Wrestling.

2007 WWF Hall Of Famers

2007-04-04T00:34:00.000-04:00

Ric Flair v. Mr. Perfect (Loser Leaves WWF)
1/25/93 - New York, NY

This was another match that broke my heart.

Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase v. Curt Hennig & Nick Bockwinkel
12/7/85 - Tokyo?, Japan

I thought that it was cool that Hennig and Bockwinkel went in at the same time.

The Fantastics & Terry Taylor v. The Sheepherders & Jack Victory (Barbed Wire Cage Match)
5/25/86 - Tulsa, OK

Featuring Jim Ross on commentary.

Bret Hart v. Jerry Lawler
8/30/93 - Auburn Hills, MI

I remember watching this at the time... I thought that this whole scenario was great.

part 1:

part 2:

part 3:

part 4:

And last and least:

Roddy Piper v. Mr. Fuji
Late '86 or early '87

I have vague memories of watching this match when it originally aired. I always got a kick out of watching Mr. Fuji wrestle.

part 1:

part 2:

Coming next: 2006 Rookie Of The Year and more

Wrestlemania Sunday!

2007-04-01T01:07:00.000-04:00

Hulk Hogan v. Warrior
Las Vegas, NV - 10/25/98

APRIL FOOLS!!! Actually, I don't think this match is as bad as everyone else seems to think it is. I mean, Meltzer gave it -*****, if I remember correctly, and I don't think it is that bad at all.

Wrestlemania highlights:

Ric Flair (c) v. Randy Savage (WWF World Heavyweight Championship)
Indianapolis, IN - 4/5/92

From WM8:

part 1:

part 2:

part 3:

Sorry for the poor quality, but here is one of my favorite Wrestlemania moments:

Taka Michinoku (c) v. Aguila (WWF Light Heavyweight Championship)
3/29/98 - Boston, MA

The first Light Heavyweight Title match at Wrestlemania, from number 14:

And for those of you watching WM23 today, here's the main event from RAW this past week:

John Cena & Shawn Michaels v. Undertaker & Dave Batista
3/26/07 -

This was tremendous.

My only off-the-wall prediction for Wrestlemania: Both Vince and Trump will get their heads shaved.

Happy Palm Sunday!

Coming Wednesday: I change my update schedule to something I can manage more regularly.

2007-03-27T15:41:00.000-04:00

One of my 4 roommates is a complete dickhead. Those of you who are my friends know why, and any of you who have randomly wandered past this site are going to have to take my word for it.

He has been the cause of the lack of updates for the past few days, and for the short hiatus I will have to take now. I will try my best to be back by Wrestlemania Sunday.

Sorry if you have been looking forward to... I don't know... Morishima/KENTA? Mistico & Negro Casas? Ric Flair? Bruiser Brody? A random match from the old GWF?

Liger/Sasuke

2007-03-24T01:36:00.000-04:00

Jushin "Thunder" Lifer v. The Great Sasuke (Super J-Cup semifinal)
4/16/94 - Tokyo, Japan

I've always loved this match. I think it is even better than the Sasuke/Benoit final, which is usually listed at 5 stars. The best part is when Sasuke majorly screws up, and Liger covers for him so well, that it almost looks like it was on purpose.

part 1:

part 2:

Coming tomorrow: Shoot Sunday #3, I promise.
Coming Monday: I throw things at the TV in disgust while watching IFL Battleground, a complete waste of my time. Also, a new wrestling match. Perhaps Ric Flair.

The Greatness of Masao Inoue

2007-03-22T10:21:00.000-04:00

Jun Akiyama (c) v. Masao Inoue (GHC World Title)
4/23/06 - Tokyo, Japan

Here is the story behind this match: Masao Inoue sucks. Not in a Brad Armstrong-good wrestler who is never over kind of way, but more of a Chris Masters-guy who is horrible at everything kind of way. The crowd knows he sucks, the announcers know he sucks, Akiyama knows he sucks, and most importantly, he knows that he sucks. But, he has strung a few wins together, and has come up with a title shot. Jun Akiyama, while being a great wrestler, is viewed a lot like Lex Luger is over here... someone who can't win the big one, who loses at inopportune times... Also, he has a rep for losing matches quickly.

So that's how you should view this match: a Lex Luger that can wrestle v. Chris Masters. Akiyama is in the white. Enjoy!

Coming tomorrow: No update. Sorry, real life rears its ugly head again. How come people don't know that watching poor quality video of wrestling matches on the internet is the most important thing that one can do? I will try to be back by Saturday, and will try to get something special to put up by then.

Teams of five etc.

2007-03-21T02:07:00.000-04:00

Hogan/Orndorff/Muraco/Patera/Bigelow v. Andre/OMG/Reed/Bundy/Rude
Thanksgiving 1987 - Ritchfield, OH

Coming tomorrow: one of my favorite matches from last year

The Vernal Equinox update

2007-03-20T11:39:00.000-04:00

Bryan Danielson (c) v. Lance Storm (ROH World Championship)
4/1/06 - Chicago, IL

Coming tomorrow: Hogan! Andre! Butch Reed!

I don't have an Arnold Skaaland tribute for you.

2007-03-19T10:24:00.000-04:00

Well, the celebration went on for longer than I expected yesterday, so I missed shoot sunday #3... Sorry.

Mitsuharu Misawa (c) v. Vader (AJPW Triple Crown)
10/30/99 - Tokyo, Japan

Coming tomorrow: ???????

WWF Match Of The Decade - 80's?

2007-03-16T11:05:00.000-04:00

It is according to the folks at the DVDVR. (Savage-Steamboat was #3, I believe.)

Sgt. Slaughter v. The Iron Sheik (Bootcamp Match)
6/16/84 - New York, NY

It is a hell of a match.

No update tomorrow, the school that my girlfriend teaches at has made it to the state basketball finals, so instead of being in front of a computer screen, I will be in Glens Falls, NY, the home of Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Coming Sunday: Shoot Sunday #3
Coming Monday: A rarity: A short Misawa match.

Match Of The Year - 2005

2007-03-15T10:00:00.000-04:00

Samoa Joe v. Kenta Kobashi
10/1/05 - New York, NY

Coming tomorrow: Pro Wrestling NOAH

Entering my 4th week.

2007-03-14T01:54:00.000-04:00

Bryan Danielson v. KENTA (ROH Championship)
9/16/06 -- New York, NY

Coming tomorrow: ???????

Can two great wrestlers have an extremely crappy match?

2007-03-13T01:54:00.000-04:00

Yes, they can.

Bret Hart v. Ric Flair
Sometime before Royal Rumble '92

This is really not horrible, but there is no flow at all, and they seem to be building up to one ending for 90% of the match, and then switch to another, worse ending. I believe that this is the first time that they fought.

And the announcers? Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Coming tomorrow: After two bad matches in a row, we will go back to a great match.

Big Cat

2007-03-12T00:18:00.000-04:00

Ernie Ladd v. Terry Mecca

Well, now Ernie Ladd has died. That's 4 for this year. I started watching wrestling right at the tail end of his career, so I didn't get to see him all that much.

This match is probably more notable for his opponent, who became better known as Terry Gordy, and looks to be about 13 years old here, and for the referee Tommy Young, who looks to be about 16 years old here.

Coming tomorrow: Flair/Hart I, unless SD Jones dies or something.

I hope you set your clocks ahead, or Shoot Sunday #2

2007-03-11T00:56:00.000-05:00

If you are American, that is.

Mark Hunt v. Fedor Emelianenko
12/31/06 - Tokyo, Japan

Fedor is the best fighter in the world, which is why he is being featured on two shoot sundays in a row. Hunt was supposed to be overmatched here, but he had beaten Wanderlei Silva and Mirko Cro Cop on the previous two New Year's Eves.

Coming next Sunday: One of the most historical and underseen matches ever. Hopefully.
Coming tomorrow: Hart/Flair I

Hulk Hogan = ***3/4

2007-03-10T01:50:00.000-05:00

These Friday and Saturday night updates will probably be the first to go. I watched Smackdown for the first time in about 3 years tonight, so in honor of the WWF/E, here is Hulk Hogan's best match:

Hulk Hogan v. Stan Hansen
4/13/90 - Tokyo Dome

This is from the (I think only) WWF-All Japan supershow, about one week after Wrestlemania VI. Baba got upset that Vince did not tell him that he was switching the tile from Hogan to Warrior, as they were building to a Terry Gordy/Hogan title match. Once Hogan lost the title, Gordy refused to job and dropped out of the match, since Vince still wanted to protect Hogan. Thankfully, Hansen agreed to take his place, and the show went on as scheduled, but that was the last time Baba worked with Vince.

This show also had an extremely boring Mitsuharu Misawa (as Tiger Mask II)/Bret Hart match.

The video quality isn't the best. Sorry!

Coming tomorrow: More shooting.
Coming Monday: Flair/Hart I

Match Of The Year - 2000

2007-03-09T00:03:00.000-05:00

Atlantis v. Villano III (mask v. mask)
3/17/00 - Mexico City, Mexico

A very emotional match. Villano is in the pink.

part 1:

part 2:

part 3:

The unmasking:

Coming tomorrow: ???????

My favorite wrestler.

2007-03-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

Bob Backlund v. The Iron Sheik -- WWF World Heavyweight Championship
12/26/83 - New York, NY

I loved Bob Backlund. Sadly, I didn't become a wrestling fan until 1986, so I missed his long title reign completely. And through the years, I never quite caught up to this match, until a few days ago. These two had many better matches before this, but obviously this one is the most famous one.

Coming tomorrow: Lucha!

Bad News Allen Tribute

2007-03-07T00:05:00.000-05:00

Bad News Allen/Brown v. Bret Hart -- ladder match
Calgary, AB

My friends loved Bad News Brown because he was such an asshole. I loved him because he used the same finisher as FIghter Hayabusa in the Pro Wrestling game for the original Nintendo.

Bad News won the bronze medal in Judo in the 1976 Olympics. I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but I think he really got screwed somehow in the semifinal match. I wish that I could remember the details.

The announcer here, Ed Whalen, sucks. J.I.P.

Coming tomorrow: My heart breaks, but in a much lesser way.

Pretend I wrote something clever here.

2007-03-06T00:30:00.000-05:00

Steve Williams v. Kenta Kobashi
9/3/93 (?) - Tokyo, Japan

This is a special match for me, as it was the first match that I had ever seen from All Japan.

I may have Kobashi-Joe up in sometime next week, so I thought that it would be neat to look at Kobashi having great matches 13+ years ago.

There seems to be some dispute as to when this match took place.

Bonus!:

Burning Hammer:

Coming tomorrow: My heart breaks.

1.0 Muta

2007-03-05T00:38:00.000-05:00

The Great Muta v. Hiro Hase
12/14/92 - Japan

Shouldn't stabbing your opponent in the head with a knife be grounds for a disqualification?

Coming tomorrow: Dr. Death

Shoot Sunday #1

2007-03-04T01:02:00.000-05:00

Fedor Emelianenko v. Kevin Randleman
6/20/04 - Saitama, Japan

Short, but sweet.

Coming tomorrow: Blood. Lots of blood.

the what title?

2007-03-03T00:59:00.000-05:00

Barry Windham (c) v. Tully Blanchard - Western States Heritage Championship

I always forget that Tully could come off as a tough guy... I usually just think of him as that guy that Arn Anderson teamed with.

When I would go on vacation with my parent when I was younger, we would stay at a place that had more cable channels than we had at home, including TBS. I was always excited, because that meant that I would get to see some of that NWA wrestling I was always reading about in PWI. But whenever I actually sat down to watch, they were always showing Pez Whatley or Jimmy Valiant or Ronnie Garvin in drag... never Windham v. Blanchard.

part 1:

part 2:

part 3:

Coming tomorrow: The most painful looking suplex I have ever seen.

Classic

2007-03-02T00:08:00.000-05:00

Giant Baba v. Fritz Von Erich
12/3/66 - Tokyo, Japan

There was a point where Fritz Von Erich was seriously considered to be the NWA World Champion. They always passed him over though, because they thought the whole German/Nazi thing was too much of a gimmick. Anyway, revel in the stiffness of Fritz pounding away on Baba:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Isn't the psychology of this match so beautifully simple? Fritz's claw = pain.

Coming tomorrow: ????????

Express v. Express

2007-03-01T00:13:00.000-05:00

The Rock 'n' Roll Express (c) v. The Midnight Express -- NWA World Tag Team Championship
2/2/86 - Atlanta, GA

I like Dennis Condrey better than Stan Lane. Also includes bonus footage of Robert and Ricky winning the titles from the Russians.

part 1:

part 2:

part 3:

coming tomorrow: One of the greatest heels in history.

Surprise Mid-day Update

2007-02-27T10:02:00.000-05:00

I won't be able to update tonight, so I'm doing it now:

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) v. Koji Kanemoto -- IWGP Heavyweight Championship
2/18/07 - Tokyo, Japan

This is the most recent IWGP title defence, from last week's Sumo Hall show. Really good match. Better than the really disappointing Angle/Nagata v. Tomko/Bernard match. Hopefully Angle's next match in Japan, against Nagata, will be much better.

This match has been clipped, it goes 21 minutes, but only around half of it is shown. If the full match ever becomes available, I will update this.

part 1:

part 2:

Coming tomorrow: Midnights-R'n'R

Misawa/Morishima

2007-02-27T00:45:00.000-05:00

Mitsuharu Misawa v. Takeshi Morishima
3/5/2006, Tokyo, Japan

I assume that it's Tokyo, anyway. Morishima beat Homicide for the ROH Championship 2 weeks ago. I think that this match from last year is overrated, but it does pick up pretty much at the end. Misawa always wears green.

Coming tomorrow: ???????

Brawling 101

2007-02-26T01:09:00.000-05:00

Rick Martel (c) v. Stan Hansen - AWA World Championship
9/28/85 - Chicago, IL

This is how a double countout/DQ should go. And God, Mean Gene used to be great.

Coming tomorrow: Our new ROH Champion

Here it is.

2007-02-25T02:57:00.000-05:00

Combat Toyoda v. Magumi Kudo (exploding barbed wire match)
date unknown to me, Somewhere In Japan

This is amazing. Combat is the one who looks like her name is Combat.

Coming tomorrow: A short brawl.

Mike Awesome tribute

2007-02-24T01:12:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday... Real life etc.

Masato Tanaka v. Mike Awesome
8/2/98 - Dayton, Ohio

Mike Awesome was briefly one of my favorite wrestlers. He was the reason why I purchased any of the ECW shows that I did purchase, including this one. This really blew anything else on this show away. Sorry about the poor quality... it was the best match with Mr. Awesome that I could find.

Coming tomorrow: To make up for the non-update yesterday, a seriously great match.

JUMBO!

2007-02-22T00:20:00.000-05:00

Nick Bockwinkel (c) v. Jumbo Tsuruta -- AWA World Heavyweight Championship
2/22/84 - Tokyo, Japan

Featuring Terry Funk as referee. J.I.P.

Coming tomorrow: Tribute to Mike Awesome

Lucha!

2007-02-21T03:36:00.000-05:00

This one is more historical than great, though it is pretty good. It is also kind of a fraud, as the loser of this match had already lost his mask earlier in the year, in Japan. Turn the volume down while watching... the fake crowd noise is really annoying.

Villano III v. Pegasus Kid (mask v. mask)
(11/3/91 - Naucalpan, Mexico)

This is just the third and deciding fall. I could not find the second fall online, but if you search a little bit, you can find the first fall. Pegasus is the one with the white tights.

Match Of The Year - 2006

2007-02-21T01:32:00.000-05:00

Let's start with a good one:

KENTA v. Naomichi Marufuji (c) for the GHC Heavyweight Title.
(10/29/06 - Tokyo, Japan)

KENTA is the one in the shorts.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4: