Superstar Sleeze

When I wrote that post, I was like this is just a big bat signal for Parv and jdw to descend onto this thread. Try not to get this thread locked guys. :D :P Just messing around! But seriously, I do have Martel reviews I still need to post.

Dylan, I think we were trying to do a more apples to apples comparison with the Model vs Mr. Perfect. Perfect has the Hart matches and Santana matches. The Model has the Santana matches, but without seeing more I don't know if he has another series to sort of match Perfect two for two. The Model does seem to be the more consistent of the two in the ring, but both were breaking down quite in a bit due to steroid and health issues. Wrestlemania III Top Faces - Hogan, Piper, Steamboat, Jake The Snake, JYD Top Heels - Andre, Savage, Adonis, Honky Tonk, Harley Wrestlemania IV Top Faces - Hogan, Savage, Jake The Snake, Warrior, Steamboat Top Heels - Andre, DiBiase, Rude, Honky Tonk Wrestlemania V Top Faces - Hogan, Warrior, Jake The Snake, Beefcake, Top Heels - Savage, Rude, Andre, DiBiase, Perfect Wrestlemania VI Top Faces - Hogan, Warrior, Jake The Snake, Piper, Beefcake/Bossman? Top Heels - Rude, DiBiase, Earthquake, Perfect, Savage/Bad News/Martel? Wrestlemania VII Top Faces - Hogan, Warrior, Jake The Snake, Bossman Top Heels - Slaughter, Savage, Martel, Perfect, DiBiase/Taker? I don't want to get bogged down in the difference between a No. 3 heel and No. 4 heel, but I wanted to show was Steamboat's movement (top act to on the precipice of falling into the midcard mire) and where Martel could have fit in 1988 and going forward. Bear in mind, Martel took off the last half of 1988 after Demolition "injured" him so I don't know if that was a real injury or just vacation. In a perfect world, Martel would have taken Beefcake's spot, which I think we all agree could have led to great stuff with DiBiase and Perfect down the line. Now, would have politics let this happen, I am guessing not. There was no way you were going to leapfrog Hogan & Warrior and hell when you break it down like this, you cant really leapfrog Jake The Snake as he is really underappreciated as the top mid-card babyface act of the late Hogan era. Then on top of that Hogan loved using Beefcake to wrestle his winter feud (see DiBiase and Perfect) to establish Beefcake in single mid-card. I think Martel would have been stuck pretty low on the totem pole. Looking at Summerslam 1989, the Martel/Santana feels like the third biggest angle on their behind Hogan/Savage, Warrior/Rude, which have been why Martel going heel was the best long-term move for Martel. As he did wrestle Beefcake throughout late 89/90, which is actually a decent mid-card run, before slotting into a number 3 role with Jake The Snake and then steroids bust happened. Stylistically, Rick Martel as a number 3 babyface in the vein of a more traditional babyface would have kicked ass, but I don't think he could have gotten ahead of Snake & Beefcake rendering to the point where he may have actually slipped into a jobber role. So they either could have pressed on with Strike Force, but booking gets in the way of this too as Demolition, Hart Foundation and the Rockers were babyfaces! Santana as a heel sounds awful. So it seems reasonable that Vince realizing Andre was declining and that the heel roster was in way more flux than the babyface roster that turning heel was the best use of Martel. Santana strikes me of a Steamboat. If Steamboat stayed, I could have seen him used in a tag team doing well and then getting shunted down the roster to put people over.

My bad, it sounds like I misconstrued some points. I do remember some talk about you guys giving some love to the Tito matches. I am pissed now that I found there was a Summerslam 1990 match scheduled between the two and Martel was injured or something. Though pisses me off more that he spends late 89 and early '90 paired with fuckin Beefcake. Also, I didn't mention this, but Martel actually had a series of matches with Ronnie Garvin and I know at least one made tape, but it is not online. I would love to see that match even though I think it is sub-10 minutes. Martel with Slick is so much better than Martel on his own. Martel getting funky with Slick before his matches just made it. Martel's babyface work in the AWA was way better, I think my more central point and I think we agree is that the decline was not as steep as with Hennig (which may have been more injury related?). Now, if I actually watch the Beefcake then maybe we can find out if he could still carry a shitty worker. Soup, brutha, watch the Islanders matches, brutha, but do so in order. Start with the Islanders heel turn on the Can-Am on Superstars. Islanders "run" Zenk out of the promotion. Then there is back-to-back MSGs with Martel against Tama (incredibly good) and Haku, before Tito gets involved and then they have two kickass tag team matches back-to-back on MSG. It is an amazing between three amazing workers and a pretty good Haku (fuckin' Haku is the low-man in WWF tag that it is a pretty good foursome).

Portland, Lucha, Memphis and Joshi are the last of the frontiers and I will probably tackle them in that order. However, I do want to keep further investigating things I am familiar with to really scour that first. Sort of a reinforce your strengths, before tackling the weaknesses mentality. I will say Portland sounds really fucking good. On a recent WTBBP podcast, they conjectured that Martel's work dropped off in similar fashion to Hennig's in WWF. From what I have seen that has not been in the case. The Islanders/Strike Force feud was really incredible. The matches against the Hart Foundation were the best matches of the Hart Foundation of the heel run. Admittedly, the Demolition stuff was underwhelming. Martel was just as fired up as always with greats hands and knew how to build sympathy for himself. They really put over his Boston Crab when submissions were not exactly high priority in the WWF. Unfortunately, a lot of his 89-91 work is not up on online. He seems to have been injured in Summer of 1990, which actually cancelled an announced Tito Santana match for Summerslam, which I am sure who have been their classic blowoff. He also seemed to be forced to take off the entirety of 1991 seemingly due to steroid issues. Martel was actually one of the hottest heels in terms of booking and protection up until that point. I don't see how you could have fit him in any title picture unless it was a feud with Hogan in late '91 or taking Piper's place at Wrestlemania VIII, but going into Wrestlemania VII he was effectively the number 3 heel and if you look at Summerslam '91, they needed as many heels as they could get. Unfortunately, the time he was wrestling, he was feuding with Brutus Beefcake, which from my viewing stand point you are effectively not wrestling at all. When I have some more time, I may cycle back and watch that, but not now. I don't think Martel took a big step down at all as a heel. Yes as a WWF heel, your moveset suddenly shrinks and you really love to choke, but Martel had two things going for him: that little dance was modified just a bit to be a huge heat magnet and he was super focused as a heel working on the back to set up the Boston Crab. I was surprised how every single heel Martel match I have watched features that as the main thread of his offense. I remember seeing the Martel/Hart match from 3/90 MSG and thinking it was incredibly boring, but I loved their Primetime match from 1989. The Santana SNME matches are not-so-hidden gems and his match with Marty is a pretty good mid-card match. I will post the match reviews later today.

The match is not without logic. The logic is just Demolition are the mightiest of warriors; indomitable in the ring. I think the big disconnect was I didn't see that much goading and/or cheating. Maybe that is the hyper-compressed style working against it. I recently watched the Hart Foundation vs Rockers match where I thought the work of the match hits a crescendo really well because they took time to build up both sides of the work. Instead here they are so focused on DEMOLITION ARE TAG TEAM GODS! that they neglect the BrainBusters so it feels like an extended squash. It reminds me of 2011 CM Punk shoot-a-mania when he would not let anyone get in a word edge-wise and he pretty much came off as an insufferable baby to me. Demolition never let the Busters sustain offense so it always felt like a "blowout". When Demolition does this as heels, it is cool because it gives the babyfaces a lot to overcome and it is cool. As babyfaces, you don't have change your style to that of RnRs or anything. just meet me half-way displaying some vulnerability like they did in September. Demolition just works better as a heel team in my eyes. That being said, they got saddled with the Powers of Pain & Twin Towers so I was willing to give them a pass. I know that people here liked the Towers stuff, but Akeem was really annoying so I chocked it up to that. If you are going to have good matches, it has to be with the Busters, but still was not feeling the matches because of how one-sided they were. Are you guys right that Demolition is one of the better tag teams of honing in an internal logic? Without a doubt. But a match is not made by structure alone, there needs to be good work. Too often, Demolition comes off as putting in the bare minimum effort to perform these matches. There is like zero energy in most Demolition matches. I think the biggest thing in wrestling for me is a sense of urgency, but even more broadly is a lot of energy. Energy can take a lot of forms in brawls, matwork and championship matches, but Demolition is such a cold team from my viewing. I have been glad I have watched them because they are an interesting tag team just one that I think is missing that big piece that separates a behind the scenes genius from an in-ring genius. EDIT: This was in response to only Redman's post though it was pretty generalized. I will read Matt's post throughout the day.

Babyface Demolition has been pretty wretched. They just gobble up their opponents and it turns most of their matches in extended squashes. It was ok when they were heels because they made the babyfaces work for it, but the babyfaces would eventually get one over on the Demos by using double teams. Also, the whole overwhleming power was a great obstacle for babyfaces to overcome. Now they are babyfaces, we just get the heel in peril stuff, but done even worse with the Demolition just dominating their opponents. Of course when it is time for the heat segment, it is not like Ax or Smash exactly scream "sympathetic" and neither is very good eliciting that reaction. Did Eadie or Darsow ever work babyface at any other point in their career. I know the gimmick was just to go out there have them mow down the heels, but I have not really enjoyed it. I hate to sound so negative about this because I love the positive culture that this board fostered towards all wrestling, but I got to call a spade because when I am not enjoying Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, something has got to be up. Demolition treated the BrainBusters like two jabronis that were lucky to unseat them. I am not screaming from the mountaintop for heels to look good. Heels are supposed to be inferior to babyfaces (unless they are monsters) thats why the cheat and play dirty, but the Busters were just the Demos rag dolls. I look up and see all the praise for the Busters matches and I am just not seeing it. I totally welcome a conversation on this. -------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs The BrainBusters w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - SNME 5/89 This story of this match is that Busters are totally outgunned by the awesome might of Demolition unless they cheat. Arn & Tully do a good job putting over that they do not want to be double teamed by Demolition, but in their caution they often pay the hard way. The first moment of cheating sees Tully bury a need in Smash's back, but he pops back up from vertical suplex. Ruh roh, Busters! They do some regroup with The Brain, but to no avail as Ax still catches Tully off the top and plants him in the corner (a favorite spot of the series). After some more clubbering, Double A is able to get a chop block during a Smash double choke. Tully hotshots Smash and Arn follows up with a spinebuster but gets flinged off with authority (another favorite spot of the series). Smash and Arn punch each other at the same time. To prevent the hot tag, Tully pulls Ax off the apron and AA clocks Ax. Melee ensues leading to Demolition getting DQ'd because Ax loses his temper and throws a ref. This is a pretty effective angle. The Busters come across as effective nuisances and they establish Demolition as almighty, indomitable badasses. You can understand that Busters getting a rematch because they did technically won the match and Demolition wants to get their hands on the Busters. ------------------------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs The BrainBusters w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - 2 Out of 3 Falls SNME 7/89 This is the match made the Busters look like absolute chumps as they were barely on offense in their own title victory. This felt like an extended squash with a swerve finish with the jobbers winning. The first fall is Demolition destroying the Busters at every turn. Any time, the Busters even think they have one over on Demolition they get stymied immediately by Demolition. McMahon does a job putting over the reason that the Busters cant sustain any offense with Demolition because they are trading blows with Demolition. Tully dropkicks Arn onto Smash, hey wait isn't that a babyface spot. But they can not capitalize on that because Ax grabs Tully's hair yanking him down allowing Smash to hotshot Arn to pick up the first fall. So clearly, Busters need to regroup and devise a new strategy because Demolition is too much for them. Second fall is pretty piss poor. Demolition capitalize on their advantage, but Double A thumb him in the throat. The Busters actually work over Ax's throat for a bit with Heenan getting a slap in. But God forbid, Demolition look weak, before you know it, Ax gets the hot tag. Smash mows down the Busters. Demolition is out of control and won't stop double teaming. They climax with Demolition Decapitation, but the ref calls the bell for excessive double teaming. Andre is out. That's fucking rich. Demolition lost the fall because they are too damn awesome. I have felt that Demolition has been a pretty selfish team, but that is some serious ego-stroking. Well since Demolition did not actually take any punishment in that fall, they are again pressing their advantage tossing Tully over the top rope. Tully whips Ax into Arn's head and everyone is woozy. They reinforce this with Arn doing his head collision spot with Ax in the corner. They both tag out. Tully bitches out to Smash. All Hail the Mighty Demolition! Gimme a break. Tully takes his wicked bump over the top turnbuckle. Ax hits Tully from behind allowing Smash to hit Arn. The Brain detains the ref and Andre slides in a chair and Tully wallops Smash to pick up the victory. No heat segment and no sustained offense from the Busters the whole match. The only heat segment lasted about a minute in the second fall. This was an extended squash that was awful. If you want to claim there was any internal logic, the only logic to claim is that Demolition are the omnipotent, almighty tag team and they can only lose to their own awesomeness or from a chair. That was one of the worst matches, I have ever seen. -------------------------------------------------------------------- King Duggan & Demolition vs Andre The Giant & Twin Towers - Summerslam '89 Duggan is sporting Old Glory face paint, which is pretty cool. This is just a popcorn match set up by Andre aiding in the Demolition title loss and Demolition having been programmed with Towers in the post-WM V timeframe. Akeem is not that annoying. Demolition clubber and work over the Towers arm. Ax gets trapped in the wrong corner allowing Andre to come in and use his weight to debilitate Ax. Akeem ruins for it for his team by running into the corner, dumbass. Smash slams both Towers, which gets a huge pop. Andre chops Smash sending him reeling. Melee ensues. Duggan hits Akeem with his 2X4 in the chaos giving the Smash the victory. This was a lot of inoffensive fluff, but it was strange that they protected the heels like that. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs BrainBusters vs Demolition - MSG 9/89 It is disappointing that Busters only worked Demolition, the Rockers and Bushwhackers in meaningful programs. I would have liked to see them with some more varied opponents. This is definitely the best match out of the bunch. On the Demolition sliding scale, it is one of their best matches. This one has a wild start with the Demolition out for blood as they do not take off their hoods before clearing the ring. Just to make it clear, I think this was a very proper response to them losing their titles to underhanded tactics. I just wish they would show some more vulnerability later on the match. I like the spot a lot where Tully is layed out on the top ropes and gets clubbered. We get some chinlocking with some switching without tagging. Demolition living on the edge! I will say this is the most energetic clubbering I have ever seen out of Demolition if it was always like this, I would like them a lot more. Smash sets too early and Arn gives him an elbow for good measure. Tully follows up with and elbow and Arn with a spinebuster. Sustained offense by the BrainBusters, Whaaaaaaaaaat? Smash hits an atomic drop on Arn sending him into Smash's boot. Ax back in and he is chinlock-happy. Tully elbows Ax in the back while he is chinlocking setting the table for the heat segment. They do some standard double team cheating. Ax catches Tully coming off the apron and sends him into the post. Ax and Arn collide heads in the middle of the ring. Tully grabs Smash off the apron preventing the hot tag. Arn goes to the middle rope, but they kinda blow the spot and Arn just wipes himself as Ax is not really in position to punch him the gut. Smash runs amok hitting everything with a pulse save for the referee, he is the cooler head of Demolition. Demolition execute a double hot shot, but the Busters pull out the ref like in the Rockers match. This is a much better structured match because Demolition was willing to display some vulnerability. I am not asking for the Demos to be the Rock n Rolls, but they got to meet me halfway. They were just swallowing the Busters alive. This is perfectly fine because Demolition look like the superior team, but the Busters looked like they did some damage to the Demos. Demolition should be presented as the superior team that wrongfully got the belts stolen, but the extent they were going in dominating the Busters makes for unentertaining wrestling. ---------------------------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs BrainBusters vs Demolition - Superstars 11/89 The Busters have learned and try to double team early, but are overwhelmed. Tully gets laid out on the top turnbuckle and clubbered. Arn takes a reverse atomic drop into Ax' boot. Tully clips the knee on a Smash suplex attempt and giving the Busters a chance to choke and double team. Ax breaks up Arn's spinebuster, weird that move is protected now. Smash reverses a Tully suplex. Ax demolishes the competition and they finish with Demolition Decapitation. This was a perfect match to end this series. Everything was building to have Demolition run through the Busters. The whole series is that Demolition is in a whole another league than the Busters. They just mow through them and pick the title back up. I am a sucker for babyfaces crushing the heels in 5 minutes to take the titles after a chase. It is a fun ending.

I forgot I had seen Sasaki vs Kobashi from 2005, but I saw that in 2006-ish and dont remember thinking much of it. Yeah, it is definitely a style that leaves a lot to be desired, but I think it can be rationalized in certain contexts especially in interpromotional wars when pride is more at stake than a championship or veteran vs young lion match. I just think Sasaki looks like an absolute badass when a lot of the Japanese guys don't give off that vibe from just looking at them. I am a person that is big into aesthetics and presentation. Sasaki has a great look. Im looking forward to some of the Takayama matches that are on the ballot to see how they match up.

If you have been reading my reviews, you know I have become a huge fan of Islanders and think that Tama was one of the big misses in pro wrestling history. I think Islanders/Strike Force feud from 1987 was one of the best 80s WWF feuds because it felt more like a territorial feud in how it was presented and built rather than a program. It is shame that Tama was let go in 1988 as there should have been big things of the horizon for him as a single or tag team star. Here are the Islanders reviews in one place. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...ems-of-wwf.html

The Islanders vs "Ace" Bob Orton & "Magnificent" Don Muraco w/ Jimmy Hart & Mr. Fuji - 12/86 Primetime Wrestling The Islanders are one of the best teams at getting the WWF style over with crowd as they are never boring during their shine segments and never letting them drift into heel in peril. Orton starts off Tama taking a karate shop wanders over to the wrong corner and Haku gives him a shot for his trouble. Here comes Muraco, who looks huge compared to everyone else. The crowd chants "Beach Bum!" Mr. Fuji no sells it so Jimmy Hart picks up the slack. Muraco gives Tama the "Up Yours" gesture. Haku with a dropkick sending Muraco into the corner where they pinball him. Eyerake by Muraco gives him a chance to tag in Orton. They really get the most out of the hard head gimmick. Orton powders to consult Hart. Tama avoids Orton who runs into Muraco as the crowd jeers the heels. Orton is able to execute a hotshot on Tama followed up by a huge right. "The tide has definitely gone out on the Islanders" - Jesse The Body. Jesse slays me as Vince is unimpressed. Chinlock by Muraco, but hits him with a clothesline then leg drop. Orton hits a nice dropkick and innovative knee to the body. Randomly Bruno just starts to talk after Haku saves Tama on a pinfall. Orton rammed into buckle and Tama gets a headbutt to the lower abdomen. No hot tag as Haku just comes in and they hit a double chop on Orton. Haku dropkicks Orton over the top rope and brings in Muraco the hard way and wraps up with the double noggin knocker. He makes the cardinal mistake of setting too early on back body drop and Orton catches with the boot. Muraco in with double knees to the head. Haku battles back, but lacks the charisma of Tama and it falls flat. Orton nonchalantly enters the ring allowing a red-hot Tama to come in. Tama cross bodies Orton over the top onto the floor. Melee ensues and the finsh is a double countout. Plenty of action as the Islanders started off red hot. Orton regrouped was able to hotshot Tama and they took over with some great heel offense. The Islanders never sat in holds and really kept everything moving not letting it get bogged down into heel in peril. By the same token, the heels were good in this. I have always like Bob Orton and think every time I see him he has great offense and stooges well for babyfaces. Muraco is wicked hit and miss, but he plays his role great here and tag setting is somewhere he can excel without giving way to laziness tendencies. Haku still felt really green and had not yet learned how to interact with the crowd. It is incredible how good Tama is both as fired-up babyface and stooging heel.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Ultimate Warrior vs Tully Blanchard w/Bobby Heenan 11/89 It was disappointing that the Buster pretty much only exclusively worked tags against the Rockers, Bushwhackers and Demolition. I would have liked the odd singles match from Tully or Arn. I liked this match a bit more than though WOYAH~! is a guilty pleasure of mine. I find his antics and his general in-ring presence wildly entertaining. Tully starts off trying to lock up with the Warrior who just keeps shoving this peon off. Cut to The Brain immediately saying you set the pace. So Tully takes a moment, regains his confidence and he extends his hand. Warrior grabs his hand so hard he sells it. I love it! He jumped onto the apron if Warrior was smart he would have brought him over the ropes and let him drop. Tully thumb to the eye. Warrior no-sells. Tully takes his shoulder first bump over turnbuckle and then he goes flyin back over the the top rope when Warrior side steps him. Tully is basically working this match himself and he is great. Tully and The Brain try to hightail. Warrior in an impressive feat of strength carries Tully in a military press back and tosses him through the second rope. Warrior with a double axe handle off the top, but Stinger Splashes the turnbuckle when Tully moves out of the way. Tully with a bootscrape and choking. Warrior eats knees on a Warrior Splash and then misses an elbow. Finally, he catches Tully off the top with a powerslam. He goes for the gorilla press slam, but Arn comes out in clipping the knee. The Rockers & Neidhart send the Heenan Family packing and then Andre comes out for the staredown. Warrior always has a great presence and he actually moves around the ring pretty well. This is a wicked entertaining popcorn match. I think these guys could have had some really fun 15 minute matches. It just seemed like Demolition the Warrior was not terribly interested in selling for Tully as he was constantly getting in hope spots, but that may have just been a function of the match. Fun stuff. What happened to Tully after the drug test? I know he did some stuff in ECW and some Slamboree stuff. Is there any 90s stuff worth seeing?

I have never seen a bad Kensuke Sasaki match. It has nothing to do with my 4 match sample size. I really liked his performance in the 1990 tag team, Dome '95 against Hashimoto, and these matches with Tenryu and Kawada. The timing of his entry to wrestling reminds me of Jun Akiyama. He is a bit younger than the Three Musketeers and he is pushed in the tag ranks and bubbling on the undercard. I feel like him and Akiyama never truly reached their potential; they seemed groomed to be leaders of their respective promotions going into the 2000s. Sasaki always reminded me of Choshu with an even better mullet. I think Sasaki has a great look and really has a presence as a total badass. I was hoping more people could chime with some more excellent Sasaki matches. IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokoyo Dome Non-Title Even though All Japan was gutted by the formation of NOAH. The fact All Japan retained Toshiaki Kawada was enough to make the New Japan vs All Japan feel like a big deal at this October Tokyo Dome show. One thing that I picked up on rewatch was that crowd actually threw shit at Kawada during his entrance. It was that sort of visceral reaction that really sets the tone for this match. It is not about titles. It is about pride. The two biggest puroresu companies finally clashing. This is the match that should be about egos, machismo, bravado, and posturing. That what it delivers in spades a spectacle of two surrogates fighting the battle for Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba trying to win honor and glory not just for themselves but their promotion and in a lot ways their family. This match reflects that. It is not a championship match with respect. It is not violent hate-filled brawl. It is two men taking each other's best shot and seeing who stands last. With all the moving pieces, Mutoh to All Japan, Hashimoto's Zero-One and Sasaki & Kawada as freelancers we see a lot of these matches because this is how Dream Matches are performed in Japan. It is not Gaijin vs Native. It is not veteran Native vs young lion. It is two superstars clashing and it is a style that leaves a lot to be desired. It can come off as more of a ritual than a match sometimes. It is like a game of bloody kunckles, you are trying to outlast your opponent and win in a very specific fashion. It is not logical because rituals are not logical. It comes off like the old practice of dueling. It is how a man wins honor. The match starts off with a hotly contested lock-up. Steve Austin just got finished telling me a shitty lockup is a great way to start off a shitty match. Well if the converse is true then this match is going to rock. Sasaki lands an early cheapshot with a closed fist to Kawada's head, who does that perfect jelly leg sell. He asks the ref "Did he just do that?". I absolutely love next segment as they try to grapple each other in gritty and sloppy fashion. It feels like a real fight two warriors jockeying for position. Then they kick it into the part of the match I expected. They just start chopping and slapping the shit out of each other. Kawada stands in front and literally dares him to hit him. These were monstrous chops dangerously close to the throat. Kawada ends the ritual with a closed fist, the ultimate cheap shot in Japan. This begins the Kawada heat segment, which is actually pretty restrained. He hits Sasaki hard, but there is a level of arrogance to it that Kawada is very good at projecting. Kawada fails to put him away with a back drop driver (the only head drop of the match), enziguiri or the stretch plum. This is the best selling I have seen so far from this era as they are really putting over the toll of the moves by the space between the stretch plum and this powerbomb attempt. He gets back dropped out of his powerbomb attempt. He misses a kick and Sasaki evens the match with a wicked clothesline. Sasaki begins his babyface comeback that does not feel that energetic, but more like his own heat segment. He does that weird armdrag thing I saw him do against Tenryu. Lariat only gets two. He puts Kawada in the Scorpion Deathlock twice, but can not render a submission. What may make it feel like a heat segment is that Sasaki is really selling his exhaustion and thus is not moving as fast during his comeback as you normally would see a babyface. Sasaki breaks the second Scorpion out of sheer exhaustion. That is really tremendous. Sasaki just lying face down while the ref taps him is a great visual. They go back to the bread and butter. They just start hitting lariats on each other. Each on are on jelly legs, Kawada does this great sell where he kind of stumbles and then gets hit. It is not logical, but it is a display of honor. Sasaki crushes him with a lariat the plum of sweat off Kawada is impressive. All Japan delayed sell allows Kawada to get a big boot rendering it even once again. Double clothesline. Sasaki gains an advantage, but in his exhaustion collapses on a simple suplex attempt. Kawada takes advantage with repeated enziguiris that rock Sasaki, now Sasaki channeling Misawa swats Kawada with a lariat to the leg. As he revs up, the New Japan crowd begins to cheer and Sasaki runs straight into Kawada's enziguiri and just like that Kawada is victorious. This is an amazing war of attrition that took me three times to get. The first time, I actually thought match was abrupt. I was not paying attention to the selling at all. I was just watching the striking and thought it was weird there were no suplexes. The second time, I thought it was underwhelming because I could not piece together the transitions and once again not to the selling. Sometimes, I get stuck in this offensive mindset. Now, I see the War of Attrition. It is not abrupt at all; the match could have ended five minutes earlier. This was a war and they were selling it that way. The battle for honor not just for yourself but for your company and how they wove that through. To me, this is your ultimate "Can I take your best shot match?". There is no weakening of a body part to avoid your opponent's best shot. In fact, they welcome his best shot. It is not smart wrestling. It is really fucking stupid wrestling. But then again Pride is a really fucking stupid thing. ****1/2

It has nothing to do with wrestling. Wrestling is such a small part of the casual smart mark fan's mind (casual smart mark would be your ROHbot). John Cena is not cool. He never will be cool. That's the whole point about Bob Backlund. CM Punk he is cool. He is an irreverent asshole. Daniel Bryan looks like a nerd. He looks like a smart mark. Cena makes shitty jokes and is a goody-goody. Cena gets shit on because it is combination of his muscular look and his shitty character. Same reason Sheamus gets booed even though he is a top 5 worker in the WWE right now. Sheamus is a shit character that looks too big for workrate fans. --------------------------------------------------------- Also the WWE caved and they don't market him as a wrestler as soon as Daniel Bryan made the you are not a wrestler talking point. I wanted Cena to fucking crush him into oblivion. This started with HHH in 2006 hell maybe even with Angle. They didn't market Cena as a wrestler and they got fucked. They market HHH as a wrestler and he is some sort of King of Psychology with "smart marks". WWE Promotional Machine can work everyone including themselves.

I'm willing to set one up -- similar to the yearbook forums -- if there's interest from a lot of people. I was going to use the Microscope. It is six and one half dozen for me. Though one nice thing about the Microscope is even when I talk about matches people sometimes go interesting tangents just about the wrestler. It is not as match focused, but it is more broad to focus on the wrestlers in involved. However, I would also post in a sub-forum and it would be easier to see other people's thoughts in regards to one match. I could go either way, but if it is made, I will use it. Kawada vs Sasaki 10/00 - quick notes a bit underwhelming and actually felt abrupt. I'll have more notes later just my knee jerk reaction. I preferred Kawada/Tenryu and Tenryu/Sasaki. I have not felt like anyone has hit a home run yet. But all three matches were very entertaining.

So I was playing tennis tonight and I still have to flesh this out, but I think I had quite the revelation. I predict that in 30 years or so wrestling fans will view John Cena much in the same way we look at Bob Backlund. Both men had considerably long tenures on top of the WWF doing admirably jobs keeping business afloat. Backlund was not the draw that Bruno or Hogan was, but it is not like business was in the toilet or the WWF was close to folding. In the same way, since the Attitude Era, WWE has just been plugging along as a profitable company. It is not going to close up shop anytime, soon but Cena has kept the business going. Both men are incredibly goofy in the ring in their mannerisms, how they move and do just about anything. Bob had his goofy side headlocks, Cena has his comeback with that ridiculous looking slam. Both men are underrated in their in-ring efforts and how they are able to present unique, entertaining main events because they do not fall neatly into the workrate-oriented mindset. Finally, the biggest common thread is that both are the ultimate goody-too-shoes. Backlund was Howdy Doody made out to be some joke because how vanilla and goofy he was. Cena, for all their attempts to make him an amalgamation of Hogan, Austin & Rock, has become the modern equivalent standing up for respect, manners and what's right. Fans want him to cave into his baser instincts and just be a prick and disrespectful. Cena has too much moral fiber and will not cave to moral fiber. I want to flesh this out more, but I think you can make a really good case for John Cena as the Modern Day Equivalent of Bob Backlund.

Hawk should be strung out and unprepared more often as I thought he was the best worker in that match. The Bravo match does allow you to see Bret carry someone as opposed to DiBiase, Perfect and Valentine where he is working with equals. Ricky, thanks for explaining that to me. Thinking about it, I didn't see Hart Foundation have the titles and there was no mention of the tag titles. By not knowing that, I didn't predict the finish, which is usual in 95% of these matches. Unfortunately, I could not find any Hart Foundation vs R&B matches around this time as that was the main tag title program in late 1990, which sucks because I basically I don't get to see Valentine for the majority of 1990. We will see the Hart Foundation take on two other Jimmy Hart managed squads, Earthquake & Dino Bravo and the Nasty Boys. WWF Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs Earthquake & Dino Bravo w/Jimmy Hart MSG 3/15/91 Just weeks before, the Hart Foundation's clash with Jimmy Hart's Nasty Boys, Jimmy Hart leads Earthquake and Dino Bravo to soften up the Hart Foundation. I always liked when there was intra-stable continuity as sometimes it just seemed liked all wrestlers had in common was their manager. It is cool to see them work together. Even though, I have become quite the mark for Dino Bravo, Earthquake really impressed me in this match as this was the first Tenta match I have ever seen. I could see how that Summerslam 1990 match with Hulk Hogan could be fun and I should watch sometime down the line. The beginning starts with the usual, perfunctory heel in peril arm work on Bravo. Bravo seems awfully subdued and Hart Foundation dont use much in the way of speed to overcome him they just impose their will. Hart Foundation were working too much as a superteam at this point. Bravo is able to get a reverse atomic drop, but Quake misses an elbow. Bret whips Anvil into Quake in their corner. Melee ensues and Bret is caught by Earthquake and slammed hard into the post. This where the match picks up. I would be remiss not to mention that at some point, Lord Alfred says the term "cock-a-hoop", which has me, Gorilla and the Brain saying "What!?!?!" sounds like a pretty bitchin' term once I looked it up. Good job Al! Speaking of the Brain, he gets spit on my Bravo when he misses the Anvil, but Brain still defends him now that's commitment. Quake throws his weight around while Bravo gets a piledriver for 2; Anvil saved. Quake slams/elbow is broken at 2 by Anvil. Earthquake stares a hole into the Anvil. Quake slam again gets broken up. Bravo hits the bearhug. False hot tag leads to the heels double slamming Bret. Quake jumps around to simulate an earthquake, but Anvil bulldozes him over. The Hart Foundation execute a double slam and Anvil slams Bret into Dino for the victory. I really like the heat segment in this match as the offense was entertaining and Bret is such a good face in peril. I liked that Earthquake stood his ground and made the Harts work for it rather than how they treated Bravo as their jobber. There was actually no comeback, which was different. Bret was not afraid to change pace at his own expense. In the Demolition match Anvil looked like the world-beater and here he was again saving Bret's ass. Bret was also a fan of not always using their finish to end matches, which gave his matches a sense of unpredictably. Nothing to go out of your way to see, but further proof that Hart Foundation had improved since their heel days. Still Bret is much better singles wrestler. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF Tag Champs Hart Foundation vs Nasty Boys w/Jimmy Hart - Wrestlemania VII I love the Nasty Boys gimmick as lunkhead, cartoon goons. They remind me of the goons in the Power Rangers in a good way. Wrestling needs more teams like the Nasty Boys. For all intents and purposes the Hart Foundation were done after this and this was pretty fitting way for them to go out in a pretty mediocre match. So much of the Hart Foundation run has either been overrated or just generic. Bret was such a better singles wrestler maybe because he tried harder or had better competition or just knew how to structure his matches better in that environment. The Hart Foundation was a real disappointment. The Nasty Boys are actually pretty good in this match in terms of bumping, but holy shit was their heat segment the shits. The match starts with Bret firing off moves on the Nasties with Knobs bumping a lot better than I remember he could. Knobs goads the Anvil in and Anvil shoulderblocks everyone to a big pop. I know Neidhart had drug problems, but if they gave the New Foundation a bit of a better name and a better push they could have been pretty good. Bret does the 10-count punches in the corner, which I have never seen him do. Did the Nasties actually contribute a spot? Bret hits his Russian Leg Sweep into the second rope elbow gets a 2. Knobs cracks Bret in the back of the neck and Sags capitalizes with a backbreaker. Then in a heat segment that felt interminable the Nasties put Bret into a succession of reverse chinlocks. Knobs accidentally hits Saggs with the megaphone. Anvil is a house afire one last time. Sags is able to save Knobs on a powerslam. Jimmy Hart's hopes for tag team gold remain alive. Bret chases Sags and Sags collides with Knobs in a funny spot. They hit the Hart Attack on Knobs , but ref is busy detaining Bret and they hit Anvil with Jimmy's motorcycle helmet for the win. Jimmy Hart's celebration is one for the ages. The Nasty Boys were perfect transitional champions for the Legion of Doom, which were heirs presumptive to being the babyface ace tag team fucking the Rockers over in the process. The match was pretty much by the numbers and having watched the Halloween Havoc '90 match with Nasties and Steiners you see how much the WWF style can handcuff you. The Hart Foundation had a solid, but uninspiring six year run and if Bret never made it big they would be mentioned like the Bulldogs a good little team.

Could you expound on that? I thought it was a pretty good carry job by Bret and his best to date, but Bret does seem to be a bit better when he does not have to carry his opponent as he was visibly frustrated with Bravo. WWF Tag Champs Demolition (Smash & Crush) vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam 1990 2 Out of 3 Falls This ain't Eadie's Demolition as they are treated like any other heel tag team. There is none of that sense of struggle that Demolition usually imposes on its opponents. Instead of the Hart Foundation are having their way with the "Mighty" Demolition even Bret is able to manhandle both members of Demolition at once. It begins with some basic arm work on Smash, which Bret always make look good even when it is perfunctory. Crush catches Bret on a cross body attempt and Bret takes a blind boot to the head when running the ropes and I felt the heat segment coming, but instead he tags out to Anvil. Bret back in and a melee ensues with Bret coming out the better. Anvil gets wiped out on the outside, but Bret is in command with a Russian Legsweep, backbreaker, second rop elbow, but Crush breaks it up. They hit Demolition Decapitation to win the first fall. This first fall even though Demolition picked up victory made them feel like generic also-rans. Hart Foundation was definitely piloting the match and looking good. Second fall does its job, but it is a bare minimum effort. Weak, weak heat segment on Bret. Bret clotheslines and struggles to tag in Anvil. Anvil running powerslam gets two and then Bret slingshots Anvil into Smash in the corner. Hart Attack, but Crush leaps on the ref to prevent the pinfall only to get DQ. Stupid finish to a lame fall. Ax hurries out in the intermission to hide under the ring. Third fall was a little better as up until this point it had been a Hart Foundation squash. Crush wipes out Bret before the fall and Bret sells on the outside, but this does not last for long as Bret immediately is back on offense. Anvil shoulderblocks Smash and slams Bret on top for two. Smash and Ax switch. Finally the match picks up as Ax pulverizes Bret with his double ace handles. He gets a two off the Bret Bump and Crush executes a nice tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Crush detains Anvil while they repeatedly double team Bret on the outside and they finally get some heat on this match. Road Warriors come out to a massive pop to break up Demolition Decapitation. Anvil does his slingshot shoulderblock on Crush while Bret tabletops him for the three and their second World Tag Team Championship. This was a really lackluster affair that felt like more of a squash match for the Hart Foundation than a dramatic title bout. If they wrestled the match like the third fall and really made use of the three man advantage this could have been something a bit more. Instead, it seemed clear that Bret was set to be a big star and Demolition was on job duty for the LOD so the match really reflected their momentum on the pecking order at this time. Summerslam '88 is definitely the match to watch between the two biggest WWF Tag Teams of this era. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF World Tag Team Champs Hart Foundation vs Legion of Doom - 3/12/91 I'm surprised this match even exists as these are the two biggest babyface tag teams in the WWF at the time. It was inevitable LOD were going to win the tag titles soon just as it was inevitable that Bret was going to rocket up the singles ladder. Thus you have one team on its ascent and the other headed to its disintegration because of that they didn't need to keep the Hart Foundation as strong and Bret was always willing to heel it up in these situations. Bret is such a great heel in face vs face matches. It is a really unique talent that he possesses. This match is the Hart Foundation's guile versus the unadulterated power of the Road Warriors and it was much better than I expected. The LOD really had their working boots on and Hart Foundation seemed game for this match. The match begins with Animal and Anvil proving that they are even in power game with no man gaining an advantage. This is the typical start to face versus face matches to establish equality between the participants. Animal does manage to bowl the Anvil over with a shoulder block, but both Animal and Anvil tag out. Bret and Hawk is also even stevens as Bret escapes a military press and Hawk escapes Bret rollup attempt. When Bret gets dumped to outside he is more frustrated than hurt. Bret hits a swinging neckbreaker, but gets thrown off during a pinfall attempt. Bret pissed tags out to Anvil. Bret buries a blind knee to Hawk's back and then stomps him in the gut on the outside. That is some really nice progression from the Hitman. If you can beat 'em, cheat 'em. Hawk does really well in this face in peril. He does not immediately sell like he is dead. Instead the life slowly drains from Hawk's disposition. In the beginning, Hwk is still trying to bury shoulders into the Hitman in the corner, but by the end of the segment he is on jelly legs, which is some really smart wrestling from Hawk. Whenever, Hawk gets testy they always apply a front facelock to keep him from Animal to contain the explosiveness of Hawk. Bret comes over and punches Animal. This is some of the best heel work from the Hart Foundation I have seen. HART ATTACK! Animal saves. Bret slingshotted into corner. Hawk Moves! Bret Bump! Hawk clotheslines Anvil and HOT TAG TO ANIMAL! Animal fills his victims full of dread with shoulderblocks. They set up for Doomsday Device but thwarted by Anvil. Bret hits a backbreaker on Animal and slingshots Anvil onto him. They go for a Rocket Launcher attempt and Animal catches and pins Bret!?!?!??!?!? It is not so weird they would job out the champs given that they not only lose the titles soon and also disband, but it seems weird they would let the LOD pin them clean. It was not announced as non-title so I was really taken a back by the finish. They all shake hands after the match. I liked that match a whole lot and thought everybody played their roles perfectly. That may have been the Hart Foundation's best heel tag team performance and it was when they were ostensibly babyfaces. The LOD looked great here and it is one of the better matches I had seen them in as Hawk really delivered an inspired performance as the FIP. -----------------------------------------

Kane/Bray Wyatt sucked pretty hard and is the worst match I have watched this year. Cody/Damien packed a lot of shit in there. It was about as heated as they could get a undercard match like this. Christian/ADR got overshadowed by what followed them. Christian kept this match together with his selling and the way he built his offense. ADR is pretty spotty and tends to usually just throw stuff out at the end of his matches. They needed to breathe more between the spots. Punk/Lesnar - HOLY SHIT! I have been so happy with Brock's return. He is incredible in all his matches even if HHH did not always hold up his end. Unlike so many wrestlers, Brock knows exactly who he is and never strays. I know if they used him more it would lose its luster, but selfishly I wish we had more Lesnar. I think he could be one of the greatest wrestlers of this era if he wrestled more regularly. Not as good as Brock/Cena (but not much is), but definitely my WWE MOTY. Mixed Tag - Fun spotfest that I liked quite a bit. Cena/Bryan - Great match that built well. I would have a longer Bryan heat segment so that his comeback would have been super hot. The action was great and I thought Cena was really great in this. What a fuckin' clothesline. I need to watch it again as I was a bit burned out. The finish was fuckin awesome. After he thanked his Mom and Dad, I felt so bad just knowing what would happen. I predicted the Orton victory and my brother predicted the HHH pedigree. I thought the crowd acted more confused than pissed. I was expecting an nWo type reaction pelting the ring with shit. Damn, I wish WCW crowds were back! Definitely, put me in the camp where this is for the best. I am pretty excited for the upcoming TV as the Orton/Bryan TV matches were really good from earlier this year.

EDIT: Just noticed the double-post.

Genichiro Tenryu vs Toshiaki Kawada - Vacant All Japan Triple Crown 10/28/00 This is probably the closest classic father vs son match we will ever get to see (sorry, David Flair). A lot of time has passed since Tenryu left in 1990 leaving Kawada leaderless in his war against Jumbo Tsuruta. Yet both men are in their classic yellow and black outfits ready to wage over the vacant Triple Crown. Kawada reminds me very much of myself in my teen years when I would play my father in tennis. I never just wanted to win. I had to win the "right" way by out-muscling him with raw power. Kawada just keeps coming at Tenryu with strike after strike looking to bludgeon his father-figure into submission. My father much like Tenryu was a lot wiser and was going to take his time let me make mistakes and find ways to win. Tenryu and my dad both hit hard back. Kawada and I both learned the hard way that tunnel vision is the enemy of success. This starts off a lot more tentative than Tenryu and Sasaki as there is a great amount of respect between these two veterans. Eventually fires off the first salvo, a series of three wicked kicks to Tenryu back. Tenryu shakes it off and unphased just looks at Kawada as if to say, "Is that all you got, little man?". In that moment, I finally got Tenryu. Ditch says above "radiates contempt", I really saw it in that moment and everything about Tenryu really clicked for me. Tenryu retaliates with a kick to back and Kawada immediately gets up and starts kicking the back of his leg in an awesome spot. Then begins the macho posturing that just works in this match. Each man takes the other's best shot. Kawada fells Tenryu with a high kick so now from the ground Tenryu kicks the back of Kawada's leg so he responds with a knee drop. Tenryu rolls outside bested by his protege. Tenryu begins firing off a closed fist and Kawada does that excellent almost fall on his ass sell. Tenryu is looking for alternate avenues already, but Kawada just keeps coming with his kicks. So then Tenryu gets a hold of that leg and just wrenches it in a dragon leg screw. Tenryu is working smart progressing from a strike battle to the ground game where he does a great job working over Kawada's legs with a variety of holds like the Figure-4 and Sharpshooter. They then do an even better struggle over the vertical suplex than in Sasaki match. This is where the match goes off the tracks for me a bit. You have Tenryu using the fist to control and work over the legs as a neat story and natural progress from the macho posturing early. But here Kawada blows off all the leg work and just fires off kicks with both legs. The King of Leg Selling pulling that shit was weird. I felt it hurt the progression of the match. I don't mind that Kawada goes back to all the strikes because that makes sense. Kawada has tunnel vision. He never content with just winning he has to win a certain way. In this match, it is clear he is going to win by bludgeoning Tenryu with strikes. He does that and Tenryu absorbs them and hits a lariat and immediately goes for a pin. Tenryu does not give a fuck how he wins. He just wants to win. Tenryu now with his standard offense: enziguri and falling elbow, but not enough. After being with that damn closed fist for 18 minutes, Kawada gives him a Fuck You! Closed Fist. They really built that up well as Tenryu sold that incredible. Finally, Kawada looks for a win with a Stretch Plum. In 2000, nobody thought the Stretch Plum would finish a match, but you feel that Kawada offense is progressing towards a victory rather than annihilating his opponent. Kawada attempts his powerbomb hitting a wicked Kappo Kick in between two attempts. Tenryu back body drops him and hits a lariat and goes right for the pin. Again, Tenryu is looking for a victory. Tenryu attempts his powerbomb and hits a Kappo Kick of his own to set his up, father like son! Tenryu powerbomb only gets 2. Now we hit the home stretch, Kawada rattles off two back drop drivers in quick succession. Tenryu attempts to get up but stumbles out of the ring wiping out the camera man. As he gets back on the apron, Kawada kicks him fucking flush in the face and bloodies his nose. That looked wicked. Kawada on the outside whips him in the railing and kicks him over the railing. Back inside, Kawada is not pressing his advantage instead futzes around with more strikes. He cracks off his own enziguri, but Tenryu hits a clothesline immediately. The All Japan delayed selling is a bit annoying. Tenryu on the next exchange catches with a right to the back of the head that knocks Kawada out cold. He hits a Northern Lights Bomb for his first Triple Crown since 1989. **** I thought Kawada's performance offensively was very genius. He told a coherent story he was going to win in a very precise manner and he never backed down from that. I really didn't like that he blew off the leg selling. Tenryu was excellent in this as the father who still has gas in the tank, who can absorb a ton of punishment and still dish it out. I would have liked his leg heat segment go even longer and then having the Fuck You! Closed Fist transition back into Kawada's offense. I feel like they did the strike exchanges a little too often. Kawada smashing Tenryu's face in really added a lot to this match putting over his strategy and Tenryu's ability to absorb his best shot. I think the booking was smart as it gave All Japan two top dogs instead of one when they would have been ultra-thin. I liked the Sasaki match a lot for its progression and I would say these two were about even. I am probably in the minority for thinking that, but I think there is a lot these two could have done to improve the match. I hate to sound so negative because this match is ridiculously good and a MOTYC for 2000. When you are ranking the best matches of the entire decade, I believe an extra fine analysis warranted. I would say without a doubt if you want to understand why Tenryu is a GOATC then watch these two matches.

For everyone who has ever thought to themselves, damn the High Flyers are friggin awesome; I wonder if Brunzell stuff with the Killer Bees is that good. I hate to crush dreams, but it is not. At least I saved you some time! Brunzell is content just to be the hot tag and work somewhere around 25% of the match. Blair is just generic as they come. Overall, the Killer Bees come off as very mediocre contributing very little to the matches they are in. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...compendium.html

With all the focus on New Japan in the puro scene, I had totally lost track of All Japan and NOAH. I was looking up the Triple Crown title history and I saw Suwama was champion again. Yawn. So then I went to see who the GHC Champion is and it was FUCKIN KENTA!?!?!?!?!??! Has this helped increase business at all? I always thought the All Japan and NOAH merger was inevitable since Misawa's death, but each year it never happens.

Marty Jannetty in a FRIGGIN OVERKILL SHIRT IN 1991!?!?!??!?! I know C*bain had officially killed Metal yet as Skid Row still had a Number One album in 1992, but heavy metal was on its last commercial legs. Then add that Overkill is a non-Big 4 Thrash band and Marty had a Glam Metal gimmick, it just made me mark out like crazy. I wonder if Shawn was more excited to wrestle DiBiase in his hometown or wrestle Flair on TV. This was excessively lopsided in Shawn's favor and I have no idea why that is? It is not like Shawn had a ton of offense to get in at this time. I will say this some of the best I have ever seen Shawn's strikes look. This was definitely a low-rent Flair/Pillman match with all the strike exchanges in the corner, which looked good on the WWF sliding scale, but don't compare to the JCP/NWA/WCW stuff. Flair's offense is really basic Flair and he works in his three major bumps: Flair Flip, Flair Flop and press slam off the top. That was the strangest Flair Flop as he literally just flopped for no apparent reason. Shawn wipes himself out on a plancha after clotheslining Flair out and Jannetty in the Overkill T-Shirt pushes him back in. Flair puts his feet on the ropes for the easy win. I like how he just puts his feet on the ropes just as that extra dig. Marty Jannetty Came To Shred! Flair & Michaels came just have the most basic Flair match you'll see as Michaels did not have much to add to this, but Flair still let him have the most of the match. Both inside and outside of the ring, you cannot deny that Flair is very generous.

I liked this match also better the second time around as opposed to the first. I remember the match being really disjointed and pretty much having no flow. This time I enjoyed it as a popcorn match and one of Perfect's better focused heat segments. Did no one notice the hot blonde going absolutely nuts for anything Shawn Michaels did? I was beginning to think she was a plant until an usher actually had to sit her down halfway through the match. You can actually hear her scream towards the beginning of the match something at Mr. Perfect. I just love nutty wrestling fans like that. Shawn hits a European Uppercut early and Mr. Perfect contorts and convulses as the Battle of Bumping begins. They do a little boxing exchange that comes off fine with Shawn hitting a diving right to win that. Shawn then rockets over the top rope over Mr. Perfect onto a crew member. Damn, son. Perfect drops him throat first across the railing, which begins the heat segment. Perfect does standard trademark WWF moves (standing dropkick, neck snap, knee lift) but with a bit more energy and punch to them. He also does a crazy bump off a Shawn kick when he telegraphs a back body drop. Michaels not to be outdone spins like a madman off a kneelift. Perfect slaps Jannetty and Jannety punches Perfect. Perfect knees Jannetty in the back to ringpost, while Marty was chasing Heenan. Michaels posts Perfect and his expression is hilarious. It is Perfect bump-o-rama as Shawn gets a series of nearfalls. Heenan distracts so Perfect gets the Perfectplex, but Bossman just comes in and hits Perfect with the nightstick. What the fuck? This was a really fun popcorn match that really just featured a bunch of crazy sells and bumps off routine moves. Mr. Perfect is still the King of Bump, but Shawn was no slouch. Shawn seemed more confident in this match and you can tell he was getting better. The finish sucked as stated. Bossman did not have a motivation to really attack Mr. Perfect other than they were feuding so why not before then at that point it was academic anyways. The bigger question was did Shawn nail that hot blonde?

I liked this match a lot better the second go-around. My first watch was about a year ago when I thought it was boring. This time, I could really see the frustration Shawn displayed at the outset when seemed like the singles wrestler was going to smoke the "tag specialist" then Michaels gets his dropkick and puts together a series of moves. You can see him grow with confidence with each side headlock takedown. DiBiase gets his foot up in the corner and actually has a pretty focused heat segment on the back. He does linger in the chinlock quite a bit, but he does seem to moving pretty well. Shawn gets a roll-up in a hope spot so he tosses Shawn out. Virgil runs distraction while he drops Shawn throat first across the railing. Shawn does a great job selling throughout the heat segment. Shawn back body drops out of the piledriver, which surely would have been it. DiBiase regain control only to miss the Tenryu elbow and takes a great back roll bump out of it. Shawn is on the comeback trail with a reverse atomic drop. I agree with the comments that Shawn didnt have much offense at this point and it felt pretty generic. He was never the offense of the Rockers team and Im sure someone would argue his offense never really got that good. Still, his babyface offense was fine and he hit a nice cross-body from the top to get a two. Virgil trips him up and Jannetty gives chase only to be leveled by DiBiase. They kill time until everyone comes in for the schmozz. The Rockers send everyone home happy with the double team moves to clear the ring and they announce it is a double disqualification. I am sure Shawn was over the moon to get to wrestle singles against the Million Dollar Man in his hometown. He did a pretty decent job for his major singles outing in the WWF. I don't think it was as good as Bret's match with Ted the year before, but Bret was a much more seasoned singles wrestler. Shawn has proven to me to be the better tag wrestler. It was a good TV match that gave a little more credibility to The Rockers and gave DiBiase something fun to do.

I don't know if I am on board the Tenryu as a GOAT, but I would sure love to watch more to figure it out. I love Soup's discussion of being one of those guys who dabbles in a little bit of everything. I think that hurts him from being an obvious GOAT candidate and is someone just needs more investigation. I am starting the Japan 2000's poll with this review. Japan it has been far too long! 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.