PeteF3
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Where the Big Boys Play #70 - 1991 TV and End of Year Awards
PeteF3 replied to soup23's topic in Publications and Podcasts
Well, I have a match to seek out now. And yeah, I have that Sting vs. Cactus bout as the 1991 Match of the Year for WCW. I won't argue that Ross is fucking horrid calling it, though. -
Funny how perspective changes things. My criticism of Liger watching these Yearbooks is he loses TOO much--he spent so much time trying to make rivals out of Honaga, Nogami, and others that it tended to undermine his ace status. Still, I was disappointed to see this was an extended squash, with Sasuke getting a run of offense that lasted like 30 seconds before being decisively put away, with not even a few token kickouts.
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Fucking insane. As down as I was on that last WAR match of theirs, Rey vs. Psicosis just never gets old, but they give the other two guys time to show some stuff, too. I hate Ultimo Dragon but this is the best he's ever looked, executing everything crisply and even showing some character work (being in with Psicosis helps in that regard). Metal's good too, though he does blow one spot badly during the missed-dives train. Possibly a top-10 MOTYC. Swap out Heavy Metal and put Juventud in here and it'd be fighting for the top spot.
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Amazingly good match. No, it's not Sting/Vader, but it's not THAT far behind. It's long, but they had me guessing wrong at 2 or 3 instances where I thought it was over and they kept going. Really some of the better "near falls" you'll ever see in a touch-the-corners match. This didn't have any blood, but it felt WAY grittier and more intense than almost any other mid-card WWF match, at least of the time. Finish is a little cliched, but they executed it well and got good heat for it. I've been surprised at how solid the team of Vince & Lawler are this year, as the WWF storylines they call get a little more complicated and mature. But it can't be stressed enough how much the announcing of JR & Perfect added to this, which I don't think Vince & the King could have done as well.
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Heenan dressed in military surplus garb sounds promising, though Cornette tried that in SMW at the end of its run and it didn't work. You can't help but notice that Hogan and Heenan were pretty much done with each other as soon as the Andre program ended in the summer of '88, and I can't help but wonder if that was intentional. And the Cobra Clutch...well, by now that was DiBiase's move, and in the WWF (and other promotions) that stuff mattered. In a way I kind of admire these Sarge promos for their sheer audacity, hooking up to current events in a way that actually felt organic and dare I say "real," and not cheap and desperate like the Gulf War stuff. I still think the out-of-touch '80s relic gimmick had legs to it, sort of a WWF-ized version of the former Marine Dick Murdoch turning on Dusty Rhodes because he couldn't accept Dusty teaming with that Commie Nikita Koloff. If it makes you feel any better, Sarge's "I want my country back" angle is even worse than the absolute worst Iraqi stuff.
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This was a lot of fun, with Yamazaki & Nagata making for a really good team of ratfuck subtle heels, using sneaky double teams and Yamazaki tormenting Hash as he tried to watch from the apron, constantly sneak-attacking him. Hash has some great stand-up exchanges--what else is new--and Nagata, whom I know primarily as the dry heat vacuum in WCW--throws some awesome suplexes. Yet again Otani's worst instincts get the better of him, as he tags himself in when Shinya finds himself in the corner, and acquits himself down 1-on-2 for a little bit before getting caught in a leg submission by Yamazaki.
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I liked this okay--in fact, if not for a lack of heat and atmosphere I daresay I'd rank this up there with their more fabled match at SuperBrawl. Luger and Rick Steiner get involved and this breaks down, as they still seem to be clinging to the ambiguous-alliance storyline with Lex, before bigger things would throw all this out the window. Afterward Scott Hall shows up again at the announcer's desk in a segment I don't remember, and he makes the challenge for WCW to provide 3 top guys. Hall doesn't want this war to be carried out in the newspapers and dirtsheets, which is a great form of shoot-type line. Scott refers to "we"--intrigue already! Bischoff and Heenan are too stunned to even properly sign off.
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I love Tony acting like this is a shoot. Also, "we know who that is" is dropped for perhaps the first time, before TNA ran it into the ground. Hall brings up all the old Billionaire Ted terminology and promises to provide the war that WCW started. And so things will never be the same again.
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These two have some shockingly great chemistry--or maybe not so shocking, as Vader works great with guys who can toss him around, and if nothing else Ahmed can certainly believably do that. Owen Hart, incensed at Ahmed's senseless attack on Jim Cornette, comes to his manager's rescue and clobbers Ahmed with his cast, sending him to his first defeat. Backstage footage of Ahmed on a stretcher, and Goldust is here to offer first aid. Vince: "THAT'S THE MOST REVOLTING THING I'VE EVER SEEN! GET HIM OUTTA THERE!" Ahmed freaks out and abuses Bob Holly, a guard outside Goldust's locker room door, and a cameraman.
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Highlights of the Smoking Gunns using Sunny to win the tag titles from the Godwinns, then Marc Mero beating Hunter Hearst Helmsley, then the lights going out during Savio's entrance. We get footage of matches held in the dark, and Vince hypes tomorrow's live re-airing. This was a huge stroke of luck for the WWF--normally they didn't run encores of In Your House PPVs, but they made an exception here because of Memorial Day weekend. Cut to DiBiase and Austin having a heated conversation and Ted complains that no one could tell how many turnbuckles Savio touched in the strap match. Ted promises to leave the WWF if Vega beats Austin again, which gets Steve's attention but doesn't seem to impress him that much.
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Some gorgeous matwork for sure, though those of you who like a match that builds and builds aren't going to care for this, as these two are so evenly matched that only 1 point is taken the entire way. Blink-and-you'll-miss it finish as Tamura executes a great cross armbreaker takedown for the submission. Looking forward to seeing what Tamura brings to the table in RINGS.
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Clarence Mason always cracked me up--here he's in a neck brace, cast, and walking with a cane because of Gorilla Monsoon grabbing him by the arm earlier in the night. And who is that guy standing behind Perfect & Diana? I'd swear it was Stephen Root, but I doubt it. Cornette announces that he's obtained an "official South Carolina manager's license" for Owen Hart, which Owen even shows to us. Odd bit of detail by WWF standards of the time. Owen's also wearing a University of Michigan jacket for some reason, as my respect for him suddenly lessens. We still don't seem to have all the lights back, and even the segue to the Hendrix-Michaels interview is messed up on multiple levels. Little things like Shawn Michaels not wearing a jacket for his entrance also give this the feel of being "off." Vince has already announced the live matches for the IYH encore show, so at least someone was on the ball to get that done so quickly while the lights were out. Clarence Mason serves Michaels with a subpoena, claiming attempted alienation of affection. I like Vince's indignation at all this. Yeah, what Loss said about the match. The story as I understand it is that Shawn (and I'd assume Bulldog as well) weren't aware that this match was airing on PPV until midway through or afterward, hence Shawn's frustration. as they were clearly going at half-speed thinking this was being done for the live crowd only. There are a few nice spots and a few moments where they're clearly taking it easy, leading to a screw finish, though as screw finishes go this wasn't bad. Owen eats a superkick but otherwise his being swapped in for Cornette plays no role. A disappointing match, but I'm tempted to give the entire company a mulligan on this, as there was no precedent for this sort of thing in the PPV era.
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I did like Woman's groveling apology after the match, and Armstrong looked good, but...sheesh. Flair gets dominated for most of the match, needs bailed out by Woman after Brad hits the Russian legsweep, then gets disqualified? Dumb, dumb, dumb.
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"We're naughty by nature, and violent by decision." The Rock speaks for the very first time. Not quite IF YA SMEEEELLL... Exhibit #307 of why Lance & Dave are the best ever: Rocky hits a low dropkick that doesn't even reach Dundee's chest, and they don't gloss over it--they point out that "it wasn't the best dropkick I've ever seen," and they STILL turn it into a positive by noting how much power Kavana must have to still knock Dundee over without getting the full dropkick. Flex could charitably be described as "raw" here, but the potential and upside are still clear. And there aren't really two better opponents to have for your first TV match.
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Better than the first match, though this is sort of an extended squash by Yamamoto. Ramazi definitely brings more than Nyman did, at least. We get *another* dust-up involving outside help, this time during the match. Now I want to see the RINGS regulars against the outside Russians in an elimination/WarGames match.
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Nyman sucked and this match was almost all stand-up. Now Volk is pretty underrated at standing up and striking, but it isn't really a Volk match without a bunch of tricked-out submissions. Sort of a sprinty match for RINGS with Han on the verge of being TKO'd before he busts out one big submission to get a sudden tapout. Before he breaks the hold he gets leveled by one of Nyman's cornermen and that triggers a crazy brawl. An angle in RINGS??? I've seen everything now.
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This was good, but I was hoping for a little more for Taue's first TC win, and in comparison to the previous classics between these two. This is a shortened version of a standard Misawa formula match--quick start by the challenger, big Misawa comeback, then the finish. In hindsight, I almost wonder if it wouldn't have been better and more memorable for Taue to have the big comeback. Instead, this feels very by-the-numbers. Now, a by-the-numbers AJPW main event is still really damn good, but...well, expectations are what they are. The counterwrestling involving the nodowa toward the end was fantastic, and the finish was quite well-done though I don't necessarily agree with the logic of booking Taue's big title win on a fluke. Misawa was so firmly entrenched on top at this point that it wasn't going to hurt to have him beaten more decisively.
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Abby taking a monkey flip was a standard spot of his. Even against guys like Zeus and Van Hammer who never did the move.
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White's New England accent was even thicker than Davis'.
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A very good followup to the previous night's tag match. I will agree again with Zenjo that it's a little jarring to see Kobashi still acting like a plucky underdog when he theoretically should be above that sort of thing, but the match only suffers slightly--and he *is* very good at doing it. This seems to be a match all about re-establishing Kawada after his bad loss, anyway.
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This opens up super-hot and would be a legit frontline MOTY, but as Zenjo points out it sort of bogs down once Kawada & Taue take over for the first time. That doesn't last however, as we get a bunch of great twists and turns in a match that's all about making Akiyama. He's a sympathetic underdog babyface of course, but also shows flashes of badassery in standing up to his bully opponents, with some timely saves by Misawa. We get a little callback to the '93 RWTL final, until Akiyama just murders Kawada with repeated exploders to get his biggest win to date. With AJPW you never quite know if they're really going to pull the trigger on a signature win for a young star, so it's incredibly satisfying when they do it at the perfect time, as I believe this was.
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Fantastic job by Murdoch to hang in there with Fujiwara for 24 minutes at his age. No pretense of shootstyle here--this is a wrasslin' match all the way with pro-style matwork, big moves, comedy, and pinfalls. Murdoch unleashes just about all of his classic offense and this match has a little bit of everything to it. Really good little footnote to Dick's career.
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Buh Buh Ray has some misadventures driving in a parking lot, much to the consternation of D-Von who has taken over Big Dick's role as the Dudley antagonist. The Pitbulls threaten the Eliminators (gasp). The Eliminators Harris twins respond. Francine responds to that. D-Von goes for a ride on the hood of the car. Bill Alfonso is interrupted by a phone call--he asks his mom to call the massage parlor to tell them he'll be late. 2 Cold cuts a promo on Shane Douglas. Shane rebuts and complains about Scorpio's actions after the match, in a promo that lasts longer than your average entire Pulp Fiction montage. The Gangstas threaten somebody. The Eliminators, apparently. Kronus doesn't cackle this time.
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DDP was technically eliminated earlier in Battle Bowl, so they give his #1 contendership to...Lex Luger. Uh, shouldn't it go to the Barbarian, then? As surprising as DDP's win was, this was a pretty bullshit, modern-day-WWF style bait-and-switch.
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Ah, I see we've approached the start of announcers talking about everything except the match in the ring. Still, Flair and Bobby are having way too much fun for two people. I love Flair's justification for going after Kevin Greene being about Greene "coming into Carolina" (having signed with the Panthers) without Ric's permission. Barbarian and Sting put on a hell of a show here--Barb looks good but it takes two to do most of those big moves, and Sting takes some tremendous bumps and works a good FIP segment for a guy who didn't do that too often. Great flying splash at the finish, too.