______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ I'm too busy for words. ______________________________________________________________________ - WWF had Unforgiven on PPV this past Sunday, 09/23/2001. I suffered some serious cable trouble right before the show, so I joined it during the tag title match. But I got the rebroadcast for free so I watched that opener the next night. It's no secret that leading up to the show, the promotion has seemed to almost abandon the invasion angle, yeah that angle that drew a great buy rate even with a crummy build-up. Excluding one or two guys on the invading side, pretty much all of them lose to the lowest of the low on the WWF roster. Metal and Heat matches featuring the invading forces are total embarassments. Really, Mike Awesome has limitations, but does he deserve this? Losing to Albert? Bob Holly? Justin Credible and others too. I sure can't understand why the invasion angle has been handled so miserably from the get-go. People will say that the invading guys have no value, but it is the way they've been booked that is making that claim true. And then we have wastes of space like Undertaker, who is as much of a cancer as Kevin Nash was in WCW. Okay, maybe he doesn't stir up the locker room, but he sure has been just a bit worse than miserable when it comes to helping to get the new guys over. In all honesty, I'm looking forward to the UFC on Friday a hell of a lot more than this PPV. Surely, the terrorist attack on US soil screwed up the WWF hype machine, but I was feeling this malaise towards the WWF direction before that tragedy. The only great worker in the promotion is Kurt Angle, and his program with Steve Austin was developed in a totally nonsensical way before (and even after) the attack. The Observer had a great column on the state of the WWF and the botched invasion angle. Dave Meltzer's suggestion was that the only way to save it at this point was to have the invading side dump Shane & Stephanie, totally humiliating them by taking the cash they claim they brought in. The agreement to let those two run the invading forces would be revealed as the ultimate ruse to to fund the invasion with McMahon cash. The problem Dave had was that the only name that could be revealed as the mastermind behind the destruction of Shane & Stephanie is Hulk Hogan. I thought that Bret Hart was another super choice, but Bret would never do it. Anyhow, during Heat it was revealed that Kurt Angle was given permission to wrestle by Steve Regal even though the doctors had not cleared him. That seemed to set up an excuse for an Angle loss in his hometown. But...the thought struck me that Vince is nothing if not opportunistic. And it would certainly be opportunistic to give the American hero the WWF Title as the US prepares for war. Poor Angle. He has deserved the title for all of the right reasons for a while now, but it sure looked possible that he would get the title for a wrong reason this night. * Dudley Boyz beat Hurricane Helms & Lance Storm and Big Slow & Spike Dudley and Hardy Boyz to win the WWF Tag Titles: Hey, wasn't Slow teaming with Billy Gunn? This was an elimination tag team match, with Dudleyz putting the belts on the line. This was one of those hokey four corners matches. In this case, it made no sense to tag in, since the title would go to one of the last two remaining teams. Poor Shane Helms deserves more than this comedic role. And by pairing Lance Storm with him, Lance is also severely underused, for me once again underlining the totally botched nature of the incasion. That said, Lance & Helms did some nice stuff in the opening segment (although the superhero posing by Helms is beyond annoying). First mild crowd reaction came when Dudleyz started to beat up Spike. Helms was tagged in, put his superhero cape on, and hit a cross body, before taking the cape off again. How sad. Jim Ross talked about how wonderful Shane Helms is. Storm & Helms miscued while working on Spike, who tagged in Big Slow, "who wants a tag as much as a double cheesburger." Everybody came in. Topes from the Hardyz and Spike. Big Slow suggested that he was going to hit a tope, but teased it so slowly (what else?) that he was cut off. In a funny spot, Helms set up Slow for a shoke slam, but Slow shrugged him off, and in the first huge injustice of the night pinned Lance Storm. Matt Hardy eliminated Spike in pretty short order. No idea where Slow was during this. With Dudleyz vs. Hardyz left, crowd chanted "we want tables." D-Von hit the Whassup on Jeff while the referee was dancing with Matt Hardy. Heyman praised the Dudleyz as the best tag team in ECW and WWF history, with Jim Ross saying "certainly an arguable point." Did he mean he would argue with it? Or did he mean one could make an argument in favour of the position? I was obviously abit bored by the match to make this observation. Jeff hit a spinning whatchyoumacallit off the top to hit the hot tag with Matt. No Lita at ringside. Matt hit a moonsault to the floor. This match was running way too long at this point. Matt tried the twist of fate, but Dudleyz got the 3D. Jeff broke up the pin with a swanton. Dudleyz pinned Matt anyhow. * Two of the best actors of our time -- Stephani McMahon and Rob van Dam -- delivered moving performances in an awesome backstage segment to hype RVD's match. * Perry Saturn beat Raven: Horrible match. Nobody really cared about this match, including the wrestlers and the commentators. These guys did nothing here to improve their status for the future. I mean, can you believe that the Moppy saga generated no reaction? It was so compelling! * Christian beat Edge to win the IC Title: Edge bled near his eye. Christian had a bloody nose. The match wasn't as good as I had hoped. The commentators tried to make it seem epic at times, but it just wasn't at that level. Christian finally brought some chairs into the ring, but neither guy got to use them. Finally, Edge seemed ready to use the chair, but the referee disarmed him and Christian snuck in a low blow and scored a quick pin. At least they are continuing to push Christian, which seems like a good thing, but this match just didn't do much for me. * Undertaker & Kane beat Kronik to retain the WCW Tag Titles: All four of these guys pretty much suck. Undertaker is so bad now and his attitude puts him on the same level as Kevin Nash. Apparently, you have to be a big stiff piece of crap for the Undertaker to even consider selling for you just a bit. In this match, they actually drew heat on Undertaker. Well, in theory. Match featured some wonderfully missed moves, too. At five minutes or so, it felt like a lifetime. A very painful lifetime. And just then, Brian Adams resorted to an awesome headlock in the center of the ring. Why do these guys have jobs when the industry has tightened up with the elimination of competition? Undertaker rallied with a DDT and a hot tag. Kane ended up double clotheslining Kronik. All four guys came in. Undertaker & Kane ruled the ring. Steven Richards came in for a second. This was a total mess. Undertaker was holding both Kronik guys at bay, Kane came in and took Adams out, Undertaker choke slammed Clarke, and the match was over. Richards came in to get demolished. Man, this sucked. I hope that Kronik was just brought in for a few shots. There was no need to give them a contract deal if this is what they had in mind. You know, the moves and commentary were off in this match. It seemed to be a theme at this point of the night. * Stephanie McMahon reminded us that her birthday is September 24, the same as mine. * Rob van Dam beat Chris Jericho to retain the Hardcore Title: Time to turn this sad show around. Uh-oh, they flubbed some spots in the early going as well, in particular doing a poor job of recreating the Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat pinfall attempt sequence. Oh well, at least they have the excuse that what they were trying to do was challenging (unlike in the previous match). Crowd was really into RVD. Some really nice stuff in this match, as you'd expect. Also some nonsensical stuff, again as you expect. Have you ever noticed that van Dam almost never throws a punch? Credit him for realizing what things he can't do. van Dam got out of the Lion Tamer, Jericho rolled out of the way of the frog splash. Jericho bled. A ladder came into the ring. Jericho took an ugly bump while holding the ladder. "Certainly, the referee has the prerogative to stop a match if" a wrestler can't continue, said Ross. They seemed to be teasing that as the finish of the Austin vs. Angle main event. In a totally retarded spot, Jericho chaired van Dam when RVD was sitting on top of the ladder. van Dam shook his head like he was drunk. Jericho climbed up and tried to put a tarantula, as Jim Ross said, on RVD, who cooperated and grabbed onto Jericho's feet. It was pretty lame and the match would have been better served without the spot. Bumps to the floor, including van Dam doing a tope suicida into a chair. van Dam hit a cool spin kick back in the ring. Jericho countered with the wakigatamae, which Heyman correctly called the Fujiwara armbar. They acted like van Dam might have to give up, but the crowd had no clue what they were doing. Jericho chaired van Dam silly. Stephanie ran out to get Jericho's attention, leading to van Dam hitting a Vandaminator on Jericho. Frog splash for the pin. Right result, of course. Jericho has already had a totally botched shot at being a headliner before being slotted into his current position. Had van Dam lost to him he would have lost his momentum. It has nothing to do with the relative abilities of these guys. * Rock beat Booker T & Shane McMahon to retain the WCW Title: The build-up for this match was all about what Shane McMahon's stunt would be. The wrestlers on the roster (and in this match) must be really happy that somebody with no wrestling skills continues to get so much of the spotlight for overchoreographed daredevil spots. The idea was that if Rock was pinned, the guy who pinned him would get the title. I'm not sure how Booker was supposed to seem smart during the build-up for the match, given that he was hurting his chances of winning the title. I really like watching Booker because he works hard and still brings some newness to the WWF product mix, but having Shane in this match really hurt it for me. Despite my feeling that Rock is mediocre, I just don't think that Shane has any business being in the ring with these guys. It was one thing when Shane was wrestling X-Pac or Paul Wight or the like, but I really don't enjoy seeing him muck up matches with Booker, Rock, or Angle. Rock was laid out on the commentary table with Shane teasing an elbow, like they've done before, but Rock rallied. The commentators started talking about Nick Patrick being the referee. In the key soap opera spot, Shane whacked Booker with the title belt by mistake. He followed that by hitting Rock, with the referee not DQing him. All three guys brawled in the ring, with Rock dominating. Booker & Shane kept colliding. Jeez, I hope those spots set up the elimination of Shane & Stephanie from the invading side rather than leading to Booker jumping to the WWF. Test ran in. He beat the stuffing out of Rock. The referee still didn't DQ anybody. Bradshaw chased Test away. Like this match needed those crappy guys getting involved. The referee rolled a dead Rock back into the ring. Mike Ciota came out to yell at Patrick. The referes brawled. Booker laid out Ciota. Is Booker getting over, or was this match overbooked? Rock hit the Rock Bottom, Earl Hebner ran in, and Rock scored the pin. What a friggin' mess. Ha, they didn't end up delivering a stunt man bump from Shane McMahon, which I'm not saying is a bad thing, but it was the key piece of the hype for this match. * Rhyno beat Tajiri: Tajiri came in with bandaged ribs to give him an excuse. He got pounded until Rhyno went after Torrie Wilson and Tajiri went berzerk. Rhyno ended up nailing his gore for the pin. Uneventful and disappointing. * Steve Austin beat Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Title: Angle opened on fire, beating the stuffing out of Austin. Angle is just great, a good thing, since this match pretty much had to make this show. After a long period, a bloody Austin got the upper hand, beating up Austin. Jim Ross started saying that Angle should consider not kicking out. They certainly teased the idea that Angle would want to tought it out, but would end up getting ripped off by the referee. But, of course, this whole night was about jingoism. In typical WWF fashion, a real-life tragedy was seen to be the perfect springboard for opportunism. To cap a very good match, Angle earned a submission with his ankle lock, with the controversy being that Austin was underneath the ropes when he tapped. Nothing wrong with that finish or giving Angle the belt. Shit, Angle has deserved the belt for half a year or more. But giving him the belt at this time is opportunistic. I really wish Angle would have been given the title for the right reasons months ago rather than for the wrong reason this week. - The fserve has been up pretty much nonstop. Go here for more explanation. Here's the current list of captured matches. Date of Match Match Details Comments on Match Comments on Movie File Date Added 1981/12/12 AJ Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. The annual All Japan tag tourney final, featuring the debut of Stan Hansen in the All Japan ring. A legendary match, which launched Stan Hansen's lengthy career in the promotion. * * * * 1/2 Size: 260,755,456 Duration: 30:00 Video quality is shaky, but it is watchable in a small window. This file is really only for historians. 2001/07/25 1986/08 AJW Bull Nakano & Condor Saito vs. Itsuki Yamasaki & Noriyo Tateno Yamasaki & Tateno were called the Jumping Bomb Angels; they visited the WWF for a run in North America. * * * * 1/2 Size: 164,038,656 Duration: 19:52 Video quality is decent, but a bit shaky. 2001/07/18 1990/11/17 UWFh El Gran Hamada & Kendo & Blackman vs. Brazo do Oro & Brazo de Plato & Brazo de Plata El Gran Hamada & Perro Aguayo worked against each other in the 1980s in New Japan as a special feud over a Mexican title belt. Hamada's major contribution to the style of lightheavyweight wrestling came from bringing a hybrid lucha libre style to Japan in 1990. Hamada's UWF created a blend of lucha libre, New Japan junior heavyweight, and comedy that later became the foundation for Michinoku Pro wrestling. This is a great match from the early days of the UWFh. * * * * 1/4 Size: 194,183,168 Duration: 24:31 Video quality is excellent. 2001/07/25 1991/04/20 AJ Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi Just one of the marathon six-man tags that defined All Japan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This match never aired on TV, but this commercial version of the match shows us 48 minutes of a 51 minute battle. * * * * 3/4 Size: 447,152,128 Duration: 55:45 Video quality is very good. 2001/07/17 1992/06/05 AJW Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita Four of the most amazing women wrestlers of the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s. Matches involving these women in any combination are always great. Hokuto is my personal favourite of all-time. * * * * 1/4 Size: 106,227,712 Duration: 12:45 Video quality is very good. 2001/07/17 1992/08/15 AJW Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada Regular tag partners and tag champions, Yamada & Toyota here faced each other in a hair vs. hair match for Toyota's IWA Title. This is a legendary match of the year. * * * * * Size: 146.159.616 Duration: 17:57 Video quality is very good. 2001/07/17 1996/10/10 MPro Dick Togo & Mens Teioh & Shoichi Funaki & Shiryu & Taka Michinoku & Great Sasuke vs. El Gran Hamada & Super Dolphin & Tiger Mask IV & El Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushuji Many of these guys are familar. Taka & Sho Funaki are in the WWF now. Dick Togo was with them for a bit as part of Kaientai. Watching matches from this time period involving these guys will help you realize just how much they were and are wasted in the WWF. Shiryu is Kaz Hayashi. This match was part of the Dynamite Kid revival show. The Dynamite Kid match was sad to watch, but this bout just rocked, as did their similar show-stealing match on the first ECW PPV. Compare some of the moves and comedy to the stuff from Hamada's UWF years earlier. * * * * 3/4 Size: 317,566,976 Duration: 39:35 Video quality is excellent. 2001/07/25 1997/02/09 NJ Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani Liger was a god for many years in New Japan. Even with injuries grounding him and forcing a style change, he's remained, more often than not, the guy who delivers great matches. Otani is caught up in the current muck that is the New Japan booking formula of the new millennium. At this point in time, however, he was just the best damn worker in the world. His facial expressions are awesome. Liger defends the J Crown in this match. * * * * 3/4 Size: 137,388,032 Duration: 17:26 Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/05 1997/02/16 NJ Jushin Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto A J Crown defence for Liger. Kanemoto in some ways had to overcome the Tiger Mask gimmick, in the process also becoming one of the best workers in the world. * * * * 3/4 Size: 99,854,336 Duration: 12:15 Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/05 1997/11 NJ Jushin Liger & Kendo Ka Shin & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa These New Japan juniors had numerous awesome six-man tags during this time frame. This is just one of them; I have never been able to pin down the exact date. * * * * Size: 72,411,136 Duration: 8:56 Video quality is excellent. This smaller file may be a good first choice to download if you just want to check out the divx video quality. 2001/08/05 1997/11/27 AJ Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & Hayabusa This match from the annual All Japan tag tournament seemed a bit of a risk going in because of the potential style clash. It paired two of the best wrestlers in the world against two really flashy spotty garbagy wrestlers. For me it was among the first single that Japanese puroresu was going to follow suit with North American wrestling: I remember when Bret Hart was still on top in the WWF and everything was turning spotty around him...like Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle in the present WWF, it just seemed kind of sad to see a great wrestler surrounded by spotty guys. Through the awesomeness of Misawa & Akiyama, this match somehow held together as a great match with the incomparable All Japan build to the finish. * * * * 3/4 Size: 126,916,608 Duration: 15:31 Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/06 1997/12/05 AJ Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue The annual All Japan tag tourney final from 1997. An off-the-charts match. * * * * * Size: 183,762,944 Duration: 22:25 Video quality is excellent. The audio is ever so slightly out of sync, but I couldn't find an easy way to fix it. It is almost unnoticeable, but I'm a perfectionist. 2001/08/06 1997/12/08 NJ Shinjiro Otani vs. Kendo Ka Shin The annual All Japan tag tourney final, featuring the debut of Stan Hansen in the All Japan ring. A legendary match, which launched Stan Hansen's lengthy career in the promotion. * * * * Size: 90,597,376 Duration: ?:?? Video quality is excellent. 2001/08/05 ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me e-mail. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________