NWA Main Event 1988 - 01/05/1988
Lex Luger vs. Arn Anderson (w/ J.J. Dillon)
This goes right into the action as the feud is past the opening pleasantries. Luger comes in and immediately tries to break Arn’s wrist. Luger continues to shine with Arn selling and bumping for him, making him look incredibly strong as a babyface. Eventually, the tide is turned by the end with Arn taking control before the finish. Windham makes an appearance which sends Luger into a rage and they fight to cause a DQ or a no contest. Simple TV bout. ***
Joint Promotions 1988 - 04/05/1988
World Mid-Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Jones (c) vs. Marc Mercier
This has a rudimentary beginning with Jones, the champion, pushing the challenger, Mercier, into precarious situations, leading the initial charge of the lock up and then applying the first holds of the bout. Marc Mercier is the son of French Catch legend Guy Mercier who was apparently very good. The opening round turned out to be nothing special and it ended without much drama. Mercier shows a bit more offence in the second round, but Jones is still the skillful veteran who outsmarts him with his hidden headbutts to the abdomen. Mercier crumbles both times and gets caught in a boston crab which Jones lets go of. Mercier makes him pay, leveling Jones with forearms to the head. Jones seems hurt going into round 3 and Mercier tries to take advantage with uppercuts but Jones just eats him up with a stiff blow. Mercier does an awesome judo throw which gets a two count, but he is able to pin the champ with a roll up for the 1 fall. The stiff blows take their toll on Mercier who looks beaten and exhausted in round 4, struggling to make the ref’s count on several occasions. Jones takes advantage and smoothly pins him with a european clutch, or a “press” as Kent Walton calls it. Mercier’s growing on me as the match progresses. He’s not the purest European wrestler but he’s got some flashy moves (He even does a top rope dropkick! Amazing.) and I like his selling. By the end of the round, he doesn’t even get up off the canvas he’s that hurt. The fans get more lively, getting into the spirit usually expected of British fans (football-like chants). And like the crowd, the drama picks up briefly in the end. Mercicier goes to the top rope once more but Jones catches him this time and hits a double underhook suplex for a successful title defence. Strong match that got better as it went on. I particularly love Jones’ genius in this. ***1/4
NJPW Super Fight Series 1988 - Day 20 - 05/05/1988
Two One One Handicap Match: Big Van Vader vs. Hiro Saito & Kuniaki Kobayashi
These squash matches are never not fun. Vader gets to show off his strength and brutality while the two has to figure out ways to beat him. Some methods are creative, some are less so. The highlight of this was Vader launching Kobayashi up in the air like he was a football. Fun bout. **1/2
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Manny Fernandez
The majority of the first half of this match was Fujinami working a toe hold on Manny Fernandez. And they get some mileage out of it, which is impressive. Zero depth but the work for what it is is solid. Fujinami escalates to a single leg boston crab, eating Fernandez up. Fernandez gets some work on the arm but it gets snuffed out easily. Fujinami reams him for the finish. Fujinami looked STRONG in this. **1/4
Hiroshi Hase, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu vs. Kengo Kimura, Shiro Koshinaka & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
This is really clipped. A 12 minute match with maybe half of it. I should’ve expected it given it’s a small town taping. But it looks like a strong match. We get the brunt of the middle portion where they segway into beating on Hase. Kimura shows a little in this too with his little flurries which he’s great at. Quick brawl at the end and Saito pins Koshinaka with a Saito suplex. Fun stuff from what you see. ***
NWA World Championship Wrestling - 07/05/1988
Barry Windham (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Larry Davis
A fun squash by Barry Windham. It’s unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but I wanted to check out the predictably awesome promo that follows. SQUASH
Comments
Post a Comment