2002 Boss Man vs. 2002 Ass Man

Big Boss Man vs. Rikishi WWF Smackdown 1/24/02 

ER: I loved this one and wish we got more. Boss Man at this point was 80% punches, but the man had several excellent punch variations and still moved quick for such a big guy, so it worked great as a style. The only cruelty of this match is that it's merely 3 minutes, meaning Rikishi had to kind of quickly take things home after being worked over the entire match. Also, Jacqueline was the ref for some reason (which at minimum looked cool as it made both guys look that much larger). It all starts with a good lock up, one of those lockups where they really shove and walk each other around the ring, until Rikishi backs Boss Man into a corner and Boss Man responds with a two cross-handed throat thrusts, then proceeds with overhand rights to the eye and uppercuts to that neck. He does the Boss Man slide to the floor and decks him with another punch, then starts throwing actual open hand tomahawk chops to Rikishi's throat!! These chops are nasty as hell and I am all about Boss Man: Throat Offense. He throws an axe bomber so Rikishi can do his big flipping bump, and Boss Man even gets deep into his law enforcement gimmick by kneeling on Rikishi's throat and refusing to break! That is the kind of legitimacy I appreciate from a wrestling gimmick. This would have benefitted from a little back and forth, as it was Boss Man beating down Rikishi for the first 2/3, until Rikishi responds to a strong shot by just superkicking Boss Man's lights out, hitting a big Earthquake splash, then dragging him to the corner for a Banzai Drop. You throw in 1-2 more transitions and this is an under 5 minute classic, but as is it still rules.

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