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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    This one didn't do much for me, either. We couldn't see a lot of what went on outside due to the way the camera was positioned, and this really wasn't violent enough to need the fallls count anywhere stip at all. Terry hit a few nice moves outside, but St. Clair never really got into the spirit of the thing, and the fact that there were still countouts ruined it. FCA is a match that's mainly meant to be fought anywhere except ​the ring, which means that the wrestlers should spend a lot more than twenty seconds at a time outside if they want to win. As for the round system, I'd have to watch a whole set of matches fought with rounds in order to see how wrestlers build matches using them. These occasional CWA matches are hard to get into because I see the rounds as an interruption and a hindrance rather than something helpful in building suspense and psychology, which I'm sure is how wrestlers brought up in that style use them. If we ever get a European set full of matches contested in rounds, I'll bet my opinion changes favorably. I've never figured out why the ring announcer talks during the matches in Germany. Is he calling the bout for the fans who can't see the action? I know he sometimes gives the wrestlers warnings (in English, no less), but he obviously didn't need to do it in a match like this. I recognized some of the between-rounds songs, and they definitely added to the atmosphere. It's enough to make me wish that the big American companies still used actual songs instead of in-house music, which in all but a few cases is markedly inferior to any "real" theme that a given wrestler may have had before.
  2. garretta
    Oh well, if a man wants to have himself maimed for fun and profit, who are we sane people to call him an asshole and a bloodsucker? Thanks for the info, Pete!
  3. garretta
    I didn't notice anything that looked to be botched except for the two powerbombs before the finish, which did ​seem kind of awkward. The last one looking so dangerous could have been just a good sell job from Fujinami. As for the match in general, I've seen way better from these two, and there was a sort of "final showdown" vibe before it started that didn't come to pass. The only truly inspired stuff came from Fujinami's work on Tenryu's leg, and even that petered out before too long. Maybe they've been in the ring against each other too often to come up with new spots and such, though that certainly hasn't been a problem for other rivalries in the past. I find it interesting that the challenge for this match was made and accepted with both guys in street clothes, at least according to the footage at the beginning. I thought Will had put on the wrong match when I first saw Fujinami in a three-piece suit. In other wardrobe news, Tenryu wore a regular robe in place of his usual Revolution jacket for some reason only he knew. Does anyone know why Fujinami had the big bandage on his back? Tenryu worked on that area briefly, then abandoned it. Was it some kind of legit injury? It seemed like Tenryu was leading a cheer for Fujinami as Tatsumi was helped back to the locker room. Was I seeing that correctly? I never thought he was the type to do things like that.
  4. garretta
    ​Traditional Southern tag​? I can't believe that anyone could use that phrase in any way make, shape, form or fashion to describe this abomination. I guess I have no sense of fun either, because even though I read the thread beforehand and knew what was coming I was shocked that it was allowed to happen in a match that supposedly was conducted under normal rules. The stick should have been the end, period. Pogo and Toi should have been disqualified, and we could have all moved on to a match that made sense. The only one I'll give credit to is Sasuke for having the guts to agree to wrestle with a great big bloody hole in his back when he shouldn't have had to. Make it a specifically stipulated hardcore match (none of this "it's the house style anyway" stuff) and I can rate it on its merits. As it stands now, the ref looks like an idiot for allowing a foreign object without blinking an eye and the promoter's a bloodsucker and an asshole for booking the match in a way that could have gotten one of his top stars maimed. Period, end of review.
  5. garretta
    I was originally going to do what I do for normal two-out-of-three fall matches and review each match separately, but decided not to. Now I wish I had, because the sheer emotionalism of the second bout and postmatch is what I'm going to take away from this, more than any spot or piece of action. Oh, these girls worked a tremendous pair of matches, pedal to the metal for over half an hour combined, which fit the storyline perfectly but didn't seem possible given the beating they all were taking. Hokuto's leg was nearly broken by the most vicious series of crabholds I've ever seen, and if Toyota had had to start the second bout, she couldn't have because she was knocked silly to end the first match. Then the wrestleoff, which went out of control early when Hokuto and Kyoko went to the back for some reason and stayed that way until both Hokuto and Toyota were tombstoned on the floor. Finally the finish, with Hokuto (who still wasn't quite sure where she was) almost breaking Yamada's neck to get the win, and Manami being so overcome by the sight of her regular partner laying motionless in the corner that she could barely accept the trophy. Then Akira broke down on the mic and left on her own. I don't understand a word of Japanese, and I was awestruck by it all. Too often joshi dengenerates into a series of spots by rote, action for the sake of action with none of it designed to register beyond the moment. But when it chooses to actually tell a story with depth, few other styles can touch it. This was one of those times. If I was casting a Match of the Year ballot (and I'm glad I'm not, since it's taken me almost nine months to go through this set), this would definitely be in my top five. It was an incredible effort from all involved, and I hope to see more like it from joshi in 1994.
  6. garretta
    Assuming that this was actually from Gene's cabin (and it might have been, since they could have taped this at any time after Battlebowl), why did Tony fly up there to do ​absolutely nothing? Even if it was just a studio set, having him there was a total waste of time if we were only going to see him for two seconds at the start of the piece. As I've said several times throughout this Yearbook, if this is the way Bischoff handled money it's no surprise that they went out of business. The surprise is that it took them eight years to do it. Ric and Gene may or may not have spent the last five New Year's Eves together, but their friendship seemed a hell of a lot more genuine than Gene's supposed friendship with Hogan, even though he and Hogan had known each other for longer. There was a warmth between them here that was obvious from the start, and though Gene inevitably slipped into shill mode a bit, it didn't ruin the moment. Maybe it would have been better for the JCP old-timers if it had been Tony doing the interview instead, but regardless it was something special. (If Gene chose to party with Flair, the face of the competition, it might be one reason why Vince fired him several times during his final years in the WWF.) Flair sounded like an athlete for once in his life, and as Pete said he was so good when he low-keyed it that it's a mystery to me why he started screaming and acting like a lunatic. He was quietly confident in his ability to handle the challenge of Vader, and even accepted the possibility of a loss with grace and class. (Okay, that may have been because he knew he was winning, but still.) This was the Flair that people brag about and call the greatest wrestler ever, and it's a shame that we haven't seen him since the '92 Royal Rumble at least. If what I've read and heard is right, this may be the last time we see him for quite a while, too. What a shame. I'd have loved to have seen an answer interview from Vader in a similar vein; we know he's capable of being low-key and reflective from some of his Japanese interviews. WCW hasn't chosen to portray him that way, though, and they definitely wouldn't have started just two days before a Starrcade that was pretty much built around the fact that he was going to lose. Interesting that Ric mentioned that his family was going to be in the audience. I thought from what we saw in the prematch from Starrcade that they were staying home. Maybe they were coming in their own car later. The NBA players hyping the match may have been great for Turner corporate synergy, but we didn't need to see Charles Barkley right on the heels of an interview like this. They could have played that soundbyte (which I'm pretty sure we'd seen before) at another point in the program.
  7. garretta
    Like all of you, I enjoyed the work Megumi did on Aja's arm. The only other time I've seen Aja quite this vulnerable was against Bull, who was not only closer to her size but was a lot meaner than Megumi was here. Did Aja forget the trash can in the back, or was she simply not bringing it to the ring anymore? The last few times we've seen her bring it, she hasn't used it, so I wonder if they were phasing that part of her persona out. I criticize the AJW ladies a lot for improper selling, but Megumi and Aja both sold excellently, especially Megumi after taking all those backfists. Of course, that might not have been all selling; she looked like she was legitimately out on her feet during the postmatch. Aja pulling Megumi up from at least two pins, then going outside to yell at her on the mic would have been the dumbest sequence of moves in wrestling history if she hadn't gone on to win the match. As it stands, it's still stupid. I haven't seen Bob Backlund's crossface chicken wing for a while, but it can't look much better than the one Megumi had on Aja. It was a miracle that Aja was able to make it to the ropes before her arm snapped like a twig. Who was it that Aja seemed to be talking to after the match? Whoever it was, Aja made her cry with whatever she said.
  8. garretta
    I don't think we necessarily needed ​to see Shawn use the Razor's Edge on Hall, but it fits the HBK character that he would, even if he couldn't execute it properly. The execution isn't the point, him having enough balls to give a guy his own finisher on the concrete floor is. I think "finisher stealer" would have been a good secondary gimmick for Shawn, particularly with the guys he ended up feuding with over the next few years. (He even won the WWF title once by using another man's hold, but there was a certain screwjob involved, as you will no doubt recall.) The REs he used on Waltman looked more brutal than Hall's, particularly the first one when he made sure to really drive the back of Waltman's head into the mat. By contrast, Hall always looked like he was guiding his victim off of his shoulders, and I don't mean that as a criticism. I agree that we didn't need the toothpick shot at the end; they should have shown Hall being helped behind the curtain instead. The bumps here were crazy, particularly the powerslam Waltman took from the apron to the floor. Shawn looked like he barely touched him, which made the bump even riskier, since Waltman had no one to help break his fall. I liked Shawn's offense, and as Pete said above he was finally in there with someone he was physically superior to, so it made sense that said offense would look good. We even saw a great version of Sweet Chin Music. Waltman looked good here too, but he wasn't helped at all by the announcers. Heenan's ragging was to be expected, but I didn't like Vince talking about how Waltman couldn't take punishment, that he was wearing down quickly because Shawn was pounding on him. First of all, every​ wrestler wears down when they take punishment, as Vince should know by now. Second, how the hell does Vince expect the kid to stay over when he, the boss of the whole outfit, basically calls him a wimp? It says something about the WWF fan of 1993 that he was able to stay over despite inexcusable treatment like this. At least Heenan gave him his due as an athlete even as he (Bobby) was making fun of him. I'm surprised Nash didn't join in on Hall's beatdown. We barely saw him come out from behind the curtain to deliver the knockout punch. I'm starting to realize just how much Heenan put Shawn over during the latter part of '93, to the point of (supposedly) giving him water during Survivor Series. I never thought of them as a good fit, but the Brain always did well with prima donnas like Rude and Orndorff, so I could see him at ringside with Shawn if his neck had allowed it. Where that would have left Nash is anyone's guess. I wish the angle where Waltman had saved Hall from Shawn and Nash the week before had made the set. Maybe they could have shown it prior to the match, since the two were directly tied together. Usually Vince was good about stuff like that, so it's hard to figure why he slipped up here. The only line about Gino was when Heenan said he (Gino) had spent most of his time on his back during his career. The match (and the angle afterward) were both too good to be interrupted, so it was a smart move by Bobby to save his jokes for later. I'm sure Vince has seen enough Japanese wrestling in his life to have seen the up-and-down dropkick spot at least once. This is just another case of actual wrestling meneuvers being shortchanged in Vince's sports entertainment world. Heenan's last WWF performance on the Yearbooks was golden, with too many great lines to count. As I expected, Vince refused to play along with him, but that was par for the course by now. My choice for Line of the Night goes to "How many St. Joseph's (children's aspirin) do you think it will take for the Kid's back to feel better?" after Shawn had been working on it for a few minutes. My second choice goes to "Has he (Waltman) hit double digits yet?" I said this after Jesse left, but I mean it now more than ever: Even with JR's many memorable calls during his time there, the announcing in the WWF/E hasn't been the same since Heenan left. From what I've gathered, to compare today's color commentators to the Brain is utterly impossible, as few of them match him either in knowledge or style. The worst part of it is, Vince and his family seem to want ​it that way, for some unfathomable reason. I agree with Heenan about one thing: Hall's shirt was ​ugly.
  9. garretta
    I liked the athleticism from both men here, although I'm surprised that they gave a heel like Delphin such a showcase, and that includes such a spectacular move to get the win. I really don't remember much from the match, even though I only just watched it a few hours ago. Maybe if I'd known a bit more of the context it would have made more of an impression, but it's difficult to care about a promotion and wrestlers that you've only seen a few times here and there.
  10. garretta
    I didn't realize until I read it here that they didn't use the point system in this match, and I was all set to complain that Takada got the win long after he should have lost on points. I really don't have much to say about the work; I was preoccupied with the scoring or lack thereof, since I need a scoreboard to get anything out of shoot-style whatsoever. All I'll say is that it's a good thing that WCW didn't choose to air this, or the buildup to Starrcade would have been a hell of a lot less dramatic, particularly with a champion who was acting like his arm had been torn off.
  11. garretta
    Wow. The Americans were running the Russians out of the building, with Albright in particular looking like a world beater. The match was seemingly in the bag........and then Severn tapped to an armbar out of nowhere. Talk about a stunner! Count me as another one who doesn't see the point of tag team shoot-style. Just break this up into four singles matches over two cards and have done with it. I liked hearing Albright cheer Severn on from the corner, but that's not enough to get me to like the overall setup, I was surprised at the heat for this, particularly since no natives were involved and it had been over four years since the U.S. and Russia had last officially been enemies. This makes up for almost all of the dead silent shoot-style crowds I've heard before. Did Albright ever work pro-style? Even if he couldn't talk a lick, he seems like he'd have been effective as a mauler heel in the right promotion.
  12. garretta
    Thanks for the info, Pete!
  13. garretta
    Davey Boy was the star of the match here. For someone who was pretty much a walking muscle by now, he showed that he still knew how to wrestle well when the situation called for it, which in turn forced Regal to brawl in order to get the advantage. The last time Davey looked this good as a wrestler was when the Bulldogs first came to the WWF in '85. They didn't do nearly as much with the commoner/aristocrat thing as I feared they would. That's a good hook for the prematch hype, but it falls flat once the aristocrat has to actually get in the ring and touch the commoner in order to wrestle him. As an aside, Regal needs another facial expression besides "I just swallowed boiling Liquid Plumr". I get that he's a lord, but he's been in the ring long enough to know that wrestlers, himself included, sweat whether they want to or not. I wonder why Jesse still doesn't acknowledge that Jade from Minnesota is his daughter? He's past the point where part of his gimmick involves attracting women, and it's probably known to a lot of people by now anyway. Dundee running around telling the fans to be quiet was a hoot. It's obvious he's having the time of his life with the Sir William gimmick, and unlike Fuller's Boss Hogg imitation, it doesn't require those fans who knew Billy from Memphis to swallow something ludicrous, He's always been an exasperating little cuss, even when he was a face; it's part of his charm. I can just imagine how annoyed Tony was with him for disturbing the broadcast, and I wish we'd been able to pick up what he said to make Tony flip out. This match may have been a bit too technical for Tony to call correctly, which might be why we heard more from Jesse. Tony's really slipped as a play-by-play man from his JCP days. He's not quite in Vince's class yet as far as shortchanging the action in the ring, but he's a lot more comfortable with angles and storylines than moves. The sad thing is, Heenan coming in isn't going to help that situation whatsoever; in fact, since the Brain's most likely going to be focusing on getting his comedy over for a new audience, the announcing's likely headed to the edge of the cliff, if not quite over it. Put another way, Bobby's not going to be dropping too many Edouard Carpentier references. Their best team now for actually calling matches may just be Jesse and Larry Zbyszko, which as far as I know never happened. I won't go so far as to say the finish was bad, but Davey looked like an idiot going for a slow-developing move like a piledriver with less than ten seconds left. Pee Wee Anderson cinched the deal by deliberately mispositioning himself, then leaping over both guys before starting his count. Why couldn't they have just had Regal stall out the time limit by tying Davey in knots? That was the story they'd been telling since at least the ten-minute mark. I felt bad for Tony evidently having costume problems, especially since we only saw him on camera occasionally during the pay-per-view. I'm guessing Jesse approved the crack about his bald spot ahead of time, or at least didn't care enough to raise a stink about it. Buffer works this match, but Cappetta does the main event? You're wasting the world's best-known ring announcer on a TV title match, ​Eric? No wonder you guys went out of business. Line of the Night: Tony, after Jesse says that Regal's pounding the snot out of Davey: "Could you pick a nicer term?" It doesn't read like much, but I found his tone of voice hilarious, as well as a veteran wrestling announcer like him taking offense at the word "snot".
  14. garretta
    Well, this was about what I expected. They tried to work an almost regular match at first, and Sabu did some great work on Terry's back. Then the "We want blood!" chants started, and that was enough of that stuff. From then on, it was typical ECW mayhem from all concerned, and I include the guy who edited this for home video. The cuts seemed to come about every ten seconds by the end of what we saw, as all they seemed to be interested in showing was the highspots, forgetting that without at least part of the rest of the action, said highspots made next to no sense. Then we get a run-in from Sherri and Shane, followed by a blackout (the order should have been reversed) and then Terry's the champion and Sabu takes out a table for absolutely no earthly reason. So what else is new from ECW? The later stuff is so full of needless weapons and violence that even the early stuff feels like it's been done a thousand times before whether it has chronologically or not. I couldn't hear a whole lot of the commentary, but from what I managed to pick up Joey was still too cutesy by leaps and bounds. Rumble wasn't too bad, and I liked his reference to the then-popular Miller Lite commercials where they combined two totally different sports for laughs; he called this match "table wrestling", and he was more right than he ever could have known. Unfortunately, Joey ruined the reference with about five minutes of awful tennis jokes and bad segues. I think I like him better when the only words out of his mouth are "OH MY GOD!" I don't know exactly what this says about Terry, but the ref's table bump looked about as good as his did. On another note, I actually liked ​Terry going for the spinning toehold, since Sabu hurt his knee when he missed his first moonsault. It was a nice piece of psychology in a match which was otherwise nearly devoid of it. The sad thing is, as bad as this was in spots, it's only going to get worse from here, at least for the most part.
  15. garretta
    I've often wondered if Toni and Jeannie had become good friends during their time in Dallas, and I have my answer now. Toni does Jeannie now better than Jeannie did three years before, mostly because she has the experience that Jeannie lacked then. The only problem is that Dave doesn't play along with the gimmick very well, and by playing along I mean shutting up. Maybe an eye roll or an "Aw, come on" would have worked, but "Let's talk about wrestling" in a stern schoolteacher voice certainly didn't. Toni's next line should have been "No lousy stinkin' weatherman tells me what to talk about, you hear me?" (I guess Dave was so venerable by then that he was next to untouchable verbally as well as physically; I haven't heard anyone really sass him during the Yearbooks, at least not like Jimmy Hart did when he regularly referred to Dave as "Dave Brown the Weather Clown".) Anyway, Toni was very good, but the Gilbert brothers didn't match her, either of them. Doug's never really been a talker, and Pete's absolutely right about Eddie losing steam the more often he comes back to Memphis. How many times can a guy threaten to take Lawler down and fail before he's all washed up in Memphis? Even though Lawler always comes out on top in the end, anyone who deserves to be called a true Memphis legend has taken him down and kept him down for a significant period of time, or in Dundee's case even run him out of town for a while. Eddie hasn't come close to doing that the last five or six times he's tried, and there's no reason to believe that he'll come close to doing it now. Doug's proven in the past to be insufficient backup, and people like Toni have never given the King any sleepless nights. That may be why Toni's focusing on Brian instead of Pops. My Line of the Segment was the aforementioned crack about the shaved dog walking backwards. That would be a pretty clever line regardless of who said it, but coming from a relative mic novice like Toni, it's exceptional. Where was Chris? If this was his feud originally, and he and Toni were still supposed to be married onscreen, how did Doug get into the picture, and how did Toni end up his onscreen girlfriend?
  16. garretta
    I might be alone here, but this was a bit pedestrian for me. I never really got bored per se, but I wasn't overly excited either. The feeling out process took too long, and by the time it was over, there wasn't enough time left for me to get fully invested in the match. Hash's bump over the top was fine, and Hase's chokeslam rampage was superb, but it all seemed too little too late. Maybe I would have been more invested if other matches from the tournament had made the set. The Real World Tag League matches in a given year are presented with at least a bit of context so that we can get into the storylines that make the final what it is, but this one was stuck out there on an island by itself. I'm actually more interested in the Hash-Hase bout from December, as some of their exchanges in this one looked pretty hot.
  17. garretta
    This didn't have a lot of neartfalls, but there was plenty of drama. Kawada's knee remained a major storyline as it has been throughout the tournament, and because of it Kawada couldn't stay in the ring too long at any one time. To make things even, Kawada and Taue did their best to break Hansen's arm, thus rendering the lariat useless. Then, of course, there was the story of Baba. How could he hold out against two young guns who were looking to use him and Stan as a stepping stone to a possible career-making tournament victory? Pretty well, as it turned out. He wasn't an offensive juggernaut, but he did just enough to let Kawada and Taue know that he wouldn't just roll over for them, and he took a tremendous amount of punishment for someone of his age and physical condition. Kawada and Taue may have had to work around him to an extent, but it certainly didn't look like they were taking it easy on him, at least no more than usual. In fact, Taue looked like a real strongman for being able to slam and suplex him with such ease. I guess I would have preferred it if the match had had a clean finish, but who were Kawada or Taue going to pin? They were lucky that Baba agreed to take the stretch plum from Kawada for as long as he did. It may not have hurt Stan to do the job, but why do it if you don't have to in order for the booking to come out the same way? Kawada and Taue eventually were put in position to win in the final match, and Baba and Stan looked like they could give the younger generation a fight, even if they didn't quite have what it took to put them away anymore. I've heard great things about the 12/3 match, and I can't wait to check it our!
  18. garretta
    What I liked best about this was each man's determination to make the other submit away his hair, willingly agree to have it shaved in order to spare themselves further pain. Considering how important hair is in Mexico, willingly giving it up as Pirata ended up doing had to have added to the humiliation factor significantly. I disagree with Zenjo; this match didn't need anything else. It was the brawl it should have been from start to finish. I have no idea what caused the issue between these two, but it had to have been significant to touch off the bloody war we saw. Neither man asked nor gave quarter, and even in the postmatch Satanico had difficulty taking victory for an answer. Something tells me that we haven't seen the last of this feud. Seeing Jake wasn't a shock, but seeing Cheryl sure was. I guess she was trying to stop him from drinking himself to death. I think she also traveled with him when he was in the WWF, and not just during the Rick Rude feud either. Did the losing wrestler in a hair match have the choice of whether his head would be shaved in the ring or back in the locker room? It certainly looked like Pirata was discussing something with the barber right before he left the ring with most of his hair still on his head.
  19. garretta
    I liked how the booking backed Brian into a corner, which ensured that Brian was the face and Jeff was the heel. It would have been so easy for Pops to come out and back up his boy, if only for one match, but then Jeff wouldn't have been such a lowdown snake for poterntially costing Brian the tag belts without at least discussing it with him beforehand. At the same time, Dave and Corey didn't get on Jeff's case too badly, even admitting that he perhaps had a point about both titles being too much to handle. Of course, the fans know that's bunk, since Lawler has pulled double duty on the same card many times over the years, and has probably held singles and tag gold at the same time at least once. The match itself was a lot more seriously wrestled than the previous match; PG-13 put their schtick aside and put their energy into fighting Brian straight up. Neither Jamie nor Wolfie is too big for Brian to believably beat, so even with the numbers advantage, the bout wasn't exactly in PG-13's back pocket from the start. Indeed, it took a foreign object for them to score the win, which seems like a copout finish but serves to underscore just how hard Brian fought. Besides, what kind of chickenshits use a foreign object to beat a guy when they ​have the numbers advantage? The postmatch was a bit underwhelming to me, mostly because we don't see Anthony and Gaylord's match with PG-13. But I liked how they (PG-13) sidestepped the demands for Wolfie to show what was in his hand. I also admired their guts for demanding that Anthony put up his hair in exchange for a title match. But what about Brian? Who's he going to get as a partner for his mandated rematch? I know most of the world would love to see the King in his corner, but now that Pops is hot on Jeff's trail that may not be possible. Eddie was used just right here; he warned Brian against the match once Jeff had forfeited, but didn't insist that Brian either get a partner (even though that would have meant that the belts wouldn't have been on the line) or forfeit his belt just because Jeff had done the same. As for PG-13, they had a point about wanting the match they'd earned, and they pursued it as respectfully as their characters allowed, which worked so much better than whining about what cowards Jeff and Brian were. Overall, I agree with Pete about this being the best non-WWF segment that Memphis had had this year, although I guess you could claim that Jeff was in a sense playing Double J. Still, it's nice to know that the USWA can still create compelling angles almost completely on their own, since they'll have to do more of that in the future with Lawler's WWF involvement over, at least for the moment.
  20. garretta
    This bout is everything that's annoying about PG-13 in one package. You know they have talent, especially Jamie, but there's so much gaga surrounding them that it gets a bit tiresome to watch them. Most of that gaga is good clean wrestling fun, but every once in a while you wish they'd earn their celebration moments by at least hitting a move or two. Of course, if you're a champion in a match like this, stalling and clowning is an effective strategy, because if you can outlast your opponents and hang on for a draw or get a fall thrown out, the belts remain with you. That's exactly what happens, as Brian goes nuts with the hubcap and gets the second fall thrown out, giving himself and Jeff the match one fall to none, but not the belts. Jamie's clearly the engine that makes PG-13 go, and I thought he put a little extra into his segments with Brian. Even if it's not formally acknowledged, they ​know that they're carrying on the Lawler-Dundee feud, and while they have a long way to go to come close to their dads, they acquit themselves very well. Wolfie's only there to give Jamie a breather every now and then, and Jeff's only there to give Brian a rest. Midget D I can't really explain; he sits in the corner, watches the belts, and shines the hubcap, which was used too often here. I understand using it to end one fall or the other, but not both. Personally, I liked the first fall ending better than the second, if only because the second fall ending made Brian look foolish. You've had them on the run from start to finish, you're this close to either getting the belts or becoming top contenders for them, and you just have to start waffling everyone in sight with that dumb hubcap? Hasn't your dad taught you better? (By the way, I'm honestly not sure who the champions are here, come to think of it. I seem to recall the belts being in PG-13's corner, but given their reputation that doesn't necessarily mean that they're the champions.) I liked the start of the match, where Brian walks over to the interview area and slams PG-13's heads together, and the spot where he throws Midget D on top of Wolfie. I could imagine a young Kingfish doing similar stuff if he'd been a babyface, and at least one of those (the heads being banged together at the interview table) had probably happened to him as a heel back in the day. Dave and Corey were subpar here. I know we're all supposed to be annoyed with PG-13's antics, but couldn't someone have mentioned at least once that they might have been employing sound strategy to make sure that they left with the belts? Also, Corey calling both a reverse chinlock and a sleeperhold a facelock is one thing; we know he's an ignoramus. But Dave, of all people, doing the same thing? Good grief, Lance, hurry home before the program you built goes further down the tubes than it already has! I can't wait for the handicap match later this month, if only because it'll be a treat to see Jeff actually act like a heel in Memphis.
  21. garretta
    The ending was certainly excitng, but the body of this was damaged for me when Toyota totally no-sold the punishment that Aja and Sakie had spent the first fifteen or so minutes inflicting on her lower back. I know other wrestlers have to do this at times due to the nature of their offense, but Toyota's especially blatant about it. This makes the first half to two-thirds of most matches she's in meaningless, because we always get the bridge, the dropkick train, the dives from the top, and her other signature spots no matter what. She doesn't even bother registering pain or extra effort in performing those moves. That's the major reason I've soured on AJW in particular and joshi in general: psychology and logic mean nothing. It's all about each wrestler hitting two or three signature spots as athletically as possible. Is it customary for AJW to allow tags from inside the ting? I saw that much more often than the regulation tag in the corner. Not even a tease of the trash can from Aja. I guess it was too much of a trademark by that time not to bring it out, but it really hasn't been a part of her repertoire since the Bull feud.
  22. garretta
    Not a whole lot to see here, as Kopylov dominated from start to finish. Some of the submissions looked a little strange, but it speaks to the grappling skill of both men (particularly Kopylov) that they were able to apply these holds and get them over as possible submissions even if the fans had no idea what they were, . Could someone explain to me how Orlov had Kopylov in a headscissors and ended up needing a rope break? I've never seen anything like it, and I've watched plenty of shoot-style over the last few years.
  23. garretta
    I knew what they were going for here, but it was still a shame that the match had to be ruined to get it. I'd have rather seen a six-man pull-apart for two or three minutes and then the run-ins, which would have left time for a meaningful match or segment, instead of wasting ten minutes on a decent match that ultimately turned into rubbish. Then again, I may be the only person on this board who craps all over a match with good work because the announcing or booking isn't up to par, so take my opinion for what you will. I liked the shots of Tammy working ringside. She's really a prodigy here, and she was probably better for her experience level than anyone else in wrestling history with similar experience. Corny in 1982 Memphis was brutal, Heenan doesn't think much of his work in Indianapolis, and I'm sure even legends like Captain Lou, Fred Blassie, and Ernie Roth needed a ton of work when they first managed. Tammy can improve like everyone else, but she's got the basics down. My favorite moment of the match is a shot of her hanging on to Brian's leg in the corner looking like she's about to cry. I've never seen a manager look that vulnerable, at least not where the camera could catch them. Of course, later in the match she's bashing Tracy in the head with her purse, so her crisis of self-doubt must have passed in a hurry. Bob and Dutch had their best call in quite a while, mixing humor, strategy, and observations about the sport in general about as seamlessly as possible. Dutch tells Bob at one point that all he (Dutch) has taught him over the past year plus is paying off, and I wouldn't doubt that Bob has ​learned from Dutch, and vice versa. Dutch has a ton of great moments here, but my favorite has to be his claim that Bob Seger stole "Old Time Rock and Roll" from him. I don't think even Bobby Heenan would claim something like that with a (seemingly) straight face. I almost hate to suggest this, but Vince could have used Dutch in the booth by now in place of Heenan. Of course, how long Dutch would have put up with being poorly scripted and way overproduced is anyone's guess. Lawler had the advantage of being able not to care, since his real focus was Memphis. Heenan could make gold out of anything. But Dutch in a situation where the SMW gig was already out the window and he'd either have to put up with Vince's crap or do God knew what for a living.......well, let's be glad it never happened, at least not in the booth. By the way, I loved Bob turning the tables on Dutch when Rock 'n' Roll did an illegal switch and claiming not to see it. He's getting just a bit bolder in his old age; I don't see JCP Caudle letting his objectivity slide like that. Of course, Dutch's indignant response was the icing on the cake. I agree with everyone about the staredown between Tracy and Tony, although there has to be a rapproachement soon if we're ever going to see the Thugz. This is going to seem nitpicky, but I had a hard time shaking off the piss-poor figure-four from Tracy. I understand that it wasn't supposed to mean anything as long as Tammy got a chance to use her purse, but it almost seemed like Tracy half-assed it, which I've very seldom seen from a wrestler in a situation like this. The four teams brawling back to the locker room needed to happen, I guess, but as I said above it could have happened a lot quicker and saved us ten minutes of our lives. I'm guessing that Bob misspoke about the match being a double-DQ, since Rock 'n' Roll and Tracy had nothing to do with Corny siccing the Dogs on them. It should be a DQ win for the faces, since the bell rang before we saw the Bodies and the Harrises.
  24. garretta
    As almost everyone else has said, this was an extended tease for the Bull-Shinobu rivalry. I was a bit like Zenjo in that I wanted to lose the partners and just have the singles match until Shinobu attacked Takako after the match, which gives the singles feud a concrete issue to build on. You know a move is supposed to be instant death when even Bull sells it. I'm not sure even Fujiwara gets as much mileage out of the cross armbreaker as Shinobu did here. Bull sold the hold, and Takako was holding her arm as if she was trying to figure out how to reattach it. Not only that, it seemed like every wrestler on the card flooded into the ring to save her. Whether Bull can survive or counter the cross armbreaker should be far and away the main storyline in the upcoming feud. Kudos to Bull for allowing Shinobu to get the best of her outside the ring as well. How often do you see her getting thrown around as Shinobu did here, especially into the chairs outside? If I've seen LLPW before, I don't remember it, but after this match I definitely want to see more of it. Great job, ladies!
  25. garretta
    First fall: ​Unlike most Portland matches, where the participants at least start out trying to wrestle, this fall is a brawl from start to finish. The heels rely on triple-teaming in their corner to get and keep the advantage, and all six men are in the ring at the same time at least twice. The fall ends when Buddy's trying to cook up another triple-team as he and Kim Song distract Sandy. But instead of bringing Regal (the legal man for the faces) back to home base, Stasiak finds himself being double-slammed by Matt and Regal, and Matt gets the pin that puts the faces up one fall to none with approximately sixteen minutes of disc time left in the match. Normally I like to go in depth with the action in these reviews, but that's not really possible here because Buddy's team simply can't wrestle. The man himself is mostly directing traffic, and that's a shame, because what's left is none too good. Kim Song can do a few basic moves and isn't a bad bumper, but his main offense is martial arts, and despite what Frank may tell you there isn't a whole lot of difference between his karate and judo chops. (In real life, judo's almost all throws anyway, but that's a different subject.) It's mostly side headlock, chop, side headlock, chop, No wonder he didn't last long. Speaking of shames and side headlocks, I've grown to like Stasiak as a broadcaster, and I was looking forward to seeing him in the ring, since Vince hasn't released a whole lot of footage of him despite the fact that he's a former WWF World champion. God love the guy, but he's shot to hell here in ten different directions. He gets an occasional shot in with his taped hand (off of a side headlock, naturally), and he's gone for the heart punch twice, only to be so slow in setting it up that it's been blocked, and I'm not sure that he was booked to be that slow, if you know what I mean. I realize that he's not supposed to be all that dangerous anymore, but he really looks pathetic here. Not only that, he's visibly gassed, and we still have two falls to go. Buddy may be better off taking his chances three on one than dragging this ragtag crew around by the feet. The faces are doing enough to keep the bout interesting, although I think they're overdoing Iceman and his hard head. Then again, most promoters way overdo that gimmick, so it's not like Don's the only one. Regal's really getting the star treatment here. holding both titles and coming across as the one man above all others that the Army's afraid of. I liked the spot where Regal sat on Buddy's shoulders, only to be pulled off by Stasiak right after Frank noticed their conversation in the corner and speculated that Buddy may have been looking for Stan to save him. Frank pulled that off without sounding like a know-it-all or someone who has the "script" for the match in front of them, which is part of his charm. I got a kick out of Sandy telling Buddy that it was his team's fault that Matt and Steve got away with double-slamming Stasiak. I'm not sure what good giving them a warning would have done, since they executed the move in less than five seconds, but it's still nice to see the Playboy shot down every once in a while. Frank really hyped the potential headbutt battle between Iceman and Kim Song throughout the fall, and I hope we see it, if only because it will give Kim Song something meaningful to do. ​Second fall: ​The faces dominate most of the fall, not only with their superior execution but also because the heels remain totally inept. Kim Song misses just about every chop he tries of any kind,, Buddy is dominated, and Stasiak actually takes not only a heart punch from Regal, but what I guess you'd call a heartbutt from Iceman. All it takes is one move to spell the end, though, and the heels get that move when Buddy and Kim Song manage to hold Regal open for a heart punch from Stan, who gets the pinfall and ties the match at a fall apiece with about two minutes remaining. It's odd that Stan is shown not only getting the heart punch blocked at least four times but taking one of his own before finally getting to lay Regal out with it. At least they still sell the move as a killer, because Regal's nowhere to be found as the third fall starts. Stan looks a bit sharper in the fall, even holding his own in a little amateur sequence against Matt. I was kind of glad to see that; no legend deserves to look like a bumbling clod. even as close to retirement as Stan was here. We get yet more audience participation, as a fan throws coffee on Buddy. One fine day, Don's going to have enough, and he's going to tell the boys that the next asshole who tries to get physically involved should be stretched to the point of at least one bone being broken, right there on TV in front of the world. Maybe that would convince the rest of the yahoos to keep their butts in the seats they paid for or else. I know there are plenty of other territories where guys had to deal with a lit more than they did in Portland, but they didn't actually have to deal with most of it ​during ​their matches. ​Third fall: ​As it turns out, Regal wasn't hurt; he was just getting both hands taped so he could go after Stan, which he wastes no time in doing once he's tagged. They end up in the crowd, everyone else ends up outside, and the whole bout's waved off with less than a minute of TV time remaining. This brief stretch was by far the most exciting part of the match, and it's a shame that it had to be so short. I guess Stan's going to get one last title series with Regal before he hangs it up, and from what we saw here it should be pretty good stuff.
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