Bam Bam Bigelow vs Rob Van Dam (ECW, 4-8-1998)

ECW Hardcore TV, Buffalo, NY

A request! Taped on April 4 in Buffalo, aired on Hardcore TV a few days later. As usual, listing the TV date for the great SEO on this WordPress blog in case people are searching for the match by that.

Bigelow is defending the TV title, which he’d won from Taz at Living Dangerously on March 1 in Asbury Park, arguably the biggest singles match win of Bigelow’s career. I know he’d beaten Shane Douglas for the ECW “world” title in late ’97, but honestly, Taz as TV champion by March ’98 was just stronger and on a bigger run than Shane Douglas as “world” champ in October ’97.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Randy Orton vs Christian (WWE, 5-22-2011)

WWE Over the Limit, Seattle, WA

A request! I’ve said before, I wasn’t really watching wrestling around this time, tuning in every now and then, watching the Rumble and Mania, keeping tabs otherwise. It’s weird to look back on now but even though I really wasn’t watching, whatever it is in my dumb brain never could just break clean and let go, I never didn’t have a clue what was going on.

I’ve gone back and watched this feud over the years because (1) I’ve softened my stance on Orton considerably to where I actively like him, and (2) Christian just continues to be someone I appreciate more and more, right up until the present day, right now, in 2023. And they had a terrific chemistry. Have done a review for their Money in the Bank match a couple months after this — haha, actually that was over five years ago that I did that review, haha, I love the passing of time, haha.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Bobby Eaton vs Dustin Rhodes (WCW, 12-7-1991)

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Atlanta, GA

The taping sequence toward the end of ’91 was a mess in WCW, but this is a Big Grudge Match, though it was taped before Eaton and Dustin had much real beef other than being a good guy and a bad guy.

Dustin and Ricky Steamboat had gone to a 45-minute draw with the Dangerous Alliance’s Eaton and Arn Anderson on Thanksgiving night at The Omni, though this match was taped weeks before that, I believe, before Steamboat — who had returned to the company at the Nov. 19 Clash of the Champions in a tremendous tag title match — was even back in WCW.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Maki Itoh vs Charli Evans (GCW/ROW, 8-25-2023)

GCW vs Renegades of Wrestling, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Here’s one I wanted to watch. I’m a big Evans fan, as I’ve probably made clear if you’re remotely interested in that knowledge, and I also like Maki. I realize that to some, she’s apparently just the shits and awful and so bad and an insult to the noble art that is professional wrestling, but I think she is funny and cool and frankly fine at wrestling, a lot of exaggeration out there about her quality with a very vocal minority.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Saraya vs Toni Storm (AEW, 9-20-2023)

AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam, Queens, NY

Re-watching this one because my feeling live was it kinda ruled.

I don’t dislike Saraya. I don’t wish ill upon her or whatever. I have a lot of Saraya Thoughts, but what’s the point? I don’t personally know her. Keep them to myself. On-screen, I often enjoy her. She’s properly annoying in this run with The Outcasts, but of course that group has splintered, as Toni Storm has become an opium-addled melodramatic genius, hurling shoes and time traveling back 100 years, and it’s the first time in my life I’ve actively looked forward to Toni on TV instead of just being, like, “This will probably be a pretty good match, I guess” which is just not something that alone gets me interested anymore.

If technically good matches and spreadsheet filling still tickle your fancy then God bless, go with the Lord (Jesus Christ), but I had my run in that field for a long time. It is your time now, youngsters. Which is not to say I’m not still a dork. Blog and all.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Eddie Kingston vs Claudio Castagnoli (AEW, 9-20-2023)

AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam, Queens, NY

We’ll do it live. You know why the match is happening. For Claudio’s ROH title and Eddie’s NJPW STRONG title.

Bryce Remsburg as the ref, as it should be. Castagnoli with a Ribera jacket and Misawa colors, Eddie in the yellow and black of Kawada.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Christian & Edge vs Hardy Boyz vs Dudley Boyz (WWF, 8-27-2000)

WWF SummerSlam, Raleigh, NC

A request! At WrestleMania 2000 in April:

• Edge & Christian (or Christian & Edge) and the Hardys and Dudleys had a big triangle ladder match for the WWF tag titles
• Triple H and The Rock were in a four-way with Mick Foley and Big Show for the WWF title
• Chrises Benoit and Jericho were in a two-fall three-way with Kurt Angle for the Intercontinental and European titles

At SummerSlam 2000 in August:

• The same three teams up the stakes with this, the first TLC match for the WWF tag belts
• The Rock and Triple H are still warring, with Kurt Angle now joining them in a three-way for the WWF title (in many ways, it was really The Rock and his belt as the middle-man of a HHH-Angle feud)
• Chrises Benoit and Jericho are in a two-out-of-three falls match for the Intercontinental title.

So not a ton changed in ~five months on paper in one way, but a lot was happening. In the in-between, Undertaker returned as another redneck asskicker, and there was the the Fully Loaded show in July where they had Rising Stars take on Established Top Guys, and the rising stars went 0-for-3: Undertaker beat Angle, HHH beat Jericho in a Last Man Standing, and Rock beat Benoit in a no DQ. Two of the matches were pretty great, but I remember at the time SO many Netcop-y nerds being truly disgusted that none of those guys won, having mistaken “it’s a triple main event!” for “we really think it’s time for new leaders on the show” instead of “we are still not 100 percent confident these guys can headline.”

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Obviously, eventually all of Angle, Jericho, and Benoit won The Big One. Angle happened at No Mercy in October, Jericho at the end of 2001 when the ill-fated Invasion angle had wrapped, and then Benoit in 2004.

Anyway, we’re here to talk about TLC.

Dudley Boyz vs Hardy Boyz vs Christian & Edge (WWF, 4-2-2000)

WWF WrestleMania 2000, Anaheim, CA

A request! The final move prior to TLC. We had the Hardys and Edge & Christian in a ladder match at No Mercy ’99. We had the Dudleys and Hardys in a tables match at the 2000 Rumble. And now this, a triangle ladder match at WrestleMania with the Dudleys defending the WWF tag belts against the Hardys and Edge & Christian.

WrestleMania 2000 was bad. Also, I remember they did the “WrestleMania All Day” thing that was day-long live coverage on your PPV channel of the event, and I recall my friend’s dad remarking that this was “too much.” He was correct.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Kris Statlander vs Dr. Britt Baker DMD (AEW, 9-16-2023)

AEW Collision, State College, PA

Well, I thought the world of that Statlander vs Jade Cargill match from Rampage the night before, so I really wanted to follow up here. I was able to watch part but not all of Collision live, and I purposely turned it off during this match so I wasn’t watching it half-assed.

Statlander’s TBS title is on the line! Dr. Baker is at her alma mater, Penn State University!

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Hardy Boyz vs Dudley Boyz (WWF, 1-23-2000)

WWF Royal Rumble, New York, NY

A request! The Dudleys had entered the WWF in Aug. ’99, not long before the big ladder match at No Mercy between the Hardys and Christian & Edge, and after that hit the way it did, the Dudleys got into that mix not long after, bringing a crucial third heat to the situation.

On the Raw prior to the Rumble, the Dudleys did tables at the Hardys. On the Smackdown prior, the Hardys did tables at the Dudleys. And now we are here: A TABLES MATCH!

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)