Superstar Sleeze

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Vader - WCW Bash at the Beach 1995 Steel Cage Vader cuts all-time great bully, dumb jock promo. He says brutha about 64 times, chump about 8 and says he is from Compton and that Hogan is a fake ass beach poseur. It was fucking epic. The Roadkill Roadtour where Vader murders Jobbers at your local house show was a great concept. Hogan Donald's him saying the Compton thing is fake-news, fuck you Hogan and he has Rod The Bod with him. Hogan and Rodman have some weird chemistry as you would expect. Rodman is a better promo than I expected. The SuperBrawl match is the crown jewel of the Trilogy, but this whole feud killed Vader shit is pretty overblown. Hogan and Vader had great chemistry and the Clash that follows this, babyface Vader is wicked over. The match is better than Uncensored, but not by a huge amount, what helps is that it has a proper finish, but the finish is the worst part of the match. Typical Hogan street fight tactics here using the shirt and doo-rag to choke Vader and throw him into the Cage. The Huntington Beach crowd is pretty into Hogan. Hogan does a ten-count punches the crowd counts along, then he goes up another rung and stomps to 9 and the double axehandle off the top was supposed to be ten. Hogan keeps pounding Vader, but Vader very wisely never bumps. He is a rockin' and a reelin' but he wont fall down, which is smart. They start fighting over who will send the other into the cage. Vader mounts his comeback. Nice big heavy blows by Vader. There were some really good Stand & Bang exchanges between these two. Hogan runs Vader into his Big Van Vader Helmet and Vader bumps off that! Nice! Hogan puts it in on and very gingerly headbutts him with it. Vader gets the big Splash in the corner that looks great. VADERBOMB~! 1-2-NO! Five minutes into the match, crazy! There is a great spot where Hogan is trying to quell Vader by hooking in a front chancery but Vader organically transformed into a vertical suplex without taking a bump. Someone crib that highspot baby! Hogan fires up but his bodyslam attempt fails epically. Vader does some sort of weird top rope Senton. I was expecting him to miss the forwards splash. He seemed hesitant about the Senton and looked like he wiped out. Reading some comments apparently he was supposed to do a SHOOTING STAR PRESS?!? and belly flop, but I guess he got freaks out went Senton. It looked ugly and gnarly. Hogan second slam attempt but Hogan collapses under the sheer mass of the Mastodon Vader. I will say there was some good trash talk on both side here. Vader was hitting some good stiff shots and honestly Hogan was giving as good as he got. Hogan tries his darndest to whip the crowd into a frenzy for the Big Slam. It is weird because watching other matches on the show, the crowd was clearly into the wrestling and even earlier they were with him, but when they needed the crowd the most for the finish it petered out. I would say I was thinking *** 3/4 before the finish. I was pretty impressed with the hard-hitting action. There was a clear narrative of Hogan trying to slam Vader, Vader missing big high-risk moves. The action was hard-hitting and heated. The finish just had no oomph. Hogan FINALLY Slams Vader, but he hurts his back. I get it they didnt want to go right to the finish because they wanted to do the Hulk-Up. I think as you will see later, they should have replaced the big boot with the Bodyslam. Lets get back to reality and then I will explain my solution. Hogan's back is injured. Vader recovers stiff short-arm clothesline, middle rope Vader splash gets two. Thats the Vader nearfall. I think a chokeslam or a Powerbomb there would have elevated the heat. Hulk-Up~! They really milk the Hulk-Up Vader tries a couple punches, three cage shots to Hogan before Hogan finally lets loose. Ugly Big Boot. Vader does NOT bump. Even worse Big Boot to the gut this time gets Vader down. A weirdly timed Dungeon of Doom run-in (Sullivan & Zodiac (Beefcake)) Rod The Bod beats them back with a chair. Legdrop NO POP! So Hogan is like fuck it. Everything is mistimed. He hits the reset. Plays to the crowd. Now he hits the real Legdrop, better pop. He looks to go out over the top, but Vader meets him (Vader popped up after Hogan's finish, where's all the bitching about that, wrestling fans get worked up over the strangest things). Hogan beats him back with chops. Vader takes one last gnarly from the top of the cage, twisting on the top rope to the canvas. Hogan wins and parties with Jimmy Hart and Dennis Rodman. He's government-inspected (no more government to do that) and he's US-grade, Tony signs off, BUT WAIT... Ric Flair is in the ring accosting Vader for losing to Hogan saying he was banking on him to get his retribution vicariously through Vader. He puts his hands on Vader, bad idea, Naitch. The Enforcer comes in and Vader shoves him off too. Flair takes an INSANE BUMP off the cage in his haste to escape Vader. Like what the fuck? He could have seriously hurt himself. Vader says he wants both of them and this Vader's babyface turn baby and he will get both of them at next Clash. Lets unpack this and we will go back to the match. GENIUS! Fucking Genius! I am so sick and fucking tired of feuds just getting started because someone just attacks someone else. It is so fucking lame. THIS is how pro wrestling booking should be done. You establish a matrix of relationships that you can leverage to start feuds. Flair had been retired by Hogan and began championing Vader's cause to vanquish Hogan and win the title. They had alliance at Slamboree and Flair was continue to trumpet Vader. Flair being the egomaniac that he is cannot stand the failure. He wanted this so bad. He snapped. So he berated and belittled a very strong and very proud man. Vader in turn gave a little something to think and spooked him. Now we got a freshly minted babyface Vader based on the natural progression of the story. It is NOT hard, people. This is how pro wrestling should be. Now you can pick nits that should this been shoehorned at the end of the PPV and Vader should have been selling getting beat up by Hogan. All valid points, but the nucleus of the story is perfect. I would have done it on the next episode of Saturday Night, but I can also see the value of having a chaotic ending to the PPV. It foreshadows the booking of Nitro really well. This felt like the end of an early Nitro. Back to the match, the finish just felt anti-climatic. I think if they just had an editor re-arrange some things they could have made this worthwhile. I think you do the Dungeon of Doom run-in first. They feel like Vader cant get the job done. Rod the Bod beats them off but Hogan is distracted so here comes the Big Vader nearfall first either a Chokeslam or a Powerbomb. Hulk-Up. No Big Boot. This is where you put the Bodyslam. Drop the Leg. I'd do the 1-2-3 honestly or just have him go out over the cage. The whole thing with Bodyslam hurting him leading to Vader nearfall was weird. The Big Boot was terrible. The Dungeon run-in distracted the crowd and they missed the first Legdrop. It was a shockingly mis-paced Hogan finish run, but I think if they rearranged in the above way it would have hit better. I still thought this was very good, but not as good as SuperBrawl or Hogan/Yoko KOTR 93. *** 1/2

Randy Savage vs Ric Flair - WCW Bash At The Beach 1995 Lumberjack Match Another hidden gem hiding in plain sight...no, no, no. This does NOT touch their ultra-heated classic from Great American Bash 1995 which I consider to be the best match the two ever had and a Top 100 Match of All Time. However, it is still Savage vs Flair so this is very good, borderline great. I am not fond of lumberjack (it is lifeguards in this case because they are on a beach) match as I tend to think they hinder the performance rather than augment my enjoyment. I am very much a fan of this Huntington Beach venue. It just feels different and cool. I'd love to see venues like this, Sturgis and the Spring Break Nitros make a comeback. Similar to the Great American Bash match a month prior, this is very scrappy. It is fought at close quarters. It is tight punches and stiffs chops/clotheslines. However, the Lumberjacks stifle chaos/mayhem of the GAB match. Savage's performance is not as incensed or possessed as the GAB match either. Savage starts off hot and overwhelms Flair early. Flair comes out of the corner with the Atomic Drop. The fire-fights between the two are great. There are flashes of 80s Flair throughout this match. Each takes a turn dumping the other out to establish the stipulation as is customary. There are some gnarly bumps by both Flair and Savage to floor about halfway through the match. Flair goes for the sleeper twice. In a cool spot, I am not sure if Flair was getting antsy waiting for Savage to press slam or it was planned: Flair falls off the top rope and lands chin first on the crown of Savage's head and it looked like Savage had jostled the ropes. Killer spot. That looked raw and organic. Savage repays him with a sleeper of his own. Kneecrusher by Flair!!! Flair works the leg including a somersault off the middle rope to wrench the leg. Dont say Flair doesnt add wrinkles. The Figure-4 at about 10 minute mark has great heat. I would be remiss not to mention that Flair was wicked over in the beginning, which either dispels the notion that these fans were casuals OR that Flair was very over with the casual Hogan, WWF castoff crowd. Flair was going up against the beloved Macho Man not the polarizing Hogan. Once in the Figure-4, the fans did rally around Macho Man. Nice delayed vertical by Flair, shades of the 80s. Savage begins his very scrappy comeback. Flair powders the lifeguards bring him back in. Double Axehandle, which I think is the first highspot from Savage. Savage is amazing because he is the anti-workrate's fan dream but he gets workrate fans to love him too. He has so little in terms of high spots. The reason he works is because he is so fucking real in that ring and everything is a fight. Flair gets dumped again. As the ref is attending to that, best friend & Enforcer, Arn Anderson nails Savage with a DDT faster than you can say "quicker than a hiccup". 1-2-NO! I totally bit on the finish. I figured that would fuel that Flair/AA break-up. Anderson does all the hard work, but gets none of the glory. Savage counters Flair and revs back up. Savage was looking Big Elbow but Flair feeds Double Axehandle. Bodyslam. Big Elbow 1-2-3! It was almost too neat of a finish. I loved the AA DDT as Flair's big nearfall and am fine with Savage winning the Blowoff with the Big Elbow, but would liked something more violent or aggressive to finish such a personal, hate-filled feud. This match had a lot of spots that didnt go as planned. Young wrestlers should watch how the cover them. They make everything feel raw and organic. Watch that Flair fall from the top rope, jaw-first to Savage's head or the finish how he feeds the Double Axehandle. My read on it was Flair didnt feel ready to take the Big Elbow that his body momentum didnt take to a natural laying down position. He fed a different high spot. Macho Man used the bodyslam to lay him flat for the big finish. Nowadays people go against their natural body momentum to ham-fist that next spot. Imagine if Flair was writhing and all of sudden stopped and flipped to his back perfectly flat. It would have looked like the shits. Yet so many of today's wrestlers do that. These two are masters of the art of organic, raw pro wrestling. *** 3/4

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Kamala - WCW Main Event 8/6/95 These two have some of that freaky deaky chemistry. Nowhere near as good as their 87 classics but this is 5 minutes of good craic. This is the start of the Second Gen Dungeon of Doom. It takes a repackaged Sullivan, Beefcake and Earthquake from 94 version with the name of Dungeon of Doom and adds Kamala eventually The Giant and Meng. This is a rare Hogan singles match and is a defense of WCW Title. This is on the Main Event before the Clash, most of the hype is around Hogan entering the Dungeon during the Clash telecast (this is not the famous vignette). Only five minutes of action but it is brisk and fun. Hogan is wearing the war paint. He charges into battle but is caught off at the pass. Lots of really good looking chops by Kamala. Bodyslam. Hulk-Up. Hogan is in full street fight mode throwing all the heel offense back at the heel. Great punches and nasty offense. Kamala starts firing up with thrusts to the throat. Sullivan interferes with a staff to the throat. Kamala splash that’s the Kamala near fall. Hulk Up home stretch. Drop the Leg but Sullivan is on top. Press Slam. Here comes the Dungeon. Sting & Savage save. Stock Hogan promo about going to War and the Dungeon to set up Wargames. It was fun, sue me. ***

Vader vs Ric Flair & Arn Anderson - WCW Clash of the Champions August 1995 One of the biggest What Ifs thats never really explored is what if Vader does not get into the fight with Mr. Wonderful and Vader's "babyface" run was allowed to play out. Part of the reason, I dont think it is discussed is because it feels so natural. The Nitro 6 of Hogan, Savage, Sting, Flair, Luger and Luger is just a perfect 6-pack that adding Vader just makes it feel off-kilter. If Vader doesnt go to WWF, with the loss of Nash & Hall and Bret's sabbatical the WWF would feel so thin. It just feels right. I think that's why it is not explored. Just to start on the interesting ramifications on the WWF as well. Vader was naturally positioned as their #1 heel in the Summer. No Vader, means it is most likely that rush back Sid, I would think, who was back by July. There is the outside shot of a stronger Goldust push as well. As for WCW, Vader's "turn" seems off, you already have Hogan, Savage and Sting. He will be battling it out with Sting for the #3 spot, you have Giant and Flair as your heels. It is unclear if they knew Luger was coming in or not at this point. The reason I started to put "babyface" and "turn" in quotes is because the post-match promo. Thats when the light bulb went off. He was in the Luger role. Or to be more accurate, Luger got slotted into Vader's role. This was a tweener where the babyfaces are questioning is he Dungeon 4 Life or is Hulkamania Ride or Die. I think you can basically assume everything Luger does until about Halloween Havoc maybe even later is what Vader wouldve been slotted to do. This of course means we were potentially robbed of Vader vs Savage at Halloween Havoc, which is a massive bummer. Then question becomes what the hell is Luger supposed to do if Vader stays. He probably would have been more involved with Sting & Flair instead of Hogan & Dungeon. My final thought on this is that Vader was 100% ready to be a babyface. The Daytona crowd was pop pop popping for him. They were ready to watch Vader whup some heel ass. My only concern is how many heels were there for him to whip. Obviously, doing the inverse of Starrcade 1993 would be fun. Vader/Giant would be interesting as a big man showdown but after that. Who is left? I guess maybe Luger?!? Anyways, a fun thought experiment. The WCW Heels of 1995 EXPLODE~! After being aligned as Triangle of Terror, Hogan put Vader to bed at Bash at the Beach 1995 and WCW looked to turn Vader babyface. Prior to this match, Hulk Hogan visited the Dungeon of Doom, which seemed to be located in Florida and based on what we know about Florida today that checks out. This is not the very famous "It's Not Hot" vignette, I had not seen this one before. Hogan Cosmo Kramer's his way into Dungeon interrupting Sullivan and Iaukea's nonsense only for Giant to show up and tear off Hogan's cross...because you know he is Andre's son. Giant and the Dungeon (Kamala, Shark & Zodiac) beat him down until Vader saves. Vader & Giant staredown is pretty cool. After this match, Hogan parades out with Savage & Sting to declare war on Dungeon of Doom, but he wants to know where Vader stands. Vader wants to kick some Dungeon ass, but nobody tells him what time it is. LOL Which I think is a very comical way of saying he is an independent man, who dont need know Hulk Hogan telling him what to do. Finger snaps in a Z Formation. Onto this match, was I ever going to get there? This match is mostly a backdrop to the Flair/AA feud to set up the Fall Brawl which ultimately sets up the reformation of the Horsemen at Halloween Havoc and the turn on Sting. The story is that Flair is going to let AA take the lead and he is going to pick the Enforcer's scraps. Arn with some nice heavy blows to the gut. Vader throws those swinging bearpaws in typical Vader fashion. Vader is kicking ass, but Arn does get the Spinebuster. Just as promised The Enforcer has gotten the Big Man down and it is time for Flair to finish the job, but Flair is too cocky and plays with his food. Then in the ultimate rite of 80s/90s babyface passage Vader gets to Press Slam Ric Flair, which pops me huge. Flair Flip stiff Vader clothesline. The inverse of Starrcade would have been a lot of fun. Arn continues to save Flair with chop blocks, DDT and multiple saves. Flair does get the Figure-4, but is press slammed off the top. Massive Top Rope Splash from Vader! Vader trucks Flair with a Clothesline and a powerbomb polishes off Anderson. There is quarreling between Flair & Anderson that looks ready to explode. Overall, it is more of a character piece, the primary objective is to set up Flair & Double A for Fall Brawl, but also this was Vader's coming out party as a babyface. It was effective on both levels. *** 1/4

WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Vader vs The Patriot - WCW Saturday Night 3/4/95 According to Cagematch, this Vader's only defense of the US Title after winning it from Duggan, but there is nary a mention of it on commentary nor did I see the belt with him. There's a Vader/AA vs Patriot/Bagwell match around this time that has gotten some hype, which I liked a good deal. So said why the hell not to this? At first, I thought it was just mistake, but then he said it again, why does Tony pronounce it "Pay-tree-OTT"? So strange. There is a good Vader/Hogan brawl last week that is shown. Having watched a shit ton of WWF '95 from around this time, Hogan vs Vader feels way bigger than Shawn vs Diesel. Unfortunately unlike the great. aforementioned tag, this is an extended squash. Vader pummeled Patriot and Patriot got very little offense. It was a ton of fun to watch Vader do as his kickass offense: the punches in the corner, the Vader Body Attack, Bitchin' Chokeslam, Stiff fucking lariats. Vaderbomb and a normal Powerbomb. It was an excellent squash. One thing I do want to mention is watch how Patriot roars out of the corner with big overhand lefts and Vader blocks tags him back, but Patriot keeps firing away! THAT IS HOW YOU TRADE PUNCHES!!! What the fuck has happened in the last 15 years? No one can do Stand & Bang well anymore! Watch this! Replicate this! Way more heat! Hogan comes out for no apparent reason and starts whipping & choking Vader with a strap. Jimmy Hart chases Flair off, lol. The Nasties & Duggan pull Hogan off. It was pretty standard stuff. Hogan vs Vader clearly sells itself. Honestly adding Flair to the mix was the only addition really necessary that made it feel bigger. Nothing anyone needs to see, but Vader kicking the shit out of someone is always fun.

WCW US Heavyweight Sting vs Meng - WCW Bash at the Beach 1995 You gotta give Bischoff credit running unique venues like this is cool. I wish like Sturgis or the Spring Break Nitros this was an annual venue. I love see the waves and the sand in the background. The crowd was really into Sting moreso than the last three PPVs. Meng is still with the Colonel and has not entered the Dungeon. They are pushing him pretty hard with the video package and on commentary. A notch below the first match but still good. The beginning is interesting they wrestle like the mat is made of concrete and they take no bumps which I like. You should earn the bumps. Meng corners Sting on two occasions to start his martial arts work. Sting’s first comeback is a thing of beauty and the crowd is eating it up. Meng misses a diving headbutt. Scorpion Deathlock! Sting and the crowd are vibing. Parker distracts Sting. Here’s out Heat Segment proper. Pretty gnarly vertical suplex that inadvertently turned into a brainbuster. Meng is relying on more holds like the Bow & Arrow and the Abdominal Stretch. They trade Sunset Flips. Sting blocks. And hits the GNARLIEST BACK SPLASH! It was basically a coffin drop. It looked sick. Again Meng gets up first and puts him in a weird Boston Crab Scorpion Deathlock hybrid that has me and Tony confused. Unclear if Sting makes it to the ropes or Meng just releases. It is comeback time! Sting is just hurling his body at Meng. One of the best Thesz Presses I have ever seen. One of the worst hurricanaranas I have ever seen BUT fuck I had no idea Sting ever attempted one. Sting goes for the Stinger Splash in the corner and gets WIPED THE FUCK OUT BY MENG’S FOOT! I mean if Meng was going over that should’ve been the finish. It was killer. Meng splash for two. Finish is lame as Sting tabletops Meng for the roll up and win. So I was a bit shocked by the flukey win. Meng teams up with Nakanishi against Sting & Hawk next month. Hawk saves Sting from the post-match beatdown. I would’ve thought they would have done something more definitive here as they don’t run another match again. Meng is kept strong at the beginning of the Nitro Era but once he is fed to Hogan in January. He is a tag team guy. I think they knew they wanted to use Meng at the start of Nitro so they wanted to keep him strong. The body of the match was a touch more tepid than GAB. Sting busted out three great body hurling high spots in this one. Enjoyable match. *** 1/4

Sting vs Meng - WCW Great American Bash 1995 Vacant US Title Match STING DID A COFFIN DROP ON MENG!!! THERE WAS A PROPHECY AND IT WAS FULFILLED! I think something wrestling fans get hung up on that US Title and IC Title should be on the Next Big Thing. I dont disagree that is a valuable use of the titles. I think more importantly they should be on people that are over and near the top of the card. I think it is more valuable they are whoever is #2 or #3 on the depth chart of the babyface or heel side. I actually think this is a great use of US Title. Sting for better or for worse has been shut out the main event scene by the a pretty powerful foursome of Hogan, Vader, Flair and Savage. So giving him the US Title keeps the title on top and gives Sting something to do in third from the top match. For once an announcer is not using hyperbole when they declare this is so-so's biggest match of their career because it is actually true for Meng. For all the mystique and cult like following around Meng, he was never given many shots near the top of the card. He was a little short to be a Hogan opponent in the 80s, but credit to WCW they got him over a killer from this point on. I remember you could pretty much re-heat Meng any point and get a reaction out of the WCW faithful. I am surprised he didnt get a Hogan title shot around this time. Meng is not yet Dungeon of Doom 4 Life, but it is in the last vestiges of the Studd Stable with Col. Robert Parker. I believe Buck & Slater are still around the tag title scene against Harlem Heat. The match is worked as a mini-Sting vs Vader match. Now Meng is not as good as Vader so it is not as a good as those matches. However, Sting thrives in this formula. Thus this match is significantly better than Sting/Bubba, where Bubba plays a much more vulnerable, stooge Southern-style heel. Here Meng is playing the role of a Martial Arts, Mystical Badass that is hard to get off his feet. That plays to Sting's strength because Sting is very good at the desperation comeback. Pretty much no shine. Meng works the Martials Arts gimmick, thrusts, barefoot, chops, and kicks. Meng applies a long choke on Sting to show he is a Wildman! Sting throws a couple of dropkicks to create space and give the crowd some hope. Parker calms Meng down. Sting goes flying over the top rope and gets into it with Parker and the distraction gives the Meng opening he needs to consolidate control. I like Sting hurling his body as a weapon there. There is plenty of Tongan Nerve Pinches, BUT there is also a sick Powerbomb and Shouldertackle. Sting's hope spots and comeback is right out of the Vader playbook. There is just a way he does it and that is so compelling. Man when does get Meng off his feet the whole place comes unglued! I felt it 30 years later too. The Coffin Drop was a sick spot. Just hurling your body with reckless abandon. The best part is it got Meng off his feet, but Meng got up first. To quote the Jesse The Body at Starrcade 1992 from Sting vs Vader, "It is gotta be depressing as hell when you do the move and your opponent gets up first". Meng hits a diving headbutt and The Brain declares it is over. Sting starts his comeback in earnest. It just feels hot and electric in a way that the Bubba comebacks did not. Scorpion Deathlock, but Meng breaks it. Top Rope Stinger Splash! 1-2-NO! It was a leaping DDT that earns him the win. Sting needs to work on his finish stretch. It is a bit too rote. We need some wrinkles. Some better transitions. It just feels like three high spots strung together, but other than that as a poor man's Sting vs Vader this was a ton of fun. Given that Haku/Meng is a bit of a cult-like figure and those who like Sting really like Sting (I am middling on the Stinger), I am surprised this is not held up more as "HEY! Sting can have a very good match on his own against someone that is not known as all-time worker.". I wanted to do a quick scan of Cagematch Matchguide for Meng, but it looks like it is down. I took some notes a couple months ago on this. So according to my notes from September 2024, it looks like the Benoit matches are considered better and this Sting match is the 3rd best match of his career. So I think of I have seen the Benoit matches and I would say they are in the same ballpark so I will have to watch and see. Definitely a contender for the best Haku/Meng match of all time. *** 1/2

Sting vs Big Bubba Rogers - WCW Slamboree 1995 Lights Out The swan song of Bossman in WCW. He does main event the first Nitro against Hogan but he really doesn’t do much after this. They got five months out of the heel turn which is pretty good. Bischoff tries to sell this as some big grudge match as Sting is bringing a table to the ring, but the crowd and I are just not buying it. The crowd is pretty dead until the finish. I thought Uncensored match was slightly better structurally and just more uptempo and entertaining. They had enough bells & whistles: table, powder, ties & belts to keep it fun. It did feel heatless. There was nothing wrong with the psychology. The moves they did were well executed and they made sense in the context of the match. I felt the same about Uncensored. Why does these matches top out at good? That’s the magic of truly great pro wrestling. It is HOW they do it. It is the charisma. It is letting you in. Bubba has a terrific right hand. It is one of the best. Sting sells it well. It is about the presentation. There’s just a way that Razor/Hall does that right hand that pulls you in just that much more. It is nothing you could probably teach Bubba or Hall. It is innate. It is something I thought about a lot because I don’t have a lot of criticisms of this match but it is still only good. It is very interesting. They opt for a slower start. Sting gets a nice back fist / dropkick combo. Bubba goes to the eyes pretty early. I think a truncated shine was a bad idea. Bubba works that beauty of a right early and often. Bubba goes to the tie to choke out Stinger. Lights Out is just a fancy way of saying No DQ. They brawl on the outside. This is a mid-90s table much hardier and much more fun. Sting turns the tables (pun fully intended) on Bubba slamming him into it. Sting tries his own table spot but he who sets it, gets it. Bubba POWDER into Sting’s eyes and sends him into the table. Wonderful! Lovely transition. Sting missed a Stinger Splash and ears nothing but table. Bubba whips Sting with a belt. Bossman Slam for two. Bubba goes up top but Sting throws him off. Too neat. Wish they came up with something more creative. Stinger Splash from all the way up top. He has a great top rope splash. Double Stomp as the table lays on Bubba. Scorpion Deathlock and that’s all she wrote. I guess my major criticism was besides the powder. It was a bit too rote. Too clean, too neat. Just checking boxes. It was good and fun. That’s where it topped out. Onto Sting vs Meng! ***

Sting vs Big Bubba Rogers - WCW Uncensored 1995 Not sure if there was a stipulation but there was a finish so it is already better than the last match. This is all because Roger’s turned on Sting at the January Clash in a match against Avalanche which I watched like 4 years ago. That’s crazy! Crowd didn’t give a shit about this match until the last 3 minutes or so which is a shame because it is a pretty good match. Sting is the ultimate camp wrestler. He feels hardcore Dadcore. Like if a Dad joke was a wrestler it would be pre-Crow Sting. The way he made such a big deal out for leg dropping Bubba’s hat and tossing it out into the crowd was such a Dad move. I like camp a lot but I don’t know Sting always felt extra goofy to me. Sting’s shine is nice & long. Good punches, clotheslines, dropkicks and splashes. Bubba bumps well. He could’ve stooged a touch more to whip the crowd into a frenzy I think that’s what was missing. There were a couple Bubba hope spots like when he slipped out the Ring around the post you thought it end in a punch but it ended into a head to the knee on a Sting leapfrog which led to some really good knee work. Bubba really dissected the knee while also working in his trademark punches and spots. It was effective but looking back on it. It was a bit dry. Where was the heeling? There was nothing to piss the crowd off. It was just strong work. Very Japanese in a native vs native way which I enjoy but that doesn’t play to 1995 Tupelo Mississippi brutha. Sting threw in some good hope spots. Bubba slips off top rope not sure if that was on purpose. Sting top rope Judo Chop! Bodyslam! Good selling working through the pain. The sleeper hold ironically wakes the crowd up and they’re in for the rest of the match. Great German Suplex by Sting! Beautiful Stinger Splash from Top Rope! 1-2-NO! Uh oh. I was a little surprised but he still has the Scorpion Deathlock. Sting loves a good timber bump into an inadvertent attack this time it is Bubba falling into his knee. Sting goes to bodyslam Roger’s again but his knee collapses under the weight and Roger’s wins!!! WOW I am shocked! I though Sting had this! Loved the surprised ending; I am a sucker for the knee collapse spot to end a match. I thought this was very textbook and really solid. Fun shine, well-executed heat segment and an explosive but tasteful home stretch. Nothing that will change your world but good. The finish elevates it. I see there is a rematch at Slamboree that’s up next! ***

Randy Savage vs Avalanche - WCW Uncensored 1995 Aaaaahhhh the famous WCW has a PPV full of gimmick matches and this one is no DQ but ends in a DQ. Oh, WCW! I was kinda surprised it ended in a DQ as thought this was swan song of Kevin Sullivan’s faces of Fear giving way to Vader/Flair/AA as the main heels until Dungeon of Doom is formed. I think Savage gets his win on Saturday Night. I am not the biggest Tenta fan and given this is a Randy Savage babyface match I knew he take the majority of the match and he still does nothing for me. At least they didn’t go right to heat. Savage stuck and moved. Lots of cat and mouse. Avalanche missing charges and hitting hard objects or falling out the Ring. Savage leaping on him or sticking with jabs and clotheslines. Excellent psychology. Respecting the size difference. Avalanche is a problem for the Macho Man to solve. He gets cocky tries to slam but collapses under the immense weight of Avalanche. Avalanche has a solid, very average heat segment. Lots of splashes, slams and even throws out a dropkick. The King of the Mountain is well done. Savage is throwing hope spots out. Trying to leap on the Big Man. Sunset Flip is ill-advised and leads to a nice sit down splash. Savage rolls out of the Earthquake Splash and again out of a middle rope splash. Looks like Big Elbow and go home but Avalanche powders. Savage hones in on him and nails him with a double axe handle. IT IS RIC FLAIR IN DRAG!!!! He kicks the shit out of Savage. Hogan saves and the NO DQ match is thrown out as a DQ. lol. Before the finish it was *** but a DQ in a NO DQ match is too much even for me so this is sub-3. I thought Flair in Drag is BRILLIANT! It really shows how unhinged he has become in retirement. Anyways still not sold on Tenta, a fine match but nothing special.

Randy Savage & Sting vs Avalanche & Big Bubba Roger’s - WCW Superbrawl V It is a warm day in New England so let’s get back at it! This match way over delivers! Wicked fun and very entertaining! So simple but so effective. This match is a real testament to the fundamentals of character work and joy. Each wrestler understands who they are and doesn’t deviate it from that. The match doesn’t get bogged down in a pointless heat segment. Everyone and their mother knows the babyfaces are going to win so let’s just have some fun. That is what is missing from wrestling more than anything else today and that is fun & joy. Not comedy, there was only one comedy spot on this match, but rather this match just made you smile. Avalanche demonstrates how power advantage over Sting but Sting has been in this situation before and he has got heart, folks! Sting works on chopping the big man down with clotheslines. Bubba cheats and grabs him while he is running the ropes. They don’t belabor this. Next thing you know the babyfaces ping pong Bubba who plays it to the hilt doing his seesaw spot in the middle rope. Savage nails his patented double axe handle. Savage slaps Avalanche. That spot got so much heat. That’s pro wrestling, baby! Savage slaps him again but Avalanche is just too damn big to slam. So Avalanche misses a splash in the corner and Savage & Sting take turns teeing off on him. Sting slams Avalanche to big pop. Bubba punches and Sting falls headfirst right into Avalanche’s Snowballs (Tony it is as right there). Savage drills Bubba with the Big Elbow and Sting top rope crossbody on Avalanche with a tabletop assist from Bubba for the win. Id remiss not to mention that retired Ric Flair is in the front row and him Savage got into it a bunch setting something up down the line. Loved this match. It is a Summer Action Movie Blockbuster where the crowd and me were just pop pop popping all over the place not everything has to be an athletic marvel or a heavy comeback story. Sometimes it is just alright to have fun *** 1/2

Real World Heavyweight Champion Super Vader vs Gary Albright - UWFi 1/16/95 These two big muthas drew over 16k to the Budokan, pretty good for a dying promotion. It outdrew the third match in the Vader/Takada trilogy. Also a fact that blows mind is that Vader is simultaneously the WCW US Champion and feuding with Hulk Hogan. For the first like 5-6 minutes, I thought I was watching a lost classic. They do run of steam for a couple minutes but the last minute is a rousing finish. That first 5-6 minutes is GLORIOUS~! This is what pro wrestling is missing. BIG FIGHT FEEL! So competitive, dripping with struggle. Honestly I thought Albright outwrestled Vader here and Vader did not have an answer for Albright. Albright was landing the heavier blows and commanding the Ring. He was crowding Vader in the ropes. Great short knew that had you wondering was that a little low. Great sell by Vader. Vader got a pretty good sounding shot in retaliation that Albright sold pretty well but it was like a 7 on Vader Scale and I wanted a little more. Albright came back and BLASTED Vader with a forearm! Japanese crowd is popping huge for Albright. Vader came back with something like a 5 on Vader scale but Albright sold it well. Cmon Vader bring it brutha. Albright hooks him up and I love this Japanese audience you can audibly hear them anticipating the suplex. Beautiful belly to belly throw into the cross arm breaker. Great clasp by Vader. He shifts his weight gets a guillotine choke but Albright the amateur stud knows how to get out and get a Full Nelson. Vader gets the rope for the reset. They were on trajectory to **** 1/4 - ****1/2 right there. They just lost it. Albright went in for a tentative takedown easily defended by Vader who applied a rear naked choke. Back to the ropes. They did it again. All the heat just died. Then in the last minute Albright just showered him with stiff forearms got me and Japanese back in it. Teased the German. Japanese were hooked. Vader breaks the grasp. HE FUCKING CLOCKS ALBRIGHT! NOW THATS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! A FUCKING TEN ON THE VADER SCALE! He fucks ear boxes and basically cracks Albright right in the side of the head. Rear naked choke finishes it. I wish we got a power bomb. It is a damn good hoss fight. They don’t make them like this anymore. ***3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Mutoh - NJPW 5/3/95 Finally found it! Most people would say the Hashimoto/Mutoh classic is their G-1 Climax from later this year and I would agree that is better than this but this is still very good. However real ones know that it is actually their 9/23/92 IWGP Title match with Mutoh as the Great Muta that is their real classic. Pretty typical puroresu booking here with Hashimoto having vanquished all challengers in his year long reign except Mutoh so expect Mutoh to win. Mutoh came to play. Mutoh runs hot & cold with me. While his selling, lack thereof, dragged the match down, his offense and more importantly his aggressive disposition is what kept me in it. He wrestled just like a challenger should always moving forward. That’s the champion’s advantage they don’t have to beat the challenger. Mutoh had that challenger mindset throughout this match. He had to win so he was always pressing and always looking for offense. Hashimoto sold this well making it feel like he was on his back foot and reacting to Mutoh. They fool me early and set the tone. They eschew the typical New Japan mat work for Mutoh to hit drop kicks and get Hashimoto off balance. Mutoh goes for the back handspring elbow but it is too early so Hashimoto evades and delivers a kick. That’s that challenger mindset. I like New Japan Heavies matwork so I enjoyed this. Mutoh definitely had the upper hand in this segment. Besides a bad drop toehold, Mutoh worked the mat pretty well. There is a great spot where Mutoh does the Ali Shuffle goes for a leg dive and Hashimoto pancakes him. Hashimoto just lunges with headbutts on a lock up to say fuck this let’s go muthafucka. Hashimoto starts unleashing fury including an unexpected piledriver. Hashimoto goes up top. HASHIMOTO GOES UP TOP?!? Misses top rope elbow. Mutoh’s turn. I loved Mutoh snap elbow on the fallen Hashimoto. Back Handspring Elbow (that feels earned now). Top Rope Franksteiner. Now Mutoh misses a top rope moonsault. Even Stevens. Great Hashimoto elbow and spinning heel kick. This comparison is a microcosm of the match watch how Hashimoto sells the cross arm breaker versus Mutoh. Hashimoto selling adds so much drama whereas Mutoh feels like he is just any hold. Down the stretch Mutoh’s weird selling really hurts the heat. Hashimoto overwhelms with chops, kicks and knees to finally get a DDT. HASHIMOTO UNLEASHED HELL WITH ROUND KICK TO THE HEAD! Mutoh just kicks out and then on the Hashimoto Brainbuster he converts that into a DDT. Didn’t like that transition at all. Dragon Suplex. Mutoh blows the first moonsault so he goes back to hit another one. Hashimoto kicks out at 3 to protect himself. There was some good stuff; I enjoyed Mutoh‘s full court press, I thought both their control segments were good and liked how each ended with a top rope missed move. The last 5 minutes just needed a little more oomph and a better transition. Mutoh is such a strange wrestler. *** 1/2

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel vs British Bulldog - WWF In Your House IV Vince McMahon is a vile person deserves to rot in Hell. That being said for better or for worse, he is the singular influential person on pro wrestling on the last 40 years. So I have always been curious what he considers good wrestling. If I asked him, I know he would give the frustrating reply “whatever draws the most money, pal”. We know what types of characters he likes and what storylines & angles he likes, but it is a bit of mystery what wrestling he likes. I think this match and the Flair & Savage title change back to Flair are famous examples of what he doesn’t like. I was hoping this match would shed some light on his wrestling taste. Unfortunately, I don’t think the match is bad, I actually think it is good. I think there were reasons to be frustrated about the match but to think this was bad is hyperbolic. I am wondering if this was just general stress all culminating in one moment. Easy example is as a child majority of the times, I got yelled at it nothing to do with what I did, it was because my Dad was stressed about something else. I think it is more likely a combination of Nitro, the Shawn situation, the fucking horrible Yoko/Mabel match they preceded this so that when Davey had Diesel in a leg lace for the umpteenth time, he blew a gasket. During the match Diesel was still over, the crowd was cheering for him and there were no Bulldog fans. Now ending with a brawl with Bret Hart in Canada now that’s where the fans turned. To say Diesel was not over is incorrect. As for the wrestlers, Diesel is someone whose stock has risen in my eyes and Bulldog is someone who has come down a peg. Neither are Top 100 wrestlers for me they are capable of greatness with others. I see them as pretty equal in terms of ability which I think would shock most people. I think this is the best Bulldog performance of 1995 until the Bret match, he is laser focused and gives a very good Bret-esque destruction of the knee. Diesel is better offensive wrestler but he sold very well here. As for the match, the heat segment going long is overblown. I have seen plenty of praised Crockett matches where the heat segment goes way too long and no one complains. This heat segment goes long but it is not horrendous. It is something they could have fixed but it doesn’t kill the match. Hogan/Sid from Mania VIII is an example of an utter shit show main event. This is still good it just couldv been better. Diesel looked good in the shine. Diesel is really good at the missed strikes on a criss cross. I love how he muscled Davey Boy in the corner. Bulldog going for the legs early being thwarted at the Ring post, getting a chop block in the Ring but Nash shrugging it off was great foreshadowing. Bret is the perfect guy on commentary to explain this narrative. Bulldog gets a dropkick and Diesel tumbles to the outside; Bret goes to stop from hitting the table but Diesel pie faces him Bulldog chop block. I thought heat segment up to the Boston Crab was perfect. Bulldog was locked in and using a good variety of moves to attack the leg. I liked Cornette’s attacks on the leg. After Diesel powered out of the Boston Crab, we needed to change things up. That’s where it dragged. We did get hope spots like a big Diesel elbow and a big foot to Bulldog ass to send him flying. But with Bulldog like tenacity, Bulldog just stayed on the knee. I loved Diesel lunging for Bulldog but missing because he has lost a step. There was a lot of cool stuff. We needed either a bigger comeback by Diesel OR we needed Bulldog to change to Power wrestling which he does late in the match. You see Diesel make in roads when Bulldog goes for his customary delayed vertical, Diesel wins that battle. If Diesel is vertical, Bulldog loses. Bulldog needs to keep him down BUT Bulldog doesn’t have the submission vocabulary to defeat Diesel. It is an interesting story. I liked Bulldog using a Sharpshooter in Canada either Bret on commentary. When Bulldog does go for his finish, the Powerslam, Diesel shoves him off, BIG BOOT! The finish is fucking terrible. There’s nobody to blame but Vince. On the outside, Bulldog pie faces Bret and they brawl in the Ring. DQ win for Bulldog and Diesel brawls with Bret. I am a fan of DQ finishes but this is a shitty one because the match feels incomplete. They didn’t really build to the DQ. It wasn’t like Bulldog/Bret were chirping at each other. The match hadn’t gotten to a point where you were like oh I know Diesel would’ve won if it wasn’t for the DQ or vice Versa. It just happened. The finish was easily the worst part of the match. They had an interesting story but they didn’t see it the whole way through. I think after the Boston Crab which should have been where the Sharpshooter was done. That punctuates that segment, Diesel mini-comeback but the leg gives out, Bulldog finish stretch trying his power moves, Diesel gets the Big Boot to counter the running powerslam just as was done. Can he do the Jacknife? That’s when the protection finish kicks in. It is not a bad match. Like I have said I have seen countless matches where the heat segment goes too long. That doesn’t make a match bad. Backlund/Muraco this was not. ***

Diesel & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Sid & Tatanka - WWF King of the Ring 1995 The peak of Bam Bam Bigelow’s babyfaces run but if I was him I would’ve been doing all I could stay heel. The babyface side was Diesel, Bret, Taker, Shawn, Razor, Bulldog & Luger that was a murderer’s row he was not overcoming. Him vs Taker at Summerslam was what h should’ve been pushing for and then onto Bret or hell win the KOTR and main event Sslam against Diesel. Turning babyface was dumb. I say this as not a big Bam Bam fan. This is probably Tatanka biggest match or against Shawn at Mania IX. He is another guy who has shown me nothing. The story of the match is Diesel hurt his elbow the month before against Sid. How will the elbow hold up? In a classic “You’re Fired/I Quit” situation, Bigelow is out of the Million Dollar Corporation and wants revenge on them. At 17 minutes and change, the match exceeds my expectations. I would safely say it is good, not much more than that. I was surprised how early they went to the elbow. Diesel & Bigelow rush the Ring and clear the heels. Diesel gets one good move on Tatanka but wanders too close to Sid who kicks the bad elbow and wrenches on the rope. I kinda get it they want Diesel to be the house of fire so you don’t want his heat segment in the back end. BUT I think the tension is when do the heels get a hold of the elbow and they blew it off too early. However there’s many ways to skin a cat while they didn’t choose my way, I think the match still was good. They work over the elbow tight stuff. Nothing revolutionary but a good grind. Sid misses a leg drop. Diesel tags out. Let’s see what Bam Bam can do as a babyface. Solid hot tag. Dropkick, DDT, clotheslines. The top rope diving headbutt is a good punctuation mark. Sid catches up top and hits a chokeslam from the top. Great transition! They clubber Sid. Sid’s boots look good. Chinlocks. Diesel tags in. Nash is clearly the best worker in this match but the whole point of the match is that he has to stand on the sidelines because he is injured and it is hurting the match. Nash elbow drop but he hurts the bad elbow. Tag out to a Bam Bam that has not had enough time to recuperate which is a cool wrinkle. Tatanka works him over with clubbering and chinlocks. Bam Bam hulks up. Mid ring cross body collision levels the playing field. Bam Bam hits this crazy somersault splash on Tatanka where he almost breaks his neck that’s his big high spot. Diesel comes in and steam rolls Tatanka. Tatanka is a fucking load and the Jacknife becomes more of a gut wrench. 1-2-Diesel picks him up because he wants SID!!!! Well Sid don’t want none and just walks away lol. Diesel drops an elbow to win. Very anticlimatic ending to probably the worst WWF PPV ever. That finish was terrible on so many levels. I think there’s plenty of ways for Sid to not eat the pin, have the faces go over that doesn’t make Sid look like a massive bitch. If there was ever a match where layout overcomes the mediocrity of the performers it is this match. This speaks to the Power of Psychology and how it can really make things very easy. You run this exact same match but with four awesome wrestlers and this is probably a classic. It is such a cool and interesting layout. These four were competent enough to execute it to the point where the match never dragged and it was entertaining & interesting. Long Live Psychology! ***

Diesel vs Owen Hart - WWF IYH 5 Fresh off losing the WWF Title, this is Diesel’s only non-title 1995 PPV appearance. These two had a very good match for title at the beginning of the year on Action Zone and the chemistry continues here. It is too bad they never got 15 minutes together they worked well together. The booking here is great. Diesel is pissed about losing the WWF Championship but he is still best friends with Shawn Michaels. So when Owen gloats about putting Shawn out with the Enziguiri of Death, Diesel takes exception to this and wants to exact some revenge on Shawn’s behalf. Nash plays this match really well. He is even more aggressive. Cornering Owen early, throwing his body weight into him and just manhandling. Owen takes a crazy bump off a pieface. I don’t know if Nash was too forceful or if Owen went for too much rotation. Diesel misses the Big Boot. Owen spinwheel kick. Missile dropkick. Owen works the leg really well. Diesel shoves him into the buckles on spinning toe hold. Diesel finish stretch: Snake Eyes, Straddle, Big Boot Jacknife. Foot on chest 1-2-NOPE Diesel makes to mete out more punishment. The ref gets in his face and he shoves the ref triggering the DQ But Big Daddy Cool don’t care as he Jacknifes Owen anyways and leaves him laying. The condensed version of their Action Zone, good action here even better character work. Loved it ***

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel vs Owen Hart - WWF Action Zone 2/5/95 Diesel’s second televised defense comes against Bret Hart’s main adversary of 1994, Owen Hart. I applaud the booking strategy of having Diesel defeat Bret’s two main adversaries, Bob Backlund & Owen Hart and defend against Bret Hart. That was last year; Diesel is this year. Now what I disagree with is the quickness. I think they could have gotten an IYH main event out of Owen, they probably could’ve gotten something more out of Backlund than just a shock title change at MSG and a house show loop. There was one Bret rival they didn’t run at all, Yoko that they could’ve gotten a KOTR or IYH main event out of. They blew their wad so quickly they by the time Sid was done it felt like they had no one left. Found 7:30 with some pre-bell stuff so maybe missing 5 minutes but we do see is really good. Owen prematurely celebrating evading Diesel is always welcomed. Diesel was throwing himself into all the elbows and body weight attacks. Owen ate a lot of hard whips to the buckles. Snake Eyes + Press Slam very fun shine. Shawn comes out to cause the distraction. Owen sneak attacks. Shawn punches Diesel. Owen King of the Baseball Slide nails one. Good dive to floor. Commercial break. Coming back Owen is working the leg pretty good and Diesel is selling it really well. Missile dropkick. Owen spinning toehold BUT kicked hard into the buckle. Owen thumb to the eye. Diesel has had enough. Crotches him on top rope and pulls his hair. Big Boot + Jacknife. I think if I saw the full 11 minutes it be just under 4 minutes but given what get here I’d say *** 1/2

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel vs. King Mabel - WWF Summerslam 1995 Summerslam 1995 has to go down as the weakest heel roster of any major promotion ever. The top 3 heels are Viscera as King Mabel, the Godfather as a fake UFC fighter and Kane as an Evil Dentist. That is fucking pathetic. No wonder 1995 is lambasted. On RAW prior to this, British Bulldog turned heel on Diesel and joined MOM in their "Royal Plan" on beating up Big Daddy Cool to wrest the WWF title from him. This angle essentially made this match a lame duck challenge as it was clear Diesel/Bulldog was the program for the Fall and Mabel was cooked. With Nitro debuting by the time RAW got back on the air, I think they felt like they needed to leave RAW with a hook for people to tune in. After watching more Mabel than I ever imagined I would, I can safely say this is the best Mabel match I have seen. Perhaps there are better Viscera or Big Daddy V matches, I do not know nor do I care to find out. Diesel worked overtime in this match. He threw himself into every bump and offensive move with tenacity and ferocity. Watch how he takes those bumps off the shoulder tackles. Or how he launches himself into the splashes into the corner or as a missile into Mabel's back to send him tumbling to the outside. KEVIN FUCKING NASH DOES A SLINGSHOT DIVE OVER THE TOP ROPE ONTO FLOOR CRASHING DOWN ON MABEL! How is this not talked about more! That looked better than 90% of "suicide" dives we see today. Great big boot on the floor. Mabel hits this weird Bossman Slam type move that looks like shit everytime he does it. It is transition to heat and it is god-awful. His belly to belly actually looks great and I wish he would just use that. MABLE ASS SPLASH!!! That looked fucking awesome and painful! The requisite chinlock which looks like shit. Mabel steamrolls the ref, they didnt even try to make it look like an accident. Mabel misses an elbow drop. Mo comes into double team Diesel. Lex Fucking Luger of all people comes out to make the save, but Diesel thinks he is Team MOM (because Luger was Bulldog's tag partner at the time) and slugs him. Mabel drops a massive leg drop on Diesel. Luger fights Mo to the back proving wrestlers can forgive one another for mistakes. Great Mabel Belly to Belly! 1-2-NO! Missed Mabel splash. Diesel didnt have a chance of hoisting his fat ass up for a powerbomb so it is a middle rope leaping forearm that gets the job done. I am surprised he didnt use the big boot. I wonder what the plan was for Lex Luger was if he didnt jump. Would it have been Diesel/Luger vs Bulldog/Yoko at the next PPV? Would Luger actually be annoyed Diesel slugged him first even though he was out there to help him so it would be Diesel/Shawn vs Luger/Bulldog? Luger was a much better fit for WCW so I think it worked out for everyone in the end. As for the match, greatly exceeded expectation and it is most definitely a good match. I really dont see how you call this a bad match. As much of a Sid mark as I am, this match was better than either of the Sid matches. Besides one chinlock, this was all action, Diesel was trying wicked hard, great offense and bumps from him and even Mabel had three great high spots. Easy thumbs up! *** 1/4

Yokozuna vs King Mabel - WWF In Your House IV ”A less than stellar match” - Vince, well no shit Sherlock, why did you book it, pal? This is heel vs heel but they both teamed up a couple weeks ago to break Undertaker’s face in what looked like a savage beat down. As punishment, Gorilla has booked this match, which I think is pretty clever. I thought from a charisma perspective this was Mabel’s best match. He slapped Yoko to start and put some bad mouth on him. He was cocky and he even did some strutting. He just isn’t good. He is fucking huge. He dwarfed Yoko. Lots of symmetry. Yoko played de facto babyface. Mabel bumper to the outside and then Yoko took a bump to the outside. Mabel gets a splash in corner. Yoko gets a clothesline when Mabel charges. Yoko misses leg drop and Mabel misses elbow drop. The fuck up the final spot which I think was a Bulldog but Yoko bumps anyways. Outside is a clusterfuck Yoko ends up on top of Cornette and Mabel hits the post for an anticlimactic finish. They hug it out to send us home happy. Godzilla vs King Kong this was not.

World Championship Wrestling November 1985 I got COVID and it is rocked me pretty good. I didn’t feel like reviewing whole matches so going back to watch 80s TV wrestling. We are full swing into the buildup for Starrcade 85. It’s a Gathering don’t you know Daddy! 11/2/85 She Likes It! She Likes It!: They show clips of the infamous angle where Mags plants one on Baby Doll and David Crockett in all his horny glory screaming his fool head off: SHE LIKES IT SHE LIKES IT! Where I think it goes too far is when Mags grabs her and rips her blouse. That’s just not babyface behavior. Tully attacks Mags and somehow he is the bad guy. Magnum could not beat Tully for the US title in Greensboro due to a double knockout. Magnum wants an I Quit match but Bob Geigel refuses to sanction it due to it being too barbaric. I think I have seen this episode before. Tully gloats in a good promo. Mags wins a squash. Jimmy Crockett comes out and reverses the decision and makes the match. I am surprised they didn’t do this the following week. Tully is in a rage. He fights Denny Brown in the best match of the night. Classic Tully he lets Brown get a lot of offense mostly good looking punches. Tully uses heel offense like throwing Brown to the floor, pulling the tights into the buckle and getting the knees up to break the momentum.Slingshot Suplex finishes the job. The Andersons are besides the themselves over Crockett’s ruling. They know lawyers, brutha! They have Tully’s back 100% it is happening! He Likes It! He Likes It!: Saliva swapping is the name of the game tonight. This time it is Ronnie Garvin in Drag making out with the Boogie Woogie Man and then slugging his opponent. I don’t know what to make of this angle. They are feuding with the MX and Cornette. Cornette cuts a fun promo before Valiant runs him off and says he must find this lady. This lady is the One, Tony! To punctuate it, he kisses Tony! Main Angle: The Horsemen have jumped Dusty in the cage in the all time great angle. Flair cuts an excellent promo saying Dusty can try all he wants to come back but he will falter. The Anderson echo his sentiment. Tony sits down with Dusty’s doctor and they explain all the steps they are taking to ensure that Dusty does not sustain further injury to his foot. I think I have seen this segment before. It is money, Featured Attraction: Superstar Graham vs Abby. Oh boy! Superstar wants to face Barbie in an arm wrestling match for $5000. Paul Jones says tough boogies you’re facing Abby first. Abby works the arm to injure Superstar before the arm wrestling match. Superstar mounts a comeback and chokes Abby with the cord. Lots of choking: Jones jabs his cane into Superstar’s windpipe. Superstar looks poised to win with an elbow drop but Barbie interferes hits a diving headbutt. Nothing match. Paul Jon saying Superstar looks like a Fortune Teller was funny because it is true. Midcard Mania: Rock N Rolls won a swish and on a collision course with the Russians. Budro won his squash and JJ says it is him vs Terry Taylor for National Title couple blond midcarders that never broke out. Manny won a squash no direction. Billy Jack Haynes won an extended but boring squash lots of chinlocks. Haynes & McDaniel are programmed with the Andersons which feels random. Pez Whatley wins a long squash he showed some good offense and charisma. Russians won their two squashes: Nikita singles; Ivan & Krusher tag. I don’t think I have ever heard Barry Darsow speak well if I have I forgotten it. He sounds so normal and looks so young. Russians hype their match with the Rock N Rolls. 11/9/85 Hard Times...The Alternate Version: Dusty is back in the studio with Tony Schiavone and he cuts a very familiar sounding promo talking about HARD TIMES, DADDY~! The more famous version is the better version. His emotion, conviction and delivery is much better. This is strong dont get me wrong, it doesnt have the same oomph and the closing of the more famous version is better as well. The American Dream vs Nature Boy is set for Starrcade 85! Clips from Dusty’s return to the Omni is shown wearing his new boot. He is kicking ass! Also the World Television Championship has been vacated. Arn Anderson has physical possession of the belt and believes he is the rightful champion and that there’s no need for a tournament. The Andersons won a great squash. They are the best squash wrestlers in the territory. Four Horsemen: This is not the officially naming, which I believe happens 2-4 weeks earlier. It is very cool to see the disparate units of the Four Horsemen unite here. Arn says the Andersons are backing Tully & Flair 100%. Ole says once they get done with Billy Jack & Wahoo, they are going to ensure Flair stays World Champ. Very effective Andersons promo. Tully won a squash and did not sell at all. He just kicked ass. Featured Attraction Oregon Kung-Fu Master: I feel cheated out of a Featured Attraction as Billy Jack Haynes goes up against Thunderfoot. Thunderfoot looks like an oversized jobber and is treated as such. His costume is terrible. This dude had no chance of getting over. He has two things going for him...JJ Dillon is his manager and as his name implies he has a Thunderfoot (he has a loaded boot). Besides Billy Jack Haynes press slamming him early, this is a nothing match. Dillon's interference helps Thunderfoot get on offense. Billy Jack master of Oregon Lumberjack art of Kung Fu mounts a comeback. Thunderfoot goes to load up the boot, but Manny Fernandez distracts and Billy Jack rolls him up to win. That shitty ass finish has existed for 40 years. Did we really need to protect Thunderfoot? Manny Fernandez cuts a promo about him and Billy Jack being an Awesome Twosome, kinda stepping on Wahoo's there Manny. Billy Jack shouts out his injured Dad says he is here at the behest of the Dream and he & Wahoo will exact revenge on the Andersons at Starrcade! Midcard Mania: Jim Crockett and Tony Schiavone run down the card for Starrcade 1985 and a quick Wiki check says it all looks accurate. They have not mentioned yet that will be simulcast from Greensboro and Atlanta yet. Russians won a squash as did Manny Fernandez. It took the Rock N Rolls a while to win their squash. I just prefer heels squashing to babyfaces squashing. Ronnie Garvin as Ronnie Garvin won his squash. He is such mean son of a bitch, he stretched that poor fool before knocking him out. We get clips of Boogie Woogie with Big Mama (silicone was alive and kicking in 1985, daddy!) and she has found Miss Atlanta Lively. They both plant one on either side of Jimmy Valiant's face. How on God's Green Earth did they get Ronnie Garvin to do this? Terry Taylor wins a squash with a superplex. Superstar and Paul Jones get a lot of air time as they run the video of the same angle twice. Barbarian has a broke hand. Superstar calls out Paul Jones, Barbie attacks. Superstar mounts a counteroffensive and gets Paul Jones up in the Argentine Backbreaker. Barbarian attacks and uses the cast to split Superstar open. Seems weird to have the heel have a broken hand going into an Arm Wrestling match. Barbie wins a squash.

Bonne Annee! My wife & I are spending a holiday week up in lovely Quebec City, my third time, her first and Lo & Behold, there’s a Quebecois pro wrestling exhibit at the Museum of Civilization! If you’re in the area or have always wanted to go to Quebec City, now is the time. They did a fantastic job covering the Quebecois Golden Age from the 50s to the 80s. Highlights include: Clips of Killer Kowalski vs Yvon Robert from 1950s with English commentary. The finish was included. Clips of Carpentier vs Destroyer from 1971. Great interviews with Rick Martel, Raymond Rougeau, and Gilles Poisson. Lots of great memorabilia: Pat Patterson, Rick Martel to Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn. Clips of Mad Dog Vachon show as a Pirate Retro PLAYABLE 80s WWF arcade games! I played as Hacksaw Duggan vs Randy Savage! I learned a lot too! I was aware of the name Yvon Robert but I didn’t realize how large of a star he was. I thought Carpentier was the main star. So I am definitely interested in learning more about him. Cant sing the praises of this enough! It was amazing!

Undertaker vs King Mabel - WWF IYH 5 12/17/95 Casket Match The swan song of King Mabel, following his Dad formula after feeding Mabel to Diesel, Vince got the last bit of juice out of Mabel jobbing him here in a mercifully short casket match. Story is threefold I believe: 1. Mabel defeated Undertaker at King of the Ring en route to becoming King of the Ring (so Undertaker needs his win back). 2. Mabel crushed Taker’s face with a behemoth leg drop in the Fall of ‘95 and Taker is wearing a pretty sick looking mask. I believe this is called his Phantom of the Opera period I have never seen it just read about it so cool to see. 3. Most importantly in the eyes of Vince & Taker, Mabel or more specifically Mo has the remnants of the Urn that being the Gold Chain, Kama had melted into. This is Mabel’s penultimate match of this run before returning as Viscera. He jobbed to Diesel in 8 seconds on the January 1st RAW. Mabel was already working Puerto Rico clearly he knew it was over. I am going to be generous and call this match good. Taker is naturally over. He gets his pops and Rest in Peace chants. They don’t waste any time and at 6 minutes they keep it moving. Mabel just has not charisma. His size is impressive because not only is he heavy, he is very tall too. He just doesn’t hit his spots or bumps in an interesting way. Taker nominally starts off fighting through some Mabel offense. Mabel hits a weak Black Hole Slam to take over. He misses a middle rope splash. Weeble wooble. Mo interferes. Mabel hits a great belly 2 belly, leg drop and splash. That was some good shit. Weirdly enough, Mo hauls Takes out of the Ring and is the one to put him one the casket. Who cares about Mo? The heels dawdle. Taker makes his big comeback. Takes Mabel off his feet. Chokeslam…the one at KOTR looked better, the big boot to Mabels back and the tumble into the casket looked good. Taker needs to chokeslam Mo and dump him into the casket. Taker pauses and climbs and retrieves the remnants of the Urn you can’t help but laugh. That sends MOM packing. Taker signals he wants the Belt and let me tell you after the shit burger of ‘95, he deserves it. The big man high spots were fun and they kept it moving. I still think Mabel sucks. ***

Undertaker vs Mabel - WWF King of the Ring 1995 Mabel has four chances to show me he is any good as a pro wrestler. He already blew this one. Look a name change and getting him out of the purple pajamas should have been step one of his push. Even separate from the aesthetics, he seems to suck. He seems really worried about hurting himself or his opponent. Everything is very cautious and slow. It really is business exposing. There are more moments like his second belly to belly and piledriver where you are like oh he is pretty good but then there’s charging into the boot or the terrible knees while Taker was hung up in the ropes. Mabel really makes me appreciate Yokozuna and what he can do. Yoko is a million time better athlete that Mabel was. Mabel is also a black hole of charisma in the ring. Taker’s shine was the normal weeble wooble selling and gets him down on the 3rd clothesline and Old School Rope Walk. Mabel just bumps and sells in the most nonchalant fashion. There’s no tension. His transition to heat was weak as was when Taker got tied up in the ropes. The belly 2 belly was good but it was into a chin lock. Really lame ass splash more lame outside the ring work with Mo. The piledriver was neat. They knock heads. Ref bump. Undertaker CHOKESLAMS MABEL! That gets a pop! Kama interferes hits a weak shot on Taker. Mabel leg drop for the win. One of the worst matches I have seen in quite some time. Poor Undertaker when he gets a chance has shown himself to be pretty good in the mid-90s but he was just served shit. Oh Vince proved me right why Taker was bumping for those Jarrett dropkicks they were pushing that Taker was weakened because Kama had melted down the Urn into a chain! I knew I was right! Taker has too much pride in his character to be bumping for Jarrett dropkicks. It feels like they were trying to recapture the magic of Yokozuna and boy Mabel was not that guy. I agree they needed heels big time with a loaded roster of babyfaces: Diesel, Taker, Bret, Shawn and Razor but Mabel is not the answer. Three more matches to prove me wrong.

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Ken Shamrock - WWF RAW 9/14/98 Before we get to the match, which is a bizarre one, this match really showcases one of the most unique facets of pro wrestling. That perception is greater than reality. The reality of the matter is Ken Shamrock could have literally broken multiple bones in Austin's body within minutes. But the perception is that Austin is 100% way more badass than Shamrock. Shamrock is a badass. Austin plays the Badass 800000000x better than Shamrock. It is the same thing during the peak of The Man vs Rousey. No one thought Lynch was actually a better fighter than Rousey. But on the TV screen, Becky Lynch was the badass and Rousey could never channel it. The same goes for Shamrock he has all the legit, shoot credentials in the world, but he just couldnt make you believe. What a bizarre match! Stone Cold Steve Austin works as the veteran heel champion trying to give the plucky youngster a shot at the World Title. Thats sort of the format, but Austin GUZZLES Shamrock. I cant remember the last time I saw such absolute mauling. They were working hope spots like Shamrock's leg lariat and cross body like he was fucking Sam Houston, but unlike Ric Flair, Austin was NOT bumping for shit. It was all kneelifts, boot rakes, eye rakes. Fuck, I am pretty sure this is how all the Flair haters wanted Flair to work in the 80s. This was wild. Austin was doing three vertical suplexes in a row. Working tight headlocks and chinlocks. Offering Shamrock no quarter. Shamrock goes for a Frankensteiner and Austin powerbombs as if to say "Why you leaving your feet, son?". It was truly an unexpected format. Austin was out and out heel. Shamrock needs to get more assertive. Austin bullied him in this match. Outside of the shine, where Shamrock at least got an armbar takedown, Austin gave him nothing. Austin worked a thumb to the eye early. Austin was out to work heel, I just didnt realize it until about halfway through the match when he was cutting him off left, right and center like he was the heel. I get that Shamrock was the babyface and it is customary in this role that someone like Austin would play the subtle heel, but there was nothing subtle about this. Austin throws Shamrock over the top rope and finally Shamrock gets a little love on the outside. But that doesnt last for long as Austin gives him a wicked boot in the corner and just buries the shoulder. Shamrock comes back with a clothesline and a suplex. There you go Shammy, give it to him. Shamrock works a Boston Crab, which Austin tried earlier. What a bizarre match. Austin makes the ropes. Austin works a back heel kick to the balls! Yep that seals the deal, a True Heel NWA Championship Performance from Stone Cold. I forgot earlier they even traded sleepers. Austin really wanted to work a NWA Championship match in 1998 at the peak of his popularity against Shamrock. Weirdo shit. They totally no sell the ball shot and start running around. Double Clothesline both are out. Austin makes sure to get one last cover to leave no doubt in anyone's mind who's The Man. Here come Taker and Kane for the schmozz finish to set up the Breakdown Triple Threat. The Rock and Mankind save! Wow The Rock was teasing babyface this early. The match is not good and cannot be classified in that way, but it sure is interesting. I would have never thought in a 1000 years this how they chose to work the match. I was thinking *** but after the ball shot was no sold, I said fuck it, this match is not good, but it is interesting case study.

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart vs Ken Shamrock - WWF RAW 10/27/97 It was the Best of Bret Hart, it was the Worst of Bret Hart. Has anyone ever been "Just Another Guy'd" harder than Ken Shamrock? This was a very good, run of the mill pro wrestling match. Sort of your Bret Broomstick match. The problem is that is Ken MUTHAFUCKING Shamrock in there. Look it is not Bret's fault at all because Shamrock got "Just Another Guy'd" by the entire promotion. Shamrock needed to assert himself. The promotion (i.e. Vince) needed to do a better job promoting him. What a huge miss by the WWF. The value of Shamrock is snapping people out of their comfort zone. How do I work against a legit shoot-fighter? How is the strategy different? We have countless examples from Japan how to go about this in very compelling ways. On the flip side from WCW, even though he was not legit, you have Goldberg. Look at that remarkable Goldberg vs DDP match from Halloween Havoc that thing is a barnburner. It is because it was the fucking Terminator vs John McClane. There's plenty of interesting way for Shamrock to work in a pro wrestling context and they went the laziest route just making him another pro wrestler except HE CAN DO A ROLLING LEG BAR! Give me a fucking break. Lets say this was Bret vs I dont know fuck it pick your favorite WWF upper midcarder, Bam Bam Bigelow, lets say, we would all say this was a very good match because it was. Traditional Bret chaining, they throw in the aforementioned Rolling Leg Bar by Shammy to show he is a shoot fighter gosh darn it. Shamrock just absorbing the punches by Bret was rough to watch. It is part Shamrock's inexperience (he did work PWFG, which probably why he comes across way too fucking smooth for this role) and Bret's penchant for check the box wrestling. Bret is supposed to be on offense so just take it, just like when Bret eats offense, he just takes it. Shammy gets him in the corner and when the ref breaks them up Bret clips the knee. This is what I mean by the Best of Bret Hart. There is almost nobody I rather watch a control segment by. He is the ultimate grinder. The transition was fantastic. He worked the leg like a fucking champ. It was a clinic and I loved every second of it. He worked the figure-4 around the post, the spinning toehold, all the classics. The transition back to Shamrock was genius, he goes to the well again for the figure-4 around the ring post and Shamrock pulls him into the post. Shamrock kicks some ass on the outside. Shamrock shit looks good, but it is NOT unique. Like the fucking Frankensteiner. What does that show? He is athletic? That he is a pro wrestler too gosh darn it? I liked the Shamrock Saito/Belly 2 Belly suplex. The ref bumps. Bret visually taps to the anklelock. Shamrock lets go and gets clobbered with a chair. Sharpshooter. Sweet Chin Music from Shawn. We get a great pull apart brawl from Bret & Shawn to set up Survivor Series. Shamrock is pissed that Shawn interfered and fucked up his title shot. So that sets up Shamrock as Shawn's first challenger post-Survivor Series. Against just anybody else, I would just tell this is the standard, very good Bret Hart match, but it is not against Just Another Guy, it is against Ken Shamrock. Plug & play makes sense for some wrestlers but for unique wrestlers, they deserve unique matches. This is when those creative juices should be pumping. I have the opportunity to work something different how do I problem solve for this? A good match is true to the characters in the ring. It is a tough match to rate. I will give it the rating for the work I thought that was delivered, but I am disappointed in it. *** 1/2