Chris Hero vs. Claudio Castagnoli - Opening Round match - King of Europe Cup (2007)
Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli AKA The Kings of Wrestling battle one another in this opening round match for the 2007 King of Europe Cup. At the time, Hero was representing Combat Zone Wrestling while Castagnoli was representing Chikara Pro.
The match itself goes nice and smooth until Chris Hero slams Claudio Castagnoli with enough force to leave a big dip in the ring. For the rest of the match, Hero and Castagnoli must fight around this indentation in the middle of the squared circle. From there, like the mat itself, the match pretty much goes down hill and is all about how the hell are these two guys going to end the match without using the middle of the ring.
Theme results
Ring Destruction: The ring collapses in the middle.
"Mr. Instant Replay" Matt Jackson vs. "Slick" Nick Jackson - HPW Heavyweight title tournament first round match - Hybrid Pro Wrestling (2006)
Currently, the brother team of Nick and Matt Jackson AKA The Young Bucks are one of the top indie tag team darlings going today with their constant spots and superkicks. It wasn't too long ago that the brothers were just two kids inspired by The Hardy Boyz and The Rockers to put on exciting matches together. Here's a match between the two brothers from Southern California in their early days before making a name for themselves and touring the world. They are clearly very green here, but they show a lot of potential even without the multiple dives to the outside, flips for the sake of flips, and superkick after superkick.
This Jackson brother's match also features the now-retired Human Tornado providing color commentary.
The Ultimate Warrior vs. Orlando Jordan - NWE Heavyweight title match - Nu-Wrestling Evolution (2008)
More like the Ultimate Wind.
I mentioned a couple of days ago how good the legends who returned to the WWE to promote the 1000th episode with Heath Slater surprisingly looked. Well, compared to most "legends" of wrestling returning to the ring, there really is a point in time where it's best to just let your character go and never be seen again. The perfect example of this would be the one and only, Warrior. As you may or may not know, the man behind the Ultimate Warrior, Jim Hellwig, legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993. Wait what? He changed his name to the Warrior... not the Ultimate Warrior, but just 'Warrior'. He also had kids and they now have the surname of Warrior which is a whole other can of worms we don't need to get into.
Along with taking the name Warrior, Hellwig also took the attire, the face-paint, and the crazy Warrior ramblings and basically molded his life around his wrestling persona. The only thing I really see that's wrong with that is he left the wrestling part out. After Warrior's success in the early 90's of being the next Hogan, he just sort of disappeared. When he returned the first time it was clear that he had lost the energy he possessed in his first big run. He still had this "Ultimate Warrior" look to him, but he was not the same Warrior that we say dethrone Hogan and prophesied to his little warrior followers. And then he disappeared again... and again.
Eventually Warrior was completely gone for wrestling. That was, until 2008 when an Italian wrestling promotion had enough money to pay for the Ultimate Warrior to once again reappear. So, Warrior suited up and went to battle. This time however, it wasn't against the likes of Randy Savage, Triple H, or Hulk Hogan, but rather, a young sport named Orlando Jordan (remember him?) who happened to be Nu-Wrestling Evolution's heavyweight champion at the time. It also wasn't the 90's anymore.
The match is pretty ehhh. I'd rather not go into to detail on the whole thing as I've already written too much on the matter, but really it can only be described as a man who is a shell of himself trying to have a 15-20 minute match after not wrestling for 10 whole years. That being said, it's really not too fun to watch and I don't blame you if you can't get past Warrior trying to run his way to the ring like his legs remembered how bad his last match was. It was almost like his legs were trying to cripple him from ever getting back in that ring with every awkward stride.
Johnny Saint vs. Johnny Kidd - LDN Legends Showdown (2007)
In 1996, Johnny Saint, the master of reversals and World of Sport legend wrestled his retirement against Naohiro Hoshikawa in Michinoku Pro Wrestling. However, this would not be Saints' last match. It would just be his last match for over 10 years! Saint returned to the ring once more to compete for the British indie promotion, LDN Wrestling where he faced up against another former World of Sport alum, Johnny Kidd at LDN's Legends Showdown in 2007.
Despite being away from the ring for over a decade, Johnny Saint looked and performed just like he had all those years in the World of Sport era. Here's to the man of a thousand holds!
Flip vs. Stinky the Homeless Guy - Fans Bring The LEGO Deathmatch - Inter Species Wrestling 4 Years of This?! (2009)
Flip takes on his former Lady and the Tramp tag team partner, the late Stinky the Homeless Guy in a match featuring everyone's favorite childhood building toys, LEGOs!
Before you start rolling your eyes at me internet goers, hear me out: Would you rather not get put through a table, get fluorescent lights smashed over your head, or step on a Lego? I know which one I'd rather not have to deal with... the Lego one, of course! That shit hurts like hell.
Okay, so being slammed on some Legos wouldn't be as painful as, say, a gusset or a kenzan (look it up), but you gotta at least give it up to these two for going where not a lot of wrestlers had gone before... the toy box.
Also, check out that sweet D'Lo Brown Lego vest! This match touches all my childhood nostalgia buttons.
"Black Machismo" Jay Lethal vs. "The Genius" Lanny Poffo - Pro Wrestling Syndicate New Jersey indie show (2007)
Channeling the spirit of Macho Man within, "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal takes on the real-life brother of the late great Macho Man Randy Savage, Lanny Poffo, best known for his time in WWF as "Leaping" Lanny Poffo or a bit more remembered as The Genius. The 50 something year old looks in great shape here and even pulls of some pretty agile moves including a moonsault... yep, some Terry Funk shit right there.
Unfortunately for Lanny, the much younger Jay Lethal pulls away with the win despite Lanny's best efforts to beat his "brother from another mother, so to speak".
The commentary is pretty poor, what more would you except from an indie show in New Jersey, and I have no idea what Jay Lethal said during and after the match. Other than that, this isn't really that bad of a match. Unless watching a 50 year old man wrestle in his speedo against a young wrestler pretending to be his brother isn't your thing, of course.
Cameo: Jay Lethal's family as Lethal is a native to New Jersey.
