Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 26 (6/25 - 7/1)

The one with King of the Ring 1995! Fucking...hooray. Plus, ECW, AJPW, AJW, NJPW, FMW, and more!

If you haven’t read it already, please check out my introductory article that explains what this series is all about. As a reminder, footage is sourced from the Goodhelmet 1995 Yearbook, unless otherwise stated.

Also, there is some graphic/bloody imagery in the ECW portion of the coverage, so please keep that in mind when reading. Thank you.

We have a LOADED week at The Dive. Yes, I know, we have WWF King of the Ring, but we have good stuff, too. A LOT of it, too! Aja Kong and Manami Toyota go at it again, we get our one and only match from the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, FMW fun with Hayabusa, All-Japan trios action, a bunch of nuttiness from ECW Hardcore Heaven, and more!

Well…

JUNE 25th

NJPW Best Of The Super Juniors II, Night Three - The Best of the Super Juniors tournament, as you all may know, is the lion's annual round-robin tournament featuring Junior Heavyweight competitors. It's the second to use the “Best of the Super Juniors” name, but the tournament's been around since 1988, operating as the “Top of the Super Juniors” until 1993. This iteration is a single-block tournament featuring ten competitors:

• Wild Pegasus

• Shinjiro Otani

• Black Tiger

• Koji Kanemoto

• Dean Malenko

• Gran Hamada

• Brian Pillman

• El Samurai

• Alex Wright

• Norio Honaga

Interesting field as there's Wright and Pillman from WCW and Hamada from Michinoku Pro. This would have been a hell of a learning experience for Wright in particular. On the Goodhelmet compilation, it looks like only the one match is featured, which possibly speaks to the quality or availability of the rest of the tourney.

Black Tiger [0] vs. Koji Kanemoto [0] - Both guys are at zero points, with Koji going to a time-limit draw with Shinjiro Otani on opening night (from what I can tell, it’s one point for a win and no points for any other result, but I could be wrong), while Black Tiger (Eddy Guerrero, for those who may not be aware) dropped his first tourney match to Gran Hamada on night two. This is an interesting TIGER FIGHT as Koji Kanemoto was the third Tiger Mask for a few years. The ring announcer isn't exactly dressed to the nines here. A distinct dearth of drip.

We get some fast-paced matwork to kick things off, with Kanemoto paying particular mind to Eddy's arm. Tiger snaps off a uranage and cinches in a chinlock to briefly take over.

Koji works out and grabs an anklelock that Ken Shamrock would later make famous, but Tiger escapes and grabs a surfboard, pulling back until he clubs Koji in the face! Koji manages a leglock, then lays in some kicks and chops…until Tiger goes to the eyes! Cheating, in an Eddy Guerrero match? That's CRAZY TALK! Eddy then clobbers Kanemoto with a lariat and hits a vicious powerbomb.

Tiger resumes control with a camel clutch, then dodges a dropkick attempt. Koji armdrags out of a powerbomb attempt and snaps off a Frankensteiner, but Guerrero immediately gets up and clocks his ass with a forearm. Koji flips out of a quebradora attempt and hits an overhead belly-to-belly, then lays in some kickings. Kanemoto works the arm for a bit to try to neutralize Tiger’s power until Guerrero makes the ropes.

Koji teases going after the leg, but catches Tiger with an armbar when he tries to stop it. Nice! Eddy goes to the face to escape, then hits a Saito suplex. Frog splash gets two, then Eddy grabs an STF, but Koji gets to the ropes to escape. Eddy continues working over Koji until we get to a knucklelock sequence, ending with some great acrobatics and dodges from both guys. Koji dumps Tiger with a dropkick and follows with a plancha from the top. Kanemoto goes for a slingshot plancha, but Tiger simply backs away from it, resulting in Koji hitting the floor with an absolute thud.

Tiger bodyslams Kanemoto in the stands, then follows with a huge plancha of his own into the crowd! On the apron, Koji suplexes Tiger from the apron to the floor, resulting in another nasty bump. Koji then lands a superplex, but Tiger kicks out at two. Koji gets a rolling prawn hold for two, but Guerrero NAILS a sheer drop brainbuster for two. Koji gets a German suplex for two, then hits a twisting senton off the ropes. Moonsault attempt from Koji, but he lands on his feet and spinkicks Tiger. On the top rope, Koji points at Tiger as if to say “fuck you, buddy”, then hits a Frankensteiner for a very close two.

Guerrero sits down on a sunset flip attempt for two, then mule-kicks Kanemoto in the yambag to big crowd heat. Another sheer drop brainbuster gets a close two, and Tiger gets another close fall off a Black Tiger Bomb as the crowd rallies behind Kanemoto. Guerrero then hits a TOP ROPE BRAINBUSTER for the three!

****1/4 - Gat dang, that was a great way to kick off the week. I especially enjoyed the psychology behind Kanemoto's matwork, Eddie's rudo tactics, the huge bumps, big moves, the pacing in the last half or so, and the believable near-falls that escalated into an absolutely killer finish.

As mentioned above, this will be the only match we'll see for this tournament. Wild Pegasus would go on to defeat Shinjiro Otani in the finals on July 13th.

WWF King of the Ring 1995 - Fuck me, here we go. We had to get to this one eventually. One of the most utterly infamous shows from a particularly dire period in WWF history. Legendary for its generational ass-suckage, this had all the hallmarks of an all-time stinkeroo: brutally boring wrestling, brain-breakingly bad booking, flat angles, an ECW-pilled Philly crowd to openly shit on everything, and it set into motion some absolutely dreadful programs and gimmicks for the next several months. At the very least, we got a super-young Matt and Jeff Hardy working the doors in those supremely dorky jester outfits. Despite this being what should be rather innocuous task, Matt Hardy almost got knocked out by a rowdy fan throwing a full drink at his head.

“Kiss My Foot” Match: Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler - Yes, this is the best they had for Bret on a Big Five PPV. The pre-match video package goes over all the stuff that happened between them since King of the Ring 1993, including Bret's loss to Lawler at the first In Your House. During the lead-up to this bout, Lawler would do all kinds of nasty stuff to his feet to make it all the more unpleasant for Bret if he wins, including walking around barefoot in a horse stall. That sounds like a much better experience than watching this show. This graphic is seriously cursed:

We get a rare Stephanie Wiand sighting as she conducts an aisleway interview with The King. She sells the heck out of the stench while Lawler promises victory and foot kissing from The Hitman.

Bret opens by beating the turd out of Lawler using aggressive tactics. This goes on until Lawler runs Bret into the ring steps. The crowd chants “Burger King” and I don’t blame them. Their Impossible Whopper is legit good, something I NEVER thought I'd say about a meatless burger.

Lawler stuffs Bret with a piledriver, then hits two more with copious amounts of stalling between them.

Bret kicks out, then fights back after more stalling…but Lawler goes to the eyes and tosses Bret. Lawler then removes his boot and blasts Bret with it for another near fall. King tries to shove his putrid bootless foot in Bret’s face, but Hart catches it and hits a lower-abdomen headbutt. Bret pounds away in the corner, but Lawler again socks him with the boot, then hits a fistdrop for two. Lawler threatens to post Bret's gonads, but in an unforeseen development, Lawler eats the steel instead.

Bret assaults Lawler, but Hakushi and Shinja come out to run interference…but Hakushi strikes Lawler's by mistake! Bret capitalizes with his usual sequence and gets the Sharpshooter for the submission!

*1/4 - Not much of a match here with a plodding heat segment and tons of stalling. However, this is still in the upper tier of quality for this show. On the bright side, Bret finally beats his long-time nemesis, and the match was at least short and decently heated. We'll take the small victories when we can.

Post-match, Hakushi tries to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease with a shoulderblock, but Bret moves, causing him to hit Lawler again. Bret gets rid of Hakushi and Shinja and, as promised during the lead-up to the match, not only shoves his toes into Lawler's mouth, but also forces The King to ingest his own disgusting goddamn foot.

Gee, you think someone high-up in The Fed had a fetish? You'd think this would end things between Lawler and Bret, but NOPE. You’ll see what I mean by this when I get to this week's Monday Night RAW.

We get a quick video on the WWF working with the Special Olympics, narrated by Todd Pettingill.

We now jump to the ending of the King of the Ring tournament final between Mabel vs. Savio Vega. Before we get into it, let's recap the other tournament action from the night to see how we got to THIS final:

• Razor Ramon was set to be in the tournament, but he hurt his ribs in a house show ladder match with Jeff Jarrett, so he had to withdraw. As such, Savio Vega defeated Irwin R. Schyster in a qualifying match on the pre-show to take Razor's place. This is a rare instance of a pre-show match making it to the VHS release (which I own, sadly).

QUARTERFINALS:

• Savio opened the PPV proper by defeating Yokozuna via countout to advance in a bleh contest.

• The Roadie pinned Bob Holly to advance to the semi-finals to meet Savio. This was as close to a decent match we’d get for the night.

• Shawn Michaels and Kama battled to a 15-minute draw in a match that wasn't complete ass or anything, but really dull. On a funny note, earlier in the night, Shawn was being interviewed near the throne. He put on the King of the Ring crown just for shits and giggles…and the crown was several sizes larger than his head, thus telegraphing the winner. That's some high level pettiness right there.

• Mabel pinned The Undertaker after interference from Kama. This was pretty shocking back in the day as Taker RARELY ever lost via pinfall at that point. The match could be generously described as the drizzling shits. I imagine some fans bought the show just at the sheer possibility of a Taker/Shawn showdown, but it was not to be. As a result of the earlier draw, Mabel marches straight to the finals.

SEMIFINALS:

• Savio Vega beat The Roadie in a big nothing of a match. He advances to the finals to meet Mabel.

Holy shit, what a tragic bracket. I know that guys like Mantaur, King Kong Bundy, Doink, and Duke Droese didn't make it past qualifying matches, but you had Owen Hart, British Bulldog, and Jeff Jarrett bounced out right away, too. Having one or two of those guys would have made for a much better field.

Alright, we're caught up. Mabel uses his considerable chonk to his advantage as the polite, forgiving Philadelphia fans chant “E-C-W!”. You can tell it's the mid-90s because Savio has his initials shaved in the back of his head.

Savio gets a roll-up for a near-fall, then hits his finishing spinning heel kick, but Mabel again kicks out. Mabel catches Savio's cross-body and hits a powerslam, but Vega persists. Mabel follows up with a splash for the win and the crown. The full match is pretty atrocious.

Post-match, Razor attacks Mo, but is soon overwhelmed by the Men on a Mission who attack his injured ribs.

The 1-2-3 Kid comes in and HE gets rinsed by the new king and…oh, let’s say…Mo.

The story of the underdog babyface having to wrestle four times and the heel only doing so twice is a solid, reliable storyline for a one-night tournament. The big issue is that it was used on Savio Vega. I don’t want to completely dump on the guy or anything because he’s a perfectly cromulent worker. However, he wasn't particularly over, wasn't presented as anything more than “Razor’s hot-tempered friend”, and whoever pitched the idea of FOUR Savio Vega matches in one night should be tried at The Hague. The Philly crowd was NOT buying the warmed-over Rocky story the Fed was peddling.

We cut to the coronation ceremony. Mabel is crowned king as he and Mo are pelted with garbage by the Philadelphia faithful. Shit, one piece of debris hits Mabel right between the eyes during his closeup.

Razor, Savio, and The Kid try to go after the dastardly duo, but are held back by officials. Guys, it’s a 568lb man with a SWORD, and he has the higher ground. Why even risk it?!?

This sets Mabel up as Diesel's post-Sid challenger as THAT title reign continues to limp along. The Summer of Mabel is in full swing.

No, not that one, though I'd definitely pay significant sums of your human dollars to watch her beat the shit out of Kevin Nash.

We now come to Diesel & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Sid & Tatanka, mercifully clipped to the end here. Sid takes a powder here, leaving Buffalo by his lonesome to be pinned by Diesel. Wow, way to make your #1 contender look like a badass. That'll move tickets and PPV buys.

The full match was, as Roger Ebert may say, “a horrible experience of unbearable length”. An injured Diesel absorbing heat from Sid and heel Tatanka for nearly 20 minutes is the stuff of nightmares. That would be it for Bam Bam’s cup of coffee in the main event, because it’s all downhill from here.

JUNE 26th

WWF Monday Night RAW - Remember when I said earlier that the Lawler/Bret stuff wasn’t over? Welp, we have Jerry Lawler standing outside the office of Isaac Yankem, DDS. Get it? A dentist named “I. Yankem”? My sides, they are a-splittin’.

As a result of Bret Hart winning the “Kiss My Foot” match the prior night, he had to seek professional dental treatment for his messed-up mouth.

While Lawler bemoans his plight with a mouth full of gauze, loud drilling and screaming can be heard behind the door. The King, while shoving stick after stick of gum into his mouth, explains that Isaac Yankem will EXTRACT revenge against Bret, as he was the world's greatest wrestler before becoming the world's greatest dentist. Yeah, like a wrestling DENTIST would ever get over…

We'll see more of Isaac Yankem, DDS in the future, so I'll go into more detail when we actually see more than a nameplate on a door.

Oh, hey, it's Waylon Mercy again! Funny, I don’t remember this episode of Baywatch:

He's just out there protecting people from “the drownin’ or whatever”. When it comes to the other wrasslers in the World Wrestling Federation, LIVES ARE GONNA BE IN WAYLON MERCY'S HANDS. That is, I believe, the first time he drops that catchphrase, which would eventually be the intro to his theme music. He looks at said hands and laughs.

We now check out some clips of Hitting for the Heartland, a celebrity softball game that benefits the children of those who perished in the Oklahoma City bombing. The game features WWF Champion Diesel, several NFL players, and TONY DANZA. I LAUGH AT TONY DANZA.

Man, Diesel did a LOT of media.

We now get footage of the WWF Hall of Fame ceremony. The WWF HoF was established in 1993 with the then-recently deceased Andre the Giant as the sole inductee, and this is the second (and last) ceremony to take place during King of the Ring weekend. The 1996 ceremony would take place during Survivor Series weekend, then the Hall of Fame was put on ice until Wrestlemania XX in 2004. It has been a staple of WrestleMania weekend since.

This year's class includes:

• The Fabulous Moolah (bleh)

• Ivan Putski

• George “The Animal” Steele (who received a video message from Bill Murray who CHALLENGES him to come out of retirement)

• “Big Cat” Ernie Ladd

• Antonino Rocca (his wife Joyce accepts on his behalf)

• The Grand Wizard (Bob Harmon accepts on his behalf)

• Pedro Morales (Savio Vega accepts the award on his behalf)

JUNE 27th

AJW Zenjo Movement, Night 40 - Alright, enough of that WWF shit. Let's get to the Good Stuff.

WWWA World Championship: Manami Toyota (c) vs. Aja Kong - We have a rematch of the classic title match from Wrestling Queendom Victory as Manami Toyota defends against former champion Aja Kong. They stare absolutely daggers into each other during the ring intros.

Toyota sneaks in a German suplex as Kong was returning to her corner, then goes up and puts the “miss” in “missile dropkick”. Kong goes up and hits HER own missile dropkick for two, sending Toyota careening backwards! Kong hits a corner clothesline, but Toyota gets the Manami Roll for two as these two are just NOT letting up. DDT from Toyota, then we get a half-crab.

Kong quickly gets a rope break, then powers out of a Boston crab. Toyota goes after the leg, but Kong fires back with BRUTAL kicks to take Toyota down. Kong then applies a NASTY torture crab hold, bending Toyota in very unnatural positions. Toyota tries to power up, but Kong just keeps laying in the kicks. And chops. Brutal chops. And headbutts. Sickening headbutts. Brutal piledriver nets another near-fall as Kong slows it down a bit with a sleeper.

Toyota escapes the sleeper, but gets caught in a bodyscissors. She escapes by slapping the shit out of Kong, but a comeback bid is quickly snuffed out after she runs into a Kong right hand. An uppercut gets two, then Kong bends her opponent again, this time via a slingshot backbreaker and a camel clutch. Toyota's spine has to be made of that stuff they put in Stretch Armstrong dolls to withstand this torture.

Kong gets a vertical suplex, then it's back to the camel clutch, which Toyota breaks via the ropes. Kong splashes the back, but Toyota bridges out of the pin as a ‘fuck you’. On the floor, Toyota gets whipped into the guardrail, and we brawl in the crowd where Kong bashes the back with a chair. Kong grabs a guardrail and plasters Toyota with it! Toyota walks it off around the ring for a bit, then gets a rebound crossbody out of nowhere, then a battery of missile dropkicks! German attempt is thwarted, then Kong fires back with slaps aplenty and a VICIOUS powerbomb for two!

Kong hits a second rope splash, but Toyota bridges out at two. Superplex and another bridge-out before three. Manami roll is attempted, but Kong plants Toyota with another powerbomb for two! Big backdrop driver nets another close two, then Kong places Toyota on top…but Toyota gets a sunset flip powerbomb for two! Toyota misses a moonsault, but reverses a backdrop driver for two. Seconds later, Kong hits an avalanche backdrop driver for two!

Toyota escapes an attempted avalanche move and tries an Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex, which Kong blocks. Toyota boots Kong to the floor, then goes for a plancha…but Kong kicks her in the guts on the way down! Back in, avalanche Mountain Bomb gets two! Uraken is blocked, and Toyota gets the Japanese Ocean Suplex for two! Kong goes upstairs, but Toyota (sort of) gets an avalanche Yoshi Tonic for two. Kong bails, so Toyota gets a springboard somersault plancha! Back in, Aja nails a STIFF Uraken…for TWO! Kong busts out the Orange Crush for another near-fall! One more Uraken, and that’s all! Kong regains the WWWA World Championship!

***** - Yup, it's another fiver for this pairing. Loved the intensity and aggression that both women displayed. A lot of palpable tension here, big moves, and an engrossing story thread that surpasses many other “big vs. small” matches. Toyota again displays incredible tenacity, athleticism, and the ability to absorb inhuman amounts of punishment while Kong was an absolute BEAST, relentless in her quest to regain the belt that Toyota took, ruthless with her strikes, and focused in her assault on Toyota's back.

While I LOVED the Wrestle Queendom match, this one has it beat. It felt more well-executed, and the story was a bit more layered. Absolutely top-shelf.

In a nice touch, Toyota is piggybacked to the back by one of the attendants, showing just how much that match took out of her.

As Kong celebrates, DYNAMITE KANSAI comes out and wants some of the new champ.

FMW New Century ~Chapter 2: The Beginning June Series, Night 11 - Hey, it’s been a bit since we saw some F-M-Dub and newly-minted top star Hayabusa.

FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship: Hisakatsu Oya (c) vs. Hayabusa -FMW has been a blind spot for me, so I am not at all familiar with Hisakatsu Oya. He did train at the NJPW Dojo in 1986 and had stints in SWS and Network of Wrestling before settling into FMW.

Code of Honor is observed, and we’re on! We start with some mat-based graps, of which both men are adept. Holds are traded and countered until Oya focuses on the leg, resulting in Hayabusa retreating to the ropes a couple of times to escape. Back up, Hayabusa fires off a few kicks, but Oya catches one and continues his attack on the left leg. Oya struggles with a figure four (*sad BREE WOO noises*) which Hayabusa escapes, then works his way into a surfboard.

Oya again strikes at Hayabusa's leg and works it over on the mat until Hayabusa counters into a sleeper. Oya seems to be regretting his life choices.

Legdrop BROTHER gets two, then Hayabusa locks in a triangle armbar. Somersault legdrop onto the guts gets two. Guillotine choke, but Oya grabs the ropes. Single underhook suplex gets two, then Hayabusa gets a SWEET spinning heel kick and a nice dropkick. Oya bails, so Hayabusa follows up with a somersault senton with a nasty landing. Didn’t look like Oya caught all of that one. Back in, Hayabusa hits a tombstone for two.

Hayabusa heads up and hits a gorgeous 450 splash for two, but Oya soon gets a dropkick to the knee. Oya continues to punish the knee with various submissions and attacks. He's gotta stop applying the figure four the way Dusty Rhodes does, though. This attack continues for several minutes, but the variety in holds and the aggression keeps it interesting. Hayabusa does manage to reverse a kneecrusher into a crossbody for two. German suplex gets two for Hayabusa, as does a DDT. Shooting star press gets two!

‘Busa hits a dropkick, then follows with a springboard moonsault to the outside! Back in, Hayabusa nails a slingshot senton and a standing moonsault for two. Oya regains the advantage by swiping at the knee, then hits a DDT for two. Swinging neckbreaker gets another two, then Oya applies the Royal Octopus Hold, but Hayabusa falls into the ropes. Oya then hits a couple of inverted Tiger suplexes (like the one Gangrel used to do!) for another pair of near-falls.

Hayabusa gets a desperation backslide for two, then hits a fisherman's buster for another close fall. Hayabusa goes up, but is caught in an electric chair. Saito suplex from Oya snags another two. Seconds later, Hayabusa hits a kneeling powerbomb for two, then follows with a Phoenix Splash…which misses! Oya hits another Saito suplex…but Hayabusa kicks out! Hayabusa gets a top rope Frankensteiner for another close call, then he follows with another powerbomb for two! Hayabusa hits a Dominator for a VERY close two! Falcon Arrow gets the three and the title!

Post-match, the Code of Honor is upheld. Sportsmanship!

***3/4 - This was a very exciting, fun match that got super-heated at the end with a lot of believable near-falls and MOVEZ. The mat wrestling at the beginning was also really well-done as it never got dull or felt completely like filler. Hayabusa’s high-flying was great; graceful and generally well-executed. Oya did a terrific job working the mat and hitting his various suplexes.

The one big issue I had with the match is the selling of the leg by Hayabusa. I don’t have a stick up my ass about limb selling or anything, but it did bug me a bit that he was able to do his high-flying and kicks without much hinderance IMMEDIATELY after regaining the advantage. To be fair, though, he didn’t completely forget about it as he did limp on occasion, and it did cause him to slow down a bit closer to the end of the match. I just wanted the leg stuff to figure a bit more into things, that’s all. That aside, this is still a great bit of non-deathmatch FMW.

JUNE 30th

AJPW Summer Action Series 1995, Night One - The Summer Action Series continues with some hot trios action.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Satoru Asako vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue & Tamon Honda - We all know and love the Pillars, and I’ve seen a bit of Tamon Honda in Pro Wrestling NOAH, but I don’t know much about Satoru Asako. From what I can tell, he was a perennial junior heavyweight undercarder for All Japan and NOAH. Honda was a former Olympic wrestler who had debuted in 1993 at the age of 30.

We jump into this about ten minutes in with Kobashi chopping the crap out of the upstart Honda while the latter fights back with headbutts.

Honda tags out to Kawada who immediately boots Kobashi in the face, then hits a lariat for two. They fight over a vertical suplex, which Kobashi finally gets. Misawa tags in and runs wild on Kawada for a bit until he tags Asako in…who immediately gets plastered by Kawada. Kawada then beats the crap out of Kobashi and Misawa in the corner! Asako and his minty-green trunks tries to suplex Kawada…and finally gets it after a hefty struggle.

Asako works a chinlock, then tags Kobashi back in. He works over Dangerous K for a bit, then him and Misawa hit a sweet double dropkick. Kobashi nearly beheads Kawada with a lariat, then Misawa gets a second-rope elbow for two. Kawada and Kobashi soon engage in a CHOP BATTLE until Kawada comes out on top with a boot and a dropkick. Taue attacks Kobashi on the outside like a dick, but Kobashi fights back with a lariat. He then powerbombs Taue on the floor! Yikes!

Kobashi re-enters, but immediately eats an enzuigiri from Kawada. Misawa comes in and HE gets his face bashed in, but Misawa fights back with elbows! Kawada tags Honda back in, and he lands some headbutts on Kobashi for two! Kobashi tries to regain the upper hand, but Honda keeps fighting back with headbutts.

Honda goes apeshit with the headbutts, then tags Taue in. Taue boots the crap out of Kobashi but isn't able to score a top rope Nodowa. Kobashi dives off the buckles, but Taue knees him in the guts. Kobashi blocks a Nodowa attempt and scores with a spinning chop, then tags in Misawa. Misawa dodges some boots and counters a DDT with a Northern Lights Suplex for two. They keep countering each other's holds until Taue scores with a DDT and tags in Kawada. Him and Misawa beat the bejesus out of each other for a bit until Misawa scores a kneeling powerbomb for two. Honda and Asako go at it with slaps, but Honda comes out on top with a double chokeslam.

Honda tags in officially and hits another chokeslam and a diving headbutt, but Kobashi breaks up the pin! Asano hits a top rope Frankensteiner for a VERY close two! Kobashi tags in and absorbs some headbutts and nails a lariat. Honda fires back with a Kawada-assisted German for another super-close two!

Kobashi hits a superplex and a powerbomb, each scoring two-counts. It's now a six-way fracas with Misawa hitting a release tiger suplex on Kawada and a release German on Taue. Kobashi then hits dragon suplex on Honda for the three!

****1/2 - This was HEAT. Just non-stop action for the ~14 minutes we got to see here. The four pillars beat the absolute tar out of each other, Honda was a lot of fun to watch with his headbutt-heavy offense and exchanges with the elder statesmen, and Asako was…there. Well, I say that, but he hit a couple of nice moves. That finishing sequence was absolute fire. Also, despite eating the pin, I liked that Honda was able to hold his own, especially with Kobashi. I can't put it at the level of the best AJPW stuff from this era because we only saw about 15 out of 24 minutes, but it's definitely worth a look.

JULY 1st

Happy Canada Day! What better way to celebrate my country's independence than with some SOUTHERN GRAPS, WCW horseshit, and ECW carnage?

USWA Championship Wrestling - Lance Russell is here! Yay! He's running down the recent business between the Rock N’ Roll Express and PG-13, then throws it to the Rock N’ Rolls who have SMW ref Mark Curtis and Andrea Callaway with them. In their next match, there will be two referees: Mark Curtis and the USWA's Randy Hales.

They cut a heel promo, claiming to be CONSPIRACY VICTIMS as they represent Smoky Mountain Wrestling. They plan on dispatching PG-13, and Mark Curtis warns Randy Hales not to get in the way.

We now cut to the other half of the conflict, PG-13. Wolfie D claims that the two referees will even the playing field, and the match being 2-on-2 favors PG-13. JC Ice wraps it up by promising to snag the NWA tag belts currently held by Ricky and Robert.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling - This week on PERSONALITY PROFILE, we have NWA World Heavyweight AND UFC Champion Dan “The Beast” Severn. The word “Personality” does a lot of heavy lifting here.

We get clips of Dan in the gym and the Octagon as he goes over his accomplishments. Severn manages to explain the differences between the UFC and pro wrestling without saying, “pro wrestling is fake, yo!”. It's just wild to think of a time when UFC was in its infancy, mostly with an underground following and with relatively few rules. It’s equally wild that UFC is getting promoted by a wrestling company.

They plug the upcoming UFC fight with Ken Wayne Shamrock (the one from UFC VI, not the heaping turdfest that was UFC IX) and go over some of his favorite moments. Severn, in his monotone voice, saying that he was in the bloodiest fight ever, “of which, none of that blood was mine” is so fucking cold.

Severn says he will apply what he learned in his previous meeting with Royce Gracie to defeat Shamrock, then eventually Gracie himself. (Narrator: he did neither). Severn has the charisma of a block of wood, sure, but he’s at least believable.

A very sweaty Tommy Rich shows up next. He yells a lot about joining Jim Cornette's Militia and winning their war with the Armstrongs and other babyfaces.

We now cut to Cornette’s Militia. Cornette goes over the Thunderdome cage match set for Summer Blast between the Rock N’ Roll Express and Al Snow & Unabomb. Snow cuts a goofy promo on the Rock N’ Rolls.

Buddy Landel now cuts a promo on Brad Armstrong ahead of their match for the SMW title. Landel calls Brad a fine ATH-A-LETE, but Buddy is the PREMIERE ATH-A-LETE of Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Geez, cribbing Ric Flair wasn't bad enough; now he has to go after Tony Nese? He promises to walk out of Summer Blast the SMW champion, and will go on to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship on August 4th.

We get some arena action now as we catch the end of The Thugz vs. PG-13. Tracy Smothers and Dirty White Boy run wild for a bit.

Smothers cradles JC Ice, but Randy Hales counts VERY slowly, then rolls them over so that JC is on top. Hales goes for the count, but Mark Curtis slides in the way to prevent the count! Smothers rolls up Ice and Curtis does a fast count to end the match! The Thugz win $10,000! Finally, Dirty White Boy can go to trade school and become a plumber!

After the match, Hales and Curtis have it out, resulting in Curtis slugging Hales! PG-13 take exception to this, attacking Curtis and hit him with the MOTHER of all back body drops, launching him so high that Curtis lands on his feet for the bump! Holy shit!

https://twitter.com/RyeHenMac84/status/1667972221342568451?s=20

After more beatings, Hales mounts him and lays down the wussiest slaps ever committed to magnetic recording tape. Self-proclaimed karate expert, bodybuilder, and registered weapon Randy Hales then cuts a promo backstage promising to beat the snot out of Curtis.

WCW Saturday Night - We start things on The Mothership with Dave Sullivan's date with the Diamond Doll. The happy couple arrived in an old beater. Evad asks Ralph the Rabbit to watch the car. I hope he at least left a window down or had the AC going; otherwise we’d have to cancel his ass for leaving his pet in a hot car.

After going to see The Lion King, they hit up a fancy restaurant. Kimberly explains what chateaubriande is while Dave plays with the tablecloth.

More misunderstandings arise, then they are interrupted by a BUNNYGRAM. That is noted Big Show fart huffer Disco Inferno in the bunny costume, by the way. “I'm Dave Sullivan, but I don’t live here”.

Kimberly glances at the message and recoils in horror. Disco then reads the message aloud from Diamond Dallas Page that implies that Ralph the Rabbit was made into the very soup Evad is eating! Rude! Dave runs out to the parking lot in a panic, but Ralph is still there…so it was a RUSE! DDP and Max Muscle show up to beat up Dave…and the sound guys add in these absolutely ridiculous kung fu sound effects for each blow. DDP and Max run off as a police officer asks a barely-conscious Dave if he's hurt. YA THINK?

Holy crap, this was awful.

Speaking of awful, here's the Dungeon of Doom! The Master and Kevin Sullivan call in VADER. They send him on a Roadkill tour to ramp up to his title match against Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach.

The Roadkill tour would basically be Vader going around to different smaller companies and beating the shit out of people.

ECW Hardcore Heaven 1995 - We cap off the week with a LOT of content from ECW's latest supershow. This is notable for a couple of debuts which we’ll get into below.

We start off with Joey Styles in the ring. He teases some delicious Shane Douglas-related tea on the ECW Hotline but is soon interrupted by the man himself, clad in a WWF T-shirt and yellow shorts that leave VERY little to the imagination. The Franchise HA HA confirms that he has been in negotiations with Titan.

The fans serenade him with the “Na Na Na Na Goodbye” song in response to the news. Crowd now chants “WE WANT FLAIR” to really get under his skin, and that works as Shane goes into a lengthy profanity-laced tirade against the crowd, Flair, and journalists in general. The crowd “WOO”s in response. Shane goes into his background and friendship with Cactus Jack. The crowd chants “SHUT THE FUCK UP” as this diatribe keeps chugging along.

The Franchise announces his official departure from ECW as he is headed to The Fed. The crowd seems happy to know he's leaving. Woman then comes out and offers to make some sort of alliance with past charge Douglas and current charge The Sandman. After some back and forth, Douglas declares that Woman is the most gorgeous female he's ever laid eyes on, and also the biggest (BLEEP)bag he's ever seen!

Woman rightfully slaps Douglas across the face. Douglas offers her another free slap, but he catches her hand and threatens violence (eek) until Sandman comes out for the save. Cactus Jack runs off Sandman and wants to hash it out with Douglas, but no dice.

We now jump to the end of Raven & Stevie Richards (c) vs. Tommy Dreamer & Luna Vachon for the ECW Tag Team Championship. Raven and Richards had won the straps from The Public Enemy the night before at ECW Mountain Top Madness, a non-televised event. Luna hits a swinging neckbreaker on Stevie as Raven and Dreamer brawl around the arena. Dreamer tortures Raven with a TV antenna.

Luna continues beating the crap out of Richards while Dreamer now uses a newspaper receptacle to his advantage. Dreamer comes back to the ring and whacks Stevie with an ironing board.

Raven hits Dreamer with a high knee, then holds Luna in place for a Richards chairshot. Raven then slams Dreamer's broken fingers in the paper receptacle, then onto the guardrail. DDT on the paper bin to Dreamer! Raven returns to the ring. Double suplex and double DDT, but Luna kicks out (after some stalling from the heels)!

Richards gets crotched on the ropes, and Luna hits a superplex…but Beulah comes in and throws power into Luna's eyes! Richards catches her in a Greco-Roman missionary pin to retain! That was some fun insanity at the end.

Post-match, everyone continues brawling. R&R stand tall, and The Pitbulls come out. They want to Superbomb Dreamer, but Richards demands that they Superbomb LUNA. The Pitbulls refuse, so Raven smacks Pitbull #2 with a chair. And there's your face turn for the Pibbles as they have had ENOUGH of Raven's shit and beat him and Richards up. This is a rare instance of an ECW wrestler acting like a babyface by NOT hitting a woman. They tease a Superbomb on Richards.

However, the Dudleys (Snot Dudley and Dudley Dudley, NOT Buh Buh Ray and D-Von) come out to attack the Pitbulls. Raven and Dreamer go at it again, as does Luna and Stevie. After the ironing board is reintroduced into the fray, Stevie and Raven get hurled through a wall!

They head to the stage, where the Pitbulls show up, followed by the Dudleys. The Pitbulls, Dreamer, and Luna all stand tall at the end. This was more long-winded chaos on a show already rife with it, but at least we got a face turn for the Pitbulls and the Dudleys set up as Raven’s new flunkies.

Next, ECW Commissioner Tod Gordon calls out referee Bill Alfonso and assigns him to ref the next match…

Taipei Death Match: Axl Rotten vs. Ian Rotten - Hey, it’s the PWI Feud of the Year for 1995! Faux-Brits Axl and Ian were storyline brothers (in reality, Axl was Ian’s mentor in the biz) who competed as the Bad Breed in the early days of ECW until a loss to The Pitbulls forced them to disband. Ian blamed Axl for the loss and turned on him after the match, launching a feud that resulted in a lot of brutal hardcore matches and legit bad blood. These guys tended to lean more into the ultraviolence more than most in ECW.

Like tonight, for example! A Taipei deathmatch involves broken glass being glued onto the taped fists of both guys. Sounds like a fun night at the matches!

Fonzie checking both guys for foreign objects is incredibly funny to me. Both guys box for a bit until Axl lands a jab, producing a tiny cut above Ian's eye. Fonzie checks the cut and CALLS OFF THE MATCH due to Ian's “vision loss”! HA!

However, The Gangstas (more on THAT later) and The Public Enemy are in the aisleway brawling, which is soon broken up by police. Fonzie leaves to address that melee, so Tod Gordon drops in and orders the match to restart. Both guys land blows on each other and shove glass in each other's faces and extremities.

That's pretty much how this one goes for a while. Both guys are an absolute mess, Ian especially. After Axl has control for a while, Ian hits a couple of low blows. Glass to the dick! More glass is raked across the face of Axl, then Ian scores a DDT and produces a bag of thumbtacks.

However, with fate being the fickle bitch mistress she is, Ian is immediately backdropped onto the very tacks he introduced into the match. Axl hits a splash and it's over!

3/4* - I used to really enjoy this kind of deathmatch wrestling back in the day, but this was just not good. It was just repetitive as hell for the 10-ish minutes it lasted and didn't really have much going for it other than the blood and crowd heat. It somehow manages to be really gory and dull at the same time, which is a hell of a feat. The stuff with Fonzie in the beginning, though? Incredible!

After this match, Ian kinda hung around the midcard for a while and spent the rest of his ECW tenure in and out of tag teams, the most popular of which would be with ex-Boo Bradley Balls Mahoney. Ian would not be long in ECW, being cut loose by the end of the year. He moved to Kentucky and soon started up IWA: Mid South which is still limping along today, for better or worse. I say that, but IWA:MS was one of my go-to indies back in the day. Loved me some Ted Petty Invitational and King of the Death Match tournaments.

These guys would actually have a SECOND Taipei Death Match at one of the ECW reunion shows that were all the rage in the mid-2000’s. It's pretty much what you'd expect.

Next, we pick it up after The Sandman retained his ECW World Heavyweight Championship against Cactus Jack after interference from Shane Douglas. Tod Gordon and Shane are having it out in the ring. Douglas says he will stay in ECW only if Tod gets down on his knees and BEGS him!

Tod gets down on one knee…but gets right up and FIRES HIM! Huge pop! The Franchise HA HA beats the shit out of Tod, referees, and jobbers as a result…until 911 (reminds me of that tragedy) comes out and chokeslams Douglas all the way to New York.

We now cap things off with the end of The Public Enemy vs. The Gangstas. The Gangstas are making their first appearance in ECW after leaving Smoky Mountain Wrestling. The big controversy here is that the Gangstas gave their notice to Jim Cornette, but ended up leaving over a month early. This created significant acrimony between the Gangstas and Cornette, and furthered the long-standing disdain between Cornette and ECW owner Paul Heyman.

Rocco Rock moonsaults a bloody New Jack through a table, but Mustafa breaks up the pin.

The Gangstas pummel Johnny Grunge for a bit, but Rock flies in with a cane to the back of Mustafa's head for the pin. Post-match, the Gangstas attack from behind to resume the brawl for a bit. After a few moments, the Public Enemy return to the ring to celebrate. They invite some (rhythmically challenged) fans to party with them. The ring completely fills up with the ECW faithful. It probably smells insane in there, but it's an incredible visual.

Other stuff that happened:

• The Dudleys (the aforementioned Snot Dudley and Dudley Dudley, managed by Big Dick Dudley) defeated The Pitbulls via pinfall. This was actually the debut of the Dudley Brothers, with the former Inferno Fire Snot Dudley, and the only “pure Dudley”, Dudley Dudley, being the only child actually conceived by Big Daddy Dudley and Mama Dudley. I’ve never said “Dudley” so damn much. Dudley. Of course, more famous members will be added to the family over the years.

• Dino Sendoff & Don E. Allen vs. Chad Austin & Broad Street Bully ended after 911 came out and chokeslammed everyone.

• Hack Meyers defeated Big Malley via pinfall.

• 2 Cold Scorpio pinned Taz after a chair-assisted Tumbleweed. Taz won the match initially, but Bill Alfonso restarted the match after Scorpio’s foot was on the bottom rope during the pinfall.

The actual wrestling on this show wasn’t good as their best in-ring workers (Guerrero, Benoit, Malenko) were all in Japan for the Super Juniors tournament, but it had a lot of history and big developments.

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Holy crap, that was a LONG week. If you wanted to see the divide between the Big Two and, well, pretty much everywhere else, this is the week you want to look at.

In ONE WEEK, the WWF gave us King Mabel and Isaac Yankem, and WCW gave us the Dungeon of Doom and Evad Sullivan. Meanwhile, we got great showings from AJPW, NJPW, FMW, AJW, a fun promotional war angle between the two Southern companies, and some angles and brutal violence from ECW.

Everyone else is cooking. Meanwhile, the WCW and WWF:

Anyone saying that 1995 is a bad year for wrestling is just wrong. Very wrong. It's just a bad year for mainstream American wrestling.

NEXT TIME: Jeff Jarrett sings, tons of AAA lucha matches, Wrestle Association R give us both an oddball trios match and a WON top ten match for 1995, and MORE!

Smell ya later!