My second favorite thread on the old board.
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ROH: Generation Next vs. The Embassy - Steel Cage War Fare Elimination Match - December 3rd, 2005

After spending the entire 2000's in a wrestling coma, I missed peak ROH, apparently. My man, Baker, gave me a Top 13 matches to get me started, and when I saw the words, "Steel Cage War Fare match," in one of the 13 recommended matches, there was no doubt where I'd go first. Now, I have no idea what a Steel Cage War Fare Match is exactly, but I'm down. So here we go.

Generation Next is Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Jack Evans & Matt Sydal. They're the babyfaces.

The Embassy is Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley, Abyss & Prince Nana. They're the heels.

A Steel Cage War Fare Match seems to be War Games, only with one ring, and no roof on the cage. Two men start it off, then every five minutes another guy enters. I'm suddenly even more pumped, because War Games fucking rules.

I've read here that ROH fans kind of suck, but Jimmy Rave comes out first, and he's got serious heat. People are throwing toilet paper at him. Telling him to die. Apparently he pedigreed some woman in the near past, and he's not a popular man.

Austin Aries comes out next. I'm excited to see him as I've read his name thrown around a lot over the years, so I assume he's real good, but I've never seen one second of his work.

Aries and Rave spend the next five minutes doing some generic punch/kick stuff. Aries pretty much just pounds the shit out of him. Aries doing a lot of crowd work, asking if he should, "Show mercy?" The crowd (of course) says no. One guy tells Aries to, "Break his fucking back." It's hard to get a read on either guys talents here. I don't have a first impression on either guy, to be honest.

Alex Shelley comes in next giving the Embassy a two-on-one advantage. With Rave being so fucked up, its not immediately an advantage as Aries can concentrate on Shelley alone, and get the better of it. But the numbers eventually get to him and the heels take advantage.

I have to say, while I couldn't tell if I liked Aries/Rave in their five minutes together, I know almost immediately that I like Shelley. He's doing some great heel shit. Trash talking to everybody, his opponent, fat guys in the crowd. Shelley is alright in my book. Rave puts Aries in a camel clutch, and then Shelley starts wrenching back on Rave to increase the affect on Aries on the bottom.

Matt Sydal comes in next, evening things up. Sydal seems like a generic indy guy to me. The good guys quickly gain back the advantage. They do some cool double team moves the best being a double submission move where they kind of put Rave and Shelley in human centipede position, then flip them over onto their knees in a surfboard type maneuver.

Abyss comes in next. He's the hired gun of the group and the "Enforcer" according to one of the awful announcers doing commentary. He cleans house doing some solid big man shit. I know Abyss from TNA commercials. I always assumed he sucked, but he's pretty good here. He does this torture rack thing where he sits down on it and it becomes sort of a neck breaker. Giant press slams. Not too bad. There's a cool spot where Aries gains an advantage on Abyss for a second, even getting him up in a fireman's carry to do something I'm going to assume is different than a Spicolli Drive, yet not nearly as cool, as the 2000's trend seems to go, but Abyss immediately reverses it and does an overhead-release-belly-to-belly into the cage that elicits a slightly premature "holy shit" chant.

With Abyss single handedly turning things back in the heel's favor, my man, Shelley, is feeling good about himself and talking more shit than ever. He even tells somebody in the crowd, "You fucking suck, fatty," and I concur. Then something amazing happens. Shelley does this move on Aries.

He does this like 10 times, and it's awesome. It has no name, apparently, but I'm going to call it the, "Fuck her gently." Shelley inspects the chair that the FHG just took place on to find blood. (I would later find out this was called the much better named "Skull fuck.")

"Ohhhhhh," he yells, pleased with his discovery. Shelley rules.

Roderick Strong comes in next, which immediately makes me think of Boy Meets World's, Rider Strong, but I digress. Roderick Strong rules too. Apparently the woman Rave took out causing him so much heat was Strong's Beulah, and he's not happy about this. Every move Strong does seems intent on breaking people's backs. Take every move you've ever seen, Strong alters them slightly by having you land on his knees instead of the mat. A Rock Bottom into a back breaker, is one example, and also my personal favorite, at the moment. The fans chant, "Break his back," once Strong finally gets to Rave. No backs are broken, but carnage ensues.

Things eventually even out again. Abyss does his finishing move (A sidewalk slam with a couple spins before the slam) on the man I suspected was a generic indy guy, Sydal. Sydal's the first to go, so I'm gonna give one point to myself. Abyss doesn't pin him, though. Rave, pedigrees the already finished Sydal so he can get the pin himself. Classic chickenshit heel stuff. Later Sydal.

Shelley continues to talk shit. He's digging at Aries cut, and even has to tell Abyss to stop licking Aries blood from his fists. Then looks at the camera like, "Holy shit, with this fucking guy."

Prince Nana comes out next. Prince Nana isn't really a wrestler, apparently. He's like the head bad guy, and the wrestlers are his henchman, but with the 4-on-2 advantage he's comfortable getting in the ring, and he gets a little work done. It's a beat down for the next five minutes with Aries and Strong showing toughness lasting the five minutes before their next teammate comes out.

Before this, though, some woman comes out. I guess this is the Beulah of the angle? Anyway, she's a distraction to give Jack Evans an advantage when he comes out.

Jack Evans looks like a big league jobber. I'm pretty convinced I'm not going to like him. But he immediately does this.

HOLYFUCKINGSHITTITS. Holy shit chant, obviously. As they all lay on the floor, one guy in the front row says, "You're the fucking man, Jack," very matter of factly. Not in a wrestling fan kind of way. Just like, well done, sir.

It was a really dangerous landing. Another fan even yells to the heels, "You're supposed to catch him when he does that." I both love and hate that fan. But he's right. It's a miracle Evans isn't paralyzed. Does he consider himself lucky and take the rest of the match easy? No. He does this one minute later.

That's a jump from the top of a steel cage onto a human body being held up by a man standing on the top rope, into a moonsault ten feet below, words I've never typed before in that particular order. As he's getting ready to jump, a "Please don't die," chant erupts.

Not only does he not die, he takes Abyss out. Now it's 3-3, 3-2 really, because the Prince is useless.

I have to say, I was pretty underwhelmed by the match before Evans showed up. His insane spots not only bump the match up from underwhelming to legendary, but it picks the whole match up from there too. Now crazy spots are happening constantly.

Evans does a 630 splash (!) onto Shelley's knees. Shelley then does his finishing move off the second rope getting rid of Evans.

The crowd is irate that Evans is gone.

It's 3 vs. 2 now, and they do a lame comedy spot where the Prince hits both of his guys by accident without noticing. This gives the advantage back to Generation Next. Aries does this great combo of a DDT and then a brainbuster onto a standing chair on Shelley (think of Raven's drop toe hold spot, only it's a fucking DDT and Brainbuster). While Aries gets the three count on Shelley, Rave taps to Strong who's giving him the WCW version of Jericho's Liontamer. Not that watered down WWF Walls of Jericho bullshit.

Now it's 2 vs. 1 on the Prince. There's no longer drama on who will win but the crowd takes pleasure in knowing the Prince is gonna catch a beating. Aries and Strong take their time beating him up before Aries lands a pretty sweet 450 splash on him for the win.

Austin Aries & Roderick Strong are the survivors giving Generation Next the win.

Dean Kilgore Grade: A-

The first half was only okay. I never lost faith in Baker's recommendation knowing it had to pick up eventually, but I was watching it, waiting for it to pick up eventually. With Jack Evans' MVP performance, it didn't disappoint when it did. But it fell just short of a full blown A with the slow start, and the kind of lame Prince Nana accidentally beats up his own guys without knowing spot. Good times.

What a review. I still actually have not seen that match, it's almost like the old ECW reviews in the magazines back in the day, the actual match could never live up to what I picture in my head reading the description. It's like reading a really good book and then watching the movie version. That's how I feel about so much of the ECW I gorged on over the last 5 years, shit that I read about back in the day but never saw.

Great review Kilgore. It's been a while since I watch this match but your review is a great refresher. Matches like this are why I loved ROH in its early days. They not only had good matches for the sake of having good matches, they integrated personality with great work rate

Been watching the 1997 tapes that are hitting their 20 year anniversary. I've watched September 15th through 29th episodes of Raw, Nitro, and Hardcore TV(also watched Ground Zero and One Night Only). Some great shit. One thing that sticks out to me was the way WCW was jobbing out Stevie Richards, back to back weeks he gets put up against DDP and Randy Savage and he just does complete jobber duties.

I don't know why but Stevie's run in the Attitude Era really intrigues me. He worked his way up from the bottom to the top in ECW then he's wrestling Randy Savage on Nitro the highest rated wrestling show at the time, but they just job him out and get rid of him. Man they really had no idea what they had. 

Death Before Dishonor XV
ROH World Championship
Cody (c) vs Minoru Suzuki

During the challenger's entrance the announcers are quick to point out that this is Suzuki's first time wrestling in the USA. I found that very surprising. Dude's been around a while. On paper this is a heel vs heel match, but because of the aforementioned fact, Suzuki is babyface for one night only. To accentuate this, none of his Suzuki-gun minions are with him. Will there be any Suzuki shenanigans? Only time will tell.

Out comes the champ with a bunch of showgirls and his wife, clad in an American flag sit. Cody shows off an ROH ring on his finger. Not sure what that's all about. Some kind of champion's privilege? As flashy as this entrance is, I still have a hard time buying Cody as a world champion. Guys like Lesnar, Okada, Cena, Reigns, Styles exude stardom at every moment they are in view of the cameras. I don't get this vibe from Cody. Sure, he's confident, he's at ease in his environment, but I look at him and just see a midcarder. Perhaps this is a mental thing that will never go away.

Cody opens the match in a foolish way. He walks up to Minoru fucking Suzuki, holds out his hand, and asks him to kiss the ring. Suzuki smiles, sticks his tongue out, grabs Cody's wrist, and bites the ring finger! From there he grabs a Fujiwara armbar. Cody scrambles to the ropes and bails. Cody jawjacks with the crowd, acting surprised at this turn of events. That's a pro-wrestling trope I never got. Heel provokes babyface, babyface hits him or whatever, heel runs away and acts like he wasn't expecting it? Come the fuck on. On the other hand, some of the audience might not know Suzuki, and those few seconds of action clearly established what he's all about. He's sadistic, fearless, and he knows submissions.

Cody puts up the fists. They square up. Cody throws a wild punch. Suzuki easily evades and hits a nice three-strike combo. Cody bails again. Next time they meet, Cody's thigh eats some kicks and the champion flees for a third time. Suzuki lies down in the middle of the ring and does some core exercises. He's revelling in this rare opportunity to have some fun and entertain the crowd. Cody gets back in the ring and is soon out on the floor, but this time it's Suzuki's doing. The challenger gets on the apron and goes for a running kick, but the slimeball champion pulls his wife in the way. Apparently even Suzuki has his limits. He aborts the strike, and Cody takes advantage by sleeping his leg to send Suzuki crashing on the apron. Cody beats on Suzuki for a bit, but Suzuki starts no-selling some chops, screaming at Cody and presenting his tongue. Cody rolls Suzuki in the ring. He sits up and smiles. Cody lands some more strikes and stomps and goes for a cover. Suzuki kicks out at one, sits up and laughs. Yeah, Suzuki is really enjoying this. Cody responds by throwing Suzuki through the ropes. He calmly strlls around the ring, selling a little, and climbs on the apron. Cody grabs a leg and dragon screws it on the ropes, Tanahashi style. Cody taunts, runs the ropes, but Suzuki catches him with his trademark upside down armbar on the ropes.

Suzuki takes control with strikes and a cross armbreaker. Cody makes the ropes. The pudgy ref shouts a count and breaks the hold. Suzuki gets in his face, backing him into the corner, sticking his tongue out and making a licking motion. The official justifiably looks terrified. Suzuki gets back to work, pounding on Cody's arm while smiling. Cody counters a guillotine choke into a Gordbuster. Shortly after he locks in the Yes Lock. Suzuki screams in pain. Cody randomly releases the hold and does the Daniel Bryan finger points. This doesn't get much of a reaction. Cody then goes for CrossRhodes, but Suzuki counters into an ankle lock. Cody works his way to his feet. Suzuki releases the ankle and grabs the sleeper. He holds it a while, but Cody is still able to fight out of the Gotch Piledriver. Suzuki slaps Cody three times. Cody suddenly turns around, springs off the ropes, and hits the Disaster Kick. An oddly elaborate move to go for while you're being pounded, but it worked, I guess. Made Suzuki look like a goof for just standing there and letting it happen. They run the ropes a bit, Suzuki grabs a sleeper, Cody counters into a sudden Cross Rhodes to remain ROH World Champion. He presses his ring to the lips of the fallen challenger.

The only good thing about this match was Suzuki's taunting. As the match went on I got the impression he was half-assing it. The action was flat and lacked drama. A lot of the closing sequence didn't make much sense. The bottom line is that Suzuki had some fun and did the bare minimum to put Cody over. Neither man came out looking better than they did going in.

I hadn't felt like watching much wrestling even before PW became unbearable. But it's nice to know I'll have plenty of stuff to watch thanks to this awesome Youtube dude called Cactus Back Wrestling when I do decide to come back.

www.youtube.com/user/CactusBack1/videos

This channel has a ton of late 90s-early 2000s indie stuff I'd have gladly sacrificed a few fingers to watch back in the day- Memphis Power Pro Wrestling, APW, ECWA, OVW, HWA (OVW's lesser known sister promotion), even a bunch of Dan Severn NWA Title defenses. Good stuff. Throwing it out there for anyone else who might be interested. Which reminds me, we need to get Kash Dinero over here.

Yeah I was thinking about Kash, Fezz, and Rad, need to tell all 3 guys about this spot. 

Great find with that Youtube Channel. I bookmarked it, some very interesting matches in Dan Severn vs Yoshihiro Tajiri(1995), Severn vs Regal, also the NWA title tournament show from 1994 is on there in full, this has what I've always heard was an excellent match between The Gangstas vs Rock N Roll Express for Smoky Mountain belts.

Spotlight: Steve Bradley

Steve Bradley was a late 90s-early 2000s WWF Developmental guy and a big internet darling at the time. He was often favorably compared to RVD with some wild-eyed dissidents even claiming he was better than the genuine article. Bradley was also often mentioned in the same breath as the big indie darlings of the day- Christopher Daniels, Michael Modest & Reckless Youth.

Legend has it Vince was so put off by RVD's attitude when he worked a few WWF shows in 1997 that he urged his minions to scour the indies for an RVD clone he could mold into a far bigger star than the real RVD had ever been as an FU to Van Dam. A story like that's gotta be true! Steve Bradley was the man they found.

I think I've only seen one previous Bradley match (the opponent, Tom Howard if I remember correctly, oddly impressed more than Bradley), so let's rectify that.

Steve Bradley vs. Erin O'Grady- Memphis Power Pro Wrestling- 1999

O'Grady is the future Crash Holly. He had generated some buzz himself wrestling for the California based APW which lead to his signing.

They do some stuff and take it home early when O'Grady has a nasty landing on a botched Frankensteiner. Bradley quickly pins for the win.

Verdict: DUD

Steve Bradley vs. Derrick King- PPW 1999

King is the acting figurehead. He's a babyface. Bradley's scheduled opponent Lance Jade (not to be confused with Cade) isn't in the building so King is taking his place....while wearing a suit.

This was pretty fun. Bradley, who is fairly big, think Colt Cabana-sized, hits two nice moonsaults- a Split Legged and an Outside-In off the second rope. King fights back and lands this firmly in the 'win' column when he hits a dropkick while wearing dress shoes. King later hits an X Factor. Big pop! 1-2-----NO! A heel faction of Vic Grimes, Mick Tierney & Von Keller(?) interrupt before the ref's hand comes down a third time. Their timing was awful by the way. That was the longest two count ever. Heels beatdown King to heat.

Verdict: Fun. But King impressed more than Bradley (dropkick in dress shoes!).

Christopher Daniels vs. Steve Bradley- ECWA Super 8 Finals February 1999

The ECWA Super 8 was THE premiere indie show of the year until ROH became a thing. It's alumni reads like a who's who of late 90s-2000s wrestling. It was modeled after the Super J Cup and was really the first time a pure indie promotion brought talent in from all over the US. These were two of the indie Big 4 of the day (with Modest & Reckless being the other two). I wanted to go to this show but missed out because of reasons. It would be another 2 and a half years before I finally saw ECWA live.

This was disappointing. I liked how they took the time to establish face/heel dynamics with Bradley being the face and Daniels the heel but the wrestling was pretty pedestrian. I can't even imagine going crazy over this back in '99. Daniels controlled most of the way, getting two nearfalls- one off Angel's Wings and another off a moonsault. Bradley hit 3 wimpy 90s style clotheslines- more Davey Boy or Luger than Bradshaw, before getting the win when he rolled through a Daniels top rope crossbody.

Verdict: ** Very disappointing after 18 years of hype. This was voted 2nd best indie match of the 90s at DeathValleyDriver.com. Yeah, 90s indie wrestling pretty much sucked, but I'd bet I could find a hundred 90s indie matches better than this.

Steve Bradley has yet to wow me and is looking far more like a Julio Sanchez or Inferno Kid than a Daniels or AJ at this point. Maybe you had to be there? Bradley never did get the call up. The buzz faded as he languished in Developmental for years. He eventually got shipped to the Cincinnati based HWA once the Memphis developmental leagues were shut down. WWF bought WCW and ECW folded a few months earlier, meaning WWF now had unfettered access to every major US wrestler. Real RVD soon came in, leaving no room for fake RVD. Bradley would be released in 2002. There would never even be an ROH or TNA stint for the internet golden boy of 1999. Bradley unfortunately passed away in 2008. He was 32.

Here is former WWF/ROH announcer Kevin Kelly writing about Bradley 
www.wrestlezone.com/editorials/199711-wasted-opportunity-a-look-back-at-steve-bradley

Bonus Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle vs. Bulldog Raines- PPW 1999

Raines looks like Pitbull #2 if PB2 had preferred Big Macs to steroids.

Angle looks so young here. He looked better with hair. It's true. It's true. They shake hands. Stuff happens. They shake hands again. Raines is such a gentleman! Not at all what I was thinking given his bruiser look. Angle cuts a cheesy, goodie two shows, 80s babyface insert promo. PPW production is terrible. Angle scores the win with a nice belly to belly.

Verdict: This was a match that happened.

*Like Bradley, PPW has yet to live up to the hype it generated back in 1999. Maybe I'll try some APW next.

Oct 3, 2017 0:34:13 GMT Baker said:

This was voted 2nd best indie match of the 90s at DeathValleyDriver.com. Yeah, 90s indie wrestling pretty much sucked, but I'd bet I could find a hundred 90s indie matches better than this.

I had to see this list, and I found this:

1) Hardys vs. Serial Thrillerz - OMEGA (1/29/99) = 184 Points (2-2-2)

2) Hardys vs. Serial Thrillerz - OMEGA (12/5/98) = 118 Points (3-0-1)

3) Christopher Daniels vs. Mike Modest - APW (1/15/99) = 115 Points (0-3-2)

4) Christopher Daniels vs. Steve Bradley - ECWA "Super 8 '99" (2/27/99 - Finals) = 102 (0-1-0)

5) Surge vs. Willow The Wisp - OMEGA 7/31/98 (2/3 Falls Title vs. Mask) = 98 (1-1-0)

6) Venom/Shane Helms vs. Hardys - OMEGA (7/24/98) = 88

7) Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Hardy - ECWA "Super 8 '99" (2/27/99 - Semis) = 85

8) Willow the Whisp vs. Kid Dynamo - OMEGA (7/24/98) = 73

9) Cactus Jack vs. Eddie Gilbert - Tri State "Summer Sizzler '91" (8/3/91 - 2/3 Falls - Three matches) = 69

10) Sabu vs. Lightning Kid - NWA Grandslam (4/17/93) = 57

11) Heavenly Bodies v. Rock n' Roll Express - SMW "Bluegrass Brawl '94" (4/1/94 Loser Leaves Town Cage Match) = 54

12) Heavenly Bodies vs. Chris Jericho/Lance Storm - SMW "Night of Legends" 13) (8/5/94) = 51

13) Reckless Youth vs. Mike Quackenbush - ECWA (7/18/98) = 51

14) Cactus Jack vs. Eddie Gilbert - Tri State "Autumn Armageddon '90" (9/15/90 - 2/3 Falls) = 48

15) Reckless Youth vs. Lance Diamond vs. Cheetah Master - NWA 2nd Gilbert Memorial (4/12/97) = 47

16) Jeff Jarrett vs. Brian Christopher - USWA (4/93 TV) = 46

17) Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn - Global (2/3 Falls, Light Heavyweight Title) = 46

18) Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn - Global 7/13/91 (Light Heavyweight Title Tourney Finals) = 44

19) Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Christian York vs. Joey Matthews - MCW (3/20/99 - Maryland) = 44

20) Heavenly Bodies vs. T. Smothers/Dirty White Boy - SMW "Superbowl of Wrestling" (8/4/95) = 42 (0-1-0)

forum.ewrestlingnews.com/showthread.php?4499-Death-Valley-Drivers-Top-20-Indy-Matches-of-the-90s

KashDinero pops up in that thread from 2011.

Personally, I'd have Sabu vs. Kid as the best indie math from the 90s, but I haven't seen most of the matches rated above it. 

I'm milking old reviews since I haven't watched a wrestling match in a bit.
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Sabu vs. The Lightning Kid -- 4.17.93 -- Somewhere, Minnesota

Sabu comes out with Oliver Humperdink!

Sabu shoots for the leg, as he often did to start matches, getting Kid on his back. Kid kicks him in the head from his back. More leg work by Sabu, before it devolves into punching. Sabu had great indy punches. Sure he telegraphed his arm slap. But that's part of the deal. They exchanged punches, Kid misses a spinning heel kick, Sabu takes him down and works the leg some more. Half Arabian crab.

Kid gets up, gets Irish whipped, doesn't sell the leg at all, but whatever, and then hits a spinning heel kick with the injured leg. This sends Sabu outside, who stalls.

Sabu jumps over a ringside table to get back in the ring. Wade Keller shoutout, as he's sitting there. Wade Keller plug by commentary. "Best wrestling radio show in the twin cities." Your darn tootin.

Leg scissors rest hold by Sabu.

Dennis Carluzzo shoutout! Long dry spell of NWA in Minny before tonight. We all owe Dennis a debt of gratitude, apparently.

Sabu goes to the apron, jumps over the top rope and drops the leg. The crowd oohs and ahhs for this move, which was a nice reminder that this move which was routine, and totally taken for granted a couple years later, was pretty fucking boss in 1993.

Lightning kid dropkicks Sabu out of an attempted, I don't know what. You know that thing that starts like a back body drop, but you launch them higher looking to flapjack them instead. Is that just a flapjack? Anyway, Sabu is dropkicked to the face.

Spinning heel kick by Kid again.

Sabu is against the ropes, when kid tries a spear type maneuver, but Sabu moves as kid falls to the outside.

Sabu with a slingshot somersault to the outside. He helps Kid up, only to jump onto the apron and Asai moonsault him for good measure. Fucking awesome.

Sabu gets up slowly, rolls into the ring, and does the Sabu pose, pointing to the sky.

Olly Humperdink rams Kid's head into the post busting him open. He tries his luck again, but even busted open, Kid isn't too weak to kick Olive Humperdink's fat ass, and punches him out. Onto the apron kid goes, but Sabu is waiting there for him. he kicks Kid in the gut, and then sunset flips Kid into a powerbomb on the floor!

On the floor, you see how much Kid is bleeding, as it starts to puddle on the floor. Nice job, Kid.

Sabu brings him back in the ring, Irish whips him, and hits a spinning heel kick of his own. 1993: The Year of the Spinning Heel Kick

Sabu, with a slingshot split legged moounsault. Sabu climbs to the top, and standing up top, drops down for another split legged moonsault. Kid gets his knees up, though.

Kid now with the advantage does the corner 10 punch thing. Then does his signature series, with the two standing kicks to the head, then he climbs to the second rope and does one more.

Snap mare by Kid, and he climbs to the top. Sabu crotches him, and then hurricanranas him off the ropes.

One commentator, who's pretty good actually, wonders why Sabu doesn't go for the cover. "CAUSE HE'S SADiSTIC!"

Sabu puts kid back on the the ropes and attempts a second hurricanrana. Kid sorts of reverses it into a powerbomb, but the timing is off, and it's mostly a double botch. Sabu lands square on his head and doesn't break his neck, not for the first or last time, because he's not human.

Kid does a couple of running snap leg drops, like he's known to do, goes for the pin, but only gets a two with Humperdink placing Sabu's leg on the bottom rope to break the count.

Snap suplex by Kid. he climbs to the top, Somersault senton, but Sabu moves out of the way.

Sabu then climbs the top, but Kid gets up and drop kicks him off the top rope and onto the floor.

Kid then does what I normally call a Jericho dive, jumping from the second rope inside the ring perpendicular to the side of the ring he's jumping out of, and onto the floor. Kid may have been doing it before the Man of 1004 Holds.

Kid then climbs back to the top rope and does a somersault onto a standing Sabu on the floor! It's not a great flip, but come on! Plus it's 1993. If I saw this in 1993, this would have only been the second time I've ever seen that happen (Liger vs. Pillman being the first). This is crazy shit back then.

"This hasn't been a wrestling match, this has been a war. Nuclear warfare." One of the announcers says, not overselling it all that much.

Back to the ring with Kid throwing Sabu into the corner. He attempts a running drop kick, but he nails the ref, who is half taken out. Sabu then punches him in the back of the head to finish the job.

Kind of sloppy scuffle taking place between Kid and Sabu when the bell rings. Ref rules the match a no contest, since both wrestlers "attacked him." Commentators are outraged since Kid's was an accident, but get over it. Sabu ain't losing to the Kliq's resident duffle bag shitter.

With the match over, Humperdink jumps in the ring, and he and Sabu do a number on Kid. Fists into the gash on his forehead, some old school heel shit. The crowd wants somebody to make the save and wouldn't you know it, out comes "Gentleman" Jerry Lynn to the ring. With a chair! He chases the heels out of the ring, and that's that.

Dean Kilgore Grade: B

1993 Kilgore Grade if he had seen it then: A+

You could nitpick the shit out of it. No long term selling at all. No story, really. But it was a fantastic spotfest in a time where those kind of spotfests were revolutionary. That counts for quite a bit, for me. If this match happened in the ECW arena two years later, we'd probably be talking about it constantly. I don't have a Sean Waltman Top 5 match list, but I imagine this would be on it.

Oct 3, 2017 4:17:08 GMT Kilgore said:

Oct 3, 2017 0:34:13 GMT Baker said:

This was voted 2nd best indie match of the 90s at DeathValleyDriver.com. Yeah, 90s indie wrestling pretty much sucked, but I'd bet I could find a hundred 90s indie matches better than this.

I had to see this list, and I found this:

1) Hardys vs. Serial Thrillerz - OMEGA (1/29/99) = 184 Points (2-2-2)

2) Hardys vs. Serial Thrillerz - OMEGA (12/5/98) = 118 Points (3-0-1)

3) Christopher Daniels vs. Mike Modest - APW (1/15/99) = 115 Points (0-3-2)

4) Christopher Daniels vs. Steve Bradley - ECWA "Super 8 '99" (2/27/99 - Finals) = 102 (0-1-0)

5) Surge vs. Willow The Wisp - OMEGA 7/31/98 (2/3 Falls Title vs. Mask) = 98 (1-1-0)

6) Venom/Shane Helms vs. Hardys - OMEGA (7/24/98) = 88

7) Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Hardy - ECWA "Super 8 '99" (2/27/99 - Semis) = 85

8) Willow the Whisp vs. Kid Dynamo - OMEGA (7/24/98) = 73

9) Cactus Jack vs. Eddie Gilbert - Tri State "Summer Sizzler '91" (8/3/91 - 2/3 Falls - Three matches) = 69

10) Sabu vs. Lightning Kid - NWA Grandslam (4/17/93) = 57

11) Heavenly Bodies v. Rock n' Roll Express - SMW "Bluegrass Brawl '94" (4/1/94 Loser Leaves Town Cage Match) = 54

12) Heavenly Bodies vs. Chris Jericho/Lance Storm - SMW "Night of Legends" 13) (8/5/94) = 51

13) Reckless Youth vs. Mike Quackenbush - ECWA (7/18/98) = 51

14) Cactus Jack vs. Eddie Gilbert - Tri State "Autumn Armageddon '90" (9/15/90 - 2/3 Falls) = 48

15) Reckless Youth vs. Lance Diamond vs. Cheetah Master - NWA 2nd Gilbert Memorial (4/12/97) = 47

16) Jeff Jarrett vs. Brian Christopher - USWA (4/93 TV) = 46

17) Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn - Global (2/3 Falls, Light Heavyweight Title) = 46

18) Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn - Global 7/13/91 (Light Heavyweight Title Tourney Finals) = 44

19) Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Christian York vs. Joey Matthews - MCW (3/20/99 - Maryland) = 44

20) Heavenly Bodies vs. T. Smothers/Dirty White Boy - SMW "Superbowl of Wrestling" (8/4/95) = 42 (0-1-0)

forum.ewrestlingnews.com/showthread.php?4499-Death-Valley-Drivers-Top-20-Indy-Matches-of-the-90s

KashDinero pops up in that thread from 2011.

Personally, I'd have Sabu vs. Kid as the best indie math from the 90s, but I haven't seen most of the matches rated above it. 

Nice find. My very quick search came up empty and it looks like my memory was off by two spots.

Can't remember if I ever got around to watching Sabu/Kid when you reviewed it. I'll have to (re?)watch it one of these days. Also want to catch the Kid/Lynn matches since they apparently hold up well.

From what I've seen off of that list I'd go...

1. Bodies vs. Rock & Roll
2. Bodies vs. Thrillseekers
3. Hardyz vs. Serial Thrillaz

4. Bradley vs. Daniels

I don't even like SMW all that much but those two Bodies matches have my recommendation.

I saw grainy footage of a Cactus/Eddie match years ago but can't remember which of their matches it was. Between the lousy footage and the length I was not a fan.

I'd have to say one of the best indie matches I've seen from the 90's would have to be the Owen vs Japanese feller that took place in Tri States Wrestling Alliance in 91, that was a hell of a gem.

I'm going to try doing a match review every day. Prediction: I poop out in three days.

Steve Bradley (c) vs. Wolfie D- Power Pro Wrestling 1999- Young Guns Championship

Bradley is out first to either Eye of the Tiger or an Eye of the Tiger knockoff. He cuts an 80s babyface promo with Dave Brown. Bradley wishes Kurt Angle luck in his upcoming PPW title match and calls his opponent Wolfie D a young up and comer. Bradley is uncomfortable on the mic.

Memphis veteran Wolfie D is out next. He too grabs the mic and takes offense to Bradley calling him a young up and comer. Wolfie goes over his history in the territory and is a lot more comfortable than Bradley on the mic.

Corey Maclin & Dave Brown are on commentary. Sadly no Lance Russell, though I think he did show up from time to time in PPW.

This is a perfectly fine 5 minute face vs. face 1999 Cruiserweight match. Each man has supporters in the crowd. We get some pro-Wolfie chants followed by some in Bradley's favor. Not much of a story but some cool moves. Bradley hits a nice moonsault and Tajiri's handspring elbow which I've come to recognize as two of his signature moves. Wolfie hits a cool sliding headscissors to the floor, nice spinning powerbomb, and the rare painful looking swinging neckbreaker. We get a ref bump. Wolfie locks in the sleeper. Bradley is fading. But wait! It's Kid Wikkid! Wikkid hits Wolfie with D's signature hubcap. The unconscious Bradley just happens to have one shoulder on Wolfie's chest. Ref comes to. 1-2-3. Bradley is your winner thanks to Kid Wikkid. 

Wouldn't mind seeing a rematch or the inevitable 3 way.

Larry Zbyszko vs. Ray Stevens- AWA May 1987

The thread about Larry Zbyszko's popularity in WCW during the NWO era made me want to watch some Larry Legend. As if I needed another reason.....

This appears to be the Hall vs. Zbyszko of 1987 with Zbyszko in the Hall role as the hated heel and Stevens in Zbyszko's future role as a legendary heel-turned announcer-turned righteous babyface. Pretty cool.

This feud came about when Larry Legend helped Curt Hennig beat Nick Bockwinkle for the AWA Title by handing Curt a roll of dimes which he used to hit Bock with a cheapshot for the win. Stevens took offense at this dastardly plot perpetrated against his old tag partner Bockwinkle and now it's time for the old legend to lock horns with the young(ish) legend.

Stevens made his name primarily on the West Coast. He was basically the God of San Francisco wrestling. He has a reputation of being a great heel and the biggest bumper of his day. A young Dave Meltzer loved him and when Flair was coming up through the ranks he was called "the next Ray Stevens" as a big time compliment. 

In classic Zbyszko fashion Larry Legend grabs the mic as the ring announcer is introducing him to berate his opponent and the Spudheads in attendance. Zbyszko is wearing his swank karate robe. The 52 year old Stevens is shorter than Zbyszko and pudgy. Picture a thinner (but still chubby) Louie Anderson. 

Zbyszko back pedals away from the fired up Stevens and stalls. Crowd is all over him with loud "LARRY SUCKS" chants. We get some fan shots. They mean it. You can tell by the look on their faces. These folks do not like Larry Zbyszko. Zbyszko claims to be the first wrestler to get "___ Sucks" chants. I can buy that. Stevens finally catches Zbyszko with an eye rake (old heels never fully reform) and turnbuckle smash. Zbyszko sells these extremely well. Really makes it seem like these moves hurt. Stevens hits some quality punches. Somehow I knew the original "Crippler" would throw good punches. Zbyszko halts the momentum with his patented "Zbyszko Kick" (spinkick to the stomach) and fires off some nice punches of his own. Stevens comes back and I'm 99% sure he accidentally punches Zbyszko full force in the face with a right cross  :lol:  Ouch. That was either the greatest worked punch ever or one hell of a potato. Zbyszko takes it well. No temper tantrum. No payback shots. This is a simple match- mostly punches and turnbuckle smashes. But they look good and it's refreshing to see so much selling. Stevens drops an elbow for two and goes for a piledriver. But no! It's the 80s and Zbyszko's feet graze the fragile ref on his way up into piledriver position so naturally the ref is down. Zbsyzko reaches into his tights for a roll of dimes! BAM! Haymaker connects. Ref comes to life. 1-2-3. Zbyszko has done it again! Add another name to the long list of legends Larry Zbyszko has put down.

Simply the best
Better than all the rest
Better than anyone

Verdict- Good old school match with a clear face/heel story, simple moves that looked good, and lots of selling. I'm at the point now where I greatly prefer something like this to the Bradley/Wolfie cruiserweight match I watched yesterday. Will see if I can find a rematch.

Raven vs Chris Jericho - WWF Raw - February 2001

Jericho released his forth memoir the other day and was talking about some of his worst in-ring moments. His first in ECW against Rob Van Dam was so bad Heyman 'lost' the tape, his first in WCW against Mr. J.L. was such a stinker he got brow beaten by Terry Taylor and his first big match on Raw against The Rock sucked so bad Jeff Jarrett pulled him aside. The point Jericho was making is that he usually learns his lesson, which is why it was so odd that he stunk up the joint with Raven who is now on his podcast network. The match was so bad Austin led a protest in the cafeteria when the boys were watching the tape back.



Usual pre-match affair with the babyface cutting off the heel during his spiel. Normally heel spiel is really lazy and it usually comes down to the foreigner talking about how great their country is, or how much the local sports team sucks but I thought Raven had a good take on the 'aren't I awesome' flavour. Anyone who can use genuflect in a heel promo deserves props. Jericho's comeback is weak, but he's more concerned about getting his catchphrase over and his usual quirks over.

Match opens with what I assume is a baseball slide, sort of hard to tell with the WWF Intercontinental Championship graphic hogging the limelight, from Raven. Instead of following the logical flow of a baseball slide (brawl around the ring etc.) Raven throws Jericho back in. He stomps away at Jericho, throws him into the ropes only for Jericho to roll him up with a sloppy inside cradle.

Both men back on their feet as Jericho chops Raven and Raven hams it up big-time with the over-selling. Jericho throws Raven into the ropes and hits a sloppy hip toss where both men come off their feet. It was so bad that JR's botch of calling it a hip flop was actually a more accurate description. Boots in the corner by Jericho, but Raven reverses the irish whip, hits a clothesline in the corner and after failing to grab Chris the first time eventually hits a bulldog for a two count.

Raven whips Jericho to an opposite corner, Jericho takes a Bret Hart sternum bump but dodges the clothesline from Raven and hits Raven with a flying forearm. Shades of Bret and Michaels in the same sequence but the timing from Raven was so lousy the spot didn't come off as well as it should have. Jericho follows through with a face crusher but Raven kicks out at 2.

Jericho backs Raven in the corner, punches and slaps Jericho before whipping him to the other corner where he eats a big boot by Raven. Raven attempts a clothesline, but Jericho ducks it and rushes Raven into a corner and uses the momentum for a roll-up. Cover 1,2 but Raven reverses it on Jericho and uses an ugly variation of his own.

The Female Ninja rushes to the apron with a 2x4 but before she can attack Jericho, Molly Holly distracts her causing her to accidentally hit Raven. Jericho knocks her off with a back elbow and hits a Lionsault for the finish. I'd be interested to know who's idea the female ninja was. I get the feeling that Raven came up with it after pitching a dozen or so ideas that would have been better, but this was the only one that stuck since it gave Tori something to do. Either way the gimmick sucked and it's a shame that so many of these ECW alumnis were just hardcore guys. Al Snow, Crash Holly, Saturn, Raven, Tazz, Rob Van Dam - the division seemed like a comfortable way to give these guys something to do without ever properly pushing them.

It was a poor match, but at 3 minutes it's hardly any worse than what you would usually see. Both these guys had much better matches and if you want to see a good outing between the two I'd recommend Raven/Jericho. As much as Raven's run in WCW gets criticised, as a performer Raven gave himself every opportunity to get over and his work with Benoit, Page, Saturn, Jericho etc. was the best work of his career. The ECW guys really busted their arses when they got the call up, it's just a shame that they were often typecasted or jobbed out.

Oct 5, 2017 11:55:56 GMT Big Pete said:

Al Snow, Crash Holly, Saturn, Raven, Tazz, Rob Van Dam - the division seemed like a comfortable way to give these guys something to do without ever properly pushing them.

It was a poor match, but at 3 minutes it's hardly any worse than what you would usually see. Both these guys had much better matches and if you want to see a good outing between the two I'd recommend Raven/Jericho. As much as Raven's run in WCW gets criticised, as a performer Raven gave himself every opportunity to get over and his work with Benoit, Page, Saturn, Jericho etc. was the best work of his career. The ECW guys really busted their arses when they got the call up, it's just a shame that they were often typecasted or jobbed out.

Crash had a stint in ECW!?

Oct 5, 2017 14:02:29 GMT 🤯 said:

Oct 5, 2017 11:55:56 GMT Big Pete said:

Al Snow, Crash Holly, Saturn, Raven, Tazz, Rob Van Dam - the division seemed like a comfortable way to give these guys something to do without ever properly pushing them.

It was a poor match, but at 3 minutes it's hardly any worse than what you would usually see. Both these guys had much better matches and if you want to see a good outing between the two I'd recommend Raven/Jericho. As much as Raven's run in WCW gets criticised, as a performer Raven gave himself every opportunity to get over and his work with Benoit, Page, Saturn, Jericho etc. was the best work of his career. The ECW guys really busted their arses when they got the call up, it's just a shame that they were often typecasted or jobbed out.

Crash had a stint in ECW!?

Technically, he worked four matches for them in '97 none of them were televised. However, he's still considered an ECW guy.

He's more famous for working for APW, that promotion that appeared on Beyond The Mat and helped inspire ROH.

^Crash's brief ECW stint is another one of those things I always forget about. The story I heard back in the day is he was on ring crew duty at November To Remember 97 and showed up drunk. That pissed all the boys off and marked was the end of his very brief ECW stint. Not sure that story is true as a quick search reveals he wrestled in the dark match of N2R 97. So....maybe he was drunk in the match? Idk.

Larry Zbyszko w/ Dusty Rhodes vs. Scott Hall w/ Louie Spicolli- WCW Souled Out 1/24/98

Hall is out first with his lackey Spicolli to the classic NWO porn music. Some fans boo. Some cheer. Almost all respond. He's definitely over. 

Kayfabe is alive and well in '98 as Zbyszko is introduced as a "three time world champion" (are we counting the Western States Heritage Title?) who "has won over 5000 matches." He too is over. Larry Legend introduces Dusty as his mystery cornerman to counter Spicolli. Dammit! I had no idea who won this match going in and now I'm pretty sure I know how it ends. Do not like!

Bobby & Tony are on commentary. 

Crowd Highlight: A group of marking out front row NWO fans in detailed facepaint. 
Sign Watch: Larry Zbyszko= Living Has Been. Clearly a Spudhead.
Sign Watch #2: NWO Fears The Bucks. Clearly a time traveling Jackson brother.

Zbyszko uses wily veteran tricks to get the better of Hall early as a Master of Human Chess is apt to do. Larry wins an armbar battle, slips in a neat slap to the face, and hooks in some abdominal stretches (which don't look great due to Hall's size). Hall counters one with a hard hiptoss. I didn't know one hiptoss couldn't be superior to another but this was definitely a good one. The crafty Larry soon slaps on another ab stretch as I love how Schivaone and The Brain are hyping Zbyszko as basically Lou Thesz when prime Zbyszko was nothing like that. But, hey, the millions of casual new wrestling fans just tuning have no idea, so it works. Hall eventually takes over and we get a big "LARRY" chant. A minute later we oddly get an equally big "LARRY SUCKS" chants. Always thought Columbus, Ohio was a Spudhead town. This confirms it. But wait! Now we get a loud "HALL SUCKS" chant followed by a Spudhead rebuttal of "LARRY SUCKS." These aren't necessarily dueling chants. Like the anti-Spudheads will chant. Then the Spudheads will counter. Then the pro-Larry crowd rebuts. Interesting. Anyway, Hall hits his signature punches and Fallaway Slam. He also hits two clotheslines which Larry takes awfully with delayed crumpling sells. Guess he couldn't really bump? Zbyszko channels future Eddie by playing possum to sucker Hall into a front facelock which is sold as a match ender because of the Larry Zbyszko= Old School Shootah~! narrative. Spicolli interferes. But Big Dust takes him out with a bionic elbow to a nice pop. Ref catches a Zbyszko Kick to the back. Naturally he's down and out because referee's are fragile creatures. Shenanigans ensue and we get the swerve with Dusty taking off his long sleeve outer garment to reveal an NWO shirt Crowd pops for this betrayal. Dusty, Hall & Louie drop elbows on Larry as the bell rings. I guess Larry wins by DQ but the NWO are the real winners as usual as they leave standing tall having added another WCW loyalist to their ranks.

Verdict- Not as good as the Zbyszko vs. Stevens match I reviewed yesterday. It was fine up until the shenanigans. I wasn't in the mood for shenanigans today. Plus these babyface legend matches tend to live or die based on the crowd and this split crowd did them no favors. The actual wrestling was fine outside of Zbyszko's unwillingness to properly bump for Hall's clotheslines. Did not like the Dusty swerve. Did this even lead to anything? You don't hear much about Dusty's NWO run. Recommended only for NWO enthusiasts and the curious.

Dusty, in the classic Dusty tradition of "Kill/leach off of everything with more heat than me so that I'm the only over babyface in the territory", had probably been trying to join the nWo from the MINUTE they were more over than regular WCW guys.

Larry Zbyszko vs. Terra Ryzing- WCW 7/18/94

Terra Ryzing is of course a young HHH with a horrible ring name. His WCW run was uneventful and forgettable. Literally. Back in the day I'd often forget he ever wrestled in WCW. But let's talk about his hair for a second. This is some fab 10/10 hair he's sporting.




Fun Fact: I had a friend named Lisa during the Attitude Era. She wasn't really a wrestling fan anymore. More of a New Generation gal. One of her favorite New Gen wrestlers was Hunter Hearst Helmsley: Connecticut Blueblood because of his "amazing hair." She didn't like "Game" Triple H because the quality of his hair had considerably declined in her opinion.

ANYWAY, Zbyszko is the TV champ. Here's a fun clip of Zbyszko explaining how this run came about. I find his hatred of clotheslines most amusing.



Interesting match up here as you have a great heel from a previous era taking on a great heel of the coming era. This show takes place outdoors. Pretty cool. WCW must have been using one of those Holly scales because the slender Ryzing is introduced as weighing 274 pounds. This time Zbyszko is announced as a "2 time former world champion" who has "competed in over 5000 matches." 

Insert promo by Zbyszko about Hulk Hogan who is coming soon to ruin everything.

Match is basic pre-Attitude Era Saturday wrestling featuring a star vs. a jobber to the stars which probably main evented whatever show this was. Crowd chants "Larry" and, sadly, "Hulk." Ryzing slips in two nice punches but takes AWFUL Flair flip corner bumps. They were comically bad. He's not there yet. Zbyszko slaps on a cool old school standing Figure Four because he's basically being promoted as an old school carny shooter. Zbyszko wins after about five minutes of pedestrian action with a abdominal stretch set up into a pinning combination. Very 1993 Bob Backlund of him. I half expected him to shake Ryzing's hand for putting up a good effort and give him a few post-match lessons.

Verdict- Only recommended for people curious about HHH's WCW run.....or fans of really great hair.

Bonus: Here's HHH doing a hilariously bad French accent. Poor guy....I'm surprised this embarrassing clip never became more of a thing.



Also came across some great Enforcers (Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko) promos. Their gimmick was basically a pair of Silas Young's. Only much better. And I like Silas Young. But this Larry & Arn we're talking about. Two of the greats. Look 'em up. Good stuff.

Next Up: Brock vs. Joe vs. Reigns vs. Braun- WWE Summerslam 2017

Next Up: Brock vs. Joe vs. Reigns vs. Braun- WWE Summerslam 2017

It will be interesting to get your take. I've yet to go back to it, but have the feeling that it's one of those bouts that's remembered because it capped off a night that had been remotely forgettable. The best match occurred on the pre-show and nothing else managed to top it. That was the Usos vs The New Day, and their match continued a running theme where the tag team championship match has been the best match on every PPV. This continued on No Mercy where Cesaro/Sheamus v Rollins/Ambrose was one of the best Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins match I had seen in a long while. Rollins' is much more tolerable in the hot tag role where his offence doesn't completely waste all the stakes of the bout and Ambrose just sells his arse off which is his strong suit.

That was a great read. It's been a long while since I've read up on HHH's history, but didn't he get hired by the WWF because the Kliq saw him as Terra Ryzing on Saturday Night? I can't help but feel the goofy name got their attention and his look and ring-skills got their interest. While his match with Henry O'Godwin was surprisingly solid, it seemed like Hunter didn't start having good matches until he started facing off against Mick Foley in '97. Even then, it seemed like his first classic may have been against The Rock at SummerSlam '98, a match that can be nit-picked to death but accomplished everything it set out to do on one of the biggest shows of the Monday Night War. Seriously, if anyone missed out on the Attitude Era, it maybe the first show I would recommend, either that or Wrestlemania XIV. While we're on that tangent, if there was one Russo show worth recommending, it would definitely be Survivor Series '98. It was Russo at his best and was a show he tried to recreate but never quite hit it off. It maybe the closest the WWF ever came to replicating ECW's flow where you'd have one segment just roll into the other with a big pay-off right at the end. 

Watching the NWA World Title Tournament show from November 1994 now. Just finished The Gangstas vs Rock N Roll Express. This was actually not the match I thought it was. This one has nothing going for it and ends with the Gangstas getting DQ'd to retain their Smoky Mountain tag belts. They had another match that was damn good I thought this was it but it's not.

Ha! I'm still mod of that dead site.. I didn't even wanna click on the link because I saw the date and knew I was gonna see a whole mess of exclamation points.. Oh well, that's what happens when you leave school at fifteen (!!) :lol:

Anyways, new site, same shit. Same great shit. Loving the reviews here, especially the Steve Bradley ones by that mad Larry lover and fellow late 90's /early Noughties indy enthusiast, Mr Baker. IIRC Steve was a member of the 2000 OVW roster, but I don't think he was under a contract with WWE. Corny hyped the hell out of the guy, and saw him as his own ECW-esque hardcore guy who did crazy stunts and had wild brawls and did moonsaults and all that jazz. Even back then I was like dafuq is this hobo thinking he's 'ardcore. Legit hadn't thought of him in years until I see Bakes post.

Oct 7, 2017 15:16:36 GMT Big Pete said:

 It's been a long while since I've read up on HHH's history, but didn't he get hired by the WWF because the Kliq saw him as Terra Ryzing on Saturday Night?

WWF was always the goal for HHH. WCW actually offered him a two year deal to start. HHH turned it down in favor of a one year deal on the theory that he'd get himself some exposure and then jump to WWF after a year. This is what happened. Bischoff thought HHH was a nutty rube since he bargained down for less money and less job security but he wasn't going to complain about saving $78k per year so he acquiesced to HHH's wacky demand. 

From a Nash shoot....

HHH debuted at some TV taping. TV tapings were long, boring affairs in those days. The wrestlers started to get grumpy after a while. To pass the time, and to try having some semblance of fun, they would gather 'round the backstage monitor to brutally critique the hell out of everyone and everything they were seeing. So Nash and his boys are sitting back there waiting for HHH to screw something up....waiting.....waiting.....still waiting.....match over. "Hmm....this guy is pretty good." Nash says to Hall. It also turns out that Terra Ryzing/Jean Paul Levesque was the Kliq's guy in WCW. But they had nothing to do with bringing him in. Anyway, the Kliq complimented HHH on his match that day and the rest is history.

Boo! I was certain Steve Bradley would have been a kashdinero guy. Very disappointed.

I found this gem down a Youtube rabbit hole yesterday.



How I had never before stumbled upon this glorious piece of work is beyond me. I admit this doesn't really make me want to watch any SMW. But it does make me wish Lance & Chris Come To America had been a cheesy early 90s sitcom. Would have worked on TGIF or in that Fresh Prince + Blossom block. I can already see the TV Guide tagline....

"Two youthful, fun-loving Canadian friends experience a culture shock when they unexpectedly find themselves stranded in rural Tennessee. Will they ever find their way back to Canada? Will they ever find true love? Might they even learn to enjoy the charms of Tennessee's beautiful Smoky Mountain region? Learn the answers to all these questions and more by following the zany antics of our wild and crazy friends from the Great White North every Friday night on ABC!

And of course they naturally bring in Canadian television icon Red Green to boost ratings during sweeps month.

Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Braun Strowman vs. Samoa Joe vs. Roman Reigns- Summerslam 2017- WWE Championship Match

This has been getting a lot of hype and since I've become an avid hossfest aficionado in my old age I figured I'd give it a shot. This will be the first WWE match I've seen since the excellent Gallagher/Neville bout in February.

Introductions are amusing. Braun is cheered and gets "Braun" chants. Ditto for Joe. Heyman does what I assume is his regular intro for Brock because the crowd sings along like he's Road Dogg in 1998. And poor Roman Reigns is booed out of the building.

We begin with Brock pairing off with Joe and Braun taking on Reigns. Brock throws Joe around with a few suplexes as I'm reminded of Steiners gems against Vader & Hughes and Fire & Ice and come to the realization that big guys getting suplexed is Baker Approved. Braun takes a nasty post bump on the floor courtesy of Reigns before coming back. We get a brief Brock vs. Braun showdown. Crowd is hot. But Reigns & Joe break it up to boos. Think we got another brief Braun vs. Brock showdown a minute later before Reigns & Joe again interfered. Braun/Brock is clearly the money match. All four men wind up on the floor and we go nuts for a few minutes.

Reigns puts Brock through the barricade with a wicked spear. Joe hits a cool dive through the ropes flying forearm. Braun puts Brock through a table with a British Bulldog powerslam (his finisher). Joe Rock Bottoms somebody onto a table that doesn't break. Ouch! Weapons get used. Not your typical traditional weapons like steel chairs and stuff either. Oh no. I'm talking entire sections of barricade and office chairs(!) being flung into faces. Ok, so the steel steps do get involved, but sections of barricade! Office chairs! Braun Bulldog powerslams Brock through a second table. This one looked much better than the first. Crowd is going nuts. Then Braun lifts up another table to dump it on Brock. Braun is a beast and Brock is done. Medics come out to stretcher Brock out while the savage Brooklyn crowd chants "Na na na na hey hey goodbye" at poor Brock. 

Announcers have long prattled on about ringside looking like a car crash during hardcore and I've always just sort of accepted it. Well, this time we get an aerial shot and it really does look like a car crash at ringside.....or like a bomb went off. Furniture is SO rearranged.....and destroyed.....and bodies are laid out all over the place. 

BOO! Video skips ahead at this point so I miss a few minutes of the match. Watched this on Youtube. Video had over 408k views. WWE pulled it soon after I watched and I couldn't find another decent vid.

Brock is back as we return. Now it settles into more of a traditional 4 Way with lots of finisher hits and attempts and last second saves as opposed to the hardcore hoss actionfest it was early on. Reigns really makes Braun look like a beast. First we get what I thought was a Braun botch on the old "clothesline 'em over the top rope" spot. Braun didn't go over. But I'm pretty sure it was intentional because when Reigns charged again Braun just flung him across the ring with one arm. A few minutes later Reigns goes to pin Braun and Braun shoves Reigns off....onto his feet! Never saw that one before. Joe is oddly wrestling as more of an opportunist than the badass I'm used to. He keeps sneaking in from behind to get nearfalls off rollups and sleepers. Joe as Edge is odd given his long history as an ass kicker but I suppose he is the most veteran member of this quartet, and therefore the wiliest. 

It gets kind of stupid towards the end with Braun and Reigns hitting Bulldog Powerslams and Superman Punches over and over and over again. I get it. They're hosses. They shouldn't be wrestling like Dean Malenko. But good grief! Would it kill 'em to learn a new move or two?!? I'm not saying we need 450 piledrivers but even Reigns hitting the occasional big boot, or Braun switching it up to a JYD or Dr. Death style powerslam, or a gorilla press slam, would be much better than the 6th Bulldog powerslam and 9th Superman Punch. ANYWAY, we get a bunch of finishers, escapes, and last second saves before Brock finally puts Reigns down for good with the F5.

Verdict- First half ruled. Hardcore. Hoss. Actionfest. Those aren't three words you usually see together. Bodies were flying all over the place. Furniture was destroyed. Bigger and better weapons were deployed. The finishing stretch was kinda meh. Don't get me wrong. I'd have loved it 15 years ago. But I've seen that sort of thing a thousand times at this point. I'm over it.

Braun was the clear star. He came out of this looking like a total badass. Credit to Brock & Reigns for making him look so strong. But nobody really cares about, or remembers, all those ham and eggers who made Undertaker at the '90 Survivor Series, or Diesel & Kane in the '94 & '01 Rumble's, look like world beaters. They just remember the dominance. This was Braun's 1990 Survivor Series or dominant Rumble performance. He was the people's choice, too. Brock vs. Braun is the obvious big money match coming out of this.

Aftermath- Sooooo it turns out WWE rushed the big Brock vs. Braun singles match to pay per view one month later on what we used to call a B ppv. Brock won. Cleanly. In a short and disappointing match. This is mindbogglingly stupid. Brock vs. Braun was the money match. It was an old school irresistible force meets immovable object style clash of the titans. The Last Big Thing vs. The Next Big Thing. And they already wasted it AND had the worst possible finish. So dumb! The smart thing to do would have them wrestle to a chaotic no contest schmozz finish (if you have to have the match so soon at all). Break the ring. Make carnage. Perhaps have Reigns interfere to become the ultimate heel. Or maybe have Braun & Brock lay waste to a bunch of referees trying to break up the monster fight. Then have Braun win clean as a sheet at Survivor Series (or Rumble) with the story being "Has Brock met his match?" going forward. Maybe Brock wins the Rumble to set up Brock/Braun III at 'Mania and you go from there. To waste that match so early with the worst possible finish is just late 90s WCW levels of idiocy.

🤯's post in the ROH thread about my man Beer City Bruiser reminds me of the last time I watched ROH....

It was about a month ago where Cody debuted the Ring of Honor. Only actual match I caught was....

Briscoes vs. Kingdom

Kingdom this week is Vinny Marseglia & TK O'Ryan. They suck. Kingdom is basically the X Factor of ROH. And this week their X Pac, Matt Taven, the only member of the trio flirting with adequacy or overness, happens to be away in Mexico. This is O'Ryan's return. He was out close to a year with a serious leg injury.

Story is Jay Briscoe's head ain't screwed on right at the moment. I mean, like even more than usual. He's losing it. 

And the story of Jay Briscoe's head not being in the game makes this work in spite of the Kingdom's general lousiness. God help me, I actually bought on a few Kingdom nearfalls on Jay, who is hardly ever pinned or submitted. Kingdom did a bunch of cheats for two counts. Briscoes eventually come back and Jay puts one of the Kingdom jabronies away with a sloppy Jay Driller for the win.

Verdict- Exceeded expectations due to the story. 

Trying to come up with my 1995 SuperCard MashUp made me want to watch some more Dean Douglas. The Dean only wrestled 10 televised matches. By the time this post is through I think I'll have reviewed them all.

Dean Douglas vs. Unnamed Jobber (Raw 10/16)

I cannot find info on this mystery jobber anywhere. He actually has a pretty good look- long wrestler hair, decent gear and a good physique. We get a pre-match clip of The Dean attacking his upcoming IYH opponent, Shawn Michaels, the previous week on Raw. As you probably know the match never happened due to Shawn either losing his smile or getting beat up my Marines....whatever excuse you want to use.

Dean starts out with an amateur style waistlock and works that for about 30 seconds. Unnamed Jobber eventually escapes to throw a few 4/10 dropkicks. Dean comes back with a clothesline and works Mystery Jobber over with basic stuff- suplexes, a knee drop, dropping him gut first on the ropes, a body slam etc. Shawn calls in from San Antonio as I zone out. Dean finishes UJ with the Final Exam (Perfect Plex). 

Verdict- Good thing The Dean didn't give his own matches the Report Card treatment because this would get a D for Dullsville.

Dean Douglas vs. Barry Horowitz (Superstars 10/7)

Oh my god. 1995 me is marking out so hard right now. I had to fight the urge to reach for the phone and tell Rick, Brandon & Jack to turn Superstars on right now. Just kidding. As if Rick, Brandon or Jack wouldn't already be watching Superstars. 

Horowitz starts off fast and furious with European Uppercuts, a jawbreaker and a jaw jacker. Barry even gets an early 2.5 count off the same Half Nelson pinning combination that memorably kept Skip down for the three count. Speaking of the Skipper, he appears in the aisle way with Sunny & Rad Radford while the Golden Trio of JR, Lawler & Vince mention their burgeoning feud with Horowitz & his partner Hakushi. The Bodydonnas talk. Rad does some jumping jacks. Then they leave. Well, that was stupid and pointless. I suppose it's worth noting they're dressed in similar attire to our hero The Dean. Dean soon comes back. He hits some decent 7/10 punches and oddly does some 80s high flying- a twisting 2nd rope splash and a twisting springboard splash. I once saw somebody say Douglas' problem was that he was a natural heel as a character but a much better babyface wrestler. I think I can buy that. Dean hits some more basic stuff. Horowitz comes back for a brief flurry including a back body drop. But the 2nd time around he ducks too early and Dean wins with the Final Exam.

Verdict- Solid little meat and potatoes match. Nothing I'd remember two hours from now if The Dean wasn't involved but there are worse ways to kill 6 minutes.

*Sigh* It looks like I am done with The Dean at last. If anybody can direct to me to Dean Douglas house show matches that would be swell.

I've heard that Dean Douglas and Aldo Montoya had some house show matches back in the day, I'd like to see some of those. They had a great match with each other four years later in ECW(Cyberslam 99).

Oct 12, 2017 1:43:48 GMT shinobimusashi said:

I've heard that Dean Douglas and Aldo Montoya had some house show matches back in the day, I'd like to see some of those. They had a great match with each other four years later in ECW(Cyberslam 99).

I love getting tidbits like this and I can believe it too*. Sadly I could only find records of one Dean vs. Aldo match- 9/8/95 in Peterborough, Ontario. But now I want to watch it!

*I can buy Aldo having a good match with Dean on a house show and here's why....

Rare Review of a House Show I Attended 21 Years Ago Incoming

I was at this show....

WWF @ Landover, MD - USAir Arena - November 2, 1996 (3,383)


The Sultan defeated Bob Holly via submission with the Camel Clutch at 7:51


Justin Bradshaw pinned Aldo Montoya at 6:09 with the lariat


Billy Gunn pinned Bart Gunn at 9:02 after crotching him on the top rope


Psycho Sid defeated Vader in a stretcher match after hitting a clothesline, sending Vader over the top rope onto the stretcher

WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith defeated Henry & Phinneas Godwinn at 10:40 when Owen pinned Henry following a top rope move behind the referee's back; the challengers originally won the match and titles after Phinneas hit the Slop Drop on Owen, but Owen's foot was on the bottom rope so the match continued


WWF IC Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/ Mr. Perfect) pinned Marc Mero at 8:30 with the Pedigree after Perfect interfered and hit Mero with the title belt


WWF World Champion Shawn Michaels & the Undertaker defeated Goldust & Mankind in an Armageddon Rules Match at 12:49 after Michaels superkicked Mankind and Taker hit the tombstone on Goldust and both were knocked out

Oh. My. God. HBK & Taker vs. Goldust & Mankind in an "Armaggedon Rules" Cage Match *insert missing markout smiley here*!!! If you had asked me to come up with a dream match in November 1996 HBK & Taker vs. Mankind & Goldust in an Armageddon Rules Steel Cage Match would have been near the top of that list. I expected total carnage...a surefire Match of the Year Candidate. What I got was 12 minutes and 49 seconds of the laziest, most half-assed wrestling you will ever see. The only thing worse was the 2 minute Sid vs. Vader Stretcher Match which preceded it. That mess ended when Sid clotheslined Vader over the top rope. Vader gently rolled himself on to the ringside stretcher. The bell rang. And that was that. Awful.

The Sultan, Gunns & HHH matches were instantly forgettable. Literally. I remember absolutely nothing about them.

Only two matches saw effort put forth. 

The first was Owen & Bulldog vs. Godwinns. That false finish mentioned in the write up got a huge pop. Easily the biggest of the night. The sparsely attended US Air Arena (the only way 3,383 people attended that show was if 2,383 of them came disguised as empty seats) went wild. Hell, even I popped big despite my fandom of the former Camp Cornette and indifference bordering on dislike of the Godwinns (my mild HOG fandom having long been over due to his association with stupid Phineas) because I knew how rare house show title changes were. They got me hook, line & sinker on that one. This was Match of the Night.

The other match with effort was Bradshaw vs. Aldo. It featured Bradshaw hitting the first Tiger Suplex I can remember seeing in real life and not in a magazine photo and then trying to decapitate Aldo with an AJPW level Lariat for the win. That match raised both guy's stock in my eyes. Now I no longer wanted them both to get fired or leave for WCW so I wouldn't have to see them on my tv anymore. They went from a pair of 1's or 2's to a pair of 3's or 4s. 

The point of all this rambling is that I can see Aldo having good house show matches with The Dean. I also liked their Cyberslam match.

PI's SuperCard MashUp series has had me digging deep for show results and put me in an Attitude Era mood so let's revisit a time when matches were short, crowds were hot, and storylines rarely made sense.

Hardy Boyz vs. Too Much- Heat 11/22/98

The WWF Match of the Week often came from workrate tag teams confined to the B shows during this period. Here we have two of the best.

There's a lot of color in the ring as the Hardyz are wearing pants which no doubt inspired the Young Bucks attire while the bright tights of Too Much would be right at home in the neon world of 1993 WWF. Scott Taylor channels Terry from Wayne's World with an "I love you, man!" to Brian Christopher. They hug. Christopher then prances around and cackles with that incredibly obnoxious fake laugh of his. Brian Christopher is one of the most annoying wrestlers ever. I regret sticking by him for the vast majority of his WWF run. Don't think I finally turned on him until about his last 8 months with the company. In my defense, a few cool moves and a lot of Apter Mag hype went a long way with me in those days.

Short, actionfest style match with highlights being Taylor going way up on a Hardy back body drop, Jeff hitting a mid-match Swanton to no reaction (it wouldn't become his finisher for another year), and Too Much hitting their nice double team sitout power bomb.

Jackyl was wandering around ringside with his hair in a ponytail. We get some nice shots of fans giving him the business and you can tell by the looks on their faces that they mean it. Jackyl joins JR & Cole on commentary and the newly formed Acolytes come out at just the perfect time in Jackyl's speech. They lay waste to the Hardys & Too Much with powerbombs, clotheslines, slams, and dominators. The best is when two victims have already been stacked on top of one another and then Faarooq throws a 3rd man on top of them via Dominator, creating an Injured Tag Team Wrestler Sandwich. 

Jackyl says he "gets off on violence" so I guess this gimmick was intended to be a tribute/rib to Ronnie Garvin? Jackyl then names his new team The Acolytes for the very first time. I didn't know what an acolyte was back then so I just assumed they were called the Jackylites for a few days. There was much confusion when I finally learned the truth. "Acolyte? What the hell is an acolyte? Don't they mean Jackylite?"

Verdict- Match was 2 minutes of killing time with some admittedly cool moves before the big Acolyte beatdown. I suppose this has some measure of historical significance as it's the naming, though not the formation, of the Acolytes.

Faarooq & Scorpio vs. Bradshaw & Terry Funk- Fully Loaded 7/26/98

Faarooq was dead in the water after the Nation split...a real heatless wonder...and I kept half-expecting him to quit or be released. He had occasionally been teaming with Scorp on the B shows in an attempt to give those two something, ANYTHING, to do. They come into this match undefeated as a team. I had long given up hope on Scorp ever amounting to anything in WWF and was just happy when he'd make a rare Raw or PPV appearance. Like "Yay! Scorpio is still employed!" Scorp was also coming off a short-lived team with Terry Funk and the two are still friends here. In fact, it was a worked shoot promo by Terry prior to a Funk & Scorp match against the Quebecers where the Flash Funk gimmick was FINALLY dropped. (Hmm...Scorp & Funk vs. Quebecers sounds good. I might have to watch that one next). WWF clearly liked Bradshaw. He had been kept pretty strong. They were always trying stuff with him. Bradshaw/WWF finally won me over after two years of anti-Bradshaw sentiment way back in February. But it wasn't working with the masses. At all. Trust me. Only like 1 out of 5 folks at most on the AOL wrestling boards & chat rooms I frequented at the time were hip to the greatness of Bradshaw. Terry Funk is of course one of the GOATs and could do no wrong in my eyes. Literally. You could put some pantyhose over his head and give him the 8 year old's CAW name of "Chainsaw Charlie" and I'd still love the guy. This happened!

Also, this match is clearly taking place simply because it's two black guys & two Texans with nothing else to do. I can see the Vince's discussing the upcoming pay per view now...

Vince: We could use one more match at Fully Loaded.
Vince: Who's available?
Vince: Let's see....Terry Funk, Scorpio, Faarooq, Bradshaw...
Vince: Hmm....two black guys and two Texans. I know! Tag match! Black guys vs. Texans!
Vince: That's it! You're a genius, Vince!
Vince: Right back atcha, Vince!

Which Vince is which is for you to decide.

Faarooq & Scorp are out first. Faarooq is still wearing his Nation-style gear. How very Marty Jannetty of him.

Funk cuts a humble babyface backstage promo and drops a bombshell that this will be his last WWF match. Bradshaw is not happy about this turn of events. Funk clarifies by saying it will be his last match for "around six months" because he's too beat up. He then puts over Mick Foley as one of his most notable abusers. Bradshaw remains unhappy.

*I just found out Bradshaw apparently wasn't informed that Funk would be leaving until this promo so his reaction was genuine. I'm sure he thought this team with Terry was the start of a thing and now he had to realize his plans for the next few months had just been scrapped. That's a dick move. More Bischoff than Vince given Bisch's love of keeping people in the dark to get the genuine reaction he desired. Sucks for Bradshaw. But things worked out alright for him in the end.

Most of the match is forgettable but not terrible wrestling. Here are some of the moves in no order at all- Bradshaw hits a nice top rope flying shoulderblock early. He comes back with another later only to be caught and slammed by Faarooq. Usually on this spot the catchee just sort of turns his hips and puts his arms roughly in slam position. It's more like a flying miss than an actual slam. But Faarooq did impressively catch Bradshaw for a split second before hitting the slam.   Very nice. Funk hits his patented jabs + lefty haymaker on Faarooq, which 'Rooq has a nice sell for. Faarooq randomly busts out a Zbyszko kick! Bradshaw hits his belly to back superplex on Scorp after Funk had crotched him on the top turnbuckle. Bradshaw also powerbombs Scorp at some point and is frankensteinered by Scorp on another powerbomb attempt. Funk hit a Rude Awakening on Scorp and also hit that weird Vader Bomb to a standing opponent on the floor that Bret attempted on Davey at IYH December '95.

But things get ugly during the last minute or so starting when Funk rolls up Scorpio for two. I think Faarooq was supposed to save with a clothesline but Scorp kicked out, catapulting Funk into an ugly clothesline/shoulderblock by 'Rooq. Scorp goes up top thinking moonsault, I'm sure, but does an uncharacteristic twisting splash instead. I think Bradshaw was supposed to drop an elbow on the 2 count with Scorp moving and 'Shaw accidentally hitting Funk. But either Bradshaw is a second late or Scorp is up a second early so Bradshaw quite clearly elbow drops Terry Funk. At some point the "boring" chants start and JR even acknowledge them as the match has become "bowling shoe ugly." Scorp soon ends it with a 450 Splash on Funk.

Post-Match sees Bradshaw snap. He administers a further beating on Terry. Scorp comes back to save his friend. He eats a Lariat on the floor for his troubles, doing a nice moonsault bump in the process. Then Faarooq gets a taste of Bradshaw's wrath in the form of a chair to the back as he tends to his partner. Segment ends with that wild and crazy Texan Bradshaw standing tall while his music plays.

This is what I mean about WWF clearly having plans for Bradshaw. Yeah, he lost the match, but he was the last man standing when it was all over.

Verdict- Bad match. At least Funk came back for that classic ECW style match w/ Edge & Lita vs. Tommy/Foley/Beulah at One Night Stand 2: Electric Boogaloo so his televised WWF career didn't end with this whimper.

*This ran longer than expected due to my usual wordiness so I'll cover the Acolytes vs. Kane & XPac match from '99 I meant to get to today some other time. Also may see if I can find New Funks vs. Quebecers.

^ I remember the Fully Loaded tag match. That was my first exposure to 2 Cold Scorpio and despite having one of the best names in Pro Wrestling, the match laid a huge egg. The only thing of note was the bikini contest which doubled as Sable's high-point of her career.

Sick Boy vs Juventud Guerrera - WCW Monday Night - May 4th 1998

One of Raven's shoots keeps popping up on my feed where he goes through each member of the Flock. Apart from Saturn, the only guy he wanted in his stable was Sick Boy which came as a big shock. I don't remember anything about the guy and often get him confused with Scotty Riggs who was also a part of the stable but wore an eye-patch.

It was time to familiarise myself with what he was capable of. Sick Boy vs Glacier? Pass. Sick Boy vs The Disciple? God no. Goldberg vs Sick Boy? Maybe later.

Juventud it is.

The segment opened with the Nitro Girls strutting their stuff. Tony ran down all the news before Sick Boy made his way out with Reis and Horace Hogan. No music for the heels, didn't Raven have a Nirvana rip-off theme he'd come out to?

Juvi made his way out, hyped the crowd up only for Sick Boy to jump him from the start. It was good intensity early from Sick Boy and he makes the most of it, executing a sick modified press slam that may have been the Castro Slam of the Week had it been on Raw. Juvi attempts a comeback but the match starts falling apart as both guys keep losing their footing. The commentators covered for both guys, saying the ring was slippery from an earlier segment but both guys were struggling. Before it became too unbearable, Horace interfered and the Flock started beating up Juventud. Then Goldberg entered the scene and the crowd went into a frenzy. Goldberg leapfronged over the top rope, over the bodies of Reis and Juvi and hit a spear on Sick Boy. He then turned around and hit an impressive Jackhammer on Reis which earned a huge ovation from the crowd.

Not an impressive showing from either Sick Boy or Juventud, but Goldberg salvaged it.