New Footage Friday: SANTO! PANTHER! FISHMAN! BORNE! FINLAY! SABU! BRODIE LEE!

Fishman/Espanto Jr./Blue Panther vs. El Hijo Del Santo/Volador/Octagon AAA 5/15/94

MD: My hard drive went kaput, which has been a fight that's been going on for a while, so I lost my initial write up of this. In short, it was a solid lost trios with long entrances and a spirited post-match Panther promo where a lot of stuff hit well and where it moved briskly. There wasn't a pairing that really stood out, but there are things that will stick with me, like Espanto landing on his feet off of an exchange or Volador looking almost inhumanly athletic towards the end or Blue Panther being an absolutely amazing stooge off a quebradora, selling his groin in a spasm all the way across the ring and out to the floor or Santo's lightning crack tope off of an irish whip. The more I see of Fishman from this specific era, the more I think Eric should deep dive on him since he's got a sort of hammering Bestia del Ring vibe to him.

Matt Borne vs. Sabu ACW 11/23/01

MD: Deceptively long video. The match is pretty much what you'd hope it to be and doesn't wear out its welcome. That's because the back half is a pretty manic Borne post 9/11 rant about how he'd die for the crowd and challenging Sabu to come back out (he does, once, but not the six or seven times Borne wants). For the match itself, Sabu does his stuff and Borne is a very game foil. There's crowd brawling that we miss but that we can be assured was solid due to a father in the outskirts putting his kid up on his shoulder to see it, a sure sign of quality. They use weapons liberally but never gratuitously. Borne bleeds big as Sabu stabs at his head. There's a table. It does not break. I'm amazed they could move after that (I'm not really, because I've seen it before, but you know what I mean). Sabu's so good and experienced at this sort of match that he knows exactly when to head out and move things along when Borne can't get it in. Blood, plunder, big bumps, unmitigated violence, a clear finish, and only about ten minutes before the rant begins. Afterwards the camera sticks with Borne as he goes backstage and is told how spectacular it all was.

PAS: I thought this was excellent, it really had the pacing of a great 80s brawl, the kind of thing you might imagine Matt Borne might have had in Mid-South or Portland. It also had Sabu at his unhinged greatness, flying around, stabbing Borne in the head, crashing awkwardly into tables and chairs. Borne kept the whole thing connected, at no point was anyone standing around waiting, or setting stuff off, it always felt like a fight. The crowd brawling really felt chaotic too, they were just flying through the crowd, not seeming to care who they hit. This is easily the best 2000s Sabu match I have seen, and it felt right up there with the top tier Funk, Foley and Sandman stuff. 

Fit Finlay vs. Brodie Lee vs. Joe Gacy 3/16/12 - GREAT

MD: Our theme for this week are matches shorter than the video run times as this doesn't go as long as was indicated. Here, though, I could have used a few more minutes, because I liked what we had and I wasn't quite done with it. There was a sort of unique element for a three-way here, where the guy on the floor often operated like a moat monster. If you got too close to Brodie or Finlay on the floor, they'd just pull you right out. It made for a more interesting dynamic than guys laying around and played well into Finlay's ability to use the apron, for instance. Gacy felt like he belonged, with a great jab and willing to bump around for the other two.

PAS: I really liked the way this was organized. I hate three ways normally, but this was less about doing choreographed spots, and more about the third guy being a violent cheap shotter. I mean imagine leaving your back open and giving Finlay a free shot, or being near the ropes and being pulled out and smacked by Brodie Lee. I am crediting Finlay for the structure, because he is one of the greatest match architects ever, but whoever called this match was really smart. There were a lot of great little Finlay moments: he blocks a Lee Scorpion attempt by straight punching him in the face, takes his signature top rope bump to the floor and is just constantly killing people. Gacy is by far the least of these three guys, some of his stuff looked good, but some did not, and it seems totally BS to have him go over. That indy Finlay run was one of the coolest things ever, and I am excited we got to see another classic Finlay match.