If I remember right, MOTY for 1995 was the IC title ladder rematch at Summerfest, which originally wasn't even supposed to be on the card, but got inserted last minute because the card sucked so bad.

The one that jumps off the page at me as the fondest memory is Jarrett-Michaels IYH '95, but I haven't watched that in a very long time.

So with ECW starting to get four-star matches at this point, I had actually decided to go ahead and add their matches to this mix as well.

I watched and actually fully wrote up Sabu vs. Douglas from Heat Wave '94, but didn't really enjoy it, and was now about halfway through Public Enemy vs. the Funk Brothers in a barbed wire match, and...yeah I think I'm gonna bag this idea of putting myself through ECW write-ups.

I liked ECW well enough at the time (though not nearly as much as people who were big fans of it did), but it doesn't seem like it's aged well at all. Or maybe I just became a grumpy old man. Either way, it doesn't seem like it would be all that fun for me to include ECW in the mix for this thread's purposes. It probably wouldn't be that fun for bigger ECW fans to read me yellingatclouds.jpg through a series of ECW write-ups either.

LKJ, where do you find the non ppv **** matches from ECW? There's only 5 on the ppv listing. Of those 5, I'd recommend the 6-man from Barely Legal, which ironically, doesn't have any ECW workers in it.

Sabu-Douglas Part I was here (part 2 will be in the sidebar): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdPCIYUwImg

Public Enemy-Funks Part I was here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIGiOwSPhMg

There was an upcoming Sabu vs. Scorpio match here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvU6zjh9ovM

Plenty of the stuff is difficult to find, but doing manual searches on the WWE Network was also finding matches that got replayed on the weekly show.

I'm sorry, I meant the listing.

http://profightdb.com/top-rated-matches/ecw-5.html

Yeah, Meltzer was creaming himself over ECW on a regular basis, just because it was fresh and different. Most of the stuff not involving guys you'd normally associate with great matches (Benoit, Guerrero, etc.) isn't worth watching today.

ECW was great though. The matches looked a lot better than they were because people actually cared and there were stories to them. Going back and watching them not in the time period takes a lot away from it.

Meltzer seems to rate hardcore and garbage type matches a lot higher than I do in general. And ECW had a lot of that stuff.

Yeah I realize that negatively-inspired rants can be good reading, but it's probably not as enjoyable for a reader who actually enjoyed the product that is being criticized. For instance, I can't watch ECW without rolling my eyes at the cavemen who populated the crowds. For many who love ECW, the crowds and their usually idiotic chants were a feature, not a bug.

The point at which I thought about not bothering with ECW in this project was five minutes into the barbed wire match between PE and the Funks when the crowd started chanting "we want blood," and I rolled my eyes and thought, "of course you do." Like I said, I'm just not the target demo for a lot of ECW's stuff.

To be clear, I do think that blood can really add a great element to a wrestling match, though I also regard it as a special touch that should be used sparingly. I don't see it as a positive to just have every competitor spilling blood constantly.

FWIW, I really did basically enjoy ECW a decent bit at the time, as kind of a fun alternative to the other two companies. But even as a teenager I thought a fair bit of the above-posted stuff about it too.

Yeah, like the Vader/Sting strap match. Seeing Vader's blood pouring out his back was a true "Holy **** sting has a chance" moment

Yup, that match was a tremendous use of blood.

Lesnar bleeding at this past Mania was great too.

Hey, I was one of those cavemen for a short period of time around '96 or so. But I agree the crowd got to be ridiculous and really killed any interest I had in continuing to go. In a similar vein, its my biggest and probably only gripe about NXT. I hate the crowd at the NXT shows. It really takes a lot of the fun out of it for me.

WCW Saturday Night: Ric Flair & Steve Austin (w/ Sensuous Sherri) vs. Sting & Ricky Steamboat

Date: July 30, 1994

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBQRsIW6zeg

The Match: Ric Flair ducks out to dodge Sting to start the match, but when Austin enters, Ricky Steamboat comes charging in at him and chases him into tagging, so we end up with Flair vs. Steamboat to start. Flair with an early cheap shot followed by a turnbuckle smash. Irish whip leads into Flair getting backdropped on the way out. Tag to Sting, who press slams the Nature Boy. 10-punch by Stinger in the corner, and one for Austin when he tries to interrupt.

Flair kicks upward to stun Sting, attempts to follow with a whip, reversal by Sting into a backslide for two. Flair staggers into Steamboat, takes a shot from him, and does the face-first flop onto the mat. Sherri tries to pull Flair to safety, Sting follows out, but Flair uses Sherri as a human shield to back Sting down, then reaches around her with an eye gouge to get the advantage.



Chop by Flair, then rolls Sting in. Tag to Austin. Elbow, stomp, turnbuckle smashes. Couple of chops - I expected those to activate the Sting no-sell machine, but they didn't - but a whip into the corner leads to Austin running into the big boot. Sting on the rally, connects on a backdrop before punishing Stunning Steve with an arm-wringer. Tag to the Dragon, who enters with a hard axhandle off the top. Steamboat loses the advantage quickly though, as Austin grabs his tights and pulls him through the middle to the outside.

Steamboat drags Austin out, the two trade blows on the floor, Austin with a bit of an advantage that allows him to roll Steamboat in, but he follows off the top and gets hit. Steamboat starts to get control back, Flair runs in illegally and Randy Anderson does precious little about it for a decent while. Eventually forces Flair out. Inverted atomic drop by Steamboat on Austin; commercial break.

Back from break, Steamboat with a chinlock on Austin in the middle of the ring. Seems like more of a move to do during the commercial break than right after it, but what do I know. Austin forces his way out by getting his feet for long enough to connect on a jawbreaker. Steve lays in the punches, whips Steamboat into the ropes, Steamboat blocks a hip-toss and tries to reverse into a backslide, can't quite get the leverage so he ends up flipping over and behind Austin, then sets him up on the top rope. Superplex. Two. Tag to Sting.



Sting with a scoop slam. And another. Sting attempts a running splash (but not a Stinger Splash), Austin raises his knees and Sting hurts his guts. Austin tags Flair. Flair with a standing suplex, but there's Sting with the no-sell as he pops straight up. Couple of clotheslines, then a running, diving clothesline at Flair at the ropes, seems to accidentally miss completely, Flair correctly doesn't sell a total outright miss, Sting is straight back up to the apron to attack but Austin hits him from behind and all four men go at it. Randy Anderson gets distracted away from a small package by Sting that holds Flair down for more than three, but the fall won't count. Flair takes a breather.

Nature Boy back in, confers with Austin in the corner for a moment and then slowly returns to the middle to lock up with Sting. Hold and counter-hold, Flair gets enough control to tag Austin in, but Sting double clotheslines the both of them. This leaves both in the ring, Flair gets an eye gouge to take advantage of the numbers game, but he heads up top and Sting is able to throw him off.



Tag to Austin, who I'm pretty sure was already the legal man based on the tag like 30 seconds ago. Test of strength between Austin and Sting, arm-wringer by Austin reversed into one by Sting. Rope-running sequence ends in Austin rolling Sting up for two. Rolls him up again for two. Sting finally stops the offense short with a couple of clotheslines.

Modified press slam by Stinger. The two battle in the corner, Randy Anderson attempts to force a rope break and Austin takes a cheap shot over top of him. As Anderson is trying to get control and admonishes Austin, Flair and Sherri do a number on Sting that the referee has no awareness of. Commercial break.

We come back to see Sherri choking Sting with a scarf and then Sting slowly rolling back in, severely weakened. Flair puts the boots to him, works him over, and then tags in Austin. Snapmare by Stunning Steve. Middle rope knee-drop. Arrogant cover gets two. Reverse chinlock continues the wear-down of Sting. Sting works his way back up to a vertical position, throws a shoulderblock after coming off the ropes, but takes a backdrop as he keeps running. Austin blocks a tag attempt and puts Sting back down.



Austin attempts a middle rope elbow, then blatantly telegraphs an impending miss by having it be a totally different style than the elbow that connects. Hot tag to Steamboat.

The Dragon cleans house on both heels. Backdrop on Austin as Sting returns to the action to take on Flair. Steamboat's offense gets halted when he drops his head too early for a backdrop and takes a boot. Tag to Flair, quick pinning attempt, Steamboat bridges out and then locks elbows and executes a backslide that Austin breaks up. Attempted knee-drop by Flair misses. Steamboat attempts a figure-four and gets kicked off. Mid-ring collision - badly executed on Steamboat's end - lays both out. Flair up first, tags Austin, and Austin starts to work the Dragon over with some outside help from Sherri. Suplex gets two, and then Steve slaps on an abdominal stretch. Tag from the stretch to Flair.

Hard punch by Flair, whip into the corner, chops and punches continue there. Steamboat tries to chop back and tag out, but Flair blocks the tag. Steamboat gets caught up in the enemy corner and double-teamed. Chops his way loose and nearly gets a tag, but Austin is there to block him just short, drop a knee, and then slap on another chinlock. Despite this being a transitional hold, Steamboat gets the "arm drops twice" treatment before attempting his comeback. Back up to his feet, and the Dragon whips Austin into the ropes and executes a hard chop. Starts to get cornered in enemy territory, but fights his way out and goes and makes a tag to Sting that Randy Anderson doesn't see.

Anderson starts to disallow it, but loses control as all four men fight. Stinger Splash gets followed by a Scorpion Deathlock. Sherri goes up top and jumps off to break it up. Flair rolls out, Sting picks Sherri up and throws her onto Flair, who only partly catches her fall…she takes a bump there.



Meanwhile, WTF, Austin pins Steamboat in the background right behind Sting's back[. I had to rewind it just to see what happened. Steamboat was 10-punching Austin, Austin tossed him off and fell on top for a pin and a basically clean three-count.

Result: Flair & Austin via pinfall (roughly 24:00 plus commercial break time)

Meltzer Rating: ****

My Review and Rating: This is almost completely generic…good workers bump it up to maybe slightly above average. I've gotta say, **** Meltzer on matches like this; it was the most predictable **** in the world that this match wouldn't actually be great when I saw it coming up on the schedule. There's nothing Meltzer seems to like more than giving a great rating to a mediocre match because he really likes the workers involved and because it was all sort of unimpeachable from a technical standpoint. He doesn't seem bothered with factors such as "yeah, but is this actually a particularly entertaining or interesting match?" You're not a Russian figure skating judge, you dip****. Kindly reserve your great ratings for actual great matches that are particularly enjoyable to watch. **3/4

(Mostly co-opted from my Owen tribute thread.)

SummerSlam ’94 – WWF Title Steel Cage Match: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart



Date: August 29, 1994

Background: Bret and Owen had a feud that started brewing nine months earlier at Survivor Series, the first shot was officially fired seven months earlier at Royal Rumble when Owen kicked Bret’s leg out of his leg, and since then Bret won the WWF Title and Owen won the King of the Ring Tournament.

Link: http://network.wwe.com/video/v31288939

The Match: They bill this as the very clear blowoff of the feud in advance, which seems like a wonderful way to announce that Bret is winning the match. Admittedly I never bought Owen as having a chance to win the title here, though to be fair this doesn’t end up being the blowoff anyway. The whole family is at ringside in one of the floor seating areas, and Vince and Lawler talk to Davey Boy, Jim Neidhart, and Bruce Hart before the match.

No slow feeling out period this time, Owen goes right at Bret at the bell and attacks aggressively. True to the feel of a cage match, this is less technical and more of a brawl from the word go. Cool spot early as Owen attempts an over-the-top escape and Bret catches him with something of a back superplex from about the same elevation as the top rope. One of the more entertaining cage escape sequences I’ve seen as the two wrestlers get a temporary upper hand and then attempt to outright dive to scurry out the door, obviously neither successful in multiple attempts so early.





A few over-the-top escape attempts get overdone and it feels a bit tedious at times, but I do enjoy a spot by Owen where he pulls Bret off of the cage onto his shoulders and into a Samoan drop. Still, I do think this match sort of drags at times just from an excess of cage escape attempts at the expense of more wrestling. Criticisms notwithstanding, there are certainly really good spots as well, with Bret delivering a memorable superplex from the top of the cage.



Despite submissions not being a method of victory in this match, Owen slaps on the sharpshooter with the clear intent of crippling Bret to the point of making an escape easy. In a spot that was completely innovative and awesome at the time but has probably lost something with age since we’ve seen it in other spots now, Bret grabs Owen’s leg to trip him and then outright reverses the sharpshooter.



The ending sequence takes place when both attempt to climb out, both get to the outside of the ring, and Owen’s leg gets caught and hangs him upside down while Bret successfully hops to the floor.

Jim Neidhart jumps over the railing and clotheslines Davey over the railing, knocking Diana over it too. He and Owen get Bret into the ring and chain the cage door shut so they can double-team Bret. Hart family members try to climb into the cage and finally succeed, chasing Owen and the Anvil out.

Result: Bret Hart via cage escape (32:17)

Meltzer Rating: *****

Rating: Meltzer rating this above the WM X match, and giving it the rare five-star rating, is complete insanity. This match has some cool spots and some good stuff, but it also really noticeably drags at times and is in no way at the level of their Mania match. I would rather have just seen another regular non-cage rematch between the two. ***1/2

Our last two matches of '94 are Hogan vs. Flair from Halloween Havoc and, strangely enough, a match from Action Zone: Diesel/Michaels vs. Razor/1-2-3 Kid.

Tough for me to imagine 1994 Hulk Hogan having a great match, but I've never seen that one. The tag match would have me pretty damn skeptical since it has to just be a throwaway TV match like that Flair/Austin vs. Sting/Steamboat match above, but Meltzer actually gives that one a full 4.5 stars, so I'm curious. I would be looking for excuses to ignore its existence if he had only given it a flat 4.

That Action Zone match is extremely good and well regarded to this day.

Cool; I'm looking forward to it. And here I thought that the biggest thing to ever happen on Action Zone was Men on a Mission turning heel.

Going back to the discussion of Meltzer's tendencies, I don't know why he rates Undertaker so highly. I was looking for 4.75 star matches and Undertaker has several of them. His first WM match against Shawn Michaels was very overrated. In contrast, he only rated the 2012 Punk/Bryan match at 4.50, when I thought it was much better than Taker/HBK.

I think HBK/Taker at WM 25 is the best WWE match of the 2000's and possibly the second best match of the 2000's from any promotion. That match is universally given five stars by everybody...but you apparently . Love that Bryan/Punk match at OTL though.

I do think he rates Taker highly though. I hated the rematch. I hated the HiaC match they had. The HHH matches at 27 and 28 were trash.

I definitely have HBK/Taker I as a five-star classic too.

Pretty sure that came in second to Bret/Austin in our tournament of best match ever.

It did. I probably don't place it quite that high, but it's awesome.