guidedbyrocketscomp

 Daioh QUALLT vs Takehiro Murahama, Osaka Pro 3/17/2000

This was when Murahama was doing his unstoppable shoot boxer act in Osaka Pro, which has to be one of the craziest single runs of a rookie anywhere ever. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Daioh QUALLT singles match, but after seeing this, fuck I need more of this Daioh QUALLT in my life. Basically QUALLT is a monster with caveman like strength and serious force in anything he did. He was just mauling Murahama, and Murahama was fighting back with some monster punch combos and knees of his own. This was just two guys putting insane violence into everything they threw at each other. Eventually Murahama starts getting the advantage, leading to a distraction, and then QUALLT blowing mist and trying to strangle Murahama with a rope. Totally crazy, and there’s a crazy post match too with an angry Murahama punching Delfin in the face really hard. God does this make all current wrestling look lame as hell.

Kenichiro Arai & Taku Iwasa vs Ryo Saito & Susumu Yokosuka, Dragon Gate 8/9/2008

No-ring Dragon Gate!! I love no-ring wrestling, and in this case removing the ring and just wrestling on a mat in Korakuen Hall adds exactly what a Dragon Gate match needs to be actually compelling. Any bumps look hard as fuck, and as such the wrestlers here were desperate to avoid even a bodyslam or suplex. This makes the stakes feel higher, and adds that little something that Dragon Gate normally often lacks: urgency, struggle, meaning… the crowd for this was molten hot too, so they were feeling the vibe as well. That said, Arai and Iwasa are awesome here. Really great unit of a tag team. Their team moves were awesome, and they did a great job cutting off the mat. We all know Arai as the crafty master, and he is crafty here, taking some hard as fuck and awesome looking back body drops on the mat, locking in slick sleepers and abdominal stretches – but he is also awesome as a lanky guy throwing bombs and cracking people with headbutts. Iwasa also looked quite good – he was hitting damn hard, and he almost ripped a guy apart with a cool submission at one point. Some awesome sequences and double team stuff here. Saito and Yokosuka aren’t much to write home about, but their offense is solid enough and I appreciate a guy like Saito just bringing hard lariats and spiking people with suplexes instead of doing something overly cute. Just a lot of good, brutal, heated action here.

The Moondogs vs The Warrior & Spirit of America (USWA 1991)

Somebody tells me to watch the Moondogs, I watch the Moondogs. The Warrior and Spirit of America are such a sight. They look just goofy and rip-off enough to be complete jobbers but also have good bodies and could plausible something of a deal in a small league like USWA. There is no question to what goes down here. Moondogs lay a savage pounding on these goofballs. Punching them in the face, throwing them around the ring, even bringing out chairs. There’s such an uncaring savage aura about the Moondogs that makes them awesome. They are not there to impress, they are there to kick ass, and that makes everything more impressive because it doesn’t come across as tryhard. The finish – something of a diving elbow while the opponent is held in a backbreaker position – looks like a total decapitation. And then they bust out a hurty looking big splash too for good measure. Great studio TV squash match.

Cactus Jack vs Arachnaman, WCW 1991(?)

I’ve never actually seen an Arachnaman match before. I’ve only ever just seen grainy stills of him. So here he is against Cactus Jack too of all people! Arachnaman – who I think is Brad Armstrong – actually tries to go all scientific on Jack. He hits some rollups and works the arm, even trying to snap it over the rope like he’s a spidery Regal. Armstrong tries to add a bit of flavour with his stances etc. I could see him being in a fun match against Great Muta as long as there’s blood and mask ripping, but that could be said about nearly everyone. Jack actually takes a back body drop on the floor in this nothing match against a guy saddled with a shit gimmick. Arachnamans finish is the ground abdominal stretch pin. I appreciate the Inokiism, but he is a bit sloppy in his application, and Jack quickly takes it home with a shitty jumping facebuster and holding Arachnamans costume for the pin. Well, know I can say that I know about Arachnaman.

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

The Regal vs. Eaton Series

 What do you do when you have two workers as talented as 1996-1997 William Regal and Bobby Eaton with nothing to do? You book them into a bunch of under 5 minute TV matches, of course!!

William Regal vs. Bobby Eaton, WCW 3/7/1995

Regal is sleazy as hell here, strutting about the ring as if he was gonna apply to the Ministry of Silly Walks. They lock up and we get Regal doing about 5 cool things in 30 seconds outgrappling Eaton. Regal talks trash, Eaton gets fired up and soon Regal eats like 6 beautiful punches in a row and a neckbreaker. Eaton signals for the Alabama Jam but Regal scurries away and gets on the mic. After some profuse apologizing Regal offers Eaton to team up with him and Eaton is just all befuddled and accepts. I guess Eaton had nothing better to do. And this is how the Blue Bloods were born!

William Regal vs. Bobby Eaton, WCW 10/30/1996

And just like that, the Blue Bloods are no more! How much can you achieve in a 3 minute match? We start this with Regal working an armlock and Eaton goes for a god damn flying headscissor hold, but Regal uses the ropes to throw him off in one of those cool things seemingly only Regal does. Eaton with an armwringer and Regal bumps in his head into the turnbuckle, resulting in some fun cranky Regal neck selling. Eaton starts uncorking punches with Dusty putting them over as lethal and gets some nice nearfalls for a punch combo and a swinging neckbreaker, with Regal just barely getting the foot to the ropes on the neckbreaker. Eaton continues to go to town on Regal with the punches but Regal shoves the refree, decks Eaton with a punch and pin him with the feet on the ropes. This was sweet.

William Regal vs. Bobby Eaton, WCW 11/29/1996

Another 3 minute match! Will they ever get 4 minutes on WCW TV? They throw a lot of punches in this one, with Regal going for his palm strikes right away and Eaton clocking him with a great looking right. They work a test of strength/monkey flip spot for a minute which is really cool, then go back to punches. Eaton goes for a suplex and Regal cradles him as he gets up which was a neat finish. I think this went slightly under 3 minutes.

William Regal vs. Bobby Eaton, WCW 2/16/1997(?)

Finally, a 4 and a half minute match between them! And it‘s a very mysterious match too, because it‘s not even listed on Cagematch! Maybe it‘s actually their April match. Same start as the preceding match, with Regal going for palms in the corner and eating a big Eaton punch. God damn Regal has about a dozen ways to just keep running into Eatons amazing looking punches in this. We get a heat segment for a minute where Eaton takes a facebump on the floor and smashed into the stairs, but soon enough Regal is back to eating punches and selling them like a cartoon cat getting caught in a mousetrap. Another easy flash rollup win for Regal here, will they develop this theme?

William Regal vs. Bobby Eaton, WCW 6/24/1997

Most vicious Regal performance so far, as he kicks the hell out of Eatons arm here and kneedrops his face. Joey Maggs for some reason comes out and Dusty promptly buries him on commentary saying he needs to watch and learn because he hasn‘t been winning matches. Eaton gets a brief comemback and Regal does the British style bounce off the turnbuckle into taking a backdrop bump. REALLY neat moment where Eaton tries to climb out the ring and Regal catches his leg and drives it into the buckle. Regal puts the Regal Stretch on Eaton, and Eaton fights it really hard trying to turn out of it, but Regal lands some open hands and headbutt until he can turn Eaton on his belly to get the tap. I guess this conclusive finish ends their series. Surprising how much neat stuff you can do in throwaway 4 minute matches.

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