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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    This was great, and I'm wondering what about it was objectionable other than Eddie not sticking to script. Did he use too many insider terms that the fans weren't supposed to know? Was it that he came off as too much of a complaining heel when he was supposed to be working as a face? Or was it that he was only in the USWA to do what he was doing (wrestling midcarders and feuding with Doug) and they had no intention of repushing him to any titles, which he called them out on here? Dave handled this like it was part of the show from start to finish, even talking about how Eddie had the right to be angry after some of the things that had happened to him lately. If he knew that Eddie was speaking out of turn, he certainly didn't try to stop it or redirect the conversation like you'd think he would, and in fact had done quite often in the past.
  2. garretta
    Not a bad promo, but as I said in the last thread, JYD vs. Zhukov just won't get it done in 1993, even for a nostalgia-based federation like this. Boris was a midcard joke by the time he left the WWF in 1990, and he hasn't exactly done anything to reestablish himself since. His gimmick is irrelevant, he's a terrible promo, and he's not exactly Ric Flair in the ring either. The Dog should probably be in SMW as an attraction, helping guys like Lee and Horner get over with the crowds by being the wise old tag team partner who brings the charisma while their partner takes care of the wrestling to the best of their ability. I think Soup's missing the point a bit: USA Wrestling wasn't supposed to be fresh, new, and exciting; rehashing old angles with old wrestlers was precisely the reason for its existence. Even by those standards, however, they could have done better than this for a money feud. They didn't, of course, and that's probably why we don't see them again on this set to the best of my knowledge.
  3. garretta
    A promotion where the main feud is JYD against Boris Zhukov had zero chance in 1993, no matter how well the feud was set up, They tried their best, and JYD still had his charisma from what we saw of the Boys Club clip, but there had to be either a younger heel or a heel whose gimmick wasn't hopelessly outdated to put him against. They could have turned Idol heel, for one thing. He was an older guy, but he wasn't a fake Russian juicehead whose gimmick had been obsolete for almost four years. Yes, JYD was saying "USWA" instead of USA Wrestling at first, but he corrected himself eventually. It's not all that hard of a mistake to make, especially if you've spent a lot of time wrestling in Memphis like JYD had. JYD took a hell of a bump on the floor, but Boris didn't look like much of a warhead trying to lift him and failing. Boris has the worst, most unintelligible Russian accent I've ever heard. He's definitely someone who should have stayed American by birth and been a turncoat instead of trying to pass himself off as an actual Russian. The only time he's understandable is when he (almost) drops the accent completely and sounds like an American named Jim Nelson.
  4. garretta
    I preferred the first promo, but this one was inevitable, as Duggan had to be seen as getting back into fighting shape to go after Yoko. I liked the brief glimpse of Duggan's special two-by-four being made in the lumber yard, and the only thing missing from the promo itself was "HOOOOOOOO!" Maybe they were saving that for the following week. Duggan in Hogan's place at Mania? I actually can buy that after seeing this angle unfold. I could even buy the immediate challenge, as Hacksaw would have a lot more right to be angry about Yoko winning the title than Hogan would. He wouldn't be any sort of long-term champion, especially with Luger warming up in the bullpen, but a two-month reign ending at King of the Ring as Hogan's did wouldn't be much of a stretch.
  5. garretta
    Nancy in SMW? Why the hell didn't Corny use her on camera, either with Kevin specifically or as another heel manager in general? I would have loved to see her taking a young Tammy Fytch under her dastardly wing. As for the promo, it was too short to be a classic, but I agree with those who say that Sully hasn't looked this good in years. I haven't seen his Florida stuff, but I have seen the Varsity Club, Sullivan's Slaughterhouse, and the Gamesmaster, and this is better than any of that stuff by a country mile. Whether Corny allowed him to book his own stuff or just had a talent for writing this demented character, he's the scariest heel in the business since Jake in late '91-early '92. Which beach did they film this at? They probably wouldn't have had the money to go down to Florida, and the Outer Banks are (I believe) on the wrong side of North Carolina to be in SMW's footprint. Could Sully have shot this himself in Florida (assuming he still lived there) and sent it to Corny for him to use?
  6. garretta
    I'm not sure, but sometimes I think certain guys from Memphis may spring things on Dave just to see how he'll react and get a rise out of him, and the Chelsea Clinton clipping was one of those. Of course, since this isn't Lawler, Dave gets to be the stern schoolmaster, which he's good at, and demand that the focus be kept on wrestling. I don't know about Jackie wrestling the guys. Then again, when has Memphis ever featured credible female wrestling matches? If she wanted to get in the ring, Wolfie and Jamie may have been the best they could do for her. Wolfie trying to involve Corey by calling him an Oreo was worse than the Chelsea Clinton stuff, but Dave didn't have any outrage left. Corey probably should have gotten in his face, but he'd have no reason to be there if they didn't need someone to read the upcoming events calendar, so maybe they thought that no one would notice or care.
  7. garretta
    Since this is essentially the same video as we saw in '92, I'll repeat to the best of my ability what I said then: This video would have made some sense if Jeff had ever been pushed as a patriot, or if he was debuting for Vince or Turner and they wanted him to be an all-American babyface. But this is just the same old Jeff wrestling as usual for dear old Papa. He'll always be, at best, number two behind Lawler in the hearts of the Memphis fans, and he could slide up and down in a given week depending on who else is in the territory. If he needed a push as something new, they should have let him try out Double J the country singer as a babyface and see how that went. Probably not well, but at least it wouldn't have looked as desperate as this does. Oh well, any excuse to hear Ray Charles is better than none, I suppose.
  8. garretta
    Not the strongest Bret promo, but not the weakest either. Overall, it does its job. I had to laugh at Bret saying that the thought of facing Yoko gave him a giant pit in his stomach, though. If you think that's something, pal, just wait until you see the pits you get when he squashes you! Am I the only one who wished the phrase "excellence of execution" would go far away and never come back? Surely there's another phrase out there that would describe him better than some tongue-twisting Ginoism that was also used on quite a few other heels whom Monsoon didn't want to flat-out praise back in the day.
  9. garretta
    This is another time when I wonder what so-called "smart" fans are thinking. Has Duggan become such a cartoon in your minds that nothing can redeem him? This is about as close to his Mid-South asskicker days as Vince will ever allow him to get, and I think he's tremendous here. If he'd come out with the two-by-four and screaming "HOOOOOOO!" I could understand people complaining, but we really need to give Vince credit for trying when he attempts to be gritty, if only because it didn't happen often then and is all but nonexistent today, if what I've heard is right. Kudos to Vince for allowing Hacksaw to talk about his pregnant wife as well. Very seldom has the WWF portrayed its wrestlers as men who have families of their own except when an angle can be made out of it, like the Bret-Davey Boy dissension at SummerSlam '92 that caught Diana in the middle or the Cheryl Roberts stuff with Rick Rude in '88. Other than a brief glimpse of Linda and Brooke with Hogan after Mania VIII (and they weren't identified by name), the last time a wife was mentioned in a non-angle context that I can remember was Bonnie Steamboat after Mania III, and they had no choice then because they were greasing the skids for Steamer taking time off to be with her and Richie. All of that said, the mispronunciation of Yoko's name did detract slightly from the gravity of the promo. I don't fault Duggan as much as I do whoever was directing. Why couldn't they have stopped tape and said "Hey, Jim, it's spelled with a N"?
  10. garretta
    We're back to Crush crushing things, I see. Not a bad idea, unless of course you've already run it ten miles into the ground, like Vince and company did when this gimmick first debuted. The weather talk was a nice touch to make the whole thing seem live, even if it wasn't. Sometimes Vince's eye for detail pays off. Was Bartlett supposed to be Elvis that night? Now I know where the jumpsuits Greg Valentine wore as a member of Rhythm 'n' Blues went!
  11. garretta
    This one was absolutely worthy of a spot at SuperBrawl. It was surprisingly vicious for a match of this type, which is usually all about guys being thrown out to the floor and tossed back in. There was plenty of that kind of action too, particularly from Austin, but it wasn't the one and only focus of the bout, just a major subplot. Whatever problems Pillman had in adjusting to life as a heel, he was past them by now. It's not so much that he cheats in this match, although he certainly does, but his style has become much more smothering and close-quartered than it was as a face, where he was always in the air or showing off his agility. He worked on Steamer's back like a man who's been punishing body parts all his life, and his timing with Austin, even in a non-tag situation like this, was impeccable. He knew exactly when to pitch Steamer to the outside, and Austin was right there to do his damage, making sure to get in enough shots to hurt Steamer before Patrick could turn around and catch him. Steamer may be the second-best selling babyface I've seen, behind only Ricky Morton. He manages to pull something off here that I didn't think could be done: selling a lower-back injury as something that restricts not only movement, but breathing. This was made noticeable by Larry's excellent commentary, where he, among other things, compared the Boston crab to a boa constrictor wrapping itself around a rat. Commentary like this leads someone to see a match differently than they might otherwise. I also remember times when I've hurt my back and could do absolutely nothing without agony, breathing being one of the most painful activities of all. Losing JR is bad enough, but how on earth Bischoff got away with demoting Larry (Tony and Jesse took over WCWSN starting the following week) is something I'll never understand. The broadcast arrangements outside of JR (Jesse on Worldwide, Larry on WCWSN) were working out just fine. Here's hoping that this was just a swap, and that we'll hear Larry on Worldwide going forward. I liked the idea of the match ending during the commercial, if only because constantly teasing the fact that a match could end while a break was on and not delivering once in a while kind of defeats the purpose of keeping the action going during breaks. We got the finish as promised in all its glory, so I can't complain. It was a nifty finish too; after all the interference from Austin during the match, you would think that his last act of interference would cost Steamboat the match, not Pillman. As well-done as the finish was, I could have done without the inset they showed the first time they went to break, when Steamer clotheslined himself on the top rope. If it's important enough to show while live action is going on, either take your break after that spot or come back from break with it just before you resume live action. The lumberjack brawling was a lot more chaotic than in most other matches I've seen of this kind, and it seemed more realistic that way. Most times the other lumberjacks step back while one or two guys get their cheap shots in; here, it was a battle royal any time someone got near Steamer or Pillman. Shane was used sparingly but effectively as the concerned but limited partner who wanted to stop Austin more than anything else in the world but was too injured to pull it off. I liked the idea that they actually showed relevant Omni footage to set up this match (though we didn't see it on the set). As long as Omni bouts are used in this way, I have no problem with the cards being promoted on TBS, especially since it was a necessity due to WTBS (the non-Superstation local version) being WCW's outlet in Atlanta. It's sad to see JR leave WCW, especially since we know that he'll never be quite the same again for reasons mostly beyond his control. He was at his best calling gritty, realistic product, and outside of his brief stint with SMW he never really got the chance to do that again. I'm not exactly looking forward to hearing him in the WWF, if only because I'm having trouble getting rid of the image of him in his cowboy hat sitting next to Lawler, who's practically having an orgasm in my mind's eye over a pair of women's surgically-augmented (or just plain fake) breasts. Thank heaven I won't be spending my money to actually see that, but him trying to somehow work decently with a mostly comedic sidekick like Heenan, which he's never done before to this point, isn't exactly something I'm looking forward to. either. Here's hoping he'll surprise us all!
  12. garretta
    This was another one of those trios matches that was more like a six-man battle royal. That meant that not everything could be seen to begin with, and the cuts made by the cameras made it all into a giant mess. Some nice stories got started (Konnan's knee injury, the rudos going so aggressively after Santo's mask), but everything felt incomplete, even though the mask ripping led to the final DQ. It's impressive that they worked this match in a driving rainstorm, but few of its problems had much to do with the rain, in my opinion. This would have been just as big a structural mess under dry conditions. What was the deal with showing Eddie's accidental dive onto Konnan so often? Was the promotion trying to tease a heel turn for one of them?
  13. garretta
    Most of what I was going to say has already been said. This felt like the second or third match on a card, an appetizer to get the fans ready for the main course. It would have been easier to watch if I could have told the heels apart, but it's nice to see that I wasn't the only one with that problem for once. There were a few nice moves ( a hip toss off the apron doubleteam taking the place of a straight dive, for one), but there was nothing truly memorable about this, especially for people like me who have their issues with lucha to start with.
  14. garretta
    This is the kind of match that shortens careers. Hansen didn't win it; he survived it. I've seen very few matches that were this much of a fight. Each man had the other knocked silly numerous times, but when they'd go for covers would somehow find the strength (or maybe the orneriness) to kick out. Each man absorbed stiff shot after stiff shot and fought back, usually to knock his opponent for a loop. I don't usually single out camerawork, but whoever shot this match went above and beyond the call. He captured closeups of almost every major blow, really showing the fans the struggle that these two were going through and making each move seem more impactful than it was, which was a feat when you stop to consider the kind of bombs these two were throwing at each other. I looked at the March match list and saw that Kawada's challenging Misawa, so I thought this was the match that was used to set that up, with Kawada going over. This made the ending a surprise, but not a disappointment. This was so good that the result didn't matter, and I don't say that too often. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the fallout of this bout, whatever it is.
  15. garretta
    This was a little better than the first match I saw between these two teams, and Psicosis busted out a few nice moves on Rey, particularly the Samoan superdrop, which must be all the rage this month. Still, this is another trios match that felt too much like a six-man battle royal, and to have the rudos lose two falls on a countout and a DQ really feels like a copout. I think the dive trains look great just like everyone else does, but did we have to have two and a half of them here (one in each fall, with the one in the third fall counting as half since only three guys participated). What looks spectacular once in a match can quickly become humdrum if it's done three times.
  16. garretta
    This was a great match. I loved Taue's strategy here; he didn't come to wrestle, he came to rough Misawa up. That's rare among native wrestlers, especially in Triple Crown matches. Yet his strategy came within half a second of working on several occasions. Only Misawa's heart saved him from defeat. The same was true when Misawa was on offense. Say what you want about Taue's tactics, but he's one gritty bastard. Even though Misawa managed to hit one more big move than Taue did and thus get the win, this isn't even close to being over. Credit to Misawa for taking all those sick bumps on the back of his head, both in the ring and on the floor. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he die as a result of injuries from a bad bump on the back of his head during a match. Unlike most of you, I watched this match before Hansen-Kawada, so I can't say which one is better yet. I will say this: Stan and Tosh have quite a high standard to live up to!
  17. garretta
    Other than not being able to tell the difference between Mascara Ana and Universo, I recognized everyone, which is definitely a plus in these bouts. That said, this was more of a six-man battle royal than a tag team match, and that hurt it for me. The dives toward the end were insane; someone's going to either break their backs or knock their brains out on the safety railing if they keep trying to top each other like that. This is the first time I've seen Caras without his mask. It's too bad he's a rudo; he could really be a matinee-idol face with his good looks. This is one of the few times we actually see the two-referee system influence a decision; I'm fairly sure that they conferred before disqualifying Caras for kinking Konnan low.
  18. garretta
    Thanks for reminding me about me about Sting carrying Vader around the ring, Pete. I just added it to my review.
  19. garretta
    I had a post ready to go about what a brutal fight this was, what great storytelling was involved, how the match covered both men in glory. That post is out the window; the ending killed it. Took a classic and turned into time-wasting crap that I wish I hadn't seen. That's a pattern with WCW, unfortunately, if bad announcing doesn't make matches unwatchable, bad booking robs them of all common sense and makes people why they bothered to follow the promotion in the first place. I'll say it again: to me, announcing and booking count every bit as much in a match as the moves guys perform in the ring. In fact, without good booking, wrestling is just sweaty guys in tights groping each other for no reason. Here may be the ultimate case in point: Sting has taken perhaps the most brutal beating from an opponent that I've seen which didn't involve weapons (other than the strap, of course). He's had his ribs caved in by a Samoan superdrop, taken a superplex, been pummeled like a punching bag to the point where Nick Patrick had to intercede to save his life (one of the few times I approve of a rules-enforcing spot in an anything goes match), and still has Vader knocked out and ready to be dragged around, with an ear bleeding so badly that his face and chest are covered with it. He hoists Vader to his shoulders and, with an effort that has to be seen to be believed, gets halfway to the fourth corner and then gets tripped. Not by Harley (though you can see him swipe at Sting's legs and miss), but by Patrick, who either picked the wrong spot to fall after being bumped or was booked to trip Sting for some ungodly reason I can't fathom. Once that's over, does Vader have to deal with a wriggling, clawing Sting in an effort to win the bout? No, indeed. He simply ties Sting's feet up, and it's easy as you please. He touches the first three buckles with authority, then we have the old "opponent unknowingly kicks the winner into the fourth corner" routine. Normally, that would be okay, but Tony and Jesse have just spent the entire match telling us that a man has to be dragged along with the strap in order for a touch to count. Spots have been done based off of this rule for the whole match. So why in the hell is Sting lying in the opposite corner barely moving? Even if the fourth corner was supposed to be a surprise, couldn't Harley have provided one last momentary distraction so Vader could at least move Sting a foot or two and make it look good? For one final indignity, now that Sting has been decisively beaten, fourth corner aside, does he take his loss like a man and vow to start up the contender's ladder again, since he shouldn't see Vader across any ring from him for a good six months at least? He does not; he whips Vader like a dog in a vain attempt to keep their program at least semi-hot. This was Hogan at Survivor Series '87-levels of sore losing, only this time Sting actually got physical with Vader. Some top babyface. Some paragon of virtue. What should have happened instead? It depends on whether they wanted Sting to ultimately win the title and lead the company. Since the answer was obviously yes, he should have gone over here. Then, since he's conquered Vader's game, he gets a title match, only he gets to name the stip. I know it's only been seven months, but Slamboree should have seen a redo of "Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal". It doesn't matter which match is selected, because Sting goes over clean again and takes the title for good. What happens after that depends on Windham; if he stays healthy, we get a title unification series. If not, run face Sting vs. face Flair until either another challenger asserts himself or Vader's fresh enough for another push. Since I've ragged on the commentary in the last two matches, I have to mention here that Tony and Jesse were at main event level for this one. They were masterful at putting over all the touches that made this match so good from bell to bell, including the ins and outs of the match (such as dragging the opponent to all four corners, and its psychology. The one false note was Jesse talking about how Vader whipped Sting like Tony whipped his kids, which earned a well-deserved "You shut up!" from their father. Look, Jesse, he says enough dumb stuff that you can get after him for during the course of a match. We don't need you talking trash about his home life just to get a rise out of him. It's a shame that Bischoff and whoever booked this (Dusty? Ole?) couldn't be bothered to give this match a good finish, because it sure deserved one. As it was, a set of great performances was utterly ruined. I'd say I was looking forward to seeing how they'll redeem themselves, but I'd be lying. Good in-ring action or no good in-ring action, this is the worst American promotion right now by far.
  20. garretta
    I don't do this often, but I'm pausing this match in order to get my commentary rant out of the way so I can try to focus on the match (which is excellent, especially for a second match) later. If any of you are into building time machines, could you go back to 1993, get a job in the WCW front office, and break up Tony and Jesse as a broadcast team? Tony in particular was awful, and if you think his mini-tantrum in the Rock ''n' Roll-Bodies match was bad, he topped himself here. From acting pissed that Jesse threw it back up to Gary Cappetta for Scorp's intro before he could, to the whole "wrestlers vs. athletes" debate (he had a point, but he put it over so obnoxiously that I sided with Jesse) to the single most bizarre commentary exchange I've heard yet. Here it is, to the best of my recollection. Scorp has just pulled Benoit's hair to get out of an over-the-knee backbreaker: Jesse: Come on, Schiavone, he pulled the hair, admit it. You saw it. (Pause.) Go on, admit it! Tony: All right, he pulled the hair, for crying out loud! That's one of the shortcuts you always advocate, Jess. Jesse: But didn't you tell me during the last match that guys like Scorpio don't need to pull hair? Tony (after a pause): Don't talk with ice in your mouth! There it is, ladies and gentlemen, my Line of the Year. No other commentators need apply. I laughed at that one for five solid minutes; I'll bet JR laughed a lot longer once he saw it. As for the match, wow. This was one right out of the New Japan juniors, but with a Southern crowd, the spots seemed really fresh. It was a back-and-forth match, but not in an "each man gets a turn" way. They really put over that they couldn't beat their opponent, even with some excellent high-impact moves. The belly-to-back superplex looked especially dangerous, and Benoit landed right on the back of his head and was half a step slow the rest of the way. Was it a great sell job, or was he legitimately knocked woozy? Probably a bit of both. The finish was well done, going right up to the time limit when everyone in the building probably thought they were going the full twenty. I'd like to see more finishes like this, but they'll have a hard time doing it better than what we saw here. Jesse really sounded happy to be calling this one, Tony's crap aside. Scorp in particular seemed to impress him, and I loved him calling Scorp "Cold Man" I've seldom seen him so into a babyface. When Jesse was talking about Stu Hart's dungeon, I thought for a second that he'd mention some of the other wrestlers who'd been trained there besides Benoit, but no such luck. A reference to Bret in 1993 WCW would have raised eyebrows everywhere. Line of the Night (non-ice version): Jesse, after Tony refers to Benoit landing high impact blows with the foot: "Why not just say that he's kicking the heck out of him?" (In response, Tony snots off about Jesse not letting him talk. Say something intelligent first, stupidhead!)
  21. garretta
    Even after the ring intros, the only guys I definitively recognized were Winners, Rey, and Heavy Metal (because he left his shirt on). The dives looked insane, and that's about all I've got. This is yet another match that I wish would have turned into something recognizably WWF or WCW in midstream. Who knows, maybe my wish will come true during one of these confusing mishmashes which most of you call good wrestling.
  22. garretta
    This wasn't quite a squash, but Tamura didn't have enough firepower to defeat Takada. He had the right idea with the work on Takada's leg, but the other leg and the kicks it contained were just too much for him. Once Takada scored the first knockdown with that kick in the ribs, it was just a question of time. I enjoyed the history lesson and refresher course on scoring above. Even though the matches are worked, you're able to figure out the storyline of a match a lot better if you follow the scoring like it's a legit fight.
  23. garretta
    Thanks for the info, Phil. I'm guessing that it's cheaper to redo the intros in-house than it would be to ask Gary to redo them. But if they're going that way, why not just ask Finkel (who's still an employee) to do the dubbing?
  24. garretta
    I'm not sure if this reaches the level of the All-Japan six-mans, but this was great for what it was. You really get the sense that Tenryu and his guys are Public Enemy #1, but they shrug it off and take the match clean as a sheet after overwhelming Nogami with sheer brute force. Ishikawa may be a midcarder, and Hara may be an old fart who only knows one move (the headbutt), but they're effective henchmen for Tenryu here. Nogami absorbs most of the beating for New Japan, which is fitting is a match like this, as they were saving Hash/Tenryu for singles matches and Muta was too big a star for Tenryu to get his hands on at this point in the feud. Speaking of Keiji, I would have thought that this might have been a big enough match for him to break out the Muta paint. Was there a strict formula as to when he worked as himself and when he worked as Muta in NJPW, or was that Keiji's call? Am I the only one who's wondering what a match between Hara and Fuchi would be like after seeing Hara work here? I'm definitely looking forward to the big ten-man later on the month. I haven't seen as much of this feud as some of you have, but from what I've seen, it's pretty one-sided in WAR's favor. It's not quite to the critical stage for New Japan, but a big win or two would certainly help their cause at this point.
  25. garretta
    This was an excellent match, but it loses points for bad play-by-play. Before I get to that, though, did WWE have royalty issues with Gary Cappetta? This match was taken from 24/7 (or Classics on Demand, if you prefer), and they have that awful generic announcer introducing the match, although you can plainly see Gary in the ring. I'll have to check out the other two matches we have from this card and see if Gary's intros are used on them. (If they are, the chances are that the match was taken from the original broadcast.) Okay, now on to Tony. He started off well, waxing nostalgic about Ricky and Robert's JCP days, and even talking about the concert Ricky gave in Asheville back in '86. which I for one would love to hear sometime. But about halfway through the bout, he got his gimmicks confused somehow or other and flashed back to the York Foundation, referring to Morton as "Richard" for the rest of the match. Good grief, man, there hasn't been so much as a hint of the Yorks in WCW for almost a year and a half, and this is Rock 'n' Roll's triumphant return home. How could you keep letting this happen? Once is okay, but Jesse should have called him out on it after the second time and made him explain himself. Maybe that would have reminded him not to do it again. To make matters worse, there was a Prichard in the match, so more than one person at a pay-per-view party probably wondered how in the world Tony got blond, mulleted Ricky Morton mixed up with stringy-haired brunette Dr. Tom Prichard. Of course, there was the usual snippiness with Jesse, which actually came out on the air this time. I can't figure out how in the hell these two can't work together all of a sudden, because their appearances in the WWF on pay-per-view were very good. Could it have been that Tony was mad about being passed over for Bischoff to run the company (or at least its television), and since he couldn't go back to the WWF (who was about to hire JR), he was sulking because he had to take orders from the man who'd beaten him out? Even if that's true, why sandbag Jesse? Why accuse him of sulking and being unprofessional, which makes his credibility as a color guy zero? To Jesse's credit, he didn't get mad, responding to Tony's accusations about not letting him call the match with a simple "Okay, call it." I would have dismissed all this as part of the act had Tony not tried to pull the same thing with Heenan later on, and had I not read about his dissatisfaction about losing the executive producer's job to Bischoff. As I said in another thread, Tony's not nearly a good enough actor to pull off a prudish persona to react to Jesse the way Vince did. This was a horrible performance, and I can see why both Jesse and Heenan eventually stopped giving a damn about working with him; even though their reputations took a bit of a hit, they knew their places in history were secure, so why knock themselves out, especially if their partner was having a perpetual snit fit and the product was crap? Yes, there was a match going on while all the booth drama was playing out, and as I said, it was excellent. There seemed to be a lot of three and four-man spots, more than are seen in most tag matches, but these guys all knew each other so well by now that they were a treat to watch and not a distraction. We saw a lot of Corny too, but at least part of the fun of this feud is seeing Rock 'n' Roll finally get the chance to beat Corny's brains out after years of frustration, so that was fine too, especially Stan's crisscross where he smashes into Corny like a ten-ton truck. Tony: "He looks a little punch drunk." No, really? Let's see how you'd look after you got smashed into by a two hundred and forty pound wrestler, smartsky. It looks like we might be having some dissension among the Bodies after that finish, as I know there's a dustup coming that ends up in at least one singles match between Eaton and Prichard in SMW. I'm not sure who Bobby would have gotten to team with him if they'd gone through with the breakup, and it's probably a good thing they didn't, as the Bodies had a lot of life left in them as a unit, even though Stan left and was replaced by Jimmy Del Rey. This isn't just because of Tony's performance, but I wonder if they shouldn't have asked Bob Caudle to call this match. He was a former WCW announcer, the match was taking place in North Carolina so it wouldn't have affected his work with Senator Helms, and he could have explained the SMW history of these teams a lot more than Tony could have or did. This is just a hunch, but I think he and Jesse would have meshed well, at least for one bout. I forgot to mention that Jesse seemed a lot more conversant with these two teams in this bout than he was in the eight-man from Worldwide, which had been taped twelve days earlier. Some of his jokes were the same (like the gynecology joke about Dr. Tom, which Tony wisely ignored) but the feeling of "What the hell am I watching?" that I got from Jesse in that bout was gone. Thank heaven, because both Tony and Jesse being off their games would have been too much for me to take,
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