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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    Highlights of the "36 Mafia," as the title card says it. Apparently this is the full actual video, ECW footage and all. Actually Shane & Francine come startlingly close to my own thoughts on this--why *was* Beulah in there and not Francine?
  2. PeteF3
    So, Candido's a babyface now? Yeah, babyface Candido vs. heel Storm should work perfectly.
  3. PeteF3
    No, not everything here works, but as I've said...when you're as hot as the WWF, those types of things just don't matter in the big picture. The company, because the production is so slick and focused in all facets from the camera work to the commentary, can make you overlook those types of things while WCW usually does the precise opposite and draws even more attention on a given angle's shortcomings.
  4. PeteF3
    Shawn, to his credit, practically leaps out of his chair trying to put all this over. Bart makes mincemeat out of Bradshaw and there *may* have actually been some way to capitalize on this, but of course the Wrong Guy won the shoot tournament, because that possibility wasn't predictable at all. I like the idea of running Bart vs. Shamrock, even if just to put Shamrock over in a one-off PPV match.
  5. PeteF3
    This was a FANTASTIC segment--one I vaguely remember from the live airing but something I found almost spellbinding this time. Rock is such a despicable, contemptible piece of shit here, of Tully-esque proportions. It's hard to imagine him sinking any lower. It's also good to see the Nation get more heat on DX for the second week in a row. Despite the threatened sexual assault taking place I couldn't help but laugh out loud when Rock passed up the opportunity to kiss Chyna and instead told Mark Henry to do it. One because the delivery was so funny and two because this will lead to a pretty fun storyline before it goes completely off the rails. It'd be easy to point to this as another example of Russo misogyny in action but this segment actually works, because Chyna is otherwise portrayed strongly and because of Rock's total commitment to being a scumbag that it leaves no doubt who the face and the heel are. Oh, and the surprise return of Shawn was a big deal as well--you had to think that this was leading to an in-ring return.
  6. PeteF3
    This was crazy--some truly cringeworthy shots, but at the time it seemed awesome and it's all done with a sense of fury and hatred and deeper storyline that makes this rise above your usual brainless stunt show. Undertaker and Kane are out to end Mankind once and for all and almost do it--Mankind is now a fully sympathetic character. A DQ in a Hell in a Cell match should probably not be let any more off the hook than the Capital Combat main event, but I guess there's a difference between a PPV title main event and a match on Raw given about 30 minutes' notice. A super-hot post-match once again makes us forget about feeling ripped off, as the WWF has done time and again over the past 12 months.
  7. PeteF3
    Maybe he thought to stick a microphone inside the boots themselves to get the full audio effect. This does lead to the death of Double J and through sheer force of will, a gimmick makeover that *sort of* has fans caring about Jeffrey Jarrett.
  8. PeteF3
    Awesome little promo with Mankind channeling a bit of his old partner Mikey Whipwreck. Mankind will get his ass kicked by Kane inside the Cell and he knows it--so he's going to start on the roof again.
  9. PeteF3
    Ah, focus in the main event scene. Nitro had almost made me forget what it was like. Short of Vince stepping into the ring himself this really does feel like the biggest money match the WWF has in its holster.
  10. PeteF3
    Goldberg & Nash vs. Hogan & Giant ends with Goldberg pinning Curt Hennig, because why not? "Hennig asked to be a part of this match!" --Tony Schiavone. Okay, you can run in as long you "ask" first. One of the most tepid post-match brawls in history takes place afterward--it seems like I've been typing something to that effect a *lot* for these show-closing clusterfucks on Nitro. Watch the stomps on Goldberg in the corner by the NWO and you'll see what I mean, though. This whole thing is muddled and badly-timed...the run-ins seem late (and it takes the geriatric WCW crew a while to get there), and Team WCW just sort of stands around for awhile until we get the Nash-Goldberg face-off on the floor. Yet another head-shaking edition of Nitro.
  11. PeteF3
    Dumb and unnecessary is a good way of putting it. Bret can come *close* to saving all this because his delivery and gravitas still carry weight, but it's not quite enough. At one point Schiavone would incredulously bring up the Giant chokeslamming Ray a bunch of times, even if he couldn't even try to explain it--now he's given up on even doing that.
  12. PeteF3
    Warrior does a bit of his old running entrance...and blows up. What a promising sign. IT'S COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT IF YOU WANT TO EXCEL IN ANY FIELD, YOU STUDY THE MASTERS, EMULATE THE CHAMPIONS, MODEL THE VIRTUES OF THE PREEMINENT INDIVIDUALS IN THAT PARTICULAR FIELD. Nice and punchy, Warrior, good going--can we have Konnan back out here again, please? His promos are infuriating but at least they're concise. Warrior stumbles around saying nothing and then chides the crowds for their impatience. Like it or not, it's a new world now, Warrior--adjust or die.
  13. PeteF3
    If I never see another one of these Wolfpac catchphrase-fests again it will be too soon. Nash has been completely lost in the wilderness practically since the Wolfpac formed--I guess I can't complain too loudly now that he has a shred of focus to him.
  14. PeteF3
    The ladder match doesn't really have that "holy shit" vibe it would carry later on--too much turnover from the big matches of 1994-95 to now. Rock has a few new phrases that would recur more often ("rooty-poo candy ass" and "rung by damn rung...") later on. It's still refreshing to see Rock doing straightforward promos incorporating this stuff a little more organically than his later promos as a catchphrase-spouting babyface.
  15. PeteF3

    What Now For Roman Reigns?

    PeteF3 replied to DMJ's topic in WWE

    Yeah, but they also insisted on having Reigns do at least one job to Show, which was rather stupid and counterproductive no matter what the "payoff" was supposed to be.
  16. PeteF3
    Omori does his best to kill this, but this is pretty high-quality the rest of the way. They attempt to re-do the old Jumbo/Misawa angle with Ogawa and Jun and they pull it off, mainly because Ogawa is so good at being an opportunistic ratfuck. This has some really heated exchanges between the two that climaxes with Ogawa PINNING JUN. Was that ever a stunner--it's like Riki Choshu booked this show. Clearly Baba or whoever felt that AJPW needed some freshening up because this feels like a pretty monumental card. For no particular reason I'll drop this hot take here: after two '80s sets and now most of the '90s, I've determined that I don't like Korakuen Hall as a venue. It's probably great to visit live and I like intimate atmospheres, but I don't like the feel of the place on tape at all.
  17. PeteF3
    Kobashi accidentally knocks Ace off the apron, a la Owen & Bret. Ace recovers eventually, but seemingly gives up on attempting to save Kobashi from a Taue power bomb. Then he helps Kobashi to his feet...and drops him with a clothesline! Ace takes out a slew of young boys and lays out Kobashi with the cobra clutch suplex until Akiyama makes the save. Ace leaves seemingly having formed a new alliance of his own with Johnny Smith & The LaCrosse. A fun angle from a promotion not known for them--this might be the first involving main eventers since 1990. They do their best to work this angle close to the way it would go down in a real sport with the way that the other young boys react.
  18. PeteF3
    A pretty good match that threatened to verge into greatness, but never quite got there, as this lose focus and peter out towards the end. The kick exchanges were great and some of the counterwrestling was just gorgeous, though. This probably peaked with Satomura's tremendous comeback leading into the Death Valley driver, but after that fails to put Kato away (after Satomura had just kicked out of Kato's finish as well), the ending is more of an anticlimax rather than a huge build into an inevitable result leaving you thirsty for more. Unquestionably a noble effort, though.
  19. PeteF3
    I daresay this is the best AJW match I've seen in 1998! A definite MOTYC worldwide for all the reasons Loss mentioned. I don't know if Toyota slows down because Kandori forces her to, because of a stylistic choice, or if she simply has too many miles on her--or a little from all three columns. She's filled out some more since the last time we saw her and the springboards aren't as crisp or as high-flying as they used to be, but she gets the most out of what she can and Kandori paces this excellently, knowing when to slap on the submissions, when to unleash the High-End Offense, and when to start selling and bumping to put Toyota's offense over. I have no problem calling Kandori a great worker and one of the better joshi workers of her era--when she started busting out the wind-up headbutts, it struck me as to why: she's a female Fujiwara in a lot of ways. Maybe even more fun to watch, too.
  20. PeteF3
    One of the best PPW segments so far, drawing on real events and somehow bringing up Lawler's divorce and probable cheating without heeling him, since Hales and Baxter are so loathsome. Hales thought Stacy was just a ring rat, but it turns out she was a mere softball rat. Baxter is revealed as Stacy's secret lover in Florida whenever Lawler is at Raw or at a PPV, and Baxter cuts a pretty hilarious promo about how they should reveal their love to the world. Stacy responds with a slap and is about to get double-teamed when Lawler and his spectacularly ugly tights make the save. Two big guys in Scream masks attack Lawler until Christopher saves. Between Hales, Paul Bearer, and even Stacy, it seems we're getting yet another last gasp for semi-traditional managers, to the point where I'll have to give out an Award at the end of the year.
  21. PeteF3
    The Dudleys have RVD in a 2-on-1 match and of course can't put him away, and then we get 9 million run-ins. We go off the air with a cliffhanger as Taz contemplates forming a New Triple Threat with RVD and Sabu. Fonzie as a babyface manager is so, so wrong, though I guess not any more wrong than a bunch of other things in this angle.
  22. PeteF3
    Tammy announces a new local channel in Philadelphia--channel 48, which she points out is 21 less than 69. While almost falling out of her leather halter top, she declares she's done wearing conservative clothing. Yes, Sunny was fired from the WWF at the end of July for refusing to enter rehab. It's all downhill from here.
  23. PeteF3
    Shane is set off when Joey refers to RVD as ECW's only active singles champion. Douglas says/threatens he'll get in the ring tonight to prove Styles wrong. This was an okay, and *concise* Franchise promo, though it would have been better with more Taz imitations and less swearing.
  24. PeteF3
    THIS IS NOT A MATCH, THIS IS A CONFRONTATION. A familiar refrain over past Raws and more Raws to come. That's one way to avoid the bait-and-switch accusations, and generally when the WWF did this, they hit you with something that made you forget that you didn't get the match that was hyped. I like this build better than anyone else, it seems.
  25. PeteF3
    Pretty stiff fight--nothing fancy, but not boring and certainly heated. Eventually most of DX gets into it with Jeff Jarrett & Southern Justice on the floor, leaving Triple H to be beaten into oblivion by the Nation. Weird not to have HHH eat the pin after all that, but I guess it was rare enough to see DX get totally laid out as they did here.
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