Loosely Formed 1998 WWF: Rock n Roll Express! Brian Christopher! Head Bangers!

Rock n Roll Express vs. The Head Bangers WWF Raw 2/16/98

As half-hearted as this "angle" actually was, it was really cool that WWF brought in Tommy Young to ref some of the NWA title matches

Robert Gibson worked much harder during this run than was probably necessary. Just watch how fast he bumps for armdrags and how quickly he feeds offense!

Ricky does a back rake to Mosh, and then does a second one underneath Mosh's shirt

The punch exchange between Ricky and Mosh was far better than I would have guessed it would be. Mosh tightened those rights up when working Ricky the God

Thrasher has a nice powerslam on Ricky

Ricky takes a humongous flapjack, coming one minor rotation away from looking like a Beverly Brothers victim

The Stage Dive was timed incredibly well here and rarely looked this good

Right after Mosh hits the powerbomb portion of the Stage Dive, he throws Gibson over the top to the floor. Gibson really flies, taking that bump like it was 1986, and hilariously that lets the Rock n Rolls win by DQ since getting thrown over the top draws a DQ under NWA rules. This could have/should have continued as a very fun lower card angle, if Cornette was allowed to constantly change rules to gain advantage, under the guise of "Classic NWA Rules". Sorry clowns, you can use tasers if your NWA license is up to date!

Brian Christopher vs. Tony Williams WWF Shotgun 2/21/98

Tony Williams is Memphis worker Kid Wikkid, making his only WWF appearance

Christopher has really great short right hands that he throws exactly like his dad, and I have no idea when exactly he stopped throwing punches like that

also like his dad, Christopher takes a nice backdrop bump

Kid Wikkid has a cool somewhat uncontrolled pescado

Great spot where Christopher ducks a low running crossbody and Wikkid flies right over him and under the ropes to the floor

You know what? Sure Brian, I think you should do a sunset flip powerbomb to the floor and then throw a missile dropkick to the back of this guy's head

Did Brian Christopher have the best bulldog on the roster? Almost certainly. Dustin had mostly stopped using it at this point. Matt Hardy had a good one but Christopher's was better because, as a heel, he could also use the bulldog as a transition for his opponent shoving him off into the turnbuckles

The finish is a real weird one, as Wikkid does a rana takeover and must have smashed the back of his head into the mat (even though it didn't look like a terrible landing) because he comes up with some of the rubberiest legs I've ever seen, completely unable to stand without leaning his weight onto Christopher. He somehow manages to fake his way to an Irish whip but he's a man drowning out there with nothing to lean on. I think he was supposed to get one more piece of offense off that whip, but the man literally couldn't stand on his own, so Christopher called an audible and spiked him with a gross DDT and then dropped a guillotine legdrop to an unmoving Kid

I pointed out Kid's obviously rubberized legs during the finishing sequence, but there were several smaller moments in the match where he looked wobbly. The pescado, the way he moved before tossing Christopher up with a backdrop. 

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Lawler and Me We're Free

Jerry Lawler vs. Steve Corino JAPW 8/10/02 - EPIC

ER: Man Lawler had quite a run in early 2000s JAPW. The unreal Kamala match, Funk match, inexplicably great 3 way with Maff/Shane Douglas, and now we can add this Corino match (we'll pretend the Slyck Wagner Brown match happened somewhere else). I assume a match like this must have been a huge treat for Corino, as he gets to work a hide the chain match with the master of hide the chain. Corino spends the pre-chain portions bumping all over for Lawler (including a big one over the top from a perfect Lawler dropkick). Lawler was also throwing these cool left hooks that he really doesn't do anymore. He usually sticks to the left jab to set up his right hook or uppercut these days, so the boss left hooks stood out as being especially awesome. The chain stuff is all fun. I've said before that Lawler gets choked in the ring better than most. He really puffs up his face and sputters. I actually bought the finish when Corino hit his piledriver. I thought Lawler was too far from the ropes, but him barely draping the leg at the last second was a great moment. It all builds to the strap drop which makes Corino instinctively panic and drop the chain. And after that you can't ask for more of a finish than Lawler braining Corino with a piledriver ON the chain.

PAS: I liked how this was worked more violently then a lot of the Lawler 2000s matches. Parts of this were worked like a nasty fight. The chain choking wasn't a stoogish spot it felt like a mean fucker choking a guy. I also loved Corino's stomps to the head. Lawler was great as well and his comeback was a fist fight, Lawler's flying fist drop was like Dr J, flying from the free throw line. That piledriver by Corino was totally badass and I also kind of bought the near fall even though in my mind I knew Lawler wasn't losing. Man I wish Lawler worked other JAPW guys during this run I can imagine how great 02 Homicide v. Lawler would have been.


Batman vs. Dr. Frank vs. Wolfman vs. Bill Clinton vs. Bulldog Rains vs. Killer Klown vs. Popeye vs. Grave Digger Memphis Power Pro 10/31/98 - FUN

PAS: This is a studio elimination match where everyone is dressed up in costume. Has some amusing nonsense with guys wrestling in goofy costumes, but no one seemed to work the gimmick particularly. Finish was kind of fun with Popeye (Brian Christopher) trying to brain Batman (Lawler) with the can of spinach, before smashing him with a pumpkin. Still mostly weak stuff, only misses skippable because of all the goofiness.

ER: Boy...this happened. This was a goofy, only-in-Memphis, studio elimination match that happened on a Halloween morning. Part match, part advertisement for a local costume shop. Not a joke. Most of the guys in this looked bad and until they started getting unmasked upon elimination I assumed most of them were not even wrestlers but perhaps maybe employees of the costume shop. But, no, these were actual workers. Kid Wikkid was Killer Klown, and he had downy soft Petey Williams offense. Dr. Frank wore Zubaz pants. Wolfman didn't even howl (and I also can't figure out if he sold a DDT really nicely or was just trying to keep his mask from falling off). Clinton's pants split up the backside. Spellbinder/Streak was shockingly much better than I remember him being. He was Grave Digger and actually knew what he was doing in there. You know a match is really something when Spellbinder is the guy I'm playing up out of all the participants. Christopher's pumpkin shot looked like it hurt. Likely won't have to type that sentence too many more times in my life. The real winner of the match was probably Stacy Carter decked out in her vinyl Catwoman suit. Most of the workers here couldn't really pull off their look, but I can't imagine too many viewers having a problem with her costume.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KING

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