garretta
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Everything posted by garretta
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The tag rules didn't bother me here; in fact, they made the match easier to follow and allowed for a dynamite FIP performance from Jeff, as Austin and Prichard beat him halfway to hell, but couldn't pin him. Fuller's performance on the apron was every bit as good; you'd have expected him to go back to the bad old days and simply storm the ring every thirty seconds, but he was great here as an emotional cheerleader. The briefcase stuff at the end gave the heels at least a small bit of comeuppance, as both of them are knocked cold with it and Austin gets pinned on his way out of Dallas. The big problem here was the lack of blood. If you're going to have weapons shots with boots, chains, and the like, it exposes the business for there not to be any blood involved. I don't especially want to hear about ESPN and its restrictions either; if they won't allow blood at all, then don't have matches like this on their program. But don't have Prichard nailing Jeff square in the forehead in front of God and everybody, then getting up without a mark or scratch on him. We know from the some of the Memphis footage we saw that blood was allowed at the Sportatorium, just not on ESPN, so do the match right and offer it to the Memphis loop for its syndicated show if nothing else. I should know this, but was there a dedicated syndicated show for Dallas by now? If there was, this would have been a perfect bout for it, and maybe even a selling point to encourage the fans to check the show out. Technical matches on ESPN and stiffer brawls with occasional blood in syndication would seem to be a winning formula for Dallas at this point, and I'm curious to find out if Papa would have had the chance to try it out.
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What we saw here was excellent, a standoff between the old master who wouldn't let himself be beaten (Jumbo) and the youngster who wouldn't stop trying (Kenta). I like Kenta planting Jumbo face first in the concrete, then stealing the backdrop driver but still not quite getting the job done. Jumbo eventually gets the win, but it's Kenta's fabulous performance that the crowd remains enthralled by, as they keep chanting his name even in defeat. You know that there will be better days ahead for him, and soon. Boy, that arena must have been a total sweatbox. Both guys were sweating to the point where it had to have been hard to control each other's bodies, which could have led to unintentional disaster. It's a tribute to both men's extreme professionalism that there weren't any accidents.
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Thanks for the info, Pete!
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This looked like a cakewalk for Maeda until Vrij scored those two quick knockdowns toward the end. Maeda's finishing leglock seemed almost a desperate act to avoid defeat and humiliation on the opening night of the new promotion. I didn't really catch much of a heel vibe from Vrij, although he was definitely the more aggressive of the two. In fact, I thought it was nice that he saluted the crowd as he left. His kicks looked a tad stiff, though. This is another promotion that I'll be interested in following over the coming weeks and months.
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Could someone please tell me how PWFG bouts are scored? The UWF kept track of its knockdowns and rope breaks on the screen, but this outfit doesn't. I have no idea who this Wellington Wilkins Jr. is, mostly because I haven't gotten to his match with Waltman yet. But he's an idiot for trying to match headbutts with Fujiwara. This didn't look like the hardest match in the world for Fujiwara. I'll be interested to see how he fares as PWFG gets going a little more.
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I guess Eddie flaked out after this, because Soup has it right; we won't see Eddie again until August, and that's in an indy match against Terry Funk. He goes out in style here, as he and Anthony take it all over the studio once they get rolling. Chairs, brooms, binders, they use everything they can get their hands on and then some, and it's glorious. Prichard looks good when he's in, and he and Anthony look like a gifted team when they're taking Brian apart in the first fall. I like Dave putting over the idea that Eddie and Tony are so intent on beating each other to a pulp that they'll forget it's a tag match, and sure enough, that's exactly what happens. Not that anyone's complaining, especially since this is the only time we'll get to see them go at it. I notice that Tony switches sides (I can hardly call it a turn, since this happened after Eddie left, thus taking his main feud away) by June, which is also when Kim returns to ringside. Did they bother to explain why he was a face all of a sudden, or did he just throw in with the Tennessee guys almost out of nowhere, like Robert Fuller did?
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The match itself was tremendous, definitely the American junior match of the decade so far. But what struck me more than the moves in the ring was Waltman's excellent character work for his age. At eighteen, he plays a combination of immature hothead and sadistic son of a bitch better than most guys twice his age do. Put that together with his obvious athletic and wrestling abilities and you wonder exactly why we're talking about him in terms of what could have been rather than what was. Unfortunately, his future career gives us our answer. I pity the poor suckers who had to follow this. With the advent of ECW and the general advancement of the business, this is hardly a contender for Greatest Match Ever, or even Greatest American Indy Match Ever. But it was unlike most of what was being done in 1991, especially in this country, and whoever was on next had to know that they couldn't begin to even think about topping this. I wonder if that knowledge loosened them up as performers or caused them to press too hard and make mistakes. I also wonder if Waltman and Lynn got heat from the rest of the boys for being, in essence, too good for their own good. I wish we could have heard the commentary more clearly. Certainly Karch and his partner were overselling this more than a little, but I think their shock at seeing some of these moves and maneuvers was genuine, considering how rare a brawl like this was at the time, certainly among junior heavyweights in an independent setting. That genuineness (if that's a word) is what saves me from calling the commentary completely over the top and obnoxious, although Karch's partner almost stepped over the line a time or two. What a shame we didn't get this version of Waltman in the WWF or WCW. If we had, he'd be a legitimate candidate for Wrestler of the Decade. As it is, I'm just glad to see that on at least a few nights at a smoky bar in Minneapolis, Sean Waltman was among the best workers in the world.
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Everyone else has gone into so much detail that there's really not much left to say that's new. Just a tremendous match where all six men not only shone on offense, but had peril sections that had the crowd rocking. Everyone knows about Kobashi's knee and Kawada's neck, but what's overlooked is Kawada nearly forcing Jumbo to tap to a Fujiwara armbar twice and Taue getting the beating of his life in the middle as payback for what happened to Kawada earlier. Even Misawa took a pounding toward the end; the only one not to take a lot was Fuchi, but he was so great as the sneaky heel who stirred things up that it didn't matter. By the way, if this match becomes better known in the U.S. through this set, I expect the term for a babyface who takes so much punishment that by all rights he should be dead to become "playing Kenta Kobashi". What an FIP performance. I was screaming not only for Kenta to make the tag, but for Misawa and Kawada to reach out to him. Kawada delivered one almost as good early on, but the match ran so long that he couldn't possibly keep selling his neck and be an effective part of the bout. This is the best six-man I've ever seen by such a wide margin it's not funny. Is it better than WarGames, my Match of the Year before now? Pillman's shoulder, Kenta's knee...........I'd have to say that WarGames' blood and cage setting allows it to stay narrowly ahead, although what's happened to Pillman since makes that whole angle feel like a waste. I don't see how these guys are going to top themselves in the future, but it'll sure be fun watching them try!
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This is one bout that shouldn't have had such a clean ending. The crotch shot was legal, so you can't say that it's cheating, although Barry did a good job shielding Nick Patrick from it anyway. The superplex and clean-as-a-sheet pin put the issue to rest, and the fact that the match only lasted seven minutes bell to bell kind of makes this into a glorified squash, regardless of the backstage reasons behind it. If they'd really wanted to showcase these guys, they'd have cut out one of the earlier matches and given this one more time, and if Dusty was only going to give these two seven minutes no matter what, he should have booked this as a double disqualification or double countout and had them settle things when they had more time at another event. As it is, how does he expect interest in the feud to continue, even after Windham's post-match attack? From what I've read, we get some kind of pull-apart during the TV title match, but all that does is make Pillman look like a sore loser and a punk. After all, Windham beat him cleanly within the rules as constituted, and it wasn't like what happened afterward was a major beatdown. This is why all of JR's football talk and hype gets made fun of at times. All the stuff about the courage award Pillman got from the Bengals, what a great collegiate career he had, and what a tough kid he is, and he goes out and gets pretty much steamrollered by the veteran Windham. To paraphrase what Dusty himself said later in the card concerning Pillman, you can have all the courage in the world and it doesn't do you one bit of good if someone's better than you, and Windham proved that he's decisively better than Pillman here. Yes, Pillman busts him open and hits a few nice moves, but TBS jobbers hit nice moves on guys like Windham occasionally too, and it means nothing in the end. Pillman took a drastic fall from potential star back to upper midcarder as a result of this in my eyes, and it'll be interesting to see how Dusty rehabilitates him, or if he even tries.
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Well, that was pointless. The worst part is, Cappetta never explained that the match could end in a pinfall. It's bad enough to change the rules in midstream, but at least clue in your live audience who might not have Dusty Rhodes the master booker to explain to them that a pinfall loss could be as bad or worse than being made to leave the ring on a stretcher, bleeding (at least presumably) and unconscious. Boy, did they not waste time getting Sid out of Dodge after the pinfall or what? I didn't get a good enough look at the ref to see who it was, but he manhandled Sid worse than Gigante did. A question for Dusty: If Sid wouldn't take the ride in this match, why not use your old buddy Sullivan in his place? Neither he nor the Gang had a match of their own scheduled, and it would have saved you from playing bait-and-switch with the rules without some of your customers even knowing it. You could have claimed that Sid's plane got fogged in, or that he was getting a suntan on the beach and overslept, or that he was terrified of Gigante, or anything else you could have thought of. Paying people big money to go out there and tank matches (as in, not give their best effort to put on a believable bout) is one reason why WCW is but a fond memory for so many of us today. Whoever thought that Gang could look good wearing eye shadow should not only have been fired but led out of CNN Center in a straitjacket, because they were obviously about ten cents short, as the late, great radio mogul Arthur Carlson (gloriously played by Gordon Jump on WKRP in Cincinnati) used to say. Hell, maybe The Big Guy (with help from Herb Tarlek and Les Nessman) could have booked a better match than this. Sully's no doll to look at in eye shadow, either. I must have missed the fans' goodbye chant to Sid, or maybe the Turner audio people caught it and muted it. Which was worse: Gang's stretcher shots or Gigante's.........bodyslam? He's been in the business for close to a year and he can't even execute a simple bodyslam? Knowing this outfit, the entirety of the upcoming Gigante/Gang feud will be nothing but bodyslam challenge matches.
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Call me nuts, but I think Vince actually taking physical action against a heel and getting himself bleeped for swearing elevates this segment as much as it can be elevated. When was the last time you saw Vince upset enough to do something physical while he was announcing or hosting, even if it's just overturning a tray of burgers? In a kayfabe sense at least, Vince was putting himself in physical danger, as Quake could have attacked him over it. He didn't, of course, but he could have, and a WWF announcer who's not also a former wrestler has never been the instigator in a situation like that before. Don't get me wrong; the ending's not enough to save this. The rest is just a bad TNT sketch, and the old staple of making Lord Alfred sick lost whatever value it had about five minutes before the first time it happened. Heenan wasn't bad; he never is. But he didn't elevate himself to save this either. Quake was way out of place here using his wrestling outfit and promo voice, and where was Jimmy Hart? Was Vince so intent on saving money that he wouldn't even use managers on Prime Time tapings? He could have at least been a slight bit of comic relief if nothing else. Most heels don't do well in a situation like this because they don't have the verbal charisma to pull it off. The likes of Piper and Muraco, who shone on segments like this back in the eighties, are few and far between (and nonexistent on the 1991 WWF roster). Overall, I could have done without this, ending aside. Vince's outrage could have been saved for another time, and the rest could have been used for another guest or match. By the way, there are no WWF matches in the Yearbook for the month of May, which is a sad commentary on how lifeless and unimportant the in-ring portion of the product is right now. The next match featured in the set is the 6/3 Hogan/Slaughter Desert Storm match from MSG.
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Heenan was at the top of his game here, insulting not only Hogan but Christopher Lloyd and Shelley Duvall as well. The bit with the trivia contest would have worked better if we'd heard an actual question, but I loved seeing Bobby blame the phone after he lost. I never figured out exactly what he was trying to do with Hogan's bike, but was there any other way for this segment to end but with Hogan chasing him backstage? Surprise, Surprise Dept.: Hogan showed up on WWF TV in something other than a Hulkamania or Hulk Rules T-shirt! Call the national media! I didn't get the Suburban Commando clip at all. For those who may have seen the movie, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Nice cameos by Jameson and the Rosatti sisters, whom Hogan jokingly referred to as his "bodyguards". He was doing so well, but he couldn't help talking about how Sarge was going to bring chemical weapons and hand grenades to the Desert Storm matches. He caught himself a little after he realized what he'd said, but it was too late. Get ready, folks: it's going to be all death and burial jokes once the Taker feud eventually starts up, and I can't for the life of me figure out which is worse. Surprise, Surprise Part Two: As mentioned above, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat gets a full name mention on 1991 WWF TV. Actually, Vince referred to Kerry Von Erich by name in the LOD/Heenan's car segment, so maybe the rules about rigidly using only gimmick names were relaxed just a bit on Prime Time.
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That's it? They could have done that in a thirty-second insert between matches. Am I the only one who thinks they did it this way so 1) JR could squeeze in an extra plug or two for upcoming events and 2) Heyman could make a crack about Missy's hair? Veronica is a Terri Runnels/Alexandra York clone. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd swear that Terri just switched wigs in the back between segments. Free Jeannie!
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What was here was good. I agree that Simmons could have gone over a bit more decisively since Reed was leaving, but at least he got to foil Peanuthead's cheating, which is something. The crowd wasn't into this like I thought they would have been for a former Seminole. Of course, Simmons hadn't done enough as a single yet to justify a big reaction, and beating Reed at this point wasn't the major deal that it would have been six or seven years earlier. I don't think the football talk was that bad here, especially since Simmons' All-American career at Florida State was the biggest reason for his upcoming push. He hadn't really earned it based solely on his wrestling career so far, and the ability to use Bobby Bowden and Florida State in promos and interviews was an opportunity that WCW didn't want to pass up. It was no worse than a pea-green Steve Williams getting a much bigger push than he should have from Watts in 1985 and '86. Odds are he wouldn't have gotten it if he'd had similar training to that other Steve Williams (Austin), or if Barry Switzer had refused to do interviews for Mid-South/UWF TV. He almost certainly would have earned it later, but not right then.
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If this match could have been treated as any more of an afterthought, I'd like to know how. Not only was the crowd dead, but the finish was barely sold on commentary. They never even replayed it; there was no outrage, no shock, no nothing. They couldn't wait to show Missy invading the heel locker room instead. Not only that, it seems that there were more Freebirds fans than Pistols/Southern Boys fans. They even showed some Birds fans whooping it up on camera, whether they meant to or not. Maybe it was just the DDT as a move that was over, but it sure seemed like Tracy and Steve got no reaction at all to anything they did in the clip we saw. One question: Were the Pistols acknowledged as the former Southern Boys, or were they treated like complete newcomers? What was the backstory behind their change, if any? I would think that since JR used both names, they acknowledged past history, but you can never tell with this outfit. Even if the history wasn't acknowledged, most of the fans undoubtedly knew who the Pistols were, and that they'd already had a long feud with the Birds the previous year. Maybe they were just tired of the matchup.
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I actually like the way they did this. They came right out and admitted that they were using a loophole to thwart the Texas bunch, so it's not the same thing as just refusing to follow the stipulation. Heaven knows Embry and company needed one to be put over on them sooner rather than later before they flat-out took over the promotion. I'm pretty sure that Jamie was supposed to be legit turning face. I don't have any inside information or anything, but he'd already swerved his dad at least once that we've seen, so what would be the point of doing it again except to make Bill look irredeemably stupid, not to mention Eddie Marlin for going along with Jamie's suggestion in the first place? It's not out of the realm of possibility, but this feud needs to turn around in a hurry before business goes completely in the sewer. I like how Lawler didn't stick around to interview Embry. There's no sense in teasing their confrontation too far in advance; they'll have their day of reckoning with each other soon enough.
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Not really, Pete. I'll bet the fans knew who it was pretty quickly, if indeed it was him. It's not like he hadn't been there for most of the past year or anything. Thanks for the info!
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Great interview from Embry, as he threatens both Dundees and Lawler. I haven't seen the Bill/Jamie segment yet, but if it was pulled off the way I read about it, I don't blame Embry for being upset. Everybody knows the William Dundee who was in the match, and it wasn't Jamie. As I've said before, this was a clever way to keep at least one top-flight Memphis face available to fight Embry until Lawler was cleared to return. By the way, it looks like Lawler's doctor is holding him to the six weeks he wanted him to take off in the first place. I could have sworn that Embry was on TV while Corey was co-hosting with Dave before this, so I don't quite get the "I don't know who you are" bit, unless it's just another way of relegating Corey to "Mr. TV Announcer" status a la Ernie Ladd. One question: We know from AJ's post up above that Doug Gilbert was the Lone Ranger. But who ended up being the mystery Texas Ranger that Embry brought in to fight Lawler?
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This was definitely a crowd-pleaser. I liked Lawler bringing the kid with Down's Syndrome out for some mic time, and the champions are humble but quietly confident, which is a real switch for Fuller. It suits him fine, though. I especially liked him talking about the other states within the Memphis loop; in a feud like this where two distinct areas are squaring off, it's tough to remember that there are fans of the USWA outside of those two states that may not necessarily have a real dog in the fight (though I suspect most of them are pulling for the Tennesseans regardless). It seems like Jeff and the Stud are taking care of most of the dead weight from the Texas side, which is a good thing. One question: What did Robert mean when he talked about "my Arabs"? I don't recall a Middle Eastern team being a part of the Stud Stable at any time.
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Hughes intimidating JR into going to ringside was the best part of this. Terri can't talk for as long as she had to here without grating on the nerves, and even though I know Alexandra's supposed to be a demanding boss and all, most prospective bosses wait until after the contract's signed to order their new employees around. I guess the next step was either for Hughes to beat Dustin into submission or for Taylor to cock-a-doodle-doo into his ear until his brains turned to pudding. I hope he enjoyed his roll in the hay. I also wonder if anyone in the crowd knew that when he said "I'll be there", it simply meant that he was going home. Seriously, when did Dustin and Terri hook up? Were they an item already by now?
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I don't know what was crazier about this: a face interviewer with a heel sidekick or a fat white slob thinking he could rap and get over doing it. For this they dumped The Danger Zone? Really? As obnoxious as Heyman could be (and was supposed to be), this was a thousand times worse. If this was an experiment, it was a failure from the start. If Dusty actually thought this could last (which he evidently did), he was further out of touch than anyone ever dreamed. Quick question: If Jason Hervey was Missy's boyfriend, why wasn't he with her on Missy's Manor? Even if you leave the behind-the-scenes romance out of it, the character he was trying to get over was a better match with tweener (at best) Missy than with legendary babyface Dusty.
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I liked Paul blaming a woman for forgetting to put The Danger Zone on the format sheet. Missy's gloating would have felt a bit more justified if she hadn't just done the brainless oversexed bimbo act at SuperBrawl. They really need to get their continuity straight here, as Missy's back in quasi-face crusader mode. She looks really good in a cowboy hat and tank top, too. Dusty as the new segment host? It could be good if he knows when to play it straight and doesn't get physically involved more than once in a while. I might have called it The Dream Factory or something similar, though. Alternatively, I might have used something with a plumbing motif to honor the son of a plumber.
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They kind of threw this in at the last second, but it was still good for what it was. Arn's great at explaining the differences between him and Bobby, and brings up that Bobby's never done much in WCW without Corny and Stan/Dennis in his corner, which is true. Bobby takes exception, and we're at it. Bobby must have been very rusty on the mic, because I know from the DVDVR Memphis set that he can talk better than this. Of course, that's not really the point of the segment, but it's worth noting for future reference. Great little roll call of past TV champions from Heyman at the beginning, and it's nice to hear Tully included. The door must have been open for him to return if he'd wished to, and that makes sense with Dusty back in the booker's chair.
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Hopefully this goes farther than Nikita/Luger did. I liked how Sting just barged in and took over rather than put up with any of Larry's crap. I hope they get together again in the ring someday, because that issue's far from finished. If you caught it, there was an allusion by Nikita to him and Sting going up and down the road together as partners in the eternal feud between Dusty and friends and the Horsemen. I wonder how many fans in 1991 truly remembered and appreciated that.
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This was awful. Not only that, it was counterproductive. On TBS, they're showing Missy as a quasi-babyface sticking up for women's rights against Paul Heyman, and then on a pay-per-view they show her as everything Heyman has always claimed she is? As much as I loathed seeing Hansen back to having fifty pounds of tobacco or licorice or whatever the hell he had in his mouth, I was glad he kicked her out. Women definitely deserve to be in men's locker rooms, but not if they behave like Missy did (not that any legitimate journalist ever would). Not only is she openly after a chance to see the guys' wet, naked bodies, but she acts like she has no idea what sport she's supposed to be covering. I mean, if you've covered kayfabe-era wrestling for more than five minutes, shouldn't you know that faces like Zenk and Pillman and heels like Taylor and Hansen don't dress in the same locker room? This was just done so that JR and Dusty (and those who think like them) could get a big laugh at Missy's expense, simple as that. It was neither needed nor wanted, and whoever wrote the whole thing should have been officially disciplined by Turner Broadcasting. By the way, Hansen didn't even have a match on the card; he apparently came in just to do this one lousy segment. What a waste.