Wrestling-related YouTube sharing and discussion thread

There's a wealth of wrestling gold on the tubes and to avoid clutter I thought it'd be good to have a single thread where we can share and discuss matches, angles and moments that are captured on the web.

Let me start up with sharing this piece of beauty with you all.

Toshiaki Kawada and the late great Mitsuhara Misawa are two of the greatest wrestlers to come out of Japan. They were centerpieces during All Japan's absolute glory days and their feud for the Triple Crown is some of the most hard-hitting and suspenseful matches you'll see. These guy's don't just work amazingly stiff and agile, but show amazing psychology and body language throughout their matches that they crush any language barrier that might put people off puro (Japanese wrestling).

I was first introduced to this years ago when a guy I trade tapes with (Remember that?) put this match as a bonus at the end of a tape of WWF Canadian Stampede 97 (One of the greatest PPV of all time IMO)

I feel this video strengthens my attitude that wrestling is truly an art form in the same way ballet and theater is. Sure it's not as high brow or high falutin', but you can't deny the talent and sacrifices shown by these two performers.

On to a wrestler you all are probably more familiar with, Daniel Bryan. Or as I still have problems shaking off knowing him as American Dragon Bryan Danielson.

Trained by greats like William Regal and Shawn Michaels, Daniel Bryan (Or AmDrag as I've called him for so many years) tore up the independent and national scene with amazing matches against everybody from CM Punk, Paul London, Austin Aries, Nigel McGuinness, Homicide, hell, I could go on and on. The man seldom has a bad match. I first saw him in 2004 from the ROH Reborn show and was a fan.

In Japan he was hailed as the next Chris Benoit (This was back when that was a good thing, i.e. being one of the best wrestlers in the world) by having stellar matches in NOAH against the likes of KENTA and Takeshi Morishima.

Finally in 2010 he signed properly with the WWE and was cast on the fledgling NXT show, where "rookies" would be mentored by current WWE Superstars in a show which was very unfocused (One minute you'd have an amazing wrestling match between Bryan and Chris Jericho, the next they'd have a keg pulling challenge) and the angle was that it was absurd that a 10 year vet like Bryan would be the rookie of a 5 year Reality Show alumni like the Miz (Which had yet to completely come out of his shell to be the amazing performer he is now). It didn't help that Mchael Cole was talking trash about him any chance he could over the show. After some questionable booking, he was eventually written off the show.

Thankfully, they seemed to have some sort of plan and he returned to great fanfare. Then came the Nexus...

One of the best moments of the last few years in wrestling happened and Daniel Bryan was in the middle of it. Things were looking up. Unfortunately, Linda McMahon was running for Senate and because Daniel Bryan did TOO good of a job at what he was supposed to do (Wreck everything) he was released because of the graphic depiction of him choking out Justin Roberts with his tie.

Thankfully this eventually died down and he was rehired two months later after Linda lost her bid for the Senate. He has enjoyed great success so far in the WWE and is the current Money In The Bank holder entitling him to a guaranteed shot at the World Heavyweight Champion. The future is looking bright for MAH BOY D-BRY and I believe this tribute video to him shows off what an amazing talent he is.

looking forward to daniel bryan having a title match at wrestlemania god knows the guy deserves it. was concerned that they were gonna make him cash it in with the big show angle last week which would truly suck because it would have been little fan fare and a possible heal turn that i dont want.

as for posting a video i watched this the other night as i picked up ECW one night stand mainly to see how much a ECW crowd can abuse john cena. anyway this match stood out to me probably because it was my first time seeing sabu and after further watching of the WWE ECW run it seems like the best thing from it that ive seen anyway.

@TeflonBilly: geez.. that video for Daniel Bryan is pretty great... if someone updated to include what he's done since he's come back, it would be an incredible video for his WrestleMania match...

makes me want to open up iMovie right now..

@lord_canti: Botchy and crazy as he is, Sabu is one of a kind. I remember being blow away by what a wildman with complete disregard he had when I first saw him in ECW back in the day. For the longest time this was one of my favorite matches from one of the best ECW PPVs Heatwave 98. It's sloppy and full of RVD showboating, but it was perfect for that time. Here's part 1 of 4

I actually wrote a lengthy post about how wrasslin ain't just serious business with some choice Kenny Omega clips, but it disappeared into the ether because of the stupid flood thingy on this board. At least don't delete my post dammit!

Anyhoo, let's try again.

Yes, my first two posts might've been a bit on the serious side, but I love silly-ass shit as well (Hell, I'm the guy who posted a shitload of Chikara here a few months ago) So here have some Kenny Omega vs Haruka from Ice Ribbon who not only sells better than John Cena, but wrestles better than half the Divas roster. She's also 9 years old.

Kenny Omega by the way is highly video game related. Check out his Street Fighter style entrance video complete with Mega Man music.

And don't forget the time he pulled out Zangief's Omega Atomic Bustah!

@TurboMan said:

@TeflonBilly: geez.. that video for Daniel Bryan is pretty great... if someone updated to include what he's done since he's come back, it would be an incredible video for his WrestleMania match...

makes me want to open up iMovie right now..

Here you go. With amazingly fitting music and all! ;)

There are some great compilations of some of The Rock's greatest moments. Those are usually pretty good.

@MasturbatingestBear said:

There are some great compilations of some of The Rock's greatest moments. Those are usually pretty good.

In honor of The Great One returning on next Raw, have a look at one of my absolute favorite Rock promos ever. This is from 2003 when he returned from Hollywood and went full on amazing heel. This is the Raw after No Way Out where he'd beaten Hulk Hogan due to shenanigans and then showed up on Raw as a surprise in Toronto (Always a fantastic crowd) to deliver this amazingly scathing promo.

Lets keep the Rock awesomeness going.    I gotta say I would really want a Rock vs Stone Cold Rivalry DVD like the Bret and Shawn one.     Anyways more  Rock heel awesomeness.... 
 
  

I have two things I want to share: my first time watching wrestling and the work of Ebessan/Kikutaro.

My first time watching wrestling was this clip featuring Macho Man Randy Savage being bit by a snake. It seemed so real when I was 6! Jake Roberts was an excellent heel and he and Randy went on to have several great matches.

The other two videos feature this comedic wrestler I learned about from the Art of Wrestling podcast. He was once known as Ebessan, but he now wrestles as Kikutaro. In the first video, he teams with his rival, Kushinbo Kamen, against Jushin Liger and Super Delfin.

In the second video, he fights a female wrestler. It seems that the female wrestler got a little more than she bargained for in this match.

@jewunit: Well, he is being bitten by that devenomized snake for real there. I was losing my shit as a kid when that happened.

Jake The Snake was diabolical. One of the saddest stories in wrestling is his inability to get away from his demons. He wasn't the biggest or the flashiest wrestler, but when he pulled off that DDT, you knew it was over. The man knew his ring psychology, he drew you in.

And that silver tongue of his drew some amazing promos, I mean listen to these.

The guy was so deadly serious, especially in the cartoony envirnoment of the WWF of the day and really stuck out as crazy.

And here's another amazing Rock promo. Though I feel kinda bad about it cause Billy Gunn never really did manage to bounce back from thi verbal smackdown. But then again, it was just Mr. Ass

@TeflonBilly: Sooo happy to see someone already posting Kenny Omega stuff. Even including the Omega Atomic Bustah! The couple of the matches that I've watched with the blowup doll, Yoshihiko, were pretty amazing. I loved seeing wrestlers that were so willing to completely sell something so absolutely ludicrous. Like Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi being put through the "Endless Infinity Destroyer" of Yoshihiko. Which I guess will lead me into my first contribution to this topic.

THE AMAZING YOSHIHIKO

This is just part one of Kota Ibushi vs Yoshihiko, but, if you want to watch the rest of the match, you can find the rest of them from there, in all, it's pretty long. While this is much more on the silly side of wrestling, this was one of the things I think that really made me fall in love with wrestling all over again and realize that, there is some incredible stuff out there beyond what the WWE has to offer. These are guys that do wrestling matches with a blow up doll. Not only does that really require a certain amount of just being willing to embrace something silly and crazy, but it also puts the entirety of the match on one (ish, not including all of the people at ring side and everything) person's shoulders. If something gets screwed up, its their fault, not someone else's (for the most part, again, see, all the guys at ring side and their interactions). They have to sell the match almost entirely by themselves. They have to sell being hit by something that isn't actually doing anything, they have to help sell doing things to the blow up doll, they have to be on top of their game to make it exciting, and I find that awesome and fascinating. There are a fair number of matches with Yoshihiko that are pretty easy to find through youtube, and if you liked this part of one match, I do suggest you check out some more of that stuff from DDT.

@FateOfNever: DDT are hilarious. I love how they've had both a puppy and a ladder as their hardcore champion cause it's under 24/7 rules.

I miss HUSTLE though, now THAT was a crazy Japanese fed. With their evil M.Bison-esque leader, cyborgs, Ying-Ling The Erotic Terrorist, Kawada's crazy karakoke, Hard Gay, Real Gay, Kamen Riders, demonic entitites. Hell, they're damn title wasn't even a belt! It was a golden spiked baseball bat! And it had tons of talent as well, Yoshihiro Tajirir, Toshiaki Kawada, Shinjiro Ohtani and even Keiji Mutoh would show up!

How can you not love how crazily over the top this is!?

I miss the passion of a rabid ECW crowd. The ECW Mutants were insane.

And they were just as good at One Night Stand, Sandman's entrance with the entire crowd singing along to Enter Sandman gives ya goosebumps.

Though no team ever managed to get them in more of a tizzy than the Dudley Boyz. This promo is absolutely amazing. I was expecting the crowd to bumrush the ring by the end of it. And this is an aka "smart" crowd who should be a little more in on it.

Hell, Bubba Ray (I still have trouble getting used to his TNA name, Bully Ray) is one of the best heels in the business today. He is completely unlikeable and you want to see him get his ass handed to him. This promo is just vicious.

Rock annihilates Hogan in this promo:

Looks like it was William Regal appreciation week in WWE this week.

Not only did he step up from behind the booth in FCW to have a stellar promo and a great match with Dean Ambrose (A guy I desperately hope the WWE doesn't screw up when they call him up), but he also had a main event match with Daniel Bryan on Superstars in his home country of England to a GREAT crowd.

Here's the latest episode of FCW (Which also includes an appearence by Antonio Cesare, a.k.a. the former Claudio Castignoli, who is rocking Dean Malenko's old James Bond-esque entrance song now)

And here's the main event match with AmDrag from Superstars. Note the rib on Regal's entrance music when they play Regal's old "Man's Man" song, making both him and Bryan crack up. Mentor and pupil locking up to a hot crowd is great.

And to top off this post about Regal's greatness, here's an AMAZING match he had against Chris Benoit in NJPW. These armdrags and armdrag variations out of hammerlocks and wristlocks were a thing of beauty. Just the tenacity which Regal grinds his bootlaces against Benoit's face and constantly palming and elbowing him during submission holds are brutal.

The whole match is a wrestling clinic.

I this is one of the best/craizet promos ever. late 90's wwe had some great stuff

@Demoskinos: I know! That's the kind of promo where after you've seen it you'd want a knight in shining armor to come and beat his ass.

But it's TNA, they didn't even have the foresight to do this promo on a show and in front of a live crowd where it'd be met with thunderous boos and given Bully Ray tons of great heat, instead they slap it on quietly on YouTube. I want them to do good, but why do they make so many shitty choices!?

@slightconfuse: One of my absolute favorite angles ever. It was so rdicilously over the top and hilars, yet here too Bossman played a completely irredeemable asshole heel that you wanted to see Big Show crush. The big bullhorn on the top of his cop car kills me. "Daddy always wanted to be a drag queen, Big Show!" And Show falling off the casket as he's surfing off is such a great visual, the way that 500 pound behemoth rolls..

Hell, the funeral wasn't the only crazy part of that angle. "YOU'RE A BIG NASTY BASTARD AND YOUR MOMMA SAID SO!"

In honor of Chikara's first ever iPPV (Which I discuss here http://www.giantbomb.com/wrestling-ring/95-2123/latest-ppv-and-weekly-show-discussion-thread/35-524133/#3) Here are some outrageously hilarious moments this company has provided.

Let's start with something video game related. Did you ever think you'd hear a Sega CD chant at a wrestling show?

How about a match ending with Shao Khan yelling for a Fatality?

How about some real sports then. Let's all go out to the ballgame! Colin Delaney must've had a wicked bloodrush to the head after this.

This is just priceless, I love how into it the crowd is as well.

You've heard of Ultimo Dragon, you've heard of Dragon Kid, but let me introduce you to Dragon Dragon!

Dragon Dragon is a bad influence on Lance Steel from the pas, or was it the one from not quite as far back in the past? Anyway, the story is that they're the same guy, a time displaced knight from a bygone era.

And we'll finish it off with the villainy of Chuck Taylor.

this dudes wife must be awesome to let the groom do this skip to 2:18

@slightconfuse: That's great, but I'm gonna have to say I prefer this one. I mean, they got The Fink to do the introductions!

Another TNA PPV came and went and from what I heard I was well off missing it and checking out Chikara's PPV.

The appeareances of Dusty Rhodes in the NXT thread made me go back and appreciate some of the incredible work of the Dream.

This is my favorite promo of his ever (Narrowly bumping off the iconic "Hard Times" one) showing that Dusty is either the whitest black man or the blackest white man around back then, just oozing funk, soul and charisma on the stick. Hell, look at Vince's face as he's interviewing him, he's loving it.

It's a shame he never got the truly great run he deserved in the WWF because he was such a NWA/WCW name, but polka dots and sweet Sapphire notwithstanding, I still marked for the plumber's son.

@TurboMan: Well, that's a half truth.

@TurboMan: well teddy long is a giant dick and does not know how MITB works

@slightconfuse said:

@TurboMan: well teddy long is a giant dick and does not know how MITB works

Can you point me to the chapter and verse of the Official WWE Rulebook™ which explicitly states how Money in the Bank cash-ins are handled? This could bring WWE some major legal issues if Bryan decides to persue them.

And to stay on topic:

Hogan teasing Rocky III, and also teasing showing his dick in a magazine. Yikes. Kal Rudman is a prick, Hogan should have given him the big boot or something.

@KaneRobot: you can cash it in anytime anywhere not cash it in a it gets revoked

@slightconfuse said:

@KaneRobot: you can cash it in anytime anywhere not cash it in a it gets revoked

Well gee whiz, I hope Bryan doesn't sue the WWE and put them out of business over this.

@slightconfuse: Apparently, that has been a "rule" since, at least, this year's MITB (I remember the Fink going pretty nuts on the WWE chat about how the ref never checked on CM Punk before ADR's cash in)

I will never not mark out for The Great Muta's poison mist. I love how it's so lethal in kayfabe that people sell it like death whether they're Hulk Hogan, Toshiaki Kawada, Jushin Liger or Sting.

And as a bonus here's a hundred Shining Wizards from Muta. It's one of my favorite signature moves.

One of the absolute biggest wastes of potential the WWE had was Sean O'Haire. He was an amazing young talent who was part of WCW when the then WWF bought it and seemed stacked with all the tools. He was a big strong guy with a fantastic look and the agility of a cruiserweight. Him and Mark Jindrak were the WCW tag champs when the whole Invasion angle started, but seeing as that angle was so horribly mismanaged, they were replaced with the terrible team of Kronik to be the top WCW tag team. Not that being the top WCW tag team would've been a good thing anyway as the whole Invasion angle made every member of WCW look like a doofus.

But then in late 02 - early 03, WWE started airing vignettes for a returning Sean O'Haire. And not just any vignettes, these were some cleverly written and excellently produced one with a Devil's Advocate/Tyler Durden-ish quality to them. Look at these!

And on top of that, check out the guy in-ring!

Of course this is the WWE (Especially 2003 WWE which was rife with terrible decisions) and what did they end up doing? Make him Piper's enforcer who didn't even cut promos and feuded with Rikishi (!?). Eventually Piper got released and Creative (There's a misnomer if I ever heard one) didn't know what to do with him so he was regulated to Velocity. Then he got in a motorcycle accident and after recovering from that went to OVW for developmental. Eventually he was unceremoniously released from the company. And so ends the story of Sean O'Haire in WWE. He went on to try his hand at MMA after that. Still irks me to think what could've been.

I dunno how many of y'all have seen this, but it's one of my favorite ridiculous wrestling-related youtube things ever. Highly underrated...

@ImperiousRix: I actually enjoy the remix with that terrible song they used for WM 27 even more.

@FateOfNever said:

THE AMAZING YOSHIHIKO

I feel what is crazier than any of this is that a Number Girl is being used in a wrestling promotional video. I always saw them as a Husker Du, At The Drive-in, or some other kind of rare obscure punk-indie hybrid band. Definitely not the kind of band you'd find in a wrestling video. Now I'm wondering what exactly their cultural impact was in their country.

This is happening in FCW while we're forced to watch Mason Ryan on Raw.

@Milkman: i need to watch more FCW, that CM punk thing was great. Also Norman Smiley !

I'm sure most of you have seen this by now but it hasn't been posted in this thread yet so I figured I would post it, just in case. Ladies and gentlemen, the best wrestling promo of 2011:

Kingston is amazing on the stick. They guy has so much passion and sounds legit pained on his most intense promos. Of course that one is extra touching due to Larry Sweeney's death and all.

This a great lucha libre match that's extremely crisp and actually has some good selling in it. It may be a little confusing if you're not familiar with lucha libre rules though. First of all, this is a 2 out of 3 falls match with a deciding fall having to be elimination style of both members of the losing team. Also, tags aren't necessary in most lucha tag matches. As soon as one member leaves the ring, his teammate can enter. The refs are also very lenient with the 5 counts on having both members of team in the ring, something the rudos (lucha for heel) often exploit on the technicos (babyfaces)

If you like the athelticism displayed here, have a gander at this little match between Pac and Ricochet. What it may lack in psychology and storytelling, it sure makes up for in some break neck wrestling and crazy flippiness.

3 and a half minutes of the flair flop

Since TNA is the only wrestling show I watch nowadays (I know, I'm crazy), I decided to order a Don West Brown Bag Special and film the unboxing on youtube. Nothing says "total loser" more than filming yourself opening up some wrestling dvds. The production values of my video are bad, but they are better than RF Video. (Nobody will get that reference.) Please subscribe.

@TheMadmanMaple: I can't help but shake the image in my head that the Don West Brown Bag Special is just him pooping in a paper bag, setting it on fire and putting it on Mike Tenay's doorstep while yelling at him that he's a selfish prick.

I wish Beth and Kelly would have a match where the stipulation would be that when Kelly loses she would have to do running drills until she LEARNS TO RUN THE DAMNED ROPES or she's pissing blood from her kidneys from hitting them too many times.

It's a disgrace that she's been in the company that long and even given the benefit of a title reign without being able to do something that basic.

@TeflonBilly said:

@TheMadmanMaple: I can't help but shake the image in my head that the Don West Brown Bag Special is just him pooping in a paper bag, setting it on fire and putting it on Mike Tenay's doorstep while yelling at him that he's a selfish prick.

Ha ha ha, man I wish that was the case.

An absolutely marvelous mash up of Dr Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog and the Second Summer Of Punk. Very clever

Rewatching that Beth vs Kelly vid at the top of this page disgusts me. It was only a few years ago when we had THIS as the main event of Raw.

Two talented WRESTLERS putting on a fantastic match where the crowd actually CARES because they both have personalities, charisma and ring prescence as well.

Now we have that screeching harpie Kelly being crammed down our throats with her supreme lack of talent, Alicia Fox botching her moves and legit injuring Nattie and Beth or Eve doing some of the most awkward "sexy" moves and moonsaults you can find. It's a bloody shame if you ask me. A bloody shame.

This is kind of fun. A few weeks before WM3. It's ostensibly a heel vs heel match, but Orndorff and Bundy wind up being big favorites and definitely wrestle like faces once it gets going.

@TeflonBilly said:

An absolutely marvelous mash up of Dr Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog and the Second Summer Of Punk. Very clever

I know nothing about Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog but that video still gave me chills.

So stupid...even by internet standards.

I've been a fan of the Briscoes ever since the first time I saw them wrestle eachother at Honor Invades Boston back in 04 and I'm elated that ROH is focusing on great wrestlers who are also great ENTERTAINERS as well again with them as champs and the return of Kevin Steen.

I love great competetive wrestling, but ROH has seriously had a lack of charm for a long time now by focusing too much on everybody being nothing but competetive and intense. Good thing I've had Chikara to hold me over.

I love that Papa Briscoe comes out to beat Jay's ass in his underwear with a beer.

EDIT: Seriously, these Briscoes vids over the last few months have been totes hilars. They're just so entertainingly hillbilly throwbacks, yet fresh. They could damn well have their own weekly show. #DemBoys

@TeflonBilly: That "Cosmetically Pleasing" video is probably the best promo the Briscoes have ever cut. Great stuff.

@Milkman: Yeah, it's a really great promo, but a sad commentary on the business today.

It's comforting to see that there are people who have paid their dues as champs in the WWE now though.

Before that promo, The Briscoes were pretty clearly the heels in that feud with Haas and Benjamin, but as was evident at Final Battle 2011, this mad for a great doubleturn.

VIOLENCE!