Match of the Day - Ultimate Warrior's not so ultimate return... again.

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.

... and then he won.

Theme Results

Returner: Warrior after 10 years.

Match of the Day - It's not Slater time.

Heath Slater vs. Vader - Monday Night Raw (2012)

Despite the constant plugging of Raw's 1000th episode last year, we did get to see Heath Slater, the super jobber of the WWE get squashed for a few by returning legends who actually looked in good shape for their age. Albeit there were some segments of rookie Heath Slater versus veteran superstars from the past that weren't all too great (sorry Lauper), but for the most part this was a relatively good concept.

On this particular Heath Slater squashing, the "One Man Band" would take on the returning big man, the man they call Vader - no stranger to this blog. But not only was this Vader's first match on Raw since 2005, no no no, this was Vader's first time seen on TV since before being in a coma for 30 something days in Japan, causing him to lose 112 pounds and to subsequently turn his life around. And while Vader has had countless surgeries on his knees and the rest of his body, he still could move in the ring with the lightweight rookie of Heath Slater.

Theme Results

Returner: Vader to WWE.

Match of the Day - The new Macho Man takes on the old Mach Man's brother

"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.

Match of the Day - Jericho steals Flair's Thunder

Chris Jericho vs. Ric Flair - WCW First Thunder (1998)

Much like a match I soon wish to share with you all (Hart/123Kid on RAW), this match features the well respected, crazy - yes crazy - but seasoned veteran and multi-time champion, Ric Flair taking on the young, brash, but highly gifted semi-rookie, Chris Jericho. And what's right about this situation rather than, say, the Lawler/Helms match in '06 is that Flair (along with Bret Hart) not only had a knack for putting younger talent over but also making it look as if he could actually be beaten by his opponents even with all the experience and big names/fights under his belt. Lawler all the while, didn't do so much for Gregory Helms and their small feud which just ends with The King of Memphis jumping off the top rope and seemingly squashing the young talent.

Another key difference to Jericho/Flair's situation and the Lawler/Helms is that Chris Jericho was bond for greatness and it should have come sooner with the resume that Jericho already had before WCW and right up until 1998 when he finally started to receive a push (in the form of bigger gold i.e. the TV title). I'm not saying that this match put Jericho over completely, no Jericho had to do that on his own, but this is just another one of those great new vs. old matches that actually works. Stuff like Kidman vs. Hulk Hogan where we are expected to root for the guy still trying to stay on the top of mountain even though he passed the torch onto another guy in 1990, just rattles my bones.

Anyways here's a match from the very first Thunder - WCW's Smackdown before Smackdown came along and stole their ratings. The original Thunder program had some sort of Legend of the Hidden Temple/aggro crag theme with a big rock-made titantron with flash-y lights and fog. At least, that's how I remember it...

Also enjoy the classic WCW commentating of this time.

Those were the days