Falls Count Anywhere

10-18-07

The Great Pumpkin is on his way...

Weekend Wrestling Notes
I didn’t watch SmackDown! because I was at Vintacon in Gilroy, though I did see a little of the TNA PPV. What I saw was pretty good, especially Sting vs. Kurt Angle.

Now, people are worried about Kurt and with good reason. A DUI, some drug problems, a few missteps in the ring -- all of these add up to bad news. He was going up against Sting in a World Title match. Sting’s something like 48 years old. Kurt Angle’s 40, I believe. With Angle's recent unstable behavior, a lot of people were wondering if they would have a good match.

They did.

The TNA title match was almost as dramatic as the Randy Orton vs. HHH match. There’s no way to say what it was that made it happen, Sting works hard for an old guy, a lot like DDP did a few years ago when he was the same age, but Angle was great. These are two guys who really understand transitions. They know how to go from one move to another and make both moves look good and not rush things. There was struggle and the whole thing felt like two guys wrestling for a major World Title. In fact, that’s exactly what these guys were doing and it showed. These guys worked harder than they had to and even the little missteps worked.

The funny thing is what this match is gonna be remembered for: Kurt’s 360 Knee Drop. I’m still not sure if it was what he was going for, but the end result was one of the most incredible moments I’ve ever seen in a wrestling match.

Kurt got to the top rope, which isn’t exactly where he’s known for standing, and was wobbly and seems to not have his footing when he took off and started his rotation. He then did the 360 and ended up with both knees right into Sting’s chest. It got a great pop.

Now, it looked like he was going for the 450 Splash, but he kept his knees pulled in, which you can’t do if you’re gonna land it. If you hit with your knees like that you’ll blow out your knees. Now, if he was going for the 450, this was one of those great mistakes like when Mitsuharu Misawa dropped Kawada onto his head while doing a Tiger Bomb in 1991 which led them to rename it the TigerDriver ’91. If he was really trying to do a 360 Kneedrop, this was a great hit. I really don’t wanna see him do it again unless it’s in a big match, but if they work on it, they can make this into the WrestleMania-level finisher.

Sting got bloodied up, then made a giant comeback and pinned Kurt. Now, I really don’t think that the TNA title means anything to the crowd or buyrates, but this was the kind of match that a title match needs to be. There was drama, blood, high risk, smart work and everything else a title match should have. There was also interference and brawling which the match didn’t need, but it worked out. I’d say go out of your way to see this match or just go to YouTube and find the Kneedrop.

The only other match I watched all the way through was the Knockouts Battle Royal. They had a ton of women and it was won by Gail Kim with the secondary highlight being the rather nauseating boob pop from Awesome Kong. It was very disturbing. The best part was the debut of Miss Shelly Martinez, formerly of the WWE as Ariel, and the work of ODB who is the most over of the women. Shelly was incredibly hot and though she’s not that polished in the ring, she looked good for what she got.

They’re debuting too many women all at once, but they also seemed to be building Shelly vs. ODB as a secondary feud. That’s one I want to see. I really think that Gail Kim is one of those workers who will make a terrible champion but a great challenger. We’ll see.

Couture Situation
There was a lot of talk about Randy Couture leaving UFC and there was a lot of talk about what’s next. Two different groups have made large (7 digits) offers to Fedor and Randy to make that match happen. No one expects to really get the fight, but Strike Force has a shot at it because of their connections with Showtime. HBO recently broke off negotiations with UFC saying that they’re going to keep focusing on boxing instead. There are people who think that the statement was just a cover because UFC was asking for too much and HBO wanted an easy out.

If anyone puts together Couture vs. Emelianenko, I couldn’t imagine a single carrier not wanting to have that show, even if it was just a one-off presentation. I haven’t seen Couture use the word retired, though others have reported that, but I think he’s only interested in a couple of matches. He’ll be the biggest legend in the history or MMA no matter what happens now. His record isn’t flawless, but he’s a star and a half and the people at UFC are kinda screwed without him unless The Ultimate Fighter catches on again.

News and Notes
A few brief things. The Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame enshrined three new members. The Rock got a record number of votes and was in on his first ballot. Everyone agrees that he’s the biggest deal in the world when it comes to guys known as wrestlers. Some say that he was always second fiddle to Austin, but there’s no way you could say they have the same name value now.

The other two were elected by the Veterans Committee. First, Evan Strangler Lewis, the guy who Ed Strangler Lewis emulated after having read his book and trained using his techniques. He had many famous matches including having faced Martin Farmer Burns and William Muldoon. The second, Tom Pack, is credited with giving Lou Thesz his first break and for starting the process that turned St. Louis into a wrestling hotbed. I knew almost nothing about Pack, a Greek who started promoting around 1920, but he was obviously a giant name of a promoter who was eventually bumped and ended up out of the business.

It’s interesting to note that the two biggest names that are not in the Observer Hall are both promoters: Don Owens (Oregon for almost 50 years) and Roy Shire (turned the Cow Palace into a wrestling Mecca). OK, Jesse Ventura, Jiummy Superfly Snuka, Capt. Lou Albano and Dirty Dick Murdoch are all right up there too.

That;s all for this catch-up edition of Falls. I’ll be back on Monday with the regular edition for a few weeks!

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Chris Garcia