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PeteF3

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  1. PeteF3
    Or Hakeem? Or did he get done and I missed it? Could Olajuwon be Bret Hart? Two titles in a Jordan/Hogan-less era, "foreign" (to differing degrees), technically sound, not the outsized personality of the other major stars of the era...I dunno, maybe it doesn't hold up.
  2. PeteF3
    I doubt NJPW would have gone for a joint Dome show if their guy wasn't going over in the end somehow. That said...WCW would have been better off trying to swing it with Muto here, whose name carried at least some cache with their audience.
  3. PeteF3
    Buddy Landell?
  4. PeteF3
    I'm just embarrassed to have forgotten that Kobashi-Hansen match already. That was on the Yearbook and well-loved and everything. Still, point stands. I think AJPW's limit on the Jr. title was 105 kg, as opposed to NJPW's 100 kg (220 pounds). Still, as good as the matches were, yeah, Kroffat as a junior was kind of an odd sight.
  5. PeteF3
    One of my main takeaways as I near the end of 1996 is that Kobashi is getting quite the Rey Misterio-as-World-Champion-style title reign. He couldn't beat Kawada in his first defense. He's still working as an underneath babyface in the RWTL matches, the blame for which may be just as much on him as on the booker. And while I get the double round-robin format allowed for more upsets than a typical AJPW tourney, I remain baffled by the decision to job him to Gary Albright. I also don't get the vibe that he and Patriot are serious contenders to walk home with the trophy in the end (even accounting that we already know what the final match is). Not sure that's really a good place for your Triple Crown champion to be.
  6. PeteF3
    Lynch. FLIK sold me on it in the Other 1996 thread.
  7. PeteF3
    This RULED. All kinds of low blows, payback spots, distracted referees (!), outside interference (!!), and other things that serve to disgrace puroresu but are oh so glorious when Team Chono are doing them. Iizuka does what he does best which is take a beating and provide hope spots, but Yamazaki is really who's holding this together, as he decides, "fuck sportsmanship" and gives back everything that Chono & Tenzan like to do. Some heart-stopping near-falls down the stretch make this one of the better under-the-radar NJPW tags of the year.
  8. PeteF3
    Hirata gets tortured quite a bit here, but the real focus is Choshu gunning for Hashimoto as he prepares for an IWGP title shot on 1/4. Gotta love old man Choshu throwing dropkicks at Hash standing on the ring apron. We get more good chop-down-the-tree stuff at the end, too. Another nice short cozy tag, though not as great as the AJPW sprint from the day before.
  9. PeteF3
    I dunno, I'd say Sasuke took quite a FIP-style beating. Still, everyone gets to shine here and the closing stretch is one of the very best of the year. Hell, Yakushiji pinning Togo seemed like a legitimate possibility. I think These Days was a smidgen better, thanks to a better atmosphere in part, but on the other hand Sasuke definitely felt like a missing piece there.
  10. PeteF3
    Otani looked great here, naturally, and I love it when he flies in from off-camera with a surprise springboard dropkick. Otherwise, Loss pretty much sums it up.
  11. PeteF3
    This blew. No heat, worked in slow motion, and I lost count of how many huracanranas they did.
  12. PeteF3
    A cozy 7 and a half minutes of bombs at a breakneck pace. There's probably a better parallel to the famous Hagler vs. Hearns fight than this--it's a good match but not *quite* that transcendent--but none are really coming to mind right now. In the first minute, Akiyama takes a backdrop driver, Doc gets knocked out by a rolling elbow, Misawa takes an Ace Crusher, and Ace takes a tiger driver--the car wreck on the highway analogy so favored by JR has never been more apt than it is here. This is like a Yearbook match clipped to the finishing stretch, but the clipping is by the wrestlers and not by editing.
  13. PeteF3
    Another war, with some holy-shit spots that probably didn't go as planned. Garza attempts a shooting star press to the floor but only does about 70% of the revolution, and amazingly doesn't break his neck. That came right after Scorpio Jr. tried a tope and instead of hitting his partner as intended, just goes splat face-first on the floor. Interesting that by the end of this, the main issues seem to be Dandy vs. Santo and Casas vs. Scorpio, instead of the Casas/Santo rivalry that precipitated this whole thing. The technicos are more prepared this time and execute a big comeback at the end, with Casas and Dandy stomping the shit out of Santo and dogpiling him for the final pin.
  14. PeteF3
    In particular, I'll mention Taue countering one of Misawa's elbow flurries with an enzuigiri, but then immediately grabbing his ankle that Misawa had worked on a little bit earlier and being forced to tag out. Just a neat little touch to get the opening matwork stuff over. But that's a relatively tiny and inconsiderate portion of the match. What a fucking match it is. Misawa gets completely destroyed in the first 5 minutes, taking an amazing nodowa off Kawada's shoulders to the floor. Akiyama really feels like a peer in there--he'd already reached that level, but it's still notable to see him taking on Kawada and Taue by himself and actually holding his own. And the counters are out of this world--like the '93 Taue/Kawada Carnival match but quicker and even more numerous. At one point the HDA tries to execute a combo power bomb/choke slam on Misawa, but he huracanranas out of it in another holy-shit spot. Eventually Taue gets taken out and Kawada is left alone with Jun and Misawa and is overwhelmed. Cannot, cannot, cannot wait until 12/9 now.
  15. PeteF3
    Bischoff overdoes a few of his pet gestures like the fake smile and the "we're not worthy" thing, but he's doing an effective job of ramping up all the qualities that made him so unlikable as a babyface. After a few weeks of build, Bagwell completes his heel turn by punking out Scotty Riggs and taking Bischoff up on his offer/threat.
  16. PeteF3
    Lawler's really good here, at least. Michaels cuts the John Cena "fans can cheer who they want" promo then talks about how he won't beg for cheers. Ha. Vince calls him out for being defensive, and justifiably so.
  17. PeteF3
    Great finish and heat, with Luger looking like a superman, and guys like Eddie, Rey, and Regal getting to stand up to the NWO for a little bit. Too bad they'd get away from that for everybody except DDP.
  18. PeteF3
    Schiavone: "I never thought we'd see Bischoff and Vince walking down the aisle together, but there we are." This is the best WCW use of Piper yet, and for the first time it actually has me looking forward to the Starrcade match. They play on past history--including Piper and Vincent's--without letting it overwhelm the angle and creating their own, new history. It also helps that Piper is still "an island unto himself" as Gordon Solie so often described him. He makes it clear that he doesn't give a shit about about the NWO and WCW, he's out for Hogan only. *And* he even gets the last word after getting beat down, and gets the NWO to bail when he gets back up and throws the table. Yeah, a great angle indeed.
  19. PeteF3
    This was definitely one-sided for awhile, but not to the degree that I had a big problem with it like I had with Dean at the '96 GAB. All that really happens is that the opening babyface shine sequence is skipped and we go right to the heat. Which is fine now--Rey's fully established and over and we all already know what he's about, now it's a matter of making the fans wait for it. Rey is a perfect opponent for reigning in Dragon's worst instincts, as Ultimo doesn't really have to worry about being flashy (though there is plenty of that here), and can instead just dominate and bully and throw bombs at Rey while Rey garners sympathy and Ultimo finally comes off as a killer. It's not the best WCW match of the '90s, cruiserweight or otherwise, but it's another great showcase match for Rey and a good performance out of an opponent that I normally hate. Fantastic finish, too. A great spot to begin with, and when Ultimo hit it, you knew Rey's energy bar was depleted and that was the end for him.
  20. PeteF3
    I watched this because I'm trying to hit everything on Loss' Rewatching & First Time Viewing list that I can easily find, but man oh man, this is about as joshi-paint-by-numbers as it gets. Jaguar can be compelling to watch because she's so smooth, but this is little more than an extended squash for her and Shimoda. There's nothing bad here, but nothing that really stands out as really good until the end when Shimoda busts out the Death Lake Driver (a tiger superplex), which is a pretty nutty spot.
  21. PeteF3
    In fairness to JR, the torn groin actually *was* true. It's why Arn had to miss WarGames.
  22. PeteF3
    I don't really keep track of star ratings, though if I had to do it all over again I would. That said, guess-timating from my '80s ballots and Yearbook threads: ***** Clive Myers vs. Steve Grey (11/22/75) Inoki vs. Robinson (12/11/75) Gwyn Davies vs. Steve Veidor (5/26/76) Terry Funk vs. Jumbo (6/11/76) Robinson vs. Baba (7/24/76) Andre vs. Hansen (9/23/81) Andre vs. Khan (4/1/82) Slaughter vs. Sheik (6/16/84) DiBiase vs. Duggan (cage tuxedo coal miner's glove match, 3/22/85) Inoki/Fujinami/Kimura/Ueda/Hoshino vs. Maeda/Fujiwara/Kido/Takada/Yamazaki (3/26/86) Midnight Rockers vs. Rose/Somers (8/30/86) Bockwinkel vs. Hennig (11/21/86) Lawler vs. Idol (4/27/87--sort of a **** match with a ***** angle) Jumbo/Tenryu vs. Choshu/Yatsu (12/16/88) Flair vs. Steamboat (4/2/89) Flair vs. Steamboat (5/7/89) Jumbo vs. Tenryu (6/5/89) Liger vs. Sano (1/31/90) El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca (6/1/90) El Dandy vs. Satanico (12/14/90) Warrior vs. Savage (3/24/91) Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi vs. Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi (4/20/91) Muto vs. Chono (8/11/91) Liger vs. Samurai (4/30/92) Toyota/Yamada vs. Ozaki/Kansai (11/26/92) Hokuto/Kandori vs. Kong/Nakano (3/27/94) Misawa vs. Kawada (6/3/94) Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue (6/9/95) Samurai vs. Otani (1/21/96) Misawa/Akiyama vs. Kawada/Taue (12/6/96) Sasuke/Hamada/Delfin/Naniwa/Yakushiji vs. Kaientai D*X (12/16/96) Misawa vs. Kobashi (1/20/97) Hart vs. Austin (3/23/97) Santo vs. Casas (9/19/97) ****3/4 Mil Mascaras vs. Destroyer (7/25/74) Dory Funk vs. Horst Hoffmann (12/15/75) Bockwinkel vs. Robinson (12/11/80) Funks vs. Brody/Snuka (12/13/81) Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich (8/15/82) Fujinami vs. Choshu (4/21/83) Fujinami vs. Choshu (7/7/83) Gagne/Crusher vs. Blackwell/Adnan (cage match, 3/25/84) NJPW vs. Ishin Gundan 5-on-5 gauntlet (4/19/84) Duggan/Rock 'n Rolls vs. Ladd/Midnight Express (6/8/84) Bockwinkel vs. Martel (8/16/84) Gordy vs. Khan (11/22/84) Inoki/Fujinami vs. Adonis/Murdoch (12/7/84) Lawler vs. Dundee (12/30/85) Kobayashi vs. Fuchi (4/6/86) Hennig vs. Hansen (5/31/86) Fujinami vs. Maeda (6/12/86) Lawler vs. Dundee (7/14/86) Choshu vs. Khan (7/31/86) Steamboat vs. Savage (3/29/87) Choshu vs. Fujiwara (6/9/87) Jumbo vs. Tenryu (8/31/87) Fujinami/Yamada/Koshinaka/Fujiwara/Kimura vs. H. Saito/Kobayashi/SS Machine/M. Saito/Choshu (9/12/88) Kawada/Fuyuki vs. Kroffat/Furnas (6/5/89) Liger vs. Sano (7/13/89) Liger vs. Sano (8/10/89) Misawa vs. Jumbo (9/1/90) Kong vs. Nakano (11/14/90) Cutie Suzuki vs. Scorpion (8/30/91) Trio Fantasia vs. Los Thundercats (12/8/91) Kawada/Kikuchi vs. Furnas/Kroffat (2/22/92) Sting's Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance (WarGames, 5/17/92) Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi vs. Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi (5/22/92) Kobashi/Kikuchi vs. Kroffat/Furnas (5/25/92) Rude vs. Steamboat (6/20/92) Kong vs. Nakano (11/26/92) Hokuto vs. Kandori (4/2/93) Toyota/Yamada vs. Kansai/Ozaki (4/11/93) Toyota/Yamada vs. Kansai/Ozaki (12/6/93) Mascarita Sagrada vs. Espectrito (3/12/94) Bret vs. Owen (3/20/94) Kawada vs. Williams (4/16/94) Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue (5/21/94) Nakano vs. Kandori (chain match, 7/14/94) Misawa vs. Williams (7/28/94) Misawa vs. Taue (4/15/95) Ozaki vs. Kansai (3/17/95) Santo/Octagon/Misterio/Parka vs. Psicosis/Fuerza/Panther/Pentagon (6/18/95) Kong vs. Kansai (8/30/95) Sasuke/TM4/Shiryu vs. Delfin/Michinoku/Naniwa (3/16/96) Santo/Atlantis/Dandy/Lizmark vs. Panther/Felino/Wagner Jr./Casas (3/22/96) Taue vs. Williams (4/20/96) Misawa/Akiyama vs. Williams/Ace (6/7/96) Hart vs. Austin (11/17/96) Austin vs. Dude Love (5/31/98) Kobashi vs. Kawada (6/12/98) Misawa vs. Kobashi (10/13/98)
  23. PeteF3
    I'm nearly done with my 7th '90s Yearbook, a monumental undertaking and the most fun I've had watching wrestling since the Monday Night Wars. I've watched and discussed more wrestling due to this tremendous project than I ever have since that time. So I don't want to come off as bitchy when I say that I'm not sure I've been more baffled as to any match's inclusion on any Yearbook as I am with this one. Even other, shittier matches are worth watching for some reason or another. Is there some significance here that I missed? Gordeau sucked, the rest of the guys all work like they're trying not to break a nail, and the rules made no sense (Gordeau taps out at one point, the bell rings, but the ref just shoos him out of the ring and Anjo comes in). The ending is a total anticlimax, which is good for "realism" but UWFI has never concerned itself with realistic finishes. This promotion had a tremendous run, but let it die already.
  24. PeteF3
    CMLL's answer to the Hogan turn, as Santo can't stand the fact that Negro Casas is a technico and sells his soul to do something about it. His fight is initially purely with Casas, and Dandy and Garza are too stunned to react to it. They milk and milk and milk this technico comeback for as long as possible, with Casas selling his ass off and Santo instantly becoming an unbelievable prick. When the technicos finally do take the gloves off, it's a comeback for the ages, including a bloody Casas re-emerging from the dressing room and Dandy and Santo chopping the shit out of each other. Of course, the rudos have had the upper hand throughout the entire match, with Salvaje having promised a surprise in his pre-taped interview, so the result is pretty inevitable. Alfonso Morales goes between shock, being nearly on the verge of tears, to practically ready to leap out of his seat and go into the ring himself to give Santo what for. A great match but an even greater angle makes for the best lucha segment of the year (at least possibly until next week).
  25. PeteF3
    Slower start but a hotter finish. MUCH hotter. Call me easy to please but I liked this more than the first tag match on this card, because this truly felt like anybody could conceivably pin anybody else down the stretch, which isn't a dynamic you often get in All-Japan. Kobashi really has Misawa on the ropes at one point, especially after an awesome combination power bomb/Patriot Missile that looks great and would have killed Mitsuharu dead if not for a save. Then Akiyama and Patriot each have each other beaten, then Misawa's beating up Kobashi outside...even though the two partners were clearly on a lower level, in isolation it didn't feel that way. This is also one of the better Patriot performances you'll see--he's not a Triple Crown-level guy and probably never will be, but his moves have more snap to them now and he works some nice little exchanges with both opponents, and really knows how to build up and tease the rather pedestrian-by-AJPW-standards full nelson buster as looking like a killer move. He has some great kickouts down the stretch too. Ultimately this gets monster bonus points for having me truly believe Misawa might do the J-O-B to Kobashi--I understand why he didn't, but I think Baba would have been perfectly justified had he chosen to pull the trigger on that right here.
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