2021 Ongoing MOTY List: Danielson vs. Fish

13. Bryan Danielson vs. Bobby Fish AEW Dynamite 10/16

ER: This was the week before we started writing up every single Bryan Danielson match (a man who for a three year stretch not that long ago was working more minutes and more matches than anyone in wrestling) and was the week where we realized we were getting too many weekly TV matches from the best AEW guys and that it should be documented. Danielson is a guy who clearly has fun in matches and has several eras to pull from. This was a throwback to 2009-2010 Danielson, which is probably my least revisited era of Danielson. It's not because of his work specifically, but it was the era of Davey Richards and 35 minute matches and I'm not sure what it would take to get those bumped up my watch list but I'm not there yet. This was a better version of that era, with the excess bloat trimmed and a little more gravity added to heel hooks and kneebars due to the extra 10 years on the joints. Two guys in their mid 40s kicking each other in the hamstrings and bending ankles is almost always cool. They work most of this match around kicks, with missed charges leading to turning around into kicks and every other move punctuated with a kick to the back or leg. 

They work a really cool attack the leg match, but they also don't really put much effort into selling any kind of sustained leg damage over the match. Maybe that is Danielson pulling from his 2001 "sell the arm" era. I don't need a lot of melodramatic 2009 "Ohhhhh my leggggggg" selling and this match gave us that 2009 match with the melodrama snipped out. Danielson's leg took a beating before he started attacking Fish's leg harder, catching Fish in a cool trap leg German suplex before throwing sick dragon screws and wrapping Fish's leg around the post several times. Fish's big offense looked like something that could finish Danielson, and he hits a backdrop driver nasty enough that we could have seen Bobby Fish become the top AEW heel after concussing the legend into retirement. Fish's Falcon Arrow took them halfway across the ring, and things looked chippy as hell when they were heel kicking each other in the eyes and nose while holding heel hooks. Danielson really cuts through the shit for the finish, throwing a bunch of knees before locking in quick tap kneebar that looked like something Fujiwara would have used to punish an impudent student in the 80s. Bobby Fish seemed like a somewhat unnecessary AEW signing and Danielson immediately made him feel like a guy worth having around. 

PAS: I thought this was tremendous. Fish is going to be stuck working workrate tags with the Young Bucks, but this period where he came in and just hit Muay Thai leg kicks and sharp elbows. I thought it was simple and violent, and then when it got bigger it kept the violence and the selling and never went into overkill territory. I loved how Fish paid back the leg capture German suplex with a leg capture backdrop driver later, and if I came into this match not knowing the hierarchy, I would have totally bought his top falcon arrow into the knee bar as a finish. I thought the kneebar duel was one of the best I have seen done in wrestling, and that final ankle pick was sick stuff. This match obviously had a little extraneous stuff which a BattlArts match wouldn't have. But BattlArts is what this reminded me of, which is obviously about as big a compliment as I can give.

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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WWF 305 Live: Twin Towers Explode! Hogan Battles Afa!

Hulk Hogan vs. Afa WWF All Star Wrestling 4/14/84 - FUN

ER: There's no good reason this couldn't have been a couple minutes longer. Almost every 305 match that I've rated FUN/SKIPPABLE have only been rated that low due to lack of time. This match is two minutes long, and you can only do so many fun cool big man things in two minutes. Give any two large men 4-5 minutes in a ring, I will almost always love it. The biggest guys moving around each other is always fun! But there's no reason Afa should only be able to last two minutes against anyone, especially with Albano and Sika interfering at ringside. Afa bumps big for Hogan, and the crowd loves every second of Hogan bumping him around, and Afa was bumping so big so early that I was just waiting for that ankle grab from the floor so that he could take over for awhile. Instead, that didn't happen, and Hogan punched him a few times, hit the axe bomber, then the legdrop. After, he punched Sika and Albano off the apron, knocked Afa to the floor, and punched Albano and Sika again. Also, Afa was announced as Samoan #1, and Okerlund kept calling him Samoan #1 on commentary, while Vince only referred to them as Afa and Sika. I don't know what was going on. Match narrowly avoids SKIPPABLE status just because Hogan and Afa had really good chemistry. Wish we could have seen more of it. 

Big Boss Man vs. Akeem WWF WrestleMania VI 4/1/90 - FUN

ER: Here's another in WWF's weird habit of keeping big men to 2 minutes when they were more than capable of going longer. This show had WAY too many matches and the entrances took way too long because of the size of the Skydome, so you wound up with several sub 3 minute matches on a WrestleMania. Akeem looks incredible doing his One Dance, swimming in place on the ring entrance cart while Jive Soul Bro blares (Jive Swimming?). Boss Man gets jumped by Dibiase and takes a great beating on the floor, with a hard back bump off a Dibiase lariat, takes a hard bodyslam, and gets tossed hard into the barricade (no small feat as the ring was up on that big show stage and Boss Man had to cover the gap). It's a drag that the match proper was under 2 minutes, as the two minutes we got were filled with smooshing. Boss Man comes back with a great atomic drop (and an atomic drop isn't the kind of move I expect from two 350+ lb guys so I really loved its use here) and a Boss Man slam gets the easy pin. This was one of the matches on the show that actually had storyline reason to be happening, with a two year tag team now on opposite sides and a big Dibiase revenge mission against Boss Man, so it's brutal that it got less time than something like Rude/Snuka or literally every other match on this card. Bad time management robbed us of an excellent 6 minute Twin Towers explosion. I wanted to see the full collapse and implosion of the Twin Towers and this would have been the perfect place for it. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WWF 305 LIVE

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Gulak's Silently Waiting, For How the Room Will Be Painted

Drew Gulak vs. Bronson Reed WWE Main Event 6/24/21 - GREAT

ER: I like seeing Gulak in this kind of size mismatch. The bulk of WWE Gulak matches have been against 205 Live types, but he's really fun against big guys. Oney Lorcan always got paired against big guys during his WWE run, and it made sense because he was really great at working a compelling loss. Gulak is great at working big guys and even though we haven't seen it as much, there are a ton of great potential 8 minutes matches sitting out there. I wish we got more of those rather than check what couple things Gulak and Mansoor can switch up in their routine after 5 matches. This is one of those exciting "never before" matches and it's another great look at Gulak's range. This is even more exciting because it happened during Reed's final month hurrah, which was ironically the one month of 2021 where he looked like the next level Reed. The first half of Reed's 2021 was filled with some of his weakest performances I've seen, a guy who seemed to be regressing by the month. But suddenly in June he went on a career-rejuvenating tear, looking like maybe the best guy in an incredibly fun TakeOver trios tag, then having his year-best singles match winning the North American title from Johnny Gargano in a cage, then having this absolute powerhouse monster performance against Gulak. 

So of course he gets released a few weeks later. Anyway, I was hoping for this to be worked like a Tarzan Goto vs. Yuki Ishikawa match, and it kind of started to look like I'd get my wish when they had some tough guy grappling, Reed muscled Gulak into a kind of flapjack out of a piledriver, and then cranked Gulak's ear in a side headlock. It doesn't stay muga for very long, but I like the way they pivot. Reed is at his wrecking ball best in this match, a role he can do well and needs to do exclusively. Less agility spots, more big man. Reed looks great here, really savage. He just knocks Gulak out of the air a couple times, throws him with a press slam, goes in quick with the senton. Gulak's only way out is by hacking at Reed's arm, and Reed is good at working big man while Gulak gets aggressive. Gulak misses a dropkick painfully into the ringpost, but pushes through it to work an awesome hyperextending Fujiwara. Gulak is cool at readjusting the hold to not give up the attack as Reed powered to his feet, and they had a perfect transition out of the Fujiwara when Gulak abandoned it for a schoolboy that instead becomes Reed dropping ass first onto Gulak exactly like Super Porky, one month before Porky's passing. Reed's violent run to the finish really looked like a guy piecing everything together. His death valley driver looked insane, and the top rope splash looked like a fucking finisher. This was a great match to cap a month that could easily be used as a strong example of Bronson Reed's talent, and I hope we get to see Gulak tackle more mountains while he stays impossibly employed. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK

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Found Footage Friday: EL SANTO~! EL HIJO DEL SANTO~! MEIKO~! KONG~! PANTHER~! COLON~!

Carlos Colon/El Santo vs. Barrabas/Rebelde Rojo 2/1/75?

MD: Hijo del Santo posted this and at the very least, the quality is better than whatever we had before. We hadn't covered it and it's a good, focused look at both Santo and a relatively young Carlos. There's so little footage of Santo that you look as closely as possible and really watch how he moves. He was mainly paired with Rebelde Rojo at first and there are the throws you'd expect, but also a nice mat transition into a stretch muffler type submission and these really nice kneelifts that come in from the front instead of the side. Later on, he'd throw Barrabas around by his beard and hit headscissors takeovers and post match, he had a nice tope where he squared up and ran all the way across the ring to build up speed. The heels were game here and Colon had zip to everything he did. In the absence of footage, you always wonder, but from this glimpse of Santo there was oomph and swagger behind his movements and you do really get the sense that there was something tangible to the legend.

PAS: This was just a glimpse, but any glimpse of Santo is pretty great (honestly a glimpse of young Colon is pretty awesome too). Santo moved a little like his son, although without that incredible lightness of foot that Hijo brings to the table. Love those straight knee lifts up the middle, really felt Mr. Wrestling 2ish, which is really what you want from a kneelift. His tope looked good to, and he landed it almost like a Thez press. The rudos mostly bumped and fed, but did it well, would have liked of course to see this in a fuller version, but it's El Santo we take what we can get!


Meiko Satomura vs. Aja Kong GAEA 4/24/98

MD: This is apparently their first singles match. Satomura wasn't even twenty yet most likely. I'm a big fan of these ten minute GAEA Aja matches where someone has to try to figure out how to solve the puzzle/problem of her. Meiko started strong with a trip and some pummelling, but it ended with Aja just staring her down in the corner and crushing her as she ran back across the ring to build momentum. From there, Kong played with her like a cat with a toy. When Meiko dared to come back, Kong smashed her with the aluminum box (fairly mirthful about it as she played keep away with the ref). Yet, as the match went on, it went from being about Satomura surviving, to her just scoring a point or two and not getting completely shut out, to her getting a moral win by really doing a little bit of damage, to her actually having a shot. It was one thing to get a lucky, gutsy slam. It was another to pry off an arm and force Aja to make a rope break. It was something else entirely to struggle Aja up for a death valley driver and the closest of nearfalls. All the while, Aja would shake it off and crush and compact Meiko with one bomb or another. When she finally put her down with a death valley driver of her own and the meanest Uraken imaginable, it felt definitive, but not at all like the mercy killing it might have felt like earlier in the match.

PAS: This was an iconic rivalry which produced some incredible matches. This wasn't one of those, instead it was a really young Meiko just starting to chip away at the mountain in front of her. I loved how Aja just walked through her early kicks and dropped her with one of her own. Meiko was only really able to get an advantage when Aja would get too cocky and head to the top rope, where Meiko was able twice to use cool armbar take downs to bring her down. That Death Valley Driver Meiko hit felt like a big moment, she had tried for it multiple times before, and dropping a big girl like Aja on her is really nasty. Aja DVD was even sicker though, and the uraken was .95 RAW Chaparita Asari level violent. We are going to have to dig through this GAEA youtube channel, lots of stuff on there, and I imagine a bunch of it is new and cool. 

Hijo del Santo/Blue Panther vs. Nosawa/Scorpio, Jr. FCW 5/15/04

MD: A little bit clipped, but 15+ minutes of action with clear transitions and most of the big moments intact. First two thirds of this felt a little like an exhibition, the traveling show, with Santo as the world's best Mil Mascaras and Blue Panther as his trusty Dos Caras. The interesting things to me were how good Nosawa's punches probably would have looked in the crowd but how the camera angle betrayed them and how the announcers were struggling valiantly to fit lucha into their pro wrestling box. I do think we missed some of the violence of the rudo beatdown in the segunda. It started with Panther's knee going out mysteriously but by the time the comeback occurred, Santo's mask was ripped from the bottom and he was out for blood. Maybe it's just the last few matches we've seen with him, buy my favorite Santito now is pissed off tercera comeback Santito. Here he opened up Scorpio with a chair and decided to just run across the ring and kick him in the wound to open it up more. He had a stutter step on the senton-into-a-dive on the finish but by that point I didn't care because he was running about kicking rudos' wounds open and apparently that's my guy.

PAS: Any Santo is great, and he had cool chemistry with Scorpio Jr. over the years, including taking Scorps hair in an incredible tag apuestas match. I always dig Santo working his headscissors spots, and it was cool to watch him snap and bloody up Scorpio. Panther and Nosawa were just kind of there, second banana technico is not working towards Panther's strengths as a wrestlers, and Nosawa is more of a fun character then a good wrestler. I am into Santo digging into his tape library and posting random shit, hopefully there is more iconic shit out there, but this was a fun diversion.

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Andre & Bam Bam Go to UWA

Andre the Giant/Bam Bam Bigelow/Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Villano III/Fishman/Canek UWA 4/24/92 - FUN

ER: 40 matches-to-go-Andre wrestling in Mexico must have been some wild stuff to see. Look at how many kids are in the crowd of this UWA show, all getting to see a tecnico team made up of three of the biggest luchador idols of modern lucha history, and on the rudo side you get to see the two - presumably - largest men you had ever seen in your life (with the Headhunters in the next match!). Andre looked like a burnt out 500 lb. Eric Bogosian, but there's so much life when he's in the middle of acting out a story. Here he is, taking a month long Mexico vacation while working a handful of UWA shows, getting real joy out of working comedy spots in Arena Neza. Obviously he stays on the apron for much of this, but he's the best apron worker of all time so that always leads to moments. Here Wagner and Fishman tied up and - as soon as Fishman backed Wagner into the corner - Andre casually chopped Fishman in the back to swing the advantage, like an uncle reaching out to get your nose. Andre smacks Fishman, smiles at Bigelow, then kind of shrugs at the ref. Seeing Andre explaining away cheapshots to a Mexican referee is the closest we ever get to Hiding a Weapon Andre and it's wonderful. He plays that act through the primera, culminating in a spot where he sneaks in a no look cheapshot on Fishman but hits Wagner instead, with Wagner as a rudo selling the chop 4x as much as tecnico Fishman. Andre makes these great apologetic faces to Wagner and explains what he was going for, and it's the best. 

Andre gets into the ring to end the primera, taking out Canek with a couple of lariats, then choking Villano III. The top Mexican stars being smaller than guys Andre typically fought only made him look like more of a giant, able to palm Canek's entire head and drag Villano III around by the neck like a sack of laundry. Andre is setting Villano on the turnbuckles by the neck when Fishman has this tremendous moment of dumb tecnico hubris, decided the best way to stop this giant was by hitting a sunset flip. And so, while Andre chokes Villano III, while Bigelow hits a nice somersault senton on Canek, Fishman climbs to the top rope just to clear Andre on the sunset flip, rolls down Andre's back, and immediately pulls Andre down onto his chest. Andre was huge in 1992, looking bigger this month than in his matches a month prior, and Fishman thought he could just tumble right through. 

The rudos work Canek over more in the segunda, and there's a great moment where he hits the triumphant bodyslam on Bigelow, but the bodyslam proves to me more symbolic than actually damaging, and he causes himself more pain than he causes Bigelow. Andre sets up a few spots where he holds Canek from the apron while Bigelow hits an avalanche, and he does a really nasty full nelson around the top ring rope. Andre was really great at being the stunned giant, letting out a bark when Canek catches him in the stomach and getting knocked into the ropes from a Canek spinning heel kick. Andre's weak stomach was an awesome late career add, a weakness he would use to transition to the big opponent comeback, and he was good enough at selling his stomach that there was always a sense of danger that Andre was about to violently ruin a singlet. In a great twist, Andre gets knocked into and trapped in the ropes, but Bigelow uses the distraction to hit a glorious uppercut between Canek's legs, then grapevines Canek's leg and trapped it, selling like Canek kicked him (Bigelow) so hard in the taint that his foot got stuck. Rudos win straight falls, and I really didn't talk about how much of a blast Bigelow was having. This was the only couple month stretch he ever worked in Mexico, and he knew exactly what to do and looked like he loved doing it. He had a couple smiles during this match that made it look like he was on vacation, and seeing him there makes it pretty easy to imagine this 400 pound fireball gringo as the biggest thing in lucha. 

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On Brand Segunda Caida: Necro Butcher in IWA-EC

IWA East Coast is this weird IWA offshoot which has been running in West Virginia forever, its was always available but not super disseminated, tons of it is on IWTV now so I want to grab some good looking Necro matches

Necro Butcher vs. Brain Damage IWA-EC 11/23/07

PAS: This is a first round match in the Masters of Pain tournament, and has to be up there with Necro's greatest death matches. Brain Damage is a rectangle headed death match guy who made his rep on especially hard punches and headbutts, so a natural heavy handed match up for Necro. The first part of this match was really tremendous, worked as an arena brawl with both guys pasting each other with hard shots, and Necro taking a package piledrive on the bleachers and a double knee drop which smushed his head on a chair. It also has maybe the most violent barfight spot I can remember with Brain Damage and Necro just unloading with jaw adjusting shots. The middle section has a bit too much construction for my tastes, with Brain Damage especially taking a long time to set up a barbed wire net between the guardrail and the ring apron. They got back to the bread and butter at the end with both guys just standing and throwing punches until Damage got the knock out with a fireman's carry into a punch, which honestly didn't totally work. Still this was incredibly violent stuff, with most of the match being hard violently brawling.

Necro Butcher vs. Roderick Strong IWA-EC 2/4/09

PAS: Necro versus indy darling is one of my favorite match types ever and this was a great version of that. Strong has been very good for a long time, hits very hard, has a lot of skill, but can be a bit mayonnaise. Necro is a guy who can bring the spices though, and this was a great blend. It actually starts with Strong trying to grapple with Necro, taking him down and trying to work a cross armbreaker. Of course it breaks down to a fight, with Strong absolutely strafing Necro with chops and Necro firing back with sick chops of his own and some of his soup bone right hands. They brawl into the bleachers, and around the crowd and end up in the ring where Necro hits a diamond cutter on the edge of stood up chair, only to get his kidneys driven into the top of the chair with a backbreaker. Lots of moments where I said fuck out loud because of how hard both guys were hitting, killer stuff. 

Necro Butcher vs. Sami Callihan IWA-EC 9/20/11

PAS: This is actually a great blueprint for what an entertaining comeback Necro Butcher match could look like. Sami is really stooging it up at the beginning, Zybyzco stalling, throwing a kids drink away, talking trash. They do some arena brawling, which is mostly softcore hardcore, lots of hitting each other with plastic garbage cans, and plastic signs. Sami does take a big bump down the bleachers, and Necro is chopping hard, but this isn't dangerous stuff. Sami clips the knee, and really works it over, which is a nice showcase for Necro's selling, an underrated part of his game. Necro makes a couple of valiant comebacks, and eventually steals one with an inside cradle. Necro with sick violence and crazy bumps is awesome stuff, but he is really good at working as a hometown hero pulling one out, and if this is the kind of thing we get out of a Necro return tour, just smart safe wrestling, I will be happy.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Corne! Falempin! Gilmour! Kaye! Der Henker! Corn! Leduc! Mychel

Jean Corne/Michel Falempin vs. Ian Gilmour/Jeff Kaye 11/14/70

SR: 1 fall match going 30 minutes. I was expecting the Brits to bring some heat, but this was a pure technico vs. technico contest. Pretty much just one exchange after another, and while it wasn't high speed athletic stuff there were some smoth cartwheels and pin exchanges. To be honest I could not tell who was who, but everyone was about on the same level. Dug all the technical trickery such as the various turn-yourself-into-a-ball-moves, there was a nifty wrist legsscissor and a cool sequence from a stepping inside pin that turned into both wrestlers turning into an amateur scramble. Things got a bit fired up here and there but the match stayed clean and never really seemed to indicate that you were about to see a finish. Great to watch if you just want to see some good wrestling though.

MD: Another week, another excellent tag. This was face vs face with the premise being that the Bretons were up against the Scots, with bagpipes and flags for everyone on the entrance. Lots of fast, tricky exchanges back and forth. They were working towards a draw but I didn't figure it out until the last third. I think this is our earliest look at Gilmour and he brought a lot of flash with his cartwheel escapes. Kaye had some stilting escapes of his own where he just snuck out of headlocks or headscissors. I wouldn't say it necessarily boiled over towards the end, but it did get more chippy, first with headbutts to the gut off the ropes and then with the forearms and uppercuts. Before that, even when they might focus hard on an arm with lifts or hammerlocked throws, they were also very quick to help when someone's throat got stuck in the ropes, very sportsmanlike. A big chunk of this was taken up by the commentator hobnobbing with people in the front row which hurt the mood a little but, but the holds, escapes, counters, rope running, and finally escalating shots as they ran out of time were all excellent.

Der Henker vs. Jacky Corn 12/12/70

MD: Hell of a debut for Henker, who was billed as a German sort of headsman (as opposed to the French one we've gotten before). He came off as something of a total package, able to lock in holds, escape from them, having superior power, able to knock Corn down with one shot and absorb multiple ones from him, able to pick up the pace a little with pin exchanges, and with a real vicious streak that came through at the end. Corn was his usual self, able to slug it out with anyone and with a fiery streak in his comebacks and when they got going in the stretch this really did become a slugfest. Henker had a way of meeting him head on right until he didn't, and the key moment towards the finish was when he went low in a strike exchange. That let him toss Corn out and then post his head on the way back in. Corn bled, which has been pretty rare in this footage overall, and Henker focused in on it, though it's worth nothing that Corn was still trying to fire back right until the end, which was a resounding tombstone and a stoppage as everyone was more than a little concerned for their longtime hero (including Mr. Lageat, Corn's father and the promoter). Good debut that put over Henker as a dangerous force but not an unstoppable one.

Gilbert Leduc vs. Bert Mychel 12/12/70

MD: In the last third of this match, the commentator sums it up better than I can (or at least the youtube translation I use did): "No Unnecessary malice but holds well worked." Mychel was a former two time Olympian in Greco-Roman wrestling and he had an amazing fall away slam, a real ability to dominate while in a hold and to turn escape attempts into slams, and even went for a really interesting gutwrench once. Leduc was 38 at this point, remained a real master at the headspin escape, could outstrike Mychel, and could hold his own in the wrestling (that gutwrench? Leduc picked a leg out and got a hold out of it). This was wrestled clean though it threatened to boil over once or twice and other than those fall away slams and some Leduc crab attempts towards the end, would have fit right in ten+ years earlier. But the struggle in holds, especially as Mychel didn't want to just go along with Leduc's headspin, was excellent throughout. Late in the match, Leduc would return the favor, eating one too many fall away slams before finding a way to jam Mychel on them. Two experts wrestling expertly for a title belt and celebrating each other's skills after the match.

SR: 1 fall match going about 25 minutes. Seems we JIP'd a couple minutes into it. This was a slow match where guys fight in and out of holds. It was enjoyable but pretty much for the purists only. If you can get into that, it was quite good. Mychels suplexes were great and there was a really cool moment from a gutwrench suplex that turned into a scramble. A bitchslap happens at one point but they kept working a technical match, though the crowd seemed willing to go unruly at Mychel. The only shade I can throw at this match is that it wasn't as good as Leducs 50s work (50s Leduc would've bitten Mychels ear off) but few things are.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death Week of 1/17/-1/23

AEW Dynamite 1/19

CM Punk vs. Shawn Spears

MD: I get here first so I'm wondering if Phil or Eric will say five words about this? I'll say sixty more: I like that Punk didn't just catch Spears in a fireman's carry but instead teased his rotation neckbreaker and then did a double fake to get him up. Spears knew he was there for the build up and for the bump so he went full mechanic on that and sold the spasm. If they were going to do this, they did it about as well as they could.

ER: This was about as well worked as you can get with a 10 second match. The swinging neckbreaker twisted into a trapped arm turned into a GTS, and it's one of Punk's best thrown GTS in AEW (I guess I can technically say "in the past decade" and be correct) and I sincerely think Shawn Spears of all people took the GTS better than anyone in recent memory. I loved the way Spears took it under the chin and folded forward. 

Darby Allin/Sting vs. The Acclaimed

MD: Different layouts keep the attraction fresh. This one was pretty smart, with them taking Darby out early in a believable, over the top way and then getting the better of Sting by taking the top turnbuckle off. Then came the long heat on Sting, a comeback, a cut off, Darby flying in out of nowhere to save the day, and the big finish. While Darby got a couple of big spots and Sting had his big dive, this was all about showcasing the Acclaimed, and they had a pretty good mix of style and substance. Bowens works to integrate the deep voice trash talking in the match and I'm not sure the camera always catches it well, but him welcoming Darby to the Black Parade on the chair shot was funny stuff, as was Caster doing the Acclaimed Scissor-finger handshake with Bryce after a 2 count when he was holding the two fingers up during the PiP. Sting drew a few Let's Go Sting chants from underneath and I liked how Bowens had to work to knock him off of Caster during the Scorpion; it made everyone look better (Sting for holding on, Caster for not tapping, Bowens for hitting him hard enough to get him off). I like how everyone sold the beatings and injuries and comeback during the stretch. It wasn't just a bunch of moves at the end and despite the fire of the comeback, they would have beaten the hurt Darby if it wasn't for Sting recovering enough to make the save. Sting's dive over and through the table was pretty unique. Maybe not the most photogenic thing ever but that made it feel all the more wild and dangerous. If they're going to keep highlighting Sting and Darby in a way that feels special, they have to keep changing it up, and this one definitely felt different than the last. 

PAS: I am a big fan of the partner-gets-taken-to-the-back trope in tag team wrestling. I think it is pretty crazy that 62 year old Sting is in the workhorse role in this match, but he does a great job fighting off both of the Acclaimed, eventually succumbing to the 2 on 1, leading to Darby's awesome out of nowhere leaping return. I loved the camera angle on that explosion. Sting doing the biggest highspot in a match with Darby Allin was pretty unexpected, and it seems like Sting is stretching himself every time he goes out there. His stage dive was insane. Liked the Acclaimed a lot here too, lots of shit talking and bumping, and their offense looked pretty nasty. I think they are ready for the titles and could see them having a nice run with the belts.

ER: Crazy how much of this match was Sting working two tough guys 2 on 1, keeping a quick pace the entire time until Darby's return. It's unfathomable that Sting is this good at 62, as it's not just young guys bumping for an immobile man. Sting's missed Stinger Splash, with Bowens removing the turnbuckle pad, was an excellent bump that Sting made look like it was happening in 1992. Darby gets taken out immediately with a disgusting spot, getting run into the ringpost with a chair opened around his neck, and his return (coming out of nowhere to blow up Caster off the ring steps with a diving shoulderblock) was perfectly done. But Sting held this whole thing together by keeping things go go go and I just was not expecting that. I say that, but what I was truly not expecting was Sting breaking out one of his craziest highspots ever, doing a Superman dive through a table that was just nutty. I would have been perfectly happy typing "I really liked Sting's Scorpion Deathlock, with a really low base putting a ton of pressure on Caster's back" and instead we all get to talk about Sting reinventing the dive. Darby's big Coffin Drops looked great, The Acclaimed are becoming a must watch act, and I just had no idea the Sting/Darby team would have this durability. Blessed. 

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WWF Handheld Reno, NV 1/23/93

Running a 2,000 attendance house in a 12,000 capacity arena just a day before the Royal Rumble, this show had a couple unique matches I wanted to see and a nice snowy winter season happening outside. 

1/23/93 Full Show

The Predator vs. Jim Powers

ER: God bless early 90s camcorder dads who knew how short the battery life on their camcorders were, yet always overextended themselves thinking they could afford to record Jim Powers working Tony Garea tribute matches and still have enough battery for the main event. Memories of every plug of the school gymnasium being hogged by dad's charging their extra batteries. Predator is Horace Boulder under a mask, and it's really funny to me to have a guy named PREDATOR but have him working a lot of pointing at his head after dodged charges or complaining about Powers pulling the tights. Predator seems like a risky gimmick to assign someone in wrestling, but it also makes me laugh thinking about the Predator pointing at his head in the jungle right before Arnold sneaks up behind him with a schoolboy. Predator was the only one keeping this match interesting as Powers is all bad punches and arm wringers. There was a nice spot where Predator blocked a sunset flip and then punched the mat going after Powers, and I like  a guy who pulls his opponent face first into the turnbuckles by grabbing the waistband of his trunks. Predator does an admirable job selling Powers' punch and kneelift to set up his match finishing powerslam, and we collectively thank this camcorder dad for editing out a long Predator chinlock where Powers' abdomen was desperately heaving. 

Samu vs. Owen Hart

ER: This was a better version of the Powers/Predator match in half the time, with our undaunted director also opting to trim out Samu's chinlock. WWF loves having a babyface make their comeback after being held in a chinlock, and this man recognized what he should and shouldn't be filming. Here Owen gets that sunset flip that Jim Powers couldn't turn, but it only gets a one count and Samu hits him with a thrust kick after. There's a fun stretch where it felt like Owen could pull it off, after hitting a nice spinning heel kick and then knocking Fatu off the apron. I thought he was going to put Samu away with a missile dropkick, but Fatu snuck up and knocked Owen balls first into the top turnbuckle, Samu putting him away with a follow-up superplex. After the match, Owen continues selling his balls in the ring long after the Headshrinkers have left, even explaining to the ref what happened from his back. Owen makes the Vader V with his right hand and then uses the edge of his left hand to chop at that V, explaining what the top turnbuckle did to his balls. The ref nods understandingly before exiting the ring. 

Yokozuna vs. Earthquake

ER: This showdown would have looked insane to my 12 year old eyes, a clash of the two (probably) largest men I had ever seen. Little could anyone in attendance have known how rare this match was going to be. Their sumo match on Raw over a year later was their only televised match, and other than that they had only a few scattered house show matches, many of them in California. Seems cruel to present an Earthquake as a babyface in California but that's what they do. This was great in its too brief existence. We get some good shoving to start, Earthquake showing off his footwork to dodge Yokozuna's shoves, running into Yokozuna with shoulderblocks that make both take a step back. Yokozuna takes over with a back elbow to counter an Earthquake avalanche, and runs over Earthquake like it's nothing. Maybe I just get dewy-eyed and sappy during a wrestling match between two gigantic fat guys, but I tell you the air went out of the crowd when Earthquake took that back bump. Yokozuna dropped a gorgeous legdrop and Earthquake did a full body spasm like he had just been decapitated, and I was shocked at how quickly and easily Yokozuna put things away with the banzai splash. This match felt big enough to be a PPV attraction and get 12 minutes. But some things can only be contained in short starbursts. This was only their second match, and all 3 of these minutes were great. But it's a shame that we never got to see them have an actual war of the colossus.

The Beverly Brothers vs. The Undertaker

ER: This was advertised on the arena sign as Undertaker vs. Papa Shango, so I guess they felt like since they blatantly false advertised one of the two matches they announced for this show, the best way to pay that back was by just having three minutes of Undertaker laying waste. The great twist, is that I think this 3 minute sprint is more entertaining than any Undertaker/Soul Taker match I can remember. Undertaker vs. Papa Shango doesn't play as big as it should, but this handicap match was like a T-Rex vs. two velociraptors. But, well, two dumb jock velociraptors. This looked like it was going to be a one-sided mauling, both Beverlys getting run over by Undertaker for a minute straight after cheapshotting him before the bell. Bloom and Enos are both great bumpers, and they play this match like they were Kaientai, and it was the best. They get some brief control, when Bloom hits Taker with a chair and Enos snaps his neck over the top rope. The crowd reactions for Taker's deadman sit-ups keep getting louder, and the Beverlys act more and more annoying the longer they're in control. Undertaker has a fun time with the whole thing, and it looked like he was doing his own separate bit at ringside as he kept stumbling and falling into Mike McGuirk. Beverlys hit a bunch of elbowdrops after hitting a tandem vertical suplex, but leave their backs turned for far too long around a man known for rising from the dead, and the Reno kids lost it when he sat up again and ran wild. Enos takes a huge cartwheeling bump over the top to the floor to sell an uppercut, Bloom gets finished in ring by the Tombstone.

Berzerker vs. Bob Backlund

ER: Berzerker is a great house show act, as he works with the crowd and does unique bits more than any other wrestler from this era, even more than Flair. Here he barks ar Backlund and starts whipping at him with the belt from his tunic while Backlund is folding his ring jacket, that belt coming closer and closer with each whip. The crowd reacts with some real hostility to this one, the Reno crowd booing Backlund's dorkiness at the bell and only mildly getting behind him when he swept Berzerker's leg into Berzerker doing the splits. Berzerker getting his leg swept or kicked into doing the splits is the kind of spot that should get a big reaction every time, but this is a weird pairing and the crowd didn't seem to like it. It's funny when Berzerker rolls out of the ring and is out of camera sight, but you can hear him Hussing around ringside at people. They take a long time to lock up, with Berzerker repeatedly challenging Backlund to reach up and grab his right hand way up in the air, and Backlund responding with trepidation. 

The crowd seems annoyed that the match isn't starting at first, and then Berzerker keeps milking the annoyed reaction to build more and more heat, until the crowd is loudly mocking Berzerker with Huss chants and he is doing back bumps out of frustration. Berzerker finally does get that knucklelock and forces Backlund to his knees, and Backlund valiantly fights to his feet before rolling through to his own top wristlock, which Berzerker breaks with his fist. It's like they're working a Jack Brisco/Killer Khan match straight out of 1979, and that, while simple at times, mostly works. Berzerker eventually takes one of his big backwards bumps to the floor and then marches angrily down the aisle, drawing heat the whole way. In ring he hits a couple of bodyslams and jaws at fans, and works a long (probably too long) bearhug which eventually ends with Backlund somewhat lamely just falling on Berzerker for the pin. A fan either near the camera or holding the camera thinks aloud that this was one of the worst matches he has ever seen. This was not a classic, and was somehow the second longest match on the show, but it did have its rewards.  

Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect

ER: This was a real crowd pleaser, the kind of strong 15 minute match that you'd want to see if you were excited to see either of these two, checking off all the greatest hit Flair boxes without ever feeling like it was coasting. Flair is a guy who can play the greatest hits and not feel like he's bored with them and can still throw in a couple surprises with a smile. It's cool seeing how big he can work a house show match, taking some painful high bumps (on a hard ring) while working toward specific sides of the crowd. He's a guy who is excellent at causing a stir in a specific section of the building, knows how to pick fights with people from the ring, and knows how to get great heat for 15 minutes. He does all his shtick and does it get: He shoves Perfect a couple times and gets slapped each time, he takes a long walk down the aisle after eating a shoulderblock, he gets caught going up top and takes a hard bump getting press slammed down, obviously he's going to take a high backdrop. 

When he's on offense he's cheating, and it gets a rise the entire time. I'm gonna give the cameraman credit for partially obscuring the lens when Flair threw a low kick and eye poke, as if he was helping Flair cheat to transition. Flair worked over Perfect's arm and held a grounded headlock while planking his legs on the middle rope. He does the full routine on two sides of the ring, and the spot our cameraman picked couldn't have framed it any better. Flair was practically working this entire routine for this guy. Flair really rubs his cheating in to our side of the ring, at one point holding just one straightened leg on the ropes while bicycling his free leg. We also get a perfectly framed shot of Flair holding his calf over Perfect's throat, like Flair was putting on a show especially for us. The finish stretch is great, with stiff chops from both, Flair getting his trunks yanked down for a good sunset flip nearfall, and then keeping them down to the glee of the crowd when he ducks his way right into a Perfect Plex. Classic house show stuff, 100% success rate. 

Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty

ER: Shawn gets announced first and does a great job getting heat just by taking off his chaps. He also tries to grab Mike McGuirk a couple times and it gets people upset because he looks like a guy who would definitely try to grab a woman. Marty is wearing fantastic turquoise and zebra tights with perfect tassels, honestly some of his best gear. A stark, damning contrast to the atrocities he would would inflict upon the Royal Rumble crowd the next night. This match had the finish stretch of that next night's match but was pretty different overall, and probably even better. There's a long Michaels abdominal stretch spot that has an excellent first act but then probably carries on a bit too long in the second act before rushing through the third. You can usually wrap up your abdominal stretch spot in one act, but it was still a great hammy Michaels performance. The best kind of hammy Michaels is house show shithead Michaels, where he's shaking his ass at the crowd and giving people in the front row cocky asshole smirks, and those abdominal stretches give him plenty of time to rub some specific fans' noses in it. Michaels goes into control really quick in this match (he skipped and floundered around the ring for a lot of okay Marty offense the next night), sending Jannetty frisbeeing into the ringpost. 

He works over Marty's arm with hammerlocks and strikes, and once he's worked over the arm enough he starts working over Marty's midsection. I love when a heel switches targets after suitably damaging one area. There's a great spot where he drops Jannetty stomach first over a chair on the outside, which at least gives us good reason to work that abdominal stretch for so long. The great first act on that stretch that I mentioned earlier, is Michaels locking it in near the ropes (for cheating purposes) and a nice build to Marty hip tossing his way out of it. But right as Marty gets there, Shawn holds onto the tope rope to block, and the blocked toss re-injures Marty's arm. GREAT spot. The finish stretch has a lot of similarities to the PPV match the next night, working out the timing for a couple of spots: Jannetty catching Michaels with a DDT after Michaels thought he got out of the way of a fistdrop, and Michaels missing a superkick only to be nailed with one for a close 2. If anything, Earl Hebner was really rushing counts, which didn't give a lot of time for the nearfalls to settle in, but added a manic feel that the crowd did respond to. Since Sherri wasn't here, the finish was different, simple, and well done. Michaels gets thrown into the buckles and slumps into them, but ducks out of the way of a great Jannetty missed avalanche and then scrambles onto him for a quick pin. He shoots a quick Fuck Yeah glance at a person at ringside he'd been taunting the whole match, and BAM, Shawn Michaels has left the building. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WWF 305 LIVE

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BERZERKER

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On Brand Segunda Caida: Jimmy Jacobs I Quit Matches

I just recorded a Way of the Blade Pod with Jimmy Jacobs talking about his great I Quit Match with BJ Whitmer. I dug up a couple of his lesser seen I Quit matches on Highspots and figured I would review them.

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Ryan Boz AAW 3/28/09

PAS: Boz was a midwest guy with some indy size and some solid violent looking offense. I really enjoyed the pre blood part of this match with Jacobs hurling himself at Boz, including a great looking Macho Man double ax handle and a running dive off of a stage. Boz is able to take control and carve Jimmy up with a fork, cheese grater (including chewing a bit of Jimmy's left over skin, which, ewwwwww) and staple gun, while taping Jimmy's hands together. Jimmy was able to break free with a nut shot, hit two big elbows to the floor with Boz on a table, and eventually tape him to the turnbuckle and jam a spike into his balls. Not as violent as stabbing someone in the dick, but still a correct way to finish the match. 

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Arik Cannon AAW 11/26/11

PAS: This had some really gross bleeding by both guys, which is what you want in this kind of match. Cannon breaks a bottle and cuts Jimmy up, and Jimmy does what he does. Cannon had some really great punches on the cut too. Cannon gets cut up by the Spike and there is some sick dripping. I also really liked the duct tape spot, which is a Jacobs I Quit speciality. Jimmy gets carved, but is able to nut shot Cannon, get the spike and use it to cut himself out. Still, I Quit matches live and die on the finish, and I didn't care for the finish here. Jacobs hits a Panama Sunrise, which is a dumb move and not for this match, and his guillotine choke really works more as a submissions match finish, then an I Quit match finish. Stuff to like, but I think overall a miss.

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Found Footage Friday: LYONS~! SCHMIDT~! SUPER ASTRO~! SUPER BOY~! OGAWA~! SAWADA~! FUJITA~!

Billy Red Lyons vs. Hans Schmidt 11/13/59

MD: Schmidt was announced here as a replacement for Dick the Bruiser. We don't have a ton of Lyons footage in his prime and he was quite young here, on the way up. Davis says this was his biggest challenge yet. He was quick though, which seemed to light a fire under Schmidt too. By the five minute mark or so, they were both on their knees slugging it out with each other. Lyons held his own for fifteen minutes or so, but ended up counted out when an over-excited admirer wouldn't let go of him on the outside. Pretty clever count out spot that let Schmidt win while making Lyons look like he really had a shot.

Super Astro/Principe Joel/Jalisco vs. Super Boy/Fobia/Mano Negra Compton Lucha 6/5/95

MD: The primary pairing here was Super Astro vs Mano Negra and while Negra was high energy both in stalling and in his exchanges, the few glimpses of Super Astro vs Super Boy that we got made me wish that was the primary pairing instead. Jalisco stood out too as he had a certan swagger, even posture I would say, that made him stand out. He would take out all of the rudos with the same move and then the ref too for good measure. Super Boy had a great dive at the end (with Jalisco following up with a sort of elbow dropping dive) to set things up for Mano Negra vs Super Astro again. At that point, however, Joel turned heel and it ended as a pretty big rudo beatdown that probably built to some bigger match later on. The turn didn't really take away from the match as it felt like it came right at the end.

PAS: Very fun lucha trios filled with talented professional luchadores. The extra juice was getting to see bits of Super Astro and Super Boy two of the most electric exciting luchadores of all time. I love a fat highflyer and both of these guys were perfect example of melding chub and athleticism. Super Boy hits a crazy flipping senton to end a fall, and Astro is twinkle toed as ever. Finish was a bit of a dog's breakfast, but the stuff preceding it was a blast

Naoya Ogawa/Atsushi Sawada vs. Kazuyuki Fujita/Kendo Kashin IGF 4/11/15

MD: 8 minutes here and it's all action. The Fujita vs Sawada exchanges are great, just that right mix of intensity and flair and headbutts. Sawada really brings the energy whether it's his initial takedown or just scooting around the ring out of the way when Fujita gets the advantage. We don't get a ton of Kashin and Ogawa here, but the contributions are worthwhile, with Kashin trying to kill Sawada on the outside with some cloth around the neck and Ogawa giving in to Sawada's desire to get STO'd by his own partner so that he can hit a ridiculous and serene tandem DDT. I'd happily watch a 10 match Sawada vs Fujita series if such a thing existed.

PAS: This kind of hardhitting quasi-shoot puro stuff is right up my alley.  Fujita is such a rock headed dim bruiser and it is great to watch him bully Sawada and have Sawada fire back. Loved the flurry of strikes in the corner by Sawada, one of the advantages of wrestling Fujita is that you can hit him as hard as you can and it won't faze him a bit. Kashin and Ogawa are smaller players in this match, but Ogawa has such a great arrogant bruiser vibe, that he works great in this match as a foil. Taunting and bullying his partner until he had enough and just disposed of him. 

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Mini Complete and Accurate Necro in PWG: Necro vs. Danielson

Necro Butcher vs. Bryan Danielson PWG 7/29/07

JR: Wrestling is presentational at its heart. When I think of wrestling, when I think of foreign objects, I think of people holding them high in the air so that they catch the light and the back row sees them. I think of the crowd shouting and reacting to the moments before something happens, the dramatic irony of knowledge as their hero still has his back turned.

I also think of how casually a man can take a CVS bag from the pocket of his jeans and put it over the head of someone else, the expression on his face barely changing.

I think I heard about that spot long before I ever saw that match, as this took place at a time when PWG was hard to come by in some ways, and I had to rely on the stories of others, and yet when I finally watched this, the image in my head was almost perfectly aligned with reality. The angle was off, as I pictured Necro Butcher stalking Bryan like a film, looming in the background. Instead it’s shot like a nature video, it’s just a thing that happens in the midst of a series of other things that happen.

It’s really sort of incredible that it doesn’t overshadow the match at all. Necro Butcher has fast hands, faster than Bryan realized at the start. Bryan is better but wary at all times, even when he’s in control. It’s structured in a way that truly plays to Necro Butcher’s strengths as a performer; The things he lands are memorable and impactful, his offense in comparison to Danielson’s creates a tremendous amount of natural dynamism.

It also allows Necro Butcher to sell, something that he doesn’t get enough credit for. He has an uncanny ability to sell for a long period of time and then take one shot and react in a way that makes you truly believe that it hurt him more, or at least in a different way. There’s a moment about three quarters of the way through where Danielson throws chairs at Necro while he’s prone, three or four times. On the last, Necro grabs at the chair and gets it stomped into his face. On this he reacts as though he’s been shot, writhing and squirming and moving in ways we have not yet seen. It’s almost the same cadence one would see from someone finally getting a heavyweight off their feet, but done in a way that projects damage and not just progress.

He manages to work in a similar pattern but escalate it for the finish. Danielson is clearly in control, running through many of the moves that he has finished matches with previously. Necro manages to kick out, escape or even reverse all of them, gouging and grabbing at eyes at every opportunity and unleashing a fury or punches, a last gasp. The brief moment of violence that interrupts Danielson’s rhythm works wonderfully as a natural way to make him realize that he must use a more violent finish.

This match doesn’t seem to get the same level of praise as the Joe match and the Low Ki matches, but in terms of laying out what Necro Butcher does better than almost all of his peers, I’m not sure there is a better series of examples.

SG: One of this guys is a big drug-fueled hillbilly and the other is a tiny pasty possible eunuch so we know that the match is going to be based around Bryan grounding Necro and making him taste the chain until he can taste no more. Danielson in this era really worked grappling fundamentals for their maximum heel effect which somehow let it go unnoticed by the "highspot technician" types how beautifully that he could work a duelling knucklelock spot that made both he and his opponent look like killers (not to mention that he knew that a good technician should know how to exploit a cut, just tremendous stuff). Necro gets his revenge with a Sabu chairshot toss cutting Danielson over the brow. Very little better defines pro wrestling than two motherfuckers literally ripping each other's faces off.

PAS: This was great stuff of course, you get two geniuses of pro-wrestling in a match together it is going to be great. I have been watching Danielson since the Super 8, and I can't remember him in this kind of compact fast moving brawl. He has had other bloody matches (hell he just had one a couple of weeks ago) but those were always more stretched out, with the blood used as a way to show fatigue. This was a 10 minute balls to the wall sprint with both guys emptying their gas tanks entirely. Loved Necro's wild punch flurries which put Danielson on his back foot and the total insanity of the CVS plastic bag. But Danielson was vicious too: the ranking of the cut, the hurling of chairs and the final grounded elbows. This was the nastiest I have ever seen those elbows, actually resembling the violence of what Gary Goodrich did to Paul Herrera. It felt like Necro brought something out of Danielson that he never really tapped into again. I would have loved to have seen these two run this back at one point. They really had great chemistry. 

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WWF 305 Live: Bigelow vs. Kamala!

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Kamala WWF 5/15/93 - VERY GOOD

ER: This match was supposed to be part of WrestleMania IX but got bumped for time. At school the next day, there was one kid who got to order WrestleMania IX. He was holding court with the wrestling fans, telling us all everything that happened. He was outed as a liar a week later when a different kid saw the show (after his dad got a tape of the show from a co-worker) and found out there was no Kamala/Bigelow match. The first kid had described that match in detail, and the second kid was now telling all of us that the match wasn't even on the show. The first kid - a liar - wisely pivoted to the match being a "bonus match" that he got to see because they bought the show and were given a special code to see it. The second kid, seeing the show on a VHS tape, obviously did not have access to the Bigelow/Kamala match. I'm not going to lie, that first kid was REALLY convincing. Also, kids are very stupid, so they will believe the lies of other kids who are also stupid. 

And the thing is, even though the kid was lying and had in reality likely never seen WrestleMania IX (kids are liars and also a lot of kids want attention, he did nothing wrong), his description of the Kamala/Bigelow match that didn't happen is basically the same as this actual house show match between them that DID happen. So, while a liar, at least the kid understood the product enough to plausibly fantasy book an entire show. I really liked this match, and think there could have been an actual great Bigelow/Kamala match had they been given time to have one. The strike exchanges looked really cool and both guys took interesting bumps for the other. Bigelow started with some fun house show shtick demanding a handshake from the cannibal and doing all these big body gestures to swoop in with multiple handshake offers. He was moving like the world's largest matador just finding silly little ways to offer Kamala his hand, before of course jumping him. 

Bigelow's elbow strikes looked good, Kamala's overhand chops looked great, and Kamala takes a cool bump getting thrown to the floor. I always love the messy way Kamala bumps to the floor. He always made it look like he was not actually supposed to fall through the ropes to the floor. Bigelow drops some big headbutts and then misses a splash, eats an overhand chop and a thrust kick, then gets run into the turnbuckles. Bigelow takes a fun back bump off the buckles and then eats a splash, but of course Kamala pins him incorrectly. Ref Jesse Hernandez does a bunch of fun pantomime showing Kamala that Bigelow needs to be on his back, getting onto the mat on his own back with big exaggerated motions. And, while learning the ways of these civilized humans, Kamala falls victim to a schoolboy. 

The kid who lied to all of us completely nailed the finish of the WrestleMania match that never happened, exactly how it happened. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WWF 305 LIVE

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: ANDRE~! Le Hippy! Batman! Gilbert Bernaert! Valois!

MD: Small programming note. We've been at this for two years now, having gone from the mid 50s until 1970. We're on the downswing now, more than halfway through, but with a long way yet to go. 1971 is a big year, for instance. Thanks to everyone who's been following along, making gifs, spreading the news, getting these matches to interested parties, etc. It's been great knowing that these matches have reached family members of the participants who had never seen their fathers/grandfathers wrestle, for instance, or to hear that current wrestlers are tuned in. We've watched well over 150 matches now, probably over 200 if you count the JIP snippets, and you can count on one hand the number of matches I wouldn't consider good or well worth watching. I don't think we had any idea the sheer level of week to week quality we'd be dealing with as we started to dig in. This week is a perfect example. I suggested looking at this one fairly early on, when we were still jumping around, because it meant we could cover both Batman and a wrestling hippy but we decided against it to do more obvious gems. But Batman's a hell of a wrestler. The Hippy's really good. Their opponents are brutal and violent. It's French Catch. Even the goofy characters tend to be great. Who knew? Well, everyone does now.

 

Batman vs. Cesar Leoni 9/26/70

MD: Another shorter match by the 50s and 60s standards. I'm not sure if this will be a trend moving forward or not. Good stuff though. The announcer gave some other name for Leoni, maybe Jean Mailhot? I don't see him elsewhere in the footage with either name though. Batman, despite being British, was billed from Cleveland which strikes me as a kind of funny Jerry Lawler connection. They went clean for the first few minutes, really right up until Batman's trademark roll through headlock escape. From there Leoni showed a brilliant mean streak, just grinding down on everything and throwing in nasty inside shots. Batman would come back again and again, including a beautiful series of fake outs and twists and turns to escape a hammerlock and some real fire on the floor after he foiled a King of the Mountain attempt. Finish had Leoni pull off the corner guard and do some damage with whips until it backfired and he ate a tombstone. Nice Batman showcase against a game opponent. Oh while we're here, unless I'm off on this, Batman ended up as an opera singer and actor, is still kicking, and is married to fellow opera singer Stephanie Blythe.

PAS: This was really fun. Love all of the counterweight takeovers and counters by Batman. He is just a super fun wrestler to watch, almost like a heavyweight version of Johnny Saint. I also thought his flash Fujiwara armbar was great and easily could have been a finish. Leoni got appropriately pissy and laid it in pretty hard when he had a chance, but this was all about Batman being an elusive and slick motherfucker.

Le Hippy du Ring vs. Gilbert Bernaert 9/26/70

MD: What can I tell you about Le Hippie Du Ring? He was a big Catweazle looking fellow. He had a tendency to stroke his beard. He came to the ring with flowers and he had a valet that we saw at the end that gave them back to him. He did one of the first Boston Crabs we've seen in this as a finish. You didn't want to hit him a whole bunch of times and get anywhere near the ropes because he'd dump you over. He could land on his feet on a flipping hammerlock escape. A gentle soul but you don't want to mess with him. Well, Bernaert, who was kind of a mean jerk, did want to mess with him and it went okay for a while, right up until the point that it didn't. One of my favorite things about watching these matches is that while there are spots, so often, there's just more organic wrestling where they're constantly trying for an angle out or over or around. At one point, Le Hippie got underneath Bernaert and took him over, but Bernaert hung on and ended up hitting a sort of flipping neckbreaker. Just organically. Anyway, these two were pretty good and while I don't think it had quite the internal narrative of the Batman match, it's still well worth a look, even if only to prove once again that in France, even the gimmick wrestlers could absolutely go.

PAS: Hippy did have a really great Hippy look, you could just smell the patchouli and body odor coming off of both him and his valet. Hippy worked a bit like Batman with really great escapes and armdrags, anyone is going to pale a bit next to Batman in a direct comparison of that style though. I did love the leg pick into a nasty Boston crab for this finish. Bernaert was a game opponent, although outside of the neckbreaker counter Matt mentioned, I don't remember a ton of standout moments. Good Hippy showcase though, I hope he shows up some more

Jean Ferrer vs. Frank Valois 10/31/70 - GREAT

MD: This one slipped through the cracks as I had thought we had covered all of the Andre matches previously. This is a nice look at him at a crossroads, between the wrestler he was against Scarface or Van Buyten very early into his career and who he'd be a couple of years later in IWE as he leaned more and more into the giant aspect as opposed to just being a very large Catch wrestler. The tricky part with that is that as he became more competent and more comfortable, it was a little hard to justify the match length here. They did a good job of delaying Andre's first bit of boiling over. He started wrestling, with top wristlocks and counters for things like Valois trying a standard wristlock, and it led to Valois going first to punches out of breaks or even slaps. That didn't end well for him. Then they rationalized some more time with Valois really going inside sneaking in punches on headlocks or just mauling Andre's nose. While that chipped away at Ferre a little, it also did not go well for Valois. The most crowd pleasing stuff here was when Andre had really gained control and was working the bodyscissors and repeatedly slamming Valois onto his posterior within the hold. He also had maybe the best looking atomic drop I've ever seen to further the damage. When it ended, it felt like an inevitability and a mercy even if Valois really did do everything he could. Andre was such a force by this point that he probably did need to have matches that looked a little different than this, even if he could absolutely still work a more technical style.

PAS: 1970 Andre is a hell of a discovery. Matt is right, he is working more like classic Andre than super tall Gilbert Cesca. Of course Andre working as Andre is one of the coolest things in wrestling history. Valois is a game opponent, he had a really nice headlock and punch to the jaw. The Andre bodyscissors slam is not an Andre spot I had seen before, but feels like it should have been a classic part of his shtick. It does go a bit long for the amount of juice that Valois had, but this was still one of the earliest matches for one of the all time greats, so what a treasure to get to watch it.

ER: Valois was a really fascinating guy. There aren't many people who have shared the ring with Jean Ferre and shared the stage with Jean-Paul Belmondo. Valois was a popular Montreal wrestler who wrestled many years in Europe. He acted on the stage and in several French films, and was also instrumental in bringing Andre into pro wrestling, taking him to IWE, even acting as his business manager for Andre's first several years. There are records of their matches together from 1966 France, all the way through 1973 WWWF. These two had history and they obviously had a touring program together. There are probably few men in history who spent more time with Andre the Giant. 1970 Andre is fascinating in his own right, as he's a large man but feels like only that: A large man. He doesn't yet look like a GIANT, he doesn't move like a giant, he's more like a smaller Big John Studd at this point of his career. Valois works this by throwing cheapshots at any opportunity, always acting like the kid with glasses who can't be hit whenever Andre is about to throw strikes. He has no problem begging off and then grabbing a single leg takedown, or rubbing his palm across Andre's eyes and nose. 

But Valois also bumps great for Andre's puppy with big paws offense, like when Andre threw his butt back to break a waistlock and Valois sold it like a Cro Cop liver kick, or the impact that shook Valois' body when Andre yanked him by both arms into a chest bump. Imagine being on the receiving end of a young Andre's European uppercuts in the corner, how many things can go wrong when a young guy that size is throwing worked strikes at your neck (Andre, for his part, appears able to throw perfectly worked uppercuts that read heavy), or trusting that his atomic drop isn't going to rearrange your old man spine. Andre moved like a normal man in this match, working strong wristlock exchanges, and I loved how Andre grabbed a waistlock and rolled backward into a body scissors, a far more technically adept way for Andre to get into that body scissors than I'm used to seeing. The only time Andre really "felt" like a Giant was when he hit the turnbuckles. The sound the ring made when Andre hit those buckles is the sound of a ring almost tapping out. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE THE GIANT

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AEW Five Fingers of Death Week of 1/10-1/16

AEW Dark 1/11 (Taped 1/8)

Eddie Kingston vs. Joey Janela - GREAT

MD: The leg selling here. Kingston teased it early. Janela capitalized later on by catching him with a dragon whip as he was coming back in. And the moment of comeback was Kingston stuttering midway through a tope run only to sell for a second and then finishing the motion. It was a little thing but it told the audience everything they needed to know about Eddie in one moment. He was hurt. He was in pain. He was taking a risk and was too hurt to manage it. He did it anyway and it worked. That's Eddie Kingston in a nutshell. Sometimes he pays for it later. Sometimes he doesn't. Janela tried to steal the show here, bumping big, including bumping himself off the top rope to distract the ref so Rossi could hit her big standing moonsault on the floor. He stooged for Eddie, chopping and posing and getting killed, going for the Flair strut in NC before getting kicked out of the ring when he went for the figure-four, etc., but he still managed to come off as a compelling if not convincing threat. Also nice to see Eddie dig into the 90s Japan bag of tricks for a finish he doesn't use as often. Good TV match.

PAS: I really enjoyed this. People assume Janela is one of the guys whose contract is going to expire, but I really like him as a Rip Rogers flamboyant enhancement guy, really a perfect Dark wrestler. This was a Northeast indy main event somewhere, so Kingston gave him a bunch of moments to shine, but of course this is another brilliant bit of Eddie. All of the leg selling totally ruled and I loved the standstill tope, where he just says fuck it and flings himself at Janela. I also really liked the contempt he showed for Janela's striking, firing back with a nasty slap on the outside in response to a chop, and powering though his superkicks. Janela can finds ways to work an advantage on Kingston, but the idea of him trading shots with him in a fight is silly, and Eddie treated it that way. Too many times in wrestling everyone sells every shot by every guy like it drops them for a back bump. I like when people have strengths and weaknesses, and Kingston isn't going to act like Janela can out punch him even a little. 

AEW Dynamite 1/12

CM Punk vs. Wardlow

MD: This worked better on a second watch for me, though the ending was overwrought and, despite the crossing of the legs, the finish was a little hard to buy. Otherwise, it was Punk doing everything he could to help put Wardlow over and Wardlow holding up his end. When Wardlow managed to catch Punk, Punk paid. When Wardlow overreached or gave Punk an opening, Punk used it. It was a strange match as MJF's distraction hurt both wrestlers. Punk continuously had Wardlow's number anytime he went for the powerbomb right up until when MJF distracted him after the corner knee, allowing Wardlow to wrench Punk out of the corner with the first bomb. Everything after that could have lost about two whole minutes, which doesn't sound like much but when it's pure drama and power bombs, it really was.

ER: I really liked this up through powerbomb number five, loved all of it. Wardlow was really running over Punk and Punk was really good at building sympathy and then laying it in stiff when trying just to budge Wardlow. I really loved when Punk started throwing everything he had at him, throwing several stiff arm lariats off Wardlow's chest and back, and a solebutt that drops Wardlow to a knee. The story of Punk avoiding the powerbomb was simple, and I thought once Wardlow caught him in the corner and hit the first one, then planted him with the second one, that this was getting great. Punk sold the powerbombs really well, splaying out his limbs and rolling to his side and getting dragged back up to his feet. The MJF extended finish felt too overindulgent and the more powerbombs Punk took the more silly I knew the eventual finish was going to look. I would have gotten a kick out of Wardlow taking the victory for himself, and then when Punk won with a real sad small package, I wanted that finish even more. The bulk of the match was still a success, and a good confident Wardlow performance that he'll get a chance to do even better. 

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NXT UK Worth Watching: Noam Dar! Ashton Smith! The Outliers?

Noam Dar vs. Ashton Smith NXT UK 11/15 (Aired 11/28/19) (Ep. #70)

ER: I really liked this as a Dar showcase against a guy larger than him without being super heavy. NXT UK isn't really a superheavyweight roster, so Eddie Dennis is one of their biggest guys (and he would be maybe the 3rd highest member of the Spirit Squad). But it's cool seeing Dar adjust the slot he throws strikes from, kicking out the front of Smith's knee to throw downward elbows at his jaw. Dar is also really great at running headlong into Smith's big stuff, getting where he needs to be in skilled style. Smith hit a real sick Death Valley driver, powering to his feet and rolling through it like a Finlay roll. Later Dar runs in with the Nova Roller and gets swung up and planted with a great blue thunder bomb. So Smith's big stuff looked great, but I love how all of Dar's stuff looked. He cuts off Smith with a vicious elbow on the floor, knocks him believably around with hard dropkicks and whipping body kicks, and runs that foot right across the bridge of Smith's nose when he does hit that Nova Roller. I thought this was going to have a lot more matwork, with Dar working over Smith's knee to lock in his nice kneebar and cutting down Smith's tree, but I like that we got to see Dar in more of a slugfest with a larger guy but not putting him away easily. 

Dorian Mak/Riddick Moss vs. Wild Boar/Primate NXT UK 11/15 (Aired 12/5/19) (Ep. #71)

ER: This was an awesome debut for The Outliers, two guys from the northern United States who are larger than any other person in NXT UK who only made one more appearance in NXT UK. Mak and Moss were longtime NXT developmental guys at this point. Moss had a couple of small pushes derailed by injuries at this point and was constantly getting slightly repackaged (which has continued, only with promotions). Mak was a Nathan Jones motherfucker who was kept off TV for his entire 5 year WWE employment, except for his two NXT UK matches. The Hunt are one of my favorite NXT UK teams, but The Outliers were positioned as a team that was clearly going to be a force going into the new year. You watch this match, and you would have never guessed that they didn't even make it to that new year, less than one month away. Moss and Mak really ragdolled Wild Boar around the ring, and it was such a mauling that it made me excited to see more of The Outliers (welp). As I said, upon arrival they were instantly the biggest two guys in NXT UK, and The Hunt are like 5'6. Watching two huge muscle guys throw Boar around like a bag of laundry, and Wild Boar is one of the best underdog babyfaces under WWE contract. He has good offense that makes use of his density, but is good at making opponent offense look good. 

Moss and Mak pummel him with clotheslines and boots, Moss smashes his nose with a back elbow, and Boat gets lifted up to some great heights on slams. The Mak vs. Boar sections were nothing but hits, with great stuff like Mak bouncing Boar off his own knee with a chokeslam, and what I have to assume was the greatest bearhug in 2019 professional wrestling. I used the word "ragdolled" earlier and I defy you to find a better representation of that word than Mak exorcising Boar with this bearhug. Moss has a great habit of missing as hard as he hits, so you get to see him break ribs on corner shoulderblocks but then flies as hard or harder shoulder first into the turnbuckles (see: derailed pushes due to injury), and it sets up a big house cleaning from The Hunt. Primate's hot tag is the weakest portion of the match but they make up for some offense that doesn't really make up the size difference by tossing out a lot of it. Primate and Boar don't just run through their typical comeback, instead repeating some moves in triplicate before finishing with a fun string of top rope diving headbutts. This is one of those real hidden gems that showcase NXT's great use of the 8 minute match, while giving us a look at a seldom seen tag team that looked better than 80% of the current WWE tag team roster.  

COMPLETE GUIDE TO NXT UK

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All Time MOTY List Head to Head 2005: Necro vs. Joe VS. Ikeda vs. Ishikawa

First, if folks haven't listened yet, Phil did a podcast with the aforementioned Necro Butcher on this match here:

WAY OF THE BLADE POD

Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher IWA-MS 6/11/05

ER: This is arguably the most legendarily violent match of the last 20 years, the kind of match that embodies everything about that era of super indy wrestling, while taking it to such extreme lengths that everyone reading this likely remembers the first time they ever saw it. It runs just under 10 minutes and has as many memorable moments in those 10 minutes as any match you've seen. This is a fight that never really threatens to turn into a match. The strikes get more unprofessional the longer we go, and it's not surprising that after a few jaw rattling elbows they spill to the floor (where much of the match is spent). Joe levels Necro with a huge elbow suicida, they brawl into the crowd, and Necro gets immediately opened up once they start trading headbutts (unclear if it's one of the couple Joe threw, or one of the many Necro threw, but things get very bloody very quick). Necro and Joe really had it out for Necro's face in this match, and we get the first unholy meeting of Necro's face with concrete when Joe powerslams Necro forehead first on the floor. The match plays better than almost any other crowd brawl, as we aren't walking while hair holding at any point, it's always just these two throwing punches, chops, and elbows. Necro drags a guardrail into the ring and used it on Joe, hitting a senton with Joe underneath, and Joe follows Necro's lead in using metal painfully by hitting a German suplex through a set up chair. They fight to the apron and Necro punches Joe straight across the face...before Joe hits the most famous exploder suplex within our circle of wrestling fandom, chucking Necro onto his head/neck/face.

This is the line for many people. You know for certain that you side with the sickos if you stick around after that suplex, as Necro leaves a visible blood puddle on the ground from where his face made first contact, and then his head starts spraying plasma. And it wasn't a deep red color, it was that red paint plasma that you see in movies like The Harder They Come, leaving at first drops and then puddles on the floor of the New Alhambra. I loved Necro's comeback, this bloody limp corpse suddenly firing punches to Joe's face and body, actually backing him up and making Necro come off like some sick freak Terminator. And of course that's when Joe decides he needs to start throwing his most brutal strikes of the match, especially his knee strikes which just bounce right off the side of Necro's head. The KO finish was the way this should have ended, Necro choosing death rather than ever getting pinned by conventional weapons. It's pretty amazing that he even stayed standing as long as he did, as I can't imagine the average man getting up from a fraction of the punishment Necro took. But, Necro was never merely an average man.

PAS: One of the great big fight auras in wrestling history. The entire crowd was rabid, the announce team was rabid and both wrestlers were foaming. The match opens with possible the last good forearm exchange in wrestling, there was no tough guy faces and your turn my turn forearming, just two lunatics in the pocket throwing as hard as they can. Joe sends Necro to the floor and wastes him with an elbow suicida. Necro unsurprisingly starts spraying blood after a Samoa Joe headbutt (he had wrestled in Japan the night before and cut himself especially deep to make a point to the Big Japan management, wrestling is fucking strange). The match is pretty one sided from this point, but in an awesomely one sided way. Necro takes some monstrously violent head trauma, including taking a powerslam with his forehead landing on concrete and a sheer drop exploder suplex off the ring apron onto the floor onto the crown of his skull. Necro timed his moments of offense perfectly, just when he seemed overwhelmed he would stun Joe with a couple of body shots or a straight right hand. Joe eventually snaps when he can’t put Necro away and obliterates him with knee lifts, with the blood flying off Necro’s head like activator juice in a Rick James video. Wild fight which felt like a combination of Marvin Hagler vs. Tommy Hearns and that viral video where that one teen girl hits the other teen girl in the head with a shovel. 

Verdict: Really a battle of two of the most violent matches in wrestling history. I think the crowd heat pushes this over the top. There is nothing like a wild insane crowd to add to the mania. It's close, but we got a new champ.

ALL TIME MOTY MASTER LIST

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Found Footage Friday: CMLL at the Olympic 5/28/94

Thanks to the great Roy Lucier we got a CMLL HandHeld from 1994!


Magneto/Benny Carranza/Sombra de Plata vs Terror Chicano/Crazy Boy/Renegado Estrada

PAS: Undercard no name lucha is the most watchable kind of anonymous wrestling. I haven't heard of any of these guys and wasn't inspired to deep dive on any of them, but we had some nice armdrag exchanges, a couple of solid C+ dives and a guy in Kiss makeup who took some nice monkey flips. Absolutely nothing to complain about. 

Louie Spicolli/Chavo Guerrero Jr/Mando Guerrero vs Bobby Bradley/Lover Boy/Torn Negro

MD: This was fun but got cut off short, though in a believable way given the build. The primera had a really solid pairing between Mando and Lover Boy where they took it to the mat and Mando didn't eat him up completely as he had a tendency to do. Tornado Negro spent the entire fall goading Chavito, who chased him around the arena, including spurring a big brawl where Mando accidentally took out someone in the crowd. In general, Bradley looked like he belonged, stooging big early and then just killing Chavo between the segunda and tercera with a pile driver and huge chop. If I read the results right, this was Spicoli pulling double duty as Los Mercanarios had led things off and he was game here, showing off some power and flair. It all got cut short after Mando big comeback when Chavo lost his cool again and pulled off Tornado Negro's mask. Mando made sure to get some extra attention post match trading blows with Lover Boy on their knees. It made sense, it probably fit into the overall card, but as a standalone I would have liked a real finishing sequence.

Los Mercenarios vs Los Toritos/Chamaco Rebelde

PAS: Mercenarios are Tim Patterson, Bill Anderson and Louis Spicolli. They had some nice looking bullying offense, one of them won the first fall with a nasty top rope Bret Hart forearm, another one had a great fist drop. The Technicos didn't really hold up their end of the bargain, they were really were ground bound and their punches looked weak. I am into the Mercnarios, and need to track down them against better opposition. 

Piloto Suicida/Jalisco/Hijo de Solitario vs Panico/Super Boy/Capitan Oro

PAS: This was a really fun undercard lucha match with the massive standouts being Super Boy and Suicida who were regular So-Cal dance partners. Super Boy should really have been a big star, but outside of some cool MPRO matches and a random couple of WCW matches he was mostly just an underground king. Super Boy hits a killer fatboy Superfly splash to win the first fall, has a very cool rope running exchange with Suicida in the second, and catches a wild Suicida dive in the third. Everyone else were fine workman like luchadores, but you could really tell Super Boy and Suicida were special 

Los Brazos vs Mocho Cota/Emilio Charles Jr/Bestia Salvaje

PAS: Welcome to the WON Hall of Fame Los Brazos. This was a great example of what these guys brought to the table, especially the incandescent Super Porky. The first fall was this killer rudo team trying and failing to solve the Porky problem, at one point Porky is carrying two rudos in his arm with one on his back, and he ended the fall with a wild falling senton, like a kid jumping back first on his bunk bed, except the bunk bed was three rudos. The fake heart attack is a classic Porky spot, and the rudos got a ton of heat for not stopping their attack even when Porky was getting CPR. I love the Brazos so much and every new match is a little gift

MD: Great showcase Brazos match against one of the best stooge rudo sides of all time in front of an amazingly game crowd. I wouldn't say they leaned into the heat quite as much as they could have but they were roaring for everything the Brazos hit. As much as I love Cota and as great as it is to see him go up against Porky, the standouts were probably Bestia and Oro who were just zooming around the ring. It was just spot after spot all enhanced by the rudos' reactions and the crowd's buzzing. What heat there was came after Cota dropkicked Porky in the chest and they brought out the EMTs, with the rudos attacking them anyway. Porky's sell where he was just stumbling around ringside crashing into chairs was amazingly tasteless in the best way. Eventually, he decided it was time to finish, so he rushed back to the ring and they had their comeback and the finishing sequence, which included a huge Brazo dive. I think there are only a handful of matches with this specific rudo side on tape so one more is a great addition and they couldn't be more perfect opponents for the Brazos.

Vampiro/Ultimo Dragon/Rayo de Jalisco Jr vs Black Magic/Negro Casas/Mano Negra

MD: Fairly good, by the books match, with a lot of Casas vs Dragon, at the height of Dragon's flipping prowess and plenty of Vampiro being Vampiro and Rayo being Rayo, but admittedly to the hot crowd's delight. I'll say this about them. They knew what to do here to get over. Vampiro especially had a sense of what he wanted to do and Smiley was game to help him. None of it looked all that pretty but it overall worked. Rayo, on the other hand, could just bounce about and flail his arms as people bumped around him and the fans would go wild, so what are you going to do? To be fair, he did hit a tope on Mano Negra at the end, but I think I summed up the rest well. No, the appeal here was Casas and Dragon. Sometimes it was a little too smooth, those one counts where they're already on their feet moving to the next thing, but for the most part, their exchanges were lightning fast in the best way, with Dragon defying both basic anatomy and physics in some of his escapes. When the rudos took over in the segunda, I liked how they used the open space around the ring to the fullest, but overall it wasn't super memorable and the comeback was Rayo having enough and deciding to just come in and interfere which had to follow Porky recovering from a heart attack, so maybe they should have thought it through more. The arch on Dragon's German Suplex to finish Casas was beautiful though and Casas was especially engaged and entertaining for all of the post match foolishness.

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WWF 305 Live: Colossal Connection vs. Demolition

Demolition (Ax/Smash) vs. Andre the Giant/Haku WWF WrestleMania VI 4/1/90 - GREAT

ER: This was it right here, a 10 minute clash of the titans, four meaty hosses swinging at each other in front of an unreal 68,000 screaming Skydome fans. Andre's excellent acting was always even more incredible in front of a genuine all time audience, and even though this is one of the least active in-ring Andre matches (even his end of days All Japan matches saw him step in the ring more than this), I couldn't take my eyes off him any time he was in frame. He literally did not tag into this match one time, relying on Haku dragging Ax or Smash over to their corner where he could headbutt them, punch them, throw an overhand choke, anything he could do to put on a show while keeping his feet in almost the exact same spot. Haku takes on both of Demolition and it is the best, with Haku punching them in the throat and Demolition throwing hard lariats and axe handles. There are a bunch of great camera angles of Andre looking so large against the crowd, and his facial reactions from the apron are the greatest in wrestling history. Watch him rooting on Haku and counting along with the referee when he thinks the match is over. 

My favorite moment of the match was Andre catching Ax in the corner and wrapping a tag rope around his neck. Watch Andre's body language as he's tightening his arm on the choke, watch his jaw, watch his eyes watching Ax. Andre's wrestling acting is second to none, and it's why he's able to be this important to a match without leaving the apron. The Demolition comeback gets a huge reaction from the huge crowd, making Demolition tandem clotheslines seem like the most exciting action in the world. Andre eats a Haku superkick when Smash wriggles out of his grasp, and that sends Andre flying back into the ropes and leaves Demolition free to take out Haku. Andre's struggle to free himself is always so convincing, as it's not only a spot that looks spectacular but Andre is able to convey the vulnerability of a large trapped animal. Heenan slaps Andre after the match and gets wailed on, and Andre throwing Heenan and headbutting Haku out of the Ring Rope Entrance Cart is a favorite WrestleMania memory of mine. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE THE GIANT

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WWF 305 LIVE

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I Miss Super Porky

Brazo de Plata/Brazo de Oro vs. Gran Hamada/Perro Aguayo UWA 3/10/91

ER: What a great tag, the kind of match where you'd consider yourself lucky if you got to see a variation of it live, and a real tour de force Porky performance. The fans are way into everything Porky brings, and he keeps surprising them. Before the match even starts he does a hilarious pratfall to the floor, falling flat on his face just getting from the ring to the apron. The fans eat it up and want only more Porky, and they get it. This starts nice and ramps up the entire match, and gives us a full feeling match in 11 minutes. There's some simple almost US style matwork from Oro and Aguayo to start, and I like how that played into the gradual ramping up of the match. The 11 minutes felt so complete because of the way they kept building speed throughout and kept working to bigger and bigger things. Hamada got to flash his speed and work blazing fast exchanges with both Brazos, the kind of speed that still stands out as special 30 years later when the foundation modern style of wrestling is based around speed, and his huracanrana roll up still stands as the best of all time. But, that pre-match faceplant pratfall set things in stone, and this was always going to be Porky's match. He gets into slap fights, does muscle pose downs with Perro, hits an awesome big boy tope, hits his crushing Porky splash, and does all the little things like whipping over fast on armdrags and showing his always shocking agility. This match feels like the kind of thing that should have lead to Porky being one of the most popular foreigners in Japan for the next decade, and I'm sure that Hamada recognized that. I imagine Porky wanted to remain in Mexico for good reasons (such as several young children at home), but I love thinking of this alternate timeline where Porky spends his 90s working a bunch of M-Pro and Toryumon tours. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Rene Ben! Bordes! Shadow! El Arz! Kayser! Mercier!

Rene Ben Chemoul/Walter Bordes vs Black Shadow/Josef El Arz 7/25/70

MD: Ok, we've now seen enough to say that Ben Chemoul and Bordes are probably up there with the best stylist tag teams in the archives (in the 60s, the competition would be Ben Chemoul and Cesca or some combination of Wiecz/de Zarzecki/Montreal) if not the very best. We'll have a few more matches with them but they've already come quite a ways. Or at least it's safe to say that Bordes did. He'd expanded his act and bound it even further with Ben Chemoul. The match was more of a celebratory stylist showcase, full of tandem bits of offense, dancing taunts that drew some of the biggest chants and singing we've heard from the crowd and some really imaginative stuff from Bordes. Josef and Shadow hit hard and were persistent but they were mainly there to feed and feed and feed and they did an excellent job keeping up and going up for everything. Bordes did have a number of new moves, suplexes into slams, fireman's carry gutbusters, and some of the most amazing cartwheel spots you'll ever see to go along with his double knee and dropkicks and technical moves. Unless the matches are duplicates, we'll see them against Shadow and Josef again and hopefully the heels get a bit more in those matches to add some drama, but as a showcase, this was really great stuff.

Peter Kayser vs Guy Mercier 8/22/70

MD: This was the finals of what I think was a one night tournament. At the least, they did the semi-finals that night too. What it meant was that the crowd was very much familiar and very much behind Mercier and against Kaiser. They were up for everything, to the point of someone grabbing at Kaiser's leg from the crowd during the first lock up. The first lock up! There was a sense of fatigue from the get go with Mercier looking exhausted even when controlling things, but that didn't stop them from really laying it in. Mercier has a great spinning fake out leg pick, which at one point, led to him dropping down on the leg and and a hold. While in the hold, he probably threw the meanest, hardest chops we've seen in all the footage. Why? Just because he could. Kaiser would come back with nerve holds and just blatant chokes. Mercier would fire back with huge shots. Kaiser would return suit. Due to its nature and the other times they worked that night, this was shorter than a lot of the matches we've seen, and maybe it was lacking a little bit of the complex technical prowess, but everything, down to Kaiser's chokes and Mercier's chinlock, looked as nasty as could be.

PAS: This is my type of shit, two mean guys hammering the shit out each other. It almost felt like a heel versus heel match do to how nasty Mercier got, even ripping out Kayser's under arm hair. The forearms and chops were really nice and I liked how Mercier worked the Indian Deathlock as a wear down hold, and all the ways Kayser tried to get out of it, the finish was a bit of anti-climax, but the work in the match was hard and violent.

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