Best Of US Wrestling Jan-April 2007 Disc 4

Best Of US Wrestling 2007 Disc 4

This is the last disc of this part of the compilation. After this one, the comp splits into seperate volumes for each show, which I’ll review based on the date the comp begins from. Anyway, there’s some good stuff coming up in this volume, so I’m looking forward to reviwwing this one.

Match 1 (ECW, April 3rd)
CM Punk vs Stevie Richards
This is actually a match that’s a long time coming, if you remember Stevie’s ROH appearance in 2005. It wasn’t a heated match or anything, because that was an ROH angle, not a WWE angle, so this was largely a good, quick mat based match. Punk largely used headlocks and other holds working on the head, mixing those with his kicks. Stevie on the other hand had a ready made strategy, as Punk’s ribs were hurt from the Money In The Bank match, so he went to work on those. Punk got the obvious three count with the Go To Sleep- **3/4

Match 2 (Raw, April 2nd)
20 Man Tag Team Title Battle Royal
I would name all the teams, but they went to a commercial when the teams were coming out, and thus I could’t get all the names. It was a solid battle royal type match, about as good as these matches get, but there wasn’t anything special about it or anything. Eliminations were as follows (I think there was another team eliminated during the break)-
Chris Masters and Kenny Dykstra (I didn’t see who eliminated them)
Cryme Time by Deuce and Domino
Eugene and Jim Duggan by Elijah Burke and Matt Striker
The Highlanders by Deuce and Domino
Deuce and Domino by John Cena and Shawn Michaels
Matt Striker and Elijah Burke by Finlay and King Booker
Rob Van Dam and Sabu by Finlay and King Booker
King Booker and Finlay by John Cena and Shawn Michaels- **1/4

The match ended the way General Manager The Coach expected, so therefore he made another Tag Team Battle Royal right now with more teams.

Match 3 (Raw, April 2nd)
20 Man Tag Team Battle Royal Number Two
Again, there was a break so I couldn’t see all the teams that entered, but you’ll soon know who was in and was eliminated. Personally, it wasn’t all that different from the last match, in that it just followed your regular Battle Royal formula, although the final few minutes with Cade and Murdoch and The Hardys produced some good stuff. Eliminations were as follows (again, there was an elimination we weren’t told about during the break)-
Val Venis and Viscera by everyone
William Regal and Dave Taylor by Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman
Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman by Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch
Miz and Morrison by Shawn Michaels and John Cena
Shawn Michaels and John Cena by themselves (Michaels threw Cena over the top rope)
Chavo Guerrero and Gregory Helms by Paul London and Brian Kendrick
Paul London and Brian Kendrick by themselves (Kendrick eliminated himself when eliminating Chavo and Helms)
Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch by The Hardys (The Hardys are the new Tag Champions)- **1/2

Match 4 (Impact, April 5th)
Senshi vs Austin Starr
I liked that they weren’t just given two minutes like every other Impact match I’ve seen, although this was still pretty short. But with the time they had, they produced some pretty good X-Division style action, with lots of high flying and kicks, although with more time they would probably have had some more mat wrestling in here too. Austin Starr won he match when Bob Backlund threw in the towel when Senshi was locked in a Single Leg Crab- **3/4

Match 5 (Smackdown, April 6th)
Matt Hardy vs King Booker
This was a grudge match since Hardy put his hands on Queen Sharmell at Wrestlemania. Hardy went for fast, high flying moves, while Booker went for more of a power style due to him having the size advantage, and also used a few submission holds. King Booker actually dominated for much of this match, with Hardy’s only getting brief moments of offense. The match was solid all the way through, but the final few minutes were excellent, and really elevated the match. Hardy got the fall out of nowhere with a Small Package- ***

Match 6 (ECW, April 3rd)
Extreme Rules Match- ECW Originals (The Sandman, RVD, Sabu and Tommy Dreamer) vs The New Breed (Matt Striker, Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorn and Marcus Cor Von)
This is a rematch of the Wrestlemania match, and this far bettered that match thanks to some of the insane moves both teams took. There were all kinds of weapons used here, which took this match to a new level, turning this into a homage of the classic ECW matches of the past (although not to the level of the truly great ECW matches). Anyway, I really enjoyed this, and it’s a must see match for ECW fans: it’s one of my favourite TV matches of 2007. After some big table spots, Elijah Burke won it with an Elijah Express through a table on Sabu- ***3/4

Match 7 (Raw, April 9th)
The Hardy’s vs The Worlds Greatest Tag Team
This is a battle of two of my favourite tag teams, so I obviously enjoyed this one a lot. It was a bit short for my liking, but what we got was good and entertaining. The clash of styles here saw Haas and Benjamin try to keep the Hardy’s down on the mat, while The Hardys took a lot of risks and pulled out some great double teams. The Hardys won this non-title match when Jeff pinned Benjamin following a Twist Of Fate-Swanton combo- **1/2

Match 8 (Impact, April 12th)
Chris Sabin vs Black Machismo
Jay Lethal has officially entered his Macho Man impression gimmick now, which I personally don’t mind since it gives him a little character. Lethal is surprisingly good at mimicking Savage’s moves, so to be honest, he wresled exactly like Savage would. On the other hand, Sabin wrestled his usual explosive high flying style, and seemed a little dissapointed in Lethal for taking on this character. Lethal won the match with the Elbow Drop from the top. A solid match overall- **1/4

Match 9 (Smackdown, April 13th)
MVP vs Chris Benoit
These two had some great matches around this time period, in what was Benoit’s last really good series with anyone before the unspeakable act occured. This was no exception, as they again had a great back and forth match, with a mixture of mat wrestling, power and hard hitting strikes from both men. There was also a lot of suplexes, whether this was Snap and German Suplexes from Benoit, or Belly To Bellys from MVP. After a great final couple of minutes, MVP won with a rollup using the ropes for leverage. Overall, great stuff- ***

Match 10 (ECW, April 10th)
Marcus Cor Von vs Rob Van Dam
This was very much a battle of the power of Marcus Cor Von against the high flying skill of RVD. It was an interesting match on paper, and I liked it, since it was well wrestled and there were no botches, although I was surprised by how much Marcus Cor Von controlled the match. After Burke distracted RVD by attacking an injured Sabu at ringside, Cor Von got three with the Pounce. After the match CM Punk comes out and joins the New Breed: I wish they had kept him as a heel but they haven’t pulled that trigger yet.- **3/4

Match 11 (Smackdown, April 6th)
Jeff Hardy vs Mr Kennedy
Good stuff again here. Hardy went for all of his usual high flying moves, while Kennedy went for the strategy of working over Hardy’s back with a series of submissions and high impact power moves. So overall I’d say this was a good, back and forth match that the crowd were really into, and I enjoyed it. Hardy missed the Swanton, and Kennedy used that opportunity to hit a DDT for three- **3/4

This was another good volume, better than the previous one, and there’s some great stuff here. The ECW Extreme Rules match was the best here, since it was filled with great hardcore spots, and was much like ECW matches of the past. Other good matches were Matt Hardy’s match with King Booker and MVP against Chris Benoit. The rest of the matches were solid in a little average (in that they weeren’t too different from matches we’d seen previously). Overall though, there’s a few matches you shoul try to watch if you can, especially the Extreme Rules match.

7.5/10

Best Of US Wrestling Jan-April 2007 Disc 3

Best Of US Wrestling Jan-April 2007 Disc 3

Match 1 (Smackdown, March 16th)
Mr Kennedy vs Matt Hardy
I enjoyed this match, it had some very solid matwork, and the crowd were reasonably into it. Kennedy made extensive use of that ground game, using it to work over the knee of Hardy when he hurt it coming off the top rope. Hardy on the other hand took more risks, but also did some good wrestling of his own. I like that this match was given a lot of time, as it helped it build, and it was really good stuff towards the end. Hardy managed to win it with the Twist of Fate. Surprisingly better than I expected.- ***1/4

Match 2 (ECW, March 13th)
Extreme Battle Royal- The ECW Originals (Sabu, RVD, Sandman and Tommy Dreamer) vs The New Breed (Kevin Thorn, Elijah Burke, Matt Striker and Marcus Cor Von)
Another battle royal, but a unique one since you rarely see teams within one of these matches. The wrestling was also pretty solid, and both teams took a few nasty bumps during this match, so it’s probably one of the better battle royals WWE have had during this time period (barring the Royal Rumble). The elimination were as follows.
Sandman by Matt Striker
Marcus Cor Von by RVD and Sabu
Sabu by Kevin Thorn
Kevin Thorn by Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam by himself (in eliminating Thorn he eliminated himself)
Matt Striker by Tommy Dreamer
Elijah Burke by Tommy Dreamer- **1/2

Match 3 (Raw, March 12th)
Gauntlet Tag Match- Shawn Michaels and John Cena vs The Worlds Greatest Tag Team vs Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch vs MNM (Cage Match)
I was never really a fan of the Michaels/Cena team personally, since it was a re-hash of the partners who hate each other scenario from the Attitude Era. I do however love the WGTT, and the first part of the gauntlet was pretty damn good although short, with good mat wrestling throughout. Cena made Haas tap out to the STFU.
Next were Cade and Murdoch, which made this a very different type of match, with more brawling and hard hitting moves as opposed to the matwork we saw earlier. Michaels got worked over for a while, before getting the hot tag to Cena, who got the three count on Murdoch with an FU-Superkick combo that caused some more tension.
Then the cage was lowered for part three again MNM. I don’t remember a lot of tag cage matches with tag team rules rather than tornado style rules. Michaels again got worked over by MNM, who used a lot of high flying moves on him, before Cena got the hot tag. After more tension, Cena got the fall on Mercury with the FU- **3/4

Match 4 (Smackdown, March 16th)
The Undertaker vs King Booker
Batista is on commentary here, and I don’t think I understood anything he said. The Undertaker made much of this match a brawl, with loads of punches and strikes, and used the outside of the ring to his advantage. Booker T wrestled a similar style, using a lot of strikes, but also used a few power moves and submission holds. The match was decent overall, but it was a little slow in places, but was pretty good in the final few minutes. Finlay interfered to cause the DQ- **1/2

Match 5 (Smackdown, March 23rd)
WWE Tag Team Titles- Paul London and Brian Kendrick (c) vs MNM
At this point, London and Kendrick are the longest reigning tag team champions of all time, beating MNM’s own record. As you would expect from these two teams, it was very much a battle of high flying moves, and it was a very good match that never slowed down and was energetic from start to finish. It was a little too short though, but overall it was good stuff while it lasted. London pinned Mercury following a Cross Body- **1/2

Match 6 (Raw, March 19th)
Chris Benoit vs John Cena
This is a battle of the United States and World champions, but no titles are on the line. Shawn Michaels also joins the commentary team. It was a hard hitting match, with Benoit throwing a lot of stiff strikes, and Cena going for power. Benoit managed to get Cena in a few submissions here too, getting close to making him tap. Cena however surprisingly made Benoit tap out to the STFU, quite a surprise since Benoit rarely taps. A bit short, but pretty good stuff- ***

Match 7 (ECW, March 27th)
Rob Van Dam vs Elijah Burke
I’m a fan of both of these two, and I thought this was a good match as a result. This match saw a lot of high flying wrestling, with both men happy to take risks. Burke was a little more grounded though, using some submission holds to keep RVD down. Overall, a good match with some innovative moves and crisp high flying. RVD won this match with the ***** Frog Splash- **3/4

Match 8 (Smackdown, March 23rd)
Chavo Guerrero (c) vs Jimmy Wang Yang
I personally don’t mind Jimmy Yang’s rather silly gimmick, although JBL certainly hates it: the gimmick got him over and gave him some personality. Yang used his usual range of high flying moves and kicks here, while Chavo tried to ground him with explosive, high impact moves and submissions. It was a good match, but lacked a little something. Jimmy Wang Yang won the match with a Moonsault- **1/2

Match 9 (Impact, March 29th)
Kurt Angle vs Abyss
A big clash of styles here, with Angle having to use his wide range of mat skills to work over Abyss, mainly going after his leg. Abyss on the other hand went for power due to his size advantage. It wasn’t much of a match to be honest: far too short to be anything major, and Abyss got little offense in. The ref got knocked out, and Abyss had the match won with the Black Hole Slam, but Angle won it with a rollup when a new ref came in- *1/2

Match 10 (ECW, March 27th)
Mr Kennedy, Randy Orton, King Booker and Finlay vs The Hardy’s, CM Punk and Edge
I don’t get pairing Edge, a heel, with three faces, including his mortal enemy Matt Hardy, but this is supposed to be a showcase of the Money In The Bank match. And it was a good match despite this key problem, with a wide range of styles on show. Obviously the Hardy’s team were more towards high flying and fast paced wrestling, while Orton’s team looked to keep their opponents grounded. Punk got isolated from his corner, then made the tag to Edge, who promptly tagged himself out and left. Booker T pinned CM Punk following a Scissors Kick- **3/4

Overall, this wasn’t quite as good as the previous volumes, but considering it was the run up to Wrestlemania nobody was going to take any major risks and risk injury (although that’s no excuse for TNA and their one short match). The Kennedy/Hardy match is the best match and one you should look to watch, while Cena/Benoit is also pretty good stuff. The rest of the matches average around **1/2, so there is some good stuff here.

7/10

Best Of US Wrestling January-April 2007 Disc 2

Best Of US Wrestling January-April 2007 Disc 2

This is part 2 of 4 of this compilation of the best wrestling from Raw, Smackdown, ECW and Impact during the first four months of 2007. There was some good stuff on the last comp, and it only gets better with each volume.

Match 1 (Impact, February 15th)
Gauntlet For The Gold- Sting vs AJ Styles vs Rhino vs Chris Sabin vs Kip James vs James Storm vs Abyss vs Kurt Angle vs Tomko vs Samoa Joe vs Robert Roode vs Eric Young vs BG James vs Scott Steiner
It was a decent match, considering it’s a battle royal, and much like the Smackdown one from the last comp, there was some good wrestling in here when things weren’t too chaotic. Not one, but two commercials hurt the match, but TNA have an annoying habit of doing this, and this is just one reason why WWE are beating them. But it was a fun match and I enjoyed it. Eliminations were as follows
Chris Sabin by Abyss
James Storm by Kurt Angle
AJ Styles and Rhino by Tomko
Kip James by Samoa Joe
BG James by Scott Steiner
Abyss by Samoa Joe
Kurt Angle by Scott Steiner
Robert Roode by Sting
Sting by Scott Steiner
Eric Young by Tomko
Scott Steiner by Tomko
Tomko by Samoa Joe- **1/2

Match 2 (Raw, February 19th)
Edge vs Rob Van Dam
Since this is a Money In The Bank qualifier, and considering RVD’s standing with the company, the winner is obvious. RVD went through his usual array of high risk offense, while Edge just looked to slow the match down and work over him with submissions. Overall a good match with some innovative offense by both men. Randy Orton interfered, and got kicked in the face by RVD, but he then got pinned for three by a Spear from Edge- ***

Match 3 (ECW, February 20th)
CM Punk vs Johnny Nitro
A decent, albeit short match, although Nitro was a little sloppy and wasn’t quite on his game. It was wrestled at a fairly quick pace, with several high impact moves, and also had some good mat wrestling. Nitro missed a Corkscrew Moonsault, and this allowed Punk to get three with the Go 2 Sleep- **1/2

Match 4 (Impact, February 22nd)
Ladder Match- Jerry Lynn vs Jay Lethal vs Sonjay Dutt vs Senshi vs Austin Starr
A decent X-Division style match. There was lots of high risk moves as you would expect, and adamantly it was a spotfest. However, it didn’t have a whole lot of time, and there was a commercial break in the middle, so I can’t really give it that high a rating. Jerry Lynn pulled down the X to get the victory- *1/2

Match 5 (Smackdown, February 23rd)
No DQ- Kane vs King Booker
On paper, this doesn’t look like anything special, since both men are past their prime at this stage, but it ended up being quite a solid match aided by the No DQ stipulation. Kane worked over King Booker with power moves, chokes and strikes, while Booker T had to do everything to take Kane off of his feet, even using the ring bell at one stage, and wore him down with submission when he was off his feet. My only issues was the match was a little slow, and the crowd were pretty quiet. The Great Khali interfered, throwing Kane through the barricade, allowing King Booker to get three- **1/4

Match 6 (Raw, February 26th)
Shelton Benjamin vs Jeff Hardy
This match saw an obvious clash of styles, with Hardy going for a lot of high flying moves, while Benjamin looked to ground Hardy and outwrestle him on the mat. It ended up being a great match, wrestled at a fast pace, and it was highly entertaining. It was however a little sloppy at times, and Benjamin botched a major spot, but it was still good. Hardy won via a Swanton Bomb- ***

Match 7 (Smackdown, March 2nd)
Matt Hardy vs Joey Mercury
King Booker is on commentary, and is a little too excited at times. Hardy again took time to work over the face of Mercury, which was still injured from the Royal Rumble. When the face wasn’t being worked over, they exchanged a mixture of high flying moves and mat wrestling holds. It was actually pretty similar to their previous match (although possibly slightly longer), which wasn’t a bad thing, as this was good stuff. Hardy got the fall with a Top Rope Twist of Fate, after removing Mercury’s face protector- ***

Match 8 (ECW, February 27th)
Extreme Rules- Sabu vs Mr Kennedy
With the Extreme Rules stipulation added, this gave something else to what was a good match. It did however suffer from Sabu’s weakness to missing spots, as he botched a couple during this match. But for the most part it was good stuff, with Kennedy trying to stop Sabu’s onslaught with a chair and other weapons, while Sabu went through his usual range of high flying moves. Kennedy got three with a DDT onto a broken table- **1/2

Match 9 (Smackdown, March 2nd)
Chris Benoit vs MVP vs Finlay
This wasn’t quite as good as say the Daniels/Styles/Joe 3 ways, but this was still a pretty good three way match. The match actually played out much like a one on one match, with two wrestlers in at one time while another was taken out on the outside. MVP and Finlay also teamed up on Benoit at some stages, but Finlay put an end to that fairly quickly. Finlay pinned Benoit after a Shillelagh shot, after Hornswaggle distracted the ref- ***

Match 10 (ECW, February 27th)
Cage Match- Bobby Lashley vs Hardcore Holly
A short match, since Lashley had to win in five minutes or less or he’d lose the title. The match was going along decently before Umaga was brought in by Vince McMahon. He through a chair in that Hardcore Holly used to smash his head in. Lashley threw a few chair shots, and got three with a Running Powerslam. Some stiff chair shots aside, this wasn’t anything special, but the spot after the match, where Lashley breaks the cage by jumping through it onto Umaga was awesome- *1/2

Match 11 (Raw, March 12th)
Ric Flair vs Carlito vs Randy Orton
They played up Flair and Orton’s rivalry in the past, which gave a hint as to how the match would go. Flair and Carlito often worked as a team on Orton, trying to take him out of the match due to this being elimination rules, but like all three way matches their alliance fell apart quickly. When it did, Orton took advantage by eliminating Flair with the RKO. Orton was very much in control after this, with a series of rest holds and strikes, but Carlito stayed in it and came close to victory. However, Orton would get three with the RKO. A bit sloppy and slow at times, but good in places as well- **3/4

Overall, there again was some pretty good stuff here, but nothing that you desperately need to go out of your way to see. The best matches all rated at ***, and there’s 5 of those, while the rest are all in the ** region. So if you get a chance to see any of the *** matches on Youtube or on DVD, then they are well worth a view, but there’s nothing to see from the other matches.

7.5/10

Best Of US Wrestling 2007 Disc 1

Best Of US Wrestling Jan-April 2007

I’ve been wanting to review this for quite a while. This is a fan made comp, which cover all the best wrestling from Raw, Smackdown, ECW and Impact during the first four months of 2007. It is in four parts, and then from May onwards the comp splits into discs for each separate shows. Like them or not, WWE and TNA produced lots of good televised wrestling in 2007, in particular WWE who after a poor year in 2005 and bad parts in 2006 were stronger than ever from a wrestling standpoint.

I also plan to cover the 2008 version of this comp which highlights all the best action from the four shows during that year. Please note however that this comp doesn’t cover PPV matches.

Match 1 (Smackdown, 19th January)
United States Championship, No DQ Match- Chris Benoit (c) vs Chavo Guerrero
I thought this was a good match, although I felt it was lacking a little in terms of structure at times. Guerrero cheated blatantly here, which was completely legal, and also made use of a chair to work over Benoit’s shoulder. Benoit on the other hand went for straight wrestling, using a lot of German Suplexes, and going for the Crossface as often as possible (even outside the ring). Benoit locked in the Sharpshooter, and Chavo tapped before he could reach the chair- ***

Match 2 (Impact, 18th January)
Kurt Angle vs AJ Styles
Not a bad match, but it was simply far too short to really be anything special. It was also a little too one sided for my liking, with AJ taking a beating for the majority, and there was an annoying commercial in the middle. Angle won it with an Angle Slam on a chair, when Tomko had the ref distracted- *1/2

Match 3 (Raw, 22nd January)
Street Fight- Edge vs Shawn Michaels
A wild match, with lots of weapons put to use including chairs, garbage cans, the steel steps, a ladder, a steel chain, and many others. Michaels was completely bloodied from a shot from hitting the steel steps. There was little actual wrestling, with the majority of the match consisting of punches and weapon shots. Randy Orton interfered, giving Shawn Michaels the RKO which got three. Great stuff other than a sloppy spot or two, but that didn’t hurt the match- ***1/2

Match 4 (Smackdown, January 26th)
6 Man Over The Top Rope Challenge- King Booker vs Chris Benoit vs Finlay vs Kane vs MVP vs The Miz
Solid enough battle royal type match, which had some decent wrestling in it as opposed to the punchfest these type of matches usually are. The Undertaker randomly interfered in the match, cleaning house on everyone, and then eliminating everyone. So it was decent while it lasted.
Kane eliminated by Finlay
Miz eliminated by Finlay
Undertaker destroys and eliminates everyone else- *3/4

Match 5 (Impact, 25th January)
Christian vs Christopher Daniels
A good match, with some solid wrestling from both Christian and Daniels. It was a little bizarre to have an interview mid-match with Samoa Joe, who came to ringside to counteract Tomko. But the match was solid and a little longer than the usual Impact match, and Daniels got a lot of offense in. Christian used a Low Blow on Daniels when the ref was distracted, and then used the Unprettier for three- **1/2

Match 6 (Smackdown, 2nd February)
United States Championship- Chris Benoit (c) vs Finlay
These two of course know each other well from matches they had in WCW and Japan. The match was billed as a battle of two carbon copies of each other, due to both men’s similar style, and I would have to agree that they were very evenly matched, both in terms of mat skills and in terms of hard hitting. Finlay worked on the leg of Benoit for much of the match, while Benoit just went for that hard hitting offense, along with the occasional high risk move. The ending kind of ruined the match, with Boogeyman interfering, distracting Finlay and that allowed Benoit to get the rollup for three- ***1/4

Match 7 (Raw, 5th February)
Shawn Michaels vs Randy Orton vs Edge
A solid match, with the tension being played up between Team RKO, despite this supposedly being set out as a Handicap match. The early part of the match saw Michaels get beaten down by Edge and Orton, but the occasional miscommunication started to see Team RKO disintegrate. After Orton got the RKO on Michaels, Edge and Orton started fighting each other. Michaels went on to pin Orton after Edge Speared Orton, and Michael Superkicked Edge- ***

Match 8 (Smackdown, February 9th)
Matt Hardy vs Joey Mercury
This is shortly after Mercury broke his nose in the TLC match at No Way Out. Obviously Hardy had a ready made strategy for this match, which was to work over the face of Mercury, which he did with a series of strikes. Mercury went after the knee of Hardy with a variety of submissions and hard hitting moves. It was a good match, although a little slower than I expected, but that would be expected with Mercury’s injury. Mercury rolled out of the Side Effect into a pinning combination for three- ***

Match 9 (ECW, 6th February)
Bobby Lashley vs Hardcore Holly
This match didn’t really look all that special on paper, but it turned into a surprisingly good, hard hitting match. It also helped that the match was under Extreme Rules, allowing weapons to be used. Lashley went for more of a power style, using his size advantage to his advantage, while Holly was more tenacious, cheating as much as he could and making use of a chair. Lashley won with a Running Powerslam on a chair (although to be honest, he missed the chair completely)- **1/2

Overall, there’s some good matches here, in particular the Street Fight involving Edge and Shawn Michaels. Clearly Shawn was the only person really producing the goods in the ring on Raw at this time. Smackdown had the majority of the matches here, with some great stuff. ECW only had the one match, but there are plenty more good one’s to come. Impact’s matches were too short for the most part to mean anything. So there’s some good stuff on this comp, beside some questionable choices for a Best Of compilation (the Battle Royal for example).

8/10

WCW Nitro 24th June 1996

WCW Nitro 24th June 1996

Bluebloods (Steven Regal and Dave Taylor) vs Public Enemy
As you would expect, a huge clash of styles here, with Public Enemy trying to brawl while the Bluebloods wanted to wrestle on the mat. Regal was again, pretty damn awesome in this: his mannerisms add a lot to the match and his mocking of Public Enemy’s dance was hilarious. And while this match was decent, the differences between the two teams were such that they didn’t click, so the match was at times sloppy. Grunge used the cast from his broken arm to get three on Taylor- **

Kevin Sullivan vs ?
I didn’t catch the name of the jobber Sullivan was facing, but it didn’t matter anyway since he had no offense at all. Sullivan took this match around the arena to prove a point to Chris Benoit I suppose. There was no official finish, but I guess the jobber lost via countout, or maybe Sullivan got DQ’ed, I honestly don’t know- n/r

Cruiserweight Title Match- Dean Malenko (c) vs Bobby Walker
Decent match here, but Walker’s lack of experience once again told since he botched and mistimed a few moves here. But Malenko helped to drag a good match out of him the best he could with his usual solid mat wrestling. Malenko locked the Cloverleaf, but Disco Inferno distracted him, allowing Walker a brief fightback, before Disco started dancing for no real reason. Malenko Dropkicks him Walker into Disco, before getting three with a Northern Lights Suplex. Bizarre end to the match- *3/4

The Barbarian vs Eddie Guerrero
The Barbarian doesn’t even get ring music now, and I don’t really know why. It was a battle of the power of Barbarian against the speed of Guerrero, and this made for a good match. Plus it helped that the crowd were quite into it, especially with some of Barbarian’s power moves. Despite Barbarian’s size advantage, Guerrero was able to steal a win when he blocked a top rope move with a Cross Body for three- **1/2

Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson and Chris Benoit) vs Rock N’Roll Express
I enjoyed this match: again, it followed the similar formula of the Rock N’Roll Express matches, with Morton taking a nasty beating from Benoit and Anderson, before Gibson gets the hot tag and cleans house. And for the most part the wrestling was good, barring some sloppy spots involving Ricky Morton, caused by trying to do stuff he should have stayed away from at his age (like flips for example). It was also hurt by the NWO angle being discussed for much of this. Gibson got pinned following a briefcase shot- **1/2

Alex Wright vs DDP
A solid match, with good back and forth wrestling, where both looked good. Wright went for more technical and high flying style offense, while DDP focused on grounding Wright and setting up for the Diamond Cutter. My only problem is that some of the wrestling could have been crisper, but it was still good with lots of countering. DDP won with the Diamond Cutter- **1/4

VK Wallstreet vs Randy Savage
Decent, basic stuff here, with Savage firing away with punches for the most part, and Wallstreet trying to keep him grounded, and cheating at every opportunity. The unintended highlight ended up being the fans chanting “We Want Flair” despite Flair being the ‘bad guy’. The match was won by Savage obviously, when Greene threw Wallstreet into the ring post, and Savage hat the Elbow for three- *3/4

WCW Tag Team Title Match- Sting and Lex Lugar (c) vs Harlem Heat vs Steiner Brothers
Good main event tag match, especially when any combination of Sting, Booker T and Scott Steiner were in there. It was an energetic match, with a mixture of power moves and mat wrestling. Sting in particular took quite a beating from everyone else in the match (expect Lugar of course). My only problems with the match were a commercial right in the middle, and the commentators not always concentrating on the match but the NWO angle. When the match reached it’s peak, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash came out, and out of nowhere Harlem Heat won the match with a Schoolboy on Lugar- **3/4

Commentary Botch Of The Week- Tony Schiavone calls an Inverted Atomic Drop by Sting an “Inverted Powerbomb”.

An average show this week, with no real matches that stood out. The best match was the main event tag, although the Four Horsemen/Rock N’Roll Express and Guerrero/Barbarian match were also solid. So it’s a show that you can avoid unless your a completionist, but at the same time it’s worth watching if you have nothing else to watch.

6/10

PWG All Star Weekend III Night 1

Sorry for the lack of new reviews lately, but I’ve been busy with a lot of stuff. I’m going to have a lot more free time from next week onwards, so you can expect some more new stuff coming up soon. For now, here’s another review from the 411 archive. This is an early one so it’s not quite to the same standard as current reviews, so apologies for any repetition or excessive detail.

Dino Winwood comes out to start us off, first of all shooting on someone in the crowd (in a fun way), then telling us that they have a great show in store for tonight.

Match 1
Top Gun Talwar and Bino Gambino vs Alex Koslov and Ronin
This sort of seems thrown together, but maybe they’ve been feuding since I’m not up on the lower card storylines at this time. This match was decent, a fairly fun match with good comedy and solid enough wrestling, but like I said I feel it was a little thrown together, and nobody stood out as being anything that special (other than Alex Koslov, he was the best of the four in this match). But as far as an opener, I was a decent way to start the show. Bino Gambino got the pinfall on Koslov with a Spinning Butterfly Suplex- **

Match 2
M-Dogg 20 vs TJ Perkins
An enjoyable match between two top indy wrestling talents. There was some solid mat wrestling early on, then M-Dogg used his usual repertoire of high flying moves while Perkins managed to keep up with him as well as try to ground M-Dogg with submissions and hard hitting moves. These two seemed to click although there was some sloppiness and the occasional botched spot, but I really enjoyed some of the wrestling sequences so that made up for it in some aspects. But in the end I think the botches took too much away from the match. M-Dogg 20 won this with a Shooting Star Press- **1/2

Match 3
The Kings Of Wrestling (Chris Hero and ‘Double C’ Claudio Castagnoli) vs Disco Machine and Nemesis
This apparently is happening on Night 1 because the Briscoes pulled a no-show (which they did several times throughout the year). While I enjoyed the match, I far prefer the Kings Of Wrestling as heels, and I didn’t enjoy them as much when they play to the crowd and not doing all the little things that I like seeing them do. The match was good and fun, but there were some moments of sloppiness and I don’t think was as good as it could have been, perhaps because it was slightly too long. But still a very decent match overall. The Kings Of Wrestling, who were fairly dominant in this match, won it with I believe the KRS-1 (I may be wrong since Excalibur didn’t call the move by it’s proper name)- **1/2

Before I go any further, the next match is the first of four matches in a number one contenders tournament. The four winners meet on Night 2 to determine the Number One Contender to the PWG Title.

Match 4
PWG Title No 1 Contenders Tournament Match- ‘The New Age Punisher’ B-Boy vs Excalibur
There’s no commentary for this match, and that is an extremely nice touch since Excalibur was doing commentary alone but isn’t doing it now since he’s wrestling. This was a match that topped my expectations, and ended up being quite a good and fun, hard hitting match overall. Weapons were put to use in this one (mainly chairs), and that was something I didn’t expect, but it worked and added to the match. When the match actually got in the ring, it turned into a good, hard hitting match with B-Boy hitting hard and using submissions, while Excalibur fought back with some high flying, hard hitting moves of his own. B-Boy would win the title shot via pinfall with the Go 2 Sleep. This pleasantly surprised me- ***

Match 5
PWG Title Number One Contenders Tournament Match- Kevin Steen vs Matt Sydal
It seems strange to me seeing Steen with his shirt and trunks combo after seeing him in his new gear in ROH. To the match itself, and I enjoyed this as much as I thought I would, as it ended up being a good, crisp match between two of my favourite wrestlers. Sydal used his speed to out-quicken Steen, while Steen would use hard hitting, high impact moves to control Sydal, but I didn’t like it when he tried to use high flying moves since he can’t do them that well (besides his top rope moves). My only real complaint is that maybe it was a bit too long, but besides that it was a really good match that flowed quite well. After some very close near falls at the end, Steen would win this match when he pinned Sydal with the Package Piledriver- ***1/2

After the match, Steen says that he has wrestled some of the very best in the world, and says that Sydal is an amazing wrestler and should come back in the future.

Scorpio Sky cuts a promo before his match, saying the fans should respect him because he ended the Human Torando’s career. Jade Chung (Scorpio Sky’s manager), cut a quick promo basically putting over Scorpio’s abs.

Match 6
PWG Title Number One Contenders Tournament Match- Chris Sabin vs Scorpio Sky w/Jade Chung
A fan got right up in Jade Chung’s face, and Chris Sabin encouraged her as she was eventually held back by security. The match was good, a solid encounter with the interaction with the woman in the crowd being a funny little running theme throughout the match. Sabin wrestled his usual high impact, high flying wrestling style, with some submissions used as well. Scorpio on the other hand wrestled a slower, more sports entertainment style with constant interference by his manager and cheating, but also used some nice submissions and high impact moves. Scorpio Sky nearly got the win when Jade Chung interfered and Scorpio hat an Implant DDT, but the referee was distracted by helping Chung who Sabin had thrown to the mat, then Sabin won with the Cradle Shock- ***1/4

Match 7
PWG Number One Contenders Tournament Match- ‘The Future’ Frankie Kazarian vs Jimmy Yang
A meeting of two (at this point) former WWE and TNA wrestlers in this match. The match was good, feeling much like a longer and more fun version of a WWE cruiserweight match. Both men had some nice high flying, high impact moves, but Kazarian used several submissions as well and Yang also used a few kicks to go alongside his pretty much all high flying style offense. Again though, it was missing something overall to take it to the next level. Kazarian won it with the Wave of the Future- **3/4

Match 8
Cape Fear (El Generico and Quicksilver) vs Los Luchas (Phoenix Star and Zokre)
Two of my favourite teams are in this match so I expect I’ll enjoy it. I really enjoyed this match, although it wasn’t quite on the insane levels of some of the other Cape Feat tag matches I’ve seen. This however is match of the night on this occasion. The match was maybe a bit slow early on, but picked up steam quickly, and both teams used some impressive double team moves and amazing, innovative high flying offense. Generico once again was a standout in this match and never fails to impress me. An insane end sequence saw Phoenix Star get kicked by Generico in the head while doing a headstand in the corner, but only got two, then Generico used a sick Half Nelson Suplex and Big Boot, then Quicksilver pinned him with a Piledriver- ***3/4

Joey Ryan cuts a pre-match promo where he lights a cigarette, and well, I didn’t hear a lot of what he said (but the crowd were chanting Boring so it couldn’t have been that interesting), but he did throw some insults at ring announcer Jon Ian.

Match 9
PWG Title Match- Joey Ryan (c) vs Super Dragon vs Chris Bosh
This match was pretty much a mess, and as a result it was a massive disappointment. Early on the match was decent enough, with some solid wrestling from all three men, and was shaping up to be a great main event. Then things completely fell apart. Dragon forearms Bosh, and it seems to knock him out, as when Dragon tries to pick him up he’s motionless. Dragon pulls Bosh up when going for the three but Disco and Taro treat it like he kicked out. Ryan and Dragon continue to wrestle, and Dragon decides he should psycho Driver Ryan on the concrete, and Dragon seems to have no idea what to do, so he rolls Bosh back into the ring. Then Ryan superkicks him and pins Bosh. What a disappointing main event, a complete mess after Bosh got knocked out- *

After the match, Dragon goes nuts at ringside throwing chairs into the ring, as Ryan heads for the locker room, and Dragon angrily smashes a chair into the turnbuckle from frustration.

The main event left a sour taste in my mouth, but I don’t think it took too much away from the event. However, this was not up to the standard of the previous All Star Weekends. The only matches that was up there as excellent would be the Cape Fear/Los Luchas and Steen/Sydal matches, but even then they couldn’t hold a candle to the best matches from the two previous ASW’s. A mild recommendation for this show, but not a show that’s critical to add to your collection.