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ShawnRaven

The Best Of The WWF - Volumes 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12

Onto part two of three with the converting of all 20 volumes of this collection. Some of the standout stuff here is the Ricky Steamboat v Randy Savage matches from 86 here. I should note that most of these are from house shows so this would have been before they threw them on SNME for TV and they were able to get away with a lot more. Also Gorilla Monsoon wrestling is always interesting to watch. Here are the listings.

Volume 8
02/17/86 Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees
11/25/85 Danny Spivey vs. Terry Gibbs
06/27/86 Billy Jack Haynes vs. Moondog Rex
06/14/86 Junkyard Dog vs. King Kong Bundy
06/14/86 Jimmy Jack Funk vs. Tony Garea
06/14/86 Harley Race vs. Lanny Poffo
06/03/86 John Studd vs. Jim Powers & Rick Hunter
06/14/86 King Tonga vs. John Studd
02/17/86 Ted Arcidi vs. Terry Gibbs
11/25/85 Hercules Hernandez vs. Cousin Luke
03/14/82 Adrian Adonis vs. Pedro Morales
01/21/80 Pat Patterson vs. Lou Albano
05/19/86 Jake Roberts vs. Ricky Steamboat

Volume 9
07/26/86 Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat
08/09/86 Hart Foundation vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff
07/26/86 Nikolai Volkoff vs. Cpl. Kirschner (boot camp match)
03/17/85 John Studd, Ken Patera, & Jesse Ventura vs. Andre the Giant, Junkyard Dog, & Jimmy Snuka
07/12/86 John Studd & King Kong Bundy vs. King Tonga & Siva Afi
06/14/86 Lord Littlebrook vs. Cowboy Lang
07/12/86 Battle Royal

Volume 10
04/26/86 Jimmy Hart, Jimmy Jack & Dory Funk, Jr. vs. Ricky Steamboat, Junkyard Dog, & Haiti Kid
07/26/86 Tito Santana vs. Bob Orton
09/06/86 King Kong Bundy & John Studd vs. Big & Super Machine
11/09/85 Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine vs. Mike Rotundo & Danny Spivey
07/12/86 Brutus Beefcake vs. Billy Jack Haynes
10/04/86 The Islanders vs. Jimmy Jack Funk & Mr. X
1986 Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis feud highlights
11/01/86 Don Muraco vs. Roddy Piper

Volume 11
01/19/87 Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine vs. The Can-Am Connection
11/24/86 Kamala vs. George Steele
11/24/86 "Piper's Pit" with Bobby Heenan & Paul Orndorff
11/24/86 Hulk Hogan & Roddy Piper vs. Harley Race & Paul Orndorff
02/23/87 Randy Savage, Harley Race, & Adrian Adonis vs. Roddy Piper, Junkyard Dog, & Rick Steamboat (elimination match)
03/14/87 Roddy Piper video
11/24/86 Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook vs. Karate Kid & Pepe Gomez
11/24/86 Don Muraco vs. Hillbilly Jim
12/26/86 Hillbilly Jim vs. Mr. Fuji (tuxedo match)

Volume 12
06/27/87 Ricky Steamboat vs. Kamala
11/20/86 Tito Santana vs. Kamala
10/04/86 Big Machine, Super Machine, & Piper Machine vs. King Kong Bundy, John Studd, & Bobby Heenan
05/02/87 Brutus Beefcake vs. Johnny Valiant
12/16/70 The Mongols vs. Gorilla Monsoon & Pedro Morales
01/19/87 George Steel vs. Paul Orndorff
12/26/86 Fabulous Moolah vs. Lelani Kai
12/06/86 Hulk Hogan v. Kamala

flahavaj

Finished Schneider Comp #2 Disc one there tonight. Such a pleasure to watch these especially in updated VQ. The variety of matches means you never get burned out.

Random thoughts: That guy who thinks that women can't wrestle should look at the Joshi matches off this, Manami Toyota is one of the all-time greats, so explosive. People should watch more 90's Michinoku pro and FMW. vastly underrated stuff. Ricky Steamboat was something else. Arn anderson: Most underrated stickman ever. Mr Pogo and his scythe are insane, openly blading someones stomach with a weapon that size is just ridiculous.

Matchlist:
Psicosis & Heavy Metal vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Ultimo Dragon (WWPF 6/1/96)
Dr. Death & Johnny Ace vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama (AJ 6/7/96)
TAKA Michinoku, Ricky Fuji & Super Delfin vs. Hayabusa, Great Sasuke & Koji Nakagawa (FMW 12/21/95)
TAKA Michinoku vs. Great Sasuke (M-Pro 12/15/95)
TAKA Michinoku vs. Super Delfin (NJ 6/17/96)
Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Rude (Ironman Match) (WCW 6/20/92)
Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair (AJ 6/4/82)
Ric Flair Interview (NWA 8/87)
Arn Anderson Interview (NWA 12/29/90)
Cactus Jack Interview (ECW 11/7/95)
Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada (FMW 5/5/93)
Combat Toyoda vs. Megumi Kudo (No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match) (FMW 5/5/96)
Atsushi Onita, Katsutoshi Niiyama & Mr. Gannosuke vs. Mr. Pogo, Gladiator & Hideki Hosaka (No Rope Barbed Wire Electrified Dynamite Pool Death Match) (FMW 9/25/94)
Shinjiro Ohtani vs. Chris Benoit (NJ 7/13/95)

Random awesomeness on one disc. I love it all.

michael.etc...

flahavaj wrote: »

Random thoughts: That guy who thinks that women can't wrestle should look at the Joshi matches off this, Manami Toyota is one of the all-time greats, so explosive.

LOVE that woman.. awesome. LOVE her as much as i hate Mr Pogo in fact.

I just got through an IWW dvd today, King of the Ring 2000 (I'd forgot what a strangely booked event that was....) and a bit of Strong Style's groovy Alison Danger shoot.

gimmick

I am totally gone off all current stuff for now, so on a recommendation, I have been told to trawl through some All Japan stuff from the 90s.

Just made a start last night and watched 2 very different, but excellent matches. Now, I know absolutely no back story to any of these, and as I do not speak Japanese, the commentay is no help whatsoever. Both of the belwo are from 1992.

First I watched Jumbo & Taue vs Kobashi & Kikuchi. From what I can gather by the psychology of this is the latter team and the plucky young underdogs up against the wily veteran heels. It is great to see Kobashi in his prime here, and Kikuchi looks to be a fore runner for the likes of Marufuji. One thing that did not pklease me in this, and it is a constant problem peopel have with Japanese wrestling, is Jumbos lack of selling. Okay, maybe this helps to get Kikuchi over with the crowd, but I think he was look a tad too strong. The finishing sprint is just great with some absolutely brutal offense.

Next I watch Can Am Connection Vs Kobashi & Kikuchi. This is just brilliant. A fast paced match right from the start with pretty much no let up. Can Am seem to focus on Kikuchis back which seems a good idea considering hios offense is based on speed. he plays the underdog to a tee in this, and the crowd are unbelievably behind him. Kobashi for his part plays the big enforcer perfectly also. This is the type of match you will never ever see in WWE anymore, which is a shame, as this is the very type of match which makes tag team wrestling great.

ShawnRaven

WWE Summerslam 1991

What a 3 legged donkey of a card this turned out to be, eh? I would have been 15 when this took place, and i remember watching Superstars and Challenge, watching it every week even back then saying "This card looks so bad compared to previous years". See folks, It wasn't boards that made me cynical. I think i was predisposed from the womb that way. Anyway, I started rewatching the Summerslam Anthology again because quite frankly, i'm looking more forward to this years Summerslam than I am next weeks Mania!

So without further a do.
Warlord & Power and Glory vs Kerry Von Erich, Ricky Steamboat and Davey Boy Smith
There's a feast of talent on one side, and a famine on the other, go figure how well this match is gonna end up. This was pretty much thrown together a couple of weeks prior to the card taking place. In fact, it's more left over from the Bulldog/Warlord feud that went nowhere and drew nothing. Von Erich is more than likely still on suicide watch at this stage in his career and I never understood why Steamboat went back to WWE in 1991 given how badly Vince treated him the first time around. I'll bet he learned his lesson afterwards when Vince threw a dragon suit on him and told him to breathe fire. Ten minute or so opener, which would mark the only PPV appearance for Steamboat on his second run and the final appearances of Power & Glory as a team before Roma would be relegated back to jobber status before jumping to WCW and trying to fit into Tully Blanchards shoes as a horseman.

Bret Hart vs Curt Hennig
18 years on and I still do not understand the love for this match. The moment that was in it was awesome, and it was nice to finally see Bret get somewhat elevated after two previously aborted pushes in 1988 and 1989. That said, Hennig does an awesome job bumping around in this one like a madman despite the fact that his back was f*cked six ways from Sunday, and yet still manages to do nearly 20 minutes in the ring, and putting Bret over. It's not a bad match by any means, but they have had better, before and after this match. Just ignore their stuff from WCW though. Interesting thing was, it was actually Davey that was being groomed for the IC title push after Mania for Hennig's belt, but the feds started sniffing around Vince's office just before the Summer was about to hit, and his doc got very nervous, so he changed the bookings around and gave the nod to Davey at a later date when he had the all clear... or so he thought.

The Natural Disasters vs The Bushwhackers
This is basically a steamroller job to get Quake and Typhoon over. Basically Tugboat turned on the Bushwhackers in a six man tag against Quake and the Nasty Boys on an episode of Superstars (i think) a few weeks earlier to set this up. Of course, nobody gave a f*ck about Tugboat once Hogan came back the year before so he was just floundering around. Man, he thought things couldn't get worse after being packaged as a fat, shiny happy sailor, eh? Jimmy Hart is in the corner of the Disasters, and Andre, who is barely capable of walking at this stage is in the corner of the Bushwhackers. Nothing match, but it started off the feud for the LOD/Disasters after the LOD come down to side with Andre, preventing a post match beat down.

Virgil vs Ted DiBiase
In a rematch from Wrestlemania, with the Million Dollar belt on the line. This match took place waaaay too late, as Virgil was rusty as hell and somewhat out of shape by the time 1991 came around. Virgil was actually not a bad indy worker prior to his WWE days as Soul Train Jones, but ring rust set in and the crowd can only get behind a former bootlick for so long before tiring of it. DiBiase gets DQ'd halfway through the match due to Sherri's interferance but the ref sends Sherri back and restarts the match. After DiBiase beats Virgil within an inch of his life, Virgil blocks an exposed buckle shot, which DiBiase then takes, crawls over and pins for the win. MSG crowd eats it up with a spoon. Worked well for it's time but it's butt ugly now.

Big Boss Man vs The Mountie: Jailhouse Match
Rougeau redebuted as The Mountie at the 1991 Royal Rumble, pretty much one year since he was last seen on WWE Television tagging with Raymond. Well this is the standard "Who's the real law and order" grudge match, with Rougeau and The Nasties beating down Boss Man a few weeks prior to this to set it up. To add to it, the winner gets thrown in the slammer. Match is bloody awful, but the pre and post match promos from Rougeau pretty much make this one entertaining.

I forgot to mention earlier, a really interesting moment for it's time. Heenan bangs down Hogans locker room door to issue a challenge on behalf of Ric Flair, who hadn't debuted yet. What made it so interesting is that Heenan has the WCW big gold belt in his hands. And no, it's not a replica. Flair had a major dispute with Jim Herd while was champion, and left the promotion taking the belt with him. Something he was within his right to do so because over that side of the border, NWA rules basically tell you that if you get a run with the belt, you put down a 25k deposit, which you're supposed to get back when you drop. Well Herd didn't want to give Flair the money, so they made up some bogey title to use in the interim instead until the dispute was settled. Seems like sense now, but that was big stuff at the time.

LOD vs Nasty Boys
Prior to Wrestlemania there was a Battle Royal to win the number one contender position to face the Harts. Power & Glory cost the LOD their chance to win the battle royal by pulling them out when they had been eliminated. Leaving the Nasty's in the ring. LOD steamrolled over Herc & Jerk at Mania, and the Nastys won the belts from the Harts and that set this one up basically. Nobody really cared for the Nastys as champions, but back in 1991, in the era of 4 PPVs per year, a five month reign was considered brief and transitional! This match is also no DQ which is just as well cos these two teams do not mesh well! LOD get their belts and their time in the sun, which wouldn't last long.

Greg Valentine vs IRS
IRS's PPV debut. Precious little set this up, Valentine is winding down his career at this stage and turned face a couple of weeks after the Royal Rumble earlier in the year. Squash match to put Rotondo over.

Match Made In Hell: Hogan & Warrior vs Slaughter, Adnan & Mustafa
WHAT THE F*CK WAS VINCE THINKING?!
In the middle of the Gulf Crisis, and Vince did everything he could to milk this cash cow. Problem was people weren't that interested. That said, Hogan/Slaughter managed to have a really good match at Mania. But i've no idea how Warrior fit into this as all his storylines were based around feuding with Undertaker, and Jake getting ready to turn heel on him. I'm guessing Warrior bitched and bitched about going back to midcard after the Royal Rumble, but that's only a guess mind. Slaughter's still in the main event picture from Mania, General Adnan is his manager and gets a one time shot, and in a bizarre twist, The Iron Shiek is Col Mustafa, who joined Slaughters ranks about a month after Wrestlemania. Why an Iranian has become an Iraqi sympathiser, i have no idea. Sid is the guest referee, to get a rub from being involed in a Hogan match, too bad injuries sidelined for the end of the year. Most of you know how this goes. Adnan gets knocked out, Mustafa gets chased out of the ring by Warrior (who then gets his P45 for holding Vince up for money earlier in the show), Hogan gets the pin and closes the show posing with Sid...

... Oh wait
Match Made In Heaven - The Savage Wedding
Despite the fact that Savage & Liz got married about five or six years earlier to this. They decided to make it officially public, by having a ceremony on PPV. Because if a Gulf Crisis exploitation won't sell a PPV, who WON'T buy a wedding?! The upshot here is, about a year later, Liz actually left Savage and filed for divorce. Life pretty much got ugly for everyone involved there, cos Savage wasn't the same since, Liz shacked up with Lex Luger, and then a couple of years later, died of an accidental overdose of prescription meds mixed with alcohol, and then Luger was then confined to a wheelchair a couple of years after that.

But hey, we won't let that get in the way of a happy ending, will we Vince?
Sorry, but this one is to avoid really. Get the Bret DVD for the IC match and save yourself your other two hours.

ShawnRaven

The Best Of The WWF - Volumes 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

Guess I didn't get around to finishing these off as quickly as I thought I would. Although taking time out to do Summerslam 91 probably didn't help matters much either. Byt only 3 more of these left to go and i've covered the whole set.

Volume 13
06/02/87 Hulk Hogan & Koko B. Ware vs. Kamala & Honkytonk Man
06/02/87 Ricky Steamboat vs. Honkytonk Man (Honkytonk wins WWF I-C Title)
05/18/87 Debbie Combs vs. Fabulous Moolah
12/16/74 Joyce Grable vs. Fabulous Moolah
10/85 Roddy Piper Halloween skit
02/23/87 Demolition vs. The Islanders
06/14/87 Paul Roma & Jim Powers vs. The Islanders
10/20/86 Bret Hart vs. Raymond Rougeau
12/10/86 Randy Savage vs. Tito Santana

Volume 14
06/23/87 Brutus Beefcake, Jacques & Raymond Rougeau vs. Greg Valentine, Dino Bravo, & Johnny Valiant
10/28/87 Ricky Steamboat vs. Ron Bass
05/18/87 Koko B. Ware vs. Danny Davis
10/07/87 Junkyard Dog vs. Ted DiBiase
08/28/78 Andre the Giant, Tony Garea, & Dino Bravo vs. Spiros Arion & The Yukon Lumberjacks (2/3 falls)
10/06/87 Hercules vs. Paul Orndorff
11/26/84 Bobby Heenan vs. Salvatore Bellomo
06/07/87 Killer Khan vs. Tito Santana

Volume 15
10/06/87 Tito Santana vs. Haku
10/27/87 Hart Foundation vs. Rick Martel & Tito Santana (Martel & Santana win WWF Tag Team Title)
11/17/87 King Kong Bundy vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
01/24/88 Lelani Kai & Judy Martin vs. Jumping Bomb Angels (Bomb Angels win WWF Women's Tag Team Title)
07/07/84 Wild Samoans vs. Mr. Fuji & Tiger Chung Lee
07/24/87 Fabulous Moolah vs. Sherri Martel (Martel wins WWF Women's Title)
02/20/78 Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ted Adams
08/25/87 Demolition vs. Billy Jack Haynes & George Steele

Volume 16
09/13/85 Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Giant Machine
1980s Jumping Bomb Angels vs. Bull Nakano & Condor Saito
1980s Mr. Fuji vs. ?
10/19/85 The Killer Bees vs. Mike Sharpe & Barry O
04/88 The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules
04/88 Andre the Giant vs. Jim Duggan
1980s Several Outback Jack skits
10/23/87 Junkyard Dog vs. Harley Race (special referee Andre the Giant)
10/23/87 Jacques & Raymond Rougeau vs. Dino Bravo & Greg Valentine

Volume 17
05/27/88 Dino Bravo vs. Ken Patera
07/23/88 Big Bossman vs. Sam Houston
06/21/88 King Haku coronation
07/23/88 British Bulldogs vs. Nikolai Volkoff & Boris Zhukov
07/25/88 Jacques & Raymond Rougeau vs. The Rockers
03/06/88 Honkytonk Man vs. Brutus Beefcake
06/01/88 Demolition vs. Tito Santana & Rick Martel
08/06/88 Andre the Giant vs. Jim Duggan (lumberjack match)

michael.etc...

ShawnRaven wrote: »

The Best Of The WWF - Volumes 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.


Volume 14
06/23/87 Brutus Beefcake, Jacques & Raymond Rougeau vs. Greg Valentine, Dino Bravo, & Johnny Valiant
10/28/87 Ricky Steamboat vs. Ron Bass
05/18/87 Koko B. Ware vs. Danny Davis
10/07/87 Junkyard Dog vs. Ted DiBiase
08/28/78 Andre the Giant, Tony Garea, & Dino Bravo vs. Spiros Arion & The Yukon Lumberjacks (2/3 falls)
10/06/87 Hercules vs. Paul Orndorff
11/26/84 Bobby Heenan vs. Salvatore Bellomo
06/07/87 Killer Khan vs. Tito Santana

Volume 15
10/06/87 Tito Santana vs. Haku
10/27/87 Hart Foundation vs. Rick Martel & Tito Santana (Martel & Santana win WWF Tag Team Title)
11/17/87 King Kong Bundy vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
01/24/88 Lelani Kai & Judy Martin vs. Jumping Bomb Angels (Bomb Angels win WWF Women's Tag Team Title)
07/07/84 Wild Samoans vs. Mr. Fuji & Tiger Chung Lee
07/24/87 Fabulous Moolah vs. Sherri Martel (Martel wins WWF Women's Title)
02/20/78 Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ted Adams
08/25/87 Demolition vs. Billy Jack Haynes & George Steele

Those two volumes in particularly looked stuffed with interesting matches. I can only imagine how clunky Demolition vs Billy Jack and the Animal is!

ShawnRaven

Once we get to volume 13, the match listings get really good. The Demolition/Strike Force rematch is also pretty good too, that's where the botched chairshot took place and injured Martel's back legit (it was already nagging him but this was the match that put him on the shelf for about nine months). The womens matches get a lot better too cos they stop showing dodgy Moolah matches too.

ShawnRaven

Best Of The WWF - Volumes 18, 19 and 20
Finally finished these babies! After a few days off (to catch up with Heroes), then i'll be doing all the Saturday Nights Main Event original series. This WILL be fun

Volume 18
10/07/88 Sherri Martel vs. Rockin' Robin (Robin wins WWF Women's Title)
12/06/88 Jacques Rougeau vs. Brutus Beefcake
11/12/88 Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson vs. Paul Roma & Jim Powers
11/16/88 "Brother Love Show" with Hulk Hogan and Slick
10/25/88 Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude
10/25/88 Andre the Giant fear of snakes angle
1988 Several Bushwhackers skits
06/25/88 Ted DiBiase vs. Randy Savage (steel cage match)

Volume 19
01/23/89 Mr. Perfect vs. Brutus Beefcake
02/03/89 Demolition vs. Powers of Pain
05/20/85 Jesse Ventura vs. Tony Garea
01/16/89 Randy Savage vs. Bad News Brown (street fight match)
06/02/89 Rick Rude & Andre the Giant vs. Jim Duggan & Jake Roberts
1989 Ted DiBiase has Million Dollar Belt made
02/15/89 "Brother Love Show" with Ted DiBiase debuting Million Dollar Belt
03/89 Ted DiBiase vs. Bret Hart

Volume 20
02/11/89 Red Rooster vs. Brooklyn Brawler
04/22/89 Brutus Beefcake vs. Badnews Brown
04/25/89 Jim Duggan vs. King Haku (Duggan wins King of the WWF)
04/25/89 Jim Duggan coronation
05/01/89 Battle Royal
02/03/89 The Hart Foundation vs. Jacques & Raymond Rougeau (guest referee Brother Love)
01/09/88 Hulk Hogan vs. Rick Rude

ShawnRaven

Was gonna start on the SNME original run, but then the 1996 Nitro arrived on my doorstep and i've been getting stuck into em.

Boy, Vince McMahon really wondered why WCW was handing his ass to him in the ratings at this stage in the game? Up in New York, the braintrust had come to the conclusion that Kevin Nash couldn't draw a red cent (PPV buyrate of 0.4 for In Your House 4 didn't leave Vince with a smile) and threw the belt back on Bret to try and nurse the bleeding. Too bad they didn't really have anyone to put him against in order to maintain interest throughout 96. As he only served as jump start for the Nash/Undertaker feud. While silly gimmicks like Henry O Godwinn was ramming pig slop in the gob of HHH and dumber ideas like the Raw Bowl were coming out of the heads of creative. So let's go down to Georgia and see what the opposition were up to!

WCW Monday Nitro: January - April 1996
We start off with Savage as the champion fresh off a win for the title at Starrcade 95 to mark the second time he would beat Flair for a major title in his career. Hogan was still around at this point, back in his red and yellow after the aborted attempt to stick him all in black a couple of months earlier and allied with Savage to bascially do a redux of the Mega Powers! Back in 1995 most of the hardcore fans would sarcastically say that "if you wanted to know what was going to happen in WCW in 1996, to tune into WWE from 1989!", they weren't far wrong given how at this point, WCW had Hogan, Savage, Avalanche (Earthquake), Duggan, Big Bubba (Big Boss Man) and Ed Leslie changing his name every week (Brutus Beefcake).

The feuding was a mess at this stage. Another redux of the Four Horsemen were around again, this time in the shape of Flair, Anderson, Pillman and Benoit, and they're being threatened for the title of the most dominating faction from an unstoppable force! Who could I be talking about here? Kevin Sullivan's Dungeon Of Doom! Do not get me started on this one! With members of Meng, Barbarian and Zodiac (Brutus Beefcake), The Horsemen must have been quaking in their boots! While most of the fans were wetting themselves with laughter. But for some bizarre reason, they agree to form a pact to work together against the good guys.

But wait!! Zodiac no longer wants to associate with the DOD anymore. He never did, he was a spy!!! Hogan and Savage sent him to Kevin Sullivan to thwart their cunning plan! (I swear to you, i am not making this up!), and he has now returned to Hogan and Savage as a face, and a new name. Now he's The Booty Man!! So there's your face team! The MegaFaces from January 1989!

So we fast forward to Superbrawl VI, and Savage loses his title back to Flair when Liz turned on him by giving her shoe to Flair who knocked Savage silly with it. So Flair rubs it in now as WCW go for the storyline that WWE failed with four years earlier. Flair has Savage's belt, his ex wife and half his estate! While Hogan and Giant stunk up the main event of that PPV in their horrible cage match. But with all that aside, a spark of genius did come from that PPV. His name, was Brian Pillman.

During the working relationship of the Horsemen and DOD, Pillman would act very eratic, unpredictable, would come out with outbursts of how he was a Horseman and didn't have to respect anyone, but not without the occasional slap from Arn Anderson for acting the tard. So in order to keep the working relationship working, they decided that Pillman and Sullivan would settle it all at Superbrawl in an "I respect you" Strap match, where the loser has to utter those immortal words. Sullivan won the match, and Pillman delivers the infamous "I respect you... booker man!" line which completely broke kayfabe and was considered heavy sh*t back then. Pillman disappeared from WCW shortly after this for a short stint in ECW before totalling his Hummer and destroying his ankle which unfortunately spelled the beginning of the end for him.

As dumb as the storylines sound (trust me, WWE were churning out a lot worse, like Mabel and Yokozuna crushing Undertakers face and forcing Taker to wear a Phantom Of The Opera style mask), the matches Nitro were giving away were free would have made the eyes pop out of your head. Savage v Anderson and Hogan v Flair (a match WWE failed to produce on PPV in 1992) was given away for free week after week and were surprisingly enough, PPV quality, unlike their actual PPV matches!!

The Tag scene is a mess at this point, with the returning Road Warriors and returning Steiners placed in endless meaningless feuds with either Harlem Heat or the recently debuting Public Enemy. The tag scene was actually more focused on Sting and Lex Luger as WCW threw them together in the partners that don't trust each other angle. Because Sting was face, but Luger was heel in denial. Basically Luger would have Jimmy Hart steal his matches for him, and whenever Sting called him on it, he'd claim that he knew nothing about it. It was an interesting enough idea, but it was poorly implemented and dragged on for too long.

DDP is relegated to WCW Saturday Night at this stage, while his wife serves as valet to The Booty Man as The Booty Babe. Much as i admire Kimberley Page, i found her laying one on Ed Leslie, somewhat repulsing. Because if you think her and DDP are an ugly couple, you should see the lack of chemistry her and Beefcake have!

Don't think i've missed anything else here, as Nitro is still only 1 hour long at this point. But i'm still watching with interest, because as wacky as it sounds, it makes a lot more sense than the majority of WWE's draft this week!

gimmick

ROH: Death Before Dishonor 6

I started watching this weeks and weeks ago, but forgot so watcxhed it properly the weekend just gone. Excellent excellent show with some increrdible matches.

The opening 3 matches between Briscoes V Vulture Squad, Hero V Delirious and Roderick Strong V Eddie Edwards are nothing worth getting worked up about. Not poor by any means, but not particularly memorable either.

Then the real diamond in the rough comes about. Normally a match between Adam Pearce and Brent Albright would have me reaching for the remote, but I said Ill give this oen a go. And boy was I glad. Unlike a lot of wrestling these days, this had a very clear face/heel dynamic about it. Sweeney was the consumate pro and brilliant old school heel manager, Pearce the heel wrestler. I was absolutely shocked by how good this match was.

Then we get to the main events. A very good 3 way between Aries, Jacobs and Necro helps thie storyline along nicely here. Does not do much apart from that. Next up is Marufuji Vs Shiosaki - and predictably it is excellent. No such thing as a bad match with Marufuji.

We get get to the co main event - Steenerico V MCMG. What a match. Tag team wrestling as tag team wrestling should be. Decent build to a frenetic pace without the usual ROH problem of too many kick outs.

The main event is a 4 way elimination between Castagnoli V Black V Danielson V McGuinness. I both loved and hated this match at the same time.

McGuinness was outstanding in the early going. He is a fantastic heel champion, choosing his moments when to be in or out of the ring. Danielson has a good chemistry with everyone in this match, Black is the plucky underdog, and Castagnoli is a man distracted by his perceived underachievment. His elimination leads to a drawn out attack on Danielson leading to the formers heel turn. He beats Danielson down so brutally that Nigel picks up the easy pin to leave it down to do.

This is where I begin to hate the match.

Much like their so called classic encounter at Take No Prisoners Nigel dominates and must try to finsih the match 15 times, each time Black just kicks out, to Nigels disbelief and frustration. Black will then hit a counter, go for the pin, and fail. The last 7-8 minutes where just fecking stupid.

Overall though this is a great show and definitely worth picking up.

Next up is Super J Cup 1994. I have watched the first disc 3 times, but always drunk. Gonna make soem time for this and watch it properly. I am told it is probably the best juniors tournament ever. I remember a great match in it between Malenko and Gedo.

flahavaj

Just watching the entire Freebirds Vs von Erichs feud here and its gripping. If I wasn't a Gordy mark before, I am even more so now. Greatest big man ever?

ScumdogV2

Bam Bam Bigelow says hello.

flahavaj

ScumdogV2 wrote: »

Bam Bam Bigelow says hello.

Bam Bam Gordy>Bam Bam Bigelow!:p

Have to admit to being a pretty huge Bigelow mark too, I have to admit. I remember being in awe of one match Vs RVD from ECW where he just tossed him around like a sack of spuds with careless abandon. It was so much fun.

ScumdogV2

RF Video have released the footage from the ECW house show in June 2000 were the Sandman was even more hammered than usual. So much so, the fans had to hold him up as he made his entrance. After he finally gets in the ring, he decideds to expose his c**k and arse, which Tommy Dreamer and Tajiri try to stop.

Two great matches between RVD/Guido and Jerry Lynn/Justin Credible on it too.

ShawnRaven

Was flat out busy for the last couple of weeks, but i went back to watching more 1996 Nitro, i might do a write up later tonight for May-August 1996

gimmick

Just watched ROH: Age Of Insanity over the weekend. Very good show. No poor matches, but none are absolutely must see either.

The basic story of this show is the love triangle of Delirious, Rhett Titus and Daizee Haze. Haze in the past has passed on Delirious' asking ehr out. Delirious faces Titus, who has shagged Daizee and is showing everyone pics of it. AOTF come to the ring during the match and Jimmy Jacobs tells Delirious he is one of them. he has been scorned by the pretty girl who went for the popular guy in school. Delirious goes apepoopy on Titus before the ref stops it. daizee hits the ring dressed in her bestest girl next door garb, telling Delirious not to join Jacobs in AOTF. He ignores her, and is the newest member. Not sure can I buy into heel Delirious.

The other good matches of note were Aries Vs Tyler lack in an AOTF rules match (a scientific wrestling match), which makes no sense, as ROH is supposed to be a scientific wrestling promotion. Good match. These two have a good chemistry together.

Briscoes Vs Jacobs and Delirious is a decent brawl. I like how the Briscoes have went back to brawling and not just all about high spots anymore. it adds a good dimension to their repertoire.

The main event was excellent up to the last 5 minutes, which seems to eb a complaint I have with all of Nigels matches for a while now. Story of the match is that Nigel does not believe Generico to be a worthy contender. Long story short, Generico proves himself to be more than worthy and gets a few close falls. However, like all his matches lately, the finishing run is stupid. Nigel hits about 10 finishers, each of which there is a last gasp kick out. Nigel can never believe this. It takes from the match. It also shows his finishers as more than a little bit shít seeing as they can never actually finish anyone off.

I would buy this as part of a buy 3 get one free. Its a decent show but nothing must see about it.

Sirsok

i just watched the other day the jericho v benoit match from the super j cup on youtube.watched it purely because of jerichos book.didnt live up to my expectations

also just finished watching impact,the joe v steiner and booker match was fun!!!!bookers interview before the match had me in stiches it was hilarious but i love foley man
foley:this is my security detail
jb: security detail?
foley: indeed

priceless!!!!

Dante

WWF vs WCW - Survivor Series 2001 (WWF: Rock, Undertaker, Kane, big Show, Chris Jericho vs WCW: Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Shane McMahon, Rob Van Dam, Booker T)

I rarely ever watch wrestling but I just had to downloaded this! Thought the storyline was great and it was very entertaining aswell! I'm probably gonna be told by the hardcore fans that it was shít but oh well.....

ShawnRaven

DaaaaaaaaaaN wrote: »

I'm probably gonna be told by the hardcore fans that it was shít but oh well.....

The card itself wasn't bad, but the buildup was bloody terrible and made no sense, they had Stephanie McMahon "run ECW", Heyman loves women about as much as O.J Simpson loves court cases. That would NEVER have happened and served as an insult to any ECW fan.

There was also the issue of having little in the way of star power from both WCW and ECW on that card. Booker T, the leader of WCW? Maybe if Vince Russo was booking it!

It was a great card, and a great event, but that Invasion storyline was a complete and utter farce.

Machismo Fan

And what's worse is that they brought in Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, Bischoff, Flair and Steiner at a later stage anyway.

ShawnRaven

Machismo Fan wrote: »

And what's worse is that they brought in Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, Bischoff, Flair and Steiner at a later stage anyway.

They could, their contracts and subsequent guaranteed money were up.

Machismo Fan

ShawnRaven wrote: »

They could, their contracts and subsequent guaranteed money were up.

But all of them must have realised (WWF included) that if the big names kick started the Invasion it would have earned them a lot more than their Time Warner contracts.

ShawnRaven

Machismo Fan wrote: »

But all of them must have realised (WWF included) that if the big names kick started the Invasion it would have earned them a lot more than their Time Warner contracts.

We keep having this discussion!
At the end of the day it's.

Free money for sitting on your ass to do nothing.
A bit more money to go on the road and go back to work.

I know what i'd pick.

Machismo Fan

ShawnRaven wrote: »

A bit more money to go on the road and go back to work.

But it would have been more than just a bit more money, just look at the Invasion PPV, that didn't have the most star power on it and it was one of their most successful non-big four PPV's ever. Imagine how much more money was to be earned with the bigger names and those bigger names would have been handsomely paid for it.

ShawnRaven

Machismo Fan wrote: »

But it would have been more than just a bit more money, just look at the Invasion PPV, that didn't have the most star power on it and it was one of their most successful non-big four PPV's ever. Imagine how much more money was to be earned with the bigger names and those bigger names would have been handsomely paid for it.

Morale would have been in the toilet. WWE was already going through a major setback with the Rock leaving to do another movie during that period. If they had brought back in Hogan, Hall & Nash, Goldberg etc, there would have been quite a number of unhappy campers who wouldn't have been impressed.

Hell, Austin walked cos he was stuck in a midcard program with Hall a few months later. Trust me, there was no way Vince was going to risk that in 2001 when HHH was out, Rock was out, Angle seriously injured, and Austin on the border of being utterly fed up.

Machismo Fan

So basically, as always in wrestling, egos got in the way.

To post on topic I've been slowly sifting through TNA iMPACT! starting from when they got on Spike (October 1st 2005 to December 17th so far) and I've got to say Monty Brown was great fun to watch. His promo while interrupting Christian's iMPACT! debut was brilliant. I still think TNA should have pushed him to the moon. Some of the X-Division stuff back then (which fair enough I've seen a lot of it before) was brilliant back in the days of the Styles/Daniels/Joe feud.

I also noticed that anytime TNA made a major acquisition the mainstays there always beat down the newcomers in a dominating fashion (like Planet Jarrett laying out Team 3D (which led to the hilarious Team 3D funeral when James Storm finally came into his own) and Monty laying out Christian with a Pounce (a great Pounce too)). I found that an interesting contrast to these days.

deanodrummer

Just finished watching The Definitive Ric Flair Collection. Decent set, I enjoyed it. Not as much as The Ultimate Collection but didn't expect it to be. The match with Triple H at Taboo Tuesday was quality, as was the one with Sting at Clash 1, and the 2 outta 3 Falls with Kerry Von Erich. Not a bad match on it really.

Having watched a load of Flair matches in a row I noticed a distinct formula that kinda took away from my enjoyment. Alot of the same moves, spots, and basic match progression. *awaits bashing from Flair fans*

And the Flair flop is one of the most annoying things I've ever seen.

ShawnRaven

deanodrummer wrote: »

Having watched a load of Flair matches in a row I noticed a distinct formula that kinda took away from my enjoyment. Alot of the same moves, spots, and basic match progression. *awaits bashing from Flair fans*

And the Flair flop is one of the most annoying things I've ever seen.

Flairs run from 2002-2008 is often considered a nostalgia trip in the minds of old school fans, however he was able to make it more than that, but not always. His matches are very much the same formula, but thats what puts asses in the seats, draws buys, sells tickets, etc. It worked for Hogan, Savage, Bret, Austin, Rock and even to this day with Cena.

And if you think Flair's flop is annoying, you should see Valentines!

deanodrummer

ShawnRaven wrote: »

Flairs run from 2002-2008 is often considered a nostalgia trip in the minds of old school fans, however he was able to make it more than that, but not always. His matches are very much the same formula, but thats what puts asses in the seats, draws buys, sells tickets, etc. It worked for Hogan, Savage, Bret, Austin, Rock and even to this day with Cena.

And if you think Flair's flop is annoying, you should see Valentines!

I actually don't mind Valentine's that much. At least he doesn't do a full-on walk before falling on his mush.

I know what you mean about formulas but watching them all in a row it really stands out. I would actually prefer to watch Bret or Austin or HBK than Flair. He had some amazing matches though, and the one at WrestleWar with Steamboat is prob the best I've ever seen. Sometimes it seems like people say he's the best of all time by default or something though.