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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    Since the Desert Storm match wasn't nationally televised, this was ostensibly the blowoff to the Hogan/Slaughter singles feud, and on that basis it was mediocre at best, and it only rates that highly because Hogan bladed. The worst part was the ending. Sarge had to figure that this was his last shot at the title, and yet he allowed Adnan and Sheik to interfere to the point of getting him disqualified? No three-on-two handicap match win was going to be bigger than winning the World title back, and yet Sarge showed no regard at all for trying to pin Hogan or make him submit. They probably should have put Sheik in there with Hogan if they were going to run a match like this; remember, even though he was a former World champion and everyone knew it, they didn't treat the Mustafa character as a former champion, so it would make sense that that character wouldn't care less about the belt as long as he got his licks in on Hogan. They were still trying to sell Sid as a tweener here, and they actually did a better job here than at any other time, with Sid yelling at Sarge and crew for their tactics, but also stopping Hogan from using a chair against them. If Warrior wasn't leaving, I would have liked to have seen them continue using Sid this way, since he's too big and crazy to be an effective full babyface. Heenan continues to impress me as an analyst. He was the only one to try to tie together the SummerSlam main event with the ongoing Jake/Warrior saga, thus forcing Vince to acknowledge that both stories do indeed involve the same man. He'd been trying to avoid this for weeks, mostly because he probably already knew that Warrior was gone once SummerSlam was out of the way. The speculation about Warrior being further out of control than ever and not able to trust Hogan teased a heel turn, which might have been a way to freshen up the character if he'd decided to stay. Imagine a six-way war with Jake, Warrior, and Taker on one side and Hogan, Sid and Savage on the other, with Piper and Flair lurking just on the outside. The mind reels just thinking of all the possible main event bouts they could have had with a setup such as that, even though what we got in real life was excellent too. (Flair, Warrior, Taker, and Jake as a WWF version of the Horsemen? Take me back twenty-four years and sign me up!) I noticed that no one gave an explanation for Warrior's absence. Couldn't Vince have at least said that he was under a doctor's care due to the snakebite? If I'd been Vince, I would have put Hogan/Taker on TV and done some kind of finish that left an issue open between them for future use. Either that or run the MSG Desert Storm match, which they had to have a copy of somewhere. Then again, Sid wouldn't have been able to do his run-in, and the SummerSlam main event has always been as much about him as the wrestlers, so maybe Vince had the right idea after all.
  2. garretta
    Landell's aggression and attitude make this match; he's not only super cocky as always, but he puts it all together athletically as well, managing to injure both Patriot's shoulder and his leg and looking altogether dominant until he argues one too many times over a rope break with the referee and gets rolled up for the flash pin. I heard something about how Global had an odd number of wrestlers in the TV title tournament, so they had to come up with a way to stage a three-person final. I guess they could have done a triangle match if they'd thought of it, but this was the next best thing. Patriot comes off as a tough guy in both the match and the victory promo, but this was really the Budro Show; it's a pity that we'd see so few performances like this from him. Nice to hear Craig again, and I liked his Irish whip call: "From the West Coast to the East Coast!" Was that Pedicino or Hudson calling the match with Craig? They sound a good deal alike, which I'd never noticed before. Either way, both announcers did a great job selling the effects of the rest period's absence, and also put Landell over as a master schemer for both setting up the situation (through costing Walker the first match) and taking advantage of it. I'm bot sure any other announce team in North America would have sold it better, and that includes WCW's best team (JR and Tony).
  3. garretta
    Did anyone see Jackie trying to beat the crap out of Jeff? That's more than enough justification (at least in this context) for Jeff to hit her. It could have been worse; he could have put the figure-four on and tried to break her leg. Seriously, I think we need to stop being so shocked that males hit females in the USWA. Papa obviously sees nothing at all wrong with it and continues to book it even though male/female violence killed Dallas for him, so our moral outrage and disgust serves no good purpose. That's not to say that we should condone it, but it's a fact of life we need to accept in order to continue watching the USWA. Turning to the bout, I agree that they packed a lot of action into just over eight minutes, counting the beatdown at the end. It certainly felt longer than eight minutes, not rushed at all. I would have liked to have seen an arena match too, but this got its story told quite nicely. The problem is, how much longer can they sustain the Texas stuff when there's no more Dallas to run? The Texas belt in particular serves no purpose anymore and should be either junked or merged with the Southern title. The beating Embry and Prichard put on Tony's knee was pretty sick-looking for TV, and it's interesting that Jeff makes the save. I'm guessing that the Lawler/Embry stuff is done for good, probably because one of them wouldn't lay down for the other. That's a shame, because it was shaping up as an epic final showdown the likes of which Lawler hasn't had in quite a while Certainly Awesome Kong and the Dragon Master haven't fit that bill and aren't likely to. We can claim missed opportunity all we like, but unless they wanted to take a chance on Embry leaving altogether, they had no choice but to honor his wish not to lose to Lawler, which I'm betting is why the feud was ended. Without Embry (and possibly Prichard), Christopher Love would be the new top heel in Memphis, which to me is reason enough to cater to almost any of Embry's whims.
  4. garretta
    This felt more like a Superstars main event than anything else. It really wasn't a blowoff, though, and I wonder if knowing that the expected direction of the feud based on everything we've seen so far (Jake/Andre vs. Disasters) was going to be impossible to pull off made Vince pull the trigger on Jake's turn once and for all. I don't honestly think there was much left for Jake as a face at this point, save perhaps an IC title feud with Curt (which would have required Bret to stay a tag wrestler and might have led to him leaving). Phoon really isn't much as a singles wrestler, which might be another reason why he was turned. Quake was definitely the workhorse of that team, if there was such a thing. I like that they didn't have Andre run in and clean house with his crutches, which would have been ludicrous considering his condition. Besides, they would have either had to mention his fear of snakes or ignore it completely, and both of those options would have been awkward at this point in time. Lucifer isn't really that much more fearsome than Damien was, at least by his looks on TV. It doesn't really matter, though, since we'll be getting the cobra once Jake's heel turn takes effect. Not that I'd expect them to mention this, but one of the supposed selling points of the DDT when Jake was fighting guys such as Bundy and Kamala was that the DDT was more effective against bigger men because their weight would add to the impact on their neck and spine. That's for Lord Alfred, who "wondered" how Jake would be able to DDT Phoon. For the record, they were running Jake/Quake as late as 8/12 in Tucson, according to Graham's site, then Jake was off the road until after the "reboot" of his heel turn at SummerSlam.
  5. garretta
    Nice to see Prichard helping Embry again. Boogie Woogie's return was unexpected, but since Lawler's back on Freak Patrol, they need someone to help Anthony take on the Texas bunch, and he's as good as anyone. Tony's a bit too softspoken to be a credible Memphis face. I know he can't brag and scream like the sleazeball he used to be, but he needs to show some fire to get the crowd behind him. I'm not feeling Christopher Love at all. He looks like Steve McMichael and talks like a slightly more effeminate Paul Heyman, and I wouldn't have bought for a second that Eddie Marlin would hire him as a consultant for anything. They can't decide what they want the Dragon Master to be: a Taker knockoff or an Andre clone, and so far he fails at both. I'm guessing that we're supposed to believe that it's one of three people under the Dragon Master mask: Taker, Andre, or Gigante, none of whom make a lick of sense in this context and all of whom are employed elsewhere. Who the hell is "He-Man" Randy Lewis, and if he was going to be unmasked so quickly, why put the Humongous mask on him to start with? Come to think of it, I haven't heard of Bull Pain or Samantha, either. Who are they, what was the point of what we just saw, and why were Jeff and Fuller anywhere near it, even to make a save? The only thing I can think of is that another wrestler who was scheduled for an interview either didn't show up or had to leave early, thus leaving the show with time to fill.
  6. garretta
    It's great to see the Dutchman back where he belongs. I could have done without the homophobic cracks, but from what I've seen of Christopher Love, you can't not make gay jokes about him, especially if you're quick on your feet like Lawler and Dutch. I thought the Stan Hansen routine was well-played, but they really need to avoid dragging it out unless Stan's actually coming back to Memphis, which is even less likely than his returning to WCW. I liked the plug Lawler gave the karate school; he's as much a community ambassador as he is a wrestler, and he not only understands that role like few others in the business, he embraces it. The Missing in Plain Sight Award goes to Michael St. John, who's been nothing but a hood ornament lately. I'm surprised that he doesn't at least do an occasional interview, especially considering that he wasn't all that bad down in Dallas at both interviews and play-by-play (if you forgive the occasional mangling of the language beyond recognition).
  7. garretta
    I'd take guys like Muraco, Morales, and Patera over either of them, myself. If this angle had had any promise, Vince would have run it himself instead of burying Honky six feet deep after he was squashed by Warrior. Ideally, it would have been a heel/heel setup, with Bobby and Jimmy in the respective corners. As it is, this is a minor league indy trying to get publicity for itself by using another promotion's titles and history. I don't agree that babyface Rude is such a stretch, but the fact that Honky so emphatically said that he wasn't going to get in there with Rude instead of at least teasing a match leads me to believe that not even IWCCW saw money here. It's nothing more than a "Hey, look what the cat dragged in!" moment for a promotion that's done nothing of note since Tony Atlas left a year and a half before. Frankly, I'm surprised that they got people of Apter and Napolitano's reputations to be a part of it. Did Tony Rumble ever become anything of note? Not an interviewer, I hope; he seemed more interested in promoting and getting heat for himself than he did in either Honky or Rude.
  8. garretta
    The image of Dave Brown actually becoming physically involved in breaking up a shoving match is enough to make this a classic, and Dundee and Davis may be the only two guys in the territory that he could break up successfully. The feud itself seems like a rather daring piece of booking for 1991 Memphis, as there are no real heel turns involved (at least not yet), but still plenty of heat. I have yet to watch the match that started it all, but I'm looking forward to seeing it soon. These two seem like a good matchup. I had to laugh when Bill said that he'd never suckerpunched Lawler. Bill, if you keep telling fibs like that your nose is going to end up bigger than your waist. Even Dave rolled his eyes at that one, and I'll bet he had a lot of company in the audience, both at home and in the studio.
  9. garretta
    Nice schoolboy by a blinded Reggie B. Fine. Seriously, if that's all it takes to beat a man who weighs 465 pounds, no wonder Awesome Kong never went anywhere in the business. I'm not sure if I like this Christopher Love stuff. His whole gimmick is referring to everyone as "honey"? Lawler's really reaching for the bottom of the barrel here. Nice little white lie to set this up, as this guy never worked for either the AWA or World Class at all that I can remember. Further, if this is the same Dragon Master who worked for Turner (who really knows?) he sure ain't 7'3". I know Lawler can sell jumpsuits to Elvis at this point simply because he's the King, but when he still has Embry and Prichard who have yet to be satisfactorily dealt with by his royal personage, he'll excuse us peons if we wonder where he lost his marbles. I wonder how they piped Love's voice into the studio. Did he just send in a cassette, or was he possibly in an announcer's booth somewhere out of sight within the studio? If he was, it's a miracle that someone didn't spot him and blow the whistle on the whole deal.
  10. garretta
    Finally, something important happens on The Funeral Parlor that doesn't directly involve Taker; Percy must be so thrilled. I can see Loss's point, but the question is: If not now, when? When was Percy going to get actual angle advancement stuff on his segment, the kind of stuff you have segments like this for in the first place? Unless you wanted to go to Okerlund podium interviews all the way around, Percy and Beefcake needed to get into the mix some way, even if they had to lay out and let the guests do 98% of the talking. They're really going to push the announcers not getting physically involved from here on out, so get ready for plenty of schoolmaster Vince talking about contracts and "being professional". Of course, and thank God, that really doesn't apply to Bobby, who gets spit on by an enraged Piper here. So does the belt, and I'm surprised that Piper, who actually spent most of his career fighting guys for it, treated it that way without a second thought. I don't blame him for it, but it surprises me nonetheless. There's just one thing wrong with Vince's strategy here: if the NWA/WCW belt and champion are so meaningless, then why should we pay money to see Hogan fight him? He's just another bum Heenan dug up from somewhere who thinks he can take the Hulkster, nothing more, and he carries some toy belt that cool guys like Piper treat like garbage. Obviously, that's an extreme pro-WWF perspective, but even the people who know who Flair is and respect what he's done are slowly getting the idea that's he's not going to be as big a deal as he should have been, Yes, he won the Rumble for the WWF belt a few months later, but that was just so a babyface could beat him clean at Mania VIII. I wasn't watching very closely by now, but I got the distinct impression from what I saw that as far as WWF World title threats go, Flair was small-time compared to what we'd seen earlier for guys like Orndorff, DiBiase, and even Bundy. Taker seemed to be pushed as the one who could end Hulkamania for good, not the much smaller and less muscular Flair. All of that said, a Piper/Flair program sounds really interesting as an intro to Flair for the fans who may have only seen him in passing. I'm sure Flair requested to work with Rod given their long friendship, and Heenan being added to the mix (at least for now) adds some spice due to his prior history with Piper. I'm also anxious to see Vince get clocked with the chair, although I know that's a couple of months away.
  11. garretta
    This wasn't bad for what it was, but after all the years of Flair and Dusty wowing audiences on the stick with even their subpar promos, I expected more, which I already knew I wasn't going to get. Harley's closer to what I remember, but Luger's just not a World champion-level talker at a time where every promotion needs its champion to be one. There's no characterization to his spiel; the words are slightly different, but he's dead earnest no matter which side of the fence he's on because he doesn't know how else to be. There's no cockiness, no menace, no cool, no nothing. He hasn't changed; Dusty's just booking him against face opponents because he (Dusty) thinks that World champions should be heels the same way Vince thinks they should be faces. Simmons isn't going to set the world on fire with his talk either, so we're down to Harley as the main instrument of hype, and as good as he can be at times, he's just not enough. According to Graham's site, Luger beat Simmons in around seventeen minutes by piledriving him onto a chair after Fonzie had been knocked down. Windham came down to dispute the decision afterward and was tripleteamed. Apparently, no one made the save for either him or Simmons.
  12. garretta
    This might be the first truly classic Cactus Jack promo. It's a pity that it was so short, but I have a feeling we'll hear from this guy again before too long.
  13. garretta
    No one could hype these WWF pay-per-views like Vince, not even Mean Gene. From what little I've heard of the announcers and voiceover people since Mr. McMahon debuted, they miss him (early 90s Vince) very, very badly. Count me among those who would have liked to have heard a full-card rundown. Savage and Lord Alfred were cute together, and His Lordship knew how to play the good sport around the nervous groom, though he looked bizarre in the Macho Man glasses and hat. I'm wondering if one of the reasons nothing happened during the ceremony was because actual family members and friends were there; I've heard from Jake on interviews that one of the reasons his feud with Randy didn't make it to Mania VIII was because Liz's family demanded that Randy get revenge for Liz sooner, and Randy went along to try to save his real-life marriage. I would have thought the Hulettes had a better understanding of how wrestling was booked, since Liz had worked for Angelo in ICW and dated at least one wrestler (Rip Rogers, I think) before she met Randy.
  14. garretta
    I wonder if they improvised that finish knowing that Warrior was about to be canned. It certainly seemed like they wanted no part of him being anywhere near the celebration. Bobby was tremendous here: admitting that he was supposedly wrong about Sid turning on Hogan, asking if the Hogan/Sid posedown was the Match Made in Heaven, and reminding everyone that Hogan wasn't the Real World Champion. It's obvious that Flair's claim wasn't going to be given any weight whatsoever, so I don't know why people act like Gino was going against Vince's orders and crapping all over Flair when Vince wanted to put him over as something special. It's obvious to me that that was the last thing Vince wanted to do; Flair was only slightly above the average cookie-cutter blond heel in his eyes, and no doubt would have been decisively beaten and humbled by Hogan at Mania VIII (with Sid nowhere to be found) if Hogan hadn't "retired" for the first time. Piper's still selling his feud with Hogan six years after the fact, which is refreshing in one way but kind of useless in another. They were never going to meet in a WWF ring again (or so we thought), and it's just as annoying to hear Piper talk Hogan down as it was to hear Jesse do it for that exact same reason. Piper's even worse because he's supposed to be a full babyface announcer by now, not the tweener he started out as. I'm actually kind of wondering if Rod was going into business for himself a bit, but if so, to what end? I didn't care for the Jacques-in-jail stuff at all. It was way too stereotypical to even seem real. Since they weren't going to be allowed to use an actual jail to put Jacques in, they should have found another stip to use. How about a ball-and-chain match, which as far as I know had never been seen on TV before? I almost forgot: What was the point of Hogan using powder to win when he already had Sarge almost beaten? I guess it was supposed to represent desert sand or something like that, which is about the lamest use of wartime allusion in a feud that's reached new lows in that sort of thing already.
  15. garretta
    I disagree, Soup. I think they were about as sincere as 1991 WWF got. The problem was, who didn't think that they could at least beat the hell out of Adnan, if nothing else? Even if Sarge wrestled most of the match, he'd be going two-on-one against the two most powerful men in the WWF. which no one thought would end well. They would have been better served subbing Jake and Taker for Sheik and Adnan, as I suggested earlier. This would have made Sarge the weak link and thus provided justification for him being the one to take the fall. It would have also given Savage a ready-made partner for tag matches. Of course, given how much Sarge had left, Sheik and Adnan were probably better opponents for him. We're back to Mania VI-type blathering, as Hogan claims that the venom from Jake's cobra only gives Warrior more energy. Gee, if that's true, how come Warrior didn't hire Jake to bring him a snake before every match? The comparison to the night he won the title seems tame by comparison. I can't believe it took the WWF machine until the night Warrior was leaving the company to come up with Warrior Wildness. You'd think that they would have used that slogan long before this. (Come to think of it, I think they used it at Survivor Series '90. Remember the immortal trio of Hulkamania, Warrior Wildness and Arribaderci, otherwise known to us mortals as Tito Santana?)
  16. garretta
    It certainly looked after this segment that we'd get Savage/DiBiase Round 2, only with a greater chance of physical involvement from Liz, since you can tell even before this starts that Sherri/Liz is the main issue, not Randy/Teddy. The problem is, if Liz was trying to get pregnant and Randy wanted to stay home with her except to do Superstars once every three weeks, just what kind of feud would we have ended up with? Maybe it was going to be more of a one-time thing where Sherri crashes the reception without Teddy and gets the wedding cake in her face or something along those lines, I liked Bobby's wolf whistles for Sherri and Vince calling him a lech. These two are developing a lot more chemistry in the nineties than they ever had in the eighties. Nice shoutout to Moolah as well. Beefcake may be a bad host, but this was a perfect use of him. Presenting the broom to Sherri was a funny (though recycled) bit, and I liked Sherri losing her mind and taking a swing right at Beefcake's head. Thank God she didn't connect, even by accident. So far, Vince really hasn't shown much confidence in either The Barber Shop or The Funeral Parlor as go-to segments the way Piper's Pit or The Brother Love Show were in the past. Most of the real money segments continue to be handled by Mean Gene on the interview stage, which begs the question: Why give Percy and Beefcake segments in the first place if they're not going to be appointment television? It just seems like a complete waste of time and resources that could be put to better use on other things. My calls for Piper are getting a bit redundant, I know, but if Vince had really wanted a segment that moved angles and got personalities over, he was about the only one on the roster at this time who could do it.
  17. garretta
    If Hogan actually opened that door, I'm a one-legged African named Joe Chittacarchek. My guess is that it was some stagehand. The whole thing about disrespecting the belt gets to me. Why should Vince respect it, or Heenan either for that matter? It's not a WWF-sanctioned belt, it's a piece of vanity hardware belonging to Billionaire Ted Turner that Flair only brought with him as a means to say to WCW, "Up your asses, chumps!". We're just lucky he didn't have random wrestlers come by and blow their noses on it. You might as well demand respect for the Million Dollar Belt (which was actually treated better, since it was created for Teddy's WWF character).
  18. garretta
    Jake: He blames Warrior, and by extension the fans, for ever trusting him in the first place, which fits. Like I said earlier, though, this whole thing is dead in the water before it starts, forcing Vince to go to Plan B, which is Savage. Fortunately, we don't need three weeks of vignettes to see that feud start. Sid: As Pete said, anyone who doesn't know he's a face through and through simply hasn't been paying attention. I think Mean Gene was referencing the Jake/Warrior stuff when he talked about the things that Sid couldn't control outside the ring, but I can't be sure. At any rate, the pledge to call the match down the middle comes off half-hearted at best; Vince really could have done a better job making Sid a tweener if he truly wanted to go that way, which of course he didn't. I wonder if there was any thought to firing Warrior before the match and simply inserting Sid in his place. It would have made for a hell of an in-ring debut, that's for sure. Heenan: Bobby doesn't say much, but he looks and sounds better than he has in a while when he says it. Once again, you get the idea that Flair is his ace in the hole, the trump card Hogan can't even begin to counter. He wasn't this confident about Bundy, Studd, Orndorff, or even Andre. I like the idea that they're teasing Flair's non-appearance as much as his potential coming, but realistically, if he's not coming where did they get the belt from? No response from Hogan yet, but why would he take time out from his SummerSlam training to talk about a man who doesn't work for the WWF and may not come at all? It may have ended up a pile of hash, but the start to this angle is absolutely first-rate.
  19. garretta
    Knowing how this all played out in real life negates this for me, as does knowing that they had Warrior existing on two totally different, unrelated levels during this time. The Warrior who was going through all of this had nothing to do with the Warrior who was teaming with Hogan against Sarge and company at SummerSlam. Something Rock said up above clicked in my head, though: I wonder if these vignettes had been originally conceived to air after SummerSlam and were pushed up due to the contract problems Vince and Warrior were having. This would mean that the angle at Savage's wedding reception would have been planned almost literally at the last moment, which would fit with the idea that Randy was a replacement for Warrior in the feud with Jake and Taker. I wonder how the main event would have played out if Warrior was confirmed to be staying; we know Hogan had his issue with Taker coming soon, so I wonder if the original plans for the fall were something like Flair/Piper, Warrior/Jake, and Hogan/Taker, with Hogan/Flair being held in reserve for Mania VIII at the Hoosier Dome. (No matter what's been said or reported about Sid being guaranteed a Mania main event over the years, I believe that Hogan/Flair was the first plan for the Mania VIII top spot. Sid could have been bought off or simply allowed to go back to Turner if Vince had decided to go with that match, which of course he didn't. I also think Vince was quite capable of promising people things he had zero intention of delivering. What he said to get Sid to sign and what he was actually planning to do with him at first might have been two completely different things. It's more than possible that only after Hogan/Flair tanked in the fall of '91 did Vince "remember" his promise to Sid and put him against Hogan at Mania VIII in one half of the main event.)
  20. garretta
    Maybe I'm weird, but seeing Jeff hit Jackie in the stomach bothered me more than seeing Embry hit Kim in the face. You kind of expect a sleaze like Embry to hit women if he feels he has to, but I thought Jeff was too clean-cut for that sort of thing. I'm sort of surprised that they showed a clip like that, but I guess wrestling, being not real, got special dispensation from WMC. The other thing that puzzles me is that we didn't see Jackie's head being shaved, in whole or in part. Unless and until we actually see her bald, I'm going to assume that they fudged the stip somehow or other. I don't know where the Lawler/Embry issue went all of a sudden. My guess is that Embry won't put over Lawler clean, thinking that he's got some mileage left in Memphis, so they've tabled that feud for now. If this is true, it's hard to blame Embry from a business standpoint, but after all the hype and great promos and brawls we saw, it's a shame that the closest thing we have to a showdown on the Yearbook is that high school gym match that was mostly Embry vs. the referee. The really sad part is, at least Embry's got Anthony and Jeff to feud with; Lawler's stuck with freaks like Awesome Kong and nobodies like Reggie B. Fine. Couldn't they have at least tried a Lawler/Prichard program?
  21. garretta
    I thought the barbecue stuff was clever and a different way to show a Lawler interview. Promising fire standing in the studio and actually showing yourself burning something, even it it's only a few marshmallows, are two entirely different things. I agree about these two being a reason to put up your hair when a sworn enemy like Embry isn't, but it's not like they'd actually allow Lawler's head to be shaved even if he lost clean in the middle of the ring, so that's a moot point. The only intrigue there seems to be about this is if Lawler's going to wear Reggie's fur coat into the WMC studios for a little gloating the following week. I thought Awesome Kong was one of the Texas bunch. I guess they decided that that group was getting a little too big for its own good, especially since Embry's getting all the face time now.
  22. garretta
    What happened to the smaller, more intimate fan friendly setting of the Pipkin Building? It was cheaper too, as I recall. Now Lawler's dying in the heat and fans are complaining about the benches? Seems to me that you wouldn't have had a territory if it wasn't for that building, Eddie (and Papa Jarrett), so you could have at least waited a week to bury it. I agree that Memphis wrestling belongs in the MSC, though, The open contract thing really doesn't make a difference in the product; in fact, I'd be surprised if it plays much of a role in the booking from here on out. I can get behind the mixed tag idea, but who's going to eat the fall? I don't think they dare shave Kim's head, Jackie hasn't been around long enough for it to matter, and Embry's still got some miles left on him. My guess would be Anthony taking the loss, but he seems to be going bald, so shaving his head wouldn't mean much either. The way I see it, they've got to have the guts to shave either Embry or Kim's head, and I'm betting on neither. Embry cuts another killer promo here, threatening to kill Eddie if anything happens to him. Dave tries to pass it off as just more heel hot air, but that's still a shock, as most promotions strictly forbade mentioning death at that time (except in the case of gimmicks like Taker). That's one reason why the most terrible thing most wrestlers would say is something like "You're going down, brother!" I have a feeling that it'll be between Embry and Jake for 91's Heel of the Year.
  23. garretta
    I thought this may end differently, but it was nicely done. I like how they really made Stan's attempted interference seem superfluous; Cox was already in command of the match, so the only reason Corny wanted Stan to interfere was so they could claim that they did all the work and Cox was nothing. Corny really lays in the racquet shots, and I agree that Craig describing the attack in tennis terms is a bit off to say the least, though he does sell disgust at Corny and Stan's actions well, ending by expressing relief that they lost. The interview afterward was good stuff, but we all know that it didn't lead to anything major, so it's a bit anticlimactic. Other than a few indy shots, I believe that the next time we see Corny will be in SMW. I would have loved to see Corny and Flair as a unit in the WWF just to give Hogan someone new to play off of. I'll have to see how Heyman did with the DA before I comment on how Corny would have done in his place, but his prior association with Eaton would certainly have given him a leg up. I would have expected to see Lane, and possibly Tom Prichard as well. Who that would have left out in the cold I'm not sure.
  24. garretta
    We finally get some heel work out of Luger, Race, and Hughes, as they Pearl Harbor both Simmons and Windham on the same show. They needed this about a month ago, but better late than never, I suppose. Hughes throws the first shot, as any good bodyguard should, and Harley gets his share of licks in as well. I know some people may have a problem with him getting so physically involved, but I'm not one of them. I hate the idea that managers who used to wrestle should forget how to be physical and act like cowards; as far as I'm concerned, Harley can attack as many of Luger's challengers as he wants to as long as he's willing to take what he dishes out in the end. Does this mean he should be wrestling? No, he's too beat up for that, and they have Hughes to be Luger's partner in situations where one is needed. But I wouldn't mind seeing him stand up to guys like Simmons and Windham on occasion if the situation calls for it. Even though he's old, he's still Harley Race, and he shouldn't play the coward for anyone, period. As for Simmons' challenge, I'd feel better if he was making it at a Clash or other televised event. I'm not opposed to WCW promoting the Omni shows on TBS, but they shouldn't act like these shows are major events where things may happen that can affect storylines in the future unless they're going to provide footage that everyone can see on TV. I know they used to do that in the past, but I wonder if they'll do it going forward. I don't see anything like that on our matchlists for upcoming discs. so I'm going to assume they didn't until I see differently. If people like me living in Pittsburgh aren't going to see Simmons' big challenge, why should we invest our energy in it? It almost seems like they've got Barry in reserve as a challenger in case Simmons flops or proves he isn't ready. Personally, I'd have thought about using Pillman somewhere in the mix once the Yellow Dog stuff runs its course, but I can see why they'd want to use two guys closer to Luger's size. It'll be interesting to see which one is pushed harder in the end and what happens as a result.
  25. garretta
    Not much to add to the general consensus here. At least we get an "If you don't like it, too bad", which is the closest thing to a heelish statement that the so-called "new" Luger has made yet. Race has disappointed me so far; I thought he'd be doing most of the talking, but what little he does really isn't anything special, and he sounds nothing like the get-to-the-point tough guy whose interviews were always compelling if not flowery. Hughes stands there, holds the belt, and looks tough; give me Ace Orton any day. I've always suspected that this turn was a mistake, and now I'm more convinced than ever. What was wrong with giving Barry the title and letting Luger chase again if Dusty thought they needed a heel champ? Or if Luger needed the title (which he did by now if he was ever going to get it), he should have beaten Windham as a face. Let Harley be in Barry's corner if you want to use him and keep Hughes with the Yorks. The only face that's a truly compelling matchup for Luger at this point is Sting, and I understand that they don't want to burn that match too soon, but it could have been done as a babyface Clash of the Titans at some point; they didn't need to have Luger as a halfhearted heel at best. Nice to see Magnum again; I had no idea he was in an on-air role this late (though it makes sense that he is, what with Dusty being booker again).
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