Lucha Underground – November 19, 2014: Lost In The Masked Shuffle
Lucha Underground Date: November 19, 2014
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker
I’m finally getting caught up on this series and I’m actually glad that I am. The show has been consistently entertaining and making me want to see where the stories go, which is the most important thing you can do while you’re still setting up a series. The big story tonight is Mundo vs. Big Rick, which could be interesting as a power vs. speed match. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Cueto going to war with Mundo and Johnny wanting to fight Big Rick this week.
A live band plays us in, which we really don’t need. Thankfully it’s just some quick shots of them instead of a song.
Sexy Star vs. Ivelisse
Before the match, Star (in Spanish with subtitles) calls Chavo a coward that needs a chair to beat her. She wants revenge on him for hurting both herself and Sagrada and is going to finish the Guerrero dynasty. Ivelisse says that Star got what she deserved for trying to fight with the boys. She gets in Star’s face and thinks she’s hiding an ugly face behind an ugly mask because Star knows Ivelisse is the toughest girl around here. Star slaps her in the face and the brawl is on. Vampiro: “This is anti-Diva!”
Ivelisse takes her down for some right hands but Star grabs a headlock. Looks Divaish to me so far. Star Matrixes under a clothesline and takes Ivelisse down with a hurricanrana. Ivelisse is fine with that and sends Star face first into the middle buckle. The fans are completely behind Star as Striker goes on some tangent about the constellation of lust. Ivelisse slams her face first into the mat before kicking Star backwards with Star’s legs underneath her for a painful looking fall.
We hit a chinlock with a knee in Star’s back with Ivelisse even fish hooking her. Striker: “Kind of hot!” Star comes back with some chops and a Codebreaker to put both girls down. A rollup gets two on Ivelisse but she comes back with a LOUD slap. She chokes Star down and slams the masked head into the mat over and over, only to have Star come back with a cradle for the pin.
Rating: C. I stand by what I’ve said before: Ivelisse could have been a HUGE deal if TNA wasn’t a bunch of nitwits. She’s gorgeous, she can talk and she has a unique style. Insert your own joke about Barbarian’s niece here. Striker drove me insane here again though and I’m sick of hearing his stupid lines over and over again.
Cueto is with Drago, who didn’t win but didn’t lose last week, so Drago gets one more chance tonight.
Pentagon Jr. vs. Fenix
Before the match, Pentagon says no one in Mexico respects him but Cueto is finally giving him a chance. Fenix will be the first example of what happens when you mess with him. Pentagon starts with some kicks to the ribs but gets sunset flipped for two. A standing moonsault gets two for Fenix as they’re flying around very early. We hit a standoff and the fans give them a quick ovation. A headscissors sends Pentagon to the floor and Fenix hits a big cartwheel dive.
Back in and a springboard guillotine legdrop gets two for Fenix so Pentagon kicks him in the face for the same. Fenix climbs the corner and does some unnecessary springboards into a dropkick to put Pentagon down again. More springboards set up an armdrag to send Pentagon outside for a corkscrew dive. Back in and Pentagon jumps over Fenix into a Backstabber (Lung Blower according to Striker. Pest) but Fenix comes right back with a cutter for the same.
A half nelson into a kind of piledriver gets two more for Pentagon but they head outside for a punt to the face from Fenix. Back in again and Pentagon grabs a jumping wrap around neckbreaker for two and a rollup into a mat slam for the same. He takes too much time to get up top though, allowing Fenix to kick him in the head. A top rope C4 is enough to put Pentagon down for two, but we’ll call it a pin despite his shoulder being about a foot and a half off the mat.
Rating: C. The high spots were good here but this was several steps below the previous match. At the end of the day, these really shouldn’t be going eight minutes as they were clearly just doing spots near the end. It’s entertaining, but there really isn’t much substance here. Think of it as the fast food of wrestling.
King Cuerno (El Hijo Del Fantasma) is coming and looks like a vigilante lumberjack.
King Cuerno vs. Drago
Cuerno has a deer head on top of his own head. I don’t mean a picture of one as it’s about two feet off the top of his head. Striker takes another lame shot at WWE, saying you can’t predict everything that’s going to happen here. Cuerno keeps knocking Drago down to start but Drago comes back with an enziguri. A nice dropkick puts Drago down again but he sends Cuerno face first into the middle buckle.
Drago’s headscissors is thrown off and it’s time to look at the commentators again. Drago fires off some of the lamest kicks I’ve seen in a long time before Cuerno just throws the referee down. That’s fine with Drago who uses him as a springboard for a hurricanrana to send the King outside. A big dive puts Cuerno down again but he knocks Drago down with a kick to the head, setting up a big suicide dive of his own. Back in and Drago does a bunch of flips into a nice looking rollup for a surprise pin.
Rating: C+. I liked it better than the previous match but I really wouldn’t have had Cuerno lose here. Drago isn’t bad, but Cuerno looks like he could be a future star. The problem here is this is the same style match we just saw. This one was better, but a lot of the match felt like I saw it about ten minutes earlier.
Prince Puma is working out when Konnan comes in. Konnan tells Puma to stay out of the main event and not save Mundo no matter what happens.
Big Ryck vs. Johnny Mundo
Johnny fires off a kick to the leg to start but a hard shoulder block puts him down. Mundo misses a splash in the corner and Ryck just pounds him down. He throws Johnny across the ring but Mundo flips over and lands on his feet in a nice counter. That’s fine with Ryck who takes Mundo down again and chokes with a boot.
We hit a neck crank on Mundo but he kicks Ryck in the head to escape. Back up and Mundo hammers away in the corner as well before the Moonlight Drive connects for two. There’s the Flying Chuck for two more but we cut to Cisco and Cortez attacking Puma in the back. They quickly hit the ring to break up the End of the World and that’s a DQ.
Rating: C. This wasn’t bad but it didn’t have time to go anywhere. Puma getting beaten down keeps things a bit mysterious as he might not have come out otherwise. Ryck is a good option as a huge monster, even though he’s about as unpolished of an in ring performer as you’ll find with his experience.
Cortez and Cisco put Mundo through a table to end the show.
Overall Rating: C. This was still good and entertaining but it was almost all in ring stuff tonight instead of the story advancement. That’s not a bad thing, but when you have a promotion with a good deal of similar guys (so far at least), it can get a bit dull to sit through. This worked well enough though and I like where this place is going so far.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Lucha Underground – November 12, 2014: Viva El Nitro Flashback
Lucha Underground Date: November 12, 2014
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker
Off to episode three now as this promotion is actually looking good to start. The main story seems to be Chavo Guerrero as a monster heel, even though he’s 0-1 in singles matches so far. I’m assuming he’s going crazy due to his family’s legacy wearing him down, but it could be that he watched his TNA promos and has been bored out of his mind. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Chavo’s loss on the first show and then him going psycho last week. The other major stories are covered as well.
Konnan is in Cueto’s office and says he’s bringing in three new guys: Fenix, Pentagon Jr. and Drago. Cueto is worried about Konnan’s recent visa issues but Konnan assures him that they’re cleared up. The boss puts those three guys in a triple threat tonight, which pleases Konnan very much.
Blue Demon Jr. is in stable condition at the hospital after last week.
Here’s Cueto to open things up. He’s heard people complaining about a lack of lucha in Lucha Underground. Well tonight he’s going to fix that with this man: El Mariachi Loco. He plays a mean trumpet but he’s crazy as well. Dario discovered him at his favorite Mexican restaurant, and maybe he’ll play a song after his match.
El Mariachi Loco vs. Mascarita Sagrada
Sagrada is one of the most famous mini wrestlers of all time. Mariachi asks for time out as soon as the bell rings before asking for a test of strength. That goes as well as you would expect so Sagrada dropkicks his knee out and hits a spinning headscissors to take over. An armdrag sends Mariachi to the floor, setting up a suicide cannonball. Back in and Sagrada nails a top rope hurricanrana for two.
Mariachi has had enough of this and throws Sagrada down by the ears to take over. He nails Sagrada a few more times and dances a bit before planting Sagrada down. Sagrada avoids a swanton and plants him with a spinning DDT. Back up and he tries another but has to settle for a guillotine into a small package to pin Mariachi.
Rating: D+. Here’s the thing: these matches can be fun and I get that they’re a bigger deal in Mexico, but small wrestlers are comedy guys in America. You can explain the history and tradition all you want, but most fans are going to see them as comedy guys and people who lose to them are going to be jokes. They have to be careful with these things or fans are going to stop caring when these segments come on.
Chavo comes in and destroys Sagrada in a far less violent attack than last week.
Video of Chavo’s path of rage in the last two weeks.
We get a sitdown interview with Chavo, conducted by Vampiro. He thinks Chavo has always been riding on the Guerrero’s coattails. Chavo says he’s been living through his family and for the first time he’s going to do it his own way. Vampiro brings up Chavo tapping out in the first Lucha Underground match. Guerrero says Demon Jr. is only famous for his father and that he’s here to make his own name. He’ll do that however he can and Demon knows that Chavo is better than he is.
After a break, Chavo comes up to see Konnan. Apparently the people in Mexico aren’t happy with what Chavo did to Demon and it’s going to get worse when they find out what happened to Sagrada. Konnan leaves and Catrina comes up to kiss his cheek, saying Muertes is coming for him.
Video on Mil Muertes. He was trapped in the rubble caused by an earthquake in 1985 but the coldness and death comforted him. That day, he changed from Pasquel Mendoza, but now he’s Mil Muertes. That’s certainly a different kind of origin story.
Ricky Mandel vs. Mil Muertes
Mandel sidesteps Muertes to start and fires off some right hands, only to get speared in half. Some chops in the corner allow Catrina to snap Mandel’s throat across the middle rope. Striker enjoys Catrina slapping the mat. Mandel makes a brief comeback but dives into a right hand to the face, setting up a Downward Spiral for the pin. Just a squash.
Cortez and Cisco don’t let Johnny Mundo in to see Cueto. That earns Cisco a superkick and Cortez a ram into the wall, allowing Mundo to get into the boss’ office. He wants Big Rick next week and Cueto seems to be ok with it.
Big Rick takes money from Cueto, who wants Mundo in the hospital next week.
Weekly video on Prince Puma without much new information.
Pentagon Jr. vs. Drago vs. Fenix
Drago is a blue dragon with a cool looking match, Pentagon looks like a combination of Super Calo and La Parka, and Fenix has rooster spikes on his head. One fall to a finish. Pentagon quickly kicks both guys to the floor and dives over the top to knock them down again. Fenix kicks him in the face to stop a charge though, right before he backdrops Drago onto Pentagon.
With both guys on the floor, Fenix busts out Hector Garza’s corkscrew dive to the outside. Back inside, Drago and Fenix both miss some strikes until Drago hits a spinning DDT. Pentagon gets back in but misses a big kick, allowing Fenix to hit a very spinny and flippy armdrag. Drago is still on the ground as Pentagon throws Fenix into the air, allowing Fenix to flip forward into a hurricanrana. Awesome looking spot.
Drago comes back in for a running flip DDT, only to have Pentagon hit a kind of gutwrench piledriver for two. Fenix takes Pentagon down with a Tajiri handspring into a cutter ala Jay Lethal, which I still can’t stand. Everyone is down for a bit until Drago gets caught in a Tree of Woe, allowing Fenix to take Pentagon down in a huge top rope hurricanrana. Fenix counters a rollup but gets caught in a backstabber from Drago.
Pentagon rolls out to the floor for a huge dive from Dragon. Fenix one ups both of them though by climbing onto a very high wall for a VERY HUGE dive to take both guys down. Back in and Fenix charges into the post, setting up a package piledriver from Pentagon to Drago. A reverse hurricanrana from Fenix to Pentagon is enough for the pin.
Rating: B. Take three guys, give them about eight minutes and let them go insane. It wasn’t supposed to be anything technically sound or coherent and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s exciting and the kind of thing that’s going to make the fans want to come back, which is the kind of thing you want when it’s still very early in a series.
In the office, we get an inner monologue from Cueto about how he needs to deal with Mundo. Someone comes in and stands in front of him. Cueto looks at the key around his neck and says he isn’t afraid of anyone, including whoever is in standing there.
Overall Rating: C+. This show gets more like NXT every week and that’s a good thing. We have regular stories that bring in new characters to keep things fresh and a bunch of different stories going on at once. Good episode here and I want to keep going with the series, which is more than I can say about some wrestling I watch anymore.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews, check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Lucha Underground – November 5, 2014: Death By 1000 Heels
Lucha Underground Date: November 5, 2014
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker
After a solid debut episode, we actually have a main story going on already. Cueto seems to be the big evil boss who brings in his minions to take out people who are trying to do stuff he doesn’t like. I had a good time with the first episode but I’m assuming a lot of the people here are going to be different as we see more of the roster. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of last week’s show.
The three guys (Ricky Reyes, Lil Cholo and Rycklon Stephens) that attacked Mundo and Puma last week are in the ring to open the show. Reyes says his name is Cortez Castro and Cholo is now known as Cisco. Stephens (formerly known as Ezekiel Jackson) says he’s the boss, Big Rick. Mundo charges the ring as Rick bails to the floor, leaving the other two to get beaten up. Cortez and Cisco bail but both grab chairs until Puma runs in for the save. This brings out Dario Cueto to make a tag match. Make your own Teddy Long joke.
Johnny Mundo/Prince Puma vs. Cortez Castro/Cisco
Puma and Castro get things going but it’s quickly off to Cisco, who is quickly taken down by a headscissors. It’s already back to Castro who gets taken into the corner for a tag off to Mundo. A double enziguri drops Castro for two but Mundo misses a running knee to the face and gets rolled up for two. Back to Cisco who gets kicked in the face again for two. Apparently Cisco describes his style as “Prison Shower Style.” I’ll get to Mundo hitting a slingshot elbow for two as fast as I can to get away from that line.
Cortez gets in a cheap shot from the apron before breaking up the Flying Chuck. Cisco gets two off a backsplash as Striker says the team is Cortez and Castro. Cortez gets two off a back elbow as Striker brings up Cortez conquering the Aztecs. Big Rick is smoking a cigar on the steps as Mundo finally rolls away from the double teaming. Puma comes in off the hot tag and cleans house with a running neckbreaker to Cisco, forcing him to DDT his own partner in a spot I hated in (I think) TNA and I hate it here.
Everything breaks down with Mundo missing a dive over the top, allowing Cortez to kick Puma into a neckbreaker from Cisco for two. They load up that 3D into a Codebreaker from last week but Mundo pulls Cortez to the floor. Back in with Puma hitting a cutter, setting up the Moonlight Drive on Cisco for a close two. Puma hits a big flip dive to take out Cortez, followed by stereo 450s to give Mundo and Puma the double pin.
Rating: B-. Good match here but it ran a bit longer than it should. It’s still good stuff here though with all four looking good in what seems to be the top storyline. Cisco and Cortez are fine as lackeys but Big Rick seems to be the real force for Cueto. It was a fast paced tag and they’re setting the groundwork for stuff in the future.
Konnan is in a dark locker room with Puma. He praises the masked man a bit but warns him to stay away from Mundo because that’s not Puma’s fight. Puma has one friend and that’s Konnan. We get the classic wrestling trope of someone speaking Spanish and then immediately translating it into English, due to people who speak Spanish not being able to understand it or something.
Video on Mil Muertes (Thousand Deaths, better known as Ricky Banderas, who was Judas Mesias in TNA and El Mesias in AAA), who is being brought in by Cueto to deal with Blue Demon Jr.
Son of Havoc/Ivelisse vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr./Sexy Star
Striker: “Usually in mixed tags, the men wrestle with the men and the women lucha with the lucha.” The guys get started with Chavo hooking a chinlock less than thirty seconds in. Back up and Chavo pulls Havoc around by the beard as Striker explains Chavo’s lineage in wrestling, like anyone watching this show hasn’t heard of him before. Ivelisse gets in a cheap shot from the apron and Havoc takes over.
Off to Ivelisse for some kicks, including some to the head from the ground, for two. Back to Havoc as Vampiro tries to correct some of Striker’s mistakes and is completely ignored. We finally get the tag off to Star for some revenge from last week. She hammers away for a bit until Havoc drills her in the face with an elbow. Back to Ivelisse to slam Star’s head into the mat before they slug it out.
Ivelisse is in a bit of trouble but just kicks Star in the head to take over again. Havoc comes back in for a standing moonsault which only hits knees. The real hot tag brings in Chavo for a Liger Kick in the corner for two. Everything breaks down with a catfight breaking out, capped off with a running seated senton from Star to crush Ivelisse on the floor. Back in and Chavo hits the Frog Splash on Havoc but lets Star roll him up for the pin.
Rating: C+. Another nice match here as they tie things back to last week’s story. Chavo is a good guy to have around at the start but I’m hoping he isn’t still a fixture later on in the show’s run. He’s another guy that I’ve seen far too many times over the years and I’m just over him. The girls stole the show here though as they’re both clearly very polished.
Blue Demon Jr. is warming up when a girl named Catrina (Maxine from NXT) comes up with a message from Mil Muertes. She touches his lips and says it’s a taste before a thousand deaths. I love little things like her walking in instead of just standing there like you would see on Raw or Impact. It’s so much more natural, despite being a very produced video if that makes sense.
Konnan narrates a video on discovering Prince Puma fighting on the streets.
Blue Demon Jr. vs. Mil Muertes
This is a bit more formal of a debut than I was expecting. Catrina is here with Muertes, who comes out in a huge headdress on his back that looks like something out of Tatanka’s closet. He also has a small bag that he carefully hands off to Catrina. After a quick kiss from Catrina, Muertes jumps Demon to start in a hurry. A loud chop puts Demon down on the floor and they fight over the announcers’ table with Muertes in full control.
Back in and Demon armdrags him down followed by a dropkick. Some chops in the corner have Mil in some trouble but Catrina gets up on the apron. The distraction lets Mil get in a shot and Catrina adds a kick with a heel. Demon comes back with a bulldog for two but Muertes gets two off a Backstabber. We get another shot of the announcers to get on my nerves again. Muertes jumps into a raised boot and gets caught in a DDT for two. Back up and Muertes just spears Demon in half, setting up a Downward Spiral for the pin.
Rating: D+. Demon looked old and slow out there which is already getting annoying. Muertes on the other hand looked like a killer which is all he needed to be. That spear looked more like a Goldberg version by driving Demon back instead of just hitting him and stopping. Why that’s so complicated for so many to figure out is beyond me.
Muertes goes after Demon some more but Chavo comes in with a chair for the save. He blasts Demon with it instead and goes full heel. Some other guys come out but get chair shots as well. Sexy Star comes out and Chavo blasts HER in the head with the chair as Chavo is a bit more evil than I was expecting. Chavo sits in the chair as Demon is taken out on a stretcher. He won’t let Demon be taken out without a few more shots though. The ambulance pulls away to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. That’s a bit lower than last week but I liked this show for different reasons. First of all, they cut down on some of the camera jumps and settled down a bit. I liked the stories being advanced and Ivelisse (who should have been signed by TNA but she wasn’t Barbarian’s niece) and Muertes both being good debuts. Chavo comes off looking evil….but he’s Chavo Guerrero. Yeah he’s smooth in the ring but dear goodness I have trouble caring about him. I like Cueto not being around as much this week to keep him from getting stale. Good show this week as they’re planning for the future.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Lucha Underground – October 29, 2014 (Debut Episode): They’ve Got ECW on Sci-Fi Beat
Lucha Underground Date: October 29, 2014
Location: Lucha Underground Arena, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker
This is the debut episode of a new promotion based around, of course, lucha libre. While there have been other promotions like this before, this company has a decent roster of people you’ve actually heard of and has been getting some solid reviews. Naturally I’m two weeks late to get out front of it but when has that stopped me before? Let’s get to it.
We open with a video of people fighting in what looks like an underground fight club. A masked man comes in for an airplane spin and Wasteland before telling someone to come with him. Off to a cave in Mexico, talking about the Aztec Empire and then lucha libre. That’s quite the jump. The owner, Dario Cueto, says he’s opening the doors to let these people come to America. Now a bunch of people are shown walking towards I’d assume the arena, spliced together with clips of matches.
We even have credits like a movie.
The announcers welcome us to the show and oh dear I don’t like these guys already.
Here’s Dario Cueto to address the promotion. This is a temple to honor ancient traditions like honor and violence. Whoever impresses him the most will get a signing bonus of $100,000.
Blue Demon Jr. vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Demon Jr. is a former NWA World Champion and 48 years old. I’m going to assume you know Guerrero. They shake hands to start as Striker goes on some tangent about honor. Chavo takes him down by the arm to start before Demon takes over with a test of strength. A quick run of the ropes ends with Demon “headscissoring” Chavo to the floor (the editing here is decent enough to cover botches) and baseball sliding him down. Back in and Demon hits a loud slap to the jaw as we keep cutting to an overhead camera shot like you’ll see in TLC matches.
Chavo comes out of the corner with a tornado DDT before taking Demon out to the floor. A nice plancha puts the masked man down but he comes back in with a slam. Demon favors his knee and takes forever to get to the top, only to miss a flip dive. Chavo puts him up top for a hurricanrana but Demon blocks (Striker: “Could this be some sort of a hanging triangle choke???”) and plants Chavo with a powerbomb, as anyone who has watched wrestling before and isn’t Matt Striker could have told you. Demon puts on a kind of Sharpshooter/Liontamer hybrid while lifting Chavo’s arm off the mat for the submission.
Rating: D+. The wrestling wasn’t bad but I’m going to get tired of having the camera constantly cutting to the crowd or that overhead shot or the announcers. It’s bad enoughthat I have to listen to Striker but I have to look at him during the matches? This was a decent enough power vs. speed match though and it did its job.
In a scene designed to feel like it’s from an over the top film noir movie, the boss is in his office with Konnan. Cueto thanks Konnan for coming here and Konnan says he’s the toughest guy around. The boss likes the sound of that but he’s brought in a guy named Johnny Mundo who doesn’t respect the business. If Konnan and a guy whose name sounded like Puma can take him out, they’ll split the $100,000. Konnan nods as cheesy music played. This was so totally different than the stuff I have to put up with on Raw that I kind of loved it.
We see Johnny Mundo warming up and it’s John Morrison.
Video on Mundo’s opponent tonight: Prince Puma. His manager Konnan narrates the video, talking about how Aztec luchardoes fought to the death in their day. They would claim the loser’s head, which evolved into the mask being so important. This brings us to Puma himself and we hear some praise from Konnan. Apparently Puma’s spirit animal is a jaguar. That sounds cool if nothing else.
Son of Havoc vs. Sexy Star
Havoc seems to be a masked biker with a long beard, played by Matt Cross. I’ve seen Star in AAA before so I actually have an idea of what’s going on here. She comes out with wings like Melina from Wrestlemania one year which work for entrance attire. We get a package on Star with her talking about how she’s doing this for all the women that don’t want to be afraid anymore.
Back in the arena, Havoc says he isn’t wrestling a woman, so she can lose by countout and live to fight another day. Star heads outside and lets the count go to five before charging back in and jumping Havoc from behind. He easily shoves her down and….does the Tango with her for all I know as the camera is on Striker. Havoc misses a moonsault but plants her down with ease. Star sends him chest first into the buckle and gets two off a high cross body, only to get caught in a backbreaker and pinned with a handful of tights. Short but Star looked good.
Chavo Guerrero is in Cueto’s office where the boss is asking what happened. In the first match in Cueto’s temple, Chavo tapped out. What would his family think if they knew that? Since Chavo couldn’t do it, Cueto will bring in someone else to stop Blue Demon, but once he’s here, no one can stop him.
Johnny Mundo vs. Prince Puma
Puma is indy wrestler Ricochet and has Konnan with him. Feeling out process to start with Mundo nailing a shoulder but Puma nips right back up. They fight over wristlocks with Puma flipping and spinning as Striker tells us to go to the internet to find out about different styles of wrestling. Both guys go down and it’s a double nipup to get us to a standoff. Vampiro says Puma is going to be corrupted by Konnan so I guess he’s heel here?
Puma spins around Mundo with a headscissors before sending him out to the floor. It earns a standing ovation from Vampiro and the fans think it’s awesome. Back in and Mundo hits a quick backbreaker and throws Puma throat first onto the top rope. A spinning kick to the head sends Puma to the floor but Mundo takes his time throwing him back in, allowing Prince to dropkick him down. Puma nails a slingshot splash and hooks a full nelson with the legs. Back up and Puma enziguris him out to the floor.
They head over the announcers’ table with Mundo climbing the table and flipping over Puma, only to send him face first into the post. Back in and we hit the chinlock on Puma but he fights up with another kick to the face. A springboard high cross body gets two on Mundo and a standing shooting star gets the same. They slug it out with Mundo driving him into the corner and hammering away.
Mundo speeds things up with clotheslines and a running knee to the face gets two. The Flying Chuck (Disaster Kick) gets two for Mundo and another running knee gets the same. Puma avoids the End of the World (Starship Pain) and takes Puma down with a springboard double knee to the chest. A springboard 450 misses and Moonlight Drive (the flip neckbreaker) gets two for Mundo. Johnny pops back up and hits a C4 and the End of the World for the pin.
Rating: B. Good main event here where they got to show off some athleticism and give the fans something to come back for. All the flips and dives and such really isn’t my style but this was entertaining stuff. Mundo is a guy that people are going to recognize and it’s a good idea to have him win the first main event.
Mundo raises Puma’s hand but here’s a ticked off Cueto. He says Mundo has earned the money but Cueto slams the case closed. Mundo goes for the money but two guys (indy wrestlers Ricky Reyes and Lil Cholo) come in to beat him down. Mundo fights them off but Ezekiel Jackson comes in to lay out Mundo and Puma. Prince is sent into a 3D into a Codebreaker while Mundo takes a chokeslam. Cueto gets back in and says these guys work for him to end the show.
Overall Rating: B-. Yeah I liked this, though the rating is on a bit of a softer scale. I’m not sure if it’s enough to keep me coming around every week but I’ll check out the next few episodes. It’s VERY different from mainstream wrestling and that’s a good thing. Cueto is basically Vince with a Spanish accent but I’ve seen far worse. The wrestling was mediocre to good but again it’s different enough to carry the show.
That being said, there’s A LOT to work on. First of all, someone work on shooting Matt Striker. I can’t stand him now, I couldn’t stand him in WWE and I can’t picture ever being able to stand him. He’s that commenter on the internet that thinks he knows more than you because he uses every proper name for everything and it drives me crazy. The constant camera cuts get annoying as well but if they keep it on the ring in some form or another I can live with it. It’s a solid debut and I’ll check out a few more episodes to see where it goes.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
On pay per view. They had to debut eventually, though they better be something after this long of a wait.
WWC 1988 Anniversary Show – A Hot Night In Bayamon: When Is The Next Plane Out Of Here?
WWC Anniversary Show 1988: Hot Night In Bayamon
Date: September 10, 1988
Location: Bayamon Stadium, Bayamon, Puerto Rico
Attendance: 23,000
Commentator: Hugo Savinovich, Brad Batten, Bert Batten
This is the first full Puerto Rico show I’ve ever done and it’s from the World Wrestling Council. Hot Night in Bayamon is their anniversary show for the year but I’m pretty sure this isn’t a complete version. Odds are it’s a trimmed down home video which is about as good as you can expect for something like this. I’ll be lost most of the time for this so bear with me. Let’s get to it.
Savinovich and a tag team called Double Trouble welcome us to the show and run down the card. Their commentary was recorded after the event.
Jimmy Valiant/Rufus R. Jones vs. Wild Samoans
Thank goodness there are English announcers. The Samoans in question here are Afa and Sika. From what I can tell this is the third match on the card but the first two might have been dark matches. We finally get a bell after a lot of standing around. Jimmy goes after Afa while Rufus knocks Sika (father of one Roman Reigns) out to the floor.
Things settle down again until it’s Afa vs. Valiant. Jimmy teases dancing with Afa before dropping down to hit him low. Sika takes a right hand off the apron as we’re still waiting for this to get going. The Samoans’ heads are rammed together before Rufus comes in and elbows away. More dancing ensues and Sika is getting annoyed. Sika grabs a headlock but Jones dances his way to freedom.
Back to Afa who doesn’t mind the chops in the corner but a low blow finally puts him down. They botch a spot where Afa was supposed to hit Sika when Rufus moved but Afa stopped his punch. The hot tag brings in Jimmy who clean house before Rufus hits a dancing low blow of his own. Jones gets double teamed in the corner but he basically shrugs it off and crawls over for the tag off to Jimmy. The referee keeps Rufus out as the Samoans throw Jimmy over the top for the DQ.
Rating: D. Oh man this wasn’t very good. Valient was ALL look and having fun with the crowd and was absolutely horrible in the ring. The Samoans were just doing the basics here but the live crowd seemed to like it a little bit. Jones and his dancing schtick got really annoying and I’ll never get why low blows are fine but something like going over the top is a DQ. Yeah that’s a standard rule, but priorities people. This was more about star power than anything else as all four were known names in America.
Assuming the Wikipedia page for this show is accurate, the show is going out of order now as there was another match (airing later) that took place between the tag match and the following match.
Puerto Rico Heavyweight Title: Mr. Pogo vs. Ricky Santana
Santana is defending and this is apparently a very big feud. The champion jumps Pogo to start and is all fired up. A middle rope forearm sends Pogo out to the floor for a breather. Back in and Pogo takes him into the corner to hammer the champion down to take over. They head back outside where Pogo holds up the title like a true villain would. Santana trips him up and wraps Pogo’s leg around the post.
A slam puts Pogo down on the floor and things slow down again. Back in and a sunset flip gets two for the champ but a manager distraction lets Pogo get in a cheap shot to take over. Pogo slams Ricky’s head into the mat and pounds away before we hit the nerve hold. Santana finally fights back and is all fired up again, hammering away at Pogo’s head.
He makes the mistake of going after the manager again though and Pogo takes over, only to miss a middle rope splash. Ricky misses the top rope version though and Pogo tries a cobra clutch. Santana fights out of it but runs into a big right hand. Pogo sends him out to the floor and knocks him off the apron with a football tackle. Ricky comes right back with a sunset flip for the pin to retain.
Rating: C-. WAY better match here though it could have been about two minutes shorter. Santana was young and in good shape, making him seem almost like a pretty boy with some fire in him. Pogo was a decent monster heel who probably did a lot more with run ins and segments than in the ring.
Pogo and the manager beat Santana up and put him in the Cobra Clutch, making him foam at the mouth.
Tag Team Titles: Batten Twins vs. Sheepherders
The Twins (Brad and Bart) are defending and I believe they’re the commentators called Double Trouble. The Sheepherders are better known as the Bushwhackers. This match was much later on the card, going on second to last. The stalling immediately begins with the champions heading outside and posing a bit. Back in with the champions doing the do see do bit into a double dropkick to send the champions outside.
Bart shoves Luke into the corner to start as it’s really strange to hear commentators talk about a match they’re participating in. Luke comes back with a hard clothesline to take over. Butch comes in without a tag but Bart dropkicks both guys down and rams the Sheepherders’ heads together to send them back outside. Off to Brad vs. Luke for an awkward segment culminating in Brad dropkicking him down for two.
Luke comes back with a knee to the ribs but misses a middle rope headbutt. Brad dropkicks Luke tot he floor again and for some reason there’s no hot tag. Luke quickly comes back in and the twins switch behind the referee’s back. It’s not really clear if the twins are heels or faces based on their actions. More switching behind the referee’s back has Luke in trouble until Butch trips let’s say Brad up to take over.
A belt shot to the back gets two and Bart tries to help, only allowing Luke to throw Brad over the top and out to the floor. Butch rams him into various hard objects outside but he’s able to sunset flip Luke for two back inside. It’s off to Butch legally for a change and a forearm to the chest gets two. Luke hooks a chinlock as Savinovich talks about how complicated it is to have the commentators being in the match.
Luke misses a middle rope headbutt and the hot tag brings in Bart. He hooks a quick sleeper on Luke and everything breaks down. Luke is whipped into Brad but it’s Butch being knocked to the floor. Brad hits a top rope cross body on Luke but the referee goes down, allowing Butch to hit Brad in the head with a flagpole, giving the Sheepherders the pin and the titles.
Rating: C. This was a pretty solid tag match with a basic brawler vs. high flier(ish) formula. The screwjob ending would have had the fans near a riot so the reaction was exactly what they were shooting for. The twins reminded me of someone like the Killer Bees so they would have fit in really well for something like this.
Another referee comes out and tells the first referee what happened so the Battens get the belts back.
Wahoo McDaniel vs. Danny Spivey
Two more guys here for name value. They stall to start as the announcers talk about some rivalry from when these guys played football. Danny tries to work on the arm but gets chopped back into the corner. Spivey kicks him in the ribs to take over and bites Wahoo’s forehead open. He drives some elbows into the cut and we’re already in the chinlock. The hold stays on for a good while before Danny kicks him in the head for two. Wahoo comes back with a low blow but charges into a boot to the jaw in the corner. The referee pulls Danny’s feet off the ropes, allowing McDaniel to grab a really bad rollup for the pin.
Rating: D. Spivey wasn’t bad but Wahoo was just big and old at this point. The match wasn’t anything to see and like I said was just there because both guys are known names. McDaniel would somehow stick around another EIGHT YEARS doing this kind of stuff, which is good for him but rather annoying for the fans that had to sit through his matches. He was very entertaining back in the day but not so much by about 1985.
Chicky Starr vs. Invader #3
The card continues to be all over the place as this and the previous match have swapped places. There’s actually a story here as Starr had invited a guy named the Super Medic to be on his interview segment but Medic was really Invader #3 in a fake mask. Starr’s man Manny Fernandez had put Invader out recently and it’s time for revenge. We see Starr get his head shaved so stitches can be put in to kill some time. Starr vs. Invader #1 was a feud that ran over TWENTY YEARS. Let that sink in for a minute before you complain about Cena vs. Orton again.
Invader #3 attacks Starr before the bell and the fight is on fast. He punches Starr out to the floor with ease and Chicky is in really early trouble. Chicky is already busted open so Invader sends him into the post for good measure. Back in and Invader bites at the cut to bust him open even further. Starr finally hits him low to get a breather and atomic drop has about the same effect.
They slug it out with Invader taking over off a headbutt. Starr begs off but gets kicked in the ribs to put him right back down. More biting of the forehead ensues and a big right hand to the head sends Chicky outside. Starr comes back with a kick to the side of the head but Invader just punches him down again. Invader chokes against the ropes but Chicky hits him low to take over again.
The announcers continue to praise Starr as they’ve gone full heel on commentary after starting the night as standard good guys. That’s interesting but I’ve never seen anything else on the twins. Invader gets two off a spinning cross body but Starr rolls it over into a two of his own. Starr blocks a monkey flip and drops an elbow for the VERY sudden pin. There didn’t seem to be any cheating in there eiither.
Rating: C. This was a blood feud but I’m not sure why you don’t have Chicky cheat to win there. I like the idea of the story and it works well enough, though this was about two months after Invader #1 was accused of killing Bruiser Brody so I’m assuming #3 was there to fill in. Starr seemed like an interesting character.
Ronnie Garvin vs. Iron Sheik
This is the match they skipped earlier in the night and it seems like more name recognition. Sheik jumps him to start as the announcers talk about how they’re both former World Champions though for different organizations. Sheik chokes away with his head gear but Garvin comes back by raking the back and pulling down the trunks on a rollup attempt.
Sheik comes back with a poke to the eye and a chinlock but Garvin fights up with a top wristlock. Garvin comes back with a BIG chop before they ram heads. Sheik crawls over for two and puts on the camel clutch but Garvin quickly escapes. He crotches Sheik against the post over and over before putting on the sleeper. Sheik escapes as well but gets dropkicked out to the floor. Garvin follows for some brawling and only Ronnie beats the count back in.
Rating: D+. Pretty standard match here and the brawling wasn’t bad. That being said, I have no desire to watch either of these guys in late 1988 and I don’t think many American fans would either. Garvin winning was the better call after the Starr match and thankfully it went by fairly quickly.
Huracan Castillo/Miguel Perez Jr. vs. Bobby Jaggers/Dan Kroffat
This is hair vs. hair and based on the commentary, Jaggers is one of the top heels in the promotion. You might know Kroffat better under the name Phillip LaFon. Jaggers and Kroffat hold the now defunct Carribbean Tag Team Titles. Castillo and Perez, later part of Los Boricuas in the WWF, are a regular team sometimes called the Puerto Rican Express. It’s a brawl to start with Perez and Castillo sending the heels out to the floor.
They head over to the scaffolding with Jaggers getting nailed in the head with a chair. The fight continues around the stadium with Miguel slamming Jaggers down and stomping away but slipping and falling on his face. Things settle down and actually get back in the ring with Jaggers taking Perez into the corner but quickly tagging out to Kroffat. The good guys hiptoss Kroffat down and a double dropkick has Dan reeling.
Kroffat is cornered but comes back with a low blow to Perez. It doesn’t seem to have much effect though as the tag brings in Castillo for a vertical suplex to Dan for two. Back to Miguel who gets driven back into the corner and nailed by Jaggers’ whip. Perez reverses a charge into a German suplex for two on Kroffat but Jaggers throws Miguel to the floor.
Kroffat powerbombs Miguel for two and it’s off to Jaggers for some forearms. Bobby allows the hot tag to Castillo and everything breaks down. Miguel is sent to the floor but gets back in just in time to break up a cover off a Hart Attack. Castillo backdrops Kroffat to the floor and into the mud but Kroffat nails him with a spinwheel kick. Everything breaks down again and Castillo falls on top of a monkey flip for the pin on Kroffat.
Rating: C+. This was a bit slow at times and could have used a minute or two trimmed off but it was entertaining enough. This was the basic formula of bullies vs. young speed and it’s going to work almost every time. It felt like another match that would have been a lot better had I gotten to see the buildup.
The losers get their hair cut post match.
The announcers hype up the main event.
Hercules Ayala vs. Carlos Colon
This is a fire match, meaning there are a bunch of what look like socks strung outside the ring and lit on fire. They’re not on the ropes, meaning there are two sets of ropes around the ring. It’s an awesome visual. They slug it out to start as the announcers actually explain the story: Colon was named Wrestler of the Year but Ayala beat Colon up and shoved his wife at the acceptance speech.
Ayala knocks him down and hits Colon with what looks like a can. Carlos stupidly touches the fire but makes a comeback with right hands and a headbutt. Another low blow puts Hercules down and Ayala’s face is shoved into the fire. Oddly enough it doesn’t seem to cause much damage. The fires start going out and the match becomes a lot less interesting in a hurry. Colon misses a middle rope legdrop and Ayala slowly kicks him around the ring. Carlos avoids a knee drop and puts on the Figure Four for the submission.
Rating: D. Well that happened. The backstory was good but man alive did it start looking stupid when the flames went down. At that point it’s just a boring match that only lasted a few minutes. Colon is beloved in Puerto Rico though so the fans went nuts over this. It really didn’t work though.
Carlos puts the hold on again to get some revenge.
The announcers wrap it up.
Overall Rating: D+. There was some decent stuff here but it feels dated and came off like a bunch of names being brought in because they’re names. That doesn’t work without the stories to back it up and really doesn’t work when you would have had the Mega Powers about to explode at this point. It’s not a terrible show but without the stories, it was a bunch of not great wrestling with some decent stories. I’ve seen worse though.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of ECW Pay Per Views at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
AJ Styles Wins IWGP World Title
It’s the top title for the top promotion (New Japan) in Japan and given how things are going, a much bigger deal than the TNA World Title. So far it looks like he made a good call.
Jeff Jarrett Announces Global Force Wrestling
Nothing more than a name and logo at this point but more announcements are coming.
It looks like something from 1991.
Went To Ring Of Honor Supercard of Honor VIII
I didn’t take notes so my memory isn’t going to be perfect. These are the mental notes I took and I’ll save the full breakdown for later. Also I took about 20 pictures but the cord for the camera is about 750 miles away so you’ll have to wait on those.I got to the event about 40 minutes early and saw a VERY long line. Thankfully it didn’t take long to get through. I had general admission seating and could sit anywhere in the endzone of the arena. The seats were looking straight at the entrance so I had a great view all night. Not bad for about $32. The arena was mostly full but the bigger side did have some empty seats at the top.
Almost as soon as I got through the door, I could see Jay Lethal standing at an autograph table. There were I believe twelve people at the row of tables and autographs were $10 each. Being the eternal cheap guy that I am, I opted for some quick handshakes with Kevin Steen, the Briscoes, Matt Hardy, and Maria Kanellis, who was rocking a little black dress. She’s somehow even more gorgeous in person and seemed like a very nice person with a stunning smile.
I went inside and caught a few moments of the dark match which was a fourway won by Luke Hawx. The other name I recognized was Mike Posey who used to be a referee. There was also a masked man named Romantic Touch, who Wikipedia says is Rhett Titus under a mask. I went to the concession stand before this was over and only saw about a minute of it.
Roderick Strong beat Cedric Alexander to open the show. Strong is a guy I like to a degree so it was a nice touch. The Decade (Strong’s heel stable, led by Jimmy Jacobs) is fine for an idea (We were here first and like the old ways better) and Jacobs isn’t bad as the boss.
The Decade called out Adrenaline Rush and Andrew Everett for a six man that saw ACH hit some awesome high spots. The guy reminds me of Shelton Benjamin from the start of his singles push, which is a very big compliment. Everett hit some great looking springboard shooting stars for two but Coleman got caught in a slam/neckbreaker combo from Decade for the pin. ACH seemed to have hurt his knee.
Truth Martini (heel manager) vs. Matt Taven (former client) didn’t happen as Martini kicked him low and left. Kevin Kelly was brought into the ring for this for no apparent reason.
Next up was RD Evans (Archibald Peck for you Chikara fans), a guy you might vaguely remember Ryback beating up on Smackdown a few months back. Dude is freakishly tall. Anyway he’s doing a Goldberg Streak gimmick but totally for laughs and the fans are way into him. He got Silas Young to hit the referee with a belt before getting pinned, only to get the Dusty Finish for the DQ. Not much to the match, but Evans’ valet Veda Scott is GORGEOUS.
And then no one remembered her because Maria came out with Mike Bennett for his match against Mark Brisco wearing a blue bikini. Seriously there’s not much else to say about it and it stole most of my attention during the match (I have a thing for redheads. What can I say?). She knows how to be evil too as she was all scared and timid when Mike was in trouble but after the match when he was standing tall she was shaking her hips and had this awesome evil smile. When she was on the apron and leaning into the ring you could see a cameraman filming her from behind which made me chuckle. The match was a solid brawl with Mark looking insane. Bennett wound up Pillmanizing MArk’s neck with another chair, setting up an Anaconda Vice for the win. Remember that, because it becomes important later.
Intermission came, so I went outside and look to my left to see none other than Nigel McGuinness talking to fans. Again just a handshake, though he was working the merchandise stand and offering his documentary autographed for $25. I’ve heard it’s good in case you’re a fan of his. Nigel seemed like a nice guy from what I could tell as he was handling money but still had time to shake my hand and smile. Everyone seemed nice all night, though I only said hi to most people.
After the break a guy named Cheeseburger (seriously? No actually because there’s nothing serious about a guy with that name) came out to throw t-shirts to the crowd but was interrupted by Matt Hardy. Matt put over ROH (literally using those words) and praised Adam Cole (the Holy Spirit of wrestling, to go with Matt Hardy as the Jesus of wrestling. Seriously). This went on WAY longer than it needed to and of course ended with Cheeseburger taking the Twist of Fate.
ReDragon beat Forever Hooligans and two muscle guys with beards named Hanson and Raymond Rowe. THis is one of those matches that is going to be praised by ROH fans but it was a glorified comedy match at times. It wasn’t bad, but it highlighted a lot of the problems I have with ROH, which I’ll get into in the full review. Match was energetic and fun at times but not a very high quality.
Next up was Jay Lethal vs. Tomasso Ciampa in a 2/3 falls match for Ciampa’s TV Title. The crowd was starting to get restless at this point and you could see a lot of people messing with their phones. I can’t say I blame them as the show was already running long and a 2/3 falls match sounded like death. Not much to talk about here as Lethal used the Tajiri handspring into an elbow or cutter far too often and it got boring fast. Lethal won the first fall and then the referee got bumped. Truth Martini came out and threw Jay a knee brace which I think is part of Ciampa’s history. A shot with that got two and after Ciampa Hulked Up, Lethal kicked him a lot and hit the Tajiri handspring into a cutter to win the title. He joined the House of Truth after.
Kevin Steen and Michael Elgin (one of the few ROH guys I actually like) had a big old fight for a shot at the IWGP Title in May. This was the old school heavyweight slugfest with both guys beating the tar out of each other. It’s probably the best match of the night and a really solid brawl. Elgin won by hitting Steen with Steen’s package piledriver. They hugged after the match and Steen had to be helped out.
The main event was a ladder war (TLC) for the World Title. Adam Cole was champion but Jay Briscoe has his own title since he was never defeated for the belt. It was a very violent and brutal match with Jay getting busted open hardway and Matt Hardy, Mike Bennett and Mark Briscoe interfering. Yeah remember earlier when MArk had his neck crushed by a chair? He was fine 90 minutes later. That’s the kind of thing that gets on my nerves in wrestling. Why am I supposed to buy a big injury spot if it doesn’t even last two hours? Back in the day that would be six months of TV but here it doesn’t even go until the end of the show. That’s just not smart. Anyway Jay fought very hard but the numbers were too much for him and Cole retained the title. Most of the fans including myself bolted the second he got the belts down.
Overall the show was fun, but overstayed its welcome. They needed to cut one of the matches (the opener would have been a great choice) and get this a little shorter. Also one of the major problem with ROH showed through tonight: too many of the wrestlers have the same style and it gets really repetitive. I lost count of the number of spin kicks to the face I saw tonight and it gets old after awhile. That’s partially why Steen vs. Elgin was so well received: it was completely different from anything else all night and the fans were interested in seeing something different.
I liked the show, but it’s the same reaction I always get out of watching ROH: good stuff here and there, but not enough to make me watch more than a show here or there.
Full review coming later as I’m sure this is going to be online in like an hour. If you find it on Dailymotion or something, let me know.
Heroes of Wrestling: Dang Did I Remember This One Wrong
Heroes of Wrestling
Date: October 10, 1999
Location: Casino Magic, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
Attendance: 2,300
Commentators: Randy Rosenbloom, Dutch Mantel
I’ve been meaning to get back to this one over the years as it can’t possibly be as bad as I remember it. I’m so glad that I’ve gotten done with the book as it allows me to get back to a show like this before I head out to Wrestlemania. As you probably know, this is something of an 80s reunion/nostalgia show with an infamous main event. Let’s get to it.
Just to really show the 80s feel of this we start with a montage before we get to the commentators, one of whom was supposed to be Gordon Solie but unfortunately he couldn’t make it.
We go backstage to see Bundy who says he’s the best super heavyweight of all time and Yoko shows up to argue. We get a pull apart and we hear Bundy shout that he’s prettier. Nice job of actually giving these matches a reason for happening.
The intro actually lists Gordon Solie as host, even though we’ve met the announcers and he’s not one of them. That’s nice of them to give him a credit despite him not doing anything.
This is also dedicated to Gorilla Monsoon, who passed away just four days before this aired. Again, very nice of them.
The voiceover guy says this could be the most powerful storm the Gulf Coast has ever seen. Very fitting for a show in that region.
We get a second highlight package to really fire up the audience. There’s actually a decent crowd there which isn’t bad. That’s very impressive for a promotion like this. Based on that you almost have to consider the live version a success.
We run over the card which looks passable. Given what they had to work with, this actually looks pretty good. It’s a really good idea to give these younger fans an education in what good wrestling used to be, especially during the Attitude Era when quality wrestling was barely anywhere to be found.
Samoan Swat Team vs. Marty Jannetty/Tommy Rogers
So we have a Rocker and a Fantastic. That’s one heck of a tag team combination and would have been a huge success had they been able to run with it. Even the set and ring look decent on top of the good card. The Swat Team are more commonly known as Tama from the Islanders and Samu from the Headshrinkers. That’s the good thing about the Samoans: you can mix the teams up the members and still have a good set of opponents.
The Samoans’ manager does a really solid Jim Cornette impression to really make this feel like the 80s. He even messes up the name of the town we’re in to draw some real heel heat. Marty is known as the Rocker Marty Jannetty and his partner is Fantastic Tommy Rogers. Points for some clever thinking They have pictures of them before they come out and you can see Shawn Michaels’ legs in Marty’s picture. WE’RE EVEN GETTING CAMEOS! This show is already better at nostalgia than most Old School Raws.
To really tie thing into modern times, Dutch Mantell is more commonly known as Zeb Colter today. Jannetty is in great shape for a guy that doesn’t get to wrestle all that much. Tama has grown a good bit and is wrestling an entirely different style than his old high flying days. I must say it’s actually working for me.
Appropriately enough Dutch is arguing about the First Ammendment after hearing the heel manager’s speech. He ties things back into the match by talking about how these men are heroes after their years of war in the ring. That’s a great way to make the fans care more about these guys.
The Fantastic Rockers take over early on with some high speed offense, including a dropkick from Tommy to stagger Tama. An armdrag puts Tama down as well and he comes up offering a handshake. I’m glad they’ve gotten rid of those stupid racial stereotypes in the more modern times. They’re horribly offensive otherwise.
Off to Marty as we get the always cool face coming in sans tag to set up the heels getting caught doing the same thing later. It’s always nice to see psychology brought in, which is something the tag teams of 1999 could have used a lesson in. Tama takes Marty down into a chinlock to try and take the crowd out things like a good heel is supposed to do as fast as he can.
The heels keep control with a kick to the back as Mantell keeps up the good heel work by using the rare national TV time to brag about his own career. Heenan and Ventura did the same thing at Wrestlemania when they had the chance and that’s exactly what guys like him are supposed to do.
Samoan dominance continues with both guys getting in their shots on Marty. We hit a few nerve holds which is one of the few good Samoan stereotypes that have stayed constant over the years. It fits with them using really basic offense and trying to slow down the fast paced guys and take away their advantage.
Tama sends Marty outside so Samu can get in a chair shot. Randy calls it unethical which is far better than Monsoon or Schiavone calling it cheating. Stop having so much emotion and be realistic about things. Breaking a rule is unethical and should be called as such. Back in and Tama misses a Vader Bomb, allowing the hot tag off to Rogers. He cleans up some of the house but gets caught by a double headbutt, setting up an awesome looking TKO from Tama for the pin.
Rating: C+. Really good choice for an opener here with a classic heel team against an 80s dream team. Dutch calls it a great win they can put on their resumes, which is absolutely right given how successful the Rockers and Fantastics were back in the day. It’s always cool to see Marty get to show off how good he was in the ring.
We get a clip of Sherri and George freaking Steele of all people walking off arm in arm. See, now THIS is the kind of fascinating stuff you get to see on shows like this where you take two people who are intriguing together. Sherri always jumped from guy to guy and team to team, but maybe she likes someone who is more, shall we say, aggressive with her.
Greg Valentine vs. George Steele
Valentine says he’s the son of the legend Johnny Valentine. That’s an old school idea which was done with guys like Shane Douglas as Paul Orndorff’s nephew and Bruno Sammartino had a “cousin” as well. He says he’ll leave with Sherri tonight whether she likes it or not. Seriously, this is some very basic but great heel stuff tonight and it’s making things a lot better than they have any right to be.
Sherri comes out with Steele as she’s already standing by her man. George looks exactly like he did over 20 years before this, as does Valentine. That’s quite the testament to their training regimens. Valentine hits the floor and goes after Sherri like any good heel going after the weaker person. Randy keeps things simple by saying it’s stalking. Sounds like a reason for Steele to stand up and stop Valentine if you ask me. George eats a turnbuckle and you can practically see Sherri’s eyebrows go up.
Steele bites Greg’s arm which is probably a bit more nutritious. I can’t believe I’m saying this but Sherri isn’t looking bad here. Back inside and George tries to take his shirt off but Valentine jumps him with the shirt over his head, almost like a cheating hockey player. Now we get to the climax of the match as Sherri turns on Steele and helps Valentine, playing up on George’s stupidity as he won’t be able to see her and will think it’s one of Valentine’s friends.
Back up and with the shirt off, Valentine pulls out a foreign object to get in a cheap shot and keep his control. We’re hitting all of the 80s high spots here and the crowd is reacting to it exactly as they should be. Dutch has gotten up to try and talk some sense into Sherri which might be going a bit too far. Do your job Dutch. The talk doesn’t even work as Sherri gets in a chair shot to give Valentine the pin.
Rating: D+. Not as good of a match here but they hit everything the needed to hit. Steele was a great choice of a sympathetic face, much like Kane with Tori over in the WWF around this time. You wanted to see him succeed and they did a great job of having everyone else involved screw with him and set up a rematch later on.
Hammer get in a cheap shot post match with the chair as well. The announcers talk of a rematch to let Steele get his girl back. You have to sell the ideas of a sequel.
Julio Fantastico says that he’s great and will beat 2 Cold Scorpio.
2 Cold Scorpio vs. Julio Fantastico
Julio is more commonly known as Julio Dinero in case you’ve heard of him in ECW or old school TNA. Scorpio I’m sure you’ve heard of. If not, imagine a Godfather/Luchador combination. It’s certainly memorable and different if nothing else. Having guys like him and Julio on the show is a good idea as it gives the annoying fans someone they’re more familiar with. Scorpio is carrying a replica WCW Title belt which he should have gotten a shot at back in the day. This match has the potential to steal the show.
Lou Albano comes out for commentary. That’s another name these young whippersnapper fans need to hear more from. If nothing else maybe a Mario flash mob will break out. He gives the announcers raises because he’s the Captain and thereby has the authority from Heroes of Wrestling management. He hypes up the organization and talks about how awesome this whole thing is. Amazingly enough, he’s been right so far.
Albano even throws in the following line that makes JR and his insane metaphors jealous. Regarding Randy Rosenbloom: “He’s a nice guy but he looks like he’s got the brain of a dehydrated baby if they put him in a pigeon pack and had him fly backwards.” Is there any doubt as to why this man was responsible for what became Wrestlemania? Apparently Lou looks like a pitbull in heat next to Dinero. This is making the already good show even better, hands down.
As for the match, Scorpio plays the role of the veteran well as he walks Dinero through the early part of the match. A lot of it is Scorpio doing his high spots while Dinero reacts to them, which is a good thing given that Dinero is an indy guy getting a shot on a bigger stage at this point. A slingshot cross body gets two on Julio as the fans are more into this than they were anything else so far. Uncultured swine they are.
Dinero isn’t bad at all actually and it was this match that got him a job with ECW. In other words, Heroes of Wrestling is helping the national economy and enhanced mainstream (ish) wrestling! Dinero takes a nice backdrop over the railing onto the floor. The brawl heads into the audience for some crowd participation in the vein of ECW. Even the announcers don’t know what’s going on as we hit the anarchy portion of the show.
Back in and Dinero takes over for the first time with a decent dropkick. Scorpio comes back with a series of armdrags into an armbar. He drops a knee on the chest and heads to the top, only to have Dinero go mega heel halfway through the match by sending the referee into the ropes to crotch Scorpio down.
They’re both on their feet again and 2 Cold nails a spinning kick to the side of the head followed by a middle rope flip legdrop ala the Harlem Hangover from Booker T. So why isn’t Scorpio in the Hall of Fame as well? A twisting moonsault legdrop is enough to get the pin on Dinero and the crowd freaks out at the high spot.
Rating: B. By FAR the best mach so far as this show is actually on a roll. This got somewhere close to a classic here if you can believe that. The anarchy spot in the middle made it feel even better as it was more of a fight than just a wrestling match. That’s not something you get a lot of the time in indy shows as a lot of the time it’s just wrestling instead of action.
Albano is the new commissioner of the organization and makes a nice speech to celebrate. He totally deserves it after that pigeon line.
We have 5 matches to go. I can’t take this.
We go to the back for another Bundy interview where he again says he’s going to beat Yokozuna. They’re hyping that match up very well.
Bushwhackers vs. Nikolai Volkoff/Iron Sheik
I’m calling them the Bushwhackers as they’re named Luke and Butch, formerly the Bushwhackers. You have to cover those legal issues I guess. The heels have an evil Russian manager as the time warp continues. That’s the whole point of the show though and they’re definitely keeping up the idea. The fans chant USA because they’re not smart enough to buy into the gimmick or realize that the good guys are from New Zealand. Pay attention people!
We get the Russian National Anthem of course and the Persian clubs which are as old school as possible. I miss little nostalgia things like that. The Persian clubs were good enough to get the Sheik the WWF Title so you can’t blame him for wanting to stick with the most successful bit of his entire career. The announcers even stop some of the stereotypes by calling them Iranian clubs. We hear about Hogan and Backlund to tie into the club gimmick even more.
This match holds a special bit of history for me as Luke licked my face once at a house show. The Bushwhackers were on Family Matters as a tag team once as well. Apparently they’ve won tag titles in 26 countries which is really rather impressive. The EVIL foreigners (as opposed to the nice ones) jump them early to start to further establish that they’re EVIL. Dutch explains the term short end of the stick which has some kind of scale according to him. It’s more interesting than puppies at least.
Sheik gets on the mic and says if they keep chanting USA then he’ll leave. You know what comes next as the fans FINALLY get something right. Actually scratch thaty. They don’t want to see a match they paid for? Also screw them for thinking they’re more important than the fans watching at home. Dutch gets in a good line about how Heroes will always stand and fight, just as Sheik comes back. Even as a villain he’s still a hero. Nice touch as this concept is going beyond face and heel. That got rave reviews with Russo’s shades of gray so why does this get such a bad reputation?
The heels stomp away at Luke before it’s off to Nikolai for a big Soviet slam. Back to Sheik for the camel clutch. I’ve always wondered if the arms are supposed to represent the humps. Can you store days’ worth of water in your arms? Butch finally makes the save and the Soviet manager is distraught. That’s better than a lot of managers who just look confused a lot of the time. Butch gets the tag and everything breaks down with the Russian bringing in a foreign object but hitting Sheik by mistake, giving Butch the easy pin.
Rating: C. Considering how long it had been since these guys had been regular wrestlers, this was rather impressive. Yeah it’s a formula tag match but sometimes that’s the best possible outcome. Sheik and Volkoff are former WWF World Tag Team Champions so a win over them still means something. WWE would certainly agree as they brought the Outlaws back fourteen years after they had last held the titles.
They plug a site with memorabilia from this show on it for the second time tonight. You’ve got to pay the bills.
We go to a pre taped promo from Tully Blanchard but Stan Lane jumps him and throws Tully into the trunk of a car. We get a rather awesome promo from Tully, talking about how he really doesn’t need to wrestle anymore but Stan has brought out the old fire in him one more time. That really worked better than I was expecting it to.
Tully Blanchard vs. Stan Lane
They miss an opportunity to bring up Ric Flair training Stan Lane. Speaking of Flair, he said the reason Steamboat can’t be considered the best ever was because he never wrestled as a heel. Tully was a long term heel so it’s impressive to see him play the face here. The guy really is talented enough to pull either character off. Lane on the other hand looks like Mr. Anderson and worked for ESPN after retiring.
The brawl is on almost immediately with Lane channeling his old Fabulous Ones days and playing a solid heel. He tries to hide in the corner but Tully is on him like a jungle cat. The fight heads out to the floor with Tully sending Lane into the steps and putting on a Figure Four on the concrete. That was a Horsemen staple and it’s nice to see him bringing it back here.
Back in and Lane gets in a cheap shot to the ribs to take over and yells about how Tully doesn’t have it anymore. Their conditioning really is impressive given that they haven’t been in the ring in a long time. Stan stomps away and gets two off a piledriver. The announcers are playing up how much of a hero Tully is. They have a point as it’s wrestling tradition to have a match rather than throw Stan in prison for assault or whatever the car trunk thing was earlier. In a quick finish, Stan loads up a belly to back suplex into a bridge but Tully gets his arm up at the last second for the pin.
Rating: D-. This is likely your match of the night. It was far from great or even good but it could have been far worse. Both guys kept things in the 80s but that’s what they’re best at so I can’t argue that. It was watchable and at seven minutes it’s the second shortest match of the night so that’s all fine and not very good but somehow that’s high praise for this show.
Jim Neidhart is with Bundy in the back and hypes up their matches later tonight.
One Man Gang vs. Abdullah the Butcher
They had to fit a hardcore match in somewhere. Abdullah’s manager is named Honest John Cheatum, which I believe is a regular name used for his handlers. The brawl is immediatley on and Butcher is sent into the buckle a few times. He comes back with right hands to the ribs and Gang is hunched over. We’re a minute in and Abdullah is bleeding.
Both guys head to the floor and Gang brings in his chain while the Butcher grabs his chair. The chain is whipped into the chair in a big banging sound as the fans are digging this more than I expected them to. We’re just waiting on the fork at this point. Butcher’s head is just gushing blood already, which probably raises the match up a bit.
Abdullah’s manager gets on commentary for no apparent reason. He’s from Paducah, Kentucky of all places and talks like a southern preacher. And believe me, as I’ve heard a lot of southern preachers. The guy can do a good voice if nothing else and that’s what you want from a mouthpiece for a guy like Abdullah. Cheatum says Abdullah is here to destroy the idols, and Gang is probably an idol in Africa given his past.
We get the fork shots from Abdullah and Gang is now matching his bleeding drop for drop. The Butcher drops his big elbow but Gang rolls to the floor like the veteran he is. Both guys get chairs and pound on each other until we get to a double countout. That’s very traditional for Abdullah.
The elbow hits, although you wouldn’t know it because the cameras were elsewhere. Have we seen a single finisher tonight??? We get a double countout. Really? Really? These guys were afraid to lay down here? REALLY??? The brawl goes on forever as they fix/clean the ring.
Rating: C-. Again, all things considered this was more than fine. Butcher had the same match for years but somehow still made them work. That’s the same thing you can say about Ric Flair and Butcher could arguably be considered the hardcore version of the Nature Boy. They both have the saggy chests if nothing else. Gang looked good as well, even having lost some weight after his old run in the WWF.
We see a clip from a poker game between Jimmy Snuka, Bob Orton Jr., Lou Albano and some guy we don’t know. Orton is apparently cheating like the villain he is. Tonight Bob keeps up his old partner Roddy Piper’s feud with Jimmy Snuka.
Bob Orton vs. Jimmy Snuka
They say Orton is from Kansas City, Kansas even though it’s been Missouri his whole career. A lot of wrestlers move after they retire. They say they’ve been excited for this match since hearing about the poker game earlier in the day. I can’t say I disagree. Albano is managing Snuka here and announces that he’s stepping down as Commissioner after tonight.
Snuka sends him to the apron but Orton changes places with him and grabs a suplex to bring Jimmy back in. They hit the match for a long technical sequence which is the highlight of the match so far. To really keep up the rudeness from the fans, they let us know they think Orton is gay. Heaven forbid they have to sit through an old school wrestling sequence like this one. Orton stays on the arm for a good long while, which should take some of the stings out of those Snuka chops.
After a good four to five minutes in armbars and wristlocks (the veterans know to mix it up instead of just doing the same things over and over), Jimmy fights up and hits some weakened chops. They hit the ropes but collide in a double clothesline to put both guys down. Jimmy goes up top but gets crotched, setting up Orton’s superplex finisher. Albano, the old villain that he is, hooks the ankle to send Bob crashing down, allowing Snuka to hit a top rope cross body for the pin.
Rating: B. Very nice technical match here for the most part with Albano helping his man win like any good manager would. Remember of course that when a face cheats it’s helping out but when a heel does it, it’s unethical and unacceptable according to Randy. The match was a nice change of pace from the brawling so far tonight and is probably going to be the match of the night.
And here it is. The moment that makes this show so infamous. Jake Roberts cuts a promo before his match with Neidhart, and he refuses to look at the camera. For the life of me I don’t get why so many people complain about this promo. Jake is legendary for his mind games and psychology. What is going to make an opponent more overconfident than thinking Jake is bombed?
Roberts says he cheats at cards, making me wonder if he coached Orton earlier. He keeps going about playing cards and gambling to hammer home the theme. No it doesn’t make sense, but compared to Hogan talking about dog paddling Donald Trump to safety and Ultimate Warrior LOADING THE SPACESHIP WITH THE ROCKET FUEL, this was Jake’s version of Hard Times.
Jake Roberts vs. Jim Neidhart
Now the person that I feel sorry for here is Anvil. He’s a 44 year old man that was a decent wrestler but he’s in way over his head here. He was in WCW about a year before this doing nothing at all and he hasn’t meant anything in wrestling since. He gets a phone call one day offering him to come to Mississippi to wrestle in front of a few thousand people for more or less a legends show.
Say for argument’s sake he’s getting a thousand dollars for a ten minute match. That’s not bad really, but people aren’t going to remember him. He gets his gear together and shows up ready to work for the pay promised. Based on who he’s fighting, it’s fairly safe to think that Anvil is going to lose to a DDT. The match is about to begin, and he gets this. Jake steals the show and is the most remembered thing about it. Fifteen years later Jake is going to the Hall of Fame and Neidhart was last seen in a cameo on Total Divas. It’s not hard to see why based on something like this.
Jake slowly to the ring, puts the snake down and walks back up the ramp. His boots aren’t even laced up. He’s so into playing to the crowd that he forgot to get ready for his match. That’s such great dedication to his craft. Again, Anvil is playing to the referee about the snake being there and is stretching a bit before the match. In other words, he’s doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing like a professional should be doing. And now Jake goes back through the curtain for a bit. It worked for Edge during his retirement ceremony.
Anvil again is left to play to the crowd on his own and it’s easy to see why he never did anything without Bret on his side. To be fair to him though, he signed up to wrestle Jake Roberts, not do a one man show. Honestly though, I don’t even think Natalya would pay to see that. I don’t se why this is considered such a bad show. The fans are getting what they paid for, just like they did when Mike Tyson knocked guys out in forty seconds.
Roberts is back and we’re ready to go. Jake grabs a fan’s hands and rubs them on his chest. She doesn’t seem to mind so points to Jake for audience participation. The snake has gotten partially out of the bag, so Jake of course plays with it for a bit. It’s what he’s best known for so why not. He lays down on the mat to keep the mind games up as Anvil just walks around. Seriously Anvil, do something already.
Neidhart tries to work the arm and run the match, I think as the heel. To be fair you’re not going to get Jake booed most of the time. After a LONG sequence with Anvil being in control on the mat, Jake loses his boots and is now in his socks. He still looks about the same and is still doing better than Neidhart as far as being interesting.
Unfortunately Jake doesn’t get the chance to do the first shoeless DDT as Bundy comes out for no adequately explained reason. He breaks up the DDT to steal Jake’s big moment and gets flipped off by Roberts. Again, why is something like this criticized? Austin did it and is a millionaire as a result. We get a 2-1 beatdown until “The Former” Yokozuna come out. Yeah that’s what they call him. It turns into a tag match with Yoko and Jake vs. Neidhart and Bundy.
Jake Roberts/Yokozuna vs. Jim Neidhart/King Kong Bundy
The pairing makes sense as Jake/Yokozuna teamed up a few years prior to this at Wrestlemania XII. They say we have 650 of Yoko and Bundy and 450 and Neidhart at over 300. That’s quite the heavyweight match. Yoko is SO big here that you can’t help but look at him, which is exactly what you want when you’re flipping through the channels. Our other option is Jake and thankfully he’s picked to work the majority of the match.
Oh good night this is almost too much. I mean, you have two Hall of Famers against a few has beens. Why is this supposed to be considered a fair match? Yoko and Bundy, the advertised main event, interact for about 8 seconds if that. Somehow that’s better than most Raw main events from the year.
Eventually we hit the floor for no reason and Anvil hits Jake twice with a chair. I wonder if there were some extra hard shots there due to Anvil realizing what a waste he is in this match. Whenever he’s in control, this is a mess. We go back into the ring and Jake makes the clear tag but Bundy splashes him and pins him anyway. What a cheater. I can say with certainty that he’s a villain and not a Hero of Wrestling.
Rating: C+. Yeah the match is ripped on but I don’t get why. You have four known names who have never worked together before and are fighting for no apparent reason. It’s not fair to blame the wrestlers in that case and for the most part, the stuff we got here worked quite well.
Bundy’s manager appears after the match and takes a beating for Bundy’s sake. Jake and Yoko beat up Bundy’s manager who didn’t appear until the end. The fans chant DDT and Yoko says give it to him but Jake won’t do it after the match. Points to Jake for not wanting to be extra violent to a guy that can’t defend himself. Yoko, the jerk that he is, gives the manager a Samoan drop instead. Jake puts the snake on him and it just ends without anything other than that. What horrible commentary.
Overall Rating: B+. Seriously how could you think this show was bad? It cost $20 and ran over two and a half hours with a bunch of Hall of Famers on the card. I’m not sure what more you can ask for and the ending was straight out of the times. Russo added a bunch of stuff to the main event all the time and is called a genius for it, so why not do the same thing here?
I really did like this show a lot better the second time and it’s nowhere near as bad as I remember it being. Since I’m pretty sure most people don’t read this deep into the explanations, I’ll go ahead and say this review has been my April Fool’s joke here before continuing to ramble on about how great this show was and trying to come up with nonsense to say it was great. Stuff like the matches and promos weren’t all that bad and all that jazz.
Again, this only cost $20. Considering the limited stories they were allowed to tell and how fast things had to be set up, this is better than almost all WCW shows from this year and better than a lot of the WWF shows as well. I won’t even get into it being better than the ECW shows because I’ll just get yelled at as a result. This really was a better show than I remembered and I’m stunned as a result.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of Clash of the Champions at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
