100 Matches You Really Should See...

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

A good starting point for Stan Hansen is his legendary 'Sound Effects Match' against Jun Akiyama.

With the sound effects that is just bizarre. When Akiyama does the top rope drop kick and the soundeffect of landing in a massive pile of shit is added it is just weird. Whoever produced that obviously then moved on to WcW Worldwide and added in the comic book style BIFF and KERPOW graphics whenever anyone used an international object.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

That's great . Funnily enough it was only yesterday I come across some obscure movie vehicle for The Beauty Pair which had comic effects randomly put over the matches as well. There wasn't a 'boing!' for the rope running though. I'd even watch Chikara if they put that on their matches.

[Thunderplex]

The thing with Stan Hansen is that you really do believe that he can beat the shit out of anyone he faces. Amazing wrestler.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Known fact: Stan Hansen hated Bevis and Butt-head. Thought it was to blame for the decline of western civilization. Once threw a Bevis and Butt-head video out of an All Japan tour bus. Hated that "rock and/or roll" music as well.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Ric Flair vs Bret Hart

There are parts of this match where I almost lost interest and I'm somebody that could happily watch Flair working an armbar for hours. It's probably the setting. I'm usually fine with house show footage but this is the kind of technical epic that would hugely benefit from good commentary and camera angles to sell the drama (I did enjoy the "YES!" from some bloke in the crowd when Heenan slipped Flair the knucks) There are some great moments in this though and some smart near falls. From a 'work' point of view I can see why Flair rates it as his best WWF match. Given a TV/PPV setting I would have certainly enjoyed this more than the Bret/Shawn iron man.

 

Ayako Hamanda vs Meiko Satomura

This was alright. I'm a joshi mark and I like these two quite a bit but this is the kind of thing that needs to catch me in the right mood I think. I generally prefer the characters and the chaos of GAEA and 80's AJW if I'm gonna watch joshi. This is closer to the stoic feel of Arison which is fine but it fails to grab me sometimes. It has the kind of finishing sequence that can be tedious to watch if you're not invested in it emotionally. I also find some of Meiko's moves a bit goofy looking to be honest.

 

Ted Debiase vs Blue Blazer

Ted's promo is great. Love the "it's not about Tunney, it's about the money" line. It's only when you watch this stuff back that you get an appreciation of how captivating everyone was behind the stick in the Golden Era. Even the people who couldn't talk had either a character you would be interested in or were so terribly shit you couldn't help but be amused. Ted flattens Owen from the start and thinks he's got an easy night. He slows it down to gloat which leads to his temporary downfall. I love Jesse (greatest commentator ever) pointing out that Owen isn't viscous enough to go toe to toe with Ted and that he should use his aerial moves to his advantage, but not to get overconfident with them as he risks getting caught out, because Ted is, "a thinking man's wrestler". And sure enough he gets caught out as he flies into Ted's arms for a gorgeous powerslam that was truly 'out of nowhere' (an overused term). A brilliant ending and my favourite match on the list so far.

[Vamp]

Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk

I've seen a few bits from Memphis and in my opinion everything about the product supports every other bit. The look of the ring, the look of the venue, the look of the footage, the commentary, the referee, the managers and in this case, two of the very best in the game. Memphis is a wild and dirty place and it's believable. Even when Lawler just keeps taking a beating and rallies back I can't help but buy into it. The selling here is top notch but its more than that, its timing. They know exactly when to do things. It also helps that it's ten minutes. Just the right length for this kind of a brawl, if it went twenty minutes (which it probably would nowadays) it just wouldn't be the same. It still feels like a war after ten minutes but its also believable. I've seen Memphis work the countout finish a few times and everbody should pay attention to the way they do it. The fans were glad that their hero escaped uninjured, they didn't need him to pin the wildman Terry Funk, they just needed him to survive it before his leg broke. The WWE should move their developmental down to Lawler's backyard and pay him a fortutune to pop in there when he feels like it and teach the kids. In a way I'm glad that there's no hope of the WWE releasing a documentary of Memphis on blue ray with a cleared up picture and whatever else. It wouldn't feel right. Who's our regular Memphis expert? We must have one. Wheover you are, do a bloody thread. I want matches, I want descriptions of storylines, everything.

[Maverick]

The Memphis footage is sadly all over the place because they didn't look after the tapes properly and it's part owned by about 40 different people, some of what's left and presentable enough was on that Classic Memphis Wrestling on TWC back in the day, there's a good lot avaliable though if you know were too look, absolutely love Memphis, Everything from Lawler to Lance Russel they always had a nice mix of guys on their way up and way down aswell as gimmicks like Plowboy Frazier and Kamala, they were ahead of their time in alot of ways. Always impressed me how Lawler managed too stay on top about 30 years and still draw money. They already tried a developmental down in Memphis, if I recall guys like Daniel Bryan and Charlie Haas etc spent some time down there aswell as The Rock and Kurt Angle.

[wandshogun09]

I've hardly seen any Memphis stuff sadly. I'll give Lawler vs Funk a watch later after the glowing reviews in here. Haven't seen enough of Funk's best years. Most of his work that I've seen starts from his matches with Flair in '89 and through the 90s.I did watch a Memphis match fairly recently on YouTube between Randy Savage and Rick Rude. It was either clipped or quite short, can't remember, but I really enjoyed it. They're two of my favourite wrestlers ever but I somehow didn't even know they'd faced off in a singles match so I was chuffed to stumble across it. They spent the first 5 minutes or so just working the crowd and barely even made contact, but it was somehow never dull. If I'd got round to sending SOC a list, Savage vs Rude from Memphis would have been on it.Sorry, can't post the link at the minute but it should be easy to find on YouTube.Nice to see Hogan vs Hansen in here. I remember loving that match but haven't seen it in years.

[Big Rob]

I'll try to give some of these a watch soon, it's only fair to give a bit of feedback considering the effort that's been put in to the thread.On the subject of the Memphis footage, I really like what I've seen from the teritory, it's just so frustrating that a lot of it is quite frequently clipped. There might not be a ton removed, but in the Funk/Lawler match (which I have watched a while back) there are several short cuts in it that make it a little hard to get in to. Still bloody awesome, but it can only imagine how good it would be with those extra couple of minutes and a lack of "jumping". Pretty sure this hampers a really good Lawler vs Dundee match as well (possibly the '77 one, not entirely sure). There's also five minutes of Lawler vs Fargo on Youtube where Fargo looks like the best worker that ever lived, but again from my memory it's highly clipped.

[Mr Kennedy]

Great thread which has served it's purpose from my point of view as there is a lot posted here which I'd never watched before.The match that I always harp on about for "one you really should see" was Regal vs. Benoit from Velocity back in 2005. A great match which deserved to be on a bigger stage than SmackDown's B show. They had a great match at a Pillman memorial show too.

[Vamp]

I think I'd struggle watching that Regal/Benoit match now, especially the headbuts. Which is silly really but there you are.

[Big Rob]

I haven't had too much of an issue watching Benoit matches back, but everyone's different. Not gone out of my way to watch a bunch of them, mind you. Regarding the Regal matches, there were a couple of really good Velocity matches, and one on No Mercy '06 as well. All fairly similar, but really good.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I used to feel a little odd about watching Benoit, not just due to the incident, but the fact that he was one of my absolute favourites at the time. I actually ended up seeking out a Benoit match the other day for the first time since, vs. MVP at Wrestlemania 23. Love that match for how much it legitimised MVP after his "big money" debut. Getting burnt by Kane in an Inferno Match was one thing, but going hold for hold with Benoit? Wow.

[Forrest]

I wrote up a basic list of matches and didn't finish it on time but the 2006 PPV trilogy of Regal/Finlay/Benoit matches (Judgement Day, Great American Bash and No Mercy) was on my list (along with Regal vs. Finlay - Uncensored 96). It remains one of my all-time favourite midcard series.I rarely feel uneasy about watching Benoit matches, because he was probably in my top 3 favourite in-ring wrestlers, and enjoy pretty much every match I see of him (with the exception of the WM20 triple threat, which I find uncomfortable watching now sadly. I find it hard to cheer him on as a face though.

[Vamp]

I think its more that specific match than watching Benoit in general. It's the idea of them actually headbutting each other. Even at the tiem that was an odd thign to see but now given the history of what's happened since, and the way the industry reacted, I think it'd just be quite offputtign to se that now.