Traylor of the Day: Day 5

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3nt0z_big-bubba-vs-john-tenta_sport#.URB9AmfnfTo

Big Bubba Rogers vs. John Tenta (WCW, 6/16/1996)

So, like I was saying earlier, this is a feud that was loathed back when it happened. The RSP-W crowd hated it with a passion, and I don't it fared much better with the WON readers. Even now, those of us who love Traylor and are starting to reconsider Tenta tend to not have a lot good to say about either of them at this point in their careers. So color me mildly surprised that I totally dug this match. Bubba takes a crazy bump from the top rope to the floor right at the start of the match, and things don't let up from there. Bubba eats a quality beating from Tenta, who is laying it in extra hard tonight. Love him repeatedly jumping ass-first into Bubba while he's slumped in the corner, totally brutal looking. Bubba gets a lucky shot in with what we would later find out were the infamous Carson City silver dollars to turn the tide. He really starts working double time in this match. Great sequence with him snapping off the enzuigiri, and then quickly charging in with the rocking horse when Tenta falls into position, followed by two more. His signature baseball slide to the outside followed by an uppercut didn't go as smoothly as usual, but he spends most of the rest of the match seriously wailing on Tenta, so I'm letting it go. There's a little bit of work on Tenta's leg, which looked good, and a really impressive back suplex to the 500-pounder. Unfortunately, we get a really abrupt finish not long afterwards, as Bubba comes off of the top and Tenta catches him with a powerslam for the pin. Tenta manages to get ahold of the scisssors that Bubba had cut his hair with, and cuts his goatee in response. Bubba's post-match freakout is delightful. "HE CUT IT! HE CUT IT OFF!" Good times. So yeah, not a fraction as bad as you were told. It's pretty short, going about 5-6 minutes. I wouldn't put it on the level of their '91 Royal Albert Hall match, but I'd put it ahead of the Survivor Series Showdown '90 match no problem. It crammed a ton of action into it's short running time, and I came away genuinely curious to see more of this reviled feud.