2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #6

 

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Rob Van Dam, ECW 3/20/1998 - GREAT

This was apparently provided by RVDs personal channel, so thanks to Mr. Van Dam for providing the hidden gems. Really athletic match with a lot of heat garnering from Van Dam and Alfonso. RVD has a rep for super choreographed sequences but they largely avoided that here. Opening grappling was really good, with both guys having really good mat movements, Scorpio rips out a really fast Fujiwara Armbar and RVD has a super impressive bridge walkover, wish that section lasted longer. The Zbyszko stalling from RVD mixed with the athletic basic exchanges was really effective. Both guys bust out some impressive counter sequences, with Scorpios kicks looking especially awesome. Finishing run had some great old school junior moves like a huge back suplex off the top and a beastly powerbomb from Scorpio. Scorpio really wrestles with a ton of faith in the basic moves, like he comits to a basic mat return as much as he does to a plancha or twisting splash, and both look awesome and believable. It’s a nice change of pace from todays trained monkey show approach to this kind of wrestling. Some of the floor brawling was a bit listless and the finish was a run in, but a really cool match outside of that.

2 Cold Scorpio vs Paul Orndorff, WCW 5/18/1993 - GREAT

Wonderful TV match which was basic but executed amazingly. I think early 90s WCW is some of the best TV wrestling the US ever had, everything is nice and snug, and everyone is putting in the work. Orndorff really can work a basic wristlock even to perfection, and Scorpio is so good. All of Scorpios stuff really pops, yes he has the fancy high spots, but he makes even somtehing as basic as a crossbody look amazing. I also loved him throwing punches. Orndorff is really good, nothing fancy, but he knows how to be dominant so the crowd will be extra hot for all of Scorpios offense, and he looked mean as hell when he was attacking Scorpios riffs. Really simple classy match that had the crowd the whole time, down to the “Whoop there it is” chant and everyone jumping up and pointing fingers when Orndorff pulled a foreign object. Great stuff.

2 Cold Scorpio & Richard Slinger vs Akitoshi Saito & Makoto Hashi, NOAH 7/10/2004 - GREAT

Fuck yeah Scorpio and Slinger getting to tear it up in the dome for 15 minutes. This was mid paced, but had a ton of good shit in it. Namely from Slinger, who is really working hard in this match, busting out lots of awesome kicks. His pump kick in the corner is probably the best that move has looked, and his spin kicks were really cool. Scorpio was awesome here, he makes everything he does look so good, down to his great heavyweight flying, and uncorking some great strikes. It is telling that in a match with some great strikers in it Scorpio has the best looking strikes. His jumping knee nearly caved Hashis face in, and later he hits a picture perfect jumping face kick. I would’ve liked to see him go head to head with Saito a bit more, instead of having Hashi kick out of a bunch of offense, but Scorp and Saito wailing on each other early on was pretty cool too. In the end it was Slingers night and he made the most of it.

 

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #4

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Taz, ECW 1/10/1998 - GREAT

Cool TV match. Taz has his flaws, but the suplex and submission style is crazy over with me. This had a nice opening with both guys going to the mat and working some cool basic exchanges, with the ECW crowd showing an unusual appreciation for the mat stuff. They get more into ECWisms as they start brawling around the ring and smashing into chairs, but the finishing run was really nice with Taz busting out gnarly suplexes that Scorpio bumps huge for and Scorpio hitting some devastating highspots before a neat finish. A good night of work from Scorpio.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, NOAH 11/5/2005 - GREAT

This was for NOAHs 'Hardcore Title'. Not a great title, but god damn this was Scorpio with his working boots on, and working boots Scorpio is amazing. He hits some cool punch combos, talks shit and really goes out of his way to make Kanemaru look amazing. I imagine Scorpio called the action because I don't recall many instances where Kanemaru looked as great as he did here, hitting some cool twisting headscissors before connecting with a huge dropkick to the outside and a big knee drop to the back of the head as Scorpio was dangling from the ramp. Scorps selling was pretty much masterful as he sold the fuck out of Kanemarus shitty low blows, to the point where even the crowd started giving a shit and caring for the possibility that Kanemaru might upset Scorpio and take that stupid belt. Even paying attention to the time limit rule in Hardcore title matches! The clothesline Scorp hit during the finishing stretch felt more important than a probably 99.9% of clotheslines ever thrown and Kanemura did something right by taking a hellacious bump for it. Really amazing what you can get when you let a guy like Scorpio do his thing.

 

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Go Shiozaki, NOAH 4/3/2005 - GREAT

Scorp leads Shiozaki through a really nice solid match. Really liked the opening hold exchanges, Scorpio feels so forceful  when he takes a guy down. Shiozaki was just doing basic stuff but that was alright. Loved Scorpio kneeing Shiozaki in the kidney and slapping him in the face to escalate the violence. We get some brutal kicks from Scorpio in this, some great jumping knees and big boots that left Shiozaki bleeding from the nose. Scorpio pin point punching a bleeding Shiozaki in the face was about as good as pro wrestling gets. Finish was somewhat routine, but you have to remember Shiozaki was a rookie at this point. It does make you wonder why they didn't let Scorpio do this kind of match more often because he looks great leading to a guy to a classy 15 minute bout. Certainly, Shiozaki might have turned into a good wrestler if they had let him wrestle Scorpio more often.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #3

 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Dean Malenko, ECW 3/3/1995 - FUN

Cool houseshow match with Scorpio doing some more technical work. It's funny how you can watch a ton of wrestling and a random Scorpio houseshow match from 27 years ago has some stuff you've never seen. Really liked Scorpios kneedrops on Deans face too to break up the niceness of their wrestling. Malenko is bland but insanely crisp. His control segment was a bit trite, but I liked his big stomp to cut off Scorpio. Boring chants start to come up so Scorpio just punches back to offense and starts hitting his high spots to shut the crowd up. The timing on the time limit draw was really impressive as the bell rung just as Scorpio hit the moonsault and had Dean beaten, although it may have been worked time.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Lord Steven Regal, WCW 7/27/1993 - GREAT

Regal trying to take Scorpio apart in a really technical manner for 10 minutes. Great stuff, and Scorpio can hang very well in this kind of mat based match. When Scorpio got the advantage, Regal just stomped on his face  and proceeded to grind him down even more viciously. Some great stretches and holds in this. Scorpio makes this big comeback with a great punch combo and starts blasting Regal with his supreme high spots just as the time runs out. Regal getting hit with a 450 splash in 1993 is something else, would he have thought that would happen within 5 years as Kendo Nagasaki put a spell on his partner in Britain in 1988? Really good match though.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Minoru Suzuki, GCW 4/23/2022 - FUN

Fun veteran match. I enjoyed these two trading holds and wish they had done a bit more of that, and Scorpios awesome punch combo on the floor. Could have done with a bit less back and forth strike exchanges, but that is how these guys get their paycheck now, and Suzuki doing stares to get reactions is effective. Scorpios high kicks and splashes aren't as smooth as they used to be but still look good, and I didn't expect him to take a boot to the face from Minoru.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Master List