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PeteF3

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Everything posted by PeteF3

  1. PeteF3
    Good, but a little disappointing considering how much of a roll Hase was on going into this. This also had the drama of Hase having beaten Hash in the G-1 Climax going in, but the match didn't quite live up to that. And whereas the finish of Chono/Fujiwara came too quickly, this came off as sort of an anticlimax. Good way for the IWGP champ to avenge a "bad loss," but still...
  2. PeteF3
    Shaping up to be one of the all-time great Fujiwara matches, on a level with the best stuff with Choshu. And then...that. One Yakuza kick, when Chono had been on the defensive almost the whole way, and it's over. A quick fluky finish is fine in theory but it wasn't even executed that well. Before that this was stiff and gritty as fuck, the kind of match NJPW was doing better than anyone else. Fujiwara heels it up with chokeholds and working on a Chono cut, while Chono has to Hulk Up just to get out of danger. The post-match confrontation teases more between these two.
  3. PeteF3
    Mantell and Les Thatcher doing obvious post-produced commentary. The Heavenly Bodies cost Gibson the TV title and beat up on Ricky Morton when he tries to save. Scott Armstrong runs the Bodies off with a chair, but all Gibson sees is Scott standing over Morton holding a chair! Gibson comes off as heelish here, but I think the original plan was for the Armstrong boys to go heel and align with Cornette.
  4. PeteF3
    Dutch is absolutely distraught over his job prospects now with Cornette out of the picture, and he glumly sends us to another Sherri video making more threats at Tammy. Tammy delivers a hilariously over-the-top response, calling Sherri a gorilla and hoping Tracey Smothers is decapitated in a truck accident! Lee, now with requisite Evil Goatee, promises to take care of Smothers in the ring. Fytch also speaks for Mr. Ron Wright, and takes him to "go read" when he asks about where the Dirty White Boy is. Dutch: "Can I get impeached, too?"
  5. PeteF3
    Mantell was absolute gold during the Candido/Dark Secret bout. They're doing the most obvious "fake" match ever and Dutch is calling it like it's Kawada and Misawa in the Budokan. His shameless asskissing beforehand was great too, in response to Cornette appointing himself the referee. "Good move, Mr. Commissioner! Good move!" Tim Horner is confronting Cornette and Candido afterward when Les Thatcher comes out to deliver a letter from the infamous and oh-so-secret SMW Board of Directors. Candido is convinced it's a promotion, but it's an impeachment instead! "Jimmy, did that letter say anything about me?!" This may come as a little deus ex machina-esque, but I think this type of angle should probably be ended too soon rather than too late, so Cornette erred in the right side here. Commissioner Cornette, like Tirantes at his best, was around enough to make a nuisance of himself but not to the point of overwhelming the show.
  6. PeteF3
    Cornette has had a terrific week--days after becoming Commissioner, he's sent Bob Armstrong out of SMW entirely. After weeks of hype and teasing of Abdullah the Butcher or Yokozuna, Cornette's "secret weapon" is a dumpy-looking guy in all black. Really underwhelming. Two Black Ninjas conspire to pin the Bullet to a noticeable babyface reaction.
  7. PeteF3
    Oh, fuck off (said the Browns fan). Lawler does his standard church-bulletin promo, talking about Ole Miss and Browns football in the midst of plugging spot shows. Do the Titans come close to fulfilling Lawler's wish of an NFL team in Memphis? Survivor Series highlights from the MSC, as Lawler pins Tatanka in a really weak-looking finish that nonetheless gets a huge pop.
  8. PeteF3
    A cage match in the TV studio--there can't have been too many of these, in any territory. Paul Neighbors--and in a GREAT moment Dave Brown explains that he used to be in charge of transporting the ring, so of course he'd have a spare set--unlocks the cage door and tries to toss Rich a chain. Jarrett uses it instead for a 3-count, but Neighbors clobbers Jarrett and rolls Rich on top. A dazed Frank Morrell awards the bout to Rich. An irate Eddie Marlin holds the belt up and appoints himself the referee for the rematch! Great chaotic post-match scene. Hey WCW, here's how you book a scene of guys screaming over top of each other correctly, with all the pertinent points still coming across.
  9. PeteF3
    Vince's tape didn't arrive, to the delight of Dave Brown and the studio audience. Lawler sticks up for local business (FedEx) and says it's because he's regained the Unified World title. Lawler issues another challenge to Vince to appear in Memphis, which sadly never comes about. Actually what I'd kill (or at least maim) to see is Vince in the WMC studio, interacting with Dave.
  10. PeteF3
    Boni Blackstone makes a Yearbook appearance. Cornette gloats about how there's no competition left for Yokozuna with Lex Luger out of the picture. Then the lights go out and the Undertaker is standing behind Cornette, who pratfalls out of view. Bearer and the Undertaker issue a challenge. I hated this program but this was a very well-done segment. Even babyface Paul Bearer was good here. Good touch not to have Yokozuna back down and show fear, the way he typically would in this feud.
  11. PeteF3
    Borga is amusingly horrified at the state of the environment in the U.S., and blames Americans for ruining this beautiful river. Instead of feuding, you'd think he and Tatanka would be natural allies.
  12. PeteF3
    Rambo does one of the all-time great "loss of blood" sells you'll ever see, assuming he was selling at all. Such a great traditional face/heel dynamic, with Tirantes making his presence known without smothering the match. Another incredibly clever ending, something right out of the United States but fresh in this setting, as Rambo does an Iceman Parsons butt-bump but misses and nails Tirantes. He takes advantage by fouling Villano and locking in a submission, as Tirantes crawls back in and calls for the bell. The arena goes DEAD SILENT when that happens--like Bruno-losing-to-Ivan-Koloff levels of shock. Then the SWERVE as Tirantes called for the bell because he disqualified Rambo for hitting him! Great, cunning use of a quasi-Dusty Finish.
  13. PeteF3
    This is basically Hase wrestling a broomstick for about 22 minutes, if broomsticks were capable of throwing great dropkicks. Muto finally steps up his game by countering the uranage with a judo takedown that's about the most awesome thing he's ever done. Fantastic overall bout, as Hase continues to establish himself as being every bit as good as the AJPW Four Corners as a heavyweight worker.
  14. PeteF3
    Koslowski was an Olympian with a great look and some killer suplexes--had he come along some years earlier, I think Verne Gagne could have made him a star. He controls the majority of this match before putting Ishikawa away with sort of a combination hammerlock/chicken wing, after casually murdering him with a German suplex. I need to see more of this guy and of his brother Dennis.
  15. PeteF3
    This sort of ended as it was getting going. Rare for me to say this about any shootstyle match but I felt this could have gone longer.
  16. PeteF3
    Quite the shock finish there, as Flynn spends most of this absolutely murdering Anderson with some beautiful kicks, but tries one too many and gets caught in a half crab. This was looking like an extended shootstyle squash before then.
  17. PeteF3
    Finish was a little unexpected, but it does nicely establish the WAR Special as a legit move, when Tenryu really didn't have anything besides the power bomb to put people away with before. Awesome little match--watching Hase one may want him to be pushed at the level of the other Musketeers, but at the same time he's SO good at being the gutsy underdog...it's not far off from Daniel Bryan now, in fact, if Bryan had less ridiculous facial hair.
  18. PeteF3
    Rocco Rock stresses that PE aren't here for fun, they're here for the NWA Tag Titles. Quite the jarring contrast to the more familiar image of Public Enemy. Grunge seems awfully apprehensive and blows his partner's name. Dangerously has the cap on, slowly morphing into the more familiar ECW Paul E. He talks of blood and guts but still sells pain when he slams the phone against his hand.
  19. PeteF3
    Pancrase had rules that more or less prohibited strikes on the ground, hence the toned-down ground game stuff. Very interesting comparison to the worked stuff. It's hard to tell the difference, though as mentioned the opening is much more aggressive and stiffer. And of course, the finish is where it really hits home--the UWFI and PWFG finishes were almost always pure pro-wrasslin' in their build and in their effort to put across maximum drama. Here, Shamrock just methodically applies a facelock and gets the tapout. At 6:15 this was twice as long as any other match on this show. The backlash against this forced Pancrase, going forward, to work some fights and have guys "carry" others to longer matches but with a legitimate result.
  20. PeteF3
    Really good match thanks to Hash--possibly the best post-NWA Muta-under-the-paint match. He wrestles on the level for most of this, and only goes to the garbage tendencies once he starts to get desperate. And even that's worked well--Hash kicks the timekeeper's hammer away from him and the use of the chair and timely ref bump are all creative and well-done. In the end Hash shrugs it all off and DDTs his way to the IWGP Championship.
  21. PeteF3
    Easily the worst WarGames to this point, nothing else will even come close until the Dungeon of Doom stuff. Booker T takes some fairly hellacious bumps here. Schiavone marvels as the Shockmaster navigates his way through the cage door and not one, but two sets of ring ropes. He almost immediately bearhugs Booker/Kole for an absurdly anticlimactic and heatless submission. Wow, Shockmaster tapped Kole--that sure settles this issue. Shockmaster pratfalls in celebration, just to make the heels look completely foolish instead of mostly foolish. What a shitty fucking company.
  22. PeteF3
    This was a pretty crazy show from a copyright/trademark standpoint. We have Flair and Rude fighting for the "Big Gold Belt" and earlier, the "Big Van" part of Cactus Jack's promo was muted. Hearing Jesse rip on Flair like he's any other babyface is weird and it just doesn't work. Jesse could go after Hogan because he thought Hogan was a hypocrite who was protected--when you have a guy who calls himself the Dirtiest Player in the Game, even as a babyface, that tack doesn't really work. Flair busts out a top-rope chop to the floor! Well, that was cool. Flair works hard, looks good overall, and is really energetic here, but Rude looks just about done. Rude pulls brass knucks out of his trunks while he's in the figure four and cold cocks Flair to win the Anonymous World title. Three screwjob heel title victories on one show is too many, considering how similar the finishes all were.
  23. PeteF3
    Recap of the Jack/Vader feud, complete with Lost in Cleveland footage. This is an excellent way to showcase how this angle went from legitimately harrowing and emotional to stupid as all hell to something salvageable. All "Lost in Cleveland" is basically chalked up to Jack playing mind games.
  24. PeteF3
    This is not a particularly vocal crowd, and I don't recall any reason being given for anyone to care about this match to begin with. Damned if Roma isn't pretty energetic upon getting the hot tag. Nasties win the tag titles, yippee. Halloween Havoc '90 this wasn't. Never really grasped what Missy was supposed to add to this duo. She didn't even play a role in the finish. EDIT: If Missy could talk worth a damn, then her motivation (getting back at Ric Flair for continuously blowing her off) would be something I'd regard as pretty cool long-term storytelling. But she can't, so I won't.
  25. PeteF3
    I remember this being decent, but the TV matches held promise of something great and I don't think we got it here. They try to recreate the Starrcade '84 magic as Steamboat comes into this with hurt ribs, courtesy of an umbrella attack on TV by Regal. Cool finish as Steamboat skins the cat but Dundee whacks him with the umbrella in a well-done spot.
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