Goody Bag XXXI: Hidden Gems 3

Sting v Bruiser Mastino: From WCW Saturday Night on March 6 1993 (taped March 2) in Macon Georgia. Mastino is a young Glen Jacobs, who went on to become Kane. Bruiser overpowers him a bit in the early going, so Sting throws a somersault senton, but a bodyslam is reversed. Sting tries again - successfully this time - and he holds Mastino in a wristlock. Bruiser escapes, but misses a corner charge, and the Stinger unloads with a series of turnbuckle smashes, followed by the Stinger Splash. Scorpion Deathlock then wraps her up at 2:56. Nothing doing here, but it's interesting to watch in retrospect. DUD

Justin Credible v Scott Hall: From an ECW house show in Poughkeepsie New York, on November 11 2000 - in one of only three appearances Hall made for the promotion. He's even rocking his nWo gear here. Lots of posturing to start, with Hall seemingly more interested in messing with Francine than doing much in the ring. He works the arm for a bit, and a criss cross ends in a chokeslam - complete with Scott stopping to mock Big Show. Cross corner whip flips Justin into a clothesline for two, so Francine takes a cheap shot at him, and Credible is able to capitalizes with a superkick. Justin goes to work with a turnbuckle smash and a series of jabs, and Francine passes him a chair to use for two. Sleeper, but Scott is able to dump him to the outside to escape, then knocks him off the apron to put Justin through a table! Hall hops out for a whip into the guardrail, and he bashes Credible with a chair out there. Back in, Scott delivers a fallaway slam, but Francine breaks up the count at two. I'd forgotten how ridiculously blatant the cheating in ECW could be. Like, the referee isn't even so much as gently admonishing her. Hall responds by giving her a wedgie and a spanking, which allows Justin to sneak up with the stick, but Scott ducks it, and the Edge finishes at 9:09. Interesting to see, but not very good as an actual match. Hall looked really rusty here, too. ¼*

WWE Title No Disqualification Triple Threat Match: Rock v Triple H v Brock Lesnar: From a WWE Global Warning in Melbourne Australia on August 10 2002, in front of over fifty thousand fans. First fall wins it here. Rock and HHH team up to dump Lesnar right away, but Hunter is quick to turn on the champion once that's out of the way. Rock doesn't take that well, and starts fighting back, but Brock takes him out before he gets too far. Hunter and Lesnar team up to work Rocky over, and HHH delivers a kneeling facebuster to set up a clothesline from Brock. They double up in the corner, but an attempt at a tandem clothesline is countered with a double-clothesline from the champion. Backdrop sends Lesnar over the top, and Rock follows out to send Brock into the rail. That draws Paul Heyman over, but as Rock chases after him, HHH is able to sneak up with a clothesline, and he drops Rocky across the rail. Inside, Hunter turns his attention to Lesnar, pounding the fellow challenger down in the corner. Brock responds in kind, but runs into a high knee, just as Rock rejoins the game - hammering Brock in the corner. HHH sneaks up with a neckbreaker on Rock for two, and Lesnar eats a rotating spinebuster for two. Rock returns fire with a swinging neckbreaker on HHH, but Lesnar breaks up the pin at two. He tries the F5 on Rock, but HHH saves. He tries the Pedigree on Lesnar, but Brock backdrops out of it, and sends Hunter over the top. Back to Rock with a release overhead suplex, and a short-clothesline follows. Again, but Rock blocks this time, so Lesnar punishes him with a bearhug, as we see that HHH is busted open on the outside. Rock slugs out of the hug, but nearly walks into the F5 before slipping free, and dropping Brock with a DDT for two. Sharpshooter is applied, but Triple H saves, and hits the champion with the Pedigree - Brock breaking up the pin at two. F5 for HHH, but Rock breaks the cover at two. Rocky hits Lesnar with a spinebuster to set up the People's Elbow, but it only gets two - even without a save from the Game! F5 connects, but HHH breaks the cover at two. Pedigree on Lesnar connects, but he kicks out on his own at two! Dude had a hell of a push. HHH can't believe it, and argues with the referee, allowing Rock to sneak up with the Rock Bottom at 14:00 - Lesnar too battered from the Pedigree to save this time. It's weird seeing a Lesnar match without a single German suplex in it. All action, but it was mostly of the kick-punch variety. * ¾

Val Venis v CM Punk: From WWE Sunday Night Heat on May 15 2005 (taped May 9) in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, in a tryout match for Punk. They trade hammerlocks to start, then onto armdrags, and legsweeps. This is like some house show opener from 1986. Val gives him a handshake for being able to keep up, but makes the mistake of turning his back, and Punk clips the leg. What a little... um... punk. The name suits him. He works a leglock, as the announcers shill John Cena's rap CD like it's Abbey Road. Punk wraps Venis' leg around the post, and keeps pounding it. Val escapes, and manages a backdrop, then hammers CM in the COrner. Neckbreaker gets two, so Punk tries a sleeper, but gets countered into a spinning sitout powerbomb for two. Val tries a fisherman's suplex, but the knee gives him trouble, and Punk is able to take him down for a half-crab. Venis gets the ropes, and he slams Punk down, before quickly finishing up with a flying splash at 6:38. Actually quite competitive and back-and-forth, with Punk getting a lot in, and Venis doing a great job of selling the leg. * ¾

MNM v Brad Taylor and Jon Moxley: From WWE Velocity on January 21 2006 (taped January 15) in Florence, North Carolina. Moxley is the future Dean Ambrose. Johnny Nitro starts with Moxley, and he dominates a few basic exchanges. Taylor tries coming in for a double-team, but MNM quickly put a stop to that, and Brad gets dropped across the barricade. Inside, MNM cut the ring in half on Taylor, and man, Melina looks a lot better with straight hair than the curls. Taylor appears to have the Budweiser logo on his tights, which is weird. Moxley gets the tag, but immediately gets destroyed, and the Snapshot finishes up at 5:10. Total squash. ½*

Seth Rollins v Antonio Cesaro: From NXT Full Sail Ahead/Project H, an unaired pilot TV episode taped on December 7 2011 in Winter Park Florida. They slug it out right away, with Seth using chops to dominate, but missing a dropkick, and taking Cesaro's dead lift gutwrench suplex for two. This gear does not at all suit Rollins. Cesaro grounds him in a full nelson, so Seth tries a sunset flip, but gets booted down again, and Cesaro works a headvice. Seth slugs free, so Cesaro press-drops him across the top rope for two, then tries him up in an overhead wristlock. Seth escapes, but another sunset flip goes nowhere, so he hooks a rollup, and gets a two count. Cesaro tries cutting him off with rights, but walks into a jumping forearm, and Rollins delivers a neat tornado vertical suplex. Haven't seen that variant too often. Curb stomp, but Cesaro dodges, so Rollins sends him over the top with a monkeyflip, then dives after him with a tope. Back in, Rollins tries a springboard forearm, but Cesaro dodges. Seth stays on course with a superkick and the curb stomp, but they only get two, so he starts putting the boots to him out of frustration. Cesaro capitalizes on the frustration with the pop-up uppercut, however, and that's that at 5:12. Too short, but good for what it was. They could have likely really had something with another five minutes, though. ** ¼