Found Footage Friday: SAVAGE~! LAWLER~! MABEL~! PCO~! TAKER~! MANKIND~! JARRETT~! RAZOR~!

Jerry Lawler vs. Randy Savage Memphis 3/23/85 (Jonesboro)

MD: I'm not going to wax poetic on the WWE Vault finding this. You know. We live in amazing times.

The match itself was very interesting. Savage had turned a couple of times during his primary Memphis run and he was a familiar face and he was over. He had Newman with him. He was clearly the heel. The fans were still split. So they did everything they could to present Lawler as worth cheering and Savage as worth booing. To start, they had Lawler break clean at every point and get the best of Savage on rope running exchanges. 

After Lawler got a knee up in the corner, and raised his hands to show he meant for it to be a legal attack, Savage went out, got on the mic. Then Lawler did the same complaining about Tux, then Tux got to talk, and Savage again, and they went around with it, really laying out the case that you should cheer Lawler and boo Savage, even if it didn't look like that at face value. And then, when they got back into the ring, Lawler nailed Savage on the break, but by now, it was fully established how much he deserved it and how Lawler had tried to play nice first. On the next break, Lawler stepped on Newman's hand on the apron instead. The fans want to see the babyface hit hard and clown the heel and they built to it coming off as a pure babyface move and nothing petty or spiteful. 

Then of course, they inverted it by having Savage freak out about Newman getting stomped, run around with a chair, and get a cheapshot in on the next break. Unlike Lawler, though, Savage celebrated as if he'd accomplished something monumental. Suddenly, the crowd wasn't split anymore. They were booing Savage. Pretty masterful stuff. 

Because they had to tear things down and then build it all back up, Savage didn't really take over until around twenty minutes in and he did with a clever bit of misdirection with Tux and his cane. From there, things were pretty wild with Lawler coming back a couple of times and the fight spilling out to the audience. Incredibly crowd pleasing stuff with rapid fire slamming of heads into turnbuckles and grounded punches. Lawler turned Tux interference back on Savage one last time and hit the fist drop for a definitive win. Post match, he ALMOST got his hands on Tux but had to fight off three other heels instead (and he did to the crowd's delight). Really brilliant stuff overall in how they ensured that the crowd was exactly where they wanted them.

ER: To think there was a time in my fandom that I would have been bored by something like this. Savage, avoiding contact to rile up the half of the crowd who hates him while simultaneously appealing to the half who adores him, an incredible cross section of fans that not only allows this match its beautiful slow burn, but encourages it. This was 20 minutes of slow burn and shifting allegiances with men actually pleading their case on the house mic far more than hitting each other. They get so much mileage out of Savage just going out to the floor and getting upset, with little bits of in-ring character like Lawler popping his head up and down for four straight dropdowns while Savage sprinted back and forth over him. 

All the bullshit started breaking down when Savage finally started hitting Lawler and Lawler caught a Savage kick, hopping him out to the center of the ring, holding Savage's leg high up on his chest and drawing it out before finally tipping and fistdropping him in one move. Savage then catches Lawler's leg the same exact way and goes  through the same routine, only this ends with a Lawler enziguiri (a great one!). The misdirection around Tux Newman getting his cane to Savage and everything that happened after that was the kind of fire you want to see from a Lawler/Savage match. The way Savage punched Lawler all around ringside was filmed so perfectly it's as if they purposely took the brawl in front of the cameras, without actually doing that. It was just Savage giving everyone some close up magic and popping Lawler in the forehead around each side of the ring, these individual reared back shots every 10 feet, then hitting a big axe handle to the floor, then another. It's an honest to god miracle that he didn't blow out his knee until his mid-40s because he was just jumping onto concrete on every show for 15 years with or without cameras present. 

Savage is battering Lawler, and it all turns into one of the great turnbuckle smashing comebacks. Savage is bashing Lawler's head into the buckles, and they start coming a little slower with a little more resistance. The sixth time Savage is actively working to get Lawler's face to the buckle, and by the seventh Lawler has fully blocked it, and the crowd is here for it. When the strap comes down, Lawler's back is to the camera so we get to see Savage react to it, and Savage's eyes are the perfect eyes to be reacting to the strap coming down. We get them in shocking HD and it plays like such a famous clip that you'd think we'd have been seeing it in highlight videos for 40 years. Lawler's fistdrop off the middle buckle is as good as you can actually do a fistdrop...but his earlier missed fistdrop into the mat and subsequent sell might have been even better. Just another classic match we didn't realize existed until the last week. 

WWF House Show Footage

Mabel vs. Pierre MSG 11/26/94

MD: Really enjoyed this one. Pierre looked as good as anyone in the company at this point. He flew all over the place for Mabel early, timing all of his stooging perfectly and just bumping big given his size. One bit of punishment after the next. The transition was great. Mabel tried to suplex him back into the ring (and this didn't seem like a huge effort considering what he'd already done to him) and Pierre dropped straight down to the floor from the apron, causing Mabel to get hotshotted onto the top rope.

Then all of Pierre's offense was equally good, maybe too good, because the crowd was starting to go for him despite him working them a bit. Thankfully, they still went for Mabel on the comeback (reversing things on the floor to post Pierre) and Mabel hit two or three big things on the way out. Just a strong, larger than life undercard house show match.

ER: I love Mabel, ADORE Mabel, I will always back the big man...but HERE is a damn Quebecer Pierre performances if ever there was. It's no secret PCO is insane - it's been his main brand for a decade now - but I don't remember him going this hard in New Generation Raw matches, let alone on house shows. This was a man working UP to MSG, taking bumps that put 1-2-3 Kid to shame and hitting offense like a truck. I loved the layout of this, where it looked like the whole thing was going to be Pierre getting tossed repeatedly. He gets thrown so violently to the floor on the first lock up that there is no way he was able to work like this night in and night out....a thing one could have said before we found out how much he loves falling from great heights. Mabel suplexes him like it's nothing, throws him into the air with a high back body drop, really slamming him at will. 

Pierre turns the tide by stopping a suplex into the ring by throwing his body weight back and stunning Mabel on the top rope as he drops to the floor yet again. Then we get this great mix of Pierre trying to tame this sea beast by jumping all over Mabel's back, and taking big bumps as he's swatted away. He takes a back drop to the floor and responds by running up the nearest turnbuckle and hitting a real heat seeking missile of a dropkick. It always feels unsustainable, only a matter of time before Mabel would catch him again, and when he does it's just as great as before. Pierre takes an even higher backdrop than before, kicks out of the spinning heel kick but gets crushed by an avalanche, than takes his well earned time wobbling to the center of the ring and back, turning around to get flattened by a Mabel crossbody. 

Undertaker vs. Mankind Meadowlands 7/5/96

MD: I haven't seen any of the Taker vs. Mankind  stuff in a while and I wasn't quite prepared for where they were at this point in the feud. I don't remember Taker's shots ever looking quite this good for one thing. I don't know if that was Mankind leaning into them or Taker just laying them in because he was used to working him. 

This kept moving quite steadily, with Taker controlling for the first half but never in a straight line. Mankind would take over for a few shots and get cut off. He'd lose focus and start chasing Bearer. He'd go for a chair only for Taker to get it instead. He'd knock him over the rail only for him to come flying back with a clothesline. 

When he did really start to lean on Taker, he couldn't put him away. Taker punched out of the Mandible Claw in a great bit. He'd kick out of everything else and eventually Mankind lost focus again and started to hit himself and slam his head against the turnbuckle. Even then, even as he shot a choke up to stop the second Claw, Taker had to really fight for the comeback and it ended up as a pretty complete experience for everyone watching. A good entry into their series. 

ER: I shouldn't be surprised by Foley going this hard on a house show, but seeing it in HD it's shocking how much damage he took in front of a bunch of New Jersey sickos who knew how much of a sicko he was. If you ever look at Foley's schedule over '95-'98 and see a house show match like this, you'll wonder how his body didn't give out the first few months of his WWF schedule. When Foley started in WWF he was still making trips back and forth to Japan, going back and forth to take sick beatings on opposite sides of the globe. I guess his body was just conditioned to it by that point but I was still surprised how hard Taker was laying it in and how bad Foley's bumps got. It's obvious Taker is hitting him hard from the bell, clubbing him hard on the back of the neck and throwing tighter strikes than I associate with 1996 Undertaker. 

But then the chairshots start, which are much harder than 1996 WWF chair shots, and it all peaks with Foley taking his backwards bump off the apron to the guardrail...but this lunatic lands back-of-head first into the thickest bottom rail of the guardrail, and the leap back was FAR. The leap backward being so far is probably what led to his body not flying into the railing itself, but flying backward just to whip the most tender part of your head into the thickest steel...that's a guy who should be working 180 matches a year right there. That bump would concuss and give brain damage to most men, but it doesn't even slow Foley down. He still takes more crazy bumps on the floor, including a great one over the railing, off a chair and onto the concrete, which seemed to signal to the Meadowlands crowd that he really was doing this for them, as the chants for Foley started to have a One Of Us feel to them the more damage he took. Awesome fight. Foley really did himself a minor disservice by focusing on his goofy "having fun with Owen" house show matches in his first book, because I had no idea there were hard performances like this out there. I, of course, should have known. 

Jeff Jarrett vs. Razor Ramon Montreal 10/21/94

MD: Most of the Hall I've seen lately has either been 90-91 Puerto Rico or 88 NJPW so it's weird to see him as Razor. This went a few directions I wasn't quite expecting and I think, as much as anything else, it was them trying things. They had wrestled a few times earlier in the year but this was fairly early in their 'marriage' that would last a while.

It's funny because I buy it out of 2025 Jarrett, but I'm not sure I was feeling the strut here. Much more gripping and organic was the way that he paintbrushed Ramon's head after taking him down a few times. All of that paid off so well with him running right into Ramon's open handed slam and bumping huge. Beautiful stooging and feeding. He'd subsequently get knocked out, come back strong, and run right into the fall away slam and Ramon paintbrushing him a bit in return.

Once he took over, he controlled primarily through some nice cutoffs (an enziguiri, dropkicks, corner whips, a nice punch, etc). They really did a great job of building the hope spots, getting bigger and more elaborate each time until Ramon finally punched his way through it all only to get redirected over the top. Ramon controlled out there but Jarrett reversed a whip for a cheap (but effective count out). 

Read more!

WWF 305 Live: Hogan! King Mabel!! Bam Bam! Volkoff!

Hulk Hogan vs. Nikolai Volkoff WWF SNME 10/5/85 - GREAT

ER: This was a flag match, so you get Volkoff out singing the Russian anthem, Hogan comes out waving a gigantic American flag and wearing his resplendent whites. This is unquestionably the greatest gear of Hogan's career. The white boots, kneepads, and trunks, but with a proper sheen so it doesn't look like he's wearing a diaper (see Akiyama, Jun). The match is good, good enough that I wish we had more Hogan/Volkoff showdowns. This gets the added Red Menace heat, and it's worked at a quicker pace than a lot of era Hogan matches, and benefits from more back and forth (less Volkoff taking his share up front so Hogan can come back). It's more of a slugfest brawl with Hogan fired up (because of America), hitting an early axe bomber and awesome elbowdrop. Hogan had a really great elbowdrop in 84/85, something he dropped almost entirely not long after. It was a fistdrop like elbow, dropping down like Dibiase but placing the elbow perfectly across the throat. It's honestly one of the finest elbowdrops in wrestling, which is funny as I don't think of an elbowdrop as a Hogan move. He knocks Volkoff through the ropes, onto the time keeper's table, and Volkoff only takes over by running Hogan into a ringpost. His control is good, slamming Hogan and bullying him around, lifting him up with a super impressive overhead press, holding Hogan over his head by the trunks before crashing him down with a backbreaker. The finish is tight and sudden, with Hogan dodging a charging Volkoff, sending him high up on the turnbuckles into the post, leading to a quick Hogan legdrop. After the match Hogan actually spit shines his boots with the Russian flag!

King Mabel vs. Bam Bam Bigelow WWF Superstars 8/19/95 - VERY GOOD

ER: This is a literally and figuratively BIG match to show up on Superstars, maybe the two heaviest guys on the roster at this point. My only complaint is that Bigelow really needed to lay in shots, just to put over this ring-stressing clash of colossus. Bigelow is someone who always pulled his shots, never worked stiff, and used his agility to bump around generously for opponents. I appreciate a nice worked shot, but Mabel is such a tower of mass that you need to really run into him to back him up. That said, obviously this was a (ahem) ton of fun. Mabel is a real beast and really aims to smoosh Bigelow. The best parts were obviously when they would just run and leap into each other. A match like this basically needs to be nothing but avalanches, over and over, until one of the big fat guys falls on the other big fat guy. Mabel is good at selling for Bigelow, and my favorite thing might be Mabel selling the pyro during Bigelow's intro. Now there *was* a lot of fire in that ring, but Mabel sold it like he got maced. Bigelow runs the ropes really cool, always leaning deep into them to show how much is size can bend them, and it really puts across any extra spring he might be getting before hurling himself into the King. Bigelow runs into a big Boss Man Slam and Mabel chokes him in the ropes a bunch, whips him hard in the buckles, drops axe handles, Bam Bam bumping around for all of it. We get a fantastic spot, where Bigelow tries to surprise Mabel with his enziguiri, but Mabel ducks it and when Bigelow gets back to his feet MABEL hits an enziguiri! I'm not sure I've seen Bam Bam's enziguiri countered and used against him before, and it rules. Mabel hits an avalanche but crashes hard into the buckles on another one, and then Bigelow nails the enziguiri. Mo gets involved and takes a huge bump off the apron when Bigelow immediately shuts that interference down. Missed headbutt off the top and Mabel puts him away (a little easily) with a nice belly to belly. I would have liked to see one more Bigelow kickout before Mabel crushed him for good, but this had the kind of squishing you'd want from two behemoths.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE 305 LIVE

Read more!

WWF In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks 7/23/95

ER: This is straight outta Nashville and we get this sick Hank Jr. MNF theme ripoff that is fun as hell, the whole intro feels like way more of a WCW thing. 1995 WWF felt really WCW in a lot of ways, which is part of what makes it so appealing. And then it gets even better as we cut to Lawler and Vince ringside, and they're both dressed like city slicker cowboys! Black leather vests, Vince in a bolo tie (!), Lawler with a crown over his Clint Black stetson, just the kind of vibe that Vince would never even consider doing today. 1995 Vince is a real honest to god shill with a touch of desperation, and we won't get to see that level of scraping by Vince again. It's too bad, Huckster Vince was great.


1-2-3 Kid vs. The Roadie

ER: Roadie has quickly become one of my favorite workers to watch. A guy who just a few weeks ago had me whining about why he was even in the KOTR tournament, is clearly one of the best performers on the roster. And I think this is a really great roster, no matter what kind of business they were doing. Part of the great thing about this era WWF is that they had no "house style", everyone came off totally different and there was no same-y agenting for every single match, and there was a big southern wrestling influence. And I think Roadie is so much better than Road Dogg, because as Roadie he still hadn't fallen into any kind of formula. As Roadie he is always breaking out weird offense that feels like he's trying it on a whim, no formula and overly established locked in moveset. He engages the crowd and can stooge, and knows to do a lot of his goofy heel taunt dancing when the cameras cut away to something else (here they cut backstage to JJ rehearsing for his big PPV "With My Baby Tonight" debut). These two are great opponents who wouldn't cross paths again for a few years after this, but I love what we got here. Roadie was great at going down hard for Kid's big kicks, and Kid was bumping huge for everything Roadie did. As I said, Roadie keeps on surprising me, here he broke out a cool last minute powerslam (catching a charging Kid by surprise), and another incident that was the best combination of "was that on purpose or accidental, who cares it looked great!": During a rope running exchange, Roadie leapfrogged but Kid went into a forward roll and knocked one of Roadie's legs out from under him, faceplanting him. Roadie so immediately got up selling his face from the faceplant that it had to be how things were planned, but they were both so good at making it look like a great spot that came about organically. Kid takes two HUGE bumps, getting crazy air on a flapjack and a backdrop, but the craziest bump is saved for the finish: Roadie wins the match with a piledriver of the middle turnbuckle!! Not even a tombstone style piledriver, but a Memphis style sitout piledriver, off the freaking second turnbuckle! What a nutso move to attempt, what a nutso move to start a PPV with. Kid's body folds forward in a way that makes it look like his neck snapped, great disgusting visual for the finish. And after the match, ever the professional, Roadie makes sure to test all the equipment for JJ's upcoming performance.


Men on a Mission vs. Razor Ramon/Savio Vega

ER: I love the fan with the "All Hail King Savio" sign, still not ready to accept the results of the prior month's King of the Ring. And what a great tag match this was! It was an economical 10 minutes, and filled with big bumps, hard runs into the buckles, great stooging, simple but very relevant double teams, really worked at a pace that guaranteed the crowd would be into it the whole way. Mo is a really great slime here, but also a guy who is gonna give like he gets. Razor throws his toothpick in Mo's face and Mo responds by slapping Razor with the hardest strike of the match. And like that we're off, with Savio getting whipped hard into the buckles, Mabel missing a really hard charge into the buckles, and Savio eating what felt like a half dozen different body slams from Mabel. Mabel has really Finlay-esque bodyslams, lifting Savio high and really dropping him with force. And I actually laugh when Lawler calls him "Chevy Vega". That kind of thing feels like a vintage Heenan insult. The double teams look good, Mo running Mabel into Savio, doing classic combos like the drop toehold/legdrop combo. That kind of combo is so simple, but the participants make all the difference: Mo really strangles Savio's legs and Savio wipes out with a faceplant, and Mabel times it so he's dropping that big leg a split second after Savio hits the mat. Razor even adds to the chippiness by coming in and booting Mabel right in the back of the head to break up the pin. The big bumps really kick in, with Mo missing the Mo-sault and eating a Razor back suplex off the top, and even Mabel going off the top! Mo and Savio spill super fast to the floor off a big lariat, and we finally get the showdown between Mabel and Razor. It's a cool pairing, and you KNOW Mabel goes right after those injured ribs of Razor's and splats him with a great belly to belly. I loved this tag, thought they worked the perfect pace, MOM came off like real killers, bell to bell joy.

ER: Has anybody ever seen Dok Hendrix and Monterey Jack from Rescue Rangers in the same place? He hosts an interview with some of Diesel's lumberjacks, and Bam Bam kind of quiets the room by saying he's going to set Sid on fire. That interview leads us into Jeff Jarrett's first ever life performance of With My Baby Tonight, and it actually comes off much better than I was expecting? The best part was him cutting a promo before the song, as the live band plays a looping version of his theme in the background. Big Al on guitar picking lines while a lady fiddler gives us those high lonesome notes, J-E-Double F (ha ha ha) rubbing Nashville's noses right in it. After the performance, Todd Pettengill interviews fans at random for their thoughts on the performance, with a shocking amount of them admitting that Jarrett sounded quote, "pretty good".


Henry Godwinn vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

ER: This was so great. Everything on this show has been perfectly timed, knowing the exact amount of time to give to every segment. This goes 6 minutes and is an all out big boy sprint, and we're all the better for it. You don't get many matches involving men this size, that start with three straight backdrop suplexes. This is solid gold from go, with Bammer dropping Godwinn with those suplexes, then firing off a torpedo shoulderblock that sends Henry crashing fast backwards through the ropes to the floor. This was big bumping, hard hitting, heavy landing big man wrestling. Everything hit real hard: Bam Bam running chest first into the buckles, Godwinn hitting a lariat right after, Bam Bam flying fast over the top to the floor off a low bridge, Godwinn spiking himself on a DDT, Bigelow hitting a killer crossbody (like an even heavier version of the later Mike Knox running crossbody), Bigelow misses a nasty headbutt off the top (going down real top heavy), just constant crashing action. The finish was great and logical, with Godwinn missing a huge kneedrop off the top, and Bigelow getting the quick pinfall with a high hooked leg. There wasn't a single misstep in this match, even things like Godwinn choking Bam Bam over the ropes and a simple chinlock read really well, a real unheralded big man match.


Jeff Jarrett vs. Shawn Michaels

ER: This is a truly special wrestling match that earns its legendary status. This was Jarrett's most tour de force performance of his career, and one of Michael's best as well. This was pure Lawler/Dundee in a WWF ring, chock full of stooging and schtick, the kind of thing that Vince wouldn't even glimpse at today, let alone allow it in a 20 minute PPV title match. The whole thing is classically laid out, filled with a ton of Jarrett stalling and stooging, really felt like the most fully unleashed version of Jarrett that we ever saw on a main brand. They worked fast avoidance spots without ever coming off like modern fast dancing matches, milked simple jabs by having JJ roll to the floor and talk trash all around ringside, rolling in just enough to restart the count whenever needed. That's the kind of heel work that is sorely lacking in WWE today. Every heel act today is based around The Evil That Men Do and simple things like running out the clock or catching your breath for too long are somehow lost. It stinks. Jarrett was really on one here, match long, an incredible performance. Every sell was great, every attention to detail looked like he was pulling off the greatest hits of Lawler/Dundee, as if he was working a PPV in Nashville, TN and was representing the great wrestling style of Tennessee. I smiled broad every time he went down fast and came up holding his mouth, and cheered when he hit one of the absolute greatest dropkicks mine eyes have ever seen, floating high almost above Michael's head and landing with great force, an almost physics breaking dropkick.

All interference from Roadie was timed really well, Roadie jumping on the apron to help with interference or to get knocked off the apron by Michaels, and we got a great spot where Jarrett gets sent over the top to crash into Roadie on the floor. If you ever wanted to see Jeff Jarrett do a fantastic tope con giro into Road Dogg, you gotta watch this match to see it. Michaels hits a huge crossbody to the floor into both of them, and the whole thing continues to unroll in the best Memphis fashion. Both men milk slow crawls after big moves, Jarrett is a master of milking nearfalls (barely shooting up his shoulder inches away from potential loss), the whole thing is perfect. This match felt like Michaels working like Jeff Jarrett while Jarrett worked like heel Michaels, and to my knowledge it's literally the only match we have of them opposite each other. I am dying to see any of their house show interactions, any of their singles matches, any of their matches tagging with each other against Diesel/Razor, and the crown jewel of them all: A 1997 WWF house show IN Memphis, with a main event of Lawler/Jarrett vs. Michaels/HHH. Give me THAT on an Unreleased blu ray and WWE will have my money day one. This was a masterful match, fully deserving of all the praise it's gotten the past 25 years.


Yokozuna/Owen Hart vs. Lex Luger/British Bulldog

ER: Another good one on a show filled with them. This was probably the weakest of the bunch, if only for an uninventive too easy ending. They are really trying hard with the whole Allied Powers team, and it comes off lame. This feels like a gimmick for guys much lower on the card. When you stick two main event guys in a tag team whose entire identity is "This one is from the US, this other guy is from the UK". Like if Bob Backlund were still a babyface in 1995 WWF then I could actually see Backlund and Barry Horowitz with Luger's gear, American flag trunks with Olympic team puffy jackets. I assume they were just trying to tank Luger's value before he went to WCW. "Look at this goof still carrying on with the red white and blue routine two years after wasting everyone's time with the Lex Express!?" Lex is obviously not ever going to win, but man why were they dragging down the Bulldog with such a desperate babyface grab. This match also leads us to an amusing moment where Owen and Bulldog are both down for the count, and the crowd starts a USA chant. I guess they were probably getting excited for a Luger tag, but a USA chant in a match with a Canadian, a Brit, a fake Japanese guy, and one actual American. But the match was good. It had a bunch of fun moments, like Owen just slapping the hell out of Luger and then running to the ropes before Luger can retaliate, or a long exchange with Owen and Bulldog showing off a bunch of flashy World of Sport wristlock escape flourishes, or a huge double backdrop suplex where Luger and Bulldog drop Yoko and they make it look like the whole arena shook (how often did Yoko ever go up for suplexes? Feels like a cool rare moment). Owen took a super high bump off a backdrop where he never rotated, the Luger/Yoko sections all banged, and really the lazy finish was the only thing keeping this match as the weakest of the night. It was one of those finishes where Luger has the long visible tag over Yoko but instead of counting the pin, Hebner decides to chide Bulldog about something for an eternity, so Owen can fly off the top with an elbowdrop on Luger. They really needed to give Hebner a better reason to be distracted, and the timing of it all took too long. The rest of this was great tag wrestling, another hit.


Lumberjack Match: Sid vs. Diesel

ER: Wow, I loved this match. What a wonderful environment for a huge big man main event. This match had an atmosphere that I don't think WWE could recreate today. This whole show played in front of a super hot Nashville crowd, and they were molten for every single second of this exquisitely laid out match. The visuals of the match was perfect with the ringside area filled with 15 faces and 15 heels, and all 30 dudes at ringside doing an incredible job of rooting for their side. Any time WWE has tried to force group interaction the past (at least) decade, it comes off exactly that: forced. This was an excellent presentation of 15 dudes who wanted nothing more than to see Diesel win, standing across the ring from 15 dudes who were willing to cheat intensely to make sure that Sid won. They did an awesome job of making sure the babyfaces only ever threw Sid back into the ring, never took cheap shots; and of course every single time Diesel spilled to the floor he got 30 different boots stamped all over his body. The layout was so simple, so logical, so perfectly executed and timed, just an absolute classic example of somehow getting 32 different wrestlers to shine at once. The establishment and loyalty of the factions was so strong that it elevated this match for me to a ridiculous degree. Bam Bam Bigelow especially was a superstar from the floor, like a man who would rather his best pal Diesel win the belt than even himself. Every time Diesel would go on a run of offense, the babyfaces would all aggressively root him on from ringside, and not a second of it came off silly or cheesy. And the heels all worked together like the Really Rottens from Scooby's Laff-a-Lympics. All of them cheated gleefully, and they integrated build for the next program seamlessly, as Mabel smashed Diesel into the ringpost with an avalanche, hit a hard bodyslam on the floor, then dropped his big leg.

The in ring action was also simple, with Diesel throwing tighter elbows and strikes as it went on, and Sid throwing his style free boots and clotheslines. Sid moves like such a stiff - his lariat being simply a big man running towards you with a straight arm - and yet his character is so remarkably effective during this era that he is just so captivating to watch. Both he and Diesel take great bumps to the floor, Sid taking two fast ones early through the ropes, and then Diesel taking an even faster, more reckless one right after. All of the action that spilled to the floor was chaotic and exciting, with Diesel eating a beating every time he went down, so finally getting frustrated enough to hit a surprise pescado onto all of them and fight back! Shawn Michaels also flew off the top with insane stage dives two different times, diving into a crowd of heels the first time and then into Sid to set up the finish. We got a fun stretch run of a few heels not accepting defeat, with IRS charging into the ring when a Sid defeat seemed immininet...and then getting launched to the floor by Diesel, with a killer over the top to the floor bump from IRS. Diesel dispatches of a couple more and hits a big boot on Sid for the 3, and the arena exploded. We get an epic closing visual of babyfaces celebrating in the ring, so excited for their friend, hoisting the still-champ up onto their shoulders. This was classic, simple, good guys vs. bad guys story formula, the exact kind of thing WWE today feels is too simple. So they overcomplicate it and make it joyless. It was also jarring how much better the wrestling action was filmed in 1995, compared to today. Wrestling direction is making modern wrestling more and more impossible and ugly to watch, and a 25 year B-show PPV blows it out of the water.


ER: What a wonderful PPV, with the weakest match being a perfectly fine nice length TV tag match, and the other ranging from very good to downright epic. This is right up there with my favorite WWF PPVs of all time, just an incredibly fun and satisfying show, top to bottom. Plus we got two excellent additions to our 305 Live project. Godwinn/Bigelow is a match that has never been hyped but was the one on paper I was most excited for, and it was a crazy bumping sprint. Sid/Diesel was such a classic delivery of good vs. evil wrestling that I'm shocked it isn't mentioned more as a wrestling fan's most treasured childhood wrestling memory. What a great show.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE 305 LIVE

Read more!

WWF King of the Ring 1995

"Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed! But tonight, MONARCHY will reign!" I love that line, and Vince shouts it like a deranged Kent Brockman. I am ready for this.

1. Savio Vega vs. IRS

ER: Razor Ramon injured himself at a house show a couple weeks before the PPV, so this was the match to determine his replacement to battle Yokozuna. IRS honestly has one of my favorite looks in wrestling history. His build was perfect for the Tom Fitton fit, with the sick cuffed short sleeves and deep red braces. It's a great look. The match was quick, 4 minutes, but worked fast. Vega starts the match with a super convincing small package, convincing enough that I thought they were pulling a "4 second record setting victory" type of angle to give Savio a push out of the gates. But Savio gets a good reaction with a couple more quick pins, with an especially nice high cradle. IRS presses the pace nicely, and Vega is good at quick bursts, so it's a surprisingly effective match. IRS goes up top because he's a dummy, and eats boot off an axehandle, then takes an amusing belly flop bump. The finish is a fun quick killshot, IRS running fast into a super high leaping Savio spinning heel kick. I like how this show is starting.

2. Yokozuna vs. Savio Vega

ER: Damn, they really gave Savio the short straw here, starting off the night fighting his way into the tourney and then immediately facing a force like Yoko? I do like Vince's reasoning that this is to Savio's advantage because Savio has his heart rate up and momentum rolling. Yoko is always so stoic to start matches that it makes sense Savio's fired up energy from his win would possibly overwhelm Yokozuna. And, naturally, Yokozuna would have been spending the past several weeks training specifically to fight Razor. Savio has inroads here. Yoko waves that Japanese flag in the faces of these freedom loving Philadelphians, and Savio waves a joint American/Puerto Rican flag to a surprising amount of cheers. 

And they play into that great Savio spinning heel kick I mentioned the match before, and it ties into Yoko training for Razor but gathering intel on Savio, as Yoko belly flops quickly to the mat early in the match when Savio tries to finish early with that same spinning heel kick. Yoko takes a couple of his big bumps here, a large missed elbow and a great transitional missed legdrop. The standing exchanges between the two are really strong, with Vega landing hard strikes and Yoko reeling before hitting back harder. Savio does hit his spinning heel kick but Cornette interrupts the pin, then takes a great bump to the floor after Savio belts him. The finish is lamer than the match deserved, as Owen Hart runs out to attack Razor Ramon at ringside, and then Savio runs out there, and then Yoko runs out there, but the camera completely misses big bump into the ringpost and ring steps, the bump that allows Savio to get the count out win. The count out win is cheap, and I am somewhat resentful of the Savio victory because it kills the chance of Mabel/Yokozuna. That's stupid.

3. The Roadie vs. Bob Holly

ER: Roadie is making his solo PPV debut, and you know he has a nice show vest for his entrance. But dear God the gear on Double J and Roadie is just woeful. Roadie also debuts his new PPV extensions and it makes him look like a weirdo creep maitre'd at a crime front restaurant in Strange Days. But the MATCH rules, outside of a second straight lousy finish. This is an awesome match with a real zilch of a finish, and that's too bad, but there's still a ton of match here that is really great. I kept thinking about 80s Brad Armstrong fast paced 10 minute singles, which is funny because Holly was the one giving me those vibes, not Brad's brother. This felt like a 1995 Rey/Psicosis match, only worked within the parameters of two southern wrestlers. 

It was worked super fast, Holly going for small packages and school boys and other flash pins while confounding Roadie with high hip tosses and shoulder dislocating armdrags. Roadie bails to the floor, comes back in and takes over. Roadie did have really good offense, different than his Road Dogg offense. The dancing was integrated better during his '98 run, but he has a couple things in '95 that he later unfortunately dropped. The best was a hard elbow drop to the back of Holly's neck, while Holly was sitting up. The whole thing was really good, good enough that if a couple of other matches hit this level of quality, I'll come away with favorable impressions of this show. Now, we do get some evidence of an ongoing problem, as this is the second match with a real lousy finish. Bob Holly goes up top, jumps off into Roadie with another downed opponent axe handle (already seen in the opener as a significant transition spot), but here Holly flies into Roadie's boot and gets pinned. I don't think I've ever seen someone get pinned from jumping face first into a vertically lifted leg. To his credit, Holly made it look almost plausible as a finish, and Roadie's scrambling opportunistic pin sank that in. But even though executed well, it came off flat as hell. Starting the main show with two sour finishes is a tough pill.

4. Kama vs. Shawn Michaels

ER: Well we definitely have established the theme of this show, which is very fun matches with very stupid endings. This one goes to a 15 minute draw, fully establishing the 15 minute draw as the Alone, Eating Over the Garbage Can of wrestling finishes. I was fully into this until they popped a countdown clock in the corner. Kama starts by throwing big telegraphed bombs, with Michaels hopping around like Ali, made all the more amusing when they cut to Joe Frazier in the crowd looking absolutely perplexed at Michaels. The two lady companions with Smokin' Joe are even pointing and laughing at what they're seeing. But there's a chance that those ladies were just plain wrong about pro wrestling, and that Frazier - some 20 years removed from his Ali and Foreman beatings - was actually just punch drunk. Because this delivered much more than I was expecting it to. And that's with me still miffed that Kama took Duke Droese's rightful place on this PPV! 

But the cat and mouse is good, and it leads to a great moment of Michaels skinning the cat but then getting lambasted with a great Kama lariat. Michaels takes a couple of big important bumps that play into the story, including a great version of his flipping corner bump that is just insanely fast, sending him upside down and over to the floor. Kama works simple stuff like backbreakers and that big man move I love where Michaels is bent backwards over Kama's knee, Kama pressing back on Michaels' chin. And what's awesome is that Michaels punches his way out of that, and he really tightens up his strikes in this match, clearly just punching Kama right in the head several times. That continues when Michaels gets on top and throws mounted punches, throwing 8 shots right into Kama's forehead, hard enough that Kama clearly checks to see if a cut opened. But the countdown clock really dampens the mood, as neither man seems to notice the countdown, so Michaels is doing slow corner 10 count punches with only a minute left to go, and while they built to a good "he woulda had him!" pinfall right as time expired, the fact that neither really acted like they were trying to finish really hurt it. Bob Holly worked the first several minutes of his match, they way they should have worked the final two minutes of this match. The fact that Michaels just immediately hits sweet chin music out of frustration post match, only highlights how stupid it was that he didn't go for that during any of the previous 15 minutes. Also, not having either guy advance is D-U-M-B DUMB. These finishes are brutal so far.

5. Mabel vs. The Undertaker

ER: This lags at times, sputters a bit, but eventually evolves into a real nice Mabel performance. He really got a bad rap from the internet doofuses not long after this, but he's a guy who would have been a big territory start if he wrestled exactly like this 10 years earlier. So it's a shame he never fully took during this era. Was it the shiny purple onesie? If he just had the Big Daddy V gear. All black gear, with his size, big star. This is filled with both guys running into each other with hard shoulderblocks, Mabel falls all over the place, splats Undertaker and sits on him a couple times, and we get cool moments like Undertaker with his foot tangled in the ropes and a tug of war while that happens (Taker trying to pull Mabel to the floor while his foot is tied up, Mabel trying to pull him up), and a huge belly to belly from Mabel that looked really great. Mabel even hits a picture perfect piledriver, and the visual of a 550 lb. man doing a classic piledriver is so bizarre, but so amazing. I thought a lot of Taker's stuff looked a little too tentative here. Mabel had obviously a slower gameplan, slowly crushing Taker, and it needed Taker to respond with a little more energy instead of just working the same pace as Mabel. Mabel whips Taker into the corner and smooshes the ref, allowing Kama to run in and interfere, allowing Mabel to hit a great legdrop to the back of Taker's head for the win. This match really did not need a finish based around interference, and the inability to give any single person a convincing win in this tournament is just bizarre. "People didn't take ______ seriously and that's why business is bad" is a pretty obvious take when everyone who has advanced in this tournament has done so almost by accident. Let Savio pin Yoko, let Mabel pin Undertaker, let The Roadie get a normal win over Bob Holly for goodness' sake.

6. Savio Vega vs. The Roadie

ER: This was a perfectly fine match, treated to a really icy reception from the Philly crowd. It's hard not to buy into the narrative that a series of bad finishes was wearing on this crowd. You had to think all the kids were thinking they'd be seeing a semifinals of Razor Ramon vs. Yokozuna and Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker, and instead they're seeing Savio Vega vs. The Roadie and No Match because of a Draw. They shorted them a match due to a Draw! So I get the icy reception, even though the match was fine. They got real cold during Roadie's control segment, quiet enough that both men verbally appealed to the crowd at different points. It sounds so foreign in a WWF environment to see Roadie first go "What does everyone think of the Road Dogg?" to silence, followed by Savio Vega stopping his comeback so that he could go "Come on!" to the crowd. 

It rattles them a bit and some stuff suffers, like Roadie doing his flashy jab combo with the big finisher right hand at the same time Savio is doing a salsa hulk-up, so Roadie's big punch combo that he is now doing for the first time, is ignored the entire time. It's just a middling layout in a match that could have been better. Savio gets the win, and in what should be his biggest babyface moment yet, he does a full ringside interview in Spanish with Dok Hendrix doing the translating; it's actually a really funny bit, with Hendrix saying things like, "He's saying 'I don't have a shot at beating Mabel...I'm considering just not showing up and going home...I don't know how I made it this far and I'm having doubts..." It's a genuinely hilarious bit, but the whole entire thing was done at the complete expense of Savio Vega. Vega is a guy who had been in maybe 5 TV matches before this PPV, and this was supposed to be his big hard fought struggle through the finals: He won a last minute dark match to make it onto the PPV itself, then had his first PPV match in the very next match! This was a hilarious bit at the expense of the guy who needed some help in that moment.

7. Jerry Lawler vs. Bret Hart

ER: In the TV leading up to this PPV, this match had to have had the most TV time devoted to it. Vince was absolutely giddy at the prospect of the first ever in history Kiss My Foot match, so we had a TON of segments with Lawler showing off comically gunked up bare feet, and so many segments with Bret calling Lawler a scumbag (which, well). But the segments clearly worked because this crowd despises Lawler. They are certainly treating this match as if it was the most important match on the show (though we can compare the reactions to the Bigelow/Diesel tag and Savio/Mabel). And the match itself is fantastic. I've never heard much praise for this match in their feud, but that was tremendous stuff. It's their great complementary styles compacted into 10 minutes, both guys work snug as hell, Lawler takes some of his best and unique bumps, and it's based around such a stupid horseshit mudshow stipulation that is the exact level of stupid horseshit mudshow stipulation that Lawler can get it over in his sleep. 

Hart had some awesome strikes here, really smashing his forearm across Lawler's nose, fast short uppercuts, tight headbutts; late in the match he punches Lawler while Lawler is on his knees, and Lawler takes this gorgeous gunshot bump to the mat. This show did a reported 16,000+ in attendance, and Lawler takes this admirable approach to things and works it like it was in front of 250 people in a church rec room. And this small focus work, getting into verbal spars with fans on all sides of the ring, really hammers home the threat of the stipulation, and this small focus work really starts to work for the entire arena. The match gets great heat and it's a beautiful thing to see small crowd Memphis heel techniques working on a big "workrate" Philly crowd.

Lawler hits three big piledrivers on Bret, all angling Bret off the mat in different ways, but Lawler takes a ton of time between all of them to talk shit to the crowd. Lawler in Philly full time would have been legendary. Then we get a great bit of BS where Lawler takes off his boot and has a bloody moldy sock that he tries to choke Bret with, Bret desperately hold the foot at bay. On the floor Lawler continues to show how he's the best ringpost bumper in wrestling history, getting pulled face first into it in such a convincing bit of magic that I expected to see a bloody nose. There was botched interference from Hakushi, more violent fast bumps from Lawler, a mean snap to Bret's familiar comeback offense (the Russian leg sweep and elbow off the middle rope landed especially sharp), the exact right amount of BS to go with the BS stip, elevated by perfect execution from both. This match was such an excellent use of time and really paid off the perfectly dumb TV time spent on it.

8. Mabel vs. Savio Vega

ER: This was a very good King of the Ring Final, easily the best of the actual KOTR matches tonight. This was an excellent match that the crowd TRIED to turn on with a loud ECW chant, and the match was good enough to get that crowd reinvested in the finish just moments later. Savio came out at the bell looking more impressive than he has in any appearance thus far, as he chopped Mabel into the corner - convincingly - and the visual of him backing up this mountain with chops made him like like a total pitbull. When Mabel is the slumped into the corner, Savio laces in with the best chops of the night; sometimes with both arms, always landing with a huge whipcrack. Savio Vega's attack on Mabel was great, peaking with Savio muscling Mabel over the top to the floor with a huge clothesline, Mabel taking a spectacular tumbling bump. Mabel smooshes Savio, hits his big belly to belly, and works a long bearhug that gets the fans restless. I liked it in the context of the match, Mabel playing the smart game, the odds, but it leads to an ECW chant lead by Straw Hat Guy and several other fans you've been distracted by while watching wrestling shows. But shortly into the comeback they can't deny the quality of the ringwork, and the match gets cheered to the finish. Vega got a great nearfall off a high cradle schoolboy, and also hit one of his best spinning heel kicks, getting unreal height. He gets a big kickout after a huge powerslam, but goes down to a big splash where Mabel really lays him out. This was a main event that did the tournament justice, something the rest of the tournament matches had fallen short of. This eventually got the positive crowd reaction it deserved, but it deserved it earlier.

9. Sycho Sid/Tatanka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow/Diesel

ER: The TV build up to this was all about Sid injuring Diesel's right elbow, Bigelow pledging his undying friendship to Diesel, and Sid making the best possible blinking crazy eyes facials in wrestling. Touched and crazy has always been a mode that wrestlers have struggled with, most commonly going far over the top or being too scared to do so. Sid finds the perfect balance and plays the man just on the edge of snapping better than anyone else. I wish we had a Sid cam, because occasionally the cameras during this era catch Sid on the apron just blinking and talking to himself - and this is during moments where he couldn't possibly know there are any cameras on him. A lot of this is kick and punch, with Bigelow occasionally taking a big dangerous bump to get people back into it. Sid kicks Diesel's elbow from the apron and Tatanka throws some tomahawk chops at it, and we get Sid really bending that bad elbow back across the ring ropes in mean ways, and the heels upheld their end of the bargain. Diesel didn't pay a ton of attention to it, outside of one big moment where he hit an elbowdrop on Sid, using the bad elbow, allowing Sid to go back on the offensive. 

But the problem is Diesel used his bad elbow for EVERYTHING. Every strike thrown, his big side slam, even posting up on the top rope while he was waiting for a tag. He used that elbow the whole damn match, and it really took away from the work of Sid and Tatanka. Bigelow tried some big things, including basically chokeslamming himself off the top rope. Sid backs him in the corner and gets Bigelow seated up on the top, choking him while Bigelow paws at Sid's face. I assume the plan was for him to be chokeslammed off, but Sid, didn't quite grab hold of him, and Bigelow just went for it anyway, taking a nice arcing bump and then selling it well on the mat; later Bigelow his a somersault senton on Tatanka and I'm not even sure that was supposed to happen, as Tatanka drops down and Bigelow does a big cannonball, but lands a little too vertically up on his neck. Considering the cannonball isn't a move that Bigelow commonly used, it felt like he was actually bumping but wasn't expecting Tatanka to be there? Vince and Dok were confused on commentary as well, but I like hearing Vince call it a cannonball. 

They also muff the hot tag to Diesel, as the way everyone was positioned in the ring made it look like Hebner was supposed to miss the tag, and to the crowd used to how tag wrestling works they clearly thought Diesel was going to be sent back to the apron, and even Vince was saying the referee didn't see the tag...but Diesel's hot tag was allowed, and this just means it was performed to no heat. I can't tell if Diesel was selling his elbow when giving Tatanka the Jackknife. He could have been, but if that's the case it just looked like he hit a really poor Jackknife. I do dig the finish of him pulling up Tatanka at 2, then challenging Sid to get in the ring, only for Sid to back down before Diesel pins Tatanka. On a show with too many screwy finishes, at least Sid committed to standing down as a classic heel move.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WWE 305 LIVE!

Read more!

The 1995 King of the Ring Qualifying Matches, Part 1

Mabel vs. Adam Bomb WWF In Your House 5/14/95

ER: This was big man perfection. Barely 2 minutes, all killer no filler, a great Bomb performance in a quick loss. A lot of guys could get pouty knowing they have to lose on PPV in under 2 minutes, but Bomb just took the opportunity to show off all his offense. Mabel is a total giant fat guy superstar, he starts the match squishing Bomb with an avalanche, then missing a full speed avalanche bump that shakes the ring. Adam Bomb goes on his big offense run, hits a big flying shoulderblock to Mabel's back - Mabel taking a super fast forward rolling bump through the ropes to the floor, crazy bump - which leads to a nice Bomb pescado. He is constant motion because he knows he has basically one minute to shine. He climbs to the top and hits a big shoulder tackle that Mabel takes his big back bump for. I mean this whole thing kicks ass. Mabel makes quick work on the comeback, hits his rolling heel kick hard into Bomb's stomach, and drops him with a full weight powerslam and just flattens him on the pin. This is how you do a two minute match.


Bob Holly vs. Mantaur WWF Raw 5/15/95

ER: When the Vince biopic eventually gets made as a moderately well received theatrical release, I hope they get Walton Goggins to play known Vince workout buddy Bob Holly. Danny Huston will be Vince but you gotta have a couple weird workout scenes with Walton Goggins. And this match was really good, definitely the best Mantaur match of the batch that I've retroactively watched. Mantaur mauled Holly while Holly bumped effectively, with some nicely peppered in Holly nearfalls and a triumphant Holly win, it was a really fun match structure. Mantaur got to show his power with a couple big powerslams and a sidewalk slam, and dropped nice elbow drops (among his best from what I've seen). He has a nice elbowdrop and should have done it even more. Holly bumped around impressively for all of it, real good babyface. Holly takes an especially big bump to the floor and it was the first time I'd really seen Mantaur come off like a monster. Holly's comebacks were all good, with a convincing school boy and a really great missile dropkick that I don't remember him having. Mantaur really leaned into it and it added to the harder than average hitting feeling of the match. Mantaur loses in convincing fashion, but it felt like Holly got an upset. This was a good TV match.


Razor Ramon vs. Jacob Blu WWF Superstars 5/20/95

ER: On paper this feels like a 15 seed taking on a 2 seed. I mean Jacob had worked exclusively tag matches, but he got an itch to just go and join a singles match tournament? I mean they had some interesting singles match guys that would have been far better utilized as an opening round guy. Lawler, Hakushi, Pierre, Man Mountain Rock! All could have slotted in nicely. But here's Jacob Blu going up against one of the tournament favorites...and the match is fun as hell. Blu is limited, but willing to work active. He throws a bunch of big running boots, many hitting Razor right in the head, but leaving nice openings when they miss. Razor is a good puncher whose name should be included more often in the great puncher discussions, but Blu holds his own. He is wrestling a much more interesting style here, before more of the tenets of white nationalism had crept in. White supremacy dulls you too much. But a big guy who just attacks with big boots, yakuza kicks, elbow drops, and a grounded headlock will go a long way with me. Jacob doesn't even have a great headlock, but I'm a total sucker for those great headlocks where the person applying it lies down flat to increase the pressure. Razor takes a huge bump over the top to the floor, gets a surprise nearfall on a small package, hits a big bulldog off the middle buckle, and then gets a school boy when Savio Vega comes out to attack Eli and Zeb. I was surprised at how much Razor gave to Jacob here, but this was a Jacob Blu dominated match. Leave it to Razor to take a guy who had never worked a singles match before any of these people, and make him look like a guy who belonged in the KOTR tournament.


King Kong Bundy vs. Shawn Michaels WWF Raw 5/22/95

ER: This was a real good Shawn performance, because there were some moments where Bundy came off like a total load. Shawn made up for that by hitting Bundy in the face and really flinging his body into him. With a stronger Bundy control segment this could have been a real gem. Bundy tries to jump Michaels during his awful Striptease entrance, eats the buckles, and Michaels hits a sweet jumping knee to bump Bundy to the floor (big bump through the ropes to the floor from Bundy), allowing Michaels to finish removing his chaps and vest and police hat before he goes up top and hits a great plancha. Shawn was hammy in a good way in this one, as he kept taking aggressive attacks to Bundy, while fitting in time to antagonize Dibiase at ringside. Bundy is a bit too tentative to really step to that next level as an egg shaped monster thumb. It's very possible he was going through some pain, as he just holds up a lot on some of his stuff. There's a missed splash that looks like he was getting down on his knees to look for a contact lens. And when he blocks a sunset flip by just plopping onto Shawn, he really needs to plop, in that Super Porky "I can't hold this back to only 80%" kind of way. But he does drop a nice elbow as Shawn was trying to get up, grabs a nice meaty bearhug, stands on Shawn's throat with his boot, all of that stuff was great. But he was kind of clunky at taking offense, particularly a big crossbody from Michaels. He totally brick walls Michaels, but not really in an intentional or cool way. Michaels just bounces off of him with the crossbody and then Bundy just tips over as if he was doing a trust fall with nobody there. It felt so disconnected from the actual move. Still, the structure was sound and Michaels worked hard, and even a tentative fat guy is going to have several cool fat guy moments.

Read more!

WWF In Your House #1 5/14/95

Sometimes you get in the mood to watch the 1995 King of the Ring, but then you just don't feel right watching the 1995 King of the Ring without seeing all of the qualifying matches. How could I enjoy the PPV without seeing what all of the competitors went through on their respective journeys? I couldn't. The first KOTR Qualifier happened on the very first In Your House, that's where we start, and really I can't think of a better place to start.


1. Bret Hart vs. Hakushi

ER: This is one of the more acclaimed matches from the early In Your House shows, and it makes sense that they'd want to start the show off with a solid memorable match, so sure you send Bret out there. He's the guy who could reliably start a show with a good 15 minutes, so you make him work twice and that's just smart booking on your premier "extra" PPV. Hakushi wasn't a guy who was at PPV status at this point, so him opening up the PPV is an impressive role to be put in. It feels like booking to the internet fans, before most of us had the internet. And the match is a little overrated; there are several moments of varying degrees of miscommunication, and I don't love the layout of the first half (Hakushi takes most of it and then Bret just takes over and takes the rest of it, before the hot extended finish).

But this was a good match, and a match with a ton of smart memorable moments that deserves the attention it gets. Hart takes a classic bump chest first into the buckle that allows Hakushi to take over, and the finishing stretch is admittedly great enough to overlook earlier hitches. It all begins with a fantastic moment where Bret is firing back and taking over, his strikes look really sharp tonight, momentum is building, and then Shinya grabs his foot and generally makes his presence known for a third time. Bret takes a killer theatrical bump off the foot grab, really rolling all the way across the ring as if his shoelaces were tied together and he was forced to jog. And Bret responds by running back across the ring and taking out Shinya with a tope! What an all time great sequence. Hart occupies himself really well later on, when Hakushi hits a swank Asai moonsault and Hart tangles with Shinya until the big moment. Plus we get Hart hitting a vertical suplex from the apron to the floor, sending both of them crashing.  Hakushi had really pretty stuff, a perfectly placed top rope diving headbutt, big missed springboard splash, diving clothesline that fans cheered for, and he bumped big for Bret (including a cool flip bump off a lariat), and threw a bunch of great uppercuts. The finish had a couple good nearfalls, and a couple classic moments, so yeah I guess it's deserving of its status.

2. Jeff Jarrett/The Roadie vs. Razor Ramon

ER: Jarrett is wearing a garish Beetlejuice get-up, his '95 ring gear is truly among the worst. And this was also our WWF in-ring debut of The Roadie, another thing to entice the kids into begging their folks to shell out for another PPV. And they'd be getting their monies worth, because this PPV is an easy 2 for 2. Jarrett is great a getting overwhelmed by Razor, but the Jarrett/Roadie control segment was awesome. Roadie was throwing tons of elbowdrops, a big lariat off the middle buckle to the floor, good kneedrop off the middle rope, a fun debut. And Jarrett is a maestro of getting right into position on accidental cross up spots, colliding a couple times with Roadie to the delight of the crowd. Jarrett's offense never looked prettier, his dropkicks best in the business and his mannerisms making him the most punchable dude. Razor came off like the top guy in the company, Jarrett made the pace exciting, this was good.

They jump Razor after losing, and Aldo Montoya comes out to save Razor buts gets tossed fairly quickly over the top to the floor, and then Savio Vega debuts by coming out as an unknown taking all of that hero spotlight that Aldo Montoya desperately wanted to grab. Aldo Montoya, finally seeing his shot, flying down with a ton of heart and no plan. Tony Garea and Rene Goulet and security guards remove the unknown hero Savio Vega from the ring, and you can even see Montoya rolling back into the ring to check on Razor as Savio is lead out. "Yeah you missed what happened, I ran 'em off while you were recovering in the corner, took out both of 'em..."

And then they cut to a Sid package that prominently shows Sid just icing Aldo from several camera angles. And this is a fantastic video package, really making Sid come off like a total killer. Sid makes some of the best faces into the camera, his Psycho Sid music was a campily perfect take on a Harry Manfredini/Bernard Hermann score, and there were great shots of him blinking like a weirdo and then powerbombing big dudes like Bam Bam. This package would have probably made Sid my favorite wrestler had I seen this when it happened.

3. Mabel vs. Adam Bomb

ER: This was big man perfection. This was barely 2 minutes, all killer no filler, a great Bomb performance in a quick loss. A lot of guys could get pouty knowing they have to lose on PPV in under 2 minutes, but Bomb just took the opportunity to show off all his offense. Mabel is a total giant fat guy superstar, he starts the match squishing Bomb with an avalanche, then missing a full speed avalanche bump that shakes the ring. Adam Bomb goes on his big offense run, hits a big flying shoulderblock to Mabel's back - Mabel taking a super fast forward rolling bump through the ropes to the floor, crazy bump - which leads to a nice Bomb pescado. He is constant motion because he knows he has basically one minute to shine. He climbs to the top and hits a big shoulder tackle that Mabel takes his big back bump for. I mean this whole thing kicks ass. Mabel makes quick work on the comeback, hits his rolling heel kick hard into Bomb's stomach, and drops him with a full weight powerslam and just flattens him on the pin. This is how you do a two minute match.

4. Smoking Gunns vs. Owen Hart/Yokozuna

ER: Hot 5 minute tag, everyone on this show has been really great at making the most of their allotted ring time, it's given the entire show such an exciting pace. Everything feels nicely mapped out to a match's potential effectiveness. Owen tries to one up Bret by taking the same chest first corner bump, but Bret's earlier bump was better. Gunns look good, a couple nice double teams, big dropkicks, hard clothesline, a cool flying elbow; Yokozuna was a great monster, a great brick wall, but also does great vulnerable giant spots like running fast into the ringpost. The finish to this is sudden and violent. Bart misses a crossbody and flies hard into the middle rope and crashes fast to the floor, Cornette causes a distraction, and Yokozuna casually walks over and splats Bart's face with a legdrop. Bart is done.

5. Jerry Lawler vs. Bret Hart

ER: After the Hakushi match, Hart hopped off the apron and tweaked his knee, and ever since that all everyone has talked about on this PPV has been Bret's knee. And then Bret comes out for the match doing this really bad exaggerated limp, and Lawler is laughing and licking his chops, and then it turns out that Bret was just faking the whole thing to make Lawler thing he had an advantage. It's a fun easy story that they kept tending to throughout the evening, and it's far more interesting than just "Bret is having a second match". Lawler was so on point in 1995, maybe only Finlay from this era showed more on selling than him. He was so good at taking and putting over offense, really making Bret's punches snap, doubling over with several different ways of holding his stomach after taking a shot, and takes a really high backdrop. 

Hart drops him with a gorgeous Russian legsweep, nails the elbow, but Hart does basically no sell Lawler's big textbook piledriver, which is a spot I don't like. Hart was only down for 4 seconds or so, and then hit his own piledriver. These two are usually more clever at how to use a spot like that, this felt more like Kurt Angle laying out the match for them. There's a fun BS finish where the ref gets his leg tied up in the ropes because of Shinya, and then Hakushi sneaks in and lays out Hart. Lawler gets this perfect, super obnoxious pinfall on a now knocked out Bret, grabbing his legs and flipping over into a bridge like he was Yoshinari Ogawa. I do wish this one was longer - that we either got more time before the big Hakushi headbutt, or we got a surprise Bret rally after the headbutt - and these two were in a good groove before the interference. We only got 6 minutes and it was the first match on the card that felt like it didn't get the right amount of time.

6. Sid vs. Diesel

ER: Diesel is a guy who I think has aged really great over the past decade. Nash in general was far better in the ring than anyone was giving him credit for 25 years ago. He worked a lot of monster vs. monster matches, and he was really good at creating a King Kong vs. Godzilla feel. Sid had a ton of charisma and presence and that was underrated at the time too. This is what 14 year old me would have wanted from a battle of two giant badasses. Nash was a great babyface and really flew into Sid with big energy: Big elbows, big running lariat, huge leaping corner lariat, really made everything look like buildings falling into each other. Sid is not as exciting on control as he is at letting Nash crash into him, but he has nice simple clubbing forearms and axe handle shots, and holds an okay camel clutch for probably too long. But the big moments play real big, with Sid hitting a big powerbomb that they later say injured Diesel's elbow (featuring a hilarious moment where Vince lead off an episode of Raw shouting in full Vince voice "Tonight we'll check in on Diesel who is recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery!!!"), and Diesel comes back and hits a great one of his own. Tatanka runs in to eventually stomp out Diesel, but it felt like an appropriate finish for what we had been through. This was a real good battle of the monsters, two guys who in the match felt like arguably the biggest babyface vs. the biggest heel.


ER: The first In Your House was a super fun PPV top to bottom, not anything approaching a bad match on the entire card. It's a tight two hours with complementary pairings and everyone feeling like they were trying to put on a big show. There was nothing high level, but one of the highest floors throughout. Super recommended.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WWF 305 LIVE

Read more!

WWF 305 Live: Earthquake! Buddy Rose! Yokozuna! Mabel! MORE!

Big Bossman vs. Buddy Rose WWF Wrestling Challenge 7/22/90 - FUN

ER: Buddy wasn't someone who was going to get much of a match during his 90s WWF run, but he knew all he had to be was a big fat guy who flew around the ring. And my did he fly. Most of this match is Bossman making Buddy run all around the ring, and it's great. He leaves his feet to bump a Bossman uppercut, bumps upside down into the turnbuckles in a crazy moment, bumps to the floor, eats a backdrop, does the silly teeter-totter spot with him sitting on the middle rope, and is thrown into the ropes multiple times. He was a big fat guy who could run, and it was cool seeing Bossman pivot and toss him into the corner, and plant him with that Bossman Slam. Even looking blobby as hell, Buddy deserved more in '90 WWF.

Earthquake vs. Bastion Booger WWF Wrestling Challenge 2/20/94 - FUN

ER: This was Earthquake's short-lived return to WWF, presumably because those big WCW checks came a'callin', but they know what they're doing and so really early in his run they throw him in against a big fat guy. Booger wasn't that good, as far as big fat guys go, but it's cool seeing Quake against a biggun. Booger wasn't super fleet so him running into corners looked awkward, but it's hard not to smile while watching these two. Booger had a couple decent legdrops and a not as good kneedrop/splash (it looked like he was going for kneedrop but then just kind of fell forward on Quake's face/chest), but this was all about what Quake could do in his comeback. He was smaller than his WWF peak 4 years earlier, so his quickness wasn't surprising, but still impressive to see. He picked Booger up for an awesome powerslam, dropped a big leg, great elbowdrop, fans flipping out for the Earthquake splash...and I think back to a simpler time, when my friends and I were playing King of the Colloseum and I got a critical doing John Tenta's butt drop. We all lost it, and I still think about it.

Mabel/Typhoon vs. Yokozuna/Crush WWF Wrestling Challenge 7/31/94 - GREAT

ER: God would you look at the absolute BEEF on display in this match?? Crush was a damn cruiserweight compared to the rest of these hunks, and this whole match was as good as you hoped. This whole match is filled with the constant sound of waterbeds being dropped onto each other. Honestly it was so much fun that I went back and watched it again, immediately after watching it the first time. Typhoon was a really fun rope runner, a guy who really trusted the ropes and always leaned way into them, and we got a great spot where he leaned deep in the ropes and then hit a double lariat on Yoko and Crush. Yokozuna was really fun, taking three of his big back bumps, hitting the corner hard on a missed running butt splash, hitting a nice headbutt, and even swiping Mabel's ankle from the floor (there's something endlessly amusing about a 550 pound dude cheating against a 550 pound dude). Crush really brought something different as the wee lil guy in the match, throwing a couple nice kick combos, working a big ass triangle on Mabel, for some reason trying an atomic drop on Mabel (he kind of went up, barely, awkwardly, but I dug that because it *shouldn't* be easy to hit an atomic drop on Mabel), and Crush missed a crazy kneedrop off the top. The finish was a cool idea, with Crush hitting a tall superkick to the back of Tugboat's head, sending him into a Yoko belly to belly. Tugboat didn't get up great on the suplex, but again, none of these guys should get up for anything.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WWE 305 LIVE!

Read more!