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Loss

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  1. Loss
    Eddie Gilbert does a fantastic promo talking about what it was like growing up with Doug as a brother before the match. Brian Christopher's face is all bandaged up, but I'm not sure why. This was turning into a nice match until Doug runs in for the DQ and attacks Eddie. Jeff Jarrett comes up to finally even the sides and we get a nice studio brawl.
  2. Loss
    Hogan gets a nice reaction, but not what you'd expect after being out for so long. He should have blown the roof off the place. You might say this was one of the first hints that Hulkamania was not what it once was. Hogan thanks Jimmy Hart (and God) for intervening last week when Beefcake was being attacked. Beefcake comes out to form the Mega Maniacs with Hogan. Then they bring out Jimmy Hart. Hogan with a manager was always sooooo awkward, especially Jimmy Hart. This was really a case of Hogan (and probably Vince) deep down knowing that the brightest days had passed, but they were trying to recapture whatever they could. Also interesting how this interview felt like it just kept going and going, despite being on the short side by post-1997 standards.
  3. Loss
    Last few minutes. Pretty heatless at first with Knobs playing FIP, but they do get into it. Interesting how pre-ladder match Shawn was a heel who was much more about feeding comebacks for his opponent and making the other guy look good. Tatanka pins Shawn to set up Wrestlemania.
  4. Loss
    Hogan does a sit-down interview with Vince while wearing an Icopro t-shirt. Without mentioning the steroid scandal, he acknowledges that he has made some mistakes in his life, but at the same time, he thanks the Hulkamaniacs for sticking by him through the "tabloid terrorism". He adds a fifth demandment, which is to believe in Hulk Hogan. Delusional, but fun.
  5. Loss
    Talk about it here.
  6. Loss
    I take responsibility for this. Ditch said toss it and it never got tossed. I put it on in the "pie in the sky" pre-editing phase because PUNQ gave it ***1/2. It should have come off and didn't.
  7. Loss
    I love Vader's old WCW theme music. I think one of my favorite things about this is Race blading Vader's back. This is generally accepted as the best strap match of all time, and for good reason. The Koppo kick from Sting when Vader pulls him in with the strap is great too. Sting actually carrying Vader on his shoulders is an amazing moment. Lots to love. Sorry, Benoit/Scorpio, but your reign as best WCW match on the set was short-lived.
  8. Loss
    Last few minutes. The returning Ric Flair is doing commentary with Tony and Jesse, but not saying as much. Not a good match. WIndham wins the NWA title. Anyone who thinks Flair would be a great color guy should watch this match to see why he wouldn't be. After the match, Flair straps the NWA title on Windham when he's not looking. Windham turns around surprised, then Flair struts away. Good stuff. I was always puzzled about why they didn't heavily promote Flair's return in the buildup. It probably would have helped the buyrate for an already loaded show that probably didn't do well, but really should have.
  9. Loss
    Oh boy, Jesse Ventura says Cornette now may be eligible to serve in the military thanks to the President. My other thing I've always noticed is that while Schiavone was often very vanilla, he got genuinely excited about most of the old Crockett guys. Most of these sequences I've already seen verbatim on other Rock & Rolls/Bodies matches on this set, but it works, and it's fun to watch every time, and the WCW crowd seems happy to see these guys again. I LOVE the criss-cross sequence where Morton tricks Stan Lane into criss-crossing then chases Cornette into the ring, where Cornette bumps off of Stan Lane. This is another match that holds up really well. Really nice false finishes, and Pritchard and Lane bust out a lot of great offense I wouldn't expect from them. The Rock & Rolls win when Eaton tries to interfere and accidentally hits Pritchard when coming off the top instead of Morton. Terrific match.
  10. Loss
    I should mention that Tony Schiavone seems beside himself to be at the booth and have Ross and Watts gone. This match holds up extremely well. I have read mixed opinions about it over the past few years, but these two work exceptionally well together, and the North Carolina crowd is very appreciative of this stuff. I also appreciate that Benoit is actually playing to the crowd way more than he usually does, and as a result, they get quite a bit of heat. One of my favorite finishes of all time that was perfectly executed. Just ahead of Steamboat/Pillman as the best WCW match so far on the set.
  11. Loss
    There was some nice stuff here and I liked how it was paced, but at the same time, it seemed like there was no real shift in momentum that meant anything at any point, so it was a lot of spot, stand around, spot, stand around. The spots are nice, and some of the schtick is really entertaining, but there's something keeping this match from clicking for me. It may just be lack of familiarity with the participants. I had planned to keep an ongoing list of stuff to rewatch at the end of the set. This is the first item on that list.
  12. Loss
    Lumberjack match! Interesting line-up of lumberjacks. RVD. Kevin Nash. Steve Austin. Bagwell, Scorpio. Cactus Jack. Regal. Shane Douglas. Raven. I'm not usually a fan of Pillman in the ring as a heel, but this is a tremendous performance on his behalf. He keeps the pace slow, works holds nicely with almost all of his offense centered on hurting Steamboat's back, ups the aggression ... It's not a career performance, but it's a great showcase match for Pillman during this time, and Steamboat knows how to work with a heel who can bring the goods. When Steamboat tries a bodyslam he can't hold him up and Pillman collapses on him. I always loved that spot, even more so when it's done with medium-sized wrestlers. Austin is also fun on the outside, timing his interference spots really well. Also, the match finished during the commercial break! That's a rarity, but something I know Watts loved to do. When they come back from the break, Jim Ross and Larry Zbyszko recap the finish. They both attempted a double cross body at the same time that looked awesome. For the finish, the lumberjacks got in a crazy brawl, and Steamboat worked over Pillman's knee a little and got a figure four. Austin comes in while the ref is trying to bring order to all the brawling outside the ring, but accidentally hits Pillman with a clothesline, giving Steamboat the win. This was great!
  13. Loss
    Gordon Solie interviews Windham, who shows up outside on a Harley. Awesome! Solie talks about Flair returning to WCW, but Windham has no desire to talk about it. He'd rather talk about Muta. Windham was never a great promo, but this is one of the better ones I've ever seen from him. He points out that it's been years since he's had a shot at the NWA title, and he's trained his entire career to win it.
  14. Loss
    Cornette does color commentary and says he wishes both teams would die, that they would both drop dead and turn blue! This is a #1 contenders match for the SMW tag titles. At the announce booth, they discuss that Cornette has petitioned to make it where any three of the Bodies and Eaton can defend the tag titles. The Heavenly Bodies and Eaton come out with popcorn and soda as Cornette touts Stan Lane's experience at drive-ins! Fuller is way above Golden as a talent, but this is a decent match. I love Fuller's overhead suplex from a DDT position, I have no idea what to call that. Finally, Golden comes down and scatters Bobby Eaton's popcorn all over the place. Eaton retaliates by throwing his drink in Golden's face, leading to a Rock & Rolls win. I love that finish.
  15. Loss
    Last few minutes only. Smothers is selling an arm injury between nice flying moves. Dirty White Boy is at ringside and is putting the Confederate flag in a trash can cutting it up, which distracts Smothers. He falls prey to a Nightstalker powerbomb and gets pinned, giving Nightstalker the TV title. Then DWB comes in the ring and handcuffs Tracy's good arm while Nightstalker blocks the locker room door so no one can make the save. Then he burns the Confederate flag! DWB is a babyface! Okay, maybe not. Finally, the Rock & Rolls and Tim Horner make the save, Horner with a fire extinguisher, and DWB bails. Nice angle.
  16. Loss
    Vince's introduction is OUTSTANDING, explaining Beefcake losing his mother to cancer, his father to a heart attack and then being divorced. Beefcake credits "the big man upstairs" and Hogan for helping him out during tough times. I think this had to have aired a week earlier than stated, since he is hyping the upcoming match on Raw, although the syndication schedule was sometimes off, so that could be the case too.
  17. Loss
    I would imagine Rey would have more offers than just about anyone if he left WWE. He might even make more money, depending on how many dates he wanted to take and what kind of deals he could leverage himself.
  18. Loss
    40 minutes of awesome. They're still building up Tenryu/Hashimoto HUGE. Hash is not in this match, but he's at ringside and there's a great staredown with Tenryu before the match starts. This is one of the most heated matches of all time. Hase is awesome working the mat with Kitahara, finally biting his leg to get out of a headscissors then tagging out to Iizuka to start working over his knee. In a great moment, Tenryu comes in to kick Iizuka so Choshu comes in and kicks Kitahara. In other words, "Stay in your corner or I will come after you." Awesome. Fujinami gets the hell beaten out of him for a while and sells it beautifully, as you'd expect. This may be Iizuka's career performance. The headbutt battle with Hara is tremendous, as is his catching Tenryu off guard with a great dropkick and his great selling. Already in February of 1993, I've seen two top 20 of the decade candidates for New Japan. Even though New Japan wins two straight falls, this manages to be incredibly compelling. Choshu is put over strong, winning both falls for his team, to build to a match with Tenryu. After the Tokyo Dome win by Tenryu, it makes sense to rebuild Choshu for a rematch. MOTYC once again.
  19. Loss
    Aja doing a double high-cross body on Toyota & Yamada was great. Toyota feels like a battery-operated wrestler that was left on by accident, between the constant screaming and need to continuously do wrestling moves without stopping. The finish is nice, as Toyota and Yamada turn Yoshinaga outside in from the middle rope in a belly-to-back suplex position, then Toyota does a suplex into a bridge to get the pin. This is good, but too short to get to the next level.
  20. Loss
    Last few seconds of Brutus's comeback match. IRS smacks Beefcake with the briefcase for the DQ. IRS wants to hit Beefcake in the face with the briefcase, but Jimmy Hart tries to stop him, cementing his babyface turn. Kind of a flat angle, but it did set up Hogan's return.
  21. Loss
    Here for the novelty more than anything, as a rainstorm breaks out during the match, which takes place outdoors. Konnan obviously has no interesting in bumping as a result, and takes some of the worst bumps in recorded history and it seems like he decides to fake a knee injury to let the other guys do the work. Can't say I blame him, as the ring looked awfully slippery. There are tons of blown spots, but we'll cut them some leeway. In a way, this slip and slide match seems like it might be kinda fun. This is a pretty good match, given what they had to deal with, and I'm surprised no one got seriously hurt.
  22. Loss
    Ok, this is definitely the match I saw from the outdoor show. They start off brawling all over the ringside area and the rudos take an early advantage on Winners. Psicosis wrestling the first few minutes of the match (and doing a senton) while wearing a cape is awesome! The finish to the first fall is great, with Rey catching Psicosis in a sunset flip with the cave going completely over his head for a pinfall, then catching Picudo for a win in a rana pinning combo. The first fall is over quickly, but contains tons of action. There are many of the same ideas done again in this match (like Psicosis and Picudo getting in a shoving match and near fist fight), but they work better here because the match is more cohesive. Rey and Psicosis aren't as "hot" as they would be from 1994-1996 yet, but they already have tremendous chemistry. The second fall sees the rudos largely dominant with Rey playing a great punching bag. I love Metal's Indian deathlock pinning combo on Rey to take the second fall. The third fall sees Psicosis do maybe the first bronco buster ever and he also plays Togo in the KDX "hold a guy and pose on him" spot. Rey tries a shoulderblock in the corner, which he misses, and it sends him flying outside the ring in an insane bump. Then we get a series of dives that's even better than the ones in the match the week before. But Metal finally secures the win for his team by pinning Rey with a fallaway slam into a bridge. This isn't the classic I remembered, but it is a legitimate great match.
  23. Loss
    Tamura is much smaller than he'd become in 1993. He's a great young upstart here, and Takada does a great job selling for him. I'm not sure if Tamura had any big matches before this really, but I love kingpin vs young guy matches when done right, which this one was. There is some gorgeous matwork. Tamura would become much more polished later than he is here, but he has a certain charisma in this match and he's still really good on the mat, so you get a different side of him. Takada trying to slap his way out of a hold, making Tamura mad, with Tamura turning over into a half crab and then Takada taking the advantage is awesome! He's The Man and he outsmarted this punk kid. It gets even better a few minutes later when they do the same sequence in reversed position. Tamura reminds me of Otani in '96 in many ways in this match. I've seen Takada in better matches, but this is my favorite Takada performance in terms of understanding his role, portraying himself as the top guy, getting his opponent over and laying out a nice match.
  24. Loss
    Calling something dated isn't always the insult it's cracked up to be. Plenty of music and film was great at the time that isn't with the benefit of hindsight either. Saying something doesn't look good now isn't necessarily saying it shouldn't have looked good then, which I think is a bit of the perception problem with this point of view. Sayama was liked at the time because he was pushed, had a cool mask and did cool moves. His matches were praised because they were different. No one is disagreeing with Dave on those points. Saying they don't look so good now is not always a claim that people should never have liked them in the first place.
  25. Loss
    Quick squash. After the match, Race puts paint on Thames' face and Vader whips him with the strap. They really hyped that match very well.
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