Sabu A Day 8: vs Billy Black

In the DVDVR thread I kinda slagged this match. Watching it now, I can see where I was coming from but it improved on a second viewing.

Billy Black in a very small circle, is a bit of an underground legend. He was a really talented guy who never made it. He worked a SMW taping or two. An All Japan tour then three ECW shows in 1996. After that he was in the news for pistol whipping a wrestling promoter in public. Which honestly, is not even a crime in most states.

The most interesting thing was his look. He had a big arsenal of fancy moves but looks like the scummiest Southern County Fair indy wrestler.

This is Black's biggest match in ECW. It did not make TV but it is a match with Sabu which in 96 is the default main event.

Match starts out good. Black dodges Sabu's leg dives, and drops and elbow and catches him with some great looking uppercuts. Really they look fantastic. He catches him with some knees, front suplexes him on the top rope and European Uppercuts him to the floor. His strikes are William Regal/Finlay level.

Black climbs to the top rope and hits a beautiful Flying Body Press to the floor. Then he rolls Sabu in and clamps on a bodyscissors. This is when I turned on the match last time. This is not a Sabu structured match. It feels like Black had a good segment mapped out did it and needs to think of something else. I see this in Sting matches sometimes so Black is in good company. To his credit he does not do a chinlock or headlock. He tries to keep it visually interesting.

Sabu fights out of it turning It into a leg submission and Black rakes his eye to escape.

Black works him over on the ropes. Hits another of those uppercuts, they rule. Sabu catches him with a spinning heel kick that doesn't quite hit Black flush. Sabu slams him and hits a springboard leg lariat. We hear Tommy Rich tell Sabu to use the table.*

Sabu pulls him up and DDTs Black and heads outside. Grabs a chair and hits a beautiful Air Sabu in the corner on Black. Sabu whips him in the opposite corner but Black reverses and hits a hard clothesline.

Sabu reverses a suplex, but Black catches him with a boot in the corner and drops a great looking elbow. Black is like the ECW version of Bob Cook. This dude with not quite the most conventionally good look. But has these awesome looking strikes and you can buy him getting offense on way bigger stars. Like Cook fucking up Dick Murdoch in a TBS squash.

Black clamps on an abdominal stretch. It looks really good and I think it should be brought back as a finisher. It has not been seen in years. A properly applied one could be a credible finish. I love how Black releases it when he realizes Sabu will not submit. He hits a nasty elbow to the back of the head.

He whips Sabu into the ropes but Sabu flips over and spin kicks Black sending him out of the ring. Sabu puts him over the guard rail and hits Air Sabu. Back in the ring and Sabu starts tagging him with punches and Black fires back. it is a rare occasion when a dude out punches Sabu. But damned if Black did not do it. This section has some good back and forth brawling. They keep reversing a waist lock til Black hits a picture perfect German Suplex for two.

Fans are into this as they are chanting Sabu. They hit a brutal double clothesline. Side tangent but I remember the first time I ever saw a double clothesline. It was Hogan vs Warrior at the 1990 Royal Rumble and it blew my mind. I never saw such a brutal move. I thought they had killed each other.

They fight back up to their feet and Sabu has the advantage. Gets Black in the corner and hits a cool looking Stinger Splash clothesline.

Sabu hits his flipping legdrop and locks on a Code Red Armbar but Black is near the ropes. Sabu catches him with a big clothesline. Sabu is that rare smallish wrestler who can hit a credible looking clothesline. Black pulls himself up and Sabu tags him again. Up again and Sabu hits the springboard leg lariat. Then hits the Arabian Press moonsault.

Black comes off the ropes and blocks a hip toss with a bulldog. He goes for a moonsault and misses. But Sabu was not positioned right. I swear like only a tiny percentage of wrestlers know how to position a dude for a moonsault.

Black gets knocked to the outside. Sabu props him on a table and hits a flipping senton onto Black and the table does not break. It looks very painful. Like hitting the floor woulda felt better. Sabu has a "Fuck it it lets go home" look on his face.

Back in the ring Sabu misses a charge in the corner and Black hits a nice looking spin kick. Then hits a good looking spinning heel kick in the corner. Black tries to go to the top and Sabu catches him. He hits a Hurracarana, and Black takes a nasty looking bump. One Arabian Facebuster later and its over.

On a second viewing I was wrong about this match. It had some structure problems but kicked ass too.



*Not Tommy Rich but an incredible simulation.