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garretta

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Everything posted by garretta

  1. garretta
    Okay, Pete. I thought it was a back injury somehow. Thanks for the clarification!
  2. garretta
    This match was decent, but it didn't make a hell of a lot of sense. First off, Rich is the one with the injured leg at the start, but not only doesn't Arn work on it like you'd think an Anderson would, but Rich ends up working on his leg instead. JR covers for this with a story about Arn tearing his groin which probably isn't true. It's well-done work, but it's also backwards compared to the natural story outlined by JR and Paul at the beginning of the match. Then we get the Sid run-in, where he clubs Tommy in the back of the legs with a huge forearm and almost causes him to get counted out. I thought for sure that Arn would spend the last few minutes destroying Tommy's leg after that, but he never so much as touched it. Either it was a legit injury that Arn was trying to stay away from or someone got their signals crossed somewhere. Again, the neck-based moves Arn hit were well-done, and Tommy showed a ton of fight and guts to hang on for the draw, but workers like these don't usually tell a completely different story than the announcers are trying to put over on commentary. No mention of a Horsemen breakup or even a loosening of the alliance here, as was made evident by Sid's run-in. I liked Paul getting on Dusty's case about how he interviewed Barry, which audibly angered JR. Was JR's weight a taboo subject for his partners? JR seemed legitimately angry after Paul's insult about diapers not fitting, although he'd been going after Paul for whining about not getting to interview Barry himself just before that, so maybe it all tied in. Paul and Missy are still at it, huh? I guess that situation still goes on until the Bash pay-per-view in July, and maybe even after that. I know Missy's ostensibly the babyface, but I certainly get JR's point about both of them being annoying and hard to take. Hopefully the stupid stuff is kept to a minimum going forward. .
  3. garretta
    Actually, both guys had knee and ankle injuries here, but Nogami was able to shake his off quicker than Liger was. This is the second straight match where Liger was grounded for the most part, and yet he still shined. He's a hell of a salesman when it comes to injuries, and I'm not all that concerned with his lack of selling at the finish, because I tend to think of it in storyline terms as ignoring or willing away the pain in order to do what he had to do to win. If he knew he had to hit offense that required his legs to be at almost full strength, he blocked out the pain and executed, just like any other athlete in any other sport that is presented as not scripted, staged, or predetermined, whether it actually is or not. I've been reading the "Match Criticisms" thread, and I come down on the side that says that most selling is way overrated. Bouncing right back up after taking a DDT on the concrete floor is exposing the business; executing leg-based offense despite injured legs and with few visible signs of the injury is persevering and getting the job done. Besides, Liger had sold enough prior to the finish that every fan in the Tokyo Dome had to doubt his ability to both climb to the top and execute the DDT once he got there. He also sold quite effectively after the match, to the point of needing help from both Nogami and the referee to get out of the ring. I liked the mat-based exchanges throughout the match, and both guys really brought the competitive fire, as you'd expect after their almost confrontation the previous week. I'm nor sure if Nogami wore face paint in every match, but the fact that he did here was a nice contrast to Liger's full-body costume.. This is my Japanese Match of the Year so far, and I know that there's plenty more good Liger to come on this and future sets. Hopefully we'll see a rematch, because this bout deserves one.
  4. garretta
    Just seeing Hogan and the Road Warriors in the same ring was awesome, and I mean that in the literal sense. Everything else was gravy; Vince was never going to let any of the three of them do a job or look weak for any length of time, so we got what amounted to a barfight instead of a classic storytelling wrestling match. As barfights go, this was very good, as each team took the other's best shots and came back with their own. I'm honestly surprised that Vince allowed three of his top babyfaces to go at it so viciously against each other, complete with Hogan and Hawk busting each other open. I know they had to adjust a bit for the Japanese crowd, but I thought more of the WWF storytelling style would be in effect, where faces trade holds and power moves but never get overly aggressive with one another. Seeing chairs, tables, and the guardrail used so effectively was a sight to behold. The finish was what it was: a copout to avoid a clean loss on anyone's record, including SWS ace Tenryu. But if you came into this particular match looking for a well-told story and a definitive victor, you deserved to be disappointed. This was spectacle for spectacle's sake, a true Vince McMahon production with assistance from SWS. This match would have fit in well on a WWF pay-per-view; in fact, I'm surprised they didn't do with this match what WCW did with the Flair/Fujinami bout, and that's put highlights of this and some of the undercard bouts on pay-per-view for American consumption. Then again, God forbid Hogan take one minute of his time away from Slaughter, especially to fight two fellow faces and team with a Japanese guy few people in the WWF's target audience had ever heard of. The poor kids' heads would have exploded! Interesting touch having Hogan sell the fireball attack with the bandage on the side of his face. But the LOD never did anything with it; when Hogan bled, it was from the forehead. I didn't notice any egregious no-selling from the LOD, but like I said, just the spectacle of having Hogan in the ring with them makes up for any of the match's storytelling flaws.
  5. garretta
    I thought that this was very smartly booked. Young has been one of the slimiest heels in Texas for years now, so how do you make sure the fans are on his side? By reversing what should the natural order of things and having him play FIP instead of the smaller Dundee. He takes a righteous beating from a good-looking team, as Embry and Austin look seem they've been partners for quite a while, even though they haven't. I also liked that any possible dissension between Dundee and Young was put to rest early; it would have been easy to make this match all about whether the two of them would come to blows, but the story we got instead was much better. This was the first match where Prichard got on my nerves a bit as a commentator, but since he's aligned with the heels it makes sense that he would be biased. He reminds the world where his loyalties lie by joining the postmatch beatdown from the booth, much to Michael's disgust. They make a nice complementary pair, though Michael can be a bit too earnest for his own good from time to time. Where were the rest of the faces, especially Jeff? That's a common problem on both sides of the USWA: faces who come to the rescue far too late. I know that beatdowns are supposed to be big moments for the heels, but most of them go far beyond the limits of common sense. Wouldn't guys like Jeff be on the lookout for odd-man situations and ready to hit the ring at a moment's notice to break them up, or does each babyface's hidden reserve of virtue and righteousness shield them from any and all harm, even if three or four guys stomp the living hell out of them? Nice to see Jamie as part of the festivities, and I notice that they're still keeping him away from a physical showdown with his dad. You know it has to be coming sooner rather than later, though.
  6. garretta
    I don't think this was much as far as contests go. If you just like to see the Steiners hit their big moves as impactfully as possible, this was great, but I expected more fight out of Hase and Sasake, who were dominated in front of their home crowd to the point that it's going to take them a while to regain their reputations. If this was the only way to get the Steiners to appear, maybe they should have used another team instead. Hase in particular was made to look dumb. He hit some good-looking stuff at the start of the match, but every time he had the chance to make the tag off of a big move, he didn't, and there was definitely enough time for him to do so. This wasn't little Ricky Morton getting pounded to death by someone twice his size; it seemed to me like he was making a clearheaded decision to engage the Steiners one-on-one rather than tag Sasake, and of course he paid for that decision every time. It really took something out of what should have been a big moment, because Hase wrestled such a stupid match that he and Sasake deserved to lose. Let me be clear: I know the guy was supposed to sell for Rick and Scott, but there's a fine line between being too hurt to know what you're doing and being too stupid for your own good, and Hase was booked to spend most of the match on the stupid side of the line, in my view. This almost seemed like a vanity win for the Steiners so they could claim three championships at the same time. to be honest. Not that there's anything wrong with that in principle, but it's a shame WCW had to damage their partner promotion's best tag team to accomplish it. Couldn't Dusty have resurrected the old National belts instead?
  7. garretta
    I'm guessing they wanted to get across that Sting and Muta knew each other so well that even their signature moves wouldn't work against each other. Of course, each of them trying one within the first few minutes was weird to see, but if that's the story of the match, at least they didn't waste any time getting to it. It was good to see Sting try a few moves that he wouldn't over here, most notably the over the top rope dive and the back superplex. Who were the Americans at ringside for Sting? I know one was Rick Steiner, and another looked like Brian Pillman. Does anyone have a clue who the third one was? (To answer my own question, it was either Tim Horner or Tom Zenk.) The finish was a bit strange, first because at least part of this was shown in the States as Pete alluded to, and second because there was no rematch to build to; the next time Sting showed up at a WCW/NJPW joint card was in September, and he was Muta's tag team partner, not his opponent (they beat Hiroshi Hase and Akira Nogami). I could understand Muta getting the win because the card was in Japan, and I could understand him having to use the mist in order to protect Sting here. What I have trouble with is Sting's attack on Muta. Maybe it was done for the American audience too, but it makes Sting look like a sore loser, and since Muta's not coming back here for any rematches, there's really no financial reason for it. They probably couldn't have had a card like this without booking this match, but what we saw wasn't really worth the time and effort. These two guys' best matches with each other lay a year and a half in the past.
  8. garretta
    This was a very American match, in that the heel used rough (and sometimes) illegal tactics while the face sold and got enough offense in to keep the audience engaged, only to be screwed by a distraction in the end. We see it all the time here, but not so much in Japan, where they like their matches a bit "purer", if you will. Honaga was the star of the match here, with his basic but effective work on Liger's ribs and back. Liger can talk about how Saito interfered all day long, but he was well on his way to losing this match before Saito ever got involved. I thought I recognized Saito, but I couldn't begin to guess what his issue with Liger might be; I didn't know that he and Honaga were tag team partners. Yet another nifty American touch. They also used this bout to build to the Liger/Nogami match the following week through what I'm assuming were allegations by Liger that Nogami was in on the Saito/Honaga plot to beat him. Nogami looked very offended at that notion and had to be restrained by his handlers, which means that their Starrcade in Tokyo match ought to be one hot encounter, to say the least. I can't wait for the rematches between these two, as they seem to complement each other very well.
  9. garretta
    As a class in how to work a crowd, very few matches compare to this one. If you're expecting physicality, or even much contact, forget it. Part of me wishes that they would have at least had a brief sequence where they actually touched each other for more than five seconds at a time. It's tougher to appreciate the audience participation aspects of this twenty-four years after the fact, at least to me; I think I'd have rather seen a cage or Snake Pit match (basically, no DQ) where Jake could have actually gotten physical revenge, possibly leaving Martel and his pretty face a bloody mess. I can't deny the connection Jake has with the crowd, though; it's kind of a shame that that connection won't last much longer. Martel made an excellent fish out of water, and his performance only served to enhance Jake's. I loved the postmatch too, with Jake crushing the Arrogance atomizer beneath his feet, then putting Damien all over Martel (which didn't happen to most big-name heels in those days). I guess part of what detracts from the match is the bad commentary. This is about the time Gino started doing the same overexcited constant screaming that all the WWF announcers did, and when there's next to no physical action to describe, that can get on people's nerves in a hurry. More importantly, Heenan actually put the match over better than Gino did, and that's rare. He talked about his experience with the hood on Prime Time, and correctly pointed out that as much as the crowd and Jake thought that they had the advantage, it could be very tough to hear and breathe in the hood. Gino had nothing to say to that, and before long we were reduced to a bunch of Monsoonisms, lame insults of Bobby, and the annoying "I can't hear you!" bit from Bobby that I talked about a few posts back. It's a general rule of thumb from here on out that the more Gino gets on the Brain's case, the less he has to say about the match, good or bad. Here, it's kind of excusable since so little physical action is going on, but we'll hear it more and more until Vince takes over as the pay-per-view play-by-play guy in '92. I can't really blame Gino himself like so many others do, though; the actual matches are starting to be less important than ever in the WWF now, and this is the kind of style Vince wanted from his announcers. Being loyal to Vince Sr. and the McMahon family from way back when, it never occurred to Gino to object like he probably should have, even if doing things Vince's way made him look more incompetent and out of touch by the week. Unfortunately, since he's the one on camera playing the part, he gets the blame, and that's not fair.
  10. garretta
    This match was intentionally clunky, as some other posters have stated above. There's no way that natural enemies Embry and Young can coexist for long, regardless of which side of the fence they're on, and we get the expected Embry turn at the end after Young eats the pin. Other than that and the brief but vicious brawl between Jeff and Embry, there's nothing to make this one really stand out. That's not to say it's bad, but rather that it did its job, albeit unspectacularly. The fact that the fans sided so quickly with an arrogant jackass like Young is a testament to how much Embry's actions over the past few weeks have hurt them. It'll be interesting to see these two men's roles reversed after seeing so much of face Embry vs. heel Young ever since the death of World Class angle began two years ago. Embry's doing the same type of pro-Texas stuff here that he's doing in Memphis, only the home state crowd is firmly on the Tennesseeans' side. Of course, the Tennessee guys aren't cutting the same type of anti-Texas promos here that they are in Memphis. If only the Texas fans, especially the women, knew what Lawler's been saying about them............. I guess Ak's out of the picture now that we're seeing Tojo in Texas. That's too bad, if only because I'd have liked to see Embry as a member of Devastation, Inc. after all the stuff that went down between the two of them.
  11. garretta
    This one didn't get going for me until they traded knockdowns at the end. It would have been a big help if they'd kept track of the points and knockdowns on the screen the way the UWF does; at least I could have seen who was winning at a given point in time. I agree with Pete about this match feeling strange alongside WWF matches and in a WWF ring. I bet guys like the LOD and Hogan watched this and couldn't quite believe their eyes, at least that this kind of match was taking place on the same card as theirs. I don't know if this is a trend or not, but there was no English commentary on this one like there was on the other SWS matches we've seen so far on the Yearbooks. Given the way they interject it (nonsensically and at random), it's just as well.
  12. garretta
    Seeing that this match originally aired on one of those setup shows that Prime Time used to do explains the finish. That was a staple of those shows, especially when one of the combatants in a certain pay-per-view match was facing a fellow stable member of the other. Inevitably the corresponding feud partner would come down to even the odds and end things on a high note. At any rate, this was more heated and athletic than you'd expect a match taped for one of those shows to be. I'm guessing Shawn was auditioning for his singles push, and he certainly passed, as he stood toe-to-toe with Curt the whole time, matching him move for move and bump for bump, as that cameraman so well knows. I've never seen a guy take that clothesline-style bump off the guard rail in the forehead before, and Shawn sold it beautifully. You really could buy that Shawn didn't know where he was or who was helping him, as Lord Alfred pointed out. I also liked how the interference escalated: Michaels taking the guardrail in the forehead brought out Jannetty, which in turn brought out Heenan, which in turn brought out Bossman (with an assist from Curt's jumping of Jannetty from behind). Sean and Lord Alfred were much better here than in the Jannetty/Tanaka match; they at least sounded like they wanted to be calling it. I liked Lord Alfred's explanation of how a man with one or two small flaws could still be considered perfect. The whole perfection gimmick had completely lost its steam by now, but I have to give Vince credit for continuing to sell it as best he could. Besides, what other gimmick could have fit Curt anyway? The Coliseum overdub again tells a different story than the original commentary; if you notice, Sean's wondering what Heenan's doing at ringside, since he's released Curt from their contract and thus has nothing to gain financially from being there. Of course, at the time the match took place, he was still very much Curt's manager, but this tape had to have come out sometime that summer, after he'd left ringside. Thus, the rather awkward attempt to tie a months-old match into current storylines. Lord Alfred had to explain Bossman's presence by referencing the by-then concluded Bossman/Heenan situation.
  13. garretta
    This was an excellent opener. I notice that Vince keeps going back to the Rockers to open his pay-per-views, and that's because they always give a crowd-pleasing performance that gets the crowd hot for the rest of the show. Even when they're getting mauled by the Faces of Fear, they get just enough offense in for hope to remain alive. We shouldn't discount Haku and Barby either; they may not have been a long-term WWF team, but they look great for their experience level. It's a shame that Vince didn't keep them together at least for a while once Heenan retired from managing, but with the Nasties on top until SummerSlam and no manager that was really able to fit with them, it was probably for the best that they went their separate ways. (Haku was actually more articulate than Fuji, so that would have been an awful fit. They'd have looked completely out of place with Slick, and I think he left sometime before the year was out anyway. Jimmy had the Nasties, so he wasn't available, and all Tolos seemed to do was blow that stupid whistle.) Even though they're limited in experience, they're probably a better overall team than the Powers of Pain, mostly because Haku can work circles around the Warlord. Duggan was worthy of another chance on commentary; he seemed to know his stuff, but he still had to be Hacksaw, so he couldn't appear too smooth. It's sad listening to Howard Finkel by this time; he's permanently talking in that excessively high, overexcited voice, and it's making him difficult to understand. The worst part is, I know it's not his fault; he's obviously taking lamebrained orders from Vince, who either doesn't know or doesn't care that he's ruining the best ring announcer his company's ever had, and one of the best there's ever been. What's with the constant reminders that the Rockers are tag team specialists? It was a cute phrase when Gino first used it, but now it's getting on my nerves, especially since it's starting to mean that one's totally helpless without the other. No wonder Shawn (I think) wanted to break the team up; it was his only chance at ever making a name for himself.
  14. garretta
    This match wasn't anything special except for the finishing piledriver by Jannetty, which I'm surprised he was allowed to use since the tombstone was Taker's finisher at the time. Maybe he was allowed special dispensation because he'd been in the WWF for so much longer than Taker had. Tanaka showed almost nothing but chops and headbutts. What was he trying to do with that turnbuckle, anyway? Sean and Lord Alfred weren't on their game at all; it's almost like this overdub was done as an afterthought at ten minutes to five on a Friday afternoon. It started with Sean calling Jannetty "Shawn Michaels" and got no better as time went on. Sean called this match as if he was reading cue cards at the Event Center: same tone, same inflections, everything. His Lordship wasn't offensive, but he wasn't particularly insightful either. As a bookend, after Jannetty got the win, Sean started to proclaim this a great victory for the Rockers and had to catch himself just in time with "A great victory for the Rocker, Marty Jannetty." By the way, Shawn and Kato fought later on the same card, with Kato getting the pin after Tanaka interfered. The mini-feud was blown off the following month in a six-man tag. The Rockers teamed with Virgil to beat the OX and Fuji when Virgil put Tanaka out with the Million Dollar Dream. This was most likely overdubbed to eliminate any references to Mania, which was still nine days away when this match happened live. Why references to past cards on Coliseum videotapes bothered Vince all of a sudden I'm not sure. I'd have much rather heard Gino, Bobby, and Lord Alfred's original commentary too, especially since the overdub was so passionless.
  15. garretta
    This was a nifty little brawl. I haven't seen the match where Embry and friends turned on Young yet, but he seems to be an effective babyface while keeping his edge at the same time. Austin continues his education and looks very rugged as well. I thought there should have been more emphasis on climbing the pole to get the glove; at one point when there was less than two minutes left in the bout, I thought they weren't going to bother using the glove in the finish at all, which would have made the whole match a ripoff in my eyes. I'm kind of on the fence about Dr. Tom's interference; on the one hand, it certainly established him as a constant danger, whether in the ring, coming from the locker room, or interfering from the booth. On the other hand, they could have had him do something different than practically winning the match for Austin. If you're going to have a "climb the pole and get the object" match, it's a nice idea to have one of the two wrestlers actually get the object themselves before you have people interfering all over the place. I know he's doing a Piper impersonation, but Dr. Tom's still an excellent commentator who knows what he's talking about. He keeps his pro-Tojo bias to a minimum (though his exchange with Michael concerning Tojo's briefcase was a hoot) and really gets inside the heads of the wrestlers, which you would expect since he's a wrestler himself. In short, he's doing what the Hot Rod's doing in the WWF about as well as the man himself is, and sometimes even better, since he doesn't tend toward screaming. Michael's solid, but not spectacular; it's a shame Craig Johnson seems to have disappeared into thin air, because he'd really improved in the latter half of '90. Does Austin have any kids with Jeannie? The reason I ask is that I'm trying to figure out if she took a break for personal reasons or if Jarrett simply shoved her aside to open up a spot for his old friend Tojo. It's a shame if the latter's the case, because Austin and Jeannie were really coming into their own as an act before the Dallas promotion was suspended the previous fall.
  16. garretta
    This felt like one of those challenge matches that we used to see on TV here in the States, where the promoters wanted to get a returning star or new arrival over and put them in the ring against someone who'd been established in the territory and had a reputation. I'm thinking about stuff like Bam Bam Bigelow fighting Nikolai Volkoff on Superstars when he first got to the WWF. The matches were short, and we got to see just enough of the new guy so we took him seriously as a threat in the future. The twist here is that the new guy (Foley) lost. Before he did, though, he got in enough offense that the fans could see that he had at least some raw talent and could give guys trouble once he got some experience and acclimated himself to the Japanese style. I'm not sure what Mick thought he'd get from Jumbo here considering the difference in their experience levels and how over they were, but if he wanted more than he got, he was fooling himself, especially since this was apparently his first foreign tour. I could see him expecting better if he was the megastar he'd later become, but at this point he was lower midcard at best. If Jumbo would have taken twenty minutes to beat him, it would have made Jumbo look worse than it would have made Foley look good, if that makes any sense. Jumbo's back suplex on the floor looked especially brutal; I've never seen him do it before, but it fit this particular match perfectly.
  17. garretta
    This was kind of by-the-numbers. That's not a bad thing, really; it was more like an introduction to the fans of who's what in this feud and what they're bringing to the table. Both men worked well on the mat, with Jeff getting the advantage, and both men brawled really well, with Dr. Tom getting the advantage. So it came down to sneakiness, and that's what tipped the scales in Dr. Tom's favor today. Next up: How will Jeff counter the loaded boot in the rematch? Tony Falk really had a case of the slowskis in this match; his counts weren't as slow as some of the Mexican counts I've seen in these yearbooks, but they were about as slow as anything I've seen out of an American referee. It's nice to finally see Dr. Tom in the ring for more than just an isolated clip here and there. The man obviously has the tools, and even though he cheated to win, he still has a victory over Jeff at this point. The rematches, both in Dallas and on the Memphis loop, ought to be something else.
  18. garretta
    This was a little too short to be anything really good. It seemed like it was time to go home just as things were getting really warmed up, although there were still a few good punch exchanges. Sweet Georgia Brown's interference came out of nowhere, especially since Brickhouse has been gone from both sides of the territory for at least a few months. As for Embry's possible head-shaving not being a big deal, keep in mind that anything taking place in Dallas had to be explicable to the Memphis fans and vice versa, especially since at least some of the Memphis fans presumably got ESPN and could see the Dallas TV shows. Embry just couldn't show up with a shaved head out of nowhere and count on the crowds in the Memphis loop to overlook it; if Dundee had done the deed, Embry would naturally be expected to seek revenge, and since Jarrett wanted to keep the Tennessee/Texas and Bill/Jamie feuds separate for the time being, a Bill/Embry Memphis series made no sense. Hence, Embry was allowed to escape with his locks. The Texas title situation could be glossed over, since Memphis had the Southern belt instead. What was up with Embry yelling "Texas!" several times during the match? They weren't doing the Tennessee/Texas stuff in Dallas, or at least weren't pushing it very hard if they were. I guess that's because Lawler, one of the feud's major participants, didn't want to make the trip to Dallas on a weekly basis. I notice some Jeff/Dr. Tom matches on the horizon, though, so I guess the factions are at least being acknowledged, even if the feud isn't nearly as big in Texas as it is in Tennessee. Good on Michael for calling the Texas fans the best in the world while sitting at ringside in the Sportatorium. He's not as dumb as he looks, and besides, I'm sure he'll call the Memphis fans the best in the world when he's back at WMC. It's called good old-fashioned Southern politics, folks!
  19. garretta
    This arc's going to be kind of weird to see, knowing that as the on-screen romance between the Macho Man and Elizabeth is heating up, the real-life Randy and Liz are headed for divorce. The Macho Man character really isn't built for vocalizing his feelings; he's a man of action above all else. But he does well enough for a first effort here. Bobby's not as happy to see Randy as he was a couple of weeks back, but Vince is ecstatic, as he almost always is when Liz is anywhere in the same zip code. Not only is this segment designed to kill off the "King" gimmick once and for all, it's designed to let the viewers know beyond all doubt that Savage is retired for good and content with it. I'm not even sure that they publicized his broadcasting career before he showed up on Superstars. We get actual footage of Sherri's attack, but only still photos of Liz making the save; I guess that was to preserve Sherri's heat, since she was still going to be an active performer and Liz wasn't, at least for a while. Liz herself, as usual, barely says two words, even though this "new" Macho Man seems more inclined to let her speak than he was previously. I like the little she did say about not being able to stay away from Randy's biggest match, but I couldn't help wanting just a bit more, especially since this was supposed to be her last-ever appearance. (I don't think the Jake angle had been conceived yet, as Randy and Liz were supposed to be starting a family. That's probably the reason Vince made a spot for him on Superstars; he could still draw a paycheck, but he'd only have to work once every three weeks, which would have given him plenty of time to be a full-time dad.) As a planned transition from one phase of the Macho Man's life to another, this wasn't bad at all. As I said, the only thing wrong was that Liz didn't talk quite enough. The good news is, we'd be seeing her (and Randy) in the ring again before too long, and in a pair of classic feuds to boot.
  20. garretta
    O'Reilly must have been pretty green, because this seemed more like a training bout than anything else with its emphasis on matwork. That gives the announcers time to tell Bill's story again, complete with a tagline about how he was a total bastard when he came here but has matured into a model citizen, so there's hope for Jamie yet. First, though, his friends have to stop busting Bill open with coal miner's gloves. Second, Jamie has to stop acting so happy about it. And third, he has to stop trying to take the mic out of Dave Brown's hand. Jamie's not a bad talker for his experience level, and the idea that he could recruit someone like Austin to do his dirty work speaks to his intelligence. But Bill's promo blows his away. Even though part of it's cut off, the gist is still loud and clear: he'll stop at nothing to make Jamie see the error of his ways, even running Austin out of Memphis. The mentions of Bill sending Tony Anthony and Jeff Gaylord out make him seem like even more of a threat to do it, regardless of his size. I'd have liked to see Jeff and/or Lawler make the save here, but apparently they want to keep this issue separate from the Tennessee/Texas stuff as much as possible, and I can't blame them. Why try to squeeze everyone into one hot program when you can have two? I still think that the two feuds will intersect at some point before all is said and done, though.
  21. garretta
    I agree with Soup about Larry Z here. He's really had his big-league working boots on for his two in-ring appearances that we've seen in WCW, and he's also been great in the booth. This is so much of a change from the AWA Zbyszko whom all of us know and a lot of us find boring that I'm tempted to wonder if Verne knew how badly he was underestimating what Larry was capable of. If he'd been booked like this in the AWA, it wouldn't have necessarily saved the promotion, but the belt and the legacy would have gone to their eternal reward in much better shape than they did. The Stinger showed much more fire than he ever did against a Horseman; Zbyszko's attack has truly gotten his dander up, and he's not afraid to hurt the old man to prove his point. Unfortunately, Larry has him so angry that that anger costs him the match. I actually liked seeing the normally placid, laid-back Stinger this upset, and I wish we had more stuff from this angle on tape, because it seems like we could have had quite a few more good TV bouts between these two, though not necessarily a pay-per-view match. Nice to see Tony with a TBS gig; JR doing all three shows had to not only be tough on him, but also the viewers. Ultimately, I'd be fine with someone else doing the Power Hour as well, which would free JR up to do WCWSN, the Clashes, and of course the pay-per-views. which he still excels at.
  22. garretta
    I'm no rock 'n' roll expert, AJ, but I think you mean Van Halen.
  23. garretta
    A short squash during which Tony brings us up to date on the Simmons/Reed feud, which is apparently just heating up. After Simmons makes hash out of Rogers, Reed comes in, and we have a pretty intense brawl by syndicated show standards to close out the hour. I like this version better than the masked man version that Worldwide had. I can't believe that they worked the same match move for move twice, with only the nature of the run-in changing. I can accept the fact that by now promotions redid bad matches or matches with some kind of technical difficulty, but redoing a match just to have a different person do a run-in, especially when that person doesn't show up again in the feud, is the height of ludicrous. Bischoff and Russo might have dug WCW's final grave, but the patient started to become ill under supposed "old-school" bookers Ole and Dusty.
  24. garretta
    A master class in carneyism from Lawler and Keirn. The "enemy of my enemy is my friend" bit is a wrestling staple, and so are former enemies teaming in pursuit of a common goal, but not less than a month after the enemies tried their damndest to cripple each other. That takes a special brand of convincing to get over to the public, and Lawler and Keirn dispense it flawlessly. I especially like Keirn flat-out stating that he still doesn't like Lawler and wouldn't waste his time teaming with him if it wasn't for Fargo. I also like Lawler reminding the fans of his past history with Dundee as a further illustration of the point; there exists no better example of the ups and downs between two wrestlers than the Superstar and the Kingfish. If Lawler can not only team with Dundee but win World tag team titles with him after two of the bloodiest, most violent feuds in Memphis history, teaming with Keirn will be a snap. Finally, I liked Keirn downplaying the Tennessee/Texas part of the feud. He's from Florida, not either one of the other states, and considering who's involved in the feud, he's no doubt hoping that everybody takes turns beating each other's brains out the second he leaves town. He's in this as a favor to Fargo, period, and that's enough to earn Embry and Prichard the beating of their lives. Definitely the best Memphis interview this year, and maybe the best one not involving an altercation of the Yearbook series so far.
  25. garretta
    This was a shortie but goody. Austin really matches up well with Jeff, and this feels much longer than six minutes, but in a good way. Michael uses Jeff's Dallas nickname of "Simply irresistible", which I'm not sure the Memphis fans are familiar with at this point. I don't know if it was a slip or part of Dad's integration of the two offices; I guess we'll find out soon enough. The loaded-fist finish is so commonplace now that it's not even a finish anymore, as we see Jeff put his foot on the ropes after he's supposedly knocked out by Austin's knucks. Maybe now they'll stop using it in every other match (or so it seems). I like how Dave in particular is still slightly uncomfortable referring to Jamie as JC Ice Baby. By the way, which female dressing room did Jamie rob for that hideous outfit? It honestly looked like a blouse and skirt from a distance. I prefer Jeannie in Steve's corner to Jamie, but I can see why Jamie's being used instead: being even a peripheral part of the Tennessee/Texas feud will do wonders in terms of getting him much-needed experience on the mic and possibly even in the ring. Eddie and Jeff seem a lot more friendly than Eddie and Lawler. I wouldn't exactly call them friends yet, but at least they can stand to be around each other without one of them acting like the other's got the cooties.
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