Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

PeteF3

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    10287

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    What Dylan said. I mainly tend to use it when a match or portion of a match has a bunch of rapidfire counters and swings of momentum in which guys (or gals, as this is a problem with joshi) bounce back to being 100% as soon as they hit a countermove, only to go back to selling like death when their move is inevitably countered as well. Repeat the process from there and you have a match that tends to annoy me really quickly.
  2. PeteF3
    I've never been blind to his flaws, but I've always liked Dory more than the average IWC guy. That match with Hoffman came as part of a big tournament where Dory was the MVP--and this was a group that included Jumbo, Horst, Baba, the Destroyer, and Harley Race. Plus Dusty Rhodes for the hell of it. Glad to see him getting a fair shake here. At one time I may have had the Funks as my #1 favorite all-time tag team. I think there are 3 straight Tag League finals that pit the Funks against Abby & the Sheik, and they're all pretty much gold. They also have a match against Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras that I really liked, plus a long match against Horst & Billy Robinson that I thought was great. I wouldn't have pegged it as something you'd like, Parv, but if you liked the Horst singles match... .
  3. PeteF3
    A really fun match, and Baba showed lots of pep and energy for the first 2/3 of this at least, before seemingly running out of gas. This is actually worked at a sprint pace for those 2/3, which is almost unbelievable. Taue's maniacal save after Hansen's Lariat is pretty great and once again I was guessing all the way until the finish. Kawada does the job, which ideally sets up Hansen as a Triple Crown challenger which I'm fine with, but not as fine upon knowing the result of that match. Even in spite of the Carnival win there's a strong undercurrent throughout the year of Kawada getting fucked, sometimes subtly so like a modern-day, WWE-style start-stop-start push. Back to the match...the finishing stretch was good but it didn't quite build as well as last year's Carnival match, but it's not far behind and in some ways is an even more surprising latter-day performance from Baba.
  4. PeteF3
    Can't ask for more out of a tag match than this. A LONG southern-cooked FIP segment on Misawa which is really well-done, with great sympathy selling from Misawa and perfectly timed teases and comebacks. Kobashi doing great work as the "saver" on the apron. A great dramatic twist as Doc levels Kobashi with a backdrop driver, taking Misawa's hot tag away and forcing him to make his own comeback. Then *Misawa* eats a backdrop driver and is saved only because Doc isn't legal and Ace is too slow to cover. Doc also has an awesome deadlift off the mat directly into the Oklahoma Stampede in here somewhere. Then to Southern Tag this up a little more, Ace does Kobashi's own moonsault and mocks him the whole way, complete with arm pump. Some truly fantastic stereo sequences here too, with Kobashi saving Misawa from Doc who was saving Ace from a tiger driver and then all the dueling tiger suplex attempts. Plus this match had me guessing the entire way through--Ace looked like job material from the start, of course. Kobashi's the clear #2 for his team. And Misawa took such a beating that I could actually see Doc pinning him, too. And of course there was the possibility of a draw. Possibly one of the 10 or even 5 best AJPW matches of the year.
  5. PeteF3
    Graham is missing a ton of summer Worldwide and Pro results, though.
  6. PeteF3
    Outside of Austin's entrance and victory, I'd estimate Undertaker grabbing Patterson and chokeslamming him through the table was the biggest pop of the show. For something allegedly last minute, 'Taker's presence was pretty well-explained. Vince had to agree to Austin having a back-up in exchange for Austin dropping assault charges against him. From a wrestling storyline standpoint that makes perfect sense to me. Plus, while Austin was a lone wolf, he wasn't an idiot. There were four heels against him in that match, why shouldn't he try to leverage an advantage of his own? And intentionally or not, it added a bit of "you owe me one" intrigue in setting up their match at SummerSlam.
  7. PeteF3
    Kevin Sullivan turned on Cactus Jack, but Mikey was a man of his word and took it to Kevin afterward.
  8. PeteF3
    Lawler must have somehow been starving for promo time because he crams in about 30 one-liners into his screen time here, even bringing back his old heel USWA "talk to the audience" shtick. Sort of a WWF-by-numbers promo but it gets all the points across. Shawn looks absurd but he was one of the only 1994 WWF guys with any air of legitimate "cool" about him, especially in this commentary role.
  9. PeteF3
    Not the prettiest match you'll ever see but a really fun character brawl. Parka is the star on all fronts, incorporating comedy, offense, bumping, and sympathetic selling all at once. But Los Hermanos Dinamitas make for perfect asskickers and everyone contributes some fun stuff (Octagon quite a bit less than the others). The third fall is the best, descending into a crazy-ass brawl and super-heated comeback by the technicos, before the teams start trading eliminations. Estrada locks a beaten, bloody, half-unmasked Parka into a funky octopus-style submission to secure the win for his team. One of the better team matches of the year, actually.
  10. PeteF3
    I might be alone on this, but I die a little inside when reading the word "botch." It's a meaningful term by itself. But thanks to Botchamania the word is being thrown about like it's a fucking insider term, or an official statistic. Some places have actually seen arguments over whether a particular spot was or was not a "botch." I hate it, hate it, hate it.
  11. PeteF3
    Also, a note: Duggan losing his crown to Randy Savage was ONLY shown on Update, showing the ending of the match. That aired on the 9/23 Superstars, with Savage's coronation the next week. Graham's http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/challenge89.htm'>Challenge page for '89 is actually more in-depth, listing most of the podium interviews. A few things that jump out: 5/21 - The Rockers come out for a match against the Rougeaus singing their entrance music, incensing the Rougeaus and leading to Shawn Michaels getting his throat crushed with the megaphone. I remember freaking out when this happened, sort of the poor man's Savage/Steamboat. Good set-up for the London match, which got some love during the first '80s Project and is something I think needs to be on. 7/16 - Mr. Perfect vs. Dave Paradise. Heenan melts down in the booth, tells off Schiavone and Monsoon, and storms off the set, quitting the show. Some classic Brain here. Set-up for The Bobby Heenan Show, which probably needs a Yearbook segment for sheer WTF-ness.
  12. PeteF3
    The question's silly, but it starts off, "Which of these personalities..." Dave isn't claiming that any of those guys are more publicly known than the most famous athletes.
  13. PeteF3

    Current WWE

    PeteF3 replied to Smack2k's topic in WWE

    I thought they had switched wholesale from doing the "X" to something else unless the injury *was* worked. But then I thought I read someone reporting that they flashed the X when Bad News Barrett injured his shoulder at Smackdown. So maybe it's like a baseball coach's signal that gets changed and recycled every few weeks/months.
  14. PeteF3
    One other point of potential confusion is that guys going to the same "camp" may have received training from other guys. Billy Robinson was a trainer at Verne's camp, as was Rheingans as mentioned, supposedly some of Stu's kids were doing Dungeon training, etc.
  15. PeteF3
    Wrestlingdata.com has a good collection of trainers and trainees, though it of course has its own blind spots and caveats. The only pre-'90s people who stand out as being trained by Kowalski are John Studd, SD Jones, and Misty Blue Simmes. Though there are probably others. Stan Lane is notable for being the only wrestler trained by Ric Flair. (I guess David could say the same, but he doesn't count here. In more ways than one.)
  16. PeteF3

    Current WWE

    PeteF3 replied to Smack2k's topic in WWE

    In fairness to the guy posting on Keith's blog, he did link directly to a PWInsider page talking about the Rollins injury being a work. http://pwinsider.com/article/86935/bray-rollins-and-more-wwe-injury-updates.html?p=1
  17. PeteF3
    In a way I was disappointed to see Davies work that Haystacks match as a total bouncing babyface. I like the idea of either the cocky Davies being overmatched or the big nasty Haystacks having to face an equally nasty opponent.
  18. PeteF3
    I'll see if the Portland set changes my mind, but I'm fairly cold on the Sheepherders. They were certainly better than the Bushwhackers and I like their Clash 2 match against the Fantastics, but their barbed wire gorefests do nothing for me. The more I watch the less upset I get about what happened to them in the WWF, though there's no question they deteriorated badly in the ring. Similar caveats apply--I have more '90s to watch--but for the first half of the decade Ultimo Dragon is a mess of a worker. A '90s version of Sayama in more ways than one. Late '80s/early '90s JWP sounds like the most hidden-gem-e-riffic promotion that's semi-available on tape. It was the #2 joshi promotion and didn't have the incredible physical pace of its more popular competitor, so it was mostly ignored in its first incarnation. Watching it now I think people would appreciate the more deliberate style. It's not remotely the case here or at DVDVR, but a ton of the Memphis guys get dismissed by a lot of people as being all talk and no ring skill. Lots of people will dismiss Jerry Lawler as a guy who did nothing but talk and punch. Loss and I have gone over our unease with some of heel Lawler's shtick but that simply isn't remotely true. Also, there are too many good Austin Idol matches for him to be dismissed as all talk. Billy Black is the great lost worker of the '90s. He and Joel Deaton should have been a cornerstone of AJPW mid-card tags, but Deaton was kind of nuts and Black was a complete loon with absolutely no reliability. He looked like a pudgy Global mid-carder and wrestled like a '90s junior heavyweight.
  19. PeteF3
    Bobby and Bischoff have NO chemistry or timing at all--they make Bobby & Schiavone look like Abbott & Costello. And the Savage voiceover was just bizarre. Green-screen Hogan promo re: the Butcher. This setting is so 1989. This is apparently the most important night in WCW history, brother. Apparently Butcher's plan went all the way back to "day one." Not half as entertaining as Hogan's more batshit promos in the WWF. Randy Savage is here! Coming out to a cheapo keyboard version of Pomp & Circumstance. Still quite a coup for WCW. And this is quite a promo--Randy has new life in him, and he's nice and focused. I have to agree that Savage as a babyface seems like kind of a waste at this point. Savage vs. Hogan was always the money match but we wouldn't get it for another 2 years, under circumstances no one could have anticipated.
  20. PeteF3
    This was fantastic, probably the best TV match to air on Smoky Mountain. Lots of advanced offense but they also have a hold of the basics. Candido is so talented at so many styles it hurts to think about, knowing what would become of him. Tammy leaves 3/4 of the way through to get Boo Bradley, but instead of a standard run-in finish Boo accidentally costs Candido and it leads to a refreshingly clean finish. Tammy implores Boo to climb to the top turnbuckle or else she strangles Boots, but Boo takes long enough for Brian Lee to make the save. SMW is the hottest it's been since the Bodies left town, and is by a wide margin the best promotion in the U.S. at this point.
  21. PeteF3
    Cornette and the Rock 'n Rolls turn in one of the non-wrestling segments of the year, maybe the very best. As monumental as the idea of Cornette managing the Rock 'n Rolls is, Cornette and Ricky explain it in a way that makes perfect sense. Finally, a fresh use of Cornette. Cactus & Brian Lee will be facing Chris Candido & Boo Bradley in a falls-count-anywhere match at Christmas Chaos. Cactus recites his semi-infamous poem. New Jack rather reasonably states that the Rock 'n Rolls will be out of title shots after Christmas Chaos. Aside from the big "X" in the background, the controversy is toned way down and New Jack just sticks to wrestling.
  22. PeteF3
    Good interview from PG-13. PG-13 had to fight to prove AMERICA was tough in Puerto Rico, even though Puerto Rico is America. We come back to Tommy Rich & Doug Gilbert bitching about getting DQ'd, presumably in the first fall of an expiration of time match. Southern tag by numbers match but solid and well-worked. If this leads to a full-blown feud I'm all for it, as it's a fresh setting for both PG-13 and Rich & Gilbert.
  23. PeteF3
    Backlund went out to shake Diesel's hand before battle, and Diesel showed how low he was. Bob makes threats towards both Diesel and Tunney. HE'S BEEN FIGHTING THE BUREAUCRACY IN THE WWF FOR 10 YEARS. I believe him. A gallant effort by Bob here but the booking killed him. Diesel drops no less than FOUR 1960's-centered references in 15 seconds. One week into his reign and I'm sick to death of Diesel already. He finally makes a Forrest Gump reference to put us back in the correct year. Them hogs ain't no different from y'all. What a way to draw heat.
  24. PeteF3
    There was good build to this early, with all four guys showing how absolutely desperate they were to avoid the barbed wire, but then this just got overly sadistic when Pogo started doing his sickle shit. Then we had barbed wire boards (with Oya mostly using the butt-end of it, for some reason), Pogo drinking lighter fluid, and flaming baseball bats with none of the charm or psychology of the earlier Onita matches. I will say that the ending, as over-the-top as the weaponry was, was incredibly dramatic and well-timed. Goto recovers from the barbed wire on the floor to rescue Onita from Pogo's flaming stick o' death, sending Pogo flying into the exploding barbed wire on the other side of the ring, leaving Oya 1-on-2 and thus doomed. So that worked. A lot of the rest of this didn't. I wish Pogo would just go away--outside of that one cage match he's nothing but the same dumb boot-and-sickle shtick in every damned match.
  25. PeteF3
    With the tape quality this looks like a lights-out match in the most literal sense of the term. Juvy's still wearing his dad's mask. The match itself is absolutely tremendous, probably the #2 lucha match of the year behind When Worlds Collide. A fantastic showcase of just how complete a wrestler Rey was at this point, as he works the first two falls and most the third with no flying at all, just matwork, selling, and a bit of high-end offense. Juvy busts out all kinds of suplexes--including Hase's golden arm bomber, so there's one tape influence--and basically wrestles as a dominant heavyweight. Tons of heart-stopping near-falls and then an ending that pissed me off mightily, and not even in a "I hope they let them go at it again" sense. Antonio Pena is starting to turn into 1987 Dusty Rhodes, using screw finishes as a crutch rather than a tool.
×
×
  • Create New...