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What are YOU watching?


Big Rob

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Stolen format really, and pretty simple - basically, what have you been watching lately? A nice little review would be good, maybe pimp some stuff that other people might not have seen before. Its all about creating some nice discussion.

 

Akitoshi Saito, KENTA & Ippei Ota vs. Brian Danielson, Joe Legend & Ted DiBiase Jr. (NOAH 1/4/07)

This flat out rocks. One of those matches that NOAH just throws out on the fly without much thought do it, but it goes on to pretty much steal the show (from what I've seen of the rest). Don't get me wrong, its not a super MOTYC or anything like that, but it's awesomely fun, and a great debut for DiBiase. Ted shows alot of potential, he hits all of his dads signature stuff well, and looks to have decent charisma. He got a real good reaction for the classic fistdrops, and also a modified version of the Million Dollar Dream (starts off as normal, then turns into a cobra clutch side Russian legsweep, then into a cobra clutch crossface style hold).

 

Saito had a really fun rivalry with Legend throughout the match, and a little altercation after the match had ended means that we may see a fued between the two. A short singles match would be fun, perhaps at one of the SEM shows. Legend, in particular, was on fire in the match, exuding charisma and just in general was great at being a big powerful guy who knows he can beat people up. Dragon also had his moments, punching Ota right on his bloody nose on more than one occasion. Ota, indeed, played the underdog role rather well.

 

Here's the finish - SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read
Legend pinned Ota with a Brainbuster followed by a jumping Flatliner.

 

Definately one to check out, hopefully NOAH keep Danielson, Legend and DiBiase together, as they gel really well together. Hell, ROH could bring Legend and DiBiase in with Dragon when he returns - they might not have awesome "workrate", whatever that means, but they will be money in the future.

 

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Takeshi Morishima © vs. BJ Whitmer - ROH World Title

Boring stuff, 15 minutes of fairly uninspired beating from Morishima, and a shit comeback by BJ. Just not very good at all, hopefully the tag team match with Morishima/Nigel vs. Joe/Homicide from the next day will be better. Though it wouldn't be hard.

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I only just got round to watching alot of older DVDs which I either only just got or I got ages ago and never watched (I do that! buy dvds and let them sit there for months).

 

Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuiness (ROH Unified, Liverpool 12/8/06)

 

What a match! I never thought I would be saying this after all the hype which was thrown into it, but what a great match! The psychology of the match, the brutal shots and the tension that built inside the Liverpool Olympia was off the charts and really added tremendously to the match. After the match both looked like stars (I have never been a fan of either man other than a great Lynn/McGuiness match from At Our Best) but this show definitely does them justice.

 

Aries/Strong vs Briscoes (event as above)

 

Again another amazing match from the Liverpool Olympia on the 12th August 2006. One of those matches that I heard a great deal about but had never seen. I read in Fighting Spirit how Gabe was watching the match and judging by the fan reaction he said it was a great match so I was very intrigued to see how this one played out. Some awesome action in the bout with a great finish. One thing that stands out for me is a huge chop to the chest from Strong which looked unbelievably painful! The crowd was HOT for this and it really affected how the match came off!

 

Joe vs Kobashi (ROH, 1/10/05)

 

I had to watch this match recently as I had heard all the fuss and was dying to find out if it actually matched the hype! Ok now I am not one for no commentary in matches, thats why I find it so hard to watch japanese matches cos of the language. For me commentary can turn a good match into a great match and a good match into a bad match depending (see WrestleMania 2!) So getting back to the match. Commentary was not needed! I personally loved the match! The fans, of course, made it what it was and anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. Saying that I loved every chop, kick, suplex, slam and lariat in the match. Kobashi made the match for me, and although I love alot of Joe's work I have never got into a match of his quite like this. A wonderful match with so much emotion. I have watched it 4 times in a week and not got bored. Saying that my mate watched it and hated it! Apparently 'too many chops and little else' *rolls eyes*

 

Mick Foley vs Ric Flair ('I Quit Match', SummerSlam 2006)

 

I wasnt really expecting much from this match considering it had Flair in it! Sure he is a legend and I thoroughly enjoyed his matches with Funk ('I Quit') and Steamboat (89 series) I didnt think he would stand up too well in an 'I Quit' environment. My initial reaction to this match when I saw it on the DVD was a 'oh I suppose I can sit through it' as I like to watch dvds from beginning to end and I assumed Foley would take all bumps in this match to get it across. So I throw it in and see Flair taking barbed wire board bumps! and Thumb tack bumps! :O WTF! I thought! Flair went all out and put on one of my personal favorite matches of 2006 (and I dont generally like hardcore matches). I was not however overly keen on the ending but the match made up for that. I dont ever hear too much about this match and its a shame cos I loved it!

 

The Rock vs Steve Austin (Rebellion 2001, Manchester, England)

 

I know that all those WrestleMania matches tend to get priority in peoples minds for a number of very valid reasons but for me I always liked Austin/Rock on the UK shores. Sure it wasnt the best they had (WM17 of course) but it was definitely not their worst either. I personally liked this match more than their WM15 effort and nearly as much as their WM19 encounter. I think people tend to forget this match. Anyway good match, with interference by Angle and Jericho which I would have prefered not to occure. OF course everyone knew who was winning the match which took away from the match live, however watching it later I do see how good it was.

 

Bret Hart vs British Bulldog (In Your House 5)

 

Loved this match! I actually prefer this lesser known rematch to the SummerSlam 1992 classic from Wembley Stadium. Sure it wasnt the technical classic that the SummerSlam 92 match was and the atmosphere couldnt come close but then that dragged on too long for my liking. This match was great! Bret bled which for that time wasnt really heard of in the WWF (I know WCW had a no blood policy at some stage too!) and it came off great on TV. An awesome superplex off the top turnbuckle was one of the highlights for me in a match which is generally forgotten due to its more famous counterpart.

 

PAC vs AJ Styles (1PW Anniversary Show, Doncaster England)

 

I loved this match! As much as 1PW gets/got digged about their financial shortcomings one thing is for certain. They put on some amazing matches in 2006, including the very good Lance Storm vs Doug Williams match (which Lance said was one of his best matches). One of those was this match and I saw itlive and watched it recently to relive it and it was still great on dvd. Back and forth with PAC putting on a fine performance and bouncing around all over the place. AJ hitting perhaps the greatest dropkick I have ever seen and it was taken perfectly by PAC (that flip was incredible!). At times I was convinced PAC was going to win it! Great match, amazing offensive moves, and a hard hitting ending!

 

So yeah. I have been watching more and more recently. Alot of older stuff and some newer dvd releases too. I was impressed with Cena vs Edge at SummerSlam 2006 and their TLC match at Unforgiven was a great showing. I always love watching Jerry Lynn vs McGuiness (see Above) as well as some stuff I havent seen before (PAC vs Stone from December for the title which didnt entertain me like I expected). All in all I have been trying to watch some real random stuff from events that people generally dont talk about all that much (The Rock vs Austin is a prime example).

I recently acquired a Great Muta 5 disk set with matches with Hogan, Sting, Steiners amongst others and to be honest I am really liking his older work. I also got a Kobashi 8 disk set which (barring really dodgey picture!) is a great dvd to have although alot of the full matches were the same (a few Misawa matches at least) and alot of clipped stuff too!

 

Mike

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I just got round to watching WM23 eventually, thought it was actually a good show.

I finished watching it yesterday.Enjoyed seeing Vince get his hair shaved off the best!Didn't really get the face vs face booking with Cena vs HBK and taker vs Batista, especially when 2 are well established fan faves and the other 2 are newbies in comparison. Saying that though the HBK vs Cena match was very good but found the Taker one rather dull and predictable.Enjoyed some of the comedy skits aswell.
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Just been watching Superstars of Wrestling circa Jan 1993 - Jerry Lawler has just arrived to join Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan in a 3-man commentary duo and Bret Hart vs Razor Ramon has just been announced as the RR main event!

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Just got done watching No Way Out 2003. It was a show from my 5 year hiatus from wrestling and I was very impressed. Heard positive things about the product at that time such as the "smackdown 6" etc and from what I saw it was all verified. Not fair to judge a product from one show but it's better than anything I've seen since I started watching again last january.

 

Showstealer for me was Benoit and Brock against Angle, Benjamin and Haas - fantastic match and I didn't see much of Brock when he was around but good god what a phenomenal athlete carrying that much size, what a freak of nature! This match was the best of several real good, hard working matches plus you had the name value matches of Rock/Hogan 2 (they had to do a screwjob cos it was, ya know, in montreal), Steiner/Hunter 2 and Austin/Bischoff - the latter which was fun, thanks in big part to JR going absolutely nuts. All in all a great show full of big matches for a none big 4 ppv and watching something of this quality has put me off watching Mania 23 for another day.

 

Also just got that box set from choices.co.uk with the Monday Night Wars, Best Of The IC Title and 10 Years of Raw (or whatever). Sat and watched MNW and the IC title DVDs yesterday. MNW was what I expected, WCW were the big evil bad guys and WWE had to rely on grit and determination and battle on through as the valiant babyfaces. Hey, if you win the war you win the right to rewrite history :rolleyes:. Still enjoyable but 2 evident things from this dvd are that Eric Bischoff's tv character is just....Eric Bischoff on TV and Gerald Brisco is the most pathetic ass kisser I've ever seen "One thang we learned from tha monday naght wars is that you don't mess.....with VINCE MIKEMANNN". *Stares into camera*.

 

The IC title DVD should be called "The Best Of Shawn Micheals Being Counted Out", as it's basically matches from around the 92/93 period that mostly end up in HBK losing on CO but keeping the strap. Still there is a phenomenon on this DVD - Brian Adams in a good match.

 

Not yet watched the Raw DVD and not expecting much but I basically bought the box set for MNW and at 7 quid for 3 DVDS that at HMV are between 15-18 quid each, can't grumble!

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I've been going through quite a lot of stuff actually.

 

Tiger Mask IV vs. Ikuto Hidaka - Michinoku Pro 5/6/2002

 

I've actually been watching lots of Hidaka recently, and it's been alright. This is definately one of the better matches I've seen him in. The problem with the Hidaka matches is that they've been the same sort of thing every time. There was one main difference here though and it was the heel/face divide. Very good match here and I definately will be looking out for more Tiger Mask IV.

 

The Raging Bull vs. Falcon vs. Micken vs. CJ Hunter, Ladder Match - SWA Violation 2005

 

Not the best Ladder Match by any stretch of the imagination. Falcon was the best looking of the four men here. The problem here was that you expect some pretty big things from Ladder Matches, and there wasn't really all that many big Ladder spots in this one. With all of that being said, it's still not a bad match.

 

The Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Liger - Semi Finals of NJPW Super J Cup 1994

 

The Great Sasuke took a hell of a beating from Liger throughout this match. Whether it be the stretching at the start to the vicious moves afterwards, Sasuke was never anything other than the underdog in this one. It made for a hell of a match.

 

Shinjiro Ohtani vs. El Samurai - NJPW 1/21/1996

 

Very good match. Both guys had their plans in this one, and neither man really looked like getting away from it, and when one of them eventually did, that's when the match was basically lost for him. Simple and effective story telling in this match.

 

Pegasus Kid (?) vs. Black Tiger - Semi Finals of NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 1996

 

Absolutely terrific match from these two. Pegasus was the heel, and pretty well established too with the constant use of the Sleeper Hold. This wearing down of Tiger led to him being a real underdog in the final stretch and you got the 'you'll have to kill this guy to beat him' feeling from it. Definately the best one on one Benoit v Eddie match that I've seen to date.

 

I'm looking to steer clear of the Puro for a bit and go back to watching US stuff for a bit.

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Not yet watched the Raw DVD and not expecting much

THE GREAT MAE YOUNG IS ON THAT!It's actually not that bad, the video clip where theyrip the piss out of stupid gimmicks and the tribute to wrestlers that have passed away up to that point (lot more since then) are pretty good. The countdown of the greatest RAW moments are on there as well, which is always fun to see (my personal favouirte being the beer truck thing, just before WM15, that never gets old for me).Plus the crazy TLC from RAW is on there which I hadn't seen before.
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Watched most of SummerSlam 2000 again yesterday. Probably epitomises the WWF at its very peak - great action, great build-up, great plot developments and two excellent main attractions (the TLC match and triple-threat main event, the latter of which is hugely underrated IMO), backed up by a solid under-card. It's a little depressing somewhat though, as to me this show was the beginning of the end for the WWF's last boom period, since everything started to go to shit again in the months afterwards. Most notably the Angle/HHH/Steph saga, which was one of the most gripping angles they've ever done (and had reached boiling point by this show), only to reach one of the most flat conclusions to any storyline in history a month later at Unforgiven, which seemed to benefit nobody on the face of the planet but HHH.Another thing - comparing the crowd reactions throughout that show, to those of today is really quite disheartening.

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Finished watching No Way Out 2004 last night, now beginning to watch Judgment Day 05. Of course NWO 04 is remembered for Eddie's title win, but there is some other great stuff on there, including (on the DVD) the Heat match of Ultimo, London and Kidman vs Tajiri, Akio and Sakoda. Short but sweet, very interesting to see Ultimo and Tajiri trade kicks, especially the finish of kick to the head/powerslam by Sakoda. Also interesting to see was early WWE London and Yang (Akio).Lesnar and Goldberg had a hot as hell feud going, too bad the 'pay-off' was shit. Chavo vs Rey ranks up there as one of the best, if not the best, WWE Cruiserweight match I've seen! Chavo was really impressive and innovative, blows away the 2006 feud they had by miles. They were given close to 20 minutes too, which was surprising.Judgment Day 05, early MNM and Carlito have been viewed so far, mid way through Chavo vs London. What is with Chavo? At No Way Out, he was great, but almost every other match I've seen him in is, well, boring by comparison. Looking forward now to Eddie vs Rey and the Cena/JBL I Quit match, both of which I remember as being very good.

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Another thing... I watched that JBL vs Bobby Lashley match (No Way Out 2006) last night and I have to say (besides the fucked up finish) it was a really good match! hehe I know it dragged alot in the middle but the ending sequence, with suplex's, dominator/clothesline from hell reversals etc I think was very well done. Quite a hard hitting match and one i didnt think I would enjoy but I did!

 

Mike

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Last thing I watched properly was Homicide/Danielson from FB2006. Not a big Homicide fan and I didn't want to see Dragon dropping the strap but this was just great. Really well wrestled match with so many false finishes. There was a stupidly simple spot that I've never seen before. Homicide was trapped in the Crossface Chickenwing and the ref started counting him out. Cide's arm dropped for a third time and as the referee turned to signal the timekeeper, Homicide grabbed his foot and stopped him. There were so many moments like this where even though I new the finish, it seemed like it had to be over for 'Cide.The reaction when he won the match was deafening - for me on an equal par with Benoit's title win at WM 20 in terms of emotion (but I hold most ROH title changes at this level - the crucifix-bomb/kick to the face/brainbuster/450 that ended Joe's reign still gives me goose bumps). If WWE could get 20,000 fans making this kind of noise with this kind of passion it would be a moment for the ages.The whole show is fun from top to bottom and I would reccomend it to anybody. Other highlights included KOW (Hero & Claudio) vs The Briscoes, Delerious/Aries/Strong vs CIMA/Sydal/Shingo and Rave vs Nigel.

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On the road with Sandman, which was shoot late 2006, it was recorded in a van so the sound wasnt the best. He is open as always and speak about everything he can remember. He talks about him getting WWE contracts. He says Sabu and Balls also got one. Mention Sabu thinks it with would be a good deal, but there could be a chance hunter comes in and kills them and they would look like shit.In one night stand Vince told Sandman when he got to the back, his entrance was maybe one of the best he ever seen. Maybe the reason he hired him. Sandman thinks its bullshit they cant use atleast the theme sound they used in a summerslam with anger mangagement.Later we see sandman shop for ice cream, which is kinda surreal :pSandman gives some play by play on his match he did before coming on the van, with Raven & Sabu vs Sandman & Dreamer.Sandman talks alot who he wants to have in the new ECW, fav movies, wants to work with CM Punk in ECW, cause of the straight edge gimmick, would agree that would rock excellent, sad WWE havent picked it up yet.It

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Low Ki vs Roderick Strong - IWA MS HURT 2007

 

Great match, really hard hitting as you would expect from these two, lots of nasty chops from both in this one, a really cool spot near the end see's Strong go to slingshot Ki into the top turnbuckle only for Ki to catch himself on the turnbuckles and hit a double stomp on Roddy! Ki gets the win with an EVIL double stomp off the top. I'll give this one *** 1/2

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