cactus
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Everything posted by cactus
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As soon as the bell rings, Regal has his sights set on Ambrose's arm. I think Regal might be the most interesting guy when it comes to keeping me engaged during a control segment. The guy is just nasty. Once Ambrose is free from Regal's grasp, he trash talks Regal and the match shifts from a technical contest to a gritty brawl. Ambrose shines during this part of the match. He paces around the place like a lunatic and just looks like a star. Regal gets his brain scrabbled by a ringpost spot and starts fumbling around. His ear starts bleeding and the referee ponders whether to call this one off. Just as Regal lands a lucky forearm blow, the ref decides enough is enough and throws this match out. Regal's selling was fantastic and put over Ambrose big time. ★★★★ -
I was at this event. I won tickets from a competition from another wrestling board and I dragged my friend who was a lapsed fan to join me. I remember telling him as Regal was making his way to the ring that this was going to be a classic as these are two of the best technical workers around. The bell rand and just 90 seconds later, Regal lands a knee strike and gets the win. I remember being pissed that they teased us with this and have it end so quickly! As far as a sub-two minute matches go, it's decent. Michael Cole, after turning heel after bullying Bryan on commentary the past few months, still does a solid job of running down Bryan and Regal's history together even though he does it in a sarcastic tone. They throw in a quick technical exchange, before Bryan lands a quick Dragon Suplex on Regal. At least these two made up for this match, by having a longer match on Superstars the following year. ★★
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Yeah, the Owen episode is heartbreaking. I felt so bad for Martha. She gets so much unnecessary flack from a subset of toxic fans because she doesn't want Owen to be celebrated by a company that ultimately killed him. Owen is obviously a HOFer, but some things are bigger than wrestling.
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Regal got into a scrap with Christian during the opening promo of this episode of ECW and he's still selling his arm. Goldust punches Regal all over the place. Goldust has always thrown a nice punch, but the real highlight of this match is Regal's reaction to them. He sells them well and his facials are top-notch. Regal raking Goldie's face while working a chin lock is a small touch I always appreciate. This is a fairly nothing four minute match with the sole intention of giving Regal some momentum going into his ECW title match next week, but you can still see shades of brilliance from both guys. ★★½
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If you're going to watch this match, make sure you watch Regal's pre-match promos. It sets the stage perfectly and it might be one of Regal's best. The matwork channels back to Regal's days working the World Of Sport style of grappling. He throws in a kip-up to let us know that he's still got a lot of fuel left in his tank. Their body language and posturing during these exchanges is next level stuff. After hitting the first strikes of the match, Cesaro is slouched in the corner and Regal illegally stomps on him whilst chatting to the referee. He's a babyface, but he's still the Villain! Both guys sell exceptionally well in this. Regal audibly screams as his knee is worked over, and Cesaro is always trying to shake off the damage that he's taken to his arm. The ending is WWE Epic Storytelling™ done right. After taking a horrific beating, Regal collapses and Cesaro takes a moment before putting Regal and his career to bed with the Neutraliser. Wow, this is even better than I remembered it. A career match for both men. ★★★★¾
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I just finished watching the second episode of The Undertaker series and it's good stuff. It seems like Undertaker needs to return and redeem himself every time he shits the bed. It's unintentionally hilarious at times. I'll keep watching to see what far right t-shirts 'Taker busts out next week.
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With the exception of Bryan attempting to go for one strike, this was all pure wrestling. These guys respect each other and they want to see who the best pure wrestler is and not throwing strikes added to that story. Gulak refusing to give up the headlock despite being Bryan shin breakering him was great. Gulak refuses to let his hurt leg show, but Bryan smells blood in the water and takes him down with some dragon screws. This was a total technical clinic that told a cohesive story. I'm going to miss Drew Gulak. ★★★½
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Fun match, but it's not either man's best performance and it doesn't live it up to it's reputation. Ospreay sells for Riddle's strikes well and I'm a big fan of the spot where he climbs the top rope to escape Riddle's grasp. The usual complaints about Ospreay apply here. His facials are hokey and they try a bit too hard to make this an epic, but it's nowhere near as offensive as say, a Davey Richards 2011 ROH title match. Seeing this live must of been great though. ★★★¼
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After losing their hair match in January, Bison and Aja are back and they're here to hurt someone. This felt like a lucha match. Not just because of the 2/3 falls stipulation, but because of the frantic pace and high spots these women busted out. Even Aja gets time to hit a plancha to the outside. Esther Moreno was a real discovery for me. She's incredibly athletic, which is saying something when you are on the same time as Manami freakin' Toyota. Moreno bleeds a gushers and works as a FIP for a lot of the match. They do go a touch overboard with the amount of spots in the final fall, but it's a minor complaint. ★★★★
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According to a comment on the Youtube video of this match, this was the match that got the women's division scrapped as the boys got too insecure about how stiff these women worked. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but you could certainly believe it given how brutally stiff the match was and how fragile some of the egos were backstage. This match is a total squash, with Asari only getting some offence at the start of the match and when Aja misses a dive from the turnbuckle. Aja has plenty of opportunities to go for the pin, but she toys with Asari and lifts her up just before the referee can count to three. The kicks Aja gives to Asari when she's down made me wince. This is how you get someone over as a monster heel. ★★★
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As a weekly listener of both the Experience and the Drive-Thru, Cornette's comments on Dana Brooke, while mean-spirited, aren't as bad as some of his other comments he's made on the subject of women's wrestling. He's constantly been condescending towards female wrestlers ("she works like a guy" etc) and sees them as a mere gimmick. Don't even get me started on the racist crap he says about Riho.
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Just given this my yearly rewatch. I love everything about it, from how it's shot to how they managed to cram so much action and drama into a sub five minute match. Would anyone here know how I can get my hands on some full Futen shows? Can only find individual matches on YouTube and Ditch's site.
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I was in attendance for this and watching Angle make his entrance into the packed York Hall might just be my favourite live wrestling experience. RevPro booked Angle on quite short notice and they built the entire show around his appearance. This is probably the last time Angle looked like a healthy wrestler. Even though his knee is in a brace, he doesn't have that confused and lost look in his eyes that he had developed not too long after rejoining WWE in 2017. The match is itself is better than I remember. Clocking in just under nine minutes, I remember watching this live and being surprised by how short this felt for such a big match. ZSJ tries to play his usual technical game, but Angle uses his power and strength to cut him off. Angle hits usual high spots (no moonsault or avalanche belly to belly, sadly!) and locks in the grapevined Ankle lock to get the tap out. The match itself isn't too special, but it's the surreal atmosphere of seeing Angle wrestle in front of an adoring indie crowd makes this worth your time. ★★★½
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Jarrett looks like a guy who would of been a top guy if he came around five years earlier. He's got the Southern heartthrob babyface thing nailed down, it just feels a bit outdated by 1991. Tom Prichard was also great in this. His stooges around and cheats with the help of his manager, Tojo Yamamto. ★★★
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The older Jumbo gets, the more grumpier he gets. His pairing with Taue has a teacher/student dynamic. Jumbo even tags himself in just to show Taue the correct way to stretch out Kawada! Misawa's arm is targeted, and he's eventually taken out of the match for a while, leaving Kawada to fight alone yet again. Misawa even ends up getting booed when he can't stop himself from interfering when's not the legal man. Misawa eventually being able to get a clean, submission win over Jumbo came as a big shock to me. Yet another good match from four of the best wrestlers in the world at the time. ★★★¾
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With both wrestlers rocking military gear and with no referee present in the ring, this was a fun gimmick match that unlike any other Hogan match from this time. The real star of the show was Sarge for his phenomenal bumping and selling. I'm a big fan of Slaughter falling on his big arse because of blood lose when he attempts to raise the steel chair above his head. The result of this one was never in doubt, but this was miles better than their 'Mania snoozefest. ★★★
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Two thirds of this consist of those filthy gaijins working over Misawa and Kawada. I didn't find the matwork dull and Williams and Gordy getting under the skin of the Japanese crowd by interfering kept me entertained. The finishing stretch doesn't overstay it's welcome and the crowd are hot for all of it. I've always liked it when Misawa attempts to win by using the same counter that got him his fluke win over Jumbo in 1990. Misawa not being able to land his rebound elbow strike as his leg is too damaged was a cool spot, completely justifying the lengthy control segment during the first half of the match. ★★★½
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I did not expect that Lariat at the start of the match, caught me completely off-guard. After that the next five minutes consists of Hansen going to town on Kobashi. Hansen's a joy to watch in control. He's as snug as ever and judging by just sportsmanship-lacking stomps, he's extra pissed off on this night. Kobashi, being the world's best babyface behind Ricky Steamboat, rallies the crowd behind him. Kobashi cinching Hansen in with a sleeper might just be my favourite ever sleeper spot. The only way Kobashi can win is if he literally stops the big Texan from breathing. Just when I think I've seen all the high end AJPW matches for 1991, this fucker surprises me! ★★★★¼
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The visuals in this thing are stunning. Onita lookes a million bucks when he's bloodied and his gear torn by the explosions. This was a hell of a spectacle, but I'd struggle to call this a good match.The Texas Deathmatch-style ten counts after the pins hurt the flow of the match and they needed to build up to the explosions better and treat them like a big deal and not just throw each other into the cage for the sake of it. I'm not a snob to deathmatches, but you need vanilla pro-wrestling storytelling and psychology to make them work. ★★¼
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This was good in places, but I'm overall quite disappointed by the rep that this match has. The first twenty minutes are dominated by matwork that is solid yet unspectacular. Chono is dominated by Muto. Chono landing his big boot triggers the finishing stretch to start. They end up milking way too many nearfalls and losing my attention. The crowd are HOT for this and they are the best part of the match, the pop that Chono gets when he gets the win was nuclear. This was long for the sake of being long, but the crowd ate it up at least. ★★★
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The first five minutes of matwork is rather dull, but they reach a stalemate and a frustrated Hashimoto violently kicks away at Chono, setting the pace of the rest of the match. Chono's good, but a few stikes by Hash is enough to derail his momentum. The crowd are solidly behind Chono as he tries everything to get to the finals of the G1. The finishing stretch is all kinds of fun, a total bombfest and finish that really puts over Chono's STF as a big deal. ★★★½
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My first Onita match. I can see why he was so popular, the guy's got charisma for days and can sell well. That being said, I didn't like this match. It lacked a coherent structure. Goto was actively bad at times. He was dull when he first gains control of Onita and he brushes a piledriver through a table off like it was nothing. I like the dueling headbutts at least. ★½
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Some of my favourite discoveries from going through 1991 have been Hiroshi Hase and young Scott Steiner. This isn't as good as the match that the Steiners had at the WCW/NJPW Dome show as Chono isn't as suited to working this style of match as Kensuke is and they could of done with some extra time, but it's still a lot of fun. Chono kicking the headgear of Rick Steiner made for a great visual. ★★★¼
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Steamboat's return to WCW after a cup of coffee in the WWF over the summer. This is a textbook example of how to do Southern tag team wrestling. The Enforcers were masterful in cutting off Steamboat from getting the tag. Zbyszko pushing Arn back while he had a crab locked on was a cool spot that I don't think I've ever seen replicated. Arn was also great selling the quick bursts of energy Steamboat got to keep the crowd invested. Dustin Rhodes, although you couldn't fairly call him the weak link, was mainly here to be the fresh babyface who would clean house when Steamboat finally scored the tag. He did his role well, but this is the Steamboat, Arn and Larry Z show. I had high expectations, and I'm happy to say that this did not disappoint. ★★★★¼