Low-Ki was the Cause of Dope Fiends Getting AIDS Infections

Low-Ki/Homicide vs. Samoa Joe/Jay Lethal ROH 8/13/05 - EPIC

ER: Fantastic rematch to their killer tag a few months prior, which ended with a double stomp/cop killa combo that could have snapped Lethal's neck. And in this match they attempt to make Lethal wish he hadn't been cleared back for competition. This is one of the greatest Homicide performances, he's such a badass taunting Joe, repeatedly going after Joe and Lethal's eyes (Joe's because it's an equalizer, Lethal's just because he can). Ki and Homicide cut off the ring after a few early dives from Joe/Lethal, and it's brutal. Ki's chops appear to get harder the longer the match goes (Joe throws some super hard ones too), and both are great at running distraction for the other. The best moment of the match was Lethal locked in a sub, trying to reach for the ropes, and whenever he would get close Homicide would rap him across the back of the knuckles. And the best moment of the match was a couple of great pinfall saves by Joe, and Ki paying him back with a completely brutal top rope double stomp to Joe's back. But the best moment was when Ki and Homicide stopped caring if they got DQ'd, so we get Ki kicking the ref in the eye after Lethal kicks out of a pin, and Homicide saving the match by hitting an all time great elbowdrop on the ref when Ki was about to be pinned. He could have just as easily hit that elbow on Lethal, but I loved the character touch of him dropping it on the ref. My only real complaint is that Lethal got involved back in the match too quickly after Joe's hot tag, but otherwise the structure of the tag was a real winner; we didn't need a boatload of 2.9 counts, we got a couple of expertly timed saves and some great momentum cut-offs (Ki flying into Joe with that shot out of a cannon dropkick, or Homicide smoothly sliding in with a perfectly timed cutter). We get an awesome post-match brawl, after Ki and Homicide are disqualified, with Ki leaping off the bleachers with a stomp, everybody getting into a chair throwing battle on the floor that somehow did not inspire the crowd to all start throwing their chairs around the gym, Ki gets busted open, and the Rottweilers keep pretending to get chased to the back but then just come back and continue beating ass. Awesome match.

PAS: When you consider how good the first match was, and how good this is, this has to be one of the great two match series in wrestling history. This was off the charts stuff. Ki and Cide were just such evil fuckers, constantly cheap shotting, eye raking, shit talking, spitting in Joe's face,  total badass heel performances by both guys. The match started off at a crazy pace with Joe hitting a big tope on Cide and hurling him into guard rails and Ki and Lethal going at it in the ring. The Rotts brutalize Lethal in the ring and Joe has an awesome hot tag dumping Ki and Homicide with high backdrops, just a classic bit of wrestling business. Joe gets Homicide in an STF and Ki leaps three quaters of the way across the ring with a double stomp which obliterates Joe's back, I am shocked his Pancreas didn't fly out of his nose. I super dug the finish with Lethal hitting this monster Dragon Suplex on Ki, and the crowd is ready to explode at Lethal getting this huge victory, and instead Homicide just elbow drops the ref and gets DQed, just an epic fuck you to his opponents and the crowd. Then to add on to a great match, we get a killer post match brawl with Ki leaping off the bleachers, everybody recklessly hurling chairs and Ki getting bloodied up (probably hardway, he isn't a guy I remember blading very much if at all). Loved this unreservedly, and think it might be one of the best ROH matches in history.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LOW-KI

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Lucha Worth Watching? Angel Dorado/Difunto Mask Match!

Angel Dorado vs. Difunto I  ERLL 1/28/18

ER: This is apparently a match with some contentious opinions. Some have said it's one of the best matches of the year, others assume that those people took advantage of the trust of friends to trick people into watching a match that they had already wasted their own time watching, just paying this nightmare forward, and now it's my duty to trick somebody else so that this lurking, menacing man will stop following me and my friends no matter where we hide and no matter how far we run. We get 28 minutes of match, and it somehow feels majorly clipped in spots. Was this match actually 50 minutes?? I cannot imagine what was deemed not good enough to air, because we got a LOT of footage of two guys hitting some semi-blown spots and then lying on the mat for long periods of time. There was a lot of mat lying. I didn't see how Dorado first got his mask ripped open, but I saw both men lying on the mat for long periods of time. We get a couple of great moments: Dorado hits a gorgeous tornillo through the ropes, a spot that should surely make the gif rounds; Difunto breaks a beer bottle over Dorado's head, and I have no clue what the access to prop glass is down in Monterrey, but I'll assume it's slim. So it's a crazy holy shit moment, a guy busting a bottle over someone's head...but it also happens maybe 4 minutes into this match. Dorado did that tornillo and another huge dive off the top to the floor after having a bottle smashed over his head. Other than that, we get a lot of very lazy moments of getting into position, we get that nasty modern big match lucha thing of a big move off the top (like a Spanish Fly), then a kickout, then both men lie still for a long time, then the guy who took the Spanish Fly is the next to do a move. That happens throughout. The fans are really into Dorado, and both men bleed, but man I wish I had seen a 2 minute highlight video of this match, with no other footage showing up. We all could have thought we'd missed out on a violent classic. But now here I am with my back against the ocean, car facing me on the beach with the parking lights on, watching the tree line, waiting for it to appear. Somebody else please watch this before it finds me.

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LA Park in Santa Rosa Live Report 7/28/18

ER: I got to see LA Park 16 years ago at a flea market in LA. He walked into the flea market like he was walking on a yacht. I mean, he was wearing a mint green polo tucked into tight Jordache jeans. He may as well have been a chubby Mexican Warren Beatty. He worked Shocker on that show, at a time where Shocker and LA Park were two of my absolute favorite wrestlers. 16 years later and half that statement is still true. I've had unfortunate or awful circumstances lately with all time personal favorites working lucha shows close to my area, with our devastating fires canceling a Negro Casas appearance, and then a broken rib canceling his return date. So tonight LA Park was working 10 minutes from my house and I kind of expected LA Park to suddenly retire earlier this week. But he didn't, and the match happened, and I was there.

LA Park/Skayde vs. Rey Bucanero/Damian 666

This was not going to be a match where Park was going to take one of his crazy bumps or do a dive out onto an unpadded gym floor. But it was going to be a good fat Elvis performance with plenty of brawling, and I love watching Park brawl. The match takes an odd turn pretty early, as the referee just flat out turns on Park, essentially becoming a member of the Bucanero/Damian team. I get having a rudo ref, but this guy didn't slow count, he just started putting the boots to Park and choking him in the corner with his boot. I'm not sure anybody would have actually asked for that, but our eventual payoff was very satisfying.  This match was worked like a lucha match in front of a Memphis audience. Park's belt got ripped off very early and Bucanero whipped him right across the face and chest, and twice across the back. I've not seen Park live in the era of Park belt whippings, and my gracious do those belt whippings read 300% better live. The belt snapped so loudly across Park's body that it sounded like something structural was breaking in the building. We brawl to the floor and Park really lays it in on Damian with big right hands, and Damian takes a big beating around ringside, getting shoved face first into a ringpost and getting slammed into the guardrail. Park was throwing bombs and looked huge. But the big moment of the match came when Park got revenge on everyone with his belt. And before I was verbally cringing at Damian's whippings. But Park made Damian look like a guy who had never whipped another man in front of 300 people in a veteran's building.  Park's belt shots must have felt like being struck by lightning. But the lightning really struck when Park finally got his hands on the ref. The ref was a young man, slender, smaller than any man in the match. And Park hazed him like a frat guy dishing out a racially charged takedown of a pledge. Damian and Bucanero both beg off getting more whippings from Park, and totally throw the referee to the wolf. Damian got a Coke and a bottle of water from the crowd, and offer it up as sacrifice to Park. Skayde lifts the ref's shirt while holding him in pedigree position. Park douses the ref's back in coke and water, and hits it as hard as any man possibly could hit a back with a belt. Rey and Damian stay on the floor and continue fearing the volcano god who is burning his sacrifice whole in the ring. They flip the ref over, lift the shirt again, and Park whips him right across the exposed stomach and ribs. A million times more verbally painful than being whipped across the back. Think of your stomach, exposed, getting slapped as hard as possible with a leather belt. I'd probably puked until I cried.

Now the rest of the match brought plenty of lazy and missable moments. Bucanero wrestled like he had the flu, his offense being worked at about 70%, like he was afraid to make contact with Skayde or Park. Rey went for what I think may have ben a shining wizard at one point, except his leg never came close to making contact with Skayde, so we can only wonder what it was supposed to be. He had a nice punch to a seated Skayde, and dropped a nice legdrop. But he whiffed on stomach kicks and kneelifts and barely grazed Park on a corner splash. Bucanero was not interested in showing up tonight. Skayde took most of the match off, bailing to the floor from most of Park's beatdown, disappearing to the floor later with Bucanero and doing little of note. He's slimmed back down a bit since I saw him earlier in the year, but he did nothing that would remind you of your favorite Skayde memories. That's twice now. But Damian worked hard. The man is 57 years old and isn't anywhere near as graceful as he was 20 years ago, but he hit hard on forearms and threw a couple nice clotheslines, and matched up nicely with a force of nature like Park. Park looked lazy as hell on a couple missed clotheslines with Damian, but commanded the ring like a boss, built to little moments that turned into huge moments because of his superstar aura, and gave everyone a glimpse at what it looked like to see someone perform who really understands their craft. This was not a great match. It was a basic match with a broken structure that spent half it's time on belt whippings. But to see it live on a Saturday night after driving 10 minutes with a lifetime friend? I wouldn't have wanted to watch any other wrestling in the world.

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Kingston vs. Yehi

7. Eddie Kingston vs. Fred Yehi AAW 5/25

PAS: A whale of a match and a great example of what a master Eddie Kingston can be. This was an attempt to work a 90s All Japan match (Kingston says as much in his post match mic work), most US Indy attempts at 90s AJ are failures, applying the moves but not understanding what made them great. Kingston is a tremendous performer, really excellent at small touches which can elevate wrestling. I loved the early trash talking and how frustrated he got by Yehi early double leg takedown, so much so that he just started throwing chairs into the ring. Moments later Kingston gets tackled into the guard rail, and for the rest of the match he does this incredible job of selling back nerve damage, he really made me believe that he wouldn't be able to lift a couch for the rest of his life. Rest of the match saw Kingston as a wounded warrior (his best role really), trying to tough his way through a vicious fight. So many cool moments in this match, Yehi hits a great double leg take down and Kingston counters with a head and neck choke to keep him from rising up (the commentary mention Kingston had been studying BJJ at American Top Team, the idea of Kingston rolling with Junior Dos Santos is surreal). I also loved Yehi's not getting all of a low dropkick, Kingston smirking, and then getting blasted with a second kick right to his face. Finish run had some popping up, but neither guy no-sold, every blow took a little more out of them, only to see Kingston hit two big backfists with the second dropping Yehi like a KO shot. What a treat this was, so glad to see Kingston still performing at this level and Yehi continues to be one of the best in the world

ER: I really, really don't like Kingston after the match talking about how they just had a 90s All Japan match. I really don't need my guys talking about what kind of specific wrestling performance they were trying to emulate when I just spent 16 minutes assuming they were just trying to win at any cost. Sometimes it's obvious where guys are getting their inspiration and influence from, but let the match read as a match. As it was, this read as an awesome match, and shows that Kingston is a guy who can still adapt to so many styles and make overdone exchanges still feel interesting. None of us want to see tired strike exchanges in the middle of the ring anymore, and Kingston is the guy actually putting some personality into those exchanges. He doesn't keep a specific rhythm, he's constantly breaking up that rhythm with reaction and bullheadedness, never the faster or maybe even smarter guy in the fight, but a guy who is damn stubborn and damn tough. He takes a mean beating from Yehi, and at times doesn't help himself out of more of a beating. I loved Yehi hitting a low dropkick mid-match and Kingston just going "Nope, that didn't hurt" and then immediately getting pasted in the mouth with a harder kick. That felt like an essential "Who is Eddie Kingston?" moment. Later he keeps getting beat to a punch on a strike exchange but it takes him getting beat a few times to actually decide to cut losses. He's someone who in his best matches has to be forced to make a choice after failing, a few times, and begin reacting.

I said Yehi dished out a mean beating, and he took Kingston down at will, slammed him into the guard rail (and Kingston really is the best in wrestling at selling "Man with stiff neck who won't be able to properly look over his shoulder before changing lanes" type of niggling problems), tosses him with a couple different heavy landing German suplexes, a heavy dragon suplex, and hits a crazy double stomp with Kingston draped over the railing (that sends Yehi flying forwards into the crowd). He stomped feet during strike exchanges, he baited Kingston into foolish charges (he knew Kingston would foolishly get up as quick as possible on a throw, and was there waiting with a nice STO when Kingston predictably did). But what always keeps Kingston in a fight is that people have to get close to Kingston to win a match, and if you're near him, he can catch you. And he catches Yehi plenty of times, with a nice powerbomb and a nice throw, and some big spinning backfists. Maybe Kingston's greatest strength is that while he's stubborn, he lures his opponent into feeling like he's close to being finished, and so they get stubborn in the ways they try to beat him. And that's when Kingston catches them.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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New Footage Friday: Kroffat, Kawada, Pat Roach, Ray Steele,

Magnum TA/Randy Savage vs. The Mongolians 11/24/83

PAS: This was more of a cock tease then a match worth watching. Clearly they have raw footage Omni shows (including the rest of this tourney, the finals was Butch Reed/Pez Whatley vs. Savage/TA which I am sure was better), which is exciting, but this was kind of a dud. The Mongolians brought nothing to the table outside of silly haircuts, they were a plodding forearm and punch team, who didn't have good looking forearms and punches. TA and Savage control early with headlocks and front face locks, and there was some interesting stuff there, including TA rolling through a front face lock into mount. We get a couple of dull sections of the Mongolians in control, a hot tag to Savage, who only hits a second rope elbow for the pin. All this really made me want to do is organize an Oceans 11 style heist of the WWE footage vault.

MD: I'm not going to spend ten sentences griping that we didn't get basically any other match on this card. Still, this was a waste. It's a great look at the potential of 1983 Magnum. I don't know who told him to rush across the ring and attack the Mongol on the apron but he owed whoever it was a beer. The crowd loved that and therefore the crowd loved him. He came off like a star with an abandon that completely overshadowed Savage. Randy's best moment was realizing the incompetent Mongol tossed him into his own corner during a short FIP segment and bumping his way back to the center of the ring. This was the first match of the tournament and was paced as such: headlocks during the shine, a couple of hot tags without the time put in to earn heat, amorphous clubbering heel offense. Really it was enough to make me want to see Magnum/Savage vs the Bruise Brothers or Whatley/Reed from the same show but that's about it. This did what it was supposed to do but it wasn't supposed to do much.

Ray Steele vs. Pat Roach WOS 4/87

ER: I'm hardly familiar with these two, but I like Roach on sight as he's in his 50s, burly, and looks like a British version of Randall "Tex" Cobb. He also is the guy who boxed his way into a propeller blade death in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I wager you've seen him in far more movies than you've seen him in wrestling matches, so I'm happy this showed up. And it was a nice, satisfying, minimalist match with a lot of attention paid to simple bodyslams and wristlocks and the way it built to one big running forearm felt like this was happening in World of Muga. Roach has a few different cool neck bridges and I love how he weaponized a snapmare by turning it into more of a throw than a takedown. I don't believe I've seen it done or taken that way before. Steel was good at wrist control and grinding Roach down with a couple knees dug into the back and I loved how much of a big deal the bodyslams turned into. Roach started hitting release slams on Steele and each one kept him down for just a little longer, no pinfalls, just letting that slam soak into the bone. By the time we got to the ending running forearm (which looked like it shook Steele right out of the sky) it felt huge. Classic Muga mixed with World of Sport, meaning there was a backslide, a few bodyslams, a couple uppercuts, a forearm, a couple snapmares, and approximately 35 somersaults, and it was cool as hell.

PAS: This was a really good example of the power of simplicity when it looks good. Much of the first part of the match was based around working a top wristlock, but it was a great looking top wristlock and both guys had a bunch of small adjustments to make it look violent and impactful. I loved how size was used in the match, Roach is a lot bigger, and he menaced over Steele and had the slightest bit more sizzle on all of his shots. That running forearm was awesome looking, it looked like a KO blow and Steele sold it like he had his lights turned off. That is so much more effective then a dozen KO elbows or kicks which are shrugged off.

MD: There are a few other matches between Steele and Roach out there but I'm pretty sure this one hasn't shown up before. As it only goes a few rounds, it's a good starter match for anyone interested in British heavyweights, especially later era stuff (this is from 87). The atmosphere is everything that makes this style stand out: that "real sport" feel, the struggle for every hold, the shift between potential and kinetic energy where any increase in intensity might lead to a fall, the difficulty in switching momentum once someone gains an advantage. Everything is earned, but once something is gained, it's worth every bit of that effort. And despite all that, just like life, it can all end in a moment (in this case, by the means of a killer forearm). We don't review nearly enough of this stuff here. There are far worse things we could do than a C+A Pat Roach.

Dan Kroffat vs. Toshiaki Kawada AJPW 4/2/92

PAS: I really loved this, Kroffat jumps Kawada during the streamers and low blows him early, for the rest of the match we get pissed off Kawada and Kroffat fighting for his life. Kawada really lays in the kicks to the face in this match trying to kick Kroffat's eyeball to the back of his head, Kroffat to his credit doesn't get eaten up, but keeps firing back, including landing a big wheel kick and a molar loosening superkick. Kawada actually works over the leg during the last part of this match, which isn't something I remember him doing. He does it in a very Kawada way, with these brutal leg sweeps which look like he is recklessly trying to tear Kroffat's MCL, ACL, all the CL's. The finish was awesome as he slaps on a nasty looking high angle single leg crab, and when Kroffat taps, Kawada just stomps out of the ring, like "Fuck this guy and this whole stupid wrestling thing."

ER: The way Phil described it I thought this would be a little more of a mauling, but I thought Kroffat had almost as many dickhead shots at Kawada as vice versa. But in Kawada's defense, Kroffat totally starts it. Kawada grabs his head and starts firing off those low kicks to the temple, and Kroffat responds by basically flopping to his back while sneaking in an upkick on Kawada's balls. He plays innocent but when Kawada gets up pissed, Kroffat knew what he did. Kroffat is pretty crafty throughout, and I always love how he hooks that crescent kick right around a guy's ear, but he sets up Kawada's stuff in nasty ways too, like crashing hard into Kawada knees on a senton attempt. And Kawada certainly is a beast, really looking already like prime Triple Crown level Kawada here, that confidence is there and he does punish Kroffat nicely. We've seen matches where Kroffat and Furnas eat guys up, so we know he's no pushover, but seeing Kawada tee off on him in the corner with whipping shins into Kroffat's head just feels like Kawada knows exactly what kind of wrestler he is. Kawada breaks out something I don't think I've ever seen from him (and I don't think I've seen done by anyone this well) as he hits this front legsweep on Kroffat, and not even a typical Inoki legsweep, more like a diving kick to Kroffat's knee and shin. And the finish is brutal as Kawada grabs a high single leg (think a Liontamer but with a half crab) and just starts stomping face until Kroffat is all "Dude, fucking FINE, I quit" and then Kawada just storms out like "Fucking GOOD just quit then". The fans filming this were clearly huge Kawada fans, as you can hear them the whole match giggling with glee at this awesome professional wrestler.

MD: This is the AJPW Kroffat I want. In a land where the heel/face divide is sort of murky and often underplayed, Kroffat's the heel that we hope for. It's not enough that he does one nasty, underhanded thing from the get go. He does three, utterly unleashing Kawada. It's still Kawada though, so this isn't some sort of firebrand vengeance. It's pinpoint precision. Kroffat knows what he did and tries to stay on top (small thing, but I really liked how he stops short on the headlock-shrug off, refusing to be whipped and just comes right back at Kawada again), but one caught kicked and the meanest shove down possible later and Kawada's totally honed in on the ankle. It's not enough that he kicks the leg out from under Kroffat a couple of times. Somehow he manages to specifically kick the ankle out. It's fairly back and forth from there, with Kawada trying to kill Kroffat and Kroffat more than holding his own, including some fairly cool stuff like Kroffat riding a back body drop reversal to a tiger-driver over into an armbar and the finish where Kawada stomps Kroffat's face off in order to lock in a vertical half crab. Great stuff. We're lucky this one got unearthed.

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Gains vs. Romero and the Bump of the Decade

32. Ace Romero vs. Anthony Gaines ESW 6/30

PAS: A week after the WALTER vs. Darby Allin classic in EVOLVE, this felt like an indie version of that match, with Romero as a fatter version of WALTER and Gaines as a somehow seedier, somehow crazier version of Allin. Romero beats on Gaines with stiff chops and throws, and Gaines tries to avoid getting smushed and still fire back. They even have the same chop to the ringpost transition as WALTER vs. Allin. There is a really fun spot where Gaines hits a flip dive to the floor and bounces off of Romero like, simile fails me, a little guy trying to flip on a guy three times his size. Romero takes a really crazy bump where he tries to land a leg drop on to Gaines on the ring apron and ends up crashing his tailbone on the apron, totally nuts for a dude this huge. Of course the match builds to Gaines's insane pounce bump, which has justifiably gone viral. Gaines gets pounced over the top rope and thrown half way to the locker room. It was truly shocking and nuts, and the kind of thing that should get both guys more bookings. I am not a fan of how quickly Gaines went back on offense, as that move really should have ended the match, but this was still a pretty great match with some really memorable individual moments.

ER: This match is the very rare instance where my girlfriend hears about a match before I do. We were chatting when we got home from work and she says, "Hey I saw this crazy wrestling bump on Instagram. Some huge guy chucking a tiny blonde guy into the crowd." I immediately assumed that some kind of Darby Allin clip had made the rounds somehow, but lo, we now appear to have Darby acolytes, bred from the finest vintage death bump era Kidman stock. Romero is a giant fat dude, one who I've had a few matches sitting in drafts for a couple years, waiting on me to do a Indie Fat Guy Investigation on him. And he's all I ever could have wanted. He pummels Gaines around the ring with big chops and gives him a nice opening by hitting the post on a missed chop. He appropriately sells Gaines' offense, letting Gaines bounce right off him on a big flip dive, like a bird flying into a window (ehhhhhh, Phil?). Romero is not just a hefty dude, but he's also a lunatic. His missed legdrop off the middle rope to the apron was flat out nuts. It's a crazy spot when Damien Wayne does it, so a dude twice the weight of Wayne bouncing from apron to floor is just flat out unexpected.
And then there's the Bump of the Decade, and it really is pure PCP-fueled crazy. And it opens up an interesting discussion on what really is the official bump of the decade. The first one that came to mind was Brock missing a kneelift and whipping himself ass over elbow from the ring to the floor. That one looked like Brock could have died. Then I thought of Meiko Satomura splashing onto Aja Kong's outstretched feet and bouncing off them full force. The Crazy Crusher/Hellstorm ladder match was LAST decade, so this bump is certainly a top contender, and it would be fun to get any other contenders written up here on the site. I fully agree with Phil that Gaines was back in the game way too early, but to his credit he did take that crazy bump, there was no cheating; he took a Pounce, turned his body into a Hail Mary pass down the length of the entranceway, and lived to tell about it. If you can physically go back on offense after taking a bump that could have left you unresponsive, then I guess just go back on that offense. And throughout the match I did really like Gaines' offense. He has these cool diving punches that I've never seen before, some cool strike and kick variations, all stuff that looked good against a huge guy. Romero hits a fantastic sitout powerbomb, and the kickout is believable as Gaines ended up at such a high angle that he basically rolled through the pin with his body's own momentum. I love these monster vs. insane bumper with no health insurance kind of matches, and this is possibly the only match to make one of our lists and also become a meme.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Sabre vs. Okada

64. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kazuchika Okada NJPW 4/1

ER: Jim Ross mentions Negro Navarro early, as Sabre's MMA trainer, and I have to rewind to make sure I heard that right. It's weird to me to think that JR might have watched a Negro Navarro match at some recent point. And I really liked this match, it was a brisk 35 minutes with a super strong Sabre showing, and Okada stepping it up nicely for their first singles together. I don't know if this was as good as any of the Tanahashi/Sabre series, but this was real good. Okada is a guy with usually bad execution on simple strikes and transitions, a guy who is mentally focused on the "big move" of a sequence so glosses over the stomach kicks and offense that's meant to missed, going on autopilot at times. Here he's really present, really facially sells that Sabre is tearing him apart, and really laces in some strikes like isn't always guaranteed. And I really liked the build to this, with them stressing that Okada had only tapped once (to Nakamura) and here you have Sabre who's been a submission spider monkey for the last 6 months. It's a classic, simple story: X is tough to beat a certain way, Y is the best at doing that certain way. And Sabre was awesome, really vicious with leg submissions. At one point he had his weight leaned so far back on a half crab that it looked like he was trying to rip Okada's leg out from the hip joint. I love when he works these nasty leg grapevines and we got some cool ones, and in one of the more vicious things I've ever seen him do, he does a standing twist with Okada's leg wedged between his legs. It looked really swift and violent. He even turned a dropkick into an STF in a pretty cool moment. Okada worked meaner than usual, throwing his forearms like he was Laettner coming down from a layup. They had a good brawl on the floor, with Sabre taking a couple great hard bumps on his hip, really making Okada's offense seem more dangerous than it felt, falling hard into the front row, really feigning a good asskicking. I still can't decide how I feel about the back half of the fight. Sabre wisely switched up his attack to Okada's arm, which is some more classic "weaken the champ's biggest weapon" stuff, but by the end it felt like he did so much nasty stuff to the arm, and it didn't once stop Okada from attempting to still use that arm. If Okada wins every match with the Rainmaker, and a submission guy who has been tapping everyone works on that Rainmaker arm for 10 minutes, and it doesn't weaken it one bit? That essentially makes Okada out to be the Terminator, which makes things a lot less fun. Okada hasn't lost in 2 years, and I think Sabre would have been an awesome mega asshole to break that streak. I thought the arm submissions were great, some arm scissors, armbar caught from an elbow drop, dodging that Rainmaker into more armbars, and a tight triangle that really felt like the finish. But then Okada started dropping clotheslines anyway and it felt like it didn't matter. I did think Sabre kicking out of them felt big, and the tombstone dropped Sabre right on his dome, so I can't deny the brutality of that finish...But I also kind of resented that finish. This match review has taken me all evening to finish because I can't decide whether this was really damn good or really good but flawed.

PAS: Sabre is a fun guy to watch, he works a pretty unique style and does it well. He is a guy I turned around pretty big over the last couple of years, and I think he stepped up and really performed well in the biggest match of his career. Okada really doesn't it do it for me though, and I though for the most part his performance was pretty bad here. Okada was originally a T2P guy and he was fine if a bit tentative in the early llave style first part of this match. I especially loved all of Sabre's octopus variations, he was climbing all over Okada like a jungle gym, and seemed to be inventing new twists and turns on the fly.  When Okada started breaking out his regular offense this fell apart a bit, his basic stuff looks so bad, there was a point in this match where he threw two comically bad back elbows and a no contact kick to the stomach to set up a DDT, he looked like one of those semi-trained fitness models that Johnny Ace used to hire to try to fuck. When Sabre was in control it was fine, when Okada took over it looked bad (selling isn't really Sabre's forte anyway, he does a bit of the OTT arm shaking and fish flopping which is de rigueur with the Davey Richards indy generation) Not only did Okada shrug off the arm work to keep hitting clotheslines, that clothesline that finished the match looked terrible, not a ton of impact and he hit him in the chest. Cool performance by Sabre marred by Okada being on his bullshit.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Cuatrero vs. Angel de Oro Mask vs. Mask!

53. El Cuatrero vs. Angel de Oro CMLL 3/16

ER: Fun mask match that sees Angel de Oro really step up more than I've seen from him. He showed a personality in the trios sprint the week before, really putting in some quality tecnicos work, and I think it carried over into the big apuestas match. Match starts wild with Cuatrero taking the big Sgt. Slaughter bump to the floor, with Oro attempting to vault out after him but getting matador'd right into the barricade. And that would be the story of the match. Oro was going to take flying risks knowing it was his way in, Cuatrero was going to try to send Oro into the barrier or off into the crowd. He sends him into the barricade, throws him into another barricade, crotches him on the barricade, drags him into the crowd and powerbombs him in the aisle, easily wins the primera. By the time he's ripping at Oro's mask, and Sanson is putting the boots to him from the apron (never underestimate how awesome your stomps will look when you're wearing a nice-fitting suit jacket w/ lucha mask. Sanson looked like an Ivy League valedictorian majoring in Sneaky Ass Kicking here), the fans are dying for an Oro comeback. And I think he does great with all the big spots: He hits a dive off ring entrance, beautifully times a moonsault to the floor, hits a wild handspring moonsault, and the fans are into it all. Cuatrero does get to plaster him into the barricade once more on a dive, and we get a compelling nearfall stretch run. They went to the well a couple times too many on some of the spots, but overall I thought the stretch built well, especially liked how some classic lucha spots played into nearfalls (such as Oro getting a rana with a pin, but Cuatrero smoothly rolling it through for a close call in the tercera). I didn't know who won when I watched the match, and I thought they did a great job of making it seem like any man's game down the stretch. Oro is really good at milking his unmasking, but eventually he is revealed to....look exactly like his brother, Niebla Roja. Sheesh no wonder they tossed these two into a team with Hector Garza, they all look alike (although the brothers were under masks then so it makes no sense). This was a nicely done big time stips match, with modern luchadors (i.e. guys 30 and under). Usually a mask match needs some kind of age or sympathy or legacy to get me involved, and while this didn't have those things, I thought they worked great with what they did have.

PAS: I really liked the opening of the match. I love a lucha apuestas match where the rudo dominates the Primera and Cuatrero side stepping the tope, smashing his head in the door and powerbombing him in the crowd was awesome. I also liked how Oro stole the segunda after getting beaten down. Tercera I liked less, it felt very 2018 lucha with the stage dive and a bunch of big moves. I did love Cuatrero's bullet tope which bent Oro's back. I thought Cuatrero was a great brawler early, and I would have liked to see the end be more of a war, instead of a moves match. Still this had some great moments and was a solid new generation mask match.


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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Nia vs. Asuka

37. Nia Jax vs. Asuka WWE Elimination Chamber 2/25

ER: I could see this match going either way, and I'm a big fan of both. Nia working as fast monster is so much fun, her twisting elbowdrop was killer, and I loved the sequence around Asuka grabbing for an ankle and Nia hoisting her into a bearhug (and running her into the buckles). Asuka is nice and tenacious and good at putting over the size difference (struggling even to lift a Nia leg for the pin cover), and Nia misses a banzai drop in the corner with tailbone shattering speed. Man she came down hard on that. Asuka doesn't roll enough to get missed by the senton, but she's cool enough that she just adds it into the match and starts selling her leg. The sudden finish kinda works and kinda doesn't, as the flash rana makes sense as Asuka kind of narrowly escaped with a win while only taking 25% of the match, but it didn't quite work for me just because I wanted a couple more minutes of match. Still, what we got was really good, Nia took a great ringpost bump to set up that finish, and the flash pin was well done. Post match rules too, as Nia wrecks a the timekeeper's barricade by using Asuka's body as a battering ram and storms out of the arena. Cool with that.

PAS: I imagine that Asuka grew up  a big 90s Joshi fan, and this feels like her working a classic Bull or Aja match. Nia Jax is really good at using her size for violence and there are moments where she really looks like she damages Asuka with big legdrops and splashes and that curb stomp look like she smushed her face. Asuka has some moments with backfist and kicks but she was mostly just trying to survive. I had no problem with the flash pin, and that post match spear through the barricade was some choice stuff.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: WALTER and Low-Ki Invade Ireland

28. Low-Ki/WALTER vs. Jordan Devlin/David Starr OTT 6/2

PAS: Devlin is a Finn Balor trainee who is the top star in OTT and works an import killer gimmick. He has a big plate of asskicking to work his way through, Ki and WALTER are a pretty intimidating tag team and lay the kind of beating you want those two to lay in. This match was focused on WALTER beating on Devlin and Starr and Ki was more of a secondary attraction. He did have a great scramble in the early part of the match with Devlin that ended up with him grabbing a leg. The double John Woo dropkick by Ki and WALTER was awesome too. WALTER was a force in this, I loved how he would walk through the chops of Starr and Devlin only to obliterate them with a chop of his own. This match would have been really good with a better face team, Devlin was really over, but outside of a fun knuckle sequence with Ki and a great headbutt, his offense was pretty weak sauce, Starr hit some fun crowbarry lariats, but otherwise brought little to the table. The structure was cool enough that even a poor mans Fantastics were going to look good.

ER: I thought this was awesome. WALTER and Ki are an awesome team, like a small version of Andre/Haku. I've not seen Devlin before but he has that same dead eyes FAS look of Balor and some similarly sketchy offense, but he's a guy I like seeing getting beaten down by Ki and WALTER. Starr is a guy we seem to be a lower vote on, but I really liked him in this match. He was a really good face in peril and his offense felt like 90% stiff arm lariats, and those lariats looked neck breaking for the receiver, and shoulder/elbow breaking for Starr. He should talk to Nigel McGuiness to see how his joints are doing these days. But myself, I enjoyed seeing him throw his straight arm as hard as he could at the side of WALTER's neck. Starr took a big beating from Low-Ki, and man Ki just has some of the best looking offense and craziest body movement in pro wrestling. I loved his arm bar/knee bar battle with Devlin, thought the double stomp to both men looked cool, threw some brutal stomps in the corner that looked like they would make someone puke their guts out, and was able to look both above Starr/Devlin, and beatable. WALTER sold their offense appropriately, and we got a couple real quality saves down the stretch, the match believably running 20 minutes without it ever seem like Starr or Devlin should have been dead before then. WALTER's match finishing Gojira clutch is the best submission in wrestling, just absolutely looks like he's smothering dudes while dislocating their shoulder.  I'd love to see this combo kill more guys in more countries, a shark riding on an elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LOW-KI

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Steven Regal vs. Eddie Guerrero: Something That Basically Never Happened

ER: The other day I saw that Regal had tweeted "What a fortunate lad I was to be able to wrestle, in my opinion, the best all rounder our job ever saw. Over 22 year gone so quickly." He was referring to Eddie Guerrero as the all rounder, and to a Nitro match between the two of them which is now over 22 years old. When I saw that I realized that "Eddie vs. Regal" was not a match-up I had any memory of seeing, and two of my all time favorite wrestlers going against each other sounds like something I would remember. And it turns out, they really were not in a match together very often. They were in three different WW3 battle royals together, but those matches were so stupid that I just need to dedicate an entire week of posts to those atrocities. Throwing out any matches involving three rings, these two matched up together less than 10 times. That feels impossibly low. So I figured I'd seek out all of them and take a look at this non-feud between two legends.


Eddie Guerrero vs. Lord Steven Regal  WCW Nitro 1/8/96

ER: My god what a start. Based on this match alone, Regal would have likely been my favorite wrestler in the world in 1996. He just ate Eddie's lunch in this match. Eddie got swallowed whole and got a fluke roll up on the other side. This was arguably Eddie's biggest kayfabe win up to this point in WCW, and he had to go through a helluva hazing to get there. I love Eddie. Love him. But Regal was just the total show here. Regal gave an 8 minute tour de force of nasty palm strikes, peace signs winked to the camera, hard knees, kicks to the body, disgusted smirks, just not letting Eddie up for a second. He took a couple nice headscissors, but a lot of this was Eddie getting wiped around the mat and then getting various parts of his body attacked in new and violent ways. I've never seen Regal throw this many palm strikes in one match before. He must have thrown at least a dozen of them, some out of a headlock, some while Eddie was slumped in the ropes, some on the mat, every single one of them nasty. 

Before that we got a bunch of fun mat stuff, with Regal trying old WoS tricks like trying to kick kick at the back of Eddie's knees, and Regal has the best facials in the biz when it comes to selling an arm wringer (we can probably just shorten that to "best facials in the biz"). I loved Regal doing his turtle spin to kick out one of Eddie's arms to seamlessly set up a gorgeous one-legged monkey flip. But Regal as a savage was what this devolved into, and the devolving was GREAT. Regal was so merciless that at one point he chopped Eddie right in the freaking temple, just backhanded knuckles right into the side of Eddie's head; left elbow to the left temple, pause for a beat, right chop to the right temple. Vicious. Earlier Eddie was attempting to get up from the mat just as Regal dropped a short elbow on him, so Eddie basically sat up into Regal's full weight getting dumped on his head. Eddie got smothered and for his part ran face first into hard back elbows, took a bunch of snap bumps to the mat, and paid for his win in bruises. I've seen every time Regal has matched up with Finlay, and Regal was as mean here as he was in any of those matches. No hyperbole.

PAS: This certainly felt like the start of a vicious feud that never happened. It feels like the blowoff should have been Eddie bleeding like one of those JBL matches. I love how Regal takes armdrags and headscissors, he hesitates a bit to try to stop it and then just flies over with such force and torque. Eddie reversing the double underhook suplex into an armdrag was totally off the charts. I am sure Regal didn't mind losing to Eddie, because he is a pro who respects talent, but man it felt like he was pissed at putting him over. Parts of this match felt like Kevin Sullivan working a jobber, that backhanded slap to the eye was uncalled for stuff, as was that elbow drop on the side of Eddie's neck. You get asskicker Regal and base god Regal all in the same match, can't ask for more then that.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Lord Steven Regal  WCW Main Event 7/7/96

ER: Leave it to WCW to never capitalize on that previous match. Eddie gets an important pinfall and Regal beats the crap out of him, and we get the follow up match 6 months later on their D show. Is it too short? Yes. Does it have a lousy finish? You betcha. Is everything awesome before that? Well of course. Regal looks so damn good here, with he and Eddie doing all sorts of cool grapples and take downs. Eddie lands on his feet after a monkey flip, hits a cool armdrag off a Regal butterfly suplex attempt, Regal starts lacing in elbows and then Eddie takes a super fast bump to the floor off a Regal toss. Weirdness ensues when Regal fakes a knee injury, suckers Eddie in for a double leg for what you think is going to end it. But something weird happens as Nick Patrick just stops counting at 2, even though Eddie didn't kick out. It looks like Regal was supposed to have his feet on the ropes, but he never puts them there, so Patrick just has to stop the count for zero reason instead of stop the count after witnessing the cheating. The Eddie just rolls up Regal for the win. Folks you won't see a finish worse than that one. But god that first 90 seconds of the match was all the stuff you want in pro wrestling.

Eddie Guerrero/Dean Malenko vs. Steven Regal/Rey Misterio Jr.  WCW Nitro 11/3/97

ER: Only 4 minutes, but as you might expect, a really fun 4 minutes. Nobody in the match likes each other, Eddie has fully been absorbed into the awesome Eddy Sucks era with his chopped and wet mullet and cool red/black/gold tights. Regal comes out with Misterio, to Misterio's music, doing his great shoulder shrugs on his way down the ramp. Dean comes out with Eddie, to Eddie's music and they're scowling at each other the whole time, and I have to pause it because I ended up laughing too hard: Behind them, just off camera, Wildcat Willie was watching them scowl, and stood there with his arms held out in reconciling shrug, like "Guys, come on, put your differences aside, come on." He does not understand these complex human interactions.

This is cool as Regal works more face (towards the end of the match he even does this cool crossbody into a hot tag, which I'd never seen him do), and Eddie works outright heel, and I always loved how Eddie's bumping was slightly different as a heel, snapping even faster to put over opponent offense but with a hint of stooging. Regal and Eddie tangle, with Regal taking some nice armdrags, pasting Eddie with an uppercut, Eddie getting splatted with a flapjack. Rey and Dean have some fast exchanges, I loved Malenko just outright shoving Misterio to the mat, and late in the match Dean catches a springboard rana and basically RUNS to the ropes to opt to take it all the way over the top to the floor. Nutso. Eddie takes a nice rana from Rey for a tight nearfall, and we got a fun ending filled with miscommunication as Rey accidentally springboard dropkicks Regal, Eddie plants Rey with a nasty powerbomb and heads up for the frog splash, while Dean tags in and taps Rey immediately with the Cloverleaf. Everybody looked great, this easily could have been a 15 minute WCW classic.

PAS: This was a fun short Parejas match with all the partners feuding with each other. This is a match full of guys who work really well with each other, the Rey vs. Eddie stuff especially is done with such speed and crispness. I love that Regal and Eddie seem to have a signature spot built around the reversal of the double underhook, it is crazy that guys that wrestled less the a half a dozen times have a signature spot. While the early Nitro match got plenty of time, this was a classic WCW truncated TV match, given 12 minutes it could have been incredible, instead it was more of a tease.

Eddie Guerrero/William Regal vs. Spike Dudley/Rob Van Dam  WWE Raw 4/15/02

ER: A briskly paced tag that didn't totally feel like a WWE match, comprised of teams who didn't really ever team up. This is smack dab in the middle of the peak "everybody on the gas" era WWE, as Regal is slender and ripped and Eddie is downright hulking. It feels like RVD and Regal crossed paths a LOT during this era of WWE, so it feels downright criminal that he and Eddie never did. It makes no sense how little they were put together. Spike works a lot of this tag, really gets to show off all his offense and it's cool seeing him work somewhat even with these guys. He throws a hard clothesline for someone who is my size, and I always like the smoothness of his rana that always ends with a nice snap (some people quit halfway through their headscissors and ranas and leave it up to the base to take it, his follow through is always primo). Spike mostly pairs with Eddie, meaning Regal gets paired with RVD. The RVD matches I remember liking from his WWE run were on paper style clashes, like against Regal or Scott Steiner. But RVD was sloppy and his hot tags were all lousy. He managed to fall on his own head doing a crossbody, so that's something. Regal crazily dropped Spike with a very vertical drop half nelson suplex at one point, a spot that looks even more insane in the middle of a random Raw tag. Spike took a nice beating the whole match (not a shock), and I like how after Eddie stuck Spike with a gorgeous frog splash, Regal saved Eddie from RVD's frog splash. Regal and Eddie walked up the ramp with arms draped over each other, genuinely acting like they'd be a legitimate team going forward. They teamed together one more time.

PAS: This was really brutal for a random PPV set up RAW tag. Spike gets absolutely murdered on a half nelson suplex, it was as neck traumatic as any nutty current NJ bump. RVD meanwhile was unleashing spuds, a couple of times I though he legit split open Regal with his kicks and he totally crushes him with the rolling thunder, full weight right on the ribs. Eddie's brainbuster and frog splash combo was always breathtaking, and it especially looks good on an all time bumper like Spike Dudley


Eddie Guerrero/William Regal/Chris Benoit vs. Spike Dudley/Bubba Ray Dudley/Jeff Hardy  WWE Raw 7/15/02

ER: Damn Damn DAMN kind of a lost little era classic with everybody in this working as if their job depended on it. It's an elimination match, and that first team looks like it was thrown together to make the specific little part of the wrestling internet that I frequented in 2002 collectively pee themselves. You don't get more DVDVR internet favorite than Eddie/Regal/Benoit in 2002. And it's not misguided, as Eddie was just otherworldly during this era, such a mover, really feels like a Bill Hader/Phil Hartman type that can just run into the ring at any moment and completely save any kind of akward situation. Hardy throws a kick that doesn't totally connect? Eddie is going to make it work.  I liked how they mixed up eliminations, getting Spike believably out of the way early and then going on a long tear with nobody getting eliminated. We only get a Spike/Eddie interaction but it's really good, and it's with a cool struggle over a small package that I very much buy as pinfall worthy. Bubba would have been the big surprise when this happened, as this was right around the time where his work really bumped up to the next level. 

Once Spike is eliminated he comes in with absolute intensity, sends Eddie's pelvis crashing up through his neck with a nasty seated full nelson slam, hits an awesome spear, takes a Benoit German at a really high angle, just really impressive work. Eddie felt like he was a part of every piece of the action, no matter if he was in the ring or not, at one point charging in for a double team and eating a high and fast backdrop to the floor. It was totally unnecessary, but added such excitement to the babyface comeback that you knew that guy knew exactly what he was doing. Jeff is all floppy ragdoll limbs, which doesn't always work when you need him in a specific position, but is fun to see against pros like Eddie/Regal/Benoit. He would always fold spectacularly, and was good at getting muscled into offense. I loved Regal grabbing a downed Hardy's arm and casually dropping a perfect knee right on his temple. Hardy plants Regal with a swanton, Eddie and Benoit punish Hardy once Eddie is eliminated, really this match was in no danger of losing steam when they ended it. I remember there being a lot of fun TV classics during this era, but hadn't remembered this match. Add this one to the list for sure.

PAS: This was really good stuff, I would have really loved to see the Regal, Benoit and Eddie trios run wild on the WWE at this point. I loved all of the horseshit they did to set up the final pinfall, with Eddie running in to to distract the ref, Regal sneaking from under the ring to blast Hardy with knucks and Benoit feeding on the scraps with the crossface. I hadn't seen Spike in a while, it was really jarring to see how skinny he was, especially compared to the juice monsters Benoit and Eddie. If that guy had a job, there was no reason to look like Road Warrior Hawk. Bubba was shockingly good, that spear on Benoit was awesome, and he was a big fat dude to take a german like that. This was close to the peak of Jeff Hardy's overness, while he wasn't as crisp as the other guys in the match, he was great at taking a beating and timing his comebacks, really good stuff.

ER: Well, I have no idea how Regal and Eddie didn't share more matches together - teaming or against each other. They were regularly working for the same companies, were always regarded as great wrestlers, and as evidenced by these matches they were clearly good teammates and good dance partners. And yet, we have nearly twice as many televised Funaki/Albert matches than matches with Regal and Eddie even in the ring together. Life makes no sense sometimes. And now I'm going to write up a dozen Albert/Funaki matches.

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New Footage Friday: RIP Masa Saito, Frank Andersson, Ron Simmons, British Bulldogs, Terry Gordy, Masa Fuchi

We decide to find a couple of Masa Saito Handhelds to focus on, along with a unique All Japan singles match.

Masa Saito/Animal Hamaguchi vs. The British Bulldogs AJPW 5/14/85

MD: I might not be the biggest Hansen fan, but that doesn't mean I'm not one at all. He's the most uncooperative guy imaginable at times, occasionally to the detriment of a match having any structure at all, but he more than makes up for it in atmosphere and visceral intensity. You get exhausted watching a Hansen match. In this setting, Dynamite has all of the drawbacks of Hansen and none of the upside. This is about ten minutes. Nine of those, including the final minute, have the Bulldogs in charge. Dynamite doesn't sell a single thing (including getting tossed off the top rope). Some of the Bulldogs' stuff is pretty cool, like the tandem set up second rope power slam and Dynamite's tombstone and the finish is fine with Saito and Hamaguchi getting fed up after a ref bump and just demolishing Davey Boy in the corner for the DQ, but the match itself is problematic at best. There's a reason why so much of the far-too-revered mid 80s WWF tag team scene doesn't hold up to scrutiny and you're looking at it in this match.

PAS: I can totally understand why Saito and Hamaguchi got fed up and shoved the ref. I would be pretty pissed if a roided out midget ate me up like that. Saito and Hamaguchi are both legit badasses, Saito beat up multiple cops, you figure they would just make Dynamite sell. I did like a bunch of the Bulldogs moves, that powerslam was great and Dynamite was really explosive, and his one bump to the floor looked great, but I was hoping for an all action match between two dynamic offensive teams and I got the Bulldogs working like the Road Warriors.

Masa Saito/Frank Andersson vs. Hiro Saito/Ron Simmons NJPW 9/23/91

PAS: Andersson is a Swedish Olympian, who had a brief WCW syndie run in the mid 90s, so we had an Olympic tag team against the odd couple of Saito and Simmons. Andersson is super green in pro-wrestling, although he had a nice run of cool suplexes at the end of the match. Still he had some of the worst dropkicks I can remember seeing, it felt like the local football coach was working in a charity Southern tag and insisted on doing a dropkick. There was a nifty bit of business when the Saitos squared offf, and Simmons hit a nice powerslam, but this was an Andersson showcase when he probably shouldn't have been showcased.

MD: Andersson is best described here as a lankier Alex Wright without the smoothness or the rhythm. The best part of the match may be that some kid seems to be ring announcing. The second best part is probably the crowd's reaction to Andersson's lame kick. That's one thing I've enjoyed with these house shows: the crowd is very willing to crack up at something they find funny, be it Enos' reaction to the countered Doomsday Device or just a strike that doesn't look good. At the same time, if someone earns applause, they get it. To be fair to Andersson, he's got occasional explosiveness and his suplexes to lead to the finish were fun. The little bit we get of Masa Saito vs Ron Simmons makes me want more. Simmons is always so good at being in the moment, expressing frustration at a two count or exuberance in breaking a hold. This needed more Masa Saito and less Andersson.

Masanobu Fuchi vs. Terry Gordy AJPW 4/2/92

MD: Now this is the stuff. Just what you'd want from these two. I just wish it went another couple of minutes. I loved the early standoffs. There's such a promise of violence to Fuchi and a promise of impact to Gordy. His one hand slams are the best. Fuchi equalizes things by targeting the knee and it's just vicious. Just like Gordy made those slams look effortless, Fuchi is able to make locking in holds (even a stump puller against a guy Gordy's side) and limb manipulation look so easy. That's true with his small packages late in the match too. He's just able to snatch up body parts out of nowhere like the most natural thing in the world. Anyway, Gordy, who had been selling huge, recovers by repeatedly tossing Fuchi out of the ring, which is a hugely believable way to transition off of selling, and finally puts him down by hitting a short clothesline (after Fuchi had ducked one or two standard ones), and locking in a Cobra. Great stuff. It would have been nice to have five more minutes of it.

PAS: Fuchi was such a huge part of what made All Japan in the early 90s so great, but we really don't have many singles matches during that run, especially against heavyweights, so it is really cool to see what he brings in that situation. Loved Gordy hurling Fuchi with those one armed bodyslams, really contemptuous, and Fuchi responding by tearing up the knee. I especially dug Fuchi catching the up kick and turning it into a stump puller, such a nifty counter. I am the worlds biggest Fujiwara fan and I love watching someone use craft and guile to overcome power. I do think the match could have used one Fuchi reversal or escape when he was trapped in the cobra clutch, the crowd seemed ready to really explode for a Fuchi comeback and the finish felt a little flat. Still this was a real treat, and I want to track down a bunch more Fuchi singles.

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Dinamitas vs. Young Fliers

49. Cuatrero/Forastero/Sanson vs. Soberano Jr./Mistico/Angel de Oro CMLL 5/18

ER: Dinamitas getting to go all out against a team of fliers dying to impress has been a really fun match type the past year. Dinamitas are all such great fast bumpers, really know how to whip themselves out of and around the ring on ranas and armdrags, and are also great classic lucha brawlers; not theatrical, but very believable as asskickers. I love Forastero's deadlift tilt a whirl backbreaker, and their springboard elbowdrop is one of my favorite finishers of the past several years, and they broke out all kinds of new crazy with Cuatrero catching a rana and spinning around a couple times before hitting a powerbomb, and Forastero hitting a wild springboard dropkick to a seated Soberano. There rudo offense is super athletic but explosive. But I always look forward to them for their bumping. I love how these guys fall. And the fliers all dial it way up and by the tercera we got some fantastic spots. Soberano sometimes comes off as a bit much, but I like that he seems like he's out there just thinking up things he wants to try, just crazy ideas that might end with him falling on his face. But when he's on we get intricate multi jump huracanranas, gorgeous Fosbury Flop dive, a tornillo into the ring, and a physics defying handless tornillo over the top. That tornillo was just insane, looking like he wouldn't clear the ropes and instinctively lifts his body at the right time. Mistico doesn't want to be outdone and he throws in a nice flip dive and then blows that effort away with a huge flip dive running from the rampway and running up and over the turnbuckles. A hot lucha crowd is a wonderful thing, and the crowd was getting to fever pitch levels as these guys kept building the match hotter and hotter. Great fun.

PAS: This reminded me of the really great run of IWRG Oficiales matches a while back. This wasn't at that level because none of these technicos are Freelance or Suicide Segura level dudes, but the Nuevo Dinamitas are a great classic rudo team. The group of kids in this match are just up to try crazy shit, and lots of it would have gone very badly if not for a solid group of rudos keeping it together. I believe that Soberano will get really good, he really has moments of off the charts craziness, but then will hit something off or awkward. Once he works off the yips I think he will be a real treat to watch. I imagine having him really pair off the the Dinamitas will help that development. I haven't seen much of Mistico 2 before, but he had some really impressive moments. I was never a big Mistico 1 fan, maybe I will debut the Slate pitch claiming M2 as the superior Mistico like the people who like the Monkees more than the Beatles.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Fujiwara Tortures a Tiny Tub

52. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Gota Ihashi Choshu Produce 7/10

PAS: Ihashi looks like a Japanese Josh Gad and gets straight up mauled by our boy Fujiwara. Ihashi isn't afraid to throw hard slaps, and really puts Fujiwara over, flopping like a fish on headbutts, and screaming in agony when Fujiwara is twisting him about. There is a great spot near then end, where Fujiwara gets a leglock reversed into a cross arm breaker (Fujiwara totally fed him, I think I could have even pulled off that mat reversal) and Fujiwara gets pissed and mangles Ihashi ankle, so he could take his back, then unloads some nasty slaps, and a gross headbutt before finishing him off with the Fujiwara armbar. Fujiwara is ageless, he comes off as big a badass here as he did in 1986.

ER: Neither of us had seen long time DDT worker Ihashi before, and not only is the guy a nice chubbo, but he's officially great because he's also like 4'7". Fujiwara has never struck me as a super tall guy, and he's over a head taller than Ihashi. What a little tank! Ihashi rushes Fujiwara at the bell and Fujiwara catches him immediately in a can opener, and holds it until the ref finally forces a break, with Ihashi screaming the entire time. Fujiwara works for the armbar that he coincidentally shares a name with, and Ihashi dishes out a bunch of headbutts to punish him. The headbutts weren't very good, for a guy who seems like he throws a lot of headbutts. They were those Big Show style headbutts where he just headbutts the back of his own hands a bunch. The wind up is good, but his hands just cover too much ground and it looks to obvious. Grabbing a guy's head with your hand and headbutting it is a good look, just as Funk grabbing a guy by the back of the head to wind up a punch always looks great, but you have to be a little sneakier with your close up magic. Anyway, Fujiwara takes a bunch of them and completely saves them, by not selling them at all. And in the moment of the match, Fujiwara casually walks to the ring apron, gingerly unwraps the padding from a ring bolt, and then headbutts it a couple times. Yep, that's what you're in for Ihashi. Ihashi bumps around for Fujiwara, fires in some nice shots and some good grounded palm strikes, but it was all in the name of getting steamrolled by a near-70 year old legend. I liked how Fujiwara treated him after the match, showing him respect, shaking his hand, and then raising his bum wing (which Ihashi sold great).


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

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Mess of Masa Saito

We needed more then one RIP post for this legendary asskicker (we have some cool HH's we are reviewing for New Footage Friday too) so I thought I would dig around the internet and review a couple of his cooler oddball moments.

Mr. Saito/Mr. Sato vs. Mike Graham/Steve Keirn Florida 7/18/78

This is a studio match, which starts with Saito and Sato (a paintless Great Kabuki) jumping Porkchop Cash and Bubba Douglas before the bell. Graham and Keirn come out to make the save and  Paul Bosch (who I guess was vacationing from Houston) starts an impromptu match. Really energetic quick scrap, with Saito and Sato really being a high workrate heel team and Masao Hattori running around like a Japanese Jimmy Hart. Graham puts on a figure four on Sato on the floor and they have a double count out. Post match they jump Graham and Keirn and then attack and beat the crap out of Hiro Matsuda who was doing guest commentary. Sato, Saito and Hattori come off as such a disruptive force, just tearing through the whole roster, I would love to see more of them as an act. 

Masa Saito vs. Bill Dundee Southeastern 6/20/81

Awesome short TV match. Dundee is the greatest studio wrestler of all time, he is a master of finding five different cool variation on a short match. This was about three minutes of super agressive takedowns and scrambling. This is the most Olympic I had ever seen Saito look, as he was just shooting in and throwing Dundee, including a spectacular looking dragon screw (earliest time I can ever remember that move) and a great head and neck throw. Dundee meanwhile was super fast in escaping and using his speed to get advantages. Jimmy Golden was seconding Saito waving around a handful of cash, and Ron Fuller runs out and pops him leading to money flying everywhere. Really would have liked to see what these two could do in a longer match, but this was a fun taste. 

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My Eyes May Grow Dim, But Shinya Hashimoto is My Gibraltar I am Trusting in Him

Shinya Hashimoto/Masa Saito vs. Vader/Great Kokina NJPW 1/31/90-GREAT

ER: This is juuuuuust about too much hoss to be contained by one ring. It's sad that one month ago we could have bemoaned the fact that half the participants had passed. And now? Well, at least these four larger than lifers crossed paths several times. What a fun tag with great contributions from everyone. Vader in Japan was such a great before the bell shit stirrer, really setting up hot tags before introductions had even been done. And I love how Hashimoto took it to Vader, catching him in the gut with a kick on an overzealous charge, hitting a big vertical suplex right away, tossing him with a judo throw (and I loved Vader blocking that throw a couple times) and going after his arm. You knew it wouldn't last, but I liked that early aggression. Vader pays him back later by standing on Hashimoto's face until Hashimoto gets up with a bloody nose. I really loved Kokina here, a nice size complement to Vader, but quick in different ways and with a very different big man arsenal. I liked fired up babyface Masa Saito. We get a lot of stoic badass Saito, because arguably nobody in wrestling history reads visually as more of a badass that Masa Saito, who looks like he could take a baseball bat to the sternum and not blink. Kokina has a bunch of fun heavy offense and moves real quick, and I loved him punching down Saito leading to a classic babyface comeback. Kokina was moving around a ton, throwing headbutts (standing and falling), nice strikes, big bumps (I always love his banana peel slip bump), and both monsters were great at getting the monsters-to-most-men openings, Vader especially made every opening look like a gift. At one point Vader swung so low on a clothesline that Hashimoto ducked, that Hashimoto's counter attack came with the relief of narrowly avoiding a car accident. Saito gets smooshed a bunch, but it makes his redemption more fun, including a big lariat that Vader generously bumps to the floor. There was next to no chance I was going to be disappointed with this lineup.

PAS:  This match was basically a hybrid monster movie and western, Mothra and Godzilla invade a town and the two biggest swaggering badasses come in and take them down. Is there a cooler tag team in wrestling history then Shinya Hashimoto and Masa Saito, two charismatic dudes built like bourbon barrels who are smoother then a rapids stone. I loved Masa Saito getting himself amped up to slam Kokina, he tries once, fails, lands some big chops, tries again, fails, pumps up the crowd, and finally finishes the job. If the Intrepid challenge ended with Masa Saito slamming Yokozuna I might have actually watched the footage the Network put up. I did think the finish was a bit easy for such a monumental task, and this was more a fun crowd pleasing tag, then epic orgy of violence, but it certainly pleased the crowd.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SHINYA HASHIMOTO

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WWE Extreme Rules 2018 "Safely Behind Live" Blog

ER: So we gotta get this thing over and done with before Sharp Objects comes on, as Rachel can really only be expected to put up with so much. These were not demands verbally stated by her, these were just things mentally understood and recognized by me.

Sin Cara vs. Andrade Cien Almas

ER: Nice to see Almas running it back on the opening opening dark match of the PPV while the "WWE Universe is still filing in", according to Graves. Was the result of the Smackdown match earlier this week at all in question? There's a problem that Almas takes offense very well, which leads to him giving more offense to guys like Caras, who he really should be running through. The Smackdown match was super fun, but it was also supposed to be a showcase for Almas (to get him ready for pre-show matches I suppose?), so it can Almas doing every big piece of his offense to impress the crowd, but also working a competitive match, so it came off like him having to pull out all the stops to beat Sin Cara. They do a little bit of playing off their Smackdown match, which I was hoping for (even though the crack 7 man announce team doesn't seem to know they wrestled each other on Smackdown), like Almas throwing Cara into the barricade on a dive (nasty spot to happen so early in a match) and Caras slip out the back on the double stomp to the apron. Almas took all the lucha stuff really nicely, took arm drags smooth, bumped generously to the floor, saved that headscissors spot, etc. Cara ate his more impactful offense nicely, so everything they did looked really good, and they bounce off each other nicely, but at the same time the match didn't have a lot of teeth. I did like Almas depriving the fans of a dive spot and instead doing my favorite couple pose in wrestling, with Vega. But this felt like something that was crafted to be a showcase for each guy, separately.

Tables Match: New Day vs. Sanity

ER: Interesting that there's a tables match on the pre-show, as I don't remember many "extreme" matches on the main card when I looked at it earlier this week. We did get a really good Cara/Corbin chairs match on a pre-show before. Perhaps this upcoming PPV is going to be more about the extreme enforcement of rules? That kinda sounds more appealing to me. And this whole match doesn't really work. Everybody in it kind of works equal, which isn't very interesting when you have guys like E and Dain in there. A tornado style match should in theory lead to more chaos and a nasty brawling atmosphere, but instead they opt to do doopy double and triple team spots that require a lot of waiting around and unsatisfying payoffs. That powerbomb/double stomp was very much not worth it. I also prefer past tables matches that I've seen, where the tables were just already set up on the floor, as we get a bit much unnecessary table set up. We just don't get a lot of meat in this match, and it would have been far more interesting seeing them all fight in a normal trios than what we ended up getting. There were a couple nice "going through a table" teases, but this whole thing kind of neutered everyone. Underwhelming.

Matt Hardy/Bray Wyatt vs. Bo Dallas/Curtis Axel

ER: This match feels more pre-show than the two pre-show matches, but I can't deny that I'm digging it more than the two pre-show matches. The B Team are working like a perfectly fine Rougeaus, with stalling bullshit, sneaky shots (loved Dallas kicking Hardy in the head on the apron) and crowd baiting stuff when the cameras might not even be on them (caught Dallas blowing a snot rocket from the apron on the edge of my screen). Wyatt works my favorite performance of his in who knows when with nasty things that like cut-off headbutt on Axel, or stomping fingers when Axel is getting to his feet, but also some nice little selling moments. When Axel was stomping his gut in the corner, Bray did this really nice sell getting back to his feet, pulling up on the top rope the way a guy with a sore as hell core would, even holding his belly while he stepped to the apron after tagging Hardy in. Axel has nice stomps, but I loved Wyatt's dedication at bringing attention to them. I do think the ending was a bit sudden, which made this feel kind of like the first half of a really good match, but I really enjoyed what we got.

Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin

ER: I do not care much at all about this much, but I definitely think Corbin's look is a step up. I still can't believe we ever get hair matches when balding dudes opt to shave their head. I'll be there within a few years I'm sure, and I'm definitely going to challenge someone before it happens. You just know  Killian Dain is going to show up on some random Smackdown with a shaved head and it'll be a huge waste. Viktor, too. Imagine the month of promos building up an inevitable "must be forced to finally shave head" match between Corbin and Viktor? I don't think Balor has enough strumph behind his offense to look very good against Corbin, and I don't think Corbin is good enough to make a match with Balor compelling. Corbin is at least wrestling aggressively, throwing decent corner lariats, and running after Balor; and I like how Balor is getting caught and punished every time he goes up top, but the finish doesn't do any favors for anybody. I was just getting into the story of Corbin cutting off all attempts at Balor getting ahead, and we get just a small package finish. I have nothing invested in these two, but I don't see how it helps either.

Also, Rachel came into the room during the end of the match and asked "Wait, when did Corbin lose a hair match?" See?? She gets this whole stupid wrestling thing.

Asuka vs. Carmella

ER: The concept of a wimpy manager locked in a shark cage over the ring is a wrestling concept completely foreign to Rachel. When was the first instance of this stip? Anyway, the match is fun and I like that Ellsworth is like me in any stealth video game, having the ability to get active at the very worst time. Drop a chain in front of the ref and escape the cage while Carmella is indisposed? That's exactly me rushing out into the middle of four converging guards in a Metal Gear game. I don't know why Ellsworth's legs are done up like a Steven Tyler microphone stand, but I love how it lead to him being hooked and upside down on the bottom side of the cage. Great visual spot they set up. I was VERY surprised by the finish, and again felt like we got robbed of a second half of match, like we just got the first half and then skipped to the finish. I've gotten that same damn feeling in all three main card matches. Carmella took a nice bump into the railing, our trusty Extreme Rules ring crew is fun getting kicked around by Asuka, love how quickly he bumped to the floor for her. I've really been enjoying Carmella as a character, so I like that she keeps finding ways to get the upset against Asuka, but it feels - again - like we got robbed of half a match.

Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

ER: I am ENTIRELY OKAY with how this played out, mainly because these are two guys I was not excited about seeing in a singles match on a Sunday night. Low blow and a really nice Kinshasa? Yes, please. Randy Orton returns (I hadn't actually noticed that he'd been away) and makes me happy that I typically watch these "behind", as I'm able to magically skip ahead to the next match. I did look like Orton came back as a heel, by attacking Hardy, but I bet it's going to turn out that he's just a lame lone wolf. If I'm going to watch Orton, it should be as a heel, because, well, watch Orton for 5 seconds.

Cage Match: Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens

ER: This starts nice and hot, with both guys taking big bumps into the cage. I liked Braun running face first into the cage on a missed avalanche, and all the early-seeming finishes tonight in every single other match made me totally buy into Owens winning with the frog splash in 2 minutes. Owens is really good at those rolling cage bumps, getting repeatedly tossed into the cage and rolling down the side to the apron. Graves puts it over by saying it's like having a cheese grater run over your body, which works. Braun is missing all the stuff that's supposed to miss with nice violence; both of his missed avalanches looked rib breaking. I liked the stuff around the handcuffs, liked the caught chokeslam, liked the inevitable cuffs breaking spot, and was blown away by how damn quickly Braun ran up the top of the cage. It did highlight the only glaringly stupid thing of the match, which is Owens' two instances of ultra slow movement. His slow crawling to the cage door earlier was eye rolling, and his slow cage climb was lame. But Braun running up to the damn top of the cage in near record time (especially if we divide it into weight classes for comparison sake) and throwing Owens off the top were a couple of nice match ending moments. Owens took a hell of a dive there. I AM going to sound like a broken record here, but this also seemed to end way early. Normally I'm not one to be begging for matches to be longer, but this isn't all even a match length problem. Instead, everyone just seems to be working the wrong match for their allotted time. They've all started at least promising, they've just all had record skip stops to the finish. I wonder how long it's been since we've had a big table bump off the top of a cage?

Team Hell No vs. The Bludgeon Brothers

ER: I like this match-up on paper, mainly because Bryan feels like a really fun opponent for both of these lovable cosplay doofs. They've lost so much steam with these bad outfits and silly name, but they're both really good at working scrappy small guys. Bryan knows how to dial it up, and all his kicks on Harper look good, while all of Rowan's offense on him look good. Kane comes out somewhat hilariously in a walking boot, and if there's one thing I was hoping for in a Kane match, it's a match where Kane was working much slower than usual. Harper takes out Kane's good leg with a nice looking kick, and AGAIN I think I'm very not that crazy, as this cuts right past a Bryan FIP section leading to any kind of Kane comeback, and goes right to the finish. Who the hell is agent for this show?? I'm hoping someone is laying out all the first halves, and someone else was supposed to handle all the back end work and just completely procrastinating on it and just cutting straight to the pinfall. Kane goes down, Bryan hits Yes kicks, Rowan hits a spin kick and then we get the pinfall. Is my Network feed just skipping ahead because I'm behind, and I'm not noticing? This is bad.

Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley

ER: Lashley throws a decent suplex early, but I like how they're playing this match with Roman getting a long control segment. Crowd is trying their best to not get into the match and come up with chants, but Roman isn't getting rattled and is instead doing all these great puppy dog eyes looks at the crowd as he continues beating Lashley's ass around the ring. Roman is taking his time and the pacing works for the tone. He breaks the slow pacing just once, to run into a nicely timed and quick Drive-By, and the pacing makes Lashley's comeback look more explosive. Roman does his corner clotheslines with a great smug face, and flies into Lashley's bigger pieces of offense (the huge high rotation powerslam and the big man crossbody). Lashley does have fun offense though, a good powerslam will take you far, and there's something I still like about a big man doing an axehandle. And then Bobby shows was an absolute nut he is by taking a HUGE bump over the top to the floor, getting backdropped past the reach of the ropes and therefore not going over slow. He looked like he reached for them on the replay, but that was a Hamrick level bump right there, done by someone weighing 260. The bump felt and looked even more violent than the Owens bump off the cage, and it felt more shocking because I don't think anyone was expecting it to be that rough. The way these finishes have been coming so unexpectedly, I fully bought into the Superman punch finish, but glad it wasn't the finish. Roman doing a full victory lap to run over Lashley was a nice touch, and getting belly to bellied over an announcer's table was nice punishment, and the finish with Lashley cutting off a Reigns spear with his own short spear, was nice, and I like how Lashley played the finish. It's cool to see guys excited that they won a tough match. This match made Lashley look like an actual guy to watch, which has not happened for him so far this run. This is easily the best match of the night so far.

Extreme Rules: Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss

ER: I've really been loving the matches between this whole group, and this one is another that is fun right out of the gate. Alexa goes for weapons right away, gets one kendo stick shot in, leading to Jax catching the next one. And then we get a real amusing Looney Tunes spot with Mickie (arguably greatest 2nd in the WWE the past year, she's been so damn great) grabbing weapons frantically for Bliss, with Nia catching all of them when Bliss tries using them, and throwing them into the ring. It was an awesome way to load the ring up with weapons, actually incorporating the weapons thrown into the ring into actual spots. It lead to actual character moments happening instead of everything coming to a complete stop while someone looks for and then throws a half dozen things into the ring. And the eventual beatdown on Nia is a good one, with Alexa eventually getting to use all those weapons, and Nia herself running into some hard shots (ramming herself into the chair in the corner was especially nasty). Mickie is spectacular on the floor with her swooped over hair and Frankenhooker skirt, and she always takes such a great beating from Rousey. That's kind of a lousy thing to be good at, but I think James has helped keep Rousey's status high so far more than maybe anyone. When James finally gets even more involved, you know it leads to Ronda jumping the rail and dishing out a beating. Mickie flies into the barricade a few times, pelvis first into the apron, and then takes a hard as hell looking Death Valley Driver variation in the ring. I like the ways they attacked Nia, with Alexa hitting her in the kneecaps and thighs with a chair, and the finish looked believable enough. I did want a few more minutes of match, but the match didn't feel as abbreviated as most of the rest of this card. You just give me Rousey/Bliss and Nia/Mickie and I'll be a happy camper.

Rusev vs. AJ Styles

ER: We get a couple big bumps early from each guy here, and I'm happy to see Rusev finally get back towards the top of the card. Styles is good at punching up his offense whenever he's against a bigger guy, and I like that we have two guys with good looking submissions. The Calf Crusher is my favorite sub in WWE, but Rusev makes the clutch look really strong. Offense looks good from both guys, the Styles sliding punched looked knockout worthy, and Rusev's belly to belly on the floor landed with a gross thud. Love the false finishes we get with Rusev kicking Styles in the side of the neck with his always good roundhouse, and Rusev selling that damn Calf Crusher with his leg buckling during the clutch. Love a big man selling a limb injury. Rusev kicking out of the 450 was a big moment, and holy hell did Styles aim to erase Aiden English's face on that baseball slide dropkick. I was hoping for a Rusev win here, but Styles is a good champ and they had a good match.

***Okay, here's the thing, I don't want to watch the Iron Man match. But let's see how my evening goes. If Rachel gets a phone call from her sister or something and I'm left with some extra time, sure, I'll give it a shot. But I don't have time to watch 30 minutes of match that might feel like 60 minutes before Sharp Objects, and don't feel like breaking it up into parts. If I'm watching 30 minutes of guys I don't like, I'm diving all in baby!***

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide Episode 149

Episode 149

Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Cain Justice vs. Michael McAllister/Nick Richards

ER: This starts out as a fairly genial, crowd pleasing house show match, the kind where you can see it continuing this way and being a match where Cain and E# show ass the whole match, or one that has a turn in the middle with the heels finally taking it to our 90s Create-A-Wrestler-Singleted duo. So we start amusing, with Sharpe not getting anything rolling, and we have fun house show moments like Richards booing Sharpe from the crowd. I should note that I also really love not just the Chapel Hill crowds, but the giant mural on the wall that often shows up in shots; front and center is a little girl smiling and reading a book, but she's wearing something bright white, and the design always tricks my eyes into thinking it's a big white beard. So this girl looks like Black Jesus holding a giant tome, or Grady from Sanford and Son. It brings joy every time I see it. Anyway, match gets really fun once Cain and Sharpe isolate Richards. Those two are so good at working a crowd like this, and Sharpe keeps adding fun new simple offense that fits his personality (the wind-up elbow drop that ends with him posed over Richards is a keeper), and his 12-6 elbows while standing over a seated Richards looked nasty. Cain throws a bunch of nice kicks, makes me laugh by sticking out his foot for Sharpe to tag in, and always impressed me with how quickly he can get from the ring out to the floor. I also like how he kind of cockily rubs his belly while trash talking opponents. Once you see it you can't unsee it! McAllister trips on his hot tag, so makes up for it by pasting our heels with forearms, hard lariats, and a big back elbow. Sharpe misses his KO uppercut, really swung hard for McAllister's jaw, and Cain makes the cutter look like a worthy finish. Fun match.

PAS: Great example of a formula southern tag, and what a great formula that is. Both Cain and Ethan are great as shit stirring heels. Cain can really stir up a crowd, and is great at flipping the switch between bumbling and vicious. He had some great kicks and stomps. I really dug McAllister's hot tag, he tripped going into the ring, but makes up for it, by throwing some really spudsy clotheslines. I also really dug McAllister's STO which planted Sharpe on Cain. Hargraves Community Center crowds are the best in wrestling and it was fun to watch them do this dance in front of this crowd.

Aric Andrews vs. KL3

ER: Andrews has some facial scruff back and there's no sign of that ponytail wearing smooth faced weirdo who was hanging around CWF for several months pretending to be Andrews. And I'm sorry to KL3 and his family, but Andrews needed a TV win like this. We get GOOD Andrews, dropping high elbows down across KL3's neck, knocking over ref Charles and pointing at Charles to watch it, hitting a great classic kneedrop, holding those hands over the head and then bringing that whole body into a crunch as his knee drops onto KL3's temple, and finishing things off with a couple of big uranage slams. Sinister Aric Andrews is back, and he's got that Golden Ticket!

PAS: Total squash for Andrews, and he looked good, that knee to the temple was brutal. KL3 looked awful, his 15 seconds of offense had no impact at all, including one of the worst kicks to the stomach I can remember, he also bumps really awkwardly on the Asphalt Spike. I am all for Andrew's squashes, but KL3 needs another couple of months in the training center before going back on TV.

Chapel Hill Street Fight: Arik Royal vs. Snooty Foxx

ER: I'm already well beyond hyped just watching the entrances of both men. Royal entrances are maybe my favorite in wrestling (and I'm the guy who writes about Metalico), a real crowd worker. I remember a Norm MacDonald story where he worked the WHCD while Clinton was president, and after his set he was backstage eating a pickle. Clinton comes in and works the room, one person at a time, saying something different to each person, and gets to Norm, shakes his hand and says, "I see you have a pickle" and keeps on going to the next person before Norm can even process what was said. It's not groundbreaking stuff, but it's a person to person unique touch. So Royal goes around the ring, he's waving his big Duke flag (so I know Phil is into this, big Duke supporter, not their sports teams, just their general vibe), he's getting into it with individual fans, mocking one guy with baller motions, making bug eyes at a little girl, purposely whiffing a high 5 with an even smaller kid, making fun of a woman's hair, simple making the rounds stuff you can tell he loves. Snooty comes out and it's night and day, people are overjoyed just to slap hands with him. The fans in Chapel Hill treat Snooty likes he just showed up at the cookout thrown in honor of him finishing his tour of duty serving our country. It's the best.

And this brawl totally delivered. Both guys brought it and were able to work a full 30 minute match without any drag, all while giving us a detailed site map of the Hargraves Community Center. And the cool thing about this brawl was that I dug the in-ring stuff as much as the wild crowd brawl. If it hasn't happened already, this just might be the official Snooty Foxx coming out party. Dude is here, he keeps getting better, and I get the feeling crowds anywhere would have been going bananas for him. Royal stalls to start, leading to Foxx rushing him with a hard forearm shiver, slingshots him into the ring, and then puts on a show by hitting turnbuckle 10 count punches on him all around the ring. Foxx has genuinely great 10 count punches, which is by far one of the hardest punches in wrestling to perfect. Snooty even hits a super early powerslam, with a great battle over whether Royal would slip out of it or not. We go through the crowd and it's all good stuff, love these two hitting each other hard in front of kids, Royal gets tossed through some chairs and kids are running up trying to touch him, merch table gets messed up, and you know we're going to go outside. They fight up on the trailer they use to haul the ring, and it should be noted that Cecil Scott and Smith Garrett were really great on commentary for the duration of the match, but really excelled during the outdoor portions. "Pretty sure we're getting shoplifted while we're out here, not for nothing." "That's a sturdy 1983 vehicle too, that thing is hard as hell" "That's the heartbeat of America right there." "So here's a recap, Arik Royal just hit a child with another human being." Royal throws Snooty off the flat bed just right into the huge crowd of fans that had gathered around. Foxx looked like he was stage diving, just a low fast dive right through a bunch of people, totally crazy looking. They both take great bumps into the fence around the baseball diamond, Royal finds an old hose and does some great chokes on Snooty, even drags him back into the building with that damn hose. Snooty takes a great beating, eats a couple shots with a shovel that Coach brought in, gets one of Coach's batting helmets busted over his head, and we should also note that Royal is someone who understands how to dress for a street fight. I want an action figure of "Street Fighter Arik Royal", complete with Duke flag. Snooty's comebacks are all excellently spaced out, and we get a great near fall that ended with Coach diving onto Redd Jones with his whole body to stop the count. Snooty clearing ring on the All Stars was primo fan stuff, taking them out with a huge dive off the top, hitting his nice one armed spear (so many guys would make that look trash, and he makes it look like a kill shot), and Royal gets perfectly in position to take a top rope bulldog face first into a chair. You know the knux come into play, and while I wish Snooty really waylaid Royal with the final blow, both sold it perfectly. Awesome, awesome match. These Chapel Hill shows are always a big ol' bank full of money. They're the heartbeat of America.

PAS: This is the way wrestling used to be, hot crowd disinterested in seeing MOTY candidates, instead totally invested in watching a beloved babyface beatdown a group of cheating jerks. Foxx is an all time great ticket seller, as he has packed the crowd with his entire neighborhood, there are multiple black ladies in their sixties who might be Snooty's great Aunt. Royal is world class at firing up the crowd too, taunting kids, stealing folks hats, talking trash, one of these days a drunk cousin of Snooty is going to take a swing at him. The Duke flag is a classic troll move, but the batting helmet signed by Coach K is another level. Of course that Coach K signed batting helmet gets busted on Snooty's head. The outside stuff was really great, I loved Snooty getting his head slammed in the truck door, and both guys really flew into all the fencing. Arik Royal tossing Snooty into a 4 year old girl could have gone badly, but instead it ended up being great. Everything didn't land as cleanly as you would hope, Snooty is still clearly early in his career, but the old school heatseeking greatness of this match made up for any execution issues.

PAS: We put the street fight pretty high on our 2018 MOTY List and added the tag match to our C+A Cain Justice

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