On Brand Segunda Caida: Bradshaw & Savio Vega FIGHT

Bradshaw vs. Savio Vega WWF Shotgun 4/4/98

ER: Shotgun Saturday Night didn't air in my area in 1998/1999, and I've never gone back and watched most of it. It's never been uploaded to the Network and surely won't ever land on Peacock, so we have to rely on whatever guy in the Tri-state area recorded these shows at his mom's house and kept the tapes when he moved out. It feels like there are a bunch of potential gems on Shotgun that I've never heard about, and here's one of them. I'm sure others have talked about this match, but never in my company. Nobody was talking up Bradshaw in 1998, choosing to write him off as a lesser Stan Hansen clone instead of being excited that we were still getting Stan Hansen clones on American television. Do you know how incredible someone who wrestles exactly like 1998 Bradshaw would look on 2023 wrestling television? We didn't know how good we had it, and that applies almost equally to Savio Vega, who brawled as intensely here as he would in his best Puerto Rico stuff. Conversely, I'm not sure there are many Bradshaw performances - including the JBL run - you can point to where he looked better. 

Nobody told me that guys were beating the shit out of each other on Shotgun, but Bradshaw and Vega beat the shit out of each other and look like they hate each other while doing it. There was hate on display on fucking Shotgun Saturday Night? You rarely see punch exchanges this good on WWF TV, or any wrestling TV. They have a stand and trade section that is like Eddie Kingston/Chris Hero level. Bradshaw kicks Savio in the face a few times and lands every stomach kick like he really wants to kick him in the gut. Vega throws hands and chops and bumps around into perfect positioning to feed Bradshaw's assaults. I love how Bradshaw kept going for the Clothesline From Hell and threw every one of them like he intended to connect, and how he started going hard after Vega's arm to possibly slow down the return fire. His arm work is really nasty, throwing Savio by the arm and really yanking on it, peaking the attack when he starts throwing stiff punches at Vega's bursa joint. At one point Savio gets sick of Bradshaw's shit and just grabs him by the throat to back him into the turnbuckles. I love when a guy manages to throw a stiff spinning heel kick. The finish was great too, with Vega hitting the turnbuckles hard on his worked over shoulder and it flares up bad enough that it finally leaves him a sitting duck to be sent to Hell. This was a real fucking fight. 

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Loosely Formed 1998 WWF: Boricua Brustle

Jose Estrada vs. Savio Vega WWF Shotgun 3/21

ER: This is a fantastic piece of an inter-gang supremacy fight, buried in the unwatched annals of Shotgun Saturday Night, not listed on Cagematch, one of those gems that felt like another promotion working a showcase match on somebody else's stage. Jose Estrada was the least featured of the Boricuas, worked the fewest WWF singles matches of the group, and this was his finest WWF showcase. I think it's fair to say that he's one of the least likely wrestlers to spend a couple years in the WWF. Did you know he had matches on 4 different PPVs? I sure didn't. That sounds like a lot! But no sane person could actually tell you anything about Jose Estrada's ring style. Nobody out there knows how he threw a punch, what his best offense was, or even how he worked. He had eight singles matches during his run and I think this is the best example of what the man could do. 

Estrada looks like a nondescript bar bouncer and dresses exactly like one, and almost surely has to manicure a unibrow. Savio Vega (Estrada's "leader", as Michael Cole nerdishly refers to him as) opts for his traditional Koko B. Ware-waisted ToughSkins with turquoise swimsuit top. They would both kick the asses of anybody you've ever known. This is a micro-hierarchy war played out to a completely uncaring audience, that didn't let that cold reaction stop them from playing out their story. There's an art to finding the right balance to still tell your story regardless of reaction. Too much focus on not deviating from the plan leads to further crowd detachment. The key is to up the violence and end big, to grow the match while the story plays out, and they do that perfectly. Miguel Perez and Jesus Castillo are out at ringside and interrupt throughout the match, to break up exchanges that get too heated, too plead for...for some kind of sanity. Miguel looks like a Robert Smigel character from a cut 90s SNL Puerto Rican Day Parade sketch. It's great theater. 

The feeling out process is crisp, familiar but not holding back. Both get to end sequences with a showoff one-step-ahead  dropkick, they throw real elbows to break waist locks, the shoulderblocks connect, and the pinfalls and backslides look like they're really trying to hold their brother down. After a frantic exchange, Savio whips Estrada through the ropes to the floor (just one of the bumps that showcase that the largest Boricua might also be the most interesting bumper) and there's more great theater when he holds the ropes for Estrada to get back into the ring, but Estrada opts to enter on the other side. Later, it's paid off when Estrada holds the ropes for Savio and gets an incredible inside cradle when Savio proudly and trustingly accepts the gesture. These two told their cool story, and the icy disinterest didn't matter because it was a story worth telling. They didn't throw hands until the final minute of the match, and that was stopped by Perez and Castillo finally stepping in. Two friends not backing down from a fight and stubbornly going forward without knowing exactly what's being proven. Two friends building to hard punches and slaps before the rest of the group finally has to step in and let cooler heads prevail, is a cool little 5 minute story that felt kind of foreign to WWF. Puerto Rican Lucha Libre worked quietly to start an night out, delivered to a crowd patiently waiting for Mike Tyson's return and a Stone Cold/Rock main event. This match had no chance, but that didn't stop them from doing something worth paying attention to. 

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Loosely Formed 1998 WWF: The One Match Tom Brandi Push

Jesus Castillo vs. Tom Brandi WWF Shotgun 2/28

Here is the One Match 1998 Tom Brandi Push in all of its glory, and it's a surprisingly good match with constant focus on a man who would no longer be under contact one month later. If you watched this match and only this match, you would think we were smack damn in the middle of a Tom Brandi push. 

Tom Brandi gets a full ring entrance while Jesus is already waiting in the ring (with no other members of Los Boricuas at ringside). Who among us remembers the Tom Brandi Entrance Theme? Not this guy, but we get it here in full as he high fives his way to the ring while Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly talk about all the titles Brandi is sure to be challenging for. 

But this match is actually good, and incredibly fun. THIS is the high watermark of the Tom Brandi run, and I have no idea why he and Jesus have such great chemistry. The timing in this match was shockingly good, and Brandi had a couple of sequences that I've never seen him pull off before, let alone this well. 

Jesus brought most of the interesting stuff until the closing stretch, but Brandi was a great foil and his speed and timing played great off Jesus. Jesus does normal things in slightly different ways from anyone else, like when he elbowdrops Brandi in the stomach. How many times have you seen someone intentionally elbowdrop into a guy's stomach? He throws a chop block into the side of Brandi's knee instead of into the knee pit and drops more elbows onto the inside of the knee. 

Brandi takes a nice DDT, and his knee selling is surprisingly strong. His selling isn't dramatic or forgotten, he just works with a believable limp, in a way that still allows him to actually hit offense. Tom Brandi: Nuanced Salesman, is not a thing I've considered typing before. 

Bless Jesus H. Castillo and his sick shoulder-first bump in the corner, like Jun Izumida's flying meteor only jacking his own shoulder painfully into a turnbuckle. Jesus gets thrown up HIGH on a backdrop, and the little do-si-do sequence that leads to Tom Brandi's match finishing full nelson slam was actually great.  

Do I need to watch the 10 minute Undertaker/Salvatore Sincere match? What a weird ass looking match. What the hell were they doing in 1996? Mostly unexplored era for me. 

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Loosely Formed 1998 WWF: Rock n Rolls! Aguila! Pirata Morgan!

Rock n Roll Express vs. The Head Bangers WWF Raw 2/23

This is continued proof of Rock n Roll Express busting ass during this too brief WWF stint. The first half of this was made up of Rock n Roll misdirection spots where they kept accidentally hitting each other while getting more and more frustrated about it. Morton and Gibson's timing looked excellent and some of the spots were complicated enough that I'm not sure there's another team on the roster that could have done them. Actually the other team that could have done them would have been Jarrett/Windham, so that's just more testament that the made-to-fail NWA stable actually ruled for two months. 

Ricky did a great version of the spot where he's running over Gibson and Mosh's dropdowns before colliding with Gibson, Gibson accidentally punches Morton off the apron, Ricky snapmares Thrasher into the ring and whips him across the ring which bumps Gibson off the apron, just expertly set up and executed misdirections from Ricky and Robert. 

Cornette expertly hooked Mosh's leg while looking away and Gibson hit the damn cleanest kneedrop right to the side of Mosh's head, then kneels down with one onto Mosh's forehead, then another onto his shoulder. 

Gibson sure took a lot of great bumps to the floor during this run, and he takes big one to set up the finish. What's the other late 90s Gibson I need to seek out? 

Pirata Morgan vs. Aguila WWF Shotgun 2/28

I had no memory of Pirata Morgan doing a two match WWF stint in 1998. Morgan/Brian Christopher vs. Taka/Aguila from the 2/16/98 Raw is insanely fun and an incredible visual representation of Pirata. He IS Pirata Morgan in that match, and it's great to see. He is not as great here, as this match is more about letting Aguila show off his surprisingly deep (especially for 1998) flying moveset. Pirata was here to be a base, and he's great at being a base. I wish he could have also beat the shit out of Aguila in between being a base. 

Pure unfiltered Aguila was some insane stuff. The height he got here on flapjack bump and a truly insane moonsault press to the floor were wild, just incredible hang time, and his springboard armdrag to send Morgan to the floor was some Juvy level shit. And brother, if you're talking hang time, he took a backdrop bump so high that, were there some kind of database that were actually tracking this, would almost surely rank towards the top of the All Time Most Hang Time on a Backdrop list. I wish I had been keeping a list like that, with to the hundredth of a second stop watch times next to all of them. 

Pirata's premier piece of offense is actually amazing, a tilt a whirl sitout powerbomb that is so damn cool, like something I've never seen. We have so many complicated fast moving big crash landing spots now and I don't think I've seen anyone break out a kick ass sitout powerbomb like this:

Pirata, in this match, also does maybe the laziest waistlock takedown I've ever seen, moving to a rear waistlock by just walking around Aguila, then lifting him waist high and just dropping him. They're not all going to be sitout powerbombs. 

Pirata takes a big bump off the top off an armdrag and puffs his chest out to take a missile dropkick, and the victory roll huracanrana roll up looked like something that would win a match. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thrasher has a nice powerslam on Ricky

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

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

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

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

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

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

also like his dad, Christopher takes a nice backdrop bump

Kid Wikkid has a cool somewhat uncontrolled pescado

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

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

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

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

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

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Dirtbag Barry Windham, Slumming It with Tom Brandi

Barry Windham vs. Tom Brandi WWF Shotgun 2/21/98

ER: This is the Company Man era of Dirtbag Windham, as his thick blonde hair is now long enough to stay slicked back and his black trunks now have "NWA" across the butt in white letters. He's still wearing the leather vest of a wrestler from Texas, but he's cleaning up. I really like heel Barry when he acts all chummy, just hanging with the boys and cheapshotting and playing innocent. As he's circling Brandi at the start of the match, he throws out a low 5 to Robert Gibson on the floor. So fucking cool. This was a really fun scrap, with Brandi throwing a lot of punches and Windham pushing pace and then backing off and then pushing pace again. Brandi's standing punches looked surprisingly good, but they're more exposed when he's throwing 10 count punches in the corner or mounted punches on the mat. When you see him throw from a standing position, he has nice form. When you see him punch from any other position, you see that he only moves his arm, and has no follow through with the rest of his body. Your body needs to react to you punching someone too. Striking a fine pose on a standing punch is one thing, but you need more movement on a mounted punch because it's all you, your opponent can't physically react to the punch as much because he's on the mat. 

Windham took a big high backdrop bump after backing Brandi into a corner and slapping him, so great at playing the larger more imposing man who also cheats and then runs directly into trouble. Windham might have *looked* out of shape in this era but he moved with quick approach speed, so he's good at running into bumps and doing last second dodging. A nice dodge sends Brandi into the ringpost, and there was some great stuff around the Rock n Rolls holding Brandi so Jarrett could show off his punches. This weirdly felt like one of our best Tom Brandi performances, which isn't actually a thing anyone was going out of their way too look for, but it's probably the best I've seen him look. He had to play off several moving parts with the NWA standing all around the ring, and I guess that might not be as difficult when all 5 guys you're playing off (Rock n Rolls, Jarrett, Windham, Cornette) all have elite wrestling timing, but still. Barry has a nice high back suplex and a really great vertical suplex that looked like 1988 Windham. The finish was cool, with Brandi punching Ricky and Robert off the apron (each taking their own big bumps to the floor, quite obvious in retrospect how much they were busting ass during their weird late WWF run) and then getting held up a bit by Jarrett, Windham instantly setting up a lariat off the opposite side ropes. Windham and Brandi worked a week of house show matches a couple weeks after this match, and I don't think I've ever wished someone had taken Tom Brandi handhelds until now. This match was only a few minutes, and a Windham/Brandi house show match with twice as much time could be really good. 1998 house shows in general have a lot of great matches that never got worked on TV, but at least we got the bones of this one. 

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Loosely Formed Thoughts on Two 1998 Quebecers Matches

The Quebecers vs. Miguel Perez/Jose Estrada WWF Shotgun 2/7/98

Boricuas get their full 4 mic entrance rap, which rules because they did the entire entrance rap later on the same damn show when Savio/Jesus had a match

This match positions the Boricuas as the babyfaces in Indiana, which just shows the sheer hateability of Jacques Rougeau

I love how Jacques did a face up dropdown so that when Pierre bashed Perez from the apron, Jacques could go straight to the kip up brag

Jacques yells "What do you think of Puerto Rico now!?" after beating down Miguel, and I'm not positive you could fill the Market Square Arena with Puerto Ricans if you got every single Puerto Rican in Indiana to show up. 

Pierre gets backdropped to the floor onto Estrada and Estrada stays down a long time holding his leg. I'm fairly certain that Estrada's gimmick in WWF was "Guy Who Gets Hurt Catching Dives"

The Quebecers' tandem hotshot is undefeated under terms of "looks cool"

Estrada throws two very nice punches in the corner and that is most of his offense in this match

Quebecers vs. Legion of Doom WWF Raw 2/16/98

There is one fantastic sequence where Hawk hits a leaping fistdrop on Jacques, and Jacques does a kip up and dropkicks him. After the dropkick, Jacques goes to his back to show off for the crowd with another kip up. After showing off with one kip up, he goes down for another and kips up directly into a Hawk clothesline

Animal has amusingly been working as an undersized babyface in early 98. He plays Ricky and he's good at it, though he doesn't do an inside cradle nearfall in this match like he has done in other matches from this era

Animal, babyface underdog, works a fast dropdown/leapfrog exchange with Pierre and after showing off all that agility he brings things back home with a big powerslam. Animal showing off his agility and then complementing it with power is a very cool Animal

Pierre really makes sure to collide on his shoulderblocks and lariats in this, and his cannonball off the apron looks like it makes full heavy boy contact

New Age Outlaws get Hawk inside of a dumpster verrrry easily. Too easily. They just kind of pick him up and plop him in, like he fell victim to a big juicy steaming Thanksgiving turkey that was underneath a propped up cardboard box

When Animal chases off the Outlaws, he swings a chair at the dumpster and comes a literal split second away from braining Hawk with that chairshot, as he bursts out of the dumpster right after an Animal HR swing

Quebecers remain a very weird team to have on the roster in early '98. They were brought in with no warning, no build, no purpose, and given the least flattering attire of their careers. And yet they still own. 

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Taka Michinoku and Jesus Castillo Had An 8 Minute Match on WWF TV

Taka Michinoku vs. Jesus Castillo WWF Shotgun 1/31/98

ER: Not only do we get Sunny doing the ring announcing in a skirt so short that she tugs down the hem while making funny faces to the camera, but we get the FULL Boricua four part rap entrance. Every Boricua has a microphone, and they rap all the way into the ring. Miguel Perez is wearing a big white Fubu jacket, Jose Estrada looks like Puerto Rican Angus Bethune, and for whatever reason Jesus goes into this with blood in his eyes and hate in his heart. And if you thought that full boy band entrance was as good as it could get, for whatever reason we get gifted with a near 8 minute Taka/Jesus match. All of the Boricuas get tossed early when Savio snags Taka's foot, so this match is almost fully one on one for all that time. What a great choice. Jesus is so good, maybe the most underrated asskicker on the entire 1998 roster. He was like Buddy Lee Parker with lucha bumping ability, a great guy to take faster and faster armdrags and bigger bumps, go over smoothly for Taka's beautiful hurricanrana takeovers, and lean chest first into knife edge chops loud enough to surprise the crowd. It's always a treat when cruiserweights wake people up by hitting someone really hard.  

Jesus was in control for a lot of this, taking over by ducking his shoulder down into Taka's stomach to stop a charge. Once I made the Buddy Lee Parker connection it's all I can see. He hits a slow lift chickenwing suplex and a stiff southern lariat, and we get to come back from commercial break with Jesus paying Taka back for those earlier chops. Jesus throws two of the absolute loudest chops you'll see all year. They were good at paying things off all through this, giving the match more purpose. Castillo has a hard bodyslam thrown like Finlay or...Buddy Lee Parker, but when he tries it too much Taka gets a convincingly close inside cradle. All of Jesus's offense look good, but he has a couple of inventive bumps too: He misses a running torpedo shoulderblock in the corner and bounces off horizontally, like a big husky Jun Izumida bump. They made every exchange look so good, and the sudden hurricanrana roll up finish worked really well. Taka needed to hold Castillo down quick and his rana has such nice physics that Taka snapping it off and quickly hooking the legs forward made it look impossible to kick out from in less than 3 beats. This was a gem. 

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On Brand Segunda: Faarooq vs. Kama! Blue Panther as Rusher Kimura!

Faarooq vs. Kama Mustafa WWF Shotgun Saturday Night 6/20/98

ER: This isn't necessarily a great match, but it's a pretty damn cool match because it is completely different than the short match WWE structure that came over the next 20 years. This feels much more like a WCW match from this era, who had no problems throwing out "slugfest" style matches, and it didn't have any kind of WWE structure tropes (no extended consecutive run of offense from either guy, no chinlock spot to build to a babyface comeback), so the whole thing felt very foreign and unique. Charles Wright is a pretty frustrating wrestler. He was really big (6'6", 300+ lb.) and moved pretty quick, but never had a ton of thump to any of his offense. But this might be the best match I've seen him involved in. Are there actual good Soultaker/Kama/Papa Shango/Godfather matches, in particular singles matches? I can't remember any. Well, here's one. The movement and energy in this whole match was top notch. It was go go go but based around ass beating instead of "kewl moves" and that is the best kind of go go go. There were a couple lariats that felt a little light, but damn does Faarooq come off like a great southern regional babyface here, taking the strap down right as the match starts and working super aggressive. I loved how he whipped Kama around ringside with his belt, hit his nice flying shoulderblock to send Kama to the floor (which lead to a great moment where he missed that same shoulderblock off the top when Kama sidestepped him and smacked him on his way down. Kama works nice body shots and a hard as hell avalanche. Faarooq was a great babyface with the way he would always fight back to transition, but there were several moments where he wasn't a great opponent for Kama, tanking a couple moments with bizarre selling choices. Kama threw nice body shots in the corner and Faarooq didn't even budge for them; later Kama hits a mule kick to the stomach and Faarooq just takes a slow flat back bump from it, which makes zero sense from a physics standpoint. But there's a ton of other stuff that owns and keeps the whole match moving at a pace that WWF heavyweights just didn't often work. Loved Faarooq eating knees on a standing splash, dug a big time mid-ring collision, dug the brawl to count out. This was really good, and wasn't more than a few little things away from being great.

Blue Panther/Stuka Jr./Esfinge vs. Felino/Barbaro Cavernario/Luciferno CMLL 2/12/19

ER: This match had a kind of sloppy, disheveled charm that I really liked, feeling like a lucha version of an opening match All Japan trios that had a couple of the comedy old guys, and a couple young juniors. Blue Panther is finally starting to show his age. Others saw it earlier than I did, but at this point he isn't moving like a guy who is going to be doing three dives and a cool rana in one match. But I love this guy's scruffy face and smiling eyes, and I hope I get to see him be Rusher Kimura forever. Panther has the charisma and ability to be a great Rusher, and that's on display here. He had a fun sequence in the corner with Barbaro, making Milton Berle faces while taking punches, then yanking on Barbaro's hair before jumping off the buckles into a hair drag. He got tangled amusingly when working mat stuff, stumbling like a cute old man when finishing rollups, still working fun sunset flip sequences, and playing to the fans more than anybody. Mildly resurgent Felino is also a thing I really like. He was an early favorite when I started watching lucha 20+ years ago, and then some years later he became the most annoying guy in CMLL. Most annoying guy in a fed that has Volador Jr. is a thing that bummed me out, so I like seeing him work a little harder these last couple years, really ever since his sons gained some prominence. His shtick is a little better (teasing a shirt removal is always a win) and he shows he can still work a fun quick showoff segment, and I like that there's still something there. Barbaro really comes off like a star in matches like these, feels like a guy who will be as big a star as his body will let him. He's not doing splashes from the top to the floor anymore (right!?) but he is still a crazy man, and his fantastic corkscrew press through the ropes to the floor was an incredible looking dive that blows away any dive by Audaz or any of those more brazen fliers. Stuka is a guy who I think I rate higher than most, and I like him in matches like these, feels like a modern guy with late 80s lucha sensibilities. Esfinge hits a really big dive, we get an abundance of funny uncle in an Olive Garden commercial Blue Panther, and it all made me feel the way only lucha can make me feel.

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When Shotgun Saturday Night Went to Chattanooga, 2/16/99

On 2/16/99 WWF had what had to have felt like an interminably long taping in Chattanooga, TN, taping 19 matches for airing on Super Astros, Sunday Night Heat, Raw, and Shotgun Saturday night. 19 matches on a Tuesday night! But the three matches from the Shotgun taping stood out more than the rest, because all three matches were WWF wrestlers against local southern indie talent. It's another invasion that was shut down one night in, but this one probably didn't have the same drawing potential. After the ECW invasion, after the NWA invasion, before Invasion. This is the Tennessee Mountain invasion we never talked about!

WWF Shotgun Saturday Night (Broadcast 2/27/99)

HHH vs. Buddy Landel

ER: HHH does his very long ring intro that 17 yr old me thought was cool, and Jim Cornette on commentary says "These people are jacked tonight! They're ready to suck it!" The match started out good and ended quickly in disappointment. Buddy and HHH each have their ponytails and each clearly wear their influences, and Buddy is a little thicker around the middle at this point, but it starts simple and cool. Landel grabs a tight headlock, HHH gets one of his own, both guys get a little time to establish their headlocks, HHH gets a nice go behind and Landel snaps him with a nice back elbow. It's all shaping up very nicely, Landel eats a knee and takes an impressive snap bump...and then HHH calls for the Pedigree and it's over, 1 minute and 40 seconds in. 100 seconds, with the first 80 seconds worked like they were going 8-10. Not only was that pointless, it reeked of wanting to put someone in their place. Is it possible that they were in the middle of a long night of tapings and wanted to speed things up a bit? Sure. But it sure felt disrespectful to someone like Buddy.

The Hardy Boys vs. Frank Parker/Roger Anderson

ER: Hardys come out in their OMEGA shirts (that wasn't a thing they normally did during this era, right?), and this match rules. This is more like it. This is going the way of a Hardys squash, and it's fun seeing their offense from 20 years ago. Matt had a great elbow drop that he doesn't really use anymore, Jeff did his awesome swanton to the floor, Matt hit his nice bulldog, we get a cool double team where Jeff leapfrogs Anderson and he runs right into a Matt swinging neckbreaker (it's a smart way to get someone in position to take a neckbreaker, as they'd be naturally ducking their head down so the don't run face first into a leaping man's crotch) Death & Destruction were taking hip tosses and big backdrops and not gaining any ground. And then Anderson held the top rope down without Jeff seeing it, and while running the ropes Jeff took an absolutely insane, fast bump over the top to the floor, smacking his head off the apron on the way down. Awesome bump that sounded like it surprised Cornette. From there Death & Destruction get a lot of control, and they worked the match from there as if they're an actual signed team. Parker drops a great leg, there's a fun chop exchange in the corner between Matt and Anderson, D&D take over with some kneelifts, it all gave a cool glimpse of a tag scene that might have been, if only WWF wanted a couple other guys who looked like Festus. Imagine three awesome lumpy bald goatee guys in a stable!? Hardys' finisher was really awesome, the legdrop/splash from the top, and this match delivered what I hoped this match would.

Tiger Ali Singh vs. Killer Kyle

ER: This is me, going out of my way to watch a Tiger Ali Singh match. What a weird WWF run he had. I bet most people can hardly remember a thing about the guy, but he showed up on TV for years, then would disappear just as quickly as he came. Who kept wanting Tiger Ali Singh? This was also worked fairly even, and Cornette really didn't talk much about the Smoky Mountain alum Kyle. Each got to hit cool powerslams and Kyle gets to throw a bunch of punches and chops. Singh was pretty bland, hit a needless chinlock and made Kyle look bad when he unexpectedly backed out of a punch that Kyle was clearly throwing to connect, threw off the timing of everything. The finish was cool though as Kyle whiffs on a lariat, and before turning around Singh kicks him in the back of the knee and then hits a neckbreaker.

So instead of trying to make money on a Tennessee invasion, bringing back Smothers and Tony Anthony and the Rock n Rolls, they went and shot this moneymaker in the foot right as it started.

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Phil is a DAD!

Congratulations are in order as my great friend and writing partner, Phil Schneider, is now a father. His son, Daisuke Ikeda Schneider*, is a huge 9 lb. 5 oz. and is beautiful. Maybe some day we can do an Indy Fat Guy Investigation on young Daisuke. In honor of Phil now being a dad, here are reviews of a couple matches where fathers teamed with sons (and obviously, be sure to search around the blog for all the Rush/Pierroth matches I've written up). Congrats Phil!

Jerry Lawler & Too Much vs. Dustin Runnels, Bradshaw & Terry Funk WWF Shotgun 6/16/98 - GREAT

ER: Matt championed this one 5 years ago but I have zero memory of seeing this when it aired, and it really really stands out as unique when compared to other 1998 WWF TV matches. This show was taped in Austin, TX and I imagine that awesome face trios was put together specifically to take advantage of the Texas crowd. I'm so used to seeing WWE beat guys in their home town that it's so weird seeing three hosses  wrestling in the state they identify with, and it all goes exactly as it should go. Seeing Lawler as a heel this "late" in his career is really great, and really everybody in this match looks great. Taylor gets the misfortune of drawing Dustin and Bradshaw for the first part of the match, with Dustin throwing some nice armdrags and a sweet fist drop, then Bradshaw unleashing hell all over the ring with the nastiest clubbing blows you've seen and arguably the best corner clotheslines. Taylor just gets mauled here. Lawler is great on the apron always acting super amused by Too Much's antics, always smiling to the crowd while pointing to them (like he was saying "Right?! Aren't these guys great!?"). When he finally tags in (after Funk begs for him) we get Funk rushing Lawler with punches, Lawler playing the smart game and throwing some great shots, immediately piledriving Funk and then adding another one for good measure. Kevin Kelly puts over Lawler big here and Funk sells the piledrivers in a great Tenryu type way. Funk eventually roars back leading to a big Lawler bump to the floor and Funk banking Lawler's head off the announce table. Fans were flipping out for Funk and it was glorious. Funk being in 1998 WWF was just weird. Everybody gets time to shine in the match with Christopher playing the perfect stooge and bumping all over and the face hosses running through everyone in front of a super hot crowd. What a fun little gem of a TV match.

Dusty & Dustin Rhodes vs. Ted Dibiase & Virgil (WWE Royal Rumble 1/18/91)

ER: This match is definitely regarded as more of a famous angle - with Virgil finally turning on Dibiase - than a good match, but I really really liked the match. Dustin Rhodes was 19 and Virgil was kind of a stiff, but damn if it's not a fun and satisfying 10 minute tag. Ted Dibiase had my absolute favorite theme song when I was a kid, and only now do I realize that they just completely jacked the hook from Brother Louie. But it's still the best, and nobody knew how to walk to a ring like Million Dollar Man era Dibiase. That sequined suit, and that cocksure walk he had, with Virgil walking out in front of him, it always amazed me. Plus how cool does Dibiase look with the jacket off? Just sequined pants and dickey-with-bowtie. That Virgil himself takes off Dibiase's tearaway pants for him is the cherry on the sweetest sundae.  Dustin and Virgil actually work pretty great together here, with a couple fast exchanges, some fast rope running, a great Dustin leapfrog and a neat little roll through by Virgil that ended with Dustin throwing a great stomp to his face. Dustin really isn't far from being fully formed here, and I can't believe he's only 19, as that means he was only 23 as Goldust which is....okay I just always thought he was older and never did the math on it. His Dusty aping spots are understandable in this setting, and he doesn't have his great powerslam yet, but he's not too far from being Dustin Rhodes: Great Wrestler. But he does some neat things that he later abandoned, as the match hinged around him missing a big running knee in the corner. He leaps into it, plows knee first into the top buckle, and does some nice spots around trying to use that knee but it being too hurt. Dibiase as aggressive vet lion going in for the kill on wounded Dustin was awesome. He worked quick, like he had an appointment to get to but had to beat an ass first, yanked on Dustin's leg, dropped THEE greatest fistdrop, taunted Dusty, just some really great Dibiase moments. Virgil works a fun stiff, reckless style, Dusty is mostly out of this except for elbows and to eat the roll up pin, but there's a little bit of magic in this one. Plus it made me realize how much I miss the lens flare on these old PPVs, all of the colorful refracted beams from the hot ring lights shooting off pinks and blues and yellows, I just love it.


*Daisuke Ikeda Schneider mayyyy not be his son's real name. His real name is obviously one of the following:

1. David Richard Schneider
2. Shawn Michael Schneider
3. Charles Taylor Schneider

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