Day 17 2024

 

MLW Anniversary ‘24

Triple Threat Match

Jazzy Yang vs. Dani Jordyn vs. Miyu Yamashita

Gonna be a quickie this time, this match isn’t super long. Anyway, Jazzy is the daughter of the underrated Jimmy Yang/Jimmy Wang Yang/Akio. Dani and Miyu…I got nothing outside of what’s in this match. Dani has a Mean Girls gimmick and Miyu is beautiful…I mean all three are but there’s just something about Miyu…

What am I doing? Oh right. Dani initiates a three way lock up but uses it as an excuse to kick and dispose of Jazzy. She pushes Miyu and suffers a trio of kicks for her trouble. Jazzy tries twice to roll up Miyu but fails. Jazzy then gets off a Dragon Whip ala Shelton Benjamin. She’s not nearly as smooth as her father but she’s fairly green still. You can tell there’s potential. 

Dani comes backs and Gator Rolls Jazzy off her feet and follows up with a Northern Shining Wizard and pins Jazzy…only to have her jaw kicked into the third row by Miyu. Miyu keeps working over Dani until the Mean Girl counters a kick and nails a viscous modified Hanging DDT. Looked fucking brutal. 

Jazzy gets her opponents out of the ring and it’s time for a high spot. A simple graceful Crossbody from the top rope. Looked nice and the two caught her perfectly. Well done ladies. Back in the ring, Dani hits a weird Running Flatline on Jazzy and attempts to roll Miyu up…to no avail. Miyu kicks Dani’s head off and seals the deal with a Delayed FU. 

Quick simple match. Good for what it is and I might have a crush on Miyu. Ahem, anyway Jazzy shows potential and I hope she sticks with wrestling. Dani doesn’t do much but what she does is fine. No complaints here, good match. 

Day 16 2024

 

AJPW Super Power Series 1996- Day 5

AJPW World Tag Team Title Match

Super Generation Army (Jun Akiyama and Mitsuharu Misawa) vs. Holy Demon Army (Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada)(c)

Fucking awesome tag names. Four men beloved by fans and The Meltz himself…yeah. I’ve tried on multiple occasions to get into these matches and just, I don’t know I have a hard time sitting through a forty minute match. I know some of you will probably think lesser of me as a fan, but if you’re reading you probably already think my opinions are bad so does it matter? Nevermind, variety is the spice of the life and the thing that fuels this project so fuck it, let’s see where this goes. 

Within the first three minutes we get an Exploder Suplex, Elbow Suicida, and a Tiger Driver. Beautiful. Kawada stands idly by for the early beating of Taue until he has enough and kicks Akiyama and elbows Misawa. Taue then drops Misawa with a nasty DDT. 

Kawada gets a big pop when he tags in and immediately kicks Misawa in the face with his signature series of kicks. Misawa tries to fight back but Kawada dumps him on his head with a Backdrop Driver. It looked baaaaad. I know it’s the name of the game here in ‘90s Japan but that shit would kill Misawa later on. I can’t tell Misawas his ass or if he’s really hurt as it seems like Kawada and Taue are kinda dragging him along as they work him over.

Misawa perseveres though and tags out. Violence is the name of game as the remaining toss finesse out the goddamn window and just start laying into each other with strikes. Akiyama especially seems like he’s come unhinged. Thing breakdown briefly allowing the champs to take control and literally start slapping Akiyama around. Kawada not one to be a one trick pony starts throwing in kicks and chops for funsies. 

The champs have Akiyama dead to rights until Misawa stops a Chokeslam either on or off the apron. He tags in, folds Taue like laundry with a German Suplex, and attempts a Tiger Driver but gets stopped by a gnarly Lariat from Kawada. 

The champs take control and hit one of the damnedest combo moves I’ve ever seen. A combination Chokeslam/Backdrop Driver folds Misawa but only results in two count. Mans neck was pure plexiglass in the ‘90s. Misawa fights back, blocks an jumping kick with his hands because fuck you, and hits a Roaring Elbow. Jun comes in for the near fall and then things hit a wall. 

Kawada and Jun go back and forth until Kawada hits a jumping kick and appears to injure his ankle. Taue and Misawa fill the space while the ref checks on Kawada. He seems to actually be hurt but that doesn’t stop him from taking a Dragon Screw in the bad leg. Kawada can barley stand let alone wrestle and they work on wrapping it up. Two Exploders, a high knee, and a third Exploder later and we got new champs. Kawada could barely stand up for the knee. 

Great match aside from the unfortunate injury. I can definitely see the appeal of the Pillars and I do want to check out more. Hopefully, I find more stuff that goes by as smoothly and effortlessly as this match did.

Day 15 2024

 

WWE Royal Rumble 2024

30 Women’s Royal Rumble Match

I watched the Men’s Rumble with some friends on Discord but I never got around to watching the Women’s Rumble (in full, I did see a little bit). I reviewed the 2003 Rumble in one of these and I found it quite fun so hopefully this breaks the funk I’ve been in. 

Our first, Natalya who is the longest tenured active WWE female wrestler currently. Been there since 2008. Had a farting gimmick at one point and shares her Uncle Bret’s unmistakable charisma. All the personality of those white sneakers you see the geezers shuffling around in. 

Our second is hometown girl and the returning Naomi. The crowd doesn’t react at first so either they couldn’t hear the music or just didn’t recognize it, they pop huge when they realize who it is though. Unlike Sting who kayfabe disappeared for however many years between 2001 and 2015, Naomi’s time in TNA is actually acknowledged on commentary. 

Not much happens in the early going, the two are both solid workers and they’ve matched up a lot so it all looks good. Bayley is out third who immediately takes control…briefly before getting her face rubbed into Naomi’s asscrack. She suffers a Discus Lariat from Nattie to follow up her sexual assault and Nattie gets taken out with a Rear View. We get some elimination teases and it’s time for entrant four, Candice LeRae with all the heat of a broken stove. 

She comes in guns blazing. A mini-Violence Party to Bayley, a series of soft looking kicks to Nattie, topped off with using Nattie like a step-stool and hitting Bayley with a Code Breaker while also landing on Nattie. After a brief tussle with Naomi, Bayley makes her comeback. Number five, again to little reaction, current (at the time, she still may be at the time of writing which is late July) TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace

Big Momma Pump immediately won me over. I’m a big advocate of wrestling needing more female hosses and Jordynn Grace is exactly that. She takes out all of the WWE wrestlers then turns her attention to former rival and the person she beat for the belt, Naomi. They hug and then start clobbering each other. 

Out sixth, Indi Hartwell. She cleans house and teams with Candice for a bit…out seventh, ASUKA.  She does Asuka things for a bit and they tease dissension between her and fellow Damage Control member Bayley. But that gets put aside and the two eliminate Indi. 

Out eighth, Ivy Nile. She  leans up and botches a Powerslam. Nothing else of note happens before number nine arrives, Katana Chance who is a goddamn ninja. She shows her speed and athleticism until she makes the mistake of running into Jordynne Grace. The two powerhouses, Ivy and Jordynne deliver Stalling Suplexs to Candice and Katana. Jordynne and Ivy have a really nice sequence together. Get them in the ring together please. 

Number ten is Bianca Belair, a third powerhouse. She immediately botches but recovers and takes out Damage Control with a rough set of strikes but finishes off with a beautiful Double Blockbuster. She continues to show off by taking on Katana, Bayley, and Candice all at once. Great stuff, I’m really glad she recovered so easily. 

Number eleven, Kairi Sane. I adore heel Kairi because she’s basically a cartoon henchwoman and it’s amazing. Damage Control is now three strong

and hold court. The trio ends up eliminating Candice. We’re on entrant twelve and we’ve only had two eliminations. Anyway, Tegan Nox and her Rey Mysterio knees are out. She cleans house until Jordynne Grace takes her fucking head off with a Clothesline. 

Tegan almost gets tossed out by Grace but Nattie, her friend, saves her. Nattie immediately tries to eliminate Nox herself but the Girl with the Shiniest Wizard reverse it and sends Nattie to the floor…only to immediately to be tossed out by Bayley. 

Out next is Kayden Carter, Katana Chances partner and fellow ninja. Her and Chance try for a cool elimination save where Chance holds onto the ropes and lands on Kaydens back who then pushes her partner back in but it didn’t quite work so smoothly. Still though, her and Chance show off against Damage Control and almost eliminates Kairi who hangs on with a spot I can’t really describe. But it’s all for not as Sane ends up falling out anyway. Asuka is quickly eliminated shortly after. 

It’s Chelsea, The Queen of Deathmatch Wrestling. They tease eliminating her immediately but she hangs and pulls out a Zig Zag…then she gets marked by Grace. Grace and Belair mix it up and they both almost get eliminated. They both end up on the apron and Grace gets eliminated via Belairs KOD finisher on the apron. Looked brutal and went perfectly. 

Our next is Piper Niven, Chelsea’s partner. Yes there are a lot of tag teams in the women’s division…don’t get me started. Anyway, she saves Chelsea and wrecks Chance, Carter, Ivy, and tops off with a beautiful Saito Suplex to Bayley.

Sixteen is Xia Li who comes out with hook swords…she shoot knocked out two or three people during her NXT and they gave her swords. Thankfully, she leaves them on the ramp and sticks to what she knows best…kicking bitches in the face.  

Zelina Vega is out next. She kills Carter with a Meteora, uses Naomi as a projectile, and almost gets killed by Piper but reverses it INTO a Tornado DDT. Nex out, Maxine Dupree. She screws up two Headscissors. Belair and Vega team up to pull off a vicious Code Red on Piper but fail to eliminate her. Piper, however, eliminates Kayden Carter shortly after. 

Number nineteen, Nia Jax. She uses Vega to take out Xia Li who retaliates only to end up being eliminated by Nia. Ivy tries to eliminate Nia but only ends up eliminated herself. Chelsea Green suffers by getting squashed by Piper by accident, then being squashed by Nia, then having Piper inadvertently drive Nia into her repeatedly. More suffering for Chelsea come shortly after again at the hands or more so bodies of Piper and Nia.

Shotzi is out twentieth and brings her tank to the ring with her. Nia gets hit with a calvelcaade of moves concluding in Maxine’s weird revise Caterpillar that she adopted from Otis. Everyone teams up trying to eliminate Nia to no avail. Bayley does dump out Maxine though and Nia tosses out Piper and Katana Chance. Out at number twenty-one comes Becky Lynch. She mixes it up with Nia and hits a dual Revsere and Standard DDT on Shotzi and Vega. She also eliminates Chelsea.

Out next is Alba Fyre. Out next, yep we’re at that point of the match, Shayna Baszler. Baszler holds Fyre in the air with a Keylock and then kills Belair and Fyre before hitting a slow, slow, Arm Throw on Nia.  Twenty fourth is Valhalla and Michael Cole geeks out over her wearing her antler headband. However, R-Truths music hits and he runs into the ring. He looks around confused that there aren’t any men in the match and Nia tosses him out. Valhalla enters only to be tossed right back out. 

Anyway, Michin fka Mia Yim is out next. She hits a beautiful Springboard DDT on Bayley and a weird Uranage/Reverse DDT combo in Shayna and Shotzi. Shortly after that Naomi eliminates Alba Fyre. Twenty-six is Zoey Stark. She cleans house before her and her tag team partner Shayna eliminate Zelina Vega. 

Twenty-seven, Roxanne Perez from NXT. In quick succession Nia clears out Shayna, Michin, and Shotzi. Eight eliminations so far for Nia in this match. Twenty-eight the debuting Jade Cargill fresh from AEW. I’ve still never seen her wrestle before this moment. She immediately steps to nia and bigs her up on her shoulders. Then, she scoops Nia up and tosses her out with ease. Hell of a debut, it’s no wonder she’s already won gold after only five months in the company. 

Nevermind that shit though ITS TIFFY TIME. Tiffany immediately takes out five women with a Swanton Bomb and mixes it up with old rivals Becky Lynch and Roxanne Perez. Number thirty, the returning Liv Morgan to a huge pop. She hits a Codebreaker, Back Stabber, Rock-style Tornado DDT, and obLIVion before eliminating Zoey Stark. Roxanne Perez is tossed out and the remaining seven begin to slug it out. Jade and Belair both hit Stalling Press Slams and stare down. The crowd loses it but they’ll have to wait. That was a joke about them being put together as a team but immediately after I finished typing Tiffy and Bayley broke up the stare down. Jade decides to vent by killing Naomi. The Jade Cargill Agenda flourishes as she eliminates both Becky and Naomi. 

Tiffy almost eliminates Liv and Bianca almost eliminates Tiffy but all three end up on the apron. Liv hits Tiffy with a Codebreaker and she keeps herself from falling by grabbing onto and hanging by Bianca’s braid. Fucking tremendous spot…Bayley eliminates them shortly after however.

We’re down to three Bayley, Jade, and Liv. Bayley attempts to take on both Bu fails. Foolishly, Jade and Liv turn their attention to each other and Jade almost eliminates Liv and Bayley. However the combined forces of Liv and Bayley pay off and Jade gets eliminated with a Modified ovLIVion. Liv is immediately pushed off then apron by Bayley and since she went over the rope first we have a winner. 

Phew what a match. Rumbles can be hit and miss matches but this one is mostly hits. A couple of the women had a bit of an off night but everything was smooth, crisp, and consistent. The pacing felt a little jarring but the never got boring and it actually goes by pretty quickly. The booking was perfect too for people like Nia and Jade.  Overall, a really good Rumble featuring a lot of talented women.  

Day 14 2024

 

AAA TV 4/6/1996

Six Man Tag 

Los Espectritos and La Parkita vs. Baby Rabbit, Mini Frisbee, and Super Munequito

…well this is new territory. Minis wrestling in Mexico is very much treated with legitimacy. Like it’s still an attraction match but like they actually go out there and fly around and wrestle like the big people…that feels offensive. Oh well, let’s get started. Standard Lucha rules, two falls to a finish. 

Frisbee and Parkita start us off and it’s…ok. Parkita is noticeably slower than Frisbee and their interactions have a very rehearsal feel to it. Like we’re seeing them before the show being like “Ok, so I’ll feed you the arm, you spin around, Arm Drag. I’ll come up, you feed the arm, I’ll spin around, Arm Drag.”. Espectrito Dos and Munequito come in and immediately show up their partners. Their wrestling is fast, smooth, and athletic. Very Lucha. Rabbit and Primero comes in after Dos is thrown to the outside. 

Primero tires to use his size advantage to toss Rabbit around he keeps landing on his feet…so Primero just punches him. Still to no avail as he misses a knee in the corner. Rabbit pulls out the Ultimo Dragon headstand on the top rope spot and into a Title-a-Whirl Arm Drag. Gorgeous. Suicide Dive through the middle rope from Rabbit takes out Primero or Dos, a bottom rope Suicide Dive from Frisbee deals with Parkita and Munequito rolls up Primero to secure the first fall. Good stuff overall but we got at least one more fall. 

Ok the second fall isn’t going to be so detailed because my God shit hits the fan. The heels jump the faces and dominate until a series of Headscissors from Munequito brings the faces back into things. So much shit is happening a mile a minute, it’s back and forth. It’s so exciting one of the commentators breaks kayfabe and speaks in English. Unfortunate the heels are more coordinated and pick up the fall. Poor Baby Rabbit gets thrown by a mask early in the fall like a Diva hair toss in the 2000s. 

Heels continue their domination on the third fall and triple team Munequito. There’s a great spot where Munequito is in a hood of some kind and reaches out for Frisbee who grabs his hand and gets dragged in the ring. They try to pass it off as a tag but the rudo ref is having none of it. Frisbee eventually turns the tide and then Baby Rabbit dies. I don’t know what happened but the dude just bounced off the ropes, spiked his head on the mat, tried to push himself up, and just tumbles out of the ring. Fear not however, Rabbit is ok and actually secures the overall win for his team with a Crucifix Roll up…right after Frisbee smacks his face on the guardrail doing a dive. 

Well this is the last Lucha match I’m covering in these for a while. So much shit happens and I’m very out of my depth as a “reviewer”. Really fun match if you have a tolerance for Lucha and Spanish. Also we get two La Parka dances from Parkita so that’s worth atleast three stars on its own.

Day 13 2024

 

AJPW World Champion Carnival 1985 Day 14

Six Man Tag Match

Billy Robinson, Chavo Guerrero, and Terry Gordy vs. Tiger Mask 2 and The Funks

You can tell we’re knee deep in the Eighties, everyone in the match except the high flyer are fat. Wrestling!

Dory and Terry start off and Dory tanks running into Terry twice. Honestly it kind of popped me. Then Terry succeeds with a Dropkick. I already love this match.  Dory take control but Terry hits a goddamn jumping to the middle rope turning Crossbody after being whipped into the corner. Robinson, one of the most respected trainers in the world, comes in. I don’t know what is done or said but Terry Funk does something and Robinson gets hot. Things almost break Dow but Dory calms the situation down. Tiger Mask was ready to throw down. Robinson and Dory wrestle but Robinson cheap shots Terry and Terry wants in but Dory refuses. 

In comes Chavo and things go to the mat. They do that spot where they do a roll up (after a beautiful exchange of Abdominal Stretches i might) and roll around in the mat before getting the pin and in the midst of this Dory tags in Terry. It was so quick and subtle I had to rewind the video to catch it. The Funks are amazing. Terry tags in and gives Chavo a taste of his own medicine with a roll up roll spot of his own. Not nearly executed as well but it’s Terry Funk so it still works. Robinson breaks things up and Tiger Mask comes in. 

Mask and Chavo exchange quick Lucha/Jr. Heavyweight sequences and Terry Gordy gets tagged in. A Dropkick from Mask sends Terry it not he corner where Terry Headbutts Terry. Gladys head actually bumps back and hits Tiger in the face. TF comes in and Gordy immediately tags in Robinson. Terry Funk tries to rope-a-dope but Robinson just punches him and hits a vicious looking Neckbreaker. The Gordy/Robinson/Chavo team take turns beating on TF until he makes a come back on Gordy. Triple team move as the Funks pick Tiger off the top rope, carry him over and drop him on Gordy for a two count. Robinson comes in and beats on Tiger but gets knocked outside. Tiger Mask flies for the first time in the match and things momentarily break down before the match is called on a count out. Damn!

Excellent match. Simple but sweet. I can’t say much else. It’s not flashy but everything works. Like they don’t do many moves or big spots but I was completely into this. 

Day 12 2024

 

WCW/NWA Clash of Champions: St. Valentines Massacre

Singles Match

The Blackmailer w/ Hiro Matusda vs Lex Luger

Recently I’ve been watching Jim Cornette shoot interview recounting the years 1989 and 1990 in WCW. So I’ve been itching to watch something from that era but I wanted something not good, something I could riff on, these reviews have been too positive Damnit! So I picked the lowest rated Clash on Cagematch and picked a match. As soon as I scanned the card I knew what match I was gonna do…Hello Lex. 

Now I have a soft spot for The Total Package but on the other hand he’s one half of one of the worst matches I’ve ever seen because some dumbfuck decided to give him and Bagwell sixteen fucking minutes in the middle of the card at Starrcade. Blegh. Anyway, his opponent is The Blackmailer. Jack Victory under a mask working double duty as he played a Russian in the opening match. He’s neither Russian or a blackmailer (as far as I’m aware at least) and he looks like Great Sasukes drunk uncle. We’re in for a winner folks.

Problems immediately arise as they keep cutting to random chicks in the audience. Because I watch wrestling for random broads and not the wrestling. Early on a lot of this is a rinse and repeat formula. Luger does a spot, stop and stare for a bit. Another Luger spot, stop and stare. Comeback from Drunkle Sasuke, immediately countered by Lex. 

Folks I’m writing this review in the middle of the match, I have it paused right now as I’m writing this because I just watched Lex and Blackmailer go into their SIXTH straight Headlock spot. Magnum T.A., bless his fucking heart, says Luger is going back to basics. My ass, all he’s got is the basics and some schmuck thought to give him thirteen minutes against someone he shouldn’t be going five minutes with. No offense to Jack Victory  but he is not a Ric Flair. 

Anyway back to it. Luger hits a Press Slam and tries for a Running Forearm but Blackmailer dodges. He takes control as he tries to wear Luger out for a count out victory to no avail. Lex comes back and tries for a Sunset Flip but the Mailman holds onto the rope until the ref kicks his hand away. Pretty sure that’s biased officiating but whatever. Karl Malone takes control over Lex for most of the ending stretch which includes a goddamn Seated Rear Chinlock Spot. I’m gonna have to watch a Sabu match after this. Anyway, Luger comes back, beats the shit out of the heel, and wins with Barry Windhams finisher because they had a match coming. 

Well this happened. This should not have been a competitive (competitive is a strong word) match. Again no offense to Victory but Luger should’ve run over him and put him in the Rack in like four minutes tops. The action was boring at best, neither really sold too much, and I just didn’t care about any of this. Magnum and J.R. are great but it doesn’t help. 

Day 11 2024

 

WWF Survivor Series 1987

Ten Man Elimination Tag Team Match

Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, Don Muraco, Paul Orndorff, and Ken Patera vs. Butch Reed, Andre the Giant, Rick Rude, One Man Gang, and King Kong Bundy

Watched Bam Bams Dark Side of the Ring episode and got curious about this match. I’ve only seen this through OSWs video on the show so this should be interesting. I don’t go into the ‘80s much in these. 

The heel team gets introduced in twos and Andre gets his own entrance. The four faces come down together and Orndorff gets a pop to rival Hogans. Speaking of, guess who gets his own introduction.  There is nothing fancy in this match so I won’t go into too much details. 

But nonetheless, Muraco and Rude start the match. Rude gets the shit kicked out of him by all the baby faces until he serendipitously gets knocked into his corner and tags in Butch. Things don’t turn around for the heels however, in fact things actually get worse. Reed not only suffers the same fate as Rude but he gets eliminated first following an Orndorff/Hogan Double Clothesline and a Leg Dorp from The Hulkster. 

Andre comes in next but the ref declares Hogans celebration a tag which brings in Patera so Andre just fucks off. The money is the Andre/Hogan story and this is fantastic booking. Things turn around for the heel but not fully as the baby faces constantly rally back until Patera gets singled out and eliminated. 

In quick succession, Orndorff, Rude, and Muraco all get sent packing. It’s three to two in the heels favor. Now I know what you’re expecting because I was expecting it too. Hulk doesn’t just run over Bundy and OMG.  Bam Bam takes a brunt of the punishment until it’s finally time to bring Hogan and Andre together. The crowd go mental. But it doesn’t last long because Hulk isn’t fucking jobbing clean in ‘87. Bundy and OMG single Hulkster out outside of the ring and the hotdog man gets counted out. Get fucked Terry. 

Bammys in alone against theee super heavyweights but he himself is a super heavyweight so it’s not too much of a difference. The heels are desperate to eliminate Bammers especially cause if the match went too much longer OMG might have actually passed out. He was spent by this point and was draped over the ropes like Andre in the end years. Bam survives and eliminates Bundy with a Springboard Splash after dodging the Avalanche. He contends with OMG and sends him packing. Andre dispenses Bigelow not long after to seal the match for this team. 

Well this was fun. The five just fight and it’s hard to duck that up even for someone like Bundy. The booking is really smart as well keeping Hogan and Andre at a distance until the crowd is fervent to see them. Everyone looked good and 24 plus minutes just sort of flew by…ok not quite but it didn’t drag like some other matches I’ve seen. It’s a historical match worth checking out if you’ve got some time to kill.