From: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 06/15 Date: 1995/06/16 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 104577474 sender: news@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (USENET News System) organization: University of Waterloo newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling { Apologies if this seems choppy. The students wrote my mid-term yesterday and I've just finished marking them, so I'm probably a bit out of it. I'll give you early warning now that there won't be a TidBits the first week of July; I'll be in Vancouver for 10 days beginning June 30. } - In an idea being credited to Ted Turner, WCW will begin airing a new TV show in early August on Turner's TNT channel in direct opposition to the WWF's Monday Night RAW. - WCW has the Great American Bash on Sunday. Announced line-up includes: - No Hulk Hogan *wrestling*, but he will appear in the main event - Randy Savage (with Hogan) vs. Ric Flair (with Vader) - Blue Bloods vs. Nasty Boys for the WCW Tag Titles - Sting vs. Meng for the US Title (tourney final ?) *- Diamond Dallas Page vs. Dave Sullivan (arm-wrestling) - Arn Anderson vs. Renegade for the TV Title - Craig Pittman vs. Marcus Bagwell - Brian Pillman vs. Alex Wright The Jim Duggan vs. Kamala match that was reported as a tentative match isn't ready to see the light of day yet, I guess. - The WWF has King of the Ring on 06/25/95. The line-up has: - Sid & Tantanka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Diesel - Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler (loser kisses winner's feet) - King of the Ring Tourney: Mabel --\ |--\ Undertaker --/ \ |--\ Shawn Michaels --\ / \ |--/ \ Kama --/ \ |--- King of The Ring Bob Holly --\ / |--\ / Roadie --/ \ / |--/ Razor Ramon --\ / |--/ Yokozuna --/ - The next UFC is slated for 07/14/95. - WCW has another PPV on 07/16/95. This is the show that will take place on a beach with free admission. Tentative line-up includes: - Hulk Hogan vs. Vader for the WCW Title in a cage match *- Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage *- Nasty Boys vs. Blue Bloods vs. Harlem Heat in a traingular tag match for the WCW Tag Titles - Paul Orndorff vs. Arn Anderson or Renegade for the TV Title - WCW will air a taped PPV on 08/04/95 featuring matches from the New Japan trip to Korea. The show will be cheaply priced at $12.95. Tentative line-up: - Antonio Inoki vs. Ric Flair - Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Hiro Hase & Kensuke Sasaki - Hawk vs. Tadao Yasuda - Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto - Scott Norton & Masa Chono vs. Akira Nogami & Takayuki Iizuka - Wild Pegasus vs. Too Cold Scorpio - Black Cat vs. El Samurai - Hiro Saito vs. Yuji Nagata - The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/27/95. - WCW will air a "UFC-style" PPV on 09/01/95. - Interview: The last time I posted an interview from John Clark's fantastic Wrestling Flyer (interview with Bill Watts), I received word that John was happy to hear that his work was being seen by a wide audience. Here's another interview from the Flyer. This one is with Too Cold Scorpio and took place on 01/01/94. John Clark: Could you go through with me the process of how you got into the professional wrestling business? Too Cold Scorpio: When I first got into it a friend of mine named Jeff Gold, otherwise known as Magic Michael Starr, had talked me into going down and watching practice. I always liked wrestling and I always watched it on TV. Finally, one day I went down there and I saw what he was doing. I got in and I tried it and I liked it, and I asked him, "Hey, do you get paid for doing this?" And he said yes. So I just kind of picked up and took off from there working the little independents around. I taught myself. As I was doing independents I got spotted by Vader, who liked my style and who always told me for a couple years that he could get me over to Japan. So finally when he did about three years later, he got me over to Japan, and I went over there in a junior tournament on a two week, two and a half weeks deal, I did fairly good, not too bad. Out of the whole deal, New Japan asked me to come back and asked if I would train in the dojo and be trained by them for a while because they thought that I had potential and that they could probably use me later on in the future. So Vader was actually the one that really got me the big push with going to Japan. From Japan I went to Mexico. Of course it was Vader and also another guy named Black Cat out of New Japan Pro Wrestling that hooked me up with Mexico. I was wrestling down in the Mexican organization for about four or five months and just doing a few little independents that were still around. Then when I came back I hooked up with WCW also, through Big Van Vader. Clark: When actually did you start out in the wrestling business? Scorpio: I started out in the wrestling business about '87, '88, right around in there. Clark: What were you doing for a living before entering wrestling? Scorpio: Actually I was a handy man. I was installing carpets and I was painting and I also was a certified chef. So I was doing just about a little bit of everything basically to get the bills paid. Clark: So would you say that getting into wrestling was an exciting transition for you? Scorpio: Actually it kind of was because when I was in wrestling I always had the people oohing and aahing and I've always been a fan favorite from day one that I ever got into the sport. And not really having any training as I always taught myself, it was real exciting. Clark: So you weren't really officially trained by anybody? Scorpio: No, I wasn't. The most training I got was the eight months of training when I stayed in Japan. Clark: Who were some of the performers in wrestling that you admired or tried to emulate while you were starting out in this profession? Scorpio: I always admired the high-flyers. Greg Gagne, Jumpin' Jim Brunzell, Superfly Snuka. Those guys were really some of the top guys that I liked watching wrestle. Superfly in general because he came off the top with the splash and off the cage. When I was growing up I always said, "Man, I would love to break his record off the top of the cage." So that was one of the great times. Just watching some of the old-time wrestlers overall, Jesse The Body and some of the other guys, it was just something I've always wanted to do. And to get in there and get paid for actually going out there and kicking but, it was great. Clark: How exactly did you go about training and learning the things you needed to know to make it in this business? Scorpio: It was my friend Magic Michael Starr who talked me into going. All I did was just sit back and watch everything on TV and then I would go out and do it in the backyard. I knew how everytlung looked and how it was applied and how it should have went. Going down the line through my matches in the independents I ran into a couple of the old-timers and worked with Colonel DeBeers, Playboy Buddy Rose, and even Jumpin Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair. Also a lot of these guys had seen some stuff I did and would correct me and say, "Okay you should do this like this or this like this." Just little things that a iot of the guys told me I kind of stuck it and put it in my head and kind of went back and worked with that. Never really having a ring, it was always either outside on the grass or in empty apartments, because I was a painter so we would find an empty apartment and go bump around for an hour or so and then finish up the paint job. Clark: How did you go about learning and becoming successful at all the innovative moves you perform in the ring, such as the fiips off the ropes? Scorpio: When I was younger I used to always jump on the trampoline at the recreation center, growing up in the projects. And it just kind of like stuck with me. Clark: Where did you grow up? Scorpio: That was in Denver, Colorado. I was born in Texas and raised in Colorado. Clark: How would you describe the conditions and the financial situation working for Mexico and Japan? Scorpio: In my situation financially I think it was fairly good. The economy is real low in Mexico while the economy's fairly high in Japan, but the rate that they were paying me I think was fairly good. I mean I don't think it was quite what I deserved, but then again I was also still in my learning process. I was still green to the business. I would say the pay rate in Mexico was fairly decent. It wouldn't be nothing that you would make in the States, but then again it wasn't bad if you could make a living on it. Clark: What knd of a hands-on wrestling education did you have working in Japan and Mexico and how that relates to the style of wrestling you have chosen to utilize in your work? Scorpio: It was more or less that I taught myself and I know a lot of the fundamentals. I think just with the common sense and the will and the ability to want to learn really helped me out a lot. It gave me that extra incentive to get something done. Being in a different country that I'd never been in, there by myself where nobody speaks English at all, that was an expereience in itself. I think just with the common sense and the politeness was what really helped me get through all of it, being how I didn't even speak the language. Clark: Did you find yourself looking towards putting together a flurry of hot moves more so than working out a storyline and understanding the psychology of a wrestling match when you were training and working in those foreign countries? Scorpio: Yeah, everything was a high spot. Everything was a spot. As I went on I learned more of how to tell a story and more of learning how to work one part and stay on the part. It really was a learning experience to slow me down. Clark: Did you change that approach at all when you went to WCW and was anyone there for you in that company to help you with understanding the match psychology? Scorpio: Actually when I went there I just kind of felt everything out. I was still real close with Vader. I asked him basically how it was working because I was so used to working the Japanese style and the Mexican style that I was not used to working the American style. When I came in I was a litle bit quick and wanted to do a lot more high spots than what people were used to seeing and couldn't really keep up with everything. So I tried to learn to slow it down and do a minimum of things so that way people could kind of catch up and remember what was what when I did it. It really helped me a lot talking to Vader, Flyin Brian, Marcus, Sting, and a few of the other guys. Ron Simmons was a big help too. He used to watch a lot of my matches and just coach me along and tell me what was what. Also a man that was on me real hard about a lot of stuff I did in the ring and I guess kind of pushed me to perfect everything was Bill Watts. He was real hard and when I came in he was hard on me, but I appreciate him for that because he kind of gave me more of a respect for the sport. Clark: Coming from that tougher style and the rugged training over in Japan, did you find it tough to adjust working in the United States? Scorpio: Yeah, because going from Mexico to Japan is a diflerent style. Moves change and the way that you put a hold on changes completely too. Japan was more of a shoot style type wrestling, you know, submission type holds. Here a lot of the guys don't understand submission type holds. I would put them on a guy and a lot of guys wouldn't know it and then if I put it on too hard, then the guy was ready to quit. So it really took me a while to adapt because I was so used to the "fight for what you know" style. Clark: How would you describe your level of experience in wrestling when you arrived at WCW and do you think you've improved in any way from being with that company? Scorpio: Yes, I do think I improved a whole lot. I've learned to slow it down and I've learned how to respect and learn how to tell more of a story. I've learned how to work more as a tag team partner although I was so used to working six man tag team matches. With tag teams it wasn't really all that hard to adjust to. I guess it was just having the right partner to adjust to. Clark: How did you get the break with WCW and debut at their Clash of the Champions in November 1992? I mean, had you contacted their office looking for a job? Scorpio: Big Van Vader, when Watts was in offlce, said that he had a black guy with the talent that could do all that flipping and stuff. So finally I sent him a tape. The tape sat around the office for a while. Magnum T.A. never did take the tape to him. Leon (Vader) just happened to be in the office one day asking Watts if he had looked at the videotape. And he said that he had never seen it. So Watts went and dug up the tape and watched it, seen the moves and liked what he saw and gave me a call. After that I was probably down in WCW within the next two or three weeks. It was a real fast process but it was mostly because of Leon and Watts. Clark: What expectations did you have for yourself at WCW after debuting there? Scorpio: When I came I thought I was going to probably be a singles man. I thought that there should have been no way possible that I shouldn't have been a TV tltle holder or that I shouldn't have been the U.S. heavyweight champion. My expectations was always to have some kind of a belt. I didn't think I was quite heavy enough maybe to have the heavyweight belt but I knew just with my style alone that I could probably keep up with the heavyweight champion if it came down to that. But as far as all the other belts, I thought I should have had one. Clark: Did you enjoy working under Bill Watts for the few months that he was in charge when you were new at WCW? Scorpio: Yeah, I did enjoy working under Bill Watts. Like I said, he was hard and kind of rough and strict, but then again he kind of makes you respect the sport a little bit more. Clark: In your opinion, how has the company changed since you went there under Bill Watts compared to the condition it is in now under the direction of Eric Bischoff? Scorpio: I think it's changed some but it really hasn't changed a whole lot. I think it has changed a litle bit for the better. Things are kind of going up. But then again it all depends if everybody in the office wants to work together. It just depends on who likes who and what's what. But I think it has improved some quite a bit. Ratings did go up some, which is the main thing always. Overall, I always get along with pretty much anybody and everybody. I don't have any problems with getting along with anybody, so that's not really an issue there. Clark: From your experience being at WCW recently, do you think they're headed in the right direction? Scorpio: I think it basically is going in the right direction. Me, myself, I think there's a lot of guys that have been around and been in the office and been in the driver's seat several times and never really had gotten the job done. I think it's really time that maybe some of them guys just step down and let some of the other guys that do have a good idea go ahead and do it. The thing is, a lot of people are still kind of stuck into the olden days style of wrestling and they've got to remember this is the 90s. It's time for a new flavor and a lot of the guys that you see now have been around for a long time. In my own opinion, it's kind of holding back some of the youmg talent that they've got out there. Clark: Do you think Eric Bischoff is the guy that's going to be able to take WCW in the right direction? Scorpio: Eric Bischoff has a pretty good chance. He's a pretty strong guy, but the thing is that he's got a lot of people under him with a lot of ideas and when you've got ninety million people pushing ninety million different ideas in your head, it's hard to say what direction you're going to go in. If he takes his time and he makes the right decisions and he goes with what he thinks is best instead of what somebody else wants, then I think the business will go in the right direction. Then again, that goes back to having some of the old-time bosses in there and kind of sticking to the old-time policy. - Booking Prediction Tourney: The Bash ballot went up earlier this week. I incorrectly called it card #7 when it is card #8 in the tourney, but that kind of correction hardly merits a posting. - WWW: This post is presented weekly, presumably with some short delay, on Mark Long's r.s.p-w home page on the Web. That page contains a lot of interesting wrestling info, so give it a try at: http://www.luc.edu/~mlong/wrestling.html - Videos: I have posted something about the availability of videos. If you missed it, I'll send it to you in e-mail upon request. The VideoMarinepiad III home video is no available. The detailed review (for those that missed the posting) follows: "VideoMarinepiad III: More Controversy?" Review, 06/05/95 --------------------------------------------------------- For the record, I typed up my review of the show and then passed the file on to Curtis, who added his comments. We never spoke about what we were going to write, so if you are inflamed by either person, send e-mail to him. { The following report contains scenes of wrestling fans being } { boisterous and loud. It may also, from time to time, refer to the } { drinking of alcoholic beverages and smoking dope. It even contains } { sarcasm and vulgar language. If you don't like it, don't read it. } Yes, VM III finally took place a few days ago. It was another raucous event, with the consistent sell-out crowd of size two. ;-) This post attempts to summarize the action that took place at VM III. Curtis' comments are denoted by {}. VM III features items from New Japan, All Japan, All Japan Women, AAA, El Gran Hamada's UWF, Portland, NWA, AWA, Memphis, Calgary Stampede, and the Continental Wrestling Federation. { Before heading indoors, I hung out in Herb's parking lot with this } { guy I knew. We talked and toked for a while, you know, just getting } { wasted. When it was time for the show to start, I got to the front } { of the line and told the Security guard (Herb's girlfriend) to let } { me in to my regular seat. I met Herb up in the Bleachers (OK, the } { futon is as close as I'll get to Bleachers) along with his Ric Flair } { wrestling buddy. Ric was really cool. He even helped me and Herb } { split the case of Moosehead I brought. After downing a few cans, I } { was feeling buzzed, which was great timing cause it was time for } { the card to start... } Here's the rundown (Observer ratings are given when they existed): 1. Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Misterio Jr., AAA, 04/21/95. This match was a 2 out of 3 falls bout for Guerrera's WWA lightweight title. About 17:00 of a 27:00 match aired on the show that I get in this neck of woods on Telelatino. They worked a match with a solid Japanese Jr. heavyweight style, with lots of fast-paced moves and two fantastics topes by Rey. The Observer says, "A must-see match and spot," referring to the second tope where Rey launches himself off the top rope with a springboard plancha over the guard rail onto Guerrera. Psicosis & Octagon are in Guerrera's & Rey's corners respectively. Check out Psicosis' FMW T-shirt, complete with a big splat of blood. Observer: ****1/4; Herb: ****1/2; Curtis: 3.5 (out of 5) Benoits { Great match with two totally psycho topes. } 2. Lance Russell finds Jerry Lawler laid out drunk on his front lawn, Memphis, 1985. This is just a 2:00 clip that I thought was pretty darn funny. Lance, with his typical dead-pan voice, acts shocked to find Jerry laid out, bottle in hand. Of course, this was all an evil ploy by that weasel, Jimmy Hart. { Jerry was hilarious all liquored up. Which reminded me that I needed } { a refill on my beer. } 3. Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton vs. Ken Timbs & Eric Embry, Memphis, 1985. A 2:00 arena clip of the tail-end of this match. Eric Embry piledrives Fulton off the second rope and through a table. The bump off the ropes looks brutal. { The second rope piledriver took me by surprise, and looked awesome. } { Fulton takes the bump and plays it up perfectly. The piledriver } { through the table was just icing on the cake. } 4. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong & Sakie Hasegawa, AJW, 02/27/94. This match was for the WWWA Tag Titles, held by Toyota & Yamada. Sakie is already showing star potential at this time and the promotion has just begun giving her a little push. She and Aja were a really good team. The match is two out of three falls and lasted 47 odd minutes; 40 minutes are presented here. Observer: n/a; Herb: ****3/4; Curtis: Two thumbs up! { Poor Sakie got pasted by quite a few Yamada kicks to the face. And } { they weren't love taps either. She bled hardway from the mouth by } { the halfway point. Then Toyota got in the ring, so I took a much } { needed bathroom break. } 5. David Johnson & Jim Jamison vs. Buddy Landell & Bill Dundee, Memphis, 1986. Why include a squash match that only runs 3:48? The referee here is Jeff Jarrett, old Double J himself. This is the match that started Jeff's move from referee to wrestler. Bill & Budro destroy Jeff and father Jerry Jarrett & Dutch Mantell make the save. It's sort of fun to see how young Jeff was in 1986 and how ungracefully he moved, etc. { What Herb is saying is that Double J was a stick that might've } { blown away in the wind if it had been blowing. He was a little on } { the uncoordinated side. At least to these blurry eyes he was. } 6. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda, AJW, 03/30/94. There had to be at least one match with the incredible Mita & Shimoda tag team from All Japan Women. This match was for the UWA (Mexican) Tag titles held by Hotta & Inoue at this time. It's hard to believe that I could really enjoy a tag match with those two as one of the teams since I've never been that hot for either of them. Mita & Shimoda had a great "on" night. Video time is 24:09. Observer: n/a; Herb: ****1/4; Curtis: **** { Mita and Shimoda threw Takako around like a rag doll at times, } { and Hotta wasn't much help. Both teams, though worked really well } { together. The ending was chock full of hot moves. } 7. Assorted highlights from Continental Wrestling Federation, 01/87. They had a crazy story line at the time with Tennessee Stud (Ron Fuller) and his brother Robert Fuller (now Colonel Rob Parker) feuding with Kevin Sullivan's New Guinea Headhunters. These clips summarize the crazy booking over several events, with all sorts of other guys getting involved (Mike Golden (now Bunkhouse Buck), Doug Furnas, etc.) { Maybe Bischoff should review old tapes like this to see what REAL } { booking is. Sure the angle was crazy, but it was Kevin Sullivan } { for Christ sakes. He IS crazy. } 8. Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida & Esther Moreno & Honey Wings: Kaoru Maeda & Mika Takahashi vs. La Diabolica & Xochi Hamada & Madusa & Aja Kong & Bison Kimura, Hamada's UWF & All Japan Women, 11/17/90. A ten-woman elimination tag match with great action bell-to-bell for 30:32. Madusa here is now Alundra Blayze. Xochi is booker/promoter/ wrestler El Gran Hamada's daughter. Watch for that one particularly brutal bump. This was listed as a "Best match of 1990" in the Observer. Observer: ; Herb: ****1/4; Curtis: no rating on account of I was too busy watching Esther. { Super great match! Great performance form Aja and Bison. Yoshida } { and Esther shine for their team. This match rocked. } 9. Interview with Jake Roberts re: defending his NA title, Calgary, 1979. A 2-minute interview with Jake from (gasp) 16 years ago. { Jake is Jake. Always has been, and always will. So I used this } { time to get myself another beer. } 10. Bruce Hart vs. Dynamite Kid, Calgary, 1979. This is kind of fun if you're interested in seeing the players this long ago. The match runs 7 minutes before a young and skinny Bret Hart hits the ring. { Interesting to see a heel Dynamite again, but Bruce wasn't any } { great spectacle of wrestling glory, and so he didn't really hold } { my attention for very long. It took me a second to recognize } { Bret, though. } 11. Tiger Mask vs. Steve Wright, New Japan, 04/01/82. When Alex Wright first appeared in WCW, several people commented about his father being a darn good wrestler, but most hadn't seen him wrestle. In this match, Tiger Mask defends the WWF Jr. Title in a 20-minute wrestling clinic. Wright is incredibly graceful in this match and he's already reasonably old. Observer: n/a; Herb: ****; Curtis: 4.5 (out of 5) Verne Gagnes { The old codger pulled some fancy pants moves, and surprised the } { hell out of me by putting on an amazing match. If his son Alex } { is going to follow in footsteps like this, your opinion of his } { wrestling ability will change. Guarantee it. } 12. Shiro Koshinaka vs. Owen Hart, New Japan, 06/24/88. Owen Hart comes in as the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight champion. He was booked to win, but wanted to get out of the tour to go work for the WWF as the Blue Blazer, so they had to re-work the finish. Owen was great at this time; he really doesn't compare now. The same can be said for Shiro. This match was listed as a "Top 100 match of the 1980s" in the Observer. Match time is 7:43. Observer: n/a; Herb: ****1/4; Curtis: didn't see it. { I'm not much into Koshinaka, so I went to grab munchies, and only } { only got to catch the ending to this match. } 13. Shiro Koshinaka vs. Keiichi Yamada, New Japan, 12/09/88. Yamada, of course, went on to become Jushin Liger 6 months later. Koshinaka defends the IWGP Jr. Title in another pretty match. The match runs 13:21. Observer: n/a; Herb: ****1/4; Curtis: none. { Herb and I almost got into a fist fight when I argued that Yamada } { lost some muscle on becoming Liger. Hey, Liger never looked all } { THAT big to me, and Yamada looked juiced^H^H^H^H^H^Hhuge! I ended } { up missing most of the match because of the argument } 14. Jushin Liger vs. Biff Wellington, New Japan, 06/16/89. Liger defends the IWGP Jr. Title. I thought it might be fun to include this match with Biff, who you might remember from the tag tourney Clash a few years back. It only runs 10:00. Observer: n/a; Herb: ***3/4; Curtis: **** { Biff worked a great macth. And after arguing about Liger for the } { past 13 minutes, I refuse to acknowledge that Liger is just as } { Yamada looked. I think I made up some excuse about the relative } { size of his opponent makes him look smaller, or something like } { that to save face. Oh, yeah, the match was nicely worked and } { fast-paced. And WCW said Biff couldn't wrestle. Hah! } 15. Art Barr becomes Beetlejuice, Portland, 01/89. The Grappler & Carl Styles humiliate Art and Roddy Piper makes the save. After a fun interview with Piper berating Grappler, Piper transforms Art into Beetlejuice. Really, this was a terrible skit, but it's perversely entertaining. { "Perversely entertaining" translates to "fucking stupid". Not as } { bad as WCW's skits or mini-movies, but this whole angle was dumb } { Piper was the only part that made this watchable. Classic Piper. } 16. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Tiger Mask, All Japan, 03/09/88. Another "Top 100" match. Jeff Bowdren wrote "This match contained the best five minute period of wrestling from 1988." Indeed, Misawa was tremendous and Tsuruta didn't annoy me as much as he sometimes goes. The match builds over the first 13 or 14 minutes and then that fantastic five minute or so period starts. Observer: n/a; Herb: ****1/2; Curtis: ***3/4 (for the last 5 minutes only) { Herb couldn't convince me that Tsuruta could be in a "Top 100" match } { nevermind having the "best five minute period of wrestling of 88". I } { don't like Jumbo, so I shotgunned a few beers to entertain myself in } { the interim. The last five minutes was good, but not as good as the } { hype. Certainly, it was great for Jumbo, though. } 17. Jimmy Hart sings "Lance Russell's Nose", Memphis, 1983. A 2:35 music video for Jimmy Hart's silly song about a girl he liked. Unfortunately, when he turned on the light he realized she had Lance Russell's nose. ;-) { This shows that Hart had talent for "great" songs years before he } { got hooked up with Hogan and started writing total garbage like } { Hogan's entrance music. This song was too catchy in my wasted } { state, and ended up singing it for practically the rest of the } { night. } 18. Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki vs. Shunji Takano & Shinichi Nakano, All Japan, 07/19/88. Another "Top 100" match. Kawada & Fuyuki, The Footloose, were a tremendous team. Actually, all four of these guys were really good workers in this time period. This match runs 9:39. Observer: n/a; Herb: ****1/2; Curtis: ****1/2 { The last 5 minutes were HOT; better than Jumbo's "best" five minute } { period, IMO. Kawada and Fuyuki were getting thrashed and trashed, } { and they sold big time. Great match! } 19. Jim Cornette & Midnight Express destroy Dusty Rhodes & Baby Doll with tennis racquet, NWA, 1986. Jim & company lure Rhodes & Baby Doll into the ring and quickly get the upper hand in a melee. Then, that nasty Jim Cornette really nails Baby Doll in the gut with the tennis racquet, hitting both her stomachs. Okay, okay, that wasn't fair. The best part is afterwards when they interview Dusty & Magnum T.A., who go on about Baby Doll thinking she'll never be able to have children after the incident. Dusty says, "Every great woman wants to be the best something. Whether it's the best secretary, or...uhh.. the best whatever it is on the street..." Thanks for the inspirational sermon, Dream. They go on to challenge the Midnight Express to a tag match for the ME's World Tag Titles. { The in-ring angle and subsequent attack was brilliant. Cornette } { was ON. The Baby Doll interview was painful to watch it was so } { bad. But the Big Dust didn't disappoint in providing the laughs } { This clip as well as #21 were quite entertaining, but not for } { the wrestling. With the Duster and Magga TA, it couldn't be } 20. Kendo & Solar I & Silver King vs. Black Terry & Jose-Luis Feliciano & Shu El Guerrero, Hamada's UWF, 03/07/91. The Lucha Libre style that these guys work in Japan was revolutionary. The light slaps that typify most Lucha Libre were toned down and the speed was screwed up to maximum. "Kendo! " You'll understand after you see this 22-minute match. Observer: n/a; Herb: ****1/4; Curtis: didn't watch it { I wasn't paying too much attention to this match. I like the Lucha } { stuf, but for some reason this one didn't hold my attention. I was } { reading my new Batman comic, actually. } 21. Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton vs. The James Boys, NWA, 1986. When we last saw that evil Midnight Express and Jim Cornette, they were saving the Earth from any Baby Baby Dolls. Here, the Express refuse Dusty & Magnum's title match request and, you guessed it observant reader, the James Boys bear a startling resemblance to... The match isn't all that great, of course, but Jim Cornette's antics at ringside are fantastic. Tony Schiavone says something like, "We really have no idea where the James Boys are out of." Cornette responds, "They just got out of Dusty Rhodes pick-up truck fifteen minutes ago! That's where they're out of," or something to that effect. The pre-match interview with Baby Doll is so bad it may be good ("[It] could bring a tear to a glass eye," says Cornette). { Antics, good. Wrestling, bad. Ugg. } 22. Bull Nakano vs. Monster Ripper, AJW, 04/29/91. Monster Ripper is Rhonda Singh, now known as Bertha Faye in the WWF. What the heck, we might as well see her work a damn good brawling match with blood and lots of wild stuff once. Then we can watch her skip around the ring with her heart covered outfit again. This match is for Bull's WWWA Title and runs 14:30. Observer: n/a; Herb: ***3/4; Curtis: 3.0 (out of 5) Aja Kongs { Not a bad match as far as AJW brawls go, but their Texas Death Cage } { match vs. Bison and Aja was better. Ripper is just terrible though, } { and it pained me to see Bull sell so much of that cow's "wrestling" } { But if you're a fan of the Guillotine, you get to see it twice -- } { including once with front somersault. } 23. Akira Hokuto & Shinobu Kandori vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano, AJW & LLPW, 03/27/94. This TV version of the match has a little trimmed out, but it didn't seem worth it to add the extra time that's on the commercial version. Hokuto and Kandori had had a couple of brutal matches in 1993, of course, and here they teamed up for Wrestling Queendom II, a big show put on by All Japan Women. Hokuto & Kandori can't get along (don't act surprised). Hokuto works the first bit of the match and finally strolls over to the corner and slaps Kandori in the face for the tag. Alright, Akira! She tags this way a few times. Eventually, though, they started working as a smooth team and this turned into a great match. Observer: n/a; Herb: ****1/2; Curtis: ****1/2 { Calling Kandori a bitch during the whole match was the highlight of } { the night. Then Akira steps in the ring and Herb and I slug each } { other, fighting over who's better, Akira (yeah, right!) or Bull (no } { doubt!) } 24. Chris Benoit & Shinjiro Otani vs. Black Tiger & Great Sasuke, New Japan, 10/18/94. This was the Jr. Tag tourney final from New Japan last year. With these four guys, what kind of action do you expect? Observer: ****3/4; Herb: ****3/4; Curtis: 4.75 (out of 5) Ligers { Super super super match! The ending was blown, and they had to } { scramble up an improvised ending, but the match as a whole was } { simply incredible! Sasuke is completely off the deep end. } 25. Marty Janetty & Shawn Michaels vs. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers, AWA, 08/31/86. With Shawn Michaels generally viewed as the best wrestler in North America these days and with most of us anticipating great things from him now, it seemed appropriate to go back and look at the match that really established the Rockers as a great team. This match turned into a bloodbath brawl; both Rockers gush and Somers juices too. After the match there are some pretty agitated interviews with Greg Gagne, who sure got damn old in nine years. Jeff Bowdren listed this in his "Top 100 of the 1980s" list in the Observer. Video time is 22:42. Observer: n/a; Herb: ****1/2; Curtis: a respectable 0.7 Muta { Typical heat segment on Michaels, but he sells like a pro even } { back then. The pretty boys show they can put on a great show, } { and aren't afraid of juicing with the big boys. They really } { took it to Rose and Somers. Rose worked a surprisingly good } { match too. } And that's it. The video quality on the all of the matches is good, dipping to fair+ for some of the older angles. From top to bottom, the video quality is the best of any diverse compilation tape I've put together. Drop me a line if you're interested in the home video of this mega-event. ;-) { *hic* } Herb...