2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

The match, if they go that route, should be a damn good one. I just wish Brock was on the show to defend the title. I love the idea of him being champ, but I hate it at the same time because there are going to be stretches where he's not involved in anything.

Also, your avatar gives me headaches. lol

 

Just don't ask him to post the song!

 

23 more days till Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
23 more days till Halloween! Silver Shamrock!

 

One gripe I have about the Network is that The E needs to decide its schedule of releasing new episodes of a show. Monday Night Wars is so inconsistent. Either release it like a TV show on air, with a set date and time, or just make it available midnight on whatever day. Today is Wednesday, and the latest episode isn't up yet. This won't matter to binge watchers who come across it down the road, but it's frustrating to try viewing as it premieres and not having show up on a regular schedule.

End of rant.

 

And here I thought I was the only one who enjoys that jingle.
I actually have it as my ringtone.

 

More than you think. Tommy Dreamer and I are John Carpenter marks.

 

In Your House 3
September 24, 1995



Ugh. In Your House Vol. 2. Stupid Coliseum Home Video names.

Savio Vega vs Waylon Mercy
In a year with so many terrible gimmicks and characters, Mercy stands out as a rare interesting gimmick. Thanks to an injury to Spivey, we didn't get to see much of the gimmick though. If you ask me, I've never understood how so many fans believe Bray Wyatt is a modern day Mercy. Sure, they dress alike, but that's about it. The match may have not been the most interesting on paper, but I enjoyed it. Before the bell, Mercy did his own impression of Vega's dance, much to my delight. Savio kept the pace fast while Mercy had some of the best facial expressions going in '95. They were especially great whenever he'd slap on a sleeper and look like a crazed man. Much to my disappointment, Savio picked up the win cleanly with a spinning heel kick. This would be Mercy's first loss in the WWE. Mercy would be done with the WWE before the end of October. ** 1/2

In the back, it's revealed that one half of the WWE tag team champions, Owen Hart, is not in the building. What does this mean for the main event?

Sycho Sid w/Ted DiBiase vs Henry Godwinn
After Godwinn turned face with the revelation that he wasn't a member of the Million Dollar Corporation, he had been having some fun slopping DiBiase in the weeks leading up to this event. On the final edition of Superstars, H.O.G. managed to slop Sid, but Sid got the last laugh as he gave Godwinn a power bomb on the outside. Due to that, Henry is already going into this match with an injury. Another match that didn't look interesting on paper, but it ended up being fine. There was a slug fest and plenty of near falls. The cheating by DiBiase and the back injury would eventually allow Sid to win the match with the power bomb. Somehow, Godwinn's one match with Sid was better than the three PPV match series that Sid had with Diesel. ** 1/2



After the match, DiBiase and Sid argued over who would slop Godwinn. That brought out Bam Bam Bigelow to fight with Sid before Kama ran out to tip the odds in the favor of the Million Dollar Corporation. As Kama and Sid holds Bigelow for DiBiase to slop him, Godwinn steals the bucket away and slops DiBiase yet again.

In the back, WWE President, Gorilla Monsoon, orders Jim Cornette to find a partner for Yokozuna to replace Owen Hart, otherwise, Yokozuna will be forced to work a handicap match. Throughout the rest of the show, we see Cornette talking to the likes of Sycho Sid and King Mabel.

The British Bulldog vs Bam Bam Bigelow
It's a big man vs big man match, but since both men were so agile and could fly around a bit, it ended up being quite the little match. There's something oddly satisfying about seeing a match with both men attempting flying headbutts at various points. One of the better looking spots in the match saw Bulldog flip himself over to see an enziguri kick by Bigelow. This isn't Shawn Michaels vs Owen Hart, yet you're still seeing spots you'd expect to see in a high flying match instead of a match with a big dude vs a muscle head. After some knee work by Bulldog to Bigelow, Smith would get the victory after ducking a charge in the corner and picking Bam Bam up for the not quite running power slam. In the right promotion and time period, I think these two could have worked a great match. ** 3/4



Dean Douglas vs Razor Ramon
These two had a confrontation at Summerslam after Douglas gave Razor a poor grade for his ladder match performance. Douglas got his revenge by getting in the middle of Razor and 1-2-3 Kid's friendship. During a Superstars match with Kid, Douglas kept pulling Kid up, refusing to pin him. That caused Razor to run down and attack him, drawing the DQ. On the final edition of Raw before the show, Douglas ran in and attacked Razor while the ref was down to help Kid get a victory over his big buddy. This just didn't work though. It's a fifteen minute match that felt twice as long. There isn't any interesting spots. Douglas' big WWE PPV debut (Not counting Royal Rumble '91) sees him botching some things. Since Razor's talent is overrated, he's not capable of carrying anyone to a good match. What really frustrates me is that there's yet another ref bump in a Razor match. Holy, fucking shit. That's all that happened during this feud. During the ref bump, Razor gave Douglas a Razor's Edge and covered him. The 1-2-3 Kid ran out and counted for Razor, making Ramon think it was the referee. When Razor stood and turned around to see Kid, he shoved Kid out of the ring. The brief distraction allowed Douglas to roll Razor up. With the ref back in, Douglas picks up the victory with a fistful of trunks. First WWE program for Dean Douglas and I'm already sick of him. Disappointing. **

After the match, Razor throws Kid back into the ring and they nearly come to blows before a bunch of officials run out for the pull apart.

Bret Hart vs Jean-Pierre Lafitte
A feud based around Lafitte stealing a pair of Hart sunglasses from a fan and later stealing Bret's own leather jacket. Match begins with one of Bret's most memorable spots in his entire career. With Lafitte on the outside, Bret ran and gave a suicide dive between the ropes onto Lafitte. That spot was shown in the various weekly TV opening videos for the next couple of years. The match is designed so that while the established star goes over, it's the newcomer that gets all of the attention. All throughout the match, Lafitte countered everything Bret tried. Hart couldn't string a series of moves together if his life depended on it. After awhile, I realized it would make for a hell of a drinking game. Take a shot every time Lafitte cuts Bret off. You're going to get drunk off of your ass. I really dug Lafitte's moveset. Early on, it's very methodical. Just a lot of punches and forearms. Yet, the longer the match goes on, the more Lafitte begins to impress by busting out the big moves. We're talking top rope leg drop, Somersault Plancha and his amazingly cool finisher, the Cannonball senton. He doesn't even connect with the last two, making it all the more impressive that he's willing to do such damage to his body. All throughout '95, Bret went out of his way to try and come up with creative finishes to his PPV matches. IYH 1 against Hakushi had the roll-up counter to a German Suplex. Survivor Series against Diesel had the small package. IYH 5 against Bulldog with the la magistral cradle. For this match, Bret went back to a classic. After a double down and knowing Lafitte every thing else Bret has attempted, Hart locked in the Sharpshooter just as he did against Mr. Perfect at Summerslam '91. With both on the mat, Bret wrapped Lafitte's legs around his leg and then turned him over into the Sharpshooter. By time Lafitte realized what was happening, it was too late. Lafitte submits and one of Bret's silliest feuds comes to an end with a great hidden gem of a match. The WWE really dropped the ball on Lafitte. Dude has serious potential as a singles star. Easy MOTN. *** 3/4



In the back, Cornette reveals that he's found a partner for Yokozuna and it was the man under his nose the entire time - the British Bulldog. Monsoon agrees that Bulldog will be Yoko's partner, but reminds Camp Cornette that if Bulldog is pinned, Owen and Yoko will lose the tag titles.

Diesel & Shawn Michaels vs Yokozuna & British Bulldog w/Jim Cornette & Mr. Fuji - Triple Header Match
Every belt is on the line. Michaels and Diesel wins, they become the tag team champions. If Bulldog/Yoko pins Michaels, that wrestler wins the IC Title. Same deal for Diesel and the WWE World Title. An important note is that WWE President, Gorilla Monsoon, made it clear that if either team tries to get DQ'd or counted out, they will lose their belts. So the champion's advantage rule is not in effect. In my mind, that rule is very important. The match started off really swell with a sequence between Bulldog and Michaels. Those two always had some great chemistry. After some babyface shine, things slowed down some with Michaels playing the face-in-peril. It never gets actually bad though. Once Michaels does get the hot tag, things pick up and the final few minutes are quite exciting with everyone involved in spots. Yoko gets SCM to send him to the outside. Davey Boy gave Diesel a power slam, but Michaels broke up the cover with a flying elbow drop. That's when Owen Hart runs out and attempts a ax handle from the top rope, but Diesel gave him a shot to the gut. One Jackknife later, Owen gets pinned to apparently give Diesel and Michaels the tag team titles. Here's my problem. Owen, who was not legally in the match, entered the ring and tried to interfere. That's a DQ in my book. In case you don't know, the following night, Monsoon would reverse the decision since Owen wasn't legally in the match and the belts were returned to Yoko/Owen. With that, a PPV main event, whose whole selling point is that the fans WILL see a crowning of a new champion was dealt the blow of an awful Dusty finish. That's bullshit. I enjoyed the match and it was easily the second best of the night, but I fucking hate the overbooked Sports Entertainment finish. ***



Overall
The first WWE PPV of the Monday Night War was looking really rough going into the event thanks to the lack of time to build up the show and a fairly random main event. Yet, with the exception of Razor/Douglas, everything over delivered. In the three event history of In Your House, there hasn't been a better match than Bret/Lafitte. In fact, by the end of the year, only Bulldog/Bret from IYH 5 would end up being better. As I said, I hate the Dusty finish of the main event, but we finally get a good Diesel match since Mania! Bigelow vs Bulldog was Bam Bam's last time to really impress people as he begins his farewell from the company after the aborted push. The Douglas/Razor feud and match is so frustrating since the interesting aspect of the feud (1-2-3 Kid's heel turn) is the minor part of the angle. Meanwhile, Douglas isn't very entertaining and we've had the same stupid ref bump finish to Razor's matches three matches in a row. To the WWE's credit, they moved away from Douglas and devoted more time to Kid's heel turn over the next couple of months. In Your House 3 is likely the strongest IYH yet, but is it better than WCW's offering of Fall Brawl? I'm not sure. It's more consistent, but the highs aren't as high and the booking at Fall Brawl was a little stronger. The In Your Houses were surprisingly decent at this point. Not must see shows, but they manage not to be terrible either.

 

OK, so the WWE gave me false hope. Not all of the RAWs are on there. Just every one of the first two years, maybe 3 years is up. And they have selective ones up from the Attitude era. Bummer.

 

Thought I'd share this with you marks since I hang out on this thread more than any other: I finally got a damn job. Full time. Covering high school sports, plus some graphic design for special section fronts. I'm ending nearly a three-year drought of work. Won't be as easy as it used to be with my back and leg problems, but it sure beats handing out sales ads at Toys R Us.

Here was the reaction to the news:

 

Awesome!

 

I had it in me the whole time. All I had to do ... was



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