PeteF3
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Defamation requires publication, and Colt is the publisher. Without commenting on the merits of this case in particular, that's what WWE is going for. It's the same reason the National Enquirer was liable when Carol Burnett successfully sued them for libel, even though they had a separate source.
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I liked the '94 match better too, but this is the closest Nagai comes to winning one of these. He still seems overmatched, but he gets Han's attention first with an anklelock counter and then a big kick to the head that puts Han down for a 9.5 count. Han looks like the superior athlete but still has to use guts and guile to pull out a sleeper for the win. Sort of a tighter, lesser version of the UWFI/NJPW vets tag that took place a few days prior.
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Another fun Crockett-goes-to-Japan match in a series. This starts off with everyone throwing chairs at each other and descends into a total U.S. formula match. Liger is utilized perfectly in this unique setting, keeping the heels off-balance with his flashy offense before working a textbook FIP segment with Team Chono cheating their asses off while abusing him. Hashimoto gets the hot tag and that's worked right out of the South as well--eventually he gets isolated with Hiro Saito and you can guess how that ends up. Not essential but I could watch NJPW matches like this all day. -
Terrific match that shows that Fujiwara has still got it. As sour as I've been on this feud, I really do like how the NJPW guys manage to incorporate wrasslin'-style offense into this setting, at least generally. And I love how over the dragon screw is after Muto used it so effectively in the first Takada match.
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Fun scene, if a little over-the-top as Harlem Heat snag the WCW tag titles with half a dozen armed cops in the ring. Schiavone and Heenan sell this great. Schiavone invokes the history of the Independence Arena and cuts a PROMO on the Outsiders. Nitro has improved by an order of magnitude with Tony taking over for Bischoff.
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Luger's slip was about as appropriate as it gets. Scott Steiner and his hideous haircut are in, followed by Harlem Heat, to hype up the triangle main event.
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Pretty fun little TV match--Eddie's huracanrana was sloppy but it actually made sense in context, with Eddie having to resort to basically muscling the Barbarian over. Those who are anti-Zbyszko will have a lot of ammo in this one, by the way. He provides his awesome "Darwinian man..." quote but also shits over Guerrero to an excessive degree, even for a heel announcer and even after the win.
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Dianetics: by L. Ron Warrior.
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The bait-and-switch with the referees was bullshit, as people were wishing/hoping for either a Shawn-Perfect program or even an alliance, and it ended up leading to nothing. Owen's rant about this development is absolutely spectacular--for a second, it's like Ventura and Hogan are back at it in 1989, as he complains about how the WWF officials are in Shawn's back pocket. JR even brings up Perfect's shenanigans at WrestleMania 10--perfectly logical, but those little historical nuggets being dropped in the WWF always surprise me a little. Bulldog definitely brings this down a notch--as logical as it was (and well-called as it was by JR) the head-and-chinlockery got a little old, and there are some missed spots. But he also goes along with some pretty great spots--the head scissors to the floor, the cool powerslam and Sweet Chin Music tease, murdering Shawn with a Liger bomb when Shawn went for a second huracanrana, and a great flipping bump into the turnbuckle. The ending is really wonky and possibly mistimed on somebody's part, with a very pointless Earl Hebner bump. Take those flaws out and this would get remembered as a classic, instead of just a really good match. These two were extra-motivated after the Beware of Dog disaster and they don't quite get there, but it's an admirable effort all the same. And a great post-match follows, with all the International Incident principals involved. Good crowd heat for this with Warrior drawing chants well before his appearance.
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Yeah, not much of a match, but it told what needed to be told and went exactly as long as it should have. Then of course Austin cuts the promo of his life afterward. They're not there yet, but the WWF is finally starting to click with characters that feel and act like believable, if exaggerated, people with real issues at stake.
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I didn't know they were still doing "Coliseum Video exclusives" at this point, as Ahmed receives a champagne shower. The BUSHWHACKERS are there. It's absolutely mind-blowing that the Bushwhackers and Loose Cannon Brian Pillman were not only on the same roster, they even participated in an angle where Pillman hit one of them with his crutch. Talk about a collision of eras. Pillman is out and back to his old self. They're trying to reshape him from a Loose Cannon ™ to a Ticking Time Bomb ™. He has a few choice words about Milwaukee and Wisconsin. Pillman makes a lot of promises about when he finally competes that of course don't really come true. He and Austin have a mini-staredown in the aisle in a cool subtle moment.
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When was that interview? Are we sure that's what Ahmed actually said? With Ahmed you don't know if he's talking about the finish or giving a thesis on the deeper meanings of Finnegan's Wake or something. Owen isn't impressed by Ahmed's victory, as he trenchantly points out that he was beaten and only revived by Goldust's mouth-to-mouth.
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This was one of the first instances of the WWF allowing chairs and big garbage-style bumps in the opening match of a feud rather than a blow-off. It doesn't make for a great match, but it makes for a unique one at the time. Mankind shocks the world with a somewhat clean victory. Owen Hart immediately calls shenanigans--I don't know if they had the Bearer turn 100% planned yet but they were certainly testing the waters for it.
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I'm not normally Dave Meltzer or Frank Jewett, but let's just go back and count... - Double Indian deathlock by Azteca (holds count as offense). - Wakigatame armbar takedown by Satanico - Clothesline by Cruz - Weird double wristlock/double leglock pinning combo by Charles, where he and Cruz work near-falls and counterholds out of it - Knuckle lock takedown into more counterholds and pin attempts - Monkey flip by Cruz, with Charles taking a big bump for it - Dandy trying to throw a clothesline, a back elbow, and a spin kick that all miss in quick succession before Atlantis levels him with a clothesline - Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Atlantis - Dropkick by Azteca, in a well-timed spot to show that the technicos were smarter than the rudos as Satanico had turned his back to jaw at the crowd. (- There sure are a ton of takedowns, but they throw in a whole lot of variations to them, and they're punctuated with character work, especially when Charles is in.) - A monkey flip and tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Cruz, with Charles doing more over-the-top stooging bumps. - Dandy gets thrown over Atlantis' head and turns it into a dropkick on Azteca in mid-air, at the conclusion of a bunch of complex heel miscommunication spots. - Electric chair slam by Charles as part of the rudo first fall--they were mostly outclassed, but Dandy hitting that dropkick turned out to be a lucky break for them. - Satanico opens up the second fall with a phony handshake and knee to the lower abdomen, which is sold as though it might be a low blow. Basic lucha heel psychology. - Dandy does a sensational athletic counter of Cruz's monkey flip, then eats a knee and takes a great bump that makes it look like a Hansen lariat. Guys are starting to counter moves that worked earlier in the match. - Then they start varying the armdrags, with Azteca cleverly bouncing off the ropes in mid-air to reverse the move, a major turning point in the fall. - Leaping headbutt and victory roll by Azteca, a leaping reverse dive off the top by Atlantis, and a power bomb by Cruz--three pretty high-end convincing finishers for the technicos. - Clothesline by Satanico, tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Cruz - Awesome-looking punches by Charles, and a payback one by Atlantis, before Charles cuts him off with a clothsline. - Atlantis fakes Charles out with a flying head scissor attempt, but uses a bulldog-faceslam type move instead. - Dropkick by Azteca, headbutt by Dandy before missing an Eddy Guerrero-style slingshot somersault senton. - Charles takes a huge back body drop bump over the top rope to the floor--Randy Savage would be proud. - Azteca winds up for a dive but gets leveled by a Dandy clothesline, in a clever tease and cut-off spot. - Dandy with a great dive of his own, followed by a bullet tope by Azteca, and then a clever finish playing off the previous rudo cut-off spot, as Atlantis cuts off the dive train and catches Satanico in his trademark backbreaker to win the fall. That's a hell of a lot more offense than your average Shawn Michaels match. The character work is mostly done by the heels, while the technicos are generally generic white-meat babyfaces, but when the rudos are this strong character-wise that works. Uncle Elmer can probably do a million arm drags in a match, but let's see him or anybody else match these guys for speed and quickness in doing them *and* while not blowing any spots and keeping some psychology to it, both in terms of learned counters and in taking the audience for a ride with ups and downs throughout a match.
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I should correct myself and add that Pillman had *not* had his car wreck yet, but everything about him being hyped and advertised despite not being there still holds true. It was another throat surgery this time, with the wreck coming at the end of the month.
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Another sticking point is that Amman is not a public figure, so "actual malice" is not a burden he has to meet (i.e., Punk doesn't have to have knowingly lied to be found liable). That's a huge separation between him and MLB players and other athletes. That said, Punk got away with not having to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so he must be pretty confident that he had the WWE at large over a barrel.
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Tremendous bout, with Austin busting out all kinds of stuff that went by the wayside as Stone Cold exploded. I'd put this as Mero'd 3rd-best career match, behind Pillman and the Fall Brawl bout with Regal. He's very game here, and I loved how they used both finishes from Mero's first two KOTR rounds as false finishes here.
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I'd put this as the best of the series so far. They managed not to completely fuck things up when the rope broke early in the bout, despite a few awkward moments, and I didn't notice any severely blown spots (Sabu crotching himself on the rope seemed awfully intentional, considering RVD was almost immediately there to hit him with a springboard kick).
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Raven goes all-out to try to get Gordy over--Gordy didn't exactly need the help from a reaction standpoint, as the crowd goes nuts as soon as they realize what's up. Richards and Nova trying to pry apart Gordy's Asiatic spike was fun, and after additional run-ins from Brian Lee and Dreamer (Gordy power bombing Lee gets a huge pop), Raven ekes out another win. Afterward, after failing to get Sandman's attention earlier by bringing out Peaches as his new whore, Raven brings out Tyler Fullington and *that* has an effect on Sandman. Bluedust joins us afterward as a capstone and Beulah DDTs him a fun spot.
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"Shootfight rules," which means a win comes by KO or submission. I've seen worse shootstyle matches and worse wrasslin' performances by real fighters, though this is awfully short and Varelans doesn't really know how to pull his strikes so that they look effective without being effective, if that makes sense. Varelans probably could have gone places in wrestling if he wanted to. Shortly into the match, Saturn decks him with a missile dropkick as Alfonso distracts the referee, and Taz chokes him out soon afterward. I get that concessions had to be made to Varelans but this is twice now that Taz has had to use chicanery to win his own "style" of match, which I don't get. He's being put over as an unstoppable machine, not a cheating bitch heel, but that's how he wins. Taz gloats about fucking the fans again--"that wasn't a shoot, that wasn't shit."
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Shockingly good match that threatens to go off the rails at various points, but never quite does. The only real blown spot is the tombstone reversal and they cover that pretty seamlessly. Jericho, who was never exactly the Excellence of Execution, manages to hit every spot he tries. The finish looked great. Douglas uses Francine as a human shield and causes her to eat a clothesline from Pitbull 2, which is a pretty spectacularly dickish thing to do even by ECW standards.
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Everyone was awesome here except Hales, who almost killed the segment and I actually believed he was starting a heel turn at points. He's no Eddie Marlin--he's a substitute teacher in over his head who jumps up and down demanding respect from his students instead of earning it.
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All the Toyota talk is fairly fascinating. I'm like OJ in that I'm somewhere in-between on her. And the point that Toyota could be infuriating but probably wouldn't reach the highs that she did if she worked any other way is well-taken. That said, I've been pretty sour on 1996 AJW and the wheel-spinning is palpable. Shimoda taking Yamada's place as Toyota's tag partner seems to be the only real major "elevation" of a star to take place from 1990 until this moment. They're a little higher up on the cards, and Bull and Kimura and Hokuto are gone, but otherwise it's the same core group of people, working an unsustainable style. Even AJPW, for all their criticism, seems to have had a better track record in developing future talent. Who has debuted for AJW in the '90s who compares to Tamon Honda or Satoru Asako, much less a guy like Akiyama? The match? Well, actually, I thought the first two falls were awesome, Toyota botch notwithstanding. I should probably be annoyed by the joshi trend of having one of the first two falls of a multi-fall match end very quickly, but they always find a way to make it work. Double Inoue do some great work in the second fall in targeting Toyota's back, and we again see Kyoko murdering Toyota with a lariat. I was ready to mark this up as a lost Top-10 MOTYC contender, but the third fall bogged down. It wasn't *bad*, but it did tend to meander. They didn't overdo the near-falls but I didn't quite buy into any story that was told--a big, miraculous Toyota comeback would have been a nice way to go but it didn't seem like they were even going for that. We end up with a good match with a more engaged-than-usual '96 AJW crowd, but that's as high as I'll go. Shimoda looks pretty, but so far I can't remember a single really memorable performance of hers. She just seems to be there, as opposed to Yamada who was far more memorable and was a fun contrast to Toyota's style.
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Raven and Stevie are at a playground, and Raven browbeats him for his bad taste in Raven's women: Beulah and Kimona both left him, so he asked for the sluttiest BLEEEEEEP Richards could find. But Divine Brown wasn't disgusting or experienced enough. Richards has the answer: BLUEDUST. More Adult Swim-style comedy for stoners, though Bluedust suddenly shifting gears into a Dusty impersonation was pretty funny. D-Von Dudley abuses Sign Guy. Tommy Dreamer hypes a weapons match with Brian Lee. Shane Douglas rants. The Gangstas threaten the Eliminators--New Jack sounds like he needs a lozenge. The Eliminators rebut. The Samoan Gangsta Party makes an appearance. D-Von yells some more until he gets the answer he wants. Paul Varelans unconvincingly threatens Taz. Richards and Meanie have fun with a garden hose in a scene even more disturbing than Bluedust on the playground. D-Von turns his attention to Dances With Dudley. Raven promises to show Sandman and the world how much pain he has to offer. Paul E. talks about Sabu. Sandman pays/drinks another tribute--this one to Dick Murdoch. This felt a little fresher than the other recent Pulp Fictions, with a few new faces.
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Big pop for Flair, big boos for Hogan. Horsemen Country, baby. Gene sets the Bash at the Beach main event.