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PeteF3

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  1. PeteF3
    World Commitment Wrestling! Start of the big GAB push as Flair hits on Debra McMichael sitting at ringside. Then Savage runs in again and again gets handcuffed and hauled out by security. The match is pretty standard but is helped greatly by a LOUD Albany, Georgia crowd. Compare and contrast with that JWP tag. Really cool moment as Giant locks Luger in a choke and Sting goes nuts with dives off the top to his knee, then with strikes to the arm, trying to get him to break it. Flair is apparently disqualified for hitting his own partner in the face with a cup of coffee, a finish lifted from the famous Thesz/Gotch tag bouts of yore. Giant turns into a quasi-babyface for the second time in a month.
  2. PeteF3
    Bischoff with some really badly done sarcasm.
  3. PeteF3
    Vega looks good again in limited action. Steve Austin costs him the match by whacking him with the Million Dollar belt.
  4. PeteF3
    It sounded like Savage even realized how weird that line sounded as he rather quickly shifted to talking about nights in jail. Pretty boilerplate promo--kind of disappointing considering the intensely personal nature of the feud. Savage could have been talking about anybody or any program.
  5. PeteF3
    Douglas is pretty frisky for most of this, busting out two big dives to the floor. They brawl outside and back in, and then it's run-in city. Brian Lee! Dreamer! Meanie! Richards! A Bruise Brother! Raven clobbers Douglas with the loaded orthopedic boot to escape with the title. God help me but I liked this better than RVD/Sabu. The number of run-ins were excessive but at least they were well-timed, and it was a high-energy match. I just wish Styles, to repeat myself, would STOP FUCKING TELEGRAPHING ALL THE KICKOUTS. Douglas missed Brian Lee's interference and only saw Dreamer distracting the ref earlier, so he took Tommy out to cement the heel turn that everyone knew was coming. At least they didn't try to cover for or hide it--he was still the same Franchise the whole time. It barely even qualifies as a turn. Afterward, Douglas laments that the only belt that means anything to him is still in Raven's hands, which draws out Scorpio. Douglas tries to back off, then clobbers Scorp from behind and whips both him and Sandman with the TV belt. Good segue of an angle.
  6. PeteF3
    Trashy, but pretty damned funny.
  7. PeteF3
    Well, this was the main event of the first ECW TV show I taped off SportsChannel Ohio, and 1996 Pete thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen in wrestling. Now, it's sloppy as all hell with a few cool spots and Van Dam being Van Dam, without having established himself as a star yet. I'll never be able to truly dislike this but yeah, it definitely hasn't aged well. It is impressive how much heat they were able to get just for RVD blowing off a handshake.
  8. PeteF3
    There are better studio matches on the Yearbooks but this is a very good one--I loved Lance's little breakdown of just why Lawler's punches are so effective. Very Mid-South-ian set-up here, with the "special TV time" and "standby matches." The finish isn't quite as Mid-South-ian but pure Memphis instead, as longtime referee Frank Morrell starts a heel turn by helping Jarrett regain the Unified title with a conveniently timed heart attack.
  9. PeteF3
    Awesome highlights of the Bill Dundee vs. Randy Hales/Cyberpunks feud--Dundee brawls with Wolfie D in the locker room and then jumps Randy Hales and then Jesse James Armstrong with a chair for good measure. Then Samantha Pain comes out claiming a "bus load" of Dundee supporters is out in the parking lot protesting for Bill's return, but it's all a trap so Dundee can attack Hales again. Then wild clips from Louisville of Dundee vs. Cyberpunk Fire. The Cyberpunks get an ECW lights-out entrance into the studio and an Ole Anderson voicebox promo--silly, but this is carried off much better here than in WCW. Good on them for making a stronger effort than usual to conceal who the Cyberpunks are, even if everyone knows what's up.
  10. PeteF3
    Takako, Ozaki, Kansai...so much raging bitch in one match. 'Course, Kyoko pretty much breaks the pattern, but oh well. This had a few hot stretches but was another joshi match that was too long and too clever by half. All the kickouts and saves got to be eye-rolling rather than taking me (and the crowd) to a fever pitch--it sort of made Kansai & Takako look stupid for not even trying to accomodate for Kyoko while they were killing Oz. The Splash Mountain/Takako Panic really should have been the finish. Instead they top it with *another* sick double-team, and Kyoko saves off THAT, and Ozaki rather anticlimactically goes down to a simple chop instead, though she was already pretty much doomed. Takako presents Ozaki with a pair of wrestling boots after the match, in what is undoubtedly the finest Hulk Hogan-Evad Sullivan tribute angle in the entire history of joshi.
  11. PeteF3
    Doc hasn't missed a beat, or at least it doesn't seem like it here. Taue was the better worker of the two and really was the glue of this, but Williams put in a fine performance back in the spotlight. Both guys hit their big Moves of Death--the nodowa off the apron and the dangerous backdrop--and came back from the other, which really ramped up the drama factor. And Doc had beaten Misawa *and* Kawada in the round-robin stage so he was pushed hard from the start, which makes Taue's victory, the biggest of his career to this point, all the sweeter. Terrific match to wrap up the Carnival and possibly a dark-horse top-10 MOTY.
  12. PeteF3
    Shorter than most of the early-'90s six-man classics, but this adequately takes its place amongst them. I dug Kawada heeling it up some, walking away from a confrontation with Jun and repeatedly kicking a downed Kobashi. Albright and Jun have some terrific sequences and exchanges. More great build to the full nelson suplex, and this time Albright hits it.
  13. PeteF3
    I continue to be underwhelmed by this series. Actually I was secretly hoping, upon hearing the meathead members of the crowd yelling "bo-ring" 30 seconds in, that these guys would stay on the mat for the entire 20 minutes (I know before this even started it was going to a draw, which meant it had two strikes against it already). Also, nothing seemed like it had any consequence in this match--Scorpio takes a huracanrana through a table and a Frankensteiner off the turnbuckle and is the first guy up both times. The only real attempts at psychology are Scorpio's awesome superkick as a cutoff move and Sabu using a knee injury as an excuse to be late on covers.
  14. PeteF3
    Santo's insane comeback on Felino after getting low-blowed is the definite highlight, as he drops him with an incredible huracanrana off the apron and then just beats the shit out of him on the floor. This is really good action, with Felino being all over the place and Satanico providing his usual awesomeness, though it ends rather anticlimactically.
  15. PeteF3
    UWF/UWFI had some TKO finishes, but they were very rare. The best were when Vader showed up in UWFI, and he would just bulldoze his way through the opponent's points in 5 minutes.
  16. PeteF3
    Of course, scorpions aren't insects, they're arachnids.
  17. PeteF3
    Also, that Hogan-Wall Nitro came after Russo & Bischoff were known to be coming back. It was nothing more than a throwaway one-night program, because Sullivan knew the reset button was coming anyway.
  18. PeteF3
    Koko, Dusty, Boss Man, Slick (I think), and Demolition all got cut from the WM Anthology--I suspect it was strictly because of an overzealous editor who thought they were "real" (non-WWF-produced) songs, just because they had vocals.
  19. PeteF3
    Don't forget Mil Mascaras.
  20. PeteF3
    Ah, '80s joshi...and yet I've barely scratched the surface of the lucha set and I want to finish the '90s. As ever, it's on the List. I should also have noted that while they cut the usual frenetic joshi pace, this is the most primitive, meat-and-potatoes joshi match I've viewed in the '90s. Aside from the double arm piledriver, which is a big-time killer move, this is almost nothing but holds and rather basic offense. I don't say it as a complaint (this was also a tournament semifinal so they were probably holding back for other reasons), but I do wonder if it was part of what led to the subdued crowd reaction.
  21. PeteF3
    Some okay stuff but almost nothing we haven't seen before. Not even a pretense of matwork this time, as they go straight into the spots. Rey needs a new finish besides the opponent trying for a Splash Mountain off the turnbuckle, but as we know it's not going away.
  22. PeteF3
    I don't think I've ever seen a Jaguar match before, nor have I seen Lioness in her "home element." Jaguar is *so* smooth and lithe and agile that even though this isn't a great match, you can see where her reputation as a worker comes from. She does about the most natural and realistic-looking bridge-out-of-a-pinfall spot I've ever seen. When Lioness is on top this is a lot less interesting, and the finish is pretty weak as Asuka kicks out of a double underhook piledriver but goes down to a flash victory roll. Not a lot of heat and not really an outstanding match but it did make me want to see more of Jaguar.
  23. PeteF3
    Shane Douglas gets through an entire promo without calling someone or something a "piece of shit." Raven whines about Kimona Wanalaya. Only Taz can refer to his manager as "Fonzie." JT Smith sings. Damien Kane and Lady Alexandria talk about nothing. Taz channels Andy Kaufman in talking about ECW fans. Brian Lee yells at Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer busts himself open on a locker to prove some point or another. Perry Saturn channels Cactus Jack--he wanted to WRESTLE the Gangstas. Douglas wants Raven's title. Raven and Kimona continue their drama. Nice to see Raven happy for once.
  24. PeteF3
    I come in with a completely neutral viewpoint on D-Von. We'll see where it goes. I *do* think he immediately brings a threatening, dangerous element to the group that had previously been an undercard comedy routine.
  25. PeteF3
    Bret tells the camera to "fuck off" as he's leaving the building, which is pretty eyebrow-raising even in a company that's far more adult than it was 6 months earlier. It IS kinda bullshit that they rang the bell and got Bret to break the Sharpshooter. Bret has no intention of taking a step down with another wrestling company for money--well, at least he didn't pull a Diesel and declare that he'd get a sex change before going to WCW. He does say that his desire to come back to the WWF is waning, and we fade right out. Bret's gravitas is undeniable. That he's such a huge mark for himself is, to me, a feature and not a bug.
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