Red's Wrestling Blog

Match from Nitro #1 1.Liger vs Pillman ***1/2 Match from Nitro #19 2.Hogan, Savage vs Four Horsemen (Flair,Arn) **** Match from Nitro #36 3.Guerrero vs Flair ***1/4 Match from Nitro #68 4.Mysterio Jr vs Malenko ***1/4 Match from Nitro #157 5.WCW Cruiserweight Title: Juventud(c) vs Kidman ***3/4 Match from Nitro #180 6.Booker T vs Bret Hart ***1/4 Match from Nitro #188 7.WCW Cruiserweight Title: Mysterio Jr(c) vs Psychosis vs Juventud vs Blitzkrieg **** Matches from Nitro #189 8.WCW Heavyweight Title: DDP(c) vs Sting ***1/2 9.WCW Heavyweight Title: Sting(c) vs DDP vs Goldberg vs Nash **3/4 Match from Nitro #211 10.Hart vs Benoit **** Thoughts: Like the Asylum Years compilation, I had begun watching a collection of Nitro matches before deciding that it wasn't put together well enough to complete. Instead, I made my own "best of", consisting of ten pulls of matches I either remember and wanted to see again or ones I've heard loads of good stuff abou

Match from NWA-TNA #4: 1.NWA World Title: Shamrock(c) vs Omori **1/2 Thoughts: While I do plan on focusing more on the compilations, I still wanted to look at a few things like this match. Omori was used here as a filler challenge, as expected, allowing Ken to get his shit in undeterred by being bogged down with feuds and plotlines. That is, until the finish that saw JJ come out and strike the champ with a chair ending this in a DQ. Now, this wasn't a classic or anything, but it was a decent match before that and it came to a close with Jarrett just swinging his dic..chair around at anyone in his way. Skip this.

Matches: 1.NWA Heavyweight Title, Ladder vs Submission: Shamrock(c) vs Sabu * 2.NWA-TNA X Title, Triple Ladder: Lo-Ki(c) vs Styles vs Lynn ***3/4 3.NWA Heavyweight Title: Jarrett(c) vs Raven *** 4.Low Ki, Skipper vs Styles, D-Lo *** 5.NWA Heavyweight Title: Jarrett(c) vs Styles vs Raven **3/4 6.NWA Tag Titles: XXX(c) vs AMW **** 7.Hair vs Hair: Raven vs Douglas **3/4 8.Sting, Styles vs Luger, Jarrett *3/4 9.Fan's Revenge Lumberjack Strap: Dusty vs Jarrett * Thoughts: I had been largely enjoying my time with early TNA, a period I had mostly missed out on, but honestly I like this idea of working through the compilations better. Note that this set covers content from 2002-2004, during their pre-6 sided ring days when they were still stationed out of Nashville. Up first, Shamrock defending the top prize against Sabu in a...Ladder versus Submission match...with Sabu in ICP logo attire...What is life? Basically, the champ just locked in holds and Sabu did Sabu things incl

Matches from NWA-TNA PPV #3: 1.Monty Brown vs Ingram NR 2.Hardcore: Puppet vs Stone NR 3.NWA World Title: Shamrock(c) vs Malice **1/4 4.NWA-TNA X Title: Styles(c) vs Young *** 5.NWA World Tag Titles: Styles, Lynn vs Rainbow Express ***1/4 Thoughts: This one had some decent stuff, for sure. I mean, Monty Brown debuted here in a squash and it seems everyone loves that dude. Above is the clip. We also had a short but decent for what it was dwarf hardcore squash which was my second pull. Puppet attacked anything that moved and seemed popular. It looks like all these dudes in the division retired years ago according to Cagematch. The Ten Pounds defense was decent with some solid story work. Malice worked from the top for a majority of the run with Shamrock picking up a quick W with a protected finish. Easily the best thing of the night was, once again, the X-Division guys. Worked more grounded thanks to Young getting a lot in and being more of a light heavyweight heel c

Match from NWA-TNA PPV #2: 1.Hall vs Jarrett **1/4 2.NWA-TNA X Title, Double Elimination: Styles vs Lynn vs Lo-Ki vs Psicosis ****1/4 Thoughts: The second show had two matches catch my eye. Up first, Scott Hall and Jeff Jarrett followed up on their issues from show one. Toby Keith was at ring side because, well it's early TNA. This was actually used as the show opener which, looking at the rest of the card, was a very smart idea. Fargo and Keith worked seconds for Hall, for the record. While this was far from great, featuring a few run ins and generic largely work, it worked well for what it was. Jeff was never a great worker nor a great booker, but he's better than some. That's about as nice as I can be. Steamboat worked ref in the other pull, like he did in the main event of show one. This one was to crown the first even X Champion. Note that the first match in TNA history had Styles, Lynn, and Lo-Ki teaming together and losing to the Flying Elvises yet on epis

Matches: 1.Styles, Lynn, Lo-Ki vs Flying Elvises ***1/4 2.Teo vs Hollywood NR 3.Johnsons vs Storm, Psicosis ** 4.York, Matthews vs Dupps *3/4 5.Gauntlet for the Gold ** 6.NWA World Title: Shamrock vs Malice **3/4 Thoughts: This is the very first show from TNA, which you can watch via the video above. Note that I plan on slowly working through a lot of classic content from WCW, TNA, AJPW, and more this year. I'll be digging through DVD's, YouTube videos, etc. Up first, we had a match that really speaks to the direction TNA would take moving forward with their X-Division. This opener was a quick, highspeed spotfest and worked well to get the show off on the right foot. It was funny seeing the Flying Elivses get the nod, though. Fairly good stuff. Second, I pulled the next match which saw dwarf wrestlers Teo and Hollywood work a sub-three minute sprint. Fun for what it was. I didn't really get into TNA until a few years after this period so a lot of the things I

Rankings  Top Ten 1.Oklahoma 2.Bama 3.Stanford 4.LSU 5.Oregon 6.Ohio St 7.Oklahoma St 8.Boise St 9.Texas A&M 10.Florida St Big Loses - Arkansas went from 18 to 25 after losing their opener vs ASU by 18 points I spent a lot of time on recruiting this week, which I hope pays off. Game 2: vs Wakeforest After pulling ahead and taking the first game of the season at Pitt, I picked up win #2 versus Wakeforest 30-6 behind four rushing touchdowns. On to Georgia Tech!

Matches: 1.Mobius vs The Whisper **1/2 2.Crucible Rules: DeMorest vs Knight NR 3.YLC Four Way First Round Elimination: Green Ant vs Spoiler vs Vertigo vs Wells *** 4.Dasher & McCoy vs X2K **3/4 Thoughts: Some small production issues aside, this was yet another fun installment of Action Arcade. Much like NWA Powerrr, this show's strength lies in watching each episode as a complete package versus seeking out specific matches. If you are a work-rate only kind of fan, CHIKARA isn't for you. Know that while I obviously love MOTYC style performances, I also appreciate things like this and have actually been a fan of the company for many years. I just fell off a bit for a while there, but Action Arcade has won me back over. On to talking about the episode... The clip of a destroyer from Ophidian on Whisper was insane. The first match saw The Whisper take on Mobius in a match I had hopes for, but sadly the quality was only a bit above average. This was short and underwhe

Matches: 1.Familia Real(Los Parks) vs Team AAA(Psycho,Hamburguesa,Psicosis) **3/4 Thoughts: As a result of them stretching out the Super Series taping, this one featured half the run time being padded out with various packages. When we finally got to the sole match of the evening, one they've been building toward for weeks, it at least covered the other half of the installment. Note that while I disliked the sense of padding things out that we got, I get it and still applaud MLW for doing the right thing right now while many of their contemporaries continue to do the opposite. Anyway, outside of the various promos and segments, the trios match that closed the Super Series run was an extended walk and brawl just like I had expected. Like I've mentioned before, they did not mic this crowd very well. The entire thing was rough around the edges and meandered a lot and while I think it was solid overall, it really isn't anything I'll remember a few weeks from now.