Goody Bag 57: Some Matches

 

WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Tito Santana v Jesse Ventura: From Prime Time Wrestling on January 6 1986 (taped December 7 1985) in Boston Massachusetts. Jesse takes forever getting all his gimmicks off, milking it, and getting Tito frustrated. Tito gets him into the corner on the initial lockup, and gives a clean break. Jesse gets him into the ropes on the next one, and you can guess how that goes. Tito gets all fired up and chases Ventura to the outside, Jesse stalling out there for a bit. Back in, Tito manages to crank on a wristlock, so Jesse goes to the eyes to shake him off, and now the Body goes to work. Ventura cheats like mad here, not even really bothering to hide it from the referee. Makes sense. I mean, of all the guys who might try the innocent act, would you buy it from Jesse Ventura? Backbreaker gets two, so Jesse tries a bearhug, but Tito slugs free. Tito makes the comeback, giving Ventura a taste of his own medicine with cheap shots galore. Figure Four looks to finish, but Jesse is in the ropes to save himself. Tito tries to pull him off and go back to the hold, so the Body rakes the eyes, and dumps the champion to the outside to buy time. Too much time, apparently, as Tito gets counted out at 7:27. It's especially funny seeing it happen to Jesse. And even stranger, he celebrates like Lex Luger at SummerSlam '93, even though you KNOW, of all people, he'd know better. This was simple, but fun. ¾*

 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title v WCW Light Heavyweight Title Match: Norio Honaga v Jushin Thunder Liger: From NJPW TV on February 15 1992 (taped February 8) in Sapporo Hokkaido Japan. Feeling out process to start, dominated by Liger. He knocks Honaga to the outside with a spinheel kick, then barrels into him with a baseball slide. Honaga beats the count in, so Liger welcomes him with a sitout powerbomb for two, and a snapmare sets up a chinlock. Liger shifts to a mat-based headscissors, but Honaga counters to a toehold, so Liger gets into the ropes to force a break. That leads to a Liger-won slugfest, and a whip into the ropes sets up a handspring backelbow for two. Nice bit of timing on that one. Liger goes back to the chinlock, but Honaga throws a knee to escape, and he hammers Jushin back down. Bodyslam sets up a dive, but Liger crotches him on the top turnbuckle. Superplex, but Honaga blocks, and dives with a flying axehandle. Liger wisely bails to avoid getting covered, and Honaga patiently waits. Honaga welcomes him back with a knee, and he takes Jushin to the mat for a reverse chinlock, but Liger makes the ropes again. Honaga responds by putting him in a mat-based abdominal stretch instead, but Liger forces a criss cross, and knocks him to the outside with the koppou kick. He's too battered to follow up, however, and Honaga pulls him to the outside as well for a trip into the post. Honaga with a whip into the guardrail, but Liger beats the count back in, so Honaga gives him a backbreaker for two. Both of these guys are pretty lax about countouts considering each has a shot at winning a title here. Honaga with a knee to the gut for two, and he grounds Liger again, this time in a stump puller. Abdominal stretch follows, but Liger hiptosses his way out, and drops Honaga with a side suplex. Drop-toehold sets up a surfboard, but Liger's selling damage from earlier, and can't keep it hooked. Nicely done. Not so nicely done: Honaga's version of a 2^nd rope axehandle. It gets two regardless, and Honaga casually drops him front-first across the top rope to send Liger to the outside. Honaga dives with a plancha, but Liger dodges, and does his own dive in the form of a flying bodypress. Liger with a somersault plancha for good measure, but Honaga beats the count, so Liger welcomes him with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Tombstone gets two, so Liger goes upstairs with a flying headbutt drop for two - selling the ribs all the while. Liger with another dive in the form of a flying elbowdrop, but Honaga dodges this one, and he delivers a hangman clothesline for two. Bridging German suplex is worth two, but Liger blocks a straightjacket suplex, and uses a schoolboy for two. Honaga takes another try at a German suplex, but Liger counters with a victory cradle for two. Honaga tries a vertical suplex, so Liger looks for a victory roll, but Honaga counters with an electric chair. Honaga goes up with a dive, but Liger catches him with a clothesline on the way down, and both men are left looking up at the lights. Liger recovers better with another koppou kick, and a rana off the top wins him the IWGP title at 17:30. Solid throughout, though it really picked up at the end there. Not a major work, but a good one nonetheless. ***

 

Bret Hart v Mankind: From Shotgun Saturday Night, January 25 1997 in New York New York. Mankind corners one of the go-go dancers during his entrance, so Bret comes out before his music hits to make the save, and they brawl into the ring. Nice way to take advantage of the fact that they're wrestling in a working nightclub. Bret dives off the middle at him, and this ring is so small that they end up in the next corner. Hart with a vertical suplex and a legdrop, and he hammers Mankind into the corner, but Mankind returns fire, and they spill to the outside. Bret bashes him into the guardrail out there, and they fight up onto a stage, where Hart delivers another suplex. Mankind fights him off on the way back inside, and he chokes the Hitman down for a running kneesmash in the corner. Mankind with a corner whip and a legdrop for two, and he grounds Bret in a chinlock. Bret slugs free, so Mankind pounds him back down, but a charge goes badly when Hart sidesteps, and Mankind takes a bump over the top. He decides to flirt with the dancers again while he's out there, but Hart sends him into the rail again to keep him away, and wow, there's less room between the ring and the fans here than even in ECW. And it's the same fans, too. Bret crotches him on the rail and clotheslines him off, and a flying axehandle connects on the way back inside. Headbutt drop to the groin connects, and a snap suplex sets up a 2^nd rope elbowdrop, but Mankind dodges. Mankind drops him with a double-arm DDT for two, but a corner charge misses, and the Hitman uses a Russian legsweep. Hart with a pointed elbowdrop, followed by a bulldog for two. Swinging neckbreaker gets two, and a backbreaker sets up... no, he doesn't go for the pointed elbow. Okay. He does hit a clothesline, however, and he slaps on the Sharpshooter, but come on. Like Mankind is going to submit. No matter, Owen Hart (doing commentary) decides to run in to attack his brother for the DQ at 12:19. That was a weird finish, considering Bret and Owen weren't really feuding (or even interacting) much during this period. I'd love to see a proper match between these two, though sadly this was not that. It was interesting in its own way, though it dragged a lot, and I really didn't care for the finish. *

 

NXT United Kingdom Title Match: WALTER v Ilja Dragunov: From NXT UK TV on October 29 2020 in London England. Despite being outsized, Ilja shows no fear, charging right at the champion at the bell. WALTER tries to fight off the blitz, but Ilja just keeps on coming, fighting off every attempt to corner him. Ilja manages a flying senton splash, but WALTER blocks the Torpedo with a suplex. That buys WALTER some recovery time, and he starts just LAYING into Ilja with chops. He dumps him to the outside in vicious fashion, with Ilja getting clipped across the ropes like Enzo Amore did once. Only on purpose. Ilja beats the count, so WALTER wallops on him with forearms, but Ilja doesn't want to say die. WALTER responds with a chinlock, but Ilja starts fighting free, so WALTER gives him a kneedrop. Ilja shows more fire with a suplex attempt, but he's battered, and it goes nowhere for him, so he just starts lobbing chops at the big man. WALTER blasts him with a right to end that rally, but this little asshole just keeps fucking coming. WALTER tries cutting him off with a headvice, but Ilja (say it with me) just keeps coming. WALTER punishes him by trying to literally decapitate him, but it only get two. Ilja's going full chicken! And you never go full chicken! WALTER drops him on his head with a German suplex, and I feel like I need to note that we're only, like, six minutes into this, and it already feels like they've been through a war. WALTER starts working the neck, and decides to plank Ilja across the top turnbuckle to murder with chops until his skinny ass falls out of the ring. WALTER gives him a chance to take the countout, but the little prick doesn't know when to quit, and gets bootchoked. Ilja still beats the count, so WALTER goes back to just straight pounding the man, but Ilja must not know what 'quit' is, because he just keeps coming, WALTER decides to suplex him again, but Ilja reverses. That annoys WALTER, so he gets back up to try again, but gets reversed again. That slows him down a bit, allowing Ilja to grab him with a third German suplex to buy more recovery time. Ilja capitalizes with a pair of enzuigiri as WALTER gets back to his feet, and a suplex gets him two. He's too battered to really do much more, however, and the much less battered champion is ready to choke him down. Sleeper looks to finish, but Ilja makes the ropes, and manages a rollup for two. He tries shifting into a bridge, so WALTER counters with a sleeper, but Ilja counters to a cradle for two. Lariat gets two, and everybody involved here is doing a fantastic job of getting this over - workers, announcers, referee. WALTER decides to put the boots to the neck, then drags Ilja to his feet to whack with a huge job. Poor Ilja's chest looks like it belongs in a butcher's shop. WALTER with a crazy lariat and a powerbomb for two, and a big clothesline is worth another two. WALTER takes him to the mat with another sleeper, but Ilja manages to block, despite WALTER softening him up with blows. WALTER responds by shifting to a dragon sleeper instead, but Ilja rolls it into the ropes to force a break. Ilja's so battered that WALTER is able to immediately put him back in the sleeper, however, but the challenger slugs free before WALTER can get him off the vertical base. Ilja with a flying dropkick for two, so he unloads a series of strikes to soften the champion for a suplex - muscling him through it for two. Ilja is one fumes, but the adrenaline is flowing, and he's not backing down. He pounds WALTER down with wicked chops, and the Torpedo connects! He's too battered to cover, however, and by the time he is, WALTER is recovering. That forces Ilja to try another Torpedo, but he gets blocked this time, and both guys are down. Ilja recovers first, unloading on the champion with elbowsmashes until he bails. Ilja follows, but it proves to be a mistake, as WALTER grabs him with a sleeper suplex on the floor. WALTER adds a big boot into the steps as the referee checks on the challenger, and a powerbomb onto the apron follows. Inside, WALTER adds a second powerbomb to set up a flying splash, but it only gets two! WALTER responds by just straight up slapping the shit out of Ilja, and the sleeper finishes a battered and bloody Dragunov off at 25:09. Okay, I'm exhausted now, wow. This was a fight of fights. I mean, they were just obliterating each other, and it was brutal. You could probably could the number of pin attempts on one hand here, it was more about beating the other guy to death than worrying about a three count. This was something else. **** ½