Almost a best case scenario Jim Neidhart. I'm not sure I've seen Swinger win a match in WCW, but he's a guy I appreciate the more I see.ĮR: Here's a rare bird indeed! A 1998 Len Denton sighting! I really liked 1998 Len Denton. Flynn gets a lot of nice big kicks, Swinger makes those kicks look great, but Swinger also gets a hot start and gets to look on Flynn's level. Swinger really comes off like an under a under the radar tough guy, always able to eat a beating from tough guys, always seems to get matched up with tough guys and leans into strikes, and always works snug when he gets to work offense, despite a usual size discrepancy. So you get two stubblemugs working a stiff match, and it's great. And Swinger is a greasy punk who wears just-sleeves instead of a full ring jacket and grinds his hips in between moves. Swinger here plays the really underrated role of "overly cocky small guy", and seriously who is the crowd supposed to cheer for in this one? Flynn looks like a meathead doofus karate guy who would be a traitor working as a karate guy for the Vietcong in a direct to video Christopher Mitchum movie. '98/'99 Juvy was really great.ĮR: This episode is a real classic so far, full of fun and kind of unexpected gems. So Juvy loses, but takes on a full heavyweight and only loses because a freakshow giant crushes him. And Horace does actually win the match, but it big interference from Reese. Juvy looked really explosive on the comeback, even got to hit a big plancha. Horace was great at tossing around Juvy early, and only made Juvy's big comeback more exciting. So this was a fun match with a rare mystery outcome. and big guys did mostly steamroll over non Rey Mysterio small guys in WCW, but Juvy was a guy who had been treated as a potential future Mysterio. Horace is a guy I seem to be a highish vote on (I like him as a well above average big thug type), but he's not super high on the WCW totem pole. What did Gene know?ĮR: My favorite matches on these shows tend to be the ones where the result is somewhat in doubt. Mean Gene gives an unfortunate interview with Fit Finlay where they hype his upcoming Slamboree match against Chris Benoit, and Gene says how Benoit is someone who can "really tie you up". Jannetty wins with an absolutely gorgeous fistdrop off the TOP ROPE, truly one of the finest fistdrops I've ever seen, and a fine fistdrop is something that can truly warm my pro wrestling heart. That's the best transition, totally precision landing, cool concept. But the Jannetty comeback is incredible, as Horowitz comes up with a crazy way to transition Marty back to offense: Horowitz climbs to the top while Jannetty is laid out, but Barry flies balls first into a waiting atomic drop. I thought this match was fantastic, Horowitz has nice strikes and dominates the action, throws hard stomps to Duggan's head and drops a leg, comes up with a cool rolling cradle out of a stump puller, a guy who really looks good in control of a match. He would experiment with offense, and be entertaining in matches where he dominated (like this one) or ones that he gets worked over. He was beyond the "dependable" tag that gets hung on him, he was a guy who always found a different way to fill 4 minutes. Horowitz is a guy I really appreciate on these shows. This was really competitive for a Duggan match, became an unexpectedly fun big boy banger.ĮR: Man 1998 Jannetty always looked such a decade behind the times. Roadblock misses a huge splash off the middle rope to set up Duggan's clothesline and big kneedrop. Duggan works stiff on his comeback, throws a nice "back up" shot, hits this killer and big corner punches. "Nobody needs to see these two violently rubbing mons pubis, keep it high and tight!" Duggan fights out of it with punches and a headbutt, but Roadblock hangs on so we get a cool extended bearhug on television. He's really squeezing Duggan, holding him up in the air, and the camera clearly keeps it above the waist on tight shots, especially when Roadblock starts shaking him. I like his clumsy but heavy kicks to the stomach, high elbow drop, he really gets to beat Duggan around the ring, and he gets a long and awesome bearhug. Roadblock wasn't going to move much of a needle in 1998, a guy born way too late. But Roadblock didn't get gobbled up at all, and got an extended run here as a great 60s style big man. That's not super high praise, as Duggan was a fairly selfish syndicated worker, prone to no selling punches and kind of gobbling up lower totem pole guys. ER: This was pretty great, maybe my favorite Duggan WCW syndicated match.
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