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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    I wouldn't say that this was bad, but it was certainly strange. I say that becuse of the way the match was set up out of nowhere. These guys have been feuding on and off since after Mania IX, and now all of a sudden Curt is Shawn's mentor? Did that little piece of breaking news come to Vince in a dream the night before SummerSlam or what? These two have never even been associates in the WWF, let alone have any kind of close relationship. Next, we all know Heenan roots for the heels, but he was so far over the top for Shawn here that Vince had to call him out on it. He hasn't been this animated since he was Flair's advisor, and for whatever reason it grated on me when it usually doesn't. Then again, he was overexcited in what we saw of Luger-Yoko too, although I guess you could justify that by saying that Luger "turned" on him by accepting Yoko's challenge on the Intrepid​. He had his good moments here too, and Vince is finally starting to set him up in a way similar to what Gino used to do (the bit centered around "do what you have to do" is a classic), but I think I'm starting to see why leaving for WCW might have been the best move Bobby could have made. Third, I understand why they wanted to spotlight Nash, but the finish was off. Why wouldn't they have him knock Curt out with a punch (which he did after the match anyway) and have Shawn get the pin because of it? That way, Shawn could have ducked him for future title matches by claiming a pinfall victory, and Curt and Nash could have gone on to their feud. As it is, nothing's settled between Curt and Shawn, but while Curt has Nash to deal with, Shawn's feudless unless you count his house show series with Hall. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't Shawn "lose his smile" for the first time not too long after this, which led to the IC battle royal on ​Raw ​and Hall beating Rick Martel, of all people, to win the belt? Could Shawn have been balking at the idea of dropping the belt to Hall himself? The match itself was decent, though probably not as good as it could have been. It really got going after Shawn started working on Curt's back, and I especially enjoyed the over-the-knee backbreaker he used, which is almost too technical a move for the WWF in 1993. They did a great job talking up Curt's SummerSlam history (though for whatever reason they neglected his loss to Bret in '91), and his second-generation roots, which they've seldom done before. I almost cheered out loud when I saw Curt actually use the Ax, although Vince stubbornly tried to sell it as a punch instead. The brawl after the match was a lot more heated than the match itself, and as usual Mean Gene was right there in the middle. It's a pity than he'll be gone from the WWF in less than two weeks, and Todd Pettengill doesn't look like much of a replacement. Can anybody tell me why Bobby all of a sudden said "The Steiners don't look good, do they?" right in the middle of the match out of nowhere? Vince seemed genuinely puzzled, and Heenan immediately no-sold it. He didn't sound drunk, but he clearly wasn't "focused on his broadcasting", as Vince put it later when he called Bobby out on rooting for Shawn too much.
  2. garretta
    Much like the Smothers-Lee match, this was worked as an appetizer for Rage in the Cage the following night. As I said before, that's wonderful if you have tickets for Rage in the Cage; otherwise, you're screwed. At any rate, Kevin had it right when he said that this was very much a standard tag match between the Armstrong sons and the Bodies. as except for a free shot here and there Bullet Bob only interacted with Corny, which was a bit disappointing. If you're building up to getting in the ring with actual wrestlers, as Bullet Bob is, it would be nice for your fans to see what you can still do against one of them. As for Corny, someone said in another thread that if he'd had any semblance of athletic ability, he might have made a good wrestler. I'm not sure I'd go that ​far, but he knows how to work better than most managers I've seen without letting anyone forget that he still is ​a manager. He looks good doing the choke spots and Irish whips. but the minute someone taps him, it's all over. He actually throws a decent-looking punch, too. I understand the finish, but I'm not sure I like it. It seems too telegraphed, kind of like one of Vince's pull-aparts just before Survivor Series where everyone on both teams has to get involved just to remind those watching that these are the guys they'll see on pay-per-view. Unlike those matches, this one had some good work, but the finish still left me a bit flat. Fortunately, I'll see Rage in the Cage before too long, so it's not a total loss. Curtis bringing the baseball bat (I thought it was another tennis racquet at first) might have been a bit of an inside reference, since he'll be getting into the Cowabunga suit to wrestle Corny in several matches throughout the rest of the summer. Of course, most of those in attendance had no earthly idea that it was going to be Curtis in the suit, so if what I just said was true, it was a bad move on Corny's part. Like Magnum said above, most of the crowd probably had no idea what Curtis was doing. Why would a seemingly unbiased referee leave the ring in order to get a weapon for the Armstrongs to beat the Bodies and the Harrises with?
  3. garretta
    I like the idea of having a regular match, then the jump better than the scaffold-type match that Kevin suggested. It would have been like a battle royal with guys trying to push each other off the scaffold, and there would been very little in the way of action (just like the scaffold match at Starrcade '91, which no one wants to see a repeat of, ever). The match itself was far from the greatest these two franchises (including Lane) have ever had, but a county fair isn't really the place for a super-intense five-star classic. We got a lot of comedy (which included the constant switches without tagging by both teams), a brief FIP segment from Ricky (which is a must-have regardless of location) and some great heel begging after the bout from the Bodies when they learned that a maneuver they've pulled a thousand times to get themselves out of trouble (throwing their opponent over the top rope to draw a DQ) ended up turning both of them into unwilling daredevils. In all seriousness, both Prichard and Del Ray had to know how to jump beforehand; there's no way in the world a wrestler would have agreed to be booked in a dangerous match like this unless he had the skill to avoid being splattered all over the arena (or, in this case, the fairgrounds) They both looked pretty good jumping; so did Curtis and the girl we saw at the end, for that matter. Speaking of Curtis, he must have been in training for his upcoming matches in the turtle suit against Corny, the way he got physical with both teams early on. At least it all set up one of the best spots in the match: Ricky wants to nail Dr. Tom with a roundhouse right, but Mark stops him, so he snaps off a short left jab instead and knocks Dr. Tom for a loop anyway. Great stuff from two guys who know each other like the backs of their hands. If you're wondering where Corny was, he was most likely seconding Yoko at a Challenge ​taping in Lowell, MA. He sure picked a good night to miss, although I would have paid big money to either see him jump or beg like hell to get out of it. (Actually, I think he'd have gotten out of it because of his legitimately bad knees, even if he'd been there.)
  4. garretta
    I hated this one. First, almost everyone who reads these forums knows that heel Lawler grinds my gears. I'd watch him as the Memphis everyman every day for a hundred years, but he doesn't try as a heel whatsoever, in the ring or on the mic. The jokes have whiskers on them, the hide-the-chain stuff makes the refs of his matches look like total retards for not catching it (he plays to the crowd too much instead of just sneaking in a shot that no one can see), and the rest of his offense shows no skill whatsoever. Even his piledriver and DDT were weak here. But the bigger problem was Savage. I'm not sure who I blame for his non-performance here; I'm sure he knew how Vince felt about him as a wreslter by now, but that neither explains nor excuses his total lack of effort. It's so bad it ruins Bret's run-in; instead of being angry that Bret caused Savage's chance to beat Lawler to go by the boards, I was pissed at Randy for being mad that Bret saved him from a further asskicking. He did nothing in the match to show that he deserved to win it: no heart, no fire, no resilience at all. He had the one flurry where he beat Lawler up a bit on the outside and that was it. The rest of the time, he was a punching bag, to the point that I'm wondering if he tanked (as in not putting in a good effort) on purpose as a protest to Vince over the way he was being used. What better time to do it than in his main building, the one he still travels to every show without fail? Either Randy gets a meeting where he can air his beefs or he's released and can go somewhere where he'll be used more to his liking. I think the suits were out to stop Bret because he had a World title match later that night and they supposedly didn't want him to tire himself out worrying about Lawler. Of course, the added benefit was that SummerSlam remained hot, since Bret didn't get more than a few punches in on Lawler. I wish the clip from Superstars​ where Lawler slapped Savage had made the set, because I'm betting that Randy showed more fire reacting to the slap than he did during this whole match. I just thought of something: Maybe Randy was returning the favor from his April trip to Memphis, when he and Lawler clashed at the MSC and Randy got 95% of the offense. I didn't like that match much either. Are we ever going to see these two work to their capabilities against each other again? I'm not holding my breath, that's for sure.
  5. garretta
    This really wasn't a favorite of mine. It's obvious that these two were saving their best for the next night, where they'd be taped for TV. By the time the dueling promos from Tracy and Tammy (neither of which I could hear very well) were over, there was less than ten minutes of ring time, so these two basically brawled a bit and called it a night. Even the finish directly alluded to the match the following night, which stank if you had tickets to this card but not that one. Granted, there would be highlights on SMW TV, but that's not the same as bring there, or at least it shouldn't be. What really struck me about this match was how well Tammy worked ringside. It's easy to be active when you know you're going to be on TV; the trick is to be just as active when (at least as far as you know) the only people watching are those in the arena. But Tammy worked her heart out here, and she and Mark Curtis could be quite the double act (to the extent that a ref can be, anyway) with a little more experience. Nice to see Chris for the first time; I wasn't sure he was in SMW quite this early. If I'm Tracy, I'm regretting my choice of Horner as my cornerman, hometown boy or not. He did absolutely nothing to stop Tammy from running amuck. I understand that he couldn't do much physically, but he didn't even complain to Curtis much about Tammy's various shenanigans. It's almost like he came out solely to get the hometown crowd to pop, Hopefully these two had a better match for the cameras the following night; given the heat of this feud so far, this match can't be the best one they've got in them.
  6. garretta
    I liked this better than most of you. It was the best possible match you could have with Roma as Arn's partner, at least so far. I thought he was very effective as an FIP; that role has been so spoiled by the likes of Ricky Morton that we as fans expect that kind of heat in every tag match, which is neither possible nor desirable. The fans had barely gotten to know Roma as a Horseman yet; it makes sense that there would be apathy, or at the very least a "let's see what this guy has before we accept him" type of vibe. With that as a handicap facing him, I thought Roma was superb. I might have preferred that Arn's FIP segment was longer and Roma's a bit shorter, but that's all. The Blonds were at their best as a wrestling team here, which has been lacking in the bouts we've seen lately. Austin in particular looked like a million bucks, and he and Arn could have made money in a singles feud if the DA breakup had gone a different way. There was just enough of Pillman for a little something different, and also to do his insane clothesline on the railing, which he's a better man than me for even attempting once​, let alone doing on a regular basis with his legitimate throat injuries. Off of this bout, I understand why Dusty broke the Blonds up; Austin could (and did, for the most part) carry a half-hour match against the likes of Arn Anderson, which Pillman wasn't quite as capable of. Besides, he was probably a better natural babyface, or so the thinking went pre-Loose Cannon. The finish was exactly the right type of bullshit finish, and I liked that both Roma and Austin used the tights for their final rollup, which meant that the losing team, whoever it turned out to be, had no real squawk. This finish guaranteed at least one more match, which (sadly) Pillman would be injured for, at the next Clash. Tony and Jesse were back to being antagonists again, although this time they managed to make it work for the match. Jesse let his love of the Blonds flow, and even though Tony didn't openly cheer for the Horsemen, anyone who'd watched JCP/WCW for any length of time knew just how intertwined he was with both Arn as an individual and the Horsemen in general. This made for some interesting exchanges, the best of which came when Arn suplexed Austin over the top to the floor and Jesse immediately called for the DQ. He kept it up for about the next two minutes, until Tony snapped, "Get over it! The match is still going on!" There have been times in matches where an exchange like that between them seemed to come out of genuine exasperation on Tony's part, but this wasn't one of them. It made perfect sense based on what we know about Tony and Jesse as announcers, and it should happen in that manner more often. Lines of the Night: Jesse explaining why a nice guy like Sylvester Stallone would like an arrogant team like the Blonds: "Us Hollywood types have to stick together; we're the ones who make all the money". Tony to Jesse, upon hearing that the Blonds are Stallone's favorite tag team: "Are they Wesley Snipes' favorite tag team too?" I'm kind of sorry that this was the Blonds' last major match as a team (at least for me as a viewer), but I have to say that I'm anxious to see Austin's upcoming push; I want to know if anything happened which could possibly excuse the monumental blunder Bischoff and company seemingly made by not installing him as the new face of the franchise, so to speak.
  7. garretta
    Bullshit. That ought to be the only word I write in this post, but I want the world to know how much I despised the finish here. They went almost forty minutes for a Sid run-in? They could have done it in ten and gone to another match that might have actually meant something. I never thought I'd give credit to Vince where lousy finishes are concerned, but at least he telegraphs them so no one in the audience can possibly miss them and gets the matches- more like extended pull-aparts- over with in five to seven minutes, give or take. He doesn't completely waste the audience's time getting them invested in a match- an NWA World title match, no less- then pulling the rug out from under them by making that match nothing more than a setup for another, by definition less important, match. What makes it worse is that this match was a payoff to another angle that had no damn business being associated with it: the whole thing with Flair and Harley and his team the Awesome Kongs. That angle gets a blowoff, but a World title match comes to nothing. How fair is that? Have Sid and Harlem Heat do their run-in at the Clash, have the six-man in this spot, and save Sting's title match for a time when it's the ​one and only ​issue to be decided. No setup for any other angles, no interference, nothing. There's no sense commenting on anything else to do with this match since it leads to nothing anyway, so I'll save myself the keystrokes. I've done reviews like this only four or five times since I started going through the Yearbooks, and almost all of them have been in WCW matches. Let me amend that: They've almost all been in good to great WCW matches which terrible booking have completely ruined and made forgettable. As I alluded to above, people blame Vince for this kind of thing all the time, but I don't think I've ever seen him build a no-doubt classic match, get his fans into it, and then ruin the whole thing not just through interference, but through interference that makes that classic the setup for a match that can't possibly be as much of a classic because it's a totally different kind of match. if Sid, Harlem Heat, Flair, Sting, and whoever their partner is can go almost forty minutes with no stalling, no interference, and the crowd equally hot for both sides like they were here, I'll recant every lousy word I've just typed and eat my keyboard besides. Something tells me that I won't need to get out my knife and fork anytime soon.
  8. garretta
    This one was what last week's match should have been. These two guys put on an absolute clinic, with very little time wasted until Dundee interfered to set up Orndorff's run-in. We still don't quite know who the better wrestler is, of course, but I'm sure we'll find out in later matches. I agree with El-P that for whatever reason, the no-DQ stip was added by the announcers or whoever was producing Main Event​. I don't know why Tony and Larry would go into business for themselves, so it had to be the producer, unless Tony produced the show, in which case I have no idea what I'm talking about. Anyway, Steamer and Regal certainly worked this like a regular match, which is what made it stand out. In some ways, the snug style of Regal's holds and Steamer's smooth counters made the occasional strike we saw look that much more violent. I don't even think we had a cheating spot at any point in the bout; if there was one, it was very brief. Larry was at his best here, talking about how even in a no-DQ match, it's not always smart to let things degenerate into a brawl, because even as a wrestler hurts his opponent, he gets hurt himself. He also puts over both Steamer and Regal as wrestlers, particularly the newcomer Regal, who really rose to the occasion in his biggest singles match to date in WCW. Steamer really didn't do much but keep up with him, which was all that was required in this bout. It's easy to see why he was designated as the fill-in for Pillman in the tag title match at the Clash and why he looked so at home teaming with Austin although the two had ostensibly never worked together before. I liked Tony giving Larry the gentle zinger about Michael Hayes playing golf better than he did. For those few who don't know, golf is Larry's grand passion, which is why the thought of Hayes being the better golfer got to him. This is another example of the chemistry between Tony and Larry, which Tony and Jesse have yet to match. You buy that these two enjoy working together, and it's obvious that there's respect and camaraderie between them, while there are still times that I think Tony would rather work with Jason Hervey than Jesse. I liked Paul's run-in, and the brawl that ensued had more energy than most postmatch brawls do. There's something about Orndorff that brings out the fighter in his opponents, even guys who usually like to work light like Hogan. It makes for better all-around matches, even at this time when Paul's obviously not in his prime.
  9. garretta
    This one never really got started. By the time all the character work and assorted bullshit was over, we were down to three minutes left, and no two men can put on even a decent match in three minutes, let alone a classic. Regal showed off a few submissions and enough forearm uppercuts so we knew that he really truly is from England, and Steamer spent most of his time selling and ducking. This needed at least five more minutes to get good. Tony and Larry had a blast with the English expressions and royalty jokes, which I don't think would have happened if Jesse had been in the booth instead. It's interesting that at this early point, Larry's positioned as being a fan of Regal; I'm looking forward to seeing what made them into enemies. I thought Steamer was way better in the postmatch interview. I loved him making fun of Regal's accent and manners, even using a glove to slap his face, much in the way royal personages were challenged to a duel in olden days. Steamer's an underrated talker to begin with, and this might have been one of his best efforts. Regal, on the other hand, was too stereotypically English to be real, talking about cricket and rugby matches and tea with the Queen. The less said about Dundee's English accent, the better; they should just say that Regal found him in Australia somewhere (or Scotland, for that matter) so he can talk in his natural voice. He looks good in his outfit, though. Hopefully the rematch gets enough time to be something worthwhile; these two look like they could have a great match if they're allowed enough time to both get their characters over and wrestle the way they obviously can.
  10. garretta
    I think I know what ECW was trying for here: their own version of ​Prime Time ​with Sulli as Gino and Eddie as Heenan. But there were two small problems. First, Eddie's not one bit funny. Second, Sulli looks and sounds like he legitimately wants to hit him, or at least walk off the show. I don't think that every bit of every wrestling show should be constant hype or salesmanship; there's room for the announcers to be funny or clever just because. But they better deliver, and these two certainly didn't. One example: The best part of this sequence was Eddie describing the finish of a match the week before involving him and Doug (as the Dark Patriot) in his own words. Sulli disputes Eddie's account, which leads Eddie to suggest that he be tested for drunkenness before each show. Okay, we've all heard better and worse. The problem is, Eddie had just presented Sulli with a bottle of Crown Royal not three minutes before. You give your co-host whiskey, then turn around and call him a drunk? In what universe does that even begin to make sense? The rest of this, from the six women and the prank with the ringing phones to the Beavis and Butthead T-shirt and the half-baked JFK imitation, were just signs if Eddie trying too hard to be cute, and the Lawler stuff sounded petty, especially if you know the history between them. You have your own kingdom, Eddie. Why are you worried about someone else's, especially when that someone else isn't coming near you or ECW any time soon? And why pick on Lawler exclusively? The last time I checked, Bret Hart was just as "fake" a king as Lawler was. Some of the matches sound good, and I'd have paid money to see Stan and Tito as a tag team, or Shane and Muraco, for that matter. Nice to know that Sulli's got the date for UltraClash right after messing it up the week before. Why would they let mistakes like that be broadcast instead of reminding him of the proper date and doing the part he messed up over? I get that they were pretty much a one-city promotion at the time, but stuff like this shows a distinct lack of pride in their product.
  11. garretta
    Thanks for the info, Tim!
  12. garretta
    I liked the contrast bwtween Corny's fighting words and the stuffed animals he had all over his room. He's just the type that would buy those animals out of his own pocket and put them in the room just to make a promo like this look authentic. I'm not sure if he was married or not at the time, but if he was, I wonder what his wife thought of their room littered with stuffed animals from floor to ceiling. Again we get the two matches for one routine, as Bullet Bob has to wrestle one match to regain his commissionership and the other to stay in SMW at all. It seems to me that the loser-leave-town match should have been on 9/12 and the match for the commissionership on 9/17, but since (I think) Bullet Bob loses one of them anyway, it doesn't make much difference. As much as I love serious Corny, the promo was made by his line when Del Ray came back with his ice pack: "Get warmer ice!" He may be the only man left in wrestling at this time who makes you want to laugh at him and spit on him at the same time. I was a tad disappointed to hear madman Terry after watching his more controlled promos in ECW, but since Corny promised the madman, it fit. He was hilarious condemning Bullet Bob for being old (although the Bullet is five years older than him, which is a shock to me) and I liked how he promised to pull out Bob's (singular) hair. The attacks on his sons were expected, but the word "bastard" not being bleeped in the middle of the Bible Belt surprised me, even in 19i93. One complaint: Which production genius thought of the lightning bolts and the "I'll see you pukes in Knocksville" stuff? It was distracting in much the same way as the crawl was during Terry's ECW promos for his match against Eddie Gilbert, and I thought Corny had more sense than that. By the way, I'm pretty sure "Knocksville" was a deliberate misspelling. Bullet Bob wrapped up this segment very effectively. His promo was mostly a rehash of Corny's in terms of explaining the two matches ahead of him, but I liked him saying that SMW would go to hell in a handbasket if Corny were named commissioner, and Corny's been so vile lately that even the normally mild-mannered Bob Caudle wants him out, which is saying something. I think Abby was the surprise on 9/17, but any of the names Corny mentioned would have been cool to see, especially Yoko with the WWF title on the line. Obviously Vince would never have let Bullet Bob near the belt, but it would have been something to see it as an added bonus in an already high-stakes contest.
  13. garretta
    I didn't get into this one bit. I usually like WWF cage matches more than "NWA" ones, because I fully buy into the McMahon family's reasoning for making cage matches escape-based: By the time you get into the cage, who can outwrestle who doesn't matter. It's a bloody fight to the finish, and only by being more of a man than your opponent, being able to withstand the punishment a cage can dish out, and walking out alive to tell about it will you be victorious. That's all fine, but it doesn't apply here. Not only is there no blood and no violence, but there's surprisingly little contact. I don't buy that anyone could be worn down, because the entire match only takes eight minutes. This is nothing but a climbing contest from start to finish, made worse by the fact that guys who climbed out are allowed back in for some stupid reason which only Vince knows. Why bother to try to escape unless you know your partner's climbing with you? You'll just have to go back in to save his ass anyway, and you don't get credit for having climbed out previously, either, which is nuts. If they insist on using a rule like this, the match should be over after each man on a team has escaped once, even if they get back in later. Who came up with the idea to not use the door, anyway? Did they have some kind of strange desire to see Teddy naked from the waist down? That seems to be as good a reason as any, since we were never given a reason for the "climb out only" stip. (My wild guess? The door wasn't able to be opened and shut multiple times due to some kind of accident or mechanical failure, so rather than ignore it and have veteran fans wonder why no one was using the door to get out, they decided to make it part of the match.) The finish was clever, with Rick holding Rotundo on his shoulders until Scotty could climb down for the last time, but they should have probably saved something like that for a more consequential bout. I wonder how much of the way this was worked was because of Teddy's bad neck. The fewer bumps he has to take and the less time he has to spend on the mat, the lower the risk of aggravating the injury. I'm looking forward to seeing how Teddy does on his return to All-Japan, which comes up at the start of September. He's Stan Hansen's tag team partner right off the bat, which is pretty far up the card for someone who hasn't wrestled in AJPW in over six years. JR and Gino showed promise as a team, but I'll have to hear more of them in bigger matches than this to figure out what I really think of them. It's odd to hear Gino as a color man, which he hasn't been since he and Vince did the 2/18/83 MSG card. He became the MSG play-by-play guy a month later on 3/20.
  14. garretta
    First of all, God bless Flair for taking a Rude Awakening on the floor like that. He must have really liked and trusted Rude to allow it to happen, what with his bad neck and back. Rude hasn't been this aggressively sleazy since Cheryl Roberts back in '88, which is a good thing in my book. I like the more multifaceted Rude that WCW has brought out over the last couple of years better than the WWF Rude, who seemed at times to be about chasing women to the exclusion of his wrestling career. As such, I'd rather this issue had started over the NWA World title, not Fifi, even though the attack would have probably been done the same way regardless. It's a disappointment that the belt that used to mean everything to every professional wrestler is now being used as a prop to lure a so-called French maid into bed with the guy who's challenging for it, but such is wrestling in 1993. Where were Arn and/or Pretty Paul here? I guess the old rule that if you jump on one Horseman, particularly the captain, you jump on them all doesn't apply anymore. That may be the most jarring thing about this segment for longtime Flair watchers; Arn and Roma didn't even come out to see if Ric was all right. Fifi knows how to play shock and concern well, but she's not what we needed here. I liked her struggles against Rude, though. I'm sorry that most people don't seem to care for the matches that come out of this. Complaints about the setup aside, I would think that Flair and Rude would work well together, even if neither one of them is what he was a few years ago. I look forward to finding out for myself.
  15. garretta
    Thanks a lot, AJ! (This time, that was meant as sarcasm. No offense.) Seriously, I wonder how Corey got the job. Even if they wanted a black co-host for Dave, surely there was someone out there who was both black and ​a knowledgeable wrestling person. I could understand the International/Intercontinental mistake......once. Same with Kato, although Corey should have made it his business to know about the OX. But not to know Terry Gordy in one of the places where he cut his teeth? Good grief. Maybe they should have had a different fan come out of the stands every week to co-host with Dave. Surely they couldn't have done much worse.
  16. garretta
    I must have missed it with all the other hullabaloo going on. To be honest, I was about ready to mute the whole ball of wax, they were all so obnoxious. Thanks, Dooley!
  17. garretta
    Muraco and Snuka were two familiar names to Philly crowds from days gone by. Nothing more, nothing less. This was a great debut for the Franchise, and it was nice to hear what he's capable of on the mic without every third word being bleeped. It would have been nice for him to have a brief face run first instead of going right to Paul's camp; on the other hand, it was the swerve that made the debut memorable. I liked the subtle bit of tension between Eddie and Paul over who the boss was with the whole "Who gets first billing?" routine. we know perfectly well that Heyman really didn't want to yield, and part of me would have liked to see Eddie stick around long enough for the inevitable turn, whether Eddie made the break or Heyman double-crossed him. Sulli got it right for once, hitting the right note of anticipation when Shane came out and the right note of disgust when it became clear that he was really a member of the DA. On the other hand, Tod Gordon looked and acted like someone had taken his favorite toy away, which isn't acceptable for an interviewer and certainly isn't acceptable for the president of a promotion. It's long past time for him to have hired a decent interviewer anyway. They've taken a step in the right direction using Paul as their color guy; maybe we'll get to hear what he sounds like alongside Sulli in a later segment.
  18. garretta
    There wasn't a whole lot to this as a match. I don't think Teddy was necessarily out of place here, and with a bit of time off to rest he might have been somewhat of a player again if he'd been able to wrestle when he returned. Certainly not to the level he'd been in the eighties, but he'd have still been respectable. This seemed more like a setup to the cage match the following week between the Steiners and Money Inc. than the blowoff between Teddy and Waltman, what with Rotundo causing the DQ and Rick and Scotty making the save. I know Waltman was going to fight Rotundo at SummerSlam, but wouldn't pinning Teddy have been a better setup for that match? Maybe saving Teddy's last big singles loss for pay-per-view was Vince's way of showing appreciation for what Teddy had done for him over the years, but on the other hand, what would having him pinned here have hurt? He's leaving after SummerSlam anyway. I liked Hall on the phone, especially saying that the reason he couldn't tell Vince what he'd told Waltman about how to beat Teddy was because Vince had a big mouth. I wonder if he ever took stuff like that personally. He shouldn't have, of course, but you can never tell with him. Heenan was great with the lines about how he was glad that the match started right at nine o'clock because Waltman had to be in bed by 9:30, and also by saying that the crowd was chanting "1-2-3" as a way to practice their counting. The line of the match belonged to Vince, though, when he countered the latter by saying that three was all the higher one needs to count in the WWF, "and you should know, Mr. Heenan, considering how often you were pinned". Sometimes there's still a spark in Vince that reminds me of how good he used to be, but it's showing less and less often, particularly on pay-per-view when he needs it most. I liked the clip of the Challenge ​match where Waltman pinned Teddy, and if we ever get to an errata nineties set, that match should definitely make it in full.
  19. garretta
    Forget Bret; this was the best I've seen Gigante look in his whole career. When did he actually learn what to do inside a ring? Seriously, I'd have loved to see him align with Bret in Memphis, then turn around and help Lawler the next night at SummerSlam. It wouldn't have meant much unless people had seen both matches, but it still would have been neat. Bret was tremendous as the heel , and he looked better here than he did in his eighties heel run, which he should have since he was more experienced. What I liked most was that he actually wrestled ​instead of just doing heel cheating spots, which is probably more than we'll be able to say for Lawler after the SummerSlam match. His piledrivers in particular looked extra good; as Loss said, he understands the Memphis style well enough to know what a killer move that is in most matches, so he really put all he had into it both times he used it. Lawler's selling helped out too, as he really looked like he may have been too hurt to continue (although, of course, he would). I don't really get having Owen and Jeff interfere so soon; they were going at it on the floor a good five minutes before Gigante's final interference, which was just plain too long. The cameraman seemed confused at one point as to whether he should pay attention to them or to Bret and Lawler in the ring, and I can hardly blame him. They should have had Owen lead out Gigante, do the spot where Gigante forced his way in and hit Bret, let Lawler get the win, then done a triple-team on Lawler until Jeff and someone else (I don't know who) could make the save. Corey was at his usual worst. By the way, did you know that the time of the match was 14:39? That seemed to be all Corey could say while the beatdown on Lawler was going on, and it got to be excruciating. Lance gave the time once, maybe twice. So does Dave. Corey gave it at least four times because he had nothing else to add except for "I wish they'd get outta here!" Yeah, and I wish for a supermodel girlfriend too, Corey. Just shut your mouth if you can't say something constructive. And while you're at it, learn the difference between the Sharpshooter and a Boston crab. Surely you've seen enough WWF TV to know what Bret's finisher is called, and if you haven't, that's just one more reason why you shouldn't be commentating on matches which involve him. The one night they were able to use Dave, since it was a Sunday, and they either didn't think of it or he wasn't available. What a shame. I can't wait to see the Hennig match; I just hope that Corey doesn't ruin that one too. One big match down with these two and one to go. Let's just hope Vince doesn't get too cute at SummerSlam; he's already damaged Lawler enough.
  20. garretta
    Yeah, Luger really looked the fool here. He never even tried to get Yoko back in the ring, which ruins the impact of the big forearm. I didn't see him remove his pad, but if he did, that's even worse. You ignore the main sttipulation of the match (aside from this being your one and only shot at the title, of course) and then don't try to follow up on it? Just how dumb are you really​, Narcissus? As I've said before, regardless of who reported it, I don't believe the "We were waiting for the houses to tank" story for a second. Vince knew even as he was having his verbal fit at ringside that Luger was never going to be champion no matter what. If he was really setting up Luger to win the belt, why not headline the house shows with him and Yoko in a cage, or with Fuji/Corny banned from ringside, or in a lumberjack match? Make sure that the fans know that Luger's still chasing Yoko by having Tunney disallow in some way the "only one shot" stip. I can't figure out quite how, but there needed to be rematches in every market throughout the fall, with a Luger team victory at Survivor Series and a clean Royal Rumble win thrown in. Then, have Luger take one last shot at Mania X and beat Yoko once and for all. Of course, that never came close to happening, none of it. Instead, Luger went on to feud with Ludwig Borga, that devastating threat from America's mortal enemy, Finland. That wouldn't have been a good title program, and it sure as hell didn't make any sense when Luger didn't ​have the title. It's almost impossible to figure out what they should have done instead; Bret-Lawler was too hot not to blow off, and Taker-Gigante needed to happen for whatever reason. If I'd been Vince, I might have kept Hogan happy for a while longer and had him win the belt for the fourth time here. If you're going to give someone the Hogan push anyway, why not the man who defined it? What happens after that I don't know, and what Luger does if he's still the Narcissist I also don't know. I guess the endgame is Bret going over clean at Mania X, but if Hogan balked at doing the job here, would he do it at Mania, and at MSG (where it all began for him) to boot? Nice touch by Corny in selling what I presume were injuries given to him by Bullet Bob back home in SMW. That's something I don't see Lawler (or Bret, for that matter) doing. I loved Heenan nearly having a stroke yelling "HIPLOCK! HIPLOCK!" after Luger slammed Yoko. I've never heard him go quite that crazy before, and that's what made it so memorable. His broadcast partner could definitely take a lesson from that, but we all know he won't. Bobby was also great begging for someone to help Yoko and Fuji, and we needed him to remind us that Luger hadn't really accomplished anything, confetti and Vince's verbal orgasm notwithstanding. Vince, of course, no-sold the whole business. I still maintain that someone wised him up to what happened when Luger was WCW champion, and that he may have even done the whole celebration as a way of telling Luger, "See, this ​is what you could have been for years if I'd trusted you!" Whether he ever told Luger that, or whether Luger ever figured it out on his own, I have no idea, but you can't convince me that Vince didn't know he was killing Luger's chance to be on top forever. This was too well thought out not to be a "screw you" moment, period. (Just to be clear, I don't think the finish was a Montreal-type screwjob. I'm just saying that he knew going into SummerSlam that Luger was never going to be his champion, no matter what the dirtsheets may have reported.) I forgot to say that I missed the whole "Yokozuna's the winner!" bit. I think Pete may have misheard, because I don't recall Yoko's name being mentioned by anybody but Heenan during the celebration except in terms of a possible rematch.
  21. garretta
    This was made good by Flair; his segments with Windham and Pillman were among the best I've seen this year, regardless of promotion. His chops had extra zip, and Pillman certainly responded in kind. What a return, and you can tell that he's back where he's always wanted to be. Kevin called this a three-on-two, and he was right. The question is why. Did they just want to give Flair as much as possible in his return match, or were they really trying to deemphasize Roma? If it was the latter, why even bring him in, as we've all asked so many times? Is he their designated side headlock specialist? The man's got a World tag team title match In two weeks (by the time this aired, at any rate). Why not show off a little teamwork between him and Arn? As it is, especially considering the finish of the tag match at the Clash, if I'm a paying customer I'm looking for Flair to work twice. It's almost false advertising to even call Arn and Roma a team at this point, let alone a World title contending one. To see Barry here, you'd never know he was two weeks away from a knee injury that would end this incredible run. He's been a tremendous old-school heel NWA World champion, and I wonder what would have happened if he'd been able to keep the belt, or at least contend for it, a while longer. The Blonds are back to a wrestling base instead of just relying on schtick, which is when they're at their best. Austin's in a little less than I would like, but this match was as much, if not more, about Flair and Barry, as it was about the Blonds and Arn/Roma, so someone had to be the short man, as it were. It's just a shame that the match at Beach Blast is going to be their last major bout, at least on this set. I liked Jesse talking about how he and the Blonds were going to all the major Hollywood parties, and his complaining about Flair and Arn using thumbs to the eyes was a genuine laugh-out-loud moment. Unfortunately, Tony didn't convert the easy slam-dunk by reminding Jesse that that was, by his own admission, his own favorite move in the ring. They're still hit-and-miss a bit too often for a top announcing team; when Tony feels like engaging in the Bod's verbal hijinks or when a match is important enough for Jesse to be serious, they're terrific. When Tony's in "Shut up and let me call this" mode, or when there's nothing happening in the ring for Jesse to sink his teeth into, they're below average, though they're still better than almost any pairing the WWF can trot out by now. I liked their back-and-forth over whether their respective favorite teams would have gotten the win if not for their partners making the save; it reminded me of an exchange Vince and Jesse might have had on SNME ​before they got bored with each other. I didn't exactly like the DQ finish, but I understood why they did it. A draw wouldn't have done much for anyone, but Barry couldn't submit to the figure four two whole weeks before Beach Blast. Fluke pins in non-sanctioned bouts are one thing, but a clean submission win so close to a pay-per-view main event kills said main event stone dead. They were still trying to push Dusty-Assassin as a viable feud? Please tell me that they didn't end up in the ring, even in a tag match. Dusty might have still been able to go a little, but when was the last time Hamilton wrestled? I don't recall any major runs for him while I was following wrestling in real time (I first really got interested in the summer of '86).
  22. garretta
    There seems to be so much more on the line in Memphis concerning this feud than in the WWF. I used to think it was just Lawler, but Vince sounds like he's taking the Memphis portion just as seriously. I can't get over the contrast, and I'll bet the Memphians who watched both halves of the feud play out couldn't either. Vince is so much better as a heel promo when he doesn't raise his voice. I know it was easier for him not to do it when he was in front of a green screen than it was in an arena full of fans, but Mr. McMahon is more effective this way than he was screaming "YOU'RRRREEEE FIIIIIIIRRRRRRED!" all over the place. He probably thought the louder, more bombastic version was necessary for the national stage, but he was dead wrong. That version made me roll my eyes and groan; this one sends shivers down my spine. If it wasn't for Corny, and if he'd appeared at ringside more than once this year so far, Vince may have been my choice for Manager of the Year.
  23. garretta
    I don't have a hell of a lot more to add to what's already been said. How many different ways can you call stupidity stupidity? There wasn't a thing good about this in either conception or execution, and how Ole thought he could get away with using the Sonovox again when everyone who'd watched wrestling for longer than a month knew exactly what his voice sounded like, I can't even begin to say. I don't have a problem with Ottman being in a match like this, or even possibly getting a push against Vader had it come to that, but to use this gimmick to do it? I'd have rather seen them use the Tugboat gimmick in some form or other. Incidentally, I heard Bruce Prichard on a podcast the other day say that Ottman/Tugboat was going to be the original recipient of the Iraqi sympathizer gimmick that Vince ultimately gave to Slaughter. It seems that either way, Fred Ottman just wasn't meant to have a long wrestling career. Given the choice of what gimmick I would choose to kill my career between those two, however, the Shockmaster wins in a landslide.
  24. garretta
    This is one of those feuds that Vince missed the boat on back in the mid eighties. Thankfully, it delivered just as well in 1993 from what we saw here. Orndorff in particular looked better than he has at any time since his Hogan run, and I loved his piledriver on the TV belt after the match. Steamer was as solid as ever, and I'm glad to see him back in the singles ranks, where I've always liked him better. Tony completely blew the spot where Steamer knocked Paul over the top, calling it a double chop instead of a clothesline. There are times when he's as bad as Vince when it comes to calling the actual action these days, which is pathetic. He redeemed himself by calling Jesse out for handing Orndorff the TV belt (which wasn't used in the finish), and I liked this exchange after Orndorff's postmatch attack: Jesse: Is that called handing your belt over with dignity or what? Tony: It's called what! I hope to see more of this feud throughout the fall.
  25. garretta
    Not bad for a shotgun title change. If they'd wanted to team Austin and Regal on a regular basis based on what we saw here, I wouldn't have minded. Much like Austin and Doc back in '92, they seemed like a solid team for never having teamed before, and Dundee was great as a disturber and interferer. I'll have to watch a full match of Arn and Roma to see how I like them as a team, but Roma looked good here, especially with that flash dropkick to Austin. I'm wondering how much of the "LOL Paul Roma" sentiment was due to the fact that Tully's return was explicitly promised and Roma was thrown in at the last minute. Jesse was dead on concerning Arn holding the tights, but Tony never acknowledged it, probably because the Clash (as usual) was fast-paced to the point of being dizzying. I also liked him pointing out how Arn chasing Dundee cost Roma at least one nearfall. Even at this relatively late stage, the Bod's still got it.
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