1997 Discussion

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Chris Benoit vs Jeff Jarrett (WCW Saturday Night, 7-26-97, WCW US Title)
Another one of those tightly packed short TV matches from Benoit. Short and to the point

Fit Finlay vs. David Taylor – WCW Saturday Night 10/11/97
This is seemingly a basic enough match but there were loads of little things I actually loved about it. Such as Finlay throwing sweat at Taylor like he’s nothing, Taylor’s strikes/clobbers looked great in this, Finlay’s consistent work on the back and he sells a head smash in the corner fabulously. Dusty looked to be shooting on dirtsheet writers saying something to the effect of ‘You learned to write in the 3rd Grade and it’s only been downhill from there’. Finlay picks up the win with a piledriver and nobody in the crowd or commentary booth cares except for one guy giving a thumbs up. Can’t ask for much more in 5 minutes. I’d consider listing this but there’s very little chance it’ll last until the end of the poll.

Steven Regal vs. Psicosis - WCWSN 11/01/1997
Dusty is on commentary, and mid sentence the camera shows Regal handing his robe to some hot blond at ringside and he completely switches from what he was saying to asking about the girl who is apparently Robin, the ring attendant. Dusty then busts out a song. Might have to just upload the clip for everyone to hear because me trying it won't help a damn bit Starts off great, that's for sure, so I have high hopes for this being at least good. Regal takes Psicosis straight to the mat, and does a reaaaal nice look counter to counter Psicosis who is trying to counter him. COUNTER~! Psicosis tries to show up Regal by taking him to the mat, so Regal just smashes him in the fucking face causing Psicosis to go to the outside and recover! Not often you see a HEEL doing that to a FACE. The match is similar to the one from late 96, in that Regal out shines Psicosis on the mat so Psicosis has to bust out his high flying shit in order to stay in the game.Regal looks like he's got everything under control when he counters a top rope move, but Psicosis comes right back with an Abdominal Stretch which seems piss Regal off, so he intentionally gets DQ'd to retain his belt! Not as good as their previous bout, but still fucking good. great fucking promo by Regal backstage after the match too.

Steven Regal vs. Psicosis - WCWSN 18/01/1997
Really loving the early mat work by these two guys. They always have a little spot, which is different every time btw, where Regal has control, Psicosis tries to counter and then Regal does something to block the counter, and its fucking great.

Nice little callback spot with Regal losing control of the match because he went "out of his element" on the top rope allowing Psicosis to counter and bust out some of his high flying stuff. Got even better when Regal regained control by countering a high flying move with a dropkick, and from there it's the Regal Stretch and a victory!

Short, but sweet. Basically a very compressed version of their other 2 matches. Given the short amount of time they do just as well as their previous matches, but yeah, should have been given the same amount of time instead.

Rating: **1/2

Steven Regal vs Psicosis - WCWSN 05/07/1997
Sunny Ono (or is it Sonny? I don't know. Not caring too much either) has recruited Psicosis now to replace Ultimo Dragon no doubt, and he's awesome for the minute or so he's at ringside lol. Regal ends up on the outside and tries to kick the shit out of Regal, who just takes the kicks and chases the little bastard around the ring. The referee steps in and Ono tries to pay him off . He gets sent to the back .

Match structure is different compared to their other matches which makes for a nice change. Regal, while still a heel, is kinda playing the face again against one of Ono's boys, so we see Psicosis controlling the match rather than Regal, and Regal actually gains an advantage by hitting a move from the top ropes!

Regal Stretch not long after and this one is over. Way too fucking short. Had some good stuff in the 3 or 4 minutes it got, but never really got going. Shame.

Rating: *1/2

Steven Regal vs Alex Wright - Nitro 15/09/97
TV title on the line here. Yep, Alex Wright is now the TV champ. It's getting passed around more than Melina...
Larry Z on commentary sums up my entire thoughts of Alex Wright's gimmick: "What the HELL is he doing?"
Huh lol, seems that Alex Wright is the heel here. Not sure if Regal is a face or not... but either way the fans don't like the Dancing German . Almost an ongoing theme for the last handful of matches on this disc; Regal is still a heel but the fans seem to hate the fuck out of his opponents for whatever reason. Some nice arm exchanges early on, similar to what we normally see in Regal matches. at the botches monkey flip where Write was too close to the ropes to flip over and land on his feet, so he just ends up in the ropes and jumps back up to go after Regal like nothing happened. Regal seems to be outmatched here thanks to the quickness of Alex Wright when they are both on their feet; so he tries to cheat with a thump to the eye. But just as it looks like Regal has cheated his way into control... the match ends. Another way too short Regal TV match . The finish is actually pretty fucking great though, nice couple of moves from Wright who retains the belt.

Steven Regal & Dave Taylor vs Harlem Heat - Nitro 10/11/1997
Ok, I'm disappointed to FUCK here. My listings for this DVD set clearly has "Steven Regal & Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero & Dean Malenko (Nitro 11/3/97)" in between these 2 HH tags. So where the FUCK is it? Does it even exist? If so, I want it and I want it NOW.
Anyway, back to this match. Let's see if Regal and Taylor can actually do something. Would be nice. Pretty similar to the SN match, except a different finish. Taylor clips the knee of Stevie and then hits a double underhook suplex for the pin. And that's about it. Nice that they got the win and KEPT it this time, but come on, did they really need to get squashed for the rest of the match?

Steven Regal & Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero & Dean Malenko - Nitro 03/11/1997
Found this myself, no thanks to GH. Gonna be pretty pissed if it sucks now lol. Definitely a weird tag match with, well everyone hating each other I think lol. Has potential coming out the wazoo, but it's on Nitro and doesn't contain anyone from the NWO... so fuck knows if they'll get more than 5 minutes. Rey and Malenko do their back and forth technical stuff, which looks ok and imo is fine to start a match, but the highlight is Eddie on the apron acting like a cunt and mock clapping for Malenko because he reversed Rey. So Malenko tags Eddie in to see what he can do, while Rey also tags out and we get Eddie Vs Regal. Eddie targets the leg of Regal and looks to be really getting the better of him, until Regal.... hits a cross body that ended up being more like a leaping lariat that you would see from The Undertaker lol, and he tags Rey in to save his legs. From here its basically a fast paced and unfortunately very short finishing stretch with some miscommunication between Rey and Regal which costs them the match, and Malenko screwing Eddie out of the victory by tagging himself in and making Rey tap. at Regal checking on Rey after the match as if the guy was dead lol. Dammit, it ended up being short. I mean, I expected it, but I still had hope. Not sure why it isn't on the GH set (when its listed ) because it's still better than a lot of the other really short matches.

Dean Malenko vs. La Parka (Saturday Night, 12.27.97)
I'm enjoying the roster from the end of the year more than the beginning, so many great workers there by this point that you have some really stacked shows. Parka delicately putting his chair away at the outset was great. Great matwork throughout, and I really liked the sequence that set up the Cloverleaf. God help me, 1997 might make a Dean Malenko fan out of me yet. This really strikes me as a borderline match compared to a lot of what's out there. Is it one of the hundred best matches of the year? Probably not, but how far a YES vote extends depends on sentiment, and overall this one has good vibes to it.

Curt Hennig vs. DDP (Saturday Night, 11/29/97)
This was alright, but nothing more. For 5 minutes, I suppose it's more than passable but there's a feeling of it just being 'there'. Hennig does a lot of his heel shtick which is perfectly fine and all, but it needed a rowdier crowd to come across better. Even DDP's bang didn't come across as good. The wrestling itself was basic enough, it was more about character work here. Loved Hennig going for a pin in a sleazy 69 position, the guy doesn't bump a whole lot though. He doesn't even take the Cutter all that well, Vincent comes out afterwards and takes it much much better. The Cutter's put over nicely here, but has there even been a DDP match where it hasn't? I'm running out of things to say and I'm forgetting this match already. Sound.