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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    I'll comment on the contract signing footage in its appropriate thread. Knobbs and Sags are much better here than I remember them being with Vince; then again, that's the case with just about everyone. They seem scarier, like they really want to mess up the Steiners. The best part is, not one mention of "Nastyville", which seemed to be about every third word in their WWF promos, from what I remember. I had thought that Corny and the MX left right after Havoc, but it seems that they stuck around until at least mid-November, and that they were going to renew hostilities with the Southern Boys before they walked out. All I can say is, better late than never!
  2. garretta
    There's no record of who the mystery partner is; Graham Cawthon's site doesn't have results for the 10/21 Main Event. Put me down for King/Marley, who eats the pin in less than five minutes. Anybody else have a suspicion that this is the same old green screen stuff with fake crowd noise pumped in? If they were really doing this interview in front of a crowd, why wouldn't they use a platform or the ring? Stuff like this meant so much more when the Freebirds were actually being pushed as something. As it is, they're tired and old, which makes their opponents tired and old by association even though they're chronologically young. For those of you who cared (other than being insulted at the offensive remarks about Native Americans), I have a question: WHY?
  3. garretta
    I don't think a face turn was in the cards for Flair and Arn; there were still plenty of boos at the end of this segment. As long as Sid was threatening the Stinger, the Horsemen were heels no matter what else they did. Arn's promo was very good, but it almost seems like Flair's in this feud to back Arn's play, rather than out of any desire to win the tag title himself. You can't really blame him, I suppose, and there was no other singles belt for him to go after with Hansen challenging Luger, but maybe Barry would have been better in this spot, and Flair could have managed Sid at Havoc just to get himself a payday. Either that or bring over a Japanese champion who'd be willing to wrestle Flair, but not beat him clean. Who was the ace in New Japan, which is the promotion WCW was dealing with over there at the time? I should know this, but we have plenty of good matches on these discs that don't necessarily have anything to do with who the champion of a given promotion is.
  4. garretta
    Forget ten tag teams; you could barely find ten truly worthy singles wrestlers today. Of course, JYD and Buddy Landell are stretching it a bit, but so is the team of Rotundo and Horner. Indulging in a bit of Apter-ese here, shouldn't Arn be the automatic number two as the World TV champion? He does have a singles belt, after all.
  5. garretta
    The worst part is, the Scorpion's still shrouded in his robes; there's no way Gordon could have seen anything even without the blindfold. I get that this whole character is based on psychological intimidation and freaking Sting out, but why use someone like Gordon as a pawn? Why not JR, who's the promotion's main announcer and can spend four hours every weekend until the angle's over talking about what a creepy son of a bitch the Scorpion is? The answer is, of course, that Gordon and Ole go back to Georgia, which makes Gordon "trustworthy" and JR not. It's the same reason Ole's brought back half the Georgia roster circa 1981, and out of all of them, the only one really worthy of a push has been Hansen, who's a part-timer. I see that they're really trying to push the Warrior association with the "Tulsa" clue. Of course, Warrior was Sting's tag team partner with the UWF back in '86. Say, why not Bill Watts as the Scorpion? It would have made as much sense as anything else, and Watts is one of the few people whom Ole has ever been able to get along with. He could have been the mastermind, working with the Horsemen to not only beat Sting for the title but drive him out of his mind to boot. But he fails, and as his punishment, he has to take over the whole company!
  6. garretta
    It was nice to see a mask maker at work, even if I didn't understand the interview. Was that an actual luchador trying the mask on at the end, or was it one of the designers' assistants (or perhaps the designer himself)?
  7. garretta
    Was there ever any pretense in Japan about Abby being from Sudan? It sure doesn't seem like it, hearing him speak letter-perfect English here. This is one of those segments in which you have to understand Japanese in order to know what the point is. Was it to show Abby being grouchy? Was this actually a serious look at how the gaijin traveled? It's hard to tell just based on what we see here.
  8. garretta
    I would have expected just a bit more heat between these two given their past, but they act like a couple of old pals who were having a few drinks at the Penta Hotel bar and decided to come upstairs and do an interview segment just for the hell of it. Orton doesn't even try to keep a straight face while reacting to Albano's antics, and thank heaven we were spared a head-to-toe shot of Capper's fat in all its glory. In the midst of all the hilarity, Ace actually cuts a nice promo on the likes of Nikita, Orndorff, and Blair, none of whom he was ever programmed with in the UWF to the best of my knowledge. Orndorff/Orton would seem to be a natural feud given their WWF history, but Abrams put Orndorff with Doc instead. I thought it was comical that Albano namedropped Barry O as if he was the one with the big-time career. You can't tell me that wasn't meant to get a laugh from big brother Bob. By the way, Albano actually wrestled and played football at Tennessee, though I seriously doubt that he was an All-American in either sport. In his book, The Wit and Wisdom of Captain Lou, Capper admits to being kicked out of school due to a barfight. Yes, most of the book is kayfabe, but this is the kind of thing that it would make no sense to lie about.
  9. garretta
    Yeah, Billy Jack looks a bit crazed here, but he makes sure to tell us that he still loves the little kids. Whew, that's a relief! You can tell he's starting to lose it a bit, though, as he refers to the UWF as "The Universe" twice. Then again, maybe he was on some other planet since his heel turn in Portland a few months ago, and he's just now coming back to Earth. With Billy Jack, who can say for sure?
  10. garretta
    Andre looked and sounded about as good as he possibly could here. You could tell that he was thrilled to be back in the business and with his fans. I don't know how Abrams would have used him if he'd stayed, since he couldn't work anymore and never was all that great a talker, but for one-time pops, you can't beat him. This Albano segment was so much better than the last one because of the live crowd. Lou was as fired up as Andre was, and we got a little bit of the old Capper, which is always a good thing and something that was lacking during his final days with Vince. I hope we see more segments of the Corner done in front of a live crowd. It's way early, but Andre's line about UWF standing for "U Want to Fight?" is a contender for October's line of the month. Who knew he had it in him?
  11. garretta
    Not a bad promo from Paul. I would have liked to have seen him and Doc feud on a bigger stage, but I'm happy to take what I can get.
  12. garretta
    So they recognized Nikita's US title reign, they recognized his face turn, but they didn't recognize Ivan's own face turn and barely alluded to the fact that it was Albano who managed Ivan to the World title? Just checking. Ivan's always impressed me with his promo ability, and even at this late date he can still get it done on the mic. As for Capper, he's there because of his mainstream celebrity that came through his association with Cyndi Lauper, that's all. He has nothing to offer as a performer anymore, at least not the way Abrams is choosing to use him. He could have managed, since the tapings (at least most of them) were done at the Penta Hotel in New York right near his home, but Abrams chose to use him like this instead, or maybe this is what Lou himself wanted. Either way, his rants don't do anyone any good, since he can't back them up even by proxy. They'd have been better off with a Gene Okerlund type doing the interviews.
  13. garretta
    How else are you going to build up a feud between two guys like this? They have no real reason to be rivals or interact otherwise. Maybe you could say that the Killer Bees were better than Rotundo and Spivey in the WWF, but that's about it. If I remember correctly, Abrams didn't crown his first singles champion for several months, so they didn't even have a belt to contend for yet. It's a new promotion, guys. Let's let the dust settle for a week or two before we start calling things lame.
  14. garretta
    Like the last trios bout where Konnan turned, this was more angle than match. It almost gets to the point where you feel sorry for Perro and Timbs, as the tecnicos give them everything they've had coming for years and then some. They even blatantly doubleteam, mostly because they know that there's no one available who's going to do much about it. This is as close to a squash as I've seen yet in lucha. I don't remember seeing Konnan in a lucha match from here on out, if what I remember of the match listings is correct. The only other time we see him is when he and Rey Misterio Sr. represent Mexico in the tag team tournament at Starrcade '90. Would anyone care to fill us in on how the whole "Konnan as tweener" storyline turned out?
  15. garretta
    When you think about the match these two could have had, the one they had here is extremely disappointing. Mick does some nice wrestling that you don't expect to see, but is that really what we want from Cactus Jack? Meanwhile, Eddie seems to have gotten Kingfish Disease, which causes performers to not give a damn on indy dates when they're the hottest star in Memphis. Maybe it's because this is the opening match on the card and they'd been told beforehand to keep it basic, but this is so much less than it could have been in front of a full house at the Mid-South Coliseum, for example. At the very least, if Eddie running over Lawler is a hot enough angle to mention, it's a hot enough angle to justify moving this match into a position on the card where these two can really shine. As it was, the hottest thing we saw here was Mick's prematch promo, which looked like it caught the referee by surprise, as he'd already rung the bell to start the match. By the way, for those wondering why Eddie's attempted murder of Lawler got cheers from the Philly crowd, remember that the last time he was seen in Philly (at least that we know of), he was playing a rather pathetic game of "hide the chain" with Kerry Von Erich. After that match, it's a wonder that some of the more maniacal members of the Philly faithful didn't try to beat Eddie to the punch five months early.
  16. garretta
    This was a neat little scientific march for a while until Muta said "the hell with this" and rammed Hase into the ringpost. Then it became a war of attrition, as Muta struggled to put the plucky Hase away and Hase struggled to pull the upset before he bled out. Then Muta got frustrated and started attacking everyone in sight, giving Hase the win by DQ but also assuring that he'd need help back to the locker room. This was an effective way to show Muta as the crazy side of Keiji Muto, which NJPW would apparently continue to do from time to time over the years. I liked how he showed off both the green mist and the red mist during the introductions; it reinforced the notion of his unpredictability. So did his choice of weapon to beat Hase down with; the only time I've ever seen a stretcher used as a weapon is in a stretcher match, and even then it's only for a shot or two. Muta used it like he wanted Hase to wear it home around his neck. Impressive blade job from Hase. It's one of the best I've seen outside of ECW. This is a good one if you want to see a different side of Muta than the one WCW promoted. This version could have really given Sting or Luger fits if he'd chosen to remain stateside. The question is: Would Ole have booked him this way? Based on what we've seen from him so far, I doubt that he would have been smart enough.
  17. garretta
    This really wasn't much of a match; it was a great angle and beatdown, though. Actually, it was two angles in one: Konnan's rudo turn and the setup for the mask match between Jalisco and Caras. It was rare back then that one segment affected two separate storylines, so it was nice to see here. The beatdown was a tad long, but it had enough action in it that it didn't become totally boring. I like that Konnan didn't actually begin to physically attack his partners until the third fall; two falls of one match isn't a ton of time in which to build an angle, but it was better than having him turn right off the bat. If he'd done that, there would have been no logical reason for the match (such as it was) to continue. I see we have another Konnan trios bout coming up this month. Can't wait to see how his story progresses.
  18. garretta
    This wasn't a wrestling match as much as it was a happening. I'm not exactly a lucha expert, but Cien Caras had to be one of the best rudos in lucha history for his unmasking to be this big of a deal. I've never seen a ring so full of photographers and media people. As for the match itself, the opening guitar shot from Caras was probably the greatest one ever given to another wrestler; Wayne Ferris wishes he could have swung a guitar so well. Jalisco certainly needed to drop that fall as quickly as he could to give himself time to recover, which was undoubtedly one reason for the odd tombstone submission. The repeated headbutts used by Jalisco to gain the second fall looked tremendous, but how in the world do you explain a man who'd most likely been concussed by a guitar using headbutts to beat his opponent? Wouldn't that simply hurt the guy who was giving the headbutts and had been hit with the guitar even more? Obviously, whoever booked this match chose to ignore that question. The third fall was pretty standard stuff, but the postmatch was unbelievable. I've seen luchadors refuse to get their hair cut when they'd lost a hair match, but I'd never seen one refuse to take their mask off when they'd lost a mask match before. Even Jalisco's attempts to beat Caras down and tear the mask off of him didn't succeed; it pretty much fell off because it had already been untied. Even to the end, Caras was defiant and surly, which is what you would expect from a dyed-in-the wool rudo. The celebration, with Jalisco accepting a beer from a fan at one point and then being carried out of the arena on the shoulders of his admirers, was something to see; you very seldom get that type of emotion in the U.S, or even Japan. This is my second choice for lucha match of the year, behind the Dandy/Azteca match from 6/1. Now, if only I can come to understand the tag/trios style a little better, I'll be all set.
  19. garretta
    A tremendous match, but not quite as epic as the tag from 9/30, which I watched earlier. Of course, that's nothing against it, as that match had four guys beating the hell out of each other for forty-five minutes with no resolution. This time, Jumbo gets the win, but you see how he was pushed to his limits to get it, having to hit each of his big moves in rapid succession until Misawa was simply too overwhelmed to kick out. This match featured more anger and desperation from both men, as evidenced by the brief but extremely heated sequences outside the ring. This has definitely reached epic feud territory since their first hookup (that we saw, at least) in late May. Was Jumbo having legitimate problems with his equilibrium? I've noticed in his last few bouts that he shakes his head a lot after being in a side headlock for a long time or having forearms or punches thrown at the side of his head. Maybe he's getting a cauliflower ear, which wouldn't be surprising after all the time he's spent in the ring. So now the one-on-one score (again, at least in the matches we've seen) is even at one match apiece, and the buildup begins for Round 3. It should be a classic!
  20. garretta
    Thanks, Tim. Looking forward to those bouts!
  21. garretta
    This was a weird match. Zenjo's right about the crowd being dead, especially in comparison to the Misawa/Kawada-Jumbo/Taue bout from 9/30 that I watched before this. As for the match itself, the Tastics were the much more fluid team, but Kobashi got the pinfall to continue his own push, which is kind of strange. Neither he nor Ace looked as good as either Rogers or Fulton did, in my opinion. The Tastics are on fire in Japan this year, and they'd have been an excellent signing for WCW if they'd needed face challengers for Doom. I haven't seen much of the Horsemen/Doom stuff yet, so I can't say whether the Tastics would have been better challengers for Simmons and Reed, but a Tastics/Doom series would have freed up Flair and Arn to still be part of an all-out Horseman push to take the World title from Sting, which surely would have been better than the Black Scorpion mess. I think Ace looked more natural as a Dynamic Dude, though I do like the fact that he and Kenta use the Doomsday Device, probably as a tribute to Ace's big brother Animal.
  22. garretta
    An incredible tag match. Forty-five minutes of four guys trying everything possible to vanquish each other, and yet none of it works. Taue bleeds a gusher, Kawada almost gets his ribs cracked, Jumbo almost gets knocked into the next solar system over, and they just keep fighting. Even the fact that both sides begin to repeat spots because they don't know what else to do fits into the narrative; they're visibly wondering, "How in the hell are we going to put these guys away?" Finally, one last Misawa/Kawada doubleteam almost does the trick, but the time limit runs out before they can capitalize. A fitting ending to an dead-even bout. This is my number two Japan bout right now behind the sick brawl between Doc and Hansen. It knocked Liger/Sano out of the two spot, which shows you just how good this one is in my view. The amazing thing is, there's lots more to come!
  23. garretta
    I was able to get into this more than usual, mostly because of the style clash between the superheavyweight (at least for lucha) Brazos and the high-flying technicos. I especially liked the spot where Eddie slammed Super Porky after three tries. Also, the height that the technicos got on some of their dives was absolutely incredible, particularly the one Eddie used to get one of the Brazos counted out in the second fall. Boy, was Porky sweating or what? I know he's a big guy, but for him to sweat like that it had to have been hot for Mexico in mid-September.
  24. garretta
    This almost felt like the main event of the night, mostly because it was a known commodity, and these two certainly delivered. It was a bit strange seeing Luger in the champion's role at first, but once I got into the meat of the bout, I was on familiar ground. This was only slightly different in structure and style from Luger's challenges for the World title, even though Luger and Flair's roles were reversed. I loved the shoulder injury as a transition; I'd never seen an injury worked in quite that way before, although I've seen heels fake being hurt many times. Maybe it was the fact that Nick Patrick was as faked out as Luger was that made it different. I also loved the references to Flair's past as U.S. champion. JR mentioning Flair's first title win over Bobo Brazil was a neat bonus, as was Bob remembering the plane crash in '75. He would too, since he worked for the Raleigh TV station where Crockett taped one of his shows, although I'm not sure he was in the business as an announcer back then. Nice shot at the WWF by JR, calling Flair "the ultimate". He also shows that he's aware of his clichés, noting that many people criticize him for using the term "physical match" too much (which he does). He follows that up by saying, "Well, guess what? This is a physical match!" Take that, you stupid critics! I kind of liked the Hansen run-in. Yes, it would have been nice to see Luger finally pin Flair on national TV, but at least they gave Stan a credible reason for causing the DQ: his anger at being number six in the top ten. I could have done without the big tobacco stain on Luger's chest, though, and I think Luger could have too. Why they insisted on playing up Hansen's tobacco chewing to such a ludicrous and disgusting extent I'll never know. It's not like we needed to be constantly reminded that he was from Texas. I think that this was the last Luger/Flair nationally televised match before Flair left for Vince. If it was, it was a logical, if not entirely satisfying, conclusion to this chapter of their feud.
  25. garretta
    Nice to see the Maritimes promotion represented on the set. That said, there's no way this match was in any way superior to a comparable WCW TV match. It was okay, but nothing I'd go out of my way to see again. Plus, it was damaged by Bulldog Bob Brown on commentary. The man contributed almost nothing but insults of everyone and everything he could think of; between that and the play-by-play guy's shoutouts, the match could have been between almost any two guys instead of the promotion's champion and his top challenger. Brown's run-in which DQs Rogers is kind of shrugged off, which makes me wonder if he was just a guest or if he was the regular color man. If he was regular, there should have been a much, much bigger deal made out of this, as full-time commentators very seldom get involved in matches that they're calling. He's supposedly attacked by a fan during the match, but again this is almost shrugged off with a perfunctory warning to the fans about staying in their seats, which makes me think that it didn't really happen. If it had, we would have seen at least the aftermath of it. There's no way this Maritime Giant was seven feet tall, let alone seven-five as Rogers claimed.
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