On Brand Segunda Caida: Henry Godwinn vs. Bret Hart! Hansen & Vader vs. The Headhunters!

Henry Godwinn vs. Bret Hart WWF Action Zone 6/25/95

ER: This was great, a really fantastic Bret performance. I know it's kind of boring to like Bret, but I don't think the "has the same formula match" criticism is very fair as he was really great at working in cool moments and crafting things around new opponents. Godwinn is a big burly dude who more than holds up his end, really running into Hart with power and playing into Hart's own story build. Anybody who says this is a carry job is fooling themselves. Hart is working really fast in this and bumping big, taking three different nasty bumps into the buckles during the match (a fast one back first that look like it shook the ring, his classic chest first bump that he sold by crumpling beautifully to the mat, and a great turning point bump where he went into the ringpost shoulder first), but works everything here explosively, and Godwinn meets him. Dug all of Godwinn's strikes when Hart was foolish to go toe to toe with him, and loved Hart's nice headbutt to counter to big man. Hart even does a great crossbody off the ropes that he didn't always do, and a cool double clothesline spot that actually looked like two guys getting rung up on a clothesline. Bret goes after Henry's knee in cool fashion, and I like some of the ways Henry sells it, pushing up hard off his knee when he gets off the mat, and a great moment where he kneedrops Hart and immediately regrets it. And when Hart hits the ringpost we get a lot of Henry angrily wrenching in armlocks, all simple stuff but really effective in the match. Hart's comeback absolutely slays, with him hitting a huge lariat to send Godwinn over the ropes to the floor with a massive bump, with Hart immediately flying into him with a plancha and some of his best punches. There were so many simple things done so well in this match, the way Hart runs Godwinn in the ropes for a prawn hold but Godwinn holds on tight, sending Hart ping ponging fast across the ring. I loved this whole damn match, and now I'm really curious who were the potential bad dance partners for Bret.

Stan Hansen/Vader vs. The Headhunters AJPW 12/4/98

ER: What a silly little match. All Japan were such weirdos, having this strange contempt for deathmatch and shootstyle indies, but still occasionally using them to give us oddball matches. All Japan has always delivered weird fat guys though, and it's one of my favorite things about them. The Headhunters are two famous fat guys, two giant brothers who hit insane flying moves which immediately turned their knees into powder. But they turned that early fat guy buzz into an improbably long career, both of them long outlasting Hansen and Vader and somehow still wrestling today. I love All Japan bringing in these goofs for the RWTL, and even more I love Vader and Hansen refusing to actually believe that these two are in the RWTL. This is about as quick and tidy of a squash as you're going to see in AJ, with the Headhunters getting almost no offense, and the only offense they do get (a nice avalanche) is promptly ignored. No, this is Hansen and Vader having a contest to see who could drop a meaner elbow on two tubs wearing curly toed boots. Vader hits a standing splash right across A or B's (which is the smaller one?) collarbones, all the elbowdrops are GIF worthy, the fat Headhunter takes a fantastic bump over the rail and into the crowd after getting his butt kicked around ringside, the fat one misses a big senton off the middle rope, and 4 minutes in Vader blatantly signals at Hansen to wrap this thing the hell up, hit the lariat so we can go home. It's a weird match to have happened, it was treated like a weird match as it was happening, and you know it's special because how often - really - do we get 4 guys this large crashing into each other in a wrestling ring?