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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    How, Eagle? It was Barby's back that was shown to be impervious to pain with stunts like this, not Mick's. I know most of you can't get past the idea of Barby main eventing a pay-per-view out of nowhere, but to dismiss these vignettes as a vehicle to get Mick over through his managerial antics sells Barby (and Watts) well short. WCW was doing the best they could with what they had available; maybe Barby could have used six months of build, as Shoe suggested, but what do you do in the meantime given who's on the roster? Besides, as it turned out Barby would be gone in six months, and Watts would have one foot on a bar of saddle soap and the other out the door himself. I think Barby would have been just as fearsome in his WWF look, but it makes sense to go back to the mohawk and facepaint too. Let's face it, any guy who doesn't flinch when another guy uses a two-by-four to break bricks on his back is scary regardless of how he looks.
  2. garretta
    Even though I guess we're not really meant to understand how Barby got into this spot, these vignettes show that Watts is going all out to show that he belongs there. This was an excellent way to inject a storyline into a match that didn't really have one up until now: What will Simmons do to beat Barby if the powerslam isn't an option? Can he come up with another move, or will he try and wear down Barby's supposedly impervious back until the powerslam can work? It'll be interesting to see if this story's played up in the rest of the hype for the bout. The only complaint I have is that some of these guys look a bit small to be slamming Barby with such ease. Of course, you could argue that Barby's cooperating with them much like a boxer would cooperate with his sparring partners, but it sill might have helped Barby's image as a powerhouse if at least one of them would have had trouble lifting him. Mick's decent here, but he kind of fades into the background once the action starts, as he should. Still, after seeing this I can't figure out how Vince isn't using him as a mouthpiece to this day. Surely there's someone out these who can use the help he could still give.
  3. garretta
    The Cowboy was definitely in his element here, especially at the end when he talks about how Sting and Jake are taking all the responsibility for this match and what happens in it on themselves. The historical portion was neat too, although I already knew a lot of it. This gimmick sounds so great; it's a pity that the overall execution was so lousy. Maybe it would have been better as part of a Bash tour, where the wheel would determine which match would be done in a given city, with the "Spinner's Choice" option held until the pay-per-view and announced just before the participants got into the ring. I know I'm not the only one who's asked this, but is it true that the wheel wasn't rigged, and that it really came up with a coal miner's glove match? I'm not sure which match I would have rigged it for, but there had to be a better option than that, especially because I don't know if JCP/WCW had ever had one at a major event, and thus its fans (at least those who hadn't grown up with the match in their home area) had no idea what it was about or how someone would win it.
  4. garretta
    As great as Ron always is, this segment belongs to Tony. He did something here that I've never seen before: cut two promos during the same segment, one about as pure babyface in tone as possible, the other a hundred percent tough guy heel. Both were believable, both were well-done, and each could have drawn money on its own depending on what the booker (in this case, Corny) had in mind. It took an effort for me to remember that it was Tony who escalated this mess by breaking a beer bottle over Horner's head; that's how good he was here. I've heard it said that SMW during this time period was the best promo promotion in the English-speaking wrestling world, and now we're seeing why. It's a shame that the faces couldn't really compete with heels like Corny, Ron, and Tony, although Tracy Smothers' impending arrival should balance the scales a bit. I liked Dutch calling for Bullet Bob to fine Horner for attacking Tony when he was supposed to be on the injured list with a concussion. If Corny hadn't decided to feud with Bullet Bob himself, Dutch having to back up his criticism of the commissioner in the ring might have drawn some good money. Kudos to Horner for using what was handy (in this case, musical instruments) during the brawl. By the way, what was the instrument that he broke over Tony's back? It sounded like a guitar or something similar.
  5. garretta
    Corny and the Bodies are great here, but there's something a bit off, just like there was with the Fultons. Look, we all know how mean and nasty Corny can be when he has the chance, but it seems almost heelish (not to mention childish) for Rock 'n' Roll to bait him into signing a tag title match by insulting his mother. I like heels getting a taste of their own medicine as much as the next guy, but that's in the ring during a match, not like this. Bullet Bob's just as bad for turning this to Morton and Gibson's advantage so blatantly. If they want a tag title match, they should have to earn it by winning a non-title bout on TV. I actually found the teased dissension between Corny and the Bodies a lot more interesting than the picture. The MX and Corny were a complete unit; he did the talking and called the shots, and Dennis, Stan, and Bobby did the wrestling. That's not quite so with the Bodies, and though we all know they'll show up and wrestle this time, the fans can certainly start to hope that one day one side will push the other too far and the titles will be easy pickings for Ricky and Robert. Dr. Tom in particular wasn't too happy with Corny, and as it stands now he's the "outsider" of the group. Maybe he's not too thrilled with dancing to Mama Cornette's tune, eh? Definitely a situation for the fans to keep their eyes on in the coming weeks. In all the years Corny was a featured player, we always heard about his mama and her money. It leads me to wonder: Did he ever ask his actual mother to appear, even briefly? He might have thought it would have killed the character if the real Mrs. C wasn't good on the stick, and it was probably more fun imagining her than it would have been seeing her in the flesh, but I have to believe that he at least thought about bringing her on camera, even if he dismissed the idea. They could have at least picked a dog that wasn't on a (presumably) readily available "Get a life" poster. Didn't anyone in the back have a dog that they could have dressed up for the occasion?
  6. garretta
    This was too short to be a classic, but it was a good opener. The main story was Steamer's rib injury (which we didn't see on the set), and any time Steamer has an injury to sell, you can count on some good drama. Austin attacks the ribs throughout, but Ricky blocks the pain more than once in order to do what's necessary to win. That's one advantage of his style of selling; you know he's in pain from the start, so when he hits a move using the injured body part, like the tombstone reversal in this match, you applaud him for fighting through the pain rather than get on his case for acting like he's not hurt. Austin was all right here, nothing spectacular. I haven't seen the improvement in him since the start of the year that some of you have, but I never thought he was as green as some of you assumed to start with; he's always seemed solid enough to me, even going back to his days in Dallas. Is he a better TV champion than Tully or Arn, as WCW likes to say he is? Not even close. But he's an above-average worker who's doing a damn fine job in this spot. Something tells me that this match was made no-DQ specifically because Steamer was going to use the flying bodypress off the top to win. It's still his most impressive finisher, even more than the double chicken wing that he pulled out of the hat back in '89 against Flair. That was a novel way of setting it up too, with Steamer coming out from underneath the ring and heading up top before Austin could see him. He's never done that before that I can remember, and it was a nice wrinkle to throw in. It was nice to see Heyman again, even if he was in a cage. It seemed to me like he almost forgot to throw the obligatory "You can't put me in here like a common criminal!" tantrum, as he didn't attack the one ref until he was almost in the cage. I loved Steamer taunting him even though there was no way he could hear it from so high up over the crowd noise. That shows just how much he gets under people's skin. I liked seeing the national anthem, but Mero really didn't need to be out there with the little girl. Also, I noticed that Heyman and Austin talked while the anthem was going on. It seems to me that even heels can be quiet for a few moments while the anthem's playing, so maybe they were doing it deliberately to get heat, although if that's the case it really didn't work. JR and Jesse were solid here. I liked Jesse getting JR to admit that he voted to bring the top rope back, which was a pretty clear indication that it was coming back, and hearing Jesse go after Bruno again after four and a half years brought a smile to my face even though I'm a big Bruno fan. My favorite line, though, was when Jesse suggested that Babe Ruth might show up like Hank Aaron had, and JR, without missing even half a beat, said, "I don't think he'll make it tonight." These two seem to be finding their groove, and they're not nearly as painful to listen to as I thought they'd be.
  7. garretta
    This was okay, but there wasn't the sense of urgency that the stipulation would indicate. In plainer words, everyone watching knew that this wasn't going to be the only match between these two teams, hype to the contrary aside. That said, this was an effective feud starter for Rock 'n' Roll-Bodies and a way to keep Fuller and Golden in the mix. You'd think that they'd want Rock 'n' Roll to win the belts so they'd be the number one contenders, but like all good heels, they only want to hurt the people they hate and put them out of action, no matter how much lip service they may pay to having belts. I thought we might actually get a beatdown on Gibson once they had him on the outside, but I guess they were short on time. Stan's busted eardrum is now Smoky Mountain's version of Ace Orton's broken arm. In that spirit, I wish they'd load it up, or at least tease that it's loaded; it would allow me to forget its real purpose, which of course has nothing to do with wrestling. Bob was a bit subdued here, but since they'd evidently just run an attack on Brian Lee, that might help to explain it. It's always fun to hear Dutch rag on Bullet Bob, and I liked how pleased he was over Corny's "master plan" of having the Studs interfere. That almost makes up for passing off the ether rag finish in the Fultons-Bodies match as Bobby being a heavy drinker. Almost. One problem this match had that I suspect will only get worse as time goes on: way too much Corny on the apron. I know he's there to distract, but four different distraction spots? One, maybe two is okay. After that, you're putting heat on the refs for being too incompetent to eject you from ringside. The Studs' interference may have worked even better that way, as Corny could have designated them as official seconds, complete with licenses, in the event that he was tossed. I'm not as negative on this match as I must sound; it had its purpose and fulfilled it, albeit a bit sloppily in spots. I can't wait to see more of it once it really gets going!
  8. garretta
    Akiyama looks marvelous for a debuting pro, and even gets a Hulk Up sequence. But the story for me is Kenta playing a kind of scientific heel, if you would. He never does anything outright illegal, but he doesn't take it easy on the rookie either, turning up the aggression and making the youngster do the same. He's always been pretty pure up to now, so seeing this more aggressive side to him is a nice change of pace. He's ready to be more than Misawa's number three (though those designations will be irrelevant fairly soon once the Misawa-Jumbo feud is put to rest), and it'll be interesting to see where he fits in when the next major "story arc" is started. Akiyama looks like he could be a player too, though he obviously needs more experience. Was Akiyama already a big-time athlete in Japan who decided to try pro wrestling? That's about the only reason I can think of that he'd be allowed to look this good in his debut, especially against an established veteran like Kenta.
  9. garretta
    Bret over both Warrior and Hogan? Not in this universe. We already know that Hogan quit the WWF for good rather than lose clean to Bret at SummerSlam '93, and I'd bet anything that Warrior would have done the same. Getting Jake to put him over would have been hard enough if Jake had stayed, since there wouldn't have been anywhere else for him to go but to the midcard, otherwise known as Half and Half Hell (where you lose as often as you win and go nowhere in particular).
  10. garretta
    I'm not sure what some of you were watching, because I thought that this was very good, considering what had to be accomplished. It was kind of one-sided, with Savage not getting much offense, but the story here was the lengths Flair and Curt would go to in order to get the title back. Most muggings are one-sided, and this was a mugging by Flair, Curt, and Hall. Savage's only jobs here were to take his beating, lose the belt, and be carried back to the locker room at the end by Warrior. It was never supposed to be an actual competitive match. Maybe that's what Flair didn't get, and why the match had to be redone; he always likes to give his opponents a ton of offense and constantly be on the run, and that wasn't supposed to be the idea this time. The figure four is once again a killer, although it's really too late for that to help Flair much going forward. I've never seen Flair apply it for that long, even with reversals and all the other schtick he does with it. This is also one of the few times I've seen a big-name opponent pass out in the hold and be pinned. The last one (I think) was Jimmy Garvin at the '87 Great American Bash. There was far, far too much Curt here, and that may be another thing Flair didn't like. How the hell is he supposed to be taken seriously, even seriously enough to be beaten by Warrior, when Curt's interfering every second and a half? Their partnership worked better when Curt's back was still too bad for him to get involved much. Of course, Curt hasn't really gotten the hang of being a manager on the stick until recently, so it's really a matter of which element of being a heel manager each individual viewer finds most important, since Curt never really got the mix down right. I like talking better than physical interference, so I prefer him more recently. Hall attacking Savage after the match might be the most evil thing I've seen in the WWF since Jake's cobra attack on Randy last November. He didn't too much besides stomp on Savage, but the fact that he utterly ignored the officials as if they weren't there and just kept at Randy got him all the heat he'll ever need. Not even DiBiase in his prime was this dastardly; if you skip over Jake's '91 run, you'd have to go back to Savage, Steamboat, and the bell back in '86. Vince and Bobby were actually pretty good here. Bobby cheered for Flair, but he also got over the desperation of both guys: Flair's desperation to get the belt even if he had to use Curt's interference, and Savage's desperation to beat Flair even if he was crippled in the attempt. His defense of Curt's interference was classic: Yes, it's two-on-one against Savage, but who even bothers to fight fair in this day and age? Unfairness is part of life, so get over it. What a great heel attitude, and the reason he gets away with it is that no one's going to touch him anymore, because he's protected as a "broadcast journalist". He knows that, too. As for Vince, Savage's knee and Flair's destruction of it (which was masterful, by the way) gave him a meaty storyline to focus on for once, and he rose to the occasion. This isn't a vintage early eighties MSG performance; that Vince has gone the way of eight-track tapes, unfortunately. But it's on par with his stuff from the late eighties, which wasn't too horrible at times. He sold Savage's courage very well, and didn't completely lose his mind when Hall attacked Savage or Warrior saved him. He showed appropriate emotion for each occasion and didn't sound like he was using the mic as a barf bucket. For him, that's progress. He gets minus points, though, for spoiling Hall's interference before the match even began with the stuff about "lessons in machismo". The roundtable stuff was almost unintelligible with everyone talking over everyone else. Duggan got off a good line comparing Flair, Curt, and Bobby to the Three Stooges. I forget what exactly he called machismo, but whatever it was, it was something you'd expect from a plain speaker like Hacksaw. Hillbilly Jim was next to useless, and five is too many people for a roundtable anyway. Vince, a heel (probably Heenan), and a face (not quite sure who; maybe they could have rotated) would have been more than enough. Fonzie has apparently jumped ship, as he was one of the refs trying to stop Hall from murdering Savage. Good work by Rene Goulet as Savage's main in-ring protector; he never looked quite that good as a wrestler based on the footage I saw.
  11. garretta
    It's not the lying itself, Pete. It's tough to explain, because heels are supposed to say stuff to make themselves look good. But there's a difference between having a different perspective on what happened and making up stuff that never even came close to happening and can be backed up as never happening on videotape. Most fans let bookers slide on that kind of thing, but I'm not one of them. Someone as good as Ron Wright is can spin a tale that can be told over an unedited videotape of an angle, in this case Tony Pearl Harboring Horner with a bottle after Horner barely touched Ron, and turn it to their advantage. They don't need to make up a reality that no one ever came close to seeing. They got away with it in the days when all fans had to rely on was their memories and fuzzy TV pictures, but in this day and age (1992), where a videotape of the exact incident can be cued up and show the fans what happened? That's just booking laziness and trying to get away with cheap crap, and it's also a lack of confidence in the ability of your heels to tell a believable story. Heels don't need to resort to stuff like this if the booker believes that they're really good at what they do. I never once saw Roddy Piper or Ric Flair or Nick Bockwinkel or Randy Savage make up a lie out of nowhere about a taped angle to get themselves over. Did they take what was on that tape and spin it to their own advantage? You bet they did. But they never made up stuff that wasn't there to start with. I guess I shouldn't have said never, because people will be going crazy trying to come up with examples to prove me wrong. But it certainly wasn't a main part of their personas at any rate, and each of the four gentlemen I mentioned were at one time the most hated man in the business.
  12. garretta
    Let me get this straight: Mick was injured and couldn't wrestle himself at Havoc. so they put him with Barby as a sort of Curt to Barby's Flair. Well, there are worse roles, I suppose, and Barby's not exactly a talker, but why not a Vader rematch? Was he booked in Japan on October 25? The last time I checked, Barby was teaming with Dick Slater and going after the soon-to-be defunct U.S. tag titles. How did we get here from there? Did Watts even try to explain how Barby got to be the number one contender, or were we just supposed to take him at his word that Batby was? He (Barby) would have had more singles credibility if he'd jumped back to Vince and challenged Bret at Survivor Series; at least Vince tried to give him a singles push a couple of years back. As good as Mick is on the mic, these vignettes will have to do a lot of convincing to get me to believe that Batby should be challenging Simmons. It'll be at least as steep a climb as any Mick could devise, I'll tell you that.
  13. garretta
    I loved Tony here, but Ron was another story. Heels telling stories completely different than what was captured on videotape shouldn't be allowed these days, and I'm talking in a behind-the-scenes sense. Does Corny actually think that that kind of stuff is going to draw heat anymore? This is 1992, not 1972 when a lot of television pictures were fuzzy and videotapes were reused every week. If you want to talk about Ron getting glass in his eyes, say that a piece from the flying bottle got wedged in and almost blinded him, and it's all Horner's fault for putting his hands on him and making Tony have to break the bottle over his head. It's not hard to tell a story at least somewhat based on what we actually saw, Corny, it really isn't. Not much to say about the Rock 'n' Roll segment, really. I can't wait to find out what the surprise is myself. Serious question: Why did Corny go with the Heavenly Bodies for the name of his team instead of the Midnight Express? Did WCW own the name somehow, or did he just want to go with something different for his new promotion?
  14. garretta
    This was really good. Bullet Bob remains the best wrestling authority figure I've seen in a long time. He has instant credibility due to his time in the ring, and he can talk to the wrestlers and the fans without seeming like just another stuffed-shirt suit. My favorite line was when he vowed that Ron would never get his operation; Jack Tunney certainly wouldn't get away with saying something like that, nor would Vince ever put him in a position to say it. I liked how Corny didn't make the Bodies out as afraid to wrestle Rock 'n' Roll; he even said that they'd wrestle them as many times as Bullet Bob wants, just not for the titles. Usually the cowardice of the heel team is made out to be so obvious it's pitiful; here, Corny at least seemed to be making a semi-valid point that Bullet Bob will have to spend time looking into. He's still trying to avoid Ricky and Robert like the plague, of course, but the way he's going about it shows craftiness and intelligence that you don't often see from wrestling managers. Whether it will work or not remains to be seen. Line of the segment: Corny picking up a piece of the bottle that Tony had just smashed over Horner's head and telling Bullet Bob,, "You really need to get a woman to come in and clean up around here."
  15. garretta
    Okay, this was strange. I completely understand wanting to turn the Nasties face and give the Headshrinkers a high-profile feud with the Disasters. But why have Money Inc. be the ones to beat Quake clean? Why not save that for the Shrinkers, who need the rub? Money Inc. has been the champions before, and Teddy in particular has done far greater things in the past than being a tag team champion. Not that the SST/Shrinkers are exactly rookies, but they've never been in the WWF before as a team. I haven't gotten an extended look at Money Inc., but I don't care how great they are as a team, this is a big step down for Teddy. Not so much teaming with Rotunda, but becoming part of a common stable like any other heel. I know they tried to spin it as Teddy and Mike buying Jimmy's loyalty, but there would have been a time not so long ago when all Teddy would have needed to become a champion, or at least a top player, was his money and an evil plan. Now, he's just another upper midcard heel in a promotion that's full of them. I know it had to happen eventually, but it still feels wrong to me. Not having Quake make the hot tag was actually an inspired booking choice, but I can't buy that Phoon wouldn't have at least come in once to make the save for him. That's Tugboat thinking on his part, being too nice a guy to break the rules. It didn't do much for the drama of the match; it just made me wonder what he could have been thinking about. I liked the past match a lot: Bobby and Jimmy's mutual admiration society and Gino's reaction to it, the Nasties confronting Jimmy and throwing him on top of Money Inc,, and especially the Nasties (gently) throwing the Brain out of the broadcast position so they can get at Jimmy. I loved Gino's line: "I've been trying to do that for five (actually six, closer to seven) years!" I also noticed that they took care of Bobby, only grabbing his coat and not doing that very roughly. They even handed him his chair instead of throwing it at his head as they undoubtedly would have just a short time before. He had to have been in terrible shape with his neck right about now, but you'd never know it by his commentary. By the way, despite the Superstars logo at the top of the clip, this was undoubtedly taped for Challenge; not only were Gino and Bobby commentating, but Mike McGuirk was the ring announcer.
  16. garretta
    This stank. Yes, you read that correctly. I like the Bodies as much as anyone, but this match was so ridiculously booked that the quality of the wrestling doesn't mean a thing. First of all, it's no DQ, so why didn't Corny defy the ban and bring the racquet anyway? Anything goes means anything, including stuff that's banned. But that's hardly the worst offense. The ether finish was a nice idea, but to do it off of two refs being bumped? Corny should have brought the can in, shook it right in the ref's face, then loaded the rag in front of him. In other words, I can do whatever the hell I want, so screw you, Mark Curtis. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but they did this finish like it was a regular match and the ether had to be hidden. If you want to know my favorite no-DQ spot of all time, it was Captain Louis Albano accidentally crashing a chair over Afa's head when the Samoans lost the WWF tag belts to Tony Arlas and Rocky Johnson. Capper took his time waddling into the ring, wound up, Rocky ducked, and WHAM!, all while Dick Woerhle looked right at it and couldn't do a thing. That's how you book manager interference in a no-DQ match. Of course, it would have been better if Corny had thrown the rag in to Stan or Dr. Tom, because Bobby will never live down being manhandled by a manager, even if he's also the booker. To top it off, Dutch was uttlerly ridiculous here. Acknowledge the ether, say the match was no DQ, too bad, so sad, new champs. But not Mr. Mantell, no sir. Bobby's a heavy drinker? When the fans clearly saw the rag and Corny made no attempt to hide it? You sound like a braindead asshole, Dutch. Call what the hell you see in front of you, especially in a situation where you don't have to cover for the Bodies' actions. This is the kind of stuff which makes sure that guys like Dutch and Heenan will never get their due as commentators: They lie and insult the audience's intelligence when the situation doesn't call for it. There's being a good heel commentator and there's being an idiot, and Dutch came down on the wrong side of the fence here. Hopefully it doesn't happen too often from here on out. I much preferred the barbed wire match to this, even with Bullet Bob's fast count at the end. Corny just wanted to get the Fultons out of the way to set up the Rock 'n' Roll feud, and I guess he didn't care how sloppily he did it. It's a shame, because I've grown to like Bobby and Jackie over their stint in SMW. They deserved a better sendoff (at least on the Yearbooks) than this.
  17. garretta
    Again, just what the hell does Tim have to do? He isn't Dusty Rhodes going on and on about hard times and risky business, he's a local boy from Morristown who's been done wrong and wants to right it. Two different personalities, two different types of promos. I didn't like the part where he said he might be champion when this is over, though. It implies that he thinks that Tony may be better than him, and that's no way to inspire confidence. The old "heel berates the absent babyface who isn't really absent" routine was great. Tony and Ron are truly a pair, and Dutch is the icing on the cake. I think I would have preferred Tim getting a chair and running Tony off to what we got, though. How many times does he have to be left beaten and bloodied before the fans start getting the idea that he's out of his league messing with Tony? I also preferred that a wrestler would have made the save for Tim, although using his wife definitely adds another layer of realism to the whole thing. I'd have laughed at the idea of Ron getting back in the ring if he hadn't done it a few times a year or so later. I seem to remember him teaming with Tony as faces against some of Corny's boys. Tammy was involved too, though I can't remember exactly how at the moment. (I know she supposedly was keeping Ron under a doctor's care for a while, which is how they turned him and Tony face.)
  18. garretta
    This may be a feud over a towel, but you'd never know it by the way Ronnie's selling it. The lovemaking analogy may be a bit out there, but his point is well-taken. I love how Bob tried to downplay the whole thing slightly and Ronnie brought the intensity right back up. I only wish we had some footage of these two in the ring to see if the quality of the matches equals the quality of the promos.
  19. garretta
    Between the words "ultimate" and "survive" and all the forms thereof, this promo felt like a broken record. Then again, that goes for all Survivor Series promos since 1987. Vince seems to think that we fans won't remember what the event's called if its name isn't repeated in some form or fashion every ten seconds, and when you add rambling like Savage and Warrior are so great at, you have a recipe for mind-numbing, ear-scouring insipidity. At least we didn't have to hear Vince's howling over the top of this mess, so we should consider ourselves very lucky. I'm racking my brain trying to think of more insightful things to say, but what can anyone get from these two? As I've said in previous threads, they bring out the verbal worst in each other. I much prefer the focused, grounded Randy that we got during the Jake feud and the pre-Mania portion of the Flair feud. Without Liz around to give his character humanity, I doubt we'll ever hear that side of him again. As for Warrior, the sooner I hear less of him, the better I'll like it.
  20. garretta
    Flair's back to screaming, unfortunately. And who the hell gave Hall the "We don't need no stinking belts" line? Talk about so obvious it's cringeworthy. We know your character is Hispanic, Scott. You don't need to prove it to us that way. Vince talking about Curt being so confident of victory that he didn't leave the booth is, of course, poppycock. He wasn't there because commentators still don't travel (and neither, apparently, do executive consultants). This may be an obscure pet peeve, but things like that which call attention to the commentary not being live really frost me. I like how Curt denied Flair's inner-ear problem after Vince brought it up. I thought that injury was too "inside baseball" to be mentioned on TV, but even if Vince made it that way, he can certainly change his mind if he wants to. Knowing that this match never came off makes these promos a bit of a waste of time to watch, if you want the truth. Still, they call attention to how abrupt and surprising Curt's turn was. There hasn't been even a hint of it so far. Whoever the interviewer was (and he was filling in for Okerlund, not Mooney), it's safe to say he flunked his audition, since I don't remember him even in passing. Lord Alfred filled in for Gene on Update the previous week as well. I wonder if this had something to do with his (Gene's) liver problems.
  21. garretta
    Thanks for the info, Pete!
  22. garretta
    First of all, hats off to Sherri for taking the mirror shot. I'd have liked to see blood, but I understand why they couldn't do that. Curt's really good here, going after Marty for hitting Sherri. He's come a long way as a color man in a few short months. He's still not quite what Jesse was, but he's the best they've had on Superstars since Jesse left. This also shows great insight into the HBK character (even though they don't call him that yet). He not only pulls Sherri in front of him to take the mirror shot, but instead of checking on her afterward, he runs for the locker room without looking back. He's more worried about what Marty might do (mess up his pretty face) than what Marty has done (give the woman who manages him and loves him a potential concussion, accidentally or not). He couldn't care less about Sherri or anyone else on earth. In a great bit of foreshadowing, he even says in his promo that he's an island unto himself. Vince has created two really great heel characters in Razor Ramon and The Heartbreak Kid this year, and has also found the perfect wrestlers to play them in Hall and Michaels. It's kind of a shame that they were so well done that they each eventually had to be turned face. All of that said, this feels like something that should have been done either after Survivor Series or instead of it, by which I mean Marty and Shawn should have wrestled at the pay-per-view. Doing it now means that a World title match, the pinnacle of every wrestler's career, has been overshadowed by a vengeful tag team partner whom we haven't seen in months. That just shouldn't be. If they felt that they needed to get all they could out of Marty while he was sober, they should have had Shawn wrestle him and Bret give Flair a rematch, where they could have done Curt's turn after a loss. What that does to the Ultimate Maniacs, I have no idea and really couldn't care less. Have Savage wrestle Hall one-on-one, which they never did on a WWF pay-per-view, and send Warrior to the nut house (assuming he isn't fired like he was in real life). Otherwise, put this feud on ice until December and hope that Marty's still capable. Vince was almost unintelligible at the start of this, so I didn't catch what kind of match Nailz and Bossman were supposed to have at Survivor Series. It sounded like Vince said "nightstick match", but I can't be sure. How exactly did that match work? So Sarge is already commissioner, huh? I thought that came about a few months later.
  23. garretta
    This would have been so much more chilling without that lousy goddamn falsetto Percy insisted on using. Just as the Yearbooks have changed my opinion for the better on some workers, they've changed my opinion for the worse on some others, and Percy's at the top of that list. I used to think he was the perfect manager for Taker; now I think that just about anyone else could have been a thousand times more effective, up to and including the ghost of the Grand Wizard. Hell, I'd have preferred Jimmy Hart laughing like a hyena in one of his loud jackets to Percy: "Rest in peace, baby! HAHAHAHA A-HAHAHAHAHA!" Isn't this match what led directly to Kamala's face turn, in that he was so afraid of the coffin that Bruno and Kim Chee got disgusted with him and hung him out to dry after he lost?
  24. garretta
    If he did his Memphis stuff with no alterations, it's no wonder. He wasn't as vanilla as some like to claim, but he didn't exactly ooze charisma either. Thanks, AJ!
  25. garretta
    This was a lot better than the Battle for Bam Bam in '87, which took so long that even at the age of twelve I wished he'd hurry up and get here already. He never quite clicked in that run; maybe this one will be different. Good grief, Eagle, the man only said a few words. How can you tell whether he should talk or not yet? Besides, there were no managers left to put him with. Jimmy Hart was turning face soon, Fuji had Yoko coming, Curt was with Flair exclusively until he turned, and Bruno/Wippleman was a complete waste of space and had Kamala to boot.
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