WWF 305 Live: Sid! Bigelow! Ohno! Mastiff!

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Sid WWF Raw 7/3/95 - VERY GOOD

ER: This is high profile enough that I'm surprised they didn't wait to do it on In Your House 2, and then have Sid vs. Diesel at In Your House 3. But I do like it for what it does, and sets up Bigelow vs. Henry Godwinn at IYH2. And this is a match that really benefits from the hot "smaller" crowd. WWF during this era had a lot of 2500 attendance shows in smaller towns that hadn't gotten WWF shows before. And they are dying for this action. And these two are great attractions in a smaller venue like this, two larger than life guys that can work a crowd well. Sid was constantly talking trash to an overly excited teens, and babyface Bigelow really had a huge working class relatable charisma. This is mostly kick punch, but their size reads tremendously in the smaller venue, so the kick punch comes off great. Bigelow's shots are short and quick, with Sid selling by whipping his head back hard; Sid has big boots that Bigelow takes whipping back bumps for. They work a nice spot where Bigelow catches Sid's boot after another big boot attempt, but Sid wisely ducks an enziguiri, and the visual of Bigelow whiffing the enziguiri was cool. There's a messy chokeslam spot where Bigelow gets zero feet of air, but it also comes off more violent, like Sid just grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the mat. Bam Bam had a run in with Henry Godwinn before the match, and Godwinn comes back out and shoves Bigelow off the top rope, causing him to get pinned and powerbombed by Sid. This was good for what we got, but if felt like they were building to a couple more cool moments before the premature finish, and it's a shame this is the only singles match we have of them.


Kassius Ohno vs. Dave Mastiff NXT UK 1/16/20

ER: I've wrestled with how many different ways I can start off this review, but they've all been some variation on "YES they are matching up the biggest tubby boys in the UK and I hope they sit on each other a ton". There's no eloquent way to put it, these might be the two heaviest guys on the NXT UK brand and that's something that will always excite me more than the armies of 160 lb. guys named Albie Hollist who have T-Rex arms and eyes on the sides of their head. No this is quick and to the point, both guys using their weight to win, and Ohno using his arsenal against a uniquely shaped opponent. It's a relatively short match, 7 minutes, but just watch Ohno's 2019 match against Jack Gallagher to see how special a match he can put together in 7 minutes. Ohno works his cravat in a few cool ways, and I loved how Mastiff wouldn't go over for a cravat snapmare so Ohno just dropped to his back with his knees up, dropping Mastiff chin first onto them. Ohno keeps going for the cravat, until Mastiff just throws him with a suplex that leaves Ohno sitting confused on his butt. We got both guys using several heavy sentons, and I liked how both would use them more like Finlay would stomp on someone's hands or rake his boot eyelets across someone's cheek if they weren't getting up quick enough. Mastiff was down on the mat, Ohno jumps on him; Ohno laid out, Mastiff plops on him. It's something every single fat guy should do. Ohno had a really cool counter, where he saw the cannonball coming and slouched further in the corner to deaden the impact and immediately shift into a pin on Mastiff. We get a lot of bad "missed" offense in wrestling that just looks like bad dance steps, but we don't get nearly enough of guys just trying to minimize damage they know is coming, and that is one of many things that sets Ohno apart from most wrestlers. The match was quick and heavy, and I liked how definitively it ended, a big German suplex, a fight on the buckles, and a brutal fireman's carry roll from Mastiff. Might have to run this one back a couple times to fairly gauge who is better.


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