PeteF3
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Fun on all levels: Savage's pre-match promo ("I saw a female psychiatrist, she said I was OCD--ONE COOL DUDE, OOH YEAH") to his chase of Bobby, the Brain busting out the cowardly heel manager tactics one last time, Flair's entrance, the pre-match mic spots, the brawl at the VIP table, Liz slapping Macho in the face, Savage hitting the elbow while flying through the three ladies trying to protect Flair--nothing not to love here. McMichael actually looks like a genuine badass dressed in all black and sunglasses and laying out Savage with a stiff briefcase shot to the head.
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JJ showed up a few times when they needed the brigade of suits. He was one of the guys trying to get Nailz out of the ring in his debut, and was in on the Rick Rude/Roddy Piper Brother Love attack. This is probably the only time his name was outright mentioned on TV, though. Pillman plays this straight--if I remember right, he *did* go off after this and the transcript was posted on the old WWF AOL board, but nothing on TV.
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This was heatless, but it was also the last Raw in the taping cycle and I'm not sure if the return of Hulk Hogan could have woken that crowd up. It's a good, technically-minded match with Mero acquitting himself well, though. I was hoping this would be Austin's star-making commentary performance where he obliquely made fun of the Lex Express, but that must come at some other point.
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Nice to see this for a guy who was, in all honesty, a WWF footnote.
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This was okay, but it was basically Eddy methodically punishing Sasuke before Sasuke pulls out a flash win with that familiar Rey Misterio finish. This felt a little more organic, at least, as Sasuke had already kicked out of a conventional BT Bomb forcing Tiger to try a more souped-up version, which backfired. This felt a lot like Malenko/Rey and Regal/Sting, but not as good as either. Sasuke has fallen off judging by his Yearbook performances, and maybe that was inevitable.
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Liger wrestles like he's an outsider in Michinoku Pro--maybe appearing in the Budokan in what was essentially enemy territory had that effect on him. The result is never much in doubt, unlike the first match we saw on the card, but it's a fine match that features Liger doing some primo arm work (boy is THAT a running theme these two days). I especially liked his cutting Togo off by hitting a missile dropkick to the arm.
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[1990-08-27-WWF-Summerslam] Rick Rude vs Ultimate Warrior (Cage)
PeteF3 replied to Loss's topic in August 1990
Monsoon was having toes amputated due to diabetes. You'll see Vince calling the action on Challenge in at least one upcoming segment. -
Pretty good match, with a few great spots and a few instances of both guys overreaching their limits. TAKA looked overall terrific--Delfin was game but not on the same level, and this may have had a few kickouts too many. Still worth seeing.
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Quite the incredible follow-up to the shock heel turn. Schiavone is so disgusted he unleashes a "Jesus!" at the slow first responders.
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I remember reading the match results online and almost falling out of my chair. I was SO pre-emptively disgusted that Flair and Arn were going to have to put over two football players, the idea of them winning, much less McMichael of all people turning heel, wasn't even the slightest possibility. Hell, I read about Bischoff eating a power bomb through a table even before Nash's debut, but no one saw this comng. Mongo was never a good worker but I could never really hate him, because this is one of my favorite heel turns of all-time. Even before ordering the replay, just reading the rundown of this card made it absolutely clear that WCW was truly the new #1.
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I daresay this smoked Dean vs. Rey--in fact, this made me really want to see Regal vs. Rey and Sting vs. Malenko, since Regal combined Dean's mat skills and arm work with a much stronger character more willing to engage the crowd, and Sting's charisma could have carried Dean's drier work. I though this was absolutely terrific, with Sting making Regal look like a killer for most of this as he was willing to get all kinds of tied up in knots. I guess the comeback and win came a *little* quickly, but the way Sting went for the scorpion almost came off as a desperation move to end things quickly that happened to work, rather than an arbitrarily pre-planned finish.
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This might be the high watermark for Dusty as announcer. "THERE IS A WOMAN IN THE MEN'S JOHN HERE IN BALT-A-MOH! ... SHE SAID, 'I GOT TO GET SOME RELIEF, BABY!' ... GO 'CROSS THE HALL, SEE WHAT THE UTHA WUN LOOKS LIKE!" He's having the time of his life. Certainly this was more crowd-pleasing than the Cruiserweight match, and it may well be the WCW high watermark for Benoit as well. Listen to that pop for the win and tell me he couldn't connect with an audience. And then Arn's "save" that turns into a further beatdown almost blows the roof off the place. A million billion stars indeed.
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I'm still not as enamored with this as everyone else--the work is good to great and maybe it's a **** level match in a vacuum, but I still didn't come away convinced that this was the right match to work at this exact point. Even a quick showcase of Rey offense at the start could have improved the mood considerably, instead of Dean more or less guzzling him from the start.. That all said, the Cruiserweight title has bounced back from a mess of a tournament and guys like Brad Armstrong being pushed as contenders, as all 3 announcers rattle off all the foreign talent gunning for the belt. Tenay is easy to make fun of now but he was DESPERATELY needed at this point, just to identify moves that were invented after 1989. WCW is starting to put together a smart blend of intense, star-driven drama at the top of the cards and high workrate underneath, meshing all kinds of working and booking styles together.
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This was *really* good while it lasted, but even at 17 minutes this felt like it ended just as it got going. Yeah, I'm criticizing a joshi match for not being long enough--go figure. There's a whole lot of kicking going on here--that's Yamada's game of course, but Nagayo and Satomura aren't afraid to kick some motherfuckers' teeth in, either. And Satomura continues to show off all the different ways she can apply armbars. And there's something infectious about the way she flails her arms whenever she runs across the ring. Numao basically was an overmatched junior partner who pulled a rollup and win at the end, which would have had more impact with better build.
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Most of these matches are JIP for TV, so you don't get any feeling out process and a full view of the match--just a really fun closing stretch. That stretch is marred by some truly ridiculously cooperative-looking and awkward spots, but I'll chalk some of that up to what I presume is a relative lack of experience. But it's all-action and there are some really well-done moves here, even though they're basic by joshi standards. They manage to make swinging neckbreakers and elbow drops look like key transition moves. The hosses--Kurenai, Futagami, and Hikari are actually a lot better off working scientifically than in trying to use stiffness or power moves. I don't know what that says about them or the match, but I found it interesting. I also liked Nagashima a lot more here than the first time I saw her, as she works like a spunky babyface rather than a poor-woman's Ozaki. Midori puts Sato away with an absolutely gorgeous German suplex. If this were out in full and the first chunk was as good as this, this would definitely be the best GAEA match I've seen in '96.
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Ugh. There are conflicting reports out there, then. He didn't LOOK mid-30s, but of course Buzz Sawyer died at 33 and looked 53.
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I doubt Brooks was ever a particularly good worker but I will note that he was about 50 by then.
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Really good stuff here, as Oz and Kansai sort of move to the background and let the junior team members shine. Of course having said that, Kansai's buggered leg is the overarching story of the match. This is a JWP-style matwork-based match worked at an AJW pace, if that makes sense. Poor Montoya practically gets her arm ripped out of joint, but pulls a sunset flip out of her rear end to score a (controversial) 3-count. I think you've got a strong argument that your shoulder was in fact up, Reiko.
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Compelling stuff here as Lawler weasels out of a $5000 stip because the contract didn't say it had to be cash. Instead, it'll be 50 $100 bills against Cyberpunk Fire's mask in the final USWA main event at the Mid-South Coliseum. You'd like the building to close out with a better main event than that, in an ideal world, but this is still a hell of a segment.
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This is an interpromotional match and there's big heat for the FMW team. If you like fat out-of-shape guys flying all over the place, as I do, then this is one to watch. Kanemura is a total loon here--he's covered in blood before the match even begins and bumps like a madman and also delivers some great flying and bomb-heavy offense. It's tornado rules so there are pin attempts and heart-stopping saves all over the place. Not a match that will change the world but one of the better bouts in W*ING history for sure.
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Really incredible layout and performances--without going back and checking (and my original post at DVDVR is of course lost to history) it reminded me a great deal of Choshu & Saito dropping the IWGP tag belts to Hirata & George Takano that people raved about on the NJPW '80s set. That was a similarly overmatched team pulling out a stunning tag title victory, and even though it's been awhile since I've seen it I could almost believe that Hirata used past experience to lay this match out himself. Hash is such an awesome bully in this, abusing Iizuka because that's what people are supposed to do with him, and brutalizing Yamazaki's ribs as Kazuo turns in an all-timer of a face-in-peril performance. It seems like there's no way the champs can lose, but Iizuka provides a glimmer of hope by taking out Hash's knee, removing him from the picture just long enough for Yamazaki to bust out a cross armbreaker when he looked completely dead. One of the better-booked of NJPW's many, many '90s upsets--this felt like an upset that served a purpose and told a story rather than something like Liger pinning Chono because gosh darnit, they won't expect that.
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Now this is more like it. This was a tremendous comeback story for Eddy, who gets used and abused for most of this but finds a way to come back and win, even getting out of the la majistral that Liger put Samurai away with, as well as most of his other finishers. I don't know if this *quite* has enough juice to finish in the top 15 MOTYs, but it would in a weaker year, at least.
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Shane Douglas has lost his TV title to one of the Pitbulls, and despite not initially wanting it, he's pissed. Big Dick Dudley is back, and he grunts. Perry Saturn don't need no stinking stitches. ECW is a bit too crazy for Divine Brown, and she wants no part of Stevie Richards and his money. Big Dick and Bubba Ray want to change D-Von's attitude. Missy and Sandman cut another BDSM-tinged promo. Alfonso romances two ladies in a swimming pool. Dreamer discusses a weapons match with Brian Lee. Lee responds. Raven gives us his catchphrase. Yeah, the storylines are starting to run a little thin. Paul is at least trying to freshen things up, with the Douglas-Pitbull feud and the soon-to-begin Raven-Sandman program.
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Yeah, this was the "Niggas with Attitude" incident, and that doesn't make air. Mikey literally having to hold the chair *twice* so RVD can knock it into his face was pretty eye-rolling (this is probably the debut of the Van Daminator, and thank goodness for that) but it's a fresh look at RVD for him to be booked as a killer heel, at least. Pillman hasn't mellowed at all since the car wreck, obviously. This promo was pretty good and I really kinda wish we'd gotten the whole thing, just to see exactly what he said.
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This was pretty whatever and I'm not going to waste time trying to go to bat for Benoit, as enjoyable as I've found some of his stuff. I'm stunned that this was as well-received at the time as it apparently was--I guess Benoit really could do no wrong at this point, because any other wrestler would have been crucified for all the chinlock/sleeper/"rest hold" stuff by smart fans of the time. Even the live crowd seems to be shitting on it when Benoit goes back to the hold for like the 30th time. Eddie's pop-up huracanranas and doing the slingshot senton to the floor on the ramp were nice early touches and I really liked the tease of the top-rope tombstone, but I can't say that I found this particularly special otherwise.