1/31/92 CMLL: Ultimo Dragon vs. Blue Panther 12:49
ML: This was a nice showcase for Dragon, who made the match with his spectacular high flying offense. He was splitting time between Mexico and Japan, but CMLL was now his primary home, and this was the beginning of a serious push. These two didn't have great chemistry, they were just two individuals executing well. Panther was pretty disappointing here. He didn't do anything wrong, but he didn't facilitate any better than average really, and his offense wasn't particularly impressive. Big credit to Panther for his unselfishness though. The way this match was worked with him taking so much, I was sure he was going to win, especially since he was the much bigger star at this point, especially in Mexico. Dragon wasn't great on the mat, but Dragon was actually attempting to work on the mat more than Panther was, which didn't make any sense. I kept waiting for a Panther to counter him to at least force Dragon to get back to his feet and take over with his superior athleticism, but this never happened. There were quite a few near falls late in the third though to make this feel like an important match. ***

NJPW 8/11/91 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Brian Pillman vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 13:54
DC: Brian Pillman had teamed up with Keiichi Yamada a couple of times in Stampede Wrestling in 1987. The two would also team up in WCW a couple of times in 1992, including an excellent match against Pegasus Kid & Biff Wellington on 6/16/92. However, the two are more known for their series of matches against each other in WCW, including the great 12/27/91 & 2/29/92 matches, the pretty-good-but-disappointing 6-minute 9/4/95 first-ever Nitro match and also four lesser known house show matches of which there's probably no footage available. Of course, by the early ‘90s, Yamada had already established himself as Jushin Thunder Liger, one of the best junior heavyweights in professional wrestling. What not enough people perhaps realize, though, is that the first-ever singles matches between Pillman and Liger took place in NJPW. One of the reasons for this is that in spite of this 8/11/91 match taking place on the same show as the 1991 G1 Climax Final, it was never televised. The hand-held footage was very good, however, so we were able to have a proper look at this match. It's a shame these two never really had another match together in NJPW, because that could have potentially been very interesting. Pillman showed urgency from the start, clearly aware of Liger's reputation, as he attacked him with some high-flying offense. Unfortunately, apart from a hot start to the match, things slowed down and never really picked up again until the final minutes. There were some memorable spots though, including Pillman piledriving Liger on the floor and Pillman hitting Liger with a splash off the top rope. Towards the end of the match, Liger almost pinned Pillman after a Dynamite Kid-like flying headbutt. Pillman tried another top-rope move himself, but Liger greeted him with a dropkick in mid air. Liger then hit yet another flying headbutt, and this time it meant victory. All in all, this match was quite good and fun to watch, but it never came close to reaching the groundbreaking levels their great 12/27/91 and 2/29/92 matches would reach. Very good match. ***½

5/9/96 PWC: El Hijo del Santo & El Sharak vs. Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera 11:11
ML: 3 of the all-time greatest luchadors, even if past their peak, and Shinobi, who was young and athletic, but ultimately never amounted to much. Santo vs. Fuerza was excellent and the reason to watch the match, with consistently crisp and fluid action. These two used their familiarity with one another well, elevating their individual skills. They were always in step, to the point that what they were doing just seemed a lot more reasonable because their timing and execution was so good. Unfortunately, the match tried to feature Sharak because he's based out of Japan. Sharak was sloppy and clunky at times, but with opponents who could make him look great, he was passable. He played the role, doing his job as the tecnico gymnast, and being active and exciting enough, but he wasn't always in rhythm with his opponents or pulling off his spots optimally. Sharak mainly worked with Panther, who ripped his mask first, only to have Sharak return the favor later on. Sharak pinned Panther with a moonsault attack that they didn't quite have the distance calculated right on. Sharak is obviously no Gran Hamada, but this was a reasonable undercard packaging of Lucha Libre for a Japanese audience because they managed to surround their guy with the best of the best. ***

4/21/82 AJPW, NWA International Heavyweight Title Match: Dory Funk, Jr. vs. Bruiser Brody 15:15
ML: Dory stayed within himself and fought a credible match. He was the solid one, and the one facilitating the action. Brody, despite being a heel, was the one tasked with speeding things up from time to time and providing more of the action. In some senses, this obviously wasn't the best role for him, but on the other hand, he's only going to take so many bumps, so it makes sense to emphasize his offense, which while hardly spectacular, definitely looks better than what most other guys his size were doing because of his athleticism. There were too many rest holds, but it was a serious and relatively believable (by non shoot wrestling standards) fight both appeared to be out to win. Dory did just enough moves to not seem to be completely relying on the elbow smash, while Brody satisfied the brawling requirement with one out of the ring sequence where he busted Dory open with a chair. I was surprised that Dory following Brody outside for some retribution when Brody escaped the spinning toe hold, busting him open on the post, didn't lead to the requisite count out. Dory upped the intensity back in the ring, going wild on Brody with strikes in the corner, and even Brody taking out Joe Higuchi while he was firing back didn't lead to a DQ, but rather caused Dory's small package to fail. Funk then went for a backdrop, and this looked really weird because it seemed like Brody was going to punch him in the face, so I was thinking maybe he would have a foreign object, but instead he sort of kicked off the top rope. The problem is the bump looked no different than if he hadn't, and Brody appeared to take the majority of the impact as if the move worked properly, but then Brody got up and pinned Funk basically with just an arm over him like Dory was out cold. This is obviously preferable to the usual screwjob, but definitely didn't work as well as this sort of finish normally does. This match had its flaws, but it was roughly the right length, so they were able to keep it moving and build it up without too much stalling or repetitiveness. These two had traded the title back and forth in 1981, with Brody having just a 23 day reign, but this 2nd of his 3 reigns was his big one, lasting 497 days. ***

GWF 12/27/91 Dallas, TX Sportatorium, 2/3 Falls GWF Light Heavyweight Title: The Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn 12:57
DC: This was a 2-out-of-3 falls hold vs. hold match. The Lightning Kid had to win via the Lighting Strike, and Jerry Lynn had to win via the Sleeper hold. Apart from the fact that these two were so ahead of their time, especially for American standards, what makes this feud so exceptional is that each match is memorable yet so different. Here in this match, they were telling more of a cohesive in-ring story than ever before. Their PWA matches were some of the most spectacular and intensely raw matches ever seen in America. Their previous GWF match was cleverly adapted for a bigger audience. And in this 2-out-of-3 falls match, they showed not only their progress in the feud, but also how quickly they were maturing and learning as workers. They were pretty much maturing as fast as their hair was growing out, and they were looking more like stars with each match. What they presented here was more advanced on so many levels than most veteran wrestlers were capable of at the time, and that’s not even factoring the futuristic offense they were incorporating. In a very disciplined manner, they were able to show determination and focus, while spreading out the spectacular moments. This shows these two were able to deliver the type of match a mainstream audience could appreciate, as their more relentless and extreme bouts that they had in PWA are more suitable for hardcore fans. Unfortunately, the American wrestling world of the early 1990s wasn’t ready for wrestlers under 225 lbs to receive a proper push at the main stage. Still, GWF deserves credit for giving these guys a chance to display their ability in somewhat of a main event role. Towards the end of this match, the future Raven interfered. Craig Johnson and Bruce Prichard did a very good job calling the action and explaining to the audience the excellence of this bout. Overall, this was an excellent match, as these two combined elements from their previous matches and combined them in a well-mixed manner that resulted in a wonderful dish well served. Excellent match. ****

WCW 12/27/91 East Rutherford, NJ Brendan Byrne Arena, WCW Light Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Brian Pillman 15:45
DC: Jushin Thunder Liger had won the title on Christmas Day in Atlanta, GA. Here in this match on 12/27/91, Pillman had the opportunity to try to regain the title. There is only hand-held footage available of this house show match, but it’s clear that this was quite an exciting match, especially for a North American house show match from 1991. What they did here was definitely less cheesy and corny than what most of the WCW wrestlers were doing at the time. Liger executed a really nice moonsault off the second rope for a near fall. He then tried to go for another pinfall attempt after hitting Pillman with a somersault off the top. Liger was definitely showing off his high flying skills here. Liger landed on his feet after a monkey flip and then powerslammed Pillman when Pillman came charging at him. Liger took a big bump to the floor when Pillman dropkicked him. Pillman quickly tried to follow up on the floor, but it was Liger who manage to regain the advantage and hit Pillman with a beautiful Asai moonsault. Pillman hit a springboard clothesline. Pillman then suplexed Liger to the floor. Pillman and Liger then did the double dropkick spot as Liger attempted to dropkick Pillman while Pillman came off the top rope for a flying dropkick attempt. After Liger missed a spin kick, Pillman quickly managed to hit a spin kick. Liger was still hopeful in spite of Pillman’s momentum and his determination allowed him to powerslam Pillman. Liger went for a tombstone, but Pillman reversed the tombstone attempt and tombstoned Liger. Pillman came off the top rope with a flying cross body press, but Liger used Pillman’s momentum against him and rolled over for the pinfall victory. What a match! Not only was this match very advanced and modernized for American wrestling standards, but it was a super exciting, high workrate match for any and all standards of pro wrestling, especially considering this was a WCW house show from 1991. This was easily Pillman’s best match up until that point in time, and it was actually one of Liger’s best matches as well. This match was a harbinger of the greatness they were about to show in February 1992. Great match. ****¾ 

Stampede 4/4/86 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title: Gama Singh vs. Chris Benoit 7:18 of 13:28
DC: This was the best match between the two. WWF superstar Davey Boy Smith did guest commentary. Benoit’s movements were looking more crisp each week. It’s been interesting to watch these early months of his career, in order to get a better idea of how he progressed as a rookie. Gama decided to step things up a notch too and hit a top-rope knee drop onto Benoit. Benoit came close to pinning Gama. The crowd was hoping Benoit would win, and there were “go Chris, go!” chants. However, Gama ended up retaining the title by putting Benoit to sleep via a Cobra clutch. ***

NJPW 6/18/90 Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium: Pegasus Kid vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 19:47
DC: After proving that he was a worthy challenger on 3/19/90, Pegasus Kid still had to prove that he had what it took to beat the champ. Now that he was more familiar working against Jushin Thunder Liger, Pegasus looked and moved around with more confidence than before. Pegasus wrestled like someone who wanted to impress and win this important bout. Liger was still the man here, but Pegasus was clearly able to back up everyone’s confidence in his ability. What was so perfect about this match is that it really put over the idea that Pegasus was more ready than before, and now more than ever a serious threat to Liger’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title, even scoring the win here in this non title match. Still, this match had that similar feeling the 3/19/90 match had in the sense that they were feeling each other out. It wasn’t until the outstanding 8/19/90 match that they really took things to a whole new level. Excellent match. ****¼

CMLL 12/8/91 Mexico City Arena Mexico, NWA World Welterweight Title: Fuerza Guerrera vs. Misterioso 19:26
DC: The workrate and intensity were high all the way through. Fuerza Guerrera was really on a roll in 1991, as he was easily the best worker in Mexican lucha libre that year. He kept pushing the pace and constantly tried to make sure something interesting was going on, which included cool moves, working the crowd, acting like a rudo, etc. He did whatever it took to give the fans their money’s worth. That’s the sign of a truly great professional wrestler. He was so into what he was doing. Excellent match. ****¼ 

5/28/94 GWA: Sabu vs. Al Snow 16:07
ML: A straight junior style match where Sabu tested himself as a worker. This was one of the best Sabu vs. Snow matches, and very different from what Sabu was doing in FMW or ECW. Sabu focused on working over Snow's left knee early because it was in a brace, and would sporadically bring it back in between high spots. Snow did his best to hobble around and put over the knee in a match that was very athletic and high flying. His selling wasn't perfect, but he was serious enough about acting like he was hampered, and for the most part, this didn't slow the match down. Snow could do just about everything Sabu did, plus a few of his own suplexes and bombs. He focused on mirroring Sabu's flying spots, and they took turns, with one avoiding and the other usually landing the same spot. They were unpredictable enough though that you never knew what would or wouldn't hit. They kept it in the ring other than a couple dives and Snow powerbombing Sabu on the floor. Sabu held off using any weapons or foreign objects until the finish, where he put Snow through a table with a quebrada. ***1/2

8/5/94 NWA Independent World Title No DQ: Sabu vs. Chris Benoit 15:58
ML: These two went all out to tear down the house of 25. This was considerably better than their 2/19/94 NWA match that had something vaguely resembling a crowd, as they did a lot more, and Benoit assured it was as well executed as Sabu gets. The match got off to a great intense start. Benoit really made Sabu pay for predictably diving at his ankle to open the match, savaging him with strikes and suplexing him to the floor. Sabu came back with his impressive right hands, and I didn't mind that he grabbed a chair quickly because things were already verging on getting out of control. There wasn't any down time here, there was hard hitting and big spectacular moves. Benoit may have been the most believable wrestler at cutting his opponent off because he always had impact on everything. This was the stiffest Sabu match so far. It had select weapons use, but there was still some sense of their actually being rules even in a match that legitimately didn't have any. Sabu clocked Benoit with a chair after Benoit accidentally took ref Pee Wee Moore out with a reverse diving body attack. The chair came back for the finish where Sabu used it to counter a diving headbutt then won with the Arabian facebuster. ***3/4

9/30/94 ECW: Sabu vs. Cactus Jack 15:04
ML: This wasn't nearly as good as their 1st match from 6/24/94. It was mostly hardcore chaos, with a lot of chair and table work from Sabu. There were some really big bumps and extra punishing shots, but for the most part they walked around hitting each other with objects, and sometimes upped that to jumping around with the objects. It didn't take long for Sabu to land on the guardrail missing a quebrada, and he was selling his ribs big time, but for some reason, he came right back with his chair assisted moves. Cactus suplexed Sabu on a table and piledrove him on a stage. Sabu answered with a dive off a chair on the stage. Cactus took a couple concussion inducing blows, getting his head bounced off the guardrail by 911 then taking 7 thudding shots with a beer bottle before it finally broke and Sabu pinned him with the Arabian press. ***

CMLL 11/15/91 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Love Machine & Black Magic & Mascara Sagrada vs. Blue Panther & Jerry Estrada & Pierroth Jr.
DC: This was the CMLL TV debut of the masked ‘Love Machine’ Art Barr, an American wrestler from Portland, OR who was the son of PNW promoter Sandy Barr and brother of Jesse "Jimmy Jack Funk" Barr. Black Magic was Northampton-born English wrestler Norman Smiley. Barr and Blue Panther would have a long and heated feud, but this was the very first time they ever met in the ring. Barr’s teams were the tecnicos (babyfaces), and Panther’s team were the rudos (heels). The match started off with Mascara Sagrada and Pierroth Jr. doing some standard and uneventful lucha stuff. Barr and Panther were tagged in, and they did some countering on the mat, which was right up the alley of ‘El Maestro’ (Panther). Smiley and Jerry Estrada were tagged in next, and they also did some lucha stuff on the mat that looked quite decent. These pairings all had another quick session until it became more of a free-for-all. Magic pinned Pierroth, and Barr pinned Panther. This meant the tecnicos won la primera caida (the first fall). The first fall was all about the feeling out process, but la segunda caida (the second fall) was just a quick equalizer, which is pretty much the case with 90% of the 2-out-of-3 falls matches in lucha libre Mexicana. And then la tercera caida (the third fall) is basically the big blow out and conclusion to the match. Barr and Estrada started things off in the third fall, and this was a really cool pairing, and things became more spectacular in this bout. People tagged in and out, and we got to see different pairings, but other than the occasional cool highspot, not much had really been established in this match so far. Things got way more exciting during the final minutes. Pierroth took a shoulder-first bump into the ringpost that sent him to the floor, and he was met by a torpedo-esque dive by Sagrada. Estrada then hit a wild tope suicida on Magic. Barr then really annoyed the heck out of Panther by pinning ‘El Maestro’ once again. Barr’s pinfall meant a victory for his tecnicos team. Good match. ***

WCW Power Hour 11/23/91 Submit or Surrender: Cactus Jack vs. Sting 12:57
DC: This was basically an ‘I Quit’ match, and it was a wild brawl. Cactus Jack was wearing a Sting shirt with Sting’s image crossed out with a big black cross. You gotta love a detail like that. Sting isn’t the most interesting wrestler, but he was solid and decent enough to have good matches with guys that would work hard and go beyond the norm like Cactus. This wasn’t the most memorable match of the year by any means, but this is a really good example of Cactus once again working hard and enhancing the quality of the match he’s in. And in spite of Sting not being super interesting, at least he was better than Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair. Both men tried to have as good a match as possible, and this was certainly well worth watching. The match ended when Cactus took a big bump off the apron to the floor and was deemed as being knocked out. Good match. ***¼ 

7/4/95 NJPW Best of the Super Jr. II League: Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger 12:36 of 20:20
ML: It seemingly started a bit slow, but the Lucha Libre sequences when they start to get going are very precise, and it just gets better and better from there. These two just execute everything so well. The movement is fluid, but it's still a high impact match, which allows it to be somewhat flashy while still maintaining a level of intensity. The moves may not exactly be important individually, but the match still built well in the sense that they kept upping the stakes, and it genuinely felt like they were progressing towards the finish. The climax saw Pegasus land on his feet for vertical suplex and try to backdrop Tiger, with both going over the top to the floor. After Pegasus won a struggle to re-enter, he tried to come off the top rope, but Tiger cut him off, and hit his avalanche BT bomb after some struggle for the win. This obviously wasn't the absolute best they could do, but it's a really high quality professional house show match. ***3/4

WWF SummerSlam 8/26/91 New York City Madison Square Garden, WWF Intercontinental Title: Mr. Perfect vs. Bret Hart 18:04
DC: One of the most exceptional things about Bret Hart is that he’s one of the very few of the ‘80s tag team workers that ended up having a better run as a singles wrestler than as a tag team wrestler. Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart, the Hart Foundation, was a really good tag team, but mainly for Bret, and it was ultimately his singles run starting this year that truly made him a household name, while Neidhart dropped down the card and never captured another major title after they dropped the WWF Tag Titles to the Nasty Boys on 3/24/91. Right from the start in this match, Bret Hart showed that he was very eager to win his first singles title in the WWF. Winning really feels like the most important thing in the world for Bret, and that’s what makes his matches very easy to get into as a fan. His fighting spirit and determination are key factors in the success of this match. ‘Mr. Perfect’ Curt Hennig was hurt going into this match, and he was wrestling with a back injury here, but he was determined to have this final match before taking a break and was clearly determined to give as strong a performance as possible because of his respect for Bret. The respect was mutual, as Bret has mentioned on more than one occasion that Hennig was his favorite opponent to wrestle. Having Bret as a championship-level singles wrestler was certainly a very good move by the WWF, as it meant the potential for more interesting matches than the average WWF matches. The near falls in this match were dramatic and helped build this match to an exciting finish. This was an exceptional match, and it was arguably the best match in WWF history up until that point in time. In this match, Bret certainly proved that his push as a singles superstar in the WWF was warranted. This was the best match between these two that’s available on video, but according to Bret himself, they had an even better match in Alaska at some point in 1989, but that match was unfortunately not filmed by anyone. Great match. ****½  

TWA 9/21/91 Philadelphia, PA Original Sports Bar: Owen Hart vs. Takayuki Iizuka 21:40
DC: NJPW’s Takayuki Iizuka battled Owen Hart, who was pretty much wrestling for all kinds of leagues all over the world in 1991 (UWA in Mexico, NJPW in Japan, CWA in Germany, ASW in England, and he wrestled for WCW, TWA and WWF in the United States that year). Owen’s technique set him apart from most wrestlers, and 1991 was a particularly excellent year for him. Wherever he went, it was clear that he was ahead of the curve compared to most wrestlers in the world at the time. Owen used graceful-looking headscissors and bridging escapes early in the match. Iizuka was a solid but unspectacular worker in NJPW, but here on a show featuring mainly American indy workers, Iizuka’s solidness made him stand out as one of the best workers on the card. What made this match particularly interesting was that they pretty much worked it the same way they otherwise would have on a NJPW show, as the fact this TWA card mainly featured average garbage wrestlers didn’t seem to make them change their gameplan. These two having about as good a match they probably could have had together at the time was a nice reward for the TWA league who actually spotlighted this match more than NJPW probably would have, as these two ended up having a 21-minute match. That being said, this match was only booked on the middle of the card, yet it felt like a main event, partially due to the effort by the wrestlers and partially due to the positive reactions from the vocal Philadelphia crowd. The match was wrestled at a steady pace from the start, with both men constantly trying to stay on top of their opponent and constantly either trying to attack or counter. After lots of spectacular action, including a plancha off the top to the floor by Owen, it was Owen who managed to pin Iizuka for the win. The crowd showed their appreciation by giving a standing ovation. This match was very rare, because it was one of the earliest examples of an excellently worked international-style junior heavyweight match on an American wrestling show. Owen was ahead of his time, and this meant he wasn’t always able to show what he was capable of, but here on this show, Owen definitely got to shine as one of the brightest stars in wrestling. This was easily the best match on this show, but another noteworthy match was Terry Funk vs. Kevin Sullivan, which was a decent 11-minute brawl that unfortunately randomly ended when the ref all of a sudden called for a double DQ after pretty much all the action took place outside of the ring. Excellent match. ****

PWFG 9/28/91 Minoru Suzuki vs. Wayne Shamrock 16:34
DC: This was the much anticipated rematch of the great Minoru Suzuki vs. (Ken) Wayne Shamrock match. They had a great 30-minute draw on PWFG’s debut show on 3/4/91, and in this one, everyone was looking forward to a winner. They approached the match more urgently, as you’d expect from two wrestlers now looking for a decisive victory. The intensity level was high, and they knew each other still quite well from their previous battle, so they were moderately cautious yet relatively aggressive at the same time. It’s a small little detail, but I felt that in the 3/4/91 match, they were more concentrated, while in this match they were more willing to take risks. While their slightly more adventurous approach here made for a more action-packed match, somehow it didn’t feel quite as rewarding watching it as the 3/4/91 match. Normally, you’d think that a 16-minute match would be an improvement over a 30-minute match because they would go harder, but in this case, their 30-minute match was so superbly worked that it feels like we didn’t get as much bang for our buck from them this time around. The 3/4/91 match felt more like it was a shoot style match ‘extraordinaire.’ This match felt more showy than the 3/4/91 match. Perhaps showy isn’t the right work, but it’s certainly more flashy, and while that sounds initially like a good thing, it also seems to take away the realistic and intriguing constant battle for position that made the 3/4/91 match so great. That being said, this was truly an excellent match in its own right. However, it occasionally felt like they weren’t being as organic and realistic as they potentially could have been. After 16 minutes, Shamrock won this bout via KO, and while it was a really fun match to watch, it didn’t feel quite as fulfilling as the great 3/4/91 match. Excellent. ****   

FILL 9/91 Monterrey Arena Coliseo: Jerry Estrada vs. La Fiera
DC: This was a rough lucha brawl, nothing fancy. A chain was being used as a weapon, which made things even more violent. This was arguably La Fiera’s best performance in years, and Jerry Estrada is quite an underrated worker in general. This crazy brawl is truly a hidden gem. One of the things that helped make this work as well as it did was the light selling, they didn’t oversell things. Great match. ****½ 

JWP 10/10/91 Hair vs. Mask, JWP/UWA Double Junior Title Match: The Scorpion vs. Cuty Suzuki 15:29
DC: They were able to show they were fighting for victory. This didn’t feel contrived. It seems like during this part of Cuty Suzuki’s career, she put a bit more thought into what she was doing, instead of relying on getting carried and being along for the ride. The Scorpion was a smooth worker, and one of the best on the JWP roster at the time. The stipulation kinda revealed the winner even before the match started, but they were able to make it somewhat plausible things could go either way through their quality work. Cuty won via a Liger Bomb. Very good match. ***¾ 

WCW Pro 10/15/91 (aired 11/2/91) Huntsville, AL: Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson 16:14
DC: This battle between former tag team partners was very well performed. That being said, these two facing each other is less interesting than seeing them wrestle two energetic tag team wrestlers, especially since Arn Anderson isn’t a very strong singles wrestler. When Anderson is in a tag team match, he seems to get extra energy and inspiration by being there for a tag team partner and part of a greater picture. When he’s in there in a singles match with the spotlight on himself, it seems like he doesn’t quite know how to deal with it. While it’s nice to see that he’s so unselfish and is better at being there to back up a tag team partner, this also means that his singles matches are more often than not skippable. Apart from being a tag team specialist, the reality simply is that Anderson isn’t exciting enough to have a singles match that’s more than just good. This match was expectedly disappointing, which I know sounds funny, but it’s a match that looks good on paper until you realize that Anderson in singles matches is almost never worth recommending (even though his opponent here, Windham, is a strong singles wrestler). Good match. ***

NJPW 10/18/91 Hiroshima Sun Plaza: Pegasus Kid vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 13:07
DC: Liger’s Asai moonsault looked cool. Pegasus was quite vicious, which made the commentators namedrop the great Dynamite Kid. This was an excellent display of pro wrestling. However, these two had set the standard so high in 1990, that this didn’t quite live up to their title bouts from 1990. Still, this was an excellent match. ****

CMLL 10/29/91: Fuerza Guerrera vs. Octagon
DC: Earlier that year, EMLL had changed its name to CMLL, but Fuerza Guerrera remained one of their leading lights. He was the master at orchestrating things. This match was his masterpiece. He was at the right place at the right time, selling and bumping wonderfully, and turning the tide when appropriate. He was able to dictate the pace of the match and make the opponent look great while still pushing the opponent to work hard and have a memorable and dramatic match. Both men juiced. Excellent match. ****¼ 

NJPW 11/5/91, IWGP Tag Team Title: Scott Norton & Rick Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase & Keiji Muto 17:53
DC: Scott Steiner & Rick Steiner were the tag team champions, but for this match, Scott Norton was taking the injured Scott Steiner’s place. Norton did a good job of playing his role as big powerhouse, and he was for a large part responsible for keeping the action going, since he constantly wanted to do something. Rick was a bit out of his element without his brother being there, but he adapted well to teaming with a different Scott, and was a solid partner. Keiji Muto did a good job of bumping and selling for Norton, they two had quite a bit of chemistry working against each other. In these days, Muto was actually willing and able to do a lot more than a bit later on in his career. Hase was a top 20 worker in the world at that time, and his understanding and ability certainly played a big role in this match being good. ***½ 

WCW Pro 11/5/91 Gainesville, GA, WCW Light Heavyweight Title: Brian Pillman vs. Richard Morton 13:50
DC: Brian Pillman had become the first WCW Light Heavyweight Champion after defeating Ricky Morton (known as Richard Morton now that he was a heel focusing on a singles career managed by Ms. Alexandra York aka Terri Runnels) in a tournament final at Halloween Havoc. Jim Ross was hyping New Japan’s Jushin Thunder Liger coming to tour WCW soon. This may be an unpopular opinion, but Morton may actually be better as a heel than as a babyface. It was quite unusual seeing Morton as a heel, since most people know him as one half of the very popular Rock n Roll Express. It feels like his understanding of American wrestling psychology is better put to use with him in the heel role, since he is an old school Southern wrestler. The match wasn’t very fast, mainly because the heel, Morton, was in control for quite a bit. Pillman did a good job selling Morton’s attack, and Morton did a good job staying on top of Pillman. It was the way they did things that made everything feel like it had meaning behind it. They managed to have a good ol’ American rasslin’ match without doing anything that was really cheesy or corny. Morton being in control for a long time, with some hope spots for Pillman here and there, really made the fans anxiously awaiting Pillman’s potential comeback in the match. They were teasing that Morton was about to win via some cheating, but Pillman turned it around and managed to score the win. This was a memorable match, as they really were able to be captivating throughout the match. That being said, it probably would have been even more memorable if they would have drawn out Pillman’s comeback in the match a bit more with some near falls. Either way, the storytelling was strong, and the overall execution was quite good. Good match. ***¼  

JWP 4/26/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Itsuki Yamazaki & Miss A vs. Rumi Kazami & Devil Masami 16:30
DC: Devil Masami’s best years were in the 1980s, but she’s generally an overrated worker who is more tolerable in tag team matches, and this was obviously a tag team match. Itsuki Yamazaki showed why she was a top 15 worker in all of the wrestling world at the time, as she really kept things going and tried to get the most out of the match. Miss A was a motivated worker who hadn’t quite reached her Dynamite Kansai peak years yet, but her energy was very useful in this bout. Rumi Kazama was in her prime in the year or two before the JWP split, and most of her kicks looked really cool. There were good moments in this match, but the match never seemed to fully click as a cohesive bout that was intriguing from start to finish. Good match. ***

AJW 4/29/91 Tokyo, WWWA Tag Team Title: Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota & Esther Moreno 8:13, 5:25, 9:57
DC: This was a super intense match. The workrate was just about as high as the intensity level, which meant this was a really exciting match from start to finish. Jungle Jack (Aja Kong & Bison Kimura) was determined to beat the crap out of their opponents. Manami Toyota and Esther Moreno prefer to fly around in a carefree manner, and that’s exactly what Jungle Jack was trying to avoid. Once Toyota & Moreno interrupted Jungle Jack’s flow, they immediately tried to launch themselves at Jungle Jack as much as possible. The loudly screaming Toyota was not so quietly becoming one of the most spectacular pro wrestlers in the world, and Moreno gave one of her most memorable performances here. Their determination got them the win in the first fall. In the second fall, they tried to keep the momentum going. However, Aja’s size and strength was often an obstacle that was hard to overcome. At some point in the second fall, Moreno started bleeding profusely, and her face quickly became a crimson mask. The second fall was won by Jungle Jack when Bison pinned Moreno. The third fall initially felt a bit chaotic with Jungle Jack’s attack feeling a bit scattered and disorganized. It seemed like they were constantly worried that Toyota & Moreno would make a comeback, which made their attack feel panicky and unfocused. This was understandable, since Toyota and Moreno had proven they could turn things around in a split second. And that is indeed what happened. The match instantly returned to being super spectacular when Toyota and Moreno once again kept leaping onto Jungle Jack. Everyone gave a strong effort in this match, and the match never really slowed down. Bison exceeded expectations. Aja showed she was a great base for Toyota’s flying. Moreno made the viewer wish she was in matches like this more often. And Toyota’s performance was superb, as she once again showed that she was one of the main joshi workers to keep an eye on. Even Jungle Jack started diving towards the end of the match. After a lot of exciting back-and-forth action, Jungle Jack retained the title. In spite of Jungle Jack being unsure of what to do in the beginning of the third fall, this was certainly one of the most memorable joshi puroresu matches of 1991. Great match. ****½ 

NJPW 5/6/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiroshi Hase 28:07
DC: This dream match is only available in hand-held version, since it took place at an untelevised event. Luckily, the video quality is excellent, and the camera angle is great, so it’s perfectly possible to fully enjoy this bout. The matwork was excellent, as it was the type of matwork that had a purpose, as they were challenging each other to show what they were capable of and also to come closer to victory. This wasn’t the type of matwork that was there just to kill time. That’s a good thing, since the match mainly consisted of matwork. These two showed they were capable of being creative and compelling through their grappling. The only downside of the match was that it was slightly too long, as the match would have benefitted from three minutes or so being cut off, as at some point, the match started losing some steam just before they picked things up with the finishing stretch. Great match. ****½  

PWA 5/13/91 Fridley, Minnesota: The Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn
DC: This was another really good match between these two. This wasn’t quite as intense as their previous match, but it was another example of how good these two were, and how advanced they were. They proved here that their previous match wasn’t just a fluke, as they were clearly able to deliver super memorable action on more than just one occasion. Like their other matches against each other, the match was ahead of its time, especially for American wrestling. However, this wasn’t their best match together, as it was a bit slower (relatively speaking). This was definitely more spectacular than anything in WWF or WCW at the time, though. Very good match. ***¾ 

PWFG 5/16/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Naoki Sano vs. Wayne Shamrock 26:15
DC: Naoki Sano’s road to PWFG is a rather unusual one, and we can in fact say that his entire career is quite an unusual one. Sano started out as a NJPW junior heavyweight in the 1980s, and he’s perhaps mostly known for his famous series of matches with Jushin Thunder Liger that culminated on 1/31/90 with a legendary great match. Sano then joined Tenryu's SWS, the infamous ‘money puroresu’ league, a league that didn’t last too long, but largely transformed into WAR. While he was working for SWS, Sano would also start competing for PWFG, as they shared financial backing, and this match we’re looking at right here was Sano’s first PWFG match, so it appears this was his first true shoot style match. It was particularly interesting seeing Sano here in action against (Ken) Wayne Shamrock, who just a little over two months prior had worked a great match with Minoru Suzuki on 3/4/91. Sano and Shamrock were both somewhat cautious in the beginning, but not in a non-intense kinda way, more in a manner where they conveyed that they respected each other's abilities and didn’t want to make a mistake early on. Shamrock seemed to be more aggressive than Sano though, as Shamrock was constantly looking for opportunities and openings to set up a vital submission hold. Sano was initially fine with just hanging in there and just not getting in a position that would give Shamrock too much of an advantage. Shamrock showed his wrestling skills with some nifty takedowns. Not only did his ability to hit takedowns make Shamrock dangerous, it was also his ability to follow them up with a threatening submission hold that basically meant Sano had to be very aware of every possible move Shamrock would attempt to go for. At some point, Shamrock started getting a bit too dominant, and it would have been nice if Sano would have become a bit more aggressive and daring. Shamrock was dangerous even in the stand-up, mostly because of his aggressiveness. Interestingly enough, Sano executed a DDT, which somehow didn’t seem too silly in this shoot style setting. Sano got a nice STF executed on Shamrock that showed that Shamrock couldn’t just get too confident yet. Shamrock hit a wonderful German suplex that almost caused Sano to not be able to get up in time for the ten count. This was a very good match, and the only real downside of the match is that it was just a little bit too one-sided due to Shamrock being clearly the superior fighter in every way. Of course, the shocking finish would tell a different story. While Sano’s victory seemed somewhat undeserving, at least based on how the match was wrestled overall, it made for a good ending of the match, and it shows that a win can come out of nowhere. Sano’s dragon suplex and the Fujiwara armbar were well executed, but the setup of the dragon suplex kinda looked a bit too showy and not as realistic as most of the things they were doing in this match. Either way, while this certainly wasn’t the memorable match Shamrock had with Suzuki two months prior, this match was never not interesting, and Shamrock really proved once again that he was a truly superb shoot style wrestler. Sano also deserves credit for holding up his own end. Very good match. ***¾  

LLI 5/19/91 Naucalpan El Toreo, Mask vs. Mask: Blue Blazer vs. Canek
DC: Owen Hart wrestled under his old WWF gimmick, the Blue Blazer. This match was significantly more interesting than almost every Blue Blazer match ever, though. Owen got to show his stuff against the top guy of the LLI, Canek. Owen had previously shown his greatness in Canada, the United States, England and Japan. In 1991, he showed that he was able to not only fit in but enhance the Mexican lucha libre product by bringing his Stampede Wrestling style into the LLI ring. Owen showed his gracefulness and smoothness. His execution was consistently superb. His timing was also superb. He was truly on top of his game in 1991. Canek gave one of his most spirited performances as well. In the end, Canek won the match, and the Blue Blazer had to unmask. Very good match. ***½ 

AJW 5/26/91: Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota 30:00
DC: This was a world of difference compared to Toyota’s match from 1990 against Bull Nakano, who was the champion and presented to the public as someone who had a tough time against Aja Kong. This showed the rise in the packing order of Manami Toyota. Aja Kong was selling a lot for Toyota, and Aja treated Toyota like an equal who she had to try to wrestle instead of a bug she had to squash. The downside of this approach is that Aja isn’t a very exciting wrestler on offense, so there wasn’t really anything gained from this sense of equalness. Toyota’s exciting flashy comeback spurts and spectacular bumping made the match. But, we had to sit through Aja’s dull offense and wait for Toyota to be on offense quite a lot. Luckily, Toyota is an excellent seller, so even the duller portions with Aja on offense were bearable. Aja did the standard pro wrestling offense like camel clutches and stuff like that. Toyota’s offense and defense were all very athletically-based and exciting to watch. That being said, credit to Aja for hitting a dropkick off the apron! That was awesome, for sure. However, the match lasted too long, which exposed the fact that Aja wasn’t capable of having a match this long against a more spectacular opponent. Toyota was showing Aja all the tips and tricks she had learned from her battles with the great Akira Hokuto. This was an important match for both these wrestlers, and it was quite a good one for the viewers as well. Good match. ***¼ 

NJPW 5/31/91 Osaka-jo Hall, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Norio Honaga vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 12:32
DC: This was a surprisingly good match considering Norio Honaga isn’t exactly known for having a lengthy resume of memorable singles matches. This was and really felt like a grudge match, however, and it’s one of the few times that Liger’s face was completely exposed (of course, revealing the face of Keiichi Yamada). It was an intense brawl, and Honaga juiced. They didn’t do these types of matches often in the NJPW junior heavyweight division, so this really was a match that was able to catch the viewer’s attention as something unique and different. Honaga deserves credit for being able to be in a match this good, and Liger once again showed why he was the top junior heavyweight wrestler in the world. Very good match. ***¾  

NJPW 5/31/91 Osaka-jo Hall, IWGP Tag Team Title: Scott Steiner & Rick Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki 16:48
DC: Even Antonio Inoki was at the edge of his seat, waiting in anticipation for this match. The match started off with Scott Steiner and Hiroshi Hase giving everyone a reason to care through their compelling work against each other. Scott was quite patient for his standards, and this match wasn’t just all about bombs. All four workers contributed to the storytelling in this match, but Hase and Scott certainly stood out as the two main characters of this story. Rick Steiner was awesome in his role as well, though, as he hit a tremendous suplex on Kensuke Sasaki, who kinda sold it too much, but that would be considered really good selling in regular puroresu back in 1991. Rick then threw Hase overhead. Sasaki seemed to enjoy this type of match, and he was a lot more on point than usual. All four workers did a good job of making it seem like a competitive bout that had to be won at all costs, as they showed quite a bit of urgency (especially for NJPW heavyweight standards), and they showed frustration and despair when things weren’t going their way. Rick and Scott continued to throw their opposition around like rag dolls. This match wasn’t just all about throws, though, as there was a nice balance of people throwing each other around and good storytelling, which meant this match was a lot more satisfying than their Tokyo Dome match, which was lots of fun, but left you wanting a bit more substance. The selling in this match was done in a serious old school pro wrestling way, which meant there was quite a bit of emphasis on the selling, but it was at least not done in an overdramatic or pretentious way. The final minutes had some sick moments, including Scott top-rope DDT’ing Hase off of Rick’s shoulders! Excellent match. ****¼ 

PWA 6/10/91 Minnesota: The Lightning Kid vs. Wellington Wilkins Jr.
DC: The Lightning Kid was so lightning-like quick at the time! The monkey flip sequence he was able to execute was so smooth and fast. Wellington Wilkins Jr. was never an exceptional wrestler, but he was definitely a good wrestler around this time until he started slowing down midway through the decade and was relegated to comedy material in Michinoku Pro. Forget about Wilkins’ later years, as here he was challenging The Kid to work a different kind of match than the Kid was used to. Wilkins had wrestled on the 1st two PWFG shows in 1991, and this was almost like a continuation of that, yet still allowing The Kid to do his stuff. Wilkins was doing some shoot-style stuff, and The Kid went along with it and was still able to do his thing from time to time. The best part was that The Kid, in an act of desperation, started trying to do shoot-style on Wilkins, since he realized that was the only way the match was going to go. This is unique stuff. Technically it’s only a very good match, but when considering just the time and place and uniqueness of it all… it deserves to be called an excellent match. Excellent match. ***¾ 

NJPW 6/12/91 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Shiro Koshinaka & Osamu Kido vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Kengo Kimura 13:04
DC: Shiro Koshinaka was the driving force of this match. The match slowed down a lot whenever he wasn’t on offense. Kengo Kimura was still useful in 1991, but his work was a bit too deliberate to be worthy of extensive praise. Osamu Kido never was a good worker, and he didn’t really contribute much. Kuniaki Kobayashi did some good things, but his prime was the mid 1980s. In other words, this match is mainly recommended for those interested in seeing how good the underrated Koshinaka still was in 1991. Good match. *** 

NJPW 6/20/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jushin Thunder Liger & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Kengo Kimura 12:14
DC: Jushin Thunder Liger was the top Japanese junior heavyweight at the time, but he could hang in there with these heavyweights, especially since Koshinaka, Kuniaki Kobayashi and Kengo Kimura used to be junior heavyweights back in their younger years and were relatively small heavyweights anyway. Koshinaka and Kobayashi did some sequences together that saw them channeling their 1980s selves. Kobayashi then was surprisingly able to work some spectacular sequences with Liger. It was definitely nice to see Kobayashi be so relevant again. Kimura was useful, but he contributed least to the match, and mainly was in there during the down periods of the match. The finishing stretch of this match was relatively short, but it was a truly spectacular one. Excellent match. ****

NJPW 7/4/91 Fukuoka, Mask vs. Mask: Pegasus Kid vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 16:22
DC: This wasn't on the level of their great matches from 1990, but it was an excellent match nonetheless. It seemed like maybe a bit more of a dramatic last few minutes would have been nice, and maybe a bit more urgency overall would have been welcome as well. In spite of Pegasus Kid trying hard to beat Jushin Thunder Liger, it was Liger who after quite a bit of selling, somehow didn't have too much trouble putting Pegasus away. Pegasus unmasked and was revealed to be Chris Benoit. Excellent match. **** 

GWF 7/12/91 Dallas, TX Sportatorium, GWF Light Heavyweight Title Tournament Final: The Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn
DC: Their PWA matches were more raw and more all-out extreme wrestling. Their GWF matches, while really good and better than most TV matches at the time, were clearly more catered towards a TV audience, as they were trying to wrestle in a more accessible manner, which included acknowledging the crowd and pacing themselves in a more mainstream-approved way. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, but it definitely was a noticeable difference from their PWA matches, which were more relentless. Still, this was quite spectacular when you compare it to what most American wrestling fans were exposed to at the time. Other than Brian Pillman and Owen Hart, there weren’t any other North American wrestlers who were THIS spectacular. This was likely slowed down a bit due to the whole tournament being taped over two days, with their final 3 matches all taking place today. Kid, who was more committed to GWF, and one of the first stars they created with this tournament, becamse the inaugural champ. Very good match. ***½

9/13/25 UFC: Daniel Lopes vs. Jean Silva R2 4:48
ML: An interesting matchup of two of the brighter up and coming fighters in the division. Lopes, coming off his title decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski, had the pressure, the wrestling, and was able to rely on his amazing chin in between that, not reacting to numerous clean shots and continuing to push forward. Silva has fast and explosive striking, great hand speed in the pocket. Lopes kept pressuring him and looking to counter into takedowns, so the toe to toe game that he dominated was more difficult for him to execute. I didn't feel like Silva was too reckless here. He needed to take some chances to execute his game, otherwise he was going to get stuck in Lopes'. I think Lopes was just good at being able to make Silva pay for some of the chances that he did take. Certainly, the chances Silva took led to his demise, and he was arguably a little too cocky about the stand up differential because Lopes hadn't shown the kind of firepower to make Silva worry about him, but Lopes obviously isn't just going to stand in the pocket with him and let Silva have his way and Silva wasn't going to beat the larger, longer Lopes by sitting back and waiting for Lopes to make a mistake. Silva has a ton of power, and he tries to be unpredictable because he can do enough damage with one clean shot to at least lead to the finish, and Lopes lack of head movement makes him a tantalizing target. Part of that power is generated by spinning, and part is generated by closing the distance fast on occassion, both of which open him up to more potential consequences than more conservative techniques. One of the things that worked in Lopes favor was that since he was the pressure the majority of the fight, Silva had to change things up aggressively to take control. Lopes gained the early advantage pushing forward after Silva's spinning heel kick, taking his back as he was running to get away, and tossing him down. Lopes easily mounted, and quickly cut Silva with elbows. Lopes was landing shot after shot even though Silva was still moving his head and trying to defend himself, there just wasn't much he could do with Lopes postured up in mount throwing elbow after elbow. This was arguably close to being stopped by Mike Beltran from the one-way traffic when Silva swept and stood, escaping a reaction triangle from Lopes. Silva had a few moments using the front kick to counter the jab, but wasn't about to get overaggressive and get taken right back down. Silva had a lot more looks and weapons. He was trying to set up his combos, and began to get off the left to the body or the uppercut followed by the right to the head despite being in the southpaw stance. Silva was starting to get into the flow working in the pocket, with Lopes just looking to counter and land the calf kick. Silva landed a big right hand, and was really starting to land solidly. Lopes kept walking Silva down though. Eventually, Silva gave up the takedown missing a punch. Silva was able to scramble quickly though. Since Silva obviously lost the first round, and had just given up a takedown, he probably wanted to finish the second round strong to make sure he still had a chance at the decision. Silva tried to get aggressive in the final 30 seconds, and he was landing elbows and overhands. Lopes timed him perfectly though, and Silva walked into a spinning elbow, which took him out even without landing perfectly. Lopes just pounded him out to the stoppage. Good match.

9/17/25 AEW Unified, AEW International & AEW Continental Title Eliminator: Mascara Dorada vs. The Beast Mortos 10:01
ML: Fun highly athletic lucha spotfest that was a showcase for Dorada's seemingly gravity defying athleticism. Dorada stood out here, as in Mexico, and is a next level athlete who at just 23-years-old maybe only gives you one thing, but can be elite at it. It was fast and fluid with less of a planned feel to their lucha sequences and a high degree of difficulty, but AEW ropes are different than CMLL's, leading to a bit of sloppiness from Dorada despite Mortos quickly pushing forward. Mortos worked a faster and more athletic lucha style match to fit Dorada's needs. Mortos was able to keep up with him, and added some of his power without slowing things down. They packed in as much as they could outside of when the commercial break was going on. ***

PWA 4/18/91 Minnesota: The Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn
DC: There are sources that say this was from April ‘90, but it’s actually from April ‘91. Anyway, this was wild! They just kept launching themselves at each other with such intensity. This wasn’t just another match, this was two of the most promising young talents at the time giving their best effort. This wasn’t pretty, this was RAW (and more raw than Monday Night Raw, which didn’t exist back then anyway, could ever be). They just cared about beating the crap out of each other, and they just happened to do it in a super spectacular way that was lightyears ahead of what pretty much everyone else was doing in the States at the time. These two were decades ahead of their time. They were able to incorporate spectacular stuff in a very intense manner. Sean Waltman would deliver some quality wrestling as The Kid/The 1-2-3 Kid/Syxx/X-Pac later in his career, but here in his early days as the 19-year old Lightning Kid, he was truly at his most amazing and most groundbreaking. Jerry Lynn, who was a bit more experienced and at 27 years old was quite a bit older than The Kid, has always been a super underrated talent that often has been overlooked over the years, but footage like this shows how ahead of the curve he was at the time as well. Great match. ****½ 

AJPW 4/14/91 Nagahama City Gymnasium, Champion Carnival: Danny Kroffat vs. Cactus Jack 12:52
DC: The thing about a Cactus Jack match is that you can’t look away for a minute, as you never know what’s going to happen. This unpredictable worker was still an underrated performer with a cult following rather than the household character he would become later that decade. Danny Kroffat was one of the best tag team wrestlers in the world at the time, but he was also a reliable singles worker. This Champion Carnival Block B match wasn’t televised, but the fans in attendance and the fans watching this hand-held footage got their money’s worth, as these two worked a fun match. Cactus was definitely working harder than Kroffat here, but that was understandable since Cactus was trying to prove himself. For Kroffat, this wasn’t one of his biggest matches that year, so he didn't give one of his best efforts. This didn’t stop Cactus from trying to have a memorable match, as he was being his usual wild and crazy self, much to the delight of the audience. Good match. ***¼ 

WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event 4/15/91 Omaha, NE: Bret Hart vs. Ted DiBiase 9:56
DC: This was the second singles match between Bret Hart and Ted DiBiase (their first one took place on 3/8/89), and this took place in DiBiase’s birthplace of Omaha, NE. He was certainly not a fan favorite, though, as he was one of the top villains in wrestling at the time. WWF had just pulled the trigger on Bret’s singles push after he and Jim Neidhart lost the tag team championship at WrestleMania VII to the Nasty Boys. It was clear WWF was very determined to give Bret this singles run, as only two days after WrestleMania, Bret started wrestling in singles competition on a regular basis. This was quite a big singles match for Bret, as it was a big opportunity to show where he stands in the packing order, as DiBiase had been one of WWF’s most recognizable heel characters for the past couple of years. In the pre-match promo, Sensational Sherri Martel, who was DiBiase’s valet at the time, claimed that money wasn’t just everything but the only thing. Bret proved that he was indeed ‘the excellence of execution’ as he executed his moves excellently. What makes Bret stand out in WWF is that his movements are significantly smoother and quicker than most of the WWF roster, which mainly consisted of large stiffs at the time. Bret’s singles push was certainly a refreshing thing, and it opened the door for WWF wrestlers that weren’t roided monsters to get a chance. Of course, this wasn’t something that would change overnight, as the WWF World Heavyweight Champion at the time was the Ultimate Warrior, the ultimate definition of roided stiff. This wasn’t one of Bret’s all-time best matches or anything, but it feels like it was a significant match in his career, as this was where he really got the chance to get a big singles match on a major TV show. When DiBiase was in control, Bret tried his best to sell as excellently as possible, but DiBiase didn’t do anything extraordinary while on offense, and relied on his character being one of the most over heels in history. The match ended in a double count-out, and in spite of the fact that DiBiase was no longer truly a steady main eventer and mainly feuding with midcarder Virgil, it was still quite a big thing for Bret to draw DiBiase. Very good match. ***¾

9/10/25 AEW: Adam Page vs. Josh Alexander 16:21
ML: This was better than their 4/16/25 Owen Hart Tournament match, having much more of a big match feel despite being non title, non tournament, and obviously setting HMP up for his PPV match against the worst Don Callis Family guy. This was basically good for the reasons that Hangman's match with Kyle Fletcher will be unwatchable to me, they presented it as a serious enough athletic contest, hitting each other to fill the gaps between their big moves rather than just stalling or making things silly with Kyle spending more of the match facing the crowd rather than his opponent and making every move he takes hokey with his buffoonish expressions. As with most wrestlers today, HMP and Alexander are good at using big moves, but they actually also did a reasonable time of filling the time in between so it actually felt like an athletic contest that the competitors were trying to win. This mentality was added to by Bryan Danielson's commentary, presenting it as a sport with actual technique, strategy, and consequences. Josh was obviously never going to win, but within what you can do with a booker that's 99.9% predictable, he showed what he has to offer and gave his best AEW performance to date. This felt more like the Alexander we saw in TNA, minus the actual push. There was a lot of All Japan type of big moves on the outside, with HMP using an exploder. Alexander used the apron well, with a brainbuster and German suplex, but Hangman stopped the C4 spike and answered with a deadeye, leading to the buckshot lariat finish after some annoying stoogy interference by Lance Archer and Rocky Romero. ***

10/11/10 Kamen Kizou FIESTA2010: Leon vs. Natsuki Taiyo 15:00
ML: The most lucha oriented of their matches to fit the masked festival setting. Fluid action, very poetic movement, chaining moves together well. Taiyo was doing a Tiger Mask gimmick, a red version since she was in PASSION RED at the time. The faster you do things the more impressive they tend to look. No running sequence is going to look realistic, but Taiyo can do them as impressive as just about anyone because she simply has more pure speed. These two want to run more than most, and this portion of the match was really impressive almost no matter what moves or sequences they actually wound up using because Taiyo is so fast and so exceptional while on the move. The slower portions of the match were merely functional. They were good enough, and provided a range and a dynamic to the action, but certainly they were more useful for making the subsequent fast portions seem more impressive than amazing in their own right. There's genuine Lucha Libre sequences here, and some that are blended. This was a really fun athletic match, but the lack of a finish kept it from reaching the extra notch. ***1/2

AJW 1/4/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, WWWA World Title: Bull Nakano vs. Akira Hokuto 19:46
DC: Bull Nakano had been the holder of AJW’s Red Belt for exactly one year at the time of this match. As awesome as her Las Cachorras Orientales (LCO was originally a stable led by Akira Hokuto that also included Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda before LCO was just the great tag team of Mita and Shimoda) and Dangerous Queen years are, Hokuto’s work prior to mid-1992 shouldn’t be overlooked, even though the character she portrayed before mid-1992 could be considered somewhat bland in comparison. This match from 1/4/91, which was from an era before the date January 4 was all about NJPW Tokyo Dome shows, started off with a lot of action that briefly spilled to the floor where Hokuto got beat up by Nakano. When the action came back into the ring, Nakano kept dominating. Occasionally, Hokuto would be able to take Nakano down, but Nakano was quite dominating. This was not a surprise since Nakano had a big size advantage over the challenger. This was around the time the AJW audience had been seeing quite a major change. In the mid and late 1980s, the AJW shows mainly consisted of school girls due to the popularity of the Crush Gals, Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka. However, by the mid 1990s, the majority of the audience would appear to consist of middle aged men. This change in demographic subsequently meant there was less future joshi talent in the audience, which may or may not have played a big role in the decline of joshi puroresu after peaking in the 1990s based on that generation growing up idolizing Jaguar Yokota & Crush Gals. The school girls in attendance at this show were chanting in support of Hokuto, as Hokuto was getting destroyed. A small amount of blood appeared on Hokuto’s forehead. Nakano felt she had things fully in control, and the match slowed down a bit for a little while. Nakano was getting overconfident and/or was getting a little bit tired, as Hokuto was able to outmaneuver the champ and apply some holds on her. You could never really count Nakano out though, and she hit a couple of big moves seemingly out of nowhere, including a plancha off the top rope to the floor. Nakano also hit her signature guillotine leg drop, but Hokuto managed to kick out at two. Nakano went for another one, but Hokuto rolled away, and almost managed to pin Nakano via a tiger suplex. Hokuto hit several dropkicks off the top rope that all hit the mark. Still, Hokuto was not able to put Nakano away. Hokuto hit a somersault plancha to the floor. Both women showed a lot of desire. Kyoko Inoue interfered against Hokuto, but the referee wouldn’t allow the pinfall to happen right away. Nakano then hit a thunder fire bomb, but Hokuto kicked out. Hokuto suplexed Nakano off the top rope and hit her northern lights bomb. Nakano could not be defeated on this night though. Nakano hit a bridging backdrop suplex that got her the pinfall victory. Nakano showed great athleticism for someone of her size. Hokuto showed a lot of heart and determination. The action was exciting, and these two women showed early on in the decade that the 1990s would indeed be a very interesting decade for joshi puroresu fans. ****¼ 

JWP 1/6/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama vs. Harley Saito & Shinobu Kandori 10:34
DC: Rumi Kazama’s offense probably looked better than at any other time in 1991. There was a lot more intensity and accuracy shown by her in this match. Shinobu Kandori brought some of that intensity that makes her best performances memorable. Harley Saito’s work was super crisp in this match. And Mayumi Ozaki moved around super gracefully. In other words, everyone seemed to be on top of their game for this match. This was a very fun 10-minute match. Very good match. ***¾ 

JWP 1/6/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, UWA International Champion Decision Tournament 1st Round: Miss A vs. Itsuki Yamazaki 16:46
DC: Miss A wasted no time, attacking Itsuki Yamazaki even before the time keeper had the chance to ring the bell. Despite Miss A’s display of urgency, Yamazaki was able to turn things around by using Miss A’s own momentum against her, thanks to Yamazaki’s use of leverage and knowledge of counters. Yamazaki started focusing on Miss A’s left leg, perhaps in an effort to try to ground the energetic Miss A, intuiting that the powerful Miss A probably will be a lot less dangerous whenever she’s not kicking or running. Miss A would occasionally try to interrupt Yamazaki’s assault with some kicks, but due to the damage done by Yamazaki, Miss A would always be back in trouble rather quickly. It appeared that Miss A didn’t have a real answer for Yamazaki’s strategic approach. Miss A was relying on the right moment arriving for her to literally get a grip on Yamazaki. That moment came when Miss A caught Yamazaki and dropped her on the canvas. Miss A realized she had to now stay on top of Yamazaki if she didn’t want to lose momentum again. Miss A applied some holds that focused on Yamazaki’s legs, perhaps out of inspiration of Yamazaki’s successful approach earlier in the match. The match had become a lot more competitive now, as it had become clear that this wasn’t going to be the easy win it looked like it was going to be for Yamazaki. Ironically, things didn’t get as exciting as expected once the match became more competitive. This was because the urgency from earlier in the match had become less prevailing, and both workers were selling the damage more and more. However, Yamazaki turned this into a more exciting match with her dropkicks, bodypresses and flying headbutts off the ropes. As the match approached the finish, both wrestlers were now more clear about their intention to finish each other off, which helped increase the drama. Miss A managed to hit a tombstone piledriver on Yamazaki. However, Yamazaki was able to roll away when Miss A went for a flying headbutt. Apparently enough damage had been done to Yamazaki though, as she was selling the effects of the tombstone and previous moves, which put her in the position to get caught off guard by a Miss A lariat. Miss A went for the cover and won the match via pinfall. The match was definitely at its most interesting whenever Yamazaki was on offense. Even though Miss A wasn’t quite the Dynamite Kansai we came to know during the interpromotional era of joshi puroresu, it was clear that Miss A was indeed a strong opponent and someone with a lot of promise in this sport. It’s always a treat to watch a Yamazaki singles match against a strong opponent, and these matches from JWP 1991 remind us this former Jumping Bomb Angel is a wrestler that has been rather overlooked and underrated for the most part. ***¾

AJW 1/11/91 Kanagawa Kawasaki-shi Taiikukan, All Pacific Title: Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto 16:20
DC: Manami Toyota showed a lot of viciousness as she went right after Akira Hokuto’s taped up right arm, completely taking off all the tape so that she could do more damage to her opponent. Referee Daichi Murayama was not pleased, but he allowed things to continue, especially since Hokuto certainly didn’t want to let this opportunity to win the All Pacific Title slip away like this. This definitely was a very different side from Manami Toyota, as we’re not used to seeing her focus on a specific body part at all, much less in such a vicious manner. Hokuto rolled to the floor, and her arm got taped up again. Toyota didn’t seem to care too much about Hokuto’s well-being though, as she continued attacking Hokuto’s right arm as soon as she could. Toyota hit a tremendous tope suicida. Toyota then went for a plancha off the top rope, but Hokuto moved. Hokuto hit a wicked somersault plancha. What was particularly cool about these dives was that they were hit like they were firing off a weapon, purely launching themselves to do damage to their opponent. This is quite different from some of the high flying we see in today’s wrestling, where it sometimes seems the high flying is only done to score a higher star rating from people and/or just for the sake of it. The execution wasn’t always perfect here, but that only added more to the grittiness of the match. Suzuka Minami, who was the other half of the Marine Wolves along with Hokuto, was about to throw in the towel out of concern for the well-being of her tag team partner. Despite Hokuto still being in her spunky babyface years (as she still hadn’t reached her LCO/Dangerous Queen years), Hokuto already was able to add so much drama to her matches through amazing selling. Toyota hit a wonderful moonsault that we were able to view perfectly since they showed the move from the viewpoint of the turnbuckle corner camera. When Toyota went for a second one, Hokuto moved and hit a dropkick off the top rope. Hokuto executed a perfectly executed bridging German suplex, but Toyota was able to kick out. Hokuto went for a somersault kick off the top rope, but Toyota managed to move and immediately started twisting Hokuto’s arm relentlessly. Toyota was awarded the win when the ref felt Hokuto was apparently no longer able to defend herself. This was a great match that was quite different from the usual big Toyota matches Toyota would later become known for, since it really had more of a focus and a very consistent story throughout, which one would assume was due to the influence of the veteran Hokuto. This was the second great Manami Toyota singles match against Hokuto, and in general. Of course, Hokuto deserves a lot of the credit for showing so much courage, passion and emotion. Also, Hokuto deserves credit for ultimately guiding Toyota to a great and cohesive bout. ****½   

LLI 1/13/91 Naucalpan El Toreo, Mask vs. Hair: Hijo del Santo vs. Brazo de Oro
DC: First fall was nothing. Brazo de Oro being unconvincing on offense, and Hijo del Santo being very willing to just let Oro have his few minutes of fame. In the second fall, Santo was all business, hitting a tope suicida and being just all business in general. Blood was flowing, and we were now ready for the third fall. What hampered the match was the fact that Brazo de Oro wasn’t a very convincing opponent for Hijo del Santo, who was excellent here. Still, this was more than just a pretty good match, as it was indeed quite intense at times, which was emphasized by the blood. The dramatic near falls towards the end really added lots of drama, since it wasn’t done in every single match back then, and this was definitely way better than most of the CMLL matches that year. Brazo de Oro gave a good performance, but Hijo del Santo was the worker who made the match a recommendable one , as he gave one of his strongest performances ever. Very good match. ***½  

WWF Royal Rumble 1/19/91 Miami, FL Arena: Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty vs. Pat Tanaka & Kato 19:13. Marty Jannetty was knocked off the top to the floor before the bell rang. Shawn Michaels took a big back drop bump. The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) quickly fired back, though. They executed dual tope suicidas. The crowd was chanting “USA!” This was around the time the WWF was exploiting the Gulf War and WWF Champion Sgt. Slaughter was turned from a Real American Hero into an Iraqi sympathizer. Hawaiian wrestler Pat Tanaka was the son of a Japanese-American wrestler known as Duke Keomuka, and Tanaka was part of the New Japan dojo class of 1984. Tanaka mainly wrestled in the United States during his career though. Tanaka used to team with Japanese wrestler Akio Sato in WWF, but he had recently been teaming with his old Badd Company tag team partner, the Croatian-Canadian wrestler Paul Diamond (here masked and known as Kato, pretending to be Japanese). Tanaka’s flying cross body press is even more awesome than Mil Mascaras’ flying cross body press. Michaels sold it superbly. This was back when Michaels would sell just exactly right (as opposed to overselling like crazy in later years). Of course, it helped that he was in a match with guys that could work, so he didn’t have to dance with himself like he would in later years. The crowd was super excited, and this was about the best opener in WWF history up until that point in time. Roddy Piper was on color commentary, assisting Gorilla Monsoon, and Piper’s excitement added even more to the already overflowing energy. Say what you want about Piper, but he always was passionate about what he was doing. After a beautiful moonsault by Michaels, the Rockers double dropkicked the Orient Express. They followed up with dual planchas off the top to the floor. The middle portion of the match was a little bit dull, as Tanaka executed the hold that is mandatory for all Japanese wrestlers in WWF, the trapezius claw hold, a move that always slows things down (infamously made infamous by Yokozuna). After a long selling segment, Michaels tags in Jannetty, and Jannetty is “going bananas” (according to Gorilla Monsoon). Jannetty was about to launch Michaels off the top rope, but the Orient Express saw it coming and sent Michaels to the floor. However, soon after, the Rockers scored the win. This was a hot opener, but it could have used some near falls. Of course, that’s not a thing WWF did at the time, so this was about as good as it gets for January 1991 WWF. Very good match. ***¾ 

WCW 1/21/91 (aired 2/2/91) Atlanta, GA: Barry Windham & Arn Anderson vs. Brad Armstrong & Tim Horner
DC: The Horsemen vs. The Lightning Express. Barry Windham and Arn Anderson did a very good job of bumping wildly for the energetic babyfaces. Windham and Anderson were really strong tag team workers, always making sure the match stayed interesting and making sure the match kept flowing smoothly, no matter who was doing what. Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner were two of the more fun to watch babyfaces in WCW at the time, as they were light on their feet and were able to move around quite well. Anderson isn’t the best singles wrestler out there, but he’s particularly strong as a tag team wrestler, as his unselfishness works particularly well in short doses in between his tag team partner taking over for him. Windham was acting less helpless than Anderson was acting, but Windham certainly also was very giving and was very unselfish, always trying to make sure his opponents looked good. Anderson’s spinebuster was an amazing move that could just completely turn the tide, as it was executed with such force. All four men worked hard and at all times did whatever was best for the match. They showed a lot of passion as workers and as characters. This was some really top-notch American rasslin’ displayed in an exceedingly good TV match. What they did really well that is missing from modern wrestling is that they really put over the idea that two teams were fighting to win a competitive bout. They understood how to keep the match exciting at all times. Anderson has the unique ability to act comically in a badass and relatively believable way. Windham showed once again he should have been the World Heavyweight Champion. Horner is a wrestler more people should be talking about. And Armstrong’s energy was a crucial factor in the success of this match. The match ended with some shenanigans as Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed) showed up, but that didn’t stop this match from being a big success. Excellent match. ****¼  

TWA Winter Challenge II 3/2/91 Philadelphia, PA Penn Hall, Falls Count Anywhere: Cactus Jack vs. Eddie Gilbert 12:23
DC: This match took place on one of the bigger shows promoted by Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA). Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) took a big bump over the guardrail into the crowd very early in the match. They give the fans exactly what they wanted, a brawl in the crowd before that was really a thing. Speaking of the fans, some of these fans would eventually be regulars at ECW shows, which was not a surprise, since TWA was basically a predecessor to ECW. At some point during this brawling in the crowd, Gilbert juiced, and a bit of blood was dripping from his forehead. Cactus’ selling was awesome, as it was typical pro wrestling but it somehow didn’t come across as silly, as the overall work was so intense and passionate. Plus, you have to keep in mind that at the time, this type of wild brawl wasn’t your every-day thing like it eventually became. Gilbert wasn’t necessarily a great wrestler, but he was just really cool, and he understood wrestling psychology very well. He was particularly good at brawling, as that would mask the fact that he wasn’t necessarily the most athletic guy out there (especially after what was supposed to be a career ending car accident in 1983) while emphasizing that he was one of the more intense guys in the business. Cactus was just totally crazy and willing to do crazy things not many others were even thinking of, and this made him quite a bit of a cult hero on the indy scene at the time. Cactus hit an elbow off the apron onto Gilbert on the concrete floor. Ouch! Gilbert then suplexed Cactus on the concrete floor! Gilbert went for a cover, but only got a two count. When you watch a bunch of stuff from 1990 and 1991 from all over the wrestling world, it’s easy to understand why the Philadelphia scene and wrestlers like these two were setting the indy scene on fire, as they provided a product that was bar raising, exciting, different… and dare I say, extreme! Cactus did a sunset flip off the apron onto the concrete for crying out loud! In my humble opinion, Calgary is the wrestling capital of the world, but I’d say that Philadelphia is the wrestling capital of the United States. Excellent match. ****

AJPW 3/3/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Richard Slinger 11:01
DC: This is a hidden gem of which only hand-held footage is available. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi gave a really inspired performance, as this turned into quite a heated bout. Richard Slinger showed that he was an underrated worker not enough people talk about. Slinger’s kicks looked quite good, and his level of urgency as well. Things slowed down a bit as the match went on, but that didn’t stop it from being a memorable bout. Excellent match. **** 

CMLL 3/8/91 Mexico City Arena Mexico, Mask vs. Mask: Fuerza Guerrera vs. Gallo Tapado 18:16
DC: Gallo Tapado was not an amazing wrestler, but it was his understanding of how these mask vs. mask matches work that made his performance quite good. Fuerza was truly an amazing rudo worker, and he was the driving force behind this match being memorable. The technique in this match was good but not exceptional. However, the drama, timing and excitement was tremendous. The overall execution was superb. This was one of the best Mexican lucha libre matches of the year 1991, in spite of it being unlikely to be a really memorable match on paper. Fuerza Guerrera won the first fall very quickly. It seemed this was going to be a quick and easy victory for Fuerza, who was one of the best Mexican workers at the time. The second fall was more interesting. The rooster’s mask was ripped up a bit, and when he whipped Fuerza into the corner, Fuerza took a Harley Race-esque bump over the top rope to the floor. Gallo Tapado won the second fall, and all of a sudden, this had turned into a competitive bout in which Fuerza seemingly had to worry about potentially being embarrassed by this rooster. The third fall was the biggest and most dramatic fall, just the way it should be. All of a sudden, Gallo had newfound energy, as he understood this was the biggest match of his career. Fuerza was so good at making Gallo look exceptional, as his timing and bumping was top-notch. The match briefly lost momentum when Fuerza was selling and bleeding through his mask for Gallo, because Gallo was unsure how to play his role during this segment. It wasn’t like he did anything to mess things up, but he didn’t exactly add much either. Luckily, they soon went to some near falls, and this brought the excitement back. Fuerza was on top of his game in 1991, and his ability to make a match exceed expectations was clearly on display here. At some point he took a missed somersault plancha bump to the floor that Cactus Jack would have been proud of. In the end, Fuerza won this match (and deservingly so). Excellent match. ****¼

NJPW 3/14/91 Nagoya Rainbow Hall: Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Takayuki Iizuka 24:10
DC: Not much happened in the first few minutes, but the action picked up enormously when the energetic Shiro Koshinaka entered the ring. Koshinaka and Hiroshi Hase had been two of the best workers in NJPW for the past three years or so, and here they once again proved it. Iizuka was definitely a good worker, but he wasn’t quite on the level of Koshinaka and Hase. Even Kensuke Sasaki, in spite of arguably being a more limited worker than Iizuka, was more impressive, as he was more convincing in his role. In typical NJPW fashion, the match lost steam for a while and would occasionally pick up again. Either way, this was certainly worth watching. Good match. ***

JWP 3/17/91 JWP & UWA Junior Senshukenjiai: Mayumi Ozaki vs. The Scorpion 12:52
DC: They really put over the struggle well, making it quite realistic for pro wrestling standards. A “this is wrestling!” chant would be justified here, but luckily, this JWP crowd didn’t care about putting themselves over and simply enjoyed the action while cheering on the competitors. A brief  “come on Scorpion!” chant started, though.  After lots of high-quality wrestling, Scorpion managed to win. Mayumi Ozaki wasn’t really a star yet, as it was in 1992 after JWP split that she really started being used properly by the powers that be. The work in this match was smooth, and it was one of the matches from early 90s JWP that was worth watching. Very good match. ***¾ 

NJPW 3/21/91 Tokyo Dome: Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Scott Steiner & Rick Steiner 12:56
DC: This is an excellent example of high-level heavyweight wrestling. This wasn’t pretty, and this wasn’t the most technically refined match, but it didn’t have to be. This was all about heavyweights throwing each other around and beating the crap out of each other. Very good match. ***¾   

WWF WrestleMania VII 3/24/91 Los Angeles, CA Memorial Sports Arena: Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty vs. The Barbarian & Haku 10:41
DC: The Rockers were the most reliable team when it came to delivering the hot opening match for a PPV. The energy was just off the charts thanks to Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. The Barbarian and Haku are no slouches. When these two men were young, the King of Tonga sent them to Japan to study sumo. They both eventually ended up in the pro wrestling business, and their paths would eventually cross again. While The Barbarian and Haku deserve credit for being more convincing in their offense than most WWF heels. It was mostly the selling of the Rockers that made the match exciting, in addition to their offense, of course, which was a lot more interesting than the offense of virtually any WWF workers at the time. This was the perfect way to open a big PPV, but it’s a shame it all went downhill after this. Good match. ***¼ 

SWS 4/1/91 Kobe World Kinen Hall: Minoru Suzuki vs. Apollo Sugawara 9:03
DC: Minoru Suzuki was awesome here, as he remained true to his shoot-style philosophy and approached this regular puroresu match against regular puroresu worker Apollo Sugawara, a mediocre midcard veteran. Suzuki showed no mercy and played his role as shoot-style Minoru Suzuki in an extremely sincere manner to the point Sugawara walked out! Excellent match. ****

WCW 4/9/91 (aired 4/27/91) Columbus, GA: Brian Pillman vs. Barry Windham 10:16
DC: Barry Windham bumped big for Brian Pillman in spite of Pillman being much smaller than him. Pillman showed a lot of fire and determination. He also hit a nice plancha off the top rope to the floor. His athleticism was also very impressive, but that was a thing we had known from the start of his pro wrestling career, of course. Both men did a very good job of keeping the pace quite high and keeping things interesting as much as possible. The match ended with some shenanigans when Bobby Eaton and Arn Anderson showed up. Good match. ***¼ 

9/6/25 AEW: Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood vs. Adam Priest & Tommy Billington 14:12
ML: Billington hasn't been on AEW TV all year, and this was the first time he and Priest ever teamed up, but they did the lengthy AEW competitive match where the outcome was never remotely in doubt. Priest is obviously miles better than Mark Billington, and this is a team that will do good work if given the opportunity, though both are probably better off as singles since Tony Khan doesn't care that they aren't large men. FTR bullied them, with Billington & Priest playing underdog well, and working their way into the match. This bout had good movement and solid strikes. They could all wrestle technically, but they largely avoided it, opting for the strike heavy variation of the old school feel. Obviously FTR had much better teamwork, but Billington & Priest did a double diving headbutt. Priest was the more spirited performer who mixed it up with FTR, while Tommy provided highlights like taking both out with a plancha and and avalanche gutwrench suplex to Dax. This started a little slow, but picked up considerably in speed and intensity as Priest & Billington forced the opposition to take them seriously. The match would definitely have been a lot better if anyone actually believed the outcome was in doubt, but these wrestlers all worked well together and delivered consistently solid action with some good highlights. 3 stars might be too high, but this was at worst good for what it was. ***

6/15/25 NJPW NEVER Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Oleg Boltin 13:12
ML: Boltin it's getting better, though I think their 2/11/25 match was a bit more successful. Boltin isn't the ideal wrestler for the NEVER style because the pace is a struggle for him, but going longer would be a lot worse, and at least he has the power and the impact that this division features. Boltin is not a good mover. His speed and flexibility are limited, and he is pretty lumbering, closing the distance slowly. It feels like he has to put more effort in than most guys just to get the same result, but he's willing to put that effort in at the moment, and he takes things seriously. My enjoyment of this feud is largely due to Takeshita. Wrestling Boltin forces him to be more active and put more emphasis on his own running and jumping offense because he has to be the spectacular one here, unlike in AEW where almost everyone is a gymnast so he's the base and his power offense is what's different. Hard hitting, physical and intense, this match was something of a hoss battle, but Takeshita is so physically gifted he turned it into a kind of big man vs. small man match, with Takeshita playing the small man even though he's the taller of the two. While Boltin's power was the focus, this was a high-energy match with a lot of rope running. Boltin can do the strong man feats, and as long as Takeshita was the one that was moving towards him, this worked well enough, and did a good job of showcasing Boltin as the powerhouse (who is already much better than 34-year-old never was Hobbs). Boltin caught Takeshita in a fireman's carry when he tried his jumping lariat, and dumped him over the top to the floor. Boltin also used a gutwrench suplex on the sloped ramp, causing Takeshita to roll 20 feet "down the hill". He did an avalanche Death Valley bomb. I didn't buy Boltin winning the title here, though it wasn't a surprise because it was his 2nd challenge of Takeshita's reign and they wanted to free Takeshita up for a G1 and probably Heavyweight Title run. I thought the striking exchanges were worse than usual because Boltin is even that much slower and more deliberate, but overall, this was just good enough. ***

4/3/22 STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2022 First Round: Natsupoi vs. Starlight Kid 5:54
ML: They took the amount of time they had into account, and did more or less the best match they could do within what they had to work with. It should be obvious that 6 minutes was too short, just as 30 minutes on 2/1/22 was too long, but doing very different matches due to the length enables them to continue the program without just repeating themselves. This all out sprint wasn't exactly their high-speed match because it didn't have any real sequences, but it was urgent junior style action with lots of big moves and counters. They used the ropes for some creative gymnastics on the outside, including Natsupoi escaping with a cartwhell, and this had tension because of the unusual Cinderella rules where being propelled off the apron to the floor cost you the match. The finish saw Starlight Kid hit a Michinoku driver II on the apron, but Natsupoi used her legs to shoot Kid off the apron to the floor. The match itself was basically a finishing segment, and as such it's more interesting to watch than to write about because there's no real context, just unleashing the arsenal. ***

AJPW 1/27/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton & Masa Fuchi 25:45
DC: It was interesting seeing Tsuyoshi Kikuchi team up with his idol, Dynamite Kid. It really felt like Kikuchi was a third member of The British Bulldogs. In an alternate universe, they could have been a dominating trios team in Mexico. Anyway, let’s go back to Korakuen Hall in 1990, as the fans got their money’s worth here. It was a worthwhile six-man tag team match featuring plenty of action. The match was quite long, but the tags were frequent enough to keep things interesting. Tommy Rogers, one of the most underrated American pro wrestlers ever, was an explosive athlete, and he was one of the most outstanding workers of the match, along with Kikuchi, who was on top of his game back in the early 90s. Bobby Fulton was a strong tag team partner for Rogers. Dynamite Kid did Dynamite Kid things, which was good to see, but it was obvious that this was from past his physical prime. The overly roided Davey Boy Smith was okay, but he and Masa Fuchi were just kinda there. Fuchi was mainly selling and being thrown around. All in all, this wasn’t one of the most outstanding matches of 1990 by any means, but it also wasn’t something you would want to skip, as it was entertaining enough. The match ended when Rogers pinned Kikuchi. Good match. ***¼ 

NJPW 3/19/90 Hiroshima, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid 15:21
DC: This was Pegasus Kid’s first big title shot in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. This was also his first big televised singles match in NJPW. At this time, Pegasus certainly wasn’t the extremely smooth and extremely intense worker he would eventually become. However, this match was important and fascinating, as it was arguably the first time Pegasus had to really push himself to try to be as resourceful as possible and step up his game significantly in order to show that the potential he had shown up until then was indeed resulting in something truly worth recommending. Jushin Thunder Liger had been pushing the boundaries of what the NJPW junior heavyweight division and pro wrestling in general could look like at the time. Just like Pegasus, Liger was also inspired by the legendary Dynamite Kid, and this inspiration had translated into Liger delivering all-time great work in his feud against Naoki Sano in 1989-1990. Here in his next feud against Pegasus, Liger kept showing that he wasn’t just a flash in the pan but indeed a wrestler who was going to take junior heavyweight wrestling to new heights in the 1990s. The match featured well-executed wrestling and gradually became more exciting, as you could almost feel the tension thanks to the great build towards the finish. After a very interesting finishing stretch, Liger scored the pin to retain the title. This 3/19/90 match was instrumental in setting things up and naturally taking us to the totally amazing 8/19/90 match between these two. Excellent match. ****  

JWP 5/25/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Plum Mariko 14:09
DC: What stood out early on was that Itsuki Yamazaki wanted to keep the pace high. What also stood out early on was that Plum Mariko really came across as someone who was having a tough time against the veteran. However, at some point, she was on a roll with all kinds of fast-paced offense. The work was quite good, but it felt a bit like they were taking turns, as opposed to really winning out in any sort of struggling interactions. Still, this was a very memorable match, as it was super spectacular for the time, and the overall execution was excellent. Great match. ****½

NJPW 6/26/90 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Pegasus Kid vs. Owen Hart 12:10
DC: This was a very interesting match-up between two of Alberta’s greatest wrestlers. Pegasus Kid didn’t waste any time and attacked Owen Hart while the referee was still going over the rules. Pegasus dumped Owen to the floor and beat him up quite a bit on the floor. Pegasus kept taking it to Owen, but once Owen had a chance to fight back, he did so in a very graceful manner. His beautiful high flying skills were put on display, as he hit a missile dropkick and a tope suicida. After these first exciting few minutes, it looked like things were going to slow down, but they kept the action going with some more of their smooth work. Owen gave a particularly strong performance, really managing to wow the crowd with his tremendous athleticism. Pegasus tried to keep Owen on the mat, but it felt like he wasn’t quite willing and/or able to do anything really interesting while on the mat. Owen tried to at least go for some cool-looking escapes and counters on the mat. Owen mainly focused on flashy offense in this match. He gave Pegasus more than enough opportunities to outdo him, and occasionally Pegasus showed some spectacular stuff that rivaled Owen’s coolest moves. Pegasus hit a vicious backdrop suplex and quite an amazing plancha as well. Owen’s movements were a bit slicker, though, and this included his offense but also his bumping and selling. Owen hit a graceful looking moonsault for a near fall. In the end, Pegasus won via a backdrop off the top rope. This victory certainly strengthened Pegasus’ position as the #1 contender for Jushin Thunder Liger’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title. These two former Stampede Wrestling workers continued the legacy of Stampede, as they gave the NJPW junior heavyweight division quite a boost with their Dynamite Kid-inspired work. It felt like the match could have used a few more minutes, but at least it didn’t overstay its welcome. Excellent match. ****

AJW 7/21/90, WWWA World Title: Bull Nakano vs. Manami Toyota 9:06
DC: This was before Manami Toyota really became a true superstar. In fact, this match probably wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Akira Hokuto getting injured in her match against Toyota in June. However, she had already been impressive enough to earn a title shot against the big champion. Bull Nakano had a big size and strength advantage, as well as an advantage in experience. Toyota played the role of the underdog well, and she did some cool moves and took some awesome bumps. Bull played the role of the dominant champion very well. The execution was rough at times, but that kinda added to the idea that this was not an evenly matched contest. Good match. ***¼ 

NJPW 7/22/90 Sapporo Tsukisamu Green Dome: Pegasus Kid vs. Biff Wellington 12:08
DC: This wasn’t a televised match (as far as I know), so we just have the hand-held footage of this bout. Things slowed down considerably when Wellington was on offense. Wellington was a good worker, but he was a bit less flashy than Pegasus and focused a bit more on powerhouse-like offense. The matwork in this match was done slowly and methodically, as they were always carefully trying to get to a position that would improve the situation they were in. Whenever they weren’t on the mat, they were willing to take a bit more risk and propel themselves at their opponents more directly and more effectively. This didn’t seem to stop Pegasus Kid from going all out against fellow Stampede Wrestling alumnus Biff Wellington. This isn’t meant as a negative statement by any means, but the best way to describe Wellington would be describing him as a poor man’s Pegasus Kid. Of course, Pegasus was one of the best five wrestlers in the world at the time, so that statement definitely wasn’t meant as an insult. The match ended when Pegasus scored the expected pinfall win. Very good match. ***½ 

AJW 8/19/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Akira Hokuto vs. Manami Toyota 30:00
DC: Akira Hokuto had made Manami Toyota submit to a half Boston in a tag match on 3/18/90. Hokuto suffered a knee injury in their 6/17/90 match, which meant that match had to be awarded to Toyota. This 8/19/90 match featured a lot of struggle and a display of passion between two of the fastest rising stars in the pro wrestling business. It was clear both women tried their best to be the better woman that night. If one of them was going to go down, they weren’t going down without a fight. After briefly getting the upper hand again at some point, Toyota hit a tremendous torpedo-like tope suicida. Hokuto was the worker of the match, but she couldn’t have had this match with just anyone. Toyota’s tremendous athleticism in combination with her great display of desire made her the perfect opponent for this match. One of the 100 greatest matches ever. ****¾

NJPW 8/19/90 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid 15:02
ML: This was arguably the best Keiichi Yamada match ever. By this point in his career, he had upgraded from Jushin Liger to Jushin Thunder Liger. It is the best example of what a truly great junior heavyweight wrestling match from the early 1990s looked like. Though greatly influenced by the Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid series, it basically took the reckless desire concept of 7/13/89 Liger vs. Naoki Sano and took it to even greater heights due to the fine-tuning of the precision and crisp execution. This match also put Canadian wrestler Pegasus Kid (who would later become known as Wild Pegasus and The Crippler) on the map as a great international worker, after he had shown a lot of potential previously, but hadn’t quite reached a level that made people mention him in conversations about great matches and wrestlers as much as from 8/19/90 onwards. At the time this took place, it was really a match that pushed the boundaries further, as it was a step above the aforementioned feud between Liger and Sano. It was a shockingly great match that was arguably more spectacular and exciting than any other match in 1990. This was an extremely spectacular match with great execution. Liger really did a great job of stepping up his game and also enabling Pegasus to shine at the same time. Liger and Pegasus had wrestled each other before, but this was something on another level. Pegasus winning the title really put him up there as one of the top international junior heavyweight stars and a worker who was now expected to deliver highly recommendable matches more often than before. All-time great match. *****

AJPW 8/31/90 Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium: Danny Kroffat & Scotty The Body vs. Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton 11:57
ML: You may know Scotty The Body as Scott Flamingo/Johnny Polo/Raven. He really tried his best here, and he managed to contribute as well as possible. He did feel slightly out of place in this match, though, but it was lots of fun seeing him in this match. Bobby Fulton felt more at home here, but he was arguably the least interesting worker of this match. Tommy Rogers was truly spectacular back then, and he was definitely one of the top 15 workers in the world at the time. Yoshihiro Asai may have been more spectacular, and Blue Panther may have been surrounded by better workers, but Rogers was better than them because Rogers truly excelled at what he did, and he knew what to do at the right time so well. Dan Kroffat was really good, but he didn’t stand out in this particular match. Kroffat was the most high-profile AJPW worker in this match, so maybe he felt that since he was surrounded by ‘midcarders’ that he could take it easy here. Very good match. ***½

NJPW 10/7/90 Pegasus Kid & Villano V vs. Owen Hart & Jushin Thunder Liger
DC: Villano V, the only worker in this match who wasn't part of the Stampede Wrestling alumni, was definitely the weak link of the match. Some of the sequences involving Villano V looked rough, and there was especially some miscommunication between him and Owen Hart. You could tell Pegasus Kid and Jushin Thunder Liger had become very comfortable working with each other, which should be no surprise since on 8/19/90, they had wrestled what at the time was one of the 15 best matches in pro wrestling history. Pegasus and Owen worked some really nice sequences together, and these two Canadians from Alberta were obviously familiar with each other. This match had fun sequences, but the middle part was relatively slow and seemed to serve merely as a little break without offering anything really intriguing. In spite of the match mainly being memorable for the fun sequences, and in spite of some execution issues here and there, this was quite a good match overall. ***¼ 

NJPW 11/1/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Pegasus Kid vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 12:32
DC: The work was pretty much on the same level as their awesome 8/19/90 match. This match was just a little bit shorter. Pegasus Kid showed a bit more confidence now that he was the champion and had recently worked an all-time great match. The story was that Liger was initially a bit overwhelmed by the strong gaijin champ, but that the Japanese superhero eventually started getting more of a grip on the match. Pegasus missed the flying legdrop, which was the move he won the title with, and Liger followed up with the shooting star press. This was definitely a spectacular match, especially for the year 1990. One of the 100 best matches ever. ****¾

Universal 11/17/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Manami Toyota & Mika Takahashi & Kaoru Maeda & Mariko Yoshida & Esther Moreno vs. Bison Kimura & Aja Kong & La Diabolica & Xochitl Hamada & Madusa 25:32
DC: The match was really fast paced, as they took advantage of having ten workers. The invincible yet defeatable Madusa was clearly the weakest worker, but she didn’t have enough opportunities to ruin the match with her overacting. Manami Toyota was consistently awesome and reliable all the way through. Mika Takahashi, one half of the Honey Wings (w/ Kaoru Maeda) is one of the more underrated workers in AJW history. Nice dive by Esther Moreno on Madusa. This is probably the day that Kaoru’s affinity with weapons started, as she enjoyed using Aja Kong’s trash can. Moreno eliminated Xochitl Hamada (Ayako Hamada’s older sister), La Diabolica eliminated Moreno, Mariko Yoshida eliminated Diabolica, Toyota pinned Madusa (Hell yeah!), Takahashi pinned Bison Kimura, Aja Kong pinned Yoshida, and Aja Kong pinned both Honey Wings to win the match. This was overall a really fun match featuring high workrate and a strong effort from all involved. Excellent match. ****

PWA 12/17/90 Minnesota: Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn
DC: There are sources that say this match is from June, but apparently this was from December. The action was raw and super intense. The workrate was high, and they made this look like they really wanted to beat the crap out of each other. This was a lot more exciting and spectacular than anything else from the United States that year. Excellent match. ****¼ 

1/25/75 AWA World Heavyweight Title: Verne Gagne vs. Nick Bockwinkel
ML: This is silent film footage that was narrated thoughtfully by Nick Bockwinkle years later. It's not the complete match, joined in progress and jumping around somewhat, but seemingly more to shave time off lengthy holds, though a key portion before the accidental over the top rope DQ finish that perhaps explains why Bobby Heenan is on the ring apron is missing (Nick said they thought he won but Gagne's foot was on the ropes). We get 14 minutes, but don't know what the actual match time was to know how much that means is missing. This was mostly varied hand and arm work broken up by brief rope sprinting collisions. Gagne had his right hand taped, so Bockwinkel devoted the first half of the match to debilitating it. Verne went after Nick's hand when he came back out of spite. He largely stuck to working the arm as well, trying to wrestle as much as he could with his legs and left arm to let the hand recover. Verne kept countering the shoulderblock by side stepping and hooking Bockwinkel's arm to drag him down. This was always solid, well focused technical wrestling. It didn't drag in this form, but it didn't really go beyond what it started as either. It's good, but probably below their average level together. ***

8/29/25 ROH World Title: Bandido vs. Hechicero 36:28
ML: As usual, 30+ minutes is way too long the way people wrestle today with just moves and selling. They really eased into things slowly, and the slower they wrestled because they were stuck going too long, the more obvious all their cooperation was, which made it more difficult to get the match. They succeeded in filling the time well enough, but it was always a match that was good enough, rather than anything to get pumped up about. There wasn't much that obviously needed to go, but there was probably a much better match here somewhere, even if some explosion just returned to their execution just by virtue of them not having to constantly conserve energy. I wasn't getting excited by what they were doing, and the match never felt like it was taking off or leading to anything bigger or better. There were highlights and good moves, but it didn't really build or gain momentum. Bandido vs. Takeshita picked up a lot more for the climax, and at least the final 5-10 minutes were exciting. The only real urgency in this match was Hechicero avoiding the 21 plex 5 seconds before he was pinned in a German suplex. This seems to be their first singles match together. While they've opposed each other half a dozen times in tag this year, and a few times in past years, I was expecting their chemistry to be a lot better than it actually was. Most of the match was Hechicero doing his technical wrestling, and Bandido just laying in holds. Nothing I saw here made me think Bandido is a good technical wrestler, so either they did the wrong match or it's just not a great matchup despite both being good wrestlers in a vacuum. For the llave style to really work, the wrestlers have to stay locked up, countering back and forth. Bandido didn't really do that style with Hechicero, he just didn't resist it, and then eventually took a lazy rope break Nobuhiko Takada style. Bandido isn't completely helpless in a submission like Kazuchika Okada, but when he actually did counter, it usually looked slow and/or clunky. Sometimes Hechicero would chain two moves together, but Bandido was doing almost nothing to actually fight from underneath, so mostly Hechicero just locked on a submission and we waited. Hechicero's submissions are nice, but they aren't meant to fill anywhere near this amount of time, especially when the opponent doesn't have genuine answers. Hechicero worked on Bandido's legs because that's where his strength is generated from, but what transitions in and out of these moves we got were often pedestrian, especially for Hechicero's standards, and the sort of focus wasn't creating any particular drama. Bandido did what he does, but in this case, that didn't really play into or off of what the opponent who was dominating the match was doing. Even then, since the match was so long and Bandido was trying to put over the damage done to his legs, his flying comebacks weren't what they usually are, a spectacular move here and there but the energy and excitement was lacking. Bandido did do a good job of putting over the toll of the match in more subtle manners, but to me that wasn't worth it when it spilled over into the portions where he was supposed to get the crowd going. Bandido just kind of felt like he could be any dude here. He did a few cool moves like everyone else, but he was somewhat lifeless half the time, and just felt adequate and out of his depth, both from the length and the style. He did what was asked of him, but not much more, and was largely a stationary target. My assessment of 2025 Bandido remains that he's a wrestler good enough that a better wrestler will probably carry him to a good match. That's certainly something because there are less and less of these guys around today. However, if he wants to be Wrestler of the Year, he should figure out how to be Wrestler of a Match first. Hechicero was certainly good here, but he could only do so much. ***

9/4/95 WCW: Flyin' Brian vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 6:52
ML: Eric Bischoff started out selling Ninja Star Wars games (and meat) out of his van, and then on AWA TV, his relationship with Verne Gagne leading to his first job in the wrestling industry in 1987. Having risen considerably from conducting interviews in the dying days of the AWA, tonight he returned to the old AWA stronghold of Minnesota to promote and announce the first ever episode of WCW Monday Nitro, which was watched by 2.5 million on TNT (roughly 2 million more than watch wrestling on TNT & TBS 30 years later despite there being 76 million more people in the US). Bischoff actually provided useful energetic play by play, doing his best to make the moves seem important, even though he didn't know what to call them. Steve McMichael was probably even worse as a commentator than a wrestler, a Herculean accomplishment. He just kept trolling Bobby Heenan, calling him silly names like Bobby Hernia and Bobby the Stain, which resulted in Heenan's commentary being retorts that addressed Mongo rather than the action. Long before the days of streaming, the idea of seeing Jushin Thunder Liger live on free TV almost seemed like a pipe dream. Liger had competed in WCW for a week in 1991, winning the WCW World Light Heavyweight Title from Flyin' Brian on 12/25/91 in the Omni, which has become one of the holy grail matches for wrestling fans because brief clips were shown on WCW TV, but the full match has yet to materialize. He wrestled 20 matches for WCW in 1992, including his amazing title loss to Pillman on 2/29/92 that put junior heavyweight wrestling on the map in the US, and teaming with arguably the worst 2nd generation wrestler who wasn't a kid of Frat Boy Ric Flair, Bill Watts' son Eric, against Sting & Steve Williams at Starrcade. His only live TV appearance was on Clash of the Champions 19 6/16/92 teaming with Pillman against the Canadian duo that somehow both died separately on 6/24/07, Chris Benoit & Beef Wellington, except that was 7 or 8 years before my cable company carried TBS so I had to get a tape anyways. Here he was though, coming out to the most generic Asian music I hope they at least didn't have to pay for, and billed as one of Japan's most popular wrestlers, with Thunder incorrectly in quotation marks. Liger had been out almost a year after breaking his ankle on 9/24/94, returning in August for a handful of junior tags and one high quality more UWF oriented match against Kazuo Yamazaki. This match was to be a lot more athletic, introducing the Cruiserweight style to the prime time audience. The match aimed to be as spectacular as possible, fast paced, quick hitting, perpetual motion high flying. They did some holds as transitions, but they were really aiming to wrestle as much younger versions of themselves, and they weren't quite able to turn back the clock. Liger's ankle still didn't seem anywhere near 100%, and Pillman had moved away from this style with Bill Watts ridiculous no jumping off the top rope rule killing off the junior division Pillman had worked so hard to put on the map, then transitioning into the tag team division with Barry Windham and Steve Austin. This was fun action, but kind of sloppy. The ring seemed extra small, and right off the bat they didn't get the positioning right for Liger's moonsault attack. Pillman's diving tijeras worked even worse. There wasn't much room on the outside for their dives either. They loosened up, and began finding some timing and chemistry in the later stages, but this was about 1/3 the length of their typical match, so they rolled out what they had time for without having time to actually construct the match or build it up. They just ended it out of nowhere with Pillman getting a flash pin because what other way could you justify having a match between these two be so short? The nostalgic part of me wanted to check it out again 30 years later, but it was a disappointing match at the time given who was involved and their history together, certainly a far cry from their great 12/27/91 and 2/29/92 matches. It's not a match that ages particularly well, but I was satisfied with it at the time because it was the wrestlers I cared about, and to some extent the size of the athletes and style of wrestling I wanted to see. **1/2

9/7/95 WCW: Eddie Guerrero vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 10:13
ML: This was condensed, but it still felt like a proper, traditional junior style match with gymnastics and submissions, building up to the high risk offense. Liger vs. Guerrero was a disappointing program given the amazing talent involved because, while every match was good to very good, they never had any kind of a defining, blow away sort of big match. As with Owen Hart, Guerrero was an amazing talent who moved so effortlessly it always felt like he should have excellent to great matches every time, but they also rarely seemed to want to do anything to push any given match beyond their others. This match starts impressively, but Guerrero spent way too much time working the left leg, especially given how much time they actually had (if this was their normal 15-20 minute match it would have been fine). This probably made sense because he was well aware of Liger returning from injury, but Tony Schiavone isn't going to convey this unless someone like Mike Tenay clues him in, and Dusty Rhodes was silly and distracting as ever. Guerrero is certainly a much smoother and more fluid mover than Brian Pillman, especially the 1995 versions. Pillman may not be as gifted an athlete as Eddie, but Guerrero lacks Pillman's mentality to leave nothing on the table. Guerrero had more time and pulled off a considerably better match without working as hard. It's a much more precise, well executed match then the 9/4/95 Liger vs. Pillman, with everything looking good. This had the advantage of being Guerrero rather than Black Tiger like most of the NJPW Liger vs. Guerrero matches were, as Guerrero didn't kill the momentum by reverting to middling heel offense trying to get heat. Wrestling as the athletic face was particularly helpful today since Liger wasn't moving the way he normally would. Guerrero picked up the slack, taking the role of the athlete, with Liger being the base (but also wrestling as a technico). This didn't have many near falls and ended conventionally with Guerrero's frog splash finisher. By winning, Guerrero earned a match against Dean Malenko on the next Nitro. ***

4/8/94 MTW: Sabu vs. Al Snow 13:15 of 14:47
ML: I loved the effort and creativity of this match. Snow didn't impress me in their 1st match on 1/28/94 because he just punched and did the same two moves. The match was fine as a showcase for Sabu, but I expected it to be better than his standard fair. Then they wrestled twice in the GWA Bodyslammers Gym Tournament on 4/2/94 because Snow made it to the quarterfinals under his Shinobi gimmick and the final as himself, but the weren't exactly what one would call complete matches with Sabu wrestling 4 times that night, and Snow an even crazier 6. There were decided improvements in the offense Snow displayed and the way they worked together in GWA though. Tonight's contest was a huge step up because Snow didn't even seem like the same wrestler. Snow was much more solid while being far more spectacular. He was annoying in a good way, regularly prodding Sabu by using Sabu's own moves on him. Snow was all in on going for the best match they could deliver, and this was a wild spotfest where they kept trying to top one another. The match started technically with Snow using Sabu's diving tackle and leg lock on him, working over the knee. Sabu would try to come back with flying, but it kept backfiring on him. In the early portion, Snow seemed smart and Sabu seemed stubborn, as one attempt after another to leap his way into contention failed miserably. Things changed somewhat when Snow began flying as well, starting with Sabu missing his slingshot leg drop, but then Snow missing one as well. Sabu catapulted off a chair twice, but Snow avoided the body attack and used the chair for a forward flip. Snow avoided the sunset flip powerbomb to the outside and hit a pescado. Sabu tried for a revenge pescado, but missed. Sabu used a slingshot huracarrana to the floor, which I hadn't seen from him before. Unfortunately, the camera shut off as Sabu was poised for a dive onto a table. Snow tried an avalanche powerbomb, but Sabu countered with a Frankensteiner for the win. They fought for another minute and a half until Snow got his revenge powerbombing Sabu on a small table that didn't break. Sabu eventually got a bigger table to break with a moonsault, which he'd done before but wasn't yet his official post match ritual. This match felt really ahead of it's time. In a sense it was wild and chaotic, but while they were experimenting, they worked well with one another, and it didn't just feel like they were taking turns randomly doing their moves largely because so many attempts failed. There was a good amount of determination here. Sabu relied on willpower, while Snow was a dick letting him misfire because Snow was too fresh, then showing him how it's done when the opponent is actually hurt. ****

6/3/94 ECW: Sabu vs. Too Cold Scorpio 13:39
ML: Sabu had been killing it on the indies for the last year, having mostly junior heavyweight style matches when he was in the States, but had yet to do anything of note in ECW because they didn't do anything of note yet. His TV matches against Pat Tanaka and Mike Awesome had potential, but the Tanaka match was a brief enhancement match, and the Awesome match was edited into 2 guys jumping at each other plus Awesome throwing Sabu around a few times. ECW didn't have much talent or any opponents for him. This meeting against one of the world's best flyers was a huge step up for ECW moreso than Sabu, their first good match. It was Scorpio's first match in ECW, and his first match against Sabu, so they were feeling each other out. A lot of these ideas are used again the next week in MWCW, but they were done a lot more emphatically then. This was one of the most technical ECW matches up until this point in time, although that doesn't say much given the Eastern roster was mostly has beens and sloppy brawlers, with Terry Funk among others qualifying as both, and Paul Heyman just making the promotion about creating chaos to try to distract from the lack of skill and technique. The 2nd half of Sabu vs. Scorpio was a lot different than next weeks match. This had more of the Heyman hardcore influence, featuring more use of the chair, including Sabu trying to avalanche piledrive Scorpio on to it, but Scorpio knocking him off and hitting a diving body attack. Also 911 and Heyman interfering was just taking away from the momentum of the performers, who would have done much more interesting things on their own. The MWCW match certainly had more junior style action. Scorpio was pushing since they had to do something for him given he was losing his debut in front of a whole 250 fans in a much smaller league then he'd been wrestling in to a guy who wasn't nearly as well known in America. After some interference, Sabu put Scorpio through a table with a 2nd rope moonsault to the floor. The finish was kind of lame, as any finish involving Heyman or 911 around this time tended to be, with 911 just throwing Scorpio back in to be pinned. This had moments, but they never really found their flow or found the next level. ***

6/10/94 MWCW: Sabu vs. 2 Cold Scorpio 14:40.
ML: This match had a much higher level of urgency than any of Sabu's previous matches, and I think in a different world where promoters didn't just want him to be leaping off chairs and through tables, he might have gone in this direction and had both better matches and far greater longevity as a good performer. They ran and jumped like they actually meant it, rather than expecting the opponent to make effortless concessions to their every whim. The extra effort, resistance, and impact they put into everything made it feel so much less phony, which was important because this was a very athletic match that would normally feel far more cooperative. The opening was really about the best manner a junior style match can be wrestled in. Unfortunately, the ring broke during the 2nd half of the match where most of the high flying was scheduled, so for their own safety they had to slow down to avoid falling off ropes that no longer had tension. They did the usual Sabu start, but this sort of matador vs. bull variation was the best one ever, with Scorpio leaping over 2 of Sabu's diving tackles until Sabu caught his right leg enough on the 3rd to actually drag him down with some force, then really put the boots to him like he was frustrated for being initially thwarted. We'd seen this previously in Sabu vs. Mike Awesome 3/5/94 and 6/3/94 Sabu vs. Scorpio, but not as convincingly, with this level of urgency. Scorpio escaped to the outside, and was running away from the wildman. The rope running sequence stayed in the same vein. Scorpio had to worry about clearing Sabu with his leap so Sabu didn't upend him and reel him in. There was a real sense of danger to this opening, and this is what Sabu should have kept going for, playing into the whole idea that he was a homicidal wildman being unleashed onto his opponent. Scorpio wasn't avoiding because it was nicer to be on the offensive, he was avoiding like it was the difference in the fight, like he was the kickboxer in early MMA that automatically lost if the wrestler or BJJ guy got him down. Their answer to each other's attempts to do bad things was a definitive "no!", rather than the usual "yes, master". The tone of this match was very different than maybe anything else they've done. Even Scorpio's shoulderblock felt emphatic. It wasn't much, but that was his 1st chance to do something to Sabu, so he was going to make the most of it, do it with actual conviction. They didn't stray that far from a typical junior opening in conception, they just did it like there were consequences to their actions, rather than like hollow, meaningless practiced forms. The great thing about Sabu is you never knew what was going to happen, and that kept you wanting to watch. The same input had multiple outputs that didn't necessarily revolve around his opponent. Sabu was willing to miss anything and everything as well as get countered however the opponent was capable. He didn't just do his thing until it was time for whatever his opponent did that would most reasonably counter the move he's prescribed to miss like Will Ospreay with the Oscutter. Scorpio did his best to break free of Sabu's headlock, countering with a backdrop, but Sabu had it applied snuggly, and while he couldn't defend the suplex, once he was in the air what he could do was prepare for impact so he wouldn't lose his grasp. Sabu won a struggle against the ropes, but when he tried a sunset flip powerbomb to the outside, Scorpio held on to the ropes and did a moonsault attack off the apron. This was well on it's way to being the best match of either wrestlers career when the ring broke on Scorpio's top rope superplex. The ropes were loose and sagging, but Scorpio was able to follow with a moonsault, even though it took longer to set up than the way they had been working. The problem here is they had seemingly saved most of the high flying for the 2nd half. They finished as best they could, seemingly without really backing off what they'd intended. I don't think the conditions actually hurt the match or slowed them down that much. They were in the flow, and just pushed through. Sabu probably did more damage to himself than to Scorpio with his Arabian press because there was no spring from these ropes now. Sabu avoided a pescado because it took Scorpio too long to manage the conditions. Scorpio followed with a slingshot leg drop onto a table, but you couldn't really see the result due to the crowd being in the way of the handheld angle. The finish was pretty lame, as Scorpio appeared to hit a moonsault, but Sabu small packaged him for the anticlimactic win. This didn't wind up being as good as it would have, but I think they navigated the adversity well, especially for this style of match. ****1/4

6/24/94 ECW: Sabu vs. Cactus Jack 13:02
ML: A lot of people want to credit that awful endless meandering 3 way between Shane Douglas, Sabu, and sloppy silly has been Terry Funk as the birth of ECW, but there's literally nothing good on the first year and a half of ECW shows. ECW finally started to finding their style here in their first match people should actually watch, ironically with a wrestler on loan from WCW, though part of the reason it worked is Foley felt much less constrained than in WCW. It contained the chaos, wildness and brawling, but with two guys that had actual move sets (moreso Sabu) rather than just using weapons, could actually do their offense well, provide excitement, and took big bumps. This was a wild spotfest. They delivered crazy action from start to finish. There was no build or psychology, but there's consistent out of control action. Sabu actually used a different opening here, with a series of enzuigiri rather than diving at the ankle to set the tone for a performance where Sabu was far more spot-oriented, jumping at Cactus from the outset. Sabu went to the weapons much quicker as well, including an early tope with Jack sitting on a chair. Cactus did a few moves he wouldn't normally use in an effort to meet Sabu halfway, for instance missing a senton atomico and having an avalanche backdrop backfire. Jack, of course, leaned much heavier into the brawling than Sabu, using a frying pan provided by a fan. Sabu did a leg drop the guard rail through a table. Sabu charged at Cactus, but Jack gave him the hot shot onto the guardrail. Sabu put Jack through a table with a moonsault over the guardrail. The finish was terrible because after all this crazy stuff, Paul E. just hit Cactus in the back of the head with his phone. Fans booed the screw job, but there was practically another match worth of mayhem to wash away some of the stench. The action continued with Jack taking on Heyman, 911, then Sabu afterwards, with a huge unprotected chair shot to knock 911 out momentarily. Mr. Hughes came out, then the locker room started to empty, and Sabu took a bunch of them out with a tope con giro. Jack piledrove Sabu on the concession stand. Sabu broke a bottle on Jack's head. Joey Styles, responding to a "Sabu vs. Cactus This is Hardcore Heaven" sign, had the classic line, "If heaven ain't a lot like the ECW Arena, I don't want to go!" Foley just chose winning the WCW Tag Titles with Kevin Sullivan from Nasty Boys at Slamboree on 5/22/94 over surgically reconstructing the ear he partially lost against Vader on 3/16/94. Jack was told to put over ECW's top star, so he did a classic interview afterwards to complete the task, spitting on and throwing the WCW Tag Title (the only title he ever won in WCW) that was very dear to him down out of frustration because he was disgusted he lost the 3 "titles" he's held for the past 5 years, "most suicidal wrestler, ugliest wrestler, and Jack Kevorkian's favorite wrestler." He was at a crossroads, but was determined to get these titles back by eliminating the competition (he lost their 9/30/94 rematch as well). This got Foley a bunch of heat when he returned to WCW, even though they probably didn't watch the full interview, or Heyman's interview about all the money Cactus was going to make for WCW, helping ensure a good Christmas for Jane Fonda. ***1/2

7/23/94 NWA Independent World Title Ladder Match: Sabu vs. Al Snow 32:12
ML: One of the reasons I prefer Sabu's NWA matches to his ECW or FMW ones is that Sabu wasn't overly encouraged to do hardcore stuff in the NWA. Booking him in a ladder match didn't play to his best instincts, or bring out the best in Snow. They tried to wrestle somewhat, but having a big, probably 12-ft ladder set up in the ring means they were working around the thing they were "supposed to be utilzing". "Pee Wee" Moore's primary job was holding this clunky oversized ladder so it wouldn't just collapse. Snow was ready for Sabu to dive at his ankles to start the match, so he was able to matador it and drop an elbow. The match was entertaining enough for a while, but it was largely a collection of dives and gimmick spots, rather than something that built or felt cohesive. I enjoyed the first half well enough, but instead of gaining momentum, it largely got worse the more they tried to use the ladder. The ladder was long enough that, with Moore standing on the end inside the ring, Sabu was able to have a portion of it with Snow draped across hanging off the ring apron and give Snow a leg drop and a slingshot body press, the later of which propelled Moore through the air when Sabu's side of the ladder went down causing the other to go up like a seesaw, a silent movie style gag. The fans were taunting Pee Wee the entire match, but didn't react nearly as much to the actual performers. The ending was weird because Snow finally managed to get up and knock the ladder over just after Sabu had won. Moore tried to prevent Sabu from his post match table breaking ceremony, so Sabu put Moore through it off an airplane spin, then it took two tries to break a 2nd table with the moonsault. I was writing this review under the impression this was going to be better, but by the time we got to the end, I had a recommendation for a match that wasn't quite worth recommending. **3/4

8/13/94 ECW: Sabu vs. Too Cold Scorpio 18:28
ML: The best match in the history of the Eastern Championship Wrestling version of ECW. I'm not sure how well this match ages, but it was really ahead of the curve of American wrestling in terms of high flying, garbage spots, and combining the two into a sort of hardcore junior style of chaos. This is hardly my favorite style, but the offense is amazing for an American match of this time period, and for better or worse, they were creating this ECW style. Though not as cohesive as their little indy match from 6/11/94, they made up for it by doing everything they could think of. They had a lot of good ideas here, but they didn't flesh any of them out. Scorpio was new to ECW, so he was still trying to get over here, although obviously he was well known from being misused in WCW. While this was the right rivalry for both guys, Scorpio had yet to win an ECW match (he had 2 previous losses to Sabu), so it was odd to have him losing to Sabu again, even if Sabu was ECW's featured performer. The early portion did a nice job of building heat and getting over the rivalry. Once we left this, it just became a new brand of chaos, combining amazing high flying with weapons plunder. The offense was great, but they kind of lost the plot and just shifted to top this. Their moves were new and original on their own, much less adding tables and chairs, which was still a fresh concept at the time. The match had good urgency, but nonetheless felt like they were just throwing things at the wall. You had two great talents giving it their all though, even if sometimes they weren't doing themselves any favors with the layout and structuring. Scorpio would develop a much better sense of drama in the next year or 2. Sabu rushed out and dove at Scorpio's ankle before the match, then they did a different actual opening that was heated because Sabu didn't honor the clean break out of lock up, and Scorpio punched him back. They tried to make this an intense grudge match with high flying. Sabu used a chair for his tope con giro and tope'd Scorpio into a table, but missed another tope with Scorpio on a chair. Scorpio wailed on Sabu with a chair, but Sabu reversed his tombstone on a chair. Joey Styles had the classic line "he who lives by the chair, dies by the chair". Later, Sabu did an Arabian press to the floor through a table. Scorpio's regular flying moves were blowing Sabu's away, especially his slingshot 450 splash. There's such a stark contrast between their styles of flying. Scorpio was so smooth and fluid, while Sabu just threw his body at the opponent like a human missile. This became a real top this spotfest, but they had the artillery to do so. Paul E. held a chair over Scorpio from the outside and Sabu used his slingshot leg drop for the win. ****

11/19/94 NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament First Round: Chris Candido vs. Al Snow 12:56
ML: WCW owned the "Big Gold Belt" and ended the true era of the NWA by refusing to allow their champion to travel to the allied territories to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Title. NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo threatened to sue when WCW broke kayfabe by having Rick Rude appear with the NWA Title because they pretaped months of syndication before he actually won the belt from Ric Flair at Fall Brawl on 9/19/93, and without consulting the NWA board about the title change. Eric Bischoff didn't care about the NWA, and decided to just seceed, rebranding the belt as the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. Coralluzzo still didn't have enough control of the alliance, and wasn't happy that new NWA affiliate ECW, something of an east coast rival promotion to his NWA Championship Wrestling America who had joined the NWA a year earlier, got the title tournament to declare the Alliance's successor to Flair. He didn't agree with their choice of Douglas as champion, wanting Chris Benoit, who he had booked to beat has-beens Jerry Lawler and Terry Funk. Benoit instead lost in the first round to eventual runner up Too Cold Scorpio. As a compromise, Benoit was to be the one who eventually won the title from Douglas. Paul Heyman and Tod Gordon already decided they wanted out of the NWA as part of ECW's rebranding, and concocted a rebellious plot. This was supposedly a receipt for Coralluzzo's shenanigans in their New Jersey turf war, as he'd purportedly reported ECW for fire violations and got them blackballed from potential venues by sending ECW tapes to schools Gordon wanted to run assuming the school would pass once they realized it wasn't geared towards kids like WWF. Douglas, who had respect for the business and had been a US history teacher, didn't know if really wanted to desecrate the most famous title in wrestling history, once held by his former tag partner Ricky Steamboat. He would be giving up not only his touring gig defending the title, but also any chance of working with at least Coralluzzo in the future. 3 days before the tournament, Coralluzzo smeared Douglas on Mike Tenay's Radio Show, claiming he wasn't reliable to show up or good to work with despite having never met Douglas, seemingly to gain more control over Douglas' future bookings by scaring other NWA promoters off. In the most famous angle of his career, Douglas, at the urging of Heyman, double crossed Coralluzzo after winning the NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament on 8/27/94, saying the past champions could kiss his ass and throwing down the title, claiming the NWA died 7 years ago. Aiming to ignite the new flame of the sport of professional wrestling, he declared himself ECW World Heavyweight champion instead, ushering in the era of The Franchise, and the useful era of the ECW, which would be renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling. Coralluzzo regrouped 3 months later with another title tournament, this time having nothing to do with untrustworthy promoter Heyman. The NWA had been much more interesting than ECW in 1993-mid 1994, producing some notable matches that were ahead of what was taking place in America at the time featuring young junior heavyweight standouts Jerry Lynn, Sean Waltman, Sabu, Chris Benoit, and Al Snow, as opposed to the utter dreck of major league has beens and training school never wases that comprised the majority of the Eastern Championship Wrestling roster, a squad that seemingly failed to produce a single good match until Too Cold Scorpio arrived from WCW to face Sabu on 6/3/94. It's not who you can book once though, but who you can keep booking, and we were beginning to enter the era where the good, the bad, and the ugly were signing for more money elsewhere. The CWA branch that Coralluzzo promoted was based on running just 1 show per month, but having it be an indy "supershow". Nobody was living off that paycheck, so the model relied upon having access to the wrestlers of territories that ran enough shows for wrestling to at least be a part time job. Losing ECW really hurt the NWA's current promotion model, and this second attempt at a title tournament was their last show that felt like a big deal. They got a better champion out of the deal in Candido, who before Tammy became the story, distraction, often anchor, was one of the most promising American wrestlers of the early to mid 90s. He was a solid wrestler with a good look who could wrestle different styles, and combine them well. This match against Snow was largely a junior style match that wasn't quite as athletic as the Japanese or Mexican variety, but made up for it with a lot of good reversals and counters, and their suplexes and bombs are good (some of their German suplexes were shaky today). This crowd was not a real NWA crowd of course because this wasn't the real NWA, but surely Lou Thesz would be sick to his stomach hearing the crowd chant boring at attempts to wrestle technically in an NWA Title Tournament match. Snow's striking was good here, and these two could mix it up between sequences in a transitional manner that briefly broke things up while helping to preserve the idea of a contest without becoming a phony thing unto itself like the modern exchanges. Snow improved quite a bit in 1994, and had his best year as a pro, with a notable feud with Sabu. He became a hot indy wrestler, going between ECW and SMW in 1995, but signed with WWF in August, and toiled forevermore with one dumb gimmick after another, starting with Avatar and later becoming a Cassidy that was actually watchable. The quality of the work here was pretty high, but in between the slick stuff they would insert a random chinlock or something. The structuring was sometimes odd, and the match kind of felt all over the place. Snow hit his uranage, and the announcer said, "there's the urine-idge" I like Snow's combination of a spinebuster and a Ligerbomb, called the Snow bomb. The finish where Snow went for a powerbomb, but Candido landed on top for the flash pin was kind of cheesy. This match didn't really feel complete, but this was well booked in the sense that Candido wrestled about 30 minutes over the course of 3 matches, and his 2 good opponents got the majority, and about equal time. ***

11/19/94 NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament Final: Chris Candido vs. Tracy Smothers 13:18
ML: These two wrestled at least 35 singles matches, with this being the 33rd and final one between 1993-94. Their first match on 6/24/93 was a King Of Kentucky Tournament First Round Match, so one could say they came a long way, taking their feud to a final in the King of New Jersey. Candido had won the SMW Beat The Champ Television Championship from Smothers and defended the SMW United States Junior Heavyweight Championship against him twice, but Smothers won a later series of ladder matches, and beat Candido the previous 2 nights. I preferred Smothers as the stronger half of the Sounthern Boys/Young Pistols, where he had the 1990 WCW Match of the Year against the Midnight Express on 7/7/90, but he had a good year and a half left before he became Freddie Joe Floyd in WWF and an Italian comedy wrestler in ECW. This wasn't as fancy or flashy as Candido vs. Snow for the most part, but it was a solid match where they had good chemistry and their routine down pat. It was definitely good for what it was, but it felt like it should have been bigger and better. The big problem is you aren't realistically going to do a match that feels worthy of a title that was largely long matches in a big arena as your 3rd match of the night before 1000 people in an armory. The most impressive spot saw Smothers suplex Candido over the top onto the ring apron, which had a dangerous look to it as Candido kind of bounced off and continued to the floor. There was a big spot where Smothers went for a Frankensteiner, but Candido spiked him with a powerbomb. The match especially felt small when they did the Savage finish with Smothers ducking a chain shot, but getting punched with it while doing a backdrop. Candido accepted the belt, no demeaning speeches this time. Instead, he held Tammy on his shoulder like Elizabeth, and the announcer did his Randy Savage voice. Unfortunately, Candido's title run was a missed opportunity, to the point he never even defended it on an actual NWA show. He had 4 successful but surely forgettable defenses in SMW against Boo Bradley (Balls Mahoney), then lost it to Dan Severn, who was an old school NWA champ in terms of having an amateur wrestling background and being a guy you wouldn't want to try to double cross, but grew duller the more he trained pro wrestling. Candido tried out for WWF in January 1995, and started there under the dreadful Body Donna Skip gimmick in May, picking up the partner Zip (Dr. Tom Prichard) in December, ending his far superior Heavenly Bodies team, and resulting in Jimmy del Ray turning to Graffiti. I thought the Candido vs. Snow match was a bit better, but this was good enough. ***

11/27/10 Passion Red, NEO High Speed Title: Natsuki Taiyo vs. Leon 21:40
ML: The 2009 High Speed Title matches promoted by NEO were short, but Taiyo 's reign saw the length expanded, probably because Taiyo was now a feature performer in this Red league that only had a handful of wrestlers. This was the longest High Speed Title match up until this point, so it was very impressive that they maintained the workrate. They focused more on spectacular moves and less on speed than Taiyo's earlier defense against Tomoka Nakagawa. These two are great effort wrestlers, but Taiyo is the much more effortless looking performer. Taiyo is not only a lot faster than Leon, but a much more fluid mover. Leon is better at grappling, but that largely went by the wayside with the end of Mariko Yoshida's IBUKI, which Taiyo also participated in during her headbutt crazy days. Leon pushed Taiyo to utilize her grappling, which Taiyo can do very well, but probably wouldn't really include without the right opponent. Leon also got her to do a striking segment. This had a really hot start, but they ultimately did a little of everything, and the parts were greater than the whole. The transitions between styles might not have been the greatest, but the match kept you guessing and didn't become repetitive. There was a cool sequence where Taiyo landed on her feet for a spider German suplex, but Leon did a sit up to avoid a dropkick only to get arm dragged off the top rope. Taiyo's la magistral variation where she keeps rolling the opponent like a rolling cradle is actually impressive, much faster and more consistent than the actual rolling cradle. They saved the running for the finish, to push the speed even higher. Leon finally won with the captured buster to become the 4th champion. A very good match that probably wouldn't lead you to believe they were capable of having a match as awe inspiring as their 7/24/11 follow up. ***3/4

4/29/23 GLORY: Berjan Peposhi vs. Jan Kaffa 3R
ML: Peposhi is a best bout machine. Every match is high pace and constant action. This was Kaffa's GLORY debut, and what a debut it was. Peposhi fought southpaw to try to confuse Kaffa. I'm not sure how well it worked, but it definitely made for a lot more low blows. There was some horrible refing by Michaela Kovacova, who missed the dick kick by Kaffa so she didn't give Peposhi a break, just leaving him hanging as he stood there in agony holding his jewels. That would have been bad enough, but she then awarded Kaffa with a knockdown when Peposhi took a right straight because he wasn't defending himself. This was just an average jab, and Peposhi didn't even go down from either the front kick or the jab. The ref didn't even warn him fight to let him know she wasn't buying his "act" or whatever, so it was really a real stretch to rule this a knockdown for not defending himself, especially when it was obvious the guy was reacting like he withstood a foul. Peposhi actually thought this was finally going to be a point deduction on Kaffa for exceeding his Jon Jones allotment, instead of essentially punishing him for being on the receiving end. Kaffa had a beautiful spinning backfist counter early in the second, and this knockdown already theoretically eliminated Peposhi's chances of winning a decision. Some judges actually didn't score the foul as a knockdown though. 2 judges even had it 10-9 Peposhi. Peposhi just started fighting wildly because his back was against the wall, and he had what was arguably a front kick knockdown on the belt that was ruled a low blow. That was potentially the right call, as it might have caught the top of the cup, it was hard to tell given they somehow didn't show a replay. This was potentially legal, whereas Kaffa's front kick up to the bottom of the cup was clearly a foul. Peposhi was even more over aggressive and out of sorts, and this fight just got crazier and more action packed. Peposhi partially landed a high kick, but took two big hooks back from Kaffa. Peposhi took another backfist out of nowhere, and he tried to get up before it was ruled they knockdown, but to no avail. This was actually a good call. Peposhi slipped on a low kick, but practically jumped back up not trusting the ref to call it his final knockdown, and landed a big overhand left that hurt Kaffa after the restart. Kaffa wasn't backing down from the fight, and this round had a lot of crazy exchanges. Peposhi tried to throw a high kick on the break, and nearly decapitated the ref, who took another point. If not for the fact that Peposhi was knocked down three times and had two points deducted, one might have thought he was actually winning this fight. His punching power had increased dramatically from the 2/11/23 Ahmad Chikh Mousa fight, and he landed some big knees up the middle. Kaffa landed the 2 strikes that counted obviously, even if 1 other shouldn't have, but he was really under fire the majority of the fight. Kaffa landed yet another low blow, but still no point deduction. The only issue with this fight is it was stopped so many times for all these violations that it never had any consistency, but I suppose that stopping every minute helped them keep the breakneck pace. The shenanigans and poor refing distracted from what a great fight this was, although somewhat fueling it also because two rounds of all out power punching certainly wasn't Peposhi's game plan. Peposhi landed the high kick cleanly this time, but Kaffa stayed on his feet. It was pretty shocking how willing Kaffa was to keep exchanging and how little attention to defense he was actually paying. Both just pressed the action the whole time. Peposhi somehow found a new higher notch of aggression every time something went against him. There was really no defense here, as Kaffa landed 195 at 70%, while Peposhi landed 169 at 64%. Spectacular shots were connecting, and certainly two spinning backfist knockdowns in 1 fight is rare. Kaffa won a unanimous decision 29-25, 28-26, 30-23, 30-25, 30-27. Great match.

5/18/24 GLORY: Dennis Wosik vs Jan Kaffa 3R
ML: Kaffa was nicknamed the Diamond due to having a similar style to the late great Ramon Dekkers inside the ring, though I guess he resembles Brutus Beefcake outside the ring since he's a barber. These guys were super fast, both in foot speed and Wosik especially had the hand speed. He would kind of lure Kaffa in, then start popping him with counters especially when Kaffa threw the right hook a bit wide. Kaffa had a lot more volume, but Wosik landed cleaner and harder, definitely he had the more memorable shots. Kaffa got inside consistently and worked combos, but the ones that weren't blocked still didn't seem to really the penetrating. Kaffa did a good job of working the body and the low kick, but Wosik was cracking him with lead and counter left hooks. Kaffa took the first round for being the more consistent fighter. Wosik took over a minute into the second with a right kick into a left spinning backfist knockdown. Wosik was good at utilizing variations of this combination, with Kaffa avoiding a spinning high kick not long afterwards. Wosik consistently landed with the right low kick and the left hook. He seemed a lot more relaxed, fluid, and flowing in the second, which he won handily. Kaffa used all he had left in the tank in the third, and there was a crazy Holloway vs. Gaethje style big swinging finish to close it out. Though 2nd ranked Kaffa outlanded 140-97, his accuracy dropped almost 30% after the 1st round, and the quality of 4th ranked Wosik's shots was considerably higher. Wosik took the unanimous decision 29-27. Good match.

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 6/30/76 Lincoln, England: Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones 22:31 (5:00, 5:00, 5:00, 0:37, 5:00, 0:57, 0:57)
DC: An all-time great match. Judging from the footage currently available, this was one of the best matches of the 1970s, if not the best. This bout was scheduled for eight three-minute rounds. Like many great wrestlers from that era, they were both from the Manchester area. This was their third televised bout against each other. They had previously met in matches on 11/21/73 and 3/17/76, but unfortunately this footage doesn't seem to be available. In general, both men displayed some great athletic skills, and they were solid technicians. There was enough sense of a true rivalry between these two men that everything they did had roughness behind it, as if they just wanted to show the opponent they really wanted to beat them. Rocco started wrestling rougher and rougher as the bout progressed. The heat between the two escalated to the point that both men received public warnings. The referee tried to keep control of this, but it felt like it could get out of control any second, and at some point he even tripped over Jones. In the first round, it all started with them trading technical wrestling holds. They didn't allow the opponent to catch much of a breather, and they were very evenly matched, as both were of similar size at the time. Rocco had a couple of years more experience than Jones. In round 3, Rocco was a lot more aggressive than in the previous two rounds. Jones wasn't too concerned about Rocco's attitude and was ready to fight. Jones's arm wasn't in good shape by the end of round 3. In round 4, Rocco immediately went back to working over Jones' left arm and shoulder. The action went back and forth. Rocco was great both in being in control and being the aggressor yet making Jones look as good as possible in the process. Jones was great at showing fighting spirit, and had great chemistry with Rocco. Both had excellent timing and execution. *****

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 8/3/76 Bedworth, England: Marty Jones vs. Alan Wood
DC: Marty Jones showed his tremendous technical wrestling skills, as he moved swiftly and acted effectively. He definitely outwrestled his opponent during the early stages of the bout. However, Alan ‘Tiger' Wood seemed to be motivated by Jones' enthusiasm, and managed to show some surprising flashes of excellence as well. This turned into quite the competitive bout. Jones showed appreciation for his opponent's skills, but Wood didn't have time for handshakes, and was all business. It wasn't just his great technique that made Jones so great, it was also his great understanding of doing the right thing at the right time and showing his opponent the way. He definitely had the ability to maintain sight of the bigger picture, while being able to react quickly and appropriately in the moment as well. Excellent match. ****¼   

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 7/26/78 St. Albans, England: Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones 13:02 (3:00, 3:00, 1:20, 1:22, 3:00, 1:20)
DC: This was their fourth televised bout against each other. Unfortunately, not all of those televised bouts are currently available for viewing. Mark Rocco tried to give Marty Jones as rough of a time as possible, but Jones wouldn't surrender, and would always try to fight back. Jones was one of the most talented opponents Rocco had to face, so the way he wrestled his matches against Jones was a bit different from the way he wrestled against less talented wrestlers. Against the less talented wrestlers, Rocco had to try with all his might to make the matches good, but against Jones, Rocco knew he could use Jones' skills to his advantage, and have a spectacular bout featuring some of the most high-end wrestling seen in the wrestling world at the time. The first round featured mostly technical wrestling. In the second round, Rocco was becoming wild and out of control, viciously attacking Jones, who remained calm, cool and collected. Jones fought back in a technical manner, as he didn't want to let his emotions get the best of him. Jones managed to take the match back to the mat. Rocco would continue to be wild and aggressive. Jones almost scored a pinfall, but Rocco was still too fresh. Rocco missed a dropkick, and Jones took advantage of it. After the round was over, Rocco sneakily attacked Jones. In the third round, the high-quality work continued. The wrestling was fast-paced and energetic. They were constantly moving and coming at each other, not giving each other too much chance to recover. In this third round, Rollerball Rocco scored the first pinfall. This brought a big grin on Rocco's face, satisfied that his no-nonsense and non-crowd pleasing approach was paying off. In the fourth round, Rocco took his big upside down bump in the turnbuckle after Jones launched him. Jones was able to take advantage of Rocco's overconfidence, and scored the equalizing pinfall via a flying bodypress. In the fifth round, Jones executed a beautiful top-rope dropkick. Rocco was bumping around like a madman, something he did so well. Jones's offense looked slick and well timed. Things were getting more heated and public warnings were given to both men. It was now time for the sixth round. After a hard-fought battle, Rocco was able to pin Jones. Rocco grabbed the mic and challenged Jones for Jones' title. Jones had an even better idea, and said they should have a title vs. title match! Rocco yelled at Jones: “This belt is 200 years old, when I'm finished with you, you'll look 200 years old!” Great match. ****¾     

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 9/13/78 Woking, England, British Heavy-Middleweight Title vs. British Light-Heavyweight Title: Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones
DC: This was the big title vs. title bout! The first title vs. title bout in World of Sport Wrestling history. This was their fifth televised match against each other. Marty Jones was very prepared, and had even trimmed down to make weight for this bout. He was very quick on the mat, which seemed to annoy and surprise Rocco early on in the match. Jones was so on top of his game that he almost scored a pinfall relatively early, which rattled Rocco to the point that Rocco wasn't acting as cocky as usual. Rocco still had a meanstreak and still acted heelish, though, but that was just his villainous self shining through. Overall, Rocco was definitely more cautious than usual, which was a compliment for Jones, as, in the story, Rocco clearly was concerned about the outcome of this huge title vs. title bout. Jones was very focused and alert. Both Rocco and Jones took some tremendous bumps. Jones scored the first pinfall in round 5. Rocco visibly showed that he was upset with himself for letting it happen. Rollerball Rocco showed he was all business in round 6 by scoring the equalizing fall. Rocco took a huge bump to the floor and couldn't make it back into the ring. Jones was declared the winner. This was almost on the same level of their previous matches, but it was just lacking that little bit of extra intensity that would have made it great. Excellent match. ****¼ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 9/26/78 Digbeth, England: Marty Jones vs. Tony St. Clair
DC: They kept busy and kept moving. Execution was really good as well. This definitely was one of the best Tony St. Clair performances available on video. Especially his ability to increase his speed and urgency towards the end helped his performance a lot. Excellent match. **** 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 1/30/79 Wolverhampton, England: Marty Jones vs. Steve Logan
DC: His tag team partner may have been a bigger star, but Steve Logan was definitely a better worker than the overrated Mick McManus. That being said, Marty Jones was definitely outwrestling Logan here. Jones' selling and offense were top-notch. His European-style uppercuts in particular looked really cool. Logan dragged the match down with his heelish behavior, but it was overall quite a worthwhile match. Good match. ***¼ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/13/79 Leicester, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Marty Jones 19:40
DC: This aired 11/24/79 on WOS. This was Dynamite Kid's first match back in England since leaving in April 1978. He was almost 200 lbs at the time. Dynamite's physique clearly started looking differently, largely due to his use of steroids. Commentator Kent Walton almost couldn't believe it's the same Kid he saw over a year and a half ago. Dynamite had gained about 40lbs of muscle mass since he had left England for Northern America. Dynamite's wrestling style was getting more explosive too. Marty Jones was a very good worker. Jones was arguably Dynamite's best opponent in the 1970s, though Tatsumi Fujinami might have something to say about that. Dynamite and Jones kinda had somewhat similar styles and this made the counters interesting. Dynamite was the more explosive of the two, but Jones was the more technically sound. The match was scheduled for six five-minute rounds. Jones hit some nice knee lifts, which Dynamite bumped well for. Fifty seconds into round 4, Jones got a pinfall over Dynamite via a rollup. 2:25 into the fifth round, Dynamite executed a tremendous falling headbutt. Walton mentioned he had never seen anyone execute a headbutt like that before. He also executed a tremendous tombstone piledriver that got him a pinfall. One fall each now. It was time for the sixth and final round. Both workers executed moves with great intensity. Dynamite suplexed Jones over the top rope to the floor, and Dynamite went over the top-rope as well. The fall ended in a double count-out, and thus the match ended in a draw. Along with the great 8/17/79 match vs. Fujinami in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, this was easily one of Dynamite's most memorable matches from 1979. ****¼ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 12/30/80 Burnley, England: Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones
DC: Joined in progress in round 4. Marty Jones pinned Mark Rocco to score the equalizing fall. Jones hit a tombstone piledriver and executed a somersault off the top rope onto Rocco. They both showed that winning this match would be something they truly wanted. The match ended in a draw. What is available of this match looked like the typically exciting wrestling between these two. Excellent match. ****

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 2/11/81 Bury, England: Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones
DC: All of their matches are always slightly different, which is nice, because variety is a good thing. This match was more of a rough stompin' and brawlin' type of match with Rocco being the aggressor. This was a heated and intense bout. Jones' enthusiasm when going for a pin was similar to that of a sports team member about to have the opportunity to score a goal or points. That's the kind of thing that's often missing in today's wrestling, this enthusiasm and sport-like feel to the matches. While this was entertaining and fun to watch, this certainly wasn't showy by any means. It was a no-nonsense wrestling match that was always almost about to get out of hand, since both workers were so determined to beat the other. Jones' top-rope dropkick wasn't merely done for the sake of it or to show off, he did it in an attempt to take out Rocco by any means necessary. The crowd was also really invested in this, and Rocco even got hit by an angry woman when he was on the floor. These two bitter rivals were so obsessed with destroying each other that they both hit a tope suicida in spite of wrestling on the floor being quite illegal. The match ended in a draw. Excellent match. ****¼  

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/30/81 Catford, England: Marty Jones vs. Bret Hart
DC: Joined in progress in round 5. Bret Hart and Dynamite Kid had come over from Calgary, Alberta, Canada for a tour. In this bout against Bret, Marty Jones scored the first fall in round 5. Bret hit a nice uppercut in round 6. After a piledriver, Bret scored the equalizing pinfall. In round 7, Bret continued to dominate with a North American-flavored offense. Jones turned things around with a vicious tombstone piledriver that Bret sold well. They attacked each other with a dropkick each. When Jones hit Bret with another dropkick, Bret went flying to the floor. Jones almost pinned Bret with a flying cross boddy press. After Bret took his sternum-first bump into the corner, Jones slingshot Bret into the corner. It was interesting to see this mixture of British and North American styles here. Bret came across like someone who definitely had the potential to be an international star. His timing and selling were particularly good. In round 8, Jones missed a kneedrop but still managed to score the pinfall soon after. Very good match. ***½ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 2/17/82 London, England Royal Albert Hall: Marty Jones vs. Caswell Martin
DC: Caswell Martin was a wrestler who apparently was from Antigua. He showed some good wrestling skills against grappling master Marty Jones.Caswell went for a flying cross body press, but ended up plummeting to the floor. This caused the match to end somewhat abruptly after it had been building up quite well. Very good match. ***½    

NJPW 10/8/82 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tiger Mask vs. Marty Jones 12:09
DC: In spite of being a key player in his own country, English pro wrestler Marty Jones wasn't nearly as much of a big name in Japan as Dynamite Kid and Mark Rocco, the two main English foes of The First Tiger Mask. However, one can't deny that he was a great in-ring performer who was able to have really good technical matches with just about anyone. In this match, Jones did some technical stuff, but he mixed it up with some more standard heelish roughhousing. Satoru Sayama spent a great deal of this match selling for Jones' offense, but Sayama eventually won via a sunset flip. I could totally imagine that if they were given the opportunity, these two would have been able to have an excellent 20-minute match together in a World of Sport setting perhaps. What we got here was very good, but you can't help wondering if they would have been able to have a better match together. Luckily, they would have the opportunity to have a slightly better singles match in UWF in 1985. Very good match. ***½   

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 1/19/83 Walthamstow, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Marty Jones 17:19 (3:00; 3:00; 1:45; 3:00; 3:00; 1:19; 2:15)
DC: This aired 2/5/83 on World of Sport. The British rounds system allows a story to be told in a different manner than most are probably used to (assuming that most fans aren't watching old school WOS Wrestling all the time). These old school World of Sport matches certainly come across as serious contests. This was a two out of three falls match scheduled for eight three-minute rounds. The first round was more a feeling out process. In the second round, Dynamite started being more aggressive. This made Marty Jones become more rugged in his approach as well. They gave each other some headbutts. Jones did a nice kip up after Dynamite tried to pin him down. Jones worked over Dynamite's left arm in the beginning of the third round. Dynamite was able to fight back for a bit, but then was caught by surprise in a small package that gave Jones the first pinfall in this match. Jones wanted to shake Dynamite's hand at the beginning of the fourth round, but Dynamite kicked him. Dynamite hit a stiff uppercut that took Jones down. While the ref was counting Jones as Jones was down, Dynamite hit him with a knee drop, which resulted in a public warning. Commentator Kent Walton explained that Dynamite is used to wrestling under completely different rules in Japan and America. Dynamite took a huge bump off a back body drop by Jones. Dynamite was then on the receiving-end of a couple of well-executed upper cuts by Jones. Early in the fifth round, Dynamite threw Jones back-first into the corner. Jones would throw Dynamite chest-first into the corner. Jones hit a beautiful double underhook suplex and almost pinned Dynamite, but Dynamite got his shoulders up. Tempers started to flare, and they hit each other even after the bell. Dynamite slammed Jones' head into the canvas and kicked Jones as he was down. The ref wanted to maintain fair play, so he gave Dynamite his second and final public warning. Dynamite got Jones down again. This time, he followed it up with a beautiful flying headbutt off the top rope. The ref reminded Dynamite that this is illegal. Dynamite executed a bodyslam on the weakened Jones and got the pinfall. Jones, who by this point in the match was now bleeding from the nose, threw Dynamite chest-first into the corner and Dynamite sold it in a spectacular way. At some point, Dynamite went for a flying headbutt again, but this time, Jones rolled away. Jones launched himself at Dynamite, and both went over the top rope to the floor. Once Dynamite was back in the ring, Jones hit a top-rope dropkick. There was some exciting back-and-forth action near the end that culminated in Jones reversing a rollup pin attempt for the win. This was a really good match, and it was good to see Dynamite in a WOS Wrestling match again. In fact, this was his final match in England that would be shown on WOS. Jones was a top quality opponent, and this match once again proved how versatile Dynamite could be as he had been excelling in Canada, Japan and England around this time in his career. Perhaps the thing that stood out most in this match was the tremendous execution by both workers. They worked this at a deliberate pace with plenty of stiffness, and it felt like every move meant something in this contest that they worked like a serious sports contest. Great match. ****¾

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling 12/7/83 Marty Jones vs. Ross Hart
DC: Ross Hart was an important backstage member of Stampede Wrestling, as he was an important member of the TV production. However, as a wrestler, he never became as well known as some of his brothers. Grappling master Marty Jones can have a good match with almost anyone, though. Little details, like Jones showing frustration in not getting the three count, added to this match feeling more important than it was. There was an interesting moment where Ross started ramming his shoulder into Jones' mid section repeatedly while Jones was in the corner, which is not allowed on World of Sport Wrestling. Kent Walton chuckled and said: “That's not allowed over here, I'm afraid.” Ross proved to be carryable and proved that he was willing to try his best. Jones deserves credit for once again showing why he is one of the all-time greats, no matter who the opponent is. Good match. ***¼ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 4/4/84 Blackburn, England: Marty Jones vs. Fit Finlay
DC: Dave ‘Fit' Finlay sported a beard for this bout. Marty Jones' wrestling gear had an unusual color combination that you'd expect from someone like Dos Caras. Finlay was more focused than usual, but he wasn't showing a lot of urgency. He definitely showed a good amount of aggression, and even got a public warning, after which pretty Princess Paula told Finlay to calm down. Finlay didn't seem to listen, and whipped Jones so hard into the corner that literally the entire ring shook. Finlay bumped big for a back body drop. Jones was great as usual, but the big surprise was an exceptionally good performance by Finlay. At some point, Finlay and his Princess were arguing, but referee Jeff Kaye told Paula to leave the ring so that the wrestling could continue. Finlay lost by count-out. This story was far from over! Very good match. ***¾  

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 4/26/84 Nottingham, England: Marty Jones vs. Pete Roberts
DC: This was joined in progress. This appeared to be the origin of the dual chanting, as the crowd was chanting loudly like a modern British crowd would. These two grapplers were going back and forth as well. Marty Jones scored the equalizing fall over ‘Destroyer' Pete Roberts. This was definitely one of the most exciting Pete Roberts matches. Jones gave a great performance. Not surprisingly, the match ended in a draw. Very good match. ***¾  

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/13/84 Dartford, England, World Mid-Heavyweight Title: Fit Finlay vs. Marty Jones
DC: Joined in progress in round 4. This match featured one of  the best performances of the career of Northern Irish wrestler Dave ‘Fit' Finlay. He was still heelish, like before, but he had an added aggression to his wrestling, and he showed a certain hunger to win the bout. He didn't overdo his heel act, and he didn't focus only on generic brawling like he would start doing later in the decade (until his surprisingly awesome run as stiff, no-nonsense brawler in WCW in the late ‘90s). In spite of Princess Paula being at ringside, Finlay was quite focused on the match. Marty Jones gave a great performance, as he emphasized how he was struggling against the champion's newfound aggression, yet being the experienced grappler that he was, he knew that there was always a chance to win the bout. Finlay's execution and timing was surprisingly good and appropriate. The energy and urgency displayed by both competitors emphasized that this was indeed a big title bout. Finlay's bumping and selling was wild. The drama and intensity kept increasing as the bout went on. At some point, Jones even leapfrogged over the referee to get in Finlay's face. This match had all the things that made old school British wrestling so great, including the wrestlers going over the top rope to the floor together and an old lady at ringside interfering when the wrestlers were on the floor. These two had good matches before, but this one was exceptionally good. We're used to seeing Jones in great matches, but where this amazingly spirited Finlay performance came from is a mystery as of this writing. Great match. ****½

UWF 2/18/85 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Marty Jones vs. Nobuhiko Takada 15:26
DC: This wasn't the first time they wrestled each other, as they had also wrestled each other in NJPW in 1982. Marty Jones enjoyed wrestling in Japan because of the style. Jones was one of those few gaijin who enjoyed the Japanese approach of actually kicking when you kick and expecting an actual kick back. Jones was completely dominating this match versus Nobuhiko Takada, as he managed to keep Takada grounded in leglocks. Takada was fighting with all his might to escape, but Jones didn't make it easy for him. Jones combined his knowledge of amateur wrestling, catch wrestling and World of Sport Wrestling styles to create a wonderful blend of technical mat wrestling offense. Takada seemed overwhelmed, but occasionally had a good answer to the situations presented by Jones. In the end, Takada somehow managed to win via submission. This felt undeserved, but it showed that a submission win could apparently happen anytime and any place to anyone. Very good match. ***¾ 

UWF 3/2/85 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Super Tiger vs. Marty Jones 14:38
DC: Marty Jones did a good job using his World of Sport-style grappling, which was his main strength, to his advantage. Unfortunately, that only got him so far in a UWF setting against one of the top fighters in the world. Satoru Sayama's striking really stopped Jones' momentum each time Sayama would decide to strike. Sayama's ability to fluently move from one style and strategy within the match really made this match so interesting. He managed to get Jones all fired up and excited about increasing the intensity as the bout progressed. Jones' tenacity and perseverance made it plausible that he could potentially give Sayama some serious trouble in this match. Sayama tried to escape Jones' headscissors, but Jones then quickly transitioned into a crossface chickenwing that made the crowd mark out and made Sayama run towards the ropes. Jones bumped big for Sayama's enzuigiri. Eventually, Sayama got the expected win. Very good match. ***¾   

Joint Promotions 3/5/87 Bradford, England, World Mid-Heavyweight Title: Owen Hart vs. Marty Jones 25:54 (3:00, 3:00, 3:00, 3:00, 1:40, 3:00, 3:00, 1:06, 3:00, 2:08)
DC: This was a contest for the vacant title, scheduled for twelve three-minute rounds. Owen Hart's plane was late, so they had to start the match as soon as he arrived at the building without any real preparation. They sent a taxi to the airport to pick up Owen. Then, Owen put on his wrestling gear and shook hands with Jones. The match they had was done on the fly, off the cuff. Even though it had been a while since they had wrestled each other in Canada, this was an amazing match. Marty Jones himself has said in an interview that it's one of the best matches he ever had. What's even more amazing is that this was before any of Owen's Japan tours, so the amazing ability to work an excellent match he showed here was quite impressive, as his only wrestling experience at the time was from his first few years in Calgary and his previous tour of England. Both men were careful not to make any mistakes early on, both showing a lot of respect for each other. The first round was a very technical round, in which they weren't taking too many risks. In the second round, they showed more speed, as they realized it was a good time to start trying something more daring. Round 3 and 4 were not shown. In the fifth round, Owen showed some amazing athletic skills that got him the first pinfall. During the sixth round, they kept the action going, but neither man scored a fall. Round 7 was not shown. In round 8, Owen continued to show his amazing skills, but Marty Jones used his experience to counter and score the equalizing pinfall.  In round 9, they both continued to outdo each other and challenge each other to take things one step further. Owen hit a flying elbow drop off the top, but the referee explained that this is not allowed over here. In round 10, they really pulled all the stops and did the most exciting things you could imagine at the time. With less than a minute to go in round 10, Jones managed to score the winning pinfall. Jones was the new champion! What they did really well was use the round system to their advantage, building the anticipation while also not letting the rounds system interrupt the flow, as they were able to flow their story very well throughout all the rounds in a continuous manner. Kent Walton mentioned this was “turning out to be one of the finest title bouts we've ever seen on television.” This really had the vibe of a serious sports contest in which both men pushed each other to the limits. And, perhaps most importantly, this felt like a timeless match. Great match. ****½