Reel in Place

vs The Funks (SMW 7/3/1994) This is all tied into the big feud of Smokey Mountain at the time, which is Cornette vs Bob Armstrong. A lot of this has to serve that feud, and the builf to The Bullet getting his hands on Cornette. The parts of the match that we get that aren't entirely in service to that are pretty good. Dory hitting the mat, Terry stooging, some brawling outside of the ring, all those things are there and good. The match part is good, and the angle part is good, but the intersection of the two limits how good the match could be. Still good.  vs Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman (WCW 9/23/1995) This is a very solid, but short television match. Everyone has a very defined role, and wrestles to that archetype. Arn's there to kick ass and not do anything stupid. Pillman is there to win, and maybe do something stupid. The Armstrongs are there to have a sporting contest, and if Scott gets in trouble, Steve is there to save his little brother. All of that plays out here,...

  vs The Steiner Brothers (WCW 2/21/1998) Some would say that the Steiners eat up the Blue Bloods in this match; I don't think that is inaccurate, but typically that kind of thing is said about guys who don't deserve to have so little offense. I think it would be malpractice if Regal and Taylor took much more of this match than they got; the Steiners are the champions, Regal and Taylor are nowhere close, and so the Steiners work this match in their best interest. I've said it before, but man, I don't like Regal. I wouldn't like him anyway, but I especially dislike him because he allegedly is great in matches like this, and boy, when I watch them, when he does his prancing routine, and pulls his faces, and works some hold that looks like shit, I just don't see it. I think in a technical sense, he was a great wrestler, but his presentation sucks and I'm going to pretend I like it. Taylor is fine here; he's like if Regal was good.  vs Barry Darsow & Bob...

vs Hart Foundation (WWF 9/23/1985) The Bulldogs take the early parts of this; for the most part is pretty basic stuff. The Hart Foundation take over on what is a pretty subtle heel move where Bret grabs the trunks to shoot Davey off into the ropes, and then hits a kitchen sink knee. To me, it is just too subtle to really work for changing the momentum in such a drastic way. Bret and Jim work over both Bulldogs for the bulk of the match from that point, and the moment that turns that momentum just isn't impactful enough. Bret ties Dynamite in the ropes, and attempts a running attack of some kind, but Bulldog frees himself, Bret gets caught in the ropes, and Davey Boy tags in. Davey takes it to Brett for a bit, but Bret hits a backbreaker that gets momentum back for the Hart Foundation. Bret hits a top rope Hart Attack, but while the referee is getting Anvil back to his corner, and Bret is covering Davey, Dynamite hits a top rope headbutt, rolls Davey out, and covers Bret himself for...

vs The Young Pistols (WCW 8/3/1991) This is an interesting structure for a match. The Young Pistols take an early advantage, and then do a double switch, sort of twin magic, sort of deal, and the procede to work a pretty heavy and vicious segment working Arn's arm. Arn gets to his corner eventually, and tags in Larry. Larry doesn't have much success, and the Young Pistols work over his arm too. The camera occasionally cuts to Arn, still selling the arm on the apron, but Arn still has enough fire and smarts to overcome the bum arm. He gets to work on Smothers' leg. He and Larry get to work on the leg, and it is really some of the best limbwork we've seen up across the 30-some teams we've watched so far. Arn gets Smothers to tap to a half-crab and a pretty good match ends with what feels like a well-earned conclusion.  vs Robert Gibson & Tom Zenk (WCW 8/10/1991) This is a piece of business right here. Larry and Robert start things off, but the match quickly devolv...

vs Chris Chetti & Louie Spicolii (ECW 3/29/1997) This is a house show match, which means we start with a lot of schtick, and we have a lot of schtick up until the ending stretch of this match. I can get behind the FBI act and especially Tommy Rich. That's never going to make a match more enjoyable for me, but I get it; I understand why it happens. The closing stretch ends up being pretty solid, and Chetti and Spicolli get the win.  vs Lance Storm & Chris Candido (ECW 3/6/1998) This is pretty solid, and is devoid of any of the typical FBI antics, which is nice. Tracy Smothers carries the bulk of this, and really goes out of his way to make Candido especially look good. Guido doesn't factor in much, but he does what he's asked. Not a great match, but solid, and certainly a good match to have in your resume.  vs Nova & Blue Meanie (ECW 5/3/1998) There's a lot of schtick in this, maybe even more than I'd expect. I mean, we are talking mid-teens indie wrestle...

  vs Pedro Morales & Ray Stevens (San Fransisco 12/27/1975) We're watching this short, silent, 8mm footage instead of anything else for one reason really, and that is, unless there's some extenuating circumstance or outstanding reason not to, like a "five star" match I want to revisit, I want to use these posts to watch new stuff, not stuff I've seen before. I've watched, to my knowledge, all of the All-Star Wrestling from the Fuji and Saito era of WWF, along with all of the house show footage from that period. That doesn't leave a ton to watch, and this, if nothing else is novel. We get to see a little of Fuji working his schtick, Morales hit a really big backbreaker, and some brief moments otherwise. No much to be gleaned, but Ray Stevens is one of those mythical sort of guys with limited footage and a big reputation, and is worth investigating. He doesn't do much in this short sample, I'll say that.  vs Andre the Giant & Rick McGraw (WWF...

  vs Rock n Roll Express (JCP 8/2/1986) The Andersons are a great foil for the Rock n Rolls. They can convincingly get heat, they can sell in a way that keeps their credibility, but doesn't hurt their opponent. In a short tv match, they can get that kind of thing across; that doesn't make the match great, but it does say something about the team, their position, and their abilities.  vs Kansas Jayhawks (JCP 9/6/1986) This is interesting because the Jayhawks work a heat segment on Arn Anderson for the bulk of it. It's somewhat novel to see the Andersons working from behind; it creates a scenario where Ole makes almost a hot tag, where his offense isn't really any different, but because of the context, the crowd responds in a different way. It doesn't make the match good; it is mostly fine, and ends in a DQ that makes Ole and Arn look bad, but it is another wrinkle.  vs The Galaxian & Pat Rose (WCW 12/16/1989) In what may be the craziest bit of foreshadowing I...