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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    Good start right off the bat--"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" theme isn't as awesome as "The Man with the Harmonica" but it's a fine selection of entrance music. This is a TEXAS RODEO STYLE MATCH. I had trouble getting into this, outside of the novelty aspect--crazy ringside brawls simply don't mesh well with the rounds system. And I don't really care for non-WOS St. Clair, either.
  2. PeteF3
    Gary Juster is introduced as Okerlund's "very close, personal, long-time friend" which absolutely slays me for some reason, I think because it's such a Gene thing to say. Davey Boy is not in the arena and has 30 seconds to hit the ring or face a forfeiture--so long, Davey. Your WCW run was a lot better than I remembered, and in theory you could have continued to be an asset for them. But as Plan Bs go, this is one hell of a coup for a company that spent most of the year not being able to get out of its own way. THE BOSS is here, in full prison garb with his former ring name stitched over and presumably to finally after all this time avenge Rude for those comments about his mother. Somehow this leads to a match. Schiavone justifies it by saying, "It's TV, it's entertainment!" Somewhere Vince and/or Kevin Dunn are shedding a tear of joy. These types of situations are where Jesse really thrives. Rude is still noticeably slowed, working at half-speed and still bumping gingerly. Boss is over big from the start, though, and he nicely focuses everything on Rude's back, both playing on his past history and settting up for the Boss Man Slam for the win.
  3. PeteF3
    Jesse's crocodile tears were kind of amusing. This is a weird piece all around, coming off like an introductory video, as though Flair were appearing in a new territory, rather than a career retrospective, and mentioning the WWF. Comments from noted wrestling experts Mike Fratello and Brad Daugherty of the Cavaliers, and Charles Barkley who at least is an established Flair buddy.
  4. PeteF3
    Nice lighting on the second clip.
  5. PeteF3
    A freshly babyfaced Maxx Payne is now teaming with Cactus Jack. Cactus puts over Vader and warns Flair about how he fears no one. A feud with Tex & Shanghai is sort of a step down for Mick coming off the Vader program.
  6. PeteF3
    This ain't '92 Memphis, and the Bruise Brothers are not Lawler, Jarrett, or Fuller. These two teams would get into a legit backstage brawl soon enough and both would get fired, so there's not much more of this feud to go.
  7. PeteF3
    Not sure you're allowed to drink anything besides Coors in Colorado. Murdoch is incredible, with too many great lines to count. Smoky Mountain is probably the only promotion around not under federal indictment! Jimmy is beside himself about the Baldie chants, and Mantell has to HOLD HIM BACK, as he warns us, from viciously assaulting the fans! Dutch is a philanthropist of the highest order as he demonstrates here.
  8. PeteF3
    Another excellent segment--the best kind of "shades of grey," at this point, as both guys make sense while being on opposite sides. This adds some perspective to the "Superstar of the Year" thing which had us a little puzzled. It seems now like it was something else to add to the Bret/Owen split as much as it was a so-called final decision to go with Bret as the company ace. (Yokozuna still deserved it, objectively).
  9. PeteF3
    The dude with the cowbell had me thrown WAY off--it sounded exactly like the old World of Sport bell and I kept thinking it was the end of the round. Also, the lucha announcer clearly says this match is dos de tres caidas sin limite de tiempo--the standard 2-out-of-3-fall stip, I guess out of habit. So once again I was bemused by Hamada winning a fall and then guys piling in to award titles and trophies. What we're left with is a standard good undercard match, not really a main event one. Hamada is supremely talented but he does tend to be samey--he's pretty much required to get in his wind-up headbutt, his back body drop counter, and his pop-up huracanrana. Villano IV was more interesting.
  10. PeteF3
    Polo has some funny moments but yes, they're a better fit for a shitty undercard match than a well-worked main event like this. I also liked MSG better but this was really good, too. The "near-falls" at the door and the rather vicious brawling resulting from it were really awesome, and something that either didn't happen at MSG or couldn't be conveyed from the handcam.
  11. PeteF3
    Yeah, I was thinking about Tenryu's execution too, both in this match and in general. I started thinking of the "what is good wrestling" thread and the reason I could never bring myself to post in it, despite writing quite a lot about it and just hitting the "back" button in frustration, is that for every "rule" I could think of, I immediately thought of a ton of exceptions. One of the things I look for is "good execution...unless there's a reason for it not to be, or if it's covered well." That sort of fits Tenryu to a T, at least until the closing stretch here. It looked like they wanted Fujinami (who wasn't innocent in this, btw) to attempt a power bomb and for Tenryu to turn it into a victory roll. That seems a little complex and juniors-y for these guys, but they tried it twice and neither of them came close to working. Repeating the spot...ugh. And then Tenryu comes about an inch away from turning Fujinami into a vegetable on the closing power bomb. I harp on all this but this was a good, solid match--and it was striking how Tenryu and Fujinami were so much more compelling working basic holds to open this than Hash and Mutoh were working complicated leglocks and takedowns.
  12. PeteF3
    Your true fact of the day: Buddy Lee was once married to the Fabulous Moolah. Ryman Auditorium--hey, I've been there! Unless you guys are referring to somebody else, the fat guy in red getting escorted out with Jarrett is not Prentice, it's Ronnie P. Gossett. And that may have been Driver Tony Falk giving Jeff a lift.
  13. PeteF3
    This was good down the stretch, but not exactly blowaway. And the first portion of the match with the guys trading holds was totally disposable. I don't think it was out of laziness per se, as they did crank the holds they worked and had a few nice stand-up exchanges, but the matwork simply wasn't compelling.
  14. PeteF3
    Good God, how appropriate that I watch this so soon after the "Sasuke is crazy" topic started. A simple Youtube link to this match in that thread would go a long way--this is an entirely new kind of crazy for Sasuke and Michinoku Pro. The Sasuke-in-peril segment goes on a looong time for my tastes, but goddamned if this match as a whole isn't fun as hell. Sasuke & Goto are the greatest mismatched Rock 'n Roll Express in history, and I could watch Goto work hot tag house-afire sequences all day. The absurdity of this match-up, these partnerships, and the stabbings is all made up for by the fact that this is a traditional southern-style tag in every other aspect.
  15. PeteF3
    They were starting the Mero heel turn when the injury happened. Rocky had come to the aid of Sable against somebody and Mero took offense and attacked him.
  16. PeteF3
    Too many ladder matches can turn you into a slob using a cloyingly self-deprecating poor-man's Bill Cosby routine to get yourself over and hawk your DVD. Maybe Steph did put over the show. I had to mute her when her spiel ran long.
  17. PeteF3
    Some thoughts from a guy so out of the loop it's not funny... Cesaro vs. Zayn - I'll have to watch Shield vs. Wyatts when EC is available, but this is the best match I've seen this year (nobody ask me how many of this year's matches I've seen). A lot of the stuff Exposer hated I actually liked--including that 1-count--or at least wasn't bothered by. Once Zayn's leg got taken away he mostly limited himself to kicks with the good leg. This combined big vs. little and established star vs. up-and-comer, probably my two favorite styles of match, and they executed both styles perfectly. CJ Parker vs. Mojo Rawley - Parker was treated as a jobber here but I actually like the gimmick a lot and think it could go places. Some sort of running John Tenta tribute throughout the show, as we opened with his old Earthquake entrance music and Rawley's taken his finisher. Rawley's gimmick is sort of Sledgehammer of Plot-ish in that late-'80s WWF style--he's HYPER because the announcers say so ad nauseum--but he's charismatic and athletic enough to go places. Too Cool vs. The Ascension - Shitty. Too Cool looked in great shape, which was good to see, and with the Network launch I get why they were here. But yeah, the Ascension blow. I like the concept of a 2010's Road Warriors, but these guys aren't it, or at least the small guy isn't. And God, "Konor" and "Viktor" are horrible names. Either give them last names or straight-up gimmick monikers. Actually "The Scalpel" and "The Bludgeon" would work about 250% better if they were just called that. Paige vs. Emma - Paige has been watching her joshi matches, as she's got that screaming/crying style down pat. Actually the promo videos to set this up worked perfectly, because she specifically pointed out how she "didn't cry." Not as much heat as with the other matches but this was solidly worked. I really liked how the announcers put over how well these two knew each other and how they had each other's moves scouted, forcing both ladies to bust out completely new shit, with Paige's new shit working better. Alexander Rusev...I could use a lot more Lana in my life, actually. Neville vs. Dallas - "Fun" just about caps this. This was almost hyped to be another ladder match classic and it just wasn't--just a solid, decent match with some good spots, some slow spots, and not really anywhere close to the opener. A few middling complaints aside--the Ascension, the presence of Stephanie McMahon, the spectacularly, brick-through-the-screen annoying presence of HBK, the stupid zooming camera--this was awesome and needs to be on my weekly radar. The matches were good, and the video intros and commentary (all three guys) were legitimately *great.* Everything was laid out for anyone to get what was going on, even if they'd lapsed into a coma during the Attitude Era.
  18. PeteF3
    Rude and Okerlund both use the word "undisputed" repeatedly. Rude is supposed to defend against Davey Boy at Starrcade, but he tells Davey Boy that he doesn't want to wait and that they should do it next week instead. Davey Boy comes out, and...says...let's not wait till Starrcade...let's do it next week??? Great quality control, guys. And with that Davey Boy's WCW stint comes to an apparent end.
  19. PeteF3
    So low-rent, like a generic USWA blowjob team promo.
  20. PeteF3
    At some point they added South Africa to the countries where he won titles. I'm suspect--SA has had a wrestling scene for a long while but I don't think Vader ever worked there. Ric Flair has to be either the dumbest man alive, or the most desperate--and Vader gets in a shot at Sid while he's at it.
  21. PeteF3
    Schiavone informs us that the Amateur Challenge is STILL ON, which I'm not sure is supposed to be a reassurance or a threat.
  22. PeteF3
    Fun little match. A Triple Threat Match, Lee vs. Smothers vs. DWB, is set for Christmas Chaos. Good way for Cornette to blend the territorial wrestling of the past with where wrestling was going in the future. This and the 9-man team brawl are possibly the most logically built triple threat matches in the history of wrestling.
  23. PeteF3
    The mysterious Bullet, who may or may not be the banned Bob Armstrong, will be putting his mask on the line against Cornette's newest charge Dick Murdoch. All Cornette has to put up is $5,000. Dick is hot, despite being shirtless in the Colorado snow swilling Coors Light. He informs us that all the people who died in the Alamo were in fact gutless cowards from Tennessee. This is a riot. Bob Caudle reveals there's another stipulation for the Christmas Chaos show in Knoxville: Cornette is putting up $5,000 AND his hair! Holy shit, there HAS to be a way to weasel out of this, isn't there?
  24. PeteF3
    Little Eagle, with a mullet almost as tall as he is, is possibly the scuzziest-looking midget wrestler I've ever seen. This must be a pretty pro-heel studio crowd--they sing along rather loudly to PG-13's entrance. Lawler and Christopher heave Midget D over the top rope onto PG-13 on the floor in a pretty crazy-ass bump, but leave themselves open for a Gilberts attack.
  25. PeteF3
    Great to see Toni make an appearance on the Yearbook. From reading the Observers, it seems the Brian Christopher/Chris Adams feud was one of the best non-WWF-involvement parts of 1993 USWA. Toni's changed quite a bit from her time in Texas--she's a bitter grouchy heel sporting a neck brace. She brags about all the beauty pageants she won as a child--I could see Honey Boo Boo growing up into this. Toni despite getting heel heat from the crowd, points out that if she had a dog that looked like one of the studio fans, she'd shave its rear end and make it walk backwards. That line gets a HUGE pop from the crowd that was just booing her. Toni is into self-improvement so she's been studying video, and asks that they play a Brian Christopher music video. We get a few seconds of Christopher action set to "Unbelievable," and Toni asks to contrast with a video of her. She's TOTALLY channelling Jeannie Clark in this, as if it wasn't somewhat obvious to start with. Toni reveals she's found a new partner for Doug Gilbert, and a stunned Dave Brown sees that it's a returning Eddie Gilbert. The WMC studio is happy to see him. Doug blows the Cool Hand Luke line. Eddie is incensed about how Lawler & Christopher teamed up on his brother and then gave Toni a piledriver. Gilbert closes with a VERY eerie-in-retrospect line about death. An intense promo where Eddie came close to being the Hot Stuff of old, and he certainly had an effect on the crowd. That said--and this may be the sour taste of the King of Philadelphia run still being there--each return to Memphis seems to bring about diminishing returns both for Eddie personally and the promotion as a whole. This must be the 4th or 5th re-appearance since 1990 alone.
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