New Footage Friday: LIGHTNING KID~! RICKY BLUES~! MORGUS~! CACTUS~! GOODFELLAS~! SHINZAKI~! COLLYER~!

Lightning Kid vs. Ricky Blues WIN 11/15/92

MD: Unless I'm (that is Cagematch) is mistaken, this was a week after the Rheingans/Saito vs Lynn/Kidd match we covered previously in NFF. Blues was a local guy who worked off and on all the way to 2011, including as "Watsumi the Rising Sun" (but only sometimes as he also seemed to wrestle "Watsumi the Rising Sun" in this era), and he was game to do everything he could to keep up with Waltman here, including almost killing himself on a twisting dive off the top rope to the floor. This was a match that would have probably blown minds four years later, let alone in Dundalk, Maryland on a card with Axl Rotten and Don Muraco teaming in 1992. It was definitely as much of a spotfest as you could get in an indy juniors match for this time, though it was hard not to be distracted by the four person announce team with a more-than-competent woman trying to call it around the local promoter, a heel announcer, and a feigning (?) drunk suspended heel manager trying to get reinstated to buy Morgus' contract. Ultimately, that made it a nice little slice of its time while being entirely ahead of its time with Waltman coming off like a major attraction that brought everyone around him up towards his level.

PAS: Wild shit that had I seen in 1992 would have pulled my wig back. We all know Waltman, especially in 1992 when he is trying to make his bones, he is an undeniable presence, but still let's give it up for Ricky Blues. This was worked at a breakneck pace, with really crazy spots, and he was right there with the Kid every step of the way. Two nutty dives to the floor, including a really wild moonsault, some killer shots including a great back elbow and never felt a step behind what Waltman was doing. I mean really only Waltman and maybe Liger was working like this in 1992 (and even Liger was more deliberate) so give this guy credit for meeting him step for step and spot for spot. Loved the powerbomb counter for the near fall and the crazy bodypress which both guys took a wild bump for, leading to the countout. What a trip this was. 

ER: Hard Rock Ricky Blues! I know little about the early 90s Baltimore indy scene, but lucky for me I actually do as they just had the exact same guys as they did in the late 90s Baltimore indy scene. But I've never heard of Hard Rock Ricky Blues before tonight, and now I'd like to see some more. This had a ton of exciting moves that I hadn't personally seen in 1992, and the entire 4 person commentary crew looked like they were beamed from a 1982 local evening news broadcast (and who is the woman on commentary who appears to know more about wrestling than the guys?). We get some really exciting dives, starting with a Lightning Kid tope con giro that wipes out a woman in the front row, and I'm always impressed when wrestlers manage to work relatively safe in a snug ringside area with no barricades. The fans were really close but it didn't stop Kid from hitting that dive, then throwing a spinkick right under Blues' chin with that woman literally inches away (our camera angle looked like she reached down for something and Kid immediately kicked over her, but I think it was just the camera angle). Blues hits a wild moonsault press to the floor (again right next to people) and Kid hits a sick cannonball off the top to the floor. Nuts. They packed a lot of action into a 15 minute match, with Kid doing some small things I've never really seen him do (like a cool diving punch to a kneeling Blues). Blues had a really crisp top rope frankensteiner, quick sitout powerbomb, big press slam to START the match, and a great crossbody that took both to the floor for the count out. Please tell me that we have the 2010 Ricky Blues Sr. vs. Ricky Blues Jr. match?

 Cactus Jack/Morgus the Maniac vs. The Goodfellas MEWF 11/12/94 - GREAT

PAS: Really nifty southern tag with a solid but understated performance by Cactus, he takes a nice shoulder bump into the post and has a fun hot tag, but is a relatively minor player in the match. I really enjoyed the three others guys here, Morgus is a fun indy Roughhouse Fargo, and does a nice job working face in peril building to Cactus. I am not familiar with the Goodfellas but they ruled here, fun stooging, with the MX/Super Delfin arm wringer spot and lots of backfired headbutts on Morgus, but when they took over they laid in a big beating, great looking kneedrops, hanging suplexes and a huge top rope elbow, feels like guys that should have had a bigger career

MD: This was from November of 94 and it felt like Cactus teaming with a hard-headed Maryland version of Jimmy Valiant by way of Norman the Lunatic. Casanova and Valentino were guys whose peak of success were as enhancement talent on WCW and WWF TV but had a perfectly fine local act drawing the "greaseball" chants and holding up their end of this as cheating stooges with fairly compelling offense. Cactus didn't do anything too over the top here (a legdrop on the apron but certainly no nestea dive) but in this setting, you wanted him playing to the crowd and working shtick. They really built up the pumphandle spot, where one Goodfella would work over Cactus' arm and hand it off to the other, turned around on the apron, leading to the big payoff of him doing it to his own partner. They rule-of-three'd it with the payoff being Cactus hopping to the outside and waving to one Goodfella as he was pumping the arm of the other and it got a big pop. The heat on Morgus worked, as the heels had plenty of stuff and were going to lengths to get heat (clapping behind the ref's back to fake tags even when they didn't have to) and Cactus was a pretty good hot tag in front of this crowd. Morgus is a guy who was 500 on the PWI list a couple of years before and watching this, that felt about right, but formula tag matches are like pizza; so long as someone in the match knows what he's doing, it's hard to get it wrong.

Chad Collyer vs. Jinsei Shinzaki MPRO 6/00

MD: Nice, fairly grounded match that hit the high spots the crowd would have wanted (primarily from Shinzaki). Collyer was just a couple of years in here and they went back to pretty straightforward holds accordingly, but he was vocal and worked them well from underneath. About five minutes in, he had enough and hit a cheapshot during a rope break and his offense was ok. In general though, he was best at eating Shinzaki's stuff with enthusiasm here. The fans didn't go up for a ton in this one but they loved the rope walk, which looked as beautiful as ever. I personally loved the finishing submission where Shinzaki locked in a straightjacket camel clutch and just yanked Collyer in half.

ER: I thought this was really cool, never realized Collyer would be such a great foil for Shinzaki's offense. We got a lot of neat matwork, snug headscissors that really looked difficult to escape from, tight headlocks, and a tiny bit of personality from Collyer that somehow wasn't there as much a couple years later. Shinzaki didn't do any big flying moves but everything he did was really tight. His rope walk Baba chop really looked like a potato right to the hairline, and Collyer sold it fantastically, going down hard and kicking his legs like a guy who just took a leaping punch to the top of his head. Shinzaki's quick right throat thrusts looked great (and I didn't remember him as a "shake out your fist" guy but it only makes me love him more) and he really barrels right through Collyer on his top rope shoulderblock. Collyer had some nice looking brainbuster and an awesome tornado DDT. The tornado DDT was so great, as he clearly baited Shinzaki into throwing a strike while he (Collyer) was sitting on the top rope, just so he could catch Shinzaki in a headlock when the strike was thrown. You don't usually see guys baiting an opponent into taking a tornado DDT and it's a cool bit of detail work that someone should steal. Shinzaki's straightjacket camel clutch always looked wicked, and if you're talking about surprising things that no current wrestlers have stolen, that's another good one.