Found Footage Friday: WWE in Melbourne, Australia 8/29/04

8/29/04 Full Show


Funaki vs. Rene Dupree

MD: Fun opener that outside for one big German cut off to set up the finish, could have happened almost spot for spot fifteen years before. This followed Teddy Long opening the show by flubbing a half dozen lines, but the fans were happy to see him and to be getting a show in general. Funaki came out with a valet who immediately went to the back and I can't place what was going on there and the internet is no help. Early chain wrestling worked. Lots of little tricks like Dupree pointing to his hair to draw the ref off so he could do a hairpull himself, only to have Funaki hold on to the wristlock. Things like that. Dupree got a knee in off the ropes and took over with things very first match and simple, but the crowd was eager to cheer and especially eager to see Dupree hop around with his trademark comedy bit of the month. That let him get rolled up for a banana peel Funaki win. Simple, straightforward, effective. I think the blog's covered maybe two Rene Dupree matches ever so I have no idea what his 2010s in Japan are like but I'm sort of curious. Regardless, it's hard to tell with a crowd this eager to see wrestling, but he seemed to be over, down to kissing the hand of a woman on the way out and getting a big pop. 

ER: "Tajiri!!" some little kid near the camera yells excitedly. Sorry, that's the other guy. Hopefully the kid doesn't get the exact same letdown during the Kenzo Suzuki match later on. This match is clipped up a bit, but what we got was really good. Rene Dupree was an majorly under-appreciated act in WWE, and would make an interesting project for me to go back through searching for gems. He was a fully formed act in 2004 and you could see that better on house shows than on TV. He knew how to get heat from this crowd, who granted, were excited to give that heat. They're like the perfect crowd for everything Dupree does, and they seem in on the joke without being annoying about it. I am not familiar with Australian sports, so I am also not familiar with the rhythm of Australian wrestling chants, which do not follow the NEMA standard four syllable/five clap timing. 

Dupree has very funny body language and is good at getting reactions with just his movement, or just his posture. When he's flopping in funny ways to sell Funaki's wristlock, falling over himself when Funaki just won't let go, it's like classic Regal. It builds really nicely from wrist control into some tough Dupree offense. He hit a hard shoulderblock, backbreaker, and a knee lift, and he flat out levels Funaki with a hard clothesline after punching mat on a Funaki sunset flip. They took it further than I was expecting, because I was not expecting Dupree to bounce Funaki off his face with a huge release German suplex. And the finish is great, as Dupree saves the French Tickler dance for the very end, giving the crowd exactly what they wanted (somehow the section with our cameraman were the biggest French Tickler fans in Melbourne), and as Dupree is bouncing his bulge for each side of the ring, he falls victim to a Funaki schoolboy. The crowd loved seeing Rene Dupree lose, but most importantly: They loved seeing Rene Dupree. I think Australia might have been right. 

Spike Dudley vs. Rey Mysterio

MD: A lot to like here too. Smart stuff right from the get go where Spike let Rey chase him around the ring so that he could ambush him on the inside, only to get a quick comeuppance and feed for a steady shine. That built to him taking a powder and threatening to leave only to really eat Rey's baseball slide on the way out and catch his flip dive over Charles Robinson, who had tried to stop him from diving a moment before. Real crowd-pleasing stuff. Nice transition where Spike jammed Rey off the ropes causing him to bump stomach first out of the ring. The heat was them working in and out of bodyscissors with the comeback just a foot up by Rey on a leap from the top by Spike. In the stretch it was all about wondering how Rey was going to position him for the 619, and he did manage it after kicking out of an Acid Drop, but by then the Dudleys had come out and one foot grab and roll up later (second roll up in two matches, so that's some iffy agenting), Spike's retained. They did a good job of making it seem like the fans might see a title change for a while there though.

ER: Heel era Spike was really great, and I was so excited to get another singles match from that run, let alone another Rey singles match. The only singles matches they had on TV was Spike's title win and Spike's title loss, so it's cool seeing the literal first singles match after the title win. Spike always had good offense but wasn't always in the role to show that offense. His heel run was his chance to show his bruiser side, the side he probably hadn't played since his Incredibly Strange Wrestling. This was the match I was most excited to see on this handheld, and while it probably wasn't as good as Rene Dupree vs. Funaki, it was still so good. The crowd was into heel Spike, and Spike is a great base for Rey's best. Spike takes a sick bump into the ringpost and later threatens to walk out, then walks back the hard way directly into a Rey baseball slide, then adeptly catches his slingshot senton. Spike is real precise worker on offense and defense, good at catching crossbodies and nailing his flying forearm and torpedo headbutt. His set ups are really strong, and Rey has precision as good or greater than Spike's so it's a super pairing of the two smallest guys on the roster. 

Dawn Marie vs. Torrie Wilson

MD: I went and watched this. Might as well write it up. They had probably wrestled each other fifty times by this point, right? They had the act down. The fans clapped Torrie up while in the chinlocks but barely reacted at all to her spear and her actual comeback, which is always a sign that something isn't quite right. Korderas brought out a hankerchief for after he got rolled upon during the catfight bit and that was kind of funny, I guess. Prop comedy. They came back and did this exact same match up the following April and I'm vaguely curious to see what that would have looked like. I don't know. This was fine for what it was and Dawn Marie gets a few extra points for her post match selling, even if she lost a few for never leaving her feet on the catapult into the corner. I'd never seen someone take a catapult as an Irish Whip before. Torrie won with a DDT. Something on this card needed a clean finish so I guess this was as good as any.

ER: Maaaaan I think Matt is being a bit of a curmudgeon here. I was actually excited for this one, because Dawn Marie is a really great thing. I became a big fan of Dawn Marie since seeing her at the 1/3/03 WWF Cow Palace card, where she had a standout match on an absolutely stacked show. It was a Bra & Panties match against Gail Kim, where she worked arm based offense to weaken Kim's clothes-ripping abilities. Both women played into the story and it was definitely the most technical match I've seen worked around a Bra & Panties gimmick. Dawn Marie bringing arm work into a match for the sole purpose of delaying the panty payoff is the mark of a brilliant heel worker who knew exactly what she was doing, impossible for me to not be a fan for life. And I think this match a year and a half later was really good, painting the picture of a real strong house show worker. 

Dawn Marie's selling is strong, she throws hard forearms, and works really tight headlocks. She's honest on offense, making good contact and selling that impact. Look at the way she runs into and staggers out of Torrie Wilson's boot in the corner. I don't think she ever got enough credit for how well she took offense and excelled at the basics. I thought the Jimmy Korderas comedy spot worked really well toward the end of the match. It's not the kind of spot they were doing on television, and based on all of the people audible around our cameraman, this section was clearly familiar with all of the TV. You could tell by the big reaction and genuine laughs that the crowd hadn't seen two women steamrolling a bald ref with their cat fight, and it felt like a moment unique to a house show. Also, I loved how they set up the spot right after, where Torrie cut LOW on a clothesline that almost hit Korderas! Torrie threw that with more violent form than I would have expected, and I love a miss thrown like a HR swing. Dawn took the DDT right on her head, in the way that looked like a finish. I don't know man. I hate to say Matt is wrong but House Show Dawn Marie speaks for herself. 

Billy Gunn vs. Heidenreich

MD: So far, past a little blip here or there, this was a wrestling show in front of a crowd that wanted to see a wrestling show. Here, that meant Heyman came out and got some real cheap heat on the mic and Gunn came out and got just as cheap a pop. I spend a bunch of time watching 2022 Billy and he stands out in a way now that he didn't back then, but we probably didn't give him enough credit as a community for what he did do well. Not just the punches either. Here, he bumped like crazy to get over the transition (wiping out on the post on the outside) and then to put over the cutoffs. Heidenreich could lean on some simple armwork and wasn't asked to do too much. The finish was, again, straight out of 1989 with Heyman (who had just sold a crotch chop like death on the outside) up on the apron as Billy was going for his finish and he walked right into Heidenreich's kind of weak Boss Man Slam. Again, everything so far has just been hitting the right buttons for the crowd, just like a house show should. 

ER: I thought this was really good too. I must be in some kind of mood. Some of these house shows just really hum. The pacing on this show has been really good, and perhaps it's been helped out a bit by our cameraman's selective in-match editing. Everything has been 5-10 minutes and it's a reallll comfortable window for this roster to hit. I've had a lot of fun going through Big Boss Man's 2002 run, and I bet there are some unheralded gems in Billy Gunn's 2003-2004. Those Gunn/Holly vs. The Bashams matches probably look a lot better in 2022 than they felt in 2004. Shit I should probably do a Bashams C&A too. That one's been overdue.  

This match was a great Gunn showcase, but Heidenreich had a couple real high notes. He took a crazy fast bump over the top to the floor on a missed charge, then a big tumbling bump off the apron after getting up into a hard Gunn forearm smash. Their floor work was really inspired, with Heidenreich taking a big spill into the guardrail (in the days when there was still a big metal guardrail for a 270 lb. guy to sprint into) and Billy Gunn wrapping himself around the ringpost like 1983 Lawler in the Mid-South Coliseum. Heidenreich throws a nice running clothesline, and Gunn takes a real nice flipping bump from it, flipping from the contact and not before it. All of Gunn's punches looked great, from his early match jabs in the corner to his woozy stumbling rights to build to the finish. Heyman's theatrics are incredible house show bullshit, reacting to a Gunn crotch chop by getting literally hopping mad. If he had a hat he would have slammed it to the ground like Boss Hogg. He takes a really big bump off the apron when Gunn punches him off, and I actually thought Heidenreich's high side slam looked pretty good. It didn't have the impact of the Boss Man Slam, but it's not really controversial to say Heidenreich wasn't as good as the Big Boss Man. But the height was actually high, and his control through the move was really good. 

Eddie Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle

MD: It's been a long time since I've revisited any of the Angle vs. Guerrero feud from earlier in 2004, but this was really good. I think it benefited from being a house show, from having lower stakes, from having more time to breathe, from being in the middle of the card. They started with more time on the mat than I remember Angle usually taking at this point in his career, competitive and scrappy. They moved into a headlock sequence with a big payoff then a top wristlock back and forth with all sorts of comedy that was actually funny, all capped off by Eddy pantsing Angle (which the crowd loved but it followed Gunn doing it to himself because it was his gimmick so again, agenting). When Angle finally got to throw a suplex, it meant something, because there was a place for the match to build to. He wasn't working like Mark Rocco but instead let things breathe and build. It all led up to a pretty exciting finishing stretch with one really great nearfall. These two might have had bigger matches earlier or later in the year, but I doubt they had a better one. It was one of the best, most balanced, most measured and meaningful WWE Angle matches I've seen.

Dudley Boyz vs. Paul London/Billy Kidman

MD: Another attempt at cheap heat to start with the crowd getting behind Kidman's Ralph Macchio delivery and overall solid sense of comedic timing. They got on Bubba and seemed to really enjoy chanting at D-Von later so who knows. They were just happy to be there. London worked the brunt of this until the hot tag and the finishing stretch, even most of the shine. D'Von fed for them but Bubba made them work for everything early. It made for a good combination since there was some gravitas due to the size differential while still letting them hit some of their flashier stuff. Heat was well set up with London getting a shot in on Bubba on the apron and then immediately paying for it. Finishing stretch called back to the Cruiserweight match earlier with Spike and then Rey coming out and it all ending with heel miscommunication, another DDT pin, and Spike taking the 619. Good piece of house show business overall.

Rob Van Dam vs. Kenzo Sukuzi

MD: You can't say that these two didn't match up well. They both had stupid, stylized offense, but in some ways that was better than only one of them having stupid, stylized offense. Both took one big bump too, Suzuki taking one from the top rope to the floor off a kick to the rear and RVD going hard into the steps to start the heat. Cutoffs were ok but the actual comeback move was just a kick out of nowhere and felt anti-climactic. As did the finishing stretch. Suzuki probably would have done better to stall more at the start. It was getting a reaction and he had Hiroko at ringside to help get heat. 

John Cena/Charlie Haas vs. Booker T/Luther Reigns

MD: Cena felt like the biggest, most electric star on the show so far, and that's saying something when Angle vs. Eddy was earlier in the night. When I'm watching a random house show tag like this, what I'm really looking for, as much as anything else, are the wrestlers interacting with one another. Cena brought that in a big way, pulling Jackie Gayda in to pose and clapping up Haas after the initial stalling. Delaying of gratification meant that the match started with Haas vs. Reigns instead of Booker vs. Cena, playing around with them post-match. You got the sense that Cena was trying to elevate them for the crowd. There was a bit of Booker hyping Reigns to start the match that was good too. We lose a chunk of this, most of the heat but Haas looked pretty good in there with Reigns for the minute or so we got. Booker exuded this oozing sliminess when he came in to work Haas over. Past that, it was a little paint by numbers in giving the fans what they wanted, but Cena made sure all the numbers were at least high and vibrant and it ended up feeling like a big celebration. 

JBL vs. Undertaker

MD: Really strong house show main event here. JBL cut a good, deluded promo trashing Australia and asking the fans to support him like he was 1983 Tommy Rich. I liked the early loop a lot where they bypassed the initial stalling, teased Old School, had JBL hit a great neckbreaker and Russian leg sweep, had Taker sit up, then did the stalling/leaving, and finished it with Taker dragging him back and actually hitting Old School. The match hinged upon JBL taking out Taker's leg and he really worked to get it early, first capitalizing on a missed knee in the corner by punching it out, then turning a Taker move on the stairs around, and finally tossing a chair into the ring to distract the ref so he could whack it with another chair. He had a nice (in theory though maybe not execution) Gagne-style deathlock on for a while and then they were able to use it to justify all of Taker's comebacks getting cut off. The finish was full of ref bumps and Dupree coming back to cause trouble before the groggy ref saw JBL use the belt for the DQ. Post match, Taker destroyed half the roster as the crowd chanted for Cena to come out to save him, but ultimately they were probably more than ok with what they got.

ER: I thought this was an excellent JBL outing and a kind of lacking Undertaker outing until all of the push to his big comeback, balancing out to a very good house show main. For the first 10 minutes of this long match, I swear Undertaker was throwing every single strike 3" short of his intended target. You could clearly see every JBL shot (and I do mean every kick, punch, chop, and elbow) land, and here's Undertaker throwing punches at a fly a few inches in front of JBL's forehead. JBL and Undertaker's star do the work of two men here, but JBL is the guy taking big bumps and attempting to lean into Taker's strikes, and it's just a great JBL match. I loved early when he wasn't budging Taker with shoulderblocks, then rushes in with even more steam only to get sidestepped, crashing over the top to the floor in a really big bump. JBL is good at bumping into the ring steps, but leg control JBL was a different kind of fun than I was expecting this match to be. When JBL dodges a Taker running boot in the corner and Taker's balls hit the buckles, that's JBL's time to work over that leg.

I love his kneebreaker, a really vicious move for a guy his size to do, trapping Taker's shin in his legs and jumping down to his knees. Taker has an amusingly loose set up for his own rolling kneebar, but JBL is good at dropping tons of elbows on Taker's knee, trapping it in his own legs, applying pressure to the actual knee, and recoiling from all of Taker's strikes to break that hold. Taker is very good at limping around and paying lip service to that knee, though seemed to be selling it better when his leather pant leg was hiked up his leg. JBL set up all of Taker's comeback offense really well, and leaned right into that Snake Eyes/Big Boot combo that a lot of fans bought as the finish. The crowd seemed genuinely surprised when Taker kicked out of the Clothesline from Hell, and I loved Rene Dupree's big bump off the apron when Taker kicked away his distraction. You can't have JBL - even as champ - pinning Taker on the main event of Melbourne's only show of the year, and I thought all the bullshit at the finish was more than enough to send a crowd home happy. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE 305 LIVE

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New Footage Friday: Funks, Invaders, Bestia, Dandy, Eddie, JBL

Terry/Dory Funk Jr. vs. Invaders WWC 12/9/86

MD: This is a find. Our Man in Puerto Rico tells me that that it was from a Clasicos segment that aired round 04-05 with a date of 12/9/86. The match itself is simple and straightforward, much more of a Southern Tag than a wild brawl like you'd expect from a Terry Funk Puerto Rico match. I love how much mileage they get just out of the headlock in the first third, with lots of babyface masked confusion switches and the heels getting flustered and Terry, especially stooging all over the place.

The heat has some more object-assisted choking (a theme this week), this time with Terry's wrist tape and the Funks getting some revenge for all the clowning of the first third. Invader 1 remains one of the greatest sellers of all time. The comeback was earned with him hitting a shot off the ropes like only he can but then having to dodge an elbow smash by Terry (who clocks Dory). The finish was brief but hot and I'm only disappointed we couldn't see the action on the outside with Invader 1 chasing after Terry.

ER: This was amusing, but kind of reverse of what you want. On paper you hope for white Invader masks turned red (why else would you be wearing a white mask!?) and we don't get a plasma match, we get more of a headlock match with some occasional fun Terry shtick. Terry has super short curly hair and his cop 'stache, but the bulk of this is Dory headlocks and Invader headlocks, and the tough part of Terry being such a fun hot tag is Dory is not usually an interesting guy to build to a Terry hot tag. You'd rather have Terry stumbling and swinging wildly to build to a some Dory hot tag forearms, but you get Dory headlocking his way into Terry throwing some punches and taking a couple loopy bumps. Terry is always going to be an amusing apron guy, there's always gold in them thar hills, but seeing him throw a nice punch from the apron isn't quite what I wanted here. A polite professional match, and professionally polite is never what you want or expect from 80s Puerto Rico OR Terry.

PAS: Terry Funk is such a master performer that any chance to fill in the holes in the tapestry is going to be well worth it. This is a minor performance, but a fun one. We did get a lot of Dory, and while we got a fun uppercut battle, Dory is going to be a bit dry. Invaders work a bunch of switches and double teams around a headlock early in the match, isolating Dory, and I am just disappointed I didn't get to see Terry react to getting hoodwinked like that. It got a little buzzy at the finish but more of a time capsule then a great match.

El Dandy vs. Bestia Salvaje CMLL 9/30/92

ER: This is another gem provided to us by premier wrestling YouTube champion Roy Lucier, a guy who makes this feature feel like we need to be doing it more than once a week just to catch up. It never quite struck me until we saw Dominic Garrini live 3 times in one day, but blurry YouTube video early 90s Bestia Salvaje is a spitting image of Dominic Garrini. I bet Garrini could grow his hair out a bit into Bestia's cool curly mullet shag. And if that Funks tag wasn't what we wanted, this match is exactly what we wanted (though we were kind of expecting some blood). I think it was a title match, but it was worked more like a stips brawl, but it didn't have the blood of a stips brawl. It was a fusion that worked and built to a scorching tercera. Bestia lived up to his gimmick name throughout, and I dug his hard kicks in the primera (ending with a two kick combo to Dandy's inner thighs), and viciousness in the segunda that backfires and ends with Dandy violently locking him into a brutal figure four stumpuller pin. You could feel a big tercera was on its way and yes that happened. Dandy takes a super fast and crazy bump into the third row, Salvaje hits a nice dive that sends Dandy back into seats, Bestia even comes running at Dandy with a ripped of row of hardass metal chairs and  - while we're used to Park taking something stupid like that - Dandy gets the hell out of Dodge once he sees 17 edges of sharp metal flying towards him, and that was a great visual. These two are pros and their exchanges were the kind of airtight gracefully violent lucha that plays so well to us.

MD: This is billed a title match, and I'm pretty sure it is, but it's definitely an odd one, especially for 92. By the time we come in, I assume they've already done the initial matwork, because we're deep into Bestia Salvaje drawing heat, beating Dandy on the ropes, choking him, biting him. I don't think this is a heel ref scenario but he's certainly hapless early on, preventing Dandy from using rudo tactics (like, you know, punching) in his first attempt at a comeback and missing about sixteen fouls from Bestia. I really liked the end of the primera, which had Bestia go out to jaw at a fan who threw something at him, allowing Dandy to come back with some great punches on the outside, only to get fouled back in the ring as the ref was still focused on the fan.

The segunda had a chain, choking and Dandy's biggest comeback of the match, whereas he got it and turned the tables on Bestia. The tercera had some more heat, another comeback by Dandy, including some great use of the side of the ring, just a hint of crazy brawling on the floor, and your dives and a finish out of nowhere.

Bestia drew a ton of heat with his cheating in a title match (I'm pretty sure that was what was going on here) and Dandy was sympathetic as ever, but the comebacks were a bit too sputtering and not quite triumphant enough to make this work as well as it should have. It was fine to use the ref actively and inactively to delay and defer it in the primera, but I think the comeback in the segunda should have been a bit more definitive. If you're going to lean into heat on a title match, make sure the payoff works out too. Still a good find though.

PAS: The graphic of this match said Super Libre, and I think it was that not a title match. Matt mentioned missing the matwork, but I think we got the match bell to bell and they didn't have any matwork, just started throwing. Dandy was such a multi tool player, he could brawl like an all time brawler, work the mat like a maestro and mix in suplexes and puro influenced stuff like the upcoming generation of guys who started watching tapes. Here we get the big time brawling, standing nose to nose against a hellacious asskicker like Bestia, the throws with a couple of big time spinebusters and a bit of technical wizardry with his pin combo. I liked the chain stuff, which is a old school wrestling trope you don't see much of in lucha, and the third fall was appropriately manic. If that chair hurl landed this would have amped up to an all timer level, it was a bit below that but a great unearthing by our boy Roy.

JBL vs. Eddie Guerrero WWF 6/3/04

ER: This was from a WWF Italy tour when Italy was the hottest wrestling market in the world, and my god does it deliver as any Eddie/JBL match we've seen thus far. It gets a lot of time, going past 25 minutes and building steadily. The headlock exchange at the beginning could have been rough, coming right after a good long look at Dory's headlocks, but instead Eddie and JBL show how damn awesome a long headlock sequence can be. Eddie especially throws a few perfect uppercut punches in a headlock, one of those things that is worth the price of admission alone. The important thing is we always built to something big out of the headlocks, as each guy's big moves were nicely executed and hit hard. JBL threw some of his best elbows (sometimes he could straighten his arm out a bit much to take away the "point of elbow" visual, here he threw heavy landing/tightly tucked elbowdrops, really among his best ever) and his lariat was really throat crushing. Eddie's stuff looked so good, I really miss seeing this guy, he was my favorite wrestler in the world when he passed and performances like this are part of it. Seeing him get caught on a crossbody but shifting it into a DDT, done with their movements, reads like such a big and special spot (as it should). The finish is even the kind of house show finish you would dream of if you were taking your kid to a show, as we get some big heel bumps (heel Kurt Angle was at ringside the whole time in a wheelchair and cast, Luther Reigns was pushing him), especially liked Luther Reigns taking a big backwards bump off the apron. But then all the biggest babyfaces at the time run out to hit big moves, so you have triumphant, Cena and Mysterio spots and a big RVD frog splash, the kind of extended moment that sent every kid and adult home incredibly happy. This was an awesome feud at the time and I don't think they ever had a poor match, now we see what they do off camera in Europe and it's clear we need to see every singles and tag from this era with these two on opposite sides.

MD: The 00s wrestling boom in Italy is one of my favorite things I know absolutely nothing about. Actually, I know Rikishi was big in Italy. That's the one thing I know. This was a WWE tour. I missed a lot of the Eddy vs JBL feud in real time (though I've gone back and seen the big matches) since I was abroad for the first half of the year. I love that this show had not just Chavo Jr. and Sr. vs Nunzio and Spike but that the Chavos won the match. Typical WWE killjoy booking. I wish we had that match too.

Anyway, this was a really good house show match (which last week established that we tend to enjoy) sandwiched by enjoyable WWE house show BS with Angle and Luther Reigns and a bunch of babyfaces. Eddy's lie, cheat, steal shtick meant that he could fill a shine with a ton of ritualistic entertaining nonsense. JBL made a great straight man for it too. Here it was all based out of a headlock with JBL trying to pull the hair to get out and Eddy osscilating between palm strikes and punches depending on the ref's position.

They laid the rest of this out smartly, with a lot of paralleled sequences and repetition of spots (for instance, a lot of the heat was JBL choking Eddy with his wrist tape. Eddy hit a belly to back to get free and started choking JBL who then hit a belly to back of his own ending that sequence and letting them move on to the next chapter; likewise, they smartly used multiple fall-away slams or attempts as a transition or to tease one, with the third attempt being turned into a DDT that helped to set up the finish). This had about three levels of feel-good finish and almost certainly made up for poor Nunzio losing earlier.

PAS: God do I love Eddie Guerrero. he is a guy who had a relatively short career for an all time great (15 years basically 1990-2005, consider how long Santo or Casas wrestled at a high level) so every new Eddie match is a mitzvah. He is especially great to watch in the house show format. He is such an electric performer and can really take the house show shortcuts and tropes and make them shine. Great JBL performance too, as he was great at flipping that switch between a stooge and a killer. He is a foil for Eddies stuff, but when he turns it on, he just crushed him with elbow drops, hurled him with throws and severed his head with a lariat. Loved the finish with every babyface in the back taking out every heel in the back, although RVD ending a show with a big frogsplash is pretty insulting on a show headlined by Eddie Guerrero.

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Hey, This Happened: Smothers/Savio vs. JBL/Dutch

Freddie Joe Floyd & Savio Vega  vs. Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw & Zebekiah (WWF Superstars 7/23/96, Aired 8/17/96)

ER: You look at that lineup, and there's no way you think "Of course that happened on WWF TV at some point". No, you think "That looks really terrific". And you'd be right. Smothers had just debuted in WWF a couple weeks before and was treated as a somewhat fresh faced babyface upstart, Dutch had barely been used as a worker, Bradshaw wasn't an unprofessional company man yet, it was a weird time. Smothers works this as a great fired up babyface, throwing wild fists to the back of Bradshaw's head, hitting high dropkicks and his cool whipping heel kick, taking a huge bump off the apron into the guardrail on a Hawk big boot (that the cameras almost miss) and eventually making a MASSIVE hot tag to Savio, literally leaping most of the way across the ring to make the tag. 

The real revelation was Dutch, already nearing 50, looking like the best guy in the match. Vince and Hennig dump all over him on commentary, with Hennig talking about how he's not a wrestler and Vince talking about how his best days are long behind him. Then Dutch tags in and clearly looks like the best guy in the match, tearing into Smothers with nasty punches, big lariat and an incredibly cool stomp/boot scrape on Smothers' face. Before that he was great at running distraction from the apron and floor, total killer hidden gem performance. I love that things like this match are still out there, ripe for rediscovery. Bless those two weeks where Tracy Smothers was treated by WWF as someone to watch, and bless Dutch for making the most of his infrequent WWF ring time, and bless Bradshaw for letting Smothers take a ton of their sequences, and bless Savio for his stretchy tough skins jeans. 

PAS: This was really fun, kind of makes me want to see what other weirdo matches were floating around WWF Superstars from that period. Bradshaw was great in this, just laying into Floyd and Savio with big boots, slams and an awesome senton. I loved Smothers as a hot tag, his crazy dive for the tag was great, but I also loved him crawling across the bottom rope like he was on a corporate team building ropes course. Dutch is one of the all time greats, and his short clotheslines, punches and boot rakes show what a waste he was as a manager. Zeb should have been feuding with Austin.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg: Eddie and the Taker

Undertaker/Eddie Guerrero v. JBL/Orlando Jordan France 10/9/04

So happy to see a new Eddie Guerrerro match show up, this is a long Southern tag with both Taker and Eddie working Face In Peril and Hot tag, both guys are really awesome at both. The JBL v. Taker big man stuff was really good and this built to a super satisfying finish. Just a fun match which I am really glad I watched

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FAR FROM CLASSIC TOMK- throwaway comments written about a bunch of matches in 2004

Ahh 2004 and I was full of optimism about the future of the heavyweight Pro-Wrestling. Its almost sad looking back on my optimism.

"Between this [ Ogawa v. Goldberg] and Takayama vs. Nakamura 2004 really started out on a good foot in terms of heavyweight wrestling."

Goldberg burnt out on wrestling and now does MMA commentary. Ogawa really doesn't do "wrestling" anymore.JBL retired. Takayama went down for a couple years and who knows to what degree he'll recover.

And the two people who's work most excited me in 2004 are dead.

some stuff here I still stand by, other stuff not so much...

Takeshi Morishima vs. Jun Izumida (NOAH 3/13/04)

Man Izumida is on this ridiculous hot streak. Normally when guys who stunk get good after ten years it's cause they simplify, drop silly stuff, work tighter. Izumida has taken the opposite tack and just gone on an offensive tear. Ridiculous. Plus all of Izumida's old Tenzan'ish (headbutts, mongolian chops) offense is also looking really crisp lately. And yeah I'll say it best diving headbutt in the business today.

Chris Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels - WWE World Heavyweight Title (WWE 3/14/04)

Cooey seems to like the early exchanges in this. I have no idea what he sees in those. The rest of match is all about the Benoit crowd heat. The crowd heat was awesome, but what made it so awesome is it was all about the crowd turning on the story of the match. Shawn Michaels goes for the WWE I hit opponent’s offense and hits a laughable German suplex in what was laid out as a "we are equal" faces spot. Crowd boos. Crowd boos any time anyone but Benoit is on offense. Crowd doesn't want to see the match that's been laid out for them. Crowd heat cool, actual match not much.


Eddie Guerrero vs. John Bradshaw Layfield - WWE Heavyweight Title (WWE 5/16/04)

This is your WWE match of the year.

How does one work as a World Title Holder?

Ric Flair gets a lot of crit on the net for the way he worked as champ. It's asked "Why is he begging off from Ricky Morton?"

Hogan doesn't get the same criticism. As he either gets criticized because his formula was stale, or praised for work as "strong champion". I've never understood the second as one of goofiest things in any Hogan match is the "I have to lose the beginning of test of strength segment". You have the biggest guns in wrestling, why is Bob Orton, Lanny Poffo or the Bossman powering you down? Why do you have to dig deep to win test of strength with Adrian Adonis? Stupid.

Kobashi gets some crit for his championship work against guys who aren't on his level. He can't find way to make lesser opponents credible unless they work same work the leg formula. Why does everyone have to work Kobashi same way? Rikio spends entire match working the leg until he starts throwing bombs. It's Rikio why not throw bombs from start. Sano beats Akiyama by just destroying his ribs. That’s what gets him to the title challenge. But he never does that in the title challenge itself.

Helmsley doesn't know how to sell for opponents.

Eddy Guerrero has figured out how to work a match against lesser opponent. Whole match is based on Eddie being the better wrestler and Bradshaw just not being at his level. All of the offense, all of the selling is built around that. Just a fucking great Championship match.

When I watched Eddy vs. Lesnar I remember thinking that I liked the way two worked together and would have liked to have seen them work a series.

Eddy vs. Bradshaw was better than that although I have really no interest in seeing the series. Unfortunately that’s what I'm stuck with. Still 5/16/04 is your WWE match that should make this or any list.

KENTA vs. Jun Izumida (NOAH 6/11/04)

Izumida works as poor mans short Hashimoto, Kenta works as Kenta. They do a spot where Kenta hurts his shins doing Kawada kicks to Izu’s head. I hope Kawada and Jamal work that same spot. I like old school AJ, love count out post dive lucha falls....I'm big fan of count out finishes. Liked the Hash v Vader count out finish which the crowd turned on. Izu vs. Kenta, best worked count out finish this year.

Kaz Hayashi vs. TAKA Michinoku - AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title (AJPW 2/22/04)

Who would have thunk. Two guys who I think of as being natural heels. Two guys who started out in lucha inspired juniors promotions. Working AJ-they work what felt like really good AJ juniors style match. This wasn't no NJ goofball juniors. This wasn't Toryumon meta-lucha. This was AJ juniors match, with AJ juniors style selling trace-ing line back to Fuchi vs. Kikuchi. Who would have thunk it.

Kawada vs. Hashimoto (AJPW 2/22/04)

The new thing that Hashimoto has brought to Japanese heavyweight wrestling is Ole Anderson, Ricky Steamboat bodypart selling.

Yeah there used to be you worked on body part for submission or the old school AJ body part work was lead in to throwing bombs (i.e. you weren't going to be able to throw opponent until you had weakened through body part work).

Hashimoto says we do bodypart work like Steamboat. Hash and Kawada are both broken down guys coming into this match and that adds to the epic feel of it. One of the things you realize by watching Kawada out of AJ, is that Kawada is short. Kawada is shorter than Ohtani, shorter than Kohei Sato. Dwarfed by the likes of Noaya Ogawa. He's short guy coming into ring with Hashimoto. But hell, Hashimoto worked credible singles match against Liger he can do it with Kawada. Whole match is built around Hashimoto's arm vs. Kawada's leg. If the two worked a match pre injuries it would have had a ton of suplexes. It doesn't need them anymore as its all about the bodyparts.

Hashimoto is alot better at the bodypart selling and work here but Kawada really steps up to the plate figuring out how to work this style. And besides which when Kawada no sells, the audience has to recognize "his leg is sleight screwed up" ...thus his fighting spirit no sells seem well like either legit fighting spirit or more often a game face to show no intimidation from opponent. Kawada does that alot here grimacing followed by putting on a game face, there are these great moments where he moves like an old man struggling to get out of bed and then just fights to try to hide that on his face.

Epic match. Everything I wanted out of meeting of these two.

Naoya Ogawa vs. Bill Goldberg (Hustle 1 1/4/04)

Speaking of selling, the weird thing about Ogawa in Zero-One is that he's become all about the selling. In all the endless mediocre Ogawa/Hashimoto vs. shitty guys tag matches. It's Ogawa who always plays face in peril while Hashimoto works hot tag. It's Ogawa working Kikuchi to Hashimoto as Kobashi. Not a role that anyone would've picked Ogawa for five years back. Somehow through this Ogawa has gotten actually good. He's limited in that he has a WWE superstar’s offensive depth. He has about three really over offense moves. And he’s able to sell between that. Goldberg also not a guy with a lot of depth of offense. Both have really over offense spots but not a lot of them. The two come together in ring and just feel like they were made for each other. Between this and Takayama vs. Nakamura 2004 really started out on a good foot in terms of heavyweight wrestling.

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