Superstar Sleeze

Jun Akiyama vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 2/27/00 After this match, Akiyama was paid, laid and made. This was not a passing of a torch. Akiyama was out to seize that torch on that night and Misawa was going to fight every single step of the way to keep it. The proof is in the pudding: watch Akiyama's head snap back on one of Misawa's transition elbows in the corner or the knee drop Misawa drops on Akiyama's nose that draws blood. When I saw that knee, I was like "Holy fuck, I think he just broke his nose" and when Akiyama came up then was blood. Akiyama gave as he good as he got. As soon as, he was given a weakness (Akiyama drove Misawa to the mat on an attempted reverse cross body and Misawa came up holding his neck) and he went after Misawa's neck (yes given the circumstances now that can be uncomfortable) with a tenacity rarely seen. I am a drop toehold mark. In this match, I think I saw the greatest drop toehold of all time, when Akiyama applied a drop toehold onto Misawa into the railing. Thus match developed into one of the all-time classic Misawa matches with Misawa working underneath while Akiyama strung together one of the greatest offensive runs of all time. The whole time because of the credibility of Misawa's comeback and Misawa's elbow going all the way back to 1990 you never once think he is outta of it until he is shockingly out of it. They are a bit tentative to start and they actually dive out of the way each of the other's moves before Misawa hits a dropkick sending him out of the ring. Akiyama, knowing Misawa too well, moves out of the way so Misawa stops himself on the apron and hits his diving elbow onto Akiyama. Misawa hits some absolutely wicked elbows on Akiyama in the corner to establish him dominance as THE ACE. However, Akiyama side-stepped a Misawa reverse cross body and drove him to the mat. Misawa comes up holding his neck and the complexion of the match totally changes. Akiyama hits a jumping knee to send Misawa out to the ring. Misawa whips Akiyama into the railing, but Akiyama side-steps him and hits the most wicked drop toehold into railing. He drops Misawa onto the railing throat first and while he is hanging there he hits him with a knee from the apron. Then he hits a knee while Misawa is hanging on the apron, then a piledriver onto the floor and then a friggin' wrist-clutch exploder on the apron. This was a holy shit string of moves all focused on the neck. Akiyama wrangled him into a cool neck submission with grapevining his legs in such a way to apply pressure on Misawa's neck. Misawa backs him into the corner and hits an absolute monster back elbow and then a springboard dropkick to face. This is a wake up call to Akiyama that there is a reason Misawa is known as one of the most resilient wrestler ever. Misawa hits his front facelock the announcer sells it like it is 1992, but it is 2000 and the crowd does not really buy it. I will say it still looks tenacious as all hell. The crowd just was not buying it as a possible finish. Akiyama dropkicks Misawa off the top rope, hits a running knee off the apron, knee to the back into railing, tombstone piledriver in the ring and finishes this run off with a huge diving elbow to Misawa's neck while he is in the ring and an Exploder. He still can only get a 2. Misawa gets out of a neck submission to hit his spinkick and drop a nasty knee to Akiyama's nose that draws blood. Misawa's frogsplash gets 2. Misawa runs of his impressive offense: two Germans and a Tiger Driver. Misawa hits a roaring elbow, but just phases Akiyama who hits two Exploders. On the second exploder, Misawa fumbles around before falling looking oddly like arch-rival, Toshiaki Kawada. Could the Kid actually pull it off? Akiyama hits a running knee to Misawa's face and then an exploder for 2. He hits a brainbuster for two. Finally hits the mother of all wrist-clutch exploders dropping Misawa on his head to win at that point the biggest of match of his career in grandiose fashion. This match reminds me so much of The Dark Knight in how it is perfect confluence of the superficial with meaning. What makes the Dark Knight so great is there is enough fireworks and eye candy to appeal to our audiovisual senses, but all rooted in a beautifully woven story. It appeals to pretty much facet of humanity, much like this match. You have the story of the young upstart looking to dethrone warrior-king by attacking his neck ruthlessly and violently. The old warrior-king has plenty of fight left in him, but eventually he overcome by the surmounting pain and the indefatigable resolve of the young upstart. On top of that, this is one of best offensive spectacles to ever be produced. Akiyama does a tremendous job of never letting up just zeroing in when Misawa is coming back he does not stop coming forward. Misawa is one of the ultimate underneath workers in this match he gives Akiyama even more offense than he would usual, which shows how much he trusted him at this point. After that second Exploder, when Misawa tried to get up and just fell back down you flashed back to all the times it had happened to Kawada and it was Misawa standing tall. The grand finale was a vicious head-drop wrist clutch exploder. Akiyama respected Misawa enough to know that he had to have no remorse if he wanted to take his place in the run. *****

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Vader vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 02/24/00 I would hazard a guess that this Vader's last great match and it actually surprised me how good it was. It had been six years since I seen it last and had no recollection of it, but this was really well-executed. This is puroresu version of a most excellent Black Sabbath dirge, slow and heavy as fuck. Kobashi's ribs are taped up and Vader eats him alive. The match focuses on the two things Vader has left his offense and selling. At the beginning during Kobashi's shine, I was worried this match would go the way of the Kawada match with Vader trying to bump for Kobashi and just not having the agility anymore. I know that Vader helps everyone when he gets suplexed, but it looks even more obvious in these matches. Kobashi starts to chop as he would Akiyama or Kawada, but instead of the usual macho pissing contest, Vader just creams him with a clothesline. Lets Go Vader. From there, Vader zeroes in on the ribs dropping all his weight on them and just doing everything he can to injure them further: hanging Kobashi out to dry on the railing or ripping off the tape. Kobashi would get a hope spot like a flying shoulderblock and Vader would just immediately fall with all his weight on Kobashi's ribs to stymie him. The crowd finally gets into after three Vaderbombs, which starts up the ""Ko-Bash-I" chants. Where was the Vader whistle and customary trash talk? Vader hit a huge short arm clothesline, but here comes Kobashi with the spin kick. Dont you just love when all of sudden the Japanese commentator will just scream "FLYING BODY ATTACK~!"? Kobashi hits a powerbomb off the top rope and a German suplex, but you can't hold Vader down yet. Vader starts swinging those bear paws and just throws Kobashi all over the place with three German suplexes. Double clothesline and Vader is still first to his feet and hits a monster chokeslam and then another. The straps are down and all that gut is hanging out. It must have been an 18+ only show at Budokan that night. It is all for naught as Kobashi hits a Burning Lariat for two and then a moonsault for two. In a finish I absolutely loved, Kobashi bounces off the Vader body attack, rebounds and takes Vader's head off with a BURNING LARIAT~! to win the championships to a huge pop. Given Vader's limitations at the time, they have the best match possible with Kobashi taking a shit ton of punishment from the Mastodon. I loved all the moments where Kobashi would hit a move and Vader just kept on coming back. It felt so different from the usual All Japan fare at the time where you had a really established underdog in Kobashi because of the size disadvantage working hard underneath. This is Vader in his fucking element too. Give him a popular babyface that can sell and has great fire and he can't have a bad match. It doesn't matter that he put on a ton of weight and can't move, David vs Goliath is Vader's game and no one does it better. I heard one critique of this match was that Kobashi did not get enough offense and it was just an extended squash (on puroresu.tv). I am going to be a dick about this comment and say this guy needs to watch more American wrestling because two momentum shifts in a match is a perfect number to have an all-time classic. This match actually had four because Kobashi had a false comeback. The story of the match was Kobashi outlasting the monster you have to take Vader to proverbial twelveth round that's Sting learned at Starrcade '92. By letting Vader punch himself out, Kobashi had effectively already weakened Vader. In addition, his ribs were fucked so he was looking to hit a big bomb and get the fuck out of there. That's why he went for a cover after each big bomb because he was trying to shorten the match once his ribs were attacked. Plus, the fact Vader basically kicked Kobashi's ass demonstrates how much of a warrior Kobashi is for surviving that onslaught. In reality, that is the central question in most Vader matches, "Can the opponent survive the onslaught?" It was a excellent execution of that story. ***3/4

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Vader vs Toshiaki Kawada - All Japan 2/17/00 Man, six years ago, I thought this match was the shit. Now, it felt like it was being wrestled in slow motion and surprisingly light. Kawada's strike looked so chumpy especially whenever he tried to imitate the Vader punches. Vader's offense and selling are still top notch, but his movement thus his bumping has gone to shit. It is too bad that this match did not happen in 1993/4 as this could have been an all-time classic. Kawada evades Vader early on, which frustrates Vader, who tries to corner him, but ends up taking several boots to the face and being suplexed. A Vader eye poke transitions the match into the favor of the Mastodon. I love when a bully resorts to such cheating. Vader hits his body attack and a headbutt on the floor. Much like Kobashi's moonsault, Kawada does his best to avoid Vader's Vaderbomb, but eventually he has to take it, but kicks out. Kawada mounts a comeback with kicks and Vader sells the stretch plum better than anyone has since 1992 with his great verbal selling. The Vader body attack restores his advantage and he pours on his offense with a powerbomb and back drop driver. Kawada blocks the chokeslam. Vader swings a wild bear paw that finds his mark that finally puts Kawada on jelly legs and Vader murders him with a clothesline to successfully defend his titles. It is a perfectly fine match but there is not anything really that special about it. Kawada is trying to fight from underneath against the Mastodon, but Vader proves to be too much to handle. Will Kobashi be able to wrest the titles for from The Man They Call Vader? ***

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Kensuke Sasaki - 01/04/00 Kensuke Sasaki has a nice slab of symphonic metal as his entrance theme and a bitchin' mullet. Tenryu looks extra lumpy at this point. This match reminds me of how the simplicity of New Japan can be just as beautiful as All Japan's complexity. This match is structured to make Sasaki to look like the conquering hero against the gritty veteran proving himself at every turn as surpassing Tenryu. The match proves that anything Tenryu can do; Sasaki can do better. It really makes Sasaki look like an ace of a promotion. They do not waste time going into the chopfest. This match reminds me of Valentine/Garvin at first as it seems like they are just stiffing each other for the hell of it. However, this match transcends inane strikes by developing into a well-woven story with a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is a battle of two bulls seeing who can inflict more damage on the other. Tenryu is the first to throw a closed fist in the corner. Sasaki says "Two can play at that game" and levels Tenryu with a wicked closed fist. Even though this match utilizes the closed fist more than any other puro match I have seen; the closed fist still seems really special as they sell it as a big deal. The way Tenryu transitions into his heat segment on Sasaki is be means of the closed fist. Before we get to there, I just wanted to mention that after Tenryu fells Sasaki with a huge chop that Sasaki actually wins a struggle for a vertical suplex. These are the little battles that Sasaki wins before ultimately winning the whole match. The second act is Tenryu's heat segment, which is concise and is focused on making Sasaki look vulnerable, but resilient. His chops to the throat area look vicious. Sasaki gets a hope spot in sumo slap battle, but Tenryu wins that with his enziguri. He does a super German suplex and follows up with his falling elbow drop from the top rope for 2. He does a powerbomb only gets two. Then he hits Sasaki's Northern Lights Bomb but he cant hold Sasaki down. He goes for the kill by a top rope Frankensteiner, but instead Sasaki powerbombs him in a pretty impressive spot. Then Sasaki shows him how it is done by doing his own top rope Frankensteiner. I fuckin' loved that exchange. Sasaki is looking for the kill, but Tenryu still has some fire left in the belly and they exchange strikes. Tenryu hits his enziguri again, but this time Sasaki hits his Northern Lights Bomb. Then goes for the second one to polish off Tenryu to win his second IWGP Championship and prove he is King of the Hill. This match never overstays its welcome clocking in just under 15 minutes and in this "less is more" attitude pervading the internet I feel like this one could do well. They sets this up as a Clash of Titans that Sasaki is looking to prove himself against the Elder Statesman. He wins small battles and displays Fighting Spirit in the face of the deluge of Tenryu's offense. The finish was definitive that Sasaki was the better wrestler in that match and he felt like that night as the Ace of New Japan. There are some issues with no-selling on Sasaki's part and I think they could have done so much interesting stuff with the holds. Those are just some nitpicky stuff. This is a great first match to start off the project. ****

Loss is da man! Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka vs Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murkami - Tokyo Dome 01/04/00 The Dome sure was rocking for this one, baby! From Inoki's entrance through post-match pull apart, this may have the most extended heat ever from a Dome crowd I have seen. The crowd still loves them some Inoki, who came out and said some stuff in Japanese and then broke a big stick in half so he created two wicked sharp stakes. Inoki: Vampire Slayer, Book It, Sci Fi! Everybody is wearing MMA gloves and Hashimoto/Ogawa just has that big match feel that belongs in front of a Dome. It is no wonder Hash thought he could run pretty much an entire promotion with him on top and Ogawa as his number two given the sustained heat. The match delivered a wild, chaotic classic where you had no idea what the heel was going to happen next and any shot could be a KO or a submission. The crowd was really vibing off this chaos and was popping for pretty much every spot. There was pretty much no downtime in the match. Murkami bullrushed Iizuka with lefts and kicks at the outset to establish the feel of the match. He full mounts Iizuka, but he gets to the ref so Murkami shoves the ref off. As he breaks, he kicks Iizuka's head off so Hashimoto comes into check on IIzuka and Murkami grabs the mic to lay some badmouth as one would expect. This is fuckin crazy. Hash fucks up Murkami triggering the big Hashimoto/Ogawa confrontation and the Dome is just losing it. NJPW wrestler pour into the ring and here comes Inoki with his giant fuckin Stake to reestablish order and Iizuka is ok so LETS GET IT ON! Team Ogawa is in love with O Soto Gari/STO and that is their constant go to move to takedown the other team. Once on the mat they trade cross-armbreaker, triangles and a leg bar. There is a real sense of struggle in every movement and the Dome heat is just unreal. Murkami full mounts Iizuka and was so focused on kicking his ass that he did not see Hashimoto got tagged in, who promptly lights him up with kicks. Hashimoto tells Ogawa not to sing it, but just bring it. Dome is molten. Hashimoto ends their stand up exchange with a wicked headbutt against the ropes and starts beating the piss out of Ogawa and the gloves come off. Ogawa goes to his STO bread and butter, but Hash just throws him back. Ogawa gets on his bike and tries to turn this into a track meet. Hashimoto gets trapped in his guard and survives a triangle choke. Everyone gets hit with STOs as Ogawa begins to turn the tide. Iizuka dropkicks Ogawa to the floor off of Hashimoto. Hashimoto is on Ogawa on the floor and attempts to break his arm with a keylock. Iizuka grabs a rear naked choke on Murkami for the win. Ogawa is a sore sport and throws Iizuka and the NJPW wrestlers pull apart before anything else can happen. The entertainment from this is derived from the chaos and hatred between the two teams. The Dome is just so into match that makes everything electric. The finish was a little too abrupt and I wanted to see more Hashimoto and Ogawa. Still this was a super fun match that just flew right by. ****1/4

Independent Junior Heavyweight Champion Naoki Sano vs Minoru Tanaka Battlarts 01/30/2000 Almost ten years to the day of this match, Naoki Sano put on his most heralded performance against Jushin Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight match. On this night, Sano looked like he was moving in slow-motion and just plain old. Minoru Tanaka did the best he possibly could, selling all of Sano's holds like he was in agonizing torture, but he could not carry this match far past average. I read another review of this from Puroresu.TV promoting this as a slow matwork masterpiece. I want to clarify it is not the pace of the match that bothered me it was the fact that Sano would take down or transition in and out of holds like a snail. There was no struggle. It was just a slow-motion exhibition of catch wrestling on the mat. Then you add the first time Sano goes for the leg lace he just kind of holds MInoru foot and he just starts screaming in pain. It would be great selling if he did not look like a total tool because of Sano was applying literally zero torque or pressure. When Sano lazily applies a rear naked choke, Minoru sells like he is about to pass out and just makes it to the ropes. Everytime, Sano would even touch Minoru's leg or foot, he would immediately scramble for the ropes and scream. There was a clear inequality in effort levels throughout the match. Eventually, they drop the shoot-style stuff and just go full bore into pro wrestling, Sano tombstones Minoru and missile dropkick, but gets kicked in gut on a plancha attempt that did not look too good. Minoru hits his own missile dropkick and applies the cross-armbreaker, but Sano makes the ropes. Minoru grabs the heel hook, but Sano touches Minoru's foot, which sends flying out of the ring. Minoru is sure as hell selling that leg. Sano follows him out with a suicide dive in his best spot. They tease the countout finish with Minoru making it in at 19, which I thought was the best part of the match. Sano hits a Tiger Suplex, but Minoru is too close to the ropes. Minoru goes for his bread and butter again, but Sano makes the ropes. They trade nice head kicks before Minoru lands a Dragon Suplex for 2, but the immediate cross-armbreaker gets a submission and the Independent Junior Heavyweight Championship. I had high hopes for this shoot-style affiar, but Sano just did not show up. I thought Minoru did the best he could given what was dealt to him. Very disappointing match **3/4

Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi - AJPW 01/17/00 Kawada's big return match falls flat even though he goes onto have 5 ****+ matches in his last truly great year of his career. This felt like their routine good match. They are laying in all their shots and everything looks good, but there is no sense of electricity. They are just going through the motions. Most wrestlers wish that their matches looked like this when they were going through the motions, but still can't be but a little disappointed by what I believe is the last ever Kawada/Kobashi singles match. Kawada levels Kobashi as soon as the bell rings with a big boot to say I'm back, bitch. Kawada plays king of the mountain at the beginning using his feet to keep the fiery Kobashi at bay. In a popular All Japan transition spot, Kobashi wins a suplex battle and takes over with short running knee lifts. Kawada answers in kind with one of his favorite transition spots, the sudden spinning heel kick. Kawada is focusing on the face of Kobashi with all these running big boots. I liked their apron sequence the best where Kawada hits a true axe kick, but Kobashi does the All Japan no-sell and clobbers him with a BURNING LARIAT! At this point, we get that classic Kawada selling that just makes his match as Kobashi begins to unload his offense. Kobashi really wants to hit his moonsault and Kawada really does not want to be hit by it. So Kobashi slaps on a sleeper to drain Kawada's energy, which is pretty effective psychology. Kobashi hits his powerbomb, but cant manage the half-nelson suplex, which Kawada hits an enziguiri out of. Kawada gets his own powerbomb, but when he goes to the well again Kobashi-rana counters albeit very botched. I am surprised Kobashi would do a Misawa spot and not only that fuck it up. Kawada adds a wrinkle with an armbar takedown -> cross armbreaker, which Kobashi sold well while in the hold, but does not have much significance. Kobashi All Japan no sells a back drop driver and wins a double lariat battle. He throws Kawada with a Tiger suplex and the jacknife powerbomb only gets two. Kobashi goes to hit his lariat, but Kawada can't even stand up on his own so Kobashi stands him up just to knock him down with BURNING LARIAT! I feel like the finish is like a metaphor for the like the system, man, you know. It is the best hits of Kawada/Kobashi, but it did not feel like any spots until the very quick finish had any sort of consequence. It was just a fun exhibition of moves. Stuff like the Kobashi sleeper or the Kawada cross-armbreaker really could have added interesting new dynamics to their match. As it stood, it is just par for the course. ***1/2

What actually maybe interesting given jdw's point is plotting PPV (N-1) star rating against they buyrate of PPV (N) (This allows the timeframes to line up). Does good work necessitate people to buy the next PPV? Obviously, the big problem is that we just have Meltzer's ratings so it is not a wide data set, but it could be cool.

Amen, Matt. Like for instance, I just did what I consider a very good write-up on the Austin/Steamboat BATB '94 match where I respond to people's claim of the match being disjointed by finding a constant thread (Austin's desperation tactics and out & out cheating) that connects the match from beginning to end and how the match runs through him. Now due to the nature of the beast, I did not expect anyone to respond and I am not disappointed (though I did get in a cheap plug for it). I know that eventually someone will watch that match, go to the thread and see my dissenting opinion and respond in turn. However, I think there is value in having us all watch a match at the same time because it will promote more instantaneous discussion. The reason, I have not participated is because selfishly I am wrapped up too much in my own projects. Since I do think this is a worthwhile venture, I would like to get this restarted. HHH/Austin No Way Out '01 is a great high-profile match and works perfectly with me as I am watching HHH '99-'01 and don't mind skipping around. So I'll second that nomination.

Before I launch into Kobashi's extraordinary GHC title reign (4 matches in and it was been bitchin), I wanted to wrap up with some final thoughts on the 2000-2002 Japan landscape. 1. 2000 was a return to form for Japan and actually their best year since 1997 and was a really enjoyable year to watch. 2. The structure was unsustainable. All Japan has Tenryu, Kawada, Mutoh; NOAH had Misawa, Kobashi and Akiyama and New Japan had Nagata and a bunch of MMA fighters. There were too many over the hill guys that could bust out a one-off performance but nothing to build company around. The people coming up (Kojima, Akiyama, Nagata) had no credible opponents. What made the Three Musketeers and Four Corners work is they had each other to elevate themselves. 3. The resulting huge dropoff quality. 2001 was still a pretty good year, but holy shit 2002 sucked resulting in the two highest rated matches of the year coming in at ****. 4. In this past year, by my count WWE (including NXT) had about 7-8 ****1/2 or greater matches. From 2000-2002 from the three different companies, Japan only produced 5. In some ways, we are just spoiled now, but it is also clear that Japan in 2001 & 2002 was in a stark decline. Here are the awards for the end of my look at 2000-2002 Japan: 1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 2. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00 3. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 4. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00 5. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00 6. IWGP Jr Hvywt Tag Champs Ohtani & Takaiwa vs Kanemoto & Minoru - NJPW 6/25/00 7. IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokyo Dome Non-Title 8. Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01 9. IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Takehiro Murahama - NJPW 4/20/01 10. Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka vs Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murkami - Tokyo Dome 01/04/00 11. Genichiro Tenryu & Masa Fuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Nobutaka Araya - AJPW 6/30/01 12. Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - Champions Carnival Final '00 13. GHC Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 07/27/01 14. New Japan (Liger & Minoru ) vs. NOAH (Kikuchi & Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02 15. GHC Tag Champions Akiyama & Saito vs Kobashi & Shiga - NOAH 10/19/02 Match of the Year, 2000: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 Match of the Year, 2001: All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 Match of the Year, 2002: New Japan (Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka) vs. NOAH (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02 Finished #14 overall Match of the Year (2000-2002), New Japan Pro Wrestling: Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00 Match of the Year (2000), Pre-Split All Japan Pro Wrestling: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00 Match of the Year (2000-2002), Post-Split All Japan Pro Wrestling: All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 Match of the Year (2000-2002), Pro Wrestling NOAH: Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00 Match of the Year (2000-2002), Junior Heavyweight Division: IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Champs Shinjiro Ohtani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka - NJPW 6/25/00 http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/03/best-of-japan-2000-2002.html

"Wildcat" Wendell Cooley is my new favorite wrestler ever.

I try to stay up to date on what the other smark opinions are by checking out some other boards. I am pretty tolerant so I don't really mind their usually whacked out views. My God, did I get hot under the collar when some said that Warrior was better than Lex Luger. It is just infuriating. You type this big long post breaking things down and giving match recommendations. All you get is TL;DR, Warrior is better because he had facepaint and was BATSHIT INSANE~! Ugh.

I was the outlier on the Bash match and I will be the outlier here. WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin vs Ricky Steamboat - WCW Clash of the Champions XXVIII I thought this was the most disappointing match of their series in '94. Since in actuality I had never seen the Bash match before I was basing my opinion of this program totally on this one match. While I have found that I have changed my opinions on a lot of things throughout the years, I still found this match tepid at best and totally heatless until the last couple minutes or so. One thing that was not their fault was this was WCW's camerawork at its most atrocious long shots of Heenan, the Blacktop Bully and a random shot of the stage at one point. The Bash match had a more woven story with Austin cheating at every single corner and eventually finding a trick that worked (feet on the ropes). Consequently, if he gets DQ'd this time around he will lost the title. However, they don't really play up the stip outside of a couple of almost throws over the top rope. Even without working the stip, there was not much in the way of action or story. If you have both that's great, but this match really didn't have either. I thought the first match was jammed with action and wrestled with great energy and the second match they blew themselves up, but saved themselves with a great story. This time around I thought they made a conscious effort to slow themselves down, but nothing really happened. They never really built up heat one way or the another until the end. It was a pretty boring shine sequence with Austin just doing a good chickenshit heel routine (he pulled my hair, bitching out, eye poke). They just chop each other and trade nearfalls a lot. It was a workrate match without spots. The crowd finally gets into it when the Dragon crotches Austin and taunts him. Of course, Austin hits a super gourdbuster only for Steamboat to catch with a chop off the top and then Steamboat crashes and burns on a splash. Somebody build momentum! Austin's slaps were pretty lame. He needed to go to Jericho school of the slap-taunt because he was just flailing his arms at Steamer. He looked like me when I was 7 against my dad. Steamboat no sells and rattles off a series of nearfalls before catching Austin with an inside cradle. I will say Austin trying to run away from the nearfall barrage only to be Electric Chair Dropped was the best spot in the match. Still, the match was just there and really did not do anything for me. It is not a bad match per se, just one where not a whole lot happens. ***

WCW US Champion Ricky Steamboat vs. Jean-Paul Levesque - WCW Saturday Night 9/3/94 I do believe this is Steamboat's last televised appearance until his mini-comeback run and I think is actually Levesque's (Triple H) first major TV match. Given the video quality and his hair-do, Levesque looks like a skinny version of Lex Luger. You can really tell how tall he was in this match. Steamboat did a great job carrying him through the match and he sold his arm really well for the green as grass Levesque. I felt that Levesque gained a lot of confidence as the match progressed. He started off very tentative in his actions you could just tell he was not yet comfortable. Steamboat was working basic stuff and once they got into the arm work (Steamboat charged and should rammed into post) I thought Levesque did a great job working the arm in a convincing fashion lots of different holds and moves. You could tell he knew what he was doing, but he was not totally there in terms of interacting with the crowd and doing with confidence. He was still thinking about it instead of feeling it. Steamboat was making him look great with his arm selling and the finish really put Levesque over as he was in command, but Steamboat grabbed inside cradle out of a bodyslam. Levesque even got a post-match beatdown on Steamboat's arm. WCW, as usual, was in a time of transition and outside of a Starrcade match against Wright, I don't he got much out of his WCW run. Still, a very good performance given how new he was to the big time. Between his size and work, I would definitely picked him up and developed him as a talent. It is fitting in Steamboat last TV appearance he is left selling the arm as that's where his bread was buttered selling and making everyone look great.

Sting & Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair & Steve Austin (WCW Saturday Night 07/30/94) This on paper dream match was a clusterfuck in execution. That is a little bit of hyperbole. Flair seemed interested in just shining up the babyfaces and Austin is the only one trying to have a heat segment, but he seems blown up again from running around with the babyfaces that he forced to sit in holds. Sting goes into Flair match mode where he is Superman in the ring and Steamboat seemed like the best wrestler in this one with fiery chops and selling for the heels. This confluence lends itself to a really good shine segment with Flair flopping around. I really liked Sting stopping his ten punch count in the corner to punch Austin and Austin stooges. Flair hides behind Sherri on the outside. Savage says et tu Brute? The announcers remind us that Sting missed the biggest WCW event in history because of a scratched cornea from Sherri. So Flair pokes him in the eye. He is able to tag the Dragon. Austin immediately tosses him out and plays a spirited king of the mountain. The Dragon will not be denied. That is the difference between Sting and Steamboat. Steamboat fights through the barrage and Sting no-sells. Both can be effective Sting just did it way too much ala Sting eats knees from Austin and no-sells Flair's delayed vertical. Now I think Flair called that spot so I don't think you can blame Sting for that one. In fact, I think Flair and Austin were not on the same page at all. Austin seems interested in having a straight Southern tag match and this really was rampant non-psychology from Flair (hey everybody has an off night). Sting absolutely whiffs on a cross body that should have sent both tumbling over the top, but no sold that and went after Flair immediately. Again, that is Sting sticking to the called spot rather reacting to what is going on around him. Hard to say if he is at fault. Austin burns through a series of falls with Sting and honestly think this may have blown him up. I liked Sting's press slam of Austin and he sells when Austin catches him low with a knee. Flair dumps him out to Sherri, who gets hers licks in. Again, heat segment cut short by Sting tag and Steamer chops everything in sight and a gnarly Flair Flip. They do their bridging/backslide spot. Yep, Flair was just trying to get all his shit in. Sherri and Austin finally start gaining some momentum for the heels. Keep Flair out! Actually, Flair does throw some nice punches and chops. There are plenty of good chops. The Center Stage crowd is raucous for the match that is really all over the place testament to how Sting and Steamboat are. Sting gets the tag while the ref was not looking, but of course he does not fucking care. He is The Man Called Sting! Of course, he press slams Flair. He is The Man Called Sting! Of course, he chucks Sherri to the outside and Flair is not there to catch her and takes the most hellacious bump of the match. He is The Man Called Sting! In the background, Austin pins Steamboat with a roll up. Just like his trunks said Just Win Baby! There is enough action and spots that it is entertaining enough. It is all over the place. Best way to describe it is an energetic clusterfuck. ***

Where is that Matt D analysis? WCW US Heavyweight Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin vs Ricky Steamboat - WCW Bash At The Beach '94 Watched this on the WWE Network. While the quality was stellar, things were a bit touch and go throughout. They have not gotten it yet. However, Network problems be damned all the way from July 1994, "Dragon Slayer" Steve Austin and Ricky Steamboat still manage to kick ass . If they were somehow able to keep up the pace they cutting at the beginning, they could have had a match for the ages, but they went for too much too soon. They blew each up after the hot criss cross sequence that ended with a Steamboat sleeper and this resulted in an extended lull in the match. I loved how Austin immediately went for the knee and the Dragon knew he needed to fight fire with fire before he was fucked all the while selling the knee. Not every shot to the knee will immediately cripple you. Austin was bumping huge for Steamboat and somehow as his strategy blew up in his face he went to the trick knee. I really think Austin wrestled a really good internally consistent match. He went from jumping Steamboat from behind to the trick knee to the low blow to karate mockery to trying to throw him over the top rope to get DQd to pulling the ref in his way to putting his feet on the rope. I think I missed an eye poke in there. The whole match just reeked of scatter-brained heel desperation from Austin It was a truly incredible heel performance. It was like his motto was "If I cheat I can, If I cheat I can" The fact they blew themselves fucked up the rhythm so I can understand that issue with the match, but I think Austin's performance is the thread that ties everything together. These Steamboat matches are the first time I am really seeing a match being run through Austin and he really is exuding IT now. Steamboat gave his typically great selling performance, but I thought some of his stuff was a little off. I don't think the Pillman bump to the railing was well-placed as he immediately took over after it and I think he should have taken it to Austin more to justify Austin's chicanery. It was a tremendous finishing sequence and I can't decide if I like the barrage of nearfalls from March or Austin trying to get himself intentionally disqualified more. This one had a tombstone reversal sequence (even Linda Hogan popped for that!) and a well-built finish (Austin wins with his feet on the ropes). If I cheat I can, If I cheat I can and he did! ****

An Era is not something a company can just declare to be over. I think it is more organic that. Well given how this WWE operate maybe they can have a more top-down approach to things. Regardless, the WWE can have a vision, but I think most of the Era are developed in combination bottom up and top down. That's why it is blurry when and where the Attitude Era ended and begun. It is no different than trying to understand different periods in heavy metal. Even though we are not in the Attitude Era, there are still plenty of holdovers from the Attitude Era: the scratch logo (which needs to go), the 20 minute promo to open up the show, wrestlers with full names and no real color. I liked the chaos and edginess of the Attitude Era, but it took away from some of the outrageous and ridiculousness that wrestling used to have. I feel like we still have not regained all the color we had back in the old days. That said this could just be the fact I am totally enamored with the 80s and no one really wants to have "color" back. Point is I don't understand why the Attitude Era being a term bugs you. Any era can be debated to death on when it started and ended and what is its scope. An Era is defined by the content and half the fun is the debate over the end and the beginning. I am at work and this post seems scatter-brained to me. So I apologize in advance.

Ricky Steamboat vs Bobby Eaton - WCW Worldwide 6/4/94 Have these two ever wrestled a 10+ minute match? It would be a crying shame if this is all we got, but still a good match. Steamboat does some fancy armwork to wow the Disney crowd while Tony and Jesse do what would become WCW announcing's favorite pastime talking about what Hogan is doing instead of the match at hand. He had not even wrestled a match yet. Eaton gets a chopblock on Steamboat. In a nice touch, Steamboat sells, but still tries to maintain control by going back to arm work, but one of those sweet Eaton rights and a kneecrusher turn the favor into Eaton. The one weak point is Eaton's leg work just really consists of Eaton hugging Steamboat's leg, but The Dragon sells the hell out of it and even does the knee gives out on a slam attempt to put it over. Eaton hits a right all the way from Sweet Home Alabama to setup the spinning toehold, but Steamboat kicks him into the turnbuckle. Eaton tries to throw some rights, but the Dragon won't be denied and he hits a cross body block from the top for the win. It was a fun little 8 minute match. It is really worth it just to see Steamboat and Eaton finally lock up. **3/4 ----------------------------------------------------- Ricky Steamboat vs Arn Anderson w/Col. Robert Parker & MENG - WCW Main Event 8/21/94 Here is another matchup that was not exploited enough in WCW. I thought this was even better than the Eaton match especially since The Enforcer has some heat on him since he had just aligned with the Studd Stable against The Rhodes Family. Steamboat's arm work here is tighter and more vicious against Arn. I love him taunting Parker before dropping back on the hammerlock scissors. Anderson is also doing a better stooge routine than Eaton was. He has great facial expressions and him asking for timeout never gets old. The spinebuster is such a badass transition move. Anderson zeroes in on the back and Steamboat proves why he is one of the best faces of all time with his selling. Anderson's back work culminates with a Boston Crab and he just lets go, which is a pet peeve of mine. Steamboat starts to mount his comeback with chops while selling the back, but I would have liked a better transition then him just getting up from the Crab going back on offense. Steamboat looks like he is going garner the victory with a top rope cross body, but Parker is distracting the ref. Steamboat gets an O'Connor roll, but MENG kicks Steamboat in the head while the ref is distracted to give Anderson the win. I liked the finish put over the team aspect of the Stud Stable and gives them more momentum. This was a good TV match and I wish we had more Enforcer/Dragon singles matches to go with it. ***

Steve Austin vs Ricky Steamboat - WCW Saturday Night 03/12/94 No. 1 Contender's Match Austin gives his best individual performance up until this point and The Dragon is on form to deliver a great match. I loved the opening chippiness from Austin. It really felt like two men trying to win a match so they could challenge Flair for the title He has really found himself in the ring. He is such a cocky bastard now. You can definitely see that edge he would later exploit to become a megastar. I really had not seen that spark until this match right at the beginning. In his podcast, he loves talking about the opening collar-and-elbow tieup will tell so much about how the way the match will go and think his wristlock and Steamboat's headlock were worked so tight that you knew this was going to be a great match. I thought they spiced up Steamer's headlock well they teased the bridge/backslide sequence and took a left turn back into the headlock. Or when Steamboat goes for his first highspot a crossbody, but Austin uses his own momentum to get a pinfall attempt. The transition to Austin's heat segment was a little vanilla just a headbutt, but the ab stretch had the fans going crazy. Again, they were spicing up the heat segment with great hope spots and cutoffs like Austin's badass spinebuster. Finally they kick into the crazy nearfall finish stretch that is a Steamboat trademark. You will be out of breath just watching these guys. Steamboat tries every pinning predicament in the book, but can't finagle a win. Eventually, Col. Parker in a pure Jack Swagger dumbshit move just interferes triggering the disqualification. I think DQ have their place in the world, but not in a No. 1 Contenders match especially when there will be no return match. They could have had Parker jump The Dragon after the match and then have Steamboat chop Flair by accident. Still, my God, they cut one helluva pace, Austin seems to have finally found himself, but The Dragon would not be denied. ***3/4

There should be a wrestling meme that is "Misawa's Elbow has [insert person] like"...then a posted picture of person in pain. Think it would actually be funnier if the person was not a wrestler. But I have none of the photoshopping skills to make this happen. So Misawa's elbow has Kawada like http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lys9w6Y4Ek1r8g8c1o1_500.jpg

Shinya Hashimoto has the Dome rockin' against Ogawa in a tag match and the bittersweet end of Four Corners of Heaven and Vader are highlighted in these two blog posts... http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/02/rockin-dome-shinya-hashimoto-2000-2002.html http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/03/invader-demise-of-four-corners-of.html Tomorrow, I have my big blowout to cap off 2000-2002 in Japan.

Definitely. I had both at ****1/4 and in the top 10 through 2002. Projecting out (this is with the rest of decade performing as well as 2000-2002, which is unlikely), you are looking at least Top 40 for both matches if not Top 25 from my rankings.

Lets see what all hubbub is about William Regal vs Kassius Ohno - WWE NXT 4/10/13 There are wrestlers who when they are in a match it just becomes their match and it forces their opponent out of their comfort zone. When you watch a Regal match, you can't help but gravitate towards his performance. When I watch a Flair match, it is actually a pretty difficult for me to evaluate the opponent's performances sometime because Flair just does so much stuff. It is even harder for me in a Regal match because of how commanding he is in the ring. You will wrestle a Regal match. The only Chris Hero (he is Kassius Ohno for those of us who have trouble keeping up with the name changes as I know I do) matches I have are the live ones from ROH. To fully appreciate this match, I think I would need to have a better feel for Ohno/Hero. He did what he need to have a very great match. He zeroed in on his body part and he sold his body part well and uniquely. However, a similar complaint that I have with Cesaro at times (Cesaro isn't as bad and has more crowd-pleasing spots), he wrestles like no one is watching. There is just no interaction. Besides making some awful "mean", "intense" faces, there was just nothing. The manufactured intensity just feels so late 90s Nu Metal. It is lame. What makes it worse for Ohno is you have Regal giving a friggin' Emmy winning performance selling dazed and confused when he is on defense and I am going to fucking rip your fingers off when he is on offense. I wanted to get that out of the way because it is something that has been bothering me at times watching the WWE and watching the praise it gets. It still can feel too manufactured and sanitized. It is too damn self-aware is the real problem. Not to go off too much on a tangent, but I just watched the Wyatts/Shield from this past RAW in Chicago and for the first time since I can remember wrestling just seemed like wrestling. It did not feel self-aware, everything happened because two teams of three were trying to win a match. I am not saying every match has to be a chaotic, thrilling brawl where Rollins flies all over the fuckin place, Ambrose is an awesome lunatic and Reigns is Superman Punching bitches out of the sky, I am saying that WWE seems to be getting back to wrestling with interesting characters that motivated to win not have great matches. In this match, I think Regal proved you can have a very sound, "low-fi" match that can be a great match, but he just did not have the right partner to take this to all-time classic level. We should all thank our lucky stars that they did not make Brad Maddox a color commentator. Apparently, this is not just a teacher versus student feud, this is a blood feud, but they don't really explain the personal element. Regal's shine was really well-done. He worked the mat convincingly. He threw in a fun spot I love where he is jawing with the ref while mule kicking his opponent in the corner. Just tremendous. Ohno gets a knee lift to turn the tide and a baseball slide to the head to cement his advantage. Thus begins the first part of the psychology, Ohno is going after Regal's equilibrium and follows up repeatedly with kicks to the temple. Regal breaks out of his full nelson like anybody who has been kicked in the temple, he is pretty pissed and proceeds to try to rip Ohno fingers from their sockets. Additional psychology points because Ohno's finisher is a cravat thus finger strength is essential to the move. This is one segment, I thought Ohno really excelled was selling here. You have to verbal sell during finger psychology and he did. Finger are like eyes people just don't want those things fucked with. I am guessing Ohno is double jointed in his fingers, but that did not make it any less gruesome when he popped them in out of place. Double jointed people still give me the heeby jeebies. Ohno is able to create space by attacking Regal's head a lot. I did appreciate the laser focus on Regal's head especially the kick against the post and stomp on his head. Ohno sold the inability to apply the cravat well. Regal was giving a master class in selling in there. I don't think I have ever seen someone sell "the lights are on, but no one is home" as well as that. Discombobulated Regal still manages to throw Hero, but elbows to the head rock him on the Regal stretch attempt. Regal, on instincts, kicks out of a back drop driver and a big boot to head (great false finish). Hero goes for the Roaring Elbow, but Regal catches him first and hits a knee lift to head to win, which is a great payback spot. This is a great fundamentals match that features one of the all-time great Regal performances in terms of offense, selling and ring generalship. I am a sucker for body part psychology and thought each guy sold his body part well and uniquely. Ohno's performance lacked inspiration is my one quibble in a fantastic match. ****1/2 Am I the only one that liked Cesaro/Zayn III more than this match? It is nip and tuck, but I'd put Cesaro/Zayn over this.

I wanted to know all the Shield matches I needed to watch because I literally only watch RAW (not even PPVs). Excellent resource for that. Thanks you so much.

Finished my first installment on my Triple H series. It is not as tight as I want it to be, but that may be because I don't have all the data I need to draw my conclusions yet. Still I set down my hypothesis and feelings going into the match. Hell, there was actually one very good Triple H match in 1999 it was of course fellow Kliq buddy, X-Pac. I have always enjoyed that match. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2014/03/my-time-rise-of-hhh-wwf-1999.html