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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    Sting's promo was good, although I thought he got a little too cutesy with the names, especially for the woman. Foley's not quite fully formed yet on the mic, but you can definitely see signs of future brilliance. One of the things that's helping him is that even though he's still going by the name Cactus Jack, he's dropped all the cowboy stuff from his gimmick, including his Western drawl, and is talking as himself. That's giving him added confidence and allowing him to focus on what he's saying, which is why he's saying it better than ever. I can't wait to see these two actually hook up in the ring. I agree that the finish of Sting-Austin was about a hundred times stupider than it needed to be, but what's worse is that Sting moved right on to Foley/Abby without even giving Austin a rematch. It just shows that Austin could have been almost anyone on the roster, and that in the eyes of Dusty, he's not ready to be the supposed second-best wrestler in the company. That's too bad, because I think we could have gotten more out of a Foley/Austin alliance than we probably will out of Foley/Abby. The matches would have been better for sure, and maybe we could have had Jeannie as the "benefactor", which would have been a nice surprise. By the way, if I had to guess who the "benefactor" was going to be solely off of what we've seen so far, my choice would be Kevin Sullivan. I don't think he ends up being a part of this, though, unless my admittedly limited memory for this angle is failing me.
  2. garretta
    I understand why people aren't too thrilled to see an inexperienced muscleman like Kazmaier almost getting pushed to the tag titles so quickly; it doesn't exactly make my day either. But to say that Dusty should have turned Rick heel on him just because? What earthly good would that have done, Loss? Or are you suggesting that Rick should have shot on him and beat him up legit on national TV? Complaining is one thing, but saying that kind of stuff is just plain ridiculous. That said, to give a match like this just six minutes, even taking the angle before it into account, is just plain absurd. A forfeit would have achieved the same purpose and kept Kaz hot for possible challenges down the line, because at least some fans would have been curious to see if he could learn enough about pro wrestling to hang with Arn and Larry. As it stands now, who wants to see a man dumb enough to cost his team a championship match just because he wanted to be a hero, and who's just a placeholder for Scotty to boot? This is why I say that Rick should have been pushed as a single, maybe even to Sting's spot as US champion, until Scotty could return. I guess they simply didn't have any other face tag teams than the Steiners, because who needed them while Rick and Scotty were so hot? Now that thinking's come back to bite Dusty squarely in the ass. It was time for heel tag champions, but not like this. Thank heaven that Arn and Larry look to be good enough in the ring and on the stick to withstand getting the belts like they have. We'll see for sure in the next couple of months.
  3. garretta
    I wonder if they had someone in mind to be the "benefactor", only that person never showed up. It certainly sounds like a big name trying to settle a previous score with the Stinger. Is this a rehash of the Scorpion mess? Probably, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it was intentional. The Scorpion idea wasn't bad in and of itself; it was the execution that sucked river water. Maybe Dusty can pick out the gems from beneath the rubble and give us an angle worth watching. The odds are against it, but you can never tell for sure. Both promos hit the mark, and Foley channels early Mankind more than a little during his, which is nice to see. I don't know what to say about the Patriots and the Birds. Quite frankly, anyone beating Hayes and Garvin for a title is a good thing at this point, and it's nice that they were able to elevate a couple of little-known youngsters by doing it. I'll have to reserve further comment until (if?) I see the new champions in action. By the way, is it just me or were DDP and company nowhere near the title change? I guess losing their entourage would be a sure sign that the Birds were on their way down and out.
  4. garretta
    We finally get a beatdown of both Simmons and Windham worthy of heels. A couple of segments back, I said I wasn't buying Luger as a heel yet; now I am. If they could just get another man to take the majority of Harley's bumps, we'd really be looking at a decent heel unit. Actually, I'm kind of surprised that Dusty never considered using Arn to fill the same role that he (Arn) did for Flair since Hughes really isn't a wrestler, but Arn and Zbyszko are just hitting their stride, so it's understandable that he wouldn't want to break them up. One thing they need to be careful of: they don't want the fans to wonder whether Windham should be getting Simmons' title match at Havoc. It's fine to have Barry watching Ron's back and all, but pushing them as a unit like they seem to be doing now is a mistake they can't afford to make when they're trying to build a fresh challenger such as Simmons. They need to put Windham in the back seat and make sure he stays there for a while.
  5. garretta
    I actually think Pete's on to something; they've used Heyman for quite a few of these segments over the last while, and he's surprisingly good at them, but they really should be done by the regular announcers; why aren't they available more often? The guy who should be doing them more often than not is Solie, but maybe he's on summer vacation. We finally get to see some Omni footage, and Luger finally seems believable in the heel role. You can tell that Dusty's going for a replay of the Horsemen to some extent, but even though I don't mind Race getting into an occasional fight, he should be the last one in the ring or otherwise on the scene. I'm not sure who they could have gotten to go along with Hughes as Luger's goon squad, but there had to be a better option than Harley on anything more than an occasional basis. The piledriver on the chair and Barry's protest afterward is a perfectly good way to start the build to Havoc, but it almost seems like they're building a possible Simmons-Windham/Luger-partner tag than a World title main event, which is a error in focus. Windham needs to take a back seat until at least after Havoc. I don't know quite what to make of Missy; I thought she and Simmons were pals of a sort because they were both living in Tallahassee at the time, but I guess Lex was just too much of a hunk for her to pass up. You'd think the fact that her issue with Heyman is still not settled would keep her a face, but I don't think Dusty knows how to book women as anything but Jezebels. The pull-apart would have worked better if the faces weren't practically hanging on Ron's back before he ever crashed through Luger's door; in fact, I'd have liked to see him be so determined to get at Luger that he pounds someone like Pillman or another midcard face into a bloody heap. That would have just confused the whole face/heel dynamic even further, though, and if I remember right, Luger still got his fair share of cheers when he came down the aisle for the press conference later that night. Heel Luger versus face Simmons is fresh; face Luger versus what would still be essentially one-half of Doom without Teddy and Reed wouldn't even be a good Clash main event, let alone one for Havoc.
  6. garretta
    This is how the Black Scorpion should have been done if it had to be done at all. Foley's really doing some good stuff here, and Sting's allowed to be concerned without looking stupid. The blonde was a nice touch, and I notice that although we see Sting's hand moving, we don't actually see it hit her rear. I liked Heyman's lines about Sting being butchered by Abduallah and receiving a Cactus Jack-in-the-box. No, it's not classic comedy, but it's still mighty clever for a heel commentator/wrestling manager. Nice of Sting to play along a bit as well, although with a little thought he could have done better than "Butcher block".
  7. garretta
    Does Dusty really know how to book a purely athletic feud? After seeing this, I doubt it very much. Not only was the stuff with the Boys' Club and driving the bus to the Omni ham-handed, but now we have the sickeningly familiar "World champion as racist" bit. Flair couldn't pull it off against JYD, and Luger does even worse here. He actually sounded more sincere to me cataloguing Simmons' accomplishments than insulting him, which is the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen. I'm really not buying Luger at all since the Bash, as I've said quite a few times. Larry Pfohl may have been the biggest prick ever to put on a pair of tights according to some, but Lex Luger works best as a face, at least in my opinion. And even if he can do good heel work (which I'm not convinced of), he can't do it in this particular persona. I don't buy him as a Flair clone, which is what they seem to be going for with the phony arrogance and the fancy suits, and his entourage adds nothing. Race is superfluous, and Hughes is totally useless. Since when does a musclehead like Luger who can supposedly snap people in half need a bodyguard? Dusty really screwed up here because he was chained to the old territorial way of doing things, where the visiting heel champ existed to make the local heroes look good. In this new age, it's the babyface turning back the evil challengers that makes the money. If Luger didn't fit the role, they should have given the belt back to Sting, and regardless it should be heel Windham getting one last shot at Havoc. Simmons may be deserving of a World title push later on, but not here and now, and not against this champion playing this role.
  8. garretta
    This was good for what it was. but at times it felt like it really didn't get out of first gear. There was quite a bit of good basic stuff, but they could have done better in an environment that was a bit looser. It's tough to explain, but one example is when Benoit came over the top rope to catch Finlay with a sunset flip. That's a beautiful athletic spot, and in the States it would have earned a near fall that would have gotten the crowd on its feet. Instead, the referee kept tapping Benoit on the shoulder to get him to stand up, I assume because he'd come in over the top. When a high flyer like Benoit is unable to execute a simple spot like that, it really limits what he can do. Hence, a European veteran like Finlay looked a lot better because he could do most of his spots effectively. I didn't like the clipping either, and I don't think it was all due to rounds. The guy taping this wanted to make it an all-action match with no rest time, but I'd rather sit through a short chinlock than take a chance on missing how someone fights out of it. I believe they were going on the round system; I thought I heard at least one buzzer. There wasn't as much of the ring/PA announcer giving commands and warnings in English, which is one of the things that makes European matches unique. I'm assuming that some of it was clipped, and maybe Finlay understood more German than the average North American, which would mean that translations weren't necessary as often. This is good viewing if you're a Benoit or Finlay fan, or if you want to know what wrestling was like in 1991 Austria.
  9. garretta
    I'm not sure if this is the worst match on the entire '91 Yearbook so far, but it's pretty close. The only thing saving me from really going to town on it is that Terry was recovering from a legit injury and probably couldn't go at more than half-speed. He did what he could with his mouth to keep this from being a complete bore, and the crazy man stuff is always fun to watch, but it isn't enough to be the meat and potatoes of a whole bout like it has to be here. A match like this would have been crapped on at MSG in 1980 or at any other time you care to name, and Terry would have been a one-and-done if this had been all he had to offer. Backlund and his ring rust made this even worse. The only thing remotely interesting on his side of the ledger is that Cruise and his partner did a great job explaining and putting over his bitterness toward the WWF, which would explain his heel turn three years later. Talking about how he could beat guys like Hogan, Piper and Sid after just one match in two years might seem like a little much, but they had to say something positive about him; the only move I really remember him executing is the winning rollup. Thank heaven Cruise had a lot to talk about, or this match would have been unbearable. I wonder if he and Odorizzi began mentioning the heat late in the bout in an effort to excuse the seeming lethargy on behalf of Backlund and Funk. I'm not sure I believe the story about the referee being assigned this match out of the blue just for showing up, but it sure sounded interesting. Maybe a rematch when Funk's healthier and Backlund's shaken off the rust might interest me. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we're going to get one. Maybe the tag that came before this match with Lawler and Corny will be a bit better; it sure can't be much worse.
  10. garretta
    At least they put Kobashi over as a tough guy before he was pinned this time, which is more than the Misawa side usually gets in the booking. But as I've said before, putting them over as tough isn't enough; eventually, they have to overcome the cheating and bullying and start beating Jumbo and his gang cleanly and consistently for this feud to have any purpose beyond simply having good matches. Good matches for their own sake aren't a bad thing, but it's storytelling that helps to make wrestling what it is, and right now the story being told is that even the best young talent in All-Japan may make matches close for a while, but will always go down before Jumbo and his crew in the end. Right now, New Japan is far and away the more exciting of Japan's two major promotions.
  11. garretta
    There were numerous video problems throughout the match, and my browser stopped working at least once, but I got through it. It was barely worth the trouble, as John had it pegged beautifully. Choshu got the first half, Hash the second, and each guy did nothing while the other was on offense. We had a weird sequence where a towel was clearly thrown in on Choshu's behalf; either that was the planned finish and the ref screwed up and allowed the match to continue or it was an accident which was no-sold by one and all. I don't know which, and frankly I don't care much. If you're a completist who has to watch every match of the Climax tournament and can put up with the video issues for ten minutes, go ahead and take a look. If you're not, you're not missing much by passing on this one.
  12. garretta
    To Kevin's point above, Curt's back was probably bothering him so badly that he didn't want to spend any more time in the hold than he absolutely had to. If you notice, at certain points in the match he could barely even stand up. The fact that he even let Bret win with the Sharpshooter instead of demanding a rollup pin or other finish that wouldn't involve his back is a tribute to his sense of professionalism and showmanship. Those few seconds were more than most guys would have given Bret if their backs were bad, believe me. Knowing that Curt went into this match with an injury, I spent most of the match framing it in that context, and even if the match itself isn't quite the classic you'd expect if these two were fully healthy, it's a hell of a lot better than could have been hoped for. Curt had every right under the circumstances to do as little as possible; instead, he risked paralysis with some of the bumps he took, particularly the hiptoss on the concrete. He didn't noticeably cut back on his offense either, and set Bret up for quite a few hellacious bumps of his own that I'm surprised didn't result in legit injury, especially the whips to the buckle. Curt was limping so badly that Gino had to acknowledge his bad back on commentary a couple of times, though it really wasn't part of the storyline. They might have had a more technically pleasing bout if both men had been a hundred percent, but Curt was able to portray the desperate champion beautifully, and Bret's own desperation to win the IC title in front of Stu and Helen made this one epic, or at least close to it. The problem, as usual of late, was with the commentary. There was way too much back and forth between Piper and Heenan that was out of place in this particular match. They were a little better once they settled in to their respective partisan roles (Piper for Bret, Heenan for Perfect) and Heenan in particular buckled down to business eventually, but it took way too long to get there. Gino was no help at all, resorting to some of his and Bobby's old Challenge and Prime Time schtick (particularly the "I'll have you thrown outta here" routine) just as the match was starting to heat up. He's noticeably declined since he returned from having his toes amputated at this time last year, and I'm sure that Vince would have had him replaced if he could have found someone to replace him with other than Vince himself. There simply wasn't anyone better who would have come to the WWF at this time, and the only other possible internal option (Sean Mooney) was simply not of pay-per-view caliber as a play-by-play man. The bloom's really off of Piper's rose too; if I'm not mistaken, this is his last-pay-per-view in the booth, and I won't miss him and his insightless screaming one bit. Last year, he was one of SummerSlam's bright spots; this year, he dragged some of its best moments and matches down. I actually liked the Perfectplex kickout; I agree that it could have been done a little later on, but having a "normal" wrestler do it as opposed to Hogan or Warrior was a great way to symbolize the changing of the guard. Anyone notice that Curt called himself the greatest IC champion of all time in the pre-match promo? Yes, it fits the character, but there seems to be a lot of that going around this month between Honky, Rude, and Curt. I think Bret coming over for a hug from Stu and Helen took up the time His Lordship was going to use to interview Stu, which led to what there was of the interview being cut short. The hug was a better moment anyway, in my opinion. I think someone else reached out to hug Bret just as he moved out of camera range. Was that Julie, or perhaps Diana? Pete said it first, so I'll just echo him: Tolos was absolulely useless, although he did get creamed by Bret. They could have used anyone for that, though. I have to wonder: Was it Tolos himself that was the problem, or did Vince realize too late that the Coach gimmick had no legs? We'll find out soon enough, as I think the Beverly Brothers debut not too long from now with Tolos in their corner. Is there any reason why Bret ripped Curt's singlet off and kept it for himself? That was an odd thing for him to do after he'd already made the man submit and taken his title. I'm looking forward to seeing how Bret gets from here to the World title in a little over a year. It seems like a steep climb from this point, and I'm sure that if you'd told your wrestling-watching buddies that Bret would be a singles World champion in just fourteen months they'd have said you were out of your ever-lovin' mind.
  13. garretta
    If anyone has video of this, could they please post it here?
  14. garretta
    This was pretty decent simply because we see a side of Kamala that we almost never see in the States. Yes, he's still a man from the jungle, but he's not a completely brainless savage. He's a wrestler who happens to come from Africa and acts like it. Of course, he still does his signature big-man spots, particularly his splashes, which look better than those of a lot of other big men. I'd have loved to see him come off the top, but no such luck. The other five guys did their usual stuff, which was mostly good to very good. I'm glad I saw this, because now I can tell my friends that for one glorious night, even Kamala was a luchador!
  15. garretta
    It's amazing that Larry could give such strong, serious interviews. Not that I didn't get a kick out of the Larryland routine, but there's another level he's gone up to since he's been in WCW. That goes for in the ring and in the booth as well. It's almost like he was born to pair up with someone like Arn, and I look forward to hearing more from him in the future. Arn's his usual tremendous self as well. On the whole, I'm shocked that a team that's looked good thus far was only together for two more months; they look like they could have been- should have been- champions for at least six months to a year.
  16. garretta
    Pretty much a by-the-numbers promo from Teddy. He whines about the officiating, as expected, and delivers a lot of money-based analogies that anyone in the audience could have written for him by now. Sherri says diddly squat, and is probably wishing she was somewhere where she could actually contribute to the goings-on. Our humble host does his usual pot-stirring, which again shows why he should only have either faces or people who can't hurt him as guests. After his crack about Teddy's money heading south with Virgil, the next logical thing for Teddy to do would be to at least threaten to smear his face all over the set, but since Beefcake's injury was legit and everyone knew it, he couldn't. It could be worse, I guess; we could be getting Rogers' Corner reruns. Maybe I'm just getting bored with the Million Dollar Man as a character; after being a legit threat to the World title most of the time since the start of his run, he's now midcard with no hope of resurrection, at least in singles. Maybe now would have been a good time for him to try WCW; he could still go, and I think a Sting/Teddy series for the US belt had some possibilities.
  17. garretta
    Actual tax advice from Rotundo. What a concept! I could have done without the cheap shots at the people viewing the tapes; did Vince actually think that a guy in suspenders, a tie, and a dorky pair of glasses could scare people into not recording copies of them if they'd already bypassed the FBI warning? Mike continues to play IRS well, but we still have yet to see him step into the ring, at least on these discs, which shows you how eminently forgettable the rest of the character has been so far. There's nothing he's done that Teddy couldn't have done with a few minor tweaks to his promos. I can just imagine him giving tax advice to everyone else while all of his own money's tied up in offshore accounts and tax shelters!
  18. garretta
    Hogan does a better job here of putting over Flair than anyone else in the WWF has to date. You can tell that he really respects Flair, at least at this point in his career, and he probably was asked by a lot of Hulkamaniacs how he would stack up with Flair, especially since he made his home in a place (Tampa) where Flair's name and reputation still carried a lot of weight. What I'd like to know is why Vince was too scared to follow Hogan's lead and really promote Flair as an equal to Hogan. Hogan himself didn't seem to have a problem with it, at least not at this point; this promo wouldn't have been quite as effective if he had. Of course, if Vince already knew that the big money was going to be made with Hogan facing first Taker, then Sid, we can see why he felt free to have guys like Gino treat Flair like dried snot. I just hope what we see between these two is good as far as it goes. I don't think Hot Ticket showed full matches, but it was interesting that we saw Sheik as Sheik in the small clip of Hogan's original title win, especially in light of how Vince went out of his way to promote Sheik and Col. Mustafa (who was still on the roster) as two entirely different people. I guess he figured that the newer fans wouldn't connect the two through such a short clip, and the older fans already knew they were the same guy anyway.
  19. garretta
    The announcement of Flair's first WWF appearance, to come on Prime Time the following Monday. Gino deflates Bobby's bragging by promising to show the footage where Piper spit on the belt, which predictably makes Heenan furious. After all this hype, I want to see if Flair's natural presence and charisma can overcome the burial they've tried on him in his absence. My memory says that he was never really allowed to; we'll see if I'm right soon enough.
  20. garretta
    Wonderful stuff here. Seeing Doak Campbell Stadium go wild for the retirement of Number 50 was chill-inducing, and Bowden cuts a better promo here than anyone else has done in this whole feud. It almost makes you wish that it wasn't college football season so he could be in Simmons' corner at Havoc to counter Race and Hughes. I wonder if he would have done it had it been possible. I'm not sure the WWF would have done this better; given Vince's hatred of the South and Southerners, he'd have probably given Simmons the Skinner gimmick instead.
  21. garretta
    Not a whole lot to this. Simmons could have simply gone back to find Luger instead of making Harley and Hughes come out first; then again, if he'd done that we would have missed the absurdity of having a seven-time World champion dismissed as a punk. Seriously, is there a more overused word in wrestling interviews than "punk"? The only other word that's used as often and makes just as little sense is "brother". Clever closing line from Heyman about Luger being a "total package of reality". It's nice to see that a heel interviewer can still do their thing in this sport without cheesy sets or annoying falsettos.
  22. garretta
    This was great stuff, especially the brawl at the end, which is about as hardcore as you can get in 1991 WCW. But couldn't it at least have waited until the following Saturday night? I get that they wanted to portray Sting as being just as tough as Cactus Jack, but the man took a flying elbow from the second rope on the concrete just a segment or two ago; he's allowed to be hurt for three lousy days. Still, at least they're being consistent, as Mick doesn't bother to sell getting hiptossed off the entrance ramp for more than five seconds either. I can't wait to see what their actual matches in the ring will be like! To Soup's point, the announcers did a good job of making Cactus Jack seem like a breed apart from your average heel; there's something about the way the man feels pain (or doesn't, as the case may be) that simply isn't human. That may be a kick in the head for your World champion and supposed top heel Luger, but Luger's not really being portrayed as a flat-out heel anyway; he's more like a paranoid World champion who'll do anything to keep his belt, which isn't always the same thing.
  23. garretta
    I think the whole point of this match was to show the box Foley ended up coming out of, so it's irrelevant how good it was. From what I saw, Mero looked serviceable enough considering the gimmick he was saddled with, but he certainly didn't look like anyone who should have been giving a former World champion like Sting a hard time. I'm wondering if there were timing issues with the box, because the distraction spot with Mero and Teddy took entirely too long. The small package looked like it should have come off the distraction, or maybe Sting was supposed to win with a rollup. Also, JR says that Mero was checking on Teddy while Mick was attacking Sting. The problem was, we never saw Teddy get hurt. Could the Stinger Splash that Sting missed have been meant to hit Teddy and knock him out? Brody's right, this match was a debacle. Thank heaven Mick saved it. On another note, I saw the clip of Abby coming out of the box that Loss linked to in his post. One of the great circumlocutions of all time takes place, as Tony's all set to put over Abby's reputation as one of the most maniacal heels in wrestling history, then has to stop himself and say "in WCW" instead. Of course, almost everyone watching knew that Abby had never been in WCW, at least while it was known by that name. His last appearance in JCP had been six years earlier, when he'd been Tully Blanchard's secret weapon in his never ending feud with Dusty. And so revisionist history matches on apace.
  24. garretta
    I didn't notice the crowd at all one way or the other, which I suppose proves Soup's point. Kazmaier's not a total dud on the mic, and his feat looks good even if it's gimmicked, but the fans simply didn't want anyone else teaming with Rick but Scotty. Why Dusty didn't take the hint and push Rick as a single while Scotty was hurt I have no idea, but if he wanted to keep Rick as a tag wrestler, he needed to find him an actual wrestler as a partner. Maybe a returning Brian Pillman could have fit the bill, or maybe Dusty could have convinced Steamboat to come back a couple of months earlier. At any rate, a former weightlifter whom no one's ever seen in a ring before let alone actually wrestling shouldn't be pushed as a tag team title contender, period. The only good thing out of this is the promos we'll be getting from Arn and Larry Z, who should have a field day with the idea of a former weightlifter with no experience daring to think that he could hang with them. So this is Uncle Eric's WCW debut, is it? From humble beginnings do major disasters grow!
  25. garretta
    I notice how precise they're being language-wise in calling Hogan the WWF champion. They aren't getting into a debate over whose claim to a world title is more legit, which is what you need to really make an angle like this hot. As it is, the NWA belt remains less prestigious than the Million Dollar Belt. Not only that, but Gino once again references Heenan's fingers turning green from holding it. No wonder WCW sued; not only did Flair take the belt with him, but now he's actively taking part in a storyline which implies that it's a cheap piece of crap, physically as well as symbolically. Even given how forgiving wrestling promotions generally are of those who can make them big money, I'm surprised they welcomed Flair back with open arms at CNN Center after seeing stuff like this. I'm fairly sure Vince wouldn't have, at least not without humiliating him first. It'll be interesting to see how Flair's able to make anything good out of this once he actually debuts. Quite frankly, I'm not at all sure that he can.
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