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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    I thought this was very, very good. Not quite excellent, but more than satisfactory. Everyone but Ogawa was in peril at one point, and both teams showed good continuity when needed. Akiyama definitely didn't look like a rookie here. He moved very fluidly, and his execution was right up there with everyone else's. His inexperience may stand out when he's in the same ring with guys like Misawa and Taue, but he fit in just fine with this bunch. The action got a bit too back-and-forth at certain times, but the wrestler taking the punishment always took the time to sell at least briefly. It also didn't hurt that I was more emotionally invested in the workers (except for Akiyama, of course) because I'm such a fan of the Misawa's Army-Jumbo's Army feud. The one problem I have is with the finish. Not who pinned who, but the move used to get the win. The awesome Doomsday Device-style dropkick/reverse slam combination by Kobashi and Kikuchi should have been it. I'm not sure why they needed to follow up with two German suplexes. Maybe it seemed like more of a "pure" wrestling finish to Baba.
  2. garretta
    I'm not exactly sure what the postmatch was about since I don't speak Japanese, but it almost seemed to me from the body language that Inoki was congratulating Tenryu on his victory and possibly welcoming him to New Japan. That can't be right, can it? At any rate, this one started sloppy, but it got better as time went on. There was a definite sense of desperation and struggle for almost every move and advantage. Neither one of these two as going to let the other get the best of them without a fight, and there was plenty of fight in both of them. Yes, there were some notable botches, but they didn't lose the crowd, which is a miracle when you consider how dead they were at times earlier in the evening. The only inexcusable moment for me was Tenryu selling Choshu's missed lariat, but he'd probably gotten ready to sell before he knew that Choshu missed completely. Has anyone ever seen a running small package before. I think it was Tenryu who got it, and that would have been a wonderful finisher, especially for smaller guys. This is American-centric thinking, but I'm surprised that Tenryu, the invader, got the clean win. If this had been the US, everyone on the card would have run in and both guys would have been disqualified. I noticed that Choshu didn't waste a lot of time selling the effects of the powerbombs, so that's how he was probably kept strong: "He may have pinned me, but he didn't hurt me!" Much like in the Muta-Chono match, the ref was a pain in the ass, and took a lot away from the first few minutes. Was there some kind of story behind that? Even Japanese refs, who can be very strict when the occasion calls for it, generally stay out of the way in the big matches. Finally, was Tenryu's cut legit? Choshu never worked on it, and it was never made part of the story of the bout.
  3. garretta
    I didn't think this was half-bad. The wandering around that some of you mentioned early on was actually Muta looking for a foreign object like the spike he'd used to bloody Hase the month before. When he actually found another spike, the referee was right there to take it away from him. I've seen these two have better matches,, but this one wasn't bad. Once the ref let him know that a repeat of the Hase bloodbath wouldn't be tolerated, he wrestled a perfectly acceptable match. I liked that he used the ramp as an extension of the ring for certain spots, and Chono was a real pro for taking that face-first bump onto the ramp considering his neck injury. I thought the ref got in the way a little too much when they were outside; he should have just stayed in the ring and counted. I don't think Muta blew off Chono's legwork early on; since when do a few basic toeholds need to be sold for longer than it takes the victim to get to his feet? If Chono wanted to do legwork that had to be sold, he should have tried a few more complicated submissions. If anything deserved an extended sell job, it was the bump Muta took into the ropes when he missed the handspring elbow on the ramp. Even though the work here wasn't either man's best, the crowd didn't help the atmosphere at all. Were they just waiting for Tenryu and Choshu, or might they have been upset about something? I noticed Chono's tights too. I'm guessing that AJPW was the top promotion at this time and NJPW was playing catchup. Also, did "Ironman" on Chono's tights have any special significance?
  4. garretta
    This match is a perfect example of why I take booking and announcing (although that doesn't apply here) into account in my reviews. A lot of you said that this didn't have the fire that you'd expect in an interpromotional match, and you're absolutely right. But if Tenryu is as hot as you say he is coming in, and there's an IWGP/NWA World title match next between Muta and Chono (which there is), it makes perfect sense to me that Choshu would tell these guys to go out and work a normal juniors match. The issue between the two sides was going to be (presumably) settled later on, so it made no sense for these two to beat each other all over the arena. So this match did what it was designed to do and did it well. There were a few botches, but the slippery ropes were about as good an excuse as you could have for them, and nothing was outright missed. Both Dragon and Liger took horrific bumps into the railing, and I think Liger actually split the press table in half at one point. Liger clearly outworked Dragon, but he outworks just about everyone his own size, so that didn't bother me. Was this match derivative? Of course it was. Wrestling's like every other form of entertainment; original ideas are few and far between. What matters is the execution of whatever ideas are presented, and on that front, this bout was solid if not spectacular.
  5. garretta
    This was probably the most Mid South-like match of the Watts era, and it's a shame that it came just before the Cowboy and JR departed. These two just beat the holy terror out of each other for almost twenty minutes, and no body part was safe. The arm work was almost too intense for TV, and I liked the dueling figure-fours toward the end as well. There were so many little touches, too many to list. It wasn't the holds these two used so much as it was how painfully they were executed. Combine those with constant elbow and knee strikes to the affected limbs and you have something that most TV shows wouldn't have aired back then, let alone today. If I had to choose just one such sequence as a favorite, it would be Windham breaking Steamer's figure four by hammering the inside of his knee with a closed fist. It's such a simple counter, but it's more effective than just about any I've seen, including those long, drawn-out reversal sequences that inevitably end up with both guys in the ropes. Strangely enough for such a good bout, I don't have any specific moments that stick out on commentary. JR and Larry just called the match as effectively as they possibly could, and Larry played it a hundred percent straight. Actually, I do have a moment that stands out, mostly because something like it is so rare: Larry talks at one point about how Steamboat's figure four can't be as effective as Barry's because his legs aren't long enough to apply the correct pressure on the legs of someone as tall as Barry. Forget 1993 or 2016; this kind of analysis was rare as far back as you care to go with televised wrestling. How WCW managed to relegate someone capable of it to the meaningless (because it was before Hogan and friends could be bothered to show up) first hour of Nitro just a few short years later is beyond me. Even though the finish wasn't clean, I wouldn't call the DQ on Windham cheap, either. How many times does a prone referee see someone throw their opponent over the top rope? Great call by Nick Patrick, and the brawl afterward was a lot of fun, and made the fans want to see the tag title match at the Clash, plus Dustin eventually getting his hands on Barry. This may have been the WCW TV Match of the Month, and may have been the best non-Clash match on TBS in at least a year, maybe longer. I hope we get a singles rematch of some kind later in the set, because this matchup definitely deserves another go-round.
  6. garretta
    I can only imagine what this would have been like as a co-feature at the Rumble the day before, where these two men could have really beaten the crap out of each other with everything they could lay their hands on. I'm pretty sure that it was because the match aired on free TV that we got something resembling an actual match instead of a brawl, and while I certainly enjoyed what I saw, I can't help but wish we'd gotten more of a brawl. Flair got more of this match than most guys on the way out get; you can tell that Vince truly respected what he'd done in the year-plus that he was in the WWF. As for Curt, he's never really had a chance to be in danger before as a face, and he really pulled that off well too. The cut actually played a bigger role than I thought it would, but Flair couldn't really go after it for a long time under these circumstances. As much as I loved hearing Heenan go wild on commentary, he should have been at ringside for this. I'm sure Curt would have known not to touch him, and managerial interference would have been out of place anyway. The same goes for the Survivor Series main event from November. Since Bobby was so unabashedly for Flair and Bartlett was a nonentity (and may not have even grasped what he was seeing), it made sense for Vince to go full babyface in support of Curt. The "1....2.....3....HE GOT HIM! I KNOW I SAID IT FIVE SECONDS AGO, BUT THIS TIME HE REALLY DID!:" routine was still annoying no matter what, though. Vince blaming Heenan for the whole mess made sense in light of what we've seen since November, but I would rather he'd given Flair credit for making a move on his own just this one time. Flair's leaving, Vince, it wouldn't kill you to admit that he can think for himself! I know that the Perfectplex is Curt's finisher, but I'd rather have seen this match end on a move that Flair hadn't presumably scouted from thousands of videotapes. A man as experienced and smart as Flair shouldn't put his head down if he knows that his opponent executes his finisher using that position. Have Curt bust out the Ax in tribute to his dad instead, and maybe actually acknowledge that Curt has a dad who wrestled and used that move. Heenan's rant at the end was a classic, even though we couldn't actually hear most of it. It's kind of a shame that he didn't end his managing/advising career on this note; I think Luger just shrugged him off without a word on the USS Intrepid when he took Yokozuna's bodyslam challenge, and that was all she wrote. The commercial breaks really didn't bother me much; it looks more fake to have guys standing around for two minutes or more like they did on SNME for years than it does to have a match continue and the TV show join it in progress. Is Bartlett's obnoxious line about Flair and Heenan having a sexual relationship typical of him? If it is, I think I'd rather have "Puppies!" Lawler four years early.
  7. garretta
    This was sloppily booked and clumsily wrestled, but everything worked in the end. The object of the match was to establish Tracy as SMW's new top face and also the top contender for Tony. This it did, because Tracy gave one hell of a babyface performance, the best I've seen so far by anyone in the promotion not named Ricky Morton. But given how the match was booked, Corny still blew it. Kyle was absolutely no factor at all, and other than a couple of miscommunication spots, Tony and Golden completely ignored each other. So why squeeze everything into one bout? Have the same four guys, but spread it out over three weeks. The first week, Tracy beats Kyle, the biggest one, in record time, just as he did here. The second week, Tracy overcomes both Fuller (who's at ringside for his partner) and Golden, pinning Golden after about ten minutes. That sets up Tracy and Tony, both fresh and each looking for the money, as well as Tracy wishing to claim the number one contendership, both of which he does with a clean pin. Same outcome, same finishes (more or less), but more sustained drama. As for the match that actually happened, I'd have subbed in Orndorff for Kyle and Horner for Golden, and told everyone to tag frequently so we could have seen some face vs. face and heel vs. heel interaction. The tag match they ran under similar rules a while back didn't tell as good a story as this match did, but it was a better overall match because the teamwork rules between the participants came into play. Without that element, there's no point in having this setup instead of a mini-tournament or individual matches. They covered another hole I thought I'd found quite nicely: I wondered why on earth Tony, who was already heavyweight champion, would participate in a match for a lesser belt. Turns out that he wanted the thousand dollars, not the title. What could be a more heelish motivation than cold hard cash? The only thing missing was him saying that the money was to cover one of Ron's many future operations. Dutch was tremendous, and I completely agreed with his and Bob's assertion that Tracy wrestled a dumb match. Why not take advantage of the "must accept a tag" rule after pinning Kyle and try to get rid of either Golden or Tony without having to spend any more energy than he already had? Of course, that would have made his performance considerably less heroic, which was the whole point of the match in the first place. I loved Dutch insisting on being called "Dr. Mantell", and Bob plays right along without seeming any less intelligent and also without taking away from the action in the ring. This is why they're the best regular team on TV today. (JR and Jesse only work special events, and JR's leaving WCW soon anyway.) The stuff about Tracy not really being from the South was amusing, especially using goat cheese as an example of how Tracy's really from Wisconsin. Under these circumstances, I have no problem with Tracy as a super Southern patriot. Not only is it a great babyface act for a small promotion such as SMW, but Tracy's explicitly doing penance to his friends and neighbors for the Young Pistols gimmick; it makes sense that he'd go a bit overboard (at least to non-Southerners) in an effort to prove his sincerity. I didn't know Orndorff was still working SMW tapings; this match aired six days after his streetfight with Cactus in WCW. This match must have been taped back In December.
  8. garretta
    I don't get the type of praise that I'm reading for this. Greatest tag match ever? Not even close, not with all the great Southern tags that have taken place over the years. I guess I'm getting tired of the joshi style, because the crazy spotfest you all didn't see is exactly what I saw. If anyone in this match sold anything for more than ten seconds, I'd like to know when. I'm tired of accepting Toyota being figure-foured and looking like her leg's being broken one second and doing moonsaults to the floor the next with perfect spring in her legs and no sign of pain whatsoever the next. That's not a house style, that's just terrible professional wrestling. You want a great tag match? Anything involving the Rock 'n' Roll Express blows this stuff into a million pieces based on Ricky Morton's selling alone. These ladies looked like they barely broke a sweat; considering the moves they were doing, they should have all been stretched out on the mat, semiconscious. I can appreciate a back-and-forth match, but what drama is there in every move by one team being immediately countered by the other for forty-five minutes? Where's the struggle? Where's the emotional investment? Even when one member of a team goes on the attack with chairs, it's immediately countered by chair shots from the other team. Neither side ever seems like they're paying any physical price. No exhaustion, little pain except when they're actually in submission holds ......it's just a moves exhibition. It's pretty at times, but there's nothing substantive to it, nothing to hit me where I live. Sorry, but this one got boring toward the end, and wasn't too hot for me in the beginning and middle either. Maybe I'm too easily influenced by Rock 'n' Roll/Bodies and Blonds/Steamer-Douglas, but that's my standard for great tags around this time frame, and this one falls way short. Maybe the thrill of seeing women who know how to actually wrestle is wearing off too, because I've had all the joshi I can take for right now.
  9. garretta
    This reminded me a lot of the Steiners' match from Superbrawl I against Sting and Luger: lots of great-looking power moves, but nothing substantive. It was more of a power move exhibition than an actual match, which was fine under the circumstances. Sasaki didn't look like a Road Warrior, but he sure wrestled like one. Too bad Johnny Ace was set for life with AJPW; he'd have been a natural choice to take over for his big brother Animal. The craziest thing of all about that Doomsday Device on the outside was that Hawk looked like he already had bruised or broken ribs. To take a bump like he did under those circumstances, you have to be both courageous and crazy as a bedbug. The Steiners are almost solely a power team by now, which is kind of sad. I liked them better when they could actually wrestle on the mat for a while during a match, because it made tem different from most teams who did power spots. I missed the first part of it, but what I caught of the trash talking between Rick and Hawk was fun. Of course, everyone was friends again after the match.
  10. garretta
    Sorry, but the finish takes this down for me. I know what they were trying for, but it's still dumb. Heels who are supposedly going all out to win championships do not willingly sacrifice said championships just to land a cheap shot with one of the title belts. and that's an exclamation point in my book. Have Steamer and Shane go over by pin, then let the Blonds lay them out with the belts because they're sore that they lost cleanly. It's not all that different from what actually happened, except that Austin and Pillman don't look like idiots for willingly forgetting about becoming champions just to beat the hell out of someone. (Just to be clear, I'd have been totally fine with the finish had the Blondes been champs and done what they did to save the titles for themselves. That would be smart, if morally questionable; doing it as challengers is totally stupid.) The match itself cut a hell of a pace, and both of these teams really have their act and timing down. Austin takes the beating for the Blonds (you can spell it either way, and this is the way I choose), and Steamer does the same for the faces. Both were compelling, to say the least. I agree with Jesse; if thirty-minute time limits for championship matches inspire guys to go like this, we need them more often. From the Because I Have Stuff to Do Dept.: The guard rail to the throat is Pillman's version of the Flair Flop or the Hammer (Valentine) Header, only it seems much more dangerous. How he didn't legitimately reinjure his throat, break his jaw, or slice his chin right down the middle I'll never know. JR once again comes up with a good counter to Jesse's cracks about Shane and Rush Limbaugh. He knows how to go along with Jesse up to a point without taking it personally, and that's exactly what he needs and what Tony won't provide him. For those who want to know exactly what Jesse's crack about Bruno and the Steelers meant, the Steelers had just lost 24-3 to the eventual AFC Champion Buffalo Bills in their first playoff game of the season a few days before. I liked Jesse protecting JR while Steamboat and Austin were fighting on the floor near the broadcast table. True, it was only a simple verbal warning, but that's the type of thing I only could see him doing for someone he legitimately respects. I liked the postmatch promo from the champs a lot more than the prematch one, which seemed like they were reading it from cue cards. Strangely enough (or maybe not, considering that this is WCW), we see Shane bandaged, we see the belt shot from Austin that split him open, but we never see him actually bleed.
  11. garretta
    This whole Douglas/Steamer/Dustin/Windham/Blondes dynamic is a bit like the Rock 'n' Roll/Bodies/Studs stuff in SMW; it's confusing as hell by design, but the action turns out great. The match before Shane was taken out was a bit faster and a bit meaner than I remember the Starrcade match being, but Windham and Pillman seemed to have a lot more of the action. I liked the reversal of the dynamic that we usually see in tag matches, where the veteran get pounded into chopped meat while the youngster is forced to watch, his attempts at interference to stop the beating thwarted by the referee. Here, it's the reverse; Shane takes the beating while Steamer plays the hothead almost too well. This was similar to Starrcade, except that Steamer made more of a nuisance of himself here, which led to some great Windham/Pillman doubleteaming. I liked Jesse pointing out how Steamer was costing his team by distracting Mike Atkins so often, and Tony never really had much of an answer for it. Then again, when does he ever? The finish was as illegal as can be, of course, but it was still nice to see Dustin come to Shane's aid and clean house. He needed to get one up, to borrow Barry's phrase, after being so dramatically turned on at the November Clash, and he certainly got it here. This more clearly explains Barry's interference in the US title final between Dustin and Steamer, but the question still remains: Why let your deadliest enemy win anything, let alone the second-biggest belt in the company? Sure, you may think you can beat him for it later, but wouldn't it be more satisfying just to deny it to him in the first place? Jesse was remendous here; this may be his best overall performance since his return, His point of view concerning the finish won't ever be validated, but that doesn't make him wrong, and he criticizes Pillman just as harshly as he did Steamer earlier when Pillman jaws for too long before attempting Air Pillman late in the match. Tony's his usual dipstick self for the most part, once calling a Steamboat chop a double axhandle, just to name one mistake. He's a lot like geeky Vince these days: pro-babyface and anti-heel to almost a sickening degree, willing to give the faces any benefit of the doubt he possibly can, and unable to do more than grudgingly put up with his heel color man. The only difference is he knows the holds and moves just a little better than Vince pretends to while on the air. I liked the promo from Pillman and Windham afterward; both guys are much better talkers as heels than they ever were as faces, particularly Pillman; much like Shawn Michaels, he's proving (at least to me) that he was miscast as a pretty-boy face. This has been a great month overall for tag team wrestling in North America, and there's still one more match between the Blonds and Steamer-Douglas to go!
  12. garretta
    Two things stand out about this one: 1) Dutch on commentary. I remember watching this match before and knew that he ranted throughout the whole thing, but I'd honestly forgotten why until I watched it again. I was thinking that it detracted from the match, but it didn't; it added to it, because he was absolutely right. This was the Studs' match, they were unfairly kept from it (by Corny's skullduggery, as it turned out), and Dutch knew that if the Bodies won, they'd probably never have a chance at another match, since they thought so little of the Studs. Of course, he gets no sympathy from Bob Caudle, who comes off as overly persnickety (in a good way) about the rules. Not only does Bob constantly twist the knife about the Studs missing the match, he jumps all over Dutch about the percentage he gets from the Studs and about how Corny's supposedly such a good friend of his, and how he could possibly call him (Corny) a liar, a snake, a cheat, and God knows what else. The classic Monsoon/Heenan vibe here is through the roof, only Gino seldom got a chance to tease Bobby about an angle while it was ongoing. This all leaves Dutch fit to be tied and unable to commentate, so Bob has to pay extra attention to what's going on in the ring, which leaves him unable to listen to Dutch's complaints. To top the whole thing off, Dutch is inadvertently the reason that the Bodies get away with the whole ball of wax, as he's the one who revives Mark Curtis and throws him into the ring just after Eaton hits the Alabama Jam, which leaves Lane on top of Gibson for the final three-count. Dutch hasn't had this bad a day since the last time he couldn't find Stan Hansen! 2) The finish. In most promotions, it would have seemed way too chaotic to be believed. But with three different teams involved plus Corny, Dutch, Eaton, and Kyle, chaos is exactly what is needed and expected. Don't forget Mark Curtis, either. All three teams have a chance to come out on top (with the Studs doing so by costing the Bodies the match they never should have had to start with, at least in their view) and all three teams are a whisker away at one point. It takes a completely unexpected factor (Eaton) to turn the tide once and for all. It's all in the setup, actually; we've known that a confrontation of this type has been coming for at least a couple of months, so it's just a matter of when and where. About the only thing that would make this complete would be the Studs now challenging the Bodies, but as I've said, Corny wanted to keep the fans hungry for Ricky and Robert to get revenge on both teams, so accidentally babyfacing one or the other, even briefly, would have ruined everything. This is probably the most compelling angle in SMW to date, and it's a strong contender for the best angle in the first half of '93. I can't wait to see what happens next!
  13. garretta
    Wow. They've done street fights on Main Event before, and they've always been rather forgettable, but this one wasn't. Even without the match, Mick's turn and the aftermath would have been something else, but this was a good match beforehand as well. I always knew Mick was great in these bouts when he had the time to be. but Paul brought out his inner street fighter too, and that's what made this so good. I definitely bought the idea that these two guys would kill each other to have a chance to do the same to Sting and his friends, and Harley was excellent as the puppetmaster/instigator. I've had a hard time seeing what his purpose is as of late, but he redeemed himself here. I loved his gloating interview afterward; it was almost like he deliberately manhandled Cactus knowing that he would snap, and then they could eliminate him and elevate Orndorff. Cactus' with the shovel was the cherry on top, and I liked how he just started whaling away with no idea and no care who he was hitting. By the way, I'm pretty sure I saw a "Vegas" on a pair of tights somewhere in the melee, but I don't think the guy in them was Nash; for one thing, he wasn't any seven feet tall by a longshot. Turning Barby with Cactus is a smart move in retrospect; even though Cactus is now a face, it makes no sense to put him in the same camp as guys like Sting and Dustin, at least on a regular basis. He needs to team with someone just as wild as he is, and Barby fits that bill better than anyone else on the roster at the moment. JR and Hayes aren't a team that you count on for snappy repartee, but Michael got off a good line on Cactus: "Being born was a street fight for him!" I wonder who takes JR's place on Main Event when he leaves? By the way, kudos to Harley for taking the clothesline off the apron and those shovel shots like a champ. He must be in pretty good shape (for the shape he's in, anyway) to take those kind of bumps, which most managers won't (or can't). Just in case you're interested, the Thundercage match ended up a six-man match instead of an eight-man. Sting, Dustin and Cactus (subbing for Ron Simmons) defeated Orndorff, Vader, and Barry Windham when Cactus pinned Orndorff.
  14. garretta
    I don't see how anyone can have anything meaningful to say about this one. It was an exhibition with a pretty good finishing sequence tacked on, that's all. These guys knew damn well that they couldn't have anything resembling a real match in eight minutes, so they staged a spirited workout for public consumption. If it had been meant to be anything meaningful, they wouldn't have started the intros at (by my count) 7:54 PM; they'd have given the match at least twenty minutes and put it at the start of the program, as they've done with other major matches in the past, whether the finishes ended up being conclusive or not. If Steamer and Shane had dropped the tag belts to the Blonds, then I could agree that they were working toward something, whether it got curtailed by Watts' firing or not. But with Steamer still a tag champ and Dustin just beginning with Barry, a third match was probably the last thing on their minds, let alone a pay-per-view bout of any kind. I did like one line from the commentary: JR: "Steamboat and Rhodes were former World tag team champions........" Larry (who'd lost the belts to them): "Tell me about it!" One question I just thought of: Was Rude not giving the US belt back a cover for the match taking place before Dustin had officially won the title, which would explain why he wasn't wearing it? I know Dustin was announced as the champion before the match, but that doesn't mean that they couldn't have actually wrestled this match before the tournament final, even though the tournament final aired first.
  15. garretta
    I actually watched this before the Clash match, and it's going to be hard for that match to top it. The storytelling was brilliant here: the champs are so mad that they were attacked after the Clash match that they're challenging the challengers, and they're out of sorts all match long, letting their emotions get the best of them too often. Jesse ended up being right: Shane and Steamer were wrong for making their issue with the Blonds so personal. Austin and Pillman really impressed me as a team here, and Brian's really learned in a hurry how to be effective as a heel, which he had trouble with at first. I thought the finish was perfectly timed, and it would have never been able to work if Steamer hadn't been whining to Randy Anderson about both Blonds being in the ring at the same time. Great work from all involved. I liked Jesse's crack about Shane being upset that Clinton was in the White House, but you can tell that whatever influence Watts may have had on him as far as staying in "main event serious" mode goes is waning. Maybe it's JR who's the good influence, because when Tony questions him about his attitude toward making wrestling about personal vendettas, he unleashes his patented "What do you know about being an athlete?" bit that he used on Vince for years. For his part, Tony just calls the match louder and prays that Jesse will shut the hell up. The sad thing is, this is going to be the number one announce team in the company once JR leaves in a month or so. Tony and Jesse were fun when Vince put them together for a couple of pay-per-views, but Tony's slipped badly since Royal Rumble '90, and I shudder to think what tangents Jesse will go off on if he's left unchecked. I'm looking forward to seeing the Clash match; if these two teams were this good with just ten minutes, imagine what they can do with twice as much time!
  16. garretta
    I disagree that this did anything for Scorp; he got a few moves in, but most guys above jobber level did when they wrestled guys like Barry on TV. Barry was the one who not only got the win, but looked a lot more impressive doing so. So the plan was originally for Flair to eventually unify the WCW and NWA belts again, if I'm reading what Loss said right. I would have loved to see this version of Barry against Flair, as the last time Barry challenged Flair in '87 he was still one of Dusty's junior partners, if you will. It's just a shame that Barry blew out his knee before that feud really got going, if I remember what I read right. Still, the buildup should be intriguing. I'm also looking forward to seeing Scorp in a true main event-level competitive match that's given enough time to develop. WCW can't afford to waste the buzz this guy's generating right now, but knowing this outfit, they'll not only blow it but do so spectacularly. Was Larry Z the permanent co-host of WCWSN by now. He and JR really mesh well, even in a short bout like this. I liked the line about how the fans should stand up and cheer every time Barry comes to the ring because he's so talented. Gee, Larry, they did until a couple of months ago!
  17. garretta
    This was all a bit confusing, but that's what it was supposed to be. It all comes back to making sure the fans want to see Ricky and Robert kick the butts of both the Studs and the Bodies, separately or at the same time. The stuff between the Studs and the Bodies is good, but this is Rock 'n' Roll's show from start to finish. The action we saw in the handicap match was very good, and Corny almost looked like a real wrestler when he missed the elbow from the second rope. I'll say this for the man: You may not like him being as physically involved as he can get sometimes, but he works a damn sight harder at it than almost any other manager I've ever seen. The only better in-ring worker I've seen while he was a full-time manager was Fuji, and that was when he and Muraco teamed quite a bit in '85 and '86. Most of the rest were either solely in there to bump (Heenan) or just plain didn't care (Albano as a heel). Did anyone in attendance actually expect the Studs to shake hands with Rock 'n' Roll? If they did, they must have been under twelve. I like the idea of Dutch being put in a spot he really doesn't want to be in. All he wants to do is be in the booth, yet his friendship with Fuller and Golden is making him their de facto manager, one whom Bullet Bob ignores completely and throws out of his office. I also like the subtle hints of violence toward Dutch if he doesn't come through. I wonder why Corny didn't use Dutch as an in-ring talent more; the idea of the Studs turning on Dutch for not following orders and Dutch bringing in help to fight them might have given him another bankable feud besides those which he was personally involved in. Maybe he was headed that way when WCW came calling for the Studs later in the year. I liked everyone on the mic here, and Golden especially has improved as a talker. He'll never be as good as his cousin Rob, but he's a lot more solid than he was when the Studs came to SMW. Out of the nine participants in this feud so far (including Corny, with the third man for the Bodies and Rock 'n' Roll yet to be revealed), the only subpar talker is Gibson. Was Phil Rainey doing the commentary for the handicap match in post-production? He's really flat compared to the obvious energy in the building, particularly after the hot tag to Gibson.
  18. garretta
    A classy but understated sendoff for the Superstar. I liked the video package, and it seemed like there was more care taken with it than usual. I also liked the short promo Bill gave thanking the fans. I wish we'd gotten more than four minutes out of it, but if anyone understands that the show has to go on, it's Bill. I don't think his job with WCW lasted too long; he was back in Memphis for a tour two months later, at least according to Wrestlingdata.com. My guess is that he was fired as an executive along with Watts (whom he'd booked for in Mid-South) then stuck around for a while strictly as onscreen talent to be Steve Regal's manager/valet. One glaring omission: I didn't recognize Lawler in any of the clips. They couldn't show ten seconds of the greatest feud of the modern era in Memphis, even if it's Lawler getting a win?
  19. garretta
    I know that they were trying to get Yoko over as even more of a physical marvel than Andre, but did they have to make Savage look ridiculous to do it? I'm surprised he went along with trying for a pin in a battle royal; it didn't do much for Yoko that couldn't have been accomplished in some other way and reinforced the notion that Savage was slipping (which may have been what Vince wanted everyone to think so they wouldn't miss him as a wrestler). If Yoko had remained able to move and work as well throughout his title reign as he was here, he would have been something more than the guy my dad (and probably others) dismiss as "the fat Jap"., his actual Samoan heritage notwithstanding. I would have loved to see Backlund-Bret at Mania IX, and I'm actually surprised that Vince went with Yoko at a time when he was seemingly committed to much lighter guys as his top stars. Bobby looked really good here, not at all like a forty-three year old, while there was definitely the air of an old man (at least mentally) about Savage, who was two years younger. How could Gino have possibly confused Carlos Colon (whom he'd worked with for years as a business partner in Puerto Rico) with Rick Martel? Unless Colon wore bright pink trunks, that's just another sign of Gino not really caring in the booth anymore, which saddens me. Fuji looks a lot more credible in the native kimono than he ever did in the tux, with or without facepaint. I'm not sure if it was actually planned this way or not, but Yoko's run served as a nice thank you to Fuji for all his years of loyalty to the McMahons. It's kind of a shame that Corny had to come in and take away the vast majority of Fuji's duties; does anyone know the real reason he got put with a guy who already had a manager? I'm guessing Fuji wanted to get off the road for health reasons much like Heenan did. In his case, it was bad knees, which he talked about in his shoot. About Hogan: I'm guessing that the negotiations for his return weren't quite done. If his return was already known, you would think he'd have been in this match. The setup is simple: Yoko eliminates Hogan last through some screwjob or other, then beats Bret for the title at Mania as he did in real life. Hogan comes down and demands a match, but at least this time he's got a legit reason which everyone knows about, which means that his winning the belt back after Yoko's held it for less than two minutes doesn't feel quite so cheap. Alternatvely, make sure that Raw is live the next night and do the switch there.
  20. garretta
    The one and only way Honky works in Memphis is if he shows up unannounced during a Lawler interview and plays a tune on his head, which leads to an immediate Unified title series. Tie him in to the WWF "invasion" and play up his IC title reign for all it's worth, and acknowledge that he used to be Wayne Ferris, for heaven's sake. Mentioning that he and Lawler are cousins wouldn't hurt either. Seeing him again was nice, but I really don't need for him to not wrestle Jeff. The whole segment seemed like filler, maybe a substitute for another segment that didn't come off as planned. It certainly didn't lead to anything substantial, or we would have heard about it. If I had to bet, I'd say that Lawler was his original target but refused to work with him for whatever reason, which led to Jeff coming out in the Kingfish's place.
  21. garretta
    I wonder how much this suffers because it's WCW, the so-called "pure sports" promotion, doing it. This really wouldn't be too far out of place in the WWF, and might even have been a step above the usual Memphis music video, which by now features clips that are almost ten years old more often than not. That said, a Sting-Vader tug-of-war in the ring at Center Stage with the strap might have gotten the point across in a more Watts-like fashion. I think that they wanted to go out of their way to avoid too much blood and violence before the pay-per-view, and this is the way they chose to do it. There's no real sense in breaking this down artistically or anything; no one in this piece is going to be a serious contender for an Oscar or an Emmy any time soon. One thing I'm struck by, though, is how out-of-place Harley's becoming. Vader's handling himself quite well on the stick lately, and physically interfering has to be getting more difficult for Harley as he gets older. Hearing someone like him reduced to one horribly delivered line in some negative double-Z grade action-adventure spoof is truly embarrassing. I've seen the odd clip of Flair during more recent times, and as pathetic as his attempts to be the Nature Boy of the eighties are, they're still more respectable than this, because at least we know what he's out there for whether we think he should be doing it or not. There's literally no reason on earth for Harley to be within a million miles of this, even if he is Vader's manager. I hope whoever wrote and directed this has gone far beyond it in recent years. If they haven't, they've chosen the wrong professions.
  22. garretta
    The Bodies-Studs pull-apart might have been better if one team had jumped the other from behind, but as I've said before, Corny didn't want to make either team a victim and thus turn them face. Within that restriction, the locker room stuff was done about as well as possible. There was a real backstage feeling to it, and from what I know about Corny, this probably isn't all that far from how he would act in a similar real-life situation. Bullet Bob steals the live portion of this; he remains the most believable authority figure in wrestling today, although part of that may be because Watts isn't on camera much. I can see Corny's point too; it does seem at times as though the Bodies are getting short shrift, especially since they're the former champions, not the Studs. I'd have liked to see a number one contenders' match the following week to determine who gets the shot at Rock 'n' Roll, but you can't have a non-decision. Someone would have had to lose at least semi-clean, and that would have taken the edge off of the three-way feud before it ever really heated up. I wonder if Corny had to apologize to someone in Stamford for the Mel Phillips line once he came to the WWF later in the year. It was funny, but it was also a direct shot at Vince, and he couldn't have taken too kindly to it. That investigation Bullet Bob promised of Dr. Tom's boot sure took a while; I think he used the loaded boot gimmick for the rest of the Bodies' run in SMW. Does anyone know if he used it in the WWF too?
  23. garretta
    Idol vs. Sheik ought to really pack them in by the teens. I know that every promotion wants recognizable names, but did whoever's running this outfit take a look at Sheik when he was Col. Mustafa? There's a reason why he didn't get any kind of push once Sarge turned; he simply could not move anymore. Idol's not exactly spry either, but assuming that his car wreck was legit, at least he has a decent excuse. I wouldn't be too sure about the Funks coming in; if this was meant to be a major feud they wouldn't have dismissed that envelope quite so casually. They undoubtedly meant to follow up on it, but I'm not sure how many more months- or weeks- they were in business. Austin-Terry would have been a solid feud, but how good a tag team feud involving Hoss would have been depends on who Idol would have gotten to team with him I'm guessing that Charlie the interviewer was longtime Continental voice Charlie Platt.
  24. garretta
    This was certainly chaotic. Nice to see Eaton back with Corny; even as part of the DA he's never been quite the same since Corny and Stan left WCW. That's mostly WCW's fault, though. I applaud Corny for not turning either the Studds or the Bodies like most promotions would have. The real money comes from both of those teams chasing Rock 'n' Roll, not necessarily beating the tar out of each other (although that's a nice little side benefit). I know that Lane and Eaton teamed (although probably not as the Bodies, at least on tape) and Lane and Prichard teamed, but did they ever do a straight tag with Prichard and Eaton that made tape? Remember, that was Corny's preferred version of the MX when Dennis Condrey left in '87, but JCP convinced him to take Lane instead. Dutch looks right at home brawling here, but as much as I would have liked to have seen him wrestle a few months ago, I really don't now. SMW has plenty of good wrestlers, but he's just about the only decent color commentator they have, and I want him behind the mic as much as possible. We talk about Eaton's bumps. but what about Gibson throwing a dropkick on the floor? A miss would have meant disaster for him, both in a kayfabe sense and in real life, as he would likely have been seriously injured.
  25. garretta
    It seems like Corny may have been looking to spread the SMW footprint a bit, since most of the big-time talent in this promotion seems to come from there. Who knows what might have happened if USA Wrestling had been able to stay afloat for a while? Unfortunately, guys like Sheik, Zhukov, and JYD weren't going to help it do that. I love Dutch, and the idea of seeing him wrestle again intrigues me, but he wasn't enough either. They needed young talent for the old talent to put over, and they didn't appear to have it.
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