Reel in Place

  Vs Kyoko Inoue & Aja Kong (AJW 8/9/1997) As you might expect, we start by brawling in the crowd, only to hit the ring with LCO in control and working over Inoue. Eventually, Inoue fights back, tags in Kong, and the momentum turns. There's a spot where Kyoko gets the crowd clapping, and then she and Aja dance, and now I hate this. Kong and Inoue have a big of control, but then Kong gets bumped off the top rope, and again LCO are in charge and brawling outside. Then things get really out of hand, and we're teasing hanging Aja Kong off the balcony. LCO shift focus to Inoue while Aja is out of commission, only for Kong to come back with a fire extinguisher. This is the kind of shit I do not like. She sprays it everywhere, and you can tell that the crowd isn't digging being sprayed and breathing in this shit. More brawling, more lawlessness, more momentum shifts. Kyoko Inoue really is trying to make this match work, she's got great fire here, is really going all out, b...

Vs Super Destroyer & Umenosuke Ueda (Real World Tag League 12/13/1982) Ueda comes in with a stick and just goes to town, with Super Destroyer joining in. They isolate Hara and get to work. After the hot start, Ueda works an abdominal claw and things come to a screeching halt. Tenryu eventually tags in, but he gets cut off shortly thereafter after. The faces get another tag, but get cut off again. Eventually, Tenryu mounts some offense, and Revolution wins, only to again get pelted with Ueda’s stick. This didn't really work, the hot start was great, but Ueda and Super Destroyer take a lot of the match, to pretty little effect. The second they lose control, they pretty much lose.  Vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (Summer Action Series 7/23/87) You really can't put Hansen & Tenryu in a match and have it be anything other than all about Hansen and Tenryu. DiBiase is setting some sort of injury to his side, which is bandaged up, and means that Hara and Tenryu can pretty effe...

  Vs The Rockers (WrestleMania 7) This is the sort of platonic ideal of an opening match. It's all action, probably leans a bit towards the Rockers, but back and forth, up and down, nonstop. I would say that it probably has more to do with Marty and Shawn, but Haku and Barbarian keep up their end of the bargain.  Vs The Orient Express (MSG 7/1/91) So, in this particular instance, the Orient Express is Kato and Mr. Fuji, and this is mostly built around Mr. Fuji and Bobby Hennan, who is on commentary. A lot of this is Kato trying to put a dent in the Barbarian, and not having much success. Eventually, Fuji gets in there and does some 'karate' that Haku has to sell. I'm not saying it's great, I'm not saying it should have happened, but the crowd is kind of into it. It's a lot of gaga, in service of a feud that is pretty much entirely about the managers, but it does get the job done. Vs The Outsiders (Starrcade 1996) The early NWO stuff is in this weird place wh...

Vs The Natural Disasters (Superstars Taping 7/20/92) This is a title change. A team like Money Inc as champions, because of their act and the way they wrestle, will always have some buy-in when there's a possibility of them losing. I think the heat here is a bit lackluster, mostly because I don't think either IRS or Dibiase do enough real cheating to make them dominating Earthquake for any amount of time seem believable. The finish is typical slip-on-a-banana-peel heel stuff, but the crowd goes nuts seeing Money Inc lose. Vs El Matador & Virgil (Prime Time Wrestling 9/28/92) This was good. I think a lot of that is on Tito, who is certainly past his prime here, but was still a great seller and could still get sympathy from the crowd. Tito can build to the tag with Virgil, which has its own history in this match, and everything works. This is the sort of match that just works. Money Inc are very specific sorts of heels, against a face team that is purpose-made to be a great f...

The Greatest Wrestler Ever Poll voting period is about to start. My ballot is pretty much done, and I'll probably write up my ballot here at some point. There was a 2016 Tag Team Poll, but not one for 2026, so here's my idea. Do one in 2031 in some form, so here's the first post, where I watch 5 matches from one of the teams nominated in 2016, and if there's time I'll cover the more recent teams after.  vs Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper (TNA PPV #51) So, this isn't the one with the wild 'rana from the top of the cage, but I'd say this is the better match. There's some wierdness that comes from them attempting, especially early, to uphold a sort of traditional tag structure with wrestlers on the apron. Its a pretty good match given then those restraints, but when they sort of disregard that, and just get wind for the last five or so minutes, things get really interesting, especially with absolutely wild top-of-the-cage leg drop at the end.  vs...

GWE season is here, and I've been slacking, so with about one year to make a ballot, I'm starting to review wrestlers I've considered, but not fully formed an opinion on. So we begin with Buddy Rogers, a guy who has two of my favorite matches of the Golden Era, against Lou Thesz in 1950 and Pat O'Connor in 1961 .   Buddy Rogers/Magnificent Maurice/Johnny Barend vs Bobo Brazil/Art Thomas/Dory Dixon - Chicago 3/15/1963 There are 10 complete Buddy Rogers matches out there, and this is one of them. He's barely in this, it is mostly a showcase for the face team, Buddy spends a lot of time on the apron playing a chickenshit. In some ways that is Buddy Rogers' greatest contribution to modern wrestling, he sort of codified what it meant to be a heel, and you can see a glimpse of why he was so successful, but its only just a glimpse.  Buddy Rogers vs. Cyclone Ayana - Chicago 1/5/1951 From a modern perspective, so much of the Golden Age stuff just seems boring or stall-y,...