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The Nomination Thread


Grimmas

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Steve Veidor

 

Steve Veidor vs. John Elijah (10/30/79) This was one of Veidor's last televised appearances. It was a real happy-go-lucky sort of Veidor match and Elijah played along nicely. Walton name dropped Bruno Sammartino in this bout, mentioning that the wrestler in the previous match, Spiros Arion "the Iron Greek", had sold out Madison Square Garden facing Sammartino, which I assume was more factual than the times he'd try to say that Terry Rudge had taken Antonio Inoki to a draw.

 

Giant Haystacks/Big Daddy vs. Steve Veidor/Tibor Szakacs (4/21/76)

 

This was a fun match. During the intros, I had no idea what to expect. On one side you had two of the all-time great professional wrestlers and on the other side you had Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks, and there was this moment where Tibor was standing there in his yellow jacket looking cool as shit and I had no idea how he was gonna play it. But to Veidor and Szakacs' credit, they hammed it right up. Both guys had awesome strikes and Daddy and Haystacks bumped like fools for them, so it was a pretty good spectacle. Daddy sucked, but we know that. What surprised me was what good buddies he was with Haystacks in their leaner days. They were thick as thieves those two. It almost makes their later rivalry Shakespearean.

 

Big Daddy/Giant Haystacks vs. Steve Veidor/Tibor Szakacs (4/6/76)

 

This was these teams' first match from Croydon, which was Veidor's hometown. I think Daddy missed his true calling as he was a natural prick and should have stayed a heel. Perhaps in the 80s when business began to struggle they could have turned Daddy heel to shake things up. This was another fun bout. I liked the return match more because of how fired up Veidor and Szakacs were, but this was the catalyst for that performance. There wasn't much in the way of wrestling, but Veidor hit the most gorgeous dropkicks. He really was some athlete.

 

All reviews are by OJ

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Here are some controversial ones, but I think they deserve threads:

 

Spike Dudley

 

v. Candido

 

Candido pre-match mic bit is pretty good and gets the crowd into this. Early Spike manages to escape Candido's clutches on the mat which only serves to piss him off as he grabs the mic and shit talks some more which leads to a really big "Fuck You Skip" chant. They run through another fast exchange that ends with Candido swatting off a dropkick, then another that ends with Spike monkey flipping Candido into the ropes. Spike takes over with a couple of arm drags, but Candido backs him into the corner and then Spike takes the Bret Hart face first corner bump. Candido ends up attempting this a second time and Spike makes a mini-comeback but Candido cuts off a splash with a nice powerslam then hits a cool looking jumping suplex both for nearfalls. Candido starts doing jumping jacks ala the Boddydonnas and now Spike is doing some great limp selling as they go to another hope spot with Candido powering out of a roll up and sending Spike shoulder first into the steel. Candido actually goes to work on the arm immediately with an armbar. Spike tries to comeback but Candido hits a nice looking gutwrench powerbomb for a nearfall. Candido goes for his diving headbutt but misses and Spike goes straight into comeback mode with a nice dropkick and rana followed by an enziguri that Candido took a nice flip bump for. Spike gets a couple of nearfalls in and Candido goes to an eyepoke before they go into one of the better looking sunset flip/trading roll up sequences I can recall as it wasn't overly long and it didn't look super contrived. Brief forearm battle and Spike hits the Acid Drop for a nearfall. He goes up top and hits a splash for another nearfall. Goes up again for what looks like a moonsault attempt but Candido crotches him. He is setting up for the top rope powerbomb but they both fall down into the ropes. Crowd chants "you fucked up" so Candido goes to the mat and does some push ups ala Skip which really was a pretty brilliant "fuck you" recovery, then goes back up and hits the top rope powerbomb on Spike for the finish. If not for the slight flub at the finish this would have been a serious candidate for top thirty ECW match ever and even with it I'm not sure that it really falls below that point. This was also the same week as Candido's great match with Mikey, so it is fair to say that Christmas of 96 was the apex of Candido in ECW.

 

w/Bubba v. The FBI

 

Holy shit this is one of my dream ECW matches. Pre-match J.T. sings Fly Me To The Moon while Guido shadow boxes and gets progressively more and more pissed off. Bubba and Spike come out and Spike has to be held back from storming the ring by Bubba at the same time J.T. is holding back Guido from storming Spike. Acid induced little man syndrome v. ethnic stereotype little man syndrome as storyline for a match is actually really great. At one point Bubba actually drags Spike off the apron onto the floor face first to control him and then leads the crowd in a Spike chant. J.T. sucks chant starts so the FBI start to leave but are coaxed back. J.T. gets on the mic and tries to teach Bubba how to sing Fly Me To The Moon, then slaps him for not saying his name so Bubba paintbrushes him and J.T. sells this like he was just hit by a bus. Then they go straight back to holding back their respective little men. Bubba shoves J.T. down after the initial collar and elbow and J.T. and Bubba end up holding back Guido and Spike again. Man this is awesome. Bubba slaps J.T. damn near out yet again and AGAIN they do the holding back the little men spot. Bubba rolls up his middle finger at a front row fan as Sign Guy laughs in his face. J.T. backs Bubba into the corner and unloads with some punches that had to have been intentionally shitty then turn around and says "I kicked his friggin ass huh?" Of course Bubba then lays him out with a clothesline and a dropkick and actually propels himself into a front flip over the ropes because he is celebrating so hard. Then he gets back in the ring and knocks Guido off the apron. Hilariously J.T. now complains of a hai rpull which is utterly ridiculous and awesome. Crowd chants "We Want Spike." Guido has already tagged in and J.T. holds him back and releases him into a drop toehold. Tremendously awesome spot with Spike and Guido exchanging shoulder tackles and strongman facial expressions, then slaps, then Guido ducks down on an attempted rope spot sending Spike to the floor. J.T. is screaming at him to "kick his freaking ass!" and Guido delivers with a stiff clothesline for a nearfall. Bubba starts a "Little Shit" chant directed at Guido. Guido tags in J.T. who whips Spike into the turnbuckles face first, then they do the paisan drop elbow and J.T. kisses his fingers in approval. J.T. hits his forward flip into the ropes/splash combo for a nearfall. Spike tries to comeback and leaps into an electric chair position, J.T. drops down and goes to a waste lock but Spike spins J.T. off. Spike runs the ropes and gets fucking KILLED with a clothesline from J.T. J.T. drags Spike to the corner and they do the fake tag spot behind the refs back with Guido coming in and hitting a back body drop, complaining about a slow count and then dropkicking Bubba on the apron. Ring is cut off on Spike and J.T. gets tagged back in. J.t. with a delayed vertical suplex and Guido is stomping on Spike's head while Bubba tries to get in the ring but is kept at bay by the ref. Fuck awesome spot as the FBI go for a double clothesline but Bubba - standing on the apron - catches Spike lifts him up and tosses him onto the FBI for a double body press. Bubba gets the hot tag, tosses Guido onto his fucking face on the floor. He hits a huge side slam on J.T. and then sits on the top rope. Spike leaps off of his shoulders and Spike's head literally hits a rafter for a great nearfall as Guido just makes into the ring for the save. Bubba gets pissed and picks up Guido and chunks him onto the ref with a gorilla press. D-Von sneaks in behind Bubba and kills him with a chairshot allowing J.T. to score the pin. Spike and Guido keep brawling and Spike takes an insane face first bump onto the ring post, a hot shot on the guardrail and then Guido stands on a fucking lunch counter and leaps off with a stomp. Big Dick hits the ring and destroys the FBI with chokeslams. Dick chases D-Von off and the FBI try and calm him down at ringside but Bubba hits a fucking tope onto all of them as Spike comes back from the dead to throw forearms. Bubba puts an end to this segment by breaking Sign Guy's sign on Guido's back. This is the Cowabunga v. Jim Cornette of the ECW Set. Extremely entertaining match with everyone looking good. Fun, unexpected spots. Great schtick. Good nearfalls. Awesome pre-match and post-match stuff. To me this is a stone cold lock. Guaranteed personal pick regardless of what anyone else thinks.

 

w/Bubba v. The Bad Crew

 

Oh my god the spot with Bubba backdropping Spike onto Bad Crew on the floor was unbelievably dangerous. Then Bubba tries to kill one of the Bad Crew with a whiplash clothesline. Spike ends up working FIP when this settles into a straight tag and as usually he was great bumping and selling his ass off for the Bad Crew of all people. I mean Bad Crew just fucking destroy him with double teams and it is awesome as all hell. Acid drop is sets up the hot tag here and was really well done. Bubba comes in and just murders these guys with splashes and dropkicks and a monster cutter that looks like it killed the guy. The finish has a great camera angle as Spike gets on Bubba's shoulders while he's on the top and leaps off and the shot from RF makes it look like a thirty foot drop down an elevater shaft. This had all the spots you would want to see plus good structure and selling. No way in hell this shouldn't go through.

 

Sheamus

 

Sheamus v. Christian - SD 2/19

I love how every Sheamus match feels like a fight to the finish, where he is trying to kill his opponent but is also willing to die himself for our pleasure. Seriously these guys were a couple of minutes in and you have Sheamus doing the rolling hills on the floor, both guys taking wild barricade bumps, et. Christian's new gimmick as the guy who attacks body parts, is pretty great too. I loved him using the exposed steel on the barricade to open up an injury, and Sheamus shrieking in pain when he got his arm stomped on was great. I also gotta give it to Sheamus for busting out the Finlayesque forearm rakes to try and break Christian's cover/offense. I wasn't in love with the finishing stretch here, but if you are a fan of either guy you will like this.

 

Sheamus v. Christain - Street Fight RAW 3/10

Yeah the Sun Studios props were kind of absurd, but this was a really fun brawl. In the past when they have done these prop heavy brawls they have been absent any storyline, but this had a real feud to it and two guys who will work dangerous and violent spots. Christian's tornado DDT on the floor spot was completely nuts, but I think my personal favorite was Sheamus throwing 17 or 18 of his big chest shots to Christian who was desperately trying to break free the whole time. Both of these guys were busted open and/or covered with welts on their back from the weapon shots, and the finish was one of the best examples of effective cartoon violence I've seen in the WWE in some time.

 

Sheamus vs. Titus O'Neil, Main Event 4/22

I thought this was completely awesome. Not at the level of the absolute best stuff this year, but just beneath that level, and a real feather in the cap of both guys. I honestly think Sheamus is quietly building a case as a number one contender, and this match might be his crown jewel so far. Tons of fun, violent and impactful spots in this. Titus is really good as a shit talking bully, who hits really hard, and surprises you with explosiveness and different looking spots. Sheamus is one of the best offensive wrestlers in the company, and I really liked him offensively here (his second rope knee drop is a cool addition offensively), but I thought he was most impressive here working an almost Rey Mysterioesque underneath role, eating crazy cut off spots, going for high risk offense and paying the price, and then winning with a nice combo. Even if you don't like this as much as I did, I can't imagine everyone here not really enjoying Sheamus slingshotting himself into the wall that is Titus and eating the floor. This ruled.

 

Samoa Joe

 

AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe- TNA 6/20/13

This was easily the best TNA match I've seen all year. In fact it was good period, not just good for TNA. It's hard to take Styles or Joe seriously because of their look, but aside from that this was about as good a ten minute tv match as I would expect those two to have at this point. I liked all the early headlock stuff a ton a ton and their were a ton of fun spots in this. Really liked the AJ face plant on the apron and loved the spot with Joe cracking Styles with a straight punch to cut down a flurry of offense. I also really enjoyed the grappling exchanges consider the fact that they were grappling exchanges involving 2013 AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. I would imagine most everyone here would enjoy this.

 

Samoa Joe v. Willie Mack - Championship Wrestling From Hollywood 11/?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6KYCZOhZEQ

Very happy this turned up on a watchable fancam, because this is about the closest thing to an indie dream match one will find in this admittedly bleak era. This was also doubles as a "battle of the athletic fat guys" match, though this had a modern spin on it. To some degree this was exactly what you would expect, as Joe controlled the match, with Mack getting in some nice offensive comebacks, and Joe finding clever ways to cut him off with his standard spots. On another level though this almost came across like a Joe tryout for when TNA inevitably shits the bed, as he worked a lot harder than he had to. This match built well and they did a good job mixing in believable false finishes (Joe sleeper spot, Mack sunset flip out of the muscle buster, Mack big splash off the top) without getting into nearfall for nearfall sake territory. I also loved the finish with Mack getting the kickout of Joe's big find and then eating a huge lariat for the fall.

 

Austin Aries vs Samoa Joe TNA slammiversary 6.10/13

Holy shit, it's a good Samoa Joe singles match. Haven't seen one of those in half a decade. Anyhow this was good stuff. Aries is really becoming excellent at working these high speed, bomb throwing affairs that are kept short enough where you are still saying "holy shit!" instead of "fucking end this." Really liked the dive attempt cut off and the later dive from Aries. Also loved Joe bring the the headbutts. I watched this with the sound off and can only imagine how the shockingly awesome live crowd may have added to this. God bless Joe for taking a lunatic bump on the brainbuster and god bless both of them for stiffing each other and putting together such a fun match.

 

Mark Briscoe AND Jay Briscoe

 

Mark Briscoe v. Jay Briscoe - ROH 6/22/13

I was really glad that I watched the tv show this week before I saw this as the whole show was devoted to the history of these two in ROH and their sibling rivalry. Without seeing that I'm not sure it worked as well, but it's a rare case of ROH really executing something right and even the things in this that are major flaws in the ROH style make some sort of sense in the context of two brothers kicking the shit out of each other. For example the anticipation spots in this where each guy has the others shit scouted plays on what you would expect out of two backyarder wrestling brothers turned pro. Loved the bit with Mark offering the handshake and going straight into his schtick as a fuck you to big brother. I also thought the Kung Fu v. Boxing of Jay was a lot of fun. This had a number of highspots, but also a number of headbutts and little things like Mark getting a near fall off of the move that beat Jay in his ROH debut was pretty cool. I even dug the one count near fall off the second J-Driller which I would normally hate, because again as someone who has several little brothers, I've seen them eat my best shot and stand up for the sole purpose of proving they could take it. There were a couple of flubs in the stream which sucks because they seemed to be at pretty important moments, but over all I really enjoyed this.

 

The Briscoes vs. Mike Bennett & Matt Hardy - ROH 6/22

Yeah this was great for what it was. When I read the reviews of this I figured it would be great and actually was able to track it down earlier today (sorry Bucky, but hey at least you got motivated to watch it!). I like all of these guys, and figured it was going to be an insane car crash, and that's exactly what it was. Mark Briscoe was amazing in this. Jay is the guy who gets the singles pushes, and I get why, but Mark as this freak show, ball of energy, who takes lunatic bumps, and spot runs better than anyone in wrestling, is an absolutely perfect fit. I actually liked the whole restart angle to this, and for a spotfests they did a great job making all the big spots feel distinct. Bennett taking the Doomsday Devince on the floor was psychotic, the crash and burn table spot was well teased and well delivered, Mark's Cactus Elbow was great et. I also though Mark Bennett hitting Mark with a Side Effect on the floor was a pretty crazy spot, but in a match this nuts it is well down the depth chart of crazy shit. Finishing bump from Hardy was completely insane for a guy his age. Even the Nick Seary shit added to this. Really fucking fun match.

Bullet Club v. The Briscoes - ROH 5/17

At this rate I want to watch every Briscoes match this year. This was another really fun match, that had elements of wild brawl, and elements of straight tag. The Briscoes are just so great at bringing a sort of feral energy to their matches, that makes everything feel extra dangerous. Gallows and Anderson have been a dreadful team in New Japan, and this is by far the best match I've ever seen them in as a unit. Really loved the early brawling on the floor, as the smaller Briscoes came across as the equals and/or superiors of the bigger guys which helped this a lot. Mark's FIP was a lot of fun, and he took a fucking high back body drop on the floor here that was completely nuts. Finishing run was surprisingly good, could have easily been something that ran off the rails, and instead it ended at just the right moment. Well worth seeking out.

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Unfortunately, there's only three Gwyn Davies matches on tape. We're pretty lucky to have the Veidor one as it was from the Royal Albert Hall, which wasn't usually taped.

 

Who is the other against OJ? I've got a copy of the one against Haystacks, but am missing the third.

 

In addition, I watched a bout between Steve Grey and Zoltan Boscik over the weekend that was superb. Not sure of the date yet as that is the next thing to work having finally got my listings for all my WOS stuff, but it looks early for Grey's career as he was sporting a classic 70s barnet. Just lots of great chain wrestling, reversals and another beautiful Grey escape when his head was trapped between Boscik's legs and he used a variation of the headstand escape to free himself. It was a pretty sporting bout with Boscik only getting more aggressive towards the ends as he felt Grey 'embarrassed' him by giving him a kick to the backside. I may well chuck a nomination Boscik's way, as he has this and a bout with Alan Sarjeant that I really enjoyed.

 

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The other match is against a guy called Dennis Mitchell, who was one of wrestling's first golden boys in the 1960s. He's right at the end of his carer and I don't remember much about it. It's on YouTube.

 

Boscik and Grey had a whole series of matches some of which aired on TWC and some from the original broadcasts. They had tremendous chemistry.

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