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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    Hiroshi Wajima, though I would question how "proper" his true dojo experience was, or if he got the Bad News Allen express treatment. He was still godawful, though. And yes, El Gigante had enough of a "real career" to qualify, though if you go by Fantastic's criteria absolving guys who just "fell into the business") he wouldn't.
  2. PeteF3
    Even though I proferred this as the answer initially I STILL read this as "Sting." I have to cut down on the WON HOF arguments.
  3. PeteF3
    I'm personally not as concerned with background or how/why they broke in. But I do think it has to be a guy with a real career. The worst band in the world is some shitty dive act playing bars in Lima, Ohio or somewhere, but they don't annoy as many people for as long as a band like 4 Non Blondes. I would be hard-pressed to think of a guy who was worse for longer, while still getting big pushes, than Tiger Jeet Singh.
  4. PeteF3
    A study in contrast with the Goldust promo. Dustin didn't have the act down pat yet, but he put more effort into a gimmick that could have been a disaster of Rooster-sized proportions than Shane did with his Douglas calls out Bret Hart for failing to execute a proper leg hook. Somewhere Gorilla Monsoon is creaming his pants watching this. Douglas makes his "!" for the first time. Somewhere Elaine Benes is--oh, the hell with it.
  5. PeteF3
    I dug this from the moment I first saw it, but the reaction at large was almost universally negative, with many thinking this was the end of Dustin's career. That said, not even the most cockeyed optimist could believe that he could still be kicking ass and winning titles with this gimmick 19 years later. I like the story of Dustin nodding along with Vince's pitch for the gimmick and signing off on it, because he didn't know what the word "androgynous" meant.
  6. PeteF3
    Won't someone help me to break up this crown? Let's all drink to the death of a clown...
  7. PeteF3
    Dang, this is like Buddy vs. Armstrong and the Lawler-Dundee Christmas LLT, rolled into one and cranked up. Flair staying in Mutoh's blind spot and peppering him with rights and lefts was absolutely awesome. Flair is a pure heel and Mutoh is a pure babyface, and both play their roles perfectly, though it's clear that Flair has lost a step and that Mutoh is the superior worker at this point. Pains me to admit it, but it's true. Flair still knows what he's doing though, in terms of laying out a match and timing his kickouts and giving Mutoh his hope spots. Mutoh's moonsault actually looks really vicious here, and is a convincing way for him to go over. New Japan carrying the banner of '80s southern wrasslin' in the middle of the '90s is something I can definitely get behind.
  8. PeteF3
    Tenzan has improved tremendously but is still raw and at times sloppy, and this comes off as a Hash carry job. But it's a great performance by Shinya, who throws an awesome dropkick, kicks the shit out of him as you'd expect, and absolutely compresses Tenzan with a brainbuster to score a decisive victory.
  9. PeteF3
    They tease a Landell no-show/walk-out, as Cornette produces BRIAN LEE to take Brad on in the Nature Boy's place. And...oh, wrong chapter. Not worth tracking down but I'd be curious if Brad could drag Lee to something good. I'd be cautiously optimistic. Since Brad's already wrestled once, we can jump straight to the heat, as Landell absolutely peppers him with some awesome punches. But he wrestles on the level, and the lumberjacks (all 3 of them) don't get involved until Cornette and his Militia appear at ringside. In the confusion, one of the tennis rackets makes its way to Brad, and as Buddy and Cornette argue he clobbers Landell with it to take the vacant SMW title. Hulk Hogan would be proud of that kind of unprovoked cheating from a babyface. Landell is incensed after the match and teases punching out Cornette, but Jimbo bails. Buddy settles for tearing into him on the mic.
  10. PeteF3
    Well then, I guess we now know who booked the finish to Over the Edge '98, don't we? Poor Al is inconsolable at the loss of his tag partner.
  11. PeteF3
    I actually think more could have been done with a babyface Vader and would have been interested to see where it went. God help me for saying this, but this is pretty well-booked. Vader isn't suddenly a happy gladhander just because he's feuding with heels--he's got Hogan's back, but he still wants Hogan's title. "I'm gonna get in the SHOWER!" Well, that could have been replaced by a better line.
  12. PeteF3
    Hogan is back in the Dungeon, with some spectacular candy-striped tights. Hogan challenges the entire Dungeon, but is confronted by the Giant, who rips off the crucifix just to bludgeon the comparisons to '87 over our heads some more. Vader fights off the Dungeon drones but can't affect the Giant. It's enough for Jimmy, Savage, and Sting to escort Hogan to safety--where the hell did everyone COME from??!! Russo-era backstage segments had more internal logic than this. Giant vs. Vader wouldn't have been any good in '95, I don't think, but it's a match that seems like money left on the table. I can see that big staredown drawing a huge pop if they had put it in a ring instead of...yeah, a spa.
  13. PeteF3
    Cornette didn't use ether--the Dirty White Boy was downing too much Knoxville moonshine and passed out dead-drunk. Glad that's cleared up. It was a clean sweep for the Militia at the Super Bowl of Wrestling...except for top lieutenant Buddy Landell. Budro, sporting his sharp suit again in accordance with the modern WWE dress code, is out to insist that Cornette will *not* be in his corner at Fire on the Mountain.
  14. PeteF3
    Pro-shot version of the Super Bowl title change we already saw. Smothers' piledriver on Prichard literally goes *through* a table, making a hole rather than cutting it in half.
  15. PeteF3
    Not sure if this is a different week of TV or what, but here's a little final footnote in the Rock 'n Roll Express' SMW career (until Ricky Morton returned right at closing time). The Headbangers and Snow & Unabomb get involved, and there's more dissension between the Rock 'n Rolls and the THUGs.
  16. PeteF3
    Damn, this is a dream match that I'd love to see in full. Wolfie executes a picture-perfect double sunset flip on both Bodies at the same time. Dr. Tom eventually clocks Wolfie with the racket to capture both the SMW and USWA tag titles. PG-13 vow to regain their belts--this Monday, Cornette is barred from ringside.
  17. PeteF3
    Some odd SMW loyalists on the heel side--Brian Lee makes sense, Gorgeous George III and Pat Tanaka less so. Lance Russell, for some reason, is doing live commentary over the house mic. The USWA win by handcuffing everyone from SMW to the cage, and thus win 5 minutes with their handcuffed opponents. But Billy Jack Haynes turns on Tommy Rich and there's a big brawl, with keeper of the key Brian Christopher getting involved. Too confusing to really follow, as evidenced by the lack of live heat. Doug Gilbert is out to talk about Eddie's death and his joining the USWA Dream Team--which he agreed to do, for Eddie. It's hard to snark on this, but this is pretty meandering and unfocused. It gets better when he directs his attention to Billy Jack Haynes and an upcoming first-blood match against Brian Lee.
  18. PeteF3
    Mutoh has gone through quite the resurgence in '95, after several years of Lazy Mutoh polluting a lot of singles matches. Chono has, as noted a few times, had quite the resurgence himself, but I'm starting to think Norio Honaga did this style with a little more panache. He doesn't have Chono's star power, though, nor does he have goons to run interference like Hiro Saito does here. We even get a total U.S. style "YOU! OUT!" from referee Tiger Hattori as he ejects Saito from ringside. But Mutoh is busted open in the process, and while this is hardly an early-'90s Muta Scale performance, the blood flows pretty freely. Ending is a little too similar to Sasaki-Hash for my liking, as both guys go from getting their asses kicked to hitting two big moves for a fluky pinfall. Unlike Sasaki, Mutoh puts an exclamation point on things by effectively kicking Chono's ass after the match. Pretty good, though so far Mutoh/Koshinaka has been the best match of the tournament.
  19. PeteF3
    Pretty solid and straightforward, from a work and psychology standpoint. Hash kicks the shit out of Sasaki, but Sasaki keeps targeting Hash's legs and using it to buy time and counter moves, before getting in a fluke pinfall. Not much wrong with it, but while Sasaki is better than I remembered, I really hate how he applies his various Strangle Holds. Those are some STFU levels of weak.
  20. PeteF3
    The streak ending seemed far more upsetting to the "casuals" than the hardcores.
  21. PeteF3

    Current WWE

    PeteF3 replied to Smack2k's topic in WWE

    Facebreaker could be a dumbed-down name for the DDT.
  22. PeteF3
    '80s women's wrestler Despina Montagues (of AWA '80s set semi-fame) was--or is--married to Tarzan Goto. And of course, Kevin Sullivan & Woman.
  23. PeteF3
    What's there to argue about? I've come to realize I'd draw more reaction for awarding Best Interview to Dave Sullivan and Most Underrated to Duke the Dumpster, but I refuse to compromise my principles. Unquestionably. And New Japan wasn't bad but was sort of in a holding pattern after the Tenryu stuff was blown off, sort of waiting for the Next Big Feud which wouldn't arrive until the Chono turn and wouldn't really kick into gear until '95. AJPW got its TV time slashed, which was devastating. The Big Two were depressing as all hell. In short, there's no way on earth this year was better than '92, and the Yearbook as a whole wasn't as entertaining as '90, if only because '90 was fresh and with a bunch of "new" uncovered stuff. One thing that struck me about '94 was--even as the international scene as a whole was pulling away from the U.S.--it was hard for any one wrestler to stand out. Like I mentioned, lots of folks seemed to show up for a great match and then were gone again, at least in this setting. The early part of the decade seemed to (without going back and spreadsheeting appearances for everyone) have more consistency throughout the year. It's not always easy extrapolating isolated appearances for luchadores and joshi folks and compare them to the week-to-week (essentially) appearances by the U.S. folks. I do think Vader's match with Takada was a huge, huge win for him from both a financial and artistic standpoint. And by the end of the year I was, against my better judgment, almost drooling at the opportunity to see him take on Hogan--both at the time and watching it again. Not many have inspired that kind of reaction with me. It was sort of like seeing all those Tony Atlas promos and all those Dawna Teen Reports for ICW, waiting for the two to finally meet. Yeah, and like, Best Booker? Who the hell do I vote for? Who WAS AJW's booker? How much did he or she have to do with the interpromotional shows? I would have gladly voted for them, since I was tired of giving the award to Choshu each year, but that info isn't known to me. In retrospect, yes, the UT/Yoko work was good. The ending and post-match was, at the time, the dumbest thing I had ever seen (in wrestling or anywhere else). No question who won the box office, but I actually had problems with the booking of the Gringos Locos feud before When Worlds Collide, some of which may have been mitigated by greater knowledge of Spanish and some of which may not have been. AAA refusing to shit or get off the pot with regard to Blue Panther's alignment grew more and more annoying. First he's turning technico. Now he's teaming with rudos again. He's feuding with LGL as a lot of other rudos are. But he's aligned with Jake, who's aligned with LGL! ARGH. Art did have some choice quotes for that show. "These two guys could go all night!" "Well, there's a 60-minute time limit for this final..." "That's insane! They couldn't last that long!" Thank you. And my aim for '95 is to give as few "positive" awards to the Big Two as possible with the chance of a clean non-sweep, since pretty much none of them will be deserved.
  24. PeteF3
    Even before Savage you had guys like Frenchy Fuqua, Lester Hayes, Mel Hall, and Hawk Harrelson running around. Ochocinco and TO didn't invent the ostentatious pro athlete.
  25. PeteF3
    For whatever reason, Budokan put a bunch of restrictions on the NJPW shows run there that AJPW didn't have to worry about: no fighting on the floor, a stricter curfew, and a few others I'm not remembering. Sumo Hall was smaller, but NJPW was able to do things like run shows 7 nights in a row and draw well for all of them.
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