garretta
-
Posts
3562 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Everything posted by garretta
-
This may be the best regulation tag match I've ever seen. I can;t even begin to describe it in ways that would do it justice. It was part grudge match, part championship match, and part war of attrition, with the best elements of all three moxed together. Each side learned early on that they knew each other too well to outsmart anyone, so they just threw down and beat the living hell out of each other for over half an hour. For someone who's used to Southern tag formula, this may be a bit of a departure, as there were no extended face-in-peril sequences (although Kobashi took more of a beating than Misawa did), but I didn't miss them. They have their place, but this was more about four almost-equals getting together in a clash of the titans. Maybe they'll work a more traditional match next time, and I'll bet it'll be a classic of its kind as well. I loved all the last-second saves, which were so well timed that they added to the drama rather than detracted from it. There wasn't much doubleteaming, but what there was was very well done. My favorite spot, though, might have been the best hot tag I've ever seen, as Kobashi manages to reach Misawa while trapped in Kawada's stretch plum. Kawada turns him away briefly several times while still applying the hold, and just when it seems that he'll get the submission out of Kobashi just before he can get to Misawa, Kobashi just reaches him in the nick of time. I'd love to see Rock 'n' Roll copy that move, as I think it would be tailor made for Ricky Morton. Even though Kobashi eats one too many finishers and goes down to defeat, everyone knows that there will be another day for these four, and I for one can't wait to see it. Kawada and Taue must have given a humble postmatch interview, because the crowd sure popped for them. Then again, who wouldn't want to show their appreciation for a classic like this, regardless of who won?
-
First fall: As others have said, they waste no time giving the fans the matchup they want to see most in Tenryu-Hash. Much like their singles bout, we start with some purposeful stalling, then get to the lockups. and at one point it seems like neither man is ever going to tag anybody else. Great work by Hash on Tenryu's knee, which was also a focus during their singles match. They didn't devote a lot of time to it, but it's nice to see that the WAR team worked on Fujinami's arm a little, just enough to incapacitate him. Hopefully we see more in subsequent falls. I counted twenty-three revolutions on Hase's giant swing. Poor Goto (I think). He's probably still dizzy! We had at least three stormings of the ring with all ten guys, including one as Tenryu pinned Hase with a powerbomb. Unlike in North America, order was quickly restored. I notice that the bell didn't ring after the three count, which threw me off a bit. WAR 5, New Japan 4. Second fall: Fujinami in peril was the story here, as he not only absorbed a beating, but lasted through several attempted submissions, mostly centered on the lower back. Almost everyone seemed to get a turn beating on him, which you don't often see in matches like this where eliminations often happen close together and in a hurry. While the elimination of Tenryu is certainly a huge deal, it wasn't exactly clean, as Hash's kick to the back of the neck knocked him silly enough that Fujinami was able to cradle him for three. I actually think this was done in an attempt to get the rest of Team WAR over; everyone knew how much of a badass Tenryu was already, but with the possible exception of Ishikawa at certain times, no one else on that team was seen as anything but flunkies for Tenryu. This was their chance to shine without him, and we'll soon see if they took advantage of it. New Japan 4, WAR 4. Third fall: Fujinami pays for eliminating Tenryu, as Team WAR declares open season on his injured arm. The New Japan side takes turns bailing him out, but he's caught in the ring and pinned by Ishikawa with a backslide. I know a couple of people above me said that he was involved in the three-on-one against Ishikawa, but I rewound the disc twice and clearly saw him get pinned. I'm not as young as I used to be, but I don't think I'm going blind just yet. WAR 4, New Japan 3. Fourth fall: The eliminations are coming at warp speed now, as after a brief Scorpion sequence by Super Strong Machine on Choshu, Goto tags in for the express purpose of being leveled by a pair of Choshu lariats and pinned. We're down to approximately thirteen minutes left and as many as five eliminations, so don't expect a mat classic from here on out. New Japan 3, WAR 3. Fifth fall: Hash gets his first extended time in the match since the iopening sequence with Tenryu and is immediately imperiled by Team WAR. SSM lives up to his name by blocking a DDT attempt, then lifting Hash by the legs and carrying him back to the WAR corner for some triple-teaming. It doesn't do much good in the end, though, as Hash DDTs Hara and pins him, giving NJPW the one-man advantage. New Japan 3, WAR 2. Sixth fall: The eliminations are coming so fast now that it's tough to describe them. WAR isn't even getting much in the way of offense, as SSM hits a Russian legsweep on Chono at one point, then proceeds to sell like he was the one who'd taken the move. I've seen this in joshi before, but never in a men's match: Chono comes in illegally to hit a move while Hash is in the ring, and the referee calls him on it and tells him to leave. Instead of doing that, he "tags in" right in the middle of the ring as if it's supposed to count. It's supposed to be a serious spot, but it looks like something you'd see in the middle of a North American midget match, not a Japanese interpromotional blood feud. Hash's DDT claims its second victim in a row, this time SSM. We're down to Ishikawa against Chono, Choshu, and Hash, and as tough as Ishikawa can be, I don't like his chances even a little bit. New Japan 3, WAR 1. Seventh fall: Fortunately the massacre doesn't take long, as after a few brief doubleteam sequences and a Hash DDT, it's time for Chono to pit the lights out for Ishikawa with the STF. I don't think Ishikawa actually submits; it's more like the ref knows that this is a mismatch and puts a stop to it once it's clear that Ishikawa's going absolutely nowhere. Survivors for NJPW: Choshu, Hashimoto, Chono. As others have said, this isn't nearly the epic that it could (and should) have been, but this wasn't meant to be a blowoff or anything close to it either. It was a way to showcase some of the midcarders on the WAR side and establish them as threats in Tenryu's absence, and get every combination that the fans wanted to see out of this feud in the ring at the same time. We'll see other matches from this feud that will be better, just as we have in the past, but this was a ton of fun.
-
If you'd told me how this would end midway through I wouldn't have believed it. I didn't expect Tenryu to submit, but I thought the finish would play off of his damaged leg somehow. Instead, he battles back from the injury to literally kick Hash's face in, then picks up the big win with the powerbomb. Great job of his selling the injury and making the finish effective at the same time. I never would have thought that Hash would be the one needing help back to the locker room, but they did a good job of making it believable. Normally I don't like a lot of stalling to start a match, but these two weren't stalling. You could feel the hatred and also sense that each one was just waiting to draw the other into a big mistake. Most grudge matches start from the second the participants see each other, but this was a nice change of pace. Tenryu doesn't get a lot of credit for his selling in most matches, but he did a fine job of it here. Hash really seems like his equal, which is the whole point of the match and feud. Can't wait to see the elimination match!
-
I agree with most of the sentiment about this match. Even the moves on the outside were basic stuff, but they were done well enough to be compelling. It's hard to believe that Akiyama was still a rookie, as he carried himself like an experienced midcarder here (which is by no means a criticism). Kawada really had to dig deep to put him away, but looked good enough in doing it that his spot as Misawa's number one contender was never seriously jeopardized. Excellent work from everyone. I thought that Akiyama was still on the Kawada/Taue side at this point, but I guess he'd served his heel apprenticeship and was ready to join Misawa's side. I'm not sure what it says about Team Misawa's depth that he's automatically number three behind Misawa and Kobashi. which is a hell of a spot for someone so inexperienced. That boot Kawada caught Akiyama with when Jun tried to come off the top might have been the most brutal kick of the year so far. How it didn't legitimately crack a couple of ribs, even by accident, I'll never know.
-
I'm no shootstyle fan to start with, and when I can't follow the scoring onscreen it's a definite excuse to tune out for good. As I've said about many of these matches, I kept waiting for this to magically morph into something American, preferably from the eighties. No such luck, I'm afraid.
-
I'm not really sure what to make of this. It was an awful overall performance by Eddie, who seems to have learned from his idol Lawler how not to give a tinker's damn on indy shows. What made Eddie such a treat to watch in Memphis and Mid-South/UWF was that he blustered and screamed and stalled and infuriated everyone in sight, but when the time came to deliver in the ring, whether in a match or a beatdown, he did. He gave a damn and fought his heart out, and at the end of the day, you respected him even as you hated him. Here, he put more effort into his postmatch antics than he did anything during the match itself, which was never going to be a classic but would have been compelling viewing if he'd tried to make it so. But he didn't, only using a few foreign object shots and a smattering of punches, then going for the fireball, which felt tacked on and unnecessary. I didn't get why he went after the fans at all, and while a tag match featuring he and Terry Funk as partners seems like a nice curiosity, nothing that happened in the match set it up whatsoever. The only seemingly truthful moment in the whole segment seemed to be when he calmly told the crowd that he didn't like them and wasn't coming back. Really, Eddie? Who gives a shit? Certainly you don't. Hawk was no prize either, no-selling both a piledriver on the floor and repeated foreign object shots, but given his reputation and the fact that he was the legit hometown hero and was probably working this shot at least in part as a favor to old friends, Eddie ought to have known better than to try spots like that in the first place. I have no idea what else he could have done, but that's why Eddie's the worker and I'm not. As an aside, Hawk not only won the match with Eddie, but also the doll-pummeling contest prior to it. His clothesline looked more devastating against the doll than it did against Eddie. By the way, that was Hawk's trainer Eddie Sharkey who was the ref, if I heard Gilbert correctly after the match (which is debatable). I thought I heard something about Sharkey being done to a crisp or some such. Then again, who knows for sure with these handhelds? That was definitely Dennis Coraluzzo whom Gilbert was arguing with after the match.
-
Thanks for the info, Dream!
-
What a shame that we didn't really see much of a tag match here. It was mostly Scotty against Rotundo, since Teddy's neck was actually bad enough that Vince had to mention it on the air. Fortunately, Mike knew he was working for two and rose to the occasion, both on offense and in bumps. The clothesline by the tie was the most brutal spot of its kind I've seen in a long time. I liked Savage mentioning how stupid it was for Mike to wrestle in his clothes, which every fan with a brain had been thinking ever since the IRS character debuted. On the other hand, his boots actually make moves like the enzugiri he gave to Scotty even more devastating. There may have been one too many long distraction spots, but if you're Mike and you're pretty much working a handicap match against two beasts like Rick and Scotty, you're grateful for any possible rest you can get. I don't think they'd have worked like they did here if Teddy had been able to go full force. Speaking of Teddy, he looked good when he was in, and taking the Frankensteiner was an act of supreme courage considering his condition and the fact that Scotty's hurt more than one guy by hitting the move the wrong way. I could have done without the finish, but it didn't kill my enjoyment or anything. They wanted to phase out Money Inc. , so having them lose their win, so to speak, means that they're down to short strokes as far as being viable contenders goes. Interesting that Scotty's All-American background at Michigan was brought up, but Rick's wasn't. For that matter, would it have killed the IRS gimmick to mention that he had once been an All-American himself at Syracuse, especially since everyone knew damn right well that it was Rotundo in the monkey suit? Vince was the best commentator on this one, which tells you how bad Savage and Lawler were. Randy at least grudgingly gave Money Inc. a few slivers of credit, but Lawler.......well, he wasn't this bad in Memphis, and if you've seen the 1990 Yearbook, he was an awful heel color man there too. The worst part about Lawler as a heel in the ring or out is that you can tell by looking at him that he doesn't give shit one-half about what he's doing. Most guys who have worked both heel and face are better heels because they feel free to do more. Lawler's the opposite; he becomes so lazy and shiftless that it's pitiful. Not every heel commentator can be as funny as Heenan or as insightful as an on-his-game Jesse Ventura, but they need to do more than make crummy jokes and turn a blind eye to everything the heels do in a match. The worst part is, he won't even run down Bret to promote his own program. He tosses a casual insult at Angelo Poffo, of all people (he isn't mentioned by name, but Randy's pissed enough that Vince has to jump in). makes a few halfhearted stupidity jokes about Scotty, and that's about it. Why Vince simply didn't take the Memphis version of Lawler, make a tweak or two for the wider audience, and turn him loose is something I'll never know. If Lawler's the one who wanted to go heel so he could run the whole WWF-USWA feud in Memphis, it's not worth it at this point. Maybe I'll change my mind when I actually see him in the ring with Bret, but it's not likely. I'd much rather have seen face Lawler challenge Yoko (with Corny, which would have brought the SMW guys into Memphis a lot sooner, not to mention Yoko himself), and maybe an appearance by Jeff at Lawler's side rather than as Double J. If you really wanted to get ambitious, find a way to bring Dutch Mantell into the mess and watch the money flow on both sides of Tennessee. There are plenty of other things you can do in all three promotions that would have been a lot more exciting that what we've seen of WWF Lawler so far. It seems weird to hear anyone but JR use the nickname "Dogface Gremlin" for Rick, but Vince pulls it off here. Was that nickname a JR original? It had to have been either his creation or possibly Blll Watts'.
-
I thought for sure that Anjo was going to grind up Yamazaki's knee, but Yamazaki turned things around in a hurry. If Anjo was selling after the knockout, it was one hell of a job, because he looked like he had no idea what universe he was a part of. I thought I heard Anjo give up in English during the final count. Did the ref not hear him, or does the count take precedence over a submission in a situation like this?
-
Tremendous heel promo from the Hart Brothers. As I've said before, they could run this promo before a tag match at MSG and they would seem like the most sympathetic faces in the world. Bret in particulat really gets into the "hillbilly" schtick with the reprise of his "failure to communicate" line. Owen's a tad off, but this is mainly Bret's show anyway, so it's not that big a deal. He's a perfect whiny snot, though, just like he would be when he turned on Bret the following year. I wish Dundee was here, because I have a sinking feeling that Jeff will be the least of these four, both on the mic and in the ring. We'll soon find out!
-
That's vecause there weren't any, Magnum. Bossman's WWF interviews only existed to make as many police references as the writers (these were the type of promos that had to be scripted, they were so full of obvious puns) could make in three minutes. It's only because Bossman looked and acted like a legitimately scary dude that the gimmick got over at all, because the promos sure didn't help. The only false note in this one is that Bossman talks trash about Sully. Not that a Bossman-Sully feud wouldn't have been something to see, but after Corny's promo the week before (which didn't make the set, unfortunately) in which he intimated that if he could have just ten minutes with Bossman, he could either buy him off with money or remind him of their previous association, I would have thought that Bossman would have answered him by saying that he couldn't be bought by Ted DiBiase and he certainly can't be bought by a little pipsqueak like Jim Cornette, old friend or not. Maybe they wanted to tease that a turn was possible given Bossman's past, but there was no point to that, since he wasn't staying full time. The rest of this might have been the best promo I've ever heard out of the Bossman character. There were still plenty of law enforcement references (which were inevitable), but they seemed a lot more natural, like they would be from a man who was a prison guard instead of a wrestler who's playing the part of a prison guard. The difference is hard to articulate, but you'll certainly know it when you hear it.
-
This wasn't about the match as much as its aftermath. I'm honestly surprised that Vince allowed Yoko to look quite this strong. Most heel champions who seem to be on the verge of losing a title are portrayed as desperate people who are so nervous they can barely see straight, but outside of a few moments early on Yoko looked more physically dominant than he has in quite a while. Crush got in just enough offense that he wasn't totally squashed, but at no time did he seem at all close to winning the title. That's not surprising with the way Vince was pushing Luger, but with the way he's been booked to take beatings, not just from Yoko but from Doink earlier in the year, his aura as a monster is gone, if it ever existed in the first place. He's still pushed as a powerful man, but he can be had just like everyone else. Vince has seldom booked anyone weighing over three hundred pounds that way, and his father didn't either. The beatdown was impressive with the four splashes, and Savage risking his career to save Crush from permanent injury was nice to see. (Personally, I wish he would have waffled Yoko with the chair so I wouldn't have to hear him anymore.) But Heenan was the highlight; his promo on Luger may have been his best since he quit managing, and that includes his work with Flair. It's almost like he had a piece of Yoko in secret the way he ran Luger down so passionately, and there's part of me that wishes that he'd been able to take what became Corny's role as Yoko's American spokesman. I realize that Vince probably wanted a new face (at least to the WWF) for the role, but even without hearing Corny I can't imagine that he did it better than Heenan could have. Fuji's shot with the flagpole looked pretty weak. I wonder if he had trouble getting his balance without his cane, which I'm assuming started out as just a prop but which he seems to need for real by now. Line of the Night goes to Heenan's very last sentence that we hear: "(Yoko's) dangerous with a capital C!" A nonsensical line by itself, but so much of the rest of Heenan's work in this match was so well done that you get what he means anyway.
-
This was the best of the four-match series these two have had on the Yearbooks, but Match of the Year? Not even close. One finish is too controversial, and the other is just blah. Pete's right; Shawn should have hit some type of move to get the pin, unless you say that Nash fired Marty back into the ring hard enough to knock him out. The bump over the top was big, but nothing that Marty couldn't have conceivably come back from if the match had been booked to go longer. The first finish would have been a ton more effective if Savage in particular hadn't tried to use it to get heat on Heenan, of all people. We all know that Heenan favored Shawn in his heart of hearts, but in this case he was also correct; Shawn clearly had his foot on the ropes at three. But Savage refused to accept the fact that Heenan had a point for once in his life, so instead of a reminder to the fans of how small the difference is between a title changing hands and not, we had a tired face/heel argument between two announcers who had no conceivable connection to the match and no way to turn their dispute into anything profitable. Vince got dragged into the middle of all this too, and naturally sided with Jannetty. At this point I think I'd rather see Lawler on Raw than Savage, even though Lawler's just as bad if not worse. I've been racking my brains and I can't think of one big move Shawn hit in the match. Sure, he hit basic things like kicks, punches, and knees, but Marty was the one hitting all the good-looking stuff. He even looked better bumping, and Shawn's supposed to be the greatest bumper ever to lace up the boots. I'm not sure where Jannetty ranks overall in the company, but he's the better overall worker of the two former Rockers at this point by a wide margin. Come to think of it, wasn't this the first time we saw Nash physically interfere in a match on TV? The finish probably happened the way it did in order to get Nash over as a threat more than anything else, especially since his interference in the Albany match wasn't captured on camera. Lines of the Night: Vince, describing the fast pace: "You can get exhausted just calling a match like this." A dead-on observation the likes of which we last heard from him approximately ten years before. Also, Heenan describing the bump Jannetty took over the top the way a baseball announcer would call a hone run, This is a case where Heenan uses his trademark humor to get part of the match over, which he doesn't do often enough. He can be serious and he can be funny, but he doesn't use his humor for a "serious" purpose nearly as often as he could. An honorable mention to "Can't you smell the sincerity?" during the replay argument with Savage when he's trying to defend his actions. I would have thought that this match with its controversy would have led to a final SummerSlam blowoff, but I'm not even sure if Jannetty made the card. Too bad, as he's been on the best run of his career lately and likely would have made a SummerSlam bout with Shawn a classic.
-
After the genuine off-the-charts intensity of the stuff with Bret and Lawler, the steep drop back into the regualr old Memphis bullsit was especially rough to take. This was more pf an angle extension than a match, as we join in the middle of Neighbors' heel tuen and also get the debut of the Vampire Warrior, another of Lawler's comic book monsters come back to life. Everyone worked hard hjere, and kudos to the King for bleeding on TV, but this didn't do much for me at all, especially the protracted beatdown where not one piece of main event babyface talent came out to help Lawler. I take it that the "We Want Frank" chants referred to Frank Morrell the longtime Memphis referee. I can't wait to get back to the good stuff with Lawler and Bret, although I seem to remember Neighbors' heel turn plays a part in that feud as well. I'm looking forward to seeing how they mesh the two storylines together in a way that makes at least a sliver or two of sense.
-
What a waste of a great performance by Jannetty. He was on fire here, dominating most of the match offensively and looking superb doing it. But Hughes was the one with the push, so he got to hit one lucky move and score the three-count, which did nothing to help him out either. Marty either needed to get the clean win here to set up his IC title rematch with Shawn the next night on Raw or be squashed flat in three or four minutes to get Hughes over as a monster who could give Taker a run for his money. The only decent move Hughes hit here was the counter to Marty's flying headscissors on the outside where he dropped him on the railing. Outside of that, he did almost nothing whatsoever besides yelling taunts directed at Taker into the camera. On the plus side, JR and Heenan were wonderful together here, and JR seems to have gotten the idea of how to work with Bobby. The highlight was the spelling game they played, where Bobby would go to write down a comment and JR would "help" him spell it. That's the kind of thing you would have expected out of Gino six or seven years before (although they never did that exact bit), and it wouldn't surprise me if Gino, whom JR has credited as someone who helped him learn how to get along during his early WWF days, gave him some tips on how to bring the best out of Heenan while still maintaining his own trademark style. Bobby was also very good with strategy here, describing in detail how he would use Hughes' outfit against him if he was in Marty's shoes. That's only one example of how informative he was here, and if you like his humorous side, the Oklahoma hayseed jokes at JR's expense were here too, including a classic line about Marty having to possibly ride to the hospital in the back of JR's hay-strewn pickup truck. What a shame Vince had already taken over as the lead pay-per-view announcer again, because these two deserved to work together at least one more time, preferably without Savage to weigh them down. For such an iconic character, we've seen very little of Taker in these last two Yearbooks. Were his feuds that unwatchable during this time? If so, how the hell did he get over as one of the greatest personalities and superheavyweights in WWF/E history?
-
This was very good. I liked how Tammy stayed in the background except at the beginning and the end; this was Lee's chance to explain his turn on Smothers, and he did an excellent job. The only clip where his reasoning may have been a bit fuzzy was the TV title match, where he would have been screwed out of the title if it wasn't for Smothers. But what good is being a heel if you can't have a delusion occasionally? I love how Lee accepts the fact that he's basically Tammy's boy toy happily and without complaint. As long as she gets him what he wants- the SMW title and the bounty on Smothers' head- he'll be perfectly happy. Along the same lines, seeing Tammy swoon over Lee was tremendous. I especially loved how she turned from confident businesswoman to giggly teenager to sexpot in the space of about ninety seconds. She needs experience, and she hasn't learned how to be truly hateful yet, but she's got all the tools to be the best young manager in the business. Tommy Noe's subtle facial expressions help make this too. If you didn't notice him (and it's hard to do that with Tammy onscreen), he's good for an eyeroll every time Hillary's mentioned, and his disgust at the idea of Brian and Tammy being together in both the personal and professional senses is evident but understated. In a wrestling world where all the newer announcers tend to come across as cookie-cutter broadcasters who don't have a clue what they're doing, it's nice to see someone who's actually helping to get an angle over for once instead of crapping all over it (I'm looking at you, Jay Sulli!).
-
Like DR said, this isn't much doifferent from Bret's WWF face promos except for his insults toward the Memphis fans. Cut those lines out or give them to Lawler and you could run these promos to hype a main event match on Raw or at Madison Square Garden. It's the context and geography that makes this feud what it is, much like the later stuff between Bret and Austin, which this is actually a nice little dress rehearsal for, albeit three years early. I liked that Bret mentioned Owen as one of his prime motivations for wanting to kick Lawler's ass, which again makes me wonder why Owen never mentioned Bret during his promo after his 7/3 MSC match with Lawler. The fact that Bret is only now coming to Memphis reinforces my theory that the USWA wasn't sure when or if Bret would be able to come in, and thus didn't want to center their portion of the feud around someone who was potentially never going to show up. Bret uses both "Excellence of Execution" and "Best There is, Was, or Ever Will Be" here when he wasn't doing so regularly for the WWF audience yet. I wonder if Bret liked the way those phrases sounded so much here that he chose to use them more often than he already was back in New York. If that's true, he made a wise choice, as those are the taglines that he'll be best known by for the rest of his life. Interesting that Bret does what Lawler does when he's a heel: completely bury his opponent to the point that one is left to wonder why he's even bothering to wrestle the match. Somehow or other, it sounds more organic when Bret does it, which isn't surprising given that at this point he's still been a heel for the majority of his career.
-
The problem with the finish here was that it didn't change the result. If Barr hits the tombstone, he's disqualified and loses his hair anyway. So the whole match becomes an excuse to do his turn on Perro, and that renders almost everything that came before meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Actually, he might have been a bigger heel if he'd hit the tombstone, which if I'm not mistaken is seen as a guaranteed stretcher job for whoever takes it according to lucha custom. I've never seen even the most hardened of rudos refuse a haircut after losing a hair match for as long as Barr did. In fact, I wondered if they've ever used refusing a haircut or an unmasking entirely to spark a heel turn. It seems to me that it would work really well, since their hair and their masks (if they should wear one) are the two things that a luchador would least like to lose and would fight to keep, even more so than a championship belt. I wonder if any Barr-Perro matches made the set? They should be hot affairs after the beating Barr gave Perro here. Are wrestlers officially allowed to cut their own hair if they lose a hair match? I've noticed that they let some wrestlers do it, but with Barr, the official insisted on doing it himself even after Barr started to cut on his own. Was that supposed to be a sign that he was no longer trustworthy after what had just happened?
-
This was incredible, not only for the fire Bullet Bob showed, but for the sheer amount of stips that he got over in one interview. Yes, the result is telegraphed, but even people who weren't completely smart to the business had to know that there was no way Corny could be allowed to prevail twice in a row over Bullet Bob in singles matches. I thought the "same ambulance, same hospital" stuff was overkill, mainly because there's no conceivable way that that stip could be guaranteed (what if that ambulance is in the shop that day?), but I got the intent behind Bullet Bob's promise, and that's what was most important. Sandy Scott's presence was enough; it showed that SMW was backing Bullet Bob's play. I might have used Scott and Steve if I'd been producing, but the one-on-one bout actually felt bigger than Rage in the Cage, so I can see why Bullet Bob came out by himself. I'm surprised that Bullet Bob himself didn't refer to Bossman's past history with Corny. Then again, to mention it too often would have put the idea in the more knowledgeable fans' heads that Bossman might turn, and that would have been pointless unless he was coming in full-time, which he wasn't. Was Bossman still under contract to Vince at this time, or was he doing this on a freelance basis as a favor to Corny?
-
Okay, so the other woman must have been his daughter-in-law. Thanks, Tim!
-
Lawler doesn't say much that he hasn't said before here, but the context is everything. Seeing him standing outside the building that he in a sense made famous, that's really his "palace" if you will, adds gravity to the whole thing, as does his mentioning of the various classic feuds that he's been involved in. This really feels like his biggest to date, bigger than Dundee, Mantel, Jimmy Hart, Andy Kaufman, you name them. This time, he's not defending just himself and his belt and crown, he's defending the people of Memphis and their way of life against the Godless invaders from New York, and there's no way that Bret can be allowed to prevail. It's amazing that Bret's treated like the most evil heel in the world in Memphis, while Lawler's just an annoying, delusional little twerp who snaps at Bret's ankles in the WWF. I wasn't watching regularly by now, but when I'd flip through the channels and hear Lawler giving Bret a hard time, I never got the impression that it was supposed to mean much in the grand scheme of things, that there was any doubt that Bret would not only beat Lawler, but obliterate a man who on his best day wasn't anything close to the wrestler Bret was. I wonder why Vince was so hesitant to portraying Lawler as any kind of in-ring threat not just to Bret, but to anyone else in the WWF. Instead of that, we got a constant dose of the worst side of Lawler, the unfunny dime-store comic who knows damn well his material stinks but tries to force it down the audience's throats because that's all he knows how to do. Wasn't there anyone else who could have filled a role like that? Why try to ruin an already legendary performer like Lawler?
-
Not even Ric Flair can do much in a little over a minute. This was actually better than his promo following the win over Windham; the volume was tolerable, he rattled off several possible challengers for his belt, and he even threw in a bit of a positive message for the youngsters. If Flair's directionless at this time, it's because no one really knows what to do with him. Is he better off being in his own totally separate section of the promotion, with his own list of challengers and his own feuds, and coexisting more or less peacefully on the same plane with Vader, or do they want to build to a money match and unify (or so they thought at the time) the NWA and WCW World titles? Both options are definitely on the table at this point, and only when Bischoff and company pick one and start to build toward it will Flair start to get back on track. If there's no more AFFTG, why are they still using the set? I can see keeping Fifi around as a valet, but keeping Flair's interview set is like asking Mean Gene to do interviews on the Piper's Pit set after Rod left at Mania III: it makes no sense. At least get the man his own green screen to do promos in front of.
-
This felt rushed and unremarkable, even if Barry was working with a bad knee. I'm not sure if Barry getting pinned in the figure four was the planned finish or not, but regardless, it felt like "That's it? That's all there is?" They'd have been better off stripping Barry of the belt and running a tournament with Flair as the winner. Jesse gets points for still looking good in tie-dye at his age. He sounded for a minute like he was going to do some age jokes on Flair, but wisely thought better of it. I've been getting further and further down on Flair as a promo the further I go with him into the nineties, and this one sounded pretty bad. He's not the cool, cocky cat that we'd like to think he is anymore, if he ever was. He's just another blowhard who mistakes volume for substance and bug-eyes for intensity. Arn's a hell of a lot better than he is, and has been for five or six years now. He wasn't godawful here, just predictable and overemotional. Considering the reputation he has, though, that's a mighty steep comedown. The only good thing about this interview was that it planted the first real seed of the Flair-Vader program. I noticed that even though Tony was careful not to overhype the idea of Flair as a ten-time World champion in order to protect Vader and the WCW World title, Gary Cappetta gave him the full "THE World Heavyweight Champion" treatment. Granted, his announcement would have been lacking something if he'd just said "NWA Heavyweight Champion", but I'm surprised he got away with making Flair and Vader equals, if only for a brief moment.
-
I couldn't understand a word of this, but you didn't need to know Japanese to know how genuinely special and emotional this moment was. This is how to retire with class; no overwrought video packages, no "celebrations" with people whom the retiree barely knew, no weepy declarations of the guy being the best who ever lived until it's time for the next guy with a big name to call it quits. It was beautiful stuff. The two women in the ring had to be Beyer's wife and daughter, but who was the son-in-law who looked like a wrestler? Someone mentioned Danny Spivey up above, and the size fits, but if it's really him I never knew his hair was bleached.
-
This wasn't exactly new and different, but it sure was spirited. I missed Brian confiming that Tammy is indeed a tramp, but I caught Tracy's line about Tammy paying people for sex. I know what he really meant to say, but the idea of Tammy offering money to complete strangers in exchange for allowing her to have sex with them makes her seem even more desperate and sleazy than she already is. Another thing I noticed: When Tracy and Brian started fighting, Tammy ran around like she didn't know quite what to do, which I assume was planned. But did anyone else notice the smile on her face, even when Tracy had the advantage? Whether it was intentional or not, it reinforces the idea of Tammy being first and foremost someone who enjoys seeing two big, dumb, sweaty men fight. It's amazing that someone so young and inexperienced can get so much across with just facial expressions. She might not have been born into the business, but she's picking it up so quickly it's amazing. Her promos need a little work, as she noticeably fumbled a line or two, but that will come with time; most people in her position can only say a line or two without fumbling. I loved Dutch saying "I'm not in this!" as Tracy and Brian fought in front of him. It seems like he's trying to play things straight more since Fuller and Golden have gone and taken his reason to be a heel away. By the way, am I the only one who thinks Dutch could have made just as good a Colonel Parker as Fuller. albeit a sleazier version who's more of a con man and hustler than a monied Southern entrepreneur and promoter? I thought Sully's bounty as on Lee, not Smothers. I guess it wouldn't make any sense for Sully to target a fellow heel, but I wish they would have offered a brief explanation for Sully's problem with Tracy. Maybe they did and I missed it.