Matt & Jeff Hardy vs Christian & Edge (WWF, 10-17-1999)

WWF No Mercy, Cleveland, OH

A request! About to be chock full of these bad boys. Thank you very much!

This is the last match of a best of five between Edge and Christian and the “New Brood,” Matt and Jeff Hardy, who had replaced the former duo in The Brood in August, having ditched Michael “P.S.” Hayes as a manager to unite with Gangrel after Gangrel turned on Edge, but then Christian sided with Edge. It was a whole ordeal.

This best of five is actually to procure the managerial services of Terri Runnels — it’s the Terri Invitational Tournament, or T.I.T.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha!!!!!!!!!! — and $100,000 in a sack hanging from the ceiling.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Kris Statlander vs Jade Cargill (AEW, 9-15-2023)

AEW Rampage, Cincinnati, OH

Statlander, of course, won the TBS title from Cargill and ended Jade’s undefeated streak in an impromptu match at Double or Nothing in May, right after Jade had beaten Taya Valkyrie to retain the belt and run her undefeated streak to whatever-and-0, it doesn’t really matter.

But here is the first — and, it seems, the last — real singles match between these two.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Flyin’ Brian vs Cactus Jack (WCW, 11-30-1991)

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Atlanta, GA

Whenever left to my own devices I have a habit of defaulting to early 90s WCW or Coliseum Video matches or some shit, so here we are. I AM still taking requests and they WILL be helping me pay off an emergency dentist bill. (I won’t, like, lose my home or anything, I don’t want to be too dramatic because basically I am OK, but it was a hit I did not plan on, as most hits are.)

So here’s Brian Pillman and Cactus Jack at Center Stage!

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Bayley vs Eva Marie (NXT, 11-25-2015)

NXT, Winter Park, FL

A request! I have vague memories of this match specifically and quasi-fond memories of this particular attempt to make Eva Marie “happen,” because it was all so weirdly meta and for once, at the start of it, kinda hard to tell just how much they were really trying, and just how much of the whole bit was, in fact, simply a bit, meant to drum up a little interest in someone they still had under contract and might as well use.

The pre-match interviews with both NXT champion Bayley and Eva make it pretty clear at this point, though, but not in a bad way. Where the questions come now are how much Eva is just being bad on the mic because she is bad, or if she’s exaggerating a little bit to ramp it up because fuck it.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano (NXT, 8-10-2019)

NXT TakeOver: Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A request! The request was for my “least favorite of the three Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano TakeOver main events from 2019.” I’ll be honest with you: I can’t separate which of these was which any more than I can remember what happened in which of the last five or so Fast & Furious movies, other than I know the most recent one sucked shit and had Jason Momoa as Nicolas Cage, and in the one before that, that hillbilly shot Tyrese and Ludacris into outer space.

But I know it’s generally agreed this was the worst, the last of the batch. Meltzer gave the April match “five and one-half stars” and Cagematch has a 9.17 on it. The second match in June got “five and one-quarter stars” and Cagematch put a 9.07 on it. This one Dave was down to “four stars” and Cagematch dropped to 8.47.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Shawn Michaels vs Mankind (WWF, 9-22-1996)

WWF In Your House: Mind Games, Philadelphia, PA

A request! It wasn’t the same requester, but this goes nicely with the recent look at Mankind’s arrival in the WWF in the spring of ’96. Honestly, I doubt Vince thought he’d have Mankind headlining a PPV — even an In Your House — five months later, but that’s just what happened.

Shawn is defending his WWF title here, a month after SummerSlam, where he narrowly escaped a challenge from Vader, which I would get into again but it’s ancient history at this point. The wheels kept on turning. Not for Vader, really, though, that whole thing and Shawn’s pissfit pretty much killed Vader as a top WWF challenger. He’d get more chances but not in a way where he was a real threat to actually do much.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Jerry Lawler vs Michael Cole (WWE, 4-3-2011)

WWE WrestleMania XXVII, Atlanta, GA

A request! You know, I really love the Official WrestleMania Numbering over the years, few things so harmlessly speak to the “fuck it! this way now!” whims of Vince McMahon as the total inconsistency of this system.

WrestleMania, of course, and then 2, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, 13, XIV, XV, 2000, X-Seven, X8 (that switch is my favorite), XIX, XX, 21, 22, 23, XXIV, 25, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, 29, XXX, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and next year is XL.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Triple H vs Rob Van Dam vs Shawn Michaels vs Kane vs Booker T vs Chris Jericho (WWE, 11-17-2002)

WWE Survivor Series, New York, NY

A request! I loved this match. The first-ever Elimination Chamber, with Triple H defending the “world heavyweight championship” against the other five lads in this NEW demonic structure.

I used to have this show on DVD; it was right before I started being able to buy PPVs monthly, so I didn’t see it live. I sold that DVD at some point. Now, as I am older and back to collecting DVDs, I kinda wish I had it, even if I haven’t really beefed up my wrestling DVD collection, because it’s an expensive habit to catch up over so many years. Ah, well. ANYWAYS,

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

The Debut of Mankind (WWF, 4-1-1996)

A request! Specifically for “Mankind’s debut match/run-in on the Undertaker (and any of his pre-debut vignettes you can find),” and I thought, well, how to do this? Because that’s two separate matches and some Stuff.

So let’s fuck around a little.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Steiner Brothers vs Midnight Express (NWA, 9-15-1990)

NWA Pro Wrestling, Gainesville, GA

Taped on Sept. 3. Beautiful Bobby and Sweet Stan are right at the end of their run, feeling they’re being buried by Jim Herd specifically, and probably partially by Ole Anderson, who tells Jim Cornette to “go home” about six weeks after this match airs if he doesn’t like their booking. Cornette did, and so did Stan Lane, and the Midnight Express were no more.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)