PeteF3
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As much as I love both of these guys I didn't need to watch them go for 25+ minutes, so good call to clip this. The closing stretch is good--Hansen busts out a dangerous backdroppah to put Misawa on the brink, but he kicks out. Then Hansen kicks out of the Elbow of Death that put him down before. They trade moves and Misawa gets in a pretty weak crucifix to regain the Triple Crown. I like the idea of a flash pin and a flash pin off the Lariat at that, but that was not executed well. Hansen goes nuts after the match, slapping Misawa and lariating every young boy that gets in his way.
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Cactus tells a story of neighborhood kids robbing his home run balls, and his father's advice to "take it to right field" instead. But that's too easy for Cactus Jack, just like his style of wrestling. Foley tells the story of the locker room in Columbus when Ric Flair informed him that he'd be in a wheelchair by the time he was 30 and no one was going to care. Now he's a week away from his 30th birthday, with a wife and kids--and there are a lot of people hoping to be correct about his fate. With one week to go, Cactus could go in, dance around the ring, and sail into retirement having proven everybody wrong. But that would be like taking the ball to right field. I didn't mean to practically transcribe the promo, and I don't mean to make this post all melodramatic and '90s smark fan-like, but it's an amazing and intensely personal piece of work. A shoot promo in the absolute greatest sense of the term. We know now that Cactus really would have been better off taking it easier and retiring sooner, but at this time he was a symbol for all that the Big Two was not, but at the same time all that it *could* have been if they wanted. Much of Foley's influence on wrestling was not positive, but I think we're all better for the fact that eventually the WWF and WCW followed his lead. Not just in terms of being "extreme" but in terms of bringing out raw emotions like this--that part more than the chairs, dives, and thumbtacks is Foley's best legacy. (That, and bringing about a sea change in terms of wrestling literature still being felt today.)
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Diesel and Shawn reunite--this was still done too early, but the layoff did help. Just like in 1990, the WWF heel-babyface balance is completely out of whack.
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Bob's first talking point actually sounds pretty reasonable. I love how each successive bullet point results in a closer camera angle. Segment of the decade.
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Holy shit, I was a regular viewer at this point and I have NO recollection of this. This is an AWESOME segment, that brings to mind the Bret-Vince-Patriot confrontation a couple of years from now. This had a similar out-of-control feeling coming off a great promo from Bret where he absolutely eviscerates Lawler but also himself for losing and letting his family down. He even gets bleeped! Bret tries to bully Lawler into granting him a rematch, with Bret agreeing to anything Lawler wants. No answer, as suits and officials have to try to pry Bret away. How the hell could any fan think Diesel and Shawn constantly yukking it up was more entertaining than this? This is the rawest and most emotional thing the WWF has done in months, maybe literal years. Crazy that the Big Two, knee-deep in kiddie land, suddenly come up with legitimately heated angles one after the other. Even Lawler toned down the cartoonishness and was good here--he didn't look cowardly, just confused and intensely uncomfortable.
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Such a dumb, unimaginative, by-the-numbers finish. Sadly I think this is the only time Savage and Vader ever faced off. Bischoff is such a tool of an announcer. The post-match angle is good, though, and finally sets up a personal issue with major hate involved in the increasingly sterile Big Two. Savage as the nutcase hero is always worth watching and finally, finally provides something to look forward to with WCW.
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Match 307 in a series of 695 (and possibly ongoing today). Mercifully clipped to the finish, which is actually pretty well-done. Knobbs returns from a rib injury to get the hot tag, takes out all 3 members of Harlem Heat with Sherri taking a crazy bump to the floor, and the Nasties win the tag titles.
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Yes, the Poffo induction led to Solie quitting the company. Whatever, Gordon. Solie seems visibly annoyed right from the start. Same format as previous years, but as mentioned, way more out of place considering what else was going on in the company. Kind of amusing to see Funk in this setting, days after pulverizing Bob Armstrong. Poffo uses this opportunity to cut a promo for the Monster Maniacs, which comes off as rather cynical. Big pop for Gordon's speech about Dusty. Dusty then launches into a speech inducting Gordon Solie as the surprise 7th member, and Gordon looks like that job applicant who was accidentally put on BBC television as a computer expert. This of course would be the last of these ceremonies, which is too bad but probably for the best. I'd hate to see this used as a cheap excuse for an NWO attack the next year.
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Arn verbally puts Alex Wright in his place. Yeah, it's a good match with an all-timer of a finish. Flair plans to sit back and turn Vader loose. Vader introduces us to Itsy and Bitsy--they're python-eaters!
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Yeah, the hiptosses into the rows of chairs is straight out of Japan. I'm not as high on this overall as some others--it's not the best SMW match ever and I'm not even sure it's the best Gangstas match. But it's a hell of a fight and swan song for the team. Same finish as in the chain match, but it's a great finish so who am I to complain.
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WCW has made an upgrade to their background music for this segment.
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This is bizarrely and cheesily edited, with horrible heavy breathing sound effects over shots of Kimberly. The shot of Kimberly walking behind the golf cart carrying the clubs while DDP and Maxx are riding is pretty great, though.
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Kessler does the most absurd "righteous indignation" act in the history of announcing. WE'VE GOT UNABOMB INSIDE, WE'VE GOT UNABOMB OUTSIDE, WE'VE GOT UNABOMB INSIDE. HE MUST HAVE BEEN UNDER THE DAMN RING!! Great finish and angle anyway, with the babyfaces having to crawl under the ring and through the hole to make the save. Morton also takes a sick power bomb during all this.
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Clever finish, as D'Lo goes for the frog splash but misses and lands on New Jack, and White Boy presses down on both men to get the pin. White Boy gets crushed after the match. New Jack cuts a bloody promo afterward. The THUGs respond in kind, wanting a street fight with the Gangstas in Charlotte, then Tracy changes his mind and wants a stretcher match.
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This is actually pretty cute. I have to give credit to Hogan and Savage for being able to successfully disguise their body language while in the mask and bodysuits. They did a better job than Arn Anderson at the Clash. Heenan's rant about all this is pretty funny. Hogan and Savage do a Speedy Gonzalez-esque interview afterward.
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I didn't hate this match, actually. It's not good, and there are too many pinfalls, but the action wasn't bad for what it was. New Jack getting counted down without getting pinned was a little on the weak side, though. I also liked the post-match angle, which is really the only way the Cornette babyface run ever could have ended. Cornette torches Bob with a fireball as his "thank you present" and his new Militia is established, with Buddy Landell and the Punisher joining in on the beatdown. This is topped off by Cornette shoving his shoe in Armstrong's mouth, as payback for having to kiss his feet some months prior. I have a feeling this was pretty much the end of Smoky Mountain as being the top-quality promotion in the U.S. The angle itself is good but rehashing the Armstrong feud again is an indication that Cornette was running low on ideas. For the past few weeks ECW has finally started putting across a better product and has pretty much eclipsed SMW from a booking and excitement standpoint, to say nothing of the freshness of the presentation. -
Lots of guys have been praised for "making it look real," but Kevin took that thought to the extreme. There's realism and then there's not being fully aware that what you're doing is a work, and that's how Kevin came across.
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This was awesome. The stalling is long, but it's creative and doesn't wear out its welcome. LOVED Wolfie D cutting a promo on the blue haired lady in the front row. I miss Hatpin Mary-type fans, which were once a longtime staple. That Dirty White Boy immediately comes over and gives her a hug is icing on the cake. PG-13 stooge themselves out in every manner possible, from heel miscommunication to unintentional sexual innuendo. Then Tracy takes a great whip into the guardrail and they take over, with some pretty awesome vicious work once they're on top. They do a few neat teases and cut-offs right before Tracy makes the hot tag, and a good near-fall with PG-13 almost stealing the win with a hubcap to the head. Tracy gets the hubcap and clobbers one of them with it to apparently net the tag titles for his team, but Randy Hales is able to get the decision overturned. One of the better uses of a Dusty finish you'll ever see, and this was a fine match with heat that was through the roof.
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Man oh man, Ikeda was a revelation here. He immediately sets the tone with a big kneel kick and just beats the living shit out of Ishikawa on the ground. One lousy match and one awesome match makes for a thoroughly mediocre but very entertaining one. I need more Ikeda in my life now.
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Quite the contrast to that Shawn music video. I particularly liked the rapidfire alternating shots of Raven and Dreamer doing the crucifix poses at the end.
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Joey's mugging is so, so awful. Not enough to take away from the promo, though.
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Of course it's heelish, there's literally no footage of him as a babyface to show (they're not acknowledging the Rockers at this point, no way).
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Backlund's speech is Knute Rockne-esque in its levels of inspiration. "All right, Mr. Backlund, for the rest of us here on this planet..." Vince responds. Backlund conflating the JFK assassination with the date of his title loss is spectacular, regardless of whether it was intentional. A marching band comes out playing woefully out-of-tune instruments, as Vince is incredulous. Segment of the year, possibly segment of the decade.
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This was whatever. Sid freaks out when Diesel kicks out of the power bomb, thus marking his transformation from monstrous psycho to oversized Honky Tonk Man, a monumentally dumb road to take with him.
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Lawler and his "mother" are great, but even better is Dok's blind acceptance of this. "You can tell she takes a lot better care of herself than Helen does." The piledriver no-sell...I dunno, it didn't really bother me. Maybe because Bret *did* sell it for a few seconds, before popping it back up. I could buy it as Bret running on pure hate and adrenaline, a story pushed hard by Hendrix during the match. Match still isn't good, but it was nice to see Lawler get a pinfall. He needed to win the whole segment though, rather than getting run off afterward.