dawho5
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Everything posted by dawho5
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I have been playing around with Fire Pro World for a while and I have hit on the one thing that is missing from every "fighting" wrestling game ever. Transitions. It's always a strike or a grapple. If there is a knockdown you do an elbow drop/whatever or submission that lasts so long and reset. There is no flow to the next move, like say a guy who is in a weardown armbar on the ground gets up (if their defense succeds, lets say) and the attacker still has the armbar. Maybe the next thing that happens is a whip to the ropes, maybe the attacker manages to get it back down to the mat. Or maybe the attacker transitions into something else from the original armbar before the escape. Things like that contribute to a match in a lot of ways and it just doesn't exist in the games people have made about pro wrestling. Part of that is all of these games are made as "fighting games" where you are always trying only to win. Having an entertaining match (or even better, one with a good story) is less than an afterthought.
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I will agree with the fun touring match comments. Nothing really big, but good and entertaining. Shawn bumping around for Bret is fun with a couple of too-overdone bumps thrown in. They both end up making the other look great regardless of the outcome, so mission accomplished.
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Clearly a match to give a green Tiger Kanemoto some experience against guys who knew their trade. The one dive was HUGE for sure, but I'm not into Kanemoto as TM yet. -
I like the old school matwork, but after the finish I am a little puzzled by the need to take that long for fall 1. Did they not know how much time they had? J.R> & Rachtman for the most part work really well together and I wouldn't mind seeing Rachtman back. One good thing about the slow mat wrestling is that it gives JR a chance to really shine on commentary. He is at his absolute best when calling a scientific mat wrestling match. I get why Brad never got past the midcard despite the skillset. I do recall a match where he was playing heel in a costume and showed a ton of personality though. maybe he needed a weird masked gimmick to get him to the next level.
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AA with a great, great down-to-earth promo on Sting. Please tell me that match made tape!
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I noticed Jesse and Tony have way better chemistry than Jesse and J.R. right away. The tournament being sponsored by Super Nintendo made my day. Dustin is super polished for a guy around a year in. I know he grew up around the business, but he is really really good. Rude helps a lot by being such a giving heel. Great match and it is a shame WCW has been mismanaging storylines as we reach mid-1992. The in-ring product at the top is incredible.
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FYI the reason the save took so long was because the bus the other 3 babyfaces were on was running a little late. Nothing match due to no time even though Horner is best in the ring doing his proto-cruiserweight/southern brawler thing. And I think the beatdown may have been longer.
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I was thinking the same about instant replay. Would have certainly worked in this instance Bob. Also, if the decision is final why is Landell forced to put the 5k on the line? Seems like the decision is anything but final. Good promo by Landell, Hell with gasoline drawers on sounds awful.
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It's hard to think of Eddie Gilbert as too much of a heel given that he seems to be right about most of what he complains about. Really good promo though.
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Tell me we are running out of these.
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Good and violent (strange for WWF TV), but way, way too long. Even if those suits don't want to get in the ring and mix it up with the guy they would have to do something resembling their job. Not only that, why would Nailz not even change out of the convict uniform before coming to the taping? I did catch J. J. Dillon (JoJo?) at ringside.
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I am in with the good, not great rating on it. It can't compare to the earlier tag at all. This match does illustrate why I think this is the best era of AJPW wrestling-wise. The crowd reactions area absolutely amazing and every matchup has it's own dynamic. Waht's better is that every wrestler seems 100% of what that dynamic is with everyone else and they play their roles in it so well. Kikuchi's role does get a little old on repetition and it's probably why he became so much less prominent once Jumbo is out of the picture. As Loss mentioned, Jumbo/Kikuchi is such a great mini-feud within these matches. With better offense over time I think Kikuchi could have continued being relevant. I do wonder if his body started to maybe break down a little early due to the sheer amount of punishment though.
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The mention of Super Soakers caught me off-guard too. ESPN carried this promotion? Anyway, Booker is really advanced for having never seen him before.
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This is in my top 10 matches of all time, has been since I saw it the first time. I love me a good southern tag and this is probably the best version of that match ever. Also, as a first wrestling match for the day it is pretty damn sweet! There are a handful of matches where Kikuchi is at his absolute best and looks like he could weather whatever kinds of sick, murderous bumps or torturous holds come his way and keep fighting back effectively no matter what. And of course garner as much sympathy as humanly possible. This happens to be one of them and it kind of makes the match. I think the thing that works for me about this match is that it takes a really simple narrative structure like the southern tag and puts a ridiculous good workrate match on top of it while staying true to that form. The fact that Kroffat and Kobashi are in it is no surprise, since both are tremendous workrate guys who understand how to work that into the narrative of the match. And you have one of the all-time FIP candidates (Kikuchi) to keep that crowd molten hot all the way through. As well as the previously mentioned team dynamic that Kobashi and Kikuchi have. So many factors converge to make this a really, really great match even if it is not exactly "King's Road style". Which, by the way, was a thing of later years (maybe end of '93 or middle of '94 on) and, honestly, I think AJPW from 91-92 is better than the "King's Road" matches in terms of consistent match quality. As a postscript, matches like this are a very big part of why Kobashi will continue to go to the moonsault late-match years later. One part of AJPW booking I have always loved.
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These are 4 amazing athletes. They cut a ridiculous pace from beginning to end and it is certainly fun and really well-executed for what it is. I also enjoyed the Hasegawa/Yoshida pairing. That giant swing is really beyond description. I've been watching Dragon Gate matches of late (trying to get a feel for the modern variants of things I used to like) and I have to say that DG owes more to this style of wrestling than it does to the NJ juniors. It's not near as focused as this either, even if the highspots are just as or more breathtaking.
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I liked the first fall a lot, the heels really shined up the babyfaces as mentioned. Both Eaton and Arn were phenomenal. second fall I was expecting the heels to take control. I get what they were going for with how they wrestled this match though. Larry is supposed to look like the guy who is causing all of the problems in the DA. I just love me a good southern tag is all. The FIP on Steamer is great and the finish just drives home the story the match was supposed to tell. Had this just been another tag match they could have had the shine-FIP-hot tag structure that would probably have gone over a lot better and been a lot more exciting. As it was, the story is the most important part and it works really well when you look at it from that angle.
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I loved seeing Bischoff treated like this too. We all have our petty moments. Precious was the best part of this segment by far. It seems like WCW has lost all direction and is just throwing stuff at the wall and hoping it works. And then quickly reversing itself in puzzling ways when it doesn't.
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DDP was laying it on super thick. I'm glad he had toned it down some when he got to his big babyface run that should have lasted way longer. This was weird for reasons mentioned above. DDP outing Heyman is just way out of left field. Did he turn face after this?
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The ropes that were left were super loose too. Embry's pre- and post-match promos were both amazing. Loving this run in Memphis. Was waiting on the Dogs run-in, good match bit it was doomed from the start. Brian Christopher has really good heel mannerisms. Fun brawl with the obvious save.
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My guess is that they wanted Pritchard do get a visual pin on Christopher in case he ever came back. Billy Travis is back, yes! Looking forward to that match-up.
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Gilbert was really great here. If Flair had been watching would he have sued?
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I think the jacket was also tied to the deal where they mentioned the catalog earlier. Gotta show off that merch. I enjoyed how Gene felt the need to translate Warrior's gibberish at one point.
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Strange promo for sure. I agree the woman kind of looked like Liz, which is kind of creepy. The entrance music playing on tape was strange. Perfect swatting everything away like it was his gum was indeed great. And that answering machine recording was soooooooo good.
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All the this-idea-is-awful stuff aside (which I completely agree with), It almost seems like this is a perfect feud for a guy who spouts mystic mumbo jumbo like Warrior.
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Match was pretty uneventful. Orndorff's promo was pretty good, not sure why they let Brian Lee talk.