Yuji Nagata vs Disco Inferno was pretty beautiful. DI wasn't afraid to take a true Japan-style Exploder Suplex and THEN took the spinning heel kick LIKE A MAN. Between this match and the Saturn matches, Disco Inferno is showing that he should get super-daps for being able to take an ass-stomping without whimpering. I just wish his offense wasn't so rudimentary. I mean, DI takes the giant kicks and the Exploder, but fights back with a Swinging Neckbreaker? If he's gonna be fueding with guys like this who can do state-of-the-art moves, he needs to take Benoit or Guerrerro aside and say, "Hey, show me how to pull off a High-Angle Powerbomb." Hey, I've never been a DI fan, but I'm the first one to say that DI has come a LONG way since coming back to the WCW in the selling and versatility standpoint. Now he's got to take to the next level, which he looks he's got the guts to do. Nagata needs a couple of wins over non-Ultimo Dragon opponents.

The Benoit Monday Murderlization Moment was less spectacular than the previous weeks because Scotty Riggs is a tough case to work with right now. He's turning into an actual threat as a wrestler so you can't just beat the shit out of him like Benoit did with the rookie contigent, so he sold a bunch for Riggs. But you can't sell too much because he's still not all the way rebuilt yet, so you don't want to damage someone as over as Benoit. I think they shoulda kept it out on the floor longer with Scotty getting some more brawling in, since he's kinda like Disco in that he's kinda limited with the offense he has but he could mask it by getting in some stiff shots with a guy who can take it, like Benoit. So this wasn't as great as the last couple of truly beautiful displays of stiffness by the Crippler,but he seemed to be trying to get Scotty Riggs over as a tough guy, which is a worthy cause. Riggs and DI are definately two wrestlers rescued from the brink of total "Main Event Versus Greg Valentine in Any High School Indie Card Across America" fate, and they are both feeling it. Both are getting their asses kicked into my heart.

Malenko vs Finlay was really technically good. The problem is that Malenko isn't gonna work overly stiff with anybody and everyone respects him too much to push the point, so you get this match. Finlay gets in some stiff shots, but there isn't the wreckless abandon of the Benoit/ or Regal/ or the incredibly great BARRY HOUSTON/ Belfast Bruiser matches. Luckily, Finlay can also mat wrestle better than anyone on earth so this was a lesser match of his tenure but still a damn good one. I love Eddy the announcer, and the ending was a screwjob that puts Fit MuthaFarkin Finlay over, so who am I to argue?

Booker T vs Randy Savage was really good. Savage was ready to work and Booker T was ready to apply the offense so this good. Booker T the Singles Wrestler is astoundingly more interesting than the Harlem Heat- in that he has had two really good matches on Nitro against two members of the nWo (BUFF and Savage) which SHOULD be important in driving a wedge between Booker T and Stevie Ray (Hell! Stevie Ray could be the third member of the Faces of Fear or the mystery partner in the next big Disorderly Conduct vs High Voltage angle) and elevate Booker T to his rightful position as one of the top heavyweights in the world. I mean Harlem Heat has not had a good match since.... hmmmm. Savage and Booker T weren't afraid to take the big bumps and both sell like mofos, it went all over the place and the ending was too Liz-intensive to be a REAL screwjob, so this was great. I'll take it.

HEY! NO GIANT! WOO-HOO!

I know that Hall put him over and Jericho had to return the favor, but I didn't have to like watching it. Scott Hall's chokeslam is a zillion times better than the Giants. I actually would have liked this if Jericho got to get in more. But he didn't so I didn't.

Hennig (who the sheets are saying was all liquored up, I hear) vs Ric Flair was a big batch of nothing. Boy. Starrcade ain't looking good. Nope.

BOY! That powerslam directly onto Rick Steiners neck was something so collossally sloppy that I figured it would have taken a Steiner to actually do it; the irony of the world's sloppiest wrestlers getting nearly killed by a sloppy wrestling move. Everytime I think about feeling sorry for a Rick Steiner, I think of Izuuka's shattered face. AND HEY! Scott seems to be down to five pints of steroids a day!

Sure, it's Buff and he RULES harder than anybody in his weight class and the whole goofball angle is kinda fun, but it's still Luger and we still gotta watch him try to wrestle. Luger seems to be having too much fun with angle so the fact that he was chuckling at the end of the match kind of pushed it too far to the polar opposite of Flair/Funk 1989 on the Greatest True Hatred Angles of All Time. Seems they are both kinda killing time in this mini-feudette.

I missed the whole Goldberg thing. I think the mega-boss TAKA vs Lawler match was on RAW at the time and hey, I'm only human. Maybe it was good. Probably not as good as TAKA wrestling the Memphis Godfather in the "Let's Make MEN'S Teioh Jealous by Wrestling Jerry Fuckin Lawler" match. Hell, Liger must have been in tears with jealousy because he has borrowed everything imaginable from Lawler's hotter Memphis angles to make NJ Jr's as fun as it's been lately, and there's that surly punk from Michinoku Pro wrestling the real deal. I'm sure my Canadian, RAW-reporting counterpart will shed less weirder light on that match.:)

HEY! Bret Hart leaves WWF and the crappy booking ideas of Jim Cornette and Bruce Pritchard to get stuck directly in the middle of the worst match idea since the 123 Kid Diaper match. They shoulda waited and started Bret off wrestling, but that's just me. Now if they can just get Bischoff to Kiss Zbysko's Foot......

Three Hours and you couldn't fit Eddy vs Ultimo Dragon on?!? Did something happen and somebody miss a flight? Was UD playing Quarters with Hennig? Y'know, they could have just NOT HAD the Traylor/Vincent match, and fit it in. Was there just TOO much GOOD wrestling in the first two hours that they were afraid of alienating the Duggan Fan/Those Who Shout "Boring" at Lucha Matches Contingent? I'm hoping that's delivered next week.

THERE YOU HAVE IT.

DEAN!

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