Superstar Sleeze

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - 05/26/00 All Hail Yoshihiro Takayama! Black hair Takayama is just as much of bad ass muthafucka as bleach blond Takayama in heeling it up. It is such a great change of pace from the typical King's Road style to have a native play a heel so convincingly. I have not re-watched the '04 Kobashi/Takayama (which is a favorite going into the poll), but I really dug this match a whole lot and would put it up there with Mutoh/Tenryu and Misawa/Akiyama as the best match so far. During the pre-match rules and bullshit, Takayama just kicks Kobashi in the head with a big boot and pounces. What a prick. That's the story of this match Kobashi has to overcome the fact that he has an opponent that is not above taking shortcuts and has his partner, Omori outside ready to assist. Kobashi fires up and lights up Takayama. If Kobashi ever worked America for a sustained time in the 90s, he would have been excellent at babyface shines. As he was great at beating Takayama from pillar to post outside the ring. Kobashi looks to finish it early or at least take a commanding lead with a back body drop driver. Takayama knows that could spell the end and dead weights him. He gets a double leg takedown and just will not let go of that cross-armbreaker. Takayama will constantly use arm attack cutoffs for the rest of the match now that he was able to debilitate a body part of Kobashi. Takayama does not relent in being a heel he uses the railing, he steps on his throat and does a cocky cover. Takayama just plain gets it. At some point, Kobashi's eye has swollen shut and I have neglected to mention how friggin' hard they are hitting each other. Kobashi fires up again and gets a flurry of chops in the corner, but Omori gets up on the apron and Kobashi hits him with a spinning back hand chop to teach him a lesson. However that distraction is enough time for Takayama to kick the arm. Takayama follows up with great arm work, but Kobashi chops out of the armbreaker and actually powders to put over how much damage was done to the arm. Now, Kobashi starts to string together a combination with suplexes and DDTs, but cant put Takayama away yet. Takayama is always cutting him off at the arm it is an incredibly focused performance. Kobashi is just in his element fighting from underneath. Kobashi hits a monster Fuck You Burning Lariat, but with the bad arm. Takayama gets his Everest German only for 2. Takayama frustrated begins to hit Kobashi with closed fists so Kobashi rallies with closed fists of his own, but with his bad arm just dangling at his side. It is an awesome visual. Takayama out of nowhere hits a German for two. This time Kobashi revved up hits Burning Lariat with the bad arm and wins! Kobashi battling through the pain to finally hit his Lariat bad arm and all is just the perfect finish to an incredible match. I loved the pacing of the match with Kobashi early on pissed off at Takayama's blindside followed by Takayama grabbing a hold of an appendage and ripping it to shreds. Everything followed from that hook. Takayama was the consummate heel and Kobashi consummate babyface. Just when you think Kobashi is making his comback, Omori distracts him. Just when you think he will do it again, Takayama kicks him in the arm. Just when you think Takayama will win with his German Suplex, Kobashi fires up with fists of fury bad arm just dangling. For him to actually win with the bad arm Lariat was perfect because he did not no-sell it. He battled through pain. Takayama would never be able to inflict the amount of pain to break Kobashi's fighting spirit. I LOVED THIS MATCH! *****

GHC Heavyweight Champion Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata vs. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase - Tokyo Dome 10/08/01 You have three hottest commodities in puroresu in this match and Hiroshi Hase. Of course, I thought Hase was the best worker in the match. New Japan is continuing to put over Nagata as their new pro wrestling superstar having him hang with All Japan's and NOAH's champions. NOAH followed up Akiyama's red hot 2000 by making him the second GHC champion putting him over Misawa in July. Mutoh resuscitated the crippled All Japan promotion by reinventing himself completely in the ring. Also Mutoh placed a runner-up in 2001 G-1 climax losing to rising superstar, Yuji Nagata. Mutoh is looking for some revenge and has his buddy, Hase as back-up. This match also served to hype the main event to 2002 01/04 Dome show where Nagata was going to challenger Akiyama for the GHC Championship. They were definitely trying to deliver a big Dome main even match, but I thought they fell short of the mark. The body of the match seemed perfunctory and an obligation before they started to bust out finishers in the grand finale. Mutoh wins an early chain exchange with Akiyama by hitting a dropkick and posing which got a pretty good reaction from the crowd. The Mutoh and Hase have much better continuity as expected and this affords them an early advantage as Mutoh scores his style elbow and begins some leg work. Nagata and Hase exchanged some pretty good slapfests when they needed to and Nagata was clearly the most protected wrestler in the match. Hase had a chip on his shoulder and he was working the hardest to sell and bump for his opponents even selling on the apron. Hase is supremely smug as he re-enters and then does the giant swing to a big pop. They tease the exploder off the apron, but Mutoh does the dragon leg screw off the apron and dropkicks the knee. I love that combination so much. All of sudden it is breaking loose in the Tupelo Dome as we get the double figure-4 for Mutoh and Hase. Mutoh hits his franekensteiner and moonsault combo for two. When I watched this, I could have sworn the match was more even, but reading my notes it seems like Mutoh and Hase dominated. Hase gets a little cocky after rolling Germans and a backbreaker. He slaps Nagata. Nagata hits an overhead belly to belly. Melee ensues. The spot of the match is Mutoh stepping on Hase's back to hit a Shining Wizard on a standing Nagata. Hase follows up by head dropping Akiyama and hitting his Northern Lights Suplex on Nagata. However, Nagata and Akiyama are able to wrangle Mutoh and Hase into double submission holds. The finish is Akiyama hitting his jumping knee twice and Nagata dropping Hase with a back body driver. Honestly, I watched this match twice once about a month ago and again two nights ago and this review does not really reflect my perception of the match. Akiyama and Nagata definitely struggled more and got in more offense, but my notes paint a picture of Mutoh & Hase domination. Neither time did I think the match was all great so I am not going to rewatch it again anytime soon, but I wanted to be honest about this review. Outside of a big Hase performance, it felt like Mutoh by the numbers with a fireworks finish. It was definitely most disappointing Akiyama match so far. ***

So why do people not like this Brusier Brody fellow? I'm being facetious, but in the two matches I have sat down to really watch I thought he delivered really good performances. I wanted to watch this match before I re-watch the tag match to see if I can glean anything from this brawl to add context to a match that really blew me away on first viewing. I learned that Brody and Dory don't exactly exchange Christmas cards. Dory, much like Greg Gagne, has a lot to overcome in the way of his image, but I buy his credibility as a wrestler a little more than Greg because of his sweet European uppercuts and generally coming off as tough as nails in his match. Brody can be a little goofy at times with his mannerisms, but I thought he worked a violent championship match. You really believed he was a madman. He took Dory right into the crowd and nailed with a metal rod. OW! Posts Dory to get the crimson river flowing. He punctuates the assault with his kneedrops, but Dory keeps kicking out. When Dory rebounds off the rope to forearm Brody the crowd pops huge. You gotta love the post receipt. The snapmare is goofy. The spinning toe hold will rip a knee to shreds so I buy it. Plus with the Funks I have come to accept that no matter how much of a brawl they are in they will are going to go for the spinning toe hold. I would have marked out like crazy if I ever watched a Funk Brothers bar fight and they busted out dual spinning toe holds. Brody seemed to sell well from Dory and cut him off with an eye-rake. Brody misses the knee drop and they just start slugging it out. Brody uses the ropes to hold himself off just kick Dory off of him, which I loved. Dory suplexes Brody onto the ref to trigger the finish stretch. Brody starts to march around and he has hold of his chain. Dory wrangles a portion of it and loses his mind. He is nailing everything in sight with the chain including the ref, which triggers a DQ and Brody wins the via DQ. Brody and some gaijin double team Dory until Terry makes the saves and Brody marches off with the International Title. I am still testing waters of 80s puroresu so I am still in shock when I see this match that seems like a high-end ECW or Attitude Era brawl taking place in 1981 All Japan! It does feel abbreviated and it is missing the intangibles to put it over the top. I thought it was an energetic and violent brawl that transitioned the title to Brody and really made you want to see the Funks vs Brody & partner. And wouldn't ya know they just so happen to have such a match in December. ***1/2

HOLY FUCK! I watched this match with some stops and starts because I am working, but what an awesome friggin match. Either based on rep or personal preference, I figured a match with Brody, Snuka, and Dory would not be that good, but this match has been one of the best I have watched in a long time. This is pretty much the only Brody match I have ever watched. Based on this one match, he looks awesome. Everything he did was snug and looked great. Snuka was so friggin athletic. Dory was awesome with his euro uppercuts. Terry in his movements diving off the top and just going to toe-to-toe. I loved the streamers after the double suplex on Brody. I loved Terry diving off the top. I marked out like crazy for Hansen's lariat did not see it coming at all. I love that kind of finish and so well-done. I will have to rewatch it more critically. Great, great match.

How have I never heard of "I Am Santa Claus" that's the most bitchin' thing EVAH~!

Growing up in the Attitude Era, Angle was definitely one of my favorites. He was a great character in the love triangle and just had great comedic timing. I may be alone in this, but I thought he was awesome with AJ Styles, Karen and Christian in like 2007 or 2008. My problem with him as a wrestler is that he very rarely brings the hate. Dont get me wrong, he can be intense, but he very rarely hates someone. I thought there was a lot of disconnect in the AJ matches because these are two in the build up that were bloodying each other, but would then just wrestle a straight match. Even the announcers would be like "What the fuck, I thought we were going to get a brawl". Also he tends to do Attitude style brawling as a opposed to Southern brawling that is my least favorite type of wrestling when he is faced with a street fight. I just watched his match with Roode from this past Impact. It was a 2 out of 3 falls match and I guess it is supposed to be a pretty heated, competitive feud. It just felt like any other Angle match. Both guys wanted to prove they could beat each other twice within one match, but Angle did not seem hard pressed at all to try sell this anything different. I will say the finish to fall #1 was pitch perfect. Angle kicks his ass so Roode pushes the ref to distract and kicks him right in the balls. What a great heel finish. The 3rd fall was Angle at his worst with all finisher reversal that make his Angle lock and slam so ineffective. Roode uses the crossface now so plenty of that style of matwork. I don't want to say that style of matwork is just so perfunctory. There is no struggle. Roode rolled through an AngleLock and grabbed the bottom rope for a pinfall. I would say it was a pretty bad match. Kurt Angle, to me, is the ultimate video game wrestler. There are times where he just presses "Square" and will just break your grapple and hit a move. Whats funny is the way he breaks out of a grapple looks exactly like in a video game. He lacks a sense of struggle and urgency. In a typical Angle match, it misses the intangibles. It just goes from spot to spot. In his mind and the minds of many, if I just string a bunch of good spots together thats a good match, but we know thats not the case. When you are that much of an athletic freak, you are going to have great matches and he has plenty. He just has so many lame or lazy ones too. It is too bad his ring timing is not as good as his comedic timing.

Demolition, WALKING DISASTER! Personally, I thought their babyface run was a walking disaster marred by gobbling up opponents, bad opponents and extended squashes. I surprisingly liked the Smash & Crush team and thought they had some good efforts against the Road Warriors and Rockers. Definitely, think Smash & Crush would have been a viable team well into the next year if they kept them together. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...aster-1989.html

He punches better. His dives are better. He sells better. He bumps better. He is a better wrestler. He works the mat better. He is a better character actor. He is better at match layouts. He is a better wrestler. Kofi can jump higher than him, I guess. Fuck, I can do worked strikes better than Kofi. AJ's swanton to the outside blows away anything Kofi has in terms of how pretty it looks. For selling from AJ vs. Joe at Turning Point 2005: "When Styles does a float-over off a Joe suplex attempt onto the apron instead of doing it fluidly he lands on the ropes to sell the exhaustion. I was in awe. Consequently instead of immediately following his forearm on the apron he sold more exhaustion before finally to trying to hit a springboard and ate a Joe powerbomb. Sublime. " You are lucky if Kofi remembers to sell the same body part through the match nevermind sell fatigue. The iconic flip bump off the Ultimate X to making Sting look like a million bucks via bumping. Could Kofi have a violent David vs. Goliath match in a cage as good as AJ? Fuck, no. Kofi does not even the work the mat. Still, AJ has proven he can go on the mat with Daniels and others at level that is at least on par with most modern American workers. I am a mark for AJ's work in the Christian Coalition & Team Angle. I like some comedy and light-heartedness in my wrestling. Kofi's character is that he moved from Jamaica to Ghana. AJ vs Daniels Final Resolution 2009 is an amazing layered match that builds on their previous matches, has hate and delivers a satisfying finish. When has Kofi ever shown any aggression ever. Kofi does not even come close to any of these matches: 1. TNA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels - Final Resolution 2009 2. AJ Styles vs Abyss - Lockdown 2005 3. X-Division Champion AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe - Turning Point 2005 4. X-Division Champion Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels - Against All Odds 2006 5. TNA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels vs Samoa Joe - Turning Point 2009 6 TNA World Tag Team Champions America's Most Wanted vs AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels - Slammiversary 2006 Those are just the ones I have seen that I would rate higher than 4 stars. Comparing AJ to Kofi is such an insult.

You all suck. As the lone AJ mark on the board, I should at least shill my thread for him... http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?showtopic=19786 . Give the man, some deserved love. Re-reading my own thread, I see there are other people who do like AJ including Redman, sorry for misconstruing 2013 AJ disdain with general AJ disdain. I would still be super pumped for AJ on the main WWE roster because I still liked his performances this year like against Aries 2013.

Fuck yeah. I got it at about ****1/2 and I think this is Hogan's best match. It is one of the best symmetrical, tit for tat matches ever with Backlund outpowering Hogan in the short-arm scissors spot. Finally his ego gets the best of him and he loses out due to try out-airplane spin Hogan. Just a fuckin tremendous finish to a great match. Bob Backlund is the fuckin man. If someone wants to send me Backlund/Inoki from Miami, I would be happy to arbitrate.

Thats what my money has been on ever since they announced this stipulation. If they do actually go through with unification, I am going to be bummed if they drop Big Goldy by the wayside. It is the last vestige of my beloved WCW. Thankfully, business dictates that those title belts they sell are cash cows and the match just reeks of a screwjob finish so I don't think they will actually go through with it.

Is Justin Credible on the board? That would be just incredulous. (faked you out, didnt I)

Was your dad, Mike Rotundo?

Covering Halloween Havoc '93 through Superbrawl IV, I found Steve Austin to be very inconsistent in his performances. He is someone who clearly knew his fundamentals and had a great grasp on psychology. I don't think he really knew who "Stunning" Steve was and that inhibited from putting on transcendent performances consistently. Some nights he looked like a cant miss main event others an interchangeable midcarders. I do think he needed so more go-to spots to get heat because sometimes his heat segments would drag. Like most here, I do not think it is the number of spots or moves that did him in. Sometimes, he just did not project the confidence to garner the heat necessary especially in the two clunkers against Dustin when we know they were capable of an awesome match from Havoc '91. Definitely check out his matches with Pillman in singles and tags and his tremendous performance in Thundercage at SuperBrawl IV. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...n-wcw-1030.html

WCW International World Champion Rick Rude, "Stunning" Steve Austin & Ron Simmons w/Col. Robert Parker vs WCW World Champion Ric Flair, Sting & The Boss w/Ice Train - WCW Saturday Night 01/21/94 Austin is very inconsistent in this time period. He is never bad per se. He just ranges from bland midcard heel to main event heel week-to-week (reminds me of Del Rio). This is one of those main event performances as he is the glue that holds this match together. He bumps around for Sting like a million bucks. His interaction with Flair is a tantalizing taste of what we never got. His missed kneedrop set up the babyface knee work. After Simmons holds the top rope down causing The Boss to go tumbling to the floor, Austin rammed Boss' head into the railing. He was the one always racing to cut The Boss off from tagging his partners. In a match with Flair, Sting and Rude, he was the lynchpin, which is a huge amount of respect by those guys to let the match run through him. The beginning was fun with Rude doing all his atomic drop stooging bits. Even in his limited fashion, Rude was awesome here. We got the Austin show as mentioned above and then a Boss heat segment. I guess that is one way to showcase the Boss? Yes, in this time period he was on a hot streak, but I think his partners would have been better faces in peril. The heat segment was not up to snuff with the rest. The Austin bits were good, but Simmons just recently turned heel and did not have it down yet. Sting gets the hot tag and a melee ensues. Simmons who had deck his buddy Ice Train before the match get his comeuppance when Ice Train distracts him and Sting gets the pin. . Austin was tremendous and Rude was great in small doses, which lends more credence to my hide Rude in tag matches would have made a great post-prime career for him. Weirdest thing about this match was how subdued Flair was. Flair usually takes over every match he is in. It was nice to let him standback and let others carry the load. Also, weird was they had all this starpower, but the match was a backdrop for the Simmons/Ice Train feud. WCW was always great for stuff like this.

"Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col Robert Parker vs "Flyin'" Brian Pillman - WCW Saturday Night 01/15/94 How can you hate Parker? He elicits "Foghorn" and "KFC" chants! It is funny I am doing a concentrated Austin viewing session and coming away thinking Pillman is just friggin' awesome. That is not a slight on Austin, but just how badass Pillman is as a babyface when he cares. This match starts off more tentatively than their war at the Clash. They hype Pillman's upcoming match with Parker and the loser must wear a chicken suit and thus they have transferred the heat from Austin to Parker. I think that hurt Austin more than anything else. Austin goes for the trick knee early. Pillman is like if you want a knee injury I can give you one. He applies the one of the most beautiful drop toehold into a toehold that I have ever seen. I am a huge drop toehold mark and that was downright Bockwinkelian. Incidentally, Bock is set to become the commish of WCW soon in the storylines. Pillman wraps Austin's legs around the ringpost and adds some chops for good measure. However, his obsession with Parker gets the best of him as Austin is able to clothesline him and ram his shoulder into the post. Pillman sells the arm the rest of the match like a champ and really makes the match. Austin works various arm holds while Pillman is in his element striking vicious chops from underneath while selling the bad left arm. Eventually, Pillman regains control, but a leverage move by Austin sends him careening to the floor. However, Pillman rolls through a powerslam attempt to win. That booking certainly spits in the face in the current style of the winner of the blowoff match losing the match before. Austin is very good at the fundamentals. He works the arm well and sells for Pillman's chops well. However, he could have done more to get heat in this match. Pillman was just in another league. In the pre-Hogan world, the babyface side was so much more stacked that Pillman breaking past Flair, Sting, Steamboat, Dustin and AA just seems like too much. Austin had the easier path on the thinner heel side with Vader and a broken down Rude. However, Hogan'a arrival renders all this speculation moot.

I have never watched the full show (I hardly ever do), but because all the upper-midcarders are in one match it does make for some strange undercard matches. You get the absolutely badass Regal/Anderson and the prototype match for the Spring Stampede match between the Nasties & Cactus/Payne. Payne almost wrecks Knobbs' shoulder on a belly-tobelly if I remember correctly. Still, you get Jimmy Garvin in 1994, The Equalizer, a random DDP/Taylor match and friggin Thunder & Lightning, just so WCW. I have never watched the Flair/Vader match, which has a rep as a debacle so I will have to watch that one before the podcast. "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col Robert Parker vs "Flyin'" Brian Pillman - WCW Saturday Night 01/15/94 How can you hate Parker? He elicits "Foghorn" and "KFC" chants! It is funny I am doing a concentrated Austin viewing session and coming away thinking Pillman is just friggin' awesome. That is not a slight on Austin, but just how badass Pillman is as a babyface when he cares. This match starts off more tentatively than their war at the Clash. They hype Pillman's upcoming match with Parker and the loser must wear a chicken suit and thus they have transferred the heat from Austin to Parker. I think that hurt Austin more than anything else. Austin goes for the trick knee early. Pillman is like if you want a knee injury I can give you one. He applies the one of the most beautiful drop toehold into a toehold that I have ever seen. I am a huge drop toehold mark and that was downright Bockwinkelian. Incidentally, Bock is set to become the commish of WCW soon in the storylines. Pillman wraps Austin's legs around the ringpost and adds some chops for good measure. However, his obsession with Parker gets the best of him as Austin is able to clothesline him and ram his shoulder into the post. Pillman sells the arm the rest of the match like a champ and really makes the match. Austin works various arm holds while Pillman is in his element striking vicious chops from underneath while selling the bad left arm. Eventually, Pillman regains control, but a leverage move by Austin sends him careening to the floor. However, Pillman rolls through a powerslam attempt to win. That booking certainly spits in the face in the current style of the winner of the blowoff match losing the match before. Austin is very good at the fundamentals. He works the arm well and sells for Pillman's chops well. However, he could have done more to get heat in this match. Pillman was just in another league. In the pre-Hogan world, the babyface side was so much more stacked that Pillman breaking past Flair, Sting, Steamboat, Dustin and AA just seems like too much. Austin had the easier path on the thinner heel side with Vader and a broken down Rude. However, Hogan'a arrival renders all this speculation moot. ---------------------------------------------------------- WCW International World Champion Rick Rude, "Stunning" Steve Austin & Ron Simmons w/Col. Robert Parker vs WCW World Champion Ric Flair, Sting & The Boss w/Ice Train - WCW Saturday Night 01/21/94 Austin is very inconsistent in this time period. He is never bad per se. He just ranges from bland midcard heel to main event heel week-to-week (reminds me of Del Rio). This is one of those main event performances as he is the glue that holds this match together. He bumps around for Sting like a million bucks. His interaction with Flair is a tantalizing taste of what we never got. His missed kneedrop set up the babyface knee work. After Simmons holds the top rope down causing The Boss to go tumbling to the floor, Austin rammed Boss' head into the railing. He was the one always racing to cut The Boss off from tagging his partners. In a match with Flair, Sting and Rude, he was the lynchpin, which is a huge amount of respect by those guys to let the match run through him. The beginning was fun with Rude doing all his atomic drop stooging bits. Even in his limited fashion, Rude was awesome here. We got the Austin show as mentioned above and then a Boss heat segment. I guess that is one way to showcase the Boss? Yes, in this time period he was on a hot streak, but I think his partners would have been better faces in peril. The heat segment was not up to snuff with the rest. The Austin bits were good, but Simmons just recently turned heel and did not have it down yet. Sting gets the hot tag and a melee ensues. Simmons who had deck his buddy Ice Train before the match get his comeuppance when Ice Train distracts him and Sting gets the pin. . Austin was tremendous and Rude was great in small doses, which lends more credence to my hide Rude in tag matches would have made a great post-prime career for him. Weirdest thing about this match was how subdued Flair was. Flair usually takes over every match he is in. It was nice to let him standback and let others carry the load. Also, weird was they had all this starpower, but the match was a backdrop for the Simmons/Ice Train feud. WCW was always great for stuff like this.

This. If anything it's one of the most overrated "moment" in wrestling history. It was a cute "WTF" moment for smart marks only, led to absolutely nothing in term of matches, angles or payoff, and didn't draw WCW any money. What it did though, was mesmerize Vince Russo who even mentionned it in one of his "Vic Venom" columns in the Raw Magazine sometime in 97. And from there comes his fascination for shoot-angles. So yeah, in some twisted way it was important as it "inspired" the worst booker ever to do a hundred shoot-angles in WCW which all accomplished nothing in the end just like the original one did. Bingo! That's exactly what I meant. It was inconsequential from a kayfabe point of view because they never followed up on it and there was no payoff. However it did inspire Russo and TNA. It was a hugely important moment in turning the industry into it was today. I am not going to say that if it never happened we would be in idyllic bliss because somebody else was going to do. Pillman was the guy to fire salvo, which has led to monster CM Punk worked shoot of 2011 that went over huge at first before it lost its sizzle post-Summerslam. Everything in moderation and the worked shoot should be treated as a powerful weapon only used every once in a while. Russo and TNA lessened its impact with their constant use. Pillman would go overboard, but up until that time, he was still working a very effective heel style and was a great wrestling character.

It was one of the first crippling blows against kayfabe. This predates MSG Curtain Call. The Curtain Call was at a house show. This was live on TV. Pillman was sarcastically stating he respected the booker and in turn the office. I am not going to say a worked shoot had never been done before, but this was the first of the Monday Night Wars where a wrestler openly complained about his push and broke down kayfabe in a Big Two promotion. I have always thought of it as a seminal moment in wrestling history.

WCW International World Champion Rick Rude, WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs Sting, Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes - Superbrawl IV Thundercage I take everything back about what I say Austin was not a big bumping heel. He takes the first bump into the cage and then takes the bump of the match by straddling the cage. The thundercage is a rickety, bush league Hell In A Cell with steel bars as opposed to mesh. Austin was the badass of the match because he also hit the offensive move of the match when he hotshotted Pillman into the cage busting Pillman wide open. Then after almost shredding his knee he bumps all over the place for the babyfaces. Pillman gets his blowoff victory to a huge pop after Sting press slams him onto Austin. Well so much for my theory in the previous match about protecting Austin from having to job to Pillman. The crowd was hot for this match with "Paula" chants to start and they did not let up in heat. What a friggin' bitchin' match. No one is going to mistake this for a high end Wargames, but this is still a really high-end six-man tag with tons of effort for all. On the babyface side, everything was so well-executed. Sting is a such a great shine babyface, Pillman as the plucky face in peril and Dustin as the energetic hot tag. The one big misstep I thought was having Sting be the one to get the hot tag and bust Orndorff open. You see once Dustin gets tag in how much better he could have done that sequence. Plus, Dustin/Orndorff were dance partners in this match. Orndorff looked great in this match targeting Sting's arm, hitting an absolutely wicked belly to back suplex on Pillman and blading off some cage shots. Again, I think Rude in a tag team was a perfect place for him at this time. He knows how to get heat better than almost anybody else. He still had highspots like his top tope knee drop. I also dug the Dustin bulldog crotch on the top rope. I was happy that Pillman ended up being the final hot tag in the match as he just unloaded on Austin before he got the win. It was an action-packed match, where every character played their role to perfection and the execution was off the charts. If I didn't know anybody better, all the booking and in-ring work point to Austin and Pillman being pushed heavily, but both had pretty lackluster '94 after this. Well, Austin had the Steamboat feud, but still he did not have a hot angle. Those who are low on the match because it was played too much like a six-man. I would say that cage was used in the pivotal transition spots twice. Into the heat segment, it was Austin hotshot on Pillman and to the final hot tag, it was Austin taking wicked straddle bump from the apron. The cage was used effectively. I don't think it is as good as the high-end Wargames matches. I would still give this **** and say one of the better American six-man tags of all time. It is too bad WCW did not build on Pillman's win and the fact that Austin was finally breaking out.

WCW International World Champion Rick Rude, WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs Sting, Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes - Superbrawl IV Thundercage I take everything back about what I say Austin was not a big bumping heel. He takes the first bump into the cage and then takes the bump of the match by straddling the cage. The thundercage is a rickety, bush league Hell In A Cell with steel bars as opposed to mesh. Austin was the badass of the match because he also hit the offensive move of the match when he hotshotted Pillman into the cage busting Pillman wide open. Then after almost shredding his knee he bumps all over the place for the babyfaces. Pillman gets his blowoff victory to a huge pop after Sting press slams him onto Austin. Well so much for my theory in the previous match about protecting Austin from having to job to Pillman. The crowd was hot for this match with "Paula" chants to start and they did not let up in heat. What a friggin' bitchin' match. No one is going to mistake this for a high end Wargames, but this is still a really high-end six-man tag with tons of effort for all. On the babyface side, everything was so well-executed. Sting is a such a great shine babyface, Pillman as the plucky face in peril and Dustin as the energetic hot tag. The one big misstep I thought was having Sting be the one to get the hot tag and bust Orndorff open. You see once Dustin gets tag in how much better he could have done that sequence. Plus, Dustin/Orndorff were dance partners in this match. Orndorff looked great in this match targeting Sting's arm, hitting an absolutely wicked belly to back suplex on Pillman and blading off some cage shots. Again, I think Rude in a tag team was a perfect place for him at this time. He knows how to get heat better than almost anybody else. He still had highspots like his top tope knee drop. I also dug the Dustin bulldog crotch on the top rope. I was happy that Pillman ended up being the final hot tag in the match as he just unloaded on Austin before he got the win. It was an action-packed match, where every character played their role to perfection and the execution was off the charts. If I didn't know anybody better, all the booking and in-ring work point to Austin and Pillman being pushed heavily, but both had pretty lackluster '94 after this. Well, Austin had the Steamboat feud, but still he did not have a hot angle. Those who are low on the match because it was played too much like a six-man. I would say that cage was used in the pivotal transition spots twice. Into the heat segment, it was Austin hotshot on Pillman and to the final hot tag, it was Austin taking wicked straddle bump from the apron. The cage was used effectively. I don't think it is as good as the high-end Wargames matches. I would still give this **** and say one of the better American six-man tags of all time. It is too bad WCW did not build on Pillman's win and the fact that Austin was finally breaking out.

WCW International World Champion Rick Rude & WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes If only all matches were this fun. It is not going to change your life, but still it is a very entertaining ten minutes. I didn't like how they were portraying it as a Pillman/Parker feud because it makes Austin seem second to Parker. However, I think they were also doing it so Pillman could look strong against Parker, but they protect Austin, who seemed on the fast track to number two heel status. Austin & Rude make such a great team. I loved all the showboating. Austin ratcheted up the heat on his chops. Plus, he came up with a great comedy heel spot: the sloppy skin the cat. How has nobody made that a part of their arsenal! O yeah, because all heels nowadays take themselves way too friggin seriously. Pillman and Rhodes were just excellent babyfaces bringing tons of energy to this match. I liked the heat segment even though it was a bearhug and chinlocks because they broke it up nicely either a Rude taunt or Dustin struggling. Unfortunately, there is no finish to the match. Pillman brings in Parker the hard way. It is rubber pants time for Parker. The heels bail and they just go off the air. I guess that's a countout? So WCW. These four meshed so well together. Depending how much pain Rude was in, he easily could have extended his career by just stooging in a heel tag team for a couple years because this was the best I have ever seen him post-1992. Pillman & Dustin are just perfect babyfaces. Energy, energy, energy. They brought it. Austin looked at his best save for the earlier Pillman bout. I loved the sloppy skin the cat. He was in peak form with his taunting and stooging. It is too bad it had no finish because it was so fun.

"And she was better than everyone thought." Fuckin hilarious.

False advertising is illegal. I make sure to deal the Sleeze whenever possible. I complied the Pillman matches into a new blog. His work in the early 90s clearly blows his Loose Canon work outta the water in the ring. However, in terms of heeling it up in the ring, I thought he was really fuckin' good. Meltzer said on the Austin Show he was obsessed with being a main event heel. You could see in his performances how hard he worked at being a heel. I loved his use of the slap in all his matches. It made for such a pop when the babyface got his receipt. The Badd match stands out as his last classic where he really facilitated the importation of the Japanese style to American wrestling audiences. With the right time and opponent, I think he had another masterpiece as the Loose Canon in him, but was never afforded the opportunity before the wreck. I was really impressed with the work even if there were not that many must-see matches. At the same time, it is hard to watch the act knowing behind the scenes he was literally descending into madness. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...an-pillman.html

The final piece... Brian Pillman vs Kevin Sullivan - Superbrawl VI Respect Strap Match "I respect you, bookerman" with those words Pillman immortalized the Loose Canon character and forever cemented his cult status in pro wrestling. I love his matches as a plucky babyface in the early 90s, but for better or worse Pillman is famous for the Loose Canon gimmick. Pillman sprinted to the ring and got in some pretty violent shots with the strap. Sullivan hit an absolute wicked right. At this point, Pillman grabbed the mic to utter his iconic words. Fellow Horsemen, Arn Anderson came out to give the fans their money's worth and to uphold Horsemen honor. It was actually a helluva street fight strap match. It could have been one of the all-time best strap matches if they got 10-15 minutes. It was gritty, violent with eye-gouges, low blows and violent strap shots. However, Ric Flair for the first time play Cap'n Buzzkill calling off the match. He unites Horsemen and the Dungeon of Doom in an Unholy Alliance to End Hulkamania. I love how Flair always calls Sullivan "Devil". Anderson always good for a badass line ends the segment with "In order to get Savage and Hogan, I would get into bed with the Devil himself". One of the biggest moments in pro wrestling history as kayfabe continued to be destroyed and Anderson/Sullivan put on helluva fight until it was stopped.