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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    I could do without Pettingill's narration but this was a well-done piece of business.
  2. PeteF3
    I thought there was something holding this back from being a great match. The first fall has a few good sequences but is mostly throwaway, and ends way too quickly. This gets much better in the second fall, as the individual match-ups that this story is built around start to flesh out: Solar and Azteca working the mat like kings, Winners and Calo doing mirror spots, and Misterioso doing a sort-of turn (that WTBBP question comes up again!) in trying to get one up on Volador. Misterioso is still awkward, slow, and clumsy, and I'm pretty sure a match between he and Ultimo Dragon is playing on a continuous loop in my own personal Hell. I just don't get it with him. Anyway, the second fall ending is pretty gorgeous stuff and makes up for the perfunctory first fall. Misterioso continues to get dirty in the third fall, and after a great sequence resulting with everyone else out on the floor, he grabs Tirantes to avoid a sunset flip. Pepe Casas seems to take this as a personal affront and fast-counts him on a subsequent pin attempt. Is there any lucha ref who isn't corrupt? I get the story being told but the very beginning and very ending soured me, and those are the two elements of a match that tend to stand out.
  3. PeteF3
    Funny that I watch this just after listening to Chad talk about "turns within a match" on the latest WTBBP. Flair starts this off as a babyface, even though he's teaming with Regal--wrestling clean and doing handshakes (much to His Lordship's consternation). Then Sting press slams him, and Flair decides enough of the sportsmanship bullshit and becomes Classic Flair. At least to some degree. This is wrestled remarkably clean most of the way through, basically a World of Sport match with a southern tag layout. Very different kind of North American match with all four guys, even Sting, working outside of their comfort zone. It's not really at the level of the Blonds matches from a year ago or even the high-end Quebecers stuff, but it's a very well-worked tag match in any case.
  4. PeteF3
    Anyone who's read Foley's book knows the full story of what happened here. You can literally see the ear falling off after Cactus gets back in the ring and is throwing punches at Vader. Not much of a match but one of the defining moments of Foley's career.
  5. PeteF3
    Oh man...Jim, I'm sorry, your promotion is really hot at the moment. But I don't relish having to watch a 1-hour handheld of a match that people are this lukewarm on. I do like the hot start, and it also establishes the rules nicely. In fact, the whole match is better than I would have expected, though I admit to having it on as background noise for a chunk of it. They kept the crowd into things and cut a strong pace for the whole hour. Lots of limbwork that filled time, but at least they worked the holds well while they were in them. I didn't really have a problem with HIP or the Rock 'n Rolls having the fall advantage, oddly enough. Dusty didn't want to book the Rock 'n Rolls and Midnights to go 60 because Ricky getting the shit kicked out of him for that long simply wouldn't be believable. Better to drag out the shine stuff for awhile--that way you can get away with two longer-than-usual FIP segments, one on each babyface, without overstaying your welcome. This is more of a match to admire than to like but it speaks well for all involved.
  6. PeteF3
    One of the most balls-to-the-wall TV matches I've ever seen. After the headlockery and work over Steamboat's ribs, they cut a WM3-esque pace with some great bumping from Steamboat, some timely interference from the Colonel, and a ridiculous run of near-falls. Austin absolutely creams Steamboat with a spinebuster/Alabama slam thing, in a great transition. Not really a psychological masterpiece, though the opening matwork is quite good, but an awesome sprint. By the end the antiseptic Center Stage crowd (and my God, do I hate every facet of this new set-up) is losing their shit. Awful finish (what is with Col. Parker constantly getting his men disqualified in #1 contenders matches?), but the post-match angle is so good that I forget about it as soon as it happens.
  7. PeteF3
    Awesome, memorable segment on all levels. Even Capetski gets some face time. Sullivan is still as creepy as he was in SMW but he's a babyface--at least for now. Totally different dynamic than anything else going on in the Big Two. I don't relish having Evad as a major part of the roster, but I'll be damned if I don't actually enjoy their chemistry here.
  8. PeteF3
    I don't know where I fall on Hogan in WCW. On one hand, without him there probably isn't a Nitro, isn't a talent raid, and isn't a Monday Night Wars--and I'm not sure how there's any way that wrestling would have been better off without that. On the other...he was really, really intolerable for a majority of his run, not fitting with the fan demographics and having unfettered creative control that was almost all for the worse. In the past few months WCW has changed dramatically. Three major WWF icons have jumped ship and the Saturday Night set has been redesigned. It's all an attempt to de-southernize the product but I don't know if it ever really worked. Heenan shows up and calls Hogan out for having unfinished business in wrestling. Okerlund even mentions that PWI issue with Hogan and Flair on the cover. Pretty obvious where they're going by the end of this segment, and for a lot of fans like us that feeling had to be pretty ominous.
  9. PeteF3
    Okerlund hypes a tournament in Germany and a WCW card in...Saint Martin. What an odd place to run a show, or to pretend to run a show. Flair is starting to act more heelish, in a subtle way. Flair definitely peaked with the Vader feud, but aside from the obvious money match with Hulk, there just aren't any compelling figures for him to feud with.
  10. PeteF3
    Van Horn tries to get himself censored some more before circling back around to the point of hyping a title match between Prince Kharis and the Dirty White Boy.
  11. PeteF3
    Wow, Dutch is out and the Dirty White Girl is in. That's like swapping out Bobby Heenan at the '92 Royal Rumble for Art Donovan. DWG was a passable talker in Memphis but...geez. Pretty Memphis-angle-by-numbers, with some bleeping for flavor.
  12. PeteF3
    Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson cut a promo in the aftermath of the chaos from last week, then join Dutch live in the ring. Morton recounts the history of their past with Cornette, and emphasizes that in this loser-leaves match, both members of the team have to leave. Then he declares that if the Rock 'n Rolls lose, they won't just leave town but disband altogether.
  13. PeteF3
    Holy shit, MR. McMAHON is back! In a promo I haven't seen before! The great thing about this is Vince is basically his geeky excitable WWF announcer self, except as a heel. The All-American Wrestling set adds to that. Totally different dynamic from the earlier USWA stuff.
  14. PeteF3
    Terrible match objectively, but the stuff outside the ring is all fun. Sagrada had a hell of a night, didn't he? Jake abusing Mascarita and attempting to give him the DDT should have been highly dramatic, and the crowd was into it, but there wasn't any kind of urgency or theater to Konnan's rescue--or Jake's selling. The in-ring aspect basically petered out after Jake used Konnan's hair-extensions as a whip right at the open. Jake has fallen off badly and is woefully out of shape, and yet somehow he still outworked Konnan, who did nothing here besides lay around. Why is Blue Panther aligned with Jake when Jake was aligned with Eddy & Love Machine?
  15. PeteF3
    Definite MOTY so far and something I want to make sure stays in the top 3-5, at least. And the minis GOAT, hands down. Until the very end, when I think they botch the ending and have to improvise a new one, there's not a single spot or bump or position that's out of place. Even Tirantes is used perfectly, looking the other way during Espectro's interference and making an impact on the match without overwhelming it (loved the announcer screaming, "TIRANTES!" when Espectro is holding Sagrada up outside the ring). And yes, that attempted double-team tope with Mascara making the save was spectacularly done by all parties. One of the most epic, "cinematic" wrestling spots ever--up there with Hokuto after her loss to Shinobu Kandori, or Dutch Mantell using Shoo Baby to yank Koko Ware off the turnbuckle. I also can scarcely wrap my mind around how Espectrito and Espectro take all those bumps without boots on, or padding outside the ring. It's all cringe-worthy and it seems like their ankles should be perpetually broken.
  16. PeteF3
    This was really, really good, and a real departure to the standard trios layout, as the technicos are basically mauled for the last 2/3 of the bout. I liked Metal too. Actually I liked everyone except Estrada, who didn't add much. This match really highlights the contrast in the bumping of him and Espectro. Both take some big bumps, but Espectro is broad, theatrical, and spectacular while Estrada seems like he's bumping to impress the boys and not the fans--he takes the Buddy Rose back-bump to the floor and smacks his head on the concrete, something only a few fans in the arena would ever see. If the technicos had had a more spirited comeback or even scored some eliminations of their own in the second fall, this would be in the running for MOTY.
  17. PeteF3
    I was going to say, Shields/Rhodes Family tended to resemble that remark. As far as post-MNW stuff goes, it's hard to top Val vs. Rikishi in 2000.
  18. PeteF3
    Is it Russo? I know he was a talking head on the top 100 RAW moments DVD. I haven't seen this yet, but it could be Schiavone. He's apparently been in Stamford recently.
  19. PeteF3
    LANCE RUSSELL! All is right with the world, or at least in West Tennessee. DAVE BROWN is in the arena tonight! Prowrestlinghistory says this show drew 8,377 at a time when 1,000 was considered a good MSC gate. Pretty much the last gasp of Memphis as a territory with any clout, even though they're still years away from the end. Tommy Rich looks almost as big as Moondog Spot. This is based around stalling and chain play, but goddammit, it wouldn't be Memphis otherwise. Spot is eliminated, and Lance busts out the Lady Macbeth line, "Out, out, damned Spot!" which is possibly the Line of the Year so far. Lance hasn't missed a beat--I don't know if he was back on WMC yet but he's referencing recent TV events, drawing on historical events like Funk's eye injury, and seamlessly tossing things to Corey & Dave. With '94 being what it is, I should just give him the Best TV Announcer award right now. I also love that the shards of Billy Joe Travis' broken guitar are still laying at ringside and play a role in the match as weapons. Not really a great match, but a fun one with great announcing. Afterwards Lawler is handcuffed to the corner and Funk attempts to pay Lawler back for 1981 by shoving the bottom of a stool into his eye.
  20. PeteF3
    Cool clips and photos, the song is what it is but serves its purpose.
  21. PeteF3
    Always thought Chris was more of the Elite Oligarch Harvard boy rather than Obama-style Harvard. IRS is a little tricky. It's not like Mike played it as a Dem. I was thinking of that bizarre feud between Nowinski and Scott Steiner over their positions on the War in Iraq (Chris was against it, if you couldn't guess. Scott took the "RAH RAH MURICA" side). IRS was a joke answer, but he did hang out with "Bill Clinton" at WMX and gave him praise for his tax hike.
  22. PeteF3
    I'd forgotten how incessantly they used to shoehorn current event topics into Raw commentary. I believe we've now had more Nancy/Tonya references by various promotions early in '94 than we had Leona Helmsley references in 1990. DiBiase sounds like he's reading his directly off a script. Tatanka is still a bad promo, and he uses the word "bestows" in a bizarre manner--I don't know what word he was supposed to be going for. I wonder what Wahoo, or Little Turtle for that matter, thought about sharing this time with Chief Jay. Tatanka says he teamed with Wahoo early in his career--that's plausible, because I think Wahoo worked for SAPW, where a young Chris Chavis wrestled. He only says two sentences, but damned if Wahoo doesn't still have a presence and a gravity when he talks. I'm a Cleveland Indians fan who thinks Chief Wahoo is one of the worst sports-logo abominations on the planet, and don't even get me started on the name "Redskins." So there's a possibly-oversensitive part of me who still sees all this as noble-savage minstrelsy, even if the WWF is attempting to treat this with respect. Still, all it is is a set-up to rehash the somewhat worn-out "heel destroys the headdress" angle, so the cynical part of this looms large. That said, the Tatanka/Kwang match where IRS collects on the unpaid gift tax is an angle that should go on an Errata set. It pays off this ceremony nicely and while it only led to a nothing mid-card house show feud (oddly dominated by Schyster, even in the Indian strap blowoffs), it was put over huge by Vince on commentary and was one of the major angles of the first half of the year.
  23. PeteF3
    I thought this was a very disappointing rubber match after the first two bouts in their series. A lot of stall-o-rama in the early going, followed by restholds. This did get pretty gritty and nasty towards the end, before a cheapo finish. That said, this appears to be the start of the Dustin Rhodes-Col. Parker feud, something I'm greatly looking forward to.
  24. PeteF3
    Libertarians: Val Venis, Glen Jacobs, probably numerous others. Real-life Democrat: Mick Foley. Character Democrat: Christopher Nowinski, Irwin R. Schyster.
  25. PeteF3
    I'd love to see a longer match between these two--this is the type of match that makes me miss USWA-TX.
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