And now, one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen. From May 1, 1989 with the AWA.

Battle Of Breakfast Cereal
Date: May 1, 1989
Location: Hyatt Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentator: Larry Nelson

So this is a VERY special one, as the AWA was hired by Kellogg’s for some in-office entertainment about how great the company was compared to General Mills, which somehow tied into wrestlers. I have no idea what else to expect here, but this could be one of the most fascinating things around, especially given who the AWA had (or didn’t have) at this point). Let’s get to it.

Larry Nelson welcomes us to a battle between Kellogg’s and General Mills.

We get the National Anthem before we’re ready to go.

The ring announcer introduces the judges, who sound like Kellogg’s executives. He lists off our card tonight, with each match having a theme and introduces all of the wrestlers. The villains are eating cereal and the good guys are in Kellogg’s jackets. This is the most ridiculous thing I have seen in years and I kind of love it.

A guy in sales comes out to yell about General Mills taking things from them. Kellogg’s is MAD and he stomps on some General Mills cereals and throws out some Kellogg’s cereals. He goes into a rant about how they’re fighting General Mills everyone, including on the loading docks. They’re fight them until h*** freezes over and then they’ll fight on the ice too! He stomps on some Wheaties (the ring is filthy) and punts a box of Kix out, promising that the Kellogg’s team will play rough. We get a “we’re mad as h*** and we’re not going to take it anymore!” chant because cereal is serious business.

We’ll start with the Melee In Minneapolis.

Total The Terrible vs. Nutra Rockne

That would be Mike Enos (eating Total cereal) vs. I believe Ricky Rice. We get a rather elaborate weapons check and commentary is over the PA system for a change. Total starts fast with an hiptoss and armdrag, followed by a slam into the corner as we’re firmly in first gear here. Rockne is back with some dropkicks into the corner and a backdrop into a hiptoss of his own. A powerslam gives Rockne two and a splash finishes Total at 3:05.

Rating: D. Yeah I wouldn’t expect much in the way of match quality on this show and that’s ok. This was about as generic of a match as you could get with neither doing anything significant. Then again they were fighting over cereal so I’m not sure how much of a difference the actually wrestling is going to be. Now clean the cereal out of the ring.

The Vice President of Marketing (from England) is NOT standing for General Mills talking about how horrible Kellogg’s cereal is and they have a war plan. They are going to build their own brand and keep their competitors guessing (idea: Put ice cream in a cereal box. They’ll never see it coming!). They’ll begin with intelligence and now they have the General Mills attack plan, which they have pieced together.

Then they are going to counterattack by exploiting weaknesses and issuing more and better coupons! They have to change things up too because their outcomes have been as predictable as one of these joke wrestling matches. They are at war and have to be more innovative. They must be tough and mean because there is only one winner in war. Nobody can put the pressure on like Kellogg’s can!

It’s the Terror in the Twin Cities!

Hondo The Honeybee Haymaker vs. Mr. Oat-portunity

That would be Wayne Bloom vs. Derek Dukes. Honey throws cereal at the Kellogg’s people, while informing them that his cereal is more nutritious. Honey’s top wristlock is countered without much trouble but he screams about a hair pull. A hammerlock counter makes him complain about the trunks being pulled.

Honey grabs a headlock as commentary talks about how he keeps cheating. Oat fights up and hits a crossbody but gets choked on the mat as we’re told we are eight minutes in. Honey hits him in the head with a box of Cheerios but Oat superkicks him down. A top rope shoulder finishes Honey at 4:40 (9:22 according to the announcer).

Rating: D+. That was some good clipping as I didn’t notice it, but it does make me wonder why we are having a nine minute cereal match. Much like the opener, the wrestling is absolutely not the point here and even though this was a pretty run of the mill (Mills?) match, the cereal box was appropriate enough.

And now, the Brawl Near St. Paul!

The General vs. Dr. K.

Colonel DeBeers vs. Wahoo McDaniel as this continues to be weird. Dr. chops him down as commentary talks about the importance of a balanced breakfast. Arm cranking and some stomping has the General in trouble but he’s back up with a headlock. That’s broken up so General rakes the eyes across the top rope. Dr. knocks him outside, which commentary calls a free sample of agony.

The General gets sent into the corner but he is back up for the slugout. The referee gets bumped (yes in this match) so General pulls a foreign object out of a box of cereal to knock Dr. silly. Cue the Sales And Marketing team (thank goodness they’re wrestlers, but at the same time, they are called the Sales And Marketing team) to shoves the General off the top and hit a double dropkick. Dr. gets the pin at 6:12.

Rating: C-. This was the best match of the night but I’m not sure how much that is saying. Wahoo can still do his thing with anyone and DeBeers is someone who worked rather well as a heel. The foreign object at least fit the idea of cereal, but they somehow managed to overbook a match on this show. That’s hard to do.

Here’s the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing to say we should demote the General to a private. We hear a story about how sometimes you need to punch someone in the nose and they have a new strategy. As we look at some of the people in the audience looking bored out of their minds, he tells us that their budget is increased and now it is time go beat the competition.

We’ll wrap it up with the Rile in the Aisle, which is for the IN YOUR SPACE trophy!

Mills Brothers vs. Sales And Marketing

Pat Tanaka/Paul Diamond vs. Greg Gagne/Tom Zenk to wrap it up. Commentary introduces Sales And Marketing as “the S&M Team”. Zenk and Tanaka start things off with Zenk grabbing a headlock into some armdrags. Gagne misses a dropkick though and Tanaka knocks him outside. Commentary keeps calling them the S&M Team and it continues to be rather awkward.

The referee doesn’t see the tag to Zenk so Gagne is taken back down into a chinlock. Diamond comes in to grab his own chinlock but Gagns fights up for a chinlock. They collide for a double knockdown and there’s the hot tag to Zenk to clean house (and hopefully the ring). Everything breaks down and a double dropkick puts Diamond on the floor. A high crossbody finishes Tanaka at 6:04.

Rating: C. Totally watchable match here and that worked out as well as you could have expected. It’s another example of having some talented wrestlers out there and doing their thing because they know how to do just that. Diamond and Tanaka are always good for a match like this and it worked out just fine.

Larry Nelson talks about how Kellogg’s dominated and that is all the proof that you are going to need to prove who is the best cereal company.

Overall Rating: A+. Oh please like this could be ANYTHING else. This is one of the most bizarre things that I have ever seen in wrestling and I completely loved it. The wrestling was completely watchable for the most part but hearing the marketing executives talking about war with General Mills and all of those in depth references was hilarious in all kinds of ways. This was great and is worth your time if you want to see one of the strangest and most unique deals you’ll ever find in wrestling. Serially.

For a pretty cool fight.Smackdown World Title: Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker
Date: October 9, 2003
Location: Turkuhalli Elysee Arena, Turku, Finland

From a Smackdown house show in a country WWE doesn’t visit that long. This is very Biker Taker but his real feud is with Vince McMahon at the moment, with Lesnar as the big enforcer. The arena looks fairly cool with a wide aisle. The fans let Lesnar know that he tapped out (to Kurt Angle I believe) so the stalling is on before the bell. Or maybe it did ring in there somewhere as the referee is telling them to get to this already.

Lesnar finally gets in and drives Undertaker into the corner for a clean break. Some lockups don’t go anywhere so Undertaker powers him out to the floor for a bit of a surprise. Back in and Undertaker knocks him outside again as they’re firmly in first gear. Lesnar comes in again and stomps away in the corner but Undertaker cranks on the arm to take care of that. Old School is broken up though and Lesnar kicks away in the corner. Undertaker isn’t having that though and knocks him away, setting up a connecting Old School.

La Majistral of all things gets two on Lesnar and we’re clipped to Undertaker being knocked outside. Lesnar whips him hard into the steps for two back inside and it’s time to go after the leg. After some cranking on the mat, the leg is wrapped around the middle rope until Undertaker strikes his way to freedom. Brock grabs a spinebuster for two and it’s back to the leglock.

That’s broken up and the F5 connects for two, with Brock getting annoyed at the kickout. Lesnar grabs the chair but gets kicked in the face twice in a row. The Last Ride is broken up and the referee is bumped, meaning the chokeslam gets a delayed two. Brock clotheslines the referee by mistake so there’s no count off the Last Ride. Well Undertaker does one but it doesn’t count. Lesnar gets in a pair of chair shots to retain at 14:45 shown.

Rating: C-. Not one of their better efforts here but it could have been worse. There is a good chance that exhaustion was setting in and it’s not like a house show main event is supposed to be some grand spectacle. These two have not had the best chemistry in regular matches so the wild brawl would have been better. Still though, not awful and for a house show main event, it was acceptable enough.

Post match Undertaker chairs him down but Rhyno runs in to beat on Undertaker. Eddie Guerrero runs in for the save. Not show here: a big post match birthday celebration for Guerrero.

Some matches just work.

NWA World Title: Harley Race vs. Ric Flair
Date: November 14, 1980
Location: Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia

Race is defending and this is from Jim Crockett Promotions. It’s another collection of clips and highlights, but what else can you expect? Race jumps him before the bell but Flair fights back and hits a backdrop. A good deal of clipping takes us to Flair hitting a suplex for two so Race bails out to the floor. Back in and Flair hits a slam to set up an armbar and we’re clipped to Race leapfrogging him (egads) but getting pulled into a sleeper.

Clipped again to Race hitting something between a Tombstone and a powerslam for a delayed two. Some knees in the corner have Flair in trouble but we’re clipped to him scoring with a suplex. Clipped again to Race getting sent to the floor where Flair takes over, only to get slammed off the top on the way back in. Race misses the falling headbutt and Flair grabs the Figure Four, sending Race over to the ropes.

Flair goes after the knee and Race’s trunks start falling down for an image I never needed. The rapid fire clips take us to a half crab on Race. That’s broken up as well and we’re clipped to them falling out to the floor. Back in and the bleeding Flair unloads on him with all kinds of shots to the head against the ropes. Flair shoves the referee and holds up the title as the match was thrown out in there somewhere. Or it was a double countout based on what I can find elsewhere. All kinds of clipping, but this was a special pairing and always worth seeing.

He might have a future.

David Ruhl vs. Gino Marella
Date: March 16, 1961
Location: Exhibition Auditorium, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

This is from Stampede Wrestling and Marella is better known as Gorilla Monsoon. The unnamed commentator says that this is for $550 as they go to the mat to fight over arm control. Ruhl manages to roll him over and get Gino down, only to have a heck of a press to get himself out of trouble. Gino’s full nelson has Ruhl in trouble and they even go to the mat where Ruhl finally escapes.

Marella sends him flying again and some forearms have him in even more trouble. With the stand up not working, Ruhl takes him down by the leg and then forearms away at the back. Marella grabs something like an Attitude Adjustment from his knees but Ruhl is right back with a hammerlock. A crucifix gets two (after several attempts) on Marella, who gets back up, throws him around a few times, pounds on the top of Ruhl’s head, and then throws him around again. They slug it out again but time expires at 10:00.

Rating: C. Marella really did come off like a monster, but it was fascinating to see him not only in the ring but looking so young. He had a better control of the fundamentals than most people his size and that fits the kind of things he would say on commentary. Good enough match here, with Ruhl as the technician and Marella as the monster he couldn’t take down.

The star power is insane here.

Muhammad Ali vs. Buddy Wolfe
Date: June 12, 1976
Location: International Amphitheater, Chicago, Illinois

There’s a lot to unpack here as yes it is that Ali (with Freddie Blassie) and Rope has Dick the Bruiser with him. In case that isn’t enough, Verne Gagne is the referee. This is part of Ali’s training for the famous fight with Inoki and Ali hammers away as Wolfe just stands there. Wolfe finally drives him into the corner and grabs a headlock but Ali shoves him off without much effort. A double leg takedown works better for Wolfe but the rope saves Ali. It works so well that they do it again, followed by Wolfe grabbing another take down.

Back up and….the round ends, as this apparently has rounds. Round two starts with Ali being driven into the corner but coming out swinging. Wolfe puts him up against the ropes and then gets two off a slam. A backbreaker gets one so Ali unloads with right hands to rock Wolfe. That earns him another takedown and Wolfe absorbs some right hands to the face. Back up and Wolfe gets hammered in the corner as the round ends.

Round three begins with Ali pummeling him again but Wolfe gets another takedown without much effort. The same sequence works a bit better for Ali this time around, with Gagne stopping to check on Wolfe. That’s enough for Wolfe to take him down into a half crab but Ali makes the rope and unloads again to end the round and fight at 14:00. They get in another fight between rounds, with Ali hitting Gagne by mistake. I think it’s a draw but Ali is posing like a winner.

Rating: C. I have no idea what else to call this as it was some kind of weird MMA predecessor, but it did very little to make Ali look good. Ali was taken down over and over here and if someone like Wolfe can do that, what is Inoki going to do? That being said, the whole thing was such insanity that I can’t help but like it at least a little bit.

Post match Nick Bockwinkle comes in (because we didn’t have enough star power here) to say no boxer can beat a wrestler and challenges Ali if he can beat Inoki.. Nick leaves and Gagne talks about how awesome that was. Vince McMahon gets in and talks to Ali, who promises to beat Inoki and all other wrestlers. Ali thanks Blassie for training him and wants to beat up Bruno Sammartino and Gorilla Monsoon.

This kind of thing can be rather fun.

Kofi Kingston vs. Mike Mizanin
Date: March 23, 2007
Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio

Smackdown dark match and Kofi hadn’t debuted yet. Miz is the hometown boy and still little more than a reality show geek who has wrestled a few matches. Before the match, Miz says he and LeBron James are the only two celebrities from Cleveland but Miz was smart enough to get out. It’s so strange seeing Kofi with the generic rock music and the big Jamaican flag. Kofi, with the crazy thick accent, says no one is here to hear Miz talk.

Kofi grabs a wristlock and shouts BOOM a lot but has to keep nipping his way out of top wristlocks. The armdrag into the armbar has Miz in trouble until he sends Kofi throat first into the top rope. We hit the chinlock, followed by a quick Fameasser for two. Kofi sends him face first into the middle buckle to set up a spinwheel kick to the face. What would become known as Trouble In Paradise finishes Miz at 4:29.

Rating: D+. It was clear that neither of them were exactly polished yet, though that BOOM BOOM over and over again made it a little more annoying. Miz would take a long time to get somewhere in the ring and while Kofi got better faster, he was doing way too much with the gimmick here and it was annoying. It’s still cool to see two future Hall of Famers in a match like this though, as they have to start somewhere.

I think they call this a mash up.

Thanksgiving Day Tag Team Tournament First Round: Magnum TA/Randy Savage vs. Mongolians
Date: November 24, 1983
Location: Omni, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 12,000

This is from Georgia Championship Wrestling, who held a one night tag team tournament on Thanksgiving. The ring announcer welcomes us to the show and brings in GCW boss Ole Anderson, who has a trophy and $50,000 for the winners. Savage looks like he would in his glory years and Magnum….well he never really changed. The Mongolians are your standard evil team and had been around in various versions for about twenty years at this point.

Savage and we’ll say #1 start things off with Savage taking him to the rope. With that brings up in a hurry, Magnum comes in to headlock takeover (the much bigger) #2. Savage comes back in for the same but #1 tags himself back in. Magnum isn’t having any of this and knocks both of them down before handing it back to Savage for another headlock. Some alternating front facelocks have #2 in trouble until #1 grabs one on Savage.

#2 comes in for an elbow and armbar of his own but Savage rolls over and brings Magnum back in. House is cleaned and a slam puts #2 down, only to have #1 come back in and hammer away some more. A crawl between the legs allows the hot tag to Savage and house is cleaned, including a middle rope elbow (!) to finish #1 at 7:01.

Rating: D. Definitely a pretty lame match but this was much more about “hey did you know Savage and Magnum teamed together?”. They weren’t a regular team and there was nothing about them that suggested they worked overly well together. Still though, Savage is always worth a look and the middle rope version of the elbow was bizarre.

He feels a bit out of place here.

Scott Hall vs. Justin Credible
Date: November 11, 2000
Location: Mid-Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
Attendance: 2,500

This is from ECW where Hall made a few shots after leaving WCW. Hall has already wrestled once on this show but looks just fine, even managing to annoy Francine at ringside before we really get going. Credible circles him a few times before getting caught with the driving shoulders. Hall armbars him down for the slaps to the back of the head and Credible freaks out.

Francine gets rather annoyed at the fans wanting her top to come off but Hall reverses a hiptoss attempt and hits the chokeslam. He also hits the mocking the Giant pose, which wasn’t as good as the spooky fingers but still works. Credible gets in a shot to slow Hall down and slowly hammers away before sending him face first into an open chair. Francine adds a rake to the eyes and Credible grabs a sleeper.

That’s broken up with a toss to the floor so Francine comes in with the kendo stick shot. Hall is right back up with a right hand to put Credible through a table at ringside but since it’s wrestling, Credible is right back up. That earns him another trip to the floor so Francine comes in. That’s fine with Hall, who loads her up for the Razor’s Edge, pulls up the tights for a look, pulls the underwear very far up, and then has to duck Credible’s kendo stick shot. The Razor’s Edge finishes Credible at 9:24.

Rating: D+. This felt like a modern indy main event as you had a big name facing a local star. I know Hall wasn’t the biggest name in the world in 2000, but he was leaps and bounds above Credible, who had been ECW World Champion just over a month ago. It shows you how far ahead WCW was of ECW even at this point and that is rather jarring.

So when it became clear that the Network was moving to Peacock, I started marathoning some of the Hidden Gems and got in over 100 of them.  They’re all ready to go, so I’ll be trying to post one of them a day.  Some of these will be very short and some of them will be rather lengthy, but that’s part of the fun.  We’ll start with what would have been a dream match at another time in the right place.

Bruiser Mastino vs. Sting
Date: March 6, 1993
Location: Macon Coliseum, Macon, Georgia
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jesse Ventura

From WCW Saturday Night and even Jesse has to acknowledge that Sting is crazy popular. They lock up to start and shove each other around with the bigger Mastino powering him into the corner. A rolling Liger Kick puts Mastino down but Sting can’t slam him. He can however send Mastino into the corner ten times in a row. The Stinger Splash into the Scorpion Deathlock makes Mastino give up at 2:55.

Post match Sting affirms that everyone is feeling good to wrap up the show. Two things here. First of all, there was another Bruiser Mastino in ECW and as far as I know, there is no connection between the two of them. Second, this Mastino is more famous as Kane.

Hidden Gems #16
Date: 1997, 2001, 1986, 1980, 1995

I’m finally doing something outside of the full shows and that’s quite the relief at the moment. This time around I’m going to be looking at some completely random matches/segments instead of one big show. I’m not sure what is going to be coming here but that’s what a random number generator is for. Let’s get to it.

Undertaker/Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels/HHH
Date: November 15, 1997
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 15,479

This is six days after Montreal so Shawn has about as much heat as you can imagine. It’s also handheld footage so no commentary of course. Austin is Intercontinental Champion so he throws the belt in, as was his custom. They seem to be clipping things a bit too, as Undertaker’s entrance only takes about a minute. Indeed it is as we go from Undertaker dropping the coat to the floor to circling with Michaels. And then the bell rings so I’m even more confused.

Undertaker misses a right hand in the corner so Shawn slugs away, only to get LAUNCHED into the corner (one of my favorite Undertaker spots) so the real beating can begin. The upside down bump in the corner lets Undertaker choke away and he does it again to HHH as well. Austin comes in to work on the arm and hits an atomic drop to make HHH bounce. A poke to the eye gets HHH out of trouble so it’s back to Shawn as the fans get WAY into this all over again.

Austin hits a backdrops and brings Undertaker back in to clean house. They go outside where Undertaker seems to post Shawn but the camera is on the other side of the ring and rather shaky so it’s hard to tell. Back in and Shawn hits the ropes to break up Old School and it’s time to stomp away. HHH gets in a whip to the steps on the floor (as opposed to the steps in the ring) and the choking is on back inside.

The knee drop gives HHH two but Undertaker slugs away at Shawn without much trouble. Shawn knocks him down and there’s the sit up, followed by the double clothesline. The hot tag brings in Austin and it’s time for the big comeback. HHH gets Stunned but Shawn makes the save and kicks Austin low. Austin’s leg is wrapped around the post and we look at the crowd as HHH pulls Austin’s trunks down a bit too far.

We hit the chinlock on Austin and look at the crowd again for no apparent reason. We’re clipped to the hold being broken but Shawn pulls Austin back into the corner. Austin crawls over to the ropes for the tag anyway though and NOW it’s time to clean house. A chokeslam each drops DX and Undertaker Tombstones Shawn for the pin at 12:48 shown.

Rating: B-. It wasn’t a great match or anything but for a big time house show man event, this worked very well. The interesting thing is how Austin looked fine despite being dropped on his head at Summerslam about three months earlier. He looked horrible at Survivor Series but looked normal here, which should tell you everything you need to know about the benefit of hiding weaknesses in a tag match.

Post match Road Dogg (I think) comes in and gets chokeslammed as well. Chyna comes in to get in Austin’s face but backs into Undertaker. The distraction lets Austin hit the Stunner for the big reaction.

Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar
Date: November 29, 2001
Location: Kansas Coliseum, Wichita, Kansas

This is a dark match from a Smackdown taping and while the show took place on November 27, I’m assuming they’re putting the TV air date because….well probably because it wasn’t that well researched. Orton is suddenly from Wichita because wrestling likes to lie about things (as they should in cases like this). It’s always weird seeing Lesnar with the lightning bolts or wings or whatever they were on his trunks instead of the straight black.

Lesnar drives him into the corner to start but Orton kicks him away and hits a dropkick. Orton tries to start in on the arm and is suplexes across the ring for his efforts. A cross armbreaker works a bit better for Orton until Brock powerbombs the heck out of him. Some backbreakers into a powerslam into the corner rock Orton and Brock stomps away in the Tree of Woe.

Brock switches to the shoulders to the back for a change and hits a spinning belly to back suplex for two. We hit the camel clutch, with Brock leaning forward towards Randy’s head for a weird look. Now it’s a regular chinlock but Orton fights up with a swinging neckbreaker. The high crossbody (Orton’s old finisher) gets two and a sunset flip out of the corner gets the same. Back up and Brock powerslams him for the fast pin at 5:53.

Rating: C. I always like seeing matches like this because there are no reputations and the guys just have to go out and make the fans care on their own. It was a fine enough match with Orton trying to take away a limb and getting overwhelmed by the power. Imagine that: OVW students being well trained at in-ring work. These two worked well together, which isn’t surprising given how many times they probably fought in both training and on OVW TV.

Universal Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Title: Jim Duggan vs. Terry Gordy
Date: May 30, 1986
Location: Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Jim Ross, Bill Watts

Ah the magic of a random button. This is a tournament final for the inaugural title and the UWF is the rechristened Mid-South Wrestling. Hold on though as One Man Gang is here to say he would have won this tournament if he had been invited so this match isn’t happening. Gang says he wants a shot at the winner immediately after so Duggan says make your move.

The fight is on with Duggan taking him to the floor to trade postings. Duggan is busted open badly and seems to have a concussion but why would that stop him? The also busted Gang is knocked outside but comes back in, only to miss the splash. A running shoulder (called a spear) sends Gang outside and we take a break.

Jim Ross runs down the rest of the show (as in Power Pro Wrestling) before throwing it to Duggan for a chat. Duggan talks about how he was given five minutes to get ready to face Gordy and how dizzy he was.

We’re clipped to a taped up Duggan slugging away at Gordy and hitting the three point shoulder. A second attempt is sent outside though and Michael Hayes posts Duggan again. Duggan talks about how Gordy finished him off after that but we don’t actually see it. Well that was rather lame as the Gordy vs. Duggan stuff was less than two minutes long.

US Title: Ric Flair vs. Greg Valentine
Date: July 17, 1980
Location: Norfolk Scope, Norfolk, Virginia

Flair is defending and this is from Mid-Atlantic. This is raw footage so no commentary and again, not the complete match. Valentine bails to the floor to start (shocking I know) so Flair grabs the mic and tells him to have some guts and get in here. Valentine gets in and begs off as this is HEAVILY clipped, with about five seconds between jumps (though you can still tell the general idea). Flair takes him down and works the arm in a variety of ways, including an armbar (with WOO).

Valentine gets up and hammers (hey now) away but Flair gets in what might have been a low blow. The slugout goes to Flair but a knee to the ribs cuts him off in a hurry. Valentine hammers away in the corner and Flair is busted open (of course). Some elbows to the back of the head get some near falls, with Valentine covering vertical instead of horizontally for a weird look. Flair fights up and hits a right hand but falls down due to exhaustion.

Valentine misses a charge into the corner and the comeback is on with Valentine going head first into the corner over and over. A bunch of right hands let Flair hit the WOO and there’s the suplex into the….elbow. Dang it’s weird seeing something other than the big knee that he used forever. Flair wraps the leg around the post and puts on the Figure Four but Valentine makes the rope.

They go outside where Valentine can win the brawl before taking it back inside. A shinbreaker cuts Valentine off again but the Figure Four is broken up. Valentine forearms away on the apron and tries a belly to back suplex but Flair spins onto him for the pin to retain. This was more a collection of clips than a match so no rating, though it looked like a heck of a match.

Post match, Valentine is livid. He would win the title before the end of the month.

And one more to wrap it up.

Women’s Title: Alundra Blayze vs. Lioness Asuka
Date: November 21, 1995
Location: Wicomico Youth & Civic Center, Salisbury, Maryland

Blayze is defending at this is a dark match from a Superstars/Raw taping. Asuka’s (no not that Asuka) entrance isn’t shown but the camera feed is the same as you would see on any regular TV show. Asuka kicks her down to start and hits a shot to the ribs, followed by a suplex for two (Blayze’s bridging escape is always cool). Some kicks put Blayze down into a reverse chinlock but she’s out in a hurry. Blayze kicks her to the floor but she misses a dive off the top.

Back in and Asuka grabs a Sharpshooter (without looking at the camera because she doesn’t know how to work). That makes Blayze scream a lot so it’s off to some choking on the ropes. Blayze fights up with a hair takedown and some legdrops for two, with Asuka rolling outside. This time Blayze follows her out and kicks away but the powerbomb is countered. Asuka goes up so Blayze hits what would become the Stratusphere (with her hands on the mat instead of the rope). Back to back missile dropkicks get two and the German suplex retains the title at 7:37.

Rating: C. This was so many miles ahead of anything most of the American women were doing in the 90s and it’s kind of refreshing to see. It wasn’t a great match or anything but it was an actual match instead of Lawler shouting about various things over and over. You could tell Blayze wasn’t quite into this though and this would be her last match before she trashed the title the next month.

Blayze looks so miserable and gets out of there with almost no emotion on her face at all. If you didn’t know better, you would still know something was very wrong at this point.

Overall Rating: C. Not a bad set but there is only so much you can get out of these random assortments. I like these one off matches but with no theme or anything, it can be kind of hard to pick up on anything. The Flair vs. Valentine match (or at least what you could see of it) was the best, though I can’t exactly imagine that is very surprising. Pretty average in ring stuff here, but the surprises you can find in here are at least worth a look.

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