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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    More of a housekeeping promo than anything else, but still well done. What was a Renegades Rumble? Was it just a fancy name for the overall TV tapings? Was it a special match or tournament, kind of like the Royal Rumble, Battlebowl, etc.? Lawler teased that someone could beat Gilbert in a non-title match, but I highly doubt anyone with any intelligence was expecting the likes of Freezer Thompson or Ben Jordan to do it. I think Terry was really over in Japan for the World Tag League with Dory, if our match listings are right. I know we have clips of one of their matches against Hansen and Spivey for sure. I'm pretty sure that Lawler defended the Unified belt in Japan back when the AWA and World Class were still involved with it. His match with Fujinami even made the New Japan 80s set.
  2. garretta
    I don't ever want to hear again how WCW was dedicated to the sport of wrestling while the WWF was full of sports entertainment crap. The whole Scorpion angle was questionable to start with, and the patently lousy execution of it, with its embarrassingly bad and implausible magic tricks and random forays into human possession, makes the Gobbledygooker look like a Lou Thesz title defense. Worse yet, whoever was running the PA system at the Clash was too goddamn stupid to shut the lousy thing off while Sting and Heyman were arguing, so Ole just kept rambling and rambling with few hearing and even fewer caring. Even the referee attack just felt wrong; you'd think that WCW would check their referees out a little better to see if they can be influenced by things like disembodied voices and various other parlor tricks. Don't even get me started on the leopard transformation, which might be the most inexplicable and embarrassing thing I've seen or heard of in this sport that didn't involve a death. I have to give credit to Gordon for actually reporting this heaping helping of horseshit as actual wrestling news; he kept a straight face and voice while hosting this segment, which speaks well of his professionalism but not of his continued mental health. I can just picture him thinking, "I turned down the WWF because I didn't want to take part in corny skits and have to put over cartoon characters, and look what I'm stuck with now!" Gee, Sting sure is made happy easily enough. Just spend the last three months trying to drive him nuts and he's all sunshine and rainbows. Seriously, he's not even trying to sell fear or trepidation, which kind of makes the whole angle moot. You can bet that Hogan would be doing everything but visibly shaking in his boots if he was the one the Scorpion was after. Say what you will about the man as an athlete, but he could sell an angle like few others in history. That's a skill Sting either needs to learn or has already forgotten. Or maybe he figures that this whole mess is beyond repair and needs to be ignored as much as possible. If that's true, he's smarter than I thought. The commercials actually made the most sense of anything about this whole mess, which ought to tell you just how messed up WCW was around this time.
  3. garretta
    Great stuff from Memphis's big dogs. Dundee in particular was on fire here, as he'd been through a lot lately from both Gilbert's crew and Tojo's. Lawler's job was to get the match itself over, and he did that perfectly, while Jeff kept the whole thing grounded. The only thing this promo was missing was a cameo from Dutch Mantel, whose shoes Jeff isn't quite up to filling yet when it comes to what I call the "three pillars of Memphis." Boy, were those outfits something else. No wonder Bill was wearing shades!
  4. garretta
    That's what I thought. Thanks, AJ!
  5. garretta
    Another wonderful promo from Eddie. I like how he had Doug give Dave the Memphis Mafia T-shirt, then left it for him when he politely refused to wear it. I also appreciated the rundown of just some of the men who tried to put Lawler out of action and failed. He honestly believes that he's ordained by God to take over Lawler's crown and kingdom, and that's what drives him, not the money or prestige for its own sake. Just fabulous stuff. I think having a masked guy is part of the point: to make it almost impossible for the faces to win the match. It's actually smart strategy by the Gilberts when you think about it, considering how difficult it is to either unmask a masked man or make him bleed through the mask. I wonder who this Black Magic was. Did he go on to have much of a career? I'm not sure what threatening to put Dave out of wrestling accomplishes other than to put the audience even further on edge. Forget the "never touch the announcers" stuff; I'm not even sure that Dave went to the matches on most Monday nights, since he was presumably doing the late weather at WMC. Maybe someone from the area would like to tell us if Dave had Monday nights off as a rule at this time or whether he was working.
  6. garretta
    Anybody get the feeling that one of the Jerrys got SportsChannel America and was watching Abrams' UWF? The USWA Top Ten is doing more for good old Herb than it is for Memphis. Which UWF superstar's going to be on the list next week? Nikita Koloff? The Viking? Davey Meltzer? Eddie sort of petered out once we got past the first few names; I was expecting a mini-rant on each one. I like how the only thing he said about Murdoch was "He drinks a lot of beer." I wonder why the UWF didn't have Lawler come in as the Unified champion, since they never had an equivalent tile of their own? The best they did was a SportsChannel TV title. It had to have something to do with finances (or lack thereof, more than likely) on Abrams' end. Dave was great here too; he's trying not to openly advocate for Lawler in front of Eddie, but anyone who's watched Memphis for longer than five minutes knows that he and every other official in the promotion wants Lawler to shut him up and drive him out of town. Eddie knows this too, of course, but doesn't give a damn, which is part of what makes this feud the compelling viewing that it is.
  7. garretta
    I have no idea why Lawler's wrestling twice. Anybody with any common sense knows that they wouldn't be promoting the barbed wire match so heavily if there was any real chance of Lawler losing in the tag match. At the very least, they could have said that the barbed wire match will take place even if Lawler loses because it was signed for the same night. Weren't there any other faces available to team with Dundee? Not even Brian Christopher? The Gilbert stuff is the meat of this promo, and the verbal war that's more intense than most physical feuds could ever dream of keeps on going. You get the feeling that Eddie in particular claiming to be the king of Memphis has Lawler even more upset than he would be if anyone else claimed the crown, as he promises to start the evening mean and nasty against the Internationals and go on from there. If any of the bad guys survive this coming Monday night in Memphis, it won't be because Lawler didn't try to cripple them. I like how he assured the fans that he wasn't turning heel again, like that's even possible. Why didn't Lawler acknowledge where he was going? He's taking on Gilbert at one Philly card and Funk at the other, so he could have thrown in a line about how neither one of their stinkin' hides may ever make it back to Memphis, and that he may already have the Unified title back by the time he's on TV again next week. Not a huge missed opportunity, but a noticeable one nonetheless.
  8. garretta
    To call this promo amazing would be redundant. Honestly, whatever Lawler, Dundee, and the rest taught young Eddie about the art of the promo really must have sunk in where he lived. Forget keeping up with Lawler; Eddie's to the point now where he's surpassing Lawler, and that's hard to do since the Kingfish isn't exactly slacking off himself. This is a feud that would be every bit as memorable if the combatants never laid a hand on each other. Of course, we know they will, and that just doubles the fun. Pete said in an earlier thread that they might have been rushing the stip matches. Normally, I'd agree, but this feud's been off and on for so long and had such hatred as a part of it that it feels right that Lawler and Gilbert want to skip the wrestling crap and go right to the blood and guts. I've seen Lawler's feuds with Dundee, Mantel, and Funk, but in terms of pure hatred on both sides, this one has them topped, and that's saying something. It's just amazing to watch unfold in something close to real time.
  9. garretta
    This is a side we don't often see of Eddie in promos: serious, gritty, and determined. There's a bit of bragging, but no flash whatsoever, and it's very compelling. I definitely want to see the Jarrett/Gilbert "coward waves the flag" match now, because I absolutely believe that Eddie's crazy enough to instruct his second not to wave it under any circumstances. An absolutely amazing promo in a run that's chock full of them.
  10. garretta
    Dundee hits it out of the park again. He's right about one thing; no one's been able to run him and Lawler out of Memphis for long. Hell, they can't even run each other out of town for long! I liked his references to gas prices too. Believe me, he was voicing what many in the audience felt (and still feel today) about the situation in the Middle East. Racism and xenophobia are never acceptable, but sometimes they're understandable, and late 1990 was one of those times. By the way, whatever happened to the Dundees/DWBs match that was advertised on the disc? Was it dated wrong, or was it a last-minute cut?
  11. garretta
    Both Eddies were brilliant here. I loved how the entire heel locker room came out to support Gilbert, and only he could make totally ignoring a match against a name wrestler (at least by Memphis standards) like Chris Champion seem like no big deal at all. Of course, Marlin is there as always to demand that they get back to wrasslin'. but without Lawler or Dundee to act as physical backup, he's thoroughly ignored. Then we get a top ten list that's 10% reality and 90% wishful thinking. Steamboat and Doc in Memphis? Not at this late date, although they might have convinced Doc to do a one-shot on his way either to or from Japan. To top it off, Brickhouse Brown gets jumped and waylaid by the Dirty White Boys, which puts his and Danny Davis' title shot later in the program in jeopardy. And Dave didn't think they'd get anything accomplished! I didn't notice Gaylord's antics, but I got a kick out of Tojo being the one to crown Eddie, since Eddie may be the only heel in Memphis at this time who's more obnoxious than he is. Also, if people like Dave and Eddie Marlin are so insulted about Gilbert crowning himself the new king, why not invite the "old" King out to do something about it? It's not like Lawler isn't looking to hospitalize Gilbert anyway. I've given up on the technical loss stuff. Like most rules in wrestling, it's there to be enforced when the promoter has a reason to and to be ignored when he doesn't. We may not have a lot of full matches from Memphis, but no other promotion understands the art of the angle better at this time.
  12. garretta
    I'd have liked to hear Marlin on the mic for a few seconds, but otherwise this was good as expected. Memphis really had a way of making their spot shows feel important, unlike the Big Two.
  13. garretta
    Nicely done little video, if a tad late for Halloween. I must admit that I completely missed any kind of story being told here, if there was one. I just assumed it was a costume pantomime with no real point except for the audience to see the luchadors in Halloween garb and performing Halloween-related actions. There were some nice special effects, kind of like what Vince might do if he took it in his head to do a video like this.
  14. garretta
    I have no idea what the point of those two guys cutting their promo in English was. Couldn't they at least speak Spanish phonetically? Not that what they said in English was especially groundbreaking. They look and talk like two of Vince's Superstars jobbers who got lost on the way to a taping and ended up in a Mexican zoo for some reason. I'd never heard of these guys before watching this segment, and after watching it, I know why.
  15. garretta
    Not too bad for someone who supposedly isn't even a wrestler, just some guy Heyman found in a bar. I still want to know exactly what Paul's problem is with Luger, though. The funniest part of this is when the Madman almost went to town on Heyman. They're really building him up as a loner here. Did he continue his career under any other identities?
  16. garretta
    Not really much here, but they're still selling the Scorpion for all he's worth. Based on what we saw at Havoc, be very very afraid, Paul.
  17. garretta
    This shows why Flair and Arn were such a good pair. Flair talks about the possessions he stands to lose, which is expected, and Arn ties it all back into the ring. Yes, this is a rather lame feud setup, but the Horsemen, as always, make it watchable. The line about Flair "owning" Teddy is terrible, but when you set up an angle as racist, this is what you get. At least he didn't call Teddy "jungle bunny" or make fun of his lips.
  18. garretta
    I agree about the video not making sense, especially if, as I seem to remember it, the Scrapers were actually faces for their reunion. If they'd stayed together, they might have been challenging Doom at some point, and yet most of the clips in the video feature none other than Teddy Long. Just a general question: How do you think Spivey would have fit in with the Horseman, whether as an actual member of the group or (much more likely) as an associate?
  19. garretta
    So now we get the racist stuff. I was afraid of this. Yes, it's going to be at least amusing watching Teddy be Ric and Arn's chauffeur, but couldn't they at least have made it so Teddy read the contract and agreed to the stipulation first? I know sneaking in stipulations on your enemies is a time-honored wrestling tradition, but in this case it makes the black manager of Doom look like he's too stupid (or possibly unable) to read what he signs before he signs it. I'm not sure what other Teddy-centric stipulation they could have come up with to "sweeten" the pot here, but this was certainly the wrong one. JR's taunting didn't help matters either. I still say they should have swapped Windham (or even Sid) for Flair here and had Flair put up the limo and boat in a title match with Sting.at Starrcade. They could have even teased Sting being Ric's chauffeur for a day if he loses (which he wouldn't). Same stips, much more compelling scenario, and no Scorpion to boot.
  20. garretta
    Thanks for telling us what happened later in that show, Pete. In other words, they couldn't come up with anything to put in the box, so they pulled a bait-and-switch. How typical. Teddy's really good here, using Simmons and Reed's names to bully his way everywhere, taunting Flair's employees, and talking about the changes he'll make to the boat once it belongs to him, including making some areas and features off-limits to Simmons and Reed. Why Flair wouldn't get a couple of wrestlers to guard the boat if he thought Teddy might try to come aboard, I don't know; the people he had working for him were barely bigger than Teddy, and the guy on the boat bailed at even the thought of tangling with Doom, though he did return later with help to evict Teddy. Loss brought up Teddy name-checking Oprah, Arsenio Hall, and James Brown as another example of Ole's race baiting, but I don't agree. He's a brother from the streets. Who's he going to want to check out the boat, Pat Sajak, Vicki Lawrence, and Amy Grant? That's not to excuse Ole's earlier racist stuff for a minute, but I think this is just Teddy staying in character. Hey, he offered JR and Bob a tour of the boat too! I'm going to watch the 11/17 interview with Teddy next to see if the box makes another appearance.
  21. garretta
    This whole tournament seems like an excuse for a Steiners/Muta and Saito match. Wouldn't Doom as the World tag team champions be the logical ones to represent the United States if this is truly a tournament for the best teams in the world? I don't think Soup really has a complaint. There are plenty of other matches besides the tournament, although the tournament does get the lion's share of the attention. from what I remember. The fact was, they had no viable challengers for the Steiners (since the Nasties had apparently left) and needed to have them wrestle someone of a higher caliber than some thrown-together midcarders. The tournament got Muta and Saito over here and allowed the fans to see them as a team before they wrestled Rick and Scott, so it served its purpose.
  22. garretta
    Even Herb Abrams couldn't seriously believe that Andre/Studd was still unsettled, could he? Given the relative health of both guys at this time, they should have had a match where the winner was the first man to get to the ring in one piece. Also, I know Albano is the master of hot air, but to say Andre can't be taken off his feet after the world saw Hogan slam him at Mania III? Even if you ignore all the other times Andre was put on the canvas after that (and there were many), that slam was the type of moment that would have made the front cover of Sports Illustrated if SI had been covering wrestling at the time. It can't be wiped out of the memory of anyone who saw it, and the fact that Abrams tried to do it (through Albano, of all people) shows just how delusional he was. Tolos might have been a good addition to the WWF managerial group if he'd kept talking like he did here. Not a replacement for Heenan in any way, shape or form, but a good manager. Ace is a fine start to his UWF stable.
  23. garretta
    The Viking may not have to introduce himself to the fans, but he sure as hell has to introduce himself to me, because I seriously have no idea who he is. Is this the guy who ultimately became Ludwig Borga? Whoever you are, pal, take this tip: If you're not going to tell us who you are, at least do something to make your promos memorable, because the same old heel stuff's not going to make us think of you any more fondly, or at all for that matter.
  24. garretta
    It seems that Abrams stole the script/notes from a 1988 Crockett promo featuring Ivan and Nikita and reproduced it for the current feud. I guess he wanted to pair wrestlers that fans just tuning in would know immediately in the hopes that they'd stay tuned, and I really can't fault him for that. Besides, as we've come to know currently, the "old ways" really aren't as dead in Russia as we'd like to believe. Maybe instead of being two or three years behind the times, old Herb was actually twenty-five years ahead! Yes, the T-shirt Nikita's wearing is about five years out of date, but you can't deny that he looks more impressive on the shirt than he does in the interview. Sadly (at least from a professional standpoint), he'd never even come close to that look or that level of success again.
  25. garretta
    Much like Rick Rude, Bill Eadie deserved a better sendoff than this. Loss made the point above that Jack Tunney shouldn't have needed to step in publically on the LOD's behalf, and I agree; they should have injured Ax somehow, which would have made the reduction of Demolition to only two members a feather in their caps. I'll reserve further comment until I see the LOD/Orients match a little while down the road. I could see Tunney ruling that there be no other third members of Demolition if Fuji had tried to introduce one, but that's about it, I find it hard to believe that anyone thought the LOD was in any kind of trouble whatsoever in any handicap matches involving Fuji, who'd looked absolutely awful, even for a manager, at Mania V against the Demos. Besides, shouldn't their main beef still have been with Smash and Crush, the ones who'd actually interfered, whether at Fuji's instigation or not?
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