Found Footage Friday: WAR GAMES~! MISAWA~! KOSHINAKA~! PIRATA~! COLOSETTI~! BENETTO~!

Shiro Koshinaka vs. Mitsuharu Misawa AJPW 10/14/83

MD: As best as we can tell, these next two haven't been in easy circulation. Thankfully gus came through and figured out how to get them off of a tricky disc and upload them. This one started out as one thing and morphed into something entirely different. People should go out of their way for it.

Where it started, and where I figured it would end, was as Young Misawa putting Young Koshinaka through his paces. He controlled for basically the first two thirds of this as an undercard young boy cruiserweight bully. They both had red trunks and Misawa really did a number on Koshinaka, grinding down on the arm. A lot of shots of the back of Misawa's head and emotive selling from Shiro. Shiro would try to escape and Misawa would get him back in. There was a nice floatover arm twist and some rolling with the short arm scissors, etc. Eventually, Shiro turned things into a cross toe-hold and took over with that and later a Romero Special.

When things picked up, though, they really picked up. Shiro's butt butt, sure, but also Misawa doing a front flip into a kick off the top, followed by a huge dive to the floor, and then Shiro hitting a double stop off the top. It felt like whoever was agenting the match went on a smoke break and they just decided to do whatever they wanted for the last two minutes before Shiro finally dragged Misawa down with a bulldog. Misawa looked more like the guy who would become Tiger Mask II than the guy who would become Misawa here, but he looked like the best possible version of that guy.

Shiro Koshinaka/Mitsuharu Misawa/Halcon Ortiz vs. Coloso Colosetti/Pirata Morgan/Tony Benetto 3/16/84

MD: This is likely one of Misawa's first matches in Mexico. He was matched up with Colosetti here in the initial primera pairings and it went mostly ok. There were one or two times where he seemed just a little lost, like when it was time to tag Shiro in after Coloso left the ring, but in general, he did fine. Colosetti had great for-the-last-row body language, really working big, both when matched with Misawa and during the comeback in the tercera as he was batted around the ringside area. Shiro was matched with Benetto; basically a lot of Kato/Bruce Lee back fists but he did get his double stomp off the top in too. Ortiz and Morgan worked well together, as you'd expect, the best pairing of the three even if maybe that's not why we're here.

Morgan did get to match up a little with the Japanese contingent, most spectacularly for a spot towards the end of the primera where they basically hit a veg-o-matic (bearhug, lean back, kneedrop) on him. Most memorable, though, is the ending image of him as Misawa and Koshinaka were getting the win on his partners; Ortiz decided to just bodyslam him over the top, not touching the rope, so he could hit a dive. The heat during the segunda was effective and efficient though there could have been more of it maybe; possibly a small clip at the start of the tercera to give that feeling. The comeback was fun with plenty of Koshinaka backfists. Misawa was just finding his way here but it's a good way to spend twenty minutes.

War Games: Hotstuff Hernandez/Jeremy V/Jimmy Rave/Onyx vs. Iceberg/Jason Cross/Justice/Rainman NWA Wildside 06/28/03 - EPIC

MD: Are there just an infinite number of these matches hidden away somewhere? Is there some sort of alternate reality that we can just endlessly pull these from? Or are we coming to the end sometime soon? We've covered so many over the years and they're all great and this is no exception. Wildside was just amazing for the sheer diversity in the ring, every size, shape, temperament. And it all came together and it all worked. It was like the entirety of possibilities of what pro wrestling could and should be were in the ring together. Just wild stuff. 

They started with Jeremy and Rainman, maybe not the pairing I would have chosen myself even though they'd been feuding but Rainman was a pro in these and kept things moving. Right when Jeremy (who got color early) was gaining control, Bailey's team won the coinflip and Cross came in, absolutely crushing Jeremy with a dragon suplex and brainbuster and setting the tenor for the rest of the match. Jeremy, Jimmy, and Jason had a high hill to climb here since not only were they in there with monsters of various shapes and forms, but the monsters almost all did crazy stuff. There was a Superplex on Iceberg (I think by Onyx). Iceberg used the cage to steady him to hit a top rope elbow drop, etc. And Justice (being Abyss) came in as the mystery man and towered over everyone. Hernandez was like a missile when he came in to even the odds. They managed well enough by flying around though, Cross hitting a ton of offense, Jeremy showing heart (and getting the win in the end with his camel clutch/cobra clutch combo), and Rave maybe getting the spot of the match with a sunset flip powerbomb on Justice off the top.

Look, during the same year, Cage of Death was going on in Philly. I get that Blood and Guts take more from that than from classic War Games, but these Wildside and Anarchy attempts really show how you can bridge the gap between the two.

PAS: This didn't have pools of gore that some of the other all timer Landmark Arena War Games had, but it felt kind of on the level of them. This was like a version of the 1989 War Games, with a lot of huge dudes throwing each other with big power moves. This might have been the most I have ever enjoyed Abyss, and it felt like the slugfest between him and Hernandez felt like a huge big man showdown. Iceberg not being a huge star in the 2000s was a big mistake by the wrestling world, he was a monstrous force of nature, who would still bump big, Iceberg taking a superplex felt like felling a Redwood tree. His top rope Sudanese Meat Cleaver was truly disgusting looking I expected Jeremy V's head to pop off like a Pez dispenser. Finishing submission looked great although that kid did take a whole hell of a lot of punishment to end up winning. Classic stuff, in the upper tier of these matches which is a hell of an upper tier. 

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RIP Jimmy Rave

Jimmy Rave vs. Bryan Danielson ROH 4/25/09

MD: Very role-driven and giving performance by Rave here. Despite a successful heel hook towards the end to make it exciting, one that Danielson wasn't afraid to sell as dangerous and damaging, this was almost all Dragon. He had this way of just crashing downwards onto Rave from any angle with brutal elbows, nasty holds, a dive, or even just these little grounded kicks whenever Rave actually did buy himself a moment to gloat. And of course, when Rave tried to hit one of those kicks himself, Danielson dodged it leaving him looking like a fool. Rave took everything, fed, and sold that the crowd was getting under his skin from the glorious pre-match moment where he had toilet paper on his shoe to shouting that he hated them as much as they hated him. Still, when Rave hit a knee out of nowhere or landed a quick pinfall or hold, he came off as credible and capable of turning the match around with a lucky shot or some help from Nana, even if he was ultimately at Danielson's mercy. Even as a wrestler that could have hit all sorts of things, he did exactly what he was supposed to serve the match and give the crowd what they were there to see.

Jimmy Rave vs. AKIRA NJPW 5/31/08

MD: Great showing by Rave, who felt like he more than belonged in this setting. I actually kind of loved the layout here, though I wish they leaned just a tiny bit more (not even a ton more) into it with the selling. After an even opening exchange of hard-fought but classy chain wrestling, Rave got knocked to the floor with a dropkick and turned on a dime, as he was so good at doing, by cheapshotting AKIRA as he was opening the ropes for him to get back in. The big turning point after that was Rave catching AKIRA with a gutbuster reversal off a plancha on the floor. Throughout the rest of the match, AKIRA's stomach and Rave's knee would be entry points to cutoffs and comebacks for each wrestler but wouldn't necessarily be overtly sold. They'd have other offensive focuses, but Rave would be able to cut off with a quick knee or by hitting a dropkick counter to shut down a top rope move by AKIRA, while AKIRA got some hope by working Rave's knee after catching him in a tree of woe. It all led to a big spot where Rave got his knees up to counter a top rope splash and both guys ended up reeling to set up the finishing stretch. So it was a big part of the match and interestingly used, but didn't wholly dominate the match as a whole, letting it be other things as well. I still would have liked a little bit more buckling of the knee for the last set of counters, but considering Rave was going over, it probably protected AKIRA a little bit that he didn't show that damage. Anyway, this was a really good showcase for a lot of the different things 2008 Rave could do and could be.

ER: Did you know Jimmy Rave worked a BOSJ? I certainly did not. I somehow remember Rave working Dragons Gate but had no idea he worked some New Japan dates. This match is the same length as the Slim J match down below but paced very differently, working some slower deliberate grappling and saving some bigger spots for the finish. I still think Rave was somehow faster at age 36 than he was at age 26, and it's neat to see how his skillset evolved over the decade. One of his best skills is really committing to running into offense, and it provided some of the best moments here. I love the way he charges into AKIRA's boots and holds his jaw after, occasionally going back to that jaw even while selling his knee later. He's great at taking hard dropkicks right to the chest, never bumping early to cheat. I always praise Jerry Lawler for fully understanding punches, not just how to throw them but how to sell them. Jimmy Rave is like that with clotheslines. 

Rave throws a killer clothesline and lariat, throws excellent missed clotheslines, and takes and sells clotheslines in an incredibly aesthetically pleasing way. Like Lawler, he's also great at taking and selling punches. Watch the way he whips his hair after a few straight AKIRA punches and marvel at how good he is at getting his hair whipped off his face as an incidental fallout from being punched. Next time you see an old HHH match (if you're the type who revisits HHH matches) you'll immediately notice how each hair whip sell just looks like a guy whipping his hair, disconnected from the strike. Rave's running STO is one of my favorite moves and I'm not sure anyone else does one like it. There are plenty of people with bad spears - a move much harder to hit and damaging to your own body - and yet Rave looks like he steamrolls people with his STO. In the same way Bill Dundee would set up his sleeper by hitting a lariat (before wrapping the arm around), Rave throws a lariat into an STO, and it looks awesome. Very cool seeing Rave get a win in a BOSJ tourney, and even cooler to see the ways his game kept evolving. 


Jimmy Rave vs. Slim J SFCW 6/4/16 - EPIC

ER: Man 2016 feels like an eternity ago, and it doesn't help that this may as well have taken place in 2002 Wildside. Slim had a boy band bowl cut and both moved as fast as I've seen them. The best part of Slim J is how he combines his awesome speed with some super hard hit strength, and the best part of Rave is how he uses his surprising speed to shut that down. It's kind of unreal how fast Rave takes Slim J's armdrags. Rave takes an armdrag as fast as I've ever seen Psicosis take one, but Rave also takes his with ring-shaking impact. I'm not sure the last time I rewound armdrags, but I kept wanting to see what Rave was doing and how he was doing it. The speed from both kept surprising me the entire match, like that slick Slim J monkey flip into armbar, done as quickly as possible after Rave had continually rolled to the floor to avoid a lock up. Rave took over with a short clothesline that flipped Slim into an incredible bellyflop, looking like someone running as fast as they could without realizing they were about to hit, well, a literal clothesline. The way Slim's body kept traveling forward after hitting Rave's arm looked like it defied gravity. Rave has so many great tricks and a very impressive spatial awareness, always knowing how close he is to the ropes and right where he needs to be to catch Slim. 

There were some great Rave STO cutoffs, used more like a brick wall that uses Slim's momentum to put him down, Rave shooting forward with his weight at just the right time put Slim hard on his back. Slim bumps hard, runs into offense harder, and makes big impact when it's time for his comeback. He nails Rave with two hard lariats and swings even harder and lower on a miss, but winds up bouncing Rave off his shoulder with a flat footed southern lariat that looked like it would have put down any man. Rave tries to duck Slim again by sliding past the ringpost on an Irish whip, leading to this great moment where Slim - sick of Rave rolling to the floor any time there's a momentum shift - doesn't miss a beat nailing a tope con giro over the post without hardly giving Rave time to turn around and catch him. These two are true highlight reels and always have at least a couple surprises, like Slim deadlifting Rave into a northern lights suplex, or Rave throwing Slim with maybe the farthest flung superplex I've ever seen, practically throwing him into the opposite corner turnbuckles. That Slim's great Manami Roll finish (and how Rave took it) isn't even one the 10 coolest looking things they pulled off here is a testament to their creativity, and you get the sense they could have wrestled a half dozen other times in 2016 and given us something new each time. 

MD: For some reason I figured these two were at least slightly more married to each other in their career. According to cagematch, at least, that really wasn't the case as it says that they hadn't wrestled each other for twelve years before this. It's such a natural, effective pairing though and you wouldn't have known it by this match. Rave, by this point, was so good at the little things, looking out to the crowd during holds, taking his time, maximizing the value of moments, not to mention the great punches and chops. Slim J's always excellent at working from underneath and could pull out that explosiveness and completely change the composition of a match just like that. His bump off of Rave's clothesline was wild, and to be fair Rave paid it back later in the match by taking Slim J's clothesline with really close, snug contact. Despite running the gamut from chain wrestling to strike exchanges to Slim J's crazy flip dive over the turnbuckle, nothing ever felt stilted or inorganic. The best example of that was probably towards the end, after a late strike exchange when each guy rushed to the corner to create distance and build momentum only for the other one to charge after. I wouldn't at all call it no selling which is how that usually plays out; instead you could really feel the ground down desperation at play as they worked to cut the other off before the advantage could shift too far. This came off like an inevitable collision, a match that really just had to happen. Hopefully the 2/3 falls match from a couple of months later is out there as well.

PAS: This is a classic hidden gem, really on the level of the best 2010s juniors matches anywhere. They really felt like classic dance partners, with Rave selling and bumping for everything Slim did perfectly, laying in the leather when necessary and working some complex exchanges pretty organically. The flip dive over the ringpost was insane, and fit perfectly with the pace of the match, Rave protected him really well, but turned right into it without ever having to stand around and wait. What a pair of pros these guys were, roll out of bed after not wrestling each other in a decade and look like a pair of guys touring the country with this match every weekend. 

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New Footage Friday: RAVE~! DANIELSON~! MATTHEWS~ J-ROD~! LEATHERFACE~! GOTO~! COLLYER~! YONE~! RASTAMAN~! TAKESHI ONO!!!!

Leatherface vs Tarzan Goto IWA 3/1/96

MD: Really enjoyable superheavyweight collision from what we could see. We couldn't see everything, but you could fill in the blanks easily enough. This was a straightforward battle, not complicated rocket science. These guys hit like a ton of bricks, with Leatherface using his girth to bully Goto around the ring and Goto using his strength to put a stop to it. We could see things best when they were in two of the corners, but even in missing the impacts on a lot of Goto's elbow drops, you could just tell how intense the impact would be from the set up and drop off screen. He spent a good chunk of the match trying to contain Leatherface since he could monstrously swarm back at any point but was finally able to end it when he landed a few headbutts and controlled the action long enough to launch a clear whip for the clothesline. I wish we could see a bit more of it but what we could see was good stuff.

ER: Some random IWA Japan main event from 25 years pops up featuring another feather in the cap for Tarzan Goto, I'm cool watching the match from the POV of a man hiding underneath chairs while secretly recording pro wrestling. What defines a hero, anyway? This is a testament to how powerful a gas tank Goto had, as there's a lot packed into this 13 minute match and all of it is very active. He hits hard with punches and shoulderblocks, and manages to make every lariat hit harder than the last (they all look finisher worthy). Goto is so active, constantly leaping onto Leatherface's body, dropping heavy horizontal elbowdrops (Goto had the finest elbowdrop form of any native in Japanese wrestling), just ATTACKING Leatherface. And I laugh, thinking of this burly solid Japanese man in a Tarzan singlet working over Leatherface's leg in the backwoods of Texas. 

Rick Patterson is such a presence as Leatherface, and I'm sure we all have early tape trader memories of getting a death match comp and seeing this giant guy named Leatherface running through a gymnasium with a chainsaw. Goto's legwork is pretty violent, and as this is an untaped house show we really get to see how much of a Japanese Finlay he was. Every time he jumped on Leatherface's leg it looked nasty, and while Leatherface is huge, Goto has lariats strong enough to sent him flying over the top to the floor. Leatherface has a cool out of control reckless energy, like how he sends his legs flying as he bumps for those lariats or how he throws the sloppiest missile dropkick...except it's a 6'6 350 lb. man in a mask and wig and jeans and apron attempting to throw a missile dropkick. Goto saves some real dynamite for the finishing stretch, including an insane brainbuster (crazy to even try one on a guy this big). Awesome, weird find.

PAS: The parts of this we saw were pretty dope, just a pair of big corn fed guys pounding on each other. Goto had such certainty and force with everything he did. I loved his little uppercuts, such a great strike, and Leatherface's big looping rights looked great too. I wish we could have seen some of the crowd brawling, I imagine it would have been awesome. Both Goto suplexes looked killer, as did Leatherfaces's awkward tumbling top rope drop kick. I love that this finished with a hooking lariat. Goto threw great ones, and that is the kind of thing that would even drop a giant manifestation of evil. 

Chad Collyer/Rastaman vs. Takeshi Ono/Mohammed Yone BattlArts 6/3/00

PAS: Chad Collyer has been uploading a bunch of cool handhelds from his personal collection. We covered a couple of Danielson matches a while back, and he just dropped another big batch. This is a BattlArts tag which is something we are of course going to jump on. Takeshi Ono is an all time great wrestler with a very limited tape footprint, so new Ono is a celebration. I thought most of this match was a bit meandering, but like most BattlArts tags it ended with a big showdown. This was Rastaman versus Ono and it was pretty damn great. Takeshi unloads the kitchen sink on Rastaman and it is a deep sink. He turns him all around, landing a crazy combo in the corner, a big straight right hand and a furious Octopus attempt. Rasta is so much bigger and he is able to eat all of that, then land a decapitating lariat and an armbar for the tap. This wasn't much up until the finish, but a heck of a finish. 

MD: This took a little bit to get going but became a nice varied sprint once it did. I liked Collyer taking Yone's shots and feeding into Ono's grappling and unveiling a really nice series of leglocks from a number of different entry points. Rastaman was electric whenever he was in there, just a big force that'd either hit something interesting or take something interesting, until the end when Ono looked positively heroic against him, right up until he didn't. 

ER: Active 10 minute tag with everyone throwing stiff strikes and taking bumps on a hard mat. This was a fun showcase for Rastaman, as you get some lumbering presence with actual cool spots. He press slams Ono back into the ring, hits a wild kick combo in the corner that ends with a spinkick across Yone's jaw, he takes some complicated Ono combos and levels him with a lariat, then tries to break Ono's arm in half with the sick trapped neck armbar finish. Collyer was good at absorbing heavy kicks from the Batt duo, with Yone especially going after Collyer's ribs with heavy kicks and dropping him with hard bodyslams. It's a little formless, but that doesn't really matter when guys are running in making up spinning heel kicks on the fly. Cool look into what was happening on some post peak Batt house shows, with regulars still working hard and odd style clash gaijin throwing a wrench into things. 

Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Kyle Matthews vs. J-Rod RPW 7/31/10

MD: Danielson was, in some ways, in the 80s Flair role here. The world revolved around him even though local issues were at play. His presence allowed the promotion to drive them forward. Rave was the TV champ. J-Rod was his biggest challenger. Matthews was his protege. The first two thirds were good with the highlights being the more story-focused work, when Rave and Matthews both ended up in the ring against each other, for instance, or the cracks of miscommunication between them. J-Rod got solid rub just for being there and for outlasting Rave. The match really picked up when it was just Danielson vs Matthews though. Matthews was still a young lion here and this felt like the sort of match that would make him, at least in the territory if not in the wider community. Danielson switched gears when it was just the two of them and went more aggressive and almost heelish, dismantling the arm. It was pretty vicious, masterful stuff, with Matthews having to fight back at a severe disadvantage, but Danielson was super giving in his role, letting him escape from the Cattle Mutilation and giving him not just hope spots but some very good and meaningful nearfalls as well, as well as taking a huge dive. The last ten minutes were an excellent, star-making exercise from both Danielson and a very game Matthews.

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New Footage Friday: Virus! Commando Bolshoi! Ace Rockwell! Jimmy Rave!

Virus vs. Super Nova Nuevo Leon 5/4/08

MD: The problem with Virus is always footage. We have him as a role player in countless trios but save for when he had a title in CMLL and some late career indy matches (which are still great), it's a lot harder to find him in showcase matches. Even the ones we know about often aren't online for people to see (like the Valiente lightning match that I had to put back up recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfqlxHTQrHs). Another problem is that it's a lot easier to search YouTube for "Negro Casas" or "Hijo del Santo" than Virus, but that's sort of beside the point.

Why is footage a problem? Because the guy is bulletproof. He can do just about everything well, but without the footage (or the opportunities), it's tough to make a case for just how good he is. This is him in a supre libre match and he absolutely delivers on all fronts. Because of his diminutive stature, he can take dropkicks straight to the skull, which is how the match starts, but he quickly locks in the vertebreaker (which is a killer move in 2021 but even more so in 2008) to take a quick first fall and the beatdown ensues after that. It's a great one too, with mask ripping, an awesome posting, just tossing Super Nova over the rail into empty seats and wound biting. Everything you'd want in a rudo beatdown, which means when the comeback happens, it's very deserved and very satisfying. It's all the more so when Virus himself goes sailing into the crowd and bleeds a gusher, basing and feeding and catching the whole way. It builds to a tecera with a lot of selling that actually feels warranted for once, and here he plays around with his clever hooking to score some nice nearfalls before they take it home. Great, visceral showing where Virus basically does everything there is to do.

PAS: Virus is undeniable, much of his stuff on tape is super fast and intricate matwork, and world class basing for high flyers, we don't really have a lot of Super Libre brawls, but of course he is brilliant at that as well. I loved the Veterbreaker as a killshot, setting it up in the first fall allows them to tease it big later, with Nova reversing it to get a submission in the segunda. The rudo beatdown was great, opening up Nova's mask and enraging the crowd, we had some great looking lucha libre fan characters, a big old lady who looked like she was going slap Virus, a weird Dee Snider looking rocker who was enraged by his behavior, real weirdos are way cool then internet weirdos. Nova was kind of along for a ride, although he hit a nice asai moonsault, I kind of didn't buy him rolling up Virus for the pin, Virus is a master, can't believe he don't spin out of that weak inside cradle, otherwise this was great.

Jimmy Rave/Mike Posey/Chip Day/Corey Hollis/Sal Rinauro vs. Kyle Matthews/J-Rod/Ace Rockwell/Patrick Bentley/Adrian Hawkins RPW 10/30/11

MD: It's a War Games that breaks all the rules: the babyfaces start with advantage; it ends up 4 on 4 as people get out of the cage (and head to the back, even). There are only pretty much the only two rules to break: heels get the advantage and there's no escaping the cage. The third one would be that color is needed, I guess, but this checked that box. Despite the broken rules, this still pretty much works. How? Because it leans harder into the traditional shine/heat/comeback structure given the booking. There's a clear two-on-one shine on Jimmy Rave, with him begging off, taking his licks, and bleeding early. It looks like the faces are going to cruise through the periods until the turn happens. After that Matthews gets a hope spot for his side until the numbers game overtakes his side (the babyface advantage doubly damns them due to the turn; for a while there it's 4 on 2 and then 5 on 3). I wish the announcers had built the Rinauro issue through the match a bit more, but I'm sure the crowd watching knew what the story was. He played his part well when he came in and by taking both he and Rave out of the match, they evened out the numbers advantage in a way that made the finish possible. On the one hand, I would have rather some things not be fully resolved (like Matthews tapping Bentley; he could have just contained him or beat on him while the submissions were happening and then gotten a real win later on), but I guess they knew what they were doing for that crowd since they were going to be right back in front of it a week later. I'd say they beat the odds and had a good War Games despite breaking the rules, so full credit to them on this one.

PAS: This had a superkick or two too many for a Wargames match. Jimmy Rave Approved were a bunch of fresh faced youngsters here and I think that this would have worked a little better with the later more grizzled versions of these guys, fat greasy haired Chip Day, the Corey Hollis of Yard Call etc. I also think two turns in a War Games is two turns too many. I still was really into this though, the offense looked like it hurt, the blood was really flowing (especially from Ace Rockwell, that guy was a hidden gem of 2000s wrestling, he always rules). Fun to see Matthews, who was always a technician work in this setting, the Hidaka Octopus hold was surprisingly good War Games submission. I did think they need something to change the babyface advantage in War Games so in that sense the turn worked, but you could get around that by not having a babyface advantage. 



Commando Bolshoi vs. Akira Nakajima JWP 3/16/08

MD: A few moments really stand out here to me. The match started with Nakajima just an absolute dynamo of energy, hitting shots from every direction with wild abandon. She finally gets Bolshoi down and is just pounding on her and time seems to slow down as Bolshoi's leg comes around to catch the pounding arm changing the course of the match instantaneously. Nakajima would wrestle the rest of the match favoring her arm and unable to capitalize on her hobbled offense because of it. The second moment has her catching Bolshoi off the ropes with a sweeping takedown only to get punched straight in the face from underneath; from there, Bolshoi did this spinning armtrap from her back before locking in a triangle of sorts that was just magic. There was one point where Nakajima was laying in shots with her hurt arm, but each one took more out of her than the last and there was just an almost tragic sense of inevitability, one that carried over to her lightning pinfall attempts. It all felt like a matter of time in the best way. I think they ultimately went a little too long with this because of that. It probably should have ended with Bolshoi's triangle and not gone back up to the top again, but the stuff from the top was pretty nasty and dramatic, as was Bolshoi's late Tiger Suplex (easily locked in when she was blocked earlier) because Nakajima had nothing but desperation and hope left. Nakajima never gave up but you spent good chunks of this match eagerly waiting for her to get caught to see what Bolshoi would do to her next. While that admittedly says more about us than the match, it also says something about Bolshoi's wizardry here.

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Ravin' on Jimmy; Or, Jimmying on Rave: A Glance at Jimmy Rave

Jimmy Rave vs. Chris Crunk (AWE 9/20/15)

Rave hasn't worked regularly for a major indie (ROH, TNA) since 2009, but since then he has carved out a nice niche working tons of Georgia and other southern indies. He used to looked like Michael Pitt, now he looks like a soft body McPoyle brother. Or perhaps a disgraced low end Culkin sibling. But body matters not to me. And Rave is easily finding a lot of favor with me right now because he is an absolute beast in the ring. This match was already enjoyable during the opening mat game, and then with no warning we hit a brutal 8 minute salvo of Rave attacking Crunk's face with some profane elbows and punches and slaps and some of the hardest clotheslines you've seen since the last Ikeda match you dug up. Rave throws a gorgeous, honest lariat. There's no flubbing the details, no requiring a flip bump, it's just a arm slamming into a chest, somehow not dislodging a shoulder. It's an honest, workmanlike clothesline. He's got long arms and uses all of the arm. And then the strikes. Good heavens the strikes. I don't ever recall "Jimmy Rave: Vicious Striker" being a thing even a few years ago. But he's certainly that now. And he doesn't just steamroll Crunk. He establishes himself as King, allows Crunk to nicely pepper in comebacks, and then goes back to believably demolishing him. We don't devolve into hit me, hit you strike exchange tedium, we have one guy just clearly tougher than the other, and with the finish not really ever in doubt Rave is still able to make Crunk an interesting opponent. Rave has always been an underrated wrestler. Now he's clearly just a really great wrestler.


Jimmy Rave vs. Drew Adler (AWN 1/16/15)


This almost had the feel of a long Flair touring match, where he would go into a town, have a long Flair match with a hunky babyface, and give all the kids and girls plenty of opportunities to root for their local hunky face. Just like those Flair matches you watch them and think they could have shaved several minutes for what they ended up accomplishing, but it's nice having some of those extra minutes and really this didn't feel like a 30 minute match, which is important. Rave is just so damn good that you don't mind seeing 30 minutes of him working his spots in, and finding ways for a face to work in his. Watch his body language when he hits his apron STO, rolls into the ring and immediately signals the ref to start the count while he just takes a breather. Then watch his face when the fans erupt as Adler beats the count, and Rave checks over his shoulder and reacts with a "oh COME on" that the fans eat up. Rave sets up signature stuff so nicely, never making his opponent look like a doof for attempting a move that he normally wouldn't have tried, just so Rave can get his shit in. No he's smarter than that. I loved how they set up the apron STO, with Rave luring Adler out there and blasting him with a chop, then spitting on him to get Adler to throw a right hand which would leave him open to taking the STO. Rave's execution on everything is really great, loved that slick school boy he did out of the corner, knowing exactly how far away from the ropes he was so he could easily stretch a leg back. I'm more and more convinced that Rave has the best current clothesline in wrestling, just a big stiff straight arm with no give. He definitely has the best short arm clothesline. Adler for his part does what he should, feeds into all the comeback spots, hits his pump kicks, has some really fun stuff rolling through pinfalls, ably takes some quite complicated armdrags (man I love Raves armdrags) and gets the well earned win. This was a solidly built long match, really wouldn't have taken tons more for me to think it MOTY listworthy. Touring heel Jimmy Rave is a guy I'd seek out live any chance I got.

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The Wrestling What I Watched in 2007 Pt. 4, by S.L.L.

Nigel McGuinness vs. Jimmy Rave
ROH - 3/4/2007 - Liverpool, England
Fight Without Honor

Oh, Jimmy Rave, how I miss you. Well, I know you're not really gone, but working in TNA with Lance Hoyt is really as good as gone. I'm still amazed that after all the harping about ROH having a health plan when they started signing wrestlers to contracts, it turned out the plan was "if you get hurt and expect to be compensated for it in some way, leave". Well, not amazed, as that's the standard health plan for every wrestling promotion ever, but it makes you wonder why they bothered mentioning it in the first place. Jimmy's stooging here is so good, as it typically is. Liked his turning away and cowering after being backed into the corner. Not an uncommon spot, but Rave is such a great sniveling heel, it has a little extra something coming from him. Nigel controls early, before pulling out a chair from under the ring that gets dropkicked into his own leg. Rave starts slamming the leg into the apron, going to work on it and working towards the Heel Hook. Rave teases pulling Nigel's head into the post like in his match with Dragon from their last trip to Liverpool, but Nigel blocks and pulls Jimmy's shoulder in instead. Nigel slaps Jimmy silly, before pulling out a spare ring barricade. He sets it up across the apron and the other barricades, and Jimmy takes a nasty bump off of a flapjack onto it. Nigel goes back to the chair, but Jimmy takes his leg back out and hits a desperation knee. Nigel does a really good job selling the groin pull in this match, limping and grasping at it just right. Rave drops him with a swinging neckbreaker and sinks in a butterfly lock, but Nigel powers him into the corner. His leg injury slows him, though, and he can't maintain control long. Jimmy's appropriation of the Pedigree as a heel spot is still such an ingenious move. Surprised he didn't add the FU to his arsenal later in his run. Jimmy Rave's missile dropkick sends Nigel rolling back to his feet in the corner, allowing him to block a charge and power Jimmy overhead into the Tower of London for two. Jimmy blocks something onto the still bridged barricade, and turns it into an STO off the apron that bends the barricade in half. I thought judo was supposed to be gentle. Nigel sets the barricade back up on the apron, which is enough to stand it up since it's bent about 90 degrees now. Nigel Tower of Londons Jimmy gut first onto a set up chair, which might have been too nasty a spot at this point in the match for a two-count, but there you go. Nigel gets caught in a fluke takedown into the Heel Hook, which he very nearly taps to after realizing that he can't get a rope break in a Fight Without Honor. He manages to pull himself to his feet, and manages to chop Jimmy off, but downs the referee in the process. Nigel takes Jimmy to the apron, puts him on the top rope, steadies his wobbly legs, and drops him with a Tower of London that pulls Jimmy straight down onto the set-up barricade. And I mean straight down. He took the bump right on his forehead. It was Alzheimer's-inducingly crazy. Nigel rolls him back in for the cover, but the ref is still down (with a busted nose, apparently), and by the time his replacement hits the ring, Jimmy can kick out at two. Both men to their feet, slapfight ensues, Jimmy headbutts Nigel to stun him (which is just about the last thing I'd want to do there if I were him). Jimmy runs the ropes and hits a spear that sends Nigel staggering backwards into the ropes...and then coming out of said ropes with the Rebound Lariat. Jimmy ends his night of blunt physical trauma by underrotating on a backflip bump and landing on the back of his head before Nigel gets the three. Hell of a match, pretty much exactly what you want out of these two. Can't decide if this or the C.M. Punk cage match is Jimmy's best career match. Probably the cage match, as the drama was stronger there, and it had Prince Nana working ring side, which is always a plus. But it's close. And well, Nigel's been as good a worker as anyone in the world this year. This match was all about Jimmy eating hot firey death, but Nigel brought the goods, too, with his selling and babyface charisma. Real good stuff here, ROH always seems to bring the goods in Liverpool.

Jay Briscoe & Erick Stevens vs. El Generico & Kevin Steen, which becomes
The Briscoe Brothers vs. El Generico & Kevin Steen
ROH - 4/14/2007 - Edison, NJ

Hey, The Briscoes and Kevin Steen! I wonder if dudes will get dropped on their heads in this match. This is part two of the best of 9,000,000 series between the Briscoes and Steenerico, which, if I remember correctly, the Briscoes won 8,999,999 to 1. As it happens, this was the 1. A friend of mine made the observation that WWE has been doing this weird thing of late where a guy becomes #1 contender to a title, loses to the champ, but then keeps the contendership for some reason and keeps challenging for months on end before they finally win the belt. Think MVP vs. Benoit, Matt Hardy vs. MVP, and Batista vs. three different guys over the course of a year. And really, ROH has been doing the exact same thing this year, particularly with Nigel vs. Morishima and this feud, probably the most egregious example. The big difference here, of course, is that the eternal challengers never actually took the belts this time. I don't know whether that makes it better or worse. It's less predictable, but then it also makes you wonder what the point of dragging it out that long was. Still, if the matches are as good as people say they were, I suppose I can't complain. Still, it's weird booking. At least when the WWE does it, you get the sense it's because they run 800 PPVs a day, and they don't have much time to develop new rivalries in the several seconds between them. With ROH, it just makes it seem like their roster is shallow. Yes, yes, I know, their roster is pretty shallow right now, but you don't have to rub it in our faces. So, yeah, the match. Erick Stevens is pretty good. I was at the show on Long Island the night before this, where Aries brought Stevens into The Resilience (and where he announced the name "The Resilience", which drew a collective "WHAT!?" from the audience), and Stevens sort of accidentally turned into a local hero overnight with the "Choo-Choo!" bit. I'm from Huntington Station. My entire town's identity is built around the LIRR. Most of Long Island can get down with a train-themed wrestler. He also hits dudes hard and seems to have a good grasp on basic crowd control, so I'm happy to see that he's making it to some degree. Anyway, I just wanted to mention that before the No Remorse Corps ran in and Stevens got powerbombed onto the gaurdrail by Roderick Strong. Strong then casually turns to the camera and tells the viewing audience to "buy the shirt". I know it's not cool to like the No Remorse Corps, but I'd be lying if I didn't say they can do some fun heel shtick. Steen and Generico go to work on Jay, including a nice standing moonsault by Generico and a nasty standing Harlem Hangover by Steen. Deuling "Mr. Wrestling/Let's Go Briscoe" chant leads to Steen cupping his ear and covering Jay's in time, which was cute. This has been surprisingly tame vis-a-vis Fire Pro offense so far, which is fine by me, since they're about to be joined by a dude recovering from serious head trauma, and these guys' basic offense all looks really good. Crowd rallies behind Jay, who elbows out of a chinlock, runs the ropes, ducks a clothesline, rolls under another, and hits a superkick that Steen takes a great turning falling redwood bump off of. Think Bald Bull in "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!" when you down him with a jab to the face. Jay has to pull double duty as house afire, dropkicking Generico, sending Steen out of the ring, and then dropping Generico again with a release gourdbuster. Jay gets Generico up into a military press, but Generico slips behind him and pushes him to Steen, who tosses him up flapjack-style and catches him with a powerbomb. Generico looks to get the tag as Mark Briscoe runs out from the crowd and inserts himself into the match. Steen waves "hello" as he slingshots double stomps Jay. What a great dick this guy is. Steenerico goes for Doomsday Something, but Jay punches his way out, pushes Steen into the corner to crotch Generico on the top turnbuckle, and then tosses Steen overhead with a release German suplex before getting the hot tag to Mark. Mark hits a springboard dropkick before going house afire with his Tracy Smothers-inspired redneck chop-sockey offense. Jay looks for a J-Driller on Generico, but Generico escapes into and armbar, runs up the ropes and leaps off into a swinging DDT. Steen comes in and decides it's time to make with the headdroppery, scoring a Ki Krusher onto his own knee, which was as mean-looking as you might imagine. Mark Briscoe takes a lot of blows to the head in his match, including eating a half-nelson suplex, a yakuza kick, and another half-nelson suplex from Generico in quick succession, and while my conscious mind can recognize how stupid he is for doing this, years of wrestling fandom have left me dead inside to the point where I can't register the level of disgust that I kinda feel I should be able to. Steen pulls Mark to the outside and throws him head first into the guardrail, which Mark bumps off of and lands on the back of his head on the concrete. Jesus. Jay tries to help Mark up, but Steen bowls right into him, driving him into the guardrail. He throws Mark back into the ring and drops him with the Package Piledriver, which is like the seventh or eighth nastiest blow to Mark's dome in this match, before before rolling him to Generico for the winning brainbuster. It was a great match, don't get me wrong. Generico has become really, really good as of late, the Briscoes are great when they reel it in enough, and Steen's improved a lot, and he did some great heeling here. But I feel like a bad person after watching this match. I mean, I guess I should feel that way after every wrestling match, but this just rubs it in your face.

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ROH Driven PPV review

Resilience v No Remorse Corps:

TKG: I dug this a bunch I'm always a fan of the spotfest as opener format. This was filled with guys who I actively don't like and for some reason they kept on matching up Romero and Cross which didn't help to hide either of their flaws. But the advantage of this type of quick multiperson spotfest was it got guys in and out quickly. Guys hit their spots and then get out of the way, guys who are tempted to work, everything is even, matches are forced to work man down and sell for the two on ones,etc. Davey Richards was perfectly fine in this and both Delirious and Erick Stevens delivered. Roderick Strong who is normally the best guy on his team looked really really off for large chunks of this. But even with the an off Strong and the pairing of Romero/Cross this was a format that meant none of that really hurt the match. Post match-Austin Aries does some babyface mic work and they need to get a real sound-man for these shows.

PAS: Yeah Strong looked actively terrible here, which is kind of weird. He blew a missed clothesline by actually clotheslining the guy, which is actually kind of unique. I liked this way more then I thought I would considering how much I dislike most of the guys in it. Stevens especially looked really good, in a type of match that isn't really his thing. I think they should have shaved off a minute or two at the end, as they had a two count or two too many.

Claudio Castagnoli v Matt Sydal

TKG: This had some spectacular spots, Castagnoli takes the Chris Hamerick/Fuerza bump, and Sydal eats a giant swing better than I've ever seen anyone eat a giant swing as his face goes through multiple guy trying to hold down his lunch on a roller coaster variations. But this was disappointing. Both guys are guys who can work multiple speeds. Guys who can move from fast to slow to concentrated fast to medium, etc. Both guys can do and sell for nice mat work, both guys know how to do and sell for good brawling strike sections. Both are guys who can work face and heel and here instead they worked just super match up and those are completely forgettable outside the spots. Part of the format of starting show with fast 6 man spotfest is that you slowly move away from that opening speed. Second match at same speed as first means they start to run together.

PAS: I had similar problems with this as Tom. This really could have used some face/heel structure, so it would be something besides just spot after spot. Still I guess for the post match angle to work, this needs to be worked as a scientific face v. face match. I would rather see Bret Hart as a face working Buzz Sawyer as a heel, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy them exchanging gut wrench takedowns in their Georgia match. I guess intricate headscissors are the 2007 version of gut wrench takedowns.

TKG: Post match Larry Sweeney does mic work to sign Sydal up for a contract and I really liked the almost parallelism of Austin Aries signing contract to Ring of Honor-this place that values and respects the wrestlers and the fans, while heel Sydal signs contract with Sweeney who represents lack of respect and sportsmanship. Larry Sweeney has never facially looked or sounded as much like Christopher Love.

Naomichi Marifuji v BJ Whitmer-

TKG: Lenny Leonard tells me all about the backstory of Marifuji and how he has held every title in NOAH including the "prestigious" GHC belt and he tells me Whitmer's backstory and then he announces "this will be a very even matchup". Really? They are going to run an even match-up between the guy they are putting over as a GHC title holder and the guy who is working a PPV loosing streak leading to joining an Adam Pierce stable.??? I guess working 50/50 opposite former GHC title holder is better than last PPV where Whitmer took 60 against current ROH title holder. Still this was shitty and the half that Whitmer was in control for was ugly and the half where Whitmer was eating stuff wasn't a ton better. This was worked really even and started fine but quickly went to shit. They did lots of bad looking strike exchanges which only reminded me of how much the last match could have used some strike exchanges.

PAS: I didn't hate this as much as I hated either guys previous PPV match, but that is damning with pretty faint praise. Whitmer is a guy who is clearly someone who started tape trading about 1998, I bet I sold him a Schneider Comp at some point. He jumps between 1998 Big Japan bumps, and 1998 All Japan suplex exchanges. He doesn't do either particularly well, but his channeling of a 1998 Kobashi v. Akyama match is the shittier of the two. Marifuji was probably a ring boy at that point so he can run through a shitty approximation of one of those matches. Also Marifuhji has some goofy fucking offense, less like he is channelling Misawa and more like channeling Cheech and or Cloudy. There is a point where Whitmer crotches himself on the top rope, where he actually crotched himself before Marifuji made contact with the ropes. One of the problems with both PPV's so far has been that all the matches are too similar, they don't break up the high impact stuff with mat based matches or comedy matches. I guess your poorly executed Whitmer match is in the spot on the card where Colt Cabana v. Kikutaro used to go.

Pelle Primau v. Brent Albright

PAS: I like the idea of introducing someone new by having them brutal squash a jobber, it is basically how they introduced Steen and Generico on the last PPV, and it works well here too. Albright is a shitty guy to showcase, as he looks like Joey Fatone with an HGH belly, but this is a fine way to showcase him.

TKG: Yeah this was fine. Primau eats stuff well and Albright hit his stuff well. They should have worked the Whitmer v Morishima match more like this. This was also helped by just being the only uneven match on the show thus far and just being paced differently from everything else on the show.

Briscoes v. Kevin Steen/El Generico

PAS: I liked this better then the Briscoes match on the last PPV, as Kevin Steen is really good at working heel, and you do want to see him get his pasty face kicked in. The match meandered a bit in the beginning, as Generico worked face in peril, which he isn't very good at, and he wasn't a face. Still when they got kicking with their Briscoes finish it was something to see. Jay's Cactus clothesline was awesome, and the beel into the chairs was a great street fight execution of a signature spot. Jay should really stop using the press slam DVD as a set up move, but I liked this a bunch and it makes me want to see all of their garbage match rematches.

TKG: Yeah this was the best thing on the show thus far. It had the face/heel dynamic that was missing from the last PPV tag match. Had less Marc insanity though. Being paced like everything else made it not stand out as much as it should have but it was fun crazy tag with nice hateful crowd brawling. Generico as faceish member of his tag team working heel in peril didn't work to well for me either but Generico looked pretty great in everything else he did. It really feels like he needs to go the Jimmy Jacobs route and move on in terms of gimmick. This type of match can feel like it has excessive near falls or goes, this didn't. Outside of the press slam DVD for two that set up the finisher, this really felt like it ended right where it should end.

TKG: I liked both the backstage Sweeney and Adam Pearce promos, both a lot better than their promos from last PPV.

PAS: Adam Pearce's Kevin Sullivan stuff doesn't work with his black button up shirt and blue jeans. He needs a robe or something. It doesn't work with a guy dressed like a middle manager at a sports bar.

Takeshi Morishima v. Jimmy Rave

PAS: I don't like the Morishima 3 minute squash, where opponent still gets all of his signature offense in, match formula at all. Still Rave takes crazy bumps on the clothesline and backdrop so this was better then the Whitmer match. Still it is a dumb formula.

TKG: It should also be said that Rave's spear and other offense looks alot nastier than Whitmer's offense. Bad formula, but like the Albright squash, this still felt different enough to other matches that it was satisfying.

Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuiness

PAS: Man alive, this is how you end a PPV. These guys have a real formula worked out with each other, and it is really great to see how they adjust that formula in their different matches. I loved all of the opening matwork, all of the stuff with Nigel in the guard, and Danielson digging his knuckles into the temple was spectacular, I loved how they did the MMA spots, but made them pro-wrestlingy. I thought the selling in this match was actually pretty top shelf. Nigel often works restarts into his big matches, but here he kind of did mini-restarts throughout the match, toughing his way through moves he normally does easier. The fighting into the Tower of London was especially awesome. This match really felt like it was the stylistic offspring of all of those Regal v. Benoit matches, like this was the main event match those two never got to have with each other. Of course it is hard to watch both of these guys slam their heads into each other until they bleed without thinking about ghosts. Still great art is often tinged with tragedy, and this is the best piece of wrestling art this year.

TKG: Yeah this was pretty spectacular. And this is what you watch ROH for. So I complained earlier about everything on this PPV being worked at same pace. Instead of starting with a hot multiperson spotfest opener, slowing down to a technical match, then doing a brawl followed by a comedy match, followed by your big hard hitting main event...they instead ran with lots of even stuff, worked all at the same breakneck level and a couple squashes. And I could see there being a market of people who were upset that TNA didn't just build around the X-division but that market isn't me. This is what I want to see and I imagine that people who enjoy the other stuff on the show should enjoy this too. There were parts of the main which were really Regal v Benoitish and parts which were really about All Japan cumulative selling. For a match to determine who gets to challenge for the title it really was worked like a title match. The previous two Nigel v Danielson matches were worked essentially with Danielson as the man and Nigel as challenger to the man. Danielson had the title then. Here Danielson doesn't have the title and its not quite that you feel like he's the guy challenging, but the dynamic is completely changed. Here he isn't guy fighting to protect and hold onto his title, instead he is guy who has to take the title shot away from Nigel. The match moves really nicely from mat section to hard hitting section to throw section to dives into brawling section to your post-back dropped on guard rail back selling stretch to final strikes finish. The match never really feels broken up as you don't have a sense that you are in one section as it just it all flows from one to the other as both guys sell the cumulative punishment as they try to win. Great main event and it feels like this PPV top to bottom is probably a much better advertisement for ROH than the last one. I think even if your only exposure to Morishima was from these PPVs, you'd leave this one excited about Morishima v Danielson. So not only a good advertisement for their other product but also good advertisement for next PPV.

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Phil's Ongoing 2007 MOTY List

1. Nigel McGuinness v. Samoa Joe ROH 3/3
2. John Cena v. Umaga WWE 1/28
3. Nigel McGuinness v. Takeshi Morishima ROH 4/14
4. Samoa Joe v. Takeshi Morishima ROH 2/16
5. Shawn Micheals v. John Cena WWE 4/23
6. Solar 1/Mano Negra v. Negro Navarro/Black Terry Lucha Libre VIP 3/10
7. MNM v. Hardy Boyz WWE 1/28
8. Briscoes v. Ricky Marvin/Kontaro Suzuki NOAH 1/21
9. Finlay v. Undertaker 3/6 WWE
10. Briscoes v. Kevin Steen/El Generico ROH 4/14
11. Colt Cabana v. Jimmy Jacobs ROH 2/24
12. Takeshi Sasaki v. Yuki Miyamoto BJW 3/14
13. John Cena v. Shawn Michaels WWE 4/1
14. Shinjiro Ohtani/Takao Omori/Kazunari Murakami v. Kohei Sato/Hirotaka Yokoi/Yoshiro Takayama Zero 1 1/19
15. Davey Richards/Roderick Strong v. Jack Evans/Delirious ROH 4/14
16. Nigel McGuiness v. Jimmy Rave ROH 3/4
17. Yuji Nagata v. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJ 4/13
18. Matt Hardy v. Ken Kennedy WWE 3/13
19. Samoa Joe v. Eddie Kingston FSM 3/17
20. Undertaker v. Batista WWE 4/1
21. BJ Whitmer v. Jimmy Jacobs ROH 1/27
22 Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone v. Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio NOAH 4/1
23. Necro Butcher v. Toby Klien CZW 1/13
24. Chris Benoit v. Chavo Guerrero WWE 1/16

9. Finlay v. Undertaker 3/6 WWE

Finlay cuts a promo before this match claiming to show no fear of the Undertaker. Usually that means the guy cutting the promo will end up making cooning terrified faces, but Finlay actually wrestles the match like he isn't afraid. This was pretty much a slugfest, like Undertaker v. Batista, but with better slugging. I have never seen the Undertakers punches look better, and I assume that is because of Finlay was leaning in. You actually kind of buy this guy as the best pure striker in WWE history. The other crazy thing about this is how good the Undertaker's selling was. Finlay's offense was built around working over Taker's ribs and everything he did was labored, he still executed his moves but he had clearly fight through the pain. Finlay even gets a visual pin on Undertaker which is pretty unprecedented. Finlay hasn't really had the opportunities this year, like he had in 2006, but when he does get a chance to go 20, you can still see how awesome he is. Also super in shape Undertaker is really creepy looking, he has the tan and definition, but with an old man face, he looks way more like current Vince then someone who is actually scary looking. Would the personification of death really be this cut? Are their Ballys Total Fitness in Hell?

17. Matt Hardy v. Ken Kennedy WWE 3/13

One of the more amusing WWE stories in recent years is the elevation of NOVA of all people to the head of talent development. You can really see his influence in the new batch of young superstars, as MVP, C.M. Punk and Kennedy all really wrestle a late 90's indy wrestling tape watcher style. They all do lots of moves, with the moves not being executed particularly well or done in context. Matt Hardy is a guy who had a bunch of good matches in Super 8's so he knows how to do something with a guy sloppily applying an indian deathlock. Hardy was great here spearing Kennedy to the floor, taking big bump and completely handholding Kennedy through opening matwork. It actually kind of looked like Negro Navarro working green AULL guys. Hardy's selling made this, Kennedy worked over the leg and Hardy was limping badly through the whole match, even having to be held up by the ref post match.

16. Nigel McGuiness v. Jimmy Rave ROH 3/4

This was a Fight Without Honor, which is ROH's big feud ending stipulation, and is basically a No DQ match. What it normally means is that guys are going to huge bumps, and huge bumps were absolutely taken, especially by Jimmy Rave who really died a couple of horrible deaths and ended up with a broken jaw. They worked a bunch of stuff based around a guardrail, Rave takes a Estrada bump on the rail, and ends up getting the Tower of London on the rail which is completely insane looking. Nigel was also really fun, he was playing an enthusiastic regional babyface, and was almost playing a Lawler role. Still despite all of the hot death, I never really got the sense of hate and violence, that I got from your Jimmy Jacobs ROH garbage matches, it felt a little like an exhibition of insane bumps and sick clotheslines. Also Rave really shouldn't have gone back on offense at all after that Tower of London on the rail, that should end a match, you shouldn't have a guy throwing headbutts afterwards. Rave also took enough of the lions share of the beating, that it almost babyfaces him. Any offense he has in the end part of the match feels more like a hope spot, then any sense of danger for Nigel.

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