Wednesday Night Bootleg: Eddie and the Taker

Undertaker/Eddie Guerrero v. JBL/Orlando Jordan France 10/9/04

So happy to see a new Eddie Guerrerro match show up, this is a long Southern tag with both Taker and Eddie working Face In Peril and Hot tag, both guys are really awesome at both. The JBL v. Taker big man stuff was really good and this built to a super satisfying finish. Just a fun match which I am really glad I watched

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Cactus v. Rude

Cactus Jack v. Rick Rude Ireland 3/17/93


Cactus Jack vs. Rick Rude by Stinger1981

This a match I never knew happened and was pretty excited to see. Some dull spots with Rude laying in a chinlock, but we get two insane Cactus bumps, including Rude grabbing him by the head and driving him backwards to the floor. The finish run is pretty exciting and moves this match into the worth watching file.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg: Bret v. Vader

Bret Hart v. Vader Stockton 1/4/97


Bret Hart vs. Vader by Stinger1981

PAS: This is another one of those missed opportunity match ups. These guys had really great chemistry with each other, although they never really had much of a one on one feud. This is a really fun brawl, which kept a brisker pace then many of Hart's matches. Vader was flying all over the ring, including a second rope shoulder tackle which I don't remember him doing before. Hart also catches a flying bodypress into a powerslam. Vader also took a couple of chairshots and slams into the rail and stairs. Finish was fun as Austin came barreling out of nowhere to clip Bret in the knee and he and Vader stomp him up a bit. Cool discovery.

ER: I really liked heel Bret, and loved the moment of him just kicking Vader right in the balls. A real great equalizer that wouldn't have made sense in any other Bret matches. Vader was so awesome here, just mauling Bret with his cool bear paw attacks. Vader punching dudes in ring corners is one of my favorite things ever. Phil's right about the shoulder tackle: I remember seeing him hit a 2nd rope tackle before, but he always landed much more vertical with it. Here he just launches himself as the world's biggest torpedo. Him taking that same move and bumping off a powerslam was insane, and he also goes up for an awesome back suplex. 14 minutes flies by, and then Austin goes and one-ups everybody with the greatest leg tackle ever. Vader and Bret are brawling and Austin just barrels in and blasts through Bret's knee from behind. Bret bumped it huge like he didn't even know it was coming. I love this match-up.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Piper v. Savage

Randy Savage v. Roddy Piper- Hamilton, Ontairo 12/13/86


Roddy Piper vs. Randy Savage-IC Title by Stinger1981

We dig in the crates a bit for this wild old school match. Piper and Savage both have some of the greatest physical charisma in wrestling history, and that is really visible here. This is a sprint with both guys tearing into each other. Savage is flying around the ring both on offense and bumping. This is the kind of Savage match I loved on the Memphis set, where he feels like this out of control athlete moving at a different pace from everyone else, like watching early Alan Iverson. Piper is so demonstrative in the ring, and he isn't doing as much, but everything he does has such force. This really felt like an epic feud which never happened.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Finlay/Khali v. Batista/Rey

Finlay/Great Khali v. Batista/Rey Mysterio Jr. Paris France 9/14/09



Great, great match. Just a total blast of a tag match, which actually feels like a career match for Khali. I thought he was great in this, maybe he is helped by a HH camera view as his offense actually looked good, and Batista did a great job of selling his punch and clothesline. There is an awesome spot where Batista turns his head smush into a spinebuster which Khali goes up huge for. Rey is up there with Regal, Benoit and Sami Callihan as Finlay's best opponents and their interactions are awesome, as Finlay is Fuerzaesque with his bumping for Rey's spots. I liked the use of heel Horswoggle (so much cooler then face Hornswoggle) and the finish is a perfect good time face win tag finish. I can't imagine anyone reading this blog not loving this match

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- TJ Lucha

L.A. Park v. Dr. Wagner Jr. Tijuana 10/7/11

Switching it up a bit for this weeks Wed. night bootleg, as we go to a big title match in Tijuana Mexico. Park and Wagner work a more standard lucha title match as opposed to the crazy brawl they usually do (although there are a couple of nasty spots with a wooden board). Pretty neat to see these guys work the mat and exchange suplexes and armdrags. PARK hits a nasty tope and they build to a neat finishing run. Very fun match.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Sheamus/Randy Orton v. Christian/Mark Henry

Sheamus/Randy Orton v. Christian/Mark Henry Paris France 9/3/11

Really fun house show tag. Henry is pretty undeniable at this point, I think he has been excellent for years, but this run has pretty much converted everyone. I really liked his selling for Orton, just enough to look vulnerable, but still coming off like a beast. Christian and Orton have their shtick down, and Sheamus looked fine. Neat stuff.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Punk v. Del Rio

CM Punk v. Alberto Del Rio Trenton NJ 9/3/11







Really good main event title match. Punk and Del Rio are two of the most expressive guys in wrestling, and really do a great job both with the early heat building horseshit and the crazy hot finish run. Del Rio is great in this match, all of his offense looks great, he takes some big bumps (including the Fuerza/Hamrick which is nutty at a house show) and eats everything Punk does super well. I especially loved his post match taking of the GTS. Punk really comes off like a star, it is too bad that bag of shit Helmsley has dragged him down so badly.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Bryan v. Henry

Daniel Bryan v. Mark Henry- Nimes France 9/1/11



Really fun 6 minute match between two of my favorite WWE guys. Henry looked awesome in this, just brutal in all of his offense, chucking Bryan around the ring, but when it was time to sell, he really put over his stuff. I especially loved the KO sell for the high kick. Lots of neat work with the guillotine choke as well with Bryan being very sneaky putting it on, and Henry throwing him off. I would love for this to be the Wrestlemania match when Bryan cashes in his briefcase. http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=32047426#

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Another Punk v. Cena

John Cena v. C.M. Punk Chile 2/23/11









The 2011 Cena v. Punk feud reminds me a fair amount of the 1989 Flair v. Steamboat. Two guys who just match up perfectly with each other having a ton of great matches in a short amount of time. Really happy to see another house show matchup between the two. We start with some really fun Punk stalling, he is my favorite house show worker to watch, he is just great at riling up a crowd. He has all of Nexus at ringside with him here and they nicely build to the spot where the ref chucks them all out. The do some cool matwork here as normal, building to Cena deadlifting Punk out of a headscissors. Ref bump leads to Nexus coming back, jumping Cena, getting run out by Santino, Kozlov and Bryan. We get some neat nearfalls, which ends with Cena drilling Punk with a Super FU which I can't remember seeing in a while. Another classic encounter, these guys can do no wrong.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg - Rey v. Rhodes

Rey Mysterio v. Cody Rhodes Lyon France 4/23/11


With Rey possibly winding his career down, here is a great example of the kind of great match he could have right up to the end. Lots of nifty cat and mouse stuff here, with Cody breaking out a bunch of quick athletic counters as well. His jump kick is timed perfectly and he pounces him out of the air with a dropkick as well. Lots of different ways to tease and set up the 619 until the final one (the pin is cut off unfortunately). Rey was taking some big bumps even at a house show, seems crazy to be doing the Pete Rose slide to the floor with no cameras. Man am I going to miss Rey.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Masters v. Swagger

Chris Masters v. Jack Swagger Hermosillo Mexico 5/11/11





I wanted to lament the release of the awesome Chris Masters by showcasing a fun heavyweight bombfest from the Mexico tour against the almost equally misused Jack Swagger. These guys were married on the house show tours and must have had 50+ matches against each other in the last year or so. They really have a nice match worked out. Swagger looked really good, I loved his fast impressive takedowns and he hit two nasty clotheslines, including one to the back of the head. Masters bumped well and unloaded some big power moves, and the Masterlock is still super over. No reason that big guys this talented are so underused.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Louisville Street Fight

Christian v. Randy Orton Louisville KY 7/30/11







This was a Louisville Street Fight, although the only weapon which actually got used was a kendo stick. I do think the street fight aspect of the match toned down the Christopher Danielsish reversalism which can sometimes over saturate their matches which each other. Christian took a bunch of fun bumps, and Ortons offense looked really good, he has a really pretty powerslam. Finish was surprisingly clean with Legacy running in and distracting Orton so he gets hit with a spear. Well worth checking out, and better then their MIB match

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Punk v. Cena

CM Punk v. John Cena Oklahoma City, OK 3/13/11



Just a ton of fun. Wasn't the same kind of epic as their Money in the Bank match, but this was a great house show main event. Punk is a master of riling up a crowd. Mason Ryan yells in Welsh, Punk spends a minute dramatically removing his shirt, he tells the crowd he wants to buy property in OKC, he asks them politely to keep the noise down.. It was some Tully shit. Match had a bunch of neat moments, Cena rolls through on a bodypress and lifts Punk into a firemans carry which was a sick looking bit of strength. There was also a cool moment where Cena catches Punk knee on the GTS and tries to turn into a STF. Little kids were going nuts, we get a fun finish with a bunch of run ins and the good guy prevails. These guys work so well together, one of the better pairings in the last decade, can't wait for Summerslam

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Drew v. Kane

Drew McIntyre v. Kane Aberdeen Scotland 10/9/10





Fun match with McIntyre working as a local babyface trying to win the title from a touring champion. Kane isn't a very good touring champion, and the execution wasn't great, but Drew was bumping huge and they built to all of the big moments really well. The near fall after the Implant DDT was very cool, and Drew took the chokeslam great. Would love to see what Drew would do as a babyface against a better champion next time they go to Scotland.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Rey v. Jericho

Rey Mysterio v. Chris Jerico - Costa Rica 2/13







I thought Jericho's execution was pretty bad in this match, but outside of that it was pretty fun. The crowd is rabid, Jericho apparently calls them Mexicans and the totally lose it. Rey was great as always, he did his somersault counter of the Halloween bump and hit a bunch of nifty flips and ranas. Jericho did hit his excellent Alantida and the finish was very good.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Regal v. Yoshi Tatsu

William Regal v. Yoshi Tatsu 11/7/09 Dusseldorf Germany



Anytime you get to see Regal stretch it out on a house show it is worth it. Tatsu isn't the most dynamic wrestler in the world, but the New Japan guys are well trained and all of the early arm work and knuckle lock stuff is solid. They work early part of this match around a full nelson, with Tatsu trying to escape and Regal locking it on. Tatsu even tries the Johnny Saint reversal and Regal responds with a forearm to the back of his head. Regal sold the fuck out of all of Tatsu's dicey looking offense. The finish run of this match was a blast, Tatsu misses a dive from the top, Regal hits a exploder, misses a running knee and gets wasted with a high kick. I love Regal's sell of the high kick with a 3 stooges spin which was awesome. Fun stuff.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Punk v. JBL in a Cage

CM Punk v. JBL 7/28/08 MSG





Really fun cage match. JBL is great in this, he eats Punk up early, cutting off his offense and pounding on him. It really made Punk look like a badass when he was able to get the upper hand. We had some big spots for a house show. With a russian leg sweep off the top rope, fallaway slam off the top and Punk missing a legdrop from the top of the cage. Two huge clotheslines from hell, which were nicely timed for big near falls. I remember not being into face Punk, but I have seen some very good house show matches lately, and may need to reevaluate.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Christian v. Orton

Christian v. Randy Orton Florance Italy 6/1/11







Very good WWE style main event. These are a pair of guys who work very well together, and you get all of the tropes you would expect in a WWE title matches. Orton jumps Christian at the bell and bumps him around. Orton misses a charge and takes a big bump to the floor. Then Christian works him over for a bit, and we move into a near fall section, with both guys doing multiple teases and reversals of their big moves. WWE main event wrestling can be super formulaic, and just like a good Southern tag or lucha trios it is fun to watch that formula executed well.

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Wednesday Night Bootleg- Mistico v. Ziggler

Sin Cara v. Dolph Ziggler Mexico City 5/13/11




This may have been billed as Sin Cara, but if you listen to the crowd this is clearly Mistico making his return to Mexico City. Ziggler was pretty impressive in this match, stooging well for Mistico, eating all of his spots perfectly and breaking out some cool offense. Much better then most of Cara's TV matches and a lot better then the PPV. This is clearly a match up they should have gone back to. Cara has some of the same problems he always has, questionable slaps and kicks and too much time setting up his finisher. Still nothing was blown and it was very cool to see Cara being treated as such a huge deal.

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