Loss
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Everything posted by Loss
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Another tremendous Bret Hart match! This is a better match than I remembered -- as in not terribly far behind the Perfect match, and something I might even consider slightly better if not for the restart, which was completely unnecessary. Bigelow's offense was great -- especially the over-the-shoulder backbreaker and the diving headbutt, and I love the victory roll. The post-match angle with Lawler also started a hot feud, even though I always thought "Burger King" wasn't really too much of an insult.
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Just the last few minutes, but the action is really good, and Yoko's bump timing is impeccable. I have to give them credit for not just ending Hulkamania, but putting it down in flames. The post match is great fun too, with the announcers going crazy and Yoko and Fuji posing for the cameras.
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I remember how annoyed I was by Gene Okerlund in the pre-match promo starting a fight between them, then asking them to stop fighting, then stirring them up again. Anyway, this is an excellent match with tons of nice little touches. I LOVE them playing off the Razor match earlier in the show with Bret having his fingers taped up. I love the Sharpshooter counter based around grabbing Bret's fingers and pulling them back. This is also probably the best Curt Hennig performance I've ever seen. But it's interesting how a match of equal quality on the '96 yearbook would have stood out as one of the best of the year, where this match is clearly better than most U.S. matches, but just isn't at the level of the best All Japan and New Japan stuff.
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I'm also curious if this is the best way to define someone's value. I think Chris Jericho, for example, is closer to everything listed here, despite many guys who are way better than him falling short in a few areas. Maybe that wasn't the intent, I'm not sure.
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Really, there aren't many guys in wrestling history who all of those things apply to. I'd say Flair or Funk, but Funk's babyface runs always felt cold to me, and someone would surely chime in about Flair making everyone work his style. Maybe Eddy Guerrero? Angle definitely isn't someone I'd put in that category.
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Pretty sure he had a brief heel turn in TNA, but yeah.
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The Flair/Jumbo match from '78 that aired on Classics is incredibly disappointing. That said, sometimes matches in Japan are an outlier for guys who are good in other settings, and he may have just had an off night. But there is a considerable difference between '78 Flair against Jumbo and '81 Flair against Jumbo. The earliest complete match I've seen of Flair's that was given time was a match against Valentine in Sept. 1980 that is excellent and 20+ minutes. I'd be surprised if it doesn't make the DVDVR set. I always suspected that Flair and Steamboat improved by working each other in the late 70s, so they both got good around the same time, but I have nothing to back up that opinion. It's just a theory. -
His promos were still excellent for the most part. Although I think you'd find that he wasn't as consistent an interview as he was in the 80s, even though he was still one of the best interviews in wrestling. Still, I'm not going to go on a tangent criticizing Flair promos. I think regardless of what criteria you use, if you're going to make the case for Flair as GOAT (which is one that I 100% agree with, just so you know), the battleground has to be his peak years, when he was a great worker, great promo and great draw at the same time. If you want to make the Bob Dylan comparison, if you see Dylan as GOAT, is arguing the case for Time Out Of Mind critical to that argument? I personally don't think it is. Neither is past-his-prime Flair.
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If you want to look at the period where Flair looked every bit as good as he did at his best, then dropping the belt to Sting at the Great American Bash in 1990 has to be considered the end of an era. His match with Luger at Wrestle War a few months before that is his last great match in the way we typically think of great Flair matches -- 40 minutes of a defending world champion heel making a guy look great, getting over a storyline and keeping a match moving. From 1991-1996 or so, I'd argue that Flair still had a lot to offer, but he had less each year than he did the year before. Flair could still really go from 1991-1993, but he wasn't at the same level he was just a few years before that. Call it positioning or changes in wrestling or politics or what have you. Regardless of the reason, he wasn't having consistently great matches like he was in the 80s anymore. I love some Flair stuff during these years -- a TV match with Pillman, the Ironman with Bret -- but those types of matches used to be the rule and by this time, they're the exception. The first time I thought Flair looked old was in his match teaming with Arn against the Blonds at the June '93 Clash. I have that match on deck to watch pretty soon, so I'm curious if it will still look that way this time around. Despite having some occasional sparks where I enjoyed him, there's nothing I'd argue in his favor as a GOAT candidate after this. He was still a draw at times and still had some stuff left in the tank, but he had lost some of his athleticism, stamina and confidence, and it showed.
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I always thought this match was a little overlooked. This is an excellent 10-minute match with some extremely well-timed nearfalls, which is a credit to Razor growing as a wrestler. Really well-constructed and a nice way to start a PPV. Also, during the heat segment, the crowd is chanting 1-2-3, which is a huge credit to how over they got that angle.
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Flair and Arn are doing a great promo in the locker room until the Blonds interrupt them and they brawl. Too short, but well done.
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A reporter is looking for Cactus Jack. "Colette", a large woman wearing a moo-moo, does a ridiculous interview, yelling at Dewey to play nice and saying that Cactus forgot she was pregnant and should go on a diet. As much as Foley hated this, I'm not sure he hated this enough, because this is SOOOO, SOOOO terrible. The reporter realizes the word "Cleveland" has popped up twice in these reports. Hmmm ...
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In one of the many overly-produced mini movies, Cheatum the Evil Midget brings Vader and Sid (and their managers) to a podium in front of a bunch of rowdy fans. They announce that Vader and Sid are now a tag team called The Masters of the Powerbomb. Without the ridiculous fans who overreact to everything, this wouldn't be quite as terrible as it might be otherwise. The Colonel is pretty good in this setting, actually.
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Regal debuts with Bill Dundee as his sidekick, both repackaged with the aristocrat gimmick we've all grown to know and love. I'm not sure this could be any more stereotypical.
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Clips of a match from Pikesville, KY. Cornette's much-hyped mystery team turns out to be The Bruise Brothers. They lay out the Rock & Rolls in their debut. This went on way too long, but I guess it made the point. Morton and Gibson do an interview backstage with Morton busted open. This is a GREAT Morton promo by the way.
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Clips of Diesel's debut, helping Shawn Michaels regain the Intercontinental title from Jannetty. However, Michaels must face Crush at King of the Ring, and Gorilla Monsoon seems to really relish in that. Both Crush and Shawn do interviews, Shawn with Diesel in the background.
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Paul E. Dangerously quickly interrupts Funk, as the Dark Patriot wants to face Funk in a match prior to the chain match with Eddie Gilbert, but Funk wants to know who he is. This is all very weirdly timed, because the announcers are bad and Paul E. is cowering for no real reason.
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The 1-2-3 Kid is over HUGE now. Razor has upped the offer to $7500. Razor is sure the match is going to happen, but Vince says no confirmation of that has taken place. This is a good promo from Razor, who also hypes his King of the Ring match with Bret.
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This was probably funnier back in the days when there weren't better parodies to compare it to. I do like that Austin is just out as Austin playing it straight. Austin to Arn: "The last time I saw a body like that, it had an apple in its mouth roasting over an open flame." Arn punches him and is getting the better of Austin until Pillman smacks Arn with his cane. Flair comes out to even the sides and just like that, the show goes off the air.
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Flair looks like a (well built) teenage girl with the slicked back blonde hair and tucked in Johnny B. Badd t-shirt. And Flair is wearing jeans?? With white socks and black loafers?? Oh wait, they're doing a 50s theme, as Arn is wearing a bomber jacket with a popped collar. I'm glad Flair is getting back in the ring. I like the idea of giving Flair a Tonight Show type segment with Arn as his Johnny Carson. It's actually a GREAT idea on paper, but fails in execution. Flair and Badd together in a scene are too much. Everyone dances like they're in a sock hop to wrap things up. Only in WCW.
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Ric Flair (in the days when he was still RIC FLAIR) and Arn Anderson are finally back in the swing of things. Flair does a great promo that you can tell he's been waiting to give for months. He vows revenge on the Blonds for their age cracks. For all the cracks on how Flair has aged, at 44, he looks way younger than your modern WWE headliner.
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Clips of a house show match from Morristown between the two, with Cornette even taking a nice bump off of a hiptoss. DWB nails Horner with a chain for the DQ, then we get a Smothers/DWB brawl. Cornette throws powder in Smothers' eyes and Smothers attacks Tim Horner, thinking he's one of the bad guys. Horner takes exception and they fight. Love the chaos! Smothers and Horner do a promo in the locker room and Horner is still upset about it. Smothers finally gets through to him.
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Bob Armstrong is an outstanding promo. If Cornette wasn't around, he may be the best interview in wrestling at this point. He promises revenge on Cornette from home while Cornette laughs. He explains that Jimmy Del Ray has been supporting himself while in training by acting as a gigolo. Cornette pulls out a letter from Scott Armstrong's girlfriend, "a brazen hussy", saying she will leave him anytime he wants. Scott and Steve have finally heard enough and come out and run the Bodies off. Steve and Scott actually do a decent fired up promo.
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Really disappointing. I'm a huge fan of both guys and was let down. Eddy had an awesome dive, and the heat was just starting to pick up at the end when Kid got a win out of nowhere. That's a result that also made no sense to me since Kid was in the WWF and Eddy was going to be touring regularly for a while. Too bad, I was hoping for some hidden gem.