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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    This is the THIRD time Bret Hart takes an award when you'd expect it to go to the designated #1 babyface. Weird. This is an even more obvious set-up for an angle, but none is forthcoming.
  2. PeteF3
    Outside of his NWO stuff, I think this is my first look at Megaheel Chono. This is far more Crockett/Mid-South/Memphis-like than anything else in puroresu at the time including the deathmatch promotions. Pretty much the entire NJPW locker room is serving as lumberjacks, pouncing on Chono or Tenzan whenever either one hits the floor. Chono is kept outside while Tenzan is slowly brutalized and tortured by both opponents. After domination by the babyfaces, there's a ref bump (!!!) and things really break down. The heels fight back with weaponry, and Hase eats a piledriver onto a table before Tenzan moonsaults his way to victory. Things break down again after the match and Team Wolf is chased outside. This is a match that almost defies an actual star rating, but is great fun and serves as another gigantic point of difference for NJPW compared to All-Japan. Like the Dirty White Boy, Hash was sort of spinning his wheels as champion for the latter half of '94, and Chono's career was in even worse shape. Now both guys feel revitalized.
  3. PeteF3
    WCW is 3 for 3 on video packages tonight. Tellingly, they show Vader power bombing Hogan at the Clash but make no mention of Hulk popping up. Someone in charge obvioulsy realized what a ghastly mistake that was. Hulk refers to a "second-rate organization" in New York, but there's no question which promotion was putting together a hotter World title program at the moment. This isn't groundbreaking but it's better and more intense than the usual WCW Hulk interview.
  4. PeteF3
    Cool stuff here. At the end, Sting make note of going after the World title again. Just a throwaway line, rainy day booking, or a teasing of future plans?
  5. PeteF3
    Terrific on all levels. Good use of clips, great hype for Hogan-Vader, and a good way to re-introduce Flair. And a great teaser for next week, as Flair promises to confront Bockwinkel on his role going forward.
  6. PeteF3
    When was the last time a WWE guy got kayfabe "fined," anyway? The Gangstas are making enemies of everyone now.
  7. PeteF3
    Cornette admits he's a jerk, a problem child with personality defects, and no muscle in his arm. But he knows something the Gangstas don't about their upcoming 6-man tag.
  8. PeteF3
    Les' laughing almost kills this but Lawler delivers another great promo.
  9. PeteF3
    Good babyface promo from both guys. Rich and Gilbert are now using a bottle of something-or-other--they've already taken out one of Wolfie D's eyes and aim to do the same to JC Ice when Wolfie makes the save.
  10. PeteF3
    Vince is aghast but I don't see how Shawn's in the wrong here. HBK is sporting a pretty nasty shiner, it looks like.
  11. PeteF3
    A few years later they would have spiced this up with video clips of the Owen match to add to Diesel's narration. This is of the same realistic, "honest" tone of the Who Is Lex Luger interviews, but Diesel as both a person and a character is much more natural in this environment than Lex was. This has to be the first time the WWF openly acknowledged that their schedule is a grind, particularly for the face of the company.
  12. PeteF3
    This would be the least of Bobby Cupo's legal problems involving LT. "Denigrating the good name of Lawrence Taylor" is pretty snicker-worthy.
  13. PeteF3
    Really, ridiculously fun This is probably Rey's career performance in a Yearbook match to this point--a fantastic combination of sympathetic selling, spectacular flying, and a pretty nasty fired-up babyface comeback. Fuerza is also great, doing some more athletic spots in addition to his shtick. And there are a ton of clever spots throughout this, including the double low-blow and double-pin finishes to end the match. The draw is a tad disappointing but it does make you want to see these two hook it up again. Probably the best match of the first month and change of '95. It was definitely a lot more fun than either of the AJPW draws.
  14. PeteF3
    And Shamrock wrassled before doing shootstyle/MMA. He was "Mr. Wrestling" Vince Torelli in the NAWA/SAPW.
  15. PeteF3
    Some under-the-radar stuff: - The WCW return of Barry Windham was super-hot. The crowd was going apeshit when the Horsemen began to gang up on the half-crippled Sting. - I still like Doom's kidnapping of Ric Flair and thought it was a cool payoff to Teddy Long as limo driver. It's certainly one for a "WTF" list, though. - Ted DiBiase's attack on Dustin Rhodes on SNME was the best WWF angle of the year. Blood, wooden chairs, Dusty wailing in agony...it was the closest that WWF Dusty would ever come to his old Crockett self. - It wasn't the NJPW match of the year, but Masa Saito doing a babyface jig in his AWA title win stands out more to me than Liger's ripped mask or Hase's 11/1 comeback.
  16. PeteF3
    What a fucking HORRIBLE finish. Seriously, Styles, Paul E., the smartass fans, and everyone involved ought to be ashamed for booking such an insulting rinky-dink sub-Memphis-quality screwjob like that. Tazmaniac didn't fucking "distract" the referee, dumbasses, the referee turned his back on a broken table (and didn't fucking hear anything) because the Booking Sez So. Way to beat it over our heads that this is bullshit. Yeah, I'm holding ECW to higher standards, so what? That's how Styles and their mutant fanbase wanted it. The post-match is why this is so remembered, but it sure came across better in the days when you could only read about this sort of shit in the magazines and newsletters and visualize it in your mind, where it looked so much crazier. In real life, the bump isn't as spectacular as it sounds and Sabu and 911 playing feng shui with the furniture for 2 minutes tends to kill off the attempted tone of danger.
  17. PeteF3
    Preface: Even though Benoit's had a bunch of Yearbook matches already, I think his appearances are going to get more numerous going forward. Unless it's REALLY something I can't ignore, I'm going to try to talk about these matches as matches and performances only. Any double-meaning or an oblique reference to the murders and killing should be read as unintentional unless I spell it out as otherwise. Not out to play the LEAVE THE MEMORIES ALONE card, it's just that if there's anything more to say about the murder-suicide, there are other places to do it. This is a Match Discussion section, so I'm going to discuss the matches. Anyway, I involuntarily giggle every time Al is referred to as "The Snowman" and wonder what a Benoit/Snowman match would actually be like. He also looks eerily like a taller Eddie Guerrero here. Styles puts over Snow's alliance with Dan Severn and makes reference to the recent UFC fight with Royce. I think it also bears mentioning that when Benoit got the "Crippler" gimmick it was believed to be a total mismatch for him. Obviously, referring strictly to performing and character work here, Benoit went on to justify that persona. Paul E. has his flaws to say the least but he saw something in Chris that no one else had to that point, so score one for him. It's paying off already, as Benoit has finally crafted a solid persona and is showing off some character work here. The match itself is quite good. I haven't been overly impressed by indy spot monkey Snow, but now that he's in with a guy who really knows how to structure a match, he looks really good here. Benoit establishes himself as the superior wrestler, and reigns Snow in by casually beating him to death, but Snow hangs because of his resilience and Benoit's overconfidence. Snow avoids one dragon suplex but doesn't avoid another, and Benoit gets the 3. They ended the match at just the right time--on some random indy spot show Snow probably would have kicked out of that, too. Good stuff. It may have been in a vacuum, or maybe Paul E. actually had plans for Snow that didn't pan out. But this was a genuinely good match that didn't feel like fanboy wankery at all. It put Snow over as a gutsy kid (albeit one with like a decade experience at this point) and Benoit as a technical master who was also a remorseless killer (remember what I said in the preface!) Styles had that eye-rolling statement about 5 years' worth of PPVs but otherwise even he was fine.
  18. PeteF3
    Les flusters Jerry Lawler with his line of questioning, maybe even legitimately. Lawler offers to pull an Andy Kaufman/Tammy Fytch and send in hygiene and health tips so the people of Knoxville can be more like the people of Memphis. A pissed-off Buddy Landell cuts promos on both Lawler and the White Boy. They're getting the gold mine, Landell's getting the shaft.
  19. PeteF3
    Hoo boy. Take note of Jimmy Del Ray miming a shoeshining, in case Cornette's jokes were too highbrow for certain segments of the audience. Too bad because the wrestling promo portion of this interview is fantastic, and has me really wanting to see what Cornette has in mind for the 6-man tag. The brawl is incredible, and I can only imagine what those drivers were thinking as this spilled out onto the road.
  20. PeteF3
    New Jack gloats about snapping Steve Armstrong's leg. I believe this was the show where the Gangstas showed up "in no condition to perform" and were sent out anyway, and in the post-match beatdown Steve could be heard audibly yelling for them to go after his leg. This leads to the classy "loser salutes winner's flag" matches involving the Confederate flag and the black X flag.
  21. PeteF3
    PG-13 have won 3 non-title bouts in a row and have gotten yet another one, which if they win they'll get an immediate title match. There are good promos here but this seems like a bit of overkill.
  22. PeteF3
    Good promo from Shawn, especially at the end.
  23. PeteF3
    Cactus holds up what appears to be a dislocated thumb. Is this Texas Death Match the one where Cactus brains Sandman with a cast-iron skillet and can't get him to stay down for the finish?
  24. PeteF3
    Nothing wrong with these so far. They're short, to the point, and serve a purpose: Raven hates Tommy Dreamer, a fact helpfully written for us multiple times across the chalkboard.
  25. PeteF3
    Ah yes, Manny Garcia. More fuckups in a one-year ring announcing career than his illegitimate sister Lillian has made in 16 years. Babyface matches ending with a freak injury was a common WWF booking staple, but they go all-out for this one and it really seems like a precursor to the Shawn Michaels collapse later in the year. I don't know where exactly this was going because Kid was soon moved into the Razor/Jarrett feud and this whole thing was forgotten.
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