X's Reviews/Match Ratings

[X]

Is that the street fight? If so, man... how does that get anything less than four stars? I LOVE that match.

Nah that was a match they had the month before they had the street fight. I watched and rated the street fight recently as well, if you haven't been able to tell I'm watching every ROH show in order from the beginning. Nah the street fight they had was fucking AMAZING, rated it at an easy ****1/4.

So anyways, yeah, here's the latest update guys which includes a shit-ton of ratigns for new wrestling, including alot of new puro, TNA's PPV from this past Sunday, an awesome Raw last night, the latest Dragon Gate USA PPV as well as a boatload of random ratings. Enjoy, I'll add these bad boys to the actual thread list here later, if you want a more up-to-date look at my ratings I always throw them onto my blog first long before I post them here, the link is http://xfearbefore.blogspot.com/

So yeah, ratings time! Splitting it up a bit here so it looks nicer.

WWE
7/7/97 Great Sasuke vs. TAKA Michinoku - ***1/2
7/6/00 Dudley Boyz vs. D'Lo Brown/Chaz - ***
7/10/00 Chris Jericho vs. Road Dogg - ***
5/14/10 Christian vs. Kofi Kingston - ***1/4
5/17/10 Edge vs. Christian - ****
5/17/10 John Cena vs. Sheamus - ***

A few random matches from some Raws and Smackdowns of years past as well as ratings for a very solid Christian-Kofi match from last week's Smackdown,, and ratings for last night's fantastic episode of Raw which saw a epic Edge vs. Christian match that I've been waiting for years for (yeah, I may have overrated it at **** but man that match was excellent from start to finish). Cena and Sheamus were also having a very good match, far better than their tables match, until a DQ finish almost ruined it. Still good enough for three stars though, both guys put on a fun main event.

WCW
9/19/87 Tully Blanchard vs. Ricky Morton (No DQ) - ****
2/24/97 Eddie Guerrero/Chris Jericho vs. Meng/Barbarian - ***
2/24/97 Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera - ***1/4
2/24/97 Dean Malenko vs. Ultimo Dragon - ***1/2
7/7/97 Juventud Guerrera/Hector Garza vs. Villano IV/Villano V - ***1/4
2/2/98 Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis - ***

Some more random Nitro cruiserweight matches as well as an absolutely epic Tully Blanchard-Ricky Morton No DQ match from an episode of NWA World Wide in September of 1987, just a thrillride from start to finish, a classic hidden gem of days past.

TNA
7/3/02 AJ Styles vs. David Young - ***
7/3/02 Rainbow Express vs. Jerry Lynn/AJ Styles - ***1/2
5/16/10 Doug Williams vs. Kazarian - ***1/2

NOTE: I have no finished watching TNA Sacrifice 2010 yet, there are two matches I have yet to see but should watch later tonight or tomorrow are the Jeff Hardy-Mr. Anderson and the AJ Styles-RVD match-ups, so that's why they aren't included here but Doug Williams vs. Kazarian is. That was a damn good match those two put on, someone mentioned it could've reached **** category if given another five minutes, but what we got was great.

ROH
9/21/02 Christopher Daniels/Donovan Morgan vs. Dick Togo/Ikuto Hidaka - ***1/4
9/21/02 Michael Shane vs. Paul London (Street Fight) - ****1/4
9/21/02 Bryan Danielson/Michael Modest vs. Christopher Daniels/Donovan Morgan - ***1/4
10/5/02 James Maritato vs. Tony Mamaluke - ***
10/5/02 Amazing Red vs. Ikuto Hidaka - ****
10/5/02 Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki - ****
10/5/02 Xavier vs. Jay Briscoe - ***

Watched two more ROH events from 2002, September's Unscripted featuring the previously mentioned classic Michael Shane-Paul London street fight as well as a few other good matches, as well as ratings for the first Glory By Honor from October of 2002 which was another very good event. I'm about halfway through All-Star Extravaganza 2002 and it's been just a classic card almost from start to finish. There are a shitload of forgotten absolute GEMS from the early years of ROH.

AJPW
4/11/10 Minoru Suzuki vs. Suwama - ***1/4
4/11/10 Kaz Hayashi vs. BUSHI - ****1/4

The final day of this year's Champion's Carnival. Didn't watch any of the first six days, only the 7th and for the most part I wasn't impressed. AJPW's heavyweight division is just so hard to get into these days, it's just in such a awful state. Minoru Suzuki and Suwama managed to have a pretty good match though. As usual with AJPW these days, it was the junior heavyweights putting on the best match of the night, with Kaz Hayashi and BUSHI putting on just a fucking EXCELLENT match from start to finish that topped anything from this past NJPW 1/4 Tokyo Dome show or even last years Super J Cup. BUSHI is a guy I'm starting to really dig, he's like a modern Ultimo Dragon on crack and without all the botches. If anyone is interested in seeing that match (or really any others I mention in here) shoot me a PM and I'll send a link your way.

NOAH
5/2/10 Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akitoshi Saito - ***
5/2/10 Takeshi Morishima vs. Yoshihiro Takayama - ***1/4
5/2/10 Jun Akiyama vs. Takashi Sugiura - ****

Watched half of the 5/2 Spring Navigation show from NOAH, some solid undercard stuff and a DAMN good match between Jun Akiyama and Takashi Sugiura. There are still a few more matches to watch from this show though including the main event of Akiyama-Takayama for the honor of winning the Global League.

Dragon Gate USA
3/27/10 Shingo vs. Genki Horiguchi - ***
3/27/10 Tommy Dreamer vs. Jon Moxley (Hardcore) - ***
3/27/10 YAMATO vs. Susumu Yokosuka - ***3/4
3/27/10 BxB Hulk/Naruki Doi/Masato Yoshino vs. CIMA/Dragon Kid/Gamma - ****

Watched the latest Dragon Gate USA PPV offering, "Mercury Rising", which upon first viewing I wasn't much impressed with, but upon second viewing enjoyed alot more. This was actually probably a small step up from their last PPV, though it is disturbing how much the match quality has seemed to decline as the DGUsA shows go on. Not to say they're bad though because they absolutely are not and for 2 hours of solid wrestling for only $19.95, there is not a better single bang for your wrestling buck than DGUSA on PPV now. Fun opener, very disappointing London/Kendrick match afterwards though, I was bummed by that. Tommy Dreamer and Jon Moxley put on just your absolute classic Philly ECW-style hardcore match, and honestly yeah I'm probably being far too generous giving that match even *** because the wrestling obviously wasn't the best, but damnit if that wasn't just a perfect exhibition of the old-school Philly hardcore matches, and it did it's job perfectly. Went ahead and gave it *** because of how much fun I had and the nostalgia. YAMATO and Susumu Yokosuka put on a pretty good title match, though I've seen much better from these two before. The main event 6 man took a little while to get started, but once it did it picked into high gear and they pulled out a very fun main event. Nowhere near the best 6-Man Tag Dragon Gate matches I've seen, but a damn good one nevertheless.

Yeah, so, like I said, BIG update there. Stay tuned for the ratings for the rest of Sacrifice 2010 as well as a slew of more new puro and indy wrestling. I'm also contemplating following CMLL and AAA again now that I've found a source for it again, but I'm not sure on that yet.

Stay tuned for more ratings kiddies.

 

[X]

Ratings for TNA Sacrifice 2010 (sorry for the delay)

5/16/10 Team 3D vs. MCMG vs. Beer Money - **3/4
5/16/10 Orlando Jordan vs. Rob Terry - *1/2
5/16/10 Doug Williams vs. Kazarian - ***1/2
5/16/10 Tara vs. Madison Rayne - **
5/16/10 Kevin Nash/Scott Hall vs. Shannon Moore/Jesse Neal - *3/4
5/16/10 Abyss vs. Desmond Wolfe - **1/4
5/16/10 Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson - ***1/4
5/16/10 Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett - *3/4
5/16/10 Rob Van Dam vs. AJ Styles - ****

 

[X]

I was going to update the blog right now, but I've decided to just wait a few more days so that I can include my ratings for the Over the Limit PPV and if anything good happens on Raw tomorrow night.

So stay tuned for a shitload of new ratings to be updated tomorrow on here, but probably sooner on my blog.

Among the things I've got rated for the next update are WWE Vengeance 2005, WWF 1995 Royal Rumble, ratings for the second half of last week's TNA Sacrifice PPV, as well as an action-packed Raw. A few more 2002 ROH shows will be added, as well as some more NOAH and the first few rounds of this year's NJPW Super J Tag tournament.

Basically, stay tuned. Lots of ratings coming soon and stuff. I wrote this more for my sake.

 

[X]

Ratings for WWE Over the Limit 2010:

5/23/10 Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre - ***
5/23/10 R-Truth vs. Ted DiBiase - **3/4
5/23/10 CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio - ****1/4
5/23/10 Chris Jericho/The Miz vs. David Hart Smith/Tyson Kidd - ***1/4
5/23/10 Edge vs. Randy Orton - **1/2
5/23/10 Jack Swagger vs. Big Show - **
5/23/10 Eve vs. Maryse - *1/4
5/23/10 John Cena vs. Batista (I Quit) - **3/4 - *** range

Big update later tonight.

 

[X]

Big update, here we go

WWE
1/9/88 Jumping Bomb Angels vs. Leilani Kai/Judy Martin - ***
1/22/95 Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett - ***1/4
1/22/95 Diesel vs. Bret Hart - ****
1/22/95 Bam Bam Bigelow/Tatanka vs. 1-2-3 Kid/Bob Holly - ***1/2
1/22/95 Royal Rumble Match - ***
6/26/05 Carlito vs. Shelton Benjamin - ***
6/26/05 Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle - ****3/4
6/26/05 John Cena vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian - ****
5/23/10 Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre - ***
5/23/10 CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio - ****1/4
5/23/10 Chris Jericho/The Miz vs. David Hart Smith/Tyson Kidd - ***1/4

Random ratings here mostly, ratings for WWE Vengeance 2005 as well as the 1995 Royal Rumble and last night's WWE Over the Limit PPV. Also a random women's tag match from a show at the Boston Garden in January of 1988, surprisingly good match.

WCW
5/14/94 Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat - ****1/2
4/15/96 Nasty Boys vs. Public Enemy (Street Fight) - ***
5/12/97 Ultimo Dragon vs. Juventud Guerrera - ***

A few random matches from WCW TV, two matches from Nitro and a classic Flair-Steamboat match from WCW Saturday Night in 1994.

ECW
6/6/97 Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer - ***
6/6/97 Taz vs. Sabu - ***1/4

Ratings for ECW Wrestlepalooza 1997, another random show I popped in this week with a pretty fun Raven-Dreamer match in which Dreamer FINAAAALLLLLYYYY beat Rave, as well as a pretty good Taz-Sabu match. Pretty decent show.

TNA
5/16/10 Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson - ***1/4
5/16/10 Rob Van Dam vs. AJ Styles - ****

Quick ratings for the only two matches I didn't have rated for Sacrifice last week. RVD-Styles was good, very good in fact, but a bit underwhelming.

ROH
11/9/02 Da Hit Squad vs. The SAT vs. Divine Storm vs. Dixie/Joey Matthews - ***
11/9/02 Christopher Daniels/Samoa Joe/Donovan Morgan vs. Low Ki/Doug Williams/Homicide - ***3/4
11/9/02 Xavier vs. Jay Briscoe - ***1/2
11/9/02 AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson - ****1/4
11/9/02 Masato Tanaka/Shinjiro Otani vs. Steve Corino/Low Ki - ***1/4
11/16/02 Jay Briscoe/Amazing Red vs. Mark Briscoe/Christopher Daniels - ***1/4
11/16/02 Amazing Red/The SAT/Divine Storm vs. Joey Matthews/Izzy/Deranged/Slim J/Angel Dust (Scramble) - ***1/4
11/16/02 AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels - ***1/4
11/16/02 Bryan Danielson vs. Doug Williams (Iron Man) - ***3/4

More ROH ratings from 2002, updated with the next two shows I hadn't rated yet, All-Star Extravaganza and Scramble Madness, both pretty solid shows.

NOAH
5/2/10 Takuma Sano/Taiji Ishimori/Ricky Marvin vs. Takashi Okita/Kento Miyahara/Satoshi Kajiwara - ***1/4
5/2/10 Naomichi Marufuji/Atsushi Aoki vs. Go Shiozaki/Shuhei Taniguchi - ***1/2

Few more matches from the 5/2 Spring Navigation show. Nothing overly good.

NJPW
3/21/91 Hiroshi Hase/Kensuke Sasaki vs. Scott Steiner/Rick Steiner - ****
3/21/91 Great Muta vs. Sting - ***1/4
4/29/96 Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Liger - ****1/2
4/29/96 Road Warriors/Kensuke Sasaki vs. Scott Steiner/Rick Steiner/Scott Norton - ***1/2
4/29/96 Great Muta vs. Jinsei Shinzaki - *****
4/29/96 Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shinya Hashimoto - ***3/4

More NJPW ratings, this time from the first WCW/NJPW Supershow in March of 1991 as well as ratings for a fantastic supershow that NJPW held during their simply awesome UWFI Invasion angle in 1996 (AKA the angle the NWO ripped off), fucking awesome show with one of my favorite matches of all time in Muta vs. Hakushi, one of the best stories you will ever see told in a wrestling ring. The wrestling itself isn't great at times, but the sheer symbolism of Hakushi, the White Angel, fighting Muta who's in full dark Demon mood here, man, just a fucking classic. HIGHLY recommended to any and everyone, every wrestling fan should see that classic match. Also note the sick blade job Hakushi does, probably hitting a 7-8 on the Muta scale.

AJPW
4/29/10 Super Crazy/BUSHI vs. Shujo Kondo/Hiroshi Yamato - ****

Random match from All Japan with the great BUSHI again, REALLY fun tag match there. Really impressed with All Japan's junior heavyweight division these days.



More updates later!

 

[X]

Update time, because I can't sleep.

WWE
3/31/85 Hulk Hogan/Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper/Paul Orndorff - ***
10/3/85 Roddy Piper vs. Paul Orndorff - ***
11/2/85 Terry Funk vs. Junkyard Dog - ***
12/16/96 Steve Austin vs. Vader - ***
2/17/97 Owen Hart vs. Flash Funk - ***1/4
2/17/97 Bret Hart vs. Sycho Sid - ***
7/14/97 TAKA Michinoku vs. Tajiri Yoshihiro - ***
9/20/97 Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Dude Love - ***1/4
9/20/97 The Headbangers vs. Savio Vega/Miguel Perez Jr. - ***
9/20/97 Vader vs. Owen Hart - ***1/2
9/20/97 Bret Hart vs. Undertaker - ****
9/20/97 British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels - ****
9/22/97 Cactus Jack vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley - ****
8/20/06 Edge vs. John Cena - ***3/4
4/3/07 Rob Van Dam/Tommy Dreamer/Sabu/Sandman vs. Elijah Burke/Matt Striker/Marcus Cor Von/Kevin Thorn (Extreme Rules) - ***
4/30/07 Randy Orton vs. Edge - ****
6/24/07 Edge vs. Batista - ***
6/1/08 Undertaker vs. Edge (TLC) - ***1/2

Nothing too special here. Lots of stuff from 1997 as well as a few matches from 1985. Should be alot more old-school ratings over the coming weeks.

WCW
2/11/96 Public Enemy vs. Nasty Boys (Street Fight) - ***
2/11/96 Johnny B. Badd vs. Diamond Dallas Page - ***1/4
2/11/96 Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair (Cage) - ***1/2
12/16/96 Lord Steven Regal vs. Psicosis - ***1/4
12/30/96 Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. - ***1/4

Nothing too special here either, a few matches from the 1996 Superbrawl PPV as well as a few random Nitro matches I had lying around.

ECW
3/25/97 TAKA Michinoku/Dick Togo/Men's Teioh vs. Great Sasuke/Gran Hamada/Gran Naniwa - ***3/4

Not the international six ma tag from Barely Legal, this was actually a "preview" match that took place a few weeks before the Barely Legal PPV, and was nearly as good as the Barely Legal match. Really fun stuff.

PWG
2/27/10 Johnny Goodtime/LTP vs. Malachi Jackson/Ryan Taylor - ***
2/27/10 Chris Sabin vs. Roderick Strong - ***3/4
2/27/10 Joey Ryan/Brandon Bonham/Candice le Ray vs. The Cutler Brothers/Christina Von Eerie - ***
2/27/10 Young Bucks vs. El Generico/Chuck Taylor - ***1/4
2/27/10 Kenny Omega vs. Davey Richards - *****

Ratings from the 2/27/2010 PWG show "As the Worm Turns". Lots of good stuff on the show, but the best was obviously the main event between Kenny Omega and Davey Richards, a match so fucking good I went out on a limb and awarded it the full five star treatment. Absolutely cannot recommend this match enough to everyone here, probably my current pick for the best match of 2010 with the Anderson/Angle cage match and HBK/Taker from Mania pulling up a close 2nd and 3rd best.

NJPW
7/14/93 Tiger Mask III/El Samurai vs. Jushin Liger/Shinjiro Ohtani - ***1/2
1/4/94 Tiger Mask III vs. Jushin Liger - ***1/4

Just a few random matches from a Koji Kanemoto compilation I had lying around. Nothing too ground-breaking or anything here.


And that does it for now. Should be ratings for the last few ROH events coming up soon as well as more old-school WWF, early ROH, and 90s puro. Stay tuned kiddies.

 

[X]

Quick update here, don't really feel like expanding on the ratings, so yeah, deal with it.

WWE
11/26/84 Greg Valentine vs. Tito Santana - ****1/4
1/4/86 Hulk Hogan vs. Terry Funk - ***
3/1/86 British Bulldogs vs. Greg Valentine/Brutus Beefcake - ***1/4
4/7/86 Greg Valentine/Brutus Beefcake vs. British Bulldogs - ***3/4
4/7/86 Terry Funk/Hoss Funk vs. Tito Santana/Junkyard Dog - ***1/4
7/23/00 Hardy Boyz/Lita vs. Test/Albert/Trish Stratus - ***1/2
7/23/00 Eddie Guerrero vs. Perry Saturn - ***
7/23/00 Val Venis vs. Rikishi (cage) - ***
7/23/00 Triple H vs. Chris Jericho (Last Man Standing) - ****1/2
7/23/00 The Rock vs. Chris Benoit - ****
10/3/05 Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels (Iron Man) - ***3/4
1/27/08 Edge vs. Rey Mysterio - ***1/2
8/28/09 CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy (Cage) - ****
6/4/10 Jack Swagger vs. MVP - ***

TNA
7/10/02 AJ Styles/Jerry Lynn vs. Disciples of the New Church - ***
7/10/02 Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Elix Skipper vs. Tony Mamaluke vs. Kid Romeo (Elimination) - ***3/4

ROH
12/7/02 Bryan Danielson vs. Chad Collyer - ***1/4
12/7/02 Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson - ***1/2
12/7/02 Xavier vs. AJ Styles - ***1/2

NOAH
10/29/06 KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji - *****

AJPW
5/23/96 Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue - ****3/4

NJPW
10/9/00 Kensuke Sasaki vs. Toshiaki Kawada - ****1/4

WCW
1/20/87 Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham - ****3/4
12/16/90 Arn Anderson/Barry Windham vs. Doom (Street Fight) - ***3/4

Yay for ratings! More coming. And such. Yeah.

 

[PsychoBlack]

X have you seen the Nick Bockwinkel vs Curt Hennig match where it ended in a 60 minute tie? If you have what do you rate it

 

[Josefien]

Ratings from the 2/27/2010 PWG show "As the Worm Turns". Lots of good stuff on the show, but the best was obviously the main event between Kenny Omega and Davey Richards, a match so fucking good I went out on a limb and awarded it the full five star treatment. Absolutely cannot recommend this match enough to everyone here, probably my current pick for the best match of 2010 with the Anderson/Angle cage match and HBK/Taker from Mania pulling up a close 2nd and 3rd best.

Couldn't agree more.

Quick question though, what about the other to matches from that show?
No love for Hero vs Shelley?

Edit: On second thought, I realised you only put up ratings for ***+ matches.
I guess that answers my question then.

 

[X]

X have you seen the Nick Bockwinkel vs Curt Hennig match where it ended in a 60 minute tie? If you have what do you rate it

I think that describes like fifteen different matches that Bockwinkel and Hennig had, lol, those two were always going 60 minutes.

If you're talking about the one I think you are from an episode of AWA TV in November of 1986, coincidentally enough I've actually got that match laying around on my hard drive somewhere and have been meaning to watch it again as I haven't seen it in atleast a good 5 years.

I'll get on that man, but I can tell you now it'll easily be ****+ from what I remember.

Couldn't agree more.

Quick question though, what about the other to matches from that show?
No love for Hero vs Shelley?

Edit: On second thought, I realised you only put up ratings for ***+ matches.
I guess that answers my question then.

Huh...you know, I'm not quite sure man. I watch alot of wrestling obviously so I don't particularly recall anything special about that match, but at the same time I seem to recollect having giving it atleast *** as they went at for a good 15 or so minutes and it's hard to mess that up with those two. I'll have to rewatch that match man, I'm not sure if maybe I lost that match rating somewhere or whether I really didn't think it was worth atleast ***.

I'll get back to you on that.

Oh, MASSIVE update coming shortly. Once I finish the last few matches from Slammiversary this past Sunday (which I'm watching right now), I'll update this bad boy with a shitload of ratings for all kinds of new and old stuff from the US, indies, and a good deal of puro as well as even some lucha from this past week's big AAA Triplemania PPV.

 

[X]

First things first, ratings for TNA Slammiversary from this past Sunday.


6/13/10 Kurt Angle vs. Kazarian - ***1/4
6/13/10 Doug Williams vs. Brian Kendrick - ***
6/13/10 Madison Rayne vs. Roxxi - *3/4
6/13/10 Brother Ray vs. Jesse Neal - *
6/13/10 Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez - 3/4*
6/13/10 Abyss vs. Desmond Wolfe (Monster's Ball) - **1/4
6/13/10 AJ Styles vs. Jay Lethal - ***3/4
6/13/10 Jeff Hardy/Mr. Anderson vs. Beer Money - ***
6/13/10 Rob Van Dam vs. Sting - **


I may have overrated the main event, ** is probably being too generous to what was really just a sloppy, messy, shitty main event for the most part that was far too short for a "dream match". Lots of other terrible shit on this show as well, mainly the Ray-Neal, Morgan-Hernandez and the Monster's Ball match, which is another match I may have been too kind to with **1/4 stars. Match of the night was obviously AJ Styles and Jay Lethal, very solid contest with some creative spots and transitions. Fun stuff.

Now onto the rest of the massive update:

WWE
5/4/81 Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter (Alley Fight) - ****
11/23/81 Don Muraco vs. Pedro Morales (Texas Death Match) - ****
11/23/81 Bob Backlund vs. Greg Valentine (Texas Death Match) - ***1/2
9/23/85 Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs - ****
4/26/86 Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage - ***1/4
5/3/86 Hulk Hogan/Junkyard Dog vs. Terry Funk/Hoss Funk - ***
5/19/86 Ricky Steamboat vs. Jake Roberts - ***
8/26/86 Jake Roberts vs. Ricky Steamboat (Snake Pit Match) - ***1/2
8/26/86 Greg Valentine/Brutus Beefcake vs. Rougeau Brothers - ***
10/4/86 Ricky Steamboat vs. Jake Roberts (Snake Pit Match) - ***
10/4/86 British Bulldogs vs. Greg Valentine/Brutus Beefcake (2/3 Falls) - ***3/4
11/29/86 Randy Savage vs. Jake Roberts - ***
11/29/86 Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees - ***
2/23/87 Ricky Steamboat/Roddy Piper/Junkyard Dog vs. Randy Savage/Adrian Adonis/Harley Race (Elimination) - ****1/4
6/2/92 Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels - ***3/4
9/14/92 Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair - ***1/2
6/27/04 Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero - ***3/4
6/27/04 Eddie Guerrero vs. John Bradshaw Layfield (Bullrope) - ***3/4

Whole lot of stuff from the 80s, been watching alot of old school lately. Watched a hidden gem in what was supposed to be Piper's farewell match at Madison Square Garden before his "retirement" at Wrestlemania 3, absolutely fantastic six man elimination that it's a shame hasn't turned up on any WWE DVD sets yet. Other 80s goodness including some great Texas Death Matches between Don Muraco/Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund/Greg Valentine as well as the famous "Alley Fight" between Pat Patterson and Sgt. Slaughter that won Match of the Year in 1981. Lots of great stuff really as well as a few other random matches.

TNA
7/17/02 Sonny Siaki/Jorge Estrada vs. Christopher Daniels/Elix Skipper - ***
7/17/02 AJ Styles vs. Low Ki - ***1/4
7/24/02 Amazing Red vs. Low Ki - ***
7/24/02 AJ Styles/Jerry Lynn vs. Jorge Estrada/Jimmy Yang - ***1/2
7/31/02 AJ Styles vs. Elix Skipper - ***
6/10/10 Jeff Hardy/Mr. Anderson/Abyss/Jay Lethal vs. AJ Styles/Desmond Wolfe/Robert Roode/James Storm - ***
6/13/10 Kurt Angle vs. Kazarian - ***1/4
6/13/10 Doug Williams vs. Brian Kendrick - ***
6/13/10 AJ Styles vs. Jay Lethal - ***3/4
6/13/10 Jeff Hardy/Mr. Anderson vs. Beer Money - ***

More solid X-Division action from the early days of TNA as I'm cycling through the promotion from it's inception, as well as the ratings from Slammiversary and what I thought was a very fun 8 man tag match from this week's past Impact. Nothing spectacular here though.

ROH
12/28/02 Christopher Daniels/Donovan Morgan vs. The SAT (2/3 Falls) - ***
12/28/02 Xavier vs. Paul London - ***1/4
12/28/02 Bryan Danielson vs. Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe vs. Steve Corino - ***1/2
1/11/03 BJ Whitmer vs. Colt Cabana vs. Paul London vs. Homicide - ***3/4
1/11/03 Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson - ***1/2
1/11/03 Christopher Daniels/Xavier vs. AJ Styles/Low Ki (No Holds Barred) - ****1/4
6/7/10 Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries - ***1/4

More ratings from the early days of ROH as I watched Final Battle 2002 and the following month's "Revenge on the Prophecy" show which featured an absolutely FANTASTIC no holds barred tag main event between Daniels/Xavier and Styles/Low Ki, great blow-off match to a feud that had been building since day one in ROH, just an absolutely phenomenal match that started off a bit slow but picked up MAJOR steam in the last 15 minutes. Great match. Also rated here is a match Tyler Black and Austin Aries had on ROH on HDNet last week, not their best match together by any means but a very good TV main event with a few very cool spots.

AAA
6/6/10 Christopher Daniels vs. Jack Evans vs. NOSAWA vs. Extreme Tiger (Elimination) - ****
6/6/10 L.A. Park vs. La Parka - **** (Rights to the "La Parka" Name)

Ratings from the big Triplemania show from this past week which saw an incredibly fun spotfest four-way that saw Jack Evans continue to get over huge in Mexico and the return to Mexico of the great Christopher Daniels. The main event was the hotly anticipated matchup between L.A. Park (the original La Parka who wrestled in WCW for many years in the 90s but eventually was legally obligated to give up the La Parka character and chage his name) and the man who took his gimmick, La Parka 2. Lot of real-life heat in this one and the fans were absolutely going apeshit from start to finish as this match was for the rights to the La Parka name and character, rarely do you see a wrestling audience so emotionally involved in a match anymore. It wasn't exactly a Flair-Steamboat encounter, but they fit some fun spots into a nice, long contest that saw the REAL La Parka rightfully reclaim his name and character after nearly a decade and the fans loved it. Good stuff.

NOAH
4/15/01 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama - ****
7/27/01 Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - ***** (One of the 10 greatest matches I've ever seen)
6/27/04 KENTA vs. Yoshihiro Takayama - ***1/2
11/13/04 Naomichi Marufuji vs. KENTA - ****3/4
6/6/10 Taiji Ishimori/Ricky Marvin vs. Takuma Sano/Kento Miyahara - ***
6/6/10 KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji - ***3/4
6/6/10 Takashi Sugiura/Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Bison Smith/Keith Walker - ***1/2

Lots more good stuff from NOAH, including ratings from the 6/6/2010 show which featured the return of KENTA in a solid but underwhelming match-up with his longtime rival Naomichi Marufuji. Considering the epics these two have had in the past, I was a bit disappointed. Really fun main event from that show as well with Sugiura and Taniguchi taking on the gaijins in a stiff, fun brawl of a contest. Also rated here is the Misawa/Akiyama match from 7/27/01, which I can safely say is one of the ten greatest wrestling matches I've ever had the pleasure to watch. Just an absolutely amazing story told by two legendary men with the protege Akiyama pulling out every last move in his arsenal and then some more to try and put away his mentor and teacher before FINALLY getting the win and confirming his place as one of the top dogs in NOAH. A true passing of the torch kind of match that really reminded me of the Misawa/Tsuruta battles from 1990 in which that same torch was passed down to Misawa. Amazing match that I recommend to everyone.

Dragon Gate
5/13/10 YAMATO vs. Masaaki Mochizuki - ****

REALLY good match here between Dragon Gate regulars YAMATO and Masaaki Mochizuki, I highly recommend puro fans and fans of great, stiff wrestling in general check this one out. Really fun match that could have been a classic if given longer.

AJPW
6/7/96 Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams/Johnny Ace - ****1/4
12/5/97 Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama - *****
6/11/99 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi - *****
4/18/10 Kaz Hayashi/KAI vs. Minoru Tanaka/Hate - ***1/4

More five star goodness from All Japan past, the finals of the 97 Real Tag league between Kawada/Taue and Misawa/Akiyama that was just the kind of amazing match you'd expect from those four, as well as another classic Misawa/Kobashi match from 1999. Also a random match from an episode of All Japan TV from April that I randomly decided to watch, fun junior heavyweight action with three awesome wrestlers and one guy who I've never heard of with the cheery name of "Hate". Fun little match.

NJPW
1/4/93 Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Takashi Ishikawa - ***
1/4/93 Masahiro Chono vs. The Great Muta - ***1/4
1/4/93 Ultimo Dragon vs. Jushin Liger - ***1/2
1/4/93 Riki Choshu vs. Genichiro Tenryu - ***1/2
1/4/96 Antonio Inoki vs. Vader - ****
1/4/96 Keiji Mutoh vs. Nobuhiko Takada - ***1/2
12/14/00 Toshiaki Kawada/Masa Fuchi vs. Yuji Nagata/Takashi Iizuka - ****1/4
8/29/02 Jushin Liger/Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru - ***3/4

Ratings from the 1/4/93 Tokyo Dome show which saw some very fun matches, though nothing truly great in my opinion. Lots of very good wrestling though, just nothing truly memorable. Also here are ratings for the double main event of the 1/4/96 Tokyo Dome show with the legendary Inoki-Vader match during Inoki's "Final Countdown" retirement tour which is just one of the most brutal, stiff contests you'll ever see and just makes you respect Inoki tenfold more than I already did. Also the main event pitting Mutoh without the Muta gimmick in plain blue trunks against the UWFi legend Nobuhiko Takada, solid match with great submission wrestling that odds are you'll either love or hate, obviously I loved it. Also here is the epic tag team AJPW vs. NJPW match from 12/14/00 pitting Kawada and Fuchi against Nagata and Iizuka. Another stiff, brutal contest with an insanely hot crowd, the only thing keeping this one from getting an even higher rating is the unfortunate time limit draw finish. Great match though.

WCW
11/17/91 Ricky Steamboat/Dustin Rhodes vs. Arn Anderson/Larry Zbyszko - ****
5/9/92 Barry Windham vs. Steve Austin (2/3 Falls) - ***1/4
8/18/93 Vader vs. Davey Boy Smith - ***1/2
8/24/94 Ricky Steamboat vs. Steve Austin - ***1/4
10/23/94 Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair (Cage) - ***3/4
2/9/98 Chris Jericho/Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko/Chavo Guerrero Jr. - ***1/4

More randomness from WCW past. Mainly just random matches I caught on WWE Classics the past few weeks. Nothing out-of-this-world good, though the Steamboat/Rhodes vs Anderson/Zbyszko match was a ton of fun.

All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling
8/25/93 Akira Hokuto vs. Rumi Kazama - ****1/4
11/20/94 Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota - *****

Been getting alot more into Joshi recently, checking out some of the classics. The 11/20/94 Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota match is probably the best women's match I've ever seen and is just 18 minutes of pure fucking brutality from these two women, including a crazy table spot that was just out-of-this-world for a match in 1994. Fucking epic match there. OAlso a very, very good and stiff contest between Akira Hokuto and former boxer Rumi Kazama. Get ready for alot more Joshi ratings people!



PHEW. That's it. Massive update complete. My fingers hurt. See what I do for you people? Keep your eyes peeled as coming soon are ratings for the latest PWG show to be released on DVD, Titannica, which was held in April and looks like another great event. Take it easy until next time folks.

 

[X]

Ratings for the latest PWG show to be released on DVD, Titannica:

4/10/10 Brandon Bonham vs. Malachi Jackson - **
4/10/10 Brandon Gatson vs. Ryan Taylor - ***
4/10/10 Cutler Brothers vs. Johnny Goodtime/LTP - **
4/10/10 El Generico vs. Paul London - *1/2
4/10/10 Joey Ryan vs. Christina Von Eerie - ***
4/10/10 Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong - ***3/4
4/10/10 Young Bucks vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe - ***3/4

Davey-Roddy was solid, but a bit underwhelming. The main event was a REALLY fun spotfest with some really creative spots that I've never seen in a wrestling match before. Fun stuff. Rest of the card was solid if unexiciting, I was shocked by how well Joey Ryan and Christina Von Eerie worked together and actually wrestled a pretty damn solid match-up, something you rarely see in intergender matches. Von Eerie continues to be the hottest chick in wrestling in my book. It's the mohawk obviously. I was massively disappointed in the Generico-London match which consisted about 90% of stalling and London and Generico walking around the crowd looking for bottles of water. I'm not making that up. A few REALLY bad botches too really killed this one, quite the stinker.

Good show. Not as good as February's "As the Worm Turns" show, but definitely worth watching and/or purchasing.

 

[Coco]

London was probably too high to work an actual match. Bastard.

 

[Y-2-Jay]

Im liking these ratings because of this i checked some of those matches from 1997(I missed 97 i became a fan in 99) and they are fucking epic one of my favourites is the 10 man tag match at Canadian Stampede. Thanks for the ratings without them i would of missed out on some of these awesome matches.

 

[X]

London was probably too high to work an actual match. Bastard.

He's looked very rusty since getting back into the ring, I've been disappointed by most of the matches I've seen him in since his return to wrestling and it sucks because I've always been a big fan of the guy, but that match with Generico was just shit, and I'm a big fan of both men and their wrestling styles. I can dig comedy wrestling if done right (like Osaka Pro or DDT) but the crowd was pissed that these two guys we re basically spending most of the match walking around the crowd, looking for water. Honestly I guess it is worth watching just for how absolutely fucking weird of a match it is.

Im liking these ratings because of this i checked some of those matches from 1997(I missed 97 i became a fan in 99) and they are fucking epic one of my favourites is the 10 man tag match at Canadian Stampede. Thanks for the ratings without them i would of missed out on some of these awesome matches.

Hey no problem man thanks for the praise, glad you enjoyed some of those 1997 matches, yeah that was one HELL of a great year in both the WWF and WCW, great wrestling year in general.

 

[X]

Ratings for WWE Fatal Fourway 2010:

6/20/10 Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre - ***1/2
6/20/10 Maryse vs. Gail Kim vs. Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox - *1/2
6/20/10 Chris Jericho vs. Evan Bourne - ***1/2
6/20/10 Jack Swagger vs. CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Big Show - ***1/4
6/20/10 The Miz vs. R-Truth - *1/2
6/20/10 Hart Dynasty vs. The Uso's - **
6/20/10 John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Edge vs. Sheamus - **3/4


Should be a much larger update coming either tonight or tomorrow.

 

[X]

So wow, sorry for the long delay since the last update, been super busy with work and with watching all of that great wrestling from around the globe and years past so I can give you these here ratings!

Massive update is here, including tons of puro.

Note: I've stopped updating the posts in the beginning of this thread with the new ratings, simply because it's a hassle to update two different blog/threads with them, so I'd suggest you go to here:

http://xfearbefore.blogspot.com/

This blog is updated daily with new ratings, so yeah, from now on I'll be using this thread to just share the latest updates, so be warned that the older ratings posts in this thread are NOT updated to the most recent updates. Over time I will update them.

On with the ratings.

WWE
8/30/82 Pedro Morales vs. Jimmy Snuka - ***1/4
12/7/85 Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat - ***3/4
7/27/86 Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage - ****3/4
11/1/86 Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat - ***1/2
11/8/86 Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage - ***
3/29/87 Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis (Hair vs. Hair) - ***
3/29/87 Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat - *****
5/2/87 Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs (2/3 Falls) - ***
10/3/87 Randy Savage vs. Honky Tonk Man - ***
11/26/87 Randy Savage/Ricky Steamboat/Jake Roberts/Brutus Beefcake/Jim Duggan vs. Honky Tonk Man/Harley Race/Hercules/Ron Bass/Danny Davis (Elimination) - ***1/4
11/26/87 Demolition/Hart Foundation/Islanders/Bolsheviks/Greg Valentine/Dino Bravo vs. British Bulldogs/Killer Bees/Strike Force/Young Stallions/Rougeau Brothers (Elimination) - ****
11/26/87 Hulk Hogan/Bam Bam Bigelow/Paul Orndorff/Don Muraco/Ken Patera vs. Andre the Giant/Rick Rude/King Kong Bundy/One Man Gang/Butch Reed (Elimination) - ***3/4
11/28/87 Randy Savage vs. Bret Hart - ***3/4
1/23/89 Shawn Michaels/Marty Jannetty vs. Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard - ****
1/23/89 Hulk Hogan vs. Big Bossman - ***
10/12/92 Ric Flair vs. Bret Hart - ***3/4
6/20/10 Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre - ***1/2
6/20/10 Chris Jericho vs. Evan Bourne - ***1/2
6/20/10 Jack Swagger vs. CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Big Show - ***1/4

Lots of stuff here, including ratings for the Fatal Fourway PPV, as well as ratings for Wrestlemania 3, Survivor Series 1987, and several Saturday Night Main Event's and various MSG or Boston Garden shows from the 80s. Lots of good stuff, including a Steamboat-Savage match from the Toronto Maple Gardens in July of 1986 that had one of the most brutal bladejobs I've ever seen in the WWE from Savage and was just about 30 minutes or so of pure motherfucking awesome, I almost gave it the full boat five stars like I did their Wrestlemania 3 match, but I held back. Expect more Steamboat-Savage ratings as I've been watching an old compilation of matches they had during the 80s lately.

TNA
6/24/10 Kurt Angle vs. Desmond Wolfe - ***

Yes, only one rating for TNA this update, that being the match Angle and Nigel had on Impact this past week, which was (predictably) excellent for the very short amount of time they were given.

ROH
2/8/03 Michael Shane vs. Colt Cabana vs. Chad Collyer vs. EZ Money - ***1/4
2/8/03 Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Briscoe - ****
2/8/03 Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe - ***1/2
2/8/03 Low Ki vs. AJ Styles vs. Paul London - ****1/4
2/8/03 Xavier vs. Paul London - ****1/4
3/13/03 Raven vs. CM Punk (Raven's Rules) - ****
3/13/03 Christopher Daniels/Xavier vs. AJ Styles/Amazing Red - ***1/2
4/3/10 Davey Richards vs. Kenny King - ***1/4
4/3/10 Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe - ****
4/3/10 Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong - ****1/4

Ratings here for three different ROH shows, that being the One Year Anniversary Show from February 8th 2003, the following month's Expect the Unexpected event, as well as the ROH iPPV The Big Bang! from April of this year, which featured a fan-fucking-tastic main event between Black, Aries, and Strong, though that's no surprise considering they've been doing that for months now. Lots of good stuff, including two matches at the One Year Anniversary Show that blew my expectations way out of the water, that being the Triple Threat Number 1 Contenders match, and the following title match between Xavier and Paul London. Two forgotten gems, much more WWE style than ROH worked matches. Great stuff. Also have the first Punk-Raven encounter rated, which I'm sure JMT will love as he's been raving about it for years now. Great match there as well.

PWG
7/26/03 AJ Styles vs. Frankie Kazarian - ***1/2
4/10/10 Brandon Gatson vs. Ryan Taylor - ***
4/10/10 Joey Ryan vs. Christina Von Eerie - ***
4/10/10 Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong - ***3/4
4/10/10 Young Bucks vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe - ***3/4

Ratings for the latest PWG show, Titannica, which featured some quality wrestling but nothing spectacular. Also rated is the main event of the very first PWG show way back in 2003 between AJ Styles and Frankie Kazarian, solid match there as well.

NOAH
3/14/02 Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa/Naomichi Marufuji - ***1/4
4/13/03 Kenta Kobashi vs. Tamon Honda - ****1/4
9/10/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue - ****
10/24/04 Kenta Kobashi vs. Akitoshi Saito - ****
3/5/06 Akira Taue vs. Naomichi Marufuji - ***1/4
4/23/06 Kenta Kobashi vs. Naomichi Marufuji - ****
6/13/10 Ricky Marvin vs. Taiji Ishimori - ***3/4
6/13/10 Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Genba Hirayanagi vs. Atsushi Aoki/Shuhei Taniguchi - ***
6/13/10 Jun Akiyama/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Go Shiozaki/Naomichi Marufuji - ***

Various NOAH match ratings, random tag team goodness from 2002, a few Kobashi GHC title defenses (all varying degrees of excellent) and ratings for the June 13th NOAH One Year Anniversary Misawa Tribute show, obviously in tribute to the year anniversary of the icon's tragic death. I expected more out of the main event given the emotional significance of the show, but I was only mildly disappointed to see what was a solid match, but nothing great or close to it. Match of the night belonged to the opener between Ricky Marvin and Taiji Ishimori which was about 15 or so minutes of near ****-level junior heavyweight goodness before a time limit draw ended the fun, had to dock the match back a quarter of a star for that lame ending. Still, very fun match I'd recommend to check out.

NJPW
11/1/90 Keiji Mutoh/Masahiro Chono vs. Kensuke Sasaki/Hiroshi Hase - ***3/4
12/11/92 Jushin Liger/Koji Kanemoto vs. Ultimo Dragon/Masahiro Orihara - ****
7/13/95 Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger II - ****
7/13/95 Koji Kanemoto vs. Shinjiro Ohtani - ***1/4
7/13/95 Wild Pegasus vs. Shinjiro Ohtani - ***3/4
7/13/95 Keiji Mutoh vs. Road Warrior Hawk - ***1/4
5/2/03 Masahiro Chono vs. Kenta Kobashi - ***3/4
5/30/10 Jushin Liger vs. KUSHIDA - ***
5/30/10 Tiger Mask IV vs. La Sombra - ***1/2
5/30/10 Davey Richards vs. Prince Devitt - ***3/4

Lots of good stuff here, some old school tag team goodness from the early 90s as well as ratings for the final night of the 1995 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, which Chris Benoit won. Excellent match on that show between Benoit and Eddie Guerrero under the "Black Tiger" character, HIGHLY recommended viewing for everyone. Pretty fun main event on that show as well as Mutoh defended the title against Road Warrior Hawk, which doesn't sound very intriguing on paper but turned out to be a hell of a stiff and fun contest. Also rated here are matches from the first night of this year's Best of the Super Juniors tournament, featuring a fun match between TM IV and La Sombra and an even funner match between Davey Richards and Prince Devitt (who I may now refer to as the Irish Davey Richards). Fun stuff for the opening round of the tournament, I've got the next two shows lined up to watch as well, looking forward to it, looks to be a great tournament this year.

AJPW
4/16/82 Giant Baba vs. Bruiser Brody - ****1/4
9/1/90 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta - *****
10/19/90 Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Toshiaki Kawada - ****1/2
1/26/92 Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - ****
7/2/93 Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue/Yoshinari Ogawa - ****1/2

Ratings for various great All Japan matches, including the epic finals of the 1982 Champion's Carnival between Baba and Brody which was just pure fucking bloody chaos, awesome old-school styled match up with the best brawler of all time (Brody). Also rated here is the epic rematch between Jumbo Tsuruta and Misawa from September of 1990, only a few months after Misawa defeated Jumbo in what is seen as the "passing of the torch" match between Jumbo's era to Misawa's. Rematch is just as good, if not better than the original match, which says alot. One of the hottest crowds I have EVER seen in my fucking life. Amazing match, find it, watch it, love it. Five stars all the way.

Also rated here are a few great six man and regular tag team matches from years past, all of which varied from very good to fucking excellent.

All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling
8/22/85 Lioness Asuka vs. Jaguar Yokota - *****
2/26/87 Chigusa Nagayo vs. Lioness Asuka - ****1/2
9/14/87 Crush Gals vs. Jumping Bomb Angels - ****
11/14/90 Aja Kong vs. Bull Nakano (Cage) - ****3/4

Lots more Joshi up in this bitch, including the legendary Asuka-Jaguar match from the summer of 1985 as well as a great battle of the Crush Gals between Asuka and Chigusa, as well as a damn good Crush Gals-Jumping Bomb Angels tag match and an incredible cage match for the WWWA title between Aja Kong and Bull Nakano, which is more hardcore and violent than any North American promotion was even thinking about in 1990, let alone with women involved. Great, but very different kind of match.

WCW
6/8/88 Sting/Dusty Rhodes vs. Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard - ***
12/7/88 Ric Flair/Barry Windham vs. Midnight Express - ****
5/19/91 Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman - ***
5/23/93 Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson - ***1/4

A few random Barry Windham matches and a tag match from one of the first Clash of the Champions rated here. Nothing out of this world, but all very solid to great.

ECW
6/13/96 Chris Jericho vs. Shane Douglas vs. 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Pitbull #2 - ****
8/3/96 Sabu vs. Rob Van Dam (Stretcher Match) - ***1/4

Two random ECW matches from the WWE-produced Blood Sport DVD that came out a few years back. The four-way TV title match is one of the best in ECW history with amazing psychology through out, and the Sabu-Van Dam stretcher match was a fun little spotfest, though nothing you haven't seen a few million times before.

AAA
7/9/94 Tiger Mask III/Ocatagon/Latin Lover vs. La Parka/Blue Panther/Pirata Morgan - ***

Yep, we even have some lucha this week! Random six man tag match from a AAA show in '94 that I saw on a Kanemoto comp I had lying around, good but standard lucha fare.

CMLL
8/9/91 Atlantis vs. Blue Panther - ****

And lastly, some more lucha, this time the legendary battle between Blue Panther and Atlantis from the summer of 1991. Very good match, but not the five-star-affair that I had heard it was. Still, for 1991 some of these moves were just mind-blowing.


And that's it for now. Stay tuned for a SHITLOAD more puro ratings coming as I've just received a box of about 25 various NOAH shows from the past decade, including both the 2004 and 2005 Tokyo Dome shows, which are two of the greatest wrestling shows of all time. Be prepared for the epicness. Until next time, adios.

 

[X]

Yep it's that time again. Let's just dive right in here, many new ratings.

WWE
8/7/76 The Executioners vs. Dominic DeNucci/Jose Gonzalez (2/3 Falls) - ***
8/7/76 Bruno Sammartino vs. Stan Hansen (Cage Match) - ****
6/21/85 Greg Valentine vs. Ricky Steamboat - ***3/4
2/15/87 Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat - ***3/4
1/24/88 Jumping Bomb Angels vs. Glamour Girls (2/3 Falls) - ***1/2
1/24/88 Royal Rumble Match - ***
3/27/88 Ricky Steamboat vs. Greg Valentine - ***
3/27/88 Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase - ***1/4
11/13/91 Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair - ****
6/28/10 Randy Orton/John Morrison/R-Truth/Evan Bourne vs. Edge/Chris Jericho/The Miz/Ted DiBiase - ***1/4
7/5/10 Edge/Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton/Evan Bourne - ***1/4

Some good stuff here, ratings for Royal Rumble '88 and Wrestlemania IV as well as some random other matches including a great cage match between Stan Hansen and Bruno Sammartino in Madison Square Garden in 1976, really great old school show that aired on WWE 24/7 this month. Also rated here is the 8-Man tag from last week's Raw, which I thought was very, very fun, as well as the tag match from last night's Raw which was equally as fun.

ROH
3/22/03 Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams - ****
3/22/03 AJ Styles/Amazing Red vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe - ****
3/22/03 Low Ki vs. Jody Fleisch - ***1/2
3/22/03 CM Punk/Ace Steel vs. Raven/Colt Cabana (Raven's Rules) - ***1/4
3/22/03 Xavier vs. Samoa Joe - ***
4/12/03 AJ Styles/Amazing Red vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe - ***1/2
4/12/03 Samoa Joe vs. Colt Cabana vs. Matt Stryker vs. Tom Carter - ***
4/12/03 Bryan Danielson vs. Paul London (2/3 Falls) - *****
4/26/03 Colt Cabana/Ace Steel vs. Da Hit Squad - ***
4/26/03 Homicide vs. CM Punk - ***1/4
4/26/03 Paul London vs. Amazing Red - ***1/4
4/26/03 Michael Shane vs. Donovan Morgan vs. Matt Stryker vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Chad Collyer - ***
4/26/03 Christopher Daniels vs. Paul London - ***1/2

More ROH ratings, more! Ratings for 3 different shows here, 2003's Night of Champions, The Epic Encounter, and Retribution: Round Robin Challenge II. The real highlight here is the full five star rating I gave to the 2/3 falls match between Bryan Danielson and Paul London, which more than lived up to it's title of being an Epic Encounter. I toyed back and forth with giving it the full boat, but it was simply that good. One of the best matches in ROH history if I might say so myself. God Paul London was SO FUCKING AMAZING during his first ROH run in 02-03, I simply do not understand how he wasn't given a chance at a title reign (same with Daniels).

NOAH
1/13/01 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinya Hashimoto/Alexander Otsuka - ***1/2
1/13/01 Vader/Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue - ****3/4
7/10/04 Michael Modest/Donovan Morgan vs. Ricky Marvin/Kotaro Suzuki - ***1/2
7/10/04 KENTA/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Takashi Sugiura/Kendo Kashin - ****
7/10/04 Jushin Liger vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru - ****
7/10/04 Yoshihiro Takayama/Minoru Suzuki vs. Takeshi Morishima/Takeshi Rikio - ***
7/10/04 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Keiji Mutoh/Taiyo Kea - ***
1/8/05 KENTA/Kotaro Suzuki/Mohammed Yone vs. Yoshinari Ogawa/SUWA/Ricky Marvin - ***
1/8/05 Mitsuharu Misawa/Takeshi Rikio vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Shiro Koshinaka - ***1/4
1/8/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Minoru Suzuki - ***3/4
7/18/05 KENTA vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru - ****1/2
7/18/05 Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi vs. Minoru Suzuki/Naomichi Marufuji - ****
7/18/05 Takeshi Rikio vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - ***
7/18/05 Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - ***1/2

Tons of more NOAH ratings. Rated here are several NOAH shows ranging from 2001 to 2005, including both the 2004 and 2005 mega Tokyo Dome supershows, which are both simply legendary. Lots of good stuff here, more junior heavyweight greatness with KENTA and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (who is a guy who does not get the praise he deserves) as well as Kanemaru and Liger. Also included here is an absolutely fucking EPIC tag team main event from December of 2001 pitting Kenta Kobashi and Akira Taue against Vader and Jun Akiyama, which I was literally about a hair away from giving the full five star rating to. If you thought Vader was done after the late 90s, you are wrong, look up his work in NOAH. Lots of other random good stuff.

WCW
3/27/88 Ric Flair vs. Sting - ****1/2
6/16/92 Steve Williams/Terry Gordy vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner - ***1/2
7/12/92 Sting vs. Vader - ****
6/23/94 Cactus Jack/Kevin Sullivan vs. Nasty Boys - ***
6/23/94 Larry Zbyszko vs. Lord Steven Regal - ***1/4
6/23/94 Steve Austin vs. Johnny B. Badd - ***
6/23/94 Sting vs. Ric Flair - ***1/2
2/16/98 Ultimo Dragon vs. Billy Kidman - ***
2/16/98 Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero/Chris Jericho - ***1/2
2/19/98 Diamond Dallas Page/Chris Benoit vs. Raven/Perry Saturn - ***3/4
2/22/98 Rick Martel vs. Booker T - ***
2/22/98 Booker T vs. Perry Saturn - ***1/2
2/22/98 La Parka vs. Disco Inferno - ***
2/22/98 Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera (Title vs. Mask) - ***1/2
2/22/98 Diamond Dallas Page vs. Chris Benoit - ***1/2

Lot more WCW ratings this week including ratings for matches from a few Clash of the Champions as well as Nitro and Thunder, also rated here are matches from Superbrawl 1998, including several very good matches with the usual midcard highlights, and then atrocious main events as all WCW PPVs at this time were.

AJPW
10/11/89 Kenta Kobashi/Joe Malenko vs. Doug Furnas/Dan Kroffat - *****
10/23/99 Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa - ****3/4

Yep, more highly rated All Japan matches from the 80s-90s, I bet you're just shocked aren't you? Have to mention the match that a very young Kenta Kobashi and Joe Malenko had with Doug Furnas and Danny Kroffat (AKA Phil LaFon) in October of 1989, which kind of just blew my fucking mind. The moves they were doing in 1989 in that match would still be out-of-this-world if performed infront of the most diehard spot-hungry smarks in the world tomorrow. Amazing, amazing match, cannot recommend it enough, earned the full five star treatment no doubt, just epic shit.

NJPW
6/24/81 Antonio Inoki/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Stan Hansen/Abdullah the Butcher - ***1/2
8/11/91 Keiji Mutoh vs. Masahiro Chono - ****1/2
4/30/92 Jushin Liger vs. El Samurai - ****3/4
6/29/96 Jushin Liger/El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Ohtani/Norio Hogana - ***1/2
8/4/96 Ultimo Dragon vs. Shinjiro Ohtani - ****1/4
10/20/96 Great Muta vs. Jushin Liger - ****3/4
4/4/10 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jushin Liger - ****
6/8/10 Kenny Omega vs. Nobuo Yoshihashi - ***1/4
6/8/10 KUSHIDA vs. Gedo - ***
6/8/10 Koji Kanemoto vs. Taiji Ishimomri - ***1/4
6/8/10 Kota Ibushi vs. Prince Devitt - ****
6/13/10 Prince Devitt vs. Taiji Ishimori - ***1/2
6/13/10 Kota Ibushi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi - ***1/4
6/13/10 Jushin Liger/Nobuo Yoshihashi vs. Davey Richards/La Sombra - ***1/4
6/13/10 Hiroshi Tanahashi/Yuji Nagata/Togi Makabe/Hirooki Goto/Wataru Inoue vs. Takashi Iizuka/Toru Yano/Tetsuya Naito/Yujiro Takahashi/Tomohiro Ishii - ***
6/13/10 Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi - ****

Tons of NJPW ratings here. Really almost too much awesomeness to even be able to describe it correctly, suffice it to say several more insanely good bouts from the 90s heyday of New Japan are included here as well as some old school brawling goodness, and finally ratings for the 2nd and 3rd Best of the Super Juniors shows that took place earlier last month, both of which featured Kota Ibushi vs. Prince Devitt on the card putting on match of the year candidates. I can not recommend checking out BOTH of their matches from June of this month, one in an earlier round of the BOSJ and later in the finals of the BOSJ. Amazing match, and one of my favorite young wrestlers in the world right now got put over huge by winning this year's tournament.

Lots of other good stuff. Come on, it's fuckin' classic New Japan, do you expect most of this shit not to rock?

AWA
5/2/87 Curt Hennig vs. Nick Bockwinkel - ****

AWA World title match the two had at Superclash II, AWA's only PPV if I recall. Typically great Hennig-Bockwinkel match, but not their best by any means. Still, these two simply couldn't have a bad match together.

SHIMMER
11/6/05 MsChif vs. Cheerleader Melissa - ***1/4
11/6/05 Lacey vs. Daizee Haze - ***1/2

I have officially begun watching the history of SHIMMER, starting obviously with the debut show here. Two matches that were better than any WWE women's match in decades, but both weren't classics by ay means. Very fun and solid stuff though, looking forward to watching these shows, it's fucking insane how flexible and athletic some of these women are.

DDT
6/13/10 Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Shuji Ishikawa - ***3/4

DDT is a very popular indy promotion in Japan for those that don't know, this was a world title match from last month that I caught on an episode of Fantasia (their signature show). Very good stuff, definitely going to need to begin keeping tabs on DDT much more than I have in the past.



And that's it for now. Phew.

 

[X]

First things first, ratings for TNA's Victory Road PPV from 2 days ago:

TNA Victory Road 2010
7/11/10 Doug Williams vs. Brian Kendrick (Ultimate X/Submission) - ***
7/11/10 Brother Ray vs. Jesse Neal vs. Brother Devon - **
7/11/10 Madison Rayne vs. Angelina Love - *
7/11/10 AJ Styles/Kazarian vs. Samoa Joe/Rob Terry - ***1/4
7/11/10 Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez (Cage) - ***1/2
7/11/10 Ric Flair vs. Jay Lethal - ***
7/11/10 Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money - ****1/4
7/11/10 Kurt Angle vs. Pope D'Angelo Dinero - ***3/4
7/11/10 Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Abyss - **1/4

A shockingly good PPV from TNA this past Sunday. Doug Williams and Brian Kendrick had a solid match until the incredibly premature ending which hurt it quite a bit, AJ, Kaz, and Joe carried Rob Terry to a very fun little tag team match, and Matt Morgan and Hernandez had a solid old-school bloody cage match. Flair vs. Lethal shocked the hell out of me in that I thought it would be a fucking abomination, but was instead one of the greatest carry-jobs I've ever seen by Jay Lethal who put Flair on his back and carried him to his best match in years, that told an intriguing story from start to finish and had a great finish with Lethal beating his childhood hero and being put over huge. Match of the night had to be MCMG vs. Beer Money though in what has to be the best tag team match I've seen in all of wrestling this year, probably a match of the year candidate, pure fucking tag team awesomeness, like a modern version of the Rock n Roll Express vs. the Midnight Express but with the volume turned up to 11. Finish ALMOST had me raging and I was ready to knock the rating down for the bullshit ending, but thank god they restarted the match and gave MCMG the clean win. GREAT match, highly recommended. Angle and Pope had a damn solid match, typical Angle formula match really but there's nothing wrong with that because it always works. Main event was massively disappointing as it was too short, too crowded, and the in-ring work was pretty lazy at best for the most part. Doesn't crack much more than ** in my book. Very disappointing end to an otherwise GREAT PPV from TNA.

and also ratings for the latest Dragon Gate USA PPV that aired this past Friday:

Dragon Gate USA: Uprising PPV 2010
5/8/10 Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Akira Tozawa - ***1/4
5/8/10 Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jon Moxley (No DQ) - **1/4
5/8/10 Naruki Doi/PAC vs. Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw - ***1/2
5/8/10 YAMATO/Shingo vs. CIMA/Dragon Kid - ***3/4
5/8/10 BxB Hulk vs. Masato Yoshino - ***1/4

Another solid PPV from DGUSA, with the highlight being the YAMATO/Shingo vs. CIMA/Dragon Kid match. Main event was a bit underwhelming and the No DQ match which could have been pretty good fell apart pretty quickly. Lots of good wrestling, but not much great wrestling. Still, solid show from top to bottom and well worth the I believe $20 the PPV costs.


Now, await patiently for the REAL update that's coming over the next hour, with ratings for a shitload more matches than just those two shows, but I just wanted to share my ratings for those shows since they're both new.

 

[X]

Full ratings update now:

WWE
4/21/80 Pat Patterson vs. Ken Patera - ****
6/20/81 Don Muraco vs. Pedro Morales - ***
1/22/83 Pedro Morales vs. Don Muraco - ***1/2
7/7/84 Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs. Bob Backlund/Brian Blair - ***3/4
1/1/85 Greg Valentine vs. Tito Santana - ***1/4
4/9/85 Tito Santana vs. Greg Valentine (Lumberjack) - ***1/4
2/24/86 Tito Santana vs. Randy Savage - ***1/2
7/31/88 Killer Bees vs. Rougeau Brothers - ***
7/31/88 Bret Hart vs. Bad News Brown - ***1/4
8/13/88 Blue Angel vs. Barry Horowitz - ****1/4
8/29/88 British Bulldogs vs. Rougeau Brothers - ***3/4
8/29/88 Hart Foundation vs. Demolition - ***
8/29/88 Hulk Hogan/Randy Savage vs. Andre the Giant/Ted DiBiase - ***
3/23/92 Hulk Hogan/Roddy Piper vs. Ric Flair/Sid Justice - ***1/4
1/31/10 Undertaker vs. Rey Mysterio - ***1/2

Lots more old school goodness, including Owen Hart's debut in the WWF in 1988 under a mask known as the "Blue Angel" taking on a young Barry Horowitz in what I guess I could best describe as a match ten years ahead of it's time, straight up mid-90s WCW cruiserweight style action in this match, absolutely fucking EPIC for it's time and an absolute delight to watch, seek out that match if you can, it's from a show in LA in August of 1988. Ratings for Wrestlefest 1988 and Sumerslam 1988 here as well, a random MSG tag match from 92 involving Flair and Hogan, and the match that 'Taker and Mysterio had at the Rumble this past January, which I had originally not seen in it's entirety.

TNA
7/8/10 Rob Van Dam vs. Samoa Joe - ***1/4
7/11/10 Doug Williams vs. Brian Kendrick (Ultimate X/Submission) - ***
7/11/10 AJ Styles/Kazarian vs. Samoa Joe/Rob Terry - ***1/4
7/11/10 Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez (Cage) - ***1/2
7/11/10 Ric Flair vs. Jay Lethal - ***
7/11/10 Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money - ****1/4
7/11/10 Kurt Angle vs. Pope D'Angelo Dinero - ***3/4

Already went into this in my last post. Also rated here is the match RVD and Joe had on Impact this last Thursday. Fun TV match.

ROH
5/31/03 Matt Stryker vs. Tom Carter - ****
5/31/03 Christopher Daniels vs. CM Punk vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Jimmy Rave - ***1/2
5/31/03 Samoa Joe vs. Homicide - ***3/4
6/14/03 Justin Credible vs. Homicide vs. Chris Sabin vs. John Walters - ***
6/14/03 CM Punk/Colt Cabana vs. Raven/BJ Whitmer (No DQ) - ***1/4
6/14/03 AJ Styles vs. Paul London - ***3/4
6/14/03 Christopher Daniels/Donovan Morgan/Dan Maff vs. Samoa Joe/Michael Shane/CW Anderson - ***1/4
6/28/03 Matt Stryker vs. Chad Collyer (Submission) - ***1/4
6/28/03 Samoa Joe vs. Dan Maff - ***1/4
6/28/03 BJ Whitmer vs. Alex Shelley vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Tony Mamaluke - ***1/2
6/28/03 Raven/Christopher Daniels vs. CM Punk/Colt Cabana (No DQ) - ***1/4
6/28/03 AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin - ***
6/28/03 Homicide vs. Trent Acid (Fight Without Honor) - ****1/2

Lots more ROH ratings, for 3 more 2003 shows, those being Do or Die, Night of the Grudges, and Wrestlerave. All three shows had some good matches, highlight had to be the Homicide vs. Trent Acid fight without honor that main evented Wrestlerave 2003, which was especially poignant considering the passing of Acid only a few weeks ago. A total spotfest, yes, but one of the best spotfests you'll ever see in an indy company with some great wrestling involved with some absolutely sickening spots (a fucking top rope ace crusher to the concrete floor?!) from two guys that had a great, great feud in 2003. I can't wait to re-watch their feud as it was one of my favorites during that time, I'll have to track down their CZW matches as well as they had quite a few damn good matches there as well. Just, yeah, great great fucking match. Lots of other good stuff too though, just nothing that touches how bloody entertaining that Fight Without Honor was.

Dragon Gate USA
5/8/10 Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Akira Tozawa - ***1/4
5/8/10 Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jon Moxley (No DQ) - **1/4
5/8/10 Naruki Doi/PAC vs. Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw - ***1/2
5/8/10 YAMATO/Shingo vs. CIMA/Dragon Kid - ***3/4
5/8/10 BxB Hulk vs. Masato Yoshino - ***1/4

Already went into this in my last post as well.

WCW
6/6/87 Tully Blanchard vs. Dusty Rhodes - ****
2/23/98 Perry Saturn vs. Yuji Nagata - ***
2/26/98 Booker T/Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho/Eddie Guerrero - ***

Few random WCW matches. The Tully-Dusty match from June of '87 had to be one of the last great matches Dusty had in his career as those two put on wrestling psychology perfection, each targeting a body part on their opponent and going to work as well as throwing in some fun brawling to the outside until bringing it back in the ring for some great matwork and some excellent selling on Dusty's part. Bit of a wacky ending, but for the psychology, selling and just sheer fun of this match I went ahead and gave it four stars. Also rated are a few random matches from Nitro and Thunder in 1998.

ECW
6/19/93 Terry Funk vs. Eddie Gilbert (Texas Chain Match) - ***3/4
10/1/93 Sabu vs. Tazmaniac - ***1/4
10/1/93 Terry Funk vs. Jimmy Snuka (Cage) - ***1/2
10/2/93 Tazmaniac vs. Tommy Dreamer - ***

Some random matches from the beginning days of ECW in 1993, best of which was the Funk-Gilbert chain match from the Summer Sizzler tape. Few other good matches here as well including Sabu's debut against Taz in what had to be one of the coolest fuckin' debuts i wrestling history. Also a fun match between a young and shockingly agile Tommy Dreamer and Taz.

FMW
4/29/97 Hayabusa vs. Mr. Gannosuke (Hair vs. Mask) - ***1/2
4/29/97 Atsushi Onita/Masato Tanaka/Wing Kanemura vs. Terry Funk/Cactus Jack/The Gladiator - ****
4/29/97 Megumi Kudo vs. Shark Tsuchiya (Yokohama Death Match) - ****

Some FMW goodness from the big 1997 Yokohama Deathbowl event which featured some great matches, another chapter in the legendary Hayabusa-Gannosuke feud (seriously, easily one of the best feuds EVER just in terms of storytelling and the angle itself), a classic six man street fight to rule the FMW with Foley's last match in Japan for several years teaming with Terry Funk and Mike Awesome against the FMW faithful of Onita, Tanaka and W*NG. Great street fight brawl, what FMW did best, with a ton of cool spots. Main event was the retiremet match for Megumi Kudo, who was one of the best Joshi competitors of the 80s and 90s and put female deathmatch wrestling on the map in FMW. The great thing about this match though is the psychology and the fact that the match is built around the wrestling, and not the exploding barbed wire boards on the ground and on the ropes. When the spots do finally come, they make sense, and they build up one each more devastating than the last. Lots of great in-ring work at the core of the match is what made it so good though, absolutely classic match that I had no problem giving four stars to.

AJPW
10/9/81 Dory Funk Jr. vs. Bruiser Brody - ****
11/30/81 Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody - ***3/4

Two random Brody-Funk matches from 1981 against both Dory and Terry. Both were quite good. Didn't watch much All Japan this week I guess.

NJPW
4/1/82 Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan - ***1/2
8/1/85 Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody - ****1/4
10/13/86 Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Keiji Mutoh - ***1/2
6/9/87 Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara - ****
9/25/95 Koji Kanemoto vs. Wild Pegasus - ****1/2
4/4/10 Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto - ***3/4
6/19/10 Naomichi Marufuji vs. Prince Devitt - ****1/4

Ratings for lots more NJPW including great matches involving Andre, Inoki, Tatsumi, Mutoh, Kanemoto, Benoit, Choshu, you name it. Los of good stuff there. Also rated here are some matches from this year in NJPW, including the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title mach between Naomichi Marufuji (the champ) and Prince Devitt (the winner of this year's BOSJ Tournament) in what can only be described as a match of the year candidate and saw Devitt win the title for the first time to a fucking EXPLOSION of cheers. Devitt is SUPER over now and he's a guy I've been a very big fan of since his Apollo 55 days with Ryusuke Taguchi, so I'm loving this push he's been getting all year. Cannot wait to see his first defense against Atsushi Aoki which I have lined up on my PC to watch sometime later, should be a killer match.

NOAH
12/9/01 Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Naomichi Marufuji - ****1/4

Only one NOAH match this week shockingly, but a great one between Marufuji and Takaiwa at the Navigation of Raging Ocean event in December of 2001. Still need to watch the rest of that tape which has a pretty solid Vader-Akiyama match if I remember correctly.

ZERO-1
6/10/10 Masato Tanaka vs. Munenori Sawa - ***1/2

Two guys I'm a huge fan of having a great back and forth match for about 10 minutes or so, can't ask for more than that. I'm going to start trying to keep tabs on ZERO-1 more often now, simply because I'm a huge Masato Tanaka mark.

Memphis
11/13/82 The Fabulous Ones vs. The New York Dolls (2/3 Falls) - ***1/2
3/28/83 The Fabulous Ones/Dutch Mantell/Steve O vs. The Sheepherders/Adrian Street/Jesse Barr - ***1/4
5/2/83 The Fabulous Ones vs. The Moondogs (Stretcher Match) - ***3/4
1/9/84 The Fabulous Ones vs. The Moondogs - ***

Yep, X is reviewing territories now motherfucker! Lots of stuff here from Memphis in the early 80s, all of which include the legendary tag team The Fabulous Ones. I just got a pretty fantastic compilation of the Fabulous ones work through out the 80s, so expect more ratings for them during their time in Memphis, the NWA, and the AWA among other promotions. Lots of solid absolute motherfucking tag team Memphis brawls here, it don't get much better than a Moondogs-Fabulous Ones fist fight of a match on a Saturday night.

Mid-South
4/28/85 Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich - ***3/4

Cracked out my old Mid-South set and threw on a random match. Solid formula Flair match with Kerry Von Erich in April of 1985, good but not amazing or anything.

GWF
12/27/91 Jerry Lynn vs. Lightning Kid (2/3 Falls) - ****

This would be the Global Wrestling Federation, google that motherfucker if you want to learn more about them. All you really need to know though is that both Jerry Lynn and Sean Waltman (AKA X-Pac/Syxx/Lightning Kid) got their starts here and they put on some of the best junior heavyweight wrestling the United States has ever seen or will ever see at a time when it was unheard of. Basically what Jushin Liger and Brian Pillman were to WCW in the early 90s, Jerry Lynn and Sean Waltman were to the GWF in the early 90s. Great match, great feud.

IWA-MS
4/9/04 Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Jacobs - ***
4/9/04 Jerry Lynn vs. BJ Whitmer (Iron Man) - ****
4/9/04 Arik Cannon vs. Chad Collyer - ***1/4
4/9/04 AJ Styles vs. B-Boy - ***1/2
6/4/10 Jimmy Jacobs vs. Drake Younger vs. Jonathan Gresham - ***
6/5/10 Tyler Black vs. Jonathan Gresham - ***1/2

And I'm guessing this is where I might lose some of you. X, rating a piss-bucket promotion like IWA-MS? What the floogle? Well fuck off, IWA-MS may be mostly atrocious deathmatch garbage wrestling, but god damnit if they didn't have some GREAT matches in the past and some great talent in the past and presently. I was introduced to Jonathan Gresham from this year's IWA-MS King of the Death Match tournament, both matches were non-deathmatches, and both were great. This kid is fucking AWESOME, he looks like Jay Lethal but moves like Rey Mysterio or a young Dean Malenko, the only problem he has is how fucking short he is, guy can't be much taller than 5 foot 5 maybe. But holy fuck can he wrestle, he made me a fan overnight and he had a very solid match with Tyler Black. Apparently they've been having a series of matches in IWA-MS this year, so I'll have to check out their other matches. Also rated here is a show from 2004 which saw a fantastic Iron Man match between Jerry Lynn and BJ Whitmer, proving that IWA-MS was/is not all garbage wrestling.

AAA
4/3/92 Blue Panther vs. Love Machine (Mask vs. Mask) - ***3/4

Art Barr's last match under the Love Machine mask, good but short match.

CMLL/EMLL
7/18/87 El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (Mask vs. Hair) - ****

Great mask vs. hair match here with tons of crowd heat and great high-flying action. Fun stuff.



PHEW. And that's it for now motherfuckers, stay tuned.

 

[X]

Ratings for lasts night's Money in the Bank PPV:

WWE Money in the Bank 2010
7/18/10 Big Show vs. Kane vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Christian vs. Matt Hardy vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Drew McIntyre (MITB Ladder) - ***3/4
7/18/10 Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox - DUD
7/18/10 Hart Dynasty vs. The Uso's - **1/2
7/18/10 Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger - ***1/4
7/18/10 Kane vs. Rey Mysterio - N/A
7/18/10 Layla vs. Kelly Kelly - *
7/18/10 Randy Orton vs. Edge vs. Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison vs. The Miz vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Mark Henry vs. Evan Bourne (MITB Ladder) - ***1/4
7/18/10 Sheamus vs. John Cena (Cage) - ***

Not as epic as some people made it sound to be, but still a very good show. Best match was definitely the first MITB match, though the Swagger-Mysterio match really shocked the hell out of me in that it was actually a fairly good match and not the shitfest I thought would result from their two different styles clashing in the ring. Glad I was wrong there.

Good show, good wrestling, but nothing I'd really label as classic or as epic as the commentators were trying to make every spot sound.

And what the fuck was up with the Raw MITB match? What is the point of having a ladder match without any big payoff spot or bump in it? Solid contest from start to finish with some nice stuff, but sheesh, they really didn't put much effort into it did they?

Main event was weird. Solid, and I enjoyed it overall, but it could have been much, much better.

 

[X]

Massive update coming. Prepare thyself.

WWE
11/24/88 Hart Foundation/British Bulldogs/Rockers/Powers of Pain/Young Stallions vs. Demolition/Brainbusters/Rougeau Brothers/Bolsheviks/Conquistadores (Elimination) - ****
1/15/89 Hart Foundation/Jim Duggan vs. Rougeau Brothers/Dino Bravo (2/3 Falls) - ***
1/15/89 Royal Rumble Match - ***1/4
8/17/00 Triple H vs. The Rock - ***
8/27/00 Steve Blackman vs. Shane McMahon (Hardcore) - ***
8/27/00 Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho (2/3 Falls) - ***1/2
8/27/00 Edge/Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz (Tables, Ladders, & Chairs) - *****
8/27/00 The Rock vs. Triple H vs. Kurt Angle (No DQ) - ***3/4
8/31/00 Kurt Angle vs. Eddie Guerrero - ***
7/16/10 Christian vs. Drew McIntyre - ***1/4
7/18/10 Big Show vs. Kane vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Christian vs. Matt Hardy vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Drew McIntyre (MITB Ladder) - ***3/4
7/18/10 Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger - ***1/2
7/18/10 Randy Orton vs. Edge vs. Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison vs. The Miz vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Mark Henry vs. Evan Bourne (MITB Ladder) - ***1/2
7/18/10 Sheamus vs. John Cena (Cage) - ***
7/19/10 Randy Orton vs. Edge vs. Chris Jericho - ***1/2
7/23/10 Christian/Matt Hardy vs. Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre - ***
7/23/10 Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger (2/3 Falls) - ***1/4

Lots of stuff, ratings for some random Raws/Smackdowns from August of 2000 as well as Summerslam 2000, including a five star rating for the original TLC match. In terms of gimmick match spotfests, it's like the literal blueprint for every single one for the next decade. Still as brutal and entertaining as it was ten years ago, no doubt. Also ratings for the last few weeks of WWE programming including ratings from Raw Smackdown and the MITB PPV. Went back and edited a few of my ratings for the PPV after I rewatched the show, was a bit too harsh on the Raw MITB and wasn't generous enough to the Rey-Swagger match. Orton, Edge, and Jericho had an EXCELLENT triple threat to open Raw, easy ***1/2 stars there. Smackdown this week as well was excellent with a very good tag team match between Christian/Hardy and Rhodes/McIntyre as well as a very solid Mysterio-Swagger 2/3 falls match. Would have preferred the match went to a third fall, but eh, it was still very good for what we got. Great few weeks of WWE programming really from a wrestling standpoint, no complaints here.

TNA
7/15/10 Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money (Ladder) - ***1/4
7/22/10 Beer Money vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Street Fight) - ***

Ratings for the last two Beer Money-MCMG matches on the last two Impacts in their best of five series. Ladder match was a very fun, action-packed match and the street fight was very solid if a bit short. Those two teams just have phenomenal chemistry though.

ROH
7/19/03 Justin Credible/Masada/Loc/Devito vs. Hotstuff Hernandez/Rudy Boy Gonzalez/Fast Eddie/Don Juan (Weapons Match) - ***1/4
7/19/03 Doug Williams vs. Tom Carter - ***1/4
7/19/03 Homicide vs. Dan Maff vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Colt Cabana - ***3/4
7/19/03 CM Punk vs. Raven (Dog Collar) - ****1/4
7/19/03 AJ Styles/Amazing Red vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe - ***
7/19/03 Samoa Joe vs. Paul London - ***
8/9/03 Samoa Joe vs. BJ Whitmer - ***
8/9/03 AJ Styles/Homicide vs. Christopher Daniels/Dan Maff - ***3/4
8/16/03 Christopher Daniels vs. Xavier - ***1/2
8/16/03 Homicide vs. Steve Corino - ****
9/6/03 Matt Stryker vs. John Walters - ***
9/6/03 Trent Acid vs. Homicide (Relaxed Rules) - ***3/4
9/6/03 Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin vs. Jay Briscoe - ***1/2
9/6/03 Raven vs. CM Punk (Clockwork Orange Cage) - ***1/4

More ROH ratings from 2003 for four different shows, I'm really starting to churn through these old ROH shows, helps that they're usually very fun to watch. Lots of good stuff here with the best being the hardcore match that Homicide and Steve Corino has in August of 03, really fun brutal stuff that had a focus and told a story, good shit. Also rated (or re-rated as I originally gave it ***3/4) is the dog collar match that CM Punk and Raven had, which I definitely underrated upon first viewing and was probably the finest moment in the entire Punk-Raven feud of 03. Great match there. Lots of other good stuff including the very fun rematch that Trent Acid and Homicide had in September.

WCW
2/29/92 Brian Pillman vs. Jushin Liger - *****
2/29/92 Cactus Jack vs. Ron Simmons - ***
2/29/92 Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes vs. Larry Zbyszko/Steve Austin - ***1/2
2/29/92 Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner - ***1/2
2/29/92 Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude - ***1/4

Ratings for WCW Superbrawl 1992, one of my favorite PPVs of all time with another five star classic, this time delivered by Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger in probably their most legendary match, abssolutely mind-blowing shit for 1992 in the United States, revolutionary stuff with great psychology throughout. Several other very good matches on the card as well.

PWG
5/9/10 Young Bucks vs. Johnny Goodtime/LTP - ***1/4
5/9/10 Paul London/El Generico vs. Chuck Taylor/Scott Lost - ***
5/9/10 Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs. YAMATO/Akira Tazawa - ***
5/9/10 Young Bucks vs. Cutler Brothers - ***3/4
5/9/10 Young Bucks vs. Paul London/El Generico - ***3/4

Ratings for the latest PWG show, the DDT4 tag team tournament with special participation from Dragon Gate/DDT regulars YAMATO and Akira Tazawa. Just a fun show full of almost nonstop fun tag team action, several different styles of tag team matches on the card with great talent through out. Nothing mind-blowing, just a thoroughly enjoyable two and a half hours of damn good tag team wrestling from some of the best teams on the indies.

IWA-MS
2/9/02 CM Punk vs. Chris Hero (Tables & Ladders) - ****1/4
2/3/03 CM Punk vs. Chris Hero (2/3 Falls) - ****1/2

The two classic Punk vs. Hero battles in IWA-MS are rated here, including the insanely fun spotfest TLC match as well as their 90 minute plus 2/3 falls match, both of which were great in their own ways. Classic stuff, it was so obvious Punk was a star even then.

CZW
5/12/01 Minoru Fujita vs. Trent Acid - ***1/4
5/19/01 Trent Acid vs. Jay Briscoe - ***
5/10/03 Trent Acid vs. Homicide - ***1/2

Been watching alot of Trent Acid matches lately kind of in tribute to the guy since his recent passing, got a very good compilation of his stuff so I'll be watching a good bit of his stuff in the future. Always one of the bright spots of CZW, giving their shows a much needed shot of quality in-ring work to make up for all of the shitty garbage matches.

NOAH
12/9/01 Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori - ***1/2
12/9/01 Jun Akiyama vs. Vader - ***3/4

Few random matches from a show from December of 2001 in NOAH with a fun GHC tag title match and a very fun main event with Akiyama and Vader.

AJPW
12/13/81 Bruiser Brody/Jimmy Snuka vs. Dory Funk Jr./Terry Funk - ****1/4
11/19/89 Kenta Kobashi/Davey Boy Smith/Dynamite Kid vs. Masanobu Fuchi/Dan Kroffat/Doug Furnas - ***3/4
12/6/96 Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama - *****
1/20/97 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi - ****3/4

More All-Japan greatness including a wildly fun match with Brody and Snuka taking on the Funk brothers as well as some tag team and six man goodness as well as the 1/20/97 Triple Crown match between Misawa and Kobashi, all of which was (predictably) fucking excellent. Five stars for the finals of the Real World Tag League in 1996 with Kawada and Taue taking on Misawa and Akiyama, just insanely stiff and fun stuff.

NJPW
7/8/94 Keiji Mutoh/Hiroshi Hase vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner - ****
6/19/10 Masato Tanaka vs. Hirooki Goto - ***
6/19/10 Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano (Hair vs. Hair) - ***3/4
6/19/10 Togi Makabe vs. Go Shiozaki - ***3/4
7/11/10 Koji Kanemoto vs. Kenny Omega - ***3/4
7/11/10 Prince Devitt vs. Atsushi Aoki - ***3/4

Ratings for a great tag match between the Steiners and Mutoh/Hase from 1994, as well as ratings for both the 6/19 and 7/11 shows from New Japan this year. Some very good stuff including a fun and rare hair vs. hair match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Toru Yano as well as some excellent stuff from Kenny Omega and Kanemoto as well as Prince Devitt's (the man in my new awesome sig by the way) first IWGP Jr. title defense against Atsushi Aoki, which was great as all of Devitt's matches are these days.

UWFi
6/26/96 Yoshihiro Takayama/200% Machine vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Arashi - ***
6/26/96 Nobuhiko Takada/Masahito Kakihara vs. Tatsumi Fujinami/Yoshiaki Fujiwara - ***1/2

Random ratings for a few UWFi matches from a show from 1996 including a very fun and stiff main event with four insanely talented workers.

HUSTLE
5/8/04 Toshiaki Kawada vs. Cactus Jack - ***1/2

Had been meaning to watch this match for a long time, Foley made a brief return to Japan to wrestle the great Toshiaki Kawada under the Cactus Jack persona, probably one of Foley's best matches of this late portion of his career, very fun.

Mid-South/UWF
5/27/84 Magnum TA vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) [Tulsa] - ***1/4
5/25/86 Terry Taylor/Fantastics vs. Jack Victory/Sheepherders (Barbed Wire Cage) - ***1/2
2/6/87 Ted DiBiase vs. One Man Gang (No DQ) - ***

Some random fun Mid-South matches, including a barbed wire cage match and some Ted DiBiase No DQ matches, very entertaining stuff. Gotta love Mid-South.

Memphis
6/25/84 The Fabulous Ones vs. Pretty Young Things - ***

Random Memphis tag match.

CWF
2/14/86 Road Warriors/Blackjack Mulligan vs. Kevin Sullivan/Purple Haze/Bob Roop - ***
2/14/86 Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham - ****1/2

Ratings for the second NWA/CWF Battle of the Belts event with the legendary main event between Flair and Windham, the match that propelled Windham to national stardom, as well as an extremely fun brawl between Sullivan and his cronies and a still-incredibly-fucking-awesome LOD and Mulligan.

AWA
10/18/84 Fabulous Ones vs. Nick Bockwinkel/Mr. Saito - ***

Random AWA tag team fun.

CMLL
12/3/89 El Dandy vs. Emilio Charles Jr. - ****
12/3/89 Fuerza Guerrera vs. Rocky Star (Mask vs. Mask) - ***3/4

Ratings for the annual year-end show in CMLL for 1989 including a great middleweight title match between El Dandy and Emilio Charles Jr. as well as a very solid mask vs. mask main event.

IPW
12/5/97 Mike Quackenbush vs. Reckless Youth (2/3 Falls) - ***1/2

Random northeast indy from the 90s, found this match on a Smart Mark Video best of the indies compilation I forgot I had, very good 2/3 falls match between a young Quackenbush and Tom Carter AKA Reckless Youth, these guys made their names wrestling in great matches like these on the indy scene.




PHHHEEWWWW. Fucking finally done with that, had to update this bad boy. Do I watch too much wrestling or what?

 

[Барбоса]

Mysterio/Swagger did go three falls, did it not? DQ to Rey, tap out to Swagger and pin to Rey?

I have to say that I think Swagger is becoming more like Angle as the weeks pass. Not just character wise and move set but also his ability to put on decent matches with all kinds of performers

 

[Coco]

Could never get over the fact that they packed three decisions of Benoit vs. Jericho into a little over twelve minutes. Those kind of booking things piss me off irrationally.

 

[Goliath Uterus]

Where can you find the Kawada/Jack match?