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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    And another, though it sort of wore out its welcome quickly. The pilot fight between Marilyn and Charles Manson was almost a work of art in how well-done it was.
  2. PeteF3
    I dunno, I think if Raven were cutting this promo people would have been shitting all over it, except this is supposed to be "legit."
  3. PeteF3
    In a matter of weeks, the WWF has gotten Patterson and Brisco legitimately over to a greater degree than any WCW main eventer.
  4. PeteF3
    Along with Who you could probably include all of the other JTTS gimmicks of that time: TL Hopper, Freddy Joe Floyd, Sal Sincere, the Goon, and Alex Porteau. Yes, those gimmicks were dumb and yes, they were a waste of two great talents in Smothers and Anthony, but people act like they were more examples of massive failures of WWF creative when all they really were for was to have squashes on TV but disguise them as non-squashes. None of them were really designed to "get over" so it's hard to objectively say that they failed.
  5. PeteF3
    Fairly sure mental illness is just sort of something to be assumed when suicide is involved. Kerry was talking about suicide at least in an indirect way before his legal issues really flared up--Bret Hart wrote about Kerry feeling it was time to go to heaven to be with his brothers and that was shortly after his arrival in the WWF.
  6. PeteF3
    Until this morning when he decided to break off and accuse Kerry Von Erich of being drunk when he crashed his motorcyle (True or not? First I've heard of that) and then call him out for "taking the coward's way out" by committing suicide. Still a shallow idiot at heart, it seems.
  7. PeteF3
    Another winning segment--WCW has a "when you have two quarterbacks, you really have none" problem with regard to its bloated roster and incessant political games. Everything gets muddled, every main eventer wants face time with their own idea of how to be booked, and nothing has focus. The WWF has a depleted roster and the guys they do have are working hurt, but that means everyone can be given something important to do, and the performers they have are making the most of their opportunity. The only quibble with this segment and episode of TV is the work-for-free stip for Dustin doesn't really get as much play as it should--he'd be starting the born-again stuff in a matter of weeks, IIRC.
  8. PeteF3
    18 months later and I can answer Loss' question: the Hall turn was yet another political maneuver by Hogan. By splitting up the Outsiders in storyline, he figured he could split them and their power up behind the scenes as well. This is fascinating stuff if you think the backstage shit is more interesting than the actual product. I don't want to be one of those people.
  9. PeteF3
    Buffer intros the first participant as "The Hitman, Bret." Spectacular. I thought this was incredibly disappointing performance by Bret--his work over the knee is pretty good and Savage sells it like a champ, but he's WAY too involved with the crowd like a 1993 WWF heel phoning it in at a half-empty house show, to the point where even the announcers call him out on it. The knee work is the best part of the match but the finish sucks. Savage reverses the Sharpshooter which should be sold as a monumentally gutsy moment, but no one notices because all the attention is on an incredibly pointless run-in by Elizabeth. I'm remembering *far* less about 1998 WCW than I thought I knew so I would have bet money on a Liz turn here, but she just serves to be in the way and Hogan does the actual run-in to give Bret the win. I'd love to know the hoops and backflips that WCW brass and top guys surely went through to explain away why the Vanilla Midgets were all so over and this match wasn't. I'm sure the Midgets did too many moves and burnt the crowd out. A not-terrible but not-good match--they were on their way to salvaging this with some hot near-falls and a gutty Savage comeback only for this to go off the rails again.
  10. PeteF3
    I can't tell if Schiavone is vainly attempting to keep this within storyline by putting Bischoff over as a heel, or if he's shooting. His "Oh well, whatever" doesn't sound like normal babyface announcer disgust. Agreed that aside from a subtle line about considering himself the top star, the intro of Vince has absolutely zero bite to it. Why is Bischoff selling disappointment and frustration at Vince's no-show when he outright said that was going to happen? The announcers all sound thankful that this fiasco is over.
  11. PeteF3
    A helicopter cam--what a fantastic use of resources. Heenan is absolutely hilarious making fun of Dillenger's investigation of the limo, some of the funniest stuff he's done in years.
  12. PeteF3
    One of those matches where breaking down the X's and O's is kind of irrelevant--it's a brilliantly crafted moment and that's what really matters in the end. Again, kudos go to everyone for not telegraphing this a bit until the moment when Juventud eliminates himself. And even then, it's the *fans* catching up on things before the announcers, which just makes this all the cooler. Malenko even does a good job of disguising his usual mannerisms by doing a full-fledged Ciclope entrance. It's as well-executed as the DDP/La Parka swerve but with an even better build-up and more far-reaching consequences.
  13. PeteF3
    Doug Dillenger is out with a clearance pass with Vince McMahon's photo on it, as some bad-acting fans call him out. The suspense is palpable. I do really like this Slamboree set, attention-getting and classy at the same time. There may have been better individual Benoit performances but this stands right near the top as one of WCW's best overall matches of the year. And I mean, listen to this crowd reaction and try to dismiss Benoit as a Vanilla Midget. Goes to show that even as wrestling audiences in general are getting more superficial, there's still a tangible difference between what will pop a WCW crowd and what will pop a WWF audience--and this is a Northeast show! This has a lot of twists and turns and near-comebacks after some token matwork to start and feels like an ultra-stiff version of a New Japan juniors match.
  14. PeteF3
    I admit Taz's swerve got to me--I thought it was coming initially, but they dragged it out just long enough that I second-guessed myself. Like a poor man's version of the Mark Henry retirement. It's still absurd that Shane still has the ECW World title.
  15. PeteF3
    The FBI pay a touching tribute to Ol' Blue Eyes by beating Nova & Meanie into a bloody pulp, with a sick blade job from Meanie. Rich appoints them the *new* Chairmen of the Board. It's getting a little dusty in here. Balls & Axl come out to take the place of the babyfaces and we get a decent southern tag opening-style match. Rich is the highlight, doing two hot moves from the apron into the guardrail, one as interference and one as a payback spot.
  16. PeteF3
    Jamie accosts Hat Guy and asks him if he sent his sister a Mother's Day card last week. As an also-Italian I too don't want to see Chris Chetti and reiterate my demand for an FBI vs. PG-13 match-up.
  17. PeteF3
    Yes, after a few token weeks of high-effort TV Thunder is quickly descending into B-show-ville. My money would still be on Bischoff but he's getting pretty noticeably paunchy here. I'm not sure how this is "taking the bull by the horns" because I have no idea what this would accomplish if Vince *did* show up.
  18. PeteF3
    This is a feature for a horrible mess of a movie whose production history reads remarkably like 1998 WCW, appropriately enough. I wonder what Power Plant trainee got this job.
  19. PeteF3
    Another point of difference between WCW and the WWF. This isn't a terrible segment but the production is rather amateurish and lazy, and a far cry from the packages the WWF has been putting together.
  20. PeteF3
    Hilariously, Meltzer noted in the Observer that "who would win?" was the most talked-about subject in both Big Two locker rooms immediately after Monday night. My money's on Bischoff. Still, Eric's ego is pretty out of control at this point, as now he's suddenly being pushed as a UFC-caliber badass.
  21. PeteF3
    FREE RIC FLAIR, IMPRISON ERIC BISCHOFF. Wait, you mean Shane Douglas might have been off the mark with his comments at Wrestlepalooza? Tommy Dreamer responds to the Dudleys. Bill Alfonso assures us that RVD & Sabu are still inseparable after their fiasco of a match at the PPV. Lance Storm is tired of Chris Candido screwing him and wants a one-on-one match. A juiced-to-the-gills Candido responds and won't put his personal issues with Storm ahead of the tag titles. We get a bunch of back-and-forth promos negotiating a Storm vs. Candido dream partner tag match that takes a bunch of left turns. Candido, after being told not to pick a Triple Threat member, picks Sabu. Storm responds with RVD.
  22. PeteF3
    One of Gertner's lamer promos. Buh Buh Ray is still working a killer redneck gimmick and affecting a Southern accent. The Dudleys are about the last tag team standing and do seem a bit lost without the Eliminators, Gangstas, and even the Pitbulls as peers.
  23. PeteF3
    This has to be a record for most segments on a Yearbook from one night of wrestling. One of the most noteworthy Mondays in awhile, even if WCW was mostly noteworthy for the wrong reasons. This is a fun little tag with Rock and especially D'Lo really going all-out. The People's Elbow is now named and the entire shtick, except for the elbow pad toss, is there. It's still not over and neither is the Rock Bottom, though. D'Lo might be the best worker in this match and this feels like a coming-out party for him, with JR doing a great job of getting over what it would mean if D'Lo were to pin Austin. Vince CLOTHESLINES AUSTIN in what was a mindblowing development at the time, but Austin makes his own comeback against the Stooges before being attacked by Dude Love. But here comes Dustin, then here comes DX, and the Nation's in, and--and--...how soon until next Monday night???
  24. PeteF3
    DX are fully playing to the crowd now as the turn is complete. X-Pac directly responds to Bischoff's promo from earlier in the night in one of those cool only-in-the-late-'90s deals. HHH's weekly double-entendre is cut off by Owen Hart, who's about to take on DX by himself before he reconsiders and brings out the Nation. Owen's babyface run ended up being a waste but the turn was another example of strong booking, as he "initiates" himself in the Nation by destroying their enemy Ken Shamrock and now has allies in his fight with DX, all while setting up a future feud. Good, logical storytelling.
  25. PeteF3
    In a clever bit of editing, the "free tickets" in Norfolk the previous week were for an entirely different event at the Scope.
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