Wild Pegasus vs. Great Sasuke (Super J Cup Finals) 4/16/94
This was the first Super J Cup, and it was supposed to be the last. Jushin Liger conceived the idea, as a means to promote younger wrestlers, and other promotions. Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) and The Great Sasuke had byes to the quarter-finals. Pegasus defeated Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero) and Gedo to make it to the finals. Sasuke defeated El Samurai and Jushin Liger (in a 4.75 rated match) to reach the finals.
And then this classic transpired. I wonder how many will berate me for including a Chris Benoit match here. I guess I am “glorifying a murderer” or something by posting this match? I’m not, I am simply displaying history, and whether anyone likes it or not, Chris Benoit was a huge part of wrestling history, and it all began right here .. as Wild Pegasus.
Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka (ECW One Night Stand 2005)
On my favourite PPV of all time, this absolutely brutal match took place. As a tribute to ECW, WWE allowed Heyman to book a One Night Stand PPV for all the loyal ECW fans. Of course, this was made into a storyline, as the “invaders” from Raw and Smackdown watched on from one of the highest balcony’s.
Mike Awesome and Tanaka had a brutal feud (and I don’t use the word brutal lightly) which maybe doesn’t get the recognition it deserves … and neither does this match! Despite Mike Awesome walking out on ECW while he was champion, he was willing to come back and have one last match on WWE/ECW programming.
Joey Styles, obviously angered by the decision to have Mike Awesome in a match, completely destroyed him on commentary. I have never heard a commentator rip someone down so bad in my life. It was understandable, where he was coming from, but looking back on this, it makes you cringe when Styles says Awesome should have taken his own life .. as that’s exactly what happened. Mike Awesome committed suicide, and as far as I know … this was his last televised match.
It wasn’t just Awesome’s last match, but it was probably the greatest match he ever had. Wrestling Observer rated it 4 1/4 stars out of 5. It was the highest rated match on the card, and I honestly think it deserves at least 4 1/2 stars. Joey Styles, although he had ripped into him at the start of the match, was won over by the amazing fight between Tanaka and Awesome. The ending is one of my favourite moments in any wrestling match ever. Brutality at its finest. It’s not just hardcore, it’s hardcore done right.
WCW Wargames 1992 – Sting’s Squadron vs The Dangerous Alliance
I remember when I was a kid … I had never really watched wrestling before. I knew what it was, but I didn’t have much interest in it. Then one of my dad’s friends brought a WCW VHS tape round, and on it was WrestleWar ’92. I was still of that age where I thought they were fighting for real .. so you can imagine how I felt when a young Steve Austin was walking around the cage with a crimson mask.
This 5-star match includes Sting’s team of himself, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff (who Sting had previous issues with) and Dustin Rhodes AKA Goldust. On the other side we had The Dangerous Alliance, managed by Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman) and Madusa. The heel faction included a young blonde-haired Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko.
And this is your main event for the evening … so enjoy!
