SLL's All-Request Something Something

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage (WCW, 4/6/1997)
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage (WCW, 6/15/1997)
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage (WCW, 10/26/1997)
Requested by DylanWaco

Dylan suggested I do all three of these as a group, since they're all really good on their own, but if you cobbled the best pieces of each together, you'd have a great match. Personally, I thought they all stood on their own just fine, though maybe the third less so than the first two, and, for that matter, the second less so than the first.

The first was actually about as good of a WCW main event match as you were going to get in that period. More than anything, this really struck me as a microcosm of what should have been happening with their main event scene but never really did because WCW was run by the dumbest motherfuckers in wrestling history. Two dudes who hate each other having a brawl is maybe the easiest match in the world to set up and execute, and probably the one WCW was bested suited to at the moment. Here, we get that from two really great brawlers, and they know not to stray too far from that as the base of the match. These are two guys who were notorious for the thorough planning of their matches, and this one in particular really comes off as a match that they nailed structurally. But a lot of what makes it work is that, until the finish, it's very stripped down. It's an epic, but it's not, as some of the net might call it, a "self-conscious epic", and these are two guys who did tend to be very self-conscious about their work. This was No DQ, they had a lot of tools at their disposal to fool around with, but they kept it simple, and that's really exactly what the match needed. Before the finish, the big "moments" that stood out to me were Savage attacking David Penzer and Mark Curtis. Hey, remember when the nWo were a major threat that WCW had to fight off instead of a permanent fixture that WCW had to tolerate? This match does. Even Michael Buffer remembers in probably the best non-ironic moment of wrestling career as he kneels beside his fallen comrade in ring announcing, looking like he now genuinely understands the true horror of the struggle. After years of not caring about this dopey little sport, he now realizes David Penzer is a man just like him, trying to find his way in this crazy, mixed-up world of ours, and that no man deserves the indignity that he - and by extension, all of WCW - has been put through by the nWo. Then he'll drink that all away and come back fresh and ready to introduce Bret "The Hitman" Clarke and tell us how Karl Malone is going to deliver the mail as it has never been delivered before, but it was nice we had that moment. I also want to give props to Tony Schiavone, who had his game face on tonight and did a great job putting over the story of the match, DDP's scrappy underdog status, and how vile Savage and the nWo really were. There's one point after Savage has whipped and piledriven Mark Curtis where Tony is describing the action and asks "what have we become?", which really feels like it belongs next to "Hulk Hogan, you can go straight to Hell" as one of your great Schiavone moments. He's also doing this in spite of Bobby Heenan completely shitting on the match with an out of place heel routine. He snaps at the Brain every time he tries to force some unneeded levity into the match, and I think it's really effective at keeping a serious tone throughout. This is the Schiavone I would have liked to have seen all the time, but it was WCW so...you know. At that brings us to the finish, which was the most "booked" part of the match, so to speak. But man-oh-man, was that a great fucking finish. Curtis gets taken out, nWo favorite Nick Patrick gets brought in with Kevin Nash coming out to supervise. DDP is beaten to within an inch of his life, Savage drags him to his fe-BANG! Diamond Cutter! Patrick - looking his Kenny Powersest - watches as DDP slowly crawls over Savage, shoots the half, and semi-official faction membership be damned, he goes down, and with as fair of a count as you'll ever see, gives DDP the win. A decisive, middle of the ring, clean as a sheet win against one of the biggest stars in modern wrestling history, and one that solidified him as a legit main event player. Did you see that WCW? That was called "creating a new long term star". It wasn't that hard, was it? WHY WERE ONLY ABLE TO DO IT TWICE IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS OF YOUR PITIFUL FUCKING EXISTENCE?! Post-match, the nWo loses their shit. Kevin Nash Jacknifes Nick Patrick. Savage freaks out and tries to attack Kimberly. Eric Bischoff desperately tries to get cooler heads to prevail so the team can regroup. There was a war here. Something happened. It was important. And the crowd wanted Sting. You knew that the crowd wanted Sting, right WCW? You knew that they wanted him to lead the charge and drive off the nWo once and for all, right? Not just to gain a pathetic non-victory over Hogan that would be completely undone in a matter of months before he settled into the new routine, right? Fuck you guys. You deserve TNA. THIS was what professional wrestling looks like.

The second match is a step down, but not a very big one. Loved the opening with Kimberly distracting Savage at the entrance so DDP could rush out of the crowd to attack. Really great, out-of-control start to the match, including a crazy DDP pescado as he pushes the advantage. Notably, we are now into the "taped ribs" phase of Page's career (which was really the last piece of the puzzle he needed to put together to become completely awesome), and he is selling the after-effects of the pescado appropriately. Savage also attacks the ribs appropriately. We need more guys with visible injuries in wrestling so clueless dudes can have an easy hint about what to do in a match. Most wrestling promotions are basically M*A*S*H units, anyway. It shouldn't be that hard. Anyway, this match is largely more of the same in terms of style and structure, and that suits me just fine. However, they do start to stray into out-of-place shenanigans a bit more here. In the late goings, they brawl towards a "VIP area" (do they even have a clear view of the ring from there) made up to look like a picnic area. As much as Dusty yelling "Right behind ya! There's a bar-be-cue pit!" amuses me, the silliness really felt unwelcome after they had done such a good job keeping the tone serious in the previous match.

This continues in the third match, and while it's still high-quality brawling, it's not quite as dynamic as it had been the first two times around. This time, we have a really great crowd brawling segment that leads into Halloween Havoc's graveyard set. It actually feels less silly than the picnic set brawl, I don't even really hold it against the match that much. I just feel like if that's the route you want to go, take it to the concession stand. Having a great brawl amongst a bunch of prop tombstones just isn't the same, especially when compared to the simple beauty of the first match. Also, all of these matches feature heavy use of glass (?) serving trays as foreign objects. That seems just plain odd to me.

Minor grievances aside, you can't go wrong with any of these matches. WCW's main event scene was shit for the most part, but this feud is a great look at what could happen when things actually went right.

Randy Savage vs. Andre the Giant (WWF, 8/13/1988)
Requested by Victator

I have a lot of Savage matches left over from when the All-Savage Friday Night requests. I can't complain too much about the lack of variety, though, Savage fucking ruled. Andre also fucking ruled, and while this is older, broken down Andre, he was a guy who would often find ways to take what little he had left and make the most of it. He wasn't getting anything the level of his Hansen or Killer Khan matches anymore, but Andre can put a smile on my face more often than not. This is one of the better examples of that, and when you're in the ring with Savage, that's to be expected. Andre in this match is all about trying to keep Savage trapped, trying to negate the speed advantage, choking him out with his hands and the strap of his tunic. His way is not very sportsmanlike. Savage rallies, and bless Andre's heart, he can still fall backwards and get his arms trapped in the ropes. Savage goes to work, but just as soon as the giant gets free, he backs Savage into a corner and starts wailing away. He may not be as offensively dynamic as he used to, and he may be struggling a bit to stay upright, but if nothing else, Andre is still a huge motherfucker, and he still looks like a legit threat when he's pounding on some dude in the corner. When Savage finally fells him, it feels like a real accomplishment, but even after the elbowdrop, Andre still powers out at two. They brawl outside, where Savage continues to press the advantage, but when he gets back in, Elizabeth gets on the apron, and Andre grabs her ankle, causing her to collapse in pain. Savage goes back out to deal with it, causing a double count-out, which is weird since Savage had pretty clearly broken the count moments earlier. Whatever. I still had a lot of fun with this, dopey finish aside. The post-match makes up for it a little, as Savage carries a seemingly injured Liz in his arms backstage while Andre parades around the ring triumphantly with the WWF Title.

Low-Ki vs. Sami Callihan (JAPW, 3/26/2011)
Requested by Mando > Eddie

So I guess this is the last great JAPW match, huh? Shame. Still, this is a good note to go out on, one of my favorite indy matches of the year so far. After the awesome bit earlier in the night with Sami attacking Ki at the concession stand, the match opens with Ki doing his fancy slingshot roll into the ring and Sami just pouncing on him. Of course, Ki isn't going to give any quarter, either. He comes back quick and sends him out of the ring, and then dives out feet first into Callihan's face, which was just hideous. He spends most of the rest of the match beating the shit out of him, including one of the hardest slaps you will ever see in a wrestling ring. Callihan has a ton of nice offense of his own, including an out-of-nowhere backdrop driver. Still, the real story with him is the way he eats all of Low-Ki's shit and keeps sticking it out. Scrappy heel fighting from underneath is a weird role, and a tough one to pull off, but Sami is more than up to the task. When on offense, he is a violent monster you want to see get brought down. When he isn't, he's spitting in Ki's face, a constant reminder that he hasn't been put away yet, and you still want to see him brought down. The crowd didn't react to this the way you'd think they would, but I sure as hell did.