Glad to see kashdinero lurking around liking posts, needs to check in this thread from time to time let us know what kind a rassling you been watching.

One of the first things I download is the Todd Gordon shoot interview about 1992-93 ECW, this got a rave review from Kilgore in a private message to me on the old board. I'm about 20-30 minutes into this thing and it's phenomenal. Some deep shit. I'm so in an old school ECW mood right now.

Nov 26, 2017 5:56:32 GMT shinobimusashi said:

Glad to see kashdinero lurking around liking posts, needs to check in this thread from time to time let us know what kind a rassling you been watching.

One of the first things I download is the Todd Gordon shoot interview about 1992-93 ECW, this got a rave review from Kilgore in a private message to me on the old board. I'm about 20-30 minutes into this thing and it's phenomenal. Some deep shit. I'm so in an old school ECW mood right now.

Now that you're torrenting, I recommend every ECW Timeline. They're all really well done, and you'll be able to watch it in chronological order (Production wise, Tod was actually the last recorded and released). 

Nov 26, 2017 5:56:32 GMT shinobimusashi said:

Glad to see kashdinero lurking around liking posts, needs to check in this thread from time to time let us know what kind a rassling y fromeen watching.

One of the first things I download is the Todd Gordon shoot interview about 1992-93 ECW, this got a rave review from Kilgore in a private message to me on the old board. I'm about 20-30 minutes into this thing and it's phenomenal. Some deep shit. I'm so in an old school ECW mood right now.

Sorry I've been all lurk and no type recently. I sorta just pop in here specifically for this thread to try to grab a little inspiration to watch next. 

But, here's the latest..

Watched both Takeover and Survivors and enjoyed both shows greatly. Was not crazy about the ending of the last match, or how it played out in general, but it's that disappointing time of year, so I'm rolling with it.

On Friday I took the plunge and got me some NJPWworld (!!). Not for current product content, as the new shows are always readily available hours after they air. No, no, no.. I signed up to catch all of the classic content that I struggle to find these days.

Since signing up I have been trying to get to grips with it and find how deep this rabbit hole goes. The answer is, very deep, and I couldn't be happier with it.

Since Friday I have watched a bunch Satoru Sayama's first matches under the Tiger Mask hood. Having only really seen a tight-fisted handful of his matches outside of the Dynamite classics it has been great getting acquainted with his style against various opponents. Off the top of my head, so far I have seen him versus El Solar, Masked Hurricane, Bijano III, Gran Hamada and a tag match with Tatsumi Fujinami against El Soritario and El Solar, with my favourite of the bunch being the Gran Hamada match from November 5th, 1981. I am pretty familiar with old man Hamada from his Michinoku Pro days, and I won't lie, I wasn't always a fan, but this match has Hamada pushing Sayama hard as anyone else he faced, and eighteen years after first seeing him wrestle, I am now a big fan of young Gran Hamada.

Last night I watched the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship match from January 31st, 1990 match between Takuma Sano (c) and Jushin Liger (billed on NJPWworld as Naoki Sano vs Beast God Thunder Liger). For those unfamiliar with this match, it is the third in a trilogy of matches the pair had over that time period where Sano basically kicked the ever living shit outta ya boy Liger. This match was particularly nasty, with Sano clearly giving less fucks than Daniel Bryan with a live mic. Dude destroys Ligers mask by ripping it to shreds, leaving it looking like Foleys ear after it fell off, AND his head/face in general, leaving him a mess of blood and hair, which sort of covered his identity being fully exposed. Liger starts the match by slapping the shit out of Sano, which, in hindsight, probably wasn't the best move for him (). I will be watching a lot more Liger, obviously. Especially from his early wild, high flying, shooting star press originating days, before his brain tumour scare that saw him vastly alter his offence to a more ground based, less taxing style.

Lastly, the first match I watched when I signed up was Big Van Vader (billed as The Big Bang Bader) vs Stan Hansen from the Tokyo Dome on the 10th of Febuary, 1990. Yes, THAT match. Sadly I never caught the cow bell swing that started it off, and as I'm still getting to grips with this site I don't know if I can watch the full show version, but either way I loved watching this match properly without it being a grainy 3rd/4th gen VHS or on YouTube. Those two pounded the fucking life out of each other. My favourite part was when Vader shoots Stan into the ropes and just widly clubs him in the neck with a sorta clothesline that knocks the cowboy through the middle ropes and onto his arse, leaving him with a look on his face that screams "FUCK THAT NOISE!! WHERE'S MA COWBELL!?".

As I progress I will try to pop in and maybe drop a review or two. Currently just about to roll a joint and fire up Hashimoto Shinya vs Big Bang Vader (actual translation) from April 24th, 1989... Oh, boy. Shit's about to get real, real quick.

BTW shinobimusashi , forgive me if it has already been mentioned, but did you consider Brets matches with that no good leather jacket Stealing pirate, Jean Pierre Lafitte? Those matches deserve all the high fives (!!!). 

Nice to see kashdinero back even if I have to disagree with him on old man Gran Hamada, who ruled.

I'll drop my dream Best of Bret Hart dream comp later. But for now let's travel back in time to 1996 and take a look at the team which is apparently my 12th favorite of all time- the New Rockers.

Bodydonnas (c) w/ Sunny vs. New Rockers (Superstars 5/19/96- Tag Team Championship Match)

Sunny cuts a pre-match promo calling the New Rockers "dorks" and taking shots at the other two WWF tag teams- Smokin' Gunns & Godwinns.

Highlight of this is the commentary by Vince, JR & Perfect. Particularly if you know what's coming as they foreshadow a bunch of stuff like Sunny being a tag team whore and even Mr. Perfect winding up with HHH, which wouldn't happen for another 5 months. I wonder if that was the original plan following Hunter's planned KOTR win? Seems plausible.

Speaking of Helmsley winning KOTR, the MSG Curtain Call takes place later on this very same day. Also on that show the Godwinns would upset the Bodydonnas to win the tag titles.

Gunns & Godwinns come out to watch the match from the aisle. Neither team gets involved but both duos are interviewed. Billy Gunn playing cowboy seems so weird to me now after seeing him do all that other stuff over the years.

Match is pretty bad as it's heel vs. heel, which is the toughest sort of match to pull off. It only works when....
1. Both heels are over.
2. One acts more heelish, turning the other into a situational face, which sometimes becomes permanent.
or
3. When it simply becomes a battle of cheater vs. cheater/wimp vs. wimp, etc. This is the best sort of heel/heel match.

This match has none of those things. Neither team is over. Neither even acts heelishly...or face-like. They just....wrestle.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Most Underrated Wrestler of 1995, Skip, does have a good exchange with the WON Most of Underrated Wrestler of 1996, Leif Cassidy. It's not surprising these two would have good chemistry as they were friends dating back to their Indie/SMW days. Snow actually gives Candido a lot of credit for his ECW push since it was Candido who was always lobbying Heyman to give him more tv time. Anyway, they do a series of counters and evasions at a nice pace. Leif eventually hits a Uranage after Skip had escaped an earlier attempt. Skip lifts Leif up in an electric chair position. Leif counters with a spinning frankensteiner. See, this is what I'm talking about with 1996 Leif. You just weren't going to see that sort of thing in mainstream US wrestling before Rey & the Luchadores came along. Later on Skip frankensteiners Leif over the top rope and they both go crashing to the floor. Again, a very cool-in-1996 spot. Leif also connects with two hard clotheslines and breaks out some cool-in-1996 kung fu that does not age well at all due to wrestlers becoming stiffer over the years.

Then Zip & Marty come in and the match just dies. Under normal circumstances, this would have just been bad, boring wrestling. But after watching Leif & Skip do their thing, it becomes bad, boring wrestling that looks like it's being done in slow motion. 

Stuff happens. Bodydonnas retain with twin magic.

Verdict- *1/4 entirely for the Leif/Skip exchanges.

Baker, I remember discussing Hamada with you before. Although I always respected his talents, I always saw him as that one old fucker at the party trying to show the kids how its done in those MPW six mans, and tags that were all the rage in the later years of the nineties. Not that they weren't fantastic either way.

Was watching the January 6th 1997 edition of Nitro and what stood out to me was how they would structure a segment. Now a 10-minute time limit draw between Jim Duggan & Steven Regal sounds brutal on paper, but at no point did the show focus on the match. The match was merely visuals for an nWo promo they cut on commentary where they put over the Diamond Dallas Page storyline, hyped up more developments, took a shot at Savage and made some entertaining MST3K jabs at Duggan. Then to end the segment, Duggan waved the WCW flag and got himself over as the sentimental favourite. It's these details that get overlooked in post that made me such a fan of WCW. Unscripted television that communicated basic information, but did it in a creative fashion.

Actually, I thought the whole show was stacked. Every segment served a purpose on the show, all the matches stood out and a lot of things were left unanswered to get you to tune into next week.

MotN would go to Rey Rey & Psichosis. Like any other match could take out MotN. The funny thing is, this may have been their worst match together, but both guys were so talented that their worst is still spectacular. There was one spot in the match where Psichosis attempted a split-legged moonsault to the outside and just destroyed himself on the apron. That was hard to watch, but Psichosis sold it well and both guys went on and continued the match.

The only blemish was that there was an awful Eddie Guerrero match on the show. He was up against Alex Wright and the two just never gelled. It was the battle of the chin-locks with really weak Alex Wright offence thrown in. Wright should be one of those wrestlers I enjoy because his whole character is based around his mat-work which is my thing. However, unless he's in the ring with Dean, he's just completely lost.

Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow (c) vs. Steiner Brothers (NJPW 6/22/92- IWGP Tag Title Match)

I mentioned in the Tag Team Countdown discussion thread that it was long past time to finally watch my first match involving the awesome-on-paper Vader & Bigelow team. The Steiners seem like the perfect opponents for them as the brothers from Michigan are never better than when tossing around, and getting tossed, by hosses a la their match with Vader & Hughes and series with my boys Fire & Ice. So I have high hopes for this. 

Due to a narrow aisle way the crowd mobs both teams during their entrances. They start out hot for all four men and, to their credit, remain hot for the duration of this approximately 15 minute match.

This is champ vs. champ with the Steiners coming in as WCW tag title holders. Don't think those belts are on the line though.

I have never seen Bam Bam Bigelow this animated. He basks in the cheers (all 4 men get face pops), encourages further cheers, and starts out the match with some fancy footwork....almost a dance, even.

Bigelow & Scotty start things off. BBB hits a nice back brain kick before whiffing on a dropkick which he got good height on. BBB takes a nice bump off a clothesline. Vader & BBB eventually clear the ring. They turn their back to celebrate. Big mistake as the Steiners both come off the top with simultaneous clotheslines to pop the crowd.

Meh. No more play by play. This was disappointing. Not enough Steiners throwing hosses for my liking. I mean Rick popped the crowd with a nice German on Vader, and Scotty hit a vertical also on Vader, but they didn't go Taz crazy like I was hoping. Vader & Bigelow also committed one of my pet peeves by hitting the same moves multiple times. You wouldn't think those two would run out of offense since they're known as big men with a lot of moves, but they certainly did here. Scotty had two bad botches- first when he simply fell off the top rope and then when an attempted T-Bone on Bigelow....didn't go well. There also wasn't much of a story. Bigelow was the only one who came close to bringing his A game. 

There were some nice moves- Vader took an awesome Scotty Frankensteiner. BBB caught Rick coming off the top and nailed him with a brutal hot shot. Bigelow also hit a cool somersault senton and the butterfly backbreaker I always associate with Jericho. Most of the clotheslines and splashes (which there were a lot of) looked fine. Right after his first bad botch Scotty attempted a super fast sunset flip which Vader countered with a stiff sit down splash to turn the tide. Big guys then worked over Scott for the bulk of the match. That ended when Scotty evaded a second sit down splash attempt by Vader. Psychology! Rick wins it for his side with a belly to belly on Bigelow.

Verdict- **1/4. Disappointing.
 

Nov 29, 2017 5:29:57 GMT Baker said:

Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow (c) vs. Steiner Brothers (NJPW 6/22/92- IWGP Tag Title Match)

I mentioned in the Tag Team Countdown discussion thread that it was long past time to finally watch my first match involving the awesome-on-paper Vader & Bigelow team. The Steiners seem like the perfect opponents for them as the brothers from Michigan are never better than when tossing around, and getting tossed, by hosses a la their match with Vader & Hughes and series with my boys Fire & Ice. So I have high hopes for this. 

Due to a narrow aisle way the crowd mobs both teams during their entrances. They start out hot for all four men and, to their credit, remain hot for the duration of this approximately 15 minute match.

This is champ vs. champ with the Steiners coming in as WCW tag title holders. Don't think those belts are on the line though.

I have never seen Bam Bam Bigelow this animated. He basks in the cheers (all 4 men get face pops), encourages further cheers, and starts out the match with some fancy footwork....almost a dance, even.

Bigelow & Scotty start things off. BBB hits a nice back brain kick before whiffing on a dropkick which he got good height on. BBB takes a nice bump off a clothesline. Vader & BBB eventually clear the ring. They turn their back to celebrate. Big mistake as the Steiners both come off the top with simultaneous clotheslines to pop the crowd.

Meh. No more play by play. This was disappointing. Not enough Steiners throwing hosses for my liking. I mean Rick popped the crowd with a nice German on Vader, and Scotty hit a vertical also on Vader, but they didn't go Taz crazy like I was hoping. Vader & Bigelow also committed one of my pet peeves by hitting the same moves multiple times. You wouldn't think those two would run out of offense since they're known as big men with a lot of moves, but they certainly did here. Scotty had two bad botches- first when he simply fell off the top rope and then when an attempted T-Bone on Bigelow....didn't go well. There also wasn't much of a story. Bigelow was the only one who came close to bringing his A game. 

There were some nice moves- Vader took an awesome Scotty Frankensteiner. BBB caught Rick coming off the top and nailed him with a brutal hot shot for two. Most of the clotheslines an splashes (which there were a lot of) looked fine. Right after his first bad botch Scotty attempted a super fast sunset flip which Vader countered with a brutal sit down splash to turn the tide. Heels then worked over Scott for the bulk of the match. That ended when Scotty evaded a second sit down splash attempt by Vader. Psychology! Rick wins it for his side with a belly to belly on Bigelow.

Verdict- **1/2ish. Disappointing.

Dang, this is such a disappointing report to read... On paper, this sounds like a true dream match. It's always such an amplified let-down when the bar is so high and then reality is so meh.

I was going to warn you in the tag discussion thread but thought it best to let you see for yourself. You should check out Vader/Bigelow vs. Muto/Hase from the month before.



And that Funks vs. Hansen/Gordy match I posted in that thread, so you can see both of those teams as well.

But neither before the Can-Ams vs. Kobashi/Kikuchi tag of course.

Kaz Hayashi & Leonardo Spanky vs KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH 5/7/2005)
Spanky is one of the worst wrestling names ever. Sticking Leonardo before it somehow makes it good. A so bad it's good kinda good. I don't know when he started using Leonardo. Maybe it's his Japan name? The name Kaz Hayashi rings a bell, but that might only be because there's a wrestler called Kaz(arian) and one called Hayabusa. Pretty sure I've never seen him before.

Kaz is super intense. He's acting like he hates KENTA and/or Marufuji. He insists on starting the match. The bell rings. Kaz doesn't run and try to kill Marufuji. I guess he's just really eager to mat wrestle. That is exactly what they do for the next few minutes. Vintage indy wrestling. Multiple flips to escape arm wringers, zip through wrestling school sequences, duck down and leapfrogs, and of course a double dropkick to end the gymnastics exhibition. KENTA and Spanky mess about for a bit, then KENTA starts throwing some kicks. KENTA and Kaz do battle and have a heated forearm exchange (less common at the time than it is now). It's not long before Spanky is the subject of a beatdown. KENTA and Marufuji are clearly enjoying themselves. At one point KENTA hurricanranas Spanky out of the ring. He boots Kaz off the apron, at the same time Marufuji drops down and sends Spanky into the rail. He hits him with a water bottle just because he can. KENTA does his signature spot of pretending to run the ropes to attack Spanky, only to change course and boot Kaz in the face. That one never gets old.

Kaz gets the hot tag. He and KENTA beat the shit out of each other. Soon it's Marufuji and Spanky. Spanky gets some offense, punctuated with a really weak "come on, bitch!". Spanky doesn't fit in this climate. His strikes are OK but not on the level of the native wrestlers. Marufuji bumps hard for him. Spanky's hurricanrana and moonsault, on the other hand, are silky smooth and look great. Kaz helps Spanky hit a super Sliced Bread #2 (also Marufuji's finisher) on Marufuji. KENTA has to save the match. KENTA buys Marufuji some time by beating up his opponents. Soon Kaz and KENTA take each other out and it's back to Marufuji and Spanky. They both counter each other's Sliced Bread/Shiranui attempts. Marufuji rolls Spanky up and gets a surprise three count.

Routine match. Finishing stretch was fast-paced and got the crowd in a frenzy. Good finish. Not a great match, but it's nice to see KENTA and Marufuji do their thing. It's been a while. ***


KENTA vs Minoru Suzuki (NOAH 8/27/2005)
I had no idea this match existed, or could exist. At least not in 2005. I didn't think Suzuki joined NOAH until much later. I am happy this match exists.

KENTA enters second. Suzuki is pacing around in the wrong, black towel still on his head. KENTA steps between the ropes, darts towards Suzuki, and boots him in the face. Yes! This is the KENTA I know and love. KENTA kicks the shit out of Suzuki. KENTA hits the Busaiku knee kick! One! Two! Suzuki kicks out! Suzuki bails to the floor. KENTA follows. The tables turn when Suzuki reverses a whip into the rail. Suzuki kicks the shit out of KENTA, but at about a quarter of the speed. We get a shot of Suzuki's psycho smile. He goes for a palm strike, but KENTA dodges and lands one of his massive kicks to the chest. Suzuki down. Suzuki blocks a snapmare. First time I've seen that happen. It doesn't do him any good. KENTA kicks him some more. Later they do a cool spot where Suzuki guillotines KENTA while sat on the top rope, with KENTA's legs dangling down, as if Suzuki just hung him with his fucking arms. Suzuki has fun torturing KENTA with submission holds. His holds look a lot better than most people's. I guess that's what happens when a legit fighter does pro-wrestling. Hell, he's probably stretching KENTA out for real, like he does to all the young boys in the back. He hits some really nasty looking knee lifts to the stomach.

KENTA fires up, catches a kick, and hits a decent Tazplex. He kicks/stomps Suzuki's face about 20 times in a row in the corner. He shoves the ref away and starts slapping. KENTA does this all the time, but it's even more fun to watch when he's avenging 5+ minutes of Suzuki torture. KENTA keeps kicking. Suzuki gets to his feet. KENTA doesn't care. He slaps him and asks for a receipt. Suzuki is all too happy to deliver. KENTA is losing the battle. Before he loses, he runs the ropes and boots Suzuki in the face. He tries again. Suzuki catches the foot and does a really cool transition into a Half Boston Crab. He then rolls him onto his back, lifts him up and swings him. He only managed half a rotation, but probably ripped the leg from the hip in the process. Suzuki applies some nasty leg holds. KENTA escapes to the ropes and gets a nice flurry of offense in. Unfortunately two busaiku knees and a tiger suplex aren't enough to do the job.

Suzuki gets to his feet while eating repeated chest kicks. KENTA goes for slaps, but Suzuki evades them. He gets into Pancrase mode and toys with KENTA, dodging his wild swings and firing short range super fast slap jabs. He murders KENTA with a flurry of these slaps, then grabs the sleeper hold. He flips KENTA over his head with the sleeper applied, and keeps it locked until KENTA passes out.

That was everything it needed to be. Two badasses beating the shit out of each other. Suzuki is at his best wrestling these mid-length sprinty matches, and so is KENTA. They complement each other well. ***1/2

Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase (c) vs. Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow (NJPW 3/1/92- IWGP Tag Title Match)

Let's see if Bam Bam & Vader can live up to the hype I had for them in my head this time.

Mutoh is Great Muta as a straight wrestler rather his more gimmicky self. I prefer him as Muta rather than Mutoh.

This is my first time seeing Hase, though I've known of his good reputation for nearly 20 years. He has the early 90s hair & mustache of Eddie Guerrero while resembling Steamboat in size and, as I will soon learn, "fighting spirit." Hase has a bandage on his head. Hmm...I wonder if that will come into play?

Hase & Mutoh are the tag champs.

Vader & Bam Bam do a bunch of pre-match rope running. Then they have a little chat. Then they go crazy with the high & low fives. I like it. Makes them seem like real friends. Nobody is putting anyone through a Barbershop window on this team.

Mutoh & Hase quickly shake hands as if to say "We're friends too!" but it seemed forced.....a bit too try hard for my liking. Mutoh also looks rather nervous which I found odd at first. But after thinking about it for another second I decided any sane wrestler would be nervous if they were about to face Vader & Bam Bam with their title on the line.

Bigelow again does his animated start complete with fancy footwork. We soon get an awesome Vader vs. Hase fight. Vader goes for his usual clubbering. But Hase blocks! You NEVER see people block the Vader attack. Not only that, but Hase fights back with aplomb! Even slapping Vader a few times! I like this guy already. But Hase's insolence only makes the Mastodon mad(der), and his punches even stiffer. OK, this slugfest was approximately a million times better than the tired forearm trading you see in every ROH & New Japan match. It felt so much more real. This was also better than anything in the Steiners match.

Hase tosses Vader around a little bit, and would do so throughout the match, hitting a back suplex, bodyslam, german suplex, uranage, and even a Northern Lights at one point or another. I actually did not like this. Vader outweighs Hase by over 200 pounds and here's Hase throwing him around like they're of equal size. "But, Baker, you hypocrite! You just complained about the Steiners not doing ENOUGH suplexes, and now you're criticizing this match for having TOO MANY suplexes?!? Make up your mind!" Yeah, ok, here's the deal. The Steiners are suplex kings. It's kind of their thing. Plus they both have a good 30 pounds on Hase. So, yes, the Steiners throwing Vader around is actually a lot different than Hase throwing Vader around. I'm not saying I want Vader to be an immobile lump like late 80s Andre, but it would have been better if he had used his 200+ pound weight advantage to block a few of those attempts before taking some of them later in the match. Anyway....

The turning point comes when Vader & Bigelow tire of this spunky, mustachioed warrior kicking their collective asses, and decide to do something about it in the form of Bigelow ripping off Hase's forehead bandage. Vader decks him with a few full force legit punches to the face and, sure enough, Hase is busted open. Uh oh. He soon wears the full crimson mask and blood will continue to flow from his wound for several minutes. Now we go to school....

Vader & Bigelow are predictably awesome at the beatdown. You get a bunch of the brutal strikes Vader is known for. BBB hits a lot of the stuff he did in the last match, including the Jericho Butterfly Backbreaker, which I suppose I'm going to have to start calling the Bigelow Butterfly Backbreaker. You can see the difference between Vader & Bam Bam here. Vader's shots look (and probably are) brutal while Bigelow throws standard wrestling strikes, and not even particularly good ones. Hase, solidifying himself as a good babyface in my eyes, sells well and shows heart by kicking out of everything the monsters hit him with, including a Vader powerbomb or two. Finally, after minutes of beatdown and blood loss, Hase has an opening. He makes the hot tag! continues to wrestle  :ugh:  Well, that was dumb. Hase makes his own comeback while Mutoh stands on the apron twiddling his thumbs. Not gonna lie. That kind of killed what had hitherto been an awesome match. It sort of breaks down for a minute or so.

Stuff happens. Bigelow wrecks Hase with a full impact somersault senton. Vader immediately follows it up with a big splash for the 1-2-NO! 2.9. Meh. Should've been the finish. But I suppose it's ok because Vader finally does put the game Hase away seconds later with a brutal chokeslam.

Notice I didn't write much about Mutoh. That's because he was only in for maybe a minute or two of an approximately 17 minute match. He hit his patented quick elbow and handspring elbow (which is still the GOAT, by the way). Yet it doesn't have QUITE the same pizzazz as it does when he's Muta. We got about 30 seconds of a Baker dream match (that I'm pretty sure I booked in a fanfic draft or two) in Vader vs. Muta. But this was the Hase show all the way. He did most of the work for his team and was the star of this match as the best (and much of the worst, to be fair) stuff came from him. 

Verdict- This is a tough one to rate. I enjoyed at least 80% of this, with the good stuff being REALLY good. Yet, on the flip side, the annoying stuff was REALLY annoying. We'll go ***1/2. Recommended. Had Vader used his size better and Hase made the hot tag, this would have been ****+.

To do a comparison with another recent Match Review, the Furnas & LaFon match had cooler moves. This one had a better story. The Furnas & LaFon match had a weak Kawada hot tag. This one inexplicably had no hot tag.

Strobe I was going to watch Funks vs. Hansen & Gordy after this last night but the video you posted is no longer showing up for me. I did find it on Veoh but they wanted me to download something before watching. I went to sleep instead. May do it tonight. If not, I'll watch a Funks vs. Hansen & Brody match I found to get my taste of the Brothers Funk.

*Also watched some Al Snow SMW matches the other day. I may get around to writing about them at some point.

On the one hand, I like the subversion of the standard hot tag formula, and instead the two on one beatdown leads to a win for the two (which should, logically, happen a lot more often than it does). Also demonstrates the fighting spirit Japanese fans love so much. On the other hand, why even book this tag team match if Mutoh is going to stand on the apron the whole match? It's even worse considering they are the tag team champions. The isolate/hot tag formula is done for a reason. It works. I'm not saying it should be that way every single tag match, as American wrestlers seem to think, but if you're going to isolate one guy for ages, it almost seems mandatory to have a hot tag.

Nov 30, 2017 22:16:04 GMT Baker said:

I was going to watch Funks vs. Hansen & Gordy after this last night but the video you posted is no longer showing up for me. I did find it on Veoh but they wanted me to download something before watching. I went to sleep instead. May do it tonight. If not, I'll watch a Funks vs. Hansen & Brody match I found to get my taste of the Brothers Funk.

Tried watching it on my phone rather than laptop this time around. Voila! Success!

Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (AJPW 8/31/83)

This is Terry Funk's first retirement match. By his own count, he has had 21(!) retirement matches since this one  :lol:

Crowd is HOT. Good grief. The Funks are Von Erichs in Texas levels of over here. 

Gordy comes to the ring wearing cowboy attire in a rarity. I guess to show that he has similar tastes to his partner?

Terry gets huge streamer treatment and even looks a bit choked up at all the adulation. Still not quite used to Terry in tights rather than trunks and without his longtime goatee.

That jerk Hansen jumps Terry before the bell and we're off. I always get a kick out of guys fighting when the ring is covered in streamers and you will rarely see a ring more covered in streamers than this one.

This is a straight up 80s southern style brawl rather than the All Japan of the four pillars. The main story is Hansen & Terry hate each other. We never go very long without one attacking the other (usually the heel Hansen attacking face Terry). Crowd remains hot throughout cheering like mad not just for the man of the hour, Terry, but also for Dory. 

Terry starts out. He has a bandage on his head. We all know what that means. He has a nice dodge of Hansen's Lariat early. Dory gets tagged in. He hits some nice European Uppercuts, a few wimpy ones, and some ugly one footed dropkicks. Dory did not bore me in this match. So that's a success. But he was hardly what I'd call good. Dory soon becomes face in peril. The beatdown is highlighted by big 280 pound Terry Gordy randomly hitting a 9/10 dropkick. Dory eventually makes the hot, and I do mean HOT, tag to Terry.

Hansen fires away with punches. But Terry no sells! Awesome! Hulk Terry, brother! Terry fires back with some haymakers of his own. But our hero soon finds himself in peril and gets busted open at some point. Terry Gordy dickishly applies the patented Funk Spinning Toe Hold in an awesome early example of finisher stealing. Terry counters rather easily. More brawling ensues. 

Terry goes up top. Air Terry! Connects! With a surprisingly nice sunset flip on Gordy for the 1-2-3!  Terry bah gawd Funk has won his retirement match!

Verdict- Fun match worth watching for the crowd alone as you will rarely witness a hotter one. They loved the Funks, chanting for them throughout. Terry was obviously the star. Hansen was fine as his foil. Gordy was somewhat of an afterthought but contributed with the dropkick and spinning toe hold. Dory....looked a little less old than he would at Royal Rumble 1996. I dunno...*** Didn't reach the heighs of Furnas & LaFon vs. Kawada & Kikuchi or Vader & Bam Bam vs. Hase & Mutoh but was more fun, if that makes sense. Star ratings are stupid anyway. 

Anybody know why it was Gordy in the match and not Hansen's usual partner, Brody? My theory is they needed somebody to take the fall. Theoretically it should have been Hansen since he was Terry's big rival but I suppose Baba didn't want one of his top guys to get pinned and Brody ain't layin' down for nobody, not even in his friend's retirement match. So they brought Gordy (who I think was still relatively new to the territory) in to take the fall and also give him the rub of being in a match that was bound to be famous. Strobe am I right or is this just a bunch of rambling b.s.?

I agree pretty much entirely with Baker on his assessment of Vader/Bigelow vs. Hase/Muto. It had a lot of the pieces of a great match and could've gotten there. Vader bumping too big too early is a common and often fair criticism of him. Imagine the reaction if those throws/suplexes had been teased in the early going and finally hit after a Muto hot tag? Hase was booked almost absurdly strong there. Instead of the hot tag, he just stays in and shows minimal effects from the huge beating he's just taken.

Dec 1, 2017 5:54:35 GMT Baker said:

Verdict- Fun match worth watching for the crowd alone as you will rarely witness a hotter one. They loved the Funks, chanting for them throughout. Terry was obviously the star. Hansen was fine as his foil. Gordy was somewhat of an afterthought but contributed with the dropkick and spinning toe hold. Dory....looked a little less old than he would at Royal Rumble 1996. I dunno...*** Didn't reach the heighs of Furnas & LaFon vs. Kawada & Kikuchi or Vader & Bam Bam vs. Hase & Mutoh but was more fun, if that makes sense. Star ratings are stupid anyway. 

They really can be.

I would rate it higher than you as the heat, atmosphere and the occasion just make it come across very special. I find it hard to remove the pre-match ceremony and post-match Hansen attacks (that lariat on a ring boy!) and Terry selling/emotion from it. I should watch it again, but I could see myself going something like ****½ for the whole deal. Just judging matches in isolation is something I don't do anymore and don't even know if I can. The match only went around 13 minutes, but was exactly what it needed to be. Intense, all-action with the fans delighted at Terry getting the pin.

Dec 1, 2017 5:54:35 GMT Baker said:

Anybody know why it was Gordy in the match and not Hansen's usual partner, Brody? My theory is they needed somebody to take the fall. Theoretically it should have been Hansen since he was Terry's big rival but I suppose Baba didn't want one of his top guys to get pinned and Brody ain't layin' down for nobody, not even in his friend's retirement match. So they brought Gordy (who I think was still relatively new to the territory) in to take the fall and also give him the rub of being in a match that was bound to be famous. Strobe am I right or is this just a bunch of rambling b.s.?

I think this is spot on. Hansen and Brody weren't exclusive partners in All Japan but on paper, this is the type of big match where you'd expect them to be together. But it was the correct call for all the reasons you mentioned. It had to be Hansen as him and Terry is the hot feud. Terry is leaving so you don't want him going over one of your top guys in Hansen or Brody. So you put Gordy in there to take the fall and he actually gains from it, just by being associated with these names. Booking a tag match and all 4 guys come out looking good. Great booking.

I scored an ECW pack of non-PPV supercards, as I went to download it I went through the files and checked the ones that I wanted, I already have about 90% of the shows in this pack, mostly just needed the 1994 tapes, they are nowhere near worth the price that RF video is charging for them but I still wanted to have them in my collection so I went this route. Such a huge disappointment to find out that a majority of these shows have the original music overdubbed, these are the Delta Region 0 DVD versions of the shows with the looping crowd noise and bunk house music. Also a lot of the video quality is super bad, I tried watching It Ain't Sienfeld and the second half of the show was unwatchable it was so fucked up, too bad because seemed like a really fun show.

I also scored the 1994 ECW Hardcore TV collection, excellent quality VHS rips with all the original music intact, Merry Christmas to me! I watched the first month or so up to The Night The Line Was Crossed. The episode after that show was pretty great, they really sold that event as big time for them, it was really a landmark show that really started it all for ECW. They were selling the Three Way Dance like it was one of the greatest matches of all time and they really started pushing Shane Douglas to the moon coming out of that match. I love the interview Terry Funk cuts after the match where he's turning on the waterworks. I love that fucking man.

With that I've already exceeded my download limit and been warned to be banned soon. I really have no idea how all this ratio business works, I don't know what seeding means. I'm definitely going to pay the $45 donation for unlimited access, probably after the holidays. Definitely want that WCW Saturday Night 1985-1995 pack. Also planning on watching through all the ROH tapes eventually, maybe some TNA too. I'm wanting to watch through all the early ROH years in chronological order, I have no interest in doing that for TNA. What would be some good years in TNA history to watch? 

Dec 2, 2017 17:24:57 GMT shinobimusashi said:

With that I've already exceeded my download limit and been warned to be banned soon. I really have no idea how all this ratio business works, I don't know what seeding means. I'm definitely going to pay the $45 donation for unlimited access, probably after the holidays. 

Quick primer:

Seeding is just making the file you've downloaded available to be downloaded by others. This happens automatically by whatever client you're using to download with, as long as the client open and you don't delete the file. Proper etiquette is for every byte you've downloaded, to upload (at least) the same amount. So if you download a 1GB file, keep it seeding until you've uploaded the same amount. Websites set up ratios to dissuade people from downloading and not uploading back, which is how files go to die when nobody is uploading anymore. Kind of a pay it forward sort of thing. 

I don't know where you're downloading, but most websites have files, or packs of files labeled "Free Leech." That means none of what you download will be counted as download. It will only count towards what you upload. Downloading a couple of those and keeping them seeding for a while is a good way to get your ratio up, so you never get to a danger zone of being banned again. 

Usually when I go to a new Torrent website, I download nothing but Free Leech stuff for the first month, get the ratio way up, and then I can do normal activity from there on out. 

Dec 2, 2017 17:24:57 GMT shinobimusashi said:

What would be some good years in TNA history to watch? 

2003 was fun just for how random it could. You literally never knew who might show up- recent WWE releases, ex-WCW & ECW stars, old timers, indie darlings, international stars....anybody. You should at least watch January 22-April 30 for the Raven/Jarrett build.

2005 was probably their best year. Start with the last PPV of 2004 (Turning Point, I think it was) and go from there until you get bored.

Also, let me know if you ever find the ECW Halloween 1997 show where a bunch of guys portray their old WWF characters. I've always wanted to watch that one.

The Revival (c) vs. American Alpha (NXT Takeover: Dallas 4/1/16- NXT Tag Title Match)

Both teams finished fairly high on our Favorite Tag Team Countdown. I had been meaning to watch a Revival match for a while. Figured this would be the perfect time to finally do so.

Expectations: I pay just enough attention to have an idea of what to expect from these two teams. AA I imagine to be a babyface version of WGTT while The Revival are basically a modern Brainbusters in my imagination. Let's hope they live up to the hype in my head. The jury is still out on Bigelow & Vader, after all.

American Alpha enter to a mediocre theme but it's All American Boys compared to the ear damage caused by the Revival's theme. AA are Chad Gable & Jason Jordan- the babyfaces. They're former amateur wrestlers who wear singlets as former amateur wrestlers are wont to do. Revival are Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder. Dawson has a shaved head and quality facial hair. He bears some resemblance to Jimmy Cicero in a comparison nobody save maybe kashdinero is going to get. Hey, sometimes I just like showing off. Wilder is a generic looking fellow. Both teams also entered wearing matching team jackets which is always a good thing.

This match hit all the right notes. We start out with AA getting the better of the Revival since, as babyfaces, and amateur standouts, they're the superior wrestlers. Revival are crafty fellows with a lot of dirty tricks. None of those tricks work. AA has them well scouted. But the Revival finally does take over when Wilder drills Gable with a hard clothesline as Gable is chasing Dawson around ringside.

Now we go to school. Revival work Gable over with basic stuff but it never gets boring. They live up to the hype by cutting the ring in half and having some really good hot tag cutoffs. It's tempting to bust out a "Shades of Brainbusters/Midnight Express!" but the truth is I think the hot tag cutoff was mastered not by the 'Busters or Midnights, but by the Shield. Crowd is hot and reacting the right way. Now I don't really think they hate the Revival for a second but at least they are playing along. Should've known Dallas would deliver. There was one really bad botch where the Revival were going for, I think, a powerbomb + top rope clothesline. It did not go well. After several cutoffs, Gable finally does make the hot tag.

Jordan comes in as a house afire throwing both members of the Revival around with multiple suplexes. The straps are down! Jordan definitely seems to be a Kurt Angle clone. He also gets good height on his dropkicks. 

Stuff happens (but in a good way) highlighted by Dawson & Gable doing Bret/Owen & Flair/Steamboat pin sequences (commentator guy earns a point for mentioning the late, great Owen Hart when Gable does two "Owen Hart pins" as I called them back in the day) and American Alpha surprise me by winning the titles with their finisher- a sort of back suplex thrown into another back suplex with a bridge. It's not that cool. Anyway, I was surprised because I expected Wilder to make yet another 2.9 save, and also because I thought American Alpha never won the titles/had a reputation as chokers who couldn't win the big one (this was even mentioned by the commentator). Maybe I have them confused with another NXT team?

There were also a few other little things I dug like Gable dodging a Dawson leg sweep and going right into a fancy bridging pin rather than a tired rollup. Another time Dawson found himself on the top rope and climbed down rather than kill his gimmick (as I was expecting) with a top rope move. Dawson also attempted a Slingshot Suplex (which Gable escaped) because of course a member of the Revival would do a Slingshot Suplex. Scott Dawson is the man.

Verdict- **** at minimum. Yeah, I went there. Excellent match. A near-perfect Southern tag with a hot crowd responding the right way. Picture a Brainbusters vs. weird Rock & Roll Express/Steiners mash up with both teams firing on all cylinders. Dawson was the star of the match as he worked an almost Hase amount of time for his team. Gable & Jordan were both good. Wilder didn't do much outside of interfere, but he timed his saves well. And at a breezy 15 minutes, it did not wear out its welcome.

Only criticisms I have are the bad Revival botched powerbomb and a bad camera choice which caused what would have been the best Revival hot tag cutoff of them all to become telegraphed, but you can't blame the wrestlers for that one.

The Revival live up to the hype.

NO FLIPS, JUST FISTS~!

Thanks for the help Kilgore and Pete, I really should have done my homework before I dove in, I've already been banned(presumably for using a torrent software that wasn't allowed, I was using Vuze, none of the other ones would install on my laptop for some reason). It's all good though, I scored some good stuff. I found another site and I'm about 32 minutes away from having the full 2002 set of ROH shows, I've been eager to watch these tapes for quite some time now.

Baker they had the Halloween 1997 ECW show over there(XWT) but I didn't get the chance to download it. I seen that it was a part of some of the Fan Cam packages they are selling over on RF Video, I plan on picking some of those up soon.

Bake - Nice, really glad to see you get behind The Revival. I took your radio silence of them as a sign that you weren't into them - almost that you viewed them like the The Dawgs as a team that's just 'there'. I can assure you they continued to have really good matches for the rest of their run, unfortunately Dawson's been on and off the main roster with injury troubles but I expect a huge 2018 for them.

Shin - I'm with Bake when it comes to TNA. 2005-06 was TNA at it's best and it's no surprise to see the likes of AJ Styles and Samoa Joe go onto become major players in the modern landscape of Pro Wrestling. This was arguably their most impressive work of their careers, so it's well worth checking out. If I was going to divide the TNA eras it would something like...

2002-04 - The Weekly PPV Era - Was the wild west of Pro Wrestling. Every show had to have some big surprise or train wreck segment to try and draw fans interest and you just never knew what you were going to get. The thing is, it happened so long ago that NWA-TNA fans of the time either left or just had their minds rotted during the recent Dixie-Carter laden shows.

2004-06 - The Golden Era - TNA got a one hour weekly show on Fox, started hosting monthly PPVs and the show started settling into a traditional wrestling show. It still had that WCW 2000 vibe to it with a lot of the main stars going around again, but there was enough talent coming in and on the undercard to make it worth watching. I'd say now more than ever, this period is worth watching since you get to watch AJ and Samoa Joe in their prime making a name for themselves as performers.

2007-09 - Crossing The Line, But Dropping The Ball - This was akin to WCW in '98 where the company was in really good shape, but wasn't headed in a good direction. It started with small things like Austin Aries and Low Ki not being used to their potential and became bigger when they buried their only non-WWE star Samoa Joe for no discernible reason. Still, as bad as the product could be, there was still some good segments and the year ended on a real high with AJ on top, Desmond Wolfe showing up and more talent on the horizon.

2010-13 - Hulkamania Runs Wild on TNA - Hogan joins TNA and straight away it's like WCW 94 all over again where all the major talents are pushed aside for has-beens. Not only does the quality of Pro Wrestling go down a notch, but they turned the hokey wrestling storylines up several notches and every show is filled with over-booked confusing storylines where everyone just comes off like assholes. The show does improve by 2011-2012, but by that point all the good-will is lost and you just knew they'd mess it up.

2014-17 - The Company of Lost Souls - Styles and Hogan both leave in early 2014, and with that, TNA becomes irrelevant. The shows themselves were actually pretty consistent and there's some good wrestling angles, but there's very little innovation. Things pick up in late 2016 with Broken Matt Hardy in full swing, otherwise it's just a show that existed.

2017-Now - The Podcast Era - TNA is saved at the elenvth hour by Anthem for lord knows whatever reason and they try to make TNA great again. A lot of old writers are brought back to book the promotion and while the shows turn out good from top to bottom, there is so much drama behind the scenes that it takes precedence over the on-screen product. I call it the podcast era because TNA started hiring people like Pritchard and Cornette because of their podcast success.

It's amazing that TNA managed to somehow survive longer than WCW and ECW while never coming close to the same type of success as the others.

Good stuff, I love posts like that. Now somebody give me a report/spoiler free synopsis on ROH whenever you get in the mood/have the time. I'm watching the first show as we speak. I'm trying to think of a thread or something to post my thoughts as I watch through these tapes but man I really don't have it in me to write full reviews for shows.

Dec 3, 2017 10:49:57 GMT Big Pete said:

Bake - Nice, really glad to see you get behind The Revival. I took your radio silence of them as a sign that you weren't into them - almost that you viewed them like the The Dawgs as a team that's just 'there'. I can assure you they continued to have really good matches for the rest of their run, unfortunately Dawson's been on and off the main roster with injury troubles but I expect a huge 2018 for them.

I actually had never seen them before yesterday. It was always in the back of my mind to check them out but, well, I am forgetful, other things took precedent, yada yada yada. 

I was wondering about The Revival's main roster run. Went to Cagematch. Saw a lot of big gaps in their main roster match results. Figured one, or both, had gotten injured. Judging by what people say about WWE booking, I'm sad to say I don't have high hopes for them going forward.

I haven't seen The Dawgs either. I'm happy about that one though   Can't imagine a Ferrara/Titus team being even remotely good.

Revival vs. Hardy Boyz- Raw 7/17/17

This probably would have been a dream match of sorts for me if I had followed The Revival's NXT career.

I like Matt's pants.

The "Broken" stuff is still over as we get "Delete" and "Brother Nero" chants.

All four men hail from the great state of North Carolina- a capital of tag team wrestling over the years.

Hardys control early as The Revival once again show commitment to their gimmick by bumping & bumbling around the ring like an 80s heel team. Any hack can do a spinebuster or slingshot suplex if they were so inclined but not everybody is going to take it so far as bumping & selling the Brainbusters. Well done. And right on point, Commentator Guy calls them "students of the game." Revival also hugs for reassurance. Again, straight out of the 80s heel team playbook. 

Revival take over with an attack on Matt's knee. They work him over for a little while, once again cutting the ring in half and breaking up hot tag attempts at the last second. 

Matt finally does make the hot tag. Jeff puts a little wrinkle on his usual spots with a(n ugly) dropkick rather than an Air Sabu on Poetry In Motion, and a (nice) second rope splash rather than his usual leg drop. I assume he's doing this to save his body a little. Good for him. He's earned the right to take it a little easy. Jeff hits a Stunner Twist of Fate, which is superior to the proper Twist of Fate, for a 2.9 count with Wilder making a late save. Revival pull off the upset when Dawson rolls Jeff up and grabs a handful of tights for the 1-2-3. Didn't see that one coming.

Verdict- Nothing worth going out of your way to see but this was a notch above the standard 10 minute tv tag match entirely due to The Revival. They've mastered all the old school tricks. Another thing I like about them is their matches seem to generate hot nearfalls off simple pinning combinations rather than the usual finisher kickouts. That's so refreshing in this day and age. Why Matt didn't even get his usual Side Effect nearfall in! Dawson once again worked the bulk of the match for his team. The Match Review Thread is gonna become The Revival Appreciation Thread real soon at this rate  

shinobimusashi I'll do my best to cover ROH the way Pete covered TNA either later tonight or tomorrow.

Baker , for throwing that legendary reference to Jimmy Cicero..

We both know this match will make you smile. Yes, the crowd are dead and it is a very average squash, but I got a chuckle ouf Jimmy's ridiculous little hand gesture thingie, and the woefully underrated legend that is Tom Brandi unleashes some of his better moves, including a sweet middle rope bulldog that The DogFace Gremlin would be proud of..




shinobimusashi , those first few years of RoH made that era one of my favourite times as a wrestling fan. I had a guy/site who I used to get all my tapes from, and in one order I gave him he sent me a free copy of Road to the Title that had been signed by Doug Williams. I didn't even realize he had any RoH videos, so I never actually bothered asking him, but once I found out he had the previous three shows as well my days of waiting eagarly for the next RoH show began.

Here are some of my off the top of the head, in no particular order, fond memories, and other notes of that time.

Before RoH was a thing I had been following the U.S. Indy scene quite religiously and spent a fair few bucks on trying to get as many different promotions as possible, so my knowledge of who was tearing shit up was decent for a guy who had very limited internet access (I used to actually send hand writen notes for my VHS orders back then, and pay for them by Postal Orders.. Then had to wait for like 2 weeks before they arrived. To say I appreciate the easy access DL/streaming era would be a mahoosive understatement). Much like the glory days of the territories the indy scene was very much broken up by state/coast, with each area/promotion having their own homegrown stars and talent. In particular I was a big fan of the New York promotion ICW, where LowKi, Homicide, Xavier, Red and The SAT's, and The Hit Squad were putting on some crazy matches that caught my eye big time, especially as they used to put on shows at The Elks Lodge, which was always one of my fave ECdub venues. The SoCal/West Coast area was probably my second favourite, with Super Dragon, B-Boy, Donovan Morgan, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and Mike Modest being some of the bigger names at the time. Shawn Michaels promotion, Texas Wrestling Academy, featured a bunch of his and Rudy Boy Gonzales top students, including Brian Kendrick/Spanky and Bryan Danielson/American Dragon.. Then there were the Chris Hero's, CM Punk's, Colt Cabana's, BJ Whitmer's and Ace Steel's making waves in the Mid-South area, while a guy named AJ Styles had been pretty much everywhere, while still being the ace of his home promotion NWA: Wildside (a promotion which I fucking love big time and recommend everyone to do a little homework on it, if you haven't already). I would be remiss here if I failed to mention CZW, whose Junior Heavyweight and Tag Team divisions were on fire, with Red and The SAT's (them again), Brian XL and Devine Storm, Ruckus, Backseat Boys, The Brisoes, Sick Nick Mondo, Ric F'N Blade and others being the very much needed wrestling to balance out the Ultraviolence. Anyway, I could go on forever, but my point here is that the scene was primed for a super promotion that featured the cream of all these promtions, and being at the forefront of it all with his RF Video company, who either filmed and/or distributed many of their shows, Rob Feinstien & Co. were in the best position to make it happen. Not only did they create a platform to present the talent in the best light possible, but they also had a fresh new concept with the whole hand shaking thing and emphaisis on honour ect. It was the culmination of the previous two years of insane growth of new, exciting talent emerging in the wake of the passing of WCW and, more specifically, ECW. Speaking of which, it also worth noting is that Rob and booker, Paul Heyman understudy, Gabe Sapolsky, refused to use all but a select few of the ex-ECW guys still lurking about. 'CW was hardcore, extreme, and pretty much passe, but many promotions across the country were still plugging that anything goes environment to very little success. Not wanting to be tarnished with that same brush they went back to basics, enforced rules, and when they did have hardcore-esque matches they meant something. 

Show one. Era of Honor begins. Despite starting off on a completely hardcore destruction of the wonderfully camp Buffy and Mase by the monsters that were The Hit Squad, the show put full emphasis on athletic competition, and established their stars from day one. That LowKi vs Christopher Daniels vs American Dragon main evented while Eddie Gurrerro vs Super Crazy, which would have main evented anywhere else in the country outside of WWE, was a telling sign of the new generation led direction they were heading. Speaking of the main event, it was glorious at the time, and while I haven't seen it in a while, I'm sure it can still be appreciated to this day.

Eddie and Amazing Red vs SAT's. I can still remember how happy Red was to be teaming with his hero. Even though he only had a couple of shots with RoH, Eddie, who was in his rehabbing his career phase  lent them a ton of credibility. One can only wonder how things would have panned out if he had stuck around for longer. By the time this match came about Eddie had already returned to WWE and was actually the Intercontinental Champion (he even brought the title out with him), but had obviously been allowed to fulfill this commitment.

LowKi's early tour de force of killer main event matches against Daniels, American Dragon, AJ Styles, and others was a joy to behold as it was happening. No one established themselves in RoH back then like Ki. Had he not been a part of backstage politics which his no nonsense attitude had no time for things could have turned out for him even better there. As it was, though, dude had one of my favourite runs of constistent great matches which was arguably one of the best things happening at the time in wrestling. The actual highlight of this run was that amazing Matrix minute in his match with Red at Road to the Title. 

Christopher Daniels and The Prophecy. Lowki established himself as the top babyface, but it was Daniels who claimed the honours of becoming the top heel. Yes, he never won the title back then, but he was very much a focal point of the company, with his stable The Prophecy rebelling against the rules (thus actually getting the whole "honor" gimmick more over). The dynamic of Daniels in the mentor role for RoH champ, Xavier, was unique. Many shit on Xavier's run as champ, but while he wasn't the best the company had to offer, he was very decent in the ring, and had a fair amount of heat as the unworthy champ, and when he finally did lose the belt it was to....

Samoa Joe. After debuting in a BRUTAL instant classic against LowKi, Joe went on to become THE MAN in RoH, which truly began when he Did the world a favour and dethroned The Prophecy's chosen one. Damn near two years as the RoH champ, Joe gave the title credibility like no one else did. He also defended it across seas and made it a World title which was obviously a big deal for the company, one of the matches I actually saw in person (vs Zebra Kid). His feuds with Homicide and The Briscoes were definite highlights of this run. When he finally lost the title to the still relatively new to the company Austin Aries it was the end of not only an era but one of the best championship reigns of the modern era.

The rise and rise of Paul London. Despite Spanky winning a TWA student gauntlet match, American Dragon was the clear cut top student, but it was Paul London who was the fastest rising star out of Rudy Boys boys. His early feud with Shawn Michaels nephew, Michael Shane, saw him put in some insane performances that the fans ate up with relish, and he became the first real homegrown star of RoH before being snapped up by WWE. His matches with AJ Styles, Xavier and American Dragon were my favourite straight wrestling matches of his, but it was the crazy ladder match he had with Michael that is my strongest memory during that push. Evan Bourne may have the prettiest SSP, but London will always be the GOAT of the Shooting Star Press in my mind, and seeing him hit it off the ladder had me popping big time.

CM Punk had arguably the best run in RoH history. Obviously it wasn't the longest, but he grew every aspect of his game while with the company and was a part of some of its most memorable moments. His feud with Raven added some much needed story telling and sports entertainment to the promotions pure wrestling orientated style. His rise up the card saw him usurp Daniels as top heel, with a great six man tag between Punk's stable, The Second City Saints (w/Colt and Ace) and Daniels Prophecy. There was also those epics with Joe, and the whole Summer of Punk thing that had the smarks screaming his praises.

International talent. Very early on RoH began booking British talent, most notably Doug Williams, who had an impressive showing in the tournament to crown the first RoH champ, but also high fliers, Jodie Fliesch and Jonny Storm, who also faced each other in the same tournament in a bit of a disappointing match that sadly wasn't a patch on their classic during CZW's Best of the Best II tournament which happened during the same week. Japananese talent were also used prominently from very early on, with stars like Ikuto Hidaka, Dick Togo, Masato Tanaka and Shinjiro Ohtani making appearances during the first year, through a working agreement the company had with Zero One. As time passed RoH went on to have a similar working agreement with Pro Wrestling NOAH, that saw Kenta Kobashi, Naomichi Marufuji, KENTA and Takeshi Morishima put on some true classics, and more recently, NJPW, who RoH have enjoyed working alongside each other in both Japan and America for the last few years now.

RoH have one man to thank for the initial Zero One stars coming into the promotion: Steve Corino. While the U.S. Indy scene was going through its growth period, Corino was doing his own growing as a performer over in the Land of the Rising Sun for Shinya Hashimoto's breakout promotion. In ECW Corino made a name for himself as an old school practicioner who wasn't afraid to get massive ammounts of colour, but left a lot to be desired when it came to the actual wrestling part of his game. That was begining to change during his run with Z1, where he began channeling the spirit of the top gaijins of the 80's and was starting to get a lot of praise for his matches. Sure he was no Funk/Gordy/Hansen/ect but he more than began holding his own in the ring, and was very well recieved by not only the fans, but also with the office, who ended up making him their U.S. liason/booker, which led to the fairly short lived Z1/RoH partnership. As for his time in RoH itself, he went from strength to strength and had a very realistic feud with Homicide that saw the two have a brutal match that cememented Corino's growth as an in-ring performer and reminded folk of his hardcore roots. Cornio would go on to have a long on again off again relationship with RoH and would be big part of the company for years to come.

Starting off in RoH as one half of The Natural Born Sinners with fellow New Yorker Boogaloo, Homicide established himself from very early on. The pair of them had a great, blood filled, hardcore street fight with The Carnage Crew, Tony Devito and HC Loc, who had made somewhat of a name for themselves in ECW, that ended when Homicide put barbed wire in HC Loc's mouth and he tried to tear his head in half. ECW may have been dead, but this rare display of RoH brutality showed that done right there will always be a place for that style of wrestling. I was a big fan of TNBS from day one, but it was clear who was the real star of the team; the man who had trained LowKi and many others at The Doghouse gym in NYC, and after Boogaloo parted ways with RoH, 'cide went on to have a great career full of classic feuds, strong style inspired matches and memorable moments and angles that culminated in a very well recieved RoH World title win against Bryan Danielson. Sadly due to his signing with TNA his reign was extremely short lived, and he never again experienced the highs of his initial RoH run.

Other than putting on one great match after the next, American Dragon never really lived up to his potential with RoH early on due to the fact that he was spending a lot of time in Europe, Japan and even Mexico, but once he got the globetrotting out of his system, he began using his real name, Bryan Danielson, and some say his subsequent title run is the best ever in Ring of Honor. I don't know if I would agree, but his matches with Nigel McGuiness during this run are some of the greatest in RoH history. One thing that isn't arguable is the fact that Danielson was a huge part of RoH's history, and he helped boost the companies reputation by putting on great matches to almost no end.

Had he not been such a massive player in TNA, AJ Styles would have surely enjoyed more success in RoH. As it was he had to settle with an early tag title reign with Red, and just putting on great matches in general.

One thing I always thought was a novel concept was the group called Special K, who were made up of mostly young up and coming wrestlers who, while athletic and innovative in the ring, had very little psychology, and were sloppy as fuck. To make up for their short comings the company, the announcers harped on about how much drugs they took before their matches. Off the top of my head, the main names from the stable were Dixie, Izzy (Insane Dragon), Slim J, and Hydro, who went on to have the best career of them alk under his Jay Lethal moniker.

Many great tag teams plied their trade in RoH, but the obvious GOAT RoH tag team were and are Jay and Mark Briscoe. When RoH first began, Mark was actually only seventeen and was legally too young to wrestle in the markets that RoH targeted early on. Once he was of legal age, Christopher Daniels groomed him and he briefly became a member of The Prophecy during which time he feuded with Jay. As good as the matches the two had against each other, it was together as a team where they truly shined, although the singles matches they had during the early years were always on point. 

I could go on forever here, but I'm gonna wrap it up with the introduction of Generation Next. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Jack Evans formed this game changing stable after the nasty Rob Fienstien scandal that saw the majority of the bigger stars leave in disgust. They would remain a focal point in RoH for many years after their formation, but it was those first months as a team where they made their mark as the leaders of the next wave of talent in RoH, with Aries puncuating that fact with big wins over Bryan Danielson in a 70 plus minute match and the aforementioned shocker of a title win against Joe where he became the fourth person to hold the RoH World Championship.

Anyway, I'll leave it there.. Here's hoping shinobimusashi , gets at least half of the enjoyment out of those early years as I did as it was happening.

kashdinero I actually remembered that Brandi/Cicero match. Watched & reviewed it a few years ago when I was on one of my bi-yearly Tom Brandi kicks. What I remembered most about it were the chops. And, yep, they were some stiff chops alright.

I'm pretty sure Brandi trained Cicero, who I saw live many times in the late 90s, and was not a fan of. He was such a 'just there' kind of wrestler. 

Now I want to do a compare & contrast with The Game vs. The Franchise vs. The Cornerstone (of MCW)   Chances are Brandi does come up short....but ya never know!

GREAT recap of early ROH. I'm not even going to bother now. You covered it far better than I could have.

Revival vs. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows (Raw 7/24/17)

This took place a week after the Revival/Hardys match I reviewed yesterday.

I'm not a fan of Anderson & Gallows. Have always viewed them as bland "slow brawlers" (tm Emperor). Anderson might be alright away from Gallows (I vaguely remember seeing a good match he had with Okada or Tanahashi) but Gallows is definitely a dull, clunky slow brawler. And Anderson seems to wrestle the same way when they're teaming. This is my first time seeing them in WWE. The other matches I've seen of theirs were in New Japan or ROH. So maybe they're better here? It's possible....

Revival are in the ring. Anderson & Gallows come out for a promo. Gallows calls them NERDS. Is this his thing? Whether it is or not, I suddenly find myself thinking maybe the Kingdom isn't so bad after all. Those aren't words I ever thought I would type. But calling people Melvins > calling people nerds.

This is short and not so sweet. Anderson & Gallows (do they have a team name in WWE?) do the expected slow brawling. Wilder takes an entertaining buffoonish bump through the ropes. The ex-Bullet Club duo works over Dawson (of course) for a little while. Are they heels or faces? I don't know! Hardys music plays. They walk out to the aisle and stop there, causing both teams to gawk at them while ceasing to wrestle. Revival takes advantage of the distraction with a knee clip and soon follow by hitting their finisher- a 3D setup into a Codebreaker- not very cool....or at least not hit cleanly this time- for the 1-2-3.

Verdict- * Short, skippable, throwaway tv match. I think the Revival needs to be in longer matches which seems weird since they have no offense. But longer matches give them a chance to show off their trademark teamwork better along with all their tricks. They don't have the flash for short matches. I remain unimpressed by Gallows & Anderson. They're like the reverse Revival. Why they even look somewhat similar being bald and bearded. But the Revival are a good brawling 80s heel team while Gallows & Anderson are a dull brawling old school-ish heel(?) team.

Sabu (w/Bill Alfonso) vs Chris Candido (w/Tammy Lynn Sytch)
ECW November To Remember 1999

At one point in time, these two were the pillars of independent wrestling. Not only were they tremendous competitors across the United States, but they were also close friends and this match served as a nice swansong for both men. While Sabu would go onto wrestle on one more major show before bowing out, this was it for Candido and it wouldn't be too long until he showed up on WCW television. Considering the drama both men were going through at this time, this match was a nice reminder of what they were capable of. Everybody knows that Sabu was a tremendous high-flier, but Candido played his role too, doing his best Ric Flair imitation as he bumped and positioned himself for all of Sabu's offence. My only major gripe with the match was the finish. Fonzy laid out Tammy on a table for Sabu to crash through and Candido was supposed to shove Tammy out of the way and take the hit. Instead what ended up happening is that Tammy rolled off the table well before the dive, so Chris just had to put himself for the leg-drop. As blatantly miscued as the spot was, it didn't hurt the match and I'm sure Ticho would have at least given it 3 stars.

Thanks to the newest Shin files, the early 2000s Indy scene has been the talk of the town here in HoW. Two matches that predate ROH grabbed my attention. Both matches are between Brian Danielson and Low Ki, two of my favourite wrestlers, and both are on YouTube!

American Dragon vs. Low Ki - ECWA Super 8 24/02/2001
I'm not even sure if Danielson is going by his real name yet. He might just be "American Dragon" at this point. I'll call him Dragon for the sake of this post. He is wearing long red baggy pants and slip-on shoes, like Tiger Mask. His entrance is unremarkable besides the music (The Offspring - Self Esteem) which doesn't really fit him. Doesn't seem like he's found his place as a character yet. Low Ki, on the other hand, comes out to some oriental music wearing a fighter's jacket/robe. Much more consistent. The quality on this video is poor, but it's watchable.

They open by trading leg kicks. They pause for a moment, then Dragon takes Low Ki down with a weak double leg. They transition into a test of strength knucklelock. Dragon knocks Low Ki down with headbutts. Low Ki bridges back up and hits a Rolling Liger Kick from the knuckelock position. After trading some chops, Low Ki is backdropped on the apron. Dragon boots him off and hits a suicide dive. Back in the ring, Low Ki regains control and hits Tidal Crush. The handstand into leaping kick in the corner. One of the most awesome strikes ever invented. Low Ki with kicks to the chest. Dragon catches the third, and connects with a Dragon Screw to turn the match around. Dragon works over the leg with aggressive strikes and some unique and nasty-looking holds (complete with barely audible trash talk). Already he is a solid technical wrestler. Low Ki is always fighting, somehow able to connect with hard strikes while being tied up in various leg locks. In this way he's able to stay in the match. Later Dragon is on the apron and Low Ki knocks him off with a leaping kick. Low Ki climbs to the top rope, slowly because of his hurt leg, and flies off with a corkscrew moonsault. That was probably mindblowing in 2001. He rolls Dragon in the ring and makes the first cover of the match. Only good for 2.

Low Ki goes for his finisher, the Ki Crusher, but Dragon counters and applies Stretch Plum! Kawada's signature hold! Low Ki kicks his way out of trouble, as always, and catches Dragon with the Ki Crusher! However he is too spent to make an immediate cover, giving Dragon enough time to kick out. No "ooohhh" from the crowd. They are smart and saw that one coming. Low Ki tries Tidal Crush again, not aware of the rule that you can't hit a signature non-finisher move twice in one match. Dragon counters and hits a Dragon Suplex for a two count. Cattle Mutilation! Here the camera angle suddenly changes and there's no audio. From the new angle, it looks like Low Ki's foot is on the rope all the time, but it takes several seconds before the hold is broken. Back to the old angle. Dragon wins a strike battle by blocking a kick from Low Ki's hurt leg and connecting with a huge forearm. I don't associate Dragon with forearms but that was a good 'un. Dragon takes off the elbow pad and hams it up to the crowd. He tries a discus elbow, but Low Ki smoothly ducks and buries a knee in the gut. This allows him to connect with the Ki Crusher for a second time. He doesn't go for the cover, but transitions into the Dragon Clutch, a nasty Camel Clutch/Dragon Sleeper hybrid. Dragon taps immediately.

This match felt a bit rushed, but it wasn't too detrimental. for some reason the match only went just over 10 minutes, which seems a bit short for a super indy tournament final. It had all the features and tropes of modern indy wrestling. After all, these guys practically invented the style. It was quite a spotty match but it was smooth, the transitions were logical, some decent psychology, and they gradually built it up to a nice finish while throwing in some high spots at good moments. There were some hints of greenness - an awkward pause/hesitation here and there, some not completely smooth transitions - but overall, a very good match.


Low Ki vs. American Dragon - APW King of the Indies 27/10/2001
The pre-match ring announcement confirms that Danielson's ring name is just "American Dragon". Entrances are the same as before. The only aesthetic difference I notice is that Dragon has long tights, adorned with white stars, tucked into wrestling boots. It suits him better than the Tiger Mask pants.

This match is over twice as long as the previous one, and they pace themselves accordingly. Slow start with lockups, the occasional strikes, and some entertaining grappling sequences. Early on Dragon gets on top, and slowly works his way around his opponent, getting in position for a Dragon Sleeper. Low Ki fights out fairly easily, but Dragon hooks him for a Fisherman Suplex. Again Low Ki fights out. I like this sequence. It establishes that it's almost impossible to score with a big move against a fresh opponent. There's more grappling. After a rope break, a douchebag fan yells "Hey Low Ki, how's that bad arm?", presumably alluding to an earlier match. He is no sold by the wrestlers and the crowd. Some more cool grappling leads to Low Ki being caught in a Texas Cloverleaf. He is able to get one leg free and, as always, kick his way out of the hold. They keep grappling, getting a bit rougher by throwing the odd strike in there. Eventually Dragon takes control and scores with Low Ki's own Tidal Crush! His imitation is acceptable, but lacks the spring and vigor of the original. Moments later, Low Ki takes control with a flying forearm and shows Dragon how the Tidal Crush is done. Dragon rolls to the floor. When he gets up, he's limping a little.

The action resumes with more mat wrestling. Dragon demonstrates his superior technical ability, gaining control on the ground and applying a weird hold. Sort of a modified Bow and Arrow. He continues to stay on top, controlling Low Ki but not scoring any offense. Somehow they get into a position where they are both balancing on hands and head facing one another, legs intertwined in the air. This gets a deserved pop. They start slapping each other from this position. Surely the first time an upside down strike exchange has been performed. True innovators. Once they get out of that tangle, it's more back and forth action. Dragon works the bad arm momentarily. He initiates a chop battle, which he surprisingly wins. He then Irish Whips Low Ki, allowing him to get back in the match with a Rolling Liger Kick. They start teasing more high spots. Low Ki misses a Phoenix Splash, but rolls through and hits a running boot on the rebound. Dragon bails outside the ring, but like in the last match, Low Ki hits the Phoenix Splash from the top rope to the floor. Low Ki sells a bit. When he picks Dragon up, Dragon takes control with strikes. He shouldn't really be doing that after eating such a monster dive. Low Ki deals with this injustice by poking Dragon in the eyes. They both roll in the ring and trade JYD style headbutts. Somehow this doesn't across as stupid. Quite the opposite. They just want to hit each other in any way possible, and they ain't gonna waste time getting to their feet in order to do that.

Soon they do get to their feet, but that's so Dragon can try a back suplex from the top rope. He succeeds! Delayed cover. One! Two! Low Ki kicks out! Dragon hits a Dragon Suplex but can't hold up the bridge because of his bum leg. This leg was never attacked during the match, but it's clearly bothering him. Either it's awesome selling (perhaps from a previous match), or he legit tweaked it sometime during this match. He tries another super backdrop. Low Ki counters by rotating in mid air, and immediately after landing, locks in the Dragon Clutch. Dragon is next to the ropes, so he grabs them. Low Ki is not foiled so easily, dragging Dragon to the middle and applying it again. Dragon performs a silky smooth reversal into the Cattle Mutilation. Low Ki escapes easily, and goes for the Clutch once more, but Dragon is at the ropes. They quickly get to their feet. Low Ki goes for the Ki Crusher and nails it! I like how he just goes for his finisher like it's a regular move, without all the grandstanding and waiting that's done before the typical finisher. Unfortunately, Low Ki is too exhausted to make the cover. Both men are down. The crowd chants along with the ref's count. Tye Dillinger doesn't exist yet, so there's no "Ten!" on every count.

Both men get back up. Low Ki tries Tidal Crush for the second time. He still doesn't know the rule! He takes too long to set it up, allowing Dragon to counter by baseball sliding the moment Low Ki's head is near the ground during the handspring. Cattle Mutilation! After some moments, Dragon voluntarily lets go. Clearly maintaining the hold takes energy, and he is somewhat lacking. Nice touch. It is normally assumed that guys can apply holds forever. Not so with the Cattle Mutilation. Another Dragon Suplex/Cattle Mutilation combo follows. This time he's able to keep the hold for much longer. He has to release eventually. Ki hasn't tapped. He kicks out at 2.9. Dragon is running out of options. He lifts Low Ki to the top turnbuckle. Top rope Dragon Suplex attempt! Low Ki blocks, turns around, and hits a Ki Crusher from the second rope! Both men are dead. Low Ki crawls to the cover. One! Two! Dragon kicks out! Huge pop! Now Low Ki is out of options. He again goes for the Tidal Crush. Dragon counters again, into the third Dragon Suplex/Cattle Mutilation combination. This time Low Ki taps almost immediately. The American Dragon has his revenge!

Excellent match. These guys are only a year into their wrestling careers, and they're putting on matches like this. There's one word for that: prodigy. Dragon is already evidently an excellent technical wrestler, and Low Ki is no slouch either. They can both strike, work holds, fly around, hit big moves, build drama. They can do it all. Perhaps not to the standards that they would reach later in their careers, but a year in and they're better than most indy guys would be for their entire careers. No wonder there was so much buzz.

Emperor When I was putting a MOTY list together a wee while back, this was my choice for 2002.

Emperor, nice one for the reviews on those two Ki/Dragon matches. Both of those tournaments were absolutely amazing. I saw them not to long after they happened, and both further cemented my love for both finalists. King of the Indies was the obvious superior of the two, but Ki and Bryan had the indy world buzzing with their Super 8 performances like no others at the time. What many take for granted when they see either two wrestle today was a pure unadulterated breath of fresh air. Most of the matches on the card were of a similar length, except for the annual, generally awful, Royal Rumble-ish affair featuring a whole bunch of local ECWA talent. King of the Indies was actually the sort of predescesor of RoH and very much set the standard for the scene at the time. Being a two night show, as opposed to the one night Super 8, the matches, of which many -such as LowKi vs Samoa Joe- were fantastic, had far more time to breathe..., But, yeah, in hindsight, those two tournaments were F'N life altering, man.

Earlier tonight I half watched Tri States Wrestling Alliance "Spring Spectacular" show from March 31st 1990. This show took place at the McGonigle Hall in Philadelphia in front of 2,000 fans according to the results website I'm getting this info from(looked more like around 1,200 or 1,000 really). Tri States Wrestling was the direct predecessor to ECW, the owner/promoter of Tri States was Joel Goodhart, a guy that ran a weekly wrestling radio show(on 610 AM) in Philly and would put these cards together to bring his fan fiction dream cards to life. Todd Gordon was a silent partner towards the end of the company's run and would eventually launch ECW with most of the Tri States crew after it folded in January 1992.

This was the 3rd Tri States show. I think I spotted Todd Gordon doing some ring announcing early on but it could have been somebody else. I seen "Hat Guy" sitting in the front row during one match but he wasn't wearing his hat(he was rocking the hawaiian shirt though). Also the ECW ref John Finnegan was here and even Paul E. Dangerously makes an appearance in all of his 1990 cell phone glory.

This show definitely had a lot of craziness, a whole bunch of brawling. Johnny Hotbody vs Tony Stetson in a taped fist first blood match was actually a decent match for what it was. DC Drake vs Larry Winters was a crazy brawl where they fought all over the whole building, they teased a few balcony drops but nobody ever fell, sloppy as fuck with some chairshots that make Lance Storm's Barely Legal shots look like fucking Royal Rumble 99 I Quit Match. Still kinda enjoyed it for what it was though, for 1990 this was a crazy fucking match.

Paul Heyman came out as Paul E. Dangerously working as Tom Pritchard's manager, he cuts some classic promos on this show and gets some good reactions from the fans.

The womens match was not good. Paul Orndorff vs Austin Idol also was a mess, Heyman came out again as Idol's manager. Idol dumped Heyman after the match only to be jumped by Jerry Lawler with a chair. This set up Lawler vs Kerry Von Erich in a not so good match, Lawler throws a fireball in Kerry's face for the DQ finish.

Main event was Tully Blanchard vs Bam Bam Bigelow in a steel cage match. The cage is some really podunk looking shit that looks like it could fall apart during the match, there's definitely no way anybody is doing any high spots off of that thing in this match, I'd be surprised if it holds together long enough for someone to climb over it. This was actually a pretty fun match. The crowd was hot for it and it was short and to the point, finish is Tully climbing over the top for the win.

This was kind of a hard show to get through but it had it's moments and was very interesting considering the context of how this was proto-ECW in 1990. Apparently the show before this one had Bam Bam Bigelow vs Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy, which was incorrectly advertised on ECW Extreme Warfare(1996) as the first and only time they ever met.

OK, so between shinobimusashi 's thread and the ROH/Indy scene love being dropped in there and elsewhere by Baker , Kilgore , and kashdinero ... and thanks to some help from my man Big Pete , I'm checking out some early Bryan Danielson and Low Ki stuff. In fact, I'm gonna work my way through four of their matches in chrono order (unless these files were labeled incorrectly): ECWA Super 8 02/24/01, APW King of the Indies 10/27/01, JAPW 6/7/02 (or 7/6/02?), and ROH's Round Robin Challenge 03/30/02.

So, first up...

ECWA Super 8 [02/24/01]: American Dragon vs. Low Ki

Dragon comes out to Offspring's Self Esteem, so major bonus points already in my book. Dragon's looking like a lean, mean, fighting machine here. A lean, mean, fighting machine in red pajama pants. A lean, mean, fighting machine who looks no older than 16.

And here comes Ki with the ominous, suspenseful entrance... too suspenseful. Maybe unintentionally so. Perhaps just a production coordination issue. Looks like it'll be a battle of the black-and-white genie pants and the red pajama pants.

God, I forget/love how fluid Ki is.

I probably don't have the multi-tasking capacity to do running play-by-play... so I'll just watch and drop hot takes when they happen.

Ki moves like a character straight outta Street Fighter 2. DB's had some cool offense here and there so far, but Low Ki's matrix shit is just so cool even now... and I can't recall how dope it must've been seeing in real time.

It's hard to tell who the heel is in this match. Maybe that's just me though. If I had to pick, I'd assume DB.

It's probably too much to ask for better production quality from some indy promotion in the early 2000s. This production quality is ROUGH though.

Jesus, what a submission hold. Ki is flexible af.

Back to another chop battle.

I'm guessing this is the very first time these guys have wrestled each other? If so, some of these hesitations make a lot more sense, and I'll curious to see how they build on this and smooth things out in future matches.

God, Ki's feet. Has he ever had a match against Tajiri?

DB stands there forever on the outside waiting to catch Ki and break his fall. And now the sound just went out. Is that a file issue, or a production issue? Maybe an on-the-ground production issue? Like, did Ki just yank a sound cable out of somewhere it was otherwise supposed to be pulled into? And now, from a different camera angle, the sound is back.

I'm the worst at spotting thigh slaps for the stiff kick sound effects. Not sure I want to get any better at spotting them though. Fucking love the illusion it creates.

So the Ki Krusher must not be a finish yet? Despite what it looks like? That might be my only qualm with indy wrestling.

Fuck, that cartwheel into a Dragon Suplex counter into a kick-out into the Cattle Mutilation was pretty smooth and dope as hell. My favorite spot of the match, even if the sound immediately cut out again.


The sound cutting out is really distracting. Or, rather, it makes it really easy to get distracted from the match. The distant camera angle didn't help either. I think if I was ever running an indy fed, my first priority would be production quality.

Another Ki Krusher and whatever that sick submission hold is called end things in Ki's favor. I guess he wins the Triwizard Cup.

Overall, not bad but also not great. Biggest qualms are for sure directed at the indy fed's production quality... so that can't be held against DB or Ki. As far as the match goes, you can tell that DB and Ki aren't as polished yet as they will become, but there are for sure seeds of great things to come. Some sick spots and submission holds. Not too, too shabby for a 10-minute match.