WWF 305 Live: Double the Typhoon! Some of the Yokozuna! Papa Shango!

 

Typhoon vs. Papa Shango WWF Mania 3/6/93 - VERY GOOD 

ER: I thought this was really good, even though I barely think about these two existing on the roster in 1993. They were both there through most of the year but my brain doesn't associate them with that year, like they naturally stopped existing in 1992 while still showing up sporadically on TV for another year. Typhoon being around in 1994 is even weirder to me. This was 5 strong minutes of heart rate pushing stuff, and a real standout Papa Shango performance. There aren't many times I've typed the words "a real standout Papa Shango performance". Typhoon still had a good connection with crowds and knew what things would get big babyface reactions, and it looked cool seeing him bump the 300+ pound Shango. Shango really flew on shoulderblock attempts and this got better the more Shango leaned into finding ways to actually knock Typhoon down. 

Both men missed big elbowdrops close to each other's heads, and Shango gradually began moving Typhoon. By the time Shango threw a big punch to the mouth and a reared back 0.7 BattlArts headbutt, I was fully in. Shango even throws a full dropkick to Typhoon's chest, which isn't something he pulled out often. Typhoon had several moments where you can see that Earthquake rubbed off positively on his Natural Disaster partner, as I don't recall Typhoon leaning so heavily into the ropes before. Earthquake and Boss Man always have such ballsy trust in the ropes, and Typhoon has the movement down, stretching those ropes far out over the ring apron. There's a long sleeper section that could have ground this down but they pay it off big when Typhoon powers out and sends Papa Shango into a wild bump to the floor off a steamed up clothesline. The match proper ends with Shango hitting Typhoon with...I don't know, some kind of fucking voodoo stick or something, but some of the best hits come after the DQ. Shango deadlifts Typhoon with an impressive back suplex, and Typhoon flattens him with an awesome powerslam and elbowdrop. This was one of the higher watermarks for both men in 1993, worked with a real pleasant, unexpected chemistry. 

Yokozuna vs. Typhoon WWF Mania 4/10/93 - SKIPPABLE

ER: Why do they do this to us? The first ever meeting of these two and it goes less than two minutes, and Yokozuna never even looked mildly ruffled! You would think that, as the lone WWF representative of Japan, that he would already be nervous at the news of an incoming Typhoon. They should have made Yokozuna afraid of Typhoon the same way Andre was afraid of snakes; Fuji desperately trying to explain to his client that Typhoon is merely a man, not a weather disaster. Instead, Typhoon is treated like Dale Wolfe. They start great, with Typhoon crashing into Yokozuna with three big shoulderblocks, like so many waves crashing into Kagoshima, and while they put Yokozuna on his heels he manages to time out another and throws that Typhoon with a suplex that would have crushed Kyushu. That's a great start! And that is basically the match. Yokozuna punches Typhoon back into the corner, whips him into the opposite corner, Fuji distracts him, and Yoko counters the Typhoon with an avalanche then sits on the man's chest. This could have and should have been more. This felt like we were missing the last two acts of the match. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE 305 LIVE

Read more!

1993 WWF Surprises: Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Virgil

Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Virgil WWF Mania 1/23/93

ER: I don't think we've written much about Iron Mike Sharpe on Segunda Caida, but this was an unexpectedly special match. A few loud adults in the Manhattan Center crowd get behind Sharpe and it somehow transitions into a Hometown Hero performance for him, and it's great. The kids in the crowd kept cheering Virgil while their parents - who grew up seeing Sharpe work 15 minute draws with Tony Garea - cheered louder. Adults vs. Kids crowd heat wasn't really a thing in 1993 and the spontaneity is welcome. Sharpe works heel but catches onto and gets into the role of hometown hero, soaking in his reaction and giving them a match with the most Mike Sharpe offense in 3 years. It was a nostalgia reaction when those weren't a common thing, and a pure version of that because it wasn't advertised or intentional nostalgia. Nobody in production knew Sharpe was going to get the first babyface reaction of his northeast run, and there was no attempt to capitalize on it. Although, you could say that just the fact Iron Mike Sharpe was one of the few guys on TV older than Hogan AND kept employed through 1994, that was its own reward. When he was brought back in the early 90s, Sharpe was frequently on TV but never to the level of showing up on Coliseum video or getting a 10 minute Bret Hart match. So, digging up a 1993 Iron Mike Sharpe gem is the best kind of unexpected treat. 

Virgil is no pushover and is still going to get his babyface reaction, and a match where two guys are getting loud cheers and chants turns into a real scrap of a fight. Mike Sharpe isn't a pretty wrestler. He is big and hunched and bumps sideways sometimes and executes familiar offense in weirdly rigid ways. But Sharpe works this match more stiff than any other Mike Sharpe match I've seen (does anyone have a link to his Backlund title challenge?), and Virgil never needs an excuse to add some stiff punches and a rude suplex into a match. Sharpe works his bullshit, his nice headlock punch, basic stuff like bodyslams and shoulderblocks, and then keeps upping things with a great heavy crossbody and these Vader like standing clotheslines to Virgil's head and neck. Virgil fights back and convincingly knocks the bigger man around the ring, and the ragged messy charm is absolutely undeniable. The crowd really begins to react like Sharpe might actually pull off a win, and it's a great moment when Sharpe gets verbal with the them to feed their response. Virgil never worked like a heel in this match, but he did work like a guy who wasn't going to be upstaged, while also giving Sharpe the longest match of his second WWF run. It made for some great nearfalls, with a close kickout after a Virgil clothesline a couple minutes in an early signal that this was something beyond typical. 

Mania was like an early version of Velocity: filled with good matches and unique pairings that only happened on that show. Mania was on episode three here, and had already presented us with two one-off gems in a great Bill Irwin match and a great Iron Mike Sharpe match. Mania is the kind of wrestling that reminds me of tuning in at 12:30 AM in 2003, hoping for a Paul London gem.  

Read more!

What's the Best Lex Luger WWF Match? Is it with Owen? Or This Squash Match?

Lex Luger vs. Owen Hart WWF Mania 6/26/93

ER: What a production! The Narcissist poses in his mirror, as Gorilla Monsoon turns Luger putting on his company-mandated protective arm sleeve into the biggest social justice cause of our time. I'm not sure I've ever heard Gorilla so frequently and incessantly demand that a wrong be righted. Luger is great during the whole intro, laughing off fans' demands but then losing it once told over the house mic that he must put on the protective sleeve or forfeit the match. Owen gets a big reaction coming out, and this is a crowd mildly intrigued about the chances of a win streak being broken by a man who lost to Bastion Booger the previous weekend. And, that was the weekend where Booger lost IN HIS DEBUT to Virgil. And yet, plenty are here to see Owen, the man slotted below Virgil on the depth chart, and that rules. Luger must sense this, as much of the match is Luger bumping and stooging for Owen. Luger misses a corner charge and eats a bulldog, runs right into a spinning heel kick, goes over fast for armdrags, and then takes the most glorious close call on a crossbody. Luger cuts nearfall kickouts so damn close and it is a great skill that few have. He gets such great reaction from his kickout timing, and this was a rare instance of him getting his shoulder up SO CLOSE to a 3 count that the crowd actually gets audibly upset, thinking they had been lawyer balled out of seeing an Owen win. But Owen doesn't show frustration and keeps the pressure on Luger, getting loud reactions from corner punches. Sadly, as the ref tries to separate them, Luger blasts Owen with the forearm (Luger is so good at removing the elbow sleeve while tied up in the turnbuckles) and Owen goes out like a light. 

Lex Luger vs. Rich Myers WWF Superstars 7/3/93

ER: This is Luger's finest and most effective squash match under The Narcissist run, giving Myers a couple of actual hot nearfalls and looking flustered until he delivered two killshots. Myers is one of our bigger bumping jobbers, and he looks like an American take on Bruce McCulloch's mulleted disaffected youth. McCulloch's youths rebelled by putting their teenage love poetry to guitar riffs, while Myers rebelled by becoming a wrestler. He slips out of a backdrop and gets some arm drags on Luger, runs him into the ropes with a nice O'Connor roll, and Luger was great at showing such fun panic in his eyes. But Luger kicks Myers to block a backdrop, knocks him sideways with a lariat, then throws Myers into the ropes only to run at him perpendicularly (like he's doing a Pounce) and times it *perfectly*. He runs elbow first right into Myers' jaw, then just kneels on him for the pin. How sad that Luger's best squash performance as the far too short-lived Narcissist came the literal day before the USS Intrepid. 

Neither of these were Lex Luger's Best WWF Match, but they are among his best performances as The Narcissist and that counts for a lot. 

Read more!