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PeteF3

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  1. PeteF3
    Closer to a Smoky Mountain "Rage in the Cage" than WarGames, as we have handcuffs on the cage. And no man-advantage rule either, as each team sends a guy in at the same time. Pretty cool brawl that actually builds into a hell of a wrestling match, with some really great near-falls and saves and some cool psychology with the babyfaces having to fight off a 2-on-3 disadvantage when Kuroda gets cuffed. Afterward Victor Quinones, the Headhunters, and Mr. Pogo lay waste to everyone in sight, with one Headhunter doing a moonsault off the cage. I dug this quite a lot.
  2. PeteF3
    Note that some cable systems aren't airing the live show, as it's up against a UFC replay.
  3. PeteF3
    I actually liked the Christmas match between these two the best as far as TV bouts go, but this was pretty good and like that match is a bit more meat-and-potatoes rather than a sprint designed to keep eyeballs from flipping to Raw. More satisfying ending too, even if the timing is a bit off. The post-match is underwhelming with the debut of the BOOTYBOOTYBOOTYMAN, with the announcers pretending to not have any idea who it is and the gimmick being another excuse for Beefcake to desperately and shamelessly mug to the crowd.
  4. PeteF3
    My greatest fear if time travel is ever discovered is not Terminators being sent from the future, or altered histories caused by people stepping on prehistoric butterflies, or me marrying my own grandmother. It's someone going back to the spring of 1990 and planting a particular SummerSlam main event idea in Hogan's head...
  5. PeteF3
    Much more low-key than the previous bout, as we're JIP with Combat methodically destroying KAORU's leg before unleashing some bigger bombs. Combat's offense looks good here, and KAORU does a nice job of consistently selling her leg and providing a reason for Combat to no-sell her dropkicks. This turns when KAORU catches Toyoda on the top turnbuckle and KILLS her with a brutal super fishermanbuster that looks like it could have compressed Combat's spine. She then drops repeated moonsaults on her and finishes with a twisting splash for...the pin. Well, that was a curious match layout by any standard. KAORU didn't exactly get a fired-up comeback, she got one big giant move and then just methodically wore Combat down for the pin. Not bad, just different. Toyoda had a nice array of crunchy offense and the match was well-done psychologically, though despite this being on Combat's retirement tour it still came off as more of an enjoyable TV studio match.
  6. PeteF3
    Well, you certainly can't accuse this of being boring. 12 minutes of non-stop violence, with maybe two or three legal tags the entire match. Sawai and her big fat offense impress, and I think Eagle Sawai & Tomoko Watanabe is now my joshi dream tag team. All six ladies are killing each other all over Korakuen, with Nagayo and Eagle fighting into the concourse and then the balcony before returning to the ring. Most of this centers around Nagashima, who's constantly elevating the action by using a kendo stick and a chain. She works hard, but she really doesn't have 1/10 of the panache and charisma of Takako Inoue or someone like that--she comes off as someone using the weapons because she's a heel and she's booked to use them, rather than someone using weapons because they want/have to. The babyfaces sort of fight on the level for most of this before paying the opponents back by using every weapon against them, but Kato taking the sort of overmatched Sakie Hasegawa babyface role gets power bombed and pinned by Sawai. Even Nagashima's post-match promo sounds tepid in comparison to other Japanese ladies on the mic, and Nagayo is clearly a more compelling speaker with greater control of the crowd. Fun match, though there are other better joshi brawls. With 6 people however, the action never stops, and at 12 minutes this doesn't wear out its welcome. Generally crazy brawls shouldn't go much more than 15, in my view. As workers, Nagayo and Eagle were the only ones to really stand out even though Nagashima got a lot of focus. Still early in the GAEA learning process, so hopefully I'll have more to say as the year goes on.
  7. PeteF3
    Logistics and the usual Piper issues aside, Rude desperately needed some other hook besides working out. If they couldn't run another injury angle to another top babyface, then maybe a solution would be to go all cliched Southern wrasslin' and have Rude call Warrior a chicken, then run out when he's on on the Brother Love Show and tar and feather him. Or, since they were experimenting with Warrior's look, do a haircut angle. Hell, in this environment you could even draw heat by having Rude rub his face with paint thinner. But do *something.*
  8. PeteF3
    I'd do a mini-house-show program with Rude and Piper again and do everything up to and including throwing some extra money at Piper if he puts over Rude clean. Put it on Superstars for May sweeps too if you can, and sell it as Rude trying to avenge a loss from *his* past and daring Warrior to do the same.
  9. PeteF3
    Not good, and hugely disappointing in the face of their other matches. This is Nash in full Big Lazy mode, a few years early. Diesel's also in full heel mode, both in the way he's working and crowd reactions--wait a second, he gets booed the whole match, gets booed for thumbing Bret in the eye...and not two seconds later a "DIE-SEL" chant breaks out. WTF, Louisville? As cheap as the ending is and as weak as it makes Bret look, I do like it as an effective and creative BS finish that played off Undertaker's post-Royal Rumble promise. Kind of notable that Bret completely vanishes from sight as soon as he escapes the cage, though, and that it's Undertaker's music that plays and not Hart's. The full Diesel heel turn is pretty clearly in place by this point.
  10. PeteF3
    I liked this a LOT--in fact it may be Shawn's peak as a pure babyface. Michaels has lots of ways to dive on top of Owen from various heights, and Owen has a great collection of counters and cut-offs. The plancha into a powerslam on the floor was a fantastic spot. This is also laid out almost perfectly, with Shawn going from a clowning babyface to an elite-athlete babyface to a gutsy underdog babyface. Great use of the enzuigiri, and Owen manages to work over Shawn's both head (obviously) and his back (to set up the Sharpshooter) in equal fashion without ever losing the plot. And the superkick-vs.-enzuigiri finish was a good one. I could see this being a darkhorse top-10 US match when the year is said and done.
  11. PeteF3
    Brandon Baxter is possibly the scuzziest, sleaziest manager I've ever seen. He makes JD Costello look like Paul Newman. He announces a new partnership with Scott Bowden, B&B Enterprises and laments his inability to further beat up Randy Hales without drawing a suspension. Outstanding studio match follows, one of the very best of the '90s. In fact I think I liked it more than Christopher-Jarrett because it has a much more satisfying ending. After about 5 big false finishes in a row, Armstrong loses control of JC Ice for a second time and gets nailed with the Confederate flag, giving the tag titles back to PG-13. Baxter browbeats Jesse James for being a screw-up afterward, and Jesse James tells him off in response--"You smell what I'm cookin'?" Ha. Baxter warns JJ to shape up while Tracy tries to play peacemaker, but when James pops Baxter, he creams him with the flag. Cool beatdown follows to conclude one of the best Memphis segments in months and months.
  12. PeteF3
    Sheesh, that just kept going, didn't it? Not nearly as wild about this match as everyone else. This had that problem where both guys have gone through every possible finisher and they all get kicked out of, so at around the 20-minute mark, all you have left to do is count the minutes until the practically-inevitable time limit draw. And not that it's the fault of either wrestler, but Styles' telegraphing of every single kickout (where he declares the match over) continues to piss me off mightily. Lots of announcers do that but Styles makes it more obvious than most and completely kills the drama for anyone watching at home who's seen more than wo episodes of ECW TV. Also wasn't really crazy about the way they went from wild highspots to start into matwork. There was some enjoyable stuff here and some loony bumps, especially Sabu springboarding from the ring over the guardrail and wiping out through a table. But this would have been way better at 15-20 minutes.
  13. PeteF3
    Pillman's promo is mostly whatever and this stuff ages HORRIBLY, though his shutting up the ECW mutants by comparing them all to Eric Bischoff was nice. I enjoyed seeing Hat Guy look like he was about to cry. I was never really on the Loose Cannon bandwagon to start with, and then as now I'm left wondering what it was supposed to accomplish. Douglas making sure to get "he's shooting" over the mic was pretty contrived, too. The fan attack was pretty good. This is an angle worth seeing and in a weird way I sort of admire Pillman's total commitment to the character, but watching from hindsight it's a little clearer that we're watching a man in a downward spiral.
  14. PeteF3
    Um...four years late and a dollar short, but this is the same match as the title change. Kawada & Taue won the belts back on 2/20.
  15. PeteF3
    Is that THE Dr. Alfonso Morales? Five-plus Yearbooks in and I think this is the first time we've seen him on-camera. Some utterly gorgeous mat wrestling and escapes here, done with grace and incredible speed. Dandy can still go. As can everyone else, of course. Glorious finish to the second fall as Caras locks Dantes in a sort of Gory Special thing and piggybacks him around the ring as he's submitting. The technicos then triple team all 3 rudos into oblivion, one after the other. The rudos retaliate on Caras and try to unmask him, to draw a WEAK DQ. That's some Hogan levels of babyface favoritism, right there. This made you want to see more but there could have been a better way to book a fuck finish. Someone should have consulted Antonio Pena. Too bad as this was shaping up to be a legit MOTY.
  16. PeteF3
    Good little match. Otani and Kanemoto brutalize Liger, but when Liger gets the hot tag he and Tiger pay Kanemoto back for everything they did, tearing his knee to pieces. Not only is this good, effective work, it plays into the finish as Kanemoto is unable to make that final save as he's out on the floor clutching that bad leg. Otani and Kanemoto are such great dicks...I really want to see them team up with Samurai or Honaga and take on the Michinoku Pro babyfaces.
  17. PeteF3
    Another tepid reaction from Hogan--as a few weeks ago, the fans aren't hostile anymore, they're just burnt out on him. Hogan dominates the entire match and bitches Arn out on everything he tries, before Double A gets a token run on Hogan's eye at the end. Heenan is in his glory here. In my book, it's all worth it, though--Woman tosses powder in Hulk's bad eye, Arn clobbers him with Liz's boot, and ARN WINS! ARN WINS! ARN WINS! Of course Hogan and Savage destroy Arn & Flair afterward (where the hell's Benoit?), but the post-match chaos at the announcer's desk makes for a fun ending. Hulk and Savage are just a little too chummy in their promo considering what's happened to them over the past week.
  18. PeteF3
    MISS BY GOD ELIZABETH is looking spectacular in her new leather outfit but she should talk on a live mic as little as possible. She actually did some good sitdown interviews around this time, though. Ric, philanthropist that he is, fulfills Randy's promise that he'd leave the arena in a gurney. He's not worried about his mandatory rematch with Savage next week. Gloating Ric is almost always the best Ric.
  19. PeteF3
    Yeah, count me as another who would normally have groaned at watching a 30-minute joshi spotfest, and another who enjoyed what he saw. I didn't love it--there's not a lot of story and I had trouble keeping track of who was whom--but this was a very fun AJW-meets-Michinoku-Pro sprint. Every new Yearbook carries a breakout star with it, and this time it's Tomoko Watanabe--possibly the smoothest, most agile fattie in the history of wrestling. All of her offense and bumping looked spectacular, and I was downright sad to see her go. Takako is also her usual colossally bitchy self--did Takako ever wrestle Mayumi Ozaki one-on-one? That might cause the universe to collapse. Fun stuff that I could have even kept watching if it'd gone longer.
  20. PeteF3
    Power Hour aired first on Friday nights, then moved to early Saturday mornings. It would always be considered the first show of the week (accounting for different start times for Worldwide and pre-1995 Pro). Main Event was on Sunday evenings, 6:05. Before this it was World Championship Wrestling: Sunday Edition--the change happened right around the first Clash. And there was NWA Saturday Morning in 1988-89.
  21. PeteF3
    In the USWA, AFAIK, he only referred to himself as "the voice of the World Wrestling Federation." The earliest on-camera acknowledgment I remember was at the Michael Landon Awards, clips of which were shown on Raw with "WWF owner" or something on a graphic under Vince's name. And that may have actually been before the USWA run anyway--this was during Hogan's short second run with the company. The earliest hard, kayfabe acknowledging was indeed the Ross shoot promo.
  22. PeteF3
    Liz and Savage being a fairy-tale romance with real-life weight (not that their life was a real-life fairy tale--it was a kayfabe fairytale but based on real life...if that makes sense. They weren't just two workers in a role) had a lot to do with it, too. You couldn't just repeat the angle with any man and woman, or even any real-life couple (who gave a shit when Debra turned on Steve McMichael?). Edge and Matt Hardy is the closest we've come to pulling off a recreation, I think. You have to give WCW credit for blindsiding us on 3 1996 PPVs in 6 months. The Liz, Mongo, and Hulk turns left everyone gobsmacked and yet it never really felt like overkill, either.
  23. PeteF3
    In the pre-match promos, Woman begins her bizarre gimmick of constantly attempting to seduce Mean Gene. Savage cuts off a Liz interview, just like old times. They also say the word "MegaPowers" like 30 times, so apparently that trademark lapsed or was discovered not to have existed. Lots of "Oh, WCW" moments here. The goofiness with the door, the idiot timekeeper, the wide shot once Flair starts bleeding, the weird bit with Flair punching out the referee for no reason, and I don't know what the hell was up with the constant moonings, but it was ridiculous and borderline uncomfortable. Also, Flair for some reason turns into Sportatorium Lawler, stalling and working the mic before the match. That said, they picked the intensity up as the match went along and the ending is a shock among shocks. WCW would top themselves with shocking heel turns not once but twice more in the next few months, but Liz turning heel was a moment that blindsided everybody at the time even if it would get overshadowed later.
  24. PeteF3
    Yeah, I never, EVER understood what the endgame of this was supposed to be. This is a fake shoot, Japanese-style angle in a world where that sort of thing simply didn't exist. (Okay, you had the Michaels collapse not long before, but it wasn't kayfabe-breaking the way this one was). Then Bischoff and Sullivan can talk about how they worked all the boys (amusingly, Disco Inferno was reported as being the one guy in the locker room who smelled work), but it doesn't do anything to draw money. If Pillman doesn't get into a car wreck and doesn't jump ship, what the hell next? Pillman comes back and...wrestles Sullivan again? I will say that the announcers did a very professional and admirable job in the wake of some unprecedented, bizarre circumstances. And that the action in *both* matches is really good. For as short as it is, Pillman/Sullivan has a very Lawler/Snowman-esque vibe that I was rather enjoying before they felt the need to start booking to the Internet crowd ten years before that was a viable option. And they had the decency to have Arn wrestle in his golf outfit rather than magically be in his ring gear. It's a notable moment but more than anything it's an excuse for 3 guys to jerk off.
  25. PeteF3
    From what we see, the action is better here than it was on Nitro, though it is another long beatdown on Savage. Benoit gets to show off some more stuff, and tie Savage in knots. Just as Savage is about to come back and put this away, Arn draws him in and he and Flair and Benoit team up to beat Savage down, even following him into the hallway as he tries to retreat. Good stuff, ruined by Schiavone placing more emphasis on the "satellite hookup" with Hulk Hogan, who talks about how "everything is cool" while his best friend who bleeds for him is getting the stuffing kicked out of him. Ill-fated timing aside, Hulk's promo is actually pretty good. Notice how WCW is practically promising that we'll see blood in the cage at SuperBrawl--Flair has done it numerous times and Hogan does it here. The times they are a-changin'.
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