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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    I can't wait to actually see Shawn and Sherri in action together; this happened right after I tuned out on a weekly basis. It's a bit weird that Teddy wasn't involved directly in this, but he wasn't nearly as important as he'd once been, so getting the rub from him wouldn't have helped Shawn as much now as it would have even two years ago. Percy's mugging doesn't destroy the segment, but it doesn't do it any favors either. Of all the times we could have used the usual straight Okerlund ramp interview to introduce an angle, this is the time we didn't get it I laughed at Curt when he thought Sherri might have been talking about him. Actually, he and Sherri might have been a good team if they hadn't chosen Heenan to replace Lanny in his corner instead. Somehow, I can see Sherri beating up guys who didn't sell correctly for Shawn while still finding a way to make it look like part of the act. Let's just hope she didn't have to do it too often.
  2. garretta
    How anyone could call this even remotely sinister compared to Taker and past wildmen like Kamala is beyond me. Everything about this screamed "CARTOON!" Maybe it's just the way Wright played it, because they don't get any more cartoonish than Taker on paper, and look what Calloway did with him. I don't recall ever seeing Shango wrestle. From what I've heard here and in other places, maybe that's a good thing.
  3. garretta
    The match itself was a squash, almost like 1989 Piper versus the Fabulous Jacques Rougeau would have been on Superstars or Challenge. if Jacques had more than ten seconds of sustained offense at any point in the match, I must have missed it. As everyone else has said, this was about the moment: the leadup to it, the match itself, and the posrtmatch. Piper seems legitimately happier to get the IC belt than anyone I've ever seen, and the crowd is just as happy for him. Meanwhile, Jacques is ignominiously sent back to midcard hell, which he never really left in the first place. I saw the footage of the Mountie's title win, and I noticed that the ring announcer (who was the regular Boston Garden ring announcer; they never identified him by name, but it wasn't Mel Phillips or Finkel) never announced Jacques as the new IC champion. Was that just an oversight, or were they afraid of fan backlash? You'd think that Piper's appearance would have taken care of that, but maybe not. Is there anyone more useless in the WWF right now than Jimmy Hart? Even Jamison serves more of a purpose. As for Jacques, he's a rare case of being able to perform a character in the ring a thousand times better than he can on the mic. Either one of my dead grandmothers sounds more like a Mountie than he does. He'd have been better off not even doing promos. Something tells me that the commentary for this was redone in the studio, because Gino and Bobby don't sound live at all here. I think I remember reading something about there being too much crowd noise for the commentary to be heard well during the live pay-per-view, so maybe Vince wanted it re-recorded for Coliseum Video. At any rate, they pay almost no attention to the match whatsoever; Heenan's more concerned with finding out Flair's number for the Rumble and complaining about being stuck with Gino all weekend, while Gino happily guzzles him at every turn. My favorite line comes after Bobby reasserts his First Amendment right to free speech, to which Gino replies, "When you're with me, you don't have any rights!" As much as I liked the line, it symbolizes the deterioration of their act. I liked them a lot better when Heenan would say the most outrageous things in the world and Gino would simply say, "Give me a break, Brain!" When Gino started fighting back in the late eighties, they started going downhill, and now Gino's outright bullying him most of the time. The only reason I can still listen to them is because I know they were best friends outside the ring. If they weren't, they'd be even harder to listen to than JR and Heyman. I thought that the WWF was just retconning when they said that Piper was the first man to have a chance to win both the World and IC titles in the same night, but then I realized that most of the other guys who had a chance to end a given night with two belts already had one to begin with, such as when the IC champion challenged the World champion. Piper really was the first man who could have gone from no belts to two in the same night. This was truly Piper's last big pay-per-view moment in the WWF; he'd be a special attraction against Lawler and Dustin, among others, but he'd never be a major player again after he dropped the IC title to Bret at Mania VIII. Thanks for a ton of memories, Hot Rod!
  4. garretta
    The pre-match what-ifs based on WCW's storylines at the time and the aftermath of Sting and Muta's win are a hell of a lot more fun than the match itself. I do private commentary on the non-English speaking matches for my own amusement, and I crafted a story for the match that had to do with Sting possibly not being able to trust Muta because of their past history. For that matter, the DA might have paid off Muta to turn on and injure Sting for them. Neither of these remotely came into play, of course. The Steiners were pretty good heels of the moment, though, as they brutalized Muta with almost every slam and suplex in their arsenal, but refused to try for pins. I wonder how this would have been explained to an American audience, because this tactic is blatantly heelish. The double pin keeps all four guys over, but Sting and Muta getting the official pin means that they can claim a clean victory over one of the top teams in both North America and Japan. It's a pity that we won't see Muta in America for a while, because he would heve been a great secret weapon in Sting's feud with the DA, at least on pay-per-views and the like. No offense to Buff Bagwell, but I think Muta would have struck more fear into the DA's hearts than he did. The best move of the match had to be Sting's leap from the top rope on to Rick. He doesn't do that here in the States very much, so it was nice to see him not only attempt it, but hit it cleanly. Rick catching Muta in the middle of the handspring elbow and hitting a German was second. The entrances really made this one feel big, though they might have run a bit long. I especially liked the gymnasts that preceded Muta to the ring. In fact, I thought the first guy doing handsprings on the ramp was Muta at first. I liked this better than the Luger tag at SuperBrawl I, mostly because it didn't feel like it was being used solely to set up another feud (Sting-Nikita). It wasn't the greatest tag match in history, but it accomplished its purpose well.
  5. garretta
    This was good for an appetizer to SuperBrawl, as all four men (and Heyman too) brought their A games. This match really helped to establish the DA as a unit instead of five individual stars thrown together; Rude and Austin worked together flawlessly. So did Sting and Steamer, especially with the illegal switch routine. The only team I've seen pull it off as smoothly was the Rock 'n' Roll Express. The finish was strange to say the least, but it served its purpose of keeping the various issues between these four guys bubbling until SuperBrawl. I liked the beatdown afterward; it was right out of the Horsemen playbook, with the added touch of beating up security as well. The only thing I didn't like was Heyman joining in. There's no way a wimp like him should be knocking security people down with one shot and throwing them out of the ring as he does here. Arn or Larry should have come down to do that while Heyman sat back and laughed. His belt was contribution enough to the festivities. Jesse was great here, much more strategy-oriented than he was in his latter WWF days. His explanation of what a manager is actually supposed to do at ringside was fantastic, and one I'd never really heard before. Of course, he cheered for the DA, and his outrage at the illegal switches by Steamer and Sting and the winning pinfall were a riot, as was his defense of the beatdown at the end. Unfortunately, I can see the danger signs for him and JR. I loved his reaction to the news that Austin's father played in the Cotton Bowl for Rice, but football references are such a part of JR's act by now that making fun of them is like making fun of his accent, in a sense. He's a legitimate NFL announcer, don't forget, so it's not like he's talking out of his rear end about something he knows nothing about. Add that to the fact that he's so used to calling matches solo and thus shaping the broadcasts the way he wants to that he doubtless sees any color man (except perhaps for Tony, who knows his place) as an unwelcome intrusion and you can see why he didn't like working with Jesse, who like Heenan needs to be indulged a bit instead of just calling what he sees in the ring and nothing else. Hopefully they can work out their problems and not let any discomfort they might feel with each other spoil the broadcasts over the coming year. Rude may be the king of selling blows to the spine and lower, but Sting's sell job of Rude's low blow was nothing to sneeze at either. I also got a kick out of Sting and Steamer's hip swivels, though they have a ways to go to catch up to the master. Yay! Rude's opening spiel was back, if only for one night. I loved Heyman's big smile while Rude was telling the cable-watching couch potatoes to shut up. Rude may not have liked having a manager, but guys like Heenan and Heyman added immeasurably to his act just by their reactions to it.
  6. garretta
    I think Benoit adapted very well to the lucha style while maintaining his own style as well. Most of his work is against Villano; in fact, you can pretty much split this match in half. I found the two halves equal; Villano is clearly the more experienced worker, but Benoit figured out pretty quickly how to get over as a rudo, as evidenced by the mask untying spot he does with Villano in the third fall. I can't wait to check out their singles match later in the month. As for Santo and Casas, it's clear that there's an issue between them, and I see that they have a match coming up later in the month as well that's on the set. Santo's dive off the top onto Casas to take him out for good was absolutely breathtaking. In short, lots of good action, plus some great workers to keep an eye on as the Yearbook progresses.
  7. garretta
    I wasn't a fan of this one. Taker's lack of pace wasn't the problem; the garbage finish was. I know Taker's supposed to be a heel, and I know heels are supposed to cheat, but if you're going to spend the entire match putting Taker over as an unstoppable, otherworldly force of nature, don't undo your work by having him get the pin with an urn shot. Using the urn to set up the pin is one thing, but only the tombstone should have been used to get the actual three-count, even against Bret. In a separate issue, the business with the referee took way, way too long both times they used it. It would have been better if Percy would have just cracked Danny Davis over the head with the urn and had done with it. The tug-of-war spots with Percy, Bret, and Davis looked silly, period. Besides, as a former heel wrestler himself, Davis shouldn't have been as prone to heel distractions as his fellow refs. Of course, once the Dangerous Danny angle ended sometime in '88, we were supposed to forget that Davis had ever wrestled at all, so maybe that's not a fair criticism. Gino and Bobby go out of their way to put Taker over as awesome, as well they should. But was Taker supposed to be a human being or not? Gino openly scoffs at the idea that Taker is an honest-to-God zombie when Bobby brings it up, but Vince and the other announcers put him over as exactly that when they call his matches. Of course, Gino's idea is a hell of a lot more plausible, but I'm wondering how Vince felt about one of his larger-than-life characters being made into a human being by his pay-per-view announcer. To be sure, Gino noted that Taker was an extraordinary human, but a human nonetheless. Heenan, of course, plays up the zombie angle for all it's worth, though he also notes that not even zombie Taker would have a chance against Flair if it ever comes to that. Early in the match, Gino states that he'd asked Bobby to ask Percy and Taker what was in the urn. I thought Hogan solved that mystery when he threw the urn's contents (ashes) into Taker's eyes to set up the pin at Tuesday in Texas. Heenan slips and calls Flair the "Real World Champion" when hyping the SNME tag match, although he catches himself just afterward. Old habits die hard, don't they Brain? Am I the only one who thinks that Taker's face claw could have been put over as a killer submission had Vince wanted to do it? They could have named it the RIP.
  8. garretta
    I didn't like this one at all. I know the match was basically booked to allow the Steiners to go over another monster team and show that Scotty was all the way back from his injuries and ready to be a champion again, but this match made a team that could have been a useful midcard big man team look utterly ridiculous. Hughes and Vader could do nothing to hurt Rick and Scott, particularly Rick, who was at his no-selling worst here. He didn't stay down for any of Hughes' or Vader's supposedly devastating moves, and Scotty wasn't a whole lot better, though he did have the decency to lie still for a moment or two after Vader sat on his chest. Meanwhile, the Steiners threw two guys who were half again their size around like paperweights. Hughes I can almost understand, because he's not supposed to be a full-time wrestler. But Vader? I'm surprised he came back for his World title push after being treated that way. The commentary did Hughes and Vader no favors either, as Tony in particular kept pointing out how slow they were to capitalize every time they had the Steiners down for a nanosecond or two. So they're slow, fat, and their offense doesn't work for beans. Well, why did they sign for a nationally televised match against a pair of former World champions, then? I suspect the real-life answer was to reintroduce Vader so he'd be in the fans' minds when it came time for his singles push and because Hughes had nothing to do since his client (Luger) had only one date left to wrestle in the company. Regardless, there's no excuse for treating them like this. I'm not sure what Arn and Bobby were doing, hut why not give the Steiners a non-title win over them to kickstart that feud and have Vader and Hughes go over a couple of face midcarders to establish their cred as a team? That way, they can eventually be built up for a title challenge once the Steiners inevitably get the belts back. (Of course, Vader would be on his way to the World title by then, but nobody knew that at the time.) JR was certainly in his college sports glory here, talking about how these guys represented the fine institutions of Michigan, Colorado and Kansas State. There's just one problem: I can understand bringing up the Steiners' credentials; that's half of their gimmick. Vader actually made the NFL as Leon White, so bringing up his past is understandable. But Hughes? How does being a college man with the kind of background he had jibe with being a paid bodyguard whose sunglasses apparently grew over his eyes? There's simply no reason to bring up Hughes' background, since it doesn't match his gimmick at all (and may even take away from it; what's a man with his obvious accomplishments doing taking money from scumbuckets like Luger and Race when he could be making honest money as a football player or coach somewhere?) The idea of giving the Steiners a fun opening bout wasn't bad, but they picked the wrong opponents.
  9. garretta
    At least they had an excuse to tear the place apart this time with the no-DQ stip. That dialed things down to acceptable levels of pandemonium, at least until referees started getting clobbered. I agree with Milano that Morrell should have known better after what happened to Neighbors, and Pops Marlin should definitely have known better after what happened to Morrell. Fortunately, Lawler ends the chaos with a fireball for Richard Lee, as hurting Lee seems to be the only way to get the Dogs to back off. If someone had told me that the Moondogs could be this wild, vicious and crazy, I would never have believed it. The Moondogs of the WWF were just another generic heel team, even when they were champions with Albano. They had the same look, but they wrestled a very simple style, with the highest form of offense being the backbreaker. They bumped occasionally, but never like this, and the bones were used only sparingly. Forget selling, at least on this scale. By the end of the Dogs' WWF run, Spotty was actually a so-ugly-he's-cute tweener, losing to Harley Race clean and doing one of the first stretcher jobs during Kamala's '86 run via the splash off the top. I say all that to say that I thought the Dogs were washed up and long gone, not perhaps the most vicious team I've seen in years. It's almost enough to make me wonder if they could have retained at least some of their magic in one of the Big Two had they had the opportunity. Is it just me, or is Corey doing commentary on this bout specifically for the Saturday morning show? He refers to "Dave" several times during his match call, and unless his partner at the MSC was named Dave (I don't know for sure, he could have been), there's only one other Dave he could have been referring to, and Mr. Brown was, of course, getting ready for the late weather back at WMC and thus wasn't in attendance live.
  10. garretta
    Someone in charge at WCW had to be watching All-Japan, because the whole Sting-DA feud is starting to remind me of Misawa-Jumbo, complete with seemingly everyone in the promotion taking a side and then going at it in just about every three-man combination that can possibly be pit together. The match quality doesn't measure up, but the intensity is definitely there. There are even rookies to take the pins. I guess this makes Buff the WCW version of Kikuchi. If I had a problem with the finish, it was in its execution. Buff had to stay on top of Austin for too long to make the Alabama Jam plausible, even with the referee distracted. The only reason this even has a bot of credibility is because Buff's just green enough not to break the cover and go after Patrick. I'm really not looking forward to seeing this finish over and over again during the next few months, if what I've heard is true. If Sting and his friends can't afford clean losses, just have the DA squash jobbers, like every other heel stable does on syndicated TV. I loved the part where everyone on the DA side physically tried to prevent Rude from locking up with Sting. From Heyman on down, they were bound and determined that the Stinger would not have the physical revenge he sought, or if he would, it would be when the marks were paying top dollar for it, like at a Clash or pay-per-view. Brilliant heel psychology, and it didn't hurt the match because Steamboat-Rude, Steamboat Austin, and Sting-Austin were just as compelling as Sting-Rude. How Vince isn't kicking himself for not having Steamer and Rude in a program sometime before Steamer left the WWF for good I'll never know. These two are dynamite together, with or without the Medusa side issue. I can take the Rude Awakening kisses or leave them alone, but one part of Rude's act I miss is his pre-disrobing spiel: "What I'd like to have right now is for all you fat, out-of-shape Georgia jugheads to keep the noise down while I take my robe off and show the ladies what the real U.S. champion looks like (or something similar)." Rude could have even had Heyman do it for him if they thought it would draw more heat that way.
  11. garretta
    Well, at least they (presumably) paid for their actions. Thanks, Loss!
  12. garretta
    The faces win a battle, but lose the war as The Cruncher deliberately gets himself pinned so he and Eaton can obliterate Dustin after the bell. It's sort of the Anderson Sacrifice taken to its logical extreme. This was more of a showcase for Simmons than anything else on the face side, and he looked really good here, Dustin did his part and Steamer didn't really do much at all. The Enforcers did the bulk of the work for the DA, though Rude did his part while he was in. This wasn't anything close to a definitive match, but it filled its time better than those half-baked six-mans Vince ran from time to time, some of which were joined in progress and barely lasted three minutes. Why they were trying to get someone as good-looking as Medusa over as some sort of asexual female droid with a bad Eurotrash accent I have no clue. Get her out of the lousy suits and into some dresses posthaste. JR taking shots at Heyman every time he opens his mouth is getting old. Face-heel pairings like this only work if the face suffers the heel gamely even at the heel's most obnoxious. Gino may get mad at Heenan or Jesse from time to time and make a snide remark, but he doesn't spend the next two or three minutes (or so it seems) venting to the audience about what a jerk Bobby or Jesse are. For a while, it was refreshing to hear JR call Paul out for exactly what he is. Now, it's becoming distracting, and it sounds like JR's taking out his frustrations with whoever put them together as an announce crew in the first place. The pushing of Zbyszko as a total badass continues. He's become the symbol for why I'm glad I purchased these yearbooks; talk about a run I never saw coming! I'm sure most of you out there have similar stories on some worker or other.
  13. garretta
    I have a hard time thinking of the positives in this match after seeing what happened to Missy. I don't care if she was an obnoxious little twit who slept with everything that had male organs, she didn't deserve to be treated this way, and she sure as hell didn't deserve to be put in spots that she wouldn't have otherwise been in if those in charge at WCW hadn't lived to humiliate her. Seriously, was she even in any other segment of this show? How Turner Broadcasting escaped a megalawsuit for sexual harassment over their treatment of her I have no idea. Anyway, I think it was Mike who said that the Memphis brawls smoked this match sixteen ways from Sunday. Not in my eyes it didn't. I enjoyed the fact the this was a wrestling match that just happened to have no rules to speak of, not just an excuse to fling objects around. It felt more natural, more organic, and it seemed like the culmination of a long feud. Some of the spots already mentioned bordered on death-defying; even JR mentioned that Mick got the worst end of that sunset flip to the floor. I also enjoyed the bonus brawl between Mick and Abby, even if led to Missy's pointless humiliation. JR and Tony put over the chaos of this bout, both for the wrestlers and the production crew, beautifully. Finally, double kudos to both guys for being willing to end the match outside in the freezing Topeka night, never mind in a rodeo pen to boot. It was the crowning touch to an underrated little bout.
  14. garretta
    Not a bad match; I'm waiting to see how their encounter from three weeks earlier tops it. This was as much about Windham and his in-ring return as it was about Dustin and Arn, and the postmatch was really where the action was. The faces score the big victory of the day when Austin's knee is pounded into jelly by Heyman's own phone, and none of his partners want any part of Barry whatsoever. It's the first time the DA has shown any vulnerability, and it'll be interesting to see how the faces take advantage of that vulnerability in the coming weeks. The match itself was pretty basic, with Arn's fake knee injury being the highlight. My other favorite part comes after Dustin knocks Arn for a loop with a huge right. Heyman says something to the effect of, "I signed to fight Dustin Rhodes and I end up fighting Mike Tyson." The kicker is, what does Arn do the minute Paul gets the words out of his mouth? He pounds Dustin with a closed left fist! That's the type of stuff you don't find in today's wrestling. I don't know if the spot was planned exactly that way or not, but however it was planned, it turned out brilliantly. I loved the clip we saw from Barry's promo, and even though he's a face now, he hasn't sounded this Horseman-like in quite a while. One thing, though: He'd better have a manager's license the next time Dustin needs him as a second. JR made too big a deal of how Barry was foiled by Heyman for this not to be followed up on somehow. You can tell there's real disgust in JR's voice when he unloads on Paul. Whether that's superior acting skill for an announcer or whether JR's letting out real-life emotion, I can't tell. It's probably a bit of both, though there too much relish in his voice for it not to be at least somewhat real. By the way, has anyone else ever heard a jumping jack referred to as a "side-saddle hop" or whatever JR called it? Again, the Omni promotion didn't bother me under the circumstances. Remember, at this time the local WTBS Atlanta feed and the national TBS SuperStation feed were the same. WTBS was WCW's local outlet in Atlanta, so promoting the Omni cards was essential. I just hope that they'll keep showing relevant Omni footage on the national programs from time to time.
  15. garretta
    This is the type of match that the Lethal Lottery should have featured. Most of the other commenters have said what I thought, so I'll say that Buff didn't look too bad here. He was probably carried, but not too noticeably, and he and Pillman looked like a team that could have gone somewhere. So did Smothers and Taylor, whom I really didn't expect much from. Is this version 2.0 of Rock 'n' Roll/MX? Not by a damn sight, but the fact that it's as watchable and entertaining as it is counts as a wrestling miracle, considering what it could have been. Nice advice by Tony about Buff staying out of Sting's feud with the DA, but it's about a month too late. We all know JR loves to talk football, but was it really wise of him to bring up that Pillman was a second-team All-American when the first-teamer was Refrigerator Perry? By '92, the buzz had long since worn off of him and his career was just about to grind to a halt; in fact, he was seen as a joke by most serious football fans and experts.
  16. garretta
    Let me be the wet blanket here. Oh, this was every bit as wild and crazy as advertised, and if this had been a one-of-a-kind match it would have been a candidate for Match of the Year, because all four of these guys busted their asses to put on a show the likes of which Kennett, Missouri had never seen before nor again, at least I hope not. The problem is, it's not one of a kind. No matter how well done it was (and it was, believe me), we've already seen at least two brawls just like this at the MSC and I'm sure there were countless more around the Memphis loop. Just how good are the Dogs as a regular tag team? We don't know, because they haven't been one yet. There's no build, no progression. Let me put it like this: Imagine what it would be like if every match between Magnum and Tully leading up to Starrcade '85 had been an "I Quit" match. Furthermore, imagine that Tully had only wrestled "I Quit" matches on television for six to eight weeks leading up to Starrcade. Would the Magnum match have been as memorable, even if it was exactly the same as it turned out to be? I'm betting not. Where are the cage matches, the first blood, the bunkhouse matches, the dog collar matches? Anything but these ECW-style bouts where they use everything that's not nailed down because Larry Latham's too damn fat to work regular matches, which I suspect is a lot of the reason for these brawls. I wish these guys would do something else in the same way I wish Abby would do something else besides maul people with forks. Not that watching Abby wield a fork isn't somewhat entertaining, but when you know well in advance that that's all there is and there ain't no more, you tend to think ahead to the rest of the disc you're watching, and that's a shame. I'm guessing Fuller ran off Richard Lee at some point just after the footage started, and that's why Lawler takes his place. Godspeed, Stud, you were a treat. See you and Jimmy (Golden) in SMW. I don't doubt that the fans were running and ducking for their lives, especially if they'd never heard of the concession stand brawls Memphis had done in the past. I didn't catch a lot of the moments you guys did, mostly because the camera work and Corey's announcing made the whole thing seem (suitably) chaotic. Maybe I'll catch some of them when I eventually get around to a rewatch. Was all of this done after a scheduled tag title match? Corey talked as if it was, in which case I commend Jeff and the Dogs for their superior stamina as well as their courage.
  17. garretta
    Nice little segment from Eddie. I thought he was going to Pearl Harbor Barry too, but that would have been painfully obvious, so I'm glad they avoided it. I wonder if Young was coming back to Global and they were trying anything they could to build to a Young/Gilbert feud, because I don't recall any association between the two of them at any time. Eddie reminding us that he'd managed Rick Steiner and Sting was a good way to establish credibility for himself in a place he'd never managed before. Invoking the Freebirds and Devastation was a nice touch as well, though I wonder just how proud anyone was of what the Freebirds had become by now. Barry's disbelief and joy made the segment. I wonder how long this angle lasted, because it seems that Barry's ripe to be turned on sooner rather than later. The Winner's belt was a nice touch, although from what little I could see it looked like something a kid may make for an art project.
  18. garretta
    The brawl was still good, but I can see where weekly bouts like this eventually became too much of a good thing. No one was expecting scientific classics from the Moondogs, but it would have been nice to see a regulation match or two tossed in among the balls-to-the-wall brawls, for variety's sake if nothing else. Lawler's presence, particularly on the mic, makes this feud feel important somehow. Only the King could have tied in the brutal beating that Hutchings must have taken to an upcoming match quite so effortlessly. Jeff commenting that he looked a bit like Hutchings himself helped too. The finish with Lee hooking Fuller's leg was a bit weak, but became understandable when Lawler mentioned that Fuller had a match scheduled with Lee the following Monday at the MSC. I thought Jeff recovered from his verbal slip quite nicely and without help from Lawler. Sometimes I think we're so used to the WWF's slickly post-produced stuff that we forget that guys stumble over their words all the time on live TV. Hell, Jimmy Hart made it part of his schtick ("I'm so excited I can't even talk, man!") One pet peeve with the announcers: They either need to refer to the Moondogs by their names. It's disconcerting to hear Spotty referred to by name in one breath, then hear anonymous references to "the Moondog" in the next. Hey, guys, they're both Moondogs, and they both have names, if you should ever care to learn them.
  19. garretta
    I was expecting Kim to make the save for Tony here and set up a mixed tag, which proves that I've watched entirely too much Memphis for my own good. I'm guessing the battle royal was done with simple "elimination by any means" rules instead of over-the-top-rope to cut down on the possibility of one of the boys being accidentally hung. Embry needed the big win to stay viable, but we certainly didn't need more man-on-woman violence. Then again, if losing the Dallas timeslot back in '90 didn't teach Papa a lesson, nothing was going to. The whole business was telegraphed by CJ wearing was has to be as close to nothing as was allowable; I've seen one-piece bathing suits that cover more. Her selling wasn't very good; a few shots from a bruiser like Tony should have had her down on her knees and screaming, not tiptoeing around like she had hot potatoes in her pockets. Her whip shots were weak, but they were going for humiliation and not injury, so that was understandable. Embry's slipped just a bit in promos, but after what we saw the fans didn't need Shakespeare to be talked into the MSC. He repeated himself a little too often- "Have I ever lied to you, Dave Brown? Have I ever? Have I EVER lied to you?"- but only a few wrestlers ever escape that trap consistently. Nice to see Dr. Tom. I thought he was already gone and getting ready for SMW. Who the devil is Bart Sawyer? Is he any relation to Brett or Buzz?
  20. garretta
    I don't think Jeff's weak on the mic; he's just straightforward and earnest, especially compared to guys like Fuller and Lawler, who can both get carried away with the best of them. Explaining what a no-DQ match is is one of the things all promotions feel the need to do in case there's anyone out there tuning in for the first time. It's not meant for veteran watchers like us. I think Jeff played his part very well, quite frankly. Fuller is a riot with the downhome barnyard stories, and that's a side of him you seldom see as a heel. I also thought Jeff's "Rest in pain" line was clever, at least for him. The brawl was excellent as usual, although I really don't see how anyone could find any sort of structure in it. The commentary on MSC matches is usually completely irrelevant to me, but I loved Corey's "Those Moondogs! They make me so mad!"
  21. garretta
    I didn't know that Lee was literally learning on the job here. Under those circumstances, my opinion of him just went way up. He's a natural, with an understanding of the business that can't really be taught. I'm glad Latham/Booker started paying him, because he fit into this feud better than most of the guys they could have used would have, especially Nate. Nate was creepy enough, but he needed to look and sound as if he was the type to go through swamps looking for wild and crazy asskickers, and he simply didn't. As for the brawl itself, it's almost too chaotic to comment on. Jeff shows more fire than he has since the Yearbook series started, and I loved the visual of him hanging Lee as he'd been hung himself a few weeks before. Fuller looked superb too, and it's a shame that we won't be seeing much more of him in this feud (Lawler would take his place within the next week or two). The other amazing thing is how well Spotty bumped for someone who had passed fat and out of shape and was speeding toward morbidly obese. He never looked this good in the WWF, even in his tag team title days when the gimmick was fresh, at least for him. I guess they showed a little longer clip than they'd meant to, because we barely saw the bone shot and the pin before the commercial music came up. It was an unusually sloppy transition on the USWA's part.
  22. garretta
    How in the world is losing by countout a successful defense for the LOD? Either someone forgot to give Okerlund the right finish before he taped this or they didn't know the finish except for the LOD retaining. Flair was great here, and his blunder over how long he was in the ring didn't bother me at all. But Curt did it again. Who was the first person he put over on camera? Not Flair for winning the title, but himself for predicting it. I've long had a suspicion that when it came down to cases, Vince saw an injured, inactive Hennig as still more valuable than Flair for the simple reason that Vince created the Mr. Perfect character himself, and nothing I've seen so far with these two contradicts that. That's par for the McMahon course, I suppose, but I still wish that Curt and Ric hadn't been paired under those circumstances. If Vince wanted to use Curt (or, more specifically, the Mr. Perfect character) as a mouthpiece while he was recovering, there were lots of other heels he could have put Curt with. What about the Beverly Brothers as "The Perfect Tag Team"? How about Rick Martel, who was still floating around? Better yet, how about Sid as an instrument of revenge against Hogan at Mania? From what I remember of Downtown Bruno/Harvey Wippleman, he did nothing at all to add to Sid's turn, nor to anyone else he ever managed on the WWF stage. Curt may not have been a good fit with Flair, but I think he'd have been an asset to a musclehead like Sid.
  23. garretta
    Savage doesn't disappoint here. I'd have liked just a touch more anger toward Jake, but unlike at Tuesday in Texas, revenge isn't the sole focus here. My favorite line: "I wanna go back to the top of the mountain so I can see better!" Who else can use a line like that and still come off as a tough guy? Liz was good here too. I liked the line about feeling sorry for Jake, and don't forget the first part: "Considering how Randy feels about him......." This was the closest thing to a warning Liz ever delivered, at least that I saw. Curt's line asking if Liz would leave Savage if he didn't win the Rumble seemed typical. I hope we get to hear more from Curt as a commentator this year so I can judge how good he is. He sounds like he could be above average at least. Typical horny Vince here: he considers Jake slapping Liz a lot more heinous than him threatening Randy with another potential cobra bite. The only reason that I'm glad Liz finally leaves for good after Mania is so I don't have to hear Vince drool all over her ever again. I don't remember a Savage/Hogan confrontation at the Rumble, but it'll be interesting to go back and see if he pairs off with Taker or Sid at some point in light of this interview.
  24. garretta
    I'm not sure what was so different about Flair's yelling; he's been screaming his fool head off during promos since the Crocketts bought the Saturday 6:05 slot from Vince. For every "cool cat" promo he's done, he's done ten just like this or even worse. Yelling and screaming has become his default, at least to me. Curt bothered me much more than Flair did here. At least Flair was open about entering the Rumble not to win the WWF title, but solely to destroy Hogan and end Hulkamania. Curt, on the other hand, took a match that was in no way whatsoever about him and tried to interject himself. First, he claims that one of the things Taker has against him is that he's not perfect. Since you're not wrestling, Curt, and since I don't think you'll even be allowed at ringside, what does that have to do with anything? Taker won't be opposing you directly or indirectly, so your so-called "perfection" (and if you're really so perfect, how come you're not in the Rumble?) has no place in the bout whatsoever in any way, shape, or form. (We know Curt was hurt now, of course, but the WWF didn't acknowledge the injury at the time.) Second, right at the end, Flair makes a pretty clever statement about how once he wins the WWF title, Hogan will have to go through the rest of his natural life as number two. Curt has no reason to say a word, yet he interjects with "Three", which Flair finds hysterical. Again, Curt, are you in the Rumble? Are you trying for the WWF title? No? Then why should anyone consider you the second-best wrestler in the world right now? I've said this on the '91 board, and I'll repeat it here: It's fine for Curt to want to keep the Perfect character over in case he wants to wrestle again someday (which, of course, he will), but to use Flair to help him do it is just plain wrong. Flair's issues should be left as unique to him, and those who speak for him and alongside him should be dedicated to those issues and none of their own. I'll say this again as well: JJ Dillon is the one who should have been alongside Flair here, and it's a shame that Vince's petty paranoia wouldn't let that happen. Curt is only a fit mouthpiece for himself and the Perfect character. Hell, even whistleblowing John Tolos would have been better with Flair than Curt has been. It's also a shame that Curt's antics take away from what is a very good WWF Flair interview. I'm hearing rumblings that Flair will be back to something more closely resembling his classic Crockett persona once he wins the belt, and I'm excited to see if that's true.
  25. garretta
    As usual, Pete's on the money with the similarities between these vignettes and the ones for El Matador. The thing is, we don't know Chris Chavis/Tatanka, so they don't mean as much as they did for Tito. They're more like the Skinner vignettes; Keirn talking about wrestling reptiles is nice, but how will that help him wrestle people? Maybe if we'd seen Tatanka as Chris Chavis, a wrestler who just happens to be a Native American, for a few months, then had vignettes like this, they'd mean more, because we'd know that Chavis has to do stuff like this in order to toughen up and survive in the WWF. I think both Chavis' and Tito's delivery was about the same; how good can one sound doing wooden dialogue like this in a studio during post-production?
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