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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    First of all, the picture problems weren't all that bad; from the looks of things, I didn't really miss anything major. As for the match itself, if I didn't know better I'd swear that this was the first Jumbo/Misawa match instead of the fifth. This was worked like Triple Crown champion Jumbo vs. up-and-coming youngster-with-a-ton-of-guts-and-not-much-else Misawa, about what you'd have expected when Misawa still had the mask. Jumbo took most of the offense, including no less than five applications of the sleeper, but Misawa still wouldn't go down. He didn't get much offense himself, though, except for a few forearm exchanges and the facelock binge he goes on at the end that almost, but not quite, put the better man out. I'd have expected this kind of Jumbo match from Kikuchi or another young guy from Misawa's team, not from the captain himself. He looked a lot better in the final against Hansen, a match which most of the board seemed to be disappointed in. It's a shame that this was Jumbo's last really big singles bout; if John's right (and I assume he is), Jumbo's illness robbed us of at least one more singles confrontation. But if he had to take a step back, this was the kind of effort to go out on, as he busted out every bit of offense he had and looked every inch the former World champion he was. The only shame of it in my eyes was that Misawa, who should have been treated as almost being on his level, was his opponent. No matter what the booking was supposed to be, if you'd shown me this match without John's explanatory posts above, I would have said that Misawa's push was being halted for some reason. Thank heaven he regained his footing in the final against Stan, even though he lost. The ref bump we saw here might have been the first I've ever seen in All-Japan. Come to think of it, I can't remember seeing all that many in any Japanese promotion I've watched. That's quite a difference from here in the U.S., and it's one I like for the most part.
  2. garretta
    I wasn't aware that the dive at the end of the second fall was where Atlantis hurt his arm, though looking back it makes sense that he was hurt, as most of the time guys make it back into the ring after receiving a dive like that. Fiera's arm work in the third fall was tremendous, and as Pete said you don't see that kind of stuff very often in lucha. I agree with Zenjo concerning the third fall finish, although I believe that the backbreaker was Atlantis' standard finisher, so maybe it was important to the match that he show courage by using the hold even with a bad arm. I liked Pierroth's work as Fiera's second during the third fall; I didn't realize that he was trying to pull Fiera's boot off after Atlatis had worked on his leg. He also distracted the ref nicely for the low blow spot. I didn't realize that the ref turned around too soon, but if he did, that was an inexcusable mistake on his part. I thought he was right to reverse the tombstone, though; it would have been an automatic disqualification if Fiera had used it, and he (the ref) didn't want to see the match end like that, so he wasn't afraid to do what he thought was the next best thing and physically stop the hold from being applied. It's not something we see (or would want to see) too often here in the States, but it's not that much different than an American ref kicking a heel's hands off the top rope when the heel's trying to avoid being sunset flipped. Is there any special reason why Pierroth didn't come out until the third fall? It's the first time I've ever seen a second in a lucha bout come to his man's corner that late. This wasn't the greatest lucha bout I've ever seen, but it was more than adequate for its purpose, mainly because of the final fall. I wouldn't mind seeing a rematch between these two at some point down the road.
  3. garretta
    This actually does get pretty dark when you consider that voodoo curses only work when the people who are cursed believe that they're working. If Vince had thought about it, he could have had this feud truly explore the psyche of Warrior and what made him tick. Unfortunately, he was only really interested in Warrior throwing up "black ooze" back in the locker room (and also sweating it, if I'm not mistaken). I realize he didn't want his stories to get too deep, but he missed a golden opportunity to have this whole be more than a regrettable throwaway that ended up costing the WWF a lot of its longtime fans. What a shame. What exactly was that ooze? Not to turn this conversation graphic, but I can't think of too many things that come out of one's stomach in that shade of black.
  4. garretta
    Thanks for the info and insight, Zenjo!
  5. garretta
    I read the boards today and hear all sorts of talk about how little Vince respects his audience. Well, it can't be much worse now than it was when he was producing stuff like this. I've heard of him stuffing various gimmicks down our throats before, but it's never been this bad. We get that his name is Crush, Vince. You don't have to keep showing him crushing things to prove the point over and over. About the only thing that would make it more obvious is if he stomped around the junkyard yelling "CRUSH CRUSH!!!!!!" at the top of his lungs like the Incrredible Hulk. In fact, that would make more sense than this slop. I can't wait to see Adams in the ring, if only because that means that these horrible wastes of television time are over.
  6. garretta
    I wasn't the biggest fan of this one. I thought Inoue's submission work was tremendous; I really liked her going back to the Boston crab and camel clutch variations time after time in an effort to either make Toyota quit or break her neck and back in the attempt, and that giant swing toward the finish was absolutely insane. That must have gone at least twenty revolutions, which I've never seen another wrestler attempt before, male or female. The problem was Toyota's selling. She was fine in the holds while she was in them, but the idea of not only having enough spring in her legs to execute dives and multiple dropkicks, which is at least explicable because of adrenaline, but to bridge out of multiple pin attempts, is absolutely ludicrous. Signature move or no signature move, there are times when it should be illogical for her to use it, and after having spent most of the match in holds designed to fracture her spinal column is one of them. I know I just defended Tenryu for using the powerbomb on Flair after having his knee torn apart for the better part of a half hour, but there's a difference in my eyes between having the strength for one quick move that uses an injured body part and using a move that depends on that part exclusively. If it's part of the so-called "house style" of AJW, then there's something wrong with the style and it should be changed. I'm surprised they incorporate things like that which they know can expose the business, to be perfectly honest. I didn't dislike the match, but it was more about the spots than putting them together logically, as some have said before me. In some ways, I prefer the out-of-control brawls involving people like Aja and Bull because I don't expect any sort of logic from them. When I expect logic and don't get it, like in this match, I can't shake my feeling of overall disappointment, even if there are some things about the match in question which I like.
  7. garretta
    The problem with Hervey is that he looks and sounds like he's too much of a mark to be allowed on television. "What's it like to be Dustin Rhodes' tag team partner"? That's a question that a fourteen year-old girl asks, not a commentator, guest or no guest. Then again, we can guess who probably fed him the question; I hear he's very closely connected to Dustin, if you know what I mean. the question I have is: Even if Missy was dating Hervey at the time, how did Dusty take such a liking to him? The stuff with Heyman as the heckling fan was well-conceived, but it was over way too fast to mean anything. Maybe it would have had more impact if Paul had marched down to the ring to confront Barry and Barry had run him off. As it was, by the time Barry got to Paul and revealed him as the heckler, they needed to take a break and the whole thing fizzled out. Next time, guys, leave more time for your angles, both large and small.
  8. garretta
    I didn't get much out of this because of the overdubbing, but from what I heard there wasn't a ton to get. Loss called the questions fourth grade-level, and he was being generous. It didn't help that the interviewer obviously wasn't that familiar with English, at least in a wrestling setting. Andre looked good here for the shape he was in, and he sounded like he was glad to still be in the business, which is all you can ask for at this point. Wasn't his last tour a tour of Mexico?
  9. garretta
    I've only seen a couple of Mexican mini matches, but they're a lot like joshi to me: such a departure from the American presentation of their group that it almost doesn't matter what they do; I'm going to love it. Just seeing six smaller guys actually working a real match as opposed to simply running through a bunch of comedy spots was a revelation, and the fact that they're such spectacular athletes was icing on the cake. I honestly can't pick out a favorite worker out of the six; all of them brought their best. The best spots were when they were able to project themselves all the way over the top rope to hit dives, which happened pretty often in the third fall. The bumps they took to the post looked hellacious; about all we needed were a couple of weapons shots and the whole experience would have been complete. We even got a few great heel miscommunication spots at the end, as Pequene Pierroth seemed to hit everyone except his opponents in the last five minutes. I wish I could have understood Espectrito's promo, because it sounded wonderful. Afterwards, of course, he joined Piratita in beating Pequene Pierroth to within an inch of his life. It's too bad the segment ended in the middle. It's amazing how I'm not able to get into trios matches with the regular-size guys for the most part, yet I really enjoyed this. Hope there's more to come!
  10. garretta
    If ever you wanted to see the NWA World champion version of Flair again (with a bit of JCP-style heeling mixed in, of course), this was your match. Flair is as ruthlessly aggressive as he's ever been here, like he's pissed off about how the month of April's been going for him so far and he wants someone to pay the price. Tenryu could have stood to have a bit more offense, I suppose, but the story told here was so compelling as it was that I can't complain much. Other than the theme music, this was such a departure from the way Flair was being booked by the WWF at the time that I'm surprised Vince didn't have major issues with it. I loved Tenryu the underdog fighting valiantly in the figure four, which was once again presented as the killer hold it should have been all along. This may be the best use of the figure four by Flair going back six or seven years, before Dusty and his friends started turning it over after what seemed like ten seconds every time. I'm assuming that Zenjo had a problem with Tenryu using the powerbomb to pin Flair twice. I agree that he probably shouldn't have been trying to lift Flair with his leg in the shape it was in, but from a booking standpoint this would be like insisting that Hogan not use the legdrop twice in a two-out-of-three fall match. If that's the move Tenryu's known for and the move the fans want to see, then it "cuts it" quite nicely, whether it makes sense from a narrative standpoint or not. (Does the average Joe Fan who doesn't read boards like this even care about narratives as we "smart fans" define them?)
  11. garretta
    I really liked this one. Each man gave his best possible performance, as Misawa tried to tear Stan's arm off and damn near succeeded, while Stan fought back against the pain and damage as well as he could, only to realize that in the end, only the weapon that Misawa had tried so hard to take away could save him. Even delivered with a bad arm, the lariat's devastating enough to save Stan's bacon and win him the tournament. One thing Misawa's never really shown until this match that a wrestler needs to be a champion is the killer instinct, the ability to stay with a body part or a game plan until it either succeeds or injures his or her opponent so badly that they can't continue. The arm work on Stan's lariat side showed that he now has it; it's not his fault that Stan went to the one move no one thought he could (or dared) try. As many others before me have said, Misawa's day is coming sooner rather than later and everyone knows it, especially Stan. By the way, that was a nice "HAN-SEN!" chant for Stan during the trophy ceremony. It's probably happened before, but never quite so noticeably, at least to me. Stan in Japan is fast approaching Flair in the Carolinas, in that while the fans may cheer his opponent in a given match, they won't boo Stan for anything short of cold-blooded murder. I know I kind of cheated by watching this match before the Jumbo match, but I'm just not up to a thirty-minute epic at the moment. March and April have sure had some lengthy matches; thank heaven that they've all been enjoyable.
  12. garretta
    Yes, Pete, before all of this happened. It doesn't seem like we'll be getting any follow-up on the set, at least for a while, but I'm wondering how he'll get over now that he's been exposed as a total idiot, sappy postmatch promo notwithstanding.
  13. garretta
    What a tremendous win for Davey Boy. It didn't really come out of nowhere, either; Flair was off his game except for a few flashes right from the start, and had you been in the booth for this, you could easily tell the story of a former champion still hurting from losing the title just a week before who now had to go into his opponent's backyard and take on not only him, but every single one of his fans too. None of this is to take away from Davey's victory, though. He looked unstoppable, and seemed to be pumped at the idea of taking on a former champion in front of his own fans. (It was almost certainly a title match before Flair lost at Mania, which no doubt contributed to the atmosphere.) Nothing Flair tried worked, and he did stupid stuff like chopping Davey in the chest (his strongest point by far) and setting himself up for numerous press slams, which Davey of course executed with ease to a huge pop. In a sense, Davey's the perfect Flair opponent; most of his signature spots fit with Flair's like a hand in a glove, unlike some guys who in order to wrestle Flair competently have to do things they'd never do in a match against anyone else. Of course, the atmosphere was insane, with the chants Pete mentioned, and the air horns blowing like it was a World Cup final. How Vince could remember crowds like that and still have the idea he supposedly has today that all of his "superstars" have to not only be beaten, but humiliated, in their hometowns is something I'll never understand. The best part to me was Davey posing on the apron afterward with a Union Jack draped across his shoulders. There's nothing that could have possibly topped that. The only other similar win I can recall was Tito beating Taker in October of '91, and that doesn't really count since it was in Barcelona, Spain, not a town in Mexico. (It couldn't have happened in Tocula, because there's no such place.) Anyway, this win certainly led to bigger things for Davey than that win did for Tito, whether his match with Bret at SummerSlam was being planned at this time or not.
  14. garretta
    I didn't like this one as much as most of you. For whatever reason, they tried to sell Chono as Superman; he took at least five splashes and kicked out of them all before the double splash finally finished him, and he could still walk off, albeit with help. More importantly, this never really felt like a tag team match. There was little continuity or teamwork of any sort, and while it was fun seeing Vader in particular sell for the natives, he could have done just as easily if not more so in a singles bout. I thought they'd at least work in some "can he be trusted?" spots for Chono and Shinya, since they'd been opponents exactly a week before, but they never happened. Maybe I'm just a little burned out by being in the middle of a run of truly epic bouts, but this one really seemed flat to me.
  15. garretta
    No, not amazing. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The only reason this finish ranks above Steamboat/Rude at SuperBrawl is because Barr eventually realizes his stupidity and tries his best to make up for it with the speech at the end. Who thought this mess up, anyway? What the hell is so brilliant about it? It would have been brilliant if Barr had decided that losing his mask was worth the satisfaction of sending Panther to the hospital and deliberately piledriven him. But to book an obviously talented guy like Barr to lose so ridiculously and then expect him to get over as anything at all in the future? Barr might have had a brain fart, but the booker had a full-blown brain movement, if you will. As Eagle said above, maybe this would have been acceptable as a finish to a fall, but not to a match. I don't know enough about the context of the bout to go off like I did on Steamer/Rude, but rest assured, I'm just as bothered. I'll be even more bothered if Barr doesn't recover well from this. Was that Norman Smiley in Barr's corner? Barr should have fired the guy who came up with the ridiculous tassel mask. Why they didn't have Panther try to pull on it at some point in the first fall to illustrate why wrestling with it could be dangerous to Barr, I don't know. I liked Barr giving the American flag to the old lady. I wonder what she did with it.
  16. garretta
    If they're not going to use the point system in the event of a time-limit draw, then why have points in the first place? By points Kakihara should have taken a 5-3 decision, Is the blood in UWFI hardway? I can't imagine when they'd have time to blade without being seen, but I guess it's possible. I'm guessing that Silver's broken nose was legit, though. This really dragged until Kakihara scored two knockdowns in about five seconds right after the twenty-minute mark, then we had a nice little sprint to the finish. By the way, was it just me or were there several rope breaks and at least one knockdown (on Kakihara, I believe) that the referee could have called but didn't? If so, that was terribly sloppy on his part. Refs shouldn't go to obvious lengths like that just to make sure that the finish comes out the way it should, at least not when you're trying to present the match as an actual fight (as opposed to an American-style pro wrestling match, where showmanship is acknowledged even while kayfabe is being maintained). Silver looks like he could have been at least a tryout candidate for one of the Big Two. I look forward to possibly seeing him again later on down the line to find out if he made it big in UWFI.
  17. garretta
    A word to the wise: Don't ever make statements like: "If you're a wrestling fan, you'll like this match". I consider myself a wrestling fan, and I didn't like this match at all. It took me almost the entire first fall to figure who was who, since the wild start almost everyone else seemed to like meant that there were no ring introductions. Once I got past that, the action was so spread out all over the place that the camera could only catch some of it, and most of what it caught wasn't particularly wild, just the usual punches, kicks, and mask pulling. Most of the character work everyone pointed out was lost to me too, since I couldn't figure out who was who until so late in the match. I did catch Caras pulling Konnan up from all those pin attempts, but with so much of the early action a complete blank, it was hard to give a damn. I have no idea how Perro got knocked out, and chances are that I would still have had no idea if I'd seen it in closeup and super slo-mo; that's how disconnected I was from most of this. I also don't understand how Jalisco (I think; it was the guy in the black mask) seemingly spent most of the match sprawled in the seats at ringside with no one touching him. This is another one of those matches that seemingly happen only in trios, where I fervently wish that I was watching Gino and Heenan going back and forth on Prime Time or Lawler cutting down his latest opponent, or anything else that isn't what's on the screen in front of me. I know it's an important style, but for whatever reason, I not only can't get into most of the matches, I actively loathe them. There are exceptions, of course, but they're few and far between. I'm fine with lucha singles, but there's just something about the trios style that I simply can't grasp. Oh well, maybe someday!
  18. garretta
    I really liked this one. Toyota and Yamada were game, taking one of the most brutal beatings I've ever seen in a women's bout. Aja's responsible for most of that, of course, but she's such a dominant presence that people forget Bison was just as vicious as she was. The second fall was almost too out-of-control for its own good. How Aja wasn't disqualified for going that crazy with the chairs and endangering the crowd to boot is something I still can't fathom. I guess she really was allowed to get away short of outright murder. She got hers in the last fall, though, intentionally or not. Seriously, she's lucky that her neck wasn't snapped when she took that spike bump on her head. Bison took a hell of a shot too when her tooth was knocked out. One question, though: Why didn't she bleed from the mouth hardway? Was the tooth she lost already a replacement? I like Toyota's bridges as much as anyone, but unless she's supposed to have a neck like Supergirl, she probably shouldn't be doing neck bridges after repeated piledrivers. I understand that that move's not as big a deal in Japan as it is here, but two or three of them in a row should still cause enough damage to make stuff like neck bridges impossible to do. The postmatch wasn't nearly as wild as the hype led me to believe. Then again, why would it be when the person causing the mayhem had just been dropped directly on her head? How did the UWA belts make it over to AJW? I thought that the UWA was primarily a Mexican organization.
  19. garretta
    This was something different, all right. A teammate usually doesn't begin a singles bout against someone on his own side with a DDT off the apron. Kenta was actually quite good at controlling Kawada in the early part of this match with the work on his head and neck, which was so important because it kept Kawada from attacking Kenta's knee. Like Mike, I actually found the headlock sequences interesting because Kenta was always working the hold, not just sitting in it until it was time to do something else. Eventually, Kawada's brutal kicks and knees put that strategy to rot, and we get a great finishing sequence where each man escapes almost-certain defeat several times before an exhausted Kenta submits to the stretch plum. I can tell that they think a ton of Kenta; getting out of the stretch plum, even if it's only through a rope break, is a tremendous feat. There was no way he was doing it twice, though. All-Japan's the promotion of the first few months of '92, as their run of excellent heavyweight matches, both single and tags, is unlike anything I've seen yet. Even WCW, as good as they've been so far this year, has a lot of catching up to do,
  20. garretta
    Shango looks more to me like the kind of voodoo villain that Batman would have opposed back in the sixties, complete with bad dialogue. I could see him scaring very little kids for about as long as it took their parents to stop laughing and explain things to them. I don't know what else Vince could have done once Sid walked out, but there had to be a better idea than this somewhere. There simply had to be.
  21. garretta
    This was about as long as the Crush vignette I just watched, but it was a billion times more effective. It's not Eric's words that make his point so much as his eyes. What a haunting visual, definitely not for the squeamish. The Moondogs situation just got a whole lot more serious. This may be the best short promo I've ever seen regardless of promotion.
  22. garretta
    The one and only purpose of this promo was to show Crush crushing a baseball. Get it?......... GET IT?......... HELLO, IS THIS THING........TRY THE WAITRESS AND TIP.................... All I'll say is that any of Vince's yet-to-be-even-thought-of grandchildren could have done better. Not now; then, at minus-however-many-years. What a waste of time.
  23. garretta
    One of the stiffest brawls so far this year. These two just pound the hell out of each other with strikes and high impact moves almost nonstop. Kawada tries to work over Stan's knee early in the bout, but that's largely forgotten in favor of an all-out slobberknocker. Stan hits powerbombs both on the floor and in the ring, not to mention applying a lengthy Boston crab, while Kawada slams Stan on the floor and hits a tremendous flying elbow off the apron. In the end, Stan misses one lariat attempt, but connects on the second to get the win. As usual, even in non-title bouts Stan is pushed to the limit by all sorts of challengers but manages to find a lariat in his back pocket just when he needs it to come out on top. Meanwhile, Kawada joins Misawa on the list of those who could take the Triple Crown at any time. I might have liked a Kawada victory in order to set up a title program, but I know they meet quite a bit over the next few years, so I'm willing to be patient.
  24. garretta
    Here we go, fall by fall: Kobashi/Kikuchi vs. Fuchi/Ogawa: The midcarders start, and they put on a nice show. Ogawa and Kikuchi are in peril for their respective sides, and there's plenty of solid teamwork. Eventually Kikuchi settles down to his usual punching bag role, and the spot of the bout so far comes when Fuchi uses the ropes to aid him with a Rude Awakening neckbreaker and cranks on the hold at least seven or eight times. Eventually we get the tag to Kenta, but when push comes to shove after the usual sequence of nearfalls, it's Kikuchi who's pinned by Ogawa. There were so many nearfalls in the last few minutes that I've honestly forgotten what move Ogawa used to get the pinfall (I want to say a German suplex with a bridge, but I could be wrong.) Misawa comes in to replace Kikuchi. Jumbo 1, Misawa 0. Misawa/Kobashi vs. Fuchi/Ogawa: I like the Fuchi/Ogawa team a lot, as despite being out there for close to a half hour they maintain their cohesion, particularly against Kenta, who's been out there as long as they have. Naturally, Misawa's the freshest and looks it, and Fuchi and Ogawa spend most of their time trying to get rid of the already exhausted Kenta, but failing. Ogawa in particular feels the effects of back-to-back hard-hitting matches, as he looks like he's trying to swim upstream through a river of maple syrup for most of this. Fuchi's not a lot better, but he's supposed to move like an old man. Eventually, Kenta nails Ogawa with a pretty good-looking moonsault (considering Kenta's condition by this point anyway) and Misawa cuts off Fuchi to cement the win and even things at a fall apiece. Needing to change the momentum in a hurry and down to himself and old man Rusher, Jumbo enters the fray. Misawa 1, Jumbo 1. Misawa/Kobashi vs. Jumbo/Fuchi: This was the best of the three bouts so far. Jumbo and Fuchi make for a devastating pair as they target first Misawa's neck, then Kenta's knee, reducing both to pudding. Fuchi's particularly vicious with a pair of pinpoint dropkicks right to Kenta's knee, one to start the legwork sequence and one almost at its end. He also drops Kenta knee-first on the railing, which is a common spot in matches like this but is made more dramatic by the fact that Kenta's already taken such a terrible beating. Meanwhile, Misawa's neck is stretched seven delicious ways courtesy of some beautiful doubleteaming, and there's one sequence where Jumbo almost puts Misawa out with a regular sleeper while Fuchi puts an interfering Kenta all the way out with the cobra clutch. Only a last-second foot on the ropes from Misawa saves the day for his side. By the end of this fall, the only one moving with any crispness whatsoever is Jumbo, but Fuchi can't fight off the Misawa facelock and goes to dreamland after an incredible forty-five minute masterpiece of a performance. Kimura has to come in for Jumbo's side, which has been pushed to the brink. Misawa 2, Jumbo 1. Jumbo/Rusher vs. Misawa/Kobashi: Say this for the old man: He's fresh blood in a match that desperately needs it. As such, he's in there for the first half of the fall, and things slow to a crawl, though how much of that is actually his fault is open to question by now, as the other three guys are totally exhausted. Business picks up when Jumbo and Rusher remember that Kenta's knee is hurt, and Rusher really looks alive when he grabs a chair and jams it into the injured knee twice. Back in the ring, Jumbo tries an STF for the first time in memory, but the experiment fails due to abject exhaustion. Eventually, all four men end up in the ring for entirely too long, and while Misawa and Rusher pretty much lay on each other in one corner, Kenta eats what's left of Jumbo's high end offense, including a pair of Jumbo Drivers, and bows in defeat after over an hour. He fights to the end, blocking the second Jumbo Driver for what seems like five minutes before a series of Rusher headbutts take the fight out of him for the final time. We're even at two falls apiece, and Kawada comes in to decide the issue for Misawa's squad. Jumbo 2, Misawa 2. Misawa/Kawada vs. Jumbo/Rusher: Not surprisingly, the least of the five bouts. Jumbo and Misawa are beyond exhausted and Rusher's old and slow. Kawada doesn't inject as much energy as you would think, and the majority of the action here is centered on Rusher's Samoan-like hard head. There are several multiple headbutt sequences which look surprisingly good; not much else does until the finish. Kawada appears to put Rusher out with the sleeper, but inexplicably drops the hold. This leads to the finish, where Misawa and Jumbo are too tired to do more than stare each other down when one or the other attempts interference. The actual finish is nicely done, as Misawa locks Rusher in the stretch plum while Misawa neutralizes an interfering Jumbo with the facelock at the same time. It's a knockout either way you slice it, and Misawa's team survives. Misawa 3, Jumbo 2. I thought this was wonderful. I've never seen this format before, but I liked it very much. There was little downtime except between falls, and even at the end when three of the four guys were moving slower than three-toed sloths, everyone was trying as hard as they could. I wonder how much of what some of you saw as subpar work was just excellent selling of exhaustion. Special kudos to Kenta, who put in the year's Iron Man performance so far, going nonstop for over an hour while Jumbo's team pounded him unmercifully. I rate his perfortmance over Flair's in the Rumble because he took a lot more actual holds and maneuvers than Flair, who mostly engaged in fisticuffs and got at least some rest while people were trying to eliminate him. It's a close contest, though, and I enjoyed them both immensely. This is my Japanese Match of the Year for '92 so far, and just like the Rumble in the U.S., I'm not quite sure what can possibly top it.
  25. garretta
    It's interesting that Corny and the Bodies spend as much time as they do here on Morgan and Victory as possible opponents. Usually, wrestlers in a tournament mostly talk about those on the opposite side of the fence from them almost exclusively. It gives away the finish in most cases, but most tournaments very seldom have more than one match between similarly aligned entities. Anyway, a great three-way promo. As it turns out, Stanfield is Lane's legit middle name, so that's where Corny got it from. His first name is Wallace. I'm glad he went by Stan, although "Wonderful Wally Lane" has a kind of ring to it if you roll it around your brain long enough.
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