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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    I guess I'm the outlier, then. The third fall was good, but the first two sort of dragged. I kept waiting for the action to pick up, and it didn't until the third fall. I liked the boxing match within that fall, though, and the high flying looked really good. Maybe if they'd thrown a bit of that stuff in the first two falls I'd have enjoyed this more. It wasn't a bad match, but I could do without ever seeing it again.
  2. garretta
    I wasn't really a fan of this one. I appreciate that Japanese juniors matches have their matwork segment, but after about five to seven minutes it's time for the highspots, and they never really came here. Liger had a few dives, and the top-rope suplexes were well done by both men, but it felt like I was watching the first fall of what should have been a more exciting bout. What Nogami did wasn't bad by any means, but it felt like he should have done more, and as Pete said, it may have been that he simply didn't have that type of skill. Good on New Japan for the title changes in an effort to keep interest in the juniors, but they really needed someone as dynamic as Liger in their own way to take the belt off of him and hold it for a while, and it's clear that Nogami wasn't it. Neither was Honaga, although he was grand in his own special way. It'll be interesting to see whom they choose next and how Liger will match up with them.
  3. garretta
    This one lived up to its billing; it was a tremendous back-and-forth bout. Every time I thought one of them had the advantage and would ride it to victory, there would be a momentum swing and the other guy would take over. Neither man could really execute his game plan to perfection since the other was so tough: Hash tried to kick Chono into the middle of next leap year, but Chono kept getting up, and Chono tried to make Hash submit to both the STF and a slew of other holds, but Hash not only held on against all odds, but had Chono on the verge of quitting several times himself. The draw finish didn't disappoint me at all, and I'm glad we'll be seeing these two face off again from time to time as we wend our way through the nineties. After a hot start like this, it will be interesting to see how their rivalry progresses over the years. On to Muto and Chono in the tournament final. It should be a real treat!
  4. garretta
    I rate matches on the whole package, not just the work in the ring. Keep that in mind when I say that I didn't like this match at all, and it was mostly due to JR. They need to break him and Heyman up right now, because he doesn't want to work with Paul either in the performance sense or the partner sense, and it's ruining some perfectly good stuff in the ring. Every time Paul opened his mouth, not only did JR contradict him (which is expected to an extent) but he insulted him and made him look ridiculous in the most unwatchable way possible, flat-out calling him an idiot at least once. Paul was trying to do standard heel color schtick (I thought him branding Dusty a horse thief was funny, true or not) but not only was JR not having any of it, but he wasn't really calling the match beyond what the viewers could see for themselves either. At his best, he can really take you inside the ring and tell you why the guys are wrestling the way they are and what it might lead to, throwing in perspective from wrestling history or other sports to illustrate whatever point he's trying to make. A match worked like this one would have been perfect for that style, but he was so busy being a prick to Paul that we never came close to hearing it. It was Paul who provided what little analysis there was, questioning Dusty's presence in the pre-match promo and foreshadowing Jeannie's involvement by talking about what a useful distraction she is for Austin. The sad part is, it's most likely going to get worse when we hit '92, if everything we heard about how JR sandbagged Jesse is correct. His stock's really starting to slide badly in my eyes, and I find myself wishing that Turner had found a way to hold on to Bob Caudle, who of course was instrumental in getting Smoky Mountain out of the gate. As for the finish, Jeannie being in the ring should have been an automatic DQ without her having to touch Dustin, but rules are seldom enforced that strictly by now. Her prematch performance is close to that of the USWA Jeannie that we all remember so well; the only thing missing was her slapping Dustin's face, but you can't have everything, I guess. Hopefully she stays at this level for the rest of her Atlanta run. Nice to see Dusty doing his thing on the mic again. I agree with Pete that Dustin needs to stop imitating him, mostly because he can't do it at all well. There's only one American Dream, for better or worse. The flip flop and fly needs to go away, too. The good news is that Dustin has his own finisher at least, and he looks quite good using it. (If Dusty ever used the bulldog to win a match, I've never seen it.) I'm looking forward to seeing what these two can do in a different setting, one with JR either not in the building at all or at least in a much better mood. This feud shapes up as a true battle of up-and-coming superstars, and needs announcing that's worthy of it.
  5. garretta
    I would call this a David and Goliath-style classic, but Mutoh never lets himself be the underdog here; it's more of a match of equals where one of the equals has a hundred and fifty pounds on the other. Amazingly, Vader loses by fluke in two out of three matches in the tournament, but looks as strong as ever, with both Fujinami and Mutoh receiving brutal beatings for their trouble. I hadn't really seen enough of him before this yearbook to weigh in on whether he was one of the great superheavyweights of all time, but now that I have, he definitely belongs in the top two or three (Prime Andre might not have done as much athletically, but his aura and reputation were so fearsome that it's hard to rank anyone over him.) I'm not sure about this bout being one of the top five Japanese heavyweight bouts ever, but right now it's a frontrunner for Japanese singles bout of the year. Did Mutoh ever wrestle Vader in the Muta paint? I'd love to see if the difference in gimmick, slight as it might be, led to a different type of match between these two. Love the throwing of the seat cushions during Mutoh's postmatch celebration. Anyone who believes that Japanese fans can't get excited over matches needs to take a look at this bout and consider themselves educated differently. I'm really looking forward to the Mutoh/Chono final. How many more classics can one tournament produce?
  6. garretta
    I decided to watch this match before the first one because I wasn't in the mood to see a thirty-plus minute epic. So I watched a nineteen-minute epic instead. Shinya uses his feet to knock Chono loopy, and all Chono can do in response is work on his legs. It doesn't seem to be enough..........until Chono takes out the bad wheel and uses it to help trap Shinya in the STF. Much like the Fujinami-Muto finish, having to apply the STF three times gets Chono over as not only tough as nails, but persistent and undaunted in his goals. Shinya looks good too, because he does everything he can to finish Chono, in fact, knocks him cold at least twice. There's nothing more he could have possibly done that didn't involve a felonious weapon. The crowd goes crazy at the end chanting Chono's name, and thus the Climax final is set. I'm looking forward to watching the earlier draw soon; if it's as good as advertised and as good as this match is, it ought to be a real treat.
  7. garretta
    Thanks to Soup for confirming who won; the cameras missed the winning fall. There wasn't much fancy about this; El-P said it best when he called it "six surly old guys beating the shit out of each other". This was a nice change of pace for Haku, and it proved that he had more left in the tank than Vince thought. I liked the hatred between the two teams, and the near-riot at the end proved that the issues between former partners Tenryu and Yatsu were a long way from being settled. I didn't have much of a clue who Nakano and Ishikawa were when the bout started, but they both kept up their end of the match very well. For those of you SWS experts out there: Is there anyone on the roster whom you feel could have had a decent run in the WWF if Vince had made the call? I mention the WWF specifically because that was the promotion that worked with SWS at this time.
  8. garretta
    I liked this one on the level of "plucky young veteran takes all former world champion can dish out and gets a huge comeback win". Fujinami's pretty much a means to an end here; anyone with a good reputation could have filled his role, albeit not as well. This was all about Muto overcoming the odds regardless of who his opponent was, and it served that purpose very well. The first thirty seconds or so really didn't fit that particular story, but it was a good way to energize the crowd and get them into the bout. I can't wait to see what Muto does against Vader!
  9. garretta
    This is about as hardcore as I've ever seen when it comes to women's matches; the blade job by Saito is particularly ghastly. The problem is, that's about the only thing that stands out here. The in-ring work was middling at best, although unlike most of you I think Medusa handled herself as best she could. I can tell that JWP's going to be an acquired taste for me; the matches are still night and day compared to the feeble American attempts at a women's division around this time, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're good. I'll have to see more before I can make up my mind.
  10. garretta
    I'm here, DR. I took some time off to refresh my brain and tend to some other things that I'd neglected for too long. As for this bout, it was weird, to say the least. There was a fair bit of action, but very little tag team continuity. What there was of it, the Mexicans had, as I don't think the Headhunters tagged more than once in the whole match. But the moonsault got the win for them anyway, as sloppy as it looked. That finish was a bit of a surprise to me, as I was sure that the guy would miss, which would lead to a hot tag by the Mexican team. I've heard the name Headhunters before, of course, but where has this particular incarnation worked? I thought I remembered a team called the New Guinea Headhunters in Continental during the mid-to-late eighties. Are these the same guys?
  11. garretta
    A match that wouldn't have been out of place on Superstars. Tenryu and Hara didn't look like they wanted to be there at all, and the LOD did just enough to win. I liked the press slam spot (where Animal throws Hawk onto Tenryu, only for Tenryu to end up getting a two-count), but they never followed up on it, going straight to the Doomsday Device and the LOD win as if Hawk and Animal suddenly remembered that their limo was double-parked outside the arena and in danger of being towed. It leads me to wonder if they needed to end the match quickly for some reason. Hara didn't look too good at all in the moments following the bout; he was holding his neck, and I don't recall the LOD targeting it with any moves or blows that he should have been selling. I agree with Loss that it was good to hear "Iron Man". I wonder why SWS wasn't given a copy of the LOD's WWF theme by their partners in Stamford?
  12. garretta
    This is similar to Choshu/Chono in that the loser keeps his tough guy rep even while losing. Vader lays a major beating on Fujinami, but doesn't know when to stop, which leaves him wide open for the backslide out of nowhere. I'm surprised someone with Fujinami's credentials would go to the lengths he did to make Vader look unbeatable; the post shot he took where Vader got a running start from the entranceway might have been the most brutal of its kind that I've ever seen. I liked the handshake at the end too, mostly because you wouldn't expect a maniac like Vader to care that much about sportsmanship. He didn't make a big deal out of doing it or anything, but it was still a pleasant surprise. What was the stuff they were spraying Fujinami with afterward? Was it plain water, or perhaps ethyl chloride? I'm looking forward to seeing how much this match took out of Fujinami, as we have what should be quite a bout with him and Mutoh coming up soon.
  13. garretta
    I'm not sure what I meant either, now that I think about it. I guess I was just trying to reference the dirtsheets, who seem to fall all over Japanese tournaments regardless of the promotion and workers involved. I guess that's because they generally last longer and give the fans more potentially good matchups.
  14. garretta
    If it wasn't for the fact that Chono beat Choshu by submission, there wouldn't be anything that made it stand out at all. I didn't see much energy until they started building for the finish. I liked having Chono earn the submission win by making him apply the STF three times; it got him over as plucky and determined while also preserving Choshu's tough guy rep, which is a pretty daunting combination to pull off. Hopefully there were more exciting bouts from the tournament than this, what with the reputation tournaments like this one have among knowledgeable fans everywhere (best meeting best, which rarely, if ever, happened in North America at this time due to the ongoing promotional wars).
  15. garretta
    Now for the cage match. This one completes the trifecta of disappointment. I wasn't a fan of Mick and Eddie leaving the cage just because, and the fact that for the third bout in a row we missed a part of the action because the crowd was so close was another downer. Worse, we get a finish I'll never understand in a thousand years. If you have to have a double DQ in a cage match, it probably shouldn't have been a cage match. Doug's run-in is the final straw, as he and Eddie give Mick a patented Memphis Endless Beatdown straight out of the Eric Embry playbook, with numerous babyfaces being easily dispatched to the point of boredom for all in attendance. Luckily, Bam Bam (whom I didn't recognize at all) makes the save. With a double DQ and a run-in, this match had to be one of the most pointless ones booked in 1991. Why even put the cage up if you're going to book the match as if it wasn't there? Then again, none of these three matches are much in my book. Professional camera work probably would have helped a little, but these are just too reliant on brawling into the crowd for my taste. Kudos to the inside ref for his spectacular bump off of Eddie's lariat. Eddie's shot directly to Mick's crotch while Mick was "tree-of-woed" by the top of the cage was similarly brutal.
  16. garretta
    So you're faulting Vince for telling someone he wanted the world to see as the greatest wrestler ever to not allow himself to be pinned by a guy that he looks like he should be able to crush with one hand? Look, I know Hogan disgusts people now more than ever, and I can't blame them for that. But almost from day one, he's gotten nothing but disrespect from the vast majority of the so-called "smart" fans. He didn't demand to be made unstoppable by Vince back in 1984, Vince chose to make him that way out of his (Vince's) own free will, and made a lot of money as a result. Should Hogan have said, "No, Vince, making me the world's biggest wrestling star will only hurt the little guys down South. I better stick with Verne"? It's because he was unbeatable and invincible in the eyes of the public, and because Vince chose to make him that way, that he had any worth at all. Supermen don't lose to hooked legs or double chinlocks, period. If they do, they're not supermen, just clumsy, unathletic guitar players. In short, if I was Vince I'd do exactly what he did: chew up and spit out a hundred Curt Hennigs in order to feed the reputation of one Hulk Hogan. (If it doesn't seem that I answered Jingus' argument, maybe it's because the whole thing sounded like a long-winded way of asking me if I knew that wrestling was predetermined. If anyone else can tell me what they think he meant, let me know and I'll try again.)
  17. garretta
    Nasties: Not particularly inspired. The typical references to Nastyville, etc. The main takeaway from this segment for me was how far Jimmy Hart has slid even from his early WWF days. I get that he's supposed to be an annoying little worm, but he's not supposed to an unwatchable, annoying little worm. Maybe I'd buy into him being beside himself a little more if he didn't always act like he was beside himself. I think Sean's facial expression said it all; he was repulsed by this little twerp screaming unintelligibly in his face, and a lot of the viewers undoubtedly felt his pain. LOD: Very good for the short amount of time they had. I liked Hawk comparing the Disasters to tartar on his and Animal's teeth, and I applaud the WWF for not showing (or probably even staging) the attack on Andre by the Disasters. Hearing about it from Hawk was enough to get the point across and set up the upcoming feud. By now, Andre had simply been beaten up enough. Hawk is one example of how guys can still be great promos without being heavily scripted and constrained by the WWF's "house style", so to speak, and I wish more guys had been allowed to be themselves on the mic at all times. Sarge: He tries his best, but the outcome's simply too much of a foregone conclusion, and his act was played out long ago. I liked him referencing Jake's attack on Warrior, but when did Hogan get a gash on his head? I'm guessing that was a reference to the match on the SummerSlam Spectacular, and if it was, kudos to Vince for trying to keep continuity. Unfortunately, they forgot to have Hogan sell the cut as anything more dangerous than a hangnail, so Sarge looks like an idiot talking about Hogan losing six gallons of blood. Thank God this is the last I'll see of this whole mess; I was ready for it to end about a week after Sarge's return. Sid: They're still trying to push him as a tweener, and they're actually making a bit of headway with it. The idea of Sid joining Sarge, Sheik, and Adnan might have actually been worth something back around the beginning of the year had he been available, but now it seems laughable, since it should be obvious to everyone that the Triangle of Terror's shelf life can be measured in minutes. "Justice will be served" is one of the most annoying catchphrases I've ever heard, mostly since it seems so unnatural for Sid to be saying it. I like "Sid Vicious/Justice/Psycho Sid rules the world!" much better. Jail: Good for some low comedy, I suppose, but it was more annoying than it should have been. I didn't expect Jacques to go quietly, certainly, but heels losing cleanly to activate a stip, then trying to get out of the stip or claiming that it shouldn't be enforced annoys me. I'm not sure what I would have had Jacques do instead, since I'm not on the intellectual level of Vince's booking/writing staff (thank God for that), but there's something to be said for heels at least appearing to honor stips, even if they're reluctant about it. (See Jimmy Garvin and Sunshine at David Von Erich's ranch or Baby Doll at Dusty's ranch for example of what I mean.)
  18. garretta
    Now for the falls count anywhere match: I wish I could say that I liked what I saw, but I can't, because I didn't see 75% of the bout. Yes, I know that falls count anywhere matches take place outside the ring for the most part by design, but so many moves disappeared into a wall of people that Mick and Eddie could have just punched or elbowed the air for what difference it made. In fact, it might have behooved them to do just that at times; who outside of the few people closest to them would have known if they actually hit each other or not? Even the flying clothesline that led to the pin wasn't actually seen landing. For all we know, Mick could have landed on his feet and stood there ten feet from a standing Eddie while the ring announcer shouted "One, two, three!" into the mic. It's not likely, mind you, but in matches like this, who can say for sure that it didn't happen? As for the times we actually saw the wrestlers touch each other, I liked Eddie's suplexes on the floor, which would have been enough to beat most men, and Eddie also did the tray of drinks spot that has become so popular of late. My favorite sequence, however, was the wooden chair vs. metal chair standoff, which I'm sure has been done before in some form or fashion but made for a striking visual. We're just lucky that the cameraman was in position to film it. The ring announcer shouting the pinfall counts into the mic was a nice touch, since the ref probably couldn't have gotten down on the floor to count without getting himself trampled. These two have had two matches so far, and we probably haven't seen a half of a match combined. Let's hope the cage match gives us a little more to sink our collective teeth into.
  19. garretta
    Since the disc treated this as three separate matches, and since there were other matches in between the falls, I'm going to do a separate review of each bout. I decided to watch the stretcher match first since it was the shortest. I didn't like this much at all; as others have stated above, there was way too much going on that we couldn't see, plus it was really two separate bouts, with Foley dominating the first half and Eddie the second half. I would like to have seen more of a back-and-forth slugfest, even with both guys bleeding all over the place. Eddie's work on the mic after he wins saves the whole thing, as he taunts the crowd, trashes Mick, and even has a few words for the ring announcer, who looks a lot like Tod Gordon. I know the guy shooting this wasn't a pro, but couldn't we at least have had a shot of Mick leaving on the stretcher, since that was the point of the match and all? This reminds me of some of the SMW handhelds, where someone shot falls count anywhere matches and never even tried to follow the action. Inevitably, the pin would be on the other side of the arena, and the only way the viewer would know the match was over was if they heard the bell ring. It puts a crimp in the viewing experience, to say the least. Agreed about Mick being crazy for allowing Eddie to bust him open with that bottle, but would he really be Mick Foley if he didn't do something crazy in almost every bout?
  20. garretta
    A total squash for Fujiwara, as Lato looked completely confused as to what to do out there. If he hadn't been able to make a few suicide rushes, this would have been over a lot sooner. This was only the second shoot-style match I've seen end with a TKO, and easily the most lopsided one I've seen to date.
  21. garretta
    Teddy went all out in this one to give Virgil his moment. There have been better DiBiase performances in the WWF, to be sure, but he was never quite as sleazy and disgusting as he was here. Virgil really didn't do much else once he missed that dive over the top, which leads me to believe that Mike Jones may have legitimately knocked the wind out of himself. But he didn't need to; all he needed to do was turn the tables on Teddy one time, and victory was his as the crowd went crazy. An after-match embrace with Piper would have been nice, but he was plenty involved on commentary, and they had a moment before the match, so I didn't mind them not doing much after. Piper was great here, much the way Heenan would be at Rumble '92. He had a rooting interest and everyone knew it, so it was used to add to the drama of the match. I loved Teddy taunting Piper, and you could tell that Rod really wanted to do something physical, but he had the restraint to trust Virgil and let him take care of business on his own. Heenan really did a wonderful job getting over the false finish, begging Earl to disqualify Teddy so Virgil would be screwed. I'm not really sure they needed to get rid of Sherri; I would have loved to see her reaction to "Teddy Bear" losing his title. As for Gino, he wasn't bad, but what I remember most is his remark to Heenan about Bobby's hands being green, to which Bobby replied, "I've been holding (Flair's) belt." They're not even trying to make Flair any kind of threat to Hogan whatsoever. It almost makes me wonder why Flair didn't sign a deal in Japan and let things cool down with WCW for a while before going back there instead of coming to Vince. He's being devalued before he even shows up, and while I'm looking forward to seeing Flair's work, I'm not looking forward to seeing him made out to be a chump and a faker, which is what Vince seems to be going for here. There had to be a way to get him over as a true superstar on Hogan's level without mentioning the letters NWA or WCW, and it was up to Vince to find it like he did for Dusty. I'm not even sure Vince truly wanted Flair except to rub his presence in WCW's face; Jake and Taker share the top heel spot coming out of SummerSlam, and that spot should have been kept warm for an incoming Flair no matter who else had to be depushed. I caught the reference by Heenan at the end of the bout to "taxes have to be paid". Were they hinting at a Virgil/IRS feud for the title? If anyone else would have been a fit for the Million Dollar Championship, it would have been IRS. It's nice to see the MDC treated like an actual title, with pinfall./submission change rules and everything, similar to the King's Crown in 1988-89 before Savage made it his own.
  22. garretta
    This one was surprisingly stiff; Jacques really held his own in the brawling department with Bossman, which surprised me. But there was way too much waiting for Jimmy to get his stuff in, which slowed things to a crawl. Also, kicking out from the Bossman Slam didn't mean anything, as Bossman just repeated it from a different position to score the three count. That kind of leads me to wonder if Jacques was really supposed to kick out from the first one. I didn't like the commentary here; there were way too many bad jail jokes from Piper and Heenan for my tastes, and far too many allusions to Heenan possibly being a jailbird himself, which even Gino got in on. I don't suppose we should have expected better from what was supposed to be a comedy match at heart, but it just didn't sound right to me somehow. Bonus points to Heenan for at least trying to get over the horrors of being thrown in jail. The character stiff from Jacques was tremendous before, during, and after, especially the prematch promo where he tries to tell the NYPD cops just how to handle Bossman. I loved the scenes of him being thrown in the paddy wagon and dragged into the jail by what looked to be authentic New York City cops. I'm kind of surprised this was done so realistically, because I can't believe that the actual cops and an actual jail, or even a police station holding cell, were used for a stunt like this. These guys simply had to be McMahon-hired actors using a set of some sort, for public safety reasons if nothing else. What if there had been an actual emergency need for cops that night in New York and a bunch of them were busy trying to drag a wrestler off to jail just because he lost a match? The outrage would have made the national news, guaranteed. It sure seems that the Mountie character wasn't meant to go on beyond this match originally. They do everything but wrote him off the planet in the postmatch interview with Bossman, not to mention the commentary right after the bout itself. If my hypothesis is true, I wonder what changed Vince's mind. Could they have been thinking about a Canada vs. Canada feud with Bret for the IC belt already?
  23. garretta
    I thought this one plodded a bit. I've seen these two work better in the opposite roles, so maybe that's part of why I was disappointed. Then, of course, we get one of the most ridiculous DQ finishes I've seen in a while, as Taylor just walks in out of nowhere and goes toe-to-toe with Eaton as if he's always belonged there. Nice save from Gibson, but like so much from WCW, it ultimately ends up going nowhere, so it's all pointless. The shilling for the Bruise Cruise and the Hotline were perfectly acceptable, but the Omni stuff's really getting to be too much. Gigante/Gang could conceivably be the blowoff of their feud with stips like JR mentioned, yet the viewing audience at large will not only never see it, they probably won't hear about it on TV. I guess continuity just isn't important to Dusty at this point, and that really seems like a terrible strategy. The worst part is that it would all be so easy to fix: just put a camera at the Omni shows and film the stuff that you might want to use in future angles. The WWF had done it for years, and it was such a treat to see even bad matches from places like MSG and the Boston Garden. This way, they could do title changes and major angles on house shows and still tie them in to TV, which WCW can't do at the moment. It's not like JR has anything else to do except on Sundays when the Falcons play. Put him out there by himself or with Tony or Heyman and see what happens. I liked the hype for the light heavyweight division, but I'm sure it's news to the NWA that they don't exist anymore. I didn't think WCW had split completely from them quite this soon. I liked JR talking about Danny Hodge to add a bit of historical context. I don't know what to make of promoting Missy's hotline segment by teasing discussions of the wrestlers' love lives. If anyone's qualified to do it, she certainly is, but will your target audience (adolescent boys) have any interest in that content? Sure, they'll call once because it's Missy, but it's not like they can check her out while they're on the phone. For the record, Gigante beat Gang at the Omni and shaved his head, according to Graham's site.
  24. garretta
    I didn't hear a lot of the party stuff; it was just too chaotic, which I'm sure was the intent but makes the whole thing sort of tough to sit through. I didn't think we needed both a stripper and an exotic dancer, and Slick as a guest is just plain jarring; I guess he was there to give Heenan someone to talk to. You'd think they would have arranged for a Hogan appearance to give the thing a bit of star power. Think about it: you're a former WWF Champion, you're getting married on pay-per-view in two weeks, and the best you can do for bachelor party guests are Koko B. Ware and the Bushwhackers (and let's not forget Jamison)? Even Jake would have helped, but it seems he wasn't invited. Speaking of which, that was odd timing for such a serious promo, especially mentioning "Thursday night" as the time of Warrior's final test. For a second, I wondered of they were doing a special Thursday night show of some sort on USA, but that would have made three shows in six days counting SummerSlam Spectacular. Jake was great as usual, and you can't miss the foreshadowing, but maybe they'd have been better off doing it on videotape. I had a hard time figuring out whether Gino or Mooney was supposed to be the host here; I know Sean took over as host before too long, as he was there the night Heenan brought Flair in early September. I'd have thought Vince would have at least made a cameo, but as I mentioned a while back, he bailed on this format a long time ago and wouldn't be back until the roundtable era started. Piper in wrestling gear? For a bachelor party? (You can see his boots clearly in several shots.) Moment of the night other than Jake's promo: Gino lifting the stripper out of the cake. Gentleman or dirty old buzzard? He took that secret to his grave, presumably.
  25. garretta
    This change could have happened on Superstars at any time during the summer, the way it was worked. If you're going to book an "anything goes" match, Vince, at least tell Joey Marella not to give DQ counts. If it had been anyone other than his son as the ref, you know Gino would have been ripping the guy up one side and down the other for enforcing the rules in a match where there aren't supposed to be any. Maybe Vince wanted to make sure the wrestlers stayed in camera range instead of having to take people all over MSG, but if that's the case, book the match traditionally. It isn't like any of the "illegal" spots couldn't have been done in a traditional bout, including the tray of drinks (which looked a lot more impressive when the Nasties did it to the Steiners at Halloween Havoc '90). The helmet miscommunication spot was not only well-done, but the Nasties retained control coming out of it, which is something you rarely see. I wouldn't call this a squash, exactly, but I never really felt that the LOD was in danger of losing. Given the way they were hyped, I guess that's what Vince wanted. Still, I'm left to wonder exactly who teaming currently in the WWF can beat them. The Disasters haven't even teamed much, the Rockers are fellow faces, and the Beverly Brothers/Destruction Crew are a joke. I'm amazed that they didn't get at least a year's run on top before they were even in any jeopardy, let alone actually losing the titles. Gino, Piper, and Heenan really aren't an effective unit in the booth. Gino's starting to go downhill, and Piper's reached the bottom of the hill. He's nowhere near what he was at this time last year, when he threatened to take broadcasting by storm and provided some excellent analysis. Now, he's shouting slogans and giving half-baked retorts to Heenan's jabs that aren't even close to being funny. Of course, it doesn't help that all three of them are busy wondering about Sid and Jacques instead of the match in the ring. I can understand the Sid hype, but talking about busting Jacques out of jail is something you do during Valentine/Rotundo, not during what's supposed to be a hotly contested tag team title match. I liked Heenan supposedly sending back one of his people to see exactly where Sid was; that's the type of thing you'd expect a broadcast journalist to do. Of course, since Heenan's the one doing it, Gino and Rod crap all over it, but it's still a nice touch. Line of the match goes to Heenan, describing how the LOD won the belts: "They beat (the Nasties) at their own game; that's what's bad." It's not exactly a burial, but it doesn't do Knobs and Sags any favors either. Soon, the Disasters would take their place both in the rankings and in Jimmy Hart's heart.
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