Matches from AJPW 11/25/90: WALKING TALL DORY~! NO RESPECT DYNAMITE~! KIDNEY PUNISHING HANSEN/KAWADA~!

The Funks vs. Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith AJPW 11/25/90

ER:  A pretty amazing match that I had never seen, with four standout performances. It's so hard hitting, and these new All Japan Classics episodes showcase that in the best way. The sound on these episodes is incredible, and it puts you right in the middle of this high impact style. I can't imagine what it was like sitting front row for such a physical style as All Japan - let alone be a participant in it! -  but this video makes it feel like I was there 35 years ago. It's one of five Tag League matches smack in the middle of the show, and they kill each other and treat it like a match with actual stakes. It's an awesome Dory match and more evidence that Dynamite Kid's Winter 1990 is him at one of his highest levels. Dory comes off like the tougher, harder hitting Funk, an actual Cool Dory match. The match peaks with the Bulldogs working over Terry's Not As Damaged 46 year old legs in ways that contributed to Terry's Old Knees while Terry scrambles in half a dozen of the greatest attempts at making a hot tag, a face in peril to his big brother's ass kicking tough guy. 

Johnny Smith is at his absolute beefiest; Dynamite is at his most bitter and dangerous, a little guy starting the most violent fights at the bar. It's a great team. Dynamite looks angry the entire match, on the apron, in the ring, and treats Terry like an old man to be put to pasture. Terry works lighter to come off as vulnerable to loss as possible, and is at perhaps his most sexy. Sexy Terry working as Pretty Ricky. Ponytail Terry with his little mustache and the best body of his career. I love Hot Ponytail Terry in his Body Glove tights, and here's Dory in his blue trunks working stiffer than anyone in the match,  maybe anyone on the show (Eric's Note: Kawada and Hansen kick each other so hard in the kidneys later on the card that Dory Funk would have died so let's leave it to saying he worked stiffer than anyone in this match). It adds up to a middle of the card tag match that was worked as a small show main event. 

Listen to how hard they're all smacking each other! Dory's contact on his collar and elbow tie-ups with Johnny were the sound of bodies used to taking hits. When Dory is in against Dynamite, he hits him with uppercuts that are so hard that I don't think Kid had to sell his limbs all going numb. He looked shocked that Dory was hitting him so hard. He tees off hard on Smith and really looks like a mat expert going after Smith's knee and ankle. Everyone worked this super honestly, but Dory's work was the most honest and well executed of all. And here's Dynamite, the by far smallest man in the match and the guy who I'd least want to confront about anything. He goes after Terry with no respect. Maybe my favorite spot in the match, is when Terry is hitting Johnny with headbutt after headbutt before they both go down. Johnny goes down, Terry spirals down after, and the second Terry hits the mat Dynamite's eyes go wide and he scrambles up to the top rope to hit a headbutt to Terry's stomach. He pulls it off so hastily, making it look like a snap impulse, and his knees land full weight one inch from Terry's face. It looked so dangerous and was only one of the things that made this match play so tough. Dynamite is so geared up when he's in against Terry, that they even do a spot where Dynamite presses Terry off him on a kickout and Terry flies several feet from it, like Dynamite was Yokozuna. Dynamite kills Terry with clotheslines to the back of the head, throws him to the floor with a back body drop, and - most incredibly - drags him into a standing stretch muffler that blew me away. Dynamite's body had to be in constant agony and as he locked in the muffler and stood to his feet, clasping his hands while the much larger Terry was hanging upside down in a headstand, his pain was as palpable as any I've seen.  

The Bulldogs working over Terry's knee was some excellent third act cutting off the ring. Dynamite wanted that knee all match, and when he got it he was like a dog with a chew toy. He was slamming Terry's calf over his knee and it looked like one of the most violent pieces of work I've seen. Terry's selling was incredible, crawling and leaping towards Dory while Smith and Dynamite had to keep tackling and blocking. There were some nearfalls that got the big crowd to bite, like one of the most well-used and well-executed rolling inside cradles. Dory pulled the cradle and Smith rolled it over and the movement was so good that Yokohama bought in. Terry's win over Smith was so well done, as Dynamite had totally drained Terry and suddenly one of the biggest stars in wrestling history looked like he could be beaten by Johnny Smith. He has to resort to scrambling on top of Smith during a pinfall exchange and just weigh his body down. The Bulldogs looked like a tough vital team against two legends, and The Funks looked legitimately at the top of their abilities. 

Andre the Giant/Giant Baba vs. The Land of Giants AJPW 11/25/90

ER: Phil and I wrote about this match 7 years ago and I don't think I appreciated it enough then. It seems funny to say that I didn't appreciate an Old Andre match enough, as I think every single review of any Old Andre match I've ever written is me appreciating and analyzing every step he takes. I love the 1990 Tag League old broken but still proud Giants, and we should all be thankful that we got to see them against the worst Fake Road Warriors team ever assembled in a respected promotion. I cannot and will not say it is a great match, because it is not. The Land of Giants - Skywalker Nitron especially, specifically - are total cornballs. Nitron is the goofiest of all, almost surely the goofiest wrestler All Japan used in 1990. You're off the hook Richard Charland and David Sammartino. But part of what makes the match great, is that Andre and Baba know that these two are cornballs, and the gift that brings us is a very active Andre match. 

Andre is old but not nearly as old as he'd look in 1992. He was in the ring a lot against both cornballs and had a bunch of great ideas and ways to attack both of them. He looked really strong, even if Nitron sold some of his offense with the goofy acting only seen from people reading stories to small children in libraries. Andre looked like he had a lot of fun beating these two goofs up. He had two different cantaloupe fist punches, one while holding Nitron in a headlock and the other just thrown to the face and followed up with a NOAH worthy headbutt. He grabbed Masters in a knuckle lock and made it look like he was crushing his hand. The camera had a zoom in on Andre interlacing his fingers with Butch and his fingers were so big they looked like they were forcing Masters' fingers to break apart. It looks like something that would and did drop Masters to a knee. The best part is when he broke the knuckle lock by rearing back and punching Masters in the fingers. 

This match has Andre the fucking Giant holding Rob Zombie's Michael Myers in a bearhug. Freddy vs. Jason is my least favorite Nightmare on Elm Street movie and my least favorite Friday the 13th movie, but Andre the Giant vs. Michael Myers is a horror movie showdown we needed to see and I would have paid money to. There's no way I would have gone into that movie and gotten Andre keeping his bearhug locked in by pulling on The Shape's rattail. Moustapha Akkad wouldn't have had the guts. 

Stan Hansen/Danny Spivey vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Mitsuharu Misawa AJPW 11/25/90

ER: The Funks vs. New Bulldogs was a hard hitting match. Every open hand on chest and back landed with a loud crack and Dory Funk threw in a last hurrah before his 50s with a great Walking Tall badass role. It's great. But then two matches later Kawada and Hansen took such righteous anger out of each other's kidneys that it made me think *I* was going to piss blood. This is some of the toughest wrestling you'll ever see. Hansen is in full force of nature mode and he hits Kawada like a kid in training camp. Every chair, every shoulder, every godforsaken kick, was felt thoroughly. Hansen is such a force of nature, that you're not expecting Kawada to take such a force so head on. Kawada kicks Hansen back even harder and cracks baseball bat shots off the old cowboy's torso. Kawada makes such wicked contact that Hansen's pancreas selling looks like the man is learning how to sell a bruised pancreas in real time. Hansen is the best Train Running Off the Rails impacter in wrestling and it was amazing to see Kawada throw his whole body at a moving train. The finish is incredible and features one of the greatest low bridges I've ever seen. Misawa flies over the top rope with such speed that I jumped in the same way I do in the movies when a car gets unexpectedly T-boned. Spivey's team with Hansen took his timing to a really high level. Misawa is there one second and gone the next and as he's flying one direction, Hansen runs the other and knocks Kawada into the sky with a western lariat. Later, Doc and Gordy try to hit harder clotheslines on Taue in the main event and make fine cases. Later still, Jumbo and Taue outdo them all with their clotheslines to Gordy. It's show-long clothesline oneupmanship I can support. And then Jumbo gives Gordy another. 

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Found Footage Friday: RESURGENT DYNAMITE~! YOUNG ROCCO~! GYPSY JOE~! WOLFIE D~! THE LAND OF GIANTS~!

Mark Rocco vs. Terry Jowett WoS 5/24/73

MD: Amazing historical find by Allan here. This has to be the earliest Rocco we have, and maybe even by a couple of years, right? He was only around 22 here, already a three year pro. And it's fascinating to see what he was doing at this age and how he was presented. Jowett had ten years experience on him and Rocco, despite winning out in the end with a near tilt a whirl slam off the ropes, was the underdog and it was ultimately an upset. 

Along the way, there was a ton of entertaining spots, though maybe not the exhausting (in a good way, in small doses) Rocco trademark I'd expect. All the explosiveness and dynamism in how he hit stuff and took stuff but not consistent, if that makes sense. Jowett was a great counter to his antics, and I'm personally sympathetic to his hairline (Rocco's was shaggy and he already had the trademark mustache).

There was a rough around the edges feel to this, that would, in years to come, conform into Rocco's edge of your seat style. We come in during the third here (and leave two rounds later with the finish) and there are lots of quick and deep pin attempts. After one escape where Rocco just sort of stumbled out to the crowd's amusement, he was quick to go for a joking handshake, great instincts in not losing his focus and in keeping the crowd engaged, in making it seem like they were seeing a show instead of making one of their own out of what they were watching. 

Some of the comedy spots were great, whether it be Jowett booting Rocco on a drop down, or criss crossing his own limbs and rolling about so Rocco couldn't get an advantage, or my favorite, when Rocco started his hyperactive roperunning only for Jowett to run in place instead, making Rocco out to be the fool. Very funny stuff. 

Rocco would get dirtier as the match went on. Interesting, after he started clubbering for the first time and drew a public warning, Walton chastised him for it, not for the cheating itself, but because he didn't earn much from the warning. He only took over really when he dropped a knee (legal apparently) on Jowett's throat, and then only until the end of the round as he leaned in on the arm while he could. Lots of imagination in both his offense and his bounding and bumping (one time fliping all the way over and sailing between the ropes) and towards the end, he had these cobra clutch ripcords I can't remember seeing much otherwise. 

Really just a great historical snapshot of one of the most dynamic wrestlers of all time early into his development. One of my favorite finds this year. 

ER: Remember how much we, as an online contingent of pro wrestling writers and historians of Noticers used to criticize Rollerball Rocco? He was the British embodiment of the same criticisms we held towards Kurt Angle, the all flash-no substance, looks cool-means nothing type of wrestler who fell out of favor with us. I don't think we could have anticipated the Kurt Angle/Dean Malenko style of constant movement detached from meaning would become the predominant pro wrestling style in every company in the world, so much so that things have looped back around. Now, watching even the "worst" era of Mark Rocco indulgence gives me new respect for his style and ability. 

The first British wrestling I was exposed to was a Johnny Saint/Rollerball Rocco match and that match was at least a decade after this one, and it is an entirely different Rocco. It should be, he's incredibly young and only three years into his career. As Matt says, he is the underdog in the match and commentary frequently talks about him like a baby who they impressed made it even this deep into a wrestling match. But he does not wrestle like a stupid little baby, he wrestles like tough guy with a real cool command of physics. His snapmares play like violent offense, his timing is impeccable, and his strikes always looked damaging. He was adept at comedy (Matt mentioned the very funny rope running spot where he ran back and forth as Jowett mocked him like Bugs Bunny) and really the only inexperience I saw was how he didn't always seem to know what to do next, never capitalizing on snapmares and kind of waiting around for Jowett to stand back up (which is another hilarious Kurt Angle parallel). I thought that actually worked for his young mustachioed punk character as it made him look like he was big timing the veteran Jowett. Rocco's bumping for the finish was excellent, a real rewind worthy moment where he back bumps and then handsprings back through the ropes feet first and takes another pratfall on the floor, a comedy bump that looked like either the greatest lucha rudo comedy bump or the payoff to a John Cleese bit.    

The Land of Giants (Skywalker Nitron/Butch Masters) vs. New Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith) AJPW 12/1/90

MD: I'm pretty well suited to know what's new and what's not new from 89-91 AJPW or so, and I'm pretty certain this classics drop is new. We're going to cover it anyway because that's what we do, cover Land of Giants matches. We get about six minutes out of the nine here, with a clip in the middle that annoying means we lost the transition to heel offense, but you can imagine it for the most part. 

And honestly, I liked this a lot. I have issues with late era Dynamite but this was one of the best performances I've seen out of him from 89-90. The most important thing is that he needs opponents he can't just chew up and you can't chew these guys up. They're huge. This started with Smith vs Nitron and I thought they actually matched up well, too well. Some of that was Nitron not working big enough but some of it was Smith not working small enough. He wasn't acting like he was in there with a giant. Even though Masters worked bigger, he'd still do the same thing against him later. 

Dynamite knew how to get the most of them though. When he came in, he had some awesome looking stuff, a fistdrop from an angle that you don't usually see it, a headbutt followed right by a jawbreaker. He was punching up and he was valiant for doing so and he wanted everyone in the crowd to know it. We get the clip then and come back to Masters working over the back, and it's honestly one of the best sells for a bearhug I've seen in a long time. I've criticized Omega's selling of his diverticulitis lately because while it's probably accurate, real to how he feels, it comes off as hokey. Dynamite knew what back pain felt like; he was probably feeling it there depending on how much he had chosen to dull it that night, but he was able to project it to the back row in the best of ways. Nitron's bearhug wasn't quite as good but the effect was still the same. 

The comeback was pretty huge as Dynamite fired up to the top as Masters was inexplicably headed up there to put him away and they did a huge superplex. Smith came in and cleaned house. Finally Smith slammed Masters and Dynamite came off the top with the headbutt much to the crowd's delight and they won as simple as could be. Not sure what was in those lost three minutes (when we came back in Masters was beating on Dynamite on the floor) but the six we got were pretty good. 

ER: This was probably the most entertaining Land of Giants match I've seen, and it was because of a more interesting and risky Butch Masters performance than I expected, and a downright fantastic "late era" Dynamite performance. This whole thing was totally worth it just to see Dynamite as a sincerely scary looking man going hard as fuck after Masters. Dynamite's face is scarred, his body is stiff, but the man feels like a threat at all times. Johnny Smith was at his beefiest in this era, so it actually works when he's throwing down with Nitron and Masters, but this is Dynamite's match. Dynamite hits an incredible fistdrop on Masters, a lunging fist torpedoed into Masters' throat, so perfect that I watched it half a dozen times. I would have said this match was incredible if everything else in it looked like dogshit. After that fistdrop he throws Masters to the floor so hard that it turns into what has to be the biggest bump of his career. Dynamite is great at running face first into boots and was good at drawing sympathy as both Giants take him to The Land of Bearhugs, but the big shock is him hitting a superplex on Masters. I have no idea what Butch was going to do up there, but whatever it was I wasn't expecting him to get suplexed off. When Smith tags in, Masters leans all the way into a stiff missile dropkick to his upper chest and gets wrecked by a Smith clothesline that I think hit harder than all of us expected, especially Masters. 

The icing on the cake was Dynamite hitting a flat out disgusting diving headbutt, smashing his forehead into Masters' teeth. You can see a knot already starting to form on the right side of Dynamite's head and Masters lies on the mat holding his face. Dynamite looked and wrestling like a pilled up psychopath, in the best way. That headbutt was one of the meanest things I've ever seen in a wrestling ring. Smith sets Masters up over halfway across the ring and Dynamite wants him there. He does a shoot headbutt to a man's face and Masters has no idea what hit him. It is Dynamite's head whipped into the entire side and mouth of Butch Masters, like a soccer hooligan leaping off the bleachers. 

Wolfie D/Steven Dunn vs. Gypsy Joe/Danny D Evansville 9/20/00

MD: I don't know. Sometimes you just want to see Wolfie D (here in full Slash mode) go up against Gypsy Joe? And there was some of the early, with a feeling out process and then the first (shorter) of a double heat after Wolfie took Joe down with a hairpull. Pretty simple control stuff with Danny getting drawn in to allow for the blind switches. Joe eventually made a comeback off of a whip reversed and teased a stinkface maybe, because it was 2000 after all. No punches here though. That's important because those were saved to the end.

Danny got leaned on for most of the rest of the match, and it made sense because even though Dunn was a pro and Wolfie a pro's pro I'm not sure you wanted them stooging for this lanky guy with dubious agility all that much. But it was a joy to watch Wolfie just destroy someone and they worked him into a few solid hope spots, including out of a bodyscissored full nelson. When Joe did make it back in (on a hot tag which was earned but not quite maximized re: the timing) the punches came out and they went into a pretty quick roll up win. You never quite know what you're going to get with the Bryan Turner uploads until you get there but this was pretty well worked overall.

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Found Footage Friday: NEW BULLDOGS~! OLD FUNKS~! IWRG RETRO~! LA CORPORACION~! TEAM CASAS~! LAWLER~! MERCURY~! COACH~!

New Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith) vs. Terry Funk/Dory Funk Jr. AJPW 11/20/90

MD: I don't think this is an all time classic, but I do think it's a bit of a "for want of a nail" scenario. Let me put it this way: if this match had existed on tape in the mid-90s, I think it would have been put on a lot of comp tapes and traded around. I think it would have ended up as a match with a "rep." We look at things with different eyes in 2023 than in even 2003 though, and that means maybe not being quite so amazed by the most novel thing in the match and instead really appreciating certain other elements. 

As such, it was a tale of three or so matches. There was a lot of Dory being down on the mat with Johnny Smith and less of hm down with Dynamite. Smith, against Dory, felt smooth, credible, like he belonged. They kept things moving. The matwork was more explosive with Dynamite and that's actually impressive in its own right, just the notion that matwork can be explosive. Then there was Terry feeding, primarily for Dynamite, though with a bit of being stuck in Smith's headlock too. That style of chain wrestling is just so different from what we see today, less set spots and exchanges and more of Terry just grasping at anything he can to try to escape. When in there with Dynamite, Terry bounced around the ring as they crashed into each other at high speed.

The match shifted gears when Terry got Dynamite out and started to beat on him on the floor. My favorite version of the Funks is the bloody, scrappy one where they're fighting monsters, but my second favorite is when they're outright bullies, like that really fun Martel/Zenk match from 86 where they treat Martel with respect but wipe the mat with Zenk. That's what we get here, first on Dynamite and then, after he rolls limply over to Smith, onto him. Tag. Pile driver. Tag. Pile driver. Seven times on Smith in a row. It's just a remarkable two minutes. He kicks out (too much) and is saved in the end and it has some reaction from the crowd, but maybe not as much if they really milked it instead of doing it so matter-of-factly. Moreover, after Dynamite makes it back in, Smith is back on his feet and rolling just a minute later. Still, definitely 1998 comp tape material and certainly a worthwhile match for anyone with even a vague interest in either of these teams, something that should definitely see the light of day and now it has.

IWRG Retro 4/6/23

La Corporacion (Black Tiger/Pentagon Black, Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro/Veneno/Scorpio Jr.) vs. Negro Casas/Felino/Heavy Metal/Matrix/Black Dragon/Mike Segura/Fantasma, Jr. IWRG 7/4/2005

MD: The     other half of the IWRG show and it got a ton of time (35 mins or so). It was good too, constantly moving with a lot of solid exchanges. I wouldn't say anyone stood out more than anyone else, really and no one looked terrible, though maybe Matrix or Fantasma, Jr. and Veneno were the weakest on either side. Maybe. There weren't any long bits of momentum from one side or another, just a lot of resets and into the next exchange. There was more of a sense that if you got into the wrong corner, you might get swarmed, in that sort of big NJPW multi-man tag style that you don't see in lucha as much.

Big indy moves had definitely reached lucha indy matches. Mike Segura managed to land on his head with some pretty crazy stuff from Cerebro Negro, for instance. And Pentagon Black was doing an Argentinian backbreaker into a cutter/facebuster sort of finisher. There was only one real dive but it was a huge one, with Black Dragon pressing up against the corner and going head first over it out of a running start. Despite a lack of major momentum shifts, there were patterns; Heavy Metal took out three guys with his bridging fisherman's suplex. Black Tiger got a couple of lucky fouls in. It ended with La Familia Casas vs Pentagon Black, Black Tiger, and Scorpio, Jr. with Metal outfoxing the rudos' interference for a deep roll up win on Scorpio, Jr. who had done a pretty good job asserting his physicality up until there. There was always something happening with characters that jumped off the screen just enough to keep you eternally engaged. Not at all a bad use of 35 minutes.

Jerry Lawler vs. Jonathan Coachman/Joey Mercury NEW 4/28/07

There was a similar handicap match vs. Romeo Roselli the night before and I'm glad we have this one instead. I loved the ebb and flow of it. They started off on the mic with Coachman bringing out Mercury as a surprise partner and teased a bit of Coach getting into it before starting with a big chunk of Mercury vs Lawler. It was all based around punches and it was all very, very good. King snapped his head back for Mercury's, of course, and he had a great tease high, go low that played off of Mercury's reconstructive face surgery.

When it was time for Mercury to take over, it was with a bunch of standard stuff like slams and back body drops but they all looked big and impactful and lived up to the moment. King got a comeback in when Mercury got distracted by the valet but he was able to take back over. Likewise, the first time Coach came in to pick at the bones, he got distracted as well, but they held off him getting his comeuppance. Eventually, Mercury went to the top rope double axehandle well once too often and ate the shot to the gut, the fistdrop, the pile driver. I would have liked them to find a better way to get Coach into the ring after that. He sort of just asserted himself to try to break things up and was pinned anyway. I would have preferred Mercury stumbling back into him or something along those lines. Regardless, he took two of the worst stunners imaginable, so bad that they were comically good, before Lawler pinned him for the feel good moment. There's a really good match with Mercury and Lawler from later in the year that felt more like a Memphis classic, but this was just straight up well executed and laid out and a lot of fun.

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On Brand Segunda Caida: The Johnny Smith/Taz Feud

I was always fascinated by ECW's usage of Johnny Smith, basically the only US promotion to actually use him. He had a small TV feud with Taz that resulted in two fun matches, with the latter a feud ending submission match: 

Johnny Smith vs. Taz ECW Hardcore TV 10/1/96

ER: This was a good match that didn't have much crowd reaction, Taz really wasn't getting the heel reaction I would have expected, and possibly it was because the casual fan wouldn't know much about who Johnny Smith was. Most of the heat of the match came from Bill Alfonso. But again, it was a good match. Booking Taz really was some smoke and mirrors, as it's wild how much Smith hulks over Taz. Smith is a rock solid guy and I liked the way they worked a couple headlock exchanges, thought Smith had a tight drop toehold, both threw themselves into shoulderblocks, nice high floor basics throughout. It wasn't what the crowd wanted to see necessarily, but it was professional and hard hitting so they never actually turned on it. I thought they did a good job working from holds to strikes to throws, ramping up the action steadily over 9 minutes. Smith threw two nice dropkicks, his standing dropkick going high and making nice contact, and his back bump missile dropkick hitting Taz right in the chest. Loved the spot where Taz caught him after a leapfrog, the two struggled over a waistlock, and Taz eventually dumped Smith with a nasty German suplex. They set up the finish really well as Taz sunk in the Tazmission, and I liked how they called the match instead of letting Smith tap. They set up a submission match, even though Taz does a bunch of heel backhand burials after the match (he let the submission go so Smith wouldn't puke, but also told him he was tough), and then Styles weirdly talks about how Taz outshone Smith on the mat and standing, which is a weird way to put over the heel.

Submission Match: Johnny Smith vs. Taz ECW Ultimate Jeopardy 10/5/96 (Hardcore TV 10/15/96)

ER: This submissions rematch was not nearly as cohesive as their first match. The first encounter had a real satisfying build, ramping up steadily over the run time. The build throughout isn't nearly as strong in this one, though it does bring a few cool different things. I wish they would have done more with the opening matwork, with both guys taking turns cockily getting into par terre to challenge the other to do something about it. I have no idea what Taz's actual mat skills were, but I know Smith can go and it would have been really cool to see some mat scrambles. Both are built solid as hell, and that's where a lot of cool parts come from: thick arms working chokes and throwing heavy clotheslines. Smith has a real underrated clothesline, throwing it right to the chest but keeping his arm stiff, so that it really looks like a guy taking a bat to the chest. The problem was that neither guy (Taz especially) wanted to show much vulnerability, so it's tough to build to any interesting submissions. Smith works the arm a bit but selling wasn't really a Taz strong suit, so while a nice Fujiwara could have lead to a nice false finish it just leads to Taz standing back up. The finish looks good, as Smith had been getting to the ropes and countering out of suplexes throughout the match, and the final near escape is cool: Smith breaks a waistlock and starts to get away, but Taz grabs him by the legs and lifts him over with a wheelbarrow suplex before getting the Tazmission. If you combine the best elements of their two matches you could get a great match, but instead we are left with a really good match and a fun match, which is fine.

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WXW Gary Albright Memorial Show 4/19/00

Full Show


Too Cold Scorpio/Sugaa vs. Tommy Suede/Mark the Body

ER: This wasn't great, but had its moments. The American Hunk Society were both really green, and it would have been cool to take advantage of Scorpio's presence and giving him a singles match against Sugaa or one of the other pros on the card. Tommy Suede would get quite good within a year of this match, but here he was a guy still getting crossed up and accidentally stepping out of the way of offense, making Scorpio look like a dummy a couple of times and somehow not getting his eye socket caved in as a receipt (although perhaps handing out receipts on memorial shows is bad business). Sugaa is a guy who would go on to work WXW for his whole career, and here he was dressed like a shock jock making a wrestling appearance in 2000 (pleather pants, chrome silver button up, wraparound sunglasses), but was clearly jazzed to be teaming with Scorp and took some big risks. He hit an awesome no hands tope con hilo and looked like a guy who you'd be excited to see at your regular indy in 2000. Mark the Body (who they also called Mark the Hunk and a couple other variations) didn't look great hitting offense, but looked great missing offense, including a great missed elbowdrop off the middle rope (I thought UPW trainees were the big bumping, bad offense guys, not WXW?). Scorp's tag ins were highlights, loved his flipping legdrop, and he finishes things off with a heavy ass 450.

Jimmy Snuka vs. Jak Molsonn

ER: When you're getting a 2000 Jimmy Snuka match, it's really up to the opponent how good or bad that match is going to be. From the mid 90s indy Snuka matches were already made up of a heel clubbing away at Snuka for a few minutes, followed by him throwing some chops, a bodyslam, and a Superfly Splash. I would guess by 2000 that it had been at least 5 years since he had worked a match that wasn't laid out that way. Molsonn looks like Scott Norton if Scott Norton didn't lift and was just more of a fat guy. He's really soft on his clotheslines, axe handles, and forearms, but he's also wrestling a near 60 legend so it's very possible he looked better than this in other matches. Snuka takes over with some bad chops but good headbutts, and puts Molson to the mat with a really nice flying headbutt attack (like a nice Tito Santana forearm) and lands an impressive, fully unprotected Superfly Splash. 

Doink vs. Showtime Shane Black

ER: A show like this is going to have a lot of matches that start with 3-4 minutes of heel control, before moving immediately into the one minute of "name" control to finish. Shane Black is a Quiet Storm type ponytailed Little Buff Boy, who doesn't wrestle at all like Quiet Storm, and actually seems like a guy with some nice tight basics. This match could have been good with a couple extra beats, as the 3-4 minutes of Black control were good enough, and Doink's 1 minute comeback was good (this was Ray Apollo, who is an underrated guy who throws a good elbow drop and a nice whoopee cushion), but a match layout of 80% Black/20% Doink taken in that order is the least interesting way for all of these events to happen. An extra kickout, some kind of unexpected beat, this gets suddenly good. 

Samu/LA Smooth vs. Big Dick Dudley/Hungarian Barbarian

ER: This kicked about as much ass as something on the lower parts of this show are going to. When there are 11 matches to get to on this show and the file isn't close to 2 hours long, you know you're getting a ton of 3-5 minute matches. So, watching four big guys throw mostly punches and chairshots for 5 minutes is going to be towards the top of the class. Samu is Rikishi size here (thus even better) and LA Smooth is his size equal. Hungarian Barbarian is a guy you'd think would be much worse given he's a guy with genuine size and a good look, totally unsure why he never went anywhere. This has a lot of Samu throwing potato shots, and the other three have no problem leaning into strikes. Chair and stair shots don't get swung at full strength, but the punches look good and that's more important. There are few moves beyond punches, but the big one is a BIG one. Hungarian Barbarian does a gigantic Undertaker style no hands plancha that sends him into everyone and into the front row. Insanity. How did this guy not get used on late 90s ECW house shows?  

Stevie Richards vs. Scotty 2 Hotty

ER: This is daisy duke Stevie, not the then-current Right to Censor Stevie, and at one point he even strips off the cutoffs and threatens to wrestle in his blue briefs. This is the first time these two wrestled, and it's kind of surprising they weren't matched up more often in WWF (they only worked a couple house shows and an international Heat) with at minimum a TV story where RTC wants to censor Rikishi's ass. Stevie vs. Scotty over the Light Heavyweight Title feels like a program most people just think they remember actually happening instead of ever actually happening. It's kind of a funny pairing, as Stevie isn't a guy with offense and Scotty during this era was also a guy with way less offense. Scotty was a great bumper who weirdly had better offense when he was a job guy than when he was peak of stardom. Scotty 2 Hotty filled up 30-45 seconds of his matches with Worm buildup/Worm, dancing, climbing turnbuckles for crowd reaction, and other things to stretch time (like a corner 10 count punch every match). 

Scotty 2 Hotty is the Wrestling Dream, where you put in the years and bruises as a big bumping job guy, and a few years later you're a guy getting insane reactions while working a high school gym Jimmy Valiant act on the biggest shows of the biggest money era of all time. After the first 3 minutes of this match were all about getting crowd reactions from different sides of the ring, I was actually convinced they would go out and work a juniors match using only headlocks and bullshit. I think that match would have been tremendous. This was fine, but not that. They do work headlocks, Scotty does get HUGE crowd reactions for every piece of Too Cool bullshit he does, Stevie hits a nice vertical suplex and excellent Stevie kick, takes a great bump when Scotty flips him into the ring from the apron, then does an incredible sell of an uppercut to the balls. Stevie sells that punch like a Shakespearean stage death, arm extended skyward while his other hand clutches his balls. The Worm is so over that Scotty soaks in literally 30 seconds of reaction before he even takes on hop. Good for them. 

Gillberg vs. Afa Jr. vs. Lucifer Grimm

ER: This did not need to be an elimination 3 way, but this was a very fun short Afa Jr. showcase. I've always been kind of fascinated with the Afa Jr. career, a guy who hardly spent any time in WWE developmental before being brought to the Raw roster, only to be gone 3 months later immediately after having his biggest TV singles match. I really liked Manu in those 3 months, a guy I was weirdly viewing as a someone to be excited about during the grim "everybody looks like Ted Dibiase Jr." 2008 WWE. I don't think "Manu is a cool WWE TV guy" was a real common talking point in 2008, but I always like a guy with a nice bump over the top to the floor. Afa was even more of a big bumper in 2000, because he is literally 15 years old. He gets fantastic height on a monkey flip and double backdrop, hits a big guillotine legdrop, a plancha over the ringpost to the floor, and a huge splash. Gillberg throws several nice uppercuts, nice headbutt, doesn't take a bump, and really smashes into Afa with a spear. This would have been a very fun Gillberg/Afa match, but I don't think we get big Afa bumps or flying offense without Grimm in there to help catch it all, so in that regard Grimm was a necessary presence. A 7 year old Lance Anoa'i does a People's Elbow on Grimm after the match. 

Crowbar vs. Judas Young

ER: The commentary guy who sounds like Sebastian Gorka is trying to figure out why Devon Storm went crazy and became Crowbar, and he hilariously comes up with "I imagine he waited so long to be signed by WCW that he just went crazy." He's joined by Little Jeanne, who lost several times to Mona on WCW TV over a several month period around this time. Crowbar was really generous with Young here, giving him a ton of this match, a ton of time that Young arguably wasn't prepared to fill. This felt like a 4 minute Worldwide match stretched out to 9 minutes, on a show where almost everything has been kept right at that Worldwide match length. Young has a decent elbowdrop and a nice top rope elbow, but he weirdly wrestled the match as a heavyweight peer of Crowbar and Young couldn't be over 170. Crowbar hits his slingshot splash and a nice flying crossbody on the floor (while Young was sat in a chair), gets a good nearfall off a northern lights, but this was just too long. You had Jeanne doing a mid match turn on Crowbar (leading to him taking an unexpected bump over the top to the floor) and then he has to get his revenge back on her, and I don't think they really even established their partnership anyway so it was just time spent that we didn't need. 

Taka Michinoku/Funaki vs. The Head Bangers

ER: I'm sure these teams had better matches on WWF Metal, but this was fine. You hope to see some cool Taka stuff in a match like this, and he is really great at bumping for Head Banger lariats. Take is great at just running in neck first and then getting hooked quick to the mat. He hits a nice rana on Thrasher and then goes for another one immediately after and gets planted by a kneeling powerbomb. Taka does his sick as hell seppuku taunt before appropriately missing a huge moonsault. The Head Bangers spent a good portion of their time making kung fu jokes or doing bad crane kick poses (got their asses for being Asian!), then just win with a flapjack. 

Johnny Smith vs. Maunakea Mossman

ER: This was one of the main reasons I went out of my way to watch this show, as we hardly have any footage of Johnny Smith wrestling in the states. There's some ECW shows and this, basically. And Mossman is being managed by Nicole Bass for...some reason, I suppose. And my time would have been MUCH better spent just watching the match or two on this show I really wanted to see, as this match delivered everything I was hoping it would, and actually got the time to deliver it. Seeing a 10 minute match on a show filled with 4 minute matches stands out as a downright epic, but these two also really expose how much everyone else on this show has either gone through the motions, or just has none of the dedication to making small exchanges look legit. Everybody else on the show had treated their match as an untaped house show obligation, which makes a lot of sense. And then Smith and Mossman come out bending limbs and snapping tendons with dragon screws and really laying it in. Their mat exchanges are super tight, the same kind of fast mat stuff that is popular today, only here none of the steps are skipped. 

Here you can see WHY Mossman had to turn a certain way to ease pressure off his arm, you can see WHY Smith had to roll the way he did to shake Mossman's grip on his ankle. They weren't just working the sequence they rehearsed and thinking about their next beat, they looked like they were naturally working to those beats. Smith whips over so fast for Mossman's armdrags, really everything they did made me expect a joint dislocation. Smith has such cool body control on his matwork, that kind of tripped out Regal wrist control spiraling out of a feinted kip up. Mossman goes after Smith's leg, Smith goes after Mossman's arm, and all of it is great. Mossman beats Smith up with a couple kicks, Smith hits a great bridged German (Smith is one of wrestling's great bridgers) and catches him in a great death valley driver, hits his fine middle rope dropkick, all of it looks great. This was a simple touring match but with expert execution, and that execution makes all the difference. They worked go behinds, wristlocks, and takedowns the same way Bret Hart would work them, and that kind of dedication to simply "making the moves look like what they're supposed to be" can be really exciting. 

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho

ER: This was disappointingly only 5 minutes, keeping with the theme of most of the matches on this show, but both had just worked a week of house shows, and this show was the literal day after they had just taped a Raw on Monday and Smackdown on Tuesday. So they're good enough dudes to work a memorial show on what surely would have been a well earned day off. And Jericho responds by doing some Y2J mic work and that's about it. Because these 5 minutes are the motherfucking EDDIE GUERRERO show. Small show Eddie is really special, as I've yet to see any evidence of this guy not putting on a show. This was bigger than any indy show Eddie worked during his rehab tour the next year, but this show came the day after working a show in front of 20,000+. So here he comes out just scowling at the fans, looking at these memorial show fans with real disgust. He lets Jericho run through his catchphrases, and then, for 5 minutes, Eddie hams it up. 

He gets thrown onto his face twice after trying to lock up with Jericho, and immediately starts playing some greatest hits. He runs on his knees to the ref after getting embarrassed, he complains of hair pulls, and - and I've never seen him do this - he then starts trying to trick Jericho into locking up, only to pose. Was Eddie ever doing pose down stuff during heel exchanges? I have no memory of Eddie ever working Narcissist poses, and I love it. He tries to get a knucklelock, then flexes a bicep, then keeps doing it with a new flex each time. It's the best. He spends the first 70% of this match entertaining the crowd as only Eddie can, then of course hit a low dropkick into Jericho's knee, running around the ref to hit it. It was a short match, so it didn't get to go far, but I loved the (abbreviated) finish, with Eddie running up the ropes to hit his whipping headscissors, only for Jericho to catch him in the Walls. I wish we got more, but this was 5 special Eddie minutes I'd never seen before, and that's a great thing.  

Road Dogg vs. Rikishi

ER: This was a punch out until they gave every fan the exact thing they wanted to see that night: Rikishi grinding his ass into Road Dogg's mouth. I liked the kick-punch stuff a lot, with the match peaking around a fantastic punch exchange. Road Dogg dropped his knee and smashed Rikishi into the railing outside, and back in threw a few great right hands in the corner, really knocking Rikishi's head back, and Rikishi popped him with on solitary right hand after. Road Dogg sold the punch the way one might sell a punch to their nose/cheekbone, then took a couple of really hard whips into the turnbuckles before dropping to his seat, mouth open, head leaned back, fans dying to see his nose buried into Fatu's ass. And they got it. After, Road Dogg danced in the ring with Rikishi, Too Cool, and Jericho. Jericho didn't know the Too Cool dance moves so started doing Thriller Zombie instead. 

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All Japan Battle Royal 1/2/98

1/2/98

ER: Spectacular. Few matches bring me as much joy as All Japan's annual year opening battle royal, and this is a nice weird crew. There is no loyalty in sight, just a lot of guys keeping butts to ropes and seeing who is gonna be dumb enough to step foot in the circle and get pinned by 15 guys. This battle royal is most well known among wrestling nerds for being THEE match where Skull von Crush gets a pin on Misawa. I think 90% of the people reading this site all had some kind of moment where they read or heard that Vito once pinned Misawa, and it immediately sounded like bullshit. I first read it in the 1998 or 1999 PWI 500 issue, and it sounded fishy. It was a trivia tidbit that got repeated a lot online, mainly because many were unfamiliar with the dogpile pinfall style of All Japan battle royals.  And I'm willing to bet upon learning that, most think that Crush was one of 15 guys pinning Misawa. In reality, the moment was much more exciting. It came around the halfway point, several had already been eliminated (big names like Hiroshi Hase and Akira Taue were out first, so the ring had cleared a bit), and Crush got in the middle of the ring and went right after Misawa. Crush hit Misawa with a stunner, Misawa being the only person I've ever seen take a stunner and then do a forward roll bump after, and Crush pinned him with really only a couple helping hands. So the moment was much more than the "one of 15 guys" narrative that became the immediate answer whenever the trivia piece would get mentioned, as it was Misawa getting pinned expressly because of the move he took from Skull von Crush.

Skull von Crush's somewhat validation wasn't the only fun bit we got. Haruka Eigen continues to be the master of big mouth shit talking in these matches; he always lands a cheap shot and then hides behind a bigger ally, this time literally jumping and running behind Baba. It's so great. Giant Kimala is a fun target in this one, people kept running up on him and he would fight back with big head chops and headbutts. He and Dr. Death had a weird thing and kept going after each other. Jun Izumida was the eventual winner! A guy who hung back at the right moments and had hilarious little things like trying to sneak up to cheapshot Akiyama but getting caught. Major guys, most notably Kawada, went after Baba in moments that really lit up the crowd, Baba running down every single one of them, blasting Baba chops and eventually getting pinned after getting dogpiled after delivering a nice Russian legsweep. Baba had this fantastic arms out What the Fuck face after getting ganged up on. "You came at the 60 year old KING? Seriously?" We got the lovely and unexpected final 4 of Akiyama, Izumida, Johnny Smith, and Johnny Ace. The Alliance of Johnnies is extremely short-lived, as Smith hits Ace with his great reverse DDT, the Akiyama palmed the back of Izu's head and threw him melon first into a falling headbutt on Ace. Izu gets a really fun and exciting win, letting Akiyama and Smith have a nice battle before letting one pin the other and then flipping the pin. God I love these battle royals.

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New Footage Friday: Johnny Smith, Miracle Violence, Bossman, Bad News, TA, Ladd

Magnum TA vs. Ernie Ladd Houston Wrestling 11/9/84

PAS: This is a matchup we have seen before, but a new match. Really dug fired up babyface Magnum, and dirty tricks Ladd. The opening was great with Magnum jumping Ladd at the bell and throwing these lighting face overhand rights in succession, with Ladd flopping into the ropes horizontally.  Ladd was all cheap shots and foreign objects and broad pantomimes which made the crowd rabid. Ladd kind of worked like a heel late period Baba, two old and arthritic to move fast, but the size and timing makes up for a lot. Would have liked to see a real finish, but this was a pair of great role players, playing their role.

MD: New Houston footage is gold. We have a couple of Ladd vs Magnum matches and they're generally good. This is no exception. Ladd was such a master of creating meaning. He's brilliant, even broken down, at using his size to its full advantage. He just gets it like few others his size have. It's one thing even for a guy like Terry Funk to crash out of the ring and end up with a chair around his head (that enhanced by his credibility), but it's another thing for a guy as lanky and huge as Ladd. You have to love how he needs to resort to illegal objects and chicanery and cheapshots to get over on Magnum too, even given the size and the fact he's champ. That just makes Magnum look all the better and gives Ladd extra heat because it frustrates the (always great Houston) crowd. Magnum holds his own here, just a mean bullying face, the sort that crowds will always love because it's a tough guy wish fulfillment. The finish was BS but it sets up a no DQ match and a cage match after it, so you can't be too down on it.


Bad News Allen vs. Ron Simmons CWF 12/16/86

MD: This is interesting almost solely for Bad News leading Simmons through the match. Lots of standard babyface stuff from a guy who had only been in the business for a few months. You got some sense of Simmons' star power already but he wasn't there with the expressions and the crowd interaction yet. Bad News, on the other hand, was super giving, surprisingly so if you've seen him in other environments. Some of his stooging (like complaining about a hair pull) was just tremendous, and he made sure to do little things to get over Simmons strength (such as doing a test of strength but with two hands to Simmons' one). The belt shot at the end was more of a whip with the strap, but to the face, and just brutal. I'm not sure I've ever quite seen that done with a title belt before and you wonder why not, since it was such a great visual, except for that it probably hurt like hell.

ER: Phil and I were talking a couple days ago about how Bad News was somebody who should be the absolute coolest, has the coolest look and the coolest background, but doesn't have a lot of matches I really like. Feels like he should have cool matches, usually doesn't have cool matches. But he was really popular at my school among my friends in the late 80s, because he looked cool and he rarely lost. I remember him losing to Hogan on SNME, but that was Hogan so none of us faulted him for that, obviously he couldn't beat Hogan. Every other PPV he would either win or go to a double DQ, just a guy who we all saw as way higher up on the hierarchy that he actually was. And he only became more popular due to a lie that I started. So keep in mind that I was 8, and 8 year olds have no clue how the world works or if a lie is plausible or not. Some kid at camp once told me that he found an uzi in "somebody's" house, and took the uzi. He said he had the uzi in his bag, but couldn't show it to me because he also had $10,000 in the bag and didn't want people to see it. All of this seemed perfectly plausible to me, a stupid fucking child. So I *may* have told people that Bad News Brown was...Shel Silverstein. We had a few Shel Silverstein books in our classroom, and to an 8 year old it wasn't too much of a stretch that a black and white photo of Silverstein looked like Bad News Brown (or Sid Haig, but none of us would have known that), and none of us would have known that "Silverstein" isn't a really a common name for black people. Those books were really popular in our class, so Bad News Brown then became even more popular among those of us who watched wrestling. And then years went by and I didn't think about it and I ended up tricking myself into a false memory, as I saw a picture of Shel Silverstein a decade later and thought "wait I thought he was black".


Terry Gordy/Dr. Death Steve Williams vs. Big Bossman/Johnny Smith AJPW 7/18/93

ER: It's so cool seeing Bossman come out to Hard Times in some community center looking building in Osaka. Oh, and remember when Paul Heyman brought Johnny Smith in to work an ECW PPV main event opposite RVD, but got cold feet at the last minute that fans wouldn't accept Smith so replaced him with Balls Mahoney? Wouldn't accept Smith? Here's Smith 6 years prior going toe to toe with Doc and Gordy, and literally knocking both wobbly with shoulder blocks, but yeah probably would have looked overmatched against RVD. There are two kinds of MVC matches, the kinds where they gobble people up and club and smash their way through, and the kind where they hang back a bit and lie in some holds. This is more the latter than the former, but not much to the match's detriment. Gordy hangs on the apron a lot, and Doc seems off a beat in several moments and particularly doesn't seem to know the rhythm and timing of Bossman's spots.

We get a nice babyface performance from Smith carrying this through, with some explosive bursts from Bossman. Smith really gets the crowd behind him by not backing down to MVC, slamming into them like he was the size of Bossman, throwing cool elbows between the eyes, cutting low on clotheslines and landing a couple nice ones to the back of Doc's head. He's the guy clearly taking the pin, but the crowd keeps getting more into him the more he refuses to stay down. Bossman gives him welcome respites, coming in and throwing his in-contention-for-best-ever uppercuts and moving quicker than anyone in the match. We get some awesome moments, like Doc muscling up the HUGE Bossman for a press slam (I thought he was going to quit on it but he kept powering through and even tossed in an extra rep), or Doc catching a Smith crossbody off the top and running him into the buckles for a Stampede, only to turn around and run into a Bossman elbow to get a great nearfall for Smith. Smith runs a big gauntlet down the stretch, taking powerslams, a powerbomb, a chokeslam, and gets a surprising last gasp kickout after a tandem chokeslam/backdrop. Bossman and Smith only teamed a few times, only once making tape, so this match doubling our footage count was a nice treat showing a cool complementary set of bruisers.

PAS: Not at the level of the Bossman tag we reviewed a couple of weeks ago, but this was a fun big boy battle. Smith is built like a block of firewood, and never lets the MVC eat him up, he takes a pretty big thumping, but keeps coming at both guys. I mentioned in the previous Bossman tag match (and will mention over and over again if we do the rumored Bossman in AJPW C+A) how great he is at doing complex sequences. And we get a great one here as he slides out of the ring and slides quickly back in misses a clothesline, gets both feet up and nails Doc with a windup uppercut. He is so smooth with that stuff, that it really makes me wish I saw him work El Hijo Del Santo. The presslam by Doc was an all timer, and although it felt a bit awkward, I dug how hard it was to take out Smith at the end.

MD: Most memorable here will be the two big spots, Doc somehow getting Bossman up with the high effort gorilla press and the awesome blocking of the Oklahoma slam with the forearm. More on the former in a minute. Smith really held his own here, staying in it. I thought it was all a little too headlocky in the end and it certainly wasn't the bombastic affair that the last Bossman match was, but it was still good, and maybe attuned to the crowd. Back to the Press slam spot. Yes, it was a huge effort by Williams, but one thing I loved about it was how they teased it a moment before. Bossman locked in a headlock (a lot of that here) and Doc tried to lift him up and over with the belly to back but couldn't do it. It's a little thing but that tease made the press slam that immediately followed mean all the more. That's the stuff in wrestling I live for.

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