails into the mat as Benoit drags him back in. Benoit just chops the fuck out of him to the pleasure of the audience. These two execution is just breath-taking. They are both so quick and crisp. It is incredible. Benoit's suicide dive was crazy. The way Benoit sprint across the ring and Eddie hit the drop toehold into the middle turnbuckle was a great, creative finish to give a heel a clean, but still underhanded finish. I loved Eddie hitting the Frogsplash for good measure and Mickey Jay not being happy with him "running up the score" so to speak on the unconscious Benoit. I wish they got a long match on PPV at this point both at peaks of their wrestling game. ***1/2

WCW Crusierweight Champion Chris Jericho vs Eddie Guerrero - Fall Brawl 1997 WOW! I have seen this match before a bunch of times since I have it on DVD and always thought it was good, but today it really clicked with me. Eddie was just on fire during this heel run. He was doing all the right things. He was a sniveling coward, a funny stooge and a sadistic muthafucka at all the right times. Jericho during this bland Lionheart babyface run is not too fondly remembered, but when he was kicking ass he came off as a badass. I loved his chops and late in the game he kept up with Eddie spot for spot. His top wristlock really needs to be tightened up especially when Jarrett later on the show works a way better one. I miss top and double wristlocks in wrestling. Big Eddie Sucks chant early and Eddie hits the stall to milk it by covering his heel. On the first armdrag, Eddie claims his hair was pulled. Eddie makes all of Jericho matwork really fun. Eddie takes his first big bump when he goes flying into the top rope to set up the Lionsault. It is all Jericho early who looks like a runaway freight train. Eddie out of desperation on the apron snaps Jericho's neck across the top rope. Eddie goes to town on Jericho's back with a ton of cool surfboards even breaking out the Gory Special. Jericho reverses into his own and drops Eddie on his face. Jericho follows up with some weak clothesline. I like how Tony calls them as such because Jericho has taken a beating that's how you call what you are selling but give a good kayfabe justification. Jericho consolidates his advantage when he crotches Eddie on the top rope and sends him for the ride. That spot never gets old! Perfect timing for Jericho's springboard dropkick. In the gnarly spot, I always remember Jericho looks to powerbomb Eddie off the apron, but drops back with it hotshotting him. Eddie falls off the apron onto Jericho. It was a desperation play by Jericho to level the playing field, but not without cost to himself. They just start throwing bombs with reckless abandon and it is super fun. Everything is hitting so crisply. Jericho's release German sent Eddie flying halfway across the ring. Again, Tony covering for the kickout saying Jericho had to crawl so far cost him the pinfall. Jericho hits his double powerbomb spot and places Eddie on the top rope for the superplex. Eddie counters mid-move (Yes, it does look like Eddie took a Brainbuster) by reversing his weight. This leaves Jericho prone for the Frogsplash. I really liked how this match built perfectly to the finish. You had Jericho dominate early, but get caught by a nefarious Eddie tactic. Eddie worked a tremendous heat segment with a wicked sneer. Then it just came down to a crazy wild finish of bombs with each going for the win. It made the Crusierweight title feel really important. I loved the finish with Jericho looking to pull the trigger on a superplex, which could win him the match, but on this occasion he pays the price for this high risk move and Eddie capitalizes. Great stuff! ****1/4

WCW World TV Champion Alex Wright vs Ultimo Dragon - Fall Brawl 97 I was a huge Alex Wright mark as a kid. Still love doing his dance any chance I get on the dance floor. Even loving Wright and generally enjoying Dragon, I thought this match was a bit clunky. They just did not seem to be able to get on the same page. There were too many awkward pauses and weird hesitations for me. Wright's offense did not always look that good especially his strikes and clotheslines, which just looked weak. The crowd was clearly popping for Dragon whenever he busted out some stiffness (those kicks to the back and that double chop). This crowd was definitely full of stiffness marks. I really enjoyed Larry Z defending Wright's use of the chinlock as a thinly veiled defense of his own in-ring style. I thought Tony was spot on with his analysis that it felt like Wright did not know where he wanted to take this match. Wright grounds Dragon, but ain't doing much. Dragon is smart enough to time his hope spots anytime he thinks he is about to lose the crowd. This leads to the Asai Moonsault as the first big highspot. I will mention that Dragon totally whiffed on a kick to set it up. So it felt like both were having an off night. The butterfly & Tiger suplexes are my favorite suplexes so I dug those by Dragon. Dragon with a wicked powerbomb. Dragon is doing what he does best: high-octane, badass offense. I am always a fan of finish that involves two wrestlers looking to apply their finishing holds with one pulling the trigger first to garner the victory. Here it was Dragon going for the Dragon Sleeper, but Wright countering and wrangling him into German suplex. This is a good match and I went really hoping to love it because I feel like Alex Wright has such great potential, but I felt disappointed and like these two just did not mesh well. In fact even with the blown spots, I still felt myself enjoying Dragon more because his highspots were still amazing. I can't remember one really memorable spot from Wright (the plancha maybe) and I just watched this match like 3 hours ago. My personal search for the great Alex Wright match continues.

I actually liked this match a good deal. Benoit was in his ass-kicking prime. I just loved his tenacity throughout this match. You have already set up the Horsemen are at a disadvantage. There is no reason to really show it until it really happens when Nash walks in. So Benoit basically kicks ass 2 on 1 and 3 on 1 (Mongo doesn't count). Benoit took a nasty bump into the wall of the cage. Benoit vs Syxx to start would have been incredible. Was Syxx already injured? Then I saw him take those hellacious bumps and I was like guess not. I thought the crowd was pretty into the Syxx bumping and wildman Flair offense. I interpreted the "We Want Sting" not as a slight to Flair, but as the crowd recognizing that the Horsemen were down a man and needed a fourth. Nash was actually pretty good as the monster early on demolishing the Horsemen and felt like a big deal when he entered. I liked the Hennig swerve and the initial angle is fine, but got botched with Flair not getting his revenge. Benoit spitting and clawing while in the handcuff was tremendous. Benoit was definitely the MVP of this Wargames and I think it is an underrated match overall. Not an elite Wargames match, but better than the 95 and 93 incarnations. I don't think that far behind the 96 Wargames, but I will need to watch that again. ***1/4

Larry coming to the ring and shoving Scott Hall to fast count a Luger pin got a HUGE pop. Of course, this would not work in the modern product because people would be worried about Hall looking weak. EYE-ROLL! I loved this crowd they were super into everything all night. Luger felt like a HUGE star. DDP was over like rover. I have become a huge DDP in retrospect each performance just drips with effort. Hall's stooging was entertaining. Savage took that huge press slam bump and he was a great antagonist. Liz pulling DDP's hair to set up the eye rake was shocking. I liked this as an angle, but would have liked to seen a full on tag match between these four. Good stuff.

I had never seen/heard this before until I was killing time watching an WWE Countdown and Road Dogg started singing this song. I was like that sounds better catchy. Lo and behold, this is a fantastic song. I think if this was released on country radio right now, it would at least get radio play and be a decent-sized hit. WWE is really missing the boat by not having a truck-driving, country-singing, America-loving, beer-drinking good 'ol boy right now. Country music is over huge in fucking Massachusetts of all places so I can only imagine how well that would play in the South (where crowd reactions have been suffering for years). What the hell did happen to Double J after the HBK title loss he seemed poised to be a strong upper midcard act at the time. I have always had a soft spot for Jarrett, it is too bad. On WWE music, Jim Johnston is a fucking genius. I know El-P is not a fan of the current music scene in wrestling, but he is still nailing it. The Ascension's theme is like the best representation of pure Death Metal I have ever heard. It is like he distilled all the best parts of Death Metal in one badass song. Seth Rollins being from Iowa is clearly going for a Slipknot vibe with his theme song. That is a Slipknot song that Slipknot wishes they wrote. It is not surprising that Johnston was able to mimic 90s Country so well. He is really damn good.

I think Paige has the fire, but is not channeling it properly. Those short-arm clotheslines just don't look very good. I love her kicks to the midsection and she has the best working punch I have seen from a WWE diva. I would like to see a little more of that. Maybe one or two bigger bumps from Nikki would have helped the comeback. The crowd and commentary absolutely sucked for this match. I seriously don't know if Michael Cole knows what great wrestling is. Tony Schiavone would take time out of talking about Hogan and NWO when a really great match was on and it sucked him in. Michael Cole just can't be bothered to give a damn.

Juventud Guerrera vs Blitzkreig - Spring Stampede 1999 Blitzkreig has such a mystique about him. For such a short stint, he made such an inedible mark on me and many others. In the early 2000s, you can barely ever go through a mailbag of some sort with some asking who Blitzkrieg was and where did he go. For me personally, I thought he had one of the coolest costumes and with Juvy and Rey Rey having lost their masks, I gravitated towards him and then poof he was gone. Sometimes, you want to leave the memories alone, but I was very happy with this match. I came away remembering how fucking great Juvy was and I had totally forgotten that. With a bonafide rookie, he was glue that held the match together and was the brains behind the genius highspots. Minor quibbles up front, Blitzkreig clearly was a rookie and you can tell from how he moved in the ring, threw a chop or a kick. Also his mask was clearly bothering him early, but for someone with less than 100 matches under his belt in the opener of a nationally televised PPV, he has balls of steel busting out a springboard, top rope Asai Moonsault. WOW! Still at the end of this was Juvy's match and he just put on an offensive clinic whether it was the violent chops and Brainbuster or breath-taking aerial warfare in the form of an awesome suicide dive or that anti-aircraft dropkick to the flying Blitzkreig. I remember seeing the Skytwister Press and it blew my mind as a child. It still does to this day. I am shocked that the missed Skytwister was not the finish after a Juvy Driver. Blitzkreig gets a nearfall off a weird top rope Frankensteiner to show he is in the league of Juvy, Rey and Kidman. He goes to the well once too often and this time Juvy nails him with a top rope Juvy Driver! HOLY SHIT! What a finish! Awesome aerial spotfest that put Blitzkreig over as a daredevil, but reminded everyone why Juventud was a badass at this point. ***3/4

What's crazy is everyone is saying '94, but in January of 94, WWF had this crazy awesome tag division that consisted of the 1-2-3 KId/Marty Jannetty (they should have lasted way longer), The Quebecers, The Hart Brothers, The Steiner Brothers and the Headshrinkers. There were at least 5 good to great tag team matches out of that division in that one month. Then fucking Men on a Misson came. Diesel/HBK not defending it also sucked the lifeblood out of the division.

WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella vs Paige (WWE Main Event 01/06/15) I just knew these two had a great match in them. I was so pumped for their Fast Lane match based off Nikki's recent performances where she has just been stiffing the fuck out of everybody and playing the cocky mean heel to a tee. Bad News Barrett and Cesaro take notes. Paige vs Emma was an awesome fight and I knew Paige could hang with her. What we got at Fast Lane was a good bomb throwing sprint, but due to one egregious botch and very anti-climatic finish led me to wanting more. On the PWO-PTBN Reaction Show, Pete mentioned they got some time on Main Event. My Lord, they did not disappoint with best WWE women's match I have ever seen. It was a hard-fought, non-title match with Nikki proving that she was every bit of a great heel as any of the man and that Paige has legs as a chippy underdog face. The early lock ups told you this was going to get nasty and I loved Nikki dropping to her back to monkey flip Paige over. Paige just has the nastiest kicks to the midsection. They look like something out of Naoki Sano's playbook. Paige was just attacking her with headbutts and knee strikes and really bringing it to the champion. She was always keeping the crowd involved screaming "This is my house", which got a nice pop. Nikki repeatedly headed for the hills to try buy herself time. After a wild slap, she took a powder in that moment when Paige tried to give chance she wrenched her arm and Paige took a wicked bump onto the floor. Then from there Nikki just tortured Paige's arm twisting in every direction and stomping it at every turn. It was not all about the arm work, Nikki was constantly showboating with nonchalant covers and being a general hot dog. Paige did a really good job selling the pain and timing her hope spots. Usually I am not a fan of the Thesz Press, but Paige's punches out of it looked great better than most men. Nikki should stick to elbows because she can really rock those, her lariats are a bit suspect. Paige really started mounting a comeback and off the distraction we get Nikki yanking Paige off the top turnbuckle by her bad arm. Awesome! Nattie decks Brie and Nikki floors Nattie, but this allows Paige to roll her up. Nikki bucks her off. Nikki on top and Paige kicks out. Nice elbow by Nikki and Paige monster kick to the head. This gets really weird as Paige hesitates but is not really selling. She hits the RamPaige for the non-title victory over the champions. A few hiccups along the way (Nikki's lariats, the rollup sequence and Paige's weird selling), but overall a great match. Nikki combined stiff offense, great limb work and cocky persona to hook you into the match. Paige is a great fiery babyface with some great asskicking offense that can go toe to toe with Nikki. This an easy Free TV Match of the Year Contender and an awesome match. ****

Watch Paige vs Nikki Bella from Main Event January 6, 2015. Watched based on Pete's recommendation from Fast Lane reaction show. Holy shit! Best WWE women's match ever!

Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs Eddie Guerrero & Chris Jericho - Brian Hildebrand Tribute Show 11/29/98 HOLY SHIT, THIS WAS ALL TYPES OF AWESOME! WCW's Four Corners finally get the opportunity to knock it out of the park and they don't waste one moment. Eddie and Jericho remind me why I absolutely love pro wrestling. They are just so damn entertaining, but you want to boo them every step of the way and Benoit & Malenko are here to kick ass because Jericho and Eddie went out their way to mock Hildebrand at the beginning of the match. Jericho and Eddie blend cowardly, vicious and arrogance in one appetizing package delivering an all-time great heel tag team performance. All the classic Jericho & Eddie spots are here: Eddie covering Jericho's ears so he can't hear "Jericho Sucks!", scurrying to the corner to hold onto your partner's leg, Eddie calling for timeout. That is just a few it was literally awesome heel spot after another. The heels try as they might to fight fire with fire are just overwhelmed by the badassery of The Horsemen. Even Malenko is teeing off on Jericho and making this a heated bout. This is the exact environment that Benoit excels in. Jericho and Eddie try to meet him head on and just get destroyed. In a hilarious moment as Malenko is countering a Jericho surfboard and the people are chanting "Jericho Sucks!", he yells "SHUT UP YOU BUNCH OF NIMRODS!" Sounds like a man that has a tenuous grasp at best on this match. Jericho once again tries to meet Benoit head on and a wicked chopfest ensues. Jericho does what any intelligent coward would do, pokes him in the eyes and forcefully drops him throat first across the top rope. OW! Jericho and Eddie just flip the switch from cowards to arrogant prick heels like that. Eddie is telling fans to kiss his ass while he drops Benoit with a brainbuster. Jericho is covering Benoit with one foot after a double suplex. Eddie flies over the top onto Benoit throat as it laid exposed on the apron being held in place by Jericho. Then Benoit's neck is snapped into the bottom rope. Benoit is great at selling and you can hear him gasping for breath on this fancam. Benoit finally hits a suplex to break up a sleeper, but goes up top to consolidate the advantage, but Eddie is able to hit a superplex and Jericho detains Malenko. I have loved the struggle of the entire match but here you can just see Benoit fight with every last breath to break free as Eddie and Jericho do everything they can to somehow contain this raging fireball. Some of the exchanges between Benoit and these two are just incredibly fierce. Eventually Benoit waylays them both off the apron. Building to a Malenko hot tag is suspect at best and it is for the best it does not last long. Jericho rolls through a roll up to apply the Liontamer, but Malenko makes the ropes. Jericho throws a temper tantrum, but Eddie snaps him out of it. SUPERPLEX/FROGSPLASH Combo!!!! BITCHIN! Benoit bowls Eddie off of Malenko. Benoit hits his Swandive Headbutt, but Jericho pulls out the ref. Benoit shoots Eddie into a Malenko powerbomb into a Cloverleaf and Benoit has Jericho trapped in the Crippler Crossface, but there is no ref. WAIT! Brian Hildebrand leaps into the ring and Eddie & Jericho both tap out as Hildebrand gives us a classic call for the bell. Then because it is 1998 and your wardrobe determines your allegiance he reveals a Four Horsemen shirt to a nice pop. Jericho & Guerrero give a master class in how you can blend old school heeling with modern offense. It is all about flipping that switch from cowards to pricks. It was just awesome watching them have all that time to work. It has been said a million zillion times and even by Jericho himself, they were a totally missed opportunity as a tag team. Benoit did a great job in his face in peril selling early and then realizing he needed to fight his way out of there going right into asskicker mode. Even Malenko did well in this crowd-pleasing, asskicking match. This would be my WCW Match of the Year if it took place in WCW and it is right there with Austin/Dude Love for US Match of 1998. Love, love this style and these four crushed it in honor of Brian Hildebrand! ****1/2

WCW TV Champion Fit Finlay vs Booker T - WCW Great American Bash 1998 Off hand, I can't think of a better night in the career of Booker T and he really did look like a promising rising heavyweight babyface star. Who the hell was the Booker that absolutely clobbered Finlay with that wicked flying forearm and that awesome plancha. Wrestling Benoit and Finlay will make you an ornery sumbitch and I dig that, sucka! Finlay makes it known early unlike that sportsman, Benoit, he is going to take no prisoners when it comes to the knee. Finlay catches the Axe Kick and just wrenches the knee in 8 million different ways. He is just torturing Booker. Booker, who is not my favorite seller, actually is pretty good at crying out in agony as FInlay digs his own knee into Booker's. Booker shoving Finlay off and rolling over into a side mount and raining down fists was awesome. Just when Booker looks to make the comeback Finaly hits the kneecrusher. The layout and the work are here for this to be an all-time classic, but Finlay's very dry heel work does take this a level. Finlay's only way to get heat is to raise his fists in the air. You are a mean sumbitch, show some fire and this crowd to really hate you. It was ripe for the taking. Finlay wraps Booker's leg around the post. Now, Finlay is jawing with the crowd and takes his eye off the ball. This is very uncharacteristic and the crowd chanting Boring is much too harsh, but it was the wrong move. Booker pops up and hits his trademark moves to get the crowd rocking and rolling. The Spinaroonie was over like rover. Booker's botch on the Tombstone can be covered due to Booker's bum knee. Finlay is such a pro and strings together a makeshift finish run to get Booker to the piledriver finish and it is a nasty one to cap off Booker's epic night. Booker was on offensive fire, he was over and his selling was pretty good. Finlay working over the leg was a master class and was great in vacuum, but needed to do a lot more to get the crowd involved. It is such a shame Booker would have to take time off for his injury after Bash At The Beach because it seems like he was really putting the pieces together. ***3/4

Chris Benoit vs Booker T - WCW Great American Bash 1998 Match #7 Technically, this is match #8 of seven to determine the number one contender to the Television Championship (my childhood memories were foggy and I thought they were in the midst of the Best of Seven series for the TV Title when one of them lost the title to Finlay randomly and thus threw a monkey wrench into the works. Turns out, it was a number one contendership series the whole time). On the previous episode of Thunder, Bret Hart tried to help out former Dungeon graduate, Benoit by blasting Booker with a chair. Benoit does not want to win that way and goes so far to tell the referee. That kind of sportsmanship is actually pretty refreshing rather than playing morally conflicted interminably. JoJo Dillon scrubs the record clean and says the Great American Bash match is for the kit and kaboddle. Really strong midcard WCW booking, which is shocking because the WCW main event scene is a total clusterfuck at this point. The argument can be made Benoit's lack of attack on Booker's knee stems from his sportsmanship. He was above exploiting an injury and respected Booker too much. Now clearly the reason is because the Finlay match later was going to be based around the knee, which makes sense since Finlay is the real heel. It would have been helpful if the commentary told this story rather blithering on about the injured knee. Even trying to apply this logic to the match, Benoit's offensive strategy just seemed off. His execution was as crisp as ever, but it was meandering like he did not know what he wanted to do next. He uses the dragon screw leg whip to take control, but after that it is an assortment of chops, suplexes and chinlocks. It was a weird use of the chinlock because it is not like Booker established himself as a runaway locomotive early on. It really feels like his offense is not setting anything up. Tenay did a good job claiming this was to set up the Crossface, but I wasn't feeling it. Benoit does go for the Crossface when Booker starts to mount a comeback, but Booker falls towards the ropes. In fact, I thought Booker outperformed Benoit. He was timing his hope spots really well and he brought a lot of fire from underneath. I really liked his crash and burn off the reverse cross body as he was going for a home run. Again when Booker is able to get a head of steam, he is looking for that missile dropkick. His offense is setting up for a big bomb. Benoit is always great at selling his big high-risk moves like the superplex (milks it for an 8 count before the cover) and swandive headbutt (writhes in pain before the cover). Loved Benoit have scouted Booker's weird sunset flip thingy in the corner, by stopping short letting him do it and then CHOP! Booker nails a couple Harlem Sidekicks, which finally dazes Benoit enough to hit his missile dropkick. This maybe my favorite Booker performance of his career. He was laying his shit in well and his timing and move selection were just spot on. His instincts were just clicking. He built perfectly to that missile dropkick and Benoit really was able to sell how his big bombs had taken a lot out of him. It was a war of attrition and Booker outlasted Benoit in this battle. Match was dragged down by an unusually meandering Benoit in the early going. The finish stretch and Booker's performance make this one of the best WCW matches of 1998. ****

Chris Benoit w/Woman & Miss Elizabeth vs Dean Malenko – WCW Hog Wild 1996 At least Miss Elizabeth & Woman were on the hard camera, so that gives it a leg up on modern WWE and 2000s indy wrestling. Seriously, we need more female valets to add a bit of color and glamour to the product. Trotting out Dolph Ziggler and Bad News Brown for a heatless spotfest would be so much better with some extracurricular pieces at ringside. This is not just me being a shallow dude, the most heat in this match was because Woman interfered and that’s because it was something of consequence. I am being a little harsh because Benoit and Malenko are just of the greatest at execution so a 30 minute spotfest by them is better than run of the mill spotfest of the 21st century, but it is still not great and it is not the fault of Sturgis Bikers that they did not “get” this match because there was nothing to get. First the match layout is totally disconnected from the angle. The angle being presented is that Malenko was hired to take Benoit out by Kevin Sullivan & The Dungeon of Doom. Given the fact it was a blood feud, I don’t think Malenko proving he is the better wrestler and earning Benoit’s respect through an intricate and very cool rollup/bridge sequence was what The Taskmaster had in mind. The match layout is a classic layout with two great wrestlers trying to pin each other in a scientific and classy manner. Then they are just like fuck that layout and fuck the angle. We are going for bombs. It was just suplexes, headbutts and slams galore. At least, Dusty was hilarious trying to pronounce “Millennium”. The one thing they have going for them is that they are at least making the effort to show they are concerned about winning by going for covers often and trying to put their opponent away. However, there is not much long-term selling and they are just hitting moves willy-nilly. Thus we go to the first draw. In the first overtime, at least, Benoit cheats a little by clocking Malenko from behind while he discussing the rules with the ref. Benoit applies a Texas Cloverleaf and just lets go. This is my least favorite thing in all of wrestling. Such an eyeball-roll inducing spot. Benoit goes after leg with some holds, but none as convincing as the Cloverleaf he had on! Again, we get a draw and now the crowd is getting hot. They are pissed that this match is dragging on forever. The last fall was actually the most interesting. Benoit hits his finish at the time, the Dragon Suplex, which Malenko kicks out. Now Malenko applies the Cloverleaf and as Benoit makes it to the ropes, Malenko switches to an STF, which is genius. Woman rakes Malenko’s eyes and Benoit rolls up. What a totally out of context finish to just a really weird match. It was entertaining watching this from an offensive exhibition. From an offense point of view, this was and still is state of the art blowing pretty much everything out of the water in terms of crispness and damage level. The lack of a hook or any consequence to the moves really hurt this. ***1/2