OOOLD SCHOOOOL

[wandshogun09]

To add to air raid's list there's a Hogan/Beefcake vs Beverly Bros match on the hilariously titled Grudges, Gripes & Grunts tape as well. And Hogan vs Dino Bravo on one (think it was Mega Matches).

[MoistVaj]

It seems there is a lot more Hogan matches on Coliseum releases than I remember I don't think I've seen half of those, or if I have I've certainly forgotten them. I remember the Supertape ones and the Wrestlefest 90 match with Perfect and that's about it. I don't think I've ever seen Greatest Champions at all either. I'm going to have to watch a 6 disc best of CHV set now, just to see if any other Hogan matches appear on there.

[air_raid]

Wrestlings Greatest Champions is cool, it has Harts vs Power & Glory for the tag belts you wont have seen anywhere else too.

[The Cum Doctor]

WWE RAW 22/03/1993

 

This is the go home show before Wrestlemania, but I don't think that's of any significance looking at the card. I guess it's just another episode of RAW that happens to be before the PPV.

 

The Bushwackers vs. Damien Demento and Repo Man

 

Repo Man and Demento don't even get their entrances, so as if there was every any doubt about how this one was gonna go, there certainly isn't any now. The Wackers take AGES to get to the ring as they are coming through the crowd. Given most of the people in this match, I thought this match would be an absolute mess and unfortunately it doesn't disappoint. The Wackers get the win with the Battering Ram. Some of the antics from Bushwackers can still be enjoyable but other than that, a lot of shite.

 

Tatanka vs. Reno Riggins

 

I think I got this right. Reno looks a bit weird but he gets going pretty quickly. Much like every jobber tactic ever though, it doesn't work. Riggins actually puts up a spirited effort for a while, and makes this seem like a fight for Tatanka. Tatanka gets a hard fought win with the Samoan Drop after turning up the aggression. That was a pleasant surprise there.

 

Money Inc. vs. Scott Rich and Jeff Armstrong

 

I don't know who's here though, but Dibiase seems particularly annoyed by something. IRS gets in there and doesn't seem any less annoyed by these two guys being in the same ring as them. Money Inc continue this complete decimation for a while and then end it with the Write Off from IRS. Not a single move done by the jobbers.

 

Wrestlemania report is up next with Mean Gene. It's basically a run down this time as it's the next show.

 

Doink the Clown vs. Kamala

 

Good to see the face turn for Kamala is taking him places. Looks like he's gonna be the sacrificial lamb for Doink in this one. As always from Doink, he's methodical and picks the other guy apart. Anytime Kamala seems to have any sort of joy, Doink just sweeps the legs away and continues his work. There's a horrible moment when Doink leaps like he's been hit with a Hiptoss, but Kamala gives absolutely nothing to the cause. Kamala winds up getting counted out because Kamala tries to open a present on the floor that Doink had. BWUAHAHAHA!!! Daft cunt.

 

Post match, Doink heads under the ring and then gets a chair and lays into Kamala when he tries to come out the other side. Some brutal stuff here. Oh wait, Kamala comes out and gets a shot on Doink and then he chases him away with the chair. So they're protecting Kamala which makes sense given he's just turned face.

 

That's our show! And a shitfest it was! Next up... I'll be doing Wrestlemania IX.

[The Cum Doctor]

WWE Wrestlemania IX

 

This is always named as one of the worst Wrestlemanias ever. I've not seen it much since it happened, but my memories of it aren't fond. Gorilla Monsoon is a bit enthusiastic about wearing about a toga. So is JR, who is full of life. He's selling this like it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. He has me thinking it's going to be as well! And I've already seen it!

 

We have a rather dull opening ceremony with Julius Caesar, Cleopatra and then the broadcasters of the show. Is there really any need for all of this? WWE seem to think so.

 

Shawn Michaels © vs. Tatanka - WWE Intercontinental Championship

 

HBK has Luna Vachon in his corner for this one. Heenan does a good job of explaining who she is. Sherri seems to be in the corner of Tatanka as she has a wee wander down to the ring. HBK tries to slow things down before it even begins and gets some success when he's slowing it down. They totally abandon this idea as the match goes on though, and even go as far as to totally reverse who's using the tactics, but that winds up improving things as the match is really well paced from that point onwards. When Tatanka DOES eventually go high risk, he makes a mistake. The match eventually builds to be an absolute cracker. In a HORRIBLE ending, the referee waits to count Tatanka's pin and THEN decides HBK was counted out. Ugh. Cracking wee opening match which was better than I remembered.

 

On the floor Luna attacks Sherri and then Body Slams her and Tatanka chases her away.

 

Backstage, we have Mean Gene with The Steiner Brothers. Rick Steiner sells them as unpredictable, but says the Steiners are just gonna wrestle.

 

The Headshrinkers vs. The Steiner Brothers

 

Surely this should be a good match as well? Sure enough, while it's not exactly earth shattering or anything, is fittingly brutal. Every move seems to be done to really hurt the other guy, which is cool. The Headshrinkers beating on the Steiners seems to go on for a tadbit too long though, to the point where I get pretty tired of it. Samu resorts to just hitting Headbutts over and over again, often interlaced with the odd wrestling move. It's a welcome relief to see Rick enter the ring, especially when, in a brilliant moment, he's all fire and stuff, and The Headshrinkers just grab him and headbutt him down. The ending sequence of the match has an electric pace and is ended when Scott hits the Frankensteiner for the win. Decent match, but a bit disappointing.

 

Backstage, Doink did a bit of "work" on the statue of Julius Caesar. Doink takes a great amount of joy about hearing about the stuff he does. We see that beating from Doink again on Crush and that remains just BRUTAL to watch.

 

Crush vs. Doink the Clown

 

This is a match which I can't wait to see again. I'm such a mark for Doink. They don't really play up that Crush is negating Doink's obvious technical prowess by taking the match to him right off the bat, but understandable given the other MAIN story here which is the revenge factor. When Doink DOES get the advantage, all he does is try and knock the big man down in desperation. Late in the match when Doink is in MAJOR trouble, another Doink is in the ring and the two Doinks give Crush a beating with the lead arm in another brutal attack and that wins the match. Not a technical masterpiece, but as part of the fued, this was some brilliant progression and the match DID play along quite nicely.

 

Razor Ramon vs. Bob Backlund

 

This is a very interesting match actually. Both guys were in the midst of a bit of a push about this time. Backlund fluking his way through everything and Ramon coming off a title shot. Another thing about Razor's strikes in this match that I love is how he seems to size Backlund up for every single one, whether it be a punch, kick or stomp. In a fantastic ending which works with what happened with Backlund in previous weeks, Ramon gets the fluke pin against a dominating Backlund. Fantastic. I'm actually loving that ending with every second that passes afterward. Match was too short to be anything really, but it was fun while it lasted.

 

Money Inc. © vs. Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake - WWE World Tag Team Championships

 

So the first part of the big double main event. Hogan apparently took a kicking because Money Inc paid someone to do it. It's a good way to cover for that belter of a bad eye, but that seems low even for Money Inc.

 

"Do you know what a publican was Brain?"

"As opposed to a democrat? Yeah!"

 

 

Hogan is as dominating as ever in this match and the fans are all over it like a rash. He also makes both men look very stupid which is pretty satisfying stuff. Never understood when the official forced the guys to come back into the ring if they're running away since they allow it to happen most other times. This goes with the extended tag formula and much like everything that comes before it, the match is very much a good continuation of what was happening on the TV. Money Inc win by DQ and I'm not entirely sure how that happened. Anyways, yet another fun match on this surprisingly fun card.

 

Post match, the ref gets launched out of the ring. Hogan and Brutus have a bit of a party in the ring even though they didn't win the match. Well, at least they aren't sore losers! It turns out IRS left the briefcase in the ring after they did the runner. They try and get into the briefcase and it turns out that there's a load of money... and a brick. Anyways, they give a load of money away.

 

Backstage with Mean Gene and Mr. Perfect. They basically put over how dangerous the forearm of Lex Luger is.

 

"The Narcissist" Lex Luger vs. Mr. Perfect

 

Fireworks coming off of mirrors? Classy. This guy clearly got stageshow ideas from Rammstein. Perfect's game plan is very Flair-like as he works on Luger with chops and also works on the leg of Luger. Are we also going to see a Figure Four Leglock in this match as well? Luger's tactic is to work on the already bad back of Mr. Perfect. It all ends up meaning nothing in the end as the match turns into a hard fought two sided contest with both guys getting a lot of it. For some reason, they lose the crowd which seems to be a bit harsh on them. I guess it must be because the Hogan match was on before it and they're a bit burnt out. Luger gets a Backslide win even though Perfect had his feet on the ropes.

 

Post-match, Luger knocks out Mr. Perfect with the forearm. Mr. Perfect wakes up eventually and he is not a happy chappy. He storms out of the ring and to the back in a rager. He finds Luger and lays into him but HBK then helps out Luger and smacks him with a couple of bins and then lays in with the stomps. Officials turn up and break it up and we have another fued coming here!

 

The Giant Gonzalez vs. The Undertaker

 

Okay, this is absolutely no way that this match can be any good. The PPV has been surprisingly good up to this point, but this can't work. We see some human sides to Gonzalez as he's forced to hit a couple of cheap shots during the match in order to keep Undertaker at bay. The main story of the match is that The Undertaker flat out refuses to stay down. That's about the only good thing about this match which, as I expected, is actually quite shit. Gonzalez resorts to using chloroform to keep Taker down, regardless of what the referee says about it and it's a DQ. Shite match, but The Undertaker's refusal to stay down at least kept some level of intrigue in there.

 

Taker gets off the gurney and heads back to the ring to deal with Gonzalez and eventually knocks him down, sending the crowd MENTAL!

 

Backstage, Mean Gene is with Hulk Hogan, and he says that the Hulkamaniacs are in the corner of Bret Hart. He then says that he was attacked thanks to Money Inc. He then issues a challenge to Bret or "the Jap". Credit to Todd who has been AWESOME in the crowd for the whole show.

 

Bret Hart © vs. Yokozuna - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

 

The fans are absolutely rabid for this one. Hart comes out the blocks quickly and the fans are RIGHT behind him. While he does that, everything Yoko does is high impact. It's actually quite the fascinating match as it goes on, with Hart using his ring smarts whenever he finds himself in trouble in order to get back into the match. Although when he does the inevitable "try and get the big man down" spots, they seem even more senseless given how smart he is at other points of the match. The powder in the eyes from Fuji gets the win for the challenger and we have a new champion. Outside of the momentary madness from Hart, that was actually quite a good main event to a nice show.

 

Hulk Hogan comes to the ring after that and he is NOT happy. Yokozuna challenges Hogan. Fuji says he's gonna put the title on the line right now.

 

Yokozuna © vs. Hulk Hogan - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

 

So Hogan comes back into the ring and wins the gold. It left a sour taste for a lot of people, but I can't say I disliked it at the time, never dislike it since and still don't.

 

Well, I had low expectations which MIGHT have helped things here. Most of the matches had a purpose even if they weren't great matches and it makes this a VERY worthwhile PPV.

[air_raid]

Riggins actually puts up a spirited effort for a while, and makes this seem like a fight for Tatanka.

Riggins was a beast in the jobber ranks for a while, he was right up there with Barry Horowitz and the Brawler in terms of "he's a jobber but you buy that he might, once, have won a match somewhere and might do again." IIRC the Quebecers did an interview in the WWF Magazine where they said there were going to give Reno & Horowitz a title shot, although that may just have been japes.

So is JR, who is full of life. He's selling this like it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

So would you if you'd just arrived from Dubya C Dubya.

Credit to Todd who has been AWESOME in the crowd for the whole show.

Didn't he interview a woman called something Cole and acted like she was a massive deal even though I've never heard of her? I think she went goo-goo for Razor.

Most of the matches had a purpose even if they weren't great matches and it makes this a VERY worthwhile PPV.

You go to hell Haraga, you go to hell and you DIE!

[MoistVaj]

I think that's a very generous outlook on Wrestlemania 9. As a kid I was so intrigued by the whole Las Vegas outdoor setting, but beyond that there's little there to warrant sitting through again. I enjoyed the Steiners match and Backlund Razor but I thought the rest was garbage. I marked out for Hogan returning and winning the belt though, and like you said I still don't have a problem with it now. I tried to re-watch the whole ppv at Xmas time but I couldn't make it past the Money Inc vs Hogan Beefcake match, the whole event just seemed to drag on forever. I loved the Narcissist gimmick but I can't remember him having one entertaining match under the gimmick. Still, at least you've got KOTR next, I thought that was the best WWF ppv of 93.

[Devon Malcolm]

Not much wrong with Wrestlemania 9. Most of the matches were pretty good and Jim Ross got made to look a tit. Pretty successful evening all round.

[Reznor]

Riggins actually puts up a spirited effort for a while, and makes this seem like a fight for Tatanka.

Riggins was a beast in the jobber ranks for a while, he was right up there with Barry Horowitz and the Brawler in terms of "he's a jobber but you buy that he might, once, have won a match somewhere and might do again." IIRC the Quebecers did an interview in the WWF Magazine where they said there were going to give Reno & Horowitz a title shot, although that may just have been japes.

They did follow it through on TV, only Riggins had the flu or something and 123 Kid was his replacement. Fun, but strange match. Jacques was laid out for half of it, and it was basically a handicap match with the always awesome Pierre.Good to see a few of us bucking the trend and appreciating the decent show that was WM9. As His_Airness says though, KOTR93 was as good as it got for '93. I enjoyed Luger match with Perfect at 'Mania, but I also remember fun matches vs Crush and Owen. I thought the Narcissist (with loaded forearm) gimmick was great though, it suited him down to the ground. A bit unusual how they just seemed to give up on the Hitman feud they were building post WM.

[air_raid]

The gimmick was great. His matches were white dogshit. From where I sit they didnt exactly "give up" on Bret/Luger. It was the major house show draw of that summer with Michaels/Perfect but the Luger face turn means it never made it to PPV. No biggie. They had plenty of disappointing televised matches later in WcW anyway.Mania IX must be great if you're stoned off your face. Every bastard match on that show is either sloppy, boring or crap finish. Without exception. There is nothing on that show I ever want to watch again. I'd rather watch Great American Bash '91 for fuck's sake.

[The Cum Doctor]

I didn't have issue with many of the endings, mainly because I can take a sloppy ending. It's not the end of the world if the match was decent enough. I even love the Luger/Perfect a bit more now. Luger smashing Perfect with the forearm just because he could was brilliant. Wouldn't have been nearly as amusing if he won with it.

[MoistVaj]

I've watched the first two discs of The Greatest Steel Cage Matches In The World boxset and I've been enjoying it immensely. Just a few random points and observations:The Midnight Rockers Vs Playboy Buddy Rose and Pretty Boy Doug Somers from The Brawl in St Paul is a superb bloody brawl with a great finish too. The Rockers played the faces in peril better than most teams not named the Rock n Roll express.Rick Rude vs Ultimate Warrior from Summerslam 90 is also a fantastic match, I hadn't seen it in years and I thought it's aged pretty well. Fuck all the people who say Rude carried the Warrior too, I thought he was more than decent here and held up his end of the match fine. That's not to say that Rude was brilliant, but we all know that anyway.Ric Flair vs Lex Luger from Capital Combat was going great guns until a shitty finish ruined the entire match. Also, LOL at El Gigante. He looked so out of place, poor sod, just letting the Horsemen walk past him on their escape and subsequently ended up looking like a bigger twat than before, if at all possible.Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty is from a CHV release from some point in the 2nd half of 93 and is also a decent outing with what is now a traditional ending to a cage match, unfortunately the crowd are dead for the majority of the match and therefore kill it really. Johnny Polo was a riot on commentary. Mankind vs HHH was a brilliant match from Summerslam 97, seeing Foley's head getting squished by the cage door shot from Chyna doesn't get any easier to view.

[Reznor]

There is nothing on that show I ever want to watch again.

Johnny Polo was a riot on commentary.

He always was! I watched 'Inside the WWF' the other night and he was all over it with commentary and his tour of the studio, and the tape was all the better for it - he's a good laugh. Probably a bit 'marmitey' though, i'd imagine some folk would be irritated as he's a bit overbearing, but he was entertaining to me.Not a bad tape actually. There's a Tatanka/Bigelow match at the height of their feud that I really enjoyed, mostly due to Bam Bam. Also a decent if (obviously) slow paced big man match between Taker and Crush. Crush bench pressing Taker was a particularly neat visual. Jannetty/Razor v HBK/Diesel was obviously good too, it couldn't have been anything other, but you'd still be a bit disappointed if you were hoping for anything close to the level of the famous Action Zone match with the Kid in place of Marty.From there, the Hitman took on Adam Bomb. Felt a bit formulaic, but it was the Hitman in 1993 so you know it wasn't bad. Johnny the mad eejit was dressed as a swimmer. Savage vs Doink wasn't much of a match to be fair, at least not compared to what you could get (i.e something spectacular) from these two. However, it did have Doink getting up to all his shenanigans so it was still entertaining. There was also Razor v Ludwig Borga which was a bit plodding but unoffensive, and interesting to see Borga with the IC title for a minute or so. Luger v HBK was basically a squash, but Shawn did manage to make Luger look great as he so often did in those days. Things were rounded off with an ok Hitman v Yoko cage match at the end too, and there might've been another one i've forgotten. It was all interspersed with promos, often of guys who didn't even have matches on the tape, and the fun Johnny Polo stuff I mentioned.It's not generally considered a particularly good release because it doesn't have anything in the way of must see matches like Smack em Whack em, Wrestlefest 94 or Slamfest for example, but it's a good enough way to pass a couple of hours if you liked the WWF around 1993.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

This isn't me trying to be "oh, he's controversial", but I honestly preferred Johnny Polo to Raven. Never a huge fan of Raven. I liked him a bit in the Flock and in that great match with Rhino, but never a massive supporter of him. But Johnny Polo was always really funny on All American Wrestling or when he'd pop in for a chat with Pettengill on Mania. He always had a goofy grin and a wise crack to make as well. Shame they took him off TV after the Quebecers left. He was decent.

[MoistVaj]

I totally agree with you Ian. It was easily the best spell of his entire career. Often a character like a Johnny Polo or a Bobby Heenan can make the most mundane match feel a bit more exciting or at least slightly interesting anyway. In the HBK Jannetty match I was on about, Polo is telling Gorilla what a great movie Over The Top is, despite Gorilla telling him constantly that he'd already seen it. Was there any particular reason why the Quebecers left?