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
    I've always envisioned Ole as sort of a demented football coach/gym teacher, the kind you see in bad teen movies, but about ten times scarier. That still comes through here. This is my first time seeing Bryant and he actually has a tremendous look--big and he looks like he'd kill you just to see if his joints are still healthy. They're after Tracy Smothers over something that happened between them in college.
  2. PeteF3
    The Phantoms and Fantasia in particular just scream "Jerry Lawler gimmick." The Eliminators do a job for Doug Gilbert & Sid, looking absolutely nothing like the "most innovative tag team of the '90s" or whatever Paul Heyman was able to pass them off as. They just look like two clumsy oafs. "POW-ER BOMB" chants from the studio. See how simple it is to get a big move over if you sell it properly? Scott Bowden eats fire from Jerry Lawler, which I question the wisdom of giving away on television.
  3. PeteF3
    Yes, the USWA is starting to get hot again. Very strong, angry promo from Doug, who's done his own low-scale Steve Williams and stepped it up in the absence of his partner. I'm repeating myself, but really like how they've built the power bomb up as a deadly maneuver. Memphis, outside of the universally feared piledriver, was generally not a "finisher" territory--they just weren't a big part of the area psychology, so as basic as this stuff is, it's effective because it seems fresh for the promotion. And in a stretcher match they get over that one power bomb will be enough to put the opponent out. Rich is out later and cuts a not-quite-as-outstanding but still really good promo of his own. The USWA Heavyweight title (as opposed to the Unified World title--God, I hate this name change) is up for grabs in a tournament and he's got Jerry Lawler in the first round. Rich buries Buddy Landell, rattles off everything he's accomplished in wrestling, and promises to take Lawler out. Basic but effective. Scott Bowden is 0-for-2 in attempting to get some face time, in a funny little recurring gag.
  4. PeteF3
    Quite the contrast to what we just saw between Cactus Jack and Sabu.
  5. PeteF3
    Good match with a few oft-repeated images, like Sabu splattering the guardrail and repeatedly whacking Jack with a bottle, with Jack IIRC basically insisting that Sabu keep going until the damn thing actually broke. Score one for the use of gimmicked weapons in wrestling after watching that. I could have done without Paul E. and 911 entirely and I think they're actively holding Sabu back at this point. (The dirty truth is that since the Dangerous Alliance, the only protege that Paul E. has ever helped has been Lesnar, but that's for another time and place.) ECW is finally coalescing into a memorable, compelling product. This holds up as good today and you can see how crazy it would have come across 20 years ago.
  6. PeteF3
    Well, this was something, all right. The entrances brought to mind the scene in Ace Ventura, where Ace uses a little portable fan to move a boat about 6 feet. I agree about Pogo here--this went from being fun to uncomfortable really quickly when he starts trying to disembowel guys with a fucking scythe. Somehow guys taking bumps into an exploding pool is more believable than that. This is more of a spectacle than a good match but there is some good work here--some guys are throwing some wicked suplexes and the builds to the eliminations are all done well. There's even some attempts at psychology surrounding Pogo's fireball. Pogo was his usual shit self but the other five worked hard, and Onita's selling (if you want to call it that) is as good as ever. Not a high-end FMW match but probably something everyone should see once. You can't say Onita has ever lacked ambition.
  7. PeteF3
    The WWF went into a big cost-cutting mode when they started falling behind on fiscal projections later in the year. They laid off some front office folks, streamlined the road schedule, and added an extra PPV to create more revenue. I don't think the idea of Tuesday in Texas being a "test" for weekly or semi-weekly PPVs, which I've seen in lots of places, has any merit.
  8. PeteF3
    He did jobs to the Warrior, too. Pretty dumb (and incidentally doesn't *that* match sound like a total train wreck).
  9. PeteF3
    I know it's not 1992, but if you're going to talk about Vader as a draw in the US then you can't ignore the Hogan feud, which despite some horrendous booking did very strong PPV numbers, over a period of months. That was clearly a match a lot of people really, really wanted to see.
  10. PeteF3
    Sherri comes out dressed as...a furry. Um, not that I'm overly familiar with the subculture. But that's what she fucking looks like. These promos would be more effective if Flair had the real belt, and the "Real World Champion" shtick is so played out at this point. I want Evad Sullivan to die in a fire at this point. Flair is pretty wonderfully, dickishly condescending to him, though. This sets up a Ric Flair/Dave Sullivan match, which is just what the world has been waiting for. Kevin doesn't like this development any more than I do. Pushes for Beefcake, Avalanche, et al were one thing...but who the hell did Dave Sullivan know to get all this main event face time?
  11. PeteF3
    This is the type of segment they needed to run at Fall Brawl to make the match. Flair warns us that once he beats and retires Hogan, he'll be the hardest athlete in sports to deal with! This is tightly edited and really well-done as a piece of production as much as it was as a wrestling promo.
  12. PeteF3
    Candido is off to Japan for four weeks, so he conveniently gets suspended for piledriving somebody. I can almost see JerryVonKramer shaking his head at the Boo Bradley gimmick. They also need to just make Bob Armstrong the commissioner again or name somebody, anybody, to the role.
  13. PeteF3
    Morton gets a chance to rebut the "Gangsters" claim that the Rock 'n Rolls can't match them in a fight.
  14. PeteF3
    New Jack makes it rain while ranting on the mic about how bad he's going to hurt Ricky Morton. This might well be New Jack's strongest promo yet.
  15. PeteF3
    Next to the Adams/Austin "come as you are" match, this is perhaps the finest football-helmet-psychology-centered match ever seen in wrestling. It's basically Lawler trying to unmask Gilbert and Gilbert and Bowden using subterfuge and a football helmet to maintain an advantage, before the standard run-in DQ. Lawler is left laying and Gilbert remains masked.
  16. PeteF3
    I wasn't a fan of the table getting thrown into the ring and then Kevin Christian suddenly becoming a stickler for the use of chains. That said, Christopher works really hard and bumps his ass off, and the finishing run is long and really, really clever with Christopher trying and failing to use multiple chains and Doug Gilbert's use of ether backfiring on him (notice how Gilbert gets woozy just spraying the towel, which is what allows Lawler to grab him). One of the better MSC clips we've seen in the past 12-18 months. Also a rare case of a USWA feud being blown off in a satisfying manner with all stips fulfilled. Doug Gilbert is out in his Dark Patriot mask with Buddy Landell and Scott Bowden wearing his Uncle Bobby's school colors. Doug vows to shave the heads of Christopher and Lawler.
  17. PeteF3
    Yeah, that was something. Bundy hadn't done anything in wrestling since leaving the WWF in 1988, so his return really made little sense to either party. I can't imagine 1994 WWF being able or willing to give him a blowaway offer.
  18. PeteF3
    Fun stuff, and the most "pro-style" Fujiwara match since his pre-UWF days. It occurs to me that I think this is the first time I've ever seen him run the ropes. He also brings back his old "iron head" spots just because. Liger puts up a fight but makes the mistake of attemping a blind move and falls right into the wakigatame. Good finish to a very cool, "these guys wrestled each other?" type match.
  19. PeteF3
    Three good ECW segments in a row, how about that.
  20. PeteF3
    Douglas was the champ ECW needed at this point, and cuts the promos the company needed to differentiate itself. Not saying it'd be a difference-maker, but imagine if TNA could fine one Shane Douglas who could cut promos like this and sound like he meant what he said. Cactus and Douglas are still cordial at this point.
  21. PeteF3
    Borne can clown around, but he can still kick your ass. He even throws on a flannel shirt and makes reference to swinging sticks, just because. He's also channeling Roddy Piper here, to nearly Prichard-ian degrees. Glad to see him back. Douglas is full of fire and bombast even if I don't quite follow his talk about omegas and alphas.
  22. PeteF3
    Bob Backlund, who just celebrated his 16th anniversary as rightful WWF Champion, rants to the crowd about his high standards and our society's failure to live up to them. "I USED TO LOVE YOU...and you changed." Backlund didn't want to use the chickenwing upon his initial comeback, but locked it on Bret Hart to represent his locking it on modern society. He then vows to retire if anyone can escape the hold, and a "demonstration" on a WWF Magazine writer ends with Vince, a multitude of officials, and Randy Savage trying to pry him off. THAT'S WHAT DISCIPLINE IS ALL ABOUT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Vince sort of Lance Russells Backlund along through the interview, and their interplay is pretty great. As obnoxious as McMahon has gotten as a play-by-play man he still knows how to get an angle over, and I think this is one of those storylines he really, personally enjoyed, which may explain the level of push Backlund got. Also note that Backlund, despite being shaky at points, takes care not to refer to Bret as "the champion," simply "the man who has the belt."
  23. PeteF3
    Well, now Cornette interviewing the guy who called the first months of ECW television has to happen, for the train wreck aspect if nothing else.
  24. PeteF3
    They were planning that as far back as 1988? Nord claims that he and Brody were going to come in feud with Demolition before Brody would move on to a program with Hogan. Take that however you want--I don't really buy it. I can buy that Brody would do a house show run with Hogan and make some final bank, though I don't think it'd ever headline a WrestleMania or anything. I doubt they'd get viking gimmicks or that Brody would go for that, but it wouldn't be the first time the WWF sat on a gimmick idea for multiple years.
  25. PeteF3
    Complete with Mountie zapping Hogan on a for-the-local-market-only Funeral Parlor.
×
×
  • Create New...