Found Footage Friday: 1991 WWF TAPING~!

WWF London Ontario 2/16/91

MD: This is all new save for the Crush vs. Butch match, and therefore, we'll cover the rest.

Koko B. Ware vs. The Barbarian

MD: Early on, Lord Alfred talks about seeing a young, young Barbarian in Puerto Rico when he was wrestling there with Monsoon and I wish we had 70s Lord Alfred in Puerto Rico. Ah well.

This was very good, especially the early feeling out process. They framed each and every exchange well, Barbarian's early strength (holding him up in a one-handed choke, which you never seen), and then Koko chipping away at him with dropkicks, until he went sailing over the top and menaced the camera man. Back in the ring, Koko was able to fire back with shots to the face, but Barbarian hefted him over the top and then crushed him against the post on the outside and that was that. 

Pretty good face-in-peril with some nice hope spots (including a sunset flip in). The nerve hold could have been a little more active, maybe, but the crowd came up for Koko getting the elbows in on his comeback. That got cutoff but then Barbarian missed an elbow drop and Koko was back in it. They actually had me on a couple of the nearfalls even though intellectually, I knew there was no way Koko won this one. Barbarian won it with a hotshot out of nowhere, which really did feel like the ultimate match-ender for this time period. A guy ends up with his throat draped over the top and it's over.

ER: I was impressed with how well Koko overcame the size difference here. 1991 is some Peak Gas WWF (see how fucking jacked Bushwhacker Butch is in the match after this) and Barbarian looks immovable. Well, Koko moved him real well and threw babyface punches so good that they believably kept moving him. I love Koko, a great sympathetic babyface seller who knew how to take bumps that garner even more sympathy. His low fast backdrop to the floor made the bump look more tough and his selling once he was on the floor built it more. Barbarian will slam your spine into the ringpost but a great salesman like Koko will make it look truly backbreaking. Koko has two strong nearfalls: an inside cradle that was pulled off quick, and his missile dropkick which was done well enough that I bit on it as a finish. He took Barbarian's hotshot finish so exuberantly that the top rope practically touched the bottom. Frankie wasn't there to see the loss. 

Ted Dibiase vs. Jimmy Snuka

MD: Pretty interesting point in time and space here as Snuka actually got on the mic and brought out Virgil to Dibiase's horror. Virgil was super over as you can imagine. Once this got going, it didn't wear out its welcome. Dibiase got sneak attacked by Snuka while distracted and then everything he tried for the next couple of minutes backfired on him. Honestly, this is as good as I can remember seeing Snuka look in this run and so much of it is due to the set up. Dibiase did take over by getting a gutshot up to counter a double axe-handle, and they built to Dibiase trying to suplex him in and Virgil grabbing the leg to set up the upset. Dibiase got rocked by him post match. Very effective, crowd-pleasing stuff to help get over what they were doing with Virgil.

ER: Agree that this feels like the best 1991 Snuka, but a lot of that felt like the best 1991 Dibiase. This was a basic 1991 Offense WWF match that Dibiase was working like an All Japan match. He took extra, probably unnecessary, snap off every surface Snuka bounced him off. Dibiase made every connection an impact, dedicated to making every slam into a turnbuckle look brain scrambling. He could have gotten away with going lighter on the 2nd night of a week straight of house shows. Snuka had timing and Weird Buff Old Guy energy, using simple offense like clubbing hands, and "grabbing Dibiase to shove him into a thing". I can't recall when I've been so impressed by someone getting their head bounced off the ring apron. Jimmy Snuka was in his late 40s and moved older than that, but Dibiase made him feel like a fighter. 

The camera doesn't film his fistdrops from the best angle but he does three of them and we keep seeing each one from a slightly different too close angle, and by the third it felt like a cool look at the up close magic form of his fistdrop. He was a guy whose Ace Worker status dipped after we watched the Mid South footage, a guy who plays incredibly in the greatest matches of all time but doesn't hold up in the weekly TV. But I'm quite high on 90s Dibiase. He started working more like Arn Anderson and I thought he was great. I love '93 Dibiase. He stands out in unique ways from the other strong WWF heel workers from that year (Doink, Michaels, Headshrinkers, Yokozuna) and takes his impact bumping to All Japan and locks it in until his injury. Ted Dibiase is destined to become one of our wrestlers whose discourse constantly waffles between overrated and underrated until we die, but I think any unearthed 90s footage has only added to his case as a great worker. 

Gen. Adnan vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

MD: I don't remember seeing a singles match between these two make tape during this run but I could be wrong. It's one of those things you'd see in house show results and wonder how they did it. Now we know. A lot of "Back to Iraq" chants by Duggan. Adnan snuck up on him with the turban, choked him, got slammed, and ate the three-point stance clothesline. Another crowd-pleaser but now we know what it'd look like at least.

ER: To think, looking like a reasonable facsimile to Saddam Hussein would get you a certain death gimmick as a decoy in one part of the world, while in another part it could net you a plum late career WWF gig. I have a ton of respect for Adnan Al-Kaissie's 90s WWF run. You're in your early 50s, haven't worked WWF since your 30s, and you happen to look like a dictator from the country you're from and don't have to get in actual shape for the gig. You get to have one minute matches on house shows where fans watch Saddam Hussein get no offense in on America (OR Canada!!) before quickly losing. It all ends with a main event PPV gig opposite Hulk Hogan. Also you get to wear incredible boots. It's one of wrestling's greatest gigs ever and should be celebrated as such. How many wrestlers get the chance to work in front of 20,000 people in a main event, ever, in their careers, let alone in their 50s? I wonder what his Summerslam paycheck looked like compared to Virgil's. 

Rick Martel vs. Jake Roberts

MD: Martel on the mic with just a few words about how everyone was jealous to ensure he wouldn't get any Canadian cheers. Jake had the blue and gold cobra crotch tights. Important everyone knows that. 

Very fun early. Martel ambushed but crashed into the post on a shoulder block attempt. Jake started on the arm, including lifting him up and holding him there for a second, and punches. Best part was when he faked high, causing Martel to duck, and then kneeled down to punch the model in the face. Big sell of the nose. Big pop. Jake really bathed in the DDT chants too, milking them.

Martel's control, after using the ref as a stalking horse, wasn't as interesting, but he had some good cut offs at least. Jake ended up trapped in the ropes as Martel went for Arrogance, but he got out while the ref was fighting with him and hit the DDT. He took forever, absolutely forever, to creep over and pin him. 

ER: It was truly stunning to watch how long Jake took to pin Martel after the DDT. They were both down so long that the ref started counting both down. I have no idea why Jake was down so long. He set up the DDT with a long stretch of being stuck in the ropes just like Andre, doing great physical work of stretching out his body as he tried to pull both arms out of the ropes. His physical work was so good, his selling for Martel so emotive, and his post DDT crawl was the slowest thing you have ever seen. 

Undertaker vs. Tugboat

MD: I don't have a lot to say about this but it's a great example of how the initial heel run Undertaker had total commitment to his character. He moved like a lurching zombie, ever creeping forward. It was a great act and has been rarely emulated. You could push him back but he'd keep coming in a way that was sort of unnerving. When they shoot to the audience for Superstars/Challenge matches and show scared kids, they were scared for a reason. And then, when least expected, like in the finish here, he'd do something extra quick or agile and it'd go from creeping doom to jump scare. Here it was vaulting over the top rope so he could climb up, take a few steps and hit an elbow drop to beat Tugboat. 

ER: Marvel at the front row of Very Canadian Men who all seemed amused/confused by the Undertaker. None of them understood what it was they were supposed to be seeing and silently stared accordingly. Imagine if zombie heel Undertaker actually worked like a heavyweight and hit like he was a big man. He could have been one of the scariest heels of all time. By the time he learned how to strike 15 years later he was incapable of ever being a heel. He had a kick to the ribs that was so light he may have confused people into thinking he was portraying a ghost who is incapable of making physical contact with our realm. His backward leap into the ringpost is a cool bump in theory but he doesn't know how to give it weight or impact. Tugboat is the one of the two who felt like a guy with potential. His powerslam has rotation that makes it feel big but a controlled landing that safely drops a 300 pound zombie. When Tugboat hit and then missed his leaping avalanche I was thinking how much more agile he was than Taker, but just then Taker leapt over the top rope to the apron and got to the top rope so fast that it was like I was watching a wrestler I'd never seen before. Taker's rope walk elbowdrop finisher was a cool piece of his arsenal that felt like a dead man falling off a roof. 

Brooklyn Brawler vs. Virgil

MD: One thing I appreciate about the Brawler's act is that they let him come out with Yankees gear. My guess is that if he came around today, he'd have Brawler written on his shirt instead. 

He did a good job of showing fear of Virgil early, which only helped him be over with the crowd. They had a nice bit of rope running with multiple leapfrogs too. In general, this went longer than it should have. Virgil took some big bumps including one through the ropes to the floor, but I do think this was set up to give him some ring time selling. The match was sacrificed to prep him for future matches which makes total sense. He won it with a power slam which is not a move you usually associate with him. 

ER: This era of Virgil's work was so weird. This match was smack dab between his babyface turn on Dibiase at the Rumble, and their big WrestleMania match next month. It is the only match Virgil worked in February. No matter your thoughts on Virgil's in ring, it is undeniable how well his babyface turn got over. Listen to the response he gets from the people of Ontario! This is a man they are rooting for! He hasn't wrestled as much as you might think for being on WWF TV for so many years, but he wrestles like a guy who is barely trained while also wrestling like a trained wrestler who is wrestling as an untrained wrestler. You see glimpses of a man who can't run the ropes, who throws clotheslines like he's only seen them portrayed in children's drawings, but also see a man who throws himself into big babyface bumps and knows how to use them to draw sympathy. His bump flying through the ropes with nothing slowing him down, back bump past the mats and onto the London Gardens floorboards, was the best bump on the show and kept his reaction peak. But he also took a "hard way" bump back into the ring that I thought was among the best of its kind. His powerslam looked terrible. 

Brawler is a worker I like more whenever I rewatch him. Any era. Virgil gets a great reaction for a bizarrely scarce post-turn match, but Brawler is great at keeping them interested in Virgil all match. What's the best Lombardi match? Is there a consensus? I think Tom once sold me on an Abe Knuckleball Schwartz/123 Kid match.  I don't think this one would be in the discussion for Best Lombardi match but it's a great showing and a professional handling of the green veteran Virgil. 

Hart Foundation vs. Power & Glory

MD: These two teams were very well matched. Bret started with Roma, lots of rope running ending with him catching him on a leapfrog and then hitting the inverted atomic drop/clothesline combo. Herc outpowered him but didn't outpower Anvil. He did catch Bret off the ropes and took over accordingly. They worked over Bret's back including some nice Roma backbreakers. We rarely get close up footage without commentary like this and you could hear how vocal Herc and Roma were in rooting for one another. To set up the hot tag, Bret climbed across the mat on his back using the ropes. Great stuff. Finish had Roma cut off the Hart Attack and Neidhart cut off the Powerplex and then everything spill out to the floor for a double countout. Post-match Harts ran P&G off but it mostly set up a second encounter. 

ER: This should have been better but there was a really great Bret/Roma match in the middle of a good enough tag match with a bad finish. I don't know if I've watched the Bret/Roma singles matches but now I'm going to, but if there are Hercules/Anvil matches I can probably skip them. This was two FTR teams that are better than FTR working a so so FTR match. I wonder what Bret's thoughts were about he and Anvil working over Herc's shoulder only for it to build to a Hercules gorilla press slam? That's the kind of backwards set up that Bret never wants to take part in, while feeling like a sequence Bret was mapping out. Bret matches don't build to the heel press slamming the babyface after getting his shoulder pummeled. 

Is P&G the best era of Paul Roma? Has to be. It's crazy they kept trying to make him a babyface. He looks so untrustworthy. He'd assault your girlfriend at a party while you were in the bathroom. Power & Glory Roma was fully in his element. The Bret/Roma stuff works so well because he's essentially working a heel Bret style, if Bret were a greasy forcible sexual assaulter. The snap was the same, the heel bumping was the yin to Bret's baby bumping yang. He's a great punch taker, a truly hateable piece of scum like Tully Blanchard who moves similar to Tully as well. I loved the work from everyone when Roma ad Hercules were tying Bret up in a bearhug; Bret's selling was compelling, Roma's bearhug was even better than Hercules', and Roma worked a false tag far better than you'd ever think from someone who teamed with Jim Powers. I don't remember the last time I saw a team work a modern false tag spot without also doing it with a I'm A Heel wink. Roma wasn't out for glory, he had business to take care of. 

The finish stunk, but there was a tremendous reveal while setting up the late match Hart Attack: The way it was filmed, you couldn't see where Roma was. He got knocked off the apron into the guardrail but his location couldn't be seen. As Bret started his run into the opposite ropes, he was expertly kept off camera to preserve the mystery behind whether Bret would hit it or whether Roma would make it back in time to grab his ankle. It was the latter, but until Bret went down it looked like he was gearing up to take Hercules' head off. 

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Ultimate Warrior

MD: I know we already had one or two of these Sarge w/Sherri matches but I haven't seen them for a bit so I couldn't tell you how similar this was. All I generally remember is Sarge bumping all over the place and Sherri dying at the end. This starts with her doing a saluting ceremony with Sarge on the floor after Warrior runs in, including putting the title up to her waist to taunt him, and it's good stuff. Warrior gets Sarge's helmet and goes nuts with it which is also good stuff. 

Warrior chases Sherri around including the usual 1991 high culture bits of them coming out from under the ring with him having undressed her. That lets Sarge take over though and there's a pretty long heat which is well done. Sherri works her ass off helping and cheering on Sarge, especially in a never-ending Camel Clutch. That's going to end with him shrugging Sarge off of course. What's surprising is that the cut off has Sarge getting his knees up. They really make Warrior work for the comeback, which makes it all the more frustrating when he shoves the ref for basically no reason once he does come back. Post-match, he continues to cause havoc including the press slam on Sherri. It's impressive how much they got out of this honestly. 

ER: Sherri was looking THIS hot on Canadian house shows!? That's the major takeaway from this match, which was such a "should have been better" match that I feel I was too quick to give Hart Foundation/Power & Glory that title. Sarge looked more washed than I remember - great bumps still, including his classic over the ringpost that I love so much - with sludgy offense where he looked afraid to fall over too fast. His stomps and some of his other offense looked like he was working a kid with progeria, not as gassed up freak sporting his dumbest haircut in a lifetime of dumb haircuts. Warrior comes as close as humanly possible to hitting a 50 yard head of steam Pounce on a ringside cameraman who sprinted out in front of him like a wild rabbit. Warrior was only going to do so much to avoid him and this guy came about 3 inches from being driven brutally into the guardrail. It would have been the highlight of this event. The Canadian crowd clearly had no idea how they were expected to react to Warrior assaulting Sherri both physically and sexually, but they rightly sat in uncomfortable silence while he hit his hardest offense of the match on her, dropping her from his gorilla press with a real flop, then actually stepping on her as he exited the ring. I wonder how many in attendance had actually seen a woman this hot before. A satin pink teddy with black thigh highs? Girl, Detroit is thataway. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE 305 LIVE

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Found Footage Friday: AJPW HANDHELDS~! TIGER MASK II~! FURNAS~! SNUKA~! TAKANO~! TENTA~! SPIVEY~! ACE~! RICH~! SLATER~!

Tiger Mask II vs. Doug Furnas AJPW 10/28/88

MD: This was a sprint that went just a little over five minutes, but if I was Baba, I would have come out of this wondering if I hadn't found the Dynamite Kid for my Tiger Mask. They'd teamed against each other during the tour (with Furnas teaming with Kroffat and an Oates trainee "Greg/Craig Brown"), but this was their first singles match. I'm not saying that the same sort of chemistry was there because Misawa just didn't exactly have a ton with anyone while under the mask, and Furnas was more dropkicks and backflips than anything else, but he had that explosiveness when he landed on his feet that made me wonder if there might not have been some money in the pairing as they were at this point. In Furnas, Misawa had someone to bounce off of who could also keep up with him. After this (and partially due to Misawa's injury in 89) they wouldn't face off again until 90. By that point, fate had them moving in very different directions.

John Tenta/Shunji Takano vs. Tiger Mask II/Jimmy Snuka AJPW 12/16/88

MD: They told a little story here by having Tenta take out both TM and Snuka with dropkicks only to errantly hit Takano at the end, which led to a neat moment of Tenta catching Snuka off the top (no small feat!) and Misawa following it up with a missile dropkick to knock him over for the win. Takano looked sharp in there. I think he'd have a better sense on how to use his size against varying opponents a year later, but he was big and lanky and agile with a nice dropkick and superkick. He took the Snuka leapfrog/chop shot with a skidding bump across the ring too. Tenta was further along sooner than I remembered too, having a couple of surprising agility spots but generally just asserting himself like you'd want him to and he had the elbow drop already. The best bit by Misawa here was a stubborn assault on Takano, knocking him out of the ring with a baseball slide, doing another, and then not quite hitting a tope but just charging at him between the ropes headfirst never leaving the ring. Snuka didn't do much, but then he never does at this stage of his career, just his signature spot, grinding things down with a hold, and then whatever's necessary for the finish. He did get a run of throat shots on Tenta followed up by a bodyslam but it didn't have the build you'd want for such a momentous spot. This was more of a novelty than anything else, but it was a fun one.

ER: I liked everyone here and even though it was overall inconsequential, everyone had cool moments, and there was one incredible spot that I don't think I have ever seen before. Tiger Mask is my least favorite Misawa era, but it's cool seeing him as more of a big bump guy than a shutdown strike guy, and the way he leans into a takes Tenta and Takano's great dropkicks here is just a perfect take of a dropkick. I like how he sticks and moves, and the way he finally goes after Takano gave us the match's incredible moment: he hits a baseball slide to roll Takano to the floor, a harder baseball slide to knock him into the guardrail, and when Takano makes it back to the apron Misawa just hits him with a Pete Rose slide. I don't think I've ever seen someone do a baseball slide headbutt before. It wasn't a tope, it was clearly intentional, just diving into a head first into Takano's face. Snuka took two big bumps to the floor, including a really fast one over the top, and he absorbed several nasty swinging strikes from Tenta. Takano feels like a man out of place in All Japan, but in a cool way. He's a New Japan style worker crowbarred into All Japan and he feels like if Nobuhiko Takada if he got into pro style instead of shoot style. I don't know. I liked all of these guys in this. I'm glad some guy recorded it and immortalized the baseball slide headbutt. 

Dan Spivey/Johnny Ace vs. Tommy Rich/Dick Slater AJPW 12/16/88

MD: RWTL action. That's where you got some of the most hierarchy bending and most interesting match-ups, many of which only survive today due to handhelds. I'm getting flagged that Spivey and Ace came out to a song from Bubblegum Crisis which amuses me for some reason. I don't think it was anything associated with either of them in general. Ace was like a leaner, more fiery version of Spivey here, just a force of mullets between them. This morphs into a southern tag where they work over Ace's arm pretty well and cut off the ring through hope spots but it resets once Spivey gets in there. I'm not used to Spivey working as so pure a babyface in Japan so it's a bit off-putting. Spivey grinding down on de facto heel Rich's arm isn't as interesting and would have worked better as a shine instead of a mid-match reset. At least 88 Rich isn't afraid to headbutt Ace right in the face. Once Rich starts stretching for Slater, Dick wakes up from his tuned out slumber and decides that they'll be babyfaces too for a while, so I guess that was funny. That only lasts long enough for them to start punching Ace in the face again, but then who can blame them. It has a pretty solid finishing stretch though. Rich and Slater could still turn it on when they had to. Unfortunately a lot of the rest of the match was all over the place given how much time they had to kill. 

ER: This tag and the Tenta tag was on the same card as the legendary Hansen/Gordy vs. Tenryu/Kawada RWTL final, a match that is literally the greatest match of 1988. This was a throwaway RWTL match on the same card as the RWTL Finals, and that probably didn't help this match feel like much more than filler. The one story the match had going for it (other than Match With Four White Guys) was this was Tommy and Dick's last chance to win one Tag League match. Crusher Blackwell & Phil Hickerson also finished with 0 points in 1988, which is pretty fucking stupid, and no other year of the Tag League ended with two 0 point teams. So Dick & Tommy knew that a win would keep them out of the basement, which makes them the underdog babyfaces, but Spivey & Ace are the more popular team so that's how we kind of wound up with a time killing tag with constantly shifting roles. But I also happen to find time killing Kings Road matches to be calming comfort food. Not every one of these things needs to build to something. I wish we got to see Tommy Rich kill more time in Japan. Tommy Rich takes a backdrop bump and hits two different great middle buckle fistdrops: one late in the match after he and Dick did a tandem clothesline to Johnny Ace's neck that caused Ace to drop straight to his knees, and actually hot tagging into the match with one on Spivey. Rich gets one excellent nearfall down the home stretch, taking abuse from Spivey and nearly getting to 2 points with a tight backslide, and it was the loudest the crowd got all match. 

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New Footage Friday: ANDRE~! PIPER~! SNUKA~! BORSHOI~! CHENE~!

Larry Chene vs. Bobby Nelson Chicago 1954?

MD: This was young, Leaping Larry Chene, though Davis never calls him that and he didn't do any leapfrogs and just hit one dropkick. He did launch a headscissors out of nowhere which caused Nelson to land on him with a shoot Death Valley Driver so that was something to see. So, no leaping, but what we got was a flash babyface, hugely explosive and endlessly scrappy. Nelson was a balding bruiser, with big clubbering blows, mean slams, and every dirty trick in the book, including a signature tights pull headlock takeback into a choke or press pin. He'd win rope running shoulder block exchanges, but seemed more at home launching a headbutt or leg dive from a kneeling position. Where Chene stood out was how quick he was in returning favor, going after the nose or not wanting to break clean off the ropes. Davis said that despite being such a crowd pleaser, he was the sort that you wouldn't want to meet in a back alley. Chene would hold an advantage for a lot of this, going back to a grounded inner toehold where he could get in some gut shots as well, whereas Nelson would go for the hair again and again to get out. Over time, Nelson seemed to wear Chene down to the bit to the point where he could unleash a few more throws and slams, but Chene was unrelenting and Nelson eventually got frustrated enough to get DQed. Unsatisfying finish but good showcase for Chene, with Nelson giving him a lot as a contrast and foil.

Andre The Giant/Jimmy Snuka vs. Roddy Piper/Dr. D David Shultz WWF 3/25/84 - EPIC

PAS: Total blast of a match which really demonstrates the greatness of Piper and Andre. Really fun start with Shultz and Piper being flummoxed by the immovable Andre, stooging big for all of his spots, while Andre smirked at them. Shultz is able to get a bit of an advantage which leads to Piper working over Andre like a heavybag with punch combos. Piper then pulls out a pair of brass knuckles and splits Andre to the white meat. Andre is leaking and gets helped to back, and we get a bit of Snuka taking on both before an enraged Andre comes rumbling from the back and clears the ring.  We get both immoveable and vulnerable Andre, a big time blade job and Piper ruling the roost. Great discovery. 

MD: This came out with the last MSG dump, actually, but we overlooked it because a clipped version had showed up on a WWE DVD. This is the full thing though and it's a big spectacle at a very specific point in time. This was early in Piper's run and directly between the Piper's Pit where Andre pulled him out of the chair - which just aired - and the Piper's Pit with the coconut angle, which would tape four days later. It chugs along like you'd expect, with Piper dodging Andre and Schultz mystified by him and walking into all of his spots, including some scrappiness by Piper when Schultz is able to get Andre from behind. That was part of Piper's deal. He was chickenshit until he saw an opportunity but then he'd strike, and if it didn't work, sunk-cost fallacy won the day. Once Piper was in the water, he'd do his best to swim. It gave him a sort of rabid credibility that you wouldn't expect at first glance. 

Anyway, it went just like you'd expect, right until it didn't. Snuka was drawn in. The ref was distracted. Piper unloaded on Andre with some knucks and the rarest of things happened: Andre's blood began to flow. They targeted the wound doggedly until the match grinded to a halt as the doctor came in. Andre stretchered out but Snuka refused to quit, causing MSG to erupt. At that point, they had them and could do no wrong. I think, despite how big and strong he was, people had less reason to expect Andre to come back, just due to the effort it took to get him out and how much girth he had to bring back. Come back he did though, and the place erupted doubly for the image of bloody, bandaged, monstrous, unleashed one-man Brute Squad Andre coming down for revenge. Schultz took the beating. The heels escaped both with their lives and a DQ win, and the wheel kept on turning with Piper's ascension. They milked everything in this one for all it was worth, though, and you have to love the effect it had on the crowd.

ER: This was great and really managed to be a showcase for the specific ways all four are great. You can look at every minute of this match and make the case that a new guy was the best part of this match. This was one of the most fun David Schultz performances we have, and his whole extended routine with Andre was the best. Schultz looks like and wrestles like house show Steven Austin (only with top ramen hair) and has a bunch of great stooging comedy. They have some real great chemistry together and it sadly only produced one (very fun) singles match. There is an incredible spot here where Andre does a dropdown in a surreal visual, but also smart because once he drops down to trip a running Schultz and Shultz really has to leap to clear him on the run. The moment jumps to incredible when Andre is getting to his feet after, and a rebounding-off-the-ropes Schultz runs straight into Andre's gigantic bent over three point stance ass, Schultz selling it like he was a cartoon character who got a bowling ball thrown into his midsection. If you want to see Andre doing what looks like a legendary Super Porky spot better than Porky could have done it, then you need this. 

Schultz is great at taking things right to Andre regardless of getting his ass kicked, and he transitioned to offense in a cool way, eating a huge Andre shoulderblock in the corner but getting his knee in the way of a second block. Schultz is fun on offense, but Andre is a megastar at taking offense too, and it leads to another incredible spot where from his back Andre straight legs Schultz out of the air to block an elbowdrop. Schultz was in full lean to drop an elbow, and Andre timed the kick perfectly from his back. Who knew we had Randre Gracie working from his back over here? When Schultz and Piper really lay into Andre it's a glorious thing, and there's never been and never will be a wrestling who is as good at Andre at being a dying wooly mammoth. The way Andre can animalistically stagger around the ring while taking shots from all angles is second to none, and when he takes the first knux shot his fall is such a beautiful tumble. By the time he's lying against the middle rope bleeding his acting is second to none, he provides non-stop incredible visuals as he bleeds out, flattening the bottom rope to the mat with his resting weight. 

I always love what a spectacle it is to see Andre taken from the ring. Pat Patterson is perfect on commentary through it all, laughing at the thought of how many men it's going to take to get an incapacitated Andre to the back, and what they would possibly use as a stretcher. And he's right! I love when Andre needs to somehow be moved somewhere and you get a lot of men standing around scratching their heads like they're on a job site and the boom truck tipped over. Snuka gets his great moment during Andre's absence, insisting the match continue and getting insanely loud reactions from 22,000 people as he sends Piper and Schultz bouncing with his leaping headbutts. When Andre does return it's almost impossible to believe. He roars out from the back looking - honestly - the scariest I've ever seen him look, his head wrapped in this disgustingly sloppy head bandage that makes him look a freak failure of surgery or and insane lost Hammer Studios Mummy/Frankenstein crossover film. This whole thing was nothing but spectacle, nothing but perfect pro wrestling. Everyone was so dynamite and at the top of their game, and a match where everyone's stock is raised will always be a special thing.  

Command Bolshoi vs. Hanako Nakamori Pure J 1/14/18

MD: The first third of this where they kept mostly to the mat was great. The rest had a lot to see with big bombs and exciting nearfalls and a lot of stiff kicks but I would have been happier if they never stopped chain wrestling. They started with dueling front facelocks, well worked, and then Bolshoi started to chip away at the arm. Nakamori was forced to resort to kicks, which went ok for her until Bolshoi caught a leg. Lots of really tricked out hold attempts here, but it all looked more painful than cooperative. Nakamori had to end up throwing everything she had at Bolshoi just to stay in it, and that worked for the match pretty well until they started trading DDTs. The selling after that was spotty, even as the bombs were huge and the kicks plentiful. Given the frequent time announcements, you got the sense they were working towards a draw, and they were, but I would have been perfectly fine with this ending after Bolshoi's second Tiger Suplex, as she had worked hard for the first. This definitely had build and escalation and it was obviously the match they wanted to wrestle, but I liked the first half of this more than the rest.

SR: Another excellent match, which felt like one of the best joshi matches in years. I haven‘t seen Nakamori before, but she was this big lady who liked to throw stiff kicks, and she was pretty good. As usual with Bolshoi matches there was some great, tricked out matwork, with Nakamori also bringing stuff to the table such as locking in a cool Takogatame. There was an absolutely sick Volk Han-like sleeper from Bolshoi that left Nakamoris face turning blue. The later goings of the match were exciting with Nakamori landing some FUTEN level kicks in Bolshois face, and Bolshoi firing back with her trademark shotais. The most impressive thing was how well the match flowed, there were sections were one of them was focussing on attacking an arm or a leg but it never went long and never felt like filler, and all the transitions fell into place naturally. Just a tremendous pace for a 20 minute match without feeling go-go.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE THE GIANT

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On Brand Segunda Caida: Stan Hansen in ECW

How awesome would it have been to see Stan Hansen wrestling in a small building with only 500 or so other lunatics cheering him on? Stan Hansen was not a guy you could just go out and see on the indies working old man faded glory matches. He was a guy who started making a name for himself immediately and then just stayed in major feds right up until his early 50s retirement. The only opportunity anyone had to see Hansen work a small indie was a few dates in 1993, when he worked a handful of ECW shows. Seeing Stan Hansen at the ECW Arena would be like getting a straight injection of pure uncut joy, so I figured I would take a quick look at Hansen's quick look at the east coast independent wrestling scene.


Stan Hansen vs. Jimmy Snuka ECW 8/7/93 (Hardcore TV #19)

ER: This was only about 4 minutes, but really great. How cool must it have been to see *this* era Stan Hansen at Viking Hall? I would have been losing my mind. He's a big loud bully and I could have watched him shove Snuka around the ring for another 10 minutes. Snuka was 50 at this point but still unexpectedly a bump freak, as right out of the gate Hansen hits a hard shoulderblock, and then without any running momentum just hits a standing shoulderblock that sends Snuka backwards over the top to the floor, a cool way to integrate the Harley bump. Snuka obviously realizes who he's working - not that he had a choice - and throws punches at Hansen as hard as he's getting them. He is someone with enough guts and career clout that he can walk right through a nasty chair shot and keep fighting, and not get punished for not selling it. The chair shot was great, Hansen hitting him with an already unfolded chair and wrapping it perfectly around his head. Hansen drops perfect elbows and even wrecks Snuka with the western lariat! I wasn't really expecting that. Some of these older guys were getting good paychecks once Eddie Gilbert got the purse strings, I didn't actually expect Snuka to work so hard. Eddie runs in to break up the surefire finish, and then Hansen ragdolls "Freddie" Gilbert (which was Jerry Lawler's son Kevin playing Eddie's kid brother), and there's not much in wrestling I love more than Stan Hansen disposing of a dweeb.

Stan Hansen/Tito Santana vs. Don Muraco/Shane Douglas ECW 8/8/93 (Hardcore TV #21)

ER: Short but fun tag that may have actually been much longer than we actually saw. The match - as several of these Hardcore TV matches are - is interrupted with an "emergency announcement", which is a nice excuse to show Abdullah the Butcher highlights leading up to his tag match opposite Hansen. But they weirdly opt to just clip the match right in the middle, and I have no idea how much we missed. What we got, was good. Muraco is a fun stooge for Hansen (and it's amusing to see such a big guy beg off, but I get it), and I was really looking forward to Hansen just mauling Douglas, but we don't really get that at all. It's possible we got it during the break, but alas. What we do get is a fine FIP Tito performance, with Hansen doing a great job coming up with a couple ways to miss a potential hot tag. Hansen somehow always finds a way to surprise me, and he breaks out a really cool tragic timing spot: He comes in to rescue Tito, but Tito manages to surprisingly break free on his own, except now Hansen is getting admonished by the ref for getting in the ring just as Tito is actually getting to his corner. Hansen rushes back to the apron and swipes for the tag just as Muraco grabs Tito and tosses him back across the ring. Muraco throws an awesome headlock punch in this, but Tito's fired up comeback punches are really great. Sadly the whole damn locker room interferes at the exact moment of Hansen's hot tag, starting with that damned Eddie Gilbert. This match clearly had the bones of a really good match, and what we got was good, but it really feels like we missed out on a large chunk of the middle.

Stan Hansen vs. Don E. Allen/Herve Renesto ECW 8/8/93 (Hardcore TV #22)

ER: Tough draw for Twisted Steel & Sex Appeal. Hansen is an all time great squash match or handicap match worker, as he works fast enough to bounce back between two different guys, and he hits hard enough that whichever guy isn't eating a beating is still convincingly selling his prior beating. This is all a tornado of hard kicks, nasty stomps to the head, big beals, lethal back elbows, none of them by Twisted Steel OR Sex Appeal. Renesto threw a dropkick at one point, but it didn't slow down Hansen one bit and only made Renesto more of a target. The whole arena was flipping out for this massacre, and I love how Hansen throws his back elbow as a charging move, running at his opponent like he's hitting the lariat but instead decapitating him with a back elbow. Neither feels like a good option to take. Allen eats a nasty elbow shot while standing on the apron, and Hansen graciously brings him into the ring with a damn quick snap suplex. Allen came into the ring so fast it looked like he was thrown from a car. Allen almost wimps out of the lariat, flinching hard as Hansen grabs him by the ponytail and starts swinging the arm, but it landed. From the ring, Hansen grabs for Renesto on the floor after the match, but Renesto dodges, which just enrages Hansen who rushes to the floor and strangles Renesto with his bullrope, tying him to the ringpost by his neck.

Stan Hansen/Terry Funk vs. Abdullah the Butcher/Kevin Sullivan Ultra Clash 9/18/93

ER: Now this ruled. This was part of one of ECW's first supercards, and this is some legitimately big talent in one match. The whole thing is worked as a chaotic brawl, no tags and no attempt at order. Funk obviously thrives in this kind of environment and drags everybody else with him. Hansen mostly pairs off with Abby, and I like them as a pair because Abby doesn't budge on strikes, and Hansen doesn't hold back on strikes, so the whole time he's just throwing knuckle punches and clubbing arms and the hardest stomps possible to the back of Abby's head and Abby just takes the stiffest shots and occasionally stabs at him. Sullivan climbs up the scaffold to escape Funk(there was a Doug Gilbert/JT Smith scaffold match right before this match) and Funk naturally follows, and Sullivan starts punching him right in the head the second Funk climbs up close enough to get his head punched. Terry is the king, so of course he finds a few ways to fall down each level of the scaffolding, holding on and hanging, limbs dangling, dropping down bit by bit as he's getting attacked, before eventually dropping into the ring and onto his head. Funk wraps a chair around Abby's head and holds it there while burying his boot in Abby's back, while Hansen punches away at Abby, there's a fork stabbing that misses it's mark and becomes friendly fire, Funk panics and takes down the ref and starts beating the shit out of him, Abby slams Funk's face into the mat a bunch, the ROPES BREAK because they can't handle big as hell Hansen and Sullivan running hard into them, Eddie and Doug Gilbert run out for the DQ, and this was literally just 8 minutes of cool old dudes punching each other really hard in the head. That's never not going to be a win, people.

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On Brand Segunda Caida: More Bubba in Japan!

Big Bubba/Jimmy Snuka vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Ashura Hara AJPW 4/19/88

ER: This is the kind of pure uncut Bubba you wanted to see when you dive into the existing Bossman in Japan footage. This hit the exact tone I wanted it to, with Tenryu and Hara not holding back but also not just treating a new gaijin with disrespect. From the moment you see Hara slamming full force into Bubba with shoulderblocks and neither man budging, then saw Hara attempt a ton of shoot bodyslams without Bubba fighting him on them, you knew exactly what it was going to be and it is the best. Bubba looked like a real threat here and the native stars took him really seriously. Bubba was already a very expressive and smart salesman, and it especially shone through in the way he took a couple Tenryu enziguiris: we've gotten used to some fairly dramatic and also psychics-breaking sells of an enziguiri, here Bubba sells it like taking a stunning blow to the back of the head; drops to a knee, shakes his head out like he got loopy, blinks more, grabs at the back of his neck, a really mature sell that you don't see enough of. Any time Bubba was in the ring was exciting, he knew how to miss a strike or bit of offense (watch him swing his axe handles really low to miss Hara, and watch how fully commits to his missed standing splash to Tenryu), his Bubba Slam looks like it crushes Tenryu, he hits a big ol' lariat on Hara, and he roots Snuka on late in the match from the apron while casually buttoning his dress shirt. He really stood up to beatings nicely, took full force lariats from two guys who can throw really mean lariats (although Hara's sleeper/lariat on Snuka takes the cake), takes some murderous shots from Tenryu (I mean you know Tenryu's chops and these were some legendary Tenryu chops), and lets Tenryu stick him with the falling elbow to end things. Snuka had some pretty bananas moments in here, from throwing his own sharp knife edge chops, to doing a treacherous springboard splash, and surprising I think everybody by breaking out a cannonball off the top, landing all of his weight on Tenryu. I don't remember seeing Snuka break out a cannonball before and it looked crazy with 2019 eyes. This whole thing ruled.

Big Bubba vs. Jumbo Tsuruta AJPW 4/22/88

ER: Damn this is good. This was real exciting for me, as it's his first big Japanese singles (and he'd be in WWF just a couple weeks later), so it's really cool that on the final night of the tour they throw him into the semi-main opposite late 80s hoss Jumbo. Bubba is in the all black gear with white suspenders  (which admittedly looked a little prohibition gangster cosplay), and for whatever reason I really got the sense of size from Jumbo hear. There was a lot of back and forth between them, and maybe it was just Bubba being head to toe in slimming black, but I really got a sense of what a big guy Jumbo was here. The stand and trade throughout was really cool, as they were wear down shots off the big guy, and he knew it, so Jumbo would hit a leaping knee and Bubba would recoil into the ropes and then come off smothering with a slam or other attack. All Bubba's selling of the knee strikes was cool, and he did his killer knee dropdown sell as Jumbo was assaulting him with uppercuts only to spring back up and throw his great leaping headbutt and a shockingly good worked right hand straight to the forehead. Neither guy was going to have a super easy time throwing the other around, although we do get a killer Bubba Slam out of a bearhug that really shook Jumbo into the mat. Jumbo added extra force to his big boots and the placement of the leaping knees throughout the match was really well laid out, allowed the match some specific touchstones to monitor Bubba's condition, letting you know if Jumbo was able to exploit some armor cracks. Bubba gets a big flurry before the sudden finish, throwing a punch of punch combos in the corner. But the finish is a little sudden, with Jumbo grabbing an abdominal stretch and then turning that into a kind of heel hook when they toppled. It was a sensible finish, because beating Bubba by wrenching his ankle makes tons of sense, but I wish they had gone a little longer before going to it. Still, the match packed a lot of story and action into 7 minutes, and even with the abrupt ending was as good as I hoped it would be.

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On Brand Segunda Caida: Bossman in Japan!

Big Bubba/Tom Magee vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tiger Mask II AJPW 4/4/88

ER: It's kind of amazing how much one guy can drag down a match with three legends, but there really isn't much you can do with 1988 Jumbo. Hey folks, we have a lot of fun here. Magee was truly one of the most clueless wrestlers in history, a clearly athletic guy who couldn't get up for a move to save his life. He's like if David Flair had enough athleticism to get himself into trouble. But this match is entirely worthwhile for every single second of Bubba and Jumbo in the ring together. It's fantastic. We get some fun work around shoulderblocks, with Bubba absorbing a couple before taking down a suspender strap, and while he preps to absorb a third that's when Jumbo surprises him with a leaping knee right to the face. Hell yeah. Watch the awesome moment late in the match where Bubba whips Jumbo hard into the ropes, hitches his pants up like a big fat guy does, and is right back in position just in time to yoink Jumbo up into a bearhug. Bubba was so good with barely a full year under his belt, and '88 Jumbo was really great, my favorite Jumbo time period. Bubba's positioning throughout the match is impressive as hell, and he had this great way of bumping expertly right to the spot he needed to be. This whole thing is worth it just to see Bubba whip off his XL belt and start choking the life out of Jumbo. What an absolute monster!! Bubba also has a bunch of impressive tricks for a guy still under 25; my favorite is his missed clothesline. He whips his huge arm so low and fast but it's 100% safe. He holds his arm out for a big lariat and the split second someone passes it he swings it hard, guaranteeing a miss but making the miss look great. So, Tom Magee. Well, Magee throws a nice dropkick and a couple surprisingly nice body shots...and the rest of the time it's almost impressive how completely baffled he looks. He had no idea how to stand, no idea how or where to fall, there's a beyond embarrassing mat section with Misawa tries grounding him and works a figure 4, but Magee is arguably more clueless on his back than on his feet. Jumbo tries his best with him and the guy can't even get up for a bodyslam. At one point Bubba seems like he accidentally tags Magee in and instantly regrets it, like he just stumbled into a carefully arranged stack of plates. The frustration from everyone is palpable, though Jumbo and Misawa keep it pro and don't rough him up, in a way that seems like they just felt bad for the guy. Before this match Magee was a relatively protected gaijin, winning more often than losing. After this match he lost every one of his last 14 matches on the tour, and never returned to Japan.

Big Bubba/Jimmy Snuka vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Yoshiaki Yatsu AJPW 4/15/88

ER: This was not exceptional, but it was filled with near constant moments of near joy. Bubba was so massive at this point, like a giant mean teddy bear, like a guy who seems like a cool fat young dad, but also a guy who would work perfectly as one of Ben Gazzara's goons in Road House. I love his swinging double axe handle attacks, and the finish with him being assaulted on all sides by Jumbo and Yatsu before being dumped by a man sized back suplex was really cool. There were small moments throughout that made this worthwhile even without a man who looks like a gigantic short order cook on a job interview, such as Snuka lying on his side with a "man, REALLY?" look on his face after Jumbo yanks him off a Yatsu pin, or Snuka hitting a great diving headbutt that kind of just looked like he splashed Yatsu's face. Inessential, but needed.

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73 Shockingly Great Berzerker Matches. #16 is Unnerving!

12. Berzerker vs. Larry Williams - Superstars 5/28/91

Larry Williams looks like sad John Oates. This was when he was still Larry Williams: Wrestler and Carpet Salesman, before he just became Larry Williams: Carpet Salesman (I assume). He has a full head of hair and a bushy mustache, but other than that he is uninteresting. Berzerker drops a big knee to the chest, and Larry weenies out by grabbing the top rope on his ride down to the floor. IMPORTANT: This was the first squash match that Berzerker did not do a plancha to the floor after victory.

13. Berzerker vs. Jerry Stevens - Wrestling Challenge 5/29/91

Jerry Stevens looks like a guy who needs a beating. Big ol' round head and Kenny G perm. And Berzerker just walks right up to him and thrust kicks him right to the chin. Stevens flips admirably. And then gets the falling slam as a reward for leaning into that boot. And then a second falling slam. Berzerker wanders around the ring throwing kicks, then launches Stevens over the top to the floor for the win. Stevens is the first guy to weenie out of the fall as he grabs the top rope on his way down. Celebrating the win, he rope runs a bunch and takes some back bumps.

Prime Time Wrestling 6/10/91:

Bobby Heenan: "I'm you're friend! He don't like you (pointing to Vince), but I do."
Mr. Fuji: "This...is my Berzerker. Whatever master wants, he do for master. Right?"
Berzerker: That's right! Whatever Master Fuji wants, Master Fuji gets! If Master Fuji wants an eye out, he gets an eye out! If Master Fuji wants me to kick them upside the head, he gets it upside the head! Only Master Fuji controls me. He's my commai...commai...communication. And I'll tell you something else, you know I see all these pretty, tanned weight lifters around here, walking around [note: The WBF PPV was coming up and was being hyped all throughout this episode]. LISTEN! You can lay on those tanning beds, but I lay on icebergs. You know what I'm saying? You can do all that stuff. You can lift 600 pounds? Well I lift up MASTODONS! Huss! Huss! That's right, I lift up mastodons! I don't need weights! I'll fight 'em to the end, and me and Master Fuji won't be stopped. Because whatever Master Fuji wants, he gets. Huss! Huss!"
Vince: "Mr. Fuji you ummmm, you seem to know...oriental. You seem to know oriental culture. Why don't you uhhh tell us everything you know about vikings."
Mr. Fuji: "Let me tell you. This Berzerker has a lot of big horns, a lot of metal..."
Berzerker: Hey there's two types of people in this world! You're either a Berzerker, or you're one of the nameless rabble of victims!!" [note: a VIKING literally just cut a promo, correctly using the word "rabble"]

(break)

Vince: "We're back with more Prime Time, Bobby Brain, Mr. Fuji and uhhh the Berzerker!"
Fuji: "Nooooow it time, for traditional Viking ceremony."
Berzerker: "I LOVE IT! YES!"
Vince: "It looks like you brought some props with you I see over here..."
Fuji: "All we need now, is one intelligent person, from audience."
Heenan: "You need somebody from the audience? Hey, Jamison!
(Berzerker yanks Jamison out of the crowd by his suit lapels and drags him to the floor)
Heenan: "Well, this is going to be fun."
Vince: "Hey what are you guys doing here?"
(Berzerker begins tying Jamison to a wood stake)
Vince: "What is a traditional Viking ceremony?"
Heenan: Well uh, he ties him to a stake it looks like, and uh..."
Vince: Mr. Fuji explain this traditional Viking ceremony."
Fuji: "Now you all see what Berzerker is all about!"
Vince: "This Viking ritual will continue, but for now let's watch some IRS!"

(break)

(we return to the studio with Jamison completely tied, tightly, to the stake and Berzerker spreading out hay all around the stake, while rubbing two sticks together)
Vince: "Hey this is no joke here, what are you trying to do light a fire?"
Heenan: "Here, you need this (hands Fuji a lighter)
(Berzerker can't figure out how to use the lighter, gets upset and starts kicking the hay around everywhere, then lifts Jamison over his shoulder and walks out of the studio with him still tied to the stake)

(break)

(much later in the show, we return to the studio)
Vince: (looking off camera) "Speaking of...you...we uh, have the Berzerker? We have found the Berzerker and I think uhhhh I think Jamison is with the Berzerker. Earlier on he was uhhh...they're up on the roof!"

(We then cut to a clip of Berzerker running across a roof, with Jamison still tied to a stake and over his shoulder, and Berzerker throws Jamison off the roof! They cut back to the studio immediately and Vince is doing his wide eyed gulp face. Heenan is making the same face.)
Vince: "Folks I don't know about that one. Uhhhhhh, we'll take a break. I don't know about that one at all. I think he got a little carried away."

(Jamison is shown being pushed through a hallway on a stretcher, with Sean Mooney chasing after him with a mic)
Mooney: "Well by a twisted turn of fate, after the Berzerker tossed Jamison off the roof, he landed in a dumpster, and that seems to be exactly what saved his life. Jamison, are you hurt?"
Jamison: (screams, boxes tip over and fall onto him while he's on the stretcher)
Mooney: "It looks like he may get more hurt on the way to the hospital! That's all I know right now, Vince, let's get back to you."

14. Berzerker vs. Jimmy Snuka - MSG 7/1/91

A viking versus an actual murderer! Two murderers from two completely different parts of history. Wow. And the match is fun! Snuka has pretty lousy offense at this point, but he sees Berzerker bumping around for him and decides to have a bump off. It starts with Berzerker taking his big backwards bump to the floor off a clothesline, and back in the ring Snuka eats a big boot, then literally runs across the ring holding his face, and leaps over the top to the floor, catching his neck on the bottom rope on his way down. What? Snuka doesn't make for a very interesting "name" opponent, as his offense isn't very plausible against Berzerker, and he doesn't seem down to take some of Berzerker's nastier moves. The finish is Snuka hitting a crossbody, but Berzerker rolls through and gets the pin. So his finisher against jobbers is tossing them to the floor for a count out, but we've now seen him with with a reversed crossbody and knee drop off the middle against names. VIKING advances in the bracket of historical murderers.

15. Berzerker vs. Chi Chi Cruz - Superstars 7/9/91

Oh wow Chi Chi Cruz is all hair metal'd out, zebra tights and flowing teased mane, glittery kimono. He looks like a touring keyboardist for Enuff Z'Nuff. Chi Chi could take this one. He, however, did not take this one. He eats a chokeslam and a falling powerslam, and takes one of the more impressive throws to the floor. This is three squashes in a row that he did not do his awesome plancha to the floor after the win, so I'm afraid it's been eliminated from his repertoire at this point. IMPORTANT: This was the debut of Berzerker's brown tunic, which has a better cut (looks less like a dress with the belt off) and is a more appropriate color scheme than his sapphire tunic.

16. Berzerker vs. Greg Valentine - Prime Time Wrestling 7/15/91

The match that started this whole project and made me want to seek out ALL of the Berzerker. And this is all weird and awesome and just makes me happy that it happened. We get babyface Greg Valentine, which is a thing that hardly happened in his career, and something I didn't realize ever happened in WWF. Even in the pre-match graphic he's just presented as "The Hammer" like he's some Fred Williamson cult icon who the fans have always cheered. And they really do cheer for Valentine in this, a lot! Berzerker starts things great by launching himself at Valentine with his nice horizontal flying shoulderblock, but Valentine moves and Berzerker flies perfectly horizontal straight into the turnbuckles. Just a perfect straight line. And from there we get some no nonsense stiff chops from Valentine, Berzerker throwing some big ones back, Valentine taking his trademark face first bumps (that doesn't work whatsoever as a babyface, but oh well) and then more Berzerker bump freak glory as Valentine starts kicking his legs out, and Berzerker starts hopping in amusing ways as Valentine throws leg kicks, and then unexpectedly Berzerker lands in the splits after one of the hops, like a giant Viking James Brown (white James Brown would be called Jim White, perhaps?). We get more of Berzerker's awesome trademark bumps that I didn't use to realize were trademark bumps, like his super fast bump to the floor when getting clotheslines over the top. It's a real impressive bump as he's so large, and so hirsute, that you just see hair and beard and fur boots flying violently to the floor. And that's how this goes. Most Berzerker matches end in a count out because he throws his opponent to the floor, here Valentine goes after Fuji and Berzerker gives chase, eventually smacking Valentine with Fuji's cane. Before that it looked like Valentine was actually going over clean, which would have been Berzerker's first televised loss. Berzerker had missed a big boot and crotched himself on the top rope, Valentine dropped a couple of beautiful elbows and set up the figure 4, before Fuji distracted him. This was just the super fun pinnacle of wild bumps, stiff strikes and overall ridiculousness. And it showed that while I love Berzerker's offense (shame he doesn't often use the cravate he used a bunch in this match), he seems to be at his best working underneath for a fired up babyface. The more unhinged side comes out when his opponent is actually good at fighting back. What a cool little discovery.

17. Berzerker vs. Dave Millison - Superstars 7/29/91

Dave Millison bums me out. He's a pudgy ginger in a navy singlet, with voluminous tight curls, like Weird Al in UHF. Just a pasty, chubby ginger Weird Al. A quick google search pulls up a registered child molester named Dave Millison, who HONESTLY could be the same guy. Flash forward 20 years, give him more of a Chuck Liddell haircut....man this is close. This taping was in Massachusetts and this guy is registered in Texas...but man this looks like it could be the guy. STYLE BATTLE: Viking vs. Child Molester!! And the registered sex offender doesn't put up much of a fight. He does a nice faceplant bump after a big boot, falling forward with his arms at his sides. I assume he gets distracted by a young boy in the front row wearing an amazing Kerry Von Erich ringer tee, as Berzerker lifts and tosses Millison to the floor. Millison holds onto that top rope more than anybody so far, and the jokes on him because it completely throws off what would have been a clean landing, and instead lands him right on his knee, which he then immediately clutches.

18. Berzerker vs. Ken Johnson - Wrestling Challenge 8/4/91

Killer tracking problem on this link. Super glad this guy decided to fight the good fight and take the time to upload it anyway. The world needed this ONLY documentation of THEE Ken Johnson taking on the Berzerker. And it's kind of worth it. Johnson gets absurd height on the chokeslam, the powerslams are both crazy, and he takes a nasty bump on his knee/hip to the floor. You couldn't really see what he looked like in the face due to the video quality, but Berzerker does not study their faces either. He understands they are just faceless victims, obstacles that get in the way of his pillaging. Video quality matters not, to the Berzerker.

19. Berzerker vs. Kerry Davis - Superstars 8/19/91

Davis has DayGlo green tights with purple snaking around the knees and pristine white boots. He looks like Jamie Dundee with a gorgeous mullet. His long silky dirty blonde locks cascade past his shoulders, as he tells his barber to do the rest of his hair on the "4" setting. He instructs the barber to do this while admiring his slender handlebar mustache in the mirror, noticing that the mustache does not connect somewhere around the corners of his mouth, for he cannot grow a proper mustache. Berzerker honors his successes and failings by doing a front kick right to his chin, dropping him with a powerslam, hitting a knee off the middle rope, and tossing him to the floor, landing him right on his hip. Kerry Davis, it would seem, never had any sort of chance. Not in this match, not in this life.

20. Berzerker vs. Ron Cumberledge - Wrestling Challenge 8/20/91

Cumberledge, much like Russ Greenberg later on, is a man with a great build, bubblegum pink tights, who seemed to get no shot whatsoever. Cumberledge has some good size, and has the "look" Vince adores, so no idea why he went nowhere. He didn't stand out much against Berzerker, but he didn't sandbag him at all. Berzerker tries a couple new things we haven't seen him do, a big splash off the middle rope and a grounded choke, and Cumberledge takes a mean spill after getting chucked to the floor. Anybody have info on this guy?

"I'm the guy that only Master Fuji controls! I'm the guy who breaks bones! I'm the guy who's gonna get his hands on ya! I'm the Berzerker! Huss! Huss!" ~The Berzerker

21. Berzerker vs. Scott Taylor - Superstars 9/9/91

It's weird watching this and thinking "who was a bigger star 7 years later?" And you have one guy almost completely out of wrestling, and the other beginning a gimmick that would keep him in indie bookings through present day. Yep, Scott Taylor has now officially had a career longer than John Nord's. By a decade. Taylor looks like a young Shawn Michaels here, and bumps admirably for Berzerker. He goes down hard from a huge chop, leans face first into a thrust kick, gets big air on a chokeslam, nice spill getting thrown to the floor; Berzerker held him up for the falling powerslam far longer than he holds most guys, then gives him another.

"My favorite time of year is Fall. It's a greeeaaaat season, especially for Berzerker. His opponents will fall, one by one IN DEFEAT!" ~Mr. Fuji

22. Berzerker vs. Bill Pierce - Wrestling Challenge 9/10/91

Pierce is Chris Michaels, quality pro wrestler who never really went anywhere. Here he takes a bunch of rapid back bumps for Berzerker, and takes a nice spill into the guardrail after getting tossed to the floor. Berzerker does a great thrust kick, and brings back his nice high legdrop (two of them!) that he hasn't used in several months. However, I've noticed these last few matches that he no longer ties his opponent up in the ropes and boots them in the face. He now ties them in the ropes and kicks them in the chest. It's not a major difference, but I wonder what happened. It's possible somebody that he booted right under the chin complained. I wonder why he stopped doing the planchas. Safety? Because they were hard on his frame? So many questions.

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COMPLETE & ACCURATE BERZERKER

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PWF 5/22/98

ER: PWF was a Carolinas based 90s indy operated by Italian Stallion (probably). PWF stood for Pro Wrestling Federation which is almost impossibly adorable. This was a handheld of a show they ran in West Virginia, with Eddie and Hector Guerrero inexplicably working a tag match, while Eddie was still very much employed by WCW and to my knowledge not suspended. 1994-2000 indy wrestling is kind of a fascinating thing, as once the change to DVD happened a lot of these cards never got transferred, so there's an absence of this era online. It was also a time when main federations were far more innovative than indys, and indy feds were still trying to be more like territory feds from years before instead of figuring out what the next big thing was going to be. So you have crowds with mullets watching wrestlers with mullets, wrestlers who all kind of wrestle like bad body WWF and Crockett jobbers, while actual bad body WWF and Crockett jobbers were working the main events.

1. Russian Assassin vs. The Breeze

ER: One immediate thing of note is entrance music hadn't gone through that terrible period of change, with the change happening just a year after later. Here we have the crowd getting excited listening to Assassin (who has nothing whatsoever Russian about him) coming out to late period Alice Cooper and Breeze (looking like Opie from Sons of Anarchy, but wearing a tie dye shirt) coming out to Skynyrd's cover of JJ Cale's "Call Me the Breeze". A year later nu metal would hit and half the workers of every southern indy would enter the ring to "Down With the Sickness" for the next 16 years. It's like that song immediately replaced "When the Levee Breaks" for all of the lamest reasons possible. And let's be honest, this guy is only called The Breeze because he really likes that Skynyrd song. I'm sure he's been a part of a tag team called The Street Survivors (which, isn't a terrible tag team name). This match is 3 minutes long and starts with an alarmingly bad punch exchange, and a missed clothesline where Assassin looks like he's miming throwing a football, poorly. It was the kind  of exchange where neither punch lands and The Breeze holds up his arm to block Assassin's punches long before the punches are thrown. And then, somehow, Breeze has really good corner 10 count punches, a shockingly good delayed powerslam, and drops two legdrops, with at least 50% of those legdrops looking good! Then he hits a kind of cool diamond cutter with him coming off opposite ropes like he was setting up The Pounce. 

2. The Bodyguard vs. Robert Gibson

ER: There's something really wonderful about the simplicity of indy names 20 years ago. I mean, The Bodyguard? Plenty of men have worked a bodyguard gimmick, but nobody has just said "you know what? My name ain't important. Just my duty." He comes out to Bad to the Bone, because someone had to. Ted Dibiase is his manager. Or client? We don't know because we're too busy being disappointed he could not choose one of the multiple smash hits from the eponymous soundtrack as his entrance theme. Gibson is coming off his ill-fated WWF run, still rocking his NWA duster. Oddly I recently (within the month) sought out Gibson vs. D-Lo Brown from Shotgun Saturday Night, as one night I got curious and wondered if Ricky/Robert had any singles matches during their few month late 90s WWF run. Turns out Gibson worked D-Lo Brown, Ricky worked Marc Mero. Just one singles match apiece. Couldn't find Ricky/Mero, but the Gibson/Brown match was plenty fun. Anyway. I'm not sure who the Bodyguard is but he has height and a workably decent build, the kind of guy who you'd think get a shot at some point. But Gibson was really great in this. He found a bunch of cool ways to work around Bodyguard's limitations. Bodyguard did not have a great shoulderblock, but Gibson sure made it look good. First one he takes a standard back bump, next one he does a great sell I've never seen where he runs into The stationary Bodyguard and just drops straight down to his knees, just hitting that brick wall and crumpling. Another shoulderblock sees him take a great bump through the ropes to the apron and floor. We get a couple bearhug spots (which I love) with Gibson escaping them first by boxing the ears and second by biting Bodyguard's forehead. Seriously Gibson was awesome here. Bodyguard has one surprisingly decent punch, some silly overhand tomahawk chops (I don't think I'd personally employ a Bodyguard who used overhand chops in a fight situation, but I am just one man). Dibiase grabs Gibson's leg and holds onto it for the finish, so that's his payday. And now I want more late 90s indy Gibson.

3. Meng vs. The Overlord

ER: What a weird little match. Meng was still in WCW at this point, but apparently has bills to pay. The Overlord looks nothing like what you'd expect any kind of Overlord to look like. For starters, he's wearing a singlet. He has that late 90s gassed Power Plant look, but is also kind of lean around the waist. Think James Earl Wright. And the Overlord is not as good as your average gassed Power Plant guy. Gassed Power Plant guys always had at least one thing they did shockingly well, like a nice press slam or nice elbow drop. The Overlord had nothing that looked good. Early on he botches an arm drag and tosses Meng into the ropes, the type of thing that Finlay would have wrecked him for in front of a Universal Studios audience. But Meng plays along and even sells for this guy. Meng is really fun in his parts, throwing an axe kick to the downed Overlord's balls, and hitting a brutal overhand chop that sounded like it had Lucha Underground sound sweetening. And then, suddenly, 6 minutes in, The Overlord reveals his gift: He can bump really great to the floor!! I mean, really, really great. So I had him pegged as gassed Power Plant grad, but really he was a gassed UPW grad this whole time! Meng casually tosses him through the ropes to the floor, and Overlord decides to just wildly fly through the ropes and onto concrete. Meng follows and chucks Overlord into the announce table and he flies violently into that! Overlord tries to get back in the ring and Meng punches him on the apron.....and Overlord does an awesome Harley Race "feet catching the bottom rope" bump landing back first on the concrete. Who the hell is this Overlord!? Once he gets back in he continues to suck, but damn, we'll always have that minute of awesome bumping.

4. Jimmy Snuka vs. American GI

ER: American GI doesn't seem like your typical indy heel gimmick. The guy has an Army shirt, a crew cut, doesn't bark orders at the crowd like a drill sergeant, is just a standard issue army guy wrestler. One who is clearly booked as a heel because the crowd isn't going to boo Snuka. Is West Virginia against the troops? Is this a smart local gimmick playing off of Virginia's world renowned Antimilitarism? This feels like a pretty standard 90s Jimmy Snuka indy match. It goes about 4 minutes, GI takes most of it. GI didn't look that good. I'm not sure who GI's manager was, but HE was good. He violently choked Snuka in the ropes, and later took a vicious bump off the apron from a big clothesline from GI. So Snuka took some middling offense, and then decided to go home: Hit a backbreaker, then went up to plaster him with the Superfly Splash, totally unprotected because his knees were shot at this point, brudda.

5. Eddie & Hector Guerrero vs. Black Angel & Super Ninja

ER: Holy cow. You guys. Eddie. Eddie Guerrero wrestled so damn well on a strange Virginia indy show. Also, Hector! Man what a killer match with essentially just 2.5 out of 4 wrestlers. I have no clue who Super Ninja or Black Angel are/were, but Black Angel gets a real nice reaction coming out. He gets kind of mobbed by fans, truthfully. Why? I do not know. He takes a snapmare nicely? Super Ninja is a guy who is at least workable. He has better timing than Angel, has better ring awareness (seems like every move Angel did would either wind up with he or his opponent lying in the ropes), and did a couple decent spin kicks. But you guys. Eddie. Holy cow. He was so damned good here. Fans are on him right away with the Eddy Sucks chants that were all the rage at the time, and he feeds them great. This match was a wonderful example of his stooging ability, showing genuine frustration (watch the intensity as he slams his hands on the apron after getting armdragged out of the ring), his comedy (watch him get excited and slap Hector after getting too fired up, then immediately beg off), and just his incredible wrestling ability. The way he took offense, the way he would slyly get into position for stuff, the way he would work the crowd from the apron, the big bumps he took to the concrete, the snap he would deliver his own offense with, the way he would feed the offense of people with pretty bad offense. Eddie was just really special. I'm not sure what circumstances lead to him working this show, but I'm glad those circumstances happened. And in all this Eddie talk it would be easy to forget about Hector, but Hector busted ass in this too! Hector was doing all sorts of cool suplexes, trying to set up complex roll ups that Black Angel would botch, and playing a great toned down second to Eddie. Eddie is a marvel down the stretch, taking increasingly impressive bumps to the floor while Ninja/Angel try to finish Hector, with Eddie's best bump coming as he takes a superkick on the apron and bumps backwards from the apron to the guardrail. Seeing kids leap in shock as Eddie flies into the rail in front of them was glorious. No clue why the Guerreros worked this show, no clue why they won the tag titles which I would guess were never ever defended by them, but I'm so glad that some guy sitting in a balcony decided to record this.

6. George South vs. Italian Stallion

ER: Man, I love George South. I watched a current George South match within the last 6 months and I still love super old even more Jesus-y George South. I love that he's a God fearing man, but also a bad guy. Like Jesus loves him, and he loves Jesus, but he's a bad guy. George South was one of those guys you could slot into a suddenly empty spot on the 500. "We have Black Buffalo on there twice? I guess put George South at 205." Italian Stallion gets a stunningly loud reaction coming out to the ring. Everybody wants to slap him five. He and South have two of the most incredible faded glory mullets you have ever seen. And I really liked this. It doesn't take much for me to like a South match, but Stallion was surprisingly game too, and I always love a couple of old dudes fighting. South is so good at the little things, he throws a couple of different great punches (really like his short uppercut), bumps big on armdrags and clotheslines, and can brawl. Stallion threw a shockingly good overhand right, cut really low on a missed lariat, had a big press slam and nice powerslam. And this was good! We get some amusing wandering brawling on the outside, as South would punch Stallion, Stallion would wander halfway around the ring, Stallion would punch South and South would wander back around a couple lengths of ring. But man I dig this kind of stuff. If I could be guaranteed a match as decent as South/Stallion on every indy card I went to, I'd be a happy live wrestling fan.

What a neat little time capsule of late 90s indy wrestling. I could watch stuff like this all day.

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All Japan Motherload - The Funks vs. Bruiser Brody/Jimmy Snuka - AJPW 12/2/87

ER: In which two men - both of whom will find themselves on different ends of the murder controversy spectrum - team up against two vacationing brothers who have likely not murdered any humans in their life, but have likely had many experiences putting down assorted dogs and livestock. Four men. Four men who have been around DEATH AND MURDER their whole lives. Four men who start a tag match with 10 minutes of a side headlock on Jimmy Snuka. Four men recorded on a handheld camera by some person in the crowd (this match supposedly aired on TV but this is certainly not the TV recording). Yet overall, this match was good! Brody and Snuka were the two best men in the match. You may not believe that. It intrigued me on paper because I saw "Terry Funk" and "1987" and I thought...I don't recall seeing those two things together. And sure enough, in 1987 he and Dory just worked this one AJ tour and a match in Puerto Rico against the Road Warriors. I don't think Terry worked at all in '88. So them deciding to lock on 10 minutes of headlocks to start this match is not entirely unexpected. Please imagine with me, Terry greeting Baba after landing in Japan, and saying in his Terry Funk voice "Baba I don't know just how much I'm gonna be able to do this run". You know that you just read that in Terry Funk voice and you also know that you love reading things in Terry Funk voice.

So we get those 10 minutes of side headlock, and they aren't entirely boring. Terry is a guy who is usually pretty fun working holds, working anything really. It's never quite as mechanical or mindless as other guys, and there's that added excitement of "any second know he may just do something entirely Terry Funk". Snuka is not bad at being a guy in a headlock. I felt his frustration. Dory is unlike Terry, in that much of the time he cares not about making holds interesting, not just in his work but in his face. I don't believe I've ever seen a person more bored with what they are doing, than when I looked into Dory's eyes during various tag matches. His faces are almost Kikuchi-like in their long term selling, as you really believe that just the act of being a professional wrestler is physically draining his lifeforce. You really believe that he is trapped in this cycle of needing to continue wrestling, while it's also destroying him from the inside. You see people at the DMV enjoying their job more than Dory Funk. But things pick up when Brody sees Snuka's frustration, develops his own frustration, and comes in to boot Terry with one of the harder front kicks you've seen Brody unleash. Snuka takes over and grabs his own headlock, but awesomely punches Terry from the side headlock, Nolan Ryan style. He sat in that thing for 10 minutes, and now he's showing what HE would have done with that same side headlock. He plants Terry with a great piledriver and Funk hilariously won't allow Snuka to turn him over for the pin. Funk straightens his body as if to sell some sort of locked up paralysis, but as Snuka keeps trying to roll him over for a pin Funk keeps his body straight and clearly fights getting rolled over, for a long and awkward amount of time, in a really blatant sorry not sorry kind of way. I would have been pissed if I were Snuka, and I personally am not a man who has ever been driven to murder, so Snuka must have been REAL pissed. Brody was fun, lighting up both Funks with stiff yakuza kicks, and blasting Terry's chest with chops. Even over the poor fancam audio those chops sounded brutal. Brody also takes a wild bump into the crowd that really belies his selfish rep. He and Terry brawl to the floor and Funk takes a piledriver on the exposed mats, then eventually a chair joins the ring and this gets thrown out. The headlocks were shockingly not bad, and after that was gold. 1987 was a weird year.

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