Loss
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Everything posted by Loss
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In regards to ECW in 1998 and earlier: Was the FBI involved? No? Then chances are it was pretty bad. Not necessarily, but most likely. (I only use that dividing line because I still need to revisit 1999 and 2000)
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Even if they are modernizing things beyond moves like the sleeperhold, I'd like to see a greater focus on strikes and submissions in WWE. It would be cool to see more wrestlers stay on the ground and have a return to holds being important. I think it could get over in the right circumstances. Undertaker did it, but it never caught on much beyond that for whatever reason. It's weird that as over as the cross armbreaker has been in Japan for so long, no one has ever tried to get it over here. That stuff requires a certain type of booking and announcing to work though. Matches like Bryan-Cena that have gravitated more toward that approach got over big too, so I don't think it would be tough to get fans to accept the changes. It's not like they don't have the right crew to pull it off either. You need some variety of course, but most people working that style makes your brawling Dean Ambrose and flying Seth Rollins stand out and get over even more for being different.
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Last few minutes. Doesn't look like we missed much here. Albright and Takayama win the tag titles. -
All the hype is on Heat Wave. Van Dam does a perfect Alfonso impersonation. We also hear from Joel Gertner and the Dudleys, and this just goes on and on and on. Please stop talking. We get weird noises set to a slow motion recap of the Beulah injury and closes out with comments from Dreamer, who does an absolutely horrible tear-filled promo, hitting himself on the locker to draw blood hardaway. Wow that was bad bad bad.
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Just highlights of the match. Bubba Ray gets the win after tons of interference.
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Taz recaps the history of ECW and ties it into the FTW belt. Taz handles a heckler well. He talks about Shane jumping to the WWF and says he lost his claim to be The Franchise when he left, which everyone forgets. Taz of course will never leave. ECW has been pretty bad in 1998 outside of FBI house show matches, and I'm not interested in this storyline at all. The match doesn't last long, as Candido, Storm, Sabu and RVD all get involved.
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Styles introduces Shane Douglas. That's about all there is to this.
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Not entirely sure why Austin is subbing for Undertaker but I'm sure it was explained in an in-between segment. Undertaker ends up showing up with a chair after Austin is worked over by both guys for a few minutes, and stands in the corner. Undertaker hits Kane with a chair for the DQ, but it's done in a way where it looks like he was about to hit Austin. Austin hits him for good measure. This is how you present a top babyface. Great stuff.
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A big brawl happens between DX and The Nation before the match starts. This was a very good TV match. Gotta love Shawn's backhanded compliments to Rock at the booth. Rock's high workrate style as an upper midcarder has surprised me. They cut a fast pace and had some good nearfalls. Wonky finish with HHH pedigreeing Rock behind the ref's back, only for a second ref to come out and stop the count. A fan in the crowd flashed her boobs at HHH! Was she a real fan? Crowd popped huge! Shawn loved it at the booth too.
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YES! This is one of my favorite bad wrestling segments of all time. Jacqueline accuses Sable of having a bad lyposuction and calls her a skank. Sable comes out in an oversized gown, calling Jacqueline a tramp and I can't stop laughing when right on cue her cat sound starts from her entrance music. They trade Jerry Springer-like insults with Jacqueline calling Sable a ho and stripping her down to her bra and panties before Sable clears the ring. She walks around to very obviously make sure she's seen on camera from all sides, and gets an enormous pop. This happened. While all of this happened, Edge attacks Mero from behind.
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Kaientai are out to yell at Yamaguchi's wife for disgracing their family. Now, she's going to be punished. Love Lawler's racist explanation of Japanese culture. "We understand this is Yamaguchi's second wife, for those keeping score at home" is a nice subtle line from Jim Ross. They tell her she has to be paddled while crawling on all fours. I should remind everyone that this is an underage model. Val Venis makes the save and hits everyone in sight with the paddle, getting a huge pop in the process.
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Vince questions where Kane was when Undertaker pulled the switcheroo. "Did the Undertaker decide to go to the Sears Men's Store and say 'I'll have a Kane suit, please'?" That quote made me laugh. They have started suggesting that Undertaker and Kane are in cahoots, whatever that means, with Vince putting forth his theory, showing clips of events over recent weeks. You know, so much of this could easily be solved if wrestlers weren't special referees. Vince brings Undertaker out to clarify these rumors and chastises him for being disrespectful for a few minutes. Vince tells Undertaker if he wants to be a champion for the ages, he has to start showing respect to the right people. He needs Vince in his corner. Undertaker is silent during all this, and won't even answer the direct question from Vince about being in cahoots with Kane. Since Undertaker is not answering Vince's questions, he's making an Undertaker vs Mankind & Kane match for tonight as punishment. Ah, the days when a Kane match as punishment wasn't something that had happened a million times. Vince closes by telling Undertaker he can go to hell, and Undertaker gives him a chokeslam, punches out Patterson and also gives Brisco and Slaughter a pair of chokeslams. Vince is such a delightful jerk here, even though this Undertaker-Kane stuff muddies the Austin match build for me.
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Last few minutes of the Parejas Incredibles version of the Slamboree main event. Sting is FIP which builds to Nash getting the hot tag. Crowd is into Hall vs Nash, but not as much as they were into Hall and Nash. Sting's low blow on Giant gets the biggest pop of the match. Funny how much more comfortable Sting is in his role after he's failed as the top guy. Story of his career. Bret comes in to stop the scorpion deathlock and Sting pushes him out of the ring. This leaves him prone for a Razor's Edge and pin. Hall and the Giant win the tag titles. Crap all around.
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Hall and Nash get in a brawl by the production truck. Hall ends up luring Nash to the NWO trailer and Nash is getting jumped, but the Wolfpac comes to his aid and a big brawl breaks out.
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Jericho is here to tell his faithful Jerichoholics how miserable Dean Malenko is making his life. He finally suggests a match with Malenko next week, but calls it Dean's Last Chance - if he loses the match, he'll never, ever, ever get a cruiserweight title shot again. Impressive how Jericho has gotten himself over with his promos.
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Rick challenges Scott to step in the ring in August. Steiner vs Steiner in 1998 is too little, too late to mean anything. Bagwell is pushed out sans Judy to confront Rick. Rick immediately offers his support and apologizes, saying he was out to win the match, not paralyze him. Bagwell says this has changed his life, but he forgives him. Scott runs out from behind and acts Rick with the chair and Buff feigns stopping him, then hits him with the chair himself and reveals an NWO shirt. Well there goes what could have been something. It's Bagwell, so I'm saying it would have made him a superstar necessarily, but it might have.
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I liked this way more than I expected, simply because I didn't think Maeda would have anything left at this point. It's not the technical masterpiece on the level of the Han/Tamura/Kohsaka stuff at the time, but not much is. Instead, they brutalize each other with stiff shots and build a lot of drama around strikes. There's also a really cool vet vs young guy dynamic going, with the young guy really making a hell of a showing. This was an awesome match and a nice surprise. I presume this is the last standout performance of Maeda's career.
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One of my favorite Tony stories by the way is that he had the same surgery Dave Meltzer had shortly after Dave had it. Dave said he got a lot of calls from wrestlers wishing him well which he enjoyed so he wanted to call Tony and do the same. When he called, Tony hung up on him.
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Maybe Bobby is an asshole and Tony has no desire to talk to him for that reason, but he didn't want to publicly insult him either.
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Tony as a WWF lifer would have been interesting. I think they loved him there too. While I think we know on some level, we'll probably never be able to fully comprehend how dysfunctional WCW was.
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There was always a special excitement from Tony when he was calling something from Flair, Steamboat or the Rock & Rolls. I agree that that's the era he loved.
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This was a really fun studio match with Shannon Moore getting the win in his Music City debut. Lots of cool spots that were timed well.
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Hales is back out in front of the crowd, just in a Power Pro t-shirt and torn pants. Meanwhile, security has Lawler blocked off from re-entering the studio. Hales assures the people he's the good guy in this situation and is prepared to air some dirty laundry. He mentions Lawler's first and second wives, Jerry Calhoun and Bill Dundee. When he starts insulting Stacy, Lawler manages to get past security and chase Hales into the parking lot. He tries to piledrive him in the parking lot (!!) but he's stopped. Hales ends up taking off. Hales manages to get back in the studio to get a few digs in at Lawler to close all of this out. This is great!
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The Rock sends in a taped promo. He'll be facing Brian Christopher at the upcoming Mid South Coliseum show. Rock is really great at normal wrestling promos. I wish he would have done more of them.
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Hales promises revenge on Lawler. He says he will soon expose things about Lawler's personal life that he'd never want public. I'm going to try really hard to set aside the copying and just enjoy this on the merits, because it really is well done.