Found Footage Friday: QUEBECERS EXPLODE~! CESARO~! GUNTHER~! LOS COWBOYS IN GUATEMALA~!

Los Cowboys (El Texano/Silver King) vs. Astro de Oro/Skeletor Guatemala 9/15/91

MD: There's a certain genre of match that I find fascinating. There's no good name for it but it's best described by the rudos/heels being visibly, noticeably concerned about the amount of heat they might get in front of a specific crowd and adapting their wrestling accordingly. I don't know what preceded this but there was nothing to make Texano and Silver King come off as particularly rudo in the early going here. They came out, they were nice to fans, they posed well with the belts and the anthems. They wrestled clean early. Texano worked really hard to get a handshake. And the trash was still coming and they seemed kind of alarmed and put off by it. For the anthem, there were a ton of kids singing which was always a good sign. Skeletor came out with a robe with Guatemala on the back. Astro de Oro was obviously beloved. 

So there wasn't any mask ripping here. Their win in the segunda was real quick. While they controlled in the tercera there was never really that sense of danger for the tecnicos. You always got the sense that even amidst the double teams Skeletor could PROBABLY make the tag if he really really wanted to. It was, shall we say, a ginger rudo performance. 

Instead, they flew all over the place. They missed leaps off the top rope and dives. There was plenty of heel miscommunication. Silver King was happy to fly out of the ring on a kick out. Skeletor was charismatic and hammed it up a bit with Texano. Silver King and Astro de Oro were really moving at times and mostly everything looked very good. There was a point in the tercera where Texano and Silver King did Tiger Feints instead of diving and one guy right in the center of the crowd shot let out a popper/firework thinking the dive was coming and that's a little bit of really interesting cultural information. It made me sad for him that they didn't get dives because his timing was perfect. Anyway, of course the locals won and everyone survived to see tomorrow. 

Jacques Rougeau vs. Pierre Carl Ouellet WWF 10/21/94

MD: This is about 80% of a perfect match to me. 75%, 75%. I was thinking structurally, but the thing needed blood too. It has parallels to MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana in some ways. And before you balk at that, think of the setting. This is Jacques in Montreal, in what was supposed to be a celebratory swansong. He's up against Pierre. He's got Raymond in his corner. Polo's out there with PCO.  

And Pierre cheapshots him before he can get his robe off. Raymond tries to break it up but the ref pulls him off which just lets Pierre stomp away. Jacques tries to fire back, but Pierre's younger, stronger, bigger. He lays in a beating, a nasty, brutal thing. Every time it seems like Jacques has an answer, he cuts him off. Jacques is able to outsmart him and back body drop him over the top. He lands on his feet. Jacques gets a flurry and he catches him in midair and puts him in the tree of woe. When the ref tries to stop things, Polo comes over to choke him. Pure heat. There's one moment where Pierre is whipping Jacques off the ropes and Jacques makes a sort of out of control bobbling motion, almost seizing, with his head as he's getting whipped and it's some of the best selling I've ever seen.

The thing is, Pierre can't put him away. So he starts to go with more and more high risk moves. He hits a flip dive. He goes off the turnbuckles, once, twice, and then Jacques catches him, crotching him on top. It's not quite the punch heard round the world but it's pretty damn satisfying, especially to this crowd. 

And it opens the floodgates for the ritual beating. And what a beating it is. When Jacques tosses him into the stairs on the outside, it's about as loud as I've heard stairs. After beating him around the ring, Jacques goes for a mounted punch (no puns). Pierre tosses him off and we get this great ref bump. Polo comes in to attack. Raymond hits him with a superkick.

And that's when they should have taken this thing home. Have it seem like Pierre was going to get the advantage, have Jacques mount one last comeback, go to the finish. They don't though. They just sort of meander with some nearfalls and momentum shifts and they don't lose the crowd, but once you see Polo back on his feet rooting for Pierre, you realize that the match went just a little long in the tooth. The finish is amazing, Pierre going for a tombstone and Jacques turning it around for this gnarly sitout variation and then slowly, fatefully draping a hand over for three. There's just no reason why that couldn't have happened almost immediately after Polo got taken out. And blood. Blood would have been good. Still, 75% perfect is pretty damn good.

Cesaro vs. Gunther WWE 11/8/21

MD: This is a house show match between Cesaro and Gunther. In Leeds. It is definitely. That's nothing to scoff at. It's just not transcendent like Cena vs Reigns or even the parts of Jacques vs Pierre that were transcendent. 

It had room to breathe. It managed the crowd well (and a crowd like that needed managing). It didn't get ahead of its sails. It didn't go off any rails. It was measured and focused and did what it had to. Instead of having the crowd go for dueling chants or ironically entertaining themselves (or shouting 2! a lot or whatever), it got them to clap up three times, early on in a test of strength, then during a surfboard (the one with the head in; Cesaro got out of it with some headbutts of his own after he turned it) and finally once in the heat as he was building to the comeback. 

It got them to chant for the swing right before Cesaro got it down the stretch. They hit hard, both early on and right before the finish. And yes, they built to that swing and they paid it off. They worked things fairly even up front. Gunther would go for cheapshots and deviate from the wrestling first but Cesaro generally had an answer. I liked the big comeback spot as Cesaro was able to catch Gunther in midair and turn him, strength outdoing strength, and the finish was good, with a near-miss with the ref before a cheapshot and a thudding top rope splash. This hit marks, and that's admirable. A good match. A good house show match. And good for the crowd for letting it guide them.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: Aniversario 1990 Part 2

Week 29: Aniversario 1990 Part 2

EB: So far we have reviewed five of the ten matches that occurred at Aniversario 1990, having watched three matches from Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez (Chicky Starr vs Chris Youngblood; Leo Burke vs. Invader #1; and Zeus vs. Abdullah the Butcher) and two from Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel (Mascarita Sagrada & Aguilita Solitaria vs. Espectrito & Piratita Morgan; and Scott Hall vs. Atkie Mulumba). The second part of our review will cover the remaining four matches included on the  VHS release. All four matches have titles being defended and, so far, we’ve had one title change happen with Invader #1 winning the Caribbean title from Leo Burke. Will any other titles change hands? We’ll soon find out.

Before getting to these matches, I do want to briefly mention the result of the one match not included on the home video release, as Rick Valentine defeated Mark Youngblood at Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel. So overall, the Youngbloods had mixed results in their singles matches.

Our first match for this second half of the review is the Caribbean tag title match where the Caribbean Express of Miguel Perez Jr. & Huracan Castillo Jr. defend the titles against the team of Los Mercenarios. The two teams have developed a bit of a rivalry since mid May and things are coming to a head here at Aniversario. Los Mercenarios usually go for sneaky tactics and also have El Profe with them but the tecnicos are ready for any potential chicanery since they’ll have Robocop in their corner. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dA4RPiTwpQ

We already have both teams in the ring, with referee El Vikingo obtaining the title belts from the champions and holding them up to show what is at stake. Robocop is standing stoically at ringside in the tecnicos corner, this is his second appearance of the event but the first at Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel (so both live crowds get a chance to see Robocop in person). Eliud Gonzalez introduces Miguelito as ‘el idolo de Borinquen’ and Huracan as ‘la estrella de Borinquen’ (so we have the idol and the star of Borinquen). Huracan and Ron Starr start off, working an arm lock up. The lock up is broken when Ron is backed into the ropes, but a second feeling out process leads to Castill sending Ron into the corner for a clothesline. Ron tags Acevedo in, who locks up with Huracan. Castillo again wins that exchange and Acevedo tags Ron back in. Castillo and Ron lock up and, as they fight in the ring, we get a close up of a stoic Robocop in the corner. He starts throwing some air punches and we cut back to the ring where Miguelito has been tagged in for the first time in the match. Miguelito locks up with Ron and does a quick tag to Huracan, who repeats the same maneuver and tags out. Miguelito works a side headlock on Ron and we hear Eliud on commentary thanking the fans for their support for CSP across these 17 years. Ron momentarily breaks the side headlock by backing Miguelito into a corner, but Miguelito blocks Ron’s punches and puts the side headlock on again. Ron sends Miguelito into the ropes and Acevedo knees Perez in the back. Acevedo is tagged in, hits a few punches on Miguelito and tags out. Los Mercenarios double team Perez by ramming him into the corner. Ron hits a few blows on Perez, going for a pin attempt as the camera cuts to Robocop (who is just stoically staring at the action in the ring). Acevedo and Ron tag in and out while continuing in control. Perez fires off several punches on Ron, but an eye rake cuts off that potential comeback. Ron hits some punches, a snapmare and kneelift before tagging Acevedo back in. Los Mercenarios attempt a double clothesline on Perez, but Miguelito ducks the attempt and counters with a double clothesline of his own. Perez makes the tag to Castillo and attacks both Mercenarios, knocking their heads together. Castillo hits a high knee on Acevedo and knocks Ron Starr down with some punches. Castillo hits a back elbow on Acevedo and gets an inside cradle. Ron breaks up the pin attempt before the three. A backslide by Huracan is also broken up by Ron. A swinging neckbreaker leads to another pin attempt that Ron breaks up. This time, Miguelito comes into the ring and starts punching Ron. All four men are in the ring and the rudos reverse an irish whip collision attempt by the Express, leading to Perez and Castillo to collide with each other. El Profe jumps onto the ring apron for some reason, as Ron gets an inside cradle on Perez. As the ref is tied up with El Profe, Acevedo tries to suplex Castillo into the ring, but Robocop finally gets actively involved and grabs Acevedo’s leg. This causes Castillo to fall on top of Acevedo in a pinning position.The ref turns around and makes the three count as both pin attempts are in progress. The bell rings and both teams think they’ve won, but El Vikingo immediately raises Castillo’s arm in victory (the legal men were still Huracan and Acevedo). The ref gives the title belts to Perez and Castillo as we get one more look at Robocop starting to exit the ringside area.  

MD: This was solid but didn’t necessarily feel like a big show match. I’m not sure if they were stretched for time overall or if they had structural balance they had to achieve with the Medicos match to come but they went into the heat sooner than I was expecting. It was very good once they got there, with a hope spot and two and Assassin and Starr being the pros that they were. They did a short double whip into a Bret Bump in the corner that looked great and made me wish we had 1990 Mercenarios vs Hart Foundation match. Eventually Perez got the hot tag to Castillo and they went into the stretch. I had half thought we’d get a second round of heat here but it wasn’t to be. Profe got up on the apron during a roll up, and Robocop, who had spent the whole match just pumping his fists occasionally, asserted himself by grabbing Assassin’s leg as he was trying a suplex from the outside in and the Express got a pretty shady win if you ask me. What did the Cuban Assassin ever do to Robocop?

EB: We now go to the World tag team title match where we have a debuting team. Jacques and Raymond Rougeau have arrived to challenge the Super Medicos. How ill they do on this journey to Puerto Rico?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa6j8M5mrWc

We are at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez and both teams are already in the ring (it looks like the Fabulous Rougeaus have just made their entrance). The garbage is already flying into the ring as the Rougeaus start taking off their ring jackets, and the first thing you can hear is Hugo over the sound system asking the fans to please stop throwing objects into the ring. Hugo also mentions that this is the last match for Aniversario 90 (not clear if it is at this ovulation or for the event overall, leading me to believe that the match order has been switched around for the home video release). The challengers are announced as being from Tennessee. The crowd loudly boos the Rougeaus (and there are still some objects being thrown at them) while cheering the Super Medicos when they are introduced. The bell rings and the Rougeaus go for a hug, which the crowd immediately gets on their case for (remember that Chicky Starr and Leo Burke have been doing this same pre-match ritual for several months now). We have Jacques and Super Medico #1 starting off and Jacques immediately signals for Medico #1 to back off. Jacques showboats by showing off his athleticism with a couple of kip-ups and dares Super Medico #1 to show his athleticism as well. When Medico # 1 doesn't go for it, Jaqcues starts flapping his arms to call Medico #1 a chicken. As they start circling each other, Jacques sticks his hand out wanting a handshake, which Medico #1 also ignores. Jacques gets mad at the crowd yelling no at the handshake attempt and goes over to the turnbuckle to yell back at them. This sets the crowd off and they start throwing even more trash at the ring. Hugo again can be heard over the sound system pleading with the crowd to not throw objects into the ring. Jacques again sticks out his hand for a handshake and Super Medico # 1 responds with a hit machine punch combo to knock Jacques down. Raymond briefly gets in the ring to check on his brother but quickly exits. Medico #1 approaches and continues hitting punches on Jacques and then sends him into the ropes for a back elbow. Jacques crawls out of the ring, leading to the Rougeaus hug each other at ringside as the crowd boos and garbage is thrown. Hugo on commentary is apologizing for this behavior by the fans, commenting that there are fans that are respectful and know how to act but there are some right now being disrespectful. 

Raymond and Medico #3 are tagged in by their partners. As both men face off, Hugo again talks over the loudspeaker, sounding more agitated and reminding the fans that this match is for the World tag team titles and he asks the fans throwing objects to behave appropriately. As Hugo pleads with the crowd, Raymond starts pointing that something is wrong with his boot. The ref goes over to check and Jacques uses the opening to blindside Medico #3 from behind. The ref goes over to warn Jacques, as Raymond hits a few punches and rams Medico #3’s head into the turnbuckle. An irish whip attempt is reversed by Medico #3, but Raymond lumps on the middle turnbuckle to avoid hitting the corner. Raymond fakes a reveres body press attempt and tries to jump off with an ax handle, but Medico #3 catches him with a punch to the midsection. Medico #3 gets a headlock takedown for a pin attempt, but the momentum of Raymond’s kick out sends him rolling to the outside. Medico #1 immediately comes over to help his son back into the ring and the Medicos do a quick switcheroo in that moment. Medico #1 is now in the ring and Jacques starts protesting as Medico #1 slams Ramyond. The Medicos do a tag and Jacques starts yelling at the crowd that there was no tag before (and the crowd roars in response). Jacques continues adamantly complaining from the ring apron as the Medicos feign innocence (with the crowd backing them up). Medico #3 works a side headlock on Raymond, who backs Medico #3 into the tecnico corner. Raymond doesn’t see the tag being made and is surprised from behind by Medico #1 when he tries to punch Medico #3 in the corner. Jacques continues to loudly complain from the ring apron.

A side headlock is countered with Medico #1 being sent to the ropes, and Jacques reaches out to yank Medico #1 down from behind. An irate Medico #1 lunges at Jacques but is hit with a knee to the back by Raymond. Jacques is tagged back in and baits Medico #3 into the ring. With the ref distracted trying to stop Medico #3 from getting in the ring, the Rougeaus double team Medico #1, finishing with a double team hotshot on the top rope. The crowd starts throwing objects again. As the Rougeaus do some quick tags and maintain the advantage, Hugo again laments that there are fans throwing objects and showing a lack of appropriate behavior. Raymond goes for a pin attempt that is broken up by Medico #3. Raymond complains and shoves Medico #3, causing another ref distraction and another double team opportunity for the Rougeaus. Jacques mockingly complains about the tag to the fans and hits a nice jumping back elbow on Medico #1. Jacques raises his arms to the crowd and again objects start being thrown. Jacques throws Medico #1 to the outside and Hugo starts putting over the bravery of the wrestlers, especially the Rougeaus, in giving it their all in front of a crowd that insists on throwing objects at them. As Medico #3 is baited back into the ring, Rayyond takes the opportunity to ram Medico #1 back first into the ring apron. Back in the ring, Raymond is tagged in and puts Medico #1 in a Boston crab. As the hold is applied you can see one of the security guards use his weapon to try to clear out the debris on one side of the ring. On the ring apron, Jacques moves over to where Medico #3 is and starts laughing and taunting him over what’s happening in the ring. Medico #3 again takes the bait and, as the ref is held up with Medico #3, Jacques enters the ring and hits a jumping kneedrop to the back of Medico #1. Raymond releases the Boston crab and taunts Medico #3, as Medico #1 is lying prone on the mat but shaking from the impact of the move. The Rougeaus do a cheer to hype each other up, hug and then Raymond goes for a cover (as some objects are thrown again). Medico #3 breaks up the cover and Jacques yells from ringside about it. 

Raymond puts Medico #1 in a camel clutch as Jacques starts chanting USA from the ring apron. The crowd starts getting louder and yelling at Jacques. A tag is made and Jacques comes in doing a shuffle and then kicking Medico #1 right in the face. Medico #1 is in a bad way and holding his back. Jacques sends Medico #1 into the ropes and locks in an abdominal stretch, immediately reaching out for Raymond’s outstretched arm to add more leverage to the hold. Objects start being thrown again and Medico #3 tries to make the save but the ref stops him. The Rougeaus take the opening to do an illegal switch, with Raymond maintaining the abdominal stretch. The ref notices that it is Ramyond in the ring and asks Jacques if they tagged. Jacques claims yes and turns to the crowd making the tag motion (which again causes the crowd to start yelling at him). Jacques is tagged in and looks to be setting up for another kick, but instead moves near Medico #3 and slaps him in the face. This again draws Medico #3 in but the double team backfires as Medico #1 dodges the attempted knee strike from Jacques and instead Raymond takes the hit. As Jacques checks on his brother, Medico #1 slowly crawls over to his corner. Jacques tries to cut him off but Medico #1 is able to make the tag. Medico #3 stares down Jacques, who starts begging off. Medico #3 corners Jacques and fires off several punches and then hits a backdrop. Raymond comes in and is met with a dropkick. Medico #3 follows up with another dropkick on Jacques, as Medico #1 enters the ring. The Medicos knock the heads of both Rouageus together. Medico #1 starts signaling to the crowd, but an attempted irish whip ram is countered by one of the Rougeaus, leading to Medico #3 and Jacques knocking their heads together. As Raymond and Medico #1 leave the ring, the ref sees that the two wrestlers are out on the mat. It looks like Raymond is going to get into the ring, so Medico #1 charges in first to cut him off. However, the ref catches Medico #1 and tells him to go back to his corner. While the ref is distracted, Raymond sneaks in and drags Jacques on top of Medico #3 in a pin attempt. Raymond turns to the crowd and starts celebrating, but makes the mistake of not leaving the ring. The ref sees Raymond in the ring, and instead of making the count, goes over to chastise Raymond and get him to exit the ring. As the ref is tied up with Raymond, Medico #1 gets into the ring and rolls Medico #3 over Jacques. The ref turns around, sees the cover being made and starts the count. On the ring apron, Raymond has his back turned and starts taunting the crowd, kissing his bicep in celebration. The three count is made and the Medicos retain the titles. Raymond turns around too late to realize they have lost the match. The crowd cheers, objects start being thrown (including a toilet paper roll and a chair) and you can see some fans start to enter the ring. The video cuts out as it looks like everyone in the ring is trying to leave and head for cover.    

MD: I’m not sure that words can do this one justice. It was wonderful, just everything you’d want from a tag match with these guys in this setting on this card as an absolute attraction. The Rougeaus, especially Jacques, were absolutely fearless, completely fearless. Maybe it’s because they knew they were losing, but it’s as fearless a performance I’ve ever seen, straight from the start with Jacques doing kip ups and goading Medico 1 as trash flew around him. When they finally took over on Medico three, they leaned as hard into it as humanly possible, cheating, posing, preening, chanting USA. I thought they might have a riot on their hands when they hit the Boston Crab/Knee Drop combo. 

They place popped huge for Medico 3 getting out of the way of a jumping knee causing the two of them to crash into each other, and it became a celebration scene (including kids storming the ring mid show) when Medico 1 turned over the pin (whereas Jacques had rolled Raymond onto Medico 3) so the Medicos won. All this just for basically an attraction match with a flown in team who hadn’t done a whole lot before the show to get heat. I don’t think this was overall better than the Invader 1 boxing match, but it probably pops onto my (honestly nonexistent) list of 100 favorite matches of all time. I was smiling the whole time through, even as poor Hugo was apologizing for the behavior of the fans.  

EB: Up next is a match that was originally announced as Monster Ripper challenging Wendi Richter for the WWC Women’s title. Richter was replaced a week or two before the event by Candi Divine, the reigning AWA Women’s champion and the match is being promoted as Ripper challenging Divine for that title. Let’s go to Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez for this bout. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxPgsvoQPRw

Hugo does the ring introductions (making sure to announce that this is for the AWA Women’s championship) and also is on commentary. He puts over that the crowd at both locations is anticipating this match due to knowing the reputation of Monster Ripper and also having heard about Divine’s exploits. Hugo asks Moyano who he thinks will win the match and Moyano says that, while Candi is the champion for a reason, it looks like she will have a really tough time with Monster Ripper due to Ripper’s size and temperament. Ripper starts off by sending Candi to the mat off a lockup (and it looks like she pulled some hair there). Candi complains about the hair being pulled but Monster denies it. Based on the commentary, it looks like this match is taking place after the minis match at Juan Ramon Loubriel, which explains why the mat looks as clean as it does (and it confirms that the match order has been switched around for the home video release). Both Hugo and Moyano put over the minis match as being a great showcase and Moyano then jokingly warns Eliud that he better be careful when going to the bank on Monday and having his check clear after comparing Hugo to Espectrito. Hugo says that Espctriot is in better physical condition than him. Back to the match, Ripper does another hair assisted take down and again denies it. Candi fires back with a hair pull takedown of her own, with the crowd cheering and Ripper looking annoyed. Ripper complains about the hair pull and, after being taken down with a hiptoss, about her tights being pulled. Candi looks pleased with herself as it looks like she’s taking control of the match with an armbar, but Ripper  simply shoves Candi off of her. Hugo says that Candi has to figure out how to handle Ripper, who he refers  to as ‘the Abdullah the Butcher of the women’s division’. Ripper does a couple of hair pull takedowns and just takes over the match with several offensive maneuvers (including some leg drops). Candi briefly gets a respite by countering with a hiptoss at one point, but it’s basically all Monster Ripper. The announcers keep mentioning that Ripper’s size and power advantage is proving to be too much for Candi. Off the ripes, Candi is able to get a sunset flip for a near fall but Ripper counters a second sunset flip attempt with a senton for a two count. Ripper regains control and hits a corner splash, but Divine dodges a second attempt. Candi tries a cross corner whip and charge, but Ripper just runs at Candi and steamrolls her with a Ripper Attack. A leg drop leads to a three count and we have a new AWA Women’s champion! Monster Ripper celebrates with the title belt as the video ends. Title lineage historians, you may have to revise that AWA Women’s title lineage if this title match is accepted as a legitimate one.  

MD: We realize now that the commercial tape likely moved matches around so this likely didn't actually follow the Medicos tag match. I would not have wanted to have to follow that last tag match so that's a small mercy for them. Even so, it’s sort of hard to care too much about the 1990 AWA women’s title among this card. This match was fine. The work was fine. It didn’t go too long. There were some hand motions I didn’t quite get, as if Candi was calling for the mandible claw. I liked the finish which was Ripper missing a corner charge but then coming back out of the corner with a Ripper Attack when Candi whipped her, followed by a legdrop across the stomach. And all props to Hugo for being excited about the title change, but this one didn’t really have a chance to hit. 

EB: It is time for the main event of Aniversario 90, the titular ‘Un Reto Para la Historia’ between Carlos Colon and TNT. We’ve seen how this match came about with TNT being named the number one contender and deciding to challenge fellow El Ejercito de la Justicia member Carlos Colon for the title. This was a breach of the gentlemen’s agreement the tecnicos operated under and it was seen as a betrayal by TNT. Whether you view TNT’s decision as a case of putting passion before principle or a case of a competitor being within his rights to strive for the top prize in his sport, there is no question that there has been a noticeable change in TNT’s demeanor since the decision was made.. Whether it's been due to TNT lashing out for the way the tecnicos have reacted to his decision, someone getting into his ear or a combination of these and other factors, TNT has become more aggressive and abrasive in his quest for the Universal title. He has recently taken to not waking up his opponents from the Cobra Dinamita and he has really amped up his comments on Carlos Colon being old and  past his prime.
On the other hand, the tecnicos have also been a bit aggressive towards TNT after the decision he made. Their position has been one of ‘if he’s not with us then good riddance’ and of saying that TNT will be taught a lesson for daring to break the code. Not helping matters has been Chicky Starr, stirring the pot as usual and trying to get into TNT’s good graces. Chicky had promised to sign on as TNT’s manager by tonight’s event and be in his corner, but there has been no confirmation as of yet if Chicky had succeeded. TNT had continued denying he was with Chicky, but it’s clear that he is not in sync with the tecnicos either. Both Colon and TNT have been training intensely for their upcoming match and the moment has arrived.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzeq5ot6YBE

TNT comes to the ring accompanied by ninjas and martial artists, but Chicky Starr is nowhere to be seen. It seems that TNT has been telling the truth about not being aligned with Chicky Starr. Carlos Colon makes his entrance accompanied by who I'm almost certain are two of his children as flag bearers (it looks like Stacy and Carlito). Eliud Gonzalez does the ring introductions and both men get a good reaction from the crowd, it seems that TNT still has his supporters going into the match. The ref gives instructions to both wrestlers and the match begins with a series of lockups and a feeling out process between Carlos and TNT. Colon gets the better of these initial exchanges, although TNT is able to hold his own for the most part. As these exchanges occur, you can see that the ring mat is pretty dirty, likely a consequence of rain making the surrounding area muddy (of the two locations for Aniversario this match is taking place in the open air one). Carlos is able to hit a dropkick on TNT off the ropes after another exchange and it looks like TNT is sliding out the ring as the camera cuts to a close up on Carlos Colon. A freeze frame sends us further ahead in the match.

We continue with both men getting up from the mat and deciding to each bounce off the ropes for a dropkick. They both miss and go down again. The mat is dirtier than before and you can see some cups that have been thrown into the ring. Another rope running sequence leads to a shoulder block by Colon that sends both men down once again. It’s clear that the match has been going on for a while at this point, we’ll have to wait for a time call to get an idea of how much time has passed. As both men struggle to get to their knees, you can see that both are covered in mud from the mat and that TNT is bleeding from his head. A headbutt battle ensues between Colon and TNT, both men on their knees and trying to get the better of the exchange. Colon staggers TNT and is able to launch him into the ropes, getting a sleeperhold on TNT. We have all four announcers chiming in at different times throughout this match, and they highlight how Carlos is using a sleeperhold against someone who is a master at this type of hold. TNT looks to be almost out of it but answers the referee’s check of the arms and starts trying to fight out of it. Carlos keeps the hold on, but TNT manages to break it when the ref gets too close to check the hold and is grabbed by TNT to use as leverage to get Colon off him. Lysette Santiago makes the observation that TNT’s training came into play here, since he had done a bit of underwater training which requires being without oxygen for periods of time, and right now he had to withstand a hold where his oxygen was being cut off. Both men struggle to their feet once more (the exhaustion is setting in), and TNT is the one that is able to get the advantage with some quick blows and a roundhouse kick. TNT goes for a cover but Carlos gets his foot on the rope to break the count. Hector Moyano mentions that the match had been a clean one at first but things changed once TNT decided to grab the ropes (we missed it due to the clipping in order to fit the match on the home video release). As TNT starts hitting the prone Colon with some overhand chops to the head, Eliud Gonzalez makes the time call that 36 minutes have elapsed. Hector Moyano quips that if this match keeps going on like this that Hugo will need a two hour episode just to show this match on tv when the time comes. 

TNT sends Carlos into the ropes and knocks him down with another strike. Eliud comments that in the fan interviews leading up to the event, there were many people who said Carlos would win, but at this moment he notices the crowd is a bit quiet because right now they don’t know who will prevail. Hugo chimes in that it’s due to the level of respect the fans have for both wrestlers, they know the quality of both Carlos and TNT, and they are witnessing two men who are giving it their all. In the ring, Carlos and TNT exchange blows and TNT sends Carlos down with what may have been a thrust to the throat. TNT starts biting Colon’s forehead and continues on the attack with a dropkick that gets a two count when Carlos gets his leg on the rope again. As TNT continues pressing the advantage, Hugo reminisces about Colon’s past rivalries and feuds and how right now he is facing a young and hungry wrestler who knows Colon’s style very well from having shared a locker room with Colon for the past few years. TNT gets a snap suplex but Colon kicks out. TNT works a nerve hold on Carlos and we can now see that Carlos is also bleeding from his forehead. Carlos fights out of the nerve hold but is hit with a shoulder block. TNT makes another pin attempt but Carlos kicks out. The announcers mention that at this point, all thoughts of playing clean and fair are out the window and it’s going to come down to who can fight and claw their way to that win. TNT goes back to the nerve hold and we are now at the 40 minute mark. TNT starts getting a bit more desperate as he adds some eye and head rakes while working the nerve hold.

Carlos eventually fights to his feet and breaks the hold with a reverse foul kick to TNT. Carlos gets a slam and a leg drop for a two count (and you can see the mud fly off the mat when TNT hits the canvas after the slam). Colon starts working the leg and then gets a headlock on TNT, who reverses it with a headscissors counter. Colon bridges out of it and both men are locked on the mat trying to bridge out of the pin attempt. TNT is able to bridge out and counter with a backslide, but Colon again kicks out. Carlos does another headlock takedown on TNT. Both men fight for position on the mat, with TNT eventually getting control and decking Carlos with several punches to the face. Both wrestlers get to their feet and TNT lands a series of blows that knock Colon down for another unsuccessful pin attempt. TNT goes back to the nerve hold and we hear the 45 minute time call. Carlos fights to his feet and gets a brief offensive flurry on TNT that the crowd cheers along with. However, an attempted charge into the corner is dodged by TNT and Carlos ends up hanging upside down in the tree of woe position. TNT uses the opening to kick Carlos in the midsection and follow up with a series of unanswered strikes and punches. Hugo says that TNT’s strategy seems to be to make Carlos lose more blood and thus weaken him more.

TNT tries to put on the Cobra Dinamita a few times but Carlos quickly pushes him away on the attempts, his training kicking in. Carlos comes back with some kicks and punches that knock TNT down for an unsuccessful pin attempt. TNT is able to counter off the ropes with a dynamite kick and this time gets the Cobra Dinamita on Carlos. TNT tightens the hold and yanks Colon away from the ropes when Carlos briefly is able to touch the top rope to try to break the hold. TNT takes Carlos down to the mat and it looks like Carlos is almost out of it. But, as Colon’s arm goes down, it falls underneath the bottom rope. The ref calls for TNT to break and he mistakenly thinks that the match is over, that Colon was out and the ref had called the match. As TNT starts raising his arms in victory, Colon quickly is back on his feet and rushes TNT from behind, surprising TNT with a roll up that gets two. TNT goes back to the Cobra Dinamita as we are now at the 50 minute mark. TNT again yanks Carlos away from the ropes but the crowd starts amping up and cheering for Carlos. This time, Carlos manages to break the hold by running into the corner and ducking in order to ram TNT’s face into the top turnbuckle. Colon covers but gets only two. TNT hits a slam but misses a senton, with Colon then trying for another unsuccessful pin attempt. TNT sends Colon into the corner and follows up with a clothesline that sends Colon down. TNT makes a pin attempt and gets his leg on the ropes for leverage (with the crowd getting notably louder when this occurred). Carlos breaks this pin attempt by punching TNT right in the face. Carlos starts punching and kicking TNT on the left leg as Hugo mentions that time is starting to favor the champion (TNT as the challenger has to win by pinfall or submission). TNT cuts off Carlos with a kick and hits a flying clothesline, but Carlos kicks out. Carlos again starts focusing on TNT’s left leg and eventually takes him down to the crowd’s cheers. Carlos continues with several focused attacks on TNT’s leg and it’s clear he is setting up for the figure four.  We are at the 55 minute mark, there are five minutes left in the time limit.

TNT manages to block the first figure four attempt by yanking Carlos down using the tights for leverage. Carlos goes back on the attack (including a quick shuffle of his feet that amps up the crowd even more), but the second figure four attempt is countered by TNT with an inside cradle. Carlos kicks out and hits a suplex on TNT, as we now have four minutes remaining. Carlos is firmly in control but TNT keeps countering the figure four attempts. TNT gets to his feet, visibly favoring his right leg, but is able to hit a desperation spin kick on Colon. However, TNT is slow to follow up because his left leg is giving him trouble. TNT sends Carlos to the opposite corner but misses a knee charge, which leaves him completely open for Colon to put on the figure four. Carlos makes his fourth attempt of this closing stretch but TNT is able to kick him away. A fifth attempt at the figure four is also countered with a kick. There are now two minutes left in the match and both men are staggered but on their feet. A blow exchange is won by Carlos when he grabs TNT’s leg and shoves him down. Carlos continues attacking TNT’s left leg as we have one minute left in the time limit. TNT is able to get back on his feet, but misses a spin kick attempt. Carlos covers for a two count with 35 seconds left in the match. Carlos finally gets the figure four on TNT with only 20 seconds left in the match. TNT struggles in the hold as Eliud Gonzalez counts down the remaining seconds. TNT keeps emphatically waving no with his arms as the final seconds tick away and the bell rings. We have a sixty minute time limit draw. Carlos Colon retains the Universal title but we have no decisive winner. Both men are exhausted, bleeding and covered in mud. As the video ends, Carlos starts motioning at TNT to get up and looks to want to continue, but TNT’s leg is too hurt for him to stand up properly. .  

MD: We have a little over half of this by my calculations. From what we can see (and there’s so much we can’t), and for how this plays out in my mind, it’s a tale of two matches. They start out even, working holds. TNT will reverse Colon’s hammerlock, but then fall to the reversal to the reversal. They build to dropkicks and eventually to both going for dropkicks at the same time, both going for tecnico coded offense in the same way. When we come back from the cut, many minutes later, TNT is busted open. They throw headbutts and chops, fighting with all their hearts but still, as best as we can tell, fighting clean. Then, suddenly, Colon snatches on a sleeper. This is the end of the first match, the end of the clean match. TNT, in desperation, works towards the ref and sneaks in a foul. 

Everything seems to change from there, including the very nature of the ring. Maybe it’s just more noticeable in this back half. Maybe it’s the ultimate manifestation of the rain and dirt and grime and all the trash that had been thrown in throughout the night and all the more that was thrown in with TNT’s rudo decision. Both men are covered in it however, awash in filth held to their bodies by sweat and by their own blood. This is the true symbol of justice torn asunder, of their union brought down not through villainy but through jealousy and greed and pride and putting rules over people.

This portion of the match consists of small and tight shots, of gripping holds, of each wrestler fighting for every inch. On the other side of it, TNT tries for the cobra, is reversed, is countered, is foiled, until he can finally hit the Dynamite Kick and lock it in. For the first attempt, Colon gets his hand on the rope at the very last second. For the second, Colon, with a last gasp of survival instinct, charges forth and slams TNT’s skull into the corner post.  

Things have changed again. The Cobra failed TNT. He presses onwards and tries to damage Colon, tries to win with even more despicable forms of cheating like his legs upon the ropes, but Colon begins to poke and prod and punch at TNT’s leg in turn. The tide shifts and what has happened so many times before seems like it may happen once again. Colon will call upon an inner strength, will be lifted up by the crowd, will destroy TNT’s leg, will win the day. He tries for the figure four multiple times. TNT avoids it again and again, fights back, even hits the spin wheel kick but he misses a knee in a corner. All the while, the clock counts down, sixty minutes almost spent. Finally, with just twenty seconds to go, Colon locks on the hold, but TNT survives it and the two men are left in the dirt, having both survived the war, having nothing proven, having it all be for what?

EB: The next day (Sunday July 8) the Mayaguez card for Aniversario 90 was held. The Universal title match between Colon and TNT in Mayaguez also ended without a decisive winner, with the match being stopped due to blood. Carlos Colon remains the Universal champion but TNT has taken him to the limit. 

Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, we look at the immediate aftermath of Aniversario 1990. Where do Carlos Colon and TNT go from here? Will Scott Hall continue to be embraced by the fans? Is the rivalry over between Invader #1 and Leo Burke? And who is coming and going out of the territory after Aniiersario? All hopefully will become clear.

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Richard Charland: Most Nondescript Wrestler Ever!?

I saw a post on Twitter a couple of months ago from Rob Naylor, calling Richard Charland "the most nondescript wrestler", and I was intrigued because I had never heard of Richard Charland. Or, it's possible that I had heard of him, and had seen him multiple times, because perhaps he was so nondescript that I had forgotten about him multiple times over. Well, no more. I'm going to increase the digital footprint of one Richard Charland, who has also gone by the name Garth Vader, which is such an incontestably great and stupid gimmick name that it may disprove Naylor's claim before any footage is even watched. Imagine Big Van Vader dressed up like Garth from Wayne's World! Before now, I never have, and never would have. But because of Richard Charland I can't stop thinking of Vader in a huge Aerosmith shirt, flannel, and big black glasses. Richard Charland has already brought untold joy into my life before ever seeing one second of his wrestling footage, so I am now afraid I am so biased and in the "I will die for Garth Vader" camp that I won't fairly and accurately judge these cherry picked Charland matches. But I will try. 

Richard Charland/King Tonga vs. Jacques & Raymond Rougeau Montreal 6/13/85

ER: This was more angle than match, as Tonga is eventually jumped by Butch Reed and Charland aids Reed in the attack! But he looks fine up until the attack. His tandem dropkick with Tonga looks good, he takes a great backdrop bump, I loved him committing to his missed standing splash that allows Jacques to hot tag Raymond, and I loved him desperately leaping for Jacques a split second too late to stop the tag. There were only a couple minutes to judge, but he seemed like an interesting wrestler in those couple minutes. I'm giving Charland the point in this one.

Richard Charland/Eric Embry vs. The Fantastics AJPW 8/18/90

ER: I really love All Japan matches from the 80s and 90s featuring gaijin who went on only one or two All Japan tours. You get a fun mix of WWF job guys, or guys who just knew guys, and it adds another dimension to their work. And Charland is more interesting than many of them for the fact that he was not on the winning side of ANY of his All Japan matches. It is fairly common practice to give a gaijin a win on their first night of the tour, even if they're only going to be the guy taking a fall in six mans the rest of the tour. Richard Charland took the pin in every All Japan match he worked, and got pinned in a singles match by Haruka Eigen to end the tour. Eigen was not a guy who was winning a ton of singles matches in 1990. He traded wins with Mark Scarpa and Goro Tsurumi, and beat Richard Charland. He lost 3 times to Rusher Kimura. Richard Charland may have had the losingest All Japan tour of the 90s. And this feels important. Richard Charland was Christian Laettner at every Dream Team practice. Charland's squad was going to lose just by virtue of having Richard Charland on it. Now, it should be noted that this is also Eric Embry's only All Japan tour, and while he was also on the losing side of almost all of his matches, he did pull a draw with Isamu Teranishi, and I assume he would have had the opportunity for other tours if it weren't for his accident.

This is joined way in progress, and we only get the final 4 minute stretch, but it is a great final 4 minute stretch. The Fantastics came off like a tiny Kroffat/Furnas, with both impressing the hell out of me with their stiffness and aggression. It's a tight 4 minutes, starting with a cool rope running section where Charland ducks out of the way of a flying Fulton, and Fulton immediately returns the favor ducking away from Charland, leaving him uncomfortably on the top rope. Fulton and Rogers came off almost mean here, and were seriously working like a tiny muscled up Can Ams, which is great! Rogers hits a heavy Samoan drop and a really great powerslam that made him look like a mini Dr. Death. Embry is awesome here, giving us a glimpse of exactly what it would have looked like had Dutch Mantel did some early 90s AJ tours, bringing that brawling element and just planting Fulton with a sick piledriver. Fulton was mad in this one though. I'm not always a Fantastics guy, but now I want to see all of the Fantastics in AJ. Fulton is throwing great punches and even flies off the apron with a knee. The Fans' short legs work to their advantage, as they get no hang time so every time they leave their feet for a move it feels like it's landing faster and heavier, like Fulton cannonballing Rogers with on arc, just flipping him straight down. Fulton's kneedrop/Roger's splash is a cool combo hit well. The Fantastics kind of owned this 4 minute stretch, and Embry outclassed Charland, but Charland looked like a guy who belonged and could have managed just fine in All Japan. I wish we had the full match. 

Richard Charland/Eric Embry vs. Dan Kroffat/Doug Furnas AJPW 8/21/90

ER: This was JIP just like the Fantastics match, but had some great moments, including an absolute holy shit spot. The Fantastics match was hotly sequenced and made the Fans look like mini Steiners; this doesn't seem as tight, and the layout was a little more "guys doing things until the end happens" without the same build. That's not an uncommon early 90s All Japan tag structure. And I liked watching these guys do stuff, so I liked this match. Furnas hit two really big "couldn't stop them if you tried" suplexes including an Albrightesque belly to belly, and the Can Ams don't seem to be treating these two as very credible threats, even though Embry has a singlet that perfectly matches the red/blue AJ ring, and Embry brings the south to Japan by lowering BOTH STRAPS. But this JIP tag was all about one spot, and my god what a spot it was. I have no idea why Kroffat even agreed to take it. Charland plants Kroffat on the top rope and tags in Embry, and Embry climbs up to the middle buckle, his back to the ring. He's fiddling around with positioning, Charland is holding him steady...and Embry jumps backwards into the ring with a classic piledriver, off the middle rope. We've seen more flipping piledrivers than we ever needed to, but I honestly don't know if I've seen a classic piledriver delivered this way. It looked insane. Picture how great Lawler's standing piledriver looks, the way he kicks his legs forward to land in a perfect seated position...and now picture him doing the same thing off the middle rope. But it does not win the match. Obviously. It was performed by a man teaming with Richard Charland. But at least Furnas broke up the pin instead of Kroffat kicking out of THAT piledriver. Charland eventually takes the L by eating a big Doug Furnas powerslam off the middle rope, but I would have taken that powerslam 10 times out of 10 over that piledriver. 

Richard Charland vs. Demolition Ax NEWF 9/27/91

ER: Now this will be a true test of Charland. Teaming with a cool wrestler against other cool wrestlers in the coolest fed of the 90s is going to produce some fun matches. But this is Charland working a newly mostly retired star on a Vermont indy show. And there are a few things that you could say certainly prove the thesis we set out to determine, and one is that the commentator for this match doesn't know who Richard Charland is, and he even says "I don't know who this guy is". That's bad. The screen graphic then states it is Demolition Ax vs. Richard "The Magnificent" Sharlan. The commentator misses the (misspelled) name and from that point on refers to him as "Richard the Magnificent One". And look, I've enjoyed my little dip into Richard Charland, but he's not a guy who is magnificent, at least not how the term is commonly used in wrestling to describe pretty and/or egotistical heels. But he is now Richard the Magnificent One. And to add to Richard Charland's problems, he's literally chased into the ring by a giant lumberjack holding a giant axe. It's Paul Bunyan, who was a legitimate giant that worked one New Japan tour (teaming mostly with Ax) as "Canadian Giant". 

But I dug Charland here. He was a stalling stooge, a guy who got clubbed in the neck every time he got close to Ax, so he would bail to the floor, beg off, toss a microphone, and then get in close and get clubbed all over again. When he took over he did it by cheating, a lot of choking Ax with a ring mic cord, and Ax was always a guy who put over a choking really well because everything about him read like a guy who wasn't getting proper blood flow to his heart. Charland even blasts him with a great kick from the apron, and the pan back reveals this to be a very well attended Vermont indy show. When Ax fires back Charland gets thrown nicely several times into a ringside table, and eats a great clothesline. I love how quickly Charland went down, and I love how low swinging and blunt Ax's clothesline was. Ax even goes to the middle rope for a crossbody. After losing, Charland refuses to leave the ring, claiming it was only a two count. He starts appealing to individual fans and it's hilarious. He points out people, holds up two fingers, points to another guy, nods and points at him like "yeah this guy is with me!", gets down on the mat and does a slow 2 count followed by a slow "safe" sign like it was a play at the plate, and call me crazy but all this reads even better because of his full motorcycle cop mustache.


ER: So what did any of this prove? Is Richard Charland the Most Nondescript Wrestler EVER? He's got a mustache that makes him look like Liam O'Brien opted to get into wrestling instead of forming a bowling team with Jesus Quintana, and he was a non-zero part of these four very fun and different matches. He worked a fun 10 minute match around punches kicks and chokes with an aging star, and it ruled.

So...if Richard Charland ISN'T the most nondescript wrestler ever...who is?


It's Ted Dibiase Jr.


Obviously.

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WCW World War 3 11/24/96

From beautiful (?) Norfolk, Virginia, in front of over 10,000 wrestling fans looking at three large gleaming wrestling rings set up like the Tri-Force, comes the only PPV appearances of Roadblock and Tony Rumble. Who wouldn't want to watch this!? I've never seen it. Let's ride.

1. Rey Misterio Jr. vs. The Ultimate Dragon

ER: This was wild. Ultimo (I'm going to call him Ultimo, but used their weird Ultimate spelling above since they had it in their graphic) took like 85% of this match and won the thing about as definitively as someone could win a match. I guess I had forgotten that Rey became a big star, but they were still pushing Ultimo as a clearly bigger star. Dragon broke out every single piece of offense he knew and it all looked great. This whole thing is just a straight run of bigger and bigger moves. His leg kick combos looked crisp and looked really good for a guy who prides himself on not working stiff. His bodyslams looked Finlay stiff, so that was an awesome surprise. Soon he was building up to big backbreakers, a great tombstone piledriver, a piledriver on the floor, a powerbomb, a RUNNING powerbomb, vicious brainbuster...I mean it was a crazy one-sided beating and Misterio is really great at taking a one sided beating. The crowd gets almost uncomfortable watching Dragon just wreck Rey over and over.

Heenan: "Misterio has landed on the back of his head at least 15 times in this match!"

He's not wrong. Rey finally makes a little run by getting a boot up in the corner, but he overshoots an ambitious two rope split legged moonsault. Even Dusty has to point out on commentary that Misterio got like none of it. Rey has a couple nice rana roll ups, but it just makes more want to see more of Ultimo's awesome video game offense. And boy do I ever get my wish. Rey goes for a huge springboard rana, but Ultimo catches it, bounces him off the top rope, and then absolutely PLANTS Rey with a sitout powerbomb. It finishes the match, and looked like something that should have DEFINITELY finished the match.

2. Nick Patrick vs. Chris Jericho

ER: Goddamn this match rules. This makes me so pissed that we didn't get a run of Nick Patrick as a worker during this era WCW. He's like a god tier Danny McBride character in this match, just a magnificent stooge who genuinely looked like a better worker here than half of the active roster (and WCW had an impressive as hell roster). This match is brilliant. Jericho has one arm tied behind his back, and they work a fantastic match not only based around Jericho with one good arm, but Patrick doing mean offense to a guy with one arm while also convincingly taking a beating from that same man. Both guys' offense looks really good in this, Jericho pulling out a really impressive performance with use of only one arm, breaking out with a cool kick combo, a big leaping shoulderblock, actually some pretty impressive stuff with your body balance thrown off. But Nick Patrick is a real marvel here. He works like a great Memphis worker, throwing nice submarine angle uppercut right hands and fast excellently worked left jabs. He has as many doofus stooge faces as John Tatum, and any wrestler who tips the Tatum Scales for me is going to immediately be a guy who I champion. Patrick is not only a great bumper, he's able to take great bumps while conveying a guy who isn't someone who should be taking bumps.

I remember seeing an interview with Martin Landau about his wonderful performance in Ed Wood, where he talked about how seriously he took the role of Bela Lugosi; how he thought Lugosi was a true legend who he wanted to honor, so much that he thought out each aspect of the character in detailed fashion. And he talked about the crazy method depths he went to properly capture Bela, down to the fact that he didn't just want to do an accurate Romanian accent, he wanted to do an accent of a Romanian man who was insecure about his accent negatively affecting his career. Nick Patrick seems to understand his role in this match as well as Landau knew what tone to use to play Lugosi. Nick Patrick brawled like Windham and stooged like Tatum, and that's something I'm going to be impressed as hell by. Patrick uses the setting really well, brawling to the floor, hitting a cool ring post bump into a ring post joining two rings, setting up a spot where Jericho missed a punch and decked the ring post (Jericho played into all these transition spots GREAT), Patrick found cool ways to take this match into a couple rings and show off to several sides of the arena. That's an AMAZING skill. Patrick throws a ton of great punches throughout, great quick jabs, and then to show you how much of a rebel badass he is Nick Patrick does the Curt Hennig rolling neck snap! Patrick even takes a back drop bump, with Jericho setting it up impressively for a guy with one arm. This match was an absolute blast, I can't believe it isn't some kind of cult favorite. It's really great. Patrick is a legend and there's no sign that he'd even worked a match in the prior decade, and then he turns in this incredible performance?? I would have this super high on a 1996 MOTY List, as ridiculous as that sounds. Not just a superior gimmick match, but a superior pro wrestling match.

3. Giant vs. Jeff Jarrett

ER: This was pretty great, a cool bout derailed by a Crow Sting appearance that should have pissed off Jarrett and Giant. This match felt like a cool Coliseum Video hidden gem, like a cool Doink vs. Giant Gonzalez match that you've never heard anyone talk about. Giant was really quick and had different movement than when he was older and slower, so it was cool to see him throw a hard lariat with a lot more lunge. Jarrett bumped nice for him but also made sure his own shots looked good, and I like seeing the kind of shots in David/Goliath matches where the smaller guy jumps up for corner 10 count punches but gets shoved off, bumping backwards, and these two do a great version of that. Sting comes out and walks around the rafters, and Jarrett and Giant have to continue showing interest while literally the entire crowd is now watching Sting. But these two are good soldiers and this is a fun professional well worked match. Giant takes a big bump to the floor, and misses a big elbow drop off the middle buckle. He hits a hard bodyslam and this whole show can do no wrong.

We got a really great Hogan/Piper contract signing, genuinely up there with the great contract signings of all time, and I'm someone who really likes a good contract signing. The whole nWo is out there surrounding Piper, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Bischoff, Giant, all closing in as Piper talks tall. Hogan is really mean on the mic, some of his best mic work I've heard from this era. He keeps needling Piper about his hip, makes Piper lift up his kilt to show his hip surgery scar, says "I normally don't beat up cripples, but I can't wait to beat up a gimp!" Holy shit, that's pretty cruel. Piper getting jumped and doing his best to fight back while going down was great, and him staggering back to his feet before the nWo had completely left was a strong visual. I'd never really heard about this segment (and wasn't watching wrestling when this originally aired) but this should be talked about as one of the best examples of building interest in a match with a hot contract signing. I really want to watch Starrcade 96 right now.

4. Amazing French Canadians vs. Harlem Heat

ER: Guess what, this also ruled. This felt like an ECW house show tag, 4 big guys hitting hard and bumping hard, building to some awesome highspots. Rougeau was a great bumper in tags like this, really made Harlem Heat look like stars. Booker misses a high sidekick and catches the top rope, and the Canadians take control and the match keeps getting more fun. We build to this insane spot where the Canadians stack up a table across the ring corner, then put the RING STEPS on top of that table, and then already-insane-in-1996 PCO climbs to the top buckle and to the top of the ring steps, and MISSES the biggest cannonball ever attempted. This would have actually murdered Stevie Ray if he didn't get out of the way. I watched his ROH match from Mania weekend the day before I watched this and in that he gets powerbombed from the ring down to the floor - nobody catching him, just literally a powerbomb to the floor - and miss a cannonball from the top to the ring apron. This guy really is genuinely crazy, it's been happening for at least 23 years and at a certain point it can't be a work. PCO is nuts. Booker throws a ton of cherries on this delicious sundae with a vicious Harlem Hangover, that leg whipping perfectly and safely across PCO's jaw. Great 10 minute banger, best PPV ever so far.

We get a brief brawl between Col. Parker and Sherri Martel as part of the tag match stipulation, and it's freaking great. Sherri jumps him and the fans get way into it. Parker takes a huge bump over the top to the floor and Dusty is losing his shit the entire time, going absolutely bonkers. Sherri hits a couple flying clotheslines and a big crossbody off the top and the entire crowd is standing when she hits that crossbody. This is the perfect way to do a manager brawl, and I even wish we got a longer version of it.

5. Psychosis vs. Dean Malenko

ER: Goddamn this PPV absolutely smokes. This is a tough match with both guys staying tight and grounded, relying on some nice strikes and building to a couple big bumps, working a lot of more BattlArts style submission sections. The crowd is silent as hell which is a shame, they've been so hot for everything else and maybe they were already burned out? The PPV has been nothing but great matches and great promos. It's such a fun match to be quiet during, and they seem like a crowd who would be into their thing. Psychosis does his rope flip bump but lands on his feet instead of head, and turns it into a cool spinkick comeback; it's like he used that bump the same way you see a rebound lariat and it was cool. Psychosis does make up for the missing "crazy bump" quota and take a nutso leap to nothing off the top, catching his face on the guardrail. It's one of those dangerous Psychosis bumps where you can't tell if he botched something, or if he's an all timer and missed that ugly on purpose (I think it was the latter). Dusty excitedly says "We in the midst of it" and it sounds cool and he's absolutely right. This whole thing had a cool WCW BattlArts vibe, cool subs and matwork with some flashy quick armdrag variations and some nice strikes, something that I might not have known how to process when this originally aired. Maybe that's why the crowd was so quiet. I seem to remember the general opinion being that these two were a disappointing "mainstay" cruiserweight match-up in WCW, but maybe that was just a stupid guy's opinion that got amplified too loud? Because this match ruled.

6. The Outsiders vs. Faces of Fear vs. The Nasty Boys

ER: Shit this PPV really does feel like the total embodiment of Where the Big Boys Play. This PPV has had a ton of big dudes running into each other. This match is filled with a cool mixture of stiff motherfucker and sneaky motherfucker, and that's a combination you don't often get from a big time professional wrestling company. This is more like a three way race on Scooby's Laff-A-Lympics, and Laff-A-Lympics as Wrestling is something I want right this very second. FoF and Nasty Boys especially kick the shit out of each other, mean knees to the face, chops to the neck, full force collisions; at one point Meng clotheslines Knobbs so hard that you wonder why you ever watch anything that isn't pro wrestling. Outsiders do an amusing job of staying out of this while the other two teams beat bruises into each other, clapping from the apron at the men performing for them. BUT then they get tagged in and Hall is throwing a nice right hand one moment, but then being choked and thrown violently into the corner by Barbarian. This is a legendary big boys battle and nobody is talking about it! I've heard absolutely no opinions on this show and it's fucking incredible. Barbarian slams into Hall with an avalanche that is not so much an avalanche as it is just Barbarian running full speed into Hall. We get an incredible moment of various guys leaping at and attacking guys on the apron, the whole thing feels messy and violent in the best ways. I think every guy in this match misses an elbow drop that they don't actually expect to me a missed elbow drop. Like there is honestly a match-long prank war to see who can make someone miss an elbow more painfully. There are multiple piledrivers, Jimmy Hart is wearing his Misfits jacket with fucking skulls on the shoulders, this whole thing rules. It's a long match, too, over 15 minutes, and it completely rules. I am so in the bag for this show. My god.

7. WORLD WAR 3!!!

ER: These things were terrible, right? I have a very large TV, and when they cut to three separate screens you officially can barely see a thing. I would wager most 1996 viewers were watching this, somehow, on a TV at least half the size of my 2019 TV. This is a 60 person nude beach fuckfest filmed by a guy hiding a half mile away in the bushes. It's the kind of thing that would actually be better if it was just fullscreen and they just switched cameras a ton. It's a damn shame really, you hate to see it, because you can't see it. Because from every minuscule camera shot this whole match REALLLY looked like it ruled. First, it's freaking weird. The entrance might be the best part as 60 different WCW guys just walk out single file and the order is almost completely unplanned, just an endless parade of guys that you mostly know. The whole thing had great energy, you just couldn't see 90% of it at any given time. 

We start with Benoit jumping Sullivan on the floor and brawling through the crowd (with Konnan and Ray Traylor?), Tony Rumble is not only in this match for reasons that wouldn't make any sense to me or anybody, but he's also the first eliminated and Dusty yells out on commentary "Tony Rumble IS GONE!" From there we get flashes of brilliance when we can actually see any of what's going on. Villano IV punches the hell out of Jarrett, Parka punches people, a ton of eliminations look fantastic (Dave Taylor flies wildly off an Alex Wright dropkick, Road Block - in his only PPV appearance - eats a huge clothesline, we get a spot where 8 different guys do running corner attacks on Ron Studd and then DOGPILE him in the ring!), and the final 10 is a fantastic collection of the nWo vs. DDP, Regal, Luger, and Rey. It's so damn good. 

Once they get back to fullscreen and run through all the nWo vs. WCW, it really shows how hot of a battle royal this appeared to be. Regal tricks DDP into charging him and DDP flies to the floor, it takes Hall, Nash, and Syxx to eliminate Regal and he fights the whole way, and while the Giant win was exciting it really should have been Luger. The EASY MVP of the match was Regal. Every single time he popped into camera he looked like a megastar, and he was by far the greatest part of that final 8. Regal was an incredible fighting babyface here, and he stood out more than anybody throughout the entire match; from lacing into Riggs early on to walking tall right up to his elimination, this is an underrated great Regal performance.

ER: Wow, what a PPV. This is honestly one of the best PPVs I've ever watched. This needs to be discussed more. I need to do a podcast where I have a new guest on and we just watch and talk about World War 3 1996. New week, new guest, same PPV.

World War 3 and Me.

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All Time MOTY List Head to Head: Onita/Goto v. Kurisu/Dragonmaster V. Rougeau Brothers v. Super Medicos

Rougeau Brothers v. Super Medicos WWC 7/7/90

PAS: This is basically the Rougeau brothers running through all of their classic heel horseshit while being pelted with a hurricane of puerto rican fan trash. Jaques does a kip up, gets pelted by greasy Wendy's bags and soda bottles. Raymond an Jaques hug and beer bottles and poop diapers rain down. Medicos had some nice punches, but this was all about the Rougeaus enraging the fans right up to the edge of violence.

ER: Yesssss I had no idea this was a thing!! I never realized the Rougeaus worked Puerto Rico, let alone still decided to work a lot of their bullshit. I have no idea where the fans even found that much throwable garbage. At one point a kid throws 8 straight items without stopping to ready them. He just had 8 things, ready to throw. The Rougeau's mere existence drives these people insane, Jacques' kip ups couldn't have been higher arcing or more obnoxious, Raymond's distractions couldn't have been more drawn out, Jacques plants a super high kneedrop onto the back of a Medico neck while Ray had him in a crab, and Jacques probably found out right afterwards just how many people in the crowd had expired A batteries. Both Rougeaus take tons of back bumps into garbage and  exchange several comforting hugs without flinching from garbage, and both of them get the fuck out of Dodge post match when a chair gets hurled into the ring. God bless this.

Verdict: 

PAS: Both matches are super heated tags, but your FMW match is also sickeningly violent, and that will take the cake every time.

ER: I love so much that this exists, and know that it's impossible that whatever payday they got made it worthwhile, no matter how good their mofungo dinner was. But the FMW tag not only had the special weirdness of this match (with every man wearing the worst possible ring gear - except for Onita), and the FMW match had unprofessional violence and the feeling of a deal gone wrong. Wonderful challenger, but champ retains.

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