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**smitlick** · 03-17-2012, 09:59 AM

NWA - Clash of Champions - 14/6/89
Terry Funk vs Ricky Steamboat
****1/4

Watching so much Funk as I have had in the past few weeks, I'm just lost as to how the WWF never made him one of there biggest stars.

**Big Z** · 03-17-2012, 10:04 AM

Funk is the main reason he was never a star in WWF; he refused to be under contract as he wanted to be "free" so to speak to wrestle where ever he wanted and when and whatnot. Was on one of his shoots or something I think, I remember watching it a while back and hearing him talk about it.

Jaysin · 03-17-2012, 03:00 PM

The best thing Funk ever did was get chokeslammed out of his shoes by Taker at KOTR 98 hahahaha! (kidding, kind of lol)

**Big Z** · 03-17-2012, 03:04 PM

Well, the big Top 100 WCW Matches ever poll is over. Eddie/Rey ended up being #1, just ahead of Flair/Steamboat Clash of the Champions VI. I'll be turning the full list into a comp once I get together all the footage I need.

My personal top 100 list:

Spoiler for list:

sharkboy22 · 03-17-2012, 07:41 PM

Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat Chi-Town Rumble 1989
A fun match, that kept me entertained throughout. I didn't even knew this match went 23 minutes till it was announced when the match was over. It flew by so fast. I felt the pacing to be a bit off though and the psychology was lacking in the sense that Flair never really went after Steamboat's leg, even after putting him in the figure four leg lock. That and the match just felt like who's the better chopper. Still, a fun memorable match with some simple yet effective spots.

****

BTW, I'm finally getting around to watching the Flair/Steamboat bouts. It's so hard to find the matches on Youtube so it's taking a while. I'll probably have to check XWT-Classics but then again my ratio is so poor on that site. Anyway, which bouts do you recommend? And which one(s) is/are your favourite? I see Meltzer has Chi-Town Rumble at *****. Must have had to witness the match at the time and be a part of the build and what not to really, really enjoy that one it seems.

TJChurch · 03-17-2012, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaysin

The best thing Funk ever did was get chokeslammed out of his shoes by Taker at KOTR 98 hahahaha! (kidding, kind of lol)

All I remember of Funk outside of "Beyond The Mat" is Foley's talk about him & his shoes at/around Foley's famous HIAC with Taker.

Razor King · 03-17-2012, 10:38 PM

On Flair/Steamboat, it was ground breaking wrestling for that generation. It hasn't aged well and that's not the purpose because the match was for that generation. Those matches focused on simple wrestling + storytelling, and that's why it is so acclaimed. Personally, WrestleWar is a 5-star classic for me. The others are a notch or two lower.

Most people begrudge matches that don't age well, but I don't find it an issue. In fact, that is why throwing away 5-star ratings could hurt other matches because what would you rate a timeless classic? There are few timeless classics, but many, many classics for their generation. That's the difference.

**Clique** · 03-17-2012, 11:59 PM

Speaking of classics, I just re-watched a recent one. Had to go back to my review from last year and change/add some things. So here it is from WM27:

TRIPLE H vs. THE UNDERTAKER

We have had some legendary and immortal moments created at WrestleMania. To me, Undertaker vs. Triple H WrestleMania 27 is an immortal moment but it is also poetically a very MORTAL moment for character known as The Undertaker. The match wasn’t just another WrestleMania spectacle, it is a storytelling masterpiece. The way they tied in the story arc of ending defiant legends like at past WrestleManias is remarkable to see unfold. This time HHH is the dominate one and Taker is the one being set up to be put down ala Ric Flair at WM24 and Shawn at WM26. Watching the finale of this match live, my mind and heart was racing because I FELT like this match was going to be the end of The Undertaker.

In this epic, Taker once again (as he did at 25 & 26) proved that when it comes to selling a match's brutality he is one of the best ever. Every year at WrestleMania when he does it people speculate whether he is seriously injured from the first big move. I feel this also further shows what a phenomenal worker he continues to be in spite of age and injuries. Not to mention he continues to bust out the suicide dive! I thought he’d never do that move again after the hip surgery in 2009. I also want to commend HHH for his dangerous bumps to outside of the ring and especially for that backdrop from the announce table to the floor.These men were throwing and taking bombs from the word go! I personally don't think more "in ring action" would have accomplished anything. Frankly, it would've been utterly pointless and taken away from the story of the match. Triple H wanted to end The Streak. He didn't have to prove he was a better wrestler, or work on a body part, or showboat like Shawn did. He already mentioned those were not his intensions in his promo before Mania. Throwing bombs is all he needed to do.

I thought the spots at ringside were perfectly timed from the start of the match because a) it showed how desperate HHH was to just get. it. done. b) Taker took such a huge beating early in the fight that it made the next 25 minutes of the match feel that much more dramatic. Taker had already been through a battle even though they'd only been going at it 5-10 minutes. c0 What does HHH want to mess around in the ring "wrestling" for when he can gore Taker through a glass wall or smash him through a table with a spinebuster?

Of course this big time showdown had many big spots and the match quality benefitted from it, but at the core they mostly worked off pure storytelling. This included included Undertaker once again with a breath-taking performance selling his pain and Triple H putting The Streak in grave jeopardy. It was a sickening sick to see Taker crumble to the mat after HHH's chair shot to the skull. Taker twitching his fingers after that made the match look more brutal. For those who complain about them selling too much lying on the mat, there is no reason they shouldn't have extensively sold that type of onslaught they had placed on each other.

I liked the Pedigrees being one right after the other too. Watch any other big Mania match when the finishers are executed in swift secession like Triple H did here and with that extra exclamation point as well (spike Pedigree), it makes those false finishes more exciting. They built the ‘sense of finality’ very well I thought. This told a far better story for the direction they were going for than "reversal out of reversal!" and "Trips does something/kick out/Taker does something/kick out" etc. Everything HHH dish out, Undertaker kicked out of. He refused to die and after each Pedigree it just continued to feel one step closer to the end of the Undertaker. If the kick outs had been spaced out over the course of the match I don't think the build to the finish would have had the right effect at all.

What I also loved was HHH’s character portrayal or journey that links back to the build before the match when Shawn said that HHH differed from him in the sense that “ Hunter could do things to other human beings and not feel the slightest bit of remorse.” However, moments after HHH battered Taker with the steel chair the story took a bit of a turn. When Taker was pulling himself up onto HHH almost in the exact manner that Michaels pulled himself up onto Taker at WM26, HHH looked down on Taker with the same look of confusion, pity and anger that Taker had for Shawn. That Shawn had for Ric. That was such an incredible callback moment. Before the match HHH said he would “die trying to end The Streak” but throughout this match it looked as if he was going to kill Taker in his attempts to “END IT.”

Then HHH came to a point where he seemingly was taking pity on this MAN. Hunter wanted to end The Streak but The Undertaker just will NOT let it go and "stay down." HHH eventually arrived at the internally frustrating realization that he might have to ANNIHILATE the MAN he respects more than any other. HHH played his role perfectly. This is his best character portrayal ever in my opinion. HHH went from having everything under his control, to being frustrated that Taker wouldn't stay down, to disturbed with himself for what he was doing, to straight up terrified by the amount of damage Taker was able to sustain. The absolute best matches usually involve top-notch storytelling and emotional character involvement, and I think those elements here are off the page. I look at this, the HBK/Taker matches and HBK/Flair as one big story arc. Each match drew off the one before it and developed the themes to perfection.

Then HHH signaled for THE END and hit Undertaker with THE TOMBSTONE!!! I think that's where this match went from great to legendary to me. In that moment I was convinced that things had come full circle and Taker was about to lose The Streak. It is arguably the best kick-out ever, on the same level as Taker/HBK from WM25. They got me to believe HHH would end the streak! If HHH was really going to put Undertaker down, the cut throat gesture and Tombstone would have been one hell of a way to do it.

Ultimately with Undertaker's determination to live, that sequence was the best way to further solidify The Streak as the most indestructible entity in wrestling and even though Undertaker was physically broken he was NOT DEFEATED.

The finish was just brilliant. Taker going for the last gasp Hell’s Gate shows how much The Streak means to him. Triple H had the sledgehammer prepared to go off on The Deadman’s head so this was Taker's last chance to win and it worked! The Hell’s Gate choke hold was the only way to finish it! I loved how his attempt to apply the hold was a real struggle for him just to get it locked in. It worked better than suddenly catching him in the move perfectly. They've also built up the Hell's Gate as a great finisher which ends a match when nothing else works. Very smart ending.

Some people (including me) have mentioned how they would have preferred it to end with an unconscious HHH passing out in Hell’s Gate. It certainly would have tied in with the ‘die trying’ line but because the story evolved during the match I don’t think it would have fit here. The whole story of the match was the reverse of HHH dying while trying to end The Streak, it was now the Undertaker dying while trying to keep it. HHH passing out would have taken away the significance Undertaker’s destroyed state at the end which was the main focus.

The message is that The Undertaker you fight on WrestleMania night isn't the same as the one who might fight at any other show. That is the intangible, mythical, and aura The Streak holds at WrestleMania. The Streak is where the power lies. Undertaker is now just the PHENOMenal mortal that defends it year after year … but for how much longer?

They blew the roof off of the Georgia Dome and produced an all-time classic. I respect The Undertaker more than any superstar/wrestler/performer/whatever McMahon wants to call them now. Year after year, Mark Calaway never ceases to amaze me but I feel the end is near because performances like this where he literally almost kills himself can’t continue. I don’t know what the future of The Streak is but if it ends with THE MAN, The Undertaker, being unable to maintain his death grip on it (thinking about this makes the Hell’s Gate finish more significant) then it would be a dramatic end of an era for The Last Outlaw and a WrestleMania legend.

Match Rating: **** 1/2

**Saint Dick** · 03-18-2012, 03:14 AM

CM Punk v Daniel Bryan - Raw 1/30/12
Exactly what you'd expect from arguably the two best workers in the company. Well structured, nice blend of hard-hitting physicality and clean technical wrestling, good limb work from Bryan (who looked like a fuckin champ in this match) and equally good selling from Punk (loved that he switched arms to deliver the bulldog). Just a really strong TV match up before the Jericho interference. The commentators hyped up the fact that Punk and Bryan were trying to prove who the best in the world really is and the way they worked this match legitimately made me think yeah these two guys could very well be the best, unlike when they try to put over Cena and Orton like that. Let them go all out for 20 mins on PPV. Please.

***1/2

Elimination Chamber 2012

Raw Chamber
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Started off okay with Kofi and Punk but really picked up as the ring began to fill up. Lots of good bumping, some sweet spots (marked for the sequence where Kofi hit Trouble in Paradise out of nowhere then followed it up with that DDT on the steel), and then when it was starting to feel a bit too spotty Jericho came in and brought the psychology. Him hiding from Punk in the chamber and then using the pod to fuck Punk up was great and although I didn't like the down time when Jericho was knocked out his elimination was perfect for progressing the feud with Punk. We've seen better final twos in the chamber than Punk and Miz but overall I thought this was really good.

***3/4

Beth Phoenix v Tamina Snuka
Not bad at all for a divas match.

*3/4

Smackdown Chamber
First half of the match was slow and boring and bad but the second half was really good. Show breaking into Bryan's chamber and beating the shit out of him was great. As was Cody celebrating when he eliminated Show only to get embarrassed by Santino immediately. Not a Barrett fan but he looked like a boss at times, mainly when he powerbombed Bryan into the cage and slammed the pod door on his head. Perfect use of Santino in this match, and everyone else had a chance to look good (well except Khali but that's because he sucks). Would've been as good as or better than the Raw version if the opening stages weren't so plodding and uninspiring.

***1/4

Jack Swagger v Justin Gabriel
Didn't really pay attention.

John Cena v Kane
Average main event and a step down from their effort at the Rumble. Decent brawl. Nothing you have to go out of your way to see.

**1/2

Patrick Bateman · 03-18-2012, 06:50 AM

So, what are your guys favourite matches of Christian?

I for one am a big fan of that one IC Title Match against Benjamin, I think it was at survivior series?