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Childs

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Everything posted by Childs

  1. Childs
    I've always liked this match-up, but they seemed a little off this time. Psicosis, especially, seemed to pause several times, deciding what should come next. And Regal had to stoop awkwardly to put his neck in the way of Psicosis' springboard to the floor. It's amazing to me that people were humorless enough to hate Dusty as an announcer.
  2. Childs
    These guys pulled off some beautiful wrestling, especially in the finishing sequences for the first two falls. The fluidity on the most complicated stuff hit a level we haven't seen often. The only thing that held it back from the pinnacle was a lack of rising drama. I know they moved to high flying in the tercera caida, but I never got the sense they were hitting a new level of intensity. The first two falls were sharply contested, so they didn't necessarily need to ramp it up. But at the actual finish, I thought, "Hmm, seemed a little easy given everything that came before." Great match regardless, and I loved the last bit of comedy when Guerrero wiped out on his celebration hop after flawlessly nailing so many tricky moves. They showed two replays of it, so the producers obviously found it amusing as well.
  3. Childs
    Compare this to the muddled build for HBK-Sid and it's obvious that WCW deserved its advantage in the Monday Night Wars at this juncture. I still viscerally hate Hollywood Hogan, surrounded by his toadies and peddling self-serving horseshit. What a great use of Hogan's reality to make an all-time heel. And they struck a really nice balance between the immediate issue with the Giant and the long game with Sting. In some ways, they probably just got lucky staying on that tightrope as long as they did. But it sure was compelling.
  4. Childs
    This match did, in fact, overcome my avowed joshi skepticism. I appreciated the pacing; they allowed me to take in the horror of some of the spots without racing on to the next thing. And Kudo did go through some horror. The chain hanging came off as particularly disturbing, with Kudo even appearing to go a little blue. The crowd popped huge when she rolled Kandori into a few nearfalls after that. The reaction was certainly well-earned. I also liked that when they set up something like a table spot, they didn't treat it as a given that the wrestler on the table would lie there and take the move. That's where a lot of garbage brawls lose their way and give in to contrivance. Not this one. I wasn't thrilled when they left the ring to ascend to the balcony. But they certainly paid it off with that image of Kudo, hanging there with half the crowd believing Kandori would drop her. Just top-notch spectacle wrestling -- a fact that becomes even more apparent when you watch that pointless BJPW barbed wire tag from a few nights later.
  5. Childs
    I also loved the opening lock-up, with them just bulling each other around the ring, unwilling to concede. For awhile after that, I thought the match might be a minor letdown in light of Loss' review and my own memory. But they just built and built, past the point where most of their previous matches would have ended. And the Dome crowd, which usually kind of sucks, went with them. These guys are the kings of keeping it simple and letting the intensity tell the story. This was the epitome of that.
  6. Childs
    Damn, Loss. You make a man feel inadequate in his wrestling watching.
  7. Childs
    Put me on the side of those who say the backlash against this match went too far. Others have outlined the reasons. Flair took the asskicking he needed to take from Vader and showed great fire during his rallies. I didn't love him using the three straight top-rope moves, because he always looked like shit on those. But that's a quibble. Vader's timing on his cutoff spots was excellent. Race's involvement seemed appropriate given his history with Ric. The idea of the ending worked, even if the execution was a bit weak. I really liked the post-match stuff, with the interviews of other wrestlers, Flair getting emotional and Vader going apeshit in the locker room. Not a transcendent match because of the hiccups in execution, but as a total spectacle, it was really well done.
  8. Childs
    Just watched this as a warm-up for the 1997 set and a few things struck me: 1) I know this is remembered almost entirely as an angle, but the match itself was surprisingly good. I loved the way Luger slapped Hall to start things off and then got taken out. Sting worked an energetic face-in-peril segment, with Hall and Nash doing solid work cutting off the ring. Savage went nuts off the hot tag. It was a very good "big stars" tag match. 2) The "which side is he on" line from Heenan didn't bother me. He always hated Hogan and frankly, it was a reasonable question to raise at that juncture, given the hovering issue of the mystery partner. I did think he stepped on the moment a little quickly once Hogan had actually begun the leg drops. Stunned silence would have worked better. 3) Schiavone was very good throughout, setting the "anything could happen" tone and then finishing with the appropriate disgust. 4) Almost every big-picture decision about how to stage this was correct, setting the tone for a hell of a run of booking, which didn't go off the rails for more than a year.
  9. Childs

    Current WWE

    Childs replied to Smack2k's topic in WWE

    What's he good at exactly? He's looked boring every time I've seen him on NXT, with his crappy, sluggish striking. He had a good match with Regal but it's Regal. He looks like shit, has no presence, can't talk . . Don't see it. Everyone on here watches NXT though right? Such a cracking show at the moment. Haven't watched him much on NXT, but that's a tiny sample compared to his decade-plus as a top indy guy. He threw all sorts of nifty elbow combinations (though he went overboard with them at times), was unusually agile for a guy his size, could go on the mat with a guy like Danielson, carried himself like a star. Basically, he was the complete opposite of what you're describing, though to be fair, it seems like I haven't seen most of what you're reacting to and you haven't seen much of his indy work.
  10. Childs
    Did Bryan hurt his arm or was he just selling?
  11. Childs

    Current WWE

    Childs replied to Smack2k's topic in WWE

    Not defending Hero's behavior in WWE, because I've heard some of the same criticisms from people who are major supporters of his. But to say he doesn't have an ounce of Punk's ability is absurd. If anything, he's a superior physical talent.
  12. Childs

    1997 Hype

    Childs replied to Loss's topic in Pro Wrestling

    That's a reflection of where All Japan was headed. The great matches were still really great, but with the loss of TV time and corresponding diminution of the midcard, the depth just wasn't there. There weren't many borderline matches that Will and Loss decided to drop. This set will definitely ride on WWF and WCW booking more than any of the previous ones. You look at a lot of the discs and they're as reliant on promos as matches.
  13. Childs
    I'm late to the game on this but enjoyed the podcast guys. You've built a rapport that resonates, and it didn't hurt that you were discussing a formative period for my wrestling fandom. As for the discussion questions: 1. I was aware of Piper/Valentine, even as a kid. There always seemed to be pictures of it in the Apter mags or the few wrestling books I owned. And it didn't disappoint when I actually saw it years later. It was my first exposure to bleeding from the ear in a wrestling match, and what better way to win a young man's heart? 2. I don't see a case for Bobby Fulton over Arn but then, I'm not a huge Fantastics fan. Arn was just so damn consistent and so adept at flipping the switch from stooge to badass. He wasn't on Flair or Tully's level in the '80s, but he was the perfect glue guy. 3. I agree that Funk carried the emotional/character side of the Flair feud. But part of the reason the GAB match is so good is that Flair wrestled pissed off, clearly shifting his usual tone to fit the moment. And he also gave a good performance in the "I quit" match as the vengeful guy trying to put a stake in the vampire's heart (though I rate the GAB match a good bit higher). Jerry, maybe you're just not used to Flair being the more subdued character in a feud? Anyway, when it was time for him to bring it in the big matches with Funk, Flair was all there. 4. Totally with you on Garvin. I loved him as a kid, perhaps because I desperately wanted someone to take the belt off Flair, perhaps because I saw Flair and Garvin go broadway in the main event of one of my first NWA shows at the Baltimore Civic Center. I only realized later on that people hated Garvin's title reign. But watching the matches now, I don't think there's any question he was an excellent worker and totally believable in his role as the tough, no-bullshit fighter. I also liked his stuff from the Memphis set and even the '89-'90 matches I've seen from WWF.
  14. Childs
    The first half of this was sooo slooowwww. I respect their desire to build a match from basic holds but fuck, toss in some flurries to keep me (and the crowd) from dozing off. From the mid-match headbutt exchange on, it was good. But they certainly did better on multiple occasions.
  15. Childs
    I don't think I would have liked the first match nearly as much without the second match as an emotional payoff. As others have said, the first one was a straight burst of action that sort of touched on the broader story of Hokuto breaking down but without an ultimate payoff. The second match was such an effective portrayal of perseverance that it cast a glow over both. Again, Hokuto had a rare gift for making everyone -- the crowd, her peers, a random American watching her 20 years later -- feel her pain and determination. And the other three fit themselves around that perfectly, from Toyota toning down her worst no-selling instincts to Yamada doing her best to give Hokuto a sour ending. Really good ending to a year of big Joshi matches.
  16. Childs
    The staking of Sasuke's back was fucked up. Why would you let someone mutilate you in that particular way? It really is amazing that guy seems reasonably healthy 20 years down the line. Anyway, I enjoyed the match a lot. Goto is a fucking bull, and he was awesome again here, just wrecking Pogo and Toi in the early going. Actually, they fit all the weirdness into a pretty traditional tag structure. Like Graham Crackers, I found it highly amusing that the ref was a stickler about tag rules but completely cool with a broken stick being ground into an open wound along a man's spine. Glad this made the set.
  17. Childs
    I love Togo, so it was good to see him in a big singles match from early in his career. There was a lot of really cool looking stuff, highlighted by Togo's dive where he jumped to the turnbuckle in one motion and then flew waaay out onto the floor. The chubby athleticism was in full effect. That said, despite Delphin's dickishness, this suffered from the lack of emotion that renders Japanese wager matches disappointing compared to their Mexican peers.
  18. Childs
    A second Joshi match I liked from the same show. Yikes, it's becoming a trend. Seriously though, this style appeals to me a lot more than the more lauded tag match from later in the show, which I eventually found numbing. Kudo brought great focus to her strategy, and Aja put it over by selling it all as a real threat. They really made the nearfalls count instead of reeling off one after another. When Aja finally nailed the backfist at the end, it felt like she had punched herself out of real danger.
  19. Childs
    This pretty well defines the big match feel, from the crowd to Lou Thesz to the way they worked it. I actually do think Takada is one of Vader's best few opponents. I know Vader working shootstyle isn't very shoot-like, but I liked the way he used his size here, pinning his weight on Takada's chest and popping him in the head with palm strikes. I also really liked the way he sold Takada's leg kicks. Takada was very good in his own right, giving Vader plenty of space to be the bear but making his counterattacks look sharp. He felt like the underdog, yet his victory seemed a reasonable product of the things he did well in the match. Their '94 match is even better, but this was great main event wrestling.
  20. Childs
    I was curious about the emotion from the other wrestlers on the outside. Was it simply a reaction to Hokuto pushing her body like that when she didn't have much left? It was certainly dramatic but seemed to come a bit out of nowhere the way they incorporated it in the broadcast. Anyway, this was an easy match to appreciate, even for a Joshi skeptic. The opening punch exchange was so direct and brutal. And I loved Kandori teasing the attack on Hokuto's arm, as if to say, "Hey, I always have this nuclear bomb in my pocket." Hokuto was great as usual, conveying just how much she was giving to pull off this spectacle.
  21. Childs
    Will mentioned this thread to me on the phone, so I went back to watch the match, which I liked a lot on first viewing. And it still worked for me. The Rockers had been feuding with these guys for months, and they were tired of being nice guys. They had Buddy and Doug in the cage and they weren't going to pass up this opportunity to unleash hell, to the point where their blood lust got the better of their senses. And here's the key thing for me: They paid a price for abandoning their normal character. Michaels took a terrible, bloody beating. If you want to tell me the initial section of Rockers offense went on too long, okay maybe, though Buddy broke it up with some teased momentum changes. But I don't see some fundamental flaw in the structure or spirit of the match. I've told Matt this before: I appreciate that he watches wrestling with a point of view and articulates his arguments well. But I feel like this match, where the blood and moment-to-moment intensity were the keys to the spectacle, fell into a kind of blind spot for him because he couldn't get past the structure. All of that said, I also love the second cage match and haven't decided which one I'll rank higher on my final tally. They'll both be top 20.
  22. Childs
    This was great, probably the best "late Baba" match. Hansen worked his ass off, handling 90 percent of the offense and the selling for his side. I loved this one sequence where Baba whipped Kobashi into a would-be lariat only for Kobashi to drill Hansen with a dropkick. Kobashi being Kobashi, he tried to take the fight to Hansen instead of tagging out. He got cut off with a nasty shot to the back of the head for his hubris. I also liked that Misawa didn't hesitate to blast Baba with an elbow if that's what the moment retired. Finally, it was neat how everyone gave it their all, and Baba was left as the freshest guy in the match when the bell rang. Was this the best tag league ever? Had to be right there.
  23. Childs
    Now this here absolutely ruled with the Infernales doing to one another what they've done to so many others. This had all the blood and fire you'd want from a wager match. But as Loss alluded to, these guys took it to another level with the little touches -- Pirata worrying about his positioning on the figure four, Satanico slipping in kidney punches whenever he had an opening on the ground. Every moment felt like a struggle. One of the best lucha brawls of the decade.
  24. Childs
    One of my favorite matches of the year, if not one of the best. You had these four behemoths, seemingly hanging onto Cold War animosities, and the whole match felt a knife's edge away from all-out mayhem. I loved Hashimikov's throws and fire on the New Japan set, and he never disappoints me when he resurfaces. Really, I'm just a total sucker for Russians in shootsyle scenarios.
  25. Childs
    I realized I never went through the last few disks of this yearbook. This was even better than I remembered. I just finished 1991, so what really struck me was Bossman's superiority to Gordy in a similar setting. I loved all of his uppercut variations, and he also bumped like a motherfucker. The work on Kawada's leg was excellent, and he did a great job balancing his selling with a really gutty effort to give Taue the space he needed to get the win. They had the crowd hanging on every move in the finishing stretch.
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