8/3/96 ECW: Too Cold Scorpio vs. Chris Jericho 19:56
ML: Unlike the WCW to ECW guys Jericho likes to associate himself with such as Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko, & Rey Jr., he didn't really do anything notable in ECW while he was there. There might be something useful on the fan cams such as the first Scorpio match that highlights were shown of on Hardcore TV, but this was his 22nd and final ECW match, and it's finally a minor recommendation. This match started well with the technical wrestling having some legitimate struggle. Oddly, I thought they did a better job with this segment than Scorpio vs. Douglas because there was more resistance, but it picked up quicker since it was a shorter and more junior style match, and this portion was initially lagging with Scorpio being in methodical arrogant mode much sooner, and Jericho not doing anything of note. This match had some impressive junior high spots once it got going, but was a bit sloppy. The match picked up around when Jericho took a big bump to the floor missing a triangle dive. Jericho soon hit the triangle dropkick, then a missile kick to the floor. Due to Sabu, ECW had a lot more dangerous spots where wrestlers took bumps off the top rope to the floor than probably every other promotion on the planet combined. For instance, Scorpio pushed Jericho off the top rope to counter his avalanche Frankensteiner, but Jericho stopped his plancha with a superkick. Jericho's avalanche powerslam definitely didn't look as good as it sounds. The finish saw Jericho miss a tornado body press then Scorpio pin him with a shooting star press. These two worked well together in the early portion, but once the match actually got going, it was more just taking turns showing off. ***

9/14/96 ECW: Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. Rob Van Dam & Sabu 27:49 of 30:00
ML: With Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Dean Malenko signing with WCW in part because they had a working relationship with their previous main promotion NJPW, Paul Heyman briefly shifted his focus to importing AJPW foreigners, with the less committed "wholly fuck I'm slow" Rob Van Dam getting a big unjustifiable push, and Dan Kroffat, Doug Furnas, Steve Williams, and Johnny Smith making appearances. After 7 lethargic singles clusterfucks, Sabu & RVD tried to work together, so you had two single stars seeing if they could be frenemies against one of the most respected tag teams in Japan that was largely unknown in the US outside of tape traders, although their standing in recent years has fallen off in the sense that they weren't elevated to the top of the heavyweight division along with their top rivals Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi. Sabu & RVD had a few flair ups, and it seemed like Joey's Styles just made one up claiming RVD shook the ropes to cause Sabu's dive to fail. The Can-Am Express are known for their high work rate, and despite being a half hour match, this was an action-packed match, especially when RVD wasn't in. The match was obviously carried by Can-Am with Sabu and RVD adding spectacle, which helped work around the fact that Can-Am work a traditionally structured tag match where rules actually apply, while ECW largely just does whatever and allows anything and everything. Sabu & RVD tended to be winning when tables and chairs were involved or everyone was fighting at once. Given who was involved, this was a better match in ECW than it would have been in All Japan. ***

10/26/96 ECW: Rob Van Dam & Sabu vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas 8:17 shown
ML: This might have been better than their first match since RVD had minimal involvement and it had a finish, but we got a lot less of it so I'd have to rank the 9/14 match higher based on what aired on Hardcore TV. Tonight's contest seemed to be more of a traditional tag than their first match, with Sabu trapped in the ring for a lengthy period. Sabu's tag back a minute after RVD's sloppy and emotionless hot tag was much more energetic than sluggish RVD. I appreciated the subtle details of Can-Am, such as putting genuine effort into their hooked leg covers. Joey Styles finally got the jujigatame and Fujiwara armbar correct. Sabu & RVD did a nice simultaneous slingshot splash and leg drop. Sabu's Arabian press was accidentally to the legs, which wasn't uncommon around this period. His execution in 1996 was considerably more erratic than it was in prior years. Sabu used his triple jump moonsault on Furnas, and Kroffat tried to save with a diving body press, put Sabu avoided so Kroffat got his own partner, and covered for the win. ***

5/11/96 ECW World Television Title: Too Cold Scorpio vs. Shane Douglas 26:31
ML: This is probably the best singles match Douglas ever wrestled. Douglas isn't the best athlete or worker, but he gave his all and really overachieved here. His ECW promos were always great, but he didn't do anything interesting with the Heavyweight title, the TV Title was always a lot more intersting wrestling wise. This was probably the first Douglas match I liked since Ricky Steamboat was carrying his team in WCW. It was definitely more of a WCW type of old school counter oriented scientific match early on, and that's one of the things that separated it from the typical ECW fair. Douglas never had much of a move set and wasn't particularly extreme, but he was properly trained, and could be a '70s style hold for hold type of wrestler when he felt like it. Scorpio had better fundamentals than most high flyers, and he was able to find a balance of knowing when to be solid and want to be spectacular. Scorpio was the one that made this challenge even though he was the champ. Initially, Douglas didn't seem to care all that much about winning this title, a lesser title was beneath a former two-time world champion, especially "The Franchise". The story was Douglas was dissing the title while Scorpio was determined to make Douglas respect the belt. Early on, Douglas would have taken the count out without caring that the belt doesn't change hands that way, but part of the story of the match was that Douglas had to dig deep because this wasn't a lower level, using more suplexes, power moves, and high-risk moves was a subtle act of desperation. Douglas is never going to be an offensive machine, but he certainly upped his offense here including a slingshot variation onto the guardrail, a pescado, a powerbomb on the floor. Douglas won the technical wrestling portion even though he was the heel, but Scorpio was willing to nut shot Shane a few times even though he was the babyface. Scorpio was the more ECW wrestler, and that showed in the second half with more flying and brawling, but he ultimately had issues with thinking things were beneath him as well. It kind of felt like they switched roles during the match, and that was one awkward aspect that prevented the story from totally clicking. As the match progressed, they fought more and more on the outside, turning it into "an ECW match", which worked better than I expected even though it wasn't in the spirit of the early portion. Scorpio did a nice moonsault attack off the apron. They did a real Sabu spot all around where Douglas knocked Scorpio off the top rope onto a table with a double jump kick, which was a pretty bad bump for Scorpio. Scorpio's arrogance begin to take hold in the final portion, not going for the pin after the moonsault or the Scorpio splash. Scorpio tried for the avalanche Frankensteiner, but Douglas superbombed him instead, playing into his feud with Pitbull #2. Scorpio's cockiness eventually cost him as he took too long climbing to the top, so Douglas was able to counter with an avalanche belly to belly suplex, which I don't remember him doing before but I often skip his matches, for the win. While not totally cohesive, it was more structured than most high-end ECW matches. There were certainly times you wished someone better than Douglas was wrestling Scorpio, but what Douglas was capable of doing you saw here, and what you didn't know he was capable of doing you also saw some of. This match didn't look exactly like I expected it to, which is one of the reasons I enjoyed it quite a bit. In the end, the match really over achieved. Douglas did things he really wasn't really doing before or after, you kind of wished the match stood out less and he was overall better for pulling the stops out more often. This wasn't a fast-paced match, but it was a lengthy match with struggle that didn't drag, which sets it apart from most traditional big title epics. When they did stall to show their attitude, it played into the storyline that was paid off by the finish. The match felt like it evolved, so it was able to turns into "an ECW match" without losing its way. In terms of actual wrestling, this was about as good as you get from ECW regulars. Scorpio showed his usual great flying, but he was bumping big time, and putting a lot of all around effort into making this match turn out a lot better than it sounded. This match was eventually worked like a draw without dragging too much, and when they gave the 5-minute call that's what I was assuming was going to happen, but again they surprised me. The match was about respect, particularly for the title. Douglas started off with little, but wound up with a lot. Scorpio ultimately didn't have enough respect for what he had, and that cost him even though he was the better wrestler here, as even Douglas admitted in the post-match promo before Scorpio clocked him with the belt. This match ultimately upgraded the TV Title, which was less of a secondary title as ECW progressed. ***1/2

5/18/96 ECW: Sabu vs. Mikey Whipwreck 15:42
ML: After two confused lifeless messes with an underwhelming slow motion RVD, Sabu was back to creating chaos with a much more inspired Mikey. Mikey gave an energetic and inspired performance, capitalizing on any openings Sabu gave him. He's maturing to the point of credibility, and it felt like he had a chance beyond another of his flukes even if he ultimately didn't get that many near falls. Mikey's offenses certainly isn't as spectacular as Sabu's, but he kept the high pace, and you could believe he was giving a full effort to win. Mikey put Sabu through a table with an elbow off the middle rope. Sabu won with a triple to jump DDT through a table. Sabu was certainly the star here in every way, but Mikey gave you what he had. ***1/4

3/8/96 ECW 2/3 Falls: Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Misterio Jr. 3:52 of 16:26
ML: This followed the same booking pattern as Rey vs. Psicosis, Rey winning the first match and the first fall of the 3 fall rematch. Amazing in the edited form because their high spots are mind blowing for an American match of this era, but obviously it probably loses considerably when they have to actually work them into something resembling a match. Juventud wins with a nasty avalanche brainbuster.

3/9/96 ECW 2/3 Falls: Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera 15:57
ML: This match is the biggest disappointment so far when it comes to comparing my memory of how good an ECW match was with my current perception of it. I loved this match at the time, but I don't think it has aged well. It's still fun, but from a 2025 perspective, I would much rather see really solid wrestlers who are doing a junior match by upping the standard of high flying from the old dropkick and high cross body stuff then great high flyers who piece together some random things and call it a match. Misterio is what he is. He's got the best aerial offense in the world at this point, but he still needed more help with everything else than he got here in this ill structured your turn-my turn match. Juventud is more a lesser version of Misterio than a rudo who is catching, feeding, generally facilitating the action like Psicosis. Juvi didn't use Rey, he just went 50-50 with him, which was tremendous when they were trying to top each other, but pretty uninspired otherwise. They did spectacular things sooner or later, but while the third fall still seems great, they didn't have a clear idea of how to get to the spectacular sprinting they do so well. They started by exchanging submissions, then suddenly Misterio was doing an avalanche Frankensteiner, then back to slowing it down with a test of strength. This was just all over the place. The first two falls have some big highlights of course, but overall, the wrestling just isn't that great. The third fall was considerably better because they stopped failing at constructing a match and committed to just doing the highlight reel. Juventud did a quebrada over the guard rail. Juvi's swandive rolling guillotine leg drop was even more impressive than the rolling guillotine leg drop he showed previously, though Rey avoided. Guerrera was good at putting little twists on preexisting moves, for instance his press fallaway slam. The fans went nuts for Rey's swandive tope con giro. They were trying to incorporate more "extreme" stuff in between or along with their high flying. They brawled to the parking lot, where they did two of the most memorable parking lot spots ever, Juventud powerbombing Rey onto a car hood then Rey answering with a tijeras off the car. The finish was the same as their 2/3/96 ECW match with Juventud trying the die hard Kansai, but Misterio turning it into the Frankensteiner for the win, except the bump looked a lot better this time. This was an excellent fall, I just wish they built up to it in a more interesting manner. ***1/2

4/13/96 ECW: Sabu vs. Mikey Whipwreck 15:21
ML: A really high effort match, wild and action packed. Sabu took Mikey seriously, and allowed him to be competitive. This was a big spotfest. Tons of action, but sloppier than Sabu had been previously. Mikey obviously isn't nearly as spectacular as Rey Misterio Jr., but he did everything he was capable of to make this memorable. He had some good counters, and was scrappy enough it didn't seem unreasonable that he was competitive. Sabu's dive onto the table draped across the apron and guardrail didn't work, so he just did a body press off of it. Later, Sabu set up an avalanche Frankensteiner, but Mikey pushed him to the floor onto the table then Mikey did a plancha and a pescado over the guardrail. There were some dangerous and brutal bumps here to be certain. Sabu mostly overshot a triple jump tope con giro before eventually winning with a triple jump avalanche Frankensteiner. ***1/4

2/3/96 ECW, WWA World Welterweight Title: Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera 8:46
ML: This was supposed to be another great Rey vs. Psicosis match, but Psicosis couldn't beat the Blizzard, so Juvi, who was supposed to be on the undercard, was promoted to the title match. Heyman told them to go out there and have fun, and while they probably succeeded at that, this was quite an odd match. They did some things, but it never really went beyond that or really came together. Rey was already becoming a sensation in ECW, but this was Juventud's ECW debut. The match should have been about getting Guerrera over even if he lost, but oddly they decided to start with some mediocre slow matwork, which is the last thing anyone in The Arena wants to see. When they did pick it up, Rey was the one on the ascendancy. Obviously having Rey on offense is never a bad thing, but Juventud was basically just the masked dude Rey was leaping at most of the match. Psicosis was the one carrying the matches, and while he may not be a master at structuring, he paced the match a lot better and got people to take notice. Juvi's advantage over Psicosis is that he has the more spectacular junior style offense, but this match was him catching without doing nearly as much to make Rey look better, so Juventud didn't come across as a true replacement for Psicosis. The match had little direction, and by the time Juventud really got going, the brief encounter was almost over. The finish was cool with Rey turning a die hard Kansai into a Frankensteiner, but the cooperation on the bump was super obvious. This is mostly just recommended for Jr's offense. ***

2/17/96 ECW World Television Title: Too Cold Scorpio vs. Sabu 30:00
ML: This was a great offensive match that went on for half an hour so neither had to lose. I really loved the match at the time. It was on the 1st ECW Arena show I went to, and what was supposed to be a 6 hour drive for the previous night's show took most of the day in a snowstorm that was increasingly hard to navigate, only to find out that show was reasonably canceled. Since I didn't particularly care about any of the other matches, having this be too long was a lot better than what they would have done with the time otherwise, but the match isn't nearly as amazing on video as it was to me that night. This might have been in contention for their best match together at a more reasonable length, but the extra 10-12 minutes really didn't add anything that needed to be there. I think Heyman may have realized this as well because they had 5 more time limit draws in the next few months, and all of them were 20 minutes. This was certainly a big high flying exhibition. The offense was A level, especially for the time period, but it didn't have much to offer beyond that. Scorpio was always someone Sabu did more of a junior heavyweight match with, and he seemed to be trying to do a less ECW match here than usual, probably because he reasonably didn't want to kill himself any more than he had to given it was already going to be a challenge to sustain a high end match for this amount of time. Scorpio was still really cocky even though he was wrestling Sabu not little Mikey Whipwreck like his past few title matches. Scorpio being methodical because he was arrogant did help disguise that this was going to be a lot longer than their previous matches. The pace made sense for the most part because neither work many matches that are even 20 minutes, and Scorpio was also trying to allow Sabu to be the exciting one even though all his great offense was necessary to fill the time as well. The length did make this somewhat special at the time because Heyman was kind of trying to give it that Guerrero vs. Malenko vibe, and nothing in ECW had gone that long since their 1st 2 matches. They still ended up going to the floor a lot since it was ECW even though we saw from Sabu's double jump lariat over the top that there wasn't really enough room for both to land cleanly. Sabu did a tope con giro over the guardrail, and went through a table when Scorpio avoided his swandive tope con giro. The fans booed the 5 minutes remaining time call because they knew then that it was going the distance, but otherwise they were very enthusiastic, and helped make this feel like a classic. ***1/2

11/18/95 ECW Mexican Death Match: Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis 14:47
ML: A fantastic spotfest, and pioneering Extreme Lucha classic. Probably their most underrated match. This was their most ECW style match, which makes sense since it was a death match. I think they did a great job of giving the fans what they wanted without compromising what they do best. One could argue that many of these fans may be somewhat lacking in taste, but regardless, this had everything Rey & Psicosis do well, in addition to them taking their 10/7/95 Extreme Lucha match further. Maybe wrestlers of this talent using chair spots isn't ideal, but this allowed them to once again do a different match rather than simply repeating themselves. I very much enjoyed most of the brawling in this match; it was Sabu taken to the next level. I think this is a killer spotfest, and the best display of their offense thusfar in ECW. Rey is mostly the face in peril, and eventually overcomes because Psicosis can never really recover from moonsaulting onto a chair. The majority of the match being Psicosis getting heat isn't the best layout for their overall strengths, but this was Psicosis' best offensive showing in the trilogy, as well as Rey's best bumping and selling. To me, this would be the best of the three 1995 ECW matches if not for the rules. I don't mind the 10 count, but having to get the pinfall for the ref to then begin the 10 count cheapens the actual pinfall because there's no reason to ever kick out. The bar for a pinfall or submission is already much lower in Mexico where they normally wrestled than anywhere else because they almost always do 3 falls, with multiple wrestlers getting finished essentially at once. Reducing that even further by having 6 finishes instead of 3 may have caused something to be further lost in translation, but this was an amazing sprint where the 10 count was the only time they actually rested. The opening fall was brief but outstanding, setting the tone for the lightning action we were about to see. Rey gave Psicosis the finger before the bell, so Psicosis charged across the ring at him and took a great bump missing a dropkick in the corner, soon leading to Rey pinning Psicosis with a spectacular Dragonrana. Psicosis largely dominated after the first fall because he was losing in the end. He is the more imposing figure, and this built up some sympathy for Misterio. Rey rolled up Psicosis and Frankensteinered him to the floor, but his attempt to boomerang off the guardrail failed, and Joey Styles assumed the ECW fans were so uncultured that he had to explain what a faux pas was. Psicosis actually got 4 falls in a row with a moonsault, powerbomb, corkscrew senton, & moonsault onto a chair. The tide finally turned when Psicosis tried to moonsault the chair again, but Rey got his knees up and set the chair on top of them to use the weapon against Psicosis. Rey did a stunning super quebrada over the guardrail. Things started getting more ECWesque at the finish, with Rey chasing Psicosis around the arena bashing him with a chair. The finish where Rey hits a tijeras off the eagle's nest is one of the all-time greats highspots in ECW, and if there was one good thing about this stipulation, it's that it actually allowed for a dive to be a finish. Yes, there were too many falls, most if not all too easily attained. While a few tweaks could certainly improve things, I had less issue with this than most Lucha Libre falls, so I'm not going to mark the wrestlers down for doing their best within an imperfect rule set. With all the crazy moves they were doing, getting a pin off a few more does sort of help protect these awesome spots and make them feel less throwaway. I don't get people saying this was their slowest ECW match, the first one crawls in comparison with all the out and out stalling in between moves, while this was purely go go outside of waiting for a few 10 counts and making their way to the eagle's nest for the finish. The match did such a great job of mixing Lucha and hardcore styles that Konnan spent the next 30 years destroying Lucha by running one sloppy brawl after another that failed to even come close to touching this. Again, it's not their fault Konnan is a traitor to Lucha who really just wanted to make it the sort of crappy unskilled sequenceless brawling a lousy wrestler like himself could almost keep up with. ****1/2

12/29/95 ECW: Sabu vs. Cactus Jack 12:59
ML: Cactus did a good pre-match promo trolling the fans saying this was going to be Olympic rules amateur wrestling. He had Pee Wee Moore explain the scoring, the best part being a 1 point deduction for continued stalling, which would assure that CM Punk maintained his .000% winning percentage in real fighting. 911 then choke slammed Pee Wee and named himself special referee instead. This was the most insufferable Joey Styles announcing performance ever, as for the first half of the match, he just kept going on about whether everything was plus or minus one point in amateur wrestling. It was good irony the first time or two, but he didn't know when to let it go. This was good fast paced action. It was nowhere near their best stuff, and all pretty random, but it had of good hardcore spots as you'd expect, and didn't drag. Cactus was slammed off the apron onto a chair. Sabu did a double jump body attack through a table to the floor. I thought Sabu would win with the atomic Arabian facebuster since that was a new move, but Cactus just kicked out. Instead, Cactus tried to come right back with a slam, but Sabu came down on top for the pin, which was really lame and it made no sense extending the match just for that. ***

10/7/95 ECW 2/3 Falls: Psicosis vs. Rey Misterio Jr. 12:10 (1:21, 6:35, 4:14)
ML: An amazing match almost no one else could do in 1995. It was a massive upgrade from their match two weeks earlier, and much more impressive than simply being the best ECW match thusfar, was probably the most impressive athletic feat performed in a US ring up until this point in time. This was definitely an attempt to do a Match of the Year rather than to just get over like last time. Almost all the moves were not only different from what they showed 2 weeks earlier, but generally an upgrade. They were sprinting from the get-go, and this was a crazy showcase of their spectacular flying. It was a big time pedal to the metal spotfest that wowed audiences far and wide. It's one of the most interesting uses of the 3 fall format I've seen because they essentially did a different match each fall - the spotfest, the larger man bullying, and Extreme Lucha - without any of these matches seeming out of place. They were really over this time, and they gave the people what they wanted here without compromising what they do best. This was 100% spectacle, but it set the bar a lot higher than it's been in the US for a junior spotfest, though Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Brian Pillman felt a lot more like an actual wrestling match that built up and mattered. This still lacked structure and just moved from spot to spot with no real connective tissue. They were just doing stuff, lots and lots of great stuff because they could. Everything clicked tonight though, and what they did looked great. This was a little longer match than their 1st ECW match, but addressed most of the issues with that, as they wrestled a lot more seriously, at a much higher pace, and didn't waste any time. Psicosis took one awesome bump after another to make everything Rey did look that much more impressive. Psicosis' bump over the guard rail totally made Rey's body attack off the apron look like a car wreck. Rey followed by putting Psicosis right back into the crowd with a body attack from the ring. The brief first fall ended when Psicosis took another great bump for a Frankensteiner. Now Psicosis was down a match and a fall to this tiny guy he manhandles with ease. It was time to step it up. The first fall dominated by Rey was definitely a lot more impressive than the second fall dominated by Psicosis because Misterio has better offense and Psicosis has better bumping. Psicosis was using his power in the more methodical second fall. Rey finally had a burst towards the end of the fall, but Psicosis caught his quebrada and tombstoned him to even it. The third fall was mostly on the outside, and total mayhem, definitely ECWish thing they'd done in their career so far. They incorporated some tables and chairs into their offense to suit this audience. Psicosis powerbombed Rey on a table to start the third, then brutally slammed him like a sack of potatoes him into the first row. Psicosis did a crazy headbutt into the 3rd row, but Rey answered with an amazing swandive tope con giro. Psicosis put Rey through a table with a senton to the floor. The fans were going crazy for this by now. Psicosis put a chairs on top of Rey and won with a corkscrew senton. The first and third falls were amazing. The second fall was good, and had a strong finish. This topped Guerrero vs Malenko as the best ECW match thusfar. It wasn't an all-around match, but it was pioneering, and it did what it did extremely well. ****1/2

10/28/95 ECW: Konnan & Rey Misterio Jr. defeat La Parka & Psicosis 7:04 of 9:09
ML: They continued the great Psicosis vs Misterio program, and that was basically what this had to offer. Rey was the show stealing human highlight reel, and Psicosis made everyone look much better. This is the start of Konnan ruining Lucha Libre by Americanizing it, in this case with Extreme Lucha. Konnan didn't fit the match, he's a 3 athlete at best teaming with a 10. Konnan did a couple good power moves, but he really wasn't working with Psicosis so much as just having Psicosis bounce around trying to make him look passable. At one point, Konnan did a climb up with Parka on the apron, but instead of doing something actually cool, he stayed on his side of the ropes and did a really lame clubbing forearm. Misterio then delivered with a climb up tope con giro. Parka wasn't very useful either. He was mostly annoying, killing the pace trying to get his character over by doing his little dances in between moves while the opponent stood around looking like a doofus. This was incoherently clipped even though they didn't actually take much out, but again it was just a highlight reel with little connective tissue. Psicosis managed to credibly take a bump to the floor off a drop toe hold in the center of the ring, and then Rey followed him to the outside with a swandive tijeras. Psicosis did an excellent job of taking, but I'm not sure how many people would appreciate what he managed to pull off here, as he seemingly only tried like two offensive moves, and failed on both. With high flyers like Misterio and Psicosis now incorporating chairs into their game, poor Sabu wasn't seeming very unique anymore despite pioneering these ideas. Psicosis was busted open from having his tope stopped with a chair shot, and Rey followed with a tope con giro then Konnan did one of the least athletic topes ever for the count out. This finish expectedly didn't go over very well with the fans. ***

8/26/95 ECW 2/3 Falls: Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero 20:11
ML: Scorpio had won the ECW World TV Title for the third time by defeating Guerrero the previous night in Jim Thorpe, PA because Guerrero and Malenko had signed with WCW, who had a working relationship with their primary promotion NJPW. Obviously this was a massive loss for ECW, as they had been their two best wrestlers in 1995, and they did styles that hardly anyone else in the promotion could even do, much less well. It was going to be very difficult to replace these two because they had carved out an alternative to what the rest of the promotion was about at this point, and whether they realized it or not at the time, that was probably why the fans were suddenly so emotional towards these two great performers. The stature of Guerrero & Malenko had grown so much in the eyes of the fans during the past 6 months. For this ECW farewell match there was finally no title on the line, so they decided this final "no boundaries" match where they could take it to "The Extreme" was two out of three falls to determine who was the "better man". The lengthy pre-match explanation and introduction had them more over than they ever been in ECW. There were regular "please don't go" chants. It was certainly as emotional as a Dean Malenko match ever gets, the culmination of a great program that was rare for American wrestling at the time. We've talked about the pioneering style, but there was no real face or heel throughout the entire program, and it remained a refreshing display of class and sportsmanship where thery proved they could get over without shenanigans based on the high quality of their technical and athletic wrestling. The 1st fall was the longest and most significant of the match, essentially a short version of their typical match, and then the next two falls were kind of tacked on to do something with the submission wrestling and finally conclude as a spotfest. There was a lot of matwork early. Thanks to Taz, Joey Styles now thinks the ude hishigi gyaku jujigatame or traditional MMA armbar is the wakigatame or so called Fujiwara armbar. This fall also did a nice job of showcasing the smoothness in fluidity of Guerrero, and the 3 falls rules forced them to pick it up earlier though than they might otherwise have in a match of this length. Guerrero busted out a nice "enzuigiri to the back of the head", which we hadn't seen him use here. The first fall flash pin finishing sequence won by Guerrero probably involved a botch or two, but I liked it because it was scrappy and urgent without looking way too clean as these sequences almost always do. Malenko weakened the knee with a kneecap dropkick and worked on it until he took the brief second fall with the Texas cloverleaf, which somewhat paid off the first fall grappling focus. Guerrero was selling his knee in between falls, and while the third fall was a lot more spectacular junior oriented high spots, it started slower with Malenko switching to high impact as Guerrero's legs recovered. Guerrero not going to the knee when Malenko threw him off the middle ropes to stop his 2nd swinging DDT really seemed like a missed opportunity though. The third fall wasn't actually that long, but an added on spotfest worked better for them than embracing that style throughout. They were really beginning to gain momentum when they went home with a double pin off the O'Connor roll because Guerrero was able to hook Malenko's shoulders from underneath. This was a clever pay off to what seemed a throwaway concept earlier of Malenko actually struggling to keep his shoulders from ever touching the canvas. This isn't my favorite type of finish, but it was a fitting conclusion to a program that had been about parity from start to finish. In the end, I guess all men are still created equal... ****

8/26/95 ECW: Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner vs. Chris Benoit & Too Cold Scorpio 9:07 of 13:29
ML: The Steiners weren't as giving here as in the 8/5/95 6 man, but this was energetic action. The speed of Benoit & Scorpio was a nice contrast to the muscle of the Steiners, and this was explosive, high impact stuff. Ultimately, it was overwhelmed by the dissension in the ranks of Benoit and Scorpio storyline though. First Benoit and then Scorpio went for a pin after a body slam despite knowing their partner was climbing up to the top rope planning to follow. What we saw was all exciting action, but unfortunately there was a lot of editing, and this can't get along nonsense came to a head before long when Scorpio superkicked Benoit because Rick ducked. Benoit then got in Scorpio's face, and Scorpio tried to punch him, but Benoit ducked and hit the Dragon suplex. A short haired Taz, who was no longwr a maniac but still just as shitty, took Scorpio out by clocking him with his own TV Title. Benoit was thus on his own for the rest of the match, which was basically over. Benoit got a big kick out after Scott's avalanche Samoan drop, but then Scott got him with the DDT off Rick's shoulders. I might be underrating this, but it just seems like a nice sprint where the story takes away from things because beyond the usual silliness, it seems forced with this edit that's really highlighting it. ***1/4

9/16/95 ECW: Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis 10:19
ML: Paul Heyman needed a replacement for Guerrero vs. Malenko series, lest his promotion revert back to 2 hours of concussive chair shots and breaking tables. He came up with AAA's two brightest young stars, and this started the ECW to WCW to Chainsaw Vinnie's Morgue pathway for wrestlers that were getting their break from Heyman then cashing in because WCW Nitro had just started, and Uncle Eric would soon be spending money like it was going out of style. These wrestlers were often big in another country but had yet to make it in America, often due to not being oversized and over muscled. This match was incredibly important for introducing a new brand of high flying spectacle to the American audience. It was the start of the US Lucha fad since AAA didn't follow up the When World's Collide PPV. It was cool turn your brain off fun that would quickly be so far surpassed by their singles matches in AAA on 9/22/95 and back at the ECW Arena on 10/7/95 that it's kind of forgotten about in the grand scheme of things. Rey & Psicosis had been tearing it up in Mexico for the last 2 years, with Rey already taking over the mantle as the best high flyer in the world, and Psicosis arguably being the best bumper. This wasn't going to be the same match as Guerrero vs. Malenko, but it was likely much more fan friendly for the ECW audience, as they were better at the fast-paced, high flying, chain wrestling, and gymnastic sequences that were done well enough for any wrestling fan to appreciate. This was actually their first singles match, which seems crazy given all the tags they'd been in together, but Mexico was still almost all trios matches at that point outside of mask, hair, and title matches. They'd wrestled around two dozen singles matches total between the two of them, and it showed. This was a short match that looks a lot like a 21st century TV match, lots of gymnastics and stalling, with no real intensity or development. It was way ahead of what was going on in America athletically, but it hasn't aged as well because it's got a lot of issues of its own, and it's been poorly imitated so extensively. There's a lot more skill than your average AEW match, but it has the same do a cooperative athletic spot then kill time structure that makes it hard to take seriously as a sport. The match was short to begin with, and it felt like 20% of that was preening and playing to the crowd. This match is mostly Psicosis tossing Rey around, putting him through the paces, and making his offense look greater. He's not as spectacular, but he's the better worker and more charismatic performer. They got their characters over, but hurt the "contest" on the process. What really stood out is how great a bumper Psicosis was. You felt like he saw Negro Casas taking that bump to the floor every match and decided he was going to figure out a way to take 10 different bumps that were as cool every match. Psicosis was definitely a lot more reckless than Casas, which was good for the audience, but the reason he didn't have nearly the longevity. Misterio took a bunch of big bumps as well, but he was putting less effort into them; he's so tiny that Psicosis was throwing him around like a toy. Psicosis was also a much better high flyer than the heels that had come before him in these athletic matches, and the balance his offense lent to a match was key because this wasn't the usual formula of the heel getting heat, or in other words the crowd just waiting for the face to make his hot comeback so something interesting would happen. Psicosis could use his physicality to dominate, but he would always crash and burn sooner rather than later. Whereas Guerrero vs. Malenko felt like a serious athletic event, this really just felt like it was about showing off, which was fine when they were doing something spectacular, but annoying as they kept posing after everything begging for approval. It really lacked the flow and urgency that's important to keep Lucha from looking like 100% unadulterated cooperation. Rey showed he could be hardcore by stopping the tope of Psicosis with a chair shot. Misterio really only had 1 good burst though. He won with a sloppy avalanche Frankensteiner. In the end, the match brought a new level of offense to the American consciousness, with Rey's swandive into the crowd being particularly next level. ***1/2

PNW 9/3/83 Portland, OR Sports Arena, NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title: Dynamite Kid & The Assassin vs. Curt Hennig & Buddy Rose 16:58
DC: Sandy Barr, father of Art Barr, was the referee. The first fall was truly spectacular. The work was intense, and the workers sold tremendously while keeping the pace high. For a 1983 American wrestling product, this was quite memorable and exceptional. Dynamite Kid was obviously the best pure worker of the match, and he seemed to really be into his role here in Portland, as he fit in so perfectly. Buddy Rose was the heart and soul though, and he gave a strong performance here. Curt Hennig showed that he indeed had tons of potential. The Assassin was the weak link, but he didn’t drag the match down too much. The vibe of the match was so energetic and electric. The crowd was enthusiastic and definitely added to the atmosphere of the bout. They maintained this energy for the most part during the second fall. The execution was definitely quite superb throughout this bout. The third fall, however, was very short due to interference and mainly existed to hype feuds and storylines. In spite of the somewhat anticlimactic finish, it feels this match almost could have been excellent if it had a proper third fall. Very good match. ***½

7/28/95 ECW World Television Title: Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero 11:47
ML: This was the first ECW the show I attended live, and seeing Guerrero vs. Malenko seemed like a real event to me the way seeing Paul Orndorff turn on Hulk Hogan never did, apart from getting to make fun of how Orndorff "spent a week" having his phone calls ignored by Hogan over the course of a 3-hour TV taping. I was very excited about the match at the time, but am less so now, as it feels more narrow than their others, and kind of incomplete. This had more of a house show feel than a TV match kind of feel. It was considerably shorter than the matches they had been having, cutting out almost all of the submission wrestling. That could have been better had they truly embraced what the match called for and done an urgent sprint, but this was just as laid back as last week's match, despite being 4 minutes shorter. Basically they did a whole match that was more or less like the second half of their previous match, so there was plenty of action. They were selling too much in between though, this wasn't another 30 minute match where there was theoretically more of a cumulative effect. The finish played off last week's ending, with Guerrero making the 2nd and winning flash pin attempt off his huracarrana to regain the title. Everything was technically on point, this just seemed thin compared to their longer and more development matches, even if they arguably weren't even developed enough. ***

8/5/95 ECW: Cactus Jack & Dean Malenko & Too Cold Scorpio vs. Eddie Guerrero & Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner 21:59
ML: This was like a best of WCW past and future. There's not much reason for it to be happening, and Cactus was a last second replacement even, but it's cool as an all star tag that provides some rare pairings. They are good enough workers to be entertaining just throwing bombs. Though there's ostensibly 3 juniors and 3 heavies, it's more a high impact match even when they are jumping at one another. Good action with everyone contributing and getting their chance to shine. Scott was on his best behavior here, largely playing even with Malenko in an "amateur wrestling" sequence before finally tossing him with an overhead belly to belly. Rick gave Jack a belly to belly suplex on the floor. The Steiners eventually did their suplexes, but they were actually selling and putting over smaller opponents. The finish saw the Steiners elevate all their opponents one by one for Guerrero to come off the top onto, but the big culminating tijeras to Malenko was botched. There wasn't a lot of Guerrero vs. Malenko during the match, but Malenko got him with a flash pin after this. Nonetheless, Guerrero once again stole the show. ***1/4

2/3/95 ECW: Sabu vs. Al Snow 13:46
ML: This was Snow's 2nd of 3 ECW matches before working the next 8 months for SMW. While Snow lost 7 of his 9 singles matches against Sabu in 1994, there was at least a chance he would win on the indies, whereas this was just about putting on a good match. They were able to do that, and this was one of Sabu's more junior style matches in ECW, similar to their non gimmick matches elsewhere. The way Heyman was trying to use Sabu, I'm not sure they would have been able to do this match as in ECW if it weren't a spot show. Snow looked good here, and hung with Sabu, but there wasn't as much juice to the finishing segment given the winner was a foregone conclusion. At one point, Snow crawled to the ropes, so Sabu stomped on his back and slingshot himself to the floor, so he could guillotine leg drop Snow's neck over the bottom rope. This set up the finish later where Sabu hit a slingshot guillotine leg drop with Snow's neck hanging off a chair. They didn't use any tables during the match, but 911 found Sabu what looked like a legitimate thick table to break afterwards, and seeing what he had to work with, Sabu decided to use his butt rather than a moonsault. ***1/4

7/21/95 ECW World Television Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko 15:37
ML: They did a nice job of subverting expectations. They seemed to be doing a more technical match because this was in Malenko's hometown of Tampa, Florida, and he was relinquishing his right to challenge Guerrero again if he didn't win this. While it was more Malenko's match than Guerrero's early on with slower technical work on the mat punctuated by exciting athletic bursts on their feet, the match was ultimately very back loaded. I'm not sure this was the right choice, as these were mostly ECW fans rather than Malenko fans, and too many of these meatheads were just there to see people's brains bashed in. Joey Styles did his best to put it over, with lines such as, "If you want to see wrestling you're watching the right promotion", which was true as long as you didn't watch the rest of their card. There was a fan who had a good sign "Dean Malenko the real Excellence of Execution". In the second half, they largely abandoned the mat wrestling, and you eventually realized they were doing a typical New Japan structured junior match. This meant that the early grappling was essentially meaningless filler, but unlike in NJPW, you expected otherwise while it was happening so it felt more useful. Though the match didn't tell a story beyond parity, it got bogged down a lot less than some of their other matches, and was ultimately one of their better expressions of what Guerrero was capable of. Definitely the precision both performed with was one of the biggest strengths of the match, especially in the first half. Malenko finally get some love after a vicious stomach breaker. Malenko winning out of the flash pins back and forth off of Guerrero's huracarrana was a finish at least, but hardly a great one. I don't know if they totally won the audience over, but the flashier 2nd half certainly got a lot more reaction. ***1/2

7/15/95 ECW: Dean Malenko & Too Cold Scorpio vs. Eddie Guerrero & Taz 9:51 of 20:00
ML: Another Guerrero vs. Malenko match ruined by the ridiculous editing. They did some nifty sequences, and you could tell their chemistry and cohesion were improving with each match together. Taz is basically Gary Albright minus a foot and 150 lb. He's passable enough with three really talented, well trained workers who know how to work around them and can take big bumps, but he really has no business being in the ring with these guys. The tag setting brought out the more explosive and energetic side of Guerrero and Malenko. Guerrero was really stealing the show here, looking incredibly smooth. Scorpio was certainly an asset, and his segments against Guerrero were almost as good as Dean's. After everyone but Taz attempted dives, Paul E. knocked Scorpio off the top rope by hitting him with the vaunted phone, and Taz hit the hardway Tazplex for the win. Bill Alphonso, who had been feuding with Heyman and cost Taz the victory over Scorpio on 7/1/95 by rightfully pointing out that Scorpio got his foot on the ropes, overruled John Finegan and restarted the match. As with the previous time they did this, the match almost immediately ended with Alfonso counting the pinfall for the other team. I found this to be much more enjoyable in butchered form then the 5/13/95 Guerrero vs. Malenko, but it's also more of a quick hitting, sprint type of match, so that plays better in truncated form then an epic draw with a lot of selling. ***1/4

7/20/95 ECW: Eddie Guerrero & Taz vs. Dean Malenko & Too Cold Scorpio 10:40 of 18:40
ML: The rematch in Florida was along the same lines as their ECW Arena match from 5 days earlier. This was probably the better of the two tags because Taz wasn't featured and we got a clean finish.Guerrero again was the best, this time even by a wider margin, as he's the featured performer. His sequences with Malenko were the highlight, and again a lot better than what we didn't see in their 5/13/95 singles match. Scorpio provided some nice flying and helped keep the pace up. ***1/4

5/13/95 ECW World Television Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko 12:36 of 30:00
ML: This may really have been 30 minutes, but for some reason they edited the crap out of it even on the commercial release. They chopped so much out you never really knew what you were seeing. I mean, after a few minutes, it's weary warriors throwing bombs, but that's because presumably most of what we see is from the last 20 minutes. There's never a time call to the point it just randomly ends in a figure 4, and I just found it hard to ever really get a footing in this match. Taz was supposed to be helping Joey Styles out, but he just kept misidentifying the moves. Malenko seemed to start with the lengthy control segment, and even when it seemed like he was setting up Guerrero to counter into the comeback, he often maintained control. Guerrero was doing his signature moves towards the end, including the BT bomb, which was fitting since he had his Black Tiger outfit on, sans mask. What we saw was good, but it was all so disjointed that you couldn't tell if there was rhythm and flow, or any rhythm or reason. Any subtle aspects and small touches there may have been were clipped, we mostly got the big spots, which were, I guess, what they should be. Guerrero unintentionally bled from the back of the head, and they really didn't bother trying to get mileage out of the accident. In the end, this was a high quality match, but the presentation was so poor it wasn't super enjoyable. The crowd seemed way more into it this time though, which may have had more to do with the success of the 1st match and knowing what to expect now, or may be because this was a lot better than it was coming across in Heyman's jumbled take.

WWE 2/16/04 Bakersfield, CA: Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels 21:07.
DC: WWE Raw episode 560. Chris Benoit was clearly happy with his push as of late, because in this match he showed more intensity than he had in the past four years. Shawn Michaels’ selling was phenomenal, as, even though he always almost is about to cross that line of overselling too much, here he was doing just perfectly, enough to be the Texan luchador we expect him to be, but not too much so as not to undermine Benoit’s sincerity. Basically, the HeartBreak Kid wanted to be the showstopper, as usual, but he genuinely seemed to respect Benoit and wanted to have a memorable match with him. Essentially, HBK expresses his love and respect for you through his selling. This was an interesting phase in HBK’s career, as he was the wily veteran who was still able to go. HBK brought that old school American style of storytelling, which made him different from a lot of the more manufactured-type WWE workers on the roster at the time. And this must have been refreshing for Benoit, a man who was once actually the greatest pro wrestler in the world, now finally being viewed by the masses as ‘ready’ to potentially win the biggest prize of them all at the upcoming WrestleMania event, in spite of him being in a stage of his career where he is trying his best to not decline too much as a worker. But, in spite of Benoit not being the worker he was in the ‘90s, his passion for pro wrestling never disappeared. Jim Ross mentioned that Benoit grew up idolizing the Dynamite Kid. And it feels like just like Dynamite Kid did in the mid 1980s, Benoit managed to adapt and become a great star in this company. And it feels like this match with HBK made Benoit feel truly appreciated in WWE, as this match with HBK seemed to manage to bring some of that old spark out of Benoit. Perhaps the fact that both men were roughly the same age and both had gone through so many battles against so many opponents back when American pro wrestling felt like it had more meaning and importance made them get each other. Say what you want about Michaels, but he was always one of the most reliable in-ring performers in WWF/E history, and he certainly proved that during WrestleMania XX season. Michaels really understood the quality and knowledge that Benoit brought to the table, and Benoit understood and respected Michaels’ position and reputation in this company. This mutual understanding led to a very well-crafted pro wrestling match. Of course, a lot of people are not very fond of HBK and especially not very fond of WWE (and rightfully so), but as a match on its own, this was really good. What’s even more remarkable is that this was the first time these two were ever in a match together, yet they displayed so much chemistry. Towards the end, HBK went for the superkick, but Benoit countered into a Sharpshooter, which was a reference to the 11/9/97 HBK vs. Bret Hart match. This also seems to indicate that this match against HBK was almost a continuation of the feud HBK had with the Harts, as Benoit was trained by the Harts and started his career in Alberta. In a somewhat fitting but very screwy manner, HHH showed up and distracted Benoit, which enabled HBK to hit the superkick on Benoit and win the match. The selfish HHH then hit the pedigree on HBK. Steve Austin showed up and had a message for HHH, and that’s that he was told that at WrestleMania, HHH will have to defend his title against both HBK and Benoit in a triple threat match. And that was a big announcement, for sure. Very good match. ***½  

WWE 3/14/04 New York City, NY, World Heavyweight Title: Triple H vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels 24:07.
DC: WWE WrestleMania XX ~ Where It All Begins... Again. HBK juiced, and his face was a crimson mask. Chris Benoit made HHH tap to the Crippler crossface to win the match and the title. WWE Champion Eddy Guerrero showed up to celebrate with World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit. For once WWE actually made sense. Good match. *** 

WWE 5/3/04 Phoenix, AZ, World Heavyweight Title: Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels 28:26.
DC: WWE Raw episode 571. In Shawn Michaels’ birthplace, the HeartBreak Kid had the opportunity to win the World Heavyweight Title from the man who had become the title holder at WrestleMania XX, Chris Benoit. HBK really knows how to make a match dramatic and build it to a climax. HBK was very aggressive on this night. He also seemed very particular about how he wanted this match to go, calling spots loudly and showing visible frustration when Benoit wasn’t quick enough to react. And just as HBK was too frustrated, Benoit was too nervous about messing things up. There were lots of good things happening in this match, though. HBK hit a tremendous moonsault to the floor onto Benoit. And what was super interesting is that HBK executed a move he hadn’t used in a long time, his old slingshot suplex move that used to be his finisher back in 1992. That shows he really cared about this particular match. HBK even applied a lion tamer modified Boston crab. Next, HBK felt it was time to be stuck in the Crippler crossface for a bit, which indeed helped get things more heated. HBK went for the superkick, but Benoit blocked and tried to apply the Sharpshooter. HBK fought it off with all his might. HHH showed up and hit a pedigree on HBK while Benoit and referee Mike Ciota were busy selling. Benoit went for the cover and won the match. I agree with Jim Ross that "Triple H ruined the whole damn thing!" Good match. ***¼ 

WWE 7/12/05 Worcester, MA: Chris Benoit vs. William Regal 11:58.
DC: WWE Velocity episode 160. This was your typical Wiliam Regal match, which meant that he wanted to have his grappling exhibition-type stuff with a capable opponent. Chris Benoit was still a capable opponent, but it felt like he was having more and more trouble providing anything that resembled his old work. This match was mainly unique because the chain wrestling portion of the match lasted longer than in most WWE matches. The crowd popped big time when Benoit applied the Sharpshooter. He eventually won with the crossface. For those who like this, check out their very good NJPW 9/23/95 match. Good match. ***

12/13/25 AEW Continental Classic 2025 Gold League: Mike Bailey [6] vs. Kevin Knight [3] 12:56
ML: Hyper athletic video game spectacle. This was a fair and friendly fight because they are teammates in JetSpeed, and instead of the usual shenanigans, they focused on countering one another because they know each other so well. They were very much in sync. Both had to be somewhat unpredictable, try some new and different things that their partner wouldn't be ready for. The match was basically what you expected. The effort was there, and it didn't wear out its welcome. This isn't the kind of match you look to for believability, but it was very creative. The signature spot saw both do swandive moves from opposite sides for a big mid-ring, midair collision, then Knight recovered first and hit his coast to coast dropkick. ***1/4

NJPW 10/17/99 Wild Pegasus vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 14:20.
DC: Wild Pegasus was working like a powerful no-nonsense worker. Jushin Thunder Liger sold a lot for Pegasus. It’s so interesting that these two wrestled each other in almost every year of the 1990s and saw each other evolve as in-ring performers. Two of all the all-time greats, for sure. What was interesting about this match is that they were just doing grappling and hard-hitting stuff. They pretty much didn’t do any of the more fancy junior heavy stuff they used to do together in their previous battles. Pegasus was pretty much a heavyweight by this point anyway, but Pegasus still hit his tope suicida, and in a super aggressive and hard-hitting manner. This turned out to be his final tour as a worker who faced some of the NJPW junior heavyweight division’s most top-notch workers like Liger, Samurai, Otani and Kanemoto. Pegasus would be back for a Tokyo Dome show on 1/4/00 (his final appearance in NJPW ever), but it seemed like WCW wanted to start booking him as a heavyweight at that point. This 10/17/99 match was historical in the sense that it was the final singles match Pegasus had against Liger in Japan. All good things come to an end. While Pegasus was on this tour, things were changing in WCW, as Vince Russo would start his reign of terror as head booker on 10/18/99. It’s no surprise that Pegasus and the other ‘Radicalz’ from WCW would soon leave WCW, and it’s also no surprise that WCW wouldn’t last much longer after that. Anyway, this was interesting to see, because they weren’t just rehashing old tropes, they were meeting each other at where they were at this time. Excellent match. ****¼ 

WCW 11/21/99 Toronto, ON, WCW World Heavyweight Title Tournament Final: Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart 17:44.
DC: Chris Benoit had defeated Dean Malenko, Madusa, Scott Hall and Jeff Jarrett to make it to the final. Bret Hart had defeated Bill Goldberg, Perry Saturn, Billy Kidman and Sting to make it to the final. Benoit and Hart wrestled each other in a clean and technical manner until Dean Malenko showed up, who was dressed up as a hockey man and attacked Benoit until Bret chased him away. Benoit and Bret continued their solid in-ring work. They had started this match off much in a similar style as their great 10/4/99 match, but the vibe here was different in the 11/21/99 match. In this match at WCW Mayhem, the main theme wasn’t respect, but it was fighting till the end. Benoit hit a flying headbutt on Bret, but then Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Bill Goldberg showed up. There was some interference, but the referee decided this match was too important to call it off, so the match continued. Instead of a beautiful display of well-crafted art that the 10/4/99 match was, here in this match in Toronto, the two legendary Canadians battled more aggressively, and they put over the idea that the WCW World Heavyweight Title was actually worth fighting for. Bret executed a tremendous superplex, but Benoit went for a rope escape. The slower periods didn’t quite contain as much substance as the 10/4/99 match, as the 10/4/99 match was basically non-stop high-quality wrestling all the way through. This 11/21/99 match was more of a start, stop, start, stop type of match. Still, the action was good enough to make this memorable, and the way these two were able to tell the story of the match through body language made it intriguing. In the end, after some intense counter wrestling, Bret applied the Sharpshooter for the win. The Hitman had become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. All in all, this was quite memorable for a WCW match from 1999. Very good match. ***¾  

WCW 12/2/99 Topeka, KS: Chris Benoit vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 7:19.
DC: WCW Thunder episode 90. This was their 22nd and final singles match between Chris Benoit and Jushin Thunder Liger. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Juventud Guerrera showed up at ringside to do some color commentary. While Juvi Juice was talking rudo nonsense, Benoit and Liger were having a very solid wrestling match. This wasn’t quite as intense as their excellent 10/17/99 match in Japan, but it was still a quality bout. It’s a shame the commentators would constantly discuss angles with only occasionally calling the action. In spite of this lacking the true excellence and top-notch energy of their previous battle, these two were so good that whatever they did was still going to be good. Liger was such a versatile worker, and it’s matches like this one that show he would have done really well if he was a full-time member of the WCW roster (which for his sake luckily wasn’t the case). Psicosis and La Parka randomly interfered in the match. The match was a no-contest, further giving this match more the feel of an exhibition rather than another chapter in their great in-ring feud. It’s a shame these two had to conclude their legendary feud in a WCW Thunder match like this. Benoit would finally win the WCW World Heavyweight Title in Cincinnati, Ohio on 1/16/00 (by beating Sid in a mediocre match). However, Benoit would leave WCW the day after winning the title. Good match. ***¼ 

WWF 6/6/00 Buffalo, NY, WWF Intercontinental Title: Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Hardy 5:32.
DC: WWF SmackDown episode 43. WWF Intercontinental Champion Chris Benoit showed more intensity than he had shown since January. Jeff Hardy did some cool high flying stuff, which added to the excitement of the match. Benoit seemed quite happy to work at a fast pace and keep the intensity level high. This wasn’t MOTY-level stuff or anything, but it had some of the energy that a lot of the good WCW Nitro matches used to have back in the WCW days of Benoit. Hardy showed a lot of resourcefulness, as he wanted to be different within the context of a rather confined setting. One of the highlights of the match was Hardy hitting a tremendous tope con giro. In the end, Benoit’s ability to counter was too much to handle for Hardy, and Benoit won via the crippler crossface. This match certainly served its purpose as a fun TV bout, and both workers gave a strong effort. Good match. ***

WWF 8/27/00 Raleigh, NC: Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho 13:01.
DC: WWF SummerSlam. Two-out-of-Three Falls. The pre-match vignette was actually quite good and helped get the viewer more hyped about this match. This battle between the wolverine and Y2J was a lot more energetic than their previous WWF matches against each other. They started the match off by continuously punching each other. They tried to really put over the intense rivalry between each other. Chris Jericho had been in WWF for a year, and it seemed like he was finally getting a grip on how to make the most out of his WWF performances. Chris Benoit had been inconsistent ever since he started wrestling in WWF in February 2000, but here he definitely showed the motivation and energy to perform up to expectations. The first fall ended when Benoit noticed that Jericho was weakened and applied the crippler crossface for the win. As soon as the second fall started, Benoit applied the crippler crossface once again. Jericho knew he couldn’t afford to tap out again, so he stayed in the hold until he managed to go for a rope break. The second fall was a lot slower, as Jericho was selling a lot and Benoit was methodically beating Jericho up. Jericho managed to get a second wind and apply the Walls of Jericho to win this fall. During the third and final fall, Jericho stayed on top of Benoit as much as possible. Jericho even hit a flying elbow off the top rope, which indicated he was willing to take things to the next level here. Benoit almost scored a pinfall via the dragon suplex, but Jericho kicked out at two. Jericho almost scored a pinfall via a rollup, but Benoit reversed and managed to illegally hold the ropes for leverage to score the pinfall. Referee Mike Ciota didn’t notice that Benoit cheated, which meant Benoit was indeed the winner. This was quite an exciting and well-performed WWF match. Like, this wasn’t on the level of their meetings in Japan and WCW, but if we get past the frustration of them being in WWF, we can say that they made the most of the situation and should be complimented on having a more enjoyable match than most WWF wrestlers were having at the time. Good match. ***¼

WWF 1/21/01 New Orleans, LA, WWF Intercontinental Title Ladder Match: Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho 18:43.
DC: WWF Royal Rumble. During this match, Jerry Lawler asked Jim Ross if Shawn Michaels came up with the idea of the ladder match, and J.R. said he didn’t know. I don’t know if that was just revisionist WWF silliness or if they actually didn’t do their homework. Either way, I’ll explain now why it’s fitting that two Canadians who were trained in Alberta were in this big ladder match, as the ladder match originated in Stampede Wrestling back in the 1970s after Dan Kroffat (the original one from Vancouver, not Phil Lafon) came up with the idea. Of course, Bret Hart introduced the ladder match in the WWF back in 1992 until Shawn Michaels ‘stole’ the opportunity to become the one popularizing the ladder match in 1994 and 1995. Over the years, lots of people tried to do their thing with the ladder match, often falling flat, though. For example, arguably the most overrated ladder match ever took place at SummerSlam 1998 between HGH and The Crock. However, there have been some guys who have been able to actually use the ladder match stipulation and create some excitement around it, even WWF guys like Jeff Hardy, for example. This wasn’t Chris Jericho’s first ladder match, as he had wrestled Lance Storm in ladder matches in Alberta back in 1994. This also wasn’t Chris Benoit’s first ladder match, as he had wrestled Jeff Jarrett in ladder matches in WCW in 1999. So, it was interesting to see what the wolverine and Y2J would do against each other in a ladder match, as they had wrestled each other many times before but never in a ladder match. Jericho was super motivated in stealing the show here, as he gave a tremendous effort. His timing and execution were better than ever before. Benoit showed that he also wanted this to be memorable, but it really looked like he just physically wasn’t capable of being the Benoit we used to know, as he was moving around like a stiff and roided-up rabid wolverine. Benoit’s experience and knowledge from previously being an all-time great worker was still very useful here, though. Jericho took a big HBK-like bump in the corner. Jericho then hit Benoit with a chair as Benoit executed a tope suicida. Jericho continued the HBK-inspired bumping in what had turned out to be quite a spectacular match. I think Jericho was particularly motivated because he wanted to give an HBK-like performance (especially since Michaels was an early influence in Jericho’s work). Benoit went for a diving headbutt, but Jericho moved away, and Benoit came crashing down. In the end, Benoit took a big bump to the floor, which enabled Jericho to climb the ladder and secure the WWF IC Title. This was essentially them paying tribute to, and at the same time modernizing the 3/20/94 Michaels vs. Razor Ramon ladder match template. Say what you want about WWF, but this was actually enjoyable. Very good match. ***½

WWF 2/20/01 Kansas City, MO: Chris Benoit & Eddy Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho & X-Pac 5:05.
DC: WWF SmackDown episode 80. This match felt rushed, which makes sense, since they were only given five minutes. X-Pac threw some cool-looking kicks. All four workers worked hard. Execution was as good as it could be in a rushed match like this. Benoit made Jericho submit to the crossface. Good match. ***¼ 

WWF 2/25/01 Las Vegas, NV, WWF Intercontinental Title Fatal Four-Way: Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero vs. X-Pac 12:18.
DC: WWF No Way Out. This was chaotic. Lots of action. Chris Benoit got mad at Eddy Guerrero for not being on his side in this every-man-for-himself match. X-Pac was the weak link. Maybe that’s why Justin Credible showed up to help him. Eddy was the worker of the match. Chris Jericho and Benoit were also impressive, though. Against all odds, Jericho somehow retained the WWF IC Title after pinning X-Pac. Good match. ***¼ 

WWF 3/12/01 Los Angeles, CA: Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero 8:24.
DC: WWF Raw episode 407. Paul Heyman and Jim Ross were the commentators. Eddy Guerrero was a lot more speedy, agile and resourceful than Chris Benoit at this point, as Benoit had declined significantly over the years. This definitely wasn’t their best match against each other, but it was more interesting than most matches in WWF at the time. Benoit won via the crossface. Good match. ***

WWF 6/12/01 Baltimore, MD, WWF World Tag Team Title: Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs. Christian & Edge 10:43.
DC: WWF SmackDown episode 96. Western Canada vs. Central Canada. Christian was the worker of the match. Everyone’s timing and execution was very crisp, though. Jericho, arguably the second-best performer in this match, pinned Edge after a lionsault quebrada. Good match. *** 

WWE 10/3/02 Lafayette, LA: Chris Benoit vs. Rey Misterio Jr. 10:50.
DC: WWE SmackDown episode 164. This was their only televised singles match. They had a house show match for Rey Misterio Jr.’s WCW Cruiserweight Title back in WCW in 1999. In this SmackDown match, Chris Benoit relied on his size and strength advantage, and worked over Misterio in a methodical manner, while Misterio relied on quick countering and comebacks via bursts of flashy offense. Overall, this was definitely a solidly worked match, but they never exceeded expectations. The storytelling was definitely good but not exceptional. Misterio pinned Benoit via a huracarrana. Good match. *** 

WWE 12/15/02 Sunrise, FL: Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero 16:46.
DC: WWE Armageddon. You could tell that they wanted to make this special, as they had such a long history together. They had known each other for over ten years, and their career paths were quite similar. They focused on making the other struggle and going for a big move whenever the opportunity seemed perfect. It started slow on the mat, but when Eddy Guerrero hit a plancha off the top to the floor onto Chris Benoit, the match became more intense and energetic. Guerrero made Benoit struggle and suffer on the mat. Benoit gave quite a good performance, but Guerrero was the one who made the match fascinating. Tremendous storytelling and timing by both. Chavo Guerrero Jr. showed up, but his presence wasn’t bothersome. Eddy applied the Lasso From El Paso (a modified cloverleaf), but Benoit countered into the crippler crossface. This wasn’t nearly as good as their battles in Japan and WCW, but for a WWE match, this was as good as it gets. Very good match. ***½

WWE 7/13/03 Columbus, OH, WWE U.S. Heavyweight Title Tournament Semi Final: Chris Benoit vs. Matt Hardy V1.0 7:27.
DC: SmackDown episode 205. Matt Hardy had the super underrated Shannon Moore in his corner. Matt was a heel (and now known as Matt Hardy Version 1.0), which enhanced his character work but wasn’t necessarily helpful for his overall in-ring work. Shannon briefly interfered on a couple of occasions and looked phenomenal. Matt’s nose got busted and was bloody. Matt missed a flying headbutt. Benoit missed a flying headbutt. Matt tried to hit his finisher off the ropes, but Benoit managed to counter in a tremendous way and won via the crippler crossface. It was nice to see Benoit show some more intensity again. This was quite impressive for a seven-minute WWE match. Good match. ***¼

WCW 2/16/98 Tampa, FL: Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs. Eddy Guerrero & Chris Jericho 6:19.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 127. Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko were the no-nonsense tecnicos who just wanted to wrestle and beat their opponents. Eddy Guerrero and Chris Jericho were the cowardly rudos who worked well whenever they weren’t being silly. Guerrero was actually the worker of the match. And this match was significantly better than their disappointing 1/29/98 match on WCW Thunder. In this WCW Nitro match, they gave a lot more of an inspired performance, and they were a lot more into what they were doing. Good match. *** 

WCW 5/19/98 Portland, ME, WCW World TV Title Number-One Contendership Best of Seven Series Match 3: Chris Benoit vs. Booker T 6:44.
DC: WCW Saturday Night 5/30/98. This actually took place and was taped prior to match 1 and 2 in the series due to WCW Saturday Night not being a live TV show. They wrestled this match in a much more inspired manner than what would end up being labeled as match 1 and 2 in the series. So, they either were just more excited doing this series on this day and/or they were just really good at imagining what it would feel like being three matches into the series. Either way, this series is actually quite decent so far, and they really did a good job so far in keeping the viewer interested in how this series will unfold. Each match has been wrestled quite differently, yet there hasn’t been a match in the series where they went all out, which all helped make the viewer wish for more after getting a varied taste of what these two can bring to the table together. Towards the end of this match, Benoit went for a diving headbutt, but Booker T rolled away. Benoit went for the crippler crossface, Booker managed to block and avoid it, but Benoit then very quickly transitioned into a German suplex pinning combination. Benoit 2-1 Booker. Good match. ***

WCW 6/4/98 Peoria, IL, WCW World TV Title Number-One Contendership Best of Seven Series Match 5: Chris Benoit vs. Booker T 6:24.
DC: WCW Thunder episode 19. Booker T started off very energetically. He was down two points in this series, so he really had to show lots of urgency and try to beat Benoit as soon as possible before the Canadian Crippler could once again use his experience and tenacity to get Booker in all sorts of trouble. Benoit sold well for Booker and then hit a series of German suplexes. These shorter matches between the two seem better, because they just go all out and try to go for that victory. Especially since Booker didn’t have much of a track record as a good singles wrestler yet, these short matches enabled him to rely mainly on his energy and athleticism and ability to fight back without having to worry too much about how to fill the down periods of the match with actual useful work. The crowd was really into this, treating it like a battle between two sports teams trying to score another point. Booker managed to push through and score the impressive pinfall victory. Benoit 3-2 Booker. Good match. ***

WCW 6/8/98 Auburn Hills, MI, WCW World TV Title Number-One Contendership Best of Seven Series Match 6: Chris Benoit vs. Booker T 11:14.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 143. This match started off a bit grittier, with both men now displaying the tense vibe you’d expect from a heated rivalry. Booker T really tried to be more resourceful here, not just relying on the same things, and he was naturally growing as an in-ring performer thanks to this series with Chris Benoit. If Benoit would win this match, he would win the series, so the amount of urgency shown by Booker was more than justified and appropriate. Benoit was selling that he was a fighter who had gone through many battles but wasn’t willing to back down, and was capable of scoring a win at any time in this contest. Once Benoit managed to divert Booker’s momentum and gain the advantage himself, he showed his typical viciousness that we haven’t always been able to see in 1998. As important as this series was for Booker to grow as a singles worker, it was just as important for Benoit to get back on track of a disappointing first third of the year 1998. Somehow, Booker once again managed to find the strength and energy to score the win by pinning Benoit. Right after he got pinned, Benoit showed frustration and kicked Booker down. Benoit 3-3 Booker. Good match. ***¼

WCW 6/11/98 Buffalo, NY, WCW World TV Title Number-One Contendership Best of Seven Series Match 7a: Chris Benoit vs. Booker T 11:07.
DC: WCW Thunder episode 20. Bret Hart and Eric Bischoff were cheering on Chris Benoit, which made Benoit smile. Benoit approached this like a wrestler in a big match, slightly cautious but willing to bust out some moves he hadn’t used in a while. Booker T had really benefited so much from being in this series, and now understood naturally how to approach this match as an important one. Bret Hart, representing the nWo, hit Booker T with a chair so that Benoit could pin him. Benoit wanted nothing to do with the nWo and asked the ref to get disqualified! Booker then said that he also didn’t want to win that way, so, it was decided a rematch of this seventh match in the series would take place at the upcoming PPV. Good match. ***¼

WCW 6/22/98 Jacksonville, FL: Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart 15:08.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 145. This was the first-ever match between these two legendary Albertans. Bret Hart had been completely wasted by WCW after arriving in late 1997 following the infamous Montreal screw job at WWF Survivor Series. However, at least here on this Nitro episode, he was in a 15-minute match with Chris Benoit, who was still one of the best pro wrestlers in the world at the time. Benoit realized this was one of the most high-profile matches of his career, and was super focused. Bret was very smooth in his execution and overall thinking of how to build this match up. Bret’s offense wasn’t as spectacular as a lot of Benoit’s regular opponents, but Bret was so good at understanding how to do things in a way that would help enhance the overall quality of the match. Bret carried himself very well, and he had that superstar aura, which added a unique vibe to this match. When Benoit went for his German suplexes in a row, Bret actually blocked it, which then forced Benoit to transition into a dragon suplex. Benoit then hit the snap suplex and went for the flying headbutt. However, Bret rolled away just on time as Benoit came crashing down onto the canvas. Benoit hit a tremendous suplex for a near fall. Benoit managed to apply the crippler crossface, but Bret grabbed the ropes for a rope break. nWo member Stevie Ray showed up at ringside to distract the ref. Bret knocked Benoit out with brass knuckles and applied the Sharpshooter for the victory. Very good match. ***½

WCW 1/7/99 Richmond, VA: Chris Benoit vs. Barry Windham 5:11.
DC: WCW Thunder episode 45. Chris Benoit was in full attack mode here, totally unleashing a barrage of brawling offense on the wily veteran Barry Windham, who after getting beat up for quite a bit, finally managed to hit a swank DDT to bring Benoit’s assault to a stop. Former Horseman Windham then hit his signature back suplex into a cover. After a ref bump, Curt Hennig showed up, got himself caught in the crippler crossface. Windham kicked Benoit in the head, and then scored the pinfall over Benoit. This was an enjoyable match. Benoit started the year off quite strong, and Windham showed he was still a solid hand. Good match. ***

WCW 3/14/99 Louisville, KY, WCW World Tag Team Title Lumberjack With Straps: Curt Hennig & Barry Windham vs. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko 16:58.
DC: WCW Uncensored. The ring was surrounded by wrestlers holding leather straps in their hands. Just to name some of the lumberjacks, they included Meng, Norman Smiley, Bobby Duncum Jr. and Alaskan wrestler Kenny Kaos. Arn Anderson, the Horsemen’s mentor, showed up and politely told Chris Adams to leave so that he could take his place as a lumberjack in this match. Hennig and Windham tried to leave, but the lumberjacks showed up and whipped them with the straps. Hennig wrestled Benoit to start this match off, and Mr. Perfect sold big time for Mr. Intensity. Hennig briefly went to the floor but got whipped by the lumberjacks, so he basically had no choice but to go back into the ring. When Windham was tagged in, Benoit beat Windham up with chops, and Windham briefly went to the floor, only to find the same trouble Hennig had dealt with earlier, as the lumberjacks relentlessly started whipping away. Windham sold and bumped as well as he could for Benoit, who really brought the viciousness that was so fitting in a brutal match like this one. Dean Malenko felt kinda out of place, as he was useful as a tag team partner for Benoit, as always, but he lacked the emotion and fortitude required for such a gritty match like this. Malenko tagged Benoit in rather quickly, perhaps because of the crowd’s dead silence. Benoit wasn’t rested enough yet, so Windham and Hennig beat up the wolverine. Windham really showed that he still had what it took to be a useful in-ring performer, and his return to WCW made him a welcome addition to the roster. The work in this match was solid, but not super special or anything. However, the storytelling was top-notch and made this match memorable and intriguing. The selling was done exactly well enough and long enough for things to keep moving yet still spend time to keep telling the story they were going for. Another really smart thing was to limit the amount of time Malenko was in the ring, since this wasn’t his type of match, due to his lack of personality (and lack of size). Malenko sold Windham’s offense quite well, though, so Malenko certainly was useful during the brief down periods of the match that saw Malenko selling. During this Malenko selling segment, the work was good, but there was significantly less heat. Being the experienced professional that he was, Hennig would still make these down parts interesting by yelling at Arn Anderson, for example. The finish of the match saw Anderson enter the ring and knock Hennig out. Malenko pulled Windham to the floor. Benoit hit Hennig with the flying headbutt and scored the win for the Horsemen. The execution of the final minute or so looked a bit rough, but it was still okay enough for it to not be bothersome. All in all, this was a fun and unique match that was quite different. A lot of times, WCW tries to have a crazy idea and then it results in a match that isn’t good, but luckily that wasn’t the case here, as this actually worked. Good match. ***¼

WCW 10/4/99 Kansas City, MO: Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart 27:34.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 211. This was the famous Owen Hart tribute match. At Bret Hart’s request, WCW allowed the Hitman to pay tribute to his late brother Owen, who had sadly passed away in a tragic accident at a WWF event on 5/23/99 at the very same arena this match took place, the Kemper Arena. Harley Race was in attendance when Owen died and was the ring announcer for this tribute match. WCW was far from perfect, but the fact that they honored Bret’s request and allowed it to be an actual excellent wrestling match without interference and shenanigans was a truly classy move by WCW. The fans in attendance were also very respectful, which was nice. Luckily, this match took place two weeks prior to Vince Russo starting his stint as head booker in WCW. Of course, there’s no better opponent Bret could have picked than fellow Albertan Chris Benoit, a man who had previously teamed and wrestled Owen and was pretty much part of the same generation as Owen was. Owen would have loved this beautiful tribute match. The bout started off in a very respectful manner, with both wrestlers grappling in a competitive but non-violent manner. Obviously, they both loved good solid wrestling, so they were certainly executing moves properly and applying holds in a snug manner. But, they were respectful in the sense that they were going to be very fair and sportsman-like, as this was, after all, a tribute to a loved one. Thus, any sort of excessive aggression would seem out of place. The first part of the match featured some solid mat wrestling that we can only imagine may have resembled some of the grappling that took place back in the days of the Dungeon in Calgary, Alberta, Canada at the Hart House. Benoit was arguably the best pro wrestler in the world from 1992 through 1997, and while he had been on a very slight decline, he was still one of the top performers in North America at the time. Bret was truly a late bloomer as a performer, and while he never reached Benoit’s level as a pure worker, the Hitman, just like Benoit, was heavily influenced by Dynamite Kid’s work in Calgary and Japan. Bret was on top of his game during the mid and late ‘90s, and it was nice to see he was still so relevant as a performer in 1999. What made this match so amazing was how sincere these two guys were performing. You could tell that they wanted this to be as good as they could possibly make it. They really worked the struggle aspect of their match so well, as when they were grappling, they always tried to think ahead and try to be ready for the next move. For instance, during a bit of struggling, Bret saw the opportunity to hit a side legsweep really nicely and then managed to follow up quick enough before Benoit could do anything back. And just as Benoit was about to gain some momentum briefly, Bret knew how to promptly turn things around by hitting a move just exactly at the right time and in the right manner. Bret delivered one of the best performances of his career, as he clearly made a great effort to make this special, and he was finally given the opportunity to have a match of this length and quality with top talent. What Benoit did so remarkably well was fight back at exactly the appropriate moments. Obviously, this felt like it should mainly be Bret’s match, but both men obviously wanted it to be competitive, so Benoit was just perfect in balancing out being respectful versus being competitive. Like, he knew that he would have to do things back in order to keep the competitive level high, yet he also knew not to undermine the Hitman in his quest to craft his dream match. I am happy Benoit got his suicide dive in, as that’s one of the his coolest moves. The selling was phenomenal in this match, and thanks to this, every move and every hold they did, felt like it was important and purposeful. Near the finish, Bret went for the Sharpshooter, but Benoit noticed it and immediately went for the Crippler crossface, but Bret successfully went for a rope escape. Benoit executed the flying headbutt, which was fitting (with Harley Race in attendance), because Benoit added that move to his repertoire because of his idol, Dynamite Kid, who popularized the junior heavyweight version of the move after being inspired by Harley Race’s original (heavyweight) version of the move. As they were working their way towards the finish, the match picked up in speed and urgency, as they were now ready to see which man would come out on top. The emotional aspect of the match was still there, but it was a bit more in the background towards the end, as the more competitive aspect came rising up. The finish was great, as Benoit once again went for the Crippler crossface, but Bret not only blocked it, he also countered it and managed to transition into the application of the Sharpshooter for the victory. What a match! After Bret got his hand raised as the victor, Bret pointed to the heavens to greet Owen. This match was so different from anything you would see in the pro wrestling world in 1999. Even the commentary was good and focused. It was not only a tribute to Owen, but it was also a tribute to old school pro wrestling, as it was a lengthy bout with a lot of focus on storytelling through a display of competitive and respectful wrestling. This was truly one of the most wonderful 30 minutes in American wrestling TV history. It’s one of those matches that make me proud to be a wrestling fan. What a beautifully crafted piece of performance art this was. Great match. ****¾

NJPW 11/2/97 Fukuoka, J-Crown Title: Shinjiro Otani vs. Wild Pegasus 15:28
DC: This was Wild Pegasus’ final title bout in NJPW, unfortunately. Shinjiro Otani had won the J-Crown Title (which at the time consisted of seven title belts) from the previous champion, El Samurai, on 8/10/97. Pegasus was super vicious, chopping away intensely, and throwing Otani around aggressively. Otani decided to work on Pegasus’ legs in order to try to keep the wild one down. The middle portion of the match felt a bit lacking something, but they picked things up for the finishing stretch. Perhaps frustrated that WCW wouldn’t allow him to go for a full tour and basically had to fly in just for this one match, it seemed like Pegasus wasn’t fully into this match. At least we can say the great Pegasus challenged for the J-Crown while the J-Crown was around. All in all, it was a slightly disappointing match, as this really should have been excellent. This was really good, but things were about to change in the wrestling business, and it feels like that vibe was present here. Pegasus wouldn’t tour NJPW again until late ‘99. The J-Crown Title would be disbanded by the end of ‘97. And lots of things would be changing in the wrestling world following the introduction of the Attitude Era in American wrestling. Otani hit a springboard spin kick followed up with a dragon suplex for the pinfall win. Very good match. ***¾ 

WCW 10/20/97 Biloxi, MS, WCW Cruiserweight Title: Eddy Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit 4:40 of 7:14
DC: WCW Nitro episode 110. This was the first singles match between the two since Eddy Guerrero had turned rudo. Guerrero was channeling his Gringos Locos days, as he bumped and sold like crazy for the intense Chris Benoit. They kept the pace high, and Benoit was constantly in attack mode, while Guerrero tried to divert or counter whenever possible. Benoit started focusing more on chops as a main part of his offense around this time, but he would still hit some classic junior heavyweight moves, like a tremendous tope suicida, which Guerrero sold so well. Guerrero used Benoit’s momentum when Benoit came charging at him and tackled Benoit, who then bumped head-first into the middle turnbuckle. While Benoit was ‘out,’ Guerrero hit the frog splash. The referee shook his head in disgust, as he felt Guerrero took advantage of the situation while the referee was checking on Benoit. The ref reluctantly counted to three and awarded the pinfall win to Guerrero. This was too short (and they had to go to a commercial break, of course), but it was awesome while it lasted. Good match. ***¼  

WCW 10/27/97 San Diego, CA: Chris Benoit vs. Fit Finlay 5:20
DC: WCW Nitro episode 111. Fit Finlay, the ‘Belfast Bruiser’ from Northern Ireland faced the ‘Canadian Crippler’ Chris Benoit for the first time in the United States. The two had wrestled each other in Japan, Austria and Germany earlier that decade. October ‘97 was Finlay’s first month back in WCW after a 17-month absence (as Finlay had been busy wrestling in Austria and Germany in the meantime). Finlay was like a good European wine that got better with age, as it was around this time that Finlay really started focusing more on his tough brawler persona. This worked better for him than what he was a few years earlier on in his career, especially since he was somewhat of a limited wrestler when it came to his offense. By focusing more on one thing, in this case, being a tough brawler, at least he could be exceptional at what he did. He still sold a lot, but he didn’t do the silly overselling stuff he used to do in the late ‘80s and early’90s (which was especially silly since he wasn’t that great at it, at least compared to the top oversellers of that era). It wasn’t just punches and kicks that Finlay was using, as he also used a double leg scissors takedown in an aggressive manner to take Benoit down. Finlay went for the cover after a Vader bomb, but Benoit managed to get his foot on the rope. Benoit was on the receiving-end of quite a beating, but occasionally managed to fight back with some chops. This isn’t necessarily the type of match I want to see Benoit in, but at this time in his career, it was something different and quite interesting to watch. In spite of Finlay being on offense for the majority of the match, Pegasus won via the flying headbutt. This kept Benoit strong, and it still allowed Finlay to give a strong showing in his first Nitro match since the parking lot brawl versus Lord Steven Regal in April ‘96. Good match. ***

4/15/95 ECW World Television Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko 25:57 (30:00 claimed)
ML: The most famous ECW technical wrestling match, and the match that put these two on the map in the US after both had spent most of their careers outside their homeland because they were deemed to small to make it here. While putting on a random high level junior heavyweight match had been going on in even smaller indies throughout the decade, even Sabu, who was the indy darling of the past 2 years, was encouraged to do as much of his hardcore tables and chairs stuff as possible most of the time, and the breakthrough 2/29/92 Liger vs. Pillman WCW Superbrawl match was never properly followed up. Paul Heyman had started rolling out the random real wrestling match amidst his choas and bloodletting, but this was the 1st one that really hit (you could argue Sabu vs. Scorpio, but Sabu was arguably the featured attraction in the company and Scorpio was well known from WCW, so these were top of the card matches), partially because it was a full, unlimited, no shenanigans, all-out title match that was followed up on by the same league rather than an enjoyable sprint with no stakes. The live crowd was actually bad, distracted a few minutes in by a fight in the audience and the subsequent clean up, but this really took off on TV and home video, and became a match you had to see even if you didn't care about ECW otherwise. Heyman did a great job of running with it, booking several rematches, and releasing the 3 matches they did between 5/19 & 5/20/95 as "The Malenko Guerrero Classic", which was one of the tapes he endlessly shilled on every TV show until they departed for WCW. Though Malenko had captured 2 titles here already, this was the first Malenko match in ECW that really took advantage of his technical wizardry, showing that modern fans wouldn't be scared off by the sort of grappling that was still popular in the rest of the world, but had been lost to US wrestling as the likes of Thesz and Gagne gave way to the likes of Hogan and Warrior. That being said, a lot of what makes this memorable is Guerrero pushing him to do a quicker and more gymnastic oriented style. The early burst gymnastic chain wrestling sequence after the initial grappling is fantastic, some people may be burned out on the basic forms now because they are so often repeated, but like most of the tropes, there's a huge difference between doing it and doing it well, and the later is why it was so often imitated in the first place. Malenko is often too unafraid of slowing things down, but it's crucial that this started as a technical match before the explosive counter sequence because it took a while for the match to get great again, but the audience was alerted to the amazing stuff they were capable of, and thus more willing to wait. At this length, the slower portions were necessary, and while it's harder to appreciate merely good technical work after the explosive full speed bit that had you thinking match of the year, the matwork was well done in its own right. It never seemed throwaway, and was a serious struggle where they put the work in, with Guerrero again having a better sense of how to keep things moving. It was the junior style that really hit with the fans because the oily muscle men US fans were used to could maybe sort of do the submissions, but not the explosive gymnastics or the high workrate. The difference in paces does give it a certain drama, but the action would feel a lot more dynamic if they mixed the segments together by having one escape back to their feet then do a hot minute before a counter led to more matwork, rather than just blocking off disparate portions. The transitions were somewhat lacking, and it was too much matwork bunched together after such great little sprint, but I liked that Malenko eased into the knee attack rather than just forcing it because it sets up his Texas cloverleaf finisher. In that regard, it made pro wrestling sense to do the fastest segment initially, the workrate awe before the story hook. The leg work was good enough to draw in most of the audience that probably really wanted to see someone get clobbered with a frying pan. Joey Styles explained, "and that's why he is the shooter. He will pick a body part, and just start sharpshooting on it." They did a good job of selling more noticably when they were filling time they weren't going to use anyway, such as when the opponent was setting up the next move, rather than actively slowing things down just to take a break. The execution was all very crisp and precise, and these two already had great chemistry together. Malenko was so serious about winning thar he even hooked a leg on his Northern Lights suplex, which I don't think I've ever seen before. The structuring of the matches was good in the sense that Guerrero gets more of the spectacular moves because Malenko has the control. Malenko is a technical machine, and he's usually closer to the finish, but Guerrero is resilient and creative. Guerrero's urgency heightened anytime Malenko seemed to be setting up the Texas cloverleaf, and he'd scramble to the ropes or small package Malenko. The fans were really into it by the end, popping big for Guerrero's "undescribable splash" and on their feet chanting "EC-dubya" after the flash pin sequence. One problem with the match is they appeared to just randomly call it a draw at some indiscriminant point, which wasn't really the full 30 minutes, and they did so without giving any time cues whatsoever, so the match just ended 5 seconds after Malenko kicked out of an avalanche sunset flip when they were just getting back up and getting ready to continue. This definitely didn't look like any planned draw ending we've seen before. It left you wanting more, but in both good and bad ways. It would likely have been better as a 20 minute draw, with more spark and verve after the opening, but this was a long match that held my attention throughout. It was the best ECW match thus far. It's a great match if you were an American wrestling fan in 1995. It's obviously not as great as the top Japanese junior matches of the era, and exactly how well it holds up 30 years later depends if you value doing it better or are tired of it being borrowed from. It was certainly influential, both in the short term of getting a real junior division going in WCW after they had teased us in 1991 pretending the likes of Raven & Ricky Morton belonged in the division before killing it within a year, and in the long term for defining the next generation of US indy wrestlers who now saw something available beyond appealing to the homoerotic tastes of the creep in Stamford who didn't even like wrestling. This match certainly played a part in the "popular" indy promotion that followed ECW being ROH rather than having CZW take over. ****1/4

3/18/95 ECW World Television Title: Dean Malenko vs. Too Cold Scorpio 13:34
ML: A good story match where because they told the story pretty well, the later stages didn't reach the heights they could have. They changed things up from Scorpio having an injured neck to Scorpio having an injured ankle from the night before. Malenko's movement was very precise, but this was kind of slow even before Malenko got his leg work going. Scorpio did a really nice job of hobbling around to put over the injury, but at the same time, this limited how entertaining he was able to make things. Scorpio only tried a couple flying moves, slowly and gingerly ascending to the top rope to hit his moonsault. This extra time cost him when he tried to follow up with a diving body attack, and instead took out the ref when Malenko avoided. Taz came out while the ref was still down and Malenko was preparing to apply his Texas cloverleaf, as Malenko and Benoit had taken him out of the 2/25/95 tag title match with a knee injury. Malenko let Scorpio go to confront Taz, only to take a big suplex and have Taz revive the ref, but Malenko kicked out so Taz stomped the ref and Samoan dropped Malenko. Malenko still countered Scorpio's vertical suplex into an O'Connor roll, but Scorpio countered into his own and held the tights for the win. I liked that they were able to do an interesting match that was different than I expected, but what I expected still would have been more interesting. The finish in particular didn't exactly thrill me, and I would have rather seen Scorpio lose, the logical thing, or just win with a flash pin without the Taz stuff. ***

3/18/95 ECW: Sabu vs. Mikey Whipwreck 10:34
ML: Jason destroyed Mikey earlier in the night, but was so arrogant taking Mikey so lightly that Mikey eventually actually did something, pulling the upset with the diving tijeras. Sabu was scheduled to wrestle Marty Jannetty, but Jannetty blew his opportunity as usual, supposedly having trouble with his flight, so Paul E. had 911 force Mikey into the match. This was a good little story match with some spectacular offense, getting rookie Mikey over as the lovable underdog. Sabu totally dominated the early portion, making this seem totally uncompetitive. Mikey avoided Sabu's double jump spot, and tried to use his chair for one of his own, which would have been his first offensive move of the match had Sabu not avoided. Mikey finally got a move in when Sabu missed a tope and landed on the guardrail, giving Mikey time for a somersault plancha. Mikey had a little run of offense mixing low level athletic moves and simple control. Sabu gave him just enough offense, then came back with a sunset flip powerbomb to the floor, a double jump body attack over the guardrail, and a moonsault through a table before taking him out with his Uncle's camel clutch. Sabu obviously made the match, but Mikey took well, and did a good job of playing his role. ***

4/8/95 ECW World Television Title: Too Cold Scorpio vs. Eddie Guerrero 14:49
ML: With Art Barr having died less than 5 months ago, Guerrero finished up with AAA in March, and devoted his non NJPW attention to ECW, winning his first singles title in his debut match with the promotion. This was a good showcase for him. It's worked like a match where he's going to get over in the loss, but then he also wins on a fluke. Scorpio had graduated from the bad neck and the bad ankle to a bad shoulder in this attempt at making his 1st title defense. Guerrero didn't work the injury, he was just a step ahead of Scorpio either by outsmarting him or cheating. He tried to work heel, but was cheered anyways because he's charismatic, which would obviously become more of a thing later in his career. Guerrero did all his slick offense that most of these people had never seen before. Scorpio would start to come back, but Guerrero would get the key move in first. Scorpio finally turned the tide with his moonsault and a big jackknife powerbomb. Scorpio pulled out the tumbleweed, which he hasn't been using, but arrogantly pulled Guerrero up, though Joey Styles got confused and thought Guerrero got his shoulder up on his own. Guerrero then flash pinned Scorpio for the win, which was just too soon for this little story of Scorpio's cockiness to play all the way out. In the end, it was a nice match that was well executed. This was definitely a higher effort, more entertaining than the Malenko vs. Scorpio title change, but it just replaced having a story with doing a lot more moves, without finding a balance or doing enough to really put it over the top to the level they should be capable of. ***1/4

12/6/25 UFC: Iwo Baraniewski vs. Ibo Aslan R1 1:29
ML: Octagon madness! I don't normally review 1 round fights, but for a 90 second fight, this was legendary. It was like an early MMA bar room brawl, if anything. Big power, not much defense, but at the same time, it didn't look unskilled. It takes 37 seconds to get going, and then there's five fights worth of action in the next 52 seconds. Aslan defended a takedown and got kneed, initiating this wild exchange where Aslan lost his balance landing hooks while Baraniewski was still holding on. Aslan scrambled back to his feet, and Baraniewski a chased after him but got leveled with a right hook for a flash knockdown. Ibo flurried with hooks against the octagon trying for the finish, but Iwo got the flash knock down back with a right hook to the chin. They continued to stand toe to toe exchanging until Iwo got another right hook knockdown, and followed to the ground with a couple more rights for the stoppage. Insane slugfest. Good match.

12/6/25 UFC: Payton Talbott vs. Henry Cejudo 3R
This was Cejudo's 2nd retirement fight, taking on a no name prospect after having lost all 3 big fights after a 3 year absence. I never liked Cejudo at 135. He's just not big enough. Despite being an amateur wrestling legend, he won fights with his boxing. Here, he was giving up 6 in in height and 6 1/2 in reach, and it's the reason he's taking so much damage that he never took earlier in his career at 125 lb, and really couldn't land much on a relatively easy target. Talbott it's certainly a good fighter, but his defense is one of his weakest points. Chin up only costs you when your opponent can connect, and that just wasn't often enough tonight for Cejudo. Cejudo was the one that was too easy to hit, and Talbott's leverage advantage helped him stay on his feet and even take the Olympic champion down, despite only being a standard high school wrestler. Talbott's grappling has seemingly improved considerably since getting ragdolled by Raoni Barcelos in his only UFC loss on 1/18/25. Cejudo's low kicks looked good, but the problem was Talbott could land his hands from Cejudo's kicking distance, so Cejudo couldn't just fight on the outside like he could if these two were the same height. Cejudo applied a lot of pressure, and was making it entertaining, but his chin was also up and Talbott has really fast hands, so Henry was getting hit consistently even though he was having reasonable success with his own offense. Talbott often hit Cejudo when he was throwing his low kick or when he was stepping forward. Talbott had Cejudo in trouble late in the second round when he began scoring to the body. This was where he did the real damage in the fight, despite Cejudo's right eye getting busted up. Talbott's knockdown was the first Cejudo had suffered since his 4/23/16 loss to Demetrius Johnson. Cejudo got on top a couple of times, but couldn't do any damage, and he was tiring himself out from his own pressure, rather than the other way around. Talbott hurt Cejudo to the body again late in the third round. Cejudo predictably refused to give up, but it was really his heart that was keeping him upright. Talbott won a 30-27 unanimous decision. One could debate the merits of some of Cejudo's big wins, but it's still crazy that he ultimately went directly from double champion to losing his last 4, even despite the retirement gap. Good match.

12/6/25 UFC Bantamweight Title: Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan 5R
It feels like Yan has been in a rut since he lost the rematch to Aljamain Sterling on 4/9/22, after getting screwed out of his title when Aljo decided not to continue in a fight he was clearly losing after Yan admittedly screwed up by giving him that opportunity with his illegal knee. Yan is 3-2 since that point, but his losses were to the top of the division, Sean O'Malley & Merab, while the wins were working his way back up the ranks against Song Yadong, an aging Deiveson Figueiredo fighting up a weight class like Cejudo, and 35-year-old Marcus McGhee, a late starter who never beat anyone of note. That being said, record doesn't tell the whole story, as one of the big issues in his right hand was injured coming into his previous loss to Merab, and he was basically only using it in that match as much as he had to. For Yan to be successful against Merab, he has to be able to move forward and his left jab has to be accurate enough to make Merab think twice about shooting. At the end of the day though, his right hand is likely to do most of the damage. This fight definitely seemed better than it was because of how dominant Merab has been of late. We aren't used to seeing anyone have answers for Merab's wrestling, much less be able to take him down. Merab was a -410 favorite, but he couldn't out wrestle Yan this time. He still had the stamina to attempt 29 takedowns, but with only 2 being successful, and those leading to no real control time, he wasn't able to make Yan wilt like virtually all his other opponents have. This was such a huge different from Merab getting 11 takedowns on 49 attempts in their 1st fight on 3/11/23. Yan was able to be the aggressor often tonight, and could turn takedown defense into boxing offense by closing the distance after he got separation rather than retreating and allowing Merab to just shoot again. Yan gave his best performance of his career here, with brilliant takedown defense using the octagon to his advantage as a barricade and/or another point of balance, and using his jab and own forward pressure as some ways to stop Merab's aggression to keep from just being on the defense of the whole fight because Merab has seemingly unlimited stamina to just keep pressuring. Yan even had 5 takedowns, and I'm pretty sure no one had Yan scoring more than twice as many takedowns as Merab here. Round 1 would have gone to Merab in the old days because he had the clinch for most of the last two and a half minutes after Yan bloodied his nose with a jab followed by a big right cross. I thought this was a Yan round because he landed the shot that did notable damage. Many of the unofficial scorers gave the round to Yan, but all three judges ultimately gave it to Merab. Yan actually had the 1st takedown of the fight midway through R2, but it was the difference in weight of shot and accuracy that were the notable factors. Merab had massive volume, throwing 97 strikes in the round to Yan's 38, but Yan landed 2 more significant strikes because he was so accurate, and it was Yan's strikes that could make Merab stop in his tracks or adjust his strategy. A crucial difference here is that Yan's strikes are very direct, straight, compact, and to the point, whereas Merab's form isn't nearly as good, he mostly wings hooks. This was still Merab's best round just for the amount of time he was able to grapple with Yan, and the amount of energy he made him expend. Merab came in behind a good right hook early in the 3rd and started to apply a standing guillotine, but got slammed. Merab was able to slam Yan back later in the round, but neither could keep their opponent down. Merab was more aggressive in the third round, but it kind of felt like he was feeling the pressure more in the sense that he was really forcing the takedown attempts to try to keep Yan on the defensive. Merab was seemingly trying to drop down into a takedown or clinch attempt after every jab or hook he landed before Yan had a chance to exert his own forward pressure. While he wasn't having the success he hoped for, Yan did seem to be showing some fatigue finally, though his success in the 4th seemed to give him another wind that kept it from ever being a factor. Yan landed a liver kick amidst this, and while it wasn't a direct hit, once he got that going it really gave Merab a lot more to think about. This might have been a Merab round if not for Yan landing a much better liver kick with 20 seconds left that sent Merab into retreat. Again, the difference was that Yan has game changing power, while Merab doesn't. Yan hurt Merab with an overhand right 3 minutes into the fourth, and was able to follow with another body kick. The 4th round easily had the most big shots so far, with Merab now cut over the left eye in addition to his previous cuts on the nose and right eye. Yan was now targeting the liver with the body hook because Merab would always react to getting hit there with anything, shrieking and showing the damage, so this had to be helping Yan on the scorecards. Yan was still able to keep the ridiculous pace of Merab in the 5th, and he was now backing him more and more when he landed a shot. Yan had Merab hopping after another liver kick with a minute left. I was kind of surprised Merab never try to catch the liver kick to get the takedown that way since he knew Yan was hunting for it, and nothing else was working. Rounds 4 & 5 were clear for Yan, which again is the opposite of expected because Merab always has the cardio advantage. I only gave Merab the 2nd, but there were a lot of narrow margin rounds early. Yan regained the title with a 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 unanimous decision. Very good match.

WCW 12/23/96 Macon, GA, WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title Tournament Semi Final: Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero 10:34.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 67. This was super intense from the start. Eddy Guerrero followed Chris Benoit immediately after he came down the aisle, not even waiting for his own entrance music to start. A vicious slap exchange started this bout, followed by more snug and hard-hitting action. Diamond Dallas Page showed up to have a closer look at who he was going to face him in the final. This, and the commercial break, kinda took the momentum out of the viewing experience. After Benoit hit a vicious powerbomb, Benoit became very confident, perhaps overconfident. As soon as Guerrero saw an opportunity to climb the ropes, everyone started getting excited because they knew he was going to go for the frog splash. Benoit quickly intercepted and hit a tremendous superlex that saw him take at least an equally wild bump as Guerrero on the way down. The finish was interesting. After Benoit had been in control for the majority of the match, Benoit was going to finish Guerrero off with a back suplex off the top, but Guerrero shoved Benoit down. Realizing that he was now with his back facing Benoit, and that he had to act fast, instead of awkwardly trying to find a way to get in a proper position for his finisher, Guerrero decided to hit a twisting variation of the frog splash. What a tremendous display of ability and versatility by the great Eddy Guerrero. Apart from the middle portion that saw a couple of interruptions, this match lived up to expectations for the most part. Very good match. ***½ 

WCW 12/29/96 Nashville, TN, No DQ: Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett 13:48.
DC: WCW Starrcade. Chris Benoit and Nancy Sullivan looked so happy together when they came down the aisle. This was the second time Chris Benoit and Jeff Jarrett wrestled each other. And just like in their recent TV match, Benoit tried to make the most out of his match with Jarrett. Double J had the homefield advantage here, so his country-worshiping Tennessee-style double-talking jiving was quite over with the live crowd. Jarrett was on one hand such an odd duck in WCW with his old-fashioned and rather weak-looking offense and almost unintentionally satirical approach to wrestling. Yet at the same time, he was such a smart worker, because he knew how to get a reaction out of the crowd, and he certainly understood the importance of timing within in-ring psychology. Since he wasn’t quite viewed as a star on the level of the top guys in the company, but also not quite viewed as a groundbreaking exotic star, he was often just kinda thrown around and put in angles and programs that seemed like part of simulator-esque booking. So, on one hand, it was weird seeing him programmed with wrestlers who had faced off against some of the most spectacular and dynamic international opponents that had been successful all over the world (especially considering Jarrett’s success had, apart from whenever his dad was booking in Memphis, only been during some of WWF’s weakest years). On the other hand, it was refreshing seeing this wonderful hodgepodge of WCW talent exchanging ideas and discovering deeper levels of adaptability on the spot. Jarrett is almost like a reverse Dean Malenko in that Jarrett has lots of charisma to back him up, and in spite of seemingly not really having much of a moveset, he at least executes everything quite well. Jarrett has that ‘it’ factor, I suppose you could say. So, while it was Benoit who was mainly responsible for this match being as good as it was, Jarrett deserves a lot of credit for not only hanging in there, but adding fuel to the fire, so to speak. Jarrett understood what direction this match was going in, and he understood how to keep the momentum of the match going while making sure both participants would end up looking like a million bucks. That’s talent. You either got it or you don’t. You can’t teach that. This (and that he and/or his father were front office in many places he worked) explains why this man has been able to be quite a successful personality in the pro wrestling business while having a rather small amount of recommendable matches on his resume. Benoit seemed to enjoy trying the Tennessee flavors Jarrett brought to the table and adding it to this surprisingly solid plate of quality ingredients. Jarrett was totally into this wonderful crafting of what really was the main course of the night and seemed to understand what Benoit was all about. The delicious side dish, Nancy Sullivan, was physically accosted by Dungeon of Doom members. In the meantime, Arn Anderson hit a DDT on Jarrett to show what looked like his disapproval of Jarrett, but when he rolled Jarrett back into the ring, Jarrett was on top of Benoit and scored the pinfall win. Total chaos and confusion in the end that left the viewers with more questions than answers. Even ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund couldn’t make sense of it, as he tried to get a reaction from Benoit and Nancy, who were too busy selling properly to speak. ‘Double A’ Arn Anderson also had no comments, leaving everyone wondering why he did what he did. The angle was interesting enough to make you kinda want to follow what is going to happen next, but, more importantly, the in-ring work was surprisingly fascinating. What potentially could have been a clash of styles, turned out to be almost the opposite, a falling into place of harmonies. Very good match. ***¾ 

WCW 12/30/96 Knoxville, TN Civic Coliseum: Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho 4:00.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 68. Chris Benoit lived up to his reputation as mister intensity. Chris Jericho really stepped up his game here, hitting all his moves excellently in this fast-paced TV bout. Jericho was alert and able to react at the right time, which is very important in a short match like this. For Benoit, working a memorable Nitro match has become almost second nature. The match ended after Benoit hit a backdrop suplex off the top rope. Good match. ***¼ 

WCW 1/20/97 Chicago, IL: Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan 1:55.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 71. Chris Benoit attacked the Taskmaster before they even made it to the ring. They started brawling through the crowd and in the hallway. This was clearly just a preview for next day’s Falls Count Anywhere match. They brawled a bit in the washroom, and then brawled their way through the crowd again. This wasn’t quite as awesome as their match at Great American Bash in ‘96, but it was quite an enjoyable and wild brawl. Someone handed Benoit a drink and he threw it right in Sullivan’s face. After brawling for four minutes and 20 seconds, they finally made it to the ring, and the referee rang the bell, officially signifying the start of the match, even though it would turn out that most of the ‘match’ had already taken place prior to them entering the ring. Benoit went for a flying headbutt, but Sullivan held the ring bell up, which resulted in Benoit ringing the bell with his head. The referee was distracted by Nancy Sullivan, who looked totally amazing in her red dress. And once the ref turned around, Sullivan scored the pinfall. A very enjoyable bout that served as a tremendous appetizer for next day’s event. Good match. ***¼ 

WCW 1/21/97 Milwaukee, WI, Falls Count Anywhere: Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan 5:04.
DC: WCW Clash of the Champions 34. Dusty Rhodes referred to this fight as a "domestic dispute," obviously referring to the fact that Chris Benoit was dating Nancy Sullivan, ‘bookerman’ Kevin Sullivan’s wife. Benoit and Sullivan continued right where they left off last night. They immediately went into the crowd and started brawling their way to the hallway and, as they always do in their brawls, the men’s washroom area. Once they were done there, they brawled through the crowd back towards the ring again. Benoit took a nasty bump down the stairs. Once they were in the ring, Sullivan tied Benoit up in the tree of woe. Nancy hit Kevin over the head with a chair, and this enabled Nancy’s new honey, Benoit, to score the pinfall win. It was enjoyable enough, for sure, but it felt like the previous night’s preview match was slightly better. Good match. ***

NJPW 3/5/97 Niigata: Wild Pegasus & Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa 7:59 of 19:26.
DC: After watching Wild Pegasus feud with Kevin Sullivan and beat up jobbers in WCW, it was nice to see him back in a competitive NJPW match again. It was interesting to see that Pegasus was pretty much doing a junior heavyweight version of his brawling ruggedness that he has been showing in WCW lately, and he managed to incorporate it quite well in this NJPW junior heavyweight trios match. Pegasus not only brought those spicy extra ingredients that was an interesting addition to this group of workers, but he seemed to inspire and motivate the others to show some extra intensity for this bout as well. Shinjiro Otani seemed particularly fired up and eager to constantly prove himself at this stage of his career. El Samurai was really solid and reliable in his showing here, as hoped for from this underrated veteran. Koji Kanemoto really seemed to finally start coming into his own around this time, showing more confidence and swagger than before. His timing and overall ring awareness seemed to have improved as well. Jushin Thunder Liger, the proud king and booker of this division, provided the essential ingredients to make sure this mixture stayed cohesive and on point. Tatsuhito Takaiwa was easily the weak link, as expected, but he actually tried and didn’t mess things up. One of his better performances, for sure. What a fun and fascinating bout. I wish Pegasus could have come over more often around this time, and I wish the entire match was available. Excellent match. ****

NJPW 3/8/97 Tokuyama City Gymnasium: Wild Pegasus & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa 9:51 of 15:30.
DC: This was basically a continuation of what they were doing in the 3/5/97 trios match, minus two workers, obviously. Because there were only four of them this time, they had a bit more time to work out the segments nicely and tell their story in a less rushed manner. Wild Pegasus was once again a nice fresh ingredient in the mix, but in a very unselfish way, not in an overpowering way, as he understood his position in the division at the time as a nice welcome addition who comes and goes. Tatsuhito Takaiwa once again performed above expectations. Jushin Thunder Liger and Shinjiro Otani continued the story of their in-ring feud, one of the main threads in the story of the NJPW junior heavyweight division at the time. Essentially, what they did here was work an AJPW heavyweight tag team match better than the AJPW heavyweight guys did, as their workrate was quite consistent and quite high with a superior sense of being engaged, which helped make it very intriguing overall. Another wonderful thing was how organic everything felt, as the match progressed so nicely and smoothly from one part to the next. The only minor downside was that it really felt like there could have been a longer finishing stretch to make the conclusion feel even more rewarding. However, perhaps this feeling was deceiving due to this being the TV edited version. It’s definitely a shame we didn’t get to see every minute of it because I’m sure I would be loving every minute of it. These guys should have been main eventing this company, because they were that good together. Excellent match. **** 

WCW 4/6/97 Tupelo, MS, WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title: Dean Malenko vs. Chris Benoit 17:53.
DC: WCW Spring Stampede. These two had several good matches against each other over the past few years, but they somehow never had a singles match together that really lived up to expectations. That was the main hope going into this show, these two living up or exceeding expectations. Chris Benoit had recently proven himself to still be a truly great worker, especially considering his recent and successful tour of Japan (during which he participated in two excellent tag matches). Dean Malenko was a somewhat boring but quite reliable solid hand in the WCW cruiserweight division, which at times overlapped with the U.S. Heavyweight Title ‘division.’ It felt like this was actually quite an important match of the card, and you could tell these two felt they had to live up to that vibe. This was essentially a slightly better version of their Hog Wild ‘96 match, as they made better use of the surprisingly good amount of time given. What they did better than in their previous matches was have a feel for the ebb and flow of the match, which helped make the technical stuff seem more meaningful instead of them just doing it for the sake of it. Now, we knew Benoit would be good at this, but it was nice to see Malenko show slightly more emotion and more sense for the importance of sincere selling. Malenko clearly had his heart and soul in the match, more than usual. It didn’t feel like he was in there just to seemingly partake in an exhibition, because this felt like a competitive fight. Benoit’s girlfriend, Woman (Nancy Sullivan), deserves credit for her great selling as well, providing beautiful facial expressions and loud screams for her honey. Benoit did a really cool move that saw him pick up Malenko and drop Malenko while Malenko had an arm submission applied. It’s a classic British Bulldogs spot. Just when they had all eyes drawn to the deliberate action, Jacqueline (on behalf of Kevin Sullivan) showed up and assaulted Woman. Dungeon of Doom manager Jimmy Hart wanted to steal the U.S. Title, but Eddy Guerrero showed up to prevent this. In the meantime, Benoit and Malenko kept fighting. Arn Anderson showed up to help Benoit, but Kevin Sullivan also showed up to interfere against Benoit. The referee couldn’t control it anymore and called for the bell. The official decision was a DQ win for Malenko, but it was just a minute of chaotic overbooking by ‘bookerman’ Kevin Sullivan that was a disappointing (albeit admittingly entertaining) finish of a very good match. The Dungeon of Doom representatives took the U.S. Title belt and put it on Guerrero (against his will) as they escorted him away. All in all, the crazily booked finish aside, the superb storytelling and intense focus made this their best match against each other. Very good match. ***¾  

WCW 5/18/97 Charlotte, NC, Death Match: Chris Benoit vs. Meng 14:54.
DC: WCW Slamboree. The story going into this match was that Nancy was very concerned about this match, but Chris Benoit had assured her that this is his battle and that she should not interfere. Their facial expressions prior to the bell told this story even better. This all put Meng (a.k.a. Haku) over big time as a super dangerous opponent. Hey, don’t forget that this is the guy so many wrestlers have said is arguably legit the toughest wrestler ever. Just as I’m writing that sentence, Tony Schiavone was literally saying the same thing. What was super interesting was that Benoit approached this battle against the powerful man from Tonga quite differently than he would almost all his other matches. Benoit tried to avoid getting in the clutches of Meng, so instead of a lock up, he tried to go for a strike, and then he tried to move away when Meng charged at him. Benoit also tried to counter Meng’s offense as quickly and effectively as he could. Like, I don’t want to make it sound like this was a shoot-style match or anything (in spite of Meng executing a half Boston crab), but this was about as realistic as it could get for a WCW match. This was mainly because they wouldn’t just let the opponent do whatever, they were constantly ready to either strike, avoid and/or counter each other at all times. This was such a different match for Benoit, and I really liked how willing and able he was to approach this match in a fresh manner. Every move had meaning and felt important and was executed to get someone closer to victory. What was extra awesome was how they both really had the same understanding for the type of match they were going for. Their chemistry was amazing, especially considering they never had a singles match together. They had faced off in a couple of tag matches, and they had been in a few trios matches, but this was the first true one-on-one battle they had. By the way, the only way anyone could win this match was by submission or knockout. The fans were totally into this match, even chanting "Benoit!" In spite of this match being so different, they still found a way to incorporate Benoit’s awesome suicide dive in a logical manner, thankfully. In my book, this shows that WCW could have pushed actual good wrestling more than they did. The finish was pretty awesome and probably the best possible finish if Benoit wasn’t going to win anyway. What a wonderful, unique and creative match. One of the most underrated and overlooked matches ever. Great match. ****½ 

WCW 6/15/97 Moline, IL, Death Match: Chris Benoit vs. Meng 14:59.
DC: WCW Great American Bash. This was the return death match of their surprisingly awesome Slamboree match. Chris Benoit started attacking Meng right away, as he hit him with a suicide dive during Meng’s ring entrance. Benoit then hit a diving headbutt and applied the crippler crossface. Meng powered his way out of the hold, though. Benoit kept attacking Meng, not wanting to give Meng a chance to do anything significant in the form of offense. Meng was a solid hand, as usual, but it was Benoit’s approach to these Meng singles matches that made them so memorable. Benoit wrestled these like it was indeed life or death. Meng was a bit slow, but he was such a powerful and intimidating force, that he could get away with this. Meng was vicious whenever he was on offense, and Benoit sold it well. Meng hit a splash off the top rope and tried to cover Benoit, but this was submission and knockout only. They kept trying to apply their respective finishers on each other, the crippler crossface versus the Tongan deathgrip. In an unbelievable result, Benoit actually beat Meng via the crippler crossface. Dusty Rhodes called it "a historic moment in big time sports." While this battle was good, it wasn’t nearly as good as their Slamboree match, unfortunately. Especially as the match went on, things slowed down and started lacking the vigor of the early part of the match. The sense of struggle was quite well done all the way through, though. Good match. ***¼ 

WCW 6/21/97 Oberhausen, Germany: Chris Benoit vs. Meng 17:50.
DC: Even though they didn’t wrestle this as awesomely as their surprisingly great death match from Slamboree, there were enough elements left from that match that carried over into this match that made it a satisfying rematch, especially considering this was ‘just’ an overseas tour that happened to be televised on DSF, one of the main sports channels in Germany. Once again, what they tried to do was to not just simply let the opponent do whatever, but they actually tried to react as appropriately as possible, which could be a counter, an attempt to avoid a move or to simply strike back. They constantly went head on while still selling a good amount to make it at least more manageable than their incomparable Slamboree match. This match was wrestled like a hard-hitting heavyweight match. It was essentially, kinda like, Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (for WCW standards, at least) in the sense that it had a lot of focus on top-notch in-ring storytelling with every move having meaning and them not just doing things mindlessly for the sake of it. Like, not quite AJPW-esque in terms of the epic build up or anything, but if Benoit and Meng were going to be positioned as main eventers and main rivals, and if WCW actually cared for something like that, I could see their feud reaching those levels potentially. I loved Meng’s almost ironic selling of the half Boston crab. Meng’s trapezius claw looked a lot more effective than Kokina’s version, because it looked like he was actually applying pressure instead of just taking a nap. This wasn’t quite as awesome as their Slamboree match, obviously, but for an obscure overseas tour match, they did really well. And it was sweet to see Benoit get the pinfall win. Very good match. ***¾ 

WCW 7/13/97 Daytona, FL: Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan 13:10.
DC: Bash At The Beach. This was wild. They went at it right away, showing that this feud was still hot and far from over. In Kevin Sullivan’s corner was Jacqueline, and this match featured some of Jacqueline’s best performances, as she even worked a few cool-looking spots with Chris Benoit on the floor. What was especially awesome about this match is that it featured the same intensity of their famous Great American Bash ‘96 match without rehashing similar elements for the most part, as they introduced fresh elements here, literally with a new set and setting. The main ingredient, the intensity, was the main thing they carried over successfully all the way through their feud. Sullivan was such an effective brawler if he wanted to be. And Benoit showed just as much passion as ever before. I love how he is so comfortable at quietly reinventing himself without losing touch with his character’s core, not just rehashing things, but constantly trying to evolve. By the way, Raven and Stevie Richards were sitting at ringside. Anyway, this was Sullivan’s final singles match in WCW history. What I really liked is how they were channeling the same energy of their famous June ‘96 match, but they made the effort to do it differently. It really felt special and unique. The finish was cool, and people in the crowd were super excited about it. Because of the real-life nature of the affair between Benoit and Kevin Sullivan’s wife, Nancy Sullivan (a.k.a. Woman), Woman stopped appearing as an on-screen character, while the Sullivans were officially going through a divorce around this time in real life. Excellent match. ****¼ 

WCW 8/4/97 Auburn Hills, MI: Chris Benoit vs. Syxx 4:01.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 99. These were two of my top 5 favorite wrestlers when this match happened. Syxx (Sean Waltman a.k.a. The Lightning Kid/1-2-3 Kid) was a pioneer of high-flying American junior heavyweight wrestling back in the early 1990s, but by the mid 1990s, his affiliation with some of the most powerful backstage backstabbers seemed to halt his growth as an in-ring worker. Say what you want about Chris Benoit, but at least he stayed true to his quest to be as great as possible in the ring without any desire for power or backstage politics. It was nice to see Benoit do some of his junior heavyweight stuff again while not completely abandoning the credibility he had built up as a top brawler after his awesome feuds with Meng and Kevin Sullivan. And say what you want about Sean Waltman, but this man knows how to make a short match memorable, as he once again proved he is the true master of the match under 5 minutes. This is just absolutely phenomenal while it lasts. Probably the best 4-minute match ever. Very good match. ***½  

NJPW 9/17/97 Osaka: Wild Pegasus vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. 7:16.
DC: The Japanese commentators marked out for Dr. Wagner Jr.’s CMLL shirt. Wild Pegasus continued his amazingly progressive year of 1997. What was interesting here was the type of lucharesu they did here. Pegasus had been in Mexico various times, and he was willing to do lucha, but he enjoyed staying true to his no-nonsense ‘Canadian Crippler’ persona at the same time. Dr. Wagner Jr. was pure lucha, but he was willing and able to approach lucha in a raw and intense manner, making him perfect for these more hard-hitting Japanese tours. So, basically, what Pegasus and Wagner Jr. did here was work the style of the future. They didn’t quite go all the way, though, but what they did in these seven minutes felt very memorable and significant. Very good match. ***¾ 

NJPW 9/22/97 Niigata: Wild Pegasus & Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Kendo Kashin vs. Chris Jericho & Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa 16:16.
DC: Wow. What a line-up! Jushin Thunder Liger and Shinjiro Otani continued their tremendous in-ring rivalry, and both were great with their execution and timing. Kendo Kashin was an obvious weak link, and he lacked the speed and execution of everyone else (and at times seemed oblivious about the overall vibe of the match), but luckily he was only one of ten guys and didn’t play a major role. Kashin knew how to execute a brainbuster quite well, though. El Samurai was good in his veteran ‘enforcer’ role on his team, as he was such a reliable and experienced guy and had a good feel for what this match should be like. Tatsuhito Takaiwa was fine, as this wasn’t his best nor his worst showing, and he did what he could, which was well below most of the other guys in this match. Wild Pegasus was tremendous, and it was great to see him back in a multi-man junior heavyweight match like this. He showed his intensity and determination. Chris Jericho worked smooth-looking sequences with fellow Canadian and fellow WCW representative Pegasus. Jericho, who was still improving as a worker at the time, brought an interesting extra flavor of glamor to the match due to his charisma and drive to succeed. It was good for him to be in a match like this to get some more of that high-quality workrate surrounding him to inspire him to dig deeper. Koji Kanemoto was excellent in his role as the smug Otani’s uncouth companion. The action was consistent while still allowing for selling to occur appropriately. 16 minutes kind of is too short for a match featuring ten workers, but they used the time quite well overall. Perhaps if the match would have been longer, it would have allowed for more focus and storytelling, as at times, this match felt a bit chaotic and almost rushed. Still, the fact that this fascinating match-up took place and turned out to be so enjoyable really makes it unforgettable. Excellent match. **** 

NJPW 9/23/97 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Wild Pegasus & Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Chris Jericho & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Koji Kanemoto 16:15.
DC: Wild Pegasus was involved in some really cool match-ups on this tour, and this was one of them. This didn’t quite have the energy of the 9/22/97 ten-man tag team bout, but it was quite enjoyable overall. Apart from the novelty of seeing Wild Pegasus, Chris Jericho and Dr. Wagner Jr. sharing the same ring as three of the top NJPW junior heavyweights, it wasn’t all that amazing as a match itself. Don’t get me wrong, though, as this was all very good stuff, as you can imagine with these guys. It’s just that this didn’t quite live up to expectations after the excellent 9/22/97 ten-man tag. The execution was really good, but the match could have used a bit more urgency, which would have made it feel a bit more important than it turned out to be. That being said, the match had its moments, and the final minutes were quite cool. Very good match. ***½

WCW 10/28/96 Phoenix, AZ: Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero 8:23.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 59. Chris Benoit had his left shoulder taped up. Eddy Guerrero had his ribs taped up. Referee Nick Patrick had a neck brace on. That didn’t stop these guys from trying to deliver the best match possible, though. The beautiful Nancy Sullivan made sure to carefully remove the injured Benoit’s vest after his ring intro. There was more selling than usually would be the case in their WCW matches. Usually, Benoit and Guerrero love to show their tremendous athleticism and explosiveness, especially when facing each other in WCW TV matches. However, on this night, it was about survival and seeing which one of the two would be able to come out of this bout the least damaged. This really felt like a grudge match, and they did what was naturally the best thing to do, considering the injuries involved. It was a lot more brawling and rough housing than what you’d normally see from a Benoit vs. Guerrero match. And mainly lots more selling and storytelling. A move like an abdominal stretch performed by Benoit on Guerrero looked extra painful in this particular match. Guerrero performed a Mil Mascaras-esque flying cross body press that seemed to take the wind out of him, even though he was the one executing the move. Benoit’s fellow Horseman, Steve McMichael (referred to by Tony Schiavone as "just scum"), interfered and briefly hit the injured Guerrero with a briefcase, which obviously was more than enough to get Benoit the victory on this night. This was obviously not even close to being one of the most memorable Benoit vs. Guerrero matches, but it was arguably the most different one you’ll ever see. Good match. ***

WCW 11/18/96 Florence, SC: Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero 9:25.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 62. This was much different from their 10/28/96 match, which happened when both were visibly injured and taped up. This time, they displayed the fast and explosive action we have grown used to seeing from them. What’s so great about these guys is that each match they have is different, in spite of them wrestling each other quite often. The wrestling world was truly blessed when these guys were wrestling each other. The gorgeous Nancy Sullivan, who was by this point in time living separately from her husband Kevin Sullivan, was screaming out loud whenever Benoit was in trouble. After some really smooth and fast sequences, realizing that Guerrero was fresh and recovered from his injuries, Benoit tried to keep Guerrero on the mat. Benoit was particularly aiming his attack on Guerrero’s left arm. Guerrero would occasionally make a brief comeback, which immediately put Benoit in full alert mode, as he knew better than anyone how easy it was for Guerrero to completely turn a match around via his dynamic offense. Benoit decided a more hard-hitting approach was needed, and he started throwing Guerrero around the ring in a vicious manner. Benoit hit a superplex, but he smartly sold the impact of coming down on the mat himself, which then enabled a near fall to be even more realistic. Guerrero is such a well-trained athlete that he came off the top rope for a splash, and had his senses catch just in time the fact that Benoit was rolling away, so his body naturally and promptly reacted with a fall-breaking roll (exactly similar to what would happen when he would get in a severe car crash on 1/1/99, and it was this natural reaction that actually saved his life when that crash happened). Guerrero tried to pin Benoit with a huracarrana, but Benoit’s power enabled the Canadian Crippler to counter and pin Guerrero for the win. What was so good about this match was the ebb and flow that saw both men adapt and react to the situation at hand. Benoit initially was dominating and had a strategy in mind, but he was willing and able to go to plan B when he noticed that on this night, it would be better to approach Guerrero’s restless energy differently. Guerrero’s natural instincts and talents truly shone through, and that’s why Benoit (in the story they were telling in this match) was struggling quite a bit to get back on track. Eventually, due to the familiarity with each other, the match could really go either way, and it was a case of which man was able to outthink the other one just a bit quicker on this night. And, that’s exactly what got Benoit the win. This wasn’t their best match, but it was fantastic to see them have yet again a different type of match with so much enthusiasm and passion. In spite of this match not being as non-stop full blast as a lot of their other WCW TV matches under ten minutes, they really made the most of their time here thanks to the tremendous storytelling and tremendous chemistry. Excellent match. **** 

WCW 12/2/96 Dayton, OH, WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title Tournament Quarter Final: Chris Benoit vs. Lord Steven Regal 6:26.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 64. Scott Hall, who was on guest commentary (with Kevin Nash), referred to Benoit as ‘Dynamite’ Chris Benoit. I like that. These two guys were working snug and stiff from start to finish. Benoit headbutted His Lordship Steven Regal hard enough to split Regal’s forehead open. Unfortunately, they had to go to a wide camera shot due to the blood. Hall tried to cover it up by saying they went to a wide camera shot to see if Sting was hiding somewhere. The bout never maintained the intensity it had until the blood started flowing, almost like they were worried they’d get in trouble and toned things down a bit. That being said, the action was still quite good all the way through till the end. Regal even hit a double-underhook suplex off the top rope that almost got him the win. In the end, Benoit scored the win via the dragon suplex. Ultimately, this was a match that was on its way to being a hidden gem but didn’t quite reach that status. Good match. ***

2/25/95 ECW World Tag Title: Sabu & The Tazmaniac vs. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko 10:28
ML: Johnny Grunge wheeled Rocco Rock out, and Rocco cut a promo complaining about the ref missing Public Enemy winning the tag titles from Sabu & Taz on 2/4/95, and Benoit then putting him in a wheelchair as a result. Malenko rolled Rocco into Benoit's lariat, then Benoit wheeled Rocco into the guardrail, but Sabu & Taz eventually saved Grunge, and the title match started. I don't know if there were ever supposed to be rules, but this wound up being a Texas Tornado style sprint where everyone was going at it at once until someone got taken out briefly, which allowed their opponents to double team their partner. Although they were trying to create chaos, this didn't feel like the usual multi-man mess, as they were always telling a story, and trying to maintain some semblance of believability. Benoit & Malenko brought logic and credibility, even making a street fight type of match strategic. This wasn't exactly a showcase of Malenko's matwork, but Benoit & Malenko did a good job of fitting into ECW brawling without having it take too much away from their actual wrestling, and everyone provided exciting chaos. Sabu did a lot of wild flying, but they were going after his injured neck, including a doomsday device and Malenko doing two brainbusters. Taz was doing the only thing he does well, throw suplexes, until they crippled his knee when they were able to double team him. Paul E. had 911 carry Taz to the back for his own good, so Sabu had to finish alone. This idea was fine, but this would have worked a lot better with real rules because they could have isolated Taz, and really worked it over. As it stood, there just wasn't enough actual knee work to keep Taz from seem like a quitter. Sabu's big comeback where he kept diving at both opponents actually didn't feel too ridiculous. Sabu finally got too greedy trying to set a chair on top of a table across the top rope, and Benoit wound up giving him the deadly avalanche powerbomb to take the titles. Benoit called out Public Enemy afterwards, and Rocco now managed to hobble along with Grunge, complete with a ridiculous ketchup blood stain on his shirt from his ribs being reinjured. 911 carried Taz back now that they'd already lost the titles because he was too injured to continue, and 911 press slammed Taz to the floor onto the others. Sabu then gave them a plancha, and they all brawled to the back. ***1/4

1/14/95 ECW: Chris Benoit vs. Too Cold Scorpio 13:28
ML: This was a small show as part of ECW's expansion from their northern Philadelphia home all the way south to Florida to support their new syndication on the Sunshine Network, which was apparently made even smaller by bad weather. One of their new mouth breathers kept yelling, "kick him in the balls Too Cold." Later, Scorpio did the leg drop to the groin, and the fan yelled, "that's what I'm talking about Too Cold!" This was an oddly paced match that at first appeared to be built around the storyline of Benoit & Malenko having previously injured Scorpio's neck, but didn't really follow up on that. Benoit was being a lot more methodical than usual, and not pushing the pace like he normally would. The first half was like a simplistic '80s territory match, with punches, kicks, a headbutt and Boston crab. Scorpio got to his feet then used a Pele kick to his finally escape Benoit's chinlock. This was all well done, but not super inspiring. Things picked up with Benoit's go behind into the German suplex, then a snap suplex. They opened up in the second half enough to make this recommendable, before Benoit got a flash pin after Scorpio avoided the dragon suplex. Benoit has more respect for Scorpio than for Snow, so this was more competitive, but the effort from both Benoit & Snow was a lot higher for the bigger 2/4 show, resulting in that being a better match even though this sounds superior on paper. ***

2/4/95 ECW: Chris Benoit vs. Al Snow 14:36
ML: Arguably the best quality of Benoit is that he does everything like he is actually trying to harm his opponent with it. There's none of that loose and lazy execution where he's very obviously just holding an arm without applying force to any joint. The early portion here is a lot more serious than it would be with most anyone else doing it because there's actually a sense of the wrestlers resisting each other during the test of strength, instead of just holding hands and helping the losing wrestler balance on his bridge. This was kind of one-sided though, with Benoit overwhelming Snow with his brutality, which was coming across more strongly as he aimed to prove he really was "The Crippler" by making all his offense look more punishing than when anyone else used the same moves. Snow was new here, and while he did enough to gain some fans, you never really believed that he could win this match. Not that he should really be going 50/50 with Benoit, but he didn't get to express himself the way he did in his matches against Sabu that we also knew he would lose. He was basically just plugged into the Benoit vs. "young boy" formula where Benoit established himself as the superior wrestler, but gave the opponent enough hope spots to keep it interesting. Snow hung in long enough to get his swandive dropkick in and finally have a good run of suplexes, but while Joey Styles was putting over his resiliance, this was high quality wrestling without much actual drama. The match helped Benoit to an extent because he was still getting over here himself, and you could see where this could have helped set him up for a main event with Sabu had things worked out differently, but this was more Paul Heyman just telling them to go have a good match to save this otherwise underwhelming show. ***1/4

NJPW 7/13/95 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center, BOSJ II Final: Wild Pegasus vs. Shinjiro Otani 19:16.
DC: During the round robin portion of this Best of the Super Juniors II tournament, Wild Pegasus, Black Tiger II, Koji Kanemoto and Shinjiro Otani all finished with ten points, and that‘s why they advanced to the semifinals. The other participants were El Samurai, Gran Hamada, Dean Malenko, Brian Pillman, Alex Wright and Norio Honaga. In the semifinals, which took place on the same show as the final, Wild Pegasus wrestled an all-time classic against Black Tiger II, and Shinjiro Otani defeated Koji Kanemoto to reach the final. One of the main issues with this final match between Pegasus and Otani is exactly the fact that both workers had wrestled over 15 minutes earlier on the show. While this tournament final was interesting and quite good, it felt a bit anticlimactic, especially with the semifinal match Pegasus had against Eddy Guerrero earlier on still fresh in mind. It really felt like Pegasus and Otani didn’t have the energy to bother doing anything really exceptional until the 15-minute mark of this final. It was during those final four minutes that they worked an exciting finishing stretch to a satisfying conclusion. Pegasus ended up winning the match and the tournament. Good match. ***¼ 

NJPW 3/9/96 Iwakuni City Gym: Wild Pegasus & Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai 15:04.
DC: It’s always good to see Wild Pegasus back in a NJPW ring. This was still when WCW would actually allow him to tour Japan, which were the good old days, for sure. It’s nice to see that Pegasus and Jushin Thunder Liger have always upgraded their in-ring confrontations to where they were at as workers at the time, in an upgraded manner, not in a downgraded or taken for granted kinda way. Here in this bout, they were rougher with each other, Pegasus focusing more on his tenacity and intensity than ever before, and Liger focusing more on selling and storytelling than ever before. This was a very gritty tag team match, with everyone being rough with each other, never giving anyone a chance to rest or relax too much. Pegasus, Liger and El Samurai were all on top of their game here. Tokimitsu Ishizawa was easily the weak link of the match. The poor guy didn’t know what he was doing and was visibly nervous and scared whenever he was in the ring. The best he could do was sell in fear while he was being beaten up. All three of the other guys had been wrestling for 9+ years, and he had only been wrestling for three years without ever having been given much of a push (the closest to a push he got was teaming with Dean Malenko in the 1994 junior tag league). So, it was understandable that he was kinda lost here. Ishizawa was good at executing two moves, the uppercut and the brainbuster. Those moves he executed quite well, but everything else he did looked weak at best. When Ishizawa wasn’t in the ring, Pegasus, Liger and Samurai were just working away, being the great workers that they were. Liger had a soft spot for this weakling, so he kept giving him a chance, and that’s why he was in this match. Ishizawa actually wasn’t that bad, as he was merely a precursor to all the passionless overrated people that would come after him in NJPW. The finish was exciting, as Pegasus was about to pin Samurai after a flying headbutt. Liger broke up the pin, though. Liger and Samurai hit a double flying headbutt on Ishizawa. Samurai hit a tope suicida on Pegasus. As a ‘compassionate’ concession,  Liger pretended that Ishizawa kicked out of the Liger bomb cover attempt. Samurai hit a superplex on Ishizawa, which was followed up by Liger with a splash. That turned out to be the pinfall victory for the superior team. In spite of Ishizawa being super mediocre, the fact that the other three were really giving tremendous performances made this match quite memorable. All in all, this was quite fun to watch. Very good match. ***½ 

NJPW 5/28/96 Nagano Big Hut, BOSJ III Block A: Wild Pegasus vs. El Samurai 16:07.
DC: Both men were quite familiar with each other, as they had been in the ring many times before. Their most notable confrontations were the excellent TOSJ IV final on 6/14/93 and the truly great BOSJ II league match on 7/7/95. So, the expectations were high for this Best of the Super Juniors III match. After some grappling that was quite well done due to them making the other struggle, Wild Pegasus started dominating El Samurai by showing his typically high level of intensity. Once Samurai was able to shake off the cobwebs, he was clearly realizing that he had to step up his game with the international superstar. Pegasus had been wrestling a wide variety of opponents in different countries since last year’s BOSJ tournament, but he clearly still enjoyed and excelled at being a top guy in the NJPW junior heavyweight division. It was interesting to see him incorporate the elements of the worker who he was at that time into a compelling BOSJ match, instead of just trying to rehash old routines from the past. This display of versatility and evolution displayed by Pegasus made this match be yet another unique and fascinating meeting between these two top-notch junior heavyweights. The eagerness and energy displayed by Pegasus when he hit a tope suicida showed that he was still as hungry as ever before. Samurai gave a passionate reply in the form of a tremendous tope suicida of his own. As the match went on, these two continued to display top-level wrestling that made up the finishing stretch of this bout. After several near falls, Samurai scored the pinfall via a tiger suplex. This was kind of a surprise, yet it actually wasn’t really. That’s because the match was so wonderfully worked that it was possible for victory to go either way. This wasn’t quite as amazing as their 7/7/95 masterpiece, but it was definitely a tremendous example of top-level wrestling from 1996. This turned out to be their final singles match against each other. Great match. ****½ 

NJPW 6/12/96 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Wild Pegasus & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa.
DC: Two members of the Junior Four Horsemen, Wild Pegasus and El Samurai, were present for this bout. The other two members were Jushin Thunder Liger and Gran Hamada, by the way. Shinjiro Otani really started coming into his own around this time, and here he was teaming with Tatsuhito Takaiwa, a worker he faced in the Young Lion Cup earlier that year. The gap in experience was more than five years, and the Horsemen team wasted no time beating up the Young Lion team. Otani was clearly a far more talented wrestler than Takaiwa was, and it’s no surprise that Otani would in less than two months after this match be one of the breakout stars of the J-Crown tournament. Of course, Otani had been WCW Cruiserweight Champion earlier in the year (after an impressive victory over Wild Pegasus in an excellent match), but nobody seemed to really care about that, unfortunately. The Japanese couldn’t care less about a WCW title that wasn’t going to be defended in Japan anyway. And WCW pretended that Otani was merely the winner of a number one contender’s match instead of the actual champion. Oh well. In this tag team match, the crowd reacted big time to Benoit’s vicious assault on Otani. Benoit was so vicious that the younger team knew it was a good idea to try to keep the relatively calm Samurai in their corner as long as possible. Otani put over the story of the match quite well, but Takaiwa seemed lost, disinterested and scared at the same time, like a spoiled young adult forced to start working for his money. When Otani was in the match, he picked up the slack for his team and was doing all kinds of excellent stuff, including several springboard moves on Pegasus. After Pegasus spent some time selling tremendously for Otani, he managed to finish Otani off by powerbombing the crap out of him. The junior Horsemen winning the match was expected, but the story of them having more trouble trying to beat Otani than expected was well executed. Very good match. ***¾  

WCW 7/15/96 Orlando, FL: Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero 9:38.
DC: WCW Nitro episode 44. These were exciting times in WCW. Nitro had become the hottest TV show on Monday night, not only because the nWo angle got people more curious about WCW, but also because Nitro featured great workers like Chris Benoit and Eddy Guerrero, two of the very best workers in the world at the time. Benoit was violent and vicious in his approach, like a human wolverine. Benoit was so focused on being the best wrestler he could possibly be, not worrying about tomorrow, not worrying about any nWo angles, just purely focusing on this match with Guerrero. Of course, these two had wrestled each other, like, over 40 times (including tag matches), of which were, like, probably nearly 30 singles matches. And this familiarity showed in the way of the super smooth sequences and transitions. Of course, not everyone cared about this match as much as they should, as WCW was pushing these two guys more like side attractions who do the actual wrestling stuff, as opposed to the main event guys who do more posing, talking and angle stuff. That being said, this match was excellent. They really did the most with the nine minutes they got. The best thing about these guys wrestling each other so often is that they basically can just continue where they left off previously, as they don’t have to go through any sort of feeling-out type phases anymore. Their matches are always passionate and they’re always different, as they spontaneously executed whatever was flowing through them in the moment. At some point, when the action had spilled to the floor, Dean Malenko ran out and attacked Benoit. You gotta give it to Malenko for finding a way to now even drag down matches involving these two great guys without even being in the match himself. Guerrero rolled back into the ring and won via count-out. A disappointing finish to a match that otherwise totally delivered. Excellent match. ****

WCW 8/10/96 Sturgis, SD: Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko 26:55.
DC: This was from the Hog Wild PPV, which took place outdoors at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally with a lot of bikers in attendance. As bizarre as that sounds, you gotta give WCW credit for trying something very different. Dean Malenko was a very good wrestler, but he probably was pushed as much as he was mainly because he was the best American in the WCW cruiserweight division. The match was very much a mat-based match with a lot of focus on applying holds on the match. Malenko did a lot of technical stuff, but he failed to really have it make any sense in a larger context. Chris Benoit was certainly capable of working on the mat, as he had shown in Japan over the years, but Benoit understood to mix things up with some more high-impact type stuff, especially since Malenko wasn’t up to the task of taking things to the next level with his standard mat wrestling. Benoit, being the great professional that he was, knew exactly how to change the ebb and flow of the match, which ultimately was the main strength of this particular match, since it was way longer than the matches these guys would usually wrestle in WCW. Another thing that really worked well was the fact that around the eight-minute mark of the match, they were teasing a potential finish for the first time in the match, as Benoit went for the flying headbutt, one of his main finishers. This was particularly effective, as it’s usually around the eight- or nine-minute mark that these WCW cruiserweight matches end, if we’re lucky (oftentimes they get even less time, unfortunately). It’s a shame that Malenko didn’t show any fire or determination and was just going through the motions in spite of having been one of the most pushed guys in the division. Benoit’s usual pure dedication for focusing on the match at hand made up for it, though. Around the 11-minute mark, they teased a potential (double) count-out finish, but once again the match hadn’t reached its end. Then we got several near-fall moments in the middle of the ring. At the 15-minute mark, it was announced by ring announcer Dave Penzer that there were only five minutes left. At that point, a time limit draw seemed quite likely, but since the workers had been going back and forth with near falls on and off, it was also plausible that an actual winner could come out of this. In the end, we did get a time limit draw, which was a disappointing finish. But, then, they announced a five-minute overtime period! A nice surprise that brought some more excitement back into this match. Pegasus tried to beat Malenko with Malenko’s own hold, the Texas Cloverleaf. Malenko started limping around. Benoit kept trying to beat Malenko via leg submission holds. However, the 5-minute overtime period ended just before Malenko was about to try to pin Benoit via an inside cradle. Shockingly, this match got a second 5-minute overtime period! Benoit tried to pin Malenko with a dragon suplex. Towards the end, they started doing some sequences that were reminiscent of their NJPW meetings. In the end, the beautiful Woman (Nancy Sullivan) decided to interfere in a somewhat subtle manner. It was enough for Malenko to get shaken up enough to fall prey to Benoit’s rollup. We actually got a winner in this surprisingly long match, and it was the right man. Prior to this Hog Wild match, these two actually had never had a singles match higher than 3.25 stars together, so this was about as good as it gets for this single-match combination. Very good match. ***½

WCW 9/15/96 Winston-Salem, NC: Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho 14:36.
DC: Chris Jericho had wrestled only ten matches in WCW prior to this big PPV match, since his first WCW match took place less than a month prior to this match at Fall Brawl. This Fall Brawl PPV featured a Wargames match in the main event, so there were two rings set up for this show. This match always stayed inside one of the rings only, though, which emphasized that this was a serious pro wrestling contest without the need for any gimmicky distractions. These two Canadians had wrestled each other in a great match in Japan on 12/13/95, so they were certainly no strangers. As a matter of fact, it was actually Chris Benoit who had recommended Jericho to WCW. Jericho certainly made the most of the opportunities given, as he was impressive in WCW from the start. He showed lots of charisma and he was able to execute plenty of moves that showed his international experience (including several moves that showcased his ability to use the ropes to his advantage). Benoit made sure to show he was the man, though, as Benoit really took it to Lion Heart. Since this was in North Carolina, Horsemen country, the crowd was loud and showing their approval for Horsemen member Benoit. Especially during the early portions of the match, Benoit was quite dominant to further emphasize the great experienced wrestler vs. promising rising star dynamic between the two Western Canadians. Benoit even went for a cover relatively early, almost in an arrogant way, which fit well with his status as the no-nonsense member of the Horsemen who took care of business in the ring but was running with a pack of glamorous stablemates. Whenever Benoit gave Jericho the opportunity to hit a move back, Benoit made sure to sell appropriately for it before quickly returning to attack mode. Benoit’s always so great understanding of the ebb and flow of matches was certainly on full display here, as this enabled the match to tell the story of the dynamic between these two without ever coming across like a match that wasn’t one between two stars. Benoit yelled at Jericho: "Come on Jericho! You wanna be famous?" You could tell that Jericho still relied a lot on a more experienced opponent like Benoit to dictate the flow of the match, but that showed his willingness to learn how to get better. Benoit liked to keep the pace high in his matches, so this match rarely slowed down and certainly never was uninteresting. Benoit’s pushing of the pace and his determination to make this a memorable bout, especially understanding his responsibility to enhance the quality, ensured that he forced Jericho to work hard and be alert at all times. Even during the brief abdominal stretch segment, the intensity and viciousness shown by Benoit, combined with the tremendous selling by Jericho made it another useful part of the match rather than a down part of the match. This really confirmed that these guys wanted to make sure every move had a meaning and purpose. This bout wasn’t quite as great as their 12/13/95 match that had taken place in Japan, but for a match that really was positioned on the card as just another WCW midcard match, they really stole the show and delivered a memorable match (only rivaled by Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Super Calo for match of the night status). The only downside of the match was that it didn’t quite have the back-and-forth near falls segment that could have potentially pushed a match featuring international stars like this one to MOTY level. It was definitely nice to see Benoit get an opportunity to have a PPV match of this quality again, which only happened once in a while during his WCW run. And for Jericho, this was a match of huge importance in the story of him working his way up in the pro wrestling business, as this was a match in which he showed he was able to keep living up to the reputation of a promising rising star. Excellent match. ****¼

NJPW 9/23/96 Yokohama: Wild Pegasus vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 18:31.
DC: This was Jushin Thunder Liger’s return match after he was initially diagnosed with a severe brain tumor. Liger was very scared, especially since the doctor who diagnosed him said Liger would never wrestle again and would have to have his head cut open with very little hope. Liger then went to another doctor who told him that whatever the issue actually was could be treated with lasers, and he was fine after that. Liger described this situation as going from hell to heaven. So, thankfully, Liger was back in the ring to continue his career as an all-time great pro wrestler. Whenever Liger and Wild Pegasus battle each other, it’s worth watching, and this one was no exception. Pegasus had been on a roll in WCW, truly enhancing the overall in-ring quality of the league by carrying people left and right and making shows worth watching. By this point in his career, Pegasus was showing lots of confidence, which was a perfect companion to his aggressive wrestling style. In prior years, Pegasus would always come across as a sympathetic young man, but by 1996, he had become truly a vicious and tenacious man. Jushin Thunder Liger’s excitement for being back in the ring with Pegasus and being back in the ring period was quickly interrupted by Pegasus’ eagerness to trap Liger in holds on the mat. Pegasus not only knew that Liger was an opponent he would have to ground based on Liger’s style (you’ve got to understand that Pegasus still remembers Liger as a more high-flying type of guy), but Pegasus also seemed to find pleasure in having a match that was completely different from the type of matches he’d been having in WCW during the past few months. After all, there was no title at stake, so it made complete sense for Pegasus to try to go for an approach that was more interesting than simply playing it safe. This shows that Pegasus truly cared and respected not only Liger, but also himself and the pro wrestling business and its fans. Pegasus chose to sincerely show care and passion for what he was doing. Liger obviously appreciated this and went along with this approach. Now, perhaps due to Liger’s recent health scare, Liger was a bit more laid back and passive than you’d expect, but this was understandable. And it was interesting to see how Pegasus would deal with essentially being the one having to make the match. Pegasus essentially wrestled like an interesting blend between NJPW Pegasus of previous years and WCW Crippler of 1996 Nitro in this match. And Liger basically approached this match like he was Bret Hart, focusing more on unselfish selling and allowing his opponent to add his stamp to the match. When Liger decided it was time to make sure his stamp was visible, he started working over Pegasus’ arm, giving the confident Pegasus a reason to worry more than he had been doing. In the story of the match, Pegasus tried to end this match abruptly, by trying to powerbomb Liger off the top rope. Liger managed to avoid what would certainly have been the end of the match if Pegasus would have been successful in executing the move (as Pegasus had been so successful in using the powerbomb off the top rope in previous years). Liger made sure to hit Benoit with a few palm blows and a couple of Liger bombs to make sure Benoit would stay down for the three count. This was a really well done match. The main downside was that there wasn’t much of an exciting finishing stretch, but you could see that as being fitting for the most strategic type of match they went for (as opposed to some of their more flashy matches from the past). Excellent match. ****

11/4/94 ECW World Television Title: Too Cold Scorpio vs. Dean Malenko 13:40
ML: With the acquisitions of Benoit, Malenko, and Scorpio, ECW finally had the opportunity to expand beyond a chaotic hardcore promotion. This was the first good ECW match that didn't involve Sabu, and their first match that could be classified as a Japanese style junior match, although Malenko didn't exactly fit that mold even though he was mostly wrestling in NJPW, where Scorpio had been trained. Malenko was a beautiful mover when he actually moved. It's unfortunate that we never saw him in the UK because incorporating his gymnastics and tumbling into his technical wrestling, as was long the style there, would have made him an all-time great. As it stands, "The Shooter" was a good nickname for him because he's a control wrestler in the one variation of wrestling that doesn't actually reward that. This was solid, crisply executed technical wrestling match, but with some more movement and some less control, it would have been a lot more memorable. In the end, it was a junior heavyweight match where Malenko was trying to ground his opponent, so the highlights were mostly Scorpio's high flying. Scorpio got a near fall with an avalanche victory roll. The match didn't really pick up until the finishing segment, where Malenko avoided a moonsault then took Scorpio out with a swinging neckbreaker, which looked great and was all the more vicious because Scorpio supposedly had an injured neck. ***

1/7/95 ECW: Paul Lauria vs. Mikey Whipwreck 11:13
ML: I have a soft spot in my heart for this match, as it was the first match on the 1st ECW show I saw now that MSG cable had picked up ECW syndication. From this point, I saw mostly everything from the promotion more or less as it happened until they died in 2001. These two were Sonny Blaze students from the New York ECW wrestling school, who had previously teamed a few times as Young Dragon #1 & #2. "The Giant" Paul Lauria was actually a couple inches shorter than Mikey, billed at 5'5" but probably even 2 or 3 inches tinier, which put Mikey in the roll of favorite for the first time in ECW, in this battle of "former best friends". Unlike the locals carried over by Tod Gordon from the TWA era, both actually had a lot of potential, even if they were dwarfed by the NJPW juniors ECW was now using. Lauria unfortunately never wrestled that many matches, but in the late 90's ran the wrestling school in Long Island that Mikey was training Amazing Red, the SAT's, and Quiet Storm at. This was shockingly good given the lack of experience of these two, a heated, hard hitting grudge match with some impressive junior style high spots such as a plancha into the third row by Mikey. Despite their inexperience, they knew each other well and had good chemistry together from all the time they'd spent practicing with one another. Mikey was definitely the smoother and more fluid of the two, partially because he was the better athlete, and probably also because he was the least inexperienced. The structuring of this match was pretty odd. It started off as a grudge match, but didn't really build on that all that well because they wanted to get their flashy stuff in. That's fine, but they could have incorporated it better. Almost as if they ran out of time, it randomly ended with Jason blindsiding Mikey with a high kick and Lauria hitting a diving bulldog. Mikey got revenge afterwards with a pescado to Jason into ground and pound, but Lauria saved with a chair shot. The Al Snow vs. Osamu Nishimura match that aired after this was certainly a higher caliber of technical wrestling, but was really rushed and condensed to the point it was a lot worse than it should have been on paper, whereas this was at least fleshed out enough to be satisfying and feel somewhat complete. Their 2/4/95 match wasn't as impressive because they were content to just do a regular junior style match, and their inexperience became a lot more obvious. ***

NJPW 6/26/92 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Pegasus Kid vs. Super Strong Machine 7:36.
DC: These two never wrestled each other in Calgary, as Junji Hirata had just left Stampede Wrestling by the time Chris Benoit would make his debut in late 1985. They did, however, wrestle each other (and also team with each other) several times in tag team competition in NJPW. This was their only singles match against each other, though. Super Strong Machine was a heavyweight, but he wasn’t one of the bigger heavyweights. Still, since he was indeed part of the heavyweight division, in the eyes of NJPW, that made him the favorite to win this match. Pegasus was one of the most powerful-looking junior heavyweights, but he was still clearly the smaller guy in this match. However, thanks to Pegasus’ ability to combine speed, power and technique, he was able to be a significant threat to SSM, especially considering the fact that Pegasus was moving a lot quicker than the Machine. Both workers seemed genuinely interested in making this singles match a good one, as they both not only gave a strong effort but also showed a lot of focus with every move. The novelty factor of this match made up for the fact that Pegasus wrestling one of his fellow junior heavyweights probably would have been better and more interesting. This was definitely a good match, though, but in the end, the predictable winner came out on top after finishing Pegasus off with his own move. Good match. ***¼ 

NJPW 8/6/92 Shizuoka Sangyo Kaikan: Pegasus Kid & Jim Neidhart vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tatsumi Fujinami 10:02.
DC: Yeah, baby! This was the first time Pegasus Kid and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart were in the ring together, and what a fun simulator-esque tag team they were. The crowd was genuinely excited to see Jushin Thunder Liger battle rival Pegasus again. When Pegasus threw Liger to the mat, The Anvil laughed out loud. And it was The Anvil’s American loudness and over-the-top character work that made the Japanese crowd burst out in laughter. What a great character The Anvil was, but his in-ring work was rather primitive. In the meantime, the commentators started talking about Calgary and Bret Hart. At some point in this match, Pegasus & Neidhart even executed the famous ‘Hart Attack’ move that Bret Hart and Neidhart made famous during their years as the Hart Foundation in the WWF. Once we look past all the excitement, apart from the awesome novelty factor, Neidhart being in this match added very little to it. I think it goes without saying that this match was easily at its best whenever Pegasus and Liger were wrestling each other. During the final minute of the match, Liger executed a plancha on the slow-moving Neidhart, while Tatsumi Fujinami scored the win for his team by making Pegasus submit to Fujinami’s dragon sleeper. Good match. ***

NJPW 5/28/93 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, TOSJ IV: Pegasus Kid vs. Dean Malenko 6:47 of 9:41.
DC: What was particularly good about this match was that Dean Malenko was letting loose for a change and started busting out lucha moves and sequences instead of his usual dull and watered-down pseudo-shoot stuff. We still got some of that later on, but at least it wasn’t all that Malenko did. Pegasus was great, as always. Pegasus was super alert and confident in his ability. He displayed the finesse and crispness of a winner. Apart from the beginning during which Malenko caught everyone off guard, Pegasus knew what Malenko was up to and outsmarted the American. Malenko deserves credit for trying some cool things here and there, but it felt like he didn’t always know how to make things work from a bigger picture perspective. Pegasus’ ability to think on the spot and keep an overview and outline of how the match ideally should look like based on what has occurred really made the match more coherent and sensible than it would have been otherwise. It’s actually a shame only 6 minutes were shown, because it looked like it could potentially have been the best match possible between these two if more footage was shown and/or more time given to the match. Good match. ***¼ 

NJPW 11/1/93 Matsumoto City General Gymnasium, SG Tag League: Wild Pegasus & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiroshi Hase & Keiji Muto 14:03 of 25:28.
DC: The match started off with Wild Pegasus and Hiroshi Hase delivering some high-quality pro wrestling sequences that set the tone for this fascinating match-up. Hase then wrestled Jushin Thunder Liger for a bit, which resulted in Liger finding himself in trouble. Liger was still in trouble even when Muto was briefly tagged. When Hase was back in, Liger got the chance to hit a shotei and work his way back to his corner to tag Pegasus in. The moments that Pegasus and Hase were in the ring together were so excellent that I wish they’d have a singles feud in NJPW. Pegasus was as energetic and passionate as you’d expect from him. Hase was truly the driving force in this match, keeping the pace high. Muto came across as far less interested and far less motivated than Hase, but he didn’t slow things down too much. In fact, he hit a nice dropkick to break up his series of chinklocks. Almost halfway into the match, we finally got some flashy Liger offense that we usually get early in his matches, and it was definitely worth the wait. Pegasus and Liger worked together well as a team, and they were both thinking like a cohesive unit. Their opponents were all dependent on how well Muto followed Hase’s lead. That’s probably why they tried to keep Hase in their corner (and also because that would enhance the match quality). After plenty of fascinating action, Hase eventually scored the pinfall over Pegasus via a dragon suplex. It’s a shame that not the entire match was shown, but what was shown looked truly excellent, for sure. Muto was perfectly fine here. Liger provided his typically flashy greatness and excitement. Pegasus brought his tremendously energetic hard work ethic. Hase was the man of the match, though, thanks to his tremendous ability to not only carry his team but also turn high-quality ingredients into a well-balanced main course. Excellent match. ****¼ 

NJPW 2/16/94 Toyohashi City General Gym: Wild Pegasus vs. Shinjiro Otani 13:31.
DC: This is a rare match of which only hand-held footage is available. For a non-televised house show match with nothing at stake, this was quite good. You could tell that Wild Pegasus had a nice slow build up in mind, and it paid off. Being the great in-ring storyteller that he was, he managed to suck the viewer in, leaving the viewer wondering what will happen next. And he would add just that little bit of extra spark and flavor to each portion of the match to make it gradually more interesting and intriguing. Young Shinjiro Otani must have really learned a lot just from being in this match in terms of how to build a match to a crescendo. Considering the aforementioned factors combined with the fact that there was a big gap in terms of overall ranking of the two in the NJPW junior heavyweight division, this was quite a good effort by both. It’s obviously not their best match, but the match served its purpose. If you were in attendance that day, you’d remember that this bout featured some darn good wrestling. Good match. ***¼ 

NJPW 6/8/94 Takamatsu Shi Sogo Taiikukan, BOSJ I: Wild Pegasus vs. Super Delfin 13:58.
DC: This was the first and only time these two had a singles match together. It was a very interesting match-up. You had Wild Pegasus, arguably the best junior heavyweight in the world. And then you had Michinoku Pro’s Super Delfin, an up-and-comer who was riding the wave of Michinoku Pro’s recent momentum spawned by The Great Sasuke’s great performance at the legendary 4/16/94 Super-J Cup, in particular Sasuke’s performance against Pegasus in the final of that tournament. Delfin was a very charismatic and colorful character, but as an in-ring worker, he wasn’t quite on the level of the top junior heavyweights at the time. So, the challenge here for Pegasus was to somehow mask Delfin’s weaknesses and carry him to a memorable match in the process. Pegasus declined the handshake offer and immediately started beating Delfin up. This was the perfect way to start the match, as it highlighted the fact that Pegasus, who was a very accomplished junior heavyweight star and a much more powerful athlete than Delfin was, should be able to put Delfin away rather easily, at least on paper. This was further illustrated by Pegasus going for a cover very early in the match, attempting to beat Delfin within 18 seconds. Obviously, this didn’t happen, but it was a nice little touch that made this match interesting from the start. Another important aspect of this match working as well as it did was Pegasus making sure to incorporate his signature viciousness, as, once again, this would further emphasize the story of the powerful and decorated Pegasus versus the underdog up-and-comer Delfin. Poor Delfin didn’t stand a chance for, like, the first six minutes of the match until Pegasus beautifully set up an opportunity for Delfin to counter with a lucha counter. This brief moment of hope and inspiration gave Delfin the energy to fight back. The quality of Delfin’s offense was rather hit-and-miss, both in terms of quality and effectiveness, but it worked thanks to Pegasus selling the idea that he was caught off guard by Delfin’s eccentric style. There was quite a bit at stake here, as they were in the middle of the prestigious Best of the Super Juniors tournament, and while there were parts of the match that were slower (in particular the middle portion that featured the bulk of Delfin’s rather elementary offense), in general, this match felt energetic and exciting. If this was a sports contest viewed by a neutral viewer, the story would be an enjoyable one, especially since it was executed so well by these two. The underdog, Delfin, totally exceeded expectations (in terms of competitiveness and determination, not so much in terms of technique, though) against the man who had won the Super J-Cup. Delfin even managed to kick out of cover attempts by Pegasus after the Canadian had performed some of his most incredible moves, a flying headbutt and a powerbomb. The look on Pegasus’ face perfectly continued to tell the story in a subtle manner, and he managed to say so much in a non-exaggerated way, as he was able to put over frustration and bewilderment while trying to remain cool and calm at the same time. Fantastic facial expression. That’s something that cannot be taught. It’s one of those things Pegasus just naturally understood so well. In the end, Pegasus was simply just the more well-equipped one, in terms of stamina and resourceful thinking, and that got him the pinfall victory. But, the fact that they got so much more out of this match than expected was fantastic. Very good match. ***¾ 

NJPW 3/19/95 Nagoya Prefectural Gymnasium: Wild Pegasus & Black Tiger II vs. Gran Hamada & Norio Honaga 13:33.
DC: The dream team of Chris Benoit & Eddy Guerrero battled Gran Hamada & Norio Honaga, a team that had been teaming on quite a regular basis pretty much ever since Gran Hamada had returned to NJPW during the previous summer. Even the crowd acknowledged that Pegasus and Tiger were the most awesome ones in this match by reacting in awe to many things they did. Understandably so, as whenever Pegasus and Tiger executed something, they did it like it really mattered. Everything Pegasus did looked so explosive. And Tiger was so smart in regards to doing subtle things to enhance the quality of the match in addition to the less subtle things. Hamada, the wily veteran, was very useful due to his great understanding of timing and how to use his body as a weapon. Honaga was clearly the least spectacular of the four, and whenever he was on offense, it basically gave everyone else a chance to catch a breather. That being said, Honaga probably felt kinda forced to do something spectacular for a change and hit a plancha off the top to the floor. After Pegasus hit a tremendous superplex on Honaga, the team of Pegasus & Tiger hit a tremendous double-team move on Honaga. While Pegasus went for a powerbomb, Tiger came off the top rope and hit Honaga with a sunset flip at the same time! The world cannot handle this amount of greatness, and that’s why Pegasus and Tiger rarely teamed up together. In the end, somehow, Hamada managed to use his experience to his advantage and score the win for his team when he pinned Tiger. Excellent match. ****

NJPW 4/23/95 Okinawa Convention Center: Wild Pegasus & Scott Norton vs. Scott Steiner & Rick Steiner 11:38.
DC: This was part of a NJPW trip to the Okinawa Islands. These two teams previously had a good match on 9/23/94. The main factor in this ‘95 match would be how much passion the Steiner Brothers had left. The good news was that the match started with Wild Pegasus and Scott Steiner facing off. This was particularly interesting, because Scott wanted to show off some of his mat wrestling skills and some of his power. He also confirmed there was still a good amount of passion in him left when he tried to get the crowd to make some more noise. The crowd would quickly be making a lot more noise once Pegasus suplexed Scott over the top rope to the floor, which was indeed a cool-looking spot. Pegasus was a junior heavyweight who looked strong enough to be able to be competitive with some of the more technique-focused heavyweights, and that’s what he had here. Pegasus was very smart at showing his toughness and explosive power in combination with some of the more junior heavyweight-type aspects of his style such as speed and spectacle. Pegasus hit a nice-looking pescado on Scott, but once they were back into the ring, Scott hit a belly-to-belly suplex that was so impressive and impactful that Pegasus sold it by tagging out to Scott Norton, who was the biggest powerhouse of the four workers in this match. In spite of Norton’s style mainly being that of a powerhouse, to his credit, he always seemed interested in being a good overall pro wrestler. He wasn’t necessarily interested in just doing power moves and just getting his stuff in, as he seemed genuinely inclined to do things that would be in the best interest of the match as a whole. Rick Steiner was in briefly, running around like the dog-faced gremlin that he was before hitting some moves, including an impressive released German suplex on Pegasus. When Scott was back in the ring again, this time with Norton, he switched up his gameplan a bit by taking it to Norton with more heavyweight power-type offense. When Scott was once again in there with Pegasus, Scott switched to a bit more technical stuff, which showed that Scott was trying to beat his opponents at their own game in their own style. This was another indication that the focused Scott had plenty of passion left in him at this point in his career. In the 9/23/94 match, it felt like there was a big decline in passion apparent in the performance by the Steiners, but perhaps that was largely due to the fact 1994 was the year they left WWF about halfway through the year after being extremely disappointed with their role in WWF. NJPW was quite an interesting place to be in 1995 because of the variety of international talent being booked in an interesting variety of match-ups, partly thanks to the working relationship with WCW. Spending most of their time in NJPW (and some of their time in ECW) in 1995 seemed to really have made the Steiners more content than what they were doing in WWF in 1993 and early 1994. And it was in 1996, they would officially return to WCW. As this match on 4/23/95 progressed, the Steiners threw in a couple more of their signature suplexes. Norton hit some more of his power moves, but it seemed like he was slowly declining athletically around this point in time. Pegasus hit a dropkick and a splash off the top rope. Those moves didn’t get Pegasus the win, and, in fact, he would even lose the bout soon after, as it was him being on the receiving-end of the Steiner screwdriver that enabled Scott to pin him. In spite of the match lasting only eleven minutes, it feels like the people in Okinawa and the people watching the video footage of this match at home got their money’s worth thanks to this fun match-up that delivered a match that lived up to its expectations. That being said, it probably would have been even better if it was just a few minutes longer. Very good match. ***½ 

NJPW 6/2/92 Hiroshima Sun Plaza: Pegasus Kid & El Samurai vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask III 12:42.
DC: They worked this match like it really mattered, which is how it should be, because these were four of the top guys in the NJPW junior heavyweight division at the time. Jushin Thunder Liger had recently won the annual Top of the Super Juniors tournament by beating new rival El Samurai in the final. Pegasus Kid, the top gaijin in the division, was having a strong year, and his legendary in-ring feud with Liger was still ongoing. Tiger Mask III was Koji Kanemoto, and even though Kanemoto wasn’t necessarily a top guy yet, the legendary character he was portraying certainly was. Kanemoto had been feuding with El Samurai ever since both guys debuted their respective new gimmicks in NJPW on 3/1/92. Kanemoto was spectacular enough to be credible as a Tiger Mask, but he lacked the presence and aura of The First Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama). It wasn’t a big problem, though, since the top guy in the division was then 5-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Liger anyway. Tiger III was always carefully booked in a way, as he was allowed to show his stuff with top guys but was rarely put in a position where it would become too obvious that this third incarnation of the gimmick was actually more like a midcard gimmick. For instance, the Tiger III gimmick never participated in a tournament, as that would have become somewhat of a troublesome situation, booking wise. And the Tiger III gimmick only made a few appearances in 1992 (as Kanemoto mainly continued to wrestle under his real name). In this tag team bout, Liger did a fantastic job of balancing the giving and taking perfectly in order to make himself look like a strong champion yet also make Samurai look like a worthy adversary. Samurai had spent years toiling away on NJPW cards as a lower midcarder until being sent to Mexico to reinvent himself. Now, under the Samurai gimmick, NJPW clearly had confidence in him, and that translated into a very motivated Samurai, who was showing lots of excitement in his work. Pegasus Kid was starting to reach even greater heights than ever before as a worker, as he continued to refine and perfect his Dynamite Kid-esque skills. Speaking of Dynamite, the commentators mentioned him, since Pegasus vs. Tiger III reminded them of the historical Dynamite vs. Sayama feud. Kanemoto wasn’t big enough of a star yet for this new feud to really come anywhere near the greatness of the feud from the early 1980s, though. Some of the classic spots that paid tribute to the junior heavyweight pioneers definitely made its way into this match though, which wowed the crowd. What made this match so excellent was that, even though there wasn’t really anything on the line, especially considering tag team matches in the NJPW junior division had really not been pushed as anything of importance, everyone gave a strong effort, as if they all four agreed that this was a beautiful opportunity for them to show what the tremendous division was all about. Next to the tremendous athleticism displayed by everyone, the quality of the character work by everyone was phenomenal as well, which was evident especially in very subtle ways (like, the way they looked around and the way they moved, the way they executed moves, the way they reacted in situations etc.), which was particularly remarkable when you consider three of these guys wore masks. Pegasus didn’t wear a mask, but the fact that his character requires of him that he’s a no-nonsense all about the wrestling type of guy still puts him in a position where, just like the masked guys, he is mainly relying on subtle ways to translate his emotions and reasoning behind every action. All four did a great job of being a tremendous athlete and becoming the character they were portraying at the same time. The pace was high, the workrate was high, and the execution was superb overall. The storytelling was excellent, and they managed to make everything they did seem important and interesting. When it was all said and done, it really felt like a satisfying contest. Great match. ****½

10/25/94 NWC Desert Death Falls Count Anywhere: Cactus Jack vs. Sabu 14:22
ML: As much as I'm not impressed by much ECW pre 1995, the 6/24/94 Sabu vs. Cactus is the best of their '94 matches by a wide margin. That match still feels like a wrestling match despite it being the first "ECW style brawl", these later ones all feel more like they belong in a death match league, even if they aren't particularly blood and guts matches. Their 10/14/94 match that Sabu promoted in Sheik's old Michigan NWA territory was surprisingly lifeless. They seemingly decided it wasn't worth killing themselves for 75 fans, and just did a passable match that wasn't too crazy. This as also a very small show, and was probably a dry run for the "bigger" NWC show on 10/29, but it's about equally as good. Both are chaos, and with risks and big bumps as you'd expect. There were just some folding chairs set up for the dozens of fans on a school basketball court, so there was plenty of room to utilize outside the ring. They kept moving, and it was pretty action packed, but there's too little conventional wrestling given these guys can actually have a real match rather than just clobbering each other with objects (that's more the 1/13/95 match, but still). Sabu was nearly pinned after landing on a chair missing a tope. Cactus had Sabu in a headlock and tried to run his head into the wall, but Sabu pushed him off into it, then schoolboyed him on the rebound. Cactus got his 1st singles win over Sabu with the underhook DDT, I didn't realize how one-sided this series actually was, 10-3 Sabu. ***

10/29/94 NWC Desert Death Falls Count Anywhere: Sabu vs. Cactus Jack 18:37
ML: This was energetic, motivated, and dangerous action. It was mostly a chaotic brawl though, these October matches all felt more like Jack's match with some Sabu signatures thrown in, whereas mostly everything Sabu had done in the US up until this point felt like his match. There were few non gimmick spots, and a lot of fighting on the outside. Sabu nearly beat himself again because of the falls count anywhere rules when Jack immediately covered after Sabu broke a table missing a quebrada to the floor. Cactus then hit the hipbuster for another near fall. Sabu finally dropped Jack with a chair shot on the middle rope then hit the Arabian facebuster for the win. This was definitely ECW style chaos, minus the overbooking. They had a 3rd match on 1/13/95 that was a Steel Cage With Weapons, as this match apparently endangered too many fans and popcorn machines, so they locked them up this time and had them just bash each other with objects for 12 minutes. Lets just say freedom is definitely preferable. ***

ChocoPro 10/30/25 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE: Mei Suruga vs. AZM 16:11.
DC: In a pro wrestling world filled with inspirationless workers going through the motions in overrated presentations, a match like this is like a breath of fresh air. I’ve known about Mei Suruga’s tremendous potential for years, but it’s nice to see her against AZM again, because she’s an opponent who can actually handle the speed and accuracy Suruga requires to bring her ideas to life. Suruga reminds me a lot of Kenny Omega in the way that she is able to think outside the box and isn’t limiting herself to whatever boundaries seem to exist in pro wrestling. It was Suruga’s tremendous creativity that made this match so captivating and memorable. Of course, lots of credit to AZM for being able to give a top-notch performance herself. The very underrated AZM has been one of the most exciting workers in joshi for years, but hasn’t always been booked as well as she could have been, and hasn’t always received the best opponents in STARDOM. Thankfully, these two wonderful workers met on this ChocoPro show, and this time it was even more magical than their 4/29/22 meeting in STARDOM, which was an excellent and recommended match. AZM has always been known for her speed and excitement, so she started the match off in an urgent manner. However, ChocoPro’s little superhero, the extremely likable Suruga, wanted to prove that she could outdo AZM at her own game, as Suruga was making it hard for AZM to follow her gameplan. Suruga would, even on defense, put so much pressure on AZM hitting maximum speed and accuracy that this defensive strategy almost turned into an offensive tactic. Suruga’s ability to combine the playful and creative with the effective helped this match always come across as an energetic contest between two athletes eager to give their best effort, which was especially very clear during the finishing stretch. And that’s why this never came across as an exhibition, in spite of a large part of the match focusing on creative sequences that required both to be on the same page in terms of knowing where this match was going to go. It was awesome to see AZM thrive and show that she had the right mindset for this setting. This is the sort of match that proves that there are workers out there that can help pro wrestling advance and progress instead of letting it stagnate or even regress, as often feels the case these days. Great match. ****¾

9/28/25 NJPW IWGP Global Heavyweight Title: Gabe Kidd vs. Shingo Takagi 21:37. One of the best, and only consistently interesting NJPW matches of 2025. An aggressive bomb fest that actually didn't lose speed or intensity despite being the longest of their singles matches together. It felt like a grudge match, just two bulls charging into each other with considerable animosity. Both wrestlers had very disappointing G1 Climaxes, with Kidd injuring his knee moments into his first match against Konosuke Takeshita, and a lethargic Shingo losing the first three matches he actually wrestled, and failing to secure any meaningful wins despite going 5-4. Kidd was very fired up here, combining stiff strikes that weren't the typical annoying formulaic exchanges with some power moves and gimmick spots. This was wrestled with the pace, energy, and generally the style of their NEVER Openweight Title matches, even though it was considerably longer than the 15 minute range those matches typically last. The main difference is Kidd is the only one who really does the "garbage" brawling rather than just the clobbering brawling. Kidd was more responsible for the enthusiastic action, but Kobe has been a stronghold of Takagi since Dragon Gate always ran their big summer KOBE PURORESU FESTIVAL PPV's here, and he fired up for his best performance of the year. This had a ferocity that's generally lacking in these NJPW matches whose calling card is supposed to be their high impact. Takagi hit a big Death Valley bombs on the outside. Kidd was feeling it early, but went outside himself with an Orihara moonsault that seemingly damaged his still recovering knee, although he was ultimately alright. Kidd tried to piledriver Takagi off the apron through a table, but Shingo stopped it and hit made in Japan through the table instead, which cut the back of Kidd's head. Takagi had been scratched on the arm earlier, this was that kind of rough, slightly dangerous match where neither was going to emerge unscathed. Takagi was actually energetic again here, as opposed to just screaming to the crowd on cue as he was in the G1. Even though this was relatively long and had gimmick spots on the outside, it didn't fall into the overdramatic traps of the Kidd vs. Kenny Omega match, and was generally much more consistent, if lacking Omega's flying and some of the drama. The blows here were thudding, and they were actually following them up. Kidd hit his piledriver after a shockingly feeble powerbomb to consolidate his 2nd defense. Although I mostly mentioned the outside the ring spots, that's more because the rest was more in line with what you'd expect from a NEVER style bout. That being said, incorporating chairs and a table added to the brawl without overwhelming it. Kidd has the most intensity in the promotion, and tries to do more for the big match. It doesn't always work perfectly, as with his avalanche Frankensteiner, but I can live with that. It's more important that he's trying to rise to the occasion, and this year he's been succeeding more often. ***3/4

9/28/25 NJPW GHC Junior Heavyweight Title: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori 11:30
ML: A fast-paced, high flying, quick hitting affair between two guys who have a long history of working well together. They didn't ease into this or do any wear down, they just filled the time they had with the things people wanted to see. These two haven't worked with each other much in 2025, which seemingly didn't matter because they've worked with each other so frequently in the past, but it was actually a bit sloppy. Ishimori is the one who held NOAH titles in the past since he was full-time there from 2006 through 2017, and he used some callbacks to his earlier days in this match, as well as their being some spots that were historically meaningful to this Takahashi vs. Ishimori program. Ishimori may go back to not using the 450 splash anymore because he seemed to do more damage to his own ribs with it than he did to Takahashi. If there was an issue with this match, it's that it started so hot that it kind of lost momentum even though it more or less remained a sprint. Ishimori had his working boots on here, and seemed very motivated. Takahashi was also good, but it was more of a standard feature performance, just picking up the pace. ***1/4

7/4/92 AAA: Angelito Azteca & Mascarita Sagrada vs. Espectrito & Piratita Morgan
ML: Some of the best high flying of the early 90s came from Mascarita Sagrada, who truly had next level speed. The difference here between Sagrada and Azteca was like hitting the fast forward button, and Azteca is certainly good and was trying. Espectrito was the great rival of Sagrada, the key mini base, who really helped to maneuver and manipulate him to make his stuff even that much more impressive. The dynamic of these Sagrada vs Espectrito mini matches is the tecnicos are all about spectacular gymnastic offense, while the rudos are controling with suplexes and slams rather than lame Lucha brawling. Espectrito worked the majority of the match, while Sagrada got the bursts and hot comebacks. The rudos did a funny double team where Morgan spread Azteca wide with a surfboard and Espectrito gored him with headbutt to the midsection when the ref was looking and to the groin when he wasn't. Even though the tecnicos won 2-1, the rudos destroyed them 80% of the match. It was still good when the rudos were on offense, but certainly no better than that. ***1/4

NJPW 5/30/91 Gifu Industrial Hall: Pegasus Kid & Miguel Perez Jr. vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Shiro Koshinaka 11:23.
DC: Miguel Perez Jr. gave one of his best performances, as he managed to be useful and even hit an impressive move here and there. Towards the end of the match, he was having trouble keeping up with these three greats, though. Shiro Koshinaka worked hard, as usual, and he always enjoys in a selfless manner being a driving force in a tag team bout. Pegasus Kid and Jushin Thunder Liger did some of their usual sequences, which looked good, as expected. That being said, apart from the weakest member of the match (Perez) being better than usual, the three main members of the match weren’t doing anything to write home about for their standards. Of course, those are some pretty high standards, so it was worth watching. The pace was high, but the match sometimes felt too forced and not genuine enough, almost exhibition-like at times. Good match. *** 

NJPW 9/21/91 Yokkaichi Municipal Central Green Park Gymnasium: Pegasus Kid vs. Black Cat 13:48.
DC: Since he had lost a mask vs. mask match to Jushin Thunder Liger, Pegasus Kid was now wrestling in Japan without a mask. He didn’t need it anymore anyway now that his reputation was getting stronger. Black Cat was a lower midcard luchador, who was mainly useful backstage due to his ability to speak Japanese and Spanish. As an in-ring worker, he was a solid hand who you could put in there with anyone, since he was an experienced wrestler. As a worker, he mainly just got put on the card so that his opponent could have a match. He was a smaller heavyweight, so that was useful since he was kinda used like a Takayuki Iizuka, in the sense that the booker would alternate between having him wrestle junior heavyweights and heavyweights since he fell in a sort of grey zone. Black Cat himself was almost never the attraction, and he was pretty much never involved in a title match. While this was a random house show match, Pegasus wrestled in a way that showed he wanted to take it seriously, since he was very passionate about the pro wrestling business. Also, now that he was wrestling without a mask, that brought some freshness to his approach. Initially, this match seemed to be just designed to put Pegasus over, so Black Cat mainly let Pegasus do his thing while sort of waiting for the right moment to strike back. Since Black Cat spent most of the time selling on the mat, Pegasus kinda was forced to try to apply some submission holds, which helped to pass a bit of time. All of a sudden, Black Cat nailed Pegasus with a clothesline and that turned things around. Black Cat was now in full attack mode with his newfound momentum. Black Cat even bodyslammed Pegasus on the ring announce table and hit Pegasus with a chair. The match was good, but it would have been even more interesting if it wasn’t just, like, here’s your half of the match and then my half of the match kinda thing. At least the match got gradually more interesting with the final minutes being the most exciting, as that’s when there was more back-and-forth action combined with bigger moves. It was nice to see Pegasus re-establish himself again after having lost his mask in Japan. And it was nice to see the veteran Black Cat clearly enjoying the fact that he was part of a memorable singles match. Very good match. ***½

NJPW 4/23/92 Wakayama Prefectural Gymnasium, TOSJ III: Pegasus Kid vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 12:42.
DC: Pegasus Kid was showing a lot more intensity compared to a year prior. These two wrestled like it really mattered, which is something most wrestlers from today can learn from. The match started off with some nice counter wrestling that wasn’t just merely done because they ‘had to’, but because they pushed themselves and each other to work hard and smart. Everything they did was executed and sold superbly. The fact that this was not a TV taping and not a show at a major venue didn’t stop these two from living up to their reputation as two of the very best. This match resembled their 10/18/91, in the sense that it was all about them organically moving from one moment to the next. While the match didn’t have a very deep storyline going, at least it never felt contrived, since it had the vibe of two athletic contestants doing what they did best until one came out on top. Because of these two being such well-seasoned high-level professionals, they managed to make everything they did look easy to perform for them, yet awe-inspiring for the audience to witness. The final minutes had some bigger moves, like Jushin Thunder Liger suplexing Pegasus to the floor and Liger hitting a moonsault after Pegasus had re-entered the ring. However, there wasn’t much of a proper finishing stretch, and there weren’t many near falls. Of course, it’s not like that is a mandatory thing, but it feels like there was something missing to push this into greatness. The finish saw Pegasus recovering quickly after Liger was getting frustrated with not being able to put Pegasus away as soon as he had hoped. Pegasus went for a victory roll and scored the clean pinfall in the middle of the ring. This was a big victory for Pegasus, because it showed he was still on Liger’s level, and it kept the competitive in-ring feud between these two hot. The finish didn’t come completely out of nowhere, but the timing of it did give it the type of feel that indicated that anyone can be beaten at any time in this prestigious tournament that featured some of the top junior heavyweights in the world. These two had several excellent and even great matches together over the years, and this is one that’s lesser known and thus often gets overlooked. It’s certainly worth watching and worthy of a solid recommendation. Excellent match. ****¼ 

NJPW 4/26/92 Oita City General Gymnasium, TOSJ III: Pegasus Kid vs. Norio Honaga 8:00.
DC: Norio Honaga showed that he was eager to beat Pegasus Kid by wasting no time and running towards Pegasus as soon as the bell rang. Honaga, who had caught Pegasus by surprise, made sure to keep the attack going in order to stay in control and give Pegasus very little chance to recuperate. However, the strong Pegasus was able to withstand Honaga’s persistent yet somewhat basic attack and fight back. Honaga used his sneakiness and instincts to find ways to stop Pegasus’ offense and do some damage to Pegasus. They both gave each other some time to be on offense and then some time to sell. So, it wasn’t a match that was strictly divided in half, but it also wasn’t a very intense back-and-forth affair either. The end seemed near when Pegasus hit a flying headbutt, but Honaga was capable of kicking out. Honaga realized that Pegasus was looking to score a win soon, so Honaga started going from pinfall attempts via flips and slides. Honaga used the momentum of his own body to his advantage and managed to disrupt Pegasus’ balance to score the pinfall win. Pegasus was frustrated that Honaga had outsmarted him. This match showed that in spite of Pegasus being physically more gifted, a win can come out of nowhere when you use timing and positioning to your advantage to create a leverage advantage. Say what you want about Honaga, but he performed his role really well in this bout and showed that he was indeed a clever wrestler. Ultimately, this match was just a bit too short to be truly worthy of recommendable status, but it was certainly a fun match while it lasted, and it was particularly memorable for the surprisingly good performance by Honaga. Good match. ***¼