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I don’t really know what to think of this as the month starts. I don’t even really like women’s matches to be honest. Sigh. Let’s just get this over with.
---Week One---
It looks like along with the usual episodes and matches, one PPV and one Coliseum video have been posted. The PPV is No Way Out 2009, to help get ready for this year’s event, as well as a Sunny: Behind the Scenes video. I doubt I’ll get to the Sunny video but we’ll see.
-Fabulous Moolah(c) vs. Wendi Richter for the WWE Women’s Title-
This is from Brawl to End It All and it is an old one, coming from July 23rd 1984. Moolah had been champ for approximately 75 years by this point. She even has Lou Albano in her corner. Wendi Richter has Cyndi Lauper in her corner. The Brawl to End It All was held at Madison Square Garden and when you think about it, where else would it be? Moolah charges after Cyndi before the match even starts. Moolah armdrags Wendi and Wendi responds with one of the worst armdrags I have ever seen. Moolah snapmares Wendi using her hair before unceremoniously tossing her to the outside and onto the announce table. She brings Wendi in the hard way. Wendi goes after the arm and tosses Moolah into the ropes and she tries to cover? Doesn’t she even know the rules? Moolah’s literally in the ropes. Moolah pulls the hair of Wendi and stuns her over the top rope. Wendi reverses an Irish Whip but misses the follow-up charge, hitting her shoulder on the middle turnbuckle. Wendi is up first and she tries pulling Moolah, who has made it to the apron, in and she gets her feet tied up in the top two ropes. Wendi locks Moolah in a terrible full nelson. This allows Cyndi to get a shot in, IN CLEAR VIEW OF THE REF, and he doesn’t call for a DQ. Wendi dropkicks Moolah and covers for two. A gut-wrench suplex follows for two. Moolah comes back with a monkey flip for two. Moolah backdrops Wendi and covers, but picks her up at two. Moolah locks in a full nelson of her own and Albano tries to get a shot in but Wendi ducks out of his reach. Moolah German suplexes Wendi out of the corner leading to the old person getting suplexed lifts her shoulder while the person doing the suplex left their shoulders down. Wendi is awarded the title at 11:22. Thus ends the 27-year reign of Moolah. This was really terrible, especially the work of Richter, but they at least tried and that’s the one positive I can give it. *.
-Trish Stratus vs. Victoria in a Chicago Street Fight-
This is from the January 27th, 2003 Raw. Trish makes her entrance and since this is a Chicago Street Fight, Victoria comes right after Trish, choking her with a pool stick. Trish monkey flips out of it but she gets sent into the steps. Victoria has Stevie Richards at her side. Trish is dumped into the crowd but she responds with a kick to the face and a flying clothesline for two. Victoria slams Trish into the apron before sending her inside the ring. A slingshot somersault legdrop follows for two. Trish is sent to the corner but she ducks out of the way of a shoulder from Victoria. Trish heads outside and finds a trashcan lid that she whacks into the face of Victoria. She takes another two lids and cymbals Victoria in between them. Trish preps for a slingshot into a garbage can in the corner but Victoria whacks her in the head with a trash can lid and she’s the one who catapults Trish into the garbage can. Victoria follows with another lid shot for two. Victoria heads to the second rope but Trish nails her with the trash can lid and does her handstand rana that gets a two-count. Trish boots Victoria to the outside and hits a bodypress off the apron. Back inside, Trish hits a neckbreaker for two. Trish is sent to the ropes and Stevie tries using a fire extinguisher on her but he couldn’t get it to work. Victoria yells at him only to get the fire extinguisher in the face. A Chick Kick follows and Trish covers but Stevie breaks up the pinfall. Trish pummels Stevie with a kendo stick but turns around into a Victoria superkick for two. Trish tries for a Stratus-faction but again Stevie intervenes and Trish is pushed to the outside and into the barrier. So Victoria takes this opportunity to cover and that’s enough to end it at 5:42. Victoria boots at Trish afterwards before Stevie brings her to the back. Trish is still down in the ring when a returning Jazz makers her way to the ring. She boots at Trish and puts her in a chicken wing. Jazz follows with a DDT and a fisherman’s suplex. Jazz just keeps the assault on with another DDT and a STF. The ref just stands there like a fool the whole time. The match was actually really exciting and definitely something on par with what the guys probably did that night. The segment afterwards was pretty pointless unless they pay if off later in the month. ***.
-Alundra Blayze(c) vs. Luna Vachon for the WWE Women’s Title-
This is from Superstars held on July 9th, 1994. Alundra has a very odd-colored outfit on. Blayze hits an early dropkick and handsprings herself to the outside when she was sent to the corner. Luna charges but misses and she falls to the outside. Luna takes the advantage though by tripping up Blayze and posting her knee. Luna locks Blayze in a Boston Crab but Blayze manages to counter with a roll-up for two. Vachon goes right back after the leg before sending Blayze to the corner. Vachon charges and Blayze avoids that charge and sunset flips Vachon for two. Vachon is right back and slingshots Blayze into the bottom rope before hitting a Vader bomb for two. Vachon heads all the way to the top but she misses the frog splash. Blayze bulldogs Vachon and hits a German suplex to finish at 3:44. They certainly fit a lot into this match in terms of a story in the ring but it was way too short to actually tell that story properly. I mean, Vachon worked the leg for all of a minute before the big comeback. *1/2.
-Mickie James vs. Jazz-
This is a WWE vs. ECW match-up from July 7th, 2006. I’ve never seen a James match before. Jazz is an actual wrestler while James is one of those Divas who “pretends” to wrestle. James goes to a wristlock and Jazz counters with an armdrag. James elbows out of it only to get karate kicks to the ribs before dropkicking James to the outside. Jazz follows with a body press off the apron and you can actually hear Jazz ask James if she was okay. Jazz overshot the press which is why she asks James if she was okay. James misses a roundhouse leading to more rib kicks and Jazz’s Jazz Stinger (X-Factor). Jazz covers but James’ foot makes the ropes. James hits a tornado DDT out of nowhere for the pinfall and the victory at 2:01. Well, at least it was short. ½*.
-The Nasty Boys vs. Arn Anderson & Paul Roma(c) for the WCW Tag Team Titles-
This is from WCW Fall Brawl 1993, held on September 19th. This is on here because Missy Hyatt was introduced as the Nasty’s manager. Tony Schiavone interviews The Nasty’s about their big secret. This has the double ring, so there must’ve been a Wargames match. A quick check shows that there was, and I reviewed it in December. It featured the Shockmaster and that’s all you really need to know. Knobbs and Roma pose for a bit before Roma leaps out of a charging Knobbs, who hits the corner and bails to the outside. Roma and Knobbs start proper with Roma getting shoulderblocked down. I remember Roma best for being in Power and Glory and being made fun of in the Horsemen DVD by Triple H. Roma powerslams Knobbs and a charging Sags and both bail to the outside where their new manager, Missy Hyatt (their surprise) was waiting. So we return with Arn and Sags battling, with Arn tripping up Sags, heading outside and posting the leg of Sags. That’s the Horsemen way, pick a body part and go after it. Roma comes in and drops elbows on the knee. The crowd is completely dead right now. You can literally hear the four guys chanting “crack whore” at Missy. Somehow Knobbs is tagged in but he’s wishboned by the tag champs and Arn goes after Knobbs’ leg now. Roma comes in and works over the leg of Knobbs. This is one of the most boring matches I’ve ever seen on WWE Classics.com. Roma does a butt-splash on Knobbs, which was impressive. Roma tries a figure-four but he’s kicked off into Sags. Sags’ right is blocked but Knobbs hits him from behind. Sags comes in with a gut-wrench suplex and Knobbs follows with elbows to the small of the back. The Nasties slow things down with chinlocks and Roma looked like he was going to lift his way out of it with a back slam but he messes up the spot with Sags so he repeats it when Knobbs is tagged in. This allows Roma to make the hot tag to Arn and he puts Sags in a sleeper. Missy distracts the ref but as Sags breaks the hold and puts the knees up when Arn tries a splash off the top. Knobbs runs in and clotheslines Arn over the top and to the outside, which would’ve been a DQ had the ref seen it. Knobbs even bodyslams Arn on the outside and Sags whacks him with a chair. Arn is rolled into the ring where Knobbs drops an elbow for two. They keep up the “methodic pace” with an abdominal stretch. Arn reverses it but the ref is distracted by Roma and Sags clotheslines him down. Jesse Ventura says there is a “hush over the crowd.” No shit, Jesse. Arn makes the tag but the ref was distracted and he didn’t see it. Arn takes a double clothesline for two. The bored crowd starts chanting, “show your tits” at Missy, but she doesn’t oblige. Sags suplexes Arn for two. Finally, after teasing a tag for a little while, Arn ducks a double clothesline and faceplants the two Nasties before tagging in Roma. Roma clotheslines Knobbs, he dropkicks Sags, bodyslams Knobbs and unleashes the “double coconuts.” A missile dropkick from Roma leads to a pinfall attempt, but Sags breaks that up. Roma is double-teamed and the Nasties set up for their bulldog off the top. Arn shoves Sags off and dumps him to the outside. He hits the spinebuster on Knobbs and Roma follows with his swan dive but the ref is too busy ushering Arn out of the ring to count the pinfall. This allows Sags to recover and hit a flying elbow drop off the top rope on Roma and Knobbs covers him for the pinfall and the titles at 23:58. This was so boring I can’t even begin to tell you how boring it was. The crowd was completely lifeless and there was literally nothing going on. The match had no flow and when you sit through one like that for 24 minutes, it’s tough. DUD.
---Week Two---
This looks like another interesting week of videos. I have to say, the disinterest I had going into this month has quickly faded away. There are a nice mix of ladies matches, men’s matches featuring diva managers and some cool rarities.
-Sable Returns-
This shocking return was from SmackDown airing on April 2nd, 2003 and was not on the top 100 moments of SmackDown DVD that I just watched. This is Torrie Wilson’s Playboy coming out party. There are covers of that issue all over the ring. Torrie has a nice green outfit on. Too bad nobody really cares what she has to say. She teases taking off her clothes, which of course wouldn’t happen because this is freakin’ broadcast TV. All of a sudden, Sable’s music hits and Sable walks down to the ring. This was a surprising return because Sable had SUED the WWE for some reason and everyone thought that relationship had been decimated. You know Vince, though, if he can make a buck off of you then all is forgiven. Sable definitely looks older (she always had an old looking face) but she stayed in good shape. Sable says she and Torrie will be best of friends and even kisses Torrie. Sable’s voice is even MORE annoying than Chyna’s. This led to both girls baring all for Playboy in the same photo shoot.
-Ladies Battle Royal-
This is a Championship Wrestling event from November 23rd, 1985. There are 7 women in this match; The Fabulous Moolah, Wendi Richter (the only two that matter here) Donna Christentello, Judy Martin, Gene Kirkland, Linda Gonzalez and the Spider. This was all set up to be a Wendi/Moolah thing with these other nobodies filling up space. The three faces team up to chase the heels around. This is all punching and kicking, and since the women have a tendency to throw TERRIBLE punches you can imagine now good this will be. Wendi and Moolah square off and wow, it’s a minute in and this is already extremely boring. Wendi tries tossing Donna, and then Martin but to no avail. Kirkland dropkicks Donna over the top rope to eliminate her at 1:55. The Spider slingshots Gonzalez over the top rope at 2:20 but she quickly eliminates herself when she misses a swinging punch directed at Kirkland at 2:33. The two heels (Moolah and Martin) try a battering ram with the faces heads but the two faces push off and the heels collide. Moolah casually dumps Kirkland at 3:53 leaving Martin and Moolah against Wendi. Wendi ducks a double clothesline and dropkicks the two of them before executing the 80’s staple: the double noggin-knocker. Wendi and Moolah are tied up in the corner and Martin goes over to dump both at 4:40. However, the ref rules that Wendi did not touch the floor (even though she did) and the match continues. Moolah holds down Richter in the ropes and Martin charges, but Martin backdrops Martin over the top onto Moolah to finish this at 5:23. This was all sorts of a mess, including the botched finish and the general slow pace of the thing. *
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-Larry Zbyszko vs. Barry Windham(c) for the Western States Heritage Title-
This hails from the NWA Bunkhouse Stampede held on January 24th, 1988 and it features Baby Doll at ringside and thus is the reason for inclusion this month. I’ve never heard of this Western States Title. Windham shoulderblocks Zbyszko and then hiptosses him to start, and we’re off to a slow start. There’s a lot of stalling here. Zbyszko returns but misses a dropkick and he stalls some more. Zbyszko shoulderblocks Windham down but walks into a drop toe hold. Zbyszko gets one of his own and he goes after Windham’s knee, his gameplan for the match. We hear the ref asking if Windham wants to give it up and we hear Windham say, “No sir.” He’s polite in the ring, too. Windham breaks out of the single leg crab by standing up and connecting with an enzuigiri. A powerslam gets two for Windham. He bodyslams Zbyszko and heads upstairs but misses a backsplash. Zbyszko takes advantage by going after the knee but Windham suplexes out of it for two. A gut-wrench suplex for Windham gets two as well. Windham grabs a sleeper. Windham gets dumped and he grabs hold of Zbyszko, tripping him up and crotching him using the steel ringpost. Windham heads back to the ring but misses a flying body press that sends him hurtling to the outside. Zbyszko slugs Windham down inside the ring for two. He tries a neckbreaker but Windham reverses to a backslide for two. Zbyszko tries a piledriver but is backdropped over. The two collide after an Irish Whip but they battle it out in the corner. Zbyszko misses a blind charge and Windham slugs at him in the corner. Windham sends Zbyszko to the corner again but the ref is in the way and he’s bumped. Windham doesn’t see this and rolls up Zbyszko. Baby Doll slams the mat to get Zbyszko up and Windham thinks that was the three-count from the ref. He celebrates but sees the ref is out. He tends to him and when he turns around Zbyszko is there to knock him out with Baby Dolls high heel boot. Zbyszko covers, the ref counts, and it’s all over at 19:14. Zbyszko is your new Western States Heritage Champion. This was slow at times in the beginning but it actually built up well and I wasn’t bored watching it. It was by no means a classic, either. It was okay and that gets the okay rating: **.
-Misty Blue/Vula/Heidi Lee Morgan vs. Linda Dallas/Mad Dog/Kat Leroux-
This is from World Championship Wrestling and is dated December 31st, 1988. This is from the NWA women’s division and it is one of only a handful of matches the WWE Classics.com crew could find from the promotion. I don’t know who any of these people are in the ring, but Kat takes a sit down slam into a roll-up for two. The lady in red does a slingshot suplex for two. That’s Misty Blue according to JR. Blue tags in a lady in pink who works a hammerlock on the other girl. Okay, pink lady is Heidi. Kat is tagged in again and she walks into a chinlock. Heidi rolls her over for one. A terrible looking roll-up gets two for Heidi. Kat whips her over and Linda Dallas comes in, twisting the leg of Heidi. Mad Dog Debbie (who was trained to wrestle in Cuba) comes in with a pin for two. She lets her opponent get away and Zula is tagged in. Zula is huge, looking like a black Akeem. I’m not joking about that. Zula gets cut down right away and takes a double clothesline. Zula bearhugs Mad Dog but she quickly loses control. She makes it to her corner and tags in Heidi who hits a dropkick on Kat. Kat suplexes Heidi for two. A Boston Crab follows for Kat as we head to break. We return with Kat working the leg of Zula. Zula is sent to the ropes and basically walks to it and walks back off of it into an armdrag. Misty comes in and faceplants Kat and now it is Heidi’s turn. She bodyslams Kat for two and connects with another dropkick. Heidi bodyslams Kat again but misses a splash from the second rope. Kat catches Heidi in an abdominal stretch into a side headlock. She tags in Dallas who continues with the side headlock but Heidi headscissors out of it. Kat comes in again only to get bodyslammed. Heidi heads to the top now and connects with a missile dropkick but that sends Kat to her corner and Mad Dog is tagged in. Dog is bodyslammed and Dallas is tagged in. She hits a body press from the top and that’s all she wrote at 7:57. This was painful to watch at times, though Heidi and Kat weren’t that bad together. ½*. Even though it sucked, I love how the service of WWEClassics.com was able to find a match like this that has probably hardly ever been seen and post it for everyone.
---Week Three---
This week is loaded with Trish Stratus so you know it should be good. I don’t even want to write anymore, let’s just get to it!
-Introducing: Trish Stratus-
I’ve always been a fan of Trish. She was the one Diva who actually really worked at being a wrestler. She clearly got better over the course of her WWE career. She talks about her first match in a mixed tag match which she thought went okay but she knew she needed work. Trish still looks great, even rocking the brunette hair. Trish says she’d like to wrestle another Canadian, Natalya. We see her first match, from SmackDown; T&A & Trish vs. The Hardy Boyz and Lita. Everyone argues to start off, and Lita throws a shot at Trish, chasing her around the ring. Albert wards her off leading to Test getting double suplexed by the Hardy’s. The Hardy’s hit Poetry in Motion on both members of T&A, but Test counters with a big boot and Albert kicks Matt out of the ring. Jeff and Test start off with Jeff taking a big clothesline. Trish is tagged in and she smacks Jeff. Lita tries getting into the ring but the ref prevents her from getting in. So Trish runs from behind and shoves Lita to the outside. She runs back to her corner and tags in Albert. Albert tosses around a guy who would eventually become the WWE champion until Albert misses a splash in the corner. Matt is tagged in and he throws rights at Test. Test sends Matt to the corner and charges but runs into a big boot. A clothesline from the second rope follows. Albert interjects himself into the match but he falls victim to a tornado DDT. Jeff hits a somersault plancha on Albert and this draws Trish into the ring. Lita runs in and Matt and Lita hit stereo Twists of Fate on the two. Trish is up on top of Test and Jeff hits a Swanton on Test (missing Trish completely) and covers. Albert runs in and breaks up the pinfall. A huge donneybrook ensues that sends Albert, Test, Matt and Jeff outside the ring, with the referee trying to break up the action. Meanwhile, inside the ring, Lita hits a moonsault on Trish and covers but there’s no ref! Albert runs in, hits the A-bomb on Lita, drags Trish on top of her and the ref counts the pinfall to end this at 4:31. This was a lot of chaotic action and really, 5 minutes to develop this match would’ve made it really good. It was an action-packed 4-minute match as it was. **. Trish and Lita were not featured that much in this match which worked since Trish was nowhere near the level she was even a year later and Lita was her usual sloppy self.
-Shane Douglas & Torrie Wilson vs. Crowbar & Daffney-
This is from WCW Thunder and it aired on July12th, 2000. Torrie was always nice to look at but she couldn’t wrestle at all. Crowbar elbows Douglas out of the ring and follows with a baseball slide through the second and third ropes. Crowbar hiptosses Douglas for two. Daffney is tagged in and slaps Torrie who was still on the apron. Torrie takes her heels off and charges into the ring right into a catfight with hair pulling and stuff. The ref separates them to the wonder of the announcers (Heenan – maybe he’s married to a librarian). Torrie tags Shane and Daffney quickly tags in Crowbar. Crowbar falls victim to a Pittsburgh plunge (a fisherman suplex slam) and he tags in Torrie. Torrie splashes Crowbar and covers for two. Crowbar tags in Daffney and the two women roll around the ring some more. Douglas tags in by slapping the ass of Torrie. However, Douglas gets low-blowed by Daffney and falls victim to a jawbreaker. Crowbar comes in with a Northern Lights suplex for two and a springboard splash for two. He does the ten punches in the corner to no avail. Douglas ducks out of a springboard moonsault and catches Crowbar with the Franchiser to finish at 4:38. The women played no role in the match. *.
-Edge, Mick Foley & Lita vs. Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer & Beulah-
This was from the ECW One Night Stand PPV held on June 11th, 2006. I’ve heard about this PPV but I’ve never seen it. Mick is wearing his Cactus Jack attire. Mick, Edge and Lita represent Raw or WWE here. Foley is sporting a shiner thanks to Terry Funk. Mick gets on the mic, saying he sold out…Madison Square Garden! Foley also mentions how Stephanie McMahon used to own ECW during the Alliance angle. He’s really drawing the ire of the fans here. Edge is the co-holder of the Hardcore title, and Lita seems to have some work done since we last saw a video of her on WWE from 2000. Things seem a bit inflated if you know what I mean. Edge mocks the ECW fans, too. He calls them pathetic. Lita chimes in, calling Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk pathetic as well. Lita mentions sitting on his face last event, which I’m sure wasn’t the best tasting thing he’s ever experienced. Dreamer has his real-life wife, Beulah with him. Beulah is still looking good some 10 years after I last saw her in ECW. Beulah as the microphone now and she offers to make it a three on three match. Lita slaps Beulah and Beulah shoves her back. Dreamer and Edge start, so I guess the strategy is to have the young guns of both teams start off. Edge misses an enzuigiri so he tags in the old-timer, Mick Foley. Foley wants Funk and so Dreamer tags in the old-timer on their side of thing. Funk slaps away at Foley and Foley turns to Edge saying it was a bad idea and that he doesn’t want to be here. This leads to Foley getting to the apron and Funk attacking him. This brings in Edge which draws in Dreamer. Both pairs square off on the outside of the ring, with Funk slugging away at Foley and Dreamer finding plunder on the outside and using it on Edge. Foley makes it to the ring and takes a sign shot from Dreamer and Edge takes a trashcan shot from Funk. Funk holds the can next to Foley’s face allowing Dreamer to baseball slide the garbage can into Foley. Dreamer misses a sign shot on Edge so Edge uses that sign for some payback. Foley and Funk brawl at ringside as Edge finds a ladder underneath the ring. Edge charges at Dreamer with the ladder and Dreamer eats ladder. It probably tastes better than Lita. Edge tries spearing Dreamer into the ladder that is propped up in the corner but Dreamer sidesteps and hiptosses Edge into the ladder. Funk and Foley brawl back to the ring and Funk does the ladder airplane spin, knocking out both Foley and Edge. Funk and Dreamer set up the ladder and Funk heads up to the top. Edge gets in there and pushes the ladder over, sending Funk crashing to the mat.
Dreamer drives the Spicolli driver but Lita interjects herself into the match with a low-blow on Tommy. Foley and Edge find a piece of plywood underneath the ring, and then a piece of plywood that is COVERED with barbed wire. The ECW fans are starting to orgasm over what this could mean for the match. Edge and Foley suplex the plywood onto Dreamer. They try to do it again but Funk pulls the legs out from underneath them and it falls onto both of them, getting Foley more than either of them. Dreamer sets up the plywood in the corner and they Irish Whip Foley into it, but Foley stops short and puts his hand out to stop it. So Funk and Dreamer just toss him into the barb wire anyway. Dreamer ends up outside and he gets crotched onto the steel barricade as the fans chant, “this is awesome.” Edge gets slugged down by Funk but he turns around and Foley tosses the plywood into Funk. Foley asks for some more barb wire from Lita and he wraps it around his forearm. Foley slugs away at Funk, who is now a bloody mess, and even grinds the barb wire onto Terry’s skull. Funk is just busted open and he’s brought to the back by the paramedics. They show a female fan who is just shocked at ringside. So it is Dreamer alone against the two of them and now Foley has found a barb wire baseball bat. Lita gets in the ring and she legdrops the baseball bat into Tommy’s groin. Foley pulls out Socko and puts it on Beulah! Tommy charges to protect his wife but Edge is there to attack Dreamer from behind. Foley puts the Mandible Claw onto Dreamer, leading to Edge spearing him. Edge opts not to cover, but puts his crotch into Beulah’s face. He sets her up in a pump-handle slam but they are distracted by a barbed wire 2x4 making its way through the crowd. It’s held by Terry Funk and with both Edge and Foley’s attention turned to the crowd, Funk low blows both of them. Funk gets in there and whacks both Edge and Foley before setting fire to the 2x4. Foley takes a few shots, ending up on the apron and taking another shot that sends him through the plywood table that Dreamer set up. Edge charges at Funk from behind and Funk falls on top of Foley. Edge talks into a DDT and Dreamer catches Edge with a cross-face that is using the barb wire! Lita makes the saves but Beulah is there to start a catfight with Lita. The two slug it out until Dreamer catches Lita and hits the Spicolli Driver (now called the Dreamer Driver). Dreamer and Beulah celebrate, but Edge comes in with the barb wire, wraps it around Dreamer and drops back in a reverse Edge-cution before spearing Beulah and covering her for the pinfall at 18:46. That was just an intense brawl and one you won’t see in the WWE in this day and age of family-friendly action. This was just brutal and it was one of the better bloody brawls I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t the normal ECW garbage match filled with just blood and gore but it actually had a story here that you could follow. It also made sense for Edge and Foley to go over here because, really, they were fighting a senior citizen and guy who was the same age as Foley. What a great, brutal match. ****.
-Sensational Sherri Interview-
This is from an episode of WWE Mania from way back in June 19th, 1993. Savage is conducting the interview here and this was during Sherri’s face run in the WWE, as she was feuding with Luna Vachon at the time. Savage says this from Raw and it is at the Manhattan Center but I guess it was not shown on Raw. Sherri says that Vachon cannot wrestle but can only cat-fight and if that’s what she wants, that what she’ll get. Savage asks if Sherri can beat Bobby Heenan and Sherri says it is a no-doubter, as well as beating Jerry Lawler and the only king she’s had is Macho Man. Sherri can also take out Todd Pettingill but she won’t because she thinks he’s cute. Sherri will also take out Luna Vachon.
-Wendi Richter vs. Madusa(c) for the AWA Women’s Title-
This is from AWA All-Star Wrestling from October 1st, 1988. This is an interesting match-up. Wendi got screwed out of the Women’s title in 1985 and it would eventually end up on Madusa and from there it ended up in the trash on a live episode of Monday Nitro. Madusa wins a lock-up and struts around like she’s hot shit. Wendi grabs an armbar which Madusa counters with a head-scissors. Wendi escapes and Madusa argues with the ref. The video looks terrible compared to WWE footage from 1988 or even NWA footage from ‘88. Wendi is sent to the corner but she powers out of it with a big right hand and Madusa calls for a time-out. Wendi catches Madusa in a roll-up for two. Wendi grabs a chinlock but misses a follow-up legdrop. Madusa steps on the hair of Richter which I assume is very painful. Wendi counters with a headbutt to the gut and a bodyslam for two. Madusa comes back with a terrible looking Boston Crap and Wendi rolls out of it resulting in a very awkward looking spot. Wendi blocks a boot to the gut, spins around Madusa and clocks her with a right. Wendi elbows Madusa down and covers for two. A shoulderbreaker gets one for Wendi. Wendi is sent to the corner but boots down a charging Madusa. She sunset flips Madusa for two. Wendi hits a big boot and suplexes Madusa for one. Wendi connects with a big powerbomb that looks to end this match but Bad Company runs in and the three of them triple team Wendi, clotheslining her over the top rope. The Top Guns (Rockers knock-offs) run in to save Wendi. Well, Wendi wins the match at 6:52 via DQ but doesn’t win the title because since you can only win it via pinfall or submission. One of the announcers runs into the ring for an impromptu interview and Wendi says she should be the new women’s champion. The match was watchable which is more than I expected coming into this video. **.
---Week Four---
-Lita vs. Trish Stratus-
It’s appropriate that this is on the last week, considering that these two really jumpstarted the whole women’s wrestling division in the early to mid 2000’s. This is from the December 6th, 2004 Raw. Trish has a mask on (due to a broken nose suffered at the hands of Lita) and it seems she’s the heel here. Lita is over here, so she must not have cheated on Matt yet. They lock up and tumble to the outside as a result. Trish sells the nose as they get back into the ring. Trish boots Lita in the gut and sends her into the corner. Trish telegraphs a back drop so Lita boots her in the face. Lita tries a roundhouse but Trish ducks out of it in her matrix move, so Lita wisely trips her and covers for two. Lita backdrops Trish to the outside and follows with a tope. Lita did one of the sickest landings I’ve ever seen, falling right on her neck. Lita gets into the ring first and tries pulling Trish in but Trish takes off the mask and whacks Lita with it. Looks like her nose wasn’t broken at all! Trish sends Lita face-first into the corner and chokes her while seated on the top rope. Lita snapmares her off and puts Trish in a sleeper. Trish backs into the corner to break, snapmares Lita over and does a seated full nelson. Trish heads upstairs but Lita catches her and superplexes her off. Trish is up first and Chick Kicks Lita for two. Trish tries for the punches in the corner but Lita powerbombs out of that. Lita climbs to the top but Trish is able to catch her on her shoulders. Lita rolls through for two and tries for the Twist of Fate but Trish DDT’s her to counter and pins her (with the ropes) for two. Trish tries the Stratusfaction but Lita catches her in a Twist of Fate. Lita doesn’t cover but instead goes to the top and hits a moonsault for the pinfall and the title at 7:13. That was actually the main event of the show that night and it was a good one. Lita’s fall was one of the scariest falls you may see and it’s amazing she didn’t break her neck (again). After that the match slowed a bit but it picked up near the end. Trish was definitely on top of her game here. ***.
-Glamour Girls(c) vs. Jumping Bomb Angels for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles -
This is from Primetime Wrestling that aired on August 10th, 1987. These two had a killer match at Royal Rumble 1988, so I am hoping this is decent. The Angels start with their high-flying dropkicks on Judy Martin but Leilani Kai ducks underneath the both of them and gets them in the gut. Kai is met with a cross body by the Tateno. A gut-wrench suplex by Yamazaki gets two. It’s interesting to hear the Genius on commentary here. Kai powers into her own corner where Kai and Martin can double-team. Martin bodypresses Tateno but she bridges right out of it. Martin misses an elbowdrop allowing Yamazaki to get a nice armdrag off the top on Martin. Martin goes in to tag Kai but Kai doesn’t want to go in! Martin eventually tags her in and Kai immediately gets her kick caught. Martin runs in and the Angels go for stereo figure-fours. The crowd popped very nicely for that. Martin and Tateno leave but on Tateno’s way out he legdrops Kai across the throat a pair of times. Kai eventually makes it to her corner but she couldn’t tag in Martin. Yamazaki releases the hold anyway and tags in Tateno who goes right to work on the leg. Kai comes back with a big boot but she gets her leg swept out. Yamazaki catches Kai in an Octopus and Martin has to go in to break the hold. Tateno bodyscissors Kai as we head to break. Kai picks her up out of it and slams her down. She covers her but Tateno does a really cool escape (bridging out almost) before hitting sunset flip for one. Martin comes in and she elbows down Tateno for two. Kai lifts up Tateno over her shoulders and tags in Kai. She drops Tateno down over the knee of Kai which is a cool move. The Glamours get in some cheap shots while the ref is distracted as Yamazaki tries to get the fans into the match (and they are into it!). Kai and Martin continue to double-team but Tateno ducks out of an axe-handle attempt and she’s able to make the tag to Yamazaki. She bodypresses the both of them and even whips Kai into Martin. She bodyslams Kai, leading to a knee-drop from Tateno for two, in a pin saved by Martin. Yamazaki tries a bodypress and again Martin breaks up the pinfall. So Martin comes in and powerbombs Yamazaki and Kai pins her at 10:26 to retain the titles. Tateno cleans house with dropkicks afterwards. This was a match WELL ahead of its time, in fact, well ahead of most men’s tag team wrestlers. The action was up the whole time, Martin unveils a powerbomb on American TV and this set up their Royal Rumble Match that would top this one. ***1/2.
-Brother Love Show with Miss Elizabeth-
This is from a MSG house show that took place on November 25th, 1989. Brother Love mentions something about Piper ready to be humiliated by Rick Rude. Did they ever wrestle? I’d love to see that match! Sherri is brought out and someone tosses something at her, it looks like a cream of some sort. Brother Love brings out a Jezebel who rides on the coat-tails of champions; Miss Elizabeth. Love and Sherri make fun of Liz (calling her plastic!) Sherri calls her a peasant, just like Hacksaw, but Liz responds that Hacksaw is still the reigning King of the WWE. Liz and Sherri tease a big cat fight until Hacksaw runs out and chases Sherri to the back. So Brother Love corners Liz and says he looooves her. So Hacksaw runs out and whacks him in the gut with the 2x4 before tossing him. Well, that was completely unprovoked and is definitely an assault.
-Piper’s Pit with Fabulous Moolah-
This is from the January 4th, 1986 episode of Championship Wrestling. Bob Orton is here, too, probably because of his team-up with Piper at the time. Moolah is the champ by this point so Piper shows his congratulations by kissing her. That’s just weird.
-Madusa vs. Paul E. Dangerously-
This interesting match-up was from the Clash of the Champions that aired on November 21st, 1987, although I think that date is wrong. It appears on Wikipedia as November 18th, 1992. Michael Hayes interviews Heyman and you can barely hear what they are saying. Thanks, WCW! We take a break and we see Heyman kicking at some woman, who I think is Madusa. Heyman wants a kiss but when he pulls at her hair, it comes off! It’s not Madusa at all! It’s a dude! Madusa comes running in and attacks Heyman from behind. She chick kicks him and bodyslams him, leading to Heyman cowering in the corner. Heyman is booted to the outside and he starts to scram. Madusa chases him to the back and after a few seconds she carries him back into the ring. This is a 5-minute challenge and there are two minutes remaining for Madusa to beat Heyman. Madusa gets tripped up by Hayes and Heyman stomps her. Heyman heads upstairs and he connects with a double axe-handle. Madusa is up quickly and Heyman is too busy celebrating to notice. Madusa clotheslines him down and drops knees into his shoulder. Madusa heads to the second turnbuckle and hits a missile dropkick. She rips the headgear off of Heyman, depants him, and Heyman bails to the outside. He runs away and Madusa chases after him as time expires. I guess Madusa is the winner at 5:00. There was no announce team for this match for some reason. The match was just awful for those interested. DUD.
-Women’s Elimination Match-
This is from the 2008 Survivor Series (held on November 28th) and there’s no better way for me to click on something than by having Maria used in the thumbnail. This is a Raw vs. SmackDown elimination match. Let’s see, it is Michelle McCool (Captain and Divas Champion), Maryse, Victoria, Natalya and Maria representing SmackDown. Monday Night Raw is captained by the Women’s Champ, Beth Phoenix the Glamazon (with Santino), Mickie James, Jillian, Candice Michelle, and Kelly Kelly. Beth and Michelle start this off. I have not seen 80% of these people wrestle before so this is a first for me. I think Beth Phoenix is a good powerhouse for the WWE without being overly butch or muscular like Chyna was. The two shove at each other with Michelle getting a bodyscissors that Beth breaks free of. Beth shoves Michelle into her corner and Maryse tags herself in. She then shoves Michelle off the apron. I guess they don’t like each other. The two start fighting each other and the rest of the SmackDown diva’s separate them. Maryse acts all bitchy until Maria tags herself in. She’s handled pretty easily by Beth until Beth misses a blind charge in the corner. Maria headscissors Beth down. Beth tags in Kelly who sunset flips Maria for two. Maria counters for one. Kelly backslides Maria for one. Maria is sent to the ropes and Victoria tags herself in. Kelly immediately rana’s her into a pinfall for the first elimination at 2:53. Maryse comes in and Kelly tries the same to her. That doesn’t work and Maryse hits a sick backbreaker to get the pinfall at 3:20. Mickie James runs in a house a’fire so Maryse bails and tags in Michelle. Mickie tries a cover but Michelle bridges out of it. Mickie tries an overhead suplex for a pin that Michelle also bridges out of. Michelle hits a Side Russian Legsweep for two. Mickie tries for a pin so Maria tries to break up the pin but she hits Michelle by mistake. Michelle is distracted and she’s DDT’ed down and eliminated at 5:05. Maryse is in next and she rolls up Mickie to eliminate her at 5:27 after she was distracted by Phoenix. Natalya and Candice make their debuts in this match and Natalya kicks out of a pinfall attempt only to get slapped down. Natalya puts Candice in the Sharpshooter until Jillian interjects herself and breaks that up. So with Natalya distracted, Candice spears her and rolls her up to eliminate her at 6:44. Maryse runs in and smacks Beth before running and tagging in Maria. Maria is sent to the corner by Jillian who follows with a handspring elbow. Maria catches Jillian in a victory roll to eliminate her at 7:42. Candice runs in (and pulls something in her leg in the process) but manages a Northern Lights suplex to eliminate her
at 7:53. Maryse quickly eliminates Candice with a figure four at 8:34. Maryse and Phoenix square off and Maryse hits a super kick for two. Phoenix misses a blind charge in the corner but catches a leaping Maryse. Maryse reverses to a roll-up for two. Phoenix catches Maryse in the Glam Slam to end this at 9:37. This was really bad but it had a bit of charm to it. I probably would never want to watch it again. *1/2.
-The Bottom Line-
I was really ready to hate on this month. Luckily I gave it a chance and I have to say that there is a great representation of matches here. When you think of Diva’s you think of mostly the T&A stuff but this stuck only to wrestling and you have some incredibly rare matches on here that you’ll never find anywhere else. True, some of the matches sucked but just having these rare matches is great. There were also some great surprises. The One Night Only Tag Match was a big highlight, as well as the Jumping Bomb Angles match. I would recommend those matches to anyone. Trish was featured heavily on here and rightfully so. Her Coliseum Video that was presented was quite good and it’s another reason why this service is so amazing. I was expecting nothing and got quite a lot more than I expected. Next month is a feature on 1985 and I am PUMPED for that one.
Here’s a rundown of matches I didn’t watch this month.
--Week 1--
I actually caught everything this week. It helps that it was only an hour of material posted!
--Week 2--
--Dusty Rhodes & Sapphire vs. Randy Savage & Sensational Sherri (Wrestlemania VI)
I reviewed this one already and you can read the review in the WWE Wrestlemania Anthology Vol. II DVD.
--Week 3 & 4--
I batted 1,000 again these last two weeks.
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