Found Footage Friday: WOLFIE~! JAMIE~! WOLFIE~! JAMIE~! WOLFIE~! JAMIE~!

Wolfie D vs. Jamie Dundee 8/14/92

MD: Here we have a pretty green Wolfie and a Dundee who had gotten his start a couple of years earlier. They're two very young wrestlers given a ton of rope. I look at this relative to, let's say the Waltman vs. Lynn matches that were happening during a similar time, and I see two young guys that were trying to express their vision of wrestling and use all that rope that they were given.

The vision is different though. Waltman and Lynn were watching tapes. Wolfie and Dundee were channeling what they grew up with. They were pushing it to a certain limit. Wolfie was bumping big. They went up to the top. They had some fast exchanges. But he was also hiding the chain and stooging into the post. Dundee was selling big and had honed a pretty good punch that he channeled with proper babyface fire. It was rough around the edges, but the general shape of it was sound and the direction it was headed had a lot of substance and value to it. As time went on (even as this series of matches went on), they'd start to layer in their own particular interests and affectations, but at this early point, they were mimicking what they knew and were only starting to make it their own. It was a worthwhile effort overall, however.

ER: Look at these sweet baby boys! Jamie Dundee looks like early Billy Kidman, if Kidman had a rattail instead of a 12 year old boy's haircut. Rookie year Wolfie D scrambles and stumbles to the floor selling a punch like prime doofus Buddy Rose, looks incredible getting run face first into every top turnbuckle (with no kind of padding on any of them) and getting his lights put out by a Dundee right. His backdrop is the height of an instant Memphis legend. When Dundee throws a stomp, he throws it straight down across Wolfie's mouth and of course Wolfie D takes an fantastic ring posting, and goes over the top to the floor with even more gusto. Dundee has a baseball slide dropkick that lands and his punches get better the longer the match goes. Several young men smoke cigarettes all around ringside. This is really great. Rough around the edges, like Matt said, but with that same energy as teenage Briscoes matches, where they feel like kids copying moves they'd seen, but knowing exactly what and why they should be copying those things. 

Wolfie D vs. Jamie Dundee (Chain Match) 8/21/92

MD: They came back with a chain match and the pre-match promo from Wolfie made you think that this was supposed to be the blow off. It's a chain match with no blood, with few chain-assisted punches, with some mishaps of the chain coming undone from Wolfie's wrist, but they still kept it full of animosity and this worked for me overall.

There are different ways to be a heel, of course, but maybe nothing works quite so well as presenting a dissonance in the minds of the fans. Wolfie talked trash coming out. He had won the previous match (albeit with help). He had a clear size advantage over Dundee. Yet the second he hit the ring, he tried to avoid putting the chain on, and while Dundee used the chain in big sweeping motions, utilizing it to move Wolfie around the ring, to pull him out of it, to cut the distance between the two of them so he couldn't get away and so that Dundee could lay in punches, and increasingly as the match went on, as a direct instead of indirect weapon, Wolfie barely seemed to want to use it at all. He took over with eye pokes. When he was able to sneak his way to being on top, he was fine with the chain falling off and laying in boots instead, even when there was a weapon right there waiting for him. When he did use it, it was to choke, something close up and easy and familiar. Dundee was open to all of the violent possibilities of those rings of metal and Wolfie, craven heel that he was, was terrified of them despite all of his tough talk.

Given their relative youth, I have no idea if that was a conscious decision or just an unconscious one but it ran through the match, a match where Dundee took far more of it, but where you still always had the sense that Wolfie's size and lack of regard could turn the tide at any moment. As I said above, there was a lot to like about this, but what it needed, what I would have loved, would have been for Wolfie to really take over and open Dundee up before they went to the same clever "throat shot counter on Wolfie as he came flying off the top" finish. If this had even a couple of minutes of bloody heat in the midst of everything else they were doing, that would have taken it over the top. Maybe the venue didn't allow for it though. But if that's the case, maybe don't do a chain match? It's great that they leaned into so many of the spatial possibilities inherent with the gimmick, but when you leave the most important element on the table, it's hard not to look past.

Wolfie D vs. Jamie Dundee 9/10/92

MD: This went about six minutes and felt like it was transitioning to other things. They slapped hands after the start (Wolfie had gotten his heat back after the chain match with an attack) but Wolfie almost immediately went for the eyepoke and tossed Jamie out. Jamie skinned the cat and that led into the shine. This is a pretty small sample size. It's worth noting that there's nothing for either guy on cagematch for this year at all. It did seem like Wolfie was more developed into who he'd be in 1993 here than at the start of the series. He had a bit more swagger, a bit more flow. In the first match, he reminded me of a heel Jeff Gaylord or something. By the end of it, you saw a little more of who he'd become.

I still liked the dissonant heeling. The venue had rafters very close to the top rope, allowing for steadying or even getting just a little more height. A lot of the transitions and big spots were set around the top rope, either with people getting crotched or actually hitting things. Wolfie finally hit a top rope clothesline and that's when he decided to use his second for a ref distraction and get a pair of knuckle dusters, when he was in complete control. That's the sort of cowardly heeling driven by a lack of faith in one's self by the character that you have to appreciate on some level, that is, if you find it believable in the first place. Dundee had the crowd here and a lot of that was a preternatural sense of timing and his selling, though some of it was his last name too. The finish had a masked man come in to try to stop the cheating, but ultimately getting Dundee disqualified. By this point, it's pretty safe to say that these two were on their way.

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Found Footage Friday: MISAWA~! FUCHI~! SLAUGHTER~! BUNDY~! GANG~! PG-13~! DOUGIE~! TN VOLS~!

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Masa Fuchi AJPW 3/24/92

MD: For the first 4/5th of this, Fuchi really had Misawa's number. He started out by bullying on the mat, so Misawa stood up, but he pressed him into the ropes to lay in shots. Misawa started to fire back as he would, so he picked at a leg and never looked back from there, spending the next ten-plus minutes just dismantling a limb as only Fuchi could. Every time Misawa started to come back, Fuchi would cut him off with a quick kick to the knee. He kept it moving and interesting too, using a tree of woe followed by a dropkick, a shin-breaker onto a table on the outside, and an STF. The fans were behind Misawa and took serious umbrage every time Fuchi went too far. He couldn't quite put him away, but I like how Misawa couldn't use his first choice of moves to come back. He couldn't hit a suplex so he had to shift to a DDT, that sort of thing. A lot of the comeback and stretch was about him just grounding Fuchi and hurting him however he could. I wouldn't have minded Fuchi getting a nearfall towards the end, but this instead portrayed a much clearer and cleaner momentum shift and that was probably a story worth telling in and of itself.

ER: If the idea of Masa Fuchi savagely attacking Misawa's knee for 15 minutes sounds appealing to you, then you are going to love this match. I don't know who out there would be reading Segunda Caida and also not be into Masa Fuchi punching someone's knee as if were pizza dough, but I'm sure they're out there. I don't think there are that many wrestlers who can make 15 minutes of leg work as interesting as Fuchi, and I think a big part of that is the pure joy Fuchi derives from it. This is not a man mechanically working over a limb, this is a man who is doing his favorite thing in the world and is unable to hide that it is his favorite thing. All of the work before the leg work was really good, with Fuchi locking in a super tight side headlock and Misawa dishing out sharp elbows whenever he had some space. But before long Fuchi is kicking Misawa with some downright evil straight kicks to the inside knee, throwing low dropkicks that are clearly aimed at the patella and not the lower thigh, and you can see Misawa starting to flounder. 

There is an amazing spot where Misawa misses an enziguiri, and Fuchi hops in place with his arms extended, knowing he has a sitting duck, before connecting with one of his own. It's the closest I've seen to a native All Japan wrestler pointing to his head after out-thinking his opponent. Fuchi does some brilliant work around the turnbuckles and ringpost, placing Misawa in a tree of woe and DIGGING his elbow into that knee, then dropkicking it some more for good measure. When Fuchi drags him to the ringpost, I'm not sure I've seen a man slam a leg more gleefully into a ringpost. Fuchi even takes a running start to do it! Fuchi slams Misawa's leg into the post like he's trying to slam his front door as hard as possible after an argument with a neighbor. I like how the legwork affected Misawa's abilities to perform some of his offense, making him adjust his offense to use more leverage throws and just try to flatten Fuchi out to stop him. That knee does not stop Misawa from hitting a top rope elbow suicida and a big frog splash, but the man took all that damage and if he wants to hammer his kneecaps a little bit more on a house show, who am I to judge? 

King Kong Bundy vs. Sgt. Slaughter USA Pro Wrestling 8/22/97

MD: I have a lot of faith in Eric's ability to write this one up, but a few things did stand out. Slaughter was billed as the new WWF Commissioner and a 5-time World champion, which is pretty interesting math. Just having the WWF title one time is impressive enough and it's not like being a former US champion isn't, in 1997, more impressive than having the AWA America's Title or whatever they made for him. Bundy, in a back and forth in the ring, said that people were saying he got the commissioner's position in an unsavory way, which feels quite timely actually. They led off with a good battle over a top wristlock. I was kind of disappointed Bundy didn't end up pulling the hair because with guys of his vintage/era/style, I want that Studd-like dissonance of the huge guy resorting to cheating. Sarge got an advantage but hit his signature corner bump to the floor which looked particularly good onto the Newark ballroom carpets. From there, Bundy basically leaned on him with one hope spot until Sarge pulled him out, rolled back in for the countout, and rolled right back out to toss chairs at him until he retreat away. I'd call this a very competent Bundy performance. He'd interact with the crowd and mock Slaughter with a salute and even moved quickly once or twice when it meant something. The brawling on the floor was pretty good which was a little disappointing because they could have done more with that. Anyway, let's see what Eric has to say.

ER: It is true that I'm the one who pushed to include this match in NFF this week. Slaughter wasn't exactly working a ton of dates by 1997 and the idea of him working a Holiday Inn conference room in a year where his only other match was a long PPV match against HHH was far too compelling to pass up. I also loved Bundy's pre-match mic work, deftly tossing off two major insults in two sentences, one taking down the city of Newark and the other a sly takedown of Slaughter. Every heel is going to insult the local town, but some insults are better than others, and Bundy grabbing the mic to say, "I come from SOUTH Jersey, GOD'S country, not this god forsaken nuclear wasteland NORTH Jersey." That would have been a perfect win on its own, but following it up by implying Slaughter did morally ambiguous acts to earn his WWF Commissioner job was pleasantly unexpected. 

The match played well to each of their strengths, with Slaughter backing up Bundy with nice right hands and doing his best to stick and move. A year ago I wrote up a transcendent WWF fundraiser show from 1992 that was among my favorite things I watched all of last year. This was a show that was unlisted in official WWF records, with a Berzerker/Sgt. Slaughter match the main selling point for me. I was shocked that Sgt. Slaughter did his signature bump on that show, a show that was only being recorded by some dad with a camcorder. Well, here we are 5 years later and Slaughter - nearly 50 years old - is taking that bump as fast and dangerously as ever, crashing and burning across the unpadded Newark Holiday Inn carpet. Slaughter's corner bump is often majestic, and the one he takes here is one of the greats, not even accounting for age and venue. It's a nice turning point in the match, with Bundy keeping Slaughter down for a bit (and Slaughter taking a nice brick wall bump for Bundy's back elbow), and I liked how Slaughter hit three shoulderblocks on his comeback, knocking Bundy down on the third but missing a big elbowdrop to give the control back. I also agree with Matt the the floor brawling was really good and they easily could have done a couple more minutes of that and sent the fans home with a truly memorable main event. Bundy took a nice ring posting and they threw a couple of those rigid hotel ballroom chairs at each other, ending with some nice chaos before a post-match highlight reel makes me want to see some 1997 Cousin Luke matches that I didn't know existed. 

Doug Gilbert/PG-13 vs. One Man Gang/TN Vols (Reno Riggins/Steven Dunn) MECW 1999

MD: If the last minute or two went a little different this would have been just about everything you could want from a 10 minute match. Gang felt like an attraction and got to knock around JC Ice early, with Jamie doing sort of an Akeem dance mock and then paying for it. Midway through the ring broke and they used it to beat Dunn to a pulp. They had a ref distraction to miss the hot tag to Gang, and Dutch Mantel was on commentary so that was fun. The hot tag was good but it went to Reno instead of Gang which was the cardinal mistake in the match. I thought they might do a little bit more heat and turn it around and then have Reno tag Gang but he just came in. There was also some interference around the finish that was probably unnecessary and Dunn made the pin as the illegal man, which was what it was. Plus, the match could have used just a little more Doug. All nitpicks though because what we did get really did work both for me and the crowd. The finishing sequence was brutal with the Vols doing a double slingshot belly to back set up into a facebuster and then Gang hitting the 747. Pretty much an all time way to put a guy away. It's kind of exciting to think what other matches like this will turn up as Bryan Turner keeps going through his tapes.

ER: A very fun match, pretty much exactly what anyone going out of their way to watch this match would expect, only with a truly confounding ending that goes completely against what the entire match was building towards. It started out a bit shaky, with Wolfie having to do all the work to cover up all of the work that Steven Dunn was not doing. PG-13 are two guys that could work a great armdrag bump against the Invisible Man, so it's no shock that Wolfie is able to cover for Dunn. I swear, Dunn does the loosest, ugliest sliding legdrop I have ever seen. The camera angle didn't help, but I don't think there was a single angle you could have shown that legdrop to make it work. The match everyone (me included) wanted to see was Dundee vs. Gang, and Dundee did his usual chop suey cartwheel routine that ends with him being laid out by Gang's nice clothesline. That was the pairing I was most excited to see, but the best pairing of the match was easily Reno Riggins and Dougie. The two had the best punch exchange of the match, and Doug sprinted like a crazy man into an armdrag, and then took two insanely high backdrops. I didn't realize Dougie had Todd Morton backdrop height in him, but doing it twice in one match shows that it sure ain't no fluke. I dug the PG-13 heat segment on Dunn, choking him with the snapped middle ring rope and repeatedly getting the ref to get Gang back on the apron (nice work by the referee getting actually physical with the mammoth Gang). Gang got sent back out to the apron three of four times, and it was clear the entire thing was building to Gang, unleashed, decimating PG-13, Dougie, and the man wearing ICP paint on the floor. Wolfie sets up the hot tag in wild fashion by vaulting up to the top rope (remember, no middle rope) and whiffing on a corkscrew moonsault. It is unfathomable that Gang wasn't the hot tag here, no matter how decently Riggins handles a hot tag. I wanted to see Gang flattening everyone, no matter how strong the crowd was chanting for the Vols. Ah, nevertheless. 

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On Brand Segunda Caida: PG-13 Hit the Big Leagues

PG-13 vs. Legion of Doom WWF Raw 5/12/97

ER: Here is the lone 1997 WWF in-ring appearance of PG-13, a team that would have been a fantastic addition to the 1995 roster but weren't going to have much place in 1997. This whole thing is fun, two goofballs who are the last ones to find out that they would be wrestling LOD. Of course it's only going to go 2 minutes, but what else was supposed to happen? I am not sure the people of Delaware knew what to make of JC Ice, and it wouldn't surprise me if this was the only time Jamie Dundee ever wrestled in Delaware. PG-13 rush the ring and throw punches that LOD do not acknowledge, and then do a great job of flying around painfully for LOD. Wolfie D gets bieled through the ropes to the floor, slides back in to tag in Ice and Jamie Dundee gets a great laugh from the crowd by avoiding the tag while sucking his teeth. He gets brought in anyway and desperately uses some of his Dundee flailing karate to keep Hawk at bay before being nailed with a clothesline. 

I liked our tiny bit of PG-13 offense, with Ice raking Hawk's eyes and trying to hit a piledriver, only to have it blocked. Wolfie D comes in and they hit a stuff piledriver on Hawk, who completely ignores it, and PG-13 both eat clotheslines. The finish is the kind of dangerous finish that nobody on the regular roster would agree to, as Ice gets lifted up for the Doomsday Device (with Dundee begging and praying for mercy the whole time he's on the shoulders). Once Ice takes the Device, they position him in the middle and then lift Wolfie for more of the same, with the idea that Wolfie would get knocked off and flip directly onto JC Ice. And that's kind of what happens - and it probably should have gone even worse - as Wolfie tries to soften his fall without sending a knee into Dundee's face, and then they get pinned while draped across each other. I don't know if this was their last TV appearance (they might have taped something that aired after this), but this sure felt like a match that only happens when an act won't be returning. 

PG-13 vs. The Dudley Boyz ECW Hardcore Heaven 8/17/97

ER: Dundee's big padded Uncle Sam top hat is incredible, he's got his gorgeous rainbow sherbet Mickey Mouse Ice jean jacket, Mickey boxer shorts hiked over his Ice jorts, really every single thing about PG-13 was hateable. God knows I would spend money on that jacket if it got put up on eBay. For this match, I didn't think it would work to have PG-13 invading from USWA...while also working babyface opposite the Dudleys. When a rudo luchador goes up against a rudo gringo, the luchador is always going to be the tecnico. It is a dicey move to expect any crowd anywhere to cheer for PG-13, but somehow Dundee kind of does the impossible. He cuts a promo on the Dudleys, running down Mama Dudley and doing a Butthead impression, all before this "rasslin' match" and it actually seems to get the crowd behind PG-13? The early goings are slow, but there's an amusing moment where Dundee slides out of the ring and sneaks a kiss on Jenna Jameson (who was out there with the Dudleys) who acts completely disgusted at having Jamie Dundee near her, and it's shocking that there were no Styles comments about that being the worst thing she's ever had in her mouth. The match gets good when the crowd weirdly gets behind Dundee standing up to Bubba. Dundee starts firing punches and Bubba asks for another, no selling the prior ones, so Dundee kicks him in the balls to a huge reaction. It should also be noted that Dundee's reaction time seems somewhat slow this entire match, so there is a chance that Jamie Dundee decided to get loaded for his ECW PPV appearance. 

The hot tag to Wolfie D gets a genuine hot tag reaction - which I was not expecting- and Wolfie D looked really great here. There's a cool spot where he hits a double dropkick on both Dudleys and gets insane height off it, the guy must have been a champion high jumper. He hits a nice tiger driver on D-Von and a great bulldog off the top rope on Bubba (with Bubba seated on the top and Wolfie leaping off with him). D-Von catches Dundee on an attempted pescado, and then Wolfie flies onto both of them with one of his own. This couple minute stretch was easily the best part of the match, and really showed how Wolfie D could have been a popular ECW act, as he was doing ECW-style highspot chaining way better than a lot of their in house guys. But the 3D comes almost immediately after all this without much build. I think the match may have been more effective had PG-13 worked as invading heels and overtly cheated throughout, threatening to take the ECW belts back to USWA. What we got wasn't bad, but it felt like they picked the most difficult layout for success. Still, they worked hard to make a tough layout work, and that feels like a success. 

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On Brand Segunda Caida: Jamie Dundee

JC Ice vs. 1-2-3 Kid USWA 8/7/93

ER: This is more of an angle than an actual match (it is USWA TV, so) but it rules. PG-13 come out and start running down 123 Kid for being small. Jamie Dundee of all people calling people short is going to make for great TV, and he goes on this whole Showtime at the Apollo diss routine on Kid. "People say that we're small, you should see this small stick man in WWF right now! That kid is so small he can hula hoop with a Cheerio! Razor Ramon must have been drunk when he lost to him. This guy's parents named him after numbers!" Kid comes out, gets in the ring, Wolfie goes to fight him, but JC wants to teach this "little guy" a lesson. Dundee is the perfect kind guy to teach someone a lesson, because you know his ass is gonna get kicked. I died and rewound as JC runs into the ring and straight into a super high backdrop, has a great punch exchange with Kid (I love how Dundee throws punches), and my 12 yr old mind would have blown had I seen this, since I actually believed 123 Kid was the smallest wrestler imaginable. I imagine tons of fans have had a disappointing experience when meeting Waltman for the first time. "You were my favorite because you were small like me! Oh, you are not small at all." 

JC stooges around for Kid, great at standing there looking like a dummy while eating kick combos. He takes another backdrop but lands on his feet, showing off to the fans before getting kicked. Then Wolfie D makes this a tag match and comes in, even yelling "pick on someone your own size!" as he charges in. He gets the advantage for a bit, then Kid picks him apart with kicks and JC Ice runs back in to double team Kid. The match proper went maybe 2 minutes, Jeff Jarrett runs in for the save, and somehow we never get a PG-13 vs. Kid/Jarrett match (which would have the potential to be a legitimately great match). Why would you not run that match!? Anyway, this whole segment ruled. (Also stick around for Richard Lee's promo on Bert Prentice right after this, made me want to see him take the Moondogs against anyone and everyone).

PG-13 vs. Tony Falk/Tony Williams USWA 10/2/93

ER: I, personally, always expect a powerhouse team like the 2 Tonys to take over 90% of a match. PG-13 come out with Midget D, and practically the only offense they get the entire match is when D interferes from the floor. Most of the match is spent on Williams controlling PG-13 with armdrags, and Dundee is someone who is going to do a ton of funny things while getting frustrated by armdrags. Dundee takes two great backdrops and bumps to the floor off a clothesline, comforted and cradled on the floor by Midget D. Wolfie does some great stooging around athleticism, like doing a rope assisted backflip while caught in an armlock, only to get clotheslined once he lands; or, getting a hiptoss on Williams and trying to legdrop Williamses' arm, completely missing and hitting canvas instead. Now, why the mat hurt Wolfie D's buns because he missed, when it would have been the same landing has he hit the arm? I couldn't tell you, but I love it. Tommy Rich comes out and gives this great conversational ramble to Dave Brown, and eventually gets in the ring and starts kicking Tony Falk's ass, just to be a jerk.

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My Favorite Wrestling! WCW Saturday Night 3/11/00, Part 2

1. Todd Perri vs. Tommy Rogers

Damn this is like a WAR six man in its randomness. A Tommy Rogers singles match in 2000? An AWA jobber from 10 years prior, versus a WCW tag champ from 12 years prior. Why the hell not!? And this is a real oddball of a gem right here. After years of seeing Tommy Rogers getting beat down in tag matches, here he's the old vet punishing a pretty boy. They get crossed up a couple times (Denucci doesn't sell a clothesline, but Rogers covers nicely with a fantastic knee lift). Rogers was working pretty stiff here, stiffer than any Fanastics match I've seen. Rogers threw a running back elbow that knocked Denucci through the ropes and it was one of the nastiest spots I've seen on syndicated WCW. It gets even better as Denucci recovers on the floor and charges Rogers, missing a flying shoulder tackle directly into the turnbuckle. It looked fucking killer. I remember Denucci from death throes AWA, but don't remember him being such a bump freak. I dug both guys here, and I'd be really hard-pressed to find a weirder match-up on these shows (god I hope there's a weirder match-up on these shows).

Baby, Chiquita, who are these new generation Nitro Girls advertising Nitrogirls.com? I remember Spice (my personal fave!!) and Tigress, and apparently Stacy Keibler was "Skye". Where are most of these ladies now? I imagined many of them married rich, and/or teach CrossFit classes at suburban strip malls. Chiquita was probably in a Mystikal video or something. Also I looked up Nitrogirls.com and good news everybody!! The domain name is alllll freed up! If you were looking to do a Fyre tribute site, nows your chance to make it look even more official!

2. Mona vs. Little Jeanie

Scott Hudson is flipping his lid for this one. This is a long running WCW syndie feud, and clearly Hudson's personal favorite. Even Larry is rolling his eyes saying he hasn't shut up about this match. This is probably the lesser of their three (so far) matches, but only because it was only given 2 minutes. The other two matches of theirs got 4 minutes, so this was kind of a "greatest hits played faster" version of those matches. Wrestling barefoot is so nutty so Mona always gets bonus points for that. Her armdrags and snapmare takeover look beautiful, and Jeanie planting her with a German was boss. Jeanie throws a couple reckless leaping elbows, with the second going right across the throat. About as good as you can get for two minutes, but disappointing they didn't budget enough time for more.

3. Mamalukes (Vito/Johnny the Bull) vs. Scott & Steve Armstrong vs. PG-13

Armstrongs and PG-13 were both paid off by the Harris Boys to take out the Mamalukes, and there is zero chance Jaime Dundee used that money sensibly. Armstrongs are both wrestling in jeans (Scott has a spectacular pair of white jeans here), and I'm pretty sure Larry just called them the "Marmadukes" but wasn't actually attempting to be funny. Armstrongs working as co-heels with PG-13 is glorious as both teams bully Johnny the Bull while they all take turns taunting Vito. To the shock of everybody that partnership quickly and suddenly breaks down, Vito hits the spinning DDT on Dundee, and Johnny hits a super impressive springboard legdrop for the win. Really wish they had gone home more naturally, as you could tell they were just filling time until getting the signal, as the switch hit and everybody bumped to the floor within a few seconds, leaving Dundee alone in the ring.

So next week they advertise the return of Shark Boy to WCW Saturday Night. That's weird, right? I didn't realize he was ever more than a jobber with a recognizable gimmick in WCW, let alone a "Shark Boy is BACK next week!!! Be there!!!" type character.

4. Billy Kidman vs. The Artist

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. Iaukea stops and stares silently at a fat guy in a camo hat at ringside during his entrance. The fat guy is mouthing of the whole time but Iaukea just stares at him. I really liked how Artist worked in this gimmick. He threw a couple cool elbowdrop variations, vicious snap suplex and even a neat palm strike. He even outbumps Kidman (although Kidman did have a great bump to the floor) by getting crazy height on a backdrop and Kidman's Rydeen bomb. Kidman goes for a sunset flip and Artist catches him midway and does a Northern Lights Suplex and it looks fucking killer. This match was all Artist and now I really want to see more.

5. Jeff Jarrett vs. The Demon

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out if there is a worker on a regular WCW contract that I know less about than Dale Torborg. I know I've seen him in several matches, but I can't for the life of me remember him doing anything whatsoever in those matches. No signature moves, nothing. So now in the main event (yeesh) I'll finally have my answer! And the answer is....he pretty much doesn't do anything. He punches, sometimes okay, oftentimes poorly. He threw a bad kick to the stomach. He took a nice bump to the floor, but it was nice in one of those "I don't totally know how to do this so I'm going over way faster than I planned and a part of my body may get hung up on the ropes" kinda ways. Like whenever Vince had to bump over the top and he would manage to catch his neck on the bottom rope. Jarrett also throws punches, many of them good. And the Harris Boys interfere. And then The Stroke. And that's it. Punches, punches in the corner, more punches, Stroke.

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I'd Rather Shoot a Woman Than A King, I Worry Whether This Is My Last Life

Jerry Lawler v. Kerry Von Erich 12/15/89 - FUN

I always enjoy watching Lawler rile up a Texas crowd. Nobody hates the King more then the folks in Dallas. Lawler does some shitalking on the mike and bailing during Kerry rallies. There were a lot of cool moments in this match, Kerry breaking a Lawler choke with the claw, him lifting Jerry with the stomach claw, Lawler using the elbow pad as a boxing glove. Still the match kind of felt like a backdrop to set up a Kerry v. Terrance Garvin feud which is a ludicrous thing to use a world title match to set up. This should have been the climax to Kerry v. Lawler, and they should have let it be the climax, rather then have it overshadowed . Especially having it overshadowed by Terrance Garvin.

Jerry Lawler v. The Undertaker WWF 9/28/94 - FUN

This was a Casket match which aired as a Coliseum home video release. Lawler gets a ton more offense on the Undertaker then I expected. He does some stooging and stalling (including being blinding by a strobe light from an extra large urn, which is a stupid Undertaker gimmick I did not remember), but for most of the match he takes it right at Undertaker. Cracking him with some nasty chain assisted right hands. There is a really great near fall where Lawler punches and stomps Taker almost all the way into the casket. The King even gets to cut off the Taker comeback, before succumbing. More of a nifty curiosity then a great match, but kind of cool that it exists.

Jerry Lawler/Bill Dundee v. The Cyberpunks 5/18/96 - FUN

Dundee is in the midst of a big feud with the Cyberpunks who are PG13 under masks. He brings out Lawler as his surprise partner. Lawler does an interview saying he isn't turning his back on the fans, but is just collecting belts. They have a fun shortish TV match highlighted by Dundee and Lawler laying in some tricky veteran cheap shots. My favorite was Lawler challenging Fire to a test of strength and then jacking his jaw when Fire raised his hand. The Ice v. Dundee stuff was great too, as they obviously have some great chemistry with each other. Finish is cool as Dundee pops his own son with a chain to get the pin and the USWA tag titles, with Lawler feigning ignorance. I enjoyed watching Lawler subtly heel it up, but too short to be anything substantial.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KING

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