New Footage Friday: Heenan, Larry Z, Jumbo, Tenryu, Lawler, Beau James, Dirty Dutch, Goldens

Jumbo Tsuruta/Giant Baba vs. Killer Karl Kox/Dick Murdoch AJPW 2/25/81

PAS: This is a 2/3 falls match where we get parts of the first two falls and the whole third. Mainly worth it to see Kox and Murdoch as a team, and they rule. nothing is more of a natural heel team then two guys that look like racist southern sheriffs in the 50s, you almost expect them to interrupt the match to go firebomb a black church. Kox is one of my all time favorites, and there is so little footage available. Fun to watch him team with Murdoch, when you watch them together it is almost like Murdoch is Dick Slater to KKK's Terry Funk, Kox has all of the Murdoch shitck and does it even better, his punches are a bit more awesome, elbow drop is even more throat crushing and his Brain buster is even more brain busting. I really like the double team that Baba and Jumbo use to finish the fall, and I dig the cheapshot finish, but this was more of a showcase then a great match.

MD: This is cool because one of the few significant Kox performances we have is the match against Murdoch. There were times here when he was out on the apron pantomiming what Murdoch was doing where he was almost like Dick's dad or older brother. They both have that same larger than life over the top-ness both throwing offense and eating it, even if they are completely different physically. Past the entrance, we basically come in on a long Jumbo, FIP, with Murdoch and Kox as a well-oiled machine cutting off the ring. It's amazing how commonplace and obvious something like this, that's virtually a lost art was. Now we're in a world of all-action tornado tags with 3/4th of the match being a finishing stretch.

Anyway, they had some great stuff, be it the brainbuster or the elbow drops or the suplex. The end of the first fall was just great with Jumbo floating over to escape a suplex and hitting the world's hugest flying knee after a Baba big boot. The second fall was the heels staying on top after that little blip and Murdoch making short work of Jumbo. Baba finally got involved towards the end and I thought the finish, while abrupt, was actually pretty cool. I wasn't expecting it and it definitely got over the Americans while protecting the Baba and Jumbo. I hope we come across a lot more of Killer Karl in the hunt for footage. It feels like we've just scratched the surface.

ER: Goddamn this was good. I love Kox so much (Ed: Find a better way to say that), he looks like the absolute toughest old white dude. He's 50 and looks 75, like a tougher version of Robert Duvall's Reverend EW in The Apostle, and Robert Duvall beat a man into a coma with a baseball bat in that movie. Kox is a man who looks like kids his in his neighborhood are scared of him, a guy who owns a mean dog, a guy who keeps things that fly over his fence. And he never ends up saving any of you from burglars while your parents are away. Kox reminds me of a meaner, more grizzled version of my grandfather, the late great George Yost. And my grandpa was grizzled. He was a lumberjack with 6 of his brothers. Two of them died as lumberjacks. He worked hard and was a millionaire, but lived in a trailer for most of the years I knew him. He lived until he was 91, and he wore those periwinkle old man jeans that I've never seen in stores, yet many old men in my life wore them. He was old and grumpy and perpetually hard of hearing. He loved pro wrestling when my mom was young, which is why she hated pro wrestling, because it was on a LOT in Riverside, CA in the 50s and 60s. He never learned my sister's name, even though she was 25 when he eventually passed away. He would call me Eric when he came down to stay with us, and called her "The Girl", but not in a mean way, in a "I just genuinely can't remember" way. He was vain. He kept himself at 170 lbs until he was 90, wanting to maintain his waistline so he could wear his favorite clothes (his light blue jeans and thick flannel shirts). And when he turned 90 he assertively told his Church to not print his birthday or age in the Church Bulletin, because he "didn't want people to know he was old." When I was still young enough to live with my parents, he would watch wrestling with me when he was visiting us for a couple days. He watched and seemed intrigued by Cactus Jack and Terry Funk getting pushed off the stage in a dumpster. He hadn't watched wrestling in decades, but Freddie Blassie was his favorite when he watched. He called my mother's school principal a pencil neck geek to his face. Karl Kox is a mean version of George Yost, and I've watched every single available match we have of him. So any time we get any new Killer Karl Kox footage it's some of the best wrestling news I can get.

Murdoch and Kox are so cool, jumping off the ropes way to much for round-middled southern boys, jumping with great elbows and axe handles, even Baba looks like he's gonna go off the top rope at one point. These two were such tough bruisers, and really scrambled to put a beating on Jumbo. I loved Murdoch going after Jumbo and missing on a fast elbowdrop. The finish of the first fall is one of the all time greats, with Murdoch running so damn hard into a big Baba boot, truly making it one of the most effective and nasty Baba boots in history, then stumbling back face first right into a smashing Jumbo high knee. We even get a slo mo shot of that great finish and it reminds you of the first non-deathmatch tapes you bought or traded for, watching thunderbolts ripple through Misawa's body as he got dumped on his head, watching sweat fly off Kawada's head as Misawa smashes him with an elbow, and now seeing Dick Murdoch spray spit after running into Baba's size 22.

The second fall is an absolute murder. Jumbo is in complete punching bag crash test dummy mode, and Kox and Murdoch look like literally the best tag team I've ever seen. Murdoch throws the best back elbow, hits an awesome running powerslam, the greatest worked kneedrop. He and Kox have this great thing going where Dick throws Jumbo face first into Karl's knee as he's tagging in, Kox drags Jumbo's limp, heavy corpse over the top rope and bodyslams him halfway across the ring, Kox throws a short fast uppercut that would get an OOOOOOOO reaction when it showed up on a Great Punches mixtape. By the time Murdoch finally lays Jumbo out with a brainbuster, the pinfall is a mercy killing. Thinking of 2/3 falls tag team wrestling in terms of boxing and MMA, this fall would be an absolutely legendary round.

Third fall sees these great old men (HA! I called them both old, even though Murdoch here is younger than I am now. However older, I have not yet become nor will ever become the exact, specific kind of man that Dick Murdoch was, for better and worse). Kox gets to show of his somehow better than John Tatum stooging, as Baba gets involved and throws awesome chops at Killer's throat. After each chop Kox comes drunkenly firing out of the corner, throwing punches at nobody. But before long Murdoch and Kox are having an elbowdrop contest on Baba's chest, with Kox throwing the finest leaping elbowdrop you've seen, outgunning Murdoch's excellent take on the falling elbowdrop. Kox even gets to finish the match, gets to have a hidden weapon finish. How fucking cool is that? 50 years old, getting to use a hidden weapon to knock Giant Baba out and pin him in Tokyo in the main event. How cool is it to thing of Kox 20 years after that, telling people about this match while wearing a plaid shirt tucked into his jeans, and a hat that he got while visiting a decommissioned Naval aircraft carrier.

This match is honestly my favorite wrestling match I've watched all year. This is some great pro wrestling. It's what I get joy from, this thing I've been obsessed with for much of my life. We need to make this thing public and make sure anyone who wants to see it, will be able to. This is what it's all about people.

Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Bobby Heenan/Larry Zbyszko AJPW 7/4/81

PAS: Pretty awesome to see two of the greatest wrestlers of all time team up to take on Jumbo and Tenryu. As you might imagine we get lots of shenanigans from the AWA dream team, cheap shots and chinlocks with the strap wrapped around the throat. Heenan is great when he realizes the jig is up and he takes a great flip bump on Jumbo clothesline. I would have liked to see the finish be a little more competitive, it felt like Tenryu and Jumbo just decided to stop with the nonsense and end the match, but it was fun to see The Brain and The Legend in a different context.

MD: Obviously it's great to see any interaction between Larry and Bobby. Heenan was super demonstrative with the tag rope. In most matches you don't even notice it, but here he was using it as an open symbol for all of the chicanery and his heart. He was so over the top at times that you could confuse him for Percy Pringle, but it worked in front of this crowd. Obviously, he wasn't going to offer hard hitting or monstrous violence. What he had to offer was being as Bobby Heenan as possible. That included, apparently, taking a perfectly believable flip bump off of a chop. Larry, at this point, was an absolute king of feeding into offense too. Everything felt fluid. Yeah, it would have been nice to have a little more of this, maybe a six month run against the High Flyers, but I'm glad we got anything at all considering that the community's never even seen this pairing before. 


Jerry Lawler/Beau James/Dutch Mantel vs. Jimmy Golden/Eddie Golden/Jeff Tankersley SSW 9/18/10

ER: Man this was 12 good minutes of tag that I wish went 30. What a fabulous trios team we get from the babyface side, with Beau James at his biggest, 320 lb. (that just means his punches land harder), and the on again off again feuding legends Lawler and Dutch. Jimmy Golden is in great shape for 60, although his nephew Eddie is the one in 80% of this. We start with Beau, Lawler, and Dutch all getting to show off their skills against Eddie, showing off who has better shots in 2010. Beau throws such a great right hand and a stiff shoulderblock, Lawler and Dutch...well you know what those guys bring, and I loved when Jimmy got involved as he had a couple of fun stumbly, arm swinging bumps (especially when he went face first into the buckles, he stumbling back bump was sheer perfection). We get good moments of Eddie accidentally taking shots at Jimmy and Tankersley, and really the Goldens only take over when Lawler and Dutch collide and start fighting amongst themselves. Lawler is FIP throughout, taking boots and other shots from all of them, getting run into the ringpost still better than maybe anybody, taking a big backdrop, and Golden looks good taking over. Lawler comes back when Golden goes for another backdrop, Lawler stops short and punches him and tags Dutch (there was kind of a silly moment earlier where Dutch pulled his tag hand away) and then everybody swarms the ring. Beau tees off on Jimmy and Jimmy takes a couple more stumbling bumps, and we wrap things up in satisfying fashion. They clearly had the material to double this thing, and I wish we got some more (would have loved the Goldens surviving the Dutch hot tag and going through another control segment) time, and I wish we got more Beau James. His shots on Jimmy in the corner were great, loved his headlock punches, and I wanted to see more from the big guy. Still, this was what I expected, and made me smile the whole way through.

PAS: Man that babyface trio is a group of all timers. I loved all the early bumping around by the heels, especially Eddie Golden who was an awesome pinball and could turn vicious in a moment. With James and Eddie Golden you have a pair of all time born too late guys, this should have been a regional feud for the ages in the 80s, but they were both guys out of their time. Lawler is amazing at taking a beating and building to the hot tag, his post shots were brutal looking, and the punches by the Goldens and Tankerlsy really looked like they were brutalizing him. Jimmy Golden is just ageless, and I think there are probably some real Golden Gems among this SSW footage I agree with Eric that this really could have used another 5 or 10 minutes, but that may be just us getting greedy.

MD: Lots to like here. I think this may have peaked at the entrances though. The Goldens came out to All Hell's Breaking Loose. I watched the first year of Continental last year and Golden/Fuller coming out full of swagger to the near spoken word beginnings of that song was probably the best part in the midst of a year that was full of best parts. Dutch looked like the coolest old man in the world. As for Lawler? The venue, with a crowd that was by no means huge, felt electric, like it was hundreds of people more than it was, when he walked down.

The match itself was fun though, running the old "Partners who don't trust each other" gimmick. I like how they played it out, though, setting it up with two heel miscommunication spots, teasing it with one for the faces that was averted, and then going through with it off of a heel-driven shove that sent Lawler into Dutch. The arguing that ensued explained the heels taking over. Them taking over was Lawler eating a solid beating inside and out, with ref distraction and Dutch refusing to tag in. Ultimately, though, the heels get too big for their britches, hit Dutch, and he tags in and ends it. Exactly what it should have been and thoroughly enjoyable for what it was, just classic character driven storytelling that never gets old, well executed. Eddie particularly grew into a great stooge and Lawler has that immortal ability to sell every moment as meaningful and important to him (and if it's important to him, it's important to the crowd).

ER: I must find contention with Matt saying Dutch looked like the coolest old man in the world, as earlier in this post we witnessed 50 year old Karl Kox wearing a tight blue t-shirt hugging his near-retirement belly, the worlds KILLER KARL KOX written simply in white. White bubble lettering.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE JERRY LAWLER

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New Footage Friday: Rudge, Steele, Fantastics, Goldens, Kawada, Fuchi, Tenryu, Kabuki, Jumbo, Hara

Terry Rudge vs. Ray Steele WOS 7/25/87

MD: This is eight three-minute rounds. We get all but round two. You don't even notice due to the sheer consistency that these two wrestle with. It's exactly what you'd expect. Rudge is the world's best imaginable Barry Darsow, mean and grimy and grinding, quick to throw in an uppercut or a clubbering blow. Steele has the height advantage and looks like some sort of aging vicar, with the stiff upper lip, but a righteous meanstreak if you get him mad.

It has the sort of escalation you want from a UK heavyweight match, a lot of struggling over specific holds (they spend the fourth-round almost entirely fighting over a double knucklelock/test of strength), but Rudge's tendency to sneak shots in leads to Steele firing back, then they're right back into it. I loved how the height advantage played into things. Steele could come over the top to gain advantage on holds, but Rudge would grapevine the leg and turn it into a trip. He'd also come in from underneath with cheapshots now and again.

Ultimately it's a draw, so while we get that escalation, we never quite get payoff, just the two swiping at each other in exhaustion at the end. In this case, I actually think the payoff would have been as simple as a Steele bodyslam. They tease it twice in the match, once in the end of the fourth and then once in the fifth as a counter attempt to a Rudge cross body. Because they make the struggle matter so much and because it never even pays off, it means the next slam that this crowd sees, no matter the match, ought to matter all the more. It's good stuff in the way that most classic UK wrestling with solid wrestlers is; a bit long, a bit daunting because you really have to pay attention to value the connective tissue, but worth it in the end.

PAS: Remember when British wrestling was cool instead of embarrassing? This was the kind of thing which made Euro wrestling great, a pair of past their prime Thatcher voters with fag ash on their trousers having a mid day pub dust up over a five quid cricket wager. Rudge is an all timer, he is in that Finlay/Regal phylum, world class wrestlers who would smash in your teeth as soon as they would put on a leg lock. I loved how he kept throwing these little cheap shot headbutts, where he would grind his sweaty bald head against the cheek and eyes of Steele. Steele was great too, he would use his height to really lean into holds, and threw some nice kidney shots, and an awesome diving in ring tope which looked like it cracked Rudge's cheekbone. I would have liked a real finish, but the match ending with both guys exchanging dental surgery level uppercuts is a great way to ease into a draw. Class stuff.

ER: Fans of modern New Japan would likely just complain about how nothing happened in this match, and it's a match that goes the full 8 rounds with no pinfalls, a 0-0 draw, with big strikes that don't really happen until the home stretch. But I was hooked the entire time. Rudge is just so cool, England's answer to Australia's Roger Ward. He does this great act here where he's a clear asskicker who's playing coy. The entire match was worth seeing just for the post-bell interactions between these two after every round has ended. Rudge does all these annoying little things begging to be hit illegally without outright begging, practically rubbing his big toe into the mat while going "Who meeeeee?". He kept rubbing and pressing his head into the larger Steele, avoiding eye contact the whole time as if he was somehow coming off innocent. Eventually Steele does finally slap him late, and Rudge goes into this great drama routine, holding his face and staggering, really playing it up to the ref while the announcer knows exactly what he is doing. It was all beautiful. But I also loved how Steele came out to start the next round with a handshake, and Rudge reluctantly accepts it as he assumes it's a trap, as he was being a total shit and knew he had it coming. But it was just that, a handshake. It's amazing how "little" can happen in these matches but the style is so engaging to me that suddenly we're through 8 rounds and I'm still excited like it was the first round. Steele is a big guy and gets a couple of great leverage chokes on Rudge, really forcing Rudge to lift up his weight to get out of them, and we get a couple of great long moments of struggle and balance. They both work each other's necks in a way that give me flashbacks to weeks of chiropractor appointments, blocking snap mares with their neck muscles. Those European uppercuts down the stretch look like they would have dislocated my neck from my body. I love this stuff.

Jumbo Tsuruta/The Great Kabuki/Masa Fuchi vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Genichiro Tenryu/Ashura Hara AJPW 2/24/88

PAS: All Japan six man tags are pretty consistently great stuff, and this was a murderers row trios which hadn't made TV or tape before. Look at this line up of badasses and they beat on each other like you would expect. I loved all of the nasty rear naked chokes we got early, both Kabuki and Fuchi look like they are trying pop Hara's head off his shoulders, and Kawada throws a nasty one on Fuchi too. Kawada had some awkward moments of flying, and it was clearly a good move for him to ditch all of his Tim Horner offense later in his career, he gets down to asskicking later and is the Kawada we all love. Everyone in this was great, Tenryu and Jumbo were killing people with saves, Kabuki was throwing his awesome uppercuts and thrust kicks and Fuchi was doing some torturing. We get a frantic finish run full of big bombs and the whole match was a joy.

MD: Totally agree with Phil here. This was good stuff with guys just crushing each other. Of course Kawada was going to end up as good as he was, sharing the ring with guys like this. They gave him a surprising amount of the match. Kabuki, on the other hand was heavily protected, but that let him come in and decapitate people with his strikes and then head back out, never harming the match. There was a good ebb and flow here, with limb-based control segments. I absolutely love that they used the crab both to target the leg in one and then the back in another. When do you ever see that in a single match? My favorite thing about the finish is that it was set up with a shot from the outside from the opposite corner. It was visually jarring but in a good way. There are a lot of late 80s/early 90s AJPW six-mans at this level but that doesn't mean we're not better off for having one more.

Fantastics vs. Eddie Golden/Jimmy Golden SSW 8/5/93

PAS: SSW is a Beau James run indy in Kingsport TN, which has been running for over 25 years. They have had a bunch of southern wrestling legends come through the fed and they just launched a subscription service. This is an early card in the feds history (so much that at this point James, sort of the Lawler of the fed is still working as a ref) and we got a chance to see early Eddie Golden and Jimmy Golden in the tail end of his prime (he was pretty old, but the Buckhouse Bunk run was still in the future) against the Fauxtastics (Jackie Fulton is replacing Tommy Rogers, which is a nice sized step down). This had some really great moments, I really liked Eddie faking a cheapshot punch, and a lot of the heel miscommunication stuff (I am a mark for an over the shoulder arm ringer spot). Bobby Fulton can really milk a hot tag, he isn't Ricky Morton but he is close, but this match went 35 or so minutes, and I think that is bloated for a southern tag. A 20 minute edit of this match would be really great, you could keep the early heel stuff and the long beatdown section on Bobby, but at 35 the seams started to show. I am excited about this service, there have been some great matches in the little bit of SSW I have gotten my hands on over the years, and I imagine their are some classics which will show up here.

MD: This had all the pros and cons of its setting. It was an indy match in 1993 on a fairly big show for the promotion (at least as best as I could tell). That meant it had all the time in the world and could press the southern tag stylings to their full potential. It meant that they could have an extended shine broken up by heel stalling and shtick after payoff-laden set pieces (often involving heel miscommunication). It's amazing how giving Jimmy Golben was in these moments given his size and that he could have put all that weight on Eddie. It meant that they could still build a double heat with comeback attempts and cut offs, and focused limbwork. Having Bobby Fulton in there always helps because he's one of the best at milking moments. It also had a 20 year old scion of a wrestling family, who was a total natural at some things, like the opening match shtick, but also had to hold up his end of a fairly long match. There were some baffling moments, like when Jackie didn't bump on a forearm miscommunication spot (it'd be repeated a few minutes later in a different context) or Jimmy breaking up a pin that should have won his team the match because it wasn't the finish, or even the ref just spending a bit too much time with Bobby on the distraction spots (though it's Bobby so you sort of buy it anyway). If you like the elements of the southern tag style (and if you don't, I feel bad for you), this had deep dives into those, so there was a lot to like.

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NWA Wildside- Throwback Review Episode 43

http://www.twnworldwide.tv/nwawildside43.html

7/3/00

Wildside reviews return

AJ Styles is in the ring and Jeff G. Bailey is discussing his prowress, he mentions his lucha skills, his Japanese style and the fact that he is more hardcore then European porno. That brings out White Trash and we have an impromptu match.

White Trash v. AJ Styles

White Trash is the Wildside Axl Rotten, and he may not be a great wrestler, but he will take a stop sign to the mouth and get punched in the temple. Fun brawl, Styles has always had great looking punches, and he pops Trash hard, including a straight right into the nuts. FInish is a DVD through a piece of broken table. One of the better matches I have seen in Wildside

Rock and Roll interview. Morton is always worth hearing spit his rap

Total Destruction (Rusty Riddle/Sean Royal) v. Scar Stevens /Pretty Boy Harris

TD just kick the shit out of these guys until the ref DQ's them. Their slingshot tope rope clothesline finish is nasty looking

Terry Knight v. Marky Mark

Another squash, Knight has really good execution, nice dropkick, athletic bumps and a cool backward DDT finish.

Terry Knight accuses Christian athlete Christopher Sampson of stealing his title belt. Sampson comes out and tells us he believes "Thou Shall Not Steal," When he rears back to smite Knight with the hand of God, Candy, Knight's valet fakes like she was hit by his elbow. When Sampson turns to minister to her, Knight wears him out with a steel chair. I continue to love this feud.

Gemini v. Jason Cross

Gemini is your RVD running buddy and fake Muta, and Cross is a future star, but current non entity. Mediocre juniors match with a bunch of spin kicks. Gemini wins with a firemans carry. Nothing to see here

Eddie Golden v. JC Dazz

Fun match with a clip in the middle. Dazz is starting to grow on me, he took a monster over the top rope bump and missed a crazy 720 dive from the top. Golden is always solid. We get a ref bump and Jeff G. Bailey hits a Van Damninator which is lunatic. Match gets thrown out with Golden smashing Dazz with a chair.

Internet controversy starter Stone Mountian is cutting a promo in the parking lot and gets jumped by Scotty Wrenn, they do some crappy brawling.

Bad Attitude wants to beat the New South

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NWA Wildside- Throwback Review Episode 41

http://www.twnworldwide.tv/nwawildside41.html

6/19/00

Jesse Taylor v. Mickey Richards

Competitive squash. Taylor has a nice belly to belly

Shank takes the belt he stole last week to a pawn shop. He tries to get $25,000 for it, but settles for $500. Comedy Shank isn't as good as terrifying Shank

Mick Tierney v. Smasher

Tierney beats on Smasher for a bit, and we get a Ron Studd run in, and an addition stringy haired guy also managed by Luther Biggs. The road to Tierny v. Studd continues

JC Dazz/Stone Mountain/David Young/Rick Michaels v. AJ Styles/Onyx/Eddie Golden/Bill Behrens

Really fun 8 man tag. We start out with Styles and Dazz, and they do a mirror section. Not a huge fan of mirror wrestling, but this was done really fast and ended in a great Dazz powerslam. Most of the match is Michaels getting his knee worked over with Behrens doing a nice job in the chickenshit manager role, including putting on a figure four. Finish comes with everyone in the ring brawling. Other members of the NWA Elite come in and they handcuff Stone Mountain (aka Maybyss) to the ropes. Steve Martin (not working a Steve Martin gimmick) returns to make the save with a chair. If you have ever seen wrestling before you know what happens next. The crowd is just pelting the ring with garbage at this point, and while I haven't cared for this whole angle, obviously Martin turning heel is a big deal to the crowd.

We end with a post match promo with Steve Martin and Jeff G. Bailey crowing about turning on Rick Michaels

First part of the show is skippable, but the eight man tag and post match angle was good stuff.

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NWA Wildside- Throwback Review Episode 38

http://www.twnworldwide.tv/nwawildside38.html

5/28/00

Show starts with folks running out to see Shank writhing on the ground in the parking lot claiming Timber smashed his hand in the door of his truck. Pretty dastardly by Timber, although Shank did threaten to murder Timbers grandmother, so smashing his hand seems like a measured response.

We have a match between two guys interrupted by White Trash, who hits them both with a stop sign, then he is interrupted by Big Ron Studd, who chokeslams everyone. Kind of a lazy ECW pastiche, and Big Ron Studd is a crappy 911, although actually tall.

Lazz v. Gemini

Lazz is a guy doing a Brittney Spears imitator gimmick, and an act I remember really digging back in the day. Gemini is apparently a Sheik trainee and RVD buddy, and works as kind of a fake RVD with Muta facepaint. This only goes a couple of minutes before Ron Studd comes in and chokeslams Lazz. Then the three guys from the last match attack Ron Studd only to get chokeslammed (Big Mick Cool is only guy who takes the chokeslam well.) Then we get a Mick Tierney run in and a pull apart. Lots of stuff, none of it particularly compelling, although I could see people who didn't know who Mick Tierney and Ron Studd were, anticipating a Mick Tierney v. Ron Studd match.

Onyx v. Adam Jacobs

Fun early 21st century juniors match. There was a little too much spinning on clotheslines, but otherwise it was some nice athletic moves hit well. Onyx is only about 5'8 but cut as shit, he does sort of a Chippendale's gimmick which he executes in a really assholish way. Finish had some mishigos from Jeff G. Bailey and Eddie Golden and the NWA Elite gets another belt

Short Bailey and Onyx interview where Bailey calls Onxy "Blacker then South Atlanta and twice as Dangerous"

Fired up Bad Attitude promo promising to take all the belts. Basic stuff, but well done.

Jeff G. Bailey comes out with his crew, talks about the fine Christian athlete AJ Styles coming to his sense. Says JC Dazz is in a film and he is happy he got to bottom Jeff Strykers cock, then says they are sending Jorge Estrada back to Tijuana to work the door at his madre's donkey show. Wasn't this show on TV? Jeff G. Bailey folks.

AJ Styles/Eddie Golden v. JC Dazz/Jorge Estrada

Best match I have seen so far. Most of the match had Styles and Golden working over Estrada and Jorge takes offense really well. He goes sky high on backdrops and slams. Golden has really great basic asskicking offense and Styles is great as a flashy douchey heel. I didn't like Dazz doing a rope running section off a hot tag, but the near fall section was pretty exciting. I really love the Golden and Styles team, I am not sure how long it lasted, but they could have had a big run, because they complemented each other really well

First part of the show was forgettable, but start at the 30 minute mark and watch the Bailey interview and final tag.

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NWA Wildside- Throwback Review Episode 36

NWA Wildside was an awesome early 2000's promotion run out of a barn in the middle of nowhere Georgia. They really were one of the only promotions to pull off R rated sex and violence wrestling without devolving into puerile Russo humor. More Abel Ferrera then Dennis Dugan. Guys like AJ Styles, R-Truth and Abyss started out there, and they had a bunch of really fun Southern veterans, and the best promo guy in indy wrestling history in Jeff G. Bailey. Episode 36 is the earliest they have up, and I will do a couple of these a week until I catch up to them

http://www.twnworldwide.tv/nwawildside36.html

5/14/00

Show starts with a Pulp Fiction style rundown of previous weeks. They are setting up a Shank v. Scottie Wren match, and Shank is as awesome as I remember him. He is working an Oz inmate gimmick, he has crazy tattoos, a creepy high pitched voice and tells Wren he has to bend over and take it like a man. We also get an quick intense Jim Cornette promo with the Cole twins talking about Bad Attitude.

Rusty Riddle v. Skyfire

Riddle is an 80's WWF job guy who was working a biker gimmick. I remember him in a pushed tag team at one point in Wildside, although this appears to be before that. Skyfire worked as EZ Money in ECW and Jason Jett in the dying days of WCW. This was kind of a mess, as they seemed to be on different pages for most of this. Riddle had an impressive rope walk, but no other big spots. Finish had an unnecessary ref bump.

We get a pretty generic Jeff G. Bailey promo, he does compare team NCW to the Cornelia chapter of Act-Up and call someone a dirty Mexican who wants to steal the hubcaps off of his Corvette, but this was mostly just a typical heel manager promo. I know I will see better from Bailey in the future.

Silky Boom Boom v. Ricky Noble

This was Noble's debut and he had a nice monkey flip, but kind of blew his finisher. Nothing to see here

Scottie Wren v. Shank

Shank is a better promo then a wrestler, but he did have kind of an enjoyable Ahmed Johnsonish green guy doing awkward highspots charm. He went up early for a plancha, slipped off and then just threw himself over the top with a nasty tope. Wren had some nice fatboy highspots too, although much of this match was pretty ugly. Finish comes with a Timber the Lumberjack chair shot to Shank, and then a save from champion Stone Mountain (currently stinking up TNA as Abyss)

Eddie Golden v. AJ Styles

Eddie Golden is a long time Southern indy guy, he is the nephew of Jimmy Golden and really great. Styles is a little green at this point, but an athletic freak and he and Golden work really well together. Golden works him over nicely with Styles bumping big and breaking out a nice highspot or two. Still will all of AJ's backflips, I was probably most impressed by Golden's nasty back elbow. Finish gets telegraphed a bit as babyface color guy Steve Martin (not working a Steve Martin gimmick) mentions that AJ Styles and Rick Micheals are the only two guys he can trust. Ref gets bumped and Martin slides in the ring to make the count on Golden (he has some sort of power in the company, I am just jumping in here), Styles gets up before 3 and attacks Martin, AJ then jumps his tag partner Jorge Estrada and we get a big AJ heel turn.

Very watchable overall show, the Golden v. Styles match and post match angle was definitely the highlight, but we really didn't get any of the transgressive weirdness or crazy violence that made Wildside so awesome.

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