Rey vs Psychosis - Amazing stuff

Mexican Death Match: Rey Misterio vs. Psychosis

This match is taking place in ECW and is one of the many matches these two had against each other in ECW. I have heard good things so lets see how it holds up. Oh this is also under Mexican Death Match rules meaning you have to pin your opponent and then they have to stay down for a 10 count before you win.

Rey flips Psychosis off before the bell, man could you imagine him doing that nowadays? That would be hilarious. Rey starts us off fast with a pair of hurricanranas with the second transitioning into a rollup for three. Psychosis is up at five though so there are no problems there. Rey hits his third rana in a space of minutes taking Psychosis to the outside. Rey botches what I think was meant to be a moonsault off the steel guardrail which allowed Psychosis to take over.  He does so by throwing a chair at Rey’s face. Psychosis hits a big missile dropkick followed by a moonsault for three, Rey gets up at nine though so we continue. Big dropkick into the turnbuckle kills Rey.  Psychosis reverses an attempted rana into a huge power bomb, which gets three. Up at nine again though so no problems. Psychosis gets Rey up on his back and rams him into the turnbuckle in an awesome spot. Psychosis gets a chair but decides not to use is which the fans boo loudly.  Psi hits what Joey Styles calls a “One and a half inverted moonsault into a Senton” not sure on that name but I’ll go with it I guess, looked like a twisting leg drop to me but whatever.  That also gets three and once again Rey is up at 9.  Psychosis goes back to the chair from earlier and DDT’s Rey onto it, which the fans approve of. Psychosis hits a moonsault with the chair on Rey to get yet another three count.  Rey again gets up at nine, this is starting to get repetitive. So far this is just big spot, three count, Rey gets up at nine, repeat. Psychosis goes for another moonsault with the chair but this time Rey was playing possum and gets his knees up. Rey gets a great chair shot to the head of Psychosis. Big springboard clothesline takes them both outside and Rey dives on Psychosis sending both men into the crowd. Rey then gets a big asai moonsault INTO THE CROWD, which was fairly awesome. They brawl in to crowd for a bit before returning to the ring. After a few more chair shots from Rey they go back to the crowd.  Rey gets a huge Rana from off the fucking stage, awesome stuff, naturally that gets three and also gets Rey the win.

Overall ***1/2: Pretty good stuff here. We saw a nice mixture of highflying and brawling and it worked out fairly well. The repetition in the middle stages of this match did get a bit boring and predictable but an awesome comeback at the end from Rey made up for it. Good stuff overall.

2/3 Falls: Rey vs. Psychosis

They start off extremely fast and Rey dives on Psychosis taking them both into the crowd. He follows that up with a Suicide dive also taking them into the crowd. Awesome, fast start to this match. Rey gets a huge rana, which gets him three giving him a 1-0 lead in this 2/3 falls match. Huge spin wheel kick and a top rope rana as this is all Rey. He follows that with a rana from the apron onto the concrete as I am thinking that is the only move he knows. Psychosis wants a handshake, which Rey stupidly accepts. Psychosis hits an inzeguri instead and then rams Rey stomach first into the turnbuckle.  Huge power bomb but he takes way too long to cover so it gets only two. Psychosis gets a sharpshooter of all things, which of course doesn’t get a tap since Psychosis isn’t Bret Hart. Psychosis shows solid psychology with a big chair shot to the leg of the highflyer. Big slingshot leg drop but Psychosis misses a charge to the corner giving Rey a chance to hit his 5^th or 6^th rana of the match, he goes for a lionsault but Psychosis catches him and hits a tombstone to tie us up at 1-1.  Psychosis hits a power bomb through a table and throws Rey into the crowd. Huge over the rope dive (think the one Taker occasionally does) into the crowd and that looked fucking amazing. Psychosis misses a corner splash which sends him into the post and to the outside. Rey throws selling out the window and hits a springboard 450 to the outside; I will forgive the lack of selling as that looked awesome. Rey has had enough of wrestling apparently and just throws a chair at Psychosis instead. Rey hits yet another top rope rana (can he do anything else), which gets 2. Rey hits a springboard splash to the outside (think what Jericho does only a splash not a dropkick). Psychosis sets Rey up on a table and smacks him with a chair, that isn’t good enough though as he goes up top and hits a huge Senton through the table. Power bomb and Rey has to be dead. Phoenix Splash ends Rey.

Overall: ****1/2 Holy Fuck that was amazing. These two flew all over the place hitting all kinds of spots that I have never seen before and may never see again. This was just all kinds of awesome and I am still in awe of that. As with any match like this there is always the issue of no selling but that wasn’t too bad in this match with only one or two instances where t really mattered.

Super J Cup 1994 - Awesome Stuff

Super J Cup 1994 Review

The idea here is simple NJPW got the 14 best cruiserweights from around the world and put them all into one single elimination tournament. This has been called the best display of cruiserweight wrestling ever and Dave Meltzer named it the show of the year for 1994, considering the years had by the WWF and WCW in 1994 there may not have been a hell of a lot of competition. Lets see if it lives up to that very high praise.

Your competitors are:

(SPWF) Masayoshi Motegi

(FMW) Hayabusa

(FMW) Ricky Fuji 

(WAR) Gedo

(Michinoku Pro) Super Delfin

(Michinoku Pro) TAKA Michinoku

*(Michinoku Pro) The Great SASUKE 

(New Japan) Negro Casas

(New Japan) Dean Malenko

(New Japan) Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero) 

*(New Japan) Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit)

(New Japan) Shinjiro Ohtani 

(New Japan) El Samurai

(New Japan) Jushin THUNDER Liger

*These two have first round byes.

Anyway lets get on with the show.

Malenko vs. Gedo

Fairly weak stuff here, Malenko controlled the majority of this match showing off his technical prowess with Gedo only getting in some sporadic weak looking head-butts and chops. They cranked this way up at then end with Malenko even hitting a top rope cross body which surprised me. The ending came out of nowhere with Gedo getting a power slam that apparently has magical powers as it got eh win even though is looked a lot like Malenko kicked out at two. This was a decent match with a poor finish. My biggest criticism however is the wrong man won, Malenko controlled 90% of this and then Gedo hits a power slam? Not liking that. Decent match but nothing special **1/2.

Super Delfin vs. Shinjiro Ohtani

Good stuff here, both guys were working hard out there and the end result was a pretty good match, We got a nice mixture of highflying and technical mat based wrestling here which is always a good combination when done right. Ohtani impressed me here as he hit some really nice diving and springboard moves but also showed great prowess on the mat. The Delfin Clutch, which was used to pin Ohtani, is absolutely ridiculous though, not sure who thought that one was a good idea. Oh Delfins mask is awesome too. Good stuff ***1/4.

Taka Michinoku vs. Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero)

Taka looks like a baby here, upon further review he was 21 here but he looks all of about 15. Eddie starts out with a hiss and a roar hitting a Senton, power bomb and neckbeaker in the space of about a minute. Off to an abdominal stretch which and sharpshooter and this is all Eddie in the early going. Taka takes control for the first time with a headlock before but Eddie is like “fuck that” and destroys with a massive clothesline. Taka goes for a moonsault but ends up just flipping off the top rope instead, he follows that up with a badly botched rana in what may have been his first real offense of the match. Taka hits big belly to belly, throwing Eddie halfway across the ring, followed by an outside dive, which looked great. Taka suplexes him back in and hits a German for two. Huge power bomb by Eddie gets two, that looked amazing. Frog splash gets two, I legitimately thought that was it. Another power bomb but this time by Taka also gets two, as does a moonsualt. He goes for a 2^nd Moonsault but it eats knees. Brainbuster by Eddie get a very close 2 and a Tornado DDT ends Taka. That was good stuff as Eddie carried Taka to a pretty good match ***1/2

Masayoshi Motegi vs. El Samurai

We get a suicide dive straight away from Motegi. He tries to follow that up with a top rope cross body to the outside but he botches it falling of the top rope. That looked awful. Both men trade some stiff shots with Samurai winning that battle. A piledriver and back suplex both get 2 for El Samurai. We go to the mat for a bit with El Samurai again winning that battle. A tombstone gets 2 for Samurai and he gets a Suicide dive of his own. Motegi gets suplexed back in which Samurai follows up with a top rope drop kick. Apart from an early flurry El Samurai has dominated this. Right as I type that a power bomb from Motegi gets two. He locks on a surfboard, which is always a cool move.  Rolling Germans get countered into a rollup for two for Samurai. El Samurai gets a German of his own for two and a power bomb ends this. Decent stuff here but nothing special. **3/4

Ricky Fuji vs. Negro Casas

Fuji looks like some kind of insane mixture of Bret Hart and HBK minus the amazing ring skills. He has he HBK pants and a Bret Hart esque ring jacket. We start off with some nice mat work with neither guy being able to get any kind of prolonged advantage. This lasts a while and is rather boring.  Lots of headcissors and headlocks here as I am waiting for them to actually do something. Finally we are done with that as Negro gets some stiff sounding kicks and a clothesline for two. Fuji goes to work on the leg which gets him nowhere as Negro gets a springboard cross body to the outside which looked like it half missed.  Back in with Fuji getting a backbreaker followed by a suplex for two. Out of nowhere a roll up gets two for Negro. He follows that up with a pair of Senton’s, the second one missed though so Fuji hits some clotheslines followed up by a Tiger Bomb for a rather abrupt win.  Uninteresting here as half of this was spent on the mat doing nothing and the other half just wasn’t that good.  The worst part of this though is that it means we will have to see more of Fuji later in the show and I don’t think anyone wants that. **1/4.

HAYABUSA vs. JUSHIN "THUNDER" LYGER

Liger is way over here, as you would expect. Hayabusa gets a big flip out to the floor and a dropkick to the back of the head to start us off.  He follows that up with a slam and a leg drop for two.  He attempts to work on the leg but Liger has different plans and gets a figure four. Since this isn’t a Flair match though the ropes are of course reached. Liger goes off with strikes, which he follows with a power bomb. Huge lariat gets two for Liger, this is rather good so far. Liger continues to work on the leg with something resembling an Indian Death lock. Rolling Liger Kick in the corner gets a nice pop but no cover, which is stupid.  Instead though Liger hits a superplex, which gets a very close two. Hayabusa gets his first offense in a good while with a spin kick and dropkick for two. He follows that with a standing Senton, which also gets two. He gets a spinning wheel kick off the top and that looked awesome. Moonsault gets two as this is getting very good very fast. Another top rope spinning wheel kick, this time to the back of the head, gets us yet another near fall. Gut buster sets up a SSP but Liger rolled out of the way upon further review no he didn’t as Haybusa just missed. Big Liger bomb gets two and shocks me as I thought that was it. Top rope dive is countered into an amazing looking Liger bomb and a fisherman’s Brainbuster ends this. This was a rather awesome match and the crowd being way into it helped. Both men got to show off for extended periods and it worked very well. The botched SSP is a shame but I can live with it. Best match of the night so far easily. ***3/4

Super Delphin vs. Gedo

Fuck, this is possibly the worst combination possible in this tournament. They realize this apparently and go for a comedy match with hair pulling, blatant overselling of chops, head-butts to the balls and other general tomfoolery. 
Surprisingly though the crowd are eating this up. Even the commentators laugh here. They get a bit more serious with Delfin hitting a big cross body to the outside. Back in and Delfin counters a rana into a roll up for a close two.  Gedo gets the power slam he used to beat Malenko earlier for two. He gets a nice 2^nd rope moonsault for two, as when they go serious these two aren’t too bad. Delfin gets a German for two followed up by a top rope elbow also for, you guessed it, two. Gedo missed a charge in the corner and oversells some more chops. Tornado DDT by Delfin but Gedo reverses the pin attempt into a rollup for the win. This wasn’t horrible actually, the comedy bit was funny, the crowd was into it and when they decided to go serious they weren’t too bad. ***

Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger

To most wrestling fans this would be better known as Benoit vs. Eddie and that is how I will be referring to them. This should be awesome. We start with a really good technical sequence with both men getting momentary advantages. Eddie comes out of it with the advantage though as he stomps away and gets a Senton for no cover. Awesome back suplex does get a cover though and it of course gets two. Eddie follows that up with a head scissors but Benoit gets the ropes. Benoit gets a really nice reverse suplex, I love that move and I wish more people used it. That is followed up with a huge lariat to half kill Eddie. Big knee to the stomach as Benoit is really fast. Apparently he is working on the stomach as he dumps him on the ropes stomach first. A German gets two as does a big power bomb. Snap suplex but Eddie gets the ropes. Head scissors as they finally rest after going flat out all match so far. Benoit screams for the ref to “ASK HIM”, so that’s where Jericho got it. Out of nowhere a rollup gets two for Eddie, he gets a rana and a German to take back control. Eddie locks on a Cobra Clutch for a while but Benoit counters a top rope dropkick by just moving out of the way, some times the simple counters are the best. Eddie gets out of a wristlock by jumping to the top rope and getting a rana. Another rana from the top gets a close two. Brainbuster and this is getting awesome very quick. Benoit counters a tornado DDT by throwing Eddie halfway across the ring. Benoit counters a cross body into what can be best described as an arm drag for the win. Awesome match but then again were you expecting anything else? These two could have a good match in their sleep and this was no exception. Great stuff here ****.

EL SAMURAI vs. THE GREAT SASUKE

Sasuke is way over, perhaps more so than Liger which is no mean feat. Samurai works on the leg to start this one off. Lots of nice technical work from both men with Samurai getting a slight advantage. Samurai continues the legwork and locks in a crazy looking submission. Samurai shows sound strategy and continues work on the leg of the highflyer. Sasuke takes to the outside to regroup. Back in and Samurai locks in an amazing looking submission, which sends the crowd into a frenzy. Sasuke hits a handspring back elbow, which he follows by handspringing over the fucking top rope onto Samurai. That was incredible. Samurai not wanting to be upstaged hits a big flip of his own to the outside. Back in and Samurai gets two on a German, which gets a huge reaction from the crowd. Diving head-butt also gets two and the crowd loves this. I can’t say I blame them, as this is awesome. A power bomb is countered into a roll up for two for Sasuke. Sasuke gets a sunset flip power bomb for two. Samurai gets a power bomb of his own for the same result. The crowd is white hot here.  A rana from Sasuke is countered into a rollup but Sasuke counters that into a rollup of his own for the win. Awesome match here with great technical stuff, amazing highflying and a white hot crowd, you cant ask for any more than that. Great stuff as this show is getting better and better with every match. ****1/4

RICKY FUJI vs. JUSHIN "THUNDER" LYGER

Gee I wonder who is winning this one? Liger comes out to an ovation, Fuji… not so much.  I will spare you the play by play, as this is just a foregone conclusion that Liger wins. Fuji was decent in this including some nice highflying and a sick power bomb on the outside but then again Liger could carry a broom to a passable match. Liger of course wins with a top rope hurricanrana. Decent match actually but the fact the ending was never in any doubt hurt it. ***1/4

Wild Pegasus vs. Gedo

They start off fast with Benoit knocking Gedo down to get the advantage. He gets a 2^nd rope guillotine leg drop for two. Awesome looking chops in the corner from Benoit half kill Gedo.  He misses a dropkick though, which allows Gedo to gain control. Gedo locks in a submission and yells ask him, Jericho approves.  A piledriver gets two for Gedo. They fight over chops with Benoit winning by a mile.  Gedo gets a dropkick, which sets up an awesome moonsault to the outside. The power slam from earlier has apparently lost the magical powers it had in the Malenko match as it only gets two. A tiger suplex gets the same result. Flying head-butt misses from Gedo misses to give Benoit control. Not for long though as Gedo counters a back suplex to a cross body for two. Benoit gets a big gutwrench power bomb for a close two. A regular power bomb sets up the swan dive head-butt and the win for Benoit. This was rather good actually, Gedo was interesting for once and he hit some nice stuff out there, Benoit was his usual awesome stuff and together they managed a pretty good match. ***1/2

Jushin Liger vs. The Great Sasuke.

Oh hell yeah, this should be great. They start off all quick and technical which gets a nice pop from the crowd. They fight over a pin with neither getting more than a 1 count. After some nice technical stuff Liger gets a surfboard, that move never fails to be awesome. He transitions from that into a cobra clutch.  From out of nowhere he gets a rolling liger kick to take control of this match. That keeps Sasuke down a while, as he is either a really good seller or legitimately hurt, based on the refs reaction I am leaning towards the latter. Big jumping tombstone from Liger but instead of covering he gets a cross face chicken wing. Liger begins to go to work on the arm with some stomping and various submissions highlighted by an arm bar. Big back suplex and it would seem Sasuke is still reeling from the kick from earlier. Top rope dropkick is reversed by Sasuke into a dropkick of his own as he appears to be fine now. Big asai moonsault from Sasuke gets a huge reaction from the crowd as this is starting to pick up after a slowish start. They fight over a suplex but Sasuke just says fuck it and knocks Liger into the ring post sending him back to the outside prompting Sasuke to hit a beautiful somersault plancha. PIledriver gets two for Sasuke as does a sick looking Razors Edge power bomb. Ligers’ selling of that is awesome. Tombstone sets up a top rope Senton but that misses allowing Liger to regain control of this match. Huge Liger bomb gets two, my god that looked awesome. The crowd is way into this at this point. Big top rope rana hits but Sasuke counters the pin attempt into a pin of hit own for two. That only serves to piss Liger off though as he throws him halfway across the ring with a German. Fisherman’s buster gets only two to possibly the biggest crowd reaction of the night. Liger suplexes Sasuke to the outside, which he follows up with a big cross body from the top rope. Another rolling Liger kick but Liger turns his back allowing Sasuke to… botch a springboard dropkick that looked bad. He gets a rana into a pin for the three count instead and the crowd erupts. Awesome match here as these two meshed together brilliantly. This was bordering on five start until the botch from Sasuke, still very good though. ****1/2

Wild Pegasus vs. The Great Sasuke

Sasuke has already had two amazing matches tonight; can he make it three from three? Big stare down to start, as the crowd is white hot here. Benoit shows off his technical prowess early one but Sasuke shows he is no slouch either and keeps up with Benoit move for move. Chops in the corner from Benoit, man is he stiff with his chops they have to hurt. Sasuke goes for a suicide dive but Benoit moves out of the way. Head scissors gain Benoit control, not for long though as Sasuke counters to a surfboard.  Arm drag from Sasuke and neither guy can gain any real control early on here. Benoit ends that though with a huge clothesline followed by a German, which gets him two. A pair of Spinning wheel kicks from Sasuke get him 1. Arm bar for Sasuke but Benoit manages his way out of it. All of the other wrestlers from this tournament are at ringside here. Sasuke counters a power bomb with an arm drag but Benoit gets another big clothesline. Benoit hangs him on the ropes with a suplex and hits a cross body from the second rope to the apron to take both men to the outside.  Tiger suplex gets Benoit a very near fall. Swan dive head but gets the same result and the crowd pops big for the kick out. Big power bomb gets our third close near fall in about a minute. He is sick of near falls apparently and goes for a submission in the form of a sharpshooter, since he isn’t Bret Hart though Sasuke doesn’t tap. Tilt a whirl gets another two, as this is all Benoit. A missed dropkick gives Sasuke an opening however which he can’t capitalize on as Benoit gets a German for yet another two.  Cross body from the second rope begins Sauke’s comeback, same handspring dive over the ropes that we saw earlier only this time with an added twist at the end makes it even more impressive if that Is even possible. Sasuke gets a German of his own for two. That is followed up by a fisherman’s suplex, which sets up a top rope dropkick. That missed though allowing Benoit to regain control. Or not as Sasuke suplexes Benoit and himself out onto the concrete. This is an amazing match so far. Big dropkick to the outside kills Benoit. Not quite though as amazingly he manages to get up. Sasuke gets a moonsault but somehow Benoit keeps kicking out. A gutwrench suplex from the top rope gets Benoit the win. Wow that was one of the best endings to a match I have ever seen. Simply an amazing match to cap off an amazing show, they flew around the ring for 20 minutes barely stopping, The crowd has hot, the moves were crisp and the selling was spot on oh and the ending was fucking amazing. Simply an amazing match that every wrestling fan should see at least once. *****.

Overall: 9/10 This was an amazing tournament and it deserves all of the praise that is gets. We four ****+ matches including an all time classic from Benoit and Sasuke and only one truly bad match with everything else hovering around the *** mark at the least. This was just amazing stuff, especially from Sasuke who was by far the highlight of this tournament. Great stuff and I recommend that you go watch it right now.

Liger vs Mistico - Disappointing Considering Who Is In There

Jushin “Thunder” Liger vs. Mistico 2/3 Falls

This match is happening in CMLL and Mistico is some sort of champion here as far as I can tell. Liger is in black here instead of his usual red and Mistico is in a t-shirt, which is strange to see. Bell rings and we start off with Liger hitting a fairly weak looking slam onto the entrance ramp and Mistico selling it like he has been involved in a 30 minute war, ok then. Crowd is way into Mistico here with a big chant starting up. They brawl on the outside for a bit with Liger ramming Mistico’s head into various objects. Back in now as Liger hits a corner clothesline and a Liger Bomb to go up 1-0 in the early going. Liger stomps away as we head to a break. Back with some hot Spanish chick holding a sign that I cant understand. Liger sets Mistico up for a back suplex and like any good heel wrestling a masked wrestler he tries to rip his mask off, simple but effective. Surprisingly it almost comes off and you can see most of his hair. Nice springboard dropkick and a rollup gets a pin to even us up. Well that came out of nowhere, that may have been his first offense of the match come to think of it. Another hot chick with a sign, I am assuming these signs signal the start of each fall? Correct me if I am wrong. Both men pose for a bit, Mistico is well over and Liger gets some good heat. Chops from Liger take Mistico down as Liger argues with the ref for no apparent reason. Kind of a dull match so far, just as I type that Mistico cranks things way up hitting all kinds of highflying moves capped off with a suicide dive. Awesome sequence there. Sloppy semi botched rana into a roll up get 2 for Mistico. Liger takes control again with an unseen move as we cut to a crowd shot for no apparent reason. Ligers turn for a big dive now with a cross body from the top rope to the outside that looked awesome. They are cranking this up after a fairly dull start. Awesome sounding kick to the head from Mistico followed by a dropkick to the head by Liger, both sounded and looked great. Liger bomb gets a very close near fall. Brainbuster but Mistico gets his hand on the rope after 2.  Like an idiot Liger argues with the ref instead of continuing to work on Mistico and Mistico capitalises with a pair of rollups, with both getting 2. Slam by Mistico sets up a Senton which he misses getting two for Liger. Head scissors into an armbar gets Liger to tap winning the match 2 falls to 1. Well that was an abrupt ending.

Overall: ***1/4:  It was good but at the same time these two are capable of so much more. I would compare this to the Liger/Bryan match that took place in ROH a few years back in that it was good but given the two performers they were capable of much more. Having said that though this was still pretty good, after a dull start they picked this way up about half way through with some great highflying stuff that both men are famous for. I don’t like the fact that the first two falls happened so early though as it makes both men look like they can get pinned with out enduring much punishment. Which makes them look pretty weak. Overall this way pretty good stuff but I feel these two are capable of a five star classic given the right environment.

Mick Foleys Greatest Hits and Misses

Review Of Mick Foleys Greatest Hits and Misses

Disc 1

Your host naturally is Mick Foley. Foley introduces the DVD and puts over Vader a bit saying he was one of his favourite opponents, he also points out how dull Vader was in the WWF compared to his WCW days which is very true.

Cactus Jack vs. Vader: Rating: ***1/2

This is a really stiff hard hitting brawl, not superb from and in ring standpoint but if you ever get someone telling you wrestling is fake this is the match to show them. The bullshit ending brought rating down a wee bit, for me a count out just doesn’t cut it as an ending for a match like this although Jack getting the upset win over the World Camp was pretty cool to see. Apart from that though this match certainly lived up to its reputation of being stiff as hell, those shots to Jacks face from Vader looked amazing and sounded great. The Jack wearing a crimson mask is always a great visual and this was no exception. I was slightly disappointed by this one to be honest though. Perhaps because it had such a reputation to live up to because of all I have heard about it on the Internet and in Foleys book or perhaps it just doesn’t age that well. Very good match for sure but not quite the classic I was expecting. These two have certainly had better matches. 

Mick talks about how he was going to take a break from WCW to get some work done on his ear. He talks about the Nasties having a reputation of being sloppy in the ring but he knew they were good brawler so he thought this could be a good match.

WCW Tag Team Titles, Chicago Street Fight: Nasty Boys vs. Cactus Jack/Maxx Payne: ****

Wow, considering who was in there this exceeded all expectations I had for this match by a mile. This is by far the best match I have ever seen from the Nasties and possibly their best match ever, This was just an all out brawl and it worked brilliantly, if you didn’t know better you would say this match had taken place in ECW. All four men brought everything they had to this match and the end result was outstanding. They took this match all over the building and left carnage everywhere they went. As ever Cactus Jacks ability to take punishment is a highlight as those pool cue shots at the start and the fall from the ramp/shovel to the head at the end were absolutely sick as hell. Not much more can be said really, awesome match and probably the best the Nasties ever had.

We see part of the promo of Cactus spitting on the WCW tag team titles, which pissed off Flair. Foley says if Flair had seen the promo and not just heard of it he would have got what he was going for. Foley also talks about Sabu and says this next bout was seen as something of a dream match.

Cactus Jack vs. Sabu (w/ Paul E. Dangerously and 911) ***1/2

Pretty good stuff here, Sabu is actually pretty fun to watch when he isn’t botching all over the place as was the case here. This was exactly what you would expect from these two hardcore legends, a wild all over the arena brawl with weapon shots and broken tables galore. Not a classic by any means and possibly not even the best match these two have ever had together but a good, fun brawl, which at the end of the day is all this was meant to be.

We see a promo on where Mick rhymes the words giant Cheeto and Candido, funny stuff. Foley puts Candido over for his ability to play a cowardly heel in a era dominated by monster heels.

Cactus Jack vs. Chris Candido: (w/ Tammy Fytch) ***

JR is on commentary here which surprises me as I never knew he worked for SMW. Not bad here but at the same time I just couldn’t get into this one for some reason. The in ring stuff was all right I suppose with some cool spots being incorporated by both guys. There is just something that I can’t quite put my finger on that kept me from really enjoying this one. We actually got to see Cactus do something resembling technical wrestling in this one as opposed to the brawling of the other matches, which is a nice change of pace. Not bad but nothing worth going out of your way to see.

Mick says that he and the Sandman had some great matches but this next one is not one of them, apparently the WWE people picked this match not him. Great endorsement there,

Texas Death Match: Cactus Jack vs. The Sandman (w/ Woman) *1/2

This is an absolutely appalling match. According to Cactus, Sandman was legitimately knocked out here so I guess I can excuse them for that. Sandman really did look out of it and almost Zombie like at times. They started to pick this up marginally near the end with some sick Cain shots to the head from Jack and then an elbow on the concrete with the chair but Sandman basically no selling two DDTs on the concrete took me right back out of it. Joey Styles says that Sandman is better than The Undertaker without directly mentioning Takers name which makes me laugh, not sure where to start with that one. Poor match, stay away from this one. 

Foley talks about setting Terry Funk on fire which caused him to contemplate quitting the business, luckily for us though Terry left him a really nice answering machine message and things were fine.

Cactus Jack/Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer/Terry Funk (w/ Stevie Richards) ***3/4

Another good brawl here akin to the tag match from earlier on. Everyone was on their game here and there were some really cool hardcore spots in this one including a golf club shot to Ravens balls and a VCR shot to the head. I couldn’t help but laugh at Cactus Jack’s forgive me Uncle Eric shirt, that really is some great heel work in front of an ECW crowd or basically any crowd come to think of it. I loved the psychology of the ending too with Funk getting the pin so Dreamer still can’t lay claim to a pinfall victory over Raven. Good fun hardcore brawl, well worth checking out.

We see a clip of Foleys farewell speech from ECW. He says that the crowd reaction he got in this match is his favourite moment of his career. 

Cactus Jack vs. Mikey Whipwreck ****1/4

That rating is for the moment as well, if I was rating the match just on its own merits then it is probably in the vicinity of ***3/4. Anyway, the reaction the fans give Cactus for his last match in ECW is amazing, after being a damn good heel for a while they give him a standing ovation and treated him as a face throughout the match. The match itself is very good too, Cactus brought everything he had for his last match in ECW and got an amazing match from Mikey Whipreck of all people, in my opinion probably the best match of Mikeys career. Mikey was very good in this match, including a sick dive of the stage. This is worth seeing just for the moment alone but the match is definitely a very nice bonus.

Disc 1 Extras

We get an interview with Foley from after his match with Vader. He says that despite his family fearing for his safety he must fight Vader one more time. 

Cactus Jack vs. Sting ****

Great match and I can understand why Foley viewed this as his best match up until the Mind Games match with HBK. Awesome brawl as Sting was at the peak of his powers here and Cactus was still young and wasn’t beat up too badly yet. Taking that into consideration these two had an amazing match with a lot of sick bumps taken from Foley in particular. Having Foley and Coach on commentary is really cool too as Foley offers some great insight regarding what was going through his mind through out the match and talks about what they were going for in terms of the psychology of the match. 

Cactus Spits on the WCW Belt: This is the full promo of Cactus spitting on the ECW belt as well as Paul E’s rebuttal. Lost in all the controversy of Jack spitting on a WCW belt is some exceptional mic work from Paul E in his response.

Cain Dewey Promo: We get the famous Cain Dewey promo which is still absolutely amazing stuff. Foley included a transcript of it in his book and rightfully so as it is one of the best promos of all time in my opinion.

Anti Hardcore Promo: Another great promo from Foley here, his mic skills during his time in ECW were absolutely amazing and this is no different.

Sabu vs. Cactus Jack (w/ Paul E. Dangerously and 911) **1/2

Not a great match here but it is far from unwatchable; their match from earlier on in this DVD was far better though. The bottle shots to the head that Jack took were unbelievable and according to him on commentary completely unplanned. The botched (it is a Sabu match after all) moonsault onto the railing from Sabu was also pretty sick, outside of those two spots though this was a pretty run of the mill hardcore match that has been seen about a million times before. The guest commentary was by far the highlight of this match as Foley again offered some really great insight into what he was thinking and feeling during this match. Decent stuff in ring but the commentary is what makes this worth watching. 

We get the full Mick Foley ECW farewell speech; the crowd’s reaction to this is amazing. Foley puts over the guys in the back and says ECW will survive without him.

Les Thorton/Jack Foley vs. The British Bulldogs (w/ Lou Albano) ½* 
Just a squash here but it is quite interesting to see Mick Foley before he became the hardcore legend we all know and love. Nothing match but a cool inclusion for the DVD set considering it was his 2nd ever match.

Mick Foley talks about some charity work he did with a group called operation smile, wrestlers doing charity stuff like this is always awesome and this is no exception.

Disc 2

Shawn Michaels (w/Jose Lothario) vs. Cactus Jack (w/ Paul Bearer) ****3/4

This was a 5 star match for me right up until that bullshit ending I understand why they did it but it still sucks. Foley has said that he was in his best physical shape ever leading into this match and after that I would be inclined to believe him, these two both went at each other full tilt for nearly 30 minutes and the end result was incredible. Amazing match that incorporates all different styles of wrestling from hardcore brawling to some high flying stuff from HBK to some technical wrestling which, surprisingly, came from Cactus as well, not just HBK. Also, that hangman spot from Mick Foley is great stuff. Awesome, awesome match and probably one of Foleys best ever if not his very best.

We see the always-awesome interview with Dude Love, Mankind and Cactus Jack. 

Foley says this was his best match of 1997 and that he was caught by surprise by the enormity of the pop for Cactus Jack.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/ Chyna) vs. Cactus Jack Falls Count Anywhere ***1/2

Another good brawl here as has become the norm for this DVD thus far. This showed HHH’s aggressive streak off very nicely and we all know how good of a brawler Cactus is so they meshed together well for a very good match. It is really cool to see some rarer Raw matches on this DVD set instead of just PPV matches that have been seen a million times before. Great hardcore brawl but not even close to the best match these two would have which is scary considering how good this one was. 

Mick says this was one of his all time favourite matches; this was also one of only 2 matches in his career he wrestled as Mick Foley. 

Mick Foley vs. Terry Funk ***3/4

Great stuff and exactly what you would expect from these two guys. If you put these two in a ring and give them free reign with weapon shots then you are bound to get a good match and that is exactly what happened here. Stone Colds commentary was hilarious too, especially him going of at JR because his mic wouldn’t work. Great brawl as would expect with the added bonus of some awesome commentary from Stone Cold.

Mick talks about how incredibly tight the shirt was that Vince wore in this next match. He isn’t wrong and it looks hilarious.

WWF Title: Stone Cold (c) vs. Dude Love ****
Another great match here as me saying that is starting to become something of a trend in this review. I can’t help it though as we are just getting amazing match after amazing match and this is no exception. Great stuff from two of the best brawlers of all time highlighted by Stone Colds leg going through a car windscreen in an awesome visual. Vince making up the rules as he went along was great heel work and JR’s reactions were great. The image of Taker following Vince around to make sure he didn’t fuck up was great too. Great stuff and I cant recommend this DVD highly enough so far.

Foley talks about how this match is what he will be remembered for. He also talks about being knocked out for only the third time in his career by the choke slam through the cage. 

Hell In A Cell: Mankind vs. The Undertaker *****

This match needs absolutely no introduction, without question this is the most violent match there ever has been and in all likelihood ever will be in mainstream pro wrestling. Foley getting chucked off the cell is still an awesome visual even after all these years. This match is often looked at as being two (awesome) big spots and while that is true the part of the match that follows those two spots is still pretty damn good considering the condition Foley was in. Takers steel step shots to Foley, his over the rope dive into the cage and the thumbtacks are all awesome as well. Amazing match here and pretty required viewing for every wrestling fan.

Foley talks about how awesome it was to win the WWF title. These little interview segments are a really good insight into Micks views on the matches and they supply some cool background info.

WWF Title: Mankind (w/ DX) vs. The Rock (w/ The Corporation) (c) **1/2 for the match but ***** for the moment

The match is pretty much irrelevant here although with the time they had to work with is was pretty decent and was highlighted by a Rock Bottom through the table. What was important here is the magical moment of Foley finally winning that WWF title, I have watched this multiple times and still get goose bumps when seeing it as it is just that awesome. On a side note, Austin’s pop here is absolutely earth shattering and one of the biggest I have ever heard. This is a great moment that Foley thoroughly deserves.

Foley talks about this match being important to his career. He says he knew retirement was imminent and he wanted to go out with a bang, which he did here.

Cactus Jack vs. HHH (w/ Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) Street Fight ****3/4 

Simply an amazing brawl that incorporates basically every weapon you could think of trashcans, chair shots, steel steps, tables, barbed wire, thumbtacks, bricks, handcuffs, you name it and they used it and it all hurt. This match put HHH way over as a sadistic brawl and it made Foley look like the hardcore legend that he is. What more can I say, this is one of my personal favourite matches of all time and it is just an incredible hardcore match. 

Disc 2 Extras

We see 5 vignettes for Mankind.

We get an interview with JR from before the Mind Games PPV.

Jim Ross Interviews Mankind: This is the famous sit-down interview. In terms of Foleys interviews this is only slightly behind the Cain Dewey one in my opinion. 

We see the always-funny segment featuring the debut of Mr Socko

We get some clips of Al Snow and Mick Foley doing various things in Vegas including strip clubs casinos and chasing some wannabe Rock. Foley also gets in some good jokes against Al Snow. Funny stuff.

We see a segment between a commissioner Foley and Kurt Angle, kind of pointless stuff here basically Foley puts Angel in a match with Taker. Odd choice for the DVD but it is a 2-minute segment in the bonus features so I can live with it. 

Overall: 9/10

This is one of the very best DVD releases the WWE has ever put out in my books. It features a definite look at the career of Foley featuring matches and promos from all the way throughout his career from WCW, ECW, SMW and WWF. There is only one truly bad match on this DVD with everything else being above *** and SEVEN matches above the **** mark. We also get some of Mick Foleys best promos throughout his career. I have only two minor criticisms of this DVD 1. There is nothing here from Foleys work in Japan and 2. They didn’t include anything from the Rock N’ Sock connection, I would have loved to seen the this is your life segment included on this. Those are both minor things though and hardly hurt the quality of the set overall. Great DVD set here and I highly recommend it to any wrestling fan.