Hidden Gems Collection #6: That Is Some Beautiful Hair
IMG Credit: WWE
Hidden Gems #6
Date: 1994, 2005, 2011
I know I had 2011 wrapped up but since these collections keep growing every week, sometimes I have to add to come back and take care of some new ones. In this case it’s a one off match, with Seth Rollins defending the FCW 15 Title against Dean Ambrose in a thirty minute Iron Man match. They’ve gone to draws in fifteen and twenty minute matches so here we go. And I’ll throw in a bonus or two for the sake of some length. Let’s get to it.
Since the Iron Man match is the real draw here, I’ll go with a few extras to start.
Terra Ryzing vs. Brian Armstrong
Date: February 26, 1994
Location: Center Stage Theater, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 500
Commentators: Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan
This is listed as being from Saturday Night on February 26, 1994 but from what I can tell, this is the March 5 episode of Power Hour as it’s the only match I can find from these two. Who are these two you ask? Well that would be HHH (with some very big and very blond hair) and Road Dogg as a guy in trunks, who just happens to be part of a very famous wrestling family.
Armstrong, a rather popular (near) hometown boy works on a wristlock and an armdrag to put Ryzing in trouble. Heenan starts shouting for some reason but gets cut off as Ryzing hits a jumping knee to the face. An elbow drop keeps Armstrong in trouble and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker sets up an Indian Deathlock to make Armstrong give up at 2:51. Nothing to see here, but historical curiosities are rather fun and kind of the point of this whole collection.
Val Venis vs. CM Punk
Date: May 15, 2005
Location: Wachovia Arena, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 3,500
Commentators: Todd Grisham, Jonathan Coachman
This is from Sunday Night Heat and Punk’s singles debut after having a tag match on the same show earlier in the year. Punk grabs a headlock to start as Todd says Punk isn’t related to Punky Brewster. A hiptoss puts Punk down and they trade some legsweeps into near falls. Val makes the mistake of walking around clapping, allowing Punk to chop block him down. It’s time to start in on the leg, which might have been a better game plan than whatever he used in the UFC.
Punk drops some elbows on the leg and grabs a leglock to keep Val in trouble. Val gets back up for some chops but Punk wraps the leg around the post to put Val right back down. This is a lot more competitive than you likely would have expected. The kneepad is down and Punk even throws in some mocking.
Val makes the comeback with a knee and some clotheslines but the limping slows him down. The Blue Thunder Bomb gets two on Punk and the knee gives out again on a fisherman’s suplex attempt. Punk is right back on the knee with a half crab and Val has to crawl over for the rope. Val gets in a half nelson slam and the knee is fine enough to hit the Money Shot for the pin at 6:38.
Rating: C+. This is a case of considering the situation. Punk was a jobber here and had a heck of a little match with Venis giving him a lot. I mean, it’s not exactly surprising given Val’s job of main tryout opponent for potentially future stars. Punk would be ROH World Champion in about a month and in developmental later in the year so it was clear that WWE had their eye on him even at this point. Heck of a nice match here and WAY better than it should have been.
FCW 15 Title: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose
Date: September 18, 2011
Location: FCW Arena, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Matt Martlaro
Seth is defending and it’s a thirty minute Iron Man match. They skip the entrances here so the bell rings in a hurry. They grapple around to start with Dean going to the ropes to break up an early waistlock. The threat of an early Avada Kedavra (a low superkick) sends Dean bailing to the floor and we take an early break. Back with Bo Rotundo (Bo Dallas), Maxine (General Manager) and Aksana (Women’s Champion) watching as we have about 26 minutes to go and no falls.
Seth cranks on an armbar and armdrags him into another armbar for good measure. More pulling of the arm keeps Dean in trouble with five minutes down. Dean finally gets in a shot to the face to take over as everyone continues to look on from ringside. Rollins is right back with a series of chops to tie Ambrose up in the ropes and then knock him all the way outside. Back in and Rollins misses a dropkick but backflips onto his feet (of course) so Dean kicks him low for the first fall with 21:45 to go.
Dean’s Midnight Special (White Noise) ties things up at 21:00 left and Byron has the right idea for once: “DO IT AGAIN!!!” A running clothesline gives Dean a 2-1 lead at 20:22 to go. Dean poses as we hit the ten minute mark but stops to hit a second lariat to send Rollins outside. Back from another break with Seth caught in a bow and arrow hold with 17:15 to go.
With that not working, it’s off to a neck crank for a change of pace. Rollins gets back up but misses a kick, allowing Dean to hit a belly to back faceplant for two at the halfway mark. Dean tries another Midnight Special but Rollins reverses into a sunset flip to tie things up at two falls each with 13:45 left.
That’s enough for Rollins to make the fired up comeback, including something like the BURN IT DOWN stomp out of the corner. The Stomp (called the Advanced Curb Stomp here) misses so Rollins sends him outside for the running flip dive, with Seth slamming face first into the barricade on the landing. Back in and Seth hits the springboard clothesline but Avada Kedavra misses. Instead Dean suplexes him out to the floor but crashes out with him in a big heap.
We take another break and come back with just under eight minutes to go and neither guy being able to get to their feet. That means a slugout from their knees until they get to their feet to stay at it. Ambrose gets in a hard shot to the head so Rollins is right back with a jumping enziguri to put them both down. After the big kickout, Seth goes with a Lionsault for two more. Seth unloads with more kicks to the face and the Stomp (a good one at that) gets two.
We hit the five minute mark and Seth isn’t sure what to do next. The yet to be named Phoenix splash misses but Dean can’t follow up with four minutes left. An eventual cover gets two as the fans are almost entirely behind Seth here. Dean STILL won’t follow up with three minutes left but eventually stomps on the stomach and holds his boot there for far too long. A Texas Cloverleaf has Seth in trouble with two minutes left but he makes the rope for the break. Dean keeps smiling and there’s a minute left. Now it’s Ambrose doing the stomping in the corner but misses Avada Kedavra.
Instead Rollins reverses into a Midnight special of his own for two. Avada Kedavra hits Dean for two as the time limit expires with Rollins looking stunned. Hang on though as Maxine says not so fast because we’re going to sudden death. Rollins gets a very fast two off a small package but Ambrose unloads on him in the corner. A running knee in the corner nails Rollins for two more but he kicks Dean to the floor.
That means a suicide dive to almost knock them into the crowd, followed by an exchange of splashes in the corner. A superkick to Dean sets up the prototype rebound lariat and the Midnight Special gets another two. Things slow down for a minute until Dean goes up top, only to get enziguried into a buckle bomb. Avada Kedavra connects again but Dean doesn’t even go down, telling Seth to bring it. He does just that with another Avada Kedavra, followed by a small package driver to retain the title at 34:20.
Rating: B+. This took some time to get going but eventually you could see all of the chemistry that made these two work so well together. The last eight to ten minutes were outstanding with some crazy energy, especially for an arena and venue this small. It’s a lot of fun and these guys beat each other up with some really hard shots and some awesome storytelling. I can see how they saw the star power in here and it was possibly better than any main roster match they’ve had.
Overall Rating: A-. Now that’s what I was hoping for. You can expect great stuff from Harley Race vs. Ric Flair and Greg Valentine vs. Roddy Piper but from these guys on either the C show or developmental? This was a heck of a lot of fun and I could look at HHH’s huge hair for days. Good stuff here with all three being worth checking out if you have the time, especially the Iron Man match.
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