Welcome to DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW #68!
This is the first of two supplemental clearinghouse posts that will set up the LuchaWhompaThon that will be gracing our lovely newsgroup and our lovely world wide web as soon as Phil gets the tapes to us and I watch the wads of Lucha that are laying around my TO BE WATCHED bin.. Phil- the lucky bastard- got FORTY-SIX FREAKIN HOURS OF LUCHA from Canadian Steve and now he doesn't have time to sleep, but wrote some stuff anyway as we zero in on ALL THE LUCHA IN THE WORLD 98!. But first a word from REVEREND RAY....
#$#$#$#$#$#$#$ PWA (PRO WRESTLING
AMERICA) - 1/23/97 (Minnesapolis, MN):
(by REV RAY DUFFY)
Great Sasuke vs. Lucious Lenny
Lane
This is in some public access sort of taping
at a National Guard Armory. No really, I'm the Great Sasuke, former J Crown
Champ, worked in the Tokyo Dome against Jushin Lyger.... then again, considering
most of the arenas MPro works in, this about what Sasuke is used to. The
ring is knee height off of the floor. Sasuke does about 5 moves, a few
kick misses, 2 kicks and a tope con hilo and the announcers are already
marking out beyond all belief. Lane juices after getting thrown into the
chairs at ringside. The announcers throw the phrase "Whadda Manuever" a
whole bunch. Sasuke controls the entire match until Lenny drops him in
a hot shot on the top rope. Lenny distracts the ref as his manager Mortimer
Plumtree works over Sasuke. Lenny gets in a somersault plancha. He goes
for the psicosis turn around somersault senton, but misses. Sasuke with
a flying side kick off the top. Asai moonsault into the crowd. Lenny low
blows Sasuke, who returns the favor. Sasuke with an asai moonsault for
an almost 3. A few near falls too close to the ropes. Sasuke tripped by
Plumtree and Lenny with a near 3. Sasuke german for a two. Plumtree hits
Sasuke to break up an octopus hold. Lenny gets caught on the top rope,
Sasuke puts Lenny on his shoulder, Lenny pulls out the world's slowest
rana and cradle to score th e win... you heard it right. Lenny Lane scores
the pin. Sasuke gets the mic and yells something in Japanese. Sharkey translates
it to "Sasuke says he wants to comeback and challenge Lenny again". I think
he really said "I JUST LOST TO LENNY FREAKIN' LANE! WHO'S NEXT? ALDO MONTOYA?"
They set up an angle where two big guys come down to ringside and they
say that they can be Sasuke's managers for the rematch.
@#@#@#@#@# EMLL TV 4/96-5/96
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN)
This is from the batch of Lucha Libre that Robert
Bahari sent me. He and Steve have become the Canadian suppliers of Mexican
SWANKness these days.
Guerrero de la Muerte/Felino/Arkangel
vs. Mr. Niebla/Super Astro/a Solar
The rudos get the first caida which is a hard
lesson to learn about Lucha- you gotta go through the rudos getting heat
by doing absolutely nothing cool to get the heat for the when they put
the technico over later. Usually you stick this in the second caida so
you can get in all the Whomp Ass matwork during the first Caida. It's easy
to say- that during this fall- Guerrerro De La Muerte is not giving Fuerza
Guerrera a run for his money as best and most interesting rudo ever. He
really gets a special place on my crap list for fucking up Mr Nieblas SWANKER
THAN SWANK super-mettalic mask so early in the match. Wotta scumbum! Kick
his ass Niebla! It's a pretty worthless first caida as the three rudos
decide to do their Hermanos Dynamitas impersonation and I get to shiver
in the proverbial Lucha corner. The second caida has Niebla sporting that
Hayabusa look because all of his hair is sticking out of the top of his
mask but luckily he tries to kick this match into gear by ACTUALLY kicking
Guerrerro de la Muerte right in the ass. ALLRIGHT! Niebla RULES! This caida
is kinda laid back except for the Super Astro's PHAT ASS cross-body and
Quebrada tope and Mr Niebla's Ciclon Ramirez Old School Tope that beat
my ass into the GROUND with it's manly goodness. The third caida is more
of the mainline goodstuff with SuperAstro hitting the ULTRAFUNTABULOUS
Assisted-Over-The-Toprope Tope Suicida which followed a superswank running
rana. Arkangel doesn't kill himself and is totally wasted in this match
as he falls victim to Niebla's cretinously AWESOME submission. Two wasted
caidas and not enough in the real caida. Hell, Felino and Solar did nothing
in this one. Actually, this is all to set up....
Guerrero de la Muerte/Felino/Arkangel
vs. Mr. Niebla/Super Astro/that same Solar {TWO!}: The Revenge of Jared-Syn!:
This is the cooler version of the previous match,
though it dwells far too long on the Niebla/de la Muerte feud- as these
two are still at odds- probably for Niebla making Guerrerro sell his idiot
submission. This one is of the more classic style as they take it to the
mat in the first caida. Super Astro makes me stand with mouth agape in
sheer awe as he gets the TRES bizarro Crucifix-Cross-Armbreaker on Felino.
Solar shows why he is one of the more underrated luchadores as he isn't
afraid to make with some wild beautiful movement as he goes from quick
roll-up to quick roll-up. This degenerates into a rudo fall but Arkangel
is too compelling in this to make it as crappy as the last rudo caida these
guys had. The second caida starts off with Niebla kicking de la Muerta's
decrepit ass all over the ring for a while, but he does it with nothing
more compelling than a Quebradora as Guerrerro shows that his rudo stock
is falling by the minute with me. Arkangel and Solar tear it up with Arkangel
bumping like the sick little monkey that he is. Super Astro breaks loose
AND NO MAN CAN HOLD HIM! Solar hits a rad Dos Caras roll-up, as Muerte
is "killing" (YES!) any chance of Niebla of doing ANYTHING cool. The third
caida, Super-Astro hits that Fat Ass running rana again. Guererro de la
Muerta stinks it up- CIEN CARAS-STYLE!. Arkangel dies a horrible death
to set up Super Astros fakee into a SWANK Diving Fatboy Senton. Muerta
foules Niebla thus "murdering" (HAHAHAHA!) any chance I had of REALLY liking
this match. Ehh. It was better than the previous match. An added bonus
was the Kick-In-The-Wedding-Tackle-Cam that EMLL employed to make sure
you knew exactly where the foule took place. Boy! Right THERE, hunh?
Emilio Charles Jr/Satanico/Rey
Bucanero Jr vs. Silver King/Dos Caras/SHOCKER!
First Caida: Silver King kicks ass wrestling
technico since he has the larger than life offense that is required to
rule as a face. Dos Caras and Satanico mix it up in a VERY old school way-
I think you can see some of these cool holds on cave paintings in Alcupulco.
Rey Buccanero shows his true rudo colors by killing himself like a sick
little Arkangel with his super-modified Alcohol-feuled Funny Car of a Jerry
Estrada bump. {SHOCKER!} rocks the fucking house by hitting the first caida
Vertical Tope that kills the living Hell out of Emilio Charles. DURN! Second
Caida: Dos Caras hits the World's Oldest Hurricanrana as Rey Bucanero >DIES
AGAIN!< this time with a One-Handed Jerry bump. Third Caida: True LUCHA
FREAKOUT as SHOCKER goes WILD~! Satanico gets his three cents in by getting
a MUCH cooler version of the Rings Of Saturn that sets up Emilio Charles
Love Machine Splash. The Rudos drop the Technicos like a bunch of punks.
Silver King and Emilio Bust each other up post match and I as digging this
the MOST! SHOCKER rules the gar-dang world! WHIP ASS!
Astro Rey Jr/Mano Negro/Arkangel
vs. Ringo Mendoza/Solar I /Brazo de Oro
This was a weird match! Very Danny Hodge/ Nelson
Royal-esque. First Caida: Astro Rey and Solar take it to the mat in a very
traditional fashion which I love to no end. Mano Negro fearlessly applies
the Ob/gyn double ankle lock on Brazo do Oro that I NEVER want to see again.
...uhhhh. Disturbing.... Brazo is so ungood these days and his chunkiness
taking it to the mat is not a thing of beauty. Mendoza hits a cool Octagon
roll-up for the first caida duke. HEY! An all-mat caida. COOL!. Second
Caida: This caida speeds up as they get into the drop-kick and armdrag
section of the match with Mano Negro (of all people) hitting a pretty choice
dropkick off the second turnbuckle. The rudos second caida and it's STILL
ALL SCIENTIFIC and stuff. WHIP ASS! This is plenty odd. Third Caida: This
caida goes back to the mat with it going all super old school- as if Sayama,
Lizmark and Atlantis never happened. This is super cool. Astro Rey reverses
a monkey flip sequence into a Boston Crab. SCIENTIFIC AS ALL HELL! GET
SOME OF THIS!
!@!@!@!@!@!@ MICHINOKU PRO WRESTLING
- on Samurai TV August 1997
(by PHIL SCHNEIDER)
(This tape actually has other matches like that
Sasuke/Super Boy Ladder and stuff from that Champ Forum that were already
reviewed in DVDVR #51 , so Phil just reviewed the matches that were available
only on the Samurai Special. We're like that. And shit.- dhr.)
Super Boy vs. Jinsei Shinzaki
Shinzaki is the excalibur sword of wrestling,
only the truly legendary can pull him to anything worth two shits. While
Super Boy is real neat and fast and fat, he ain't Misawa or Bret Hart so
him and Jinsei is going to suck, and suck it does. Super Boy tries hitting
a neat tope and a moonsualt but then Shinzaki does some of the worlds most
deliberate offense, and puts this baby to bed with his praying powerbomb.
To summarize: Shinzaki stinks. Super Boy is fat.
Great Zebra vs. Gas Mask Dog
Great Zebra is this huge guy with a Zebra costume
who kind of wrestles like Dick Murdoch on peyote. He basically beats the
crap out of the Gas Mask guy, including a Plancha off the stage, which
sounds cooler then it is, because the stage was only about five feet off
the ground, but hey Great Zebra is huge so it was still kind of neat. He
also does a super ridiculous move where he runs across the gym floor and
does a big baseball slide into a kneebar which was hugely preposterous,
he also does the neat AWA elbow. If this match was, say, Hugh Morris v.
The Barbarian and it was exactly the same it would have sucked, but the
Great Zebra has such an absurd outfit that it was a-okay with me.
Oriental/Great Sasuke/Noriro
Hoshikawa/Tiger Mask vs. Dick Togo/Men's Teiho/Shoichi Funaki/Hanzo Nakajima
This was an elimination match which rocked the
world as these kind of MPRO matches are wont to do. It started out with
a great super fast mat series with Sasuke and Hanzo. Hanzo- who usually
stinks up the joint- was as good as I have ever seen him in this bad boy,
hitting some suplexes and doing a great spinning kick to the back of Sasuke's
head. Dick Togo was the king- as usual- as he took the super green Oriental
by the hand and led him through all of Oriental's high spots which Oriental
kind of blew but Togo compensated and made look crisp, the youngster wins
the craziest move award by hitting a killer rolling senton to the floor.
They let this bad boy go 25 minutes without an elimination, and suprisingly
let Oriental and Hoshikawa be the last two in. The end is king size with
Hoshikawa being left alone with KDX and then Funaki sends away his gang
and him and Hoshikawa rip it up shootstyle for a couple of minutes before
KDX runs back in and finishes Hoshikawa off. Maybe the best MPRO tag match
of 1997 and worth getting your hands on a copy. DICKMANIA running wild!
%^%^%^%^%^% TERRY FUNK'S WRESTLEFEST
on ECW Fan Cam 9-27-97
(by REV RAY DUFFY)
The show opens with a 10 bell salute to Fritz
Von Erich.
Roadkill vs. W*ING Kanemura
They flew in Kanemura for this?!??! Kanemura's
moving pretty well, so I guess he's not injured yet. It's not a death match,
so Kanemura gets to show that he can wrestle and do planchas and stuff
other than get powerbombed on fire. Kanemura controls a bunch o the match,
but Roadkill gets a fair about of offense. Kanemura shows off a neato Dick
Togo-esque senton for the win. Pretty much a squash, but enjoyable at least.
Taz vs. Chris Candido (ECW TV
Title match)
Candido announced as being managed Sunny but
she doesn't come out. Losing points already :-) Actually a pretty good
match. Taz and Chris work on the mat early on with Taz getting the upperhand,
Candio gets in a powerbomb and controls for a while with some cheap shots.
Taz pulls out an exploder and a chancery takedown. Candido gets control,
hits a top rope rana. Chris goes for a suplex, Taz turns it into the Katahajime
for a quick tap out.
Cooga (Jd') vs. Shark Tsuchiya
(FMW)
Shark announced to come out first, but Cooga
comes out... whoops. It's a shark match, to her credit, she doesn't do
the Pogo slicing in the match, but she still sucks. Cooga does pull out
a swinging DDT, a Kappou Kick and a Destiny Hammer style flying knee of
the ropes. But it's Shark. Shark with the pin after a few clotheslines.
The Bushwhackers vs. Chris &
Mark Youngblood
The Youngbloods are with their dad and an American
Flag with a Native American on it. The 'Whackers were sort of acting facish
when they came out, but the whackers attacked them at the bell and they
start working heel. Not... Very... Good.... 10 minute match that finishes
with 45 seconds left and I was feeling all of it. Luke pinned after Mark
drop kicked Chris on top of him. You know, I thought Luke and Butch might
be decent if they went back to working heel. I was wrong. Collect the New
Zealand of Social Security boys....
Buh Buh Ray Dudley takes out Sandman prior to his match with Ballz Mahoney leading to...
Buh Buh Ray Dudley vs. Ballz
Mahoney
The greatest technical match in wrestling history....
just kidding. A really... really blown spot were Ballz comes off the top
rope for a flying chair shot and Buh Buh was supposed to drop kick the
chair... but doesn't... Ballz with three cane shots to the head. Not...
very... Good...
Shane Douglas vs. Tommy Dreamer
(ECW Title Match)
It's not clear if this is a non-title match or
not. They brawl around at the start, Shane gets in control and works on
Dreamer's leg and builds towards using the figure four. Francine and Beaulah
get in the ring and rake Tommy and Shane's eyes. Dreamer almost gets him
with a abdominal stretch cradle. Dreamer with a 2 after a bad bulldog (with
the camera angle, you can see shane's head never hits the mat). Dreamer
goes for the DDT, Francine rakes his eyes, cat fight. Dreamer goes to DDT
Francine, Shane clips him. Shane slams beaulah by her hair and gives her
the belly to belly. Dreamer with roll up for 2. Death Valley Driver for
2. Belly to Belly for 2. DDT, but Francine jumps on dreamer and gets a
piledriver. Shane with the Belly to belly for the 3. An eh match. Seen
this match a whole bunch of times in different places. See Dreamer-Shane
Finisher #2.
Mankind vs. Sabu
Sabu controls early and knocks Mankind out to
the floor, hits a somersault plancha. Mankind hurts his leg, Sabu works
it over. Sabu hits a chair launch leg lariat, goes for a second but gets
elbowed. Sabu catches mankind on the ropes, hits a top rope rana. Mankind
on the top rope, Sabu goes for a chair launch top rope rana, but Mankind
hits him so Sabu crotches himself. Mankind runs him into the chair. Mankind
misses a clothesline to the floor, they set a table spot which breaks when
Mankind claws Bill Alfonso and Sabu cross bodies him so they go through
the table. Sabu rips of Mankind's mask. Sabu with a triple jump moonsault
for a 2. Chairshot off the second rope. Mankind gets punches down Sabu
in the corner, running knee, Double arm DDT. He claws Sabu, Alfonso runs
in and gets clawed... and so does the ref. Styles claims Sabu is DQed because
it isn't an ECW match. They brawl to the back. Could have been much better
considered who was in it.
The Headhunters/Jake Roberts
vs. Hayabusa/Masato Tanaka/Jinsei Shinzaki:
The fans don't really seem to know who to cheer
for. They know Roberts so they cheer him. Jake is not wrestling with his
smock... unfortunately. This match plods a long it's not very crisp or
much chaining stuff together. Jake really looks out of it. Hunters work
over Tanaka, One with a splash, the other with a top rope drop kick. Shinzaki
saves Tanaka after a Tiger Driver. Roberts goes for the DDT but Hayabusa
and Shinzaki with top rope chops to block it. Brawl around the ring. Hayabusa
takes out one of the Headhunters with a 450 splash. A lack luster match.
Seen better from all involved. I heard rumors of Page and Raven pushing
for WCW to bring in Roberts, if he does come in I hope it's of the ring.
Terry Funk vs. Bret Hart (WWF
Title match) No DQ match
Pre-match, Paul E. presents Terry with a title
belt. Bret also does a tribute on the mic, and promises to give Terry an
ass whipping as well. Pretty solid match, early they work technically with
Bret stalling a lot. Bret gets in control by using brawling and working
over Funk's leg. Bruce and yet another Hart brother taunt Funk while he's
in a figure four. After working on the leg with some chair shots, Funk
works on Bret's leg. Funk tries to set up a table spot, but Bret gets out
of the way and Funk gets busted open. Bret gets Funk the in ring, Funk
turns a sharp shooter attempt into a small package which Bret reverses.
Funk gets the spinning toe hold on. Bret packages him, kick out at two.
The finish comes with Funk back suplexing Bret, but Bret gets the shoulder
up at two to retain the title. Post match, Bret and Terry shake hands.
A solid match, one real highspot, but good.
&*&*&*&*&
GAEA G-PANIC! (1/10/98, taped on 12/13/97 and 12/27/97)
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN)
Yamada vs Toshie Uematsu
This was pretty lacklustre because Uematsu is
mostly about highflying and Yamada is more about kicking her in the face
really hard. These "big gals kicking the youngster's ass" matches are killing
the fun of GAEA on these G-PANIC specials. You know who's gonna win, the
selling is all fucked up and neither ever look to into the match unless
it's Meiko Satomura because she's gonna force anybody she's in with to
take an ass-stomping and dish one out. Which leads us to the slightly better....
KAORU/Meiko Satomura vs Chigusa
Nagayo/ Sonoko Kato
KAORU and Chigusa do some wrestling and stuff
with KAORU hitting a couple of shiny moonsaults. Chigusa no-sells a bunch
of Satomura's offense early- which sucks, thus furthering the Chigusa/
better young wrestlers "Kawada selling the lameness of Baba's offense"-
effect but in reverse. KAORU softens up the old-timer so Meiko makes with
the crazed corner forearms- which any true wrestling fan loves- which works
towards a Meiko Death Valley Driver on her mentor right on her Dump-Matsumoto-carved
head. Eventually, Chigusa and Sonoko get the offense back and Chigusa does
a couple Rolling Threes for the win. KAORU kinda mailed this in and she
wasn't wearing the Silver Shiny Outfit so she couldn't even win me over
in a Foule-Cam Intensive kinda way, so I wasn't into this one.
They show a bunch of highlights of a one night tourney and I was digging the two-minute Satomura/ Numao match. Numao goes all shootstyle on Meiko and Meiko sells the leg until she gets the Death Valley Driver on the usually underachieving Miss Numao. Sonoko Kato is starting to use the BUFF Blockbuster and kills Matsomodo with it. Meiko gets a wrist lock submission while Akira Kato has her in the Argentine Backbreaker which is a counter so cool that you will never see it in WCW. Of the full matches...
Meiko Satomura vs Sonoko Kato
This was really great. Both these ladies kick
like Rockettes on high-grade crank and Sonoko Kato starts this baby off
by punting Meiko's adorable lil head across the ring and kicking her a
whole bunch and then topping it off with the super-dickish knees to the
head that HAD to cheese off lil Meiko- best wrestler of her generation.
Then they take it to the mat as they play Race To The Cross-Arm Breaker.
Satomura keeps Kato on the defensive- hitting an anklelock out of a Kato
Cross Arm Breaker attempt and goes into a half-crab. Sonoko hits her first
offensive transition with a rolling Samoan drop and punts Meiko's adorable
little puddin head a while longer setting up her second rope leg-drop.
Sonoko hits her big transition move with middle turnbuckle reverse flying
forearm (a flying burrito if you will- except stiff as hell). After this
they kick each other in the face at the same time REAL HARD. Like Ray Guy
and Dave Jennings if they really hated each other. Satomura goes in for
the kill with a big axe kick and goes for her Cross Arm Breaker that Sonoko
counters into a roll-up for the pin. The ending is just SWANK. They talk
a big batch of smack at the end that bodes well because these two truly
kill each other when they are in with each other and I dig it that they
are starting to hate each other and stuff. WHIP ASS!
Sonoko Kato vs Chikayo Nagashima
Sonoko starts by kicking the holy fuck out our
gal Chikayo- getting in the knees to the head and the second rope legdrop
in early. Magashima turns it around with a toprope dropkick and unleashes
her arsenal of high-flying moves- rolling up Kato in every way imaginable
until Sonoko gets her in the corner and gets her in the Hulk Hogan Full
Nelson (except better). Nagashima tries a toprope bodypress and Sonoko
kicks all her ribs through her back as Chikayo lies in a crumpled heap.
After all that, Chikayo delays the inevitable Dragon Sleeper but eventually
the suddenly surly and
beautiful Sonoko Kato gets the Dragon on her
and that's all she wrote. This was good but Nagashima should have gotten
more in. I guess they are trying to get Sonoko over as being more heelish
or just more pissed at youngster who strayed from Chigusa (Uematsu to Yamada,
Satomura to KAORU and, of course, Nagashima and Sugar with Mayumi Ozaki).
I dug it.
Akira Hokuto/KAORU/Chikayo Nagashima
vs Chigusa/Yamada/ Sonoko Kato
Everybody wants a piece of everybody else. KAORU
and Yamada hate each other because KAORU thinks that Yamada cost GAEA the
match against OZ Academy because Yamada spent the whole match trying to
beat the shit out of Ozaki, leaving KAORU hurt and lone against Sugar who
got the pin in the last episode because Yamada was too distracted to save
her partner. KAORU has been bent out of shape ever since. Sonoko Kato wants
to beat Chikayo Nagashima's ass because she is a member of OZ Academy and
they hate each other's guts. Akira Hokuto and Chigusa are in the middle
of all this trying to keep some semblance of order because the match is
secondary to each of the four getting their shots in on their rivals. Got
that? GAEA fucking RULES. Yamada and KAORU stare a bitchy stare at each
other as KAORU refuses to get in the ring with Yamada and Yamada refuses
to get out of the ring to let Sonoko at Chikayo. Soon all four are standing
there staring at each other until Yamada smacks Kato on the head and says,
"Get out of the ring little missy. I'm older than you. I get to kick KAORU's
ass before anybody does anything." Chikayo Nagashima finally locks up with
Yamada which is the opening that KAORU needed to springboard dropkick Yamada
in the KNEE from the blind-side in the first truly GREAT dickish moves
of 1998. Yamada then beats the hell out of Nagashima for the cheap shot
and for not being KAORU. KAORU gets in to save the little punkin and Yamada
and KAORU start a 1970's apartment wrestling match as they start pulling
each others hair out (not that I've...ever seen...Apartment.... Wrestling....
or anythin...uh....) . Chigusa pulls them apart and tells Hokuto to come
in and let's start having an actual wrestling match proper and that's the
story. BOY! THIS IS FUN!! GLOW was NEVER this GREAT! This is how you build
a feud folks. All in the ring, all making logical sense and everybody beating
the hell out of each other. KAORU whomped ass hard in this match when it
got to the actual wrestling part- switching from high-flying to shootstyle
at will, depending on the strength of whoever she was in with at the time.
Yamada wasn't afraid to hit a Locomotion Backdrop Driver on KAORU that
KAORU sold like a champ until she reverses Yamada's Reverse Gorie Driver
to set up a BEE-YOO-TEE-FULL toprope quebrada. Yamada does a bunch of damage
to KAORU's super-enchanting face by hitting a HIDEOUS running heel kick
that set-up the Reverse Gorie Driver, but Hokuto and Chikayo make the save.
Hokuto hits a missile dropkick thus giving KAORU the opening to hit her
Excalibur (the real-deal Michonku Driver II. It's REAL hurty and stuff)
AND GETS THE PIN! KAORU FUCKIN PINS YAMADA! I'm sorry. It's just that KAORU
has NEVER had a big win in GAEA EVER for some reason, so I freaked out
and partied. Postmatch, KAORU sets a new standard for surliness by STANDING
ON YAMADA'S HEAD until they can pull her off . Nagashima and Kato also
get into it and have to be pulled apart. GET ALL THIS! This was CHOICE.
!@!@!@!@!@!@ WWO Handhelds (8/8
and 8/10/97-Ron Rivera Version)
(by REV RAY DUFFY)
Felino/Perro Russo vs. Rey Misterio
Sr./Lizmark Sr.
It's Cats and Dogs working together! Who'd a
thunk it! Perro Russo recently did a tour with Michinoku Pro. Kind of a
built guy, but not really much in terms of spectacular moves except maybe
a somersault apron dive. They work the ole' spot with Felino trying to
get Rey Sr. to shake his hand. Felino gets into a chopping match with Rey
Sr., then tries to sell a foul after getting on the losing end of some
chops. Tecnicos get the first fall with Liz ranaing Felino and Rey northern
lights suplexing Perro. Rey Sr. suprises me by pulling out a swinging DDT
and one off the ropes on Perro. His nephew musta sent him some MPro.
Felino fouls Liz and gets the segunda caida. Perro pins Rey Sr. after a
double underhook suplex. Final fall starts with off camera brawling. Rey
Sr. pulls off a nice tope. Third falls ends with Rey Sr. putting Felino
in an abdominal stretch, Liz hits Perro with a top rope drop kick and then
he gets fouled. Technicos win by DQ. Post match, Felino gets into it with
Rey Sr., who rips off his mask.
Astro Zomibe 2000/Leprechan Erin
O'Grady v. Vicous Vic Grimes/American Wild Child
This is pretty cool. Grimes is really the big
man in the match. I'd say he's over 300 pounds and pretty much dwarfs everyone
else in the match. I thought he'd probably stink up the match when I saw
him walking to the ring, but Vic proved me wrong. Erin goes for a few of
the typical weirdo lucha arm drags and Vic comes up with good power move
counters to them. Vic pulls out a cool spot where he sets O'Grady up for
a high angle powerbomb, but drops Erin and catches him with a diamond cutter.
Vic also takes a buch of the head scissor bumps too, so- all in all- very
respectable in the match. Vic also pulls out a press slam into a face first
powerbomb drop which was also pretty sweet. American Wild Child spends
a lot of the match drawing heat with the fans, who chant "Faggot" at him.
He doesn't seems to do too much to draw a lasting impression in the match.
Erin O'Grady pulls off a nice doctor bomb on American Wild Child. Erin
seems to have a good mix of mat, flying and he bumps well. Erin pulled
off a twisting head scissors on the floor that nearly sent Vic into the
crowd. He also pulls a nice slingshot into a flying head scissor. Erin
showed a bunch of neat-o cool stuff. I'd be interested in seeing him again.
Astro Zombie Dos Mil seems to be mostly an air game. He showed off a nice
bunch of top rope flying moves and pulled out a cool springboard drop kick.
Post match, the fight continues on the floor and and I think the Promo
boys run in and lay out O'grady. Overall. I'd heard of Vic and Erin and
they impressed me. AZ2K looked pretty good and Wild Child wasn't Tenta
or anything really horrible, so no complaints here.
Ultimo Dragoncito/Aztucia vs
Espectrito/Jerrito Estrada
Funny thing is, all the mini's, except maybe
Espectrito are taller than Rey Jr. The heat for the match is good and Jerrito
does a bit of working the crowd to get even more into it. The match cuts
out for a bit, but when it comes back, Espectrito fouls Aztucia. Rudos
take primera ciuada after Espectrito does some sort of small package on
Aztucia, who kicks out of it at 2, but gets caught for 3 as Espectrico
keeps it on. After Jerito tries to take some crazy bumps, Dragoncito pulls
out a crazy tope which gets the fans to their feet. Aztucia misses a moonsault
and Espectrito pins him after a senton. Post match, Damian 666 and the
promo boys run in and beat up Dragoncito and Aztucia. Then mug for picts
with Jerrito and Espectrito
Lizmark, Jr./Villano IV/ Super
Calo vs Juventud Guerrera/ Ciclope/Mike Modest (Lumberjack Match)
The Giant runs in and... oh wait, this is WWO,
not WCW. Modest and Wild Child, I think wrestle as "La Migra", or "The
Immigration Service", and thus are bound to draw heat with the mostly mexican
audience. While the Giant doesn't run in during the match, there is a run
in on the camera by a kid's head. Man, that kid must have a huge melon,
because it covers up the whole screen. The rudos keep running outside and
the lumberjacks give them a bit of a beating and throw them back in. Villano
IV does a couple of good looking DDT's. Hey, the head's back! You know,
I can almost see the ringpost, how about showing us the back of your shirt!
YEAH BABY! The Rudos win, probably with the help of the human wall in front
of the camera.
Damian 666/Psicosis/La Parka
vs. Silver King/Rey Misterio, Sr./Hector Garza
Cool factor of the match is that Damian and Parka
are on the same side and do a couple of comedy spots. Of course, I'd love
to see these two in Japan where Damian pulls out his million and one impersonations.
He does however, add DDP to his list. Garza armdrags Damian a few times,
and Damian ends up crotching himself on the ropes each time he slides across
the ring trying to draw a DQ for the foul. Silver King gets the crowd going
with Psicosis by doing the "ole'" bit. Garza does the "Ole'" bit with Damian,
hits him with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, Parka tries to jump him from
behind, but when Garza turns to face him, Parka stops dead in his tracks
and and gives him applause. Rey Sr. does a sequence where he dodges the
rudo's slaps just in time so the rudos keep hitting each other and then
their female valet, Miss Janet? Damian gets the cane and starts working
over Silver King. They mix it up a bit, Ciclope runs in with the cane,
Silver King gets it and works over the rudos. They do a spot starting with
Rey Sr. missing a senton where a rudo attempts a high spot, misses, then
a techinco goes, etc, with each one missing. They try to set up the lucha
libre star, but Parka ducks King's rana attempt and breaks up the stars.
the multiple dives to the floor missed. I can't really see it, but Parka
chairs the ref to break up a count, Miss Janet runs in, someone runs in
to attack her and I think Konnan runs in and DDT's someone. King pins I
think Damian to get the win for the technicos.
Konan/Mil Mascaras/Mascara Sagrada
vs Doink/Yokozuna/Fatu
3 words... Not... Very... Good... When Konnan's
probably the best worker in the ring.... oh my. Konnan's in full nWo outfit
and working as a babyface. Whatever. Highlight of the match is Yokozuna's
selling of a Konnan low blow. Techincos via a top rope body press. Post
match Konnan challenges the Samoans to any kind of match and we're graced
with a bunch of words you can never say on TV. To top it off, Konnan's
in the ring, and "All Together Now" (aka the RAW Theme) plays in the background....
%^%^%^%^%^ ALL JAPAN TV (2/1/98)
(by DEAN RASMUSSEN)
GLENN! Being God-like and all, sent me this and
the GAEA so I am once more drenched in puroresu goodness. Mmmmmmm....
Jun Akiyama vs Mitsuhara Misawa
Well THIS was pretty freakin good. It starts
off with Jumbo Akiyama hitting a High-knee and then he dropkicks Cactus
Misawa off the top turnbuckle to the floor onto his Triple Crown winning
head, killing Misawa. Dead. Thus returns Jun Akiyama to the world of GREAT
wrestling matches, having come off a very quiet 1997. He does a number
on the Greatest Wrestler In The World early-hitting a few Exploders to
set up young Jun REALLY killing Misawa with a Tombstone Piledriver onto
the floor. After the hot beginning, they go into some full-blown All Japan
Restholds for a few minutes to lead to Akiyama running Misawa into the
turnbuckle to Jumbo Knee the hell out of the young Mitsuhara and then runs
him into the other corner to hit a Tiger Driver and a Misawa elbow. Misawa
loses all semblance of Stoicism as he gets pissed at the young punk for
stealing his moves and starts lighting into him. "Young PUNKS! Why in my
day, Dick Beyer woulda..." After some restholds Misawa starts kicking him
like a dog, which I was loving but Jun turns it around by hitting his Trifecta
of Punkishness- Northern Lights Suplex into a Pedigree into a Toprope Flying
Forearm into the back of the old man's head. Then Akiyama hits a Doctor
Bomb into a Final COOP DE GRACIE Exploder! But Misawa escapes and knocks
the hippy freak to the floor with a "Get-A-Haircut!" elbow. "Get a job,
ya deadbeat! Kids today! Why I oughta... " Still woozy and seemingly channeling
the spirit of Mosco de la Muerta, Misawa hits a utlimate Lucha Trifecta
of his own- a FAT ASS tope, a quite dicklike senton and the SUPER PHAT
ASS PISCADO to the floor on a prone Akiyama. "ARRIBA LA RAZA!" he said,
I believe. Misawa drags Jun's corpse to the ring but can't get the pin
for some reason (Rigor Mortis maybe?). Aki fights out a deadly Tiger Driver
with a Dragon Screw and hits this weird Cheerleading Stunt Gone Horribly
Wrong move into a Malenko reverse Powerbomb into the top turnbuckle. Misawa
then says, "Ah CRAP! I gotta sells this neck-crushing stuff from Akiyama
now TOO! First Kawada and Kobashi and now this guy! This job SUCKS!" Jun
hits a series of Exploders and the crowd goes all insane as it looks like
an upset is an outside possibility. Jun tries to go for a toprope Exploder
but has to settle for a toprope Tiger Suplex and then hits a Murdockian
Brain Buster, as one begins to realize that Akiyama is starting to put
together Kanemoto-style finishing sequences which is a very good thing.
Akiyams hits another big Exploder and Misawa does that irritating as shit
All Japan No-sell/ Hit a move/ Sell the prior move crap that I never bought
(but I guess the AJ audience buys it, But WHATEVER.) This sets up Misawa's
Tiger Driver and the big Elbow. Misawa then hits his new finisher- a sort
of Overhand Death Valley Driver that looked TRES nasty and the epic struggle
is over. This freakin RULED. I didn't like the fact that Misawa's final
transition was started with what I consider faulty selling despite the
precedence for it in All Japan (I AM THE GOD!) and it sucks weinie that
such a pivotal section starts with it. But that's a small point compared
to the Massive ASS STOMPINGNESS of this match.
And the new ending theme music is JUST WAYYYYY to Kajagoogoo-esque for my tastes, dammit.
NEXT WEEK: The rest of the Glenn tape with LIGER! Vs OHTANI! GAEA! GAEA! GAEA! FMW (ZACH! I THINK!) ECW! NCW! You name it!
- Dean Rasmussen, Juventudiac~!
"You looked just like an Elvis from Hell
My heart is broke so I'm going to Hell
Bury me way down deep in Hell
I was too drunk , man, I wanna go to Hell"
- For the Love of Ivy; The GUN CLUB- world's
greatest band.