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garretta

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  1. garretta
    I broke this down with Matt on another thread, and I came up with The Barbarian as the best alternate challenger for Warrior if they hadn't gone with Rude. He still had Heenan, and he was much more of a muscleman in the Warrior's class. As for what we saw, Rude keeps knocking these into the upper deck, but we've still got two months plus before their first televised title match on SNME and three months before SummerSlam, and no group of promos, no matter how well done, can sustain a feud that long by themselves. He should have put a top babyface in the hospital to cement his new status as a buttkicker, but with the Hogan/Ouake stuff already going on, Vince probably didn't want the get well cards going anywhere else. You couldn't even have Rude put Hogan in the hospital instead of Quake, because if Rude stlll had his shot at the Warrior at SummerSlam, who would Hogan have fought?
  2. garretta
    I noticed right away that Dusty was wearing jeans instead of his polka-dot trunks, which meant that he was going to get serious, and he did. This was right out of the Crockett playbook circa 1986, and the fans loved it. This is the Dusty that should have shown up from day one. I appreciate that the showman in Dusty thought he could get the polka dots over, and he did, but I like him so much better this way it isn't funny, polka dot top aside. It's just a shame that Sapphire is so limited. I liked that she slapped the taste out of Brother Love's mouth, but she's basically been window dressing in this feud. Yes, Dusty can talk for two (or two hundred if need be), but with Sherri so hot right now, it would have been nice if Sapphire would have at least been able to do something on the stick. Maybe they were going for a Miss Elizabeth "shrinking violet" routine, especially since Sapphire wasted no time hiding behind Dusty after she slapped Brother Love, but Juanita was too physically big for that, plus she'd at least been able to say a few words here and there before. Of course, considering how this feud petered out in the months ahead, it really didn't make that much difference in the end anyhow.
  3. garretta
    With apologies to Harley Race and Bobby Heenan, Savage and Sherri are the best pair ever to have the royalty gimmick in the WWF. I'm not talking about the King of the Ring tournament or Lawler showing up as The King of Memphis, I'm talking about the original crown-and-robe schtick that was done with Race in mind. Harley and the Brain were quite the pair, but Bobby didn't work a tenth as hard in the sidekick role as Sherri did, and this interview stands as proof. I loved her begging Randy to force Dusty to kiss both of her feet; it just seems so in character somehow. I loved Gene also: "And they call these two royalty." Also, I don't think Harley was much of a character promo; he was a good straight ahead talker, but he couldn't really get into the royal metaphors and still sound like a buttkicker at the same time, and Bobby, beyond the "show proper respect for the King" bit, never really got into it either, at least not like these two. Haku didn't need the gimmick at all, and neither did Duggan.
  4. garretta
    Back to the talk of normals and Little Warriors running unquestioningly to the ends of the earth. Look, I know superheroes don't just say "I'm gonna kick your butt, Rude!" and have done with it, but wasn't there a way to make this guy sound a tad less weird, especially since Rude essentially ditched his gimmick in order to be taken more seriously as a challenger? The only lines that really made sense was when Warrior said that he hoped Rude would bring his best physically and mentally, and that what happened between them for the IC title would happen again for the World title; more stuff like that and we might have had something we could have listened to without the aid of hallucinogens.
  5. garretta

    Matches of the month

    garretta replied to Loss's topic in 1990

    Nothing changed in March except for Flair/Morton from 3/24 taking over the third spot in WCW. Now, here are the rankings through April: WWF: 1. Hogan/Hansen 4/13 Tokyo Dome (not as well known as the Mania VI main event, but a much better worked match in front of just as hot a crowd) 2. Hogan/Warrior Mania VI (Warrior's best match ever and the promotion's second most famous to that time, so it deserves a spot). 3. Garvin/Valentine NWA: 1. Flair/Luger WrestleWar 2. MX/Rock 'n' Roll WrestleWar 3. Flair/Morton (the best TV match from Flair in a sea of superb ones so far this year) Japan: 1. Liger/Sano 2. Hogan/Hansen 3. Vader/Hansen Overall: 1. Flair/Luger 2. Liger/Sano 3. Hogan/Hansen
  6. garretta
    There's not a whole lot left for me to say that hasn't already been said. The two real MVPs of the match never stepped into the ring: Pat Patterson (for laying the match out so both guys could look good) and Jesse Ventura (for his best commentary job ever). Gino was hurt a bit here because he couldn't be outraged at the antics of the heels; of course, there were no heels. The only semi-snarky line of the match was Jesse's crack about Richard Belzer and the front facelock. He even correctly pointed out that Warrior blew himself up running to the ring, while Hogan took his time entering. I also like that he said that Hulkamania will live forever; I'm pretty sure this is the last Hogan match he ever called, so it was nice to hear him give Hogan some props on the way out. I didn't know that the whole knee injury spot from Hogan was a shot at Sting. I would ask why Vince felt the need to have that done during the second-biggest bout in his own promotion's history, but this is Vince we're talking about, so that answers my question. I wish that we could have gotten some actual work on the knee from Warrior, but it would have taken away from the "Clash of the Titans" feel to have one of the titans injured, and I'm not sure Warrior knew how to work a body part anyway. We get a false count for each guy to set up a possible rematch. and the historic close: Warrior celebrating with both the belts and his public while Hogan takes the long, cruel ride back to the locker room. I like how they teased a Hogan heel turn for half a second or so before the big hug and belt presentation. Finally. that was Earl Hebner as the referee, right? I think I read that Dave went to the office once Earl showed up as a ref. My number two WWF Match of the Month for April, and also for WWF Match of the Year (Hogan/Hansen beats it out for both honors.)
  7. garretta
    The pace here is much slower than in the other WCW tag matches we've seen so far on the set, and that hurts this one a bit. This is basically a two-fall bout with the first fall being over so quickly, and it's obvious that Rock 'n' Roll have to slow down to prevent themselves from making the Birds look even more ridiculous than they already are with that awful eye makeup. These are far from the ass-kickers I loved so much in their days with Fritz and Watts. The sad thing is that Hayes and Garvin looked good as a face team when they worked a mini-program with the Horsemen just after Turner bought Watts out, and now two years later they're almost completely shot to hell. Hayes even sounds lackluster on the pre-match promo. Let's see, what else was wrong? Corny on commentary, for one thing. Everyone who's followed JCP/WCW for the last four and a half years knows how much he hates Ricky and Robert, and I expected a healthy dose of one-liners at their expense, but the constant distortion of everything that went on in the ring to make it look like they were total scrubs grated on me. Just because it's a heel commentator staple doesn't make it any easier to listen to, and Corny had avoided it for the most part so far on the other matches he called. I guess Gordon Solie missed this particular taping. Finally, we had the non-showing of the whipping at the end of the bout. First, when something like that is conveniently "not shown", it makes me wonder whether it was done at all, especially since the choking sequence we saw was more than enough to establish the need for some type of strap match. Secondly, I can understand TBS not wanting to show blood or graphic shots of skin being taken off, but don't make it out like JR flipped his wig in the booth and unilaterally decided not to have the footage shown. Come out honestly and state that the whipping we're ostensibly about to see violates TBS broadcast policy, and thus we need to go to break. Hearing JR scream, "We're not gonna show that!" over and over implies that it was his decision, and even if he does act as producer of the shows he announces (which even marks know if they read the credits), it's not really his call and shouldn't sound like it is.
  8. garretta
    I had no idea what I was seeing from start to finish, mostly because of the garbage camera work, which was subpar even for a handheld. Guys bleeding out of nowhere and some jerk in a shirt screaming at them for some completely unknown reason aren't entertaining to me at all. Even Vince's stupidest bullshit is miles better than this.
  9. garretta
    Not as much of a squash as I thought it was going to be based on the comments here. Tenryu got his offense in, and Jumbo sold it like it was any other bout. Still, you kind of knew Tenryu was working from behind after being knocked cold by Hansen right off the bat. Stan does his usual number on everything that moves, and we get quite the postmatch brawl to set up the new era. This was as well done as could be expected under the circumstances, and it's nice to know that Tenryu will land on his feet, as evidenced by his big win over Savage.
  10. garretta
    Thanks, Loss. Whatever the reason he ultimately left, finishes like this sure didn't help.
  11. garretta
    Marc mentioned something about Gossett hitting Travis during a match the previous week, so there's at least a partial explanation for the turn. This is getting dangerously close to killing Dallas. Since none of the Memphis title changes are apparently recognized there, they've had matches similar to this since SuperClash III, with Lawler displaying next to no skill whatsoever, spending endless amounts of time on the mic, and saving his title through every last technicality in the rulebook, with not even the Von Erichs able to do much about it. it doesn't help when they book Jeff, of all people, as too stupid to come in out of the rain. Raising your hands in victory while the chain you used to knock out Lawler is still on one of them? You can't tell me he forgot that he still had it ten seconds after he used it. It's just ridiculous, as was the endless beatdown of Jeff and Dundee, complete with splashes by Gossett. I guess the fans are supposed to believe in Billy Joe Travis now, but he's no bigger or more skilled than Jeff, and look what happened to him. If I'd been a Metroplex wrestling fan at the time, I'd have checked out the Rangers. I'll miss Marc; he'd have been a good replacement for Lance on the Memphis side had circumstances been different. I loved how his disgust grew as the idiotic beatdown wore on and on, and also as Gossett manhandled Jeff. I wonder if Papa Jarrett tried to arrange for Dave Brown to have the night off from WMC on Fridays so he could fly to Dallas and do color? I think the Dallas fans would have taken to him just like the Memphis fans did. Anyway, I'm starting to see why Papa Jarrett abandoned Dallas before too much longer. The problem is, he probably didn't see that he and Lawler caused their own problems with their laziness and total lack of respect for the Dallas fans. I see from reading some of the threads from later in the set that they tried to turn Lawler in Dallas before the end of the year, but it seems to me to be a case of too little, too late.
  12. garretta
    Unless Hogan-Warrior shows me something I haven't seen before, this is my WWF Match of the Month for April. Just a tremendous brawl, the kind Hogan used to work on Japan tours regularly. His wrestling sequences looked a bit rusty, but they were bound to be, since he hadn't used them in years. Lots of brawling into the crowd, and even the announcers had to be on their toes, including Mel Phillips. (I saw him get shoved, but not whipped, although I'm not doubting it happened.) In the end, Hansen does the job with style, which Gordy (if I recall) was reluctant to do, even with the title on the line. I don't think he could have had a better match with Hogan than this one, though. As for John and his projected Hogan/Hansen feud, Vince would probably have wanted nothing to do with it unless Stan was willing to drop All-Japan entirely and come stateside fulltime. He'd have probably had the Zeus run in '89, complete with a Beefcake program similar to the one Ron Bass got and the SummerSlam tag match with Savage. The only appreciable difference might have been that the No Holds Barred match would have been Hogan/Hansen singles in a cage, with Hogan going over in a lot more of a squash than we got here, since he had to be seen as all-powerful heading into Mania against Warrior. Stan would have probably had Sherri as a manager, since he'd have been brought in by Savage, and I'm not sure he'd have been allowed to use the lariat, since most of the guys in the WWF used the clothesline frequently. The Boston crab would have been out too, since that was protected for Rick Martel. His finisher would probably have been something like the Pedigree, only done the way Bass did it with the arms unhooked. In short, we got the best we were going to get with this one match. I highly doubt a Hansen program would have been very memorable; in fact, the Poffo/Hennig series that John scrapped for it in his post was more memorable, since Lanny beat Hogan on SNME, which I doubt Stan would have come close to doing.
  13. garretta
    I never thought this would be as good as it was. Tenryu's reaction to seeing the King and Queen's entrance was classic, as was Sherri fighting with everyone she could. The match itself was excellent too, mainly because Tenryu decided to work it Savage's way instead of insisting on being his normal self. (It would have been just as good if Randy had decided to work All-Japan style too, but that clearly wasn't happening on one of Vince's shows). Tenryu would have been quite a good babyface in the WWF had he wanted to be, as this match shows. Unfortunately, they'd have probably made him the stereotypical Japanese salt-throwing heel instead, complete with Fuji as manager. The finish was a bit strange, but they probably wanted to protect Randy a bit, since the match was fully covered by the Apter mags for North American consumption. Sherri's tantrum at the end was classic. By the way, was that Jumbo she got in the face of about halfway through? I take nothing Tully says about managers seriously. Outside interference is one of the reasons managers even exist in the first place, and he's just pissed off that he was ever put with any; he thought he could draw all the heat he needed by himself, even though the promoters clearly didn't. As The Brain himself once told Rick Rude (I think): "If Vince thought you could draw heat without me, he'd have never put you with me in the first place." He should feel blessed that he was ever paired with the likes of JJ Dillon and Heenan.
  14. garretta
    This was ECW with heart and heat. I can see where Heyman got the idea for his craziest brawls from in this match, but it's different when 1) You're fighting with what's attached to the wrestlers or can be found around ringside instead of bringing in carts full of weapons with no other purpose except to be destroyed and 2) The fans care about the wrestlers instead of just enjoying the fact that four guys are randomly beating the hell out of each other. Dragon Master was the revelation for me here; he did almost nothing as one of J-Tex in WCW, but here he's inspired, using chairs on everything that dares to breathe. Kurisu and his boots were just as insane. I liked the fact that we had the occasional legal tag just to show that things hadn't completely gone to hell. Two falls seems low for a Texas Death match, but after watching these four for only a few seconds, you know that they have no use for such things as pinfalls. My Japanese match of the year so far, knocking Vader/Hansen from 2/10 out of the top spot.
  15. garretta
    People talk about the WWF tag division from the late eighties, but it didn't give us nearly as many good matches as the NWA's in 1990. This was another tremendously worked match, with Pillman and Zenk getting most of the offense as revenge for the MX trying to crush Brian's throat and stealing the US tag team belts. Unfortunately for them, the MX regain their equilibrium at just the right time, as Lane smashes Pillman with the racquet as he comes off the top to get the three count. Between the MX, Pillman/Zenk, and Rock 'n' Roll, this is already the best tag division in North America, and we haven't even seen more than a clip or two of the World Champion Steiners, the Road Warriors, or soon-to-be World Champions Doom. I don't think the racquet was supposed to have caught Pillman in the throat. If it was, the director made a bad decision, because instead of seeing Brian sell the injury, we saw the MX celebrating before we went to break.
  16. garretta
    This might be a throwaway on TBS's C show, but you wouldn't know it by watching these five guys (including Nick Patrick) work. Eaton in particular is pulling out moves I've never seen before, and it's glorious. Nick's leapfrog might seem overly showy to some, but better that than standing there waiting to get bumped. like some refs do. I know there's a time and place for ref bumps, but most of them show no athletic ability whatsoever, and you'd think that they'd have to have some type of athleticism to be licensed. At any rate, the finish was bullshit, but acceptable bullshit considering that Rock 'n' Roll and the Birds had a program going. Count me among the minority that didn't like Teddy Long on commentary; there's only one heel who can get away with "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" while being entertaining, and he's on the other channel (Heenan, of course). He was good ragging on the refs, though, considering that his firing as an official was still relatively fresh in the fans' minds. I'm not sure if I like Lance as much in WCW as I did in Memphis, as he seems much more theatrical, almost an imitation of himself. He's best with good ol' Davey, Billy, and the Kingfish (Brown, Dundee, and Lawler) right along ringside Saturday mornings on Channel 5. But I've heard him say that he had a great time working for Turner and made a ton of money, so who am I to judge, really?
  17. garretta
    This is the UWF's equivalent of The 1-2-3 Kid beating Razor Ramon. Yamazaki fights hard, but still gets squashed for the most part until one kick stuns Fujiwara and the next one knocks him out for good. The post-match celebration was a genuine feel-good moment, as there was a joy here that can only come out of utter shock. This win alone ought to make Yamazaki's career for quite a while, and it'll be interesting to see if it does.
  18. garretta
    More action and point-scoring than most shoot-style matches, as Anjo's outclassed early but doesn't give up and comes back to make a match out of it. The finish comes out of nowhere, as I literally didn't see the hold that got Takada the submission. Some nice nearfalls if this had been a traditional match. This style's still not my favorite, but this match had enough to keep me entertained.
  19. garretta
    I admired Takano's pluckiness and aggression, and those headbutts looked nasty. Maeda gets the quick submission with the anklelock, though. It seemed like there were too many potential knockdowns and rope breaks that weren't called. I know this is a work like all pro wrestling, but wouldn't more scoring of points before the finish increase the excitement for the fans?
  20. garretta
    They should have found a native willing to do the job here, although Teddy was at least a familiar name to the Japanese public. Warrior got decent pops on his entrance and exit, but the Japanese fans were used to seeing a much better DiBiase than we got here. I don't blame Teddy under the circumstances, of course, but facts remain facts. They were probably wondering why he couldn't do anything but throw weak punches and forearms that Warrior easily sloughed off, plus one suplex and one piledriver, which Warrior also sloughed off. I would love to have heard a translation of the Japanese commentary to find out what they were really saying during the match, and also during the prematch segment where Warrior stomped around and growled like a crazy man. That was probably something like, "You call this a wrestler? He belongs in the nuthouse, for God's sake!" I guess this is what happens when you're faced with chicken feathers and don't have the ingredients to make them into chicken salad. At least they had the good sense to promote Hogan/Hansen as the main event. Interesting story about the crowd reactions; they were used to seeing three-fall classics for World titles, and now they barely get ten minutes. Talk about a drastic change! By the way, where was Mike Jones (Virgil)? Did he just stay home, or was there a special reason why he wasn't in Teddy's corner?
  21. garretta
    I liked this one. Yes, it was the typical Hogan extended squash, but Hogan showed energy, which he doesn't always do in bouts like this. Curt knew better days were ahead, so he basically played out the string, taking a few bumps but otherwise being inoffensive. The commentary here was typical of SNME, with Vince slobbering all over Hogan and Jesse pointing out every little flaw in detail (though he gave Hogan credit for forcing Curt into a brawl, which suited Hogan better stylistically) . It was all a little tiresome by now, but what else did you expect? About Hogan killing the Perfectplex: Baloney. He killed it for himself, definitely, but it was still a guaranteed finisher for anyone else when it was used on them. Just like Savage's elbow and Sheik's camel clutch, both of which he survived but no one else did. I don't know what people want out of the Hogan character sometimes. He's not going to show all that much vulnerability, because he's not your ordinary everyday wrestler. He's a breed above, a force that's unlike anything human ever, a comic book come to life. You may disagree with Vince adopting the philosophy, but he adopted it and stuck to it. Is a hooked leg, which is all the Perfectplex is in the end, supposed to be enough to beat a guy who outweighs Curt by forty-five pounds at least and is much stronger than he is simply because that's the move Curt chooses to finish everyone else off with? How about the double chinlock, a rest hold at any other time which is only different because Sheik pulled the arms back as he applied it? The so-called "greatest force in the universe" jobbing to, or even bothering to sell, a freakin' double chinlock? I wouldn't have either if I was Hogan, especially as a finisher. You can even say the same about Savage's elbow, unless there was a loaded elbowpad involved. Are there certain finishers he should sell? Sure. Orndorff's piledriver, Bundy's avalanche, Quake's splashes, and there are a few more. But even if he hadn't (and he sold a ton for Bundy and Quake), that doesn't mean that fans shouldn't expect ordinary humans to have severe neck injuries or to be crushed like grapes and go to the hospital after taking one. It just means that Hulk Hogan isn't an ordinary human. It takes more to put him away, and those three guys are just three more who don't have what it takes.
  22. garretta
    Much better than the typical WWF face/face matches, which feature boring "scientific" exchanges for 90% of the match, then a half-hearted brawl that leads to a no-contest of some sort. Here, both teams are working hard, and it truly feels like a back and forth match, with the Harts looking better here than at any time since their turn. Then Demolition comes down, and the focus changes to them and doesn't leave, I get that they're trying to build a three-way feud here, but it wouldn't have hurt to have a decision (not necessarily a pinfall, but some kind of decision) in this match before the big brawl started. As it was, it just seemed that this bout was put on the card to give the Demos an excuse to do a run-in, and it deserved more. We're left to wonder if it would have been the Harts who turned if it wasn't for Ax's illness and the signing of the Road Warriors. Face Demos vs. heel Harts would have been tremendous. So would face Demos vs. heel Rockers, come to think of it. As Pete said, one of the big face teams had to turn soon to make way for the LOD. The Demos were the obvious choice under the circumstances that prevailed, but not necessarily the only choice. This match directly set up a Demos/Rockers tag title match on the next SNME, which aired in July. By then, Crush had arrived, and the Demos were almost full-fledged heels.
  23. garretta
    Like Kevin, I was expecting a rather decisive win for Teddy, so this match surprised me. Shawn looked pretty good for a so-called "tag team specialist", and that label and the way the WWF was faintly patronizing with it annoyed me back then, and still does. No other team was ever labeled that way, although as a rule tag team wrestlers very seldom had singles bouts in the WWF. Lord Alfred in particular made it sound like Shawn would be completely helpless in the ring against DiBiase, and constantly says that Shawn will be looking to tag Marty. I know he's not supposed to be on Jesse's, or even Heenan's, level as a commentator by now, but this was just ridiculous. At any rate, we also see Teddy looking solid when he's on offense, and Virgil's getting more physically involved as they slowly get the fans used to seeing him in combat. Of course, Teddy's big issue here is with Bossman, and we find out that Lord Alfred actually takes Teddy's side in the feud, which is interesting. The double DQ was a different finish than was usual in these bouts. Mike McGuirk, who never really got good at ring announcing, messes up so badly (by calling the finish a double countout) that even Gino calls her out on it, which is rare. As for his comments about Joey, he has a point; even though it's a fun spot to see when refs push wrestlers out of a pin that's assisted by the pulling of tights while in a headlock, they really aren't supposed to get physically involved in that way. Of course, I've seen Gino throw chops and give the heels bodyslams when he was a guest ref for Senior back in the late seventies, so maybe he doesn't have much room to talk.
  24. garretta
    I like that even after Heenan comes down to ringside to distract Tito, Curt wins the match cleanly with a wrestling move. This reestablishes his credibility after his loss to Beefcake at Mania, which might have been done to set up Beefcake's eventual challenge for the IC title that was scrubbed due to his accident. Tito's going for it all from the start, breaking up perfectly clean go-behinds with elbows to the ears, which predictably makes Jesse hot. He's a lot more aggressive than usual here, almost like he knows that this may be one of his last chances to be a champion, and takes the fight to Curt, which is nice to see. That's part of why he was never completely deemphasized, although he'd lose more and more as time went on: he was one of the few faces who could reliably put on good in-ring performances and get heels over in competitive bouts. Boy, will Vince miss Jesse. This may be the best match for the two of them in quite a while, as Vince isn't in super-nuts SNME mode and actually pays a bit of attention to what goes on in the ring, which inspires Jesse to follow suit. No other commentator- not Heenan, not Piper, and certainly not Lawler- has as much chemistry with Vince as Jesse does, mostly because, unlike the other three, Jesse actually cares about getting over the matches instead of telling jokes. Once he leaves, WWF commentary will never be the same, and that goes right up to the present day.
  25. garretta
    Maybe the single most dramatic segment of TV anywhere so far this year, particularly the sudden death overtime. I think that if they'd stayed with this and educated the fans to accept it as a legitimate way to end a match quickly, the "first knockdown" might have had a future. Unfortunately, they didn't. Lawler is the star of this segment, expertly stalling in an effort to take the bout to a draw because he still thinks he can escape with the belt that way. He even tries to explicitly run away with the title, telling Eddie Marlin to stick the new rules up his butt, in so many words. That might have been an interesting way to put over the new rules as well if the match had been against a jobber like Ben Jordan. But since it's Valiant, we thankfully get sudden death. Dave's uncharacteristically sloppy at times here, forgetting to even acknowledge Valiant's sleeper early in the bout although it was a clear near-fall. On the other hand, he doesn't ignore the obvious cheers for Lawler, though he points out that the whole crowd isn't doing it. It must have been hard to treat Lawler like a despicable rat when he obviously had the overwhelming majority of the fan support, but Dave manages to do so without sacrificing his credibility, as does Eddie. To his credit, Jimmy just ignores it all and plows forward, unlike Dusty did when the TBS crowds cheered Flair instead of him. (I forgot to mention that Dave also doesn't insult the fans' intelligence by refusing to acknowledge who the New York Mauler really is when he comes out, although he takes care to say that the match is still valid whether the wrestler in question is Mauler or Valiant.) At this point, changing everything just to formally turn Lawler would have done no good; it was just better for them to go ahead with their plans until they could find their opening to do so, which they apparently did fairly soon.
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