Randy Savage vs. Jushin Liger: I Never Knew This Happened!

One of the fun things that comes with being a fan of any genre are the undiscovered gems you stumble upon. That wow factor kicks into overdrive because it sounds too good to be true when you find something that you never knew existed.

‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage and Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger are two of my favorite professional wrestlers. Up until this past weekend, I would’ve called you a liar if you said they actually wrestled each other. Well, they did in fact tango in the squared circle.

Their one and only encounter took place on July 17, 1996, in Sapporo, Japan, during a New Japan Pro Wrestling tour. Savage was one of four wrestlers representing WCW and hurt his leg on a dive the night before in a losing effort to Ric Flair.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, a sellout crowd 6,400 fans filled the Makomanai Ice Arena as Savage hobbled to the ring for his showdown with the esteemed junior heavyweight. Liger entered next with his usual flash and energy as an admirer handed him a bouquet.

While the match was only eight minutes and really nothing special, it was a nice novelty to see two of the all-time greats dance one time. It was odd seeing Savage being the bigger of the two wrestlers since he was often the smallest guy in the ring.

Despite winning the match with his patented flying elbow drop, Savage really worked to put Liger over as a serious threat. He played defense most of the time due to his leg injury, sold like a champ for the palm strike, and took a Liger Bomb.

Wrestlers have always been expected to wear their working shoes when traveling to Japan. However, looking at the landscape of superstar American heavyweights at the time, I don’t think that many of them would have gone out of their way to make a wrestler in a weight class below look like credible.

It was fun to see Savage out of his element and with Liger. Again, the match is nothing to write home about, but this one time encounter is worth a gander if you a fan of these colorful titans of the mat. The Madness versus The Thunder, Ooh Yeah!

Tag Team Wrestling in ECW

The design of Tag Team wrestling is to increase the amount of action and drama in a particular match. Four wrestlers can pull off certain moves and tell certain stories that two wrestlers alone could never do, such as blind tags and double team maneuvers.

ECW revolutionized the wrestling business in the 90’s with hardcore action, mature storylines, and highly technical and competitive matches showcasing different styles. Their tag team division was not only a pivotal part of the show, but they exuded the essence of the art by increasing the excitement in a promotion that was already extreme.

My latest column at What Culture.com reviews the best tag teams that ever graced the land of extreme. What qualifies someone as being the best? Championships do. Click here to check out 10 Best ECW Tag Team Champions Ever

The Undertaker is One of My All-Time Favorites

The Undertaker is tied with Bret Hart as my all-time favorite wrestler. While his dark side persona has gained him fame the world over, he represented something else to me. The giants of the squared circle often apply dastardly tactics while using their size advantage to steal victories. Taker started the same but quickly became something different, something more. Continue reading “The Undertaker is One of My All-Time Favorites” →

Big Easy Win for Old Man Hendo

It took Dan Henderson 28 seconds to prove the naysayers wrong on Saturday night in New Orléans as he dispatched of Tim Boetsch. The catalyst for Boetsch’s demise came in the form of an H-bomb special that crumbled the barbarian, causing him to count the lights in the Smoothie King Center. Continue reading “Big Easy Win for Old Man Hendo” →

Henderson’s Last Ride?

Dan Henderson at Team Quest — allelbows.com

The middleweight showdown between Dan Henderson and Tim Boetch will headline the latest UFC Fight Night card from Louisiana on Saturday evening. Both fighters are coming off losses, but the bigger story here is that Henderson, a legend in the sport, has won only one of his last six fights.

With his 45^th birthday right around the corner, could this be the last time we see ‘Hendo’ grace the cage? Continue reading “Henderson’s Last Ride?” →

Masters of the Universe is Kind of My Jam

Christmas of 1984, times were tough for my family as we lived in a crammed one room apartment. I was only four years old, so I didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. I really had no concept of Christmas, so I was surprised when there were four wrapped presents waiting for me when I woke up that morning.

The first two were Superman and Batman action figures courtesy of Kenner’s Super Powers line. Presents three and four were He-Man and Skeletor of Mattel’s Masters of the Universe collection. To be more specific, it was the Battle Damage He-Man and Battle Damage Skeletor, not the regular figures. Continue reading “Masters of the Universe is Kind of My Jam” →

Seth Rollins is a Poor Man’s Randy Orton

I’m going to get some static for this one, but it is my opinion that the WWE world heavyweight championship reign of Seth Rollins, so far, has been flat, dull, and a repetitive loop of the same old song and dance we’ve already seen. Continue reading “Seth Rollins is a Poor Man’s Randy Orton” →

Planet Hulk # 1 Review

Sam Hunphries and Greg Pak hit comic book fans with a pretty snazzy 1-2 punch as they implement the beloved story arc of Planet Hulk into Marvel’s current big event, Secret Wars.

The other part of the combination deals with a gladiator Steve Rogers and his trusty steed in the form of a giant red t-Rex, Devil Dinosaur kicking ass and taking names.

I couldn’t help but notice the bump up in price compared to the other Secret Wars tie-in books. The book is certainly thicker, but does it add up in the realm of content? Of course, all things in Battleworld leads back to Doctor Doom, who is now referred to as God Doom.

Seeing a beaten down Steve Rogers being forced down at the feet of Doom harkens back to Secret Wars circa 1984. Doom obtained ultimate power in that outing, and Rogers got into his head by turning his own hubris against him.

Their interaction in this current state of affairs dropped some hints about whether or not Doom remembers everything before Marvel’s version of the big bang. It would make sense considering he is the shot caller, but many of the characters remember bits and traces of their past without realizing what it really means.

Enough about Doom and Rogers, though. The book is called Planet Hulk, and you want to hear about how they wreck shop and cause total destruction. Greenland is the name of this Gamma-infested region that has been carved out for Hulk-like beings.

Sam Humphries sets things up nicely by establishing how dangerous this place is as it is conveyed to be the most feared place in Battleworld.

Greg Pak writes a nice little back story that shows life in Greenland before, well, it turned green. The cover had a retro sixties vibe, which almost seemed like a gag at first.

However, even though Battleworld is a bastardization of reality, these are still real people who live their lives until things took a turn for the worst. Pak’s gives Planet Hulk perspective through this origin story.

Most of the time, tie-in books fail to add any real depth to the overarching story they are trying to enhance. While it would have been nice to see more of Planet Hulk in its current form, Humphries did a great job of establishing everyone’s role where green goliaths appear to play background noise to a much larger issue at hand.

Score: 4 out of 5

The Ladies Prove Unstoppable in NXT and Hopefully Beyond

“The NXT Women alone are worth more than $9.99.” Lance Storm

Any wrestling fan worth their salt logged on to the WWE Network on Wednesday evening and watched NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable. It was a great night of action and excitement that culminated with the debut of former TNA star Samoa Joe. While Joe’s arrival means a plethora of dream matches for the energetic brand, the women’s championship match featuring Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch stole the show.

In fact, they didn’t just steal show, they flat out hijacked it at point blank range. Continue reading “The Ladies Prove Unstoppable in NXT and Hopefully Beyond” →

The WWE Debut of Kevin Owens

What appeared to be another U.S. open challenge suddenly turned into a much more exciting affair as the guitar riffs of the CFO$ song, “Fight”, coursed through the sound system of the Richmond Coliseum. For some, it was an audible invasion of the unknown. For others, it was familiarity at its finest as Kevin Owens unexpectedly emerged on Monday Night Raw. Continue reading “The WWE Debut of Kevin Owens” →