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PeteF3

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  1. PeteF3
    Yeah, a million billion stars. Incidentally I loved the ringside camera views we get for the bulk of this match--you're right up there with the action and seeing every Tenryu punch connect full force. To say nothing of Tenryu taking out Yamazaki AND the cameraman with a chair, which is a fantastic visual. Araya's casual shoulder shrugs every time the crowd boos him for making a save were also great--reminded me of Joey Bosa after making a sack (less than 1% of you probably understand that but oh well). The psychotic crowd helps, too. Total lost classic and I could watch Tenryu and Yamazaki go to war with each other all day.
  2. PeteF3
    Austin actually described this match on his 100th podcast episode--Austin was out of shape when he first started working Vega, but Vega was a machine who was "going to get his shit in" and Austin had to bump around for him despite sucking wind. A few months into their program and they "blew the roof off the Sea-Tac Arena." The opening is very WWF house-showy, but all the usual tricks (Austin threatening to walk, using the ropes on a chinlock) get good heat. 1996 was a year of some great house show successes for the WWF and some utter disasters (particularly after they junked syndication), but every handheld I've seen indicates a pretty darn hot product. Austin spices up the usual resthold segment by actually busting out a lucha-style surfboard, then a bow and arrow. Yeah, the closing stretch of this is really fun--it's a treat to watch two guys gelling so well together and being on the same page. Vega takes some awesome bumps and each guy sets the other up for the next spot seamlessly. One of those matches that would look like a **** affair if you watched it JIP.
  3. PeteF3
    "Joshi shootstyle" is a phrase that tends to send me running to hide, but despite Lorefice calling it a UWF-style match this is basically a wrasslin' match with more matwork than usual for joshi and a teased KO finish. And I really, really dug this--one of the 3 or 4 best GAEA matches I've watched in '96. I wouldn't say I was outright believing Kato would win this, but she gave Nagayo more of a match than Satomura gave Hokuto, and you really get the sense that Nagayo had to dig deep down to put her away. More than that, this was a gritty and intense FIGHT that felt more like a WAR main event than a joshi match. This is definitely a strong "Joshi for People Who Hate Joshi" bout to view.
  4. PeteF3
    The joshi version of 1-2-3 Kid vs. Bret Hart. Satomura is outsized, out-experienced, and all-around overmatched, but she makes a good showing of herself and is as full of energy as you'd expect. Hokuto gives her about the right amount of offense, and also does some cheap heel tactics (biting and choking) which sort of puts her over in their own right, that Hokuto has to resort to that sort of thing. Satomura hits a great DVD for a hot near-fall but that's the last bullet in her chamber. No real surprises here, but having really liked the Satomura I've seen this was a match listing that jumped out at me and it lived up to expectations.
  5. PeteF3
    Oz Academy explodes! Even though this is joshi and rules generally don't matter and people like Toyota use chairs and tables frequently, you still get the sense that Ozaki & Sato are finally getting a taste of their own medicine when their opponents use similar heel tactics on them. Oz is just awesome, plain and simple--she has a perpetual sick grin on her face, even when she's beating beaten up--and yet it doesn't feel like she's no-selling, it just feels like Oz being Oz, keeping a stiff upper lip and all that. She also has perfect timing on when to stand tall and shrug off her opponent's offense and when to sell--basically Amano & Nagashima have the advantage if they double-team or surprise her from behind, but rarely otherwise. Sato gets to show off some personality of her own as well, and Nagashima busts out a sort-of top-rope Van Daminator that looks way cool. Quite a bit of ECW influence here, which is well-done even if some may roll their eyes at it. I wouldn't really call this a high-end match by worldwide or GAEA standards, but Ozaki is entering that zone for me where I pretty much want to watch everything of hers on tape.
  6. PeteF3
    Good video and a perfect song. Even a good lyrical tie-in as the line about drawing the queen of diamonds is matched up to Funk atomic-dropping Sherri.
  7. PeteF3
    This was fun and I really liked the closing stretch. Hamada and Delfin hold off the rest of Kaientai and Sasuke's urgency in throwing shit at Shiryu while they're incapacitated is just awesome. Hamada was spectacular here--we get bits of Grumpy Old Man Hamada, familiar shtick Hamada, face in peril Hamada, and Hamada the high-flyer at the end. In fact this is one of the first MPro multi-mans where the babyfaces really seemed to outshine the heels. Not really a top-of-the-line lucharesu 6-man but a very good match.
  8. PeteF3
    Just a scheduling heads-up: that June Clash is to my knowledge the only Clash not to air live. It was taped before Beach Blast but aired afterward. For continuity purposes you may want to do Beach Blast first, since that was how it was originally intended to be viewed.
  9. PeteF3
    I just now realized that Vince's suit distracts us all from the fact that Bobby's shirt is no prize itself. Looks like an automatic dryer.
  10. PeteF3

    Billy Robinson

    PeteF3 replied to Grimmas's topic in Nominees

    I do think it's worth pointing out that Robinson got the Comiskey Park main event against Verne, which was easily the biggest card in company history that point and has argument for being the #1 card overall. It was the AWA's WrestleMania 3.
  11. PeteF3
    Still as WTF now as it was then. This is essentially a 3-minute Mentos ad. There are brief shots of a Hogan vs. Piper marquee, so this is evidently proof that Piper wants Hogan in a match. Yeah, why couldn't Piper just cut a promo saying as much?
  12. PeteF3
    Public Enemy hawk some Sting merchandise. Timely. Hall, Nash, and Syxx are out with NWO picketers, and Hall promises that the NWO is going to crash the Cable Ace Awards this weekend. Hall quite reasonably credits the NWO for the success of Nitro. Nash isn't satisfied with one segment on Saturday Night, and declares that Hogan is going to help convert Nitro to an NWO program, based on the stipulations from winning WarGames. I'm not sure if this actually went anywhere.
  13. PeteF3
    They even acknowledge the old Diamond Studd/Vinnie Vegas partnerships! Nash busts out SHOOT comments about how DDP lives two doors down from Eric Bischoff. For once, a WCW-bred mid-card talent is actually allowed to interact with the Big Boys, something that would have helped immensely had they done more of this with Eddie, Jericho, and Raven in the future.
  14. PeteF3
    Yeah, are there any babyfaces left besides Christopher? Tony Williams and "Flash-in-the-Pan Flanagan" (as Lawler calls him) aren't exactly a murderer's row to have as your back-up.
  15. PeteF3
    I refuse to believe that Gary Wolfe was previously known as "The Man Whose Neck Couldn't Be Broken." Not exactly "The Man Gravity Forgot." Raven sulks under a trashed ECW Arena reading Sandman--the graphic novel--and cuts a promo on Sandman--the wrestler. Clever. I have to differ on Saturn's promo--he does a gallant job of trying to keep it in kayfabe, but man do I recoil at promos talking about "Matches of the Year." I do love how the New England-raised-and-sounds-like-it Saturn calls them the "Gangsters," though. New Jack cuts a promo on both the Eliminators and Sabu/RVD, who will be facing each other for a shot at the Gangstas' belts. Back to Raven, who doesn't have the World title anymore but still has Tyler. More from Shane & Francine. Brian Lee cuts ANOTHER promo on Tommy Dreamer--good Lord, this is the feud that won't end. Shane Douglas looks like he's aged 10 years since re-joining the company. Evidenlty, reading between the lines, Terry Funk is on his way back in. One of the longer Pulp Fictions, but this was short on comedy and long on hype for November to Remember.
  16. PeteF3
    That was the conclusion I drew, now that I think about it more. It's most definitely the same match they showed in the "Walls Come Tumbling Down" video before Bockwinkel's challenge. That was in January of '84.
  17. PeteF3
    There was definitely some point where either the company or the set compilers got things mixed up. The lead-in match to the "$500 a punch" angle was shown out of place, somewhere. It was discussed at the time but on the old DVDVR board that's still gone as far as I know. That said, I always thought Bockwinkel winning the Southern title was just a way to have Lawler beat him for *a* title, to show that he could do it and give him a satisfying payoff for once. Once he won the Southern title that would presumably give him a shot at the World belt.
  18. PeteF3
    If Sid had yelled "power bomb," that's one thing--but he was yelling "FIGURE FOUR!" at a babyface.
  19. PeteF3
    GAEA calling their championships the "AAAW" titles was no coincidence, I take it. Nothing fancy here--just two big hosses (inasmuch as ladies can be hosses) beating each other up. Masami is sort of in her Super Heel persona for at least the first part, but she drifts away from it as the match goes on and wrestles more conventionally. She does have a fantastic reaction to a Nagayo kickout, pouting to the referee like a teenage girl being told by her parents that she has to stay in and study. The match doesn't really build up to a finish, though, as Nagayo just sort of methodically wears Masami down and puts her away. Okay, but this is sort of Hogan-Warrior-like in that it's carried by the star power (even in a foreign environment, the crowd seemed into things) than the brilliant work.
  20. PeteF3
    Satomura might be the best pure babyface of the year, in a bad year for pure babyfaces. So spunky and full of energy that she makes Tsuyoshi Kikuchi look like Raven. She also has a good dynamic with Kato, who's bigger and more of a methodical asskicker while Satomura's all about high-flying and motion. Nagashima and Sato are fine, but I'm still waiting for them to really wow me on a consistent basis. This is a little spotfesty, but their reach doesn't exceed their grasp and they hit most of what they do (except Sato trying a Tenryu/DiBiase reverse elbow off the top and missing by 2 feet). This match also ends precisely when it needs to with a cool finishing move. Nothing that changed the world but I want to see a lot more of Satomura.
  21. PeteF3
    I thought Austin announcing he was going to hunt down Pillman in his home was an absolutely awesome and compelling set-up, and Pillman's initial promo is quite strong. And then it just goes off the rails. The commercial break right as Pillman cocks the gun when he hears that Austin is outside, and ESPECIALLY the break to static right as Austin enters just feels so phony and desperate that it would ruin things even if the gun itself was a good idea. Then we have to listen to Vince and Lawler in Owen Mode for most of the rest of the night, stumbling around another WWF linguistic quirk talking about "explosions" instead of gunshots. Austin's fight with the goons outside was really cool, at least. Well, except for the STAGE LIGHTS in the driveway that get into the shot in a bizarre production failure. Lawler really does sound visibly disgusted with this--I've never, EVER heard this tone of voice from him before, and this is a guy who's actually used guns in angles in Memphis! This had the makings of a killer (HA!) segment, but the damn gun had to ruin things.
  22. PeteF3
    Marlena looks absolutely smoking. She jobs in short order and asks for a re-shoot.
  23. PeteF3
    Good angle but this feels like a pretty Russo-riffic turn in a vacuum, though of course the build-up may shed some light on this. I agree that Wolfie being aligned with Dundee doesn't seem to work, and we don't get much in the way of an explanation either.
  24. PeteF3
    I didn't find this to be the most dynamically-worked shootstyle match by any means, but it was memorable because the character work was so strong and it had possibly the strongest face-heel dynamic in the history of the style. Plus they incorporated the wrasslin' elements like the giant swing beautifully. This is gritty and sloppy and tough and feels like a war of attrition. That said, I wouldn't put this quite at ****1/4, and I'm not sure it's even my favorite BattlArts match of '96, but it was a lot of fun.
  25. PeteF3
    Was Power Hour still doing original content or did it become almost entirely repeats by this point?
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