Found Footage Friday: Wrestle Yume Factory~!

Wrestle Yume Factory 8/11/96

Pick this up from @itako18jp on Twitter, he is doing god's work

The Madness vs. The Wolf/Cosmo Soldier

MD: A handicap match. Madness is a huge guy with a skeleton mask that he adjusts all the time. Wolf and Soldier start well with Soldier drawing him in with a test of strength challenge and Wolf attacking from behind. They have a flurry of offense but get tossed off on a double pin and really this is just a matter of time until he catches them, and catches them he does. Some of his stuff looks great. He has this suplex into a bodyslam of sorts which is brutal. Some, like his strikes, just kind of look ok. There's a great moment of Soldier bursting off from the side of the screen to break up a pin at one point, and another great one of a roll through pin out of nowhere which almost works. It goes on a bit too long after that though and even though they get one more flurry including a tornado DDT, it's inevitable and after a power bomb, Madness drops one on top of the other for the pin. This had a pretty good balance of protecting Madness but having Wolf and Soldier chip away at him effectively, I thought.

Basara vs. Masakazu Fukuda

MD: I'm not sure we've ever written about Basara here but he had a mask with a big white mustache coming out of it and hair on top the head. Fukuda was mid 20s here and died tragically in 2000. Basara controlled early. He had an answer for everything Fukuda tried and Fukada didn't have an answer. Fukada would take Basara down and try strikes but get his arm caught. They'd get in a headbutt war and Fukuda would get crushed and bump across the ring. When he took over it was by getting in and under and hitting a uranage, first a throw which opened up the match, and then the rock bottom version to win it later. In the middle Basara asserted himself as they ended up hitting bombs to a degree. Basara had a second rope senton and power slam and Fukuda got under him to take him over in a sort of Beach Break. They both threw dropkicks (Basara's surprisingly good). I'm not sure this kept the same narrative focus once it opened up but in general it was fun just to see them throw things at one another. 

Shinichi Shino vs. Shinigami

MD: Shino is later on Fukumen Taro. Shinigami is a blast. He's got caked on grey/green makeup like a ghoul and it's honestly a great look that no one really uses. Plus the gloves and the black coat/pants that makes him look as much like a Castlevania monster as a movie monster. He lumbered down to the ring upsetting chairs and driving fans away. Shono was all pluck and fire. Powerslams and clotheslines but he threw himself into all of them. He capitalized on a missed dropkick and took it to Shinigami, including tossing chairs on him on the outside, but nothing really worked. Shinigami turned it around, buried him under a row of chairs, and then splashed the chairs. Looked like a great bit but it was on the wrong side of the ring so we only had the sense of it. His big move was a claw-assisted uranage and frankly, it's a wonderful piece of business. He dragged Shino into the ring with the claw before hitting it and then down the stretch hit a top rope one before pulling him up and hitting a bridging one. Post-match he went after the timekeeper for no reason and I quite enjoyed the time I spent with Shinigami.

Hector Garza/Silver King/Onryo vs. Masayoshi Motegi/Super Crazy/Kamikaze

MD: All action trios with some great names. I'd say everyone looked pretty good here (Crazy maybe the most dubious if I was pressed), but Silver King looked like one of the best in the world. He was matched up with Kamikaze early and that was the best of the pairings. Everything broke down and we had some very loose rudo beatdown structure on Onryo a couple of times especially, but this was the sort of match where Silver King was just going to super kick someone in the face and take over. Dive train was sensational and Garza looked great in the final pairing. You knew what you were going to most likely get here, but they gave it to you, and that's the important thing. There was also this great bit where Silver King went for a powerbomb onto Garza (his own partner) and alley-ooped him into a splash which looked so smooth that people should reverse engineer and steal it. Variety is the spice of life and this absolutely fit into such a weird and varied card.

Horiyoshi Kotsubo vs. Hirofumi Miura

MD: (EDIT: According to Sebastian I got Kotsubo and Miura confused, so just flip them in the below. I haven't done that in a while). Horiyoshi Kotsubo is Tsubo Genjin. Here he has a karate gimmick with a black gi, the sides of his head shaved, a goatee, and nunchucks. But it's Miura who's fun here. It's scrambly to start, but Miura goes to the slaps first. Then he hits a great spinning backfist and later on a very quick tree-of-woe/short dropkick combo. Kotsubo has some nice pokey punches in a mount at least, and he wins it with a submission that is very hard to explain but certainly novel, starting with a STF but then barring the other leg. Not a ton to say about this one but I need to watch that Aoyagi vs. Miura match Phil covered here now. 

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Shinichi Nakano - GREAT

MD: I've spent a lot of time with 1989-1990 Shinichi Nakano, and quite a bit with him from the years prior, and there isn't a whole lot there, let me tell you. He was fine. Absolutely fine. Inoffensive. Sometimes could show some fire. He wasn't the guy you wanted in a Jr. Title match (not relative to Fuchi or Momota or Inoue or Joe Malenko) or in a tag, except for maybe if that tag was against guys like Hansen and Tenryu. Then he could take a beating and come back with a bit of fire only to get beaten down once more. Actually, 1989 Fujiwara vs 1989 Nakano would have been a blast.

Thankfully, this was pretty good along those lines too. Nakano was older, more grizzled, but a ton of this match was him doing something, paying for it, and getting beaten and stretched by Fujiwara, which really, is exactly what you'd want. Early on, he tried to push Fujiwara into the corner. That didn't go well for him. Fujiwara turned him around, punched him in the face, and then played to the crowd that he slapped him instead, all before goozling him in the ropes. Later on, Nakano tried again to stomp Fujiwara in the corner and the greatest defensive wrestler of all time, snatched his foot midstomp and hit a rare dragon screw leg whip, just like that.

At one point, he did have some success with things Fujiwara had less defense against, armdrags, leading to a cross arm breaker and Fujiwara escaping to the outside. He then got some nice clubbering in with Fujiwara on the apron stretched over the top rope. All well and good if he didn't try for a posting, but he did, and you can't slam Fujiwara's head into the metal connector obviously. Headbutts ensued, followed by Fujiwara doing his own mirrored clubbering and then hilariously teasing a dive. 

What else did Nakano try? Oh, a leglock. Went ok for a bit until Fujiwara snatched a leg of his own and slowly and patiently worked things all the way around so that Nakano was on his stomach and Fujiwara was bending a leg back. And then down the stretch, he hit a power bomb and a suplex and locked in a half crab, but he couldn't put Fujiwara away and when he went back to the well for another suplex, everyone watching knew exactly what was going to happen. Fujiwara jammed it and jammed Nakano down right into the armbar. While I may have hoped that Nakano had become some sort of secret master over the 90s, what I can say about him instead is that he was still a good sport, and that gave Fujiwara lots of room to stretch (figuratively, literally, metaphorically, however you want it).

PAS: This was pretty much a Fujiwara one man show, Nakano was a fine sparring partner, wrestling chicken stock but Fujiwara bought all of the spices here. Of course those are incredible spices, countering everything Nakano tried, backing him into the corner and working him over. I have written time and time again about how Fujiwara is the greatest defensive wrestler of all time, and here he is again throwing up another countering masterpiece as easy as a Nikola Jokic 40/14/12 stat line. The kind of thing that would be legendary for anyone else is pedestrian for him.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

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New Footage Friday: Nuevo Lardeo Super Card

This looked like an all-timer of a discovery, and only ended up being a cool novelty

Full Show

Damián 666/El Hijo del Diablo/Espectrito I/Super Crazy vs. Gitano/Mini Rey Misterio Jr/Rey Bucanero/Zorro

MD: This was a ton of fun. I've seen less atomicos with a mini than you'd think and maybe that means that the novelty still gest me, but Mini Rey was really good in his underdog role, Espectrito was very good getting punked by larger guys as a counterpoint, and Damian was incredibly giving (and a real louse, cheating when he didn't have to instead of facing Rey straight!), to the point where I came out of this thing primarily wanting a singles match between him and Mini Rey. I never expected the two of them to be the main pairing for the match but it absolutely worked. Everyone else worked, but maybe not too memorably. I lost track of Zorro after the primera and only caught track of Bucanero at that point. There was a little clipping too but you could tell this was fun nonetheless.

La Mascara vs. Antifaz del Norte

MD: Not going to lie. I'm not sure who Mascara is here, but I thought this was pretty good. They shook hands right at the start, as this was a title match, but Mascara started with the cheapshots almost immediately thereafter. Antifaz had just begun to get back in it when the brazen double-teaming set in and he had to spend the rest of the match fighting the odds. To their credit, they made it fairly compelling and you felt the triumph of his win in the segunda, just as you probably felt like the screwy finish for the tercera made the journey they'd taken you on a little less worthwhile.

Arandu/Pimpinela Escarlata/Pirata Morgan/Psicosis vs. Felino/Mascara Sagrada/Super Parka/Vampiro

PAS: We really only get parts of this, and it gets cut off in the second fall. There were some highlights, with Pimpi looking like a total killer just unloading all of the tecnicos including big overhand right chops and flinging chairs. There was also a great Psicosis vs. Felino exchange, not sure how many times those two interacted, but man did Felino's speed and Psicosis's recklessness meld well. 

Pierroth vs. La Parka

MD: We got a little burned on the promise of this, because really what we have here is most of the primera and segunda and just some clipping of the tercera, but it's ok. I really loved those first two falls. I also really loved the finish. What I didn't love were the glimpses in the tercera of the ref interference, so I'm almost happier not having it. We lose the very initial scene-setting of how Pierroth takes over, but between the heel ref and everything else, you can guess. The beatdown's good enough that it doesn't matter. Pierroth has great clubbing blows and both of these guys can milk absolutely everything, from a punch to the gut to a chairshot on the floor. There was mask-ripping, blood, Pierroth just being a total jerk, and it had that one core element you want from an apuestas match, from lucha in general, that buzzing build towards a comeback. 

Pierroth planted him with a power bomb and the beatdown continued into the segunda. The buzz built too, to the point where the fans were chanting for Parka while Pierroth was all but laying on a chinlock. So it built and built and built, until the lightning crack of Park's kick to the side of Pierroth's head, the greatest thing that can possibly exist in pro wrestling, the moment of comeback in an apuestas match. These guys really milked it too, with Parka having to really fight back after that moment. He did though, getting amazing revenge by wrapping a chair around a trapped Pierroth hanging on the apron. The ultimately finish played off the powerbomb in the primera and that will always work for me. A tercera for an apuestas matters so much more if you don't know the outcome; here, we did. What we didn't know was when and how Parka was going to come back and how that would shoot through the crowd like electricity, the build and the payoff. That's what I want and that's what I got here.

PAS: This is one of the legendary holy grails of lucha libre, a huge drawing feud and one of the bigger mask matches of the 1990s. We have had highlights before, and this looked like it was going to be the most complete version. Unfortunately while we get the first two falls which were great, the third fall was basically clipped to incoherence. There were glimpses of cool shit, though. I loved Parka just slamming Pierroth in the temple with punches, and the big Parka enziguiri was incredible, looked like he beheaded Pierroth. But man this was such a mean tease, hopefully someday more of this will arrive.  

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Pro Wrestling Revolution Road Report 3/9/19

ER: Jun Akiyama has been wrestling for 27 years, and he decided to work his first ever match in the United States on a Saturday night in San Francisco high school for a lucha fed that doesn't have any actual lucha on it. Why not? We hit up Papito on the way down, me, Tim Livingston, and our friends Sean and Jason. A good crew for a wrestling show. Papito is this great Mexican place owned by a French guy who makes fantastic food. I foolishly had a late lunch, so just sat there sipping sangria and munching chips while Tim got shrimp tacos, Sean got a pork/duck meat combo, and Jason got a great big burrito. I was jealous, but it was my choice and being gluttonous at 38 isn't as fun as it was at 21. That chorizo hamburguesa with queso fresco, avocado, and caramelized onions was staring me in the face on the menu, tempting me with greasy memories. But eating that close together would have had me feeling like total trash through a 3 hour show, so I sad eyed my way through it. We got to the show a little late, and then there was a very long line for being 20 minutes past listed door time. Our saint from above, our friend Brian was inside having come from a different direction, SAVING four other seats. This show was genuinely PACKED and that move probably got him a couple aggressive stares. It was loud as hell throughout a large portion of the night, real cacophonous gym with a full crowd, lots of air horns.

We got there late from dinner and the long line in, so we missed a 6 man scramble match. Our friend Brian - who had saved FOUR seats through a 20 minute late start time AND a full match - when asked about his opinion of the scramble match, wrinkled his nose and narrowed his eyes, and tilted his head a little. A wordless, unimpressed dismissal of six men's nights' work.

Papa Esco/El Dinamita vs. Viento/Rey Leon

ER: This was a perfectly fine tag. One of the tecnicos comes out to Sweet Child of Mine which is one of those cheesy things that means your brain is wired to become a professional independent pro wrestler. Papa Esco is a fun fat guy with a singlet that even says Fat Boy. He has a good fat guy build, nice and sturdy, bald head and big beard. He's not mega fat, but he looks like someone left Monsta Mack in the dryer a little too long. Viento appeared to be the better of the tecnicos as far as fluidity, but he was also in there more with Esco, who is the much better base. Dinamita was really clumsy during some sequences, especially poor at taking offense (which is not a good sign from a rudo), but Esco is really good at taking armdrags, has that great chubby base pendulum style bumping down. This was fine. Esco is one of the PWR homegrowns that I like, so was at minimum hoping for a decent showcase for him, and got it.

Puma Negro vs. Sonico vs. Arkedy Federov vs. Matt Fury

ER: Matt Fury was originally supposed to be Jungle Boy, but due to the week's circumstances Jungle Boy was obviously not here. I didn't catch the name of his replacement, but he was a black flier who my friend Sean kept referring to as "athletic" and wasn't sure why Jason and I kept giving him a hard time about it. He didn't repeatedly refer to Federov as "hard working" so the likely scenario is that Sean doesn't know sports code. Fury got good height on some things and hit a pretty spectacular springboard shooting star press into the entranceway onto everyone, but felt like he put more thought into ways to do high leapfrogs instead of transitions. My favorites in the match were Puma Negro and Sonico. Federov was okayish, but had some really clunky set up on indy offense. There was a moment where he did some awful 9 step set-up kind of move, grabbing an arm, dipping opponent back into a backbreaker, pulling them to feet before locking into a pumphandle, you know one of those moves that needs someone to be perfectly still while you do your 9 point pre-check before dropping them on their face. But Sonico was a real pleasant surprise, a guy I'd love to see again around here. He got real high height leaping off the ropes for ranas and had a really great fast dive. Puma Negro was an Arkangel type rudo, had a nice stiff arm southpaw lariat just like Arkangel's, good base for Sonico's ranas, had a cool sunset flip variation. Federov ends the match with an awful waffle that looked super dangerous. Overall this is what you'd like from a 10 minute 4 way.

Nicole Savoy vs. Heather Monroe

ER: A 13 minute match that probably would have been much better off settling in around 9. Monroe showed a ton of charisma and personality during her ring entrance, really looked like someone who owned the ring and would be a great heel. Once the match started that completely vanished. The way she was stalking the apron and dismissing the crowd during her entrance felt like the kind of confidence that would immediately translate to the match, but the bell rung and she was completely silent. The middle of the match was a long Monroe control segment that was easily the most quiet the crowd got all night, and her stuff didn't look great. Savoy's moments where much better, nice high kick, even better German, tough fisherman buster, big tope (that Monroe caught nicely) but Monroe took way too much of this. It's only a matter of time before Savoy is in NXT, and she's super easy to root for, but the structure of this was all off.

ER: We had an ongoing bet over how long the intermission would go. I had 33 minutes, I laughed at Tim's guess of 25 minutes. To my shock they ended up coming back right at the 25 minute mark. I HATE intermissions, while begrudgingly understanding their purpose, and PWR's intermissions are filled with incredibly loud music blared into a cramped gymnasium. If I sound old, I genuinely don't care. So I leave to stretch my legs and in the hallway I run into Roy Lucier. Roy has been the true MVP of the online wrestling community these past few years, as he's been uploading a wealth of rare and unique wrestling footage in easily searchable categories, at an incredibly fast pace. Old tape traders seem like they always get along when meeting, and he and I got to chat for a good 20 minutes. He told me about a few things he's recently received that are VERY exciting. We even talked about saving it for Christmas because some of it is a gift that has been seen by very few of us. Talking about wrestling with people is fun, real glad we bumped into each other, been a long time coming. You'll be seeing plenty of Roy's uploads written about by us over the next several (!) years.

Tajiri vs. Super Crazy

ER: This feud was pretty important to late teens me, really was some of my absolute favorite stuff at that time and really worked as one of my gateways to wanting to see more and more wrestling from Japan and Mexico. It was cool seeing them run it back now that both are in the back end of their 40s, and this felt like a fun take on the familiar Tajiri/Crazy matches only done by guys in the back end of their 40s. The speed wasn't going to be there, but the ability to work a crowd was there and they knew what they could get by with. Tajiri was getting good reactions just stalking the ring, and he amusing worked the match like a Repo Man match. Tajiri kept going for headlocks and it was pretty great, due to their expert veteran timing. It really could have killed a crowd, as the buzz would be building, fans would start loudly anticipating a Crazy comeback, and right when the comeback was about to happen Tajiri would trick him into a headlock again. Every time the crowd reaction would get louder before the headlock, before Tajiri would quiet them. Tajiri doesn't do fast roundhouse wheel kicks or high kicks anymore, but instead threw a few nice front kicks, just pushing off with a couple stiff kicks to Crazy's chest or chin. Crazy is definitely chubbier these days, but he still gets the exact same height and rotation on his spinkick, hit a moonsault off the middle that looked just like a moonsault of his from '99, and even missed a moonsault off the top that had some of the absolute best arc and grace of anyone to have ever done a moonsault. His form is still that impressive. The finish was really fantastic as the ref gets briefly bumped, and in that brief moment where the ref isn't looking, Tajiri swings off Super Crazy with a cool armdrag...and mists Crazy while midair in the middle of the armdrag. Great visual.

Jun Akiyama/Ultimo Dragon/Misterioso vs. Vinny Massaro/Colt Stevens/JR Kratos

ER: So before the match they ran around passing streamers to ringside fans, and then promoter Gabe got on the mic and explained to the crowd how to throw streamers, and I think it comes off pretty silly to do a quickie "okay Japanese wrestlers only know you respect them if you throw neon garbage at them". Akiyama does come off like a boss during his ring entrance, wearing a large robe, clearly a guy who felt like a big deal to people (actually many in the crowd) who had no idea who he was. But damn if those streamers didn't look cool during his ring introduction (poor Ultimo was a Japanese man who was apparently shown zero respect, streamers for Akiyama only. We felt bad for Ultimo). Bay Area indies have been kicking around "Border Patrol" teams since at least the mid 90s and I'm thankful as hell we don't get any bad "build the wall" shtick from Stevens and Kratos. Vinny is in for a lot of this and the fans are way into Akiyama, which felt great. This wasn't going to be some wild match, it was going to be worked like a NOAH house show match, which was just fine, all that was needed. The rudos worked over Misterioso nicely, especially loved a long full arm lariat from Vinny, and a big release snap suplex from Kratos (a snap vertical suplex, but he let go so Misterioso flew across the ring, looked great). Akiyama came in on two occasions, laid in some nice knees including a great leaping knee into Stevens, and you knew we were getting at least one exploder. They mix it up and don't just go straight for the finish when he tags in the second time, and we even got a cool surprise nearfall from Stevens. I would have loved to see the reaction if Akiyama got pinned. But of course that wasn't REALLY going to happen. This was a perfectly fine crowd pleasing main event, and nothing more, and it didn't need to be.

ER: I've still yet to see a GREAT match from PWR, and they've been around for at least a decade now. But this was a packed house, a genuinely sold out show, with a crowd that stayed loud and invested throughout the whole card. That's a special thing.

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Santo Baby, Hurry Down the Chimney Tonight

ER: One of the finest luchadors in history came back from retirement a couple years ago and began working matches again (many with his son, which is what likely made him start working again), but I hardly saw anybody writing about the matches. It felt like it was treated as a non-event, as opposed to an exciting event that we now have more footage of a legend who never deteriorated. I decided to run through several of the matches from his most recent active year on file and see what we seemingly collectively missed.


El Hijo Del Santo/Rey Mysterio Jr./Discovery vs. Dr. Cerebro/Super Crazy/Yakuza LLT 9/17/17

ER: This was plenty fun, but when a match has 2 of the 10 biggest lucha legends of all time in it, you hope for a bit more. The rudo control segments were a little underwhelming, and Yakuza kinda stinks and looks like he's mailing it in the whole match (or maybe that's just his operating speed; I assume if you're across the ring from Santo, Mysterio, and the top local lucha tecnico that you would be going your hardest). The early pairings are fun with the tecnicos all getting to show off their arsenal of armdrags and headscissors, but the rudo beatdown after gets a little tedious. We have two short and chubby refs in the ring, one indifferent and one a rudo. I know if I were in the crowd watching a match with Santo, Mysterio, Cerebro (in the states, so wearing his all time great mask), Crazy, I'd personally be interested in some spots where a referee is front and center. It's arguably the worst trope in any style of wrestling. But the home stretch is a solid burst of lightning, with Crazy taking a great bump to the floor off a Mysterio headscissors, Santo hitting his rolling senton off the top (and weirdly barely getting a reaction for a dive onto Cerebro that sends both of them to the guardrail), Yakuza takes a lazy bump to the floor but Discovery hits a nice flip dive onto him (which Yakuza doesn't really catch, moreso lets Discovery bounce off him onto the floor), and then the crowd of course explodes for the 619. Santo was super engaging throughout, really active from the apron, not going through any motions (I thought it was cool when his guys were on offense that Santo was always watching the loose members of the rudo side). But out of all the available 2017 Santo this one was the on paper champ, and didn't really live up to that billing.

El Hijo Del Santo vs. Silver King vs. Alberto el Patron MDA 10/1/17

ER: You might have guessed, but this would have been much better had it been a singles with either of those two opposite Santo, as this had too many moments of three guys in the ring where one guy is just in the way. The money match here is Santo/King, and it's not really that Patron is bad, more that the match would have worked far better as a singles and he's clearly the odd man out. Silver King works the match as a kind of upsetter, like LA Park or Rush, first guy to go looking for weapons, first guy to go for ball shots, just trying to cause chaos. He also lands stiff and takes big bumps, so I'm all for it. Santo works all of his majestic spots off these two, hitting a headscissor and flipping armdrag on King, vaulting off King to hit a dropkick on Patron, and late in the match hitting his rolling senton into tope past the ringpost. Is there a man with a crazier "signature spot" that he's executing into his 50s? Santo is great when a match turns into a brawl, as he has awesome shots and takes Lawleresque bumps into furniture and metal. He even moves a lot like Lawler as he bumps, so seeing Silver King throw him hard into a chair is gonna look great. King comes out with a couple full containers of empty beer bottles and bounces one off Santo, a mere foot away from a man holding his infant. King smacks Santo around with a bottle, then jabs the ref with it, and later blasts Patron with a serving tray.  Finish felt like a good brawl finish, with King bringing in a super heavy looking container of empties (and if it wasn't actually heavy, let's credit Silver King with his John Cena-like ability to make things appear heavier than they are) and looks like he's about to crush Santo's head with it, but Patron throws beer in his face to allow Santo to lock on la caballo. This was very clipped, although I don't think we missed anything, and probably just helped with flow. The performance of Santo and King certainly made me excited for the following tag.

El Hijo Del Santo/Garza Jr. vs. Silver King/Silver King Jr. Auditorio Municipal 11/17/17

ER: This starts out feeling like it's going to be really good, until the back half of this gets plunged into the murky waters of the worst lucha tropes. This started fine, with Santo squaring off against King Jr. and working through some Santo-y mat spots, and then King Sr. and Garza squared off with Garza doing a lot of mincy movements and teasing all the ladies by showing skin, a flash of an ab here and a flash of a left buttock there, all culminating in him missing a big avalanche to get hung up butt up on the top rope, allowing Silver King to expose full butt. The squeals mean it's working. Garza does fully seem all the way into Buddy Landel no kneepads work, but shtick works fine when used properly. There's a FANTASTIC spot where King Jr. gets a cheap shot in on Santo, and King Sr. cheapshots King Jr. to tell him to knock off the cheapshots. Brilliantly timed. Santo comes in and rips off a bunch of classics, big flying headbutt off the top, some victory rolls, big flipping armdrag, a couple nice alley oop headscissors, stuff that looked like good Santo. This didn't appear to be that big of a gymnasium crowd, but Santo is clearly still a guy who busts ass no matter the crowd. And then everything goes to absolute hell in the tercera. The referee turns on Santo for some stupid ass lucha reason and starts putting the boots to him with the Kings. Then Garza also turns on Santo but keeps avoiding taking bumps so he's just a guy who turned and then ran around the ring taunting all match. If I was Silver King Jr. and was paid less than Garza for this match, I'd be pissed. Garza worked this match the way a guy would work if he had found out just before the match that he wouldn't be paid. But then even though Garza turns on Santo, King Jr. still treats him as an enemy and keeps trying to attack him. Maybe King Jr. really *was* pissed about Buddy Garza goofing off the whole match. It was just really weird that Garza wasn't trying to harm the King Family, and was trying to lie down for pins, but King Jr. kept going after him like they were in a fight. None of this made any sense. Santo does still manage to hit his rolling senton and tope past the ringpost into King Jr., but we get nothing but fast count cheating, Santo eating a huge kick to the balls for the finish, and just a final 10 minutes that nobody could possibly be happy with. The one saving grace in the last 10 minutes was Santo still breaking out big spots when allowed, and him finally slapping both Garza and the ref. The fans responded to Santo finally snapping as a big deal, and the ref took a great floppy oversell off Santo's punch. But damn, guys, knock off the horseplop.

El Hijo Del Santo/Santo Jr./Hijo de Black Silver vs. La Mascara/Bandido/Black Silver Jr. LLA 11/19/17

ER: This was nice condensed fun in a neat outdoor soccer field venue. Mascara works as a decent rudo stooge throughout, Bandido is a rudo with excellent fringe on his tights so I am beholden by law to give him positive marks, and apparently the sons of Black Silver are having a row. Black Silver Jr. appears to be the better of the brothers (and sadly passed away in a car accident a few months after this match), and we get more of a look at Santo Jr. Santo Jr. is not that good, but he can blend into a trios well enough and hits a nice dive off the top to the floor late in the match. But you have to sit through sloppy headscissors to get there. He bumps well enough and it's kind of weird because sometimes he tries to almost mimic his father's movement. He can't pull off the execution, but he sometimes moves like him and it's kind of weird. Santo obviously looked like a star here, with a big rana and high knees and slick headscissors, brawling through the crowd with Mascara, and hitting his rolling senton/tope combo. Seriously, Hogan has severe hip pain from doing the legdrop too long, Santo's still out here diving onto soccer fields. Match was a nice crowd pleaser.

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Black Label Pro: The Darkest Timeline Tournament Phase 1 9/23/17

B-Boy v. Kevin Lee Davidson v. Simon Grimm v. Space Monkey

PAS: This was a basic four way, Grimm is the ex-Simon Gotch from the Vaudvillians and ended up getting the win and moving on. I enjoyed KLD, he was a big fat dude and hit pretty hard, although he wasn't in the match a ton. Highlight was B-Boy and Davidson pounding on each other. Space Monkey is a Chikara guy with comedy shtick, and would hijack parts of the match to getting in his horseshit. 

Dasher Hatfield v. Joe Gacy v. Mordecai

PAS: This is part of the booking strategy of this fed which is bringing in old names to end up with wacky WAR style match ups, I think they got a little cute with this match. I am not sure if Mordecai has been wrestling anywhere in the last 15 years, but he looked fine. Match was mostly Gacy and Mordecai teaming up on Hatfield, until the expected falling out. It was humming along at an average rate, until Hatfield and Gacy go one on one and it is a totally mess, they blow three spots in a row until Gacy hits a lethal injection of all fucking things. Finish has Hatfield rolling Gacy up after Gacy broke up a pin, and the rollup was sort of a mess too. 

Keith Lee v. Sammy Guevara

PAS: I really liked the first 10 minutes or so of this. Basic story with Lee as a the Grizzly bear tossing around and mauling the high flyer. Guevara took some big shots, and was hurled all over the ring. Guevara had some fun flippy counters and realistic bits of offense, he had a really pretty dive to the floor. Match falls apart, with Guevara kicking out of a big powerslam which should have ended it, and then the momentum dipped with a dumb ref bump, a low blow, a couple of long visual falls and a silly finish where the ref DQ's Lee off of an obvious accidental ref bump. Really dumb way to put Guevara over which makes everyone look worse. 

4. Ernest "The Cat" Miller vs. Ethan Page

PAS: Long mike work by the Cat where he calls everyone in the crowd ugly and fat. Not sure the point of bringing in Miller if you are going to have him work this kind of heel. Isn't the point of a nostalgia act that people are nostalgic for them? Page comes out and runs off Miller and cuts a Tommy Dreamer style "all the guys in the back are busting their ass." I am not a Page guy, but he does a nice hateble heel, recasting him as a rah rah babyface seems weird.

Matt Riddle vs. Tom Lawlor

PAS: This was pretty great stuff. I have been wavering on Riddle a bit this year, but putting him in with another MMA guy minimizes some of his more questionable attributes. The opening mat section between the two was pretty great, both guys were just rolling, looking for submissions grabbing advantages, high level stuff which is always good to watch. Riddle is a super impressive athlete and will often do something jaw dropping, after the matwork they exchange tough guy chops, elbows and kicks, and Riddle ends it with a pele kick which looked like it was in fast forward. Lawlor has a fun dick head charisma, shit talking, claiming Dana White sent him to take Riddle out, he is a natural heel and I dug him. His counter of the senton with a rear naked choke was especially cool. Finish was really awesome with Riddle throwing on a super fast triangle choke, and Lawlor trying to slam his way out of hit, only to turn it into a pinfall right before he went out.

ER: I thought this was awesome, loved Lawlor's bruiser heel charisma against Riddle's freak athleticism. The opening rolling was easily some of my favorite mat stuff of the year. I easily could have just watched 15 minutes of that. Lawlor holding Riddle in a facelock, trapping his leg with his own to pull it closer, and then maneuvering into a half crab may be my favorite mat trick of the year. But we got several cool slippery moments, like Riddle hopping into a rear naked only to get immediately shaken off onto his head by Lawlor ducking forward. I didn't think the chop exchange was great, much would have rather seen more mat game, but once they go to blows Lawlor throws some fast and sharp elbows right to the chin. We get several great catches and reversals, which I felt were the best moments of the standing portion: Riddle catching a leg and quickly sneaking in a Pele kick (one of his most seamless Pele kick transitions I've seen, and Lawlor's stumble sell was awesome), or Lawlor shifting to catch a Riddle senton in a rear naked choke. Lawlor does tons of things I love - that most guys don't do - little things like cutting low on clotheslines. It makes the clothesline that eventually hits look so much better when the misses all would have taken a head off too. Loved the Lawlor rear naked choke, the suplexes by both were nuts (Riddle crumbles better than most lunatics on Germans), and the finish was bomb: Lawlor deadlift powerbombing Riddle to escape a triangle, keeps getting triangle locked on after slam, so Lawlor rolls forward with it for the pin.

Dominic Garrini vs. Donovan Danhausen vs. GPA vs. Leva Bates vs. Rory Gulak

PAS: This was short, not very good and sort of a waste of Garrini. I had never seen Garrini work heel before, and I did enjoy him as a smirking meathead prick when he "accidentally" hit Bates. No one else did much for me, and at least the right guy went over.

Darby Allin vs. Super Crazy

PAS: Super Crazy is a guy who has worked rudo against high flyers with nice armdrags for 20 years, so he was right at home eating all of Allin's springboards, armdrags and headscissors. Really pretty stuff, including Allin transition into a somersault dive as smoothly as I have ever seen it. I am use to seeing Allin as an insane bump machine, and it was fun to watch him work as Rey Cometa. Finish was a little abrupt, with Allin countering into a Code Red, getting a two, putting on a Fuller leglock and getting the pin. Seemed like a possible ref flub, otherwise this was a blast.

ER: Phil nails it with the Rey Cometa comparison, but I liked Darby here more than anything I've seen from Cometa this year. He's smooth as silk in his transitions and he shifts into position for things quicker than anybody. He never makes his opponents look like doofuses waiting around to be hit with a move, he's just too damn quick. A lot of his movements remind me of the slickest Freelance spots. Allin needs to go on a sojourn to Mexico as Dark Freelance. Crazy is great as tubby asskicker, though I like him much more cracking Allin in the jaw than doing 1999 Tajiri ECW spots. I know there was nostalgia on this show, but Crazy is a guy with enough tools to still work without relying on nostalgia. That somersault dive of Allin's was flat out gorgeous, and this whole thing was really fun despite the weird and unexpected ending.

Everett Connors vs. The Sandman

PAS: Connors is working a Justin Beiber superfan gimmick, and this was basically Sandman coming out, doing his whole entrance (minus cigarette) and squashing the kid. This was the right way to use a nostalgia act, that is what people wanted to see the Sandman do, so he did it.

Darby Allin v. Dominic Garrini v Sammy Guevara v. Dasher Hatfield v. Simon Grimm v. Tom Lawlor

PAS: This was a six way match with the winners from the early matches to see who advances to the final title match later in the year. Both Guevara and Allin are eliminated almost immediately, which was strange, because both guys are good for at least a crazy spot or bump, multi man matches always need sizzle and dumping your sizzle dudes doesn't make sense. It comes down to Lawlor v. Garrinni v. Hatfield. We never really get a Lawlor v. Garrinni show down (I guess I am going to have to buy the AIW show with their singles) instead it is all Hatfield working both. I did love the finish with Lawlor turning a jackhammer into a nasty rear naked choke and refusing to release it. The show really made Lawlor, and I will be totally into a fed with him as the top guy.

PAS: Lots of this show didn't connect with me, but I did really like Lawlor v. Riddle which was got me to open my wallet (and is an easy choice for our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List), and there are enough fun looking things on the next show I will keep watching.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Juventud

Juventud Guerrera & Super Crazy vs. Negro Casas & Felino (CMLL Elite 1/24/16)

At some point in the 90s Juvy was one of my absolute favorite wrestlers in the world. His WCW syndicated matches always had at least one crazy spot, and at a certain point it became clear it was likely because he was actually mentally unbalanced. I saw less and less Juvy matches as he gradually eased into a life working as a professional bridge burner and/or birdseed salesman, and this was probably the first Juvy match I'd seen in 2+ years. And Juvy still seems really really good. His spots with Casas were awesome, he threw some of the best chops in the game but really all his kicks looked really great too, loved he and Casas trading front kicks (Juvy kicking Casas in the chest, and I love how Negro was one-upping him by throwing his kicks higher, at the face), and Juvy hit an absolutely gorgeous headscissors followed up with a nasty running knee to Casas' chin. Felino worked really hard as well and didn't do any of terrible comedy (or the guy with a cell phone was kind enough to edit it off), as he and Crazy bit each other's heads, hit low dropkicks, and flew into the ringside barrier. That barrier must have been a blast to fly into, as Felino takes two big bumps into it, Juvy takes one, and Crazy gets plastered into the edge of it. We get a criminally short final showdown between Juvy and Casas, but you can't go too long in the ring when you know people are shitting in your bag while you wrestle. This easily exceeded my expectations and it's nice to know the Juice can still bring it.

BONUS JUICE!!!

Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Chetti (XPW (8/31/02)

I've never seen this online this complete, and definitely never in HD quality like this. This is Juvy's infamous Juice Bar promo in Philly, riling up the crowd ("Fuck you, you son of a gun!") while holding his blender of watermelon agua fresca. He keeps calling Chris Chetti "Chris Chatty" and seems to actually think that's his name. He flirts with a girl who he deems a juicy person. He makes fun of the locker room, says that Chatty begged Rob Black to wrestle him so he could learn something. Chetti comes out and Juvy proceeds to no sell a superkick, then punches Chetti a bunch in the face. The match was way better than you'd think, since Chetti isn't really who you might think of  as a person who had "good matches". My favorite Chetti memory is from the first Hardcore Homecoming show, that awful, awful show, where Chetti was in one of the first matches. He looked wildly out of shape, and Joey Styles started talking about how Chetti wasn't showing a bit of ring rust, right as Chetti whiffed a punch by more than I've ever seen someone whiff a punch. Styles spent the rest of the match explaining just how hot it was in the building to cover up for how bad everybody looked. Chetti did not look good in this, but I had forgotten how vicious Juvy could be and he really beat the hell out of Chetti here. And Chetti was game to get beaten up, so he filled his role fine, even if he seemed clueless how to get into position for everything. Juvy's punches and chops looked so damn good, and he still moved with tons of speed, dumped Chetti with a couple rough Juvy drivers, dumped the rest of his literal juice on him, really a fun worker that made me want to seek out more 2002 Juvy. After the match Julio Dinero runs out, and I can't imagine many more dreadful things you can hear at a wrestling show than "Who is that? That's Julio Dinero!!" It's a shame Juvy never worked IWA-MS during this era, feels like those shows would be legendary.

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Pro Wrestling Revolution Workrate Report 5/9/15

1. Fuerza Guerrera vs. Super Crazy vs. El Mariachi vs. Rocky Romero

This was the main event of the 2/28/15 show in San Francisco. This show was hyped and advertised around a main event of Super Crazy vs. Juventud Guerrera but to the shock of not one person who follows lucha libre at all, Juvy did not show up and instead sent his father in his place. Now if I had gone to this show I personally would have been way more excited, as seeing Fuerza in a high school gym sounds way more interesting than whatever underactive performance Juvy likely would have put on. I've already seen Juvy in this fed and the most amusing thing was seeing what he could do without actually having to bump. If I'm going to see somebody work Buddy Landell no kneepads style, I'd choose Fuerza over the Juice. Of course, Fuerza vs. Crazy sounds INFINITELY more interesting than what we're getting here: Not only a 4 way, but with the two additions being these two duds. Talk about being elated when Fuerza comes out, to that major kick in the dick when Romero comes out. We'll see.

Annnnnnnd this match was pretty much a total mess. Everybody but Mariachi works rudo, which falls flat when they're all working each other. Crowd was noticeably less heated than normal. Oh, but Mariachi comes back at the end of the match after his elimination to do a heel turn. So that solves that? Fuerza is the first man eliminated, so when the most interesting person in a match is gone halfway through that will never help things. Romero tries to work stooging comedy heel which - believe it or not - may actually be his worst hat. I know it's hard fathoming just what Rocky Romero is worst at, but working stooge comedy when you have zero presence or charisma is just tragic. Romero excels at being bad, but there's an additional layer of badness because he seems to have no idea WHY something he's doing might not work. I have seen Mariachi several times now and he's just not good. He goes through the motions of lucha, but really just doesn't have any substance of any kind to his stuff. His execution isn't good, he routinely blows up midway through every match I've seen him in, he has no idea how to work tecnico or rudo, and he's sluggish even early in matches, his headscissors and armdrags are sloppy and implausible...he's just not good. The promotion routinely pushes him as one of their four top stars, but even they have no idea what to do with him as sometimes he's a rudo, sometimes he's a tecnico, rarely is he over. They gave him a female valet for awhile, had him giving out sombreros, any desperate trick. It hasn't worked.

So we get this elimination match, with three rudos and a poor tecnico who eventually turns, no real focus, no real plan. Fuerza is 60 years old, but did more than you possibly could have hoped for. He still throws a mean right hand and in this match he threw a couple dozen of them; seeing him wander around throwing those rights was easily the best part of the match. For his part, at least Romero did a couple decent spit takes after taking Fuerza's punches. Fuerza didn't really bump much, but damn the dude is 60. Who needs to bump at 60? My dad is 60 and hates walking more than a couple blocks. So really watching Fuerza punch Romero a bunch and kick him in the balls was worth the price of admission. Crazy tried some things here, some of it looked really good (real nice big tumbling bump to the floor, awesome tornillo elbow drop) and some of it didn't like his tarantula that took ages to apply. We've gone over Mariachi and how he's just not good, and Romero worked as expected. He threw one of the worst elbow drops I've seen. Once Fuerza got eliminated halfway through we then went into awkward 3 way dance mode and really Crazy can probably be held accountable more than most for my eyes still having to see fucking 3 way dances in 2015. Mariachi is next out and then in a completely nonsensical move comes back later to cost Romero the pinfall even though Romero was no more responsible for Mariachi's elimination than anybody else, and Mariachi had mostly paired off with Crazy. Just a limp dick finish to a match that had already gotten pretty brutal once Fuerza vamoosed.

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ECW One Night Stand 2005

Wow. This was 9 years ago. I guess without counting some of those weird 1997 Raws (also from Hammerstein) or that weird business where Tazz as ECW champion lost to HHH on Smackdown (which prompted some guy from back east to call into my college radio show at the time and rant about it for what felt like a very long 15 minutes), I think that most would agree that this is the first WWECW show. It's weird to think that this started a long, sad parade of ECW reunion nostalgia that is impossibly still being milked today on actual real television by a somewhat real wrestling company. I remember watching this show years ago when it came out on DVD, using the JBL commentary track which featured a drunk JBL throwing every ECW worker under the bus in hilarious fashion (and if you didn't think it was hilarious, maybe you would by the 8th time you heard one of his repeated jokes).

1. Lance Storm vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho is nerdily announced as "Lionheart" Chris Jericho, and is wearing his old tights and vest. Crowd is crazy hot for this, flipping out after an opening arm drag sequence. They also are so desperate to shit all over women that they immediately chant "She's a Crack Whore" at Dawn Marie, who decidedly looks nothing like a crack whore. Jericho levels Storm with a face high dropkick and this is starting really good actually. They're pretty good at working Storm ECW nostalgia spots (high dropkick, springboard back elbow from the turnbuckles) into the match with a more modern indy style worked in. Old ECW had a lot of exhibition style work, with guys doing their familiar spots without so much regard to segueing smoothly into those spots. One moment a guy would be taking offense, the next he'd be on his run of signature offense. Here Storm hits his long vertical suplex, but Jericho kicks his legs a bunch to try to reverse it, and when Storm runs up for his back elbow, Jericho dropkicks him on the way down. We do eventually merge back into classic exhibition style, and Storm's comebacks leave a lot to be desired here. His comebacks mainly just involve him standing up after taking moves, and then doing moves. Jericho plants him with a mean Tiger suplex and some nasty knees in the clinch, Storm just shrugs it off with a spinning heel kick. Jericho reverses a piledriver with a backdrop, Storm just pops up and hits a superkick. Jericho tries to glue this together, but Storm just wanted to hit all of his moves. He hit them all nicely, but his insistence on hitting all of his moves made the match mean less. Storm wins when Jason and Justin Credible interfere and Joey Styles hilariously starts using JR's Owen voice, talking about what a horrible shame it was that Storm had to win things that way, in what could possibly be his last match ever. Styles goes on for well over a minute. "Shame. Just a shame. Why did it have to be this way, Lance? You're better than this."

Pitbull Gary Wolfe gets a weird payday for showing up in full Pitbulls garb to introduce a tribute to the fallen stars of ECW, and shockingly there aren't too many at the time this show happened. I wish I knew what song originally played behind this package (since I assume most music has been changed for the Network airings) as I really want to hear some Sarah McLachlan playing while they show slow motion clips of Big Dick Dudley flexing through clenched teeth.

2. Tajiri vs. Little Guido vs. Super Crazy

FBI comes out to an instrumental loop of No Sleep Til Brooklyn, and Smothers is awesome waving the flag and doing all his weird Smothers mannerisms. This show needs more Smothers in the ring, but I'll settle for Smothers at ringside. Full props to Tommy Dreamer for managing to get JT Smith a WWE payday in 2005. Mick Foley is absolutely horrible on commentary here, playing up a folksy late career James Stewart persona. "Aw shucks Joey, they're going to be doing a lot of moves I've never seen here, but I-I-I I'll just try to keep up, best I can." Actually, now that I think about it, he may be just mimicking Terry Funk. Re-read that sentence in Funk voice. That adds up. That awful commentary is a running theme throughout the match (and the show) "you know I've known Tajiri for 11 years and he's just the nicest guy you could imagine". Kewl insight. This match is really fun for the first few minutes, as every single person at ringside (Sinister Minister, Mikey Whipwreck, Smothers, Smith, Tony Mamaluke, Big Guido) all interfere at some point in the match, but it's actually done in a way that's integrated perfectly into the match. Big Guido goes to powerbomb Tajiri, gets low blowed by Minister, Tajiri sprays mist at Little Guido, Smothers runs in with karate and gets leveled with a superkick, Mikey hits the big top rope Whipper Snapper on the misted Guido, all the while Mamaluke and Smith keep Crazy busy by sweeping his legs on a rope run and crotching him around the ring post. Interference doesn't usually add to the match but I can't think of a way to better integrate 9 people in one match within 1 minute. Match as a whole is fairly short, at barely 6 minutes, which had to disappoint most. Tajiri looked somewhat lost at points and was kinda awkward getting into position for his offense, but Crazy and Guido were on point. Guido did some of his big silly bumps, and Crazy's stuff looked good, hitting some big moonsaults with heft (including a wild one off the balcony) and nasty seated dropkicks. Still, too short to mean much. Also, I couldn't tell if it was two unfortunate tongue slips, or if Styles was throwing out hack racial humor, but two different times in the match he distinctly said "soo-prex" after Tajiri threw a suplex. The first one could have been an accident…but twice in the same match?

3. Rey Mysterio vs. Psicosis

I remember a lot of people being disappointed in this match at the time, but the match was perfectly fine. If this was on WorldWide it would definitely make a WCW B-Sides comp. Psicosis takes some nutty bumps as you hoped he would, doing an insane guillotine legdrop off the top to Mysterio (who was draped over the guardrail), doing his trademark missed corner attack that ends with him dumped on his head, and taking a nice Cassandro bump, wrapping himself around the post and flying into some ladies in the front row, which Mysterio follows up with an awesome Thesz press from the top into the crowd. Psicosis also draws boos by locking on a headlock. I didn't put on my good hockey jersey to go out and see Mexicans do rest holds!

Then we get JBL and Angle coming out to plenty of boos and chants, JBL stiffing Gertner with a mean shove and kick to the ass, and RVD coming out and cutting the best promo of his life. He had a knee injury and couldn't compete which was tearing him up inside since this show was something he worked years to make happen. I mean, I fast forwarded through some of his promo, but it was about the most life-affirming promo you can get if you were ever an ECW fan. RVD showed actual real passion and it was nice to see. Joey Styles threatens to ruin everything with his awfulness: "Gotta love a shoot promo on live TV!!" Ugh. And then Rhyno came in and absolutely folds RVD in half with a Gore. The lights go out and while everybody hopes for a return of Midnight, Joey dorkily starts going "we blew a generator! We lost power!" Which naturally leads us into...

4. Sabu vs. Rhyno

…which starts out awesomely, with Rhyno hitting a big belly to belly and going to the top rope (for reasons?) so that Sabu can just brain him with a chair. Rhyno takes a massive bump off the top and Sabu hits a sweet chair assisted springboard dive. The whole match was pretty crazy, and both guys complemented each other nicely. Sabu threw a bunch of great right hands, tossed chairs at Rhyno's face and hit all the spots you'd want to see Sabu hit. Rhyno was a monster, not only taking all of Sabu's stupidity, but dishing out a bunch of cool stuff you don't remember Rhyno doing. I remember he had a nice piledriver and he really spikes Sabu with it here, but he also does a cool running yakuza kick on Sabu, and leans way into all of Sabu's stuff (including a bunch of neat Sabu legdrops and springboard stuff). Sabu throws Pee Wee into the way of a Gore and he takes it like a man, almost bouncing his neck off the bottom rope. At this point RVD gets in the ring in real awkward length jorts (not baggy, but not ironically short, just that horrible relaxed fit/above the knee jort style), white socks and cross trainers, limping horribly on his bad knee. I have to assume his knee is absolutely wrecked, or else it's the only time he's ever consistently sold a body part in his career. He comes in and actually works spots with Rhyno, including nuttily skateboarding a chair right into Rhyno's face and setting up a table spot for Sabu. Sabu drops a chair through Rhyno and the table just explodes, and this whole thing was a great spectacle. Awesome stuff that I have to believe is the best possible match that could have happened .

Eric Bischoff and the Raw crew arrive, including future ECW superstar Gene Snitsky. Joey does uncomfortable and sad and just plain poorly delivered play by play as they walk to their seats. "There's Raw superstar Edge. I'm glad I didn't bring my wife tonight [long pause]. Because Edge is a wife stealer."

5. Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero

Well speaking of uncomfortable. Mick Foley immediately completely misreads the room "This is the match that never got to happen in ECW. The dream match that never happened because Bischoff lured both of them away. And now finally the fans get it and want to see nothing more" as the fans proceed to direct all of their attention to Edge in the balcony while chanting things about Lita being a whore for over half of the match. Seriously at any given screen shot about 2/3 of the crowd is turned totally away from the ring. Eddie is pro enough to get at least some of the fans to actually watch the match, and damn does he look great here. His mat exchanges are quick and powerful and he really snaps the fans into it by outstiffing Benoit on chops and grinding his boot over Benoit's face. Benoit bumps maniacally through the ropes to the floor on a missed charge and Eddie really seems pissed at the crowd. Mick and Joey really put over just how suicidal Benoit is after he does the diving headbutt, talking about his neck surgery and really putting over how he has a real death wish. Good grief. Thankfully they didn't point out the hanging vertical suplex he did earlier. Match ends fairly abruptly with Eddie tapping to the Crossface. Match was really weird. Eddie seemed genuinely pissed the whole match (and understandably so, if it was directed at the crowd), and purposely ground the match to a halt on a few occasions with chinlocks until the fans stopped chanting at Edge in the balcony. Things were short and didn't really flow, although Eddie looked really good and to a lesser extent so did Benoit. This is probably the most recent Eddie stuff I've seen since it originally aired (by recent I mean within 6 months of his passing) and his body is just shockingly freakish. He was freaking huge here and just looked like he had no flexibility whatsoever. Watching him take suplexes and bump was painful as it looked like he physically couldn't bend his spine or bend at the waist. I remember at the timing reading how riddled with injuries he was and how he needed time off, but damn 9 years of not rewatching him during that period really opened my eyes to just how bad off he looked.

6. Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka

So this is a pretty famous match - I think - within the WWECW canon. People were pretty split down the middle on this one when it happened. Some thought it was incredible and that both men would be hired immediately by WWE, others thought it was a laughable collection of dangerous spots thrown together with no build-up that ensured neither man would *ever* be hired by WWE since they wouldn't want reckless workers like that on the roster. Both sides make sense. I certainly sided much closer to the latter at the time. The match has major flaws, and neither guy would have made sense in WWE as anything crazy they did in this match they would not be allowed to do in a WWE ring. JBL infamously mocked the match the whole time on commentary, repeatedly stating that Tanaka looked like his doorman, and after Tanaka had kicked out of several finishers started shouting at other people about what a badass doorman he had. But watching the match within the context of the show, within the context of the crowd, and keeping in mind who both men are in regards to their feud (which I'm sure many ECW fans would rank as a favorite from the fed) then I think the match totally and completely works. It's probably very hypocritical of me, as I've seen plenty of matches like this on the indies where guys kill themselves with no rhyme or reason, no selling, no build to anything, and then at some point the match ends because of a move that for whatever reason made a guy keep his shoulders down for one extra second. And I've hated all of them. Even while watching this match and enjoying two men try to cripple each other in the name of fond memories, I pictured some clown like Davey Richards doing a match like this, and I would certainly hate that match. But in the moment it came off more like a violent and entirely stupid (but awesome) IWA-MS match. If this match happened in front of 60 people in the back patio area of a rural bar, between two guys named Dick Nasty and Tony Sack, I'd be yelling at Phil to go out of his way to watch the Tony Sack match.

I've criticized plenty of matches that I thought were garbage, but worked for the crowd they were presenting to. This match could easily fit into that category. "Bad match, awful structure, crowd loved it." But I'm with the crowd on this one. Despite being unreasonable and selfish, I remember the complaints at the time about Rey, Benoit, Eddie, etc. not working "like they were in ECW". Rey was booed for doing his 619, Eddie didn't...I don't know, do any Malenko/Guerrero roll-up sequences? Whatever it was, fans were agitated that some guys looked like they were working the show like any old TV taping and not the GREATEST EVENT OF THEIR LIVES. Again, it's wildly unreasonable, and illogical. They had real wrestling jobs and would go on to those jobs after this show. So within context of this show, Tanaka and Awesome going out there and just completely destroying themselves for the crowd, for ECW, to try and get a job, to stick it to JBL in the balcony, whatever they had to prove I don't know, but they clearly pulled out everything within their abilities and threw it out there. And I thought it worked for that reason. Again, stuff that's context-dependent doesn't always hold up, but I can say I enjoyed this match more now than I did at the time. Granted, there were still moments I laughed out loud during the match, and I fully get why JBL was laughing about it in the balcony (his fake cheerleading and shock when they keep kicking out of stuff is still funny to me), but on this show, at that moment, with these guys, this was the best they could have possibly done, and they did more than they probably should have, more than anybody else on the card, and more than anybody probably needed. Within a minute or two of the bell Tanaka gets powerbombed from the apron through a table, head and shoulders first. Things get more ridiculous from there. Both guys get brained with chairshots, more tables explode in insane fashion, Awesome hits one of the nastiest gores I've seen, and then more tables explode. Awesome's knees had to be pencil shavings at this point, and he's still doing his big splash off the top and dives into the crowd. Tanaka's brains had to be mashed potatoes at this point (still unclear how he's managed to work more than most Japanese workers for the last decade) and he willingly takes every stupid powerbomb and finisher Awesome pulls out of the hat. Match ends spectacularly with another powerbomb from the ring through a table on the floor, and then Awesome ridiculously following up with a straight up nosedive of a plancha, just dive bombing Tanaka and coming in vertical. Ridiculous structure, none of the moves meant anything, both guys needlessly killed themselvs, but it was the perfect match for this show.

We get a long, fairly lame Heyman promo (with SHOOTS!) filled with a bunch of flat disses (yelling "Matt Freaking Hardy" at Edge, which Joey Styles points out is a SHOOT because Matt isn't even employed by WWE!!!!!!!!).

7. Dudley Boyz vs. Tommy Dreamer & Sandman

This was a chance to get more guys a payday, and it was fine for that reason. Sandman takes years to come out, which is certainly an accurate ECW throwback. The bWo comes out and Styles over laughs the whole time, worse than the absolute worst possible Jimmy Fallon bit. While the bWo are just walking to the ring, just normally walking to the ring, Styles literally says "This is the funniest thing I've seen in my life". This guy is terrible. We get Balls & Axl, The Impact Players (with Francine looking better than at any point during the original ECW), Spike Dudley comes out, Kid Kash hits a wild and awesome flip dive on about 10 people, Beulah makes her wrestling return, and people got hit with trash cans. At one point Bubba raked Dreamer's forehead with a cheese grater which is just the grossest. I don't know if it was worked or not, but Dreamer had tons of color and Bubba made it look great. God thinking about a cheese grater on flesh is just disgusting. Beulah and Dreamer have the most revolting hug I've seen, with Dreamer covered in blood and Beulah pulling away when it's over with blood caked in her hair. Yuck. Match ends with a flaming table spot, and then all the Raw and Smackdown crews get called out and there's a big schmozz. This is where JBL infamously roughed up Blue Meanie (even though it wasn't really caught on camera). Tracy Smothers stood out to me during the brawl as really looking like he was having a ball out there, jumping in and punching people at will. The crews get run off and Bischoff ends up alone in the ring with the ECW guys, but it's pretty anticlimactic as he takes a couple finishers but still gets to yell "Fuck ECW!" Really should have had him take more finishers, or not allowed him to look so fearless and never say die.


WWECW MASTER LIST

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Uprising: Lucha Libre Workrate Report 11/24/13

The main event of the 5/30/09 Milpitas show. This one actually looks really fun on paper.

1. Super Crazy & Hijo de Rey Misterio vs. Incognito & Vaquero Fantasma

A bunch of kids in the crowd are chanting "619" as this starts, which again, what they don't know can't hurt them. When I was young my friend Brigit's dad worked as a mall santa around the holidays for extra cash. He was a supervisor at the Sears auto department by day, and did some Santa stuff by night and weekend. I did not know this. So when my parents took me to see Santa, Santa knew my name and  all the stuff I wanted before I even began to speak. My mind was blown. I'm pretty sure I believed in Santa longer than any of my friends because of that. So you know, the kids here think they're seeing Rey Mysterio at their older brother's high school gym, and it's completely awesome for them. But I bet some guy in the crowd that night just had to tell some of them "you know that's not even the real guy".

I thought this match really delivered, maybe the best PWR match I've seen. I dug the Mascarita Dorada/Pequeno Pierroth and Mini Halloween matches, but I've seen matches very similar from those workers elsewhere. This match felt more unique to this specific fed, and was absolutely crazy. Super Crazy is super chubby (Super Carby?) here but it doesn't slow him down much and god bless him for doing a bunch of nutty spots in a high school gym. Misterio isn't really great, but Incognito and Fantasma are two good guys to base him, as they whip around ultra fast SUWA style on his ranas, and catch him on a couple lunatic spots that are wilder than anything else I've seen him do (including a legdrop to a prone Incognito, from the top rope to the guardrail on the outside!). Crazy hits a mammoth flip dive over the ref to the floor, sending guys flying dangerously into the front entrance ramp. Incognito looks really great here, tying up Misterio with a couple really cool mat sequences, and leaning way into stiff shots from Crazy. This is the first "all lucha" match I've seen Vaquero Fantasma (one of PWR's trainers) in, as usually the matches have some non-luchadors, and he really shines in this setting. Bunch of big bumps (which look fantastic with all the fringe on his gear). Again, big props to Crazy for working up a sweat on a tiny show like this, but really everybody was going balls out. This is the kind of wild main event type stuff they need to be showing on the reg, not their 12 for 10 cents opening card stuff. This stuff actually sets them apart from most other feds and presents a unique feel. I need more.

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IWL Extreme Reinforcements 7/31/11

Never got an IPPV before, but I love lucha and I love Necro Butcher and I occasionally make rash Goyimish financial decisions so here we go.

We start with a tag gauntlet where I recognize no one. The opening section had a couple of nice sections between Ninja Del Fuego and some one who might be named Guerrero Arlaquin. Mulusco Jr. had a in ring quebrada which smashed his opponent square in the mouth. Match falls apart after it gets turned into a gauntlet by the ubiquitous Valerie who was all over the first part of the show. One of the worst cases of Dinero Marco I have seen in quite a while. Gauntlet is basically Big Mama and Juan Ranchero squashing rudos. I like fat luchadores, but these two couldn't even pull off fake Super Porky spots competently.

Freelance/Turbo/Naruto vs Kensuke/Tribal/Samurai Del Sol

This was more like it. Freelance has been hit and miss on the 2011 IWRG I have seen, but PPV Freelance is solid gold. We got some really solid fast matwork with Kensuke before all hell broke loose and guys started flying all over the ring. Everybody hit there stuff cleanly and lots of it was spectacular. The dive train was one of the crazier I have seen in a while, topped off with a nutso flip springboard plancha by Freelance. Had never heard of Kensuke before but he was impressive, as was really everyone. Terrible booking though, they call a time limit draw in the middle of the action just so Valerie can come out to add five more minutes. Just killed the match dead and they blow the initial attempt at the superbomb finish. Hell of match which was shit on by the bookers and promoters. They seemed to set up a revanche, which assuming they don't screw it up, will be enough to get my $10.

Zumbido v. Tony Rivera

Zumbido is not a good person, but a good wrestler, and he and Rivera have worked each other a bunch. This was a fun bloody brawl, with Zumbido breaking out some of his big bumps to the floor. His Estrada style floating over the top rope bump is still beautiful. Rivera worked hard too, and this built into a really exciting match. The booker couldn't resist though as we get a run in from Setimental and Mortiz who attack both guys. Valerie comes to the rescue and has her security run them off with ranas and topes. At this point I am getting really exasperated by this show. The luchadores were working hard and just being killed by the booking.

Cerebro Negro/Cerebro Maligno/Epitafia/Heavy Boy v. Kung Fu Jr./El Hijo Del Fishman/Medico Assesino Jr./Epidemia

Kind of a dull match which really dragged. Medico Assessino Jr. was really tall for and indy luchadore and was pretty impressive, I also always like seeing Cerebro Negro although he didn't do a ton to stand out here. Match was booked to set up Kung Fu Jr. and Fishman Jr. turning on each other. This show was dragging a bit at this point and they could have achieved the purpose quicker.

Daga v. Mickey Suicida Segura

These guys turned the show completely around. A hell of match, up there with the best stuff anywhere in the world and justified the purchase on its own. This was for the internet title and worked as a hybrid of a lucha title match and a indy juniors match. We got a long very well executed mat section early. Both guys looked very comfortable locking in holds and countering them, and it came off as a struggle not a exhibition. They moved seamlessly into a long, very cool finishing run. Lots of awesome big moves, including a great Sucida tope, a nasty back suplex on the apron by Daga, Daga hitting an Alantida into a headrop and and top rope German, while Segura hit a crazy top rope rana and a moonsault. Finish comes after a big Daga superplex, with Segura hooking his legs for a double pin. No problem with that finish, as it felt like a match that neither guy should have lost. They may have kicked out of a little too much, but that was a small complaint. The crowd was going bonkers as I imagine everyone watching IPPV was as well. Great stuff, I think it would be a good idea for IWL to throw this match on youtube, I could see it convincing folks to pick up the next IPPV.

Super Crazy/Heddi Karroui v. Craig Classic/Oriental

Oriental and Crazy have a very cool opening section with each other, fast intricate and cool. When Karroui and Classic tag in unfortunately it falls apart. I have no idea what Heddi's deal is, he appears to be a Turkish kickboxer from France and performs lucha as well as one might guess a Parisian Turk MMA guy would perform if thrown in a lucha match. Just a mess anytime he is the ring. I have no idea what he is doing in this fed, and I felt bad for the other three guys. Classic is pretty inoffensive, although he seems like a waste of a plane ticket too. Crazy seemed more lively then I have seen him in recent years and I would like to see him and Oriental match up without the millstone around there necks

Los Porros vs. Low Rider/Mad Man Pondo/Balls Mahoney/Fantasma de la Opera

Necro no-shows much to my chagrin. Balls Mahoney is the replacement, which is like being promised a Porterhouse steak and instead having someone shit in your mouth. Balls and Pondo didn't do much but the Mexcians in this match bumped pretty big, getting thrown through barbedwire tables and going face first into light tubes. Most lucha garbage matches are awful and backyardy, but this felt like less of an exhibition and more of a fight. There was some awkward stuff, but I was entertained. Necro would have actually been pretty awesome in this context, bummer about the no show.

Certainly some frustrations, but a definite thumbs up. Two entertaining matches, part of a third, and one absolute classic is enough for me. It did go too long, the show could have used some tightening. Plus this is an indy lucha show, they are doing a nice job of having a little bit of everything, give me some Maestros. Navarro, Solar, Terry, Super Astro. It doesn't feel like an indy lucha show without those guys doing their thing.

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