Found Footage Friday: LOW KI~! PCO~! DR. DEATH~! 2 COLD~! MEAN STREET POSSE~! LONDON~! KENDRICK~! FBI~!

WWE Vault Dark Matches

Pierre Carl Ouellet vs. El Tornado(?) 7/7/03

MD: Pretty insane performance by PCO here. Not surprising but he went so far over the top that he did three things in one match probably not otherwise seen in a WWE ring in 2003: a sit out chokeslam, sit out pumphandle slam, top rope exploder. That was on top of both a flip dive to the floor and the flipping cannonball senton he won it with. He also took a gnarly face first corner bump that was not at all warranted by the guy half his size whipping him across the ring. He balanced it with a lot of energy and charisma and a connection with the crowd but it almost all felt like a rib somehow. His opponent was game and along for the ride and got pretty good heat at times but not necessarily through much that he was doing. Just having the offense against PCO here was going to be enough and he didn't capitalize on it by leaning into it in any way. I don't think I'd hire PCO off of this but I sure as hell would give him a 2003 ROH run.

ER: It's crazy how PCO ran the ropes better than every person on the current WWE roster. Not sure who El Tornado(?) is but the man had a fine backdrop and a real nice slingshot senton. It's awesome to see PCO taking bumps off the edges of aprons 20+ years ago, not so different than the Shawn Michaels casket match bump that turned him into one of the worst big match workers of the 2000s. We all know PCO now for his inhuman bumps, but I didn't remember him being so good at bumping into the buckles. Every time he went into the buckles - back first, chest first - it looked so hard. There are some spots in this that they absolutely would not have allowed a regular heavyweight to be doing. The top rope exploder was incredible, both men standing on the top with seemingly no balance issues, PCO getting legs behind it like he was just standing on the mat. Insane. The cannonball hit perfectly, but really everything he did hit perfectly. The man could have been great doing just "basic" clotheslines and slams, but instead he was out here killing himself and a game opponent whom none of us know. 

Mean Street Posse (Rodney/Pete Gas) vs. Low Ki/Vincent Goodnight 8/7/00

MD: We come in on a crazy Low Ki dive (set up well by Goodnight teasing one drawing the MSP in another direction, a set up not used nearly enough now honestly) followed by a great transition where Ki, going for another dive off the apron is knocked off by Rodney knocking Goodnight into him, landing right in Gas' clutches for a world's strongest slam. Gas looked pretty good here, honestly. Most of the rest of the match was a FIP on Ki and Rodney looked ok, but Gas was in the right place and doing the right thing with the right energy. They did a phantom tag (with a clap) as Goodnight had the ref, solid stuff, well taught. The comeback had Goodnight punching one MSP in the corner while Ki kicked the other and they weren't entirely in sync (Ki would have just kicked him all day) before they just crashed into each other and I saw the Gas Mask for the first time in years (I remembered it being more of a full reverse full nelson for some reason when here it was more of a just a lift up). There was probably a really good Ki vs Gas singles match in here somewhere.

ER: I am a big fan of the actual wrestling abilities of the Mean Street Posse, so was excited to see this turn up. Low Ki vs. Pete Gas is one of those oddball EWR pairings that surely never happened in the real world, and yet here's Gas and Rodney hanging in to catch Low Ki's Phoenix splash to the floor, Ki kicking Gas across his very large face, and Gas slamming Ki hard on the floor. Who taught Rodney how to throw his actually good worked punches? Who taught Gas to throw such aggressive low cut missed clotheslines? How many pairs of normal jeans could have been made out of Rodney's double wide legged jeans? How did Gas have such nice form on his vertical suplex? I love Gas choking out Low Ki and breaking before 5, repeatedly telling the referee he could count. What's incredible about Pete Gas and the way he says "I can count!" is that he knows exactly how to say it the way a guy who didn't actually know how to count would defensively and angrily say it. I loved Rodney's sell of Low Ki's short superkick, bumping fast after leaning in chin first. Vincent Goodnight was the only part of this match that didn't work. The guy looked like a worse version of Lenny Lane. Hundreds of guys would have made a better Low Ki partner, but what should stand out the most is how legitimately good the Mean Street Posse looked.  

Paul London/Brian Kendrick vs. FBI (Little Guido/Tony Mamaluke) 8/1/06

MD: This was a hot mess, but still pretty fun. The problem was that the crowd was totally behind the FBI, which Guido (ribs taped even) was able to play into and Spanky, maybe, just a little bit as well, but that no one else could adapt to and the match structure didn't adapt to. London and Kendrick might get a pop for a big move or double team or dive but then the crowd would turn right back on them again. Guido worked really well with both guys. At one point they did a cazadora before Kendrick looped around into a roll up but during it, Guido smacked him right in the back which is a great bit. Mamaluke looked real rough around the edges but when he actually landed, that added more than substracted. There was one missed clothesline where a foot got up somehow that looked nasty, right before London absolutely wiped out on a dive. If they had adapted and really leaned hard into Kendrick/London heeling I think this would have been over huge and could have been honestly great but they stayed the course and ran off the road.

ER: Kendrick's and London's shorts are hands down the worst gear in wrestling history. I fucking hated these enormous culottes in 2006 and they look even worse now. They look like 9 year olds wearing their father's board shorts. I don't think this match was too negatively affected by the teams sticking to their plan and mostly ignoring the fans. Sure, it probably would have been amazing if London and Kendrick came in and chose to be overt heels, but this felt like a crowd worth ignoring, one that wouldn't play along regardless of how you played to them. They were going to react to all the big spots no matter what but they also wanted to get themselves over. I don't think it was a bad crowd, but it wasn't a crowd to cater to. 

As is, I thought this was among the best Guido looked during his long WWE run. This guy was working with something to prove. He looked great against both champs but especially against Kendrick. He and Kendrick worked a lot together but this felt like they were pushing each other hard. Guido blocking Kendrick's majistral, punching him in the back during a cazadora, dropping a knee on his face, both men pushing pace. Everyone else in the match outclassed Tony Mamaluke, who was shockingly behind what I remembered him as. This man couldn't keep up with what anyone else was doing and then he somehow managed to kick Kendrick in the face on a missed clothesline. I skipped back several times and still don't know what he was doing or why he did what he did. It's like he threw he leg up as if Kendrick was supposed to roll over a knee lift with a cradle...but he was also throwing a missed clothesline so what was that leg even doing there? Guido holds Kendrick right after so Mamaluke can hit a cool standing cannonball into him, then everyone lets London splat on the floor on a dive. Nobody came close to catching that man. London's shooting star press vaulting off Kendrick's back looked incredible. 

Justin Credible vs. Kid Kash 9/18/01

 

MD: The crowd did not want to go along for this journey. Kash did small things fine, I'm talking firing back after a big spot or working out of a chinlock. He did some very impressive big things, a run up flip dive to the floor, a pretty complex leaping rana off the top. Credible was... you know, credible, not just sitting arond on the chinlock, working him in the corner, hitting his pull out powerbomb. The fans just weren't buying what they were selling though. In some ways, I think this was a pretty well put together tryout sort of match, but it just didn't click. They even had one unique spot I liked a lot where Credible kicked Kash off of him, pressing him right into the corner hard, only for Kash to fall forward with a headbutt to the crotch. That got a little bit of an "ohhh" but they were right back on their feet a moment later and couldn't really capitalize on it. Or anything else, I guess. At least Kash had the XWF to fall back on.

ER: This is the kind of content the Vault Fans are clamoring for. Justin Credible is one of those wrestlers that is impossible to have a hot take about. There have been a lot of wrestlers who we have worked to change the narrative on, but what if Justin Credible became one of those "actually you know who was really great?" wrestlers. How useless would that be? Maybe it's true. I remember him being an above average bumper and I'm sure there are some other skills he doesn't get credit for. He doesn't get credit for them, because he is someone that nobody wants to talk about. I love talking about guys like that, so let's see if I can further ruin my life by becoming a Justin Credible Truther. His weird minimal contact DDT looks really great when Kid Kash is flying fast onto his face. I also like the way he leaned out of almost all of Kid Kash's punches. One thing you want to do in someone's tryout match is lean out of all their strikes.  He was decent at catching both of Kash's swinging huracanranas and not great at catching his dive, but his scoop powerbomb out of the corner looked good and his superkick was better than I remembered. This was the first Justin Credible match we at Segunda Caida have written about in literally 18 years. Can't wait to revisit his work in my early 60s. 

 

Dr. Death Steve Williams vs. Scorpio 4/28/98

 

MD: I don't know. When this dropped, I saw a bit of "I don't see how this guy could have main evented against Austin" and maybe that would have been an issue. Asking him to do a twenty minute walk and brawl while the stooges were guest timekeepers or whateve rmight have been a problem. This, where Scorpio could create a lot of the motion and Doc could catch him midair off a slingshot with a straight punch or catch a dive and drop him into a tombstone, or just run him over worked pretty well. When he had to bump, he used his whole body, going feet overhead in a slow timbering motion that worked. Credible strikes. A long press slam that got over with the crowd, enough mannerisms to remind him he was alive at all points, a few too many swears that made it all seem just a bit more labored than it had to. I'd watch another twenty matches with this Doc in this environment up against end-run Vader or rookie Edge or Val or Faarooq or whatever.

ER: I have been so excited for this one since it got uploaded, and, yeah, it didn't fully work. I don't think it was either man's fault, but I don't know what the actual problems were. I am not someone who buys into the whole "Doc wouldn't have been able to work WWF style" because that narrative is almost always based on the fallacy that "all Doc does is dangerous suplexes". Dr. Death Williams (as Howard Finkel calls him) is not a one dimensional wrestler, and in 1997 I thought he was one of the greatest wrestlers in the world. Watch his few early '97 ECW matches and tell me his (great) match against Raven couldn't have worked with the majority of the 1998 WWF roster. His 1997 All Japan work is excellent. Watch Misawa's first Triple Crown defense after winning it back from Kobashi. Yes, Misawa takes several suplexes onto his head - it was his fetish after all - but Doc is so much more than suplexes in that match. His energy and look would have absolutely played in WWF a year later. What's so confusing, is that a lot of that energy was completely absent in this match. Maybe that last full year in AJPW really did break him down, but I'm still not so sure. Before this match, the man had just spent the previous month working long Champions Carnival matches, so it's possible his body was worn out from that. I don't know. He did look a step slower here, in a way that I never saw him look in '97, so who's to say when that started. 

It's also easy to forget (unless you go back and watch the footage) that Scorpio was not at his best in early 1998 WWF. The man's timing in singles matches was so far out of whack. I don't know why, but watch late '97/early '98 WWF Scorpio and the man was a constant timing problem. He didn't start looking like himself again until he started teaming with Terry Funk, magically regaining his old form overnight. This match was during the Funk team run, but his singles match timing still wasn't there. I don't think either man did anything specifically bad here, sometimes things just don't work. I still don't agree with the narrative that Doc wouldn't have been able to adapt to The Style. "His big suplexes wouldn't have played in WWF, they needed punch kick guys in their main events" and well the best parts of this match were every single time Doc turned it into a punch exchange. Punching Scorpio out of the air on a slingshot was easily the best spot of the match, but he had several different punches that all looked tremendous, including a staggering right while both were selling on their feet, and a series of jabs that backed Scorpio into the corner and looked like something out of Valentine/Garvin. The crowd doesn't get into any of it, until a Scorpio back suplex makes it sound like they are getting actually fired up for Scorp's comeback. But then he starts his comeback and it dies instantly down to silence. Oh well. 

Maybe this would have seemed like a good match if the crowd had reacted to any of it. It looked like a match that deserved some reaction. The press slam spot looked great, the punches all looked good, Doc catching Scorpio's moonsault press was a cool spot that wasn't being done in 1998, but even then it looked like the crowd wanted something bigger than just a front slam out of it. The reactions were not there and that killed the match good. But both men also seemed off in ways that I don't think reflect their actual abilities. Anyway, I wish I had a Dr. Death match against every member of the 1998 WWF roster for further research but yeah yeah this didn't work like it should have. 

 

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Found Footage Friday: GOLDUST~! KASH~! MORTON~! KASH~! MICHAELS~! KASH~!

Goldust vs. Kid Kash Crossfire Wrestling 8/4/12

MD: This was the first round of a tournament to crown the company's first heavyweight champion. Cagematch says they went 25 but I think it was more like a fake fifteen. It was solid though. They're right about the same age, but were in great shape. Kash was still more than happy to stall but he had plenty of heat for it. The Fairgrounds was packed for a show with Brian Christopher, Shane Williams, Harry Smith, the Hotshots, David Young, Mad Man Pondo, Jillian Hall, etc, and Goldust was probably the biggest star. It's a good venue with the right crowd and right wrestlers. So, Kash was happy to stall, but went when it matters. The first real exchange was Dustin running over him multiple times, and he certainly threw himself back for the punches to help them look great (not that they needed a lot of help). He snuck in low blows and worked the leg, including a long figure-four, and would go to the eyes for his cutoffs. Dustin eventually fired back but couldn't capitalize on the bulldog (we'll say due to the fact he landed on his ankle but the camera angle didn't help us there) and they worked it towards that draw, with Dustin getting something of a moral victory since he had the advantage at the end even if he couldn't score the win and move on in the tournament. They'd worked in TNA back in 05 but they were different wrestlers here, in a different place, at a different time, and this was a perfectly enjoyable first round draw for an upstart promotion, the kind you might have seen in Southwest in the 80s or Global in the 90s. 

Ricky Morton vs. Kid Kash Crossfire Wrestling 9/1/12

MD: Yeah, I'm a fan of 2012 Kash's act. The Goldust match was a good mix of action and bullshit, but this leaned hard into the latter. It was billed as teacher vs student though it's not like the age gap between these two was that massive, just ten years. Kerry, who had to be around 10, came out with Ricky and hyped the crowd up. The kid got it. It was funny too: Kash was, again, all about the stall here, though he utilized it differently (more on that in a second). At one point he started berating some kids at ringside, pretty brutal stuff but it got him a ton of heat. Even though Kerry was right there, he didn't go after him instead. He picked some bystanders, probably because he knew Kerry would get right up in his face and the crowd would cheer for Kerry instead of boo at Kash. In the Goldust match, he stalled to counter Dustin's early advantage and because he didn't have an answer for him, annoying the fans with his cowardice and refusal to engage. Here, he had the advantage, but kept heading out after a successful shoulderblock, making it seem like he wasn't showing Morton respect, building and building the anticipation for him to get his comeuppance. The best wrestling is all anticipation and payoff and the crowd went up for Morton finally taking him over. He again resorted to low blows and after Morton went back, even went for a chair. They built right to the next card as Jerry Lynn came out to stop him, causing the distraction that let Morton roll him up. I could watch heatseeking stalling all day and obviously over-50 but still spry Morton was the perfect foil for it.

Chris Michaels vs. Kid Kash SAW 9/15/13

MD: Roles are reversed a year later. Michaels is the heel, and TV Champ of SAW, and he's got "Uncle" Reno Riggins with him with a newsboy cap. I kind of love the idea of Riggins as the medium sized fish in the small pond over the span of decades and he's effective in this role on the outside. Michaels does a bit of stalling, some eye poking, uses Riggins to ambush Kash. He doesn't seem to have it in him to generate the sort of heat Kash was the year before, though. Kash played a lot of this as a stoic sort of babyface, pushing forward at every point. He lost his cool and went low a couple of times which let Michaels do the same later on. This felt like a TV match leading to a bigger one at the next show where Kash would get five minuets with Riggins if he won so it was all a little understated, even if it got decent time. Good range between the two years by in-his-forties Kash but I definitely got more of a kick out of the heel act.

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New Footage Friday: COLON! INVADER! BEAU JAMES! HARRISON! ICP! FUNK! LAWLER! BROWN! KASH!

Beau James vs. Ricky Harrison SSW 4/17/98

MD: To me, this felt a little like Beau's magnum opus, the match he had in his head fifteen or twenty years before and now got to play out. It was high stakes and heavily built to, for the title, the crowd, and loser leaves for six months. This felt big, with the first half almost worked like a NWA title match and then the middle and back half more full of heat and comeback and Memphis style ga-ga. As such, it filled a lot of time, but never really wore out its welcome, even when we were on the third ref getting bumped. Because it had enough room to breathe and enough room to have a lot of fulfilling substance, and a clear resolution with the babyface getting over and the heel getting his comeuppance, it all worked. It's when that stuff comes in place of a real match and in denial of that resolution that you feel less than satisfied. I do think I wanted to see this go up an extra gear with a bit more brawling and hate, and there were a couple of logical fallacies, like Beau having a hidden object with him for the whole match and not going for it until it came time for the heel ref to get bumped. It would have made more sense to introduce that earlier. All in all, though, I think it's a pretty big achievement to pull off a match like this in a satisfying way, both in the early substance and the later style.

PAS: Big match Beau is always worth watching, he really knows how to make something a moment. As someone who idolized Lawler he often had the Loser Leave Town stip as a big show gimmick. Here he was working heel against Ricky Harrison and they brought in Brian Hildebrand to ref the match. I really enjoyed the wrestling section at the beginning, James kept Harrison grounded with some punishing mat wrestling, crossfaces, knee work and short right hands, he even hits this sick flying drop toe hold. Harrison has a nice punch and good timing and that is what you need for a match like this. The second half of the match ladles on the shtick a lot, two ref bumps and a heel ref. I could have used a little less frosting, for the match to entirely work on me, but it certainly worked on the crowd and James had clearly gotten them to ready to see him sent on his way. Got me excited to start up a Beau James LLT mini C+A. 

Jerry Lawler/Kid Kash/Monty Brown vs. Terry Funk/Insane Clown Posse  JCW 7/17/04 - FUN

ER: I really wish we got a classic heatseeking promo from Lawler to start this. He's opposite ICP AT the Gathering of the Juggalos. You're not going to be the face in that spot. He should have absolutely nuked this crowd, the heat would have gotten molten so easily. But, he probably didn't feel like being doused in high fructose corn syrup and washing Faygo out of his hair two days later. Funk gets in the ring and grabs the mic, says "I only have one thing to say" and then tells a 2 minute joke about a chicken's asshole. According to the video camera, the match started at exactly 4:20, which I refuse to believe was an accident. The match was plenty fun, with almost all of the heat aimed directly a Kid Kash's valet getting called a man in several different ways by the crowd. 

Kash looked great bumping around for ICP, and ICP themselves were shockingly exactly what the crowd wanted to see. ICP had both clearly improved since their WCW run, too, which helps. Violent J actually impressed me several times, and kind of made me want to do a Violent J mid 2000s deep dive? Is that stupid? J knows how to stumble around in between punches shockingly well, staggers convincingly, and always made it right back to his mark. His punches are decent too, and he throws a great eye rake (and back rake!). He even took great bump getting tossed to the floor, clearing the ropes and taking a huge back bump. Violent J would have made a 500 in 2004, and that's awesome. Shaggy threw a nice brainbuster on Kash, did a cool guillotine legdrop off the apron to the floor, and won the match with a big guillotine legdrop.

Funk and Lawler were going to be the highlights here. Lawler stalled a lot when he first tagged in against Funk, which could have been a good move to get heat, but it just kind of quieted the crowd down and slowed down what had been a nice pace. Once they got going it was obviously good, but Lawler was fun against everyone here. It's weird (and great) seeing him throw all of his great punches against ICP, see him hitting big roundhouses in a setting like this, but Funk/Lawler is the legendary pairing. This might also be one of Lawler's better uses of the Stunner, my least favorite Lawler spot. The context of the spot is important, as once he introduced the Stunner to his moveset he was mostly working babyface on indy shows. Here he was the heel, and it works much better as a heel heat spot than as a cheap pop; later, Funk gives him a Stunner and Lawler shows that he takes a Stunner better than almost anyone I've seen. He dropped down in a perfect plane and made it look like Funk's shoulder really did jam into his throat.  Funk's punches look good, Lawler takes a nice backdrop bump, but then starts throwing nothing but great combos on Terry. Our cameraman zoomed in at a perfect spot, right when Lawler is pressing his fist against Funk's nose to measure his shot, then drawing his fist back and bringing it smashing back in that same spot. He piledrives Funk on the floor, then hits a beauty back in the ring. The match went 20 and could have accomplished everything in 15, but obviously you'll want to watch them work in this environment no matter what.

MD: This was something. The non-wrestling stuff bits were as fascinating to watch as the wrestling bits. Lawler seemed pretty appreciative to be in front of that crowd, though he still managed to get heat once the match got going. Funk did everything under the sun to get over in this setting, and for the most part he did, because he's Terry Funk. Kash was generally there to feed for the Posse. Violent J really wanted to get his stuff in, which makes sense, I guess. Monty Brown was generally there to be a spoiler. The crowd seemed most interesting in throwing stuff at the valet. Ultimately, it was all probably what it should have been with this crowd. I don't mind dipping into a match like this but I'm glad I don't live there.

PAS: This felt like a match full of stars in front of a hot crowd. ICP aren't great, but they are perfectly competent and are Bruno in the Garden level over in whatever farm this show was at. Everyone else in this match are superstars at this kind of big match tag. Monty Brown didn't have a long career, but feels like a force of nature. Lawler vs. Funk was great, that punch Lawler lined up was an all-timer, and I loved the piledrivers Lawler hit. Funk was pretty physically diminished, but was still Terry Funk. It is crazy to think we are farther away from this match now than this match was from Funk vs. Flair or Lawler vs. Dundee. It feels like time has sped up.  

Carlos Colon vs. Invader 1 WWC 7/27/13

MD: 67 year old Invader 1 vs. 65 year old Carlos Colon here. Carlos still had his instincts and timing though he had slowed down, certainly. The jumping jack for his comeback was more of a hop. His shots all looked good though, and the age only made his selling more poignant. His big bump was running into a boot in the corner which looked great. Invader, on the other hand, was pretty spry, working with a mask but without a shirt. He went over the rail, took some chairshots, and ran well. He's also maybe the greatest seller in pro wrestling history, so him eating Colon's shots and recoiling around ringside was still pretty compelling. There was some grisly choking with a chair and the low blows you'd expect out of old man Invader 1, but it maybe wasn't quite as grisly as you'd want. This was to set up an Anniversario mixed match with Stacy Colon and Tigresa and Stacy took a pretty huge post-match beating to set it up. Definitely effective for what it was and a great showing for two mid-late 60s year olds.

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New Footage Friday: CRUSHER TAKAHASHI!! SANTO! PANTHER! KASH! GUIDO!

El Hijo Del Santo/?/? vs. Blue Panther/Willy Cortez/?

PAS: No idea when or where this was from or who most of the guys in it are. The youtube site has a lot of Willy Cortez matches, so maybe it is run by him or his kids or something. Santo looks young and spry, so maybe sometime in the 90s? Although Santo looked young and spry when I saw him live last year, so who the fuck knows. The other luchadores in this match are pretty replacement level, but fine. Cortez and a guy in a yellow mask have a nice armdrag exchange and the third rudo had a nice tope. You are here to see Santo vs. Panther though, and they don't disappoint. I loved the early matwork, Santo refusing to give up the back and hanging onto the ride was so cool, and Panther is so smooth in between holds. I really dug the beatdown on Santo too, as it felt like it riled up the crowd, there was a point where it looked like people might rush the ring. Any chance to see legends like this must be taken, and there are some more cool looking matches on this channel for future weeks.

MD: To me, this is a definite find. We have some brilliant flashes of Santo and Panther working each other over the years, most especially outside of CMLL/AAA (Japan, UK, Monterrey), but here we have three great exchanges in a match that was otherwise pretty good. They're the third pairing in the primera and the matwork they do here is different than anything I've ever seen out of the pairing. It's much more amateur style, a lot of them riding one another or jockeying for position, building to lucha flourishes and throws and ending with an effective leap up to a 'rana. It was something you don't usually see in lucha, especially from guys as stylized as Panther and Santo. The second exchange was super-high end rope running, with Santo unleashing super athletic twists to his headscissors that weren't part of his usual repertoire, including a pretty amazing one out of a mare position. Then, in the segunda into the tercera, Panther just bullied him about. He served as the anchor for the rudos, the center of gravity that everyone came to as he held his opponents for shots and directed traffic. There was a sequence where he kept placing Santo's head over the top rope from one side of the ring to the other so that his partners could lay in kicks and clothesline his neck from the outside. In the tercera, it devolved into some really effective mask pulling, building to Santo drawing some rudo miscommunication and having a big comeback. I thought the finish was slightly unfocused as it veered off of the Panther vs Santo match-up at the very end but ultimately this showed us something new from a pairing for which one might have assumed we've seen everything there was to see.


Kid Kash vs. Little Guido HRT 3/12/13

MD: Kash had to come out there and get the heat for Sabu not showing up. He pinned it on Canadian border control and heeled on the crowd for it before calling out Fonzie to second him since he had nothing else to do. He followed that up with a bit of stalling and picking fights with the crowd to start. That let Guido be a bit more of a face, though this was definitely a 2013 post-modern smarmy crowd. They were more or less into his comebacks and even clapped along while he was in a hold (though with terrible, out of practice, rhythm). This went about ten if you include the stalling and was a prelim match to set up a triple threat for some sort of belt later on. The early feeling out process was really good as they went at it on the mat. Once they got going, Kash was a solid bully with harsh cutoffs even as Guido kept making organic opportunities for himself. I don't think they quite built to a moment of definitive comeback but everything was crisp and believable, including the miscommunication that led to the finish. Two skilled journeymen working what was unmistakably an indy match, but working it hard and entertaining and looking good in the process.

ER: This was on one of those odd shows where some Canadian fed flies in 9 or 10 old ECW guys to draw 300 people to an cultural community center, but instead of the workers attempting to badly recreate ECW atmosphere and ring carnage, they just work like good pro wrestlers. Now, Kash's stalling mic work was straight out of ECW, as I can't personally remember the last time I've heard someone call people "retarded" this many times in one minute. But he draws heat (though you see, this crowd is very smart, so they are in on the joke and there are dozens upon dozens of them that cannot wait to show off their own comedy chops), and stalls well. The scrambling matwork was aggressive and looked good, and both threw armdrags that looked like they were trying to dislocate shoulders. Their offense wasn't about big highspots, just crisp execution of some of their known tricks, with Guido's Sicilian Slice looking especially good, and Kash is expert at jumping into moves like that. This is the kind of match that stands out at the end of the night when you're driving home, solely because of execution, and you need guys like this on a show that also has Gary Wolfe.

Crusher Takahashi vs Shota 7/21/13

MD: I was (and to be honest still am) completely unfamiliar with these two, but this is the most watchable thing you'll come across this week. Takahashi is a big Japanese journeyman who has a penchant to do tortuous things that you wouldn't expect a guy his size to do, all with an extra bit of oomph due to his mass. When he bridges back in the deathlock, or even stretches the leg over, the whole ring shakes. He has this methodological matter-of-fact way of moving but then explodes around the ring, like with the rolling toehold that set up the finish. Shota, on the other time, is spry and fiery, but also the most consistently over the top seller I've ever seen. At least in this match. He's constantly making noise, constantly wagging a limb or walking something off. It makes me wonder how much of the oomph was Takahashi landing stuff and how much of it was Shota selling during and after the fact. Which is actually how the best wrestling is supposed to work. Given his opponent and the size differential, it never feels like too much selling. He's still staggering around in his comeback but that sets up the finish. Honestly, he came off as a more vulnerable Randy Savage. Like a plucky babyface underdog Randy Savage, as his entirety of his offense were punches (including in the corner), a double axe handle off the top, a neckbreaker, and the misguided top rope elbow drop which tweaked his hurt leg and let Takahashi recover. I almost don't want to see more of him because I can see how the act might get old, but in this one twelve minute match, it was great.

SR: Crusher Takahashi, baby. He's a worker who has basically been doing a southern wrestling tribute working Japanese scum indies since the 90s. I've kind of enjoyed him then as a decent enough guy who could throw a nice punch, but at some point he turned into a genuinely good worker, and this was his showcase match. I am likely to enjoy any fat aging wrestler who throws a great punch (which Takahashi does here), and he did some really great southern scientific type matwork here, which he makes look great. That kind of western style matwork doesn't get much praise as US guys just kind of stopped doing cool matwork at some point in the early 80s, but he was working those toe holds like he was about to dislocate his opponents knee. He also had this really great bridging indian deathlock, and his punch/knee combo in the corner looked like it loosened a few teeth. I didn't get much from Shota during the opening portions here, but I actually liked how he punched his way back to offense, and his selling off the leg as he kept slowly destroying himself was really cool. Really good little match which made me want to go back and check out the rest of Takahashi's maestro back catalogue.

PAS: There is a guy working like Bobby Jaggers in Puro indies? Why isn't this guy headlining New Japan? Loved this, such an anachronistic match for the 2010, all heavy elbow drops and Indian deathlocks. Takahashi has a hard right hand, some punishing looking Alabama mat work and sells well for Shota. Shota was kind of working this like Brett Wayne Sawyer, selling big, hitting some basic highflying moves and losing to a figure four when he can't keep his shoulders off the mat. What a weird wonderful little match.

ER: This is the kind of Japanese wrestler that people need to be recommending to me. I hadn't heard of either of these guys, but Shota is dressed like a pre PG-13 Jamie Dundee and Crusher has hairier thighs than Dutch Mantell, so we get a little bit of Memphis in a small Japanese club. I understand Matt's hesitation to see another Crusher match, worried that the act might get old, but I think the thing that gives this style legs (super hairy legs) is that neither guy plays this for a gag. THAT would make the returns diminishing, but I see nothing in their movements that show they are working this style for any other reason than southern style is the best. Shota as undercard Randy Savage is an accurate descriptor. Mid 90s Savage formula saw him eat a beating for the first 80% of a match then just come back with a quick bodyslam and flying elbow. Shota eats the beating in the first half, makes the comeback, but still loses. Crusher works him over with great matwork, the kind that feels like Ricky Morton working holds rather than the more perfunctory New Japan matwork, working hard Indian deathlocks and floating over to control the arm. There's no wink. This isn't a Japanese Tik Tok teen doing phonetic Bill Engvall routines, this is a hairy Japanese man with a belly working punches and joint based matwork. Shota's left hands are better than his right hands, though I liked the grinding glancing elbows he threw with his right, while Crusher has several great worked punches. Crusher had a nice headlock punch and a straight right hand, and Shota's best punches might have been whenever he threw a couple body shots to comeback. This bridging deathlock finish looked really painful, and I liked how it was set up by a Shota elbowdrop that actually hit (but also caused him to land on his worked over knee). We definitely need to dig deeper into Crusher's catalogue. It would be foolish of us not to.

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Monday AIW - JT Lightning Invitational Tournament Night 2 6/15/19

Dominic Garrini vs. Nick Gage vs. Zach Thomas vs. Joshua Bishop

PAS: This was a four way with some really cool moments and some issues inherent in four ways. We get a renewal of the Bishop vs. Garrini feud, including a crazy spot where Bishop breaks a rear naked choke by throwing himself and Dom off the ring apron through a table. I also really liked the final offensive run that Gage used to put away Thomas. Still I think I would have been more interested in any version of these four guys in a singles match, and there was some goofy stuff like everyone going around in a circle elbowing each other. I liked this, but it isn't anything I am going to remember for long.

Mance Warner vs. Pat Buck vs. Savio Vega vs. Lee Moriarty

PAS: I enjoyed Warner vs. Savio throwing hands, and Warner getting the Duke's belt and cosplaying Austin vs. Savio. Moriarty pretty much just took bumps and shoehorned in his Johnny Saint stuff, and Buck didn't make much of an impression either way. I did like Moriarty's bump on the finishing lariat by Warner, it was almost Pat Tanaka-ish.

ER: This match was kind of enough for me. I really liked this return of Savio, he's a guy who in his current state really appeals to me. He's a bigger, slower guy now, but he hits as hard as ever and I kind of need a modern Abby who wanders around and throws violent throat thrusts, hard overhand chops, and even hard kicks to the stomach. I don't need much more out of a guy. I dug Warner poking Savio in the eye while Savio was shaking his hand out after a hard chop, dug the strap getting brought in, could have watched Mancer waste Moriarty with lariats a half dozen more times. I need more 2019 Savio, but this scratched a good itch.

Marko Stunt vs. Matthew Justice vs. Kid Kash vs. KTB

PAS: This was the best of the three semi-final matches, as they just went out there and did 8 minutes of crazy spots. Kash was running around cracking people with chops and punches, and did a dive into the crowd. Stunt was taking nutso bump after nutso bump, including taking a second rope sunset driver from Justice. There are a lot of tiny guys in wrestling, but Stunt legitimately looks like a small child, not a tiny adult, so Justice brutalizing him has extra spice.

ER: This was good fun but criminally short, not quite getting 5 minutes. These are guys with more than 4 minutes of material, and at least we got to see some good material jammed into the short runtime. Agree with Phil about Stunt, he kind of trips me out as nothing about him reads "adult" so it just feels like somebody's kid getting tossed around. Imagine what kind of push he would have gotten if Feinstein or Pena were still allowed to run shows/alive. Kash throws Marko to the floor with an awesome press slam, KTB and Justice take nice bumps into the crowd, Stunt hits a nice flip dive off the top into them, Kash crashes into them, and we get some fun in ring car crash stuff. I liked KTB throwing Kash around with Irish whips and planting a diving headbutt on Justice, enjoy the gusto that Matt Justice has for setting up big spots, fully agreed with the commentator who says Kash reminded him of Marty Jannetty, and loved the exclamation point ending with Justice sticking Stunt with the money in the bank. I wanted at least 5 more minutes of this.

Eddie Kingston vs. Tim Donst

PAS: This was pretty by the numbers Eddie Kingston, which is still going to be pretty enjoyable. He and Donst have a bunch of history, including Eddie mauling him when he was a rookie, so this match was full of stiffness and shit talking (although this is more of a good natured shit talking King then we have gotten recently). There is a nasty bump into the guardrail by Kingston where he just torches his knees, and we get a great backfist for the pin. Post match there ends up being a heated pull apart between Kingston and Lawlor, and that definitely got me amped for that match.

ER: This felt pretty one-sided for a King match. Donst never felt out of it until the final backfist, but he felt like a guy struggling to pull ahead. It wasn't a long match (10 minutes) but felt a little all over the place, though I'm not going to be one to complain about King breaking out offense. Brawl through the crowd was good, as a big thing Donst has going for him is he's a guy who reads "pain" when he takes a tumble. He always looks like a guy in over his head at a pick up basketball game, so every landing feels like something that will end with him wearing a protective boot for several months. He hits a great dive here on King, and both take nasty spills over the guardrail, into the guardrail, King gets his knee tied up in a chair, all good stuff. I dug the commentary putting over King's attention to detail, speculating on him breaking a knuckle after he shakes his fist out punching Donst in the hard part of the forehead. Donst really risks his body at points, in addition to that dive he also leaps off the apron into Kingston, not trying for anything fancy, literally just leaping off with an avalanche. I would have like to see a couple comebacks from Donst before King put him down, but overall I really liked how they worked with each other.

To Infinity and Beyond vs. Aeroform

PAS: I really enjoyed this, it took a bit to get going, with 2IAB jawing with the crowd, but really picked up when they isolated Louis Lyndon. Cheech and Colin are a really great 2019 heel offense team, and I love all the cutoffs and hope spots which they gave Lyndon. Flip is a great hot tag, landing an insane capoeira kick, and a combo sunset flip bomb into the corner with a Lyndon high kick. Nice run of crazy nearfalls, which ends with a brutal looking double team with a double knees to the stomach of Lyndon while Kendrick is powerbombed on his brothers back. Nasty duo of cheapshotting heels against a pair of highflying sympathetic babyfaces, tag team wrestling at its base done really well.

ER: ER: I love Cheech and Delaney! They're easily one of the best teams at doing these kind of breathless 10 minute tags with several intricately set up double team spots, and not make them look hokey or overly prepared. They keep some of those sharp edges on sequences, and the important thing is their complicated stuff actually looks like it would hurt. I never see them with that vacant look in their eyes as they miss clothesline by 2 feet, too busy thinking about the next dance step. Their stuff is fun, and they can make some improbable stuff look probable. I love all of Delaney's inside out and outside in dropkicks, and I somehow never see it coming when he slides out of the ring to dropkick someone through the turnbuckles. They're good at setting up moments for their opponents, both really good at being guys who get momentarily distracted only to turn around and run into a boot. They're also really good at simple cut off spots, and it's crazy more teams don't do stuff as simple as running across the ring to elbow your opponent on the apron. The finish was nasty as hell, a powerbomb onto your partner that looked this painful for both opponents should be the finish.

Allie Kat vs. CPA vs. Dr Daniel C Rockingham vs. Manders vs. Erik Taylor vs. Mike Montgomery

PAS: This was a rest of the locker room six way, it had it's moments. I enjoyed some of the reckless bumping and highflying of the two students Taylor and Montgomery, and Manders was fun chucking everyone around. There was the section where everyone tried to get their comedy spots over, and there was too much Allie Kat, but this was mostly enjoyable.

40 Acres (PB Smooth/AJ Gray/Tre Lamar) vs. The Production (Danhausen/Derek Director/Eddy Only)

ER: This was a well done angle that I didn't really want to see. Eddy Only hurt his ankle on the earlier show, so this is a handicap match, putting the Production as the underdogs with only Derek Director and Danhausen going against the 3 man 40 Acres. I really like The Production as heel indy scum Kaientai, attacking in numbers that is sometimes effective, sometimes leads to them being crash test dummies. They were good here at being sympathetic underdogs - Only even runs out on crutches and momentarily comes out ahead before getting killed in short order - but it's a role I don't really want to see them in. This goes less than 4 minutes and is mostly 40 Acres dominating, until PB Smooth accidentally takes AJ Gray out with a pump kick. This fleetingly evens the odds and gives us a nice brief run of heroic Derek and Dan. But I like these guys as big bumping schemers, not heroes! Everyone did a real good job here, Derek and Danhausen are big bumpers so obviously they're going to get crushed by 3 dudes with nice offense (Derek gets killed on a clothesline, Only eats a huge slam for the finish), but this could have been a killer 10 minute trios match - and on paper when I saw "40 Acres vs. The Production" on the card I thought it could be the low key match of the night. This angle was well done, but I got greedy.

PAS: Yeah this wasn't much of a match, but a fun segment. I agree with Eric about the Production as faces, they are much more fun as sleazy heels, but they did do a nice job. Derek's bump on AJ Gray's clothesline was especially nasty, Gray was great as a bruiser heel, a role I haven't seen him in before, his clip of Only's bad ankle was especially nasty. I think this could be a fun feud, but I imagine it would be more fun with a role reversal.

Tom Lawlor vs. Erick Stevens

PAS: There was a lot of cool stuff in this match, but for some reason the Fite TV replay has a pretty significant clip in the middle which makes it hard to fully rate. I really liked the opening with Stevens hitting a low top right into Lawlor's back when he was walking to ring side, and the have a fun brawl into the crowd including Steven's taking a big bump into chairs and Lawlor hitting a long airplane spin through the crowd. Stevens catches Lawlor with a powerslam on a guardrail, and we jump to both guys in the ring and Lawlor in control, no idea how we got there. Finish run had some cool stuff, including Lawlor kicking the shit out Stevens should with upkicks and some cool chokes. They do go into a pop up suplex exchange which I hate, and I though there was one too many kickouts. Still this was some stiff, violent stuff, and I could see it making a list if we can find a copy with the missing chunk.

Mance Warner vs. Matthew Justice vs. Nick Gage

PAS: This was pretty fun, but flawed. They started just throwing bombs out of the block, with Warner trying quick KO's on both guys, with a running knee and big pop up headbutt. Pretty much the whole match was big finishers, spots on chairs and spears through tables. When you start a match at 10, you really can't push it higher. Middle of the match Jock Samson comes down and jumps Warner and the Duke turns on Warner to eliminate him. Justice and Gage kill each other, but there is a big no sell section in the middle which I hate (last two matches both have it, and they need to retire it). I am amused at Justice winning a match with nothing but finishers by using a small package, but I was basically indifferent towards this.

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Monday AIW - JT Lightning Invitational Tournament Night 1 6/14/19

Lee Moriarty vs. Colin Delaney

PAS: Fun opener with Delaney being pretty great in the role of the nasty veteran against a flashy young guy. I really liked all of the arm drag stuff at the beginning, Moriarty had a bunch of fun armdrag variations which Delaney took great, and I liked the idea of Delaney trying to hang early, getting frustrated and just bashing the side of Moriarty's head against the ringpost. I did think some of the Johnny Saint stuff by Moriarty felt unnecessarily cutesy, but this was mostly good stuff and I was really impressed by heel Colin.

ER: I really liked this, thought they had some really inventive exchanges, and I liked that they wouldn't end those flowery exchanges with a stand-off or another dumb exchange, it would usually end in a hard elbow show. It's so awesome that Colin Delaney went from being one of the weirder WWE signings, to a guy who is clearly a much better worker than most of the NXT roster. If it's what he wants, I really hope he gets back there, as he's become one of my favorite guys on the indy scene. Delaney can work super quick exchanges with anyone, but it's rooted in a veteran bully persona that always makes the sequences more satisfying than "athletic guys having an athletic match". All of the armdrags from both looked really good, and we had some quick sequences that took some unexpected turns, but the match was made by little cocky Delaney gestures. I loved when he dropped Moriarty with a hard suplex, and Moriarty's body kind of recoiled back up into a seated position, so Delaney just threw a chop to knock him back down flat. The Johnny Saint stuff did feel a little out of place (even Kingston on commentary tossed out a "uhhh guess we're doing Johnny Saint now") but again, I love when a flipper gets cute and gets elbowed for his troubles. Delaney's Diamond Dust-style cutter out of a suplex always looks cool, he really gets the physics of his move, and I actually liked him climbing up to the top rope to hit another cutter while Moriarty was frozen in a silly Mortal Kombat "FINISH HIM!" pose. Would have loved to see Delaney in later rounds, but this opener delivered.

Pat Buck vs. Swoggle

PAS: It's a Swoggle match, so we are going to get some comedy spots, a improbable suplex or two, and some weird stiff shots from a tiny guy. Buck has been around forever, he was an ex-OVW guy, but a Swoggle match isn't where you are going to show your stuff. I liked some of the AJ Styles comedy spots, Swoggle setting up for a springboard elbow is amusing, and I liked him trying for leapfrogs, but this isn't really for me.

Joshua Bishop vs. Tre Lamar

PAS: No Consequences explodes!! Bishop is really getting good, he is starting to work really stiff, and has great impact on his throws. Lamar is a fun pinball for Bishops big spots, including bumping huge on chokeslam and spinning sidewalk slam. I also liked the story of Bishop getting advantages when he used his speed and hit and run, but getting goaded into throwing hands and getting smashed. I did think the Wes Barkley interference was unnecessary and took some of the steam out of the finish which got a little overbaked. Still this was an impressive performance by two guys pretty new to wrestling.

ER: Phil is right about Bishop and Lamar being maybe the youngest guns experience-wise on this show (other than probably Zach Thomas), and I was super impressed with both here. Lamar is a real risk taker and he isn't just a guy with nice flips, he really makes his kicks count. Bishop really reminds me of Scotty Flamingo in style and confidence, and that's a fun thing to be in 2019 indy wrestling. Lamar takes a couple cool bumps into the crowd, and he could really make some big Bishop moves shine. Towards the end of the match Bishop hits this zillion spin sideslam that landed in such an aesthetically pleasing way, like how a baseball bat can feel almost spring loaded when you make absolute perfect contact on the sweet spot. I liked all of Lamar's kicks, think Bishop is like a cool Baron Corbin, so I dug this. Now, I also think the finish went completely off the rails at one point, and the interference and set up for it was the derailer. The match didn't need that, they were doing really good things on their own. Kept this from being really highly recommended.

Savio Vega vs. MJF

PAS: They seem to have MJF work the nostalgia acts they bring in, and he is a good choice as he can bump around and work shtick around their limitations. This was similar to the Shane Douglas match, although Savio may be a bit less mobile at this point. He still works pretty stiff, so when unloads it looks good. I am a Savio fan, but I didn't get the sense he has a big Dustin or PCO style run in him.

ER: Man I loved this. It's perfectly timed at 7 minutes, it's up there with my favorite MJF performances, and I thought Savio looked really cool on offense and totally nailed his spinning heel kick as well as he nailed it in 1996, only with 50 lb. of additional bulk. This whole match is Savio throwing hard chops, a big headbutt, nice punches, and these great open hand thrusts to MJF's throat. MJF throws a bunch of great downward angle left hands and hard kicks to the stomach as if he was actually working a show in Puerto Rico. I didn't need anything more than kick and punch, because both guys worked some compelling kick and punch. The spinkick was so much better than I expected, and I really liked both guys here. I've enjoyed a ton of Abdullah the Butcher matches where he did less than Savio did here, Savio needs to just embrace being the new Abby and his career has a second life.

Mance Warner vs. Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham

PAS: This was a relaxed rules match with DCR trying to prove how tough he is by jumping Mance. He gets in some big shots, but most of the match is Mance pummeling Dr. Dan, including running him into chairs held by audience members and stapling self help pamphlets to Dr. Dan's forehead. I find staple gun stuff kind of gross, and the match was kind of a waste.

KTB vs. Flip Kendrick

PAS: Fun big guy vs. little guy match with KTB having a bunch of great ways to toss around Kendrick, and Kendrick having a bunch of ways to squirm his way out of trouble. Really good KTB performance, he has good wild energy and keeps on the attack. I loved the powerbomb where he steps on the bottom rope to add torque, and the top rope TKO where he stepped on the middle rope before hurling Kendrick was spot of the show so far. I would have liked a little more flash from Flip, he can be one of the most spectacular wrestlers in the world, and he felt a subdued on offense. Still very nifty match.

Marko Stunt vs. Tim Donst

PAS: Match had some real moments of excitement. Stunt is the size of a third grader, but is an electric bumper and really gets tossed to the celling by Donst on some of these moves. I also really dug some of Stunts dives into the audience. Unfortunately there was also some real stinkers: they do a Malenko/Guerrero roll up sequence which was as bad looking as anything I can remember seeing, some moments where both guys were bumping early for spots, and the finishing roll up looked slow and awkward. In this case, I think the bad outweighed the good and I can't recommend the match.

Kid Kash vs. Louis Lyndon

PAS: Lots of this I liked, although I don’t think it came together as a great match. Kash is really good at eating someone up, it has a very Benoit or Dynamite feel to it, he really works over Lyndon with simple violent offense. Lyndon is a guy I normally like, but he felt a little out of his depth here. There was another awful looking Malenko/Guerrero roll up section here, which should be banned from wrestling for life. Kash’s finishing brainbuster was super violent, and I would love to see him back against Kingston or Lawlor, someone who can give it back to him.

Matthew Justice vs. Danhausen

PAS: This was a no DQ match, and basically was Justice vs. all three members of the Production (RIP Frankie Flynn and Magnum CK). Like you might expect it was a bunch of really crazy bumps by everyone involved. Justice takes a superplex onto the ring apron (which was truly nuts, this was a first round match for fucks sake), Danhausen gets suplexed over the top onto Derek Director and Eddy Only. There was one pretty egregious Justice no-sell of a german suplex, otherwise this was fun garbage stuff. I really love the Production as an act, and they are all really fun crash dummies.

ER: I thought this was great, but I also fully admit that I'm over the moon for The Production at this point. I think they're the best Special K since Special K, and I loved Special K. They attack the same way, like dangerous and mildly ineffective ninjas, but they all have unique repertoires that all complement what the others are doing, and it makes the matches into fun car crash spectacles. This was the biggest Danhausen showcase I've seen, and he has a lot of cool stuff, but really everybody involved breaks out some crazy moments. Justice is really fearless, and I could not believe they went through with that top rope suplex to the apron. Both guys' legs looked wobbly and so much could have gone wrong, but you know this is going to be a production, baby! I loved Justice throwing the Pros into each other, at one point stacking them rudely, wedged into the corner of the guardrail, tossing them all on the pile; later he tossed Danhausen to the floor onto Eddy and Derek (and now I want a Danny & Derek & Eddy shirt). I think they're really good at causing constant problems for opponents, while seeming completely beatable, while not looking like pushovers. It's a real tough balance that I think they nail, and it's part of what makes them so damn appealing. Crazy bumps and neat spots throughout, their match seems like it's regularly the most fun 10 minutes on a card.

36. Eddie Kingston vs. Zach Thomas

PAS: Eddie Kingston continues to be unassailable. Thomas is basically a rookie (he doesn’t even have a Cagematch profile), and Kingston brings him along to a really great match. Kingston beats on the kid early, and Thomas comes off really tough taking Eddie’s chops and punches. Thomas is a thick kid and is able to take over with some big power moves, including a nasty spinebuster. There was maybe a kick out or two too many at the end, but Eddie is so great at portraying frustration that I minded it less then I normally do. I also really liked Thomas’s glassy eyed selling, and his runs of offense were pretty great. I like the idea of Eddie making young guys on his final run, he did it with Thomas Shire, and this match should vault Thomas into someone to watch.

ER: This was really good, a really impressive performance for Thomas and another notch in Kingston's arguable best ever year. Thomas has a nice moveset; he's a big kid, and does a lot of throws that look really heavy, no obvious leaping into any of them, just big throws that lift heavy and land hard. Unfortunately for him, Kingston has that same skillset, and makes sure to try and top him and knock him back into place any chance he gets. Kingston works him into a nice belly to belly, later hits a crazy one off the top that could have gone badly for both (and really, set up with a savage chop to Thomas's neck, the belly to belly was definitely worse for Thomas), and I loved the moment where Thomas tried to set up his unnecessarily complicated powerbomb (can we put an end to moves that need a large man seated on someone's shoulders to complete? Unless someone can actually find a way to make it plausible?) but can't get King on his shoulders, so King turns it to his advantage and folds him in half with a tiger suplex. King threw tons of big chops and hard punches, and the backfist was always a danger; he generously leaned chin first into all of Thomas's pump kicks, and I really dug Thomas's big offense explosion down the stretch, running in with all kinds of kicks and a big cannonball to cap it off. Kingston had so many great reactions throughout, surprise at being hit harder than expected, anger at being hit harder than expected, trash talk before hitting back harder than Thomas expects, there's always so much going on with his body language and facials. At one point he sells a rydeen bomb like it immediately caused a pinched nerve near his shoulder blade to act up, and sells a spinebuster with equal parts annoyance and pain; he sells one punch like it split his finger nail, and I absolutely love that stuff. I think this should have ended on that backfist to follow up the tiger suplex, but I also think that Thomas earned it to wind up standing at the end of this, really hard fight from both guys.

Nick Gage vs. AJ Gray

PAS: Gray is clearly excited to work a Nick Gage match, and brings some real zest to the normal proceedings. He jumps Gage at the bell and works him over with the chain, until he misses a senton off the ring apron and smooshes a chair. Gray takes most of the biggest bumps in this match, including two nasty unprotected chair shots and a piledriver on a cinder block, although Gage eats a brain buster on a chair. Cool Gray performance, and Gage did his thing.

40. Dominic Garrini vs. Erick Stevens

PAS: Hell of a nasty fight. Stevens is coming back after a 10 year retirement, and had a list of guys he wanted to work, which seems tailored to hard hitting quasi shoot guys, and they really lace into each other. A year or so ago, Garrini’s big issue was that his strikes were hit and miss, he has fixed that completely, and now he throws cool different stuff with real pop to it. I loved how he mixed in his Ju-Jitsu in this match, trying for a calf slicer, sinking in a triangle choke, and jumping a rear naked choke. I especially loved the spot with the triangle: Dom locks it on, Stevens tries to slam him out of it, only for Dom to sink it in more, and finally Stevens breaks in by spiking Garrini’s neck on the bottom turnbuckle. Stevens has some stuff which looks slightly dated, but he unloads with cracking chops and thick knees, and a couple of his slams and backbreakers looked great. Great main event, and I am excited to see what Stevens does on his comeback tour.

ER: I dug this, tons of good ideas, though I did think it went on a bit long after Stevens took some pretty major damage. I really liked late 2000s FIP Stevens, until he went nuts and ate nothing but nuts and got down to 0% body fat. I'm glad he's back and seemingly wanting to fight a ton of guys who will hit him really hard. Garrini is a guy I still have some issues with, I think he still needs to get better about not just waiting around to get hit (he does it more obviously than most, but honestly he's still fairly new at this and it will improve), but he's certainly great at hitting hard and that's a much bigger point in his favor. I thought he was almost too effective here, as he laid such a good beating on Stevens that I thought it was fairly unbelievable when Stevens was up doing his own big moves after. It felt like Garrini burned some really awesome stuff like a short piledriver and a sick brainbuster. Those deserved better treatment from Stevens. I loved Garrini's knucklelock turned into a tight triangle, loved all his submission stuff really, but the stuff around the triangle was really cool, and ended with a painful as hell buckle bomb by Stevens. Stevens is lean but he always feels believable slamming Garrini, and Garrini being bigger made it look like he landed harder. There was some fat I wanted trimmed, a fighting from knees exchange and Stevens getting a run of stuff right after Garrini had him convincingly beat, but this was overall a really cool match up that I had no idea I wanted.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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ECW Hardcore Justice!! Report

When I first got back into wrestling around 1997, I became a huge fan of ECW. Because of ECW I started tape trading, and it opened my wrestling world up to puro and lucha and helped turn wrestling into an obsession for me. I didn't have too much nostalgia for it at the end, but thought the One Night Stand show a few years after was a fun idea that provided a good atmosphere (and I really dug the Funk tag from the 2nd one). But there wasn't anything when the ppv ended that made me think "Man, I wish we could relive these days more often." But damn if I didn't start getting really excited when this TNA version came about.

Now, in fairness to you dear reader, I'm not really sure WHY I got so excited for this ppv. I know a large portion of my glee was because TNA was devoting one of its 12 yearly ppvs to a promotion that is entirely owned by its competition, and I am still endlessly tickled by that. This was entirely a commercial for something that they cannot profit off of! They paid their own money, to hopefully turn people onto a wrestling product that WWE is currently making money off of! "If you liked these matches, you should consider subscribing to WWE 24/7, or picking up one of the many ECW DVDs they've released." I cannot wrap my head around ANY of that, no matter how hard I try. Owl City didn't come out with an album under the name "Fed Ex" and take breaks between songs to say things like "If you dug that track, you should consider giving money to Ben Gibbard, and Sub Pop, and dating a girl with S.A.D., and taking a trip to Seattle." Nope, he just made an album that sounded like really bad Postal Service, presented it to people that had never heard Postal Service, and made a good deal of money.

But bands cover other bands all the time. Small acts cover legendary acts, legendary acts cover obscure acts, and they'd probably be tickled if fans then went out and discovered those covered acts. But a cover and a blatant rip-off are two different things. Kurt Cobain would probably be elated to see the Vaselines make a 2009 comeback (were they ever even here?) when most people only knew they existed because of "Molly's Lips". He would probably be less excited to see Sponge make a comeback (since they were essentially a Bush cover band, who were a Nirvana cover band). But they were all able to exist and they were all able to make money and fans of Sponge didn't care that they were a really bad Nirvana, they just really liked "Plowed". But TNA isn't merely ripping off a rip off.

TNA's scenario would be more if Nirvana and Sponge were the only two bands in existence, and Nirvana owned the Vaselines back cataloge, and Nirvana was gobbling up 95% of the music industry money, and Sponge had a really rough 10 years, losing a bunch of money, but then decided to do a small club tour doing nothing but Vaselines songs, but they couldn't record any of the shows, and they couldn't promote the tour as them playing Vaselines songs since they didn't own them, and it wasn't a sold tour, so they had to pay for everything themselves....then....

What the fuck am I even talking about!? It should be obvious to everyone involved that this ppv was a collossally shitty idea, with minimal chance to make money short term, and zero chance to make money long term for them, all while positioning their own company as a #2 to a fed that lasted about as long as they have and has been dead for years.

They wanted Jerry Lynn to headline the ppv, which makes no sense as he was in TNA longer than he was in ECW, and they never felt he was a headliner while he was IN TNA, and they could have signed him back at any point over the last 3 years, but had no interest in him! And suddenly they want him to headline!

I just don't get it. Nobody was clamoring for this, and they appeared to not even be sure what the fans wanted. As far as reunions go, the 1997 Dukes of Hazzard reunion was booked far better. They knew what the fans wanted, and presented the characters with satisfying backstories: Bo was a race car driver, Luke was a fucking parachuting forest fireman, Daisy was divorced and getting her PhD (meaning she was both smart AND sexually available), Jesse was the Grand Marshal for the reunion, Enos was with the LAPD, Cooter's a Congressman, etc. If something was different, they addressed it directly: No Boar's Nest? It burned down. Sorrell Booke died years earlier? Well, Boss Hogg done passed away from stress, but he wrote a book about grifting before he went! No Waylon Jennings? Have Bo and Luke make a new song detailing all the fine memories they created. Denver Pyle has lung cancer? Throw a wig and a beard and a fucking fat suit on him and pretend he's still the same ol' Uncle Jesse!

In the end, CBS presented these characters in ways that fans would fondly remember them. They didn't bring out fucking Coy and Vance and poke fun at what a shitty idea this was. CBS didn't call attention to how disappointing it was to not have Boss Hogg. TNA would've been far better off pretending Paul Heyman was dead, instead of Dixie tweeting about the contract negotiations between them and the fat, excitable, bald man in a suit who runs the town. She should've just written Boss Hogg out of it. CBS knew that Tom Wopat and John Schneider still looked good, and the fans were happy that Catherine Bach still looked great in shorts. TNA didn't even bother to have people get in something resembling shape.

I.. just...don't...get this ppv!

But I was excited for it (mostly for all the wrong reasons, essentially to laugh and laugh at TNA and their continual blunders), as excited as I would be for ANYthing featuring Tracy Smothers, Scorpio, or CW. So here we go. I'll keep the rest of this short.

1. Tracey Smothers/Little Guido/Tony Luke w/ Big Sal vs. Kid Kash/Simon Diamond/Johnny Swinger

Smothers is like James Woods, I'll pretty much watch him in anything. Guido looks good and so does Mamaluke. Kash looks the same as last time I saw him, and Diamond is so fat that Tazz tells him to invest in a singlet. When you're so fat that Tazzzz is calling you out, time to take a good long look in the mirror. No Mitch, Muskateer, Dick Hurtz. Diamond threw some nice punches and Smothers did his awesome Smothers-Fu, Mamaluke took a big bump to the floor and a nasty bump into the corner, Kash got crazy distance on his springboard dive, Mamaluke hit a great missile dropkick that the camera mostly missed (since TNA cameramen still don't actually know how to film wrestling) and Guido actually gets the pin! Fun stuff.

We do some video promo/memories segments that are all really strange.

Gary Wolfe is apparently still alive. I figured him for dead years ago. And he apparently has prior commitments. So he couldn't be there. And his titties are more on display than Francine's. Good lord his gynecomastia is out of control and in our face.

Blue Meanie treats his promo as if he's doing a "good luck to the bride and groom" video at a wedding, or a video yearbook on the last day of school.

Then TNA guys talk really unconvincingly about what "that promotion" meant to them.

2. CW Anderson vs. 2 Cold Scorpio

This was actually a match I had hoped would happen and we're pretty much through all the announced names I was excited about at this point. This match was legitimately awesome, though. I'm not sure how these two have not found themselves in a regular promotion. The punch exchanges looked great and were capped off by CW's AWESOME left hand that Scorpio sold perfectly. His thousand yard stare afterwards was the best. Scorpio is one of my favorite workers of all time, as his flying offense ALWAYS looks super impactful and hits the mark most of the time. Here, the tumbleweed looked great, the missed moonsault was nice, and the moonsault legdrop was awesome. CW was totally game here and this was just constant fun. Alvarez said the fans were trying hard to be polite during this one and I am completely puzzled as this was EASILY the best TNA match I have seen since JJ/Angle from 1/09. This easily smoked TNA's last 18 months.

RVD really coulda put on some shorts or something during his promo while he iced his sac.

3. PJ Polaco vs. Stevie Richards

This was pretty decent, but it was kinda poor booking. Both are wrestlers with little offense who were really good bumpers, so not too shocking to me that there wasn't a lot of offense here. Stevie took PJ's DDT nicely, and the end superkick was cleverly hit during the middle of PJ spouting his catchphrase, acting as Jerry McDevitt slapping a C&D right under TNA's chin.

4. Brother Runt vs. Al Snow vs. Rhyno

Boy...I just don't remember much of this. Huh. I mean, there is just nothing that sticks with me here. I remember Spike taking the Gore really nicely at the end...nope, I got nothing on this one.

Francine looked really nice. The further away she gets from wrestling, the better she looks. "I was gonna be there to relive the days of me getting piledriven while fans chant something about my cunt. But I guess I'm doing OK here with my family and my flattering age-appropriate hair cut. I really miss those days, guys, seriously!"

Cut to TNA workers having a really fucking boring Nitro Party during the show.

5. Dudleys vs. Kahoneys/Axl Rotten

Axl Rotten looks like Frank Mir after a twinkie-assisted depression-addled post-Brock/Carwin loss bender, and he can't move very much, but his punches still somehow suck less dick than Mick Foley's later in the show. Balls was the correct answer for "Who has the worst meth teeth from ECW". I know many of you had a lot of money riding on Bill Alphonso. I'm sorry. Balls is winner. Brother Ray's super face plants ruled and most of this sucked and then New Jack came out to hit people and then hug them and then talk about raping other people. I thought Bubba sold the lightsaber stabbing really well. The camera shot it really nicely from the opposite side, really looked like that thing went right through him.

6. Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer

Wow, this felt really really long. Raven hit a really nice kick while they were brawling in front of 4 year olds. Those daughters faces really said "Fuck is our dad a loser. We wore our nice matching summer dresses for this!?" They both looked alright taking the drop toe hold onto stuff and I actually enjoyed the ending story of "Raven gets the win, but Tommy has a nice wife and family". I'm not sure if Taz picked up on that, he was fucking terrible tonight. Buuuuuut not as terrible as Mick Foley's punches. I think it is beyond safe to say that Mick Foley now has the shittiest punches in wrestling, even shittier than Abyss. I mean, Abyss' punches are insanely, impossibly bad, looking like a cross between a confused teen doing a sieg heil and a girl weakly throwing a baseball. But Foley's 2010 punches? Holy shit, I have zero idea what he's even going for with these things. He appears to be aiming his wrist at the space 6" above his opponent's forehead, throwing it horizontally and with no clear intention to come close to the person's head. I'm just dumbfounded at what those things could possibly be. He can't be miming punches. He cannot be doing any sort of approximation of fist-based violence towards his opponent. So somebody PLEASE help me. What was Mick Foley doing? What were those supposed to be? And while you're at it, please explain to me what Kofi Kingston is doing what he's supposed to be doing 10 count corner punches. I have no idea what the fuck those are supposed to be either.

7. RVD vs. Sabu

Ah, I missed the days of RVD setting people up in precarious spots and then making them awkwardly hold their position while he posed and chatted with fans while setting up the spot, then eventually hit the spot. Sabu was awesome because he would sit in awkward positions while RVD hit his shit, then he would just get up and punch back to offense. Sabu hits a great dive into the crowd, RVD takes years to set up spots, Sabu gets monkeyflipped onto the edge of a chair and somehow Taz fucks that up! "He was aiming for the center of the chair, and he kinda sorta hit his elbow on the side of it, but not really what they were going for." Fuck, really!? That's the guy getting over your talent? This shit doesn't really hurt! Teacher, you forgot to give us homework! You usually give us homework, and class is almost over and you haven't given it to us yet! What a doofus.

Post show Dixie looks like THEE biggest money mark in the history of wrestling. Bubba motorboats her and carries her around the ring, and she is sooooooo stoked to be one of the boys in the back. I was praying for the show to end with her getting 3Dd and then piledriven through a table by Rhyno. ECW wasn't about being thankful for women!

Man. This show. Why? Why!?

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