Superstar Sleeze

NWA World TV Champion Sting vs The Great Muta - NWA Great American Bash 1989 Sting's Splash from one ring to the other was the perfect way to jumpstart this match and it is the iconic spot from this match. This match and feud has quite the reputation that is more built on the myth of these two gimmicks than the actual work. It is more a collection of great spots than a great match. There is plenty of great splashes all over the ring. Muta's offense looks crisp and love that he goes for bombs early. The greeness of both men is exposed. At one point, Sting hits a bodyslam and he looks unsure of what to do next and after hesitation he goes for a cover. Stuff like that just takes me out of it. Muta also kind of runs out of offense at one point. The finish stretch is exciting and then stupid. We get a ref bump off the accidental mist. Missed Stinger Splash...Moonsault...1-2-NO! Great nearfall. The finish itself is terrible. Both men get their shoulders up in the double pin situation so Tommy Young should have stopped counting. Then they announce Sting as still champion which is fine I guess it was a draw but then Gary Hart and Muta just take the belt. Sting and Eddie Gilbert just have their thumb up their ass. One of the all time bad finishes in pro wrestling, so stupid, leaves a bad taste in my mouth, the work before was ok, just some good spots.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs The Great Muta - NWA World Championship Wrestling 11/18/89 Up until the disqualification finish, I was wondering to myself how the hell was this not discussed more. It is two major stars in a TV match that is actually great and yet it is pretty under the radar besides a review on Where The Big Boys Play (shoutout to Parv & Chad). The DQ finish means it is does not feel definitive, but this is amazing Ric Flair performance. I dont know how you can come away not thinking Flair is one of the best of all time from watching this. All the same-y Flair bullshit goes out the window when he wrestles as a babyface. How can that lame criticism stand up when anytime you watch a babyface Flair match it is totally different than a heel Flair performance. My two favorite spots were when he got up hopping on one leg with his fists clenched and then later on when he just leaped on Muta with two knees. It is felt so organic and so passionate. It is so engrossing. Before the bell was great, Muta sprays the Mist and Flair Woos and throat slashes. Flair can do some great NWA style chain wrestling and really dominated on the mat. Muta hits some chops and a reverse spin kick to set up the knee work. Half-Crab, Deathlock and toeholds. Kevin Sullivan does a great job explaining that Gary Hart has become obsessed with making Flair submit after the I Quit debacle. Good explanation. Flair is his usual great verbal selling stuff. This is when the one foot hop with his dukes up happens. It turns into a great firefight on the outside. Back in the ring, Flair builds momentum and thats when he pounces on Muta. Flair was amazing on offense. All that energy can go into offense. Great chops and punches. Muta was kinda sandbagging him here. I know it is not Muta's thing to see because he is a Demon from Hell, but at least he could have fed Flair. He does nothing. Flair is making up for it by being a whirlwind. Flair sets up for the figure-4 and when he goes for it here comes The Dragonmaster. DQ, but Flair gets the Figure-4 on Nagaski on the outside. Muta sprays the mist on the vulnerable Nature Boy. Then Buzz Sawyer comes out for the beatdown. I really liked the the part where Muta hits the Moonsault and Buzz counts 1-2-3. Flair vs Muta should have main evented Starrcade. You get one PPV main event with Muta before he returns to Japan and one more PPV main event out of babyface Flair before he turns heel. A really energetic Flair performance coupled with good work from Muta on offense makes this an easy thumbs up. ***3/4

Ric Flair & Barry Windham vs Ricky Steamboat & Eddie Gilbert - NWA World Championship Wrestling 1/21/89 Before I forget, I want to talk about the post-match. Steamboat was great: calm, cool, collected he just pinned the World's Heavyweight Champion clean in the middle of the ring and stated his goal to become World Champion. It really picks up with Flair. Flair loses his fucking mind. Wow! How much does that loss mean to him? Think about you truly believe you're the best, but you just got your shoulders pinned to the mat 1-2-3 by your archrival from a decade ago who just showed up unannounced for the first time in five years. In a shoot, that would fuck with you head. Flair lets you believe it does. Flair goes berserk because he is insecure and he knows his place as champion is tenuous. He cites the fact that he is a multi-millionaire and that shit like this doesnt happen to people like him. He is trying to cling to some status. It is only making the psychotic break more real because it attacks his very identity. Flair is the best. The match itself is awesome and you cant ask for much more out of a tag team TV main event. Steamboat as a surprise partner on TV was a huge angle and really jumpstarted Flair & NWA's incredible 1989. What a shine! Steamboat looked like a million bucks out there. Windham & Flair were in full bump 'n' run mode. Loved Steamboat chucking Flair into Windham. Flair was so good in this. The laughs or the shouts "Now Im got him" only to be thwarted at every pass. Thats what makes Flair so good. It is not just running through and bumping for Steamboat. He is confident. He does believe he get this done, but he ends up going flying and landing on his back. Steamboat tagged in Gilbert. They even shined Gilbert up real good. This is Flair so he is always a selfless wrestler. Windham was just magic selling for babyfaces. The tide turns the Horsemen favor when Windham rakes the eyes of Gilbert in the figure-4. Blink you will miss it. This black glove just slides into the camera shot rakes the eyes and presto is gone. The heat segment is great and I liked it a lot better than the one from the one on one Windham vs Gilbert match because there were a lot more hope spots. Cocky Horsemen is so good. They were high-fiving and smiling. Windham comes flying off that top turnbuckle only to crash and burn. The finish stretch is short 'n' sweet. Flair bumps all around for Steamboat. Steamboat hits the top rope crossbody for the 1-2-3. Talk about being paid, laid and made. With a snap of their fingers, Flair vs Steamboat is the hottest thing in the NWA! ****1/4

NWA United States Champion Barry Windham vs Eddie Gilbert - NWA World Championship Wrestling 12/24/88 I love the basic story here of Windham as the overconfident, arrogant champion taking the smaller Eddie Gilbert lightly at the outset only to be proven wrong. Windham would be facing the behemoth, Bam Bam Bigelow in two nights at Starrcade and this viewed as a tune up match by Windham and JJ. JJ has a smug grin on his face, nonchalantly strolling around ringside. Windham picks up Hot Stuff and places him on the top rope as if he is a small child. I like how they actually let Windham take the beginning of the match. They dont rush into Gilbert proving himself. Windham is armdraggin and taking Gilbert down at will. It establishes Gilbert is the underdog and he does need to overcome the champion rather going into bump 'n' run immediately. Gilbert starts to get pissed that Windham is tasking him lightly. Things get testy with a shove and then Gilbert starts to tee off. This is where Gilbert is at his best when you can use those punches. He is a Memphis guy. He is at home in a match centered around fisticuffs. Windham does a great job selling. I love the way Windham just melts into a puddle as he powders. Unfortunately, we dont see how Windham takes over. I liked the heat segment in the sense that we got to see really great Windham punches and a wide variety of suplexes. Gilbert's selling was great and he was always rising & always moving forward. I am a big proponent of hope spots. There were none and therefore I thought the heat segment dragged a little. The comeback was built around Gilbert shoving off on the superplex. Again using those right to create fire. Windham traps him in the claw. I thought the finish was weak. Gilbert was midcard at this point to break the claw really undercuts the claw. Furthermore, it being a knee from JJ that finishes that match. I mean he took how many suplexes and kicked out. That knee did not look that vicious and its from he manager. If the knee set up a DDT, Superplex, Lariat or Claw, I dig but to get right to the finish really undercuts Windham. They did a great job and told the full fleshed out story of the overconfident champion and the game challenger, a good hidden gem to go check out in your spare time. ***1/2

I'm going to try to be more religious about getting my comments on here & on Twitter because I do watch the show every week. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the early Nitro style booking of the Women's main event scene. Nia, Becky, Ronda & Charlotte all have beefs with each other and everything feels electric. Love all the name dropping. I'm so stoked for Nia vs Becky...I hope it's at Rumble but Mania would be even sweeter! im pretty apathetic about Rollins & Ziggler individually but I think they have great chemistry together. Very good match normally not a fan of Superplex/Falcons Arrow but it felt electric and felt like THE FINISH and best part it was THE FINISH, no kick out good stuff. Baron Corbin is the number one heel on RaW. That's really...amazing...RAW Main Event just screams midcard right now. I do think Corbin is a good stooge and has a sweet right hand. He moves like Kane so much and has so many of his mannerisms. We got another 17 years of Corbin people! Heyman has to be booking right? This stuff with Drake Maverick is terrible. Has it been confirmed he is booking again? WAIT THAT WAS THE WORST RAW EVER?!? Oh my God are you guys kidding me? That was child's play compared to some shit we have all seen. Holy Overreaction! I went to RAW in Boston in July that was way worse and way more boring. Y'all being silly. Nia Jax ruled in that segment.

NWA US Heavyweight Champion “Total Package” Lex Luger vs “Flyin” Brian Pillman Halloween Havoc 1989 Unfortunately, this is pretty much our only example of how Lex Luger, touring NWA World Champion would have looked as he takes on young, hot newcomer, Brian Pillman. It is a helluva damn match and it is too bad we didn't get more Luger matches like it. I do not know of any backstory to this match. Basically, I get the feeling that Pillman was a bright newcomer so they put him in there with one of the top heels and give him a shot at a major title and see how he does. This is one of the smartest worked matches I have ever seen. It is not like Steamboat/Luger, which has the ability to play off a feud. Instead all the drama in the match has to be generated between the ropes, which is not an easy task. Now factor in that both men debuted about three years before this and it is a very tough challenge. Both men delivered in spades with big time performances and getting very good crowd heat throughout. The story does take a couple of viewings before you get a good grasp of it. It seems that not even announcers really understood what was going on as he often wondered why Luger was not going for power moves instead of his strike-oriented offense. All will be explained in the following paragraphs.Instead of establishing the obvious Luger strength advantage, they put over Pillman’s tenacity by letting him stick with collar-elbow tie-up and get a playful slap out of that. Luger does not take to kindly to the insolence from the rookie (it was Pillman’s first year with company) and takes him to the woodshed. Then he gets cocky after all he is Lex Fuckin Luger. Pillman does not take kindly to that and TACKLES him to the ground then follows it up with a chop, back body drop, dropkick, baseball slide and another chop. This felt really heated and Luger was bumping like a madman to make Pillman look good. Luger is giving Pillman a lot here and making him look really good. Air Pillman misses and Luger bails; Pillman gives chase. Luger cuts Pillman off with a kneelift, hmmm where I have seen this before. Luger tries to set up for a power move to consolidate the advantage but Pillman evades him with a cross body block, which gets two. Pillman then grounds the more powerful Luger with an armdrag and wristlock. This is the sequence I just fuckin love about this match. Pillman started off full of piss and vinegar, but that got him in trouble so now he is content with controlling the pace with an armbar. This frustrates Luger rather than really hurting him. Everytime, Luger tries to get something going on offense Pillman will use his quickness to get back into the armbar. They go back to this like three times, which really hammers home the point. Pillman does not how to put away Luger and Luger cant use his strikes to set up a control segment because of Pillman’s quickness. This only works because Luger consciously only uses strikes and no slams or suplexes during this portion. You really get a feeling that Pillman is out-wrestling Luger, but you are worried that he wont put him away. Perfect analogy is when an underdog has the slight lead on a favorite the whole game. You are in shock that they are hanging tough with the favorite and as the match progresses you are nervous if they can hold on. Just like in that scenario, when the favorite or Luger in this case starts to build momentum your stomach drops. That’s when it happens. Pillman goes for the put away and crashes and burns on a splash attempt. Now Luger finally has the ability to put together an offensive sequence that makes Pillman only more sympathetic as he takes an ass-kicking from the much bigger Luger. Luger crushes him with a wicked clothesline from behind, steps on his throat and a delayed vertical suplex gets two as he releases all that frustration. Luger is so jacked in terms of energy. It was an awesome burst of offense. As Pillman tries to build a comeback, Luger sends him crashing through the ropes onto the outside with a well-timed leverage move. Pillman gets a sunset flip for two when he gets back in and then Luger crashes and burns on his big lariat attempt as he hurdles over the rope to the floor. It is such a great spot because it looks visually impressive and Luger uses it late in matches to put over the fact his opponent is so resilient that he needs to go for a big move to end it, but cant connect. As they tussle on top, Pillman pushes Luger off the top and gets a sunset flip for 2. Pillman follows this up with a flying reverse elbow for 2. Now the place is rocking as Luger is begging off and Pillman is looking like a million bucks. Air Pillman (springboard clothesline) connects, but only gets two as Luger puts his foot on the ropes (protecting the finisher). Pillman misses a dropkick and Luger connects with a hotshot to escape with title. Luger gave so much to Pillman throughout the match. In the beginning, he let Pillman look like his equal in the collar-elbow tieup. He sold for Pillman well during the hot shine segment. Then he let Pillman control a well-put together body of the match, which illustrated how Pillman’s quickness was besting Luger’s power. The heat segment put over Pillman’s resilience. Then finally the Pillman comeback really felt like Pillman was one move away from winning. The finish paid off how Pillman’s mistakes were his downfall and that Luger escaped with his title by hitting one lucky move off. Fabulous match and really shows how Luger was one of the best workers in the world in 1989 and that Pillman had a bright future ahead of him. ****1/2

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair - NWA/WCW 3/18/1989 Two of the all-time great silent movie actors do battle here. What I love about this match is it as shot I believe as a fan cam and the only noise is ambient crowd noise. Occasionally, you can hear a Flair howl or chop, but other than that there are no sound effects. Yet what you watch on the screen is so engrossing. You can see how big each man's motions are. These are two larger than life characters. First 20 Minutes: I love how these guys take their time. The shine is 10 minutes and so much fun. I loved Steamboat slapping the taste out of Flair's mouth in the corner. How they lingered in that staredown! Flair is so great at throwing so much at his opponents in the early going only to thwarted at every pass. He really makes the babyface earn the shine. He gives us so many different looks that sets up so much great Steamboat offense. He was really into begging off which was creating some openings with the point of the boot to the midsection. Steamboat would sell that like he been shot in the chest, but then he would fire off the chops and send the Nature Boy packing. I thought the real transition was pedestrian. It was a simple kneelift to the midsection. It was only saved by the fact that was something Flair had kicked twice before. Flair was great at crowding and controlling Steamboat's positioning by constantly moving him into corner. I loved the early figure-4! We dont get it often, but Flair worked the leg like a son of a gun and throw in some liberal Hiro Mastuda cheating and some big time Steamboat selling and you have a recipe for an awesome heat segment. Flair never let up on the knee, really great work here. Best part was Steamboat was rallying goes for a headlock, but Flair turns it into a kneecrusher. Flair would keep quashing those rallies by attacking the knee and eventually applying another figure-4. He would hit his patented kneedrop, but when he went for a second one he missed! Ooooooooooooooo drama! Last Half: Well everyone and his mother knows that Flair was going into the Figure-4 after that spot. Not to be outdone, Flair gives a ***** selling performance in the figure-4. He is so loud you can actually hear him holler. He was really great here. Steamboat vigorously attacks the leg with elbows and then another figure-4. He goes for his splash and eats knees. This levels the playing field for the finish run. Lots of Flair gaga down the stretch: shoving Tommy Young, press slam off the top, Flair Flips, Flair crossbody off the top lands! I actually liked the beginning better because Flair focused on leg work is not something we get to see a lot and I loved how well Steamboat was selling. I enjoy this, but this is something we have all seen before. It is all the usual spots. The only new spot is a spot that would be used to great effect at the Clash rematch which is the Double Chickenwing. Something weird happens towards the end it looks Steamboat wins via a top rope crossbody but Young kinda just stops counting and even Steamboat seems confused. He really kicks some Flair ass and Flair really goes into selling overdrive. Flair gets caught with his feet on the ropes before Steamboat rolls him for the win. This is a master class in taking your time and letting things breathe before really running away with it at the end. When they have at least two ***** in the same year, pretty much everything will be a step down, but this is still great and a great look into what an average house show was (how cool would it have been to be there for this!) ****1/2

Fun fact I was at the Eddie vs Rey 2004 match live. I feel so lucky to have seen it. 2005 match does rule and that spot going into the heat segment is the stand out spot!

Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio - Smackdown 6/23/05 So I had some time between my tour of Schobrunn Palace in Vienna & dinner at that palace so I figured I watch me some pro wrasslin. But they closed halfway through this match so i had to relocate to this fancy ass restaraunt. I felt like kinda asshole with my headphones in watching this match, but I'm by myself & it is too early to eat. It was just a weird setting to watch this match and felt the need to give some context to this match review. I got a Mozart concert at the palace after dinner and am really hoping they play his hit single, Amadeus. :p Onto the match proper, everyone knows this is a badass bout and one I watched lived and again about 5-6 years back. Let's get this out of the way, I prefer the Havoc match. Based on memory, I thought this would give the Havoc match a run for its money but the Havoc match has every bit the hate this match has. Eddie was cold & souless here. In '97, he has that heel sneer. What puts the 97 match over is the flawless execution, high velocity of the impact, and the efficiency. Now this match is still tremendous. Again before the match, a lot of adieu before the match, let's give a shoutout to this hot, traditional crowd. They were rooting hard for Rey. Hell they popped for an armdrag two minutes in. They were chanting 619 when REY was doing the ab stretch. When do you ever hear that. Eddie sucks was ringing throughout the match. The wrestlers & the story was over. People need to stop with this bullshit that today's crowd is how it has to be in a post-kayfabe world. It is 2005 and this crowd is every bit as good as a 1985 crowd. It can be done but we need better writing and wrestlers who are invested in the writing. Ok now onto the match proper, the story is simple Eddie turned heel in a violent fashion because he couldn't beat Rey in a clean, straight match. It drove him to insanity. This match is a representation of this turn as Eddie wrestles the first portion straight but is consistently bested by the quickness of Rey Rey. Rey hits a big springboard plancha to really kickstart his control. Eddie has a wicked bruise on his hip from a steel chair attack from a vengeful Mysterio from a previous episode of Smackdown. Rey uses abdominal stretch to work it over. The match kicks into the next gear when Eddie shoves Rey off the ropes and he takes a gnarly tumble off the top to the floor. Eddie has that mid-match metamorphosis becoming that sadistic sociopath Hell-bent on brutally destroying Mysterio. Again, he was bested by Mysterio in a straight wrestling match and this fueled his mid-match psychotic break. It was quite the heat segment and should go down as one of the all time greats. Focused on the back, Eddie expertly combines grizzly holds, sudden cutoffs and humiliation tactics all focused on the back and breaking Rey's spirit. To me the two bavkbreakers and the powerbomb were standouts. Rey sold well and timed his hope spots well. The first 619 tease got a huge pop. He really did a great job dragging out his comeback. Gradually having longer runs but Eddie would suddenly cut him off. Eddie sold his frustration of not being able to pin Mysterio well. Eddie misses the Frogsplash and that was Rey's big opportunity. 619->Drop The Dime! It was not quite as violent as I remembered. To me this was a really high end execution of a fundamental pro wrestling match. The mid-match heel turn by Eddie and Rey resislently resisting to lose and eventually winning to keep storyline going. Probably the 2005 WWE match of the year but I'll have to take a look back. ****1/2

WWE Champion Tripe H vs Jeff Hardy - No Mercy 2008 I got into it a little with Dave Meltzer on Twitter recently. Nothing too extreme maybe three tweets each traded back and forth about how classic wrestling is timeless. He believes that today's wrestling far outstrips yesterday's wrestling and most five star matches of yesteryear would be more like ****. As a staunch fan of the years gone by, I took great umbrage with this. He made the point the evolution is natural and today's wrestlers have learnt then refine on their predecessor's work. My point was a lot of today's wrestlers only picked up bits and pieces and more often than not are missing that connective tissue. This match is a great example. This is a very good match. There is nothing bad about it, but there is nothing excellent about it. Triple H gives a souless Ric Flair travelling NWA Champion against feel-good fan favorite Jeff Hardy. Triple H is a perfect example of somebody who has studied pro wrestling, but is very mechanical often forgets the charisma and energy part of the performance. He plugs Jeff Hardy into his version of the Ric Flair formula, but does not do any of the stooging and bumping to really get the crowd going. The shine is just good when it could be great. The best part of the match is the transition to the heat segment. I liked the organic tease of the Pedigree by Hardy shouldertackling through the ropes but HHH negotiating him into a Pedigree position only to take a big back drop bump over the rope to the floor. Then Jeff Hardy comes flying over the top for a Swanton Bomb but eats nothing but floor. Tremendous sequence with a big time payoff. The heat segment was very ho-hum from HHH some targetting of the back, decent holds. The comeback was way too simple. Just a sling blade. Need to make him earn it. Hardy scores with the Swanton Bomb over the top but the commentators miss that this is the payoff for the earlier attempt. The finish run is pretty basic counter-secondary move-counter, but I do like that here are not hitting their moves. They are either missing or being countered. Hardy gets his big run with Whisper In The Wind, Twist of Fate and nails the Swanton. The place explodes they really think he is going to win. HHH gets an Oklahoma side roll due to Hardy's sloppy cover to escape. Some matches have a lot of great parts but the bad brings it to down to a very good rating. There are some matches that are very good and just never get to the next level, but there is nothing bad about them. This is the latter. ***1/2

ECW Champion Jack Swagger vs Christian - WWECW 2/24/09 I was not watching much ECW at this time, but I think I actually watched this match live specifically because I knew Christian was back. If it was not this match, it was another Swagger match from early 2009. My point is I really thought Swagger was a cant miss prospect at that time. I am a total sucker for those Watts-type, amatuer hosses. Swagger looked like the second coming of Doctor Death here. I would continue to have a soft spot for Swagger until the end of his run. This match totally lives up to the hype. The ultimate game of cat & mouse. On paper this is a no contest. Swagger should murder Christian. All American wrestler that can takedown and suplex Christian at will. Christian has a great right, but his stand up game is not that strong and his submission game non-existent. He can fly but he ain't Rey Mysterio. The beginning of the match we see just that Swagger take Christian down at will. He gets in a punch here and there, but his actual game plan is to move & stick. He is gonna evade Swagger and then strike. My making Swagger miss he keeps Swagger off balance. The problem of this strategy is made apparent readily is Swagger catches Christian its lights out. Christian avoids Swagger in the corner only to eat an Axe Bomber. He tries to evade by jumping over the top rope on the apron, but Swagger bulldozes him with a shouldertackle this would injure Christian's left arm. This would be a touchstone for the rest of the match and hats off to Christian for a tremendous long term selling performance that plays into the finish. Christian gets desperate here due to the injury. He avoids Swagger who ends up by the steel steps. Christian rushes headlong and now it is Swagger that moves and Christian eats the steel. We see how dangerous this "cat & mouse" strategy is and how it is backfiring for our hero. Swagger controls with a nice top wristlock and an armstretcher. Christian tries to make a one arm comeback but Swagger quashes that with a VICIOUS Shoulderbreaker->Oklahoma Stampeded->Shoulderbreaker! WOW! Can you say Hello Doc? Great offensive stretch from Swagger. Christian gets on the comeback trail with a second rope dropkick. He definitely needs more of that where he can create separation from a pure wrestler like Swagger. Thats how Christian's comeback materializes by evading suplexes he can create separation and hit his reverse DDT and a nice top rope headbutt (he misses his first attempt). Swagger does get his suplexes in such as the Belly-to-belly and Northern Lights but Christian still has the wherewithal to kick out. What I love about this finish stretch is that is a great mix of missed/block moves and secondary moves that hit. It feels hotly contested while also building to a crescendo. Then on top of that you have Christian selling throughout this stretch fabulously. The finish is the cherry on top. Christian has started really stringing together moves when Swagger throws him bad shoulder first into the post. He wants the Doctor Bomb, but Christian counters looking for the Killswitch but his arm fails him, it is just too injured. DOCTOR BOMB! 1-2-3! The look on Christian's face and the way he was contorting his hand made you believe that despite all his internal desire his body just could not deliver the finishing blow and Swagger took advantage with his finisher. Tremendous cat & mouse story paired with awesome big man Swagger offense, great Christian selling and a great finish run. Cant praise this enough, this what high-end TV wrestling looks like! ****1/4

ECW Champion Jack Swagger vs Christian - WWECW 2/10/09 I accidentally watched the wrong match. I was wondering why this was thought of so highly. Christian returns to ECW after being in TNA for about 3 years and says "Sufferin' Succotash" in his opening promo so thats where Roman got it from. Swagger lost his first match to Finlay the week before due to some Hornswoggle chicanery. Swagger was great here gobbling Christian up with his amateur wrestling stuff. Christian's right hand was great and rang throughout the building. He used that liberally in his shine and as hope spots. He kept Swagger off balance early with roll ups before succumbing to Swagger's amateur acumen. During the break, Swagger press slammed Christian to the floor in an impressive spot. Finish stretch was paced well by Christian a good mix of highspots and missed moves. Neither one can pull the trigger on their finish.The exposed turnbuckle is a red herring as Hornswoggle distracts the ref, Finlay takes out the leg and Christian engages the Killswitch for the win. Good TV match Swagger looked great here and Christian shows what he lacks in offense he makes up for in layout and escalation. Look forward to the actual hyped match. ***

WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs John Morrison - Smackdown 9/4/09 Two of the most deceptively hard hitting wrestlers in the modern WWE era are pitted here. No one is going to confuse either for Stan Hansen (or Nia Jax for that matter, lets see how this one ages), but both lay their stuff in and do not work Kofi light. One of the big revelations of going back and watching this era is realizing John Morrison is actually a pretty good wrestler. He is athletic without being too athletic and like I said he does have good strikes. I thought this was a perfect, respectful babyface match. It reminded me a lot of the Sabin vs Shelley match from January 2009 I just watched in that there is no subtle heel in this match. It is just two dudes going out to prove they are the best. In this match they do work control segments and there is a more fundamentals based approach so it is not quite as avant-garde as Sabin vs Shelley but this is still great. Lots of traditional symmetry proving devices trading headlocks, knucklelocks, cradles and stare-offs. We dont see Rey work control often due to being a babyface and undersized, but it is refreshing to see that. Some really great ranas from him in this match along with good strikes. Morrison has a great mule kick that lands right on the button and his control segment is great. Again there is athletic moves like Standing Shooting Star Press and Break Dance Leg Drop. It is not that I see a flip and immediately hate it. I like these moves. I have come to realize I hate athletic sequences. When it is looks like two dudes are re-creating their favorite men's floor exercise routine. Wicked cross body collision takes into the commercial break before the home stretch. They never break rhythm and keep this respectful throughout. There is a good sense of escalation and back & forth without feeling "my turn, your turn". Some great finisher teases. I did think there was a bit too much no selling down the line and moves were not being treated as consequential particularly egregious was the 619, Morrison duck and then the Tidal Wave. It really undercuts the 619. I LOVED the finish. Rey interrupts Starship Pain for a second time, signals for a Top Rope DRAGONRANA, but Morrison holds onto the ropes and hits Starship Pain from that position for the upset I-C Title victory! Really cool finish. A pure, respectful babyface vs babyface which I love I think matches like this should be more commonplace to make heels & cheating more meaningful. ****

Finally someone with some Wrestling smarts, this is the first thing I thought when I finally read what happened (Im wicked behind, I am in Europe on business). Becky vs Nia is a license to print fucking money right now. Becky is over like rover. Nia is a fucking heat-seeking missile on the internet. The place would erupt for their match. Forget Mania, strike while the iron is hot. Royal Rumble would be my target date and fuck all the brand split bullshit, make this match happen! Nia vs Ronda was one of the best matches of the year and I think this would be molten. Somebody has to say it, what Nia did to Becky could be the biggest thing to happen to Becky's career. That image is going to be iconic. The only thing is a concussion. That is serious business. I feel really bad for Becky and will be praying for a speedy recovery. The broken nose will heal, but the concussion is serious, long-term damage. So that is terrible.

For the umpteenth time, AJ did NOT carry Brock. Fine you dont like Brock, but he was NOT carried. Jesus, what is people's problem. You can not like somebody and still throw them a compliment every once a while. It is not like one compliment you are going to lose your Brock-hating internet cred.

TNA Knockouts Champion Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong - TNA Turning Point 2007 For those who are having a bit of trouble remembering the timeline like I was, Gail Kim won the right to be the first knockouts champion at Bound For Glory (October 2007) and this is the first PPV meeting between these two. During my TNA fan heyday, I was a huge Awesome Kong mark. Going back and watching this did not let me down one bit. If this happened today in WWE, this would be considered tippy top stuff. Awesome Kong is well awesome! Just an absolute freight train. She jumps Kim before the bell knocking her off the apron. Everyone loves to compare her to Vader and I get it: the gloves, the girth, and the power (I really wanted a "g" word there). She wrecks Kim for a good couple minutes before the official bell. What Gail Kim does so well is she never dies. She constantly peppering in shots. She is scrappy and punching & kicking. Kong is just overwhelming her. That sense of struggle makes for great pro wrestling. They set up Kim's offense so well. It is always Kong charging and running into stuff. The only thing that can hurt Kong in this match is Kong herself. Kim works that arm after it connects with the post, but eventually Kong uses her size to bully herself back into control. Body checks, the punches, the back fists all great. Kim is perfect, scrappy and vulnerable. Camel clutch and pulling the hair, toying with ref trying to make her break, biting the hair and yanking back. She is a great wild character. Like The Sheik and Vader mixed. Kim's big finish run is so damn great. It is what wrestling is made of. She is using her quickness to break down Awesome Kong. Repeated missile dropkicks as Kong is a weeble wobble that wont go down until one massive missile dropkick to the head! THE ROOF DAMN NEAR COMES OFF THE PLACE! I am pumping my fist over ten years later. SENTON! 1-2-NO! I am counting right along with them. Kong regains control by clocking her with a spinning backfirst. Kong sees red and is trying to choke the life out of Kim with her boot. The ref tries to pull her off but Kong piefaces him and he calls for the bell. Kong goes on a path of destruction destroying Kim, Velvet Sky and Angelina Love. It is punctuated by an Awesomebomb on a steel chair. Amazing match, put a real finish on this and it is a classic. Great first match in the series. Lives up to the hype totally! ****1/4

Chris Harris vs James Storm - TNA Sacrifice 2007 Texas Death Match To me, this epitomizes the power of pro wrestling. Take two guys I dont care about. I am not being mean. I dont have positive or negative feelings about the Wildcat or Cowboy. Great pro wrestling transcends that. You invest when the wrestlers are invested. I have generally enjoyed James Storm during my strong TNA fandom from 2005-2009. My memories of Chris Harris are fainter. This is a hellacious bloodbath stands up there with some of the best Southern brawls of the 80s. Two plot points is all you need to know they were a tag team called America's Most Wanted and James Storm turned heel and blinded Chris Harris in one eye. Bang! Im sold. Lets do this. I thought the early brawling through the crowd was great and heated. Chris Harris as the babyface dominated, he was pissed and his emotion was carrying the day. My two favorite parts of the shine were Storm throwing the drink in the face, but Harris responding with a hard Irish Whip. Then Harris guzzling a beer before doing a top rope splash over the railing onto Storm for the first fall. That was totally unexpected! Harris' nonchalant demeanor worked there. Traditional Death Match rules here as it is a pinfall that precedes the 10 count. I actually prefer this to current Last Man Standing rules. We will get into this later in the match. Wildcat gets hung up in a tree of woe and Storm blasts him with a chair. Harris gigs himself. Wildcat is a really cool nickname for a pro wrestler. Harris tries to valiantly fight back. He catapults Storm into the underside of the table in wicked spot and Storm is busted too. Double juice! Storm has a five alarm bladejob. Storm punts him in the balls as his only recourse to stem the metaphorical bleeding and Harris succumbs to the Eye of the Storm through a table! I thought the table bumps were great in this match. Well setup and use for maximum impact. Believe the hype, match has been absolutely tremendous thus far. Hate-filled, blood, punches, big time spots. Storm is looking to add weapons to meter out more punishment. He wants to hurl Harris over the top rope through a table, but that is blocked and instead Harris goes all Big E and spears Storm off the apron through the table! HOLY SHIT! Wow! Jacqueline (in a Confederate Cowboy Hat I might add) stops the Wildcat from getting a pin. Now this is the part of the match where I think traditional Death Match rules shine. They trade nearfalls. Storm hits a wicked desperation Van Daminator (Harris was about to take his head off with a chair) and Harris hits the Catatonic on a trash can. Both cases both men kickout at two out of pride. This is saves the audience for another long 8-9 count. Also, the pinfalls give a clear delineation of when a knockdown count should begin. It also saves us from the silly double knockout finish. I had never given much thought to this before, but I think traditional Death Match rules are superior to today's Last Man Standing. Jacqueline tries to save Storm after that Catatonic and thats when Gail Kim comes down and drags her out. If I remember correctly, Gail Kim was AMW's manager in late 2005/early2006 so good callback there. The finish is short and sweet, both men have a beer bottle. It is back to the OK Corral who has the quicker draw. Storm goes to spin Harris around, but BANG! Harris cracks him with the beer bottle for the pinfall and knockout victory. DAMN! Thats how you do a Southern-Fried, Revenge Bloodbath match! I love the efficiency of this match. Every highspot is so meaningful and so sticky. Hate, efficiency and blood you cant beat that! I think I am kinda underrating this right now, but just doesnt feel Top 100, but its damn close. Definitely a contender for best TNA match ever! ****1/2

Alex Shelley vs Chris Sabin - TNA Genesis 2009 Vacant X Division Championship Very innovative layout for an American match no classical heat segment or comeback. To my surprise, I thought these two made it work and they put on a terrific match. It was an interesting blend of lucha, NOAH juniors and American Indy wrestling. I am not a proponent that this style become the norm, but if one wanted to live in a post-babyface/heel world I would say this is the blueprint to make it work. I always think it is funny when people say there are not babyfaces and heels anymore in wrestling. If that was the case, there would not be heat segments and comebacks. Yet every match on the RAW I just watched had a heat segment where the heel dominated the babyface followed by a comeback from the babyface. Babyfaces and heels are very real, folks. Now this match tosses it out the window. It very easily could have devolved into a spotfest so why didnt it? Urgency and investment. I hesitate to use the word "struggle" there were still too many things that were easy. However, you could feel that these two men were invested in winning the match. It was not about showing off. It was about winning. There was also no walking through sequences. Everything felt urgent and nothing felt taken for granted. I thought they did a great job establishing that they were tag partners and friends with the mirroring and symmetry. The lucha mat work, arm drags, single leg scoops were great. I loved how they created that Sabin dive to the outside. It was a series of counters and all of sudden Sabin sees an opening and dives out. I was not a huge fan of the setup but Shelley's somersault legdrop was cool. They also added in stiff strikes. There was some great KENTA offense. The Tiger Suplex block and then hit was great. The nearfalls had bite. The spots were impressive and not just modified slams or overly choreographed floor exercise routines. I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this and really thought it was not just neat from a MOVEZ perspective, but I thought it was unique psychology. I think my favorite part of the whole thing is how post-modern it feels with no heat segment or comeback, but then they end with such a glorious heel finish. Shelley feigns an ankle injury. His tag partner and best friend is concerned only to be hoodwinked and rolled up for the loss. Just like that it is back to Pro Wrestling 101. Genius. I looked up to see what these two are doing now and saw Shelley just recently retired due to injury. All the best to him and good luck! Avant-garde pro wrestling again from TNA that really did not have much influence. ****1/4

Kurt Angle vs Desmond Wolfe - TNA Final Resolution 2009 2 out of 3 Falls Cage Match First Fall (Pinfall Only): I thought this was a big step up in intensity from the previous month. The chain wrestling looked much tighter here and I thought both men were really grappling for an advantage. Great use of the hammerlock by both men, it is a very underutilized hold that is great. Wolfe had some great side headlock takedowns. Really ripping Angle over. There is an interesting highspot in the middle where Angle hits a vicious powerbomb into the turnbuckles. While Wolfe does a great job selling having his bell rung, it is not a very consequential move. Wolfe regains control by snapping Angle down by the bad arm. Wolfe does a great job attacking the arm. We get the usual Angle comeback with a belly-to-belly suplex and then Germans. They named that Hanging Ace Crusher, Tower of London, which I do remember now and it looks fine, but man there is zero heat surrounding it. Angle kicks out. Angle kicking out of this move twice is doing it no favors. Angle comes back with a fucking schoolboy, well thats an odd choice. Angleslam, which Tenay calls a back suplex, which made me laugh for some reason. Angle misses the moonsault and LARIAOTOOOOOO! Tower of London it is almost out of defiance as Wolfe says "Fuck you all Im getting this move over" to win the first fall. All of Angle's matches should be pinfall only because no Anklelock reversals!!! Loved the first half, I thought the finish stretch fell kinda flat and there were some odd choices about move selection. Second Fall (Submission): Hell On Earth. Ok, it wasnt that bad. I was dreading this fall so bad, I decided to go to bed last night. Yes there were a ton of shitty anklelock counters, but Wolfe did have one nifty one that felt out of Volk Han's playbook and then ended up with a double wristlock out of it. All of Wolfe's submissions were cool and interesting. While we got the same cliched Anklelock transitions. It is not just being cliched it is how loose and easy everything looks. No struggle. Pretty much wiped out all the goodwill from the first fall. Third Fall (Escape): Great final fall. Really if it was just the third fall with maybe five minutes tacked on at the beginning to establish the body part psychology I would say this is a great match. I loved the great use of the cage and all the great selling. Then the symmetry of each one trying to climb the cage only to have their opponent slam the injured body part into the cage was awesome! Really good stuff. My favorite part was when Angle went for a splash and Nigel put up his bad foot and it hit Angle's bad arm. Nigel's selling was really damn good! Nigel goes for the door, but Angle drags him back in by the bad leg and locks in the anklelock to make sure he cant move. They went with the race finish with Nigel looking for the door and Angle going over, Angle wins. 2/3rds of this match is great and the second fall could have been worse it wasnt that bad. ***3/4

Kurt Angle vs Desmond Wolfe - TNA Turning Point 2009 Something I have wanted to see since it was deemed an "instant classic" back in 2009 and I thought it was pretty good. Wolfe's arm work is definitely the highlight. Some great torturous holds, and moves like a great Hammerlock/Back Heel Trip combination. Not quite Dick Murdoch good, but it felt fresh and unique. The finish run was a good blending of their moves. Angle had turned the tide with six German suplexes. They traded a Nigel lariat and then an Angleslam. From there, we did Anklelock dance routine paired with a top wristlock. The arm work was mostly forgotten down the stretch, but at least it was remembered there. Nigel counters the Angleslam and hits his finish looking thing (Ace Crusher from the top rope) to absolutely zero heat. Nobody not even the kids or the grandmas bought that finish. Nigel winds up for a clothesline, but Angle hits his own. They are kinda playing up that Nigel is targetting the neck in the latter stages of the match, but why didnt they just go full bore. They do a tombstone reversal sequence leads to the finish sequence. I thought the finish itself was really good. Angle moves from the Ankelock to try for a cross-armbreaker but with Nigel's hands clasped he gets a perfect side triangle choke and immediate tap out. They play up the story that Nigel is a newcomer, but he does not earn his offense. It just happens. The match felt like they were walking throughout it times. Lacked both energy and struggled. The arm work was good and the finish run was laid out well enough. A bit underwhelming honestly, but still on the right side of good. ***1/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Christian Cage vs Samoa Joe - Destination X 2007 I keep waiting for Christian to knock my socks off. He is very good but nothing spectacular. Same holds true here. I thought Joe was great as usual. The shine was really good. Showed off Joe's strikes, explosiveness and the cool badass. Christian was pretty good feeding all this. I liked Christian squandering his lucky advantage by going for a chair perfect way for a heel to lose his edge by being greedy. Joe really threw him down. Christian finally gets a DDT on apron. I thought Joe's selling could have been better. I thought he died too soon. Christian had ok heel offense. Joe was great in his comeback really firing on offense. Match really went off the rails. I can finally pinpoint my issue with overbooking. I like overbooking in general and I know I'm kinda alone on this. I hate overbooking when it was non-consequential. There was a steel chair shot AND a ball shot where there was no selling AND Joe hit the next move after each. Respect that! Chair shots and ball shots should be big time blows. The actual finish is good with Christian doing the Survivor Series 96 finish using the ropes. Pretty good match nothing crazy overbooking sucked. ***1/2

TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels - Final Resolution 2006 The Joe vs Daniels rivalry is the least discussed of the three pairings of the main X Division competitors. I actually like Daniels and always think he does good work. I know some people dont care for him, but I would like to hear the knocks against him. There is something about him that screams midcard or ceiling I should say. Like you feel like Joe & AJ are main event players, but for some reason it does not feel like Daniels belongs in the main event and I dont know why. It is not size because AJ is just as big if not a little shorter. Anyways, I thought this was a great match between these two. The story going into it is that Joe has concussed and busted Daniels open in the lead up to the match. Daniels comes out firing on all cylinders. I really like how this was a battle of tempo early on. Daniels came out like a bat out of hell and was keeping Joe off balance with a quick pace and a relentless attack. This is always a risky situation because it allows Joe to be reactionary and find an opening. Twice Joe just avoided aerial moves by Daniels and each time Joe ground the match to a halt. He was measuring Daniels and really laying everything. It was inevitable that Daniels was going to have to win this match with a slow tempo approach. He just kept getting countered. He was working in slams to set up his moonsaults, but was not able to negotiate the pinfall. Joe was frustrated by his own inability to submit Daniels. I did think parts of the match were a little too back and forth, but the action was always crisp and interesting. The match hits the finish run when Daniels hits a wicked slingshot elbow drop on the floor. That was some serious flesh on flesh impact. Damn! Daniels sells his hip like a million bucks and when he is looking to get back in the ring Joe rocks him with a kick to the head. Remember the concussion. Then Joe hits the facewash on the guradrail and Daniels is busted. Daniels tries valiantly to come back but it is too late and Joe destroys. Musclebuster and then a musclebuster on a chair followed by wicked Fujita-like knees to the head and best friend AJ has to throw in the towel. The beginning was cool. The middle was a lot of nice signature stuff. The finish run was really great and really put Joe over as a cold, soulless killer. ****

El-P not quite as high as you are on Angle & this match, but I do wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment that I wish this match was way more influential than it was. I think this is one of the most interesting matches from the 2000s. TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe - Lockdown 2008 O, what could have been! I remember many praising this match as the future of American wrestling. So many were calling for pro wrestling to look and feel more like MMA with the UFC boom underway. I had never seen this match before and just knew based on its rep that it was going to have a MMA feel to it. I have become a big fan of Japanese shoot-style over the years and I was curious to see if this would hold up. Granted, I have not watched any RINGS past 1997 yet, that is important to bear in mind. This is definitively different than Japanese shoot-style which is based on Karl Gotch catch wrestling mixed in with some judo and kickboxing. Meaning there is no jiu-jitsu and especially no fighting from your back and so limited guards. This match taking place in 2008 where in a lot of ways Jiu-Jitsu won the MMA war (I am not a MMA expert, yes wrestlers tend to do the best in MMA, but a lot of what we see on the ground is Jiu-Jitsu based) and yes I realize that Kimura is just a double wristlock stolen from Catch Wrestling and Juji-Gatame has Judo origins. I am off on a tangent, my point is a lot of people associate Jiu-Jitsu style fighting as MMA. So you see more guard positioning here and see full mounts. Things you would not see in Japanese shoot style. There are elements of Japanese shoot-style, Joe has a great Oo-Soto-Gari/Hiplock Takeover (I never know if Judo or Catch Wrestling innovated the move I guess since we are in America I should use the Catch name for the move) and Angle responds with a great Saito Suplex. Now they do work in more pro style moves. There are no Irish Whips, which I love. I would love to see wrestling de-emphasize the Irish Whip. We do see rope running and charging. What I love about that is whoever charges ends up on the losing end! Exactly how it should be, if you come charging in to your opponent, 9 times out of 10 you creating an opening for your opponent to calculate and react. Angle is able to chop the knee and move into a great figure-4. Later on the match when Angle is desperate and charges, Joe takes him him down with a Fujiwara armbar into a Crippler Crossface. Thats great Catch Wrestling. I thought Joe's offense coming out of the Figure-4 looked ferocious. I really dug that lariat. Great use of his ROH combination powerbomb->Boston Crab->STF->Crossface. There are some annoying loose Anklelocks and counters in and out of the Anklelock that suck and really undermine all the great Pro/MMA work they were doing. I loved the finish to bring it back home to pro wrestling throw him into the cage, kick his head off and Musclebuster for the win. Incredibly interesting match that I really think every pro wrestling should watch because it is so unique. This is not Japanese shoot style just done in America, this is distinctly different and more based off what you would see in the UFC circa 2008 as opposed to Karl Gotch's vision of Catch Wrestling. I think this style actually taking off would have been a huge boon to the wrestling industry (or selfishly my enjoyment of it) because it feels so different. I would love to see a style that developed now that de-emphasizes Irish Whips and rope running. There is some stuff I didnt like (yes mostly centered around that infuriating anklelock) which keeps me from calling this classic, but it is definitely entertaining and great. I would love to get more and more people's insight on this because I think it is inherently interesting and there would be a wide variety of opinions on it. ****1/4

Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe - TNA Turning Point 2006 Pro Wrestling Hell is watching Kurt Angle do loose chain wrestling based around his anklelock for all eternity. Can I tap out? I guess I could have stopped watching. I was tearing my hair out during all those terrible Anklelocks and then the even worse counters. Actually the most egregious was how easy it was to escape a rear naked choke. I actually thought this match was the more interesting match of the two at first before in devolved into the worst chain wrestling in history. It was built around Angle the wrestler vs Joe the striker. It lasted for two minutes, but it was cool. I will give Angle credit he is actually really good at punching. He has a great right. I really liked his out of control, awkward dive over the top rope to the floor. It felt raw and organic. I liked the brawling on the outside. So I was like alright throw out the wrestler vs striker narrative, lets have a brawl. Then we were doing double wristlocks from a side mount. So I was just confused. From there we were hitting signature spots. Then came Pro Wrestling Hell. This match was a total clusterfuck even before the shitshow finish. Angle taps out to the Coquina Clutch but theres no ref! Angle gets up and punts him between the legs. I have no problem with any of this. The commentators to do a good job putting over Angle is embarassed he tapped out and has snapped. He grabs a chair. This is when I was rolling my eyes. He swings the chair and it hits him in the face. But as Joe is grabbing at his trunks, Angle is floundering reaching for the ropes like a stooge. Dude, you just got hit in the face with a steel chair. Joe taps him out. Nothing mattered in this match. Zero. Why do I keep giving Kurt Angle chances? I am skipping the Final Resolution Iron Man Match because it didnt get good reviews even from people who liked these matches. I am going to watch the Lockdown match because I remember at the time people thought that was the future of pro wrestling with all the MMA influence in the match.

Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe - Genesis 2006 He pulled the straps up! HE PULLED THEM BACK DOWN! I am sorry but that sequence is one of those "Spinal Tap" moments for pro wrestling where I cant help but laugh even though it is supposed to be ultra-intense, hyper-masculine. TNA delivered on a big match that had a big match feel. I read this was TNA's highest PPV buyrate? I wouldnt be surprised this legitimately felt huge at the time. Joe had been undefeated for over a year and this was Angle's first match in TNA. Excellent booking. I was right in the middle of my TNA fandom and was definitely very pumped about this feud. I still remember the headbutt angle. So smart, so good. Even though I never bought any of the PPVs, teenager with no more and too proud to ask my Dad to buy more than one PPV a year. So here I am 12 years later finally watching it. I liked that they kept it short and sweet. It felt like they ran through their standard movesets. We got Joe's snap powerslam, wicked knee in the corner and that sick kick. We got Angle's rolling Germans. Musclebuster kickout. Angle Slam kick out. Anklelock-Coquina Clutch reversal, hey there was a flash of Fujiwara/Maeda in there (Angle getting a toehold in the choke out). Angle going over decisively was the right call. Usual complaints plague this match: not a lot of struggle at all throughout the match. They were not making each other work at all for their offense. The submission counterwrestling besides that flash was terrible and would drive any shoot-style fan crazy. Angle was at his video game worst where you just mash Square enough to break a lock up. I actually thought the beginning was the best with Joe dragging Angle out and slinging him into the railing and then hitting elbow suicida. What the hell was up with Angle gigging himself on a non-head shot, his knees hit the steel steps. The crowd loved "This is Awesome" throughout the match and a "Make him tap" which Angle loved. A modern Clash of Titans match, not too much finish spamming, but nothing that will change your life. ***1/4