Loss
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Everything posted by Loss
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15 years later, this is still pretty fascinating and cutting edge. This is two paid announcements on the same show, shown back to back on the yearbook. Hogan, Hall and Nash do promos about various things for five minutes or so, with all sorts of special production effects, shot entirely in black and white. This was pretty eye-catching at the time, and made me wonder why WCW production values were always such crap when they were capable of doing stuff like this. This has the famous line from Nash: "I think the whole world just wants to know one thing about Lex Luger. WHADDAYA BENCH, LEX? WHADDAYA BENCH?" Hall and Nash supposedly complained about Hogan doing hardcore wrestling promos and cramping their style, but Hogan is the best of the three here, even if Hall and Nash are effective. Next, we get a "short film" produced by The Outsiders of them planting an emergency phone call for Lex Luger so they can beat up Sting in a parking lot after a show. The NWO is slowly becoming more of a threat, but I don't think anyone was prepared for what they'd do a couple of days after this.
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What a fantastic match! There are so many little intricacies here that I'll have to walk through sometime. I think I enjoyed the struggle and attempted counters between the big bombs just as much as the big offensive flurries. Aside from like 3-4 delayed selling spots, this is pretty close to perfect. The match is very basic for the most part, with less big moves than you might expect. Less is more, as pretty much everything they do gets over huge. I don't want to say Kobashi seems irrelevant in '96, as he has some great matches. But Akiyama has replaced him as the 4th man in those tag matches, so there are less great matches from him in '96 than there are in other years. So maybe the same principle applied to building this match can be applied to Kobashi's entire year as a whole -- each of his great matches stand out in a big way because there are less of them, so they are more memorable.
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Yes.
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Good, high-energy match, in spite of Mongo trying really hard, but messing up nearly everything he tried. Savage gets the briefcase back, that presumably has all of his money in it. Flair is supposed to be in the match and no-shows, which leads to speculation that he has joined the NWO. -
Last few minutes. Ron Simmons debuts as Faarooq and attacks Ahmed Johnson. He looks ridiculous in that getup.
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I always enjoy a good birthday cake in wrestling.
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Yeah, do I really have to explain why this didn't do anything for me?
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This was a HELL of a match. If this exact match happened now on Raw, people would rave about it. It's one of the best WWF matches of the year, and is maybe the most legitimately overlooked match of the year, period. Sid and Ahmed don't do much, but they hit their spots, they're in and out, the timing is great and the crowd loves them. This match is really a credit to Shawn and Owen more than anyone. Vader probably sold more than he should have considering he was winning this match and being built up as the next big challenger, but he worked well with all three guys. Shawn and Owen do all sorts of things you don't see every day in the WWF, specifically doing high-end 70s wrestling for 2-3 minutes randomly in the middle of the match. It's a bit sloppy (Execution is not something I normally spend much time talking about, but Shawn is sloppy enough at times in '96 that I feel like it kinda has to be mentioned), but I admire the spirit of doing a legit rolling cradle in a WWF ring, and then working a bridge-up sequence that's straight from the Flair/Steamboat playbook. It's also interesting to see Shawn so wildly over in Canada. Great match!
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Excellent match! Super stiff and dramatic. Wrestled like it is taking place in a dome even though it's not, which I really love. The match just feels huge because they sell everything so dramatically, and because Anjo specifically has such awesome facial expressions. It clocks in at less than 15 minutes, and while I could have watched these guys much longer, it really feels like the perfect length match for what they were doing. One of my favorites on the set thus far.
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Since we last checked in with the USWA, Wolfie D has done pretty well for himself, winning the TV title. Bill Dundee comes out to talk about how horrible Wolfie is and brings out two examples of people who have been betrayed by him: Midget D (I think that's what they were saying, I couldn't figure it out) and JC Ice. Wolfie and JC have words, and Wolfie tries to convince him to go sit down in the back and talk this out until Dundee suckerpunches him. Good angle, although it was kinda sad to see PG-13 break up.
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New Jack and Mustafa talk in their best old South voices about how Jimmy Cornette is an undercover racist who still owes them money, all while holding up nooses around their necks. Mustafa: "He still owes me a hundred dollars!" The Samoan Gangstas end up being them up during one of their segments.
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Raven doing more trolling with Tyler Fullington. Peaches stands in the background looking like Kurt Cobain and not saying a word.
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Eliminators video to "Fed Up" by House of Pain. I'm sure Paul Heyman would give some overly wordy explanation of the power of this, using the words "promotional concept" and "pop culture" a lot.
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Savage should really be the headliner whatever year they finally get around to inducting him (I think some day, they will), but I could see them putting him below a headliner just to be petty.
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Tremendous mat work, but I have trouble calling this a great match because it all seems like cool exhibition stuff with no consequences. Wrestling is all about selling to me. It's the most important part of wrestling, I think. Without selling, nothing else really works. Fun to watch in some ways, but I couldn't get into it much.
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The action is pretty good in the last couple of minutes of this match. Hall and Nash come down to beat up Luger, then Hogan slaps him around. Hogan offers a hand to Big Bubba, who accepts, only for Hall and Nash to immediately beat him up. Hogan does a great interview to close things out, talking about how 10 years ago, Sting shook his hand in Venice Beach and was a skinny little bodybuilder shaking in his boots. "For three years, I heard the Macho Man blame his divorce on the Hulkster, not mentioning that he couldn't rise to the occasion, brother." Gene Okerlund says the letters "N-W-O" for the first time. Hogan seems to be doing some semi-shoot venting here about everyone blaming him for his problems, double standards in wrestling loyalty, everyone knowing that where Hogan goes, so goes the money, etc. The Steiners, Faces of Fear and Arn Anderson come out and have a staredown with the NWO to close out the show.
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In terms of great wrestling followed by stupid run-ins, this match feels like a pro-shot version of the March match. There is some outstanding stuff here. In a ... surprising moment, the heels are holding Rey in a Jesus-like position with handcuffs while Juventud hits him over the head with a tree branch. Finally, Konnan comes out dressed as a monk in an American flag to make the save. Oh, pro wrestling. Still, I wish they could have just left these two alone, as they were doing fine without all this.
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Ugh, do I have to? I'm sorry, I can't watch this again. I just can't. This is a widely praised match, and one of the more significant ones in ECW history with the Francine/Shane Douglas tandem being formed, but I just can't. Too long, and I really despised this match the last time I watched it. Maybe someday, but not today.
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SLAP HIERARCHY! Akiyama slaps Taue multiple times and definitely phases him, but Taue lands one slap and knocks Akiyama off his feet. Akiyama is wrestling as a young guy who is somehow hanging on, and it's pretty awesome to watch. Misawa bails him out early on (again), clearing the way for a big offensive flurry for him when he re-enters the match fully rested. Kawada goes nuts, obviously irritated by this little shit, and just brutalizes him with kicks. But for most of this match, it's Misawa who's in peril. The Misawa/Kawada genuine struggle over the vertical suplex that lasts at least two minutes is fantastic. The crowd pops huge every time Misawa teases a comeback because they so effectively brutalize him for so long. Akiyama is groggy on the apron, and every time he comes to his feet, Kawada and Taue take a little pride in knocking him back down. Because of this, when Misawa is finally able to tag Akiyama, he fares a little better, but he's still pretty beaten down. Kawada's staggered selling of Akiyama's German, making it to his feet, but stumbling, then barely able to stand and finally collapsing, is off the charts. Misawa and Akiyama get the win with Misawa pinning Taue. Great, great match. Maybe one of the two or three best of the year so far.
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Stevie Richards: "You know Raven, Terry Gordy has died twice." Shane Douglas does a promo while getting stitches. Shane insists on not standing behind any homeless people or welfare recipients to get medical treatment. "I've got insurance. I get paid damned well for what I do." If only ... Shane calls him Anthony and says it's a SHOOT now. Chris Jericho does a promo! It's kind of awkward, but it's interesting how Heyman pushed him as a serious tough guy. The Samoan Gangstas make brief appearances, and Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie do weird things in Todd Gordon's office. Tyler Fullington says he now knows what it's like to really have a father.
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Hall and Nash are effective here. This isn't really a good promo, but they aren't yet in their drunken-shoot-comments period, and they're still serious. The phrase "new world order" gets thrown around nonchalantly a few times. I'm not sure if they decided to go with that name based on Hogan's interview, or if that was a key phrase they asked Hogan to throw into his heel turn promo.
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Joined in progress. Hall and Nash show up in a limo at ringside, as they're taping outside at Disney MGM. Sting and Arn (and Savage) stop the match to try to face them off, then Arn ambushes Sting, but Sting picks up the win anyway. Post-match, Sting does an INCREDIBLE promo. Seriously. For a guy who has a rep of not being a great interview, this was really, really good. Savage talks too, and it's not as good as Sting, but it's still fun, loony Savage.
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Pretty sure this is the best Nitro match of the year. Rey wins the cruiserweight title in an outstanding match. One of the better spotfests you'll see, with everything hit cleanly and the pace being pretty consistently fast. I think about someone like Jerome who doesn't like modern Rey in WWE and say he'd probably love this match because it's Rey doing all the stuff that got him over. I like this match-up more than I used to after seeing this and the Bash match.
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Shawn and Ahmed reveal Sid as their new partner, much to Cornette's chagrin. Sid does a great promo, but after the Hogan turn, it says a lot that this was the best they could do for a big moment (although I know Raw was a few weeks in the can at this point). Cornette gets in a subtle shot at Warrior: "They've replaced the gas chamber with the electric chair!"
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I always got entertainment from stories of Owen and Warrior being friends for whatever reason. Warrior gets almost no offense here, as they are clearly burying him as much as possible, knowing he's through. Vader, Owen and Davey Boy destroy him.