Match of the Week: Steiners vs Sting/Lex Luger (WCW Superbrawl 1991)
Twenty-five years this dream match happen. This is during time face vs face matches were rare. You have face of WCW and former WCW World Heavweight champion Sting, United States champion Lex Luger and WCW tag team champions Rick and Scott Steiner. All four are top faces of the company. You put all four whom are friends in a match for tag team titles. Before the match a damn good video building up the match that is one better ones WCW produced. All four buddies have
intense friendly battle hitting power move after power move for over 10 minutes of action. Also showed why to have Sting as your buddy saving Lex Luger from Nikita Koloff taking a chain shot from him. Wish he would cut some loose after getting backstabbed so many times.
Match of the Week: Super Dragon/Excalibur vs Rising Son/Taro (XPW Redemption 2001)
It was this match that expanded my horizon into world of SoCal wrestling. I could go on long rant strange state of wrestling in 2001. Maybe I should do that in later time. Some ramblings before the match.....
There was two well known feds in SoCal at the time. One was UPW, whom once had WWE development deal producing John Cena, Samoa Joe, and Miz. The other was XPW, who earn not so sterling reputation being ECW ripoff and still stinging from backlash of incident at Heatwave 2000 PPV. I still gave them a chance. If it wasn't for that chance I would not have seen this match and explore other parts of SoCal feds. I bought copy of XPW Redemption at Sam Goodys which has since long closed down. I popped this tape on VHS and this was the first match. I looked at the back of cover and it wasn't advertised.
As for the match they went balls to the wall for 10 minutes in a style I never before. It was mix of high flying and stiff strong style wrestling beating the crap out of each other. It was later I found out this style was called hybrid. They were performing revolutionary moves not seen in the states throughout the match. 619? Rising Son did it before Rey Misterio. Cradle implant DDT? Seen cradle DDT but never in implant form. Super Dragon hitting various high flying moves such as corkscrew splash. Excalibur show off a tiger driver in the match. Pyschodriver? Never seen anyone did it before Super Dragon and he did two variations in the match. The crowd? They started off negative and these four won them over once the match ended.
This match got me dig more deeper into SoCal wrestling indy scene. What I saw was a revolutionary hybrid style that set SoCal wrestling
apart from everyone else. It was quick fast and hard hitting way
different than what I have seen at the time. A search of the wrestlers landed me to Revolution Pro, a fed run by wrestler and trainer American Wild Child. RevPro, in turn, was precursor to Pro Wrestling Guerilla as some of wrestlers created the fed started out in RevPro. It lead me to site called SoCal Uncensored,
a site dedicated to SoCal indy wrestling. Importance of RevPro wrestlers showing up at XPW help jump start to rise of SoCal indy scene. It got me into the scene.
The post match:
- they were given five minutes in the ring but all four decide go into overtime. Three of four never got invited back while Super Dragon would have one more match in XPW.
- Revolution Pro closed up shop in 2004.
- Super Dragon and Excalibur along four others form Pro Wrestling Guerilla in 2003
- Super Dragon became top guy all of SoCal wrestling. Forced to retire from injuries he would returned years later teaming with Davey Richards til injury hit him again.
- Super Dragon/TARO had killer match at Bart Kapitze Alternative Wrestling Show in mask vs mask match which Super Dragon won
- Rising Son wrestled til injuries caught up to him in 2004. He returned for few matches in 2010. He passed away last year.
Match of the Week: Megumi Kudo vs Combat Toyoda (FMW 5/5/96)
May 5 in Japanese wrestling is unofficially "FMW Day" as the company hosted big shows on this date. They don't care what day it lands on there be a show on that date. Twenty years ago this match stole the show as two women, Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyoda, battle each other in no rope explosive barbwire match. All four sides covered in barbwire while two sides contains electric explosions when touched. A retiring Combat Toyoda head into the match as FMW and WWA women champion hoping leave as champion like Atsushi Onita did on 5/5/95 show. Challenger Megumi Kudo is the face of FMW women division looking add title win no. 5.
These two told story of lifetime as these two put on a wrestling match in middle of a Japanese deathmatch as they out-wrestle and out-power each other while being surrounded by elements of barbwire. When either one landed on exploding barbwire it made Atsushi Onita looking like nervous wreck. These two women gave their heart and spirit out in this entire match caused Onita to break down after the match.
If you thought the matches Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch had in NXT was revolutionary Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyoda were 20 years way ahead of them and pushed the envelope with this amazing brutal match.
Toyoda remain retired til she came back for few one-off matches few years later. Last known match for small FMW revival brand in 2008. Kudo would retire the following year and stay out of ring competition entire time. During that time she broke many of joshi fans hearts when she married Hido.
