Superstar Sleeze

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Riki Choshu - NJPW 6/15/94 The goal of the Spring of 1994 in New Japan was very clear, get Shinya Hashimoto over as the Ace. Trading the title with Fujinami was booking genius as it broke up the long Hashimoto run with the championship and it made him earn it back from Fujinami, the NJPW stalwart of the 80s. It gave him a challenge. Then he goes over Fujiwara two weeks before this. Now it is the rockstar of the 80s, Riki Choshu to make Hashimoto. Short of Inoki putting Hashimoto over they really did all they could. Amazing match. I know they would go on to have a Dome match in '97 which I have not seen but will see soon, this would have benefitted greatly from being in a Dome and there are few matches that thrive in a Dome setting, but Hashimoto vs Choshu is definitely one. Choshu has a weathered face and is a battle-tested veteran seeking to prove one last time he is the Man. Hashimoto is not going to give him an inch. I loved the two lock ups early. Two rams neither one buckling. Hashimoto ends up kicking the shit out of Choshu early on. He looks like he is going to run away with the match with his onslaught of kicks, one really good one to the head. He even hits his DDT. He goes for his rainbow heel kick and Choshu swats him out of the sky. Superplex! Then Choshu tries his damndest to decapitate him with clotheslines. Those last three lariats were brutal. Even though he tries multiple times, he cant get the pin. Choshu has punched himself out and is exhausted. Hashimoto starts rifling him with kicks. Even though a lot is taken out of Hashimoto, he is the younger, hungrier competitor and he outlasts Choshu in this gunfight. Hashimoto's kicks and big elbow drops the one from the second rope was great. Choshu, resilient to end, refuses to be turned over easily but once Hashimoto pins him there is no kicking out. An amazing old gunslinger vs new fastest draw in town match, Choshu gives it his all and his defiant to the end, but nothing was going to stop the asskicker Shinya Hashimoto. ****

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Scott Norton - NJPW 3/21/94 Having defeated Muta twice, Sasaki and Chono at the Dome, Hashimoto had burned through a lot of challengers, a perfect time for top gaijin in New Japan, Scott Norton to step up. Looking at Scott Norton, he seems like he should be a favorite of mine as a big brick shithouse type wrestler, but I have not seen much to judge. The first ten minutes or so of this is excellent. Really riveting David vs Goliath type shit which is not something you get to see from Hashimoto often. Norton is trash talking him telling him to hit the ropes. Hashimoto cant budge the big man. I love how he no sells the rainbow heel kick and then no sells the railing and comes back with a big clothesline. I mean Hashimoto cant get anything going. He is outside collecting him and Chono is cheering him on. Kicks, chops nothing doing. He tries to stretch out Norton arm and Norton does a fucking bicep curl and then short arm clothesline. This was great stuff and they were working around Norton's limitations. Dude has no charisma and not much offense. Turns out he hits the same desperate lariat a lot. Eventually Hashimoto wrestles him down into a tight armbar when he sees that short arm clothesline come again. Credit where credit is dude, Norton sells that arm for the rest of the match. Best spot of the match is Hashimoto hits his DDT gets two and then goes for the leaping version, Norton catches him and puts him into the corner and hits a superplex. Great spot it is all down hill from there. Somehow Hashimoto is the one who takes over and he runs through a short finish stretch before Norton runs through his powerbomb, powerslam and Samoan Drop. He sells the arm and then Hashimoto hits some of the worst enziguiris this side of Tenryu. He hits like a half a dozen of them. Cant get the pin. Slop drop, nope. Jumping DDT finally. Awesome front half that just gets progressively worst as they run through a very tepid finish run. A good IWGP title run from Hashimoto but not one for the ages. ***1/4

High vote on Ronnie Garvin was like being the high vote for Stan Lane. Just outta left friend for me. Nikki Bella booiooooo she deserves better!

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Power Warrior - NJPW 12/13/93 I was expecting the Hoss Battle of the Century here. I am remember really liking their 1/4/95 match, but I actually don't remember anything about it besides the fact I really liked it. I thought this was a pretty good I run through my routine you run through your routine match because at the end of the day they both have really good movesets. I was hoping for more testosterone and macho pissing contests. Sasaki controls early on the mat and he is not half bad. I am more pissed about the fact that Hashimoto was in a cross armbreaker for as long as he was and didn't even sell. He really shouldn't be in one for that long either. Sasaki executed it fine. I thought the holds were well-executed especially the Scorpion Deathlock; Hashimoto just didn't sell. Hashimoto drawing Sasaki into a macho pissing contest of chops seemed like a smart strategy for Hash once he started destroying him with kicks. Then Sasaki hit a lariat and bulldog. There was this weird stretch where nothing seemed to matter and they just hit moves. Like Hashimoto hits a missile dropkick and then Sasaki hits a suplex. At some point Saski does gain control and runs through his finish stretch. He has a hot submission move with is like a headscissors neck vice. It is over. if there is one thing New Japan does better than any other pro style company is get submissions over. Hashimoto escapes and sweeps the leg! Sasaki sells the leg! Hashimoto works over the leg before hitting a pair of DDTs and a German. Bunch of kick outs there. Hashimoto is ready to finish him. Sasaki kneelift back to the submission good wrinkle in the Hashimoto finish run to give Sasaki one last gasp. I liked the transition to the finish a lot. Sasaki goes for the bulldog again but Hashimoto turns into him quickly snaps off a deep armdrag and then hits a vicious DDT for the win. That's what was missing from the match better transitions. People were just taking over willy nilly. More missed moves and mistakes. More struggle. New Japan needs more grit. ***1/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Mutoh - NJPW 12/13/93 Outside of two short reigns of Fujinami & Takada (143 days total), these two men owned the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from August of 1992 to August of 1997. In Mutoh's first reign under the guise of The Great Muta gimmick, he successfully defended the title against Hashimoto in 1992. About a year later in September of 1993, Hashimoto defeated The Great Muta ending his over one year long reign. This is Hashimoto's first title defense and it is against the Great Muta's alter-ego, Keiji Mutoh. I have to say hats off to Mutoh for working both characters distinctly different. It affords New Japan to get two completely different matches out of the same pairing of wrestlers. I didn't think this was quite as good as their September '92 match, but I still thought this was a pretty solid encounter. I watched the 7-8 minute JIP version. It is Mutoh's holds versus Hashimoto's strikes. Mutoh rides a short arm scissors pretty good getting it twice and then a solid armbar. Mutoh even throws some headbutts and a nice forearm. He was definitely game. I thought Hashimoto's kicks looked great throughout this match. Eventually Hashimoto is able to blast his way out of Mutoh's holds and just start rifling him with kicks. There is a point where Mutoh misses his signature back handspring elbow and Hashimoto is just so geared up to light him up. Hashimoto hits some nice suplexes, really liked his suplex slam. I about to state something really obvious but Mutoh is a weird wrestler. It is in the way he sells. He kind of just doesn't sell and it makes it look like he is just standing around waiting to be kicked. That lack of struggle bothers me. It only is from time to time. Hashimoto goes for his DDT, which is one of his big moves. Mutoh drives him hard into the buckles and then hurls his body back into Hashimoto. The urgency can be there from Mutoh. Just not always. Then we get the big Mutoh finish stretch: top rope frankensteiner, German suplex, backbreaker/moonsault 1-2-NO! New Japan seemed pretty into the false finishes. Mutoh goes for the moonsault again, but lands on his feet. I liked Mutoh ducking the rainbow heel kick from Hashimoto. Evetually Hashimoto gets him up for the Brainbuster and 1-2-NO! Then DDT kickout. Is it 2018? Hashimoto gets that rainbow heel kick and then a vicious DDT to win. Thought the matwork was tight. Middle section featured some great Hashimoto strikes. Each person's finish run looked great. From an offensive standpoint, great match, but there is way more to wrestling than offense. Selling from Mutoh seemed off, lack of struggle was apparent. I think New Japan had a distinctive enough of style that they could have competed with All Japan in terms of match quality if they were just grittier. A pro-style RINGS which is what Inoki clearly wanted. Enjoyable, but nothing that will blow your mind. ***3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta vs The Great Kabuki - NJPW 6/15/93 So while Hashimoto gets Tenryu in the WAR feud, Muta is stuck with Kabuki but it makes sense given their past history and they even play on their father/son Kayfabe relationship. Muta kicks the ref in the balls, mists Kabuki and then busts him open with the championship. This was a pretty good Muta squash while Kabuki bled and Muta but him. All the usual Muta spots bulldog into concrete and running lariat. Kabuki makes his comeback when Muta misses the back handspring elbow. Kabuki busts Muta on the ring post. Kabuki bites Muta. Muta gets back breaker but no moonsault. Muta gets a chair. Kabuki mists the ref, poor ref, and beats up Muta with the chair. Ref calls it off. Muta is bleeding big time. Kabuki threatens to kill his son in ENGLISH! Then chokes him with nun-chuks. Before everyone pulls him off. Good double juice Muta brawl. ***

Useful information. WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta - NJPW 5/3/93 Non-tile. Still pretty impressive that Muta wrestled both the NWA World Champion & WWF World Champion in the same calendar year. Also impressive he wrestled Sting & Hulk Hogan within a six month window. I was pretty amped for this when Muta flipped off the crowd and misted. It seemed like he was going to go back to his violent, maniacal tendencies. I thought this was pretty entertaining. But it felt rushed and all over the place. I liked Hogan wrestling early with the juji-gatame. Muta is more about the heel chicanery eyerakes and rolling under the ring. There is a good fire fight on the outside with some strong chops through back and forth. Hogan is the one that sends Muta into the crowd. I liked Muta having the timekeeper's hammer. It was stuff like the running lariat only to have Hogan go on top with some nasty eyerakes and punches. He even gets booed. Tries to save face by yelling "Ichiban!". Then Muta is back on top with the backbreaker and Moonsault. I was really hoping for a Hulk-Up. Instead a rope swing comes into play. Then Axe Bomber. Then there is Mist that hits the chest. Legdrop for two. Axebomer wins. It is a weird match. I mean it is Hulk Hogan vs The Great Muta, it is a match you would never expect to happen. It is not bad. It just feels really thrown together. ***

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Great Muta vs Masahiro Chono - NJPW 1/4/93 These two are about a year and half removed from their G-1 Climax '91 Classic, but they are also just a month removed from their absolute stinker at WCW Starrcade 1992. Definite closer to the stinker. If you have watched a lot of Great Muta's title reign up to this match, you will be very disappointed. What has made Muta so great is his violent, stalking monster character. He doesn't wrestle holds. He wants to claw your eyes out or choke with a cord. It is a very subdued Muta performance. I don't know if it was out of reverence for the Dome and Inoki wanted them to have a normal pro wrestling match but it didn't work. Muta did tease the spike early and the ref took it out of his hands. They never really brought the violence. The first ten minutes nothing really happens. I thought even though this was a subdued Muta performance he was still the one bringing the excitement. The bulldog on the ramp, his classic running lariat on the ramp, the missed back handspring elbow on the ramp, the suplex on the ramp, his dive from the ramp over the top rope, you see a trend Muta did a good job using the ramp. Chono had no zip on anything. Just a really blasé performance from him. By far, the most exciting moment of the match was the missed moonsault into the STF. That happened with like 8 minutes left to go in the match. Down the stretch, Chono hits a powerbomb and gets the STF again for his nearfalls. Muta hits the backbreaker->moonsault->pin, wait kickout, moonsault-> pin. I guess we know where that started. Muta wins the NWA World Championship and in a lot of ways this is the peak of The Great Muta. No mist. No blood. Don't bother.

I agree with Parv; this is complete classic. IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta vs Hiroshi Hase - NJPW 12/14/92 Probably the most famous New Japan heavyweight match of the 90s stateside as this is famous for developing the famed Muta Scale where Great Muta does a five alarm bladejob bleeding like a stuck pig. From the reviews I recently read, this match is no longer regarded as a classic and is more of a novelty for the sheer gore of the match. I disagree. I think this is a match that benefits greatly from watching a lot of Great Muta during this time period. Great Muta wrestles unlike any other wrestler in New Japan or anywhere else in the world except for the Undertaker. He is a horror movie character come to life. Most violent wrestlers we think of are wildmen like The Sheik and Tiger Jeet Sngh. Great Muta brings the violence of these men with a dimension of stalking dread that is more reminiscent of Frankenstein or the Creature From The Black Lagoon. There is no selling when you wrestle Muta. There is no grappling holds or traditional pro wrestling struggle. The struggle is in the survival. Hasimoto, asskicked extraordinaire, learnt this lesson take Muta lightly and you will be blinded with a broken back. The Sting match did not feature as great of a finish but again Muta beat the hell out of Sting. Muta chokes, claws, blinds his opponents using railings, chairs, mist and his spike. The spike has been a foreign object that Muta loads his boot with and he will come down across your back with a kneedrop to setup his backbreaker/moonsault combo. The first couple times, I really wanted the spike be used to carve up an opponent. Little did I know Muta's comeuppance would come at the hand of his favorite weapon. Hase's strategy early is smart he dropkicks Muta at the beginning of his prematch ritual, the mist blow. He doesn't let up. Wicked urnage. He takes him to the outside whips him into a railing. He grabs a table brings it on his side of the railing and drives Muta into it. Unlike any other opponent, Hase knows the demonic nature of Great Muta better than anybody as Muta bloodied him up in 1990. The problem is at some point he does run out of steam in the ring and thats when Mutas strike with rapid fire kicks and chops. I thought Mutas speed and strikes looked great. What was uncharacteristic for Muta is that he grabbed a hold instead of taking his opponent outside. Muta does his bridging Indian Deathlock and I loved Hases counter the smother of Muta and then a wicked neck clamp. Now Muta does what does Muta best be weird. He goes looking for his spike. Going each of the four sides and he cant find it. Hase lies in the ring and welcomes to come back into the ring. Muta takes Hase back outside and drives him head first into the concrete. Then anytime Hase gets chippy Muta crotches him on the ring rope or then the steel railing. This is really both of them no selling, but I think when you are in there with a monster like Muta you need to throw everything at him. Muta throws in a chair. Hase grapples with the ref for it and then Muta bashes him with the chair and then backbreaker, but Hase pushes him off the top rope. Hase constant suplexing Muta and especially this instance after a chair shot is what drops this match from perfect status he was no selling too much. Muta gets the spike, but before he can put it in his boot. Hase gets it and carves Muta open. NASTY BLADEJOB! Crimson Mask has never been so appropriate. Piledriver, sleeper, and biting lots and lots of biting. Hase mocks Mutas mist spew with Mutas blood. Thats sick. Hases body looks like a murder scene. Muta starts suplexing the shit out of Hase. Four back drop drivers. Muta crashes and burns on the moonsault! There is still life in Hiroshi Hase! Mutas sell is so great. He looks like a fish completely spent from flopping around and died. Hase hits a wicked urnage. 1-2-NO! Powerbomb! 1-2-NO! Hase goes for another Urnage, but Muta snaps off a Dragon Suplex, bridge 1-2-NO! Even Muta is shocked! Another snap one with bridge for two. Muta is ready to destroy. Backbreaker/moonsault and it is over. Hase came closer than any men before him, but all fall before The Great Muta. ****1/2 NWA World Heavyweight Champion Masa Chono makes the challenge for 1/4/93 Dome show.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta vs Sting - NJPW 11/22/92 Not nearly as good as the awesome Hashimoto match, but this is still pretty damn entertaining. Once you understand the Great Muta character as this stalking, maniacal monster his matches become a lot more interesting. Sting is controlling via the arm early. Muta is missing moves here and there to keep it moving allowing Sting to go back to the arm. Then Muta just goes into glorious heel offense, deep eye rakes, whips into the railing, scaring the photographers, choking with the cord. This dude is a master heel. He reminds me of heel Jimmy Snuka or early Undertaker. Just a slow moving, demonic presence. I love Sting's comeback. He catches him on the back handspring elbow onto railing and then sends him into the railing. Then he does the Stinger Splash onto Muta when he is on the railing. Good symmetry. Nice Military Press back into the ring and even crazier bump when he Military Presses from the ring to the floor! Muta kicks the ref while in the Argentine backbreaker and loads his boot with the spike. He goes up top for the kneedrop, but misses and Sting puts him in the Figure-4! Love it! The ref finds the spike and pulls it out and breaks the hold to reset the match. Finishes with a whimper as Muta hits his backbreaker/moonsault combo to win. I was hoping for something more diabolical. Thought Sting have a dry performance but the stuff on the outside was good. Great Muta heel performance. ***3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta vs Shinya Hashimoto - NJPW 9/23/92 Really unique match. It is all about getting The Great Muta over as this violent monster in a way a more sadistic Undertaker. Hashimoto beats the shit out of Muta for the first four minutes, but about a minute in you notice something weird. Muta isn't fighting back and he is not really selling. Hashimoto is getting more and more frustrated that Muta is not fighting back. He is really not doing anything. I am thinking to myself "Oh God, another weird Muta performance". Then Hashimoto gets on his knees with arms open to say "Hit me". Muta just unloads. Throws him to the outside and beats the shit out of him with chairs. It was great so now Hashimoto no sells and Muta says "Fuck you!" by clawing at his eyes, biting his forehead and choking him with a cord. It was brutal. Muta goes for his back handspring elbow and Hashimoto kicks him right out of the air. Monsters don't do gymnastics. Hashimoto hits an amazing snap belly-to-belly suplex. That might be the best belly-to-belly suplex I have ever seen. Muta blocks the DDT...MIST...Hashimoto ducks...DDT! Hashimoto 1-2-NO! Good nearfall. Hashimoto lines up for an elbow and typical Muta fashion, he just casually rolls out. Hashimoto is like what the fuck. He whips him into the railing and leaves him out there. Bad idea. Muta loads his boot with a giant spike. Muta brings in a chair. Hashimoto heads him off at the pass. Rifles him with kicks. He has control of the chair. MIST! Hahsimoto is in the middle of swinging and still whacks Muta. Great! Muta comes crashing down with two brutal double knees from the top on Hashimoto's back. Hashimoto is selling the mist and his back so well. Muta hits repeated kneedrops. I thought he was going to carve Hash open with the spike, but the spike was just to load the boot. Hashimoto keeps kicking out. Moonsault does him in. Honestly, unlike any match I have ever seen. Violent, maniacal zombie Muta was an interesting foil to asskicker Hashimoto. They kicked the shit out of each other and I thought the finish was really well done. It is hard to rate because I have never seen anything like this. I am going to high and then revisit. ****1/2

Kelly are you the one shooting Chief up the card? You didn't vote for either of the Glamor Girls or Jumping Bomb Angels???

Red Rooster entry was very funny. Judy Martin is the only one of mine that has dropped. Surprised Chief Jay Strongbow didn't drop yet.

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader vs Ric Flair - WCW Starrcade 1993 How can you not get emotional watching this? The opening video package is amazing. Vader showing up in the Ribera Jacket saying we are going to have a party and he likes this kinda party was great. Flair being picked up by Okerlund in the limo was cool. "If there is no more Ric Flair, who will go Wooo?" - Fan to Flair in 1993, amazing. The world without Ric Flair is going to be a lot less fun. Vader is such a great brute. I love that double fist pump Ric Flair gives on the entrance way. He loves pro wrestling. Pro wrestling loves him. I'll be honest this is more lopsided than I remember, but it is fine by me because Vader was in a ridiculous groove at the time point in his career. There may be no wrestler at working heat segments ever. That's a big claim, but his brutality is totally engrossing. You cant take your eyes off Vader destroying an opponent. You see tuffs of blond hair burst into the air with each massive blow. Flair taking it to Vader early was the wrong idea. Flair chops and Vader just shoves him. "You aren't man enough" Vader twists him into a Greco-Roman Knucklelock and beats the shit out of him. Flair is the king of verbal selling and the way he hollers in pain is great. Of course, what makes Vader a great heat segment worker is how he feeds for his babyface to get hope spots. Vader misses and eats the railing. The electricity when Flair chops and punches was amazing. Flair has great, great punches. We don't talk about that enough. Harley interrupts this comeback and Flair takes a wicked bump on the floor. Vader DESTROYS Flair. Huge superplex! Punches and forearms. Wicked clotheslines. He busts open Flair real good on a lariat to the mouth. Flair "You son of a bitch!" Flair bleeding from the mouth adds to this grittiness. The fact he is in way over his head against this unstoppable monster. Vader starts to give Flair more opening. A missed splash here and a missed splash there. Vader locks up Flair again and this time Flair goes to the eye. Then Flair just unloads with punches and CHOPS HIM IN THE FACE! Off comes the mask. Vader's face is cut up and red. Hell Yes! Flair goes for the leg. The crowd comes alive. You can hear the excitement in Tony's voice. Wraps the Grizzly Bear's leg around the post and then the chair to the knee. Vader tries to attack. Flair just starts beating the shit out of his face while Vader yells "Hit me! Hit me!" Flair crowns him with a chair. That is the one sequence I always remember. This comeback is positively electric. It is the ultimate fist pump. You want to know you are over? Pick up someone's foot and see a crowd lose their shit. Flair picks up Vader's foot to setup for the figure-4 and the crowd goes wild. Vader still has some fight in him. Missed Vaderbomb! Figure-4! This should have been the finish. I know Vader submitting might have hurt his image but damn it would have been great. Vader gets control again after he makes the ropes. MISSED VADERSAULT! Insane spot. Flair covers. Harley headbutts Vader. Fun spot, but not necessary. The finish sucks as Vader does get back up and then Flair tabletops for the win. Doesn't matter Flair wins and it is one of the loudest pops of all time. Great performances by both wrestlers. Vader comes across as an unbeatable monster. Flair is selling like a champ and really does feel over his head. What I love about Flair's offense it is all chops and punches! He came to fight! This match comes across as a fight and Flair is fighting for his life! Vader is the king of the missed move and does a great job giving Flair openings and selling for Flair's molten hot comebacks. I actually really liked the finish stretch just not the finish. Big fight feel and a big fight that delivered. Long Live The Nature Boy! ****1/2

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader vs Ron Simmons - WCW Main Event 8/2/92 The full length match was shown on the August 2, 1992 edition of WCW Main Event. It is weird to think about it, but Vader was merely a transitional champion in 1992. Bill Watts came in and wanted to go a different direction. He earmarked Ron Simmons as his new Junkyard Dog and wasted little time lifting the belt off Sting and putting it on Ron Simmons. The follow through may have been lacking, but this match was molten hot. The Baltimore crowd was rocking throughout and the roof damn near came off the place for the Simmons victory. I thought the shine was great. Vader is so selfless and Simmons was explosive with those tackles and the spinebuster. Vader was a killer in his heat segment. Absolutely superb. The Splash in the corner was huge. The strikes looked so crisp. Loved the escalation of hope spots from the kick out on the second rope splash to the vertical suplex, the backslide out of a short arm clothesline attempt as nifty to the sunset flip being squashed. You want Simmons to string something together but Vader is a monster. I cant say enough how good Vader looked in this. Then it happens. Simmons catches Vader with a powerslam. 1-2-3! History is made. The black kid jumping up and down in celebration is iconic and says more than any words could. Excellent match and title victory. ****

My parents were pretty excited about Jericho vs Omega. More excited than me honestly. Life is crazy. I saw some reviews here make it out to be a classic. My mom didn't care for it. My Dad liked it the most. He liked the brutality. I thought it was way tooooooooooooooooooo loooooooooooooooong. Brawls shouldn't be that long. A very good match that could been great if they went only 10-15 minutes instead of 35 MINUTES! Yes the best Jericho match since 2009, but anyone who thinks it is his best needs to watch the Michaels 2008 series and Mysterio 2009 series before making those claims.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude & Steve Austin) - Great American Bash '92 I loved this! I am a sucker for a great shine. You know what before that let me say Austin was way better in this than he was in that TV title match with Windham. I was harsh on him there and I want to give him credit where it is due and that he rocked in this match. Admittedly, he ran out of steam towards the end but he killed it for the first 95% of the match. Back to the shine, amazing! Austin is working a break-neck pace trying to overwhelm Barry Windham and instead eats a punch after a couple minutes and goes down in heap. Part of what makes this great is whoever is on the apron also does a great job selling concern. Austin is so good at writhing in pain. Ten months later and I am ready to finish this review. The shine is indeed amazing. Austin is not just bumping for Windham it really is the selling and just putting over the offense. I loved Rude trying to get in on the action and does the Tombstone reversal spot to a big pop. Windham gets a flying lariat on a tag and it really feels like the Texicans are running away with this Madusa agrees and gets on the apron. Rude yanks Windham down by the hair and then hits a missile dropkick by the ref's back. Remember this is Watts' WCW so top rope moves are banned. Nice piledriver by Rude. The heel heat segment gets a little long in the tooth, but includes all the staples you would expect from Southern Tag wrestling. The finish was a barnburner. Dustin rocked it as a hot tag, punches, elbows and a great dropkick to Rude. Weird WCW camera angle aside I liked the finish with Dustin hitting the Flying Lariat as Austin was thinking piledriver. Great classic Southern tag. ****

Wow, I guess I am way off base. I thought this was not very good at all. Brian Pillman looked wicked off. Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff vs Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman - Great American Bash 1992 Liger was the MVP of this match. He was the spark plug. He was the one that really got the match going with offense in the middle and is a good FIP. Something was really off about Pillman. Blowing spots. Looking lost, forgetting to kick out, clamping headlocks late because he doesn't know what to do. In addition to Pillman sucking wind in this match, the face vs face nature of the match worked to the detriment of the match. I have gone on record saying I love face vs face matches because they can be explosive mid-match. There was no explosion. It was pretty pedestrian except when Liger was in there. Either someone needs to turn heel for the match or go for a ton of highspots. Where was the Pillman vs Steamboat fire fight? They did a good job establishing Nikita's power game early and then the Rockers style arm work by Pillman & Liger. I thought Steamboat was ok until Liger just goes crazy. Tombstone, moonsault and Carpentier somersault! Thank you Liger! Whats great is we get a look at Steamboat as a heel quickly where he hits three backbreakers in succession and then an Oklahoma Slam. Ricky Steamboat The Power Wrestler! Liger was a fun FIP. Pillman comes in and hits five dropkicks inside of two minutes. Jeez. Only the missile dropkick looked good. There was a great late Liger/Steamboat sequence late followed by a shitty Steamboat/Pillman sequence. Pillman crossbody roll through finished. My review is negative but I am more just miffed that Pillman didn't deliver because this could have been great if he was on, but instead it is just good. Watch for Steamboat vs Liger. I wish they got a singles match. ***

WCW World TV Champion Barry Windham vs Stunning Steve Austin - WCW Worldwide 6/13/92 Ever wanna watch Barry Windham wrestle himself? Watch this match. It is amazing Austin was getting pushed with his dearth of offense. We were supposed to pop for his back drop out of Windham's piledriver as a key nearfall. Windham tags Austin early with his taped up right hand. Windham settles into working a strong hammerlock and then executing a nice suplex. Windham is silky smooth. Windham drives five punches in his head. Austin clothesline him over the top. Windham feeds him the two biggest moves the missed lariat on the outside and even gives him a press slam off the top. When is the last time a babyface has taken that move? Windham gets put in the bearhug twice and he bites out of it and then a belly to belly suplex. Then there is that lame back drop cover. There is no heat segment. Austin does a fancy little somersault into a shoulderblock into the buckles. LOL! That's his big spot. Windham gives him a big back drop. That's Austin's forte, big bumps and I don't think they played to his strengths. I think Windham wants a lariat but he gets a forearm, nice legdrop by Windham as Austin was getting up. 1-2-3, anti-climatic, foot was on the ropes. Austin gets the TV title belt and blasts him to win the belt. No heat segment and no real strong comeback. Windham looked really great but there is not much herE to get excited about.

Vader vs Dustin Rhodes - WCW Saturday Night 11/21/92 Surprisingly I have never seen this match as I absolutely love their '94 encounter. Vader has just had a 2x4 cracked over his back by Sting. He then starts hollering "NO PAIN! NO PAIN! NO PAIN!" to psyche himself up. I would be intimidated, but Dustin does not back down. Dustin is at least as tall as Vader if not an inch taller. He stares daggers in his eyes. I love the moxie the kid shows early. He never backs down. Takes the fight right to Vader. Bulldog. Lariat over the top. The Kid is feeling it. The winner takes on Sting at Starrcade. Vader comes out of the corner with his Vader Body Attack. It is all Vader. Glorious Vader splashes and Vader punches. He just brutalizes the Kid. There should have been more hope spots, but I loved Vader's offense. Dustin eventually makes his comeback. Big lariat off the second rope. Vader does make Dustin look good bumping big for everything. Dustin knocks Vader on his ass to the outside. Vader swings a wild bear paw on the outside and Dustin goes flying 360 style on the concrete. Fucking bitchin. Vader brings in his wounded prey and then hits a second rope splash to win the match. Excellent Vader is The Man outing with a game underdog babyface. Love these two together. ****

The most hilarious gaffe in podcast history has made this match famous. Barry Windham vs Arn Anderson - WCW Pro 11/2/91 Two former Horsemen collide. Double A & Larry Z crushed Barry Windham's hand at Halloween Havoc, but this is taped before that incident. Windham turned babyface in the double turn with Luger. So that means him and Arn are on opposing sides. This is very reminiscent of the excellent Dustin Rhodes vs Arn Anderson match from Saturday Night 1/4/92, the double limb psychology with a strong commitment to selling from both wrestlers. Heels tend to be big bumpers and don't have to sell as much typically. Arn Anderson put on a selling clinic. Also see how he didn't let Barry sit in holds. He caused movement. He raked the eyes and then hit a kneelfit with his bad leg and goes down in heap. Then he gets another opening and goes up top and gets press slammed. He is creating movement. It builds to the figure-4 as the climax of the segment. Arn is such a consummate heel. Always looking for eyerakes or the ropes for leverage or the tights. He uses the tights to send Barry into the post arm first. Windham does an incredible job selling the arm as Arn tortures it. I love how they use this double psychology not just to sell but they attack each other's damage body part. Windham cranks it up first with a sleeper then with a lariat and powerslam. He cant keep Arn down. Arn gets a sunset flip and holds the ropes to get three. Out comes Simmons to argue the call and Windham gets the win with an O'Connor Roll on the restart. Not in love with the finish, but God the selling in this match is exquisite. Total clinic from two pros. Watch this match. ****

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton - WCW Clash of the Champions XIX I am surprised this does not have a rep. This is glorious Southern-fried tag wrestling. Great shine with Windham catching Arn with a great right and then dropkicking off the top! Loved Eaton feeding Dustin's bionic elbows by bouncing off the ropes. Bobby Eaton was my MVP in this match. Eaton catches Windham with a blind kick to the head when he is running the ropes for the heat segment. That one is a shorty. Dustin comes in house of fire. So many damn good punches in this match. Dustin goes for the DDT but Arn hooks the ropes. Dustin is hurt. Eaton with that Sweet Home Alabama right hand. Dustin crashes and burns on his crossbody spot. Eaton gets two with a Bombs Away kneedrop. Windham comes in to save his young tag partner. Melee ensues. Arn nails a spinebuster off camera because this is WCW. I totally buy this as the finish even though I should know better. I mark out when Dustin kicks out. I mark out harder when Bobby Eaton misses Alabama Jam. RUNNING BULLDOG! 1-2-3! Super satisfying finish. God Bless The South! ****

Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman vs Chris Benoit & Beef Wellington - WCW Clash of the Champion XIX If you look really closely, you can see US 90s workrate being born right before your eyes. Surprisingly, I have never seen this match before. One of the last marquee WCW matches I have never seen. I thought this was a really damn good Stampede-style tag. Aerial highspots sprinkled in with big strikes. Pillman's super back suplex, missile dropkick, crossbody to the floor was awesome. Liger's spinwheel kick and Asai Moonsault also killer. They definitely went balls to the wall, but there was some semblance of struggle and risk as moves were missed. I wish we got more Benoit/Pillman. Well I wish we got more Benoit in general as Wellington was just alright. Definitely the fourth wheel. Benoit did beat the piss outta Liger. It felt like Benoit was taking more than he was giving, but that makes sense as Liger & Pillman were the bigger stars and he was there to put them over really. The finish is pretty fucked up because Wellington sandbags Liger twice and the old shove the heel tag wrestlers into each other looked silly here. Liger's moonsault to win was pretty. Good 90s workrate match. ***1/2

WCW World Tag Team Champions Steiner Brothers vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Takahashi Iizuka - WCW Wrestlewar 1992 The match lives up to its rep as a brutal, violent spectacle, but still don't know if I would go so far to call it unprofessional. Scotty Steiner lets Iizuka shine early and the Steiners are still cooperative late into the match. I really think what it comes down to is that Steiners did some ridiculously dangerous shit in this match rather than being uncooperative or unprofessional. Scotty Steiner nearly piledrives himself on a flip powerslam. Then Big Brother, Rick tries to outdo him by catching Iizuka in the Electric Chair and doing a flip bodyslam from Fujinami's shoulders. That was fucking nuts. I don't think that has ever been attempted since. Rick does ask if Iizuka is ok to the ref in a chinlock after he explodes his face with an elbow. Rick Steiner was brutal with those elbows drops in the match. Some vicious Steinerlines. After Scott nearly breaks his own neck, he tries to decapitate Fujinami. Give Fujinami credit, he gives as good as he gets as starts stiffing the fuck out of the Steiners. Iizuka takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. Like I said throughout the match, the Steiners still take the Japanese offense, they just did three dangerous spots early and after that it was just the Steiners being the Steiners. Scott Steiner was incredible at integrating amateur wrestling into pro wrestling. He just gobbles up Iizuka. There is a great spot late where Steiner does a double over the top armdrag of the Japanese into a Top Rope Steinerline. Stuff like that require cooperation. They may have been hitting hard, but I don't think they ever lost respect for each other. Jesse & I both mark out for the SPIKE PILEDRIVER~! from the Japanese. Fujinami gets the Dragon Sleeper late. The Japanese still got offense down the stretch. It was not a squash match by any stretch. In a fracas, Rick Steiner hits a super Belly to Belly Suplex to win the match. One of the best Steiner spotfests because they just go balls out with 8 million suplexes, hard hitting Steinerlines and they have opponents willing to take a lickin and keep on tickin'. ****1/4

Steiner Brothers vs Vader & Mr. Hughes - Clash of Champions XVIII This is right in my wheelhouse, four big uglies just throwing each other around. You could tell JR was in his element discussing collegiate accolades and power wrestling. I loved this! I thought Rick's overhead belly to belly on Vader was the spot of the match but then Mr. Fucking Hughes takes a back body drop like he is AJ Styles. HE WAS WAY UP THERE! Yeah some of this feels really stilted at times, but god the spots they hit are awesome. The power and strength on display here is amazing. ***1/2