Month: February 2012

Belfast Bruiser Vs Steven Regal – Uncensored 24/03/1996

😀

Regal comes out with his most awesome theme ever (which I am now using in my videos lol). Just thought I’d mention it lol.

“One’s a Lord and the other’s a bruiser, and the bruiser is bruising on the Lord!”

Classic Dusty commentary.

I’m trying to think of a word to describe this match. Just one word. Ummm… oh yeah:

STIFF~!

We all know what these guys are capable of, both in general and against each other, so even if you haven’t seen this match, you can kinda know what to expect. And it’s just as awesome as you would expect.

Nice of them to show the Spanish commentary team randomly during the match. So… why are they relegated to the back of the area and not next to the proper commentary team? WCW IS RACISTS~!

I mentioned the awesome little things that Finlay does in that last match with Armstrong, but Regal ain’t no slouch in that department either. Arguing with the ref all the while leaning on Finlay’s throat with his leg was awesome. You probably need to see it to understand what I mean though lol.

“IRELAND! IRELAND! IRELAND! What is that, 5 miles from London?”

More funny shit from Dusty… especially considering he just randomly starts shouting “IRELAND” for no real reason.

Regal gets busted open, but damn WCW 96 wouldn’t let us see it from up close, so the rest of the match is shown from further back lol. Fuck me though on HOW he got busted open. Finlay punched the SHIT out of Regal twice, and I think it was the second punch that did it. Either way, the punches are about as real, stiff and awesome as you could EVER hope to see in a wrestling match. I had to go back and watch those shots a couple more times.

After nearly 20 minutes of fan-fucking-tastic shit, we get a damn DQ ending when the rest of the Blue Bloods show up. Disappointed with the finish, but it doesn’t take ANYTHING away from the rest of the match. This is going on my list, and atm I’m considering a top 10 spot for it too.

Rating: ****1/4

Big Van Vader Vs The Boss – Spring Stampede 17/04/1994

IT’S TIME!

IT’S TIME!

IT’S…

ME WATCHING AND REVIEWING SOME WRESTLING FOR THE WCW POLL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MONTHS TIME~!

Sadly, the Boss isn’t Bruce Springsteen, but Big Boss Man. *sigh* I’d totally pay to see Springsteen get his face caved in by Vader…

Holy motherfucking SHIT at the bump on the rampway before the match even begins!!! Vader and Boss go at it straight away, and Race grabs Boss, allowing Vader to take one hell of a run up for a Splash… only for Boss to move and Vader to legit run Race down; and it looks terrific. Race takes a bump better than 90% of the young guys today.

MOAR Vader running and jumping! This time he has Boss down in the ring, and he takes another run up from the ramp way and dives over the ropes (!!!) for a splash that way! Fucking hell. Boss gets his legs up though, and all that running and jumping were wasted. Hate when that happens…

Boss really takes the fight to Vader, and Vader does that usual amazing job of looking vulnerable despite being 6ft whatever and over 400lbs and an all round bad motherfucker who caves faces in for a living.

After getting a taste of the old “cave in faces” Vader, its Boss’ turn to take one helluva bump. I mean Christ, what the hell is wrong with these guys? They should NOT be doing these kinds of bumps!

Since I haven’t seen any wrestling outside of current WWE for the last month or so at least, starting back with Vader is just… awesome. I almost forgot how great those punches were. Almost. Not quite. It’s still great seeing them again though :).

This baby is just a tremendous back and forth big man match that you HAVE to see for this poll, no question about it. You have to see it even more if you are a Vader fan… and I’m positive everyone on here is :P.

In the end Vader is the one able to take the most punishment and still come back, getting him the win, but not before having to resort to the Moonsault when the Vader Splash from the ropes doesn’t work.

I’m definitely reserving a spot on my list for this bad boy.

Rating: ***3/4

Sting Vs Lord Steven Regal – Great American Bash 16/06/1996

This is a grudge match of sorts… or something. Not quite sure what Regal did to Sting, mainly because Dusty is the one trying to explain it :P.

Sting is pissed and goes right after Regal, but those forearms and uppercuts (and maybe a thumb to the eye lol) of Regal are too much for even the Stinger. So much so that Sting’s face paint is almost all gone after the first couple of minutes lol.

Regal keeps in control for the most part with his superior wrestling skills, with Sting getting some hope spots in. Love the part where Sting goes for a sunset flip, and Regal starts punching at thin air to keep himself from falling over or something lol. Doesn’t work :P.

More awesomeness from Regal as he does his Lord Steven Regal pose, and kinda dances at the same time, as he waits for Sting to turn around so he can blast his face off with an awesome looking dropkick. He follows this up by striking Sting’s face a bunch of times while insulting America as the camera is in his face.

A lot of this match is Regal stretching Sting on the mat, but it is about as far from boring as Chavo is close to boring (that makes sense, right? 😛 ) thanks to Regal constantly doing something rather than just applying a hold. I’d honestly say that Regal is better at it in this match than I have EVER seen Arn. Yeah. Man is legit fucking awesome throughout the entire match.

Sting’s “superman” hope spot towards the end is really well done too. Regal has a wrist lock applied, and  knocks Sting down, only for Sting to kip up and take a bunch of forearm shots to the face and not feel them, and then apply some force of his own to Regal via the wrist lock. Then Regal thumbs him in the eye and goes back to work lol.

The Regal Stretch is finally put on Sting, and Sting doesn’t even attempt to get to the ropes. He just sits there in it, not giving up, and Regal actually lets go of the hold as he is in such disbelief that someone can be in the hold and NOT give up or even attempt to get out! A pissed off Regal sends Sting into the corner and stiffs the fuck out of him, until Sting does his superman schtick again, and locks in the Scorpion Death lock for the win.

Man, Regal was beyond epic in this one. Sting took his entire offence as good as anyone I have seen, and it was amazing to see one of the company’s biggest stars get so dominated by essentially a mid card guy. I really liked how they didn’t just let Regal destroy Sting and have Sting do his superman comeback right at the end; they teased it a few times with Regal cheating his way back into control, before Regal dished out everything he had and still couldn’t put away Sting, giving Sting the perfect opportunity to end the match himself.

Really wanna vote for this one, but it might only end up in my bottom 10.

 Rating: ***1/2

Vader Vs Ricky Steamboat – Saturday Night 16/10/1993

Already seen this match, and reviewed it, but fuck it, it was so awesome I wanna do it again!

This is a Human Cage Match, which is just a Lumberjack match. Why the stupid name? Fuck knows lol. Also, how come these two men didn’t have a PPV match? This is the 3rd title match between the two to take place on TV. Then again, I guess with only a couple of PPV’s in the year, they were just filling the time between them with something awesome, and then saving Cactus/Vader for the PPV.

The match starts much slower than their other matches, with Vader shoving Steamboat around but not causing any damage. One push sends Steamboat out of the ring to the heel side, and things nearly kick off as Steamboat wants to get back in the ring himself but the heels want to throw him back the hard way, causing the babyfaces to come to his aid.

Once back in the ring, Vader decides that playtime is over, and face caving time has begun! My god the shots Vader throws out are just so awesome. It has been said before, by me, Andy, and everyone else on here that watches Vader matches, but the shots in THIS match just seem so much better than usual.

I mentioned in my previous review about the Rocky movie similarities, and I still get that feeling this time around. Steamboat takes those shots in the corner, but keeps getting up and asking for more, and Vader is more than happy to keep them coming. The Dragon takes everything the champ gives him, and keeps coming back. He eventually moves out of the way of a Vader Splash on the outside, and Vader does his signature guardrail bump, and Steamboat finally gets a break!

Having already faced Vader on a couple of occasions, Steamboat knows he needs to throw everything he can at the champ if he even hopes to win. A sort of superplex (looks more like a DDT from the ropes lol), a DDT, a figure four and a huge back suplex are all high impact or highly painful moves, but not even those can keep Big Van Vader down!!! The booking of Vader as a beast and champion in 1993 was beyond epic. From what I have seen of his 1993 so far I’d probably consider him to be one of the better World Champions EVER. He dominated and looked unbeatable, but at the same time he could make you believe that his opponents would have a shot at taking the title from him when they were having a comeback etc.

Speaking of believable, it’s amazing that I can actually believe and accept and whatever other word for it you wanna put, that Steamboat can take Vader’s punches to the head and fire his own shots back, get to his feet and actually back Vader into a corner and out punch the guy! Again I go back to the Rocky similarities, with Rocky being out matched in power against guys like Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago, but managing to take their shots and come back with his own and even get the better of them as time goes on because he has more heart and more stamina too. Steamboat is the Rocky Balboa of wrestling.

The Human Cage stipulation comes into play for the finish which I really like. Vader is sent out of the ring, and everyone runs around to try and get him in, and the faces and heels get into it a little while doing this. Sid however, decides to let everyone else deal with Vader, and while the ref is distracted by all that, Powerbombs Steamboat in the ring, allowing Vader to get the 3 count!

Just an awesome match, and I’m really glad it made it on a DVD too (Rise & Fall of WCW I think? Or the Steamboat set? One of the two lol). Vader’s shots look better here than I’ve ever seen them look. Steamboat takes them like a man, and his selling is nothing short of incredible. Hard to believe that I like this more on a rewatch, because I fucking loved it the first time around lol. There is a spot in my top 10 for this match, no matter what else I watch!

Rating: ****1/2