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PeteF3

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  1. PeteF3
    Dr. Unger recounts the symptoms of post-concussion syndrome, and they sound quite serious, lasting for a few weeks to a few months up to 3 years. Meanwhile the NFL at this very time was trying to proclaim that concussed players were good to return to games, but that's a soapbox rant for another time. This is an incredibly frank and serious-minded piece, with Unger rather bluntly stating that it doesn't matter how resilient Shawn is--his brain isn't resilient, and that his wrestling career isn't a concern to him right now. Shawn isn't progressing, neurologically, and may not be fit to return to the ring at all. Best WWF segment of the year. Like I said earlier, it's the first emotionally charged angle that has registered in the WWF in God knows how long. Maybe the Savage-Jake feud, if not the Hogan-Earthquake feud. On another level, you kind of wish Vince & co. would actually have listened to themselves during this piece. 19 years later and it doesn't seem like they've learned much.
  2. PeteF3
    WE DON'T NEED MORE HITMEN IN OUR SOCIETY. Backlund also uses "finite" as a verb, which is fucking awesome and something I should start doing.
  3. PeteF3
    I liked this more than OJ but maybe not quite as much as Loss. Mostly low-key with Kansai doing a good job of methodically grinding Toyota down and Toyota having to pick and choose when she can get her offensive flurries in. And no tables! The ending worked for me--Toyota had already hit Kansai with the JOCS, her best shot, and failed to keep her down. Further, Kansai had hit the Splash Mountain and couldn't keep Toyota down. So it was going to take either a flash pin from Toyota or a Die Hard Kansai for either to win this, and we got the flash pin, coming off a big move in its own right. At points this got a little *too* low-key and meandering, and I agree that the 3WA belt was poorly booked thorughout the year. But this is a much nicer moment than Toyota's first title win.
  4. PeteF3
    Lawler doing his church-bulletin promo as only he can do. Sounds like a legit injury, a rarity for Lawler's career.
  5. PeteF3
    Jim Ross makes the mistake of referring to Mr. Backlund as "Bob." The result is the first time in his long career that JR gets attacked. Yes, this should have been a much bigger deal than it was.
  6. PeteF3
    Hey, it's the old (as in OLD) All-American Wrestling set-up. Did he just say PHIL MUSHNICK was secretly behind the steroid prosecution? Phil's kind of a belligerent old whiner but I think he'd find the accusation that he had that much power amusing.
  7. PeteF3
    Bill Alfonso is pretty confident after his win over Tod Gordon--and why not? To get to Fonzie, now you have to get through Taz. Stevie Richards has a nervous breakdown at the thought of having to face the Pitbulls, Public Enemy, and Tommy Dreamer 5-on-1.The Pitbulls make mean faces while Francine makes sexy faces. Public Enemy respond. A dapper Cactus Jack aims to calm the waters with the hardcore fans, trying to completely eliminate anything remotely cool or edgy about himself. Francine poses in leather. Buh Buh Ray Dudley can't finish his Michael Buffer intro. Big Dick Dudley grunts. Cactus demonstrates the difficulties of going through life with one ear. The Pitbulls talk about their stitches and Francine laments having broken a nail on Jason's eye. Cactus flosses with a mic cord. Beulah introduces the Dudleys to her box and walks off with a smooth-talking Buh Buh Ray. Tommy Dreamer has put his hair on the line to get a match with Raven. The Eliminators cut an extremely awkward promo. Sandman is politically incorrect and damn proud of it.
  8. PeteF3
    Dig those "technical difficulties" that interrupted the tape right before it was about to show Giant yanking Hogan out. What was the point of the mystery? To make Hogan look like an even bigger ass and a crybaby? Hogan's general conduct and Savage's treatment here were pretty disgraceful.
  9. PeteF3
    I think that was some time before the big Warrior push started.
  10. PeteF3
    When was the last time you saw a company like Chrysler buy time on WWF/E programming? Dig the New WWF Generation! Bruce Prichard coincidentally had gained more booking power right before this. While I'm reciting '95 Observer tidbits--this renewed Backlund mini-push was an apparent attempt by Vince (or somebody) to put the Clique in their place, or at least make a show of putting the Clique in their place. I think we all have heard the story through multiple channels about the Clique meeting with Vince and going over the roster one-by-one, and expressing their views on whether a guy should be pushed, kept where he was, released, etc. Backlund was one of the guys the Clique wanted depushed or gone.
  11. PeteF3
    Yeah, I don't know what the fuck that Luger turn at Havoc was about. He was already a compelling enough figure without that, it was a pointless move and an indication that WCW, as compelling as a lot of Nitros had become, was still winging it week to week. Pretty bad action. God knows why or how the One Man Gang lasted this long. Eddy Guerrero is also one of the final 10, which brings to mind an amusing story I just read in the '95 Observers of Guerrero somehow becoming the most over guy to work Center Stage, to the point where instead of having Sting wrestle the final match to keep the crowd there, they moved Eddy to that slot. Maybe that's why he lasted so long here. Hey, don't bother ringing the bell or anything at the finish, guys. Hogan has a far more legitimate beef here than he did at the '92 Royal Rumble, but here we just have a really shitty, cheap finish that makes the referees look stupid and incompetent, which doesn't improve the viewers' mood any. I wish Bobby were quicker to jump on Hogan for dumping Sting and Luger. We close out with a shameless plug to continue this story on Nitro.
  12. PeteF3
    Really fun match that shows just how far a well-done, mid-card storyline and a smartly laid-out match can take you. Kimberly's acting has gotten a ton better over the past few weeks, too. I don't think of either guy as a big tape-watcher (I don't necessarily know *why* I don't think that, I just don't) but this has a very Japanese layout too, right down to Badd sort of methodically breaking DDP down with a series of big moves to end it, rather than finishing with a big counter-sequence. Kim is shocked at the result, and I think they were starting to tease Kim turning on Badd before either the story was dropped or Badd left. Incidentally, Heenan and Schiavone were outstanding here. At times they even approached Brain-Gorilla levels of comedic bickering chemistry. A logical story involving a shameless scumbag like Page will do wonders for the announcing job, too.
  13. PeteF3
    Hulk sheds the Dark Side of Hogan, brother. Everyone pledges to be BFFs and damned if it isn't getting a little dusty at home right now. Okerlund freaking out over the fire in the face of this lovefest is pretty hilarious. Hogan declares the Macho Man's arm is perfect, and all part of the plan--even though it was a legit injury, and Savage tapped out to a Luger armbar during the PPV itself. THIS IS WHAT WE CALL A RAGSHEET, BROTHER. THE INTERNET'S GOT THE SCOOPS. Wow, if only the newspaper industry at large had listened to Hogan.
  14. PeteF3
    No subterfuge with the sheet this time--it's Ricky Morton underneath, to another squealing crowd pop. This match isn't as good as the previous night's, but it's still a competent match done by 6 professionals despite the state of the company. Cornette accidentally hits Gibson with the racket and Morton gets the pin, and all 6 wrestlers (plus Buddy Landell) gang up on Cornette afterward. Mark Curtis gets credit for the last pin in SMW history, a spot that wasn't by accident--Curtis was as responsible for anyone for making SMW go, and he gets a just reward in the end. We get a nice little post-credits scene with the Bodies heeling it up one more time, as they tease beating up on Cornette some more before deciding to help him back to the locker (though both guys visibly fight the urge to clobber him while he's hugging their partner). Fare thee well, SMW. You weren't as good at the end as USWA-TX was in '90, but you'll be missed all the same. If I had to rank the years in order, I think I'd go '94, '93, '95, and '92. But it was a remarkably consistent promotion considering the era and budget Cornette had to work with.
  15. PeteF3
    Cute reveal: the THUGs bring out a guy in a black sheet and declare that Cornette will have to reveal the mystery partner for himself. Cornette opts instead to bop the guy with the tennis racket first, but when the sheet comes off it's Flash Flanagan underneath. *Then* Ricky Morton makes his entrance to run the heels off. I like how they don't dance around the Morton/Smothers issue--Morton acknowledges it, but says that getting his hands on Gibson is a bigger priority. Good match follows with a lot of the same spots we saw on TV, but Morton definitely adds some energy to the proceedings. And Gibson is really a lot better worker as a heel than as a babyface, as crazy as that sounds. Cheap non-finish that comes awfully suddenly after the hot tag, but Cornette gets his after the bell at least.
  16. PeteF3
    A worthy end to Smoky Mountain television--a good, solid action-packed TV main event that gives you a tease of Heel Gibson without giving too much away for giving him any sort of comeuppance. Plus a little extra heat for the Armstrong-Gordy title program. Oh, and damn does Miss Texas throw a hell of a punch. Hey, Brad cuts a pretty good fiery promo. Maybe his problem in WCW was that he never seemed to be booked into any issues to get worked up about.
  17. PeteF3
    It is (though Shawn stuck around to argue with Martel afterwards).
  18. PeteF3
    Talk about it here.
  19. PeteF3
    Talk about it here.
  20. PeteF3
    I wouldn't call this a truly great match but Panther gives one of the most selflessly great performances I've ever seen. Dragon is still wet behind the ears, but his highspots are pretty spectacular for the time. This is designed as a Dragon showcase so Panther gives him the vast majority of the match, to its detriment as Dragon on the mat instead of throwing bombs and dives isn't all that interesting here. They do build well to some terrific near-falls and both guys hit some big moves, before Dragon pulls off a major upset. It's easy to give your opponent lots of offense when you're going over, but to put over a relative youngster as well was a very bold move by CMLL and Panther.
  21. PeteF3
    I don't know which of these two I saw since the Youtube video didn't provide a date. Ten minutes shown with a highlight of Malenko doing an exploder/t-bone suplex off the top turnbuckle, if that helps. Fun look at what the AJW mid-carders were doing--they certainly don't hold back. Hasegawa works as the underdog/junior member role again and Debbie, someone I've never seen before, looks very impressive. They build nicely to a hot closing stretch in the time given (though I understand the AJW editors were the most skilled "match clippers" ever in terms of not making it look like you missed anything). This is another tag hurt by a horribly timed finish, with the referee arbitrarily stopping a count at two and signaling that a comatose Hasegawa got her shoulder up. That's an Angel Hernandez-level bad call.
  22. PeteF3
    I liked this one quite a bit better than the Toyota/Hasegawa match. The stuff I complained about re: lack of structure, and lack of differentiating attributes to each wrestler, wasn't here at all. LCO comes in with a definite gameplan (TM Jim Ross)--work over Bison, keep Aja out of the ring and preferably off the apron as much as possible. When Aja is in, try to double-team the shit out of her. They still cut a fast pace but the overarching strategy went into just about everything the workers did. A ton of near-falls towards the end when it really looks like the divide-and-conquer strategy is going to pay off, but Bison hangs on just long enough for Aja to recover from the piledriver on the floor and tag in, and then it seems as their final chance to win has slipped away. Unfortunately there's some really badly timed stuff in the closing stretch--Hokuto is supposed to counter a second-rope power bomb into a huracanrana that doesn't work well, and then it seems Mita gets knocked legitimately loopy on Kong's spinning backfist, leading to a stretched-out and rather woefully done finish with Aja pulling a Sabu and repeating a spot that didn't work the first time. I think I have this as the #3 joshi match of '92 that I've seen, behind the 2/3 fall Jungle Jack tag and Aja vs. Bull.
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