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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    Put this match in Memphis and involve Jamie somehow or other and the heat would be off the charts even if not one move in the match was changed. As it is, this was as lethargic as you could get for a supposedly big match on a national TV taping. I didn't understand the backstory as to why the title was held up, mostly because despite the so-called integration of the Memphis and Dallas offices, Embry's always been billed as the Texas champion in Memphis, probably to help put over the Texas/Tennessee feud. Jeff and Tojo being handcuffed to each other was a clever way to set up a screwy finish, but is it against USWA booking policy to use any other weapons outside of a chain? What I wouldn't give for a finishing chairshot or an ether-soaked rag right about now. It almost seemed at times as if Embry and Dundee were taking it slow to account for action on the floor that never materialized. The work really felt off to me for some reason, especially considering the issue these two guys supposedly had with each other. I don't mind guys talking during the match as long as it's relevant to the bout at hand. Sometimes things are put over better verbally than physically even while a contest is actually in progress. For instance, it was much better for Embry to get on the stick and tell the world that he'd kill Jeff if he touched Tojo than it would have been to yell it in a confrontation on the floor, where only the first two rows would have heard it. That part of the storyline had to be advanced in order for the finish to have a point, and a few words were a lot easier than a shoving match would have been under the circumstances. I did have a problem with Jeff hooking Embry's tights so Dundee could hit him. Yes, it was a nice piece of payback, but Jeff should have at least waited until Tojo made an aggressive move of some sort before he retaliated that way. This wasn't actively horrible, but If Dundee's going to have a problem with Embry, I'd rather see him alongside Lawler, Jarrett, and Gilbert in Memphis against the Texas Boys than fighting with Embry in Dallas over a belt that won't mean a thing by the end of June.
  2. garretta
    I guess this is the start of Jake's heel turn, if you want to look at it that way. It's definitely the source of it, as after this feud doesn't go much of anywhere during the spring and summer, we get the stuff with Warrior. I'm actually surprised they didn't touch on this as one of the reasons Jake snapped, although they probably didn't want the fans to sympathize with him at all under the circumstances. As for the angle itself, this was about as well done as could be expected for what it was. I'm surprised they didn't have Andre do this a couple of years earlier, in fact. Jake was first-rate at projecting sorrow, and the announcers did just as good a job here as they did with the casket angle, though Savage was decidedly less sympathetic. Pete's right about Vince doing a masterful job getting some of these more adult angles over; he can be a real storyteller as long as the story doesn't involve wrestling moves. It was obvious something was going on when the refs insisted on Jake putting Damien underneath the ring, which they'd never done before even when he was a heel. I guess the cutaways were ostensibly to reduce the chances of nightmares for the children in the audience, although I think cutting to Mean Gene in the locker room might have been more effective; Mooney's over-rehearsed bollerplate dialogue not only lacked spontaneity, but showed no emotion whatsoever. He read those lines like a rundown of the next card at MSG or a thousand other arenas. One problem I had: Jimmy tackling Hebner. Okay, trip him and hold him down for a minute or so, but for three or four minutes? Where were the other refs to get him off? Where were the threats of suspension? Why didn't Earl just knock him stiff? Better yet, why didn't Quake knock Earl and the other official out before he even started? It's a pity this feud was never blown off. Then again, it wouldn't really have been much different than the Andre feud, except that Quake could move a little better. Actually, they could have started the Warrior stuff with Jake right about now and not missed much.
  3. garretta
    I'm wondering if Dusty made the conscious decision to put the heat for Brian's injury at WrestleWar on Barry because he thought that Sid could be leaving and he didn't want to lose a hot feud right in the middle. The postmatch brawl gives that impression, as Pillman completely overacts to Barry's hook of the tights. That's not a criticism, by the way, just an observation, as Brian's attack really got the crowd (not to mention Barry himself) going. I liked the "reverse psychology" of Brian working over Barry's arm in the first part of the bout, but everyone watching knew that Barry's time working over the shoulder injury would come, and it was exquisite, complete with the Anderson hammerlock slam. But Brian still has his legs to confound Barry with, so this stays an entertaining bout rather than becoming a dissection. This not only puts over Brian's guts, but his talent, as he has Windham on the run for good portions of the bout, even with a notable injury in plain sight and ready to be attacked. Credit also goes to Larry Z again on commentary, as he constantly puts over the seriousness of the injury, even when Pillman's on offense. I liked him schooling Tony when Tony asked if it might not be better for Barry to attack Brian's legs and render him completely helpless. It puts Larry over as a true tactician who will be murder to deal with in the ring, even if it makes Tony look like a bit of a dipstick in the process. Hey, the man's only been broadcasting wrestling for eight years; it'll take a while before he knows what he's talking about! Nice callback to WrestleWar by having Gigante check on Pillman after the brawl was over. I wondered why Larry reacted as negatively as Barry did until I remembered that he was on the Horsemen team at WarGames. Looking forward to plenty more, as it seems that this feud has the potential to be a classic.
  4. garretta
    This one almost felt like an exhibition match designed to get Hogan on the card more than anything else. It was a treat to see him doing amateur sequences as a change of pace from the wars he's had recently with Slaughter and the LOD. Yatsu didn't do much that was effective, as Hogan always seemed to be a step ahead of him from start to finish. According to Graham, Tenryu, the closest thing SWS had to an ace, wrested and beat Randy Savage that night. You'd think that they'd have booked Tenryu against Hogan instead, especially since they knew in advance that Randy was going to lose at Mania VII.
  5. garretta
    Not much of a match here, really. It's a setup for the beatdown of Keirn and the entrance of Fuller into the Tennessee/Texas feud, and on that level it works well. Dave and Michael put over Keirn as practically unbeatable in a clean match, and their words prove prophetic later when the Hangmen and Prichard do their run-in. I think it was Pete who criticized how late Fuller's save was. Well, at least he made one, which is more than the rest of the Tennessee bunch manages to do most of the time these days. I loved his promo afterward, and I find it hard to believe that before too much longer he'd be portrayed in WCW as a typical weakling heel manager who had no idea what to do in the ring. If he manages to pull that off, he'll be in line for an Academy Award!
  6. garretta
    So this is what an unplanned shoot looks like. Pete's right; it was boring as hell. The only thing that kept my interest was hearing Quake challenge Kitao to fight him like a man (at least I'm assuming that's what he said; the Japanese announcers talk all over it), Kitao not only refuses to fight, he kicks the referee down to get himself deliberately disqualified. Real sweet guy, huh? Did he actually think that Vince was going to let him beat one of his hottest heels, even in his (Kitao's) home country? Knowing their feud history, it would have been neat to see Hogan back Quake in a real-life shoot. I almost wish Kitao would have tried something for just that reason.
  7. garretta
    With all due respect to the actual stuffing of Warrior in the casket, this was really made by the commentators. When Savage, whom you absolutely know wants Warrior out of the way so he can feel better about losing his own career, begins to fear for Warrior's safety, you know this is one scary angle. I would have loved the commentary to have been live so I could have seen Savage actually run down to try and open the casket, as I believe he would have. He and Piper were brilliant in showing their concern, and Vince's usual overexcitement fits this situation to a tee. They have to revive Warrior before the segment's over to prevent hysteria in the crowd, and so they do, but Piper intimates that he might be brain damaged as the scene fades out. I think the officials being unable to open the casket actually makes the whole thing scarier. What the hell is this thing made of, anyway? Can Warrior manage to stay alive long enough for help to get to him? Garea, Goulet, and the rest try their damndest, but can't get the thing open no matter what, and Taker and Percy have long since run for the hills. This is so scary and sickening that the two sickest bastards in WWF history (Piper and Savage) each want nothing whatsoever to do with it. Ponder that sentence for a moment, if you will. The gouges Warrior makes in the casket walls during his futile escape attempts provide the icing on the cake. If there was ever a way to get Taker over as something beyond anything the WWF had ever seen previously, this was it. Brilliant performances from everyone, and Taker's still over to this day, although he only shows up for Mania and can barely move. This is as much the birth of a legend in its own way as 1/23/84, and I don't say that lightly. God knows we could use this kind of creativity in today's WWE.
  8. garretta
    One thing we know for sure after watching this segment: Warriorspeak doesn't sound impressive at all when it's spoken in a normal voice. They either needed him to talk exclusively like a normal person or have him come in screaming at a hundred miles an hour like he usually did. There's really no in between, nor should there be. That said, this still was a solid setup for the Warrior/Taker feud to come. Heenan actually asked the better questions here, or at least seemed more like an interviewer. Vince was too into the lurid details for my taste. Come to think of it, he's been that way with most interviews he's done with injured wrestlers. There's a difference between emphasizing the details of an attack to inspire the fans to buy tickets and enjoying others' pain, and Vince veered too far to the enjoyment side for my taste here. Another sign that Heenan's leaving ringside: Not even a halfhearted attempt at trash-talking or insulting a man who's beaten and humiliated him and his men more often than anyone not named Hogan.
  9. garretta
    The action we saw here was about as brutal as any I've ever seen in a cage, but there were two significant drawbacks. First, the video cut out far too often. I understand that that might have been the only copy Loss and Will might have had access to, but that doesn't change the fact that it was almost impossible to watch in certain places. Second, we have the same old problem regarding heel beatdowns. I lost track of how many chairshots Lawler took from Embry, but however many it was, it was too many. Did Lawler have a steel plate in his head? Was Embry wrestling a concrete statue of Lawler instead of the real man? If the answer to both of the above is no, the lengths to which the beating went were totally beyond reason. We saw Keirn come in just before the video cut out, but he was about five chairshots too late. Maybe Jarrett figured that this was a good way to make sure everyone knew that Lawler was taking medical leave, but it was so badly overdone it was cartoonish. (I just checked, and there were a total of ten chairshots in the segment. Most wrestlers go to the hospital after taking one or two, especially in the head.) Maybe we'll get a slightly saner match between these two when Lawler returns.
  10. garretta
    It amazes me how Eddie can think of such a corny line as the Chef Boyardee one in the middle of a dead serious angry promo. Somehow, though, it fits, or at least doesn't detract too much. I'm not sure about using a non-wrestler as Eddie's protector, but there aren't a lot of other guys to beat up, since almost everyone else on the roster is involved here in one way or another. Eddie must have taught his friend how to take bumps pretty well, since apart from the idea that the guy isn't a wrestler, that spot doesn't come off a whole lot differently than your average piledriver spot. Dave hits the right emotional note here: a combination of revulsion, anger, and resignation (did we really expect anything less from these Texas jerks?) JR may be the better pure broadcaster of the sport of wrestling, but Dave's got more emotional range to him; not every heel beatdown triggers white-hot "By Gawd!" indignation. I wonder how far he could have gone in wrestling if he'd been willing to leave his meterological career behind. Embry having to cheat to beat a jobber in fifteen seconds shows total desperation to avoid what's coming to him once Lawler returns, if Gilbert doesn't kill him first. By the way, is this the same Mickey Jay who later became a WCW referee?
  11. garretta
    They were still introducing Owen to the WCW audience here, so it made sense that he didn't overdo it. He and Ricky make a cool team, but I think what Dusty really wanted was for Owen to team with Pillman, as was mentioned above. Unfortunately, it seems like Owen left before that could happen. Zbyszko continues to impress me with his straightforward commentary on Pro. I thought he'd be a lot like Jesse Ventura, especially since he was still wrestling regularly as a heel. But he's a great complement to Tony, and for sheer quality of analysis may be the best color man in the business at this point, despite being a broadcaster for less than a month.
  12. garretta
    Another DiBiase squash which Piper boycotts on commentary and Savage only calls under duress. Get used to Vince reminding announcers about their contracts; you'll hear something like that almost every week once Flair debuts and Jake turns heel. I liked Randy saying that Piper beats himself all the time at tic-tac-toe; he's a little wittier than I remembed in the booth. Sherri's doing a fine job as Teddy's paid consort. She carried herself with her own special brand of regality as the Queen, now she's glorying in being, for lack of a better word, Teddy's private whore (although that aspect isn't emphasized, for obvious reasons). She oozes sleaze as she retrieves the money from down her dress to give to Teddy after the match. It's like she was saying, "Don't the rest of you women out there wish you could be paid to do this?" Teddy didn't really need a female, but as long as they decided to give him one, they made a great choice.
  13. garretta
    Piper and Savage bail early for obvious reasons, so we get to hear Vince alone on commentary. MSG circa 1978 this ain't. I love the tease we got of a possible confrontation between Savage and Sherri at some point. I'm wondering if Savage may have been a backup plan in case Virgil simply didn't get over, even with Piper's help. All they would have needed to do to junk Randy's retirement was have Sherri threaten Liz. Randy takes exception, Teddy attacks him in the booth, and we're off and running. Even if Randy didn't want to hit the road full-time, they could have fought at Superstars tapings, which he was there for anyway.
  14. garretta
    Nice to see the Tennessee side of this feud get some backup from the Stud. He waded right into the middle of the action, tearing into Austin and Prichard with ferocity. We end up with a DQ, but this issue's far from settled. Jeff's probably the best all-around worker his dad has at this point, as not only can he work any style, but he never takes days off, unlike Lawler, whose work ethic seems to leave him once he crosses the border into Texas. If Dad had been truly serious about running Texas (and I don't think he ever was), Jeff would have been his Unified champion, with Lawler as a Andre-like attraction around the Memphis loop.
  15. garretta
    I liked the action part of the cage match well enough; it was definitely more heated than any of the three Sportatorium bouts that we've seen in the Jeff/Prichard series. But the beatdown at the end killed it for me. How many times must babyfaces in the USWA be brutalized beyond all common sense without anyone coming to their rescue? It's a terrible booking crutch, and it almost makes the matches insignificant, since even if the heel gets pinned, they're nearly guaranteed unlimited revenge once the match is over. I kind of hate to say this, but it's starting to approach NWO levels. Dr. Tom was great on the mic, and while he'll always sound like Piper to an extent, it's always better when he doesn't overdo it. Again, Austin got treated like an appendage, and Tojo might as well not have even shown up. I've heard him before, and while he doesn't exactly speak the king's English, he can certainly do his part on the mic when he has to. So why has he just stood there and done nothing for the better part of this feud? Was he that sick? Was he literally there for Daddy Jarrett to have an excuse to cut him a check? I get that Embry and Prichard don't need help on the mic, but even his physical interference looks really weak. If I'd been booking, I'd have used Akbar (if he would have come), Bruno, or maybe even Corny if I could have gotten him to stick around for a little less.
  16. garretta
    This was a great segment from start to finish. The promo battle between Embry and Gilbert was every bit as good as I hoped it would be, and I can officially say that this heel run has eclipsed his Texas babyface run as my favorite version of Embry. He's not just sleazy; he's psychotically, deliciously EVIL here. I loved his explanation of why he wouldn't bring Miss Texas to the WMC studio, and as you'd expect, he's celebrating his "retirement" of Lawler. Eddie fires back on some (but not all) Texans, and in a moment that's truly inspired, begs both Embry and Tojo to make him bleed and hurt as much as they can in the upcoming Texas Death match: "MAKE ME BLEED, ERIC!" What we see of the chain match looks positively brutal, and given who Embry's been palling around with, even the green mist doesn't seem that far-fetched; it adds to his reputation as one of the most unpredictable wrestlers in the world today. I wonder why Eddie didn't get at least a bit suspicious when he was able to touch all four corners so easily, but he's so cocky that the spot feels plausible, even against a dastardly heel like Embry. I have a suspicion that it was Lawler whom Embry referred to as Eddie's best buddy during his promo. Just weeks ago, I couldn't imagine any wrestler making that claim for any reason whatsoever. Talk about the tide turning quickly!
  17. garretta
    Interesting interview, as Eddie turns face without becoming a true "good guy". He's still adamant about wanting Jeff and Lawler, but for now he'll settle for a piece of Embry, who promptly accommodates him, then beats him to within an inch of his life with help from Austin and Prichard. I'm glad we're not getting true babyface Eddie here; his face runs in the WWF and WCW were about as white-bread and emotionally flat as you can possibly get. Frankly, I'd just like to see what happens when two of wrestling's biggest sleazeballs get their hands on each other, and it looks like we'll be getting just that. Nice use of the arena footage to set all of this up, and the dynamic between Eddie and Doug will be worth observing if he gets back into this feud; might Doug be so revolted at the idea of being on the same side as Lawler and Jeff that he'd actually join the Texas Boys? The only shame is that Austin's being relegated to hanger-on status here. He should be right up front with Embry and Prichard, but it doesn't seem like he is. Dad knows that Austin has what it takes, so why he's treating him like a third wheel in this feud is beyond me.
  18. garretta
    Wow. I wish we had some of that. Thanks, AJ!
  19. garretta
    This may sound weird, but Lawler doing his own interview actually puts this over better than if Michael or whoever else did it. We get to see that Lawler is, however reluctantly, accepting the doctor's diagnosis, and also that the guy isn't some anonymous hack who's either an actor or somebody being paid off by the USWA to protect Lawler at the expense of guys like Embry and Prichard. He's an actual doctor with an actual office, and if someone in the audience has some orthopedic issues, they can get the same kind of care the King does. The length of Lawler's time off is key. If Lawler takes six weeks off like the doctor says, that forces Jarrett to vacate the Unified title. By only taking four off, Lawler can just sneak in under the wire of the thirty-day rule, which keeps him as champion and Embry as the number one challenger as he (Jarrett) intended all along. Thus the title picture can be temporarily frozen while the rest of the promotion moves forward.
  20. garretta
    I'm not sure being verbally dominated on your own segment did much good for Percy, but even this late in the game Piper has no peer on the mic when he chooses to give his best. There were no real standout lines here, just an overall above-average performance. The stuff with the dolls was a bit out there, but I cracked up all the same. I don't get what's so creepy about Piper bringing up Teddy's supposed childhood and comparing it to his own. Sometimes I think we let Piper's admittedly far-out ramblings from later in his career color what he did earlier, and that's not fair. Rod was never meant to be Nick Bockwinkel, calmly using two-dollar words to insult his opponents without them even knowing it. He was meant to be a raving, rambling crazy man who was mostly out there to be funny and insulting. I liked how he taunted Percy/Paul with his resemblance to Gomez Addams, and I was kind of disappointed that Percy no-sold it. Maybe The Addams Family never happened in Paul Bearer's world. As I said earlier, Percy kind of came off as second-class here, and while that's inevitable with Piper as your guest, it may not have been the best thing for the development of The Funeral Parlor as a viable interview segment. Virgil handled his small part well, and his Scary Sherri voice was hilarious. He's still not quite "ready for his closeup", as it were, but he will be by SummerSlam at this rate. I wonder why Taker wasn't playing Ace Orton to Percy's Piper here. Maybe Vince figured that having Taker around to watch Percy's back would discourage the physical confrontations that are sometimes needed to develop angles on shows like this. I'm surprised they didn't do a retake when Percy introduced his guest as "Roddy Roddy Piper". I don't think it was intentional; if it had been, he would have called him "Rodney" instead.
  21. garretta
    Before we get to anything else, how did Bruno turn face? I certainly don't remember any sort of turn showing up on the set. As for the stuff between the Dundees, at any other time and place Bill might have been the heel, but given how scary rap and hip-hop culture were to some whites, and also given that spanking was still an acceptable method of discipline in the South then, the fact that he's getting the cheers doesn't surprise me at all. I have to give Jarrett credit for not pushing Jamie into the ring full-time right away; not only is he better suited physically to be a manager (of sorts) at this point, he's also got the insufferable disposition for it. The setup for the attack on Bill may not have been new, but Jamie pulled it off brilliantly. This may be the best feud I've seen yet where the two main participants haven't touched each other in a match (and aren't likely to for the time being). Actually, doing the feud this way sets Jamie's career up better than a screwy or lucky pin of his dad would have. I liked Bill's low-key nature before the attack, and I also liked how Dave basically treats Jamie like an exasperating punk kid even after the Hangmen get through stomping Bill flat. I don't know what it will take for Jamie to earn Dave's respect, but having two other guys beat the hell out of his father sure wasn't it.
  22. garretta
    Good point, Pete, but I always assumed they booked Sting/Muta so the American audience (or at least most of them) would have a matchup they were familiar with.
  23. garretta
    The server had another little snack for itself, so from the top: I was much more impressed by the Lawler/Embry footage than the testimonials concerning the USWA's new building. The clips looked tremendous; it was almost as if they wanted to put on an extra special show that would make the fans forget about their new, smaller surroundings, and they sure delivered in spades, complete with a Lawler fireball. My favorite part was when Lawler actually punched Embry in rhythm to the chanting crowd. I've never seen anything like that before. What a tremendous performance by the King! Interesting to read above about some of the reasons the USWA left the MSC. It was probably more about the money than about WCW wanting to run the building, though, as both they and the WWF had run the place many times before without a peep from anyone. As a fan, I'm always in favor of any arena, no matter how small, that allows me to talk and get autographs from my favorite wrestlers, plus gives me free parking as a bonus.
  24. garretta
    The first half of this was subdued, with more of the Hulkster character coming out in the second half. They seem to have made the turn here from Hogan as an American fighting Sarge as a representative of Iraq to a more personal issue now, although given that Sarge is an ex-Marine, the war metaphors will never really stop. Still, it's nice to see Hogan admit vulnerability, particularly in the aftermath of his biggest triumph since at least Mania V. Taking a look again at the footage of the fireball attack, I'm struck by the fact that no one ever tried to explain in any way how Sarge and Adnan got into Hogan's dressing room after just having lost to him. It would have been nice to see an injured security guard or two along the way, or even one of the other faces trying to warn Hogan, only to end up being just a hair too late. As it was, even a mark would have to concede just how convenient it is that Hogan's bitterest enemy just so happens to be waiting for him just as he opens the door to his own dressing room. It may sound odd to us, but I'll bet a lot of Hulkamaniacs really did live vicariously through Hogan and worry about him day and night, much to their parents' chagrin. They wouldn't learn that he was human just like the rest of us for a few more years yet.
  25. garretta
    Nikita looked and sounded really stupid here. Once someone sees the footage, they're going to wonder how he can have any claim to the belt whatsoever. And even if he thought he did right afterward, you mean to tell me he didn't see the footage at some point and know exactly what Fonzie was doing? The only thing this does is provide a reason (at least in Nikita's mind) to destroy the US belt. You can tell that Dusty had no confidence in this angle to help out pay-per-view sales; this was supposed to be one of WCW's hottest angles of the year, and yet less than three weeks after this at SuperBrawl, Luger would be teaming with Sting against the Steiners, while Nikita would be relegated to the second match on the card against Tommy Rich. Coming out of SuperBrawl, Nikita would be working with Sting instead, at least on TV. Talk about a waste of time that ended up going nowhere. I forgot to add that he's starting to lose his accent noticeably here. In a way, that's understandable since he's been in the U.S. for so long (in character), but it really takes away from his menace. I think that Missy's still a heel except when she's around either Heyman or Ron Simmons (if the angle where she's supposed to advise him hasn't been completely forgotten by now).
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