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soup23

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  1. Easily the best match on the first batch of WCCW tv shows we have. Bugsy had some goofy selling but they cut a good pace and had an out of control feel that really stood out in the promotion at the time. ***1/4
  2. They psychology felt a little off in the early goings of this for me. Heenan has 10 minutes to pin Zumhofe or he has to wear the weasel suit. Opening moments show Zumhofe running away, making goofy facials and being a dick to where I was becoming sympathetic towards Heenan. Heenan takes over with a rake to the eyes and the match picks up tremendously. Heenan has a great arsenal of offense and kept things moving along. Buck for his part took some great bumps including a nasty one into the ropes. Heenan overall displayed a lot of great ring awareness with how he got over the stipulation and his desperation to win. There is a moment in the early going where Heenan is frustrated and rolls to the outside but you see he can't regroup and waste time like he normally would or tell his charges and he has to roll right back in. The time ticks down and Heenan is unsuccessful in pinning Zumhofe. Crowd starts chanting weasel and Buck gets in on it over the house mic. Heenan pitches a great fit before putting on the suit. I understand the novelty of something like Heenan vs Hayes from 1980, but I thought this was a much stronger Heenan performance and overall a great bullshit match. This is one of the matches that breaks my spreadsheet as I will rank it favorably but it wont be in my top 100 matches of the year. However, it is certainly one of the most fun and memorable matches of the year. I liken it to something like the WM7 Blindfold match. ***1/2
  3. Watched this in full and it frustrated me. Opening starts with Takako reeling off three DDTs that are shrugged off. Then Kyoko does some leg work that goes nowhere. The arm work done in the middle portion is easily the strongest portion of the match. Takako felt like a pretty big underdog in this match and they make it believable she could win with the arm submission. Kyoko comeback and finish is some of the most egregious fighting spirit nonsense you will see. She suddenly just shrugged off all prior work and bulked up into the finishing stretch. Tack onto that the botch by the ref on the power bomb and this was a match that didn’t leave me wanting to watch the reign of Kyoko at all. **1/2
  4. This match essentially is the torch passing from Bob to Hulk. Hulk debuted the week before back with the promotion to fanfare but on this show when Sheik defends the title in a squash, the crowd is still holding up signs that Bob is the rightful champion. The numbers are against Bob in this match so he enlists Hogan for backup. Even though the color scheme changed from time to time, Hulk is here in the full red and yellow that he becomes most synonymous with.
  5. This match had a beautiful progression to it. Thesz is the referee and does a good job of being interactive without in the way. Match starts with some good grappling and Dory/Ricky and Jay/Terry are paired off. A standout is Jay hooking the arm of Terry, them spilling to the outside, Terry does an airplane spin on the outside, they roll back in.... and Jay still has the arm hooked. Jay continues to be the guy along with Gino that I miss the most from their young death when I watch 80s wrestling. The match continues to heat up and the final 3-4 minutes are outstanding. You can sense the Steamboat/Jay team gaining momentum and close to pulling off the upset. They work towards that with multiple pinfall attempts and frequent tags. It is very engaging and looks like a basketball team that keeps draining 3's and has a team on the ropes. Just then, Dory cuts off Ricky and Terry is able to reverse a flying press from Jay to get the victory showing the veteran wilyness of the Funks. Really entertaining match. **** (7.9)
  6. Gave this a watch today as it didn't make the DVDVR set and I was unsure what to think as I am hot and cold on Race overall. I thought it was tremendous. Kerry worked underneath and was overcoming the vicious beating and then dishing it out as well. Race was vicious sending Kerry's head into any object and the brainbuster on the floor. Overall, this show is up and down in front of a sparse Texas Stadium crowd but this match was the clear highlight and if on the DVDVR set, I suspect it would have finished in my top 20. ****1/4 (8.6)
  7. Great match. Worked a lot on the ground but things were compelling and it showed that Kyoko could certainly hang in that area. When things intensified, it felt like the right amount of desperation, bombs and speed were thrown out. This was the kind of "heat check' match that top wrestlers in a given year generally have. I don't think this will be the best offering from either even against each other, but it was a reminder that their consistent effort was high level. **** (7.8)
  8. This had a few issues to make it fall just short of great for me. Aja comes out wrecking Korakuen which was really exciting. The match then kind of settles in before ramping up at various points. That stop/start made the match feel a bit disjointed even with the fall structure. There were other minor annoyances like Kimura absolutely splatting on a nasty dive on the floor and then being back on offense 1 minute later. The finish also took a while to set up as Bison had trouble lifting Yamada into position. When this match shined was in the flurries from Kyoko/Yamada against the big bullies. Especially when Aja showed vulnerability, the match really had a great David vs Goliath feel to it. I am unsure why the titles were vacated only for Jungle Jack to just win them back but...... booking. ***1/2
  9. 17 minutes of the first fall are clipped but this is one of the longer looks at Valentine we have. He looked pretty fantastic throughout. The match had a brutalizing style as the foreign heels tried to cut the ring off and then the finish of each fall would end in a flourish. Inoki/Baba complimented each other well and helped out showing continuity between them. With the full match, this is possibly a MOTYC for 1970. The final fall finish was predictably a lame count out with Inoki barely getting back in. The match worked to progress the upcoming Kiniski vs Baba matches but Valentine was the standout here to me just based on performance and scarcity of footage of him. ***1/2
  10. This was my first time seeing Leone and it wanted me to seek him out more. He has a good gimmick of the Italian aristocrat that also wants to teach healthy virtues to the American youth with his vitamin suckers he passes out before the match. During the match, Leone controlled the action well. He cheated with the fish hooks effectively and you got a sense of progression of his growing frustration. He also was quick to lock on his finisher and kept the action going. Varga was mainly just there to be the foil and he did a decent job but this felt like a Leone carry job. ***1/4 (6.3)
  11. Really cool footage. I agree that it was tough to distinguish at points but I believe George was the aggressor for most of the exchanges here and he looked pretty fantastic. The armbar counter in particular was really interesting to see in 1931 as it was a primitive version of a Fujiwara. This certainly made me want to seek out more George.
  12. Akiyama won this for me over Villano III. I really enjoyed how Akiyama came into his own as top heel of early NOAH.
  13. Austin for sure. I’m through October for the year and only contender for me would be Santo.
  14. These are the matches that makes the year worth it. 2001 has had some good stuff lately but it feels like the narratives have already been established and were waiting on something like Kobashi coming back or ROH starting to change directions. This was easily one of the top 100 matches of the year. It feels like a match that may have been viewed by double digit people. It’s a one camera show with no commentary. It feels akin to taking a long road trip and finding that great BBQ place on the side of the road that delivers. They start friendly enough although Yu Yu declines the opening handshake. Amano throughout the match goes time and time to the armbar and it looks nasty. The finish works in that it was a speed vs power battle and one side won based true on that breakdown. Post match has Amano teasing a handshake and then locking in one more armbar for the road upping the animosity. Great match. **** (8.1)
  15. One episode of the GWCW list is in the can. Just has to be edited.
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