Superstar Sleeze

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera - ECW Big Ass Extreme Bash '96 It has been a while since I have had some Juvy Juice in my life. First Fall: Action is fast & furious. I am a sucker for those knucklelock/monkey flip spots. Rey was so breath-taking in this era. There were little things that bothered. A couple times Rey just stood there waiting to be kicked. It was definitely very spotty, but the spots are legitimately. Rey hits an amazing split-legged top rope Asai Moonsault. Then Juvy drills him with a brainbuster like I said a spotfest, but they two are executing to perfection. Juvy hits an amazing Springboard Somersault Dropkick that I totally marked out for. Dragon Suplex for Juvytude! I didnt feel like Juvy is as good of a pure heel as Psicosis. But this was super fun. Second Fall: Just as I write that Juvy takes the ass-first Psicosis bump into the top turnbuckle! Rey just goes off in this fall. I am not super into this Rey gets beat up and then just makes a Superman comeback. It is not often you see Rey hit not one, but two powerbombs in a match. I loved the somersault plancha over the ref. That was awesome. Just a really good showcase of Rey's talents as an offense wrestler to tie up the match. Third Fall: AWESOME! They kick it into overdrive taking this from a good showcase match to one of the best spotfests you will ever see. Juvytud starts off the fall with three awesome dropkicks all from different angles. Juvy hits an Asai moonsault into the crowd. Then it is just balls to the wall. I remember Juvy missing a slingshot somersault legdrop. Rey Rey hitting a powerbomb as Juvy was coming off the top. Suplexes being traded. Hat Guy giving Rey a chair and him smashing Juvy's brains in before a massive somersault plancha into the crowd by Hat Guy and just wiping everything out. Powerbomb by Juvy on the hood of a car and Rey then hits a rana off the hood of the car onto the concrete. Insane! Rey throws a chair so hard at Juvy that it fucking horse collars him! Joey nailed it on this one "That hurt!" Fuck yeah. Splash Mountain->Rana you know the finish but goddamn it is an awesome one. Rey wins the match. Just a great balls to the wall spotfest. This was lucha should have been in WCW like all the time for years. ****

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Psicosis - ECW November 2 Remember 95 Mexican Death Match They go the "I cant believe he kicked out" resilience route, which I have never cared for. I think it undercuts the heel way more than it helps the babyface. I prefer that the babyface shows resilience through hope spots. Psicosis has great offense and Rey is a great seller, but it felt too ragdoll-y for me. There was no struggle. Rey kinda died. He was getting up at 9 after the first fall and he said had three falls left. Then he kinda just sprang into action after Rey positions the chair to have Psicosis land on it. Joey Styles says Rey was playing possum. I dont blame Joey for that he had to call what he saw. I felt like Rey just blew off the heat segment, which was the majority of the match. They did some pretty good crowd brawling. I love Rey throwing chairs around and diving into the crowd. The rana off the balcony underneath the Crow's Nest was a great finish. Easily their worst match together, but it is Rey vs Psicosis it is still entertaining because Psicosis bumps like a madman in the beginning & end and he does have great offense. ***1/2

That was a great story from Cox! Really cool! Rey Misterio Jr. vs Psicosis - ECW 10/17/95 2 Out of 3 Falls This match won best ECW Match Ever in the Smarkschoice poll. I remember thinking this was the best of the ECW series, but the Bash at the Beach 96 is still my favorite match of theirs (I feel like I have seen the highly acclaimed AAA match, but I cant remember it). First Fall: All Rey All The Time! Sometimes Rey can be a little shy with his shine like in the first match of this series, but here it is two dives into the crowd and snapping off a rana. Psicosis is an all-time great bumper. Rey what you actin shy for? Second Fall: The party dont stop as Psicosis goes ass first into the top turnbuckles when he charges in like a maniac. Psicosis is the long lost member of the Midnight Express. Rey keeps the party going with another rana out on the floor. Psicosis wants to shake hands. It was a bit clunky but he got an enziguiri out of the deal. Good Psicosis offense. I was not keen on him just relinquishing the Scorpion Deathlock, a pet peeve of mine. I liked Rey getting a hope spot before Psicosis caught and planted him with a Tomsbtone Piledriver. To tie this up. Third Fall: AWESOME! Totally have no complaints with anybody who says this is the best ECW match ever because wow! Psicosis was so damn good in the mid-90s. Rey is trying to catch his breath as the bell sounds. Psicosis drills him into a table and then does that awesome Psicosis leap over the top rope into the crowd. Torpedos Rey. Then Psicosis takes a nutty bump ala Sgt Slaughter over the top turnbuckle into the post and then to the floor. Then Rey POPS the crowd huge with a springboard somersault plancha to the floor! Wow! Loved all the chairs throws by Rey and driving Psicosis into the post with the chair. Extreme Rey! Psicosis whips Rey into the railing and then hits a MONSTER Senton through a table! He does a backwards Skytwister Press onto a chair for the win! The typically awesome Rey/Psicosis match adapted to the ECW setting. I really dug the 3rd fall. I totally forgot Psicosis wins the match to set up the Mexican Death Match, which I also love. I have Sabu/Sandman and Sabu/Funk over this, but this definitely one of the best ECW matches ever. ****1/4

ECW World TV Champion 2 Cold Scorpio vs Sabu - ECW Cyberslam 96 Raucous Mayhem! It almost feels like a Sabu workrate match. With Benoit/Dean/Eddie gone, this was ECW's response lets throw Sabu out there for 30 minutes and see what happens. It was just fucking insane. Most of it made no sense, but it was entertaining as fuck. This was not a WWF house show 30 minute draw. This was balls to the wall from jump. Sabu got a steel chair and was throwing it around within two minutes of the opening bell. Sabu is so interesting he is the guy that is going to take insane risks, but also the guy that grabs double wristlocks during his pinfall and also the guy that will sell the hell out of a ballshot. Thats what makes Sabu so damn great. Was this spotfest? Yes! Was selling blown off? Yes! Was it unpredictable as hell? Yes! Yes! Yes! Today's spotfests feel so routine. Like they are just walking through the match. Sabu's are organically chaotic. You always forget who good of a punch he had. Scorpio to his credit was laying his shit. That superkick that busted open Sabu's mouth was gnarly. Great punch exchanges. The transitions for the most part were piss poor, but the action was great. I loved all the ballshots, but then Sabu was up doing slingshot flip legdrops and Arabian Facebusters. There was a 5 star classic in here, but they were just so scatter-brained. There was a part where Scorp missed a tumbleweed and Sabu was too injured to take fully advantage. They were building to a classic babyface comeback that I really thought they had something but they kinda pissed away that heat with spots. You can actually tell it was during that Sabu dive that the crowd was at a fever pitch. It shows that formula does work. But then again absolutely destroying a table in the crowd got the loudest pop so what do I know. After that spot and Scorpio not getting the win on Drop the Bomb, I knew they were going for the draw. I thought they telegraphed it too much with the time call as the boo birds came out. Petered out towards the end, but still helluva match. If all spotfests were this good, I would never complain. Highly entertaining. ****

Rob Van Dam vs Doug Furnas - ECW Natural Born Killaz 8/24/96 These two accidentally had a great match. I really dont feel like this match should have been as good as it is, but holy hell I couldnt keep my eyes off it. Word to wise if your opponent is going to piledrive you on a chair later on the match you probably should NOT crack him in the back of the head really hard with a steel chair. You are only doing yourself a disservice. I actually really dug the beginning of the match. It was RVD's cuteness against Furnas' power. RVD fucks around with JCVD bullshit and Furnas throws him down on the mat hard. Then RVD does the JCVD split and Furnas picks him up and slams. That was a fucking nasty stun gun RVD took. Furnas absolutely BULLDOZED RVD from the apron into the crowd. Holy shit! They kinda lose this storyline once the crowd brawling starts. The crowd brawling is the weakest portion of this match. The transitions not surprisingly are terrible. RVD all of sudden musters up the power to suplex Furnas from the ring into the apron which was nasty. Then Furnas is suplexing the hell out of RVD. Then match just becomes insane. Both men take absolutely crazy unprotected chair shots to the head. RVD really cracks the back of Furnas head. He gives him the chair to do a prop spot and Furnas is like fuck that and throws the chair away. RVD still does the crossbody anyways. Then Furnas catches RVD awkwardly and basically hits an INVERTED GANSO BOMB ON A STEEL CHAIR! I lost my shit. That was insane. Then Furnas smashes RVD skull with a chair. Then we get the setup for the Best Van Daminator ever. The ref realizes that he should you know do something to protect RVD and gets in Furnas' way. Furnas shoves him away and puts the chair up to hit RVD, but RVD quickly kicks the chair into Furnas' fucking face! 1-2-3! Great finish! I am glad this style of wrestling is mostly dead because it is incredibly dangerous, but wow you cant help but love this trainwreck. It makes so sense but every spot is insane. Really damn good spotfest. One of the best RVD matches ever! ****

ECW World Tag Champions Raven & Stevie Richards vs The Pitbulls - ECW 9/16/95 Double Dog Collar Match 2 Out Of 3 Falls Raven's Masterpiece. When I first discovered Youtube in about 2006, one of the first channels I discovered was devoted to '95 ECW. So while I am not nostalgic for this in the same way most of you are. I was still in High School when I first saw the whole Raven/Dreamer story and watching this teleported me back to my the back room of my parents' house gobbling up this feud up. If there was ever a match that needed context for a person to fully understand it, it is this match. Pro wrestling should be able to do this more often weave so many stories together. The Pitbulls, the former minions of Raven, now off their leash seeking vengeance against their former master. Stevie Richards as the chump extraordinaire who somehow managed to pull Francine, but of course he fucked that up and we get a catfight. Raven's new freaks, the Dudley Boys, get involve. There is a piledriver through a table to end the first fall, a Superbomb to end the second fall. Raven nearly gets decapitated on a Superbomb into the edge of the table. The Original Dudleys and Pitbulls (the Superbomb is an awesome move, but they suck otherwise) are fucking terrible wrestlers, but who cares Raven is just mindfucking every fan into lapping this up as he busts out a FUCKING ETHER RAG! Bow to the Master! Pitbull #2 is sent to the back and of course here is Tommy Dreamer. DDT! 1-2-3! WHAT THE FUCK...I THOUGHT THAT NEVER...Fonzie is out and he is striking it from the record book because Dreamer was not offically a part of the match. Fonzie is so damn good at crazy promos. I was watching him cut an absolutely insane rant against Heyman where he first banned the Chokeslam and just loved it. He legalizes the Chokeslam after Big Dick chokeslams Dreamer. 9-1-1! 911 is such a great name for a pro wrestler. 911 chokeslams FONZIE STRAIGHT TO HELL! ELEVEN STARS! DOUBLE SUPERBOMB ON BOTH RAVEN & RICHARDS! Gordon and Dreamer count the pinfall and new Tag Champs! Pro wrestling is fucking great. ***********

This is the one fall match brutha.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Psicosis - ECW 9/16/95 Rey vs Psicosis never gets old no matter how many times you watch this and I have watched this a lot. You wanna see how to get over on your debut match watch this. This is the Touring match that they would perfect at Bash 96. They are about one week away from their greatest match ever in AAA, a match I need to see. i think my takeaway from this viewing is that Psicosis feels like the star here. Amazing bumping. I can never get tired of watching him go ass first into things. Great high impact offense. Great rudo charisma. I thought he outshone Rey Rey until Rey started popping off ranas like nobody's business and that catapult on the apron still pops me. Rey gets to shine on the dives: stopping Psicosis' with a chair shot and then the massive dive from top rope into the crown which sealed the deal that these two were over like rover. They hit this out of the park. There were some things to tighten up. They got themselves over. There is a key difference between getting your moves over and you over. These two got their characters over that's what makes this great. It is the Tom & Jerry of Pro Wrestling. ****

Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko - ECW 8/29/95 2 Out of 3 Falls "PLEASE DONT GO!" This made the Eddie DVD set from 2004 so it was a match I watched a lot in high school. I think it was match I knew I supposed to like but I could never get into it like the other matches on the set. I skipped Enter Sandman match based on the fact it seems the only available version is clipped and it is not that heralded. In August, these two traded the TV championship. Right before this match, Eddie drop the belt to Scorpio, which is where this all started back in late 94. This would lead to the 2 Gold Scorpio gimmick with Scorp/Sandman as an odd pairing. I am surprised that Heyman did not try to get Scorpio over as a workrate equal as these two. Instead Heyman brought in the luchadores to fill the workrate void. This is the famous 2 out of 3 falls sendoff for these two before they head to WCW. First Fall: I would love to know what they thought they accomplished in this fall. Eddie hit a superplex for two in what should have been finish or at least a hotter nearfall. Then hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Then Malenko just started doing moves even though he took the last three moves. Then Eddie scored the pinfall with a rollup. It was just so weird. Very spotty. Usual good opening chain wrestling then a pretty good tumbling pass. I liked Eddie's armdrags. Then it kinda dragged. Somewhere Malenko believed rollups was the best way to finish the match. A lot of Steamboat maybe? I dont know this did not do much for me at all. Second Fall: "This move has been called the Sharpshooter and Scorpion Deathlock, but it is actually called the Texas Cloverleaf." Joey those are two different moves, you tool. Malenko zeroes in on the leg. Terrible transition. Knots it up with the Cloverleaf well at least they paid off that spot from Hostile City Showdown and showed the Cloverleaf was a finisher. Tied 1-1. This is a very ok match. Third Fall: Was fucking awesome. Where the hell have these two been this match? Good transitions. High impact moves. Hot Finish stretch. Malenko jumps Eddie who is still smarting from the Cloverleaf. Malenko is actually kicking ass and it feels like a good control segment. Then Eddie uses a Tornado DDT as a good transition! Wow! Eddie gets his great Brainbuster/Frogsplash combo. I loved Malenko throwing Eddie half way across the ring on the second Tornado DDT. Another great transition. Super gutbuster! Yes! Good double pin situation which cements the narrative of eveness and "good wrestling". Third falls salvages an otherwise meandering, aimless match. ***1/4

I think I am going to skip this based on the reviews and the clipping. Head right to 2 out of 3 Falls match, which I have seen a bunch of times.

ECW TV Champion Eddie Guerrero vs Dean Malenko - ECW Hostile City Showdown 4/15/95 One of the most influential series of pro wrestling that affect how many wrestlers and wrestling fans view what good wrestling is to do this day. US 90s workrate existed before this match of course, but I think this popularized it as the style that would eventually bring about Ring Of Honor. In a lot of ways, I think of Ring of Honor as ECW if ECW only had Benoit/Guerrero/Malenko matches. I think there has been a strong backlash to this trilogy similar to the backlash to highly influential workrate series of Dynamite Kid vs Tiger Mask. When I went back and watched that series I found it uneven. One match I thought was spectacular the other match I thought was hot garbage. I know I have seen this match once and the final match a couple times. I dont think I have ever watched the second one. Lets get this out of the way early. Joey Styles is trash. I would blast music over him, but I want to hear the crowd. Lots of polite golf clapping from the crowd because this is "good wrestling". You can always work smart marks, folks. There are a couple boring chants and "This match sucks" chants. First five minutes is very 90s workrate. I actually liked the chain wrestling early, but the tumbling pass has been ripped off so many times and when they both dropkicked each other at the same time and we get the standoff. I rolled by eyes as they got their polite applause. I know this was novel at the time, but God it is just so cheesy. It was smart for them to do this because they crowd did react at the moments that they were supposed to. Eddie got a couple of his spots in before Malenko targets the knee. Malenko's leg work is really good and definitely gets me into the match. It is a good hook. Eddie is selling well. I liked his holding onto the rope pugnaciously to avoid more punishment. Malenko had some good submissions. Malenko's gimmick is literally he does not show emotion so you need Eddie to pick up the slack. This is NOT the Eddie from the week before that wrested the TV belt from Scorpio. That Eddie was 2003 Eddie he was so loose and so damn likeable. This is serious '96 Eddie who can be kinda bland. I think it took Eddie until 2003 to realize his "heel" charisma was actually "babyface" charisma. So when he played a babyface he played it too vanilla and that happens here. Malenko for being a ring general was terrible at transitions. Instead of an interesting way to get Eddie off offense, it is a bland transition to Malenko control and then he whips Eddie off the ropes into a dropkick to the knee. So artificial and mechanical. So far it has been very good and as I kinda expected I was going to be between the two factions on this match. Things like Eddie selling his knee so much but doing the most physically demanding lift of powerbomb just didnt jive. He needed to be more demonstrative in the eyepoke to set up the Tornado DDT. That was a spot that got a lot more love in the Scorp match. The transition to this Eddie control was pretty lame also. Eddie big dive to the floor. I thought the finish stretch was really well done. Symmetry of brainbusters and then Eddie frogsplash was a great nearfall. Again transition was bad, but Malenko and Guerrero fighting over the Texas Cloverleaf was hot. I expected a Draw where Eddie would be in the Cloverleaf, but that didnt happen. I am ok with them not paying off the Cloverleaf because there are more matches. It is too funny that the biggest pop of the match is that super routine rollup exchange that every US workrate dude did in the 90s. I watched Benoit/Snow do the same thing, but this time the crowd just lapped it up. The draw finish was not super hot. Eddie got an awkward Sunset Flip for two and then they waited pregnant pause for the bell. I thought the good outweighed the bad. It never dragged. It was interesting. I was nitpicking because I wanted to prove some points, but overall this is worth watching and deserves to be remembered as influential. But seriously watch that Eddie/Scorpio match it is better and way underrated. ***3/4

ECW World TV Champion 2 Cold Scorpio vs Eddie Guerrero - ECW Three Way Dance 4/8/95 Goddamn, was Eddie charismatic or what? It is amazing his 96 run in WCW flopped so much. I think when he puts too much pressure on himself he tightens up. When he lets loose, there is few you would rather watch in the ring. He is such a joy to watch. Scorpio was pretty damn good himself. I loved how balanced this match was between the spots and the character work. Great chippiness to start, good chain wrestling that is punctuated with Eddie hitting a nice suplex on Scorpio's bad shoulder. All the bullshit with the handshakes was great. Awesome shove by Scorp and then when Eddie earns his respect Eddie levels him with a clothesline in the handshake. Eddie hits a tremendous brainbuster and Frogsplah about 5 minutes into the match. I am glad that was upgraded to his finish sequence. Scorpio looked crisp here. Eddie was just so charismatic. He got this Philly crowd behind him in a hurry. Loved the big classic Eddie splasy over the top turnbuckle with the chest puffed out. I love Eddie so much. The finish sequence was a dandy. Scorp just nailed him with a right. Perfect sequence of a perfect moonsault, perfect flip legdrop and the most badass Tumbleweed you would ever see. Joey totally blows the call when Scorp picks Eddie up at two on the Tumbleweed. He was not supposed to put over Eddie's resilience but Scorp's arrogance. I think this is a well noted part of Scorpio's character is that he is a little bit cocky It is a banana peel finish with Eddie getting a quick rollup to win the ECW TV Title in I believe his debut match. Pride comes before the fall, Scorpio. Just super fun wrestling that is brisk and entertaining and a great way to immediately put someone over as a star. I dug this a lot. ****

You nailed it Pete for something felt like any second it could be a mess it never devolves into a clusterfuck. ECW World Tag Champions Sabu & Taz vs Triple Threat (Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko) - ECW Return of the Funk 2/25/95 For something that felt like any second it could devolve into a clusterfuck, it never once did. Public Enemy had dropped the tag belts to Paul E's boys at Double Tables earlier in the month. PE did a great promo before the match. Benoit & Malenko come out and PE get in their face. Benoit/Malenko kick their ass. Rocco Rock was in a wheelchair and they did a number on him. In the actual match, they go Texas Tornado and it is actually pretty coherent and entertaining. At the beginning they focus on eliminating Sabu by attacking his injured neck, which is how Benoit got his Crippler nickname from their 1994 match where Sabu basically piledrove himself taking a suplex and broke his neck. They did a cool Doomsday Device at one point on Sabu. With Sabu rendered useless, Taz shows some fire popping off suplexes but Malenko clips the knee. They work the knee over and Paul E has 911 send Taz to the back. Which was kinda lame because it was not that much knee work and it was not that extended of time, but you could tell they were already building to Sabu vs Taz before Sabu no-shows the next show and that really kicks into gear. Sabu actually fares well. He goes into full Sabu mode with tons of crazy dives. He does something incredibly stupid and dangerous. He puts the table on the top turnbuckle and a chair on top of that but folded out so you could sit in it. When Benoit pushes him off, he lands HARD on the chair. I have no idea how he could walk after that. Benoit NAILS him with a powerbomb off the table which was an awesome, insane spot to win the tag belts. PE and Taz/911 come back out to set up the triple threat for the next show. Awesome angle and great build for the next show and a surprisingly entertaining match. Paul E was in a great groove at this point. ***1/2

Chris Benoit vs Al Snow - ECW Double Tables 2/4/95 This match made the Benoit DVD Set that the WWE put out in 2004 so it was regularly watched by me however I dont think I have seen this from 2007, but I still remembered most of it. A good 90s US Workrate match. I liked all the usual tropes at the beginning. Benoit fed that spot early to get Snow over. The one where he had his back turned and Snow hit the springboard dropkick. That was the biggest pop of the match. Definitely ralled people behind Snow as Benoit was a heel in the Triple Threat at this time. After that it was just the usual Benoit mugging. All the classic badass Benoit offense. It was a little too ragdoll-y for me. As Snow had no fight. Benoit gave him the Ocean Cyclone Suplex and another creative suplex as hop spots with about 2-3 minutes to go before Benoit polished him off with a Dragon Suplex. Between this and the Jannetty match, I dont see that much in Snow. He just looks like a good hand. Benoit showed he can bump well early (two good bumps to put Snow over), but lets call a spade a spade this is an offensive exhibition for Benoit not that much in the way of a great match, but that being said Benoit does have amazing offense. ***1/2

I feel like I need to rewatch this and maybe more Sano & Anjoh to get more appreciation for this. I liked the '95 match better actually. Naoki Sano vs Yoji Anjoh - UWFi 8/13/93 I loved their '95 bout and finally found their '93 bout and this did not disappoint whats so ever. I think I would have an even richer appreciation for these matches if I watched more Sano and Anjoh matches individually. These are two great matworkers that come up with some really nifty ways to organically apply conventional pro wrestling submissions. Both Anjoh and Sano apply the STF in like the coolest way ever from catching a kick. I think however because they are so evenly matched that it becomes a story of eveness and symmetry. I dont really understand what causes the momentum shifts. However, this is where the point system became super useful as it was a guide to tracking who was "winning". It no longer felt super even. So I may not have understood the "why" I could at least understand the "what". Again, this is with little understanding, but it seemed like Sano had to prove himself to Anjoh early on. Sano is the more famous of the two in my view due to the Liger series. Anjoh was every aggressive early on and Sano kept bucking him off or countering. Anjoh clapped after the second time. Maybe it was just Anjoh being a dick. Sano dominated the early portion of the match first with counters and then with big time submissions like chokes, Boston Crab and an STF. Sano hit a great Fisherman suplex. Really wrapped him up. Anjoh's big break was catching Sano with a kick which earned him a three point knockdown. After that they traded submissions but Anjoh seemed more in a rhythm and was controlling the match. I thought the finish was spectacular and explosive. Sano looking like he was about to bested gets a home run with a Release German that counts as a knockdown evens up the match in both score and in momentum. With the momentum on his side, Sano picks up the win from a beautiful, tight, painful Crossface Chickenwing, which I immediately said thats gotta be the finish and it was. Like I said I liked the '95 match better from recollection, but a lot of people call this the greatest UWFi match of all time. I feel like I might be missing the boat due to ignorance. To me there was nothing super unique about the characters that drove the match in a different direction or unique about the narrative. It was explosive, entertaining catch wrestling, but to me a true classic has a hook either from the narrative or characters that makes it transcend time. Amazing match, highly recommended to watch. ****1/4

OJ nailed on the charisma front these two, just didnt have it in the beginning. Midwest Territorial Heavyweight Champion Marty Jannetty vs Al Snow - SMW SuperBowl Of Wrestling NEW ROCKERS EXPLODE~! Man, I thought the Western States Heritage Title was the lamest title ever but Midwest Territorial Heavyweight Championship takes the cake. "Simply Sensational" Al Snow is going through his generic, cocky heel phase. First half of this match is just super solid American wrestling done at 90s workrate speed. So lots of shouldertackles into pinning combinations, lots of armdrags and a lot of symmetry to demonstrate this is an even wrestling contest. It looks inferior to what Benoit and Guerrero were doing around the same time, but it is very solid dont get me wrong. Benoit and Guerrero are just on another level. Jannetty is able to win an armdrag by punching Snow during a contested break out of a corner. Then it is just the usual babyface besting the heel at every turn with armdrags. Snow was trying a lot and losing, but he was not very charismatic about it. I knew he was the heel because he was losing the exchanges, but I didnt have any reason to boo him. The eventual turning point is a backbreaker by Snow and followed up by a nice belly to back suplex. Snow hits a spring board dive to the outside as we go full 90s there. Snow clearly wanted to show he was on the cutting edge of offense. We get a split-legged moonsault, a slingshot legdrop and a springboard legdrop. Out of all them, the springboard legdrop was the most impressive the way he missed and shot right up and sold was great. Then Marty hit an Atomic Drop! Best sequence of the match. The match improved with Snow on offense, but because Marty was better at selling. I loved Marty's bump into the railing. He basically did the Flair Flip or Bulldog upside down bump into the railing. It was insane and I never seen that done before. Great hope spot with the rana too timed well to make sure the crowd knew he was alive. There was definitely a lack of struggle in the match, a problem that plagues a lot of workrate exhibitions. Love the double dropkick and double clothesline late in the match. So 90s! These 90s pinning combinations, the Crucifix and that hook your toes under the armpits then O'Connor Roll just look clunky. Jannetty suicide dive and Snow hits his back hard against the table. They go old school with the finish as Snow rolls through the Jannetty crossbody and grabs the tights. "Simply Sensational" Al Snow is the NEW Midwest Territorial Heavyweight Champion, probably the peak of his singles career. I didnt feel like there was anything to really carry this match. The face/heel dynamics werent that strong. Jannetty is a great face. Snow is a pretty poor heel. No interesting working psychology. Then the workrate which was what they were going for as the hook falls flat when you have seen Benoit, Guerrero and Mysterio crush it. Felt awkward and clunky. But there were good parts to the match and it was interesting. Just felt amateur. A for effort. ***1/4

Jerry Lawler vs Tommy Dreamer - ECW Hardcore Heaven 1997 STRAP DOWN! FLAIR FLOP! Was the spot of the match! I went bonkers for it. This was the peak of ECW patriotism, but as others have pointed it out the only flaw was that it didnt happen in the ECW Arena, but instead of Florida so the heat just was not the same. I thought this was a really fun, popcorn brawl that was meant to pop and entertain rather than be very hate-filled and vicious. I really liked Lawler punching the pan early and then Dreamer hits him with the pan Lawler takes a King-sized bump over the top rope. Really great shine. Lawler showed a lot of ass during the crowd brawling. Great visual of Dreamer kicking ass while there is a "Lawler Must Die" sign behind him. I am a sucker for belts as a weapon in match. They are so versatile. Dreamer chokes Lawler as Lawler struggles to grab hold of fans to save himself. I love it. Dreamer goes up top with a chair and Lawler is able to shake the ropes. Lawler kicks some serious ass. I thought Lawler really carried this and he looked like he could still go. Characteristically great punches. Chair shots. Piledriver -> kick out! I would say weird, but it is ECW. It did not feel well-built to. That should have been a major false finish. I think in '97 ECW no one believes a finish unless there were run-ins. They should have saved the Lawler Piledriver for later. Lawler tearing the ECW short off and wiping his armpits and ass with it was amazing. LOVED Dreamer's no-sell comeback. In a Patriotism match that is exactly what you want! For the first time, I fell connected to Dreamer and I was rooting for him. Lawler punches him in the balls and lots of testicular violence follows. Then lights go out a bunch. Basically everytime Dreamer is about to polish off Lawler the lights go out. The first one makes sense as it is Rick Rude who was aligned with the WWF invasion. What I didnt get is why didnt he stay out there? There was the very surprising Jake The Snake, which I didnt see coming at all. But it was totally nonsensical. He DDTs Dreamer and Short Arm Clotheslines Lawler, but lets Lawler fall on Dreamer. Then Dreamer kicks out and he claps. So ok? Then FUCKING SUNNY SHOWS UP! OH HELL YEAH! Now that was awesome! She sprays Dreamer with the hairspray but here is Beluah. CATFIGHT! That was an awesome run-in and was actually useful because it got Beluah involved. Now Lawler tries to use Beluah as a human shield, but she ballshots him, TESTICULAR CLAW and Dreamer DDTs him to HELL! E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB! ****

Bret Hart vs Terry Funk - WrestleFest 9/11/97 One of the many Terry Funk Retirement Matches to happen throughout history and as with most Funk retirement matches it is absolutely awesome. I had never heard of this match until I joined PWO about 5 years ago. It has always been something that I really wanted to watch, but I always had something else to watch. Here at 1am in a hotel room after 14.5 hour manufacturing run, I decided this was the perfect time and damn any time would be a perfect time to watch this. In 1997, this was about as good as you could hope for with these two. Bret is one of the all-time great offensive wrestlers. I dont think there is any North American wrestler I would rather watch grind out a control segment than Bret Hart. Everything looks crisp and is interesting. Funk is naturally sympathetic as old hometown hero retiring, but add in his crazy charisma and this selling is top notch and then throw in a couple crazy Funk bumps to the floor and this was just great. Bret gets touted as a technical wizard by WWF machine but we all know that he is a better brawler/grinder. Here he actually shows he is pretty good at chain wrestling when it comes down to it. Funk was great working headlock control. I would have waited a bit longer for Bret to get frustrated before he showed his heel colors, but he went full heel early. Bret is great as an old school bruising heel. He does not give Funk a clean break. He targets the leg. Thumbs to the throat, jawing with the ref, choking, eye rakes. Great work on the leg. I mean just superb Bret work on the leg. Funk takes a couple great bumps to the outside. Bruce shamelessly tries to interject himself to get himself over. Bret seemed annoyed by his antics. There was a great part where Funk tries to use the jab to keep Bret at bay but never connects as Bret dodges and finds an opening to kick the bad wheel. Loved it! I loved Funk's first comeback. He starts throwing wild Funk punches from his knees and Bret starts punching him in the head. Funk absorbs gets up to his feet and absolutely LEVELS Bret with a left. They do a great standup where Funk levels Bret again with a left. Why did Bret have to go to WCW? He was in his prime right here. I loved how Funk earned this comeback and it was head shots that won him control. Funk has to play from behind so everything is big and to the head: neckbreaker and piledriver. Then he takes Bret to the outside to throw him into hard stuff. He gets distracted and Bret trips him up and it is the Figure-4 around the post. Someone needs to crib that spot. Bret goes back to work on the knee. Chair shots to the knee. Bret as a heel rules. Funk desperately punches Bret's knee from his ass. That is the story of this match. Funk's dogged determination against the Best North American Wrestler at this time. Funk wins control attacking the knee and wins a brawl on the outside. Again he goes for a Hail Mary but just ends up Vaderbombing himself through a table on the outside. Bret goes in for the kill. Enough fucking around, it is time to put Old Yeller down in front of his hometown fans. He goes for the Sharpshooter, inside cradle for two. Funk grabs the Spinning Toehold! Big pop! Bret escapes. Bret sells this so well! His use of the ropes to do clotheslines because he can barely stand is great. They go with ultimate old school, championship match finish. Funk Back Suplexes Bret and Bret lifts his shoulder up at two for the win. Funk is so old school and he wanted to go out on his back. He tried so hard in this match. Bret in his prime had to stretch the rules to gain the advantage over the old man. The old man was put in a hole, but he kept coming back with punches from his ass and his knees. But it looked like Bret was too good and then when Funk put himself through that table it looked like it was all over, but Funk had that one Hail Mary left and it was his old Spinning Toehold with that one move. Old Yeller took the Best North American Wrestler to the limit. It was only on a last second shoulder raise and Funk just being too old to properly bridge that cost him the match. The Old Man pushed The Champ to the limit, but just came up short even with the Champ taking shortcut after shortcut. Amazing. ****1/2

ECW World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk vs Sabu - ECW Born To Be Wired Barbaric. Makes you question what the point of all this is, but at the end of the day it is gore at its finest. I will say I am not very familiar with this era of ECW, but I have watched this match many times in the past and I would say it was my favorite ECW match. On this rewatch, I think slightly prefer the Sabu vs Sandman Stairway to Hell, but this is still a violent spectacle. I thought there were too many down periods in this match that ground it to a halt, but it was very smartly worked. I loved the beginning. Sabu was aggressive but more cautious than normal. Funk was at his counterwrestling best. Both men doing all they can to avoid the barbed wire. I like that it was a simple forceful kickout from Funk that sent Sabu into the barbed wire to draw first blood. In a way, Sabu had been lulled into a false sense of security by doing straight wrestling and then that kickout sends right into painville. Funk rips open Sabu's forehead on the barbed wire and then crotches him. The crotch was a great idea because it was both painful and it demonstrated the effectiveness of the barbed wire shredding clothes. This was clearly not a worked gimmick, but shoot barbed wire. The other thing they do really well is make missed moves mean something. It was a Sabu sidestep that caused Funk first to be stuck with Barbed Wire and it was a missed Air Sabu that caused Sabu's bicep to ripped open. Classic Sabu fashion, he bandages his wound mid-match. Love it. I love the missed moves as major momentum swings and the consequence of being stuck with barbed wire. Also I wanted to make sure I mentioned how good the punches were for both men. I thought match lost something once Fonzie got involved. Funk was tearing his body with barbed wire, but there was not the great visual of blood. It just felt heatless. The RVD thing felt forced and just really unfair. Dreamer saving later was better than nothing, but would have liked to see that earlier. The finish was as fucking insane as I remember. RVD had wrapped Funk in the barbed wire and Sabu crashed through him and a table with a legdrop. When that didnt finish Funk, Sabu wrapped his own ass in barbed wire and Legdropped a barbed wire wrapped Funk. They were just one bloody ball of humanity and barbed wire. Eventually Fonzie and a ref lift them into the ring and Sabu pins Funk. The finish sure was something and something you will never forget. Definitely a Top Five ECW match and something that you can never take your eyes off of. ****1/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Low Thesz vs Buddy Rogers - Chicago 1/26/51 Im in Chicago and wanted to watch some classic wrestling. First Fall: Tight, sensible wrestling with heel dynamics. Yes please! Loved Sweet Lou's double wristlock takedown. Loved all the ways Thesz worked through Rogers counters. Especially enjoyed Rogers feigning the snapmare only to pull out the leg. I actually thought Rogers cheated a bit too early. They could have extended Lou's shine. Lots of crowding and cheap shots from Rogers. Eventually Lou pops him good to the delight of the crowd. Headlock by Thesz. THESZ PRESS! LOU THESZ! LOU THESZ! LOU THESZ! Doesn't get the three count, man I bit on that finish. Jack Dempsey is the special ref. Thesz works a body scissors. Rogers reverses puts his feet on the ropes for two and cheap shots Lou to break the hold. Amazing body slam to counter another Thesz Press and Rogers rips Lou down. So far strong Mat fundamentals, Rogers heel work and the Thesz Press highspot have this cooking. Russ Davis has many funny calls but actually calling Thesz, Lez and assuring us he is not one had me rolling. Lots of Rogers closed fists while clamping on the headlocks. Some really great selling from Thesz. I especially liked the one where Rogers back elbowed out of a headlock. Thesz sold that one great. Tackle by Rogers and Thesz goes down in a heap and it fucks up Buddys momentum. He was playing possum. Thesz gets a beautiful drop tie hold and rolls into a Toehold. Marvelous! Should have been a finish. Lots of cheap shots from Rogers, Lou catches him good with a kneelift. Airplane Spin -> FU gives the first fall to Thesz. Splendid work thus far!

Glad somebody else watched this. Wasnt this way more fun than you expected it to be on paper? I have fond memories of it even seven months later.

The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart, Brian Pillman) vs Team USA (Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, Legion of Doom) - WWF Candian Stampede Sometimes, pro wrestling is not about wrestling. Wrestling fans would be wise to remember that. There is no doubt this is a ****** pro wrestling crowd. The Hart Foundation entrance is legendary. The way it crescendos for Bret's entrance is amazing. The beginning portion for Bret vs Austin is molten. I loved how when Austin when offense so loud the boos were. The random "Austin Sucks" chants were amazing. This was a crowd that was not trying to get themselves over. They were adding to the match. I miss crowds like this. Pro wrestlers are right that the fans are the most important element of the show. Call me a old fuddy duddy, but watching this more than I think modern day pro wrestling fans have betrayed the art and the pro wrestlers. Has Owen ever been more over? Holy shit! That enziguiri was amazing. The return from the back to save Bret is legendary. The missile dropkick and kip up. ELECTRIC! This match is completely elevated by this crowd as there are many parts of the match where the action drags. Ken Shamrock should have never, ever been placed in this match. His inexperience shows many times. Why did he just hold Bret's foot twice? Shamrock should not be selling, should be looking like an ass against Brian Pillman (did I pop for "He's tapping out" of course, but doesnt make it the right move) and the World's Most Dangerous Man needs a low blow to get a tag. Poor use of Shamrock and Shamrock simply was not suited for a raucous Summer popcorn action blockbuster. This is near sacrilege, but Goldust was also mostly useless in this match. I am surprised that more people have not praised the LOD. They were great. Hawk looked awesome. How about that big top rope splash! Doomsday Device on Owen! It was all great shit out of the LOD. I am also surprised we did not get a proper heat segment on Bret and/or Owen. Taking Owen out was money. Bruce throwing the drink at Austin and grabbing his tights while Austin destroyed Owen's knee was a great touch. I think a heat segment on Bret followed by Owen's return would have been huge. I think taking Austin for any period of time was a bad idea. He was a heat magnet without him Team USA was a thrown together motley crew that was not working. The finish run was great. My eyes went huge for Austin grabbing Stu, which I totally forgot happened. All the Hart brothers pouring over the barricade to swarm Austin was great. Unfortunately, in a way this was not a house show because then you could have had Austin tap out to the Sharpshooter, but this being on PPV in the US you needed Austin to look strong in defeat so we get the rollup finish. The post-match is incredible. The Hart Family in the ring, Austin getting carted out in handcuffs flipping off the crowd with his hands cuffed behind his back. Stu & Helen in the ring with grankids. Pro wrestling is not always about pro wrestling. This match shows how much pro wrestling can mean to a family, a people and a country! O CANADA! ****

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AWA 9/29/85 "ABA - Erm AWA - ABA was something else at some other time" - Rodger Kent? (Maybe Trongard), I lol'd BOMBS AWAY! Wow! Do these two cut one helluva pace! Neither man backs down and this is a fight from the opening bell to the final three count. This match would not feel out of place in today's wrestling scene in fact I say they blow most matches out of the water. There are a ton of highspots and MOVEZ~! in this match, but everything feels important because it bearing on the next spot. The most critical element is it feels like two guys who are willing to do whatever it takes to win the match not entertain the fans. The fan's enjoyment is a byproduct of their struggle not their direct objective, which separates it from today's scene even if it is highspot-oriented match. The tone of the match is established early Jumbo is pissed and he wants his belt back. He hits these tremendous kneelifts and European Uppercuts and what does Martel do he fights back from his knees twice. You feel how badly these two competitors want to win the world heavyweight championship. It is a total Jumbo full court press early on with the work on the midsection of Martel being the focus (punches there and ab stretch). In one of my favorite spots, Jumbo hoists Martel to hit a piledriver but takes the time revolve so that every section can see what he is about to do. Martel gets a backbreaker to finally break momentum. He just starts ramming his knee into Jumbo's back and does not even give him a ropebreak. Ricky Martel is in a fucking fight and he fucking knows it! He wants it just as bad as Jumbo. Martel applies a Boston Crab, wow, that's a Jumbo spot, ballsy! Jumbo powers out and throws him out to the floor. Martel is PISSED! He nails a dropkick! That's Jim Brunzell level baby! They just starts throwing bombs at each other with each one building on the other. Martel crashes and burns on his slingshot splash. Jumbo abandons bomb throwing for leg work, which may be a smart play with the spinning toe hold and figure-4. Martel sells so well and in what was a bombfest up until this point, this is very refreshing. Having dismantled his knee, Jumbo runs through his offense in the finish stretch, but gets caught with a reverse crossbody for three! Jumbo nails him with a wicked knee post-match. Martel can't catch a break in the post-match. They packed a shit ton of action in this match. I mean there was literally not one dull moment. I did not want to just make this a list of moves so I just highlighted the most critical, but there was a shit ton of high end offense from both wrestlers. This match is highly recommended for those who love action and a ton of bombs in their wrestling. I think both have better classics with other opponents, but as far as a kickass summer blockbuster type wrestling match this is really hard to beat. I will never fault two wrestlers that I truely believe are fighting as hard as they can to win this match. ****1/2

Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - WWF RAW 4/21/97 Street Fight RAW IS WAR was so badass back in the day. Austin comes out crazed wanting a street fight. He whupped Bret's ass last night but before the chump quit Bulldog & Owen saved his ass. Now he wants a street fight so he can whup his ass so bad that ain't no doubt who won. He says Bret has one minute. They even have a countdown clock. Bret agrees, but for later in the night. This does not main event. It happen about 20 minutes later. Austin is back out. The Hart Foundation descends upon Austin and beats the shit out of him. Why is Owen wearing a Michigan sweatsuit. So weird. Go Blue! Shawn chases off Owen & Bulldog which lays the groundwork for the awesome tag match in a month between Austin & HBK and Owen & Bulldog. Bret is left alone Austin and he should be easy pickins. Bret piledrives Austin and wants to Pillmanize Austin's ankle. But he misses the stomp and hurts his own knee. Austin takes the chair and from his back smashes Bret's knee. Austin then destroys Bret's knee with the chair with incredible intensity. He locks Bret in the Sharpshooter and that's how Bret ends up in a wheelchair. I have learned this is the first RAW with Russo as head writer and in classic Russo fashion there is no actual finish. Which drives me nuts! The refs just yank Austin off of Bret. Where was the bell? Who won? Was it even a match? It is so stupid. Just do the angle. Sorry I dont mean to take away from the great work, but I hate when wrestling matches just end randomly. There has to be a finish. Still great work from everyone and escalation here was great as Austin is clearly positioned as a top babyface, Bret will be in a wheelchair and the feud just got that much hotter.

Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - WWF Revenge of The Taker 1997 This marks the first Stone Cold PPV main event as they main event over the WWF Championship match featuring Undertaker vs Mankind. Undertaker certainly took a backseat to the Bret/Austin/HBK drama of 1997. I have never actually seen this match and it is criminally underrated. Actually, I think this is better than the more heralded Survivor Series 1996 match. The out and out brawling suits both men better. Is there anybody you rather watch grind a match out than Bret Hart? He is the best at just working over a body part. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact he is especially good at stomping. We dont talk a lot about Stone Cold and his selling. To me what makes Stone Cold special is his out of control energy. He is always flailing his limbs and moving forward. But we dont talk about his vulnerability. I mean we are not supposed to, after all, he is the TOUGHEST SOB. It is not very tough to talk vulnerability, but here he does a great job demonstrating his ability to show pain. You cannot be the TOUGHEST SOB if there is no pain to overcome. So when Bret is destroying that knee, Austin yells in pain and collapses on an Irish Whip, but keeps moving forward, lunging Bret, hitting him in the balls, collapsing on a piledriver you know that Austin in a tremendous amount of pain, but goddamnit there is no quit in him. Bret for his part is incredible on offense escalating the violence to the knee, ringpost-assisted figure-4, steel chair shot and then ultimately taking off the knee brace. I think what makes this match and the Mania match so much better than your typical Bret match is how each man had to earn every bit of offense. Bret matches can be very neatly segmented. If Bret is on offense, he is on offense and you are his ragdoll. When Bret is selling, his opponent is on offense and Bret will ragdoll for you. That being said the transitions will usually be good just inside a segment there is no sense of struggle. Austin because of his tenacious, energetic style forces Bret's hand. So many times Austin will just charge or throw a wild punch. It is not even that much of a hope spot, but it is a spot that forces Bret to eyerake or to kick at the bad knee to re-establish control. Austin keeps Bret honest and I love that. The finish stretch is great. I love how both these men protect their finishes. Austin tries to yank Bret down into a Stunner with dogged determination, but Bret holds onto the top rope for dear life. What a great spot! Austin never hits the Stunner because the Stunner is a game-ender and if he aint gonna win he aint gonna hit it, but in kayfabe he of course has to attempt it, but it is blocked with great determination from Bret. Love it. By the same token, as Bret is going for the Sharpshooter, Austin whacks Bret with his own knee brace. I love it! Bret taking the knee brace off comes back to haunt him and now Austin wants to make Bret submit to his own move. How humiliating! The Hart Foundation bails Bret out courtesy of a Bulldog chairshot triggering the DQ. The post-match is just as good as Bret looks to inflict more pain with the ring bell, but Austin beats him to the punch with a chairshot on the knee. Now it was Austin looking to destroy Bret's knee. A taste of his own medicine, I dig it. To me this is a hidden gem hiding in plain sight. It is STEVE AUSTIN VS BRET HART IN 1997, but yet no one talks about it. Don't overthink it, just watch it. ****1/2