PeteF3
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This was a 90-minute episode *and* they were running unopposed (early start due to the NBA playoffs) so these two get plenty of time, not just to wrestle but to slowly build up to the big spots toward the end. Eddy does tone it down some, but Flair still takes the tornado DDT (which he bumps great for), the frog splash, and a huracanrana, so Guerrero still got plenty of his spots in. Heenan also does a strong job of putting over Eddy as having a real chance--yeah, this really should have been followed up quickly with a US title push.
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From a business standpoint, NJPW was almost always ahead of All-Japan from at least the early '80s onward, with the big exception being when Choshu's Army was with AJPW.
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Does the coupon book include $1.00 off any one-topping from Tatum and Victory's pizza place?
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We're a long way from the Road Warriors, Sting & Luger, and the Steiners. Though in highlight form the action seems pretty decent.
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This was such an absurd PPV, with the most contrived "Lethal Lottery" in history with literally every match involving enemies teaming or tag partners against each other. The result is a #1 contenders' final 4 consisting of DDP, the Barbarian, Johnny Grunge, and Ice Train. Unbelievable. Oh, and pinfalls count, because why not? DDP and Barb work hard to put on as good of a match as possible under the circumstances, before DDP puts him away with the Diamond Cutter. We didn't know what was to come with Diamond Dallas, but at the time this was a total out of nowhere, WTF result.
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DDP gets made over at a hair salon and then at a boutique, at which point this starts getting edited really oddly.
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Eddie should stick out like a sore thumb here but he acquits himself nicely with some fun stuff. Arn DDT's Eddie, thus solidfying himself as a walk-behinder 4 life, giving Flair and Savage the win. Then an awesome post-match beatdown, complete with Liz slapping Savage and Arn dropping him with a DDT on the floor. -
Match is typical boring WWF climb-the-cage stuff, with a few great bumps from Shawn both into the cage and off the cage. Davey Boy also makes a cameo appearance. Then of course, "But--but I'm a good guy! And you're...you're...you're a BAD GUY!" Pretty brazen, but the crowd approves of it. It occurs to me that doing this even 3 years later would probably be a total non-issue.
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I don't think so--the work over the ribs was such a central part of the match that I think they were going for a specifc payoff.
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Lawler calls out the other babyfaces, including the Cyberpunks and Dave Brown, for not coming to his help when Frank Morrell faked that heart attack. He starts on the level, stressing that it's just business and not personal with the Cyberpunks, but he and Dundee work as subtle heels for this, and Dundee ends up using a chain to net them the tag titles. Dave informs Lawler of this, and Jerry teases that he's going to be upset about it...but decides that a title belt is a title belt and gloats to the Cyberpunks anyway. We've all talked about the lack of a babyface equal to Lawler in 1990 Memphis...but now, even as the promotion is dying, it looks like it may have its men this time. Lawler immediately draws boos from the studio crowd for associating with Dundee and they're behind Fire & Ice all the way. This should be quite the interesting development.
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The main pitfall of Texas Death Matches rears its head immediately, as Takako pins Ozaki in about 30 seconds, though she uses Ozaki's own Tequila Sunrise finisher just to be a bitch. She then attacks Ozaki with what appears to be a jumprope. They actually restrain from loading this up with a bunch of falls after the first one to establish the stips, so credit to them for that. I still didn't think much of this, though--the opening brawling is incredibly tepid and sloppy (and not sloppy in the chaotic brawl sense--I mean in the sloppy sense). And despite being a match between two of the biggest cunts in the history of women's wrestling this doesn't really feel very hateful or high-stakes--and yet another dead 1996 joshi crowd doesn't help, either. What HAPPENED, exactly? Leaving aside Kudo/Toyoda, this doesn't hold a candle to the Ozaki/Kansai death matches.
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DW Dudley laments his inability to walk anymore...but that doesn't stop him from getting up to pick up a dropped quarter. Tommy Dreamer should be mad about Beulah cheating on him, but...well, the fringe benefits are made obvious. Taz threatens Scorpio with SHOOT TIME, BRUTHA. DJ RAN makes an appearance, all up in our area! Holy shit!
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We come in with Luger throwing everything at the Giant trying to knock him off the ring apron, in a cool-building spot. Giant says "fuck this" after getting knocked off and drags Luger to Flair's VIP table and chokeslams him through it. Sting saves, but it's too late--Luger and the announcers all sell this big, as Lex's babyface turn is cemented.
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This was okay, mostly saved by a well-worked closing stretch. That power bomb/Frankensteiner/sunset flip sequence was cool. Helmsley is SO not ready for prime time on offense, though--he really has nothing going for him except some knee-based stuff (big shock). I do admire the attempt at nose-based psychology in the early going, which may well be a first.
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First we get a history lesson on the history of Kuwait--5 years earlier, Kuwait City was overtaken by Iraq until it was saved by Hulk Hogan defeating Sgt. Slaughter the efforts of Gen. Schwarzkopf and Desert Storm. Highlights of the WWF in Kuwait follow. Fancam footage of Shawn talking to a family on the beach, when he's jumped from behind by Davey Boy Smith. Neat, unique little angle.
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"I've never danced with the devil in the pale moonlight, but I'll try anything once. Do you know what rigor mortis is? It's a stiffening of the--AAH!" Dustin's commitment to this is commendable and he gets off some great lines here, but this character is becoming awfully one-note. This is three consecutive programs involving a babyface doing an interview and Goldust interrupting to come onto him, only to get attacked. This time Mankind makes the save for him and puts out Undertaker again with the Mandible Claw. Goldust is about to have his way with an unconscious UT when he sits up and Goldust freaks out and runs off.
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This never felt like they were killing time, no...but they never seemed to raise their game a whole lot throughout the match either. It'd be oversimplifying to say that this was a 45-minute feeling out process, but while the "opening" type stuff was better than the Bret-Shawn ironman, Bret and HBK did a better job of taking us through ups and downs over the course of an hour, while this struggles to get going--the crowd's never "dead," but 45 minutes in they're still politely applauding the big spots and kickouts rather than having been worked into a sustained frenzy. The work hasn't suffered, but I can't help but notice that 1996 joshi has a decided lack of "big" matches. This is a tag title match main eventing Wrestlemarinepad that has about 1/4 of the heat that a major joshi tag match would have had from 1992-95. The scene as a whole seems stagnant. The final payoff is effective, as Kyoko clobbers Manami with a lariat that turns her inside out for the victory, and presumably keeps alive their rivalry for the 3WA title.
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I think they ended up hinting that this was the work of Ted DiBiase and the NWO, but that was never officially clarified.
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More of the same from the previous month, with some spots that are more death-defying but also more that are blown. RVD cripples Sabu with a super fisherman buster and scores the pin shortly afterward. Sabu is seemingly too hurt afterward to say "I respect you" into the mic or shake hands, but he drags himself away from the paramedics to come back to the ring. Paul E. calls RVD back out, and Sabu extends his hand again, but RVD tells him he's a piece of shit and leaves with Fonzie and Taz.
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Very good match, that takes the Douglas-Jannetty template and improves it with better opening matwork and more Extreme™ action with chairs and tables. I dug Douglas busting out more high-flying offense out of desperation, like springboarding off a chair. And the Chekov's Gun stuff with the table (teasing someone going through it, not delivering, then sending somebody through it with a sudden fall later) always gets me. Also have to give credit to everyone for getting me to think "time limit draw" (having called that as the finish with Gertner's 25-minute time call) and then going to a finish anyway. A really, really dumb post-match angle follows, as Douglas spends 9 hours talking about everyone he's ever worked with in his life, acting as a humblebragging babyface for some unexplained reason. They drag this out FOREVER even though it's obvious through all this respect garbage that someone's hitting somebody else with the belt. It ends up being Scorpio, after Douglas hands the belt over to him thus looking like a total moron, which could work if his character was that of a moron--but it isn't.
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I really liked the angle to set this up, with the Eliminators jumping the Pitbulls and Dreamer at the gym and Styles & co. having to break into the show with impromptu coverage "on the scene," after the fact. The Pitbulls were taken out, forcing Dreamer to bring in the Gangstas. A crowd of 90% white guys throwing up the "X" sign as Natural Born Killaz plays is always amusing. I actually thought Dreamer looked pretty good in general, even aside from that loony Eagle's Nest bump. Saturn also brought a lot of fun actual wrestling offense to this thing. Dreamer puts a cinder block on Lee's groin and brings a chair down on it, as Lee had done to him earlier--that really, really should have been the finish, but they drag the match out some more before New Jack puts Saturn away with a diving chair shot. This goes on way too long with a few pin saves too many after waiting too long to get Stevie, Beulah, and Kimona involved, but it can't be accused of being boring.
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Fuck, that was going to be my line. I actually *do* think the idea could have worked, but...yeah.
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This threatens to go off the rails when the match gets overshadowed by the arrival of Flair, Liz, and Woman to the "VIP area," but the production recovers to re-focus on the two athletes in the ring. Quick sprint in that classic Nitro style, but a good one with a few near-falls that had me biting.
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The early highlight here is Kong putting on a reverse Indian deathlock the way her partner so often does, and Kyoko successfully encouraging her to do her clap hands/hip shimmy move. Other than that, there wasn't much new under the sun for the body of this. They all worked hard and quick, but it felt very house-showy and run-of-the-mill, despite some last-second pin saves. The "new" stuff came at the very end, when Hotta and Kong started trading submissions--a sequence that pays off with Hotta getting on a cross armbreaker and getting Kong to tap! That *feels* like a historic result, at least. Overall, this was fine, but inconsequential.
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Yeah, the story is they were going for Elizabeth here, but were so worried about a potential (justified) slander suit that they covered their tracks to the extent that no one could possibly have picked up on it.